We're so happy to be back at Bethania! Yesterday, after a good breakfast of rava dosa at Chandra's, we loaded up all of our stuff and some pipes for collecting rainwater and set off in the school bus for Bethania. We got the warmest welcome from all the boys that met us at the road! Pandi, Chella Pandi, Akash, Kartick, Alagasarmy, Antony, Satish, Muniapan and others all met us and told us that they were happy to have us back! We told them that we'd missed them a lot too! Their smiling faces just lit up, and we couldn't help but smile back. We settled back in and quickly returned to our routine of coloring, playing Uno, playing on the playground, singing, talking and even some dancing... There are also 2 girls here for a few days from the Kodai school. After we'd rested and had tea, we went for an evening walk with the kids up the mountain. It was beautiful watching the sunset as the kids took tons of pictures of themselves and collected gorgeous peacock feathers with the full eyes on them. Muniapan, the oldest boy, gave Paige 8 long feathers with bright blue and green eyes. MK carved "Kelsey" onto cactus leaves. The kids were all laughing and asking to have pictures taken of them non-stop. The view from up there was incredible. You could see all the mountains and fields, and Bethania below us. We watched with the kids as the sky changed colors and the moon came out. Their laughter and singing was so wonderful to hear as they ran up and down the face of the cliff.
We're so happy that we have this whole 10 day festival to spend with the kids, as they don't have school.
Today, we organized a big capture the flag game, or "dolphins vs peacocks" (our team names), as they call it. Karthick, our little 7 year-old friend, has developed his own rules for capture the flag, that basically allows him to be tagged repeatedly and never go to jail, unless he wants to get you out of jail, in which case you MUST COME SISTER! He's very cute so of course you obey. "Uno playing" happened a lot, as well as English lessons with the 8th and 9th grade girls. We had them listen to a story that we read out loud and answer questions about it. It was definitely a challenge for them, as most find it much easier to read, memorize, and copy than to listen and understand! It was good to work with them on it. The comprehension is really important, so tomorrow we're having the girls act out the story, 'The Ugly Duckling,' while we read it aloud. The hardest part was just working with the 8 girls and trying to not have the other kids come in and distract them! They love to be tested and graded. Big Muthumari and Rani did very well. It was a clear give away that there was a lot of copying happening when 5 of the 8 papers had "yellow" spelled as "ailleo." Spelling by sounding words out is something we've been working with the little kids a lot on, but it appears the older girls could use help a lot. In school I think they just spell everything for everyone and have them copy it, so no one ever learns to spell for themselves. The English school books have been really hard for Kelsey and I to read as the English is often grammatically incorrect or confusing. Which is a shame, cause it's nice to be able to help the older kids with their English homework, but it's embarrassing if we can't figure it out.
We had a lot of fun picking out books from the library and having kids read them to us. A lot of the books are old though, and colored on or torn. It's good that the children have books to read though, which they obviously really enjoy.
We spent a lot of the morning picking spinach leaves off the stems with the kitchen ladies and some girls. It was a very fun experience and I really enjoyed Paige's singing. All of the kids help out in taking care of everything- Pandi and the boys feed the many dogs and cat, Mooga and the young girls bring the 5 cows food, the geese are fed, Muthalakshmi and Priya peel onions, girls pump water and carry buckets to the kitchen. Muthumari taught Kelsey the proper technique of carrying the heavy buckets of rainwater- by balancing it right above the hip. Though a lot definitely spilled all over my shirt, Muthumari said I was doing it right! She took over when we walked up the stairs though. We're learning!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Our relaxing weekend in Pattyveeranpatty! September 26th-27th
This weekend was quite relaxing, but we can't wait to get back to the children at Bethania!
We got to explore the fields around the school and enjoyed the cool afternoon weather that comes with the rains yesterday. It was fun to walk by all the sapporta trees, cows, custard apple trees, and coconut trees. We had quite a few delicious meals and snacks; Chandra loves to feed us!
Today was quite exciting as it marked the beginning of a 10 day long festival. The music began blasting very early in the morning from nearby temples along with ringing bells. It was all quite beautiful. Chandra showed us the food that she had gotten up at 3am to prepare to take to her temple. One dish was called surinda, made of mango, coconut, chick peas, green peas and spices. Another, our favorite, was a type of sweet dumpling filled with sugar and cardamom spice. We had some fresh pomegranate and grapes from the vineyard we'd visited on Friday. After breakfast, we drove to a nearby village. We went to temple with Chandra which was a very interesting experience. A monk unlocked the temple and we admired all the beautiful statues and colorful paintings. It was interesting and unlike any other place of worship I've ever seen. The monk gave us white and red powder to put on our foreheads and jasmine for our hair. We visited a shrine of colorful dolls, set up for a festival, and the women there gave us bananas, banana leaves and sugar.
It was all very interesting.
Later we went shopping for clothes to wear with our sarees and other Indian clothes, shuridas, for the wedding in November. We bounced through the bustling town center on the dirt roads, crowded with people, honking bikes, and beautiful strings of flowers. We still get a lot of curious stares and are asked to take pictures with often, maybe more so since Kelsey was wearing Indian clothes. We stopped off at different dress shops, and made our selections from hundreds of colors and designs under the careful watch of Chandra. We went to the tailor to have everything fit properly. We also stopped to buy some gold bangles and bhindis before heading home. After a nice lunch, and a lovely nap, we went for a stroll with Chandra to her parents house down the road. They live with Chandra's brother and his family, with whom we enjoyed coffee straight from their coffee estate. Chandra's niece and nephew, both graduated from University and in their 20's, were very nice, and spoke perfect english. The niece, Nisha says she wants to join us at Bethania some days in the coming weeks, to help us with English lessons. Since she speaks Tamil, it should be really helpful with translating to the kids.
We leave tomorrow morning to go back to Bethania and I can't wait!
We got to explore the fields around the school and enjoyed the cool afternoon weather that comes with the rains yesterday. It was fun to walk by all the sapporta trees, cows, custard apple trees, and coconut trees. We had quite a few delicious meals and snacks; Chandra loves to feed us!
Today was quite exciting as it marked the beginning of a 10 day long festival. The music began blasting very early in the morning from nearby temples along with ringing bells. It was all quite beautiful. Chandra showed us the food that she had gotten up at 3am to prepare to take to her temple. One dish was called surinda, made of mango, coconut, chick peas, green peas and spices. Another, our favorite, was a type of sweet dumpling filled with sugar and cardamom spice. We had some fresh pomegranate and grapes from the vineyard we'd visited on Friday. After breakfast, we drove to a nearby village. We went to temple with Chandra which was a very interesting experience. A monk unlocked the temple and we admired all the beautiful statues and colorful paintings. It was interesting and unlike any other place of worship I've ever seen. The monk gave us white and red powder to put on our foreheads and jasmine for our hair. We visited a shrine of colorful dolls, set up for a festival, and the women there gave us bananas, banana leaves and sugar.
It was all very interesting.
Later we went shopping for clothes to wear with our sarees and other Indian clothes, shuridas, for the wedding in November. We bounced through the bustling town center on the dirt roads, crowded with people, honking bikes, and beautiful strings of flowers. We still get a lot of curious stares and are asked to take pictures with often, maybe more so since Kelsey was wearing Indian clothes. We stopped off at different dress shops, and made our selections from hundreds of colors and designs under the careful watch of Chandra. We went to the tailor to have everything fit properly. We also stopped to buy some gold bangles and bhindis before heading home. After a nice lunch, and a lovely nap, we went for a stroll with Chandra to her parents house down the road. They live with Chandra's brother and his family, with whom we enjoyed coffee straight from their coffee estate. Chandra's niece and nephew, both graduated from University and in their 20's, were very nice, and spoke perfect english. The niece, Nisha says she wants to join us at Bethania some days in the coming weeks, to help us with English lessons. Since she speaks Tamil, it should be really helpful with translating to the kids.
We leave tomorrow morning to go back to Bethania and I can't wait!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Trip to Thekkary! September 25th
It has been so nice getting to explore different parts of India! We went to Thekkary, India's largest wildlife sanctuary and oldest in the region. It is also the only Tiger Reserve, with a population of about 40 tigers (which we unfortunately couldn't see). It was 100km away in the next state over from Tamil Nadu, in Kerala.
Our day started at 5 am, when we woke up to leave here around 6. As were getting ready, we could here the loud voices and laughter of the school kids being dropped off. The school was taking 70 first to fifth graders on this annual field trip because they had finished their quarterly exams yesterday. There were also 30 teachers and helpers along too, and we easily filled up two large buses.
We got on one of the buses for our three hour car ride with all the children. There was a TV on the bus playing Tamil music videos, most notably everyone's favorite actor- Vijay :) the children shouted and sang along to the very loud music, as the cool morning wind whipped through our hair and we drove through the small villages along the road. We passed men selling bananas and vegetables from their stands, children playing on the sides of the street, flags- of political parties and of Pakistan, cows wandering the street, tall white oxen with long curved horns pulling carts of goods.. As we kept driving, we started to reach the Western Course mountain range that we would climb. In the fields up the slopes were a variety of the most intense colors of green I'd ever seen. We passed rice paddies which at first just looked like fields until you tilt your head at just the right angle so that you can see the thin, perfectly straight rows of water crossing through them. The women dressed in colorful saris bent in the paddys. We passed countless acres of coconut trees and untouched, wild jungle. We passed men working in the fields, women walking into their grass huts with buckets on their heads, herds of goats making their way along the side of the road. These sights, with the background sounds of blasting Tamil music, smells of fires and the nature, children yelling and laughing, the wind blowing in our faces, we felt just like we were in some kind of movie and embarking on an adventure.
On the TV, we could read the English translations of many of the Tamil lyrics. They were quite amusing :) For the most part, the women in the videos wore saris and had their knees covered, and they didn't show so much as a kiss. However, the intense dancing and lyrics proved to be just as, if not more, suggestive than many Western music videos. Some of the lines included:
"If you turn to rain. I will be your paddy field, and I will yield"
"You're half and I'm half. When we unite we'll be like Lord Shiva."
The primary school kids were all very sweet. We were asked countless times, "What is your name?" "What is your native place?" "How old are you?" Their English, for being so young, was quite impressive. Definitely more advanced than most kids at Bethania. The kids loved getting pictures taken of them and were eager to share any snacks they had with us. We had biscuits poking us in the eye from behind and candy being flung at us from up front. 'Please! Please take, eat!'
After the three hour bus ride and breakfast stop, we arrived in Thekkary. Driving up the steep mountain cliffs, over the pipes carrying down water, was exhilarating and the kids shrieked with every turn. We got out at the entrance and walked over to the massive man-made dam. We bought a snack of salted banana chips that we then had to hide from the monkeys surrounding the snack bar.
We then got on one of the boats. The boat ride was two hours, winding through the giant, man made lake. The children screamed and pointed as we passed all the submerged trees with huge beautiful birds perched in their nests atop these partially branches. The hills all around the lake were fantastic colors of greens and yellows. We saw huge animals emerging from the jungle to drink water, like bison and sambar deer. We saw beautiful birds of every color.
The most up close animals we saw were the monkeys. These little monkeys were literally everywhere, completely unafraid of humans and ready to take any food that they could find. We thought they were pretty cute at first, but our impressions changes to more fearful soon. They were crazy and bad, hanging around the snack area, leaping and growling at customers and snatching bags of potato or banana chips out of their hands or off the table. One monkey tried to climb in the ice cream freezer as a woman opened it to grab something out. All around people wielded sticks, shouting and threatening the crazy monkeys. Around the boat landing, monkey families played. The baby monkeys were so cute, hanging onto their mothers and playing in the bamboo. The male monkeys were very intimidating. The size of a Pattiveeranpatti elementary school student, they strode around authoritatively growling at students and eating trash. One monkey climbed into the branches of a tree right above the gathering of kids, all in their red and khaki uniforms, and made the branch bend all the way down till the top of his head nearly grazed the tops of the children's heads. When he let go, children screamed. Lots of close encounters with nature here at this nature preserve. It was an incredible boat ride and spending time with all the kids who we'll be teaching next month was quite enjoyable.
It was funny to have more pictures taken of us by other Indian tourists while there with the kids. We went to an education center afterwards, where we had lunch. We had brought food with us, a whole meal complete with idlly, curd rice and masala- not a typical easy picnic!
We stopped to do some shopping for souvenirs and gifts in a spice and tea shop on our way back. This area is known for its teas- we bought some cardamom flavored, our favorite. We also stopped at a large grape vineyard, but no wine being made there! They only sold grape juice, grape pulp, and plain grapes. Very flavorful and delicious! It had a gorgeous backdrop of the sun starting to set behind the mountains.
