Happy International Womens' Day!

We write this with permanent paint on our feet and turpentine in our nose. We've probably lost too many brain cells at this point (oil-based paint... illegal?) so please excuse any weirdness although it's hard to beat the last blog entry.
Our dream (which actually happened) was to paint a mural in the older girls' room. Katie planned a - Carly says "beautiful," Katie says "oh you... stop," - design of a kind of sun/moon/solar system type thing (see pics). The first step of this process was to go get the potentially illegal paint. Loren, Katie and Jim Daddy booked it in a rickshaw (venturing out form?) to the paint store and loaded up on some primary colours. We enjoyed the pictures of "Infant Jesus" plastered all over the rickshaw. Nice. Next, we returned to FFC setting up by sketching the design on the wall. Matt supervised (Working hard... hardly working). Erin got peed on again (unlucky) yet perservered to pop in with Carly to lend a helping hand in the messy paint process. Although Katie is very talented... Maury/Moory/Mahry/Mary (one of the older girls who was very... erm... enthused about the project) thought differently and always offered her opinion when (not) asked. She has a good heart... albeit questionable colour sense. She painted a nice one on the wall. Things intensified as Loren gracefully knocked a can of blood-like red paint over and we stepped on palettes one too many times. Feet covered in paint, we are having a turpentine pedicure tonight. We smell more like turpentine than curry. This is where the true magic we've been practising lies.
All this being said, the older girls loved our paint job and truly appreciated the mural, as it was their idea in the first place. We loved spicing up the mint green room.
But lets get to the climax of the story. Josh Wynn painted the word "Families" on a white sign. It took all day... truly excrutiating (to hear about.) Breaking News. Quote on Quote. "It was probably the hardest work I've done this whole trip." - Josh Wynn. We clarify, this is NOT sarcasm. His current reply "Damn broads." Happy International Womens' Day tomorrow!!
Needless to say, we're excited for the celebration of International "Broads" Day tomorrow. We're happy that all of our paint projects are finished and lookin' good.
Our humour's all up. Peace. We send our love. Especially Josh for the equality of both genders - men... and broads.
- Carly, Erin, Loren and Katie (Matt and Josh for their manly supervision.)

Once in a dream in India

In the dream “Sports Master”, the only plump fellow we have encountered here asked us to organize a sports day. “Of course”, we replied. On the day of the event Josh sat at a desk on a stage and welcomed the athletes. As he explained the rules of Ultimate Frisbee and the Swedish lawn game Koob, a few of the visiting coaches instructed the athletes to get up from their places so they could get a head start in the pre game marching and calisthenics. We were outraged and chased the visitors through the exits and wound up at Jacob’s House septic pit. Turns out is was just a misunderstanding. The visitors were not being rude they were only reading the fine print in the Jackson and Matt’s tournament instructions. The part about each team being required to throw handfuls of rock and broken brick into the pit before they could qualify to play. Dressed in salwar kamis, Carly and Loren used their best “beast voices” to direct the filthy cascade. Erin and Katie carried freshly painted white and blue signs pointing to the various sports venues while Daniel did card tricks dressed in a dhoti and turban. Harry, Max, Jackson and Katie single handedly defeated all challengers once the Ultimate game got started, making numerous highlight catches and throws. They promised to talk about each spectacular play for months to come. No one understood Koob. A grand day was had by all. Where were Barb and Jim in this dream? And what could it all mean? Without reaching too far, could this be an allegory for York India 2008 from the point of view of the supervisors? Stay tuned…

In all seriousness we have been very impressed with our travelling companions’ attitudes and initiative. They have performed above and beyond all of our expectations. They have made a positive impact on the kids and staff at FFC. It is a pleasure travelling with these 10 students. Thanks for all your comments on the BLOG. They are all in our conversations daily.

Barb and Jim

Hurry Up and Wait...

