We made it!

I’ll begin by saying “Wow!” I am sitting here at the end of my first day in Trichy after having just travelled for over a day and getting acquainted with Bishop Heber College (BHC). The culture shock abounds.  We stopped first in the London airport before connecting with Chennai, then Trichy.  London was, overall ,similar to the US.  Besides the quant accents, lower drinking age, pounds instead of dollars, and ritzier shopping centers, the airport was pristine, well directed, easy to understand, and otherwise what I was expecting.  Chennai is a different story.  First of all, to connect with our next flight, we had to leave the airport to get to the next.  As soon as we stepped out, a wave of heat hit us (at only 4:30 a.m.), there was a huge mass of people, and there was little guidance.  Jess and I wandered among numerous people, including several who were just sleeping on the dirt ground. We walked toward what looked like the next stop, when we realized that the walkway was not lit up at all, and there were a few people standing around staring at us.  I think this part may not have been so frightening if it had been daytime!  We eventually found a security officer who told us to follow a man who was headed in our same direction.  Without a word, he was off.  This was the first time I realized how constantly buzzing Indian culture could be.  Although this man was “guiding” us, he zoomed off and left us to fight through the crowds with our luggage.  Everyone was moving so quickly and was very confident in what they were doing, the opposite of Jess and me. 

To the left is the difference between American and European food labels, using kJ instead of calories, using grams rather than milligrams for sodium, and giving percents for each major ingredient.  

                                           

                                           

Because this Sprite is a processed food, Indian food labeling laws require it to have either that green dot (signifying vegetarian) or a brown dot (signifying non-vegetarian).  As you can see, there is no meat in Sprite.                                

To the upper right, you can see this Pizza Hut menu separated by Veg and Non-Veg, with Veg having more options. 

Above you may not be able to see, but this Subway in India has options like Corn & Peas, Paneer Tikka, Chicken Tandoori, Chicken Tikka, Hara Bhara Kebab, Chatpata Channa, among others.




























Above are Jess and I, enjoying a drink at the London airport (legally I might add)!  I will certainly not be drinking here however, as it is so hot I feel as if I would dry up. Also, while I'm talking about alcohol, driving under the influence is apparently a huge problem here after 10:00 p.m.  This is very scary, as crossing the street is terrifying enough during the calm hours.  

To the left is me with who I believe are several children training to be soldiers.  Their day starts at 4:00 a.m. with drills.

After a few bumps in the road, we made our way through security into the airport and on to Trichy.  Up in the air, it was apparent that we weren’t in Kansas anymore.  The roads were all dirt, and heaps of houses sprung up all over the place without a trace of zoning.  Many of the roofs were different colors, and there were coconut tree farms.  When we landed, the guards at the Trichy airport met us with what were either rifles or small machine guns, which was definitely surprising.  After meeting up with Dr. Sam and Raja, who were representing BHC, we started our drive to the college.  Imagine driving in the US on a two-lane road.  Now imagine that you are surrounded by buses, dump trucks, bicycles, ox-carts, rickshaws, pedestrians, motorcycles, scooters (some of which have three people on them), ambulances, cows, dogs, and goats and that two lanes spontaneously branches to three then four then back to two lanes because people dodge in and out of every available nook and cranny.  At one point there were six scooters wide in one lane.  Rather than checking for blind spots, everyone honks so that you don’t hit them, but when everyone is doing this without cease, it sounds like a drone of horns.  Every few minutes we ended up hurtling straight toward another car head-on until both drivers somehow managed to move out of the way and avoid all of the scooters at the last second.  We happened to see a scooter and bike accident.  Rather than slow down, traffic just honked more vigorously and continued to peel around the accident while they moved off the road.  Besides all of this, there was a seemingly random assortment of buildings lining the streets at all times.  One second we were passing rows of poorly constructed shacks with fallen in roofs, the next we were passing Trichy’s government center.  There were shops, Christian missionary hospitals, government hospitals, numerous billboards and advertisements, and the “Test Tube Baby Center” which is apparently just a fertility clinic with a name that tortures the imagination.  It was heart-wrenching to see such packed and dirty housing, on top of which was an advertisement for things those people could never hope to afford.  It was impossible not to have visual overload. It is surprising to me that all business and billboard signs are both in Tamil, the local language, as well as English.   So much was going on that I hardly spoke a word to Dr. Sam or Raja while they were drilling Jess and me with questions and instructions.  They speak so quickly here that it is difficult to understand, even when someone speaks English fluently. Everyone must think I look strange as I nod my head while I am listening because everyone bobs their head side-to-side, instead.  

As soon as we drove through the BHC gates, there was instant peace.  There were beautiful academic buildings; wide, clear roads; children and men dressed in uniforms performing their duties; and, finally, the international hostel.  After unpacking, we sat down to a beautiful lunch prepared by the chef who will be preparing all of our meals.  It was daal over white rice, wild rice with veggies, deliciously spiced and fried cauliflower, and fresh squeezed orange juice.  Our warden Solomon then took us on a tour of BHC and the surrounding streets of Trichy.  He took us to get some delicious tea made with sugar, milk, and coconut water.  To give you an idea of the prices here, Solomon, Jess, and I sat in a restaurant and all enjoyed tea for a grand total of 30 rupees ($0.45).  On the way back into BHC, we were swarmed with children who are training here to be soldiers one day.  They were so excited and all spoke English very well.  They shook my hand, demanded my name, gave me theirs, and wanted to take selfies.  Walking back to the dorm, the trees were louder than the traffic with the cawing of countless birds.  Lizards, frogs, squirrels, and chipmunks scurried everywhere.  Everything here is alive and vibrant.

After all of this was dinner, shower, calling my family, then bed.  How wondrous it feels to lay in a bed after travelling and touring for nearly two days!  I wish I could pack more details in now, but believe me this would turn into a 20 page essay if I did. Also, the formatting on this is a hot mess, so bear with me as I figure this out!