A Little Glimpse of Life in India

Here are some videos I took (and the kids took) of playtime. :)

Hari Krishna and kids with great dancing skills

Nadiya and friend

I tried adding more but they didn't upload. I'll add em later. Enjoy these ones. :)

EMS

Etch a Sketch

I write this blog post from a sketchy hotel in Chennai. How we got here is quite the story. India has a way of things happening but working out in the end. So yesterday we flew from Varanasi to Delhi, Delhi to Chennai and got to the Chennai airport at around 10 PM. We collected our luggage and made our way to the International terminal. Upon arriving we realized there were no seats and not really anywhere to get food. We were planning on staying at the airport until our flight home left the next day at 7PM! Something had to be done so me and Griff went up to the check in desk trying to get the Radisson's number (it's close to the airport) so we could at least stay in their lobby or something. It's funny how when you ask an Indian something it passes down a line of people until you finally get the answer you want. We asked a guy for help who then asked another guy, who asked another guy, who then told another guy, until we got the number. I think. They never really gave the number to us. Instead one of those guys found a friend of his who owns a hotel here and he started talking to us to get us to stay at his hotel. At first it seemed kind of sketchy but in the end we realized we couldn't stay at the airport. We negotiated our price and set off for the hotel. It was further away from the airport than we thought it would be but it had everything the guy promised. It slept the four of us (we pushed the two twins together and slept sideways), complimentary Internet (that's how I'm able to blog right now), and complimentary breakfast (well we'll see about the complimentary part. We have yet to eat breakfast) So in the end it all worked out. We got a decent nights sleep and somewhere to chill beside the airport floor for 20 hours. My flight home leaves tonight around 7 (that's 7:30AM for all you people in Utah) and I get to Salt Lake Friday at 6:30PM. The funny thing though is I might go straight from there to join up with my family in California. Brad's all star baseball team won state so they're playing in regions. They might get out though before I get home. I've been doing a lot of traveling. In the past week I'll have taken 9-10 flights (depending on if I take one to California). But the thing is I've enjoyed all the places and people I've been able to see. And would jump at the opportunity to do more. That's why I'm okay with going straight to California. More places to see, things to do, plus I want to be there to cheer for my brother!

"Reunited and it feels so good!" This'll be playing through my head as I "reunite" with all of you at home. :)

Ems

The End..,

My time in India is coming to an end... sniff sniff. I have come to love this country in a way I never could without actually being here. Some reasons I love this country (you might think some of them are weird):

• The chaos on the streets. Traffic, animals, peoples, it's crazy!

• Spontaneity - India teaches you that what happens happens and you need to make the best from that

• Life - I appreciate life and everyone around me so much more now.

• Shops that blend into each other - Now this one needs some explanation. Back in the states all the shops are really distinct and you know where are based on location and store. Here all the shops look the same and it's easy to get lost but I love it. That's what makes it India. :) Also don't let a facade fool you. The store make look tiny and that it just sells shirts or something but you can find pretty much anything on the streets of India.

• Cows in the middle of the street - gotta love the whole sacred cow thing

• Elephants walking on the side of the road - I love elephants and seeing them somewhere besides behind a fence

• Rabid dogs - not! I wish I could pet the dogs here but I'll save all my dog love for my dogs when I get home. :)

• Blend of traffic - There's so many different vehicles. Bicycles, scooters, rickshaws, horse drawn carriages (for real, I saw one the other day), and cars. When I get home I'm gonna finally learn to ride my scooter, so I can remember the chaos of Indian traffic which reminds me of something I learned:

The 3 rules of Indian traffic

1. Good horn

2. Good brakes

3. Good luck :)

• Fashion - All the women dress beautifully. They even wear saris when doing construction! I love how colorful there clothes are. When I get home and you see me wearing orange, green, and purple or something, just know I'm thinking of India.

But one of the reasons I love India so much is the people. They are comfortable with who they are. They don't need to impress you with their fancy cars, or nice job. They are themselves and they're happy with that. I want to take that attitude with me back to the states. Material things don't matter, it's the people in your life that do.

Being on this whole after tour has made me feel like I COULD live in India. I would LOVE to live in India. I'm glad I could experience more of this beautiful country. Goodbye India but the adventure doesn't end here... I'll be back!

Varanasi

Yesterday we toured Varanasi. We've been here since Monday but Monday was a recovery day. We're so tired all the time we need a day in between each tour so we don't crash.

