Thursday morning we woke up feeling much better after having a full night of rest. We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast included with our room and then off to the bus we ran, anxious for what the day had in store for us. Our first stop of the day was going to be the Taj Mahal! I have dreamed of seeing the Taj Mahal for YEARS! The thought that I was actually going to see it blew my mind and felt so surreal. So surreal in fact that I refused to believe it was actually happening until I was standing right in front of it. I kept waiting for something bad to happen that would prevent us from going. But luckily for me the worst thing that happened was the my camera quit working and even that problem was solved before we got there. When we arrived at the gate they gave us little booties to cover our shoes for when we went into the mosque area and then made us go through security. The massive gate at the east entrance, which is the most popular entrance, was an architectural wonder in and of itself. On top of the gate there were two rows off eleven white marble domes. Each one representing one year that it took to build the Taj Mahal.... 22 years!! Walking through the gate into the courtyard of the Taj Mahal felt like the best dream ever. It was absolutely liberating to be standing in front of one of my lifelong dreams! It is an absolutely gorgeous building that no words can adequately describe. It's massive figure towers over the entire city and the sparkling white marble shines so purely to contrast the muggy air. The Taj Mahal leaves nothing to the imagination and surpasses every expectation with its perfect symmetry, white splendor and intricacies. Inside the mosque the walls are lined with the most intricate stone inlay work. It was breathtaking because of its beauty and intricacy but also because I was living a dream. Words cannot describe what I felt when the Taj first came into sight. It was something like a mixture of awe, wonder, gratitude and inspiration. I had dreamed of seeing this world wonder for so many years, and there it was right in front of me. Its structure and color were magical and stood so tall on the flat terrain that it seemed to float in sky. We spent a lot of time listening to history from Ramesh, enjoying the beauty and getting some amazing pictures to document the memory. Again, like at the zoo and other tourist spots, we were more of an attraction than the actual attraction. People loved seeing a group of "beautiful white people"and continued to beg each of us for pictures and occasionally an autograph. One group of men even tried putting there arms around some of our group which resulted in so many furious Indians and our tour guides yelling at them and then guiding us safely back to the courtyard and eventually back to the bus. Thankfully we had already spend a significant amount of time there. To us, putting an arm around someone's shoulder really isn't a big deal, but in India that is a serious offense to the culture and although we were innocent, we were apparently lucky that we didn't get in trouble. After living the dream of seeing the Taj Mahal we were taken to a little shop where we were shown how to the marble stone artwork is created. We were taught be descendants of men who worked on the construction crew. Throughout the day we also visited Agra fort and received history lessons of it as well as visited various shops and learned how they weave their intricate rugs and eventually had a 5-star Indian meal. There was so much done in that day that just seemed like such a beautiful dream and I feel as if I cannot adequately cover or describe the details of the day. But was an experience that I am forever grateful for and it is my hope that everyone has an experience such as this one.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Monday, August 20, 2012
Delhi Tour - Day 1
On our last night, after all the goodbyes, we spent quite a bit of time cleaning the hostel and trying to figure out how we were going to fit all the stuff we bought into our suitcases. After a few grueling hours of packing and cleaning a few of us attempted to get an hour or two of sleep before we had to be up and leaving by 3 a.m. to catch our 7 a.m. flight in Chennai to Delhi. 3 o'clock came way to early and we all walked and looked like zombies as we loaded the vans to head to the airport. Driving through India in the middle of the night was significantly less stressful than during the daytime but still not relaxing enough to allow sleep. Luckily when we arrived at the airport everything went about as smoothly as it could go for a group of almost 30 traveling together. We only had one passport scare and one girl that had to pay overweight fees on her luggage. We made it to our gate almost an hour early so we were looking forward to sitting down for while and maybe even taking a power nap. Too bad there were only about 50 seats in the whole terminal. We were smashed in between a lot of Indians who were staring at us shamelessly and we were practically piled on top of each other and our carry-ons as we not-so-patiently waited for the flight that would take us Delhi for a grand adventure.
