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.  

new pictures

I just put some pictures up on Facebook.  Two of them (Rajkot and Diu) are from our recent trip to Gujarat.  The third one contains some random shots from our trip to Rajasthan in early October.  Here are the links:

Rajkot

Diu

Rajasthan

Enjoy!

-sapana

we're fine

Quick note to let you know that we're fine.  We were scheduled to be in Mumbai at the time of the attacks...actually at that very hotel, but we thank goodness changed our plans.  We're in Gujarat right now, heading back to Delhi tomorrow.  

Trains!

Trains in India are really fun.  John and I have made a few train trips and each one has been unique, enjoyable, and cheap.  Truly, I don't think any trip to India is complete without experiencing the fun of a train, but that's just me.  In addition, trains go pretty much everywhere, so travel is easy and affordable for everyone in the country, not just those who have money.

Our first trip by train was from Indore to New Delhi.  Since it was our first trip, we got a ticket on AC3, my dad having insisted that we needed to be on an AC class.  In AC3 there are three tiers of bunks.  Our friend Matt from Barli told us that the top was the best one because you can go up there whenever you want to during the trip.  If you have one of the bottom 2 bunks, you have to wait for everyone else to lay down before you can.  The bottom bunk doubles as a seat for the 3 people to sit on.  

The day we left Indore, we made ourselves 4 peanut butter and banana sandwiches on chapatis and packed them up as our dinner.  It may sound strange, but it's a lifesaver when there is no other safe food to eat or it's too spicy, which happened quite a bit at the beginning.  Others on the train had also brought their tiffins of food on the train.  Every now and then people would walk down the aisles yelling, "Chai, Chai!" or "Coffee!" or "Tamater Soup!" or whatever they happened to be selling.  The train made many stops where you could get off to grab a quick bite of whatever they were selling on that platform or a bottle of water or whatever.  John got off at one point and brought us back five hot and greasy samosas for 20 rupees.  They gave us sheets and a pillow and a blanket to make our bed and sleep with.  It felt like one big slumber party.  We had a blast.

All of our trips since then have been on sleeper class, the main differences being that it is way cheaper, no sheets provided, no AC, and not quite as well kept.  When we rode AC3 we froze under the AC and figured it didn't make sense to pay more for something that made us uncomfortable.  Despite what some may say, sleeper class is great.  We had absolutely no problems.  The only thing I would say is that one of the sleeper trains had more men than women and children so had I been alone, I would have been very uncomfortable.  So if I was traveling alone, I'd probably take a better class, but with John with me sleeper is just fine for us.  

One morning, our train arrived in Jodhpur at 7 am.  We were awoken at 6 am by the sound of two men singing and playing the drums.  We were like "Where are we?"  It was kind of surreal to wake up to that, but in a very good way.  They were really good and they set the mood for our trip through Rajasthan.  They then further set the tone of the trip by hitting us up for money.

We've taken a total of 4 trips and still haven't hit the 100 dollar mark.

Living in Delhi

Hello all. Here's an update on what we've been up to.

John has been very busy lately. He is working on the website for the Baha'i House of Worship (Lotus Temple) and is also helping the Baha'i National Center here. We've told them we'd stay here at least until the end of February. We're staying with a wonderful family here in Delhi. They are an American family with three kids who are here for six months for their mom (Jenny)'s job. The dad, Chris, is the person who got John involved in the computer stuff at the Baha'i National Center. They are great people and have very kindly allowed us to stay here with them like family. We feel very lucky.

I've been helping John and Chris out some as they have alot to do. I've also been getting involved with an orphanage in Delhi that is home to 35 kids who are HIV positive. They are really great kids and smart! The incredible thing is how they have made the "care home" as they call it into such a happy place. I taught my first children's class there on Thursday and hope to continue with that on a weekly basis. I'm also going to be helping another volunteer with teaching English classes there on Saturdays. At other times, I can just go there and spend time with the kids playing, reading, whatever.

It's been surprisingly difficult to find organizations who want volunteer help, so I was a bit discouraged for a while there, but I'm really happy that I found this place. I finally feel like I'm doing something meaningful.

