Ko goes to India and...

Project trip to Orissa

2009-10-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

I want to share a little bit about my recent project trip down south to Orissa. We did a double header, school/orphanage/vocational training center (VCD), and a English medium school in a rural village. We had a great time learning how the local people are working in their community and hearing their heart to serve those in need.

I won't mention much about the English medium school, besides the fact that they're doing an awesome job providing education for so many people (especially girls) who otherwise might not be going to school at all, and things were a bit odd because we were in total lock-down (we weren't allowed to cross the road to visit their land without an escort).

So, I'd like to share about VCD. We went down to VCD mainly because of an influx of children coming to their school/ orphanage in response to the riots, which took place in 2008. To oversimplify things, last year, riots broke out, and many Christians faced persecution (violence, burning houses, etc.). As a result of these things, many kids in the area were left without homes, and sometimes even orphaned. VCD had a small school running, but when riots broke out last year, the leaders felt compelled to take in many children. As a result, there are about 70 kids sleeping in converted animal sheds and meeting in one classroom. VCD's was blessed enough to have sizable land, so we went out there to consult, plan, and design facilities for their current and future needs.

Every morning, we would get to the school, and all the kids would get up and say "good morning mam, good morning sir." It was cute and an exciting way to start the day of working for VCD and their children. One of the leaders of VCD was sharing his thoughts on how children aren't just the leaders of tomorrow, but rather they are leading and teaching today. I've never thought about children this way, but after watching the kids for a week, I agree. They go about their chores so diligently, they hardly ever complain, and the way they interact with one another can't be explained in any other word but love. When new students come, the little kids (3-11 years old) voluntarily contribute to the needs of the new student, i.e. give one of their pencils, t-shirts, etc. Wow...

On to some pictures:

The classroom where too many kids are squeezed into.

Where some of the kids sleep.

Bill, our Australian volunteer, discussing our design with some of the kids.

Also, it was Bill's birthday during our week there, so all the kids put on a program for him. Bill was overwhelmed to say the least. Every child gave him a hug and kissed his cheeks, something pleasantly unique in this culture.

Kids milking the cow. We had fresh dahi everyday (yogurt-ish curd), mmmmm

We rapped things up on Saturday so that we could put on a game day for the kids on Sunday. It was awesome. We shared some bible stories with the kids, and then the games began...

water carrying relay,

the over-under race, and...

...our grand finale, our homemade slip'n slide!

Also, since last month, 4 new interns have come, and it's been lots of fun hanging out with them (though I do miss the other guys). One of them made a really cool caricature page for our upcoming newsletter:

random pic of someone's dinner:

I'm off to Thailand for in hopes of a new visa. For those praying type, please pray that India doesn't reject me!

My trip up north to a different kind of India

2009-09-03T10:41:00.000-07:00

So this was a while back, but after dropping off the interns at Delhi airport, I went on a 3 week journey to the northern most state of Jammu & Kashmir. My butt was sore from riding on buses for 6 full days on roads that were scary, steep, bumpy, and plainly ridiculous, but all the hassle and pain was well worth it because I really enjoyed my time up there. Basically, a large portion of the state is disputed between India, China, and Pakistan, so there's a real strong army presence there (they say that almost 70% of the Indian army is up there), and so depending on which map you're looking at (a Pakistani, American, Indian, etc.) the northern border of India is drawn quite differently. What I really enjoyed about being there was the relaxed pace of life, the (relatively) low amount of touts, and some of the most amazing scenery on the word.

The western part of the state is almost all Muslim, and the eastern part is almost all Tibetan (granted, in practice, both have hints of Hinduism mixed ). The western part that I was in is a huge fertile, super green valley called Kashmir. I didn't spend too much time there because I'm hoping to go back there with my brother to go skiing right before I head back to the states. So, I spent the bulk of my time in the eastern region of Ladakh. Some call it a lunar landscape. Anyways, on to the pics, enjoy!

After taking an overnight train to Jammu, I went straight for a 12 hour "jeep" ride to Srinagar, I headed straight to my houseboat/hotel. The British built lots of houseboats in the area because they weren't allowed to buy and build on land. Since the Brits are gone, they've all been converted to houses and hotels.

This is where my bro and I are hoping to go skiing, supposedly some of the best (but cheapest) snow in the word. Here's a pic of the ridge we're hoping to ski. I went to go scout things out. Lots of really nice high end hotels...

...but luckily, I was able to find a cheap place to crash for a night. It was maybe the dirtiest place I've ever stayed in, (what's up with the dirty bathroom with a no toilet seat? is that a bat or a rat in ceiling above me?). It's funny to think of how standard of cleanliness has come down...

Next, I headed out towards Leh. It took 2 full days on the bus, but the scenery was crazy awesome. We went from a super green fertile valley to rocky, dry, and ridiculously steep mountains.