Upon arrival in Delhi we were shocked and relieved to find that ALL of our luggage had made the journey. Once we had all retrieved our bags we went outside to see our tour guides waiting for us with friendly faces and sign that read "Rising Star!" but not before we were followed through baggage claim by a large guard with an even larger gun. :) Our tour guides took us to the bus immediately where one of their daughters who was 3 years old put beautiful leis around our necks that she had made with her grandmother. (The little girl was born in Hawaii if you're wondering what the connection to leis is.) Our first stop was at a fabulous Indian restaurant where we were able to renew our opinion of Indian food. It was a million times better than the stuff we had been eating for two weeks!! I had the delicious butter chicken and garlic nan. It was so amazing! After resting and refueling we were back on the bus for a quick tour of Delhi. We drove around the president's house and India Gate. The president's house is undoubtedly bigger than my entire town and India gate was a cool monument built for the military. The presidents house had over 300 rooms and over 700 million bricks. Our last stop in Delhi before our journey to Agra was a spice market. But getting to the spice market was a journey in and of itself. We got off of the bus and piled onto little buggies attached to bicycles by twos and were pulled through the streets and tiny alleys to the market. The ride was completely insane as we rode through the alleys that were narrow enough to reach our hands out and touch the walls or steal from the vendors. Above our heads there were so many twisted wires hanging all over and between the buildings that it was no wonder that they struggle with power outages. It was a long and bumpy ride on the bicycle buggies known as rickshaws as we were passed by and passed cows, cars, monkeys and other buggies by mere centimeters, but it was easily one of the most fun rides ever! At the spice market we listened to a presentation about Indian spices; where they come from, why they are a big part of Indian culture etc. It was interesting and fun to listen to. After that it was back to the buggies for the insane ride back to the bus. From there we got cozy on the bus for what was supposed to be a 4-5 hour ride to Agra. However, due to multiple bathroom breaks and traffic that would shock a new-yorker, the 4-5 hour trip turned into a 8-9 hour trip. There were so many cars jammed on that tiny road and there was enough honking to last us all three lifetimes! There were also people crowded on tops of buses because there wasn't room left inside the bus. These people would often try to get our attention by waving, or rather flailing, constantly, shouting and taking pictures of us through the windows. It was quite entertaining to have old Indian people standing on top of a moving bus and flailing around to get our attention.
When we finally made it to our hotel in Agra it was nearly midnight and we had been up for almost 24 hours. We were way past the point of exhaustion that when we pulled up to our hotel I thought for sure I was dreaming. I knew we would be staying in a five-star hotel but I guess I had no idea what that really meant. I literally felt like I had stepped into a palace. The lobby was made of white marble and the chandelier was bigger than my bedroom. The courtyard wasn't much smaller than a football field and the beds we slept in were as soft as clouds.
Upon arrival in Delhi we were shocked and relieved to find that ALL of our luggage had made the journey. Once we had all retrieved our bags we went outside to see our tour guides waiting for us with friendly faces and sign that read "Rising Star!" but not before we were followed through baggage claim by a large guard with an even larger gun. :) Our tour guides took us to the bus immediately where one of their daughters who was 3 years old put beautiful leis around our necks that she had made with her grandmother. (The little girl was born in Hawaii if you're wondering what the connection to leis is.) Our first stop was at a fabulous Indian restaurant where we were able to renew our opinion of Indian food. It was a million times better than the stuff we had been eating for two weeks!! I had the delicious butter chicken and garlic nan. It was so amazing! After resting and refueling we were back on the bus for a quick tour of Delhi. We drove around the president's house and India Gate. The president's house is undoubtedly bigger than my entire town and India gate was a cool monument built for the military. The presidents house had over 300 rooms and over 700 million bricks. Our last stop in Delhi before our journey to Agra was a spice market. But getting to the spice market was a journey in and of itself. We got off of the bus and piled onto little buggies attached to bicycles by twos and were pulled through the streets and tiny alleys to the market. The ride was completely insane as we rode through the alleys that were narrow enough to reach our hands out and touch the walls or steal from the vendors. Above our heads there were so many twisted wires hanging all over and between the buildings that it was no wonder that they struggle with power outages. It was a long and bumpy ride on the bicycle buggies known as rickshaws as we were passed by and passed cows, cars, monkeys and other buggies by mere centimeters, but it was easily one of the most fun rides ever! At the spice market we listened to a presentation about Indian spices; where they come from, why they are a big part of Indian culture etc. It was interesting and fun to listen to. After that it was back to the buggies for the insane ride back to the bus. From there we got cozy on the bus for what was supposed to be a 4-5 hour ride to Agra. However, due to multiple bathroom breaks and traffic that would shock a new-yorker, the 4-5 hour trip turned into a 8-9 hour trip. There were so many cars jammed on that tiny road and there was enough honking to last us all three lifetimes! There were also people crowded on tops of buses because there wasn't room left inside the bus. These people would often try to get our attention by waving, or rather flailing, constantly, shouting and taking pictures of us through the windows. It was quite entertaining to have old Indian people standing on top of a moving bus and flailing around to get our attention.
