Saturday, June 27, 2009
Amritsar, etc.
Hello all,
It's been a really busy past couple of weeks, so it's been hard to find time to update here, so this is just going to be one giant super-post so that I get you all caught up on what I've been doing. Work at my Anganwadi has been going really well... It's really interesting to see the interactions between all of the women, as well as to watch how the children behave within themselves. I don't think I was made for a career in young childhood education as I find it gets a little bit tedious and boring just playing with blocks and singing songs all day, but I'm definitely having a lot of fun with it for now, and so many of these kids are starved of that sort of interactive learning. My Anganwadi worker is rarely there, so it's mostly just me and the kids most of the time, which is actually pretty great. It definitely gives me the freedom to do the activities I want to with them, without feeling like I'm being judged for being quirky or spending too much time on art projects :)
About a week we had a traditional Himachali evening at our home base (Himachal is the state we're in right now), which was so much fun. All the female members of our staff dressed us up in Sarees and traditional dress, and we ate the traditional food and learned some of the dances from the area. That was so much fun, and it was even more fun to see everyone all fancy with tons of bangles, and makeup and bindis, so... look for pictures of that.
The other interns and I had a meeting at and a tour of a Governmental High School, which was really very interesting. That was one of my favorite things we've gotten to do so far, and it was really fascinating to hear about their high school experience here in comparison with our High Schools in the States. We saw one of the classes, and it was really different because while the school is co-ed, the classrooms are divided by sex so all the boys sit on one side of the class and all the girls sit on the other. It's also really interesting to see the uniforms they're required to wear because they're sort a combination of the traditional salwar kameez and a British private school uniform... but there, I guess, is another example of the effects of colonialism on the culture here.
I also got food poisoning last week, which was not so much fun, and actually ended up having my very first hospital experience ever in a rural Indian hospital which was... interesting, to say the least. No worrying... it was nothing serious, but they're just very careful when it comes to food poisoning here because it's so common because it's so hot here in the summer, and therefore one of the main summer causes of death is dehydration. Mostly we just had to sit around in this hospital all day getting iv fluid pumped into us, until they told us that they wanted to admit us over night, and we flat-out refused. So then we had to go through this whole legal process of removing them from legal responsibility if anything happened while we were out of the hospital, because they wouldn't discharge us so we were still technically patients. It was definitely an interesting experience, but one that I'm not hoping to have again any time soon.
After the hospital fiasco, I managed to make it to Amritsar for the weekend which is up in Punjab along the Pakistan border. We made it to the border JUST in time to witness the closing ceremony, which they perform every night and was one of the weirder experiences I've had yet. It was seriously like a football game, with one set of bleachers on the India side of the border, and one set of bleachers on the Pakistan side of the border, with all the guards in their fancy outfits trying to outdo the other side with intricate steps, marching, and high-kicks. It was just... a very surreal experience. The thing that I found the most interesting was that regardless of the tensions between these two countries, this border ceremony is completely choreographed and arranged together between the two countries. They both do the same thing in their little dance-y things, and they're wearing matching outfits in different colors. There were cheers where the MC guy would should "HINDUSTAN" and the crowd would shout "ZINDABAR" (meaning long live India), and answering cheers which came from the Pakistani side. It was just so different from anything I've ever experienced before, including the fact that simply for being white we got to sit in the VIP section of the bleachers. Leaving the ceremony and returning to where our cab was parked also clued us in to how we were going to be treated that weekend. I was travelling with my friend Emily, and both of us are well... very very pale white. We had been warned that in this region there aren't very many white tourists who come there, and many of the people in Punjab have never seen someone our color in their life, so we were going to get harrassed more there than anywhere we had been yet. But... even that gave us no clue of how much attention we were going to draw. Walking those few hundred meters we must have gotten asked to be in about fifty pictures with families, young women and men, and children. I've never felt so much a celebrity in my life, and honestly... I never want to be famous. It was just too much. I was asked to marry about eight different people, told that I was the most beautiful woman in the world; the ultimate in beauty, I believe was the exact phrase used, and asked to hold and take pictures with so many babies it was absolutely ridiculous. I mean, I understand why. In this country, the perception is the exact opposite of ours in that being tan is not a good thing. The desire here is to be as pale as possible; and example of this would be that they don't sell self-tanner, but skin lightening lotion. So, when they see people like us, we just literally are the ultimate in beauty.
So, once we left the border and re-entered the city of Amritsar, we went to the Golden Temple because we wanted to see it at nighttime. It was really just, absolutely gorgeous. I don't think any of the pictures I took can really do it justice. Here, we still got stared at a lot, but not harrassed quite as much, or at least so we thought until we got back in the morning and got in line in an attempt to actually go inside the temple. This experience was... well, honestly, kind of gross. So we're waiting in this huge line at 4:30AM when the temple opens because we want to see it at sunrise, and you can go inside the walls of the temple complex no problem, and see the temple itself and the surrounding lake and the marble walkway, but to actually get inside the temple you have to wait in this giant line of Sikh pilgrims. So we're in this line, and there's absolutely no sense of personal space, and these two young men behind us start getting really touchy feely towards parts of us that I would usually smack someone for getting fresh with, but we're completely compacted into this line so we can't even move. After literally about twenty minutes of this, I give up, elbow the two men in an area that they definitely didn't want to be elbowed in and just ploughed my way out of that line. It was just... It's too bad that I didn't get to see the inside of the temple, but I don't think I could have stood another hour and a half in that line. However, it was still really great to see the temple and to witness the mass of pilgrims that make their way to this temple every single day.