Our "Super Deluxe" bus got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, but at least there was room to pull off on the side of the road.

When we got closer to Leh, the capital of Ladakh, the scenery became this acute contrast between the rocky and desert-like landscape (feels like you're on the moon) and the lush green valleys wherever streams were flowing.

And finally, we got to Leh, "little Tibet". It's hard to see, but at the base of one of the mountains to the left, there's a golf course, which has dirt fairways, rocky roughs, and greens that are covered with oil to make a nice putting surface.

EMI did a project in Leh a couple years ago, so I called up the contact, and within a couple hours, the guy convinced me that I should go with a small team to some villages to help with their medical clinics. This is the first village we visited. We kinda had to go off-roading in a bus to get there, that was interesting.

Here's one of the us giving out worm medicine. Kids are so cute everywhere I go. Here, some looked Chinese-ish, others Thai-ish, but all are one of the billion Indians.

My friend Kapil with a yak's skull. For some reason, they were everywhere.

One of our campsites was in an apricot orchard. One of the guys and I decided to do a little hiking, and we ended up on top of this plateau where this woman was pitting and drying apricots, yummm.

We threw a small birthday party for one of the guys at this cafe that's owned by the local church. They had awesome lattes, cookies, cake, etc., it was like being back home in the US for the couple minutes while drinking coffee.

Probably my favorite and most memorable touristy thing I've ever done was renting a bike and going along the Indus Valley to visit various monasteries and villages. I've wanted to ride a motorcycle for such a long time, and where better than one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to (plus the bikes here are like glorified bicycles; at a slight uphill at about 13,000 ft, mine didn't go above 30mph). Here's a view of Thiske Monastary.

A view back toward the Indus valley.

I also got a chance to visit this really nice school (apparently financed by Richard Geer, whose Buddhist). For those interested in architecture, a lot of care was put into passive heating/cooling and sustainability, which was designed by Arup. It was really interesting to see a lot of things that I learned in school put into practice. Incidentally, one of the schools I designed was based off this one.

It took another 3 days of bus riding to get home. The road was so beat up and bouncy that my butt was sore for a week, but it was all worth it.

The road leading up to one of the highest motorable roads in the world.

17,582 ft.!

Road? Who needs a road when there's a flat valley?

One of our tea/ bathroom stops. Lots of little tents that serve as restaurants and hotels. I can't imagine what life would be like living and working in one of these tents that are in the middle of nowhere.

Melting glacier

Random picture of the 10 lbs of CHEESE I bought on the way back. Some European taught this Indian guy how to make real cheese! mmmm. Little things like this really excite me while living in a different culture.

That's it for today. I just got back from 3 weeks in the state of Orissa for a couple project trips to help with a design of a vocational training center, children's home, and a school out in a little village. I'll be sure to post about it soon, thanks for reading!

How I spent my 4th of July

2009-08-24T02:41:00.000-07:00

I realize that this is kind of late, but I wanted to share about how I celebrated Independence Day by visiting Amritsar and the border of Pakistan. We all wanted to go see the Golden Temple (the most holy place for Sikhs - the guys that wear turbans and don't cut their hair).

We took an overnight train and arrived early in the morning. This is a typical street in Amritsar. It's pretty similar to the rest of India, noises, stray dogs, dirtiness, but, since it's the Sikh capital, there were less roaming cows, and I think the people there are generally larger (Sikhs are known to be strong fighters because of the struggles they've faced).

Here's a view of the Golden Temple complex, millions come on their yatra (pilgrimage)

Here's a close up of the temple. The temple has been attacked by the British and the Indian army, but they've done a really good job of restoring everything and keeping everything clean, unlike the Hindu holy places I've visited.

After seeing the temple, we went to a museum, and afterward, headed to the movie theater to watch a Bollywood film. It was all in Hindi, but I think we understood what was going on, and it was nice to get away from the heat. Indians really love their Bollywood. Personally, I think a lot of their stuff is over the top (random dancing and singing every 10 minutes), but the movie we watched was alright.

Here we are, posing with random people. Foreingers are mini celebraties (kind of awkward....). And as always, the Indians don't smile or show their teeth in pictures.

What we were forward to the most was visiting the Pakistan-India border. Everyday before sunset, the border potrolmen on each side put on a little "border closing show". Since hardly anyone uses the border post, might as well make some use of it, right?

On the Indian side, there was a huge crowd. Luckily, we foreigners got to sit in the VIP section, which was not nearly as crowded as the Indian section.

Here's a look at the Pakistani side. Less people, more tame, but from what I could tell, thier appeance and clothing was pretty much the same as the Indian side...

...but, I'm guessing they don't know how to have fun like the Indians do. And of course there has to be some music and dancing.

They were also taking turns running the flag to and back from the border gate.