On our last night at Rising Star Outreach we were invited by the kids to attend a special performance just for us done by the choir and the dance team. It was absolutely adorable to see them performing their hearts out the songs that they had practiced so diligently. The choir sang 3 songs for us, the first one being a song about how each of our lives has a purpose and God has a plan for every single one of us. Hearing them sing it was a wonderful reminder to me that even though they seem to have such hard lives, they are still so blessed. They are children of God, and they know it. They don't care if they have to sleep on a concrete floor every night because they know that God has a plan for them. The dancers were super fun to watch also! It's amazing to witness such talent and know that these kids have received a one in a million chance to develop this talent. They danced to some fun songs like Michael Jackson's 'Black or White' and also some more reverent songs. And of course it wouldn't be a true Indian performance if the power didn't go out. Sure enough it went out right in the middle of one of the dances. But luckily this is a frequent occurrence for them and thus not a surprise. They didn't let it bother them one bit and in fact started making up games to play in the dark while they waited patiently for the power to come back. As soon as it, they picked up right from where they left off and didn't miss a beat.
When the performances were over it was time to say goodbye to the children. All of the volunteers lined up in front and then all of the kids lined up according to their houses. They released each house one at a time to walk down the line and hug us or shake our hand goodbye. It was so heart-wrenching to say goodbye to them and not know if or when you'll ever see them again. But it was so much worse to see the kids crying and know that they get attached to volunteers and have to say goodbye to them every 2-3 weeks throughout every summer. It was so hard to say goodbye to the girls that I had gotten to know the best. I wished so badly that I could just take them with me.
When the performances were over it was time to say goodbye to the children. All of the volunteers lined up in front and then all of the kids lined up according to their houses. They released each house one at a time to walk down the line and hug us or shake our hand goodbye. It was so heart-wrenching to say goodbye to them and not know if or when you'll ever see them again. But it was so much worse to see the kids crying and know that they get attached to volunteers and have to say goodbye to them every 2-3 weeks throughout every summer. It was so hard to say goodbye to the girls that I had gotten to know the best. I wished so badly that I could just take them with me.
waiting for the power to come back
getting ready to say goodbye
saying goodbye to the kids
Loving these strangers like me.
~"You get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place. Like you'll not only miss the people you love but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and place because you'll never be this way ever again."~
The time to say goodbye to the wonderful people of Rising Star came entirely too quickly! It didn't take me long to fall in love with the people and I was just getting really comfortable when it came to an end. On the one hand I couldn't wait to get back to running water, decent food and western toilets but on the other hand I'm afraid to leave because I never want to forget what I've learned and what I've felt here.
I've learned so much about service and love and even about myself. Last Sunday at church one of the speakers talked about service and love. His main point was that serving someone means to love them, you don't don't need to know someone to serve them, therefore you can love someone you don't know. I loved this so much because true Christ-like love knows no boundaries and that is the love I felt for the rising stars! I didn't know these people when I went to serve them but as I did I began to feel a love for them at a level of truth and sincerity that I didn't know was possible to feel for strangers. But looking at these strangers through eyes that are trying to see as Christ sees and serving them with a heart that seeks to have Christ at it's core it becomes easy to see that Phil Collins had a point. These strangers are just like me. They are children of God. They are my brothers and sisters. They are rising stars!
I love how close I became to my Savior while I was there and it is my hope and prayer that I never lose that. I have heard my whole life that the key to happiness is to forget yourself and remember others. I now have a solid and unwavering testimony that that is completely true. I've never been so happy than when I wasn't thinking about myself at all! And I can see so clearly now why the people there, who in our eyes seem to have nothing, are so happy still... because they don't focus on what they don't have but spend so much time focusing on others.
