Monday November 14th

Tuesday Novemeber 15th

Wednesday November 16th

So this past week has blown by without me realizing it and without me finishing any amount of work… After last weekend in Jodhpur, I caught something terrible and was laid up in bed sick for 3 days. I don’t know whether it was the something in some food that I had during the weekend or a stomach bug or possibly the terrible “Delhi Belly” that is so famous for travelers to get while in India. All I know is that I couldn’t eat or keep anything down and I hardly got out of bed. My poor grandmother, Dadisa, well host grandmother; she kept trying to get me to eat anything and I would try just to appease her but then feel worse than I did before. But finally I have gotten better, only for my host father to become very ill with a cold and I hope I don’t catch it from my immune system being susceptible to sickness right now.

I did go to the doctor in Jodhpur on the third day of my sickness with recommendation from the director of my organization. Once I walked into the doctors office, I immediately wished I had sucked it up and stayed curled in a ball on my comfortable bed in the village. The car ride into town was enough punishment for one day; that was until I went to the doctor. After asking me what symptoms I had been experiencing (in more or less words…) he did not give me a diagnosis, but told me what he was giving me: two injections and prescriptions for 6 medications to be taken over 3 days. Um, WHAT? He explained they were to stop the nausea and me from vomiting since I might throw up the medicine otherwise. I reluctantly gave myself over to the nurse who came in with the needle and made me lie on the table next to the wall while there were four Indian men, besides the doctor, all in the room trying to sell him some contraption. After giving me one shot in the ass, she made me turn over for a second one, which felt like hell in a needle while she injected what I could only hope, was helpful, into my blood stream.

After paying the doctor the equivalent of $4, I left with the driver who brought me and went to fill the prescription at the corner pharmacy/ chemist. After giving me the 6 medicines that the doctor ordered… I paid the man another $6.5. So after going to a doctor, getting two shots, and filling 6 prescriptions for drugs, I only had to pay about $10. Why is that and what is up the health care system in the U.S. if I can get this so cheap here? Well, that we all know is a totally different discussion and something that is somewhat touchy in the U.S. to talk about. About the medicine though, I don’t even take medicine in the U.S. so there was no way I was going to take all the medicine that the doctor told me to take… especially since I couldn’t remember which medicine was for what symptom. I wrote down what I remembered about them after getting back to my village and waited to see if I needed them. Turned out I didn’t need to take them, and the next time another intern or I have bad stomach problems, I already have the medicine.

So needless to say, I didn’t get any work done this past week. Then the women took the day off today for holiday so I have yet to do work still… Well, I did get some work done, but nothing at the center. I will have a lot to do before I leave for Christmas vacation in 10 days. It is unbelievable that Christmas is SO soon.

Work is still a bit slow at the moment due to that fact that I am waiting to hear back from Nest whether or not there can be a partnership between their non-profit and Sunder Rang. If there is potential for a relationship, it would be a great help to the organization, the women, and myself. Once a group is established as a partner with Nest, they will work in the areas that are needed most for the artisan group, and for our crafts center those areas include teaching English and business skills, quality control and efficiency, capital growth, and other necessary areas for the center to grow successful and sustainable. This would be a great help to me because I do not have the language skills in Hindi yet to teach the women business, or much else for that matter, and it might take the entire time I am here to get far enough along in the language to help in these areas.

Being the technical manager currently, this leaves the everyday duties for me to do. This week was no exception and I actually found myself finding more things I needed to get done. First off, I went to a city about two hours from our village and ordered handmade paper diaries to cover and sell at the center. The paper factory was a great business to see, especially in India. All the paper made in the factory is made from recycled cotton scraps bought from clothing factories. I had begun to think that no one recycled anything in India, and it was a great relief to see a business that was using recycled materials to make an amazing product.

They first buy the cotton material from the factory and separate them buy color. After separation, they soak the material in vats of water to make a cotton pulp, much like factories do with wood chips for papermaking. The pulp is then layered on top of a screen in the next vat of water then pulled up to make a sheet once dried on the screen. The paper sheet is then placed between two steel plates and rolled out to ensure the paper is compressed and smooth. The paper is then dyed if needed to be a different color and some are screen printed on as well. They sell the paper only, but can make different products if bought in bulk.

