Arrival

The students arrived today and Lisa and I arose to greet them at the airport at 2:30am. They were tired but eager to begin their adventures, piling into vans, asking questions, and commenting on views out the window. We had orientation, went over the schedule for the next three weeks and they are currently in their beds sleeping off the effects of jetlag and culture shock. Tomorrow we begin class and Saturday and Sunday are filled with sightseeing, exploring Chennai and a lovely dinner at the owner of our B&B's beachside house to celebrate the Fourth of July.

Meanwhile, Lisa and I continue to perform a comedy skit on the streets of Chennai in search of a local grocery named "Amma Nana." For some reason we cannot get the pronunciation correct and yesterday while attempting to ask an auto rickshaw driver if he knew how to get there, we attracted a group of very helpful people--all of us were saying the same thing but no one was understanding each other "AAAAmma nana," aMMManNana," amaNAAna," to the point where we sounded like the infamous Muppet's "Manamana" song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM89T74MPnE

Perhaps breaking into song would have helped! :)