India Comes to A Close

I apologize for the delay in posting.  I've either been busy, or not had access to internet these past couple days.  Right now I'm sitting in the Montreal, Canada airport waiting for my final flight back home.  These past couple days have been a blur.  As the realization set in that this experience was nearly over, and that I really would be leaving soon, I've tried to cherish every moment that I've had with the kids.  Friday night, instead of our "Highs and Lows" at dinner, we had "What you learned."  It was a great time to reflect on these past weeks and to really see how my life has changed.  I've seen a culture that doesn't care so much about looking good, but being happy.  I've experienced a complete outpouring of love and trust from both the kids at Rising Star, and the patients in the leper colonies to people like me, who they hardly know.  The kids know full well at the beginning of our time there, that we have to go after 3 weeks, but there is no holding back love.  I hope that that's something I can take into my life; the ability to love everyone, no matter what.  I've re-learned how wonderful it feels to serve others, and what a blessing it is to both sides.  I've been able to see through the perhaps scary and dirty exterior of India, and see the beautiful people and culture.  India has most definitely changed me.

After dinner, we had our last family time with the kids.  I'd promised to bring over paper with the idea that they were going to make paper airplanes, but they immediately started making notes for me.  They made me promise I'd say goodbye in the morning before I left as well.  When I came in the morning, they had even more notes with gifts that may seem small, but were very personal for them.  I was given a couple pencils, a pen, a pencil pouch, an old, slow watch, and one of the boys even gave me 5 rupees (about 10 cents).  You have to understand... these boys' belongings fit in a backpack, but still they didn't care.  It reminds me of the widows' mite.  They are willing to give all for the sake of showing their love.  Again, I feel that I can learn so much from them.

Some of my boys.  They are the cutest.  I have the hardest time saying no to them.

Off to ride bikes.  I forgot to mention that's what my family did for Friday's playtime.

Watching them ride bikes is great.  Some of their bikes they have don't even have pedals, but that doesn't stop them.  People in India are so good at improvising.  Also, they bike the same way that they drive.  It makes me smile.

Friday night, they also had a dance show for us.  At Rising Star, they have a dancing group called Life Dance, that not only teaches dancing, but also life skills.  It was started by a group called Promethean Spark, which sets up this dance group in all sorts of places.  They told us that they'd just recently started it at a drug rehab center.  Some of the kids are amazing dancers.  This is Vignesh, from my family.










My last day in Chennai was spent with 7 of the other volunteers, shopping and just spending time together.  I got to experience trying to order pizza over the phone in India, and a taxi to get to the airport.  It took forever, and could have been annoying, but mostly I thought it was hilarious.  I got to experience rickshaw rides again (and I apologize I didn't take a video of it, but I think everyone should experience it once in their life).  India is a wonderful place.  If I could do this all over again, I would.  The only things I would change would be to stay longer, and to give of myself even more.  This chapter of India is closed, but I hope that someday I can return.

And the Rain Came Down...

Today was just wonderful.  I hope I can remember all of the great things that happened today.  It started off with us heading to a colony.  Once we got there, instead of doing our washing/bandaging station, we helped hand out shoes that had been custom made to fit their feet, many of which are affected by leprosy.  Since all of us weren't required for that part, I spent most of the time sitting with, or talking to different leprosy patients.  That's probably what I enjoyed the most; being able to be around such strong spirited people.  I love being able to put a smile on their face, even if it's only for a moment.  After the large colony, we stopped at another which was really just a house with 3 patients in.  We washed, and re-bandaged their feet, and then gave them their new shoes as well.  Each of the patients was so grateful, and excited for their shoes.  If anything, shoes are even more important for the leprosy-affected.  They help protect their feet from injury, which is what causes the ulcers.

The cobbler fitting shoes to one of the leprosy patients.

I was on bandage removal today.  It was a pretty quick job with only three patients.

















The hour or so normally used for playtime was a water fight instead!  It was lots of fun, and even though the balloons only lasted about 2 minutes, there were plenty of buckets for dousing people with.  Family time was so much fun, even if my head was spinning.  I've sort of built up a reputation for being the one to spin kids around, and tonight I started spinning people airplane style (I held onto one arm and one leg).  The kids thought it was the next best thing.  I think I spun each kid about 4 times.  Even alternating directions each time only lasted so long.  Luckily, most of them had gotten distracted with drawing, and so that took up the rest of my time there.  Vishva, one of my boys, wrote me a wonderful note.  It said:

"I like Joel.  I love you.  On Saturday you leave.  I will sad."  I'm going to miss these guys.

