Auroville etc...

We went to Auroville yesterday!!! I heard so much about it before we came to India, and have talked to many people here in India about the unique vision of this little city, so it was exciting to finally make it there.....it's only 45 minutes away from us here in Kadapakkam, so it's kind of funny that we hadn't been there yet! For those not familiar with Auroville - it is a city outside of Pondicherry founded about 40 years ago by people aiming to create a completley clobal community....a place that nobody owned and therefore belonged to everyone in the world. Yes, many of these people were hippies. The Uluru Children's Home has a partnership with a group from Auroville that is devoted to reforestation and environmental education. Hopefully construction will begin soon in the UCH compound on an environmental eduction center that will be open to the general community. (There will be a fence deviding it and the main UCH area). The long-term aim is to also return the area adjacent to UCH to how it was years ago before human development and then se that area for nature walks/eduction open to UCH children and the whole community. There are so many exciting things happening at UCH! We also visited a school in between Auroville and Kadapakkam that used to be one of the very worst in Tamil Nadu before this organization became involved about ten years ago. It is now an incredible place for school children, high schools, and locals looking for vocational training. We were treated to a tour of the facilities including the art classroom (!!!), the environmentally friendly water-recycling program, the science classroom, and the general grounds. More ideas for UCH.....

Well, the children are watching "Narnia" - in Tamil...we just spent the day on an epic quest to help them update their photo-albums. It was TRULY epic in scope and execution but I will allow Kate to explain it because she's funny and another Kate's Korner is sorely overdue.

Love to you all!
~Alice

Musings....

I'm in Mammallapuram and only have a few minutes left on internet.....I was going to post something long, but it's just too overwhelming at the moment. We're leaving the Children's Home on the 27th or 28th which seems so so so soon. This place is so difficult to capture and the longer I'm here, the more normal it seems. It's my life - it's not some social experiment, or exotic adventure anymore. (though it certainly is an adventure, I suppose). I've been here long enough that I've created my own little world. Not that I won't want to come home or won't be excited to see friends and family back home - but my two lives are becoming increasingly separate. I know it will be easier to blog about my travels because again things will be new, and changing, and not my everyday life. That aside....I can find some things to say about the past few days!

Deepa and I taught our last class at the local school on Wednesday. 6th, 7th, and 8th standards are having exams until he 20th and then holidays begin....so we had to finish up! It was a little sad, but luckily we knew it was coming so w taught every day we could last week and this. We have developed quite an extraordinary rapport with 7th standard. There aren't any UCH kids and that standard, so all our relationships there are completely based on our teaching. That somehow makes telling the really bright students off for always answering more fun, more of a game. in 6th and 8th it's kind of awkward because the UCH girls are simply better educated and we know them better, so we have to worry about not playing favorites. There were still lots of good things going on in those classes, but 7th was our big success. One of our last stories was The Lion King. They were so fantastically excited about it and all shouted, "Nooooo!!!" along with me at the point when Simba yells no at Scar because Scar killed his father. (there had been a similar moment in Pocahontas so they were ready!) One of our star students, Prabu, gave Deepa and I a little Indian sweet as a thank you which was too kind of him, but so thoughtful. I'll miss 7th standard! Deepa and I are going to keep coming sticking around school for the fifteen minutes or so after the UCH kids get there and before the bell rings so we can chat with all our students.

I hope all is well with you!
Love,
~Alice

Village Games part DEUX

first of all, i hope matthew caught the subtle reference of hotshots in the title......

so i didn't get to a computer the next day, or the next,. and now the thing i typed up won't come off the disk,. so i'll talk abotu something else for now....interestingly, though, village games have come up a LOT recently! In english class yesterday, one of the girls (this was a community class for people 14-25) told me about this game she likes to play with colored coins, and spinning and some set of rules that didn't make it across the language barrier) also....after class I came back to the children's home to find deepa avidly watching some o the girls (12 or so) playing some complicated game that involved one person singing a song while running grom one line, around someone who is sitting a ways away, and then away from chasers positinoed at various places depending on....well, i don't really know what. We were utterly lost. THEN, i played cricket with someone briely and engaged in enthusiastic cheering while a younger girl tried to play badmitton with me. THE ROCKS (!!!) still ahve a special place in my heart. I have spent countless hours throwing and catching little pebbles and i'd be glad to show you all the moves when I'm stateside. There are 33 levels of the rock game according to one UCH inormant.....phew! I've gotten thorugh them all, but, of course, i was lapped MANY times in the process.

We're back at the children's home now and it feels good to be home. (Don't worry, mom, i know where real home is!) Being away made me realize how settled I have started to feel at UCH. When we got off the ECR (main road) bus from Chennai to Alamparai, we were greeted by Muragan, one of the two watchmen at UCH. He was one his way home to the next village or the night, so we were lucky to catch him. It was uncannily idylic to actually step into Kuddapakam and see a familiar face within two seconds. We were all giddy during the auto-ride back....and then overwhlemed by the kids in a very good way. After being back for literally about five minutes we started tutoring our fourth standard group, which was just how we wanted it - they told us we should rest. I had quite a good time with mine in the beginning. One of my girls in that group is increidbly industrious and loves having any new learning thrown at her....when I don't give her something to do, she creates little projects for herself which range rom building the perfect study-fort complete with a seat for both o us and an English notebook etc.....so making up math problems or herself to do. She's kind of a dream to teach. (She can also be quite wild, so it's not all sunshine and daisies, but I really enjoy her) My other girl in that group is without a doubt the most stubborn person I have ever met. She struggles a lot because of that; she is way behind for her age group and doens't like accepting help. She read one book to me very, very well and I was beyond thrilled because that usually takes a huge battle of wills.....She was excited to see me after a hiatus, and so was working hard. Then things got tough for the second half of tutoring time. I think about how best to interact with and help her all the time; I want to appreciate her unconditionally because she hasn't had a lot of unconditional support in her life, but I also can't bend to her incredibly powerful and stubborn will. Sometimes I have to be a bit abrupt and mean with her....and 'm getting surprisingly good at it (I'm kind of a softie.....). I guess it helps to explain that she is quite possessive of me in particular, and truly demands my attention in a bit of an alarming way sometimes. I'll be tutoring her again on tuesday, so I hope it goes well!

