7/4/2012 Wednesday (It's the Fourth of July!!!)
- here, we celebrated Laura Lou's birthday instead. :)

So, we went shopping the first day, and had to buy two kurtas. I needed a bag, and the others did, too, so we got those as well.

That wasn't too bad, was it???








Our first stop Wednesday was the immigration office to register our student visas. It only took us an hour and a half to get through there, pretty quick for this task. We were expecting much longer... so we went out to celebrate.


               Here:

Okay, so this mall is called Express Avenue, notoriously known as the largest mall in Chennai, or one of the largest. It has 5 or more floors, and is extremely long and wide. Becca is going to the middle entrance; it was at least as long on the other side.

Oh, the first thing we did was have chocolate- Deluxe Chocolate Truffle cake- it was so good. It was Laura Lou's birthday! Chocolate overload. With it, I had my first coffee in India. Indians typically drink tea, so it was a lot of fun to have coffee. Afterwards I was so hot, but felt ready to go!

             Here are the clothes (and other things I bought) from this trip out: 

-Two kurtas, added to the existing two from Spencer's

-Two leggings

-One duparta (scarf) (Anu's, "modesty scarf")

The other items were purchased this same day, but in a different mall (Spencer's), the one we visited on Sunday. I went on a little bit of a spree...

However, I did figure out one thing. Okay, are you all sitting down for this? :) I admit it. I like to shop. I genuinely enjoy shopping here, bartering, buying things, trying things on, looking, everything. I'm sure you can't tell...

Except for the six hours... that was too much.

Watch out, malls!

Click for a look at this past week's weather. I'm sure some of you reading this can relate! Luckily, a lot of the time, we have a breeze which cuts down on the feeling of humidity. And there are so many trees on campus that give plenty of shade. In the city, it is hot though!

7/3/2012 Tuesday

We got to take an auto-share (larger auto-rickshaw) vehicle to the first site, FLI (Family Life Institute). Some of the things they are involved in are:

+ hosting their own, private school to the area children. The cool thing with that is it is available at a fraction of the cost other private schools are.
+ low-cost medical assistance to the area people, including gypsies
+ providing space to foster a self-help group
+ providing instruction at minimal cost, to local women for sewing clothes both for themselves and to sell to others

Once there, we got to interact with the children and walk in on some classes, and tour the buildings and area. The children we absolutely ecstatic to see us! They were ages preschool through grade 5 standard, and were learning English and Tamil. All the time, the older girls wanted to say our names, for us to speak to them in English. Finally, I asked to say something in Tamil, so they taught me. Oh, they just giggled about that!!! And then, they just wanted to play with us, or for us to play with them. So Becca, Laura Lou, and I taught them "Duck, Duck, Goose", which they absolutely ate up.

We had tea time and then at 11:30 or so, we left to go eat.

Next was our long drive to IWCO (Indian Community Welfare Organisation). This was our first, long introduction to the notorious, crazy Indian driver. Oh boy... he used the horn very liberally, spoke much Tamil to himself all the time, clicked the lights frequently at the other drivers, swerved everywhere, braked all the time, sped up, braked... Is this making you sick, yet?! Because we were all carsick by the time the day was done.

Anyways, we ended up here and had a whole presentation prepared for us, highlighting the different programs under IWCO.

- Link Workers scheme- area volunteers and paid workers, working in villages searching for sex workers. They go around to homes and educate people about protection and condoms, because they are very concerned about HIV/AIDS.
- Composite Intervention among gay men, Transgender, and female sex workers
- Urban Poor Homeless Initiatives in Chennai

A common theme of their programs is HIV/AIDS prevention and education, providing support to minority groups and their children, and for the homeless, working for them so they stand up for themselves and demand help from the government, because in India, there is a law that says all people should have shelter, or at least something to that effect.

Then, we were instructed to meet at the beach, to meet some LGBTQ people and look at their "cruising" sites. It took us over an hour to get there because of all the traffic. This was no ordinary trip to the beach, like you would typically find in the US. No, we were going to meet with the LGBT and recently Q community to talk with some transgender people. It sounds kind of weird, I know, in writing, but it was so cool! (I thought it was.) These particular people are ones who work with the organization IWCO (one of our field placement sites, if we choose to work with them). Yes, India has gay people too! 

