hurray!

I am finally over jet lag. Hurray! I woke up this morning feeling great and ready to take on the world. sort of. it took me awhile to build up the courage to walk down the poverty ridden street to the web cafe, but eventually i did it. I am getting to know the other volunteers better and things are looking up. This one girl from ireland is leaving on Thursday, which is kind of sad, because she has been really great and helpful, telling me good places to go, how to get around, what to look out for, what are helpful words to know etc. The other two woman will still be here through october so its ok. The new volunteers with me are nice as well. one girl from portland, she's a baby! just graduated high school - another 24 year old country girl from canada, she's super sweet and fun. The new girls are nice, but we would be lost if older volunteers weren't around. Vishal, the GVN volunteer coordinator just dropped us off and said see you on monday, just hang out for a few days...well..ok? we'll be fine, sure, don't worry about us. we'll explore...i actually am getting a better feel for the city and spent a long time this morning studying a map. i'm really excited to go to the India museum and look at the huge Queen Victoria memorial/garden area which is home to a nice city park and gardens. There is also supposed to be a great modern art gallery, not to mention all the temples that deserve frequenting. We have weekends off so hopefully i will get to see everything i want to...there is just so much in this city..Tuesday is Gandhi's birthday so that should be pretty exciting as well. unfortunately it is hard to take pictures - it is just sort of rude to take out your fancy camera and start snapping shots at random people on the street. Once i start my work and get to know people I will probably be able to take more. Here are just a few i took from my fancy hotel room and our guest house last night...nevermind it didn't work.

Day Two

It is crazy to think that this is only day two of staying at the BMS. We tried to go to this great clothing shop called Fabindia but the other volunteers were late and the directions we got from some one else were wrong and it ended up being a long day of walking in the heat. We saw the perfect example of the paradox that is India today. Walking along the streets where people call their homes with the stench of a city that never stops moving, we walk into a department store just like any JCPenny, where you can buy western clothes, electronics, there is even a regular grocery store. Milling around are the middle class of the city with fancy clothes and fancy cars. Its as if what was outside never existed..We went in because it was air conditioned. It is sooooo hot. Your clothes are just completly soaked. always. everyday. Anu, the woman who runs BMS, the mission house we are staying at is great though. She is doing her best to make us feel at home and get over the culture shock. She says it is important to have a sense of humor in this country. Time does not move in the same way. I have another day of just hanging around tomorrow before I go to orientation...it is sooo hot.

kolcata!

wow. what a whirlwind adventure. two 9 hour flights, at least I got to see the new Pirates of the Carribean. one would think the flights would be the adventure. oh no. nice try. upon arrival at the airport there was no sign with my name. lost. no where to go. right off the plane. After trying the numbers I was given at my guest house, and after finding out the numbers were out of order i began to pace back and forth nervously. BEing a scared, small, white girl i had a few dudes following me around asking if i needed a ride anywhere. no, i didn't want them to give me a ride, and no i had no idea where to tell them to go even I was stupid enough to get in the car with them. Then, a Dutch (i thought she was french) woman came out. one of the guys with names on signs was for her. she seemed legit. i went up and asked if I could hitch a ride with her and she said sure. She was going to Goya but had a hotel room for the day while she waited for the train. The drive to the hotel was out of this world. people everywhere, cars everywhere, showering in the streets, changing in the streets, driving, talking, human powered rickshaws, dirt, grime, words cannot describe. pictures will come soon. anyway, get to hotel, get an overpriced room, have a nervous breakdown, take shower, go downstairs and e-mail GVN contact, within the hour Vishan had called me to apologize. i wasn't in the mood to talk to the dude who left me stranded so i said to pick me up tomorrow. Then an hour later he showed up to the hotel to apologize again and i said, ok, take me to the guest house. GVN paid for my hotel and taxi cab ride which was great. now instead of a shishy hotel room I'm in a guest house sharing a room with 9 other people. Its cool though, i can get acclimated. on the way to this web cafe i saw mother theresa's tomb. This place is insane.

Picture Test

I'm testing my new fancy camera. I am new to the whole uploading pictures on the web trend...a few years late, I know. I can't imagine how I will be when I am 50 plus years old. I am barely in my twenties and all ready find myself dumbfounded by technology..thus is life.






So...why am I leaving this beautiful place again?

Step One-hundred and thirty-two

Less than one week from departure. Almost all details in place and excitement begins, only to be thwarted by conservative, over-bearing know it alls who think I cannot do this. Do they think I don't know I'm going somewhere completely different? Somewhere with different cultures and values. Do I reverse 6 years of independence and self reliance? Do they think I am not capable of adapting myself and changing plans based on the environment. Regardless I will take their criticisms and worries and not let it bother me. However, I don't like the idea of people losing years off their lives worrying about me, but all I can do is prove them wrong I suppose. Being defensive wont change what people have thought and believed since before my birth. "thankyou for your concern", "yes, I see, people will think I'm a whore and wont want me to marry into their family, I will take that into account"...great. just great.