19th Arsha Vidya Mandir School, the US Consulate, and discussion with Brinda

Hello!
Today was an action packed day with three main points.  In the morning we visited another private school following the CVSC guidelines called the Arsha Vidya Mandir school.  Next we headed to the US consulate of which we were invited to after meeting with the US secretary general of the Consulate for Chennai at Raavena Mat. School nearly 2 weeks ago.  Following this we dropped our blouses off at the tailors and then headed back for to Niketana for some Curry paneer and Aloo curry dinner.
The day began at the school, which first impressions left it to be a very well off school with a steep tuition. This school catered to one class per grade, like the TVS school we visited, from kindergarden to 12th grade.   The school had an auditorium, projectors, white boards instead of chalkboards (the first we've seen yet) and even smart boards in some of the classrooms.  Tuition ranged form 35,000 to 50,000 rp which is about 1,123 US dollars per year.  Therefore many of these kids have traveled and have more luxurious lives that the rest of India.  The principal seemed caring and open to discuss topics, yet was very pleased to show off their technology at the school by emphasizing the school being completely electronic with everything from grades to textbooks on the computer.  The classrooms were great to be in again and the students worked hard in the classes I sat in on.  I watch at physics class, english class, geography class, 2nd grade class, 7th grade lab technology, 7th grade math probability class and finally the kindergardeners.  All the students demonstrated respect for their teachers and in many respects reminded me of my own educational experience in only the best ways.  With enthusiastic teachers and creative topics, the school attempted to harvest creativity as well as structure.  By far this school was the most well off infrastructure and resource wise.  Talking with a few students, I learned of kids that wanted to be environmental engineers, astronauts, Dr.s, robotics, and even a few that had no idea. Although so of the kids had no idea, I was proud of them, because having no idea means that they are thinking for themselves about what they want to do in their future rather than what their parents want or what they see receives the best pay for going beyond their circumstances.  Much of this is because of their circumstances now... they can't reach much higher and better, therefore they have to option to be creative with their ambitions.
After the school we headed to the US Consulate.  After an intense security screening.... ( I hope the woman whom gave the pat downs enjoyed herself)... we all ventured into the consulate to be greeted by an extremely uppity newbie to the consulate whom had just graduated from Columbia.  She proceeded to treat us like we were 5th graders and toured us around until we saw the secretary general in the stairwell, whom said hi and left after inviting us.  Then we met the public affairs department head whom proceeded to describe himself, his opinions and his views on India..... very rarely letting us talk and for the first time in my higher education career, almost made me feel bad about my choice of educational facility.  He stated that he wants to open the Indian children's' eyes to other educational opportunities in the USA other than the IVYs and stated that he was sure PLU gave a good education.  Our whole group was appalled by a lot of what we heard and the disrespect he gave to not only us as students but to our professor and to the Indian culture.  Being in India for only 2 and 1/2 weeks, I feel as if we have been more culturally emerged than he would ever become.  He described how he received his post in the foreign services and how they only remain for 2-3 yrs at the most.  I couldn't believe that this was a field that I wanted to pursue and I was appalled at the attempt for the argument that they make lasting connections to the community.... how can you make lasting connections in 2-3 yrs when there is always new people cycling through?  We attempted to talk about food but he also lacked knowledge on what to eat and where, this guy needed a pocket Vidya like we have, helping him realize all his cultural mistakes and teaching him along the way.  After bolting out of there fairly quickly we dropped our shirts off at the tailor and headed back to Niketana.
At Niketana we met with Vidya's sister Brinda whom described to us the Indian situations of arranged vs love marriages as well as In-law complications and dowery.
 All in all it was an immensely busy and draining day, it was nice to have our very own Kelsey read us a small bedtime story from a book she bought about the mythology of the Hindu religion.

Here are some pics from the school today:

(probability math class)

( Kindergarden class)

(tech and invention lab)

( the few books in social studies,  while the math took 3 book cases)

(career books for reference, most careers listed involve the IT industry, bio industry, agricultural industry or government industry)

(books on poets in their library, a thing many schools don't have)

(5th english)

(5th english)

(5th grade english)

(if you look really hard, the poster on the right is about the story of the man from good ole BOCO who wrote the book between a rock and a hard place and what the film 127hrs was based off of!)

more posts to come!! night!

