Can you dig it, baby?

I spent this week doing office work, going to the slums and spending time at the children's home. The slums are really a lot to handle...Ive never seen anything like it. I talk to women there and talk to the children as well. They run "parliaments" for both the women and children and elect people to be in charge of everything for medical issues to work issues so that the people are empowered to work to better themselves and their neighbors. Its great. I cant really take pictures there though so Ill post some cute ones of the children's home.

In order the pics are:
1. some girls at the house cutting jackfruit...check out the size of the knives!
2. me drinking tea...picture courtesy of Chandrika
3. myself, Sonny on the left, Priya on top and Mala on the right
4. me with hand-drawn bindi courtesy of Chaia
5. thursday there was a country-wide strike and everything was shut down for the day so we sat around and read and ate jackfruit. Sister Nisha took this pic. she calls me a book word instead of book worm.
6. Sister Nisha and her homemade egg custard...yummmmmy

MY(backis)SORE

Get it? My back is sore...MYSORE? hahaha...i slept on a cot in Mysore and I am hilarious!

Okay so this post is to make up for last weekend. Im going to bullet point to make it shorter!

• as a group (Gretchen, Sarah, Jon, Mike and myself) we went to Mysore (a city like three hours away.)
• we went by train...and lets just say that was an experience. we stood the entire way. (Hence Jon throwing himself in front a train at a museum we went to later!)
• we took a tour of the city for 200 rupees or four bucks each 
• we had dinner at this strange little "western" restaurant where they served pizza with potato chips on top, to celebrate Sarah's birthday and then spent the evening pretty low key watching reruns of Fear Factor from the nineties
• highlight of the trip? thats a toughy...gotta be between shaving my legs in an amazing shower (sorry if thats tmi) and western breakfast in the morning!
• i dont have many pics of Mysore because my camera died  :( sorry!

Pictures!

without me its just aweso

Hello!
So much has happened since I last posted...I couldnt possibly write it all down. We have all begun work at our sites which is the most important thing though.

On Friday we all drove to Palamaner which a rural town about 3 hours from Bangalore where Jon and Sarah will be staying. It was really interesting to see a different side of India. The drive there was an adventure in and of itself. Indian driving is crazy to begin with. There are basically no traffic laws and people kind of just do whatever they want. In a city this isnt such a big deal because you are only going about 30 miles per hour. In the country people drive much much faster and pass cars every two seconds. There were a couple times when I literally thought I was going to die as we drove right at another vehicle but somehow we made it just fine. When we got to the friary there we had tea (of course; we have tea 2-3 times a day or more!!!) and then got a tour of the grounds. It was nice to escape the noise of the city. We even got to see wild monkeys in the trees! After our tour and after lunch we drove to the hospital where the Jon and Sarah will be working. It is a leprosy hospital and there Dr. Jacob works to treat and prevent leprosy in the community. We got a tour of the hospital, including the leprosy wing. What we saw there was the saddest thing I have ever seen. Many of the patients have had to have their limbs and appendages removed because of their disease and because of their ulcers the room smelt horrible. These people are often outcast from society because people find their disease difficult to understand and cope with and that really angers me, especially when it is children who are faced with the disease. Dr. Jacob does great work both helping to treat the disease as well as humanizing it. I will never forget what I saw in the hospital that day.

We left Jon and Sarah in Palamaner but we will see them again this coming weekend to celebrate Sarah's birthday. Plans arent set in stone but we plan on going to Mysore to see some temples and palaces and possibly ELEPHANTS!

