India

Tuesday I woke up at 7 to the smell of something very foreign, apparently India has a “smell.”We were still piloting into port and the smell had already seeped into the ship. I was on my way to breakfast and I wanted to see what temperature it was outside, so I opened a door and got a mouthful of India. I haven’t figured out the words to describe the smell. The air was so thick, too. So then I went to breakfast had my usual 3 egg croissant sandwiches and a bowl of cereal. Then we had a diplomatic briefing with two of the American embassy officials. They recommended places to go shopping, where to eat and sightsee. They also informed us on what to watch out for, what prices we should be paying for the rickshaws, and other important information. Right after that meeting I had an FDP (Faculty Directed Practica) in the same room with a man who ran a mining company here in India. When that was over I went to see what my friends were doing for the day. They all had plans, none of which involved walking around the city. So I walked around the halls and found my friend Drew who also had no one to walk around with, so off we went. (This was my first spontaneous plan of this whole trip, before I always had “a plan”) We walked off the ship and had no idea where to go or what to do. It was fantastic. So we just started walking, we walked about 1.5 km and then found all these rickshaws waiting for us. We got in one and just said take us somewhere. So we drove all around town and he gave a little tour and then dropped us off at a market. I found a lot of great stuff there for cheap. Drew and I spent the majority of our day in this market. We found a restaurant that was part of a hotel so we knew it was legitimate. This was quite the experience. We walked in and it seemed like everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at us. I felt a little intimidated at first. All the seats were full and one man gestured to go upstairs. So we did and when I opened the door all we saw were women so Drew thought it was like a bathroom or women only club. But I looked in more and it just so happened that they were waiting for a table as well. Again a man gestured to go upstairs to the third foor. So we walk up and sit on chairs in the waiting area. I looked around to observe what was going on so that when it was our turn to be seated I knew what to do. A waiter brought out banana leaves, one for each person. These leaves were huge! Bigger than a normal plate. Next they sprinkled water on the leaf to make it stay flat.. I think or maybe they were blessing it, I’m not really sure. Then a guy came upstairs and told us to come down again. So we go back to the second floor and get seated. We sat in a booth, side by side and then a young Indian couple sat across from us. I got really excited because I thought this would be a great opportunity to talk to the locals. So I said hello and they said hi in a manner as though they did not really want to talk to us. So the entire meal we did not talk to them. I don’t really know what the correct manner is, therefore Drew and I just concentrated on eating. Neither of us knew what anything meant on the menu so I just pointed to something. Our waiter came out with all these different spices and concoctions and put a little of each on our banana leaf. Next Drew got served chicken and white rice and I got this bowl of fried rice. My rice came with a spoon, which I was to use to spoon the rice onto my banana leaf. We used our hands to eat everything. It seemed counteractive to give me a bowl of rice and a spoon and then for me to take the rice out of the bowl and eat it with my hands. It was great! Oh we all know not to drink the tap water so I asked for bottled water and it took 3 men and 10 minutes for them to actually understand what I wanted. No one else in the restaurant was drinking while they were eating but my food was so spicy I couldn’t help myself. When we were full we had to fold over our leaf or else the waiter would keep bringing us food. We got the bill and a little bowl of white grain looking things. So Drew and I were like sweet! Mints. So we both ate a few and they tasted like licorice soap. Remember this part, it will come back up later in my day. After lunch we walked around the market some more and then went back to the ship. We had to shower real fast and then go to the Welcome Reception. This was at a hotel where we were greeted by university students. There was traditional dance, henna tattooing, Sari wrapping, and great Indian food. I met these two really nice Indian students who I talked to the whole time. I wanted to hangout more with my new friends but the female student had a curfew and was not allowed to stay out. She lived in a hostel near her university and the students had to be back at a certain time. We ended up going to a bar after the reception. Drinking in India is not very popular. We went to another hotel and the manager said the bar was not open so we just sat in the restaurant area and ordered a drink. Then the manager came back to us and told us to go upstairs. This is where the bar was, I guess he opened it just for us since we were American. It was me, two of my friends and the male Indian student. I have no idea how to spell his name. Then we just got a rickshaw back to the ship and called it a night.>One of my questions I asked during our time together was about those grains I had for lunch. They are actually meant for cleaning our fingers and to get a nice fragrance on them, not to eat. HA .I ate soap. Oh and the reason the Indian couple did not talk to us was because they did not speak English. Makes sense! Another thing I forgot. When I was in the market a woman came up to me and asked where I was from so I told her and she looked confused so I explained about Semester at Sea. Then she told me how her two daughters are studying in America. Her next question was whether or not I was Christian. This question came up many times during my time in India. It seems like their whole lives revolve around religion. This is one of the most culturally different aspects of India. Then she gave me her phone number and home address. I felt so honored. The Indian people are so welcoming, it’s a really warm feeling. Overall Chennai is a very safe city, or at least in the way of no one trying to pick pocket us or mug us. The market was a lot of fun, because there was not one single other SAS student there. For the first time I felt fully enveloped in a culture. Oh the “bathrooms”ha, oh man. Side note America does a lot of things weird. Two quick examples: every other country calls it “toilets”not bathrooms and they all drive on the left side of the road, as well as walk on the left. You know how in America you tend to walk on the right side when passing someone? Well everywhere else it is opposite. Back to my toilet story. It is basically a hole in the ground and there is a bucket of water next to you. That’s it. I actually brought toilet paper with me because I knew they did not use it but I did not think about where I would put it after I used it. And I did not want to fool around with the faucet because again the water is not safe. So I just decided to hold it.This is