We have done a lot of 'hurry up and wait' since we have been in India. The thing about India is there are many important jobs to do that rely on other people and things falling into place. The last 48 hour we have tried to start or finish several daunting tasks, however materials (and people!) have caused us to take a step back, re-evaluate...and wait.
Ex. A (set up like a true IB student): The Goat Farm Fence. Two days ago, Harry, Katie, Matt and Josh set out to go put up a new fence for the goats (yes, there is actually a goat farm on FFC property). We were told everything was ready to go, they just needed a few hands to get the job done. This was not the case. Nothing was there and nothing was ready. Instead we beasted out an entire house worth of sweeping, painting and glass breaking (long story...we'll show you the video when we get home). After lunch, we returned ready for action to complete the job, but found that the freshly painted house was being used as a lunch room. This allowed us time to play with the younger boys (see pictures at the bottom), and after a while, get the house cleaned up.
Ex. B : The Screens. After the guest house had been painted and freed from all the broken glass we were told that we needed to screen the windows with mosquito netting with the help of the carpenter. Once again Harry, Max, and Jackson were told that everything was ready to go, but alas, it was not. They told us to watch as they cut screens for hours. This has now gone to the bottom of our priority list.
However, do not negatively connotate 'hurry up and wait.' Everything moves at a different pace here and that pace is a rushed sort of mellow giving one time to experience the immense amount of love and beauty we are surrounded by in this country. 'Hurry up and wait,' is something that we would love to experience more often back home because it allows one to stop and smell the roses.
New Topic
WE CONQUERED THE WALL FOR GLORY!!! If you haven't already heard the front of FFC has been stripped of all of its plaster (thanks to the beasts) using shovels and picks. It is currently being cemented (another example of hurry up and wait all together, but we're not going to get into that) and we hope that it will be dry and ready for painting while we are still here.
Gym class is a lot different here. Harry, Katie, Matt and Ms. P spent an afternoon with all of the younger boys and the Sports MASTER. Gym for them involved running around in circles one way... and then the other way. It also involved some yoga-like stretches and backflips. But our favourite parts were taking on the roles of our favourite pro-Wrestlers and photo shoots (which involved more exercise than you'd think.)
This afternoon we ventured out of Potanur (where FFC is located)into the more urban environment of Coimbatore. This is the closest major city in the state of Tamil Nadu. Aside from the heat (Jackson says today was even hotter than when he posted his blog) being hassled to buy, we had an incredible experience. We visited a Westernized grocery store (MOLLY! WE FOUND TIM TAMS! YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH THEM!) and an Indian craft store. After having ice cream, we went to a beautiful Hindu temple. Inside was a real elephant who, when given rupees, would bless you by touching your forehead with it's trunk. Ashes were swiped across our foreheads and we were given leaves. It was a very spiritual and inspiring experience, one that we won't soon forget.

'Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you might just miss it' - Ferris Buler



- Katie and Harry

Girl Power

Watch out boys, the girls are blogging now.
It's time for our sweet, sweet revenge.
First to set the record straight, our 'guns' are much larger than Max Levitt's will ever be. To add to this, we persevered and stuck out the smell and washed the boys' boxers. It was definitely the 'thorn' of the day....besides being peed (Erin) and peed/pooed (Carly) on by the babies....at least their cute (by the way, Naomi, Kim and Debs were each bringing one home).
To add to our new list of talents, we are EXCELLENT book sorters and dusters (don't worry Kim & MarkyMark, Carly has only had one asthma attack...so far).

Right now, the little girls are banging on the window for us to come out and play with them. They've each chosen one of us to get attached to and have brought us various presents, such as bracelets, bindis and pictures of their fav 'supastar': Vijay. We love hanging out with them.
When the girls are at school, we play with the babies and toddlers. The babies are too cute and the toddlers just want to be held...a good workout for our MASSIVE muscles. Our work is DEFINITELY harder than the boys (and Katie) who are just breaking down a wall. We took the babies up to the roof so they could get some sun. Some of the babies had physical or mental handicaps that were at times hard to see...but we still had a lot of fun with them and they are so happy.

