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.