First Few Days in Chennai

Well, I made it! It only took me three days and two nights of sleeping in airports but I did it. I arrived at the airport late on Saturday night excited to finally be here and to sleep on an actual bed for once. My organization sent a driver to come pick me up from the airport and deliver me to my new home at the hostel. I was pretty discombobulated when I first arrived that night but I managed to take a much needed bath before setting off to sleep.

I am staying at a women's hostel for working women and students. It kind of reminds me of a really old dorm/motel. I have my own room and bathroom which is nice, though it does look like the movie set of the horror movie Saw. I'm trying to dress it up a bit but we'll see. My hostel provides meals in the mess hall three times a day, typically rice with a gravy or a curry. Sooo much rice...that is the main staple here for every meal including breakfast...in fact I can't think of a meal that didn't have rice. That being said, I do have a little hot plate to cook on in my room so I may experiment when I want to shake things up. In addition to my hot plate, I have a mosquito net to put around my bed each night.

My home for the next four months...check out that net

Rice of course and some fish and other things

Going outside is always an adventure albeit frightening at times. You must combat cows, auto rickshaws, cars, bicycles, motorcycles, beggers, and cart vendors. Honking is the preferred form of roadway communication as traffic signals are far and few.  There are honks for when someone is in the way, if they are slow, if you are about to cut them off, and honks if you just want to say hey. Did I mention that everyone drives erratically and there are no sidewalks or walk signals?  It has taken me some time to get use to this since I naturally like to walk in cities. I engage in a daily form of human frogger everywhere I go, and I must say that I am getting pretty good at it. Walking is definitely overwhelming but it makes sense to walk from my hostel to my organization since it's less than a fourth of a mile away.

My walk to work

My internship kind of threw me for a loop these first few days because it started out quite suddenly with my supervisor needing a report on climate change and its impact on child labor by Thursday. In the end it worked out. My coworkers have been very nice and patient with me as I learn the office schedule and culture. I am still unclear about what exactly I'll be doing but I'm sure I'll learn in time. 

The front of my organization, CASA

Where stuff happens in the office

Saturday:

My friends at the hostel took me on an adventure on Saturday. We first stopped by the Kapaleeshwarar Temple, devoted to the Hindu god Shiva. The sculptures depicting various forms of Shiva were really bright and detailed. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to inside the temple because it is only reserved for Hindus.

After the temple we set off to find Thai Pongal festivities. Pongal is a harvest festival that is usually celebrated in the villages surrounding Chennai. Because Pongal is more of a rural celebration, we had to drive around and find what few events we could in the city. We finally manged to find one at a Roman Catholic church called Church of Our Lady of Light. There, they had a beautiful kolam, (a design drawn with rice flour on the ground) and a pot full of the traditional pongal dish, a sweet mixture of mung beans, cardamon, raisins, and cashew nuts...kind of like a porridge. Everyone was very accommodating and made sure that I was able to watch the celebration. Lastly, after the Pongal celebration, Annie and I went shopping for a sari for me. Apparently I picked out an older style but I love it all the same.

Angie, Celin, me and Annie at a Pongal celebration

Sunday:

I managed to clean up my room and research some details for work in the morning. Then later in the evening, the girls and I went to see a traditional Tamil dance held in celebration for the Pongal holiday.