The bus ride to Hyden

Monday, August 9, 2010. They say that your first trip into the mountains is the hardest. My first trip into the mountains of Kentucky was accompanied by a lot of anticipation and the sense that it took a lot of work to get to the beginning of the journey, but the journey itself to the school was easy. After Stephanie Boyd from FSMFN called role, 21 of us clambered aboard the bus at the airport.
The ride took a little over two hours, with a stop at a truck stop for us to buy snackcs and use the restrooms. The bus driver was not the regular driver, but was the owner of the company. We did notice that he talked a lot on his cell phone while negotiating the heavy traffice out of Lexington. However, the drive was beautiful, the woods denser (at least from the road view) from what I imagined.
Once we reached Hyden, the bus driver/owner had to stop and ask directions to the school and a man obliging showed us the sharp turn in front of the school and a few more sharp turns as we headed up the mountain. At the last turn, the bus driver had to back up the rest of the road, which was a little nerve wracking as it was a narrow road with a steep drop on one side and the driver obviously had never done this before. (The bus needed to be backed up this final stretch of the road as there is no where for it to turn around at the top of the road.) Fortunately, we did not go over the side of the mountain nor were we electrocuted by the low lying power line.
At Hyden, we got our name badges, schedules and room assignements. My room was on the first floor of the Haggin dormitory which was the original dormitory for the early Frontier Nursing Service nurses. (This building has three floors.) I was assigned a roommate to share the small room, but as it happened, she decided not to come to Frontier Bound and I had the room to myself. Only one bathroom to each floor, and each bathroom has only one toilet and one shower. The morning showers will be interesting with a dorm full of women.
After we settled in our rooms, they had a light supper for us: salad, fruit, and dessert. Afterwards, we met in "The Barn" for our evening sessions. This building really did used to be a barn to house the horses of the early frontier nurses. Now it has been converted into a technology lab, library, and classrooms. The highlight of the evening was listening to the stories of Jean Fee, an early Frontier Nursing Service nurse. She talked of her work as a district nurse and midwife, saying that she liked the horses. "Horses and I seemed to get along," she said. She talked of providing health care when doctors weren't available (everything seemed to go along just fine in the doctors' absence) and how little one really needed to help delivery a baby (something to clamp and tie the cord).
After "circling up" and singing the Frontier School Of Midwifery and Family Nursing's school song, we left to go back to our dorms. Natalie Wipert, one of the students I had "met" on Facebook invited me, along with several others, to her room for a glass of wine. Probably about a dozen of us shared 2 bottles of wine Natalie had brought with her while we shared "war stories" of our various practices. I really like these women.
Didn't sleep real well this first night. I was excited, sleeping in a new bed, and I was cold! Definitely too much air conditioning, but I dare not say anything as the third floor is not getting ANY air conditioning in this 100 something heat.

Getting to Frontier Bound

Well, I finally arrived at the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing. I left Friday morning (August 6th) from Fairbanks heading for Roswell, New Mexico to visit Mom a few days before I went to Kentucky to begin my adventure becoming a family nurse practitioner. Because of thunder and lightening storms, the plane from Seattle had to land in Abilene, Texas before going on to Dallas. Fortunately, my plane into Roswell was also delayed so that I could catch the flight, albeit I didn't arrive into Roswell until 2am Saturday morning.

When in Roswell, I was able to have lunch with Mom at Martin's Capital Cafe, along with her caregiver DeeDee and DeeDee's daughter-in-law, Ramona. Mom wasn't really aware of who I was, which was sad. It was even sadder the next day when I had lunch with here and DeeDee's family and she finally recognized me but it was time for me to leave.

So, I left Roswell to head for Lexington, Kentucky. the plane was delayed out of Roswell so when I landed in Lexington I had to run to catch the plane. Everyone else had already boarded and they were ready to close the doors. Of course, when I got to Lexington, my luggage didn't. I left a claim at American Airlines, then took the shuttle to the Crowne Royal Plaza.

The next morning, I went to buy toiletries to take a bathe. However, I didn't have any clean clothes as I broke one of my travel rules: always carry a clean change of clothing in your carry on. I met Rosemary (from Washington) and Ed (from Sitka) for lunch at my hotel. Afterwards, Ed went to rescue Sarah (from Michigan) as she was having car troubles and Rosemary and I took the shuttle to the airport to meet the bus which would take us to Kentucky

Easter Orphanage Visit and Home Visit

After our lazy day yesterday, it felt good to get our of the guest house on a few excursions today. When we finished with the breakfast that Rani had cooked for us (eggs, tomato chutney and dosais, which are similar to crepes), I took a walk in the neighborhood to look for final photo opportunites. I took pictures of several of the kollams that were drawn on doorsteps and a few children asked me to take their photo. A woman who was sifting sand at a construction sited also asked me to take her picture and I cheerfully agreed, wishing that I could tell her that I REALLY KNEW how hard her work really was after my construction experience.

Sister Rose of the Assisi Illam orphanage invited Stephen, his family, and Claudia and I over to the orphanage for lunch. I had a great time playing with the children. I received repeated requests for "This is how ladies ride", "Baby shark shark", and "This Little Piggy Goes to Market." They also loved to be tickled and we laughed and laughed. The food that Sister Rose had prepared was delicious, as always, and the adults sat in a circle on the floor and ate liberally.

After lunch, we went back to the guest house and packed away more of our belongings and napped a little. I got up late in the afternoon for a final walk through the "hood." Stephen invited Claudia and I over to his house for dinner. Claudia declined, saying she felt grumpy, but I elected to go. Before leaving the guest house, Sheeba bought jasmine to pin in my hair. I will always love the scent of jasmine.

At Stephen's house, I once again got to visit, not only with Steven, Sheeba and their son Roshan, but with Stephen's mother and father and his sister and her son. They had a small flock of chicks in a cage in their house. I saw that they were painted pink, orange and blue and asked if they were painted for Easter. They said no, they were painted those colors so birds of prey wouldn't recognize them and kill them. I was also shown a cage full of parakeets (what they call love birds) that they keep in the back yard for pets.

The dinner was delicious: chicken biryani with a yogurt/onion sauce, chicken, fried potatoes, and a sweet noodle/almond dessert. I was reluctant to eat until everyone was served, but they told me to go ahead as they wouldn't be eating until later. Dinner time in India is around 8pm; Sheeba explained that when it is hot, they don't like to eat until it is cooler. Stephen and his nephew did eat with me so that I didn't feel so alone. While I was eating, I got to chat with Stephen's mother, sister, and nephew - using frequent interpretations by Stephen. They are truly gracious people and I will always treasure this evening I got to visit with them.

All too soon, I was taken back to the guest house to shower, finish packing and to await the plane. What I told Stephen is what I truly believe; one of the things I will always remember about India is the friendliness and warmth of her people.

Lazy Day

Yesterday was a lazy day, just what I needed before starting my long trek home. Aneesh and Jana had left during the night, so Claudia and I woke up having the house to ourselves (except for Rani the cook and Barnabus the man who cleans the house and does our laundry). We enjoyed having a leisurely breakfast and not rushing to a work assignment. The temperature and humidity is still climbing, so we spent much of the day by the air conditioner in our room while we read, sorted our purchases, and napped. Before dinner, we walked to the tailor so that Claudia could pick up the dresses she had made for her daughter, then went to the "fancy shop" where Claudia shopped for some more bangles. Stephen and Sheeba joined us for dinner and we could tell they were tired after entertaining volunteers for three weeks. They also are tired as they have a son who is almost two years old who is having trouble going to sleep at night and they asked our advice, which made us realize that parents have the same concerns the world over.

Tomorrow is our last day. The burning question is: Can I fit everything in my suitcase??

Tears and Good Deals

Today was our final official work day. The remaining four of us slept in a little later after the late farewells to Katie and Joelle last night, showered, then gathered for breakfast. After eating at a table which seemed empty, Aneesh, Claudia, and Jana headed for Assisi while I stayed behind to continue my work on the SEAM growth charts. We all met again at lunch time, then spent an hour cooling off by the air conditioners in our rooms as the temperature and humidity in Chennai is still climbing. At 2pm, we headed to SEAM for our final visit. I took photos of some of the kids and watched while they played an impromptu game of cricket in their dirt courtyard. At the conclusion of our visit, we gathered in their common room and they sang us a farewell song. I did all right until a climbed back into the van, at which time the tears came. I will miss these children who need so much.

When we returned from SEAM, we quickly showered off then little Stephen drove us to the downtown mall for a final shopping trip. I didn't think I was going to buy anything, but I ended up buying a getting a few more "good deals." Outside the shops are people who try to lure you in, and once you enter, several people are there to convince you to buy as much as possible and are more than willing to show you their entire stock, piece by piece. It's fun being to be so catered to, but it is very hard to resist their "amazing" offers.

When we returned to the guest house, Stephen had arranged for fast food burgers to be delivered to the guest house. "Burgers" in India are either vegetarian or chicken, NOT beef. The chicken burgers were sort of like the spicy chicken burgers at Wendy's. Stephen also bought us individual clay pots of Indian ice cream, the same as we had our first week. I will have to say, I don't think I lost weight on this trip.

Tonight, Aneesh and Jana leave; Aneesh for his home in Los Angeles and Jana for her customized tour of southern India. Tomorrow, only Claudia and I will remain at our guest house. Stephen has graciously let us stay in the guest house until our departure so that we don't have to move our stuff to hotel for these final few days. So we have the luxury of resting this weekend and having plenty of time to pack our belongings. This time next week we will be home.

Dwindling Numbers and Reflections

All great achievements require time.
Maya Angelou

Today marked the last day for team members Joelle and Katie. The day started by Aneesh, Katie, and I attending our last morning yoga session. At the end of the session, Katie asked our yoga teacher if he would perform his favorite yoga pose for a picture. We were amazed as he stood on his head, then crossed his legs. Perhaps one day we can achieve this, also – or not as the case may be.
After our morning cold shower and breakfast of ramen noodles and hard boiled eggs, team members migrated to their work assignments. Joelle, Aneesh, and Jana went to Assissi Illam, Katie and Claudia went to Grace Nursery and Primary School, and I stayed behind to work on the growth charts for the kids at SEAM. Work assigments are haphazard this week as this is the week before Easter and schools are going on holiday.