Amritsar was hotter than anything I had experienced up until that point, and it was such a good thing that we had been advised to both get an air-conditioned taxi as well as an air-conditioned hotel room. We also went to go see Jallianwala Bagh which was the site of a huge massacre leading up to the revolution. It was a really interesting place to see, and it was kind of morbidly fascinating to be able to see the bullet holes in the walls of the garden, but we had to leave pretty fast due to a combination of the heat and the inability to actually soak up any of the history because we were being followed around by large groups of people who stopped us every five feet to ask for "just one snap!" (aka take a picture with me!). It was... sweet, I guess but we could only take so much of it so we headed back towards to hotel, stopping on the way to get some shopping done but eventually just getting out of the heat and the staring as quickly as possible.
This past week the six-week people left, and now there's only Meredith and I left from the original group of people that we came with. I don't see anything too big coming up in the next week and a half, and mostly I'm just starting to really look forward to coming back home pretty soon.
It is, however, supposed to be monsoon season here, and yet it's only rained once in the past three weeks and everyone is starting to get really worried. The electricty here is hydro-electric, and we're down to about 7 days of power left in the dam, so.... We're hoping it's going to start raining soon. Mostly it's just unbearably hot to a level that even the people here aren't used to, and it's getting concerning because people's agricultural work is failing due to the complete drought that we're experiencing right now. We're hoping that it's going to rain sometime this week, but who really knows so... Keep your fingers crossed for us.
We also had a meeting at the Government Ayurvedic Hospital which was a really interesting experience as well. This is basically a hospital which offers an alternative to modern medicine, and instead they treat less serious cases (usually of chronic pain, like arthritis) through natural herbal remedies.
Not much else to say... Just, again, hoping it's going to rain and break the heat, because it's getting hotter every day and honestly 120F gets a little bit unbearable after about an hour.
More later :)
It's been a really busy past couple of weeks, so it's been hard to find time to update here, so this is just going to be one giant super-post so that I get you all caught up on what I've been doing. Work at my Anganwadi has been going really well... It's really interesting to see the interactions between all of the women, as well as to watch how the children behave within themselves. I don't think I was made for a career in young childhood education as I find it gets a little bit tedious and boring just playing with blocks and singing songs all day, but I'm definitely having a lot of fun with it for now, and so many of these kids are starved of that sort of interactive learning. My Anganwadi worker is rarely there, so it's mostly just me and the kids most of the time, which is actually pretty great. It definitely gives me the freedom to do the activities I want to with them, without feeling like I'm being judged for being quirky or spending too much time on art projects :)
About a week we had a traditional Himachali evening at our home base (Himachal is the state we're in right now), which was so much fun. All the female members of our staff dressed us up in Sarees and traditional dress, and we ate the traditional food and learned some of the dances from the area. That was so much fun, and it was even more fun to see everyone all fancy with tons of bangles, and makeup and bindis, so... look for pictures of that.
The other interns and I had a meeting at and a tour of a Governmental High School, which was really very interesting. That was one of my favorite things we've gotten to do so far, and it was really fascinating to hear about their high school experience here in comparison with our High Schools in the States. We saw one of the classes, and it was really different because while the school is co-ed, the classrooms are divided by sex so all the boys sit on one side of the class and all the girls sit on the other. It's also really interesting to see the uniforms they're required to wear because they're sort a combination of the traditional salwar kameez and a British private school uniform... but there, I guess, is another example of the effects of colonialism on the culture here.
I also got food poisoning last week, which was not so much fun, and actually ended up having my very first hospital experience ever in a rural Indian hospital which was... interesting, to say the least. No worrying... it was nothing serious, but they're just very careful when it comes to food poisoning here because it's so common because it's so hot here in the summer, and therefore one of the main summer causes of death is dehydration. Mostly we just had to sit around in this hospital all day getting iv fluid pumped into us, until they told us that they wanted to admit us over night, and we flat-out refused. So then we had to go through this whole legal process of removing them from legal responsibility if anything happened while we were out of the hospital, because they wouldn't discharge us so we were still technically patients. It was definitely an interesting experience, but one that I'm not hoping to have again any time soon.