Though we were exhausted and wanting to sleep on the way home, the kids seemed to have just as much energy as when we started in the morning! They jumped and danced on the seats and in the isles along with the helpers there. We stopped for dinner on the way- our forth meal on the trip! It was a very fun and tiring trip!
Our day started at 5 am, when we woke up to leave here around 6. As were getting ready, we could here the loud voices and laughter of the school kids being dropped off. The school was taking 70 first to fifth graders on this annual field trip because they had finished their quarterly exams yesterday. There were also 30 teachers and helpers along too, and we easily filled up two large buses.
We got on one of the buses for our three hour car ride with all the children. There was a TV on the bus playing Tamil music videos, most notably everyone's favorite actor- Vijay :) the children shouted and sang along to the very loud music, as the cool morning wind whipped through our hair and we drove through the small villages along the road. We passed men selling bananas and vegetables from their stands, children playing on the sides of the street, flags- of political parties and of Pakistan, cows wandering the street, tall white oxen with long curved horns pulling carts of goods.. As we kept driving, we started to reach the Western Course mountain range that we would climb. In the fields up the slopes were a variety of the most intense colors of green I'd ever seen. We passed rice paddies which at first just looked like fields until you tilt your head at just the right angle so that you can see the thin, perfectly straight rows of water crossing through them. The women dressed in colorful saris bent in the paddys. We passed countless acres of coconut trees and untouched, wild jungle. We passed men working in the fields, women walking into their grass huts with buckets on their heads, herds of goats making their way along the side of the road. These sights, with the background sounds of blasting Tamil music, smells of fires and the nature, children yelling and laughing, the wind blowing in our faces, we felt just like we were in some kind of movie and embarking on an adventure.
On the TV, we could read the English translations of many of the Tamil lyrics. They were quite amusing :) For the most part, the women in the videos wore saris and had their knees covered, and they didn't show so much as a kiss. However, the intense dancing and lyrics proved to be just as, if not more, suggestive than many Western music videos. Some of the lines included:
"If you turn to rain. I will be your paddy field, and I will yield"
"You're half and I'm half. When we unite we'll be like Lord Shiva."
The primary school kids were all very sweet. We were asked countless times, "What is your name?" "What is your native place?" "How old are you?" Their English, for being so young, was quite impressive. Definitely more advanced than most kids at Bethania. The kids loved getting pictures taken of them and were eager to share any snacks they had with us. We had biscuits poking us in the eye from behind and candy being flung at us from up front. 'Please! Please take, eat!'
After the three hour bus ride and breakfast stop, we arrived in Thekkary. Driving up the steep mountain cliffs, over the pipes carrying down water, was exhilarating and the kids shrieked with every turn. We got out at the entrance and walked over to the massive man-made dam. We bought a snack of salted banana chips that we then had to hide from the monkeys surrounding the snack bar.
We then got on one of the boats. The boat ride was two hours, winding through the giant, man made lake. The children screamed and pointed as we passed all the submerged trees with huge beautiful birds perched in their nests atop these partially branches. The hills all around the lake were fantastic colors of greens and yellows. We saw huge animals emerging from the jungle to drink water, like bison and sambar deer. We saw beautiful birds of every color.
The most up close animals we saw were the monkeys. These little monkeys were literally everywhere, completely unafraid of humans and ready to take any food that they could find. We thought they were pretty cute at first, but our impressions changes to more fearful soon. They were crazy and bad, hanging around the snack area, leaping and growling at customers and snatching bags of potato or banana chips out of their hands or off the table. One monkey tried to climb in the ice cream freezer as a woman opened it to grab something out. All around people wielded sticks, shouting and threatening the crazy monkeys. Around the boat landing, monkey families played. The baby monkeys were so cute, hanging onto their mothers and playing in the bamboo. The male monkeys were very intimidating. The size of a Pattiveeranpatti elementary school student, they strode around authoritatively growling at students and eating trash. One monkey climbed into the branches of a tree right above the gathering of kids, all in their red and khaki uniforms, and made the branch bend all the way down till the top of his head nearly grazed the tops of the children's heads. When he let go, children screamed. Lots of close encounters with nature here at this nature preserve. It was an incredible boat ride and spending time with all the kids who we'll be teaching next month was quite enjoyable.
It was funny to have more pictures taken of us by other Indian tourists while there with the kids. We went to an education center afterwards, where we had lunch. We had brought food with us, a whole meal complete with idlly, curd rice and masala- not a typical easy picnic!
We stopped to do some shopping for souvenirs and gifts in a spice and tea shop on our way back. This area is known for its teas- we bought some cardamom flavored, our favorite. We also stopped at a large grape vineyard, but no wine being made there! They only sold grape juice, grape pulp, and plain grapes. Very flavorful and delicious! It had a gorgeous backdrop of the sun starting to set behind the mountains.
Though we were exhausted and wanting to sleep on the way home, the kids seemed to have just as much energy as when we started in the morning! They jumped and danced on the seats and in the isles along with the helpers there. We stopped for dinner on the way- our forth meal on the trip! It was a very fun and tiring trip!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
September 24th
We are now back at Chandra's house in Pattiveerenpatti after our first 3 nights at Bethania! It was hard to say bye and tell their sad faces that we were leaving for the weekend, but at least we'll be back on Monday! They have a week 'exam holiday' off school next week so it will be very busy with all the kids there.
This morning, we showed the 10 kids (those who only had afternoon exams) pictures of our families. They loved this. I showed them a picture of my (Kelsey's) whole family from last Christmas in Miami. "There are coconut trees in America, sister?". "Are these American shops, sister?". "Very beautiful!". They loved seeing pictures of sister Jenna again, my Appa (dad), Amma (mom), and my tangachi Lindsey. Muthumari informed me that Lindsey will be coming to Bethania when she graduates in two years, like her Aka's (older sisters). They also really liked the pictures of our two dogs, Flash and Roxi, and found it hilarious that our dogs sleep on dog beds inside and play with tennis balls. We also showed them a few pictures of them with Sister Ella and Sister Jenna from last year, which they loved. They went through to name everyone in the picture and point out everything in it, like "Lollipops!". We keep getting hints to bring out presents like they got last year from Jenna and Ellinor, but considering we still have 2 mon
ths here we figured it would be best to save some of our tricks!
Later, we made a little story book for MK. He's a young boy who had given us an adorable present of a paper envelope filled with torn out little pictures of animals and keepsakes. We wanted him to keep it for himself but he kept insisting that we take it. It was so sweet! So we made a little book with the pictures and stories about them. The kids here are so generous and love to give us things they make or find- peacock feathers, ferns, bird feathers, drawings, pages they had colored from the Curious George coloring book... even little, furry, bright red spiders which the boys didn't really understand why we didn't want. Seriously there are these relatively big, fuzzy, bright red spider bugs the boys keep in a pencil case and like to hold and pet. Crazy. We read some stories with the boys. Satish, best little english scholar, told english stories; old Tamil stories and stories from the Bible. Clever King Soloman and the Clever Crow, were two very good stories. ManiKumar was really enjoying I-spy along with sweet Sethu who was particularly skilled at the spying aspect of the story. :)
Later, we played Uno and drew with the girls in their room. All 21 girls sleep on mats in one large room. We also practiced reading from I Spy books with older girls. They can all read well, but have difficulty with comprehension and its hard for them to connect the words to what the actual thing is.
All the kids came home by 4, when we had our afternoon snack of a type of sweet grain and our fourth small hill banana of the day! After this, we packed up, burnt our garbage, and got in the Bethania bus to head back to Chandra's!
The drive from Bethania to Chandra's is exceptionally beautiful. You get a lovely view from the bumpy road of the green and stone mountains, Bethania is located under, through the fields and forests of coconut trees. As we were driving the sun was beginning to set, and the blue clouds hung over the mountains with the yelllow sun shining through. We passed many bustling town centers of coconut tree homes and lots of people. We passed a university along the way named "Engineering and Technical School for Women". This seems like the definition of where we are in India- rapid progress in gender equality, quick-spreading technology and fast development; all in the middle of farmland, a few meters away from a simple grass hut and with a man herding a few dozen goats with a stick right in front of its gates.
After another delicious dinner at Chandra's we learned about where we're going tomorrow on their school's field trip, with 70 elementary school children. A three hour drive away, we're going to India's most beautiful nature preserve, one state over. There is a huge lake, over 40 tigers, tons of elephants (you can ride) and lots more. We're really excited to tour more of this beautiful, amazing, crazy country.
This morning, we showed the 10 kids (those who only had afternoon exams) pictures of our families. They loved this. I showed them a picture of my (Kelsey's) whole family from last Christmas in Miami. "There are coconut trees in America, sister?". "Are these American shops, sister?". "Very beautiful!". They loved seeing pictures of sister Jenna again, my Appa (dad), Amma (mom), and my tangachi Lindsey. Muthumari informed me that Lindsey will be coming to Bethania when she graduates in two years, like her Aka's (older sisters). They also really liked the pictures of our two dogs, Flash and Roxi, and found it hilarious that our dogs sleep on dog beds inside and play with tennis balls. We also showed them a few pictures of them with Sister Ella and Sister Jenna from last year, which they loved. They went through to name everyone in the picture and point out everything in it, like "Lollipops!". We keep getting hints to bring out presents like they got last year from Jenna and Ellinor, but considering we still have 2 mon
ths here we figured it would be best to save some of our tricks!
Later, we made a little story book for MK. He's a young boy who had given us an adorable present of a paper envelope filled with torn out little pictures of animals and keepsakes. We wanted him to keep it for himself but he kept insisting that we take it. It was so sweet! So we made a little book with the pictures and stories about them. The kids here are so generous and love to give us things they make or find- peacock feathers, ferns, bird feathers, drawings, pages they had colored from the Curious George coloring book... even little, furry, bright red spiders which the boys didn't really understand why we didn't want. Seriously there are these relatively big, fuzzy, bright red spider bugs the boys keep in a pencil case and like to hold and pet. Crazy. We read some stories with the boys. Satish, best little english scholar, told english stories; old Tamil stories and stories from the Bible. Clever King Soloman and the Clever Crow, were two very good stories. ManiKumar was really enjoying I-spy along with sweet Sethu who was particularly skilled at the spying aspect of the story. :)
Later, we played Uno and drew with the girls in their room. All 21 girls sleep on mats in one large room. We also practiced reading from I Spy books with older girls. They can all read well, but have difficulty with comprehension and its hard for them to connect the words to what the actual thing is.
All the kids came home by 4, when we had our afternoon snack of a type of sweet grain and our fourth small hill banana of the day! After this, we packed up, burnt our garbage, and got in the Bethania bus to head back to Chandra's!
The drive from Bethania to Chandra's is exceptionally beautiful. You get a lovely view from the bumpy road of the green and stone mountains, Bethania is located under, through the fields and forests of coconut trees. As we were driving the sun was beginning to set, and the blue clouds hung over the mountains with the yelllow sun shining through. We passed many bustling town centers of coconut tree homes and lots of people. We passed a university along the way named "Engineering and Technical School for Women". This seems like the definition of where we are in India- rapid progress in gender equality, quick-spreading technology and fast development; all in the middle of farmland, a few meters away from a simple grass hut and with a man herding a few dozen goats with a stick right in front of its gates.
After another delicious dinner at Chandra's we learned about where we're going tomorrow on their school's field trip, with 70 elementary school children. A three hour drive away, we're going to India's most beautiful nature preserve, one state over. There is a huge lake, over 40 tigers, tons of elephants (you can ride) and lots more. We're really excited to tour more of this beautiful, amazing, crazy country.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Busy Bethania Day! Sept 23
Today was non-stop. Kids were here all day because it was an exam holiday, so only the youngest girls had school. It's so wonderful being with all the children, even though it can be overwhelming sometimes, with all the children shouting "sister! I sister! Sister!!!" vying for attention.
Today after breakfast we went for a walk in the mountains with some of the younger boys and older girls. It's incredibly beautiful here. Bethania is right at the bottom of these stone hill mountains. The boys ran ahead while we held hands with the girls and walked down the little paths and through the fields. Some of the older girls had made us bracelets which Big and Little Muthumari kindly tied on our wrist.
