amritsar

to really tell the story of amritsar i would need at least an hour. all i really have in me right now is 1 minute. it makes for a hard start to the week to arrive home at midnight on sunday. while there are some phenomenal pics, the chills can't quite be felt the same as they are when you are actually there. stories to come. i promise
xoxo

dear monkey...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7055625.stm

and this is how delhi gets into the news? let me tell you, on my way to school this morning ( to workout and shower due to the lack of water, again) there was a monkey giving the next door house a STARE DOWN. who knows what it was thinking about eating. they are definitely a freaky animal.

you don't know what you've got til it's gone

don't it always seem to go?
i just finished a movie, which i put on partially to comatose myself from the pure disappointment of not having any bathing water. but as i write this, i hear water pouring into the tank on my patio. and just to confirm i lifted up the lid, and sure as hell there is water. this is coming from a near week of hit and miss shower water. in 7 days i took, uh, maybe 3 showers. and the rest of the time i just bathed from the sink water. handy that my bathroom has a drain. assertiveness comes in here. i went into FMO (facility maintence) today and firmly insisted that something be done about our little water issue. the neighbors upstairs don't have it either, so there is some motivation on that end too. long story short our water is piped in from the water center every night from like 6-9. this isn't enough for all, i don't know, 9 people in this building? so usually the tanker brings water in and fills up my tank (courtesy of the american embassy school). so, the tanker has said he was coming the last 3 nights. he didn't come. some bs about flat tires, who knows. the maintenance guy at school says my lady won't let him fill up the tank (who is bs-ing now?) and my landlady says that school never chips in for the water. monkey in the middle. that is me. oooh. please share in my excitement. i just heard the pump go on. sure sign that water is currently being whisked up to the roof where i will draw my first bath from. oh yes, and in the middle of that long winded sentence, it has turned off. i think i might have to pack that gym bag and shower at school tomorrow.

nonetheless. next time you get in your shower, relish in the fact that at least in the next few years you won't ever have to worry about turning that knob and getting nothing. afterall, american bathrooms don't usually have drains.

garba- dandiya raas mahotsav

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071012/NRSTAFF/710120301
this link clearly describes what i saw tonight. this is a holiday celebrated in gujarat. it involves 9 nights of dance and worship. my friend skye practiced for over a month, daily, to participate it was BEAUTIFUL!
here is a pic of the dance, skye is in the marroon outift in the middle
this is a video i took from the opening puja

karims, old delhi

karims is one of the oldest restaurants in old delhi. we took a trip down there last night to feast on meat. holy carnivorous adventure. mutton stew, leg of lamp, you name it, we ate it.the toliets here were squatters.
isabelle, scott, me and catherine
thinh and catherine on the pedi rickshaw
my first rickshaw ride!
stay tuned for videos!

beautiful ganga

i feel guilty now that i didn't mention the absolute splendor of the ganga. it was phenomenally beautiful and miraculously clean. to jump out of the boat and body surf down the ganges was something that one year ago i never would have dreamed about. to be able to spent 5 days, and to get paid for it it just a blessing. i really didn't even want to come back. if i got to choose between my 2 bedroom apt in Malcha Marg and a tent on the ganges.......well then i would really have something to blog about:) my ganga tent view
much love
xoxo

incredible india

hey. i've been hesitant to post since i've been back. seems like so much happens and choosing what to share becomes hard, and if put off enough, a bit daunting. we got back from our field trip on thursday afternoon. we spent an amazing 4 days staying on the shores of the ganga river. it is ganges in english, but ganga in hindi script. much like the pronunciation of himalaya. we stayed at an incredible base camp, the himalaya river runners. they take super good care of you, carrying your bags, prepare meals, and they keep you alive down the river. pretty impressive.

i have never rafted before. to be honest, i am not quite sure how much i like it. it rubs your booty from your swimsuit for one. and the thrill of it is sometimes breath taking...literally. there was a rapid called 'the wall.' yes, it kicked our booties. it was too dangerous for the kids, so they decided they would take us adult thrill seekers down it. of course we flipped over and i spent a good minute thinking that it wouldn't totally suck to die in the ganga if it was my time. then i found the bottom of the boat, found the supposed 'air pockets' and found my way out. jeez. my heart raced for about an hour.

we travelled via train up to hardiwar where they met us with the busses. the rest of india is just as dirty as delhi. it is the land of 'tikke,' the hindi word for 'ok.' everything is done "just enough" and never spectacular. in fact, good would be pushing it. the consensus among some of us expats is that no one in india can really be bothered to do anything about the ridiculous litter problem(don;t even get me started on the poverty). little things, like heaven forbid someone build a bathroom on the road...we just pull off the side and pee in the sugar cane. make you think twice about sugar?

either way. the words incredible india have so many meanings. i can imagine that i will continue to come up with punch lines that help me make it tolerable while i live here...and of course, to keep my frequent readers entertained.

thanks to you who are still logging in....you rock

8th grade WOW trip-Rishikesh, Ganga river

WOW-Rishikesh/ Ganges

you can see the whole album by clicking on the photo. it will take you to the picassa website.xoxo
b

hey dudes and dudettes! After a great 4-day weekend out of Delhi..I am leaving AGAIN!
this time, I am heading north to the Himalayas...and will be going on the
school's week without walls program...I will be with the 8th graders and we
will be rafting down the Ganges...i am so excited.
clearly, I will be out of contact cell phone contact from Sunday morning October 7 (5 am-yikes!) - Thursday evening October 11....
you can check for updates on our trip at ...

http://aes.ac.in/mswebsite_07/aesms/AES/

if you are interested
stories to come
xoxo

the fires are burning

it's cold here. no, not like wisco cold, but cold when you don't have doors to your house, which happens to be like, uh, 1/2 the delhi population. or so it seems on this such " ill'in on india' day." on my way to my yoga class i could feel that cool breeze drifting in....on the way home, everyone else felt it too. the reason why delhi is the most polluted city in the world? it all comes back to pobreza. the people who live in jugghis or squatter communities will burn everything and anything to get their heat on. literally. it's awful for the environment...but it's even more awful for humanity.

some days this is really just heart breaking. to see how some people live and think about how i live disgusts me. what is even a little more disgusting is how easy it is to just pack it in. just pretend that i am removed from it, even though i am literally 2 feet away from the child with no pants on the side of the road. it continues to be trying. my friend gene said it so well on his blog....made me think also...
what is it that made me lucky and them not?
the least i can do is acknowledge people. acknowledge that i was blessed with the things that i have. and acknowledge that some people were not.
at this point i offer a smile. a look in the eyes. a 'hey, i know you're human too'
after all,
how different are we?

udaipur

Udaipur

stories to come