Somewhere in India...

Last one for India...

2008-03-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since my last post (again). But this will be the last one for my time here in India. We've just spent 8 days on the beach in beautiful Goa. Just relaxing and taking in the sun, the food, the shoping, the people... The four of us have had a great time together and it was difficult to say good bye. However, we have many fond memories and pictures and email and facebook to keep us in touch.

I'm in Mumbai now. Sarah and I arrive two days ago and stayed with my boyfriend's brother, Kris, who lives and works here. Our first night he took us out on the town with his work buddies and we had goat brain masala off the street vendors carts (not bad actually). Sarah's midnight flight got cancelled and so she spent one more night with me before head to London today for an extended layover to visit with friends. This morning I went to Kris's church and had a good morning there. I left soon after it ended but was recognized by some of the members at the place I went to lunch (we ended up in the same area). So I got to spend the afternoon with about 12-15 other Indians and foreigners and had so much fun. We laughed the entire time! They were quite entertaining, goofy, and friendly. A much better way to spend the day than sitting in the apartment alone.

Tomorrow is for relaxing, packing and waiting for my midnight flight (hopfully not to be cancelled). I am ready to be home. Ready to see familiar faces, sleep in my own bed, take a hot shower and be allowed to put the toilet paper in the toilet. Thanks again to everybody who posted comments, emailed, or just thought of us while we were away. It means a lot. I'll be able to debrief more in person in a short time. See you all soon! (smile)

LOTS of new pictures

2008-03-05T05:27:00.001-08:00

Be sure you scroll down for the new pictures!

Beach, boat, bananas, barganing, burglary, and... a fight

2008-03-05T01:56:00.000-08:00

Hey there! Its been a long time since I've been able to get on the net for enough time to really do this blog some justice so I hope I will not forget anything too precious.

I left you in Varanasi which seems like forever ago to me now. We trained from Varanasi to Delhi and picked up an additional traveler, Tanja, from Denmark. Now we have been 4 girls wandering southern India for a week plus. We flew to Chennai and took a bus to Pondicherry, a sweet little French colonial oceanside city in the hot, hot south. But get this... we had AC in our room! Not something seen very often for a reasonable price. Highlight in Pondi: renting mopeds! We were four white girls riding motor scooters through Indian traffic and really not knowing what we were doing. If you have never been to a developing country to experience the traffic you can't justly imagine the kind of risk we put ourselves in (sorry parents). But it turned out fine! The only injuries were raw palms from twisting the accelerator and the bicycle Sarah mangled when she ran into it while leaving the gas station....

More trains... The next stop was Varkala. Another beautiful little town (truly little this time) atop oceanside cliffs on the south western edge of the country. Our pictures just can't do this place justice. The plan was to only stay one night but we decided we needed two because of peacefulness of this place. We shopped (of course), sat on the beach, found a couple places with cheap drinks and good food. We have truly hit the touristy section of the country because prices have increased on us. We had to pay $6 each per night for our hotel! (which was right on the promonade which looked over the cliffs into the sunset). Buying peanut butter costs more than that!

