Surprise, Surprise...

I'm still sucking at blogging/I'm still very behind. I doubt any of you are shocked at this point. Life at RSO just continues to get busier and busier so blogging becomes less and less of a priority. Maybe one day I will find myself with a copious amount of free time and will just blog away until my little fingers fall off....maybe, just maybe....

The surprise, though, is not that I am behind in blogging but that my job here at RSO has changed again. This is one thing I love about Rising Star, they use you in whatever way they can and in whatever capacity (if that sounded sarcastic I didn't mean it to be, I honestly love that I will have had a bunch of jobs by the time I leave here). When I first signed up to move here for the year I was planning on being sponsorship director, then once they heard I was graduating in elementary education they asked me to come and work as a teacher trainer (teaching english classes and working with the teachers to develop more effective teaching methods), THEN about a week before I left to come to India I got a call and was asked to be the summer education coordinator (working with the summer volunteer sessions in the school) and NOW I am....drumroll please.....interim Director of Education/Principal of the school.....I'm not joking. Thankfully this is a temporary job until the real DoE/Principal can get her visa, but I am happy, willing and ready to do it for the meantime. Today was my first day on the job and it was not near as bad as I thought it would be. It was actually a really great day! I love being able to interact with the kids and teachers and working with the staff to make the school run as best as possible. I know it is a little far-fetched to have a fresh-out-of-college, 23 year-old helping to run a school, but there is a saying they use a lot here at RSO--it goes to the effect that people are placed at RSO at the right time to fill the jobs as needed. Granted, it would be much better if CELINA was here to do the job, but I have faith I can definitely hold it down for the time being. :)

More catching up to come later......not sure when.....but sometime....

Vanakkam From Kenady ma'am (this is what the kids have to call me now)

Friday, Friday, Gotta get down on Friday...

Everybody's workin for the weekend, weekend...Party and Party and YEAH! Party and Party.....sorry, that song is catchy. Anyways, as you have probably guessed, this is a post about the weekend. Granted this is a post about last weekend but hey at least I'm trying to get caught-up.

Last weekend, the volunteers had their Delhi trip so RSO was calm, quiet, and just lovely. Don't get me wrong, I love it when the volunteers are here, but it is definitely nice to have a break every now and again. The two weeks previous to this had been SUPER BUSY so we took some much needed time off. On Saturday, most of the other coordinators and long-term volunteers went to Chengalputt to do some shopping, the van was really crowded so I decided to stay behind and get stuff done on campus. I intended to blog but that obviously didn't happen. Instead, I meandered over to the kids hostel and hung out with one of my favorite house-mothers: Rajakumari. Rajakumari and I had decided a few weeks before that we are like sisters: we are both 23, both unmarried, both teachers, and both currently living at RSO. She is so much fun to talk to and chat with I often find myself going over there just to hang out. I hae also been helping Rajakumari with her english. She is an amazing woman. She wants to be the very best teacher she can be and knows that the best way to do that is to improve her english. Every night around 9:00pm I have been going to her house and we have been reading Charlotte's Web. We will go through and read and I will help her the pronunciation and do comprehension checks. It may sound weird but this is really fun for me and look forward to going over and reading with her. On Saturday, I had a whole day to kill and was excited to have lots of time to hang-out and read and chat and the like. I went over around lunchtime and was able to have lunch with Rajakumari and Sujatha (one of the older students who lives on campus year round who lives in Rajakumari's house). After lunch, we went back to the hostel and Rajakumari did the COOLEST henna on my legs. It was really intricate and went from just below my knee all the way out to my toes. After henna, we read from Charlotte's Web and ate mangos. Overall it was a fabulous afternoon.

 Henna Legs!! So legit!!

 Rajakumari posed me for this picture.

