Escape the Heat

A couple weeks back I found out that I had four days off from teaching and quickly tried to figure out a way out of Calicut and the intense tropical heat. Several of my friends suggested different places but sometimes going alone can be daunting so I chose the best place that I thought I could handle making arrangements for. I decided to visit Ooty, a mountainous small town located in the next state over called Tamil Nadu. I had heard good things and the number one draw for me was that it was much cooler weather. A 6 hour bus ride and I'd be in the climate of Flagstaff. Sold! My friends asked around to help me with a couple tips for catching the bus and I found an auto driver to mercifully drive me to the bus stand at 5 AM. I had been told that there would be a bus to Ooty around 5:45 AM and arrived at 5:25, ready to hunt it down. I wish there was a way to describe the craziness that defines the bus station in Calicut, but there are literally dozens of buses coming and going with no signs anywhere telling how to find the bus that you need. No timetables, no schedules, no indication at all to help you out. It's even difficult for Indians apparently but it's all the harder for a tourist. Some buses will actually stop and allow people to get on, whereas others just slow down and you sort of swing yourself inside. I had no idea what my fate would be so I began earnestly asking those around me for help to find the right bus. Even a clue of what color, or where approximately I should stand, whether the destination of the bus would be written in English, anything would help. A few people to their credit did try to help me, but I watched the minutes tick by, asking driver after driver if he was going to Ooty and I was getting nowhere.

Talk about stressful! At 5:50, this younger guy approached me and asked, "Where are you going?" I told him Ooty and he said, "I think you just missed that bus." I was crushed thinking A, how was that possible??? and B, did you not see me running around like a crazy person asking for the right bus...Could you have not stepped up a minute or two sooner?? For pete's sake!!? So I was on the verge of crying because I had no idea whether there would be another bus that day or not and I really really needed a break from Calicut. Another older guy came by and said he would inquire if there was another bus and he came back a few minutes later and said, "There will be another bus at 6:45." I was relieved to hear that but was not looking forward to another hour wait. Then a random auto driver came by and he asked where I was going. He also confirmed that there would be another bus at 6:45 and that it was green in color. Ok, I thought. That's two..odds are getting better! And now I have a color to look for. So I eyeing each bus like an eagle looking for prey from 6:30 on and finally did see a green bus with the sign Ooty written in it's corner window. I stalked it as it went left to right, scared that it was a slow down and jump on type of stop and basically looked like an idiot following it as it backed up into a spot and turned off the engine. I finally got on the bus and felt like I could relax a bit. Thankful that my missed bus has only cost me an hour, I prepared for the ride ahead, getting next to a window, towards the front of the bus so that I could have airflow and not get hit by people getting carsick out the window. UGHH!!! so gross! I had snacks and barely drank anything so hopefully wouldn't have to pee along the way.

The ride there was actually more pleasant than I had imagined. Since it was early in the morning, the heat wasn't bad and at the front I avoided getting carsick, despite the very curvy switchback style roads. I had only 2 people in my seat, rather than 3 for a lot of the ride, which was not so cramped. I'd seen at least 5 Indians cram into one row and knew it was a real possibility. I didn't manage to avoid the toilet completely but made it as quick as possible praying no one would steal my bag as I raced off the bus for 5 minutes and raced back. As we got into higher elevation, the view began to change and it was really beautiful riding through the mountains. And the breeze gradually got cooler and I enjoyed the ride quite a bit. Other than feeling very long, it was not too bad. :) As we got closer to Ooty, it began pouring rain and I actually felt glad that we closed the windows since it got really chilly at that point. I was in heaven!

