The Blog about India

Last post in India!

6/13/2010

Yeah, we've been having way too much fun to update this thing. But we're flying out tonight, so we figured one last post while we're in India!

So New Delhi has been a great time. At first we were feeling pretty bitter toward New Delhi and its overall disgustingness - it being an extremely hot and overpopulated city - but the sight-seeing proved us wrong. On Friday we went to the Lotus Temple, which is of the Baha'i faith. After that, we went to a very cool (very old) tomb called Humayun's Tomb. Next, we drove by the India Gate and Indian Parliamentary Buildings. Very cool stuff! After lunch,Ashley, Sarah and I tuktuked to the National Museum - another interesting part of India's history! On Saturday, we went to Akshardham - the world's largest temple! We didn't actually go in because of time restraints and overall unorganizedness of the complex, but enjoying it from afar was still great fun! Then we went to Jama Masjid, a mosque in New Delhi. It was really pretty, but the three of us started to get pretty fed up with how many people try to rip you off at these tourist attractions, so we didn't stay for long. Still, we had a fun time, though! Lots of laughs that morning. Next, the taxi driver took us to Ghandi's Museum. Definitely a highlight of this trip. It had a photo history of his life, and even items from when he was shot - the robe with blood stains, the bullet, the pocket watch, etc. It was so cool to learn about such an admired icon of India in his museum, right down the road from where he lived. It was a modest museum, but one of the best I've been to. After lunch, Sarah, Ashley and I tuktuked to Dilli Haat - a huge market pretty close to the CCS flat. It was lots of fun, and we may have boughten a few more things! They were great buys.

After that, Ashley and I had to depart from the umbrella of CCS! They had about 20 new volunteers arrive that night, and as of Saturday afternoon, our time with them was up. Sarah flew home Saturday night, and a driver dropped Ashley and I off at our hotel.

So we've stayed at a nice traveler's hotel here in New Delhi! It's basically just a place for us to nap, eat, shower, and repack. We chilled last (Saturday) night and rested from our long day on the town. And at 2:45am we were picked up by our favorite taxi driver - Jassi - to drive to Agra! Got to Taj Mahal around 6am, so it wasn't too hot or too busy! It was beautiful, really. So special to actually be there. After that, we had breakfast, then headed to the Agra Fort for a bit. Another great historic site in India, a few more snapshots, and we left to come back to New Delhi. It was a long morning but definitely worth it! The things we saw today are ones we'll always remember.

This afternoon we had much needed showers, and much needed reorganization of our luggage! Now we're all ready to go and just waiting for the time to come! Our flight is at 12:50am so we're getting there around 9 or 9:30, plenty of time.

So next time we update will probably be back in the States! We're really excited to finally be back and see everyone! : D

And here are a few pictures of us, in the mean time!

Lotus Temple!

Jama Masjid

Leaving the CCS flat with all of our luggage!

Taj Mahal!

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Ashley's last day of work (boo hoo)

6/10/2010

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So I thought I’d share my last day of work, too, and our last few days here. I had been looking forward to my last day of work for some time now, until this week. I had finally got into a “groove” of things with Women’s Team and I started to really connect with the women. Building relationships takes time, and it was frustrating to me that just as I had begun to form real friendships, I had to leave. Also, I was getting pretty darn good at teaching, and I was really enjoying it! But you can’t stop time, no matter how much you want to.

Tuesday, my women decided that we would go on a picnic! I do love picnics. Even though it was pouring rain, we still had our picnic! Take that, weather. So instead of having English class, we drove to this temple that was about 20 minutes drive from the homebase. It was the Kunal Pathri temple, and is dedicated to the local goddess Kapaleshwari. We took our shoes off, bought some offering for the gods, and walked through the temple. It was interesting to me; I’ve been to a few temples, but I’ve never gone with Hindus. They all gave their offerings and bowed, and we just kind of walked around the complex. The girls asked for some instruments from the people in charge of the temple, and they received this cymbal-thingy and a hand drum. For about an hour, we just sat outside the temple and played music and sang songs. Apurvi told me later that they were singing Hindu religious songs, which I gathered at the time. They sang for the longest time! I just sat and clapped along and smiled. Other women stopped by, and they would dance and sing along. One older lady led a whole song and she looked like she was enjoying herself. At one point, there were 25 women sitting around and 4 or 5 of them were dancing! They all knew the songs, too. I guessed that the songs were like our hymns. After a while, we went to eat lunch. Since it was raining, we had to have our picnic in the van, with everyone smashed up in the back together. But it was fun, and the food was delicious!