A note on Tuesday......about a month and a half ago, Deepa and I changed our schedule such that we teach Monday,. Tuesday, Friday at school.....but since have never taught on Tuesday becaue of the crazy holidays and schedule things that go on here and random days of feeling sick.....so i we actually do teach this Tuesday we're going to have a party. When I say party I mean - we're going to open Kate's bag o Cheese-puffs that Annette sent in the mail! Living on the edge, to be sure! well i don't have much time, so this is totally unedited, but that's okay, my audience will appriciate the authenticity o my typos, perhaps?

Love you you all!
~Alice


PS: Tamsin - if you give me your email I would love to email back and forth about Uluru and answer any questions you have! Where are you from? How did you hear about UCH? I won't respond right away due to internet availibility......but I will respond eventually. All the best, Alice.

Village Games: A Rope of Sand

Hola, mis amigos!

Essentially.....I am incredibly happy at UCH right now. The first three weeks were quite tough, and it took longer than I had expected to feel comfortable here, but now I am truly in my stride. The kids are as feisty and naughty as ever, but now I know it's Sugashini shaking her butt at me, Kalpana ripping my hair from its roots, and Sandhiya literally screaming three inches from my face.......a month and a half ago that seemed like a cheeky butt-shake, anger-management problems directed at my scalp and permanent hearing loss. Now, I kid you not, I readily submit myself to hours of that sort of thing. Suga loves to shake her hiney, Kalpana is one of many over-eager (but well intentioned!) hair-stylists at Uluru Children's Home, and Sandhiya is the world's most insane child, but she's a smart cookie and I get a kick out of her! (Favorite Sandhiya-moment......Kate was walking with her to school a week or two ago and she just randomly turns to kate and says, "Buttock! B!-U!-T!-T!-O!-C!-K! BUTTOCK!" So I realize the posterior has featured heavily so far in this blog entry.....I'll tone it down.) Once I mastered the kids' names....life started getting more and more fun/meaningful/entertaining/rewarding. I am SO glad we're staying at the Home for three months and I'm starting to wish the stay were even longer.

DEEPAVALI!!! So we missed out on Halloween and Thanksgiving this year, those being distinctly American Holidays......but we did experience our first Deepavali which is also known as Diwali in the north. Deepa's Usha athai (Deepa's father's cousin) and Uncle Gopal (I have a snowball's chance in hell of spelling the Tamilian word for Uncle correctly and Deepa's asleep....), Ram (their son), and Pati (the word of Grandma....she's Usha's mother) came to Uluru to celebrate with us. Now there's a straightforward sentence. We woke up at 6 though the children were up earlier getting excited...and, honestly, they always wake up incredibly early. It kind of terrifies me when I think about it too much. The older girls wake up at 4:30 to practice traditional singing. I'm all for extracurricular activities but that blows my mind. I can't imagine a gaggle of American teenage girls CHOOSING to wake up two hours before the sun rises. In any event; first thing we watched the girls get new clothes as presents from Deepa's aforementioned family. Then they all put their clothes on and looked so beautiful! The three of us also received new clothes as presents so we now have tunic-like shirts of the same style but different prints! All the children had oil baths before they put on their new clothes. That doesn't mean they actually bathed in a vat of oil like I was initially inclined to believe....their hair was washed in oil. It's a common hair-care thing in India, but especially on Deepavali, as I understand. Deepa's family saw to it that the three of us also had our heads bathed while a short prayer was sung. the morning was spent shooting off loud fireworks; the larger ones were set off in the path next to the Children's home and little sound-producing guns were passed out to all the kids. Don't worry, mom; they guns were incredibly benign, small, plastic things that made a little pop. And everyone still has both of their eyes. The rest of the day was spent running around, playing the ROCK GAME that will be explained shortly, and eating. The whole affair had a Christmas sort of feel in terms of scope and significance, but of course didn't actually seem like Christmas to me without family.

THE ROCK GAME!
Around Deepavali, which was on Thursday, November 8th, the children had a four-day weekend. I spent HOURS. literally hours -

haHa! A cliff-hanger. I'm quite tired so I'm going to bed and I'll finish this rock game business in the morning. (If you can't handle the suspense, don't worry.....I'm about to talk about rocks for a long time, so it's not that urgent.)

Love,
~Alice

PS - I didn't actually get to the explanation for the Village Games: A Rope of Sand title, so I'd like to give a shout out to Ashok as a consolation. Don't worry, more is on the way as is more softball tutelage!

Kate's Corner: A Walk on the Wild Side

Hey all. So, after a long hiatus, Kate's Corner is making its much-anticipated comeback on Alice's blog. I tried to back this comeback about two weeks ago, but as soon as I began typing, I became violently ill. Apparently, there's a darker force behind the corner. But that's behind us, so here it is. Finalmente.

