Ottsworld Travel Experiences » India

Photo of the Week – Agra, India

admin — Fri, 07 May 2010 04:17:12 +0000

View of the Taj Mahal from the Agra Fort; a different perspective of the famous and often photographed site. It was just as spectacular seeing it from the walls of the old Agra Fort.

To see more Photo Friday around the web – check out Delicious Baby for more travel photos!

Photo of the Week – Delhi

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 05:05:03 +0000

Bucket Bath

Delhi, India

While volunteering in India, I often walked around the slum neighborhoods to see the family culture. Family homes don’t have bathrooms, and baths are taken outside in front of the house with buckets. It didn’t seem to phase the kids, as this was a great way to cool down on a hot Delhi afternoon! True to form, the kids were always smiling when I put my camera up to my eye; even a bath didn’t stop them from smiling!

Read about my volunteer work in Delhi – a series of posts entitled the Spice Diaries

To view other great photos on Photo Fridays around the web check out:

Briefcase to Backpack Photo Friday

Delicious Baby Photo Friday

A Little Shout Out

admin — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:08:01 +0000

I recently recieved a little recognition from one of the volunteer companies I worked with in 2007. Cross Cultural Solutions chose me as their ‘Alumni In Focus’ for their newsletter. I was rather stunned, but I think they wrote a very nice article that highlights some of the high points of my volunteering with them. Cross Cultural Solutions is a US based volunteer organization with volunteer opportunities throughout the world. Volunteering with them in Delhi was the highlights of my around the world travel! Plus, I am still in touch with many of my old students yet today. I hear from them all about once a month on email and they are doing wonderful; they moved on to various jobs and studies. I am so proud of them! If you are considering taking some time and giving back, check out Cross Cultural Solutions!

Here’s the link to the “Alumni In Focus” article – Enjoy!

Book Review – Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah Macdonald

Sherry — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:01:51 +0000

I just finished the book Holy Cow, a memoir about an Australian’s experiences living in India. It was recommended to me to be a a good book to read before you came to India to get a feeling for the country – or to scare you off. Of course I didn’t end up starting the book until I had left India – so it took on a slightly different purpose for me. Instead of teaching me about all of the idiosyncrasies and craziness about India that I would experience – it made me laugh about all of the organized chaos in India that I experienced. It made me sad that I left India with all of it’s quirkyness.

Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

Sarah did a good job of describing India in all of it’s contrast, religions, billions of people, and color. For the first half of the book I read it with a big grin on my face – reminiscing about the experiences I had in India. However – about halfway through the book it became more about her religious journey than about the idiosyncrasies about India and it’s culture. I must admit, the religious journey didn’t interest me nearly as much – I skimmed most of it. However – when I got back into the non-religious aspectsof the culture – I once again welcomed the chapters with big smiles and anticipation.

The religious journey she took was a great, humorous education about the various religions in India and how they all co-exist together. I did enjoy the Indian take on Christianity. They intertwined it in their existing culture – and it took on a new look and excitement for me.

It’s a good book to read for an introduction to travel in India! She has a wonderful, dry, sarcastic sense of humor and a thirst for understanding of other cultures and religions. She made me happy with laughter and sad with memories at the same time. So, if you are planning a trip to India, I would recommend this book, a good source of fun information about the people, and the cows.

Spice Diaries – Vol 17, Sep 17 – Final Chapter

Sherry — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:30:18 +0000

Little girl in the slums of Delhi

For the ‘best of’ Delhi Photography – click here!

For the ‘best of’ Agra and Taj Mahal Photography – click here!

For the ‘best of’ Rajasthan Photography – click here!

I wasn’t supposed to be here, in India that is. When I left the US a year ago I had many people ask me if I was going to India on my around the world tour. I said “No, I don’t want to go to India, and I certainly don’t want to go solo. I think it would be too hard for me and I would be frustrated.” For some reason India seemed liked the big leagues of travel. I had heard stories, and none of them were particularly good. In May of this year when I had come up with this crazy idea of going to India and volunteering, it still must have taken me a week to actually click on the ‘purchase’ button on CCS website. I was on the fence – afraid that I would hate India and end up being miserable for 5 weeks. I would ask my friend Natasha every day…should I do it? Am I crazy? What if I hate it?

I look back on those days and chuckle now. Staying and living in a country for a month is a unique opportunity, it gives you the chance to become culturally integrated, and to really learn about day to day life. One of the most important things that I learned is that for all the reasons that I thought I would hate India, I loved it. This goes hand in hand with the fact that India is the land of contrasts. I had read about the contrasts many times in various books and articles – I understood it – but I didn’t really understand it until now. The contrasts exist everywhere…and it’s a lot for our Western minds to take in and make sense of which is why I think that India gets a bad rap.

Colorful vs. Dirty
India is not afraid of color – it embraces color. The sari’s are bright purple, orange, yellow, pink, blue, or green. The dupatees are colorful and normally adorned with some sort of shimery sequins. Wrists, arms, ankles, toes, and noses are adorned with blingy bangels and rings. You don’t see women wearing black, grey, or navy blue…ever. Even the men dress in colorful patterned shirts. I personally think that in a land of 1.2 billion people, everyone is trying to find their way to stick out from the crowd…and that’s where the color comes in. There’s nothing more beautiful than seeing a group of women in India, dressed in the colors of the rainbow walking together…it makes the place feel alive. The woman riding side saddle on the back of a motor scooter…her colorful sari blowing in the wind, brings a smile across my face. You feel like you’ve just entered the inside of a rainbow – and everyone is searching for the pot of gold. Contrast that with the garbage everywhere, piled up high in the middle of a sidewalk, next to a restaurant, sometimes on fire, or sometimes just rotting away. Various dogs and cows are nosing through the piles trying to find food. Scratch that…the various people nosing through it trying to find food. When you come in from walking out in the market you have a layer of dust on you, your eyes sting with the pollution. Now imagine that same group of lovely ladies in their rainbow of saris and bangles walking down the pollution filled street by a huge pile of burning garbage outside a 5 star hotel.

Rich vs. Poor
This is probably the largest and most confusing contrast in the country. There are 1.2 billion people in India. It has the 2nd largest population of billionaires, yet 75% of the people are living on less than $2 a day. Add the concept of the caste system and the theory of karma to this and you’ve also got people who don’t think badly of the poor, in fact – it’s accepted that if you are poor, that’s just your lot in life – that’s how it’s meant to be. One did not do anything wrong (at least in this life) to get into this poor position, it is what it is. In contrast, in the western world we tend to look at down upon the poor as lazy – people who can’t get a job or hold on to a job, we generally think they should try harder, be sober, work at being a functioning member of society. This makes it very hard for westerners to understand and see the poor and destitute every day. Every day I would be driven to my placement. We would go under a large underpass of a highway with a 4 leaf clover ramp design that had nice well-kept grass – it looked nice. However – one day I noticed a bunch of people just sitting in the green area as if it were a city park – not a clover ramp. They were out there eating. It struck me as odd. I looked closer the next time we passed here and noticed little poorly made cots under the overpass. As my eyes achieved focused clarity – I realized that there were tons of little cots and people living under the overpass; a whole community of sorts. I’m not sure why this struck me as strange, as we have people living under bridges in the US – but this was a whole functioning community, not just 1 or 2 homeless people. I thought to myself…that’s not a bad place to live – at least they have shade, and a park like setting.

One of the strange things I saw as I drove around Delhi was the huge government estates or private estates – normally built around some large 5 star hotel. However, around the corner was a slum. There was no ‘bad part of town’…it was all completely intermixed. One theory on that is that all of the people living in the slums were doing odd jobs for the rich. Everyone had their specialty – the laundry guy, the trash guy, the cook, the driver, the ironing man, and the gardener. These people didn’t really have the means to have a long commute – so out of necessity they lived nearby. Since the poor are accepted in India and not looked down upon, no one really cared that the two communities were intermixed.

Good Smell vs. Rancid Smell
They say that India is an assault on all of you senses. As you walk through the markets you are immersed in the smell of masala (mixture of spices) tickling you nose and evoking memories of Indian restaurants in NYC. You dodge young boys bringing hot glasses of chai to shop keepers. A milky, spicy tea mixture which tastes better than anything Starbucks could ever dream of making. The smell of flowers frequently wafts through the air especially near the temples. Men sit outside of the temples busy making necklaces of aromatic orange flowers. You walk along inhaling it all – intoxicating. In contrast, as you walk along in that intoxicating haze, all of a sudden it can hit you like a brick wall…the smell of urine. There are too many people and not enough toilets in India – forcing people to go anywhere and everywhere. Men pee everywhere – there’s really no modesty and nowhere off limits. I saw little boys peeing off an overpass into a river and men (men with jobs – not homeless men) peeing in public parks. Add that to the cows peeing in the street, the rancid garbage piled up as it if were little hay bails, and the black exhaust from the cars. You try to tell yourself to simply breathe through your mouth – and then you won’t actually smell the awfulness, but eventually – you suck it through the nose and it makes you weak in the knees.

Men vs Women
I’m well aware that there is a global contrast between men and women – women still make less, and have less opportunity – even in the western world. However, India angered me in whole new ways when it came to men vs. women. One night my roommates and I watched an old movie, Pretty Woman on DVD. We quickly learned that the Indian government edits the movies before they can be sold to the public – sex scenes are taken out, and nudity is taken out. I could deal with that considering it’s a rather religious country – it saves the need to ‘rate’ movies as they just take anything remotely offensive out. However- as we were watching Pretty Woman, we realized that a whole scene was cut out – the one where Julia Roberts unzips her long, black boot and pulls out a variety of condoms – different flavors and colors – you remember the line “I’m a safety girl!” – the whole scene was deleted once she went to unzip her boot. A little while later, there was a scene where Richard Gere lifts Julie Roberts up on the piano and proceeds to take off her robe. She is wearing only lacey panties and a bra and they are clearly going to have sex on the piano. To our surprise, this whole scene was left in tact. We stopped the movie and all got into a big discussion of horror at how they could remove the scenes about safe sex, and leave the scenes that had sex in them and scantily clad women. Our depressing conclusion – in India (and many parts of the world) women are just seen as sex objects…men learn to have sex with no consequences…no protection…the whole thing was absurd. No wonder why there are 1.2 billion people in India!

The men vs. women things doesn’t end with simple government film censoring. It’s everywhere. While we were there a woman was accused of killing her 1 day old baby girl because she didn’t want another girl. If you are only living on $2 a day…you don’t want a girl…not in India. You have to marry them off, you generally need a dowry, and they are not a good source of income to the family. In most parts of the world there are more women than men – but not in India – for every 1000 boys there are 793 girls. It is illegal to find out the sex of a baby during pregnancy…mainly because when people find out it’s a girl – there’s a higher likelihood that they will abort it.

One of the local English papers had a column where people could ask questions about sex. 95% of the questions were from men. My roommates and I would read it every day in disbelief. However one day we were all furious – someone wrote in a question that was concerned about his wife’s lack of ability to get ‘wet’ – and because of that – he said that he wife complains that it is very painful when he forces her to have sex. The Sex Dr. told him to go buy lubricant. That was it…lubricant. No mention of the fact that the man is forcing his wife to have sex. We were all going to write into the Sex Dr. ourselves and to let him know what a pig and idiot he was.