Since Wednesday is always tandoori night, we decided that Tuesday night would be our last night on the town. We had a “food crawl,” where we hopped from restaurant to restaurant in McLeod and Bhagsu, and just ate all the junk we wanted. John was aiming to eat a record 50 momos that night—he managed to stuff 40 down his craw without puking! Very impressive, indeed. MOMOS. Gosh, they are the best food I’ve had in India. They’re like little yummy dumplings—we started the food crawl with spinach and cheese momos. Delicious! After that, we ate some breakfast food in Bhagsu, and then went to this little restaurant in a tent. It had a movie screen up, and they were playing “My Cousin Vinny”. It was a pretty funny movie! After several pizzas, noodles, and Limcas later, we went and got some Bhagsu cake, which is the most delicious dessert I’ve had in India. Needless to say, we were all very full and bloated when we waddled our way home that night. It was a really fun time.

Wednesday was my last day of work. We didn’t even bother having class; I brought a bunk of junk food and we just sat and ate and played pass the parcel and danced a lot. Inder showed me how to make this dessert that was made of some kind of grain and raisins. It was so good; I’m going to have her email me the recipe (even though I can’t cook). Mostly, we just took lots of pictures and danced. I played them some Lady Gaga, since they had never heard of her before! I had my laptop with me, so of course they wanted me to show them pictures, which I did. I gave them all parting gifts, too. I had noticed that some of the women, during our class discussions, had mentioned that they sometimes feel very angry or sad, and yet have no one to talk to about their feelings. I bought each of them a journal, with the hopes that they would use it to sort through their thoughts and feelings. I’ve always thought writing is therapeutic, so that’s why I wanted to give them these gifts. They gave me a gift too: a small notebook and two cool bangles. Eventually, I had to leave, which was awful. Of course it was sad leaving, but it was sadder knowing that I didn’t know when I would see these women again, if ever. Many of them said that they want to come to the US, but I know most of them won’t ever make it. Obviously, right when people starting saying bye and crying and hugging me, I burst out crying. I promised them that I would come back to Khaniyara, and I told them that they have to invite me to their weddings! I know I’ll come back to India, but I said to them that I didn’t know when I would come back. It may be one year, five years, or ten years. They were sad to hear that. When I said goodbye to Abhilasha, she said “I am missing you already,” and said that I was her mentor. It was hard saying goodbye to some of the girls that I had gotten close with, like Pooja and Arti. But I’ll come back and see them. Some of the girls are so young, I’m anxious to see how their lives turn out. We all walked down the road together—it honestly felt like a movie scene. After many more hugs and goodbyes, I got in the car and we started to drive away. Looking back at that group of women and seeing them all wave goodbye to me is a memory that I’ll cherish always.

So it was sad leaving. It felt surreal when we were packing up and saying goodbye to all the CCS staff. Monica, Anju, Kanchan, Pummy, Ashwami, Jeetu, Anil, Lalu, Rakesh, Makesh…they are just awesome people, and they made our experience in India really great. We’ll definitely miss them, too.

It feels like we’ve been in India a while, we know that, but it also feels like the time just flew by. It will be strange going home, but we’re both looking forward to it.

We’ll be in Delhi for a few days, hit up the Taj, and then head to the airport Sunday night. Monday afternoon, we’ll both be home!

So we may not have internet for a while, but we’ll post final thoughts and reflections eventually.

Peace out,

Ashley

Singing and dancing at the temple

Picnic!

This place is just so beautiful. And there was a rainbow.

Nearing the end of the food crawl....

Everyone :)

Last day

Jitender, me, and Binta

Pooja is so, so tiny!

Leaving the CCS house

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"Family visit and final day of work" by Katie