Here's a border patrol/ policeman in his funny looking costume. They put on a pretty good show, though.

And afterwards, thousands of people tried to leave at once, the Indian way. India's definitely lessened my homophobia (two guys holding hands or locking pinkies are normal...), but I still don't like having several men press their sweaty bodies against me in an attempt to get out 10 seconds faster.

Since we were away on July 4th, we decided to celebrated on the 5th. We grilled some MEAT and fired off some fireworks (more like mini bombs). Altogether, it was a fun weekend, but I did miss the nice American fireworks, red meat, family, and friends...

Finally updating

2009-08-08T01:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've updated, I've been away for 6 of the last 8 weeks, and after spending over 250 hours in cars, trains, airplanes, buses, luxury buses, minibuses, microbuses, autorickshaws, taxis, motorcycles, and bicycles, it's good to be back in my familiar home away from home. The first half of my travel was for EMI, and the second half was a summer vacation. Since there's so much stuff I want to share, I'll start off posting about my EMI stuff.

First, I went to Nepal to get a new Indian visa. Although Americans can get up to 10 year tourist visas, I can only get 6 months, so it was a good excuse to go to Nepal and see Kathmandu and Pokhara while waiting for my visa to get approved. (unfortunately, I only got a 4 month visa, which means I'll have to go somewhere else (Sri Lanka?) in October...).

I went with my buddy Edwin. We first went to Delhi to catch a flight to Kathmandu.

Landing in Kathmandu. It's in a big fertile valley, with lots of people, construction, pollution, noise, etc.

After going to the Indian Embassy at the whee hours of the morning, I had one week until I was supposed to return to pick up my passport, so we did a lot of sightseeing.

The people in Nepal look like a hybrid of Indian, Chinese, and South-East Asian, the food was a mixture of them all, people's dress was equally diverse, and the religion was a sort of mix, too. Here's the "Monkey" temple. It's a big Buddhist stupa flanked by statues of some popular Hindu gods.

One thing I really liked about Nepal was its cleanliness (relatively speaking). Here's another stupa, but the buildings and street around it wouldn't look out of place in Holland.

There were lots of these old open water collection ponds. I wouldn't let my kids swim in there... but this does seem cleaner than the brown water that was coming out of our tap at our hostel (I guess you get what you paid for. Our place was about $4-5 a night for both of us, so I can't complain)

But overall, water's scarce. People were always lining up to get water from these strange pits that had dragon fountain/taps.

Here's a bunch of people pushing, shoving, and fighting to get water from the water truck.

One thing I've learned is how precious water is. It's not just Nepal, but almost the entire Indian subcontinent. I'm pretty sure one of my typical long morning showers in the US would equal to about all the water I use here in two weeks.

Kathmandu used to be a bunch of little kingdoms, so there are lots of little palace complexes, many of which have been turned into little markets.

This one's a vegetable market by day and filled with street food vendors at night. Mmmm I loved the street food in Kathmandu (dumplings, skewers of MEAT).

We were told that we have to go to Pokhara, which is at the foot of the Annapurna range, and a starting point for the most popular trekking routes of Nepal. On the way there, we decided to take the local night bus. It wasn't too bad, but it was strange: the front half of the bus had people, the rooftop had lots of plants, and the back half was filled with chickens (thankfully in nice little boxes).

When we got off the bus, I was shocked to see this. It was so strange because it was really hot in the town, but the snow capped mountains seemed so big and close, you could almost touch them. Pokhara's at about 2,500 feet, the highest peak we could see was over 25,000! (the 10th highest in the world).

One day, we got up really early (4 am) to see the sun rise over the range. It was kinda hazy, but it was well worth it. On a side note, all of India and Nepal are on one time zone, so the sun rose very early where we were. We kinda freaked out on our first night in Kathmandu.

Here we are taking the bus back to Kathmandu. There was some kind of strike/demonstration the day before we left (still common in Nepal, I saw protesters burning tires on my way to the embassy), and so our bus was packed, and we got to sit in the driver's cabin. If anyone offers you a seat in the driver's cabin, just say no, unless your butt fits comfortably on the lightly padded 6" deep bench.

On our last full day in Nepal, we decided to go to Bhaktipur, which is supposed to be the best kept medieval Nepali town. It was a really nice place. Clean, no honking horns, and speeding motorcycles (it's a pedestrian town), and the architecture of the entire town was well preserved, unlike most other areas. Some German firm donated millions to restore and maintain the town.

On to some random pics:

NPOs and NGOs have a strong presence in Nepal (they're the ones with the nice cars). This UN Land Cruiser's looked cool with its huge antennas and snorkel.

We also went to the Mountaineering Museum. I don't think we were allowed to take pics but had to get a pic of the Yeti (their version of the Abdominal Snowman).

