Chennai

The capital of my current state was a fun-filled shopping experience for the most part. Chennai is famous for it's great shops and, guided by my hosts, I took full advantage. Less interested in the multi-story fashion designer shops that my Indian friends seemed to love, I was more interested in the grungy Mint Street. It is located in the old part of Chennai (earlier named Madras) and somewhat difficult to find, even for people who have been living in the city for upwards of 25 years. The dirty narrow streets filled with cows, trash, and tiny little shops didn't much appeal to them, but I was in heaven. I loved every smell, every honk (well not every one), every small vegetable cart, and every street that was too small for anything wider than a bicycle rickshaw. We spent 3 or 4 hours looking in dozens of jewelry shops- both real and fake pieces- and later progressed down to clothing and material. I bought a saree that was so beautiful and different I couldn't live without; it is turquoise with gold, green, and red border and designs. I love it! It was more fun just to see the place than to buy anything, and I will never forget that experience.

On day 2 we visited a small temple built on the beach in the 7th century. It was standing perfectly well, but the carvings had been eroded away by the sand and sea air. There used to be seven other temples in that area, but they are all underwater now. In Chennai the weather is so hot that people usually don't go out of the house between one and five, but we were kind of stuck so we shopped around for another few hours before going to the next temple. When we got to this one, it had just closed but we got a private tour from a guy who was selling handicrafts nearby. It was great to see the place in the sunset without the crowd. The dozen or so goats walking around near the temple was crowd enough. The driver, who had come with us, liked talking to the goats by making some weird goat-like noise. After our little tour, we went to a restaurant where we were served with dosa (like a crepe made out of rice) that were HUGE! Picture to the right -->

The last day was the most exhausting. We woke up at five thirty to go to the 2d largest beach in the world, Marina Beach. After the slow beginning it was really an experience for me to run alongside the waves in bare feet and see exactly the kind of gross things that are littered on this large, very public beach. Full of trash, although there were trash cans and people cleaning the beach, random religious offerings, poor fishermen sleeping on the upper side, and worst of all it was used as a bathroom for dogs, monkeys, humans, you name it. I chose not to swim. As it was explained to me, the government has built nice housing for many of the homeless and people who live in slums, but they choose to live on the beach because here they can try to at least make a living via fishing. The afternoon was occupied by visiting a kind of outside museum which I forget the name of right now. It showed different housing styles for the different southern states of India, and it was interesting to see how different they were. There were little crafts at each place, like pottery, basket weaving, etc. At the entrance/exit there was a small area for people who had come from small villages to come sell their handicrafts. Some were the same old same old, but some of them were really original and impressive. In fact the first guy we came to made mats out of dried and treated banana leaves which he cut a design into and then inked over to make a picture. I can't explain it very well, but there is a picture. All of these artisans had either made the things themselves, or they were made by their close family. "Madam this was made by my mother last week".

Exhausted, my host mom's good friend who took me and I, boarded our flight back to Coimbatore. It was a very tiring and busy trip to Chennai, but I loved it. Next time I will wait until the winter months though, so I don't have to run to the A/C every half hour. The city itself was pretty similar to Coimbatore, but much larger and busier. I came back and immediately got many more offers to travel with families to other parts of India. So glad I am able to be here with all these wonderful people!

Day of Birth, 17 Years Later..

Differences of celebrating:

Cake- Everyone feeds the birthday boy/girl their cake, beginning with parents, then family, then friends. They also like to smear some of the cake on the special person's face. I got a really big smear across my cheek from this little boy who had been buzzing around me and 2 of my friends all night. 

School- Whosever birthday it is is allowed to wear colored dress to school as opposed to the usual uniform, and they are expected to hand out chocolates to everyone in their class and everyone who wishes you a happy birthday or "many more returns of the day". It is considered really rude, I think, to not give chocolates to everyone, so I brought PLENTY. However, I did not succeed in pleasing everyone because I would have needed a chocolate for the majority of the school. They were all so cute, shaking my hand and smiling. I was actually asked to visit a class of sixth or seventh grade so they could sing to me. I loved it!

