Hi everyone!

Dylan, Hannah and Ian here. It’s officially the start of week two. We just got back from our weekend in Ooty after a change of plans from the original trip to Cochin. Compared to the temperatures in Chettipalayam it was freezing, about 20 degrees lower. 

We made the most of this weekend outing. On Saturday we toured The Tea Museum and the Chocolate Factory. We looked at the history of tea which started in ancient China and gradually throughout the centuries made its way across the globe. After this brief history lesson we looked at how the tea leaves were ground up into dust using a method called Cut Turn Curl (CTC). We then tasted some of the tea with milk and sugar and were able to purchase some of the teas that we saw being made. We then visited The Chocolate Factory where some of the best chocolate we’ve ever tasted was made. Some of our favourites were crackle crunch, milk java supreme and the various nut varieties.

After the tours we went straight to the Ooty market. It was a major culture shock to see the types of products being sold like live chickens and garlands of fragrant jasmine flowers to adorn hair. There were also well-organized displays of fruit, vegetables, flowers, clothing and even jewellery for sale. We like to think we haggled items for a better price on items such as Crocs. The sights at the market were some that we couldn’t see if we were in Canada.

Sunday morning started with packing to leave after our short vacation. We went to the TranquiliTea estate to learn about how tea is made and to do a tea tasting. Fun fact: did you know that there are only 2 major types of tea bushes (Assam, the Indian variation, and the Chinese variation)?  From these 2 types of bushes come over 13,000 variations of tea. Each is highly influenced by the climate, altitude and soil. We learnt a multitude of interesting things from Sandeep, our tea sommelier, such as how processing techniques change the flavour of the tea and that it can have more body or more flavour. According to Sandeep, hand-picked tea is far superior to machine-picked. Hand-processed tea leaves preserve the flavour in the tea. After this amazing tea tasting experience we returned to our guest house in Chettipalayam exhausted.

On Monday we woke up bright and early to go to GPS. It was nice to see the kids again and we were all excited to attend the Assembly and start our week. We had a regular and normal school day, but the afternoon was special when the teachers and students of GPS painted us beautiful henna, a traditional hand painting art of India. We were all excited to learn about this traditional art form.

As we embark on our second week in India, we are grateful for the connections that we have made and hope to keep for a very long time. 

Dylan, Ian and Hannah