6/10/2010

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So for my last night in Dharamsala, a girl a work with - Pratibha - invited me over to her house! She just turned 20 a few days ago so we're almost the same age. She studied Geography and History in college, but is now an Outreach Worker at the community center for HIV/AIDs issues. So she decided she's going to the equivilence of graduate school for Social Work and Rural Development. She just loves school and loves studying so we have quite a bit in common! She's also super chatty so we've gotten to know each other pretty well at the center. Anyways, I went with Yamini to Pratibha's house for tea and dinner. The house is really new so her and her family aren't actually moved in completely yet - and they still have another story to build on their house! But it's a beautiful home. Her father is a retired Professor so it's a very educated and well-off family. The floor is marble and everything in their home is white. They said it's tough to clean, but it's worth it! So Yamini had to leave to go home and take care of her son after a little bit of hanging out at Pratibha's, but then Pratibha and I had chai and biscuits (cookies) on the roof! The roof is just flat and outside, but once her father gets home from the hospital in Punjab he's staying at (he's finishing up chemo) they're going to build a Girls Education for technology Institution up there. So we just talked about life, which was really great. Definitely interesting seeing how even the little things in our lives differ because of where we are. After that, a storm started rolling in. It made everything look even more amazing than usual - and Pratibha has an awesome view! The pictures are down there :). Anyways, then we went inside and I met her sister! Her sister is 25 and a nurse at a connected Community Center. She didn't speak much English, but we were able to communicate more than Pratibha's mother and I - who spoke no English... but was so nice! Her whole family was incredibly welcoming and complimentary of me. Her mom said I was her new daughter, it was so cute. They showed me a lot of pictures of their lives, too. Then we had dinner around 8:30 (it was suppose to be at 7, so the driver came for me at 8:30. He had to wait. There's Indian time-keeping for ya :) ) and it was delicious! Potatoes and green beans that they grew, with some dal, fried rice, kurd, salad (which is cucumbers and onions with a salt seasoning on them), and milk cake for dessert. It was definitely a fun night and I'm very glad I got to experience an evening in an Indian family's home. It's tough to explain all the different aspects that make it unique from our own lives in the states, but it definitely is. Besides bickering between mothers and daughters, there's a more family-oriented vibe than you get a lot of the time in America. Plus, the food is very different. They had probably over 40 potatoes. I was shocked by it, which they thought was hilarious. We also cut up the veggies and ate on the floor (which is normal, and if done right perfectly sanitary). I don't know, it was a great night. Tough to portray completely but that experience is one I'm going to remember forever. It's too bad my first time at the hosue was my last night - they invited me to come back whenever I wanted! Maybe some day - I'm thinking I have to come back for Pratibha's wedding!

My last day at work was earlier that day, too. My last few days there were pretty relaxing and a lot of fun. I got to know the people who work there a lot better those last few days! I'm going to miss that place a lot - it was SUCH an awesome experience. I could definitely see myself going back there as well, continuing to volunteer or possibly intern with them. The work their NGO (non-governmental organization) is doing is exactly what I see myself doing for a career. It's definitely in the start up process, but it really has amazing potential with the people they have there. Fun but hard-working and progressive individuals :)
Oh, and as a going-away gift, they gave me a picture frame! Because they noticed how much I enjoy pictures, haha. I'm pumped to put a picture of me with them in the frame. Now here are some pictures from Pratibha's house, and from my last day of work!

Pratibha, myself, and Yamini :)

Some of the guys that work at the organization, Pratibha and myself! Basically just a picture of hip 20-somethings. And ok, I'm 19.

Amazing view from Pratibha's roof with the storm all around us. Imagine thunder with sunset and mountains.

Layers of hills with sunset

Her sister, mom, myself, and Pratibha!

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The final plans.

6/10/2010

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Hello friends and family! Our trip is nearing an end.

That's why we haven't really updated much in the past few days - it was our last few days in Dharamsala! It's Thursday night right now, and we left Dharamsala this morning. Our flight was at 12:30 so we got into the CCS flat in New Delhi around 3pm. It's Ashley and I, plus one other 4-weeker Sarah. We've just been chilling, sitting around. It's relaxing and definitely giving me a chance to write in my journal. I've been filling that guy up a lot lately! But we have a few days here - and we aren't actually sure what we'll be doing. I'm pretty bummed we couldn't have just spent more time in Dharamsala, but the way the program works is after your placement is over you head to New Delhi for a few days, so oh well. Anyways, we're looking up what to do tomorrow since we have all day (and most of Saturday) to sight-see. Sarah is finding some pretty sweet stuff for us to do in Old Delhi! Cool.

So yeah, our trip is dangerously close to ending right now. It basically already has since we left Dharamsala - the place we've been staying for weeks. It was really hard to say good-bye this morning. To the town and its beauty and to our friends (volunteers and CCS staff). I already miss it.

Our plan for the next few days are to explore Delhi a bit on Friday and Saturday, then Ashley and I are heading to Agra either Saturday night or early Sunday morning to see Taj Mahal. Our flight is out of Delhi Sunday night at about 1 am! And we will be arriving home Monday afternoon!

Now that we already said our good-bye to Dharamsala and almost all of the new friends we've made, I'm kind of just anxious to get home. Ashley is in the same boat - we're both really excited to catch up with our friends and family!

Well it sounds like we'll have a bit of time to burn for a few days here so we'll update more on what we did our last week! We definitely both had some fun times. See you all soon :)

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last weekend here.

6/5/2010

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Heyoheyoheyo. This is Katie. I just felt like updating on some more random stuff.

