Travelling in the UK

Happy New Year! I am writing on a train from London to Aberdeen, Scotland where I will be staying with Caitlin. The train, just like everything on this continent, is so different than everything in India! It has been a really interesting transition back to the Western world. The things that have been hardest to get used to are things like being able to drink the water – I still keep spitting in the shower, and all those habits I picked up. London was very overwhelming at the beginning but it was interesting – the things that overwhelmed me most were things like the crowds and the noise, which were much worse in India but just so, so different. And it’s funny, while I would get so frustrated with how unorganized and loose things were in India, I’ve been feeling the opposite here and getting frustrated with how strict everything is here. I’ve come across so many obstacles while planning the rest of my trip around Europe that I could have easily talked (or bribed) my way out of in India. I’m not saying that that is always a good thing, and often things are easier and better when better organized, but it’s been hard to get used to!

I am spending the rest of this week in Scotland, then flying to Spain and spending time in Madrid and in Caceres where I have friends studying. Then I am going to Portugal for a few days by myself before flying to Copenhagen to see Kelsey! Then I will either fly or take the train down to France to stay with Katie.

It’s really hard to believe that all of this is really happening! I feel so lucky that I am able to do this – not only did I have my own amazing study abroad experience but I am getting a snippet of a bunch of others as well!

End of the Program and Mommy + Daddy!

I can’t believe that my program is actually over! Study abroad has been a rather constant idea in my life for some time and now I’m having trouble believing that it’s over. I am looking forward to seeing how many of my “after study abroad life will be...” predictions are true though.

The end of our program was really great. The week before it ended we had our final performance in which we performed for the teachers, a bunch of the students, and our friends. We did a Kathak dance routine to show the skills we have learned in our traditional dance class, we did a skit in Hindi about life at Nirman, and we each presented our own research projects. Although we were dreading the performance it ended up being a lot of fun and everyone was complimenting us for the rest of our time at Nirman!

The day that my program ended, my parents and parts of two of the other girls’ families arrived in Banaras! We went to the airport to pick them up and then back to the hotel where we had booked rooms for all of them. It was so crazy to have them here. I loved showing them around the place that I have lived for the past 5 months but I couldn’t have predicted how exhausted and overwhelmed they would be! We did all of the important things in Banaras – we walked through the streets a LOT, visited Nirman and several of my friends’ homes, we went to Banaras Hindu University, we walked the ghats, we shopped, and we went on a boat ride on the Ganges to see the evening prayer at the main ghat.

After spending some time in Banaras we took an overnight train to Khajuraho. We were so lucky to get on my train. Both of the other girls who were supposed to catch trains out of Banaras that week had their trains cancelled and had to make other, last minute arrangements. While we were thrilled to actually be able to get on the train, leaving Banaras was not easy. I didn’t realize how much it had grown to mean to me until I was getting ready to leave! Banaras really became my home over the past 5 months and I am going to miss it and always remember my life there.

We loved Khajuraho! The temples lived up to their reputation of some of the most beautiful in India and we also really enjoyed the town. It’s a much smaller city than Banaras and was somewhat quieter as well.

After two days in Khajuraho we took another overnight train to Agra. We were lucky that that train was only a short time late also but we arrived in Agra about 8 hours later than we were supposed to. It wasn’t all bad since we were supposed to get there at 2:30 in the morning which would have been unpleasant, but it also infringed on our day. But we got to see the Taj which is all we really cared about!
Finally, after a day in Agra we leave for Delhi, our final destination. That train ride, which should have been the easiest ended up being the most difficult as our train came in about 4 hours late at 12:30 in the morning. But that also gave us a chance to sleep so it wasn’t all bad!

We stayed in a great hotel in Delhi which we really needed after all that travel. We went to see the Red Fort, the Gandhi memorial, some of the different neighborhoods, and did lots of shopping! A lot was closed because of protests going on about a woman who was recently gang raped in Delhi. It was a little scary to be close to the protests but at the same time I am so excited to see this kind of action going on in India. I can't wait to see how it progresses! 