One of my favorite things about traveling is getting to fellowship and worship at other churches. Through the church the Edwin goes to, we were introduced this small house church. The whole service was done in the pastor's living room and was in Nepali, but it was awesome to spend time with them. (I think people in Nepal speak better English than the parts of India I've been to)

Here we are eating a nice Nepali thali (assortment of little dishes) with a Nepali couple that's hoping to join an EMI project in the future.

After my visa run/vacation in Nepal, we flew back to Delhi, met with some people we knew there, and then headed to Haridwar to meet up with another EMIer to head off to our projects. Edwin was supposed to join us, but he got sick, so he went back to Mussoorie (he looked like a skeleton, stupid stomach), so it was just two of us heading down to Orissa on a 36 hour train ride right after a 10 hour ride to Haridwar... and then it happened. The worst migraine headache I've ever had on a 36 hour train ride filled with crying babies, annoying kids, bright lights, lots of noises, and lots of bouncing around... It's strange, that was the first time in my life really got homesick (I just wanted my quite soft bed, my momma's cooking, and the familiarity of my family, friends, and house), and it was the first time I really started to hate some things about India. I think it's an unavoidable part of adjusting to a new culture, but it hit me so suddenly. I loved (almost) everything about India up until that point, but suddenly, I started thinking "Make that baby shut up. Why don't Indians discipline their rowdy children? Why do Indians smell different? Why are they so loud and obnoxious? Why are they so inconsiderate? Why..." What really sucked was that we were down in Orissa to meet with this new ministry we'll be working with, but I was drugged up and lying in pain the whole time we were there.

I slowly began to recover, and by the time we went to our next destination, I was kind of functional. It was a hospital sight where God's doing some amazing work. I can't go too much into details, but people are being treated, educated,
trained, and discipled all at the same place. Lives are being given hope mentally, physically, and spiritually! After staying there a little bit, I hopped on a 24 hour train to head back to Mussoorie. It's not exactly the US, but it was so nice to be somewhere familiar after all the traveling and stuff.

So, this is part 1 of my travels, I'll be updating soon about my other adventures soon (including my time in Leh, my new favorite place in India).

Lists

2009-06-06T04:13:00.000-07:00

I'm approaching my half way mark for my time in India. So, I decided to reflect on my time here by making some lists. Some are silly, some are more serious, but I hope they’ll let you all get a better idea my experiences thus far in India:

Top 3 things...

... I miss about the US (excluding family + friends):
1. BEEEEF (and a meaty diet in general, Chipotle beef burrito, I miss you)
2. warm showers when you whenever you want (bucket baths are no fun)
3. laundry machines (doing laundry by hand takes too much energy and time, and my clothes are still dirty)

... I thought I'd miss, but I don't
1. my car (it's nice to walk, although I'd love a scooter or a motorcycle)
2. TV (but too bad I'll miss the football season)
3. cell phone

... I love about India
1. friendly people who always make time to have a cup of chai
2. the mountains of Mussoorie
3. simplicity of life

... about India that I could do without
1. garbage everywhere
2. bad smells
3. people honking their horns all the time

... that smell bad
1. smell of raw sewage at certain places
2. B.O., including myself (even after I shower, I can't escape the smell of masalas - spices)
3. farts (our lentils and rice diet doesn't help)

... that I'll never get used to
1. seeing so many people bow down and worship idols (and when they ask me to join them)
2. poverty, especially seeing so many kids begging
3. being stared at (my blond friends are practically celebrities in some places)

... that I'm surprisingly used to
1. not showering every day (although I still wish I could)
2. the idea of "arranged" marriage vs. "love" marriages
3. avoiding girls (long story, but relationships between guys and girls are quite different)

... that I surprisingly enjoy
1. spending time with kids and the youth (it's like having little brothers and sisters that I never had)
2. DANCE PARTIEEESSSS, garwhali style
3. singing in Hindi

... that have made me feel old
1. my friend asked me how old I was, and when I told him my age, he said "wow, I though you were 30 or something, so I was being extra respectful to you..."
2. my knees always hurt, and my body takes longer to recover from things
3. wrinkly hands (I noticed this when I was trekking, apparently it's the altitude, but I was about to freak out cause my hands looked like an old woman's)

... that have changed since being here
1. I don't mind spiders and bugs so much
2. I'm not sure if I can go back to working at a conventional architecture firm
3. the idea of getting married and having some kiddies is increasingly appealing (scary...)

Some pictures to go along with the lists:

Our church's Easter picnic, and of course, we danced.

People bathing at the Ganga (Ganges River). They come to worship the river, cleanse their sins, do laundry, dump garbage, and some even come to die there in hope of escaping karna.

One of our momo (dumplings) and dance parties, I don't have any pictures of the dancing cause I was busy making a fool of myself.

Me playing with my pastor's kids.