I am calling this edition Kate's Corner: A Walk on the Wild Side in order to increase the overall edginess of Ms. Minor's blog, which I currently feel to be lacking.

So, time has passed, my friends. But here are some moments that have stood out and that no one--even the guy who knows none of us and apparently found out about this blog while at a chinese restaurant---can do without.

Ms. Deepa Sivarajan

In an attempt to include Deepa more in this post (the last was a little alice-heavy), I thought to include a rather snappy dialogue that took place in our last weeks of travel. It involves Deepa and Man.

Deepa: I live in the USA.
Man: You have an Indian Face.
Deepa: Yes, my father is from Chennai, my mother is from Kerala, but I was born in the US.
Man: You have an Indian Face.
Deepa: Yes.
Man: Your Face. It is an Indian Face.
Deepa: Oh.
Man: (indicating Alice and I). They do not have Indian Face. (indicating Deepa) You. (indicating face) Indian Face.

Well, you learn something new everyday.

Problems with Trains
Though it’s hard to top Alice’s first adventure, the three of us never stop having fun on trains. Going back to Chennai from Delhi, we learned a lot about blending in, as we were the only members of our car (about 40, I’d say) not enlisted in the Indian National Air Force. Though it goes without saying, we were quite the hit. Our seats were dead center, so any trip to the bathroom involved running the gauntlet of well-wishers who wanted us to eat their soup/play their guitars/tell them how much it cost to buy a red rose in America. To make matters worse, Alice and I both had to use the bathroom an inhumanly large number of times. We also made a go at locking ourselves in the bathroom quite frequently—three times, in fact. This really increased our anonymity.

FRUIT
Fruit has been mentioned here and there on this blog, but now we’re coming clean. We miss fruit. We spend a lot of time thinking about fruit. We often manipulate the children to get them to talk about fruit. We spent an entire religious ceremony scheming about how to claim a second fruit cup. We just started teaching new English classes, and as our new students filed into the classroom, we greeted them with the three essential questions—“What is your name?” “How old are you?” and “What is your favourite fruit?”. We considered asking only the third, and identifying our students by their respective answers, but there was too much overlap. Sometimes we go to town and get wild and buy huge masses of fruit in one go. Most recently we went so overboard that one of our pineapples fermented. Shucks.

In the Jungle
Our first major undertaking at the Children’s Home was an attempt to get a large number of youngsters to sing and dance to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” for the Annual Day Celebration. Feeling on top of our game, the three of us spend an evening teaching the subtly complex dance moves (A spin. A hop. Some wiggling. Oh, how we tried). All is well, until several children appear to be dead. They are lying, splayed out on the floor, unresponsive to human voices. But we’ve never gotten so far in the song before, so we shoot for home, and continue to dance and wiggle around their lifeless bodies. Eventually, one by one, they come to. It seems the threat imposed by the three of us and the general jungle atmosphere kick-started a long-dormant “play dead” reflex in some of the kids. But we may never know.
(A side note: After three weeks practicing the song, we give the children masks on Annual Day, which are so thrilling, that not a single one of them remembers to sing.)

Vietnam
One of the biggest perks about living at UCH, is the opportunity to go engage with Mother Nature in the great outdoors that surround us. Sometimes we engage well. Sometimes our engagement is sub-par, at best. A couple weeks into our stay here, Alice and I aren’t in the mood to walk all the way to the ocean, so opt for swimming in the backwaters. Deepa, the enlightened member of our group, reads on shore as the two of us plunge into the water that is a) Significantly warmer than air temperature b) Six inches deep c) Sitting above mud that is undeniably terrifying and d) Possibly made of (or shall we say, strongly supplemented by) fecal material. We don’t hear about d) until several days later. But Alice and I, flat on our stomachs, press onward, pulling ourselves through the mud with our elbows. The whole scene is very Vietnam War. We emerge on the other side, scratched and tired, and spend about ten minutes hobbling around the sand bar, as we each have only one shoe. Thus concludes our adventure. I have no idea why we did this.

Shame
The shame concept has certainly made it onto the blog, but given its prevalence, I thought I’d delve a bit deeper. Currently, at The Children’s Home, shame is in vogue. This manifests itself most clearly when the children forcibly strip one another—lifting each other’s skirts, pulling up shirts, and generally undressing their peers. The general ruckus is always accompanied by a shyer, earnest girl, who will helpfully point out, “Auntie. This! This is shame.” I am grateful for these reminders on the boundaries and intricacies of shame, so we don’t forget, and started stripping each other on our morning walks through the village. But, seriously, shame is no joke. Alice was walking home, wet from swimming, and a village girl barricaded the path until Alice agreed to take her offered duputta. There was a moment last week when I hid myself under a desk because I heard a man in the hallway and was wearing a wide-strap tank top. And then there’s Deepa. Read on…

Rabbits
About a week back, I was teaching English class to a group of about 10 local fishermen, when I noticed, lying in the center of our circle, were Deepa’s underpants.

Shame.

They have bunnies on them. Shame, Deepa, shame. I was using the unemptied backpack we had taken to Madurai, and they must have fallen out. Luckily, I was able to snatch them up before anyone noticed. Otherwise, Deepa would probably have to fly home.

