blissed (and slightly streesed) out

greetings lovelies. this blog comes to you from the beautiful idyllic beaches of varkala. i am treating myself to a wonderful graduation present, because i am officially a certified yoga teacher. yes that right, i survived the month and received the diploma. it was a long hard month, but well worth the effort for the sole reason of the wonderful people i was able to get to know. and of course, being a yoga teacher.

but i'm getting ahead of myself here. currently, the biggest issue is that i'm truly and completely alone for the first time since june. i'm in varkala by myself, in a hotel (actually a hut) by myself, in a place that where i know nothing or no one. it's incredibly strange. incredibly. and quiet. eerily quiet. after 8 months of being consistently and constantly surrounded by people (granted wonderful people), i am forced to face the solidarity, the stillness and the silence head on. well, i was hoping for silence. silence would be nice. instead, my mind senses the upcoming challenges and changes creeping forward with the rapidly advancing calender days (seriously, december already, what happened?). in reaction and in revolt, my mind is filling my head with a chaotic clamor, confusion and stress of the thoughts of returning home and returning to "real life." life in india has been good, not always easy, but good, and comforting in its predictable unpredictablness. in less than a month i will leave all of that, and return to a host of unknowns and changes. don't get me wrong, of course, i love change, and i love home. it's just the transition that gets a little sticky. and thus my mind is getting a little panicky.

therefore i have come up with a solution. first- stop freaking out because the changes are good changes. needed changes and will bring along with the challenges, great reward and happiness. second- take all of this alone time and be productive with it. this is done by catching you up on the adventures that i have undergone during the last month. so that's my plan. lay on the beaches all day, swim and tan my little heart out, and then sit down and tell you all far away tales of far away adventures. i must admit, i am looking forward to the day when i have the option of sitting just a cup of coffee (or a hard drink) distance away from you and filling you in face to face. just so much better than blog communication. soon my loves, soon.

still here

hello all you beautiful people. i know that i've been mia during traveling, and i will continue to remain so apart from this short blog until i return home from TTC. which is in 7 days exactly. however, i also plan to lay on the beautiful beach of varkala for a few days post graduation in order to rest my bruised, beaten (yet bendy!) body with some TLC in the form of surf, sand and sun. but i promise that i will give you all updates on my past month and a half of adventure. but in short, it's been fantastic, amazing, wonderful, etc... just a quick update that myself and the rest of the UMB group was safe from all of the mumbai attacks and were not near the city. so no worries. expect more later, but for now, the beach beckons...

all my love.

on the road yet again...

alright loves. it's that time again. time to travel. "school" is officially over (we use the word school quite loosely here). work is, well almost over. i still have 2 more days and a week in december to finish all the documents that i need to complete. so i'm sure it will get done somehow. but on to more exciting things. travel, travel, travel... here's the itinerary thus far.

nov 4th- sadly we say goodbye to jeremy and erika for the last time as they head north together for a bit before heading home. tuesday evening caitlin and i take an overnight bus heading for mysore. upon arriving we will immediately run to an internet cafe (or wait for a phone call...) and watch obama win the election (fingers crossed). the rest of our time there will be exploring temples and gardens and what not. we'll spend two days and one night in mysore and on nov 6th we'll be on an overnight train from mysore to chennai where we will met up with ingrid and jessica.

nov 7th we'll be on a flight heading to port blair in the andaman islands! we'll be in the islands until the 13th of november, when ingrid and i will be exploring the deep blue sea and getting certified in scuba diving from here. feel free to look around the site and get nice and jealous. ingrid and i were walking to school today and realized that in less than a week we'll be diving among dolphins, flying fish, and i've got my fingers crossed for some sharks! the andamans are well know as one of the best diving spots in the world so needless to say we are rather excited. besides, laying on beatiful, unspioled beaches won't be too bad either.

we'll leave paradise on nov 13th and catch a flight north to calcutta. spend a couple days there sightseeing, christmas shopping for my loves and enjoying the city. sadly, i will have to leave my squirrels (jessica, ingrid and caitlin) in calcutta while they go on to bigger and better adventures throughout northern india.

on nov 15th i leave the north and fly back down to the south, this time to tirvandrum instead of kochi. i head straight for sivananda ashram in neyar dam. if you've kept up with this blog you've already heard all about it, seen the pictures and read about my debate regarding yoga teacher training. needless to say, i decided to go for it and will be locking myself into the ashram for an entire month! i will emerge an december 15th an officially certified yoga teacher! i'm rather excited about it, i know it will be a tough trying month, but i also knw that i will met some wonderful people and not have to miss my wonderful UMB family too much, all who will be leaving india (and me) behind during my TTC. be sure to enjoy thanksgiving a bit extra for me, take an extra helping of food and think of me doing 5 hours of yoga daily... upon certification, i will leave the ashram and head back to home sweet kochin home. and stay with our wonderful family again.

i will return and work at CASP until christmas eve, finishing up my documents and manuals. on dec 24th i will head to the airport to welcome scott shook to india and spend christmas off on fantastic adventures, including a few days in goa, and the excitement of trying not to die while kite surfing and rock climbing.

from there on dec 27th we catch a flight up to delhi and met up with the entire turner family, babies included. we criss cross through the north for a bit, hitting agra, jaipur and several small 'sights' along the way. we'll stay in the north, ring in 2009 in the highest of style before heading back down to the south on jan 1st. from there we have some wonderful adventures planned, including houseboats, beaches, fort cochin, elephants, tigers, and curry. lots of curry. exciting things. the family heads home around jan 10th, and i leave a day behind them on jan 11th. i've got a 24 hour layover and hotel in qatar, so i get to get out and explore a bit before heading home. and then...home sweet home on jan 12th! and a big party to celebrate that on, i don't know, jan 13th? does that sound good?

i know that these last few months are going to fly by as i'm traveling with my loves, and getting certified in just about everything i can think to get certified in. i am looking forward to christmas and my family being here, and i'm also very looking forward to be back in the good old U.S. of A. goodbyes will be hard, but the homecoming will be sweet.

and that, dear reader is where i will be from tuesday through january. i will try blog it up as much as i can, but can't make any promises. here's to sleepless nights, dirty feet, travel books, questionable street food, living out of a bag, and the unmistakable smile of a content traveler.

“adventure is a path. real adventure - self-determined, self-motivated, often risky - forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. the world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. in this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind - and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. this will change you. nothing will ever again be black-and-white.”
- mark jenkins

vanity fair

yesterday i went with two other UMB kids, and our wonderful new australian friends on a field trip of sorts. we were supposed to visit the other rajagiri campus (engineering and technology) and at the last minute were told that we were going to 'stop by' another campus for a 'brief informal meeting with the students.' having been in india long enough, i knew that neither of the above were true. i knew instead that this meant it was going to be very formal (we got roses upon our arrival, the president of the school made a speech and we sat in chairs on a stage in front of about 60 students) and very long (it was about 3 hours). not so good considering impending deadlines of field, but good when accounting the chai and fried bananas, and totally worth it to hear jeremy belt out "a whole new world" a cappella on the stage by himself, because of course, there was a cultural performance and we were expected to do something. jer bailed the americans out (which we love him for), but left the sleep deprived jet-lagged austrians on their own to crank out a... special version of the aussie national anthem.

anyway, all day long i had a feeling of deja-vu. i felt like i was there before and had experienced the same situation. later, only after looking at brochures for the college did i learn this was true. i had done it before. the exact same experience, same room, same roses even. my UMB group from january 2007 was featured front and center of the brochure for the entire school! the greatest part is that this picture was taken during our 'cultural performance', and therefore in this picture, we are currently singing 'lean on me'. if you look really hard you can see a corner of myself on the far right, desperately avoiding the mic for the sake of everyone else in the room. i'd like to point out my love carolyn on the far left, clapping to the beat, julia in the bright blue rocking the mic...and the song, and liz in the middle, singing her heart out. good job ladies, way to make the US proud. it was a hilarious discovery, one that once the principal discovered, made very public. quite an experience. so it just goes to show you that what happens in india...will be documented via camera and will live on for eternity.

