Fun Fact: I'm a Hypochondriac

June 4, 2012 started with an awful revelation: one of our team members was sick. This was my worst nightmare. [I'm not even exaggerating. Not one little bit.]

In case you didn't catch it from the title of the post, I'm kind of headcase when it comes to illness. I hear that someone somewhere has head lice? My scalp is suddenly itchy. Someone somewhere has a fever? I've got the chills. The guy down the hall has been up all night puking his brains out? I'm nauseous...

I do not like being sick. And if there was one thing I was praying about during that trip, it was that my body be shielded from sickness.

To make a long story short and to save two unnamed team members from certain embarrassment, I will spare you the gory details. Let's just say, those two spent the afternoon of June 4 in the VIP section of an Indian hospital. Their time at the hospital included: few vaccines in the Derrière, some good ol' IV treatments, and a pair of shorts in the trashcan. For more [hilarious] details, ask Dr. Starr sometime. I'm sure he will gladly share.

I'm happy to report that within the next few days everyone was healthy again and no one [including me!] got sick for the rest of the trip.

This particular Monday happened to be the first day of school at Chandra Bose. Nearly 100 Pre-K to 5th graders were signed up to attend. It was a little hectic and their first day was only a half day so we spent the morning practicing fun songs to sing with the kids later in the week. While we were practicing songs, we met Abraham, a graduate of the Bible School that used to be on the grounds of Miracle Garden/Chandra Bose. He was with a friend who was signing her kids up for school.

Taking a quick break from practicing songs to make a SIFE rainbow. 

One of the many "snaps" we took with Abraham. 

After the local kids went home, we stuffed ourselves, the 20-30 something Miracle Garden kids and their teachers into the bus and headed to the Great Bombay Circus!

On the bus with two of my favorite cuties in my lap.

I wrote in my journal that the circus was "so....local," meaning that it was definitely not a tourist attraction. While there were parts of it that were certainly weird and creepy, I loved it because it was such a unique experience. Not many people can say that they've gone to an Indian circus. The circus lasted for over two and a half hours! During that time, we saw a lot of acrobatics, a guy who could spit colored water, some sad looking an elephants and mangy dogs, and a camel.

The kids were absolutely mesmerized by the show! One of their favorite parts were the [male] clowns that kept wacking each other in the butt. Those guys were creepy.

My little man, Manik alternated between sitting on my lap and sitting in the chair next to me.

Suganthi, Josep, Carrie, and Becky all captivated by the show.

Since the show was so long, there was a constant stream of vendors walking around with everything from cold soda to ice cream to cotton candy. Every time one of them walked by, the kids would would beg us to get them whatever snack the vendor was peddling. And every time, I would guiltily say "no" and offer them Jolly Ranchers instead [side note: the kids called ALL candy "chocolate." I couldn't believe it]. Then, a man sitting in front of us purchased every single child ice cream! After the show was over, another man bought 10+ giant bags of chips for them too. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised by their generosity. After spending a semester studying Indian culture, I fully expected to encounter the effects of the caste system. I expected the Miracle Garden kids to be ignored and looked down upon because they are orphans [orphans are part of the lowest caste]. 

This poor lady's act was to bounce that ball up all those steps into a basket at the top. She had to start over like three times!

Manik loving his ice cream!

While we waited for the bus to pick us up, our group was like its own circus act. I don't think any of those people had seen such a big bunch of white people in their entire lives! Let alone a bunch of white people with an even larger bunch of orphans. We were quite the sight and as usual, attracted quite a bit of attention.

When we "got home" Dr. Starr and our sick friends were still at the hospital and we were locked out of our house! So we went and got ice cream [definitely one of my favorite "dinners!"] and did some shopping. I was so excited to get so much stuff for so little money. Twenty dollars later, I had 10 new scarves and a new purse. 

At the end of the day, we were happy to see our once sick friends eating toast [and keeping it down!], sitting upright, and laughing about their experiences at the hospital. 

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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.

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Erin Goes to India: Trying to Find the Words

It has been a week.

A week since I packed my bags for the last time. A week since I held their hands, since I hugged and kissed them goodbye. A week since I sat in the back of that 12 passenger van, unable to take my eyes off the sights all around me. A week since I sat in that airport and swore that I would not eat Indian food again for a very long time. A week since I peered out the window of that tiny jetplane as its propellers whirred, marking the beginning of my journey back to the USA.

And in that week I have:

• Gotten a new car.
• Gotten a new haircut.
• Started a new job.
• Begun multiple [unfinished] blog posts.
• Spent hours sifting through hundreds pictures of beautiful Indian children over and over.
• Talked non-stop about India to anyone that will listen.

By the end of my trip, I thought I was ready to go home. I missed my family, my bed, my shower, my food. And yet, within 24 hours of being home, I was missing India--this face in particular:

This is Manik Basa. He is one of the sweetest, funniest 5-year-olds I have ever met. He likes to color [in the lines], play tag, take pictures, and cuddle. And he will go down the very steep and scary slide, but only if you hold his hand all the way down. I fell in love with this little guy almost immediately and if I could have stuffed him in my suitcase and brought him home, I would have in a heartbeat. Instead of bringing him home, I left a piece of my heart there with him. Though I have missed many of the kids at Miracle Garden, I have missed him most of all. 

It has been so hard for me to figure out how to put my thoughts and feelings about India into words. This is the first blog post in a week that has even come close to being finished! [Go me!] 

Stay tuned, though. I did keep a journal every day of those two weeks, so I'm sure I'll find the words soon enough. 

Until then, you can watch this video of my trip! I've watched it approximately ten million times already...

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