Kerala Trip with the 12th Grade: Day 2

After a wake-up call from some of the other girls at 6:30 a.m. we all tried to sleep for a little longer, but it was useless. Too much going on. We got up and looked outside, it had started pouring rain, and the backwaters looked beautiful in the early morning light. I could see big houseboats made from bamboo, tiny fishing boats with men standing with long poles, and canoes.
We all got ready and packed our bags, going to breakfast around 9:30 a.m. We then spent some time taking photos around the resort before it started pouring again and we all ran to our rooms, getting our bags, and running back to the main hall getting drenched. Of course when we were all there the rain stopped :) and we all walked out to the buses and put our bags inside, coming back and walking out onto the small dock behind the resort and getting onto two boats; one small and one big, for a ride on the backwaters! We all climbed on, squeezing up to the top and sitting on laps so that we could all sit. We played charades with Tamil movie titles (I just watched this game...) and then another girl and I sang a few ABBA songs together. It was a beautiful and fun ride! We passes houseboats, speed boats, fishermen, lots of resorts and palm trees. The water was a darker green color, and we boated along through huge masses of floating plants.
We arrived at our dock and got back onto the bus for the journey home. We stopped for lunch and ice cream at a hotel on the way (there was a sign at the door that said "A hearty welcome to the students from Vidhya Niketan School!") before continuing on home. We spent the bus ride mostly the same as before- everyone talking, yelling, dancing, watching a movie (a scary one that wasn't really scary). We arrived back at the school around 9:00 p.m. and everyone was picked up and we all went home. Everyone was SO happy about the trip, but we all couldn't help but be a little upset about having to come back to reality!
P.S. The photo above is of me and a girl named Tina (for short! Her real name is SO long!) on the boat tour of the backwaters!

Kerala with the 12th grade: Day 1

After arriving home from Mysore around 2:00 a.m., I was woken at 3:30 a.m. to get ready to leave and go to Kerala with the 12th grade class at my school. I was extremely tired, but at 4:30 a.m. when we reached the school and I met up with some friends, I was wide awake. The principal checked our bags before we all piled onto two school buses and pulled out onto the dark streets, everyone screaming and cheering as we left the gates!
The drive took about eight hours. We stopped for breakfast at a small restaurant, but other than that we drove straight through to a place called Kumarakom, along the backwaters of Kerala. We spent the time talking, watching a Tamil movie and listening to loud Tamil and Hindi music that we all got up and danced to in the isles of the bus. It was a lot of fun, not only because we were dancing, but because as the bus drove, swerving around other vehicles, going over pot holes, and braking to avoid crashes, we would all get thrown around and scream and laugh as we pulled ourselves upright again to dance!
We arrived at our hotel around 1:30 p.m. The resort that we stayed in was called "Whispering Palms Resort" and was sooooo BEAUTIFUL! When we arrived and got off the buses it started to pour down rain, immediately stopping as we all reached the reception area. We all crowded in to see- the entire place was outdoors, covered only by a roof. We were offered fresh squeezed juice as we waited for our room keys and we all looked around to see small waterways winding through the small white cabins and a big pool in the center with a view of the backwaters from almost everywhere! It was GORGEOUS! When we got our room assignments, Sowbe and a girl named Renuka and I went to our room to freshen up before coming back to the main hall for a buffet lunch. We then got the afternoon off to do whatever we wanted! We all spent the time outside behind our rooms on a little grassy spot with a pathway, some palm trees and a hammock- all alongside the water! We then had to go inside while the boys got two hours of pool time. We all went into one room, plugged in an ipod and danced! I learned a few dance moves, and taught a few to them too! When it was our turn to go swimming, I borrowed a swim suit from one of the girls and we all jumped in! The swim suits ranged from a one piece to a full body suit! Mine that I borrowed was a uni-tard that went down to my knees that had a small skirt over the top- it was red and I almost felt as if I was wearing a cheerleader uniform!
After swimming, we all went to our rooms to shower and freshen up before a Kerala marshall arts presentation at 7:00 p.m. It was held in a small hall and there was a group of men, ages ranging from about ten to (probably?) forties. They demonstrated Kerala fighting with all kinds of weapons including long sticks, short sticks, swords, shields, knives, whips and even no weapons! It was pretty amazing how flexible these guys were! All of them were doing flips, cartwheels, maneuvering around sharp points, and even the splits!
After that we all went and had dinner at the buffet, then went out and all sat by the pool, hanging out and talking for an hour or so before getting a talk from the principal and correspondent about the fact that there was security all night and how much trouble we would be in if we didn't stay in our rooms. This upset some of us because we had been planning to have the girls in our room for a while after dinner. We ended up all going back to our rooms and going to bed around midnight after the three of us in my room talked for a few hours.

An Elephant and Mysore!

After tea in the morning in Ooty, we all got into the car and drove down the mountain towards Mysore, which is in in the state of Karnataka, north west of Tamil Nadu. The drive down was steep and windy, and we passed several small villages and even a few small waterfalls! We also drove through a tiger reserve so all of us were watching out the windows for any sign of wildlife! We ended up seeing a herd of spotted deer cross the road in front of us, and as we neared a small village we came upon a elephant look out spot. We stopped on the side of the road and walked up to the gate, but were told that we needed a ticket to get in...we turned back, a little dissapointed to see a small crowd of people gathering at the opposite side of the street. I looked to see what they were all watching- from among the bushes, a GIANT black head was slowly emerging! As we walked across the street, a male elephant with big white tusks emerged completely from the green, following the direction of a trainer that was standing among all of us! At this point I was SOOO excited and angry at myself for not charging my camera fully, but luckily for me, Mahesh's sister had a camera and she let me take LOTS of photos! We all posed and took some photos by the elephant, moving along the road with it for a little while until we had taken enough photos and turned back to the car.
When we reached Mysore, we all went to another puja at my host father's office, and spent the morning and early afternoon there while he mingled and did business over a lunch of biriyani and curd rice. When he finished, we all got into the cars and drove up into the Chamundi hills to visit the Chamundeswari Temple at the top. We drove along the outskirts of the city to avoid traffic from a festival called Dasara that was going on at the time, then up through the mountain roads until we reached the top where there was not only the temple, but also a whole bunch of shops and LOTS of people! We walked around for a while, filling my empty water bottle with coconut water and taking photos of all of the monkeys playing around on the temple walls. We went inside the temple, a REALLY old temple that had pillars of solid silver with carvings of the Gods and watched a puja and were blessed with the sacred ash from the fire before squeezing out through the crowds and coming back out to the small square. We walked through the small shops and looked around for little things before walking back to the car and driving back down into the city to a place called Brindavan Garden, which was a HUGE and very well kept garden beneath a dam in the city. We walked around the gardens, admiring the green grass, flowers, and big fountains and waterways that ran alongside the walking path. After reaching the top of the stairs at the back, we took some photos of the entire park and then walked down through brightly colored flower bushes and all sat down on a small piece of grass where we shared a few guava fruits with chili powder sprinkled on the inside. We then took a small motor boat across the dam to the other side where there was another garden and some cement stands where we sat and watched a water show. There was a square fountain in the middle, and as it played songs from top Hindi movies, the water would shoot up and colored lights flashed on and off. When the show finished, it was dark outside and we all took the boat back across the water to our car and drove further into the city. We drove through dark streets, totally lit up with colored lights like we use at Christmas that were strung up on buildings and over our heads. We then saw a big white pillar illuminated ahead- it was a palace! We drove among hundreds of cars, buses and scootis around the palace and took photos as we passes by of the beautiful lit up architecture. I'll post a photo of this when I get them from my host mother's sister...

