A Birthday, A Feast, and A Visit from the king

This weekend several of our students were off on another home stay. The rest still had a fun full weekend in Coimbatore with a big Onam celebration at our apartment complex. Yes, you may have already read our blog about Onam- but it is a 10 day festival and our Malayalee neighbors wanted to be home in Kerala for the actual holiday and then celebrate back in Tamil Nadu afterward.

The morning was a flurry of preparations to get our sari’s wrapped properly and get all dressed up. We went outside and found a beautiful huge rangoli (flower design) that had apparently taken 4+ hours to create!

Beautiful rangoli

Soon we heard drumming and a horn being blown so we wandered over to the entrance and spotted… the king! We joined in the parade of people bringing him into the complex. Since everyone else was getting a snap next to the king, we decided to follow suit. Now I must admit that I was a bit disappointed to see that his eyebrows, mustache, and sideburns were filled in with a marker and that he was not a real king! But he did a good job of looking stately and important! 

The King

 There were several traditional dances performed by little elementary girls that were so impressive performing multiple dances with several costume changes. There were also several awards given out, including ‘Best Dressed Couple’ which our director Kirk Ji and his wife ended up winning!

Director and his wife winning the award

One of the little dancers

   After the performances were over, we were treated to a feast of traditional food from Kerala served on a banana leaf! There were so many different side dishes and it was very interesting to taste all these unique flavors. 

Just the start of all the dishes they served us

 This weekend was also one of our student’s birthday. It was definitely a birthday she will never forget-eating a feast on a banana leaf and meeting the king! When all the students had returned from home stay, we had a surprise party with cake. All in all, another good weekend in India!

Birthday surprise!

This coming Friday we are heading out on our first weekend trip to the city of Madurai to visit the famous Meenakshi temple and tour the Mahatma Gandhi museum!

Orientation

Our students have arrived! They have hit the ground running as they learn about India and get acquainted with our sprawling city of Coimbatore.

ISP trying new foods on their first night in Coimbatore.

Right off the plane they were welcomed by staff and peer mentors and they began taking in the sites on the bus ride through the city. The students wrapped up their first night here by sharing a giant family dosa, an ISP tradition!



Rangoli, a traditional decorative art, done by BACAS students to welcome ISP.
Photo Credit: Kelly Uchiumi

  Everyone was kept busy as “batch 3” conquered their fears of the public bus, tried on salwaars for school and kicked off their first few days of classes. We capped off orientation with the Amazing Race: Coimbatore, where students head out and hunt for different landmarks around the city.
 

The students after being thoroughly welcomed and garlanded by BACAS.



For now, everyone is settling in and learning more about doing life together in India. Stay tuned for our next post!