Steph goes to Nepal

2009-08-23T23:22:00.000-07:00

Pictures finally!!!

2009-08-23T23:08:00.000-07:00

Tragedy

2009-08-16T23:16:00.000-07:00

People here always comment and joke about how ridiculously unruly the road can be. There are no laws or rules, it is every person for themselves. I often make jokes about the craziness of the driving. Today, while I was waiting for the bus, I witnessed two student pedestrians get hit by a bus. It was tragic, and it happens here everyday. The worst part is that the bus kept driving. Immediately there were fifty people gathered around to help the two students and people were on their mobile phones calling for help. I am extremely upset by what I saw today. After living and traveling in Asia for over eight months I do not blink an eye when the taxi I am taking is swerving into oncoming traffic, or a bus I am riding is driving straight towards another bus coming my direction. I do think I should more concerned. I do trust the method of maneuvering throughout the city, but today I witnessed what happens when people are careless and reckless in their driving.

The children, the house, ect

2009-08-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

For those who do not personally know me or what I am doing in Nepal, I am volunteering/working for a non-profit in Orange County, California that founded and funds a NGO here in Nepal. The name of the Non-Profit is Rescue Humanity and the name of the NGO is Rainbow House. I live in a house with 13 children who either do not have parents or have parents who could not care for their children. Rainbow House houses a total of 21 people, 6 adults plus two children, and the 13 children who are taken care of by the organization. I live in Lalitpur or Patan, and it is about 20 minutes from the center of Katmandu. Specifically, I live in Dholahity which is a small area of Lalitpur. I do not live far from Katmandu, yet I can think, breath, and move here. It is a much more peaceful alternative to Kathmandu. I live on a dirt road that is lined by houses and rice fields. I am in heaven on a day after it rains, as many women are in the fields planting rice in their colorful sari’s. There is a river that is a ten minute walk from where I live and on Saturday’s I take the older children down to the river and they run wild catching fish and trampling through the water. One day after school the girls and I went for a walk to pick flowers and just meandered down the dirt path. Traveling and being a tourist can be wonderful, and I have been the traveler and the tourist, but moments such as our walk through a Nepali “neighborhood” was divine. The rice fields are painted an intense green sprinkled with bright neon colors that are the sari’s of the women planting the rice. The dirt path is lined with small temples, cows having their dinner, and dogs that are watching the world go by. Speaking of dogs, a couple days ago I was walking home and saw a gang of about 15 dogs. They began barking and fighting with one another. I was thinking that a gangster rap song would have been very appropriate for the moment. The dogs do not scare me as they did in India, but there are still hundreds of dogs scattered throughout the streets.

I am attempting to learn Nepali and it is coming along slowly. I learned how to say, nice or beautiful, which is ram ro cha. I think I have overly used this phrase. When in doubt, ram ro cha. The thing is that when I try to speak Nepali one of three things happen, either the person stares at me in a what the hell did you just say kind of way, they just laugh in my face, or they begin to rapidly speak in Nepali back to me and I have to admit that I only know about 5 phrases.

The children are amazing. They always are! They are all so different and they each bring a different color to the house. It is a guarantee that there will be at least one crying child at all times. Sussila and Gita work in the house and they are my Nepali sisters. Sussila will break into song and dance at any moment notice and Gita sits down with the children and always will try and help them with their homework. Yesterday, I was talking with Gita and we were talking about sur names and she asked about caste in the United States. The caste system is such an integral part of their society that it was hard for her to believe that caste do not exist in the United States. A couple days ago, I was tired of the two youngest fighting over books so I handed them each a book and ever since those two children have been attached to those two books.

Himal, the youngest child of the Rainbow House crew calls me Gita Auntie, because Stephanie Auntie is too difficult to say and I think it would exert way more energy than what Himal is willing to put into addressing me. Plus, he is only three. Gita is a common Nepali name, as well as the name of one of the women who works in the house. Himal means mountain in Nepali which makes perfect sense. Himal, is a confused child and thinks that I am a mountain, and often tries to climb up me. He doesn't get very far as I am only 5'6 on a good day. He also has a personality as big as a mountain. He goes crazy over kites, this kid will jump up and down and yell at the top of his lungs over is excitement of kites. He also cries at the drop of a hat. Have you ever heard the saying, "fake it until you make it." This kid has mastered the art of using crying and screaming to get exactly what he wants. I still love the kid though, he is maybe the cutest kid on the planet.

Kripa has an incredible eye for detail. She is the only child in the house who notices my wardrobe and will always make it known when she thinks something is "so nice." I think she should be an interior decorator or a fashion designer, but she wants to be a nun. She is only six so maybe she will change her mind. She also loves to dance and has a personality larger than life.

Kanchi and Pasang have the gentle souls and speak very quietly but they are the sweetest girls on the planet. Suraj is the naughty boy, but not really, he has so much energy and likes to pretend he is spider man and fling himself throughout the house.

Ram use to cry every time I left the house but now he accepts the fact that I am leaving, but knows that I am most likely coming back. He arrived at the Rainbow House in July and use to sit by himself and never interacted with the other kids. I sometimes wondered where he would go when he would sit by himself and stare into space for hours. His smile lights up the room, and he laughs now just as much as the other kids. He has only been in the house for a month and he has already picked up words of English. He no longer sits and stares into space.

Random thoughts

2009-08-16T00:26:00.000-07:00

The buses and trucks are very colorful, they remind me of India. Actually most of the trucks probably come from India, as does the fuel that they are hauling across the country. I am intrigued by the messages that are written on the back of the trucks and buses. My favorite message is "Road Star" and the creepiest is "See You." I do wonder about the message "Good Luck," and what is meant by it. Are "they" wishing one good luck in life, or on someones next exam, or are they wishing a person good luck on staying alive on the road. These are all possible.

Thamel is the tourist center of Kathmandu and I think about how much of Nepal I would never know if I spent most of my time in there. In Thamel, there are hundreds of stores selling the same thing, and restaurants more or less serving the same food, and a gazillion men trying to sell you hash, treks, miniature violin's, etc. Children who talk to you are trying to get money from you, women who talk to you are trying to get money from you, and men who talk to you are trying to sell you something. Thamel can be charming, If you want any kind of night life that goes beyond 8:00pm you will want to be in Thamel, and there are all sorts of characters crammed into the small space that is Thamel.

Nepal outside of Thamel, can be peaceful. I live amongst rice fields, foothills, and crying babies. People stop to talk to me and do not expect anything from me. Just a conversation. Women and children bath in the public water well and men stop to observe a knew sign going up on their street, and debate its purpose. Yesterday I took a micro bus to my friends organization and observed a group of people playing all sorts of instruments and singing on the side of the road. On the way back a group of kids were dressed in weird costumes and were wearing mask and were running up to cars. Nepal is random, quirky, and hard to figure out. I believe this is why I enjoy it here. Nepal is never boring, is always frustrating, and always makes me laugh.

Kathmandu is surrounded my mountains, which I have not yet seen because of the cloud coverage that exist during the monsoon season. I have experienced my first real monsoonal rains. I was eating at a restaurant about two weeks ago when it began to rain and then it began to pour. We had to wait about an hour for the rain to lighten up enough for us to walk back to where we were going, and then we had to traverse through gigantic puddles of water. This is one way so many people get gross feet fungus and feet infections. Food for thought.

An excellent day

2009-08-15T18:18:00.000-07:00

I have a theory about meat in Nepal. My theory is that it would be in a person’s best interest not to eat the meat. The beef is almost always buffalo, and the pork are the dead pigs sprawled out on the tables outside of the butcher shops all over town, and the chickens are the birds chirping and flapping their wings up and down the street. Yesterday, I had more meat, than I have had my entire stay in Nepal. I have a friend who runs an organization for women who are infected HIV and who have previously worked in Brothels. She runs a home for 12 women and a home for 15 children in Godaveri, which is outside of Kathmandu and is surrounded by hills and rice fields. At this home, women learn to grow their own food, learn trades such as candle making and jewelry making, and begin to build a new life for themselves. It is the most beautiful organization with beautiful spirit. I went for visit yesterday and to meet their new English teacher. The organization has just received funding to start an education component, which will begin in September. Yesterday I went over to Bimala’s home and spent time with the women and children and had lunch. I was served a beautiful lunch but I was not sure what kind of meat I was being served. Meat is a luxury and a delicacy in Nepal and I was incredibly grateful for the wonderful meal. I later learned that I was eating goat intestines and liver. It was chewy and parts were slimy. I have had goat meat before, but never these parts of the goat. Nepali’s love the intestines and liver of animals, they find it delicious, I am sure I would too, if I grew up eating these parts of the animal. Later when I returned to the Rainbow House, Susilla and Gita were cooking Chicken, I have only had meat twice at the Rainbow House in my six week stay here, and I immediately asked about the intestines and liver. I was told that Nepali’s find it so tasty and that there was liver and intestines in the batch of meat being prepared. I actually liked it much better than the goat intestines, plus in was fried and smothered in masala sauce and satisfied my taste buds. Last night the ladies of the house, Susilla and Gita who work at the house, and two family members of Neema (the director) and I watched a Hindi Bollywood love film and drew mihindi on each other’s hands. It was a perfect way to end the day. Mihindi is similar to Heena, and the women in Nepal draw beautiful art on each other’s hands. Right now women are wearing green bangles on their wrist and drawing mihindi on their hands in order to find a nice husband. I originally told the women that I was not currently looking for a husband but then they explained that it the point was not to find a husband, but to inspire the gods to send a nice husband your way in the future. I thought that I had to join this party, which is what I did.

Kathmandu and beyond

2009-07-14T03:51:00.000-07:00

I became ill the first week of being in Nepal. I tried several times to get out of bed and it pretty much did not happen. However a British man came to my rescue and gave me Cipro (a pill to get rid of what ever bug may have entered your stomach), even though I already had Cipro, he was kind enough to give me the 101 on how to overcome my illness. I was okay the next day but the bug still lingered. My bodily functions have not been right ever since. I know, too much information probably, but then I would not be giving you a truthful description of my experience here. Today I feel okay, tomorrow, who knows.

We have visited many other organizations, which has been the most enriching experience for a variety of reasons. It is the goal of the organization I volunteer for to begin to connect with other organization's, this is important, I learned this lesson as a case manager a couple of years ago. Standing alone is limiting and working together is where change can begin. From visiting these organization's I have already begun to learn more about the organizational process that exist in non government organizations. Plus I have met more amazing kids.

Last week I went to a village that took about four hours from Kathmandu to get to. Nepal is not very large in square mileage, however travel can be long and tedious. We took a van to a town called dading and then took a jeep up a mountain (I will post a video that highlights the fun of that journey) and then we hiked 45 more minutes to get to the village. The scenery was Divine. The purpose of this journey was to bring two boys to Kathmandu. One boy is staying at the Rainbow house and another boy is staying at a boys home also in Kathmandu. It was not an easy day for me, it was actually one of the hardest days that I have had. There was much sadness associated with the day.

I have continually processed through many emotions and feelings since I have been here. It has been a roller coaster of emotions and questions of my motives for being here. The result has been more clarity and a feeling of a heavy load being lifted.

I went to the immigration office today and extended my visa to the maximum five months that is allowed per calendar year for tourist. Kim and I made friends with the immigration office manager. I wonder if I could get an extra month? I thought about asking him! I think I figured out the secret to Nepal, a smile and a little laughter with a lot of kindness. I was worried today about not getting my extension approved and I flashed a huge smile and talked a lot and of course I got my extension!!

Move over Hollywood and Bollywood, here comes Collywood. I learned today that collywood is Nepals version of Bollywood. Not much to say about it, expect I hear that the industry is extremely low budget, which makes perfect sense.

Nepal (The Beginning)

2009-07-14T00:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-DiyEZ-kFI&feature=player_embedded

Every one has been asking me the basics about Kathmandu, and of course I was unfamiliar with general information because I am a procrastinator at heart as well as not much of a researcher. The elevation here is 4000 ft and the population is roughly 700,000 people. The high Temperature is 85 degrees and the low is 30 degrees. It is impossible to get warm because of the lack of central heating. I am immediately drawn to the craziness that is Asian cities. I think it takes a patient soul to endure the thousands of people crammed into a small space, the traffic that abides by no laws, and the smog and pollution that forces you to cover your face with a cloth. Nonetheless, there is a charm that draws me in, the colors, that smells, and the passion in which people live their lives.

