Seeing, Hearing, Feeling, Reading.

Alright, it has been long enough. Here goes nothing!

The ride over:

Today was my third official day as an intern working at Woman In Need (WIN).  The first two times were hectic to say the least. The first time I got on the wrong train and the second time I didn't get on the train at all (3 hours of waiting later, I finally caught the one I needed). Today was the first day I had to navigate my way to Chengalpattu all by my lonesome; Luckily it was the most successful trip to date.

I was picked up at the station by Sarala, a girl who lives at WIN who just completed her masters in engineering. I was almost shocked when she showed up on a motorbike. I guess I was expecting a car... silly American. So I took a deep breath as I questioned my sanity and I jumped on. As soon as we got on the main road I was wishing I had taken an auto instead. We zoomed by cars, autos, people, stalls, cows, and trucks missing them by a few inches. I swear I brushed shoulders with one man who was standing in the middle of the road. I just about leaped off the bike when a huge truck was feverishly honking and heading straight into collision with us.
 (Parents: I hope you are still trusting my judgement after reading this.)
 After a couple of minutes I was able to physically and mentally let go. I felt so in tune with the bike and Sarala as we twisted and turned through the narrow village roads. I felt so free and exhilarated.

Working at the organization: 

Shanta, the founder of WIN, has high expectations as to what I am going to accomplish during my field placement. On a previous visit, she drafted a to do list for me to complete throughout the next couple of months. She wants me to teach an English class in the government school, conduct a program for the begging woman, run an addiction program for the village woman, talk to the villagers about issues of caste and woman's rights, conduct a leadership workshop for the adolescent girls, visit the jail, and do occupational therapy with the kids. Breate Becca, breathe; that is ALOT. Luckily in August I will be joined by two other first year social work students and have Renee to back me up. Renee is a volunteer from Holland who is working with Kikindia to raise funds for WIN and spend time with the children. For the time being I am at WIN to observe and figure out where I will fit best in the organization. Not all of those programs will be completed but hopefully I can knock off at least 3 things off that huge list.

To be honest, I have been dreaded writing this entry.  I have spent the last week struggling with my own thoughts on gender issues along with exploring the way woman are treated in this country. I feel like I am learning about these issues on 3 different dimensions. As a woman currently living in India, I have gained some insight on what it feels like to be oppressed. The majority of the literature I have been diving into is focused around these issues, not to mention articles I find in the news papers. I also see these injustices staring me in the face almost anywhere I go, especially at the WIN foundation. One issues taken in 3 different angles. It is definitely enough to make my head spin.

Me: As mentioned before a 6:30 curfew limits and restricts the females on this campus greatly. I am unable to participate in sports and there are limited clubs that I am able to join. Most of the "clubs" take place within the dorm and are focused on fashion or debate. I have a vast amount of interests and I wish they could be explored further. Although I do not have to abide by this curfew I find myself feeling guilty if I do not. I am here to be just another student and shouldn't have all of these special privileges.
(Even though some of these "privileges" I don't think I could live without... such as air conditioner.)


Read: While here it has been one of my goals to soak up as much as the culture as possible. I am on my second novel which I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in exploring the plight of woman in India. The book is called "May you be the mother of a thousand sons". The book is named after a Hindu prayer that is traditionally said during a bride's wedding.  The novel presents multiple perspectives on a woman's life in India and is extremely well written.

See: Sigh. This is the part I have been avoiding. How in the world can I find a simple way to explain?  I have seen a three year old girl be slapped by her grandfather in the mall and a teacher hit her students with a stick. These things are acceptable in India, hence why I have seen them. Most other things are lurking beneath the surface and shows itself in desecrate, yet telling ways.

