The Pigeon Outside My Window is Named Raj

           

Raj, the Pigeon

     There is something intrinsically awesome about not knowing the names or contents of anything that you are eating. In retrospect I may actually prefer it that way.  I feel like every meal is an adventure, and my eating code basically revolves around watching to see what the kids are eating. No matter what continent you are on, or which culture, I firmly believe that kids know what tastes good.  I am yet to be wrong.
            Well, I got here safe! It was a crazy 30ish hours filled with long waits in the airport and even longer airplane rides. I would like to give a shout out to my new airport/airplane best friends Stefan, David, Katherinne,Shawn, Raj, Ali, the woman in Chicago who happens to have the same birthday as me, and the numerous babies who cried a good portion of my 10 hour flight to Chennai. I think that I have held enough crying babies that I do not find it even remotely annoying. A newborn cry sounds as adorable to me after five hours as it does after five minutes.  Ok...maybe it sounds almost as adorable.
          Chennai is a beautiful city filled with beautiful people. Sometimes I have to look outside my hotel room just to make sure that I am actually here. I arrived on my airplane at 3:35 a.m. EIST (Eastern Indian Standard Time?? haha I don't know what it is actually called, just that it is almost 12 hours different from MST). As soon as I stepped off the plane I could feel the temperature change. It is very warm and humid in this part of India. I am located on the southeast part, and arrived in time to greet monsoon season.  I was originally supposed to met a truly brilliant girl named Mashell in Britain and then travel to India with her, but her flight was delayed, so I got off the plane in India alone. I had heard so many crazy stories about the Chennai airport so I was concerned, but after staring off a couple of aggressive taxi drivers (who wanted nothing more but to grab my luggage and charge me outrageously for a taxi) and then after asking directions from and Indian soldier packing a machine gun, I was able to finally find my hotel driver.

Mani...I brave soul

               His name was Mani and he was a trooper. This kid looked like he was about 16, and spoke very little English. As soon as we had loaded my belongings into the mini van he opened my door for me, turned on the AC and some pleasant elevator music and we were off! Apparently, Driver's Education is nonexistent and there are very very little traffic regulations in India.  The rules of the road are 1. Honk your horn A LOT when you are trying to pass someone. 2. Be aggressive 3. At night flash your brights when you pull up behind another vehicle so they know you are there. 4. As long as you do not actually hit pedestrians it is ok if you pass by 2 cm from their elbow 5. Lanes are not meant to be stayed in. Try to fit as many people as you can on the road. 6. It's ok to go down one way roads as long as you honk the entire time to let people know you are coming. 7. Drive Fast.   It was definitely exciting and I loved it!...although any thoughts of sleep were sufficiently banished for the next three hours.
                It has been incredibly humbling to see the number of people who live homeless here. I can't believe it. When we were coming to the hotel I thought it strange to see hundreds of people on every sidewalk. It seemed awfully early for them to be awake. Then I realized that they did not have homes. These were people who were struggling to feed themselves, and live from day to day.
               Tomorrow I will leave for the leper colonies, and I hope that I will be able to help some people just like those I have seen. I hope to help them for not only one day, but give them the assistance that will assist them in creating a brighter future for themselves.  I am so blessed, and I know that I am where my Heavenly Father wants me to be. Today I was able to attend an LDS church, and it was amazing. Half the meeting was in Tamil, but the spirit was so strong. I am so excited for what the next weeks hold. Thank you so much again to everyone that assisted me in getting here. I promise that not all my blog posts will be this long, and that they will be more consistent. I hope to have a new one sharing my experiences at the leper colonies every few days.

I love you all!  Make today a great day :)

Peace-----Becca

            

Representing Saint A! :)