But the night was not over.  As it has for the past week, the rain began.  Only this time, it was a lot more exciting.  Since I'd gotten pretty sweaty spinning kids every which way, I joined some of the other volunteers in the rain.  After getting soaked for the second time and making shadow puppets, I changed into PJ's.  But then the lightning started.  For the next hour and a half (or something like that), it was non-stop lightning and some amazing thunder.  There wasn't more than a 2 second interval between flashes.  Maybe we were all stupid for sitting under the balcony watching the show, but it was amazing.

While I'm sharing stuff from other people, I'd better add in something I forgot from our bus ride from Agra back to Delhi.  On this trip, I've made lots of new friends... Brianna and Stacey being on the top of that list.  They're pretty much the best.  Sometimes they would ask me random questions like, "What's your Mom's name?", or, "What's your middle name?"  Okay, so maybe they weren't too random.  Anyways, on the way back, Brianna stood up, and over the microphone read this (which they just wrote on the bus):

May 3rd, 1988 Joel Hills Marshall entered this world to the arms of Kari and Earl Marshall of Maryland.  Joel (affectionately known as Jo-el), has resided most of his life there, except for his mission in Portland, Oregon (where most of his companions did not have girlfriends), and his time at BYU where he is currently studying Mechanical Engineering.
Joel is the 2nd of 6.  All boys.  Joel is unsure of his favorite food and movie, but it has been confirmed that he enjoys running in his size 14 running shoes.  Joel enjoys telling stories, Indian food, and politely giving up his seat to girls and tour guides.
Joel has never been in a fight, except for some mild wrestling with his brothers.  And although he doesn't know how much he can benchpress, he still really loves the 'Lord of the Rings'.  He has had all 4 wisdom teeth removed, as well as 4 other permanent teeth.  Even though he's new to Skype, Joel mastered the software with astounding ease.
Joel also enjoys poking good-natured humor at those with unsightly facial hair.  As of recently, he does not intend on growing a beard himself.
Joel is a kind and funny person, and I think we can all agree we're better for knowing him.  Stories happen.  We love you Joel.  Thank you.

Brianna and Stacey

Here's me putting things out of order again.  This is the millipede I presented to one of our coordinators who hates them (most of the ones we've run into have not been this big).  She still talks to me, so I'll take that as a good sign.

A House for a Goat

Construction finally began again today, only this time it was on Rising Star campus.  To be honest it seemed a little silly, but I was happy to be working.  The goal of construction today was to build a more weather-resistant home for the goat that lives on campus for the rainy season.  They decided to repair an old garage type building made out of tubing and pleated tin sheets (about 10x10x10 ft).  So it was more like us building a mansion for this goat... I hope he's happy about it.  It would have been alright, but they had to clean off the scraps that had fallen from the mango tree that's growing above it.  This stirred up quite a bit of bugs, which was not okay with the girls (everyone but me).  Luckily after the first little bit, they seemed to have settled down, and we got a couple of tin panels tied up with metal wire.  Since work is limited on the construction end of things right now, we ended pretty early, but today was a scorcher, so I wasn't complaining.

Instead of playtime today, there was a birthday party for all the birthdays in August, where all the students came and sang to the birthday boys and girls, and ate cake.  It wasn't quite the same as American cake, but it was good.  At dinner each night, everyone gives a high and a low for the day.  I think I forgot to mention this in my earlier description of a typical day.  That's probably one of the highs of my days, is hearing the wonderful experiences that everyone is having.  Our typical meal consists of red rice, some sort of vegetable curry/sauce to put on top, and a vegetarian side.  If we're lucky there's some chicken, too.

At family time, I'm pretty sure I either swung, spun, or lifted every boy at least twice.  It wears me out, but it's so much fun to see their faces, and to feel like I'm a big brother for them... even if it's only temporary.