After a 20 hour or so flight, Kim, Christy, and I were greeted by Kathy and rode over to Thamel, the tourist ghetto of Kathmandu, where we are staying until the crew leaves and I am left to my own devices. I have been in Kathmandu for 12 days and it might as well as been 120 days. When I travel and live abroad I get incredibly consumed by my new surroundings that I forget that I have not always lived there. The video clip above is of the children from Rainbow house in an area of Kathmandu called Lollipur; the spelling is more or less not accurate. The first day I arrived we headed straight to the Courtyard Hotel where I have been staying for the past two weeks. P.S. If you ever come to Kathmandu, stay here. It is the perfect mix of solidarity and hilarity. The hotel draws a mix of people; trekkers, tourist, doctors, and other volunteer workers. Never a dull moment here; plus they make steak that I am not terrified to eat. Actually the word on the street is that the steak is delicious here. I will be moving over to the orphanage very soon however I do plan on paying a visit to the Courtyard from time to time to regain what sanity I might have lost living amongst 13 children. Honestly I can not wait to start spending more time with the children, they are incredible.

Speaking of the children, there are 13 children living at the house and the ages range from 2 1/2 to 14. There are 4 girls and 7 boys and they are all lovely. Himel, the youngest one cracks me up. He kept kicking another small boy off my lap the other day. You can say they were having lap wars. It was hilarious, Himel would crawl on my lap and would not move for fear of losing his stake on his sitting space. The kids are eager to learn, and have such glowing personalities. I went to their school the other day and enjoyed experiencing the children in another element. The Children go to Little Angels school and are getting quiet an incredible education there. Christy and I stumbled upon the head teacher Anju and she invited us back to her house for tea. We initially said that we had to go because we were busy, which would had been a grave loss as she is one of the most incredible people I have ever met. We had tea and talked for a long time about the children and her life and her view on a balanced education and acceptance of others regardless of their nationality ethnicity, class, religion, ect.

When I arrived and we were bustling around in taxi's, Christy made a comment about my calmness. Instead of the culture shock that I experienced in India, I immediately fell in love with the life taking place around me and I immediately assumed the role of the observer. Life moves at a very slow pace, yet life can seemed hurried as well. The strikes have tested my patience over and over again. The people riot almost everyday (very peaceful I might add), yet that means bad news for traffic. One day it took us two hours to get to the orphanage (it should only take 20 minutes. We only experiencing 4 or so hours of black outs a day which beats the 18 hour power shortages that Kathmandu experiences in the winter time. It rains almost every day, but it doesn't pour. It is hot, but not unbearable.

2009-07-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

I am sitting at the Bangkok airport surrounded by other travelers and their laptops. I get it, I am also clicking away at mine, yet it feels as if everyone is disconnected from one another. No one is talking to one another, and no one is acting on their curiosity of others. I just spent 15 hours curled up in a ball, tossing around from side to side attemping to get sleep. I was only mildly successful. As soon as I got off the plane, reality set in that I am thousand miles from home, and a smile set in. I love home, but I love embarking into the unknown. I became giddy at the thought of being some place new. Kim, Christy, and I were sitting around throwing around ideas to implement at the orphange and within the the surrounding community. Kim is a good friend of mine from when I lived in San Diego and she also works for Rescue Humanity. (The organization that I am working for), Christy speent two months in Nepal about three months ago and also works for Rescue Humanity. I am over whelmed with emotions around my next journey, however I am looking forward to allowing the unknown to manuever itself into my daily life in Nepal.

Indonesia continued (Gili Islands and beyond)

2008-04-25T00:21:00.000-07:00

From Kuta I headed to the Gili islands, which consist of three small islands off the coast of Lombok. There is no motorized transportation and no ATM's on these islands, so one must come prepared with cash and their walking shoes. I payed $4 dollars a night for a small bungalow and it came with complimentary cockroaches. I also learned that it is worst to kill these suckers because it spreads their eggs, they are asexual, and I learned this fact a little two late and these cockroaches were the size of my thumb. Maybe bigger. Cockroaches were all over the island and everyone I talked to had seen a few in their rooms. I was awakened every morning by roosters, which brought me back to my childhood and teenage days. There is a farm behind my parent's house in Vacaville and I woke up every morning to the sound of a rooster, I was not a fan growing up and I was not a fan on the Gili's. On my second day on the island I rented a bike and went for a cruise around the island. It took a few hours and I did not encounter another person for almost the entire time, it was great. Almost all the tourist shops and guest houses are located on one side of the island and the other side is completely undeveloped. I stopped a few times to crawl onto a random hut and read and relax and to enjoy complete solitude. I went diving, a lot. I decided to take the advance course which allows me to do deeper dives as well as night dives. As part of the course I got to do 5 dives and additionally I did two more fun dives. Absolutely incredible, on my deep dive I saw my first shark. I always thought that I would be scared if I saw a shark, especially 33 meters under water, but I wasn't scared at all. I was so in awe and at peace and it helped to know that this type of shark (white tip reef shark) is completely harmless. I saw tons of sea turtles, octopus, eels, blue spotted sting ray, tuna, giant trivali, and two more sharks (black tip reef shark and its baby). The Gili's was such a wonderful spot to go diving, on my deep dive the visibility was 30 meters, the corals were so colorful and breath taking. I love diving!!! I have not been sick since December, that is 3 and half months of being sick free while traveling throughout India and Southeast Asia, I guess that is some what of a miracle. My luck with good health ran out and a virus got the better of me, luckily it only put me out of commission for a day. But it was a lousy day, I was becoming disoriented and very dehydrated and I was starting to get worried because I could not hold water down. But all is well because I got better the next day, yeah for electrolytes.

From the Gili's I booked a four day boat trip to Komodo and Rinca Islands, home of the Komodo dragons. There were about 15 other people on the trip and we all slept on the upstairs deck with small mattresses laid out on the floor. It was cozy but all the people on the trip were great and I had such a great time. We stopped at random islands to snorkel and went for short walk on one island to a refreshing waterfall. The boat was really small and would had been devoured by waves if we encountered bad weather. I also don't think there was much in the way of a radio and navigational system. And we had a crazy captain, Captain Yoyo. I am convinced that this man consumed magic mushrooms every morning. One day he made a speech of about ten minutes trying to convince us that our breakfast would be much better if it included magic mushrooms. He also told all of us ladies that those on their "menstrual cycle" should beware of the komodo dragon because they are attracted to blood. I laughed but I also wanted to slap him. During his "information sessions" he left the entire group in a complete state of confusion and uncontrollable laughter because he spoke such nonsense. It was great. The trip was peaceful, we spent majority of the time on the boat, but the scenery was beautiful and we always had views of many islands. We saw komodo dragons on both Komodo and Rinca, but we saw one dragon on Rinca that still had blood on its neck from a recent kill. Probably water buffalo. One a dragon bites a buffalo it takes about two weeks for it to die and the dragon tracks and follows its future meal. The dragon doesn't have to eat again for another three weeks of so. The boat trip ended in Flores, where I went diving (of course). Flores is suppose to be one of the better spots in the world to go diving. I loved it of course, did much better with my air consumption, which meant, we can stay under water for a longer amount of time. I would have loved to explore the interior of the island but I had to make my way to Bali to catch my flight to Singapore. I have seen such amazing places and I know that I can always come back another time. The journey to Bali took two full days. I had to take a five hour ferry to the island of Sumbawa, where I had to take a small bus two hours to the main bus station. Took an eleven or so hour bus to the other side of the island, then another ferry to Lombok, maybe a few hours or so, then another two hour bus through Lombok to the port, then a five hour or so ferry to Bali, then an hour bus to Ubud, which is where I stayed two nights before I caught my flight to Singapore. Wooh, I am tired just thinking about it. But the bus ride through Sumbawa was absolutely stunning! I was suppose to fly out of Indonesia on the 18th of April to Malaysia and I was going to spend my last ten days in Asia there. I decided early on that I was going to spend every last minute I could in Indonesia because I loved it so much, good people, beautiful land, amazing scenery, and the list goes on. I left Bali on the 25th and headed to Singapore where I spent two days before I flew to Greece to meet my mother.

The line of questioning from locals in Asia went as follows; 1)Where are you from? 2)How old are you? 3)Are you married? 4)Why not? and When do you plan on getting married? The best answer to the marriage question was not yet. Better than just answering no. The most popular question from non American travelers was "Who do you want to win the primaries?" Hilary? or Obama? Besides on the island of Bali where the people are Hindu, Indonesia is a Muslim nation. In fact, Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world. And it has the fourth largest population in the world. Next to China, India, United States, then Indonesia. While we were trekking on the island of Rinca, the guide warned us to be careful of snakes and he named off three of the most poisonous snakes in the world, Cobra, green mamba and something else. Many locals expressed frustrations regarding their government, the central government is located in Java and almost all major politicians are Javanese and the locals that I spoke with expressed that they felt that they were misrepresented and neglected. Many people are poor and do not get any support or help from the government. I had such an amazing time on all of the islands and I loved getting to know many of the locals on the numerous islands that I visited. I will return someday!!

Bali (Ubud, Lovina, Kuta)

2008-04-24T23:18:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Indonesia with Kayo on March 30Th. It has been an amazing month in paradise. There are many paradises in this world, but Indonesia is definitely one of them. I am in love..with Bali. The island is just absolutely beautiful with really old temples on almost every corner and the people are so happy and smiley. The people here are jovial, not in size or shape, but in spirit and demeanor. They are always joking, I left Bali for about two weeks to visit other islands and when I returned, I remembered how amazing all the people are. When we arrived at the airport in Bali, one of the first things I noticed was a sign that said, "Death Penalty for the carrying of Drugs." I kid you not. Indonesia is one bad ass place. As I was trying to enter the country the police man asked me a hundred and one questions, Kayo was waved through with no questioning at all. Do I look like I am trying to cause trouble? Majority of people living on Bali are Hindi, meaning they practice Hindu as their religion. Through out the day I witness women putting offerings on their doorsteps, temple steps, or on the patio of my hostel room. This is a ritual done throughout the day for good luck and for a good life. The first town we stayed is a small town called Ubud, it is surrounded by a forest and rice fields. I loved it in Ubud, the town is really cute and is a great place to catch a few classical dance performances. The first dance we attended was a reenactment of a story of the Hindu gods, and the theatrics were done to about 30 men chanting. It was great, I loved it. The second dance was an all female dance and the dancers did crazy things with their eyes. During our time in Ubud, Kayo and I went for a walk in the rice fields and we encountered a women selling coconuts. She asked us where we were going and where we were coming from. When asked this, Kayo pointed in front of herself and said, "we are going that way, and then pointed behind herself and said, "we came from there." The woman looked unsatisfied with our answer. These are common questions in Bali and in most of Indonesia. I had to get use to it at first but it makes sense, the people here like to know that everyone has a plan, it goes along with their culture of having a certain place and purpose in society. Many times locals will ask me my plan for the day and will look quite confused when I shrug and say that I don't have a plan. I have now learned to "make up a plan" regardless if I follow it or not. Many locals ask how I like Bali. I always respond by stating that I like it very much. They respond by saying, "okay thank you." It is cute how they say it. Tourism has been low for a long time due to the bombings in 2002 and 2005 and the people here who rely on tourism for their lively hood have felt the impact. Many locals tell me to let my friends know that Bali a is good place and that they should visit. We visited the monkey forest which is a lush forest, home to many monkeys and temples with crazy hardcore statues of vicious monkeys holding the heads of little girls. Awesome. From Ubud we headed to Lovina, which is where Kayo and I split up. She headed to Java for her last few days in Indonesia before she went back to the U.S.A, and I was ready to stay in one place for a little while. Lovina is a small fishing village in northern Bali. We decided to go diving on Kayo's last day in the town and the site was off the coast of the northeast corner of Bali. The visibility was about 20 meters and we saw such amazing fish and coral. We dove along a coral wall and swam into a cave. I was in awe and in love. I have said this before, but this sport is becoming an addiction of mine. As you will discover when I finish writing about Indonesia, I have spent much of my time here diving, and I have loved every single dive more than words can explain. Young Balinese guys are obsessed with Bob Marley, this was definitely true in Lovina, where there was live music every night at our guest house. Artist of choice? Bob Marley, second runner up? Bob Marley. Kayo left on our third day in Lovina to go to Java. We said goodbyes and it was really weird for me to suddenly be on my own after traveling four months with Kayo. I quickly adapted, because I have traveled on my own before and because I have been in the traveling mode for so long. I made friends with some locals and one of my friends took me on his motorbike to the mountains. The views were beautiful and it was nice to get a view of the island from a motorbike. I payed for the petrol and lunch and he showed me his beautiful island. I stayed six days in Lovina, I read books, took walks on the beach, walked around the rice fields, and spend time talking with locals and my new friends. I really enjoyed Lovina because it was quite, peaceful, and there were very few tourist. From Lovina I headed to Kuta, which is a huge package tourist and backpackers destination. I ran into Kayo there, long story, but she decided to go to Kuta for one day before she flew home and we happened to run into each other at a night club. It was great, we acted like we hadn't seen each other in months, but it had only been days. We partied the whole night and had a really great time. I only spent two days in Kuta, I went to the beach, shopped with kayo, and went pool hopping.

