This week we went to the neighboring state of Kerala which is referred to as 'God's Own Country' because its so beautiful! We were not disappointed. In fact, this trip was wonderful and we called it our Spring Break trip. 
We left Coimbatore at about 11pm on the train. My plan was to sleep through the night and wake up refreshed and ready to go. Funny how plans don't always work out. I spent alot more time counting cockroaches than I did sleeping. I was on a side berth which had no air flow. However, since there were dozens of cockroaches climbing all over the walls and bed, I was wrapped tightly in my sleep sheet for protection. Which also meant that I was sweating profusely all night long.
For the next four days we spent the mornings in class listening to various lectures on the Indian Economy etc. The afternoons were when the real fun started! We toured a couple of schools and churches one day.
We also went to Amma's Ashram for the afternoon. This is a place where thousands of people come to meet Amma (mother) who is regarded as a goddess and worshipped as such. Her ministry is giving hugs to people and she literally sits in a chair for most of the day while people file in to get a hug from her. We were given a tour of the place and learned a little bit more about this woman Amma. My favorite part was when we were put to work. A guy told us that we were going to have a tour and then suddenly lined us up down the temple steps and pamplets started being passed down the line into a waiting truck. It actually turned into 45 minutes of fun as we 'worked out', joked around, and finally felt like were being useful. Who knows what kind of propaganda we were helping to distribute!
It was very strange being at the Ashram though and seeing all the westerners there. They weren't shocked to see us, but we were in culture shock at seeing so many white people. I tried to put myself in their shoes and wondered why so many middle/upper class Americans and Europeans (some just out of college) would travel halfway around the world to get a hug from a woman. I saw alot of very empty eyes. Even though Amma's whole ministery is love, we hardly saw more than 2 smiles from these people and they did not engage or interact with us at all.
On Friday we got to swim in the Arabian Sea, go boating on the Backwaters (B-dubs as Kirk calls them) and have a dance party! When we got to the beach it was pretty much deserted. We all charged into the water...with our clothes on. Since we are in India and modesty is very different, all the girls had to wear our salwars to go swimming. I was wearing a pair of huge puffy pants which were so tough to swim in. Its like trying to swim in a tent becasue it gets all tangled up around your legs and threatens to fall down!
We got tossed around by some pretty big waves and had an excellent time. When we turned to look back at the beach we noticed that a crowd of about 50 people had formed to watch the foreigners play in the water. We joked that we should charge for admission and then noticed that the cotton candy guy was capitalizing on the crowd!
After swimming we went out to the backwaters! It is actually called The Venice of the East because the waterways are the roads. We got on a boat and took a beautiful and relaxing cruise as the sun set. I also got to drive the boat for a bit.
On the way back from the boat ride, we had a serious dance party in the van! The van driver turned on some popular Indian tunes that can now recognize and sing along to and we had fun making up new dance moves- from 'smack the mosquito', to 'tie the dhoti', to 'pass the books'- we had a great time.
The ride back to Coimbatore was far less eventful thankfully with only 2 cockroach sightings!
We left Coimbatore at about 11pm on the train. My plan was to sleep through the night and wake up refreshed and ready to go. Funny how plans don't always work out. I spent alot more time counting cockroaches than I did sleeping. I was on a side berth which had no air flow. However, since there were dozens of cockroaches climbing all over the walls and bed, I was wrapped tightly in my sleep sheet for protection. Which also meant that I was sweating profusely all night long.
We also went to Amma's Ashram for the afternoon. This is a place where thousands of people come to meet Amma (mother) who is regarded as a goddess and worshipped as such. Her ministry is giving hugs to people and she literally sits in a chair for most of the day while people file in to get a hug from her. We were given a tour of the place and learned a little bit more about this woman Amma. My favorite part was when we were put to work. A guy told us that we were going to have a tour and then suddenly lined us up down the temple steps and pamplets started being passed down the line into a waiting truck. It actually turned into 45 minutes of fun as we 'worked out', joked around, and finally felt like were being useful. Who knows what kind of propaganda we were helping to distribute!
It was very strange being at the Ashram though and seeing all the westerners there. They weren't shocked to see us, but we were in culture shock at seeing so many white people. I tried to put myself in their shoes and wondered why so many middle/upper class Americans and Europeans (some just out of college) would travel halfway around the world to get a hug from a woman. I saw alot of very empty eyes. Even though Amma's whole ministery is love, we hardly saw more than 2 smiles from these people and they did not engage or interact with us at all.
On Friday we got to swim in the Arabian Sea, go boating on the Backwaters (B-dubs as Kirk calls them) and have a dance party! When we got to the beach it was pretty much deserted. We all charged into the water...with our clothes on. Since we are in India and modesty is very different, all the girls had to wear our salwars to go swimming. I was wearing a pair of huge puffy pants which were so tough to swim in. Its like trying to swim in a tent becasue it gets all tangled up around your legs and threatens to fall down!
On the way back from the boat ride, we had a serious dance party in the van! The van driver turned on some popular Indian tunes that can now recognize and sing along to and we had fun making up new dance moves- from 'smack the mosquito', to 'tie the dhoti', to 'pass the books'- we had a great time.
The ride back to Coimbatore was far less eventful thankfully with only 2 cockroach sightings!
Wow! Sounds so amazing! well, except for the cockroach part. I'm not sure how well I'd handle that! ;)
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