Trip to Dodi-tal

2009-05-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

So 2 weeks ago, we had our first opportunity take some time off and go on a vacation. We decided to take trek into the mountains. It was exciting to finally get to go out into the mountains that we look at almost every day. It was a little different from backpacking in the US because we went through little villages where we were able get nice warm dal-chaval (lentils and rice), and the place we went to (Dodi-tal), like so many other places, is worshiped as a god. Here's a bunch of pictures (most of the pics are from my friend harry, check out his flickr, he's got some awesome pics):

This is the view from our office on a nice day. Even though you can see where we went to, it takes about 5-6 hours to get there. We got a taxi to take us out there, but there were it was a regular Indian (ie small) sedan. Our solution was to put a sweater on the e-brake to make a bench in the front. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought, but whenever he reached for second gear...

Us getting a nice meal before we start hiking.

The first night we stayed at Agora.

At Agora, there was a mela (festival) for the local idol. People from the surrounding villages all came to dance to the sound of the beating drums, but then...

...a fight broke out. We met this interesting guy when we first got to the village (he kept telling us he's a guide and we can stay for cheap at his father's house, which seemed to be every building). Well, he's a pretty crazy guy, and he broke off from the line of men dancing, tried to sneak into the ladies' line, got kicked out, then he proceeded to do a leap frog kinda dance around the idol, but he accidentally hit it. Some guy runs to slap him, then some other guy (maybe the crazy guy's father?) came out to slap the slapper, then the mob mentality broke out. People start yelling, shoving, little fights break out everywhere. It was strange, but after a while, most of the people happily and peacefully resumed the mela.

Speaking of idols, here's another one, a tree. People come and jam coins in it. Trees can be holy or evil.

After lots of hiking, we finally got to Dodi-tal, "Uttarakhand's most beautiful high altitude lake." Some interesting things we saw there: urbanites coming to worship the lake and offer the lake's temple's idol food, kulis (Nepalese men, pretty much human trucks) and donkeys that carry supplies for trekkers. The day after got to the lake, we did a day hike up to the ridge that's on the top right corner of the picture.

Hiking up to the ridge was one of the hardest hikes I've dones, especially cause we started at about 10,000 ft and went up 3,500 - 4,000 ft. But...

... it was so worth it!

But, we were all so exhausted, so we had some lunch. What's for lunch...?

...B**F!

It started to snow, so we started to head back down. The altitude makes such a huge temperature and weather difference. The next day, my friend Harry and I decided that if we left really early in the morning, we'd have a good chance of getting clear weather on the ridge, so we left around 6.

And when we got there, there was only one dinky cloud in the sky! We could clearly see Banderpoonch's peak, over 20,000 ft!

By then, we were quite tired, and our bodies were tight, so we did some stretching.

Then we decided we should keep hiking along the ridge. This was probably not the best or the safest idea because the south face is almost a ragged cliff face, and the north face was covered in snow. But it was worth it because it gave us a clear view of Gangotri.

This is Gangotri, one of the holiest places of Hinduism. It's the source of the holy Ganges river. We were originally planning on treking there, but too much snow.

On the way back, we stopped by this small villages with really cool vernacular buildings. The whole village was abandoned. We were thinking maybe it's a summer village for people living in the valley during the winter, or a tourist village that comes back to life during peak tourist season.

On our last night, we stopped here to get some dinner. The food was great (everyone basically force feeds you) and the women there was really sweet.

Later that night, we were playing cards, but our game got interrupted by a herd of goats. (on a side note, we saw the remains of a goat that got eaten by a mountain leopard, cool)

And here are some random pics from the trip:
some pretty flowers

Striking a pose at the abandoned village

You can never stretch enough

Edwin taking a "shortcut" to the ridge

Two Garwhali girls who kept giggling (at us strange foreigners?)

Another Garwhali girl hard at work. Some of these girls can't be much older than 10, but they're out there woring hard.

Weathered face of a Garwhali women, cool.

A little bit about the projects I'm working on at EMI

2009-04-17T00:27:00.000-07:00

We just wrapped up my first project at EMI. The project's for Maharashtra Bible College, which is an 8 hour train ride east of Mumbai. The school was founded by the grandfather of one of our neighbors in Mussoorie. The campus is in really rough shape. Most of the roofs are leaking (few are caving in), the girl's dorm's overcrowded (some even share twin size beds). There's mosquito problems in the boy's dorm, the power supply's unreliable, and they run out of water almost every day. The college's short on finances. They charge tuition, but many of them can't pay it. Nevertheless, the principal feels burdened to take them, especially for many girls from a nearby Mukti Mission's orphanage (if you get a chance, check out the link, they do some amazing work among children and women in India, and the story behind the founder is amazing, too). We basically made recommendations to their existing buildings and infrastructure and designed future plans for their campus, including new dorms, new classrooms, and a dining hall.