Monkeys in Ooty!

On the morning of the 26th of September, my host family and I woke up early for the puja holidays. It was Saturday, and the first of the two puja holiday days. Because of this, my host father's company had pujas in each one of the many factories around India- we spent the morning driving around Coimbatore and it's outskirts to attend a total of seven pujas before we picked up my host mother's sister's family and all drove up the mountain to Ooty, a hill station! The drive up took about two hours and was possibly the MOST beautiful drive! We drove straight up and around the tall, jagged and green mountains, passing groups of small grey monkeys sitting at the sides of the roads and sometimes even darting across! The hills around us were covered in lush green plants, tea plantations, vegetable gardens, and SO many tropical flowers! We passed several smaller cities on our way up, all of which were clustered in little groups on the sides of the giant hills, with long brown staircases leading down to the vast valleys below where they keep the vegetable gardens.
We reached the top of the mountain and were in Ooty around 5:00 p.m. We had lunch at a little hotel before driving out to the lake to walk around the boat house! It was just starting to get dark when we reached the water, but it was a wonderful sight! There was lots of little paddle boats out on the water, horse back riders on the roads, and there was even some carnival rides! We walked down to the water and took a few photos. My camera ran out of battery here :(
We spent the night going on a few of the rides that were by the water. My host mother's nephews and I had fun going on a spinning ride and then on the bumper cars! We finished that part of the evening with a little shopping at some road side shops before heading into the city for some real shopping. The sky was dark, and Ooty was surprisingly FREEZING to me! I had been told that the weather there is cooler, but I wore a big jacket the whole time! Even later that night after dinner when we arrived at the cottage we were staying in we were all cold! I ended up sleeping in the jacket....
We woke up the next morning early and had some tea in the crisp mountain air, watching as thick clouds of fog rolled in in the valley below us, before we all got back into the car and drove down the mountain towards our next destination: Mysore.

Praying for Surya

Today was spent almost entirely at two different temples. This morning after breakfast, my host mother and I left the apartments in the car and drove about one block to the nearby temple. When we arrived inside, there was already a puja going on and so we left to go to another temple nearby to check the time schedule for that one. It ended up that we could go back and participate in the end of the other puja, and then come back at 2:00 p.m. for this one.
The next few days are the Puja holidays, and everyone is out buying a whole lot of flowers, sweets, fruits, mango leaves and ghee to offer up to the Gods. I don't know too much about what's going to happen, but I do know that both of my host parents will do pujas in their offices, in fact, we are going to my host father's office here in Coimbatore at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning for an office puja before driving to Mysur (spelling?), a city about an hour away, where my host father's company has a factory. We will be staying overnight there and getting up early again for another puja in that office.
Today though was a different kind of puja- today the position of Saturn changed and the planet is now facing a new star. My host mother and I spent the full day at the temple because the star that Saturn has turned to face is my host brother's birth star! The significance of this movement is that now, the people with that birth star will start a period of both good and bad things happening to them until the planet moves on. We spent the afternoon at a specific temple (after an hour or so at the other temple) so that my host mother (and the MANY) other people there could pray for their loved one's good moments.
The ceremony started out with the Ayers (priests) getting the Gods ready for the puja. They decorated coconuts with leaves, flowers and colorful pieces of cloth and had them all on display on a table above a fire pit. The first half of the puja, the ayers were chanting and would add things to the fire to keep it burning- things like ghee, small sticks, spices, and finally a wrapped bundle of goodies to offer to the Gods. It reminded me a lot of camping, but it was SO different! The fire pit was made from bricks decorated with flowers and colored powders, and because of all the spices being added, the smoke smelled different too.
The second part of the puja was all about the God Shiva's statue. Inside the small room, the statue was bare of it's usual adornment of flowers, as we all watched, the Ayer inside dumped liquid after liquid over the head of the statue- starting with pure oil and going to milk, honey, curd, sugarcane juice, a crushed banana mixture, ghee, and coconut milk, all with a rinse of water in between. The crowd was insane! There were hundreds of people there, and everyone wanted to see what was happening as the different liquids were poured over the God's head! I felt like I was in the middle of the mosh pit at a concert with all of the swarming, pushing people, the cramped space, the loud drums and horns, the bells, and of course the smothering smoke that was coming from the dying fire. Since my host mother and I had gotten there early, we had a good view of the happenings from the floor and I was happy to not have to deal with all of the shoving masses, although my butt hurt pretty bad and my legs were cramped up after sitting on the floor for three and a half hours straight...
After that puja was finished, the God was unveiled completely covered in flowers and a meal was served on banana leaves for a VERY late lunch. My host mother and I ate on the temple floor, talking to some little kids nearby who wanted to know who I was before we left and went home- On the way I saw a PUG!!! It made me break down in tears of course but I still have a very strong intention of walking up the street sometime to see if it's friendly! It was the first I've seen since being here, and maybe the ONLY in Coimbatore because my host mother had also never seen a pug here! It was SOOOO cute! (But not as cute as LOLITA!) :)

A Finished Bear!

This morning after a breakfast of dosa and sambar, my host mother and I left to go to her office. On the way, she dropped me off at her friend Padma's office where I've been twice before to work on sewing a teddy bear. During the hour and a half that I was there, I finished sewing the arms onto the body, stuffed the body and head, added eyes and a nose, and then finally sewed the head on for a finished bear! (Above is a photo of both of my sleeping buddies!) :)
While at Padma's I have to use a lot of expression and sign language because there are always several women there and they all don't speak any English. Padma speaks English very well, but she has to run errands periodically and is gone for short spans of time. Today there were seven of us total in the small upstairs room of a blue building- for the first few minutes we listened to the radio, a few of them singing along, but when the power went out (every day the power goes out for a two hour period. What time this happens is dependent upon where you are in the city. It's all to conserve power too! I think it's great!) they all started a buzz of conversation, trying to include me in some of it. It was interesting for me to try and figure out what they were all saying. I've picked up a few words in Tamil since I've been here, so the combination of those words and the English that is mixed into the language, sometimes I'm able to put together sentences. When Padma came back, she explained to me that the three young looking girls in the corner were very curious about me- they were all three from a village outside the city and had never seen a foreigner before. At first they laughed at me when I picked up the needle and started sewing, but by the time I finished, they were all complimenting my work, saying "nalarkuh" ("good" in Tamil)!
When I finished, Padma and I went on her scooti for a short ride around the corner to a school that she knew of. I had told Padma at an earlier time that my own mother is a school psychologist, and that she works with kids in school that have learning disabilities. Padma had remembered this and thought I would enjoy seeing this school as it was a special school for children with not only learning disabilities, but mental disabilities as well. The two of us went in and met some of the staff. The school was in a small downstairs portion of a house, and every room was filled with all kinds of toys, books, mats, and other things for the kids to play with. When we arrived, all of the kids were in the back room learning a rhyme, and I got to go back and say hello to all of their smiling faces! The kids must have been between the ages of three and around nine, and all of them got very excited when they saw me. I smiled to all of them and waved, saying "hello" and they all smiled back and the few that could said "hello" back to me. The staff at the school then showed me around, telling me a bit about the school. It is the only school of it's type in the area with ONLY professional therapists working and they teach the kids in both English and Tamil to evaluate their IQ and their educational levels so that when the kids are judged ready, they can be put into a mainstream school. It was a neat place to go, and I'm going to keep it in mind as a possibility for volunteer work.
When I was dropped off at my host mother's office, we spent a few moments there before leaving to go to the bank in order to exchange the dollars I have with me from when I came. Unfortunately when we got there, the bank couldn't help me because they needed my passport. I had a copy with me, but they wouldn't accept it and so we left dissapointed. I guess there are other ways that are known to my host mother that we can try though.
Now I'm back at the apartment, watching Pretty Woman on TV- I was so excited when I saw that it was playing! Finally a good movie on TV!