Chennai Museum and dinner at Brinda's house 17th

(The Madras Museum)

On the morning of the 17th, we woke with full blue skies and began with our normal breakfast of papaya and toast and headed to the Madras Museum... or the Chennai Museum funded by the government.  The architecture of the buildings was beautiful, but upkeep was defiantly lacking.  When we got in, we took a look at the archeological findings of statues from all periods as well as bronze statues of the Hindu Gods and Buddhist idols.  The exhibits and galleries lacked basic museum necessities for what would be recognized as such for in the USA.  In the natural history and botany area of the museum, there were still casing of snakes and reptiles in jars of formaldehyde behind glass panels for kids to look at from 1960; the animals in these "preserved" casings had begun to slowly fall apart and no longer look as intended, just as a lot of their stuffed animals looked as well. It seemed like the taxidermy was slightly behind in the proper ways of preservation as well as exhibition and demonstration of the animals.  Animals seemed dusty and not really taken care of, and aside from the bronze statues, the archeological statues were well within the lines of human touch for whom ever visited the museum, unlike anything that would be seen in the US.  Regardless of the lack of funding and condition of the museum, the bronze gallery was my personal favorite.  With Vidya by our sides, she described nearly every statue we brought into question.  Many times it was more of a personal goal to be able to identify whom the idol was.  I learned that many of the Gods have multiple names due to personalities they have taken on while conquering certain demons and completing certain life goals, such as Shiva and his firey dancing steps used to kill a demon.  I have no pictures of the museum due to the 200Rp fee to take a camera in, but here is a picture of Shiva.
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You can see the fire around him and the demon beneath him.  After the museum we were intended on taking our




Sari blouses to the tailor but everything was closed due to the pongal holiday. Monday was traditionally a day at 




the beach for picnics.  We drove by the beach road and the majority of it was blocked off due to the thousands of




people that we on it that day.  So we went back to Niketana for a relaxing afternoon and got ready to head to 




Brinda's ( Vidya's sister's house and also where her mother lives) for dinner and time with her family.




The evening was a hit, meeting 4 of the 5 children that Vidya's mom had as well as dancing Bollywood as a family




and showing other styles of dance.  Vidya's niece is a famous singer throughout southern India and was gracious 




enough to sing for us a piece that her and her maestro had written.   After dinner, we made the trek back to 




Niketana by foot ( the same way we came) and retired for an early night due to a 5:30 a.m  wake up  the next day.






:)

Spice shop, the Fort, the Armenian Church, the Beach, and Church of Saint Thomas. The 16th

Today was filled with an action packed day.  After beginning our day with a trip to the grocery store for Indian spices we headed to Fort St. George, the old British fort on the coast of Chennai.  The fort is enormous and used to engulf the state secretariat until they moved to a new building a few years ago.  Inside the Fort was a museum full o f coins, porcine and pictures from the 17 and 1800's.  The fort demonstrated Britain's business with the real East India Trading Company and the battle of the local people of madras ( as Chennai was formally known) and the British. At the fort museum.

The museum also had enormous pictures of old British war heros, Kings and Queens, as well as the Generals of the fort.  In this grand hall full of painted pictures, Sarah and I discovered only three out of 20 were of Indian men, and one out of those three had a white man in it as well.  We talked about how many of the people living here probably never set foot outside of the fort walls and the most local interaction they would have received was through the merchants whom trade things into the fort.  This discussion led us onto a larger one of how there is still, just as then, so much wealth surrounded by so much poverty.  Its very hard to convey, even in pictures and with words.  Quite literally, the Sari shop we went in yesterday, filled with cloth over $300 US dollars, a styling amount of rupees, with have a slum style house on their side walk.  Sidewalks are not functional, and Vidya told us this the first day, which normally has to do with the congestion of traffic because people walk on the streets.  Shacks will be built on the streets and sidewalks, what were once parks are now slums, and even bridge over passes serve as a proper home, just as it does for some in the US.  Kelsey and I began to discuss how the poverty got so bad and why we don't see it as much in the US.  I believe in 2-3 reasons.  1.  the population is Seattle is about 300,000..... in Chennai, its 300 million, therefore there is less space per person. and 2/3 is the pull out of a developed nation for funding and security such as England leaves harmful expects not anticipated by Indian government.  Thats one thing I learned this year is the devastation colonization can lead to when its given independence.  Hence why many of Africa is in the disarray it is.  India has been doing a phenomenal job, and offers government services, its police force simply doesn't have the respect and repercussions like ours.  

There is no one to say you can place ahouseon the sidewalk, at least no one anyone would listen to.  

Inside the rest of the fort was a small chapel that was the burial place of a man whom Yale University was named after.  This church led into a courtyard full of water damaged buildings and lush vegetation, giving you the feeling of your very own secret garden.

