Minneapolis St. Paul child baby & newborn photographer » Gwendolyn Waite Photography - fun, fresh, modern lifestyle photographer for newborns, babies, kids, moms-to-be and families in the Twin Cities.

On Monday we spent much of our day getting acquainted with the volunteer team, and finding out where we would be working. I was assigned to teach the Lower Kindergarten and Upper Kindergarten classes at Grace Nursery and Primary School, in Porur, Chennai. The children from Grace School come from all walks of life. Some of them are too poor to be able to pay the school fees, but not all of them. There is a shortage of teachers at Grace, so they depend on the volunteers to be able to teach all the classes.

I’ll share some photos of my students at Grace tomorrow. For today, here are more photos from the neighborhood surrounding the guesthouse where I am staying. Litter fills the streets, and the stench fills the air, mixed with incense, curry, smoke from burning trash, and exhaust. Cows roam the streets, rummaging around in the trash looking for edible scraps.

In the evening we went to SEAM, the SouthEast Asia Mission, the orphanage our team is working with. The children sang and danced for us, and we spent some time getting to know them. They proudly showed off their rooms, showed us their future library and led us around their home. They were so excited to see us, so eager for our attention, so wanting and needing our affection. Beautiful, beautiful children. I don’t want to even think about how hard it is going to be to leave them in two weeks…

Day two in India. We hired a tuk-tuk to take us to the beach, for when in a city on the coast of India, it only seems proper to make a visit to the beach. But the tuk-tuk drivers (yes, two drivers – a father and son team) seemed intent on showing us the scenic route, and took us to visit a few temples along the way. At that point, we were having so much fun we had no interest in seeing the beach, so we let our driver show us the city. Here are some of the sights we visited on Saturday.

These next few were taken at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Chennai. We didn’t have time to go inside, but walked around the grounds outside.

Then our host from Global Volunteers picked us up from our hotel and drove us to the guesthouse, where we will be staying for the next two weeks. Here is my room – charming, comfortable, and cheerily bright. We have our own private bathroom, one room with a shower, sink, and toilet. I have yet to master the Indian-style shower, which involves two buckets and very little water. And none of it hot. However, given that we are blessed with a western-style toilet, I’m not one to complain.

Ok, signing off for the night, in hopes of a semi-complete night of sleep. Goodnight, all.

As I write now, I am getting settled in my room in the guesthouse in Porur, India. Yes, what everyone says about India is true. It’s overwhelming, in an absolutely magical and endlessly beautiful way. But there’s also devastation, filth and extreme poverty, existing side by side in a world that is fast-moving, loud, and intent. We spent the first couple days in India trekking around Chennai in a tuk-tuk, or motorized rickshaw. We found ourselves in T. Nagar, a shopping district filled with sarees, books, jewelry, food, and textiles. Too overwhelmed to write more… tomorrow we will officially begin our volunteer program. Tonight, sleep!