RAIN

Dry lightening is rather common here. I see it a lot. Its great when it is followed by winds, thunder and finally rain. The temperature drops 20 degrees. Granted it is still warm at 70 degrees. But much nicer than 90. Unfortunately the temp only drops outside. My room is still hot and stuffy. There is little to no air flow even with the windows open. The other side effect of this kind out weather is the power outages. When the power is on its at 1/4 power. I have one dim light and a slow spinning fan. I also have a handful of lizards that have found their way in out of the rain.  

Afternoon at the Orphange

 Lentil crop we planted for them. Built a fence around it to keep the cows out. I am going back with Raisa and a new volunteer on Monday to check out the growth. We were at this orphanage my first week here.

 Me with a few of the orphans. They are asking questions about where I am from. Most of them have never heard of America. They are also trying to teach me words in Tamil. I am hopeless.

Raisa - Supervisor for the Eco Project and Model Farm - She is great.

Cattle Market - 1st week here

These were taken before we were threatened for having cameras, Not sure what they thought we were going to do with the pics...but we quickly put the cameras away. Raisa thinks its due to competition with other Markets. Cameras in general were not allowed. She was also told off for taking a pic. The guy running the market did not seem happy to have westerners there in general. These were taken at the entrance to the market. Many more cows and some goats inside. 

My Host Family - They are awesome

I believe this is three generations. I still do not know most of their names. I believe there are 3-4 houses that they are all split between. We always eat at the same house. It belongs to the oldest brother, Mr. Anthony. 

His wife and two of his brother's wives usually serve us. They stand watching us to see how we are liking our food and to make sure we are taken care of.  They do not eat with us.  It is very odd to be watched so closely while you eat. I have mostly gotten use to it. They provide all of my meals during the week and on the weekends that I stay local. 

With seven volunteers we have taken to eating on the floor. We didn't all fit around the table and there were not enough chairs. The floor is much easier. We usually have Mr. Anthony's two kids running around either trying to help or play while we are there. 

Some nights the tv is on and we get glimpses of Tamil films or regular tv. The commercials are random. Its fun to try and figure out what they are advertising at the beginning of it. Its rarely what we guess. There are some American products advertised. Hair dye, oreos, and shampoo are all that I have recognized.

Lime Quarries

Wed, Thurs, Friday, and the weekend off - Its been 1 Month

So the hotel we stayed at in Madurai, I would never stay at again. Truly scary. But I was able to sleep and had to get up far too early Thursday morning to get ready for the wedding and catch the train. I am really glad I didn't have to wear a sari. Those girls had to get up much earlier and get help to get ready. I am not sure how I feel about the train yet. I wasn't particularly comfortable in the seat, but the ride was much smoother and quicker. I tried to nap a bit but wasn't very successful and every time I looked up the same guy was watching me. He wasn't subtle either. Its been interesting to see how bold some Indians are and how scared others are. There have been times when a few of us have been sitting done eating, or waiting for a bus and someone will just walk up to us a stare like we are animals at the zoo. It doesn't matter where we are. Then there are other times when they will run away or children will hide behind their parents.

The wedding wasn't very long but the process was. We got there at around 8:45am. Breakfast was provided, but none of us were really hungry at that time. All we wanted was coffee and biscuits. No starbucks or coffee shops to be found. Only one coffee shop found in Kerela and I'm am taking my dad there for the chocolate cake. I think I may have said that before. The Wedding that was suppose to start at 10am started at 10:45am. Yay Indian time. Nothing ever starts on time. 5 min usually means 15min. By this time I was hungry.  The hall that the wedding was held in had some 500+ people crammed in. I think about 40 volunteers were there. Most of the girls were wearing saris. Again I am glad I wasn't. I would have fallen and would have had no prayer in the bathroom let alone an Indian toilet. The ceremony lasted about 45min. I have no idea what was going on until the vows. that was obvious. It was all in Tamil. From the wedding we were supposed to head back to Madurai and catch a a bus to a University that we had an appt at. With lots of running we still didn't get back to Madurai in time to catch the bus. As it was we didn't get back to Madurai till after the appt was suppose to start and the University was another hour bus ride. We just headed back to the farm. I got stuck next to a rather large Indian man who I couldn't figure out if he was a creep or just really didn't have enough room. Thinking possibly a bit of both. He didn't fit in the seat at all and his shoulders were wide enough to pin me back in my seat. His elbow spent a good portion of the ride back jabbing into my breast every time we hit a bump. Bumps come multiple times a minute. Once I changed my position he decided to go to sleep and kept leaning into me. I didn't not enjoy this ride home. Usually men will not sit next to a woman on a bus unless they are married or family. Yay for being a westerner.

