I apologize for not writing sooner, this is the first time I have had access to a computer and ten minutes to sit down and write. Where do I begin?? Even though I have only been in India for two days, what I have already experienced could probably fill volumes. I'll try to recap...
We left JFK a little after 9:00 PM on Saturday night. The flight to London was about 6 hours, and then we had a two hour layover at Heathrow. From there we flew for about 8 hours to Mumbai. By the time we arrived, went through immigration, found our bags and connected with our hosts, it was nearly 3:00 AM (India is 10.5 hours ahead of US. Right now it is 5:15 PM here and still around 7 AM by you)
We spent Saturday night in a "flat" in Mumbai. I shared a room with the two other female GSE team members. In the morning, we walked to a Hindu temple in Mumbai before going to a smaller airport to catch yet another flight. This flight - to a place called Hubli - was delayed about three hours. It was a small plane and took only about an hour to get to Hubli.
My host family here in Dharwad is amazing. The Dad (Nagraj) is a civil engineer and he has a wife (Neeta) and two daughters, Rachana, 15 and Krutika, 7. They have this Indian saying that translates to: "treat your guest like a God" and they certainly have been doing that.
They are always trying to feed me. The food is great but due to this damn anti-malaria medication, I have no appetite. Glad to report that the nausea and nastiness has subsided (come on - you honestly didn't think you could through an entire post without a reference to my bowels, did you?)
Before I left to come to India, lots of people told me about the extreme poverty in the country. But I could have never imagined the things I have seen. Remember the Sally Struthers, "Save The Children" commercials? Well, that shit exists. We really have absolutely no idea what this part of the world is like.
Never really having paid attention in class, I seemed to have missed the lesson on that whole Indian caste system. Like I said, I could write volumes, but I won't. Instead, I will post some of the 500 pictures I've already taken (as soon as I figure out how to do that from here... it might have to wait until I come home)
This morning we had an orientation meeting with the Dharwad Rotary club. Afterwards we visitied an Aruveydic hospital (see honey? I listened!) and then took a detour to a textile village [read: sweatshop] to see cotton being processed, made into thread, woven and dyed to make fabric. This particular textile mill provides the fabric for ALL the Indian flags in the entire country.
Today is some sort of festival where the people pass out sweets and say: "Take sweets, be sweet." We're going to some sort of celebration and Neeta and Rachana are planning to outfit me in a sari. I am psyched!!
I guess that's it for now. Tomorrow we are going to a new town and a new host family. I hope they're as great as this one has been.
Namaste.
PS - Wolf, I think that text message I sent will end up costing like $50 :) I will call home as soon as we get a sim or calling card - I promise!!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Namaste!
Welcome to my India blog! I'm hoping I'll be able to post regularly so my friends and family can stalk - er, keep tabs on my adventures.
For those of you who may not know where I'm going or what I'll be doing... join the club! Neither do I!
The basics are: I saw an ad in the newspaper back in October saying that Rotary District 7470 was sponsoring a Group Study Exchange trip to India. They were looking for four professionals (Ha! Fooled 'em!) between the ages of 25 and 40 who would be willing and able to spend a month traveling around India, representing the district. Apparently they do this ever year - send people to different countries, and then host their exchanges.
The opportunity presented itself at a really great time. For those of you who may not know, I am currently on a year-long sabbatical from my teaching job in Mountain Lakes. I was granted a leave of absence to pursue a dream I've had since graduate school: to organize the first New Horizons Band in New Jersey.
That's been a blog in and of itself, but the experience has been going really well. I work with a great bunch of people at The Music Shop. And I am so fortunate to work in such an amazing school district. Not many would have granted me this great opportunity.
Huh? Oh yeah... India... right. So I was sitting at the kitchen table on a Saturday morning when I saw the ad. I asked my wonderful fiance, "Hey honey, wanna go to India for a month?"
I read him the ad and he considered it for a moment before answering, "Nah. Cause if we both applied and I got it but you didn't, I wouldn't wanna go without you."
"Oh," I replied. "Well... can I apply?"
