People…everywhere!!!

Between the sights, the cars, the smells and the people, india has been a conundrum in and of itself. It’s hard to react to a country that you don’t know how to react to. Walking down the streets there were literally houses in several different countries. There were cars that held two seat cars, auto rickshaws that “seated” 2 but in reality we were putting between four and 8 people in them. There were buildings that were made out of brick, and houses made out of straw. There was construction on a HUGE dome that looked as though it was going to be a tough undertaking and would take several years from there. And then right next to it was a building that was falling down. Driving down a road you would look to your left and see a beautiful beach and then turning to the right see dilapidated shacks that were people’s homes. There is literally no way to describe my first 12 hours in India. It was frustrating at first because we saw all the immigration officials which was fine, and then handed back our passports. We were told that we only needed a copy of our passports and our customs forms…until of course students tried leaving the ports and they wouldn’t let them leave unless they had their passports with them. This meant mass chaos at the pursers desk because most people didn’t have their passports or customs forms yet and the passports weren’t in order yet from the morning. It was ridiculous and I felt fairly awful for the peoples at the Purser’s desk because of the mob of people that were rushing them.

 

*side note! Not sure if I’ve talked about them before but the crew on here is amazing!!!! They take the best care of us and it’s going to be really sad when a lot of them leave which will be in Hong Kong. It’s not hard to get close to them and really love all they do for us.  From Don, who’s my cabin steward and is absolutely amazing and keeps our room looking pristine and has helped me make sense of the chaos that can be my room, to Perry and everyone who works in the dining halls taking care of us, getting us juice and taking our plates, to Denise who works at the Purser’s Desk and is awesome and really cool to talk to, to EVERYONE that works so hard to keep our ship running.  It’s wonderful the way they treat us and you can tell that they really love being here and being with us. it’s crazy to think how many people are necessary to keep our ship running and getting perfect scores on random inspections. In every port that has nice weather, some part of the ship is being painted and repaired.  Everyone that works on the ship is absolutely fantastic and I will really miss all of them come December!!!*

**side note…to side note, the other day marked the halfway point…we’re on the second half of the journey and we still have four countries to go after india, talk about incredible**

So yea, after a while I was finally able to get my passport and customs paper and went to get ready for my trip to the Dalit Village. The Dalit Village is home to the lowest in the caste system and yet they are the example of how this world is changing. There was a parade for us when we got off the bus and we received necklaces of jasmine and other flowers.  We also were a part of a procession through the town and then went to a ceremony where we were introduced and there were several people of importance, including a member of parliament and the directors of the project we were working on.  While there, we pained the Community Center.  It was wild because there were newspaper reporters EVERYWHERE. They were doing interviews and asking for pictures and making us stand this way and that way.  It was weird b/c here we were serving the community and we were being treated like celebrities.  This trip was good b/c it really gave us a perspective on what people thought of what we were doing and it showed how a little bit, such as painting can go a long way. Visiting Dalit was an eye-opening experience as well as a story of hope.  We heard stories from and saw people that had worked their way up to parliament or high positions which would never have been possible if the caste system were still in place.  We were also given a lesson in how important we were to them through several speeches as well as through music and dance.