Thursday was another day at the farm. This was a nice change of pace. It has become a very relaxing place for me. At least when the children aren't all over the place wanting to play or help. Usually play. Thursday morning was the start of a series of lessons and projects we are including the kids in while they are on holiday. We started by finding out explaining conservation and went on to discuss why plastics are bad for the environment. They all sat on the steps with their notebooks and pencils ready to take notes. They seemed to understand with translation all we were trying to get across. When asked if they enjoyed the lesson they said that they did. We'll see if they come back next week. At the end they asked us all for our autographs. Printed and signed.

The plan for the weekend was suppose to go to work Friday morning on the farm then go on another Projects Abroad planned volunteer weekend.  I have decided to stay on the farm for the weekend. Need some quiet time and need a break from travel. I think I actually get to sleep until 8:15 tomorrow. Breakfast is at 8:30am. I am usually up at 6:15 so this is sleeping in. Anna and Ashok left today so I have the room to myself which is nice during the day. Like having a roommate at night. There is another girl starting on Monday so I won't be by myself for long.

Kanyakumari - Fort Vattakottai, Kings Palace, Beach, Islands

Cherrai Beach, Kochi, Western Ghats

Cherrai Beach at around 5:30am

Cherrai Beach slowly waking up. Nothing opens till 9am. We got there at 4:30am. We really wanted some breakfast.

Streets of Kochi

Playground - Kochi

Indian scaffolding - Kochi

Fishing Nets - Method of this style of fishing was stolen from the Chinese - Kochi

Restaurant in Kochi - Didn't get a chance to eat there, just loved that it existed

Kochi - Fishing

Western Ghats - View through the bus window

Volunteer Vet's Day

Week 3 - It Rained!!! A lot!

Posting 2 – Week 3+

This past week has been great. It finally rained. Yay! Which brought the bugs out in force. Boo L Very happy to be back on the farm despite all the bites I keep getting. I still need a mosquito net. I went to war against the big flying ants. I won. Didn’t sleep well though. Bugs still in the room. The red ants won later in the week. Evil little mother fuckers. They really hurt.

We saw a domestic dispute in the village. Kind of weird. Everyone knows everything about you here. Doesn’t seem that anyone has a private life. We’re not sure exactly what was happening, but it had to do with property within a family. There was screaming, banging of the front door, bricks and rocks were thrown at the front of the hut/house. It was quite the scene.  Most of  those within earshot were outside watching. We were at breakfast when it started. It ended with a woman inside screaming, a woman outside catching a rickshaw, and a man chasing the woman in the rickshaw down the street. We had to go back to work after that.

 Had multiple field trips. Went to the Drinking Water Treatment Plant, the Waste Water Treatment Plant, a Dept. Store to buy closes for a wedding, and we had Projects Abroad Staff from the Madurai office come to the Farm to celebrate the completion of two buildings on the farm. We also worked on the farm.

The drinking water plant was interesting, I am glad I don’t live here and drink bottled water while I am here. They basically kill everything good in the water with chemicals to get rid of everything bad but don’t add anything back to the water except chlorine. The chlorine is added to help prevent disease from surviving if there is a leaky pipe between the plant and someone’s home.  We were able to see the lab where they test the water multiple times a day to make adjustments to the chemicals added as needed. It wasn’t exactly sterile. All their logs are on paper. Nothing done on the computer. In general not much is computerized here. Most businesses keep paper logs. At least all that I have seen.

