Wednesday, January 19, 2011

This morning we visited the St. George Museum in Chennai. It was full of great artifacts, paintings, and my personal favorite... musky, old, museum smell. :) After the museum we wandered over to an Armenian Church, where we got to explore, take pictures, and climb the bell tower. In between the museum and the church we visited the local shopping center to get goodies for family and friends, and also had lunch... samosas with our favorite sweet/sour sauce!


After visiting the Armenian Church we all headed out to the Beach! It was packed, primarily due to the Pongal Festival. Police patrolled the beaches, ensuring that all women remained fully clothed, and that only small children could wear swimsuits. The trip to the beach was definitely an experience. I felt like we were at the circus, and WE were the main attraction. People were trying to take pictures of us, with us, and when we were tired of taking pictures there were always the people that would run ahead of us to steal a picture of the 8 American girls dressed like the native Indians spending the afternoon at the beach. It was still a wonderful trip.. the beach was beautiful and the people were as colorful as ever.

When we had all had enough of the sandy beach, we met back up with our loyal driver Albert and went to St. Thomas Cathedral in downtown Chennai. After walking through the beautiful church we were able to go beneath the church, where St. Thomas's remains are entombed. Seeing his tomb was amazing, and as I looked up from where I was standing, there was a picture of the Pope, standing directly where I was. Now Ive never been a super religious person, I tend to keep my beliefs and faith to myself, but standing at the remains of "doubting" Thomas really moved me..

Finding our Sari's

Today was primarily a shopping day. We spent the majority of the morning hunting for the perfect Sari. For those of you who aren't up to date with Indian culture, the Sari is the traditional dress that the Indian women wear. It is composed of a short top, a skirt, and a 6 yd. piece of fabric that is wrapped, tucked and transformed into a beautiful Indian dress. The boutique we went into was breathtaking. Thousands of silk panels lined the walls, it was literally a sea of stunning colors, prints, and textures.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Beautiful Day in Southern India

This morning we met Albert bright and early and headed out to visit a crocodile conservation park. I do not  think I have ever seen so many crocs in my entire life, and they were all different kinds! We even got to see a large enclosure of crocs getting fed breakfast of yummy meat/bone. MMMmmmm... After the Crocodile Park we headed to Dakshina Chitra, a non-profit, community service project of the Madras Craft Foundation for the promotion and preservation of the cultures of the diverse people of India. The center was absolutely breathtaking. We got to witness Pongal celebrations, listen to amazing music, and walk through their craft bazaar. We also got to try coconut water. We picked out a coconut, the woman hacked off a chunk at the top, popped in a straw, and off we went! It was surprisingly salty, but I really enjoyed it.

Once done exploring the Dakshina Chitra, we were off to see the Mahablipuram, also known as the shore temples. The temples were stunning beyond belief. Having recently had a tsunami, a new portion of one of the temples was exposed, leading to further excavation of more artifacts. It is so amazing to be able to set foot in temples that are thousands of years old, and so elaborately decorated! In all there were three "shore" temples that we visited. Each of them equally impressive in the intricate stone detailing done so long ago, and remaining beautiful today.

As you can see my blog entries are becoming shorter and shorter. Not because we are doing less, but because we are doing SO much, that by the end of the day I am ready to pass out....  but of course I tend to my pictures and try to update my blog as much as possible, as well as write in my graded journal for class, and then my personal journal...Im still surprised Ive gotten any sleep at all! :) I hope you all are enjoying the blog as I go through my journey in India.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

St Thomas Mount, Snake Park, and Sunshine!

What a beautiful day it was today in India. We began the morning by hiking up St. Thomas Mount.. It is the highest peak in Chennai, overlooking the entire city. It is believe that St. Thomas himself was killed at the top of this Mount, where a church now stands in his place. After getting a brief, yet detailed description of the St. Thomas Church's history, we headed back down to the van, passing all the beggars as we went. Once back to the van, we were off to Snake Park... it was quite the adventure. The park was filled with wonderful reptiles that were just fine by me, as long as they kept to themselves and didn't attempt to eat me. As you can see... I made it out alive :) We were greeted by two running monkeys at the entrance, but they were smart enough to stay outside the gate!


After Snake Park, we headed back to Niketana, had a quick lunch and then headed out to some of our favorite shops for an afternoon shopping trip with our favorite driver Albert :) Albert speaks VERY limited English... and is obsessed with Hannah's tongue ring. We find it quite funny. Once done boosting the Indian economy, we walked to a nearby cafe that Vidya suggested we go for dinner. It was perfect. We had a yummy sandwich and freshly squeezed pineapple juice. So good! Excited to see what adventures tomorrow will have in store. Top of the itinerary: crocodile park.... oh goody ;)