Lest you think that this is a land of male chauvinists, and sexually irresponsible men – that’s not necessarily the case…in contrast – the women who are successful here are very successful. The current President of India is a female. They have had female Prime Ministers in the past. There are many women that work and that run corporations here. Many women go to university. Even at our volunteer organization, Cross Cultural Solutions, a female ran the whole office, a staff of men. She started the company years ago and was clearly the woman in charge. The whole thing was confusing to me – should I be upset about how women were treated, or should I be happy that women were so successful?

Arranged Marriages vs. Love Marriages
This topic has always fascinated me. In India a large percentage of the population have arranged marriages. For a westerner like myself – I have a hard time understanding and accepting the fact that one’s parents can pick their life partners. In fact, it’s a little terrifying to me. However, if you look at the divorce rates – they are extremely low…it certainly make you wonder.

Since I’ve been in India, I learned a little bit about arranged marriages – such as the fact that your parents/family choose your mate. When a man is in his mid 20’s and a woman in her young 20’s the parents start on a quest to find a good match. This entails talking to various families, friends, and astrologers. The couple meets once or twice to make sure they know each other (even if it is just for a few hours) – then the family starts planning the lavish, ritualistic wedding.

However – if you refuse to have your family arrange a marriage for you, well then – you are marrying for love. This is becoming more popular in India – but it’s not necessarily the ‘better’ way. The arranged marriages seem to work within their culture. Granted there is a part of me that wonders how much simpler life would be if I didn’t really have to worry about dating – and just could have fun until my parents told me to settle down and get married. They would pick out my partner and I would simply do what they said. Right after the cow jumped over the moon.

I look at them vs. them looking at me
People just stare….not trying to be indiscrete at it one bit. In fact – as I type this right now, I have about 5 young Indian men surrounding me in the airport just watching me from the surrounding seats. They are behind me, on the side of me, just staring. I am completely used to this now In fact, if I don’t get the attention – I feel like something must be wrong! In Delhi Indians are used to seeing tourists, (white people) – however if you move out of Delhi and around the countryside – then you turn into a complete oddity. There is no social barrier space, they will come up and touch you, stare at you inches away and generally follow you around just to hear you talk, watch you facial expressions, see your body language. Many times I even caught my students doing this, they would repeat exactly what I would say under their breath not to be heard, but to just mimic. In contrast I could watch the locals all day too with the same utter disbelief that they watched me with. I watched their crazy driving, watched their patience, watched their amazing flexibility when it came to squatting, watched their head bobble and tried to decipher what it meant – yes, no, maybe? I watched them pull of wearing sequins like no other culture can. I watched them dance – always dancing any moment they could with big gestures, the use of the whole body, and an endless energy. Sure, I had seen people from India before, I worked with many. However, when you go into their culture – you see them in a different light – and that’s why I was so fascinated with looking at them.

World IT Leader vs. Dial up connections
It is a fact that India is now the call center of the world. They have partnerships with many large US company to outsource IT departments, help desk, and new development. In my past career I have worked with many of them. So here I am living in the world of IT, yet I can’t seem to get a good internet connection anywhere – let alone a wireless signal. Somewhere in India, there are big building with thousands of programmers working away diligently with good connectivity, and cutting edge computers, yet I never saw them. In contrast, when I go into a local internet cafes – I am jolted back to 1990 – when Internet connections were dial-up, monitors were small, and the computers were painfully slow. If you ever wondered where all of the old computers went that were used in corporations and schools…my answer is…they were shipped to India.

All of these things are the contrasts that you hear about and see quite often. After the first few weeks in India, nothing really surprises you any longer. An elephant in the street – no problem. The power outage 3 times a day – I don’t even flinch. The water shortage – no big deal – you can simply take a bath in a bucket.

It’s the people that really reach inside you to touch your heart. I will remember their hospitality, their smiles, their cries, and their eyes boring a hole inside of me. I will be back to India one day – maybe to teach, maybe to write, maybe to travel…who knows – but regardless of why I’m back – I will embrace it – the good and the bad. There are many things that I learned in India and some things that I ‘un-learned’. But mostly, I learned that I love the countries that intimidate me most.

In India…
I lost weight, I lost hair, I lost some decibels of hearing, I lost my fitness, I lost my ability to be on time, I lost any memory of what it’s like to flush toilet paper down the toilet.
In India…
I gained friends, I gained a head bobble, I gained an understanding of the grammatical use of articles, I gained 15 young adults in my life and my heart, I gained a ring in my nose, I gained an appreciation for being called ‘Mam’, I gained patience.

Photography in India

Sherry — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 07:30:40 +0000

Colorful Twirlers

I have finally had a chance to upload my hundreds of photos of India. I have went back to the Entries for Spice Diaries and added the links to the pictures. However – I have also added all of the links here to each of the albums for your simple viewing pleasure.

Also – for those of you in a hurry – I have combined my best India photos into one album and you can also simply look at that one.

For the ‘best of’ Agra and Taj Mahal Photography – click here!
For the ‘best of’ Udaipur Photography – click here!
For the ‘best of’ Delhi Photography – click here!

Snapshots of Delhi
Snapshots of Slum and Lynn’s volunteer Placement
Snapshots of Slum and Cate’s volunteer Placement
Snapshots of Udaipur and surrounding area
Snapshots of India Traffic
Snapshots of my Volunteer work and English/computer class celebration
Snapshots of Ladie’s Night – India Bridal prep
Snapshots of the International Toilet Museum in Delhi
Snapshots of my roadtrip to Agra
Snapshots of my Young HLC class

Spice Diaries Vol 16, Sep 13, 2007

Sherry — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 11:13:26 +0000

Women singing to me at the temple

For the ‘best of’ Udaipur Photography – click here!

For all snapshots of Udaipur and surroundings – click here!

Roadtrip!

My India visa was such a pain in the ass to acquire, I felt like I should use every ounce of it. My visa ran out on Sept. 15th, and my volunteer work was completed on Sept. 7th. I decided to take an extra 6 days to travel around India and see something besides he crowded streets and pollution of Delhi. When I was in Morocco earlier in the summer I traveled with a woman that had lived in India as a tour guide for 2 years. I told her about my free time on my visa and asked her where I should go – without skipping a beat she said “Udaipur”. She proceeded to write down all the places I should go in Udaipur, the people I should meet, the hotel I should stay at, and the sites I should see. Considering I really hate trying to plan the details of travel, here she had laid out a whole itinerary for me, one that included rest, relaxation, good food and drink…I was set!

I had no idea that James Bond had been to Udaipur…but he has. Just watch the movie Octopussy and you will see the Monsoon Palace and the City Palace transformed into a Bond-esq playboy setting. For me Uadipur was supposed to be less Bond and more R&R yet somehow it turned out to be neither, but a combo of both.

Udaipur is in the ‘state’ of Rajasthan. It is known as a pretty lake town with many palaces surrounded by rolling hills of green in the monsoon season. This was a welcome change from the concrete of Delhi. Granted – there were still too many people to fit in the actual town, it was still loud, still cows roaming the street, still poor…but it was in a smaller, greener setting! I stayed in the old town called Lal Ghat at a beautiful old hotel that overlooked the lake and the palace in the middle of the lake. It had stunning views and inviting little window seats and cushions where you could sit, drink and widdle away the day looking over the lake. Of course, if you really looked at the lake – focused on it – then you would see that it was filthy with garbage and stagnant water, but after being in India for 5 weeks, I have learned not to look at anything too closely as you will just be disappointed!

I decided to go and meet the people that my friend, Karina, had told me see. As I walked out of the hotel I was met with a wave of the familiar “Hello mam, where you from?” which always ended in “come see my store”. Strangely in Delhi I hadn’t been exposed to much of this – maybe due to the neighborhood we were living in. I had to pull all of my old tactics out of my memory bank again…how to be nice, but clearly blow them off. Sure – there was tons of great shopping, and I did my share in 6 days, but before befriending shopkeepers, I thought I should take a look around.

I had decided that I wanted to take a cooking class that Karina recommended. I sent to the store and met Shakti. When I went in and told him that I was a friend of Karina’s….the town of Udaipur opened up to me. Soon I was having chai (tea) with various people, hanging out on the shop stoop as if I was a long lost friend. Shakti continued to not only help me plan my cooking class with him – but he also helped me plan my entire 5 days in Udaipur…I loved it! I continued to walk around the old part of town meeting Karina’s friends and being welcomed with open arms. I felt fortunate to be traveling on my own, but to be so well taken care of.

I mentioned to Shakti that I wanted to see some of the countryside since I had been in Delhi for 4 weeks. He helped me arrange a day trip out to Kumbalgarh Fort and Ranakpur Temple. It was a full day of driving, but it was worth it. I was able to get out into the green countryside and see the villages. In Delhi I had seen the slums, but the countryside villages were different. The people were more adorned with piercings and bindis, and bangles. They actually worked the land for a living to survive as opposed to begging at the stop lights. The roads were strewn with barefoot men, women, and children carrying huge piles of sugar cane on their head, or herding cows across the road, carrying large water pots for a trip to the local well. Even though it was a 2 hour drive to the fort, it was entertaining to simply watch the rural life go by.

The other thing going by was my life before my eyes….many times. This was one of those car rides that I spent more time with my eyes closed out of fear than my eyes open. Sure – there weren’t as many cars as Delhi, however there was one very small single lane road. My little tourist taxi sped down the road laying on the horn to try to get the cows to move. But cows never move fast enough – so the horn vs. cow battle always ended with us slamming on the break hard to let the cow pass. As I looked out the window at the cows, I did come to the conclusion that it was much better to be a rural cow than a city dwelling cow. The rural cows at least had lots of green grass to eat – a feast of sorts. However the Delhi cows just had garbage dumps to feast through. Besides the cows, the people and the goats to dodge along the road – the scariest site was when we met a bus or truck coming the other way. This was a single lane road – so when you met a bus – that meant you met it head on. My driver was fearless…if I were 13 again and playing ‘chicken’ in my back yard – I would want this man on my team…he never gave up. However – as a taxi driver playing chicken with an oncoming bus – well – I can’t say that I was too happy about that. I would see the bus coming straight for us – my driver wouldn’t flinch – he would simply lay on the horn and at the last minute he would veer off to the side narrowly escaping death. We encountered this situation frequently, and all I could do was clothes my eyes and wonder if this would be the last day of my life.

When we arrived at the fort – it was stunning. It had 36 km of wall surrounding it, undulating through the green countryside. This was India’s version of the Great Wall. The fort was built in the 15th century. There were very few tourists at the fort – so I just slowly strolled around the grounds and the wall taking photos. However – as I was leaving I noticed there were more and more villagers coming to view the fort. I noticed this because they were starting to surround me. All of a sudden I was like the pied piper – I had a whole following of locals surrounding me – just staring. Some of the braver ones came up and said “Hello Mam” in their best English and extended their hand to shake. This was normally the only person in the group that new a couple of sentences of English. I would shake his hand and then everyone would smile in delight. They asked me my name. In my best Hindi – I said “Mera naam Sherry hai” – they erupted in laughter…and talked amongst themselves repeating what I said in delight. They were completely entertained that I spoke Hindi to them. I continued to have groups follow me around, not talking to me – just looking at me. A very common occurrence in India.

