Students Arrive

 

Abid giving some instructions in our orientation.

January 14, 2026, Tuesday

The students had been arriving in waves night and day from Saturday through early Monday morning, but everyone is finally here and situated. The program officially began today with an orientation, a catered lunch and a special dinner. It reminded me of new missionary orientation watching the students try to stay awake while Abid and Emily let them know the essential information.

The students also spent the entire day trying to get their sim cards set up. Abid arranged for someone from a cellphone company to come to the hotel, but it was not an easy process! They had to take their pictures, process their information and then get it working on their phone. Some of them lost all information in their phone. It reminded us of our last trip to China and how it took hours for us to get a sim card. Fortunately, we just added an international package to our phone plan, and we didn't have to worry about it.

Some interesting things I learned from Abid today:

-India has 22 languages and 22 different scripts. Seventeen of them are shown on their money.
-English and Hindi are the two official languages. Tamil is the local dialect here in Chennai.
-India is a country of bargaining. Learn to enjoy it!
-If you are handing something to anyone, use your right hand. Your left hand is impure.
-Expect to be stared it. (We have been!)
-85%-90% of marriages are arranged in India.
-20,000 deaths a year occur in India due to rabies. (He doesn't want the students to pet dogs--there are lots of them!)

-Nanri is how you say thanks in Tamil.

-Vanakkam is a greeting word, used as you would use namaste. 

After the orientation, Vall-ji led us on a walking tour. It felt like we were ina  computer game walking in the street dodging oncoming traffic. 

Chennai is off the beaten path for tourists, so we were an unusual sight!

Power lines seem to be self serve in this city.

This man on the billboard is a famous Tamil actor running for the office of Chief Minister in the upcoming election. Vall-ji told us Vijay is really old, her mother used to watch him in the movies!

We had our group dinner at the Punjab Grill. These men are making naan.

Group dinner.

We had eaten at this restaurant once already, but we had different things this time. We had some street food appetizers, a dishes of roasted goat meat, butter paneer and masala chicken with naan and rice. For dessert we had gulab jamun, which is milk solids formed into balls, soaked in syrup and steamed and flavored with cardamom, saffron and rose water. We both ate too much!