The week went by fast after that, and I kept coming up with things that needed to be done in the city. So this weekend, my trip to Jodhpur was one full To Do List and involved shopping for materials, running errands, and trying to find time to relax with friends. This sounds easier than you would think. It is almost impossible to shop in India and get a fair price as a white person. Due to these circumstances, I had to wait for someone who could go shopping with me to translate and ensure a low prices point for the materials needed for the center. Once this was done, and many bags later, that was one thing off the list and it was already Saturday evening. So the next day I spent getting my errands done as well as running more errands for the center and buying leggings for the girls in the village, since they are unable to go to the city or make them like the ones I have bought.

I am so sore. I am beyond sore. I am in pain. Today was fun though. We started off the day early at 5 and then got ready, had breakfast and then after much to do travelled to Cape Agulhas the southern most tip of Africa and began the challenge. It started out really well. We were excited and even singing. This soon changed when we were met by hills (we weren’t expecting hills) and then the wind. The wind made it ten times worse than it would be normally. It was very difficult. I did well and pushed myself a lot. I found that if I sang even if it was to myself I was able to go farther then just focusing on what I am doing. So moral of story: sing. It helps, at least for me. We stopped a lot for breaks: pee breaks, food breaks which was good. We did however somehow lose or misplace the bike pump. Probably the most important thing you need on a biking challenge but whatever we pushed through. Then there was the punctuated tires. Somehow we managed to go through all our extra bikes because of punctured tires and since we didn’t have a bike pump we couldn’t really do anything. At one point, Nick decided to start running which was awesome. It turned out to not be necessary because soon after he started running, we saw two people with a bike pump and tires. God was definitely looking after us. Unfortunately because of wind and all the hills, we didn’t end up making it to Hermanus like we planned. So about 20km outside of Hermanus we had a team meeting and decided to push to Stranford which is a little ways outside of Hermanus. We all decided to push hard and we were all able to finish. It was very difficult though. I think we were all very tired at that point. I know I really want to stop then and there. I pushed myself hard on some hills and I definitely regretted it at that point. But I was able to finish. Ebonnie was also able to finish despite a knee injury. I think that’s all. I’m tired, going to bed. We start early again tomorrow!

Sunday November 13th

Day Two started out just as rough. My alarm went off at 5:15 but I refused to get up. No other alarms went off either so we had a late start. I could barely sleep last night because of the pain. I have never been so sore. It just felt like I was burning. That and the fact that I heard rain pouring outside my window didn’t exactly encourage me out of bed. But our program manager got us all up and we were jogging in the rain by 7. We spent the next few hours biking in the pouring rain, getting soaked completely. Lucky for us, the weather did clear and we ended up having some great weather. By the time we finished I was almost completely dry which was lovely. Today had lots of hills but we were all mentally prepared for them so that made it a lot easier. We even had a baboon sighting (something common in this area). I was pretty nervous myself because they are very crafty. They have been known to get into people’s cars and take food (I wish I was joking!). I think we all pretty nervous. Almost all of us had food in our bags. But they left us alone and we left them alone and we passed them with no problems. That was pretty much our day. We walked 15km because the road was too narrow to bike (and feel safe) but besides that we biked the entire time covering 90km which brings our total up to 170km. So we are halfway there. Our goal is to travel 350km by the end of Day 5. Tomorrow the hope is to sail (fingers crossed) to Fish Hoek which is 40km away then to bike 20km which makes for a pretty easy day compared to what we have been doing. We’re not sure if we’ll be able to sail because of weather. We finished today in Gordon’s Bay which means I get to sleep in my own bed tonight! It was great because all the volunteers and staff who weren’t participating in the full Challenge were there to cheer us on and they even made us dinner which was amazing

I’ll finish up the rest of the Challenge next week!

I am so sore. I am beyond sore. I am in pain. Today was fun though. We started off the day early at 5 and then got ready, had breakfast and then after much to do travelled to Cape Agulhas the southern most tip of Africa and began the challenge. It started out really well. We were excited and even singing. This soon changed when we were met by hills (we weren’t expecting hills) and then the wind. The wind made it ten times worse than it would be normally. It was very difficult. I did well and pushed myself a lot. I found that if I sang even if it was to myself I was able to go farther then just focusing on what I am doing. So moral of story: sing. It helps, at least for me. We stopped a lot for breaks: pee breaks, food breaks which was good. We did however somehow lose or misplace the bike pump. Probably the most important thing you need on a biking challenge but whatever we pushed through. Then there was the punctuated tires. Somehow we managed to go through all our extra bikes because of punctured tires and since we didn’t have a bike pump we couldn’t really do anything. At one point, Nick decided to start running which was awesome. It turned out to not be necessary because soon after he started running, we saw two people with a bike pump and tires. God was definitely looking after us. Unfortunately because of wind and all the hills, we didn’t end up making it to Hermanus like we planned. So about 20km outside of Hermanus we had a team meeting and decided to push to Stranford which is a little ways outside of Hermanus. We all decided to push hard and we were all able to finish. It was very difficult though. I think we were all very tired at that point. I know I really want to stop then and there. I pushed myself hard on some hills and I definitely regretted it at that point. But I was able to finish. Ebonnie was also able to finish despite a knee injury. I think that’s all. I’m tired, going to bed. We start early again tomorrow!