sweet sorrow

it seems to me that there is never a good or "right" time to say goodbye. the finality of goodbye never matches the fleeting actuality of the event. it never goes quite the way that you envisioned it. i've learned that i'm terrible at goodbyes. i always seem to be too busy, too distracted, too attached or too distant, too angry, too sad, too eager, too awkward, too unprepared, or too unwilling.

we've started to "terminate" our relationships here. terminate. what a terrible social work word. in our field, at the end of services, we terminate with our clients and we terminate the relationship that we have built with them. and that's what we have to do here. its part of the experience, part of the "job".

but how to say goodbye to people we've invested ourselves in for 6 months, people we've lived with, people we've laughed with, cried with, and grown with? how do you say goodbye to an entire culture, an entire country? answers to these questions i do not possess, so i continue in my standard sub par form of goodbye, which always seems to fall short and never quite honors the full extent of the relationship, or adequately expresses how much i valued it. i know that saying goodbye to come here was difficult, and here again, half a year later, i find that the thought of saying goodbye to return back home is already proving wearisome. life here cannot be continued as is without acknowledging the giant 'termination' lurking around the corner, inching nearer with each passing day.

last night i was invited over to my supervisors house for a final dinner and a form of goodbye. i say goodbye to half of my UMB family november 4th, and to the rest of them a few weeks later. i say my final goodbyes at CASP in december. i'll say goodbye at the ashram after a month long teacher training which will be yet another difficult goodbye. it saddens me to even think about saying goodbye to our house family that has truly become our family this year. and the harsh reality that these relationships will never be the same again, never the way that they are right now, in this circumstance, this instance. and the vast majority of goodbyes to people here will in fact be irrevocable, and those goodbyes seem to be the most daunting and severe in their finality.

it seems that life is a perpetual revolving door of investing wholly into relationships and their impending and unavoidable termination. but thus is life i suppose, and at the end of the day, i need to acknowledge and accept that each relationship and even their subsequent goodbye is in fact, a gift.

"so dawn goes down to day.
nothing gold can stay."
-frost

location, location, location

here is a brief overview of where i'll be for the next 2 and a half months. not too shabby if i may say so myself, and i will say so myself. i'll update and give you a play by play of where i'm doing, what i'll be doing, and who i'll be with at a later date, just to keep the jealously seething. it's what i do best. i'm sending out 2008 with a bang. a bang and numerous numerous adventures.

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i've also been meaning to post about serval major cultural differences between american and india before i leave and forget all about it. so feel free to make sure i do that.

loving missing and anticipating

i love:
YOU, india, dinners with our Indian family, my UMB family, cherai beach, videos from home featuring taylor and noa, thunderstorms at night, samosas, sweedish fish, arrested development during blackouts, photography, paris, yoga, parotas, public health work, adventures and exploration, barock obama, the turners...

i miss:
YOU, america, my 1371 girls, my b'more loves, taylor and noa, pumpkin spice lattes, pizza, starbucks, my matrix, fall weather, football-football-football, cookies, my roommate, my roommate's amazing house, thai food, nights out in b'more, my bed, wine, hot showers, the turners...

i can't wait for:
YOU, scuba certification, travel with my squirrels, yoga teacher training certification, christmas with scott, new years with the turners, seeing the taj, the election, the 1371 reunion, reunions with everyone else, graduation!, D.C., getting a grown-up job, moving HOME...

disclaimer- this blog was written late night in about 4 minutes. it was meant to include indian things that i love, american things that i miss, and upcoming adventures that i am looking forward to. it was not meant to exclude anyone or anything, so i have added in "you" on every category, just to make sure there are no hurt feelings. i love you all, miss you all, and can't wait to see you all. happy now?

the evil monkey

We took a day trip to Munnar with our family this past weekend. It was Ingrid’s birthday and with the stress consistently increasing, we felt it was a good time to get away, even if just for the day. We rented the most uncomfortable vehicle imaginable and all 8 of us piled in with the driver. It was a wonderful day filled with mountains, tea, cooler weather and wild goats, monkey and elephants. One of the above almost gave me rabies. Not the tea, don’t worry. True story:

The last time we had an encounter with Indian monkeys was one of my very first days in India. We were ‘tagging along’ with another schools program, but the group was small, so small in fact that it only consisted of 2 students and 2 teachers. Our UMB6 quickly overpowered them, and in the course of talking to the teachers, found out that they so lovingly referred to their students as “Thing One and Thing Two.” Now that’s the kind of esteem and respect you hope to find in a potential future job reference. Anyway, long story short, we arrived at the waterfalls, and Thing Two decides it’s a good time to lean out of the window and take a picture. Bad, bad timing for her. Good timing for the monkey who had just made his own “Thing Two’ into his hand and was looking for the nearest victim to relive his excrement on. Thing Two, met number two. All over your arm. Needless to say, Thing Two did NOT handle it well, and it instantly became a classic story in our group. So this is my latest impression of monkeys, my first impression of the poo-throwing/candy-stealing monkeys my family encountered in Africa only served to reinforce my disdain and constant suspicion of the naked butt beasts. Not cute, not something I want to be friends with. Family guy nailed it with their portrayal. However, dear Ingrid did not share this viewpoint. We had stopped at some waterfall on our journey to higher elevations, and had gotten down to take some pictures. After a minute or two, Ingrid suggests that we go get closer to the group of monkeys on the side of the road. My first reaction was a strong empathetic no!, however, it was her birthday and she assured me that I would not get poo thrown at me. So we ventured closer. And a little closer. There was a little baby monkey that despite my hesitation, was rather cute. Two of the monkeys were wrestling with each other and in their play, also moving closer to us. Before we realized it, they were really close. Really close. So close they suddenly froze mid-play. As we locked eyes, I remember thinking “This isn’t going to end well.” Ingrid and I both had one of the slow motion moments where you know you need to react fast, but you are stuck in a trance. The two monkeys crouched down and I kid you not, started to growl at us. Never knew monkeys could do that, but I’m here to tell you it happens. And than they leaped off the wall. Charging directly at us. A thought crossed my mind about the 8 consecutive extremely painful rabies shots in my rear and how that would most certainly ruin the day for us. Ingrid however, reacted slightly different. She screamed. And not just any scream…three to be exact. Each increasing in volume, length and intensity. The last shriek may have had the ability to break glass. Around the 2nd or 3rd scream she totally pulled a George from Seinfield move and PUSHED ME in the way of the monkey charging us. Fantastic. I managed to pry myself from Ingrid’s kung fu grasp and started to sprint- arms failing like an idiot (or like pheobe) away from the rabies infected beasts. However, at this point, I lose my shoe. I look back to see lost shoe and two monkeys chasing us and get the terrifying realization that they just might pick up my shoe and disappear into the wilderness with it. And considering that I only have 2 pairs here, that would be bad news bears. So I turned around and started back with the decision that come hell or rabies, I was going to retrieve that shoe. Turns out, the monkeys were just as scared of us as we were of them, and immediately retreated. I retrieved my shoe and turned around to find that the whole country of India was staring at us. And laughing. And so we were. Laughing and trembling. Without fail, every time we thought about that for the rest of the day (and even now) we would burst into laughter. Definitely the highest of comedy.

The rest of the day was quite enjoyable due to the beautiful weather, beautiful scenery, beautiful company…and lack of infectious diseases.

in honor of ingrid, for pulling a 'george'

the actual monkey, seconds before he leapt off the wall towards me baring his teeth.

overheard in india...part II

a conversation from our recent goa adventures. first day on the beach, we were laying out, soaking up the rays. everyone once in a while (on average, every 2.3 seconds) a group of women would come up to us in attempts to sell us some worthless crap that we didn't want. their selling technique was quite simple in its brilliance, start up conversation and continue to persist relentlessly until our will to live was shattered and we would be forced to buy a cheap anklet in exchange for a moment of silence. our normal defense mechanism against them was to pretend like we were sleeping until they go away. this woman did not believe our shut-eyed ploy (maybe it was because we were clearly laughing so hard our entire bodies were shaking) and decided to sit down and start up a conversation. enclosed is the transcript.

woman vendor: "hello. how are you."
undisclosed UMB student: "okay."
woman vendor: "where you coming from?"
undisclosed UMB student: "America."
woman vendor: "how long you been here?"
undisclosed UMB student: "we just got here today."
woman vendor: "oh okay. that's why you so white. like a chicken."
jessic...opps, undisclosed UMB student: "...thank you. yes, that is why."
woman vendor- finally figures out that she will not make any sales after comparing her potential costumer to poultry and wonders off to harass someone else.

