Riding the bus in India is always an adventure. Some days the buses are super crowded and you are struggling to find enough space for your own two feet but other times you are able to get a seat and give your feet a break. While I think it is fair to say that is it most often the former rather than the latter, after 5 months of riding public transportation in India, I have learned a few tricks of the trade.
At first I was very conscious about being polite and letting others go before me but I’ve learned that you will just get trampled on doing so. It is important to make your body as big as possible and look out for yourself. Also, walking with your elbows out creates a little more personal space for yourself. It also makes it convenient if you need to throw a subtle elbow if someone gets in your way. I don’t think Indians expect me to know how to ride the bus, so when they see the American following the cultural standards they often stare in amazement.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Catch Up of Christmas and New Year Happenings
Christmas and New Year have come and gone. We are a couple weeks into 2011 but I wanted to fill you in on the holiday happenings here in India.
On December 23, Jim and I started our Christmas break by attending Madison’s school’s Christmas program. Except for the guest speaker who spoke WAY to long, it was a great last Christmas program before we headed to our supervisor’s house to celebrate Christmas. The highlight of the program was Madison dancing in a sari with her fifth grade girls…everyone in the audience loved it!!
Christmas in India is very simple compared to our celebrations and traditions in the States. Decorations consist of a large, single star hung outside of the house. In my opinion these are much more tasteful and classy then the gaudy lights with which Americans decorate their houses. People do carol however, churches use this time as a way to collect money so the purpose/meaning behind caroling is different between the two countries. On Christmas Eve it is common for churches to hold a Carol Service, however this year we did not attend a service on Christmas Eve. We did however, spend the night with Achen’s family sharing food (delicious cashews, I could have made a meal out them alone!!) and conversation.
Our Christmas day began with what seemed like a louder than normal Call to Prayer and the viewing of a Hindu burial service on TV. While the day was filled religiously diverse experiences, it was nonetheless a relaxing day complete with a simple communion service held at Achen’s house, ‘stockings’ or Santa filled hats, light Christmas music played throughout the house, and lots of skype dates! The simplicity of our Christmas day was something to be treasured and be remembered for Christmases to come.
A couple days after Christmas, Jim, Madison and I ventured to Goa, a state north of Kerala known for its beaches. This was our first over-night train experience in India! After 17 hours of travel (and to truthfully report, I decided to fast to keep the toilet usage to a minimal) it was exciting to arrive at our destination…an old Portuguese house! A family-friend of a YAV owns this old house in the middle of the state. The location was perfect as we were able to use it as our home-base and travel to different beaches each day. One night our adventures took us to a private island, where we stayed in a tikki-hut with no electricity and a broken toilet. Depending on the tide the only way to the island is by swimming…this made the experience that much memorable.
After spending 6 days relaxing under the sun it was back to our sites we went. The first couple days back were rough, I had a bad case of the post-holiday blues but thanks to lots of Christmas care packages, cards and emails, I was able to shake the blues away and am looking forward to what is in-store in the coming months!
On December 23, Jim and I started our Christmas break by attending Madison’s school’s Christmas program. Except for the guest speaker who spoke WAY to long, it was a great last Christmas program before we headed to our supervisor’s house to celebrate Christmas. The highlight of the program was Madison dancing in a sari with her fifth grade girls…everyone in the audience loved it!!
Christmas in India is very simple compared to our celebrations and traditions in the States. Decorations consist of a large, single star hung outside of the house. In my opinion these are much more tasteful and classy then the gaudy lights with which Americans decorate their houses. People do carol however, churches use this time as a way to collect money so the purpose/meaning behind caroling is different between the two countries. On Christmas Eve it is common for churches to hold a Carol Service, however this year we did not attend a service on Christmas Eve. We did however, spend the night with Achen’s family sharing food (delicious cashews, I could have made a meal out them alone!!) and conversation.
Our Christmas day began with what seemed like a louder than normal Call to Prayer and the viewing of a Hindu burial service on TV. While the day was filled religiously diverse experiences, it was nonetheless a relaxing day complete with a simple communion service held at Achen’s house, ‘stockings’ or Santa filled hats, light Christmas music played throughout the house, and lots of skype dates! The simplicity of our Christmas day was something to be treasured and be remembered for Christmases to come.
A couple days after Christmas, Jim, Madison and I ventured to Goa, a state north of Kerala known for its beaches. This was our first over-night train experience in India! After 17 hours of travel (and to truthfully report, I decided to fast to keep the toilet usage to a minimal) it was exciting to arrive at our destination…an old Portuguese house! A family-friend of a YAV owns this old house in the middle of the state. The location was perfect as we were able to use it as our home-base and travel to different beaches each day. One night our adventures took us to a private island, where we stayed in a tikki-hut with no electricity and a broken toilet. Depending on the tide the only way to the island is by swimming…this made the experience that much memorable.
