Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Homecoming. Thank you FFC!!


Our amazing adventure is almost at an end. We are presently in Chennai on a 12 hour layover and are waiting to start the next leg of our long journey home. The students are exhausted and rightfully so, they have given all of themselves over the last three weeks and have pushed their physical and emotional boundaries.

Ms. Willis and myself wanted to take this final opportunity to comment on just how proud we are of these nine students and the work they have done. They arrived here three weeks ago and jumped right into this amazing place called FFC. Their energy and warmth was contagious. As we left this morning, the tears in the eyes of the children are testament to the impact they had while they were here. They painted, played, sang, laughed and danced as hard as they could over the last 20 days and they should feel very proud of their work. It was indeed our pleasure to watch it unfold each day.

Of course all of this would not have been possible if not for the help of some very important people. A big thank you goes out to Melanie, Ashley, Sunbeam, Sandra, Kalyani, Lauren, and the entire FFC staff for all of their support over the last three weeks and for making us feel so welcome. Without you the trip would not have run so smoothly.

This trip is an shining example of what meaningful outreach really is, and that it does not have to travel in one direction but rather is a partnership that benefits all who enter into it. It is our sincere hope that this trip runs for many years to come and that there continues to be students with big hearts who are interested in making the journey. The proof is in the words,thoughts and ideas that these students have already begun share with us and soon will with the rest of you.

Not long now, we are on our way home.

Sincerely,

Justin Medved and Katie Willis














Sunday, March 19, 2006

Andrew's Indian Birthday, March 18th - All pictures for all posts now up! :)

Andrew's Birthday

The night prior to my birthday, the electricity wasn’t working at the boys house so we had a sleepover at the girls house. My birthday started at 12 o’clock midnight when I was awoken by the boys wishing me a happy birthday. When I woke up in the morning there was an awesome poster made by Alex and Chantalle that said Happy 17th Birthday. Upon the arrival to breakfast, all of the trip members and Lauren and Ashley were standing outside the canteen. They sang happy birthday to me and was the first of many birthday blessings. The inside of the canteen was decorated with colorful streamers that Alex had brought all the way from Toronto (Thanks again Alex, you're awesome). Also on the table were gifts for me which included, many packets of pop rocks, a Jamaica wristband and a beer. Don’t worry about the beer mom and dad, it was a non-alcoholic beer.
Throughout the day of volunteering many of the kids at FFC were told that it was my birthday and they all wished me a happy birthday and sang to me too. It is a nice change having my birthday with a group of my friends and many new friends, which differs from me having my birthday on a beach in a resort. It is the first birthday in a long time where I actually saw more people I know then my family.
Lunch was great as usual and I had my non-alcoholic beer with lunch and I don’t remember the rest of the day (just kidding). At the end of lunch I was presented a phenomenal cake that was baked by the infamous chef LAUREN!!! (thanks for the cake Lauren, I was full before dessert came but it was so good that I had to eat it)
After lunch everyone did more volunteering until 4 o’clock when we started getting ready for dinner. Why did we start getting ready so early? And why was everyone putting on clean clothes and why were people shaving? It was like we were going out for dinner that night. Don’t worry I never picked up on any of the hints. We walked to FFC and there was our bus and bus driver ready to go. As we got on the bus someone whose name I wont mention, cough Mr. JUSTIN MEDVED, yells out something about us going to Pizza Hut. I had NO idea that we were going there until it was yelled out. It’s ok though I would have found out soon after. The food at Pizza Hut was just as good as in Toronto except we can’t eat meat. After dinner Alex handed me the gifts from my parents (Thanks mom, dad and Jimmy for sending them over and thanks Alex for bringing them over) and also the card that was signed by everyone on the trip. Thanks everyone. Also Tahira and Chantalle gave me the giant elephant tea cozy that they had bought for me in Cochin. You may wonder why they bought this for me. It’s because I wore it as a hat and it’s a good look on me. (Thanks Tahira and Chantalle, it kept my head nice and warm the WHOLE night) I wore the tea cozy for the rest of the night which made me stand out even more than without the tea cozy. The Pizza Hut employees then came over with a cake and a candle in it. They made me stand on my chair (with the tea cozy on my head) and they got the entire restaurant to look at me while they sang their intense Indian version of Happy Birthday to me. It was a truly unique experience which I will never, EVER forget. Then from standing on my chair, I had to blow out the candle that was all the way on the table. It took me a few blows but I eventually succeeded.
After dinner we did some shopping and all the store clerks laughed at me (elephant tea cosy), and then we went back to the girls house to watch Mr. And Mrs. Smith. All in all it was a fantastic birthday and I want to give a huge thanks and cyber hug to everyone that was involved. I have to go now before I start tearing up in front of the computer because its just too touching writing about the whole day. THANKS EVERYONE!!!