Our families are coming to visit in two weeks and I am soooo excited. I haven't ever left Texas or my family for this long, so some family time is definitely in order. We're going to meet them all up in Rajkot.

Diwali is coming up. Tuesday I think. This means lots of colorful lights and decorations everywhere and exploding sounds (I'm assuming they are fireworks) outside our window. Stores are having sales and selling big baskets of nuts and sweets and stuff. It will be interesting to see how they celebrate Diwali in India.

Ok, that's all for now. Hope all three of our loyal readers are doing well! :)

Photos of Rajasthan

Hey everyone, this is John. I just put up some photos highlighting our trip through Rajasthan. You can see the photos here. Hope you enjoy.

udaipur

Hello friends,

John and I are in Udaipur right now. It is in Rajasthan - a city with many lakes and hills and palaces and temples and other pretty things like that. It is also full of tourists and shopkeepers trying to sell us things we don't want. So we are currently taking refuge inside an internet cafe.

We have been traveling around Rajasthan for the past week since we had a week before John's project in Delhi begins. We were in Jodhpur and will go to Jaipur tomorrow and then back to Delhi. Yesterday we saw our first elephant. It was surreal to see that huge creature making its way down the narrow street. John will post pics of it when we get to a comp that lets us do that.

Oh yeah, I didn't mention the coolest part of our trip so far. When we went to Jodhpur, our purpose in going was really to investigate a project there that we might be volunteering with. They have a school in a tiny little town outside of Jodhpur that we went to visit. We walked through the town during the day and saw the school and met the other volunteers who are working there. That evening, our host Govind, who started the school, took us to the home of his ancestors, a little bit away from the main part of the town. There, we were surrounded by fields and a few scattered houses. There was no electricity and few people around. His aunt cooked us a lovely dinner that we ate by candlelight, and we slept on the roof under the stars. Saw lots of shooting stars that night and woke up to people taking their goats out to the field to start their day's work. It was by far the best experience of our trip so far. Not sure if my description does it justice.

Ok, well that's all for now. We hope all is well with all of our friends reading back home and that you all have your power back and life is back to normal.

-sapana and john

Jodhpur

We are in Jodhpur right now in Rajasthan. Some of you may have heard about the temple stampede that took place here this morning. John and I are doing ok as the incident was not near where we are staying, but many people died and were injured. It's been a sad day for the people here.

Delhi to Jodhpur to Udaipur to Jaipur to Delhi

Hey everyone. This is John. Sorry for the loooong delay in posting. Sapana and I are in Delhi at the moment, but in about 30 min we're going to head over to the train station so we can go to Jodhpur.

Here's a little summary of what's been going on. Sapana and I decided to shorten our time at Barli. After being there almost six weeks, Sapana still did not have any substantial work to do. We decided that we could hopefully make more of a difference somewhere else where we could be more engaged.

We came to Delhi to investigate some things here. Some friends of Sapana's family are being wonderful hosts and taking great care of us. While here in Delhi we got to see the Baha'i House of Worship, and I got to speak with some people over there about a project I'll be working on with them.

We have a little bit of time in between things, and we want to investigate another women's empowerment project in Jodhpur, so we're going to make a trip of it. We'll spend a few days in Jodhpur, and go to a small village with the guy who runs the program. Then we'll spend a few days in Udaipur before moving on to Jaipur for about a day. After that we'll come back to Delhi and I will be working full time with the House of Worship project. (more details on that later)

So it's a bit of a vacation, but we are investigating a possible service opportunity. We'll be spending time in some of the most beautiful places in India, so I'll take lots of pictures. Sorry about the lack of photos on flickr, the time we've had with fast Internet has been very limited. I will try to get more photos up soon.

moving on

Just a quick update for anyone who is following this. We are going to Delhi next week to pursue other opportunities there. I'll write more details later once we have it all figured out. It seems as if this trip has a mind of its own. Let's see where it takes us.

Glimpe of life at Barli, parents' day & playing tourist in Indore

Hello everyone out there. This is John. It’s about time I contributed to the blog, so here’s a little update.