After the hospital fiasco, I managed to make it to Amritsar for the weekend which is up in Punjab along the Pakistan border. We made it to the border JUST in time to witness the closing ceremony, which they perform every night and was one of the weirder experiences I've had yet. It was seriously like a football game, with one set of bleachers on the India side of the border, and one set of bleachers on the Pakistan side of the border, with all the guards in their fancy outfits trying to outdo the other side with intricate steps, marching, and high-kicks. It was just... a very surreal experience. The thing that I found the most interesting was that regardless of the tensions between these two countries, this border ceremony is completely choreographed and arranged together between the two countries. They both do the same thing in their little dance-y things, and they're wearing matching outfits in different colors. There were cheers where the MC guy would should "HINDUSTAN" and the crowd would shout "ZINDABAR" (meaning long live India), and answering cheers which came from the Pakistani side. It was just so different from anything I've ever experienced before, including the fact that simply for being white we got to sit in the VIP section of the bleachers. Leaving the ceremony and returning to where our cab was parked also clued us in to how we were going to be treated that weekend. I was travelling with my friend Emily, and both of us are well... very very pale white. We had been warned that in this region there aren't very many white tourists who come there, and many of the people in Punjab have never seen someone our color in their life, so we were going to get harrassed more there than anywhere we had been yet. But... even that gave us no clue of how much attention we were going to draw. Walking those few hundred meters we must have gotten asked to be in about fifty pictures with families, young women and men, and children. I've never felt so much a celebrity in my life, and honestly... I never want to be famous. It was just too much. I was asked to marry about eight different people, told that I was the most beautiful woman in the world; the ultimate in beauty, I believe was the exact phrase used, and asked to hold and take pictures with so many babies it was absolutely ridiculous. I mean, I understand why. In this country, the perception is the exact opposite of ours in that being tan is not a good thing. The desire here is to be as pale as possible; and example of this would be that they don't sell self-tanner, but skin lightening lotion. So, when they see people like us, we just literally are the ultimate in beauty.
So, once we left the border and re-entered the city of Amritsar, we went to the Golden Temple because we wanted to see it at nighttime. It was really just, absolutely gorgeous. I don't think any of the pictures I took can really do it justice. Here, we still got stared at a lot, but not harrassed quite as much, or at least so we thought until we got back in the morning and got in line in an attempt to actually go inside the temple. This experience was... well, honestly, kind of gross. So we're waiting in this huge line at 4:30AM when the temple opens because we want to see it at sunrise, and you can go inside the walls of the temple complex no problem, and see the temple itself and the surrounding lake and the marble walkway, but to actually get inside the temple you have to wait in this giant line of Sikh pilgrims. So we're in this line, and there's absolutely no sense of personal space, and these two young men behind us start getting really touchy feely towards parts of us that I would usually smack someone for getting fresh with, but we're completely compacted into this line so we can't even move. After literally about twenty minutes of this, I give up, elbow the two men in an area that they definitely didn't want to be elbowed in and just ploughed my way out of that line. It was just... It's too bad that I didn't get to see the inside of the temple, but I don't think I could have stood another hour and a half in that line. However, it was still really great to see the temple and to witness the mass of pilgrims that make their way to this temple every single day.
Amritsar was hotter than anything I had experienced up until that point, and it was such a good thing that we had been advised to both get an air-conditioned taxi as well as an air-conditioned hotel room. We also went to go see Jallianwala Bagh which was the site of a huge massacre leading up to the revolution. It was a really interesting place to see, and it was kind of morbidly fascinating to be able to see the bullet holes in the walls of the garden, but we had to leave pretty fast due to a combination of the heat and the inability to actually soak up any of the history because we were being followed around by large groups of people who stopped us every five feet to ask for "just one snap!" (aka take a picture with me!). It was... sweet, I guess but we could only take so much of it so we headed back towards to hotel, stopping on the way to get some shopping done but eventually just getting out of the heat and the staring as quickly as possible.
This past week the six-week people left, and now there's only Meredith and I left from the original group of people that we came with. I don't see anything too big coming up in the next week and a half, and mostly I'm just starting to really look forward to coming back home pretty soon.
It is, however, supposed to be monsoon season here, and yet it's only rained once in the past three weeks and everyone is starting to get really worried. The electricty here is hydro-electric, and we're down to about 7 days of power left in the dam, so.... We're hoping it's going to start raining soon. Mostly it's just unbearably hot to a level that even the people here aren't used to, and it's getting concerning because people's agricultural work is failing due to the complete drought that we're experiencing right now. We're hoping that it's going to rain sometime this week, but who really knows so... Keep your fingers crossed for us.
We also had a meeting at the Government Ayurvedic Hospital which was a really interesting experience as well. This is basically a hospital which offers an alternative to modern medicine, and instead they treat less serious cases (usually of chronic pain, like arthritis) through natural herbal remedies.
Not much else to say... Just, again, hoping it's going to rain and break the heat, because it's getting hotter every day and honestly 120F gets a little bit unbearable after about an hour.
More later :)
Friday, June 12, 2009
Sorry!
