Agra, India; day whatever...

So, as to the conclusion to my trip to India, I went to the town of Agra outside of New Delhi. Delhi, by the way, in my opinion, was a little less third world than Bangalore, the supposed "silicon valley" if India.

I cannot really put into words how it feels to be standing, looking up at the great marble tombstone that stands against the sky and by the Yamura River as if it is floating in air. You either have to take your shoes off, or they give your shoe booties to wear as you are prancing around the structure. It is, symetrical on all four sides, and encompasses much more intricate marble work on the stones than you can see on common pictures.







This is a picture of marble workers. They start mastering their trade when they are very young, and it takes over ten years to become a master. Each stone has to be shaved down individually.



This is called the Agra Fort, or Red Fort.



Me inside the red fort.



These are the damn monkey's that pee'd on my head. No, I'm not joking. What a great thing for memories of India...."I got pee'd on by a monkey in Delhi!"

Leia Mais…

Bangalore, India; Day eleven

It's 9:30pm and I'm actually feeling a little bit sad. Everyone in my group is parting off. My accomplice in crime Celeste just left to board a train to Hampi. How sad. We have lived, ate, worked, and shopped together for the past two weeks. I really got to know all of them, as far as knowing who always comes to breakfast last, who drinks coffee, who does not....that sort of stuff.

Here is me and Celeste when we went to an Indian night club last night.

Shreela and I when we went to an Indian wedding today.

Eww, I guess I don't like coconut water!

This is my team leader, Veronica, and I.

The group photo before we went to the Hindu wedding.

So tomorrow I hop on a plane to New Delhi. Hooray for a new city, two weeks in Bangalore is enough.

Leia Mais…

Bangalore, India; Day ten

So the project is pretty much done. Every working day that we had was definitely a new experience. For example, today on the bus ride home that is supposed to take 1 hour...it took 2 because we encountered the worst traffic jam that I had ever seen in my life. For the past three days it has been raining. I'm from Seattle, yet I've never seen rain like this before. It's as if someone is pouring a bucket of water over the earth. No I know what they mean by monsoon rains.

The children were great today. I guess I forgot to mention that we switched to a different school this past Monday. The new school we are at is larger with 180 students. They actually have desks and school uniforms.

It feels like I have been in India forever. I'm looking forward to a hot shower, my car, meat, my bed, a cocktail or glass of wine.....

Here I am teaching a boy some math.

Here I am showing the children a book of Las Vegas.

This is the outside of the small school.

Leia Mais…

Bangalore, India; Day eight

Yesterday I was feeling a little sick, so my team leader made me stay. I feltshort of breath. My guess is that the pollution here is really starting to take a toll on my lungs.

I ventered off on my own a little later in the afternoon because I got really bored. I went to the City Market. Oh my God, that was the worst idea ever! There were so many people there. They push and shove to get around. I held on to my bag thinking that someone was bound to come by and steal my wallet without me knowing. Then, it seriously got ten times worse when it starting pouring down rain. The city which is filthy already, gets even filthier when its muddy. I made it back with the city's dark dirt splashed on the back of my legs and all over my feet.

This is a picture of one of the millions of flower vendors at City Market.

One of the many power vendors. The powder seen here in cone shapes are used for the dot on the head. As you can see they come in many brilliant colors.

Leia Mais…

Cheri Beach, India; Day 7

At Cherai beach Indian women are wading into the water in their saree's.

So the last day in Kerala, we went to the beach. I relaxed in the sand. The Arabian Sea didn't look too appealing to do any swimming though. I passed on that.

The train ride home was very unexpected last night. I will share the details...

First of all, w got to the main train station in Eruklam station and found out that the train was leaving an hour before what we were told in Bangalore. Secondly, the only seats they had left were the 3rd class passenger seating. Imagine sitting on wooden benches next to many people without air conditioning and open air windows for 12 hours. No thank you.

We jumped on a air conditioned sleeper car and wished that maybe, just maybe we can be stowaways in this car. We had no idea that the fine for doing that is about $400 dollars. No, we didn't get caught, but we happen to be sitting in the seats that belonged to 6 Indian men, who were about our age. They were on some kind of balchelor holiday and were relaxed, and happen to speak really good English because they were all in the IT industry. The had an extra bed, which they gave to us to share. Then they arranged with the ticket master to buy another bed. They also bought us dinner on the train and gave us beer. I had a good time talking and laughing with them.

So anyway, we arrived in Bangalore at the awful time of 4:30am. Now i'm waiting to go to work. Next weekend, everyone in the group is splitting off and I think that I'm going to be heading North to Delhi and then to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.

Leia Mais…

Fort Cochin, India; Day six

Today Celeste and I went on this boat/canoe ride through the swamps and canals here in Kerala. The whole excursion took the entire day. I actually had more fun on yesterday's outing where the tuktuk driver drove us to random places all around the city. But I guess that you can say that today was a peaceful day.