After spending 6 days relaxing under the sun it was back to our sites we went. The first couple days back were rough, I had a bad case of the post-holiday blues but thanks to lots of Christmas care packages, cards and emails, I was able to shake the blues away and am looking forward to what is in-store in the coming months!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
'Tis the Season
My Christmas concert has come and gone and while the experience was one that I will always remember, I am in the holiday spirit more than ever!
My Christmas concert night began with 3 teachers dressing me in my light pink sari. At first I had a hard time feeling the holiday spirit as I was wrapped up in our pastel color uniform. I decided to put on some American Christmas music to get in the spirit. I sang along (warming up my vocal chords) as the teachers made me feel like a celebrity, pampering me and making sure each fold in the sari was just right. As I rang out the door, my auto (taxi) was waiting at the steps of the school to carry me off to my performance. If I didn’t feel like a movie star enough already, when I arrived at the enormous hall, the red carpet had been laid and was waiting for the choir’s grand entrance. The concert was a blast…and I’m not exaggerating. I was very skeptical of joining this choir in September but this night made it all worth it! Some of the songs we sang in Malayalam I ended up mouthing but at the end of the performance I was told that it just looked like I had more passion singing the English the songs. (I took that as a compliment.) The icing on the cake was my picture in the paper the next day… a souvenir worth hanging on the fridge when I return in July! As I came home that night, I was rejuvenated and excited for the season.
I must admit I was a little apprehensive about Christmas in India. Spending 4 years in college where the holiday spirit was buried under mounds of school work and the days closest to Christmas were full of cramming for finals, I was afraid I would spend another year missing the spirit of this season while in India. However, it has been quite the opposite. It seems that each day since the month of December has begun, I have done something related to Christmas. The day after my Christmas concert, I attended Jim’s Christmas concert I have taught Christmas carols in class (weird feeling to be sweating while teaching these though,) attended various types of Christmas related programs and helped the girls at Nicholson with the pronunciation of words as they prepare for their Christmas program.
My favorite activity has been making and decorating our newspaper Christmas tree. My friend, Katie sent foam ornaments for the girls to decorate. As we were decorating them today, one of the girls asked where the tree was…I didn’t have one was my initial response. But after putting on my resourceful thinking cap, I grabbed the morning paper and some paint so we could make a Christmas tree. We didn’t have a paint-brush but used our hands and clumps of newspaper to spread the paint out..it was a great collaborative effort! Each girl took a turn to “hang” their ornament on the tree as we sang O Come All Ye Faithful….it truly felt like Christmas! The girls have another week of school before their Christmas break begins and you can definitely feel the excitement in the air!
My Christmas concert night began with 3 teachers dressing me in my light pink sari. At first I had a hard time feeling the holiday spirit as I was wrapped up in our pastel color uniform. I decided to put on some American Christmas music to get in the spirit. I sang along (warming up my vocal chords) as the teachers made me feel like a celebrity, pampering me and making sure each fold in the sari was just right. As I rang out the door, my auto (taxi) was waiting at the steps of the school to carry me off to my performance. If I didn’t feel like a movie star enough already, when I arrived at the enormous hall, the red carpet had been laid and was waiting for the choir’s grand entrance. The concert was a blast…and I’m not exaggerating. I was very skeptical of joining this choir in September but this night made it all worth it! Some of the songs we sang in Malayalam I ended up mouthing but at the end of the performance I was told that it just looked like I had more passion singing the English the songs. (I took that as a compliment.) The icing on the cake was my picture in the paper the next day… a souvenir worth hanging on the fridge when I return in July! As I came home that night, I was rejuvenated and excited for the season.
I must admit I was a little apprehensive about Christmas in India. Spending 4 years in college where the holiday spirit was buried under mounds of school work and the days closest to Christmas were full of cramming for finals, I was afraid I would spend another year missing the spirit of this season while in India. However, it has been quite the opposite. It seems that each day since the month of December has begun, I have done something related to Christmas. The day after my Christmas concert, I attended Jim’s Christmas concert I have taught Christmas carols in class (weird feeling to be sweating while teaching these though,) attended various types of Christmas related programs and helped the girls at Nicholson with the pronunciation of words as they prepare for their Christmas program.
My favorite activity has been making and decorating our newspaper Christmas tree. My friend, Katie sent foam ornaments for the girls to decorate. As we were decorating them today, one of the girls asked where the tree was…I didn’t have one was my initial response. But after putting on my resourceful thinking cap, I grabbed the morning paper and some paint so we could make a Christmas tree. We didn’t have a paint-brush but used our hands and clumps of newspaper to spread the paint out..it was a great collaborative effort! Each girl took a turn to “hang” their ornament on the tree as we sang O Come All Ye Faithful….it truly felt like Christmas! The girls have another week of school before their Christmas break begins and you can definitely feel the excitement in the air!