This weekend Mike and I spent a little more time getting used to Bangalore. We visited the mall again (we took a bus this time which was quite the experience), saw an aquarium and a museum. We were shocked by how small the aquarium was. Ive kind of decided that being American ruins things for us. I have seen quite a few aquariums and have learned what to expect of them. I was disappointed by the one here because "Ive seen better." Watching the Indian people enjoy the aquarium was a lesson to me to enjoy the small things in life :)

On Monday...which was yesterday for me, I got dropped off at my site, the Domestic Workers Movement. I have my own room on the top floor which is nice except is excruciatingly hot. I guess on the positive side I will sweat off some weight lol. For now it is only myself, Sister Nisha (my coordinator) and another woman whose name Im not sure how to spell but I think it is Vijaya. She is having problems with her husband and has no family to stay with so until her issues are resolved she is doing housework for Sister Nisha. I am kind of treated like a princess here. She serves my food to me and brings me water to my room and makes me cups of tea several times a day. She wont let me do anything for myself! The conditions here are much better than I thought going in which is a relief. I have western toilets and a cold shower but I am still advised to
conserve water and electricity.

Yesterday was a "rest and settle day" for me according to Sister Nisha so I basically just unpacked my things and spent time getting used to the house. Another woman, Nagu, came to take me shopping and what an experience that was. I now have four kurtas to wear which is nice. They are much cooler than anything I have brought from home and considering the weather is close to 100 degrees everyday that really helps.

Today I was sent to the children's home. These children are either orphaned and have been rescued from domestic work or their mothers are domestic workers who cannot provide for them. I have been playing with the girls all day and letting them use my camera. They have asked me so many questions about America and about my family and friends. They were watching tv and Pocahontas came on which was really cool because I was able to explain the movie to them. They also thought it would be a great idea to give me bindi on my forehead which is actually just a decoration which originated as a hindi religious thing.  Right now I am using the computer in the office while they take a nap.

I am struggling to adjust to the food here but every now and then I get a pleasant surprise at a meal. For breakfast this morning I had nutella on bread and for lunch they had an Indian version of French fries for me!

I will try and post some pictures now but I guess that is all for today. I am still missing everyone back home! <3

I am here and LOVING it!

                It is midnight here in India, starting May 18 so I have been here for 2 full days and will begin my third tomorrow. So far things have been going really well. I have seen so much in the past few days, much of which is going to be really hard to explain because it literally compares to nothing I have seen before. But I will do my best.

                For the past couple of days we have kind of just been getting used to Bangalore and to Indian culture. We have done a lot of walking and observing as well as visiting the local non profits and preparing for the following weeks. We are currently staying at NBCLC which is a Catholic retreat center here in Bangalore. One of the guys on our trip will stay here for the whole time and volunteer at a center for people with disabilities just a few blocks away. Tomorrow we will be taking two others to their site 4 hours south where they will be working in a hospital helping with tropical diseases. On Monday I will begin my placement with the Domestic Workers Movement about 30 kilometers away from where I am now.

                Yesterday morning we got to sleep in a little since we had just arrived and were exhausted. We got up and had breakfast around 9 and then we were off to explore the surrounding area. When I got back later in the afternoon I was exhausted. Not because we had walked too much it is just a major overstimulation of my senses (in a great way!) It is very hot and humid and there are constantly things to hear and see that are new and interesting. The streets are really hard to explain. Where we were seemed pretty small, a middle class neighborhood, but it was extremely busy. The streets are really broken (worse potholes than Canton!) and dirty. What is most amazing and what I cannot express enough is the wealth gap. The gap between the poor and the rich is extremely visible. You can literally see the poorest person you can imagine living in an alley way between two world banks or next to the four story mall with a Mercedes parked next to them. I was also shocked by the cattle roaming the streets and when I people about them later I was told that they are stray cattle, just like stray cats or dogs and they wander aimlessly through the streets next to the mopeds and buses and cars.

               

                We also got to go to Commercial Street later in the afternoon which is like the shopping hub here in Bangalore. It had everything from high end stores to little side markets and carts of people selling fruit. The most challenging thing I saw all day by far was a little girl, curled up on a step outside of the church, presumably asleep. It was honestly one of the hardest things I have ever had to do to walk away and leave her there. Now I don’t know what her story was, she could very well have been taking a nap, but it was very much representative of the immense, in-your-face poverty you see every day here.            