We carefully navigated the hard stones and spiny cacti in our sandals while the kids sprinted up the face of the mountain in their bare feet with newly painted toenails. Built into the rock was a small hindu temple where the kids climbed on the roof and filled it with peacock feathers and flowers- or the few that they hadn't given to us anyway! By the time we finished our hike are hands were overflowing with peacock feathers, flowers and ferns. When we reached the top of the mountain Nandini, big Kartick and Pandi gave us spines to carve our names in the cactus with. They carved their names and our names into the Cactus as well, while the other boys sprinted all around the mountain chasing peacocks and screaming 'monkey! Monkey!' Although I'm pretty sure there are no monkeys here. It was really hot up on that stone mountain side and it was a relief to go sit in the guava field while the kids climbed trees and picked fruit.
We returned to Bethania and got out big pieces of paper to trace kids and label body parts. We traced one little girl, Nandini and labeled everything. 'Hand. Nose, fingers' belly button was apparently the funniest thing any little girl had ever heard and was repeated throughout the day to a chorus of giggles. Hopefully that is not wildly inappropriate...oops. The boys carefully traced Sethu. Somehow leaving him with stick legs and a head much smaller than his hands, not to mention marker on his shirt and shorts. He was also labeled and titled " he is a great power ranger" by Setish, our little English scholar. He is very cute and smart. Quieter and more to himself, he loves to read and when you talk with him you realize he is also very excited about speaking English. He was making up English stories about pictures and telling them to me, full of excitement. It was very sweet.
Today when we awoke from our afternoon nap, the rains had thankfully begun, dumping buckets of water for a few hours, turning the play area into an arena of mud. The boys ran around in ponchos while the buckets designed to catch rain water overflowed. We decided to be in charge of snack, making bread with jam that VijayaSarathy bought us in Kodai along with a few packs of biscuits he also packed us. We spent an hour, carefully putting jam on 50 pieces of bread while the little boys crowded around watching. "Who you make for?" Asked Alegasarmy. "We are making toast for everyone!" "For me?" He asked surprised. Hahaa. "Yes." "Good Sister." When we finished he asked to take the jam to the kitchen, but Pandi and Joker later informed us that he and the other boys had just eaten all the rest of the jam. Oh well.
I've been drawing everyone's portrait today which has been pretty fun and exciting. It makes them happy, and it's fun to draw. The best is when other kids can tell who it is without being told. Rosie loved her portrait and was kissing it, while Kelsey says the one of crazy Laksmi looks just like her. Kelsey entertained some girls by cutting out butterfly shapes from colored paper which the girls then decorated. These were Nandhini's favorite, while M+M (little Muthumari) loved the paper outline that it was cut from! Meanwhile, big Muthumari decorated kelsey's whole hand once again with her beautiful gel pen henna decoration.
Before dinner we began English lessons with the younger girls, Priya, Moga, Nitiya, Lakshmi and Naga. We wrote down different words for every letter in the alphabet and then did charades. We had one of the little girls act out the thing while the others had to say it and point out where it was written on each of their papers. The octave at which they screamed the answer seemed to increase exponentially as the game progressed, but everyone seemed to be having fun and learning. After, we sat with the girls individually and helped them sound out the words they didn't know while the other girls played with an alphabet puzzle. Sounding out was more difficult as they tried to just guess rather than read, but everyone seemed to be improving and they were all excited about learning in a very sweet and genuine, if not, crazy loud way. When all else failed, they seemed to love to shout out oxen and dog, even though they weren't anywhere in our alphabet cards!
For dinner we had dosa, masala with egg, rice and each a banana, walampalam, which we end every meal with! It was quite delicious and a nice ending to a busy, fun day.
Today after breakfast we went for a walk in the mountains with some of the younger boys and older girls. It's incredibly beautiful here. Bethania is right at the bottom of these stone hill mountains. The boys ran ahead while we held hands with the girls and walked down the little paths and through the fields. Some of the older girls had made us bracelets which Big and Little Muthumari kindly tied on our wrist.
We carefully navigated the hard stones and spiny cacti in our sandals while the kids sprinted up the face of the mountain in their bare feet with newly painted toenails. Built into the rock was a small hindu temple where the kids climbed on the roof and filled it with peacock feathers and flowers- or the few that they hadn't given to us anyway! By the time we finished our hike are hands were overflowing with peacock feathers, flowers and ferns. When we reached the top of the mountain Nandini, big Kartick and Pandi gave us spines to carve our names in the cactus with. They carved their names and our names into the Cactus as well, while the other boys sprinted all around the mountain chasing peacocks and screaming 'monkey! Monkey!' Although I'm pretty sure there are no monkeys here. It was really hot up on that stone mountain side and it was a relief to go sit in the guava field while the kids climbed trees and picked fruit.
We returned to Bethania and got out big pieces of paper to trace kids and label body parts. We traced one little girl, Nandini and labeled everything. 'Hand. Nose, fingers' belly button was apparently the funniest thing any little girl had ever heard and was repeated throughout the day to a chorus of giggles. Hopefully that is not wildly inappropriate...oops. The boys carefully traced Sethu. Somehow leaving him with stick legs and a head much smaller than his hands, not to mention marker on his shirt and shorts. He was also labeled and titled " he is a great power ranger" by Setish, our little English scholar. He is very cute and smart. Quieter and more to himself, he loves to read and when you talk with him you realize he is also very excited about speaking English. He was making up English stories about pictures and telling them to me, full of excitement. It was very sweet.
Today when we awoke from our afternoon nap, the rains had thankfully begun, dumping buckets of water for a few hours, turning the play area into an arena of mud. The boys ran around in ponchos while the buckets designed to catch rain water overflowed. We decided to be in charge of snack, making bread with jam that VijayaSarathy bought us in Kodai along with a few packs of biscuits he also packed us. We spent an hour, carefully putting jam on 50 pieces of bread while the little boys crowded around watching. "Who you make for?" Asked Alegasarmy. "We are making toast for everyone!" "For me?" He asked surprised. Hahaa. "Yes." "Good Sister." When we finished he asked to take the jam to the kitchen, but Pandi and Joker later informed us that he and the other boys had just eaten all the rest of the jam. Oh well.
I've been drawing everyone's portrait today which has been pretty fun and exciting. It makes them happy, and it's fun to draw. The best is when other kids can tell who it is without being told. Rosie loved her portrait and was kissing it, while Kelsey says the one of crazy Laksmi looks just like her. Kelsey entertained some girls by cutting out butterfly shapes from colored paper which the girls then decorated. These were Nandhini's favorite, while M+M (little Muthumari) loved the paper outline that it was cut from! Meanwhile, big Muthumari decorated kelsey's whole hand once again with her beautiful gel pen henna decoration.
Before dinner we began English lessons with the younger girls, Priya, Moga, Nitiya, Lakshmi and Naga. We wrote down different words for every letter in the alphabet and then did charades. We had one of the little girls act out the thing while the others had to say it and point out where it was written on each of their papers. The octave at which they screamed the answer seemed to increase exponentially as the game progressed, but everyone seemed to be having fun and learning. After, we sat with the girls individually and helped them sound out the words they didn't know while the other girls played with an alphabet puzzle. Sounding out was more difficult as they tried to just guess rather than read, but everyone seemed to be improving and they were all excited about learning in a very sweet and genuine, if not, crazy loud way. When all else failed, they seemed to love to shout out oxen and dog, even though they weren't anywhere in our alphabet cards!
For dinner we had dosa, masala with egg, rice and each a banana, walampalam, which we end every meal with! It was quite delicious and a nice ending to a busy, fun day.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
September 22nd
September 22
This was a very long and fun day at Bethania! We woke up when we heard all the girls getting up to do their chores around 6.15. We then sat with the kids as half of them got ready to go to school for morning exams. Some older girls were braiding the younger ones' hair, some kids were pumping out water, some feeding the dogs, some studying... Big Muthumari, a leader among the children, braided everyone's hair. She's a freshman with a friendly smile. The kids are so sweet, always looking for nice things to do. Alegasarmy broke us open a coconut with a machete, for us to have coconut water with our morning tea. We then had prayer time with the children before breakfast. We stood and waved goodbye to half the kids as they left for school. "Bye sister!" "Goodbye sister!"
We went to go play Uno cards and draw with the year 7 boys as the older girls studied. They are all very fun, trouble makers but very sweet. We colored curious george coloring books and read the english stories. We went for a walk and they climbed trees to pick Guavas for us. These boys sure can climb trees! Yesterday ChellaPandi climbed two stories up a tree with hardly any branches to get a ball stuck on the roof. I love all their smiles and sweet, fun personalities.
Pandi is a little gentleman who wanted to give us more guavas than we could hold. Antony is very smart and affectionate, and loved coloring. Alagarsan is outgoing and louder, while still very sweet at heart. They're all such individuals and love and need all the attention we can give!
By 12 the kids here left for their exams while the morning exam kids came home. We played Uno with the grade 6, 8 and 12th grade boys until lunch.
After resting a while, it was back to games! We took down some nail polish and nail stickers for the girls which quickly turned into a huge activity for the boys and girls. I painted Nandini's, Vena's and many more girls' nails, and when I looked up the younger boys were also coming up to me to show me their rose, blue and green nails with butterfly and heart stickers!
A big hit was also a game of capture the flag, though we're not sure if the concept of being stuck in jail ever sunk in. Especially true for Kumar, a year 8 boy who is very fast and took off with the flag no matter what!
Several tag games later, as it started to get dark, we sat outside with all the kids for bible reading and prayer time. Their singing and reciting in Tamil sounds so musical and lovely, especially combined with the noises of nature outside. We tried to follow along in our English bible.
The coloring books, crayons and gel pens later came back out, a huge hit. Paige drew portraits of many little girls- Priya, Moogambigai.. Kelsey also tried to draw some animal pictures for the girls, though with considerably less artistic ability! Stickers as always disappeared quickly, though the kids always ask before taking and not a single crayon or pen ever goes missing. The children are all so sweet and loving, and we're so glad to be here!
This was a very long and fun day at Bethania! We woke up when we heard all the girls getting up to do their chores around 6.15. We then sat with the kids as half of them got ready to go to school for morning exams. Some older girls were braiding the younger ones' hair, some kids were pumping out water, some feeding the dogs, some studying... Big Muthumari, a leader among the children, braided everyone's hair. She's a freshman with a friendly smile. The kids are so sweet, always looking for nice things to do. Alegasarmy broke us open a coconut with a machete, for us to have coconut water with our morning tea. We then had prayer time with the children before breakfast. We stood and waved goodbye to half the kids as they left for school. "Bye sister!" "Goodbye sister!"
We went to go play Uno cards and draw with the year 7 boys as the older girls studied. They are all very fun, trouble makers but very sweet. We colored curious george coloring books and read the english stories. We went for a walk and they climbed trees to pick Guavas for us. These boys sure can climb trees! Yesterday ChellaPandi climbed two stories up a tree with hardly any branches to get a ball stuck on the roof. I love all their smiles and sweet, fun personalities.
Pandi is a little gentleman who wanted to give us more guavas than we could hold. Antony is very smart and affectionate, and loved coloring. Alagarsan is outgoing and louder, while still very sweet at heart. They're all such individuals and love and need all the attention we can give!
By 12 the kids here left for their exams while the morning exam kids came home. We played Uno with the grade 6, 8 and 12th grade boys until lunch.
After resting a while, it was back to games! We took down some nail polish and nail stickers for the girls which quickly turned into a huge activity for the boys and girls. I painted Nandini's, Vena's and many more girls' nails, and when I looked up the younger boys were also coming up to me to show me their rose, blue and green nails with butterfly and heart stickers!
A big hit was also a game of capture the flag, though we're not sure if the concept of being stuck in jail ever sunk in. Especially true for Kumar, a year 8 boy who is very fast and took off with the flag no matter what!
Several tag games later, as it started to get dark, we sat outside with all the kids for bible reading and prayer time. Their singing and reciting in Tamil sounds so musical and lovely, especially combined with the noises of nature outside. We tried to follow along in our English bible.
The coloring books, crayons and gel pens later came back out, a huge hit. Paige drew portraits of many little girls- Priya, Moogambigai.. Kelsey also tried to draw some animal pictures for the girls, though with considerably less artistic ability! Stickers as always disappeared quickly, though the kids always ask before taking and not a single crayon or pen ever goes missing. The children are all so sweet and loving, and we're so glad to be here!
