Photos from Nepal

Hey everyone. Sapana and I had a great trip to Nepal last week. If you want to see pictures, here's a photo album on my Facebook account:

Photos from Nepal

Back in India

Hey everyone, this is John.  Sapana and I are settled here in New Delhi.  It's nice to be back.  Right after we got here, I went for a walk around and met some kids in the nearby "village".  They showed me their local temple and let me bat at cricket for a while.  It was great to connect with some local people.  Whenever I hit the cricket ball, the little kids who were watching would cheer.  It was very encouraging, especially nice since I can't really play cricket to save my life.  

Fortunately their broken English and my even more broken Hindi were enough to communicate the main ideas.  Here's a few pics.

lessons learned

hello people,
John and I are finally back HOME. We're readjusting to life in the USA again with fond memories of India and all of the wonderful people we met and things we learned. I'm glad we kept this blog because I'm realizing more and more how precious our time was there and how much I want to hold onto the memories - good and bad. Below is a list I've been compiling to better help us if/when we venture out again and others who are going on similar adventures of their own. I'll keep adding more as they come to mind: *******************************************************************************
1. When researching a place to volunteer, ask VERY specific questions about EXACTLY what you are going to do. The best would be to talk to others who have volunteered there. Guidelines, websites and vague emails can be very misleading.

2. Bring lots of peanut butter. A lifesaver when there is no safe food to eat. Dry fruit is good too if you're like me and go into fruit withdrawal if there's none around.

3. Get really good virus protection software for your laptop if you are taking it. Viruses have been abundant in the places we've been and have wreaked havok at times.

4. Don't drink anything but bottled or boiled water. All the foreigners who I've known who drank the filtered stuff got sick. When I drank it, I felt sick as well.

5. Bring a really good, sturdy, comfy backpack with lots of pockets.

6. Bring 4-5 extra passport photos with you in case you need to get cell phone service, internet, a gas tank...you name it...they want a passport pic.

7. Keep a journal/blog/diary/something so that you can remember (especially if you have a memory like mine and John's).

8. Get a good camera. John had to convince me to get his, but I'm so glad we did. We now have the most beautiful record of our trip.

9. Anything you REALLY want to do, do it first. Things that get saved till the end might not happen in case you end up coming home sooner than planned.

10. Don't assume that everything you've planned is going to go the way you expect. Be flexible.

11. You WILL go over your budget. Plan a big cushion for the unexpected expenses that will arise.

12. Make sure your Visa situation is secure and will more than cover your time there. Get this straightened out before you leave your home country.

13. Learn the language. Besides having its practical aspects, it makes for a richer experience.

A Poem I Wrote Today

A shadow mistaken for a friend.

We grasp at phantoms
in the cold night air,
believing ourselves to be right,
to be justified,
when we are but lost children.

A brilliant ray of truth
shines in our midst,
too close for us to see.

We crawl through the wreckage
of a crumbling city,
desperately seeking a drink of water
while a shoreless ocean surges
through our hearts.

If we could only see
the wondrous light that we are
this broken world
would soon be whole.

You can read my thoughts behind it here.

This is John and I thought I'd write a quick post about my run this afternoon.

I finished up my yoga and it turned out that our lunch plans got cancelled, so I decided to go on a quick run around the area.  I put on my running shoes and headed out.  We live in a pretty well-to-do area of Delhi - many diplomats and wealthy expatriates live here.  It's interesting to see wealthy and poor areas right next to each other, and in my run today I head towards the woods and poor areas, which are much more interesting.

I run down the street and hang a left, which brings me to the passageway between Vasant Vihar (the well-to-do neighborhood where we're currently staying) and the nearby village area.  There's a lot of foot traffic here, and I see a man with his son on a motorcycle.  The son is maybe around 10 years old and his father is letting him drive the motorcycle, weaving in between the people.  

There is a fence on either side of this little road.  There are woods on either side.  I step through the big hole in the fence, over the pile of trash that surrounds it, and head into the woods.   This area, being on the edge of the road, has a lot of trash and other stuff that you really don't want to step in, so I am careful as I run along the path that follows the fence.  As it turns deeper into the woods, there's less trash (though I still wouldn't call it clean) and the run is more pleasant.  