Medical and MMA

I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a completely normal day in India.  Instead of our normal rotation, all of us went to medical today.  I guess the construction on campus wasn't ready until tomorrow, and so they just decided to have us all go together.  It was to a colony I hadn't been to before where another foundation has done a lot of construction and so they have some nicer houses (again according to leper colony standards).  I was in charge of taking their pulse and blood pressure with Chanelle.  It was really an easy thing, but it was great to see all the different people, and how happy they were.  The highlight of my day came when I was helping one patient, Joseph, through the different stations.  See, Joseph doesn't have feet, and he's mostly blind and deaf.  So Ray and I picked him up and set him in the very rudimentary wheelchair they had and rolled him from station to station.  But we were all surprised by his spirit.  The whole time he sang songs and prayed, and even though it was in Tamil, and I couldn't communicate with him verbally, I knew that he was singing from his heart.  Since he didn't have feet, his ulcers were on his hands.  He teared up when they were cutting the dead skin off from around the ulcer, and all I could do was put hand on his shoulder and hope that he knew I cared.

That's my hand on his shoulder.  Ashley's cleaning his ulcers, and Ray's the one holding up the water tray.  It was wonderful how understanding everyone was in adapting to each persons individual needs.  I love the Indian people, and I love my group of volunteers.

For family time this evening, the pillow fight was requested again.  Only this time more people were involved, and I was the primary target.  And of course, since there were only 3 or 4 pillows, fists were involved, too (not mine, I promise).  It was lots of fun.  After a while, our pillow fight turned into something akin to MMA (mixed martial arts), and 4 of the boys took their shirts off and were showing off their muscles and wrestling skills.  I have the best group of guys. Perhaps some pictures will illustrate tonight's events better.

Steven was in charge of all the pictures this evening.  He did a really good job.  I feel like this is a great action shot.

My primary weapon was not pillows, but tickling.  The kids are all so ticklish!  And of course you can see the pillow being swung at my face.

This one's my favorite.  This is after the fighting began, and they wanted a picture, and they told me to flex.  These are three of the muscular men in my family.









These next few are just awesome.

Yup, those are my boys.

Back on Campus

It was so great to be back on the RSO campus.  I felt like I'd returned home.  It was back to tutoring today, but that only lasted so long.  We tutored for three periods, then were told we were going to measure the kids' shoe sizes for shoes that are going to be donated.  It took longer than expected, and so that took up the rest of the school day.  When playtime came around, the downpour began.  So, since most all of the kids stayed inside during it, some of us volunteers started a game of soccer in the rain.  By the end of it I was soaked, and covered in sand, but it was so much fun.  The rain was so cold, which felt wonderful in the 90-something degree weather.  Family time today was the best it's been so far.  I had so much fun.  I don't know whose idea it was, but the older kids had organized a talent show for us.  It included everything from some very goofy dancing, to presenting artwork, to telling stories, and singing songs.  Can I mention again how much I love these kids?  Afterwards, what began as me lifting kids onto the top bunk, quickly turned into a pillow fight.  Of course it was me against 3 boys, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  My primary weapon wasn't pillows, it was tickling.  By the end of it, I was worn out.  Luckily, the rain had started again and the run back to my room was cool and refreshing.  There was some incredible lightning as well, and some thunder that got some screams out of the girls.  The night ended with a game of rummy with some of the other volunteers in which I lost again.  I feel like I could do this for months.  (Sorry, no pictures today.)

Bus Breakdown

Sunday turned out to be a little more exciting than we anticipated.  We left at around 9:30 back to Delhi for some more sight-seeing, but about 2 1/2 hours in our bus broke down.  Luckily, it was in the middle of a town/city that had mechanics that happened to have the right parts.  Apparently the gas line cracked, and so our gas had all leaked out.  It was the waiting for it to be fixed that was the exciting part.  A couple minutes after stopping, a lady started pounding on the side of the bus.  After a little while, we figured out that she was trying to get money.  Usually, they'll be persistent but not overbearing... but I'm pretty sure her policy was 'Annoy 'em til they pay you to go away'.  Then, some guys decided they were interested in some of the girls in our group, and sort of crowded around the bus.  It was a little bit of a scary situation, but there are some amazing people in our group, and we made the best of it.  We laughed off the people that stared, and traveled in groups when we needed to make bathroom stops, or get off the hot bus (since the A/C couldn't run).  See, in India, some people treat you like celebrities, and others just seem baffled.  It makes sense, though.  India is much less diverse, as far as skin color goes, than America is.  Also, if you think public restrooms in America are bad, think again.  Not only are they harder to find, but most are downright scary.

When the bus was fixed, after about 2 hours of work, we headed off again.  We just traveled another 15 minutes or so before we got to the elephant rides.  It was just a place on the side of the road that had a camel and an elephant for riding, as well as a monkey you could get your picture with.  It cost some money, and was sort of a short ride, but how often do you get to ride an elephant?

