The Day I Had No Wifi

Hey guys! I'm doing well, but the internet was down at the hotel yesterday.
We got to sleep in for Saturday, yippee! Except I'm so used to getting up early that I only slept in a little bit. Still nice though.
Then we had coffee together in the hotel.
Here's one photo of the hotel lobby for ya, mom!

[Harley/professor, Morgan, Francis/guide, Shannon]

Just because you can't see the coffee doesn't mean it wasn't there.

Then we went to an Americana restaurant, which was pretty funny. It was called Sparky's and pretty much reminded me of a mediocre Applebee's. I got BBQ chicken and it would have been good but it was a bit cold so it was okay.

[Spark-o-ramas for ya there]

[the gang! moi, Megan, Aly, Kristen, Morgan, Shannon, Laura, Sarah. yep.]

Oh, and we at with an Indian named Freddy, who works at a Christian organization called Youth With A Mission (YWAM). They do awesome stuff for the poor kids here. They provide shelter-homes and schooling for a bunch of kids who would have been forced into gangs, prostitution, organ donation, etc. Scary stuff.

We got to go to the YWAM house (well, one of them) and meet some of the kids! Except Freddy wanted us to plan skits for them, one for the older kids and one for the younger. I got to be in the younger group. Our skit was the parable of the lost sheep... I was one of the 99 not-lost sheep. It was my big break.

We had Francis (tour guide) translate and the kids loved it! They did speak a good amount of English too. One 16-year-old girl gave me a tour of the place. All of the kids were super excited for us to be there. They all wanted to play with our cameras and get our attention and such. I would have gotten more pictures but every time I took my camera out the little boys wanted to take it and play around!

Here are some.

[Bryan discovers cricket for the first time]

[my glasses looked good on him. real good.]

[profile pic--totes!!! OMG]

The children were very happy. They said they were all friends in the house. They play cricket a lot and all are going to a nice private school.

Back at the hotel, dinner turned out to be quite the interesting time.

See, we usually eat dinner at the hotel, there is a huge buffet of Indian food there. The entertainment is... interesting. It is a very loud live band that consists of two guys with thick accents and not the best singing voices re-creating popular American songs (and one or two Tamil jams) on their keyboards. This means ANY popular song, from Pink Floyd to My Heart Will Go On and more! Also, on the first day Brian told the guy to call "Laura the Explorer" up to sing (jokingly) and now he knows her name and calls it all the time while we are in there. Even in the middle of songs!

Now, as if that isn't interesting enough, last night a short man was up there dancing to all of the live band's songs! (And exactly ZERO people usually dance at this place).

Bryan got up and partied with him.

[oh yes dance dance dance woo hoo yay]

THEN it got even better! An odd magic show was traveling from table to table for some reason. It was actually pretty good.

[bend, spoon, bend. Laura, entranced by the magic.]

Oh AND apparently the small man was a Tamil movie star or something, so we had to get another picture!

[Kayla, Laura, you-know-who, Megan, hotel singers!]

It was a winning night.

In a Frenzy

Today was busy, almost too busy! We done LOTS and LOTZ.
Firstly and foremostly we went to the Lutheran Theological Seminary. A retired economics professor very close to Dr. Julius (Harley's friend who helps us a lot) spoke to us about Indian history, problems with making quickprogress in India (like the massive diversity, the caste system, over population, and overly-conservative Hindu groups), and globalization of course.

Then we wentto an old age home called Little Sisters of the Poor. They only help very poor old people for free. There were 80 elderly people at that place, but there are more around the world! The old people were adorable and so nice! Unfortunately, we didn't get to speak to them for that long. One of the sisers (it was a catholic place) served us lunch though, which was very nice.
And I took lots of pictures. Here art a feweth.

[beds and beds and more beds]

[never seen something like this before]

[they were so precious and friendly! we paid for them to have a nicer meal that day.]