As I'm runing along, I see a little herd of wild pigs off the side of the path.  They're a little nervous about me and start trotting off.  Behind the pigs is a rock outcropping that I want to check out, so I run up to it and the pigs get scared and run off the other way, grunting a little as they do.

The rock outcropping is not much of anything, so I head back to the trail and follow it for a while, passing occasional people along the way.  On my runs I get all kinds of looks from people - friendly, curious, puzzled, nervous and sometimes incredulous, as if they are saying "who the heck are you and what on earth are you doing here?"  

I end up at a dirt road where there are some men who have parked their motorcycles and are sitting back and enjoying the park.  Past them, there is a tent where some impoverished people live.  It's a pretty sizable tent, and there must be a few families that live there.  As I run farther, I pass several people who are collecting firewood.  I'm guessing they must be living back in the tent, or in a similar type of dwelling.  There are a significant number of people everywhere in India who live this way.

I wind down paths and small dirt roads, going deeper into the woods until I come across a cremation grounds.  There is a sign that reads "The bodies of newborns and small children are cremated here".  I happened across this place a couple months ago, and got a strange feeling when I discovered it.  But this time it's not so strange to me.  Cremation is a common thing in Hindu culture, and this is like an equivalent to a cemetary.  It's surrounded by walls, and I haven't actually stepped into the area.  I thought I would be respectful and just observe from outside.  It's not very well kept - it looks mostly like a vacant lot with some concrete slabs and covered areas.  There's a statue of a Hindu god in the middle.  It's a shame that it's not better maintained.

After I pass the cremation site, I run down the dirt road until I get to the village area.  That's what we ended up calling it - the "village".  I guess it was originally a village that got swallowed up by Delhi.  On the outskirts, there are some kids playing cricket, though with not many players.  I run through the trash filled dirt area that's their field and look for a way to get into the village and back to Vasant Vihar.  There's also a volleyball game going on.  There's a hole in the fence on the other side of the volleyball game, but I don't want to run right through their game so I wander around the giant steel beams nearby, looking for a hole in the fence.  There's a group of three adolescent boys sitting amongst the steel beams, a little hidden from the surrouding area.  One of them says "hellooooo" in strage voice and it sounds a little like he might be on some drugs, though I'm not sure.

I make my way into the village area and try to stay along the inside of the fence so I can get back to the passageway to Vasant Vihar.  I end up turning into the village and running down the narrow alleys between the homes.  When I say this is a "village", in this case it's not shacks.  The living areas are about 3 stories tall and most people have very small apartments.  So it's very quaint running down the narrow alleys, past the kids playing cricket, having to stop for the two babies playing, and getting the different types of stares from the people.

I pass a goat and a chicken, a big pile of trash, a small Hindu temple and an old lady sitting on a bed outside her home smoking a cigarette.  There are all kinds of people outside, especially kids and youth.  Sapana and I have thought about trying to start a children's class around here, but our Hindi is not so good at the moment.  

I finally get back to the passageway back to Vasant Vihar and pass a guy who gives me a very friendly hello, holding out his hand.  So I give him a high five/handshake kinda thing as I run past.  I get back into Vasant Vihar and head back to our place.  I say namaste to the guard, and ap kese he (how are you) and he tells me tik he (0k).  I don't know if my running makes sense to him, but he's a nice guy and always friendly.  I head upstairs and decide to write this blog post.

Some thoughts

1.  Christmas in Delhi = empty streets, restaurants open, not a christmas tree in sight.

2.  Christmas Eve - had dinner with John and Chris at "The Big Chill" where they serve the BEST overpriced (for India) minestrone soup ever, but REFUSE to make you a pizza without cheese.

3.  John argued the cheese thing and proved to at least one person in this city that they can do things differently than they have done them in the past and IT WILL BE OK.

4.  We're on our second yoga teacher.  My shoulders are sore today.

5.  Went to Sarojini market with John today - the best market I've found in Delhi yet.  You can get pretty much anything and the prices are unbeatable.  Just have to deal with a bunch of guys tagging along behind us trying to sell us belts, sunglasses, handkerchieves, clothes hampers, stockings, you name it.

6.  Found the knitting store and bought 100 g of pretty candy cane colored yarn for 55 rupees.

7.  Just called dad to wish him happy bday and they are on their way to eat falafel.  All thoughts of birthday wishes completely vanished as I calculated how long it's been since I've had a falafel and how good one would taste right now.