Yesterday, we sorted our 600 pounds of donations and distributed it to the different kindergarten classes, the library etc... Today, Mr. Brickell and Ms. Prevedello had a meeting with Sunbeam about where our $7000CAD - aka 300,000 rupees would be donated. So far, it has been decided to go towards new playground equipment for the special care kids, medical care, a new wall, toques (for all the cold weather??) and rain hats.

The key to our apartment is lost.
Hopefully, our bags won't be stolen...

p.s. we have a new key...don't worry too much Marla.

-Loren, Carly & Erin.

SHOUTOUT TO REMTULLA...best plane letter...awkward.

The Heat Is On

Day 3 - It's really hot. Like, really hot. Fortunately, we now have our bags and with them our sunscreen. I'm sure all our moms appreciate that. So today was our first day of putting in real hard labour for the orphanage. In the morning there were three jobs to be done: rebuilding the front wall of the main project, moving the older girls' belongings from their old, smaller space to a new, larger space, and painting & refurbishing one of the guest houses. By far the most rigorous was the wall building (Max, Daniel and Jackson, with a little help from Mr. Brickell). Despite the 100+ degree weather, furious red ants, unfamiliar Indian tools, garbage, shrubbery, and a crumbling mud wall, the boys persevered and succeeded in not only preparing the wall for repairs, but in avoiding heat stroke as well. The other jobs did not merit much description. Apparently, some of the girls' possessions were a bit hefty and the smell of turpentine was mildly unpleasant, although these claims are not verifiable (and probably dubious). The he-men of the wall then ate lunch with "the others" but quickly moved on to the next grueling task before them. The job was described as a quick bit of shoveling dirt into a hole, yet upon arrival at the work site the men found it to be a gaping abyss the size of which was mind blowing to passersby. Unmoved by the impossible task in front of them, the boys began to work, lifting great boulders overhead and throwing them incredible distances to fill the septic reservoir. After spending hour upon hour completing this chore, the boys were then told they must use the remaining rocks to level 50 x 50 m field behind them. Somewhat thrown by the ludicrous request, the boys gave it a chance, and worked for another several hours. Somewhere in between, Josh Wynn showed up to say hi and throw a couple of pebbles, although this may have just been a mirage. Barely able to move their powerful bodies, the boys moved at a snails pace back to the house, where they showered and restored the liquids they so desperately needed. Feeling refreshed and all the more accomplished, they wasted no time in sprinting to the field, several miles away. After an utterly exhausting frisbee throwing session, the boys were asked to play in a soccer game with the older boys of the orphanage. Although having trouble speaking, thinking, or moving due to extreme exhaustion and heat, the boys were unable to deny the request. Scoring a combined 15 goals, the boys quickly became mythical legends among the locals. After a quick jaunt to the next town over, the boys returned in the nick of time for dinner. Their peers were engrossed by the stories they had to tell, and related their own hardships, which were cute. As a side note, it was Matt's birthday yesterday, so good for him. A misnamed cake was presented in his honour. Indeed, a good day was had by all.

- Jackson, Max and Daniel

A Brief History of the Bags...

A brief history of the bags...Upon our arrival in Chennai late Friday night we loaded everything into the hotel shuttles, checked in, and made a very large pile in the foyer. After a short nap Mr. Robert from FFC arrived on Saturday morning and loaded everything into vans. We thought that would be the end of it. Bags were on their way to FFC where we would all be re-united later that day. What we didn't know was that the bags were taken off the vans and loaded on to the roof of an inter city bus at the Chennai bus terminal. The bus broke down somewhere between Chennai and Coimbatore. What to do? At one stage there was a plan to send a truck out in search of the broken down van with 24 huge suitcases and duffle bags on the roof but that idea was abandoned as nobody really knew where the break down had occurred. Cell phones and blackberries hummed… Then, some good news from the bus company, the bus was fixed and on its way. “Two hours time” was the promise around mid afternoon Sunday. At about 8:30 pm the bags were still not delivered and the new best estimate was – wait for it – “two hours time”. Mr. Robert and Mani the FFC driver had spent the entire afternoon and evening waiting for the bus to finally arrive in Coimbatore. We went to bed Sunday feeling a bit discouraged at the prospect of having to put the same clothes on again Monday morning but when we arrived at FFC for breakfast, lo and behold, the bags had arrived. Following another delicious FFC breakfast of dosas, idly, dal, pb and j, we finally unpacked our bags!