First day at Bethania, Sept 21st
September 21st
We arrived at Bethania, Children's home today. We woke up, packed our things and hopped in the jeep with Vijayasarathy. Along our bumpy ride, with the windows open, we passed villages, where all the homes had roofs made of dried coconut tree leaves and the people were all barefoot. The village centers were still bustling and crowded even though the streets were all dirt. We drove farther into the countryside, passing fields and coconut trees till we arrived at a small dirt road with a sign saying 'Kannivali Public School' and another reading 'Bethania Organization' after rumbling down the narrow dirt path for 2 kilometers we reached Bethania. The children sat outside on the ground, reading and studying, no school today for Ramadan. Dogs (Puppy, Peanut and Zeus) and two baby puppies played in the yard near one cow and two baby cows. After settling into our room next to the girls' dorm and having a glass of lime juice we started to meet everyone. The boys first, introducing themselves, smiling and laughing. Everyone is excited that Sister Kelsey is Sister Jenna's sister. So many new names to learn, long, complicated Tamil names. The youngest boy is 7, named Kartick. There are many boys who are between 9 and 11 and the eldest is 18. I played ball with the younger boys, flinging it in the air while everyone ran to catch it, pushing and screaming and laughing. "Sister Catch! Sister!" Kelsey played some games with the girls, like duck duck goose and other tagging games. Two younger girls, Nandini and Priya, were very eager to teach me their games. Muthamari, an older girl, thankfully was there to clarify the game rules and explain what was going on. It was hard to share all of our attention, with the quieter kids too. Two boys, Anthony and MK, showed me their string game and introduced me to the baby chickens. The girls were very sweet. Giving us tours of the land, "This is cow house.. this is chapel, beautiful Sister. Chapel super." Our new friend Ramni climbed a tree for us and picked us some guava fruit, but it was unlike any we'd seen before. We played all kinds of games, ran races and hopped on one foot playing tag. One time both the tennis balls got stuck on the roof and one of the boys, climbed two stories on a thin tree, with no branches to get them and then slid down. It was vastly impressive. We sang songs with the girls, songs about God they knew in English and then they made requests like 'Barbie Girl' and then we sang songs we both knew like Bob Marley songs. Kelsey wasn't as excited about singing as the other girls and I were. In the evenings we had tea and then the children had prayer, where we all sat on the ground sang songs, read from the Tamil Bible and prayed. We then had an english class for the kids year 2 through year 5. We brought out the uno cards and learned numbers, colors and other Uno vocabulary like "my turn" "your turn" "go." It was quite a success, especially when everyone got stickers when they finished.
It has been a very full, very fun day and I'm so happy to be here.
It's very beautiful here, nestled in the foot hills, with peacocks around, and fields and trees. There is a drought right now but rain is expected by next week. Today it rained some when we arrived. "Sister! Rain you are bringing! Rain!" I hope the real rains come soon though. "Sister, I pray for rain, Sister." For now, we're becoming experts at showers from buckets at least!
We arrived at Bethania, Children's home today. We woke up, packed our things and hopped in the jeep with Vijayasarathy. Along our bumpy ride, with the windows open, we passed villages, where all the homes had roofs made of dried coconut tree leaves and the people were all barefoot. The village centers were still bustling and crowded even though the streets were all dirt. We drove farther into the countryside, passing fields and coconut trees till we arrived at a small dirt road with a sign saying 'Kannivali Public School' and another reading 'Bethania Organization' after rumbling down the narrow dirt path for 2 kilometers we reached Bethania. The children sat outside on the ground, reading and studying, no school today for Ramadan. Dogs (Puppy, Peanut and Zeus) and two baby puppies played in the yard near one cow and two baby cows. After settling into our room next to the girls' dorm and having a glass of lime juice we started to meet everyone. The boys first, introducing themselves, smiling and laughing. Everyone is excited that Sister Kelsey is Sister Jenna's sister. So many new names to learn, long, complicated Tamil names. The youngest boy is 7, named Kartick. There are many boys who are between 9 and 11 and the eldest is 18. I played ball with the younger boys, flinging it in the air while everyone ran to catch it, pushing and screaming and laughing. "Sister Catch! Sister!" Kelsey played some games with the girls, like duck duck goose and other tagging games. Two younger girls, Nandini and Priya, were very eager to teach me their games. Muthamari, an older girl, thankfully was there to clarify the game rules and explain what was going on. It was hard to share all of our attention, with the quieter kids too. Two boys, Anthony and MK, showed me their string game and introduced me to the baby chickens. The girls were very sweet. Giving us tours of the land, "This is cow house.. this is chapel, beautiful Sister. Chapel super." Our new friend Ramni climbed a tree for us and picked us some guava fruit, but it was unlike any we'd seen before. We played all kinds of games, ran races and hopped on one foot playing tag. One time both the tennis balls got stuck on the roof and one of the boys, climbed two stories on a thin tree, with no branches to get them and then slid down. It was vastly impressive. We sang songs with the girls, songs about God they knew in English and then they made requests like 'Barbie Girl' and then we sang songs we both knew like Bob Marley songs. Kelsey wasn't as excited about singing as the other girls and I were. In the evenings we had tea and then the children had prayer, where we all sat on the ground sang songs, read from the Tamil Bible and prayed. We then had an english class for the kids year 2 through year 5. We brought out the uno cards and learned numbers, colors and other Uno vocabulary like "my turn" "your turn" "go." It was quite a success, especially when everyone got stickers when they finished.
It has been a very full, very fun day and I'm so happy to be here.
It's very beautiful here, nestled in the foot hills, with peacocks around, and fields and trees. There is a drought right now but rain is expected by next week. Today it rained some when we arrived. "Sister! Rain you are bringing! Rain!" I hope the real rains come soon though. "Sister, I pray for rain, Sister." For now, we're becoming experts at showers from buckets at least!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Last Day in Kodai! Sept 20th
This was our last day in Kodai! Though it is sad to leave our friends, Rani and Jason and their family, we will be happy to return to a much warmer, less rainy climate. We had a delicious last breakfast here with eggs with coconut chutney and dosa with a gravy. Its hard for us to imagine a non-salty breakfast anymore! We have been getting our sweet fix from the fresh home-made chocolate that Kodai is famous for, and Cadbury's chocolate bars from our nearby British Spencer's shop. We enjoy giving these out as presents to people too :). We also had some fresh "walapalam", bananas, that we got from a fresh fruit stand. Food here tastes so much fresher and more flavorful than elsewhere, and is much less expensive since everything is grown in local farms or family gardens.
We did a lot of exploring today, walking through the Kodai school's large, hilly campus and to see their church. Unfortunately we came too late for the Sunday service, but enjoyed sitting in the stone chapel nevertheless, reading some hymns. We then walked through the town on our own, taking pictures of the busy streets, men selling jasmine flowers, shops, and cows and dogs on the side of the road. There are many beggars on the street too, but all older women and men, unlike the young boys asking for change in Chennai. We sat for a while sketching by a quite street on a stone wall overlooking part of the town and fields. We received many honks and amused looks, even from a few stray dogs and a perplexed cow. We sketched some houses with laundry hanging outside, a veiled Muslim woman holding the hand of her son as they walked out of a health clinic, and a mother balancing a barrel of clothing on the head while struggling to get her toddler son to follow her.
We then went through the Sunday market that was set up in town. All of a sudden, it was as if in this one street our peaceful town turned into a big city. Vendors stood in front of carts or sat on blankets with goods displayed on burlap sacks in front of them. Jewelry, pomegranate, butter fruit, bananas, garlic, okra, tree tomatoes, used shoes (that we guessed had been taken from outside of temples), machetes, lentils, peppers, chickens... It was exciting walking through the crowded, narrow alley with the sounds of people bartering and yelling to attract customers, and bright colors of fruit and vegetables. We're still working on our bargaining skills though, and have only been able to reduce prices by a few dozen rupees.
We had lunch at a great Tibetan restaurant before heading home to pack up and get ready for returning to Pattiveeranpatti!
We did a lot of exploring today, walking through the Kodai school's large, hilly campus and to see their church. Unfortunately we came too late for the Sunday service, but enjoyed sitting in the stone chapel nevertheless, reading some hymns. We then walked through the town on our own, taking pictures of the busy streets, men selling jasmine flowers, shops, and cows and dogs on the side of the road. There are many beggars on the street too, but all older women and men, unlike the young boys asking for change in Chennai. We sat for a while sketching by a quite street on a stone wall overlooking part of the town and fields. We received many honks and amused looks, even from a few stray dogs and a perplexed cow. We sketched some houses with laundry hanging outside, a veiled Muslim woman holding the hand of her son as they walked out of a health clinic, and a mother balancing a barrel of clothing on the head while struggling to get her toddler son to follow her.
We then went through the Sunday market that was set up in town. All of a sudden, it was as if in this one street our peaceful town turned into a big city. Vendors stood in front of carts or sat on blankets with goods displayed on burlap sacks in front of them. Jewelry, pomegranate, butter fruit, bananas, garlic, okra, tree tomatoes, used shoes (that we guessed had been taken from outside of temples), machetes, lentils, peppers, chickens... It was exciting walking through the crowded, narrow alley with the sounds of people bartering and yelling to attract customers, and bright colors of fruit and vegetables. We're still working on our bargaining skills though, and have only been able to reduce prices by a few dozen rupees.
We had lunch at a great Tibetan restaurant before heading home to pack up and get ready for returning to Pattiveeranpatti!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
The Jungle Book! (Kodai hike, September 19th)
We awoke to a fresh cup of coffee and two pieces of chocolate cake from our new friend, Angel, Rani and Jason's very sweet daughter. She has this beautiful, long, black hair, goes almost to her knees. While we sat there enjoying our coffee, there was a knock on the door from our hiking guide, Peter. He joined us for a delicious breakfast. This new kind of fried, puffy chapatti. So good.
Equipped with our cameras, backpacks and ridiculous, knee-high, man socks we bought in town we headed out with Peter for our '3 hour' hike to Dolphin Nose rock. We walked through the town, passing so many cows, trudging in the mud and lazing around munching on grass in fields of flowers. Women carrying wood on their heads passed us while we walked, off the main road onto winding paths lined with flowers. After about a mile we reached our first viewing point. It was unbelievable, indescribable. We are so high up in the mountains, the clouds are below us, nestled in the blue mountains. We hiked for many hours, trying to avoid slipping down the steep rock paths or tripping on the huge roots carpeting the ground. The honeymooning couples, brides dressed in beautiful saris with bare feet walked beside us, carefully navigating the muddy stones. It was magical being up in the green mountains, misty clouds all around us, and waterfalls and eucalyptus trees painting the mountains side. There were colorful houses with bright laundry hanging outside and people washing their clothes by the river. We climbed out on the edge of the rocks sticking out into the sky, the mountains all around us, with the clouds all around us. Sometimes the white mist would wrap around us so that everything was white, but then it would clear and the incredible green mountains leading up to the flat plains (where Bethania Orphanage and Chandra's school are) would come into sight. I was so scared standing on those rocks, sticking out into the thin air, the clouds all around, but I was brave for some photos. Hahaa.
After taking in the views we headed back up the mountain huffing and puffing in the thin air, stopping on small benches for breaks along the way, while the smiling honeymoon couples skipped ahead of us. Peter our guide taught us lots of Tamil words during our hike, and we practiced as we walked, learning 'how are you?' 'Good.' 'Tree, cow' all in Tamil. Peter says we'll be speaking good Tamil by the time we leave in November.
We hiked to a huge set of waterfalls, deep in the jungle. It was incredible, beautiful waterfalls, jungle trees and vines all around us as we climbed in the waterfall and balanced on the rocks in the river. The jungle was so full of clouds and mist. Peter pointed out the bison footprints in the mud and the place where he saw a 9 foot long black python. It was like out of jungle book..
Just as we reached the road, after leaving the waterfalls, it began to pour and we had to duck inside a tiny hut to escape the rain. Luckily I was there to entertain with singing! No need to thank me, kelsey and peter.
We then enjoyed a nice lunch at a Tibetan restaurant in town, full of poster of the Dalai Lama and signs saying '50 years, occupation.'
After our delicious lunch we headed home for coffee with Rani's family and to practice our newly learned Tamil.
Tomorrow is our last day in Kodai before we head back to the hot, dry plains with Chandra. :)
Equipped with our cameras, backpacks and ridiculous, knee-high, man socks we bought in town we headed out with Peter for our '3 hour' hike to Dolphin Nose rock. We walked through the town, passing so many cows, trudging in the mud and lazing around munching on grass in fields of flowers. Women carrying wood on their heads passed us while we walked, off the main road onto winding paths lined with flowers. After about a mile we reached our first viewing point. It was unbelievable, indescribable. We are so high up in the mountains, the clouds are below us, nestled in the blue mountains. We hiked for many hours, trying to avoid slipping down the steep rock paths or tripping on the huge roots carpeting the ground. The honeymooning couples, brides dressed in beautiful saris with bare feet walked beside us, carefully navigating the muddy stones. It was magical being up in the green mountains, misty clouds all around us, and waterfalls and eucalyptus trees painting the mountains side. There were colorful houses with bright laundry hanging outside and people washing their clothes by the river. We climbed out on the edge of the rocks sticking out into the sky, the mountains all around us, with the clouds all around us. Sometimes the white mist would wrap around us so that everything was white, but then it would clear and the incredible green mountains leading up to the flat plains (where Bethania Orphanage and Chandra's school are) would come into sight. I was so scared standing on those rocks, sticking out into the thin air, the clouds all around, but I was brave for some photos. Hahaa.
