My Final Project

When I first came to volunteer at Unity Charitable Trust we talked about me making a video for them to use for promotion. Something they can put on their website, Facebook, blog, etc. I've been taking video and photos of the projects since I arrived in the village. We have been working on a script and here is what we have to do date. I am not sure it's the final, final version, but today we are happy with what we have so far. I am sure I'll keep tweaking the final video for the organization.

The Village

I took some video while walking the main roads in Virudhunagar. If you would like to see where I have been staying for the last 4 weeks, you can see some of the village in this video.

Last Stop - Pazhaya Courtallam Falls

Our last stop on the family vacation is the "famous falls" called Pazhaya Courtallam Falls.

These are water falls that Indians visit to take a public bath and get benefits from the fresh and clean water. The family did not understand why I did not want to bathe in the falls... The water was cold and shampooing in front of hundreds of people seemed a little odd to me, but everyone else enjoyed it.

There is a men's side for bathing and women's side for bathing in the falls. A fence separates the two sides. The women bathe fully clothed.

I like this sign telling us how to get to the falls, because neither arrow correctly pointed the way.

Antone, Sweety, Me and John.

There was plenty of monkey fun at the falls.

Uvari - Family stop day 2

After visiting with family we head to Uvari to visit some more churches.

Uvari is a sea-side fishing village that was badly damaged in 2004 by the tsunami.

Me with Antone on the sea wall.

This is a "famous church" in the shape of an airplane and boat. It is the Uvari Kappal Matha Church (our lady of health).

Family Weekend Visit continues

After spending the day with Felix and his family we head to the next small village to meet another aunt and more cousins.

A cousin shows us the newest member of the family, a kitten named Apoo.

Sweety and a family friend.

Mary's sister is an English teacher at the local grade school.

Visiting Tirunelveli

Our first big city stop is in Tirunelveli. We meet up with their cousin Felix and his mom and dad. Felix takes me, Sweety and Antone out on the town.

Our first stop is the new church built in town.

Then off to the mall for some shopping. I bought my niece a traditional Indian outfit here.

Then on to a "famous bakery" for ice cream and pizza.

Finally we did some shopping in the markets. I spotted oranges and had to get some. It has been a long time without fresh fruits (pretty much just bananas for me). The oranges proudly displayed the USA sticker on them - Velencia!

More browsing in the market...

Tirunelvi is a much larger city than where I am staying so we took advantage of all the food and shops.

Family Vacation

So just like an American family, the Vijaya’s decided to take a family road trip so I can meet more of their relatives and see the local sites. Their son took a bus in from Chennai so we could all be together.

They rented a van (and driver – no one drives in India) and the whole family, including Rinky the dog, piled in the van for a lot of driving and weekend of family fun. There were 6 of us in the van plus the dog for the first day. The second day we were joined by their cousin Felix and his friend John – bringing us to 8 with one dog.