[and we got to share. spicy fish, baby banana, curry or something spicy on rice, spicy green beans]

After that we went shopping at a mall. This is the type of place middle class people would shop, not a bazaar. Even though it looked like a mall in the US you could still barter at most of the stores!

Next, we traveled to an eye hospital. The guy in charge spoke to us about his work. He helps people who can pay, but also goes to poor communities and helps many for free! They do eye surgeries on things like cataracts and stuff.

[I heart eye surgeons!]

Very soon, we had to leave to get to this traditional dance. We left on time, but accidentally drove to the wrong place! So we were a little bit late. It was okay though, because the lyrics were all in Tamil and telling a story that the dancer sort of acted out/danced to expressively, so it was had to know quite what was going on. The dancer was dressed in pretty clothes and make-up, and beautiful.
I took a video, but I don't know how to put it up here.

[very expressive]

[oh, the lovely misspellings you discover when you end up at the wrong place]

After the dance, it was pretty late, especially after driving back. So we had dinner at 7:45 as all of us were starving! Today was rather go, go, go!
Lucky we get to sleep in tomorrow, eh?

p.s. "Around the Hotel," a photo of the reflective elevator that feels like the mirror on What Not to Wear

[oooh shiny]

Suits, Scams, and Socializing

Do you like my alliteration title theme? Knew it.
Sorry in advance for the lack of pictures. I'm giving you ALL that I took today. We did a lot, but I hardly found good times for any foto fun. Too bad, eh? At least it lets me keep up the alliteration!

So today, after the regular breakfast of everything bland I can find in this spicy country, we heard a lecture about Caste in India and were ready to start the day.

Everyone was semi-dressed-up because we were going to meet Fancy Proffessional Business-people! (FPBs, if you will.)
Harley (professor, in case you forgot AGAIN, you jerk!) had to skip out to retrieve a lost bag from the airport, so he entrusted the clock-gift for the Chamber of Commerce to Megan.

Madras Chamber of Commerce, there we went! They treated us like sophisticated professionals, SO different from how people are age are treated by businesspeople in the states! (Marina, I know you'd agree.)
There were three. We got snacks and power point presentations. Learned lots about globalization. They were friendly guys, so it was fun. Though I had to go to the bathroom the whole time, so I was a bit biased in hoping it would end quickly.

Next was lunch. My meager photos.

[pretty sauces that turned out to be forbidden (contained the water) except the dark brown]

[me and Megan and two fancy dhals--crunchy thin crepes, pretty much]

Okay, I have 5 minutes until the computers close so now I must HURRY!

We split up and went to different businesses.

My group went to a construction company. The HR guy who talked to us was trying to do nothing but make his company look good. He was nice though.

Then our taxi driver took us to a fancy shop instead of back to the hotel. Something the guidebooks warned me about, he probably got commision. Having no where to be, we shopped anyway. Yay for the driver, I guess. (This is the scam part of the title.)

On return to the hotel, we had some down time. Then we met with Dr. Julius and his family and talked about FAMILIES. Yay!

We had dinner with them too.

And I got to hang out with some of the girls and get to know them WAY better! It was a lot of fun.

Howver, I must be off in one minute.

Last two pics:

[scrub a dub dirty clothes]

[more motorcycles than cars around these parts]

Goodbye, all!!

New Friends

Howdy! (Why I keep coming up with southern US phrases in India, I cannot say.)
Today was really fun so I have a bunch of pictures to show you!

We got to hang out with some college students from the Women's Christian College (WCC). They were all psychology majors. We split into groups of two Bethelites and one WCC student. The girl in my group was named Srinity (not sure on spelling). She was great!

[me, Srinity, Shannon, Megan]

We all got coffee together at the hotel and then went out to eat together. I told her to help me pick out something that was not spicy, and she told me to try a dhal (spelling, again?) or something. It was like a thin crispy crepe filled with vegetables. Naturally, it still burned my mouth, but it wasn't as bad as some other stuff.

