Church, Floods, and the Night Watchmen
Today (Sunday) we attended St. Andrew's Church, which is the church that many ICSA workers attend. Our ride there was very interesting -- one rickshaw driver was convinced that 6 passengers can fit in one vehicle (meant to hold 3). I sat in the driver's seat with the driver, and my 5 travel-mates sat in back on each other's laps. It was an interesting journey, especially because the rickshaw driver, as it turns out, had no clue where St. Andrew's church was!
We arrived at St. Andrew's eventually. The service was very lovely, and the people were very welcoming. The architecture at St. A's was very beautiful, and the sanctuary was in the shape of a circle (very weird, but interesting!).
After the service we met with Sara's former India guide, Dr. something...... He was a delightful old man, just recently retired from a local college. He will probably be giving at least one lecture to Kayli and Gilby's group when they are being oriented at ICSA.
We also met some very eccentric people at the church. I don't know what draws these types of people to us; maybe eccentric people are more outgoing or something? Anyways, in the usual Indian custom he was very hospitable. If we ever need a place to stay, we can stay with him; or his brother; or his cousin; or his son in Australia (should we find ourselves there). We have contact information and addresses for all of these people now. :-)
For dinner we ate at a place called 'Kwality.' It was, indeed, quality; the food was excellent! By the time dinner was over, it had begun to rain. Since our neighborhood does not have reasonable sewer systems, water was sever inches deep on the street. We returned to ICSA muddy and soaked (I especially after having fallen into a pile of mud).
Sunday night Spencer, Lam and I stayed up late talking. We spoke with the night watchmen, who works from 6pm to 6am most nights. He was a very friendly fellow. He lives in Chennai with his two sons, his wife, and his mother. He was born in New Dehli, and when we asked him about how he liked living in Chennai he simply pantomimed hanging himself. I'm glad that, despite how depressing this city is sometimes, the other parts of the country are pleasant. I'm excited because we're off to another part of South-India on Wednesday. How exciting!
We arrived at St. Andrew's eventually. The service was very lovely, and the people were very welcoming. The architecture at St. A's was very beautiful, and the sanctuary was in the shape of a circle (very weird, but interesting!).
After the service we met with Sara's former India guide, Dr. something...... He was a delightful old man, just recently retired from a local college. He will probably be giving at least one lecture to Kayli and Gilby's group when they are being oriented at ICSA.
We also met some very eccentric people at the church. I don't know what draws these types of people to us; maybe eccentric people are more outgoing or something? Anyways, in the usual Indian custom he was very hospitable. If we ever need a place to stay, we can stay with him; or his brother; or his cousin; or his son in Australia (should we find ourselves there). We have contact information and addresses for all of these people now. :-)
For dinner we ate at a place called 'Kwality.' It was, indeed, quality; the food was excellent! By the time dinner was over, it had begun to rain. Since our neighborhood does not have reasonable sewer systems, water was sever inches deep on the street. We returned to ICSA muddy and soaked (I especially after having fallen into a pile of mud).
Sunday night Spencer, Lam and I stayed up late talking. We spoke with the night watchmen, who works from 6pm to 6am most nights. He was a very friendly fellow. He lives in Chennai with his two sons, his wife, and his mother. He was born in New Dehli, and when we asked him about how he liked living in Chennai he simply pantomimed hanging himself. I'm glad that, despite how depressing this city is sometimes, the other parts of the country are pleasant. I'm excited because we're off to another part of South-India on Wednesday. How exciting!
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