The Trip of a Lifetime

Hey, friends!  I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've posted.  Time seems to always be slipping through my fingers here.  I can't tell you how many times I've wished I could hit the pause button and have some more time here.

Last week, I went on the most insanely incredible vacation in the world.  I signed up to go with Session 2 to New Delhi and Agra.  Rising Star is in southern India, and all of our weekend trips are within a few hours of our campus, so I was so excited to go experience Northern India.  Let me tell you, it was absolutely incredible.

We set out at 3:00 a.m. to go to the Chennai airport and catch our 7:00 a.m. flight to Delhi.  The bus ride to Chennai was pretty mundane as we all tried to sleep a little more.  We soon rediscovered how impossible it is to sleep while driving in India.  The constant horns blaring and car swerving make for quite a bit of restlessness. Finally we arrived at the airport and boarded our flight.

When we arrived in Delhi, it was lightly raining and I was hit by this feeling of how ridiculously incredible my life was.  That feeling lasted me throughout the entire trip.  We met up with our tour guides at the airport.  Let me take a moment and attempt to explain to you how amazing they are.  We went with a company called Abish Travels.  It is run by a man named Benson and his friend, Ramesh.  They are seriously now some of my favorite people.  The entire trip was organzied to a T because of these two.  It was so wonderful to have absolutely no worries about how to get places, how to negotiate fair prices, and where to go while in northern India.  My gratitude for Benson and Ramesh is abundant.  Seriously, if you are ever in south western Asia, try to book your trip with Abish Travels, they are amazing.

Anyways, so we all jumped onto our giant tour bus and started driving around the city as Ramesh began telling us the history of the city and of the different buildings we passed.

 I was so stunned by how different Delhi was than any of the places I had been in Tamil Nadu.  It was so much cleaner and more developed.  In parts of the city, I got the feeling that I was in New York instead of India.  However, soon we jumped over to Old Delhi and things got crazy.

A rickshaw ride through Old Delhi had been arranged for us, so we all hopped out of the bus and into rickshaws.

This was one of my favorite things.  I have never seen anything like the streets of Old Delhi.  They were these tiny, narrow streets packed with people. Overhead, there were vicious tangles of electrical wires and monkeys climbing on the buildings.

Teeny little shops were selling everything imaginable, including some of the most spectacular fabrics I've ever seen in my life.  The streets were so packed, I was literally brushing shoulders with people or motorcyclists as they passed by.

We stopped briefly at an incredible little spice market and learned about some of the Indian spices and spice mixtures commonly used for cooking.  I loved seeing this very raw, basic part of Indian life.

Afterwards, we hopped back in the rickshaws and were taken back to the bus to go eat dinner and begin the 8 hour bus ride to Agra.

There was a big festival taking place the next morning throughout India, so the streets were jam-packed and the drive took a few hours longer than normal.  I sat with Benson for most of the bus ride and listened to stories about his life, his kids, and his goals.  I was so humbled and inspired by him and his thoughts about the world, the church, and India.  After several hours of driving, we stopped at McDonalds for dinner.  Let me tell you, I have never had chicken nuggets that tasted so good in my entire life.

Finally, we arrived at our hotel.  Our five star hotel.  I thought I had just walked into a palace.

After I was able to overcome the initial shock of how beautiful the hotel was, I headed off for my room.

I made a beeline for the shower because I was so excited to have a real shower.  I was excited to the point of fainting.  After a long, luxurious shower, I settled down into my beautiful, deep, soft bed and slept like a dead person.

The next morning, we ate breakfast and headed out for the Taj Mahal.  The Taj Mahal!  I don't know how many of you have seen the SNL skit with Kristin Wiig where she is overly excited about the surprise party, but that's how I was.  For real.  I was so FREAKING excited!

When we got to the Taj, we stood outside the gigantic, beautiful gate and listened to Ramesh tell us a bit about the building.  I was so fascinated with all the stories he told us throughout the day.  He seriously knows everything, and I loved every second of it.

Finally, we walked through the intricately carved arch at the gate, and the majesty and beauty of the Taj Mahal swept me off my feet.

Ramesh said that when Bill Clinton first saw the Taj, he said that there are two kinds of people in the world, those who've seen the Taj Mahal and those who have not.  I was awestruck as I stood and contemplated all the things in my life that led me to be in India, standing in front of the Taj Mahal.  I was overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude and love as I stared at the beautiful monument and symbol of a man's love for his wife.