*on another note, this same undisclosed student got a sunburn that first day, leaving her 'chicken' body rather red. another one in our group decided to so lovingly call her 'fricassee chicken.' great fun. we really do love each other...promise.

this conversation brings up another point. the decline of our english speaking abilities. i realized that we have abandoned our normal speaking ways and adapted to the indian-english dialogue when we were in our house (just with american students) and my phone in the other room started to ring, i asked completely seriously, not on purpose: "ericka. my phone. you have?" oh grammar at it's finest. here's hoping i revert back quickly in january or else they might not give me my degrees after all.

good day. you all have.

europe excursions in oh eight

travel breaks down a kind of inner structure we have. stripped of our props, deprived of our masks, we are completely on the surface of ourselves." -camus

greetings to all you beautiful people. sorry for my long absence. where to start? i have returned from my extended traveling holiday and immediately was thrown into the stress of internship’s impending end that surprisingly is lurking right around the corner. its hard to believe that we are actually on the 'final stretch' of our time here, but in reality the weeks and months continue to fall with increasing rapidness from the calendar, pushing us very close to november, and thus the end. so needless to say, the stress mounts and the pressure increases. but alas, i will save that discussion until later, and i will return to the blogging business at hand of attempting to provide a (somewhat brief) update of my past several weeks.

just for the record- travel in my eyes is considered a privilege and not a right. some have the wonderlust bug in their system, some do not- none the best or the worse. i've been blessed to be able to travel enough at this stage of my life that i've realized that this is not a fleeting affair that will be satisfied by a specific rendezvous, but instead, a lifelong relationship that will always exist. again, i digress, all of this to say that my predictable restlessness had set in, and the desire to travel once again reared its tempting head. so therefore, i forewent a decent amount of my hard earned (loan) money, many dependable nights sleep, a consistent reliable schedule and the comforts of home and instead ventured out and boarded first a train for goa and soon following, a plane bound for amsterdam. i loaded up my backpack and equipped myself with travel books, bikinis, sunscreen and sweatshirts and scarves to accommodate both beach and fall weather. most importantly, i was equipped with the greatest traveling partners a girl could hope for. the moral of the story- september not only lived up to its remarkably high expectations, it vastly exceeded them. here's the run down organized into location/countries:

goa: oh goa. so very different than kerala. while clearly still in india, it felt like a world away. where kerala is conservative, goa is liberal. where kerala closes up and goes to bed at a reasonable hour, goa is the indian city that doesn't sleep…ever. where kerala covers up with salwars and churidars, goa supports bikinis and mini skirts. it was different to say the least but we enjoyed the freedom that goa offered and adjusted quickly. we spent our days in goa lounging on the beach, applying sunscreen and flipping to ensure even tans (sunburns for some white ‘chickens’), enjoying simple luxuries and recovering from the trails of rural camp. we spent our nights in goa in quality restaurants, searching for clubs that played hip hop music instead of techno/trance and dancing the nights away accompanied by whatever foreign friends we made that night. we created many stories and experiences that will be protected by the sacred bond of travel secrecy and will not be repeated, especially not via blog. moral of the story, despite initial hesitations, overall goa did not disappoint. the level of sadness i felt upon departing my UMB crew was surprising, it was the first time in 4 months that i was not constantly by their side. my mind played tricks on me at first and during my flight to amsterdam, i could have sworn that i was hearing jessica speaking behind me, and the girl up ahead looked remarkably like ingrid. apparently we’ve all become a little codependence…and a little crazy. can’t think of a better group to be both with.

amsterdam: welcome to europe. to be honest, i can sum up my time in amsterdam with two simple words that pack a powerful punch: culture shock. intense culture shock. i don't think i realized it at the time, but looking back i realize that i spent my brief time there in a haze of amazement and general confusion. i think this is proven in the simple fact that i have no pictures from my time in amsterdam, all of my energy was spent trying to readjust and adapt as quickly as possible. in the course of one day i went from a developing country that has become my home over 4 months, to sitting in an apartment, taking warm showers, eating peanut butter directly from the jar and watching CNN. none of which exist in india. in addition i was riding a bike (or feebly clinging onto the back of heathers bike for dear life) swerving through holland traffic, all the while thinking about how attempting the same thing on an indian road would equal immediate death. …to be fair, riding a bike in amsterdam did result in one minor accident, but it was a slight collision, not near fatal. i also got to experience good italian food, wine (WINE!), and coffee shops. all accompanied with picturesque streets, canals, and perfect fall weather. we visited the van gough museum, which was really fantastic, even without starry night. while perfectly content to remain in amsterdam until oktoberfest, we decided last minute (literally, an hour before the train left) to pack another bag and head for france. not a bad decision, but thus ending the amsterdam chapter of the trip. i can see why visiting amsterdam was a lifelong goal of my love rachel.

paris: scott has a theory that every girl looooooves paris. and i must admit i cannot dispel this belief. we spent the 3 hour train journey in giddy expectation of all thing paris and brushed up on our expert french language skills. we had a slight damper on our excitement upon arriving and being unable to find a single hostel with an available room, although heather was impressive with her persistent phone calls and french skills. we finally abandoned the traditional method of booking and took to the streets, figuring worst case scenario we would sleep in the train station. we roamed the paris streets, enjoying the sights and stopping only to study a map or to buy exceptional baguettes. luck or karma was on our side and we managed to secure a tiny little hostel for the night for a reasonable 50 euroes (good in france, horrible in india). and for the record, i do mean tiny. i will never forget the night of my ‘shook sandwich’ experience. anyway, we threw our bags on the barely double bed and bolted for the door. of course, our first destination was the eiffel tower. it was a long but enjoyable walk and well worth the delighted carrie bradshaw squeal i let out at the first sight of the tower. we hung around till after midnight watching various french couples and enjoying all of the different light shows the tower had to offer us. the next day was a day of perfect paris bliss, hitting all the major sightseeing stops- including finding the decapitated head of st. dennis on norte dame, having the worlds greatest picnic (this is a fact, i did the research myself) complete with cheese, chocolates, wine, fruit and espresso, and enjoying a perfect french day. a better day is difficult to imagine and a large part of me was sad to board an overnight train to munich and leave the city of love. but alas, oktoberfest beckoned and we had no choice but to respond to the call. so bonjour to pari, onward and upwards.

munich: following a sound sleep on the train from paris, we arrived in munich delirious and feeling the effects of the previous day’s wine. then we saw salvation in caffeinated form. green and white glory. my first starbucks in over 4 months. my day was already set, couldn’t get any better. the delightful hazelnut latte helped to warm me from the inside out to fend off the frigid germany weather. four months in indian heat sweating constantly had definitely thinned my blood. we weren’t sure of the location of the fairgrounds, but figured that following the countless lederhosen was a good place to start. the crowds lead us to our destination, oktoberfest. the size of this festival was truly incredible, apparently 6 million of fellow beer enthusiasts had accompanied us to our destination. we wondered around for a bit, overwhelmed by the vastness of it all and not sure of which tent to honor with our presence. we ended up on the augestiener tent which was hailed as a “local favorite.” we figured the locals couldn’t be wrong, so we headed in. such a good decision. the tents officially opened at 10am and we were there for that occurrence. they rang the bell and the first round of steins went out. we managed to find a table that was not reserved and set up camp- a camp that would not be moved until the tent closed. from that point on, the day was a blur of pretzels, chicken, sausage, prosts (cheers), country roads, lederhosen, cleavage and more steins. a highlight was three people that requested to sit with us that turned out to be from baltimore! heather’s friends from law school also showed up and quickly our table formed fast oktoberfest friendships, exchanging emails and promising videos and pictures…and baltimore and san fransciso outings. we quickly learned the standard german prost song and sang and cheers’ed ourselves into the night. a surprising realization was the germans looooove the song country roads (and sweet home alabama to a slightly less extent). seriously. the entire tent was standing on tables (totally standard) swaying and singing along at the top of their lungs. great fun. upon the closing of the tents, we ventured out into the slightly rainy cold weather and explored the vast carnival oktoberfest had to offer. heather decided that we needed to ride the extra tall swings in this less than ideal weather. the verdict is still out if this was a good decision or not, but either way, the pictures from it are priceless. we crashed with desa, heather’s friend for the night and after a very expensive, yet satisfying breakfast the following morning, we decided to return to the scene of the crime the following morning before our train left. we enjoyed a warmer day and managed to squeeze in another round and another pretzel while walking around the fairgrounds before departing. all in all, 6 million people can’t be wrong, and oktoberfest was as good its reputation boasts.