I arrived at the bus stand there in the pouring rain and found the closest auto that I could. He didn't really know exactly where my guesthouse was, but after asking around, he knew the general direction and we were off. The guesthouse is a very old building, over 100 years old so it had a very unique appeal with drawing rooms and window seats with old lace curtains. I imagined spending time curled up with a book. It was at the top of a hill and very quiet and peaceful. I settled in and laid down hoping I might get a nap after such an early start. But while rest felt good, I also was ready to go out exploring. I talked to the people running the guesthouse and they gave me a general map sketch of the area and I was out the door. I walked around to the downtown, got some delicious pizza and coffee and walked back a couple hours later as it was getting dark. For the next couple of days, I explored the area, went to a tea factory, visited an NGO called Smyrna that helps sponsor education for children that cannot afford to go, read books, watched movies curled under a blanket and slept so good!!! I had such a wonderful time that I extended my trip by another day. I also made friends with a few people that were staying there and chatted over coffee during the late afternoon. One friend and I ate dinner together and caught up on Modern Family, which was a treat just having company! I felt so much better emotionally, spiritually and physically as I headed back down the mountain to brave the heat, and the general exhaustion that comes with daily challenges that I face here. I was so thankful that God provided this excursion away and reminded me that no matter where I am, He is with me and I am not alone. He provided friendship and a place to be refreshed. I am trying to hold on to all the good and keep it with me whenever I become frustrated or lonely. So far, it has helped!

If you'd like more information about how to support Smyrna, check out the link below. They not only try to utilize ways to be self sustaining, like through selling clothes, fish, strawberries and cookies, but they also accept donations for sponsorship of children. They started out in the 80's when a Swedish woman recognized the deep need for education in the rural areas of India and began this NGO. It is now fully managed by locals and out of the 405 children that are sponsored, currently 165 are now being sponsored by those in their own country. How cool is that? They are a great organization and have such a variety of projects that help the community. Check it out!

www.smyrna.org.in

The Miracle Fruit

Recently, I was invited with my friends to visit an older retired couple that they knew for lunch about 30 minutes away from Calicut. They sent a driver to pick us up and we were on our way. It was a particularly hot day and when we arrived, the hostess offered us a nice cold glass of lychee juice, which was superbly refreshing. Then her husband, who is a retired doctor, offered to take us on a tour of his extensive garden. I never met a person who was more proud of their agriculture. And I have to admit, he had a ton of different plants, many of them bearing local fruits. However, did I mention it was like a sauna outside? I was disgustingly sweaty by the time we finished walking around. I thought I could ditch the tour early by telling him I was getting bit by ants, (which was actually true and I'm highly allergic to ant bites) but this did not deter him. He went inside, got me some socks, a pair of his shoes and some bug spray so that I could comfortably walk in the grass and continue the tour lol. So I geared up and went back to look at more of the fruits and vegetables. He picked things off every few minutes and offered us a taste. I was hesitant to eat them without them being washed but didn't want to offend so I tried to eat a bite of most everything. I never had tried fresh gooseberries before and good grief, were they sour! I had to spit it out...whew! At one point on the sweaty jungle tour, he picked off these tiny little pink seed like fruits and told me that they were called miracle fruit.

I laughed and asked him what that meant and he proceeded to tell me that if you suck on this fruit for a few minutes and then spit out the seed, everything you taste will then taste sweet. He said that is commonly used for people who suffer from diabetes, sort of as a placebo replacement for sugar. I told him I had to try it! When we finally wrapped up the tour and headed inside, his wife cut up some sour green mango and straight lime water and we each sucked on one of the seeds and sure enough, it totally worked. It was pretty incredible. I ate the mango and it was super sweet and the lime juice tasted like lemonade. Crazy right?! I told him I was convinced and he was so pleased to be able to show us something new. We soon after had a delicious lunch and I was even lucky enough to take home the leftovers. Thankful my friends brought me along for the outing. :) If you'd like to read about the fruit, follow the link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synsepalum_dulcificum

Our India Foundation Visit part 2

So I'm going to try and pick up where I left off.