Sujatha and Rajakumari: my Saturday afternoon buddies

As mentioned in previous posts, Saturday night at RSO is movie night. This week was Despicable Me, one of my favorites. Sitting with the kids during movie night is one of the best things because they love to snuggle and be as near to you as possible. I started the movie smack in the middle of all the kids but after the first hour my legs were in such pain from all the weight on me from the kids that I had to stand-up and move. After the fairly difficult extraction process and waking up my numb legs, I sat at the back with two of the fifth standard girls: Angel and P.M. I don't interact with the older kids as much because they are usually doing their own thing and aren't as clingy with the volunteers as the younger kids are. Movie night, though, is an exception. Soon after I sat down, Angel came over and laid her head on my leg and fell fast asleep. There are few things better than having a child fall asleep on you (and I mean that in a completely non-creepy way). Kids are so at peace when they are sleeping and it is a great testament to their trust in you to be able to fall asleep on/with you. At the end of the movie I had to shake Angel a few times to get her awake and then direct her back to the hostel--it was precious. As we were sending kids back to the hostel to go to sleep, I looked over and saw Sarathy, one of the first standard boys, standing next to a bench, bleary-eyed and not sure what was going on...he had obviously just woken up. I went over to him to hold his hand to walk him back to the hostel, but he raised his arms to be picked-up. So I picked him up and he put his head on my shoulder and I carried him back to the hostel. I dropped him off on the steps, told him goodnight and I loved him, and he gave me a big hug before stumbling up the stairs to his room. That was probably the best part of my whole weekend.

Sarathy...how could you resist that face??

Although movie night could not be beat, Sunday came pretty close. After church, because there were so few of us we decided to go to the Marriott brunch...it is so much more than a brunch. They have pizza, and pasta and salads and omelettes and.....BEEF!!!! Yep, beef lo mein to be exact. We all gorged ourselves and had to waddle out of the hotel but man was it worth it. It was a great way to cap off a much needed weekend off. :)

More catch-up posts to come!

Vanakkam

Catch-Up Take 2: Andrah Pradesh and the Errand that wouldn't end

Ok so here is the next part of my giant catch-up...enjoy.

On Monday and Tuesday (June 6th and 7th) I went with the med students from UC Davis (they were my group for this session) on an overnight trip to Andrah Pradesh--the state neighboring Tamil Nadu where Rising Star is located. There are two colonies here that do not get seen very often so help was much needed. We got to the first colony at around 3:15 when we had been planning to get there at about noon...we were now in a time crunch. To make the time crunch all the better, it started POURING about 20 minutes after our arrival. As is seen, the place we were working was just a covered patio so we all got wet. It was pretty crazy and chaotic there for awhile with all the patients cramming into the patio and the rain pouring and all of us trying to meet everyone's needs as quickly as possible. It was nuts.

This cobbler was here to measure the leprosy-affected people's feet to make new shoes for them that would help their deformed extremities instead of harm them...this cobbler was paid for through the money raised at the Dancers Making a Difference Benefit Concert :) Bunker Dancers, this is your hard work in action.

One of the med vans and the patio where we set-up the medical clinic

This was my first colony visit since last year. I had forgotten how much I love interacting with the leprosy patients and what amazing examples of strength and kindness they are. They are beautiful people.

We gave 5 new pairs of crutches to the leprosy patients that needed them the most. It was amazing to see how excited they were to get these crutches. (From left in picture: Dr. Morley, myself, Dr. Kirby, and Dr. Susan).

Beautiful children of God

After the torrential rain. This is a GORGEOUS colony.

She is such a kind and caring woman--always grabbing my hands and squeezing them. She loved getting her picture taken and having me tell her it looked super.

The second colony we saw in Andrah Pradesh the next day was HUGE. We saw 150 patients!!! We worked straight for about 3 hours because there were so many people who wanted to be seen. It was amazing to see the med students in action really working hard to see everyone and give each patient the individual attention they needed.

With Sharmilla, one of Dr. Susan's right-hand nurses. Sharmilla works the medication station and it amazes me how fast she finds the different pills and ointments so quickly. She's a rockstar for sure. I also have to add that she is a fan of American music and has 'Bottoms Up' by Trey Songz on her phone...we definitely jammed to that on the long drive home.

Amazing family that lives in the second colony.

Leprosy patient waiting for her feet to get washed. We had lines of people waiting at each of the station--it's like the med clinic turned into Disneyland and each station was a ride!

Overall, Andrah Pradesh was two days of hard work that went wonderfully thanks to the volunteers' hard work and Dr. Susan's careful planning. It was a great trip.