Komodo Dragon (only two places on earth they live, Komodo and Rinca Islands in Indonesia)

2008-04-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

2008-04-23T19:52:00.000-07:00

Lombok

view of Volcano from boat on way to Komodo island

Random island (no human population)

Middle of the ocean and some islands

Indonesia

2008-04-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

View from diving boat in North Bali

Lovina

Lovina sunset

Lotus flower

Kayo and I in Kuta (night before she flew home)

2008-04-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

Rice Fields in Ubud

Crazy monkey statue (he's holding a girls head)

Monkey's and me

Balinese dance

Paradise

2008-04-04T22:36:00.000-07:00

me trying to make out with a lion staute

market in Bangkok

kids break dancing in park
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Mui Thai match

Views from the dive boat in Ko Tao

Monks in Bangkok

Bangkok

2008-04-04T22:22:00.000-07:00

Kophang

Market in Chang Mai

Cooking class

Trekking Chang Mai

Kophang

2008-04-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

Angkor Wat, Classical dance in Siem Reap, and a floating village in Cambodia

Thailand

2008-04-02T05:19:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to go to Thailand my entire life. Definitely on my top three list, which is Greece, Thailand, and Columbia. Columbia because that is where my Grandmother is from, Thailand because my dad spent a year there and I grew up hearing "stories", and Greece because its Greece and it is where democracy was born, gods battled, and islands sparkle. Right now I am going to talk about Thailand. We crossed the border and headed straight to Chang Mai which is in the north. Many head to Chang Mai to pursue outdoor activities such as trekking, rafting, climbing, bungee jumping, ect. We went on a day trek through the jungle and went white water rafting. The rating was nice, the trekking was beautiful. The town is pretty hopping with tourist, and the night market attracts many shoppers, I bought a few bracelets (I don't think I needed to add to my collection). We enrolled in a one day cooking class. The instructor (a super cute girl who kept talking about us becoming good Thai Wives, it involved us learning the proper cooking skills) took us to the market to buy the ingredients we needed or the day. We made delicious food and I bombarded the other students with questions about southern Thailand (they had already been and I needed info). It was fun and something different from our normal travel activities.

From Chang Mai we booked it to Kophang, an island located in the south part of Thailand and is famous for the Full Moon Party. The full moon party is exactly what it sounds like, a party that takes place during the full moon. Around 10,000-30,000 people migrate there, depending on the season, to dance, drink, and groove to the music. The beach was over taken by party goers and there were seven different sound systems set up playing Reggae, Trans, Techno, Hip hop, ect. We danced the night away, I lasted until about 4:30am but had to turn in at that point because my tired body could not handle anymore dancing. It was fun and crazy to experience such a party atmosphere, pretty much a rave on a beach. We rented a motorbike, again Kayo drove, and explored the island, stopping to see nice views and nonexistent waterfalls. We then head to Ko Tao, another island, only about an hour away from the first. Upon arrival, we quickly decided to enroll in a scuba diving certification course. We were both unsure about spending the money and the time to do it, but looking back on it, I am so glad we decided to do the course. It took three days, and we had class in the morning and dove in the afternoon. The first dive sort of gave me a minor anxiety attack, it is difficult getting use to breathing under water, but I quickly became more comfortable with it. We passed our written test with flying colors and are now certified open water divers!! The certification is good for life, and I really like this whole diving thing, so I am glad am now certified. Diving is very meditative, sort of like yoga, you have to remain calm always, keep a steady deep breath, and just enjoy everything you are experiencing. We saw so many beautiful fish and coral. With every dive, I fall more in love with the under water world. As we were diving I kept thinking about the movie 'Finding Nemo' and how Nemo announces to his teacher at school that he is from an anemity, of course with his mispronunciation and stutter, because he is "kid". For those of you who have seen the movie must know what I am talking about.

Next stop, Bangkok, crazy, crazy city. We went to a Mui Thai boxing match, saw a guy completely knock out his opponent, he had to be carried off stage in a stretcher. We visited a few temples, wandered upon a park where we watched teenage boys battle in break dancing, and we shopped. We indulged in sticky rice because we knew we were leaving Thailand and need a last dose of whole goodness. Had a nice day and half there and then boarded a plane to Indonesia. Kayo and I were talking about our Thainland trip and we decided that it was good, we really enjoyed all the places we went and the things we did, but it was definetly not as much as a cultural experience as India and Vietnam.

Cambodia

2008-03-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Cambodia by crossing the border from Vietnam. I had heard horror stories of previous border crossings, however our crossing went very smooth. Our main purpose in going to Cambodia was to visit Angkor Wat, however we made a pit stop in Phom Phen. As soon as we arrived in the city I realized that almost every Cambodian that I was going to meet was going to refer to me as lady. "Lady, Do you need a taxi?" "Lady, Lady, buy from me." It was cute actually, annoyed me at first, but people here used this expression instead of Madam, or hey you. In Phom Phen we stayed on a lake (or a swamp) but still very nice and our hostel had a very peaceful restaurant looking over the lake. Cambodia, like many parts of Southeast Asia, has a very recent tragic history. In 1975 the Khmer Rouge took power and tried to turn Cambodia into an agrarian state. During that time there were no schools, no post, no freedom to practice religion, and it is estimated that 1.5 to 2 million people were killed at the hands of the regime. We visited a school that was turned into a prison where people were kept before they were sent to the killing fields. If a person was suspected of a political crime, their entire family would be imprisoned and later murdered at the fields. There is a stupa at the fileds holding 8000 skulls of those who were killed. We visited both the prison and the fields. It is almost impossible to describe how I felt. Tears came to the surface at the thought of what people are capable of doing to one another. I believe that is is sometimes necessary to visit places such as the killing fields to bring a sense of reality of these tragedies and to pay homage to those who suffered. I know some may disagree with me, some may see it as inundation. I see it as acknowledging what took place, and for me, it reminds me of everything I have to be thankful for and to have compassion towards others. I am amazed at how joyful and happy Cambodians are despite their awful past. Truly inspiring.
It has been a few weeks since our visit to Cambodia and I had to go to Kayo's page to be reminded of what we did there. I remember liking Phom Phen, our hostel was very nice and we relaxed in the evenings by the lake reading, chatting, and eating. We spent a day and half there and then headed to Siem Reap, which is where Angkor Wat is located. It was extremely hot, I think it was the hottest place we have been on this trip and I washed my clothes every night because they were soaked in sweat. We spent three days exploring the temples, it was nice to have the extra time to discover the temples at a slower pace. Angkor Wat is the main attraction, and is the largest single religious monument in the world. (I stole that fact from Kayo's page). Many of the ruined temples were surrounded by jungle and forest. Think Tomb Raider. We used dollars, went to a classical dance performance (so great), and I made Kayo get up at 5 in the morning to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. We visited the Land Mine Museum. Land mines are still a huge problem in Cambodia, I don't know the statistics, but there has been a lot of deaths, even more amputees, and it continues to harm people every day. Maybe the United States should support the banning of the use and production of land mines, but instead, the U.S has chosen not sign a treaty most other democratic countries have singed. We blamed it on North and South Korea not signing and setting an example to them. Blah, Blah, can you say, bullshit. Cambodia was nice, not my favorite place so far, maybe it was because I spent less time there as Vietnam and India, or maybe because I did not get to mingle with the locals as much. Cambodia was sort of a weird place, hard to pinpoint it or describe its weirdness.

Vietnam

2008-03-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

We are in Cambodia now, but let me back up a little and tell you about Vietnam. We arrived on Feb 22nd. I was sad about leaving India, lots of feelings going on with me about leaving. I also experience culture shock when we arrived in Vietnam. It was time to readjust to a new country again. I was so familiar with India, it felt comfortable to me and Vietnam wasn't. We arrived in the evening and immediately hit up a street vendor for food. Loved the food in Vietnam. Our first day was spent walking around, spotting street vendors selling something that smelled and looked good and us saying "uh excuse me, I'll have that" "how much is it?" having no idea what things should cost and what it translated into dollars. Kayo and I both got facials because we felt after being in polluted India for so long we needed to "reinvent our faces." They were reinvented for approx. two days and then the pimples came back in force. During our first night in Hanoi (oh yeah, we flew into Hanoi, which is in North Vietnam) we walked by a square where teens were breaking to B boy music. We sat for maybe an hour and watched these kids break dance. They were good, Kayo really wanted to go and break with them. A day later we hopped on the tour train (something we didn't do in India) and headed to Sapa (7 miles from the Chinese Boarder). The town is located in the mountains and is beautiful, I explored the town with an entourage of Hmong (minority ethnic villagers) women and girls trying to get me to buy their goods. I didn't mind because they were nice and also talked to me and told me about their families and lives, and I told them about mine. We hiked down to a village and stayed one night there. It was great to be out in the mountains surrounded by beauty and to be able to observe the locals doing what they do in their villages. We soon learned that traveling in Vietnam was way more expensive than in India. In India I lived off of $26.00 a day and we were living good, not extravagant obviously, but we stayed in decent places and ate some pretty good food. We returned to Hanoi and headed to Halong Bay. The bay is surrounded by thousands of tiny islands, we took a two day/one night tour on a sick boat with an awesome crew of other tourist. From there we headed to Hoi Ann, located on the central coast. The train ride there was absolutely beautiful, the tracks literally cruise along the coast line up in the mountains (some might think dangerously close. Hoi Ann is a cute town and is famous for its clothes making. I got two dresses made to order just for me. From Hoi Ann we did something that we never thought that we would do, hopped on the back of motorbikes for a 6 day motorbike tour through the central highlands. Off the tourist track and it appealed to me because I thought (six days on the back of a motorbike, sign me up! Mr. T and Taun were our drivers and Mr. T is the coolest guy in the world. When I think of Vietnam, I will think of him. He took good care of us, played drinking games with us, showed us the true Vietnam, told us about his life and the Vietnamese culture, and told us one "story" (pretty much a dirty joke) every evening. We drove through beautiful mountains and jungles and we would had missed so much if we did not hop on the back of those motorbikes. We drove through small villages and the children would wave hello and a couple would even run along with our bikes for a few seconds. We attended a Hmong music and dance show one night and we drank jug wine. On the first day of our adventure, Mr. T pointed to a group of about thirty men on the side of the road. It turns out they were dismantling a bomb found up in the hills from the war. A war we know as the "Vietnam War" but the rest of the world knows it as the "American War". A lot of fighting took place in the central highlands, especially the area that we drove through on the first day. It was apparent that war had taken place there, much of the land is still suffering and bare. Every time a local asked me where I was from, I wondered what they would think of the fact that I am American. Every one was very friendly to me, but I still wonder what they think of the United States. Mr. T also made sure that we were fed well, and had true local Vietnamese food. In one night I had Boar, deer, and goose meat. Yum, yum. I wasn't a fan of the goose, but the boar and deer tasted really good. Drinking Vietnamese coffee is like drinking a shot of espresso and it turns out I now drink it straight. I bought some to bring home so I can get my "fix". We were sad to end our time with Mr. T but also excited to be at our own pace again. We spent a day in Na Trang and then head to Saigon, also known as the town that never sleeps. We arrived at 5:40 in the morning and it was alive and kicking, just like it does 24 hours a day. We went to a market where I decided to sit down and have some food. I felt something crawling on my foot and looked down and saw a creature the size of my thumb using my foot as bridge to the "other" side, I jumped and yelped and much laughter was directed towards me by many local women. I went to the war memorial museum. It was sad and hard to see pictures and articles about the atrocities that took place during the war. Much of the atrocities I am talking about were those caused by the United states and American soldiers. There are donation boxes set up through the city to help Agent orange and Nepalm Bombing victims. We learn about the affects of these in school, but we do not learn about the individuals and families who have suffered since that time because of these substances that we used during the war. I know I am ending on a more solemn note, but our time in Vietnam was really great. Like India, the people are so beautiful, friendly, happy, inspiring. We arrive in Cambodia last night. More to come soon.