An Evening with Sowbe!

Yesterday evening, after a day at the apartment spent going to the gym, reading, writing, and playing with about six little girls of all ages around the complex for about an hour, Sowbe came over! The two of us walked to her house (which is just outside the walls of the apartments) and sat on her couch in her living room and chatted for about two hours. When we realized that it was already 7:15 p.m., we decided to start a movie that I had brought over called "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey. Seeing as Jim Carrey was in it, I thought that it was going to be a good movie...well, it wasn't that great at all. We ended up turning it off anyways when her parents got home so that all of us could talk together.
Sowbe's mother has had a pretty traumatizing week. A few days ago, after meeting with the Vice President of her company for a meeting, the office staff was asked to leave for lunch and a bunch of police cars showed up. Sowbe's mom then found out what had happened- because of the recession, the Vice President had to lay off some workers in the business. These workers that had been laid off had come back and beaten the Vice President nearly to death. He was in a state of unconsciousness and he died a short time later. Sowbe's mother and the rest of the office staff have had to take extreme care of themselves, and are not allowed to come to the office in their own cars and have to take an office car with their colleagues. This story has been posted in news all around the world, and covers the papers and news stations here. My dad even said that he saw an article about it, and he is half-way around the world! It has been a very sad and emotional time for those who worked at that company, and my sympathy goes out to the family that has been effected by this tragedy.
On a lighter note... Sowbe's family and I had a good time. Sowbe's aunt and cousin arrived from their village and we all had Domino's pizza for dinner! After we had finished, Sowbe and her cousin (who was pretty afraid to talk to me) walked me back to the apartment. :)

A Cockroach Morning

Yesterday, when my host mother returned from the office, the two of us went to the post office in order to send off a big fat envelope full of postcards to my parents (they're going to put all of them in the mail when they arrive). Unfortunately, after I had dropped the letter in the box, my host mother found out that we had to put more stamps on it because of the weight....So, we had to get the post master to open the letter box for us and get it out. After we had gotten the five new stamps that the letter needed (adding up to 405 rupees or about four dollars) we put the letter back into the box and left.
Last night was a party. My host mother had set up a dinner with some of the family friends, and so when we got back from the post office, she prepared some of the food- I even got to help a little bit!!! I was so excited to learn a little bit about the cooking! I can't wait until I can try out the recipes on my own!
Before we left the apartment, my host mother's niece (and my good friend) Sowbe came over for a few minutes! I was so excited to see her after such a long time (since I've been out of school on break and she's still in school because she's in 12th grade...) and I invited her to come with us to the dinner party. We convinced both my host mother and her mother and then Sowbe, me and my two host parents all left the apartments and drove to the house in my host father's new car.
The evening was spent chatting with Sowbe and all of the mothers, eating dinner (that was amazing, like always!), and then having ice-cream for desert! It was a fun night, and by the end of desert it was getting late so Sowbe and I were yawing away, not able to stop because it's so contagious. We were laughing at each other and falling asleep on each other at the same time!
This morning I woke up and went to the bathroom. When I got inside and looked around my eyes picked up something big and black in the corner, sitting on a broom. I looked a little closer and almost screamed really loud when I realized that it was a GIANT cockroach! Now, I'm used to seeing lots and lots of little roaches running around the apartment, but I have never in my life seen a bug so big. It was so gross! (The picture above is so you can get a feel for what I saw...I know, it's gross!)
P.S. After a good suggestion from my dad, I went onto Google Earth and messed around until I found out what you have to type in to see the apartments where I live. If you go onto Google Earth and type in "L&T apartments, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India" two options pop up beneath. One is "Avinash Apartments" and that is the one you have to click on to see the above view of where I am! I hope you can check it out sometime!

A Little Boy's Birthday Party

Last night my host mother and I were invited to go to a birthday party! The party was for my host mother's best friend's son, and he was turning 13 years old! We left the house around 4:30 p.m. and went to a small shop to get him a gift. The shop was called "Celebrations" and pretty much had everything you could possibly think of to give as a gift- for any age too!
After buying a few nice pens and a pen holder that has a light up clock, the saleswoman wrapped the gifts in wrapping paper along with two pencils from Oregon as a gift from me. We then left the shop and drove out of the city for a few minutes before we reached a brand new house where the party was to be held. The house belonged to my host mother's best friend's sister, and it was a very nice house- complete with "Happy Birthday" decorations strung across all of the walls.
When we first arrived, we were greeted by the birthday boy and a few of his friends, and then we both sat down at the kitchen table and chatted with the other women for a while. The kitchen table was directly outside of the kitchen, and when I heard people inside I was curious to find out what was cooking. So, I went inside and sat down to watch as three of the family's maids cooked vegetable cutlets (vegetables fried in batter) over a small gas burner and a LOT of newspaper spread across the floor.
When we had cake (we ate the cake first), the whole family and the few friends that were there (most couldn't make it out to the house because of the rain in the city) gathered together in the hall and watched as four firework candles and a lotus candle that sang happy birthday as it opened, were lit. We then sang "Happy Birthday" as the birthday boy cut off a small piece of the cake and fed a bite to each of his family members and then to himself. Streamers and white "snow" that was really like silly string rained down over all of our heads, and everyone laughed as the birthday boy was attacked with the "snow" from all of his friends. By the time the cans were empty, all of the boys needed a bath so the boys washed up as my host mother and I tried to separate the cake from the bits and pieces of streamers (we ended up just scraping off the top layer of frosting...)!
When everyone had eaten a piece of cake, the kids played a few games including musical chairs that I got to participate in and won! It was a lot of fun, but it was hard to hear the music as it was coming from some one's cell phone!
We left the house around 9:30 p.m. after an amazing meal that had all of my favorite foods- paneer, parota, chapati and fried rice! It was a fun night and very cool to see the cultural differences when celebrating a birthday!