Claudia had ordered a cake (from our local copy shop of all places) for a lunch time treat for the students at Grace School. Aneesh and Jana left Assisi early, picked up the cake, and took it to the school, where the teachers were anxious to meet Aneesh as they thought he looked like Obama in the brief glances they had of him. However, once Aneesh arrived, the teachers became shy and needed encouragement to talk with him. Katie arrived back at the guest house after the party with the palm of her hand decorated with henna by one of the teachers. Henna is carefully painted on the palms of the hands; after an hour or two, the henna paste is washed off and the resulting skin under the paste remains dyed and lasts for a week or two. Unmarried women can only have the palm of their hands decorated. Married women can also have the tops of their hands painted.

This afternoon, Katie and Joelle went to Assisi to say their last farewells to the children. Katie was especially honored to be chosen to be the godmother of little Jasmine and we all felt fortunate to be able to attend Jasmine's baptism yesterday. I'm sure Katie savored her last visit with Jasmine today before traveling back to Minnesota this evening. While Katie and Joelle went to Assisi, Aneesh, Jana and I went to SEAM. (Claudia stayed behind to rest after the party at Grace School as she is still recovering from an upper respiratory infection.) At SEAM, while Aneesh and Jana attended to the students' myriad cuts and scrapes, I had an impromptu conversational English class with four of the students. Using postcards, I told them about Alaska. I could tell they couldn't totally comprehend a land of ice and snow (northern lights were beyond any comprehension) but they were fascinated with the pictures anyway. When we finished discussing Alaska, they brought out a picture book about India and we discussed pictures with which they were familiar. The last part of our visit was playing “Indian games”, which I always lost because they conveniently didn't tell me all the rules. It was hilarious.

Back at the guest house, we quickly showered and went out to the restaurant we visited our first week in India. This was the final farewell dinner. We had an excellent Indian dinner which included tandoori chicken, garlic naan bread, spicy fried cauliflower, vegetable curry, and rice. Indian cuisine consists of so many dishes, I could not learn them all this trip. Hopefully, I'll be inspired to cook up a spicy Indian dish every once in a while in my northern abode and think of the warm hospitality I experience while in Chennai.

Upon our arrival back at the guest house, Katie and Claudia found two students from Grace waiting for them to give them a thank-you letter. Obviously, Katie and Claudia's presence at Grace School touched these students enough to make them to want to make the extra effort to write a letter and wait at the guest house for them to return from dinner in order to deliver it.

Too soon, it was time for Katie and Joelle to leave for the airport. At the beginning of this trip, there were 10 volunteers, now we are down to four. As my time draws near to leave, I wonder what it was that I contributed. Would the sand have been sifted at the construction site without me? Probably, eventually. Would the students at Grace have learned English without me? Yes. The hospital would have survived just fine without my days of observation. And the children at SEAM would have spread themselves out between nine volunteers instead of ten. So what can I tell others who are contemplating a trip with Global Volunteers what is the purpose of volunteering?

First, no one person is indispensable, nor should be as a program cannot survive if it is dependent on only one person. However, a steady stream of dedicated groups of people can truly make a difference in community selected projects. Secondly, while a program may not be dependent on one person, that one person can truly make a good or bad impressiion on the community. If by smiling politely at the grocery store, or patiently waiting in line at the copy shop I can make a favorable impression and my country is viewed in a better light by even one person, I think that is worth the trip. Finally, I believe that the first step in making the world a better place is by first making a change within our own selves. Volunteering provides a great opportunity of personal growth, and by making ourselves better people we are better able to effect change in those around us.

Baptism

Today, after our morning yoga practice and breakfast, we received the news that Katie (one of our team members) had been selected to be the godmother for one of the young orphans at Assisi Illam and the baptism would be today at 11:00am. Sister Rose, the Catholic sister who is the administrator of Assisi had been very concerned that Jasmine (the 3 year old girl who was to be Katie's goddaughter) had not been baptized and as Sister Rose has been in ill health, she wished to see this done. Apparently, it had hard to convince a priest to hold a baptism during Lent, but he was finally persuaded by the fact that Katie was scheduled to leave before Lent was over. We dressed up as much as we could; Katie shown in one of the saris that she had bought while in India. Sheeba then presented us with beautiful necklaces as going away gifts. Pictures were taken, then we headed over to Assisi Illam.

Jasmine (the 3 year old girl being baptized) was adorned in a beautiful white, long dress and white cap. She was even given silver bangles to wear on her wrists and silver bracelets for her wrists. Sister Rose had bought flowers for us, so we had jasmine and roses woven in our hair. After all these preparations, our white van took us to the church. It had to make two trips as it transported not only us, but the small orphans and nuns who were also attending.

The baptism went well. We gathered at the front of the church along with the nuns and other small orphans to watch the priest perform the ceremony. The church was beautiful: white walls and stained class. The priest was a younger Indian man. I didn't understand all the ceremony, but I enjoyed watching the pageantry.

After the baptism, we were once again herded into the van and taken back to Assisi. The sisters insisted that we stay for lunch. Unfortunately, it was the hottest day ever with the highest humidity. I almost passed out as the electricity went out and the fans weren't functioning. However, I was unable to go back to the guesthouse to cool off until lunch was served and eaten. The expression "killing with kindness" seemed appropriate.

I immediately felt better after I returned to the guesthouse and cooled off, though I still felt tired the rest of the day. In the afternoon, Sheeba (Stephen's wife) and Rani (our guesthouse cook) held an Indian food cooking class. I wrote down the recipes; however, I will have to practice as they were unable to give the quantities of each ingredient - they don't measure, they go by sight and taste. The foods we learned to cook were: chicken biriyani, eggplant curry, fried cauliflower, and a yogurt/cucumber sauce.

We were able to rest awhile more before going to SEAM. At SEAM, I was able to get the birthdates of all the children so that I could complete their height/weight charts. At the end of the visit, the children held a going-away celebration for Katie and Joelle who will be leaving tomorrow night. Soon we will all be back home and a new team of volunteers will take over.

Monkeys, Part II

To continue:
On our nature walk on Sunday afternoon, we ended up seeing deer and peacocks. Katie, Stephen, and I enjoyed the 1.5 hour walk even though we did not see any elephants. When we arrived back to our treehouse, we met another guide who had a Jeep ready to take us on a night safari. First, we went by a river and we finally saw an elephant on the other side of the water - not close, but it was a genuine elephant. On the rest of the safari, we saw more deer, bison, peacocks and monkeys. After we returned from the safari, the staff at the treehouse had made a campfire ready for us by the nearby river and we ate dinner to the sound of the water. We told funny stories intermingled with scary ones and genuinely enjoyed ourselves..

Monday morning we were up at 6am to go on another safari. Stephen arranged for us to have a quick cup of coffee by the Jeep, then we were on out way. The jeep took us over a rough track, which included going over a very rocky riverbed. Finally, we arrived at the coffee plantation where our trek on foot was to begin. Besides ourselves, we had the main guide, his assistant (carrying the machete for bear), and Indira, the woman who owned the plantation. Our guides kept tracking the elephant herd, but we just couldn't get to where they were located. The highlight of the trek; we saw a leopard! We were unable to see a tiger, but we were happy with what we did see. Besides the leopard, we say more monkeys and peacocks. Also, before we started the trek, we came across a herd of wild pigs.

When we arrived back at the plantation, Indira offered us a cup of tea before we headed back to the treehouse in the Jeep. Back at the treehouse, we were served a late breakfast which we ate on the covered verandah of a nearby guesthouse. Regretfully, after breakfast we packed our things to return to Mysore.

At Mysore, we had lunch and cold drinks before we toured the Mysore palace. The palace was beautiful. Unfortunately, we missed the lighting of the palace, which everyone says is spectacular, because it is only light on Sunday night. The palace was built by Indian royalty. Unfortunately, the original palace burned down and it had to be rebuilt in 1912. This time, instead of using wood, they used granite, cast iron, and other fire-proof materials. After our palace tour, Katie and I wanted to ride an elephant; they gave elephant rides on the palace grounds. Elephants seem a lot bigger and seem to sway a lot more when you're on top of the beast. I'm glad I did it; one more fun experience.

After the palace, we went shopping for wood carvings as Mysore is famous for its wood work. I think now I will definitely have to stop shopping while I still have money and room in my suitcase. Before we left for the train station, we had a quick bite to eat and more cold drinks. For my dinner, I had a hot chocolate ice cream sundae. It tasted great.

Once again we boarded the overnight train. This time, I had a lower bunk which made getting up and down a lot easier. I would ride in an overnight train again; you don't have to pay for a hotel and you don't waste sightseeing time by travel. We arrived back in Chennai in time to have breakfast with the group, then it was back to our work assignments.

Fast fact: 36 percent of Indian homes have indoor plumbing. 67% of Indian homes have television.

Monkeys in the Forest (and Other Wild Things) Part One

Saturday night, Jana, Katie, Stephen and I boarded an overnight train for Mysore. The rest of the team elected to stay in Chennai for their weekend off. Before we left, Aneesh spooked us with tales of his horrible experience with Indian trains, so Jana, Katie and I approached the train ride with some trepidation. We were pleasantly surprised. The train wasn't fancy, but it was clean (including the toilets) and while we felt that our belongings were safe, although we observed reasonable precautions (the same as what you would practice anywhere in the world.) The train station was huge and crowds of people swarmed the platforms. We wanted to take pictures, but Stephen informed us that photography was forbidden as a security precaution. (Our bags were scanned when we entered the station.) Stephen unerringly led is to the right train, the right car, and the right seats. For this trip, I had a top bunk and it took a little manuveuring to climb up top. I did have to climb down and up for a few bathroom breaks but overall I slept fairly well, being rocked by the train's motion.