Next we drove another harrowing life threatening leg to the Ranakpur temple. This temple is known for it’s secluded location and the 1, 444 marble columns. Each column is unique – carved differently. As I entered the temple I was taking pictures of the colorful locals that were coming out of the temple. Unlike the fort, the temple was filled with tourists – but mainly local Indian tourists from the villages. A group of women were coming out of the temple singing. Upon seeing me snapping photos, the women came over and started singing to me. I joined in clapping and snapping pictures periodically – they were tickled that I would participate.

As we were driving back to Udaipur for the afternoon, we did finally reach a larger highway – 4 lane divided hiway – a proper road finally. We were tooling down the road in the fast lane as there wasn’t much traffic. I was dozing off a bit – until the driver slammed on the breaks. I looked up and saw a car coming directly toward us – going the wrong way on the wrong side of the road. My driver calmly slowed down and moved to the other lane as the crazy person passed. I thought to myself – this is the epitome of India driving…when I say there are no rules – I mean it. What fascinated me was that during the one time that using the horn was completely appropriate in a driving situation (when someone is coming towards you on the wrong side of the road/median) – the driver didn’t use his horn at all…not one peep. That’s India driving – functioning anarchy.

The rest of my time in Udaipur was spent exploring the City Palace, Lal Ghat, and exploring the shops! City Palace was a large complex of mirrors, colored glass windows and more people staring at me. The town was full of great trinkets, tailors, shoes, and the pashminas. I also spent a great deal of time hanging out with Karina’s friend’s who included me as if I were a long lost friend. I was even treated to an Indian birthday party…complete with Bollywood music, dancing, and Indian Rum! After 3 days in the town – I think the whole town knew me – they simply called me America. “Hey, America, come see my shop”, “America, let me take you for a ride on my bike”, “America, come have chai with me”. I very carefully chose what offers I was accepting – and most of them I kindly refused.

I enjoyed my trip out of Delhi – it was a chance to dip my toe in the rest of India. It made me realize what had been rolling around in my thoughts – I will come back to India. There is so much more to see here and I’ve only scratched the surface. On my last night I simply had a date with myself, celebrating my one year anniversary, at my hotel. It was a great way to end a relaxing stay in Rajasthan.
Photo:Me eating breakfast at my hotel

Spice Diaries – vol 15, Sep. 12th

Sherry — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:41:18 +0000

My roommates: Cate, Catherine, and Lynn

For all snapshots of my trip to Cate’s Placement – click here
For all snapshots of my trip to Lynn’s Placement – click here
For all snapshots of the trip to Agra -click here!
For all snapshots of the Taj Mahal – click here!

Three’s Company

You’ve all heard about my wonderful experience teaching – however I haven’t really spoken much about my living arrangements in Delhi. Sure the flats were livable, nothing spectacular, but livable. It was a good location, it had air conditioning, we had people cooking for us, we usually had hot water, we had cable (yet we rarely watched TV) – but the best thing about my living arrangement was that I loved my roommates. Sometimes I’m amazed and a bit overwhelmed how well things work out when I seem to be the most vulnerable – but they do. The new friendships I formed with these 3 women will be life long…I know that.

We were all different ages (35 to 47), and came from different parts of the US. Catherine was a lawyer in Michigan, Lynn was a nurse and grad student in Tampa, and Cate was a former HR Director turned jewelry designer in Boston. We were all single. However – interestingly enough Lynn and Catherine were both in long term relationships without the vows. The new trend of single, independent women we have no need to get married. None of us had kids, we all had/have good careers, are comfortable being on by ourselves, and were searching for something here in India. Maybe it was those traits that really brought us all together. Whatever it was – we were definitely in it together. This was one of the most effortless roommate situations I’ve ever been in – we all just clicked. We would sit around and talk about kids, social pressures, getting older, becoming wiser, marriage, relationships – it’s a good thing no men were rooming with us as they would have hated it!. I felt at complete ease with these women, and they knew not to talk to me in the morning until I had been up for an hour or so – for me – that is the sign of someone who really knows me.

Each of them had a unique, amazing quality in their personality that made me realize how lucky I was to know them. Catherine was a saint. She was placed at Mother Theresa’s Home for the Destitute and Dying…yet she quickly realized that it was really simply a home for the mentally ill. Her patience and tolerance was unshakable. Even when she would come home and tell us stories about working on puzzles with the patients and how one of the patients would come in the middle of the circle and squat and pee as the rest of the people scrambled to pick up the puzzle pieces – she still told all of this with a smile on her face. Her ability to get up and go back every day amazed me. She has a huge heart packaged with a lot of catholic guilt! If it wasn’t for her, we never would have become friends wit our neighbors, or friends with anyone in the market. She broke down barriers because she would go talk to anyone…as if she was in the Midwest…just meeting new people like normal. Not me – I had my guard up all the time, as you learn to do when traveling alone. Truthfully though, her thoughtfulness and concern for others was astonishing.

Lynn was placed at a slum to teach women’s health to the locals. She would work so hard every day preparing talks for them, researching topics, and like me – she was rather attached to the people at the placement. I went with her to her placement one day to see her group. She was talking to them about tubal ligation. These women all had too many children and didn’t want any more mouths to feed – so this was a very appropriate topic! I was taking photos and playing with the kids in the room when I heard Lynn ask the translator how much it cost to have a tubal ligation done here in India, the response was 40 rupees ($1 thanks to government hospitals). Lynn then told her translator – tell them that I will pay for it if anyone wants to get one. I perked up, looked at her and smiled. I think the authorities at the airport will have to check Lynn’s bags very carefully as she was trying to physically figure out how to take home a kid without anyone knowing!

Cate was on a journey of change, one that has endless possibilities for someone of her talent. Like me, she has left her long time corporate job and decided to come to India. She has been designing and making jewelry as a hobby and now she wanted to explore having it take more of a priority in her life. She knew what I have come to know – work should be something you love – not something you have to do. We bonded on many levels – religion (or lack thereof), corporate life, single, and even though she dressed like Charlotte from Sex in the City – she has a sarcastic, untrusting side that I loved. She was placed in a slum teaching women how to make jewelry so that they could eventually start to sell the products themselves and make money for their family (that is if they could keep any profits away from their alcoholic husbands). She was giving these women a skill, a way to fend for themselves – the feminist in me loved the work she was doing. I also accompanied her to placement one day to take photos and see her slum. After all, one day Lynn had taunted her “My slum is worse than your slum” – so I was going to be the judge of that little contest I guess. Even though it was hot, thick, and dark in the little school room that Cate worked in, she still looked like the vision of beauty…her hair nicely pulled back, beautiful jewelry, colorful pressed sulwar and kameez – while I sat there having a heat stroke and sweating through my already wrinkled clothes and wiping my brow with a crappy red bandana that I have been carrying with me for a year. She sat there patiently and worked with each woman on their creations – giving them direction, helping them use the tools, and even teaching some of the young kids. I imagined her in a few years down the road starting her jewelry business with the assistance of women like these in India, providing them jobs and futures.

The 4 of us also traveled together – to Agra to see the famous Taj Mahal. The fun thing about being with established, successful women was that we could all splurge if we really wanted to – and let me tell you, in India – you get quite a lot for your splurging! We decided to hire a driver to get to Agra and stay in one of the 5 star hotels there for some pampering and the possible opportunity to be able to actually flush toilet paper down a toilet for the first time in weeks. The drive to Agra was like a 4 hour amusement park ride. I swear they could charge admission. The amount of vehicles, the types of vehicles, the conditions of the road, the dodging of cows that were crossing a 4 lane highway, and the groups of 50 people crammed in the back of a tractor wagon were all entertainment for us. However – we were happy to arrive at the Sheraton hotel in Agra…an oasis of 5 star hospitality. We checked in and found that they had upgraded us to a suite…the Presidential Suite. It was truly Presidential….3 bathrooms, about 1500 square feet, a kitchen, living room, dining room, and two bedrooms. As they showed us the suite we tried to act sophisticated, but as soon as the manager left, we giggled with joy and surprise at our posh surroundings. We also did learn that President Clinton actually stayed in this suite…see – I told you it was Presidential.

We ordered room service, had booze (for the first time in weeks), watched the international news, and enjoyed wireless internet in our suite….truly heaven based on what we had been living in for the last 2 weeks. Lynn and I hired a guide and went out to check out the Agra fort. However, first he suggested that we go across the river and get a great landscape photo of the Taj Mahal. Of course we were up for it. We had to cross the river by the ‘local’ bridge – the one covered bridge in the area. Else – we would have bad to swim with the water buffalo and there were plenty of those in the river! The ‘local’ bridge turned out to be my highlight of the trip to Agra. It took us about 30 minutes to get across a 1000 ft. bridge…yes, we could have walked faster – and many did. We had a SUV and the bridge was jam packed with bikes scooters, tractors, rickshaws, cars, trucks, cows, dogs, and people…plus us in our big SUV. Lynn and I stared out the window with our nosed practically smooshed against the windows watching all of the color, and the mayhem. The locals stared back with the same intense curiosity. This was the definition of cultural exchange.

The next morning we all got up at sunrise to go see the Taj in the early morning sun. I could tell you all about the Taj – but let’s just say that it’s beautiful breathtaking, and very symmetrical. It was definitely worth the trip to see it – an amazing building made from love. I thought that Catherine was going to break down in tears when she first saw it – as she had a picture of the Taj on her desk for the last few months – waiting to get there! As you can see – I took plenty of pictures – I always find it photographically challenging to take such a well known photographed monument and try to photograph it yet again…and be different – so you’ll see some of my attempts at that…some work, some fail.

Being with these women made me actually proud to be 37 and proud to age. I have felt like I’ve aged this last year quite a bit – but now I think that it was more that I have just grown into my age more. I look at this whole experience in India in wonder and amazement. At dinner our last night I told my 3 roommates, that I honestly couldn’t have painted a more perfect experience here in India – from my volunteer work, to the friendships that I made – it was perfection.

Spice Diaries Vol. 14, Sept. 11, 2007

Sherry — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:14:24 +0000

It’s hard to believe that yet another Sep. 11th is going by. Once again I’m out of the country this year. Just two weeks ago in India there was a huge terrorist attack in Hyderabad – killing over 40 people…did you even hear about it? Probably not. Here in India, the front page of the newspapers lead with photos of blood soaked stadium seats; the terrorists struck at a amusement park full of families. Terrorism isn’t just in the US…people struggle with it all over the world.

The terrorism in Hyderabad was on the front page for one day…yes – one day. Then it was shoved to page 5 and beyond. It amazed me how little people talked about it here. In fact, the Cross Cultural Solutions staff who we see multiple times a day didn’t ever say a word about it to me. However – the one big thing to realize that in Asia…life is cheap. Dirt cheap. With 1.2 billion people living in India (a country 1/3 the size of the US) – if 40+ people die – it is a blip. This is pretty common throughout Asia.

I normally read the paper here in India every morning – fascinated by the crazy stories that seemed unreal. The weekend we arrived there was a woman that answered her door and two men poured gasoline on her and lit her on fire. Allegedly her husband’s mistress had something to do with it. Anyway – it was a pretty scary thought and it definitely caught my attention. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw a headline like that in the US. If there was, Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, the Today Show, Hallmark Movies, and Oprah would all have a special on it. Here…it disappeared from the papers after a day.

One morning I wrote down the various article headlines from the 3 papers we receive at the flat. These headlines weren’t even on the front page – some buried as deep as page 22.

