Life in Chennai

This is the video I made for the AIF midpoint orientation. It's just a little peek into life in Chennai! Make sure your speakers are on - Enjoy!

Madurai & SEED 9th Annual Day

After my tropical beach vacation in Thailand I flew down to Madurai to visit my host family and attend the 9th annual day for the SEED Center. I've lived in Madurai for a significant amount of time and let me tell you....it's a whole different beast! Even for a 'town' of over a million people, it feels more like a village. Cows, goats, bullocks, and horses roam EVERY street. And everyone knows everyone. It's the kind of town where if you buy blue bangles near the main temple at 11am, by the time you reach home 20-30 minutes away, your family already knows that 1) you bought bangles 2) what color they are 3) where you bought them 4) how much you paid for them and 5) who you were with. One has to be VERY careful as there are NO secrets in Madurai. I loved living there, but am glad to be experiencing a metropolitan Indian city this time around.

A South Indian meal on a banana leaf prepared for me by one of the SEED volunteers mothers.

My host mom trying to negotiate with a cow so she can back her scooter out into traffic.

My host mom cooking deliciousness--a scene I have enjoyed and benefited from for 10 years!

A SEED student, volunteer and good friend of mine! She is currently trying to persuade her parents to postpone her marriage 2 more years so she can get more work experience.

Two more SEED volunteers (and a former student) who are also my role models!

The SEED students playing group 'janken pon' a game the Japanese ALTs taught them during an English camp in 2005.

Welcome to SEED's 9th Annual Day!

The Annual Day event had dancing, singing, and speeches! It was a fun afternoon and evening of community and togetherness for the 3 SEED centers in Madurai.

Some artwork done by the SEED volunteers! They should really market and sell this stuff! It's beautiful!

Some of the SEED students demonstrating some of the their art projects
during the art exhibition!

Happy NEW YEAR to all the SEED Centers!

Gap in Education

A friend directed me to this link awhile back and I have been meaning to post it. It clearly shows how much more work is required in the field of education to ensure that EVERY child really is able to get a quality education. Sadly, so many factors stand in the way: governments, economic resources, access to health care and cultural norms just to name a few. This visual reminder of the widening gap in education makes me wonder if any one NGO really makes that much of a difference? These numbers are charted based on national average rates. How much can and do individual success stories impact the larger picture? How quickly will the bigger picture ever improve if we are dependent on small-scale improvements, especially in a country like India?

The Yawning Gap in Education from The Economist

Mini Adventures in Thailand

Over the past few weeks I've had a few big adventures--a week in Thailand and 3 days in Madurai, and lots of mini-adventures in between. I'm back in Chennai now and back at work...it's always sad to see the holidays and vacations end, but it is nice to get back into daily routine for awhile...until the next vacation that is! I'll let the pictures narrate the stories!

Thailand is just a hop, skip and a jump away from India, but it took two flights and about 8 hours to get there. Plus, there was a potential immigration problem in India--my innocent smile solved it. And then in Thailand they didn't want to accept my domestic ticket--again, smiling seemed to do the trick! :) I arrived after an all night flight just in time for breakfast and a day exploring the island.

On my first day on the island, my parents took me literally around the ENTIRE island. We stopped at a beautiful beach for lunch, at the elephant safari to feed the baby, some sight-seeing, and for a little shopping.

No visit to Koh Samui is complete without a stop at the BIG BUDDHA!

My parents rented a jeep for my visit. It was great to have wheels to get around the island, but it was VERY small and barely sat 2, much less 3--with no shocks whatsever! No wonder Thai massage is so popular!

Hot Damn! I haven't seen a super market like this in....hmm? Actually, not sure I ever have! It was incredibly huge and so well organized. It was clean, the food looked fresh and delicious and there was almost NOBODY in it--EVER! I had to sneak a few pictures and then I was told by the staff that photographs were not allowed. Sadly, mega super markets mostly cater to the tourist industry in Thailand, and with the global economic crisis and the airport closure, there are almost no tourists in Thailand this year. Places like these are really suffering! Moral of the story: go grocery shopping in Thailand!