Let There Be Light (and wind)
Last week, Alice and I came across a character of the highest esteem. This would be, of course, The Very Helpful Boy. It all began in the community hall, as we were waiting for our English class to turn up. TVHB began to turn on fans. And turn off fans. And turn on more fans, while simultaneously (with the other hand) turning off fans. And turn off fans for a moment, and then very quickly turn them on again, and then, when you least expect it, turn them off. And then on. And all the while (every five seconds. no joke.) asking, "Auntie, fan?", "Auntie, good?". Finally, someone who knows the fastest way to a woman's heart is through an expertly arranged fan configuration. I have never met someone so desperate for approval And then he starts on lights. Alice and I sit, for—I kid you not—thirty minutes, as TVHB turns switches on and off, in what can only be described as the display of the century, a spectacle of wind and light.

Nothing Like a Good Old Fashioned Bus Ride
As mentioned above, I became quite ill while last typing up the blog in Madurai, but the story continues from there. That night, we took an overnight bus back to UCH, which was, as can be expected with our transportation exploits, one step short of fancy free. It's all fun and games until the Austrian ladies get on board. You see, one of them has a suitcase. This suitcase cannot be kept on the bus, but must be stowed beneath in the storage container. The storage container will not open. We sit, as the storage container continues to not open and the bus driver gets into a verbal/physical fight with the various forces responsible for the closed nature of the storage container. Ninety minutes later, the suitcase—roughly the size of a large cat—is placed on the floor. All is well again until we get to the rest stop. Our rest stop, ideal for resting, is in fact, The Gates of Hell. The smell is expectedly foul, there are two huge loudspeakers projecting human screaming, and the bathroom line is longer than that wall in China. We wait. And wait. And the bus driver starts honking. Then the bus begins to move. We sprint back, leaving the French lady alone in the bathroom (in these situations, each woman for herself), as her boyfriend gets down on his knees and begs the driver for mercy. He stops the bus. Lucky, this time.

Well, family, friends, Alaskan stalker, Man from the Chinese restaurant…that wraps up this editor of Kate's Corner. Email us all. Send us things. Try to one up Leslie Minor in the care package category, but give up immediately, because it cannot be done. Seriously though, send us a line...hearing from any of you (except for Cassie the Alaskan) would be nothing short of wonderful.

Love, love, love
Kate

Deepa's...something starting with D, just to defy Kate?

Hi everyone! Deepa here, for the first time. Kate was actually feeling a little tired, so she went to lie down instead of updating Kate's Korner (oh no! But she's not here to protest). Though I don't know if I have anything to say that Alice hasn't already written about. (By the way, if you're not reading this on a blog reader, make sure you go read Alice's post from today as well, not just the one on the top of the screen.)

Some things that Alice didn't mention about our lives at UCH: firstly, Annual Day! In our very first week at UCH, everyone was in quite a flurry over the upcoming anniversary of the founding of the Home. We were given the impression that it would be a big function, with a number of guests and perhaps some of the important donors. The children were preparing different types of performances, and many of them were taking part in a rendition of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" - they would sing the song and do a little dance, wearing special animal masks created by the volunteers, and would be accompanied by another group of children playing the song on the recorder.

The recorder groups were having quite a hard time with the song, especially since most of them were more interested in figuring out how to play songs from Sivaji (the most popular Tamil movie at the moment, which we saw when we were in Chennai - and it was a really good thing that we did, because it's seen as common knowledge at UCH!) on the recorders. Eventually Megan, the volunteer coordinator, decided that they would just have a separate recorder performance to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Hot Cross Buns". Then, we had lots of singing practice sessions, and all of us have now heard the words in the jungle, the mighty jungle more times that anyone should ever have to. (The ironic part is that the second verse is in the village, the quiet village - a line that was never, ever sung quietly!) AND we spent lots of our spare time creating and painting papier-mache masks for the children.

Long story short - Annual Day was not as big a shin-dig as we thought it would be, considering that the only people there were us and the staff. Who are always there. Oh well. It was still quite fun, except for the minor things that went wrong - the recorder group never learned the second part of "Mary" and instead repeated the first two lines over and over, the girl who was supposed to play the Lion (a three year old, no less) bowed out at the last moment, and then the singing group, who had practiced a simple little dance made up by Kate and Alice to do as well, completely forgot to sing because the background music was so loud. Again, oh well. The three of us did get to wear saris, which made up for it all!

That was just a tiny snippet, but Alice really did say it all! Plus we have to get going - we have spent so much time on the Internet today, you have no idea. Love to you all, especially to my family who have been haunting this blog so well! Thanks! And we'll come to Bangalore soon, we promise. The book circuit awaits!

-Deepa

We're Settling In....

HIIIII!!!!

I have to apoligize to my adoring public for not blogging in the past two weeks. I know, a criminal sin. Dad - try to limit mom's blog-checks to one a day perhaps? Thanks :)

First of all - thanks to everynoe who has sent us a letter, email, posted a blog comment....when I miss home, having that connection to you all feels wonderful. Also, thanks for the birthday wishes! Mommy, I got the birthday card! A classic Leslie Minor creation.

