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