Well I made it to Chennai. On the 15 hour flight from Newark to Mumbai, I sat next to a very nice man who is a sculpture professor at the University of Mumbai. He had been staying in Colorado and when he found out I was from Alaska he had many questions. I met the girl I am now rooming with in Newark and we had the Newark to Mumbai and the Mumbai to Chennai flights together. When we landed in Mumbai, we had to get our bags, go through customs, and then take a bus to another domestic airport where we would recheck our bags and catch our next flight. Since I am volunteering with an eye clinic, they asked me to bring over some reading glasses to bring to the unfortunate. I had 650 pairs in my suitcase. The clinic emailed me a certificate of gift and said I should have no problems with customs. Well they were wrong! They kept me and my roommate, Anna, for three and a half hours, told us we needed to pay a duty of $8 per pair of glasses to bring them into India and when I told them there was no way I was paying that much they took them, said we could pick them up when we leave India and let us go. Them keeping us though caused us to miss our flight. We figured it wouldn't be too difficult to reschedule a flight but we were wrong. It took us 6 hours of being sent from one terminal to the other, one floor to the next, one kiosk to one down the hallway to finally find someone to help. We ended up having to buy a completely new ticket to Chennai which was disappointing but the only other option was to stay in the mumbai airport for another day and to pay a rescheduling fee to get on the nextAir India flight. Apparently they only have one a day from Mumbai to Chennai. We arrived in Chennai many many hours after we originally were supposed to and of course the person sent to pick us up was not there. We tried to call Dr. Senthil and Thaanraj (the volunteer coordinator) as well as the Uma Eye Clinic from Mumbai but nobody answered at two and the third number said it was out of service. It really made me doubt whether this program, despite all the research I had done, was a sham. Thankfully though, in Chennai we were able to reach the doctor and he sent a driver for us. We got to the hotel, which is called Hotel Aasai shortly after. It is an alright hotel. I am told the people there will not try to steal my things but still I would never leave anything out that would be a temptation. There is no toilet paper, only a bidet which I'm not inclined to use. I knew toilet paper may not be provided so I brought my own anyways. For the shower they have provided a bucket in the bathroom. You wash with the bucket and any water is just poured on the floor which has a drain. There are many mosquitos, but they are very small and very fast. We also have some cockroaches in the room. We have a supermarket next door and a street vendor selling fruit nearby and a nice restaurant that is only a 30 Rupee rickshaw ride away from the hotel. There is some sort of fish place next door to the hotel so any time you go to or leave the hotel I get to smell the nauseating fish. There are two beggars outside the hotel. They must have figured out that many foreigners stay there. One is a woman and her baby and another is a little girl. There are not as many beggars as I thought there would be but most do not hesitate to reach out and grab your arm or lightly smack you on the shoulder. They can be pretty persistant. Anna and I did some exploring yesterday looking for an internet cafe but we were not able to find one. We met 2 new volunteers today, Jean and Kim, and together we found one today. I feel very safe here walking around the streets. The drivers here are quite crazy. They honk at anything and nothing. They do not care if they are driving at oncoming traffic and there are no real traffic rules. There are no seatbelts but so far that hasn't been a huge problem. A volunteer that lives in the United States but is originally from Delhi took us to dinner last night at the restaurant I mentioned. Dinner is a little over 100 Rupees which is only a little over $2 for curry, naan, and a cold water. They have many juices there such as lime and watermelon juice. I want to try those soon. I also noticed they have Lassi which I am ready to try here.
Today we went to our first eye camp. It was at a school and the children there were so adorable and so excited to see us. They all wanted to shake my hand and when I brought out my camera they all needed their picture taken. They liked to compare their arms to mine and say "creama". They have barbed wire around the school. I thought that was a little strange. Someone said it was to keep the students in and to keep other people out. Some of the students offered me their lunches and kept asking if I had eaten but even if I did want to take their lunch from them, it wouldn't have been safe to eat.
I'm really enjoying it here. Its way too hot and there is a lot of dust which I am allergic to so my eyes are swollen, red, and crusty but hey, if it gets worse I'm working with eye doctors!
Monday, August 2, 2010
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Wow! That sounds crazy I don't where to begin Sara! haha. Well I hope you got your glasses back. Hopefully the doctor can help you get them through customs.
ReplyDeleteYour entry to India reminded me of my entry to Egypt. Crazy drivers, planned pick up did not happen, confusion, missing flights. It's nice to have someone with you! I was about to go crazy by myself. May have even with someone I guess.
I'm happy your finally somewhat settled in. That is always a nice feeling after the craziness. I hope you have fun and learn a lot! It sounds amazing and will be a great experience.
Mattbew
The honking thing. That was my alarm clock in Columbia. It's time to get up when the noise gets constant.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you're getting settled and sorted. If there's b-wire around the schools it might be an indicator that the safe feeling you have walking around town is misplaced. Careful.
That cold water you're drinking at the restaurant? Bottled? Might put a hitch in the works if it's not. Trusting lime juice, etc. that's made on site might be a tad risky, too.
Pictures, girl ! Pictures !
Love / Dad
PS: We'll get Mom signed up.
Yes pictures Sara!!!
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