The trip was un-eventful which was very nice. I'll tell you a couple of great blessings. My biggest concern was my luggage being overweight. My second concern was making the transfers in different airports. At about 2 in the morning before leaving I got up and shuffled things again in the luggage. I could have 50 pounds in each check-in bag. With lots of books, papers for teaching and (supplements) I had a lot of weight. When I checked in one bag was 47 pounds and one was 46. My little carry on was 40 pounds and my purse (a large bag really) was35. When I got to Chicago O'Hare I had a 3 hour lay over which I was glad for because I wanted enough time to find the gate. While I was waiting a nice Indian lady with a saree sat next to me. I asked her lots of questions about the flights. She was really nice. She has lived in the US for 10 years but goes home to India often so she is well traveled and was going to the same city as me. When we lined up to board the Lufthansa plane an employee went down the line looking at everyones carry-on. The ones that looked too big for the dimensions he pulled out of line and told the people to do something because they couldn't use their bag - it was too big. I had unzipped the expansion on mine and it was bulging plus my 'purse' was way over size. He looked and looked at my pile and I thought I was toast for sure. Then he shook his head and kept walking. I had my pillow on the pile too.
In Frankfurt I had a 4 hour lay over. By then my body was at 2:00 AM and I could not keep my eyes open. I didn't want to fall asleep and miss the flight but my eyes just wouldn't do it. I must have slept about 2 hours when I felt a nudge. A man was sitting next to me who said my flight was about to board. I thanked him and we got into line.
That flight was 8 hours long and all the announcements were in German so I just sat back. My carry-on was so heavy each time I boarded that I couldn't lift it up to the over-head. A nice young man was there both times to help lift. When I arrived in Chennai all the signs were in Tomal so I looked around and saw the nice lady I met in Chicago and followed her to customs. Then to the luggage claim. I lost her after that so just walked around kind of following the crowd. It was a long way before I saw an exit from the building. Outside there was a huge crowd waiting for people to come out even though it was midnight. I saw my name on a sign and was so relieved to see 2 men waiting for me. We drove to the Marriott Courtyard. When I was at the counter getting registered an American speaking man turned to me and said he was watching me in Frankfurt to see if 'my friend' would wake me up to get on the plane. It's nice to know I had 2 guardian angels watching.
Another issue was getting all the luggage to India. My information from the director here said it is common for a piece to come on a later flight so just fill out the form at the airport and they will pick it up when it arrives. I was very relieved and grateful to see both of my check-in pieces on the luggage carrousel.
The school and village are so far in the country they bring the mail by bicycle :) It takes 2 hours to get from Chennai to the school because of the roads. If there was a highway it would take a half hour.
I am loving it here. I am busy from sun up (6:00 AM) to sun down (6:00 PM).
You can find Rising Star Outreach on google
