Santa Claus Came to Town!

MERRY CHRISTMAS BLOGOSPHERE! Christmas day is coming to a close here in India and I have to say that I have never ever had a Christmas as unique as this one. I already recapped the events of Christmas Eve and I was planning on just adding a little onto that post today....but I quickly realized as the day progressed that Christmas Day warranted a whole post just for itself.

We started the day off bright and early: leaving the campus at 7:30am to get to church in Chennai by 9am. They recently opened the first LDS church building in Chennai and it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! They had a Christmas tree and nativity scene in the lobby and it was such a privilege to have Christmas Sunday in the gorgeous new chapel.

In my "Christmas Dress" ready to take on the day--I couldn't have handled wearing a sari all day long, hence the chuddidhar.

Awesome Nativity in the lobby of the church

With Katie, Craig, Pam and Jim after Sacrament meeting in the church lobby

Because today was Christmas day, church only lasted for an hour. My original plan was to go with Jim and Pam and their granddaughter/grandson-in-law to the Marriott and have brunch, but as Venilla and Vadevu were talking about their possible plans, I made the decision to switch it up and go with them. I haven't spent a ton of time with the live-in staff the last few days so I wanted to spend some of my Christmas with them. Going with them also guaranteed that I would have a very Indian Christmas experience.

Our first stop after church was to go shopping at T. Nagar--a GINORMOUS shopping district in Chennai. It's where you get the best prices and can get any possible thing you need all on one street. The thing with T. Nagar is that it's always swarming with wall to wall people and it's a shopping district geared towards locals, not tourists...which means little to no English is spoken by the shop owners and you are expected to know how to check-out, the random store rules, etc. I have been to T. Nagar twice before this (one of those times is a whole other story in itself) and after those two trips it was decided that T. Nagar would be best tackled if you had a local along to help you....which brings me to today. I had the awesome opportunity to go shopping at T. Nagar with not 1 but 7 locals! Vadevu, Venilla, Stephen, Michael, Dr. Sugunya, Shankar, Sujatha, and I had a marvelous time shopping  and browsing and just enjoying the beautiful Christmas day. We were all able to get things that we have been needing/wanting so it was kinda like we were all our own Santa Claus :) Shopping on Christmas day in a legit Indian bazaar with 7 amazing people?.....that equals up to a pretty good Christmas if you ask me.

The shopping Mecca that is T. Nagar

This is just a small scale of what every store is like--merchandise EVERYWHERE

After our shopping excursion, we started heading out of town back towards Rising Star. Before we left Chennai, though, we stopped at a nice restaurant for a little Christmas lunch/feast. Jim had given Vadevu some money to take everyone to lunch after church, so because Jim was buying....everyone went all out. As we ordered, people would randomly keep adding things to the ticket (I swear each person ordered at least five things). Our table was packed to bursting with all the rices and sauces and chicken and fish: I think it's the most food I've ever seen at any one meal. All the food was delicious (although very, very spicy--my mouth was on fire) and by the time we were paying the bill, we were all slipping into food comas.

This picture gives a scope of the amount of food we ordered...this is only the first batch. I tried to take a picture with everyone when the food first came out, but the food proved to be more enticing for most.

Photo Try #2: The whole gang after the Christmas feast

From the feast we headed back to Rising Star. To round-off the night, Lyndsey and I had decided the day before to have a Christmas movie double feature. We settled in the Green House and tucked into some leftovers from our Christmas Eve dinner while watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Love Actually. Lyndsey brought her two kittens over and they snuggled on the couches with us as we all basked in Christmas movie greatness.

I was worried at the start of this week that I would be very lonely and depressed this Christmas, being away from home. I am happy to say, though, that it turned out to be just the opposite. I was surrounded by love, and happiness and Christmas cheer and you really can't ask for anything more when you're spending Christmas on the opposite side of the world from your family. :)

Vanakkam

Merry Christmas To All and To All a Good Night!

This Christmas, much like Thanksgiving, is one for the record books. It is my first Christmas away from the fam besides the fact that I'm spending it in India. Although it has been sad not being home during this time of year, the Christmas festivities at Rising Star have been spectacular--there never seems to be a shortage of love here, even when there is hardly anyone on campus.

