Day 2 - May 27 - Exploring Chennai

After a long night of rest we are feeling renewed and rejuvenated. It will take a few more days to get accustomed to the time change, food and heat, but we are doing fairly well.

Today we explored Chennai. We started the day by going to a Women's Craft Market where several of the ladies purchased clothing items. It was quite a fun experience chatting with the women who handmade all the clothing. The pair of palooza pants that I bought were made through the process of wax printing, a style of textile dying that you can find in the central region of India, Andhra Pradesh.

After this we ate at a north Indian restaurant. The naan and paneer were quite tasty. I am looking forward to trying all the dishes this summer. During the meal we also met the cultural advisor from two years ago, Julianna. I think it will really add to the experience we have in country to have a cultural advisor with us all the time. It will also making communicating a lot easier, plus Sowmya, our cultural advisor this summer, has been great to work with so far!

Afterwards we went to explore one of the major monuments in Chennai, St. Thomas Mount. St Thomas Mount is a Holy place of international prominence, historical eminence, religious glory and tourist attraction.The Church on the top of St. Thomas Mount has served as a light house for the Portuguese and Armenian ships and vessels in the Bay of Bengal in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was constructed in 1726 and dedicated to the disciple Thomas for the 20 years he lived in India and spread Christianity. Here is a website where you can read more about it.

We finished our day by relaxing at the hotel - swimming, a nice patio dinner, and a hearty team chat. I look forward to working with everyone on the team and in the community. We have an early start tomorrow for our plane flight to Tuticorin and then drive to Packianathapuram, night everyone!