May has hit. My first month is done and I am starting to feel settled. Periodically I forget that I am in a foreign country. This is usually followed up by a child screaming in my face "What is your country?" or "What is your name?" I quickly remember that I do not speak Tamil and that I am a Westerner surrounded by people fascinated by me and wanting to touch me.
This past week started off slow. Had a sore throat over the weekend followed by a mild-ish migraine on Monday and Tuesday. Tove, a new volunteer from Denmark arrived on Tuesday. She is great. She is studying Public Health in school and this is her first of three internships she has to complete. She is already horrified. Its been fun this week to see her experience India. We sat in the very front of the bus this weekend on our way to Trichy; she was ready to freak out. Since then we have been on multiple rickshaw rides squeezing far too many of us in one so she is getting acclimated to transit in India.
Wednesday we went to check out a coconut/banana farm. The owner wants to try converting a small section to a Organic or Natural Farm. We sat and talked with him, his lead farmer and his friend, Raj Kumar for a while and when we were getting ready to leave they invited us to the local rotary club meeting that evening where the District Governor would be speaking. We decided to go. It was a great opportunity for the farm. Raisa was introduced and got and a spoke about the farm and why all of us were there. It was a neat experience. Very disorganized, though we have come to expect that. The only well spoken people there seemed to be Raisa and the District Governor. He was speaking in Tamil most of the time but was still interesting to watch. The meeting went on far to long considering it was all in Tamil so we had no idea what was going on aside from a number of awards and recognitions handed out. When the meeting was finished we headed into an adjoining hall for dinner. We were over fed. All the food was good but they kept heaping food on our plates. One our way out we were swarmed as always and asked about where we are from, what we are doing here and what brought us here. We received a number of invites to tour local businesses, hospitals, and farms. It was a great experience, I was glad to go home at the end of the night.
This past weekend we went to Tiruchappalli or Trichy as its commonly called. It is one of I think five Temple Cities in Tamil Nadu. It was a cool place. Tourist friendly, though not western tourist heavy, so people were still watching us or coming up to us where ever we went. Shortly after we got there I fell. Slipped down a flight of stairs at the hotel and hit my forearm rather hard on the steps. Fortunately I hit the fleshier part of my arm. Once I got over the shock and had determined that I had not broken my arm, I was fine. I have quite the bruise to show for it though.
Saturday morning we went to Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple (Great Temple). With outer walls that are more than 2 miles long and incorporating a village within it, this is India's biggest temple. We paid for a guide to take us to the areas of the temple that non-Hindus are allowed. I missed most of what he was saying but the temple was quite impressive. Had to walk barefoot foot. The ground is very hot on western feet. I got blessed by an elephant there as well. Pictures to come later.
The same guide took us to the Cauvery River. There is a small temple there where people come to have their head shaved as an offering. Usually done on small children sometimes adults as well. When a family has a problem or are in need of something they will come here, have their head shaved with a straight razor, bath in the river, have yellow sandal paste put on their heads to protect from the sun and then be blessed in the temple. Its a Hindu tradition but crosses into the other religions here as well. It also seems that its not just for a problem, its also done for luck for a family. A number of the children in Chinnupatti have done this. Boys and girls all running around with shaved heads.
Saturday afternoon we went to the Wild West Bar that we had read about in our tour book. It was really funny. Pictures to come. One of the better bars that we have found. They even had all the makings for the mixed drinks that they had on the menu. I am tired of King Fisher beer. Had a whiskey sour. Didn't taste like a whiskey sour but it was good. We also saw a famous Tamil movie star there. Woo!
Saturday night we all went to The Great Bombay Circus. That is really all there is to say about it. We were all really excited to go. Hoping to see animals. And we did. An elephant that could hit beach balls with a cricket bat, a bunch of parrots that could do tricks but preferred not to, five dogs that liked to send their trainer running in circles instead of doing the tricks requested by the trainer, and three camels that could walk in a circle. That was it for animals. The circus lasted for 2.5 hours. The rest of the time was filled with acts that given a month of training I could have done most of them. When I was twelve and in gymnastics, my skill level and ability to perform was by far much better. For those people who have seen me perform, or pretend to perform, you get the picture. Most of the performers looked bored or irritated that they had to be there. A little depressing to think about why they are with the circus in the first place. Most of the people involved really had no talent at all. Most of the audience really seemed to enjoy it though.
Sunday morning we got up to go to the Rock Fort. This was pretty amazing. I really enjoyed this outing. We did have to get up rather early so we would be finished before noon as it gets really hot and we had to check our sandals at the entrance. I didn't lose them this time. We had a guide take us around the Fort. He didn't really tell us much about the Fort but did give us a good background about the Hinduism. It was a good time. From there we stumbled upon a Christian church. It was huge and well cared for. There was a service or sorts going on which was basically all singing with a line of prayer in between songs. Everyone was standing and clapping, a couple of people were playing the tambourine. We looked in and then were invited in. It was cool. I have no idea what was being sung as it was all in Tamil???? I think.