Children:
Today I met the children who I will be teaching English to in a nearby school starting on Thursday. The students are in eight grade and each embraced the idea that the will be having English classes twice a week. I was thrilled to meet all of them and more than ready to accept my own challenge of teaching a class. However, soon after meeting them I learned that this government school stops at eight grade. After that, the children are sent to another school much further away. Half of these kids will drop out by the end of the year to become child laborers or be used as extra assistance to their mothers. When asked what their parents did every single child said "My father is a laborer and my mother is a housewife". I cannot bear the thought that this is what their life has in store for them. Most of the girls will live in a small village, marry young, be a housewife, and maybe get beaten by their husband. Not to even mention the little girls I have seen at the preschool. These girls are decked out in a fancy dress, bangles, anklets, flowers, etc. Yet they are filthy and have flies swarming around their faces. Shanta gave me the background on a couple of the girls; they are heart breaking to say the least. Considering their family life, I predict a grim future for that lot. It is unbelievably frustrating to see all of this and feel like there is nothing I can actually do. Yeah, I can teach these kid some English words and play with the preschoolers, but how much of a difference is that actually going to make. I'm going to spend time with them for a couple of months and than fly back to America to live my comfortable life while these people are left to rot. It just is not right.

Abuse:
The woman that live in the neighboring village of WIN are abused day in and day out. Most men have two wives and beat one in the morning and one in the evening. Alcohol is one of the main contributors, but I also blame the way that society views woman. This weekend (I was not there for this) a huge fight broke out within the village. Woman were beaten down and one man was stabbed. Peter (Shanta's husband) did his best to control the violence but there was only so much that he could do. Meanwhile, the children stood by and watched it all unfold with eager eyes. It seems like there is this never ending cycle where children learn at a young age how they should treat a woman.


The educated:
Yes, most of the village residents are uneducated and suffer addiction problems. However, I still see this inequality towards woman who hold a degree. For example, Renee, a volunteer from Holland, wanted to take the female college students out to have a "girls night". She was so excited to tell the girls about it but the responses she got from the girls were very unexpected. They told her that it sounded like fun but Peter had to come with them. When Renee asked why, they did not give her a straight answer. They told her that he just needed to and that it would be better that way.


If I continue writing about these issues I think I am going to scream. However, there is a social work conference here that is focusing on transnational issues. For one of my classes I have to do a poster presentation where I will be discussing the topic of domestic violence in India vs. the United States. Hopefully that will give me something to channel these emotions into. Now that I think about it I'm not sure if it is burning passion, anger, or confusion. I guess I will figure it out as time goes on.
All the best,
Becca

Mahabalipuram

This weekend we went on our first short excursion to Mahabalipuram, or as I like to call it Mahabs. Mahabs is about 40 miles south of Chennai and is a very popular tourist location. Mahabs is a world heritage site and served as a very popular seaport during the 7th and 10th centuries. The town is most famous for it's ancient rock-cut caves, temples made out of a single rock, and other works of art and architecture. Mahabs is referred to as an "open air" museum because of all of the brilliant stone carved art that you find around every corner in this town.

Before we arrived in Mahabs, we stopped at Dakshin Chitra, an art foundation. This place had a bunch of 18th century houses from all the different states of India. The foundation works to restore these houses to their former glory. Inside of the houses there was tons of paintings, sculptures, weavings, etc. (Unfortunately my camera died right as we got there so I didn't get many pictures). While we were there we saw a glass blowing demonstration. This man made this intricate Ganesha glass sculpture literally in 5 minutes... I was more than impressed.

Cartwheel at the Bay of Bengal

Upon our arrival in Mahabs, we quickly unpacked in the hotel and then went on a mission to find some lunch. We ended up at a restaurant along the beach that had phenomenal fish and mediocre prawns. After chowing down we decided to hit the beach. Going to the beach in India means something completely different than it does in the US. The beaches in South India have an extremely dangerous undertow and are heavily polluted. Plus, the majority of locals do not know how to swim anyways. So we went to the beach to walk around,dip our feet into the water, and take some pictures of course :) Inevitably, I got soaked. Lets be real... I was wearing a full length skirt and was not expecting to get my clothes wet?

After the beach it was time to hit the shops. Ooooo La La. I wanted to buy everything... in fact I almost did.

Krishna's Butterball

Next, it was time to head off to see the famous 7th century rock carving wonders with our own eyes. And let me tell you, these things were extraordinary! The level of detail was astonishing and the fact that the majority of these were carved out of a single rock was rather impressive. All of the carvings and temples were amazing but I think my favorite thing was Krishna's Butterball. Krishna's Butterball is this massive boulder that looks like it is going to pick up motion at any second. Thousands of people have tried to knock down this incredible rock and none have been successful. It is like a modern day sword in the stone. Okay, not really... but it is the closest analogy I can think of.