A Day in Kerala

Today was possibly my favorite day since I've been here! I had so much fun today and got to do SO many new things!
This morning I woke up early to be picked up by one of the Rotarians in my club named Suresh- he was taking me and Rianna (the other exchange student from New York) to an Onam Festival (Onam was two weeks ago, but this festival was postponed so that more people could attend) here in Coimbatore! We picked Rianna up and then went straight to the center where the festival was happening. It was held in a community center, and we spent the morning watching a "pookalum" competition (pookalum are the flower designs that the Malayali's make to celebrate Onam)! There were six contestants, groups of women, and we got to watch the whole design come together, from the chalk outline, to the entire area filled with different colored flowers in beautiful designs!
After we had watched the finish (they were going to announce the winner later in the day), we left the hall to go to Suresh's house and freshen up before lunch. We came back with his wife and son a little while later and had food from Kerala! It was very similar to Tamil food that I've eaten here, but there were definitely differences in some of the tastes. For instance, there was one gravy that had pineapple in it! It actually tasted really good with the rice and sambar!
When we had all finished lunch, we dropped Suresh's son back off at the house, and then the four of us drove to Pallakad!!! Pallakad is a small town that is in Kerala- just over the border of the state, and about an hour drive from Coimbatore! As soon as we had crossed the border, I could immediately tell that we were in a new place. There were many more palm trees, and paddy fields- so many rice paddy fields everywhere! It was so beautiful!
We arrived at Suresh's sister's house, where many of Suresh's family members had come to hear an astrologer make predictions for a young baby girl, and Suresh had come to talk about an arranged marriage for his daughter. Rianna and I didn't get to stay for the predictions (Suresh thought that it would be boring, and it was all in Malayalam which is the language in Kerala). We both got to go with Suresh's cousin Lal for an adventure in the city (well, outside the city...)! The three of us got in his car and took a short drive up a mountain- we listened to classical instrumental Indian music on the way up, and it was so relaxing and provided for a good background for all of the lovely scenery. We reached the top to find a lake! It was actually a dam, and we stopped off on the side of the road and walked down to the water's edge. It was peaceful and relaxing, and so we sat there for a while, enjoying the warm breeze and the brilliant colors of the darkening clouds. We left after some more people showed up- it was funny because when the people saw Rianna and I they all ran up to us, asking our names and taking photos!
We then drove back down the hill to the Rock Garden- a place where you could walk in and see mosaics made by Punjab artists. On the way down it started drizzling, and by the time we reached the garden it was DUMPING rain! We didn't mind at all though, and went through the garden's many twists and turns and came out soaked to the bone! Rianna and I then saw a staircase, leading up into the mist and we both sprinted to the top- when we reached the last stair, we were both out of breath, and became even more out of breath when we looked around and saw the view. It was the view from the top of a mountain, and we were looking down at the entire lake and dam! It was incredibly beautiful, and we spent a few minutes up there dancing around in the huge droplets of water and loving every second of it!
After coming back down, we all piled into Lal's car, getting all the seats wet...and drove around to the front of the dam where Rianna and I got to take a chair lift across the top of the grey, cement dam. It was so cool! We rode along, waving to the people walking in the park below us, and talked about our experiences, how many new things we were learning, and how this day was possibly the best day for both of us since we've been here!
P.S. The photo is of me at the side of the lake / dam!

The Train Ride

Yesterday morning I arrived home on the Sleeper train- a night train that goes from Chennai all the way to Coimbatore in about eight hours. My host mother, one of her colleagues and I went to the train station around 10:30 p.m. and had dinner there at a small restaurant in an upstairs balcony where you could see a lot of the station. There were people EVERYWHERE! People with suitcases, people sleeping on blankets spread out on the floor, business men with briefcases stepping quickly through the crowds on their cell phones...
When we had finished dinner, it was 11:30 p.m. and our train was to leave at 11:55 p.m. So, we quickly got some lemon juice (coffee for my host mother) and practically ran to the train. We arrived at the correct platform and then had to walk about half way down the train to get to the correct car that we were in. When we had found it, the train jolted forward a few inches and we all freaked out and jumped on quickly! We found our seats, got settled, and still the train did not move again for another ten minutes or so- the jolt had only been to scare us after all!
When the train began moving, we decided to sleep. Each section of the car holds six people- three on each side. Therefore, we all started out sitting on a bench, but ended up folding that bench up to be a bed in the middle, and there was a top one already set up. I was on the top bunk, so I had to climb up and settle in between two clean sheets quickly before the lights in the car were turned off to go to sleep. When I was laying down flat, I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of the train on the tracks, slowly swaying back and forth as we rounded corners, and especially when we stopped and started up again. Surprisingly, I slept pretty well for it being my first time in a train! I was happy when I woke up at 7:00 a.m.! I had been thinking that I wouldn't sleep at all!
When my host mother and I reached the station in Coimbatore, we got our luggage from underneath the seats and got off the train. We then walked through the platform until we got to the street outside and took an auto (small yellow cabs basically) back to the apartment where we had breakfast with my host father!

Reverse Winked at by a Crocodile...

This morning a awoke to the soft and calming sounds of chanting monks. Here at Pratheeba's house there is a shrine room, and every morning when I get up and go down for breakfast, the gentle sounds of chanting voices comes from the room.
After eating breakfast with Santosh and his friend (Pratheeba fasts every Thursday breakfast), Pratheeba and I left and drove into the city to The Snake Park. We spent about an hour walking around among the many different snakes, alligators, crocodiles, and other giant lizards that I don't know how to classify as. There were LOTS of crocodiles and alligators though, in one cage there was probably about fifteen of them! They were all sleeping around the water hole in the middle, and there was one sitting on a log that overhung the water, and he had his mouth wide open- baring all those hundreds of tiny sharp teeth!
We left the snake park and went to lunch at about 12:00 p.m. Since Pratheeba hadn't eaten breakfast, she was hungry early and so we had an early lunch! We went to a chain of restaurants called "Sangeetha" and both ordered our meals with freshly squeezed juice- sweet lime for her, and orange for me.
After finishing our lunch we went to an Institute of Technology where there was a planetarium. We saw the show in English, and both almost fell asleep under the dark night skies! It was a really cool show, and afterwards we went into the museum and checked out some of the exhibits. Some of them didn't work, but there were exhibits on transportation, development, and one about the ocean which was my favorite! The ocean exhibit was in an upstairs room, and when you walked in there was water running down glass plates and wooden walkways around the dark room. The signs were all lit very brightly, showing facts about tides, animals, underwater volcanoes, islands, etc. When we left the museum, we went outside and walked around for a few minutes inside a children's playground. Most of the toys didn't work, but there was some nice statues of a giraffe and a camel!
We then got back into the car and drove to another business park where we met Pratheeba's friend Arvind again for a snack. We had to get IDs to enter the gates, and inside there was a food court like in Santosh's complex, but here there were different options including McDonalds, Baskin Robins, Subway, and a few Indian food restaurants. We all had some ice-cream from Baskin Robins to cool down from the heat outside before Pratheeba and I left again to go to a temple near her home. This temple was called Nelangarai Shirdi Saibaba Temple, and it was beautiful! The grounds were quite a bit bigger than any of the other temples that I've been to while in India, and there were several buildings. The main was in a circular shape with a large dome on top. Inside was a statue of Saibaba, a saint that both Pratheeba and her mother like a lot. We made offerings of some yellow strings of flowers (Saibaba's favorite color) and then went down some stairs to a room below the statue where you could meditate. We sat for a few minutes and then left and walked around the grounds, along paths of cement and underneath a nice covering of trees. While walking around we came across "the wishing tree" where we both bought a few yellow strings and tied them around the trunk, each making a wish of our own. Pratheeba told me that I shouldn't tell what my wish was until it comes true, so I would write it in here, but I don't want bad karma! I'll write it in later when it comes true!
P.S. above is a photo of Pratheeba and I at the snake park (with an animal we both felt comfortable with!).

