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?”

so sorry to catch you on your mobile

So after much resistance and strong negative feelings against getting a cell phone during my time in India- I was sticking strongly to the fantasy that I would live my life as a true nomad, sans a constant zip code, bills and the short leash of a cell phone- I broke down and got one. It only took one experience of being completely lost all by my lonesome over 4 hours from home without any contact to the outside world for me to completely change my tune. That experience will change your mind real fast. Of course, this exact experience has been repeated numerous times (about once a week), so it changed my mind real fast. Apparently, I get lost a lot. Who knew? I thought the US was bad, but when you add in the exciting element of public buses, trains, rickshaws, and even ferries, new strange areas and the vast impenetrable language barrier it gets real interesting. However, my hope is that my time here will sharpen my directional skills and I will return will all the skills needed to claim victory (and a million dollars) on the Amazing Race. Which I will win.

So anyway, I spent less than 10 US dollars on a new phone and a year of services, so at least it didn’t exactly break the bank. On the upside, my automatic ring tone is a catchy Hindi tune guaranteed to start your feet- or your entire body dancing. In addition, the phone itself actually turns into a flashlight, which comes in great help during our regular power outages. Plus, India is about 10 years behind us on the cell phone craze, so at this stage, its extremely appropriate to always have your cell phone on…and on the loudest ringer possible- and to answer your phone any time it rings, even in the middle of class (this has happened on numerous occasions). And they haven't really conquered the skill of speaking (not yelling) into the cell phone. Oh, and they don’t call them cell phones, they call them mobiles. Which is so much better. The moral of the story is that I feel extra hip. And most importantly, I have a way to call someone for directions when I am utterly and completely lost in some rural village where english is not spoken. For those that wish to have the number it is: (91) 9745960926.