After taking in the views we headed back up the mountain huffing and puffing in the thin air, stopping on small benches for breaks along the way, while the smiling honeymoon couples skipped ahead of us. Peter our guide taught us lots of Tamil words during our hike, and we practiced as we walked, learning 'how are you?' 'Good.' 'Tree, cow' all in Tamil. Peter says we'll be speaking good Tamil by the time we leave in November.
We hiked to a huge set of waterfalls, deep in the jungle. It was incredible, beautiful waterfalls, jungle trees and vines all around us as we climbed in the waterfall and balanced on the rocks in the river. The jungle was so full of clouds and mist. Peter pointed out the bison footprints in the mud and the place where he saw a 9 foot long black python. It was like out of jungle book..
Just as we reached the road, after leaving the waterfalls, it began to pour and we had to duck inside a tiny hut to escape the rain. Luckily I was there to entertain with singing! No need to thank me, kelsey and peter.
We then enjoyed a nice lunch at a Tibetan restaurant in town, full of poster of the Dalai Lama and signs saying '50 years, occupation.'
After our delicious lunch we headed home for coffee with Rani's family and to practice our newly learned Tamil.
Tomorrow is our last day in Kodai before we head back to the hot, dry plains with Chandra. :)
Friday, September 18, 2009
Life in the clouds!
Friday, September 18th
Today was quite eventful! We woke up to warm coffee and a different treat for breakfast- eggs dipped in coconut chutney! After breakfast we went to bring down our plates and talk to Rani and Jason a while. Rani tends to want to speak to us in Tamil, and she's so friendly that we just smile, laugh and nod even though we really have no idea what she's saying. We gave her a bar of chocolate, which she appreciated!
At 9.30 we were met by Anthony who took us in his van for a driving tour of Kodai and the surround area. It was beautiful! We drove higher up into the mountains, taking pictures of the town below, monkeys on the street, cows grazing on the side of the road, and several groups of women walking single file on the edge of the street, elegantly balancing timber tied together with string on their heads... At times it felt as if we were inside of a cloud, it was so foggy and the air was thin. We first stopped at a pine tree forest, woods filled with only very tall, skinny pine trees. There were steep hills throughout, all with these thin pine trees. There were many tourists also there, lighting up the woods with their brightly colored saris. We were stopped by four teenage school girls who started talking to us in English, saying, "Hello. Your name is? Very beautiful! Beautiful hair!" Soon, the rest of the girl's group came over to us, until we were surrounded by a group of more than a dozen giggling school girls asking us questions. It was fun, and they were quite amused by us. It must be quite rare to get two teenage white girls traveling on their own here! We took lots of photos with our new friends.
We continued our drive to different spots where we walked to see views of pillar rock. Unfortunately, because of the rainy weather we couldn't see too well except for when the fog lifted. It was hard to always keep up with Anthony as he expertly navigated his way through streams and over rocks. We aren't used to the altitude yet and when walking felt out of breath really quickly! It seemed like Anthony was sprinting ahead of us as he walked at his normal pace.
We stopped for a while at the popular pillar rock viewing point, where we bought some postcards so that we could tell what view we were supposed to have from there! We also stopped to walk around in the flower garden where about 7 men asked to take pictures with us. Somehow they had the pictures printed out by the time we were leaving the garden, and we probably confused them by taking a picture of them holding pictures of all of us :)
After this, we went to see Green View which was supposed to have a spectacular view of the valley if it weren't for the fog. Nevertheless, we had an amusing time seeing all of the vendors and tons of monkeys running around, playing, growling and stealing from the vendors. They were eating out of people's hands and sneaking food out of the garbage. We got some good close-up pictures of them, as they all seemed to have forgotten to be scared around people. Boys ran to hit them with sticks while some people held out their hands to feed the monkeys.!
Continuing our drive, we saw a waterfall, view of Kodai lake, and a 500 year old Jaman tree. We then stopped at Our Lady of La Saleth shrine church, which is 150 years old. We learned that it is only one of two churches in world dedicated to Our Lady of La Saleth, the other being in France. The Tamil-French architecture was beautiful, with a sky blue outline on the white building framing the church before the surrounding mountains.
Inside the architecture was quite interesting. The colorful Madonna statue and sparkly gold paper covering the back wall evoked the bright colors so present in Indian culture. People knelt on the floor and prayed.
As we headed back into town, we stopped at a Natural History museum of the old Christian College. It was full of jars of preserved animals like snakes and goats, as well as stuffed mammals such as jackals, tigers, monkeys and bison, as well as other species that used to be found here whose populations have since been wiped out. It had an aura of colonial-time scientific experiments involving the biology and practices of "natives" and their animals. It was interesting to see, though was somewhat creepy. Besides this, they had old coins from around the world and, completely unrelated to anything else there, a newspaper cut out announcing President Obama's inauguration.
We then stopped at the oldest post office of Tamil Nadu, where people had to travel to from far away if they wanted to mail anything in the olden days. It was very sweet, small one room, red building with a large desk, behind which a nice woman dressed in a simple sari sold stamps. After this, we headed for lunch at a nice hotel where we ordered 4 separate dishes to share and spent less than $4 in total, including a too large tip! The waiters really enjoyed serving us from the dishes on our table and piled our plates high with much more food than we wanted!
After returning back to our cottage, we went for another walk around the lake. We had our portraits painted by an artist, blind in one eye with a friendly smile. He charged us a lot, even after we bargained him down. But when Paige sat down near him to sketch the lake, he ran over to join us. Giving us other artwork that he had done and sketching for us the trees, lake and more portraits. He so much enjoyed Paige's pen, from her dentist, we let him keep it. We were joined there by his father, a man dressed in tattered clothes intent on selling us honey, but also very generous in sharing his umbrella. A homeless beggar also joined our lake side, art crew and we shared some Costco fruit snacks with him. When the rain came down too hard, we took our art and decided to take cover and say goodbye. Walking back, we were once again caught in a downpour!
Today was quite eventful! We woke up to warm coffee and a different treat for breakfast- eggs dipped in coconut chutney! After breakfast we went to bring down our plates and talk to Rani and Jason a while. Rani tends to want to speak to us in Tamil, and she's so friendly that we just smile, laugh and nod even though we really have no idea what she's saying. We gave her a bar of chocolate, which she appreciated!
At 9.30 we were met by Anthony who took us in his van for a driving tour of Kodai and the surround area. It was beautiful! We drove higher up into the mountains, taking pictures of the town below, monkeys on the street, cows grazing on the side of the road, and several groups of women walking single file on the edge of the street, elegantly balancing timber tied together with string on their heads... At times it felt as if we were inside of a cloud, it was so foggy and the air was thin. We first stopped at a pine tree forest, woods filled with only very tall, skinny pine trees. There were steep hills throughout, all with these thin pine trees. There were many tourists also there, lighting up the woods with their brightly colored saris. We were stopped by four teenage school girls who started talking to us in English, saying, "Hello. Your name is? Very beautiful! Beautiful hair!" Soon, the rest of the girl's group came over to us, until we were surrounded by a group of more than a dozen giggling school girls asking us questions. It was fun, and they were quite amused by us. It must be quite rare to get two teenage white girls traveling on their own here! We took lots of photos with our new friends.
We continued our drive to different spots where we walked to see views of pillar rock. Unfortunately, because of the rainy weather we couldn't see too well except for when the fog lifted. It was hard to always keep up with Anthony as he expertly navigated his way through streams and over rocks. We aren't used to the altitude yet and when walking felt out of breath really quickly! It seemed like Anthony was sprinting ahead of us as he walked at his normal pace.
We stopped for a while at the popular pillar rock viewing point, where we bought some postcards so that we could tell what view we were supposed to have from there! We also stopped to walk around in the flower garden where about 7 men asked to take pictures with us. Somehow they had the pictures printed out by the time we were leaving the garden, and we probably confused them by taking a picture of them holding pictures of all of us :)
After this, we went to see Green View which was supposed to have a spectacular view of the valley if it weren't for the fog. Nevertheless, we had an amusing time seeing all of the vendors and tons of monkeys running around, playing, growling and stealing from the vendors. They were eating out of people's hands and sneaking food out of the garbage. We got some good close-up pictures of them, as they all seemed to have forgotten to be scared around people. Boys ran to hit them with sticks while some people held out their hands to feed the monkeys.!
Continuing our drive, we saw a waterfall, view of Kodai lake, and a 500 year old Jaman tree. We then stopped at Our Lady of La Saleth shrine church, which is 150 years old. We learned that it is only one of two churches in world dedicated to Our Lady of La Saleth, the other being in France. The Tamil-French architecture was beautiful, with a sky blue outline on the white building framing the church before the surrounding mountains.
Inside the architecture was quite interesting. The colorful Madonna statue and sparkly gold paper covering the back wall evoked the bright colors so present in Indian culture. People knelt on the floor and prayed.
As we headed back into town, we stopped at a Natural History museum of the old Christian College. It was full of jars of preserved animals like snakes and goats, as well as stuffed mammals such as jackals, tigers, monkeys and bison, as well as other species that used to be found here whose populations have since been wiped out. It had an aura of colonial-time scientific experiments involving the biology and practices of "natives" and their animals. It was interesting to see, though was somewhat creepy. Besides this, they had old coins from around the world and, completely unrelated to anything else there, a newspaper cut out announcing President Obama's inauguration.
We then stopped at the oldest post office of Tamil Nadu, where people had to travel to from far away if they wanted to mail anything in the olden days. It was very sweet, small one room, red building with a large desk, behind which a nice woman dressed in a simple sari sold stamps. After this, we headed for lunch at a nice hotel where we ordered 4 separate dishes to share and spent less than $4 in total, including a too large tip! The waiters really enjoyed serving us from the dishes on our table and piled our plates high with much more food than we wanted!
After returning back to our cottage, we went for another walk around the lake. We had our portraits painted by an artist, blind in one eye with a friendly smile. He charged us a lot, even after we bargained him down. But when Paige sat down near him to sketch the lake, he ran over to join us. Giving us other artwork that he had done and sketching for us the trees, lake and more portraits. He so much enjoyed Paige's pen, from her dentist, we let him keep it. We were joined there by his father, a man dressed in tattered clothes intent on selling us honey, but also very generous in sharing his umbrella. A homeless beggar also joined our lake side, art crew and we shared some Costco fruit snacks with him. When the rain came down too hard, we took our art and decided to take cover and say goodbye. Walking back, we were once again caught in a downpour!
Thursday, September 17th... Monsoon in Kodai!
Thursday was our first full day in Kodaikanal. Its definitely much colder and rainier than expected! The warm coffee was a nice wake-up tho! We had planned to take a driving tour of the town, but this was cancelled due to poor visibility from the rain clouds. Instead, we spent the morning exploring and walked all the way around the big lake in the center of town. Though cloudy and foggy out, the natural beauty was clear! We stopped to take pictures of beautiful white trumpet flowers, lily pads on the lake, views of the surrounding mountains, couples taking peddle boats around the lake, and the cute dogs napping on the sidewalk... It's very peaceful here, and a popular off the beaten track tourist destination for Indians. We went back to the Kodaikanal Int'l School for lunch with some of the staff there. It was nice for us to have a whole separate level for a vegetarian-only cuisine! Paige, who's been eating only vegetarian food too, and I are glad that we probably chose the best country in the world to be vegetarians in!
It was nice to be at the school, and funny to think that the students there are completing the same IB program way up here in this hill station as we did at AIS in Atlanta! As Barbara told us, the school tries to keep the total of the student body half Indian and half non-Indian, and half Christian and half non-Christian. Besides Indian, other common nationalities are Korean, Thai, Bangladeshi, and some Europeans on exchange semesters or years.