The boats were powered by a man with a big bamboo stick. He pushes the boat using the stick to push off from the bottom of the water. Because there is no motor, the ride through the canals was really peaceful and quiet. I literally fell asleep at one point because the chairs were really comfortable. We saw some of the little villages that live in this area and our guide explained that the two big industries here are rope making and calcium making. Really interesting. The women work all day to make ropes made of coconut and the men work to get clams out of the water which is burned to make pure calcium oxide. The process to make the calcium I actually understood from chemistry. Kinda neat that I can actually apply all my school this summer to something.

This is a picture of the women making the rope.

This is a picture of the massive amounts of pure calcium after the whole process is completed. To think that this is made from clam shells is amazing.

A scenic route through the canals and swap land. Peaceful and tranquil.

We went down to the Chinese fish nets to buy some fresh sea food. I went a little over board with the buying of the seafood, but I couldn't help myself. These people work so hard, and they all want you to buy from them so they can support the family. Overboard isn't really all that over board though...I purchased a whole lobster, a whole white snapper, tiger prawns, and two small fishes that I don't know the name of for 300 rupees. That's about 7 dollars. Yummy, we are going to go enjoy our fresh seafood dinner tonight.

This is me at the Chinese fish nets just after sunset.

Leia Mais…

Fort Cochin, India; Day five

I have been so busy that I haven't had the chance to write. Also, internet cafes are harder to find here. Yesterday (Thursday) I was busy with the school and with the volunteer project. Every day working in the project seems like a whole new adventure. The teacher took us on a little tour of the slum village and showed us the way that the families live. All of the women roll incense and make 12 rupees per bundle of 1000. That's about ten cents per thousand. It was also a tiring day because everyone in the group was splitting off to go in different directions for the weekend. We got Friday off this week.

Celeste and I decided to take a trip to Kerala which is southwest of Bangalore. In the last minute scramble we found ourselves at the train station at 8pm trying to figure out the sense to the madness in getting a ticket. There were no more 1st class tickets left, so we booked a 2nd class air conditioned car for about 25 dollars. Even looking for the place where our seats were was an adventure. There was one car that had open windows in which all the people were sitting in the car like sardines. I told Celeste that if I had to ride in that car for 12 hours that she would be on her own. Luckily, our seats were in the sleeper car, in which the seats fold out like beds. The ride down was nothing spectacular, we slept almost the entire way there. The train kind of cradles you to sleep.

We awoke in the morning, feeling not so refreased, but at least well rested. I happen to be reading the guide book at the time that I noticed that the train stopping at Erakulam Town, which is the place where we had intended on going. Honestly, if you fall asleep or are not paying attention, you could easily miss your stop...there is no one to announce the stop.

We checked into a hotel that has western toilets and hot showers. What a luxury that is. Our first half of the day was spent grabbing some lunch at a little outside cafe. Apparently in India it is not a talked about subject to drink alcohol. We asked for alcohol, and the waiter told us we could purchase some at a shop down the street and then he would turn his head while we spiked our drinks. Next we got a massage and pedicure. My pedicure, only being 4.50 was worth every penny.

So next comes the part where we went on a wild little sightseeing tour with our new friend Singh a autorickshaw driver. He took us all over. We saw the most amazing things. We went to a spice market, where they have potoato sacks full of spices, a Hindu temple, the Chinese fishing piers, and a shop where I ended up buying an amazing diamond ring just because these Indians are extremely good sales people. Don't worry I bought it from a govenernment shop that has a certificate of authenticity. The Hindu temple was an amazement in itself because it was made with lots of marble. Celeste and I had to ask permission to the monks if we could enter. Just us and the monks were the only people in there. Afterwards we were to see the spice markets. You wouldn't believe the ginger factory we went to. I've never seen so much ginger in my entire life. The workers put so much effort and hard labor into drying pure ginger to be shipped out.

The shop where I purchased my ring from is a complete blog entry in itself, because of the sneaky way that these Indian people can sell you on anything. I bought a -idon'tknowwhatcarat- diamond ring for a hundred fifty bucks. haha.

Anyway, if I could post my picures of the last two days I would, but I give up trying to do so on this computer. Anyway, sorry if this blog is so scattered, I'm just tired and ready for bed. We are leaving at 8am in the morning for a boat trip though the canals and villages here in Kerala.

Leia Mais…

Bangalore, India; Day three

Crazy details about this country: Five times a day you hear the sound to come to prayer for all the Muslims. Every day we take the bus to work and the ladies sit in the front, while the men sit in the back. All the kids at the school we teach at don't wear shoes. The children that we teach are called working children. They don't attend school till the afternoon because in the mornings they go to work either as a house boy/girl or making incense. There are random animals in the street such as cows, pigs, cattle, dogs, chicken. The school teacher's salary is 1,000 rupees a month (that's 60 US dollars). The people living in the outskirts of Bangalore have to walk to the community water tank to get their fresh drinking water. The bus system is the main form of travel and most of the buses are completely packed on every route. Sidewalks are flattened stones put together in a make-shift kind of way. The place that i'm staying at does not have hot running water and nor does most of the city. The sweets found in the the sweet shops throughout the city are super sweet, its just like eating pure sugar. The dress of the women here are called "saree". Most of the marriages here are arranged. You are looked down upon and critized for getting a divorce. There is an extremely low divorce rate. The main language in India is Hindi. The main language in Bangalore is Tadu (not sure about spelling on that one).