When we went to the village, I was asked to get out of the car and join this throng of men that I can only describe as what looked like a tribal council meeting or something. About 50 + men were gathered sort of in a circle with a guy in the middle smoking a giant hookah pipe. I was seated in this chair at the front of the group while I was introduced to tons of different people, asked to pose for a boatload of photos and was slightly overwhelmed as more and more people including a lot of the children came to see what was going on. I felt a little embarrassed that I was not wearing a more appropriate outfit but I really had no idea what we were going to be doing...so I just explained that Americans don't typically wear shawls and did my best to smile and be charming as to not offend anyone.

We moved next to this open courtyard area that might have belonged to the back of someone's house. It was hard to tell. The children were all peeking in trying to see what was going on and again I was placed at a long table filled with about 25 men while they served me tea and a ton of snacks and desserts. The spread they made for me was very humbling as I know it must have taken a lot of time to prepare. I asked if I could visit with the women in the village and after we ate till I could eat no more, I was ushered outside to the open part of the courtyard and the elderly women of the village were there. Their heads were covered but they lifted up their shawls to say hello and to take my head and give their "blessings" to me. I didn't really know what was going on as I was touched on my hair, hands and given hugs and squeezes left and right but I was very happy to see them and could tell they were excited to spend time with me. The oldest grandmother in the village took my head again and pushed my hair down bestowing one last blessing and pressed money into my hand. I tried to refuse since I knew these people had very little and I felt so bad. Although not a significant sum by Western standards, it was a lot of money for someone from this village. I was told by my hosts that I needed to take it otherwise it would be a great insult. So I thanked them all, took more pictures, and walked back towards the car with many trailing behind me.

After that experience, I was pretty exhausted and went to rest for a bit before we had dinner. We didn't eat until 8pm and afterwards, the two guys that live in house, the owner of the house and his children invited me to take a walk. I was thrilled because I rarely get to walk in Calicut and I certainly don't get to enjoy that nice weather or stay out late at night. But I soon realized that they meant take a walk around the rooftop terrace. I tried not to show my disappointment too much and laughed as the walk around took about 10 seconds. The kids and I decided to make it a game and did laps, trying to out walk the rest of the group. We teased all the other men who were not participating and eventually got everyone to join in. So there I was like a mother hen with her little ducklings following behind her on this roof! After we stopped walking, the two young boys brought out some badminton rackets and we played for a little bit until one of them hit the birdie over the roof. End of game. No bother, the kids brought out a cricket bat next and they proceeded to teach me the rules and how to play the game. Now you probably know that this is the most loved sport here in India and I've tried to get some of my students to explain it to me, but have not grasped it fully. That night, I finally made some headway. They were impressed with my sport skills (which is probably only because women don't play here) and we ended up having so much fun together as my competitive side kicked in. That will remain one of my best memories!

The next day went very similarly to the first, with teaching all day, a closing ceremony of sorts which lasted far too long!!! and another trip to a different village and more cricket on the roof after dinner. The parents were invited to come and see what we had done for the two days of English camp and both the children and I were exhausted going into it. Literally children were falling asleep in their seats as speech after speech droned on and on. I was called the "president" of the occasion with the honor of giving the last speech. I listened while prominent man of the town after prominent man gave a speech in Hindi and tried to stay focused and not appear bored out of my mind. They asked me to sing something mid way and the best I could do on the spot that remotely made me think of a message worth imparting was Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love of All" hahaha! Only in India! One guy looked at me the entire speech as though I was understanding every single word he was saying and my boss behind me whispered, "Just smile and nod." Which I did a lot of. When he finally finished I felt like clapping, but after the next guy went, he got up and proceeded to give round 2 of his speech. I later talked with my social worker friend about him and we were laughing at the absurdity of it because no one even knew who that guy was and he definitely had not been invited to the closing ceremony!

