Temples and Coconuts

Today ''the plague'' took down Dawn and Dani got sicker.  On the bright side, Emily and I were feeling much better when we woke up!

Emily and I started our day very early by going to visit Ucchi Pillayar (Rockfort) Temple with our friends Kavi and Preghati.  I couldn't get a picture of its entirety so I borrowed the one below from Google images.

  The final ascent!

To get to the top of the temple required a gajillion steps (rough estimate) with a few stops in between that held smaller temples. An unexpected aspect of these steps was that we ascended them barefoot (it is disrespectful to wear shoes in the temple).  The view from the top was remarkable- you can see all of Trichy.  Pictures really don't do it justice but I've added some just incase...

We went western with our clothing choice to best handle the climb and the heat.
While we were taking pictures of the surroundings we began to notice something peculiar...people were taking pictures of us. Kavi informed us that we were a rare find in this part of India and people were excited to say they saw us. And we thought we'd feel silly taking so many pictures today- ha!

We spent the rest of morning as we would on a typical American Saturday- Shopping! The girls took us to all sorts of shops.  We went to the Kohls of India and found all sorts of souvenirs for you lovely people! We also went to a wal-mart-esque store that had products pretty similar to what you'd find in the US.  The shop employees asked Kavi where we were from and when she told them we were American they sprung into action.  They came back holding 4 cups of juice and told Kavi that they wanted us to have it.  I'm not sure if we will ever get used to being treated like movie stars- but Kavi and Preghati love the special treatment. They keep telling us how fun it is to go out with us because it makes them look so cool.

 One side of Trichy

While we were out, Dawn and Danielle went to the doctor and were prescribed an antibiotic

With Kavi  and Preghati

(Danielle is already feeling better!)  Emily and I stopped at the store to bring back supplies to help them feel better but when we returned- they had already been so well taken care of! Solomon, our RA, brought the girls everything from Sprite to fruit to coconuts.  Yup. Coconuts. That was interesting.  There was a knock at the door and Solomon was standing there with a coconut and straw. Today, Dawn and I learned that we don't care much for fresh coconut milk.  Dawn and I also learned how to clean up coconut milk from all over the floor.

Emily and I took a nice walk around campus to stretch our legs.  We met a few other international students (2 from Africa, 1 from North Korea) while we wandered.  All of them were so pleased to learn we were from the States (one of them said he had never seen an American on this campus).
This trip really is teaching us how fortunate we are.  People are constantly telling us how lucky we are to be from the States- one student today told us how fortunate we are to be American-educated.  This is something that I think we all too often take for granted.  This is our sixth day in India and I've already learned so much.  I can't wait to see what the following days bring.