Day 1: May 28th
After 36 hours of travel, I arrived in Chennai, India! Michael, Ayah, and I were picked up at the airport by Janet, our Cultural Advisor. Janet just finished her Master’s in Social Work at Loyola University in Chennai. It was really cool to finally meet her in person, but we probably weren’t very interesting company due to our extreme jetlag.
We drove through crowded 8 AM Chennai traffic, weaving in and out of lanes and honking liberally. Indian traffic is unlike anything I’ve seen before; driving here is truly an art. We arrived at the Ramada, our temporary base camp, and met up with the rest of our team at a delicious hotel breakfast. Breakfast was
awesome. Not only did we get to try new foods and rest our bodies, but it was the first time seeing the entire team together in India after months of visualizing it. We all took a few hours to cool off, take the best shower ever, and let jetlag take its toll. Evening activities included shopping for Indian clothes, such as kurta (long tunic), dupatta (scarf) and churidar (leggings), and taking a long, sweaty walk through Chennai’s outdoor shops. Over dinner the team shared “highs and lows” to reflect on the day. Highs included picking out Indian clothes, exploring the city on foot, and taking naps! Lows included delayed flights, extreme heat, and difficulties getting through immigration.
Day 2: May 29th
Our 2nd day in Chennai started by meeting up with Janet, our Cultural Advisor, and Poul Luther, our NGO contact. We’ve been Skyping with Poul every week for the past 9 months, so it was almost surreal to see him in the flesh! He’s real! Poul led an orientation about the work and mission of CASA, our NGO partner. Poul has been a social worker with CASA for 34 years, and he currently manages disaster relief efforts throughout several states in southern India. I think the rest of the team would agree: Poul is one of the most selfless people I’ve ever come across. Janet also led a presentation about Indian culture.
After visiting the CASA Office in Chennai and ironing out some dates with Poul, we spent the afternoon driving around Chennai and visiting St. Thomas’s Mount, which offers a huge panorama of Chennai from above.
We finally headed back to the hotel, ate dinner, and innocently fell asleep— and then, tragedy struck. I unknowingly ate something I am allergic to (fennel seed), and so began the team’s first illness. I’ll spare you the gory details; suffice it to say that I had a very rough night! However, there’s nowhere I’d rather be. Illness is a small price to pay to spend time in Chennai! Luckily, my entire team had my back, and they didn’t make me feel any grosser than I already felt. After that horrid night, we got up to head out of Chennai and towards the village..... to be continued in our next blog post!
Jane Cloninger
PUC India 2019 Team
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