After the second village visit in which I met with a very important political leader in the area as he showed me photo after photo of his diplomatic trip to the U.S in 1987, I was done. I was a bit tired of being shown off and posing for various photo ops! So when I needed to go the bathroom, I told my hosts we needed to go back to the house. Well, the politician did not want me to leave so he attempted to offer me a bathroom in the Hindu temple! Which btw, as a foreigner and non-Hindu, I am not supposed to enter, it had no lights and would have had to use a flashlight, I didn't have my purse with me with toilet paper and my overall fatigue, I was not in the mood to negotiate. I told them again very firmly that I needed to go back to the house, but because they did not wish to offend him, they tried to get me to use the temple bathroom and I stood my ground. Well at this point, everyone at the temple gathered around listening to my plight, as they went back and forth about why I didn't want to go to the bathroom there and I'm not joking, about 50 men were not involved in the conversation and I was utterly humiliated! That was the end of what I could handle and I demanded to go back to the house.

They finally got the picture and we left abruptly. I wanted to cry but held it together. I walked straight into the house and into my room and did not come out again until dinner time. My friend/boss from Calicut knew something was wrong but I was not ready to talk about anything so I just pretended I was fine, ate dinner, played cricket with the kids and went to bed. The next and last day of my trip started at 5am with the early morning prayer call. We piled into the SUV and headed back to Delhi around 6. Our hosts wanted to show us a few sights before we had to go to the airport. I enjoyed touring around there but it was considerably hotter in Delhi and the A/C in our vehicle went out. I was literally melting into the seat each time we got back in the car. After touring a couple historical spots, we headed to the airport and I've never wanted to get out of car so badly. It was the hottest part of the day and I was sweating on every inch of my body. It took like 20 minutes to cool off in the airport A/C and I felt like I could wring out my shirt, it was that bad! The flights home were uneventful and I was never more tired in my life when we finally arrived back in Calicut around midnight. A trip to remember that's for sure! I did enjoy the children very much and would go back just to be with them again but I know I"ll be better prepared now for the next time around as to what it all entails.

Visiting Our India Foundation

What a jam packed four days that I experienced at the end of March! I was invited by my friend to teach an English camp for 2 full days in Northern India in the state of Uttar Pradesh with an NGO called Our India Foundation. This foundation has created a school for children that are low income, have been displaced due to violence and rioting in the area and/or are orphaned. It currently serves 120 children and plans to almost double in the next school year.

I had no idea really of what to expect and while there were many wonderful parts, there were times I felt completely overwhelmed. I flew into Delhi on Saturday and arrived around 5:00pm and met the program coordinator at the airport. We had a pleasant ride to our destination which was about a 3 hour drive from the airport, a small rural area called Kandlha. We stopped for some dinner along the way and I had this awesome tomato based paneer curry with garlic naan. Yum! We arrived about 8:30 to this house where I'd be staying for the next three nights. This organization is run and funded by a group in Kerala, where I live, and predominately is made up of those from the Muslim faith. I was greeted at the house by about 8 men in traditional dress and appearance. They dropped my bags in my room and hospitably offered me snacks and drinks. I wasn't hungry but did my best to not appear rude so I took an orange from the plate of four and rather poorly attempted to eat it one handed. You try peeling an orange using only your right hand! It's tough!

About 6 men sat around the table watching my every move and another few started to wander in off the street and sit on this long couch in the adjoining room so I felt very unprepared for such an audience. I commented to the coordinator, who spoke pretty good English, "Wow, nothing like sitting in front of 15 men trying to eat an orange gracefully while your every move is being scrutinized." I wasn't sure he would get my sarcasm but he started to laugh and translate my comment. I smiled as they all laughed and the owner of the house picked up one and joined me. I told him, "Thank you" with over-exaggerated relief. As they tried to get me a drink, I explained that I would just have water but that I needed to be careful and only drink bottled water. I saw one of them say something to the house help guy and he went out the door. I sort of forgot about him but a few minutes later, I see him carrying a huge box of water bottles. He set it down in a corner in my room and I started laughing. Ask and ye shall receive! He frequently went into my room and put one in the fridge so that I could have a cold drink with meals which was really kind. I went to my room not long after that...maybe 10 and we arranged a plan for the next morning's breakfast.