Butterflies

Yesterday was a full day with Pratheeba and her mother. We left the house around 10:30 a.m. with the same driver who has been driving us around every day. We drove into the city, on the way passing over a brand new bridge that is now famously known for it's shape- from above the structure, with all of it's twists and turns and overlaying freeways, is in the shape of a butterfly!
We got into the city and picked up Pratheeba's mother before heading out to do a bit more shopping. On today's list was jewelry. We went to one shop first, but left empty handed. The second shop that we visited however had lots of choices, and we all spent about two hours inside the three floored building looking around at all of the amazing gold, silver and bronze. Pratheeba even bought me a gold necklace and earring set! While inside, it suddenly began DUMPING rain outside! Giant water droplets fell hard for about fifteen minutes, flooding the entire street outside! When we left the jewelry store to go to lunch across the street at a place called "Hot Chips," we had to walk halfway down the block before we found a puddle small enough that we could take only a few steps to get across! The rain made the air even more humid- it's really hot and humid here already, but the water soaking into the hot earth made lots of steam come up from the ground, and so the air became wet with all of the moisture.
After lunch, we all drove to an agricultural farm (which was what we would call a nursery). It was only a short drive, and when we got there it was beautiful! The whole place was like a giant tropical garden! We got out of the car and walked around aimlessly for a bit, watching all of the multi-colored butterflies fluttering around among the brightly colored flowers, before a young boy who worked there found us and showed us around- telling us the names of many different flowers (the Tamil names) and helping Pratheeba and her mother choose a few plants to buy and take home with them for their houses. After we left, Pratheeba told me that the boy was seventeen, and had dropped out of high school. He had been working there for four years and made only 200 rs. (about four dollars) per day.
We left the agricultural farm and went to another shopping complex called "City Centre," however, this mall was REALLY fancy! Pratheeba told me that there had been several movies filmed there, and that because of this there was no photography allowed inside...kind of strange. The inside was really cool! Most of the stores were high class and brand name, and so we walked around, got a mango ice-cream, and looked through a few windows before going in to do some shopping at a store called "LifeTime." We spent about an hour and a half inside looking through all of the kurtis, salwaars, and also the western style clothes. Pratheeba tried a few things on, and so I looked around and tried on a few things also. We ended up leaving the shop with one item each- a kurti top for Pratheeba and a shirt for me. While in the mall we also went to a store that was like the Indian version of Barnes and Noble. They had lots of books on every subject, magazines, and then also toys, watches and other things.
After leaving the mall, Pratheeba and I dropped her mother off at home and went to meet Pratheeba's husband, Santosh at his office. He works in a HUGE business complex with three buildings, a food court, shops, and even a grocery store inside! We met him at the food court and sat and talked for a while before getting dinner. Guess where we went? Subway! We all sat around eating, chatting and having a good time before we all got into the cab and drove home.
P.S. above is a photo of Pratheeba's mother and I in front of City Centre Mall!

SHOPPING!!!

Today I felt as though I was at home in one of the big cities of the US (most of the time...). Pratheeba, her mother and I spent the ENTIRE afternoon shopping in one of the biggest malls I've ever been to in my life- the mall was called Spencer's Plaza, and it was three buildings, all of which had more than the number of stores at the Rogue Valley Mall in Medford that I'm used to! We went to only a few stores, the stores that Pratheeba knew to be good, and we spent a few hours browsing through all kinds of things to buy for me. The first part of the trip was spent in the "Western" section of a store where I bought a pair of skinny jeans (very in style here), a short dress, and a T-shirt. The fashion here in India is moving quickly towards the western influence, and so you see many young girls wearing jeans and tops that you could buy anywhere in the US (boys can pretty much wear whatever they want)! Even the kurtas and salwaars (Indian style dress) is becoming westernized by the patterns.
After finishing up with the western section, we all went into the section where the same store sold kurtas and salwaars, tights, churidars (loose straight pants), gathering pants (cotton pants that are tight and gather at the ankle), salwaar pants, and patialas (big Alladin style pants). We spent a few minutes there, they didn't have too much of a selection, but I did find a short kurta and a pair of gathering pants that match.
We all then went to another shop called "Pantaloons" that sold the same items, but different colors and styles. We shopped around there for a while, all trying on a few things, looking at the jewelry, and sorting through the many colored options of churidars that were on sale for a good price. I left the store with one more kurta, that matched my gathering pants, to add to my growing closet.
After finishing up with our clothes shopping, we all rested for a few minutes and had ice-cream from a shop that I've seen everywhere called Arrun Ice-creams. Pratheeba got an almond flavored, her mother butterscotch, and I tried something new (I've only eaten vanilla and strawberry ice-cream since I've been here) called creamy cookie. It was a vanilla flavor with a chocolate flavor mixed in. I also got chocolate chips to put on top. YUM!
After leaving the mall, we spent a few minutes in a jewelry shop. The jewelry is AMAZING! It's all much too big and elaborate for my taste, but it was all solid gold! I liked looking at all of the pieces, but I was a little afraid to touch them...(most of the prices were WAAAYY out of my price range)!
After that our shopping concluded and we dropped Pratheeba's mom back off at her house in the city. Pratheeba and I then got into the same cab that had been driving us around all day and drove back out to Pratheeba's house in the outskirts of the city. On the way we stopped to get "pani puri" which is a north Indian specialty that my host mother had suggested. It was really good- puris are the small little shells that are round, and inside this type we had potatoes and a sweet and spicy sauce. They were delicious, and I can't wait to have them again tomorrow (Pratheeba said she knows of a shop that sells the BEST in the city, and that we'll go there tomorrow)! We also stopped to recharge my phone (add more money to the account) at a little shop where we also bought some bananas!
P.S. the photo is of the front of the mall (one of the buildings!)