Hello all,
I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Things have been ridiculous busy here, and I've mostly been trying to catch up on sleep during my free time. Last week was my last week at my primary school, and this week has been my first week at an Anganwadi (something sort of like a daycare). The Anganwadis are basically daycare plus for both children and mothers, and are funded by UNICEF and run by the Indian Government. The purpose is not only to give the kids (between the ages of 1.5 and 3) a foundation for their primary school education, but also to acquaint them with social and emotional skills, and to give their mother's a break so they can do the things that they need to do with their day. In addition to this childcare element to the Anganwadis, they also have a women's empowerment aspect in which women can come and spend time with other women from their village, and work on their English, and the Anganwadi workers help them with banking and medication and contraception, as well as the facilities provide lunch for both the children, mothers, and pregnant women. It's a really interesting idea, and I'm enjoying talking to all of the mothers, as well as getting to spend my days playing with these kids :)
Not this past weekend, but the weekend before, we went to a town called Manali, which is about a seven hour drive North of Dharamsala. I'll say this much--I never get car sick, but this time I did. That drive was absolutely terrifying, and I never want to experience something like that again. Take Indian driving... which consists of never using the brakes, and only using the horn and flashing your highbeams in order to let people know that you're coming, and add that to single lane roads winding around mountains, surrounded by both extreme cliffs crashing into a rapid-y river, and cliffs looking up towards highly landslide prone boulders... Goooood times. Not only do you have the windy cliff roads of death, but you have a tunnel that must be at least twice the length of the Holland Tunnel cutting underneath the mountiain, with a complete lack of any type of ventilation system. But... Manali was worth it. It was much cooler there... I was actually fairly freezing the entire time I was there, which was definitely a nice break from the constantly humidity and heat we have here. We saw a temple which still practices blood rituals, and I got to hold a lamb, and there were yaks everywhere that you could pay to sit on to get your picture taken. We did some shopping, and went to a good Italian place for dinner, and just had a good time enjoying some western food, and amazing views. On the way home (on yet again... the windy death drive), we stopped to spend about an hour white-water rafting which was so much fun. Although... It was a little bit gross when the completely clear river we were rafting in, the Beas, merged with another river and we saw a dead cow carass in the river, and then from then on the river was completley brown and smelled like... well... you know... :-/ All in all it was a really fun weekend, and I'm so glad we ended up going because the following week all of our 3-weekers left us to go back home, so it was a nice time for us to spend together before they all left.
The week before we went to Manali, we went on some pretty cool excursions. One of these excursions took us to the capital of the exiled Tibetan government, where we went to the Tibetan library in order to discuss the situation in Tibet with the director of the library. He was so cool, and actually had been the Dalai Lama's interpretter for 15 years before he started working to preserve Tibetan culture through this institution. He was a very interesting man, and had a lot of really insightful things to say, so that was a really interesting discussion to have.
We also stopped by the Norblingka Institute which works to preserve Tibetan culture, and saw many of the traditional crafts of Tibet, and watched people make different things, and got to look around in their store where they sell the items they make there. The institute was amazingly gorgeous, with water and trees everywhere, and this absolutely amazing Buddhist temple, with the most incredible artwork I've seen yet.
In addition, we met with the director of the Anganwadis this past week, and got to talk to her and ask her questions about their procedures, and their shortcomings, and their training, and anything that we were interested in. The project is really a very interesting idea, especially when juxtaposed with the pre-school/daycare system in our own country. The kids are really sweet, and I think that at least at my Anganwadi, the workers really care about the kids and the women, and are actually very interested in giving them the foundation for their primary education that is necessary. I think in seeing the educational state that many of the children are in in the primary schools, I'm going to focus a lot on teaching these kids the very basics in order to better prepare them for when they do transfer into the higher schools in a year or two.
Ok, that's all for now, but if I remember anything, I'll post again and add to this one.
Much love :)
I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Things have been ridiculous busy here, and I've mostly been trying to catch up on sleep during my free time. Last week was my last week at my primary school, and this week has been my first week at an Anganwadi (something sort of like a daycare). The Anganwadis are basically daycare plus for both children and mothers, and are funded by UNICEF and run by the Indian Government. The purpose is not only to give the kids (between the ages of 1.5 and 3) a foundation for their primary school education, but also to acquaint them with social and emotional skills, and to give their mother's a break so they can do the things that they need to do with their day. In addition to this childcare element to the Anganwadis, they also have a women's empowerment aspect in which women can come and spend time with other women from their village, and work on their English, and the Anganwadi workers help them with banking and medication and contraception, as well as the facilities provide lunch for both the children, mothers, and pregnant women. It's a really interesting idea, and I'm enjoying talking to all of the mothers, as well as getting to spend my days playing with these kids :)
Not this past weekend, but the weekend before, we went to a town called Manali, which is about a seven hour drive North of Dharamsala. I'll say this much--I never get car sick, but this time I did. That drive was absolutely terrifying, and I never want to experience something like that again. Take Indian driving... which consists of never using the brakes, and only using the horn and flashing your highbeams in order to let people know that you're coming, and add that to single lane roads winding around mountains, surrounded by both extreme cliffs crashing into a rapid-y river, and cliffs looking up towards highly landslide prone boulders... Goooood times. Not only do you have the windy cliff roads of death, but you have a tunnel that must be at least twice the length of the Holland Tunnel cutting underneath the mountiain, with a complete lack of any type of ventilation system. But... Manali was worth it. It was much cooler there... I was actually fairly freezing the entire time I was there, which was definitely a nice break from the constantly humidity and heat we have here. We saw a temple which still practices blood rituals, and I got to hold a lamb, and there were yaks everywhere that you could pay to sit on to get your picture taken. We did some shopping, and went to a good Italian place for dinner, and just had a good time enjoying some western food, and amazing views. On the way home (on yet again... the windy death drive), we stopped to spend about an hour white-water rafting which was so much fun. Although... It was a little bit gross when the completely clear river we were rafting in, the Beas, merged with another river and we saw a dead cow carass in the river, and then from then on the river was completley brown and smelled like... well... you know... :-/ All in all it was a really fun weekend, and I'm so glad we ended up going because the following week all of our 3-weekers left us to go back home, so it was a nice time for us to spend together before they all left.
The week before we went to Manali, we went on some pretty cool excursions. One of these excursions took us to the capital of the exiled Tibetan government, where we went to the Tibetan library in order to discuss the situation in Tibet with the director of the library. He was so cool, and actually had been the Dalai Lama's interpretter for 15 years before he started working to preserve Tibetan culture through this institution. He was a very interesting man, and had a lot of really insightful things to say, so that was a really interesting discussion to have.
