Furley Journey

Dear Family and Friends

2007-05-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm coming home on Sunday! Yaaaay! I'm very excited to be coming back. But I feel like I need to explain my reasoning behind shaving my head before I'm branded as the radical hippie who shaved her head and therefore should not be taken seriously. I had many good reasons for shaving my head and they are as follows:

(1) I've always wanted to shave my head. Ever since I had that short hair cut sophomore year in high school, I've always wondered what it would be like to not have any hair at all. For me, hair has always been such a burden and I wanted to experience the freedom from brushing and washing.

(2) Since I got to India, my hair had been falling out anyways. You can ask my flat mates, everytime I took a shower, CLUMPS would come out and I would single headedly clog the drain. It was very worrisome and annoying, so I figured that if I just got rid of it in one go, I wouldn't have to worry about losing it gradually.

(3) It is very hot and dirty in India, and when you have long hair, it's disgusting. Everytime I turned my head I would get smacked in the face with this dusty, sweaty mop of hair. It was so inconvenient, and if I wanted to keep it really clean, I would have to wash it twice a day. And that would lead to more frustrating clumps coming out in the shower.

(4) I'm lazy. To be honest, I just didn't want to take care of it anymore. It was long and I had to constantly worry about my hair looking good (eventhough that was pretty much impossible), it falling out, keeping it clean and out of my face... It really was super annoying and I couldn't take it anymore.

Now, showers take less than five minutes instead of the half hour when I would spend most of my time trying to detangle my rat's nest. And when I was in freezing Tibet with no hot water, I was supremely thankful that I didn't have a massive string of hair to rinse, lather, rinse and then wait for to dry. I would have died of pneumonia. As for looking like a "man" or a "12 year old boy," we all know that vanity has never been my strongest vice and that my laziness has always won out. I knew I wouldn't look beautiful by societal standards, but that wasn't really a concern. What I was concerned about was my hygiene and my convenience.

So that was my reasoning for shaving my head. I knew that I would be going to buddhist areas so it would be normal for me to have a shaved head and that it would grow out by the time I came home. I thought about it long and hard before I did it, and in the end, I think it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. If it was socially acceptable, I would totally do it again. But since it's not, when I come home I will have a short crop of hair.

See you all soon! YAY!

Love,
J

Hong Kong, You're Ace

2007-05-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

I know, I'm a terrible blogger/daughter/sister/niece/cousin/friend/acquaintence. But in my defense, I've been spending about two hours a day on the internet trying to find a sublet in NYC. So far, I have not been successful. How do people not already living in NYC ever find housing? Boo 'urns.

Anyways, the last time I wrote I was in Tibet. Now, I am in Hong Kong. I took the super new, awesome, fast train from Lhasa to Beijing. The train was 48 hours long. I don't know why I thought it would be cool to take a train for 48 hours, a train is just a train no matter how fancy. But the first half was really nice. The landscape was gorgeous and I got to see more of Tibet. The second day was not so interesting, but that's ok. I spent a couple days in Beijing and hung out with more Americans in one night than I have in the past nine months. I also saw my first Starbucks! That was another culture shock.

I find traveling in China extremely stressful. Everyone thinks traveling in India is hard, but it's super easy. Everyone speaks some English, signs are in English, and there are no rules, you just go and do. But in China, there are fifty rules if you want to do anything and there's no one who speaks English who will help you or explain the rules to you. Let's just give a "random example"...say you want to book a plane ticket to Hong Kong. Somehow, the travel agency can only hold your reservation for a day, but they can't print the ticket in the office (for some random reason) and they have to print it in another office. But the other office is already closed, so basically, you can't book your ticket and you have to wait on standby and just hope that a seat will open up on the day that your Chinese visa will expire. *deep breath* Yea, I was a little stressed out that day. I admire anyone traveling in China who does not speak Mandarin. But I'll come back and travel around China one day.

Now I'm in Hong Kong and it's nice to be back. At least I partially understand what people are saying and I can communicate somewhat. It has relieved some of the home sickness. I have five whole days here to myself and I don't know what I'll do. I guess eat, go shopping, and work on growing my hair out. Grow! Grow! You can do it! Right now, it's about an inch long and sticks up everywhere. I look like a Chia Pet. Ch-ch-ch-Chia! I don't really know what to do with it. But yea, I love Hong Kong. I don't care if people say there's no culture and it's just another city, or if there's a freaking roundabout every 500 m. Hong Kong has the best food, is super convenient, and has my grandmother. Hong Kong, you're ace.

Tibet!

2007-05-13T02:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know, it's been a very long time...But I'm in Tibet! It is absolutely amazing here and there is so much to tell that I can't fit it all here. I just don't even know where to begin...

Tibet is devastatingly beautiful. The Tibetan plateau is one giant desert with brown hills, sand dunes, and snow capped peaks. As soon as we crossed the border from Nepal, we climbed to 4,000m and we have not descended below 3,600m since. I've gone over five passes above 5,000m. There is a reason that they call Tibet "The Roof of the World." And the sky here! I did not know that there was this kind of blue in this world. It is here, and nowhere else that heaven meets earth. You can see it in the mountains, the low lying clouds and the perfect reflection of the sky in the lakes and rivers. Really gorgeous. It's so barren it's beautiful. The rocks are made up of yellows, tans, reds, and greens that follow the contour of the land. The glacial lakes are a brilliant turquoise and stretch for miles and miles.

The Potala, of course, is as beautiful and awe inspiring as it is in photographs. It's an immense structure on top of a hill, set against the brilliant sky and snow topped hills. Across from the Potala, there is a huge cement square where all the old traditional houses used to be. There is a fountain that is synchronized to music every night at 9PM. Behind the fountain is a monument to the "Liberation of Tibet." The clothes of the first Chinese army to enter Lhasa is housed in the monument. To the right is a statue of the hard working communists and the to left is a statue of the celebrating Tibetans.

It's actually very difficult for me to write in English right now. I've been in Hindi mode for so long and now it's Mandarin/Cantonese. The past two days, I was part of a group going to Nam Tso, a beautiful salt lake at 4,700m. The group was three Chinese, one Israeli, and me. One of the Chinese girls sort of knew Cantonese, so to communicate, the Israeli guy would talk in English, I would translate into Cantonese (to the best of my ability) and then the Chinese girl would translate into Mandarin for everyone else. It was quite complex and rather difficult for me at times. I was trying to think of the word for "because" in Cantonese: Because, no. Kyon ki, nahin. parce que, non....(ten minutes later) Yun whiye!!!!!! aiyaa....All my languages are all mixed up now. I speak Cantonese with an American accent but with a Hindi intonation and cadence. No wonder no one understands me.

Random Adventures

2007-04-22T05:24:00.000-07:00

Well not much has happened since I wrote last. Well, things have happened, but nothing big. Vera and I were supposed to go trekking together, but the morning we were supposed to leave, she had some really bad pains in her back. She was really hurting, so we went to the clinic and we found out that she had a kidney stone. So now, we're stuck in Kathmandu until she passes it. The good thing is that we've moved out of the nasty, touristy part and we've moved to the Tibetan Buddhist part of the city. I'm so much happier here and it's way more peaceful and nice.

One night we had dinner with Feia, a girl from Holland who was doing a one of her medical rotations in Nepal. She had been here for four months and could speak conversational Nepali. She also was a fan of Paul Farmer and really cool. She was living with her two Nepali friends that she had met on a trek and she invited us to have dinner with her. On the way there, it started raining. We couldn't catch a taxi because Feia had her bike, so we were kind of stranded in the rain. We started walking towards to main road to try and find a taxi. When we got to the main road there was a break in the traffic and behind was this huge mass of people protesting in the streets. They took up the whole road and they were carrying torches and yelling in Nepali. It's kind of scary when it's dark and raining and there's a mob of people with torches gaining on you, so we just ran. After that, we didn't mind the rain and cold so much. We turned off the main road and took the back alleyways to get back to our hotel.

Dinner was really nice that night. We had the traditional Nepali dinner of dhaal bhaat, which is dhal (boiled lentils) with rice and a vegetable curry. So good! It's like Indian food but much lighter and you eat mounds of rice instead of roti. The couple was really nice as well. They were from a mountain village and had gotten married against their parents wishes. They were from different castes. They got married really young and then got a divorce because of pressure from their parents. But then they really loved each other and got back together. Like in India, the bride is supposed to live with the groom's family, but his family wasn't treating her very well, so they decided to move to Kathmandu. Feia had helped them find a place to live. They were so sweet!

While we've been waiting for Vera's stone we've just been reading and visiting some monestaries. Kidney stones are really painful. They're supposed to be more painful than childbirth. I really hope I never get one. We keep saying it's like she's having a baby. Everytime she feels some sort of pain she tells me and I'm like, "Is it time!?" We have a taxi waiting on call in case the stone comes in the middle of the night and she needs to go to the clinic right away. We've named the stone Sujit. ;-)

Happy 2064!

2007-04-14T04:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Nepali New Year! Today is the first day of the year 2064! Woohooo!!!

At the moment I am in Bhaktapur, which is a small city/large town outside Kathmandu. Supposedly, this is the place to be for the New Year. Last night we were still in Kathmandu because we saw that the giant musician that we saw at the wedding was playing at a nearby restaurant, so we stayed to watch him play. He was pretty good, but not as good as the wedding when they were just improvising. Apparently, he's the head of the oldest rock band in Nepal. I call him The Giant from Nepal, because he's huge. Like six feet seven or something like that.

