Birthday in India

This past Saturday I celebrated my birthday not only in India, but on one of our weekend trips to the city of Madurai.

The day started out great because first of all I had slept in air-conditioning!! My students were very kind to surprise me with little notes and gifts and sang a hearty round of ‘Happy Birthday’ as I ate my cornflakes and hot milk! After I got my stuff together to go off touring for the day I was surprised to see a cake with ‘Happy Birthday Hannah Brown’ written on it (in case there was any confusion on which Hannah’s birthday it was!)!

Then we started off on our full day of touring by first going to Meenakshi temple. As we were walking around the huge temple we came across an elephant standing in the courtyard. For a small fee you could have the elephant ‘bless’ you and put his trunk on you. I was so surprised by how heavy his trunk was and it was so so cool!

Being 'blessed' by an elephant!

On the way back to Coimbatore we stopped at an orphanage for children with HIV and we got to watch them perform little songs and dances (including the song ‘Making Melodies in my Heart which I sang in Sunday school in Kenya). Then they let them loose and the kids all grabbed our hands and pulled us to the playground where I spent the next hour so very happy! I loved taking pictures of all my students interacting with the kids so freely and joyfully. Shouts of ‘Akka’ (older sister), ‘Ana’ (older brother), ‘Uncle’, and ‘Auntie’ rang out from across the playground as they raced around showing us their games and including us in their activities. One 13 year old girl Venitra gleefully showed me her room- her bed and trunk and all her drawings. She told me that usually every day is so sad but today is “very jolly” because we had come.

Beautiful Venitra from the HIV orphanage

At the very end as we were supposed to be saying goodbye and loading onto the bus, a little boy came to me and put his hands up for me to pick him up. I did, and he wrapped his little legs tightly around my waist and twined his little arms around my neck, laid his head on my shoulder, and started to cry! Of course then I teared up as well! Playing with those sweet children was the best part of my birthday! But it was also super cool to be in India because I don’t think I would have gotten 'blessed' by an elephant anywhere else!

Group pic!

  Another special birthday treat was getting to Skype with my family on Sunday afternoon! We are on 3 separate continents but somehow we were all online at the same time and could (mostly) hear each other (although I was yelling into my microphone on my screen at a restaurant)!

just another week in India

I’ve been so busy here that I’ve forgotten to update my blog!

I’m definitely feeling more settled here and getting used to things again-my tolerance for spice has greatly improved in the past weeks, I feel more confident stepping out onto a busy street, and I’m slowly increasing my knowledge of the Tamil language. I spend a good portion of my time in the ISP office working on various projects, trying to make things run smoothly, and helping the students process their experiences.

I always love riding in autos!

I feel like every day is a story here, so I’ll just try to mention the highlights of this week:

- going to a nearby restaurant and getting the Mint Lemon Daisy drink which I have missed ever since I left India. So now I’m making up for it and have got it 3 times this week!

- spending time with my students and developing closer relationships with them. They are all so different and unique and I’m really enjoying hearing their stories and watching them experience India.

I missed Dinnesh so much!

-I got to go visit Cottolengo home where I did my internship while I was a student here! It is a home for mentally and physically handicapped people so I was curious if any of them would remember me. When I came in, shouts of “Aka! Aka!” echoed from around the room and brought tears to my eyes. I wandered around greeting the familiar faces and meeting some new people. When I found out that I had been hired for this job, I was especially excited to see my boy Dinnesh who I spent a lot of time with before! We used to play this game where I put a block on his head and then made a sound and he would tip his head down and I would catch the block in my hand and he would just crack up every time. I wondered if he would remember the game. So I went over to him and put a block on his head and just started to make the noise, when he tipped his head down dropping the block right into my hand! A light came into his eyes and he laughed his precious laugh!!! Definitely one my most favorite memories so far!

-making new Indian friends and growing those relationships. I'm trying to be more intentional about getting to know other people outside the batch since I'm here for a longer time. I have been blessed to be welcomed in so warmly and I love learning about how they see the world.

-On Saturday I took one of my students to the nearest Indian hospital for her fever. We were both kind of dreading the visit and we did end up spending a large portion of our day waiting around there. We spent an hour and a half waiting for the doctor, then she had to get blood work done. Then we were supposed to come back in a couple of hours to pick up the results. We came back and got the results, but the doctor wasn’t in for another hour to read it! Anyways, we made the most of the experience laughing at the unique decorations and trying to find our way to the different offices labeled in Tamil. But now I have navigated an Indian hospital and will be more prepared for when the next student is sick!

The boys at the orphanage

Not expecting to sing 'Jambo, Jambo Bwana' in India!!

- After church today, the youth go to an orphanage to visit a bunch of little boys whose parents are in prison. Of course the language barrier is always a challenge to know what is going on, but the little boys were so cute and fun to play with! We played one game where to win your team had to yell the loudest…of course they really liked that game! I’m excited to go back next month to visit them again!

-At this orphanage the kids started singing a song. Immediately I realized it was a tune I recognized: 'Jamb, Jambo Bwana'! But they had turned it into a song about God, just set to the same tune! So strange when your two worlds collide!

-Here's to another full week in India! It's been sinking in today what an awesome opportunity this experience is to live for a year in India. I'm very thankful and excited for what is to come!

Back in India

I am back in India! I was given the position of Assistant Director for the India Studies Program that I studied abroad with a year and a half ago! The position is for 2 semesters- or about 10 months. So basically I get to live in India again and continue learning and experiencing all the things I didn’t get to do before. I will be in charge of the students that are coming to study abroad. For many of them, this will be their first time out of the US, but whether or not they have traveled before, India is like no other place on Earth and will be overwhelming at times. It is my job to help them dive into this unique culture and experience as much as they can in 1 short semester. I will be planning trips around India for them to see the many sides of India, answering their many questions about how to live here, and helping them processes all that they see and experience.

 coffee break during salwar shopping trip

I’m really excited to watch my students come to love India and not only survive, but THRIVE in this land.

I’m excited to walk the familiar streets of Coimbatore, greet my Indian friends from when I studied here, taste the savory foods, see the brilliant colors of saris all around me, experience the jolt of adrenaline  from crossing the busy streets, and see the sweet faces of my kids at the home for mentally and physically handicapped people that I worked at last time. (see ‘Becoming Aka’)

But I am also coming at this with a realistic view. I arrived several days after the students because of trouble with my visa so I have to work extra hard to catch up. I’ve never been an Assistant Director before and so there will be a lot to learn. I already know of the many hardships of living in India- the heat, trains, cockroaches, beggars, and dealing with India Standard Time (IST). I know that there will be challenges and that the way I handle these things will greatly affect the way the students perceive and handle them as well. All in all this year is destined to be a huge learning and growing experience. Here goes! 

Riding in an auto