A Traveler's Dream

Chennai

2009-01-06T17:54:00.000-08:00

December 12: Chennai

11:55am We boarded a plane for Chennai. I didn’t think the city atmosphere and environment were going to be different but I was so wrong! The minute I got in the car that the travel agent provided us with, I could tell it was different than Mumbai….and any other place that I’ve been. This is what I thought India was going to be like. There were palm trees, green grass, houses with roofs made out of palm leaves and high rise buildings. I never thought that Chennai would be more developed than Mumbai, but it certainly seems so!

After getting settled in our room, we were all craving some good authentic India food. So we all went diving into our guide books in search of a restaurant. We were finally able to find Saravana Bhavan. This restaurant was so unique in the fact that it served 23 dishes in one entrée! You were given rice, a plate with a banana leaf on it and about 15 different dals, curries, etc. They were spicy, but sooo good! The curd (yogurt) that came along with the meal too helped to balance out the spicyness. The one thing that was so authentically Indian is that you ate the whole thing with your hands…no utensils! Soo I offer this…

How to eat like a local:

1. Put rice on your banana leaf

2. Put dal, curry, etc. on the rice

3. Mix the dal in with the rice with your fingers

4. Take a bit of the mixture into your hands and squeeze out the extra liquid

5. Then pop it in your mouth

We washed it all down with some yummy pineapple, mango and chikku milkshakes. Since we were full after that delicious meal, we decided to take some Indian sweets to go. Later that night, we indulged in some ladoos and other sweets courtesy of the restaurant’s sweet shop. The ladoos had fruits, nuts, honey—they were delicious! Then others had gram (kind of like chopped up graham cracker crumbs) and almonds in them. I hope we plan on going there again—that $10 meal (total for all 3 of us) was delicious! Unfortunately, the rickshaw ended up being the same amount ($10) though.

I thought living in Mumbai for four months would help me in south India, but that wasn’t the case. The rickshaws in Mumbai are on a metered system which makes it easy to know how much it’s going to be. But here, you can only ask the rickshaw driver how much it’s going to be. On the whole though, I already love Chennai, possibly more than I love Mumbai. We’ll see.

Going back in time....to Mumbai

2009-01-06T17:26:00.000-08:00

Now that I finally have some free time, I figured that I would post all my journals, thoughts and random things from my trip to south India. Sooo, I start with the day before I left for the trip when my Dad arrived....

December 11^th: Mumbai

I was so excited for today! I was so excited in fact that I was up at 5:30am—just like Christmas morning excitement. It was such a wonderful feeling knowing that I was going to be seeing my Dad today. After trying to go back to sleep, I managed to sleep until 7am, then just couldn’t sleep anymore. It was too early for me to go meet my Dad & Hollis, so I played some solitaire then started my day. Around 8:30, I just couldn’t take the excitement anymore and went to meet my Dad. After giving him a nice big hug, we went to grab some breakfast.

Breakfast was great! There’s a little café near my apartment, so we decided to eat there. Being in the Indian mood, we all had a south Indian breakfast (for 70 rupees or $1.50 I might add!) and gorgeous looking coffee.

After fueling up on coffee and needed energy, we began our trip downtown. Our taxi driver that we had was very interesting too. I’ve noticed that anyone who knows a little English wants to “test out” their English on foreigners. And the taxi driver was no exception. He pointed out the Hanging Gardens, the Oberoi Hotel and told us of a story of how dumb white people can be. The previous people he had in his taxi had accidentally left an expensive Sony camera on the seat of the taxi. Whoops! I was surprised to hear that the taxi driver had actually wanted to give it back.

After spending $4 US dollars on a 40 minute taxi ride, we had arrived in Colaba, downtown Mumbai. We saw the unfortunate Taj Mahal Hotel blackened from the smoke damage of the recent terror attacks. We saw about 20 men all dressed in white, chanting in an open area near the Gateway of India. Taking pictures didn’t do this area or the men chanting any justice. There’s only so much you can take pictures of, before you want to somehow capture the memories. After taking pictures of the Taj Mahal Hotel and Gateway of India, we started to make our way to Fab India for some clothing.

You never know what you’re going to find in India though or where your day will take you. On our way to find FabIndia, we found a government Emporium shop that had a permanent exhibition….wooden elephants, Buddhas, Ganeshes, silk sarees—so much for the eyes to take in! At every section of the store, if you wanted to buy an item you had to bring it to the counter in that section. There, a person would write out a receipt/bill for the item. Your item would then go to the delivery section of the store and you would carry on with your shopping. Before you carried on with your shopping, the receipt was not complete without a few stamps. Every piece of paper that they gave you was stamped by these government officials. After finishing shopping, I managed to only buy a cloth notebook in the tie and dye style of fabric. We then went to the cashier to hand in our receipts and pay for the items. But the process of shopping was not done—now we had to actually get the item back. So then we had to go to the delivery section of the store to pick up our various items. Such an interesting way of doing things! I guess that’s one way to employ 20 people in a regular sized shop! Then we started off on the car congested road to try and find FabIndia which we were able to find quite easily. Dad & Hollis were able to get some kurtas and pants and I got a beautiful teal and gold colored dupatta (shawl) for $12. Soon enough, we were getting hungry so we made our way back to Bandra (where the taxi driver jipped us off and made us pay $10 US dollars for a taxi). In Bandra, we went to the Red Box Café for some lunch. I got this really yummy paneer (cottage cheese tofu thing) burger. Hollis and my Dad also got really good vegetarian dishes.

Then it was time to show them the bargaining side of India. My cheaply made Indian purse had ripped so I needed to get another one. Bargaining here is such an art! The shop owner might start the price off at 700 rupees, but I know that I should be able to get it for 250. In order to get it to a good price, you have to tell a little tale. “I’m an American and I want to love your country” or “I just had this bag and it’s cheaply made just like the one I’m buying from you”…I knew if I had taken a little bit more time, I would be able to get the price down to 250 or so—but I managed to get it for 300 rupees (about $7 US dollars).

After walking off our lunch and plowing through the crowds and people wanting us to buy cheap shoes and bags, we stopped for some Natural Ice Cream. This ice cream store has custard apple, jackfruit, coconut ice cream…the list goes on and on. It’s so nice to have a small group because then we’re able to share the ice cream and food.

After sorting out the luggage, we made our way back to the hotel, ordered ourselves some lassi (a yogurt drink) and called it a night.

There's no pausing through life

2009-01-04T20:51:00.000-08:00

About three weeks after coming back from India, I'm finally catching up with myself and taking the time out to think about what I just went through. India certainly had it's ups and downs......changing apartments two weeks into the semester, crazy internship days, new life long connections, time for inner thinking...the list goes on and on. As much as I was happy to leave Mumbai, I was also sad to leave south India. South India especially gave me the chance to catch up with my Dad and also catch up with my own thoughts that were in my head. It was so wonderful and rewarding to just experience spirituality and grow as a person...never mind, what a life changing experience seeing all those temples and backwaters of Kerala were.

When I came back from India, I thought that I would be able to pick my life up right where it left off.....WRONG! I guess this is what everyone was calling reverse culture shock. I was gone from my friends and family for 4 months, yes, but in some way I thought that I would be able to have the same life that I had back in August. After coming back to the States, I've realized that while I was gone, people moved on with their lives. My friends moved on with theirs, my family moved on with theirs....their lives were still going on just as my life was going on in India. But for some reason, I thought my life could be the same when I got back to the States. And part of me still wishes for that. I miss hanging out with my friends. I hate not knowing what's been going on with their lives for the past few months. I hate that it could take a few more months to finally catch up on each other's lives.

At the same time, I'm glad my life wasn't the same as it was back in August. India has changed me in ways that I don't even know yet. There are going to be days when I know my opinion for something has changed because of my experiences in India. In India I was able to turn off my American life (my cell phone, the internet, the media, the latest entertainment news....) and just look inward. I didn't realize it then, but I needed to look inside myself then more than ever. I needed this mental vacation in order to clear thoughts from my head, think about what I wanted to do the rest of my life, and just get away from the hustle and bustle of the American lifestyle. As much as I love my cell phone, I was so happy to not hear it ring when I was in India. I was so happy to turn on the tv and not have to hear about Britney Spears' latest hospital visit. So in a way, I am so happy that my life didn't pause while I was in India.

But is it wrong for me to want my life in India to keep playing while my life in America was paused for four months??

P.S. And as for all my experiences and reflections on India, don't you worry, they're all coming...

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...."

2008-12-10T10:46:00.000-08:00

The time is finally here!! Hopefully my Dad and Hollis have arrived safely into Mumbai and have made their way to the hotel. Tomorrow morning, I'll be picking them up and we'll be off on a day trip around Mumbai. I'm going to be showing them downtown (Gateway of India, Taj Mahal Hotel, Queen's Necklace, Flora Fountain.....all the landmarks of the historic Mumbai) then we'll do some shopping for Indian clothes and a nice lunch and dinner. Then Friday we're off to Chennai! For the next 10 days after that, we'll be traveling around south India....enjoying the local cuisine, relaxing on Kerala's backwaters in a houseboat, getting Ayurvedic massages and just soaking up what the south has to offer.

I'll be leaving Mumbai for the U.S. on the 20th and will be back in Providence on the 21st. During my time in south India, I doubt I'll find the time or place to upload pictures or even blog of my experiences. But once I get back, hopefully I'll find the time to do so :)

See everyone when I get back!

You never know how much someone means to you until something happens.

2008-12-08T07:18:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it, but it's almost time for my Dad and Hollis to arrive and for us to board a plane to Chennai. These last few days have been crazy to say the least, so I'll be happy for the craziness to end and for my vacation to begin.

After coming back from my internship and a little shopping with Barbara on Saturday, I learned that Blanche was admitted to the hospital. They thought that it was heart problems because she has had it in the past. But after running some tests, the doctors think that she has bladder stones...which are soo soo painful! After hearing about what happened, Dennis & I went to the hospital to see how she was doing. When her friends had told me that she had been admitted to the hospital, my heart sank. I guess you never really know how much someone means to you until something happens. Over the past several months, she has been such a comfort for me. Now that she's at the hospital and not at the apartment, it's weird not to have our three hour conversations every day. Usually we'll both come into the kitchen and start to make dinner or tea or something, and then never leave the kitchen until either one of us realizes we have something to do or that we should just move our conversation to the living room. She has been such a wonderful friend to me while I've been here. I never imagined myself to feel as welcome in a stranger's home than I do at hers. I thought that it would be weird living with a stranger for four months, but if anything, it's been the opposite.

So when I heard she was at the hospital, I wanted to go right over to see her. Luckily they were allowing visitors into her room. After seeing that she was okay and having a good conversation with her, I went home to start packing for south India. Later that night, Blanche's daughter flew in from London to be with her at the hospital. I'm so glad that someone is there with her, making sure the doctors are doing what they're supposed to be doing and just being there for her.

On Sunday, Barbara and I met up in Andheri and went shopping for some last minute things. And of course, me being the "Martha Stewart" and scrapbooker that I am, I spent 600 rupees (about $15) on Indian stickers, little appliques and everything else for my India scrapbook. Even though it might not seem like a lot of $, 600 rupees is very expensive for Indian standards to be spending on scrapbook stuff. And then, our trip would not be complete without getting some Indian jewelry. So now, I have enough jewelry to last a lifetime.