Friends- the birthday girl  is supposed to treat all her friends to a dinner or outing. I was planning my outing of ice cream for Saturday, but I will be going to a different part of Coimbatore to meet one of my Uncle's nieces or something.

I think a lot of people like connecting with me through what they know about America. I went over to one of my friend's houses last night and her dad gave me this old movie of Colorado called Mackenna's Gold. He had actually gone out and bought it specifically for me, and was so excited about it! My Rotary counselor also gave me a CD of "Retro Essentials". Everyone is so sweet and thoughtful, and I got some beautiful Indian gifts as well. 

Everyone has been so sweet to me on my birthday, and I honestly felt so special! My host parents, aunties, uncles, and Rotarians have really gone out of their way to make sure I feel comfortable here and I appreciate it so much! 

A Night to Remember

Last night we got all dressed up for a local club (widely known here as a discoteque). It was Bike & Barrell's 5th anniversary and we went for the Hindi themed celebration. I wasn't sure what to expect from a discoteque's Hindi night with my host parents and all their friends, but it ended up being one of, if not the best night in India so far. The place, which had a large sign stating that they only admitted single women and couples, was located below a 5-star hotel and it was completely westernized. Actually it looked like it came straight out of Colorado; There was all this cowboy stuff and big metal signs in English on the walls. The floor of dance was in the corner and we started feeling the beats of Hindi techno as soon as we got there. Most of the songs were good, but the background beat definitely lacked variety, which didn't leave much room for coinciding creative movement. This didn't seem to bother one guy who was about 40. He bounced around and did some of the weirdest moves I have ever seen dancing. I don't even know how to explain some of the things this guy was doing, but it automatically made all of our group confident in our own dancing. He could probably give a certain Italian in our school (some of you know who I'm talking about) a run for his money on the dance floor. I have decided that, in my opinion, the best way of meeting new people and bonding is to go out and have a great time, and everything will just fall into place. I had a great time bonding with my host parents, their friends, other assorted Rotarians, and a small group of people my age that ended up being there last night. It was so different to dance in a group of people with ages varying from 16 to mid 40s, but I might even prefer it now.

Shopping

No school today because a little boy was hit by a school bus in Tamil Nadu, so certain schools around the state are striking by not opening. My host father says strikes like this happen 4-5 times in a year. Moment of silence for the boy.

In celebration of the 3-day weekend and pre-celebration of my birthday (which I am planning to spend in Chennai with my host mom's close friend), some friends took me shopping. I was expecting some shops like in Cambodia, but the only ones we entered were ridiculously nice. The first one was a 3-story building with thousands of clothing choices. I ended up buying a beautiful, surprisingly cheap, bright pink saree to wear on my birthday and some matching bangles. It was difficult to choose one because they were all so beautiful, but I figure I need to go slow if I'm gonna be here for another nine months. So excited with my choice, we walked around the street for a while window-shopping and finally went to eat. I will post pictures of my pink saree soon!

Ohh the driving

Thursday, my one month anniversary here, was kind of a crazy day. It started off normal- rode the bus from our little colony to the school with my 1-5th grade friends. One of them gave me a flower, which I put in my hair and wore all day. I walked from the street to my school of about 1,000 kids Prek-12th standard. Somewhere between my morning classes of physics, math, chemistry, and biology we had a short 15 minute P.T. class. (PT stands for playing time). Today we were racing 200 meters around the dirt field in which we had P.T. class. I am proud to say that, thanks to my active family and participation in sports, I came in second place in my class. At lunch we played volleyball and the girls were not quite up to our high school standard, so I ended up playing with the boys. Their intensity was intimidating, but I kept up and they at least didn't kick me out. It was so much fun playing a familiar game, and I successful day in sports, at least. Cultural note: boys and girls have separate staircases in the school.