Tuesday we started off bright and early at 5 AM. Sadly since it had rained the night before and water levels were too high we couldn't take a boat ride. Varanasi is a sacred place to hindus. They come here to bathe in the Ganges river.

On their way to bathe in the river

Bathing in the river

I love confused tourist standing in the crowd of Indians with his flower

Beautiful shot of the waterfront and Ganges river

Cow eating trash

This is what we saw on our way to the Golden Temple. The alleys reaked and were filled with garbage and cows. I almost hurled a couple times. Sadly I didn't get any pictures of the beautiful Golden temple. No cameras were allowed so I had to entrust it to a shopkeeper. Luckily it was there when I got back. It was beautiful though. Completely covered in real gold.

After the river tour we went and saw the stoopah where Buddha gave his first sermon. A stoopah is a place where Buddhists go to worship. There also was a pretty cool museum that had a bunch of old statues from when they excavated the site. I couldn't take pictures though. :(

Stupa

After the museum and stupah we went to see the silk market. Silk weaving is a major industry here in Varanasi. Below you can see the beautiful work they do. All made by hand. I wanted to buy a few meters of fabric but I'm on a budget so I bought two scarfs. They're gorgeous!

The rest of the afternoon we did some more shopping and then relaxed at the hotel. We did have a little adventure taking a rickshaw to Fab India only to find out they didn't have one here. Our driver just said that so we'd get in the car but eventually he took us to a store that had just what we wanted (after he took us to an uber expensive touristy place). That night we were supposed to have an evening cruise on Ganges. But still no boat ride so we were just going to the ceremony part. Before we got there though we stopped to get some legit henna. I'm telling you this stuff is legit! and gorgeous. 

We were about to leave for the ceremony when it started raining. That's no good for henna or the ceremony! We ended up just going back to the hotel but it took awhile to get back to the car without wrecking the henna. I'm bummed we didn't do a lot we had planned in Varanasi but it still was amazing and I'm glad I could see it.

Finished henna. I'm gonna try to keep it as dark as this for when I get back to the states.

That's it for now. Today is our last day in India. Sniff sniff. See you all soon.

Ems

Jaipuring it up

Saturday morning we started bright and early for the airport to begin our extra tour of India. When we arrived in New Delhi it was raining cats and dogs! Our luggage got pretty wet but it's all good. We had a 5 hour drive to Jaipur once we got to New Delhi. That was eventful. Once we got to the hotel (which was really nice, Ramada Jaipur, there not this nice back in the states) we just relaxed. Sunday morning though we woke with a jolt when I checked my iPod and it said 7:45. We were heading off for touring at 8 AM. False alarm. I again forgot to set my iPod back to India time. I've kept my laptop on Utah time this whole trip so whenever I charge my iPod it sets it back to Utah time. Gees! I've got to stop that. Now we just have a wake up call, just in case. We barely had enough time to enjoy the delish complimentary breakfast buffet. Croissants, doughnuts, french toast, hash browns, etc. After breakfast we met our tour guide for Jaipur, Ajit. He was pretty cool. He spoke perfect English and knew so much about everything. Interesting facts, little tidbits that made visiting these places that more exciting. 

This is what Delhi looked like when we arrived... rainy. My luggage got wet!

Elephant caravan we passed on our 5 hour drive to Jaipur.

Entrance to the  "Pink City."

This is the first place we stopped. It's a facade palace. That's really all there is. I don't remember it's name. I'll just keep calling it the facade palace. :)  It was built for the queen to observe the people. It's not an actual palace. :)

Next we went to Amber fort. One way to get up to it is to take an elephant taxi. Here's a line-up of elephant taxis. Just Griffin and I rode one. I'd ridden an elephant in Agra too (as you should already know). This ride was much longer though (and it cost more). But it's all worth it to ride my favorite animal. :)

Riding an elephant up to Amber fort.

View from on top of the elephant

Courtyard entrance

Entrance to fort. I don't know if you can tell it's blurry from this far away but my camera was having focusing issues when the tour guide tried to take it. Speaking of which he loved taking pictures with my camera. He loved how it makes the shutter sound. :) I love it too.

Gorgeous entrance to King's private part of the fort.

After the fort (which I have hundreds more pictures of, just ask to see them when I get back) we went to see some block printing. The two main industries in Jaipur are textiles and stone cutting. We went to see how both of these were made. For textiles we saw how they did block printing. I found it uber exciting considering I love fabric and I've taken print making. :)

Picture of block printing. There's a different stamp for each color. This one was a 4 stamp process.