We spent hours exploring the Taj and its grounds.  I was obsessed with hearing Ramesh tell stories about the building of the Taj and all the details that went into its design and construction.  The Taj was built by the emperor of India after his wife passed away during childbirth.  He had several wives and concubines, but this particular one was the only one he had married for love.  When she died, he ordered for the Taj Mahal to be built as a tribute to her and as a resting place for her body.  The entire building is covered in the highest quality white marble.  It is covered in intricate floral designs and carving.  However, not one stitch of paint was used on the building.  All the floral designs are precious stones that have been hand-cut and hand-embedded into the white marble.  The idea that this all happened hundreds of years ago with no power tools is purely astonishing.

The entire time, as we took photos in front of the Taj, we were surrounded by groups of Indians watching and photographing us.  We were a big spectacle the whole time, but it was so incredible that we couldn't care.

After hours of ridiculously excited, awestruck exploration of the Taj Mahal, we hopped back into a bus and headed off to a marble shop where we got to watch as workers inlaid precious stones into marble in the exact same way that the builders of the Taj did.  It was fascinating and I may or may not have fallen madly in love with this incredible table.

After the marble shop, we headed out to the Agra Fort, which I will talk about in my next post.

So Comedy

Today I wanted to do a quick post about some of the crazy, wonderful, hilarious things these 230 beautiful kiddos say to me in their adorable little accents on a daily basis.

1.  "It so comedy."  This is one of my very favorites.  They say this whenever they think something is funny. They will tell you a story or describe a movie they've seen and follow it up with "It was so comedy."  I love it.

2.  "I take and come."  They will say this whenever they are going to go bring you something.  I hear this about ten-thousand times on Fridays when their weekly reading sheet is due. They will come talk to me and say, "My paper is in hostel.  I take and come."  It can also be used when they want you to go get something for them, "Auntie, I need marker.  You take and come."

3. "Auntie, doubt."  This phrase has begun to weave itself into my dreams now because I hear it so much.  This basically means they have a question.  In math class, you will see a kid raise their hand and shout, "Auntie, doubt!"  It's pretty adorable.

4. "I'm doing my duty." They call their chores "duties".  Whenever their housemother tells them to do something, they will tell us they have to do their duty.  I wish you could hear their cute little accents when they say it, it makes it so much better.

5. "Why you no come!?" This is usually said with a little grumpy face as they march up to you.  Luckily, I've only heard this one a few times in my summer here.  They use it when you don't do something they want you to and they want answers.

6. "Super!" This is the general positive remark around here.  And by here, I don't just mean Rising Star, I mean India.  Everything is super.  Whenever they like things, they tell you it's super.  Even the tiniest ones know that the best compliment you can give is super.

7. "Auntie!" This is the word I hear the most around here.  The kids yell this out when they see you, when they want you to come stand or sit by them, when they want you to play with them, basically no matter what they want.  They call all the female volunteers and housemothers Auntie.  It makes me ridiculously happy to hear it shouted out on the playground or outside of the school.

8. "Grandma" This is what they call any volunteer who appears to be over the age of 40.  Also, they call some of us Grandma when they're trying to be funny.

9. "When you go to America?"  This is one of the first things the kids ask you when they meet you, and is a question that is repeated often.  They are always trying to gauge how much time they have left with you.  They love volunteers.

10. "Yen, Yem, Yeggs, Yamen" Indians put a 'y' sound at the beginning of words that start with a vowel. The kids say their "Yay, B, C's". The letter 'N' becomes "Yen". 'M' becomes "Yem."  Eggs are "Yeggs", and "Amen" is "Yamen".  It is one of my favorite things.

11.  "This boy" or "This girl" This is what the kids say when they are talking about one of the other kids.  Two boys will come up to you and one will point to the other and say something like, "This boy is my friend."

12. "Clash!"  The boys are obsessed with wrestling.  They have WWE cards which they use to play a game they created.  The game is similar to the game kids play with Pokemon cards.  They each pick a card and battle.  The cards have the rank of the wrestler, the size of his bicep, the size of his chest, his weight, etc. So one of them will pick a category that they think their wrestler excels in (if they think he has the bigger bicep, they will choose bicep).  Then he yells it out and follows it with the word clash.  So on the playground, you always hear things like, "Bicep 32, Clash!"  or "Weight 200, Clash!"  It is ridiculously adorable.

13. "What is your bicep?"  Their WWE obsession makes them curious about what everyone's bicep measurements are.  They always run up to volunteers and ask them what their bicep is.

14.  "I tell to him." The word 'tell' is used for anything involving speaking.  Instead of saying "I said.." or "I will say..", they say "I tell..."  When you ask them who said they could do something, they say, "My housemother tell." or "One volunteer tell."

15. "You give one paper" This happens when they need a piece of paper in class.  They raise their hand and say, "You give one paper."  Also, they pronounce paper with a short 'a' sound, like in candy.