 (the armenian church)

From here we drove to an armenian church.  As we rounded the block, there was street vendors everywhere and no sign of a church. Learning from my lesson yesterday about the sari shop, I knew this church had to be somewhere around here.  Sure enough, under and arch, it opened up to a large bell tower and separate chapel that over looked the town.    The church was gorgeous and white, as most of the chapels here. 

 After climbing the bell tower to get phenomenal views and pictures, I swayed in the sunlight for a while  until everyone else had a chance to climb the tower.  If there is one thing I have  learned from India, its to expect the unexpected and never judge a book by its cover.  Both the sari shop, kurta shop, and church were prime examples of this beauty that lies beyond the appearance of the eye.  

We returned for a small break back at Niketana and I join Hannah and Sarah on the roof for some sun basking and reading.  

After an hour or so we got ready to head to the beach.  As we pulled up Vidya explained everything that was being projected on the loud speaker; a constant description of what you can and cannot do at the beach along with what you shouldn't do, such as buy from the vendors because their products are probably unclean.  At the beaches here, there is no swimming for women, no bikinis and even wearing a sari or kurta can been seen as scandalous if it gets wet due to it clinging tight to the body.  The beach is one of the largest beach in the world, it feels larger than Miami Beach without a doubt.  Vendors everywhere along the sand set up shop, and like usual we were the main attraction. None of us mind, in fact we joke about not getting the same attention when we get back home that we have so accustomed to here.  People stare, pretend to not take pictures when they really are and simply come up to sk and say hi or even for an autograph. 

  My personal favorite was this couple that had a camera and looked as if the were posed for a picture together across from us.  But as I looked closer, instead of the shutter facing them and the display screen facing us, the screen was facing them and the shutter was pointed directly at us, they were just  faking taking a picture to try and fool our professor Vidya whose a fireball when it comes to people taking pictures of us and beggars not leaving us along.

We just our feet in the ocean, and I was anticipating only getting my calfs wet, but a large wave changed that and I was soaked from the waist down.  We took pictures, laughed and soaked in the beauty of the kids playing, the blue sky, the sun, and the warm company of each other.  As we took jumping pictures in the air, others on the beach took them of us too.  As we were soaking wet, we walked the board walk to see a central statue of Ghandi and the Chennai lighthouse that stood at the other end where the slums are.

The main slums of Chennai are on the opposite side of the beach, shacks all pieced together.  Something we discussed today was that the media only portrays the poverty of India.  So by me telling you only of the slums, it feeds into what is already known.  India has poverty, yes, and lots of it, but the government is doing an incredible job for competing with the USA in many regards, a 200 year old country, while itself only being a 70 year old country.  They have a multitude of programs for single mothers, employment options, promoting the impoverished class to working class and programs for medical help as well.  I can now see outsourcing as something that is helping India that it could have helped the USA.  Its hard to be selfish towards one's own country when coming to a place like this, all I feel is pride towards India and their accomplishments and ability to use trail and error methods of Western traits, culture and custom to help play catch up to the main players of the world.  They pick what worked for them and continues on.  Aside from the appearance of cultural restrictions, India thrives on flexibility.  

This can been see in Hinduism, a religion that has been around for centuries pre-Greco-roman and still seems to be applicable to people today.  Today I learned that Hinduism and Buddhism are one in the same to the people of India.  To them, Buddha was Vishnu, one of Hinduism's trinity, reincarnated, therefore Buddha was a Hindu.  The flexibility and freedom of diversity is what makes this country so united and acceptable in areas.

After our beach visit, we traveled to a large Catholic Church where some of Saint Thomas' remains are buried.  The church happened to just have had a wedding in it, therefore tons of lavishly dressed women and men were standing out front when we walked in.  In an effort to learn about each other, Vidya asked me about the practices between protestant and Catholicism, and I explained about the kneeling, which a sister of the church began to scold Vidya that protestants don't respect God.  There appears to be more controversy and argument between the same religion than amongst different religions.

As we walked outside of this grand church, we had a discussion on how the cathedral looked glorious.  Simple glorious.  At 4:45 in the afternoon, with the warm sun setting and glowing against this white building full of detail, literally made it look glorious.  As we watched the light dance down the cathedral, the bells rang from the towers. The moment couldn't have been any more perfect.  Warm weather, cool breeze, setting sun, rays across the sky, an incredible building and the simple moment of realization that I was in India.  It made my heart pound.

We hopped in the car and ate dinner in Niketana, Sarah and I spliting some Aloo Masala and hot coco to watch a  movie and fall asleep.