We're not in Kansas anymore...

It’s been a long, difficult trip but after about 20 hours in the air and many more in airports and lineups, we’ve made it. It’s day two and we are slowly but surely settling in and beginning to accept it here as our new home for the next couple weeks.

The journey began in Toronto Pearson International Airport where the twelve of us met, unable to contain our excitement. After saying goodbye to our families and checking in it finally hit many of us that we were on our way to India. A few hours later, we boarded our first flight of many and settled into the cramped cabin of a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. After many walks up and down the aisles in attempts to stretch our legs, we landed in Germany and prepared for the next leg of the trip.

Three hours later, the second flight took off and headed towards Chennai, India. For us, it was a chance to catch up on some much needed sleep and we found ourselves quickly landing nine hours later in India. Upon arrival, we realized that it was no longer winter where we were and at one in the morning it was upwards of thirty degrees. After collecting our twenty four, massive duffle bags we exited the airport and entered a whole new world of sights, smells and traffic.

Our first impressions of the country were that of amazement, wonder and excitement…even at two in the morning. The city was bustling and alive and there were no signs of it slowing down any time soon. There were horns honking and people screaming. We couldn’t have been happier. After causing minor gridlock in the parking lot thanks to all of our luggage, we separated into taxis and made way to the Trident Hilton hotel. During the drive there we received a brief lesson on Indian life and culture. The drivers honk at nothing, drive on both sides of the road and maintain good humour and a friendly face at all times.

The hotel was spectacular. The staff were friendly the food was fantastic. We all had very comfortable sleeps and awoke to a beautiful morning of swimming, Frisbee and tanning. We knew it would be our last few hours of luxuries so we took full advantage. Our last leg of the trip to FFC began at 10am with a one hour flight to Coimbatore. This was the most comfortable flight so far being on Jet Airways. We all had our own personal TVs and the meal of Indian chicken or vegetables was the best plane food any of us had ever tasted.

We landed in Coimbatore and piled into a van that didn’t have enough seats (Max Levitt graciously sat on the hard wood floor) and ended the journey as we rolled into York House, our final destination…at least for the next nine days. We received a tour of the orphanage which was split into four sections (older and younger, girls and boys) spread out within walking distance across the small town. We were surprised at the living conditions and amazed at the self sustaining abilities of FFC and how happy the children and staff all manage to be. We have so far had two meals here, both consisting of delicious authentic Indian food (as well as some peanut butter).

Our first night at York House was interesting. The accommodations we have are small and we are supplied with little more than basic necessities. We have so far found it to be very livable however and look forward to spending the next little while there. We were all extremely tired and landed fast asleep onto our cots before 10:00. Later we found ourselves awake later on that night between 3am and 5am eating pomegranate seeds and taking in the Indian sunrise. Hopefully tonight we’ll be able to stay up a bit later and get onto a more normal schedule.

Today we were expecting to receive the remainder of our luggage (we so far have been living out of carry ons) as well as the 600lbs worth of donations. We learnt, to our despair that the bus transporting the bags from Chennai had in fact broken down about 150km away from us but the specific location was unknown. This to say the least had us slightly frightened and frustrated. Minutes ago however we learnt that the bus has been fixed and, knock wood, our bags are on their way and we will receive tonight.

More details on our experiences to come,
Matt, Josh, Harry