My ride home was 1/2 an hour late, and the guy was the craziest driver I have ever encountered! He sped most of the way back on the wrong side of the road, barely missing busses and 2-wheelers, and stopping in the middle of the road so frequently I had to hold on with both hands to stay upright. About halfway back we stopped at another school for the first time to pick up some kids my age for once. It was cool to meet them, and we ended driving through a small slum to drop one of them at home. It was AMAZING and I honestly loved seeing the goats picking through piles of trash and things I don't even have words for. It was so amazingly different, and, even though the driver didn't slow down for pictures, my eyes were full of everything around me. His driving didn't slow from 30 the whole way through, except when he suddenly slowed to 2 mph for the frequent speed bumps then gunned it before stopping for the next one. I almost threw up. One of the girls ended up living right near me, and we are now best friends. She literally asked me within 30 minutes of meeting. Her dad is a frequent traveller and is an herbal doctor, and SO friendly, and what an experience their house was! It was covered with things from his travels and they have an entire bedroom and sideroom dedicated to all kinds of gods and saints and religions. I anticipate being at that house quite a bit.

Remembrance and Celebration

All week I have been feeling strangely patriotic and confused with September 11 coming up. It is just so.. weird that I am on the other side of the world and as far as I can tell no one really knows and cares about an event I think it's safe to say partially defines us as a country. But then I see it from their point of view and why would they? Something that happened nine years ago, close to as far as you can get from this place, and didn't directly affect them. I have spent the last few days thinking and remembering and respecting those who died in the Twin Towers, and what I saw of the speech Obama gave on September 10 was one of the only times I have been absolutely transfixed by the news. Then he moved to the new bill he wants passed about cutting taxes for companies who employ Americans instead of outsourcing, and I literally couldn't look away. Not being in the United States has made me much more interested in our country, probably because I'm looking at it from a completely different point of view now. 

September 11 for me was actually a day of celebration. From eight a.m. I was consumed with celebrating Ganesha's birthday. It began with an hour and a half-long sit  in front of a foot-tall idol of Ganesha for Pooja (prayer). It was very similar to the fire ceremony I did in Crestone for Ex Ed, except it was a holiday for the men to pray and participate much more than the women. I mostly just sat in the back taking the occasional picture or video. In the evening I (unnecessarily got all dressed up in gold jewelry and traditional Indian party clothes our family friends came over to pray at our altar and everyone loved their new Indian. 

We all went over to our close family friends' house who are the sweetest people and watched A Beautiful Life. I was astonished when one of the adults asked how Jews got chosen to go wherever they were going. They asked me to explain the background of the World War II movie, which struck a feeling in me similar to 9/11. Like, how could they not know everything about this? Maybe it's an American thing or because India wasn't involved in the war at all... just odd. Although, some seemed to know the basics of the war and actually quite a bit about it, I would like to thank World History class for coming in handy. 

CRAZY chemistry!

Chemistry class was the craziest for me so far, and I don't anticipate that changing. We were doing a titration experiment and needed to measure out 20 mL of Hydrochloric Acid in a pipette, which is a skinny glass container. My friend showed me how to do it: SUCK the ACID into the pipette with your MOUTH!! I was so surprised and a little freaked out when they all did it but it was like no big deal. Apparently that is illegal in the United States.. In the beginning of the class one boy got the acid in his mouth and ran out of the classroom after the teacher told him to gargle water like it was a daily happening not at all worth worrying about. That was just plain culture shock. Of course, it wouldn't be an experience if I didn't fully participate, so yes, I did suck hydrochloric acid into the pipette, but- thank God- I did it successfully. Didn't taste a drop.

All the difference in the world!

Classes were held last week on half-day Wednesday, and Thursday. The rest of the time was spent in bored chatter in our seats while the teachers finished the report cards (they just ended quarterly exams). My schedule varies day-to-day, but my classes are: English, Hindi, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math (pronounced Max), and Playing Time twice a week. They double various classes on various days of the week, so we have 8 45-minute periods every day. The kids stay in the same classroom while the teachers move, so we won't move from behind our little desks (35 students crammed into one room) for hours at a time. We even stay in the same classroom for lunch, eating with the same people. Not sure how I'm supposed to meet other people this way, but that's not a problem because I have quite a job remembering just my classmates' names.

The style of teaching is different because they primarily use the textbooks which are each about 150 pages and need to be carried to and from school every day. A total of 15 pounds; Pa was confused and surprised when I literally went into the bathroom with them to weigh them, but I considered it important blog research that just had to be done. Back to the teaching, the periods are really short so the teachers stand there yelling the whole time, flying through the material. I can't understand what they are saying both because of the accent and the echo, and then also the echo of the students' yelling. A teacher will say a sentence, then repeat it and pause so the students all yell the word she's looking for and she keeps going. There is no such thing as raising your hand, its just everyone shouting out. Luckily for me, I covered all the material in the last two years, so I can keep up with the classes. 