Sari Shopping :) 15th

These past few days have continued our tourist mode with tons of stops, sights and shops!  On the 15th, we spent most of the day shopping here and there, but the final store was the big one.... SARI SHOPPING!!  We pulled up to this run down street corner, and immediately I was disappointed and thought that this was not the experience I wanted, yet Vidya seemed unfazed, got out of the van and began walking down a back alley.  Giving her the benefit of the doubt, she pulls us into this building that isn't even on the main street, but the second you walk in , your in awe.  15 plus feet ceilings with rich dark wood and bolts and bolts of sari material everywhere you look.  Tables and chairs all the way around with eager sales men waiting to pull out every color you could possibly imagine.  Then we learn that there are two floors, first floor, pure silk saris and second floor are silk cotton blend.  I knew, from the moment I had my plastic american girl, girls of many lands doll from India whom had a pink silk sari, that thats what i needed.  It was an aspiration of mine to always want to look like this doll I had growing up.  As the fabric began to flow out, we all began to feel completely overwhelmed.  Four of us stayed on the ground floor while the rest went upstairs, and what we hoped to be a feeling of simply  knowing that this would be the sari that you buy, we got frustration and indecisiveness.  We all had the hopes of it being like what people say about your wedding dress, you just would know... but that feeling had yet to come.  We pulled out every sari in the pink, orange, purple and blue color  price range the guy could think of, and I felt more like a sari hoard, simply grabbing whatever caught my eye, than finding one that I loved.  It almost had some feelings of competition as we all scurried around the same color palate for the one you wanted.  After looking at the saris upstairs, we came back down to really focus on what we wanted.  As we sat down, I had my eyes set on 2 saris, one was a bright and vibrant turquoise blue and gold, the other a vibrant purple and bright yellow.  As I attempted to choose between the two, that I didn't really love, but felt more in a panic to find one, I was about to simply pick one that looked nice rather than falling in love with it, when a softer, but still vibrant purple and gold sari caught my eye.  Everyone began to partially dismiss it as apposed to the two extremely vibrant saris draped on my shoulder, so I put it down and continued to debate in front of the mirror.  One by one, the girls had found their saris, some debated over the price of the sari they loved, but I sat there with the two in front of me and the gold and purple off on the side.  As I sat there, the light caught the gold and purple sari just right and a turquoise hue began making its a appearance.  As I played around with it in the light, I was asked if I had decided... no matter how much I pushed myself to buy a vibrant blue, I kept coming back to this gold, purple and turquoise.  I made my decision, the sari that had caught my eye and my heart, the gold and purple Sari was my Sari.  After buying it and seeing all the beautiful colors that everyone else had bought, we all had a feeling of pride and exhaustion.  So a quick nap, of laying out of all the objects that I had bought, and a small rest, we headed down stairs for dinner and ended the night hanging out and watching aladdin.

i'll post a picture when its all finished from the tailor!!

Shore temples and the croc Farm!

Friday the 14th was spent taking a tourist day, a different type of day compared to our normal schedule, today was the start of Pongal, the harvest festival, so Happy Pongal everyone!  Our first stop of the day was to a crocodile farm.  We saw hundreds of crocs, some in areas where 348 were all packed in together, as well as seeing feeding time for a group of them.  This was very much like the snake park we went to yesterday.  On our drive in we saw some of the more impoverished people thriving on tourism, such as a man with a monkey chained up and dressed in clothes and two gypsy children asking for us to buy beads. Afterwards we went to a cultural preservation center for architecture and handicrafts.  Think of it as half luau festival and half Disney's Epcot just for India though.  The place had handicraft sellers and dancers all celebrating the Pongal festival, with pongal pots and Kolham placed all throughout the grounds.  After the demonstrations we headed over to the shore temples, three temples that have survived since the 6th century and before.  

 The temples were incredible, some recently being exposed due to the tsunami.  I couldn't believe the lack of strictly enforced laws here, a temple that is 6th century can be explored and crawled through, and thats exactly what we did.  We found incredible and inspiring spot and soaked it in.  One temple was directly on the shore, one a little further away with carved elephants and one on top of a mount over looking the Bay of  Bengal. The temple on the mount was my favorite, simply breathtaking views and scenery as you could see the harmony or attempt of harmony between nature and industry in India.  You could see the raw beauty that has been written about for centuries.  The views were awesome and the company of the girls on top of the mountain as well was wonderful.  The sun had just began to drop lower as  we reached the temple on the hill, making the rocks beam yellow and orange.  After this, we sank back into our seats on our bus, with Albert driving us back to Niketana. Tomorrow we get to do a little bit more retail therapy and buy our Saris!!!!!!