We also stopped by the Norblingka Institute which works to preserve Tibetan culture, and saw many of the traditional crafts of Tibet, and watched people make different things, and got to look around in their store where they sell the items they make there. The institute was amazingly gorgeous, with water and trees everywhere, and this absolutely amazing Buddhist temple, with the most incredible artwork I've seen yet.
In addition, we met with the director of the Anganwadis this past week, and got to talk to her and ask her questions about their procedures, and their shortcomings, and their training, and anything that we were interested in. The project is really a very interesting idea, especially when juxtaposed with the pre-school/daycare system in our own country. The kids are really sweet, and I think that at least at my Anganwadi, the workers really care about the kids and the women, and are actually very interested in giving them the foundation for their primary education that is necessary. I think in seeing the educational state that many of the children are in in the primary schools, I'm going to focus a lot on teaching these kids the very basics in order to better prepare them for when they do transfer into the higher schools in a year or two.
Ok, that's all for now, but if I remember anything, I'll post again and add to this one.
Much love :)
Monday, June 8, 2009
Long post soon...
So so busy... sorry for the lack of communication... I just posted new photos on the same site as before (click the link below... They're in an album called "Dharamsala Weeks 2 & 3). I'll update my blog hopefully either later today or tomorrow.
Much love to all :)
Much love to all :)
Monday, May 25, 2009
First week...
Hello guys,
So, the first week in Dharamsala is officially over, and it's seriously been super busy here. We left Delhi last Monday, and since this country seems to have less than a strict sense of time, our flight up here was, of course, an hour late for no real reason. We flew up here in this tiny little prop plane, but the flight was only an hour, and we mostly just chatted and looked at scenery the whole way up. The houses are great, and wireless internet is (usually) accessible in the main house, so you are always welcome to email me since I seem to be a little bit sketchy at keeping up with the blogging.
My placement is teaching first through fifth grade at a governmental primary school called Cheelgari. It's been... well... challenging to say the least. The teaching system is very much based on route learning, which consists of repetition and memorization with really no regard for comprehension. Because of this, none of the kids are where they're supposed to be in their knowledge of English, and therefore I've had to re-separate them into two groups; those who know the ABCs and those who do not. I was supposed to be working there with one other girl, Kristie, but she switched her placement to a detox clinic which another one of our volunteers, Robby, was having a tough time working at. So, as of the beginning of last week, I was fairly certain that I was going to have to be working at the school alone, but another girl Maneesha decided she wanted to work with me after the women's group she teaches is done. So I teach the younger children (the ones who don't know the ABCs yet) early in the morning, and then she comes to the school and we jointly teach the older children (the ones who mostly know the ABCs and almost how to read and write... Soon :) ) This past week was difficult not only because there was absolutely no structure to the school, but also because most people here are still adjusting to the food and the temperature so pretty much everyone has been not feeling a hundred percent.
Other than volunteering, last week consisted of Hindi lessons to help us out at our placements, as well as just to acquaint us with the main language spoken in this area, as well as multiple trips to the market in order to get the traditional clothes that we're required to wear to our placements. It's really a very interesting experience going clothes shopping here... Mostly they don't sell ready-made clothes, so you have to get them tailored for you, which is actually the most fun thing ever. So you go into a fabric store, and pick out a fabric that you like (usually they come in sets for the pants (Salwar), the tunic (Kameez) and the scarf), and then either they do the stitching for you there and tell you to come pick up your outfit in anywhere from one to five days, or they send you to a tailor who will do the same thing for you. I've bought maybe 5 outfits, and only spent about $110 which is pretty amazing for custom-made outfits, right? :-D
On Saturday, we randomly looked out the window and there was just a forest fire raging on the mountain right next to us (we're in a valley) and it was really close and really big, but (apparently) it was controlled... Although I don't know how seeing as how there were absolutely no people on that mountain. Either way, it was kind of a weird but interesting experience, and definitely the closest I've ever been to the forest fire. That's just one of the amazing things about this place, no one was even phased in the slightest by the inferno that was burning on the hill right next to us. Driving here is another one of those things that I'll never understand. How people drive manual up and down hills like this just impresses me like nothing else, and here horns aren't a rude way of insulting, but just a precautionary measure to let anyone (cars, pedestrians, motorcycles, COWS...?) know that you're coming close to them, and that they might not want to get in your way. There's literally no speed limit within town, and there's not a section of the road which you cannot pass on (literally everything is a curve or a hill). Cows walking around is just completely commonplace here, and not surprising at all. Of course, cows are sacred in this culture, and we asked what would happen if you hit a cow while you were driving the other day, and they told us that apparently people come and beat the driver, so generally speaking if you do his a cow, then you should probably leave your vehicle and run. Cows wander everywhere, and don't really belong to anyone, because apparently it's really really bad for a cow to die in your care, so once the cows get old enough and stop giving milk, people just let them go so that they won't be responsible if/when the cow dies.
