Hearing Impaired Kids, Elephants Adventures, and More

Since we last spoke, so much has happened. It feels as though I have been here for so long when in fact it hasn't even been three weeks yet! Currently I am still residing at the luxurious A/C equipped YMCA guest house in Madurai center. It seems as though I will be staying here at least until the end of June due to the programs that I am working in and the outrageous heat that is plaguing Madurai. It has been between 40-45 C everyday (about 105-115 F).

For the past few weeks I have been work at the school for hearing impaired children mostly just observing and learning some Tamil sign language. I have chosen to spend most of my time with the preschool/kindergartners because they are so stinkin' cute, but starting Thursday I will begin to teach a bit of English to the first grade class in the afternoons! I am extremely excited about this because the children are always wanting to learn new things and learning a bit of English is going to be undoubtedly helpful for them as they grow older. I have also been coaching a few of the children in football (soccer for us Americans ha) and badminton which has been a pretty cool experience since they speak no English and are hearing impaired and I speak no Tamil and know very few signs. Typically I leave school drenched in sweat, but hey, what can you do? I have also managed to navigate the local bus system - something the natives are very impressed by and has saved me a ton of Rupees!

Starting in a few weeks school will be over and camp will begin! I am very excited about this because for those of you who know me, i LOVE camp! For camp I will be teaching a variety of things, some of which I know well such as English, and others such as cricket and chess I am well, less experienced in. I will also be assisting in a Yoga class everyday at 6am which will be amazing!

Last weekend I took my first adventure outside the city! I decided that because of the heat it was best to try and go somewhere uphill, somewhere cooler, so I decided to go to Kumily. Kumily is a small city a 4-5 hour bus ride outside of Madurai that attracts a lot of tourism due to the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary that is located just 1km from the city center. Kumily is also known for its spice and tea plantations, neither of which I had the chance to go to but hopefully I will get a chance to go back there soon. It is here in the Periyar Sanctuary that the Indian government has made movements to pass legislation on this protected land to allow for wildlife such as tigers, elephants, bison, etc. to roam free.

The park is more than 750 Sq. Km and is home to over 800 known elephants and about 50 tigers. Though I did not have the change to spot a wild tiger, my trekking group did have quite a unique experience with a wild elephant. Exploring the park alone is strictly prohibited by the government for reasons I am sure you will understand later so I chose to go on a full day tour of the park which consisted of a 3-4 hour trek and about 3-4 hours riding on bamboo boats across the large lake situated at the center of the park that attracts wildlife in the dry season. After about 6 hours into the day and not an animal in sight I had all but given up hope of seeing any wildlife when our guides abruptly stopped myself and the 9 others members of our group. Without communicating anything other than to keep very quiet, the guides began to re-route our trek. Walking towards the back of the group I had really no idea what was ahead and it wasn't until I saw the others take out their cameras and begin snapping photos that I realized there might actually be some wildlife there!

At that point I was excited just to see a wild pig, but as I turned the corner I saw what everyone was looking at. A huge wild elephant. A huge wild angry female elephant to be exact. I was so excited by the sight that I had completely forgotten that this was a wild animal that may pose potential threat to my personal safety so I began to take photos just as the others were. Snap, snap, ooh look at that, snap snap oh wow shes making a lot of noise, snap snap, oh wow shes coming towards us, BANG gun shot fired. In an attempt to try and keep her from coming any closer the gunman guide had fired a shot into the air. It was then that I realized that this huge angry female elephant was in fact charging towards our group. Still stunned by the sight I continued to watch in wonder as I realized that this huge angry female elephant was not backing down. She was pissed and wanted us gone. As the guides began to shout prayers in the native language towards to elephant telling her that we are friends and we are here to protect here there it was again, BANG, again, still nothing, still coming full steam ahead. It was then that I looked over towards the guides politely telling us "um, excuse me, please go. NOW" and we took off sprinting full speed into the woods out of her sight. Five minutes of bush whacking our way through the brush we could still hear her in the distance blowing her trunk, still pissed as hell.

In retrospect I wish the event hadn't happened. I wish we had been able to see the wildlife from afar and take nice set photos. Instead, we disturbed the wildlife and only got a few rushed pictures but I do feel as though it was a chance event that could not have been avoided. So chance in fact that one of our guides who had been working for the park for more than 10 years had NEVER been charged at before. Pretty exciting. So hearts pounding with smiles on our faces we returned to the park base safe and sound.

The next day I decided I still hadn't had my fill of elephants so I decided to take a different perspective, I went to visit the elephant park. It was there that I had the chance to do all the touristy things like ride on an elephant and I even got a chance to have her give me a bath!