Now I am sitting in the airport, waiting to board a plane to London! I am having so many mixed feelings about leaving India. It is both one of the hardest and most relieving things that I have ever done. I am both very sad and very excited to be moving on to something new. I’m glad that I have this European adventure to look forward to now! I have a feeling that the transition home will be the hardest. 

Wedding Time!

Two of the teachers here at Nirman just got married and we were lucky enough to be able to go to both the wedding here in Banaras and the reception in Kerala, a state in the very south of India.

My favorite part of the wedding here was the groom’s procession beforehand. We met the procession a short ways from the grounds where the actual wedding took place. There were a line of people carrying large decorated lights and a live band and then all of us followed behind them. A lot of their students went and they were all dancing like crazy and encouraging us and other teachers to dance with them. The groom (our friend Jay) and his mother followed behind the procession in a car covered in flowers. Traditionally he would be riding a horse which I thought would be more exciting. Once we got to the wedding grounds the band did an exciting finale and they set off fireworks! I want to have all of that at my wedding!

The actual wedding was much different than weddings at home. The bride and groom sit on a stage at the front of the grounds for the entire night and people can go up and take pictures with them. When you’re not taking pictures, people walk around and eat (there was a ton of food!), talk, and admire the bride. Jay and Tanya had to sit on that stage for at least 4 hours though! They looked exhausted! We finally left around 11:30 but the wedding ceremonies, which just includes the family and close friends, apparently went until 6 am!

The following week we left for Kerala. We took an overnight train to Delhi and then flew from Delhi to Coimbatore, which is about a 2 hour drive from Jay’s house in Plakkad, Kerala. Jay’s entire extended family came in for the reception and we got to spend a lot of time with them. He has a bunch of cousins around our age so that was a lot of fun! The reception was very similar to the wedding but without all the ceremonies! Also, it had the added bonus of bad elevator music playing the whole time…

Kerala is very different from anyplace else we have been thus far in India.

It is very green and much more environmentally conscious than other parts of the country. They speak Malayalam , which is completely different than Hindi and also eat different food and wear different clothes! I was a little worried about the food because I haven’t been the biggest fan of the South Indian food that I have tried in Banaras, but it was SO much better there! Most of the men in Kerala wear long pieces of fabric tied around their waists like skirts and often walk around without shoes on, it seems so much more relaxed!

We spent most of our time with Jay’s family. We all went to a hill station and tea plantations and to see Jay’s family in the “village” and his ancestral home. Their idea of a village is much different than the Banarasi village! Here the villages are much poorer and are filled with animals and fields. His family’s village home is a beautiful house surrounded by palm trees and close to a gorgeous stream. I would love to live there!

It was hard to come back to Banaras after being in such a calm and beautiful place! But I am happy to be spending my last couple of weeks here in the place that has become home!

Mountain Retreat

Time is moving so quickly!

            We just got back from a wonderful retreat in the mountains. We stayed at a “luxury camping” site in Rishikesh, up in the foothills of the Himalayas. We got to go white water rafting, hiking, rock climbing, swimming, and to visit some of the other cities close by.

 White water rafting was by far my favorite activity – we were out for about 3 hours. We went over some pretty big rapids and got to jump off and go swimming in between rapids. It was so different than anything else I have done in India but we were reminded of where we were when we stopped at a waterfall in the middle to have chai.

I loved it so much up there. The place we stayed was really quiet and beautiful and going into the cities was nice too. They seemed much wealthier than any other cities we have visited and the people were much calmer and less pushy than in many other parts of the country. On the day that we visited Musoorie and Dehradun we stopped and climbed up the mountainside to a temple where there was a wonderful view of the Himalayas.

I feel so lucky that I got to do all of that! While rafting I was thinking that for the first time I really believe in K college’s “More in four” motto! I felt like we were in a movie the whole time. It really was an opportunity of a lifetime!

The weekend before our trip was the annual fair at Nirman. It is one of the biggest events of the year for the kids. The kids and teachers choreograph dances, practice songs, and make up skits to be performed at two big evening functions for the parents, one here at the city campus and one at the village campus. My favorite performances were a Chinese dragon dance and a skit on deforestation. There were also some pretty hilarious dances about native Americans that were so not PC that they would have made headlines if they were performed at a school in the US. But it’s the effort at diversity that counts right?