prague: yet another train journey, this time not as enjoyable as the previous sans the food and drink car and minus comfortable bunks for sleeping. however we braved the 8 hour journey and arrived near starvation in the former soviet…and found it to be very soviet. we deciphered the money exchange and metro system and suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a very alive town despite it being around midnight. we feasted on some amazing falafel, checked into our hostel, and managed a quick jaunt around town and a quick round in before calling it a night. everything looked new and fresh after a full nights sleep and i was not prepared for the greatness of prague as a whole, much less than the perfect day this city had in store for us. we had no agenda, no rush, and perfect weather. we wondered the streets and stumbled upon ancient churches (built waaay before 1994), castles, bridges, rivers and even statues of peeing men. desa and her book served as our tour guide, providing us story times along the way and we stopped anytime we desired, regardless of if it was for gelato, to gaze over the entire city, to take an action shot, or for wine and cheese at a stunning little cliffside restaurant. we eventually found ourselves at a waterside restaurant which provided us with nutrients, live music, and my personal favorite beer of the entire trip. we watched a beautiful sunset, enjoyed more beers, watched a brief fireworks show and even requested the musician to play ‘country roads’ for nostalgia’s sake. it was a good decision, and once again, all of the germans in prague joined us in standing on tables and signing along. from there the ‘night was yet a pup’ and with a rendition of ‘knocking on heaven’s door’ we released our dancing selves into the streets for more shenanigans and tomfoolery and general chaos and mayhem (no, not the name of my future pugs). sadly my flight was early the next morning, but the prague nightlight was all it was cracked up to be and i spent my final night in pure bliss and denial of my upcoming departure. unfortunately my denial did not prevent the alarm from going off at 4:30am and scott and i managed to find our way to the airport despite our bleary eyes and sleep deprivation. the goodbyes came and before i knew it, i was back on the plane, headed back towards india.

i arrived monday morning and experienced the challenge of returning to a developing country after taking a trip of a lifetime through europe. not the easiest thing to do, but i have adjusted once again to this country and am loving being back, especially surrounded again by my UMB favs. so that’s the long and short of my europe travels, hope you all enjoyed. and of course, like always, the pictures are on flickr so you can lurk and look and put names and face and places together. all in all, it quite possibly may have been the greatest trip ever. ever. ever.

lion and tigers and trains...oh my

the onam celebration continues. this time complete with 800 tigers.

boarding a train tonight heading to goa. from goa to mumbai, from mumbai to amsterdam. from amsterdam to paris, from paris to munich, from munich to prague. and many places in between. should be an incredible couple of weeks.

everything i (did or didn't) need to know- i learned at rural camp.

How to sum up the 10 days I spent at rural camp… I once asked Struthi from my group if she was enjoying her time at camp, her honest response came after a long pause. “Well, about 50/50.” 50/50 seems about right. In some ways, rather generous. However, regardless of my personal ‘enjoying camp’ percentage, it cannot be denied that I learned an extraordinary amount in 10 days. Valuable knowledge regarding myself, my group, and mostly the Indian culture as a whole. By far, the most valuable experience of the entire camp was the blaring spotlight shed on the stark cultural difference between American and India. I would not have learned this lessons regardless of how long I stayed in India, unless I lived with these students in such a close and intense manner. I wanted to document these epiphanies before the experience overshadows the education gained, so here is my list of lessons learned.

I learned:

• That I can survive an embarrassing long time sans a shower (3+days) and with only 3 shirts and 2 pants for 10 days, and despite sweaty/muddy/rainy/long days of work- somehow be alright with myself and my (highly offensive) order, knowing that at least it represented hard work. In addition, I also learned that the term ‘shower’ can simply entail a bucket of water over a squatty potty, and yet that somehow this primitive version of a shower has the ability to possess the exact blissful feeling as a luxurious 5 star hotel.
• That if I ever had to resort to living on the street, that a newspaper spread across a hard floor helps to (slightly) soften the joint pain and uncomfortableness of sleeping on a very hard floor. I also learned how to fight for and somehow manage to claim a couple of hours of sleep using a backpack as a pillow and a sheet as a mattress on an unsanitary hospital floor, amongst about 70-80 other women, so tightly packed into one room that if one girl on the far end were to shift her position throughout the night, the domino effect of shifting would be felt on the extreme other end.
• That I hate whistles of all kind. That if I never heard another whistle again (especially not at 5am) the quality of my life would immediately improve 100 fold.
• That it is rather difficult to go from the experience of running camps and being in leadership positions, to a mere ‘camper’. Especially when your age trumps the average other campers by about 8-9 years, and your age is the same or older than the majority of the leaders.
• That openness to new experiences and new people is something that I consistently need to strive for. I realized how easy it can be to stick back and take the easy out for not engaging with others, for whatever reasons, including language barriers, but that pushing yourself out of your comfort zone in relationships always has a positive effect. Removing personal barriers and walls and becoming open and vulnerable in relationships is always the right choice.
• That sitting through on average 3-4 hours of programmes completely in Malayalam with little to no sleep, no translations, and 4-5 hours of hard tiring work can be incredibly boring and painful, but yet can vastly increase your knowledge of the language without realizing it. In addition, being surrounded by Malayalam conversations all day can also have the same effect.
  
• That I can reach my breaking point (intensely needing to use the toilet in the middle of the night, tiptoeing over sleeping bodies to the lone door on the far end of the room, only to find the gate locked to prevent students from 'sneaking out' and no one willing to wake up and assist my urgent bladder condition), and somehow still manage to survive with the help of some wonderful friends…and many many long, deep breaths and deeper long laughter. And that preserving and succeeding after hitting the breaking point is a immeasurably satisfying personal victory.
  
• That I can uninhibitedly dance to techno and trance music in a room full of frantic sweaty teenagers and have quite simple, a blast.
• That I can interact with two snakes, countless spiders, (rumored) leeches, and other critters and continue to work. After watching one snake wrap around my leg and feeling another squirm between my toes after stepping on it, I can say that I officially redeemed myself after that embarrassing ‘spider’ incident that I previously spoke about.
• That standing in a knee-deep mud in a canal wildly swinging a spade (Indian version of a shovel) at a steep incredibly overgrown bank is one of the most therapeutic stress relieving exercises ever, especially when extremely frustrated with the Rural Camp experience and overwhelmed by cultural differences. Emerging from the canal 2 hours later, covered head to toes in mud and animals- I was a whole new person.
• That nuns are some of the hardest workers I have ever seen. And some of the funnest people I've ever interacted with.
  
• That I can hit delirium and laugh for hours with my group in the middle of the night about situations that would normally push someone to tears or violence. That within our group, we have seen each other at the extreme highs and extreme lows, and yet still love and support each other. At this point we seem to have undergone a vast transformation during camp and now understand what our members are feeling and needing at certain moments, including when to walk away, when to give a hug, and when to make a sarcastic joke. I can honestly say that rural camp without them would have been completely impossible. I am truly blessed by this little family, and I’m constantly being challenged to grow and improve myself by the interactions I have with them, and the great integrity and character they all possess.
• That inefficiency is quite possible my new biggest pet peeve, and quite possible what the camp should have been named instead of Karma 2008. This represents a huge cultural difference, the American culture is geared towards doing a job in the most efficient and time conscious manner possible. The Indian culture does not share this view. We often spent countless hours a day waiting around for direction, decisions, or even worse, would spend hours slaving over 'busy' work, finding temporary fixes to problems instead of long term solutions. At the end of the day, we learned how to shrug, be proud of the effort we put forth, and accept it as the culture.
  