And then, Alleppey. The houseboat. The backwaters which are a series of thousands of miles of rivers that stretch across most of southwestern India. This place again can only be marginally appreciated by the photos we take. We rented a boat out of a picture book we saw in Varkala. The agency then picked us up from our Varkala hotel, took us to the train station with our prearranged tickets, picked us up in Alleppey and, almost directly (you can always count on being lost for at least a few minutes) put us onto a two bedroom, wood and thatched houseboat, with a lounging area in front, and three staff members who carried our bags, cooked our meals, and took care of any other needs or wants we had! Needless to say, we arranged for a second night (smile). We sat in the sun, read books, took naps, played cards, ate amazing food (their fruit is fantastic!), and watched a movie (because the boat also has a full entertainment system). The crew docked us for the night in a spot where we could swim. Now, I never had considered actually getting into a river in India. Partly due to the hygiene issues and partly because my mind runs crazy with nightmares on creatures in the water I can't see. But we jumped anyway and I'm so glad we did. The water was warm, like the swimming pool in Phoenix in summertime. The second day we played catch with
each other and the crew from the boat a foam ball I bought at shore. Climbing out the second day was a bit more of an issue. We had to swim through several feet of African Father (I think is what the guy called it), basically river foliage which was long and thick and slimy. I was in the middle of wading through it when Sarah hit the start of it. I've never seen her move that fast. If you could sprint through water this is what she did. Apparently grossed out by the slimy stuff (which is kinda gross), she near ran me over, grabbed the log that was to be our ladder and hauled herself onto it in about 3 seconds. It should have taken 60. She's a determined one!
As long as I'm discussing Sarah, she is not fond of crawly things either. She had one of the crew members search her room for a cockroach the first night and the next night our entire crew came running when she screamed after a gecko fell from the ceiling directly into the middle of our card deck. Both events were well worth laughing over. I have since been looking forward to more of them (smile).

We woke up for the sunrise on the boat. Thats all I need to say.

Our most recent travel has been from Alleppey to Kochi (which is just an in between city for us on our ways to the beaches in Goa). This was not our best day. We took a bus which we took too far and had to pay a taxi driver to backtrack us to the hotel. Someone stole Sarah's scarfs out of her bag while we were on the bus. Not cool. We arrived at the hotel I had just called to inquire about vacancy and were given a room which was too expensive and too small. Tanja was going to sleep on the floor because there were only three beds. Nothing else available or cheaper near by they said. So we dropped off our stuff, signed in, and went to find lunch. On our way we found another place significantly cheaper and still in the good part of Fort Kochi. I stayed there and had a lovely chat with the woman giving us new rooms while Tanja and Sarah went to arrange to move from the other hotel. 20 minutes later they came back very upset. The staff at the first hotel had been so angry that we were leaving that they yelled at the two girls and demanded to speak with me because I had made the booking. Long story short... Sarah, Ellen and I went back, took a verbal beating for about an hour, I broke down in frantic tears, and we paid them a large fee for the hour and a half that our bags were in their room. Lessons learned here: they weren't bad guys (the staff at the first place). They just didn't want to lose money, understandably, and didn't want to get in trouble with their boss, also understandable. A culture difference that went over the top, as I can count on one hand the number of times in my life when someone's words to me have made me cry in front of them. I felt bad because I knew we hadn't honored our commitment. They felt bad because they knew their words were too much (Sarah had begun to tear up and left before she fell apart). Culture: they had to prove a point; we wanted a settlement. They wanted to know why we weren't honoring our reservation; we wanted to save some money. By the end it was not about money for either party. With sincerity, they would not accept the fee we wanted to pay for using the room, but we gave it anyway. Everyone was apologizing to each other when we left, though still a little shaken from the experience. We would never have even asked to leave if we knew what upheaval it would bring. Lessons learned, cultures accepted.

So today is a new day. Tomorrow we fly to Goa and spend a good week with the beach. And hopefully it won't be so long before I send updates again. We only have two weeks left!

Thanks everyone!

2008-02-21T07:07:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends! I just wanted to say a quick thank you to those who have been following with us and commenting on the blog. We both really enjoy it! I post 4 new ones just now so don't miss them. Love from India--- Nicole and Sarah

