Mara and Kara and His Holy Grace
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To Catch Up:
Monday at the school we made friends with a teacher who was blown away that we had learned so much Malayalam. Imagine that, learning Malayalam in a state that speaks only Malayalam. Revolutionary. During a free period we showed her and few other teachers pictures from the trip to Munnar and some other random photos of daily life on our cameras. We found ourselves at a loss to explain the pictures of the meat shop. It is hard to put into words this and other major differences between Indian and American life.
Tuesday night we tried to attend the Maramon Convention, the largest gathering of Christians in Asia, but were kept out because due to safety issues, they don’t allow women into the convention past 6:30 in the evening. Sunny tried to sneak us in and even pleaded with some priests, but to no avail. We were slightly disappointed that there is such a problem with harassment crimes…at a Religious convention.
Thursday took us to the Santa Maria school again. Actually Professor Oomen took us there, which we weren’t too happy about, seeing as Professor Oomen is a terrible driver and there was a full gas cylinder rolling around unhindered in the boot of the car that threatened to squish Kara on more than one occasion. It was sports day at the Santa Maria school, which again meant no one needed to go to class. We had an “interactive session” at the beginning of the day, which involved upper classmen asking us questions and us trying to answer them. At first they were a little shy (turns out we scare children of ALL age groups) but once they started talking we couldn’t get them to stop. They wanted to know everything about us; our siblings, boyfriends, our favorite WWF wrestlers…. We also got a chance to play basketball with some of the kids. We were surprised to see that they knew most of the rules, and that some of them were actually pretty good at it. There was one giant from ninth standard who no one could guard, as he just reached over everyone and laid the ball in the net. Kara may have got a finger on his eyeball once, but that’s the closest she got to a blocked shot with that kid. She also resents kids telling her how to play basketball. It’s a good thing she’s not competitive or anything.
After lunch, we spent our time watching the upperclassmen do events including the 100, 200, shot-put, long jump, and javelin. Simultaneously, we attempted to ward off small children who were keeping us busy by requesting everything from drawings to our phone numbers. (Moms and Dads, if you receive a phone call in the middle of the night from a small child, HANG UP IMMEDIATELY). We made friends with some girls who requested that we return in traditional Kerala garb, namely saris, with our hair down and necklaces on. All the students tried to feed us the pure glucose powder that teachers understandably allow only on sports days. Kara declined, Mara most definitely did not.
On Friday we took a day trip on a house boat with KC Cherian, his wife, and his daughter-in-law Ana. We left early in the morning but didn’t end up on the boat until the afternoon. The time in between was spent eating breakfast and looking at the wedding album of a couple who apparently had invited blow-up dinosaurs to their reception. The reason for the delay in setting sail was the passing of the CPI[M] People’s March. Basically it’s a bunch of communists marching from one end of Kerala to the other; and for some reason, they were holding up traffic… on the river. The actual house boat trip was very relaxing; we also made an excellent purchase of some Jodhpur pants. They might be the most comfortable things in the world, and simultaneously the ugliest.
Saturday was easily one of the most bizarre days we’ve had here in India so far. We were scheduled to be at a wedding at 11, but had to make a quick detour at the headquarters for the Eastern Orthodox Church to visit Bishop Makarios’ grave, and Sunny had several important meetings because he’s so popular. During the course of one of these meetings, we found ourselves being led through very ornate, obviously private rooms, and then found ourselves being presented to a very old man on a couch. It was apparent that this was a very important man; as Sunny and Gracie were practically shaking with excitement as they approached him and leaned down to greet him. However, due to our location directly behind them, we were left totally in the dark as to the method of their greeting. We were able to deduce it was something with his hand and their faces (Kara was able to; Mara missed the boat completely on this one). When Kara went to greet him, she ventured a guess and brushed his hand across her forehead. As the general area was correct, no one caught her mistake. Mara then proceeded to go up and shake the man’s hand (to be fair, at least hers was an established mode of greeting). At this point, a priest standing a little to the side tactfully suggested to Mara that she should do the customary greeting of kissing his hand. Ah, so close. Mara finds comfort in the fact that she actually got to repair her mistake; Kara lives in quiet shame. Upon exiting, we learned that this was the head Cathlicate of the Eastern Orthodox Church… for the entire world. Yup, that’s right, this man is the pope to 300 million people, the largest Christian group second only to Catholics… and we totally botched it. Sunny and Gracie view this as entertaining enough to cancel out their disappointment at forgetting to document the event by taking a photo.