This is the part of the post where I thank him. If he told me he was going to spend a month in a foreign country, traveling with strangers and living with even stranger strangers, I don't know if I could handle it. But Wolf knows that I have an incurable itch to travel - it's part of who I am - and he has been wonderfully supportive throughout the entire process. I am so very lucky to have him in my life. Honey, if you're reading this - I LOVE YOU! And yes, I will miss you.... A LOT.
Okay. So I applied for the trip. Was accepted. My new boss (also a Rotarian) was incredibly awesome in allowing me to take a month away from work. As he put it, "So um, you want to take a sabbatical from your sabbatical?"
Everything is set. But... what are we actually doing over there?
The team, comprised of four members and a team leader (that's five for all you musicians) will be traveling around the Goa region. We're staying with eight different host families, and will be giving presentations about New Jersey and District 7470 to all of the Rotary clubs in their district. When we're not presenting, we'll be visiting schools, seeing sights and all kinds of other neat things which I will write about as they happen.
We leave tonight at 8:30 PM from JFK. I am all packed and vaccinated. I've also started my anti-Malaria pills (which have some very unpleasant side effects - but I guess they're better than having Malaria). We're meeting at one of the team member's homes around 3:30 and shuttling into the city together.
In case you really care, I'll be flying British Airways flight 114 into Heathrow. After a two-hour layover, I'll be on British Airways flight 139 to Mumbai. After that, it's anyone's guess!
So dear friends and family, I bid you adieu - for now. Check in from time to time, I'll do my best to keep in touch!
Jen
For those of you who may not know where I'm going or what I'll be doing... join the club! Neither do I!
The basics are: I saw an ad in the newspaper back in October saying that Rotary District 7470 was sponsoring a Group Study Exchange trip to India. They were looking for four professionals (Ha! Fooled 'em!) between the ages of 25 and 40 who would be willing and able to spend a month traveling around India, representing the district. Apparently they do this ever year - send people to different countries, and then host their exchanges.
The opportunity presented itself at a really great time. For those of you who may not know, I am currently on a year-long sabbatical from my teaching job in Mountain Lakes. I was granted a leave of absence to pursue a dream I've had since graduate school: to organize the first New Horizons Band in New Jersey.
That's been a blog in and of itself, but the experience has been going really well. I work with a great bunch of people at The Music Shop. And I am so fortunate to work in such an amazing school district. Not many would have granted me this great opportunity.
Huh? Oh yeah... India... right. So I was sitting at the kitchen table on a Saturday morning when I saw the ad. I asked my wonderful fiance, "Hey honey, wanna go to India for a month?"
I read him the ad and he considered it for a moment before answering, "Nah. Cause if we both applied and I got it but you didn't, I wouldn't wanna go without you."
"Oh," I replied. "Well... can I apply?"
This is the part of the post where I thank him. If he told me he was going to spend a month in a foreign country, traveling with strangers and living with even stranger strangers, I don't know if I could handle it. But Wolf knows that I have an incurable itch to travel - it's part of who I am - and he has been wonderfully supportive throughout the entire process. I am so very lucky to have him in my life. Honey, if you're reading this - I LOVE YOU! And yes, I will miss you.... A LOT.
Okay. So I applied for the trip. Was accepted. My new boss (also a Rotarian) was incredibly awesome in allowing me to take a month away from work. As he put it, "So um, you want to take a sabbatical from your sabbatical?"
Everything is set. But... what are we actually doing over there?
The team, comprised of four members and a team leader (that's five for all you musicians) will be traveling around the Goa region. We're staying with eight different host families, and will be giving presentations about New Jersey and District 7470 to all of the Rotary clubs in their district. When we're not presenting, we'll be visiting schools, seeing sights and all kinds of other neat things which I will write about as they happen.
We leave tonight at 8:30 PM from JFK. I am all packed and vaccinated. I've also started my anti-Malaria pills (which have some very unpleasant side effects - but I guess they're better than having Malaria). We're meeting at one of the team member's homes around 3:30 and shuttling into the city together.
In case you really care, I'll be flying British Airways flight 114 into Heathrow. After a two-hour layover, I'll be on British Airways flight 139 to Mumbai. After that, it's anyone's guess!
So dear friends and family, I bid you adieu - for now. Check in from time to time, I'll do my best to keep in touch!
Jen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)