I walked into my colorful bedroom and sat on the bed. The bed made a crinkly sound and I picked up the bedspread and discovered the plastic on the mattress. I thought maybe that I was the first to use this guestroom so I walked out hoping to catch my friend before he went to his room. He unfortunately had already went into his room so I walked out and 12 pairs of eyes were on me. I knew that I wouldn't be able to just say nothing so I motioned to the coordinator to come while asking him about the bed. I asked, "I was just wondering if I was the first person to use this bed. The plastic is still on and it makes a loud noise when sitting or lying down." He paused a minute and then smiled apologetically saying, "No, this room has been used. We keep that on because it's new." Oh, ok...logic confirmed. So for everyone that knows me, I have a super sensitivity to sound, light, temperatures, basically anything that could disrupt my sleep. Did I mention noise? So I smiled and said, "Ok, no problem." He decided that we should get another bedspread set that was thicker and soon enough I'd drawn a crowd of about 4 guys trying to lay down enough blankets to make the sound less audible. It was so sweet of them to try but when all was said and done, still made the crinkly plastic sound. haha

I attempted to get settled in and it took quite awhile to fall asleep because there were people talking, laughing and milling about outside my door for the next 2 hours. I finally fell asleep around 12:30 or so and was awoken unpleasantly at 5 am to the sound of the call to prayer. Apparently we were next door to the local mosque. Oh boy I thought. This is going to be a rough sleeping environment. I had set my alarm for 6:30 so I tried to fall back to sleep and I must have succeeded because there was a knock at my door, which we had said was the signal to tell me that breakfast was ready. I looked at my little travel alarm and saw 6:30 displayed. I was like, "Why are they already calling for me?" I walked over to my phone and pulled it out of my backpack and saw the glaring numbers of 7:30 am!!! Aghh! My alarm had stopped working and it was totally time for me to eat and then leave so we could be at the school by 8. That was not a way to start the day and I felt so rushed and unorganized as I got dressed in 5 minutes, threw my hair in a pony tail and walked out to eat breakfast. I tried to explain but realized it wasn't worth the translation trouble.

I shoveled eggs in my mouth, packed my bag up for everything I would need, brushed my teeth, quickly applied a stroke of mascara, powdered my face with sunscreen bronzer and was out the door. It was a quick 3 minute walk to the school and I realized that really there was no serious need for me to hurry as they spent the next half hour getting all the computer/microphone equipment ready for me to start teaching. While I waited, they gave me a bunch of English newspapers to browse through and I had fun reading through the articles and especially the matrimonials page where people advertise what type of spouse they are looking for. I met a few of the teachers (so happy to see some women!) and we got started. I had to give them a lot of credit. For the most part, they had purchased all the supplies I had asked for in advance and had them ready and we stuck to the schedule pretty well overall. I spent the morning rotating groups of about 20 kids who were the youngest of the school, from 4-6 years old. We did a short lesson about camping, what supplies are needed, what animals you would see on a camping trip, danced to an animal song and then they did some artwork before their time was finished. We broke for lunch and the owner of the house, his wife, prepared some delicious meals for us. I never saw her because she was upstairs but she was a wonderful cook.

The afternoon was much of the same lesson, with one staff member translating what I said word for word but this time I was working with the oldest children who were 6-7 years old. They were going to get the bulk of my classes as the younger ones just got a preview of hopefully what's to come in the future for them. I really enjoyed teaching, playing and doing crafts with the children and the afternoon went by very quickly. We finished around 4 and walked back to the house. I decided to lay down for a few minutes and soon had a knock on my door. I had changed into more comfortable clothes, jeans!!! with a traditional long shirt. The weather was the very best thing about being in northern India. It was about 80 during the day and got into the upper 60s at night. I was in heaven! Finally not sweating every second! So they told me that I was going to go visit the village nearby so I grabbed my phone to take pictures and we were off. I had no idea about what was really to come...I thought maybe we'd take a driving tour since we hopped into a big SUV with like 10 people shoved inside. However, that was not the case. Part 2 coming soon!