Arriving in Chennai

It was a long trip to India, with a two hour layover in Tokyo, Twelve in Singapore, and the flights in-between, so needless to say when we final,y arrived in Chennai on Saturday at 6pm, we were anxious to get going!

The line at customs was abnormally slow, but we finally made it to the front, only to find that because I didn't have the address of the Marriott hotel, we weren't allowed in the country. I guess I am dumb for not having my reservation printed out, but I have never in my life ever been turned away at customs for not knowing where I was staying. The guy proceeded to yell at me, telling me to call them (no I did not have a phone or phone number) and just all around stress me out. Luckily someone came to the rescue with a fake address and phone number, which worked fine until the next customs agent asked me what my hotel room number was. Excuse me? Since when does anyone know the room they are staying in before check-in!

After all this, we were definitely relieved to get out the door and make it outside. I was so happy to see Amanda and Lex's smiling faces after we collected our baggage.



After all the flying and travel we were pretty exhausted, so having experts there to take the stress off us was awesome.

We spent the night in Chennai, made sure amanda got some KFC (5 weeks of indian food is rough!)





and went to church the next morning before heading out to Rising Star. I loved being able to wear a Sari to Church, it makes you feel like a princess!






Church was a neat experience. A mix of Tamil and English in all the classes. It never ceases to amaze me that you can go anywhere in the world and an LDS church is still an LDS church. I was especially surprised at how many members there were! More than I have seen in some parts of the US!

After church, we took a 3hr bus ride past Chenalput village to the Rising Star campus.

Talk about an incredible oasis in the middle of nothing! The organization has done such a great job at building the school, volunteer hostels, keeping the grounds spotless, and all-around making it such a welcoming place to be.

The electricity isn't so stable (I'm currently writing this post during one of the frequent blackouts), which means the air conditionig and wifi are off, but hey! We are happy that there is even air conditioning and wifi some of the time!

Our first day was spent unpacking and getting accustomed to the squatting toilets, bucket showers and insane heat.

You better believe I was dead tired by 9pm!