The next day they had a special ceremony with all the students present to welcome us. They took us later on a tour of a magnificent white marble Jain temple nearby. The next day we started sitting in with teachers and when we were ready, teaching classes by ourselves or assisting teachers with classes. Mostly it was just conversation class and one person taught music because she is a music teacher in Russia. They assigned us classes according to our preferences and abilities. I also tutored the hostel boys in the evenings. They came to me with questions in all subjects and to my surprise, they especially enjoyed poetry. I engaged the kids in conversations or more often, they engaged me first! – at lunch and in the chess room. I don’t play chess, so I played carom (that was a lot of fun!) I accompanied the kids on the field trip to the Jain temple. I went with staff and children on an outing to plant trees at a government school, and I could see the difference in happiness between those kids and the Gokuldham children. That really showed me that Gokuldham is making a difference. I really enjoyed the simple interactions with the super friendly staff who brought us food, and the lovely chai (tea), of which I’ve become a big fan while here in India. I was here on August 15, which is India’s Independence Day, and I had the honor of giving a short speech. Some of the little kids were dressed in costumes as a little Mahatma Gandi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandi and historical princes and princesses. It was really cute. I learned some Hindi and even Gujarati. The volunteers were very well taken care of at Gokuldham. Aside from our wonderful interactions with the staff and students, I also became fast friends with the other volunteers. My 4 weeks at Gokuldham were an amazing time! I would recommend Gokuldham wholeheartedly to anyone wanting an authentic, safe, friendly, rewarding and memorable experience in India!