• That I am more of a feminist than I realized, especially in this culture. It is often difficult, and even more so at camp, to live in this culture where such strong patriarchal beliefs exist and consistently affect daily life. To rebel against the male/female work stereotype, I dove headfirst into the most physically challenging and draining tasks reserved 'only for the boys' and refused to yield my shovel despite the constant questioning if I was tired and suggestions that I take a break. I made myself to learn how to bite my tongue when daily I was told by men that the manner in which I was working was "wrong" and forced a rigid smile when they took the tool away from me and demonstrated the "correct" way (which was surprisingly similar to the original manner in which I was working). Therefore I spent a lot of time encouraging my female counterparts to do the same, regardless of getting a little bit of mud on their salwars. It didn't really work, but hey, every bit of empowerment helps.
  
• That Indian culture and American culture are completely different when it comes to physical touch between same sex friends, and as a result I've learned to hold hands with my young friends and tolerate constant face and hair touches. My personal space is basically nonexistent at this point thanks to camp.
  
• That Indian women are brutal about cutting line. This is an especially big deal when there are 2 toilets for 80 women. As a result, we quickly learned to be equally cutthroat about fighting for our 'reserved' spots in line.
  
• That the American culture is very focused on the individual and not the group and the Indian culture is opposite in that it is entirely focused on the group as a whole. For example, the most common theory for American practice is Psychosocial theory (self issues, self ego...) while India is all about Anthropology/Sociology theories (group function, group roles...). Getting used to this opposite view of thinking and viewing individual people verses collective society has been perhaps one of the most difficult adjustments, and it was never more clear to me than spending 10 days fully emerged in the culture. However, this has been a positive education and adjustment. I think at the end of this experience, I will return stronger in my practice because of this, as each view possess strengths (and weaknesses) for viewing people, clients, communities and the issues that encompass all of these.
• That at the end of 10 very long days, nothing is better than my own personal bed, my own personal time schedule, my own personal bathroom, and my own personal home family- all just waiting to pamper and restore our bodies and minds to sanity and restoration.
  

onam and onwards

We have completed our first round of Onam celebrations here in Kerala. Quite a holiday. I managed to take some pictures and post them on Flickr. Basically, we had two days of celebrations, one with our Field Placements/Live Labs and the second with the students of Rajagiri. The student’s celebration was a bit more…eventful, and by eventful I mean bordering on mayhem. But only a good way.

Basically Onam is bigger than Christmas here. It’s 10 full day festival that turns out, is extremely exciting and enjoyable. Good old wikipedia can give you more information. Easy to see why it’s such a big deal here. I gave you a brief (albeit confusing) overview of the holiday in my previous post, so I won’t bore you with the extensive details. Moral of the story- Onam is a big deal, a holiday full of traditions that affect every aspect of life. Including how you dress, what you eat, and what you do.

We donned sarees for the first time and managed to muddle our way through two days with the most grace and dignity we could manage. (Not that much, but no public disagrees either, so I consider it to be a success). We wore traditional Kerala sarees- cream sarees (not a good color choice in a climate where the remains of monsoon season often leave our walk to school rather muddy) with a gold border along side of another color. We also covered our arms in bangles, pinned jasmine flowers in our hair, and weighed our ears down with traditional Onam earrings. My highlight of the Onam dress is that I managed to buy the entire get up for less than 10 USD. I was rather proud of that.

Apart from the outfits, we enjoyed two days of Sayda lunches (traditional meal on the banana leaf), we watched the traditional Onam dance performed by the women (the same dance that we started to learn…and only know about 12 moves), heard numerous Onam songs, and got to try our hand at Onapookkalam- a color flower petal decoration arranged on the ground in elaborate ways. Both the Onam songs and Onapookkalam creating were turned into a contest between the different live labs, and the different student classes (ie- 2nd year MSW vrs 2nd year MCA). The first day I am proud to say that my field, CASP, managed to win first in all the contests. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that we are the largest live lab on campus, but I’m still proud. Our MSW Onapookkalam design didn’t fare so well, but still looked rather nice. The student celebration was a bit more rambunctious and class pride was running high. It was eerily similar to being in a high school pep rally. The students celebration added on a couple of events that were not included in the live lab celebration. Mainly a massive tug-of-war game and the most dangerous version of piñata imaginable. The pictures do a great job at capturing these moments, but basically a group of students are blindfolded, spun around and walked to different parts of the courtyard, given giant sticks and turned lose. The goal is to break a small clay pot swinging from a rope in the middle of the courtyard, the one to break it wins, and its showered not with candy, but with water contained in the pot. Basically it just ended up being students stumbling around blind hitting themselves and bystanders in the head. Be sure to look for the pictures with the girl and green and read my description about her. Easily the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time, highest of comedy. That girl was out for blood. Well, actually she was out for the pot, but probably ended up drawing blood from someone.

By the end of both days we were exhausted and uncomfortable (sarees can have that affect) but rather happy. Everyone is in high spirits and it’s hard not to get into the spirit of the “season.” Everyone loved the effort that we made to fit in with the traditional clothes and we fielded many complements and fuss over us, and were repeatedly told that we were "very nice Kerala girls".

As you know, the next couple of weeks are a little busy, so I’ve made an attempt to catch you up with all of our recent ongoings. Tomorrow officially starts the month of non-stop chaos, as I quickly move from one location to another, and even move around 6 or 7 separate countries. Understandably, I will be MIA for a little bit, as we are off to the wedding and Rural Camp tomorrow.

We went to a meeting the other day about rural camp and it's pretty exciting. We are apparently cleaning out a canal so that two villages downstream can have water, and also draining and irrigating patty fields and planting (sowing?) rice! It should be fun and probably incredibly disgusting. Apparently I'll be trumping around in knee-thigh high water ( and dirt, sewage, diseases...) the entire time. And sleeping directly on the floor in a small room with all of the other students, waking up at 5. A little bit of roughing it never hurt anyone before. I am mostly excited to experience a bit of ethnography, in fully immersing myself and working alongside with the villagers in this rural area. The main day of Onam is the 12th so we are doing cultural programmes all day with the villagers. Should be a pretty great and challenging experience. However, no cameras allowed so I’ll have to rely on my expert story telling to fill you in about it. Tata till then my loves!

ashram life

So. The ashram. Quite an experience. It may sound incredibly cliché, but I think I just may have found a new career path. Okay, not path so much as a separate path arriving at the same destination. Confused? Let me explain. No, it’s too much. Let me sum up. Actually let me start by telling you about the Ashram itself. (Bear with me today, apparently I’m all over the place).

The ashram is one of those things you read about in any ‘Adventure’ magazine or watch on the Travel Channel. One of those stories where you get caught up in the excitement of the words and the luring promises of the pictures. That story where you catch yourself staring off into space, daydreaming, imaging yourself at that specific destination. You might even talk about it with certain friends or significant other and make a statement about planning a trip there. Then, you put the article down or change the channel and continue on with your daily life. And sooner or later, completely forget about it. And yet, that is exactly where I found myself at the Ashram. Actually there.

The ashram was beautiful, the setting- picturesque. The schedule was full, the wake up bell early (5:20am), lights out late. Mountains and lakes surrounded the ashram, including lions across the lake- their grunts and roars audible during the quiet mornings and evenings. Food came only twice a day, large delicious vegetarian feasts, consisting of typical Kerala food- minus all the spices (apparently onions and garlic are not zen and therefore banned). The early morning and late evening 2 hour long satsung (meditation) sessions were challenging as I attempted to keep my fickle mind from the extremes of racing with thoughts or drifting off sleep, and attempting to coax it into a state of relaxation and awareness and connection with the present.