We woke up shortly before we reached Mysore the next morning. Stepping off the train was a pleasant surprise as the air temperature was cooler and there was a lot less humidity. Stephen had arranged for a driver and car to meet us at the train station, so we were soon whisked off to a nice restaurant for breakfast. I had "milk coffee" (which is just what it sounds like, coffee with milk) and french toast. After breakfast, we dodged the vendors and quickly climbed in the car. One vendor still had his arm in the window trying to sell us something, even after the car started moving! Fortunately, he took his arm out before we picked up much speed.

Mysore was cooler, greener, and cleaner. We headed for the forest where we would be spending Sunday night. As we drove, we enjoyed viewing the countryside which included rice paddies, coconut plantations, and banana plantations. Large green trees lined the road for much of the way. Approaching the forest, we saw a large troop of monkeys by a roadside shrine and vendors. They were wild monkeys, but obviously knew where to look for food.

We finally entered the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, where we would be spending the night. As we drove to our accommadations we saw more monkeys and also spotted deer. When we came to a small village, Stephen picked up a young gentleman who would show us the way to the tree house where we would be staying. The tree house was actually made on top of a thick growth of bamboo. It had two rooms; Jana took one room and Katie and I shared another room. Our rooms even had toilets and showers (cold water only, of course.) One steep flight of stairs led to a viewing platform, and another flight of stairs led to our rooms. After we freshened up, the staff brought us our lunch to eat on the veranday outside our rooms. The food was very good and once we had eaten our fill, we took the opportunity to rest.

Late afternoon, Katie, Stephen and I took a walk with the young gentleman to look for animals. (Jana wanted to stay back at the tree house to rest.) I should mention that the forest in this area was very dry; the leaves and grass were mostly brown. We were hoping to see elephants and came across a lot of elephant dung, but we were unable to come across the herd. I was thinking that Dave would be appalled that we were walking in an area which contained tigers, leopards, bears, and elephants and the only weapon that we had was the foot long machete our young guide carried. (Later, I was told the knife was for the bears.) We were told that tigers and leopards would not bother humans, the only animal to really worry about was the elephant. Elephant advice: 1) If an elephant charges you run, keep running and don't look back. Most of the time if an elephant feels that they scared you off, they will stop pursuing you. 2) Elephants are herd animals. If you see one elephant in front of you, slowly turn around to see if the rest of the herd is in back of you. Stephen told us we were very safe; only one woman tourist was killed last year. :)

More later - need to go to Assisi to help care for the children

SEAM Wild Dance Night, Farewell Dinner, Chennai Market, Student Physical Exams

Yesterday morning, after our yoga and breakast ritual, I went to Grace Nursery and Primary School to teach the kindergarten, first and second graders. Before I went, I found out that this would be my last day teaching there as our work assignments were shuffled due to the two week volunteers leaving and holes needing to be filled. I was sad to leave as I felt that I was just getting started, but Katie was reassigned to Grace School and I will be going to Assisi Illam next week. At the end of each class, I took pictures of the students and at the end of our class with the teachers, I took pictures of them as well. I will truly miss the conversations I had with these women. The diversity in those three women was amazing. Two of the women were Pentecostal and one was Hindu. One was "liberated," one was very traditional, and the third was someplace in between. They exhibited great curiousity about our hair dye, the cost of our clothes, our undergarments, our alcohol and tobacco habits, just to name a few items.



After lunch, I was able to relax and cool off before we headed to SEAM for another dance party. This one was wilder than the one we had the previous night at Assisi Illam. The children at SEAM had never attended a party like this and they had no idea what to do, so they expended their excited energy by just running around, jumping, and being generally close to hysteria. Once again, we danced until the sweat soaked our clothes and then headed back to our guest house to shower before our dinner out. Before we left SEAM, the children sang a song and presented cards to the volunteers who would be leaving this weekend: Laura, Niki, and Nita. (Unfortunately, Nita wasn't feeling well so she skipped the celebraion. She did make a quick trip later to SEAM on the way to the restaurant to say good-bye.)



The showers felt good after our dancing, even though the water is cold. (If I haven't mentioned it before, we have no hot running waterr. All our showers are cold; in the afternoon, sometimes the water warms a little in the above ground tank and we MAY get a tepid shower.) Laura and Katie then headed to Assisi Illam to pick up Sister Virgin to join us at the restaurant. Before leaving Assisi, Sister Virgin and Sister Rose helped them put on their saris. Apparently, the art of putting on a sari is a difficult one. I was glad I had bought a churidar for myself instead: long loose pants, a long top, and a flowing scarf. I wore my churidar for our fancy dinner out and did get a few compliments.



The restaurant was very nice; food was served buffet style and once again we were presented with a multitude of Indian food choices. We did not leave hungry. I tried a glass (or two) of Indian red wine and thought it wasn't bad, being a little "spicey." When dinner was over, Stephen needed a volunteer to go home to auto-rickshaw, so I volunteered to be the sacrifice. It took a few minutes to find a rickskshaw going our way, but eventually Stephen and I were speeding along at break neck speed back to the guesthouse. Before going to bed, we spent time saying goodbye to Nita and Niki would would be going to the airport at 1am. We will miss them.

Today, several of us got up early for a visit to the flower, fruit, and vegetable market in Chennai. This is a huge market, flowers were sold in one large building, fruit in another, and vegetables in yet another. It was a chaotic, noisy, and colorful mix of vendors, delivery people in trucks, rickshaws, and on bicycles, both men and women transporting goods on their heads, vegetative refuse strewn on the floor, and everyone (it seemed) who wanted their photo taken. Photo opportunties galore presented themselves and we happily snapped away.

We returned to the guesthouse for a late breakfast. After breakfast, Jana, Aneesh, and I headed to SEAM to do physical examinations on the children. I did height, weight, and gross dental examinations, Aneesh did vision screening, and Jana performed quick head-to-toe examinations. Stephen found a standing scale by talking to a friend, who had a friend, who knew someone who worked in a clinic. A measuring tape was bought at a local stall to measure heights. I had a flashlight to check mouths, and a public health nurse I know sent me a web site where I was able to find a vision chart. Jana had a stethoscope. We were unable to locate a blood pressure cuff or otoscope, but we did the best we could. The most pressing need we found was dental care. Most children are in dire need of major dental work. I talked to Stephen about the need to organize a Global Volunteer dental team and he said that this may be possible. The second most pressing need was eye examinations as many of the young children could not read the eye chart.

Lunch was eaten at the guest house. After lunch, Laura was taken to the airport to catch her flight home, while the other members went to visit St. Thomas Mount, a cathedral, and to drive by the beach. I, however, elected to stay in the guest house to rest, then get ready for my weekend adventure. Tonight, Jana, Katie, and myself will board an overnight train to Mysore (accompanied by Stephen). There, we will view the Mysore Palace, then it will be off to the forest. Saturday night we will stay in a tree house and hopefully will be able to view wildlife from our accommodations. We will have the opportunity to go on some type of day safari and I'm hoping to see tigers, jaguars, and/or elephants. Of the three, Stephen said the most dangerous were the elephants. He said he has been charged by elephants only twice. He instructed us that if you run away really fast the elephants will usually stop chasing you. This should be interesting.

Signing off for now - more when I return from my weekend outing. Stephen laughed when I asked if the tree house has internet. I'm guessing that means "no." :)

Assisi Illam Boogey Night

Last night was Dance Night at Assisi Illam. We were transported to the orphanage either by our tiny white van or by auto-rickshaw. Aneesh forgot the speakers for the ipod and had to go back for them, despite the many reminders given NOT to forget the speakers! He will just have to endure the teasing. After we arrived at Assisi, we removed our shoes before entering the common room. Once we entered, we were surrounded by laughing children who all wanted to crawl in our laps, be held and get their photos taken. It was wild. The orphanage is run by Catholic sisters. They had bought garlands of jasmine to string in our hairs. Sister Rose, the head of the orphanage, apparently did not think much of my bangs. She got out a comb and severely combed my bangs back and bobby-pinned them severely in place. Once every stray hair was firmly under her control did she pin the garland of jasmine in my hair, like a crown. (Ally, my esteemed hair dresser, if you are reading this, I apologize for any bad hair photos. It was not my fault. You would be glad to know that the teachers at Grace School approve of my hair coloring.)

Once our initial photos were taken, the dancing started after Katie, Laurie, and Aneesh hooked the ipod to the speakers. The children loved dancing with us. It was so hot, our clothing was soon soaked with sweat, but it was worth it to see how much fun the children were having. I loved watching how the children would copy our every move. I'm sure there are a few little girls in India who are practicing the "Sue" moves. How often can a tourist come to India and dance at an orphanage?

After our dancing, the children performed Indian dances that they had rehearsed with their Indian dance teacher. They did very well and were so proud of themselves. Dancing done, we all sat on the floor to eat the dinner the Sisters had cooked for us. Plates were passed, but no silverware as people in India eat with their fingers. The dinner they served us was one of the best dinners we've had yet. "Barbecued" chicken, mashed potatoes Indian style, a shredded carrot dish, rice, a yogurt/onion dish, flat bread and some other dishes I have forgotten. They treated us after the dinner with pre-packaged ice cream cones they had bought from a vendor.

The time arrived for us to leave. I think we all agreed it was an evening we would never forget.

Shopping, Teaching, Woman Talk, Anticipated Dance Night

Last night, Laura, Katie, Aneesh, and I had a fun time shopping at the Spencer Plaza Mall. Downtown Chennai is about a 45 minute drive from where we are staying in Porur, a Chennai suburb. Little Stephen bravely drove the tiny white van through the suicidal traffic. It's interesting; I don't get a sense that there's a lot of road rage. What I see is a bunch of speed happy drivers all trying to get to their destinations as crazily as possible. It's mad.

We did arrive safely, after little Stephen drove us with the speed and madness of the other drivers. He parked in the parking garage and told us he would be there whenever we wanted to return. Later, we found out that he is quite content waiting as he likes the opportunity to listen to music at eardrum-splitting levels. (In fact, this morning I asked big Stephen what the drumming was about in the street, wondering if it was a street festival. Big Stephen replied that it wasn't a festival, it was his brother listening to music in the van parked outside.) We entered the mall and then spent the next few hours shopping, haggling, and (inevitably) spending. I bought two tops (about $5 each), earrings, silver bangles (Indian women love to wear lots of bangles on their arms), and scarves (that can double as shawls) for about $3 each. I've seen the same scarves in Nordstroms for $30 - $40 each. Bargain shopping is great fun.