So this picture obviously needs some explaining. We got back from Andrah Pradesh late Tuesday night and just had a regular day planned for Wednesday. I was coordinating group 1 and we were scheduled to go to a birthing clinic to see how it was run and talk with the patients there. Like lots of free clinics around the world they are very hit and miss--there are either lots of patients and things to do (the group that had gone on Tuesday saw a live birth) or there isn't much going on. We definitely ended up there on an off-day because there were only about 5 patients, no one was in labor, and there were no procedures scheduled for the med students to sit in on. Because of this, our all day activity turned into a 45 minute activity and we had all kinds of time on our hands. When this happens, my job is to call Dr. Susan and find new things for the volunteers to do. She had given me a few assignments and we were good to go. Down the line, though, some information got mixed up because one of the things that the entire group was supposed to do ended up being a crazy errand that just Derek and I went on.  I was told to go with the bus that takes the teachers home at 4:00pm and after the teachers were dropped off I was to pick up an order of medical supplies. I asked Derek to come with me and thank goodness he did cause things were crazy from the get go. We pulled out of Rising Stars main gate to see that about 8 giant piles of rocks (a precursor to paving the road) had been dumped on the road and blocked the only way out of RSO. So, to flatten out the piles and make it so we could drive across, we all got of the vans (all the teachers were dressed in their professional attire) and started flattening out one side of the rock pile so it was more manageable for the cars to drive over. It was hilarious all of us out there stepping on the rock piles and trying to get it so we could get out of RSO. After about 30 minutes and a lot of flattening, we were finally able to get across. We dropped the teachers off at various places and continued north towards Chennai. After we passed Chengalputt and a couple other landmarks we recognized, we started to wonder how far we were going to get these supplies (we assumed the driver knew where we were going). Finally, we pull over and Dhuravel, the driver who speaks very little English, asks to see the address....we don't have it. We were trying desperately to get in touch with Dr. Susan or one of the other drivers that had been there before but all of them were up in the middle of the mountains on the second overnight trip. As is common in India, the driver got out and asked some random motorcyclists to directions and all the sudden about 4 men and Derek were all discussing were to go to pick up this stuff. After their discussion, we started driving aimlessly in search of the pick-up place. We would drive awhile, ask someone where the courier was, then keep driving. Only in India would you head out on an errand without an address or any idea where you're going. Finally, though, we were able to get in touch with Dr. Susan and she was able to give directions to the driver. Turns out, we actually weren't that far from where we were supposed to be. We arrived at the warehouse (which was the only building in a dirt lot) and instead of the small pick-up of medical supplies that I was expecting we had 62 boxes...yep, that's right, 62. Let me remind you that the only people on this errand are me, Derek, and Dhuravel the driver. We signed for everything and got to work loading all the boxes in the med van. First we loaded as many as we could on top of the van and tied them down and everything. Then, we realized that we could fit all the boxes inside the van, so we unloaded the top of the van and reloaded those boxes inside of the van. Remember: 62 boxes, 3 people...this took awhile. This is where the dirty picture comes in: the boxes had been sitting in the warehouse for quite a few days and were disgusting, by the time we finished loading the van we were covered in dirt. After the van was finally loaded we started home. We got into Thottonaval Village (the village nearest to RSO) and were asked by Robinson (the national director) to park in the field nearby cause the rock piles were still there and it would not be possible to drive into the campus. By now it was after 8pm and had been dark for awhile...so to cap off our crazy 4 hour errand we had to trek through the field and over the rock piles with only our little cell phone flashlights. It actually wasn't that bad but it was funny considering all the other little mishaps on what was supposed to be a quick errand. The whole time I couldn't help but laugh and think, "Well, that's India for ya."

More to come soon about my weekend with the kids (which was actually last weekend), my second overnight colony trip, riding down a river in a coconut boat, and taking 30 5-7 year olds to get blood-typing done....it's gettin good people. :)

Vanakkam

Catch-Up time: PICTURE STYLE! Take 1

Ok, so I thought it would be fun to do my giant catch-up post in a photo journal-esque format. Since I have a lot to cover this may take like 3 posts but here goes nothin:

 Ahhh...Ideal Beach Resort in Mammallapurum. We took the volunteers here and had a wonderful afternoon swimming in the Bay of Bengal, drinking smoothies, eating pizza, and generally just having an awesome time.

View from our Tiki Hut

AMAZING hour spent laying in this hammock sleeping and listening to the water...love.