Due to this little fiasco, we arrived at the wedding a little on the late side… an hour late, to be exact. As soon as we arrived, the bride’s mother literally dragged us up directly behind the bride and groom, which was in the direct line of all the cameras. The bride and groom must have spent the whole ceremony wondering what was going on behind them that was more interesting than the actual wedding ceremony. When the ceremony was over, we made a quick escape out a side door to recuperate. However, the bride and groom’s parents found us and arranged for a whole new set of wedding photos to be taken so we could be included. The general public thought this was a great opportunity for them as well to take pictures, so behind the actual photographers there was a swarm of relatives with their camera phones. We have recently found out that the priest was sorely disappointed that he didn’t get a photo with us as well, and has since requested of the bride’s mother that she bring us back to the church for a picture, or he will come to our house. We are taking this as a serous threat, and are taking action to head off any approaching house calls. Things didn’t quiet down after this either. Because of a lack of seating and our late arrival for the reception, there wasn’t a place for the four of us to sit down and eat. Never mind that, the catering staff set up an entirely separate table just for us off to the side of everything else. Our every need was attended to by a host of incredibly hot waiters, so this made up for the wedding videographer coming over and videotaping us eating food. Westerners eating with their hands are obviously something of a novelty here. We can just hear the happy couple twenty years from now… “Oh look, here are our vows, and here are those Americans trying to eat with their hands! How cute!”
On our way home, we stopped by Gracie’s favorite textile shop. The clerks have been asking Gracie about us ever since we made our first stop there a month ago, so they were very happy to see us. So happy, that one even ran out and brought us back Pepsi’s. This is now our favorite shop in all of India. Another plus-Mara is gathering Indian boyfriends left and right. In addition to the Tamil Nadu boyfriend and the boy who casually proposed to her in Kovalam, a flirty employee at the textile shop requested she stay and sell clothes with him. He and the other clerks are very good at tricking us into buying things; we went in looking for shawls and left with blankets, churidars, and a few shirts. Just doing our part in stimulating the economy.
On Sunday we went to Kottayam for our lessons as usual. This time however, we were accompanied not only by Jose but also our neighbor Presanthe who drives his own cab. Jose’s car is in the shop so he hired another driver for us and rode along to make sure everything went okay. On our way home, Jose needed to make a grape stop, so he hopped out of the car in the middle of a fruit market and told us to stay there and he’d be right back. As soon as Jose was out of sight, Presanthe slid over into the driver’s seat, started the car up, and drove away. At this point, we began a serious discussion about whether or not we were being kidnapped. We arrived at the conclusion that even if we weren’t, we would make easy victims for kidnappers, as we just sat there and waited to see what would happen. It turned out to be rather anti-climactic. Presanthe just needed to drop something of for Sharon at Gracie’s family house, and Jose knew about the detour before he left. At least, this is what we hope it was, it could have still been a trial run for the actual abduction. Either way, Jose and Presanthe bought us ice cream on the way home for being such good sports for whatever it was that was happening.
On Monday, we ducked out of all our responsibilities and had our first total free day since January and our third free day total. We went for a walk and met our neighbor Thomas, who is responsible for all of the drunken rambling and yelling we hear at night. It was nice to finally put a face to the voice. That night we talked about our Big Problem and tried to convince Sunny and Gracie to come with us to Bangalore, their hesitancy another symptom of the Big Problem.
Tuesday we were in the school again. Mara had to coerce 7th standard into singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Kara, as they usually don’t sing for a birthday unless there is a candy reward involved and we had forgotten the candy. The day went pretty smoothly which means we actually taught a few of the younger classes instead of merely trying to control them. 1st standard learned a few sentences about the sun and 2nd standard had a brief lesson about insects. Our absolutely favorite 2nd standard student, Ashwin told both of us “Beautiful churidar. Beautiful body also.” We aren’t sure what to think about this but are both sure that he will grow up to be a total ladies’ man. After school, we purchased train tickets to Bangalore and had Sunny arrange for us to take a rickshaw into the nearby town Ranni for one of our first excursions completely unsupervised. We bought original Pepsi, Tang and some cookies for Kara’s birthday. Upon returning we helped in the birthday dinner preparations. This included helping Sunny cut beef on a knife he held between his toes (pictures forthcoming), and frying up cauliflower and basmati rice. Kara was surprised to receive two gifts; an Indian style steel plate and cup, and a cake. Indian tradition requires that the first bites of cake should be fed to one another for good luck and we delighted in holding true to this custom. Kara considers this night absolutely perfect in every way.