After coming back to the apartment with all my stuff, I made some dinner and attempted to get some sleep. Ever since the terrorist attacks, I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep. I guess subconsciously I'm on alert all the time and so I don't feel safe when I'm not in control (aka when I'm sleeping). I'm hoping that once my Dad gets here, I'll feel safer and will have a better night's sleep. And I reaaally hope that when I come home, I'll be able to sleep. Because surviving on 4 hours of sleep a night is just not enough for me!

After getting some sleep, I went to the orphanage then met up with Barbara again to hang out. We got some reaaally big cups of coffee...

Just kidding :) But they were still pretty big! And then after getting fueled up on coffee, we began our search for some mehndi. For anyone that doesn't know, mehndi is the henna ink art that is done on people's hands and feet. After looking everywhere, we were finally able to find a girl (probably no older than us) who had set up a table and a sign saying that she did mehndi. 200 rupees later ($5), I had myself some mehndi on my hands. And it's gorgeous!! It was so hard to keep the henna on my hands for 2 hours while it dried, but I managed to do it. Here's what it looked like before I rubbed off the ink:

And then here's what it looked like after:

If facebook lets me, I'll post more pictures of my adventures up online. If not, I guess you'll just have to wait til I come home for me to upload the pictures. Just a few more weeks everyone and I'll be home!

Yet more attacks....

2008-12-04T12:09:00.000-08:00

You think that things are always going to happen to other people but not to you....to other cities, but not to yours. Buuut, here I am in Mumbai and that is no longer the case. And to be honest, my cool, calm and collected mind is starting to fizzle out to one that is nervous and highly anticipating going home. Following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai that began on November 26, I felt safe. I felt safe taking the train every day to my internship, taking rickshaws and going out in public by myself. After these attacks, I thought it was over. I thought that for the next several months, the only thing that they would be covering on the news is the commentary about what Mumbai is going to do after these horrible events....not covering more attacks after November 26th's ones.

No more attacks since November 26th's batch of ones has happened....yet. It's not good to get in a negative mindset that there will be more attacks and that it's only a matter of time until these things happen...but sometimes you just can't help it. After reading the newspaper and watching the news, there has been warnings that attacks and a threat of terrorists hijacking planes in India has happened. Here's the full story.....

Airports on alert after hijack threat

Anasuya Roy

Thursday, December 04, 2008 11:01 PM (New Delhi)

There has been tight security at the airports in Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore after the Bureau of Civil Aviation issued a hijack warning.

The move follows an anonymous mail sent to a news organisation in Gujarat last week, warning of terror strikes at these three airports on the 6th of December that also happens to be the anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition.

Vsavaraj Malajhati, DCP, Bangalore Police, says: "Security has been stepped up. We are asking passengers to keep calm. Necessary arrangements have been taken."

There's a 5-tier security ring -- right from the time one enters the airport to the point passengers finally board the flight- which means more checks, but no one's complaining.

The terror alert seems to have changed the way people in India view aviation security -- no more tantrums or complaints about having to stand in long queues to be frisked several times

But there are some who still feel more steps can be taken to improve security.

"They stopped my car did not check my baggage they should do that also," says actor Kunal Kapoor, adding, "now the security agencies shouldn't become complacent, and this kind of security should be maintained."

If you're planning to take a flight, here's what you need to do:

Reach the airport early, at least 3 hours before the departure time

Make sure u have a proper identity proof

If u need to carry medicines, especially liquids, in hand baggage, please carry the doctor's prescription

And try to travel light

I spoke to some of the passengers inside and they say the security measures are as usual, but security agencies tell us there is no visible presence to avoid panic.

Courtesy of NDTV.com

My Dad, his friend Hollis and I are supposed to have a 10 day vacation down to south India starting next week and ending on the 20th of December. My only hope and wish is that my Dad & Hollis are able to make it safely to Mumbai and that we're able to have a safe trip around south India. I cannot wait for this south India trip. I've been preparing for it for months now, so the anticipation is becoming like Christmas Eve or morning before you're opening those presents. But now, I almost can't wait just as much to go home and know that I am safe back in the US. Wish me luck :)

My reactions to India's 9/11

2008-11-29T04:03:00.000-08:00

After over 50 hours of shootings, grenades being thrown, fires raging and people jumping out of buildings, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai are over....for at least a few months anyway. Surprisingly, people in Mumbai (called Mumbaikers) have already started to get back to their normal life. All of this started on Wednesday night (Indian time) and just finished this afternoon....they really like to take their time with it all! So all day Thursday and Friday I didn't go out of the house. On Friday night, Dennis (the director of Champlain College in Mumbai) invited me over to his apartment for a Thanksgiving dinner. His place is about a 10 minute rickshaw ride away from me, so I felt safe going alone. Everything was still quiet though when I went out and came back from the dinner.

Then today I went to my internship by rickshaw rather than by train. The rickshaw ride was pretty expensive (60 rupees=about $1.50), for Indian standards, but I'd rather pay that then risk my life on the train. I still didn't/don't feel safe taking the train right now. Dennis said taking the rickshaw was a good idea too. While I was at my internship, the attacks finally ended....after 3 freakin days!! Even though they're saying the death count is about 150, I know it's more than that. There's probably 100 dead bodies in one of the hotels alone! The Oberoi hotel and Taj Mahal Hotel (both 5 star hotels) each have about 800 rooms in them, so you can imagine the damage there. They'll have to close down and renovate their hotels, which will make them lose a lot of business.

And believe it or not, if you were in Mumbai right now (excluding downtown area), you probably couldn't even tell that something happened. It looks so normal now. People are out on their motorcycles whizzing through traffic, people buying produce for the night's dinner, and of course the construction on the hundreds of new apartment complexes have resumed. And what I've see and heard, people aren't even talking about it. I've been talking about it with Dennis and his wife, Blanche, and Barbara (who is from Austria and is also here for 4 months helping out at the orphanage) though. It's hard not to talk about it! We still can't believe how much damage 15-20 terrorists can do. The Indian government is so bad, and already everyone is blaming the politicians. The elections here are coming up, so you can imagine the huge blame game that is going to be happening over the next several months here. They seemed so helpless when all of this was going on. At first the police in Mumbai thought that they could handle the situation, but then after several hours of being defeated by the terrorists (and losing countless police officers), they decided that calling in the army would be good. Uh, yeah! What ever gave you that notion?! I just don't understand how it can take 3 days for them to get the guests out of the hotel. Keep in mind that these guests didn't have access to food or water for those 3 days either. Crazy!! They're definitely going to be criticized in the following weeks and months for sure. And I don't blame the media when they do.
Usually I get the newspaper every morning on my way to the internship and read it on the train. But since I didn't go to my internship, I never got the paper. Now I wish I had gotten the paper so that I could preserve history and keep a copy for my scrapbook :)

The funny thing is with all of this is that I was just talking to Blanche about what I was going to show my Dad and his friend Hollis when they arrive in Mumbai. I was planning to bring them to see the Gateway of India, Taj Mahal Hotel, and to have lunch at the Leopold's Cafe. Buuuut I don't think we'll do that. Now I wish I had seen the Taj Hotel interior before all this happened. I've seen the outside of it, but not the inside. Now I never will. Leopold's Cafe, where the terrorists opened fired at, is a very popular place to eat for foreigners. The terrorists were certainly very smart and definitely knew where the foreigners were. At the Oberoi hotel, the terrorists told the guests that everyone could leave except for people with a U.S. or U.K. passport. Not good!

And to reassure everyone of my safety.....Early Thursday morning at 3am, Dennis actually called me up to let me know about the attacks. The attacks all started around 11:30pm Wednesday night, but it takes a while for the news to travel if people aren't watching the news. I guess he had just heard the news at 3am and wanted to make sure that I didn't go to my internship the next morning. After that 3am call, he and I have been in constant contact about if I should go out, go to my internship, etc. Champlain in Burlington has also been in contact with him to make sure that everyone here is okay.

I knew that I was never going to forget my experience in Mumbai, but now I definitely won't forget it. And people all over the world won't forget it either.

Thanksgiving....Indian style

2008-11-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

Back home in the U.S. is Thanksgiving. And since I'm not in the U.S. sitting down at the table with my family having a nice big slice of turkey meat and cranberry sauce, I had to make do with the Indian way. Blanche had felt bad that I wasn't home celebrating Thanksgiving with my family and wanted to make it up to me. When we were talking about it in fact, she was under the impression that Thanksgiving was a bigger holiday than Christmas in the U.S. Hmm....that boggled my mind. It just goes to show how people around the world view the U.S. and our culture and holidays. I guess some people think Thanksgiving is bigger because all Americans celebrate it and Christmas is only celebrated by Christians. Buuuut, I still don't know about that. To me, Christmas is a bigger holiday but Thanksgiving comes in at a close second.

Anywho, so Blanche had said that since I wasn't going to be home for Thanksgiving, she wanted to make it up to me. So, earlier in the week we decided that we would go to the movie theater and catch a Bollywood movie then have some dinner at a very nice Chinese restaurant....because who doesn't like Chinese, right? Early in the week, that was the plan. Then of course "India's 9/11" happened and that plan was shot down. So then we said that we would watch the reality tv that was unfolding on tv aka the terrorist attacks and order in chinese food. It was so sweet of Blanche, because being an American, she wanted me to try American chop suey....Indian's version of it. Boy is it different!! The Indian version of American chop suey is made up of tons of sweet and sour sauce, some little chicken pieces and vegetables. What you're supposed to do is take some crispy Chinese noodles, put them on your plate then pour the sweet and sour chicken mixture over the noodles then top it all off with a fried egg. It was interesting for sure! I thought that there was waaay too much sweet and sour sauce but it was a good combination with the fried egg and noodles...gave it a good texture.

This week I was also supposed to have had a Thanksgiving dinner with Dennis (the director of Champlain College in Mumbai) and his wife. That ended up being rescheduled for tonight due to the terrorist attacks. I have to say, they made a pretty good Thanksgiving dinner from what they had to work with. For dinner, we had some chicken with gravy, stuffing, weird potatoes that were white but sweet, green beans and some rolls. And no Thanksgiving is without a homemade apple pie. You know, I was very impressed by all of this, especially for the fact that almost no kitchens in India have an oven. Apparently Dennis' apartment is that rare 10% of apartments in India with an oven. And because of that rare oven, we were able to have our Thanksgiving.

When I was riding home in a rickshaw after dinner, I couldn't believe how eerie and quiet it still was. It was 11 o'clock at night, but for the shopping happy, club hopping area of Bandra, it was very quiet. People still have that fear in them and that cautious nature about them when going anywhere it seems. Other than when the taxis and rickshaws were on strike, I've never seen it so quiet here. For myself, I will be going to my internship tomorrow (after 2 days of not going) but I'll definitely be taking a rickshaw there rather than the train. I'm still a little nervous to take a train right now.

I'm so happy that I did get out of the house tonight and go to the Thanksgiving dinner at Dennis' place. I have been couped up in the apartment since Wednesday night and it's been slowly driving me insane! I can't even imagine how the people couped up in the hotels downtown feel/felt when they were stuck in their room for over 40 hours (without food and water I might add)! So crazy!

Mumbai blasts, shootings and hostage situations....oh my!

