Blogs from Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia - page 6

1/15/07 I’ve been in India about 10 days, yet my blog still has me somewhere out in the netherworld between here and there. I’ll try to get myself correctly geographically situated. I arrived in Chennai, India, just before midnight on Saturday, the 6th. After a longish wait for customs, I exchanged some cash and headed for the exit. Thoughts swirled through my head. What will be my first impression of India? What will the Indians’ first impression be of me? Is my ride here yet? Do I look as out-of-place as I feel? (I think I can safely say, “Yes!”) Not seeing a sign with my name on it among drivers inside the terminal, I lingered just inside the door, reluctant to go out in case my ride had not yet arrived and there be no ... read more

Hello all. I feel really welcome and reassured at my placement. As yet I haven't been made to teach, I'm just observing. And they tell me that they won't push me into anything if I'm not confident. I think I am up to teaching, but if I fell I'd be better at assisting classes or working in small groups with the slower kids then I can do that instead. There are so many volunteers about it's quite flexible. There's me + Colin, Gemma who's into her 30s and is helping mainly with admin but is teaching aswell. Then within the next couple of weeks Rose and Kim return, they were the previous GAP volunteers and Maria asked them to stay on a bit longer. Rose clearly left an impression, I've never known someone so well without ... read more

Flinging myself forward in time, the time between taking off in Minneapolis and arriving in India is a blur. Crossing time zones makes telling time difficult. It’s not enough to look at your watch. You must ask yourself if you want to know what time it is in a place you’ve left, if you want to know what time it is at the place to which you’re traveling or what time it is in your undetermined location over the Atlantic Ocean. Instead of hours, you reckon time like this: hungry, tired, awake. That’s all your body cares about as it screams, “Who’s big idea was it to spend 20-plus hours in an upright fetal position while careening eastward at 500 mph amidst hundreds of strangers you’ll never see again in your life?” It’s times like that ... read more

This entry is coming to you from somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, as I make my way to India. Wait - what's that noise? It sounds like my dog snoring. And what's that outside my window? It looks like a very familiar back yard, my own even. I guess I was mistaken. This is coming to you from my home. Even so, I've had my first taste of India. I was supposed to fly out of Minneapolis at 12:30 p.m. today. I didn't learn until 9:30 a.m. that my visa had not been issued yet. Thankfully, although my travel agent went on vacation as of this morning, he had filled a colleague in on the situation, who canceled the reservation in time to save me from being a "no show" and thus forfeiting the small fortune ... read more