That night we went to a swanky hotel to have a welcome dinner with the other BCA Business group.  The food was amazing!! I was in Indian food paradise. The hotel had an infinity pool so we finally had a chance to swim and relax. We got to mingle with other BCAers and I found out that  20 of them were from Messiah, Etown's rival school... dun dun dun. It is funny how small the world is. Anyways, this business group had an insane schedule. They are taking a full schedule of classes while traveling to 12 countries in 3 months. They basically fly to a new place and hit the ground running. They each average around 3 hours of sleep a night and spend all of there free time studying. At first I was jealous, but I don't think I would like being so nomadic not to mention stressed all of the time.

Shore Temple

The next day we checked out the Shore Temple, a massive rock temple that overlooks the Bay of Bengal. As beautiful as this temple was, we learned that it is causing a lot of issues on the waterfront. Since the  temple is built on a peninsula, it is causing  an unequal sand distribution to the beaches to the left and right of it. On the right side, there is a sand build up with makes that beach very sandy and beautiful Unfortunately, this leaves  the left side in a horrible condition. The left side has huge drop offs, rocks, and an even stronger undertow. It was interesting to see the residents of each beach, and it was clear that the people on the beach to the left were much poorer than those on the right. Interrrrestting.

After the Shore Temple we went to the Crocodile Bank. We saw turtles, snakes, crocs, and alligators (OH MY!) I learned the difference between a crocodile and an alligator.... basically there is no difference in my mind. Still, it was a cool experience.

That night we headed to a different hotel to meet up with the BCA Business students yet again to see a traditional Indian dance performance. We learned some of the steps and jammed out to some Bollywood hits. Afterwords we were feed an "American Dinner", which was soup, pizza, bread, fruit, and mango ice cream.

Although it was a fun and exciting weekend there was 2 major things that were bothering me.

1. Being a Tourist. At Mahabs we were able to wear whatever we pleased so I wore a tank top with a long skirt (this was my one chance to get my shoulders tan). Even though this was acceptable attire, I felt so rude and completely disrespectful. I felt like I was being ignorant towards the culture and started to feel like I was taking steps backward in terms of my growth and development during this trip.

2. Saying No. Beggars were everywhere all over this town. It seemed like everyone wanted something from me and there was nothing that I could do about it. Gypsy's followed us everywhere and desperately tried to sell us their beads. Kristen caved, but I just had to keep saying no. A boy around 6 years old came up to us with his brother who must have been 3 years old and asked us for money. They both had pot bellys and were covered head to toe in dirt. I can't tell you how difficult it was to look them both in the eye and do nothing at all.

Being in India takes a huge emotional toll on me every single day. I feel like I am taking all of my emotions and pushing them down in order to survive here. I am sure that at some point they will come spilling out of me, but for now this method is what is getting me by.

xoxo,
Becca

Story Time

So much time has passed since I last wrote. I've been busy with meetings, classes, and social outings and just haven't found the time to be bloggin'.
Side note: I have been so busy. If you replace the word busy with lazy I think that you will have a better understanding of what I mean.


Here are the four major happenings that I have been itching to write about:


1. SOS Take Two

Laura & I went back to the SOS Children's Village to drop off a letter. Of course, this task would take a total of 5 minutes in America, but lets face it, this is India. The director sends someone to make us coffee as we wait for him to give us a receipt. Of course we receive the receipt much quicker than the coffee and are forced to wait for it (we were planning to make a quick stop at SOS). We sit outside on his porch and some of the children spot us. They are asking us all kinds of funny questions and start to jump rope, dance, and sing for our attention. I was spending some time with this one little girl who must of been about 8-10 years old. Keri (my OT childhood development professor) would be ashamed of my abilities to guess children's ages, but in India it is so much harder because some children are so much smaller than they should be. Anyways, I was talking to this girl for some time and mentioned to her that I had a headache. She looked at me and told me the following thing:

"When I was a baby I put the..... (I don't remember what the exact word was because it was in Tamil, but another boy told me the word= ayruvedic headache balm)....on my head and face. And then I put it alllllll over my body. When my momma saw me, she beat me real nicely. She beat me sooo good."