A bit on UCH! Uluru Children's Home is the brainchild of Dr. Chandran, a close college friend of Deepa's dad, Murali Sivarajan. (Hi, Murali!) When Dr. Chandran and several of his friends (including Murali) were in medical school, they bought land outside Kaddapakam with the intention of building homes there many years off into the future. Over time the friends ended up in all corners of the globe - Dr. Chandran in Melbourne, Australia. He and his wife wanted to start a school for young girls in the area whose families couldn't support them. He co-founded The East West Foundation to begin work on this project. First he built a health clinic in the area to gain the trust of the local people. The clinic now serves abotu 15,000 people from Alampara, Kaddapakam, and surrounding villages! Four years ago, the Children's Home opened its doors to its first child. Currently there at 39 kids in the home, most girls, though there are a handful of boys. They range from infants to mid-teens and come from Chennai, Pondicherry, and everywhere in between. What I didn't at all grasp before coming to UCH is that The East West Foundation encompasses far more than a children's home and a health clinic. The foundation is working hard to promote the local education which is far from acceptable at the moment. The children from Uluru go to the local school because they want the children to be integrated into the community. The Uluru kids also get tutoring at home, so the poor local education really effects the other local children the most. I don't yet know the half of what The East West Foundation is doing in the area, but I do know that it is not just a foundation for the individual children in the home - it is also promoting everyone in the community and the families of all the children in the home.

I guess we've been In Alamparai for over 3 weeks now, haven't we? I suppose I should be a bit chronological about this, but the lines of time are a bit blurred now that we're settled in to one place. When I last wrote things were tougher and newer. I'm so glad I have three months of Alamparai because I'll need every moment of it to grasp the place. I'm fully aware that I'll never understand India because I never will have grown up in rural India. But, by the same token, I'll never understand the folks over in Tennessee.....it's not such a curse, just an observation. I was talknig to an Australian who is working at Uluru Children's home for a year on education in the area about just this the other day. We were discussing a situation that she knows of where a woman has been unfairly disgraced and ostracized by her community (it seems a bridge of privacy to go too far into it here). Of course we couldn't possibly understand her neighbors that turned away from here. To understand, we would have had to grow up in rural Tamil Nadu. Also, to understand, I would have to believe that the woman deserves to be ostracized. I can't have both an insider's and an outsider's perspective on the situation, so I suppose by that token I don't truly want to "understand". I accept that and simply hope to make my own views encompass a bit more - not only in India, but India's a prime place to begin.

How we fit into this place.......our daily schedule. We walk the children to school every morning (it's quite fun and, of course, hoooottt). Deepa and I have been teaching at the school three days a week in the mornings. It's quite exhausting, but the more we teach there, the better I feel our lessons go. Deepa and I have really got a team-teaching groove going on at this point! We're getting good at picking up each other's slack, explaining points while the other writes on the chalkboard, clueing each other in when we're being too confusing, and making each other have fun! When we get there each morning, the headmaster sends us to either 6th, 7th, or 8th grade (they call it "standard", not grade). Then we teach until the headmaster sends us along to the next class. Clearly, the random, "popcorn-teach" method of classroom assignments makes preparation a bt tough. (: I enjoy it quite a lot though it is mentaly and physically draining. The kids are incredibly loud and we've got to keep things rolling to keep their attention up. Not speaking Tamil makes discipline a constant challenge, but I'm becoming more harsh than I thought possible!

The headmaster often stays and watches us teach which is a little weird....considering there at 300 students in a school where often times only 3 teachers show up and there are invariably not enough teachers for every room....it's kind of frustrating that we aren't let alone. Hopefully we will cease to be novelties soon and he'll give us some space. The other issue with having him there is that he answers our questions and tells the students what to say. Does he want to show off his English skills? Does he want to the students to look smart? I couldn't tell you.

We have UCH kids in a couple of our classes which is fun fun fun....the older kids are much more reserved with us than the younger ones. They're not quite so impressed with us just for existing, so it's been nice to have a way to spend time with them and show them we want to get to know them. The sole problem with having UCH kids in our classes is that they're way beyond their peers in English due to having English speaking volunteers around at home, and receiving extra tutoring. The academic levels of the kids are frighteningly varied in any given classroom. That makes teaching to 35 students quite complicated; we don't want to bore or overwhelm anyone....we're working on striking a balance. Possibly, the headmaster will allow us to teach smaller groups of shorter periods of time - we've already brought this up with him. This all goes on until 12:15 or so and then we walk home.

Lunchtime! (FYI, the rice is NOT killing me, I promise! I like Indian food, I swear. YES, there are really interesting side dishes and I'm learning to love potatoes here, something I I've never loved at home....I like breakfasts here a lot too. And we can buy fruit if we take a rickshaw to the market. So - don't worry about me!!!! And Ashok, although you focused your training on the north we DID have dosais for breakfast this morning and I thought of you and my first Delhi-dosa over a month ago! Also - hey, who're you pushing out of the car!!!). Most afternoons Kate teaches English classes at the local community center and another volunteer, Deepa, and I take it in turns joining her. These classes are for people ages 16-24 (about) who dropped out of school for some reason or another and want to learn English. There's a boys' class and a girls' class. Most of the boys are fishermen now, and the girls work hard all day too. They really truly want to be there and learn, so they're a pleasure to teach. Of course it is a mental challenge as well - coming up with good lesson plans and trying to get everyone talking. A couple weeks ago, after our first English class, Kate and I went swimming in the backwaters with a couple girls from the class - so fun! Neat to get to know people our age.

The evenings are spent playing with the kids, going for walks in the gorgeous surrounding area (backwaters, palm trees, a grassy expanse, wonderful sunsets.....), some frisbee now and again, and then just before dinner we tutor a pair of girls. We each have two pairs and we alternate between them. I adore tutoring, it's been an absolutely priceless way to get to know some of the shy girls....I think I'll talk about it later because I'm running out of steam and I want to do it justice!

MY BIRTHDAY!!! My b-day was on Saturday - the 20th. It was absolutely marvelous! Kate and Deepa truly outdid themselves and I was unbelievably touched. They planned a massive treasure hunt that tok me all morning....the first clue took OVER and hour and a half!

