Friday, 18 January - 11:00 PM

What an amazing birthday it's been! When I went downstairs after my bucket, my Belgaum family was all waiting down there with a birthday cake! They gave me the ceremonial forehead dot, oils and sang "Happy Birthday." Then they all took turns feeding me pieces of cake!



Before meeting up with the team, Veerdhaval took me and Elizabeth to visit his iron casting factory. I have been to more factories in the past week than I probably ever would see in several lifetimes. And I am learning how things are made that I don't even usually think about. I mean, who thinks how iron car parts are made? I'm sure they have factories like these all over the US - probably even in my own town. But I guess I'd never given much thought to stuff like this. Maybe I should. Maybe my overall awareness is waking up.

We met up with the rest of the team and our first stop was to a Jain temple from several thousand years ago. It was pretty cool and relevant because the family I am staying with now are actually Jains.


Jain temple deity.

And after the Jain temple, we visited an ashram.This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. One of the monks sat with us and explained the real Indian culture: the belief that God (Divine) is within each and every being. That when one suffers, all suffer.


Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Belgaum.

He talked about death as merely shedding a shell. He talked of the balance of good and bad, happy and sad. That if one is suffering, he should take comfort in knowing that someone else is thriving. If we are experiencing bad times, knowing that someone else is enjoying good times and find peace in that. And remember that bad times will pass so not to dwell on them.

We were allowed to ask anything on our minds and his answers were so simple and so beautiful and made so much sense. I was filled with a sort of a-ha! feeling - very emotional. I guess what one might call a true religious experience.

After that amazing stop we went on a tour of the Tata power plant. It was interesting, but my mind was still buzzing from the ashram. In the evening we made our presentation at the Belgaum Rotary club. Rajiv had stuck an extra slide into the PowerPoint presentation and it turned out to be a birthday surprise! The club brought out another birthday cake (my second for the day!) and we all shared it.


Having my cake...


... and eating it, too!

After all that, our hosts took Elizabeth, Misty and I out for dinner and then we went to a movie theatre (owned by a Rotarian, of course) and I saw my first Hindi movie called Welcome!

I am so tired right now. These days are wonderful but man are they LONG! Tomorrow we leave for Kolhapur. I'm so sad to be leaving such an amazing family. And it truly was a birthday I will never forget.



Namaste.

Friday, 18 January - 7:00 AM

Sorry I missed writing yesterday, I was so busy I didn't even get a chance. And the worst part was that I didn't sleep a wink last night. I was up tossing and turning, a bit freaked-out by the two cockroaches I encountered in the bathroom during the night. I got up around 6:30 and went for a walk with my hosts. They live near an army base and it was so cool! They have a zoo on the base and a temple (of course). Had great conversations with Veerdhaval, his sister and her son.


Reindeers at the zoo.


Walking with my hosts.

After my bucket bath and breakfast, I met up with the team and we began our very long day. We started at the KLES hospital which is this massive teaching hospital - the biggest in the state. We toured all around and met the people in charge (Rotarians) Everyone kept snapping photos as if we were celebrities, then we had tea with the head of the hospital.



From there we visited Hindalco where we learned how beauxite is mined to produce alumina, a chemical used in many household products. It was cool because we got to wear hardhats.



We has a terrific lunch buffet there at Hindalco and then we were off to VTU, the largest technical engineering university in Belgaum. A very impressive campus. During our tour, one of the host Rotarians shared his own views with us of why India is experiencing "brain drain" - which is when students leave India after finishing their degrees to live and work in other countries. He said Indians don't have the same sense of loyalty and patriotism that Americans do. I found that to be interesting.

By around 5:00 PM, exhaustion hit me. After not sleeping the entire night, walking around hospitals and dirt factories for seven hours and just missing home a little, I had a mini-meltdown. Just started to cry during another tea that we were having at the college. I think I scared the Rotarian hosts a little so they mercifully took us back to our hosts to relax.

But not for long. Soon it was time to get up and get ready for the dinner. The Belgaum Rotary club held a huge dinner party at an outdoor restaurant for the GSE team, hosts and their families. It was a lovely time. I wore a salwar kameez that I had gotten as a gift from my Dharwad host family, and we all hung out and had a great time.


Paying homage to Rajiv.

I came back home, took a Benadryl and slept like a log for the next 7 hours. No cockroaches - no worries. Today I feel like a new Jen! This morning we're going to visit a fort, the Tata Company power plant, and then are making a presentation to the Rotary club at 6:30... which will probably end up taking place around 8:30, IST (Indian Standard Time) hehe.

Oh yeah and I almost forgot - today is my birthday! I have a feeling it's one I'll never forget :)

Namaste,