Varanasi

2008-02-21T06:59:00.000-08:00

Varanasi is amazing. Our hotel is near the main burning ghat. We walked down to it today and watched the body cremations for about an hour. They have been cremating bodies at this place 24 hours a day for over 3500 years. There is a temple near by where a continuous fire has been burning for that long as well. It is incredible. There is a very lengthy ritual that goes in the purification process of each body. They are first washed at the home with 7 natural substances (everything from honey to lotus oil). Then the body is wrapped in colorful cloth and foil. Gold, orange, red, and decorated with flowers. Then the men in the family take the body down to the Ganges on a bamboo stretcher. The closest male relative has already shave his entire head and face (like in Namesake) and is wearing all white. The body is dipped in the river for the final bathing. Then the body is taken to a individual wooden alter and more spices are poured on top. Then the man who has shaved himself for the ceremony goes to the temple near by and return with a stack of hay with a not coal on top. He and other men walk circles around the body. When the hay catches fire the man embeds it underneath the wood pile. The purchase price for the wood is between 150 and 340 rupees per kilogram (approx. US $4-$9 per kilo), depending on the type of wood. A total of 250 kilograms of wood is needed to burn one body. The body burns for 2-3hours. Some people are not burned. Holy men are not burned because they are already pure. Children are not burned because they are innocent. Pregnant women are not burned because they represent the mother goddess and because of their innocent unborn child. Instead their bodies are purified and then tied to large stones and sunk in the river.

We stood at this ghat for long time. The air is smokey and you can imagine the smell. We were standing on a building above the ghat. Watching the whole process with extremely moving and emotional. This has been going on constantly for centuries. It is a normal everyday scene and yet the scaredness of the situation was profound. My eyes burned and watered, partly from the smoke constantly blowing in my face, partly from the intense emotions triggered by the scene. The details began to stepped out in front of me. The dozens of flower garlands floating in the river. The enormous piles of wood stacked all around and the many barges full of wood in the water. The beginning of a flame on the man in white's stack of kindle. The look on the man's face. And another man's. His bare feet. There are only men. The crashing of fire wood being tossed down from high stacks. The crackle of fire. The smell in the air. The ash blown onto my shirt.

This place, Varanasi, is intense, dirty, beautiful, sacred, other-worldly. I look at it and love it each time. I really do feel like I am finally here, in India. Getting on the train yesterday, getting into the auto rickshaw to the hostel, walking through the city's narrow alleys and then down the steps of the ghats. Now I feel here in my spirit and soul. It is incredible.

Last night in Faridabad and then trains, trains, and trains

2008-02-21T06:32:00.000-08:00

On Sarah and I's last night in Faridabad (where we are volunteering) our host mom, Reena (who is 27) and her sister (23 years old) dressed up in Indian clothes. And I mean everything. The Indian suit, earrings, necklaces, heals, and bindis. They even gave each of us a set of wrist bangles that I will not be able to take off without breaking my wrist (but they are beautiful). We went out for a special dinner and then the 4 of us stayed up until 2am talking and finishing off a forty of scotch wiskey. So much fun!

The train ride to Varanasi was a great experience. We were fortunate to have plenty of space in our section. They bring chai and snacks down the isle about every 20-30 minutes. You can also open the train car doors and hang out the side (a bit of a risk when street poles are too close to the tracks--- just keep your eyes forward). And aside from the few dozen cockroaches which live in the walls, the squat toilets that are simply a hole which dumps onto the tracks below, 16 hour ride was delightful! (The roaches tend to keep to themselves and you get used to the toilets-- an sore thighs.... (smile)).

Unclaimed

2008-02-21T06:09:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend a baby was born prematurely and sent to Kalra Child Care Centre where we are volunteering. The baby is 27 weeks gestation and just over 1kg. He is breathing on his own with supportive oxygen but the doctors here say he will likely need ventilation eventually and likely experience other complications, of course. To disturb the situation further, he has been abandoned by his family. They gave him up because he is too small and they are unwilling/unable to pay for his care. They will give him to anyone. But there is no one. The little sweetheart probably will not survive. This is the hardest reality we have encountered so far on this trip. Abandoned human beings. And always for reasons outside of their own control. Deformity, insanity, helplessness, caste too low,..... I was never nieve to these realities. But touching Reality's small little hands and watching his rapid paradoxical breathing hits deep in the soul. Praying for Sovereign Kindness for this child.
Speaking of prayers (and answers). The baby in a previous entry is improving wonderfully and going home tomorrow (smile).

