Today was crazy hectic because of the wedding preparations. After breakfast Solomon found two students to take us around the market while everyone else was getting ready. Krishnu and John were second year students who spoke little to no English. I think with the chaos the wedding Solomon was just looking for anyone to be able to take us there last minute. John and Krishnu were very helpful. They first took us to a hand made shop and my eyes tripled in size. The ornamentation and detail that went into every piece of art was incredible. I ended up spending over forty dollars there because I could not help myself! Some of the artwork was lined with gold sheeting and several pieces had been hand carved out of wood or constructed using silk. I ended up buying a tapestry that took up the majority of my bill but it was so worth it. It was hand crafted and the design itself represented the impeccable skill that went into making it. An hour later we left the store and entered into the market. The market is absolutely nuts. Its crazy hot and crowded but there is always something to look at. Krishnu and John took us (without us finding out until later) to Rock Fort Temple. This is a tourist hot spot in Trichy and all the students who went on this trip previously had visited it. When you first walk in there are little stands set up on each side of entry way selling key chains or figurines (mostly Ganesh). I also thought that we were at a different temple at first not Rock Fort because when you walk into the temple and look up you can make out the top of Rock Fort but from the bottom it still looked miles away. It was only until we reached our fifth set of stairs (there are over 400 steps) that I realized where we were going. On the way up there were shrines where people could light candles and pray or be touristy like we were and take a ton of pictures.
On our final stretch to the top Conner was stopped by a family and asked for a picture I was then gestured over to get in on it. This has been happening a lot lately. In a previous blog Morgan said she felt like a celebrity here which is incredibly accurate. Everywhere we go people stare and wave and try to take pictures with us. It feels so strange sometimes its hard to know how to react. When we reached the top my feet were on fire from the burning ground (we were required to take off our shoes before we started our ascend to the temple) but I felt so relieved. It was so worth it. The view was incredible and even though we could not go into the shrine because we are not Hindu it was still nice to be able to feel like a part of the culture. We headed back down to catch a taxi back to campus. By the time I got to my room I just laid in my bed. The climbing and heat can really take a lot out of you! Ten minutes later I was notified that two ladies would be coming to my room to help me put on my zari for the wedding. I quickly showered and bam there they were. It took them fifteen minutes to wrap it all up around me and give me the low down on what not to do. Contrary to popular belief there is not much at all you can do in a zari. You can't lay down, ride a scooter, and forget about extreme sports and parkour. I was ready two hours before the wedding started and all I wanted to do was take a nap (I know you're so shocked mom). To not ruin anything I had to lay with half my body hanging off the bed and my arms flat across my chest, not the most comfortable but I made it work (thinking of you Tim Gunn)!
I woke up to a knock on my door telling me it was time!! Conner and I made our way down to the lobby where Glenny (the bride) was being blessed by the pastor and several other people I didn't know. We headed over to the chapel and my god it was so hot. The ceremony lasted well over an hour and the majority of it was in Tamil but I did know when they said and sang Amen so at least I wasn't totally lost! After the initial ceremony we got refreshments from the stands set up on the soccer field. There was freshly made grape juice, coffee, and cotton candy! I was definitely feeling the sugar by the time the reception started. The reception also had its own ceremony where the bride and grooms family were mentioned and several prayers were said. At the end the groom, Alan said how thankful he was to wed Glenny and how he would promise to do anything she ordered him to do for the rest of their marriage which was sweet and funny. All the guests got in line to give their gifts after that. Then all of a sudden the best surprise happened. Taylor Swifts Blank Space started playing on the loud speaker and the projector showed a music video but get this the music video was of Alan and Glenny. It was like professionally done and everything. It took me a minute to realize that it was actually happening and it brought me so much joy, what a quirky and great thing to have a such a serious wedding.
We then walked back outside to eat the most incredible food..with our hands. It was definitely and experience and I prayed that I didn't touch anything to gross earlier that day. We saw Krishnu and John there who didn't even know who's wedding it was and just wanted to score on the free food (can't blame them). After taking a few laps around campus and a few pictures with some men and a couples children I called it a night. Today was jammed pack but it was totally worth the exhaustion.
This is the view of Rock Fort from the very bottom.
Time to be a tourist!
On our final stretch to the top Conner was stopped by a family and asked for a picture I was then gestured over to get in on it. This has been happening a lot lately. In a previous blog Morgan said she felt like a celebrity here which is incredibly accurate. Everywhere we go people stare and wave and try to take pictures with us. It feels so strange sometimes its hard to know how to react. When we reached the top my feet were on fire from the burning ground (we were required to take off our shoes before we started our ascend to the temple) but I felt so relieved. It was so worth it. The view was incredible and even though we could not go into the shrine because we are not Hindu it was still nice to be able to feel like a part of the culture. We headed back down to catch a taxi back to campus. By the time I got to my room I just laid in my bed. The climbing and heat can really take a lot out of you! Ten minutes later I was notified that two ladies would be coming to my room to help me put on my zari for the wedding. I quickly showered and bam there they were. It took them fifteen minutes to wrap it all up around me and give me the low down on what not to do. Contrary to popular belief there is not much at all you can do in a zari. You can't lay down, ride a scooter, and forget about extreme sports and parkour. I was ready two hours before the wedding started and all I wanted to do was take a nap (I know you're so shocked mom). To not ruin anything I had to lay with half my body hanging off the bed and my arms flat across my chest, not the most comfortable but I made it work (thinking of you Tim Gunn)!
We made it!!!
This lovely family wanted a picture with the aliens!
The not so flexible but ever so beautiful zari.
I woke up to a knock on my door telling me it was time!! Conner and I made our way down to the lobby where Glenny (the bride) was being blessed by the pastor and several other people I didn't know. We headed over to the chapel and my god it was so hot. The ceremony lasted well over an hour and the majority of it was in Tamil but I did know when they said and sang Amen so at least I wasn't totally lost! After the initial ceremony we got refreshments from the stands set up on the soccer field. There was freshly made grape juice, coffee, and cotton candy! I was definitely feeling the sugar by the time the reception started. The reception also had its own ceremony where the bride and grooms family were mentioned and several prayers were said. At the end the groom, Alan said how thankful he was to wed Glenny and how he would promise to do anything she ordered him to do for the rest of their marriage which was sweet and funny. All the guests got in line to give their gifts after that. Then all of a sudden the best surprise happened. Taylor Swifts Blank Space started playing on the loud speaker and the projector showed a music video but get this the music video was of Alan and Glenny. It was like professionally done and everything. It took me a minute to realize that it was actually happening and it brought me so much joy, what a quirky and great thing to have a such a serious wedding.
The initial wedding ceremony (right) with Glenny walking out for refreshments and pictures and the reception (left).
Picture of me and Dr. Sam's daughters. Dr. Sam has been helping us get along here.
We then walked back outside to eat the most incredible food..with our hands. It was definitely and experience and I prayed that I didn't touch anything to gross earlier that day. We saw Krishnu and John there who didn't even know who's wedding it was and just wanted to score on the free food (can't blame them). After taking a few laps around campus and a few pictures with some men and a couples children I called it a night. Today was jammed pack but it was totally worth the exhaustion.
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