This morning we tried to wake up early to catch all the different ceremonies in Bhaktapur, but I think we got here too late to catch the main stuff. But it was still awesome to walk around the city with the brown brick fronts and clay tiled roofs. We kept coming across different squares with pagodas and temples. We walked all around town until we ended up where we started and found a nice guest house.

Since we had already seen most of Bhaktapur, we went to Thimi, which is also another town outside Kathmandu. We walked down the main street and passed all the different temples and palaquins that they were preparing. They were tying the palaquins to large sticks so they could be carried around town and decorating them with everything imaginable. We stopped to watch them prepare a palaquin and to listen to a bunch of boys drumming. They reminded me of my kids from Tejgadh so much. Then it all started with an innocent tikka when they took some bright orange power and did a streak on our foreheads. Then they threw some powder on us and then a man came and just poured the powder all over me. Well, the boys thought it was unfair that Vera was so clean, so they started throwing powder all over her and then the man gave me a whole bag of powder, so Vera and I took our revenge on the boys. We were running around the stupa, lingams and the temple throwing powder all over each other. Vera even followed a boy into his house where his grandfather was taking a nap.

So even though I didn't get to have my Holi with the kids of Tejgadh, I got to have a second Holi with a buch of Nepali kids. But I don't think they normally throw powder all over each other for New Years. I think they just did it because we were foreigners and they thought it was funny. Vera and I were walking through Thimi and Bhaktapur covered in orange and everyone else was looking normal and staring at us. On the way home, we rode on the roof of the bus because there were no more seats and because we always wanted to.

It's beautiful here in Nepal. The mountains with the fields and fields of bright green rice... It's a shame that my stay here is so short. I think if I stayed for six months I could definitely fall in love with Nepal and would have to marry a Nepali man. But at the moment, Tibet is calling!

The Bhote Kosi

2007-04-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

Hello! Last night I got back from a two day rafting trip down the Bhote Kosi. It was a pretty wild ride. The rapids we did on the second day were level III and level IV and it was really fun. On one of the rapids our guide told us to "hold on!" so we held on, and then he didn't say anything else. When we looked back we were like, "Uh...where did he go?" He had fallen off the back and was hanging off the end of the raft. He eventually hauled himself up.

Then, five minutes later our raft hit a big rock on our side and water starting filling up on my side of the raft. Everyone on my side had to jump and cling to the other side of the raft and we were just hanging there until we could climb out onto the rock. The rock was really slippery so we had to hold onto the one side of the raft that wasn't underwater so we wouldn't slip into the rapids. The people on shore started throwing a rope and pulling people to shore when the raft started floating again. I was getting kind of nervous, because if the raft got free of the rock, it would knock us all into the water. But it was fine, and we tied a rope to the raft, nudged it a little, and then all jumped in. It was cool.

The night before was really nice too. We stayed in tents at a resort and that night, one of the owners of the resort was having his wedding. So we got to watch the wedding ceremony from afar and saw the couple walking around the fire. The groom was Canadian and the bride was Nepali. Afterwards, we ate dinner with the wedding party and even got wedding cake! The groom was a musician, so he and all his musician friends were performing and they would do classic rock, jazz, traditional Nepali songs and then a fusion of Nepali and Western songs. One guy was playing the wooden flute and he was amazing. I really enjoyed the music and I had a fun time at the wedding despite not knowing anyone.

It was a really fun trip and I met a lot of cool people. Vera and I are going to go trekking with Andy and Alice. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we'll actually get to see some mountains.

Nepal!

2007-04-04T22:53:00.000-07:00

Hey Dudes. At the moment I am in Kathmandu, Nepal. I've been here a week and it's been really cool. Kathmandu has awesome food, so I've just been living in anticipation of the next meal. Oh, and I see temples and stuff too. But I mainly eat.

Well, we did eventually make it to Darjeeling. It was kind of a let down. It was just cold and cloudy all day. I didn't get to see any nice views at all. We visited a tea plantation and a temple, but otherwise, there wasn't much there. We decided not to go to Sikkim because of convenience and time, so I left early with Tati and Vlad and headed to Nepal. It was sad saying goodbye to Richard and Albert. We had some good Uno tournaments...

Nepal is cool. It's like India, but then not. When I first crossed the border and went into the immigration office, someone actually offered to help me! It was kind of a culture shock. Usually in India, you're completely ignored by anyone behind the counter until they finish their chai/newspaper/conversation before they'll even acknowledge your presence. I was beginning to think that things in Nepal would be easier until we had to chase our bus down the street and argue our way on. The entire back row of seats was full of pineapples. Very India.

Since Vlad and Tati only have two weeks here, we went straight on a trip the second day we were here. We went to Chitwan National Park. There are a bunch of restaurants/hotels on the lazy river that borders the park. It was really hot and humid and we couldn't resist jumping in the water floating with the current our backs. We also got to bathe with an elephant! It's was so much fun to sit on the elephant in the middle of the river and have him spray water on us with his trunk. I like elephants. The next day we went on a five hour jeep safari. The first three hours were really boring. We were driving and driving and all we saw were a bird and a monkey. Yea, the same kind of monkeys I saw everyday in Baroda and Delhi. whooppee. But the last hour was better and we saw a rhino up close! It was just in the middle of the road eating and looking at us. When it turned to leave, we followed it and when we were about 15 feet from it, it all of a sudden turned around and I thought it was going to charge us. The driver picked up a metal rod and I was thinking, "What is he going to do with that? Challenge the rhino to a duel?" But luckily, it just stared at us some more and then turned to walk away.

We also went on a long bike ride to see these beautiful lakes. The bikes weren't very good, however, and most of the roads were dirt roads with LOTS of rocks. My poor butt. First the camel safari and now this. It's been about a week since we did the bike ride, but I'm still sore. After the Park, we went to the city of Pokhara. It's on the shores of the second largest lake in Nepal. It was also very beautiful and we took a boat out to the middle. There are supposed to be really nice views there, but right now it's really hazy and cloudy in Nepal, so we didn't get to see much. Sad. I guess I'll just have to come back someday.

Right now, we don't really have any defined plans for Nepal. I think we might go on a whitewater rafting trip and then I'll trek around the Kathmandu Valley. We'll see what happens.

Second Leg

2007-03-23T06:39:00.000-07:00

So now I have started the second part of my India travels. Now I'm traveling with Richard, Tatiana, and Albert. It's a good group and we're all extremely cheap. Muahahhaa. Our first stop after Delhi was Varanasi. I love Varanasi. I remember last time when I went with Marla, Andrea, and Cat and we really enjoyed it. The city is just so full of life and all the little alleyways are so interesting and you never know what you're going to find.

We arrived and found a cheap hotel room. Yes, all four of us in one room. (I told you we were super cheap) We just walked around all day and then watched the arthi at night. After a terrible night of sleeping on a wooden board in between the two lankiest guys possible, I woke up at 5:30AM to watch the sunrise on the Ganga from a boat. It was kind of disgusting how many boats were floating on the river filled with tourists. I felt really awkward doing the same thing. I always complain about Indians staring at us, but I was really feeling bad for all the Indians who were trying to do puja and having a huge load of Japanese tourists float by taking pictures of them. It really was like they were animals in the zoo. We also went by a burning ghat and we could distinctly see the body in the pile of wood. We could also see the family standing there with the son with his shaved head. Again I felt like I was intruding upon something sacred.

After Varanasi...well it was an epic adventure. The train ride from Varanasi to Gaya was supposed to take four hours and then a one hour rickshaw ride to Bodh Gaya, so a total of five hours. Well, our train was at 1:00AM and we didn't have a hotel so we went early at 11PM because we had to check out of our hotel. We were exhausted from not really sleeping the night before and from waking up to see the sunrise, so we went outside the train station and slept on the pavement next to a pile of poo. Seriously, every time I come to India, I reach new depths of filth. Last time I stopped bathing and then dipped myself in the Ganga. This time I slept on the train station floor. Indians do it too, but they put something in between themselves and the ground. Even the sadhus, who are holy men and don't bathe often sleep on a cloth. We were disgusting and just laid out on the ground.

Anyways, our train was delayed for an hour...then two...then three...then five. Needless to say, we were found on the floor of the train station again. We played some charades to pass the time, but when we found out our train was delayed by five hours, our spirits were crushed and we just fell asleep in filth. We were able to see the sunrise for the second time in Varanasi. When our train finally arrived at 6AM, we hopped on and passed out. Our train ride was supposed to be four hours, but we didn't see our stop and we kept going...and going....until someone told us to get off and we found ourselves three hours away from our destination. We were tired, hungry, and extremely frustrated, but we persevered, ate some food, and got on yet another train. When we finally reached Gaya, and then our hotel in Bodh Gaya, it was like reaching heaven. Best shower and night of sleep in my life. The whole journey was supposed to take five hours and ended up taking 24.

Today we went to visit the Bodhi tree where Buddha attained enlightenment and other temples. It's very chill here and there aren't many tourists. A very nice rest from hectic India. Tomorrow we leave in the afternoon for Darjeeling. Hopefully the journey will be more direct than the last.

P.S. I shaved my head in Varanasi. It feels fantastic.

Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Oh My!

2007-03-18T03:56:00.000-07:00

This past week has been crazy-traveling-week. I went to Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer in just seven days. Many nights were spent on buses and trains and now I am absolutely exhausted. It's so nice to be in Delhi again and just have a day to catch up on my laundry and not move for a whole day. I really think that Delhi has its own smell (no, it's not cow). I always get so nostalgic for my study abroad days when I'm in Delhi and smell the Delhi smell.