Arriving at the guesthouse late, we ate a late dinner and split a few beers. In order to get beer, we have to ask Stephen to buy it for us as he says it is not good for us to be seen where liquor is sold. I'm not sure why, but I think it has something to do with our reputations.

Today I awoke and did the morning yoga class with our instructor. He is a kind man, but sometimes he doesn't understand why I don't do a pose. It's because I CAN'T. Overall, however, it's good to get in the stretching and exercise. After yoga came a welcome shower as I was already dripping with sweat because of the heat. It was hot when we arrived in India and it is even hotter now as we are just entering their hottest season. Anyone with the means to do so leaves Chennai at this time. However, judging by the traffic, whoever has left hasn't even made a dent in the number of cars and auto-rickshaws on the road.

This morning at Grace School passed uneventfully. The children think it's quite hysterical that I bring frozen water with me in my water jug. I like the icy water half way through the morning. However, they all have to touch my water bottle and they laugh and laugh. I'm easy entertainment. After we taught the students, we had our conversational English class with the teachers. They wanted to know all about our shopping trip, what we bought, and (most importantly) what we spent. Other subjects we talked about were: 1) breastfeeding (most women in India breastfeed 2) teenage pregnancy (teenagers that get pregnant get abortions) 3) birth control (the method of birth control used in India is sterilization - women only, although they have heard of condoms) and 4) discliplining of children (they do believe in corporal punishment, even in school). Claudia and I were amused when the teachers, wearing their beautiful saris, found the stickers we used to put on the children's papers. They decorated the front and the sleeves of their saris with stickers. It was quite cute.

We came back to the guesthouse for lunch, then had time to prepare lessons and rest. Tonight, all of us will be going to Assissi Illam orphanage for a dance night. The younger members of our group have hooked up an ipod and speaker system for the music.

I better go. At the internet cafe that I'm at I have been told that my time is up.

Another Teaching Day, Another Anticipated Shopping Trip

After attempting to twist my body into a pretzel without harming myself at our morning yoga session, I showered then headed down to breakfast. We were served a wheat based thick porridge which we topped with a curry sauce and a hard boiled egg. I am loving the spiced coffee in the morning, to which a lot of milk is added. Breakfast over, we were transported to our work sites.

My kindergarten class started off a little rough. The children cannot sit still and focus on a story, even a simple picture book. The only thing I could manage during the story was to keep them seated; they had no interest in the pictures at all. They did better when given a worksheet to color, for some reason, every child in India is fascinated with coloring. At least I was able to end the class with a little dignity.

My next two classes, first and second grade, went well. It's a combined class and I taught first grade while the regular teach taught second, then we reversed. Reading books went better in these two classes; they kept more engaged. They also did well with their worksheets - especially when I let them color them when they were done. Even though I'm giving written assignments, I think that my main focus is to have them listen to English spoken by an English speaker and to have them speak to me as much as possible. From what I see, the teachers given them a lot of written English assignments, mainly copying sentences from the board.

After our classes with the students came our one hour conversational English class with the teachers. This is a fun hour and Claudia and I are finding that these women are curious about subjects about which all women are curious: hair coloring, cooking, clothes, shopping, etc. They also are very curious about President Obama and they wanted to take home the Time magazine special edition on Obama that Claudia found in the guesthouse so they could study all the pictures. I think they're trying to make up their minds if they like him or not. Presumeably, by studying the pictures, they feel they will know him better. :)

Lunch was waiting for us at the guest house: fried bread, a tomato/chicken dish, a spicy cooked spinach, and sliced cucumbers. Now we have time for lesson planning before we go to SEAM tonight for our evening tutoring session. After tutoring at SEAM, we are going shopping again. I'm going to the mall to pick up a few small gifts and to look for some Indian tops.

Well, better get to that lesson planning...

New Teaching Assignment, Shopping, and Dosais

This morning's yoga was more difficult due to the fact that Laura asked our instruction to make it "a little more difficult." Instead of our gentle stretches, we did shoulder stands, plows, and other contortions. Actually, I enjoyed it although I couldn't do all of them like they were supposed to be done. I quickly showered afterwards, ate breakfast, then gathered my school supplies for my first day teaching at Grace School.

After Claudia and I were dropped off by little Stephen, I was introduced to the principal then shown to my classroom. I met 15 very rambunctious kindergartners. I will have to say with all my heart - they were awful. They jumped on the furniture, refused to listen, and were genuinely horrible. A teacher came in one time and chastised them, but as soon as she left they went back to being terrible. I managed to keep them in their seats and when one would be become especially obnoxious, I would put them in the hall. It's hard to discipline children when they don't speak your language and you don't speak theirs. Finally, the hour was over and I was shown to my next classroom.

I was told I was to teach 15 first graders and then 5 second graders. I walked into a classroom with 20 children and asked if they were all first graders and the teacher said, "Yes." (Later, I found out the teachers aren't fluent in English, either.) So, thinking I didn't have enough handouts, I abandoned my lesson plans and did a conversational English lesson off the top of my head. The good thing, however, was that this teacher stayed in the room and discipline ruled. At the end of the hour, I asked where the second grade was located and I found out the second graders were in that same classroom; it was a first and second grade combination. The teacher then wanted me to teach just the second graders while she taught the first graders. As I used all my material on them the previous hour, I once again taught off the top of my head. It didn't go too badly, but I definitely need to bring more material tomorrow.

After the second grade class was over, I thought I was done. However, I found that the teachers wanted an English lesson, so Claudia and I had a conversational English class with the teachers. We discussed health care, marriage, divorce, family planning, the India government and President Obama. Not bad for the first day.

Back at the guest house, lunch was ready: rice, curry, mixed vegetables, and papaya. We had a bare hour to prepare our lessons for tomorrow before we left to go shopping at Government House, a government owned shop which features Indian arts and crafts. All of us couldn't fit in the van, so three of us went by auto-rickshaw. Once again, our lives flashed before our eyes as we threaded our way through motorcycles, cars, truck, bicycles, cows, and other auto-rickshaws. I've seen crazy traffic before in other countries. India, so far, takes the cake.

We all enjoyed shopping at Government House. I'm enjoying the reasonable prices. At the end of our shopping spree, we once again experienced the Indian check out system. A clerk takes your items and gives you a receipt which you take to the cash register. After paying, you go to the delivery counter where they find your purchases, wrap them, then hand them to you. Traveling back, I went by van. However, that didn't seem easier as six of us were crowded in the tiny van and we sweated in the heat as little Stephen negotiated a traffic jam. Finally, he took a detour and my backside was sore from bouncing on the rough streets by the time we arrived at our guest house.

I had about 15 minutes to run to the copy store to get copies for tomorrow's lessons before we had to leave to teach at SEAM. We walked to SEAM, and as we were late we only had 45 minutes to teach instead of two hours. Thank goodness. It is very hard to hold the children's attention for two hours after they just arrived home from attending public school all day. The teaching also went better as we separated the kids in different rooms or locations in the orphanage instead of sharing the common room. They definitely functioned better with less distractions. My group of rowdy middle- school boys actually stayed on task. Sort of. I find it interesting that the schools here have these young children read Shakespeare which they read by rote. However, their listening and speaking skills are at beginning levels. They are used to just repeating mindless syllables; they have no idea what they're repeating. I believe the educational system here is just rote memorization.

After SEAM, we walked back to the guest house, re-grouped, then walked to a nearby small restaurant to eat real Indian dosais. These are large, crispy, crepe like pancakes, and they are filled with the filling of your choice. Stephen recommended the butter marsala dosais. He also ordered samosa appetizers. Samosas are turnovers with a flaky crust filled with a meat or vegetable filling. Both the dosais and the samosas were wonderful. After we walked back to the guest house, Stephen treated us to ice cream. We all appreciated the cold dessert.

To bed, to dream of classrooms filled with children's faces...

Back to Work

Today we went back to work after our weekend off. Our morning yoga session made a good start to the day. After a breakfast of rice noodles, curry sauce and eggs I headed off by myself to SEAM to spend a morning at the construction site. Aneesh had had enough of construction and went off to observe at the hospital. However, tsince the children at SEAM are so looking forward to new dormitories and the construction can only continue if a volunteer shows up, I decided to put in another morning of sifting dirt. Most of the other volunteers agreed to take a share doing the construction, so hopefully I won't be the only one keeping the project going. I felt proud that I was able to sift 5 loadsd of dirt in 3 hours and in blistering heat and humidity.

Lunch was a welcome break and I was able to take a wonderfully cool shower after eating. This afternoon I spent preparing for my tutoring session tonight at SEAM and my classes tomorrow morning at Grace School. At Grace, I will be teaching 3 classes, kindergarten, first grade and second grade. The main object is to teach the kids English, although we teach all subjects. This really, really should be interesting. I got the papers copied that I needed at a small copy shop. At the shop, you give the paper you want copied to the sari-clad woman who owns the shop and she copies it for you on an ancient copy machine. When all your copies are made, you walk next door to a small shop selling drinks and ice cream and pay her husband. He is a lot happier if you also buy a "cold drink."

Back to preparing lessons...

Weekend Excursion

On Friday night we said goodbye to Joan, who scheduled herself to volunteer only one week before catching a tour to northern India. We also said goodbye to Nita, who would only be gone for the weekend as she flew to Bombay (Mumbai) to visit her grandmother. On Saturday morning (March 20), the rest of us woke up eagerly anticipating our weekend away from work and our holiday to Pondicherry (Puducherry).

Stephen had hired an air conditioned bus (the air conditioning sort of worked) and a driver and he acted as our tour guide extraordinaire. Our first stop, shortly after leaving Chenai was the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial built at the site where he was assasinated by a woman belonging to the Tamil Tigers. Then we were off on the approximately one and a half drive to Kanchipuram, a Hindu temple town where we visited four Hindu temples (exuse any mispellings): Kamshi Amman temple, Ekambranatha. temple, Akaila temple, and Varavaraja Temple.