                Today we woke early and went to a traditional Indian mass which was really interesting. There were many similarities to the Catholic masses I grew up attending but there were also some really cool elements, like the anointing of our palms with oil,that I wasn’t used to.  Because this is a church retreat center there have been some students and nuns here studying and retreating and we have really had the opportunity to talk with them and get to know them which has been really cool. They are from a different state, particularly a city called Goa and they said their way of life is really different than here so I am excited to experience different places.

                After mass and breakfast we went into the city to a botanical garden called Lalbagh. We kind of just spent time walking around and enjoying the scenery and each other. Father Davis, our in country coordinator came along and brought a couple of sisters. They were experts on the garden and a lot of the trees. Oh, I nearly forgot to mention! When we first got to the garden we climbed up this hill and were looking at a shrine on top. All of a sudden this man came over and basically threw his baby into my arms and his whole family gathered around and took pictures of me and the baby. I was shocked but I couldn’t help laughing when I thought about the fact that my picture will be shown to people or framed and hung on a wall or something.

                After we went to the park we went to the mall that was close by. It was really nice to be somewhere that was a little more westernized and to know that if I’m craving a slice of pizza or some ice cream or French fries there is somewhere I can go. I also added minutes to my cell phone so I will be able to call home occasionally.

                After the mall we went to visit my future site: the Domestic Workers Movement. I got to learn a little bit more about what they do but I still don’t feel like I fully understand so stay tuned for more info about that. They showed me around the house I will be staying in as well. I will be living with three other women in a room but the nice part is that if I need an escape there is a rooftop I am allowed to go sit on that overlooks some of the other houses and the street below.  We had tea with the sister who will be in charge of me, Sister Nisha, and I made plans for me to move in on Monday.  Overall I am super excited.

                What has been really interesting for me in the two days that I have been here is that typical American stereotypes of India are both true and not true. It is not as exotic as most Americans perceive it and not nearly as scary. It is dirty and loud and busy but honestly, that is part of the charm. Sometimes the smells are overwhelming or I am shocked by things I see or it is hard to communicate with someone but for the most part I am able to look past all of those things and see the beauty. I almost always feel like I am on display. When we walk down the streets people stare and children wave. The people that we have met are just as interested in our culture as we are theirs and they shower us with questions as well as compliments.  I am very much looking forward to beginning my journey!

SHOUT OUT to Maura!!! – today What Makes You Beautiful came on the radio and I could only think of you singing and dancing to me :)

I am missing everyone back home :( but I'm having an amazing time!

The Adventure Begins: 5/13

The time is finally here. I am off to India for six weeks tomorrow afternoon!

As many of you know I went to Thailand last summer for five weeks and created a blog to keep everyone back home up to date on my life as well as to share my adventures. When I decided to go to India I got a lot of requests to blog again so I've decided to do that! I may not be able to blog daily due to lack of internet access but I will do my best to blog as frequently as possible. I will even add pictures this time!

I thought this would be a good time to talk a little about what I will be doing while I am there. While I don't know all the details I do know I will most likely be staying with a group of nuns who are working with the Domestic Workers Movement in India. This is super exciting because while I have studied previous movements like the Civil Rights and Women's Rights, being directly involved with one will be quite the experience. It will mostly be women and children I will be working with who are servants in upper class homes. These individuals have been 'invisible' forever, meaning as workers they have had no rights. They have been abused and mistreated and the goal of the movement is to bring these injustices to public view as well as to help these individuals have better lives in whatever ways possible. So yeah, I'm super excited!

I take off tomorrow, May 14th, around 3:10 and should land by 8 pm India time (they are nine and a half hours ahead of us.) We will be staying at a friary for the first few days, doing an in country orientation and then off to our individual placements later in the week.

Good bye for now! I will write again the next time I have internet!