The people were fantastic. Granted there were a few ‘ashram’ types, those that stereotypically you think of when you think of an ashram (some might use the words dirty hippy here), but most of the people were fantastically interesting. The type of people that you merely see and yet immediately desire to sit down with with over a drink and wait with baited breath while they convey their life story to you. That’s such a rare phenomenal, incredibly intoxicating, and I feed off those interactions. Our small group was the sole American representative, and the rest of population hailed from a long list of countries that stretched throughout the entire globe. The common thread was English (albeit sometimes broken) and yoga.

Oh, the yoga. Four hours daily of classes. The most intense yoga sessions imaginable. The teachers were encouraging and grueling in the same breath, constantly assisting and correcting, and challenging. Always challenging. We could always go “more up” or “stretch further” or “hold longer”. We spend the hours twisting our bodies and stretching ourselves in ways that seems inconceivable. Despite the obvious physical pain, I loved every second of it. My headstand became consistently steadier and longer, I conquered the crow without breaking my nose, and I trembled my way through the 11 other poses, grinning like an idiot with every small victory, every pose successfully held. I once even had the pleasure, courtesy of the lotus pose, of viewing my own feet over my head while my chin, chest and arms remained on the floor. The style of yoga (hatha) was different from our daily classes (astanga) which translated into a slower style of yoga and holding all the poses for longer. Much longer. We held all the poses for so long in fact that stopped hurting and we were able to be comfortable in whatever pose we were in. And than we held the poses for longer. Until the comfortable feeling left and was replaced with the feeling of fire being poured directly into my muscles. And only then did we release. And that we experienced twice a day. Needless to say that ibuprofen became like candy to us, but despite our minor medical dependence, we never quit or gave up and endured all the sessions. So good.

Anyway, my time at the Ashram got me thinking. Two things that I love, two things I’m getting a degree in. One- social work, social change, social justice, social action. Two- public health, community well being, infectious disease, health disparities. The main ties that bonds these both: global work/international work. One other thing that I greatly enjoy- Yoga. Since being in India and working with Women's Empowerment, I've run into a lot of road blocks because India (and many other developing countries) are strongly influenced by a patriarchal theory. Therefore, empowering women can often be met with resistance and even violence, as this excellent article points out.

During the first day of the trip, I was struck with the revolutionary idea of combining all of the things I'm passionate about, all the goals I want to accomplish in my professional life, and using Yoga as the spearhead. Therefore, I could use Yoga as a tool for Empowerment of Women and girls, which is much less threatening to cultural traditions resistant to liberal empowerment programmes, and also as a tool for improving individual health (as Yoga has the ability to do this) and the public health of the community (through various educational sessions on health and disease). I cannot quite put into the words the excitement that this possibility brought, and it seemed to make perfect sense. It just clicked. I spent a couple of days asking some of my new friends and teachers if they were aware of any programmes or organizations devoted to this. Through a Canadian girl, who would have probably been a great friend of mine had we ever lived in the same area at the same time, told me about a NGO in Sri Lanka devoted to using Yoga to create social change. So it did exist. People actually could do this as their job. And hopefully I could too. My mind started to race ahead and mentally complete grants for pilot studies and study funding.

Of course there was one thing missing. At this point, I am just a girl that likes Yoga, not a Yoga teacher. Since starting Yoga I've always figured that I'd get certified to teach at some point, just for a enjoyable side job/extra income. However, the Ashram offers Teacher Training. Top of the line teacher training. In India. For one month. The month before Christmas visits, the month that was already open in my calender. Seems kind of perfect. Meaning that I could become certified to teach before I return home. For (albeit slightly) cheaper than rates in the US. And again, in India, the birthplace of India. At the same time when I'm finishing up my degrees. Giving me all the tools I would need to make this dream a reality. So needless to say, I have a decision to make in the new few days, but there is a very large part of me that is leaning towards living in an Ashram for a month and becoming internationally certified to teach yoga. And all of this because of a simple spur of the moment decision to take a trip to a Yoga ashram.

creepy crawlers of kerala

i’m not an anti bug girl. not a girly-girl. not that girl that freaks out when a fly lands on her. in fact, i’m quite the opposite. i greatly welcome the majority of insects and small creatures in kerala. for example, i love all of the lizards and openly invite them into my home as long as they feed off of mosquitoes. but these stories crossed the line a bit. and by crossed i mean went so far over the line that the line was a just a dot.

small detail i left out of my Kovalam holiday recap. jessica and i stayed in a room together. we originally just got 2 rooms and were going to pile 3 people in a bed (don't judge, we are broke) but the hotel manager turned out to be really nice and gave us an extra room free of cost. now clearly we are staying at a hostel. not the nicest, but not terrible either. the rooms were small but nice. mosquito netting over the bed, clean cold shower. we spent the first day mostly out and about and when we came back we were beat. and and had a couple of kf's at dinner. so we showered and lounged around a bit before bed. jessica walks around to the other side of the bed and the next thing i hear is a gasp and multiple multiple swear words. her first comprehensible words were "there is a spider so big there that i question if i can even kill it." i peered around the bed and sure enough, there it was. i kid you not, the size of its body was the size of my fist. and it's legs doubled the size. that's a big freaking spider. now don't judge me, i'm normally the girl that handles all types of bugs and creatures (i was the go-to bug killer of 1371) but this was a little out of my league. i mean, i was thinking about hearing bones crush and getting sprayed with brain splatter...maybe even hear a spider scream escape from it on its way out. (or worse attempting to kill it, failing, pissing it off, and having it call off of its giant spider friends and attack me, wrap me up in a web and suck out all my insides). but again, there was no way we were just going to let this thing hang out in our room- inches away from our heads. where we were planning on sleeping. merely picking it up and moving it outside was out or the question, for the simple fact that we all secretly wondered if it was poisonous, because a bite from a spider that big would surely mean instant death. so- don't judge- we went and got the boy of the group. actually what i did was open his door, make a pitiful face, crawled into his bed and whimpered that there was a big spider and we needed help. embarrassing i know, but no one else wanted to kill it. not my finest moment. anyway, jeremy killed it and we often speak about the experience of the spider big enough to carry us away in our sleep. surely another spider that big did not exist in all of India, it had to be physically impossible.

wrong again turner. the other day after catching up on emails, i get up and take a trip to the squatty. a little more information than you might be interested in, but all part of the story, trust me. i lock myself into the tiny little stall (about 4ft by 4ft), get ready and squat down to do my business. and then i make eye contact. with at least 8 pairs of eyes. there is another one of those giant spiders directly in front of me, about a foot away from my face...and other special parts of my body. just hanging out, watching me. this spider seems even bigger than the other one in kovalam, but maybe this is just because it's so very very close to me. and there is the minor fact that i am completely ‘exposed’ if you will. not a place you ever, ever want to be in while interacting with a spider the size of a small cat. for a second i debated not moving and continuing with my original plan of using that stall. i halfway talked myself into it (i really had to pee) but than i had the image of the spider waiting to 'make his move' whilst i was unable to protect myself lest i soak myself. and of course, again, the parts of my body were exposed that i would want to protect the most. so i very slowly stood up, never taking my eyes off the spider and slowly opened the door and once safely out, made another embarrassing girlish scream and shutter. then, i picked another stall, better believe that i searched that stall quite well before exposing myself again.

ugh. welcome to india. never a dull moment...never a small spider.

mail time!

i got my first package today! and within it, i got to celebrate my niece's first birthday. so great. happy late birthday taylor grace, glad i got to celebrate it! thank you hermano (y hermana). my other niece noa is about to have a first birthday. amazing how quick they grow up. and little evie is growing like a weed. and of course there is the minor issue that one of my best friends is two days overdue in delivering her own little bundle of joy/meatloaf- little jameson. such an exciting time. in times that this i wish i didn't live on the other side of the world, and i could actually hug the little rugrats instead of merely hugging pictures of them. its a bit sad to watch them grow and change in pictures, but also warms my heart when i get letters and packages with their updated pictures. plus i get to show pictures off to countless indian women at work that may just love these kids almost as much as i do. so thank you for sending them. nothing compares to packages from home (filled with sweedish fish and chocolate).
yes, that was a shameless plug...i'm okay with that.

ps- you might also notice that i'm wearing a saree in this picture. just had a onam celebration. such a cool holiday. today was a celebration with work, tomorrow with students. pictures will follow. and speaking of pictures, pictures of the ashram up on flickr. enjoy.