Mumbai and Goa, India

2008-03-03T03:27:00.000-08:00

Goa

Cows like the beach too

Anjuna Market in Goa

Goa

Market in Mumbai

With friends from Jaipur in Mumbai

Khajuraho, Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, and Ellora/Ajanta Caves

2008-02-22T07:11:00.000-08:00

Ellora Caves

Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve

Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve

Kayo and I at the Kama Sutra temples in Khajuraho

Khajuraho

Post Goa

2008-02-19T06:49:00.000-08:00

After Goa, we headed to Hampi. Hampi is a small town and is built around ruins dating back to 1336. It was very peaceful there. We walked around the large temples surrounded by palm trees. A person could spend several days just walking around the ruins. We spent a day, it was hot, but the atmosphere was very serene, quite, and nice. From Hampi we headed to Kerala, but had to jump through hoops to get there. We took an overnight bus to Bangalore and got there at 6:00 in the morning. Turned out that we could not get a bus to Kerala until 7:00 in the evening. So we spent the day wandering around, checking internet, went to a beauty salon, and reading in a nice park. We headed to Kerala and got booted off our bus at five in the morning and we were shuffled onto another bus. It was wierd because we were sleeping, but I guess they were condensing everyone onto one bus. Our home base in Kerala was the town of Alleppey, sorta in the middle of Kerala. Again, like Goa, Kerala is a state in India, but is often referred to as one place. We took a canoe trip through small canals and on this one trip, we saw banana trees, cocunt trees, rice fields, and one cotton tree. Kerala is surround by back waters and villages lay in between the canals and lakes. The main mode of transportation for the local villagers is local ferries. We had several opportunties to walk through a few villages and to walk through rice fields. Rice and fish is the staple food here. Kayo and I spent one day and one night on a house boat. This trip was really great. Relaxing and we spent the day sitting on the boat looking at the beautiful scenery and observing village life taking place on the shore. The meals were amazing and we essentially got to live it up for one day. We don't usually travel in "style" like this, so it was a great experience. During our second day in Aellepy we took a bus to a town where we could catch a local ferry back to where we stayed. We talked with a local girl who was so much fun to converse with. She showed us pictures of her family and taught us a little about their local agriculture and the rice fields. She is Muslim and talked about Muslim weddings and described a few of the traditions. Muslim weddings are three days and the last day is the reception where all the guest are invited to celebrate with the family. The girl will also have an arranged marriage, as most Muslims do. As part of our canoe trip, we spent time in the village of our canoe guide, and his wife made us local Keralan cuisuine, and we spent some time talking with his neighbor who is a 21 year old college student home for holiday. Hindi is not spoken here, the language of the people is Malaylam. We were talking with our hostel owner and his friend and I tried to get them to teach me swear words in their langauge. They refused, I already know most swear words in Hindi and wanted to broaden my vocabulary. Now we are in Pondicherry, a cute coastal town on the Bay of Bengal. Pondicherry was a french colonial town and has a french feel. We have only been here for a half a day and we are taking a bus today to go to Chennai where we fly out to Vietnam. We only have less than ten hours left in India. It seems unreal. I have spent close to half a year, about four months and three weeks, in this country. I am going to miss Sari watching. The main dress for women. It happens to be "mother" day today, which is a festival basically celebrating their gods, and Kayo and I were able to get our last dose of people watching and mingling agmonst the locals.

Random thoughts

2008-02-15T06:41:00.000-08:00

In my opinion a person has to be pretty comfortable with themselves to come to India. You are going to get starred at, by everyone, men, women, and children. It works out for me because I like staring at people as well(people watching), and so I just stare right back. Which is probably not the best thing to do, but I don't really care. If they stare at me, I stare at them.

Going to a temple is like going to a rock concert, long lines to get in, really loud, and people are totally stoked to be there. My friend in Jaipur took me to his temple during his day to worship (Hindu's have specfic days that they go to temple and fast for their gods), and it was great to see everyone pushing their way through to pray. I have been to many temples, but this experience was different because it was on a busy day to worship and because it was my friend's temple.

Auto Rickshaw drivers totally pimp out their rickshaw's here, equiped with sound systems, beads in the windows, pictures of a god or two, it is great, I feel like I am in a 70's disco. Women love their jewerly here. I finally put earings back in my ears and I relate much better to the local women now, also they deck out their girls in jewerly as well. You can fine baby girls of maybe one yrs old wearing bangles and necklaces and earings of course.

I introduced a three year old girl on the train to hip hop. Her mom didn't seem too happy but her dad did not seem to mind, and he requested through hand motions to listen to my i-pod as well. In Goa there were about ten cricket games going on along the beach and as we were walking by men would leave their cricket game to ask if we wanted to look in their shop, when I shook my head no, they returned to their game. This would never happen in the U.S.

When locals ask where I am from they always respond by saying that they do not meet many american traverler's. I think I have only met maybe five Americans in five months and I am often tricked because I hear a person speaking English with no accent, and I think, aww they must be American. Wrong, they are Canadian. Kayo hailed a truck once, she thought it was a bus, but it wasn't, and we had to convince the driver that we did not want a ride. Sometime in January I found myself really Vihaan sick (Vihaan is the school I worked at in Jaipur), I was missing the children, and I was missing Ganga and her children (Ganga was the woman who lived and worked at the school that I made friends with soley on non verbal communication). It is amazing how much of a bond you can create wtih someone even if you can't speak the same language. Many people here are poor, really poor, at a level that I think does not exist in the United States. They work hard for hardly nothing, yet I have never seen so many smiles, so much laughter, and so much joking. I am always smiling when I am people watching, because people really seem to enjoy themselves and one another. And when I smile at people they almost always smile back at me.

A few people were concerned when I said that I was coming to India. They thought that I would be surrounded by so much sadness, by so much poverty, and my so much human suffereing, and that I would have a negative experience or that I might come home jaded. Of course there is all that here, there is everywhere in the world, but by no means am I leaving India jaded. Of course there has been the ups and downs, but my time here has been so great and positive. At Vihaan, I was surrounded by amazing people, the children showered me with unconditional love, and the teachers thought of me as a friend. I have seen so much compassion, happiness, and joy from the people here. If anything I am more optimistic and my heart is even more open than before. Might sound cheesy, and cliche and you may want to slap me right now, but it's true.

Goa

2008-02-12T04:59:00.000-08:00

Yes, we did indeed spend seven nights in Goa. I speak of Goa as it is one place. Its not, Goa is a state in India, and there are many beaches and a few cities here. First, we hit the beaches of the north. Kayo became sick on the bus ride there and spent the first two days in the hotel. Once Kayo was back in commission we rented a motor bike and headed for the open road. Kayo drove like she was destined to be a Hell's Angel and I sang, "freedom" on the back of the bike. Actually, Kayo was a very safe driver and we decided quickly that I was not the "wo"-man for the job. It was great, such a freedom that we have not had while traveling. We hopped on the bike and just rode, asking along the way for directions to our destination. We explored small towns and beaches and drove along small villages, witnessing life taking place. We hit the Anjuna Wednesday market (also called Foreign Hippie Market). It was great, so much stuff to browse through. I rolled up to a vendor, and he says to me, "everything 100 rupees". So I asked him the price of a skirt, and we responds, 100 rupees, I totally thought he was bullshitting me, because 100 rupees is only $2.50. Once a woman said to me, take a look madam its free, I responded "really?, Free? I don't think she liked my response because she was bullshitting me. We then headed to Palolem, beautiful beach of southern Goa. We stayed in a beach hut for less than $12.00 a day and had a view of the ocean. We never wore shoes, chose restaurants based on the music they were playing and made friends with the million dogs roaming the beaches. I love Goa and never wanted to leave. Palolem was a little piece of heaven, usually an expression I use to describe food, but I think I can use it in the instance.

Mumbai

2008-02-05T03:55:00.000-08:00

I was indifferent about our planned trip to Mumbai. I was pleasantly surprised because Mumbai was great. Maybe it was great because I ran into my friends from Jaipur and was able to spend some time with them. And I think it was probably great because Mumbai is a hodge-podge of people, and every corner has something different to offer. The train station is like one of those cell phone commercials where there are hundreds of people walking within in 2 feet of each other, all talking on their cell phones. We used the local train line to explore the city (okay actually to explore the club scene. We went to a very uppity club called Egnima. They played Bollywood music. This made me happy. We stayed in an area called Colaba and it is very popular with the traveler's. It is also popular with recruiters looking for westerner's to be extras in Bollywood films. Kayo and I got "picked" up to play the role of ourselves in an actual wedding. There were 1500 guest invited to this wedding and many of the guest were in the diamond industry. Many of them looked liked mobsters to me, but I will keep this to myself. Also the family of the Bride are in the Bollywood industry. Basically we were paid a whopping 400 rupees ($10) to stand in Sari's and greet guest. It was a tad awkward, but we got to eat delicious food afterwards. My belly was pretty satisfied. Colaba was swamped with men selling these weird shaped balloons. Kayo swatted one because the guy stuck it in her face. We ate delicious street food, we also wandered through the local bazaars, the vegetable and meat market smelled foul. There were live chickens running amok. We spent time with the Jaipur crew, drank some beer, and wandered aimlessly through this truly amazing city.

Last week and a half of my life

2008-01-30T04:38:00.000-08:00

You are probably wondering what Kayo and Steph has been up to while tracing around India. Well, after spending a day in Orchha we headed towards Khajuraho where the Kama Sutra temples are located. The town itself is okay, overloaded with tourist and we were constantly harrased by shop owners and vendors. However, I did end up throwing up on the street(you can't help but get sick here) and was not bothered by anyone during this episode. The temples were great though. Kayo wrote a great blog explaining the history, so you should check out her blog, I am usually too lazy to go into all that stuff, but I will give you a little background. The temples date back to 950-1050 AD and were built by the Chandela dynasty (you have to google that one if you want to know more because I have no idea). The temples are famous for their liberal carvings, telling stories of gods, goddesses, wariors, musicians, and of real and mythological animals. The most common theme to the carvings on the outside of the temples are women and sex. Figures have been carved in sensual and erotic posturing. There have been many theories on what determined the theme of these temples, but you can look that one up also if you are interested. It was great wondering around the temples and observing all of the carvings. After leaving Khajuraho, we practically went through chutes and ladders trying to get to Bavandgard National Park, where the chance of spoting a Bengal Tiger is very high. Nope, no tiger. But it was beautiful and worth going all the same. Pictures to follow. Next stop, Jalgaon, where we set up camp (not literally), to visit the Ellora and Ajanta Caves. Before Jalgaon, we were stranded in a town called Kanti, because we could not get a train out for a day and could not book at the previous town we were in because apparently you can't book train tickets there. Did I mention we were at a train station. All is well though because we found a hotel that had a 24 check out time so we sat and watched movies all day. There was nothing to do in this town, just a junction town people. Ajanta is a world heritage site and there are 30 caves cut into horseshoe-shaped rock temples. A girl from California might say that they were awesome. The really were. Huge, intricate, and way cool. The Ellora caves contained Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist temples. Different from the Ajanta caves but special all the same. I don't think I should be a history teacher, I am not that into explaining things very well. Pictures say a thousand words anyways and I will promise to post a few soon. Kayo and I arrived Mumbai (formally known as Bombay) this morning. I like it here already. Also, I randomly ran into my friend Nadia from Jaipur. It is a small world after all. No, it was random, she was sitting in a coffee shop and I happen to look in as I was walking by and saw her sitting at the table. Random, but great! Also did I mention that after spending a month freezing my California but off (no central heating) that now it is hot. Not just warm, it is hot. I have discussed this with a few and have decided that there is no moderation in this country. While living in Jaipur the food at my guest house was way too spicy. I asked if the could make the food a tad more mild and I ended up eating food with absolutely no flavor. It is all part of the fun of being here!!

