The drive to the hotel was eye opening. Chennai is beautiful and vibrant in its own way. It's definitely different than what I'm used to. But it's also very broken, unfinished, and dirty. There are stray dogs everywhere, piles of trash on the streets, men peeing on the side of the road, and abandoned "construction sites". It's hard to see such a different way of living. It's hard to see an Audi dealership next to a rickety old apartment building that seems empty-- but in reality houses families and businesses.
Once we got to the hotel at about 7 in the morning ( This is after over 30 hours of travelling and possibly 3 hours of sleep), I showered, almost immediately. We ate breakfast. It was the most delicious french toast I have ever tasted. Partly because I was hungry, but mostly because Indians know how to make french toast. We had Mango Ice Cream for breakfast too. It was delicious.
We've mastered riding up and down the elevators here. You have to swipe your key card to get to your floor. But it was a bit different for us. I couldn't figure out for the life of me why our card wouldn't work. Jaclyn laughed and asked if I had a magnet in my pocket or something. Then I realized-- shoot. I just messed up our key card. My kangaroo money pouch had a magnet strip in it. We continued to ride elevators all day, exchanging American money for Indian rupees, fixing key cards, and asking for help with the internet, etc.
Once we had eaten and called home briefly, my roommate Kendra and I returned to our room and proceeded to attempt to charge our cell phones. It's a bit complicated though-- with the converters and everything. We were experimenting and decided to plug the electrical strip into the converter. Needless to say, we blew a fuse. I wish you all could have seen Kendra's face. It was priceless. And I am pretty sure my face matched hers. Our roommate Kristin slept through the whole thing-- until the fuse blew and all of our electricity went out, and Kendra and I couldn't contain our laughter.
We've continued to laugh and tease each other about key cards, magnet strips, and blowing fuses since then.
We got to ride in Indian rickshaws to the mall. How to explain this in American terms... a mo-ped tricycle? There is a hard shell around it...if you could call it that. There are no doors. And it seats about three of us in the back and the driver in the front. It was so much fun! Again, there is no such thing as lanes-- it was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. I loved it. I think it's been one of my most favorite experiences since being here in India.
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| The Rickshaw |
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| Dani, Kendra, and I on our first rickshaw ride! |
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| This is normal. Often times we've seen up to five people on one motorcycle. |
At the mall we shopped a little bit and tried on Indian clothing-- (by the way, I never want to shop in america again). In India it's much different than shopping in the US. When you walk into the shops, there are shelves upon shelves of all different styles and colors. Often, women will travel with their husbands to the mall, sit down together, and the shop keepers will spread everything they have out in front of them. And then the husband chooses the outfit he likes best on his wife. You don't walk around and look for your size or a color. I don't think two outfits are alike at all. I haven't been able to find matching ones here. And the clothes are so beautiful. I can't wait to show you what I bought! I also learned how to say "thank you" in tamil. It's like "laundry" but with an "n" in front of it. So it's pronounced "naundry".
After shopping this afternoon, a group of us headed out to some of the street markets, but I felt like I had had enough adventure on 3 hours of sleep. So from about 2 pm Saturday afternoon- 6 am this morning I slept like a rock. It was the most comfortable bed I had ever slept in. I am not exaggerating.
We're heading out to church-- and then we'll complete our 2.5 hour drive out to Rising Star Outreach. But I just wanted to fill you all in on a couple of the happenings out here. I can't wait to actually get there. I'll talk to you all soon!
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| Ready for Church |
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| The Church is true, even in Chennai! |
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| Dani, Me, and Jaclyn |
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