I don't remember his name, but the driver (I guess that's what I'll call him) said the elephant's a male, and is 25 years old.

My new friend.  He doesn't talk much.
















After our stop there, it was right on to the airport because of our delay earlier.  We had some KFC there, which was delicious and not extremely over-priced like airport food is elsewhere.  After our flight, and the drive home, we got back around midnight.  Another long but wonderful day.

The Taj Mahal!

Normally, groups get up early around 5:30 and watch the sunrise at the Taj Mahal, but due to the rain the night before they were expecting fog, so we didn't leave until around 9.  It's too bad we didn't get to see the sunrise, but at least we got some more sleep.  For this part of our trip, we had another tour guide... Ramesh.  He's given tours for everyone from the CEO of Intel to members of Congress.  When you first get your ticket, you have to either walk the last kilometer, or take a non-gasoline powered vehicle to preserve the Taj.  We took one of their electric buses in.  Not only that, but no phones, or video cameras are allowed past a certain point as well.  I'm going to try and walk through my visit to the Taj Mahal with a picture tour.

When you first walk in, you enter in the east gate of a large courtyard surrounded by the low red wall in this picture.  The gate shown is the north gate... the one that serves as the entryway to the Taj Mahal.  I guess I should say the wall is more like a bunch of rooms that once were for the craftsmen that worked on the Taj, since there were no hotels back then and none of the workers were Indian.

This is the entryway from the front.  It's hard to see on this small picture, but there's Hindi script around the large arch... the really cool thing is that it's all inlaid onyx.  None of it is painted, and the higher words are stretched so that from the ground everything looks even.  There are a total of 22 little domes on the top of the entryway, 11 of which you can see on this side, and 11 on the other side symbolizing the 22 years it took to build the Taj.  The entry is symmetric.

My first glimpse of the Taj.  It was amazing!

I thought for my next one, I ought to insert a token picture with me in it.  Apparently, from my smile, I haven't fully grasped that I'm at the Taj Mahal.

This one shows the symmetry a little better. It was built in the 17th century, but has amazing accuracy.  The line from the entryway to the front of the Taj is a straight line of fountains.

Oh hey, look!  I'm looking happier.  Some of you may be wondering what that ridiculously orange shirt I'm wearing is.  A kurta is a traditional shirt worn in India (mostly northern from what I've seen).  So this shirt is basically a kurta, only kurtas normally go down to your knees.  Time for another Taj fact.  The towers look perfectly straight, but they're actually tilted outwards at 93 degrees.  Apparently, this is not only to prevent them falling inwards in an earthquake, but also so they're more visible from different angles.

Each side of the Taj is actually exactly identical.  This is the east side, the side in most pictures is the south side.  It's all made of marble from 70 miles away (if I remember correctly), which they had to transport and carve without modern technology.

This is just under the main arch on the front of the Taj.  Not only are the flowers carved from single pieces of marbe, but the outside patterns are all inlaid stones.  The girls in the picture are some of the other volunteers here; Stacey's on the left, and Brianna's on the right.

This is from inside looking east at the guest house.  To provide symmetry, they built another one on the other side.  In the very center where the tombs are, of the emperor and his wife (his tomb was added post-construction, so it's the only non-symmetrical thing about it), pictures are not allowed, but this in a hallway that wraps around the center room.

So, after the Taj, we went to the Red Fort.  It served as the residence of the imperial family.  Think really big castle, only it's red, and in India.  The details inside of it were also pretty impressive, but it has been looted 5 times, and so many of the precious materials are now gone.












It rained on and off all day today, both at the Taj and the Red Fort, so we got soaked several times, but it was a blast.  We danced in the rain, and made the best of it.  And our day wasn't over yet.  We then went to a carpet company where they showed us how authentic Indian rugs are made, with individual knots.  A 6 by 8 foot rug takes 2 and a half months when two people are working on it full time.  It's really an amazing thing to watch.

The store had 2,000 workers all around villages that get paid by the square inch.  These knotters were in the room for presentation purposes mostly.  I'm still impressed by how quickly they move through each row.








We did some shopping as well, but the majority of our day was over.  We had Pizza Hut for dinner, because pizza is especially good when you have rice and vegetables every night.  That's not to say I don't like Indian food, though.  Sunday's events will be up soon.

A Day in Delhi

My day today started early... 2:30am to be exact.  We got ready and left for the airport by 3 for our 6:55 flight to Delhi.  When we got there around 10, we were met by our tour guide Raj.  We drove around Delhi, passing the foreign embassies and the Royal Palace (similar in function to the White House, only it has 316 rooms).
This is the best picture I could get of it from the bus.













