Let's talk food

The food was over the top great.  There were 3 women who cooked for us in the kitchen over a fire stove.  Here are a few pics from the kitchen.  I regret not taking photos of the fully prepared food.  Basically very simple and very fresh. 

Getting ready to cook dinner



These were kind of like sun fish.  Served baked with a black spicy coating, and eaten by hand like everything else.  They cut out the teeth, but we still had to watch out for bones.

I imagine anyone with a germ issue or an overactive imagination would have a hard time eating the food after seeing how it was prepared.  We had no casualties.



I did not spend any time at the Runs Hotel, either literally or figuratively.  In fact, I ate lots of the things you're not supposed to eat - rice, bread and potatoes -  and lost a tiny bit of weight.  I found it when I returned home.

 

Competition Day

The first half of the day was spent at a Sports Competition, given in our honor in the schoolyard.  The students had foot races (barefoot), jumping contests, and a sack race.  The younger ones also did a leap frog race and a very noisy version of musical chairs with people banging on pans instead of playing music.

Being a spectator was a good way to ease into the day - I thought I'd be more jetlagged, but it was mostly getting used to the surroundings that took some time.  Speaking of surroundings...     

Above is the view from the front porch of the house.  There is a 1 lane asphalt road running in front of it - you'd get cars, moped, and the occasional bus going by - fast - but overall it was quiet.  Everyone drives fast if they're not in a traffic jam, which happened whenever we went anywhere near a town.

Below the backyard and beyond, the jungle.  I'm not sure if we were in a village.  It's very loosely defined, but walking 5 minutes down the road each way there were a few houses, a chruch, a Hindu temple, lots of small store shacks, and plenty of land.

                                                 

Back to the rest of the day...  with the Sports Competition complete, we went into the town of Cochin to purchase bicycles.  The idea being that the older kids could use the bicycles to take kids to school, which is 2 miles away for the students beyond 4th grade.  I never made it over to that school, only the one that was for K-4th grade.

Cochin was crowded and dirty with bad traffic.  We went to the BSA bike store, paid for the bikes, and then had to go down an alley to pick them up.

Crossing the street is not for the faint of heart: Run across lanes to get to median strip.  Climb onto median strip, hang on fence and wait for opening.  Jump down 3 feet to roadway and make a run for it.  I think I took this pic while hanging on the median strip waiting to finish the game of Frogger.  An appropriate way to end Competiton Day. 

MENU: 

Breakfast - watermelon juice, fresh egg omelets, homemade bread and butter, mini bananas.

Lunch - Mango curry with chicken, Kerala rice, pineapple.

Day 2: November 19

Like much of Dubai, the airport is modern, sleek and clean.  There are 3 terminals, with Terminal 3 being dedicated solely to Emirates.  Terminal 3 is the largest building in the world by floor space, covering 370 acres of space.

At left are my travel mates Robin and Sharon, just before entering to catch the flight to India.

Once arriving in India at 3 AM, we had an hour's drive to the orphanage, and upon arrival, were shown to our sleeping area.  My head hit the pillow after 5 AM, and we slept for a few hours before getting up to explore.  . 

Before visiting the kids in class, we got familiar with our surroundings, and tried to get organized.  At that point, the shower situation became apparent.  Talk about a wake up call... 1 bucket, 1 hose, and 1 cup.  (Stand in bucket, use hose, then cup to rinse.)  The excess water stayed on the floor, and when you are done, a squeegee (sp?) pushes the water to a small drain in the corner.  I thought this was unique to our primitive setup, but then saw the same facilities in other bathrooms, even at the airport.

The bed was, uh... elevated and rectangular. There's not much else to say about that.  Luckily, I had packed 2 wool blankets to donate to the children's home, so they were my sheet and blanket for the week.

Comfortable but moldy bed.  I slept well most nights, although there may have been some medication involved.

I'm signing off each post with a photo of one of the kids.  This is Anjulie, posing in the front yard of the church, where the men had been chopping wood.  She's looking quite serene here, usually she was outgoing and a little sassy. The kids would sometimes mug for the cameras, but most of the time they were calm and composed.  They seemed to be very respectful and sincere when being snapped.

                                           

Day 1: Thursday, Nov. 18

Arrived in Dubai at 8 AM local time.  The 12 hour flight from JFK to Dubai was a piece of cake, due mainly to the all around awesomeness of the Emirates Air flight experience.  Each passenger gets their own seat back media screen, allowing you to watch TV, films, play games, check your flight status,  and even look at live shots from cameras mounted on the plane's nose, tail, and below.

Because of our 10 hour layover, the airline put us up in a room for the day.  Again, Emirates is the best!
So... first visit to a Muslim country, only a short time to explore... what to do?  Visit Biggles English Pub, of course, which was located in our hotel lobby.  I later came to learn that alcohol can only be served in certain hotels.  So all of the restaurants are dry, unless they're in a hotel.

Time for a shower, short nap, and then we had just a short time before getting everything together to go back to the airport.

We boarded our flight at midnight for the 3 hour flight to Cochin, India.  This day was a little bit of a blur.   :-)

The Cochin airport was PACKED at 3 AM.  There was also a lot of traffic on the road.  Daytime was even more crowded.