So last week we had an excursion to this Tibetan Arts institute... it was beautiful. It's where a lot of people go to study different types of Tibetan art: painting, wood carving, weaving, and metal statue making (whatever that's called). To learn each type of artwork, it takes anywhere from 3 - 7 years of schooling, learning meausrements, colors, and more. It's all such intricate art. There was a temple there, too. And a super cool (but pretty expensive) gift store. The whole complex was amazing though, it was very peaceful. It had an incredible garden with stone paths, prayer flags, shrubbery, fountains, and more. I want that to be my backyard...

Let's see, what else have we done. Just been hanging around getting to know the CCS staff better. They're all super awesome. There are three women in their 20s, Kanchan, Monica and Anju. They are really fun to talk to, and we usually just chill and talk throughout the day. The two director guys, Anil and Jeeto, are super nice. Lal Singh is a housekeeper, he's adorable. The two drivers - Pummy and ___ - are great drivers and fun to talk to. The guards are nice (it's not exactly necessary to have guards outside our house here, but they have a nice and chill job). And the cooks, Mukesh and Rakesh are both super nice too! The whole staff is incredible.

Last night (Saturday night), Apurvi, Sarah and I decided to cook dinner for everybody. It was only four volunteers (two were in town) and like 3 CCS staffers (the guard, then Mukesh and Rakesh live here because they're actually from Nepal) so we decided to make an American classic: grilled cheese and fries! It was really fun making the food, and it was all sooo delicious.

So over this weekend, we've been going up to Bhagsu (another hippie town past Mcloed). We all went Friday for dinner, met up with Estelle's friend Nina who is from Austria and we always hang out with up in town, had some great pizza, then went down to this German Bakery. When we were there though, it was like 8pm so it was dark... and a storm was coming, so all of a sudden ALL the street lights went out! It was freaky because it was so dark but pretty sweet at the same time. The bakery was outside but completely covered so we were safe from the winds and rains, but we sat there for quite a while waiting for the storm to clear. Between the lightning, thunder, wind, and rain it was definitely an intense storm, but at the same time how often do you get to sit in a storm in the Himalayas like that? So Ronnie, the taxi guy, picked us up a while later and we came back to the house. Pretty much went to sleep right away.

Then the next day - Saturday - Apurvi, Sarah, Estelle, John and I went up into to Mcloed, met Nina, and walked to Bhagsu to do a hike and a little shopping (Ashley would have come but her ankle hurt from rolling it the other day, so walking would have been bad for it). We did this little walk to a waterfall, it was a very pretty walk. Waterfall was dinky but I still liked it! Plus the scenery all around you was awesome. After that we had lunch, and shopped around. Fun day!

We picked up cheese on our way back to homebase to make grilled cheese and there it is. The weekend thus far. Today (Sunday) we might go to this Rock Temple that's suppose to be cool. We've just been chilling so far though. Only a few days left here! Crazy.

Ok... that's all I can think of. Talk to y'alls later.

-Katie

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Indians know how to party!

6/5/2010

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Hi everyone! Aren’t you lucky, getting blog updates pretty much every day! What a treat!

So me (Ashley), Katie and Apurvi just got back from the birthday party! It was AWESOME.

So here’s the story. So this guy named Frank from Alaska has worked with Women’s Team since it got started; he donates all the computers and technical stuff like that. And he’s here in India with his fiancée, Agnus. Agnus is adorably sweet. Anyway, it was her birthday today and it was also their last night in India! So Inder and Jitinder decided to throw her a party. Today during class, they told me about it and invited me to come. “Bring your friends!” they said, too. Well yes of course, I will bring my friends!

So Ashwani (the driver) brought us to Inder’s house at 7:00. We had gone to the store and bought some different cookies to bring for the hosts, and we also gave Agnus a green glass bracelet as a present. It was sort of awkward walking up to the house, because there were some people that I didn’t recognize, and when we started walking into Inder’s house, they shot us looks like “Whaaaat are you doing here?” But when I walked into the house, everyone I knew was like “Ashleyyyy!” and I was really happy to be there. Everyone was introduced to each other, and people just started dancing! It was really fun.

This is Katie now. I was so pumped that Ashley invited me to the birthday party! Indian parties are the best. So yeah, we danced quite a bit. They taught us some Indian moves – it’s a lot of interesting hand movements (screw the lightbulb, pet the dog!), and we taught them some American moves – like the Jersey Shore fist pump, the shopping cart, sprinkler, fishing pole, etc. The girls there were SO nice and SO fun! A few were shy, but mainly they’d just come up and dance with you!

Then we had some cake! First birthday cake we’ve seen in a while. Agnus blew out her candles and then they cut up the cake and we just would grab a piece to eat it… no plates! After the cake, we danced a little more and then had dinner.

