Many of you have asked for details about my trip to India with my sister Julie, my sister-in-law Carolyn, my mom and my niece Sophie.
The purpose of the trip was to take Sophie back to India for a "birth land tour." There was a new orphanage within the same group called SKB. This new home was being dedicated as "Grace's Home" So you will see a variety of photos from both this orphanage and the one that is part of the orphanage group that Sophie came from.
Here is a quick day by day review of our trip, plus a blog with photos that came from someone else on the trip, and I will send a link to a slideshow that Carolyn made. To read a little more about the overall trip, read Bob's blog.http://www.pathways2india.blogspot.com. He was part of the larger group, which we hooked up with for the last few days of their trip. To really understand the whole experience for non-Morrison travelers, read through the whole blog! There were two groups that came together in Cochin. So, on the blog you will read stories about Calcutta and other parts of India, that are amazing stories, but didn't include us until January 12: House of Grace. So read up from there for the condensed version.
Enjoy reading and viewing!
;-)
Jeanne
Arrival Day:
We arrived after traveling for more than 36 hours! We crashed at 6:00 AM Sat., Cochin, India time, which is 5:00 PM CST Fri. night in U.S. We have a free day to walk around the city and explore. Our hotel is beautiful and overlooks a bay off of the Arabian Sea. We couldn't see much when we arrived at the airport other than 1000's of people. Entire big families come to greet their one traveling family member at the airport.
We learned than Cochin (or Kochi) stands for land of the coconut; that there are 52 characters in the Malayalam (notice the word is the same spelled forwards or backyards) local language. Also, Cochin is known to have the most beautiful and smart women in all of India.
We learned than Cochin (or Kochi) stands for land of the coconut; that there are 52 characters in the Malayalam (notice the word is the same spelled forwards or backyards) local language. Also, Cochin is known to have the most beautiful and smart women in all of India.
We are just about to retire after a long day of first day jet lag. We arrived at 5:00 AM to the hotel Taj Malabar. After hearing the Muslim "call for prayer" which echos throughout the city at 6 AM, we slept from 6:00 AM to 11:00 AM. Had a buffet lunch with all sorts of typical Indian foods. Then we poked around the hotel, made massage and spa reservations for tomorrow, and headed into Cochin. It is like Mexican time here; if they say "10 minutes" it takes a half an hour.
The cab driver that took us into town said you need three things to be a good driver in India: "A good horn, good brakes, and good luck!" There were lots of goats and chickens and people and trash and trucks in the streets! We also saw some kids playing cricket in the nearby park. Our driver told us that the religious breakdown in most of India is 15% Christians, 25% Muslims and 60% Hindu.
We went to the Cultural Center to watch a typical dance. got there early enough to do some shopping and to see the artist's heavy makeup applied. The story and costumes was very interesting and elaborate. Then we came back to the hotel for dinner. We all had pasta and pizza, except for Julie who had some extravagant Indian appetizer assortment on a silver platter. We are crashing soon and going to see Michael and Leena's (from Orono Montessori) family tomorrow for lunch.
The cab driver that took us into town said you need three things to be a good driver in India: "A good horn, good brakes, and good luck!" There were lots of goats and chickens and people and trash and trucks in the streets! We also saw some kids playing cricket in the nearby park. Our driver told us that the religious breakdown in most of India is 15% Christians, 25% Muslims and 60% Hindu.
We went to the Cultural Center to watch a typical dance. got there early enough to do some shopping and to see the artist's heavy makeup applied. The story and costumes was very interesting and elaborate. Then we came back to the hotel for dinner. We all had pasta and pizza, except for Julie who had some extravagant Indian appetizer assortment on a silver platter. We are crashing soon and going to see Michael and Leena's (from Orono Montessori) family tomorrow for lunch.
Day Two:
We had a really wonderful day today traveling to the south to visit Leena and Michael's family. (They are the Orono Montessori owners that taught Sam and Jillian for years and for whom I worked part time. They are both from Kerala and when they heard I was going to India, they made a big arrangement for us to meet some of their family.)
One of the interesting sights along the way was that we say an elephant walking down the side of the highway! It was carrying some palm leaves it it's trunk and also carrying a passenger. It was quite the strange site!!
We arrived at Jovachim and MaryKutty's (Leena's sister) house at 10:30 a.m. It was interesting to drive through some slum areas and them come into a quite a stately property and large 5-bedroom, two level, marble floor home. They even have 4 cows, which is a big standard. Remind us to tell you about how they capture the cow dung gas and run it through a hose line and use it for their kitchen cooking gas!! Upon arrival, we were immediately fed a many course meal. We learned that in India people only eat one food item at a time. So first we ate a round of cauliflower, then a round of carrots and cucumbers, then a curry fish with a rice patty, and then a chicken. After we were done, we got a tour of their lovely home, and also went into the nearby area outside of their large farm to meet some of the local people and to see how they weave sisal-type rugs. We tried to so some fishing in the nearby pond, but the fish were not biting.