The time to say goodbye to the wonderful people of Rising Star came entirely too quickly! It didn't take me long to fall in love with the people and I was just getting really comfortable when it came to an end. On the one hand I couldn't wait to get back to running water, decent food and western toilets but on the other hand I'm afraid to leave because I never want to forget what I've learned and what I've felt here.
I've learned so much about service and love and even about myself. Last Sunday at church one of the speakers talked about service and love. His main point was that serving someone means to love them, you don't don't need to know someone to serve them, therefore you can love someone you don't know. I loved this so much because true Christ-like love knows no boundaries and that is the love I felt for the rising stars! I didn't know these people when I went to serve them but as I did I began to feel a love for them at a level of truth and sincerity that I didn't know was possible to feel for strangers. But looking at these strangers through eyes that are trying to see as Christ sees and serving them with a heart that seeks to have Christ at it's core it becomes easy to see that Phil Collins had a point. These strangers are just like me. They are children of God. They are my brothers and sisters. They are rising stars!
I love how close I became to my Savior while I was there and it is my hope and prayer that I never lose that. I have heard my whole life that the key to happiness is to forget yourself and remember others. I now have a solid and unwavering testimony that that is completely true. I've never been so happy than when I wasn't thinking about myself at all! And I can see so clearly now why the people there, who in our eyes seem to have nothing, are so happy still... because they don't focus on what they don't have but spend so much time focusing on others.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Sunday we had the opportunity to drive to the city (Chennai) and attend a small branch for our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints. I love attending church in other countries because it is so fun to see the culture of that country shine through the steadfast principles of the gospel. I also really love the reminder that I get that the gospel of Christ is true and consistent throughout this entire world. It doesn't matter which continent you are on, which language you speak, Christ and His gospel remain consistent. Because of this consistency and truth, being in church in a foreign country is always such a comfort, like seeing an old friend or like going home. After sacrament meeting some of the people were leaving to go do some shopping and needed more people to go with them. So my friend Paige and I decided to go with them. It was a crazy experience shopping in the mall here! It was like being in a massive labyrinth. It was huge and filled with a million small shops! But it was fun to see it and shop around a little more. :)
Sunday night the kids had a talent show and they were so excited for it they could hardly stand it. Some of the kids sang, some of them danced and some of them even showed drawings they had done but all of them were absolutely adorable! The girls in my family did a dance and it may have been one of the cutest things ever! They were really good at it too... I should have them teach me how to dance. :) At the end when all of the kids had performed we as volunteers decided to surprise them with a little dance of our own. That's right, I actually danced (not well I might add) AND sang (also not well) with all of the other volunteers. And, of course, the kids absolutely loved it! When the talent show had ended, music came on and the kids went CRAZY! They circled around and danced mosh pit style for a while and then for a while they would take turns showing off their dance moves in the middle of the circle. It was amazing and so much fun!
Today, (monday) my group was on the construction rotation again and I have to admit it was so much fun! We had a good time, talking and singing while we moved bricks and bags of sand. For half of the time I ended up working with two older Indian men helping them lay foundations for the new and improved outhouses. I never thought I would say that building bathrooms would be a blast, but it really was. At one point I took over for the man and instead of handing him mixed cement he let me lay the cement down and spread it out to fill the foundation. It was really cool to see the finished result and know that I had actually laid a foundation! We finished our work in the colony early and were able to stop at the paratha bread and also at the junciton (small shopping area near our campus) and buy some henna! So for anybody who wants to do henna when I get back let me know... I have plenty! This afternoon, instead of typical play time, we had a water fight with the kids! It was so much fun to see them running around soaking wet and surprisingly more fun to get soaking wet by the kids. At one point I looked over at one of the little girls and saw that she had decided to go swimming in the puddles that resulted from the massive water battle. It was adorable, to say the least.
It's really sad to think that tomorrow is my last day at Rising Star Outreach. The time has gone by entirely too fast! It's going to be hard to say goodbye to it all when we leave here Wednesday morning at 3, but I am so grateful to have even been here at all!