Thursday the 13th, St. Thomas Mount and shopping!

 On the 13th we had an action packed day.  We began with a "hike" as Vidya called it, I would describe it as a footpath with 185 steps, to St. Thomas Mount.  This mount is where doubting Thomas was assasinated while praying over a hand carved rock that is still preserved in the church on top of the mount.  The Mount, as I said earlier, contained 185 steps, realating to the same number of steps that Jesus took when he carried the cross.  Along the path there where hanging signs that described what happened every few steps to Jesus.  This was supposed to help one visualize the journey as they made their way to the church on the top and the amazing gold statue of jesus and the angels over looking Chennai.

 We were joined by about 300 school girls walking up the stairs as well whom where Catholic affiliated and were joining 2 other schools at the top for a motivatinal speech as the schools geared up for the big country wide exams at the 10th grade level.  

  After taking pictures of the gorgeous views of Chennai on a clear blue sky day, I was struck by a feeling of awe and humbleness.  Amongst the extreme poverty and wealthy living side by side, I have been able to view the raw beauty the Chennai and Southern India has.  The beauty comes from the people, the culture, the acceptance, and the simplicity the city seems to move at.  Even with the chaos of the city, things move slower at a second glance.  Proceeding the views we learned of St. Thomas and his sculpture, as well as a multitude of other relics.  After viewing the Hindu temple and the Mount, Vidya discussed how the Hindi people believe that everyone has their own way of worship, but believe that everyone prays to the same one God.  I felt a strong agreement to this, being of someone who studies culture and being a Christian, I tend to rationalize that everyone needs a religion or belief system, its in our nature, a religion should simply be something that is most relatable and culturally in tune with your history and surroundings.  To me, they all pray to the same God.  The feeling on the Mount was incredible.  Next we took a different take on Indian culture and headed to the Snake park.  We viewed all types of snakes local to the Indian area and around the world, as well as alligators and crocodiles.  The cultural preservation can be seen within the preservation of local animals.  We saw a few monkeys on the walls running around, but all too quick.  Therefore, we walked into the zoo to see the monkeys in the park.  In the park we met a group of school children and took a few pictures with them upon their request.  The attention has yet to feel overwhelming and Vidya and Miles are very in-tune with the surroundings they put us in and are always being the parents and blocking us from the following of men that normally happens when we go into public places.  After the outings we ended our day with a little shopping and a amazing meal a walk away from our hotel.  Our hotel is in an area comparable to Cherry Creek in Denver, or Bellevue in Seattle.  Very nice, a magistrate that lives a few houses down was setting up for a large Pongal function the next day, so it was exciting to watch them set up and see the final product the next day.  

a little note while I neb

Hey there,
Its 7 am on the 12th and I thought that I could attempt to pick up where I left off while I use my nebulizer.  ( lets just say this sickness hasn't gone away very easily or quickly)  Yesterday we went to a montissori school where the kids were broken up into primary and elementary sections and then continued with 7th grade and up in a normal setting.  We walked into the principals office and right away I got a bad taste for the school, the principal seem fairly frazzled as she didn't realize we were to be there for two days and immediately told us that when we go to a classroom, we find a mat and sit in a corner, no interaction with the kids because it would hinder their growth.  We separated into classes and I went with  Kelsey to a elementary montessori section, ages 6 to 12 in one room.  It was complete chaos, no structure no discipline and honestly one of the most US-like schools we have seen here.  The montessori style of giving the children time to learn as they wish had backfired.  At the age of 6, clicks had been formed and outcasted could be singled out.  We saw a lot more international and rich children at this school, costing nearly 45,000 rupees ( 1,000 US $) a year, this drew in a certain crowd.  The TVS academy, which cost 500 US $ was ten times the education as this, there, the campus was sprawling, children interacted with us on a whole new level, they were in love with their education, called their teachers sister and loved everything and everyone in their class.  The montessori school was horrible.  As we attempted to interact with children in 8th grade, normal class setting, they could not communicate with us.  The were shy, and mean when a few of the kids did answer our questions.  They had no careers in mind and no aspirations.  They stood up during class and would walk around the room to see friends or completely disregard the teacher.  There was a continuation of a lack for regarding time and concepts due to not having a baseline lesson taught to build concepts off of.   When Vidya asked for a syllabus for grading observation criteria, the teachers shifted and said they'd get back to us.  We are to go back today to view their pongal festival, the festival of the harvest that we have been watching all over southern India.  After we view this, Miles and Vidya are to take us to the express mall to watch a bollywood movie.  I hope everything goes to plan!