Then they informed us that we had to eat again! They were taking us to Pristine Island, which is a small resort accessible by "motorboat". (it was really a rice boat canoe with a small horsepower engine on it.) It was beautiful and delicious.
Sophie has been hanging in there really well! She is going a good job of trying new foods and being up for all sorts of different experiences. Upon hearing that she is from Kerala, she has been asked several times if she speaks Malayalam (the local language), of course she hasn't a clue what they are talking about! She has been working hard on her list of differences and similarities between India and the U.S.
After spending a wonderful day with them, we came back to the hotel for massages and spa treatments. It was a great end to our still jet-lagged day.
We met up with the main Grace group tonight for dinner. Turns out one of the other mom's is someone Julie and know from Orono, who also has a 8th grader, and 1st grader at Orono. Small world!! We also met some other really interesting people!!
One of the interesting sights along the way was that we say an elephant walking down the side of the highway! It was carrying some palm leaves it it's trunk and also carrying a passenger. It was quite the strange site!!
We arrived at Jovachim and MaryKutty's (Leena's sister) house at 10:30 a.m. It was interesting to drive through some slum areas and them come into a quite a stately property and large 5-bedroom, two level, marble floor home. They even have 4 cows, which is a big standard. Remind us to tell you about how they capture the cow dung gas and run it through a hose line and use it for their kitchen cooking gas!! Upon arrival, we were immediately fed a many course meal. We learned that in India people only eat one food item at a time. So first we ate a round of cauliflower, then a round of carrots and cucumbers, then a curry fish with a rice patty, and then a chicken. After we were done, we got a tour of their lovely home, and also went into the nearby area outside of their large farm to meet some of the local people and to see how they weave sisal-type rugs. We tried to so some fishing in the nearby pond, but the fish were not biting.
Then they informed us that we had to eat again! They were taking us to Pristine Island, which is a small resort accessible by "motorboat". (it was really a rice boat canoe with a small horsepower engine on it.) It was beautiful and delicious.
Sophie has been hanging in there really well! She is going a good job of trying new foods and being up for all sorts of different experiences. Upon hearing that she is from Kerala, she has been asked several times if she speaks Malayalam (the local language), of course she hasn't a clue what they are talking about! She has been working hard on her list of differences and similarities between India and the U.S.
After spending a wonderful day with them, we came back to the hotel for massages and spa treatments. It was a great end to our still jet-lagged day.
We met up with the main Grace group tonight for dinner. Turns out one of the other mom's is someone Julie and know from Orono, who also has a 8th grader, and 1st grader at Orono. Small world!! We also met some other really interesting people!!
Day Three:
It is Day 3 and we feel on the one hand that we have been here a week! We are nearly half way through our trip...it has gone by amazingly fast! Today we broke off from the required group schedule of touring churches and towns throughout Cochin (Mitch can you believe it!?) and went for a 4 hour houseboat tour through the backwater canals and near the rice patty fields.
Our driver's name was James "Bond" as he said. Although he drives more conservatively than the real 007! We did stop at a cute Catholic church on our drive to the boat (It was about 1.5 hours south of Cochin, in an area called Kumarakom. There is an amazing estate called Taj Garden Retreat that sits on the shores of Lake Verbananum. This beautiful estate appears to rival any of the places we stayed in Africa. This is where we met the boat.
The house boats are beautiful hand-made boats that have several bedrooms and bathrooms and sundecks. They range in all sizes. Our was a double-decker. We sat on the second level under a woven teak bimini top and took pictures of the sights around us.
We had an amazing multi-faceted meal which included eating the entire lunch on banana leaves. This must be the local way of using "disposable" plates. Lots of curry and cabbage and chicken along with a fried fish. The fish was the whole fish fried, including the eyeballs. (it looked like a large sunfish.)
We toured the lake and several canals. Our biggest curiosity is that we saw many small shacks and shantys along side the river and rice fields. We wondered if there were children living there, and if so, how did they get to school? Kerala supposedly has nearly 100% literacy rate, but is hard to imagine when you think kids have to walk miles to school. Well we figured out that the kids that live in this area take a "bus boat to school." We came through the end of our trip right as the kids were getting of their "bus" and running to their homes in their uniforms and backpacks.
We ended our boat trip in Alleppey, which is where our drives James "Bond" met us, and safely drove us back home.