Man Jumps Red Light, Kills Youth Near Prime Minister’s House
250 Dead in Orissa Cholera Outbreak
Wife Beats Man to Death
19 Killed in Bus Accident
2 Open Fire on Factory Owner
Mother Smothers Baby, Probably Because She Was a Girl Says Police
At Least 72 Pilgrims Killed as Bus Falls into Gorge

I’m not making any of these up…they were all there…staring at me in the paper. Making me sad, making me wonder. It’s different here – the term ‘worlds apart’ now has meaning to me.

A Functioning Anarchy; Driving in India

Sherry — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:12:33 +0000

Typical traffic...welcome to India

For all photos of Driving in India – click here!

Up until now, I used to think that Vietnam was the craziest traffic I had ever seen in my life. Well…move over Vietnam…enter India. I am absolutely positive that the word clusterfuck was created here by some Westerner riding in a taxi around Delhi. In my month here in India, I heard someone say – traffic in India is like a functioning anarchy…I thought that it was a perfect way to describe the orderly craziness! Anything with a wheel is considered a drivable vehicle out on the public streets. Bikes, scooters, tractors, wagons, wheel barrels, and rickshaws are all road-worthy vehicles. I could write about specific experiences regarding the traffic for hours – but I won’t put you through that. Instead, I have collected some of the common rules, or lack of rules about driving and transportation in India. My best advice to you is NEVER, and I mean NEVER try to drive yourself in India…it’s suicide. We Westerners just have no idea when it comes to 3rd world driving – so don’t even try. The rules are that there are no rules.

Lanes:
If there are lines painted on the road that make up 3 lanes – that means that there is room for 5 lanes of traffic leaving about 1 inch of space between cars side by side hurtling down the road. The equation is simple – you normally double the amount of lanes that are painted on the road (including the shoulder of course!), and then subtract 1. Granted, some of this depends on if there are bikes, auto rickshaws, or cars – but on average – this equation is correct. Remember, in India – there is no such thing as personal space, even on the road.

Horns:
I am convinced that in order to pass your driving test in India, no eye test is necessary. However a hearing test is mandatory. The horn is probably the 2nd most important equipment on a car or vehicle. The first being the steering wheel. In fact – on most large vehicles such as trucks – they painted on the back in cutesy little colorful letters “Honk Please”. This is because there are no side mirrors…as they take up too much space in the narrow lanes of traffic (see Lanes above) – instead – all you need is a horn. It is not the drivers responsibility to check before changing lanes, instead it is the person/vehicle that flanks them responsibility to honk their horn to announce their presence. If you don’t announce your presence – then prepare to be hit…plain and simple.

Buses:
The big story in Delhi is about the Blue Buses…death on wheels. The drivers don’t have any qualifications to drive them and about every other day there is another person crushed by a bus. The papers keep a death count daily and write about it. The people are infuriated and are calling for the government to do something about it – but no progress seems to be made to this point. Basically – I stayed as far away as I could get from any bus. The huge buses look like they just came from a demolition derby. They are this mess of twisted metal spitting out toxic fumes commanding their presence in the street. For the locals that are brave enough to ride the bus – it’s no easy journey. There are no real bus stops. Sure – people do wait by the side of the road in places that look like bus stops – however when the bus comes – it doesn’t really stop – you have to run to get on it most of the time. Let’s just say that they aren’t handicap accessible. So – people are taking running leaps to get on the bus…and then getting off the bus is more of the same. Yet, it is one step worse – if the bus does stop to let people out – it doesn’t necessarily do it on the side of the road. No, no, no – that would be way too sensible and safe – instead – they let people out of the bus from the 4th lane of 6 lanes of traffic. Imagine if you are in a car and the bus has just let people out in the middle of the street – now there are people stepping out in the middle of moving traffic that you have to watch out for…or not. Mainly those people just fend for themselves and dodge in front of cars and find narrow spaces to make there way to the side of the road.

Stop Lights:
Stop lights are truly optional. When coming upon a red light, simply lay on the horn as you speed through the intersection (see Horn). People run red lights because to sit and actually wait for a red light is excruciating. Stop lights are looonnngggg. I once noticed a Walk /Don’t Walk sign with a little countdown display. I’ve seen these in other countries before – they are nice as they start counting at 13 or so and you know how much time you have to cross the street. In Delhi I saw a countdown sign starting at 200. I am not joking.

Crossing the Street:
One would think that in a culture where elders are highly respected, hospitality of over the top, and tourists seem to be king – that they may cut you a break and let you cross if you make eye contact with the person – not so. First off, there are no real cross walks, and if there are, it doesn’t matter as no one obeys the traffic lights (see Stop Lights). So – you stand by the side of the road and eventually – you have to step out into the mayhem and try to cross. You look and see a free space, but quickly get stuck about 3 lanes in and stand there while cars and buses whiz by you without even trying to slow down and avoid you. You inch out a little more and try to make direct eye contact with the person and even go as far as waving your hand in the stop position – clearly demonstrating that you are trying to cross and they should let you pass as you are only a human vs. a metal vehicle after all. However, they will run you over without even thinking about it…but, if you are a cow, or happen to be riding a cow – then you have a ‘get out of jail free card’ Cows stop traffic…humans don’t. Whenever possible, find a cow along the side of the road and let it lead you across the busy street – that’s really your only hope of coming out on the other side alive.

If after reading this, you still feel like renting a car and driving yourself…well then – you are crazy enough to maybe get by ok in Delhi traffic. Good luck!

Spice Diaries – Vol 13, Sep. 8, 2007

Sherry — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 13:45:22 +0000

Me and my class

Tears fell like a monsoon rain…

View Photos of my class and the party

I have cried many tears throughout this year of travel, however they have mainly been tears for me. These tears tend to fall into two categories; tears for my unanswered questions about my future, and tears for joy. However yesterday I shed many, many tears and they weren’t for me at all.

I thought that my last day at my teaching placement at Habitat Learning Center would be difficult for me, but I really didn’t expect it to be emotional. I had run around our local market all morning looking for gifts and treats for the students as today was not going to be about teaching – it was going to be fun. I had planned for us to watch an English movie, Disney’s High School Musical. Even though my students are on average 18 to 20 years old, I felt like this Disney movie would be appropriate – for their culture, their English understanding, and mainly there would be no sex scenes or cursing…you can’t go wrong with Disney in that department! Plus – in my opinion it is similar to a Bollywood movie with an American twist – lots of singing and dancing for no apparent reason. I had purchased the movie along with a large bag of American type movie snacks – Pepsi, Mountain Dew, M&M’s, Snickers, Mars bars, and Twizzlers. In addition to all of the sugar, I also got each of them a notebook to keep their homework and study papers in. Since I’ve been teaching them for the last 4 weeks – I always would hand out many exercises and reading assignments on paper – but they wouldn’t remember to bring them back the next day – or if they did remember, they would be all crumpled up in their bags. I thought this would be a good opportunity to teach them about organization and get them prepared for their next teacher. Inside the folder, I placed my business card with my email address so that they could contact me. Finally, I put all of my extra salwar and kameez outfits into a bag to give to the female students as I would no longer need them. I armed myself with my two cameras, grabbed all of these bags and went to my placement for the last time.

When I arrived there I was surprised to see people there early. In India – there is a term they use called ‘India Time’…which translated means…”Time is irrelevant. I am not tied to any time table, and I will show up generally 15 to 30 minutes late.” I started to get everything set up for the movie and I printed my final report for the NGO. I had spent quite a bit of time on this report writing up my lesson plan I used, what should be studied next with the new teacher, and a paragraph about each student and their knowledge level. I mainly wanted to make sure that the next person to teach, had all the tools possible to make a smooth transition for the kid’s sake.

At ‘intermission’ we had a break and I was going to break out all of the snacks I brought with me, but before I could do that, The NGO coordinator, Nanalie, and one of the teaching assistants, Enoch, came in and presented me with a lovely gift thanking me on behalf of HLC. I had let the kids use my small camera – so they took pictures of us as if they were the paparazzi! However all of a sudden the kids disappeared and I was told to sit down with Nalalie and Enoch. The kids then paraded in cakes, chips, sweets, and a large bouquet of roses. I was stunned and really didn’t know what to do. They had organized this unexpected celebration and I was completely surprised. We had a whole cake cutting ceremony as they explained the various Indian sweets to me. They served Nalalie, Enoch, and myself and continued to shoot a whole bunch of pictures. Me with the cake, me with the roses, me with them…I felt like a star. I was touched by this celebration – but I somehow held it together as I posed for pictures. I knew deep down that I was not going to be able to hold it together very long. I loved these kids – I knew that I had become completely attached to them and I had no idea how I was going to walk out of the office at 5PM.

After the massive amounts of cake and pictures, we got back to the movie and watched the 2nd half of Disney song and dance numbers. After the movie, I knew that I wanted to talk to them all as a group and thank them for their hard work and friendship they had provided me. I wanted them to know how extremely proud I was of each of them, and to motivate them to keep working hard as it would pay off. I had them all stay in the classroom and I began my little speech of thanks and admiration and I peered around the room looking at the faces intently staring at me, the faces that I had come to know so well and I couldn’t even get the words out. I tried to speak, but was overcome with sadness about leaving them. I wanted so much for them – I wanted to make sure that they continue on the road they are going down – as that is the road to a better life for them and their families. I choked the words out and told them to continue to study hard and be nice to the new teacher, and to use the new folders to organize their homework. As I looked up and around the room I had 15 students in tears. I continued to tell them not to be sad and that I would love to come back one day and see how much they have improved. I explained that I expected all of them to continue our relationship via email. I promised to always write them back if they sent me an email.

I handed out the folders one by one and saw each of them crying. It broke my heart to see this. If I could figure out a way to give each of them a better life I would…but they have to figure out how to do that themselves…and I’m positive they are on the road to doing that. I can only hope that I helped them along in their journey. For the first time in 4 weeks, the room was silent. These kids normally crawled in front of each other and practically into your lap to speak – so silence was a new sensation for me. The sadness and crying continued – and it wasn’t just a few tears – there was sobbing. I stood there and thought about the last time that I made a grown man cry.

I first started crying because I had become attached to them and I wasn’t ready to leave there and I knew I would miss them terribly. However, when I saw them crying, I realized that they had become attached to me too. It was a mutual connection. I realized that I had touched their lives in an extraordinary way. It was a true cultural exchange. Earlier in the week Nalalie and Enoch had told me the kids were growing very attached to me and that I had made a strong impact on them, however I sort of dismissed it in my head. Sure, I was sort of aware that I had more and more students attend class every week. I knew that more and more or them were doing their homework. I was aware that during tea break more and more students would come and sit next to me to talk and ask me questions about my life. I was surprised and impressed with the gentlemen who did mock interviews had actually taken what I taught them about business etiquette to heart. Yet, I guess I never really put all of this together and realized that these kids really did enjoy spending time with me and respected me. That may sound stupid – but the whole time I was thinking that I was getting so much from them, yet I didn’t think about what they were getting from me until I looked around the room at their tears and sad faces. All of a sudden my tears were no longer for my sadness, but theirs.

Rohit, who told me the first day of class that he wanted to be a singer (I made him get up that day and sing for me!), got up and sang a song for me on my last day. I actually took video of this moment – to this moment, as I watch it, it puts me in tears. If I can find a way to upload it I will. Next Adidya got up and came to me in the front of the room and bowed/touched my feet. This may sound crazy – but I knew that this was a cultural thing for them – touching someone’s feet is used to show the utmost respect for someone. After he did, each student got up and did the same thing to me. I stood there completely emotional and uncomfortable not knowing what to say – all I could do it thank them.

