Day 1 At The Rising Star

So this is kind of part 2 of the previous post.... It really was just one LOOONG day for me so I'm counting it all as day 1.

The bus ride to the school was CRAZY!! Bumpy, HOT and full of FUN!!  We made a new friend, Benson.  He is the only male volunteer and one of only 3 males (adults) on campus, besides the bus drivers. Ok so I guess he's not the only boy. He is hilarious!! He is from California and is staying an extra couple of months after we finish here at the rising star to backpack through India.  Brave soul.

We made a few pit stops at the Reliace convenience store to pick up treats, use the restroom, and buy large water bottles.  Even the stores here are so different!! They were not prepared for us.  I think the shop owners were overwhelmed with all of the Americans trying to purchase food.  They actually ran out of cash in the registers because of how much business we brought in.  In India if they don’t have exact change they just give you the next highest bill.  It’s pretty awesome.  (Like if they owe me 7 rupees, they just give me 10) I think America should adopt this policy. ;)

I'm pretty sure we almost got abducted.  Some man told Krissy Sam and I to come around the corner and look at a wedding and take pictures.  We were really confused about what he was saying so we grabbed benson and peeked around.  The man tried to lead us up some stairs around a dark back alley way and just kept saying "marriage" "marriage."  Later we found out India has the highest abduction rate of Americans.  Sorry Jordan, I think I almost just got "Taken" for an Indian arranged marriage slave trade.

One of the strangest things we saw on the bus ride was a man squatting “behind” the bushes to take a poop. Sick..  Apparently that’s super common here. And you see naked kids running everywhere!! And men and women peeing in the gutter.  Ahh… it’s crazy. They have no shame lol. When you gotta go, ya gotta go!!

I have to say, I’m not crazy about the food here.  I’m so glad I packed an ENTIRE suitcase full of snack food.  Even the meals cooked for us at the house make me a lil nervous.  

Orientation on the rooftop.

We had Orientation upon arriving at the Elephant House. (The house where all of the volunteers stay.)  We were assigned rooms and went over the rules.  I will post plenty of pictures of the elephant house.  It is beautiful!!! Its a big square and the center is all open with beautiful tropical plants and no roof.  Our room has 3 bunk beds and one single bed in the corner.  I like all of the girls in our room! One was on our flight over from London to Chennai, her name is Emily.  There are two Rebecca's and Sam, Krissy and myself.  After we got settled in to our rooms it was time to meet the kids!!

The kids at the school are seriously ADORABLE!! So if you don't know, The Rising Star Outreach is a school (kindof like a boarding school) where kids who have been effected by leprosy (either in their families or have been treated themselves) come and get educated away from the colonies 11 mos. out of the year.  They receive better education here and have greater opportunity for success when they leave, rather than begging in the leprosy colonies.  The way our session works is a 3 day rotation.  One day you tutor in the school, one day you do construction on campus our out in the leprosy colonies, one day you travel to the leprosy colonies and wash wounds and do medical work.  It really is an amazing program and I have a feeling this wont be my only summer out here.  Every day from 4:30-6pm we have playtime with the kids.  We did this for the first time today and it was amazing!! They were all so excited to meet us and show us their tricks!! It's a bit of a struggle trying to learn their names.  I can't pronounce most of them so I have resorted to giving them nicknames.  Monkey Boy is my current favorite, I will post a few of him and you will see how he got his nickname! haha. There are about a million Naveen's so I will hopefully get all of them strait.  We are trying to learn the language for our own enjoyment, but the teachers here at the school have asked us to speak only english with the kids so that they can practice proper grammar and speech.  It's amazing how loving this kids are!! They literally swarm to hug you as soon as they see you, and EVERYONE wants to play! It's so fun! 

This boy LOVED the camera!

Monkey Boy doin his thaaang.

He seriously climbed on the outside of EVERY part of the playground. lol. 

Monkey boy convincing everyone else to use the slide like him.

I love this beautiful girl.  I don't remember her name yet.

These boys seriously LOVED posing for pictures and dancing!

Just watchin the dancers.  Still have kankles!!! 

There is a dance group of kids here that we went and watched. They rehearse during play time.  The kids have to audition to be in this group.  They teach life skills with dance.  We (Sam, Krissy, and Myself) loved watching them, and will be involved with this group a lot during our stay here.  I really love watching dance in other cultures.  It will definitely influence my teaching style when I get home.  I recorded a lot of it, so I wouldn't forget!

Cute girl watching US and eating a mango.

This is our well. This is what we shower, and wash with.  There is a faucet for purified drinking water from the well, but it is HOTTTTT!!! Like boiling. 

Walking up to the Elephant House.

Guardian Elephant?

At 6pm it was time to come back to camp and eat dinner!! Needless to say, by this point we were EXHAUSTED!! (keep in mind were still runnin on the same fuel from Saturday morning.)  At this point I literally feel like I have been awake for 3 days straight lol.  The "Grandma and Grandpa" or couple that look over the entire organization came to speak with us about the work we were doing.  It was great to hear their passion for the rising star, and get to know more about how it all began and what they would like to see happen in the future.  After a quick meeting (that I almost fell asleep in several times) It was time for dinner on the roof!! It is so cool being in the middle of the jungle, even cooler eating dinner together EVERY night underneath a canopy on the rooftop! I seriously feel so blessed to have made it out here!  Every little part of my day is filled with something special.  We had traditional Indian food for dinner.  The rice was good.  The fruit was AMAZING!! I'm not a huuge fan of curry, but it might grow on me over the next few weeks, we will see.  The mango's here are unreal!! I'm pretty sure I will be living off of those!!!! yummmmm!!!!

Dinner is served on a banana leaf.

Sam and Benson

After dinner, we make one more trip over to the school for story time.  The kids are assigned rooms and "house mothers" each house mother is assigned to 20 children!! It is our job each evening to help wind the kids down and get them ready for bed.  Sam and I are assigned to the same room.  I WISH I would have brought my camera, I will not forget it tomorrow!! We read them a bed time story called Mugakati Jugapati.  The words were a mix of Indian and English, I did my best to read the story to them, but every now and then the kids would laugh at my pronunciation. oops.  We also played "down by the banks," "thumb wars," and sang fun songs!! I LOVED THIS PART, I can't wait to go back and get to know my kids better!  Seriously Jordan, I'm bringing one home. pleeeeeeease?

Ok, back to the Elephant House.  Time for blogging and bed.  That was day 1.  Whew!! LOVE YOU!