For Christmas Eve, Jim and Pam had all the volunteers (myself and Lyndsey and their granddaughter and her husband) over to their apartment for a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner. We had ham and potatoes and corn and cheese sticks and you would have thought we were in America--it was super! After we finished eating we did a gift exchange. Giving gifts is definitely my "love language" so the exchange was definitely a highlight for me. One of the best gifts given was from Lyndsey to Jim. The men here in India love to wear bright sequined shirts. So that Jim could fit in with his co-workers, Lyndsey had a baby blue sequined shirt custom-made for Jim....it's the best shirt ever.

After our gift exchange, we went outside and joined the few kids and staff that stayed at Rising Star for the Christmas holiday. Besides the six white folk, we had Venilla and her two boys Stephen and Michael; Vadevu the house warden; Shankar, Sujatha, and Karthik from 10th standard who had to stay at school over the break to study and couldn't go home for  Christmas because they live too far away; Mark one of the office workers; and Shankar the security guard. It was a great little group to spend Christmas Eve with, that's for sure. W had some left over fireworks from Diwali so we figured there was no better time than Christmas Eve to light them off. We brought out the stereo and had a grand-old time setting off fireworks, playing with sparklers, and just enjoying each other's company on Christmas Eve.

I LOVE SPARKLERS!

We had these crazy sparklers that were super long that are made to wave around and do tricks with. These things are a lawsuit waiting to happen but, hey, that's India for ya. Lyndsey was basically a master with these things.

With beautiful Venilla in her Christmas red and green.

Sujatha had some serious dance moves with the sparklers.

The whole gang from afar. It was only through a Christmas miracle that no one burned their feet off or caught anything important on fire.

When the fireworks ended we enjoyed some delicious cake (courtesy of Pam) before heading inside for a little Christmas family home evening. Each of us shared a Christmas thought, song, poem, etc. as well as our favorite Christmas memory. It was so great to hear all the different things that everyone brought. Craig (Jim and Pam's grandson-in-law) read the origins of the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (which can be found here). Pam read a picture book called Sarah's Christmas Star by Kit Poole about a young spirit child in heaven that desperately wants to sing in the choir of heavenly hosts to announce Christ's birth but keeps getting side-tracked from practicing by helping others and Katie read the holiday classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Lyndsey's Christmas share was a song recorded by a Palestinian man that she spent last Christmas with (she was working in Damascus last Christmas and spent Christmas Eve in a Palestinian camp...yeah, she's cool). This is one of the most beautiful renditions on "O Holy Night" I have ever heard:

We ended the night with our thoughts turned to Christ. Jim read from Luke of Christ's birth and my Christmas share was the short LDS film, Joy to the World, which depicts Christ's birth in Bethlehem with accompaniments from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It was a great end to a beautiful evening spent with friends and family here in India.

Will add more tomorrow to document the Christmas Day activities!

Vanakkam

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

This past week has been Christmas vacation at Rising Star, which means the campus is just about dead. With the departure of the kids, as well as the other long-term volunteers either going back to America or going on vacation, the campus was just left with about a dozen people as opposed to the usual 200+. Over this break I took some time to organize, finish grading papers, chill with Venilla, and catch up on some movie watching (this dominated most of my nights). It has been a very relaxing break and a great time to reflect on everything that has gone on these past 7 months at Rising Star.

One thing I was able to do over break that I don't get to do very often is go out with the medical team and work in the colonies washing and bandaging ulcers for the leprosy-afflicted. I got to go out Thursday and Friday with the medical team and it was so great to be able to work with with medical staff and see the people in the colonies. Double-bonus of going to the colonies over break...the kids are home in the colonies.
We went to the Bhadallapuram colony and did medical as usual but a noteworthy event that happened was that the founder of the Bindu art school was in the colony just for that day, so myself, Lyndsey, and the other volunteers had the pleasure of meeting him and his wife. He is a lovely Austrian artist who literally helped turn the whole colony around with the starting of the art school

With Werner--founder of the Bindu Art School

After finishing up medical in the Bhadallapuram colony we went to neighboring Bethel Nagar to see some of the kids there. About 15 Rising Star students live at Bethel Nagar so I was practically bouncing out of my seat with excitement to get to see so many of the kids. We pulled up and about 6 RSO boys were out playing cricket and were they surprised to see us. We said hi to the boys and just took a stroll through the colony finding the other kids and just having a little visit.

As we were walking through the village we found Angel, Gracy Lydia, and Pavithra. Angel's house had an AWESOME homemade nativity out front.

As Gracy Lydia and I rounded a corner going from one street to another, we caught sight of little Sangeetha. She ran towards us, anklets jingling, and I scooped her up in a huge hug. She is such a little cutie.