We lined the hallway outside and sat down. They set disposable plates in front of us, then loaded them up with rice! Lots… of rice… then, veggies. Then meats and cheeses and beans and sauces on the rice. So much food! We ate with our hands since we were at a traditional Indian party, using our right hands as scoopers. It’s messy business but tons of fun!

We had to leave shortly after that, sadly. We had curfew at the CCS house and the drive takes about 20 minutes. When we got back we still had so much energy though! So we hung out, looked at pictures, listened to music, etc.

Every night we have such a fun time – it’s going to be so sad and so strange to leave this place!

Ready to go to the party!

Some of the women and kiddies! It was so fun.

Inder, Jitender, Ashley, and Katie!

After Agnus blew out the candles, everyone (including little kids) popped all the balloons! It was sort of weird. Apurvi said thats just what you do at a party, though!

Dancing!

Waiting for food

Foooooooood!

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Ashley's Placement

6/3/2010

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Hey all, this is Ashley. Katie went up to McLeod with John to get a tattoo (John is getting it, not Katie!) and I figured I should probably talk about my placement. It came to my attention while I was skyping with my mom that I’ve never really talked about what I’m actually doing here! So here goes.

I work with Women’s Team, which is a local, grassroots women’s organization. My job is teaching English to roughly 8 women, which is interesting because I have no experience teaching—at all. The women are relatively young, aging from 18 to 32 years old. I’m the same age as the youngest girl! They were so surprised to hear that I’m 18; one of the girls kind of made an “awww” sound when I told her my age, which was not what I wanted to hear. But the group is so, so nice! These women definitely don’t have it easy; they all have duties in their household, and they told me that their days are spent COMPLETELY on housework. They said they only have 30 minutes each day to “take rest,” and they don’t like it. Some of the women are very well-educated; Inder and Jitinder both have graduate degrees in History, Political Science, and English. Two of the other girls are in college right now, and 2 more are planning on going to college next year.

Here’s a list of the women I work with:

Jitinder: she is the leader of the group, speaks fluent English, and is a very independent woman. Jitinder founded Women’s Team 3 years ago as a place where women can come into a friendly, pro-women environment to learn computer skills and to improve their English.

Inder: Inder is also well-educated, kind, and opens her home for Women’s Team to meet. She’s married, and spends most of her time doing work around the house.

Pooja: Pooja is 22, and will be finishing college next year. She is so sweet. She told me that after she finishes school, she wants an arranged marriage, but that she has to meet with the guy before and decide is their views match. “If he says that I stay inside all the time, then I will not marry him,” she told me. She is probably the girl I have become closest to here.

Rama: Rama just finished her first year of college, and man does she have spunk! She’s very strong-willed, and is very bright. Sometimes, I think she gets bored in class because her English is so advanced.

Manju: Manju and Rama are best friends. Manju is 18, and is the quieter half of the pair. Her English is at a medium level, and she seems a little shy. But she opened up about having a boyfriend, which is pretty scandalous in this village!

Rajni: Rajni is very quiet, but is also very intense when she speaks English. I can tell that she is always concentrating on what she is saying. She’s 18, and is as thin as a rail. She only has one outfit, which is sort of sad, because I wear a different suit every day. If I could, I would buy them all new outfits. They asked me how much my suit was one day (Indians have no concept of privacy) and freaked out when I told them how much it costs. But back to Rajni. She just finished high school, and I think she wants to go to college. She tries very hard, and has a big smile.

Rita: Rita is maybe 25 or 26 years old, and doesn’t speak a lot of English. Still, I can tell that she has a great sense of humor and is eager to learn English. She is always laughing!

Binta: Binta is 24, and is married and has one daughter. Her English is very rudimentary, but she wants to learn English so that she can teach her daughter “so that she can have a bright future.” Her love for her child is so obvious, and although she doesn’t speak a lot of English, she always smiles at me when I look at her.

Abhilasha: Abhilasha is the newest member of Women’s Team. She’s in her early 20’s, and is very bright and a very hard worker. She always has the answers to my review questions, so I can tell she is always invested in the lessons I give. Today, she gave me 2 plastic bangles. It was so nice!

