Apologies for not updating recently!! Things got really busy once we got into our homestay, and my homestay partner and I have spent the last few nights up late talking with our host family.
Friday night we met our host families. As a group we were all pretty exhausted, and the prospect of meeting our families and adjusting to another new living situation was more than a little daunting. But I think we were all pleasantly surprised, and everyone showed up on Monday with stories to share from the weekend. It was absolutely wonderful on Friday to go home to a real home and have an actual home cooked meal (dosa with coconut chutney!)
My homestay partner and I live with our host mom, her son, and her father-in-law on the ground floor of a house, while her sister-in-law, her sister-in-law's husband, and two more students from our group live on the second floor. The house is cool and airy with happy yellow walls populated by a rainbow of Hindu art pieces.
On Saturday we tried to sleep in a little, but apparently 9:00 am was too late. Twenty or so of our group joined our homestay coordinator in a visit to a shelter for former sex workers and street children. We met with the center director and then met some of the women and children staying in their shelters. Then a group of us headed to Mahabalipuram, a few hours south of Chennai, and saw the two thousand year old Hindu temples and rock carvings by the sea. The craftsmanship of the temple statues and carvings was beautiful, with all the details uniquely focused on the hands, feet, jewelry, etc.
Actually, I was personally thrilled to go to Mahabalipuram because we studied the major rock carving there, Descent of the Ganges, (the one with the elephants below) in some detail in my art history class last semester, and it was amazing to actually get to see it in person! After multiple dinner stops on the way back we got home around 11:00 pm, so needless to say we practically passed out on our beds within seconds of crawling in.
Sunday was marginally quieter, and we got some homework done, and started to really settle in. Monday & Tuesday were mainly class, but we had some great speakers and a fun visit to the beach. Then the past two days have been bus, site visit, bus, site visit, lecture, starve because we're running late and haven't had lunch, then lunch finally, lecture (try not to fall asleep from food coma), bus, site visit . . . Repeat!
Okay, half way, I'll catch up in the next post with some funny stories, culture, and host family fun (our host family is adorable!!) from the past few days :)
Pictures: meeting host families
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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