The team I got to work with (4 from EMI's office, the grandson of the school's founder, 2 volunteers - from San Diego and Dehli, and the principal of the school)

View of the campus a rooftop.

some of the team members visiting the students.

wash basin for the students to wash their clothes.

The toilet situation for the married students and their kids.

Old dining room that's being used to cram in students.

The campus plan that we developed.
Rendering of the new girl's dorm and married student's housing.

Site of my next project. It's out in a crazy remote area that's closed off to the rest of the world 7 months of the year (too much snow). We're doing some civil engineering stuff, and I'm designing the K-10 school for about 120 students. I'm excited!

मेरा home

2009-04-01T07:05:00.000-07:00

So here's a little bit about the my Indian home. Before I came here, I was warned that us India interns would "be roughing it". So... when I got here, I was quite surprised at how nice our place is. Granted, it's not exactly luxurious living, but compared to the average home here, it's quite nice, even to a point where I'd say it's too nice (I just want to live and eat like the average Joe here... but that's not acceptable for a foreigner)

This is our home, you get here by one of the million trails that wind up, down, and across the mountains. Many houses, like mine, are accessed off of rugged foot paths, not roads.

Our sitting room/foyer.

Our kitchen. I don't do much cooking, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. I'm trying to learn some Indian dishes, mmmm.

Our living room.

Our toilet. Since we could run out of water at any second, the motto's "if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down." But our toilets (like most Indian ones I've experiences) don't like to flush the brown stuff, there's one bright side to having diarrhea... And no toilet paper in the toilet, either, so you have to put it in the poop can. TP is kinda a luxury item...

Our bathroom. When I first came here, I wondered how long it'd take me to get used to the dirty (in a different way) bathroom. I'm quite used to it, and even like it, if only the the toilet would flush!

This is my room an my roomie, Satbir Singh. He's been with eMi for almost 10 years and is currently teaching at a local village. After becoming a Christian about 15 years ago, his family threatened to kill him, but somehow he ended up in Mussoorie. He has since reconciled with his family, but unfortunately this is a common occurance among Indians who choose a different faith from the rest of the family.

View out our front window

Night shot from around the corner.

My failed attempt to go see the Taj Mahal and some thoughts/observations:

2009-03-22T19:34:00.000-07:00

So... I was planning on posting about my trip to Agra to see the Taj and fort and stuff, but I somehow managed to book the wrong tickets... at least we hadn't taken the long taxi ride to the train station before I noticed that the tickets were for 12:15 AM, as in the morning of and not the night of. Anyways, we just had our first good rain since getting here, so I'm just sitting inside reflecting on the past two months and what i've learned and observed. Here are some thoughts on religion in India:

People here are very religious. There are lots of Hindus, a considerable Muslim minority, some Sikhs, some Christians, some Jains, and some others. It seems like almost everyone puts their faith in some sort of religion. My guess is that everyone has been praying for rain the last couple months, and now that it's come, everyone's praising their gods. Religions not a taboo, but a part of everyday life. The Hindus have so many gods, idols, and little temples/shrines. Something interesting I've learned is that when many Hindus hear of the gospel, many simply acknowledge Jesus as another one of their gods. One women said "I go to that statue of Jesus and pray to IT everyday." It's so different from the US where most people either don't believe in any god or they believe in one true God.

I just saw a movie called Amu, it's about the 1984 riots that led to the killing of thousands of Sikhs. Sikhs have a history of persecution. Their holy book is holy in itself, I've heard of Sikhs being turned away from Christianity because they see how poorly we treat our bible - throwing it, putting it on the ground, etc. - again, very different from anything I've experienced in the US. Anyways, I strongly recommend the movie.

The beliefs and actions of the Jains seem most foreign to me. They don't kill anything, and some will wear masks as to not accidentally inhale a fly. Their diet is very strict, and when they die, their bodies are left to be eaten by vultures. I'd just like to say thank you God for your word that blesses us to eat meat. mmmm.

But, I'll have to say some people take it to an extreme... People joke around about how there's nothing living in Manipoor (a province next to Myammar) because they eat everything. Dogs, cats, lizards, spiders... There were some construction workers who were working at the nearby hospital, and there are lots of monkeys here. Let's just say they went home with lots of monkey jerkey...

And religion has a huge implication on the social structure here, but i'll leave that for another time. Good morning and good night.

YESSSS!!!!

2009-03-05T04:41:00.000-08:00

We just got "broadband" in our office after almost a year of trying!! I put broadband in quotes, cause it's still pretty slow, but so much better than 28.8k... There still are some quirks that need to be fixed, but it's a cause for celebration! धन्यवाद परमेश्वर ! Thank you God!

On a side note, I smell like Indian spices, I even though took a shower yesterday...