As we all sat there in a sad silence – I had to finally bring myself to leave the classroom. It was painful for me to pick up my feet and leave the room. I told them one last time to not be sad, but to be happy that we had so much fun and I promised that I would come see them again.

This whole diary entry was about impossible for me to write – as every time I replay the afternoon in my head or through the keyboard – it brings me to tears yet again. I know that this sadness that I feel will diminish, but my memories never will. .

The tears that you shed for others – are the tears which hurt the most.

Spice Diaries – Vol 12 – Sep. 6, 2007

Sherry — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 06:38:12 +0000

No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks…

Over the past year I have had many reasons to smile. Yet today was probably one of the most memorable reasons to smile this entire year of adventure and work free lifestyle. The strangest thing is that this smile spreads across my face uncontrollably and it’s due to the work that I’m doing here. Who knew that work could make me smile?! I only have two days left with my students in Delhi, and I’m trying to savor every moment I can. I honestly don’t want to leave them – but I know that they will be left in good hands as a new volunteer will be placed there. The good news is that he (the new volunteer) is actually a teacher…a real teacher…not an imposter like me! This still doesn’t change the fact that I’d love to take my students home with me and find them jobs…but I don’t think US Customs would allow that. So instead, I have spent my last few evenings putting together a detailed report about the kids, their studies and what to continue with in my absence….I’m basically having trouble letting go – but tomorrow at 5PM – I’m done…I have to cut the cord.

Last week I asked the students what they wanted me to focus on for the last week of class, and the majority wanted to learn more about business interviewing. This was right up my alley…I used to hire and fire people all of the time. Rarely did a week go by that I wasn’t interviewing someone at Coach. This was going to be much easier than trying to teach irregular verbs! However – we still did focus on grammar every day, and we would use the 2nd half of class to talk about how to prepare for, and participate in an interview. As a ‘final’ of sorts, I even organized one of my flatmates, Cate, who used to work in HR to come to my class and conduct ‘mock’ interviews for the students. This would give the students a chance to really practice what they learned on a complete stranger. Over the past 3 weeks they had become pretty comfortable with me, however – speaking to strangers in English…well, that seemed to throw them into a downward spiral of panic! I tried to imagine how I would react if someone had told me that I had to be interviewed in Italian…I too would have had a melt down!

I had 5 of the boys from my class volunteer to participate in an interview with Cate. I provided them a list of 5 possible interview questions and said that Cate would pick 3 of the 5 to ask them. I felt like I needed to give them some guidance else it would be too difficult. I had them practice their answers to these questions by writing essays for me for the last week. This way they had put some forethought into their responses.

I showed up at the Learning Center today and all 5 of them were there early (this never normally happened!), all dressed up in their best clothes, cleaned up, pacing around, practicing their interview answers, and attempting to put on their ties if they happened to have one. The moment I saw this – a huge grin formed across my face. The kind that actually makes your face hurt because you are smiling so hard. I was so proud of these kids, and the fact that they had all actually listened to me made me beam with happiness. I had them draw numbers from a hat to see who would go first – I think I was as nervous as they were for some reason. As they looked at their numbers some were filled with excitement and some were filled with terror. Poor Rohit looked terrified that he was going first!

One of the most touching things to me was when one of them finished their interview, they would come into the room where I was with the rest of the class, they would look relieved that it was over, and then they would trade shoes with the next interviewee as only a few of them had proper ‘business’ shoes as they normally all wear sandals. As I saw them switch shoes and sandals – it made me want to do absolutely anything I could to help them in their lives going forward, I want success for them so badly.

I’m not really sure how I will get through tomorrow without a bunch of tears. This whole experience has been life changing for me – not because I feel like I changed the world – but simply because it has helped me realize how much I enjoy working with young adults and how much I enjoy teaching. Granted – this was a unique experience – one in which all of the students were eager to learn – an experience where a little effort goes a long way in these kids’ lives. However I have to believe that there are opportunities like this all over the world…so who knows what will come of this…time will tell.

To top things off, yesterday was Teacher’s Day here in India. I tried to explain to the kids that I’m not really a teacher, but they either didn’t understand me or pretended not to understand. Some of them came bearing little individual roses…leaving me with a better feeling than any boyfriend has ever left me with! Tomorrow on our last day we are going to simply have fun – listen to music, watch a movie and eat chocolate…everyone knows that the last day of school is always fluff! However this will be the first time I’ve had a last day of school be so sad.

Spice Diaries – vol 11, Sep. 5, 2007

Sherry — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 06:36:42 +0000

There's a lot of crap in India

Today was yet another holiday in India…the land of constant festivals! Today was Lord Krishna’s birthday – an important God in the Hindu religion. The festival is called Janmashtami – and it basically means that I had the day off of work. It’s strange – I don’t think I’ve ever had a job in my life in which I was upset that I had a day off. However, since my time here teaching the kids is limited – I’d much prefer to be working with them instead of having a free day. Since we all had a free day my roommates and I planned a day out in Delhi. I was very excited about this outing because we were going to go to a museum that I had been anticipating seeing for quite some time now…The International Toilet Museum! I had read about this gem of a site in the Lonely Planet book, and I was hooked…I HAD to see it! Luckily my roommates shared the same sick humor that I did and they were up for the adventure too. In a country in which you spend a great deal of time on the toilet, smelling the toilet, and seeing people ‘use the toilet’ in public – this museum seemed like a perfect fit for India!

The museum was in South Delhi among a poor community. There was a cloud of dust in the air from the dirt road that ran outside the museum grounds. The museum was surrounded by a large white gate and wall, and when we went through the gate, we were welcomed into this pristine oasis of green grass and white buildings. It was as if we had just walked through a portal from dirty, grimy Delhi, to heaven…toilet heaven.

Photo: The Crap Lab
I thought this would just be a funny little museum where I would get to see many toilets – however I was surprised to find out that it was much more than that. Sulabh Toilet Museum was actually a part of the Worldwide Sulabh Sanitation Movement and NGO. It is the 7th largest NGO in the world and we were standing at its world headquarters. They focus on providing sanitation solutions to India, and other countries. Sanitation solutions include environmentally friendly by products such as manure for fertilizer, methane gas, and water to be used for everything except drinking. They also educate the impoverished on sanitation and build public toilets all over Delhi and India. Granted, educating kids in English and computers is important – however educating the public on sanitation is even more important for a country like India – a country with 1.2 billion people, a country where about 75% of those people don’t even have access to a toilet. I was extremely impressed by this organization.

A man came and provided us a personal tour of the museum showing us how over 4,500 years ago they had villages/towns laid out with sanitation in mind. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way of expanding population, India lost this sanitation forethought. We saw toilets through history, royal toilets, temporary toilets, disguised toilets, and portable toilets. We discussed the touchy subjects of squatty potties, using toilet paper or not, budays, compost, golden toilets, why people pee outside, how to make yourself ‘go’, how to not make yourself ‘go’, and the ever important subject of how women can pee standing up. It was a very fun and educational experience!

One of the most important things that Sulabh does is build large public toilets throughout India – one with a sewage treatment on site. The facilities are completely powered and run by the methane gas. The public toilets are built with the poor and homeless in mind. They are used by more than 1000 people per day…which barely scratches the surface in India. After being here for 3 weeks, you grow accustomed to men relieving themselves everywhere and anywhere in public…it’s a strange site and it seems to be accepted here. However, you never really get used to the smell of urine – so strong in some areas that you feel like you are going to pass out. There are public toilets in Delhi –however they are few and far between and they are not cleaned often enough – so that basically leaves people to fend for themselves. Therefore, I’m definitely in favor of any organization that is trying to educate people and improve the situation here!

All in all, it was a fun day off – even though is was full of a lot of crap!
Photo: Me enjoying the Toilet Museum!

Spice Diaries vol. 10 – Sep 2

Sherry — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 14:49:47 +0000

When it rains, it pours

I woke up this morning, and went out to fetch the Sunday paper. The moment I stepped out on our little terrace I knew it was going to be a tough day…the air was thick and heavy. The weather forecast in the paper said that it was to get to 35 degrees in Delhi today – which is over 100 degrees to those of you living in a Fahrenheit world. Today we had planned on hitting some of the good markets for shopping – but this meant being out in the middle of the day in the heat. I packed my water, sunscreen, sun hat, a granola bar and set off in an auto rickshaw to the first market armed with rupees. My roommates Lynn and Kate came along with me – as it’s always good to have extra people around for bargaining. It allows you to play the ‘good cop’/ ‘bad cop’ bargaining game.

Believe it or not – this was my first auto rickshaw ride in Delhi. Auto rickshaw’s are as common as yellow taxi’s in NYC…they are everywhere. They are basically a 3 wheeler motor scooter – and it’s not advised to take them for long distances as I think it would be rather painful, cramped, and slow. However – it was perfect for our short trip to the Dilli Haat Market. I realized very quickly that an auto rickshaw was most certainly one of the lowest vehicles on the totem pole of Delhi driving. As big buses, trucks and many cars whizzed by us, edging us over to the side – I felt a bit exposed…but our little motor scooter engine kept motoring away.

We bargained and shopped all afternoon amidst the heavy heat. India holds some of the best products and bargains I’ve seen in my travels to date! As the day went on, it became muggier and muggier. Sweat was rolling down my face, between my boobs. This was hard core shopping – nothing glamorous about it! You realized the real meaning of ‘shop til you drop’ as I think I could have easily fainted from dehydration and sun stroke! The skies looked a bit dark, but I kind of ignored them because I had been in India for 3 weeks now during monsoon season and it had only rained once so far!

We continued on to another market via auto rickshaw when we heard some thunder in the distance. Finally, it started to sprinkle – some relief to the humidity at last! It was a pleasant rain…just enough that you needed an umbrella – but not close to a monsoon storm! We were inside one of the shops for about 30 minutes trying things on – and when we exited the shop – we were met face to face with a honest to God downpour – the skies had opened upon us. It was as if someone from above had buckets of water they were pouring out. I got my raincoat out of my backpack – happy to finally be able to use it since I drug it along to India. We kind of stood there wondering what to do…realizing that any hope of us waiting there under the awning until it let up was about as probable as Brad Pitt pulling up in an auto rickshaw and offering to take us home. Under the assumption that “we won’t melt” – we decided to head out into the pouring rain in search of a taxi. All of you New Yorkers know how fun it is to try to get a taxi in the rain…well, the same principle applies here. We stood out there for quite some time until finally a taxi took pity on us, stopped, and we hopped in. Granted, we were only 3 km from home…but it was pouring, there was no way that we could really walk – and we had no where to go for cover. The taxi driver wiped off the inside of his fogged up window and took off peering out of his little 7 inch by 7 inch fog-free hole.

Photo: Kate reacting to seeing the flooded street!
We took off into the main street – all we had to do was go past two stoplights and we would be at our apartments. However – the traffic was horrendous! I thought that it was due to the fact that people slowed down in the rain or something – but as we watched the events unfold outside our foggy window – we realized that the traffic wasn’t moving because the whole road was flooded. There were cars and buses stuck everywhere! People were pushing their motorbikes through deep water, rickshaws were rapidly trying to get to higher ground – and the water was gushing out of the manholes. The good news is that our taxi driver did not drive into the flooded area – we were able to get stopped before we went too far. We backed up and found a little turn off that took us to higher ground. We tried two more side streets where we would get halfway down them and then hit a lake with stranded cars. Finally – he took us as far as he could and said – that’s all the further I can make it – you will have to get out and walk. It was still pouring outside – but we bundled up and got out with the hopes that we would be able to make it home on foot…albeit wet.

