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!