You sport! You jolly Peach!
Follow that papery pinnacle...
(Rapunzel syle!)
And your next destination will be REVEALED just after a word, starling in it's familiarity.
(On the back they wrote FIFTY FIVE using little fives....)

It's pretty confusing, right? I went off on sports - cricket for a while...the world series for all too long, and I even perused my iPod for 50 cent songs in a desperate moment. We've been quite avid readers on this trip so the papery pinnacle clearly led to a book of sorts......Eventually Enid Blyton came to me in a fit of inspiration - it was all me!! That was after at least 45 minutes of struggling. For all the non-anglophiles out there (sorry, Deepa! and meaning no offense to people who like Enid Blyton which is probably half my readship because half my readership seems to be blood related to Deepa!) Enid Blyton is a British children's writer that everyone in the English world besides Americans reads when they're growing up and Deepa was really obsessed as a youth. She bought a "Famous Five" (one of the series) book at a Delhi book far. So the You sport! You jolly Peach! bit was about being British. We also make fun of Deepa for saying things like, "torch!" for flashlight, "current" for electrical power, and "savory pie" for meat pie and "sweet pie" for....well...pie.

So I was briefly sidetracked to British things before latching onto Enid Blyton for good....I'll sumarize the rest....other clues led me to a word in the middle of the book that led me to a refridgerator and the next clue. A word scramble, a jumble, and a riddle later I found my treasure! Bangles, fruit, chocolate, and a plastic cricket bat! Wow this is an epicly long post! Well, we spent the afternoon celebrating the Saraswathi pooja with the girls. It was the holiday for the god Saraswathi in addition to the birthday of another girl at the home. So we watched the girls sing prayers and everyone dressed up in new, beautiful clothes, and we did a pooja. Also, they smashed some chocolate cake down our throats (I'm not kidding, the little girl who shares my birthday and I sat in front of everyone and the slammed it in our faces!). That evening we caught a bus to Pondi (Pondicherry) and had some birthday dinner thoguh I was already stuffed. Then we caught the night bus to Madurai where we are now. Gouri met us there!!!!! I'll talk about that excusion later because I'm still in the middle of it and this is the most epic blog post ever!

Love you all! I'll be sending Kate along to catch you up on the funny bits in a few minutes. Keep me updated on your lives!

Love,
~Alice

Pink People, The Indian Army, Rice Babies, and Shame, Auntie, SHAME!!!

Heyyyyyy everyone!

sorry it's been so long....we're been on the move and then finally settled into Uluru but not online much. So I haven't even written about Rishikesh! It ended up being my favorite part of our nothern travels. Cool temperatures! (AHHHH HEAVEN!!!) and a beautifully relaxing three days. The first day we were there we took a nap all mornign because we had overnight trained/rickshawed there which wasn't so hot and then decided to take a stroll. we didn't make it far. turns out we ran into a festival! It was so awesome! We followed the Festival along the Ganges river for six hours. there was a lot of dancing and super loud music and traditional dancing. And a lot of indian boys jumping around and a lot of pink and green powder thrown everywhere. Yeah so it turns out that stuff really hangs on. I was [pink for days. I'm already a slightly pink individual so when i say i was pink - i kid you not. Also - i have pink streaks in my hair now and probably will for a while! thank GOD my eyebrows are no longer pink. kate sort of joined me in the pink people revolution but needless to say deepa maintained her dignity. she's just cooler than us.

on our train from Delhi to Chennai we were in a car filled entirely with personnel from the Indian Navy and Air force....so ALL men ages 22-ish and then the three of us dead center. Of course we stand out naturally but I didn't make it any better by getting locked in the bathroom. Twice. Kate also got locked into the bathroom after making fun of my for about 15 minutes. HA.

We've been at Uluru for a week now but it's really hard to know what to say. Especially because I know I'll be there for so much longer, it feels strange to make any sweeping generalization about the experience yet. But I'm getting into it. IT was a bit rough at first. Scary to know that I had just come to my home for the next three months - it made the fact that i was away from home all the more real. Actually, it was quite difficult for the first few days. I expected a bit of a honeymoon/easy time to begin with just because of things I've read about the place, people's experiences. But it wasn't. I felt very lost and not under control. I didn't really relate to the kids to well in the beginning and was freaking out about how it was going to change though I knew it would eventually. The kids are spunky. At first they were difficult because i didn't at all have the lay of the land and they were so hyperactive....but I'm falling in love with them, of course. This is very odd....but after working at camp Patterson all summer, it was VERY strange to be surrounded by so many typically developing kids in the beginning. It's still strange. I really like the other volunteers that are at Uluru right now. They're all Australian, fun, laid-back, and great with the kids, so I'm fast falling in love with Australia as well as India! We've also all developed a strong liking for the Aussie accent!

Already in the first week I"ve been pegged as the artsy girl and it's pretty fun! I've done about a million henna jobs for the kids.....we had an annual day celebration yesterday and they all wanted to be prettied up. It's a great chance to spend one-on-one time with them. I've bonded with a couple kids in particular....but like I said - it's hard to really say much about it all just yet.

What I CAN say - I don't like white rice. Turns out....that's kind of rough when you're living in South India......for the first few days i ate it anyway...but I"m just throwing away heaps of it now and they're starting to notice and give me less, thank god. Really...rice is everywhere...it's pretty comical. One of the volunteers always talks about her "rice baby" aka the rice weight she's puting on....although most people DO lose weight in India....Kate and I both are stilll craving fruit hard core.....ahhh fruit. This is a sort of silly thing to be writing about on my blog - but it's a bit daunting to try to sum up my life whereas my feeligns for fruit are very straight forward.

