The York India Trip

We are sitting in a very cosy, very posh hotel waiting for our long flight home.  Even though we already feel somewhat removed from our Indian experience, we can still hold on a little longer.  Here are some thoughts from the group of what will be missed most. Jonah: “I’ll miss the crazy style of [...]

Two days ago, we said goodbye to all the staff and kids at FFC in Podanur. They entertained us with a great show including singing and dancing. They even made some of us get up and perform with them (embarrasing videos to come). Yesterday we went to GPS for some more singing and we were [...]

It’s hard to believe that the trip is coming to a close already. York India 2011 has been a blast. I think everyone has enjoyed three weeks of intense travel and adventure. We have learned some interesting truths about Indian politics this time around. One of our group very nearly didn’t make the journey as [...]

Hello from back at GPS/FFC! We arrived “home” from Kerala two days ago, and man, have we been busy! Yesterday we split up to go shopping in downtown Coimbatore (where we were treated like celebrities and served cold juices), play with the kids at the orphanage or paint several rooms at GPS and FFC. We’re [...]

We are writing from Cherai Beach Resort on the last day of our Kerala retreat. It has been a well-deserved break from our little village in Chettipalayam. Early Monday morning, we made our way to the train station only to find out that we had accidentally booked a sleeper car. We literally had three minutes [...]

Today was the Indian holiday called “Holi”. Holi celebrates the perseverance of good over evil, and the acceptance and tolerance of everyone regardless of race, caste, etc. The way they decided to do this was to throw paint and powdered dye at each other for a day. What could be more fun than ruining everyone’s clothes and hair? A [...]

Yesterday started with a visit to the Chinmaya International Residential School (CIRS). Where we were able to hang out with other IB students our age. They gave us a tour of their amazing campus which included massive soccer an cricket fields, a swimming pool, different locations for IB classes than normal classes an their dorm [...]

It’s so good to be back in India!  By the way, parents, you have so many new reasons to be proud of your children…here’s just one of them – every moment since we have arrived at the orphanage and GPS, your kids have jumped at every opportunity to play with and get to know the [...]

Amongst the activities for the day was a real traditional Indian wedding we attended at FFC! One of the FFC girls was getting married and they held the reception at the orphanage. It was grea to see all the customs such as presenting the wedding gift to the couple and having our picture taken with [...]

If you are wanting a little background on GPS and the “settlements” that our students are visiting and talking about this new GPS video does a great job visually explaining it all. So happy to hear our students are doing so well. Looking forward to more posts. Mr. Medved – India Trip Alumni – 05′,06′