time warp to two weeks ago

I HATE MEN (more on that later).

but india’s awesome! It’s crazy that we’re finally here – India was always that distant land in the middle of everything…it was always “just wait till India this, just wait till India that...”…and so far, we’re all surviving just fine (knock on wood/steel, because we’re on a ship, so everything is steel…)

so we wake up on the first morning at PBT (Pilot boat time! I named it that) and run upstairs to gaze out upon the greatness, and there’s…NOTHING. some shipping traffic, a couple of tiny fishing boats, and fog, or smog, maybe. you could SMELL India, but you couldn’t actually SEE it. finally, a lighthouse came out of the clouds, and then some container ships, and then a harbor, and then Chennai. it’s an interesting harbor here – all the berths are sort of around a big lagoony thing that’s mostly full of ginornous jellyfish, and we have a spectacular view of an old warehouse. all day there are guys outside playing a very complicated game of “get the giant metal pipes into a nice, neat pyramid”. they are not very good at this game, and the repercussions are rather loud (I’ve been saying “rather” a lot more since I’ve been in India, by the way…ah, the aftereffects of colonisation..(hehe does anybody get it?!)).

anyway. despite our lovely location there was quite a crowd gathered round, some of them even playing music. then the immigration guys pulled up and piled out of the trunk of this jeep, one by one, like clowns in a volkwagen. they were nice immigration guys, though, because they let us off the ship in relatively good time. after a running around in circles kind of morning, I ended up on the Chennai city orientation, which was just fine. we visited a relatively substantial number of churches, though, considering the situation, including the one where St. Thomas is supposedly buried. what ended up being the most interesting part (besides our really exciting bus curtains – Indians really decorate their mass transit, who here has seen the Air India livery?) was a detour we had to take. we drove along the beach and through these fishing villages that are framed by government slab apartments – apparently these houses were built for the fisherpeople, but they didn’t want to live in them, so they sold them and then built thatched-roof huts, many of which were affected by the tsunami. there are all kinds of people and animals running around, and it’s really very fascinating to watch. we went to a nice silk store, which was a little overwhelming, and watched the Frankels attempt to buy nice things for their older children. on the way home i helped Sarah play "I Spy" with her dad. she asked for help with an "e" word (they'd already done Emily; don't get too excited), but apparently "ethnomusicology professor" didn’t cut it. needless to say, i wasn't very helpful. we went to a temple, too, which was happenin’ cause there’s a festival going on. the detail on the buildings is incredibly elaborate, there were all kinds of different decoratings of goddesses, etc. going on, the music was beautiful, and there was even a sacred cow! and it’s really rather liberating to walk around barefoot for awhile, Kristen and i decided.

then we came home for dinner.

i must explain dinner. when we're in port, there are few enough people eating that they make the real delicious food, which includes HOT, freshly tossed pasta dishes that are SOOO good - with olives and sauce and greens and things. so, feeling a bit down on myself because it happens sometimes, i sat down alone to eat in peace. a nice girl who i'd never met before (and, oh dear, whose name i have already forgotten) came and joined me, and then a friend of hers, and that was fine. and THEN Ellie comes over with "pick me up!" written all over her face, so i put her in my lap. she points to my pasta, so i feed her a nice penne. and then she says "more!" so i eat some penne. and then i giver her some penne. and then i eat some. and then i feed her, and then me. etc. and pretty soon my measly plate of penne is gone, and she says "more!" so i get more. and the cycle continues. then THAT plate of pasta is gone, and one of the grinning stewards hands over ANOTHER plate of pasta. eventually she takes the fork, stabs a penne, and sticks it in MY mouth. and then she eats a bite. and then me. and then her. and so on. literally, five plates of pasta (actually 4 plates and one bowl) and about an hour later, there were little sauce marks all over my pants, and she was finally done.

it was probably the most entertaining meal i've experienced on the ship.

anyway, boring story, but funny at the time.

yeah. that was day one. stay tuned to actually find out why I hate men (no, not all of them :-P).