Abacus Montessori, Express Mall, Bollywood Movie

Today was our last day visiting the Abacus Montessori School.. thank goodness it was only a two hour visit. We observed kolum drawings in honor of the Pongal Festival. (For those of you who are not familiar w/ kolum, it is a design located outside of homes or doors. The symbol changes every day and is simply created using white and colored rice flour. If the kolum is missing from outside the door, neighbors know there has been a death in the family.) After celebrating the Pongal Festival with the students, we left the school and returned to Niketana.. we had a bit of down time, had a wonderful lunch, and then headed to the Chennai Mall.. primarily for the air conditioning :) Vidya took our class to an AWESOME bangle shop, I got some new Kurtis (the Indian shirts we wear) and then we headed to the Bollywood movie at 3:50pm. After one intermission, and three hours later, we left the theatre... all singing and dancing--trying to replicate and memorize the lines and moves we learned from the movie :)

Vidya's sister Brinda and their 85 year old mother met us for dinner at a very nice restaurant. I am pretty sure the servers had to roll us out... it literally felt like the food kept coming... and coming.. and just when I thought we were done, BAM, more food.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Chennai Montessori School

It was apparent from the first glance at my classmates that today was going to be a long day. With nearly half of the class and our Professor sick with the cold, cough, and head/tummy ache, we knew it would be a battle to make it through today's school visit. We made it to the school this morning and immediately met with the principal, who gave us an overview for the day. We were to choose two classes, where we would remain for an hour each. Not only were we confined to these two classes, we were told that there would be zero interactions with the students... we could only observe. You could tell immediately that Vidya was less than thrilled with the circumstances, but she remained gracious, and we all split up and went into our classrooms. Hannah, Vidya and I all chose the primary class which taught children 2.5-6 years old. The montessori teaching technique was definitely unique. The teachers had minimal interaction with the students and only taught the children if the kids asked for assistance. During lesson time, the children were able to pick their own activities. One student was working on addition, one was sewing, one was gluing paper together, while another was shredding a carrot... all in the same room. The children had floor mats which they worked independently on. I have found, through visiting multiple schools, that India has a very collectivist education system, but the Montessori method is extremely individualistic.


Unlike children in other schools who remained engaged and focused during classes, the Montessori children were extremely fidgety, distracted, talkative, and disrespectful to both teachers and their fellow classmates. After visiting a school like TVSA and then going straight to the Montessori school I felt extremely discouraged. The children today were extremely rude and snobby. I am not looking forward to going back tomorrow, but I know there is a valuable lesson to be learned.

Final day at TVS Academy..

Today was one that I knew would be difficult. We left our hotel early and headed 5 minutes down the road to the TVSA. The kids also arrived early, knowing we would be there. Seeing as we had visited the school Saturday, many of the children knew us by name, and we were greeted by a swarm of running children who were very excited to start asking questions. I had been on the TVSA campus for about 15 minutes but still had not spotted Suchitra, the girl I had bonded with during our Saturday visit, who also is in my facebook profile picture. I keep my eyes peeled for her as I continued to answer questions from the eager students. It was then that I heard the sweetest voice calling my name. I turned around to see Suchitra running down the stone path towards me. My heart absolutely melted. Not only did I get to spend the day with Miss Suchitra, I also got to help her celebrate her 11th birthday :) I was also able to visit other classes throughout the day. We sat in on a math lab where the students were never given a math formula, they are given materials and derive the answer using hands on techniques. I was a bit skeptical of the math lab, but as soon as the class started working on the first problem I knew they completely grasped the concepts. Not only could they physically show their reasoning, they were able to verbally communicate how they solved the problem, and how it could be applied to other objects. Needless to say, I was thoroughly impressed.




In other classes, the students have the freedom to work either inside the classroom, or outside under the cover of each building. The set up was so peaceful. The students at TVSA were beyond respectful, not only to their teachers, but to their classmates. I sat in on a 3rd standard (grade) classroom studying Tamil, the local language. The students were not only excited to ask me questions, they also wanted to teach me to speak their language. These students love for learning has been so amazing to witness. While we knew we had a long drive ahead of us, back to Chennai, none of us wanted to leave the TVSA students or staff. They were SOOOO wonderful!!

It was on the way home that Vidya began an impromptu discussion. It was during this discussion that the emotions of what I have seen the last week really surfaced, not in tears, but in passion. It was the first time that I really had to think about how India has already changed my life, and who I am. I only wish I could have recorded the answer I gave. I have no idea where it came from, but I was the last of 8 to speak, and I just brought it home... In only a week India has taught me more about myself and the person I want to become than anything in my entire life. It has forced me to evaluate the paths I have taken in life, and has ignited an inner fire that I never knew I had. I am glowing from the inside, which may sound ridiculous, but I never knew that by being exposed and completely immersed within a rich culture like India's I would be able to learn more about myself... I came to India with the sole purpose to learn more about the people here. While I absolutely have fulfilled this original expectation, I have gained much much more. I have met people and been witness to acts that will change my life forever. While I know my life in Washington awaits my return, Im not so sure I will ever be the same. I think that no matter where I go, a small piece of India will always be with me...