The whole time the girl was saying this she was smiling. After she said this, she starting laughing wildly and looked at me waiting for my response. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I stood there shocked with a blank face and didn't say anything. At first I was thinking that maybe she was making this story up, but her loony laugh had a layer of grief in it. I am hoping that this didn't happen at SOS, in fact I am almost certain that it couldn't of. Still- her story cut deep.


2. Crazy Street Lady

Laura & I were walking back from the market when two guys started talking to us. They asked us what we were studying because they were students themselves. The conversation was completely harmless. We parted ways with them and then one older woman approached us and said she overheard the conversation. She seemed very sweet and told us how great of a school MCC is and was glad to hear we were studying social work. Then things started to get a little weird. She asked me if I was a Christian. I said yes, because she had a condescending tone when she asked. She smiled, and than asked if I read the bible everyday. I told her that I didn't everyday because I am busy with my studies. She shook her head and told me that I must everyday. Then she starting going on a rant about how I wasn't wearing a cross. And then she looked at me disapprovingly and told me to cover up. I was beyond shocked and almost livid. First off- I was wearing long pants and a long sleeved cardigan..... Secondly, who is she to tell me what to do?! Yes, my body is a temple and I promise you that I was completely covered up when she spoke to me. I guess you find religious fanatics no matter where you are.


3. Freshers Audition

Martin Hall has this tradition where at the beginning of each school year the first year undergrads & postgrads have to show case their talents at something called the freshers audition. I say it is a bit cruel because it is mandatory for everyone to do something.... they will literally drag you up on the stage to perform. Showing up is not an option. We watched some amazing traditional dances and heard a lot of Hindi and Bollywood songs. Just at the last acts are going off the MC comes over to us and tells us that we have to perform. AHHH. We thought because of our foreign status we could get out of this one.... we were wrong. We marched on stage and belted out a verse from "Wannabee" by the Spice Girls. The lines were forgotten and I resorted to some gangsta hand movements. Lets just say it was not pretty... but embarrassing myself isn't anything new, so I had fun.

4. The Lake

There is a lake somewhere on this campus that I have been itching to find. Apparently it is really dried out now but will be overflowing by the time monsoon season is over. So yesterday Laura & I headed off into the general direction of this lake. We had no idea where we were going so we asked some girls standing nearby for directions. They told us that they didn't know how to get there because the lake is off limits to all woman. HOLD UP, NO LAKE?! Little injustices have begun to build up and it is starting to eat away at me. I guess in 1998 a female student was raped and murdered at said lake, hence the restriction. However, this was long before a giant wall was built around the campus with security guards surrounding the perimeter. So, if men can go to this lake there is no reason why woman can't. The funny thing is that this lake restriction rule doesn't even bother most students. Well, it certainly bothers me and I am going to find a way to see this lake.

Running list of injustices:
1. Female students must be back in their dorms by 6:30 pm, Men must be back by 10:30 pm
2. Female teachers must wear saris while male teachers can wear what they please
3. No lake access to female students
OH, and someone in Laura's class said that she thought it was okay for a father to beat his daughter. I am seriously appalled, yet I guess this experience is about getting cross-cultural perspectives.

OH! Also, today in class I learned that in India they determine someone as living below the poverty line by amount of kilo-calories consumed instead of income. Isn't that nuts?!

Well I'm exhausted from a day of feasting at the president's house with other student groups that are visiting. We had our first real down pour, let me tell you.... it was wonderful.

Much love,
Becca

WINNING

Do you remember the countless hours of college searching? It seemed as if every weekend was spent visiting schools and there was no end in sight. Just as you are feeling utterly hopeless, you visit one more school and the instant you step onto the campus you know that this is the place for you. Well, I finally had that moment at our last organization visit.

One of the many huts in the village

Yesterday we visited an organization called Woman In Need or WIN. The organization is located about an hour train ride away from MCC and is smack dab in the middle of a tiny village. WIN works with begging children and woman affected by violence and discrimination. They offer education to poor children, assistance to kids who want to attain higher education, empowerment programs, addiction programs, woman rights training, environment protection activities, and just about anything else you can think of.