Andrew Cupcake Cardinal




Friday, March 17, 2006

Cochin Adventures

Cochin!!

The blog of the century

For the last 3 days we were in Cochin so we were unable to put up a blog about the trip. But now we’re back and finally blogging. On the first day of our trip we did some much needed shopping (not like we’ve done that before…) and then we went to our hotel. Our hotel was 300 years old and very beautiful. After we settled into our hotel we went out and saw a Kathakali dance performance. Kathakali is a type of dance which includes exquisite costumes and amazing muscle control of the body. The first part of the performance was a demonstration of how different words were shown through dance. After a very long presentation of how breasts are shown through Kathakali (which seemed to take up half the performance) and some amazing demonstrations of emotions the dramatic part of the performance began. The story was about the gods Arjuna and Shiva. It was amazing to see the costumes and the dancing, but the show seemed to drag on for a long time and our stomachs did not seem to be able to wait. So we very slowly and quietly snuck out of the performance. We then went across the street to a very nice restaurant at which the food was amazing. After filling up our stomachs, we slowly made our way back to the hotel, stopping along the way to do some last minute shopping. The night was fairly uneventful aside from a few girls trying to act like they were ghosts (it didn’t work).

The next day we headed off to do a backwater tour of the waters of Cochin. That was a very peaceful experience and a lot of us found ourselves “resting our eyes”. The tour stopped at a place where we were able to get fresh coconut from some of the locals. Some of us attempting to climb the tree ourselves and that was when Andrew finally realized he was not a monkey. The tour ended and we spent a peaceful afternoon and evening back at the hotel and around the village. During our shopping, we met a local store keeper named Meer. He was a very funny man who we ended up spending a lot of time with.

We woke up bright and early to head off to a temple and an elephant sanctuary. The temple was quite beautiful on the outside but sadly people that were not of the Hindu faith were not allowed inside. So as Preena went in on her own, the rest of us headed around the temple receiving a lot of stares from the locals (some things never change!).

After that we went to the elephant sanctuary which was absolutely amazing. In total there were 47 elephants in the sanctuary and one trainer for each elephant. We were able to get close to the elephants and even pet them. The elephants were surprisingly very hairy and we got to see some of the elephants in action. One of the elephants was commanded by his trainer to pick up a couple of coconut trees, which had already been cut down, and with his huge tusks and snout he managed to pick them up and bring them to wherever his trainer wanted. This was the most amazing feat of strength I have ever seen. The elephant’s trunk is so strong and powerful. The trainers told us that they have over 10 000 muscles in their trunk alone. We ended up spending a full 2 hours at the sanctuary.

We then headed home, back to Coimbatore. The guys were very excited to relax in their house but we came back home to no power. Apparently the person who owned the house forgot to pay his electricity bill. But that was no problem, because we quickly took all of our beds and carried them to the girls’ home where we had a York school slumber party – girls on one side of the house, guys on the other. We made some Kraft Dinner (another first) and headed off to bed. That was the end of our very exciting three days, and we’re looking forward to having a few more fun days before heading home. Miss you all.

- Graeme

Pictures to come tonight!






























Thursday, March 16, 2006

The Chinmaya IB School experience!

Hey it’s Preena!!!!