We had a nice conversation with the school's Christian chaplain who's from Madurai about how the missionaries founded this school for their children and chose the location so that they could escape the heat and mosquitoes of the rest of South India. He was a very funny guy. He loved to laugh about what he saw on American television here, like CNN. (ATL represent) The fact that Obama killing a fly made the news made all the teachers we were eating lunch with nearly fall out of their chairs laughing. "Perhaps flies are rare there." One teacher speculated, while everyone laughed. The Chaplain studied to be a Presbyterian minister, but the school is non-denominational, Protestant. To this day, Catholicism is the predominate religion in most hill stations in this area. They discussed being Christian Indians, where 3 percent of a billion is still a lot of people, yet a minority in a Hindu dominated country. We discussed Atlanta, and learned that the President of Coke is an alumni to this school! He was suspended when he went here though and there are many anti-coca-cola posters around the school, protesting their role in depleting India's drinking water and poisoning its people.
Following lunch, we decided to buy warmer clothes so that we wouldn't have to repeat being frozen like last night! While purchasing our warm shawls we got stuck in a massive rain storm. It seems as if our plan to arrive in late september to avoid the monsoons failed, as they are just arriving now! Nothing dries up in the mountains. Our books all curl up with the humid air and our hair stays wet for hours. The monsoons keep all the flowers beautiful, and hillside lush and green. We huddled together under our umbrella, borrowed from our friend Jason, and got were honked at aggressively as we tried to avoid the river running down one side of the road, and the mud splashing up from the trucks, all marked with 'Jesus saves,' 'God is great.' 'Honk!' No need to remind anyone to honk here. We were laughing though, at how silly we must look, trudging through the monsoon. The afternoon rains only appear to last for an hour or so, so perhaps next time we will just stop and relax somewhere rather than thugging it out in the rain. That seemed to be everyone elses plan as were the only people who appeared to be rushing through the rain.
We were happy to get back to our cottage though, and get our sweet, hot coffee from Rani, and wrap our newly purchased warm shawls around us. Rani's mother, Uma, was also there, smiling and wobbling her head at us. She's very sweet. Here people rarely nod or shake their heads, rather they just wobble their heads often. We're trying to learn, but Naman says you have to be Indian to ever master it. Sighhh.
It was nice to be at the school, and funny to think that the students there are completing the same IB program way up here in this hill station as we did at AIS in Atlanta! As Barbara told us, the school tries to keep the total of the student body half Indian and half non-Indian, and half Christian and half non-Christian. Besides Indian, other common nationalities are Korean, Thai, Bangladeshi, and some Europeans on exchange semesters or years.
We had a nice conversation with the school's Christian chaplain who's from Madurai about how the missionaries founded this school for their children and chose the location so that they could escape the heat and mosquitoes of the rest of South India. He was a very funny guy. He loved to laugh about what he saw on American television here, like CNN. (ATL represent) The fact that Obama killing a fly made the news made all the teachers we were eating lunch with nearly fall out of their chairs laughing. "Perhaps flies are rare there." One teacher speculated, while everyone laughed. The Chaplain studied to be a Presbyterian minister, but the school is non-denominational, Protestant. To this day, Catholicism is the predominate religion in most hill stations in this area. They discussed being Christian Indians, where 3 percent of a billion is still a lot of people, yet a minority in a Hindu dominated country. We discussed Atlanta, and learned that the President of Coke is an alumni to this school! He was suspended when he went here though and there are many anti-coca-cola posters around the school, protesting their role in depleting India's drinking water and poisoning its people.
Following lunch, we decided to buy warmer clothes so that we wouldn't have to repeat being frozen like last night! While purchasing our warm shawls we got stuck in a massive rain storm. It seems as if our plan to arrive in late september to avoid the monsoons failed, as they are just arriving now! Nothing dries up in the mountains. Our books all curl up with the humid air and our hair stays wet for hours. The monsoons keep all the flowers beautiful, and hillside lush and green. We huddled together under our umbrella, borrowed from our friend Jason, and got were honked at aggressively as we tried to avoid the river running down one side of the road, and the mud splashing up from the trucks, all marked with 'Jesus saves,' 'God is great.' 'Honk!' No need to remind anyone to honk here. We were laughing though, at how silly we must look, trudging through the monsoon. The afternoon rains only appear to last for an hour or so, so perhaps next time we will just stop and relax somewhere rather than thugging it out in the rain. That seemed to be everyone elses plan as were the only people who appeared to be rushing through the rain.
We were happy to get back to our cottage though, and get our sweet, hot coffee from Rani, and wrap our newly purchased warm shawls around us. Rani's mother, Uma, was also there, smiling and wobbling her head at us. She's very sweet. Here people rarely nod or shake their heads, rather they just wobble their heads often. We're trying to learn, but Naman says you have to be Indian to ever master it. Sighhh.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
IT IS FREEZING HERE!
Paige and I only packed clothes for the 100 degree Indian weather that we were expecting...
But we just woke up in our stone cottage in kodai in the middle of a rain storm and it is SO COLD!! I can't wait for Rani to bring coffee! That should be delicious and HOT! :) today first order of business is purchasing massive warm sweaters!
Too bad we didn't bring rainboots, or any of our long sleeve shirts we left at Chandra's. Paige wants to buy a woolen sari :)
Thankfully we have our blackberries so we don't even have to get out of bed to write this, which is good because we're huddled under our wool blankets in bed and don't want to get out!
But we just woke up in our stone cottage in kodai in the middle of a rain storm and it is SO COLD!! I can't wait for Rani to bring coffee! That should be delicious and HOT! :) today first order of business is purchasing massive warm sweaters!
Too bad we didn't bring rainboots, or any of our long sleeve shirts we left at Chandra's. Paige wants to buy a woolen sari :)
Thankfully we have our blackberries so we don't even have to get out of bed to write this, which is good because we're huddled under our wool blankets in bed and don't want to get out!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Koddaikanal
Oh wow. Today has been a very go with the flow type day.
We awoke at Chandra's beautiful home and ate a big breakfast with the sounds of the school children playing outside. The breakfast was sweet, with bread that was almost like french bread and this sweet dish with raisins. (So good) and idly like we had at Usha's and dosa (huge Indian style crepes) and avocado (butter fruit) and papaya with sugar. Yum! Chandra was very sweet, always wanting to feed us more. There were also balls of fried dough that I liked a lot. The cook was very friendly, smiling and nodding with her cute son running around, helping her.
Chandra told us after breakfast we should pack a small bag to spend a few days in Koddaikanal, a town in the mountains. We hopped in the Jeep with our backpacks and cameras and began out journey. The countryside scenes were so exciting. I was turning around to watch out the windows as the amazing scenery passed by. Calling out to Kelsey to take pictures of everything, the man carrying leaves on his head, the group of cows, the temple, the colorful buildings and laundry, the scenes of plains and mountains in the distance, the people working in the fields.
"Did you get it Kelsey?? Wait don't miss the girl with the water on her head! Gimme the camera. Look! Goats!" The sun was shining brightly as we sped through farm village, after farm village. The wind keeping us cool, as we tried to capture the beautiful scenery of coconut trees and huge banana leaves and the bustling village market places full of fruit, people and shops.
Our jeep began to climb the mountain and I flung myself across Kelsey's lap, trying to get a better view of the fields, lake and mountains below. To email to my family how spectacular the view was from the road. There were monkeys along the street. Little monkey families, with babies, eating fruit and paying no attention to cars. A mother monkey grabbed a baby one to stop it from running in the street to get a piece of fruit though. As we climbed the mountain, it began to get much colder and we started to wish we had brought our sweatshirts. The mountains were beautiful though, tons of flowers of all different colors lined the road, purple and white flowers, those trumpet flowers, bogenvia and lantana all around us. People walked all along the side of the road and we honked whenever we went around a corner. The ride up was so exciting, as it got colder, and more like a rainforest jungle.
When we arrived at Konnaikanal we saw all the houses climbing up into the green mountain side, the fog and clouds all around, floating making the air white and cool and wet. It was unlike anything I've ever seen.
We bounced along in our jeep into the cold fog and beautiful green trees. In the town we stopped off at the "Koddai Club" a remnant of the British colonial missionary history that surrounds us in the town. This 'gold club,' where we had lunch is like an old British country club, with no brits or westerners to be found, just western culture everywhere, and lists of British presidents of the club since it's founding in the 1800's. We went to Koddai International school, which looked magical and also ominous, emerging with it's old hogwarts-esque stone walls and trees from the fog. Here we toured and learned how it was originally a school founded for American children of missionaries in the 1800's but is now an IB international school, still with a Christian emphasis. Beautiful architecture and an impressive library made this school quite interesting.
We learned there had been no preparations for us to stay here, as it was a last minute decision so we were lucky our contacts at the school, Barbara, from Canada, and Esther from Koddikanal were able to find us a sweet stone cottage to stay in for the next four days. We are in a very nice compound here, near the home of our friendly helper, the manager of the property and his family. His wife is named Rani and is very sweet with big, pretty eyes. And his name sounds like Jason, and he speaks english. We met Rani's mother today as well who was very kind and friendly. It's just us up here in these beautiful, cold, foggy mountains. They brought us coffee this afternoon which we sat and drank in the garden till it began to rain. We also tried the famous pears, which were different but still quite delicious, maybe even better than regular pears.
We've been told to beware of the bison that come to our cottage, whose tracks we can see outside. It's definetly an adventure everyday. Tonight Rani is making us chappatis.
And Kelsey and I are wrapped up in blankets in our little cottage in the mountains. :)
We learned more about the orphanage we are going to next week, Bethania. We're so excited to meet the children, but for now we're learning so much and just trying to soak up all these new experiences.
Peace.
We awoke at Chandra's beautiful home and ate a big breakfast with the sounds of the school children playing outside. The breakfast was sweet, with bread that was almost like french bread and this sweet dish with raisins. (So good) and idly like we had at Usha's and dosa (huge Indian style crepes) and avocado (butter fruit) and papaya with sugar. Yum! Chandra was very sweet, always wanting to feed us more. There were also balls of fried dough that I liked a lot. The cook was very friendly, smiling and nodding with her cute son running around, helping her.
Chandra told us after breakfast we should pack a small bag to spend a few days in Koddaikanal, a town in the mountains. We hopped in the Jeep with our backpacks and cameras and began out journey. The countryside scenes were so exciting. I was turning around to watch out the windows as the amazing scenery passed by. Calling out to Kelsey to take pictures of everything, the man carrying leaves on his head, the group of cows, the temple, the colorful buildings and laundry, the scenes of plains and mountains in the distance, the people working in the fields.
"Did you get it Kelsey?? Wait don't miss the girl with the water on her head! Gimme the camera. Look! Goats!" The sun was shining brightly as we sped through farm village, after farm village. The wind keeping us cool, as we tried to capture the beautiful scenery of coconut trees and huge banana leaves and the bustling village market places full of fruit, people and shops.
Our jeep began to climb the mountain and I flung myself across Kelsey's lap, trying to get a better view of the fields, lake and mountains below. To email to my family how spectacular the view was from the road. There were monkeys along the street. Little monkey families, with babies, eating fruit and paying no attention to cars. A mother monkey grabbed a baby one to stop it from running in the street to get a piece of fruit though. As we climbed the mountain, it began to get much colder and we started to wish we had brought our sweatshirts. The mountains were beautiful though, tons of flowers of all different colors lined the road, purple and white flowers, those trumpet flowers, bogenvia and lantana all around us. People walked all along the side of the road and we honked whenever we went around a corner. The ride up was so exciting, as it got colder, and more like a rainforest jungle.
When we arrived at Konnaikanal we saw all the houses climbing up into the green mountain side, the fog and clouds all around, floating making the air white and cool and wet. It was unlike anything I've ever seen.
We bounced along in our jeep into the cold fog and beautiful green trees. In the town we stopped off at the "Koddai Club" a remnant of the British colonial missionary history that surrounds us in the town. This 'gold club,' where we had lunch is like an old British country club, with no brits or westerners to be found, just western culture everywhere, and lists of British presidents of the club since it's founding in the 1800's. We went to Koddai International school, which looked magical and also ominous, emerging with it's old hogwarts-esque stone walls and trees from the fog. Here we toured and learned how it was originally a school founded for American children of missionaries in the 1800's but is now an IB international school, still with a Christian emphasis. Beautiful architecture and an impressive library made this school quite interesting.
We learned there had been no preparations for us to stay here, as it was a last minute decision so we were lucky our contacts at the school, Barbara, from Canada, and Esther from Koddikanal were able to find us a sweet stone cottage to stay in for the next four days. We are in a very nice compound here, near the home of our friendly helper, the manager of the property and his family. His wife is named Rani and is very sweet with big, pretty eyes. And his name sounds like Jason, and he speaks english. We met Rani's mother today as well who was very kind and friendly. It's just us up here in these beautiful, cold, foggy mountains. They brought us coffee this afternoon which we sat and drank in the garden till it began to rain. We also tried the famous pears, which were different but still quite delicious, maybe even better than regular pears.