Anyway, we drove to meet them on the beach at dusk, because that is when the khoti (meaning, cross-dressing men) go out. They all will sit around on the sidewalk/concrete walls around the roads to the beach, and at nightfall, walk along the beach, meeting up with other khoti, or meeting clients. IWCO has a support system for this, but they also do some HIV/AIDS prevention work with them- so the man (woman by night) we heard speak, set up an outlet (yellow box with information and condoms) so that people could access it.
She was part of a jamad (equivalent of 'honorary' family). The jamad supports each other and is comprised of several other khoti people. We met with some and were able to talk with them/ask questions- actually, they expected it! So, through this, we learned more about how they "came into it", and some struggles they've had. Anu translated for us.

At 9:00pm, we finally got to the restaurant, a Punjabi place (northern Indian). However, we were all so sick from the trip, and exhausted from the long day, that we just had a mild, not really spicy meal. I had tomato soup. :)

7/2/2012 Monday

Today was much different from yesterday... We had man meetings scheduled and got to walk around a full, busy campus!

First, right in the morning, we were able to meet the president of MCC.  Then, we met with the Dean of Students, making our students ID's! Also, ran into some of the faculty on the way through the buildings, and Anu would introduce us.

Next, we were supposed to figure out our class schedules. Laura Lou was first up, in the Political Science department. Hers worked our very nicely, and we were out quickly, in Indian terms...

Now, the Social Work department was a different story. All of us went in and got to get a general idea of classes, and also an idea of the field placement sites we'd get to choose to work at for the rest of the semester. I still haven't chosen. Don't worry, by tomorrow I will- I'm required to.

The reason this meeting lasted from 2:00 until 4:30 or so, is because we all got to talking, about Indian society and culture. Boy, did we get an education! I absolutely loved it, but the other girls were quite skeptical, even after coming out and discussing again later in the room. I think they'll begin to understand, once they've had a chance to mingle about the city... I know I already feel it sometimes.

Gender roles are quite different here from the US. It doesn't help that we are all pale white, too. Men and women stare, children stare, they all do. And really, they can't help it. But after awhile, it does just get tiring. It's certainly getting me to think about my actions, whether here or back home.

I'm not sad, though, about coming. Many experiences have been fun- shopping, hanging out with Anu, riding in all of the new transportation, even trying the food. It's just been quite overwhelming, everything exposed all at once. But, with each day, it's becoming more familiar!

Tomorrow, time to check out some field placement sites!

7/1/2012 Sunday

Up at 4:45am, 5:00, yay!! And we did go to bed at 8:15pm; Anu said we did very good!

It was much cooler today because it rained hard last night (maybe that's why we slept well? Or, maybe we were just worn out...)

Anu met us at 9:45am and we got a short introduction to India and things to expect or know before getting too ahead of ourselves. We started immigration papers, and gathered our things up to go on our first trip actually into the city: SHOPPING! (Upcoming post, Shopping Adventure- because it's an adventure in itself!) Anu took us to the oldest mall in Chennai, and possibly the oldest mall in all of India!

We needed kurtas (long shirts) and I needed a bag. Believe it or not, I was the first to purchase an item! It helps a lot to have the same size/ stature as other Indian women.

For lunch, we tried something new- Indian-Chinese cuisine.

The second kurta I bought took some charming. :) I think I caught this one boy's attention and he directed us to look into a certain store. There, someone else helped me find the blue one- but it was too expensive (Anu was advising all of us), about 400 rupee or so. The man lowered it and said he would "only" bring it to 350 rupee, but again, I wouldn't pay that price. So, we turned to leave, but the man knew I wanted it and was willing to pay something for it. So, he caught my attention and asked if I would name my own price. I looked right at Anu, away from him, decided on 250 rupee, and he thought a little bit, and took it! I was now the proud owner of a second kurta! Yay, I bartered! According to Anu later, bartering is common, and prices are intentionally set high. That way, if people don't barter, they make a lot of money, and if they do, they still make some, but the customer also benefits.

Finally, after 6- yes, SIX hours...- in the mall, we were done. Everyone found at least two kurtas and a bag.

Now that we were shopped out, we spent the next hour getting back through town. On the way back, Anu really craved ice cream or a chocolate milkshake, either one. However on the way, we saw many welcoming crowds lining the streets because the opposition's party leader or some important person from their group was going to be passing that way.