Everywhere we turned the streets and sidewalks were flooded and vehicles were stranded. The water was rushing down the streets – so we did what anyone else would do in the situation – took off our shoes, rolled up our pants, and started wading through the streets towards home! There were tons of locals out doing the same thing – so we were in good company – and it was actually a really fun bonding time. They were laughing at us, and us at them. Young men were helping old ladies. Daughters were helping mothers. We even saw this lovely young woman dressed in a beautiful white dress hike here dress up and wade into the dirty water. Yes – the water was a bit scary. I honestly have no idea what was in it. I can only imagine what was coming out of the flooded manholes! Think to all of those recent stories in the news about flooding in India and all of the disease…well – here we were walking in it.

It took us about 30 minutes to walk home through the downpour. After we were able to shower and dry off – we remarked at how much fun it was to be out in the chaos of the rain storm. It was a memorable shopping adventure – a very local adventure! This experience seemed out of the ordinary to us, but to the people that live here – it was completely normal. Flooding streets, wading around in dirty water, pushing cars out of the flooded areas – it’s just another day for them. There wasn’t even a mention of it in the paper the next day. That night we did what any good New Yorker would do when the weather sucks outside…we ordered food for delivery!

Spice Diaries – Vol 9, Sep. 1

Sherry — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 05:01:41 +0000

People often wonder how I can be away from home for so long and not miss it. I myself am surprised at this some days. Then, on a night like tonight I realize that maybe it’s easy to be away from home because it’s easier not to deal with the realities of everyday life. Yet, every so often those realities come face to face with me…even halfway around the world.

I have so many people ask me – have you met any men during your travels. The answer is yes, sure I’ve met men during my travels. Some very, very nice ones. Ones that I even think are attractive, interesting, exciting and a bit dangerous…which as all women know…is the best combination of traits. I think to myself that in turn, I have a lot to offer – I am a risk taker, independent, a world traveler, smart, witty, and a bit unconventional. Ok – maybe that was too light…I am very unconventional. Yet, I’m faced with the same issues as I’ve always been faced with when it comes to men – even halfway around the world. All the men that I meet are either already ‘taken’ or are only interested in the young, and sexy women for a quick fling – or the young responsible women to settle down and have babies. Both of these scenarios pretty much suck for me. I’d like to say that I’m not bitter about this…but come on…of course I am. How can you be 37 years old, have not dated someone for 6 years and not be a little bit bitter. Yet at the same time – I put on a happy, positive face and say – my time will come. Overall – I do really believe that – I will meet someone that means the world to me and vice versa. But the waiting is really a shitty process. Instead of sitting around waiting, I go and live my life – do what I want to do – and believe that eventually – it will all work out.

Today, I was talking to the coordinator at my volunteer placement before I started my class. She was asking me some personal questions about myself. She asked about my family and if I was married. I gave her the same answer that I give everyone – “no, I’m not married” I get the standard response back, “Why?” This of course frustrates me because who really wants to try to defend why they are not in a relationship? Yet, as a single woman – I am always in this position of trying to explain why I don’t have a husband or a boyfriend. Honestly – this really sucks. It sucks to try to defend why you are alone. I get tired of it – I get angry about it – but it is a fact of life…so I go through the motions and try to explain that I simply haven’t met the right person yet. Upon hearing this explanation, the woman went on to say, “It’s such a shame because YOU should be a mother.” My heart just drops to my toes upon this statement. She goes on to say, “I get upset when I find out that smart, talented women like yourself aren’t going to be a mother. This world is losing out. ”

Now – before all of you freak out and try to tell me that I’m only 37 and I still could be a mother – stop. I really don’t think I do want to be a mother – so please don’t feel sorry for me – that’s not why I’m writing about this. I’m writing about this because I thought that wrapped up in that statement about motherhood – there was a lovely compliment in there. One that I can cling on to for a while and enjoy. No matter how many men my age pass me up (their loss!), I am still positive that I have a lot to offer the right ‘person’. Whether that ‘person’ is a man, my nieces, impoverished kids in India, or simply my friends – that’s fine with me.

I’m not going to pretend that being rejected by numerous men in turn for some young 20 year old, or some woman with the ‘perfect’ body, boobs, lean legs and long hair doesn’t bother me. It absolutely does. However, it’s life. One day, when one of those men take the time to actually get to know me and look beyond my newly formed wrinkles – then it will all work itself out.

I know this entry was a bit sloppy and unfocused – but tonight was the first time in 3 weeks that I’ve been out partying and socializing and interacting with men in a bar setting. It was a really fun night…but the old skeletons seem to always pop up. Those skeletons make me want to run…which is basically what I have been doing for the past year. For those of you out there that think this is a cry for help…it isn’t. It’s just the normal stuff that goes through the mind of a single woman in her late 30’s. We all have our good days and our bad days – our days of high self esteem and crappy self esteem. This honestly wasn’t even a bad day…it was just a little does of reality in my vagabond world.

Spice Diaries – Vol. 8 – Aug. 30

Sherry — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 06:10:52 +0000

Today is the day – my last day of work a year ago. My last paycheck…that’s a painful thought. But if I think about the trade off of – no money, but world experiences instead – then it’s all worth it.

However, I am working currently (even though I’m paying them to work). The volunteer teaching is certainly a job. I even have to get all dressed up in the proper work outfit every day. At Coach I used to be able to wear jeans, sandals, t –shirts – however my dress code here is very different. No, I am not wearing a sari…thank goodness as I know that I would trip on all of the material, plus no one really needs to see my newly acquired travel belly. Instead, I wear the modern Indian business woman attire – a salwar, kameez, and duppatti – basically ultra baggy trousers and a long tunic with a scarf draped over your chest.

We are required to wear this dress for a few reasons – so that we will fit in and avoid unwanted attention – and it has an added benefit of making us look a bit more professional here. I can’t really say that the outfits are flattering – but what they lack in fit, they gain in comfort. It’s honestly like wearing your pajamas around all day. I could easily fit 3 people into these baggy pants. There are normally about 20 pleats on the pants gathering all of the material, and a simple draw string waist. They could easily double as maternity pants. In fact – I doubt that Indian women need to buy maternity clothes as they can simply keep wearing their salwar up until the time they give birth! The kameez is a long tunic blouse that goes past your knees. However – don’t think that you can wear it as a dress, because there are two slits up the side that would be rather revealing without the salwar! Then there’s the duppatti that is supposed to be draped around your neck so that it hides your chest and the ends drape down your back. This scarf takes some time to get used to…and I believe that it takes more than 4 weeks as I’m still not used to it! It’s like an extra appendage that you have to get used to….it’s always in your way. I’m constantly letting it drag on the ground, shutting it in the car doors, getting it caught on things, fiddling with it so that it doesn’t choke me…I have not yet become ‘one’ with the duppatti!

Photo: Local women learning how to make jewelry…it’s a rainbow of colors!
The other trait of the salwar and kameez is that is has to be colorful! The more color the better. Bright pink, purple, greens – it’s as if a rainbow exploded over India. I think that the bright colors of fabric help you get noticed as you cross the street – yet it doesn’t make people stop or slow down at all – it just makes you a colorful moving target. I’m not sure if I will keep any of my new Indian outfits or not – as I don’t intend to be pregnant anytime soon. However, I will probably keep one for the simple reminder of my colorful time here.

Spice Diaries – Vol. 7, Aug 29

Sherry — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 05:59:48 +0000

So you want to be a super model…

The days are going very fast. Too fast. This is my 3rd week here already and I have no idea where the time went. I only have a week left of teaching and I’m already sad about the thought of leaving.

This month has been full of realizations for me – realizing just how much I have changed in this last year. I think I will look back on this year of travel and say…”August…that was the month that it all came together for me.” However – don’t let that last statement lead you to believe that I have answers on what I will do when I get home…that still is a mystery. I’m talking more about hitting my stride, feeling completely comfortable with my surroundings and life, nirvana in a way. Don’t worry though, I will leave that analysis for another post when I have more time than a simple Spice Diary entry.

This week I have been busy with teaching as usual – and I have continued to love every minute of it. I’ve spent late nights trying to understand grammar rules so that I could teach it correctly – only to figure out that I needn’t try to be that much of a perfectionist. Old habits die hard. I told the kids this week that Sep. 7th was my last day – and they seemed surprised and disappointed – which made my heart drop like a brick.

This Tuesday was a national festival in India called Rakhi Bandhan. This is a celebration for siblings – specifically a festival in which sisters tie a thread around her brother’s wrist as a symbol of protection, loyalty, and affection. Brothers give money or other gifts such as jewelry, shoes, or clothes to their sisters in return. I’m wondering when Halmark will be making this into a holiday worldwide. I’m sure it would sell plenty of cards! This tradition is also carried out between friends representing brotherly and sisterly affection. I now have a number of little red string bracelets from my students – I think my gift to them is teaching them grammar!
A little note for Troy, my brother, I have a lovely piece of red string for you and I will be patiently waiting for my gift! My shoe size is 8 ½…

Photo: Little boy trying to race to get into my shot! They love the camera!
Besides the bracelets – the other perk about this holiday is that you get the day off. India is a land of socializing and festivals – so it seems like one rarely has to work a full work week! I spent my day off getting up at the crack of dawn to work on some photography around Delhi. I went to some of the normal tourist and religious sites and then went to the flower market. There are many things I enjoy about India, but one of the best things is that the people here absolutely LOVE to have their picture taken. I’m really overwhelmed by the number of requests that I receive to take people’s pictures here. This is rather unique as in many countries the people are not too excited about being photographed. In some countries, people even think that it removes the person’s soul when you take a picture. Needless to say – I don’t want to be responsible for a lost soul, so you have to be careful! In other countries you encounter the people that request money for taking their picture as if they were Kate Moss. Trust me – they aren’t even close to Kate Moss, but you still have to have some small change around just in case they think they are a super model. This is all fine until they tell you that it’s not enough money. At that point I tell them to get an agent and come complain to me later. Therefore, when you are in India, take our your camera, and people come running from far and near saying ”Mam, take picture?” It’s a little stunning. The even stranger thing about it is that when you take their picture – they just walk away – they don’t even want to see it – or quite possibly they don’t know that you can see it from a digital point of view. It leaves me a bit bewildered!

On Wednesday of this week, I decided that I needed to see how the other half lived. I am in a posh volunteer assignment – AC, computers, western toilets, a classroom, beautiful facilities, clean kids, and gardens. However, my fellow volunteers work in a very different environment. I decided to accompany Kate to her assignment to see what her surroundings are like. Kate designs, makes, and sells jewelry in the Boston area. Her volunteer placement is to teach poor, local women here how to make jewelry in the hopes that they can utilize this skill to make some money on their own. Her surroundings are certainly different than my placement. She works in one of the many poor communities ( a.k.a. slum). She works in this little school room on the floor with no AC and surrounded by the local women plus their kids and the random stray dog laying around. I was excited to go with her as it was a wonderful chance for me to not only sweat my ass off, but also get take some colorful pictures of the women and their kids. I even took a little walk around the community to see more locals – but I wasn’t expecting the reception I received. Since I had my camera in hand, I was mobbed! Everyone came from near and far to get their picture taken…never really looking at it, just jumping in front of the lens to be in the picture. In fact, it was near impossible to get shot with just one of two people in it as everyone pushed in front of them until they were about 2 inches from my lens. I needed someone walking around me for crowd control! However – in a situation like that, it’s really hard not to take a wonderful picture. The kids were adorable; they were all so happy and full of energy.