Tomorrow we leave for the "hills" of Idukki, which is 4000 elevation and about 2 hours inland from the coast. This is where the new orphanage is that we are here to dedicate and volunteer at. We'll be staying at the River Banks Hotel, and I hope that we will have good email access there as well!
Our driver's name was James "Bond" as he said. Although he drives more conservatively than the real 007! We did stop at a cute Catholic church on our drive to the boat (It was about 1.5 hours south of Cochin, in an area called Kumarakom. There is an amazing estate called Taj Garden Retreat that sits on the shores of Lake Verbananum. This beautiful estate appears to rival any of the places we stayed in Africa. This is where we met the boat.
The house boats are beautiful hand-made boats that have several bedrooms and bathrooms and sundecks. They range in all sizes. Our was a double-decker. We sat on the second level under a woven teak bimini top and took pictures of the sights around us.
We had an amazing multi-faceted meal which included eating the entire lunch on banana leaves. This must be the local way of using "disposable" plates. Lots of curry and cabbage and chicken along with a fried fish. The fish was the whole fish fried, including the eyeballs. (it looked like a large sunfish.)
We toured the lake and several canals. Our biggest curiosity is that we saw many small shacks and shantys along side the river and rice fields. We wondered if there were children living there, and if so, how did they get to school? Kerala supposedly has nearly 100% literacy rate, but is hard to imagine when you think kids have to walk miles to school. Well we figured out that the kids that live in this area take a "bus boat to school." We came through the end of our trip right as the kids were getting of their "bus" and running to their homes in their uniforms and backpacks.
We ended our boat trip in Alleppey, which is where our drives James "Bond" met us, and safely drove us back home.
Tomorrow we leave for the "hills" of Idukki, which is 4000 elevation and about 2 hours inland from the coast. This is where the new orphanage is that we are here to dedicate and volunteer at. We'll be staying at the River Banks Hotel, and I hope that we will have good email access there as well!
Day Four:
We had an amazing two days at the two different orphanages. But first I will start with our harrowing drive up the mountain side and then the interesting hotel we stayed at.
We drove from Cochin directly west up to the Idukki hills area, which took us from sea level, to about 4000 ft. The bus should have been considered too big and our driver too fast for some of the curvy roads and bends that we had to take to get there! It was an interesting ride.
We arrived at our hotel and quickly noted it was a "1 Star" which translated to us: no restaurant, no bar, no toilet paper, no hot water, no extra towels. Interestingly, if I haven't already explained this before, the natives don't use toilet paper. There are small sprayers (like at a kitchen sink) at each toilet, and you clean yourself on the toilet by scrubbing your privates with your left hand and spraying yourself down. This is why it is major taboo to eat with your left hand...the locals will think that you have no class!!
Both mornings we had to eat bread with butter, peanuts and mini bananas with our coffee because there really was no restaurant that could serve us anything better than that. Likewise at night, we had "dry spells" since there was no bar, no mini bar; and we had to forego our local favorite Kingfisher beer or mojitos or cheap India white wine.
None of the lack of accommodations really mattered because we were here to see the two orphanages and help take of little children and babies who had no parents.
Upon arriving at each of the homes, we were greeted by the caretakers with a ceremony where we had a platter of candles and flower petals waved over our heads, an Indian mark placed on our foreheads and a lei of flowers placed around our neck.
The first orphanage was the new one called "Grace's House." This is a brand new orphanage to be run by Elizabeth. The funds were donated by Grace and Ralph Strangis, and some other MN families, including The Miller Family who two daughters were on our trip, and believe it or not, Denny Hecker.
The Morrison Family donated a new playground at Grace's House and we were all touched to arrive and see a plaque on the wall that said "Sophie Anasuya's Playground" (For those that don't know, Anasuya was Sophie's given name in India.) Sophie was a little shy to connect with the orphanage director Elizabeth, as well as any of the care givers....some of whom were at the original one when Sophie was a baby.
We had a blessing of the whole orphanage; saw the facility; had tea and enjoyed some ethnic dances and dinner. We came back to our hotel and crashed early for an early departure the next day to the main orphanage.
We arrived at our hotel and quickly noted it was a "1 Star" which translated to us: no restaurant, no bar, no toilet paper, no hot water, no extra towels. Interestingly, if I haven't already explained this before, the natives don't use toilet paper. There are small sprayers (like at a kitchen sink) at each toilet, and you clean yourself on the toilet by scrubbing your privates with your left hand and spraying yourself down. This is why it is major taboo to eat with your left hand...the locals will think that you have no class!!