I would have a hard time describing the temples without also having the pictures present as these temples were like nothing I have ever seen before, never having visited an Asian country before. Not being Hindu (except for Aneesh), we were not allowed in the inner temple. All the temples had a surrounding wall which enclosed various holy buildings. The gates into the walls were topped by tall pyramid like structures which were decorated with many deities. A knowledgeable person could tell which god the temple was dedicated to by looking at a stone animal close by the inner entrance. For example, a stone bull indicated that the temple belonged to Shiva. Two of the temples had an inner concrete "tank" holding water where pilgrims could wash themselves. The first temple had a place where free food was given to pilgrims and a neem tree where offerings were hungs. For example, small wooden cradles were hung by couples desiring a baby. Another thing that impressed me about the temples was the high quality of the stone work and the carvings. In all the temples, we were able to view detailed carvings of gods, goddesses, animals, and ordinary people. Stephen impressed us all by his knowledge of Hindu mysticism (he is Catholic) and Indian history.

After our temple tour, it was off to Pondicherry. Pondicherry is the British name; however, India is trying to replace British names with Indian ones, so it is now called Puducherry. However, Puducherry is was actually a French colonial town. On the way to Puducherry, we stopped at a silk factory and the women of the group had a great time being shown silk scarves, shawls, table runners, saris, etc. Fortunately (and not surprisingly) the factory took credit cards.

At last, after a long, hot day, we arrived sweating at our hotel in Puducherry. We given mango juice by the hotel staff after our arrival and we eagerly anticipated the hot showers. After freshening up, we took off on foot to walk along the beach at night. I loved at as this is the time when the local people come out to stroll and take in the ocean breeze. There were food and trinket vendors and the murmur of ocean waves and people talking. After strolling along the beach, we wanted to find a bookstore to find simple books on Hinduism as we were having a hard time keeping all the gods and goddesses straight. Stephen led us to a suitable bookstore and several of us bought children's books on Hinduism. After these purchases, Stephen took us to a French restaurant. I came to the conclusion it was called "French" because it served other food besides Indian food; for example pizza, spaghetti, seafood, etc. I ordered the garden salad (which was sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots and onions) and grilled tiger prawns. Good, but not as good as fresh caught shrimp we eat at our cabin in Alaska. When dinner was over, Stephen called our bus to pick us up, knowing we would be too tired to walk back to our hotel.

On Sunday morning, we got to sleep in a little later than normal, then met in the hotel restaurant for a "continental breakfast." I had scrambled eggs, toast, and coffee. Then it was back on the bus for more touring. Our first stop was Auroville, which is a community of people dedicated to reaching enlightenment. They have also done an impressive job of conservation as they have planted countless trees in an area of wasteland. Once we arrived, we were obligated to view a film about the Matrimandir. I'm still confused what this is exactly, except that it is a huge globe resembling a small globe seen at Epcot Center in Disney world and somehow the inside has a crystal ball like thing that catches the sun's rays and you can meditate there. Stephen, our guide, who has made the trip countless times says he still doesn't understand it, either. The walk to see the globe was nice as we walked along a CLEAN dirt path among trees; it was a relief to walk outside the city. At the end of the path, we could only view the globe from the outside as we didn't have permission to enter. Back at the main compound, I had the experience of using an Indian style toilet (see me for details), then we had time for some shopping (yes, the commune has boutiques) and a lunch at their cafeteria.

We then had about an hour to hour and a half drive to Mamallupuram. Mamallupuram is a village set up at the site of anciet Pallava kings. There, we viewed ancient stone carvings. Again, I would have a hard time explaining them without a slide show. Stephen explained that this was a site where they practiced their stone carvings so that they could use their skills at other sites. It was impressive that whole shrines, whole animals where carved out of a single rock; the carvers started at the top of the rock and carved downwards, carving out roofs, then walls, then carving inwards to hollow out rooms and shrines. The walls in turn had a multitude of carved deities. We walked to a site of an ancient light house, which was a huge stone platform where a large fire was built to guide the ships. Walking up to the platform, we had a marvellous view of the Mamallupuram area. Another highlight of this area was viewing the largest bas relief sculpture in the world: Arjuna's Penance. This sculpture depicted many deities and animals, including impressively massive elephants. The story behind this is that Arjuna wanted a special weapon to defeat his enemies. He did a penance (he's depicted standing on one leg and holding his arms above his head) and the gods gave him this weapon and he was able to be victorious.

At this point we were very hot and tired. Nikki got the trooper of the group award as she endured the heat and trip while being very sick with a stomach/intestinal bug. While we enjoyed our weekend, we gratefully climbed back in the bus to head back to the guesthouse. However, before boarding the bus, several of us had our fortunes read by a parrot fortune teller. A man sitting on a mat had a parrot in a cage. He let the parrot out of the cage and the parrot would pick a card from a vertically stacked deck. The man would then interpret the card. Stephen translated what the man said told us. I apparently will live to 97 years old, have family problems which will be resolved this year, will be rich at 55 years old (oh boy, my pension will be bigger than I thought!), and apparently I'm to have patience.

When we arrived at out guesthouse, dinner and Nita were waiting for us. Everyone quickly ate dinner, then fairly quickly went to bed. Back to work tomorrow.

Indian Trivia

1) If an Indian runs over a cow or a person, s/he keeps on driving. The reason being, if the driver stops the crowd may injure or kill him/her. If a person is run over, the driver drives to a police station to turn him/herself in. There, the driver is given a fine then released.

2) When an Indian woman wears an ankle bracelet, a bracelet is put on BOTH ankles. When we would wear only one, we were stopped an informed that a bracelet was missing. Ankle bracelets have tiny bells on them; that way a man can tell if a woman is in the next room.

3) Shoes must be removed before entering a home or a temple. When we visited temples this weekend we wore socks when walking to the temples in order to protect our feet from the hot paving stones.

4) Houses are painted in auspicious colors. I still haven't determined who decides the auspicious colors.

5) Indians really liked Obama until Obama decided to give tax incentives to companies that didn't import goods.

6) Indians feel that the United States needs to take a bigger role in preventing global warming. They feel that the former President Bush was wrong in withdrawing from global warming talks.

7) "Construction dummies", which look similar to scarecrows, are hung at construction sites. When the building is done, the dummy is burnt and a chicken or goat is sacrificed. Somehow this brings good luck.

8) Indians don't nod or shake their heads like Westerners do. Their heads go from side to side (ear to shoulder). This means yes, no, or maybe. Stephen said that Indians don't like to commit themselves.

Outreach Clinic, Student Nurses Playing Hookey, Wild Times at SEAM

This morning, I didn't get to yoga class or to the breakfast at the guest house as I went with Jana and Aneesh to visit an outreach clinic sponsored by St. Thomas hospital. Niki was supposed to have come with us, but she decided to return to the guest house after experiencing the bane of traveler's everywhere - diarrhea.

We arrived at St. Thomas Hospital just at the end of the student nurses' assembly in the courtyard. The students then climbed in the bus that was to take us to the rural clinic and we followed, along with the teachers. The bus took off and we were treated with the student nurses singing, "Happy Feast Day to You!" Apparently today is a feast day of some Catholic saint. The teachers were dressed in matching saris and the student uniforms were matching churidars. Although this was listed as a rural clinic, we never drove past where there was houses, streets, cars, and motorcycles. As we drove and I looked at the traffic, people, and houses and stores jammed one on top of each other, I thought of the effects of crowding a large amount of people in a confined land area. The result is the dirty, bustling, crazy mix called India.

Aneesh and Jana were dropped off at the clinic and I went with the student nurses to do home visits. The bus drove on aways further, then found a place to park. I got out with the student nurses and was adopted by one of the students to accompany her on her rounds. At our first house, no one was home. At the second house, the patient didn't wake up to our knock; the student said that patient worked at night. As we were walking, I asked what the health problems they saw in the community. She said the main problems were "hypertension and sugar." I asked if diabetes was a problem, to which she said, "No, diet isn't a problem. It's sugar."

At this point, I was taken to the clinic where Jana and Aneesh were working. At the clinic, people line up to see the doctor. They sign in, then see the doctor who sits at his desk - never moving. He writes a prescription, then the patients stand in another line to get their medicine. From what I saw, this involves some intramuscular injection in the butt. While needles aren't reused, syringes are reused over and over. It made me cringe, especiallly since in India they still aspirate every injection. Another interesting fact is that they do not use gloves. At all. Needles are always recapped and no sharps constainer exists.

This clinic also had a maternity ward. I got to visit with some mothers and babies. Most babies in India are born by cesarean section. The surgeon at the hospital said this was because the Hindu population believes in astrology and wants their babies to be born on auspicious days. When I asked my student nurse, she said that it was because the women didn't want the pain of childbirth. One good thing is that most women do breastfeed.

We were driven back to the section where we were supposed to be doing home visits. The teachers do not accompany the students, a fact of which the students take advantage. We stopped at a home where the students showed the family how to cook hygienically. However, against all the rules, they stayed and ate the dinner they helped cook, then stayed in the living room and watched TV. We were shown the roof of the house where we had a view of a distant temple. Climbing down the stairs, we say a small shop which had about a dozen people sitting down at a table making purses.

We finally left the food and TV and started walking down the street. One of the villagers invited us inside her house. So in we went. The woman peeled an apple for Aneesh, Jana, and I. Soon, the student nurses trooped in the house, the TV was turned on and we spent a long time watching the India version of MTV.

After a while, the students knew they had to meet their teachers at a square by the local well so we trooped out of the house. My student nurse begged us not to tell "the sisters", meaning their teachers. We promised silence.

At the square, the student sat down to eat their lunch (unknown to the teachers the students had already eaten) and to student. The students were either reading their books or were practicing their bandaging. The teachers sat with their backs turned towards the students. However, occasionally they would call a student to stand in front of them and would question her about her studies. We noticed that students learn by rote. Learning is by memorization only. Creative thought is not taught or encouraged.