This past Sunday, we went on a day trip to a temple near our house, and then went for a picnic in the woods down by an absolutely amazing stream, to spend some time outside playing Cricket. The temple was absolutely amazing, and we got to go down by this river next to the temple where was this small little shrine tucked underneath this giant rock. However, our picnic was cut short by a thunderstorm, which then turned into a hailstorm wherein the hail was literally half the size of a golf-ball. It was absolutely insane... I've never seen anything like it, and it was actually kind of painful running back up to the cars through massively huge hail.
Later that night, we went to the nearby McLeod Ganj which is much more touristy than Dharamsala, but still a lot of fun. We did a little bit of souvenir shopping and had dinner at a western restaurant which was a lot of fun. We then took one of the sketchiest cab rides back home, but we ended up getting home alright right before curfew, and had a great night in general.
This week at my placement seems to have started off better, I'm gaining confidence I think. I brought my kids stickers today, and took pictures of them, both of which got them out of their shells a lot, and made them a lot more extroverted than they had been. I've had to slow down my lesson plans substantially, because they're so behind where the teachers at the school think they are. They're amazing at parrotting things back to you, but if you ask them to actually identify a letter, and the sound that accompanies it, without telling them, they have absolutely no idea what it is.
It's fairly obvious that monsoon season is just about upon us here, because there are pretty frequently thunderstorms which feel like the apolcalypse is coming, but is again, just one of those things that's completely commonplace here. The power goes out pretty frequently, but we're mostly used to that by now. It doesn't really matter that much because we just light candles and flashlights, and a bucket shower is literally always possible. A bucket shower, if you didn't know, is literally just a big bucket that you fill up with as much water as you need, and then you use a smaller bucket to dump that water over you in order to shower. Sound kind of awkward an uncomfortable? Aside from the fact that it's kind of cold to just stand there going in and out of hot water, it's actually a pretty fun experience, although one has to get used to never getting the conditioner out of their hair via bucket shower.
I should probably go and start working on worksheets for my kids, but when we go on more sightseeing or anything of note happens, I'll be sure to post again. And for the time being, I hope that you all are well and having great summers, and that you'll email me because I'm always glad to respond.
More soon :),
K
So, the first week in Dharamsala is officially over, and it's seriously been super busy here. We left Delhi last Monday, and since this country seems to have less than a strict sense of time, our flight up here was, of course, an hour late for no real reason. We flew up here in this tiny little prop plane, but the flight was only an hour, and we mostly just chatted and looked at scenery the whole way up. The houses are great, and wireless internet is (usually) accessible in the main house, so you are always welcome to email me since I seem to be a little bit sketchy at keeping up with the blogging.
My placement is teaching first through fifth grade at a governmental primary school called Cheelgari. It's been... well... challenging to say the least. The teaching system is very much based on route learning, which consists of repetition and memorization with really no regard for comprehension. Because of this, none of the kids are where they're supposed to be in their knowledge of English, and therefore I've had to re-separate them into two groups; those who know the ABCs and those who do not. I was supposed to be working there with one other girl, Kristie, but she switched her placement to a detox clinic which another one of our volunteers, Robby, was having a tough time working at. So, as of the beginning of last week, I was fairly certain that I was going to have to be working at the school alone, but another girl Maneesha decided she wanted to work with me after the women's group she teaches is done. So I teach the younger children (the ones who don't know the ABCs yet) early in the morning, and then she comes to the school and we jointly teach the older children (the ones who mostly know the ABCs and almost how to read and write... Soon :) ) This past week was difficult not only because there was absolutely no structure to the school, but also because most people here are still adjusting to the food and the temperature so pretty much everyone has been not feeling a hundred percent.
Other than volunteering, last week consisted of Hindi lessons to help us out at our placements, as well as just to acquaint us with the main language spoken in this area, as well as multiple trips to the market in order to get the traditional clothes that we're required to wear to our placements. It's really a very interesting experience going clothes shopping here... Mostly they don't sell ready-made clothes, so you have to get them tailored for you, which is actually the most fun thing ever. So you go into a fabric store, and pick out a fabric that you like (usually they come in sets for the pants (Salwar), the tunic (Kameez) and the scarf), and then either they do the stitching for you there and tell you to come pick up your outfit in anywhere from one to five days, or they send you to a tailor who will do the same thing for you. I've bought maybe 5 outfits, and only spent about $110 which is pretty amazing for custom-made outfits, right? :-D
On Saturday, we randomly looked out the window and there was just a forest fire raging on the mountain right next to us (we're in a valley) and it was really close and really big, but (apparently) it was controlled... Although I don't know how seeing as how there were absolutely no people on that mountain. Either way, it was kind of a weird but interesting experience, and definitely the closest I've ever been to the forest fire. That's just one of the amazing things about this place, no one was even phased in the slightest by the inferno that was burning on the hill right next to us. Driving here is another one of those things that I'll never understand. How people drive manual up and down hills like this just impresses me like nothing else, and here horns aren't a rude way of insulting, but just a precautionary measure to let anyone (cars, pedestrians, motorcycles, COWS...?) know that you're coming close to them, and that they might not want to get in your way. There's literally no speed limit within town, and there's not a section of the road which you cannot pass on (literally everything is a curve or a hill). Cows walking around is just completely commonplace here, and not surprising at all. Of course, cows are sacred in this culture, and we asked what would happen if you hit a cow while you were driving the other day, and they told us that apparently people come and beat the driver, so generally speaking if you do his a cow, then you should probably leave your vehicle and run. Cows wander everywhere, and don't really belong to anyone, because apparently it's really really bad for a cow to die in your care, so once the cows get old enough and stop giving milk, people just let them go so that they won't be responsible if/when the cow dies.