We were back at the hospital on Friday. We got Malayalam lessons from the German nun and a particularly good spirited Jobi, who was dancing and even singing the snake boat song for us. The doctor who is always very concerned about our meals was similarly invested in the outcome of the India-New Zealand cricket match. He taught Kara the rules of the game (Mara was unable to make it past the information that the sticks are called cricket wickets) in between shouts toward the TV. It was a bad day for the India cricket team, so there was a lot to yell at.
Little adventures:
We found out Sunny is allergic to fertilizer. This is a shame, as he owns a fertilizer shop.
Sunny set a wasp’s nest on fire.
The man in Josco’s Jewelry requested us to sing a song. We are wondering if “Can you sing us a song?” is one of those phrases in English that everyone in India is required to know.
Mara: “I spend far too much time naked in India.”
Sunny tried unsuccessfully to put on a seatbelt on the way to the wedding. After trying to put the waist part around his neck, Kara leaned forward and helped him figure it out while Gracie and Mara rolled around the backseat laughing. "Rolled around" is actually pretty literal here, as there are no seatbelts in the back and our driver is kind of crazy.
Monday at the school we made friends with a teacher who was blown away that we had learned so much Malayalam. Imagine that, learning Malayalam in a state that speaks only Malayalam. Revolutionary. During a free period we showed her and few other teachers pictures from the trip to Munnar and some other random photos of daily life on our cameras. We found ourselves at a loss to explain the pictures of the meat shop. It is hard to put into words this and other major differences between Indian and American life.
Tuesday night we tried to attend the Maramon Convention, the largest gathering of Christians in Asia, but were kept out because due to safety issues, they don’t allow women into the convention past 6:30 in the evening. Sunny tried to sneak us in and even pleaded with some priests, but to no avail. We were slightly disappointed that there is such a problem with harassment crimes…at a Religious convention.
Thursday took us to the Santa Maria school again. Actually Professor Oomen took us there, which we weren’t too happy about, seeing as Professor Oomen is a terrible driver and there was a full gas cylinder rolling around unhindered in the boot of the car that threatened to squish Kara on more than one occasion. It was sports day at the Santa Maria school, which again meant no one needed to go to class. We had an “interactive session” at the beginning of the day, which involved upper classmen asking us questions and us trying to answer them. At first they were a little shy (turns out we scare children of ALL age groups) but once they started talking we couldn’t get them to stop. They wanted to know everything about us; our siblings, boyfriends, our favorite WWF wrestlers…. We also got a chance to play basketball with some of the kids. We were surprised to see that they knew most of the rules, and that some of them were actually pretty good at it. There was one giant from ninth standard who no one could guard, as he just reached over everyone and laid the ball in the net. Kara may have got a finger on his eyeball once, but that’s the closest she got to a blocked shot with that kid. She also resents kids telling her how to play basketball. It’s a good thing she’s not competitive or anything.
After lunch, we spent our time watching the upperclassmen do events including the 100, 200, shot-put, long jump, and javelin. Simultaneously, we attempted to ward off small children who were keeping us busy by requesting everything from drawings to our phone numbers. (Moms and Dads, if you receive a phone call in the middle of the night from a small child, HANG UP IMMEDIATELY). We made friends with some girls who requested that we return in traditional Kerala garb, namely saris, with our hair down and necklaces on. All the students tried to feed us the pure glucose powder that teachers understandably allow only on sports days. Kara declined, Mara most definitely did not.