Sprinting Across Stones

OK, so first off, I realize that I haven't been updating my blog- I'm sorry about that. I haven't had Internet access for a few days and even now I'm using Ahalya's (my host mother's cousin) laptop, so I won't be able to post photos, but you'll find that I've posted the blogs from the last two days below this one (I just wrote them in m journal and transferred them over). I'll go back and edit in photos and a video (!) later when I get Internet access on my laptop!
Today I woke up again sweating and got up to take my routine cold shower. My host Ahalya's husband arrived back from a business trip this morning, and so I got to meet him when we all had breakfast together. While we were eating, a yellow lab with a collar on came up to the fence and sent Ludo (Ahalya's yellow lab) into a barking frenzy. We didn't know whose the dog was, but he was very sweet and even let Vikram (Ahalya's husband) pet him. Vikram left for a few minutes and walked the dog down the street to see if it would recognize a scent, but to no avail. He ended up bringing the dog back and feeding it- a little while later the dog went home!
After that was taken care of, we all got ready to go out. Ahalya took the day off so the four of us (Ahalya, Vik, Vik's mother and I) set off to drive to Kanchipuram- a small city outside of Chennai where Vik's mother grew up. We drove for about an hour, listening to ACDC (Vik's favorite) and swerving quickly around the other cars, buses, autos and scootis. We arrived and drove straight to the temple- one of the hundreds that this city is famous for. There was a temple on every street corner, and we went to the one called Sri Ekambaranathar Temple, which was so tall that you could see the two towers as we were driving into the city. This temple was a temple to Shiva, the God of destruction, and was built in the B.C. time period! It was amazing! There were carved stone pillars everywhere, each with an intricate carving of it's own. It was a big temple, so the two towers were separated by about 100 yards of sand and stone- The ground was BURNING hot, and so Ahalya and I (Vik and his mother went to go and get Biriyani) had to sprint from shade patch to shade patch until we finally reached the other part of the temple! We held hands and counted to three each time before running to the next spot, even though we sprinted though, my feet still feel a little burned. We left the temple running through the gates beneath the first arch, looking up to see monkeys climbing around in the carved designs above.
After blowing on our feet to cool them down in the car, we all drove out to a little spot in the shad to eat biriyani for lunch- it was nice and cool in the shade, and we were in a pretty green spot with cows and dogs walking about. The thing that drove us away were the flies- so many of them!
After shooing all of the flies out of the car, we drive into the city to a sari shop, a shop that Vik's mother has been shopping at forever to buy her saris! The saris were absolutely amazing! very single one of them was hand stitched with real silver and gold threads into beautiful and elaborate designs. We spent a little while going through the saris- all three of us girls choosing colors that we liked. By the end of our search there was probably about fifty multicolored saris laid out on the table. Ahalya asked me which saris I liked, and I picked out a few that had nice colors. My favorite though was a bright purple one, with suns stitched across the fabric. I was shocked and SOOOO thankful when Ahalya and Vik insisted on buying it for me- it was an amazing gift, and I just want to publicly state how grateful I am to them. I truly am surrounded by the most genuinely kind and hospitable people here!
While the saris were being packed, we all drove over to a small little shop in the back of a building where we actually got to watch a sari being made! There was one loom that took up the entire small room, and the man behind it worked quickly and easily, sliding the spools through the long threads and making the tiny intricate designs along the way with the golden thread. It takes someone fifteen DAYS of work to finish ONE sari- and the wedding saris (which are much more elaborately designed) can take up to three MONTHS! It was a really cool experience to see the silk sari being made! I can't wait to learn how to tie one so that I can wear mine!
I added a video! It's of the man making the saree!

McDonald's?! (Sept.13th)

Today I woke up after a nice sleep to a sweaty morning here in Chennai. I got up, took a shower, and then had breakfast with Ahalya and her mother in law. After we had all finished our lemon rice (that didn't taste like lemon, but was yellow and still good), we got ready to go out to a temple. The temple was a little ways outside the city in the suburbs, and was called Ramanajur Temple. We arrived at the gates this morning just as the temple elephant was walking through! She was small and looked pretty old, but it was still SO cool to see another elephant!
The Ramanajur Temple was built in honor of a saint who was EXTREMELY holy. The saint was rewarded for his devotion to the religion by the God Vishnu- the God came down to earth and gave the saint a hug, and therefore gave the saint the same powers as if he was a God. We walked (or rather ran), around the temple, our feet burning on the hot stones. We lit a few candles to give to the Gods and then left, once again being blessed by an elephant!
After leaving the temple, we drove down the road a little ways to a memorial built for Rajiv Gandhi- the ex-prime minister of India who was murdered in a bomb blast on May 21st 1991. He had come to Chennai to campaign and was giving a speech when a woman from Sri Lanka placed a garland of flowers over his shoulders and the bomb went off. The women had the bomb strapped to her chest the whole time. The memorial was beautiful- there were many statues, and paths that wove around the grassy (that you couldn't touch) park.
We drove back into the city after that and decided to get some lunch. Guess where we went? (Yea, it's the title of this post!) McDonald's! (I know, normally I'm against McDonald's, but it's a vegetarian McDonald's so it couldn't be too bad right?!) The McDonald's here had a similar structure and the same interior design as every other McDonald's I've seen in the world, but the menu was what made this McDonald's an Indian McDonald's! The menu included a Mcveggie burger and a paneer wrap (paneer is an Indian cheese). I ordered a Mcveggie burger, french fries and a Fanta. The food was surprisingly delicious- it reminded me of my own country because everything tasted EXACTLY like McDonald's fast food, even though it was vegetarian! The three of us (Ahalya, her mother in law and I) all sat inside and ate our lunch, listening the whole time to The Backstreet Boys!

My First Day in Chennai (Sept.12th)

Today was my first full day here in Chennai. I woke up VERY early this morning sweating and discovered that, had I not been sleeping under my mosquito net, the circulation of air from the fan would have hit me...I got up and immediately took a shower, and then put my nightdress back on, feeling a bit more refreshed.
I'm staying with my host mother's cousin Ahalya for the next few days and I'm at her house right now- she's an incredibly nice girl, and she even made me cornflakes with raisins and nuts for breakfast! When I had finished eating, Ahalya told me the plan for the day.
We went to a place called "Dakshina Chitra" which is a place a little bit outside the city where you can walk around and see models of old fashioned homes from all over India. We got there with Pratheeba (my host father's niece) around 1:00 p.m. It was a really awesome place, and I had fun looking at all of the homes and doing a bit of shopping at the center of the park. I even got my fortune told! Outside one of the houses there was a man with two parrots and a stack of folded cards. Ahala, Pratheeba and Ahalya's mother in law all asked me if I wanted to get my fortune told, and I said "of course!" So, I sat down in front of the man with Ahalya (who translated his Tamil to English). He asked me my name and age, and then he shuffled the cards and let one of the parrots out of it's cage. The parrot walked up to the stack of newly shuffled cards and started taking off cards from the top of the pile, one by one until he stopped suddenly and handed the card in his beak to his master. I was shocked and surprised when the man opened the card, revealing a picture of Jesus (even Ahalya and Pratheeba said they had never seen someone get this card...)! The fortune teller then proceeded to tell me (as Ahalya translated) that my life would be good, I would be successful in a career involving the sciences, money would never prove to be a problem in my life, that I would travel a lot and always be satisfied and feel good about my trips in life, and that when I leave India I will feel as though I have accomplished what I came for and be very happy about it. This was a very cool experience for me- I love getting my fortune told and hearing others too! (The video below is of the entire fortune being told!)
After all getting our fortunes told and looking around for a bit longer, we all got mahindi done on one of our hands! Then, we finished off the experience with ice-cream and shopping. When we left it was about 3:30 p.m. and we stopped for lunch on the way back before dropping Pratheeba off at home and heading to the beach to take a short walk. We arrived just as the sky was getting dark, and there were lots of people milling about in the twilight. There were food stalls, games, ice-cream stalls- it was a busy time of evening.
After leaving the beach, Ahalya, her mother in law and I drove back to Ahalya's house. Now I'm getting ready for bed before we eat a dinner that Ahalya's mother in law has prepared!