Sunday November 13th

Day Two started out just as rough. My alarm went off at 5:15 but I refused to get up. No other alarms went off either so we had a late start. I could barely sleep last night because of the pain. I have never been so sore. It just felt like I was burning. That and the fact that I heard rain pouring outside my window didn’t exactly encourage me out of bed. But our program manager got us all up and we were jogging in the rain by 7. We spent the next few hours biking in the pouring rain, getting soaked completely. Lucky for us, the weather did clear and we ended up having some great weather. By the time we finished I was almost completely dry which was lovely. Today had lots of hills but we were all mentally prepared for them so that made it a lot easier. We even had a baboon sighting (something common in this area). I was pretty nervous myself because they are very crafty. They have been known to get into people’s cars and take food (I wish I was joking!). I think we all pretty nervous. Almost all of us had food in our bags. But they left us alone and we left them alone and we passed them with no problems. That was pretty much our day. We walked 15km because the road was too narrow to bike (and feel safe) but besides that we biked the entire time covering 90km which brings our total up to 170km. So we are halfway there. Our goal is to travel 350km by the end of Day 5. Tomorrow the hope is to sail (fingers crossed) to Fish Hoek which is 40km away then to bike 20km which makes for a pretty easy day compared to what we have been doing. We’re not sure if we’ll be able to sail because of weather. We finished today in Gordon’s Bay which means I get to sleep in my own bed tonight! It was great because all the volunteers and staff who weren’t participating in the full Challenge were there to cheer us on and they even made us dinner which was amazing

I’ll finish up the rest of the Challenge next week!

Our tables fill with many dishes, sometimes different depending on where in the U.S. you may be, or what your family traditions are, but there are always staple foods that must be on every Thanksgiving table. Turkey being the most important, then dressing (stuffing for you non-southerners), cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, and of course… pumpkin pie! Excess food pouring over the sides of dishes while salivating mouths are waiting to eat because they haven’t eaten all day in preparation for the onslaught of food about to be consumed.

Well even though I am living in India right now, the other American interns living in Jodhpur and I decided that the best remedy for any homesickness or food cravings would be to make a Thanksgiving meal here in India! This was an endeavor that was great in thought, but not carefully thought through in order to be executed smoothly. With a grocery list consisting of nearly 30 items and not a single Westernized grocery store, the shopping started at 2 pm on Saturday for our meal that was planned for Sunday at 2 pm. Everyone split the list and started shopping around in two groups. After going to vegetable markets, and small stores, the hunting really began. Where the hell are we going to find marshmallows, evaporated milk, and cranberry sauce? After long ado, all was found at various places after asking person after person at stores, and even being given a phone to talk to different storeowners. I am really glad I missed out in having to get the chicken, because apparently they got to pick their chicken live, and then watch it being chopped up in front of their eyes. NO THANK YOU!

We finally got all of our cooking supplies and started prepping on Saturday night at our director’s house. After adjourning, we decided to meet at 9:30 the next morning to get the rest going in order to not delay the lunch plans. Well I got there at 9:30, but being in India, I waited on the others for a while, then a little longer to get things going. Finally, after all the prepping had been done, cooking had to ensue. This was the difficult part considering Indians do not have ovens, and they generally only have a double gas stove in their kitchen. We had to use a toaster oven to cook the sweet potato casserole, banana bread, and pumpkin pie, but surprisingly they turned out really tasty. With the help of our director, we had an extra gas stove brought in to cook and after we cooked most of our American food, the two Indian women from our organization made some Indian dishes as well.

It was a hit! Separating the non-veg and veg items on two different tables, we pondered upon the smorgasbord of random foods in front of our eyes and teasing our taste buds. The tables consisted of mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole (complete with marshmallows and pineapple), green beans, cranberry sauce, salad, matar paneer (peas and paneer), Indian layered rice dish, paneer gulab jamon, and steaming piles of fresh chapatti. On the non-veg table, our tandori-ish chicken, pumpkin pie (made from fresh pumpkin!), and peanut butter banana bread covered in Nutella. These were non-veg items because vegetarians in India do not eat eggs and there were eggs in the baked goods. Everyone, host families and all, thoroughly enjoyed themselves and the food. I am pretty sure the Indians preferred the Indian food though, probably because our American food just wasn’t flavorful enough for their palettes.