This past Sunday, we went on a day trip to a temple near our house, and then went for a picnic in the woods down by an absolutely amazing stream, to spend some time outside playing Cricket. The temple was absolutely amazing, and we got to go down by this river next to the temple where was this small little shrine tucked underneath this giant rock. However, our picnic was cut short by a thunderstorm, which then turned into a hailstorm wherein the hail was literally half the size of a golf-ball. It was absolutely insane... I've never seen anything like it, and it was actually kind of painful running back up to the cars through massively huge hail.
Later that night, we went to the nearby McLeod Ganj which is much more touristy than Dharamsala, but still a lot of fun. We did a little bit of souvenir shopping and had dinner at a western restaurant which was a lot of fun. We then took one of the sketchiest cab rides back home, but we ended up getting home alright right before curfew, and had a great night in general.
This week at my placement seems to have started off better, I'm gaining confidence I think. I brought my kids stickers today, and took pictures of them, both of which got them out of their shells a lot, and made them a lot more extroverted than they had been. I've had to slow down my lesson plans substantially, because they're so behind where the teachers at the school think they are. They're amazing at parrotting things back to you, but if you ask them to actually identify a letter, and the sound that accompanies it, without telling them, they have absolutely no idea what it is.
It's fairly obvious that monsoon season is just about upon us here, because there are pretty frequently thunderstorms which feel like the apolcalypse is coming, but is again, just one of those things that's completely commonplace here. The power goes out pretty frequently, but we're mostly used to that by now. It doesn't really matter that much because we just light candles and flashlights, and a bucket shower is literally always possible. A bucket shower, if you didn't know, is literally just a big bucket that you fill up with as much water as you need, and then you use a smaller bucket to dump that water over you in order to shower. Sound kind of awkward an uncomfortable? Aside from the fact that it's kind of cold to just stand there going in and out of hot water, it's actually a pretty fun experience, although one has to get used to never getting the conditioner out of their hair via bucket shower.
I should probably go and start working on worksheets for my kids, but when we go on more sightseeing or anything of note happens, I'll be sure to post again. And for the time being, I hope that you all are well and having great summers, and that you'll email me because I'm always glad to respond.
More soon :),
K
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Here :)
Hi guys,
Ok, so I finally got the opportunity to get on here to write about my first couple of days here in India, and it's been really incredible.
I arrived at 11am on Saturday after a (very surprisingly for me) un-delayed flight into Delhi. The plane ride from Heathrow to Delhi is apparently basically the same length from Newark to Heathrow, which I found surprising because I had assumed that the second would have been much longer. The plane ride was uneventful, although happily not very full so I could (sort of) stretch out on two seats.
After getting off of the plane, we were made to go through a brief medical exam to ensure that none of us possibly had swine flu, and then it was on to customs which had no line, and was a breeze. I had a brief panic attack at the baggage carousel when it took my bag about 45 minutes to find its way to me, however it eventually did and that was a relief.
My first impressions of Delhi? Hot. Loud. Dry. Landing, I looked out the window thinking to see green suburbs like I always do and instead all I saw was sand. Everywhere. Completely orange ground... and it completely shocked me. Driving here is... well... different, to say the least. The horn is really used as a way to tell someone that you're near them, and not necessarily to tell them they're an idiot, and the blinker is used to tell oncoming traffic which way to go in order to not hit them. I haven't seen a single speed-limit sign since getting here, and the noise of the traffic is... intimidating, I would say.
The colors, however, are incredible. Everything is so bright; gold, blue, purple, pink. Delhi is a strange combination of traditional Indian values juxtaposed against a more modern, western society. Most of the people adopt traditional wear (either the Saree or the Salwar Kameez for women), however others also wear more western clothing. Revealing clothing (other than in the form of midriff in a Saree) isn't done here. It's a very conservative society on the outside, but there are so many more layers than just that underneath.
We arrived at the flats where we're staying for the few days that we're here and had lunch wherein I realized more than ever, that being vegan in India is going to be near impossible. Then we took a trip to go sightseeing and started at the Lotus Temple which is a Bahá'í house of worship, which is a religion which really emphasizes the unity of all religions, and recognizes the validity of all religious doctrines. The best thing I can compare it to is our western Unitarianism. We were forced to take off our shoes in order to go into the temple, but about 1000 feet in advance, causing massive amounts of burning for the soles of our poor feet, but it was worth it. Such an amazing structure, and so much fun to see all of the people.t
Next we went to the India Gate which is a war memorial for those who died in the British Indian Army in World War I. That was an interesting experience, if for no other reason than it will be one of the most tourist-y atractions we visit while here and therefore we got to see that side of the culture. It's heartbreaking; not being allowed to give money to the children that come up to you because otherwise all of them will swarm you and try to get more. Some of the poverty is just astounding really, and almost difficult to absorb.
After this we went for some driving sightseeing and saw parliament, and the Indira Ghandi memorial, and a couple of temples. Then we came back to rest up and have dinner, and get ready for the next leg of our adventure.