I'm in Chennai!!!!

Hey everyone! I realize that I haven't blogged in a few days...sorry! I've been really busy! If I wrote about everything it would take up pages, so I'll just quickly tell you what I did the last two days (no details) and then write about this morning!
For the past few days I've been going to work with my host mother. She's been working out is the field lately and so I got to go with her to several client's houses and sit in on the meetings. Last night the two of us (after her meetings) went to an exhibition! It was an arts and crafts sale sold by vendors coming from all over India! It was really awesome, and my host mother said that we'd go back when I return from Chennai so I'll write details then!
This morning I flew to Chennai! My flight was supposed to leave at 8:35 a.m., but because of a Pilot Strike that's been going on for a few days, it was delayed until 9:50 a.m. Because of the strike, the airlines have been combining the two morning flights to Chennai, so I was expecting a full plane, but was pleasantly surprised when it was pretty empty and I got two seats to myself!
The flight was about an hour and ten minutes. I spent most of my time journaling, looking out the window, and listening to my ipod. It was cool to watch India go by beneath me because every time I looked down there would be a new sight. For the first part of the trip, the land below was populated, but there were large green hills that popped out through the buildings and remained vacant of housing. The middle part of the trip when I looked out the land below me looked dry and VERY populated, with no mountains, but a river winding through to the south. At the last part of the trip I looked out my window and saw a color I wasn't expecting...blue! It was the ocean- the Bay of Bengal! We were flying over the Bay for a few minutes before we descended into the airport. As we descended, I got to see the aerial view of the city- it looks very nice and I could pick out several famous buildings that I've seen in books about Chennai. I also saw a beach! A long stretch of yellowy brown sand along the coast! I'm excited to go to the beach while I'm here and stick my toes in the water (people won't swim I've been told)!!!
When I had gone through baggage check and walked outside the airport, I found the driver that had been sent to retrieve me- he was holding a paper sign that said "Mr. Madison" on it in purple marker...well, at least he got the name right! My first observation about Chennai after walking outside the airport was that it is REALLY hot here! It's extremely humid and sticky, and I haven't stopped sweating since I've been here... We left the airport and I made calls to my parents and host parents on the way while passing through streets that looked familiar, but at the same time very different. When I had finished my calls I looked out my window. With a population of 4.34 million, this city is MUCH bigger than Coimbatore's 1.4 million. The buildings here are much bigger, and I saw a lot more houses that bordered the streets.
When we arrived at Pratheeba's (my host father's niece who stayed with us my second week here) I was welcomed into her home immediately. She lives in a three story home with her husband, her husband's father, and her husband's grandmother. Only Pati ("grandmother" in Tamil) was home with her, and the three of us sat in the sitting room and chatted for a bit before I got a tour of the house and we had lunch.
After lunch, Pratheeba and I left for her mother's house to rest for a few hours before Santosh (her husband) gets off work and we could all go to dinner. We're here now and I took a short nap. We tried to hook my laptop up to the Internet, but unfortunately the plugs didn't fit with mine so I can't post any pictures. :( I'm hoping that at Pratheeba's house my laptop can be hooked up so that I can post some!
I'll write more as soon as I can- like I said, I'm not sure if the Internet will be working where I'll be, but I'll try!

A Long Day at the Office...

This morning I woke up early to go to work with my host mother. She had a conference this morning for all of the Oriflame directors here in Coimbatore. We arrived early, and I was glad that I brought a bag of things to do! I ended up taking out my new sketch book and a book of mahindi designs to practice drawing some of them. The meeting started soon after, and my host mother whispered to me "Madi, you should put that away, they are trying to see what you're doing." and she gestured towards all of the people sitting in the plastic chairs behind me. I looked around, and sure enough, everyone was looking at me and trying to catch a glimpse at what I was drawing! I blushed and placed the book back in my bag.

By the end of the meeting, I had ended up in the back of the room where I could freely do whatever I wanted (without making noise of course!) without being a distraction. I finished my mahindi practice, and then read my book "Water for Elephants." I REALLY liked this book a lot and definitely recommend it to everyone (I finished it today later on)!

After the meeting ended, my host mother and a few of the Oriflame people from Chennai and I went out to lunch together. We went to the veg-restaurant where I got the veggie burger, and today I decided to try it again. It wasn't as good as Annapoorna food, that's for sure...!

When we had all finished lunch and a fruit cup (OMG those are SOOOO good!) we all drove back to my host mother's office where the three of them had a meeting (this is where I finished my book). They finished at about 6:00 p.m. and my host mother and I left and are now running errands. We are now at Piriyanga's parent's business, and then we are planning to go to the bank, and the exchange office so that I can get some money for my trip to Chennai! I leave Friday morning on a flight out of Coimbatore and I'll be there for a week! More details later!

The Commissioner's Office

This morning, after a bowl of corn flakes and a cooked egg, my host mother and I left the apartment to go to the Commissioner's office here in Coimbatore. The office is located at the main local police station, and we were planning to meet my host father there. For the past few weeks, my host father and I have been putting together a packet of papers- information including copies of my passport, visa, my height, eye color, flight information, etc. The office also required five passport size photos. I had taken some at home, but when I went looking through my things to find them, I couldn't. So, on the way to the office, my host mother and I stopped at a photo shop where we paid 65 rs. (a little more than a dollar) for six photos in five minutes! (Of course as soon as we got in the car and I took out my passport pack to put the photos inside I found a few of mine....oh well, I'm sure I'll need those for something else!)
We had to go to the Commissioner's office to "officially" confirm that I AM here in India. We had to submit all of the paperwork to the police so that if anything should happen, I have record of being here. I guess we also have to clear all of my travel with them too...which is a little strange.
We spent about an hour in a dark office that looked like a writer's attic- there was papers and files stacked EVERYWHERE! Every desk in the office was buried, along with more piles stacked high above our heads on top of file cabinets. I almost felt like I was drowning in paperwork...I can't even imagine trying to organize all of it!
When we were leaving, I took out my camera to take some photos of the building- before I could click the photo, everyone around me jumped and said "no!" I was confused, and my host father was kind enough to explain that if I took a photo, someone might think that I was taking it to place a bomb somewhere...well, that's good to know! That could have been a bad situation...:)

"Attitude is Altitude" - Dr. B.K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar

Yesterday was a VERY busy day here in my life in India. I woke up (at 8:00 a.m.!!!!!), had my breakfast, and a short time later my host mother and I left the apartment to go to her office. On the way, she dropped me off at a friend of hers business- her friend is a teacher at a local college who teaches jewelry and toy making. Since I've been here I've been wanting a teddy bear, and my host mother had the great idea that I should make my own! So, I've been to my host mother's friend's twice now for a total of about three and a half hours, and I'm still probably only 70% finished! I'm stitching it from scratch- Padma (my host mother's friend) had all of the fabric, but my job is to sew it all together and (attempt) to actually make it look like a teddy bear!
Padma had to be at work at 12:00 p.m., and so on her way to the college, she dropped me off at my host mother's office. We rode on her scooti, and it was a lot of fun because I'd never ridden on a scooti through actual Indian traffic before...it was loud and hot, but when we got moving, the wind was in our faces and we sped alongside the cars, trucks, bikes, cows, people, and of course the other scootis!
After being at my host mother's office for a few hours, the two of us sped home to meet Prabak- he was already home when we arrived, and so the three of us had a VERY quick lunch before getting into Prabak's car with out neighbor Vadivu and leaving to go to a function. Vadivu's husband, Mahalingam, is a partial owner of a new school being built here in Coimbatore, and yesterday was the opening ceremony.
We arrived at the college in the afternoon. The construction work was not quite finished yet, but I could tell that it will be very nice when it is fully built! When we walked into the entrance, we were greeted by many men, all of whom had something to do with the school being built and opened. My host father was even handed a bouquet of roses (which he gave to me) as he entered!
We spent the afternoon touring around the finished pieces of the school- the Principal's Office, Computer Lab, and a few of the classrooms. After looking around for a bit, we went back down to the main outdoor hall when the Chief Guest arrived- the Chief Guest's name was Dr. B.K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar (don't worry, I can't pronounce it either!)- and he is a man of great status here in Coimbatore. He has given money towards the making of many schools, and he was also invited to Vatican City a few years back to speak about Hinduism at a Peace Conference with Pope John Paul II!!! After Dr. B.K. arrived, all of the near 200 people there filed into a conference room to hear him speak. We ended up hearing a total of seven speeches (most of which were extremely long and in Tamil....) and when it came to be Dr. B.K.'s turn to speak, he got up to the microphone and said "Well, I'm confused about what language to speak. I know that I'm supposed to speak in Tamil, but I see a young lady here from out of the country (pointing to me) and so I'm confused." The audience laughed and everyone shouted "Tamil!" I was hoping for English, but unfortunately, majority rules and his speech was given in Tamil. Even though Tamil is a language that I can't understand, there are quite a few English words thrown into the language, so, even though this great man spoke in a language other than my mother tongue, I was able to understand a few pieces, and my favorite line was "Attitude is altitude." I find these words to be most truthful, especially since I've been here. I've learned a lot about myself, but I've also learned the big lesson that this exchange is going to be what I make it ("attitude is altitude") and that by being positive, my experiences are changed drastically.

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head

...although it's only drizzling right now, a few minutes ago it was dumping! The weather has been a lot cooler lately, and the skies are darker. For the past few days it's been raining on and off- the rain usually lasts between five and twenty minutes, and then stops for a few hours before coming back.
This morning I woke up early with my host parents to attend a wedding. Someone from my host father's office was getting married, and so we went for a little while to support them, eat, and chat with people.
We arrived at the hall where the wedding was taking place just as the bride and groom were outside taking some photos. The bride was wearing a bright yellow sari (which is traditional as yellow, the color of turmeric, is auspicious) and was covered in makeup,jewelry, and both the bride and groom wore several strings of flowers around their necks.
We followed the soon-to-be couple up the stairs into the hall where there was several hundred white plastic chairs set up- most of them unoccupied as everyone there was crowding around the center "shrine" (gazebo looking thing) to see the bride and groom as they were blessed by priests from all the temples around the city. My host father told me that this was special, that the father of the bride was a public servant and cared for all of the temples in Coimbatore, and had invited every single one of the priests from each temple to bless his daughter on her wedding day!
After watching for a few minutes, my host parents and I went downstairs to eat breakfast. Breakfast was served in a big hall with lots of long tables set up. We ate our fill of rice, idli (sticky rice patty thing), sambaar, chutney, korma, and a sweet too! Since I've been here I haven't found a single sweet that I've liked- until this morning! The sweet that did the job was one that my host parents have no name for- it was a ball shaped, crispy, cinnamon sweet filled with a paste inside that didn't really taste too much. It was good, and my host mother said "Madi, I think you like sweets with less sugar." Which is true- all of the sweets available here are VERY sugary, and most of the time are just solid blocks of cooked sugar crystals! They don't taste sweet to me, but they are DEFINITELY made from A LOT of sugar! (photo above is of ONE of the three sweet cases at Annapoorna, the restaurant I love!)

Teacher's Day at School!

Today ended up being a holiday for the eleventh grade at school...except me. I was totally OK with this though because today wasn't just any normal school day, it was teacher's day. The whole day is dedicated to celebrating teachers, and the twelfth grade at school is responsible for putting on a show, taking over the classes, and bringing each teacher a card or a rose. All of these festivities were supposed to happen yesterday, but the government called a holiday yesterday because the Chief Minister of State for Andhra Pradesh (the state north of Tamil Nadu) was killed in a helicopter accident. Because the event couldn't take place yesterday, there had to be a few things cut out from the traditions today.
I arrived at school around 8:15 a.m. to a sea of colorful dresses- all of the twelfth grade was supposed to dress up today, and so (for most of the morning) I was admiring all of the beautiful salwaars that all of the girls were wearing!
The morning started out as usual with an assembly where all of the students were in their lines (everyone else BESIDES the eleventh grade had school today to take an exam...), and during today's program all of the twelfth graders were called up in turn to the front where they presented their assigned teacher with a flower and/or card. After the assembly, the twelfth grade is SUPPOSED to take over a class and be the teacher, but because the rest of the school was taking exams, this part of the traditions had to be cut out. All of the girls were so upset about it! They had all been really excited for the chance to be the teacher!
Around 10:00 a.m. there was an announcement that everyone who was not going to participate in the afternoon's show was to go home- that brought devastation. The twelfth grade students were VERY mad that they couldn't stay to watch, and most of them left sullenly on the buses. I was (luckily) allowed to stay and watch the show. I felt bad about all of the other kids having to leave though.
So, Sowbe and I spent the rest of the morning with some of the other girls participating in the show, and when it came time to take our seats, we waited for all of the teachers to be seated before we found two empty seats in the front for ourselves. The show was great! It started off with acts performed by kids from the younger school, and ended with acts from my school. The twelfth grade girls did a dance that was fun to watch, but the REAL entertainment was the finale- the twelfth grade boys dressing up in fancy clothes and wooing a young "maiden" to them with flowers...unfortunately when the "maiden" turned around, it was a guy wearing a dress and makeup!! It was hilarious, and the whole audience was laughing hysterically. The entire event ended with a standing ovation and a HUGE round of applause!
P.S. The photo above is of me and a bunch of the twelfth girls in their outfits!