The main building of the organization

The school that the local village children go to.

A small lake behind the village

To sum it up, this organization is phenomenal! If I choose to do my placement there (which I believe that I am) I can choose to teach English to the school children, conduct a self help group for woman, visit the woman in the villages to discuss issues of caste and woman rights, do a health training program, an addiction program, gender equality training, or a leadership course for woman. Also, I could do all of those things if I please. So, sign me up and lets get going!! The only problem is that this place is extremely difficult to find and far away. After an hour long train ride I will have to take an auto rickshaw and be able to navigate my way through this rural area. Gulp, I am a little overwhelmed with this thought. I am meeting with the social work department today to discuss field placement options and see if we can work out the logistics of this. If we get everything done quick enough I may be able to start my placement this Thursday! Wow, I'm starting to get a little nervous just thinking about it. I guess I am worried over the fact that there is only one other person at this organization that speaks English, (the program director). I don't know how often she will be around so I don't know how I am going to communicate with these woman and children. However, in a couple of weeks I will be joined with two first year students who will be able to translate for me.

Oh hey, me and some goats.

 
xoxo,
Becca

Birthday Adventures

Today I started my first two classes, or "papers" according to the Indian vernacular.  The first paper I had was Community Health with Priscilla Mam. In Indian culture instead of addressing your teachers as Dr. or Professor  you address them with their first or last name followed by mam or sir. Although my classes are taught in English, the student's accents were so thick that I swear they were mixing Tamil words within their sentences. Needless to say, classes will be more of a challenge than I thought. The second paper I went to is called International Social Work. This class was very small and my professor, Salomon Sir, used power point! It really helped seeing the words spelled out in front of me so I believe that this class will be much more manageable than the first.

A fruit stand in West Tambaram

The cow unphased by being run into

Pure love

After my classes were done for the day it was time to celebrate! Mercy, our friend from the hall, decided to take us out to West Tambaram to check out some of the shops and explore a bit. West Tambaram was a jumbled mess of colors, smells, dust, people, stray animals, and tons of bugs.  (Soooo, India in a nutshell?) We went into a store, ironically named New Jersey, where I bought a cool wrap around skirt. We weaved in and out of stalls and bartered with a man for a framed picture of Vishnu for awhile before walking away because we couldn't talk him down to a low enough price. As we were leaving the stall Mercy turned around and fell face first into a cow. YES A COW! It was one of the most ridiculous things I have ever witnessed and was something that would come straight out of a movie. She was so nonchalant about it, and shrugged her shoulders to move on with our walk. Of course, I was in hysterics because it is not every day that you trip and fall onto a cow in the middle of an extremely crowded market. I mean not every day thing in America, but here.... who even knows?! Soon after, we grew tired of the bugs (and the heat) and took a share auto out to Camp Road to partake in my first American meal since being here. It has felt like an eternity! So we went to get some good ole American comfort food, PIZZZA! Yeah pizza is Italian technically, but come on, I'm still considering it American. Anyways, It tasted like glorified microwave pizza, but it was the closest to home that we were going to get. Afterwards we crossed the street to a coffee shop in which chocolate cake was consumed along with strange coffee concoctions. The service was beyond terrible but well worth it to have something sweet. It was a fantastic way to spend my birthday & a lot more innocent of a way than if I was in the United States right now.

mmmmm, cake

Me & Mercy!

T h i n k i n g  o f  y o u  a l l  a l w a y s

xoxo,
Becca

Puhja & The Monkey Children

Me & Dibikah, This girl was one wild child!

Yesterday we visited an organization called International SOS. This organization takes children who are living in orphanages and gives them a home. They take in destitute women from the community to serve as a mother to about 10 children and they all live together in one house as a family. These families operate like any other family but do not have a father figure. Boys are allowed to be within the family. but must leave when they are 18. The woman can stay until they are 23 but than must be married off. (More on that topic later) This organization had no religious affiliation, but most families had offerings to Ganesha in their homes and all seemed to have strong Hindu roots. After learning about the organization and getting a tour, we had a chance to play with the kids. Let me tell you, these kids were a riot! They all wanted to race us, play games, and asked every question imaginable. As soon as they saw anyone with a camera they would go wild with delight asking us if they go take our pictures.