Udaipur was my first stop after Diu. It's a small city with a man made lake in the center and a bunch of palaces in and around the lake. The view from the rooftop restaurant of my guest house was just beautiful and there was a nice, soft breeze. I would just sit up there and look out on the lake for hours. You could see the palaces on one side an on the other would be the mountains and the sunset. There would be a crowd of color on the ghats by the lake as the women washed their clothes and you could hear the pounding of wet cloth. So peaceful there.

Vera joined me in Udaipur after one day and I was very glad. I was getting a bit bored of myself. From Udaipur we took a sleeper bus to Jodhpur. Sleeper buses sound like a good idea for an overnight trip because you can lay out and sleep, but really they're terrible. It took me 23 years to master sitting up in a moving vehicle and not getting sick, and all of a sudden lying down in a fast, jerky bus was a new challenge. It took all of my effort not to get sick. Not a very nice night, and I will try to avoid sleeper buses from now on. We only spent one day in Jodhpur, but I feel like we saw a lot of Jodhpur. We kind of got lost for an hour looking for the omlette shop only to find it closed, so we took a nap in the garden for an hour. The omlette man was worth the wait and he showed us EVERY picture of all the foreigners who ate there and sent him a picture. "This is me, a German girl, and some eggs." There were a lot. And then every postcard he ever got and then every newspaper article that was written about him. The fort itself was very impressive and I learned a lot from the audio tour. Apparently a hermit had cursed the fort because he was evicted from his hill, so one citizen offered to be sealed alive in the fort's foundation to counteract the curse. Kind of cool, mostly gruesome. In the afternoon we got lost in Jodhpur again and wandered around the streets. It was really pretty with tons of color.

That night we took an overnight train to Jaisalmer (yes, I told you it was a hectic week). We went straight into our camel safari. A boy we met in Udaipur, Ziggy, had arranged our camel safari and hotel and everything. I've been on a four hour camel ride before and I've slept in the desert for seven nights, so the safari wasn't that new to me. I really just wanted to see sand dunes. And although me butt was killing me, it was worth it. There was this family of white puppies that kept following us around. They were very sweet and it was kind of surreal to find them in the middle of the sand dunes away from everything. There was also a bunch of big dung beetles everywhere. They left cool little tracks behind them when they walked. The next day, I did NOT want to get on my camel. At one point, my camel turned his head around and rubbed his nose on my knee. I laughed because it tickled and because I was glad that our relationship had become so intimate that he felt he could wipe his camel boogers on my knee. Camels are very goofy animals and i do like them, but I am done with camel safaris. I don't think my butt will ever let me get on a camel again. I got attacked by my first cow in Jaisalmer! I was just walking along, sharing the road, when this cow passed by and kind of head butted me with its horn. Not cool man. It wasn't even like I was in it's way. It kind of had to go out of it's way to hit me. Jerk.

Whew! So that was my whirlwind trip through Rajasthan. I really enjoyed it. The only thing was that I was so tired by the end, I couldn't enjoy Jaisalmer properly, but oh well. After this brief stop in Delhi, I'll be traveling with friends to Varanasi, Bodh Gaya, Darjeeling, Sikkim and then off the Nepal! I think I will need another week in Nepal just to recuperate from all my traveling in India. I'm not as young as I used to be. ;0)

Indian Men

2007-03-11T03:55:00.000-07:00

I hate Indian men. They are the worst. Just when I think I've found a place for myself and that I'm a full human being, an Indian man shows up to remind me of the opposite. Thanks, I really needed that reminder.

Seriously, when I'm in public and I just want to be, an Indian man has to come a ruin it for me. They make me want to puke. Everytime I see one, I throw up in my mouth a little. They're just so...nasty, sleazy, disrespectful. Becka and I were sitting in the park one day minding our own business. Usually, you would leave people alone, and had Becka and I been Indian women, the men would not have bothered us. But because we look different they kept trying to talk to us. I told him very nicely, "Please, we just want to be by ourselves. We don't want to talk to strangers right now. Please leave us alone." and then he keeps trying to talk to us while his friend pulls out a phone and tries to take a picture of Becka. "Don't take a picture of me." and he bends down and gets closer to get a picture right in her face.

Really, how much more obnoxious, rude and disrespectful can you get? Who do they think they are? What makes it ok in their tiny brains to completely disregard the wishes of another human being and intrude upon their time? It's not even like they weren't getting a hint. There was no hint. There was a very direct and clear message that they decided was irrelevant because it was coming from a foreign woman. And they can get so, so much worse than that.

And just when I want to hate them all forever, the father of the family that I'm staying with comes with me at 6:30AM to the bus station to buy me chai and wait for the bus with me. How can some of them be the most horrible creatures on earth and some of them be the sweetest human beings ever?

Diu

2007-03-11T03:36:00.000-07:00

Diu is an island and a former Portuguese colony, so people speak Portuguese and cook Portuguese food. Do I really need to mention that I stuffed myself silly while I was there? It's a very small island and it's not that touristy. The first night I got there, I stayed in a church. It was cool because I could climb up to the roof and just look out onto the town. It was really nice. The next day I had breakfast at a little restaurant run by a family. They asked if I wanted to rent their one room that they had, and as soon as I saw the room, I took it. It was the best room on the island and the best room I have ever stayed in India, ever. It was spotless clean with a bathroom and a hotwater heater. It was more a home than a hotel room. I was so happy that I got it.

There's actually not much to do in Diu. There's one fort and then some beaches. I really only went for the food and the beach, so I headed to the beach after breakfast. I was really craving the beach and the ocean and I actually went swimming! It wasn't that nice because the water's kind of gross and there were rocks on the bottom, but just the fact that I got to go swimming was enough for me. After the beach I just went wandering through the streets of Diu. It's such a small town I can walk everywhere and it's all very safe. Diu is not India and it was nice to escape for a couple days. Dinner was really fun that night. I ate with a Korean girl, an English guy, and a French couple. The French couple were hilarious and I think at one point I was crying because I was laughing so hard. They were really cool.

Dinner was really good the first night, but it was nothing compared to the second night. The family that I was staying with holds a dinner every other night and you have to book in advance. They only let 16 people come at a time and the mother cooks for you and boy does she know how to cook. It's so amazing to have homecooked food after restaurants for six months. There were mashed potatoes, prawns in coconut sauce, fish in sweet and sour sauce...oh man the list goes on and on. There wasn't enough room on the table for all the dishes. I was SO happy. I love food.

Palitana

2007-03-11T03:19:00.000-07:00

For the past three days I've been traveling in Gujarat by myself. It's actually been really nice to be on my own. I can do exactly what I want, whenever I want. If an idea pops into my head, I don't need to ask anyone if they feel the same way or if I get bored, I can just up and leave whenever. And since I don't have to wait for someone else to get ready or to take a shower, I'm way more efficient and get so much more done.

The first place I stopped was Palitana. I had to wake up at 6:00AM to climb the hill before the sun rose and it got too hot. The Lonely Planet said the climb would take an hour and a half. I did it in an hour and fifteen minutes. I am such a rock star. At the top of the hill is like this city of jain temples and the view is beautiful. Really, they're all gorgeous and absolutely amazing. There are tons of them, so you can just spend all your time exploring in and out of all the different temples and peaceful spaces. I went through the entrance where there weren't so many people, and it was so nice to be away from the crowds and just be on my own.

One of the priests stopped me and started speaking to me in Hindi. All I understood was "theen sau pachas" which means 350, and by the tone of his voice I was supposed to be impressed, so I was like, "theen sau pachas!!??" without knowing what I was being impressed by. He motioned me to the corner of one of the courtyards and unlocked a small door. Inside was this small circular room and there were (I'm guessing at the number) 350 little idols. It was really cool and he gave me an incense stick and I was able to do puja to all 350 of them. At the main temples there were more people, but because there were so many different little temples to go exploring in, it was really easy to find a space for myself. It was a really fun morning.

HOLI!!!

2007-03-09T04:23:00.000-08:00

Well, my last weekend in Baroda was super exciting. First, we threw The Biggest Greatest Party Eva in the History of the World. That was the official title. We rented out a farmhouse that had a pool! Needless to say, I was thrown into the pool. Many crazy things went on that night: fireworks, Bosses strangling restaurant owners, broken teeth, and a possible leg amputation. No, I'm not joking. Cameras and lives were ruined that night. Very dramatic.

This past weekend was also the festival of Holi! It's only the best festival in India! I have been looking forward to it ever since I last left India. It's a day when everyone has these brilliantly colored powders and you just stuff them in each others' hair and faces. In the end, you look like a clown gone wrong. It's so much fun! We were all a bit subdued from the party the night before, but we took a nice walk through the park and amassed a huge crowd of Indians watching the crazy foreigners trying to celebrate Holi. We literally had about 40 Indians following us through the park. We all looked terrible, but we had fun, so it was cool.

It was sad to leave Baroda. I was very sad the night before I left. We all had dinner together and then went to Piyush's for chai and general hanging out. I will miss our random nights of just hanging out... But yes, that last weekend was a great way to end my time in Baroda. Bye Baroda! Thanks for all the great times!

Kids

2007-03-02T02:25:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday was a very sad day for me. I had to say goodbye to the children at the Tejgadh school and it was very difficult. For the past month, the children have been the only thing at work that has been keeping me going. I would always find an excuse to visit the village not only because it absolutely wonderful there, but also because I just love hanging out and playing with the children.

They really are lovely. I've taught them to call me "Jeni Behen," Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, cat's cradle, double-double-this-this, and how to make a dragon with their hands. They've taught me two songs, random Hindi/Gujarati words, and have infinite patience with my poor language skills. In the begining it was really hard to learn all 46 of their names, but I finally did it. I was kind of hurt when they forgot my name, however. I was like dude, I learned 46 names and you can't even tell me and Becka apart? But in the end, they could remember my name and when I'd wake up to the sounds of their voices at 7 in the morning and blindly shuffle my way to the bathroom I could hear multiple voices of "Jeni Behen!"