Kikani Higher Secondary School

First day of school Indian-style was last Monday, the sixth. Walking into the grounds, I was SO nervous because of the difference between me and the rest of the students, and I wasn't sure how my classmates and teachers would react to this new tall white girl with "golden hairs and bluish eyes". As I should have known, school started half an hour late, so Ma and I sat around waiting for the vice principal to come take charge of me. I expected some staring, but literally every student gave me some wierd look, whether it was a furtive side glance or a full on stop-and-gape (open-mouthed). This was mostly the littler kids- middle school and younger. The older ones seemed to hardly notice me.  At the weekly assembly, I was introduced as a new student from America to the entire school, and although it did nothing to deter the staring, it gave the students some newfound courage to come speak to me. All day I was followed around with the same questions: 

          Hi, what's your name? Where are you from? How long have you been here? What do your parents           do? What are their names? When's your birthday? Do you have any siblings? Names? Who are your favorite heroes (actors)? etc. 

Pretty sure there was an unwritten New Student Questionnaire that everyone knew about. These interrogations persisted throughout the week, and I am confident that if I gave my own Anna Questionnaire on Monday the majority would pass with flying colors. 

I have made a ton of new friends and they are all very sweet and welcoming, but it is RIDICULOUS how much they text! I thought I was bad, but coming here I find that my thumbs of fury are nothing. I will look at my phone and try to answer five new messages but before I can, I will probably get between two and three new ones, generally from the same people wondering why I didn't respond in t minus 5 seconds. There has been one time when I didn't look up from my phone for a solid ten or eleven minutes, and, from that time, I have vowed never to text again. If we were talking about something important or making plans it would be different, but the conversation is about trivial things that I can NOT see the point in asking, like what did I have for dinner. Regardless, I do have a good time with them and am glad to finally be in school with people my age. Progress!

Exploration #1

Yesterday my family and their friends took me on a trip! We drove about two hours through a neighboring city named Pollachi, and drove into the mountains. After changing into swim gear (shorts and a t-shirt) we followed the sound of joyful screaming to the place known as Monkey Falls. Water was cascading close to the big rock behind it and came away from the rock about person-distance from the ground. A perfect shower! And, boy, was it. There were probably forty people utilizing this wonderful place, men in whitey tidys, and women fully clothed in sarees and salwars.  Monkey business was a correct statement as we were preparing to vacate. One of them climbed onto a guys moto and thought it was his, defending it when the real rider tried to shoo him, then rifled through his pouch on the front. It was funny until one of them stole a whole bag of peanuts from our car door AS it was closing. Those things were very practiced, but Ma told me there are some places in India you can't even get out of the car or you'd be attacked by them.

Once we got out of there, we retraced our steps, or tracks, and went over to some friend of an uncle's friend's farm or something like that. I was picturing a big red farmhouse where the chickens were clucking and hay was stored, but it was actually a coconut plantation. We had seen dozens from the road ranging from a hundred trees to many thousand. This was relatively small, and we walked straight through it to the river, where we set up camp. It wasn't long until the owner came by and Pa and Uncle got along great with him. We ended up blowing the elephants off and stayed there to nap in the river. The owner was a great guy and wanted me to meet his children, so we went back to his house before returning home, with a quick stop for dinner at one of the most renowned restaurants in the city, Annapoorna. It was delicious (although I was still full from lunch) and I sampled some desert. Day successful.

Fun fact of the day: "Chai" in India directly translates to "tea". I came here thinking it was a specific type of tea, as in America, and I commented on not being able to find it here, and that's the knowledge I came out of the conversation with. I wonder if I'll be able to find our chai tea here because I miss it dearly. Tomorrow I will be spending the morning in an embroidery class, and I am so excited to be able to create the beautiful designs that I wear every day! I think if I like it I will end up making my own clothes by the time I leave here.... how great is that?!