2008-11-26T21:34:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm okay. Last night at around 9:30pm (Mumbai time...11am Wednesday morning Eastern Standard Time), blasts and shootings in downtown Mumbai occurred. Two five star hotels, the Oberoi Hotel and the Taj Mahal Hotel, had terrorists come into their hotels and start to shoot at people. Since then, parts of the Taj Mahal Hotel have caught fire. The Oberoi Hotel also has a hostage situation on their hands. Approximately 40 people (mostly people with a U.S. or British passport) have been taken hostage in the hotel by terrorists. So far, they've demanded nothing but still remain holding the foreigners. The shootings and hostage situation has continued throughout the night and still continues today.

I'm so happy that I'm not in downtown Mumbai (about 30-45 minutes from me depending upon traffic), but pray for the people that are there. It's one of those times that you think it will always happen to someone else or to another city, but never you or your own city. But it has. When you see Iraqi cities on the news and blasts happening there, it's out of your personal world because you are not personally affected. It's scary to say, but when I'm watching all of this unfold on the news, to me it looks just like what you would see on the news in Iraq or Afghanistan. Such a scary thing.

Since this all started last night, the government has placed all the major cities in India on high red alert and have closed down all the schools in the state of Maharashtra, where Mumbai is. I usually take the commuter train and local bus to get to my internship every morning, but I did not go to my internship today. I don't know how it will be tomorrow, but for today (on America's Thanksgiving holiday) everything is closed and I am not even going to attempt to go outside.

I pray for all the families of those affected by this tragedy. For the Anti-Terrorist Squad Chief that was killed during these shootings, for the hostages in the Oberoi hotel and especially for the terrorists themselves and their families.

Here is an article from cnn.com about the blasts....

(CNN) -- The morning after teams of gunmen carried out a brazen series of attacks across southern Mumbai, killing scores of people and taking hostages in three locations, the situation showed little signs of a quick resolution.

A series of gunshots rang through the air at the Oberoi Hotel Thursday morning, where about 100 members of a specialized unit of the Indian police undertook an operation to rescue four to five foreigners hostages on the 19th floor.

A few blocks away, a series of gunfire sent curious onlookers scurrying for cover at the Taj Mahal Hotel. Shortly afterward, police escorted dozens of people -- who appeared to be mostly westerners -- out of the hotel. A.N. Roy, the police chief of Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is located, said all hostages there had been freed.

A standoff at a third location -- the Cama Hospital for women and infants -- also appeared to have been resolved by Thursday morning, CNN's sister station CNN-IBN reported. It was not immediately known whether gunmen at the hospital fled or were killed.

Israel Foreign Ministry was attempting to locate about 20 Israeli nationals missing in the city as police said four suspected gunmen took cover in a building called Nariman House, where several Jewish families live.

Police said gunmen fired indiscriminately from the building throughout the night. Stray bullets killed a couple in their home and a 16-year-old boy who stepped outside, police said.

Authorities asked residents in Mumbai to stay inside, uncertain whether other attacks were planned in the city.

That warning failed to stop knots of curious onlookers from strolling Thursday through the streets of this financial center to survey the damage at some of the 10 sites that, without warning, had turned into battlegrounds late Wednesday.

Mumbai remained locked down with police checking cars randomly. The stock market in the city -- the financial capital of India -- was closed, as were schools and colleges.

Government officials said the attacks caught them completely unawares, with no intelligence chatter indicating that such a coordinated assault was in the works. Instead, authorities had focused their attention on securing movie theaters and malls after receiving indications that terrorists were intending to attack those locations, CNN-IBN reported.

"It's war on Mumbai," read the banner headline on the front page of The Times of India.

Mumbai police spokesman Satish Katsa put the death toll to be at least 85 and another 200 wounded. An earlier report said an additional nine attackers had been killed.

At the five-star Taj Mahal Hotel, a fire continued to burn hours after it began on the top floor of the majestic, century-old Victorian building popular among Western tourists and diplomats.

CNN employee Yasmin Wong was among the guests at the Taj Mahal who holed up in her fourth-floor room for several hours, then ran out her door, down the stairs, into the lobby and past the pool in the rear of the hotel to safety.

"I saw a few casualties on the way down," she told CNNI. She said she also saw the guest in a room above hers. He had smashed out his fifth-floor window to escape the fire and was hanging out his window, but no one was there to help.

"He was just screaming and yelling for help," she said, adding that she did not know what became of the man. "I'd been instructed just to get out of my room," she said.

Bhushan Gagrani, a spokesman for Maharashtra, said no one had claimed responsibility for the attacks.

But several Indian news outlets reported receiving e-mails from a group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen that claimed responsibility for the attacks. CNN was not able to verify the reports.

Gagrani said nine suspects were arrested overnight and three other people were detained for questioning. CNN-IBN reported that seven of the nine arrested are fishermen. The network said that police found a boat loaded with explosives near the Taj Mahal.

Hemant Karkare, chief of Mumbai police's anti-terrorism squad, was among the fatalities at the Hotel Oberoi, officials said.

In addition, 11 other police were killed, Deshmukh said. He said officials did not know how many attackers were involved.

A man told local television that he was in the Oberoi around 10 p.m. when gunmen entered the lobby and began rounding up guests, asking for anyone with a U.S. or British passport and taking hostage about 15 of them.

The Cafe Leopold, another popular hangout for Western tourists, was also targeted, and one police official said an attack occurred at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, a Victorian building.

CNN-IBN reported the attacks began shortly before 10 p.m. (12:30 p.m. ET) Wednesday and witnesses were reporting new explosions and gunfire into early Thursday morning.

A.N. Roy, the police chief of Maharashtra, said the gunmen used grenades and automatic weapons.

India has suffered a number of attacks in recent years, including a string of bombs that ripped through packed Mumbai commuter trains and platforms during rush hour in July 2006. About 209 people were killed in that attack.

Last July, a series of synchronized bomb blasts in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad left 49 dead and more than 100 wounded, police said.

But Paresh Parihar, a businessman in Mumbai, described Wednesday's attacks as unlike any previous ones.

"They really don't fear for their lives or any other activity that could put them in danger," he told CNN. "This is really a very unusual situation."

Mumbai ordered schools closed Thursday.

CNN's Harmeet Shah Singh and Correspondent Andrew Stevens in Mumbai contributed to this story.

.....oh, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I love India.....I hate India.....I love India......

2008-11-25T11:07:00.000-08:00

Some days I can't believe that I'm here. I have to pinch myself to realize that I'm halfway across the world in India. If a pinch on the arm doesn't work, the sight of cows roaming the streets or the stench of freshly hacked chickens in the market definitely does. I'm in such awe of how beautiful the colors are, how friendly some of the people are and how diverse the culture can be. Everyone always thinks of America as the "melting pot" country, but now that I've experienced India, I beg to differ. In India, there are countless languages spoken (a different language spoken in every state), many religions and festivals practiced, and so many different cultures just melding together. Since Mumbai is one of the biggest cities in India, I have certainly had the chance to see the melting pot at work. All different castes/social classes come together to function as one society here.

Today when I was in a rickshaw going to pay my internet bill, the notion of different castes functioning in one society really hit me....literally. At a red light, two street children came up to my rickshaw and started to beg for money. Now these children were dressed in rags with their hair all matted and scruffled and looked like they hadn't had a bath in days. If this was my first day in Mumbai, I might be more lenient to give them money. But now, I know the story and drill. If these children get any money from foreigners or passersby, they will probably give the money to their parents, who will in turn buy drugs or alcohol with it. For this reason, I don't give money to any beggars. Every day, I must have at least ten to twenty different adults and children come up to me asking for money. But today, this really popped my bubble and ripped my security blanket to shreds. After I told these two children that I wouldn't give them money, they started to climb into the rickshaw with me and pull at my pants and top. I couldn't believe it! The rickshaw driver did nothing and said nothing to make them go away. I told them firmly "no" many times and all they would do was keep dancing around the rickshaw and get back into the rickshaw with me. I was scared! One of the children started to talk to the rickshaw driver (probably in Hindi or Marathi). It was at this point that I really wanted to know the language. Even just to impress them and shock them out of their wits. Finally, the light turned green and the children hopped out of the rickshaw and left. But for those few minutes, I couldn't believe what was going on. I yearned, and still yearn, for my own personal space and bubble. It is one of the things that I can't wait to have when I come home. It's one of those things that you don't realize that you'll miss until it's gone.

Just another day in India...

Live Earth India concert!

2008-11-25T10:57:00.000-08:00

On December 7 Live Earth will host a concert right in Mumbai in hopes of bringing the global warming crisis to light. Al Gore, Bon Jovi, Will.I.Am. and many Indian singers and celebrities will make an appearance at the concert. I'm sure that I'll be posting pictures of the concert for all your viewing eyes to see too. It's going to be the concert of a lifetime and I just bought tickets to it! I never thought in a million years that these names would be coming to India, never mind Mumbai....but they are! And it came at just the right time and place for me too. The concert's going to be on the same road as where my internship is, so I'll have no problem getting there. And it just happens to be happening three days before I leave for my trip to South India....the timing couldn't be more perfect. I can't wait!

You can check out more about the concert and organization at http://liveearth.org/

More pictures are up!

2008-11-15T00:35:00.000-08:00

I just uploaded more pictures of Mumbai, so feel free to check them out! Just click on the link to the left and you'll be able to see all the pictures :)

Waiting on the world to change

2008-11-12T04:22:00.000-08:00

Since I've been here I've had to wait 2 hours for my food to be delivered, an extra week for the tailor to finish my salwar kameez suit, quite a few weeks for the travel agent to book my flights & hotels for southern india.....and the list goes on and on. Especially after I got frustrated with the travel agent taking her time, I talked to Blanche (the woman I'm staying with) about it. She said that these people know the power that they have over you. They want you to know that they have power over you. You need them in order to get whatever you need done. So they keep you waiting, and waiting and waiting. We all know that a restaurant two blocks down from where you live shouldn't take 2 hours for the food to arrive on a weekday night. But the restaurant also knows that you want your food and you will wait those 2 hours because you want it so badly. *sigh* It gets rather frustrating to wait. John Mayer might have been talking about the world needing to change, but he certainly was right in saying that we're waiting for things to change....whether we're waiting for oil prices to go down or for your oily food to arrive to your apartment.

Getting the most out of my experience here

2008-11-09T04:51:00.000-08:00

Throughout my time at my internship here, I have had to tred very carefully when I wanted to know more about HIV, AIDS, the red-light district/trafficking of minors, and even more about the orphanage in general. When I first began my work at the orphanage, it was very difficult for me to even talk with anyone about anything. In my opinion, people were not very friendly and open for me to learn new things. As a social work student and as a global citizen, I crave learning new things. I came to India to have new experiences and gain some knowledge about international adoption. The social worker that handles the adoptions at the orphanage was "always busy" and never had time to speak with me. I was told by the nun in charge to play with the babies and teach the girls English.

That being said, I am approaching my last month here in India and I am finally opening up the pathway to knowledge. By sheer coincidence, I have been able to connect with the outreach worker at the orphanage. I'll call her Joanne. She goes to the slums and houses of the families who still have relationships with the girls at the orphanage. She has been wonderful and has been able to put me in contact with the right people. I guess it's always who you know and then after that connection, you're able to get in the door. It has been frustrating for me throughout my experience here but I am glad that I'm finally able to get at least a little bit of information about what St. Catherine's Home does and what the process is for adoption.