Both mornings we had to eat bread with butter, peanuts and mini bananas with our coffee because there really was no restaurant that could serve us anything better than that. Likewise at night, we had "dry spells" since there was no bar, no mini bar; and we had to forego our local favorite Kingfisher beer or mojitos or cheap India white wine.
None of the lack of accommodations really mattered because we were here to see the two orphanages and help take of little children and babies who had no parents.
Upon arriving at each of the homes, we were greeted by the caretakers with a ceremony where we had a platter of candles and flower petals waved over our heads, an Indian mark placed on our foreheads and a lei of flowers placed around our neck.
The first orphanage was the new one called "Grace's House." This is a brand new orphanage to be run by Elizabeth. The funds were donated by Grace and Ralph Strangis, and some other MN families, including The Miller Family who two daughters were on our trip, and believe it or not, Denny Hecker.
The Morrison Family donated a new playground at Grace's House and we were all touched to arrive and see a plaque on the wall that said "Sophie Anasuya's Playground" (For those that don't know, Anasuya was Sophie's given name in India.) Sophie was a little shy to connect with the orphanage director Elizabeth, as well as any of the care givers....some of whom were at the original one when Sophie was a baby.
We had a blessing of the whole orphanage; saw the facility; had tea and enjoyed some ethnic dances and dinner. We came back to our hotel and crashed early for an early departure the next day to the main orphanage.
Day Five:
I can hardly express what an amazing journey this day was! After much anticipation, we had finally arrived at Sophie's orphanage and we were all anxious to see how Sophie would react. Even though we had just joined the main group 48 hours before, the other 10 people on the trip were also invested in Sophie's journey and holding their breath!!
I could write 10 pages on this day of the trip, but we have to get up early to catch our flight, so I am going to keep it rather short. Let me just summarize by something Gagy said tonight after dinner, and what everyone else in the group noticed: Sophie arrived here as a young, shy girl and she is leaving a stronger, more confident girl. The transformation was unbelievable!
The magic that happened at S.K.B. orphanage was that Sophie figured out that she came from a loving, beautiful, caring facility. As I signed in the quest book, Elizabeth (the director) not only makes sure these beautiful children have a loving home while they are searching for families to adopt them, they also become part of a life-long network of people who care for them for life.
Sophie met several of the women who had cared for her when she was here 10 years ago. Several women came up to Sophie, and gave her hugs and said "Look, it's Anasuya, she looks so much the same!" We saw pictures of her when she was here, and learned about all the love she received during her 12 months here. The facility is clean, the children are well kept and loved. This orphanage would hold it's own in the U.S. and was far above anything the rest of the group had seen in Calcutta, etc., earlier in the week.
We spent hours and hours helping care for the babies and play with the toddlers and preschoolers. Trust me when I tell you that Julie, Carolyn, Sophie and I had all picked out one our two kids we wanted to bring home with us! Sophie especially attached herself to a baby boy named "Indy" who was just months old; and to a girl name "Sondra" who was 1.5 years old. Sophie sat in the infant room and help baby Indy for hours! He slept. He cried. She fed him. He slept. She beamed the whole time. We all believe that perhaps Sophie had some really negative perceptions in her head of what her orphanage was all about. She blossomed and smiled and talked about how she wants to come back to India when she is older and work there for a month or two.
There was a closing ceremony where the caregivers did native dances for us. Also, the younger kids (8 year old Silpa, 5 year look-a-likes Shubya and Ria, and a 5 year old spitfire boy) in the group also did song and dance programs and charmed us all.
At the end of the night, the Director Elizabeth asked Sophie to come up on stage because she had a special gift. She gave Sophie an engraved brass native oil lamp that had her name Anasuya, and the date of her visit on it. Unlike the shy girl we saw days earlier, Sophie bounded up on the stage and collected her gift with ear to ear grins.
To sum it up, as we were getting ready to leave tonight, Sophie said "I love India; I can't wait to come back." Gagy, Julie, Carolyn and feel the same way.
Departure Day:
A quick trip home...40+ hours!! We had a twelve hour layover in Dubai. It is like the Emerald City....there is not one piece of trash or broken down shack in the whole city. It seems surreal, especially after coming from India. We drove around (and around!) the Tallest Tower, but couldn't go up it because they had a several day "sold out" situation. We did go inside the Dubai Ski Area and we took the chairlift up the hill; had cocoa at the mid-mountain station! The hill was about as big as Buck Hill! There was a magic carpet, a tubing run, and poma lift and full-size chairlift. It was prett cool!
We got the mod pods in first class again coming home and that made all the difference. We slept great and had wine and champagne on the way home. We arrived tired in Atlanta, but all our bags arrived!! It seems odd to back in the US where guys don't where dresses and women are not afraid to show off their hair!