Elephant rides in Jaipur

2008-02-21T05:45:00.000-08:00

We visited the Amber fort in Jaipur on Saturday and got to have elephant rides. It was an interesting arrangement actually as apparently it is illegal to have an elephant in the area of town they decided to ride us through. So the event was short and a little sketchy as they would try to rush the elephant in a different direction if they heard police sirens. Memorable anyway.

That night we went to a fun restaurant, The Spice Court. They had wonderful Indian dancers and music for entertainment (though difficult to hear at times over the fireworks at the wedding across the street). At one point in the evening they came to part where they approach the audience to have a dance with them. Of course it is our table and as my other friends (Sarah, Ellen and Jack) chickened out, I decided to go for it. So I made a fool of my self spinning and trying desparately to follow the Indian girls moves. Why do I do these things??? Anyway, you will all have to wait for that picture as Sarah's camera got the only photos because my camera battery died just before it was my turn. Can't hook her's up to the computer. Oh darn....

Steps in determining the necessity of a shower...

2008-02-14T03:47:00.000-08:00

In the US:
~What time do I have to wake Up?
~Do I have enough time to blow dry and straighten my hair afterward?
~Has it been 24-48 hours?
In India:
~Can I find "the bucket"? (aka: "the shower")
~Will my feet fit in the bucket? (or do I have to stand on the cold cement floor)
~Will this take longer than 4 minutes? (because if there is hot water, that is the maximum amount of time it will last)
~Do I have enough body heat to maintain my body temperature for the next 4 1/2 minutes? (allowing 30 seconds to undress and towel off afterward, of course.)
~Can the little boy who lives in the house push the bathroom door open during my "shower" if he pushes hard enough? (I don't doubt he could.)
~Seeing as I simply dump the bucket of water on the bathroom floor to drain (there is no contained shower area), will it all leak under the door into the living room? (Oh wait! I can use the squeegy to guide the water toward the drain.)
~Will there be any hot water? (Doubtful. And still 60 degrees in the house...)
~Will there be enough hot water left to fill my hot water bottle for bed? (This being my best hope for warmth during the night.)
~When did I shower last? (Because who really needs to bathe more than once per week?)

All that said... We showered last night. It was an event.

Hot water bottles and PB&J

2008-02-13T02:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Sarah and I walked by the chemist and asked if he had any hot water bottles. I told him we would take two. This probably been the most exciting purchase of the trip thus far. We told them to our house, filled them from the scalding hot water tap and spent the next two hours (and then all night) rolling the bottles over our feet under the covers. Sarah was almost in tears with relief and I couldn't agree more. All of you should truly enjoy being warm and the fact that old-fashioned rubber pink hot water bottles aren't the high light of your week (smile).

We are also to the point where familiar foods are in want. Every time we go to the market we come back with snacks. Diet coke, peanut butter, gummy bears, yogurt, chips, Oreos.... I haven't eaten so much junk food in my life.

We spent a good amount of time holding premature babies in the nursury today. One little boy is only 1.5kg at 18 days old. Tiny little thing. The kids we see have come with a variety of infections, asthma flare-ups, and congenital abnormalities but a common thread weaves through them all: malnutrition. Two year olds the size of 6 month olds. 5kgs underweight; 10 kgs underweight.... And I'm being feed ample, delicious meals and snacking on cookies, eating more than I usually do at home in the States. I don't really know how to react. It doesn't seem there is much I can do. We just live in two different worlds. Scared parents bring in their scared children and what can be done is offerred. They are resilient. They seem hopeful and yet accepting of the situations that become them. And push forward to survive. Our 1.5kg premie is being weaned off oxygen and is due for discharge some time in the next week. Praying for his resilience to continue.

One week down

2008-02-12T02:10:00.000-08:00

So its been a week since I've been able to sit down and update this thing. And a week is a lot of time in India. Here is how it breaks down...