Joanne has put me in contact with one of the social workers that helps out with the adoptions. I'll call her Hillary. Behind closed doors and whispered voices, Hillary has been able to tell me how the adoption process works, how children get "dropped off" at the orphanage, what some of the adoption forms look like, and the files that St. Catherine's has on each girl. With every workplace, there is politics. And politics was the reason why those doors had to be shut and our voices had to become whispers when she showed me files and told me about the adoption process.

If anyone's interested about how the adoption process works, keep on reading. Other than that, thanks for reading my blog. There are two ways that babies get "dropped off" at the orphanage. 1) Police find babies who are abandoned and are under safe custody. They bring the babies to the hospital for a check-up then deliver them to the orphanage. 2) Unwed mothers will go to the orphanage a few months before giving birth to the baby. After the child is born, the unwed mothers relinquish the baby to the orphanage. If people find a baby on the streets, they have to go through the police in order to bring it to St. Catherine's. The police then bring the baby to the child welfare committee chair person. The court gives a name to the baby and gives a memo/paperwork to the orphanage. The orphanage is required then to publish pictures of the baby in newspapers and in the media for 4 months. After publishing those pictures for 4 months, they wait one month after the telecast to see if anyone has wanted to claim the baby. Usually this does not happen. After that, the child is free to be adopted by a family. The orphanage then writes information about the court hearings, processes, etc.

When a family wants to adopt a child, they have to keep these things in mind:
1. If a family already has children of the same sex, it's easy to adopt another child. If they have a boy and a girl already, then it's hard to adopt. Parents also have to have a combined salary (I don't know if it's a monthly or annual salary) of 10,000 rupees (about $250 US dollars). The parents also have to invest 10,000 into the child for education, marriage, etc. The combined age of the parents and the child has to be no greater than 90 years. So if the mom & dad are both 40 years old, then they can adopt a child who is 10 years or younger.

Interesting, huh? I thought it was. The politics of the orphanage sure get in the way of actually learning about the orphanage itself but somehow I'm still able to learn a little bit about it. More to come I hope :)

All Soul's Day

2008-11-05T09:58:00.000-08:00

I've probably said this a lot throughout my journal entries, but I'll say it again. Living with an Indian woman rather than in a dorm, my own apartment or school housing has lead me to have so many wonderful experiences. If I had lived in a dorm or in any other housing while in India without living with a local family or person, I wouldn't have been able to have conversations about elections, Indian traditions, Penelope Cruz, Bollywood like I have been able to have. I haven't been able to meet too many people while I've been here, but the rich experiences and quality of the experiences has certainly given me a whole different perspective on life. And for that, I am so grateful.

One of these experiences that I've been able to have with Blanche, the woman that I'm staying with, is the holiday of All Soul's Day. All Soul's Day falls right after Halloween, on November 2nd. In India on All Souls' Day, many families go to the cemetery to pay their respects to their loved ones that have passed. I wasn't doing anything on Sunday, when the holiday fell so Blanche invited me to go with her to the cemetery. When we got to the cemetery, I couldn't believe my eyes. I don't think I have ever seen that many people at one cemetery at a time. There were hundreds of families celebrating and mourning their loved ones that had died.

Despite the pollution and layer of dirt that surrounds India, you can't help but to also see the beauty and color as well. As families came to pay their respects to their loved ones, they would bring flowers and candles to decorate the grave. Where the person was buried and where the coffin was, they would cover that area in flowers. Every little square inch of that area was covered in beautiful colors of yellow, orange, pink and red flowers. Similar to rongoli, some people made designs with the flowers, such as a cross or other symbols.

It was a sad day for everyone that came to the cemetery but at the same time, you couldn't help but to smile at all the beautiful decorations and candles surrounding each grave. India is truly a country of color in more ways than one.

Rongoli all over the city

2008-10-31T07:02:00.000-07:00

I'm loving Diwali. The actual day of Diwali was on Tuesday but celebrations have lasted all week. I didn't have my internship on Tuesday, Wed., or Thurs. so I was able to take a break from everything. Everyone's saying that the festivities were subdued because of the stock market and financial crisis, but I couldn't tell. For the past week, I've been hearing so many fireworks and been seeing so many businesses, shops and apartments decked out in lights and lanterns.

Today when I got back to my internship, the girls had done their own rongoli designs (all made out of colored powder, sand or salt) which were beautiful! Then when I went to my meeting with my professor at the college, there was a whole classroom floor filled with different rongoli designs. They even created rongoli in the form of various politicians, a Kathakali dancer (that we'll be seeing in Kerala) and other "Indian" things. Look for pictures of all this in my photo albums....click on the link to the left that "My Pictures From India".

An Indian teaching someone about life in America...hmmm, interesting

2008-10-27T23:39:00.000-07:00

At my internship, there is a group of older children that I help teach English to. We sing songs, learn different English phrases and learn the alphabet. There is a volunteer that comes in 3x a week to help teach these children as well. This past week, I had a very interesting experience with this group.

When I walked into the room where the volunteer teacher and older children were, I saw a new face in the group. There is a new girl that is in the fifth grade. I don’t know where she came from, but I would assume that someone found her on the streets or found her wandering around. It’s so sad to hear about the condition that these children were in before they got to the orphanage. But it’s good to hear that since they are now at the orphanage, they’re being taken care of much better than before.

The new girl is actually leaving in a month or so and will be adopted by a family in the United States, specifically in Texas. I’m surprised that a girl that old is being adopted much quicker than some of the babies, but I’m so happy for her. At the same time though, I don’t know if she’s already been at the orphanage for a long time or not. The only thing I know is that she just started coming to the class here. After thinking about it though, since she’s being adopted the sisters might have thought that she needs to learn English since she’s now going to be going to the U.S. Before, she was under the impression that she would be living in India so her main language wouldn't have been English.

Since she’s being adopted and is leaving in a month or so, one of the sisters told us that she needs a crash course about America and living. Even though I’m from America, the sister wanted the volunteer teacher to teach the girl about America and our way of life. I found that kind of disappointing. The things that the volunteer teacher was teaching her was kind of outdated and wasn’t the way that the average American does things. I found it hard for me to tell the teacher differently though because she was so confident in what she was doing that I didn’t want to constantly interrupt her and tell her that that was wrong.

It was interesting to see an Indian woman trying to teach another Indian girl about the culture in the United States, when someone from the U.S. (me) was sitting right next to them. Some of the ways in which the teacher presented the culture made me think about my own culture in a different way. When they talked about using the bathroom, she said to me, “you use paper, right?”. Other things that she was teaching the girl, I could tell she picked up from television serials/shows. But a tv serial/show is something that Hollywood creates, and sometimes it does not resemble a real American lifestyle. After all of this, I keep wondering to myself why the sister wanted the volunteer teacher teaching the girl things about America when I could help her out as well. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Reflection on my internship so far

2008-10-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

When I was doing my graduate school applications, something struck me. Throughout this entire time at my internship, I thought it was merely an internship. But when I had to reflect back on my various experiences for the essay that I had to write, I found that a lot of my thoughts went back on the orphanage and my internship there.

As someone who wants to work in the student affairs field, I will be working with students from all backgrounds and ways of life. Reading a book about the culture that they’re coming from will help, but actually experiencing their culture is something that will give me an added benefit. Even though many college students might not come from India to study in the U.S., having this experience in India and at the orphanage will help a great deal. Anywhere in the world where there is turmoil and conflict, people will always go to their families and loved ones for comfort and safety. At the orphanage, when a girl is sick or is crying, she knows that she has people around her all the time who love her and can comfort her. If a student has just started college, they might have some very difficult times ahead of them. If they’re able to find support and comfort through other students that they meet, then they will have a more enjoyable time at college. Helping students to create that sense of support and comfort is something that I plan to do in my career.

Right now, I might not know the full extent of how much this internship has changed my way of thinking or how much of a change it has made to my life. But as I begin to reflect back on this internship, I can see that it will definitely have changed me in more ways than one.

Updates from India

2008-10-25T05:25:00.001-07:00

To start out, I just want to say that "yes, I'm alive" and "no, I don't have dengue fever"...thank god! I got my test results and xray back from the hospital, went to the doctor and she told me that I don't have dengue fever, but instead I do have sinusitis. No surprise there for me because I've had it in the past and have seasonal allergies every single year. So now I've been taking some nasal spray and antibiotics to help with all of that.

Throughout all my crazy experiences that I've had in India so far (such as learning that I was practically being kicked out of my apartment and having to find another one in a few days time), I've managed to see the glass half full. If I never changed apartments, I would never have met Blanche, the woman I'm staying with. She has been so wonderful these past few weeks and months. It'll be midnight and we find ourselves talking away about politics, different governments, various festivals, our families, corruption and yes, even Angelina Jolie. I plan to definitely stay in contact with her when I'm back in the States.

And if I had never gone to the hospital thinking that I have dengue fever, I never would have been able to have an experience at a hospital in India. Let me tell ya, they certainly do things differently here...some for the good and some not so good.

Let's see, other news....My Dad & his friend Hollis are coming to visit the last two weeks that I'm here!! I'm super excited that they're able to come. It's always so nice when you've had a great experience somewhere or have gone somewhere amazing and you're able to share in that experience with someone else that you care about. When they come in December, we're going to spend a few days in Mumbai then make our way down south for a 10 day vacation.

December 10-12 Mumbai
We'll probably go see the Gateway of India, Elephanta Caves (carvings in a cave of various forms of Shiva...a Hindu god), and shop around Bandra (a suburb in Mumbai where I'm living and where all the shops & restaurants are).

December 12-15 Chennai, Mahabalipuram & Kanchipuram
Chennai and Kanchipuram are famous for the tons of temples that they have. In Mahabalipuram/Mamallapuram, there's the world's largest relief carving, and more caves and temples.

December 15-20 Cochin, Periyar, Kumarakom, Allepey and Trivandrum
Cochin has Kathakali dancing (performers are all men and dress up in elaborate costumes with very colorful make up/masks), Chinese fishing nets and other places to visit. Periyar is where a wildlife refuge is, and has elephants, tigers and other animals. We plan to take a boat ride on the lake inside the refuge and see where the elephants bathe and where the other animals drink water. Kumarakom is where the backwaters are. They're supposed to be beautiful and similar to the Everglades. In Allepey, we're going to be living in a houseboat for a night and will be able to pass by all the little villages in the area. Trivandrum is another city, just like Cochin, and will have some other attractions as well. All throughout Kerala (the state in which all of these cities are) is famous for the Ayurvedic treatments. It is known to be where Ayurvedic treatments and philosophy began. So, of course while we're in Kerala, we'll also be having an Ayurvedic treatment (or two, or three haha) done.

After all of that, the very next day we'll be hopping on another plane and heading home to the U.S. I wish we had more time to visit all of these places, but I'm sure glad I'm at least able to do all of this. It's going to be an amazing time. These days in southern India will hopefully be "good" days in India :)

Happy Diwali!

2008-10-25T04:54:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad that I came to India in the fall because there are sooo many festivals going on! It's so wonderful to see all these new festivals and traditions happening right before my eyes. Since India has quite a few religions, especially in Mumbai, there's bound to be quite a few festivals for all of those religions.....Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism, Muslim, etc. And right now is the season for Diwali. Diwali is known as the festival of lights. It's an "uplifting of spiritual darkness" and a triumph of good over evil. "On the day of Diwali, many wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks. Some North Indian business communities start their financial year on Diwali and new account books are opened on this day." (wikipedia.org) In the schools, all the children get new notebooks to write in for after Diwali. I guess you could think of it as a celebration of the new year and luck in the new year. Many people also play card games & gamble during Diwali as they hope to have new luck in this new year.