Some things I learned about Indians:

• not weird for college students to wear western clothes
• people of different religions and Hindu castes are friends in college
• no one speaks Hindi in Tamil, that is the language of the northe (they speak Tamil)
• Indian weddings are 3-5 days long, and there is no dance during it
• snake charmers are not around anymore
• love marriages (aka not arranged) are not uncommon, but arranged marriages tend to be more successful
• dating in college is not weird, though some choose not to
• most Indian college students have a Facebook
• right now it is in the 70's and 80's, but it is their winter!

After lunch, we went with the WCC girls to work in a slum. Our guides were three ladies who do a lot of work in slums and start self-help groups for women.

In the slum, we met the self-help group. This group is allowed loans for a low interest and learns to build savings which they pool together for hard times. They also each have sales or sewing businesses of their own.

[the group listens to someone else intently, ignoring my call for a photo]

Since most of these women were uneducated, none of them could speak English. So the WCC girls and our guide helped translate. We all went around and asked them questions about their children's futures, what they do for fun, problems of living in the slums, how they make money, and so on. They were very excited to answer and simply for us to be there.

They even bought each of us a rose, some orange pop, and some snacks--garlic flavored nuts and a squishy sweet orange-colored thing that I'm not sure of the name.

['tis it. doesn't photograph well, I guess.]

Then we got to explore the communtity. It was fun because everyone was friendly, but also hard because conditions were very poor there.

The children were the most excited to see us and kept following us around and letting us take pictures of them. They were very cute, and it didn't make much of a difference that they only knew "hello" and "my name is" while we only knew the word for "hello" in Tamil or less (sounds like va-NA-cum).

[Sara with one of the most friendly kids there]

[Laura adores Indian children]

[standing by a type of tree that is sacred. they put red saffron dots on it, just like the dots one might get on his or her forehead after going to the temple (comparable to what Christians have on Ash Wednesday, except every time) and that is how they worship it.]

[chillin' with the gang. told you that girl was friendly.]

[these ones were far too cute for words]

We also read the children some stories. They were European fairy tales (picked out by our guide's wife) and a few things got lost in translation. For example, it took a long time to explain what lettuce was and why it was called Rapunzel in, you guessed it, Rapunzel. Also, when "Cat" in boots hunted rabbits it took a bit for the kids to figure out what those were too.

Still, they loved the stories, and we gave them the books at the end.

It was so much fun, and they were so joyful and great.

Also, I got to use my first squat toilet (don't worry, I brought Kleenex for toilet paper, it's too engrained in me as an American to ever switch!)...

[hey, better than the ground, right?]

The people in the slum were lovely, most of them were so welcoming. The women we talked to had a lot of hope for the future, especially with the new self-help group they are a part of.

And there were some animals around, millions of kitties, some chickens, and one goat!

[look at the lil' goaty-woaty smile for the camera!]

Eventually, we had to leave, even though the kids followed us all the way to the cars.

[bye bye, now]

It was a really good experience, for sure.

Monuments & Museums

[a random street scene for you and only you]

Hello! Today we did a billion things and I am very very tired (jet-lag? culture shock?) so I will mostly show you some pictures and then scram!

First we drove to a bronze museum. Our guide, Stanley, showed us all of these Hindu statues (no pictures allowed) and we got to see lots of the main three gods: Brahma (the creator, he has 4 heads), Vishnu (the protector, he has 10 incarnations and sometimes appears as different animals), and Shiva (the destroyer, also the lord of the dance) and their wives and kids.

On the way out, some young Indian girls got really excited to see us and all of them lined up to take pictures! I am going to be in so many Indian scrapbooks you don't even know!

[got a little girl to take one for me too, apparently she didn't center it right]

Next, we went to St. Thomas cathedral. It was built in the 1800's over the spot of St. Thomas the apostle's tomb !

[here's the fancy church, we couldn't photograph zee tomb]

I was super excited to be so close to the body of someone who actually knew Jesus, but then I was told that in the 1600's they moved the body! W T F!