Manali, Orchha

2008-01-23T00:32:00.000-08:00

Laundry day

Orchha

Historical Monument Preservation at its finest

Manali

Dharamsala

2008-01-23T00:05:00.000-08:00

View from the Kora (A religous walk Tibetan Buddists do everyday in Dharamsala

Tibetan Buddist Prayer wheel

Dharamsala

Haridwar and Rishikesh

2008-01-22T23:46:00.000-08:00

Rishikesh

Puja ceremony in Rishikesh

Haridwar

More of camel trek and Jaisalmer

2008-01-22T23:03:00.000-08:00

camping in the desert

Cricket game in the desert

Manali, Dehli, Orchha (Madhya Pradesh)

2008-01-21T04:49:00.000-08:00

We left Dharamsala and took a 12 hour bus to Manali, which is in the same state as Dharamsala and is more in the mountains. It was raining and snowing the entire time we were there. We were not prepared and cold. It looked like it could be beautiful, but we could barely see across the street. So we took a bus a day and half later to Dehli to get a train to Jhansi, where we could take a bus to Khajuraho. Upon arrival in Jhansi, we decided to take an auto rickshaw to Orchha, which is 20km away and spent the day in this little town. It was great. I was quite skeptical when the Lonely Planet (my guide book) said Orchha was "magical." Yes, it is true, it was magical. This small town is surrounded by semi ruined temples, forts, and palaces. The river sparkles and is surrounded by semi lush forest. We saw monkey's with ridiculously long arms. We left this morning at 4:00am to catch the 5:30am bus to Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh) and did not end up leaving until 6:30am. Travel here can be tedious at times. But of course, all worth it in the end because we are having such a great time and we are seeing and experiencing so many different places.

Some side notes

2008-01-19T00:07:00.000-08:00

A few things I have not talked about!

In the slum that I worked in, four year olds take care of their 2 year old siblings. I assume this is common among the poor people here. I think it is because children here (at least in the slums) learn to take care of themselves at a very young age.

My name in Hindi means hub cap. My friend Nadia's name means river, of course I got the more beautiful meaning out of the two.

Real men open beer bottles with their teeth.(I have witnessed this taking place on several occasions).

I have to give credit to the bus drivers here. We have taken three buses through the mountains now and yes the drivers are complete maniacs, but some how they seem to keep us alive and safe on the roads. I also appreciate that our driver from Dharamsala to Manili, honked his horn every time we approached a blind corner(which was about every 30 seconds or so).

Our camel driver in Jaisalmer talked with us a little about arranged marriages. He said if you were lucky you would be arranged to marry a pretty woman. We asked him if he was lucky or unlucky. He said "not so lucky, but not too unlucky either.

According to everyone here, anything is possible, unless it is regarding to an item on a menu in a restaurant and then the server tells me, sorry madam, this is not possible. What??

Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh

2008-01-15T03:03:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Dharamsala last week sometime and like most travelers who come to Dharamsala, stayed longer than we had planned. Another traveler in Rishikesh said to me that people get stuck here, this is true. It is peaceful, and beautiful, and there is much to be learned in Dharamsala. Dharamsala is a hill station town of the Himalaya's, and is also home to the Tibetan Government in Exile. In 1949, the
Chinese People's Liberation Army came into power and shortly after invaded Tibet. Until 1949, Tibet had its own government and was completely separate from China. Tibet was secluded from the rest of the world and the people lived in peace and happiness among their land. Tibetans have their own language, food, culture, and are very religious people (Tibetan Buddhist). In 1949, China invaded and to date, 1.2 million Tibetans have lost their lives due to the Chinese Occupation. Why do we not learn about this in American schools? Why isn't there more being done to help these people? We were discussing this with a few people, and even the most educated people in the US are not very aware of what continues to take place in Tibet. The Chinese have tortured, imprisoned, and murdered hundreds of thousands of Tibetans who speak out against the Chinese. More Chinese live in Tibet than Tibetans. The Dali Lama fled Tibet in 1959 and obtained amnesty in Dharamsala. He continues to seek peace for his people. Go to these websites
http://www.tibetanolympics.com/
http://www.freetibet.org/
http://www.iisd.org/50comm/commdb/list/c46.htm
I was wandering around Dharamsala, really wanting to meet a local Tibetan to learn more about their people and the Chinese Occupation of their home. Of course the universe answered my wish and I met a gentleman who is a photo journalist and who runs a variety of websites regarding the situation of the Tibetan people. He also happens to be hosting an event called the Tibetan Olympics, go to the website, and educate yourself! Please! Kayo and I both bought Free Tibet shirts, and I am determined to educate my friends and family about this, so watch out, most know what I am like when I become passionate about a topic!! Also go to Kayo's blog she wrote about this as well, http://www.wanderingcamponesa.blogspot.com/
Other than learning about Tibet, Kayo and I hiked up to a temple and a waterfall and almost hiked to the top of the mountain. It was great to be hiking, especially around such natural beauty! We walked around town and met up with my friend Brian who is volunteering in Dharamsala. We went to the museum and visited the main complex where the Dali Lama lives. We walked about 20 minutes outside of town where the Govt. in Exile has all of its main offices. I loved this town and the people here are so peaceful and friendly. I want to come back to Dharamsala and spend more time, maybe do some volunteering.

Haridwar and Rishikesh, Uttaranchal

2008-01-14T19:34:00.001-08:00

Haridwar is located at the point where the Ganges emerges from the Himalaya, and is a holy Hindu city. The Ganges water is actually clean here and is a shade of a beautiful blue green. We stayed here for a day and a half and stayed in an Ashram. We walked around the Ganges, attended the night puja (prayer) ceremony held at the river, and climbed up a mountain to a temple. We hopped on a bus and head an hour north to Rishikesh. Rishikesh is considered the yoga capital of the world. Many head here to study yoga and meditation at the numerous of Ashrams that are located here along the Ganges. Rishikesh is nestled in the foothills of the Himalaya's and is a perfect atmosphere to practice yoga and meditation. Kayo and I stayed in Ashram again here, but this time we participated in the daily activities of the Ashram. We got up at 6:30am to attend the morning yoga and meditation class. We learned breathing techniques and basic yoga and chanting. Later in the morning we learned lessons on the Bhagavad Gita (lessons on how to live) and again mediated. We only
did this for a few days, so you could say that we only flirted with yoga and meditation. Rishikesh is a cute little town and we had a really good time!

More of Jaislamer

2008-01-14T19:19:00.000-08:00

Me and my camel

Sun setting over Jodhpur

Jodhpur and Jaislamer

2008-01-14T18:33:00.000-08:00

Sand Dunes

Me jumping for joy

Vihaan School

2008-01-12T06:25:00.000-08:00

Me and favorite family from India

Women who attend the vocational training program at school

Learning Lacre work at school (Rajisthani mirror work)

Over looking the slum that I worked in

Pile giving me kisses

Vihaan students

Dancing Queen

Children meditating at school

Post Jaipur

2008-01-05T06:28:00.001-08:00

Kayo met me a few days before Christmas in Jaipur. For those of you who don't know , Kayo is my friend from San Diego and we will be traveling together for the next few months. I attended midnight mass with Harold and his family, honestly it was the first midnight mass I have ever been to. Attending mass made it seem a little more like Christmas because of the trees and lights and singing Christmas carols. I got my picture in the paper the next day. I had been trying very hard to avoid this over the past few months, but it was a good picture of me, so I guess it is alright. During the day Kayo and I walked around the markets and then we went to a friends house for dinner. He cooked us mutton and taught us how to season it correctly. The 26Th of December was the last day that I went to my project. I read with a few children and just hung out and said my goodbyes. It was really nice. Ganga, the younger woman who lives and works at the school gave me a note that she had another teacher translate into English. I will miss her and her two little girls very much. On the 27th Kayo and I headed for Jodhpur which is about a 6 hour bus ride from Jaipur. Himlata (her in laws run the guesthouse I stayed at in Jaipur)is from Jodhpur and happened to be there the same time and invited us to stay with her family. It was really nice to stay with a friend and to be able to meet all of her family. She showed me and Kayo more of her wedding albums, I had seen a few in Jaipur, but these were of the ceremonies held in Jodhpur. I became very ill the next day and have no tales of Jodhpur because I spent the whole day in bed, praying that I would recover quickly because we were headed for Jaisalmer and a four day camel trek the next day. My prayers were answered and I was feeling much better and we headed for Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer was great. The main attraction in the city is the fort which resembles a fairytale castle. It is huge and beautiful. We wandered around the small streets and stayed in the fort. 5,000 locals still live in the fort and many businesses and hotels are located inside the fort as well. On the 30th Kayo and I headed into the desert for our 4 day camel trek. We went trough a tour agency and there was 4 other people in our group. Riding on a camel in the desert is very meditative, until you realize that your camel is headed straight for a cactus tree. I am not sure if my camel was directionally challenged, blind, or just lazy but he kept heading for dangerous territory (cactus trees). I tried sending him telepathic messages that it was beneficial to both parties for him to avoid the trees, but some how he was not getting my messages. I kept having to raise my leg to avoid injury. All jokes aside, the trek was amazingly beautiful and really was meditative. We did not see anyone else except for village people and sheep herders. We saw maybe two other trekking groups during the entire four days. We cooked our meals over a fire and slept under the stars. Kayo and I learned how to make Chapatti and now are very skilled in the art of Chapatti making. We celebrated New Years Eve around a fire and with a beer. It was a great way to enter the new year. The day after we returned from the trek we headed for Delhi. While we were waiting at the train station in Jaisalmer I was sitting down, talking to Kayo, and eating a lemon cake. Kayo started laughing and when I turned around there was a cow in my face. I stood up and realized this was a bull. I wasn't sure what to do but knew he wanted my food. Instinct told me to walk away and protect my food. The bull followed me and decided to show me who was boss. He rammed me in the back with his horns. I was shocked and it hurt. I walked really fast to the nearest trash can and threw my food away. Meanwhile the bull started harassing other innocent people for their food. I was really mad that I threw my cake away, it was really good. Damn Cow. Our main purpose in going to Delhi was to get our Visas at the Vietnam embassy. The embassy was closed for the weekend, so we spent a day an half wandering around Delhi. We went to the Lotus temple, it is a place of worship for people of all faiths. I love this idea, I wish the world could be more like this temple, excepting of all people. In the evening we went to see another Bollywood film, Welcome, it was crazy and silly. But it was fun. We are now in the foothills of the Himalaya's. We stayed in Hardiwar for two nights and now we are in Rishikesh. We are staying in an Ashram. More to come later. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.

2007-12-21T22:03:00.000-08:00

Jaipur

2007-12-20T03:44:00.000-08:00

All the girls living at my guesthouse have left and I am quite sad about it. Traveling is great because you meet so many people, but at times it is hard to say goodbye. We had so many great times together but I know that I will see all of them again!!! A few weeks ago I went to a club for the first time while being in India. We rocked the party!! Most of the time the DJ played house and techno (which I do not like very much) but they did throw some Bollywood tunes in the mix, which I was very pleased about. My favorite part of the whole night was when a Punjabi guy pulled me onto the dance floor and showed me how to dance Punjabi st lye. According to Shamila, Punjabi's rock the party. They definitely know how to dance!! FYI, Punjab is a state north of Rajisthan and a Punjabi is a person from that state. Shamila, Stacy, and I took Gatack (spelling is most definitely wrong) lessons (traditional dance). It was very interesting to say the least. Learning the dance was awesome, but we wanted to move our hips and our teacher wanted to teach us the most conservative version of this dance. There was no moving of the hips involved. We only lasted about three weeks and then called off the lessons. Our teacher (classically trained) was obsessed with us learning this dance perfectly. There was one class where I almost walked out because he pissed me off so much.

My project in Jaipur has pretty much come to an end. Today was the last day of actual school because the children will on winter break for over a week. I will be going to the school at least 1 or two days next week to read with some of the children and then I will begin my travels with Kayo. Let's just say that these past 12 weeks have flown by. I said goodbye to all of the teachers and the children because I will not see most of them before I leave Jaipur. Traveling will be great and different but I am very sad to leave Jaipur and the children. They are truly beautiful. I have nicknames for some of the children (of course no one knows these nicknames but me). One child reminds me of the leader of the Lord of the Flies because one day I walked into the classroom (no teacher) and she was scolding the other children for misbehaving (she is four years old). Another child I have nicknamed Mr. DJ (also four) because every time I play music at school he sits by the radio and either tells me yes or no, in approval of a certain song. Then there are the twins who are about 1 and half years old. The are anarchist by every sense of the word. They are also a major pain, because they are so naughty, but then they look at me with their beautiful brown eyes and my heart just melts.

India is very different than it was three months ago. India is changing fast, but not that fast. India is different for me, certain realities about this country that that bothered me three months ago, no longer bother me. I still get annoyed and frustrated from time to time, but not to the same extent. I love the craziness and chaos of this country. I have said this many times, but I truly love the no nonsense, no bullshit culture of this society. Today I was sitting in a coffee shop and I witnessed a guy and girl get in a small argument because the girl was on her mobile for a really long time and finally the guy got annoyed and yelled at her to get off. In the U.S the guy would have sat there and would have been frustrated but probably would have kept quite about it. In the U.S. people tend to keep quiet about annoyances until it all builds up, and then we end up having big explosions of anger. There is no big explosions of anger here because people let out their frustrations as they come along.