Now, for the non-historical Diwali FYI....To me, it almost looks like another Christmas because of all the strings of lights on various buildings, businesses and homes. There's also sweets baked and exchanged among friends, lavish gifts given to each other and beautiful fireworks all throughout the city. This is the time when you really get to see all the colors of India. For the past week now, I've heard so many fireworks ("crackers" or "firecrackers" as they're called here) go off all over Mumbai. Over the course of the next few days, I'll also start to see colored paper lanterns hung up on the balconies of people's houses and in their doorways. Rongoli is also a part of the Diwali celebrations. Rongoli is a beautiful design that is often found on the doorways of people's houses. It's often made with colored powder, colored lentils (beans), flowers, rice or sand.

Here's a picture of Rongoli that was done on the floor of my college in Mumbai....all made out of colored powder and is done freehand. There's also little clay pots on the outer parts of the design that are filled with oil and a wick and are lit.

Here I am, wearing a traditional Salwar suit (Salwar Kameez) and posing next to the rongoli.

I'm sure I'll be taking more pictures of the Diwali celebrations as the actual festival starts (which is on Monday), so stay tuned!

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."

2008-10-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

Two things happened today that reminds me I am no longer in Kansas, or anywhere in the US for that matter:
1. All the rickshaw & taxi drivers in Mumbai went on strike today
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aBe7OMRlEq9Y

Thousands of people rely on rickshaws to get to work and from one place to another, so this'll be interesting to see how people manage. When I was walking to the market this afternoon, I couldn't believe how quiet it was on the streets. There was still the mild honking of cars and the crazy Mumbai drivers out on the roads, but there was almost this calm in the air. Usually, wherever there is a space on the road, a rickshaw will take it up. But since rickshaws and taxis weren't out on the roads today, there was so much space. It made the narrow roads that I usually walk on so wide today.

2. I went to the doctor's today because of the cold that I've been having, and she thinks I could possibly have dengue fever or leptospirosis....two things that you would never hear being diagnosed in the US. I'm going back tomorrow for 2000 rupees ($50 US dollars) worth of tests. So we'll see then what the diagnosis is. While I was in the waiting room to see the doctor today, I was just looking around the room and noticed a sign of all the prices for health care plans. What?! I couldn't believe my eyes! You would never have seen how much a cancer detection is (only $50!) or how much a healthy woman check-up plan is ($20). And get this, no fine print. I was just waiting to see some sort of asterisk or fine print at the very bottom saying that this is what the prices start at or something, but I never did. Out of all the countries, I would never have thought India to be one to list the prices and give them to you upfront. The US should learn from India.

On the other hand though, there are some things India can learn from the US as well....like waiting your turn. When I got to the waiting room, the nurse told me that I would go in to see the doctor after 2 patients. Okay, I thought, not bad. But you never knew when the next patient was called in because there were always people creeping into the doctor's office and sneaking ahead of everyone else in line. Then a nurse started calling numbers (where I was constantly reminded of the waiting lines at the DMV) and I then realized that I was never given a number. Apparently one of the nurses never gave the doctor my chart so I was never placed on the list of patients and in the line. Grrr. So fast forward another half hour and I finally made it into the doctor's office.

Not being in "Kansas" has opened my eyes to so many things. I was always the person to plan everything out. And I'm still that person, but now another part of me is one that accepts a change in that plan. I know that if I wouldn't be able to accept a change in my day or plan that I would never make it through this semester. So even though some moments have caused me to lose my patience or grind my teeth, I have become a better person because of it. Mumbai, thank you for that.

Skin whitening?!?!

2008-10-13T04:02:00.000-07:00

This entire week at my internship, the girls have been studying for their midterm exams. Since mostly all of their exams are in Marathi (a language spoken in Maharashtra, the state where I'm living), I can't help them study at all....which proves to be a very boring week. After the boring week that I had at the orphanage, I was really looking forward to being with the older girls on Saturday. Usually, we'll take a walk around the orphanage, play games, dance around and just have fun. Much to my surprise though, the older girls were studying when I walked up to the cottage where the older girls were. I saw some girls sitting outside on the steps reading and studying material for one of the exams that they would have this next week. When I gave a nice big “good morning”, they told me to keep my voice down because the sister was inside. If the sister heard voices coming from the classroom or outside, she would assume that the girls were not studying. This left me in an awkward state of “what should I do now?”

Throughout the morning though, I was able to have a conversation here and there with some of the girls. I wasn’t able to have a long conversation because they were always afraid of getting punished by the sister if she found out they were studying, but it was still a conversation. I wanted to make use of my time while I was there and wanted to get to know the girls better.

One conversation that we had kept replaying in my mind for the rest of the afternoon and weekend though. When they asked me if I liked Bombay, I replied, “I love it here! There are no big department stores, big grocery stores or lines at the grocery store. Everyone buys their fruits and vegetables every day or few days rather than buying a huge cart full of food every week. I love this lifestyle that Mumbai has.” When I told them this though, they didn’t understand why I didn’t like the big stores. They wanted the big stores, big malls, etc. Even after trying to explain why I liked Mumbai’s lifestyle rather than the American one, it still got us no where. I would love to live in a world without Walmart and JCPenney, but at the same time, they crave that world.

The theme for this day and possibly the theme for my whole time in Mumbai is, we all want what we can’t have. When I watch the news every night, almost every section of commercials has an ad for a skin whitening cream.

That's right, not a skin tanning cream but a skin whitening cream. At first I thought they meant a whitening cream for their teeth or something, but nope! Many Indians do not like their skin tone and instead want a lighter skin tone. Back in the U.S. though, you will constantly see shelves and shelves of self-tanner in the store, tanning shops set up all over town, and girls around town constantly trying to change their white skin tone to a darker one.

This brings me back to the conversation that I had with the girls at Sneangelie. Since they had a lifestyle where people go to the market once a day instead of once a week, they wanted a lifestyle that would give them time to go to the market once a week instead of once a day. They didn’t like having specialty shops that only carried meats and cheeses, or vendors carts that only sold fruit. They wanted a life full of big department stores and grocery stores where they could get their milk, meat and cookies all in one place. I guess the saying is true then, the grass is greener on the other side. Who would've thought that I learned this lesson from a bunch of 13 year olds though?!

Happy Durga Puja!

2008-10-08T23:58:00.000-07:00

Today is the 9th day of Durga Puja, which is called the Dussehra...I think. There are so many festivals and holidays here that I still get confused by all of it. Today is when people decorate their cars, bikes, rickshaws and places of work with strings of brightly colored marigolds. Tonight, they also bring the idols of goddess Durga to the sea and immerse it. Since today's a holiday, I don't have my internship (wahoo!). So I got to take some pictures of the Durga Puja festival near my apartment. Enjoy!

More goddesses....I don't know which ones they are.

On the left is Ganesh (elephant god) and then another goddess to the right of him.
You can kind of see goddess Durga in the middle. She's the one with all the arms (she's got 10). And you can also see the crowd of people making their way up the wooden stairs there to pay homage to her and to worship her.

A sighting of Indian's Simon Cowell

2008-10-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

As the last of the monsoon rain comes pouring down on the streets of Mumbai, and as I realize how many pages of my history book I still have to read, I figured it would be the perfect time to update my blog.

The wonderful thing about India is that you never know what you’re going to be doing in an hour, a day or even in the next few minutes. Sometimes this unstructured life is not a good thing. But for the purpose of this journal entry, let’s say that it’s a wonderful thing for the moment.

At my internship today, the woman who volunteers to teach some of the older children at the nursery offered to take me to a Durga Puja festival. I knew that there was a lot of dancing with sticks involved, but that was about it. On TV, I’ve seen some of the dancing that goes on, and it is beautiful to watch. Everyone dresses up in these elaborate costumes and dresses that are made for this Hindu holiday. And with any Hindu holiday, there is bound to be idols that are meant to be worshipped. But you can only read so many guidebooks and so many newspaper articles about it, before you just want to see it for yourself. So that’s what I did.

So after my internship, the woman (who I’m blanking on her name right now) and I went to one of the Durga Puja festivals that was near the orphanage. And of course the one day that I don’t bring my camera with me, I need it. I took some pictures with my cell phone, but long story short, I can’t get pictures from my cell to the computer right now. But anyway, the Durga Puja holiday/festival….When I walked into the temple/shrine that they had set up for the holiday, my eyes went right to the beautifully painted clay idols. One thing that I will never get tired of in India is the beautiful colors that are always around. These idols, and there were about 5 of them, were painted gold, pink, orange…just gorgeous! And they were so intricate in their details. The goddess Durga, the main idol, had ten arms coming from her body, and each arm was holding a weapon of sorts.

After taking some pictures of all the idols, we made our way through the crowd and to the food. The Durga Puja holiday came from the Eastern side of India, particularly the Bengali/Calcutta side. So of course the food that they had there was food from Calcutta. We ended up just getting some chicken fried rice, but it was still pretty good. The sweets though were wicked yummy. Both of the sweets that I tried were made out of milk and sugar, and had a sponge cake kind of consistency. Just as we were finishing our sweets, this guy came up and asked me if I liked the festival. Me thinking it was a random Indian attempting to talk to an American, just brushed him off and said that it was great. Then the woman told me that he was a nationally known singer who had produced songs for a lot of Bollywood movies….what?!?! Here I was, looking stupid as ever, that I ran into a celebrity but just brushed him off.

Singer Abhijeet

Ooo and did I mention that he’s a judge on Indian Idol (the Indian version of American Idol)? Later, the woman that I went with told me that he is the one that organized this entire festival here. As he saw us eating our sweets, he asked us why we’re eating over here when there’s a huge buffet of food from Calcutta (that was free by the way). So he brought us to the buffet, pulled us past the line of a whole bunch of people and made sure we were given what we wanted. They gave us some rice, broccoli mush/stew, fried & battered leaves or eggplant (I couldn’t tell) and another type of sweet from Calcutta. I tried my very best to eat it all, but I was stuffed even from eating the chicken fried rice from earlier!

After that whole experience, I headed back to my apartment. Which is the perfect time for me to mention that on the way from the train station to my apartment, the rickshaw that I took was blasting Hindi music & American pop music....weird! I've never been in a rickshaw before that had music blasting like that. All I could do at that moment was think about the tv show, Cash Cab, and how cool it would be to have a Cash Rickshaw show here :) Anywho, so hen I got back, I put up my feet, had some tea and of course, took a little nap. When I woke up, the woman that I'm staying with, Blanche, and her friend had come back from their house shopping around Bandra. Blanche's friend is looking for houses/apartments in Mumbai, but yet it's so difficult to find a good place that's not a couple million dollars. After waking up, I wandered into the living room and had a nice conversation with them that opened my eyes to the housing market in Mumbai. From this, I learned that Mumbai is the 4th most expensive city in the entire world to live in (after NYC, London and Tokyo) and that you can't get any decent size apartment for less than 4 crores (1 crore=$250,000 US Dollars, so 4 crores is $1 milllllion dollars). It's crazy!