In front of Akash and Gracy Lydia's ridiculously cute blue house. All the kids were so excited to show off their houses--they are so proud of what little they have.

With Ruthish and his mom outside of their house. Ruthish's mom is so so sweet.

I made the boys stop their cricket game and take a picture. From left there is Nandhakumar, Akash, Ismail, and Ansari. These boys are just amazing.

While we were in Bethel Nagar, a cobra was found. Obviously this meant a free show for all where the snake catcher taunted and messed with the snake for everyone to enjoy...oh India.

Now it is Christmas Eve and my break is almost at an end. The kids will be back on the 26th and we basically go non-stop until I leave in April...where has the time gone!! Another post is forthcoming about my Christmas Eve/Christmas day celebrations. :)

Vanakkam

It's Showtime!

It has become a sort of tradition to have a big performance by all the standards the day their parents come to take them home for the holidays. Anne has been working so hard the last couple months preparing a dance for each standard, as well as choreographing new dances for the LifeDance team to perform. The performance was this past Saturday and it was WONDERFUL! The kids did an amazing job performing their dances and they all looked ridiculously cute! Here are some of the highlights:

This is the main LifeDance team performing their new dance to "Stand By Me". It's really different from any other dance they have done but they are doing a GREAT job, especially since they just learned it!

This is the adorable UKG (kindergarten) class performing their "Good Morning" dance. Tamilarasi's face (the girl in green smiling in the front) is probably my favorite part of this dance. UKG definitely stole the show, and everyone's hearts, with this dance.

The new Rising Star Choir, under Mrs. Pam Gates direction, also performed and they were outstanding! They performed quite a few songs including "We wish you a Merry Christmas" and "Popcorn popping on the mango tree" but it was their singing of "10 little Indians" that had everyone hooked and in love.

All of the standards did an awesome job but my two favorite dances of the day were 4th standard dancing to "I wanna be like you" from Jungle Book and 7th standard dancing to "Dance With Me", an old 70s funk song.

4th Standard

7th Standard

The final number of the show was an African dance that Emmy, the dance master before Anne and Diana, choreographed. It was awesome because Anne taught this dance to the whole school so ALL THE KIDS got up and performed it. One of my favorite parts of watching them all do this dance was hearing the underlying jingle of all the girls' bangles and anklets as they danced together. It was the perfect way to end the show.

After the performance, everyone ate lunch before heading home with their parents. I thought it would be sad saying goodbye to the kids as they left, but it was actually really upbeat and happy. The kids were all so excited for the holidays and to be going home they kept coming up to myself and the other volunteers wishing us a happy Christmas and saying they would miss us--it was really cute! 

My favorite farewell was from Deepenraj. He asked me multiple times to just come home with him and stay at his house over the break. I really wish I could have taken him up on the offer but I will just have to make due with seeing him at church.

All the kids and parents waiting for the Rising Star "bus" to take them to the junction to start their journey home.

Much like all public transportation here they CRAMMED each car/van full to be as efficient as possible...gotta love India

Once everyone had left, I invited all the kids over who's parents work on campus and couldn't leave to go home for a few more hours. The 10th standard kids are also staying at Rising Star over the break to study for their board exams so they came over too (though only the boys stayed). All the boys settled in and watched Thor before heading home with their families. It was a fun way to end a fantastic day.

The boys crammed on our couches watching Thor.

Brotherly love--Ashok and his little brother Moorthy

As fun as this big send-off day was, I'm definitely ready for the kids to be back....has it really only been 2 days without them??

Vanakkam

Delhi with the Madre

At the end of the Thanksgiving session (that Mom was here for) we took a little excursion to Delhi and Agra. Since I took almost the exact same tour last year, I'm not going to go into too much details (if you want to know more about that trip go here or here) but I will highlight the parts that were, exciting/different/noteworthy from the first time around

As always with weekend Delhi trips with Rising Star, we have to leave campus at 3:00am. Unlike most Delhi trip, it was pouring down rain, we had no power, and from Delhi everyone was leaving to go home so we had to load all the luggage into the car in the pouring rain. It was a fun start to the trip. We got to Delhi without any problems and started our tour. On our first day in Delhi before we drove the 5+ hours to Agra we...

Took a bicycle rickshaw tour through Old Delhi--you really are putting your life in your hands when you travel with these guys.

Saw Humayun's Tomb, which inspired the architecture used for the Taj Mahal. It was an amazing building and so cool to see the similarities and differences between this and the Taj.