Can't wait to come back here with the next set of volunteers.

Saturday nights at RSO are movie nights with the kids that have gotten at least five stars (their reward system for good behavior). After an afternoon on the beach, this was by far the best way I could have spent the night--three kids crammed on my lap watching Hercules. It was a little bit of heaven.

One of the best moments during this movie night was when Jayamary (a six year old who had been laying her head on my leg) accidentally put her hand in the toothpaste that I had put on the bug bite on my foot (it's great to stop the itching). She looked at her toothpaste-y hand and decided it was worth tasting...apparently she really liked it cause she went back for seconds and thirds (as discreetly as possible of course).

Poongavanam, Mageshwari, and Mahalakshmi. Mageshwari and Mahalakshmi were on my lap the whole movie...needless to say I couldn't feel my legs or butt by the end of the movie but I didn't care one bit :)

Well...these pics take care of one weekend. Next post will be a photo catch-up of overnight trips to Andhra Pradesh and Dharma Purri...get excited. :)

Vanakkam

Random Thoughts

This is not the catch-up post that I promised....sorry. I had to share, though, some of the thoughts and feelings I have been having since being back in India.

One of the first things that has struck me since being back here is how spiritual of a place India is. Movies and tv and books are always playing-up this notion of India and until this last month I didn't believe it. Since I arrived here a month ago, I have been completely in awe of how faithful and devoted and passionate the Indian people are about their faith no matter what it may be. Almost all people here believe so strongly in the presence of a higher power in their lives and have accepted that guiding force and are so willing and ready to worship in whatever way they can. It has been very humbling for me to listen to various teachers and house mothers at RSO longing to go to church and show devotion to God but are not able to because of work commitments or other extenuating circumstances. They need religion and worship in their life--something I have always taken for granted as always being available to me. It really has made me think twice about skipping church or slacking on my scripture study and prayers.

Another thing I have been thinking about the last couple days as we have been wrapping-up the first session is the capacity for love that all the children at RSO seem to have in abundance. All year long, these kids see volunteers come and go whether they stay for 3 weeks, 3 months, or even a year. You would think after seeing so many people come and go that you would guard yourself--put up that wall so you won't feel it as bad when they leave. The RSO kids, though, never put up this wall. They love all the volunteers and staff and teachers with their whole heart no matter how long they will be there. They know it will be sad to watch them leave but somehow they move past that and continue to shower the volunteers with kisses, hugs, cheek pinches, and 'I love you's. I think this is one of the things that makes kids at RSO so special--their unbridled capacity to love with their whole heart.

Lastly, I can't help but reflect on the relationships I have been starting to form in the last month I have been here. From the other coordinators, to the volunteers, to the RSO staff and teachers, to the amazing children, this place and the people here have become my home and family faster than I thought possible. I'm finding that my own capacity to love has been expounded in only a month. Every 5 minutes I find myself saying "I just love (insert name here) with my whole heart"--and I mean it!! I absolutely love all the people here and am so grateful to be a part of the RSO family. 

So even though I am not updating on a regular basis and you may not have a play by play of all my adventures (which is still forthcoming I promise) just know that I love this place with all my heart and I'm where I'm supposed to be. :)

Vanakkam

Kenady goes to Kanchipurum

Ok I have REALLY been slacking on the blog posting. I started writing this post a week ago and am now over two weeks behind with blogging and such…oops. Between this post and my next giant catch-up post I should be caught up….hopefully.

So I have been slacking on the blogposts this week--I apologize. It is a lot harder to blog being a coordinator because time is very limited. As I have already mentioned, the first group of volunteers arrived last Sunday and since then I feel I have been going non-stop. There is always tons to do and plan and coordinate (go figure!). To add to the craziness, I have been at about 60% since Wednesday...traveling definitely messes with your body. Despite that I have had a good week that involved working with the group of doctors that has come to RSO from UC Davis. We did skin checks, physicals, and vaccinations for UKG - 2A (kindergarten through the first 2nd grade class). It was a very productive week and it was really fun getting to know all the volunteers.

