So...
ok, where to even start? So Mariah and I left Mumbai (I can't even begin to describe the traffic... think New York but without any rules) to head for the domestic airport, which was far more nerve-wracking than any of the other airport experiences thus far. It was just a very different feel... there was a lot of staring, and men and women were split-up when going through customs. But it was fine for the rest of it... the next flight, from Chennai to Madurai was also good. It was by far the tiniest plane I have ever been on though! Like, it had propellers, and 60 people MAX! From there, we met our driver at the airport (did I mention Mariah and I were both in jackets and jeans while it was a ridiculously humid 82 degrees) and we started our 3 hour drive to Kodaikanal.
Alright, so this unimaginable drive... again, you should see how Indians drive!! They follow no discernible traffic rules unless it is a highway or something, and even then they drive like angry adrenaline junkies! They swerve, they speed, they get unbelievably close to other cars and people, and they honk at every possible moment. I took videos. My plan is to post them to my blog tomorrow. So this was only the beginning though... we got on a highway within 15 minutes or so and didn't reach that terrible mountain until we were an hour and a half in. Oh my God, that mountain. I thought the first part of the trip was crazy, but it was nothing compared to the second half! I should mention that where I was going is up 7,000 ft in the mountains, and you can only get there via one road.
I didn't ever know roads like this existed except when going to hell. The fact that I didn't puke means I should be knighted, or at least be given some gaudy medal. It was so much worse than I was expecting. It is literally unfathomable until you have to drive it. When the previous student teachers said it was winding and horrible, I thought I understood....but I didn't. There is not a straight part of this road the entire time. This is not an exaggeration! There is NO straight part to this road the ENTIRE FREAKING TIME!! Within the first 10 minutes all I could do was laugh because I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was going to puke in our driver's car. The road was barely 2 cars wide with a mountain on one side, and a cliff on the other. Every 2 seconds brought another blind corner, a barrage of honking, and a silent prayer that you would just make it around the bend. And the crazy part (ok, one of the crazy parts) was that this road was neither un-used nor uninhabited. We passed so many other vehicles along the way; dump trucks, public buses, cars, trucks, motorcycles. And every 10 minutes or so we would see another random town. The word town is way too big to describe these things, but I don't know what else to call them. Sometimes is was literally 5 shoeless people selling coconuts out of a cardboard box, other times is was an actual tiny town that somehow balanced precariously on this cliff, and apparently was able to make some amount of money.
The best though, was the one time that we stopped while going up this thing. With 40km left to go until Kodai (which meant about another hour) our driver had us stop at this scenic outlook. I have no idea what he called it or what it meant, but it overlooked the entire valley. You could see the lake and the mountains; Madurai and other little towns below. Our taxi driver explained that all the land in the valley was used for farming, mostly of mangoes, coconuts, and rice. The view was incredible! At this widening of the road there were also 2-3 stands selling fruit. Probably 10 people and a couple kids who ventured 30 minutes up this mountain everyday to try and sell fruit to any of the idiots travelling the road. While the adults chatted, and probably made jokes about us white people ("gringos" maybe?) the kids chased away the MONKEYS!!! I kid you not there was a band of monkeys living in this tree by the stands that acted just like the squirrels on campus do, or pigeons in New York. They were completely unafraid of humans, and were often seen stealing fruit from the stands and packing it up the tree...I repeat, crazy! Oh, last final note just to help really paint the picture of this road. As Mariah and I were getting back in the taxi, and bus comes down the mountain, and as it rounded the corner, 2 passengers lost their lunch out the window...
Ok, it's starting to get late here, so I'm going to speed things up and give you the full version later. Mariah and I are staying off campus (about 5 minutes walking) away from the school. And that's to the high school mind you. The primary school is called Gunga, that's where I am at, and is another 10 minutes walking away from the high school, or 3ish minutes by taxi. We are staying in a house that is attached to the house of the principal, and my cooperating teacher is also our neighbor :) It's way bigger than we were expecting, and very old. But it gets the job done. I'll post pictures or videos of that too.
Everyday, we will walk down to the high school campus, and I will either take the bus or walk down to Gunga for the school day. School goes from 8:15-4:00, Monday through Friday. We have the option of eating every meal at the school, or eating dinner at least at a local restraint in Kodai. They have everything from Subway, to Dominoes, to very very Indian.
Fun facts about Kodai: there are apparently wild dogs, bison, and monkeys as local pests. Although I've only seen/heard the first, I am told the latter are also very pesky. Kodai is also very cold compared to the rest of India. There is no humidity up here, and it is about 55 degrees max. right now. Kodai also experiences a tourist season in April-May where cars are lined up for multiple kilometers down that horrible road, trying to get up here.... not looking forward to that.
Before leaving, let me again remind my nervous family that Kodai is very safe! I will obviously not be walking by myself in the dark, or even by myself much at all if I can manage it. There are already many staff members at the school who are more than willing to help me out, and it's just going to take a little time to acclimate to everything. It's now 5:30pm here, and I'm feeling the jet-lag so I'm going to log off and head home. Although where we are staying does not have Wi-Fi, I now know where the school computer lab is! :) Mariah and I also have a phone that was left for us too, so we'll hopefully get that up and running within the next day.
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