After about an hour, we boarded the bus to travel back to the hospital. We arrived tired and hot, but we felt the trip was worth it. Little Stephen came to pick us up to transport us back to the guesthouse. We had a late lunch and were able to relax before our evening assignments. Before I went to my evening assignment, Sheeba (Stephen's wife) took me to the tailors to have my daughter-in-laws and my churidars made. I was glad to have Sheeba with me to interpret all the measurements I had gathered.

Tonight I went to SEAM. I was to tutor 8th grade boys in English. The lesson I learned was that since children learn by rote, introducing a creative project before the end of class is a disaster. After I orally quizzed them I gave them paper and crayons and told them to draw what they did that day - with the intention we would talk about their pictures. They could not do it as their learning does not include creativity. After tearing the crayon box to pieces, they then ran out the door and disappeared. Can I say now that you could not pay me enough to be a teacher in my life in the U.S.???

Our evening assignments completed, we made our way back to the guest house for dinner. We plan to spend this weekend in Pondicherry, so last minute instructions were given. Stephen bought us beer (he said that he would buy it for us as it would not look right if volunteers bought alcohol), so we are having a relaxing evening unwinding from our work week.

Home Visit

Yesterday, after observing the operation at the hospital, we were taken back to the guest house to get ready for dinner at Stephen's house. Seven of us went by van and three others went by auto-rickshaw. On the way, Joelle had us stop at a bakery to pick up a cake to give to Stephen's family. We were very hot as we sat crowded in the van waiting at the bakery for Joelle to pick up the cake. However, we were soon on our way to Stephen's house. We found out that for Stephen to get to our guesthouse, he has to walk, take an auto-rickshaw and a bus. Neither Stephen or his wife drive. Stephen has very bad cataracts and his vision is very poor.

At Stephen's house, we met his mother, father, and sister. Also there were his brother, "little Stephen" and little Stephen's wife and small boy. Our Stephen, his wife Sheeba, their small boy Roshan, Stephen's mother, father, and sister all live in the same house. Little Stephen, his wife, and boy live in a neighboring house, but come to Stephen's parents' house for meals. At the house, we were fed huge amounts of Indian food. They served our plates before handing them to us and the food was overflowing. It was delicious, but impossible to eat it all. While waiting for our food, we were shown photographs of the family. Everyone in the family seemed genuinely pleased to see us.

After dinner, we walked down the street to see Stephen's aunt's house. It turned out the Stephen's aunt was our very own cook at the guesthouse, Reva. We were able to say hello to Reva and to her two daughters. After that, we walked to little Stephen's house before leaving to go back to the guest house. The houses are plain and have minimal furniture, but are very clean on the inside, in contrast to all the trash that is found outside on the street.

After driving back to the guest house we found out that our neighborhood was experiencing a power outage. Fortunately, a few of us had brought flashlights. With nothing else to do without power, most of us turned in early.

Dirt, Operation Indian Style, and Home visit

Another morning of yoga and an Indian breakfast. We feasted on ramen-type noodles, a hard-boiled egg, and fresh papaya. Then it was off to our work sites, which for me meant sifting and hauling dirt. This morning, Aneesh was called to the second floor to hand the workman mortar, which meant that I was by myself with the sifting and carrying. By the time we were picked up for lunch, I was drenched in sweat.

I was able to rest a put up my feet for a few minutes before lunch. After lunch, it was back to the salt mines, or I should say, dirt mines. This time, however, Katie and Laura came to help to sift and haul dirt which made it far easier. At the end of of short shift (we only worked an hour as we had to move up our hospital shift in order to go to Stephen's house for dinner), I got to help fling a little plaster, mortar which was a nice change for the dirt duty.

Back to the guest house for a long shower and then to the hospital. Aneesh had to wait ahile to see Dr. Sister Rexline to get our work assignments but it was worth it as we were able to go observe a surgery. We were escorted to the OR suite, where at the door we took off our shoes and were given flip flops to wear. This is what the OR staff wore during surgery - bare feet and flip flops. We talked briefly with the surgeon, the same one we met yesterday. The patient was the woman we say yesterday with the excess adipose tissue around her abdomen; the surgery today was a lipectomy, which was surgery to reomove the excess fat.

Aneesh was given scrubs to wear, the same as what the doctors wore. I was given a long button down overcoat to wear over my clothes, the same as what the nurses wore. We did wear disposeable hat and masks, but the drapes were cloth. (In ase anyone is wondering, the needles were disposeable.) I noticed that no documentation was being done during surgery. I'm used to the circulating nurse busily writing down times, who was present, and instrument counts. Here, nothing.

The surgery took awhile to get started as the anesthesiologist had a hard time getting a second IV line started. Finally, he opted to put in a subclavian line. Before all this took place, he placed an epidural (or a spinal, it was hard for me to determine.) When he placed the subclavian, the woman was wide awake and grimacing. She may have had some pain medicine or sedative, but she definitely felt that subclavian being placed.

Finally, the surgery started. We didn't get to see all the surgery as we had to be picked up before it ended, although we did get to see him make the initial cut and use the cautery knife to go through many layers of adipose tissue.

We returned to the guest house before going to Stephen's house. "Little Stephen" is our driver. He is actually Stephen's brother. We found out the Stephen is neither of their names. Our team leader's name is Raja, I haven't found out little Stephen's name. Indians don't have last names. If a last name is needed, then they use their father's name.

Gotta go and get ready to go to an out reach clinic. Will write more later.

India General Surgeon

After a period of waiting, the general surgeon made his entrance. His good point was that he freely talked to us about the Indian health care system and the common health problems in India. He said that the most common health concern in India was infectious disease, a lot of which is caused by poor hygiene and contaminated water. Another major health problem is diabetes (I couldn't ascertain exactly why it was so prevalent.) He said that patients taking 200-300 units of insulin a day was not uncommon. For those health professional reading this, I couldn't determine if this was long or short acting insulin. Cancer is also a big problem. He said the most common cancer was oral cancer because chewing paan or betel leaves was so prevalent. Another interesting thing he said was that Indians do not want reconstruction after cancer surgery (i.e. mastectomies.) Again, I could not understand his speech enough to ascertain the reason.

His not so good point was his lack of a bedside manner, extreme even compared to those physicians we know in the United States that could use lessons in compassion. In his defense, I'm finding out that his attitude is prevalent among physicians in India; perhaps it's cultural or perhaps it's training, or a mixture of both. When he examined a woman who was to have a lipectomy the next day, he grapped her adominal fat and kept shaking it in front of us saying, "This is what happens when they eat too much rice!" I was appalled; the woman kept a flat look on her face. When another older woman came in and laid on the table, he suddenly pulled down her sorry and started pointing at her mastectomy site. "Come closer, she won't mind!" Then he started jabbing at her chest showing us her scar. After she got off the table and was sitting waiting for instructions, the doctor totally ignored her and her daughter who accompanied her and spent time chatting with us about places we should visit. Oh my.

The last thing we observed before we left the hospital was a man who had gangrene of his foot because of diabetes. He has been an inpatient in the hospital for while. The doctor stated that this man's big toe needs to be amputated in order to prevent further infection, but the man and his wife are refusing. The doctor seemed to me to indicate that it was just because of ignorance. I wish that I could find out what this family's fears are regarding amputation.

After Aneesh's and my hospital stint, we came back to the guest house and had another wonderful Indian dinner: rice, mixed vegetables, shredded beets, crispy flat bread. For dessert, Stephen bought us individual servings of India style ice cream. The ice cream came in a small clay pot and was flavored with cardamon with pistachios sprinkled on top. It tasted wonderful.

Construction and Hospital Observation

Today we woke up and walked up the stairs to the roof for our morning yoga session. The stretches felt wonderful, but I was sweating at the end due to the high humidity. Afterwards, we went downstairs and breakfasted on rice cakes over which we spooned a coconut curry sauce, egg "frittata", watermelon, and the wonderful spiced coffee or tea.

Then it was off to work. Aneesh and I were transported to SEAM to resume our construction jobs. So once again, we sifted sand and then carried bowls of sand up to the second floor of the dormitory building. Heat, humidity, sweat. Ameesh got a break from the sun when they called him upstairs to help pass mortar to the man doing the "plastering." I, however, got to sift and carry sand.

We got a lunch break at the guesthouse and we were able to cool down in the air conditioning. Then it was back to work. More sand. At the end of our afternoon session, we were given a chance to help sling mortar against the walls - much to the amusement of the two workmen. The main workman, Moonian, insisted that Aneesh take a picture of me with my camera. Oh my God!!! The picture shows me with my hair pinned up, sweat dripping down my face and my tee-shirt soaked with sweat and clinging to my body. I'm standing with a trowel in my hand and mortar is flying. The picture very likely will be deleted. However, I'm getting very possessive of the mortar; the sand in that mortar is MINE.

After our afternoon mortar tossing session, Aneesh and I went back to the guest house and warned our team mates that the showers were OURS. I felt better after a long shower, even if the water was cold. I dressed in a long skirt to go to the hospital and before I left the guest house, Sheeba (Stephen's wife) placed a bindi on my forehead. A bindi is a decorative dot placed low on the forehead between the eyes. OK, I could get into this bindi thing. I think I look quite beautiful with my bindi - it beats the sweat soaked tee-shirt look.

At the hospital, Aneesh and I met Dr. Sister Rexline again. She took us to tour the physical therapy department, after which the therapist was to escort us to meet one of the general surgeons. The physical therapy department was very basic, approximately 5 cots separated by curtains. We were shown a traction machine, an electrical stimulation unit, a unit which resembled a large heating pad, and a range of motion machine used after knee replacements. After viewing these machines, the therapist took us to a long hall off which were man curtained doorways. Each doorway was labeled with the name of a doctor and his/her specialty. We were shown to the general surgeons curtained doorway and waited for the surgeon to arrive.

More later. People are lined up to use this one laptop we share in the guesthouse.