Toilets in India... (warning, this gets a little dirty...)

2009-03-01T05:07:00.000-08:00

Last night, I had my first bad experience on the toilet. I'll just say it was dirty and smelly, but considering that I've been in India for 6 weeks, I think I've been fortunate. Anyways, to commemorate my first day of the runs, I've decided to post on the various toilets I've experienced.

On one end of the spectrum, we have the fancy, high-tech toilets from Japan with a nice heated seat, a bidet, a butt-washer, and a dryer:

Then we have what most of us are use to, nothing special, but comfy:

Here's what my toilet looks like. It's made so you can squat on it, eastern style, but you have to be careful because if you slip, you'll probably be left hurt and in an embarrassing situation...

And here's one of the toilets on an Indian train. It gets the job done, and no indirect butt-to-butt contact, but it's still kinda dirty. Notice the small bucket for cleaning yourself (no TP here). Also, everything goes straight onto the train tracks, which I thought was nasty, but have realized is a good thing considering most of the toilets I've used here don't flush well, leaving poop in the bowl and your bathroom stinking...

hamara yatra ko Mumbai aur nargon (our trip to Mumbai and Nargon):

2009-02-20T22:40:00.000-08:00

About 2 weeks ago, we left for our first project trip. My team went to a village called Nargon to design additions and renovations to Maharashtra Bible College (MBC). I'll write a separate post about the project, but i'll just say that it was exciting and encouraging to share in the future vision of the college and meet some enthusiastic and friendly students. We also spent about 4 days in Mumbai to pick up our volunteers for the trip and to do some sight seeing. I loved Mumbai. It's got lots of old colonial British architecture, art deco architecture, and modern architecture mixed with a diverse population that speaks different languages, wears traditional and western clothing, and eats lots of different kinds of food (delicious). Throw in some Bollywood flare and of course the craziness that is India (crowded, noisy, busy, dirty, and chaotic) and you get Mumbai.

We started off by hoping into taxis around midnight and heading towards Saharanpur's train station, which is about 1.5 hours away. We took a crazy, dusty, and windy road that's filled with scary looking trucks. Some highlights from the taxi ride included a leopard that leaped accross the road (i missed it...), lots of honking, passing, and flashing headlights, a truck that was turned over on it's side in the middle of the road (no big deal...), and a bridge that had a chacane so that only cars could maneuver onto it (trucks had to slowly cross the dried up river bed). Here's a pic of one of the scary looking trucks:

We get on the train around 3am. It's dark and confusing, we kick people out of our berth and try to get some sleep. We're on "sleeper class" which is the most typical way of traveling for Indians and only costs about $5 for the 25 hour train ride. I wake up to the sound of the chai-wala (guy selling tea), who runs back and forth along the train yelling, "Chaiii, chaiiiiii, chaiiiii...". It's 6am and we understand that you're selling chai, but we just want to sleep... But overall, it was a comfy ride down, especially compared to the trip back (see last 2 pictures, we had up to 28 people in our berth designed for 8...) Here' what the train looked like:

After lots of roaming around, we finally arrive to a hotel around sunrise. The room we got was funny. The doorway leading into the room was about 5 feet high (I hit my head and it hurt). Also, the door has to be latched to stay shut, and if you latch it from the inside, you can't open it from the outside, and if you latch it from the outside, everyone in the room is trapped, scary.

We freshen up and head out to see Mumbai! Great colonial buildings, this one's the headquarters for the Indian Railway, the world's biggest employer, employing 16 million people (that's almost the population of Australia!)

The new, modern, and expensive next to the typical.

Funny looking steam roller thingy that hit a car...

Us east asians and white boys buying delicious street food.

Typical market street with lots of shops, people, cars, bikes, scooters, soliciting, birds, hanging clothes, etc., I love it

View of the Taj Hotel and the Gateway of India. Lots of tourists in the area and beefed up security around the hotel.

We took a ferry from here to Elephanta island to see some cave temples. The 6th century BC Hindu temple that was originally a Buddhist temple. It costs Indian citizens 20 cents to get in, it costs us foreigners $5, not cool.

There were lots of monkeys on the island, this one's beating up a puppy

On the ferry ride back, someone dropped a sandal into the the bottom hull of the boat. I thought it would be a good idea to go get it. It was hot, dark, and scary, but after a couple minutes I found it.

