Traveling to the Other Side of the World

I remember the day I decided to go India.

I remember the day I attended the interest meeting.

I remember the day I paid the deposit to go. 

And the day I got my passport. 

I remember the day that I found out my trip was completely paid for.

I remember the day that my countdown reached 100 days. 

Then 50 days. 

30 days. 

7 days. 

And finally, 24 hours. 

For most of the time leading up to my departure I was 100% excited and 0% nervous. It didn't really hit me that I was hopping on a plane and flying to the other side of the world until those final 24 hours of my countdown. While I was still excited, I was suddenly a nervous wreck. As much as I knew about my trip and about India, fear of the unknown crept into my mind.

If you're thinking of going to India, be forewarned. Traveling there takes FOREVER [Note: FOREVER = 2 days]. We started our trek across the globe on Wednesday, May 30 and didn't actually arrive at our destination in India until Friday, June 1. Our first flight was a quick one from Rochester to LaGuardia. After that, though, was our super long flight from NYC to Chennai, India [with a quick-ish stop in Brussels, Belguim]. I was really excited that our airline was Indian because we got to experience a part of the culture almost immediately. Of course, that meant all the food they served was Indian.  I was excited to try new food at first. When they served a meal every 2 hours or so, though, that excitement definitely wore off. Indian plane food is not good. I need to stop writing about it because just thinking of it is making me nauseous....haha.

Waiting in LaGuardia for our flight to India with Jacqui, Kaitlyn, and Becky. We look so awake and clean!

There's our plane! It was HUGE.

Anyways, several movies and TV shows later [THANK GOODNESS FOR THOSE LITTLE TVS!], we landed in Chennai. INDIA! My first "Indian experience" was a public bathroom. I had mentally prepared myself for Indian style toilets [holes in the ground] and was pleasantly surprised that they had some "European style" toilets there too [not holes in the ground, not cushy porcelain thrones either]. At the time, I was really grossed out by it. There was water all over the floor [they use hoses instead of toilet paper...] and it smelled pretty bad. I used lots of Purell and held my breath.

Next on the agenda was going through customs. As I had never been out of the country, I had never had to go through customs. It wasn't really that exciting. You fill out a form, they look at your passport, they do not return your friendly smile, you continue along.

We landed in Chennai at midnight-ish and our final flight to Coimbatore wasn't until 6 AM-ish so we had some time to kill after we claimed all of our luggage. After wandering around the airport for a little bit, we camped out on the floor of the domestic terminal.

This is actually when I got a solid chunk of journaling done. I couldn't really sleep (a) because I was super excited to be in India (b) because we were on the floor and (c) because my body had absolutely NO IDEA what time it was.

"Now we're camped out on the floor of this rustic airport. I'm surrounded by workers sleeping on newspaper/cardboard. They are literally covered in flies. It's strange to think that they are probably thankful for this place to sleep while I am fighting back the urge to complain." 

This night in the airport was completely out of my comfort zone. At the time I wanted nothing more than to take a shower and get into a bed. In hindsight, though, God prepared my heart so much during those uncomfortable hours. I was reminded that lots of things in India were going to put me out of my comfort zone. It was during those hours that I decided to approach everything with an open heart. I didn't go to India to be comfortable. I didn't want to be comfortable. How do you experience anything new and exciting if you're always sticking to the comfortable things?

Eventually, it was time to pick up the tickets for our domestic flight and go through security one more time [Actually it's called the "frisking" line. Indians have such a knack for naming things]. They separate the men and women. Women get one line; men get five. I don't get it but that's how it's done. Anyways, once we were done getting frisked, we boarded a very tiny airplane for our final flight to Coimbatore!

We landed at around 8 AM and once we were in Coimbatore I truly realized that we were in India.

"I felt like I was in a Bollywood movie. Everywhere I turn there are people in colorful clothes, crazy traffic, and honking horns. There are weird smells, unfamiliar food, and strange noises. It's overwhelming (in a good way) to say the least."

We somehow stuffed all our luggage, 9 people, and our trusty bus driver, Bala, into a 12-passenger van. The remaining 3 people in our group rode in a mini-van with John Pandian, the owner of Miracle Garden. Once we were on the road, I literally could not take my eyes off the sights. I wouldn't be surprised if my mouth was hanging open. I also wouldn't be surprised if I smelled like stale airplane.

The view outside my window.

Traffic was so crazy. Notice there are no lanes...

We had a house rented out for most of the time we were in Coimbatore but for the first night we stayed at a hotel instead. It was pretty nice compared to the airplane floor. I shared a room with Kaitlyn and Becky. We had two twin beds and three people, so Becky and I shared. When we finally went to bed, we were so exhausted we didn't even care. And I finally got to take a shower. Hallelujah!

"What an adjustment it is from showering in a shower to showering under a cold spicket right next to the toilet."

The bathroom experiences in India were so strange. Showers are not separate entities within the bathroom. Rather, there is a drain in the middle of the bathroom floor and the shower (if there is a shower head) sprays water all over the room. There is often a bucket and pitcher that you can fill up and then take a "bucket shower." I was very against bucket showers at first but I got over it pretty quickly because the water pressure in India is pretty much non-existant and it takes more than a little trickle of water to get this lion mane clean. The best part [in hindsight] about my first shower in India was that the power went off while I was in there and then the drain clogged and our hotel room flooded. I kept telling myself it would be funny in a few weeks...it is.

Once we were all clean and showered, I was all ready to get in bed and sleep for two days. Instead, we piled back into the bus and headed over to the Miracle Garden to meet the kids! On that first day, I remember feeling bad because I was SO out of it. I wasn't feeling very energetic and subsequently didn't do much playing. The kids were all really shy. To be honest, the rest of that day is kind of a blur. I was really tired and fell asleep sitting up multiple times. All I remember is that when I finally got in bed I passed out pretty much immediately. :)

This is the Miracle Garden Orphanage/Chandra Bose School! 

Playing with the kids on our first day. 

 Our first "day" was a long one mostly because it spanned from Wednesday to Friday. If you liked reading this stop by again soon to hear about the rest of my trip. I'm going to try and post a day-by-day account of my experiences.