Lucky for me, my parents are in Thailand for several months and are staying in a bungalow, not a hotel. We were able to eat breakfast at home, make our own coffee, watch the news, and generally just relax in their flat when we weren't out and about or on the beach. And lucky for them, their bungalow complex comes with a restaurant next to a pond (with killer koi) and the swimming pool. The cooks are fabulous and everything I ate there was amazing: crispy chicken salad, lemon chicken salad, mixed vegetables, green curry, and of course pad thai to die for!

How can you beat this, really? Swim in the ocean or in the pool--take your pick! Both are amazing. And here is the best part...because all the resorts are hurting for tourists, they don't seem to care if you just walk in and go for a swim. So that is what we did...over and over again. It was like a luxury resort pool tour of Koh Samui. I wish I could have stayed longer cause I only got to see a handful of pools.

Absolutely the best pineapple and mango you've ever eaten! This very hardworking man walks up and down the beach all day with this hanging on this shoulders waiting for hungry tourists to buy fruit or roasted corn from him. It is worth every baht! The mango melted in my mouth!

Besides beaches, pools and finding more delicious food, we visited a few temples as well. This one was particularly beautiful...a temple sitting in a lotus floating on a lake. Besides big bellied Buddha and 10-armed Buddha, they also had shrines to Shiva, Ganesh and Parvathy. I guess Hinduism made it to this tiny little island! And surprise, surprise, surprise...the Evangelicals have made it to the island as well. We were invited to a Christmas service at the Evagelical Mission. Out of curiosity and hoping for some traditional christmas carols, we went. We lasted about 20 minutes before we started poking each other and asking how best we could sneak out. The best part was their version of the Christmas story which they adapted to their context to make it easier for the kids to understand. In their version, Joseph and Mary are turned away at the inns because it's high season! Gotta love it!

How did this happen on vacation? I got dragged into helping my parents teach two classes! I guess it is only fair after I dragged them around my classes in Japan. But still...I was on vacation! It was interesting to compare Thai and Indian schools. Even though my parents think these kids are a bunch of trouble-makers, they were angles compared to the inner-city Chennai kids I teach! Although, there was one boy in the 6th grade class who put a plastic bag over another kids head and tried to suffocate him. He learned the wrath of Sista K real fast and was great for the rest of class, he even completed the assignment!

Yet another delicious meal--hot pot Thai style! They give you the hot pot and you go through a line and pick out all the vegetables, meats, fish, and noodles that you want to add to it. My mom was a bit skeptical of the meat because it was just sitting out and she saw the waiters putting unused raw meat from another table back onto the buffet. Whatever! It all tasted great!

Beach time!! I want more beach time! Notice how blue and clear and clean the water is. In India, I live 10 minutes by walk from the beach and it looks and smells like a sewer. So sad!
One of the days we took a few ferries to another island for snorkeling. There wasn't enough time (there never is) but it was great to be in the water with lots of brightly colored fish of all shapes and sizes. Oh, tropical vacation, I love you!

Another pic from the beautiful snorkeling island! Also notice, how very little clothing one is allowed to wear in Thailand--shorts, bikini tops, exposed skin? What a refreshing change!
Oh, tropical paradise, why did I ever leave you?

A Christmas Eve Mai Tai! I think this is a new holiday ritual for our family. No more egg nog. No more mint hot chocolate with Baileys! We're buying pineapples, rum, fruit juice and orchids for our next Christmas celebration.

Christmas eve dinner on the beach, feet in the sand! We ate chicken satay, pad thai, massuman curry, and fruit for dessert. Who needs traditions when you have tropical beaches in Thailand? I sure didn't miss the ridiculous shopping frenzy, plates of Christmas cookies or all the obligatory cards and gifts. Family, good food and a few Christmas carols in the background...what else do you need?

Christmas Day dinner the bungalow staff put on a HUGE spread of food. There was a present exchange, I got a dry iron--so useful! I love useful gifts! But it was raining for most of the evening, so we sat and ate under an umbrella. Our contribution was our famous fudge--always a big hit. That's one tradition that's hard to give up!

Going back to the airport is always bittersweet, especially when they don't want to let you on the plane cause your ticket is invalid! Again, just smile--it seems to work! I took FULL advantage of the Bangkok airport experience because where I come from I can't eat fresh green leafy vegetables or drink deliciously expensive corporate coffee. Desperatly conservative conditions at home also call for desperate credit card measures--my first ever stop at Duty Free!