Oh well, it was still pretty cool to be there.

[close up of the alter inside the church--Jesus stands on a lotus and peacocks to represent divinity]

[me looking like super hardcore and stuff next to some tombstones]

THEN, we still were not done! We went to Fort St. George. This place was built by the British when they conquered India. There were a bunch of oil paintings and china in the museum. No real winners picturewise.

However, after that we went to an actual Indian temple!!

[me and the temple, best friends]

That fancy gateway is called a gopurum. These are only in south India during the Chola dynasty. This one was built in the 11th century, I believe. Crazy!

They are super intricate and colorful and overwhelming yet awesome. Hmm, kind of like India itself :).

We got to see people entering and leaving the temple too (non-Hindus may not enter). There was a big mix of people and they were all putting colors on their forehead.

[close up on the temple entrance]

And here is my first (somewhat shitty) picture of sacred cows. WOOOO! (or should I say MOO ;)! )

[cow backs, divine]

Then we went back, super tired!! So good night everyone and all!!

P.S. Food shot for Brian...

[mouth-burnin' good]

The First Day

[standing on Indian ground at last, with Shannon]

When the plane landed, all I could think about was standing up, showering, and sleeping in a bed. I got more excited once we actually got off. All of our bags made it, except one of supplies we were going to bring to the orphanage (but the 3 others we brought were there).

It was after 5 am when we got to the hotel, due to plane delays and bag troubles and such. I am rooming with Sara in 227 (stop by!). We took a shower and went to bed, but, unused to the time zone here, we stayed up until the sun rose talking. Oops.

It was hard to get out of bed when the alarm went off!

We went shopping in Chennai and walked around a little. Here are some random street-shots I got for you:

[ads and apartments]

[the weird yellow guy is a rickshaw, they are like mini taxis, and all over!]

[what can I say? it was sunny and warm.]

[the colorful and crazy marketplace]

Also, we ate dinner with Harley's (the professor) friend, Dr. Julius, and his family. They were nice, but I was so tired by that time!!

The food has been very spicy, I am getting most of my diet from bland things, but continuing to try odd-looking food.

India has such a mix of really poor and well-off people, it's strange. Even the buildings have this variety!

But, I am tired now and I have given you a lot to read. Good night!!

January 2nd-4th Revisited: Planes and More Planes

Hello!! Hello!! From across the world! (Unless you are secretly reading this in, oh, India or something!)

I wrote this great post and saved it to my laptop, but it costs money to buy wifi here and it is free to use the hotel computer. So I think I will just try to recreate instead.

We took three flights.. Minneapolis to New York (2 hours), New York to Brussels (7.5 hours), and Brussels to India (8 hours). Plus layovers, yuck!!
I sat by Rachel, and she let me have the window seat every time, as long I as let her have the aisle seat :).

[first pic of the trip for ya'll]

Now, I bet you are dying to know what the hell I did to amuse myself all that time!! Let me give you a brief synopsis of what the life of a "world traveler" is like. Hahaha.

• look at pictures of Rachel's family
• read A Lion Among Men for hours
• play virtual hangman with Rachel and DOMINATE (as a team, of course)
• sleep
• get spilled on by the flight attendant 
• stretch my right arm
• watch a Bollywood movie, watch another movie
• listen to the song Brian made me
• try and figure out what time it is everywhere and the world
• watch odd people in the airport
• sleep on the carpet, next a piece of hardened gum
• buy a small bottled water for $6
• wish I could walk around
• take every moving sidewalk
• play speed Scabble (similar to Bananagrams) 
• stare

There you have it! All the problems of the universe solved in one short list! 

And my lovely window seat afforded me a few pictures... hooray!

[goodbye, Minnesota! so long snowmen!]

[live from New York! woot!]

[this is good ol' Brussels, which is in Belgium if you were wondering]

[best picture I could get of Chennai. embarrassing, I know]

Alright! Now to write about my first day!