Last week, sight seeing around Dehli. We saw Qutb Minar, the Lotus temple, and Humayan's tomb, the Red Fort, the Gate of India, and the Raj Ghat. I'm still not sure what the history is behind the first monument. The lotus temple really looks like a lotus flower openning. And Humayan's tomb was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. I don't know much about the history of the Red Fort but we did some fantastic shopping there! The Raj Ghat is where Mahatma Ghandi and Indira Ghandi we cremated, I believe. If I have already bored you with these bland descriptions hopefully you'll be able to see a little more flavor in the several unfortunate, and odd, circumstances we found ourselves in these days...

So, we've had a driver take us everywhere. Driving is aggressive here but he takes it to the next level. He has faithfully brought us to each destination in one peice. Here are a few of our adventures with our driver... 1) him leaving the car with the engine still running and we began to role down the slop we were on. Sarah, smart one she is, lurched forward from the back seat to grab the emergency break while our friend Jack, sitting in the front, was trying to reach for the floor break. 2) Inbetween sites one day he took us "shopping". We pulled into a dirt lot and were directed into a building and up a flight of stairs to a room with floor-to-ceiling saris and shalls and everything else and told to sit down and listen to the sellers. Unfortunate for our driver he got no commission as we were not about to buy anything on this surprise trip. 3) On the way to the Taj Mahal (which was the ride from hell, throughout which I had to ride with my head on my knees to keep from losing my breakfast all over the car) we pulled over at a very busy truck-stop type area. Then he left. Who knows where he went but we were immediately swarmed by a half dozen touts trying to get us to buy everything from necklaces with pictures with a tetherred monkey. He came back after about 15 minutes. We've decided he's got a few sketchy jobs on the side. Weasel.

Speaking of the Taj Mahal... A wonderful place. We drove 4 car-sick hours to get there but it really is beautiful. Its huge, white, amazingly kept, lovely grounds with park benches to sit on and fountains throughout. It was a perfect day with a blue sky and the sun shinning. Well worth the effort.

Rajan also took us to McDonalds and a Hindi movie. Bollywood puts out over 400 movies a year, 2 1/2 to 3 hours in length, all with original music. It was a fun experience despite the language barrier. And McDonalds tasted exactly as it does in the States. It was a welcome familiarity even for those of us who tend to avoid the stuff.

This one is especially for all those at Good Sam, especially you Denise (smile). On Sunday Sarah and I were able to participate in the first ever breast cancer walk in Delhi. We saw the walk advertised earlier in the week and decided it would be an interesting experience. About 2,000 people showed up, some Indian but mostly ex-pats (about 30%:70%). We walked the perimeter of a major block in the government district which was no more than 1 1/2 miles at a leisurely pace. But a historic event none-the-less. Several officials presided, several were breast cancer survivors. David and Jeanie Mulford, the US ambassador and his wife (also a survivor), were also there and Sarah and I got to meet and take a picture with them. Cancer gets low recognition in the medical world here and thus cancer treatment is on the back burner. They just don't have the resources to care for people. So it was nice to see this event and its sponsorors working to promote awareness and raise $$ to fight for the cause.

Now we are in Faridabad, a city about 40 minutes outside Delhi. We've been placed in a children's hospital for our volunteer time. So far we've been doing am rounds with the doctors, seeing their patients, holding babies in the nursury, and finding incredible language barriers (and the awkward situations that accompany them). Its cold and there's no heat (approx 60 degrees inside the concrete buildings), no privacy, and its a step above poor hygiene. But the doctors here are wonderful. Very committed, knowledgeable, and involved. I find that I feel more in the way than usful as their system is already complete. But I am greatful for the experience none-the-less. Greatful for a great many things.