Traveling and Homestay Experience

I have been terrible at keeping everyone updated but it is because I am doing so many great things!

 

We had a great trip! The train to Mumbai ended up taking 29 hours but it was not nearly as bad as I had worried it would be. I am so glad that we decided to go there, mainly because I wouldn’t have believed a place like that existed in India if I hadn’t seen it! It was different from Banaras in every way and the most cosmopolitan and westernized city that I have seen in India. There were big red buses, city trains, and cafes! We got to do just about everything that we had wanted to. The highlights for me were going to the Kaneri caves, an ancient Buddhist cave complex, Elefanta Island, an ancient Hindu cave complex, seeing the beach, going to markets, and just walking around the city.

We also got to go to a synagogue! We read about one synagogue in the Lonely Planet guidebook and visited there first. We met a really friendly man who invited us to join his congregation the following night for their Sim Chat Torah celebration. When we came back the next night it was great! The small congregation was dancing around the temple holding the Torah and singing. There were some international visitors from Israel and Europe but most of the congregants were Indian. They were incredibly welcoming to us and we ended up joining them at the next synagogue they went to where they were serving a large dinner! My favorite part was seeing the old Jewish men who looked just like old Jewish men you would see at every other synagogue in the world! It felt so great to find a community in this country where I could feel like I instantly belonged! I also met a man there named Moshe which I knew Papa would be very excited about!

Staying in the YWCA also worked out really well. The room was great, breakfast and dinner were included every day and the food was actually really good, and the people at the front desk were so helpful!

 

After Mumbai we went to Jaipur, in Rajasthan. Jaipur was not quite as relaxing as Mumbai. It is a big tourist city and there are many people there who are aware of that fact and ready to use it to their advantage. We have never been followed or harassed for money by that many people! People were constantly trying to get us to come on tours of the city or come into their shops. Some people even waited outside of restaurants and stores for us so they could continue to follow us. Because of this, people were also extremely unhelpful if we were lost or looking for some place. If you asked where one restaurant was they would tell you about all of their great restaurants. One auto driver even took us to the hotel that pays him commission instead of to our own hotel and we ended up having to pay him anyway! This was exhausting and made me so grateful for the friendly people in Banaras.The experience wasn’t all bad though! We walked around the beautiful Old Pink City where there were beautiful old buildings and great markets. One night at sunset we went to the Sun Temple which is up on a hill and has a great view of the city. We were unaware when we went that the Sun Temple is the same thing as the Monkey Temple which we had heard about from a lot of people and had decided definitely not to go to. We had to carry rocks the whole way up to the Temple and while we were there to ward off the hundreds of monkeys! I am also more grateful now for the monkeys in Banars who just ignore us!

 

After Jaipur we took the train to Bikaner, another city in Rajasthan. Bikaner is in the desert and we got to go on an overnight camel safari! We left in the morning and rode camels in the desert for a couple of hours. Each camel was lead by a “camel man” and there was a “camel cart” holding all of our things and our food. We stopped for lunch and a “siesta” and then kept going for a few more hours until we reached a piece of land owned by the safari company. We set up camp there and had dinner and a campfire and slept under the stars! Riding the camels was a lot of fun. I had never realized how tall those guys are! Their legs are about 7 or 8 feet long so sitting on their backs we were at least 9 feet in the air. The only scary part was when they stood up or sat down you were thrown back and forth and had to hold on really tight! The sun was very hot but it was a really nice ride and a great time to think! I’m glad we didn’t go for much longer though because my butt got pretty sore sitting there… I was so surprised by how cold it got at night! They had cots for us and I slept under 3 wool blankets. I even had to keep my head under the blankets, I was so cold! The stars were the best part though – they were absolutely gorgeous out there!

In the morning we went back to the guest house of the safari company and then went on one of their day trips. The best part was the rat temple. There is a Hindu story about a Goddess who has her entire family reincarnated as rats. So this temple leaves out food and milk and there are thousands of rats everywhere! Our guide told us that there are only 3 white rats and it is good luck if you see one and we did! It is also considered good luck if a rat runs over your foot but I don’t think any of us got that lucky..