The whole gang on the steps leading up to Humayun's tomb--we had tons of fun together on this trip.

We went to a huge beautiful mosque right near the market in Old Delhi. They made the foreigners (even though we were in modest chuddidars) wear these crazy robes while we were there as a sign of respect. While we were at the mosque, a woman jumped into one of the fountains and had to be dragged out by a couple men. She was very obviously crazy and had to be carried out of the mosque.

Before heading to Agra, we saw Gandhi's memorial. This was something else that I had not seen the year before and was very excited to get to see this time around.

After we finished at Gandhi's tomb, we got in the bus and started the journey to Agra. We were all exhausted and about halfway though the drive got a little loopy. Our driver (who was awesome) turned on some Punjabi music and the "party lights" in the bus and we had a huge dance party on the way there. It was definitely a great way to pass the time on he trek to Agra.

The next morning we got up bright and early to see the sunrise at the Taj. This building is absolutely astounding and it was really cool to be able to see again. Of course, because it's the Taj, we took tons of photos:

With Mama at the Taj--we had so much fun together on this trip!

Our amazing guide Ramesh--not only did he have great clothes but I think he knows more about the Taj than any other person ever.

We got into the Indian spirit

Just a couple Indian dancers, nbd

After the Taj we went to the Red Fort and did another tour there. Again, it was stunning.

Outside entrance to the Red Fort

As we were shopping after all of our tours, we saw a snake charmer....it doesn't get much more stereotypical than a snake charmer with a cobra in a basket and a boa constrictor around his neck.

At the end of the night on our way back to our hotel, we came up behind a Hindu marriage processional. Our driver, being awesome, took us out three at a time to take part in the procession! Northern Indian weddings are TOTALLY different from southern Indian weddings. In the south, things are a lot more traditional and very formal--never too much dancing and hoopla. In the north, however, it's a serious party. Wedding festivities last for FIVE DAYS and there is tons of music, drinks, dancing, and just general celebration. When Anne, Melissa, and I joined the processional for our turn it was one of the coolest things I have done in India. There were tons of colors and lights and music. We ended up near where all the women were and they immediately grabbed our hands and started dancing with us and showing us some dance moves. The energy in the group was through the roof and it was so awesome to be a part of.

The processional from afar

The DECKED OUT horses pulling the groom's carriage.

For the processional, they hire men to carry these huge lights the whole walk to the marriage hall.

The end of the processional--so many colors!!

The next day we headed back to Delhi first thing in the morning and we were literally in the car all. day. long. We stopped on the way and rode elephants and camels, which is ALWAYS fun. I have ridden an elephant a few times now but I can officially say now that I've ridden a camel! Yay! It was also fun because I got to ride an elephant with Mom (after some convincing) and she ended up really liking it :)

Melissa and I on the camel

Last stop before the airport was the Ba'hai Lotus temple. We didn't go inside but Anne got this beautiful picture from the street.

The whole trip was so fun and it was so sad to say goodbye to Mom at the airport and end the fun. We had a spectacular time and I can't wait until we can travel together again :)

Vanakkam

Dance

Agnes De Mille once said, "To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful." I have never witnessed this more than tonight.

This coming Saturday the kids all go home for Christmas break, and with the departure of the kids we also lose Anne and Diana--the current dance masters here at Rising Star. As the dance masters usually do, they had a big party with the LifeDance kids to say goodbye. Unlike previous parties, though, this one had a big performance attached to it. Deepenraj (who is basically a future director) got everyone on this kick of making up their own dances. Ashok and he made up three dances for themselves, the rest of the boys in LifeDance made up a dance, and the girls had a dance. They had all been keeping their dances secret until this party when they would perform them all for each other. Let me tell ya...these kids are some talented little devils. The girls' dance was AMAZING and they were dancing bigger and more confidently than I have ever seen them dance before. The dance with 5 of the LifeDance boys (also known as the "circus dance") had tons of lifts and jumps and flips and was also AWESOME. But, the highlights of the night were definitely Ashok and Deepen's dances. Like I said, Deepen is a future director so he and Ashok went all out with lighting, costumes, the whole nine yards. Their first dance they came out dressed in matching white button-downs with tennis shoes and jeans. When they walked out you would have thought Justin Bieber had just crashed a 13 year-olds birthday party--every girl their was screaming and fawning over them (including Anne, Diana, and myself). They did a Michael Jackson dance as well as another dance that they had Anne edit the music for and everything. It was seriously so awesome how creative they got with it.