Finally, we found a sweet spot. We got in, made it upstairs to the air conditioned part, and sat down comfortably, ready to eat milkshakes. Anu and Laura Lou had already ordered theirs chocolate, and after some debate, Becca and I decided chocolate too. Minutes later, the mugs came.

6/30/2012 Saturday

Last night was so crazy late! We flew into Chennai right at 12:00am and had to go through customs. Luckily, they still had many people there working; however, it still took us about an hour to get through. Then, we waited another hour or so to pick up our checked bags. As we soon have come to realize, waiting and patience are very standard things here... We're still working on that. :)

Finally we got out of the airport, Anu (our program director) picked us up, and we arrived to MCC's campus at 2:00am. Once here, we got a brief introduction, including brief "tutorials" on bathing (buckets or showers), waking up, and upcoming schedule. However, we were so beat, that we just wanted to sleep. We all managed to get to sleep in the room with A/C, which felt so good.

We were all up by 7:50am, and Anu met us mid-morning to meet with our warden of Martin Hall, the place where we stay. She told us about campus, a little about daily life, and general housekeeping things.

Anu took us on a walking tour of campus. It was quiet because of the weekend (a Saturday). We got our first introduction into the "mess", where our food is served. Anu taught us to eat with our hands!!! I absolutely love doing that. Beware when I come home... :)

The afternoon we had free, so we kind of did some easing into the heat and humidity. I was feeling uneasy, my stomach was in the process of adjusting and balancing that with the food. By 5:00pm, I was ready to keep moving, thinking that would help my stomach feel better.

Anu came and got us, because we needed passport photos for our immigration card. This trip was by far the most challenging for me. Remember, this is only the first day we've been here, and we had 5 hours of sleep.

The campus of MCC is very quiet, wooded, with few cars, noise, or people, but immediately after leaving, we were in the middle of it all! Traffic, noise, people, dirt, everything- you name it, we were in the middle of it. Anu took us walking, literally, right beside traffic.

We walked a half mile or three-quarters of a mile like this, and then made it to the first grocery store, "Heritage." It has all of the basic food and supplies someone in college would need to survive- including a Ramen-like package!! We're set! ;)

I know it's the stereotypical thing to see, but we couldn't believe it when we saw a cow standing in the middle of the street, not to mention several stray dogs. Okay, so the dogs are everywhere... What was really hard the first couple of days was telling myself to refrain from interacting with them- they need love too!!! :) I was skeptical if they'd be mean, instead of friendly, but really they are very indifferent to people, traffic, cows, etc.

We were all so happy to finally get back to what we knew, eat a little, and go to sleep. It had been a huge day. Anu was smart and told us not to sleep at all during the day, saving it all for the nighttime to adjust from jet lag.

6/28/12

Hi!

Right now, I'm flying over Afghanistan- pretty crazy to think about, and it's 20:14 in Chennai. We hope to arrive a little before midnight.

My first flight lasted around 2 hours, a baby flight, I was quick to realize. Next, I flew to Frankfurt from D.C, and met one other member of the BCA group. We actually arrived half an hour early, after being in the air seven and a half hours. But wait, it gets better! On my second large flight, since noon today, I've officially been in the air eight-ish hours. 8?! Really?! Only two more to go!
What a pretty sunset, though. If I crane my neck around the sleeping people, I can see it behind us.

I have had great flight experience so far, minus the whole lack-of-sleep-thing. I think I've managed to sleep around one and a half hours to Frankfurt and hope to get three plus total here. It's pretty quiet, too, which is nice.

One of the things that has made the trip more enjoyable and the time pass more easily, are the people I get to talk to around me- yeah, Kristen talking... again?!

I met Jason, who works for the DoD (which I learned, is the Dept. of Defense) and he was going to Kuwait. Then, I sat next to a German professor and another girl ironically going to Chennai.

Lastly, I've shared sitting space with someone from Florida who is visiting Kerala (his home state, or sorts, or so I've gathered). He hasn't been able to sleep too well, like me, but he's snoring now! :)
He's been very helpful for me, telling me of some indian things I should know and simply making conversation.

There are many more adventures to come,
stop by when you can!

~Kristen