The rest of the week so far has been about lesson plans, and fall travel plans. I can hardly believe that I only have one week left of volunteer work. Of course – when I have finally remembered all of my student’s names correctly – then I will be leaving! Ah – but I will always have the photos…

Spice Diaries – Vol 6, Aug 24

Sherry — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:43:13 +0000

Swept off My feet

To see all of the photos from my young ESL class – click here!

Another week has passed. Something has happened that I really wasn’t expecting – it has taken me by surprise. All my thoughts are consumed by it…I am giddy…I walk around with a big smile on my face when I talk about it…I am elated. I have been swept off my feet! No, not by some wonderful, sexy man; but by my students at my volunteer placement.

Photo: My class of young kids on their last day!
This week I have become attached to my students. I enjoy teaching these kids more than I ever thought I would. I have the desire to work my ass off for them. My attachment to the older kids grows every night as I’m up until 1AM correctling papers and reviewing their homework and trying to come up with new exercises and topics to really challenge and excite them. Here’s the real surprise – I feel like I’m making a difference every day I work with these kids. Before I came to India, I talked to many volunteer ‘alumni’ about their experience here and if they felt like they made a difference. The overwhelming answer to that question was always met with hesitation – normally following by a “Yes, but…it’s a difference in a very small way. You may not feel like you’ve really had an impact – but you just have to know and believe that just be being there you have made an impact.” Based on this consistent feedback which I heard from everyone, I came here trying to set my expectations appropriately and told myself that I wouldn’t expect to change the world or be able to make a big impact, I would simply do my work, and know that being here was better than not being here.

Photo: Preeti, holding up her final assignment!
Yet only 2 weeks into my 4 week placement, I already feel like I’ve had an impact. With my younger group of beginning students – they can use a mouse, type in MS Word, tell me their name, age, and how they are doing – all in English – with various degrees of prompting. Sure – there is a cynical part of me that is a bit concerned that I’ve just armed these kids to go out and be more effective beggars with some English skills. Will they now go to cars and bang on the window speaking to the passengers in clever English asking for money? I try not to think about that. The young kids had their last day today and we spent the time working on a final computer project, making bracelets, eating candy bars, playing vocabulary games, and taking photos. I was sad to see them go – yet I had only been with them for a little over a week. I wonder what their lives will hold.

Then there’s my older kids that I teach in the afternoon. I’ve become fully engrossed in teaching the older kids. The reason why is simple – they really, really want to learn. They know that their time they spend at the Habitat Learning Center is their shot….it may be their only shot. In India, education is king. It can be the difference between barely living on 2 meals a day and be able to support your family and provide a home. As I work with these kids I have learned more and more about them. They come from poor backgrounds and for some reason or another, they started in school, but had to drop out due to family reasons and/or money. However, they were chosen, plucked from their spiraling situations and given a second chance. They had to prove themselves first within their local community NGO – but they eventually were asked to come study at Habitat Learning Center where they could learn computer skills, English, and be tutored in science and math. Therefore, as I stand before them trying my best to explain when to use the article ‘a’ and when to use the article ‘the’, their attention is focused on my every word. I give them homework, and lots of it – but they actually do it. Everyday I have a few more kids show up in class, which is a great feeling.

Photo: Final day of class!
Besides the Grammar and reading comprehension – I’m making them practice their speaking…which they hate me for. I make them get up and read in front of the class in English. I give them newspaper clippings in English to read and then present. As for the computers – I have taught them how to evaluate a website and it’s usability. Prior to me arriving they all learned a little HTML through Dreamweaver – so I thought the next logical step was to teach them design…plus – I don’t know HTML…so I really couldn’t help in that department! This week we also went over how to do effective searching on the internet and explained what a search engine was. It was a great way to introduce some new grammar too…such as the verb ‘google’ and the concept of AND, OR, AND NOT statements…who knew that Google could be so educational!

I am busy working on more topics and grammar studies – and I’m excited to spend the remaining two weeks with them. Just seeing them every day makes me happy!

As for the rest of my life in India…well, there hasn’t been much time for anything else this week except preparing for teaching and teaching. I am going to Agra this weekend to see the Taj Mahal – that should be a photographic adventure!

One last thing to share – I had a dream last night that I arrived back at home. The dream was pretty fuzzy, as dreams go. I was back at my apartment looking around at all of my stuff, and I was also back in a work setting looking around at my surroundings. I had an overwhelming feeling of disinterest in everything. One of my friends came to visit me in my apartment and welcome me back and I said, that I was only going to stay for a month of so and then leave again as there was nothing here for me any longer. The dream was certainly unsettling as I woke up and thought about it for quite some time. The people I have met during my travels often ask me if anything ever scares me while I’m traveling…my reply is normally – “no, nothing much.” Yet apparently my sleeping psyche knows exactly what scares me most.

Photo: The complete class of the young kids and me on their final day!

Spice Diaries – Vol 5, Aug. 21

Sherry — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:07:58 +0000

Indian Wedding prep

Mam, there are 20 different ways to tie a sari.

For photos of Ladie’s Night – click here!

Every day is full of lessons. Today was a varied as normal. I’m starting to get a feel for the teaching. A part of me even thinks that I’m good at it…and then I realize the difference between ‘that’ and ‘this’…and I’m jolted back to reality. Regardless of how effective I am, I thoroughly enjoy working with the kids. Today we taught emotions such as happy, sad, grumpy, cold, hot, tired, and fine. I released my inner actress and had a blast acting out these emotions with the kids…laughing with them as they were laughing at me. The one thing that will stick in my brain for the rest of my life is the word ‘mam’. In the US we call our teachers Mrs. Farris, or Ms. Robinson – here – I am not Ms. Ott – or even Ms. Sherry…I am ‘mam’. I believe that I get called mam no less than 200 times a day. “Mam, may I come in” , “Mam, may I leave the room” , “Yes Mam”, “Mam…(proceeded by a paper being shoved in my face so that I will look at it.)”, or my favorite – “Mam…(followed by a long sentence in Hindi that I don’t understand)”

I am starting to feel very comfortable with the older class – they are good kids – and each of them are terrified to stand up in front of the class and speak English aloud. Considering I make them do this all of the time- I think they secretly hate me…but I just keep telling them that they have to practice. I’m sure that they sit around during their tea break and say “Mam is very, very mean”.

The kids have also decided that it’s their responsibity to make sure that my food and drink are taken care of. At every break, they ask if they can bring me coffee or tea. Then they proceed to make fun of me because it takes me so long to drink my coffee. “Mam, you have coffee for 10 minutes and you still not finished.” My answer – Americans multi-task. We never do just one thing like drink our coffee. Instead – we drink our coffee while checking papers, or we eat our lunch at the computer while we are working on a lesson plan. They think this multi-tasking is funny and they proceed to laugh at me. Today as I was leaving one of them stopped me…”Mam, wait.” Proceeded by taking me by the arm and into a lounge room where a young boy was making a individual little plates of treats – somosas and little honey balls with a small cup of Pepsi. They gave me a plate with a piping hot somosa. I asked them what the occasion was – and found out that the young boy who was dishes out the tasty food had just purchased a bike and he brought in food to celebrate this momentous occasion. Wow….that was my only reaction. You have to love a culture that celebrates every occasion with food.

This afternoon our volunteer organization, CCS, held a ‘ladies night’. Of course I was secretly hoping that this meant free flowing vodka and scantily clad men – but no such luck. CCS had brought in some lovely women to talk to us about the marriage rituals in India. Basically – they showed us what it was like to be an Indian Bride. One of my fellow volunteers, JoAnna, was our ‘Indian’ bride and she was put through al of the ritualistic preparations that any Indian girl would have done on her wedding day. Makeup, hair, jewels, bindis, sari, more jewels, and henna. We learned that there are actually 20 different ways to tie a sari. I would need a personal assistant to dress me every day if I wore a sari – a sar is made up of 6 yards of fabric…that’s equates to a lot of wrapping!

Finally – a few of us went to a local family’s house for dinner. Lalit – the neighborhood tailor – graciously invited all of us over to his house to meet his family and have dinner. We have been going to his shop to get some of our work clothes tailored and we struck up a friendship through his good English skills. He lives in Old Delhi, so he even had a driver come pick us up and bring us back. Once again – I was absolutely blown away by the Indian hospitality. This was a very different experience from the night before – but the experience tonight was probably more typical of Indian family life. Lalit did not have any ‘servants’ that he employed in his home, and he lived with his whole extended family including his 80 year old mother. The whole family waited on us the throughout the evening and provided us an amazing meal. Lalit sat at the table with us and ate dinner with us – the rest of the family watched and served us. He said that they would eat afterward. I’m not sure if this was custom when they have guests, or if it was because they had no more chairs. The whole experience was rather surreal – and so very culturally different than America. I don’t feel comfortable having people wait on me – but yet I know that this is their culture and it’s best to not fight it, but try your hardest to simply accept it and fit into it the best you can. What may be considered uncomfortable for one person is acceptable to another.

Another day, another day of varied experiences….

Spice Diaries – Vol 4, Aug. 20

Sherry — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:03:31 +0000

Typical street traffic in Old Delhi

I learned today that there is a man that works in our colony (neighborhood) that simply is the ‘ironing man’. No – I’m not talking about a James Taylor song. He irons clothes all day for 1 rupee per piece – that equates to about 2 cents a garment. He works between my flat and my neighbors flat, collecting the washed and dried clothes from the various housekeepers and ironing them all day out in the alleyway. That’s India.

I also learned that even though I speak English fluently – I have no clue about English grammar. Seriously, without looking it up – how many people out there know what first person singular is, or what a silent voice sound is, or what a modal auxiliary is? Now, take it one step further – can you explain it to a bunch of people that don’t speak English? By the end of my 4 week placement – I will have re-learned my 5th grade education. I’m sure that all of the people that read my blog are looking forward to my new and improved grammar…lord knows that my writing can use some grammatical help!

We made some much needed changes to my schedule today. Me and my volunteer partner, Thea, have split up the two classes we are teaching so that we are both teaching one class each day instead trying to teach and prepare for both classes. Thea has agreed to work with the younger kids, and I have taken on the older kids – ages 16 – 24. They have varying degrees of English skills and they all seem to want to be software engineers or fashion designers. There are advantages and disadvantages to teaching the older kids. It’s great that they understand me better and I don’t struggle as much with the language barrier; however, since they are more advanced- this means that I am panicked because I don’t know what a modal auxiliary is! Today we worked on contractions and reading comprehension. I certainly faltered at trying to explain why ‘they’re’ wasn’t spelled ‘there’…but they sound the same. At least I know that I am still pretty good at thinking on my feet.

My class told me today that teachers are held in very high esteem in India…even more so than parents. Before I knew it they were taking pictures of me up at the white board in my salwar, kameez, and duppatta (tunic, baggy pants, and scarf) to show their parents. Don’t worry – soon enough I will show you all the picture of my in my classic Indian wear – I know you are all dieing to see it.