The last number Deepen and Ashok did went above and beyond. The other boys turned off all the lights and they came walking out in new costumes. They started the music--Thriller. One of the other boys turned on a flashlight and shined it on the floor--mood lighting. Ashok turned around and he had a huge bat/stick and a crazy Halloween mask. Then Deepen turned around and started dancing and he had painted his entire face! They were decked out!! They pulled out all their best Michael Jackson moves and were killin it! In the middle they even pulled out some Axe body spray and sprayed it in the air for fog effect--this ish was planned OUT! They would even sneak right up to the audience and scare us for added effect--it was all ridiculously amazing. To top the night off Anne, Diana, and I, as well as a couple other volunteers that are here, all did a dance to "Celebrate" for the kids and surprised them--so basically everyone was dancing, celebrating and having a good time (much like the song says).

Ashok and Deepen in their Michael Jackson costumes: definitely swoon-worthy

You cannot deny that this is ridiculously awesome.

Deepen and Ashok in their "Thriller" gear...needless to say I'm a little scared

The dance masters and the LifeDance team--Anne and Diana, you will be so missed!!!

After we wrapped up the party and the kids were all back at the hostel going to bed, Anne, Diana, and I all went back to the school for a little dance sesh of our own. The upstairs lobby of the school (where LifeDance does most of their performances) is the perfect space to dance and let go. It's open air, you're looking out over the beautiful campus, you can see up to the stars...it's a blessing to be able to go there and dance. The three of us put on a few songs and let it all out on the floor. There is no better feeling that letting yourself go and completely surrendering to the music and your own feelings--as Martha Graham said, "Dance is the hidden language of the soul," and our souls had a lot to say tonight.

To bring it all home to my original quote: from the kids to our fellow volunteers to Anne, Diana, and I, we were all larger, more beautiful, and more powerful tonight because of dance. I have never seen most of the LifeDance kids dance as hard as they did tonight. Their spirits were radiating with light and exuberance. To witness the confidence and power in these kids when they dance is one of the most awe-inspiring things I have seen since I have been here. The insecurities and societal pressures that plague most tweens and teens were gone and all that was left was self-expression and dance. To get in front of all your peers and perform a dance that you made up takes A LOT of guts--and these kids hit it out of the park....it is just another reason why the kids at Rising Star are a cut above the rest. :)

Vanakkam

Chrisma Chris!....also known as Secret Santa

So one night Diana, Anne, and I were all in Venilla Mary's house dying our hair with henna (it's awesome and all natural and I totally recommend it). Anyways, as we were in there doing our henna hair, the sixth standard boys in her house were in chatting with us. We were talking about Christmas when they started talking about Chrisma Chris. I was obviously intrigued and asked what it was. As they started explaining it I quickly realized it was none other than Secret Santa! We were all really excited that we had the same traditions in America and India that we decided right then and there to do our own little Chrisma Chris with the boys. We all put our names in a pile and decided that everyone had to make homemade gifts for whoever they drew and we would exchange the next night.

So it worked out really well and Anne, Diana, Venilla, and I all drew the boys' names and they drew our names. We went to Venilla's house the next night and laid all the gifts on Venilla's bed. We then all went into her room together and found our own gift and figured out who had who.

I got Nagaraj so for his gift I made us friendship bracelets. I also made him a card with a picture of him as a movie star and an acrostic poem with his name--he's tryin to keep a cool face but he was stoked.

M. Vignesh got my name and he made me an AWESOME card complete with some sweet drawings. On the inside he said he loved me cause I liked his dancing and his "moves". He's a great kid :)

I knew Nagaraj liked his gift when he asked me multiple times to explain the words in his acrostic poem to him--he really wanted to make sure he knew exactly what everything in the poem meant.

The whole gang with our Chrisma Chris gifts--it was an awesome night.

Besides being totally awesome in and of itself, Chrisma Chris was great because I teach all of the boys that did it with us and to see them still rockin their friendship bracelets in class everyday makes me very happy and filled with Christmas spirit :) Nothing better to kick off the Christmas spirit than a little Secret Santa.

Just another little Christmas spirit treat...

Anne and I made Christmas Stars to give to the teachers and staff--it was basically the best Sunday afternoon activity ever making 40 Christmas Stars :) We wore Santa hats when we delivered them and told the staff that they got a Christmas Star because "you are a shining star!"

Vanakkam