Of course, I had favorites. Reika was a beautiful girl from the village of Veguma. She knew Hindi the best and would always try to expand my vocabulary by teaching me from her little text books. She was a good, patient teacher. Unfortunately, I was a rubbish student. One night, she saved me a seat at dinner! Do you know what it means when a child saves you a seat at dinner? It means you're AWESOME! Reika thought I was awesome. Alpis was the little musician of the group. He's a fantastic singer and when he's not singing, he's playing some kind of instrument. He reminded me of one of the Dwarves from Snow White because he had a little pug nose. He always called me "madame," which I hated and whenever he found me in the library he would make me read random lines from magazines. "Why are Dalits still such a marginalized group sixty years after independance?" and "The new HP Laser jet printer provides quality prints at a reasonable price." Pintu is my boy and he always will be. He's very smart and very cheeky. He'd steal my water bottle and speak to imaginary people on my cell phone. We'd go and take walks together and he'd be my little koala bear, climbing up trees and hugging the tree trunks. He's the one who picked up cat's cradle the fastest and always corrected my Hindi. When I was about to leave and he grabbed my hand and told me not to go, he just broke my heart.

I have so many wonderful memories with these kids. They're so sweet and happy. Yes, they had their childish squabbles and occaissionally there'd be tears, but for the most part they would giggle, share, and hug one another. I will miss their drumming, dancing and singing. I will miss their simplicity and their sweetness. There was never a dull moment with them. They were just beautiful.

Dhungari mandir taru. Hanuman Ji
Dhungari mandir taru. Hanuman Ji...

Keleshwari Mela!

2007-02-20T22:29:00.000-08:00

Last Friday Becka and I went to the Keleshwari Mela! It's a mela, or fair, for the Adivasi people. Dr. Devy, the founder of my NGO thought it would be nice if they could get together and share their traditional dances and performing arts with each other.

We were very excited to go and we even got up at 6AM! We started off in jeep for the four hour ride to Keleshwari in Panchmahal. It was a very eventful ride with Vipul singing in the back and everyone teasing Manish about how he never talks about his wife. Everytime we mentioned her name he would take his scarf and put it around his ears so he couldn't hear us. On the way, we stopped to watch a giant truck burning. Ironically, it was carrying matches. It was a HUGE fire and every once in awhile there would be a random explosion coming out the sides. There was a great big crowd and when the police and fire department finally came we continued on our way.

When we arrived, people were just arriving. We explored the old step wells and temples scattered around. We were reading the little plaques that were around to explain what each of the ruins were. One of them was describing the "mother-in-law well" and it said, "There is no historical significance to this well." We thought it was funny that the people writing the plaques and in charge of preserving it thought it was insignificant.

Very soon, all the different dances and performances began. It was really fun to walk around from dance to dance and just watch. When I was photographing a dance I heard a small voice go, "Jeni Behen?" and it was our children from the Tejgadh school! We were so happy they were there. They were there to enjoy the mela and to perform their own dance. I must say, without bias, that they did very well. It was kind of hot out and some of them were wearing their sweaters while dancing in the hot sun. Afterwards I was talking to Fender and he was dripping with sweat and I asked if he was hot and he was like, "hunh!" (yes) but he still wouldn't take off his sweater!

We were sitting around when we met Snake Boy. His name wasn't Snake Boy, it started with an N, but I don't remember it now. He had a little baby python in his shirt pocket and would just casually pull it out and play with it. We followed him to the snake charmer and they pulled out all their snakes for us. It was really cool and scary. They made me and Becka hold the baby python. We were too scared to be close to the cobra, so we just looked and took pictures from afar. Then Snake Boy took the python and put it in his mouth! The snake charmer actually was affiliated with Bhasha as well. Many animal rights activists were against snake charmers because they thought it was cruel to the snakes, but then all the snake charmers would lose their livelihoods and their craft would be lost. So to compromise, the snake charmers donate snake venom to the venom banks so if someone gets bitten there will be an antidote. We promised him that we would send him the pictures we took. Snake Boy was really cool. He was really friendlybut not in a creepy or pushy way and he was really mature for his age.

Afterawhile, the heat, sun, and waking up at 6AM started catching up with us. We were looking for more water but all the water that was being sold was from large metal tubs sold by children. We didn't think it was wise to drink it. We had lunch on leaves that were sown together and then wandered around more. We saw some people cracking open coconuts and drinking the milk, so we bought some coconuts. We didn't really know how to crack them open and were kind of embarassed about trying in front of everyone. Snake Boy came over with a baby and sat next to us, just hanging out. Finally, we asked Nita to help us crack open our coconuts and we got the few precious sips. Not fully satisfied we bought some mosambis (they're like oranges) and ate them inside the step wells to cool off.

We were very tired when we left but it was an awesome day. We saw so many different dances and the costumes were great. The women had brilliant saris on and bangles all up and down their arms. The men had turbans on and bow and arrows. Everyone was having so much fun dancing around and watching.

Veguma

2007-02-11T23:30:00.000-08:00

Although I had such a bad night before, the next day was simply amazing. I went with a couple professors to visit a village called Veguma. It was about two hours away, half of which was on a terrbile dirt road with lots of pointy rocks sticking up out of it. I really thought we were going to pop a tire, but miraculously, we made it. Just when we thought we had made it to the most remote and isolated village, we just kept driving through to another village that was even more remote and isloated. Two of the children, Fender and Kuman, came with us because they came from the village. It was really beautiful there. It was very hilly and brown. The land was very barren, but then there were palm trees sticking up everywhere. It looked like a scene from The Lorax by Dr. Seusse when they cut down all the trees to make thneeds.

We had a big meeting and the professor and his students were all talking to the villagers. They were asking about their dialect and different words and such. Since I'm working on a sickle cell report, I asked if anyone knew about it and no one had. We also asked if they had a doctor. They said a doctor came "regularly" and when we asked how regularly, they said once a year. One woman had a goitre on her neck and we told her about the free clinic at Tejgadh, but I was wondering if and how she would ever get there. It was incredibly difficult for us to travel to and from and we had a car and everything.

I also got to meet Fender's father and Kuman's mother and father. Fender was really cute and acting like a proper ambassador/interpreter. He says he's about nine years old, but I think he's at least eleven. I told him I really liked his village and that it was really beautiful in Hindi and then he responded, "Really? What's the name of my village?" He totally called me out. I was like, "Uhhh...... Vey...gnumsthdidigioajgi?" But the proper name of the village is Veguma and about 8 children at our school come from that village.

It was really eye opening to see the village that they came from. There are about 750 people living in the village and most of them are farmers, but it's not very profitable because the land is so hilly and stony. The crops did look a little pitiful compared to the lush, green fields near Tejgadh. All the women are illiterate, although now some of the girls go to school. They have a government school and an unofficial school but each only go up to the 4th grade. If they want further education, they have to travel for about an hour to get to the next school. They don't really have a proper road leading up to their village because the land belongs to the Forestry department, even though there are hardly enough trees to make a forest, and they won't allow a proper road to be built. But they do have electricity, which is nice. I would really like to visit more of the surrounding villages. I was really an amazing day.

The Princess and the Fleas

2007-02-11T22:47:00.000-08:00

Last week there was a musical workshop for all the little village children at the academy. About seven musicians came and taught the children how to play their traditional Adivasi instruments. The kids really liked it. Really. They'd be playing with these instruments for like 8 hours a day and they wouldn't stop. Even at night when they could be running around and playing, they'd be beating the dol and blowing on their flutes. Believe me, it was really cool when they'd be playing at 7 AM and I was trying to sleep.

I stayed over at the village for two nights. The first night was fine, but the second night was the worst night of my life. I was sleeping on a matteress on the floor, which was cool, except that there were all these bed bugs crawling all over me. It was so gross! I could feel them and they kept biting me. I couldn't sleep because everytime I drifted off, one of the little buggers would take a chomp at my back. Now, it looks like I have a bright red rash around my torso, but it's really just hundreds of bug bites put together. And it's so itchy! Ugh!

The bed bugs were just the beginning. I was trying to sleep and twitching everytime I felt a bug when I heard some scampering and then FELT some scampering on my covers NEAR MY FACE! A mouse had run up on my mattress NEAR MY FACE. I freaked out and threw my sheets off and I heard it scamper away. Everytime I made some noise, I heard it scamper farther away. Gross! Luckily, there was a pile of mattresses nearby, so I slept on top of a pile of about ten mattesses. It was like I was the princess in the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. You know that story, when they test to see if the girl is an actual princess by seeing if she can feel a pea at the bottom of a pile of mattresses. Except instead of a test, I was sleeping on a bunch of mattresses to get away from mice NEAR MY FACE and instead of a pea, I had a bunch of fleas to keep me up. You know, I bet that's how the story really goes. A girl was trying to get away from mice that were scampering NEAR HER FACE and being kept up by fleas crawling all over her and biting her (a very valid explanation, believe me, I feel her pain) and somebody just assumed it was her being prissy and princessy. (And when I say "someboy" I mean "a stupid boy")

The next morning, I was very grouchy from being kept up all night and worried that I might have lice. So I went to talk to one of the doctors, and he said I had lice! But I think he mistook my gray hairs as a lice infestation. But I didn't want to take any chances so I bought the shampoo and furiously used it.