Work and Play

You must be the change you want to see in the world. Mahatma Gandi

Katie and Laaura were our energetic joggers this morning and were able to get a quick run in before our morning yoga session. Our quiet yoga teacher arrived promptly at 7:30am and led us through half an hour of stretching on the rooftop of our guesthouse. Everyone agreed that it was a pleasant way to start the day, and for Aneesh and me, it was good to stretch out sore muscles after our day at the SEAM's construction site yesterday.

After gathering around our common dining table for a breakfast of rice, curry sauce and papaya, we gathered our supplies and gear to go to our respective work sites. Aneesch and I went back to the construction site at SEAM; Laura, Katie, and Claudia also went to SEAM to do some tutoring; Joelle, Nita and Joan went to the Assisi School to play games, give lessons, and work on paper machee'; and Jana and Niki went to St. Thomas Hospital to learn more about the India health care system.

When our morning assignments were over, we once again gathered around our dining room table, this time for lunch. (Aneesh and I arrived dripping sweat from sifting sand and hauling it up to the second floor of the dormitories being constructed at SEAM in the heat and humidity. The sand is being used in making mortar for the walls.) Stephen our team leader, surprised us by providing fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots to have with our lunch after Joelle's fresh vegetable request and he also provided us with a wonderful watermelon for dessert. We were able to rest awhile before we headed out early for our afternoon assignments. Our job assignments started early so that we could end earlier in order to get in a much anticipated shopping trip. Laura was very excited about the opportunity to shop for a sari.

I'm not sure where everyone went on their afternoon asignments, but Aneesh and I went to St. Thomas Hospital. We were first taken to the emergency room where we briefly talked to a dentist who told us about his children who now live in the United States. Soon after we arrived in the emergency room, Doctor Sister Rexline (no, I did not make a mistake about her title) came by and took us to her office for a visit. She is the administrator of the hospital and has overseen its development from a one room dispensary to a large multi-specialty hospital. I was impressed by her deep humility and her joy at being able to serve people in need. She said that we have only one chance to pass through this life and we should take every opportunity to help people along the way.

After we visited awhile, Dr. Sister Rexline took us to see the nursing school and instroduced us to Sister Jaya who is the nursing school's head. My impression was that she runs a tight ship, especially after she pointed out that gum chewing could be perceived as rude in some cultures as well as sitting with crossed legs; Aneesh stopped chewing his gum and I quickly put both my feet on the ground. Sister jaya did graciously take time out of her busy schedule to take us on a tour of the entire nursing school. The nursing school is a diploma type school, with all instruction being done at the school or in the hospital. The length of the program is 3 1/2 years. Applicants between the ages of 17 and 35 years of age can apply. However, Sister Jaya said that she will only accept applicants 25 years and under because it would be difficult for an older student to sit next to a younger student.

We took our leave of Sister Jaya, then went to spend some time observing in ICU. Aneesh introduced me to the male nursing student he met yesterday. Tstudent had completed a bachelor's of science degree, but needed practical time so he came to St. Thomas hospital to get this requirement completed. He seemed pleased to visit with us so that he could practice his English. I am really impressed with the amount of work the student nurses have to do in India. Not only do they have to go through nursing school which is tough in any country, but they also have to learn English as that is the language used in the hospital environment.

When our time at the hospital was over, Stephen picked up our group in the van and took us to Chennai Silks to shop for saris or churidars (a type of pant with a long top and scarf.) Several of us had fun buying fabrics and are inticipating going to a tailor and having authentic and beautiful outfits made. The Indian shopping system is a touch different than that of the United States. First, an assistant helps you pick out your item and carries it to the cash register for you. Second, you pay for it at the register. Third, another assistant wraps it up for you then carries it to the delivery window where you can finally claim it.

After spending time at Chennai Silks, about half the group wanted to go back to the guethouse, so rode back in the intrepid white van. The rest of us went shopping for gold and silver at a store Stephen recommended. The variety was overwhelming. There, you sit or stand at the counter while assistants bring you items to peruse. After purchasing the item, an assistant elaborately wraps it up for you, then puts the package in a bag, followed by flower petals. The bag is then handed to you with a bow.

Since the van was not there to take us back to the guesthouse (having taken the non-shoppers back home), Stephen hired auto-rickshaws to carry us back to the guesthouse. Riding in a tiny motorized cart with open sides speeding through traffic that makes four lanes when only two are marked on the road, is quite the adventure. However, I was glad that I was having an experience that couldn't be had in the United States. Having these new experiences is one reason I travel. (I'm extremely glad, however, we didn't have the experience of getting flattened by a bus.) Riding back home, Laura, Katie and I were talking about the amazing variety of matierial we saw at Chenai Silks. I pondered if this variety makes up for the limited amount of styles that are available in southern India. If the only clothing choices you have are saris or churidars, then perhaps the way to express your individuality is by color and print design

All made it safely back to our guesthouse. After eating a late dinner, we had fun showing off our purchases to each other. Everyone was in good spirits and while the break in our schedule was good for our mental health, I'm sure everyone is able to resume work in the morning.

Pediatric Ward and British Airways

Last night I visited the pediatric ward at St. Thomas Hospital. Helen and Anita, the two nurses assigned to the ward, gave me a tour and talked a little about their jobs and the types of patients they attend. Their English was heavily accented, so it was difficult to understand everything they said, but I did gleam that typhoid and diarrhea were two of the reasons of admission. In fact, two children were in the ward being treated for typhoid when I was visiting. I asked if children received typhoid immunizations and Helen said yes, but the immunization rate was about 90% so some children still got typhoid. She said that typhoid was worse in the summer and that many of the children that got typhoid got urinary tract infections, but I couldn't understand her explanation of the connection. I also visited a boy who had an appendectomy for a ruptured appendix. Unfortunately, the infection from the ruptured appendix went into his lungs and he was pretty sick. He had a nasogastric tube, a wound drainage tube, a urinary catheter, and an IV line. He also was on oxygen and is oxygen saturation kept dropping. In addition to the sick wards, the nurses showed me the neurodevelopmental center where children with developmental disabilites receive speech and physical therapy and counseling during the day.

After leaving the pediatric ward, I walked to the front of the hospital to meet my ride. The emergency area and outpatient clinics were back. 6pm to 8pm are the busiest times of the day as parents come home from work and decide at that time to take sick family members to the hospital. It was wild. After our equally wild van ride back to the guest house, we ate dinner which consisted of two different types of rice, potatoes, crispy thin flat bread, and shredded cabbage.

Today, we found out that British Airways is going out on strike the end of the month. Our tickets to leave India are April 3rd. We may have the opportunity to enjoy India even more than we expected.

Patience, Indian Restaurant, and Physical Labor

My favorite quote that I heard yesterday from Stephan is: In India, if you don't have patience you'll need it. If you have patience, you'll lose it.

After our team meeting yesterday, we made another visit to SEAM. The children once again practiced their English by introducing themselves and afterwards we talked, played, and read wtih them in the courtyard. We walked back to the guest house and readied ourselves to go out to eat at a "real" Indian restaurant. Stephan led the way down the busy streets and along the way we passed a Hindu temple with a ceremony in progress. We made it safely to the restaurant after dodging motorcycles, auto-rickshaws, trucks, cars, and cows.

The Kaaraikudi Restaurant, after walking over broken pavement outside, was elegant on the inside with several waiters attending our table. Stephan ordered a multitude of Indian dishes for us to try. Some of the dishes that I remember are: chicken tikal, garlic chicken, a crispy caulflower dish, fried rice, two different types of flatbread, cucumbers and carrots, cheese in curry sauce, curried potatoes and cauliflower. I HAVE to learn out to cook Indian food. Needless to say, we were stuffed.

We went to bed fairly early; however, most of us are experiencing a disruption in our circadian rhythms and have been waking up at around 3am unable to sleep. I figured we'll finally adjust to the radically different time zone just in time for us to leave.

This morning, Aneesh (a 24 year old premed student) and I were taken to SEAM to begin our morning's work helping with constructing the new dormitories. Global Volunteer's policy is one of matched labor. If volunteers are working on a project, an equal number of local laborers has to be present. Our two local laborers were Moonian and Shebadun (the spellings on both are most likely incorrect). Aneesh and I spent the morning filling buckets with sand, sifting the sand, carrying the sifting sand up a flight of stairs, and dumping the sand. I'm getting quite adept at carrying buckets on my head. I also helped Moonian keep his plaster bucket full so he didn't have to stop plastering. (Moonian seems to think he can teach me the local dialect, Tamil.) After our morning's work, Aneesh and I were tired as all this work was carried on in 100 degrees with high humidity. Currently, we are relaxing before we go back to work a few hours this afternoon. Tonight, we work at the hospital.

Well, lunch is on the table...

Kollams-Hindu Street Art

Walking to an Indian restaurant last night, we saw decorations drawn in front of doorsteps. Stephan explained that these were called "kollams." Hindu women draw these in the morning (not drawing with chalk, but by sprinkling the powder on with their fingers) and if the god Lakshmi, the god of money, likes the design he will come and dwell in the house.

Stephen also said that drawing kollams are the women's yoga. Since the happiness of the household depends on the woman (alas) it is beneficial for the woman to calm herself by spending time meditating while drawing the designs.

Why Cows Are Sacred (Maybe)

When asked, Stephan (our team leader), said that there was not really a reason why cows were sacred in India. However, he did say that there were three possible reasons:

1) Cows were made to be sacred, so should be revered.
2) The god Krishna liked cows, so we should like cows.
3) Children drink cow's milk after drinking their mother's milk, so we should respect cows.

Yes, cows do wander the streets, even those heavily trafficked. So far I haven't seen any flattened cows, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time. Actually, I'm expecting a flattened Global Volunteer any minute as we negotiate the crazy traffic. Presumeably, it would preferable to flatten a volunteer rather than a cow as I haven't heard any sacred volunteer stories.

Beginnings

After we rested yesterday, Joelle (our team member who has made two previous trips to India) took us to SEAM - the Southeast Asia Mission which cares for 37 children ages six through 16 years of age. These children are orphans, or have single parents or families who can no longer care for them. Our purpose was just to introduce ourselves to the children. We walked along noisy, crowded, and dirty streets to get there. I will have to say that Chennai is the dirtiest place I have ever visited. Dirt and garbage are everywhere and always underfoot. The people, however, seem very friendly - many smiling at us as we pass.