He starts out with plain cotton cloth

Takes the stamp and dabs it in paint.

And applies!

I helped on the next stamp. Okay all I got to do was hit the back of it hard but it was still exciting. We all helped on each stamp until it looked like this...

After that we went into his store for a little... SHOPPING! I told myself I was done shopping but I couldn't go home without a bedspread and pillows to redecorate my room with. I've been planning on redecorating it Indian style for awhile so this trip has let me buy authentic, ethnic pieces. :)

Here's my beautiful bedspread, all hand embroidered.

Next we went to stone cutting to see how they make their gorgeous jewelry. They take stones like the ones below

and turn them into pieces like these.

 I went a little crazy shopping that day. But you're only in India every so often. I'd say once in a lifetime but I want to come back. By the way mom and dad I owe you guys. I'll pay you... don't worry. :)

Finishing up the touring for the day we went to the City Palace and Observatory. It is still the current residency for the King of Jaipur. The whole city of Jaipur was founded by the king Jai Singh. He was a smart man. He laid out the whole city and gave them an observatory. A funny thing about the Kings of Jaipur is they are given the title "sawai." It means 125% king. He's a 1 1/4 king because he's a good king plus a quarter more. :)

I don't know if you can tell in this picture but there's one flag plus a quarter, representing the king. :) Just an interesting tidbit.

Another interesting thing is these doors. They have spikes on them to stop elephants from busting the doors with their heads. I find anything involving elephants fascinating. :)

That night I got so bored that I gave myself braids that ended up looking like dreads. I was pretty cool with them. :)

L-O-V-E

I wrote this in my real journal today and I liked it enough to share here. :)

I've been in India almost 3 weeks now. The time has whooshed by. I feel like just yesterday the big bus pulled onto campus for the first time. I've become such a different person since that first day. That person didn't know what it felt like to be loved by someone they hardly knew or to love them back just as much. I guess that's what I've learned on this trip... Love. Love isn't the way you say or write it. It's how you show it. Saying I love you doesn't begin to cover the many facets of love. Love can be shown by helping a child with their homework, playing with them, and honestly caring how they do at school. Love is a mother waking up at 3 AM to talk to her daughter. Love is sisters being half a world away but able to share a laugh. Love is washing the leprosy afflicted feet and putting your arms around them. They also want to feel love too. But most of all love is people crossing barriers to bridge gaps.

PS My groups theme this year was crossing barriers... Bridging gaps. That explains the last line. :)

EMS

Just a few pics of love

Leprosy Colonies

I've missed blogging on a few of the colonies we've been to. We went on a special service trip to 2 colonies in another state, Andrah Pradesh. Also when we got back a coordinator was sick and the kids had exams so we could choose between medical or construction. I picked medical because I love it and you feel such a connection to the people. Also construction is hard work!

I don't know what the colonies in Andrah Pradesh were called but getting there was not easy. It was "supposed" to be around a 4 hour bus drive but that turned into 8 what with getting stopped all the time and having to bribe. I guess there was a problem with the van we took that was RSO. In order to cross the border it had to be a commercial van, not personal, and could only have 12 seats. It had 13. After renting a van and throwing some money in peoples faces we were across the border. That's not all the bribed but that's not what was important about this trip. The importance was serving people at colonies who rarely if ever receive medical help.

Finally arriving in Andrah Pradesh (I don't even know what city) and checking into our hotel (the hotel grand... really grand) we got some much needed lunch and chilled for like 15 minutes. Then it was back on the bus that we'd already been on for 8 hours! I slept most of the way there but I guess it was like a 40 min. long bus ride to the colony. We get there and the colony is in the middle of the jungle. It was beautiful. I guess they'd been waiting there since that morning (we arrived late with the delays and everything.) The people lovingly greeted us and gave us such a warm reception. They even served us soda. I'd never had Indian soda before but it was actually pretty delish. They even had us stand on a stage while greeting us. After the reception we instantly got to work. Buckets were filled up for washing, chairs were set up, lines were formed. I was placed on photography which means I helped take pictures of the people hands and feet. Dr. Kumar had done that before when he'd come and we did again just to keep track of their progress. I helped hold up their feet. I could've acted grossed out and disgusted by the state of their feet but I tried my best to give them a smile and let them know I wasn't grossed out. I wanted to let them know they were loved and not "untouchable."