16. "What is my name?"  They are constantly quizzing volunteers on their names.  This becomes quite the challenge when there are 230 of them and they have names like Veralekshmi, Vijaybalaji, Amirthavasan, and Ambarasu. There is also a kid named Marutharajamannikkam.  Not kidding, that's his name.

17. "This boy is beating me." The constant shout on the playground. If they receive any sort of hit or shove from one of the other kids, they run over and say, "This boy (or girl) is beating me."

18. "Auntie, photo!"  They love cameras.  Love.  If they see you with a camera, they swarm you and try to shove each other out of the way as they yell, "Auntie, photo!"  It's chaos, but also kind of hilarious.

19. "I want to go to there."  Whenever they read a story that takes place somewhere cool or they watch a movie, they will say this.  For some reason that extra 'to' in there makes it so much cuter.  The volunteers have all adopted this one as well.  When it's hot and we think about the pool in Mamallapuram, we say, "I want to go to there."

20. "You know my sponsor?" These kiddos sure do love their sponsors. Whenever they find out you are from the same place as their sponsor, they will inevitably ask you if you know their sponsor.  They will then launch into a story about who their sponsor is, what their sponsor likes to do, the names of the sponsors family members and pets, and any other little facts they can think of.  Seriously, they love their sponsors.  If any of you want to sponsor one of the kids, let me know.  You'll get yourself a little best friend for the rest of your life.

I love these kids. I love Rising Star.  This place is so incredible and I cannot believe my time here is winding down.  I hope you all know how much I love you and how grateful I am to have the family and friends that I have.  

Lately

Life for the past week and a half has been as crazy as ever.  Every day, I fall more in love with India and with these kiddos.  I feel the time slipping swiftly through my fingers as I try to slow down this last month and a half here.  I'm so ridiculously behind in blogging, so I'm just going to touch on some of the important parts of the past little while.

1. Last weekend, we didn't have any short-term volunteers here, so we went up to Chennai to a snake farm. It turned out to be more like a reptile zoo, and was actually more fun than I was anticipating.  We saw snakes, crocodiles, lizards, frogs, and turtles.

One of my favorite parts was when we were walking by a turtle cage and one little turtle was trying to crawl up on these bricks.  We got a little too emotionally involved in his struggle, and you can watch a video of the little scene we caused here.

After the snake farm, we went to a place called T. Nagar to shop.  We went on a hunt to buy a sari and we all ended up getting some.  T. Nagar was absolutely insane.  It was packed and completely crazy.

We finished up the day with some insanely good American and Mexican food and went back home to our little slice of heaven at Rising Star.

2. Classes this week went really well. I had the kids do a lot of journal writing.  Then, I would edit their writing, they would re-write it, and then they would draw a picture.  I loved all the pictures I got.

3. The fourth of July.  It was so fun to celebrate it in India.  All the kids and Indian staff members kept coming to shake my hand and say, "Happy Independence Day."  We planned a little party for the volunteers, and 7 kids bought tickets to come from the star store.

It was some good times with our wonderfully improvised decorations,

our really, really, ridiculously good looking children,

and our epic ice cream fight.

4. Going to the wedding of one of the Rising Star nurses.  She invited us about a month ago, and we were all so excited.  We all bought saris to wear and got fancied up. We actually did our hair and topped it off with fresh jasmine.

The wedding was a Christian wedding, so it wasn't the full on craziness of a Hindu wedding, but it was still very different than American weddings.

The Virgin Mary in a sari

We definitely stuck out like a sore thumb.  Everyone was staring at us throughout the night and kept coming up to ask us to take pictures.  We went up to congratulate the bride and groom at the party afterwards and took pictures with them. People started clapping when we smiled to have our picture taken.  This is where we ate dinner at the reception.

It was definitely a cultural experience and was so fun to see.  I ended the night feeling grateful that we don't have to wear saris everyday.  They are not comfortable, my friends.

5.  The kids.  I love these kids.  They are the reason I go to bed with a smile every night.  They are the reason I wake up in India every morning.  They are the topic of 90% of our discussions around here.  They are incredible, resilient, loving, energetic, and so stinking cute.  Just look at these faces.

I am in heaven here.  I keep saying that I would never leave here if my family were here.  This place is amazing.  

Moot

Last Friday, I was able to go on a little excursion off campus with the medical team.  This is a very rare occurrence for me since, as a teacher, I am always required on campus during the week.  However, I was so grateful to be able to go to another colony and participate in the medical work that is continuously going on at Rising Star.

We headed out at about 9 am for Moot leprosy colony.  The drive wasn't too long, only about an hour.  I love looking out the windows here and it was so fun to experience another little section of Tamil Nadu (the state where we live in India). When we got to Moot, we hopped out of the car and set up all the medical stations.