 

After Bikaner it was time to head back to Banaras with a layover in Delhi. Our train ride to Delhi was the biggest mishap of the trip. We got on the train and everything was fine until a man came up and told us that he had the same seats that we were sitting in. After examining our tickets it turned out that ours were for the wrong day – two days before that date! We bought the tickets while we were in Mumbai and the man messed up! I was really nervous that we were going to be thrown off the train in a random Indian village, but we talked to the ticket collector and we were able to get new seats for a small fee (bribe). I was so proud of us for working that out! Not only did we travel across a foreign country alone but we got ourselves out of sticky situations too! We were in Delhi just long enough to eat some bagels and then we arrived safely in Banaras with lots of stories to tell and laundry to do.

 

After so many weeks of things moving so slowly, we got back to everything in full swing. The day we arrived back in Banaras we went to stay with host families! Madee and I were with a family of musicians with 3 sons who are 22, 20, and 15. All 3 boys play instruments so the family spends the majority of their time practicing or hanging around the house. We were there for the week long festival of the Goddess Durga in which huge, amazing temporary temples are constructed around the city to house images of Durga and everyone goes out to visit them. There are also fairs all over the city! We had a lot of fun going to the fairs and the temples with our host mother and brothers and even saw elephants in the street one night! Living with an Indian family was such an interesting experience. The household consists of the mother, father, the 3 sons, 1 aunt and her son, and the grandmother. The aunt and grandmother are sick so all of the housework is put onto the mother. While the father and sons spent most of their time that they weren’t practicing lounging around the house, the mother was always cooking or cleaning, despite the fact that the family seemed to have a staff for everything.

Another interesting aspect was the use of money. This family was clearly very well off – they have someone who comes to clean, someone who washes their clothes, walks their dog, and there was even a boy who came to pray in their house everyday! However there house was still very traditional with a open courtyard in the center and rooms all around. This means that there were often birds in the house and tons of mice. As is common, the youngest son sleeps in the living room on a platform with his grandmother and aunt and all the other rooms are shared as well, despite the fact that there are open rooms.

The hardest part for me was the way that the family, especially the father and sons, treated us because we are women. They were very wary about allowing us to go out in the evening time, even with the boys. When we did go out, the youngest son was sent with us. I was very frustrated that, despite the fact that we have traveled across the world on our own, just traveled across this country on our own, and, not to mention, have lived in this city for the past 3 months, they still didn’t think we were competent of going any place alone. I am so glad that we got to stay there and I had a great time but overall I am happy that we are living at Nirman where we have more free will!

 

We have now been back at Nirman for a week and things have been great! The driver, Ramesh’s, family is here visiting and we have so enjoyed helping take care of his little 3 month old baby! We tried to celebrate Halloween and sufficiently weirded a lot of people out. First, we dressed up and walked around Nirman asking people for candy – and a lot of people actually gave it to us! We also carved pumpkins (green squash) and roasted the seeds. We went on a boat ride down the Ganges on Halloween night and stayed in our costumes, much to the embarrassment of our Indian friends. Then last night we had a party for all of the people who live here on Nirman’s campus. There are a lot of kids around since Ramesh’s family is in town and we had so much fun playing games and dancing with them. I loved traveling and I am so glad that we got to see so much of the country but I also love our little community right here!

Chasing Waterfalls

After 9 weeks of talking about how much we wanted to go swimming, we finally got to go yesterday! And in a waterfall no less! We had a campus wide outing with many of the teachers and the kitchen staff and their families to a fort and a large temple about an hour or so away from Banaras. It was so much fun to spend some time out with these people that we see everyday but never really have time to get to know. It was a very hot day so we got tired out at the fort and the temple pretty quickly. Especially because the hour plus ride in an overstuffed car was very rough and there are much more interesting temples and forts about 5 minutes from Nirman! But the scenery was beautiful and it was nice to get out.