Last week, a group of English teenagers toured the project and played with the children for a few hours. I have become so use to the size of Indians (which for the most part is short and small), that the English kids looked like giants. On a daily basis the only other westerners that I see are the other volunteers and I forgot how big westerners are, (not fat, just big compared to Indians). Earliar this week, Karnika (in-country coordinator) introduced me to two new volunteers and stated to them that I have been the most un-american (Amercian) volunteer that she has every had. I am not quite sure what she meant by this but she meant it as a compliment.

A few days ago Pelu (the son (3 yers old) of the cook in the guesthouse)called me deedee (which means sister in Hindi). There are so many things that I am going to miss about Jaipur. I have been so lucky to meet such great people and great friends here.

2007-12-19T05:52:00.000-08:00

me reading at school

School Mascot (Basil)

wonderful girl at school and little brother

boys will be boys!!!

2007-12-18T06:43:00.000-08:00

Pics from car while driving through villages about 2 hours outside of Jaipur

Pictures!!

2007-12-11T02:25:00.000-08:00

Puskar

Hanging in Puskar

Puskar Fair

Puskar with the girls (Sham, Nadia, Stacy, Jess, and me)

View from hotel in Puskar

Ganga making pakora (fried chilli's)

Picture of the slum that I work in

View from the "Monkey" Temple in Jaipur

2007-12-10T06:49:00.000-08:00

First of all, I think everyone should Google John Abraham right now. He is a Bollywood actor and he is the greatest Indian actor, he is great looking as well. The other day we all went to see Aaja Nachle at the Cinema and it was another great film, if you love dance and song, which I do. At the end of the film two of the main stars fall in love and the man professes that he could never live with out his girl. A man from the audience yells really loud in Hindi, "Man, this is the problem with love," We all started laughing. The other day I arrived at school and Harold stated to me very firmly that I was no longer aloud to speak English at school. He stated that I spent money on my Hindi lessons and I now should only speak Hindi to him. Our Rickshaw driver over heard this conversation and now only speaks Hindi to me. Lovely. I have been speaking basic Hindi with the children and they decided that since I knew a few words in Hindi it was time to try out Rajisthani on me (their native tongue). They all started laughing, and I started laughing as well. We have such great fun. The children are truly amazing. The more time I spend there, the more I fall in love with the school and everyone at the school. The people in the slum were able to get money from the city to pave the small dirt road going through the slum (barely wide enough to drive a motorcycle through). They finished sometime this weekend and the slum looks like a different place. First of all, it is a hundred times more sanitary and it makes the place look so different. It is also nice that I don't have to jump over puddles or look down the whole time to avoid walking through cow, goat, dog, and human crap. I was so amazed on how much better the place looked, and it is so much better and healthier for the children. Someone very recently asked me if I was married or alone. I replied that I was single. This is the way that most people here view "my situation." Most people can not believe that I am 25 and not married. I laugh if off most of the time. Harold is determined to get the children to learn the words to Jingle Bells before Christmas and it is quite hilarious to watch. He is quite militant about the whole situation. I think the children remember the words to the song solely out of fear of Harold. Today, one of the adolescent girls (14 yrs old) told myself and Nadia everything we needed to do in order to be beautiful. Here is the list she gave us. 1) wear bindi's (dot on forehead in between our eyebrows), 2)we both need to put on lip stick, 3)wear earings, 4) we both need to comb our hair better, 5)wear sari's (we compromised with salwar suits) 6) nose ring (this means we need to pierce our noses) 7)toe rings (she said that we can't wear these because we are not married) 8)She said my toes were beautiful but I need to paint and file my finger nails. Basically we both need a complete makeover. Pooja is so funny, she always makes me laugh and tells me exactly how it is. No bullshi*t with this girl, or anyone in India for that matter. This is why I love India. According to everyone who lives here, Anything is possible in India. I am starting to find the truth in this statement. This is a country where anything goes. A person could go mad trying to make sense of all the madness. It is not worth one's time or engery, I think the better method is just to go with the flow and laugh it all off. Today Shamila (another volunteer) and I were trying to get a rickshaw home from the market, and we were trying to bargian for the right price. Shamila argued for 5 minutes in Hindi with five rickshaw dirvers and we were laughing so hard because we were arguing over 10 rupees which is about 25 cents. We finally gave in, but it was good fun haggling with the all the drivers.

2007-12-03T20:36:00.000-08:00

Up until about three days ago it was still quite warm here. This is no longer true. It is quite cold in the mornings and nights. The weather now is very similar to the weather in San Diego during the winter. Last night we had a mouse in our room and my roommate and I were acting like little girls. We told the cook's daughter about the pest and she laughed at us and said that it was only a mouse. I assume she is very use to these not so friendly visitors. We put a mouse trap in our room and the mouse was caught and disposed of. Nadia (my roommate) said that she woke up to the mouse crawling on her and then she witnessed the mouse walking into the mouse trap. I slept through the whole thing. I did find mouse crap on my bed the night before. It could of went anywhere and it went on both of our beds. Two weekends ago I went to Puskar (about 3 hours away) with four girls in my program. This was the last weekend of the Puskar Camel fair which is held every year. People come from all over India to trade and sell their camels, and tourist come from all over the world to partake in all of the festivities. The streets were packed and at times it was a little to much to handle. We found an oasis in a small little restaurant and spent hours talking to the restaurant owner. We spent time talking about our time there and we all decided that there were many highs and few lows to the weekend. The first night we attended a music and dance festival and it was awesome. I love Indian music and dance. We took a local bus back to Jaipur and this was the best decision we made all weekend. A few of our group members wanted to take a taxi home because they just wanted to get home and avoid the uncertainty of taking a local bus. Myself and few others did not want to shell out the 700 Rupee's (equal to about $20) and we ended up taking the bus. It was wonderful, there were four Rajasthani women on the bus who sang the whole way home and busted out some dance moves along the way. I love this stuff. The culture here can be so warm and lively. During Diwali I spent some time speaking with Karnika's sister about some of the work she does here in India regarding women's and children's rights. I mentioned to her my social work background and she invited me to come to her office one day to check out what she does. Karnika arranged for me and another volunteer to go to her sister's office last Friday. It was a great experience. First of all I went to Karnika's father's house for lunch and had such a great meal and conversation with her father. I then walked over to Kavita's office and found myself in the office of a grassroots organization and spoke with one the law interns there about the current social issues this organization is currently undertaking. Currently, their main focus is challenging current child labor laws, and actually rescuing and providing rehabilitation to child laborers. We spent a few hours there asking questions and reading current laws and legistlation. They are doing wonderful work. There is a lot of work to be done still with educating the public regarding child labor. Many people send their chilren to work because their lively hood relies on it, but it is still a human right violation all the same. I was at school the other day and I began thinking about how great my time has been here. The children are so wonderful and beautiful and I have become very attached to them. I am not looking to the day I have to say goodbye to the children and teachers. A few weeks ago one of the teaching assitants at the school (she does not speak much english so we communicate through gestures and and my little hindi and her little enlish) crocheted a small hair net for me and put it in my hair. It was such a a huge gesture and it made me feel so accepted at the school and in the community. She has the two most beautiful children and has such an amazing story. Now that I know a little Hindi I have began speaking to some of the adolecent girls who come to school to participate in the community work. I can only speak with them a little because they do not speak much English but I love sitting and laughing with them.

2007-11-20T06:45:00.000-08:00

I have been MIA for awhile. An update is more than over do. I have officially been here six and a half weeks. Today I crossed a busy intersection like a local. Six weeks ago it would have taken me twenty minutes to cross the same intersection and today it took me a total of twenty seconds. I crossed the street maneuvering through cars and putting my hand out to stop any motorist that looked like they were not going to stop. Sounds dangerous, but it really isn't, you would never be able to cross other wise. This past Sunday was the India vs Pakistan Cricket match and it was held in Jaipur, and about five minutes from where I stay. Prior to Sunday every local I met asked me if I was excited about the match and I had to admit that I knew nothing about this game. Many were disappointed but I redeemed myself by allowing these individuals to teach me the ways of Cricket. I still don't really get the point of the game, but maybe this is because the only sport I really enjoy or even care about is snowboarding. India lost, many were sad. The India vs. Pakistan is the biggest game of the year for these two countries. There is still political unrest between these neighboring countries and this game is a test for who is the best. I guess this year that title goes to Pakistan. This past Saturday I traveled to two smaller villages to get out of the city for a day. It was wonderful, we hired a car (with a driver), you have to be insane to drive in India. The total cost of this was about $35 and it only cost me half of that because we split it by two. We went to a town name Bikaner where there is a temple that exorcisms take place. We did not witness any exorcisms but the temple was incredible and observed the hundreds of people waiting in line to get into the temple to make their offerings. Here, my first bout of culture shock took place. We were followed by this man for literately an hour and would not leave my friend and I alone. We asked him to leave and then we just started to ignore him. This irritated him, and he began to yell at us. He wanted us to him to follow because he said that he could get into the temple. We were able to get into the temple anyways. We were also trying to discuss something with our driver while in the town and we were continuously surrounded by literally twenty men. I wanted to yell at them to all leave me alone. Some major culture shock was going on.

A few things I have not mentioned. Men urinate on the streets here. They will do their business anywhere, anytime. It was very shocking at first when I would be walking down the street and walk pass a man peeing on the street. It was awkward and felt that I was invading his privacy by walking by. But it is not like that, everyone here is use to it, now I don't really seem to notice. I do however, notice the smell. That is hard to miss. Also, men are very affectionate towards one another here. Men hold hands. Not all men obviously, but many men of all ages (young, old, middle age) hold hands as a sign of friendship. They also lean on each other and put their arms around each other. These are straight men, not gay men. Could you ever imagine two straight men holding hands in the U.S. Never, ever would it happen. Men and women however barely ever even touch in public. Except for in Central Park where I see many young couples getting very cozy. Apparently this is the place in Jaipur where boyfriends and girlfriends meet (because the idea of boyfriend and girlfriends is taboo here.)

The other day I was standing in the street (smaller side road) and I was pushed to the side, by what I thought was a person or child and I looked and saw that I was being pushed by a calf. These flippin cows think they have all the power in India. I was astounded that I was literally pushed to the side by a cow. She had the whole road to make her way to god knows where. Only in India. There has been quite a few new volunteers arrive within the last week.

Jessica and Shamila are from London and are of India descent. They make me laugh, they are both teachers in the UK and are working with special needs children here in Jaipur.

Karen has been here for two weeks already, she is Austrailian and we talk politics a lot. She is very knowledgeable about the ways of the world.

Nadia is 18 and my new roommate, and she is from Ireland. She very savy and street smart for an eighteen year old.

Then there is Stacy she is 20 and is from Austrailian. All of the new volunteers are quite awesome.

Wedding season has offically begun. Yesterday there was 1, 500 weddings held just in Jaipur. The 21 of Nov is a very auspicous day to get married. Wedding dates here are set based on horrioscopes. It was amazing to see all of the beautiful Saries and sleek suits. I have been invited to attend a tradional Rajishtani wedding in December. I am definetly going.

2007-11-12T06:44:00.000-08:00

Harold dancing with the children at school
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Monkeys, monkeys, and more monkeys

Himalata (runs guest house) lighting candles at the guesthouse on the night of Diwali
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Cow celebrating Diwali

Having dinner with the other volunteers

Karnika making mutton for the street children

Me and Maria hitting up the town during Diwali

2007-11-11T02:04:00.000-08:00

Today is Sunday and I have been on "holiday" since Wednesday because of Diwali. Every year, Karnika invites 35 street children who live in an orphanage about 1 hour outside of Jaipuir, to her house for lunch. Myself and the other volunteers went over to Karnika's that day to have lunch and to help serve lunch to the children. The children were bused from their orphanage to Karinka's house, it was amazing. It is the only time that the children ever get invited to any one's home. Karnika said that the children requested five items, mutton (goat meat), Pepsi, rice, puri, and ice cream. I took a picture of Karnika making the Mutton (she insisted on making it herself! Karnika and her five sisters are involved with so many community projects within the Jaipur area. It is truly amazing. They have been blessed to have been born into a family with more money and status and they use the money and status to improve the lives of others.