On the way home I was feeling very glum and thinking about being Dirty Lice Girl. I was thinking that I wouldn't be able to have contact with anyone for the next two weeks and that this was probably how Rogue feels from X-Men. You know how she has that power to suck the living energy from people, so she can't touch anyone? And I was wondering whether I would rather be a mutant or Dirty Lice Girl. I mean, on one hand, if I was a mutant, I would have a power instead of parasites. On the other hand, if I was Dirty Lice Girl, I would have to power to get rid of my lice, at least I was praying that I would have the power to get rid of my lice. But the next day I spoke to the other doctor and he said I didn't have lice!!!! I wasn't itching my head and all my bites were bug bites, not lice bites. So I don't have lice!! I was so relieved. But as a precaution, I still boiled all my clothes. I hope they all die.

Century!

2007-02-05T02:31:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday I went to a cricket match! The match was between India and the West Indies and it was very exciting. I thought it was going to be boring since cricket matches are for about eight hours long and they just keep bowling and nothing exciting seems to happen, but it was really fun!

India was up to bat first. We missed the first hour of the match because we couldn't wake up that early. (The match started at 9AM! Who wakes up at that ungodly hour?) But anyways, India did very well and we got to see some great batting. Dhoni got three six's! That means he hit the ball right out of the boundary and got an automatic six runs. And we got to see the great Sachin Tendulkar bat. He's like the Babe Ruth of India, except he's still alive and playing. Apparently, he's been in a slump lately. But not this match! He was able to reach a century! That means that he was able to score one hundred runs and when the total score was 341, you can see why reaching a century is such a big deal. It was very dramatic because he did it on his last bowl.

The second half of the match was a bit more boring. The West Indies didn't really do well and the great Brian Lara got out on like the third bowl. I was kind of dissapointed because I really wanted to see him play since everyone talks about him so much. But it was really cool to see them make all the wickets. Poor West Indies, couldn't even make it to 200 runs.

It was really fun sitting in the crowd and cheering for India. I wore my India cricket team shirt and everyone around was waving Indian flags. Everytime an Indian cricket player looked in our direction, the crowd went wild and started cheering. The next day I was talking to our landlord's kids. They are so cute! And we were discussing the match and I felt so cool because I actually knew what they were talking about. I mean really, I saw Sachin reach a century!

Pintu's Story

2007-01-19T03:14:00.003-08:00

Every night one of the children have to tell a story that they made up. Last night was Pintu's turn:

Once there was a boy and he was very hungry. All he wanted was some water, so he built a table because when you have a table, there should be food on it. So he built a table and he took it to a well. He broke the table into seven pieces and threw it into the well. When all seven pieces were submerged in the water, seven fairies came out. The seven fairies granted all his wishes and the boy was no longer hungry.

Isn't that a beautiful story? I thought it was a very good story for a little ten year old to make up. Dr. Devy had to translate for me because I didn't understand the language Pintu was speaking, and I'm sure his story was even more beautiful in his own words. When I was a kid, my stories were about princesses and princes. Pintu's story was about hunger. It's so sad that they have to know what hunger is.

Tejgadh

2007-01-19T03:14:00.002-08:00

The past two days I went to the village! I love the village. I really am a country girl. We took the two hour bus ride and it was another crowded ride. But it was all worth it! When we got there the kids were in their brand new uniforms and looking very smart. The girls all had their hair in pigtail braids. I'm trying to learn all 43 of their names but it's so hard! There are so many of them and they keep moving around and changing their clothes. But I'm determined. It's the least I can do since I can't really talk to them. But really, these kids are the most beautiful children that I have ever met. I know I say that about all the kids I meet, but I really mean it with these kids. They're all Adivasi children and have never had any schooling at all and they come from very poor families. They're all so happy and friendly. I love talking to them, or at least trying to talk to them. They don't really speak Hindi, mostly Gujarati or their own dialect, Rathwi.

At night, before they go to bed they sit in rows and sing songs. Because Dr. Devy was visiting, he told them a story of how the Earth was created. They really like that story. We also tried teaching them "Twinkle twinkle little star..." They were so cute trying to repeat after me. And when they were all getting ready for bed you could hear the random "tvinkul, tvinkul..." being sung. They're very smart and catch on very quickly. I sometimes forget where they come from. It's pretty cold at night here because it's winter and most of the kids don't have a sweater. Their families can't provide them, so Dr. Devy is asking a private school in Baroda if they could donate some of their old sweaters for our students. Hopefully most of them will get them on Monday.

Yesterday we two of the teachers from the school took us up on the hill by the village to look at some rock paintings. We had to climb under this huge boulder and underneath was a little cave and on the wall were these ancient paintings. They told us that they were 10,000 years old. Pretty crazy. The view from only half way up the hill was so beautiful. Again, I tried out my Hindi and they understood most of what I said! Unfortunately, my Hindi skills could only go so far and after awhile, I didn't understand what he was saying. But still, it was nice to be able to sort of communicate. I'm going to try and work on my Hindi really hard.

I'm smart!

2007-01-19T03:14:00.001-08:00

Monday was another day off for the kite festival, so we went to the UNESCO Heritage Site called Champaner. It's like 45 km away from Baroda. It was a very relaxing day just walking around. There was no pollution and no noise. Just these random, amazing stone mosques standing in the middle of fields of corn.

On the way home, we stopped at the bus station to eat some pav bhaji. It's a gujarati dish where they mash up all these veggies and serve them with oily buns. I love it. While we were waiting for our food I started talking to a family in Hindi! I was actually able to successfully communicate with my Hindi! They said I was smart! Anyways, near the end of our pav bhaji the family was like "Bus! Bus!" and started running. So we had to throw money at the pav bhaji wala and run for the bus. It was very crowded, but we eventually found seats. The family was so cute and kept chatting with me in Hindi. They eventually invited us to their house for dinner. The family was so sweet and when we didn't finish our halwa (another extremely sweet Indian dessert made of carrot) the five year old boy spoon fed us. It really was a lot of halwa and I think I have diabetes now. The family was so nice and invited us to lunch on Sunday. They just randomly met us at a bus stop and then invited us to their house for dinner. They kept saying that they were so happy that we were there. Such kindness.

The Kite Festival!

2007-01-19T03:14:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was the Kite Festival in Gujarat! There isn't much to explain. You basically get together, eat food and fly kites. Everyone buys like 150 tissue paper kites and go on their rooftops to fly them. Apparently, it's a huge industry in Gujarat. Becca and I bought some kites and tried to fly them on our own. We were "rubbish" at it. It's really hard! It's not like we have a huge field to run through to catch the wind. You just stand on the rooftops and toss the kite in the air, and you just have to know when to tug on the string to make it go up. I think you have to be an Indian boy to be good at it. The hardest part is getting it up into the air, after that it's really easy. I'm like extra bad at it. I was flying a kite that was already in the air and the moment I took the string, it nose dived into an old lady sitting on the roof of the apartment next door. That was embarrassing, especially since everyone was already staring at the inept kite flying foreigners.

It's actually a very dangerous festival because you can also make the kites fight. So they put powdered glass on the string so you can cut the string of other kites. It's really fun when you cut other kites and you hoot and holler when you do. But it's sad when someone else cuts yours. Then you have to get another kite and try and get it in the air again. It's very bad for the birds flying around. There are literally thousands, if not millions of kites flying in the air all with glass covered strings. It's also really dangerous for humans too. People on motor bikes can get cut and if the string gets stuck in another moving vehicle the string can slice throats. We did not drive our little sunnies for the two day festival. We heard too many horror stories.

But it really is a fun festival. It's cool to see everyone out on their rooftops and all the different kites fluttering around in the air. People have music blasting and every once in awhile you hear people cheering when they cut a kite. Everyone eats Chikki, which is sort of like peanut brittle and made out of sesamee seeds. Like all Indian treats, it is extremely sweet. Down below there are kids walking around with long sticks so they can catch kits that have been cut. At the end of the day, the telephone wires look like laundry lines full of kites and the trees look like they've all started growing kite shaped fruits.

It was a busy and fun day. At night we went to the old city to watch the fireworks. They also set off these huge paper laterns. They look like small hot air balloons floating through the air. Eventhough it's completely dark and there are fireworks going off from the rooftop next door and floating lanterns, people are still flying their kites. We saw one latern crash into a rooftop near by. The people were all dancing around it, and then it caught on fire and burst into flames, so one of guys took the flaming lantern and just threw it over the side. The burning lantern started floating down toward the traffic filled street, but then caught on a wire and the flames started creeping back up towards the rooftop. Eventually it burned itself out. It was such an India moment.

You can take the girl out of college...

2006-12-22T02:10:00.000-08:00

So I'm going home for two weeks for Christmas. Yes, I am flying from Mumbai, India to Boston, MA to spend two weeks at home. It should be very nice. I look forward to seeing family and friends and, of course, EATING! mmmmm....so much that I want to eat. Turkey and cranberry sauce, real chinese food (sans paneer and masala), hot pot, dim sum...oh the list goes on and on. And I plan on taking a lot of food back with me as well. Ooooh, home is so close I can almost taste it!

This morning I was thinking to myself, "Oh man, I have so much laudry to do...oh! I'm going home! I can bring it and get it done for free!" And then I realized, I wanted to bring my dirty laundry on a 20 hour flight, half way around the world, so I could do it at home for free and then bring it all the way back to India...It's like I was in college when I would bring home laundry over the weekend so I wouldn't have to pay 3 dollars a load, but instead of being an hour away, I'm 20 hours away and over a couple continents. It would be the most expensive load of laundry ever.

You can take the girl out of college, but you can't take the college out of the girl.

Happy Holidays all!