Although Mr. Medved has already given a brief description of our visit to the IB school, I thought it would be great to write about our experience in detail. Once we arrived to the school we noticed the sufficient amount of security. There were guards at every corner and there certainly was not a way to get out! The landscaping, partially because of the hot weather, was beautiful. For the most part, the school was built with an open concept. It was completely different from York! At first, we were escorted to the lobby of the school and were introduced to the principle. Subsequently, we were served tea and had an opportunity to talk to a few teachers. Then, we were taken to a room where all the York students along with the Chinmaya IB students, IB coordinator and other teachers discussed our experiences with the extended essay. It was interesting to learn about the diversity of topics and it was certainly evident that the teachers there were fascinated to hear about our topics. After this, we went to their library and were given time to talk to the IB students. There were only about 16 of them in total. We were informed that the students are from various places around the world such as Singapore and Bombay. Their IB schedule is dissimilar in that their exams are in November as they have an eighteen-month program as opposed to our two-year program. Similar to York, they have four houses that compete with each other for points. Most of the students practiced Hinduism and spoke several different languages such as Hindi, Gujarati and French. They were all fluent in English so it was an immense change for us to be able to talk other students who understood us! After chatting with the students it was time for lunch. The students were constantly complaining about the food yet I thought it was delicious! They eat in a massive room and the food is placed in the middle of the table. It is extremely dissimilar to York in that they have servers who, if you put up your hand, bring you whatever you want! Having lunch there was an experience on its own! After lunch we went back to talk to the IB students about CAS. We were informed about the amazing things they did. One girl, for example, raised about $20 000 on her own for an incredible cause. Their great fortitude was apparent. After we discussed our experiences with CAS we watched a brief movie regarding the school. All of us then had a discussion with the greatly respected swami. He was especially keen on discussing the prominence of India and the dissimilarities between Western values. After a profound discussion, it was free time. While the girls were given a tour of the school, the boys played a game of soccer. The school was remarkable! It had a huge complex with tennis and basketball courts, along with an outdoor track, soccer field and several other facilities. Given that it was Holi, a Hindu celebration, the entire school gathered in the front of the lobby to acknowledge the celebration. The swami placed himself at the front of the school and told the story of Holi. Throughout this portion of the night the students chanted Hindu prayers. At this point it was clear that each student had a great amount of discipline. They had ample respect for the school as well as the swami. Personally, this was an overwhelming experience. Seeing that I am Hindu, it was astonishing to celebrate Holi with hundreds of other students. It was an immense experience to be with numerous other people who shared similar values as me. Although it may have appeared to be diverse for the other York students, the numerous prayers and rituals were ordinary for me. Finally, there was one last ritual and then we had pizza for dinner! It was totally different from our regular pizza yet it was a nice change. Subsequently, it was time for us to leave. We took pictures with the students and exchanged emails. An additional ritual of Holi is to throw coloured powder on each other. It’s a great deal of fun yet unfortunately, we were not able to experience this due to the timings. Nevertheless, people on the street pestered Andrew and me the next day! There was coloured powder all over our face, clothes, and hair! It was a great deal of fun yet I have to admit that it was especially difficult to wash it all off! On the whole, the IB school, because it is so dissimilar to York, was a remarkable experience. Individually, since I am Hindu, it was great for me to have an opportunity to interact with an abundance of students who share comparable values. In general, it was amazing to see the diversity of the IB program. We definitely had a great time! Hope everyone’s enjoying the blogs!!!!

p.s. meesha/mom/dad missing you guys!!!!! you too shiv!!!

Two days ago we returned to the Chinmaya IB school for the second time (since last year) and once again were warmly received. We were treated to a fabulous day of tours and discussions with their IB students and staff. The students made some great connections and friends. I will leave it to them to tell in the next post. Right now we are in the coastal town of Cochin in Kerala and will be returing to FFC tomorrow. Look forward to stories from the trip and from the pictures below.

Mr Medved









Handing out shoes and shirts at Harry's House

A few nights ago we were able to make it over to Harry's House (small boys house) to hand out some of the lower school link donations. The t-shirts, shoes and toys were a hit and as you can see from the smiles were very well received.

A very fun night!