November 9th (this past Friday) was the main day of Diwali. On this day most people pray to Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth), Lord Ganesha (God of luck), and Saraswati (Goddess of knowledge and wisdom). Karnika invited us over to her house (again) for puja and dinner. Puja is a prayer ceremony and on this day Karnika and her family celebrated and prayed to these gods. Thank goodness for Karnika, because of her I have been able to witness a lot the Indian culture. Today is the last day of Diwali and most places of business are still closed. The fireworks have finally started to die down (people are die hard about their fireworks on Diwali. The streets of Jaipur sounded like a war zone, but lucky for me it was only fireworks.

I am determined to leave India unmarried. I am considered to be too old to be unmarried. While I was in the train station a while back I was approached by about 20 children who were fascinated with Nienka and I. One of the first questions they ask was if we were married. Nieka stated that we were to young to be married. The children laughed and said that this was not true. On the way back from Varanasi I was practically proposed to by a man in the train station. He ask if I was married and when I said no he mentioned that he was also unmarried and had no prospects. I stated to him that I was under strict instructions of my mother that I needed to return to the U.S. unmarried. He laughed. Yesterday I was in line to buy tickets for the new Hindi film and I had a conversation with a young woman and she too thought it was a good idea that I stay here and marry an Indian man. She was amazed that I was 24 and not married, and even more amazed that I have no prospects. I love the honesty of the people here. There is no such thing as being politically correct.

2007-11-11T01:35:00.000-08:00

my and Nienka's hands painted with Henna

Nienka getting her hand painted with Henna

Picture of Lord Ganesha painted on the wall (God of luck and good things in life)

It is tradition to light a candle, make a wish, and to send it out on the Ganges to come true.

The Ganges River in Varanasi

Nienka walking down the Ghat in Varanasi at 5:30 in the morning.

2007-11-06T02:00:00.000-08:00

2007-11-06T01:18:00.000-08:00

Jaipur is really starting to feel like a home away from home. I am becoming more acclimated to this new environment and I am really starting to appreciate all the things that makes this country so unique. Today at school we had a celebration because it is the last day of school before children go on holiday for Diwali. We made Happy Diwali cards and I took plenty of pictures. Things are going really well. I have the next three days off because of Diwali and tomorrow I will be going to Karnika's for lunch. I just got back from a very long trip to Varanasi. It was a wonderful trip but travel in India can be very tiresome. A wise man once said, "India is great, but late." This is the truth. My train was suppose to leave Varanasi at 6:00pm on Sunday and it left at 3:30am Monday morning. Just 10 hours late, (another Indian motto, no hurry no worry). Patience is the name of the game here. Varanasi was really great though. Nienke (Holland friend and another volunteer)and I arrived Friday afternoon. Varanasi is one of the most holiest cities for the Hindu people, and most pilgrimage here once in their life time. It is said if you die in Varanasi you will reach Nirvana. Varanasi sits on the Ganges River (which is holy) and the ashes of those cremated here are put into the river. There are five types of people who can not be cremated here and their bodies are deposited into the river. (pregnant women, children under 12, holy men, people with leprosy, and I forgot the last). I have heard from other people that they have seen floating bodies in the river, I however did not. I did however see a cremation ceremony because they burn the bodies on the Ghats (shore line of the river is divided into 20 or so Ghats). On the last day Nienke and I walked the Ghats and people watched and took pictures. It was really incredible. Another very awesome trip!!!

2007-11-02T05:53:00.000-07:00

Diwali season has officially begun. Diwali is to Hindu's what Christmas is to Christians. Diwali means the festival of lights. I do not know too much about Diwali but i will definitely fill you in when i find out. Diwali is celebrated from November 1st to 11th and the main celebration takes place on the 9th. Myself and my dutch friend Nienke were on the train to Varanasi and met two girls who were going home from college for the holidays. In the cities of India, women go to college and live in dorms and major in engineering, and in the villages of India women marry as young as twelve. The guesthouse I stay in is ran by a very traditional Rajasthan family and the women wear sari's and always cover their heads in public, and the girls on the train wore western clothes and wanted to know if I wanted to "hang out" with them when they return to Jaipur. India has so much diversity and so many old traditions intertwined with new traditions. It is all strange but really amazing to see at the same time. I asked the girls if they date or have boyfriends and they say that they do but that is all done behind their parents backs. They are also not from Rajasthan (only going to university there) and it is less conservative where they live. I asked if they would probably have an arranged marriage, and they said "yes". The girls on the train, educated Nienke and I about the Hindu gods, and I now know all about them. Well not really, I know a little bit about Humanji (the god for unmarried people). Pray to this one if you want to remain a bachelor. We exchanged emails and I hope to meet up with Priyanka (one of the girls on the train) back in Jaipur, it will be nice to have more Indian friends here.

2007-10-31T02:39:00.000-07:00

First of all, I have to say that it is absolute craziness that I have been here over three weeks already. The project is going great. I have been working with the kiddies, teaching english and math, playing with the little ones, doing arts and crafts (trying to at least), and doing individual reading with the older children. It's good and I am really enjoying it. The kids can become really aggressive sometimes which is something I have had to get use to. They will pull on me to get my attention and grab chalk out of my hand. It all can be overwhelming sometimes, and can be different from working children at home, but at the same time it is just like working with children at home. There are always the differences and always the similarities. Speaking of aggressive children, I have been told by everyone never to give to children beggars. Apparently, if you give a child even one rupee (equal to about one cent), you will be mobbed by children. A few days ago, I was walking home from the Internet cafe, and a child of about 7, holding a baby of a year maybe, began following me. She asked for money and then I told her no and then she began grabbing on my arm. It is strange because she was just a child, but it is a little scary be grabbed by a complete stranger. I gently removed her hand and again told her no, and she left, which they always eventually do.

I went to Agra this past weekend, which is where the Taj Mahal stands, and beautifully so. I have to tell you, words can not explain how amazingly beautiful the Taj Mahal really is. It was built for love!! The Taj Mahal was built by the emperor Shah Jahan and after it was finished he cut off the hands of the architects who designed it so it would truly be one of a kind. That is what i call hard core. We sat on a bench in front of the mausoleum for about an hour and just starred in awe. The Taj is one big building and yet the inside is not so big. The sole purpose of the Taj was to house the body of the Emperor's favorite wife. I was told by everyone in Agra that the Taj Mahal is one of the seven wonders of the world. On our second day in Agra we took a rickshaw to see to Taj Mahal from behind and we walked down a dirt path that opened up into a dry river bed that had the most geogrous view. Children were playing cricket (a national pass time), cows were eating grass, and goats and dogs were catching some rays. This was all going on in the dry river bed with a spectacular view of the mausoleum. It was all breathtaking. On our way back to Jaipur our train was violated by stone throwers. I kid you not. We were on the train at a stop and I was peacefully sleeping and i was awaken by loud banging and by a train worker telling everyone to get down. The banging lasted for about a minute but it was scary because it sounded like gun shots. It wasn't, it must have been protesters or rioters or an angry crowd or all of the above. The windows were double pained and the outside glass was shattered. The train began moving again and this moment passed. A little drama for your mama. I was not worried though because I had my palm read a few weeks ago and I was told that i was going to have a long life!

2007-10-26T08:35:00.001-07:00

I almost forgot, I highly suggest that you go to this link.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7055625.stm

2007-10-26T07:55:00.001-07:00

I am mentally tired today. Although the dogs laying outside of the guesthouse looked even more tired. Speaking of dogs, there are a million of them here. Jaipur, human pop 3 million; dog population 1 million; cow population 1/2 million; boar population; 1/4 million. okay, I actually made up those numbers, except for the part that says 3 mil people live here, that is true. There is a MacDonald's that just opened across the street from where I stay. What is this country coming to? It is not necessarily a good thing to follow in the footsteps of the U.S. According to Abesiek (runs the guesthouse) Mickey D's is the best restaruant in all of Jaipur. However, this is the same man that told me that his friend just opened up a deli. I think he jokes a little. I get such a kick when my rickshaw driver gets his panties all in a ruffle because of a slow driver. He always tries to pass by moving onto oncomming traffic. It is quite hilarious to watch because he starts yelling in Hindi and waving his hand, and our auto rickshaw is swerving to and frow. Morning entertainment on my way to school.

I have to talk about Karnika. She is amazing. She is the i-to-i in country coordinator and basically she offers 24 hour support if necessary. She goes out of her way to make all of the volunteers feel safe and comfortable here. She invites us to her house for dinner, comes to our projects once a week, and takes us to great shopping areas. She is pretty much our indian foster mother. Bascially, she doesn't have to do any of this for us, and I have heard tha there are coordinators in other areas who offer no support. So I am lucky and for this I am thankful.

I have begun taking Hindi lessons. Today I had my second lesson and I am enjoying the lessons very much. It is nice to learn and to be challenged and I now know how to count to 10 in Hindi. Ek, do, teen, char, panch, I forgot #6, sath, aath, nau, das. Of course this is not how you write it in Hindi. I have only had two lessons for goodness sake.

It has really begun to cool down. When I first arrived it was on average about 95 degrees . It was hot and it still is, but it is getting cooler. According to the locals it is going to get very cold, but this hard for me to believe. I guess I will find out.

Chai is life here. Chai is immediately offered in any social situation where there is a stove and a tea kettle. Yesterday, I had a record high of 5 cups of chai in one day. This amounted to a lot of a) caffine, b) milk c) sugar. That night a) I couldn't sleep, b) I had a headache, and c) a stomach ach. Today I had four cups of chai.

I know I have already talked about the Indian head bob, but it is so funny when a teacher at school says something to the class and then you see 20 three year old heads bobbing in agreeance. I love sitting with a group of Indian women and chatting. Of course they usually speak in Hindi and I can't understand, but I love watching them bob their heads and laugh hysterically. Like I said before, some people here are so animated. I love watching people interact with one another.

Jaipur at night is absolutely beautiful. The streets of the old city are lit up like our cities at Christmas time. There is something peaceful about night here, versus the chaos of daytime. Vihaan (name of school) in Sanscrit means rising sun. I think this is very nice. I have become very attached to the children. These children are so amazing.

2007-10-24T03:08:00.000-07:00

Today was activity day at the school day. Basically it is madness. It is very fun because the children get to color, play with blocks, color, and dance. The older children participate in making candles, sewing, and embroidery. Basically no traditional learning takes place on Wednesdays. I played blocks with the little ones. Let me tell you, there is a lot of wheeln', dealn', and stealn' going on in the play group classroom of the Vihan school. I gave each child five blocks and next thing you know children are snatching, trading, and ever so sly, hiding the blocks in their satchels. Yes, I said satchel (British for school bag). I told Hannah, my friend from the UK, that I was going to be speaking British by the end of my trip. The children love playing with the blocks, and school is the only opportunity that they get to play with anything like blocks. It is very sad though because the children are always on survival mode and they rarely get the chance to truly be children. Rather than sharing and working together with the blocks, they think only about number one because I think this is what they have to do here to 1) get any attention and 2) to survive. I danced with the older children later on in the day and it is so much fun. When a song comes on the radio that they love, they all start singing and dacing like crazy. The people here are so animated and colorful. This four year old has pretty much taught himself how to break dance, and he is pretty dang good. The girls take their shawls and begin dancing with them, and the boys dance just as much as the girls.

I have to add that I haven't eaten meat since I came here. Wait, this is a lie, I tried mutton (goat meat). I tried it once and other than that I have not eated meat. Most of the volunteers loose weight here, but the food really is full of fat (oil and butter) , I am not sure how. Maybe because the increase walking or the dramactically decrease in the consumption of processed foods. I have also lost weight, it is nice, because I run my butt of at home and do not loose weight, and here I do nothing and the weight just falls off. I like India. I also like biscuits (Indian and British for very plain tea cookie). They taste good and are a great snack (process food for the soul).

I believe I am going to begin private Hindi lessons. I am excited about this because I only know a few words of Hindi so this will come in handy for me.

2007-10-22T07:43:00.000-07:00

Today I went to see a Bollywood film. It was so great. The Raj Mandir Cinema in Jaipur is so amazingly beautiful, it resembles no movie theater at home. These films are such productions. The stars can and do break out into song and dance at any moment. And the auidence cheers like at a baseball game. Can you imagine people cheering when a couple gets together at the end of a movie in the U.S. Yeah me niether. But let me tell ya, I love it. I cheered along with everyone else. The restroom at the Raj Mandir Cinema was quite an arkward place. I had to use the restroom twice and both times all the women and girls stared at me the entire time I was in line. They would look, giggle, smile, look, giggle, smile, ect. They finally asked me my name and where I was from. But it is so arkward, I know they are staring at me, and I just sort of stand there, and of course I start to smile and laugh, because this is what I do when I am uncomfortable and nervous.