After dinner we went to a nighttime bazaar, the name of which slips my mind right now, however it was really incredible, and lucky we have some Hindi and Punjabi speakers in our group, which makes bartering much easier for us. However, we were all fairly exhausted after such a long time travelling and sightseeing and took auto-rickshaws back home in order to pass out in exhaustion.
This morning we had a lecture about the culture of India, and the placements that we're going to, and the N.G.O.s that we're going to be working with. Then we had a quick lunch and bought our airplane tickets up to Dharamsala for tomorrow at around lunchtime, and took some of our free time to watch some Bollywood movies and do a puzzle of the Taj Mahal. Then all of us girls went out to shop for traditional clothes as the community we're going to is a conservative one. Shopping was intimidating and overwhelming, but still an interesting experience as none of us really know what to look for in clothing in this culture.
Tomorrow holds another talk about culture and history, and then a flight up to Dharamsala followed by orientation of the new home base, and free time. Our curfew here is 11pm, but up there it is 9:30pm for safety purposes so it looks like we'll be spending a lot of our free time in the house with each other. I look forward to seeing the scenery which should be absolutely incredible, as well as feeling a break from the sweltering heat of Delhi.
I'll try to upload pictures later, but right now I'm exhausted and the internet refuses to agree with my uploading attempts so I'll try again either tomorrow or the next day.
More later,
K
Ok, so I finally got the opportunity to get on here to write about my first couple of days here in India, and it's been really incredible.
I arrived at 11am on Saturday after a (very surprisingly for me) un-delayed flight into Delhi. The plane ride from Heathrow to Delhi is apparently basically the same length from Newark to Heathrow, which I found surprising because I had assumed that the second would have been much longer. The plane ride was uneventful, although happily not very full so I could (sort of) stretch out on two seats.
After getting off of the plane, we were made to go through a brief medical exam to ensure that none of us possibly had swine flu, and then it was on to customs which had no line, and was a breeze. I had a brief panic attack at the baggage carousel when it took my bag about 45 minutes to find its way to me, however it eventually did and that was a relief.
My first impressions of Delhi? Hot. Loud. Dry. Landing, I looked out the window thinking to see green suburbs like I always do and instead all I saw was sand. Everywhere. Completely orange ground... and it completely shocked me. Driving here is... well... different, to say the least. The horn is really used as a way to tell someone that you're near them, and not necessarily to tell them they're an idiot, and the blinker is used to tell oncoming traffic which way to go in order to not hit them. I haven't seen a single speed-limit sign since getting here, and the noise of the traffic is... intimidating, I would say.
The colors, however, are incredible. Everything is so bright; gold, blue, purple, pink. Delhi is a strange combination of traditional Indian values juxtaposed against a more modern, western society. Most of the people adopt traditional wear (either the Saree or the Salwar Kameez for women), however others also wear more western clothing. Revealing clothing (other than in the form of midriff in a Saree) isn't done here. It's a very conservative society on the outside, but there are so many more layers than just that underneath.
We arrived at the flats where we're staying for the few days that we're here and had lunch wherein I realized more than ever, that being vegan in India is going to be near impossible. Then we took a trip to go sightseeing and started at the Lotus Temple which is a Bahá'í house of worship, which is a religion which really emphasizes the unity of all religions, and recognizes the validity of all religious doctrines. The best thing I can compare it to is our western Unitarianism. We were forced to take off our shoes in order to go into the temple, but about 1000 feet in advance, causing massive amounts of burning for the soles of our poor feet, but it was worth it. Such an amazing structure, and so much fun to see all of the people.t
Next we went to the India Gate which is a war memorial for those who died in the British Indian Army in World War I. That was an interesting experience, if for no other reason than it will be one of the most tourist-y atractions we visit while here and therefore we got to see that side of the culture. It's heartbreaking; not being allowed to give money to the children that come up to you because otherwise all of them will swarm you and try to get more. Some of the poverty is just astounding really, and almost difficult to absorb.
After this we went for some driving sightseeing and saw parliament, and the Indira Ghandi memorial, and a couple of temples. Then we came back to rest up and have dinner, and get ready for the next leg of our adventure.
After dinner we went to a nighttime bazaar, the name of which slips my mind right now, however it was really incredible, and lucky we have some Hindi and Punjabi speakers in our group, which makes bartering much easier for us. However, we were all fairly exhausted after such a long time travelling and sightseeing and took auto-rickshaws back home in order to pass out in exhaustion.
This morning we had a lecture about the culture of India, and the placements that we're going to, and the N.G.O.s that we're going to be working with. Then we had a quick lunch and bought our airplane tickets up to Dharamsala for tomorrow at around lunchtime, and took some of our free time to watch some Bollywood movies and do a puzzle of the Taj Mahal. Then all of us girls went out to shop for traditional clothes as the community we're going to is a conservative one. Shopping was intimidating and overwhelming, but still an interesting experience as none of us really know what to look for in clothing in this culture.
Tomorrow holds another talk about culture and history, and then a flight up to Dharamsala followed by orientation of the new home base, and free time. Our curfew here is 11pm, but up there it is 9:30pm for safety purposes so it looks like we'll be spending a lot of our free time in the house with each other. I look forward to seeing the scenery which should be absolutely incredible, as well as feeling a break from the sweltering heat of Delhi.
I'll try to upload pictures later, but right now I'm exhausted and the internet refuses to agree with my uploading attempts so I'll try again either tomorrow or the next day.
More later,
K
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