After talking for a little bit more, Blanche thought it was a good idea for all three of us to go to the exhibition that's in town (an arts & crafts fair with different vendors from all over India). Even though I'd already been, it sounded like a good idea to finish off the afternoon. So we made the trek to the exhibition grounds via rickshaw and started browsing all the different vendors. In the end, I managed to get out of there only having spent 800 rupees ($20 US dollars). I got some Indian jewelry, some fabric to make into a kurta (long Indian shirt) and some really cool black pants that had this gold embroidery and jewels on it.

And that ladies and gentlemen concludes my day :)

My everyday life in India

2008-10-04T11:02:00.000-07:00

It's weird that it would ever come to this, but life in Mumbai has become somewhat normal these last couple of days. I wake up at 7:30am, take a rickshaw to the train station, take a 20 minute train ride to another part of Mumbai, then take a 20 minute bus ride to my internship. If I need milk or more tea, I simply walk a block down the road and pick it up. No need to compile a list of 20 items and wait for your day off to roll around before you can go to the store. And I'm happy to say, that tea time has also become normal. For the most part, Americans are coffee drinkers. But here, you have your tea. And I love it! I have two cups of green tea and two cups of english breakfast tea every single day. And at night, my tiffin box is delivered to my door, and dinner is served :) A tiffin box is four metal containers that have chapati (a whole wheat crepe kind of thing), rice, dal (a sauce made of lentils), some kind of meat and then some kind of veggie dish. Here's some pictures that I took to give you a better idea...

At first, I was a little bummed that I wasn't going sightseeing every weekend or any time that I had off. But then, on my train ride to the orphanage, it hit me. I'm going sightseeing every day! Every day I'm seeing something new and experiencing a new culture. For me, Mumbai is a city to experience rather than to sightsee. Every time that I shop for my pomegranates, custard apples (very yummy I might add...kind of tastes like a sweet banana) and other exotic fruit, and I bargain with the fruit stand owner, I'm experiencing Mumbai. Every time that I see hoards and hoards of people pushing themselves near the train cars in hopes that they can grab hold of the train enough to get to their destination, I'm experiencing Mumbai. Unfortunately, those memories and experiences aren't something that you can usually click with a camera. But I know for certain that those experiences and memories will be memories in my head for years to come.

My own evaluation about my internship

2008-09-28T01:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a few days since I've had the time to truly think about the experiences I've had in India so far, particularly at my internship. This semester, I'm doing an internship at St. Catherine's Home, which is an orphanage for girls. It's about an hour away from where I'm staying so during the commute to and from the orphanage, I'm able to think about all that's happened so far. And now, I'm finally able to write it all down on paper.....so bear with me and this long post :)

Every day when I walk into my internship, St. Catherine’s orphanage, I can’t help myself to think like a social worker and to ask questions about the orphanage. I thought that it would be great to work in an orphanage and see the adoption process first hand. But since there are no adults around or a supervisor around, being able to ask these questions proves difficult. It’s so frustrating not being able to ask questions about the adoption process. Here I am at an orphanage where children are being adopted left and right, yet I have not even been able to meet with the social worker there or see the process first hand. I realize some of it may have to do with confidentiality, but I should at least be able to hear about what the adoption process is. I have so many questions that I would love to ask some of the children that have already been adopted, that are waiting to be adopted and that will never be adopted. After living with all your friends for a few years, how do you feel being pulled from that environment and into a new one? What is it like not having mothers and fathers to come home to? How is it living with girls who are just like you? Do you find it easier to make friends at the orphanage because of this? I’m finding that I will have to do my own research about adoption, because these questions will never get answered.

When I went to my internship on Monday, I was faced with the same challenge as in the other days: find other ways to communicate with the girls, rather than verbal, and to help them improve on their English. As the days go on, I’m still faced with that same challenge and every time I’m faced with it, I learn something new. There wasn’t anything special about the day, but I find that just by observing them and see how they interact with each other, it can help me to interact with them as well.

Some days I feel like I’m not learning anything new because the education part of being a social worker isn’t being fulfilled, aka not learning about the adoption process and more about the agency itself. And other days, I feel like I’m learning so much and am constantly improving on my skills as a social worker. Even though I still don’t feel like I’m doing all that I would like to do in my internship, I am learning valuable skills that could help me when communicating with anyone. Every day that I think about my internship, I keep coming back to the same thought. When you’re not able to do what you would like or how you would like to do it, you’re faced with having to come up with a different alternative for how to do what you would like to do. Making this skill better will help me with any situation that I am faced with.

As someone who wants to have a career in the field of higher education and student affairs, I find this internship being a wonderful resource and experience for me. In order to do my job well in the field, I will always have to have a second plan for how I would like to accomplish my goal. My internship at the orphanage is teaching me that in life, I will not always be able to do Plan A. If I’m planning a dorm event, I might not realize until later down the line that the night I want to have my event is when there’s a big hockey game that everyone’s going to. The field of student affairs constantly will have curve balls thrown at me, where I will have to be able to think on my toes and come up with other alternative ways to come up with a solution. Having this internship experience has helped me to further develop those skills and give me more experiences so that I will become a better professional in the higher education and student affairs field.

At first I wondered how an internship at an orphanage in India help me to get into grad school and to have a career in student affairs. But since starting the internship, I’ve found that there are constantly life lessons that I am learning and skills that I’m improving on that will definitely be able to help me later down in the line.

Getting the experience of a lifetime....a social work internship in India

2008-09-28T01:02:00.000-07:00

After all that I've written about, I don't think that I've ever really talked about my internship, which was the whole reason why I wanted to go to India. I figured, why study abroad if you can't witness what's going on in your field of study in that same country and culture. So that's what I'm doing....interning at an orphanage for girls in India. I've been at my internship for about three weeks now and it's been great some days and not so great others. Here's a look back at what I thought about my internship on my very first day as an intern.....

"I've always been fascinated with other cultures. Finding out what traditions, customs and behaviors that other cultures have has always made me want to visit that culture and soak up what they are able to teach me. Being able to have an internship in a culture that has always amazed me is an experience no one could ever put a price on.

One of the behaviors/processes that has always been interesting to me has been international adoption. Being able to see the process up close and see what has to happen in order for a family to adopt a child from another country is what I'm looking to accomplish while I'm at St. Catherine's Home/Orphanage. I realize that helping the staff with daily tasks is part of my job as an intern too. But for me to shadow a case with an MSW is one of my goals this semester. I'm just craaaving that experience!

On my first day of interning, I was so excited to go to the orphanage and see the international adoption process up close and personal. I love interacting with children too so that's an added bonus :) When I got to the orphanage however, they kind of threw me into a classroom with about eight girls and told me to teach them English. These 8 girls had a range of academic levels. Some understood the alphabet and others were busy copying whatever I put on the board.

As a social worker, in any setting that I'm placed in, I try my very best to be at their level and communicate with them. It was very difficult communicating with them when some girls barely understood a word of English. Since I was immediately placed in the classroom with the girls, I had no idea what they knew already, what I was supposed to teach them, etc. It proved very difficult.

Over the course of this semester, I want to be able to learn social work practices that are going on in the orphanage and other social work skills that I know but could improve on. As an intern and also a social worker, there will always be room for improvement. It is difficult for myself to point out what I could improve on, but I know it has to be done. Having a supervisor/MSW there to guide me along or show me what I could improve on would definitely be beneficial to me.

After trying to teach some girls English, I migrated on to the nursery cottage of the orphanage. Here, I expected that I would be feeding, comforting and just being with the babies. During this time, I would also be able to talk to the other people working at the orphanage, and I'm sure, learning from them as well. When I got to the nursery, I was guided to a small room off from the nursery where there were two girls who had some physical and possibly mental/emotional developmental difficulties. I was told to also teach these two 7 & 8 year olds English and teach them songs. When one of the sisters was there, they sang songs, spoke English and were able to recite the alphabet and numbers. After the sister left though, the two girls closed up like clams. Even though they were capable of speaking English, since it wasn't their most comfortable language, they didn't want to speak in English. Instead, they spoke in Marathi (a language spoken in Mumbai and the rest of the state) and Hindi I was told. It became difficult and very frustrating for me to use my social work skills and interact with them.

Going 0 to 60 on an unpaved, potholed road

2008-09-22T07:31:00.000-07:00

When you’re a foreigner, you’re asked a lot of questions….by everyone you meet. So when someone asked me how long I’ve been in India, I reply, “just a few weeks” and thought nothing of it. But later, when I was glancing at a calendar, I noticed that I’d already been living in Mumbai for the past four weeks! I can’t believe that I’ve already been here a month. When I stop to think of things, sometimes I act as though I’ve lived here for years...and other times, I feel like I’ve only lived here a few days. Every day, I hail a rickshaw, then hop on a train and then finally catch a bus, and think nothing of it. I know that if my rickshaw fare came to 15 rupees, I know to give them only 14. If someone told me a few months ago though that I would have to do all of that just to get to my internship, I would have thought that there would be no way I could pull that off and still end up at my internship. But, as Professor Henry Higgins in “My Fair Lady” says, “By George, I really did it, I did it, I did it!” And after coming back from my internship, I easily pick up milk and bread at the market then walk down to the road to get my fruits at the fruit vendor. I’m no longer clueless about where to go to get towels or a phone card for my phone. And if someone asks for directions, in their thick Indian accent, who knows, maybe I’ll be able to point them in the right direction. It feels so wonderful to get that comfort feeling, in a city that is so big and so disorienting at times.

But of course, there are other days, when I feel like I just moved into the city. If I had to take a cab somewhere, the cab drivers would probably love me and hate me at the same time. First, I’d either not know how to tell the driver where I wanted to go or second, end up paying a much higher rate because I didn’t know how to work the meter. In a city that tries every which way to make a living, you really have to be conscious of what you’re doing and where you’re going, because in the end, only you can look out for you.

When I was on the phone with my family from back home today, they asked me how it's going for me over here. I told them that today, I love it here. But if you ask me tomorrow, it could be a whole different story. To me, Mumbai is a city of good days and bad days. As I read what I've recently written in my blog, I realize that I'm constantly changing my mind about the city. But, it seems like Mumbai is that kind of a city. Just a few experiences could make your day or break your day.

"Maximum City", the book that I have to read for my social work class has definitely shown me some insight on this huge, chaotic city. The book is written by an Indian who talks about life in Bombay/Mumbai, specifically the gruesome, not so pretty side of the city. I’m only 25 pages in, but already I’ve found great passages that truly help to explain Mumbai.

“India desires modernity; it desires computers, information technology, neural networks, video on demand. But there is no guarantee of a constant supply of electricity in most places in the country. In this, as in every other area, the country is convinced it can pole-vault over the basics; develop world-class computer and management institutes without achieving basic literacy; provide advanced cardiac surgery and diagnostic imaging facilities while the most easily avoidable childhood diseases run rampant; self-washing machines that depend on a non-existent water supply from shops that are dark most hours of the day because of power cuts; support a dozen private and public companies offering mobile phone services, while the basic land telephone network is in terrible shape; drive scores of new cars that go 0 to 60 in ten seconds without any roads where they might do this without killing everything inside and out, man and beast” (Mehta 25).

And to learn the caste system of India, that is still going strong, here’s this insight from the book...

”...the live-in-maid won’t clean the floors; that is for the “free servant” to do. Neither of them will do the bathrooms, which are the exclusive domain of a bhang; who does thing else. The driver won’t wash the car; that is the monopoly of the building watchman. The flat ends up swarming with servants. We wake up at 6 every morning to garbage, when the garbage lady comes to collect the previous day’s refuse. From then on, the doorbell rings continuously all through the day; milkman, paperboy, knife sharpener, wastepaper and bottle buyer, massagewali, cable man. All the services of the world, brought to my door, too early in the morning” (Mehta 23).