Must Read

2006-12-20T23:00:00.000-08:00

Gender Bias Increases Poverty

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6162959.stm

It's Baroda Baby

2006-12-12T23:12:00.000-08:00

Did you know you can buy export rejected bath mats by the kg? There's a stand in Baroda and they sell export rejected bath mats. But you can't buy just one, they're priced by the kg. You know, I was always really frustrated in the States because I always had to buy bath mats one at a time. That never satisfied my bath mat needs. But now, I can buy 3.5 kgs of bath mats and I'm all set. Finally! Someone who understands the consumer demand for export rejected bath mats!

Did I tell you that I have a little scooter? Yes, I have a little Sunny and I've named it BiBi because it's blue and it's my baby. It's sometimes difficult to get it started and it sometimes stalls in the middle of "the tunnel of death," but it's a nice little sunny. And even though traffic in India is ridiculous, it's easy because it's impossible to be a bad driver here. Cutting corners is a must, jutting out into oncoming traffic is the only way to get across the road, and it's not so important which side of the road you drive on. The only rule is to be aggressive. If you don't cut off three rickshaws you'll get beeps of impatience behind you. I don't know if I'll ever be able to drive normally again. Ok, I lied, there are also some rules of who has the right of way. Bicycles are at the bottom and yield to everyone (even dogs), then sunnies, proper motor bikes, cars, and then buses/trucks. However, the one thing that trumps them all is the all mighty cow.

We have a little stray dog living in our parking lot downstairs. I've named him Scrappy. He's got droopy ears and the most terrified eyes I've ever seen. Before, I always wondered why we only had one dog hanging around and then last night I figured it out. Scrappy is the only one skinny and flexible enough to squeeze under our gate. It's a great feat of acrobatics to see him get under. I was going to start feeding him until I realized he probably wouldn't be able to fit under the gate then, so I decided against it. But we're lucky, lots of the stray dogs are really mean and crash into moving vehicles. But Anurag, my homestay buddy, taught me a trick. If there are dogs coming near you, just bend down like you're picking a rock off the ground and when you stand back up all the dogs will have scattered away. It really does work. But I never have to do that with Scrappy. He's a good boy.

Turkey for Me...

2006-11-29T02:01:00.000-08:00

I know it's a little late, but Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a busy week. Last Wednesday, we had our Thanksgiving dinner. I made mashed potatoes, stirfry string beans, and sweet potatoes. We also had corn on the cob, paneer, and since we couldn't find a turkey, chicken tikka. It was a very Indian Thanksgiving and we all just pigged out.

The reason we had to have Thanksgiving on Wednesday was because we had to go to Delhi the next night for a conference. We were starving when we got to Delhi so we again pigged out. After riding around Delhi and seeing sights, I went to Heeya house again. We went to see the Austrian Chamber Orchestra play. It was simply amazing. I haven't seen an orchestra concert in so long and I really missed it. Made me want to go learn the violin again. After the concert, we went to her aunt's house for yet another Thanksgiving dinner. This time there was a real turkey WITH cranberry sauce! And there was cheese and stuffing! I was in heaven! That first bite of turkey and cranberry sauce was divine. Totally worth the 15 hour train ride. I spent that night at Heeya's and then the next morning went off to the conference.

The conference was all right. No, I lie, it was terrible. I am never going to another conference ever again. There were about 50 trainees there and I was the only American and we had to do "role calls" by country and I had to go up in front of everyone and do something "American." I had no idea what to do, so I sang "Yankee doodle" but I forgot the words to the rest of the song, so my role call was extremely brief. The speakers and food were awful and they kept making us play these stupid games. It was a waste of my life.

But being the only American there was very eye opening. During country presentations and discussions it seemed like everyone had something to say about America, whether it was about how we used the cause of "democracy" to invade Iraq or how American investors restrict the Colombian government. Everyone had something to do with America. One person told me to my face that he thought that the American accent was "stupid and annoying" and that "Americans didn't even know about their own culture, much less anyone else's." I wasn't exactly offended, because he turned out to be a very nice boy, so I know he didn't mean to be offensive, but I didn't like him very much either. I kept feeling that he wouldn't like me because everytime I opened my mouth, I would sound stupid and annoying. And I felt like he would always be judging me based on my nationality and nothing else.

A Kiwi asked me, "You didn't expect that Americans would be hated?" Of course I expected Americans would be hated. What I didn't expect was that all these international kids would be dancing around to Rage Against the Machine songs. That they would watch more "Friends" or "Will and Grace" than I ever did. They consume the US culture and we become a part of theirs, but, at the same time, they unashamedly hate us. They embrace the very things that most stand for America in my opinion. Our music, our movies, our tv shows, the expression and reflection of the people.

Everyone loves to hate the one on top. It's not jealousy, we're just an easy target. When Michael Richards, the guy who plays Kramer on Seinfeld, went on this huge racial tirade I got an e-mail from my Indian friend about it. In it one of her friends said, "But you have to see the kind of 'celebrities' this country is producing." Almost as if celebrities from other countries are never racist. The US is so visible and any action of anyone, whether it's our President or our children, reflects up on the whole country. While the US makes it clear that we are the world's super power, it makes equally clear all our faults and shortcomings. If we're going to lead the world, we need to do a better job.

Happy birthday Kevin!

worky worky

2006-11-17T03:52:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't really been updating lately, but I have an excuse. I've actually be working! :-0 Shocking, I know!

At the moment I am working at an non governmental organization (NGO) called Bhasha. (www.bhasharesearch.org.in) It's a really great place and they do amazing work. At the moment, I am in the middle of writing a proposal to the World Bank with Faryal. We had to speak to the villagers and the tribal Shaman to write the proposal, so Faryal and I went to the village to Tejgedh for three days. It was really nice.

At the village they have set up the Adivasi Academy. There's a beautiful library, clinic, school, and museum. It's really cool. At the school the kids run around and take out the drum and dance around. It's great. There's this one kid, Pithu, who is an amazing dancer. He also taught me a song. "Choti cycle per double disco marie mandula" Something about riding on a tandem bicycle. My Hindi is terrible, and the villagers speak a mixture of Hindi, Gujarati, and their own Adivasi languages. There's also Arfus, and he's really good at singing. We always make him sing for us.

Oh, and all this talk of Delhi Belly. Yea, I got it. But did I get it from the road side stall where they mashed vegetables with oil and served it to me with bread? No, of course I was fine after that meal. I got Delhi Belly after eating at a place called, "US Pizza." Yes, the day after eating at "US Pizza," I vomitted and then couldn't eat for three days. Such is life. But thanks to some antibiotics, I am a-ok.

Next week I am headed to Delhi for a trainee conference. I'm super excited to meet trainees from all the different sites across India.

FYI: I got a phone finally! My number is 9328288146. Again, I get free, unlimited incoming calls...

Go Shorty...

2006-11-07T02:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had my birthday party. Faryal was so cute. I was with her the whole day and everyone kept calling her on her cell phone and she was always like, "Oh, well we already have one...I'm going to go get it later.....well I can't really talk right now, if you know what I mean." hahaha so I knew they were getting something special for the party that night.

We had this HUGE feast of butter paneer, chicken tikka, roti, biryani. Oh so good. And then they brought out this wonderful chocolate cake and Thomas, who is from France and works with Yutaka, brought crepes and we ate them with Nutella. It was a very good food night. I was so stuffed by the end of it.

After dinner we were all dancing around to Indian music. Faryal is Punjabi so she was teaching us all how to Bhangra. And Anurag and his Indian friends were all doing their "jive" to Black Eyed Peas. It was a really fun night and everyone was so nice! My flatmates are amazing. Perfect way to spend a birthday, eating and dancing.

And everyone from home, thanks so much for all the birthday greetings! It made me feel very loved. I swear, I'll send out a cell phone number by next week and maybe even an address. At the moment, I have neither.

Oh and FYI: I AM coming home for Christmas! I just need to buy my ticket. Will let you know the exact dates soon.

Baroda

2006-11-06T03:41:00.000-08:00

So I've been in Baroda for a week now, and it's awesome. I walked out of the airport and there were about twenty college students to welcome me. It was a very nice welcome. Then, I was sent off to my homestay for a couple days. I stayed with Anurag who is a third year commerce student at the huge university in Baroda.

After a couple of days with him, I moved into the trainee house with three other people. There is Faryal, who is English, but her family's from Pakistan, but she lived in Panama for six months and then Beijing for two and a half years. She's my roommate and the funny thing is is that she knows MCK who was on the track team with me back at Brown. Small world isn't it? There is also Richard who is from Holland. He is SO Dutch and has a mosquito net that attracts and traps bugs rather than keeping them out. And then there's Takeo who is from Japan and is really trying to work on his English. Yesterday, he got a flat tire and then got lost for three hours in the old city. Oh Takeo...

I've seriously met so many people in the last week, it's been crazy. But everyone I've met is so nice and cool. I really think I'm going to like it here. There is another trainee house with Kareen (Hollan), Yutaka (Japan), Veera (Germany), and Tatyana (Greece). I'm known as "The American." This is seriously the first time that I've been the only American and I like it. It's not that hard to be the only American. Everyone communicates in English and I'm the only one who can really decipher all the different accents. (I'm also the only one who only knows one language. Everyone else knows at least two.) And EVERYONE loves the tv show "Friends." haha! I come all the way to India and hang out with people from all different countries and they love talking about "Friends."

I'm working at an NGO called Bhasha right now. They work with the nomadic tribes in Gujurat called the Adivasi. These tribes never really accepted British rule and, as a result, were labled as "criminal tribes." Ever since then they have been persecuted and descriminated against even though the British have moved out and the Indian government have "denotified" them. Such is the power of 200 years of colonialism. I have yet to have a project. So far I've just been reading about the Adivasi and trying to learn about their history and culture. Hopefully, a project will pop into my head soon.