View looking back towards Mumbai's beach. In most of India, PDA is a big taboo, but in Mumbai, it's a little more acceptable. The stranger thing is that close friends of the same sex feel free to hold hands and such. On a side note, we were in Mumbai over V-day. The right wing Hindus were "moral policing" to make sure that couples weren't doing anything indecent out in the public (basically showing any kind of affection or even being found with your significant other in a "romantic" spot). There were also massive real policemen and reserve MPs out to make sure that the "moral policing" didn't get out of hand. Later in the week, I read a few stories about people being beat up, arrested, publically humiliated, and even one girl committing suicide. India's changing, but some don't want it to. Anyways, the beach:

View of one of the slums one of Mumbai's many railway stations. This one's where they shot some scene's for Slumdog Millionaire, which we saw while in Mumbai, and I highly recommend:

View of one of the crowded commuter trains. Yes, it's moving, and no, the doors don't close...

The train station where we left from.

At one of the train stations on the way back to Mussoorie, I decided I wanted to get off to stretch my legs and get some lassi (delicious yogurt drink). I found it odd that so many people were pushing their way onto the train long before it stopped, but figured that it's no big deal. It turned out that about 400 people had come to take an exam to get a job with the railway, but the exam was canceled and all 400 people decided to hop on our train instead of waiting for theirs. People were fighting to get on the train, even going through the emergency window to get in. I stood watching and being amused until I realized I actually have to fight to get back on the train. I manage to get on, but I'm kinda hanging out from the side of the door. We start moving, and I wonder how long I'll make it before I fall out. Luckily, Indians often "treat their guests as gods". So someone realizes I'm a foreigner and tells the others to let me in. I make my way a few feet into the train where i see some people sitting on the floor of the bathroom. Anyways, I meet some guys that are eager to talk to me. We have some interesting conversations, I learn how to politely complement a girl by saying "ap sandur hai" (you are beautiful). After about 2 hours of standing in the crowd (I've never been so close to another guy...) some of the guys tell me that since I'm not Indian, I probably won't make it much longer standing in the crowd. They tell everyone to clear a path at the next station so that I can find my seat, and after stepping on some luggage and small children, I make it back to my seat, where I find 27 people in my berth designed for 8!

2009-02-02T06:08:00.000-08:00

There's so much I want to share, but so little time right now, so for today, I'd like to introduce you guys to the team I'm working/serving with (I've also included some random things at the bottom, including a video of the crazy ride up the mountain). I'm in India with EMI. Our office is at the foothill of the Himalayas in a small town called Mussoorie. There are 4 interns, 6 long-term staff members (5 form the US and 1 from Hong Kong), and 6 Indian employees (2 cooks who fill the office with delicious smells and 4 technical/support employees). Here're pictures of some of the people I'll be living, eating, working, serving, and praying with:

the video, there's lots of honking, swerving, and plain craziness as we rode up a steep and windy road (sorry for the watermark):

NAMASTE

2009-01-29T07:18:00.000-08:00

Welcome! Here, I’ll be posting about my various experiences and random thoughts while in India. Please read, laugh, sigh, pray, comment, etc., thanks!

the arrival: from the great US of A to Mussoorie, India:

2009-01-29T06:37:00.000-08:00

Last Monday, January 19th, I finished up my orientation/training at Colorado Springs and headed off to Denver airport, got on a flight to Chicago where I had a 6 hour layover, then hopped on a plane to Delhi, India, which is where the craziness started. Here’s a quick photo commentary of the journey:

10 pm: got off plane and crammed ourselves and luggage into taxis

10-11 pm: taxi ride to hotel (named Cottage Yes Please). There’s construction everywhere, and if roads are marked with lines, they’re ignored, so it doesn’t matter. I’m a bit confused by the traffic lights, we sometimes stop at red lights, other times we don’t. There’s lots of honking, cars and rickshaws weaving everywhere.

11 pm: get to our hotel. The area’s dirty and cramped, but the hotel seemed pretty nice relative to everything else.

11 pm - 6 am: We notice the bathroom’s a bit different, there’s a shower, toilet, bucket and sink all in one open space, but most importantly, there’s no toilet paper! Not to worry, somebody brings us some. I try to sleep, but it’s hard because I’m excited and I’m in India!

this is Harry, a fellow intern

the bathroom

6-6:30 am: hop on taxi and head to train station, am amazed at how traffic seems to be chaotic yet functional, and wonder if it’s common for dogs and little children to get run over.

6:30am-2pm: hop on train to Derhadun. Finally get to see India in the daylight. Some quick observations: cows (sacred) roaming freely, garbage everywhere, things are just different…

the train (one of the nicer ones, cheap cars have wooden planks for seats)

view from train

2-4pm: pile our luggage and climb into an SUV that takes us up a super steep and windy road to Mussoorie, where I’ll be living. We make a few random stops for who knows what. There’s lots of honking the horn, crazy driving, and us saying “look, wow, whoa, and awe”. We drive through Mussoorie’s bazaar (more on that some other day).

packing and cramming for the ride up the mountains (7 people + lots of luggage)

View Blog

view of Derhadun

the windy, crazy road

4 pm: Finally arrive at EMI’s office, the himalayas, they're amazing!