Trips to Trivandrum

The past few days have been very, very busy. I think all of the days now are just a blur and it is difficult to remember what happened on what day! Maybe that is a good thing :)

Two days ago, my friend Lal took me to Trivandrum on his motor bike because we had to get some misc stuff done there in the morning. Trivandrum can be very dirty compared to Kovalum, just because of the large population of people and the pollution. That morning we stopped at a small restaurant where he and I beasted two bowls of mutton curry and porotta! It was simply amazing. I can't remember when the last time I had such a spicy breakfast was, but thankfully my stomach has been a lot stronger than I thought it would be since I have been in India. Hope it stays like that! I have to thank my dad for that one, since he always cooks extremely spicy curries at home.

Later that afternoon I booked my bus ticket for Trichy. I originally wanted to get a train ticket, but the trains are quite booked this time of the year. I was put on a waitlist (no. 42) for the Non AC train, but I decided not to take it and to just reserve a coach bus. I will be leaving on June 9th for a 10 hr trip to Trichy. Hopefully after a good nap and some sight seeing I will meet Dr. Deike Schacht at her home and learn more about the animal rescue shelter where I will be volunteering for 2 weeks.

For now, I am really enjoying my stay here in Kerala. Avis, Dr. Arun, Saritha, Lal, and the rest of the workers have been very welcoming and have been teaching me a lot about how the center is run each day. Avis works very hard trying to organize everything like the workers wages, having enough supplies, animal food, and also walking and taking care of many of the animals herself. I respect the staff here a lot for the hard work they put in each day to make these dogs and cats lives worthwhile, especially in such a place where people have enough to worry about as far as jobs and family income.

Yesterday was a pretty busy day. Lal and I went to Trivandrum and visited Adi's Grandfather. It took a little while to find the place, but we finally pulled up to the house where it was written "Additya" on the right side of the gate. I sat and chatted with him for about an hour and had a few snacks and it was nice knowing that I was able to see Adi's grandfather so many miles away from where we live in America. After helping out in the center throughout the morning and spending some time in Trivandrum in the afternoon, Avis, Lal, Linnea (another volunteer from Sweden), and I went to go see The Da Vinci Code in Trivandrum at 6;30 pm. This theater was absolutely amazing. I actually haven't been to a theater this large in America before. We had some nice seats in the balcony and I really enjoyed the movie.

I have taken about 200 pictures so far and 15 movies (some 3 mins long). My favorite movie is the one I took on the back of the motorbike through the city of Trivandrum. Since I decided to take my pictures at 5 MP instead of 8 MP, my 1 gb SD memory card has been doing extremely well for me. I can take about 150 more pictures on it and I have another card in my main bookbag for Tamil Nadu and Goa. I'll post the pictures later. That's all for now. Tata