I can't even begin to have words or even pictures to describe this place. Yesterday we went out to the project for the first time, and I almost wanted to cry. The walk through the "slums" left a bitter taste in my mouth. These kinds of things don't become a reality till you actually see this way of life with your own eyes. Imagine living in 10x10 concrete room as your entire house without furniture or running water. Many of the women were either washing clothes outside or rolling incense. We were told by our team leader, Veronica that the women in the slum village are actually the bread winners because their husbands are usually drunks so they have to provide for the family. The school children must also work to help support the family. The one teacher in the tiny school provides one meal a day for the children and does what she can on her limited salary. As a team we bought the school a blackboard because they didn't have one. The school has approximately 26 students.

On the food. Well I can at least say that I am not having any stomach problems and I am loving the food. Its fantastic! Food is provided for us, and it is usually some kind of vegatarian sauce, with rice, and this flour tortilla-like thing. I walked into a McDonald's the other day because I wanted to know what they would actually serve seeing how 90% of the population here doesn't eat meat. Well, I guess the McVeggie is the way to go here.

Okay, well I'm exhausted. Still a little jet-lagged. Plus we took the kids to the park today and that wore me out. I'm going to look up some information now because we are planning a trip this weekend to go to Ooty or to Kerala on the coast. Take care, and here are some random pics I took over the last couple of days.

This is what I mean by the sidewalks. This one is missing a stone which creates a big hole. There is a boy with some cattle in the background.

These are two cuties from my school.

Random Cow.

Government building.

From one of the many sweet shops.

Today happens to be the 60th anniversay or Indian Independance day!

Leia Mais…

Bangalore, India; Day one

Yes, I'm here half way across the world, jet lagged, even though I slept almost the entire 16 hour plane ride to get here. Interesting place this is. I almost got ran over a bus a few times because traffic seems to not want to stop for anything. Instead of slowing down, they prefer honking. There are so many people here, its amazing. The other amazing part is, unlike being in Thailand, I feel like I'm the only tourist here. Maybe that's because I am. I mean really, who travels to India? While walking around this morning, I recieved many stares from the local people who are in wonder at my appearance. It could also be that I'm sporting jeans and a T-shirt, while the women here all wear beautiful cloths of many colors drapped across their shoulders. Guess I'll have to go shopping so that I can fit in just a little. I can't wait for that. This morning's breakfast of coffee, and something they call "Idyl" which is a tomato type curry over rice cost me approximately .25 cents.
Right now I'm at a little internet cafe across the street from where I'm staying. We are going to have a group orientation meeting in just a little while. Other volunteers in my group are from all over; South Korea, Isral, Atlanta, Canada, France and the UK. We have yet to go to the place where we will be working, but our team leader explained that it is outside the city. Thank god...all this smog is really giving me a head ache.
Sorry, no pictures yet. I only took a couple of random cows that were walking in the street this morning. Seriously, there are cows walking in the middle of the road, just about the only thing that traffic does stop for!

Leia Mais…

3 Days till India...

Terrified? Anxious? Nervous? Excited? In wonder? Yes, those are all feelings that I can't help but feel 3 days before I leave for India. I just don't know what to expect. Anyway, I thought I'd share my itinerary:

Theme of Mission: Teaching/Happy Hearts/FSL
Starting Dates: 13th-26th August 2007
Place: Bangalore, India

Saturday, August 11th:
Leave for India 3pm McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas
Arrive in Denver, CO 6pm
Depart Denver, 8:15pm
Arrive Heathrow International Airport, London 12:10pm (on Sunday)
Depart Heathrow 2:05pm
Arrive Bangalore 4:30am (Monday)

Monday August 13th
Meet at the specified Meeting Point: 11:00 am at the Shivaji Nagar Bus Station (Platform A1)

Monday August 27th
Depart Bangalore 6:30am
Arrive London, Heathrow 12:35pm
Depart Heathrow 3:45pm
Arrive Denver, CO 6:25pm
Depart Denver 8:45pm
Arrive Las Vegas 9:38pm (on Monday. Going back in time is kinda trippy)

Seriously, please pray for me that my flight plans go on schedule. All I need is to be stuck somewhere again for 8+ hours like I was when I went to Thailand and when I went to Washington this past weekend. Anyway, I have to get back to studying. All I have left to do before I leave is study for my Chem final on Friday. I can't believe that this summer has gone by so fast!

Leia Mais…