Shame, AUNTIE, SHAME!!!! All the kids call us Kate Auntie, Alice Auntie, and Deepa Auntie. (Though a few call us akka....big sister) The dress code in rural India is pretty intense. If they see your knee.....you're basically running around naked. Anytime you "expose yourself" which we did on accident before we figured it out....the kids yell - "Shame, Auntie, SHAME!!" and we find it pretty funny/intense.....The three of us have been running every other day and we have to run in pants so Deepa and I have been running in these billowy, multicolored polka-dotted pants covered in all sorts of sweat and dirt. Though I did wash mine yesterday, mom!

I have to go....I'll talk more about the children's home once we've had time to mull things over more. there's definitely a lot more I could say now but I'm sure my thoughts will be more complete next time I write.

I love you all!
It means more to me than i can express to get letters/emails from you. thanks for the letters, daddy

the address youre using is right except that you should include "Off Alampara Beach Road" after the line that says No 1 Kamal Avenue.

LOVE,
~Alice

Kate's CORNER (no k)

Hey guys!
I've decided to write another little sidebar for you all (though I am learning fast that 98% of the blog's readership consists of our blood relatives, and i suspect our mothers check it about every eight minutes. Perhaps the remaining 2% is my Alaskan stalker). I am considering dedicating this edition to Alice, as she kindly provided the vast majority of the material.

So folks, here are some highlights from our (or should I say Alice's) recent adventures...

1) Hell on Wheels
Although Ms. Minor did mention her train sickness, she left out some of the choicey bits. During her delirium/psychosis, Alice did the following:
a) Joyously exclaim "Get Rich or Dit Fryin" many many times. This of course, is the mangled title of the 50 cent album that I once saw in an illegal CD market in Peru. It really struck a chord with Alice. All through the night, I feared "fryin'" would be her final word.
b) Vigorously sing the chorus of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Perhaps, in her seemingly drugged state, she was hoping to avoid substance charges, and figured this song would arouse the least amount of suspicion.
c) Try to make a new friend. Given that she was just emerging from the flailing stage, this elderly gentlemen ran back into the train cabin with nothing but terror in his eyes.

2) Potassium
Several days later, it was Deepa's turn to be ill, and Alice and I were out to dinner. Fruit has been relatively scarce thus far, so we opt for Fruit Night. We each get a banana shake, and eagerly await the two "Seasonal Fruit Platters" we've ordered. It turns out each SFP is a basket containing five bananas. Alone in the restaurant with nine waiters (who are, of course, all staring at us) and 14 bananas (approximately four in the liquid form), we try to make the best of things.

3) The Dinner Buffet
The next night, at the same restaurant where Alice and I got in touch with out inner apes, we branch out to the dinner buffet option. When the bill comes, we're told the shabby buffet will cost us 600 rupees each---ABSURD, as dinner for three at this place costs around 200. Like the scorned women we are, Alice and I fall into a state of buffet-plunder, focused primarily on apples and naan, as Deepa tries very, very hard not to know us. Oh, sweet revenge.

4) Burrs
Driving between Udaipur and Jodhpur, we stop at the side of the road to relieve ourselves. Deepa and I come out unscathed, but somehow Alice emerges from the brush covered in hundreds of small burrs. As our driver begins to help her pick them off, four local teenage boys--many of who have yet to learn the meaning of "inappropriate touch"--help out the effort. Soon, more boys come, and finding no room left around Alice, press their faces to the car and unblinkingly stare at Deepa and I for several minutes. In short, we are a spectacle.

5) Bad Timing
After riding camels in the Rajasthani desert, the three of us disembark by some dunes and a gathering of locals. We walk to the top of the highest dune, at which point Alice decides to fling herself down the slope, with about the amount of caution one would reserve for something unfeeling. Like wood. It goes poorly. Just as Alice stands up to verify her bones remain unbroken two things happen. First, she realizes she has lost her shoe somewhere inside the dune. Second, a massive sandstorm hits. Blinded and caught in a stampede of panicking locals, Alice's right shoe becomes forever part of the landscape.

Well, those are the adventures, large and small, of the past week. It has been wonderful to receive your emails, and unless any of you would like one as a gift, I am continuing to hold off on all offers of whips...
Love, love, love,
Kate

Violent Nausea, Mughals, Forts, and Camels (In that Order)

Hello again! We're back at Ashok's place for the day after a week of Rajasthani travel. Tonight we're headed to Rishikesh via an overnight train. Ohhhh trains. That seems a good place to start with this entry. ALl of our train rides have been at least memorable in their own way.....