Delhi Belhi

2006-10-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

Laxatives: 20 rupees
PDA that tells us the dosage and side effects: $300.22
The look on her face when she found out that she took enough laxatives to clear out her bowels for a colonoscopy: Priceless

Oh man. I was laughing so hard. We were like, Don't worry. You can tell people when you get home, "Oh yea, I got Delhi belly my last week there." "Oh no. What did you eat?" "A bunch of laxatives." Note to self: don't play around with laxatives. It is not a game.

My last night in Dehra Dun was nice. I'm a little sick, so I didn't want to go out to eat or anything. But the rest of the girls bought cake and icecream! It was such a wonderful surprise! They're so sweet. And Laura bought me my own, complete Lonely Planet: India. (I had been carrying around a copy that someone left that had all of South India torn out.) It was a very nice send off.

Now I'm in Delhi and I just love it even more. I don't know why. The minute I stepped out of the train station I just felt like everything fit. I'm meeting up with my friend Heeya tonight, and then I plan on seeing the Lotus Temple, visiting my old apartment, eating at Mocha, and having chai with my old coordinator, Brinda. I'm so excited! I just wish I had some clean laundry to wear.

Where am I?

2006-10-26T02:56:00.000-07:00

So the girls on the program just told me the CRAZIEST story. They were in clinic and one couple had a set of triplets. The father, however, decided that he didn't want three more children, so he told the doctor that he didn't want the baby girl with the heart condition. Another couple had a baby girl, but she eventually died. So the doctor took the unwanted triplet and introduced it to the childless couple as their daughter. He told the other mother that only two of her triplets survived. Yea. He did a baby swap.

Isn't that crazy? Very "Midnight's Children"/Days of our Lives. He told the grandparents that their granddaughter wasn't their own, and they'll tell the parents after they've bonded with the child. Apparently, the husband just returned from Iraq and has some kind of trauma. We suspect (but don't know for sure) that the death of his child would be too much for him, so that's why the grandparents were all right with the switch, but we really don't know.

The situation is just so....yea. The doctor is playing God. Literally breaking and making families and lives. I can see the temptation, though. If the little girl had gone to the orphanage, at best she would never be adopted, at worst, she would die. No one wants to adopt a girl, much less a girl with a heart condition. And for the other couple, the trauma of losing a baby... the problem seems so complicated and the solution seems so easy. In a country where human life is so abundant it becomes cheap. During a time when a tsunami or an earthquake can wipe out entire villages and cities. I can see the temptation. But what if the new parents find out and reject her? What if she dies? Wouldn't that be even more traumatizing after bonding with her?

In another case, a little boy had hydrocephaly. Somehow, the nerve to his bladder was damaged so he has to live with a catheter for the rest of his life to drain his bladder. The doctor was saying that his quality of life would be awful and the parents would suffer as well. So the doctor decided it would be best to let the child get menengitis and die. Again, I can see the temptation. How can I judge when I don't really know?

Yea, I'm REALLY glad I don't have to make those decisions and, hopefully, I'll never have to.

I <3 Tibetans

2006-10-25T05:53:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went to McLeod Gange, which is where the exiled Tibetan government is located. It was awesome.

After a 12 hour, overnight bus ride, we finally arrived in McLeod Gange. We would not have made it if it wasn't for a couple travel fairy godmothers and a very nice monk. During breakfast, Laura started bashing Bush with a couple of other tourists and they ended up inviting us to a private audience with the Karmapa. Apparently, there was a Conference of Grandmothers going on that weekend. 13 Grandmothers from different indigenous groups (Native American, Tibetan, Aboriginal...) meet up twice a year and discuss different topics about the world. It was pretty cool. So, we joined the conference of about 100 people and listened to the Karmapa speak about his grandmother who was completely blind. It was awesome. The Karmapa is 4th in line behind the Dalai Lama. He's 26 and at the age of 17 he had to escape from Tibet. After his speech, we got in line and were blessed by him.

Afterwards, we did some sightseeing with two Mexican women who were part of the conference. They were very nice. I bought a very expensive dress as an early birthday/you-never-have-to-take-the MCATS-again(!!!!)-present. We sat in the garden eating momos (tibetan dumplings) and just chatting. It was a lovely day.

The next day, I went on a walk by myself around the main temple/Dalai Lama's residence. It was a very quaint walk. Tons of tibetan prayer flags strewn throughout the forest. I was following a couple of monks when it started raining. Fortunately, I came across a little temple and was able to wait out the storm with a little Tibetan girl. I think she had Down's syndrome and she was extremely sweet. She was practicing her numbers in my journal and she was very good! When she got to 65 she skipped to 100. Eh, those numbers in between were never important anyways.

The next morning we made our way up to the Tibetan Children's Village. It was the 46th anniversary of its founding. I saw the Dalai Lama! Well, it was from across the track and he was sitting up on a balcony. When he was walking up, all the Tibetan children began singing. It was so nice. Technically, I did hear the Dalai Lama speak. It was all in Tibetan, however. I only understood one word, "compassion" because that was the only word in English. I really wish I had understood more.

But yes, it was a great weekend. But the bus ride back was the worst experience ever. I don't want to romanticize all my experiences. We were sitting in the very back and every time we went over any kind of bump, we flew up out of our seats. We were also sitting with a BUNCH of seedy men. Probably not the safest situation for us and I would NEVER do it again. In hour nine of the bus ride, our bus broke down. I thought we never would make it home, but we finally did. Yes, India is harsh when it wants to be. But then again, if I wanted cushy travel I would have gone to Europe. If I had wanted to go to a place where women are treated as equals, well, I would have to go to the moon. Again, the problems of the world are everywhere, they're just more apparent in India. It takes A Fine Balance to deal with all of India.

After my experience, I really, really want to go to Tibet. Apparently, the best place to get a visa is good, old Hong Kong(!) and the best time to visit is May to June (!!). I think the fates are telling me I should go....Anyone up for a trip to Lhasa?

Eid Mubarak!

So much to say...

2006-10-19T05:17:00.000-07:00

So much has gone on since the last time I updated. Let's see...

Right now I'm back in the city of Dehra Dun and staying at my homestay. This past week I've been shadowing a neurologist and a pediatician. The neurologist is cool because I actually sorta know what he's talking about. And when he points to a CT scan I can pick out ventricles and such. I just wish I remembered more.

The pediatrician is very impressive. His name is Dr. Vaish and he has like his own hospital. Really, he's got like twenty patients admitted, ten more pre term babies in the pediatric intensive care unit, and then anyone who comes into the clinic and emergency cases. He's the only doctor and he's on call 24 hours a day. I don't know how he does it. And he doesn't just look after kids. He looks after babies, kids, teenagers, and adults. In one room there is a man admitted for pesticide poisoning and in the bed next to him there is a two year old child with a long term fever and seizures of unknown origin. Dr. Vaish does abcess drainage, spinal taps, bone marrow taps and can do c sections in an emergency.

And the pre term babies! They are the tiniest things I have ever seen! So cute. Just lying there, squirming around every now and then. It's sad sometimes, because they can be very sick. Dr. Vaish has the only accredited pediatric ICU in the state, so all the very complicated cases are referred to him. Yesterday, a baby died. The mother was diabetic and the baby was very sick when it was born. It was very sad. But it's also very encouraging when they bounce back. A one year old came in with respiratory failure and stopped breathing. They tried to put a mask on him, but then he started vomitting from all the sedatives, so Dr. Vaish had to intubate him very quickly and put him on a respirator. The next day, however, he was off the ventilator and crying quite loudly everytime we got near him. (I don't really blame him.)

After working with a pediatrician, I am amazed that humans can live past the age of five. Seriously, there are a lot of things out there than can kill you or at the very least make you very, very sick. I don't know if I can ever have kids. I'm going to be constantly worried that they'll get fungal infections or scabies. Do they have tuberculosis? Menengitis? Tubercular menengitis? Viral pneumonia? Bacterial? All these things could happen and that's not including the stuff we do to ourselves. Drugs, smoking, alcohol. An alcoholic came to Dr. Vaish in the middle of a seizure. I really don't understand how our bodies put up with its environment and then with ourselves. It's pretty amazing.

Happy Diwale!

LCH

2006-10-10T05:06:00.000-07:00

So my aunt says I don't update enough. Right now I'm back at the Landour Community Hospital. It's been pretty cool. Today I got to play around with the ultrasound machine and find the heart beats of a pair of twins. The mother asked me if I could tell what sex the fetuses were. I was so glad that I could honestly tell her that I couldn't tell. It's illegal here to determine the sex of the fetus. There have been cases of doctors being arrested for telling parents the sex of the fetus and then performing abortions if the fetus is female. It is sad that people go to such great lengths to have a boy. In the villages one family has seven girls and just had their first boy and the parents want to continue having children in hopes that they'll have more boys.

Right now is the festival when women fast for a month and they can only eat when their husbands feed them after the sun goes down. They are fasting for the health and longevity of their husbands. One woman came in with conjunctivitis and she could not administer the drops until after sundown. Apparently, the women cannot even swallow their own saliva much less administer eye drops. The most serious cases are when pregnant women fast when the height of the uterus is already low, meaning the fetus is already malnutritioned. I am all for festivals and traditions, but not at the cost of health. Patriarchy at its worst (or best depending on your view).

Rabies?