Thursday November 3^rd

Well today was…different. Yeah, different. We’ll go with that. The day started out fairly normal. We noticed that the sewage which we saw spewing up yesterday was still going didn’t think that much of it. I took out a group of students and worked on perimeter. It was pretty easy and they were really good. I literally sat back and watched them do it helping when needed. It was lovely to feel completely in control of the class J Then it was that classes turn for sports so I helped with sports as well. They did netball which was pretty fun. Then it was break time. Nothing special there. It was picture day but I forgot my camera so I just stayed in the classroom and read. The break bell went off as usual but then another bell rang and we heard screams from outside. I looked outside and saw kids running around and then kids with backpacks walking out the school. They shut school early because of the sewage. Health hazard. It was utter chaos. I hoped against hope that we would get to go home early but no such luck. Instead I went to nursery where I thought I would be taking a small group of children out and doing a small lesson….no such luck again. The carer (what we call the ladies who are in charge) pretty much gave me a group of 40 children and told me to read to them. You can imagine how that went…not well. There was screaming, kicking, and general bad behavouir. It was pretty bad and the carers weren’t really helping either. I was thankful when it was finally lunchtime and got to help feed the children. I then went on my own lunch at ACJ before returning to nusery after naptime. I love the kids after they nap. They’re all drowsy and super lazy. It’s so cute. I helped them put on their shoes and one of them Tandalethu was laying his head on my lap. He was attached to me. He wouldn’t let me go even when it was time to put the chairs up. He screamed when I tried to move until I pulled him aside and we sat in the corner. So cute! Anyways the rest of the day was good because once they were awake we just got to play with them which is what we usually do with them anyway.

Friday November 4th

Today was an interesting day. I went to school but didn’t do anything there. Joel, Emma and I all ended up going to Ikhayalethemba which was so fun. I worked with Class A which includes Asasa who I love. She’s awesome although she is trouble. We first read to them or rather they looked through the books and we tried to read to them. Then we did a creative thing which involves glue and stickers so of course there was a huge mess. Then it was snack time and we helped the children eat then it was our break time. I enjoyed some food and then we got ready for Fun Friday. Beth brought the kids in and we watched Shrek the Third. Well half of them did the other half caused trouble so we eventually ended up taking some of them out to play and the others were left in peace to watch the movie. We also gave them popcorn, watermelon and chocolate covered bananas with sprinkles. It was so good. Then it was playtime for a while before they had lunch. I had to help Asasa in the bathroom and then I picked up one of the babies because he was crying. His name is Anathi and he is so cute. I put him down and took pictures. I took lots of pictures with my film camera which I hope come out well *fingers crossed*

It was so much fun. I love being at the orphanage! It made me sorta wish I was staying over break so I could work at the orphanage although of course I’m excited about going home. It’ll be nice to be with my family and visit my friends over the month we have off. 

Thursday November 3^rd

Well today was…different. Yeah, different. We’ll go with that. The day started out fairly normal. We noticed that the sewage which we saw spewing up yesterday was still going didn’t think that much of it. I took out a group of students and worked on perimeter. It was pretty easy and they were really good. I literally sat back and watched them do it helping when needed. It was lovely to feel completely in control of the class J Then it was that classes turn for sports so I helped with sports as well. They did netball which was pretty fun. Then it was break time. Nothing special there. It was picture day but I forgot my camera so I just stayed in the classroom and read. The break bell went off as usual but then another bell rang and we heard screams from outside. I looked outside and saw kids running around and then kids with backpacks walking out the school. They shut school early because of the sewage. Health hazard. It was utter chaos. I hoped against hope that we would get to go home early but no such luck. Instead I went to nursery where I thought I would be taking a small group of children out and doing a small lesson….no such luck again. The carer (what we call the ladies who are in charge) pretty much gave me a group of 40 children and told me to read to them. You can imagine how that went…not well. There was screaming, kicking, and general bad behavouir. It was pretty bad and the carers weren’t really helping either. I was thankful when it was finally lunchtime and got to help feed the children. I then went on my own lunch at ACJ before returning to nusery after naptime. I love the kids after they nap. They’re all drowsy and super lazy. It’s so cute. I helped them put on their shoes and one of them Tandalethu was laying his head on my lap. He was attached to me. He wouldn’t let me go even when it was time to put the chairs up. He screamed when I tried to move until I pulled him aside and we sat in the corner. So cute! Anyways the rest of the day was good because once they were awake we just got to play with them which is what we usually do with them anyway.

