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Published: December 15th 2011
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12/6/11 Today was a busy and exhausting day; we woke up at 7 and left for breakfast at 8, from there we went to all three of the schools we will be working at; a school for blind children, a school for the mentally disabled, and what they call the "normal" school which is a school run by nuns but is a secular school that accepts all children regardless of their religion. Of course all of the kids at each school are so cute and amazing; we were greeted by songs from many of the kids and we shared some songs from our cultures as well. Our walk from school to school is quite a hike and we walk on the small brim of a busy highway and try to not get hit by cars and buses flying by. It is quite terrifying but also funny because we all agree that you would probably not see this outside of India. As I mentioned before I never witnessed such a lawless and erratic driving system (not even in Central or South America) the best way to describe it is to say that drivers are constantly playing a game of "chicken" where
they will drive in the center of both lanes (to pass slower vehicles, rickshaws, bikes) until one vehicle must yield to the oncoming traffic at the very last split second. We witness multiple close calls everyday and are astounded but the Indians don't even blink...this is just how they drive. We will probably all start believing in reincarnation to deal will all the disarray. I am always too frozen with fear to whip our my camera and take video...but I found 2 youtube videos that resemble what we experience everyday(keep in mind these are 2 way streets and drivers drive on the left here):
After walking a few miles in 95 degree heat, we had lunch and then our first yoga class. As I had been forewarned the philosophy and practice is much different here than in the States where we have a "Westernized" version of yoga. Our master is shamelessly arrogant but brilliant...and he will say crazy things in his thick accent like "if your body is not flexible, then your mind is not flexible and your physical personality is a zero!" Lucky for me I'm teacher's pet so far 😉
After yoga
and dinner we went to the nearest temple to see Kathakali dance which is an opera-like dance story that is performed mostly during this time of year in Kerala. (see photos) The performances go from 10pm often till 5am and they actually maintain a pretty good crowed for most of the night because many believe that the performances are spiritual blessing and if you stay the whole night then you will have success in finding a good mate (of course most marriages are still arranged so you will have greater chances of being married to someone you may actually like/tolerate).
On that note...the culture is, as expected, very different (even very different from Mumbai); women rarely walk around unaccompanied and should not walk around after 6pm, also women are not allowed in most bars/liquor stores. Even as Westerners we should not purchase liquor but have some men in the group handle those duties so to not offend the locals. Here we are required to cover our as much of our bodies as possible at all times and we must wear scarves if we have short-sleeves on. (see my get-up in photo) So we are constantly sweating our arses off!
And our sweat is beginning to smell like curry because that is what we eat for every meal...it's quite sexy, but hey we all have a good laugh about it. Ok more culture shock...identifying as gay here is illegal! You can actually be imprisoned, possibly for life, if you are caught engaging in same-sex relations. Many people are forced to follow a traditional lifestyle of marriage/family so that they are not shunned by their family/religious community. If you are shunned you really have no chance of making money, receiving an education and so on. There is apparently more acceptance of gay culture in major cities. The caste system is another example of the inequality here, see Wikipedia for more info if you'd like. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India) Many groups are working to abolish the ancient/traditional system but India still has a long way to go concerning civil rights.
Most Keralans speak Malayalyam rather than Hindi though most people understand Hindi and the much of younger generations understands/speaks English. We are learning some basic Malayalyam/Hindi but what I am improving on overall is my Spanish of all things! I am often helping translate for Isabel who struggles with English so I am getting
a lot of Spanish practice, I'm not complaining. Everyone in our group is great so far; friendly , helpful, cooperative...so far it's been amazing to work and live with this group.
One last note for the day; we are continually discovering the flora and fauna in our own "backyard" and without having to go far we have seen tulsi, black peppercorn, pineapple, coconuts galore, banana trees, mango trees (35 varities grow in Kerala), cashews and more all growing within feet of our little abode. We are in rainforest/jungle area and so we also have to be careful to watch for snakes/spiders (some poisonous) but so far the main pests are only stray dogs, mosquitos, and some rather large insects.
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