Okay. India. Now I know why this country is such a major deal to this trip. It really is the country that’s life changing to us who go there. And it’s not really something you can explain in a blog, or pictures, or even a video. You have to be immersed into the culture and experience with your own eyes what these people are experiencing even as we speak. Coming from a well off white suburban area and then seeing this was mind blowing. Like I said before and in e-mails to friends and what not, I’ve never ever been so grateful for even the smallest things. I can’t remember if I wrote it in my blog or not. But my first day out in India I came back to the ship and came straight to dinner and first of all being in the AC I was so thankful, sitting at a clean dinner table in a well functioning clean chair with clean utensils, and purified cold water and food that was not even questionable to eat was amazing. I usually leave some food on my plate once I’m finished with a meal. But since that night I’ve never left a bite of food on my plate. I went to bed later that night and I was laying on my white sheets and was so thankful I had a clean proper bed to sleep in with sheets that are super white from how clean they are. I can’t even explain the realization in a blog or even in words. And even if I try it’s not something anyone who reads this would understand.
We were talking about that at lunch the other day. A group of 9 of us were discussing how no one back home is going to understand what all of us SAS kids went through together. I’ve been saying all along that us SAS kids have a common bond of traveling and its true. Were the only ones who will fully understand one another’s stories and where were coming from while explaining our experiences in these countries.
I read a blog before I came on this trip (well one of the many I read) and it was saying that when he came back to the US he would try to explain to his friends some of his many tales of traveling abroad with SAS but his friends didn’t get it. He got the standard “oh how cool! That’s awesome! Amazing!” responses but no one really asked details or really got down to the nitty gritty of all of it. And I know that’s going to happen to all of us SAS kids. That’s why we have one another. And I’m thankful we do. I know my friends love hearing what I’m doing but no one fully understands what I’m going through.
I knew I was going to come back from SAS a different person but I wasn’t sure exactly what was going to happen. Now I know and its definitely for the better. I’m so thankful I got to do this and I think anyone who has the chance to do SAS or any other travel abroad program should. It’s worth every penny you spend. You’ll have experiences, memories, and world views that don’t even compare to most people's in America.
Okay. Now I should probably get back to India. Cause this blog is going to be long. I stayed in Chennai for 2 days and 1 night (on the ship) and then for 4 days and 3 nights I traveled independently across India to Madurai, Kumily, and then Cochin where my group and I met the ship.
So the first day we had a huge group and traveling with a huge group just isn’t the easiest thing in these countries so we all broke up and me, Lauren, Kelcie and Stacy decided to group together. We just wanted to kind of get out and explore and shop around Chennai. So we walked out of the ship area and like most of India when you wander aimlessly you are seriously hounded by 10 rig shaw drivers (it’s a taxi in their country. But pretty much it’s 2 rows of benches on a scooter base) ((and they’re super fun/scary)) all talking your ear off convincing you to take this rig shaw that will take you hear and do this for that price, all times 10 and they have no sense of personal space. They are all up in your face and if you move they’ll follow. It’s intimidating for the first few times and really overwhelming. So we pretty much just randomly picked this guy out of the crowd and settled on a price before getting in the rig shaw (that’s what you have to do so they don’t rip you off) ((they see dollar signs in our eyes and do pretty much all they can to suck every last penny out of you)). So we get this guy Nana and he tells us hell take us all around and we stayed with him the entire day. The drivers there like doing that, even if it means waiting for you for an hour while you eat because they figure if they have you as a customer all day they’ll make more money. Which would be true in the United States too im sure.
So we get in and he takes us to this temple to start with. This was the very beginning of my germ-a-phob emersion. We get to the temple and as in most countries you aren’t allowed to wear your shoes. So you check your shoes in at this worn down holding area being watched by this woman who probably could care less if my shoes were there when I got back. But I dropped them off regardless and walked down an Indian street in my socks. If you know me this is a MAJOR feat. I get grossed out walking through airport security at DIA. And I had just walked through an Indian street and an entire temple with only socks on. And yes my friends made fun of me because they know that I hate germs and dirt.
So we saw this temple and it was really cool. They seemed to be getting their food blessed and other things and many were praying too. We were the only white people in this entire place so, as we did all over all of India, we got full stared at. (Gini you may seriously want to go to India, but if you can’t handle a person in dgo staring at you..India isn’t gona be your forte-though the Chinese were worse).