So that’s my group! A normal day would go like this: I arrive at 10:50, and chat with the girls as they work on their typing on the computer. Anyone remember Type to Learn? It’s pretty much what they use to increase their typing skills. Around 11, we’ll go into the main room at Inder’s house, spread out a blanket, and just chat until everyone arrives, which is usually by 11:10. After some light chatter, we’ll start with “Discussion of the day,” which is where I write 3 or 4 questions on the whiteboard on a topic, and each person will answer them in English. For example, one day the questions were “What is your best quality? What is your worst quality?” and stuff like that. It was sad to me when so many of the girls said that they have “no good qualities.” They don’t seem to have a lot of confidence about themselves. But when I pressed them for answers, many of them said that they make friends easily. And their worst qualities: “sometimes I believe people too much, and they wrong me, and I think bad things about them for a long time,” or that they are very quick to anger.

After discussion of the day, we’ll start lessons. Sometimes we’ll do vocabulary, and sometimes we’ll do verb tenses or articles. It was exciting for me when I gave a long lesson on articles (apparently no one had ever made sure they understood the concept of articles) and the next day, Pooja told me that she had gone into the government school and taught the children the lesson on articles that I had taught her. It made me feel as if I am having a ripple effect here—that my actions may have larger ramifications that I can’t see.

We normally play games like Hangman, Boggle, or Pictionary to review English words. They are SO competitive! Like when they play Boggle, they play in teams, and will whisper the words to the person writing so the other team doesn’t hear them. It gets intense!

We have class from 11 to 1, and then I leave. Two hours is too short with my few weeks here to really crack down on their speaking skills. But I take the lessons day by day, and think small. There is just so much to the English language!

I have less than one week in Dharamsala—we fly to Delhi next Thursday around noon. It’s going to be sad, leaving Women’s Team. They are teaching me more than I can ever teach them. Learning about their lives has made me much more grateful for my life. When I asked where they would travel to, many of them expressed a desire to live in America. Rajni has said many times that she wants “to live in America.” It makes me sad to know that none of these women will make it to the US, in all likelihood.

I’ve really enjoyed my time working with this group. I was super interested in women’s rights issues in Model UN, so it worked out very nicely that I actually get to spend so much time with the women who are living through these obstacles. I wish I could actually produce something with NGOs like Katie is doing, but I’ve realized that my job is just a different way of changing things. It works for me.

So I hope that was sufficient! I couldn’t believe it when my mom asked me, “So do you actually like it? What you’re doing? What are you actually doing?” So I hope that answers those questions.

Tonight, my women’s group is having a party at Inder’s house, so we’re all going! It should be fun.

This weekend, we’re going to do some awesome things, so we’ll make sure to update before we leave!

One week left in Dharamsala. It feels like we just got here. Six of the volunteers left this morning, and I totally teared up when I had to say goodbye to people. Robin, Nona, Luisa, Lynne, Christina, and Jenna left today. It was sad. But we will definitely be seeing some of them in the future! Next Thursday is going to be a sad day. But we’re here, we’re going to make the most of our time here, and we’re going to enjoy it.

Peace out,

Ashley

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Amritsar pictures!

6/1/2010

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Embarking on the 5 hour drive...!

We had a really nice room; we had beds to ourselves too! (Except for John, who got the windowsill)

Look at us, being all respectful with our headscarves.

Smile!

Times this by ten and you'll have a picture of the people surrounding Katie.

Golden Temple at night

John, Estelle, and Katie :)

Ashley and Estelle and the Golden Temple :)

Walking around the square

These guys were cool. They were jamming pretty hard, so we stopped and listened. Not that we could understand what they were saying, but it was still pretty cool. The guy on the left didn't do anything but stand with the sword, and then said a prayer (we think?)

Rickshaw ride!!

...and the little fight between the driver and the hotel staff.

Yay VIP passes!!

India side! Also known as the awesome side.... :)

This old guy ran the flag--EVERYBODY starting cheering for him! It was so cute.

The dancing crowd was just getting started

The border gates

The guards as they marched out--they reminded me of peacocks :)

The sun setting and the Indian and Pakistani flags

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Amritsar!

6/1/2010

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Alright, prepare yourself for this one. It’s substantial. But this weekend was CRAZY so we wanted to tell you all about it :)

Friday, we decided that I (Ashley), Katie, Jenna, Estelle, and John would all drive up to Amritsar for the weekend! We had heard about the Golden Temple and the changing of the guard at the Pakistani border, so we really wanted to go. We found a nice driver through our most trusted cab service (Ronnie!) and we booked him for the weekend at 8,500 rupees (roughly $193). He picked us up Friday in a nice, big Toyota and we set off on the drive, which lasted between 4 and 5 hours, I can’t exactly remember. We slept most of the way, which made the drive much better! We got to Amritsar around 7:00 pm and checked into our hotel—it was SO swanky, we were in heaven. Since we had 5 people, we had to sneak one person into the room so we wouldn’t have to buy another room. Saving money is awesome! The hotel was so nice; there was a rooftop pool, restaurant, bar, etc, etc. When we checked out the pool, we saw a dance floor getting set up on the porch below, and the staff told us it was reserved for a wedding. We joked that we should crash the wedding later, but we said that they MIGHT notice that we weren’t supposed to be there, because we were pretty much the only white people in Amritsar. We got our rooms settled, rested a bit, and checked out the bar for some snacks. Around 9:00 pm, when it was dark, we drove over to the Golden Temple.