Friday November 4th

Today was an interesting day. I went to school but didn’t do anything there. Joel, Emma and I all ended up going to Ikhayalethemba which was so fun. I worked with Class A which includes Asasa who I love. She’s awesome although she is trouble. We first read to them or rather they looked through the books and we tried to read to them. Then we did a creative thing which involves glue and stickers so of course there was a huge mess. Then it was snack time and we helped the children eat then it was our break time. I enjoyed some food and then we got ready for Fun Friday. Beth brought the kids in and we watched Shrek the Third. Well half of them did the other half caused trouble so we eventually ended up taking some of them out to play and the others were left in peace to watch the movie. We also gave them popcorn, watermelon and chocolate covered bananas with sprinkles. It was so good. Then it was playtime for a while before they had lunch. I had to help Asasa in the bathroom and then I picked up one of the babies because he was crying. His name is Anathi and he is so cute. I put him down and took pictures. I took lots of pictures with my film camera which I hope come out well *fingers crossed*

It was so much fun. I love being at the orphanage! It made me sorta wish I was staying over break so I could work at the orphanage although of course I’m excited about going home. It’ll be nice to be with my family and visit my friends over the month we have off. 

This past weekend the other American interns and myself went of the midterm retreat for our session. For me it is no where near midterm, but the others are here for shorter times than me. Our trip to Udiapur, “The City of Lakes”, was a nice and needed time to relax and enjoy our surrounding in India. Udiapur was a much more of tourist friendly city and more relaxing than Jodhpur. The lack of people and horns crowding the already busy street was slightly mind boggling when walking around Udiapur. Being in Jodhpur, it is quite natural to walk past a cow eating trash that lines the streets while having a car almost run you down while blaring it’s horn right behind you. In Udiapur, however, it was almost like the Disneyland of Rajasthan because the lack of sensory overload was no where to be found, and the city was a lush land of beauty.

While walking around Udiapur, one might see the occasional cow walking or local bathing in the lake, but most of the time it is not nearly as crazy as the rest of the cities in Rajasthan. We even ended up riding swan paddle boats in a large fountain in the center of the city. Now tell me that is normal in India... The city’s Lake Palace was the setting for James Bond’s Octopussy and on a nightly basis, a tourist with a desire to fill their James Bond desire can catch a showing of this movie at a plethera of rooftop restaurants featuring their claim to fame. Tourists can also find a range of stores selling their goods to the doe eyed tourists not knowing what to pay or how to bargain and restaurants feathering mouth watering baked goods that are a treat to find anywhere in India. The oldest German bakery started a fad, in 1966, in Udiapur of selling desired baked goods and strong, fresh coffee to travelers in need of a taste of home. Now though, there are “French” and “German” bakeries all over Old City that try to attract the watering mouths of the Western tourists wondering if they will be satisfied by a piece of cake or a stimulating espresso. I was lured in multiple times by the Edlewiess Bakery and had my fill of pastries and coffee.

Other than the delicous pastries of Udiapur, the sites were amazing to see after leaving my current hometown of Jodhpur which is a flat dry city full of trash and dirt. Although I do not think I will see a fort in India that surpasses the grandeur of the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, the city of Udiapur leaves you wishing for a few more days in paradise. While the weather is the same, the city gets an abundance of rainfall during the monsoon season which leaves the lakes full and the trees green for seasons to come. The mountains surrounding the city allow the tourists and locals to see an ariel view of the sparkling city especially at sunrise and sunset. Leaving the city was quite hard, but knowing I would be going back to the room I call home, and the village I have become so fond of, I knew I would be just fine.

Thanksgiving was yesterday and although no one here celebrates the American holiday, the interns and I will be cooking American food today and tomorrow and inviting our host families to enjoy our home country’s holiday. We have to do this on the weekend because we all had to work during the week. I will definitely give some glimpses of the Americans at work...

As for work though, the women are starting to teach me some Hindi words and I am trying to teach myself as well. It is a very difficult language to learn here though because there are no particular ways of spelling the Hindi words in the phonetic alphabet and when the Indians tell you word to learn, it is very difficult to understand and pronounce correctly. This is the most difficult part of being in the village. Not knowing Hindi and trying to be the manager of the center where most of the women know nothing of my language and I know none of their language, definitely has it’s drawbacks.