We've been told to beware of the bison that come to our cottage, whose tracks we can see outside. It's definetly an adventure everyday. Tonight Rani is making us chappatis.
And Kelsey and I are wrapped up in blankets in our little cottage in the mountains. :)
We learned more about the orphanage we are going to next week, Bethania. We're so excited to meet the children, but for now we're learning so much and just trying to soak up all these new experiences.
Peace.
Arriving in Madurai and Chandra's house, Tuesday night, Sept 15th
After our one hour domestic flight we arrived in the Madurai airport at 8pm. It was completely different than Chennai in every aspect. As we walked down the plane's stairs onto the tarmac, the first thing we noticed was the rain forest-like wet heat. The humidity stuck to our faces and clothes, making it feel like a perpetual sweat layer that never dried off.
(Says Paige, "That was Kelsey. I was ok with the hot. Kelsey is not made for India heat.")
We walked across the tarmac to the tiny, one room baggage hall with one luggage belt. Unlike in Chennai, we had no fear about not finding our hosts as Chandra and her husband Vijayasarathy were there waving and calling our names from the other side of the hall as soon as we walked through the doors. They are the sweetest couple and are incredibly generous. They do a lot of work for Bethania on top of running a highly esteemed primary school our of their home for 200 kids from the surrounding rural area.
Getting to their house was quite a trip! It took about 15 minutes to put and strap down our 4 large suitcases on top of the car, with Paige and I desperately hoping the bungee cord wouldn't break! We stopped for dinner on our two hour ride at Bell Jumbo, a restaurant with typical South Indian cuisine, as well as Indian versions of chinese food. It took us a little while to realize when Chandra was asking us, "Do you like noodles? You eat fish, yes? Oh, you like masala dosa!" that she would order every type of food that we told her we eat! We ended up with a several course dinner, seemingly endless as Chandra would order another as soon as any plate ran out! Some highlights were tandori style fish, sambal, coconut chutney with dosa and delicious fresh pineapple juice.
We arrived late that night to their beautiful house in their small village. We were very grateful for the air conditioning in our room and even our own bathroom! It is wonderfully decorated with pictures of their children and grandchildren and photographs on the wall. It feels like a home already! The marble tiles in the bathroom smell warm and comfortable. Paige and I are staying upstairs, where there is a view of the surrounding area and their yard. We almost feel spoiled staying there, with Chandra and her husband making sure that we're comfortable- we're surely more than that!
(Says Paige, "That was Kelsey. I was ok with the hot. Kelsey is not made for India heat.")
We walked across the tarmac to the tiny, one room baggage hall with one luggage belt. Unlike in Chennai, we had no fear about not finding our hosts as Chandra and her husband Vijayasarathy were there waving and calling our names from the other side of the hall as soon as we walked through the doors. They are the sweetest couple and are incredibly generous. They do a lot of work for Bethania on top of running a highly esteemed primary school our of their home for 200 kids from the surrounding rural area.
Getting to their house was quite a trip! It took about 15 minutes to put and strap down our 4 large suitcases on top of the car, with Paige and I desperately hoping the bungee cord wouldn't break! We stopped for dinner on our two hour ride at Bell Jumbo, a restaurant with typical South Indian cuisine, as well as Indian versions of chinese food. It took us a little while to realize when Chandra was asking us, "Do you like noodles? You eat fish, yes? Oh, you like masala dosa!" that she would order every type of food that we told her we eat! We ended up with a several course dinner, seemingly endless as Chandra would order another as soon as any plate ran out! Some highlights were tandori style fish, sambal, coconut chutney with dosa and delicious fresh pineapple juice.
We arrived late that night to their beautiful house in their small village. We were very grateful for the air conditioning in our room and even our own bathroom! It is wonderfully decorated with pictures of their children and grandchildren and photographs on the wall. It feels like a home already! The marble tiles in the bathroom smell warm and comfortable. Paige and I are staying upstairs, where there is a view of the surrounding area and their yard. We almost feel spoiled staying there, with Chandra and her husband making sure that we're comfortable- we're surely more than that!
Bye Chennai!
On Tuesday, we had our first Indian shopping experience! Paige and I went out with Usha to a bazaar area known as "shoppers paradise." The name was very fitting! We walked along several streets of bustling sidewalks surrounded in every direction by goods and merchants- saris being sold in stands on the side of the road, electronics spilling out of store fronts, men relentlessly following us while beating small drums to purchase, clothes and toys of all shapes and sizes even hanging above our heads. A constant chorus of "Madam, madam, madam, madam!" from the vendors followed us down the street. We felt very safe that we were getting a good deal with the help of Usha's firm bartering tactics to reduce already incredibly inexpensive items. I bought Indian style loose shirt and pant outfit off a stand on the street for only US$7. We both also bought beautiful blue, sequenced saris and undershirts from a larger department store (that drew hoards of people inside with its air conditioning!) for less than $10 each. We now wish that we had packed less and just bought everything here!
Despite the scorching midday heat, the streets were full of people as always. There's such a diversity of men and women all walking together, each with their own mission making their way through the city. It's shocking to see young boys begging on the road as a wealthy business men zip by in their new Mercedes cars. But there's a sense that everyone gets by and makes do with what they have.
It definitely takes a while to get accustomed to being a pedestrian in Chennai! When trying to cross one busy street, Paige, Usha and I clung to one another to run past rickshaws, bikes, cows and cars to make it to the middle of the road, only to be forced back to where we started by a large bus making a wide turn. We made our second bold attempt a few moments later, this time with Usha putting out her hand to stop traffic a few centimeters away from us as we hurried across.
Tuesday evening, we had to say a sad goodbye to Usha and Sarathy and leave for the airport to fly to Madurai. Usha and Sarathy are both such beautiful, generous people. We enjoyed Chennai so much and are so thankful for their hospitality, taking us into their home and calling us their daughters :) There couldn't have been a better introduction to Tamil Nadu city life!
It was sad to have to leave the bustling, beautiful Chennai already but little did we know the adventures that awaited us.
The colors, heat and energy of Chennai were very invigorating and the smiling, waving children were very sweet. It's hard to see the seas of garbage and women holding tiny, frail babies. But everyone is all together in the city, walking and motoring through the city, Hindus and Muslims, poor and rich. Oh, and Kelsey and Paige too.
Despite the scorching midday heat, the streets were full of people as always. There's such a diversity of men and women all walking together, each with their own mission making their way through the city. It's shocking to see young boys begging on the road as a wealthy business men zip by in their new Mercedes cars. But there's a sense that everyone gets by and makes do with what they have.
It definitely takes a while to get accustomed to being a pedestrian in Chennai! When trying to cross one busy street, Paige, Usha and I clung to one another to run past rickshaws, bikes, cows and cars to make it to the middle of the road, only to be forced back to where we started by a large bus making a wide turn. We made our second bold attempt a few moments later, this time with Usha putting out her hand to stop traffic a few centimeters away from us as we hurried across.
Tuesday evening, we had to say a sad goodbye to Usha and Sarathy and leave for the airport to fly to Madurai. Usha and Sarathy are both such beautiful, generous people. We enjoyed Chennai so much and are so thankful for their hospitality, taking us into their home and calling us their daughters :) There couldn't have been a better introduction to Tamil Nadu city life!
It was sad to have to leave the bustling, beautiful Chennai already but little did we know the adventures that awaited us.
The colors, heat and energy of Chennai were very invigorating and the smiling, waving children were very sweet. It's hard to see the seas of garbage and women holding tiny, frail babies. But everyone is all together in the city, walking and motoring through the city, Hindus and Muslims, poor and rich. Oh, and Kelsey and Paige too.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Chennai
Yesterday was definetly a great introduction to our time in India. Driving through the city, honking our way through crowds of people, motorbikes and auto-rickshaws was crazy. So many things to see, it was hard to take it all in, turning to try and capture the beautiful colors and sights in our massive cameras, as we flew by. It's hard to even notice we're driving on the opposite side of the road here, as there hardly seem to be proper sides. Basic rule is, whatever is smaller gets out of the way of what is bigger. So we were often swerving to the side of the street for buses and garbage trucks, while honking aggresively at pedestrians, motorbikes, bikes and auto-rickshaws.
We drove to the outskirts of town, where bustling city scenes gave way to fields, small grass houses and goats. We crossed bridges and saw the ocean. Usha says the houses of grass were made by survivors of the tsunami. Their friends who own the beautiful beach house were there when the massive black wall of water came. They escaped to the top floor of their home as the huge wave filled everything with sand, and washed away the walls and small buildings around them. The government gave no money to rebuild homes as there was nothing about tsunami's in the natural disaster insurance.
Walking through Chennai at night was definetly one of my favorite things so far. So many colors and sounds and smells. The smell of fresh fruit, incense and flowers all around. The jasmine in girls hair, and being sold on the street was beautiful. There were many stands with fresh vegetables and fruit, some we had never even seen before.
We stopped into a peace temple, relatively new temple. Inside there were people meditating and a huge Om sign at the head of the temple. Outside a man served cubes of sugar into our hands. We have also seen many beautiful mosques here, standing above the other buildings. People sit outside during the month of Ramadan, for charity.
There is a Hindu festival next week, so the streets were filled with vendors selling dolls of different gods. They were very colorful, and Usha stopped to explain the meanings and names of many of them.
The restaraunt we ate at was a fun experience, with delicious sauces served on banana leaves with a giant crepe like bread filled with vegetables and potatoes. Usha was telling us about the different batter she uses. She grinds up lentils and rice sometimes, like what we had for breakfast. I love learning about the different foods here, and the preparation. She was telling us that it's better to take more time to prepare, if it then makes the food better. True, true. Her kitchen is very nice with two stoves that plug in, carefully organized metal plates, cups and other dishes and a sink beneath a window looking out to coconut trees. I like it a lot. She prepares so much delicious food there. We have south Indian coffee in the morning and sometimes tea when we go out. Had some coffee last night, as the jetlag was setting in. We're still mastering eating with only our hands, but it's fun having closer relationship with the food.
This morning we had a very healthy breakfast with idly, white round food made of rice and lentils dipped in spices with sesame oil. The spices had chili powder and other things and then a dish with white radish. We also had my favorite, the sweet,south indian coffee.
Outside the window we saw a squirrel. Looks kind of like a big chipmunk hanging on the coconut tree. Usha leaves food for them and the Indian crows on her balcony. The Indian crows have a kind of grey head and different faces than crows in America. Indian crows won't eat normal rice, so Usha adds spices and vegetables. There were a lot of them at the beach yesterday.
I loved going to the beach, collecting shells and seeing the huge waves. Down the beach some there were fisherman drying fish beneath tents. The breeze there was really nice, and refreshing break from the hot city. Definetely a good time all around.
Tonight we fly to Madurai. :)
Peace
We drove to the outskirts of town, where bustling city scenes gave way to fields, small grass houses and goats. We crossed bridges and saw the ocean. Usha says the houses of grass were made by survivors of the tsunami. Their friends who own the beautiful beach house were there when the massive black wall of water came. They escaped to the top floor of their home as the huge wave filled everything with sand, and washed away the walls and small buildings around them. The government gave no money to rebuild homes as there was nothing about tsunami's in the natural disaster insurance.
Walking through Chennai at night was definetly one of my favorite things so far. So many colors and sounds and smells. The smell of fresh fruit, incense and flowers all around. The jasmine in girls hair, and being sold on the street was beautiful. There were many stands with fresh vegetables and fruit, some we had never even seen before.
We stopped into a peace temple, relatively new temple. Inside there were people meditating and a huge Om sign at the head of the temple. Outside a man served cubes of sugar into our hands. We have also seen many beautiful mosques here, standing above the other buildings. People sit outside during the month of Ramadan, for charity.
There is a Hindu festival next week, so the streets were filled with vendors selling dolls of different gods. They were very colorful, and Usha stopped to explain the meanings and names of many of them.
The restaraunt we ate at was a fun experience, with delicious sauces served on banana leaves with a giant crepe like bread filled with vegetables and potatoes. Usha was telling us about the different batter she uses. She grinds up lentils and rice sometimes, like what we had for breakfast. I love learning about the different foods here, and the preparation. She was telling us that it's better to take more time to prepare, if it then makes the food better. True, true. Her kitchen is very nice with two stoves that plug in, carefully organized metal plates, cups and other dishes and a sink beneath a window looking out to coconut trees. I like it a lot. She prepares so much delicious food there. We have south Indian coffee in the morning and sometimes tea when we go out. Had some coffee last night, as the jetlag was setting in. We're still mastering eating with only our hands, but it's fun having closer relationship with the food.