We are fortunate to be staying with the local coordinator's brother and his family. The coordinator has a 6 year old daughter who I believe is smarter than I am and the brother has a 2 year old baby boy. They are both delightful and make me happy to be staying with a family. We are cared for, feed, driven, and all but tucked into bed. While driving around in the seamingly chaotic city streets it might be easy to miss the fact that this culture and these people are truly... I'm having trouble thinking of the right word to describe what it is. But we have been welcomed everywhere. And yes there is much chaos. But Sarah says, "When in Rome...". I'll try to come up with a better description and 'll get back to you....

Thanks for reading.

Men = Men anywhere

2008-02-05T01:32:00.000-08:00

So tomorrow we are going sight seeing. We students (three of us girls) are very excited. We asked Rajan if we could shop in some traditional markets as well. At that request Rajan, with a deer-in-the-headlights type stare, told us that we would then be going on our outing with another driver. "This shopping is fun for you but its no fun for me. I cannot go. No, no."

So to confirm, not surprisingly, men of all countries and cultures share similar likes, and dislikes....

We are here!

2008-02-04T01:23:00.000-08:00

So we have arrived! Travel was long but not bad (except for about an hour of tossing-you-out-of-your-seat turbulance over Michigan--- I filled an airline bag with a good 500mL during that experience). But India... We have spent our first weekend here in Dehli. Nothing too exotic yet. Just been lounging around the apartment where our volunteer "school" houses, feeds, and teaches us. Our class today was a briefing on Indian history and culture (a safe place to get our very ignorant questions answered (smile)). We will have language lessons (Hindi), sightseeing days, and I believe we are going to a Hindi movie on Thursday.

Rajan, our instructor/driver/coordinator/problem solver/fixer of all the things we get wrong, is great. Sarah and I decided we wanted to get cell phones--- an endevour that we spent approximately 6 hours over 2 days accomplishing. Needless to say, on the 2nd day, Rajan packed us into his car and basically got the job done for us in a fraction of the time (hence the problem solver/fixer title). Last night the TV wouldn't work. Rajan was out on an errand so I called him to ask what we were doing wrong. He laughed and told me to push the buttom on front, "the one that says 'power'". Obviously we had tried this but at that point Sarah and I were pretty sure Rajan is thinking he got a dumb batch of volunteers this round. So we are the bad batch who can't work the TV, can't find/buy cell phones, spilled the yogurt, took two hours to find the bank to exchange $ at (we wandered around the same small shopping center for a long long time trying to do this), and every time we try to plug an appliance into the wall the outlet goes bad. Rajan has been very gracious... I'll leave it at that. Except for one more... not 5 minutes after we leave the airport (at 5am) Sarah decides to repond to a few guys' "greeting" with "Hi, I'm good. How are you?" and they nearly followed us to the car. We have learned much since then and decided that in future situations we suddenly don't speak English.

We have already meet several other travelers and are enjoying our time. It is probably 55 degrees in the apartment so we walk around in blankets but the food is fantastic, we have at least 5 minutes of hot water for a shower (each!), and we new friends already. Not bad. We miss all of you at home. But we will try to keep in touch as much as possible. Thanks for all you emails already and sorry I've been so late to get this blog site out. But we are thinking of you all, love you all.

Nicole and Sarah

Set to leave

2008-01-10T04:44:00.000-08:00

Its been a year since I've been out of the country and I am feeling well past time to wander again. My friend, Sarah, and I leave for India on January 31st, 2008. First stop... Dehli. After being there for about 3 weeks in a medical volunteering program we will head off to explore as much as we can get to for the following 3 weeks. Maybe go east, maybe west, maybe south, maybe some of each. See where destiny takes us.

These journeys are part of what makes my heart beat. To wander through a place that is not my own, not even close. Somehow I always feel more like myself; like I can see more of myself when I see more of the world we live in. The experience makes me feel organic and limitless and small and humble and thankful. Very thankful. And my soul gets filled up.

I'll try to keep up with this blog to let everyone know we are fine and having a good time. But I'll leave updates of our challenges too. Try to give you the whole picture. Think of us-- we'd would appreciate that! Pray for us-- we'd appreciate that too!