Namaste from Chennai, India! This place has been pretty interesting and eye opening; there’s so much to take in! Actually, I thought it was going to be a lot move overwhelming than it really is, so that was a relief. When we pulled into port yesterday it took us about 2 ½ hours to be cleared to get off the ship, but I had an FDP with two of my teachers called the Hindu Family. Around noon we left to go to a person’s house where a professor (she was an interport teacher during the last SAS spring semester) was to talk to us about Hinduism and the Indian family. The house ended up being her friends because her house couldn’t accommodate 25-30 people and we stayed there for three hours. There wasn’t much of a reference to the Indian family, which is why I signed up for the trip, but of what I got out of the talk (my mind asleep half of the time and thinking about shopping for the rest of it, with a little variation of listening every now and then) I learned a lot. The gave us delicious little snacks, chick peas and cookies ☺ After the home visit we traveled to one of the most popular temples in Chennai where we got our first real experience of Indian life. Before we got into the temple, men surrounded us trying to persuade us to buy their little drums…it’s actually kind of nice having them around cause they’ll play the drums while you walk; it’s like a little soundtrack to your five minute adventure! We had to take our shoes off before we entered the temple and once inside we had to pay to take pictures, being careful not to take pictures of certain shrines and statues. This temple seemed to be a little bit of a hang out place for people to come and have conversation; it was quite interesting. There was also this little nook in the middle of the area that sat a tree with a bunch of wooden structures hanging from it; this is where couples come if they haven’t had a child or are having difficulties having children. When I got back to the ship I met up with ten other people and we all took a rickshaw to a hookah bar called Mocha to celebrate my 18th birthday! We stayed there for a good amount of time, had shakes (best shakes of my life by far…I had a Lindt chocolate one…HEAVEN!), then headed back to the ship where at midnight I was serenaded by Kevin, Jimmy, and Flick (Robert) for my birthday; I turned 18 in Chennai, India right outside the gate from the MV Explorer. A birthday I will NEVER forget.
Today I woke up around 8, packed for our homestay trip, which we’re leaving on tonight and waited for Dad to get back from Pondicherry. Once he got back, him, Jimmy, and I walked around Chennai at the Pondy Bizarre ☺ I got two pairs of traditional Indian pants and a few gifts; I wanted to spend some more moola, but I’ll get to that in Cochin where I have two days to shop till I drop! We ended up at this restaurant that had mouth watering, nose dripping, lip scorching, tasty food where I got Dragon Chicken and Dad and Jimmy got a curry dish. We split three things of naan as well…SO yummy in my tummy! Afterwards we walked a little ways trying to find post cards, but eventually gave up and got a rickshaw. Now, this rickshaw ride was pretty intense; we almost slammed into the sides of at least three cars, almost got hit by one, almost hit an elderly lady, went up and down the same street probably half a dozen times, dodged hundreds of cars, motorcycles, people, bikes, and buses, almost got flattened by a bus, and had one guy pull up next to us, talk to Jimmy and hit on me. Gotta love India, it’s a totally new experience! The traffic is even crazier than it was in Vietnam, but you get the hang of it and used to it after spending a day in the city.
Some cultural differences that I’ve noticed: people move their head side to side when they’re agreeing with you or saying yes, men and women hold hands with the same gender as a sign of affection, people don’t wear deodorant, dogs and cats roam around free, taxi drives really don’t know where they’re going, the majority of woman dress in traditional sarees (they’re all so gorgeous with so many different colors and patterns…it makes me want to buy one!!), men are a lot more obvious about looking at you, and you shouldn’t wear shorts or revealing shirts and always closed toe shoes. There are also the poverty levels that are a little jolting when you first experience them…many people, especially children, will come up and ask you for money, food, or miscellaneous things. For example, Medora (who grew up in India) told us that children will come up and ask you for toiletries, so during our FDP she passed out a bunch of them from the hotels people have collected stuff from. After the temple yesterday, I, along with three other students and our tour guide, went up to three girls who were passing our bus on the way back home from school and offered them the toiletries. They were tremendously grateful, all smiles, and thank yous… it was a little odd just going up to three random girls asking if they wanted the gifts, instead of being asked for them. Odd dynamic, but I felt really good doing it because they were so content afterwards.
Dad and I are leaving tonight at 8 pm for our village homestay in Erode. Tonight we will be on a sleeper train, where we’ll arrive in the city early tomorrow morning. We’ll meet our host families and go back to one of two farms SAS picked out for us where we’ll get a tour of the farm I believe…I’m not sure what we’re doing after that. All I know is that that night we’re most likely getting a home cooked meal and I’m STOKED because I LOVE Indian cuisine, especially the naan. ☺ The second day all I know we’re doing is going to a school where the children will put on a performance for us and we will most likely have to put on one for them! That’s going to be a blast..we might be going to see how silks made too, not sure on that one. The last night we’ll be back on a train on our way to Cochin, where we’ll arrive at the ship at 9 am!! I’ll have two whole days to roam around Cochin and drop some dough and absorb the inconceivable Indian culture. Stay tuned for more!