This morning we had a very healthy breakfast with idly, white round food made of rice and lentils dipped in spices with sesame oil. The spices had chili powder and other things and then a dish with white radish. We also had my favorite, the sweet,south indian coffee.
Outside the window we saw a squirrel. Looks kind of like a big chipmunk hanging on the coconut tree. Usha leaves food for them and the Indian crows on her balcony. The Indian crows have a kind of grey head and different faces than crows in America. Indian crows won't eat normal rice, so Usha adds spices and vegetables. There were a lot of them at the beach yesterday.
I loved going to the beach, collecting shells and seeing the huge waves. Down the beach some there were fisherman drying fish beneath tents. The breeze there was really nice, and refreshing break from the hot city. Definetely a good time all around.
Tonight we fly to Madurai. :)
Peace
Monday, September 14, 2009
First day in India!
The apartment we're staying in is really nice. It has 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, and common area. Its very cozy and must be perfect for the Usha and Sarathy, whose son moved out 9 years ago and lives in Kansas now. Of the two bathrooms, one is western style while the other is 'Indian closet style'. This provided an interesting experience for our jetlagged selves the first night we arrived. Though we can't say that we've mastered the technique of essentially using a hole in the ground, we managed to make do (and now appreciate the western one much more!).
Our meals here have been amazing. Usha is careful to warn us about the spicy foods yet is eager to introduce us to true southern Indian cuisine. Everything has been delicious. As we woke up around 9.30 this morning, we slept through the time Usha and Sarathy ate breakfast. So we started our day with an amazing snack of a puri (we're trying hard to remember names of everything, but it's proving to be difficult!) which were small balls of dough filled with ginger, coconut, and green peppers. We then spent the morning talking with Usha about a variety of topics from Obama's healthcare plan to Indian politics. Soon after, it was lunch time! This was a true local meal. Eating all with our hands, we ate rice and chapati with a spicy peanuts in sauce dish, shredded carrots with cilantro in lime sauce, a potato and vegetable masala dish, and another vegetable called 'snake grass' that's only found in India. With it, we had coffee made the Indian way with warm milk and sugar. Everything was delicous and we're now eagerly awaiting cooking lessons from Usha!
We then headed out for a drive through the city. The streets were crowded with people, cows, dogs, goats, rickshaws, bikes and carts. Sarathy drove with one hand holding the wheel and one over the very frewuently used horn. We drove around the city, across a bridge seperating the ocean from the backwaters, and went south down the coast. The landscape changed quickly from tall city buildings to suburban housing to green space where they grew trees for wood. We then stopped in a small community of private beach houses that our hosts frequent. We walked down the shore to collect shells and watch the waves despite the strong smell coming from the fishermen drying their fish farther down the shore. We then snacked on soft coconut meat and the water from young coconuts. This water apparently is the cure to many ailments and is the best protection against dehydration. It had a very unique taste that needs getting used to, but was quite good and Paige and I drank most of our glasses.
Our returned to Chennai was hindered by a small run in with the police who pulled us over for apparently driving too fast. It almost seemed funny that there are actually enforced driving laws here, as it usually feels like a free for all where the larger vehicle wins! Nevertheless we proceeded to stop at Usha's sister's house for tea and to meet her adorable grandson and family who were all very friendly. Paige and I weren't exactly sure though if 2 year old Aditya was just shy or very perplexed by us two non-Indian girls in his living room! After this, Paige, Usha and I walked around Chennai to see a few temples and admire the dolls of gods being displayed on the streets to sell for a festival starting next week. For Paige and I it was certainly less of a leisurely stroll and more of a video-game like experience of trying to walk on the side of the road following Usha while avoiding obstacles of cows, bikes, honking buses, impatient cars, etc. All a part of the experience :)
For dinner, we ate in a small local restaurant that was one of the oldest eating houses in Chennai. It was crowded inside, and we shared a table with two other people. We ate masala dosa off of banana leaves with coconut chutney and (our favorite) mint chutney. We honestly don't see us ever having a bad meal here, everything has been delicous!
We then came home for our much anticipated and well deserved showers! Got to get some sleep for our second and last day of exploring Chennai!
Our meals here have been amazing. Usha is careful to warn us about the spicy foods yet is eager to introduce us to true southern Indian cuisine. Everything has been delicious. As we woke up around 9.30 this morning, we slept through the time Usha and Sarathy ate breakfast. So we started our day with an amazing snack of a puri (we're trying hard to remember names of everything, but it's proving to be difficult!) which were small balls of dough filled with ginger, coconut, and green peppers. We then spent the morning talking with Usha about a variety of topics from Obama's healthcare plan to Indian politics. Soon after, it was lunch time! This was a true local meal. Eating all with our hands, we ate rice and chapati with a spicy peanuts in sauce dish, shredded carrots with cilantro in lime sauce, a potato and vegetable masala dish, and another vegetable called 'snake grass' that's only found in India. With it, we had coffee made the Indian way with warm milk and sugar. Everything was delicous and we're now eagerly awaiting cooking lessons from Usha!
We then headed out for a drive through the city. The streets were crowded with people, cows, dogs, goats, rickshaws, bikes and carts. Sarathy drove with one hand holding the wheel and one over the very frewuently used horn. We drove around the city, across a bridge seperating the ocean from the backwaters, and went south down the coast. The landscape changed quickly from tall city buildings to suburban housing to green space where they grew trees for wood. We then stopped in a small community of private beach houses that our hosts frequent. We walked down the shore to collect shells and watch the waves despite the strong smell coming from the fishermen drying their fish farther down the shore. We then snacked on soft coconut meat and the water from young coconuts. This water apparently is the cure to many ailments and is the best protection against dehydration. It had a very unique taste that needs getting used to, but was quite good and Paige and I drank most of our glasses.
Our returned to Chennai was hindered by a small run in with the police who pulled us over for apparently driving too fast. It almost seemed funny that there are actually enforced driving laws here, as it usually feels like a free for all where the larger vehicle wins! Nevertheless we proceeded to stop at Usha's sister's house for tea and to meet her adorable grandson and family who were all very friendly. Paige and I weren't exactly sure though if 2 year old Aditya was just shy or very perplexed by us two non-Indian girls in his living room! After this, Paige, Usha and I walked around Chennai to see a few temples and admire the dolls of gods being displayed on the streets to sell for a festival starting next week. For Paige and I it was certainly less of a leisurely stroll and more of a video-game like experience of trying to walk on the side of the road following Usha while avoiding obstacles of cows, bikes, honking buses, impatient cars, etc. All a part of the experience :)
For dinner, we ate in a small local restaurant that was one of the oldest eating houses in Chennai. It was crowded inside, and we shared a table with two other people. We ate masala dosa off of banana leaves with coconut chutney and (our favorite) mint chutney. We honestly don't see us ever having a bad meal here, everything has been delicous!
We then came home for our much anticipated and well deserved showers! Got to get some sleep for our second and last day of exploring Chennai!
"This is India!" (Usha's house, Chennai, state of Tamil Nadu, India)
After 35 hours of traveling, starting in Atlanta, then New York, Brussels and finally Chennai, we made it here. Flying Jet Airways here, we were relieved to find that the recent pilot strikes had been called off. The flight attendants, dressed in beautiful yellow uniforms served us remarkably good airplane food over the two days we spent in the air, while we read, slept and watched movies. 'All's Well End's Well' was a particularly ridiculous, yet remarkably enetertaining bit of Chinese cinematography. We highly reccommend seeing it. We should probably mention that Kelsey was looking particularly suspicious and was stopped for 'random' security checks in New York and Brussels along with a mandatory swine flu check in India.
Upon landing in Chennai, we stood in line for our swine flu check, aggressive Indian ladies sticking a thermometer that looked like a gun to your forhead and yelling out your temperature. Thankfully we were not sent to mandatory quarantine. Phew. After easily locating our bags in the bustling, yet impressive and clean airport we pushed our broken cart outside into the swarms of people waiting outside in the hot, night air. We were concerned about finding Usha's husband, a man we had never met before in a sea of men, until we realized that basically everyone was staring at us anyways, being the only two white girls, pushing our overflowing, broken suitcase trolley into everyone. Luckily as we struggled our trolley out of the entrance way, the aggressive 'taxi' men becan to swar$, surrounding us with screams of 'Taxi!'
Then a tall, regal looking man, approached us and said 'Kelsey?' We nodded. Yaay! He beat back the "taxi" men now struggling to push our broken trolley away. See Kelsey, I knew there was a reason I picked the only broken one! Our tall, impressive, new friend asked us about Ms. Shanta, and we figured if he knew Kelsey and Shanta, he was a reasonable person to get in a car with. We switched to a functional cart, (not only tall, but smart!) And pushed into the street. People were standing, sitting, lying everywhere around the airport and the streets were full of honking cars.
Our host called over a driver, who from there took the difficult responsibility of cart pushing, which turned out to also be a hazardous one, as while trying to navigate our way to the parking lot he was literally hit by a van that refused to wait at all for us to get out of the way. This was followed by a series of fist waving, shouting, and pounding on the window of the car. After a few more close calls with cars and us being directly honked at several times for taking up most of the road, we finally got to our car. By that we mean a small Indian taxi which somehow could fit the heaviest bag out of our 4, but neither of mine (Kelsey's). (Says Paige, "Nice kelsey, nice..") So with 2 bags hanging out the front left window, the driver honking away in the front, Mr. Parthasarathy, our backpacks and us 2 in the backseat, we drove at 12.30am to our first Indian home!
Kelsey says that the streets reminded her of Mombassa. We rolled down the windows and watched the night, city scenes as we weaved between cars, and rikshaws, honking all the while. There were makeshift homes constructed beneath the highways with strings of laundry connecting them. It was dark and late and few people were out but the closed shops and buildings still seemed bursting with life, with the ornate decorations, and colorful billboars everywhere. We passed trees wrapped with lights and palm trees lined the street. Near the house, packs of dogs wandered the street howling, and barking at our car.
After struggling our bags to the second floor apartment we tucked in and went to sleep in our awesome room with ac. :)
Peace
We are about to head out on our first exploring Chennai adventure!
Upon landing in Chennai, we stood in line for our swine flu check, aggressive Indian ladies sticking a thermometer that looked like a gun to your forhead and yelling out your temperature. Thankfully we were not sent to mandatory quarantine. Phew. After easily locating our bags in the bustling, yet impressive and clean airport we pushed our broken cart outside into the swarms of people waiting outside in the hot, night air. We were concerned about finding Usha's husband, a man we had never met before in a sea of men, until we realized that basically everyone was staring at us anyways, being the only two white girls, pushing our overflowing, broken suitcase trolley into everyone. Luckily as we struggled our trolley out of the entrance way, the aggressive 'taxi' men becan to swar$, surrounding us with screams of 'Taxi!'
Then a tall, regal looking man, approached us and said 'Kelsey?' We nodded. Yaay! He beat back the "taxi" men now struggling to push our broken trolley away. See Kelsey, I knew there was a reason I picked the only broken one! Our tall, impressive, new friend asked us about Ms. Shanta, and we figured if he knew Kelsey and Shanta, he was a reasonable person to get in a car with. We switched to a functional cart, (not only tall, but smart!) And pushed into the street. People were standing, sitting, lying everywhere around the airport and the streets were full of honking cars.
Our host called over a driver, who from there took the difficult responsibility of cart pushing, which turned out to also be a hazardous one, as while trying to navigate our way to the parking lot he was literally hit by a van that refused to wait at all for us to get out of the way. This was followed by a series of fist waving, shouting, and pounding on the window of the car. After a few more close calls with cars and us being directly honked at several times for taking up most of the road, we finally got to our car. By that we mean a small Indian taxi which somehow could fit the heaviest bag out of our 4, but neither of mine (Kelsey's). (Says Paige, "Nice kelsey, nice..") So with 2 bags hanging out the front left window, the driver honking away in the front, Mr. Parthasarathy, our backpacks and us 2 in the backseat, we drove at 12.30am to our first Indian home!
Kelsey says that the streets reminded her of Mombassa. We rolled down the windows and watched the night, city scenes as we weaved between cars, and rikshaws, honking all the while. There were makeshift homes constructed beneath the highways with strings of laundry connecting them. It was dark and late and few people were out but the closed shops and buildings still seemed bursting with life, with the ornate decorations, and colorful billboars everywhere. We passed trees wrapped with lights and palm trees lined the street. Near the house, packs of dogs wandered the street howling, and barking at our car.
After struggling our bags to the second floor apartment we tucked in and went to sleep in our awesome room with ac. :)
Peace
We are about to head out on our first exploring Chennai adventure!
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