We finally made it to Old Delhi (Delhi is huge), and took bicycle rickshaws through it's streets.  If you have a couple extra minutes, here are two 2-minute videos while we were in the rickshaw.  I was too tall for the rain covering, so it was a little uncomfortable, but something that was totally worth it.

One of the places they took us was a Jain temple.  Apparently Jain is even older than Buddhism.  The outside wan't that impressive, but the inside had lots of intricately detailed statues and paintings, even though it was over 1000 years old.  They also took us to the spice market.  It was really pretty cool.  Sometimes the scent was overpowering and caused people to sneeze.

The spice market seemed to mostly be contained in this square, although it did go up the full 4 levels.

















At this point, I think we headed off on our bus ride to Agra where the Taj Mahal is located.  It was about a 6 1/2 or 7 hour bus ride, so we got there about 11:30 at night.  It had been a long day of traveling, so sleep followed shortly thereafter.  I will note that we stayed at the Radisson, and it was an amazing hotel.  That's the first real shower I've had in two weeks.

This is India

My day started off rather normal, at least by India's standards.  Our group headed to medical at the most developed leper colony to do the washing, oiling, and re-bandaging at their old-folks home.  See, their businesses have been so successful, they were able to build a place for their elderly to live.  And even though it is a well-off colony as far as living conditions are concerned, that doesn't make the effects of leprosy any different. The people still need to have their sores taken care of.  Today I was in charge of oiling their feet after they were washed.  The oil stuff we use has quite the smell.  Apparently, not only does it help their skin stay moist, but it keeps the flies away, and has antibiotic properties.  There were so many cute people there.  One little old lady, not more than 5 feet tall (probably just over 4) wore her glasses upside down, and had such a wonderful, contagious laugh.  They show such gratitude.  I only hope that I can be just as grateful in my own life.

Partway through, we found out Kim, the head of the construction team, who was filling in holes in the same colony had dislocated her knee.  I was asked to go and provide an extra set of hands, since she was unable to work, and the rest of the group were pretty worn out (it was a super hot day today).  So I was able to help out shoveling some dirt to finish up a septic tank.  Even though it was a small thing, again I received the same overabundant gratitude that those at the old folks home showed.  Sometimes I'm just left to wonder what I did to deserve such wonderful people and experiences in my life.

During playtime, instead of playing soccer, I promised Gokulraj I'd sit and talk with him.  This came about because I'd asked him what he did during playtime, and he'd said he likes to sit quietly and talk.  So we talked a little about his favorite color (blue), Tom and Jerry, and about parent weekend.  See this weekend is when parents of the kids (at least those that have parents), can come visit.  But apparently, this time his parents won't be coming because of their money situation.  These have got to be some tough kids.  What made my day was Naveen (a different one from the one we sponsor).  I was sitting down, and he just came over, sat in my lap, and we talked.  I really hadn't talked with him much at all except got his name once (he had to remind me again), but he was willing to come over and be my friend.  There's not much better than a kid feeling comfortable enough to come and sit with you, and talk like you've known each other forever.  His favorite color was red, his favorite animal is a Lion, and his favorite movie is, of course, 'The Lion King'.  For family time I drew some more pictures (T-Rex and dragons - they seem to be really popular), and played some Connect 4.  Oh, and of course swinging kids around.  That's become somewhat of a tradition now.  I really love these kids.  Pictures will come...

This is what I did for part of the day... our clinic was set up outside.  It gets pretty hot.

Here's the lady who was so funny.  If you can't tell, her glasses are upside down, and she laughed so much.  She was so much fun.

Frogs Set Free

Today was great!  We were on construction again, so we were off to the leper colony.  We made one more septic tank with those huge cement rings again, and finished up a couple others.  But we noticed at the bottom of one of the septic tanks there were a couple frogs.  Us, being the kind-hearted people we are, felt bad for them and wanted to get them out.  I volunteered myself to go in and rescue them.  So I hopped into the 6 foot deep hole, and set to work trying to catch the frogs and put them outside the tank.  What I thought would be quick, was not so quick.  From above we saw about 3 frogs... from inside I could see about 20.  And most of them were resistant to being caught.  So after getting about 8 out, and struggling in vain to get more... I climbed back out.  May the remainder of the frogs rest in peace.  We then set to work filling in around the edges of another tank.  See, a round septic tank in a square hole isn't a perfect fit... so we had to scoop dirt back in around the sides.  This was a pretty time consuming, sweaty, exhausting project... but so much fun.  In India, they even have different shovels...  Afterwards we went to the Bindu School of Art in the colony where people, including the leprosy-affected, paint pictures and then the money from it goes to the artist, the school, and the old folks home they have there.  It's cool, because it's just one way the leprosy patients can become self-sufficient.