But somehow between the rickshaw honks, the vegetable man yelling about the fresh produce he has, and the tap tap tap on the car door of the five-year-old girl begging for money, life in this city is somewhat calming. Somehow, I think that when I walk out of the airport when I arrive in the U.S. and I don’t hear all these noises, the day will be a little too quiet.

Mehta, Suketu. "Maximum City: Bombay lost & found". New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2004.

Celebrations and Investigations

2008-09-18T02:09:00.003-07:00

This past Sunday was the 10th day of the Ganesh immersions, and almost considered the biggest day of the festival. So that night, Cordelia, Joshua (Denzil Fonseca's children) and I drove down to the water to see the Ganesh idols being immersed. Where we went didn't have the huge Ganesh idols being immersed, but it had some smaller household Ganeshes. Still, I was able to see a procession of a medium sized (3 feet or so) Ganesh going to the water. The cart that the Ganesh was in was covered with flowers and surrounded by people dancing, playing the drums and just celebrating. I tried getting some pictures but it was hard to do in the dark.

Even though I haven't really been sightseeing, it's nice that I'm able to take the time to get used to living in Mumbai and "be a local"--even though as much as I try, I'll never be one. I've realized that I don't have to travel far in order to experience life in India. There are constantly festivals, fairs, parades and other events happening in the area.

After coming back from dinner with Cordelia and Joshua, I heard that there were bombings in Delhi, India's capital. Although we're far from Delhi (about 875 miles), it's still quite scary. The terrorism group that claimed responsibility for the bombings emailed the government saying that Mumbai is next. It's so scary living in fear that the place where you're living might be bombed at any time. Although since I've heard that news, it almost seems that most people haven't reacted to it. It's almost that they're so used to this type of threat that it's become common. Scary!!!
Here's a link to a news article about the bombings:
http://www.euronews.net/en/article/13/09/2008/new-delhi-bombings-claim-many-lives/

This whole week, the Bandra fair/festival is also going on. Bandra is a section of Mumbai, which is weird because my internship is in Andheri, another section of Mumbai, yet it's an hour away from Bandra, which is still in Mumbai. I probably just lost you guys, sorry about that one, but I just can't believe that I can travel an hour away and still be in the same city. Anywho, so Wednesday night, Joshua invited me to go see the fair. The Bandra fair is put on by one of the beautiful old Catholic churches in the area, Mount St. Mary's church. Even though I haven't seen a reaction to the students about the Delhi bombings and Mumbai bomb threat, the police are definitely reacting to it. Before we got to the fair, we had to go through metal detectors and have our bags searched. I had brought my camera, thinking that I could take pictures, but when they searched my bag, they told me that I had to give them my camera batteries and that I would get them back later.....just another reaction to the bomb threat. They even told everyone to leave their cell phones off while in the festival, because the Delhi bombings were triggered by a cell phone...go figure!

After going through all the security, we walked around, saw all the Indian sweets from all over India (different parts of India have different cuisines...ex. cuisine from Goa is from the influence of the Portuguese and has a lot of Portuguese spices), vendors selling candles, trinkets, jewelry etc. There are so many different kinds of snacks and sweets just in Mumbai, never mind the rest of India. Since being in India, my favorites have been Gulab jamun (a fried doughball immersed in honey)and lassi (a sweet yogurt drink). Yum yum!

Going back to the candle vendors, I have to mention something about them. You won't find your ordinary candles here. If someone is sick or hurt, they will buy the candle shaped as that body part that is hurt and then light it as a candle. The belief is that by lighting the foot shaped candle, for example, you are relieving you foot from the pain.

The fair though was similar to any bazaar and roadside festival--children's rides, toys and fair food. I guess a fair is a fair anywhere in the world that you go. I wish I could've taken some pictures of all the food stands and vendors, but unfortunately my camera won't work without batteries :(

More new beginnings

2008-09-18T02:09:00.002-07:00

Sunday was a very leisurely day. I woke up late, which was wonderful, and then went with Dennis, Denzil, Cordelia & Joshua to see another apartment/flat. I'm so happy I didn't say yes to the first apartment that I looked at because this one is so nice! I have my own bathroom, my own balcony and my own bedroom. My bedroom is huge for Indian standards. I have two twin size beds, full closet, dresser drawers and a desk. The maid gives me tea every morning, cleans and does my laundry every day and tidies up around the flat. After seeing the place, I immediately said yes! And for 10,000 rupees ($250) a month, it's perfect! I still can't believe that the maid even is just 200 rupees a month ($5/month) either.

On Monday, I went with Dennis to the Foreign Registration office to register me with the government so I wouldn't have a problem. I have to register within 14 days of arriving and of course Monday was the 13th day. After a 1 1/2 hour commute and after climbing the 6 flights of stairs, we made our way to the office. At first they told me that they didn't have proof that I was an American citizen (apparently a passport doesn't mean too much to them). Then after waiting for some time, I filled out the registration form (pretty much the same form as the visa form that I had already filled out). Then they told me that they didn't have proof of residence in India. I never knew that I needed it and didn't even have it because I was moving into my new apartment that same day. So it looked like I would have to come back that next morning with proof of residence.

After the second 1 1/2 hour ride back, I was exhausted! At 8:30pm, my head hit the pillow and I fell right asleep. Bright and early Tuesday morning, Dennis & I took the 1 1/2 hour bus ride to the registration office again. The woman at the office said that I just needed to fill out a new registration form and I would be all set. After filling out the form, I was on my way to print it off from the computer when the power went out. Just my luck! After about 20 minutes of waiting, I kindly asked one of the employees if I could do the form by hand. She said yes and I began filling out the form for the third time. After she finished stamping things in my registration booklet, and I finished filling out the form, the power came back on. Since the power came back on, she told me that I now had to fill out the form again on the computer....now the FOURTH time of filling out the form. A pain in the neck if you ask me! Finally after waiting for god knows how long, she handed me my registration booklet. After 5 hours of being in the office, I was oh so ready to get out of there! Dennis & I went back to school where he went to work and I was finally able to check my email. Dennis said that he still had work to do so Harvey, a student at the college, showed me how to get from school to my apartment via the bus. But being a bus in Mumbai, after 30-40 minutes it still didn't show up. So Harvey got his motorcycle and took me to the apartment that way. I've never been on a motorcycle before, so I was kind of nervous to ride on it, but it was so cool! It's like a convertible car, with the breeze blowing on you constantly....but no support or structure if you bang into someone haha

That night, Blanche, the woman that I'm staying with, brought me to all the local markets so I could get some food for myself. I definitely love the concept of the little markets. For your fruits, you go the fruit vendor. For your milk, you go to a little inside market (kind of like a convenience store). For your cheese and lunchmeat, you go to a cold storage place. And it's not like everything is far apart from each other either. The best part about it though, is home delivery. A lot of the markets and restaurants do home delivery....so you never have to carry anything around with you as you shop from one place to the next. So if you need milk, cereal, soap and cookies, just call up the market and they're able to deliver it right to your door. I love it! Last night, I bought about two heavy bags of groceries and they said that it was a lot to carry so they delivered it right to my apartment while Blanche and I continued shopping.

Wednesday, I had my morning cup of tea then some cereal and went out walking around. I still had to pick up some towels and hand soap too, even after all that shopping. Thankfully, I'm right near all the clothing stores, markets, restaurants and banks. I don't have to walk too far for anything. I'm really beginning to like this lifestyle! It took me a while to get used to how everything is and how everything's done around here (servants, maids, meal times, ways of shopping and bargaining) but it's such a calming lifestyle when you get used to it....besides the hustle and bustle of all the rickshaws and taxis of course!

Hopefully when I have more time free, I can pick up some salwar kameez outfits. They're so comfortable! Salwar kameez are outfits made of Indian fabric that consist of a long top usually having gorgeous designs, stones and details on them and baggy cotton pants. Since Mumbai can get so hot and humid, these kinds of outfits are perfect for the weather.

And except for rent, everything here is so cheap that I can afford to buy a few outfits and treat myself :) My grocery bill that night came out to be $1,140 rupees, which is only about $29! And all the groceries will last me about a few weeks. I already bought some tops which were about 100-150 rupees each (only $2.50-$3.75) and some pants which were about 200-300 rupees ($5-$7.50). It's great!

Veg vs. Nonveg....some things to know

2008-09-18T02:09:00.001-07:00

One things I should mention about "veg" and "non-veg" in case you ever plan on visiting India or even having Indian cuisine for that matter. To state the obvious, veg is vegetarian food. India has a lot of vegetarians due to religious, cultural and personal reasons. Despite what you might think though, veg food can be very tasty. They add tofu (called soy nuggets here), rice and veggies together to come up with their different kinds of veg food.

Non-veg food is food with the meat...normal Indian food. Even though non-veg people eat meat, they still won't eat beef or any meat from a cow because cows are very sacred here (even though you'll see cows on the streets looking like they haven't eaten in months and haven't been washed in weeks).

So there you go, if you're ever in an Indian restaurant and they say veg or non-veg, now you know :)

You don't know what you got, til it's gone

2008-09-18T02:09:00.000-07:00

After two weeks of moving apartments, changing bus routes and routines, losing the internet, having my computer die on me, life is finally getting back to normal....or at least normal for Indian standards. There's so much to catch up on, but I'll do my best with everything.

It's been about two weeks since I had to leave my old apartment. It was a huge shock that I immediately had to leave--crying and asking "why me?". After I left her place, I brought my things over to Dennis's house (the director of Champlain-Mumbai campus). Since I wasn't too thrilled with the apartment that I had looked at right after Cynthia told me that I had to leave, some people from the college were going to try and find a better apartment....and they definitely did! The one that I had previously looked at didn't have good water, no internet, no dresser or space for anything. Pretty much it was just a bed and bathroom. I know that I can't be picky about everything, but I knew that I couldn't function with just that for 3 more months.

That afternoon, I met with Depica and her mom (Depica's a student at the college and will be spending the next three semesters over in the Champlain-Burlington campus). They took me to a vegetarian Chinese/Indian restaurant which was a very weird concept for me. But very tasty! Try to imagine chinese food without the meat (replaced with rice or tofu) and with some Indian spices. We then were going to go to the planetarium but they only had Hindu shows that day. So I'll probably be able to go later in the semester or whenever I'm free. Since we were already in that section of town, we ended up going to an art museum. There were some landscape paintings, abstract paintings and also a whole floor about the history of India, including some artifacts. I have to say, before I came here I didn't brush up on my Indian history. So it was a good refresher. It was really nice though just talking with Depica. Since I'm studying abroad now, she's able to help me out with things and and when she comes over to the US, I'm able to help her with things.

Saturday, I slept in. I didn't realize how exhausted and how much little sleep I had gotten in the past few nights. After waking up, I went to the school with Kathy (Dennis's wife) to meet with Pamela (my social work professor) and Dennis. We just had to talk about the logistics about where I was going for my internship, how many hours, etc. Then while waiting for Dennis to finish up some work, one of the culinary professors at the college brought Kathy and me to one of the Ganesh idols.