We had a lecture today from a Economics professor about the economic state of India. The one statistic that stuck with me was that 75% of the 1.2 billion population make less than $2 a day. I believe the ironing man is one of the 75%.

I finished my day with attending a lovely dinner at my neighbor’s flat. The couple (a retired police officer/laywer, and his wife, a professor) invited me and my flatmates over for dinner. This had to be one of my highlights of my stay so far. I love interacting with locals, seeing lifestyles, and connecting with people. As we sat and had dinner and lively conversation about India and the US, I was overwhelmed with a thought. I don’t want this travel lifestyle to end. I am so happy doing what I’m doing – I just don’t want it to end. My neighbors have two daughters in NYC which I look forward to meeting one day and hopefully returning the lovely hospitality that their parents provided. I am absolutely overwhelmed by the hospitality here – I’ve never quite experienced a culture like this – so warm and friendly. People are genuinely interested in learning about you and vice versa. They love their tourists here – and they treat them with the utmost respect. It makes me re-think all of those times riding the subway in NY where I see foreigners that look lost and I do nothing…just keep walking. That’s not the case in India…it’s the anti-New York. Indians don’t go by the rule of ‘don’t talk to strangers’…as they think that the strangers are the most interesting people they meet – and you never know where you may end up! To top it off – everyone loves to have their picture taken here! What a photographer’s paradise!

I really love it here…it’s loud, crowded, dirty, and colorful…I walk around with a big grin on my face…it’s beautiful. Honestly – I can’t imagine anything surprising me anymore. I find it kind of fun though to watch my fellow volunteers who I’m living and working with deal with their entry into India. They are shocked, and exhausted from it all. It makes me feel good in a strange way – it makes me realize how much I’ve grown used to traveling, to constant change, to patience – and I’m very proud of that. This is really the first time that I think I’ve realized just how much I have changed this last year from my travels. I feel like I can honestly handle anything now…that I will roll with whatever comes my way – not get too wound up about anything. I wonder if anyone will notice a difference in me when I come back…I wonder how I will ever come back!

Spice Diaries – Vol 3, Aug 18

Sherry — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 07:17:41 +0000

Chandni Chowk Market Old Delhi

Finished week 1 – Intermittent Power and Water – But Plenty of Hospitality!

Whoohooo…..it’s the weekend! I’ve worked my butt off this week – mainly stressing out about teaching and banging my head against a wall when it comes to internet usage around here..which I can’t seem to find anywhere with any reliability.

Despite being in a nice air conditioned building with ample facilities to teach – I am having a very hard time teaching. This is mainly due to the amount of work that I have to do to prepare for teaching 2 different classes every day in English and Computers. The bad news is that I can’t even re-use what I’ve done for one class because one class is a beginning class barely learning their A,B,C’s and the other class wants me to teach them advanced grammar and HTML…it’s like teaching kindergarten and high school in the same day..and I’m not a teacher…nor do I know HTML. So – I try to spend my nights searching the internet for lesson plan ideas and tutorials on various topics ranging from coloring the rainbow to good website design. And then the power goes out for a few hours…oh – the unpredictability of India. Yesterday we also ran out of water…we now fill up buckets as a backup just in case we run out again.

My placement has it’s challenges – however – I just keep reminding myself to be thankful that I’m not assigned to Catherine’s position – working with a group of mentally ill patients in the slums. Monday her task is to cut the mental patients’ hair….the direction she was given was that it couldn’t look any worse than it does. All of a sudden my lesson planning looks pretty posh. At least I’m not cutting the lice ridden hair for the mentally ill in the slums of India – that’s pretty much hell.

This weekend I stayed in Delhi to see some of the sites around here as I haven’t had time during the week. This also meant that we could finally venture out and find an establishment that served alcohol. My favorite thing to do here in Delhi is simply ride in a car. I am enthralled by watching the world outside…the crazy world of bikes, people, cars, horns, cows, dogs, poverty, and buses packed 3 times as full as the C train at rush hour in NYC.

The first thing that I have learned is that the people here are extremely friendly. We have been invited to dinner or drinks by various neighbors, and shop keepers. Sure – some might be offered more as a cordial thing to say – but some of the offers are followed up on. One of the other volunteers the other day said – “When we see a foreigner in a grocery store we ignore them. Yet in India, when they see a foreigner in a market, they go straight up to the visitor and start talking to them, helping them, befriending them.” It’s absolutely true. I’ve never been showered with such hospitality before – it’s overwhelming. Plus, it’s so opposite from my experience in Egypt and Morocco – where you were stared at and hassled to no end. Sure – you still have to really have your guard up here in India – as there are many tourists scams to be wary of – but you use your best judgement and we always tell our CCS staff about the various invitations and interactions and they can direct us on who’s being genuine and who isn’t.

So – this weekend has been a good break – but now I’m back to lesson planning and hunting for internet connectivity – trying to get ready for my week ahead!

Spice Diaries – Vol 2, Aug 15

Sherry — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 07:06:58 +0000

Independence Day!

I’m surprised…very surprised by India. I’m surprised that I have adjusted so easily…dare I say it – but India was actually a very easy transition for me. Sure – as we drove from the airport to the flat on Saturday morning we dodged the cows in the road, I saw people sleeping out on the streets…we drove down the wrong side of the road most of the time, and ignored stop lights…but in my world these days…that’s all normal. I think I can finally call myself a seasoned traveler. However, what hasn’t been easy is the transition from vagabond to responsible worker. Simply typing the word responsible worker makes me cringe.

It’s Independence day here in India…the 60th Anniversary of their freedom from the British. It’s a national holiday – yet we’ve been instructed to stay close to our flat as the possibility of violence is heightened during this joyous time…which is par for the course in the ‘country of contrasts’ – India. So I sit here – filling my time with eating, reading magazines, writing, preparing lesson plans, and getting to know my new flatmates. There are 5 of us living in our flat – all Americans, all women, all over 30. Maybe volunteer vacations are the new mid-life crisis for women. Men buy a porcshe and have an affair, women go to third world countries and volunteer…go figure. We never seem to be on the same planet do we?

The most stunning thing I have learned so far is not that the cows roam freely everywhere …and I mean everywhere – but instead – I was stunned to find out the Code of Conduct for Cross Cultural Solutions does not allow any alcohol to be consumed during the weekday or in the flats. Somehow they left this out of the brochure. I know that I wouldn’t have missed a statement like that….no alcohol…the red warning light would have went off in my head for sure.

Since I have arrived, we have completed our orientation for our volunteer activities and have been set loose at our NGO’s. I have been assigned to the Habitat Learning Center – an oasis in the world of NGO’s. It’s an oasis because it’s a posh campus-like setting – with modern buildings, air conditioning, cafeteria, and computers. While my fellow flatmates are in mental institutions in the middle of slums, or teaching how to make jewelry in a hut in the slums – I’ve got it pretty good. My first surprise came when I found out that myself and another volunteer are to teach not one, but two separate classes of students – English and computers. Yesterday we went to meet our volunteer coordinator at our site, and my worst fear came true…she wasn’t there…but the kids were. Originally – we weren’t supposed to be teaching that day – simply meeting with the coordinator. However – before I knew it I was standing in front of 15 kids, and 2 mothers…all eyes on me – waiting to drip on my every English word…and I had no idea what to say. I hadn’t prepared anything to teach that day….but there they were – expecting us to teach. So – I did what I do best – think on my feet…starting with teaching the phrase “My name is ….” I hate being unprepared. Even with thousands of miles logged in my life this year – I am still a perfectionist…I can’t seem to shed it – no matter how hard I try.

So – I spend my day off trying to prepare without the internet at my disposal…which really makes me feel lost. I have spent the last hour pulling photos of Lions, Elephants, and oranges from my travel photography to help teach the English alphabet…reminding myself that it didn’t have to be perfect. I lay awake at night trying to sleep – but consumed with thoughts about how and what I will teach for 3 weeks with no real direction, no good grasp on teaching grammar, and no understanding of Hindi…I wanted a challenge – and I found it.

Now – if I could only find a beer…that would most certainly help me sleep at night!

Spice Diaries – Vol 1

Sherry — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 06:47:10 +0000

Photo: Market in Old Delhi preparing temple flowers

I have arrived in India…everyone said that it would be an assault to your senses, that it would be overwhelming, that it would be hard – after all, India is the big leagues for vagabonds like myself. Yet, I arrived here 5 days ago – and I’ve felt none of this. It’s been a simple transition so far – yet I proceed cautiously. My only explanation for this is that my past travel experiences have seasoned me – and for that, I’m immensely proud. I wear a big grin on my face and think to myself…India…try to shock me!

Granted – my ease with India also has to do with the fact that I’m not doing the normal travel thing through this country. Instead, I have decided to slow down a bit and give back. Traveling around the world for 15 months is a privilege and I am thankful for my opportunities every day – yet at some point, being thankful isn’t enough. When you become a global citizen, you want to give back. So that’s why I’m here…I want to do something for this world…and I chose India. I am ‘employed’ by a US based volunteer organization named Cross Cultural Solutions. I use the word employed loosely as I actually paid them to be here . That was my first myth of volunteering that I learned about…volunteering isn’t free. Cross Cultural Solutions (CCS) has a Delhi office and an efficient organized operation in India. They partner with the local Non Government Organizations (NGO’s) and assign the volunteers to work for these various local agencies. It’s the responsibility of CCS to take care of our daily needs though. They put the volunteers up in a middle income neighborhood flat, and they teach us about cultural exchange, Indian history, volunteering, and generally the staff supports us while we are in the country. This is a cultural exchange volunteer program – we provide our services and in exchange – we learn about the culture here and really try to integrate into it.

As I arrived in Delhi, a member of the CCS staff picked me up, gave me a welcome packet, dodged the cows in the middle of the road (no, I’m not joking) dropped me at my new apartment which I share with 5 other volunteers, and started orienting me to the local area and my upcoming work. This isn’t my usual off the plane experience (except for the cow) – so maybe that’s why it is going to smoothly so far. Oh yeah….CCS also employs full time cooks that provide us all of our meals….Indian meals…yum!

Photo: Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi

Lest you think this is about pampering…it isn’t. This is work. I will be teaching teenage kids who are impoverished and cannot attend regular school. I will be teaching them conversational English and general computer skills so that they can have a better chance to get a job without any formal schooling. One other thing…I don’t speak Hindi…so this is not going to be a walk in the park!

The weekends are our freetime to do whatever we want. I hope to have time to explore India from more of a traveling perspective – In addition to Delhi in depth, I hope to spend time in Jaipur, Agra, and Udaipur.

Since my time here in India is a little different from my previous travel experiences ( I actually have to set an alarm and get up and go to work…god forbid), I’m not real sure how well I will keep the website up to date. In addition there are daily power outages and a lack of good internet cafes in my new neighborhood. I actually have to take my free time to prepare lesson plans. Therefore, I think that I will be able to do short little posts – to let you know how things are going. I will call them Spice Diaries. Short little diary entries on my experience as a volunteer – good and bad – and not really edited – I will just keep it as more of a true diary. Once I finish my assignment I will focus on doing some more in depth travel writing again. This may come as a relief to some of you who complain to me that you are unable to keep up with my website!

So – use this time wisely – catch up on the site and the photos. Check into the site every now and then and read the Spice Diaries…and see what happens when an 11 month unemployed vagabonder has to go back to work for 4 weeks in a Third World country. Namaste!

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