8.  New volunteer place for me - 11ish-12ish in the morning (Indian standard time) I teach a bunch of boys in a slum community near the railway station.  Gives me a taste of yet another of the many "Indias" we are encountering.  Rowdy kids who obviously aren't used to minding anyone for very long, but just eat up the individual attention.

9.  Am realizing I did not bring enough warm clothes on this adventure - didn't expect such COLD.

10.  Loving every minute of this and thanking God every day for this chance to serve and learn and grow, and for the wonderful person He gave me to share it all with.

-sapana

p.s.  I added a link in the "Links..." section (to the right and down) to John's blog and I'll put it here too to help you avoid unnecessary scrolling:  www.everydayseeker.com

Well, I just wrote to a friend that one of these days I would write a proper blog post and my lovely wife reminded me of the Baha'i quote "Truthfulness is the foundation of all virtues".  So now I've got to write a blog post.

Sapana and I spent about 3 weeks in Gujarat, which is a state in the west part of India.  Her family has an apartment in Rajkot, a city in Gujarat.  We headed over ther in the beginning of November.  Sapana's mom and my dad and stepmother Marisol arrived around the same time we did, and my dad and Marisol stayed for about a week.

When we got to Rajkot, we met Sapana's uncle's family along with her grandmother.  Her uncle and aunt have two teenage kids who are lots of fun.  They are all wonderful people who are always in a good mood and love jokes and riddles.  My dad was a hit with his riddles and other little tricks (for those of you who know the tootpicks "static electricity" bit, that one went over really well).  We had a great time with them.  Here's a picture of Sapana with her mother and grandmother:

And my dad showing a puzzle to Kishan, our cousin:

During that week we went to the city of Diu, which is on the coast.  The drive was long and the roads were pretty bad part of the way, but it was scenic and we saw cool stuff.  Camels especially are great to see, and there were plenty on the road - pulling carts, and all with the same exact expression on their face.  I'm not sure exactly how to describe it, but to me it looks a little obstinate, like they're saying "what are you looking at?" while at the same time being indifferent.  I love camels, they fascinate me.  Really I love all the animals here in India.  

I didn't get a good picture of any of the camels on the way to Diu, but since I love camels, and for the sake of illustrating what I'm talking about, here's a picture taken in Rajasthan: 

Diu was a nice city.  It was interesting to see Indians on the beach.  People selling coconuts and other goods, photographers offering to take your picture and guys offering rides on a simplified version of a jet ski.  You can't actually steer the "jet ski" - the guy on the back drives the outboard motor and you hold on.  If you've never seen a more sophisticated jet ski, this ride is definitely a good time.  If you're really looking for some thrills, you can ride a board behind the jet ski.

We also saw a fort in Diu.  Diu has an interesting history.  Until the 1960s it was a Portuguese city.  It wasn't until 1961 that Diu became a part of India.  The fort and Catholic churches are part of what remains of Portuguese influence.  We went to go see the fort, here's a couple pics:

Dad and Marisol:

And a church we visited:

People love to have Americans in their picture.  Dad and Marisol joined in with these friendly folks.

I had some nice time to wander on the beach and try to take some artsy pics.  Here's a few of those:

My dad and Marisol were with us for a few days after Diu, and then headed back to Bombay and then to the USA.  Then Sapana's father and brother Ashish came for the next couple of weeks.  We went to Jamnagar, where Sapana's father is from, to Ahmedabad, where much shopping was done, and visited a lot of family and friends everywhere we went.  

One of the coolest things we saw in Rajkot was when an elephant was standing on the side of the road.  We stopped and went out to have a look, and the elephant's keepers told us we could go up and pet the elephant.  So we got to hang with the elephant (who was more interested in his food than us) for a bit and of course we took lots of pics.  Here's one of Ashish:

Right after that, we visited a cow sanctuary, which has been one of the main highlights of our trip for Sapana.  We got to pet calves, one of which had lost its mother and  sucked on our fingers hoping to extract some milk.  Sapana fell in love with them and still asks me if we can take one home.

Another fun part of Rajkot was just walking around on the streets and watching people.  One day I brought my camera and the kids on the street loved having me take their picture.  I love photographing kids here in India - they're so animated.  It also makes me wish I could speak Hindi (or Gujarati) and have a children's class in one of these neighborhoods.

Ok, well those are a few highlights from our trip to Gujarat.