Puhjah (right) & one of her sisters posing for a picture with me

 I spent a lot of time with the girl pictured on the right named Puhja. Puhja is a remarkably intelligent 12 year old girl. Puhja spent the majority of the time teaching me things to say in Tamil and translated for me. On top of that, she gave me insight on what life is like for the children living here. She explained that she had been with SOS since 2008 and that life here is much better for her. She expressed how much she loved her sisters and you could truly see it in her face when she talked about them. Puhja demanded that I practiced my Tamil by going up to almost every child there and saying the following thing: "Vannakam, unkal peyar enna? Eppati palaiya ni?" That means, Hello, what is your name? How old are you? She also taught me "Nandri" or "Thank-you" along with "Cakatori" which means sister. I had a blast playing with her as well. When playing on the monkey bars, Puhja made a comment that really caught me off guard. She pointed to my arm and told me that she likes my skin very much. I looked at her in disbelief. After a couple of seconds of thinking about how I should respond, I told her that her skin is more beautiful than she will know and then jokingly asked her if we could trade. She cocked her head to the side and seemed confused at what I was saying. Finally, she cracked a smile. It was a blissful moment.

After playing for a bit the children invited us for a prayer. All the children, mothers, and volunteers gathered into a big meeting hall for the occasion. Everyone divided into their family groups and Puhja led me to sit right in the middle of 6 of her sisters. Suddenly, without any warning the crowd simultaneous fell silent. Then, almost effortlessly, the crowd let out a booming "oommm" followed by several others. The energy was so powerful in this place, it was electrifying and incredibly moving.

Soon after the prayer we had to say goodbye which I found myself protesting. I did not think that I wanted to do my field placement with kids.... but who knows? Isn't that what India is all about? Discovering a new side of yourself and being open to all possibilities. Who knows what the future holds!


Sending all my love always 
xoxo
- Becca

Krupa

Here are some pictures to our visit to Krupa. Krupa works with children of gypsys and leprosy patients, has a community college, teaches woman sewing, and works with prisoners.

A woman spinning her own thread that will go towards making a sari

So much fabric!

A man proudly showing off the sari that he just completed

A woman in the process of making a sari

PUPPIES!!! They were so cute, we wanted to kidnap these strays.

People of Chennai

Yesterday we got our first taste into the lives and stories of the people of Chennai. Went to some of the potential organizations where we will be able to do our field placement. The first one was located in a village area within Chennai called Family Life Institute (FLI). FLI is a facility that offers school for children K-5, health care, sewing classes, empowerment groups, and outreach. While we were there to learn about the organization we had the opportunity to play with the kids. We taught them how to play duck duck goose and had a blast running around with them.

The children at their daily assembly

Anu took some phenomenal pictures on my camera...... AND THEN I REALIZED THAT THE MEMORY STICK WAS NOT IN MY CAMERA & MY CABLE TO MY CAMERA IS AT HOME.

Woman learning to sew at the Family Life Institution

Sooo... I'll have to post those sometime in the future. For now the majority of the pictures from this post are from Laura's camera.

 Anyways, the second organization we visited was called Indian Community Welfare Organization (ICWO). They work with the LGBT community, AIDS/HIV prevention, and the homeless within Chennai. We listened to presentations on all of the outreach programs they have been doing and learned so much. This organization is so amazing. I am going to do a separate post on issues of homelessness in Chennai because there is so much to say, but I NEED to talk about transgenders in Chennai.

Being a transgender in Chennai is a very stigmatizing thing, just as a it is in the US. Something I found crazy interesting is what the term transgender means within the Indian context. To me, transgender means a male who identifies themselves as a female or a female who identifies themselves as a man. Apparently, the term transgender only refers to a male who believes they are a female. A female who wants to dress like a male or identifies with being a male is just a lesbian. The logic is incredibly frustrating. Being a transgender is much more acceptable in Indian culture compared to being a lesbian.