2006-10-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

The past two weeks have been pretty chill. I spent a week in the city of Dehra Dun and stayed at my homestay. The Mehtas are such a nice family and it was nice to be in a home for a change. One of the doctors that I shadowed was Dr. Prem Nath. He specializes in Reiki, accupressure, and Ayurvedic medicine. The best part is that he is 94 years old! He's pretty incredible because he acts like he's 60 and is very wise. When I told him I had lower back issues he performed reiki on me. I don't know if I really believe in Reiki, but if anyone could channel energy from the universe into my lower back and heal it, it would be Dr. Prem Nath. And my back did feel better the next day! Ironically, I think it was the yoga that hurt it in the first place. So no more yoga for me.

When I told my mom on the phone about reiki, she was like, "Rabies!? Did you get rabies?!" "No, mom, reiki! Reiki! It's a type of alternative medicine" Dad picks up the phone, "Did I hear your mom say rabies? Because you didn't get the rabies vaccination..." "No, dad, not rabies. Reiki. It's when you channel energy from the universe to heal your chakras....not rabies." "So you don't have rabies?" "No, I don't have rabies." "Good, try and stay that way."

Right now is festival season. The weather is perfect so there are a lot of celebrations going on. There are all these processions for weddings and such on the main roads. They don't block off traffic and there are marching bands, tractors, electric generators, and elephants and camels. On Saturday I went to Dhandia, which is for Navratri. When we got to the field where everyone was celebrating there was this HUGE long line to get in. We would've waited for hours if we had stayed there. So, true to Indian style, we went to the front of the line, and when the gates opened, we just pushed our way in. It was so much fun! At Dhandia, you dance with sticks in your hand and you hit them together and then hit them against other people's sticks and it's very rythmical and takes a lot of coordination. I was terrible at it. I almost poked Arshana's eye out a couple times and we were doing really simple stuff.

This weekend we are off to ride the toy train up to Shimla which is a hillstation. I don't know what the toy train will be like, but I always fall for gimmicky stuff like that. "It's a TOY train and not a regular train? Let's go!"

I also gave my first injection. My mom laughed when I told her that.
Happy Birthday Mom, Moe Moe and Katherine!

Feeling Good

2006-09-24T05:21:00.000-07:00

I can see why people who come as tourists may not like India. Being here for three weeks, moving every week, and never really integrating really puts you at a disadvantage. Nothing seems to make sense. Everything is complicated and you never know you're way around. Tourist India is just no fun. I'm very glad that I had the chance to live here. My first experience definitely made me appreciate so many things that I wouldn't have caught just as a tourist.

I'm feeling better about being in India now. I don't feel so lost and I'm back to bargaining. I had forgotten the cardinal rule about living in India: roll with the punches. It can be incredibly frustrating when nothing is what it's supposed to be and nothing works the way you think it would work, but if you let go of some of the control and just go with whatever comes your way, India is a great place to be. If the bus doesn't stop when you signal for it, you wait for the next one. No big deal. Coming from the States, I'm so used to being in "control" of everything. But if you really think about it, we're really not in control at all. I think what makes many people uncomfortable is that India makes it more apparent how powerless we really are. But I feel like it's more real, and that's why I like it. In a way, I'm more responsible for myself than I ever was in the States. I can't count on the police to protect me. If I walk through a puddle, I may fall in to the sewer, and there will be no one to blame but myself. I can't sue the city. No one will be outraged at all.

I'm such a tourist

2006-09-21T02:31:00.000-07:00

Today I ate a pomelo while dangling my feet in the Ganga. It was wonderful.

I need to catch up on my laundry

2006-09-16T22:48:00.000-07:00

I am now back in Dehra Dun after my week long stay in Landour. It was nice being at the hospital, away from the city, noise and pollution. Tomorrow I head off to Rishikesh to do yoga and learn about Ayuervedic medicine. This should be a very relaxing week since I won't be seeing patients. Just doing yoga and taking classes.

I saw my first cesarian section! That was incredibly exciting. I also learned how to measure the height of the uterus, feel for the head of the fetus in the womb and listen to the heart beat. And then I saw my first ultrasound and saw the fetus move around. I'm not going to lie, that was pretty amazing.

I love the kids here. They're all so bite sized and have these huge eyes with thick eyelashes. And when they have to wear their little uniforms for school! I walk by a whole group of them and hear a chorus of "Good morning madame." There was this one Tibetan kid in the hospital with bronchitis. He was always smiling and cheerful. When the doctors would come around he'd be flipping through magazines while they listened to his chest. I'd always make faces at him. I know you shouldn't play favorites with kids, but he was definitely my favorite.

After seeing all these kids with boils and abcesses to be drained, I have decided that sanitation is very important. Baths are not overrated and I take more bucket baths this time around. Especially since it was cold and rainy in Landour so I couldn't really do my laundry, it was very important to be clean. And I very much appreciate hot water. Washing long hair via a bucket bath is no fun if the water is freezing.

Um sorry for anyone who is trying to reach me. All week in Landour I didn't have cell phone service or easy access to internet. And now that I have internet access, gmail is not working. This is the first time it has failed me and I am sorely dissapointed. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to you soon.

Namaste!

Landour

2006-09-12T05:38:00.000-07:00

Namaste!

This week, I am in Landour, which is the hillstation that I lived in for a month last time I was here. It's so nostalgic to be back here. I can remember the restaurants and the stores that we went to last time. I'm staying at the Landour Community Hospital. It's a pretty small hospital with about three or four doctors. The cases that I have seen are a little more serious that what I saw in the villages. In the villages, people mostly had colds and fevers.

Yesterday, I saw a tubal ligation, abcess drainage, and removal of a benign tumor. And today I got to see them remove a cyst from the top of a man's head. It was super cool. The power went out during the tubal ligation and it took a few minutes before the generator kicked in, but otherwise, it was all pretty standard.

You would faint if you saw the conditions that the doctors and patients have to deal with. Chipping paint, stains on the sheets and surgical gowns, rusty tables, power outages....the list goes on and on. It's quite shocking, but then again, what other choice do they have? The patients do get better. They come in with worms, infections, and abcesses and leave as healthy as they can be.

This trip has been very eye opening. Last trip I was learning about the country, its history, people, and culture. Now I'm actually confronting and facing the history, people, and culture. It's one thing to see people living in makeshift tents on the side of the road when I drive by. It's quite another thing to see the people come to you with tuburculosis, boils, and worms that they have to deal with in their day to day lives. We try to help them, but there's only so much that cough syrup, acetaminaphin, and antibiotics will do if the people continue to live in dank and unsanitary conditions. It's very sad to know that they'll probably come back in a month with the exact same symptoms.

I know it's been awhile...

2006-09-10T00:49:00.000-07:00

Someone said my Hindi was very good!!!!

Sorry, I was just so excited about that, I just had to blurt it out. I mean, I wasn't exactly speaking Hindi. I was repeating the puja at the Ganges before giving an offering, but I guess I'm really good at reapeating in Hindi. Still, it was "very good!!!"

The reason I haven't been returning e-mail or posting is because I'm been in the village of Than Gaon for the past week. It's very nice up there and I sleep in a hut, take bucket baths, and wash my clothes by hand. Naturally, there is no internet. There is electricity, which is a plus, but no internet.

But yes, Than Gaon is a little village with about 200 people living in it. I was living in the Nature Quest compound which has a free clinic and school. I was observing Dr. Paul who is the doctor in charge up there. He's really sweet and I like him a lot. He's about 5'4", has a little pot belly, and pronounces "fish" as "pieze." We thought he was talking about peas and had no idea how you "catch peas" or what "salt peas" were until he pointed to a picture of a fisherman. He's also really interested in what Chinese people eat. Everyday, "Do you eat snake?" "Do you eat cat?" "Do you eat dog" on and on. He's especially interested in eating snakes. Dr. Paul is a very wise man. He was like, "In India, girls very good. They work very hard cleaning, cooking, and in school. The boys, they're all lazy." I'm looking forward to seeing him again next month.

There's not much to do in the village. I went to clinic twice a day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday we went on hikes to two villages, Bartoli and Masraj. Tuesday's hike was quite brutal. About three hours to get there and most of it was very steep and rocky. I didn't realize how much I was neglecting my body until I tried to use it. My bum was very sore the next day. There's also yoga offered twice a day. I went for the first three days, but then stopped. I guess I'm not sophisticated enough to appreciate it. I get bored and I feel like it's not very effective.

Next week we're off to Mussoorie to live in a hospital. I'm super excited since that was where I was living for a month last time I was in India. I think I'll have internet connection up there, so I'll be able to post some more stuff. And I have a cell phone! My number is 9319895522 and I get free, unlimited incoming calls (hint, hint) I don't know what the country code is for India, but I'm sure you can look that up on the internet. FYI: India is about ten and a half hours ahead of the East Coast.

That about it for now!

I'm Back!

2006-09-02T02:14:00.000-07:00

I spent a couple of days visiting Laura in Norwich, England. That was a lot of fun and we went to visit Cambridge. So glad I got to go see her. I saw some Percy Pigs and it was weird to see them in their natural habitat. Usually, it's a great event whenever I see a pig.

Delhi is great, and it's almost like I never left. I must admit, I was a bit nervous coming back. I was afraid that I had romanticized my whole experience last time and I was going to come back hating it. But no, it's still as great as ever. It is a bit scary that I'm all by myself. No Brinda here to make sure I don't get Delhi Belly. No Marla or Mira to wander the streets with me. For the first time, I'm on my own and making my own itinerary. It's kinda nice. I'm still missing my India folk like crazy though. Wish you guys were here!

Now I've got to work on my Hindi and my crossing the street skills. Where's my cow?

The Beginning

2006-08-28T20:21:00.000-07:00

I'll be posting stories here about my trip from time to time. I'll try to keep them short and sweet.