Project is going well, I am beginning a project to create teaching matarials and curriculum for the school. I am looking forward to it, but it will take some time and work! :)

2007-10-20T22:08:00.000-07:00

I realized today that I haven't watched television or consumed alcohol in over two weeks. It is nice to have a break from both. Although I do have to admit, I do miss watching Grey's Anatomy. I figure I can just watch it online when I get home in May. I have learned a few words of Hindi. Namaste of course, which means hello and goodbye. Also Danyavad (I think this is how you spell it). Anyways, it means thank you. Batto, means sit down, and choop, means be quite. I have tried both of these with the little ones. They just laugh at me. It is kind of hilarious. I also found out on Thursday that most of the little ones don't speak Hindi (they speak a local tribal language). Ahhhhh. They know the basics of Hindi, but nothing more. In the afternoons I do one on reading with the older children. I really enjoy this, I think it is more my cup of tea. I don't think I was meant to be a teacher in the more traditional sense.

Right now there is one other volunteer staying in the Guest House which is my roommate. She is a 54 year old woman from the UK. She is really nice and is working at the same project. She works with the older ones and she does a lot of arts and crafts with them. She is really good at the art and crafts. Me, not so much.

Then there is Hannah and Jenny who already left, they were ending their projects as I was beginning mine. Jenny is 22 and from Orange County. Hannah is 18 and is from London. They both are making a year out of it and traveling and working in other parts of the world as well. Both awesome girls. I traveled with Hannah last weekend to Amritsar.

Simon comes to the project in the afternoon to teach the kids to juggle. They really enjoy it. He is 40 something and is from the UK. He is from the same program but is staying elsewhere.

Also, there is a new volunteer who arrived today and is staying at the guesthouse but I haven't met her yet.

2007-10-20T04:19:00.000-07:00

There is a mosquito in my room. I despise this create. I can imagine him whispering in my ear while I sleep, "I want to drink your blood." And he does indeed. He is the major culprit behind my discomfort and excessive use of Benedryl. In a perfect world we would be able to cohabitate. Well, this is not a perfect world and the little pest must die! Morbid I know, I usually mean no harm, but extreme circumstances call for extreme measures.

Babu is the house boy at the guesthouse. He is an interesting fellow. He is 19 years old and he sings to himself. It is nice really, his singing is like having the radio on, except the music is in Hindi. Here in India, they use a lot of butter and oil. I have had to get use to this. Today at lunch Babu served the Chipati with tons of butter. I asked him again (probably the fifth time) if I could have my Chipati plain. He said okay. I think I will have to use the broken record theory with this situation. Chipati is similar to a pita. I actually don't think there is much difference. Chipati is served with every meal (except breakfast). Another major cuisine here is dahl and you make it a million different ways. It is good.

There is an upscale shopping mall litteraly a minute from where I stay. Today the local radio station was set up in front blasting really bad western music. I think they were playing 50 cents candy shop song. India is so colorful. It is amazing. The people are so animated. I don't think I have mentioned how much I really like here. Some days are challenging and I have to be gentle with myself here. I am always amazed, there is so much going on. Women mostly wear sari's or salwars here, exept many girls in their teen years and early twenties wear western clothes. It is interesting to see a new more western world, emersed in an old traditonal one.

2007-10-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

2007-10-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

I love Indian music. It makes me want to shake my booty, but I don't of course, because then people might at me. Today I went to the Amber Fort. Pronounced Amer Fort. Why not just name it that then? Food for thought. It is a very big fort and palace on a hill side right out of the city. Beautiful. I saw monkeys for the first time today (outside of a zoo that is). They are crazy. I wonder what they were smoking. I was sitting on some steps outside of the palace today, waiting for a friend to come out of the Palace, and a family sat next to me and next thing I new they started taking pictures. I thought at first that I was in their way, and then I realized that I suppose to be in the picture. I wasn't informed, but that is okay. Weird, though, I am not use to all this attention. It really could go to a girls head.

I have a three day weekend, but I am hanging around town. I have a cold and I don't really feel like travelling this weekend. I am looking forward to going to the bazaars and doing some shopping.

I have not become ill since I have here (I mean stomach ill). All the other volunteers I know became ill within their second week. I actually feel great in that department, actually much better than I do at home. I must agree with India (or the probiotics and grapefruit seed extract pills that I am taking). I stopped taking my malaria medication. The incidence of malaria is not high here and I decided that I should save them for when I travel, because south India has a much higher incidence rate.

The project is going well. Vihann is the name to the project and it actually doubles as a school and makeshift community center. The children attend school from 8-1 mon through fri. The children learn Hindi, English, and math. The school also focuses on improving the children's hygiene and spends time teaching the children about cleaniness and personal hygiene. In the afternoons, adolenscent girls come to the center and learn vocational english and basics about their body and hygiene. The center also runs a vocational training program for the women living in the slum. They learn to crochet, knit, embroider, to make jewerly and then ultimately they can sell their work. It is really great actually.

2007-10-15T03:17:00.000-07:00

2007-10-15T03:08:00.000-07:00

2007-10-15T02:33:00.000-07:00

I arrived back from Amritsar this morning. The train ride took about 22 hours because of delays. There are always delays. One must have patience with this country, it could be easy to get frustrated with the differences.

During my first outing on my own during my second day here I was so anxious and I held my breath as I walked down the street. There was so much going on. I was just trying to walk down the street to the internet cafe and this for me took a lot of courage. The steet was packed full of motorist, vendors, and walkers. Everyone turned to stare at me as I walked to my destination every rickshaw driver and his mother stops to ask me if I "need rickshaw". I now walk down the street with much more ease and calmness.

The stares has been something to get use to. I is like one of the really bad dreams where you are naked and everyone is staring at you. Except I am very much clothed and everyone is staring at me. There are two types of stares from the men. First, a very innocent stare, maybe of curiosity or because I am a western women. The second, I think also because I am a western women, but this stare peirces right through you. It is not friendly or that of courosity, but more of a look of extreme dislike for what I might stand for in their eyes. The children are so intriqued by westerners. While I was in Amritsar, I attended the border crossing ceremony on the Pakistan/India border and I was sitting next to a about 10 ten year old boys. They wanted to know my "good name," which country misses me " and if I could take a picture of them. Children here love taking pictures and then getting to look at them after words.

I have to talk about the India head bob. This is what I call it. When Indians are talking about somthing, maybe answering a question, they will bob their head from side to side. Example, (Say I am asking a rickshaw driver if they know how to get this market I want to go to, whether or not they know how to get there, they will bob their either to the right or left in agreeance. I have caught myself doing this once or twice.

Today after lunch I had a lenthy conversation with the wife of the owner of the guest house that I stay in. She is my age, 25, yet her life is night and day from mine. I have done a lot of thinking about life here for women is so different for mine.

2007-10-11T02:58:00.000-07:00

Travel days
I arrived at the Delhi airport and I began to have flashbacks to my backpacking trip to Europe. I forgot what it was like to arrive in a foreign country and the feelings that are associated with it. I really had no idea what I was doing or where I was suppose to go to change planes for Jaipur. I just went with the flow and prayed for the best. As I was on the shuttle to switch terminals at the Delhi airport a police man walked down the aisle with his very big gun strapped to his side and as I turned the gun was about two feet from my face. I am glad that moment has past.

Day 1
As I stepped off the plane, I knew two things for certain. One, that I smelled really bad of body odor and two, that I had no idea what to expect once I left the comfort and familiarity of the airport. As I left the airport, I immediately found the driver that was going to take me to my program coordinator's house. Children started asking me for change and women began shoving newspapers in my face. I said no and shook my head, and the children began pulling on my clothes. I quickly hopped into the car and closed the door. The children began banging on the car door and continued doing so until we pulled out onto to road. I thought to myself, "oh shit," and I began to wonder if I was suited for India.

During my first night at the guest house I noticed a visitor in my room, it was an ant but jumbo sized. I decided to kill it but it took about 10 minutes to so and once I finished, I noticed 5 more that had crawled underneath my door. I decided that my time could be better spent than offing ants my entire trip, so I made peace with the intruders. I share my room with a few critters such as small lizards and big ants. So far I have seen no cockroaches in my room, let's hope for the best on that one.

Day 2
There are a few locals living at the guest house in which I am staying at. An older women befriended me on my second day and invited my to church with her. I jumped at the chance to experience India beyond the four walls on my bedroom. Who new I would be attending a Catholic mass in India? Mass was the same, the dress was different. The only difference was that some of the songs were sung in Hindi.

One of the first questions asked of me my my new friend was, "So when do you plan on getting married?" I replied, "When I meet the right person." She said, "oh I see, you are waiting for prince charming." On our way back from church she offered my a sweet (any desert in India is called a sweet) and I graciously accepted. She then told me that I should not eat too many because I will put on weight. She then offered me another sweet and I of course denied her offer. She continued to offer until I dutifully accepted. I love India.

I had a conversation with the wife of the owner of my accomodation during my second night in India. She asked me about my family and asked if I had any siblings. I told her about my brother and that he was engaged to be married next year. She asked if it was an arranged marriage or a love marriage. I told her that it was a "love marriage" and that for the most part we did not have arranged marriages in the U.S. She told me about her arranged marriage and told me that she only met her husband once before her wedding day. The pictures are beautiful. She had an elephant at her wedding and it lasted about 10 days. We talked about relationships for awhile and she told me that the idea of having a boyfriend or girlfriend here is completely foreign. She stated that it is more common in Delhi and Mumbai, but not in the state of Rajasthan. Rajasthan is one of the most conservative states in India.

Day 3
I began my placement on this day. I am working for a slum school. If you asked my where the slum is in the city, I could not tell you. I know that it is in Jaipur, about 25 Min's from where I stay, and it cost me $1.20 to get there and back everyday on an auto rickshaw. I teach basic English to some of the children at the school. I teach three to five years old in the morning and they have an attention span with me of about 1 minute. With their Hindu teachers their attention span last as long as they are in the room. It is socially acceptable for the children to hit each other here. There is no only telling them that it's not okay. This is hard for me to accept. They slap, hit, bite, and throw each other across the room. I try to tell them no, but it really is no use, because besides in my classroom no one tells them otherwise. The children have no uniforms because the school does not have funding for them. The coordinator of the school told me that it would cost about equivalent of $500.00 for uniforms for 70 children. He has not been able to find a donor as of yet. His first priority was cleaning up the school and to make sure it is sanitary. This took about a year to do.

As I walk everyday to school through the slum, despite the conditions in which she lives, a woman flashes a huge smile and greets me a good morning.

Day 4
There are two rules of the road here in Jaipur. First, that you give way to vehicles bigger and more powerful than you. Second, there are no other rules of the road. Lights are merely a suggestion, not a rule of thumb. Pedestrians and dogs do no not have the right away, but cows do. I have decided that driving is going to be so boring when I return home.

I knew that India was second most populated country in the world. I don't think I knew what that meant. There are so many people here. Jaipur is very busy and very big and is not even a major metropolitan city. Jaipur has three million people.

Day 5-6
I have thought about Inda is nothing like home. On my way to work I am greeted by cows and sheep on the side to work. Children are asking to shake my hand because I am so different from them. I have decided that I will also miss the famous, "How are you," from every children that I walk by in slum on my walk to the the school.

Day 7-9
I decided to travel on my first weekend in India. I am in Amritsar which is in the state of Punjab about a 16 hour train ride from Jaipur. The main attraction here is the Golden Temple which is Sikhism's most holy site. It is absolutely one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. The temple is self is completely gold and shines on the the water surrounding the temple. Last night, we waited in line with hundreds of Sikh's to enter the temple. Pilgrims come from all over to visit the temple. The temple offere's free accomodation to pilgrims and traveler's. It is the most basic room I have ever stayed in. There are public restrooms and today I realized that they have one western toilet. I was so estatic. This is luxery to me at this moment. I manged to avoid using a pit toilet (hole in ground) for a week. It is really no different that digging a latrine in the wilderness. Although, it does get some getting use to. The temple affers free meals to everyone 24 hours a day. There is a sign hanging that says, "We feed people of all classes 24 hours a day." I smiled. I have eated two meals at this hall and it is amazing how may people they feed. We sit on the floor on a throw run in rows. It truly is an amazing site.