gone till...october

apparently i've just hit the 3 month mark of my time in india. that's really hard to believe. while i'm not close to my departure date, i'm getting slightly worried that time is passing a little too quickly. so the solution of course, carpe diem, la vie india. which in my interpretation means- cram the calender choke full of trips, thrills, experiences, memories and battle wounds. it just makes sense.

at home i have this tradition of always displaying my list of upcoming adventures. its sort of a motivating factor for me. something to always look forward to if you will. and a way to remedy the problem i have of being unable to sit still for extended periods of time. my typical list at home consists of at least one 'adventure' a month. it's a little bit different here. it's more like some rare, unbelievable breathtakingly beautiful adventure once every other week. again, its a tough life.

disclaimer* i have recently been accused of merely taking an extended vacation and not actually working here, despite this being completely erroneous on all accounts, this blog will not serve to alter that perception. i'm okay with that and simply want to share (read: brag) about my upcoming excitement.

yoga ashram (8/28-9/1)- tomorrow morning i once again board the train to tirvandrum. but don't worry, i'm not heading to the beach this time. well, not exactly. i mean, i'll be by the beach but i'll be taking a "yoga vacation" at an ashram. so i'll be at the beach, yes, but doing yoga at it. bootcamp yoga if you will. you may remember from an earlier post that this was on my india 'to-do' list- so i am merely checking another goal off my list. or you (and the rest of the country) may have read- eat, pray, love- and therefore are familiar with the concept of stays at yoga ashrams. either way, that is where i will be welcoming in september, and i couldn't be more excited about it.

wedding (9/6)- upon my return i will get all dolled up for my very first indian wedding! i will be donning an exquisite saree, an arm full of bangles, and a head full of jasmine flowers. i will then attend the wedding with about 1,000 of the happy couples closest friends, relatives and strangers- and party the night away hindu wedding style. can't wait for the bhangra dancing and the ever so famous 'lightbulb' move (thanks to shachi and ashika!).

rural camp (9/6-9/14)- in between the wedding there is a potential of us UMB girls being in a 'international fashion show' but we'll see if that pans out. following the wedding we will again pack our bags and whisk ourselves away to a random small rural village. there we will attend 'rural camp' which means we will be doing manual labor for the village, sleeping on floors, foregoing showers, and attending cultural programmes with the villagers at night. should be a great bonding experience with the students attending and a positive experience for the village.

onam (9/12)- huge celebration here in kerala. (by the way, we recently just had the start of the malayalam calender year so happy new years to you and yours.) the new year officially starts the holiday of onam, which is quite possibly the biggest holiday of the year in kerala. it's a bit confusing of a holiday (there was a 'little person' who was actually the devil who wanted to destroy the utopia of kerala so he turned into a giant and crushed the king down into hell, and onam is the celebration of the yearly return of the king and the start of harvest season...see, i wasn't lying). it also means that it's the end of the monsoon and already temperatures are rapidly climbing. so basically, onam is a 10 day celebration, half of it will be celebrated at the rural camp, and half of it with our family and the community. again, we have special 'kerala' sarees for the event and plan to partake in all of the activities, including the food and the games- and a flower design contest.

goa (9/15-9/20)- yes that's right, i'm a'going to goa. and i can't wait. because rural camp is so extensive and tough on the students- especially their sleeping habits (meaning you don't really sleep) the school gives the students the entire next week off of class. a week off to rest in malayalam translates into a week for vacation in english. so we will be traveling to the best beaches in all of india for some much 'needed' rest, relaxation, sun...and famous flea markets. paradise.

europe (9/21-9/29)- this is where my life gets a little ridiculous, but it is an amazing ridiculousness that i embrace freely. and more importantly, i wouldn't change for the world. in order to help the shook twins celebrate their 25th birthday in style- i will return from goa a bit early and immediately board a plane...bound for amsterdam. spend a few days there then hop a train to munich for octoberfest. from there head over to prague and wherever else the wind leads us throughout europe. i must admit a week free of rice, curry and squatty potties was a strong persuading factor when debating this trip. this just may be singlehandedly be the most epic vacation of my life and i am counting down the days. can't. wait.

so that's september. busy, yes. amazing, a hundred times over. i'm not sure if i'll spend more than 3 days at home. i promise that i'll return from europe and use the entire month of october for work. i mean, november is already looking pretty full- including trips to northern india, trips to the taj, scuba diving certification in the andaman islands...so it's october or never for work. and for the record, december and january aren't looking too shabby either. in fact, they just may be my all time favorite. just saying.

MFEO

I was made for India. Mostly for “Indian Time.” If white people love being excessively early, Indian people love disregarding time completely. If somehow- by a miracle of God- I managed to show up on time for a programme (rarely), I am met with stare of awe and astonishment- and the favored India question of “what happened to you?” Regardless of my timely arrival, the programme generally starts half an hour to forty-five minutes after the original set time. If I show up late (routinely) not a single person bats and eye- no one is stressed or agitated, taping their foot and checking their watches, or stressed on account of my lateness or the lateness of others. Programmes start when they start and end when they end. Sheer perfection. Pretty sure life is supposed to be this way- free from the stress and hassle of our American overly scheduled lives. So good. So freeing.

playing catch up

i've had a bit of bloggers block lately and i apologize. i blame this one two main factors- one the challenge of fitting an entire vacation of adventures into a blog, and two- maybe more importantly, the stress of catching up with work and to-do lists following said vacation. to combine the two challenges i've decided to document my previous week of excitement in simple bullet format. furthermore, most of these activities are well documented via my camera- so i have included the links to all my pictures in this blog. apparently a picture is worth a thousands words so i figure that i'll save some of mine.

• flickr- http://www.flickr.com/photos/saracorinne/
• facebook-
• http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2165911&l=24c52&id=5570016
• http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2165912&l=a1495&id=55700166
• friday- was a think tank session for the situational analysis of the HIV affected child in Kerala. this project has been kind of my baby as i've been seemingly working non-stop on it since my arrival here. about 40 key stakeholders attended the session and we presented our study and developed specific plans of actions for improving the quality of life for HIV affected children. i developed the presentation and documented the session and am in the process of completing a report which i will include later. all in all, a pretty powerful day, very encouraging for improving the current state for positives in Kerala.
• saturday-was a large HIV convention here in ernakulam. about 4,000 people attended, including lots of positive networks, and about a thousand HIV positive children (pictures on flickr). attending the programmes for the children and playing with them was by far a highlight of the day. i would give you a more detailed report, however it was all in Malayalam. we did give our presentation again, and the day seemed to be a success- hopefully again improving the quality of life and decreasing stigma and discrimination against HIV/AIDS.
• sunday/monday- vacation! we hoped a train and headed down south to kovalam beach- aka paradise. Some highlights of kovalam:
• two words- one paradise- german bakery. glorious coffee and breakfast food and a staple of our vacation diet. or lack thereof. we were a bit excited to escape curry for the weekend and relished in foreign dishes like pasta and french toast- and lots of ice cream. who thought that overeating could be so amazing. newfound meaning of the phrase 'fat and happy.' and a stunning view over the indian ocean to top it off.
• beach, beach, beach! for those that know me, you know my deep love for this. despite the challenge of finding beaches were it was appropriate to be in bathing suits and searching for spots that we could lay out and swim sans an audience armed with cameras and shooing away all of the vendors desperate to sell us anything ranging from pineapples to fabric- the beach time was well worth the search- the sun was out and the waves were high. perfect.
• exploration- turns out my group is a rather adventurous one (which i love) so we spent a considerable amount of time exploring the beach, random paths, the tops of lighthouses, fishing villages, rocky beaches and wherever else our flip flops would take us- and some places they probably shouldn't have taken us. which always end up being the best experiences.
• jessica's birthday- monday night. kingfishers in horse mugs- what could be better? apparently not having a liquor license is not a reason not to serve. jessica's birthday night served to be a memorable experience, complete with late night 'swimming' (i have a problem i realize) and a dance party...complete with discriminating videos (NOT to be included in any of my albums). a celebration done right and all in good fun.
• tuesday- kanakumari. we decided that because we were already 4 hours closer, we would journey to the southern most tip of india. we accepted a ride from our hostel owner ani (who was quickly becoming our new friends, and even secured another invitation to a wedding) and got to stop and sight see along the way. it was a very full, but rather amazing day. the highlights:
• Padmanabhapuram palace- built in 1601 and entirely wooden with endless corridors of intricately carved woodwork. it is in Tamil Nadu, but actually belongs to Kerala.
• we stopped at a wildlife sanctuary and ended up climbing up a (very steep) mountain. our sweaty efforts were rewarding with the most breathtaking views of Tamil Nadu. well worth the energy.
• we took a ferry and visited the Vivekananda rock memorial and a 133 foot statue of a Tumil saint-poet, Tiruvalluvar. Swami Vivekananda is a famous spiritual leader who introduced yoga to the US and England and our yoga instructor Chethana considers him to be her guru, so it was great learning more about him. the island is a great experience, including a mediation room where you sit and...mediate, obviously. it did not hurt that it was the most beautiful day imaginable.
• we stopped by the Ghandi memorial and visited the place where his ashes were kept before immersion. such an inspirational man, and consequentially, place.
• hindi temples- throughout the day we were able to visit 3 different temples. quite an experience. so much history and faith. we visited temples that were 4 and 5 thousand years old. our final temple of the day was the most extravagant and was the hanuman (monkey man) temple. again it was about 4,000 years old and felt like a vast maze of worship and tradition. no cameras were allowed in any of the temples and the experience is difficult to place into words but it was one of energy and enlightenment.
  