On Friday we took a day trip on a house boat with KC Cherian, his wife, and his daughter-in-law Ana. We left early in the morning but didn’t end up on the boat until the afternoon. The time in between was spent eating breakfast and looking at the wedding album of a couple who apparently had invited blow-up dinosaurs to their reception. The reason for the delay in setting sail was the passing of the CPI[M] People’s March. Basically it’s a bunch of communists marching from one end of Kerala to the other; and for some reason, they were holding up traffic… on the river. The actual house boat trip was very relaxing; we also made an excellent purchase of some Jodhpur pants. They might be the most comfortable things in the world, and simultaneously the ugliest.
Saturday was easily one of the most bizarre days we’ve had here in India so far. We were scheduled to be at a wedding at 11, but had to make a quick detour at the headquarters for the Eastern Orthodox Church to visit Bishop Makarios’ grave, and Sunny had several important meetings because he’s so popular. During the course of one of these meetings, we found ourselves being led through very ornate, obviously private rooms, and then found ourselves being presented to a very old man on a couch. It was apparent that this was a very important man; as Sunny and Gracie were practically shaking with excitement as they approached him and leaned down to greet him. However, due to our location directly behind them, we were left totally in the dark as to the method of their greeting. We were able to deduce it was something with his hand and their faces (Kara was able to; Mara missed the boat completely on this one). When Kara went to greet him, she ventured a guess and brushed his hand across her forehead. As the general area was correct, no one caught her mistake. Mara then proceeded to go up and shake the man’s hand (to be fair, at least hers was an established mode of greeting). At this point, a priest standing a little to the side tactfully suggested to Mara that she should do the customary greeting of kissing his hand. Ah, so close. Mara finds comfort in the fact that she actually got to repair her mistake; Kara lives in quiet shame. Upon exiting, we learned that this was the head Cathlicate of the Eastern Orthodox Church… for the entire world. Yup, that’s right, this man is the pope to 300 million people, the largest Christian group second only to Catholics… and we totally botched it. Sunny and Gracie view this as entertaining enough to cancel out their disappointment at forgetting to document the event by taking a photo.
Due to this little fiasco, we arrived at the wedding a little on the late side… an hour late, to be exact. As soon as we arrived, the bride’s mother literally dragged us up directly behind the bride and groom, which was in the direct line of all the cameras. The bride and groom must have spent the whole ceremony wondering what was going on behind them that was more interesting than the actual wedding ceremony. When the ceremony was over, we made a quick escape out a side door to recuperate. However, the bride and groom’s parents found us and arranged for a whole new set of wedding photos to be taken so we could be included. The general public thought this was a great opportunity for them as well to take pictures, so behind the actual photographers there was a swarm of relatives with their camera phones. We have recently found out that the priest was sorely disappointed that he didn’t get a photo with us as well, and has since requested of the bride’s mother that she bring us back to the church for a picture, or he will come to our house. We are taking this as a serous threat, and are taking action to head off any approaching house calls. Things didn’t quiet down after this either. Because of a lack of seating and our late arrival for the reception, there wasn’t a place for the four of us to sit down and eat. Never mind that, the catering staff set up an entirely separate table just for us off to the side of everything else. Our every need was attended to by a host of incredibly hot waiters, so this made up for the wedding videographer coming over and videotaping us eating food. Westerners eating with their hands are obviously something of a novelty here. We can just hear the happy couple twenty years from now… “Oh look, here are our vows, and here are those Americans trying to eat with their hands! How cute!”
On our way home, we stopped by Gracie’s favorite textile shop. The clerks have been asking Gracie about us ever since we made our first stop there a month ago, so they were very happy to see us. So happy, that one even ran out and brought us back Pepsi’s. This is now our favorite shop in all of India. Another plus-Mara is gathering Indian boyfriends left and right. In addition to the Tamil Nadu boyfriend and the boy who casually proposed to her in Kovalam, a flirty employee at the textile shop requested she stay and sell clothes with him. He and the other clerks are very good at tricking us into buying things; we went in looking for shawls and left with blankets, churidars, and a few shirts. Just doing our part in stimulating the economy.