Sapana and I are slowly getting into a regular routine here at Barli. All the work I’ve been doing has been computer based. For example, I made a PowerPoint presentation for a woman who will be going to visit Sweden to give a talk to SIDA, an organization that provides funding for Barli. Right now I’m working on a book that contains stories of the graduates of Barli. It shows how they’ve applied what they’ve learned, and how they’re making a difference not only for themselves, but for their families and communities. Some of the stories are very inspiring. Working on these projects has helped me learn a lot about the institute and its program.

Sapana is slowly getting involved with helping trainees who are learning Hindi literacy. Since she has a background in helping students with reading difficulties in English, she is trying to take her skills and apply them to helping girls with their Hindi. She’s not entirely proficient in Hindi, but she’s learning pretty quickly. I’m sure she’ll be solid within a couple more months. Sapana is also just starting to teach an English class, and she’s done some other miscellaneous work. Just today she proofread the book I’m working on and helped me realize I need to work on my editing skills.

Life here at the institute is pretty simple. We have a nice sized room, a small kitchen with a gas stove, and a bathroom with a shower. We’re able to cook our own meals, but we don’t have to – we can eat with the trainees at any time. They have three meals a day. The first is poha, which is made from rice. It’s yellow, I’m guessing from turmeric (?) and a pretty simple dish. It’ll fill you up pretty well, though sometimes Sapana and I eat our own food, maybe fruit with cereal or oatmeal for breakfast. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day. It consists of a sabji, which is often made with some kind of vegetable, maybe with potato. And there’s also a dahl. (forgive me if spellings are wrong). They make fresh roti (bread, kinda like a wheat tortilla and really good), and they’ll give you a ton of rice unless you hold them off. For dinner, it’s another sabji with rice and/or roti. Lunch is pretty mild while dinner is often moderately spicy (or very spicy if you’re Sapana).

Sapana is like a celebrity with the girls here – they’re always excited to see her and always want to talk to her. It’s very cute. They also say hi to me and sometimes talk to me a little, but my Hindi is very basic and Sapana usually has to translate. I’ve been working on my Hindi a little here and there, and I’m planning to get more consistent with it. I don’t get a lot of practice while working in the office, but if I make the effort I have plenty of opportunities for speaking to people in Hindi.

They had a parents’ weekend here last weekend, and many of the girls’ parents came. This is the girls’ only chance to see their family during the six months they are here, so it was a big deal. There were a lot of tears shed, when parents didn’t show up for some, and then when the parents who did come had to leave. The girls were very excited to show their parents everything they were doing and had learned. There were a couple of presentations as well. During one of them, each girl got to get up with their family and talk about their experiences. Janak, the director of the institute, wanted to make sure that each of them had a turn to talk because many of them come from some of the lowest castes, and being female they didn’t always get the full respect they deserve. Janak wanted to be sure that each was recognized and given the chance to express themselves.

It’s inspiring to see how this institute makes a difference in the live of the girls who come here. Generally speaking, they have either received no education at all, or have dropped out of school before advancing very far. While here at the institute they learn not only literacy and vocational skills that they can use to earn a better living, but they also learn about personal transformation, prayer and service to the community. Many who graduate train other family members to tailor, teach them about health and hygiene, and get involved with some kind of community service. The intention of Barli is to train them to go back and transform their communities. Its methods are very sustainable and organic. Many of the trainers here, and at the institute’s extention centers in other locations, are Barli graduates themselves.

There’s a lot more I could discuss about Barli and its methods, but there are other places you can go to find more info about all that. If any of the stuff I’ve been working on gets put online, I’ll mention it.