My favorite day this week, though, was my day in Kanchipurum with Vikram. We had been trying to schedule a time all week to go to Kanchipurum (the main city in the district where RSO is located). Because I will be in India for so long, have to register myself at the police station within 14 days of my arrival. We had been trying to go all week but were not able to find a day we could both go. This being India, we went on Friday--the last possible day. Vikram, our new driver who's name I don't know, and myself left RSO at about 10:30am to get everything all figured-out. Kanchipurum is about an hour and a half from Rising Star so it would be a whole day affair--and it was an amazing day indeed. As mentioned in previous posts, Vikram is the go-to man here at Rising Star. He takes care of accounts, everyday errands, and just generally keeping everybody on track. Because of this, we had many other things to do in Kanchipurum. We started off by getting my pictures taken (for the registration) and then going to the police station. You would think the registration station for foreigners living in the country would be a nice organized system with an exact process that every person registering has to go through. This being India that was not the case. Registering consisted of me sitting in a plastic picnic chair in a room that had papers (I’m assuming other people’s registration documents) stacked all over the place while Vikram talked to the guys in the room and to his usual contact in the office via cell phone. After sitting for a few minutes we left and I assume everything was taken care of and completed…I’m still not 100% sure about that but let’s hope for the best.

From the police station we headed to the bank to get some money out for the upcoming overnight trips with the volunteers as well as for some other miscellaneous RSO things. I easily could have sat in the car for all of these errands but who wants to do that when you can check out a new city in India?? I went into the bank hoping it would be way different from American banks and be another culture shock experience for me...it was exactly the same as an American bank. But it was still fun to go in and see that it was the same. And thankfully I did go in because my bag came in handy when Vikram turned around from the teller and was carrying eight big rubber-banded stacks of rupees. Now, something to know about me is that I don’t carry cash around…ever…or at least if I can help it. Obviously in India I carry some rupees on me but never that many…so the fact that I was now carrying ten of thousands of rupees in my bag made me quite nervous. I told Vikram this a few times and he just thought I was goofy and laughed it off—guess this was a good way to get over my dislike of carrying cash around.

After the bank we went and had a DELICIOUS lunch and because I was the only white person around the owner of the restaurant personally served us! Granted this put a lot of pressure on me to eat a lot of food (as mentioned before I had been quite sick and not eating much besides bread for a few days prior to this) but I made it through just fine. J After lunch it came time for my favorite errand: shopping for clothes. Vikram had to get material for a uniform for one of the students at RSO and naturally this turned into shopping for clothes for Vikram and his family—it was great!!! If there is one thing I love no matter what it’s shopping for clothes; whether they be for me, my family, or someone I don’t even know it’s just always fun. So basically this errand was tailor-made to me and it was fabulous.

After our shopping extravaganza we were headed back to Rising Star. On the way back Vikram wanted to stop at his house in the Junction to drop off his purchases (the Junction is the closest non-village to Rising Star). By this time is was past five and school had long since gotten out and Shama (his wife who is the kindergarten teacher at RSO and 8 months pregnant) would be home. Vikram thought it would be funny for me to come up with him and surprise Shama, so we went up to his apartment and he knocked on the door and hid so that when Shama opened it she would only see me—it was awesome. She was DEFINITELY surprised to see me, of all people, standing at her door. One thing I absolutely love about Indian culture is the hospitality and how giving and kind they always are. As soon as Shama got over the surprise of seeing me at her house, she immediately invited me in, sat me down and offered me apples, oranges, and fruit juice. Her, Vikram, and I had a great chat enjoying the snacks before we had to go back to RSO.

Now, this day may seem boring to some—tons of errands and driving all day—but for me it was perfect. It was great getting to know Vikram and spending the day exploring a new city in India. Everyday I fall in love with India a little more. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like to leave…thankfully I have plenty of time and days like this before then. :)

Vanakkam

Just a touch behind..

I realize I am really sucking with the whole blogging thing....oops. But in my defense it has been SUPER busy here at RSO. I have many posts in the works but for now I will post this video to hold you over (even though I don't think anyone is anxiously awaiting my next blog post).

This is from the overnight trip I literally just got back from. To answer the obvious questions:

Yes, this is the medical clinic and volunteers at a leprosy colony
Yes, this is typically how we do things at RSO
Yes, we are set-up on an open air patio
Yes, it is pouring down rain and there is booming thunder in the background

Sorry about the crazy camera skills....it was all very tense, hence my fast camera movements.

Vanakkam