At family time, I was asked by one of the kids, Enokelee, to swing him by his hands and feet, and then everyone wanted to... it gets pretty exhausting... but again, so much fun!  I played connect four, cards, and Gokulraj wanted me to tell a story before I left.  I've done this for the past night or two, but couldn't think of any, so he told me one about Danny the Dragon.  When I went outside to head back, there was another game of net-less volleyball going.  That's the great thing about India... they don't need nets for anything.  I got asked to play... it was so great.  Maybe it's that I'm in India, maybe it's because I'm loving these kids more and more, or maybe it's both.

This is the Bindu school of Art.  Not super fancy, but nicer than a lot of places I've seen in India.

The kids were playing a game where one person drove the car, and the rest were laying down and had to roll around to dodge it.  They wanted me to take this picture.

Basically with 'India' volleyball... you just have to decide the middle, and the back boundaries and then just play!  Super easy and lots of fun!

Epic

That would be the word to describe our soccer game today.  For playtime most every day, some of the kids and volunteers start a crazy game of soccer.  A small field and about 20 small kids running around makes for a game similar to pinball.  I was goalie for most of it, which was plenty exciting.  Well, I guess the fact that we won is what made it better.  Near the end, though... one of the volunteers got nailed in the face with the ball and got a bloody nose, but luckily it wasn't too bad.  Earlier we spent our day tutoring some kids.  It's wonderful to see them learn; whether it be being able to answer comprehension questions about a story they just read, or better understanding double digit multiplication, it was just great.  When I arrived for family time, most of my kids were drawing the Buzz Lightyear that's painted on the wall.  They were so proud of their drawings and would come up to me and show me them.  They were really pretty good!  By the way, the school on Rising Star campus is a full-time thing.  Most all of the kids don't go home to their families, but instead stay on campus for months... hence being split up into families.  This isn't uncommon to RSO, but all the kids sleep pretty much straight on the cement floor.  They are so cute, though.  Now every time before they fall asleep, they want hi-fives or for me to pick them up by their feet (I started that one).  I love it here, and I love the kids at Rising Star.

Viren drawing intently.  He was so focused.

Adding some finishing touches to the drawings.  From bottom left, clockwise, we have Viren, Steven, Anbarasu (you can only see the right side of him), and Karti (or Kartik).

These are some of the younger kids in bed.  I'm still working on their names.

No Internet

This post is going to have to cover two days worth... for the past day and a half our internet's been down.  See... in India, you can't ever expect what's going to happen; India has it's own mind.  Take the power for instance.  Out here, there isn't a day, and probably not an hour that goes by without the power going out for at least a couple seconds.  At home, this might concern me, but in India, you really do just have to, "come what may, and love it."

Yesterday we went to church in Chennai.  I was actually really surprised... they had quite the branch.  Even without the volunteers, they had a good 50 members there.  The primary sang a song (there were about 15-20 of them), and a returning missionary gave a talk.  They also have at least one soon to be leaving missionary.  It was really cool to see their faith, and to see how the Church is growing.

Today was super.  (That's the go to word that the Indian people use when something good happens.)  Our group was assigned to medical today, and so we went to another leper colony.  This one was also in pretty decent shape... they had some straw houses, but most were cement/plaster.  We set up a station that the leprosy affected patients visited.  They would check in, see the doctor, get prescribed medications, get their bandages removed, their feet washed and oiled (sort of like lotion), and then new bandages put on.  See, when people get leprosy, the leprosy itself makes it so that tissue dies, and so the cartilage (especially on fingers and toes) is absorbed into the body.  But there are also side effects.  Since there is nerve damage, when they're hurt, or walk too much, they can't tell.  Sometimes this results in them developing ulcers.  This is what the bandages are for.  Ashley and I were in charge of washing their feet; especially the ulcers.  It was really a hard thing; not because it was gross or made me queasy, but because I felt bad for them and causing pain (it hurts to have an ulcer cleaned out).  But it was such a wonderful experience to see that their predicament didn't get them down.  It really was cute to see them smile, and show their gratitude.  Later today also involved an epic game of soccer with the kids, and a goofy game of cards.  These are days to remember.