After talking with ICWO we had the opportunity to go with one of the transgenders to Marina Beach. Marina Beach is one of the longest beaches in the world and just so happens to be located in Chennai. Transgenders who work in the sex industry gather at this beach in order to pick up clients. We met up with a bunch of other transgenders and got to hear their stories about how they got into the industry.

Marina Beach

The one thing that blew my mind is the way that transgenders are treated. Yes, there is a huge stigma about being a transgender but there are HUGE contradictions. While talking to these transgenders, people would come up to them and pay them for a blessing. The transgenders would place their hands on each member of the families head and say a pray for them. WHAT!?

In Hinduism, there is a strong tradition that gods are considered to be both male and female. This would put transgenders at a "God like status" Yet, being a transgender is frowned upon? I'm not sure if I understand this culture at all. India is full of contradictions and this is one of the many examples.

Today was not nearly as thought provoking. Unless you consider spending hours at immigration as being fascinating. We did get to check out Express Avenue, the biggest mall in Chennai. Two more Kurtas were purchased along with some comfort foods. Pad Thai was consumed. It was a good day.

Tomorrow we will be touring another organization with about 15 other students from Florida. Then we will be hitting up immigration (yet again) to pick up some very important paper that we must guard with our lives. Apparently we cannot leave India without this paper. Knock on wood that I don't loose it.

Sending my love,
Becca

Whirlwind

I am officially a student! Yippee!

Today has been a whirlwind of information being thrown in my face, I am going into a system overdrive. Today we got our student id cards and filled out even more paper work. We had lunch at the canteen which is another place on campus to get food. They have a better variety than the mess hall (you don't get any choices at the mess) but you have to pay. We got food for the 4 of us for a little under $2. Next we met with the political science department (for Laura) and then the social work department. We sat and talked with professors and the head of the department for at least 2 hour discussing everything. We talked about each professors personal opinions regarding caste, class, poverty, gender roles, race, ragging (hazing), the environment, pollution, social systems, and the growing tensions in India over these issues along with issues regarding western influence and South vs. North India. They were all very open to talking and I was surprised to find that they shared almost all of the same views as I did. However, they considered themselves to be the 0.000001% of Indians who held those views. Oh yeah, and somewhere within all that we talked about our field placements and the classes we will be taking. Phew, my brain was, and certainty still is, working too hard trying to wrap my head around all of this.

Here are some things that I found notable and share worthy:

- I saw a little boy with powder all over his face. Apparently this is very popular, assumption is this is to make their skin look more fair. It is said to be good for your skin..... (Excuse? I don't really buy that)

- Cars in India blast music when they are backing up. It is awesome! I'm so thankful that they do this automatically because I would be dead right now if they didn't.

- There are words in Tamil for a woman who cannot have a child and a woman who does not live with their husband. However, there are no equivalent words for a man who cannot have a child or a man who does not live with their wife.

- Occupational Therapy in India is used strictly for jobs. The example I was given was that a teacher would go to OT if they had trouble with their throat because that is their main tool within their job. A police man would go if he was having trouble with his legs. I don't know how much I believe all of this, I am very skeptical. I will be sure to give updates regarding Indian views of OT.

-There is not such thing as a Speech Pathology. You just go to the doctors for that. Again, I am skeptical if this guy even knew what he was talking about. He does have some credit though because he is a college professor.

- There is no such thing as Geriatrics in India, only Pediatrics and everyone else that is treated. So weird.

Well, I need to choose my classes. I can only take two so currently I am choosing between International Social Work, Community Health, Health and Social Work, and Rural Community Development. They all sound fantastic and I wish I could take them all!

xoxo,

-Becca

Shopping, EEEEE!!

 Today we ventured to Chennai's oldest mall to do some shopping. The ride took us about an hour because traffic was insane. I mean, there was literally 4 cars packed together in a 2 lane space. I found myself holding my breath half the time because I was so afraid we were going to crash. Just to give you an idea of how packed the street is: If I wanted to, I could easily reach out and touch the face of the man in the vehicle next to me. So crazy.