As we started setting up, the residents of the colony started coming out of their little homes.  There are only about 7 people left in Moot colony, all of whom are elderly, but they are the sweetest people in the world.  The first man who greeted us is named Jayaraj and, let me tell you, he is a character.  He came out and started singing and dancing with us.  He has a huge, boisterous laugh that never fails to make people smile and laugh with him.  He has so much energy and enthusiasm and instantly loves everyone.

We finished setting up the medical stations and began treating patients.  Basically, the process goes like this:

First, the patient goes and sits down with the doctor for a few minutes.  She does a really quick verbal assessment and a little bit of charting.  They then head over to the first station where a volunteer washes their feet.  Leprosy causes extreme nerve damage which often leaves people with no sensation in their hands and feet.  This loss of sensation makes it easy for people to get huge infected ulcers on their feet because they injure themselves, don't realize it, and continue walking around on an open wound.  Feet washing is essential to get the ulcers cleaned out and to loosen up dead skin around the ulcers.

They then head to the next station where they get oil rubbed on their feet.  This helps to soften the skin before they head to the next station, where the dead and infected skin around the ulcer is carefully cut off.  After their ulcer is cleaned and the infected skin is removed, their feet are bandaged and the patient is sent to the next station to get any medication they may require.  They then go to the last station where they get two medicated eye drops in each eye to help combat infection and cataract development.

After we finished up with the last patient, we got some time to sit and talk with the people.  We also had some quality dance party time.

Let me introduce you to a few of the people I met today.

This is Saroja.  She is easily one of the most beautiful people I have ever met.  She was sitting by herself for a while, so I decided to go sit by her.  She looked over at me, and I said vanakkam and grabbed her hand.  She placed her other and on top of mine and gave me the sweetest smile.  We sat for a while both just smiling and trying to communicate as much as we could.  I don't speak Tamil and she doesn't speak English, yet somehow, we were able to connect and communicate what we were feeling.  At one point, I pointed to her Bindi and told her it was super. She held up one hand to signal for me to wait, then she got up and hobbled into her house. It was so humbling to see her try to walk. She doesn't have any toes left, so she leans over and does a kind of hop/crawl with one hand and one foot.  When she returned, she had a package of Bindis in her hand.  She took one out and placed it on my forehead.  She then touched my face, motioned with her hand toward heaven, and put her hands over her heart.  It was such a beautiful moment for me.  I was so humbled that this incredible woman, who has next to nothing, gave me one of her few possessions with no questions asked.  We had just met each other, yet I felt her love and gratitude so strongly as she tried to communicate her thanks to God.

I know a little of Saroja's story.  She is married to another resident of Moot, Krishna. She and her husband both contracted leprosy and were severely disfigured by the effects of the disease.

Krishna scoots around on a little scooter. He has very few toes and fingers left and can't walk easily.  He and Saroja and a pretty unhappy and abusive marriage. Saroja now refuses to live in the same house as Krishna, yet she still makes his meals everyday and takes it over to him.  This is the kind of person she is.  She is so loving and amazing.  She also takes part of her meager weekly supply of rice and grinds it up to feed the birds.  She says the birds are her friends and she painstakingly gathers a dish of water for them everyday, as well.  She is such an example of Christ-like love and generosity, despite her incomprehensibly difficult life.

These are two more men from the colony.  I wish I could remember their names, but I can't.  They were also so happy and showed so much gratitude for us.

Then, of course, there is Jayaraj and his wife, who I think is named Mary.  She doesn't have leprosy, but she gave up her financial, physical, and social comforts to stay with her husband when he was sent to the colony. Oftentimes, spouses separate if one contracts leprosy, but I deeply admire Mary for having the courage to move with her husband in his time of need.  They both contribute this astonishing sense of life and joy to the outcast little group of people.

After our dance party, we said our goodbyes and got on the bus to go home.  As we were driving away, I was looking out at these wonderful people.  They were all lined up, smiling, and waving at us as we left.  I was so struck by their resilience and spirits.  They are the truest proof that happiness is a choice. These people are in the middle of nowhere, living in dirty little huts, and are happy.  They have lost everything they ever knew.  They lost their jobs, their friends, their families, their fingers, their toes, their limbs....absolutely everything.  Yet, despite all that, they smile.  They sing and dance.  They give rice to birds and bindis to strangers.  They silently praise and give thanks to God.  They instantly love, welcome, and open their homes to volunteers who come from far more fortunate circumstances.

I feel deeply indebted to the people of Moot. They taught me so many lessons in such a short amount of time.  I will never forget Saroja's smile or Jayaraj's dancing.

I love all of you and I miss you.  Thank you to my amazing family for all the love and support.