Ganesh is one of the Hindu gods. He is an elephant/man with four arms and symbolizes new beginnings. Because of his look, he is a very popular god among the children. Right now, the Ganesh festival is going on. All Hindu families either buy an idol of Ganesh or are given one by someone. For either 1,3,5,7, or 10 days someone in the family has to stay in their house and be with Ganesh. Ganesh can never be left alone. After sitting with Ganesh for a number of days, they immerse the idol into the water, which is why everyone has to get a new idol every year. There's been a lot of articles in the newspapers here about how much people are polluting the water when they leave the Ganesh in the water. Some people have started to buy ecofriendly Ganeshes, but not many. I wish I could've taken a picture of the Ganesh that we saw because it was beautiful! Especially being an outsider though, I didn't want to take pictures and disrespect the religion and traditions. It was probably about 7 feet tall, and was painted with gorgeous colors all over. Since Ganesh is the god of new beginnings, I saw it fit for the Ganesh festival to be going on right as I was having new beginnings of a new apartment and new life in Mumbai.

And just when I was getting settled in, everything changes

2008-09-04T08:34:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day that I have seen it rain. I've always loved the rain, especially the smell of it when it's first beginning to rain. Here, I don't smell the rain as much as I hear it. The huge rumbles of thunder, the birds squawking & trying to find a dry tree branch to fly to.

Boy am I glad that I walked around this morning! Almost everyday I've had people wanting to show me around and meet up with me. And it's been great to see the different parts of the city. But I haven't really explored much on foot.

.....forget all about that. Cynthia just told me that having two people live with her is a strain. She talked to her doctor & they thought it was best that I go somewhere else to live. Now I completely understand that Cynthia's getting to the point where she just wants a retired lifestyle, without many things that she has to do everyday. But this is sooo frustrating!! Just when I'm kind of, barely able to know my way around and start fitting in, my life changes. Why do these things have to happen to me? Do they think that I can handle the challenge? I probably can but it takes every ounce of me to be able to handle the change.

We were supposed to go tonight to get me registered so that I can stay here. I asked Cynthia about it and she said that the new lady could take me. I talked to the woman that showed me an apartment tonight and she said that the school would have to take me. Grrr! I hope that I can get all of this done before Tuesday! I had really wanted to get all of this done before my internship and classes. But life changes, I guess. This probably shouldn't be a big deal but this change is making me so homesick right now. Not being able to talk to anyone from home about it is killing me.

The new apartment that I'll be staying in is very small. I'm living with a couple who seem to be very nice, but it's hard to understand their English. The room that I'll be staying in is a nice size. Right now, there's no dresser in the room. Just a small end table and bed. I have my own bathroom which is nice...very pink I might add. The monthly rent is 12,000 rupees ($300) + 300 rupees ($7.50) for the maid. The woman that I will be staying with told me that she'll look into getting internet, as she doesn't have internet at her apartment. So it's going to be very hard for me to communicate after today, unless she gets internet soon. For meals, they don't really have a full kitchen so I have to eat out or have food delivered to me for every meal. For breakfast, I figured I can buy a box of cereal but that's it. It's going to be very hard for me to adjust to life here.

So don't send anything to the address that I gave you before. My new address is: (I'm pretty sure)
Blue Heaven
Flat 301
C Wing
Rebello Road
Mumbai, India (I don't know the zip code)

I hope that I will somehow have the strength to carry on these next few months. I will be sooo happy to come home though. Right now, I don't know how I'll find the strength to even go through the next day.....very homesick :( I'll probably be moving on Saturday so I'll let you know how it goes.

A diamond in the rubble

2008-09-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

It's so hard sometimes to get your bearings and see where everything is, without a useful map. Last night I went online and was able to find a map on google of the area where I'm staying. The only difficulty was that in Indian there are two names for everything...one in Hindi and one in English. On google, some of the streets are in Hindi and others in English. I guess the best way to find where everything is, is just to explore.

As I was writing, I heard music and a parade outside my window. I went to look out the window and see if I could see the parade from here but I couldn't. But while looking out the window, I did happen to see a beautiful lime green parrot! It's the small things like the music and the parrot flying about, that make me smile. I hear the birds chirping all day long--as I have my tea, eat my breakfast and read. But to actually see the bird that was causing all that chirping ruckus, and to realize that it wasn't just a pigeon made me smile. I'm glad I was able to get a picture of it!

I'll have to find a way on this blog site to start posting pictures. I haven't taken too many, but once I do, I'll definitely put them up to show everyone.

Where in the world is.....

2008-09-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

Just to give you a little look to where I am....

View Larger Map

If you see St. Andrew's Grounds in the middle of the map, and St. Andrews Road, I'm the next road over on the right. It's not labeled, but it's St. Leo's Road.

I'm just a short rickshaw or walk away from the water. Near the water, there's a really nice walking path and Jogger's Park, a little park with a pond and gardens. It can get very crowded though so I'm sure I'll be avoiding that area during the evening. But it's certainly a gorgeous view of the sunset. Dennis' wife and I took a walk along that area during sunset, and even though there were beggars on the street and trash on the ground, the sunset was breathtaking. Mumbai is certainly a city where you'll find a diamond among the rubble.

It's been only a week

2008-09-01T04:05:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I've only been gone a week. Sometimes it feels like it should be more like a month and other days only a day or so. The Indian culture is sometimes very aggravating to get used to and at the same time very rewarding. There are always two different sides to everything it seems here. The traffic, congestion and the amounts of people will be something to get used to. I'm glad that I've had this week to get acclamated to the culture and all of my surroundings. Once I do get used to the area though, I think that it will be a wonderful experience. It's nice every so often to jump outside your own culture and live in another one. Different food, different language and different people will make this semester that much more enjoyable....once I understand all of it :)

As for all of that traffic and different ways of transportation, I'll be taking a bus every time I go to school. This morning I took the bus to the school but took the bus that went in the complete opposite direction as the school! I had to call the director of the college for him to show me where to go. In the end, he picked me up and brought me to the school, which was really nice of him. It's hard to navigate the bus system but after I do it every week, I'll start to get used to it. I only have to go to school for one class on Wednesday...unless I have to have a meeting with someone.

Other than the bus, I'll probably be doing a lot of walking and hailing rickshaws (motorized 3 wheeled carts) to get from place to place. Everything that I need seems to be close by which is nice. If anyone has ever been to Europe, it's the same way as here. There are markets for fruits and vegetables, little shops to get chocolates, little stores for dresses & shoes, etc.

Hopefully I'll have the time to visit every little market and store around here. I'm having an internship at an orphanage that's about an hour away by a combination of a train ride & bus ride. The orphanage, St. Catherine's Home, is run by a Catholic order or nuns. This past Saturday I went with my Social Work professor to see the orphanage and meet with one of the sisters. After meeting with them, I found out that the sister wants me to be at the orphanage 5 days a week!! I'll be starting the days at the internship probably around 7am (and getting there by 8-8:30am), being with some of the older girls in the orphanage til about 11am, then being with the little babies and infants til about 12:30 or 1pm and then heading back to the apartment. It's not a long day as so much as an exhausting day. I guess it's a good thing I don't have to start the internship until September 9th! Now I have the time to rest up and see the local sights.

After visiting the orphanage though, I realized that was what I pictured India to be. The beautiful side of India. I wish I had taken pictures because it looked just like Key West or the Everglades....like a tropical garden surrounding all of the cottages & buildings on the dusty road. I couldn't believe how many children were there though! I thought it would be like a one room school house but there were so many cottages (for each age level) there. I'm hoping the long commute to and from the orphanage will give me time to reflect on everything. It will give me a chance to think about my days so far and what I've thought of them.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to get a good night's sleep once I start the internship. Since I arrived, I haven't been able to get a good night of sleeping in. It is normal not to be able to sleep well for the first week or so because of the time change and new surroundings, but it's killing me! I'm so exhausted yet when it gets time to sleep, I can't. It's so frustrating. I think I'm about ready to take a nap after writing this long journal entry. Taking a nap and trying to recharge my energy will be a daily thing I'm sure.

Not feeling local yet

2008-08-29T02:44:00.000-07:00

It's now Friday afternoon in India and I've been here almost 3 days already...but it feels like a week. At first I didn't know what to expect of how I'd feel or when it would actually hit me that I'd be living in India for 4 months. I don't think it really hit me until a day or so after I landed in Mumbai. Walking around Mumbai and seeing the beggars on the street and yet the beautiful dresses the women wear, really made me snap into reality that I'm here.
A part of me doesn't know how I feel about Mumbai or even India for that matter. A part of me is saying this is too much for me to handle. The big thing is that it's very tiring learning the ins and outs of the city & culture, all at once and all by myself. I'm hoping that once school starts it will get easier.
During this semester, I'm living with an older woman, Cynthia. She seems nice so it shouldn't be a problem living with her. She and everyone else I've met in India so far have been very welcoming. Everyone is always telling me the best shops to go into and the best places to go, as well as what not to do, where I shouldn't be going alone, etc.
Everything is just hitting me all at once though. It's been very difficult so far. The time difference, the different food, culture, etc. There's so much to learn all at once and it's getting very mentally exhausting. I've been told though that I will have frustrating days and I will have great days. Some days I won't want to leave India and some days I won't be able to wait to jump on that plane home.
Well there you have it. The run down and brief explanation of the beginnings of my semester in India. Once I figure out where the best internet is and how to upload my pictures, I'll definitely show everyone pictures of the sights so far.

And so the journey begins...

2008-05-02T08:41:00.000-07:00

It all began when I purchased my $1,600 plane ticket.....ouch! I keep thinking of all the debt I could possibly be in after this trip. But then I realize something. When am I ever going to be able to have the freedom to do it after college? It's a perfect time now to be able to see another world, another culture. More importantly though, I'll be able to grow as a person...and you can't put a price on that.

So on August 25, 2008 at 4:35pm, I will be boarding a plane to Mumbai, India. At first I couldn't believe that I was actually doing it. It was like a cloud in the sky. A dream that was just a dream. And I was standing on the ground with no way up to the cloud. To be honest, I don't think that it will actually hit me that I really am going to India until I board that plane. Who knows, maybe it won't even hit me until I smell the new smells and see the new sites in India.

I've always known that I wanted to study abroad in college. For me, I knew that it would be much harder to travel around the world if I waited til after college, so college was the time to do it. Professor Stracke's sociology class really opened me up to different cultures. He opened me up to so much and I am forever thankful. I've always been interested trying new things and going new places. But at the time, I thought new places meant going out to Colorado or something. But India? Why not! And when I want to study abroad, I want to go all the way. Throw myself out of my comfort bubble and travel to a completely different culture. Turn me upside down, twirl me and let me experience something I have never seen before. I won't know until next fall if ripping myself out of my comfort zone was the best thing for me, but we'll see. You never know until you try it, right?

The independence factor will definitely be interesting. Until high school, I was so unbelievably shy and wouldn't do anything without someone else there with me. In high school though, I had to stand up for myself due to some learning disability issues. I needed to stick up for myself and make sure that I got the education that I deserved. That was when I slowly started to break out of my shell and become who I am today. Today for me, it's always nice to have someone else there with me experiencing the same things that I am, but it's surely not necessary. Having people around me makes me feel more comfortable in that environment, but also being able to experience things on my own is great. I have come so far from being that shy girl in middle school.

So here I am, being thrown out of my comfort zone and into a new culture. No safety nets included on this one. So thanks for reading this and listening to my experiences in India. It's going to be a very interesting journey come August 25th.