Sunday night the kids had a talent show and they were so excited for it they could hardly stand it. Some of the kids sang, some of them danced and some of them even showed drawings they had done but all of them were absolutely adorable! The girls in my family did a dance and it may have been one of the cutest things ever! They were really good at it too... I should have them teach me how to dance. :) At the end when all of the kids had performed we as volunteers decided to surprise them with a little dance of our own. That's right, I actually danced (not well I might add) AND sang (also not well) with all of the other volunteers. And, of course, the kids absolutely loved it! When the talent show had ended, music came on and the kids went CRAZY! They circled around and danced mosh pit style for a while and then for a while they would take turns showing off their dance moves in the middle of the circle. It was amazing and so much fun!
my girls getting ready to dance
sorry if these videos are a little shaky... I was getting bumped a lot! :)
kids going crazy!
Today, (monday) my group was on the construction rotation again and I have to admit it was so much fun! We had a good time, talking and singing while we moved bricks and bags of sand. For half of the time I ended up working with two older Indian men helping them lay foundations for the new and improved outhouses. I never thought I would say that building bathrooms would be a blast, but it really was. At one point I took over for the man and instead of handing him mixed cement he let me lay the cement down and spread it out to fill the foundation. It was really cool to see the finished result and know that I had actually laid a foundation! We finished our work in the colony early and were able to stop at the paratha bread and also at the junciton (small shopping area near our campus) and buy some henna! So for anybody who wants to do henna when I get back let me know... I have plenty! This afternoon, instead of typical play time, we had a water fight with the kids! It was so much fun to see them running around soaking wet and surprisingly more fun to get soaking wet by the kids. At one point I looked over at one of the little girls and saw that she had decided to go swimming in the puddles that resulted from the massive water battle. It was adorable, to say the least.
It's really sad to think that tomorrow is my last day at Rising Star Outreach. The time has gone by entirely too fast! It's going to be hard to say goodbye to it all when we leave here Wednesday morning at 3, but I am so grateful to have even been here at all!
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Cricket on a nice Saturday afternoon
Today the staff of the Chennai Marriott hotel came over today to spend the day with the kids and challenge them in a game of cricket. I didn't realize this but apparently the Marriotts are big supporters of Rising Star. The Marriott hotel in Chennai (about 2 hours away) even offers employment opportunities for kids who graduate from Rising Star and cannot find other work or don't already have an arranged marriage.
It was really fun to see the staff interacting with the kids. Only the older boys were allowed to actually play in the match but all the other kids had great time cheering and stealing our cameras to take 'photos'. To make things even more fun for the kids, they WON!
It was really fun to see the staff interacting with the kids. Only the older boys were allowed to actually play in the match but all the other kids had great time cheering and stealing our cameras to take 'photos'. To make things even more fun for the kids, they WON!
the funny-face-makers are always just drawn to me... I wonder why
Playing with Abi
if you can see clearly enough count how many kids have cameras that don't belong to them
hangin with Gracie
Mamallapuram
For this weekend's trip we went to another beach town called Mamallapuram. There we had the opportunity to do some more shopping see some ruins and hang out on the beach. Neither my friend Paid nor I was super crazy about sitting on a beach all day so we spend most of the day shopping around town and strolling around the ruins. I love shopping here because everything is so cheap and it is really fun to bargain with the salesmen. I was able to get a chudidhar and sandals made for me for less than 30 dollars. I also got some of other cool souvenirs such as a hand-carved elephant and a beautifully hand-stitched wall hanging. When we had exhausted the shopping we walked over to the ruins to check them out. They were super cool. The intricacy and detail of the carvings is absolutely incredible. But I'd have to say my favorite part was watching a monkey sit on the ruins and drink a coca cola he had stolen. I have to admit though that monkeys are pretty smart. Later, I tried taking back a wallet a monkey had stolen from a lady and it just sat there and teased me. He totally faked me out a couple times before jumping into a tree where I had no chance. I could have been irritated but seeing him fake me out was one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
having our sandals fitted
some of the ruins...in case anyone is wondering, the elephant is symbol of strength and wisdom
yep... he's really drinking a coke
Krishna's butter ball
a littler girl who begged her parents to get a picture with us... adorable!
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