It’s really difficult to describe our experience at the Golden Temple because it’s not so much about what is there, but more about what you feel. The atmosphere is just filled with complete devotion—you can see it in everything. You saw it when people would step into the temple and drop to their knees and bow their heads to their floor and not move for the longest time. When we actually walked in the temple, men were playing instruments and singing a prayer, and everyone else was praying too. I remember looking down from the balcony at everyone and the flowers and the chandelier and the people meditating and hearing the music—and I realized that this was a moment I would remember for the rest of my life.

But I get ahead of myself. We first had to go into this building and store our shoes in lockers; we traded our shoes for a little token with a number on it that we would return to get our shoes back. We walked towards the temple, where we had to wash our hands, cover our heads, and walk through a little bath of water to get our feet clean. The Golden Temple is actually in the middle of this big square-like design. There are walkways around the pool of water, and the Golden Temple is in the middle of the pool. People bath in the water because of its healing powers; when I asked some of the women in my group about the pool, they said that a man with epilepsy waded in the waters at the temple and became cured—so they believe it! Anyway, we walked down the stairs into the square, and the Temple just glowed in the darkness. It’s real gold! It was built in the 16th century and is the holiest shrine for Sikhs, but beyond that, we didn’t really understand much about the Temple or Sikhism. But it didn’t really matter—we could still feel everybody’s faith and the energy in the square. Right when we walked in, everybody starting staring. We were pretty much the ONLY white people there.

Of course, people started swarming. I (Ashley) had lost track of Katie, and when I saw her again, she was surrounded by at least 20 Indians. It was probably the funniest sight I had ever seen. Old people, young people, women, men—they were all saying “Hi!” “Hello!” and grabbing Katie’s hand. They didn’t speak much English, but they were just in awe of her. So when I walked up, people starting grabbing my hand and saying hello to me, too. It was so hard not laughing. But eventually (and after a picture or two) we broke away from the crowd. It felt weird being at this holy shrine, and being the center of attention—even if it was just a small crowd.

Eventually, we made our way into the temple. Which, as I’ve already said, is too hard to describe. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, either, so just…go to Amritsar sometime in your life and see it for yourself.

This is Katie now. Yeah… The Golden Temple… wow. It’s just. Mystical. At night, mainly. People there were just so friendly. So mellow. Lots of people sleeping on the sides of the square. So we walked around the square… strolling along. We went into the temple and wow… everything was just. Perfect. It’s hard to describe, like Ashley said. It radiates beauty. And you walk in, see so many people praying, then you see the little band playing that is played throughout the entire square. Three musicians: a keyboard, a guitar, a singer. It was the coolest music. Then we walked around inside the temple looking at all the intricacies of the artwork. After we made our way through the temple, we hung out a bit more outside, and then headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we went back to the Golden Temple around 9:30, but it was NOT the same. It was really hot, and more crowded. The spiritual feeling from last night was pretty much gone. We didn’t stick around long; it was so much prettier at night. But, I skipped what we did Friday night after the Golden Temple!

Well, wow, whatta night. We knew from earlier there was a wedding party (pre-wedding party, actually) on the other part of the roof, and when we got back we could hear the thumping music. The five of us went up to the roof to go swimming, but then this woman came up to us and was like “Hey! Wanna come to the wedding?!” Um yes please. So we headed down there, and wow they know how to have a good time! It was very fun! Ashley was wearing her “Free Tibet” t-shirt, too. So classy! Anyways we didn’t stay long but it was fun while we were there! After that, John, Ashley and I swam a bit then went downstairs to the restaurant/café to have some coffee.

It was a bizarre and crazy and fun night. Plus we got to sleep in super comfy beds that night! Ugh, nice hotel.