We were glad to finally find the SEAM building; Joelle had to ask directions along the way. At that point my foot was really hurting as my new shoes, which I thought I had broken in before coming on this trip, had rubbed a large blister on my heel. However, the smiles and greetings of the children made the walk worthwhile. They had been napping, but they didn't seem to mind waking up to come out and shake our hands, ask us our names, and give us their names in turn. Their smiles and laughter seemed genuine. After the initial introductions, we looked at their dormitories; the boys had one large room with bunk beds and the girls had another. The dormitories were provided by Global Volunteers. We were then escorted to the main room and were provided plastic chairs; the children sat in rows on the floor in front of us - the boys on one side and the girls on another. Once settled, they treated us to a song and then one by one formally introduced themselves and gave their name, age, and grade level. We then introduced ourselves. Someone in our group asked what careers the children were considering, so the older children told what they aspired to become. They sang two more songs, including the India national anthem and we sang "You Are My Sunshine" in return. Afterwards, we returned to the guest house, with the oldest boy escorting us back to show us the short cut.

We rested some more before dinner. Dinner consisted of a flat bread, curried cauliflower and curried chicken. After dinner, we talked briefly then went to bed early in order to get over our jet lag.

Today we woke up more refreshed and found out that two more team mates arrived while we were sleeping: Katie, who had missed her flight and came 24 hours later than she originally planned, and Jana, a nurse practitioner from Connecticut. We breakfasted on eggs and rice then began our team meetings to get our team assignments, establish our team goals, learn the "dos and don'ts" and to organize our free time. At least for the first week, I'm assigned to the construction project (building more dormitory buildings at SEAM) during the day and going to the St. Thomas Hospital in the evening. Other team members were assigned either the same assignments as mine or to teach at the various schools Global Volunteers supports.

The projects Global Volunteers supports in Chennai are:
1) SEAM
2) Assisi Ilam: A daycare and orphanage run by St. Thomas Hospital. Assisi cares for 35 children ages 2 years - 5 years in the daycare and 20 children ages 3 years to 16 years in the orphanage.
3) Grace School: A school for poor families that don't want to send their children to public school. Grace School has 80 children in kindergarten through 5th grade.
4) St. Joseph School: A Catholic school with 500 children in kindergarten through 10 grade.
5) St. Thomas Hospital: A private hospial. St. Thomas is not a free hospital, but does have reduced fees for the poor. A nursing school is also run by the hospital.
6) St. Joseph Social Service Center: A daycare and orphanage. We didn't get much information about this as we will not be sending anyone there this trip.

We had another great lunch: eggplant, briyani (curried rice), and a yogurt-onion sauce (to cool the palate). After we ate, Stephan (our team leader) treated us by going out and buying us ice cream.

Now we have free time before we make another visit to SEAM. After our visit to SEAM, Stephan is taking us out to an Indian restaurant for dinner. I think all of us are looking forward to starting our projects, but are also feeling a little trepidation. Challenging oneself is good for the soul...

Lazy, Sleepy Day in Chennai

Last night, we arrived at the airport and found a modern, brightly light, air conditioned building. Women in saris checked our passports. The luggage was slow in arriving, but arrive it did and getting through customs was easy. Walking out of customs was like walking down a runway, one side bordered by the building and one side bordered by a teeming mass of people, many of whom had signs with the names of the passengers they were to pick up. We easily found the "Global Voluteers" sign held my our team leader, Stephen. After gathering another volunteer who was on our flight, Nita, he escorted us to the parking lot to await the mini van which was to take us to the guesthouse.

Stepping away from the airport, we found ourselves in a teeming mix of people, motorcyles and cars. The modern airport gave way to the India dust and crowds. I was a little worried that if I lost sight of Stephen who was escorting us through the multitude, we would be lost forever. However, Stephen kept careful watch on us and we made it to the parking lot without losing a one of us.

The van finally arrived and we crammed our luggage in its tiny interior. My large duffel bag wouldn't fit, however, and Stephen threw it on top of the van. The van's roof did have a luggage rack, but I did wonder if my bag would arrive at the guest house as the van started to speed through the streets and I knew that my bag was not tied down. My duffel bag did arrive without any untoward incident.

First impressions of Chennai: crowded, dirty, noisy.

After arriving at the guest house, we found two other volunteers who had arrived before us: Joella and Laura, both from Minnesota. We sat and talked for awhile and soon Stephen went to pick up another voluntter. He soon came back with Hamish (please excuse my spelling) and we continued to talk for a time more. Another volunteer was due to arrive at 4:30am and Stephen was going to meet her at the airport later, expecting to get no sleep this night. Eventually we all drifted to our rooms to try to sleep, knowing that breakfast was scheduled at 9:00am in the morning.

This morning, we woke up to the noisy street noises of Chennai after having slept for a few hours under the mosquito netting draping our beds. After taking a cold shower (no hot water), we went down to the common room and had a breakfast of eggs (made like a thin frittata) and noodles (similar to Ramen noodles). The coffee was delicious, reminding me of chai tea, but using coffee as the base rather than tea.

After more talking, the group (which now included Nicky, who was the 4:30 arrival) decided to walk around the neighborhood. Narrow dirt streets, open gutters, motorcycles honking their horns, auto "rickshaws", women in saris, men with turban-like headresses, Hindu temples, trash, and yes, cows roaming freely. Did I mention it's hot?

We made it safely back to the guesthouse, fortunately not getting lost. When we talked to Stephen at lunch, he told stories of other teams getting lost in the windy, narrow, crowded streets. He then gave us his card with his phone number so that we could call him in the event we do lose our way. We also met Joan, another team member who arrived while we were taking a walk.

Conversation and rest before lunch. Lunch consisted of crispy, fried, thin bread, a shredded cabbage side dish, a curry dish served over rice, and some fried vegetable dish. Stephen showed us the proper way to eat with your hands. Always use your right hand only. Don't touch your hand to your mouth, using your thumb to push it over your lips and in. He explained its much better to eat with your hands as you can mix the food together better and get a better flavor as a result. I need practice. I ended up with curry dribbled in my lap.

We are now resting through the heat of the day. Stephen suggested we don't go outside from 12pm - 2pm. At 3:30pm, Joella, who has made the trip to India with Global Volunteers two times before, is going to take us to SEAMS, Southeast Asian Mission, which is either or school or orphanage where Global Volunteers is involved.

More later, need a siesta...

Safe arrival in India and more baggage

Friday morning before leaving our bed and breakfast in London, I discovered that my shampoo exploded in my suitcase. I had to wash out two pair of pants and the shower bag where the shampoo had been stored. Fortunately, I brought plenty of plastic bags so I could wrap all the wet items up before throwing them back into the suitcase in order to catch our cab to the airport.

At the airport, I had to recheck my bag. Claudia and I also wanted to get seat assignments together. However, the British Airways clerk had a difficult time understanding how to assign our seating so that we could sit next to each other. Claudia was able to look at the screen for her and show her where the open seats were located.

Our next mission was to get coffee and breakfast. After breakfast, we went window shopping before we found our gate. When the flight was ready to board, we had to board a bus which would take us out to our plane. However, when I presented my boarding pass before getting on the bus the gate agent found out that my pass had the wrong name on it. Further research proved that the wrong name was put on my bag. Eventually, the clerk straightened out my boarding pass and wrote a note in the computer stating the bag was really mine in case I had problems claiming it in India. Of course, I was the last person aboard the last bus.

The flight went smoothly and I had no problem claiming my misnamed bag. However, I'm now not sure if I'm tired or awake, hungry or full. I'm sure jet lag will be with me for a few days. Stephen, our program manager, met us at the airport and arranged our transportation to our guest house. More about our arrival later. Now, it is 3:30am India time and we have to be up at 9:00am for breakfast. The laptop I'm using is available for us volunteers at the guesthouse. Going to try to rest...

Baggage, trains, the underground, and Lebanese food in London

My travelmate, Claudia, and I arrived safely in London. Claudia's baggage, however, did not. We were told by British Airways that we had to pick up our baggage in London as they would not keep our baggage during our forced overnight stay. Both of us checked our luggage to London Heathrow airport, not to India. My bag arrived. When we went to check on Claudia's missing bags, we were told that they checked her bags through to India. The British Airways personnel in London had no idea why we were told that we had to pick up our bags in London or why Claudia's bags were checked through to India without her knowledge. One of the mysteries of travel.

We cleared customs in record time and caught a cab to our bed and breakfast without incident. The bed and breakfast is located near Heathrow airport. The bed and breakfast is in an older brick house in a working class neighborhood. The owner of the B&B, Dean, is a younger man who has been very wonderful. He arranged for our cab to the airport tomorrow, gave us detailed directions to get to downtown London, and is letting me use his personal laptop in my room tonight.

After splashing cold water on our faces after our 10 hour flight, we walked down to the train platform to catch the train into London proper. From the Waterloo train station, we then took the underground subway, or underground, to Picadilly Circus. We enjoyed just walking around taking in the sights. A red carpet was rolled out in front of a theater; apparently TV crews and a large crowd were waiting for Jennifer Aniston to show up for a movie premiere. We weren't that interested, so after hanging around for awhile, we went to get hot food and a warm place to sit. (The temperature was in the mid-30s.)

A little hole-in-the-wale Lebanese restaurant looked interesting, so we went inside and sipped hot mint tea and ate a chicken and rice dish. The Lebanese staff was very friendly. I did have to have them hold Claudia hostage while I found an ATM to get money to pay for our meal as they didn't take credit cards and we didn't convert enough money in the LA airport. The staff laughed when I told them to take Claudia hostage until I found the money to release her, and when I returned she was completely unharmed. (In fact, I'm not sure she knew she was even a hostage as she was busy texting her daughter.)

Hopefully, we'll get a few hours sleep before we have to get up to catch our flight to India tomorrow morning. We're thinking it will be another 10 hour flight. Our arrival time in India will be approximatey 1am; we're already planning to arrive at the guesthouse and fall immediately into bed.