After we experienced the temple we told Nana we wanted to go shopping at the markets. Now I need to explain to you how rig shaw drivers work in India. Each rig shaw driver works on a point system. Any tourist he brings to certain stores (whether the tourist buys something or not) they driver gets a point. Once the driver gets, I think it was, five points he gets a free shirt/uniform. So, when we said shops he took us to places where there was a ton of other SAS kids-hmmm what a coincidence. Once we saw the other SAS kids we knew exactly why we were taken to this store so we politely looked around but we didn’t buy anything-most stuff is overpriced in these stores. It was good to shop though and the people are very friendly and love to ask where you are from and the second they find out that US is home to us, they say, “OBAMA!” I’m pretty sure they know more about Obama and his family than most American’s do.
So anyway we looked around and went to another market and walked up and down. And then we spotted 2 of our LLC’s and their kids and spouses. Jenny (LLC) is from the Springs and Rob (LLC) is from Ohio but he’s Lis’s LLC and were close with him. They had just got back from lunch and we were looking for somewhere to eat so we asked them where they ate. They ate at a veggie restaurant like 30 seconds away that they were raving about so we had to try it. So we made our way over to this place.
I cant remember the name of it, but the food we ate was with our hands. We ordered a dolsa which is a crepe pancake pretty much and they put it on top of a banana leaf and you eat that with different sauces. My dolsa also had vegetables in it which were really spicy but so good. We also got samosas which are like fried on the outside but have potatoes and other veggies on the inside-they’re delicious. To drink I defintiely had a pepsi-I needed a little American in that meal (and yes mom pepsi is their pop of choice in India-a plus is you ever go) and we got water which you have to, by the way, check the seal of because theyve been known to refill waters with non-purified water and sometimes they even glue the tops back on so youll hear the popping noise when you open the bottle. BUT The meal was awesome and for four of us the total was like 6usd- can’t beat that!
After our meal we had Nana take us to get real henna tattoos (I guess that’s kind of an oxymoron). They were only like 100 rupees which is like 2 bucks and they were beautiful and so detailed. Mine lasted about it week which is fine with me. Next, we went to the beach. It was a little drive, but it was beautiful. Of course we were hounded like 50 times once we got there to buy stuff but after a few minutes’ people just left us alone and let us enjoy the scenery. It was so amazing. I really am able to love a beach anywhere I go!
Nana dropped us off there for a while and then we met him and because we had gotten to know him so well during the day he offered to take us to his house so we could meet his wife and his son. We agreed and we were on our way. Also, I remember now, on our way there we got stuck in “rush hour traffic” and everyone was at a standstill because the train was crossing and we all had to wait. Let me tell you about traffic in India.
So to start off, there aren’t any lanes and there isn’t a speed limit, there may be markings on the roads and posted speeds in a few places but those don’t mean anything, and neither do the few stop lights they have. So pretty much you make up any lane you want which has room for whatever vehicle you have and go the speed of your choice. Speaking of vehicles, there is a wide variety: rig shaws, actual car taxis (which is a like 1950 Chevy), actual real cars, motor bikes, and cows pulling carts. Yes, that’s right, I was in rush hour traffic next to a cow. So surreal.
The stopped traffic was taking too long so we decided to park our rig shaw and walk the rest of the way to Nana’s house-it really wasn’t that far from where we got out. We had to walk to a very poor area and alley way to get to his house. For anyone who has ever been to my house, I would say his entire house is the size of my back deck-maybe smaller. His kitchen, living room, dining room, and family room were all one square room that could hardly fit all of us in it. The other room he had was his bedroom. The mattress was extremely dirty and worn with a few rips and tears in it. He had a few blankets for the bed, but they were also worn and dirty. Four people live in the house and they have another child on the way. It was so amazing to meet Nana’s wife (they had a traditional arranged marriage) and his son and his wife’s mother. They were very welcoming and though they didn’t speak too much English, we communicated through laughter and smiling.
We had to make it a quick visit because we needed to meet our friends back at the ship by 6pm so we left Nana’s house and he took us back to the ship. Once we got back to the ship we were all exhausted and I just stayed in for the night. I was disgustingly dirty and didn’t feel like having to deal with it again that night. I was also so overwhelmed by the day that I just couldn’t go back out. Though, Stacy went back out because Nana wanted to drive us around more that night. The last line he gave us once we left his taxi before going in around 6pm that night was, “you’ve seen my family, you’ve seen my house, you know I’m poor, please help support me”. It was then that we realized we probably weren’t the only tourists that have been taken to Nana’s house but he was still very kind in what he did all day and he seemed like a genuinely good guy.
A common theme that all SAS kids and I have found about India in general is the overwhelming want for money. Everything they say, think, and do is money. Every move they make is about making a profit. Which, I guess looking at it from their eyes I probably would too. Most of their population lives on less than $2.00 a day. I couldn’t even imagine living that way and for that I am so thankful for the privileges I have and everyone else in America should be too.
This is only the first day of India, but it’s already over 3 pages in a word document. So ill keep this all as one blog and add another one later tonight.
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