We also went into the main part of Indore on Sunday afternoon. That was a good time. We went with Matt, anther volunteer here at Barli, and his roommate. We took a rickshaw to a Jain temple in the middle of town. It’s famous (in Indore, at least) because everything inside the temple is made from glass. It was interesting to see, and we just walked around the streets for a while afterwards. I took a bunch of pictures, and unfortunately can’t post them now because the Internet connection we have on our laptop is very slow. (We have spent hours downloading a single youtube video). I’m planning to go to an Internet café eventually and then add them to flickr. Anyway, we wandered around a bit, then took another rickshaw to a Sikh temple. Matt’s roommate is Sikh, so he wanted to go there and we were happy to go with him. They had cloths there that we could use to cover our heads, and we went inside and sat for a while. Afterwards we sat with some of the older Sikhs, who gave us tea and talked with us for a while. They were very nice people. Sapana and I walked back to the institute after that, while the other two walked back to their apartment. We might go back just to have somewhere to meditate. It’s just a 15-20 minute walk from Barli, and it’s a tranquil place.

The other, and perhaps the most exciting news, is that we got a care package from Sapana’s mom. She sent peanut butter, 3 bars of fancy chocolate, a couple boxes of Triscuits, Honey Nut Cheerios, some clothes for Sapana, and some other stuff. I think the peanut butter was actually the most exciting part. Sapana initially brought some peanut butter when we came, and I made a big deal about how we should learn to get by without needing American food and just adapt to the local food, etc. But man, that peanut butter is pretty good, especially when you’re stomach isn’t feeling great and the other food for dinner is really spicy. So I’ve eaten my words, and lots of peanut butter. Thanks Meena Auntie for the care package!

Ok, so there’s a basic update. It’s over two pages in Word as I type this, so I should cut it off here. Please comment if you’re reading this – it makes us feel special.

first week

We're in the middle of our first week here. We've just been getting adjusted to living here and are figuring out lots of little logistical things like washing our own clothes, finding the nearest grocery stores, etc. John and I have been working a lot in the office these past few days. John is working on a power point presentation about the Institute. I'm editing the director's (Janak didi's) first draft of a book she's writing about research she's done on the Institute's programs. I've already learned a ton about their model of socio-economic development. Whenever I get a chance, I spend some time with the girls and practice my Hindi. They have assured me that by the time I leave, I will have learned to speak Hindi quite well. They ask me a lot of questions about my life and what things are like in America. The girls are in class a good part of the day, and what's amazing is that even in their free time they are practicing their Hindi or something else. They seem to savor the learning that they are getting here. After reading the director's thesis on the Institute's programs, I have a deeper appreciation for where these girls have come from and the amazing changes that are being made in their communities through their training. They are basically trained in many different areas (Hindi, cutting and tailoring, health and hygeine, batik, and other skills) with the goal being that they will pass these skills on to others and use them to uplift themselves along with their families and communities. And they have been very successful in doing so. Their hearts are so pure, and they are a true joy to be around. They call me "didi" (big sister), and they call John "jijaji" (brother-in-law). The other night John was playing his guitar on the steps outside our room, and a bunch of girls gathered around to listen. They had never seen a guitar before. Here's a pic:

We're here!

So, we landed in Mumbai laaate last night, and my parents’ lovely friend Niyati auntie came to pick us up at the airport. Note to self – don’t stay in your seat the whole time next time you are on a 9 hour plane ride. My legs were cramping when we got off. Anyways, the flight was pretty good. The 5 hour layover in Frankfurt that fell at like 1-6 am Houston time was not so fun, but other than that, we got through the journey ok…I did lots of reading and sleeping, some knitting, and beat John at Scrabble. John read, studied Hindi, and took pictures of things. They even gave us vegan meals on our flights which was nice, and we didn’t lose any of our luggage which was very very nice and possibly a first.

Today we did touristy stuff in Mumbai. Niyati auntie took us to Mani Bhavan which is where Gandhi lived when he was in Mumbai, from 1917 to 1934. It’s a great place to visit if you’re a Gandhi buff like me, or even if you’re not. They had his old bedroom preserved, lots of pictures and old letters, a library, and a whole room with little displays depicting important scenes from his life.

Next we visited the Gateway of India which looked like it was being renovated or something. Across from that was the Taj Hotel which was built by the British like a hundred years ago. It’s really pretty and faaaaancyyyy. Niyati auntie, John, and I had lunch at the restaurant there which was yummy! John said it was the best Indian food he’s had (except for my mom's cooking).



