Things have been great the last few days, yesterday Hannah and I went for a walk to the grocery store and ended up just walking around the neighborhood a bit. I got some great photos, and although it was really hot, it was interesting to see Chennai on foot. We were passing by this man cleaning shoes on the street and he tried to get our attention. There are many beggars around this area so usually you just try to keep walking, but the man wanted us to take a picture of him so that he could see it on the screen on my camera. So we took his picture, and he was so happy to see it. He called over other people on the street just so he could show them, and even though he didn't really speak English, he kept saying "super, super". Hannah and I actually went home and printed the picture out on their printer and took it back to him. He was very happy, and I'm sure he hung it up in his stand so that everyone could see it.
Last night, we went to the wedding, which was a very interesting cultural experience. We didn't make it in time for the ceremony, but we made it for the reception. They have many people speak, including the father of both the bride and groom and various pastors. At one point, they cut the cake and after long speeches, all of a sudden this loud, enthusiastic song starts playing saying "CONGRATULATION AND CELEBRATIONS...", please just imagine that to the loudest game show tune you can imagine. It was hilarious. I met TONS of Hannah and Christina's "aunties" and uncles, both actual relatives and random other people (you call all adults in India auntie and uncle), so at this point I'm a little confused as to who they are actually related. I was also included in the wedding video apparently, so it should be very intriguing for the bride and groom to see that a tall white girl was present for their special day. After the speeches and exciting music, they serve dinner. I tried everything given to me (aren't you proud?), it was actually very good but they give you tons of food. You use your hands (actually just your right hand- don't make the mistake of using the left) to eat and the food is served on a banana leaf, so it took me a little longer to eat. However, there is a dilemma of finishing all the food on your leaf, so that you aren't rude, and eating quickly because there are several waves of the dinner crowd. We ate mutton biryani (which was pretty spicy, but now too bad) with idyappam, egg gravy, vegetable gravy, and bread halwa. They also serve icecream, but they give it to you in the middle of the meal so it was completely melted by the time I ate it, but it tasted like cake icing. Anyway, that's enough detail, but I was so full afterwards and Christina made me try pann, a lleaf that was supposed to help with digestion, but it was really strong so I spit it out.
It was a memorable experience for sure, another chapter of my month here in India. We are looking forward to going to the beach and visiting various relatives in the next couple of weeks, so that should be exciting.
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| Christina and I at the wedding |
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| Our new friend to whom we gave the picture |
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