Some of the really old carvings in Mamallapuram.

Ashley posed really well for the picture, but the main purpose of this was to show what the inside of an Indian clothing store looks like.  In this one, you choose fabric from the piles, and tell him what you want made, and he makes it.  All you have to do is negotiate a price and a time.

Even though it's hard to tell at first glance, this whole street is shops.  As far as I've been able to tell, most outdoor markets look like this.

The resort we spent part of our day in Mamallapuram at.

This is from today.  We decided to take pictures next to one of the smaller huts in the colony.  People really live like that.

This was before it was all set up, but I was stationed over on the right side washing their feet.  One of our group leaders, Kim, took more pictures which hopefully I can share once I get them.









Well, that's it for today.  Today especially has helped me appreciate what wonderful blessings I have been given.

Mamallapuram

Each of the two weekends we're here on campus, we go somewhere exciting.  This weekend was Mamallapuram, next week is Delhi!  Stay tuned.  When we first got there, we had the opportunity to look at some old stone carvings, and do some shopping.  There were lots of stores, and lots of eager salesmen.  So far, I haven't seen any salesman more persistent and persuasive than an Indian salesman.  I went around with a group of girls (seeing as there are 12 girls and 3 guys), and collectively got everything from jewelry to shoes to clothing.  I got a shirt custom made... as in from straight fabric to a finished shirt... in and hour and twenty minutes for 450 rupees (about the equivalent of $10).  It was pretty incredible.  After our shopping spree, we went to an Indian beach resort.  For Indian standards, it was really nice.  I went swimming in the Bay of Bengal... it's not every day you can say that.  On our way back, we stopped at a restaurant and had parotha.  One of the other volunteers described it as a croissant tortilla.  I thought that was the best description; it's flaky, and buttery, and delicious.  They served it with a little egg omelet.  So for a full meal, I paid less than $1 US dollar.  Awesome.  Once we got back, we went over and watched a movie with the kids for their movie night.  That basically meant we were couches for them, while they watched "Meet the Robinsons".  They were given a choice between two movies at the beginning, and the voting consisted of who yelled the loudest.  It was so much fun to see.  This week has been wonderful.  It's late, so I'll post some pictures tomorrow after church or something.

Friday Already!?

This week has flown by!  It's just been a rush of new and exciting things, and today was no different.  We went to the same leper colony as before for construction, only this time we were moving 200 to 300 lb cement rings and caps to build septic tanks.  It was pretty amazing.  There were only four of us again, and we stacked 6 rings in a hole; one on top of the other, and put on about 8 or 9 caps to other tanks that had already been built.  It was hard work, but I'm in a great group, and they make the work fun.  For playtime, we did another game of soccer... it was lots of fun, and lots of sweating.  I think the best part of my day though, came at family time.  Tonight, more than before, I really felt like a brother to the kids in my family.  Especially to Gokulraj... today he sat me down, and asked me if I'd seen Narnia before.  I told him I had, and he proceeded to explain that the girl and the boy kissed in it.  For those who don't know... public displays of affection are a big no-no in India, as in some people get beaten or thrown into jail.  It was just cool that he wanted to tell me that.  Then another guy... gave me a paper wallet thing he made with a couple little drawings of Spider-man on.  And later, when I was sitting in a circle of 5 boys, I realized that I knew all of their names... that was really exciting.  The only thing that depresses me is that it's already been a week, and there are only two left.

Uncle! Uncle!

Today has just been a good day.  Since we were on tutoring today, we went over to the school before classes started and watched them do the national anthem, and other school announcements outside.  We then commenced our day, spending one on one time with students for 40 minutes a piece.  I think we each got through 5 students during the day.  During lunch time, we had the option of eating with the kids.  It was really cool... their cafeteria has open space instead of windows (as many buildings in India do).  All the kids sit on the ground, and eat their meal of rice with a vegetarian sauce, and vegetarian side with their fingers.  I got the kids to teach me the proper way to accomplish this.  It does require a certain amount of know-how, and it was kind of fun.

