India!

“True contentment is a real, even an active virtue—not only affirmative but creative. It is the power of getting out of any situation all there is in it.”  - Chesterter

Our first port was Chennai, which is in the southern end on the Bay of Bengal. I fell in love with this country.  I am honestly unsure why or how because by the end of the week my feet clearly looked as though I was a different race, due to the amount of dirt on them. The first day, I did an overnight trip, for a class, to child labor bridge school. It was about two hours outside of the city of Chennai. About 40% of the children in India are in child labor, making about 2$ a month and start work at the age 4.  This was a school that was working on trying to get kids out of the work force. We were able to play with the kids most of the day and singsongs together. They were adorable. Most of the kids we saw had just gotten off work from the rock query and there hands showed it. Most of them were extremely cut up and some even missing parts of their fingers. The program is called RIDE if you would like to look up more information.
        We also went to a village called Kancheepuram. I have never seen a village that was more excited to see and greet us by their warmth and compassion. It was overwhelming, but they instantly made me feel welcome. We were able to walk around the town by ourselves just trying to communicate with the people. One woman grabbed my arm and pretty much dragged me into her home. She was ecstatic because she had a TV. (Which was a huge deal.) The only English she knew was “TV” and she kept repeating it over and over. I have never seen a women more proud of her belongings. At their local school we were able to play with the children some more. Most of the children in India spoke better English than the adults so we were able to sing songs with them. They loved practicing their English and showing us how the could count to ten. We stayed the night there and they were so gracious with the amount of food and everything they did for us.
    The next day, we headed back to the ship and this is when the true adventure begins. My friends and I had made no plans at all. We tried to book a bus or a train ticket to anywhere in Southern India, but they were all booked. All we knew was that in three days we had to be all the way across to the other side of India, in Cochin. We started by getting in a rickshaw (three wheeled motor car thingy.) The driving in India is crazy! No one follows the lines at all and everyone honks at each other. Often there is even a cow in the middle of the road and you can be waiting their for quite some time waiting for it to cross. At times I literally could reach out and touch a bus cause we were so close. We were headed to a bus station and ended up getting into an accident! Our driver got out, looked and kept going, literally nothing else. The other driver didn’t even look until a few blocks down the road. It was crazy. We found an overnight bus to Madurai. We hardly knew anything about this town except that is was often called “temple city.” The bus was scheduled to leave around 10:30 and get in around 6.  The bus was very interesting, all of us luckily got to be in the way back crammed together. I have never gotten more looks in my life as we were the only white people to be seen. The entire ten-hour ride there was a loud bally-wood movie playing, while half of the speakers were blown out, but that didn’t stop them. We decided to take the AC bus thinking since it was so hot that it would be worth it. It only cost a little more the total of this bus was about 6 American dollars.  The entire night it would go from extremely hot, like sweat dripping down your face, to extremely cold that you need a blanket. The seats in this semi-sleeper bus went extremely far back and I felt like I had the Indian man’s head in my lap. No joke. Needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep. I also woke up to the biggest bump on my head, most likely from bobbing my head so hard into the seat next to me. Haha
        Once we arrived in Madurai it was about 8:30 am. We were excited because we had all day to explore. We randomly picked a place to get off the bus and decided to get some breakfast and figure out our day. We ended up walking around the streets for a few hours. This may have been my favorite day, so far on the entire voyage. We walked all through the backstreets and alleys. I happened to bring with my some stickers that I began slowly handing out to the kids we passed.  Once it started we slowly began getting crowds of people wanting to see what we were giving out. I have never seen women, some as old as 60, so excited to receive a sticker. I almost felt like a celebrity walking around their streets.  They welcomed us into their homes, wanted us to eat with them, and offered us tea. Simply looking in their eyes truly told a story. I think that being in the slums made these people even more beautiful because they were full of joy. Many didn’t even know what a camera was and was so happy to get there pictures taken.  Smiling is truly the universal language. It can open up anyone’s heart to feel comfortable and warmth.
We left this afternoon and took a car about 4 hours to a town called Kumily. The drive was extremely mountainous as we drove through jungles. During the ride, we saw wild monkeys  just hanging out on the side of the road and the rural side of southern India. It was beautiful.  Our driver and his girlfriend were extremely friendly and would randomly makes stops throughout the trip and we are a bit unsure why.  When we arrived we had no hotel or any expectations of this town. We began walking around and finally met our new friend, Charlie.  He ended us spending the next two days with us and taking us all over this little town while eating just about every meal with us. The hotel we ended up staying at was called the Rainbow hotel. Our rooms were electric colors of pink and blue. Its was crazy!
      In the morning we took us to ride the ELEPHANTS!!!!!! ITS WAS AWESOME!!!! It honestly could not have been better. It was such a blast. After the elephant junction, he took us on a jungle hike. It was like a walking safari and were hunting for all different wild animals.  They have an extreme amount of wild spices such a coffee, pepper, and fruit everywhere. He would point them all out and made us try just about everything.  We spent the whole day and evening with him as he took as to all his favorite restaurants for lunch and dinner. By the end, I was becoming his sponsor to get a visa, with him trying to get a job at the Broadmoor. ☺ I have noticed that the best part about this voyage is the people and friends you met all over the world! 
We then took a bus at 3:35 A.M in the morning to our next port city Cochin. It may have been one of the scariest bus rides I have ever experienced. The bus did not have any windows and at one point we were going about 60mph on switchbacks through the jungle. I think we literally got air since the roads aren’t the best paved roads. No joke. Not to mention that it was also extremely crowded this entire time!!! I don’t think they could have fit one more person on that bus. The bus wouldn’t even stop to pick people up they would hop on as it was moving. It was quite an experience.
     We finally arrived at 9:00 a.m. We were extremely surprised we had made it all the way across southern India with little problems. The rest of the time in India I went to an SOS children Village for a project for another class I am taking. We played and hung out with the kids most of the day.
If one were to ask me how I felt right now about India I would have a hard time answering. Throughout the entire time I felt so many different emotions from pain, to sorrow, helplessness, and pure joy.  Yet at the same time, I had true sense of peace. No words can ever describe the true India, you have to experience it yourself to truly understand.  There is so much more detail that I did not expand on due to the fact that it would not give it enough justice. I can’t explain it through this setting without sounding that all there is to India is poverty or dirt. There is an immense more to India once you look past that and see the people.

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content."  Philippians 4: 11-12

(Guess what? I can sit Indian Style for the first time in 4 years!!!! Pretty sweet huh?)
NOW: Neptune Day! To shave or not to shave my head that is the question.