            We had a nice picnic at the temple but everyone was still somewhat disappointed by the outing. We had passed some pretty rivers and streams on the way so we convinced the driver to stop on the way home. Instead of just stopping at the place we had seen on the side of the road they took us to an amazing area where the river was much wider and rolling down the boulders. There were lots of people bathing in the falls and cooking and eating on the banks. While we thought we would have to sneak off to get in the water, instead everybody ended up getting in the water with us! We had so much fun splashing around and climbing on the rocks. It was definitely in my top favorite moments on study abroad thus far!            



Waterfalls!!

            I am completely over my illness now and so happy about it! Even though I was feeling better last week and able to go out and everything I still didn’t have much of an appetite, and since the food in the canteen isn’t always particularly appetizing to begin with, I was having some trouble making myself eat. So instead, one of the nights we decided to check out McDonalds! It was a happenin place! They don’t serve beef, of course, so no hamburgers but they have chicken sandwiches, vegetarian burgers, and lots of egg sandwiches! I’ll have to try one of those sometime when I’m feeling more adventurous. We were all just excited about their ice cream selection!

For my research project that I will complete while I am here, I am studying the treatment and education of disabled students in Banaras. The other day I went to visit Kiran, “a center for the education, training, and rehabilitation of children with different abilities” which is very close to Nirman’s village campus. My professor had called the director to inform them that I would be coming sometime but she didn’t set up a specific time so I just kind of showed up. I was amazed by how friendly and accommodating they were anyway! They set up a full tour for me with a student in class 11. Most of the students at Kiran are physically disabled and I didn’t realize how hard it would be to go to school in the city on crutches or in a wheel chair until seeing this place! They also have several deaf classrooms, a “special education” class, and classes for families from the close-by villages on how to best help their child with special needs. They have a shop where they make leg braces for the students and people in the villages, a farm where they grow most of the food for the canteen, dorms for the students, a swimming pool, a wood shop, art facilities – I was endlessly impressed! I am hoping to go back and observe in some classrooms at Kiran and also spend some time at other schools around Banaras. After observing in other schools I am supposed to work with some disabled students here at Nirman. I am so excited to be doing this project!

            Wednesday is the last day of my first quarter of classes here. I can’t believe I am almost halfway done with the program! We have a two week break before the next quarter starts so we are going on a big trip to Mumbai and Jaipur (the city where The Magnificent Marigold Hotel movie was filmed). It should be an amazing trip but I am a little worried about the 27 hour train ride from here to Mumbai! We have some cool things planned for both cities including visiting old Buddhist caves in Mumbai and riding elephants in Jaipur! But I think I am most excited just to experience such different parts of the country.

            Tonight to celebrate the end of our quarter Nirman is throwing us a dinner party with some of the staff and our friends. It should be fun but I am mainly excited because we are going to try out the new saris that we bought last week! I’ll talk let’s of pictures!

 



My sari wearing debut!

 



This has just not been my week!

First my computer broke down. Macs are very uncommon here but luckily we found somebody who had the means to reinstall my operating system which is making it work now! I have never been so worried about an inanimate object before! While I'm sure I would have found a solution and made it through, I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to talk to my family or friends, plan my travels for after India, or do my homework! The guy was pretty efficient though and only asked me to marry him once, so that's a plus!

We are finding friendships with men to be a really difficult thing to navigate. Men and women are not usually friends here, and most people still have arranged marriages. Because of this and people's preconceived notions about Americans people are often extra... friendly.... with us. It is very frustrating because we really want to make friends! We're still working on it and trying to see if we can go to a women's studies class at the university near by and hopefully meet some women!

Right now I'm sick so that's not helping anything. It's nothing bad - I just haven't had an appetite and am feeling weak but I have been lying in bed for the last two days and am starting to get bored! Hopefully I will feel better soon! Everyone has had problems like this though and they go away quickly so I am not too concerned.

The other exciting thing going on here are strikes, protesting inflation. Yesterday businesses, students, and just about everybody else was on strike so schools, shops, and businesses were closed. Although the police are employed by the government, they were all over the streets making sure that shops were closed and rickshaw drivers weren't working for fear that people would become violent against those not participating in the strike. Seeing as police discipline people by hitting them with sticks, however, I didn't exactly feel that they were reducing the violence in the streets. My favorite thing about it however, was that everybody described what was going on as "India is closed". It's pretty amazing that such a big country can just shut down like that!