For play-time with the kids, a bunch of them wanted me to swing them around by their feet... that's not something I'd done before, but apparently they like it.  Pretty soon, another game of soccer developed (it's happened every day so far), and so I joined in.  Our dinner today was similar to most nights; red rice, vegetarian sauce, fruit salad and fish (the fish is an uncommon thing).  But the best part of the day came when family time rolled around.  Before I came, I was asked to prepare a "talent class", where I decided I would make hoop gliders. (If you don't know what they are... look at this: http://www.eweek.org/site/pdfs/English/Hoop%20Glider.pdf )  I pre-cut the strips of paper, and brought the straws and tape along.  I gave a brief demonstration on how to build them, and then let them loose.  I maintained some sense of sanity and order in the room, by keeping possession of the tape, so that it didn't get used up quickly (which was a good thing... I really did run out about a half hour later).  I had a crowd of at least 5 guys at a time around me asking for tape:  "Uncle, tape!", "Uncle! Uncle!  Tape here please!", and "Uncle!  I more piece.", over and over for at least 20 minutes.  I was worried that because I didn't have paperclips to put on the front to help them fly better, they wouldn't like them very much... but I was so wrong.  They quickly started adding wings, putting pipe cleaners on that they'd found somewhere, and just throwing them around.  It was lots of fun.  I really feel like they enjoyed it.  Luckily, only a couple of the older kids discovered near the end, that the straws could be used to blow paper wads at people.  Once we all got back from our "families", we played a couple rounds of mafia.  It really is a great group of people I'm with.

The school's morning conclave.  It's hard to tell, but they're all lined up in nice rows.

Busily working...

Some of their finished products.  I guess mostly for my sake, the one second from the left is Anbarasu.  I think the one on the left is David.

And finally, we have Viren and Basha wielding their straws.

Beautiful India

Today was another great day.  Our group was assigned to medical (we alternate between medical, tutoring, and construction).  Our job involved driving to the Chennai hospital, and basically being company for the patients we brought.  They've been cured of leprosy, but still bear the shortened fingers and toes... and the only reason they're allowed at the hospital is because a doctor that once worked for Rising Star now works there, and I guess has talked the hospital into allowing the leprosy-afflicted to come on Wednesdays.  As I was sitting there while we were waiting to be seen, I realized just how beautiful and amazing the Indian people are.  It is such a different country, and everything seems backwards to what I'm used to... but they are so happy, and are willing to give so much; even when they have so little.

As far as the hospital goes, it apparently is considered one of the nicest in India, (I'm told it's where the celebrities and politicians go.) but in America it would be shut down pronto.  There's no A/C, so it's pretty warm, it's much too dirty according to our standards, and it seems to be falling into disrepair.  But it's also interesting because their hospital is everything.  It's a doctors office, an eyeglasses shop, a pharmacy, a hospital, a psychiatry clinic.  It's really interesting.  But I've come to realize just how important it is to do what we were told to do on the very first day, to "look through India eyes."  If you look beyond what we've grown up to expect, it is a such a beautiful place, with wonderful people.

Hot Dog

So yesterday I wore a shirt some of you know, that has a hot dog on the front of it.  The kids all noticed this, of course, and now sometimes refer to me as 'Hot dog'.  But today's title has to do with more than just this.  Our group was on construction today... so at 9 am we headed off to one of the leper colonies.  The one we went to is one that is quite well off, as in it has mostly permanent houses (not the grass huts).  I also learned that not only lepers live there... some family members live there as well.  Anyways, because they are doing alright, they can afford to build bathrooms (a small square cement building with a traditional Indian squatting toilet.  So the four of us (our other group members are coming later this week) moved 260 cinder blocks to 4 different locations.  It was exhausting, and even though I drank 2 liters of water there... I drank another 2 at home because I started getting chills and a headache.  It is amazing how hot India gets...

After we finished, we went to the snake-charmer in the village.  Apparently he drinks cobra venom every day so that he can handle being bit by one.  He brought out the cobra for us to take pictures of, and most of us held a couple of the rat snakes he had.  This led to a conversation later with Gokulraj about snakes and frogs when we were at playtime.  It's so fun to talk to the kids.  For family time, one of the kids asked me to draw something, and once I drew that one... everyone wanted me to draw something.  I ended up drawing a dragon, a dinosaur, a lion, an elephant, and some character from a book they had.  Apparently I'm a "drawing master".  They would all sit behind me and comment on how real it looked.  I think they're easily impressed.  And now for some pictures!

Here we have the cobra with two of the rat snakes being held by the snake guy.

Here's me holding a snake... the snake charmer was joking with us that we should hold the cobra, too.  I thought it sounded like a good idea.