The waste water plant was much more impressive. It was similar to the plants in Holland say the volunteers from there, though Holland’s is a bit more extensive and chemicals are not used. They are here through school working on a waste water project, hence the trip to the plant. It was pretty gross and smelled. They also put chlorine in the water before it is released back into the rivers L. The plant was clean and fully automated. We were able to see the software program used, which was fantastic since it was in an air conditioned room.

The Dept. Store was terrifying.  I was with Anna and we had a little guidance about what we were looking for but were wishing for company from someone who at least knew Tamil and the specifics about what is appropriate for a wedding. We finally found the area we were looking for and started looking and trying stuff on. We were swarmed with help. A few people spoke English. I quickly found that I am built like an Amazon. I was too tall for the dressing rooms, which meant I had to try everything on over my clothes outside the dressing room and I could barely get anything over my shoulders. I ended up finding an outfit in an XL and had to have it tailored.

Thursday was spent cleaning up the farm. Making the entry look inviting. People from the village and staff from Madurai came to celebrate and bless the completion of our cow shed, night watch sleeping quarters, store room and volunteer shed. There was a Hindu blessing, food offering  and boiling of milk. Don’t understand all of the specifics, but it was cool to be a part of it.

Friday we had off since it was Good Friday and it’s a Christian village. We headed to Madurai for the weekend. I got my outfit tailored; no it is not a sari, for the wedding. We found the tailors market which it very cool. You can get pretty much get anything you want made for you. All the fabric is there. They have patterns or you can draw what you want and they will make it for you. Super cheap. We also found an internet café. I got most of my last posting done, but the system crashed while I was uploading pics. Hoping it will work this time around. I think having six of us in the café all trying to do the same thing was too much.

So the last time I was at the internet café I managed to get a few pics uploaded before the system crashed on me, but not the journal entry. And this is in the Madurai, one of the larger cities. A few of us are working on getting our own wireless internet. It will be horribly slow at the farm, but will work decently in the larger cities around India.

Not much happened for the rest of the weekend aside from my new pair of sandals being stolen outside of a temple. L We did find a great restaurant at a hotel near where we were staying. J Had dinner there Sat night then went back Sunday morning for breakfast. How great it was to have scrambled eggs, toast, fresh fruit and coffee, plus some traditional Indian foods. I was so stuffed by the time we left. It was awesome. This was good since I didn’t eat lunch that day. To top the breakfast off though was the movie on the tv in the background. Twilight!!!! I couldn’t believe it.

We came back to the farm this morning to most of it under water we had rather unexpected heavy rains. Heavier than what they usually get during monsoon season. This made for a morning of digging holes to percolate the water. I ended up covered in dirty water. Digging holes in standing water is not an easy task. Especially with the lack of decent tools. The afternoon was my first conversation with a neighbor farmer about what we do. He came to the farm looking for more information about organic farming vs natural farming. He wanted to know which would bring him the most profit. Doesn’t care about the environment at all.

Tomorrow we head to Madurai to check out a natural farm and do some work as needed then we are staying overnight for the wedding on Wed morning. We are all very excited about this. One of the volunteer coordinators, Mr. Victor, is getting married. He is great fun. He plans every other volunteer weekend and is the coordinator for the teaching volunteers.

The Natural Farm we went to today wasn't quite the definition of a natural farm. They still plowed the fields and used organic fertilizer and weeded. The goal in the long run is for it to be a natural farm, not just organic but the owner/lead farmer is having a hard time convincing his worker that natural farming is the way to go, so he is making compromises for the time being. We brought some video with us that explained natural farming and the benefits. the owner watched it and is getting a copy for his workers to watch later. He is hoping that it will convince them. Though the side comments made by some of the workers who watches the video included thoughts along the lines of "those are western practices. We will believe it when it comes to us in Tamil". Well we tried. The farm is located next to a lime quarry (sp) which was filled partially with water due to the heavy rains we got this last weekend. It looked like a great place to swim. Very pretty. Pics of this will come later.

That’s all that I have for now. Hopefully I will be able to get this posted and some more pics up. 

Pics from the Farm

Where I live and a couple of animal neighbors