• friday- after returning to work for one day only, friday was a holiday and the second independence day i've celebrated this year (actually, i didn't so much celebrate our independence day this year, so india's independence was a chance to redeem myself). jessica and i decided that this would be the day that we would buy sarees for upcoming weddings. we visited two overwhelming crowded fabric stores, drank an embarrassing amount of coffee while 'browsing' (you sit, they bring you sarees and you drink coffee while accepting or rejecting the fabric- something i could get used t0). we took a break after our first store, refueled with veg puffs, samosas and more coffee- iced this time, before walking to another store. we had much better luck and each ended up buying beautiful sarees! it was rather exciting, i immediately fell in love with the one i bought, a bright blue (of course) and deep purple saree with an extravagant gold border and paloo (the piece that hangs off your arm). cindy lou- get excited, you will love this fabric! we got fitted for the blouses monday afternoon and are all looking forward to wearing our sarees, and hoping that we can manage to wear them with as much grace as possible and avoid all embarrassing moments. fingers crossed.

alright, i think that catches me up with all the major events of the past week or so. now i must go catch up with work. tata till next time.

not deleted, just rearranged

i just removed the links to shachi, ashika and andy's blogs off of my page. and shed a little tear over it. life hasn't been quite the same since their departure. india misses you michigan (and yes, you too chicago). you should probably come back asap. ps- happy wedding andy. i hope you enjoy your honeymoon in kochi.

check back soon for fantastic pictures and stories of our holiday from holiday.
it was rather fantastic. returning to work- not so fantastic.
good thing tomorrow is independence day part duex of the year and it's another holiday.

did i mention life here is really really hard?

working for the weekend

it is jessica's birthday next monday.
therefore, in celebration, our weekend/week will be spent here.

and here.and here.

kovalam beach is one of the best beaches in india...and in my view, the world.
we have a reservation at a nice budget hotel.
we are renting scooters and surfboards for about 5USD a day.
we are staying 2 minutes from the beach.
we are directly behind a place that serves "amazing german breakfast".
also down the street- several restaurants that boast "dangerous long lists of cocktails" to help us celebrate jess's birth in style.
i'm so glad jess's birthday is an excuse for us to take a holiday from our holiday.
now- just have to survive until the weekend- aka: heaven at kovalam beach.
oh, and it's okay to be jealous. it's expected.

let's talk about sex baby

So, talking about sex is what I do. And if I’m not talking about it, I’m researching about it. I’m thinking about it, I’m planning for my next programme about it. I’ve had a couple of questions about how this topic goes over in the conservative Kerala culture, or how personal morals and the programmes I lead relate and influence each other, if they do at all. I recently came across an excellent journal from Johns Hopkins, which exactly describes these relations and challenges, so I’ve included some of the key point relevant to my work here.

Public health is not always easy. It is not always popular or met with unanimous agreement. In seeking to preserve human health, it touches on the more intimate parts of individual lives and the thorniest of societal issues. Sex is a difficult topic because of the strong religious and moral beliefs that people bring to it. One of the most common of human activities, sex is also one of the most uncomfortable topics of discussion. And this is dangerous for the public’s health. When human sexuality is involved, rational discourse seems tragically difficult. Warring segments of society struggle to suppress or dominate the discussion. The result? Science is too often set aside, and the most elemental public health strategies are branded as suspect.

Of course, sex is not the public health problem, however it is not without shadows, it has its risks- numerous risks. A convenient means of pathogenic transport, sex can exchange a host of viruses and bacteria between humans, with consequences that range from inconvenient to lethal. Societal attitudes and customs exacerbate these risks, and possess inclinations to make sex taboo. Human societies have long shrouded sexuality in myth, ritual, secrecy, and ill-considered legislation. With heart breaking frequency, the consequences are sterility, obstetric fistula, school failure or death. Consider female genital cutting, child marriage and prohibitions on comprehensive sex education. Consider HIV/AIDS, family planning, STIs, maternal mortality, human right violations, condoms, abstinence, abortion. The connections between sex and health are as numerous as they are obvious.

The theme: if you want to save lives, you have to be able to talk frankly about sex and how it affects human health, regardless. Without open communication, and the free flow of knowledge, we cannot discover the most effective methods of preventing HIV, or resolving other difficult issues. This is what public health does: provide uncensored information to improve health. Work at the interface of behavior and society to minimize risk and negative outcomes. Public health exists to help sex workers decrease the risk of STIs and their consequences. It works with men who have sex with men to increase condom use and diminish the risk of HIV/AIDS. It works with schools and policymakers to institute evidence-based sex education to give young people lifesaving knowledge. What shouldn’t we do? We should not stigmatize sex. We should not make sex the problem. That’s counterintuitive. That’s counter to reality. After all, we are sexual beings.

So that’s what I do. It is my duty, my responsibility, to illuminate society’s most difficult issues, to wade into issues tangled by controversy, strongly held beliefs and preconceptions, and hopefully, bring knowledge that will serve human health. I cannot afford not to talk about sex and its related controversial subjects. The situation is not going to improve without knowledge and education of the next generation of leaders to possess the knowledge to make informed healthy decisions. Whether the topic is unpleasant, or makes some people uncomfortable, it is knowledge that society needs. It is essential to the mission of protecting health and saving lives.

I also think that this articles is worth noting regarding abstinence only programs:

“When one in four teenage girls has a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and teen birth rates have risen for the first time since 1991, it is time to reconsider Congress' bewildering commitment to abstinence-until-marriage programs. These programs teach that delaying sex until marriage is the only sure way to avoid STIs and unwanted pregnancy. Contraception is not discussed. More than $1 billion has been spent on these programs since 1996; $176 million was allocated last year. (To put this in context, consider that $215 million was allocated for the federal Title X family planning program.) Critics have argued that there is no evidence that these programs are effective. In response, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services commissioned a rigorous experimental study to evaluate some of the strongest abstinence-only programs. The results came in last year. The programs evaluated had no effect on participants' delaying of sexual initiation, and they had no effect on their use of contraception. Do these results merit continued federal funding at this level? Apparently so. The program is scheduled to be refunded with more dollars than ever—even though 16 states refuse to put their own funds into these types of programs and therefore do not participate. Other science-based prevention options have been demonstrated to be effective. Several programs with a focus on abstinence plus contraception have undergone rigorous evaluation and demonstrated improvements, albeit modest ones, in teenagers' contraceptive use and delay of sexual initiation. Why aren't we investing in these better bets? Why do we continue to fund programs that deny teenagers the knowledge and skills they need to make healthy, fully informed decisions?”