The weekend was concluded with possibly the worst bus rides yet. Too many people crammed into a very tight space. Passengers were hanging onto the outside of the bus. Very happy to get back to the farm.
This past week started off slow. Had a sore throat over the weekend followed by a mild-ish migraine on Monday and Tuesday. Tove, a new volunteer from Denmark arrived on Tuesday. She is great. She is studying Public Health in school and this is her first of three internships she has to complete. She is already horrified. Its been fun this week to see her experience India. We sat in the very front of the bus this weekend on our way to Trichy; she was ready to freak out. Since then we have been on multiple rickshaw rides squeezing far too many of us in one so she is getting acclimated to transit in India.
Wednesday we went to check out a coconut/banana farm. The owner wants to try converting a small section to a Organic or Natural Farm. We sat and talked with him, his lead farmer and his friend, Raj Kumar for a while and when we were getting ready to leave they invited us to the local rotary club meeting that evening where the District Governor would be speaking. We decided to go. It was a great opportunity for the farm. Raisa was introduced and got and a spoke about the farm and why all of us were there. It was a neat experience. Very disorganized, though we have come to expect that. The only well spoken people there seemed to be Raisa and the District Governor. He was speaking in Tamil most of the time but was still interesting to watch. The meeting went on far to long considering it was all in Tamil so we had no idea what was going on aside from a number of awards and recognitions handed out. When the meeting was finished we headed into an adjoining hall for dinner. We were over fed. All the food was good but they kept heaping food on our plates. One our way out we were swarmed as always and asked about where we are from, what we are doing here and what brought us here. We received a number of invites to tour local businesses, hospitals, and farms. It was a great experience, I was glad to go home at the end of the night.
This past weekend we went to Tiruchappalli or Trichy as its commonly called. It is one of I think five Temple Cities in Tamil Nadu. It was a cool place. Tourist friendly, though not western tourist heavy, so people were still watching us or coming up to us where ever we went. Shortly after we got there I fell. Slipped down a flight of stairs at the hotel and hit my forearm rather hard on the steps. Fortunately I hit the fleshier part of my arm. Once I got over the shock and had determined that I had not broken my arm, I was fine. I have quite the bruise to show for it though.
Saturday morning we went to Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple (Great Temple). With outer walls that are more than 2 miles long and incorporating a village within it, this is India's biggest temple. We paid for a guide to take us to the areas of the temple that non-Hindus are allowed. I missed most of what he was saying but the temple was quite impressive. Had to walk barefoot foot. The ground is very hot on western feet. I got blessed by an elephant there as well. Pictures to come later.
The same guide took us to the Cauvery River. There is a small temple there where people come to have their head shaved as an offering. Usually done on small children sometimes adults as well. When a family has a problem or are in need of something they will come here, have their head shaved with a straight razor, bath in the river, have yellow sandal paste put on their heads to protect from the sun and then be blessed in the temple. Its a Hindu tradition but crosses into the other religions here as well. It also seems that its not just for a problem, its also done for luck for a family. A number of the children in Chinnupatti have done this. Boys and girls all running around with shaved heads.
Saturday afternoon we went to the Wild West Bar that we had read about in our tour book. It was really funny. Pictures to come. One of the better bars that we have found. They even had all the makings for the mixed drinks that they had on the menu. I am tired of King Fisher beer. Had a whiskey sour. Didn't taste like a whiskey sour but it was good. We also saw a famous Tamil movie star there. Woo!
Saturday night we all went to The Great Bombay Circus. That is really all there is to say about it. We were all really excited to go. Hoping to see animals. And we did. An elephant that could hit beach balls with a cricket bat, a bunch of parrots that could do tricks but preferred not to, five dogs that liked to send their trainer running in circles instead of doing the tricks requested by the trainer, and three camels that could walk in a circle. That was it for animals. The circus lasted for 2.5 hours. The rest of the time was filled with acts that given a month of training I could have done most of them. When I was twelve and in gymnastics, my skill level and ability to perform was by far much better. For those people who have seen me perform, or pretend to perform, you get the picture. Most of the performers looked bored or irritated that they had to be there. A little depressing to think about why they are with the circus in the first place. Most of the people involved really had no talent at all. Most of the audience really seemed to enjoy it though.
Sunday morning we got up to go to the Rock Fort. This was pretty amazing. I really enjoyed this outing. We did have to get up rather early so we would be finished before noon as it gets really hot and we had to check our sandals at the entrance. I didn't lose them this time. We had a guide take us around the Fort. He didn't really tell us much about the Fort but did give us a good background about the Hinduism. It was a good time. From there we stumbled upon a Christian church. It was huge and well cared for. There was a service or sorts going on which was basically all singing with a line of prayer in between songs. Everyone was standing and clapping, a couple of people were playing the tambourine. We looked in and then were invited in. It was cool. I have no idea what was being sung as it was all in Tamil???? I think.
The weekend was concluded with possibly the worst bus rides yet. Too many people crammed into a very tight space. Passengers were hanging onto the outside of the bus. Very happy to get back to the farm.
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