Top 10 Reasons to Wear A Sari
After 3.5 months of wearing a churidar, I mustered up the courage to try a sari. It was a great decision for many reasons!Here’s my top 10:
10) Felt like a professional teacher
9) Now can appreciate the slow pace Indian women walk
8) Feel prepared to go to the bathroom in a wedding dress
7) Forced me to sit like a lady ALL day
6) Great bonding session with the teacher who dressed me
5) Couldn’t overeat at lunch
4) Felt more confident in the classroom
3) Appreciate how quickly Indian women can walk up steps
2) 400 girls told me how beautiful I looked on a day that the side effects of the prednisone had me feeling otherwise.
1)Loved the pampering of having someone else dress you
A Feast to Remember
The holidays are a hard time to spend away from family no matter the distance. I knew this Thanksgiving would be different as it was the first Thanksgiving that I would not be with my blood family. However, I was able to spend the day celebrating with my Indian family and it will be a Thanksgiving I always remember.
Achen and Kochamma out did themselves as went out of their way to make sure we had an American Thanksgiving. We feasted on chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and carrots, stuffing and a PUMPKIN pie with ice cream! It was delicious. I think I ate more chicken at this meal than I have ever eaten in my 22 years of living. The five of us devoured the whole chicken, and were still able to ask for seconds on ice cream! (Indian ice cream is delicious- I would compare it to Dairy Queen, but twice as smooth and creamy!!)
Many laughs were shared at the table as we enjoyed each other’s company and cumbersomely attempted to eat our meals Western style…with silverware. After eating with our hands for 3 months, it seemed bizarre to use a fork. It didn’t take long for Madison and I to discover the fun of eating mashed potatoes with our hands. We ditched the fork and resumed the customary eating with our hands, a memory I will always remember.
Many laughs were shared at the table as we enjoyed each other’s company and cumbersomely attempted to eat our meals Western style…with silverware. After eating with our hands for 3 months, it seemed bizarre to use a fork. It didn’t take long for Madison and I to discover the fun of eating mashed potatoes with our hands. We ditched the fork and resumed the customary eating with our hands, a memory I will always remember.
This Thanksgiving, I had much to be thankful for. I found that being removed from all the normal holiday commotion in the U.S., it was much easier to take time to reflect on all the blessings in my life. However, in addition to Thanksgiving being a time to remember our blessings, I now also see it as a celebration! Achen gave a thoughtful Thanksgiving devotion before we shared our meal together that shed new light on the holiday for me. In the coming years, I will not only remember the year I feasted with my hands while eating more chicken than I have ever eaten in my 22 years of life, I will also remember to take time and celebrate!!
(It's actually boiled water in the Smirnoff bottle, there was no vodka included in our feast...as much as we may have enjoyed a stiff drink!! :)
Monday, November 15, 2010
A Piece of My Puzzle
My blog posts have taken a slight hiatus but this is in no reflection due to anything here. In fact, it is quite the opposite. So much has happened, I can’t keep up! As I sit down to write, I’m amazed it’s the middle of November. Where has the month gone? As I take time to process my thoughts, I’m struck with the thought of how will this year affect the rest of my life. As life is becoming remarkably comfortable, I wonder how another 8 months will change who I am. I feel like I am just beginning to understand the culture and while I yearn to understand it more fully, I also wonder what I will bring back to the United States. Right now I’m trying to put the pieces together, digest what I am experiencing and identify places where the two cultures collide. As I think about this, my thoughts end in a jumble mess, trying to process experiences and relate them to realities in the United States.
During our last retreat (October 28-Oct 31,) we learned more extensively about the caste system and how it affects daily life. Jim, one of the other volunteers, articulates what we learned so well that I suggest looking at his blog for great detail. http://simpsonjim.blogspot.com/ (Post from November 4th) Through these conversations I was most struck by the complexities of daily life issues. In the daily routine at Nicholson it is easy for me to surround myself with the simplicities of Indian life and enjoy the small things I never appreciated in our consumer and productivity driven society. In a way I feel like I have been removed from the harsh realities people face, as I am surrounded with children’s delight. However, after talking with people from lower castes (and actually people who are not even considered part of the caste system- because they are so ‘low’) the micro-aggressions people face a daily basis, reminds one that life isn’t simple. Our being, whether in North America or Asia, can change others miles away. We each face daily hard-ships, some harder than others but working together we can each do our part to make each day easier for others. As I am still connecting my thoughts to make clearer linkages, and understand what I will most take out of this year, I sit with one concrete thought our actions affect someone else.