I feel like I am learning so much in such a short period of time that there is no way that I could possibly even try to describe everything. So far politics have been really interesting to learn about along with caste / issues of gender. I'm sure that I will be learning tons more so I will post about that once I am a little bit more informed.

I need to keep a pen and paper with me next time because there were so many things that stood out that now have slipped my mind.

Anyways, I will try to list off some things that struck me / were highlights of today.

- I saw a little boy squatting and pooping in broad daylight. That was a shocker.

- All of the build boards are of Indian's who are very very white.

- We ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant, so much different than American Chinese food. It was a lot fresher and I actually had to add salt because it was lacking. Oh, also I ordered sweet and sour chicken and they warned me that it was really really sweet. It wasn't at all, but I guess for them that is something considered sweet.

- I was served chai while bartering for my two rings below. I wasn't sure if it was safe to drink but did so anyways hoping for the best. Later, Anu told me that it was perfectly fine but I have to be careful because sometimes they add extra things into them. She said that sometimes they sprinkle tobacco or hash into the tea to make there customers feel more relaxed.

- When a restaurant has items on there menu they will most likely not have that item.

- For a "dessert" after a meal they will give you sugar coated cumin or other sugar coated spices. So weird.

Here are some of the goods that I bought at the mall. I tried not to go overboard on our first shopping excursion but it was so hard not too. Next time I am going crazy on the skirts, those were priced around 150 rupees (a little less than $3). OH, also new dvds were a little less than $1 (I resisted the temptation).

Here are two rings that I bought. Jewellery is difficult here and is way over priced. I stayed in this store for over 45 minutes talking down the price. I just wanted the sun ring but I liked the flower one as well, those sale people are tricky. Originally the rings together were priced at 3,800 rupee (about $65). I got them for 1,700 which I thought was a reasonable price. The flower ring is made out of amber while the sun ring was a very nice silver. So I spent about $30, this was quite a splurge. The green and gold bag is what the man gave me to put the rings in. The art of bartering is so interesting. I really played up the fact that I was a college student and that the rings were not that great of quality (even though there are). Anyways, the man who was selling me the rings was named Con (sp?) I found this ironic because I was afraid he was going to con me (hah). The chai that he gave me was delicious. It was a basic chai (black tea?) with masala and milk. Apparently it is common for a chai tea of South India to be without the spices of what our American chai tea tastes like, adding the spices is very common in North India. Also, fun fact, people in  India do not really drink anything but chai. People who drink green tea are considered to have a lot more money than the common folk.

One of the first orders of business was to get a larger sized purse that will fit the many items that I will need to carry around.

THE BASICS YOUR MUST CARRY IN YOUR PURSE: Water bottle (the water bottles here come only in 2 liters, so they are HUGE), hand sanitizer, toilet paper, shall, money, and passport.

KURTAS!

However, the main point of the trip was to get Kurtas. A kurta is the main form of clothing that is worn by woman in India (besides the sari). Kurtas are long shirts that are worn above leggings and usually with a shall or scarf. MCC (Madras Christian College, aka the school here) requires that all students must wear traditional clothing while at field placements. Our field placement should start in about a week so we need to start stocking up in order to get ready. Each Kurta I bought cost 250 rupees and you can find them for around 150-400 rupees. There were some gorgeous and fancy ones for 600 rupees but I thought that it was best to start simple.

Fancy pic of the flower ring, I could not resist.

Well, it is late & we have to be up early tomorrow. Tomorrow we will be registering for classes and hopefully figuring out our schedules. No signs of sickness yet, I am so unbelievably grateful.

Sending my love,
-Becca

My Room

Here are some pictures I snapped this morning before heading out the door to do some shopping. There is another room too where Laura & Kristen are sleeping but the ac is broken in that room. Currently, we are all sleeping in here (hence the mattress on the floor)

Super bed!

That ac unit = a gift from god

Blue bucket = shower, orange bucket = laundry

My closet, imagine if I only brought this much to college!

Desk + laundry basket found in the closet (score)

Our kitchen area. Currently we have a toaster, hot water pot, peanut butter, jam, bread, bananas, & Indian cookies

Our saving grace.

Hanging rack along with supply closet with tons of useful stuff left over from past travelers

Much love,

-Becca