On Sunday we went to Kottayam for our lessons as usual. This time however, we were accompanied not only by Jose but also our neighbor Presanthe who drives his own cab. Jose’s car is in the shop so he hired another driver for us and rode along to make sure everything went okay. On our way home, Jose needed to make a grape stop, so he hopped out of the car in the middle of a fruit market and told us to stay there and he’d be right back. As soon as Jose was out of sight, Presanthe slid over into the driver’s seat, started the car up, and drove away. At this point, we began a serious discussion about whether or not we were being kidnapped. We arrived at the conclusion that even if we weren’t, we would make easy victims for kidnappers, as we just sat there and waited to see what would happen. It turned out to be rather anti-climactic. Presanthe just needed to drop something of for Sharon at Gracie’s family house, and Jose knew about the detour before he left. At least, this is what we hope it was, it could have still been a trial run for the actual abduction. Either way, Jose and Presanthe bought us ice cream on the way home for being such good sports for whatever it was that was happening.
On Monday, we ducked out of all our responsibilities and had our first total free day since January and our third free day total. We went for a walk and met our neighbor Thomas, who is responsible for all of the drunken rambling and yelling we hear at night. It was nice to finally put a face to the voice. That night we talked about our Big Problem and tried to convince Sunny and Gracie to come with us to Bangalore, their hesitancy another symptom of the Big Problem.
Tuesday we were in the school again. Mara had to coerce 7th standard into singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Kara, as they usually don’t sing for a birthday unless there is a candy reward involved and we had forgotten the candy. The day went pretty smoothly which means we actually taught a few of the younger classes instead of merely trying to control them. 1st standard learned a few sentences about the sun and 2nd standard had a brief lesson about insects. Our absolutely favorite 2nd standard student, Ashwin told both of us “Beautiful churidar. Beautiful body also.” We aren’t sure what to think about this but are both sure that he will grow up to be a total ladies’ man. After school, we purchased train tickets to Bangalore and had Sunny arrange for us to take a rickshaw into the nearby town Ranni for one of our first excursions completely unsupervised. We bought original Pepsi, Tang and some cookies for Kara’s birthday. Upon returning we helped in the birthday dinner preparations. This included helping Sunny cut beef on a knife he held between his toes (pictures forthcoming), and frying up cauliflower and basmati rice. Kara was surprised to receive two gifts; an Indian style steel plate and cup, and a cake. Indian tradition requires that the first bites of cake should be fed to one another for good luck and we delighted in holding true to this custom. Kara considers this night absolutely perfect in every way.
We were back at the hospital on Friday. We got Malayalam lessons from the German nun and a particularly good spirited Jobi, who was dancing and even singing the snake boat song for us. The doctor who is always very concerned about our meals was similarly invested in the outcome of the India-New Zealand cricket match. He taught Kara the rules of the game (Mara was unable to make it past the information that the sticks are called cricket wickets) in between shouts toward the TV. It was a bad day for the India cricket team, so there was a lot to yell at.
Little adventures:
We found out Sunny is allergic to fertilizer. This is a shame, as he owns a fertilizer shop.
Sunny set a wasp’s nest on fire.
The man in Josco’s Jewelry requested us to sing a song. We are wondering if “Can you sing us a song?” is one of those phrases in English that everyone in India is required to know.
Mara: “I spend far too much time naked in India.”
Sunny tried unsuccessfully to put on a seatbelt on the way to the wedding. After trying to put the waist part around his neck, Kara leaned forward and helped him figure it out while Gracie and Mara rolled around the backseat laughing. "Rolled around" is actually pretty literal here, as there are no seatbelts in the back and our driver is kind of crazy.
3 comments:
Kara & Mara - I am really enjoying your blog posts! I wish you could include photos... Kara, you will have to show me pics when you return home. Happy Holi tomorrow!
XOXOXO from snowy Michigan.
~Julie
etOh yes pictures... unfortunetly, our internet is too slow here to upload them to the internet. we're going to put some up here and on facebook the week we get back, and also i'll probably be over at your house sometime soon after that anyways:-)so i'll bring them all over then.
mara/kara... nice to talk to you last weekend at gracie's... Jennifer (my alma grad daughter) found your blog and just enlightened me to it. It's 6:30am in California, and I'm giggling in the dark reading it and remembering wonderful Kerala. (our houseguests in the next room must be thouroughly convinced I a have lost my mind) The blog is a scream... great job! It really takes me back and makes me homesick for Kerala. Happy to hear that things seems the same there, and your reactions are pricelessly similar to our esperiences there. Keep up the blog... namaskaram. LUE (aka mamoosha)
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