The traffic here is worth a little mention. The driving here is a little crazy. In fact, I’m pretty terrified of it! The usual distance that exists between cars in the US just does not exist here. We would be right, I mean right next to cars while driving on the freeway, and what would be a big close call in Houston happens like every few minutes here. There are people everywhere, and the lane divisions seem to be purely for decorative purposes. But it works!



Now we are back home. John is taking a nap, and I’m fighting sleep. It’s 4:00 pm here, but 5:30 am in Houston so we’re not completely over the jet lag yet. Tonight we are having dinner with Ghanshyam mama and family which we are looking forward to!

That’s all for now. We don’t have a phone number yet. We’ll get that once we get to Indore on Friday. Please email and leave comments!

Love, sapana

goodbyes for now

We've had a busy last couple of weeks. We had our last days of work, packed everything up, and stored it away. There are a lot of little things that you have to think about when you go away so far for so long so we've just been taking care of it all and at the same time trying to see everyone before we go since it will be a while before we see them again. Here are some highlights:

Evening with Erin, Marcus, and super cute Morgan at their peaceful home in the country...

The Baha'is of Fort Bend got together and had a little going away thing for us. We were blown away by the outpouring of good wishes and also by the great food! The kids from our children's class sang some songs and made us an awesome book to remember them by. We were super touched.

My parents also had their friends over so we could hang out with the "Super Seven" one last time and say goodbye to them all.

Finally, the Sampson family got together to wish us goodbye and good luck which was very very sweet! Sadly I forgot my camera so the few pictures I took were on someone else's camera. :( It was nice that almost all our nieces were in town, and John got to go spend a night with them just hanging out with Tom, Teresa, Mazy, Alexa, Kevin, Christina, and Becky.

And last but not least, Jamey and Auggie!

Everyone spoiled us with really great vegan food. It made us feel really good that no animals were harmed in order for us all to get together and have a good time. They showed that eating in a way that promotes compassion and nonviolence towards animals can also be really yummy!

But mostly, we were happy that we got a chance to see everyone and we left the country feeling really really lucky and really really blessed to have such great family and friends behind us.

two weeks to go

Two weeks to go. Packing is in full swing. Here is another more recent video that I came across. It is a lot easier to understand than the previous one that i posted below. It's totally the inspiration I needed while I'm sitting here surrounded by piles of boxes...

pio card

So after much paper gathering, document searching, walking back and forth in the rain, waiting outside locked doors, knocking on closed windows, and weeks and weeks of waiting, it is finally here. I just picked up our PIO cards today, and John is officially a "Person of Indian Origin." How is this possible? Well, you can apply for a PIO card if you or your parents or your grandparents were born in India. OR if you are the spouse of such a person (which John is). I still think it's kind of funny though. Anyways, the card will allow us 15 years visa free entry and a few other perks as well to make our stay a little more hassle-free (hopefully). But nevertheless, we are one step closer to getting to India, and we are very excited and nervous!

map

this link will show you a google map with barli instiute outlined in blue.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102587271790160299040.00044ccd2871d132c256d&ll=22.746516,75.892192&spn=0.002944,0.004742&t=h&z=18

video

i found a little video clip on youtube about barli institute...



-sapana

introduction

Hi. This is John and Sapana, and we'd like to introduce ourselves. We are a semi-newlywed couple living in a wonderful suburb of Houston, Texas. Now that we have settled in to the adventure called marriage, we've decided to go on another little adventure back to Sapana's homeland of India. We've talked much about living a life of service and sacrifice and decided it was time to go a little beyond what we were already doing. In August we will be going to India for 10 months to lend ourselves to the service of the Barli Development Institute for Rural Women. Rather than go into a long explanation of what the institute does, I will just provide you with a link to their website as well as another organization that has written about the institute. We decided to start this blog so that we can keep whoever is interested informed about our journey and experiences. Others who have written about their experiences at Barli and other places around the world have been inspirational, encouraging, and very informative to us, and we hope that anyone else looking for the same will find it here.

practice

this is my first blog. i am practicing how to be a blogger. welcome to the peaceful moose refuge...