So yeah, next morning, short trip to The Golden Temple. We decided to go back to the hotel. Then John, Jenna, Estelle and I headed into town for lunch (Ashley didn’t feel well). We rode a tuk tuk over to the area with The Golden Temple, and looked for somewhere good to eat. Found one restaurant after a bit, and when we walked in everything got silent. We were the only white people. People stared. It was awkward. But they got over it. Well we sat down, and didn’t really get much service (just because that’s the way some restaurants here roll) so we finally left to find a different restaurant – one with better A/C! We did. Then after that, we rode rickshaws back to the hotel. Well that was another experience. We had to take two between the four of us (a rickshaw is a dude on a bike pulling you on an uncomfortable cart), and neither of our drivers spoke or understood English, haha. So we went out of our way for a while, but I have to admit, it was super exciting. I mean every bump was a close call. But Jenna and I hung on to each other tight, haha. So we FINALLY made it back to the hotel, but we couldn’t understand how much they were charging us, so we asked the hotel guys for help. All of a sudden an argument broke out between the hotel staff and the rickshaw drivers. We were so confused! Turns out the hotel guys thought we wanted them to argue for a cheaper deal on the ride. For one rickshaw ride (which is one guy pulling two people and a cart in over 100 degree Farenhieght weather), and roughly a 15 or 25 minute ride, it cost 40 rupees. Which is LESS THAN ONE DOLLAR! Crazy. But that’s India for ya. Anyways we ended up giving them 100 rupees each. They deserved it, those tough workers. We “took a rest” then head out around 4 to head to the border.

THE BORDER! Our next adventure in this crazy fun weekend. We head to the Pakistani – India border to see the ceremony for the changing of the guards. About a 40 minute drive, then a 10ish minute walk. It was very, very hot. And a huge crowd to see this! We had to go through some security checks a few times, then since we’re tourists we got to sit in the “VIP” section. Our “VIP Cards” were our US, South African, and Canadian passports. Went through a bit more security, and then got to sit down on some HOT cement. But being in the tourist section, we did see some white people. Anyways, once again we got to see how good Indians are at partying! Here to talk about this celebration is Ashley! J

So the Pakistanis and the Indians pretty much hate each other; this ceremony is less about lowering flags than seeing who can get the loudest crowd and fiercest guards. National pride was the center of this show. We got there pretty early, so there was at least an hour before the ceremony actually started. Officials tried to keep the crowd entertained, though, by letting people run the Indian flag up and down the street. Then they started playing really energetic music, and a huge crowd of people just got in the street and starting dancing like mad. It was awesome. When “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire came on, everyone screamed and started dancing. You could tell they really like that movie. The energy in the place was just so fun—even though it was ridiculously hot, we were having a pretty good time. After a while, everyone went back to their seats, and the real ceremony started. We were pretty lost, as the whole thing was in Hindi. But a guard would sort of…yodel/sing/yell into the microphone and hold the sound for as long as he could. And after he finished, the guards started marching really really quickly (more like running, I guess) towards the border. They did some crazy stomping with their feet, and then stared across the border with their arms up in a “flex” pose. It was hilarious. There was this leader guy for the Indian side; he would start chants with the microphone, and everyone would chant back at him. We’d just yell random sounds. Later, we asked some of the staff at CCS what they were chanting, and it was basically “INDIA! MOTHER INDIA! PRAISE MOTHER INDIA!” or something like that. It was neato.

After many foot stomps, yells, chants, and angry thumbs down gestures between guards, the Indian and Pakistani flag were lowered at the same time. The gate between the borders was sealed again, and that was it!

Getting out of the ceremony was a nightmare. It’s like when a concert at the Palace gets out—the parking lot was just jammed with cars honking at each other. And to make things better: A SANDSTORM! FUN!!

…not.

We walked back from the ceremony with our dupattas covering our mouths; we actually got sand in our mouth! It was intense. We did make it back to the car, we did make it out of there, and 45 minutes later, we were back at our hotel.

We had dinner at the café in the hotel—they had delicious pizza and pasta, which is always a welcomed break from spicy Indian food. After dinner, Katie and I (Ashley) just kind of chilled in our room while Estelle and John went back to the temple at midnight. This hotel was perfect for lounging with its comfy beds and LCD TV—we watched some hilarious Indian reality dancing shows.

The next day, we set out pretty early. We were surprised that the hotel never said anything about having more people than we were supposed to; we were sure that they knew, but just didn’t do anything about it. Awesome. The drive back wasn’t bad. Mostly, we slept.

So that was our weekend! It was worth the drive and every penny. There were moments from this weekend—like walking in the Golden Temple at midnight with the full moon overhead or crashing a wedding party in athletic shorts and a “Team Tibet” shirt—that I will remember forever.

I hope you made it through this post alright! We have less than two weeks in India :( Our friends are leaving Thursday, which will be one mess of a day. We’ve really connected with the other volunteers here—we’ll definitely be seeing some of them again though.

So…that’s all for now folks!

Peace out,

Ashley and Katie

Ps. Katie loved the sandstorm :) Super neato, gang.

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