In other news my crazy eye has flared up and I have gotten to experience the medical side of Indian life. Three weeks ago, I was sitting in morning chapel when my eye began bothering me- I took some ibuprofen hoping to beat the headache that I assumed was coming next. The pain remained and a couple days later I woke up as Cyclops with my right eye completely swollen. I knew exactly what it was from the pain and symptoms. Seeing as though its not horribly common and has been mis-diagnosed in the US, I was dreading the idea of going to the doctor here and trying to explain what was going on, especially when I knew the only way to correct the muscle inflammation was to take high dosages of steroids. It did take a couple tries to get the correct medicine and dosage, but the doctors were very patient and thorough as they worked with me.
The language barrier was difficult and frustrating at points but through grace and learning to accept others’ help, I am on the way to recovery. I must admit it was difficult, to ask for help. However, through this experience I learned to advocate for myself, standing-up for myself to receive the help I needed. I hated the fact that others went out of their way to help me- but this taught me a lesson. In order to give, you must be able to receive. Furthermore, I was reminded that this year is not all about what I can offer the people here, but rather, who can we be together. While I would have loved to learn this lesson in a way that didn’t involve taking steroids and blowing up a like a balloon, it was important that I was reminded of this as I continue to become more at home in this community and begin to understand how this year will affect the rest of my life.
The biggest bummer about the eye is the affect it will have on my ability to run the marathon on the 21st. Well I am disappointed, it was decided that running would not be the best idea. I have however, found some weights, so maybe instead of a marathon I can enter a body building competition.
I’m excited to have my full vision back, as along with clear sight, a greater appreciation for my health and a refreshed perspective on Indian life will be renewed.
During our last retreat (October 28-Oct 31,) we learned more extensively about the caste system and how it affects daily life. Jim, one of the other volunteers, articulates what we learned so well that I suggest looking at his blog for great detail. http://simpsonjim.blogspot.com/ (Post from November 4th) Through these conversations I was most struck by the complexities of daily life issues. In the daily routine at Nicholson it is easy for me to surround myself with the simplicities of Indian life and enjoy the small things I never appreciated in our consumer and productivity driven society. In a way I feel like I have been removed from the harsh realities people face, as I am surrounded with children’s delight. However, after talking with people from lower castes (and actually people who are not even considered part of the caste system- because they are so ‘low’) the micro-aggressions people face a daily basis, reminds one that life isn’t simple. Our being, whether in North America or Asia, can change others miles away. We each face daily hard-ships, some harder than others but working together we can each do our part to make each day easier for others. As I am still connecting my thoughts to make clearer linkages, and understand what I will most take out of this year, I sit with one concrete thought our actions affect someone else.
In other news my crazy eye has flared up and I have gotten to experience the medical side of Indian life. Three weeks ago, I was sitting in morning chapel when my eye began bothering me- I took some ibuprofen hoping to beat the headache that I assumed was coming next. The pain remained and a couple days later I woke up as Cyclops with my right eye completely swollen. I knew exactly what it was from the pain and symptoms. Seeing as though its not horribly common and has been mis-diagnosed in the US, I was dreading the idea of going to the doctor here and trying to explain what was going on, especially when I knew the only way to correct the muscle inflammation was to take high dosages of steroids. It did take a couple tries to get the correct medicine and dosage, but the doctors were very patient and thorough as they worked with me.
The language barrier was difficult and frustrating at points but through grace and learning to accept others’ help, I am on the way to recovery. I must admit it was difficult, to ask for help. However, through this experience I learned to advocate for myself, standing-up for myself to receive the help I needed. I hated the fact that others went out of their way to help me- but this taught me a lesson. In order to give, you must be able to receive. Furthermore, I was reminded that this year is not all about what I can offer the people here, but rather, who can we be together. While I would have loved to learn this lesson in a way that didn’t involve taking steroids and blowing up a like a balloon, it was important that I was reminded of this as I continue to become more at home in this community and begin to understand how this year will affect the rest of my life.
The biggest bummer about the eye is the affect it will have on my ability to run the marathon on the 21st. Well I am disappointed, it was decided that running would not be the best idea. I have however, found some weights, so maybe instead of a marathon I can enter a body building competition.
I’m excited to have my full vision back, as along with clear sight, a greater appreciation for my health and a refreshed perspective on Indian life will be renewed.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
A thought from Henri J.M. Nouwen
For lack of my owns, I found Henri J.M. Nouwen's words to be soothing this week.
You also know that the fulfillment of your burning desire for intimate friendships, shared ministry, and creative work will not bring you what you really want. It is a new experience for you to feel both the desire and its unreality. You sense that nothing but God’s love can fulfill your deepest need while the pull to other people and things remains strong. It seems that peace and anguish exist side by side in you, that you both desire distraction and prayer concentration….
It is clear that something in you is dying, and something is being born. You must remain attentive, calm, and obedient to your best intuitions…You feel vulnerable but safe at the same time. Jesus is where you are, and you can trust the he will show you the next step.
~Henri J.M. Nouwen
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