my attempt to describe the smell of India. Imagine the smell of curry, exhaust fumes, cow dung, incenses, body odor, rotten flowers, and more curry all mixed together. That is the best way I can portray the smell of India. Wednesday I woke up and had breakfast on the ship again and then met up with our male friend from the night before. We did some more shopping and then one of my friends had to be back on the ship by 1pm for a FDP. So we all came back to the ship and I jumped in the pool because I was so disgustingly gross from sweating and having all the soot/dust/pollution stick to me. Then I took a little nap because you all know shopping wears me out. Then another friend and me were going to go meet up with the female student from the night before and go to temples but on our walk to the rickshaw’s we started talking to another SAS student who also wanted to go to temples so we just teamed up and went on an adventure. We made it to one temple and then to St. Thomas church. They were both really cool. Then we walked around the streets and stuck out like a sore thumb. But whatever I thoroughly enjoy not being around a bunch of SAS students. Then we got back to the ship and jumped in the pool again, then had dinner. After that we went to Moca which is a hip and happening “café.”It was really sweet. It was an outside restaurant/hookah bar. I had a snickers bar milk shake. Non of us were really hungry because we had already eaten on the ship so I guess that saved us a few rupees. On the way there I drove the rickshaw!!! Only 3 people can fit in the back seat and it was 4 of us so I volunteered to sit in the front and I got to drive!!! It was super cool. I don’t think any other SASer will be able to say they have done that. Well that’s one thing I can check off my list. Then we came back to the ship because there is no where to really go at night and so we watched Billy Madison.Let me just tell you, I am the queen of bargaining. I owe this quality to my mother, I learned from the best. It just comes so natural. I am always in charge of making a price for the rickshaws. They try really hard to rip us off but then they realize who they are dealing with. I am no dummy. Haha we were in some shop today and I bought a piece of jewelry for half of what they were asking for and then a friend wanted to buy a ring and so I tried to help her get a lower price and the guy shooshed me! He said “you stay quiet and let me do my job”it was hilarious.Thursday I slept in, had lunch on the ship and then went on my overnight village stay. It was a two and a half hour bus ride which I enjoyed because the whole way we kept passing all these villages and markets. There is so much life in India. Yea it’s super over crowded and polluted but everyone is so happy. Chennai makes the most crowded city in the states seem vacant. We arrived at our sleeping quarters around 3:30 and had tea with the women who runs the RIDE organization. The Rural Institute for Development Education was started in 1984 to help disadvantaged residents of rural Tamil Nadu to improve the quality of their lives. They do this by educating the children and providing loans for the women of the villages. After tea we went to one of the schools and got to play with the children for a few hours. Some of the children performed a dance for us and then it was our turn to perform for them. We did “I’m a little teapot.”Then I took 5 of the kids outside and played ring-around-the-rosy and played a little Frisbee. It was heart breaking watching them leave; I just wanted to take them all back with me. Dinner at the sleeping grounds was really good. I can not spell any of the foods so I will not even attempt. I need to remember to bring a notepad with me for now on. The electricity usually shuts off at 9 but I assume they turned the generators on for us. It was a group of 20 SAS kids, 18 were girls. We played card games until everyone got tired, which ended up being around 9:30. I slept in a room that had 4 beds. One bed was taken by this German lady who was volunteering there for 2 weeks. She bought a bunch of library books and was in the process of organizing them and figuring out a way in which no one would steal them. Anyway, it was her, 2 other SAS girls and me in a room. The beds were just wooden boards, no cushion but I brought a sleeping bag. The room had no air conditioning and the fan did not work because the owner turned off the electricity. We had the windows open but the mosquito’s still got through the screen. So between the German lady snoring, the mosquito’s biting my feet, not being able to get in my sleeping bag because it was too hot, and dripping sweat down my back and face, I did not get much sleep. We got up at 7 had a quick breakfast and then took a bus ride to another village. We got to go inside the small shacks and see how the poor, rural Indian people lived. This whole visit seemed so surreal, like the people were just acting to put a good show on for the Americans. It is a hard concept to understand that there are still so many people in this world who do not know if they will have a roof over their heads tomorrow or food in their bellies. There is so much garbage everywhere in India. I asked one of the women in charge of RIDE why the government does not hire people to clean up the streets. She simply responded “and then where would they put it?”I guess I had never really thought about that. It is really hard for me to just accept their way of life and for me not to do anything about it. I wish I had more power and could help all of the people in the village. We also got to go to a silk shop and see how they weave the silk Sari’s. It’s a really intense process and hard to explain. We left the village around 3:30 and got back to the ship at 6:15. That night I watched Juno.Saturday I went out shopping again and basically bought out India. I got a rug that was $390 but I haggled it for $200, a emerald ring that was $69 but I got it for $40, a beautiful small chest, a plate, 12 scarf’s, 2 wall hangings, and 2 shirts. On the way home we got stuck in a rally. My rickshaw driver said it was a political leader who was visiting and giving a speech but later someone told me that they heard it was a celebrity from the Bollywood movies, so I am not sure who it was. Anyway I had planned on being back on the ship at 3 so we left the last shop at 2:30 thinking 30 minutes would be plenty of time. Well we did not get to the ship until 4:30. I was a little worried because on ship time was 6 and a lot of Taj trips were coming back at that time which meant a really long line before actually getting on the ship. Luckily there was no line and got on without any problems.I am really glad I got to go to India, it was a great experience but I do not think I want to come back. The culture and people were great but I can’t handle the air pollutions, the garbage everywhere, the heat and having to dress conservatively, wearing pants, closed toed shoes, and a big t-shirt, and the over crowdedness. It seemed like there was no place to get away, people are everywhere! I would like to come back and volunteer at the RIDE organization ,but I would not come back for a vacation .Malaysia in three days!