Our train ride from Delhi to Udaipur started out innocently enough, but I eventually began to feel a tad queasy. You can probably see where this is going. OR - if you're one of Deepa's many medical relatives - you learned ALL about me that night! (Thanks Dakshi and co.!) I became delirious and all sorts of nauseous.....it was pretty terrifying. I started moaning and flailing and couldn't control myself - I kept telling myself to stop flailing, but my arms waved about anyway and I sort of watched them from afar. It may have something to do with the larium....ahhhh, psychosis!!! SO I changed malaria meds. Deepa and Kate did a spectacular job taking care of me. Kate showed infinitely more motherly tendencies than I knew she possessed. There was a lot of catching me as I collapsed from exhaustion and holding my hand through unsavory times...... Deepa freaking raised the alarm in India!! I was too delirious to know it until later, but apparently half of India was phoning in medical advice throughout the night. Once again, thanks everyone! It's a bit odd that the whole K-family (as Deepa tells me you're called!) knows me through a) my blog and b) my horrific illness. But I'm sure we'll find other ways to bond! Also - thanks to Murali for calling my parents and assuaging their worries. I'll leave the rest of my delirious adventures to Kate to explain because there are some REALLY funny bits and she'd do them justice. :) The Udaipur hotel was actually what I would have imagined heaven would be like while I was on the train. I sat and slept all day and attempted to eat (but didn't...) Deepa and Kate were exhausted themselves (with good reason!) so it was a wonderfully lazy day in comparison.

Rajasthan!!!! It's beautiful. Our guide in Udaipur was a perfect gentleman (Arvind Singh - we'll recommend him to anyone!). He knows EVERYTHING about Udaipur and the whole region and clearly loved sharing it with us. He was also very laid-back and let us set the pace of the day. We saw an active Hindu temple that has been around for hundreds of years. We've seen many temples at this point, but what stands out about that temple to me is the music and worship that was going on while we were there. I was too weak to walk around with the other three, so I sat with the worshipers. I sat off to the side to keep a respectful distance, but a kind lady kept welcoming me closer, so I joined in. The room felt energized and simply, but wonderfully, happy, and I loved being a small part of it. We also visited the city palace.....gorgeous!!! Again, I sat in a nice place while the others walked around. But it really did not bother me a bit - I drew and made friends with a guard and I probably would have preferred that to walking around had I been well. Still, Deepa and Kate gave me an abridged tour on our way out and I was duly impressed. That evening Kate and I took a boat ride on the lake....unfortunately Deepa was starting to feel ill. We saw an island-palace and some brilliant views from the boat. Our guide really outdid himself: he took us to his favorite local coffee place afterwards and insisted on paying for our coffee! Udaipur may have been my favorite city.....much slower-paced than anywhere else we had been, and very friendly on the whole.

The next day we visited the Ranakpur Jain Temple on our way to Jodhpur. 1444 intricated carved marble pillars - each with a unique design! (Deepa and I figured out that 1444 is a special number because......have you guessed it yet, Dad?....it's 38 squared!) The High Priest blessed the three of us because, in his words, "You are students, and the youth is the future of the world!" It's funny how things like that happen to us and we take them in stride. If the High Priest of a Jain Temple wanted to bless me in Seattle, I would be pretty floored! That may seem like a silly/erroneous comment....but wow!

Jodhpur = the blue city for good reason. Ages ago only the Brahmins were allowed to paint their houses blue. The blue paint keeps the houses cool in the heat, so now that anyone can paint their house blue - it's very in vogue. The best view of all the blue houses is from Mehrengarh Fort.

Jaisalmer! Here, everything is Golden instead of blue! WE love how all the cities have their own theme. Our driver is from around Jaisalmer - he was also incredibly good to us.....there are some stories but I'll let Kate tell them because she's hilarious. Jaisalmer Fort is unlike the others we've seen because 5,000 people still live inside the fort itself! It was built 900 years ago and is still active - how crazy is that???? Lots of little windy streets inside the fort and every building is covered in intricate carvings on the golden sandstone....SO many cows. That's truly not a Jaisalmer thing, they just seemed a little more present because the streets are so narrow. Inside the fort there are seven Jain temples - only two of which are open to the public. The architecture was spectacular in both Temples. Unfortunately, we were all quite miffed by the holy men. They were asking for money from the second we stepped into the temple. It made the place feel less like a house of worship, and more like some elaborate show. A couple young boys tried to give us tours around the temples when we clearly wanted to be left alone and we eventually paid them so they'd leave us alone and felt bad about the whole interaction. That's just how it goes sometimes.....Deepa remarked that it's the same everywhere - we want to be the first ones to see the temples so we can see the "real" Jain temples....but we wouldn't come see them unless we already knew they existed. And at this point, holy men asking for money and eight year old tour-guides forcing themselves on you are a part of those Temples. That afternoon we had a loooong rest because we were exhausted by the heat...SO HOT....and we swam in a pool. Which was brilliant. That night we went on a camel ride! YAY! Kate and I were reallllly pumped about it. Turns out, camels are way higher off the ground than horses. Also, they get up jerkily - it's so funny and not at all graceful! When you get on them they're sitting sort of like puppies.....that's a really poor comparison because they are, in fact, very large beasts.....but their legs are tucked under them. You get the idea......I hope....OH! We got caught in a sandstorm! Apparently it's very rare! we had to cut our trip a bit short and drive back in the rain/lightening/sand......My contacts kind of killed. Becky, I could have used your prowess with desert eye-care! I thought of you.

The train back to Delhi was hands down a much more fun experience than the one into Udaipur. PHEW! We read for a while while a group of 18-20 year old Indians were being really loud next to us. Eventually they invited us to join a game they were playing which involved me trying to sing an American song for them and being really excited about it but doing a poor job. We also played telephone - they obviously had a different name for it. It was hilarious!!! They said Hindi words and we mauled their language horribly....We did some English ones too. Deepa started 101 Dalmations (surprise!) and it turned into 101 Donations. Not bad, really, compared to some other attempts. The Hindi ones are impossible to replicate but very, very funny. We talked for a while - mostly being interrogated by Shetu, one of the girls...and it was all good fun. I love making friends with random people on trias etc. so it stands out as a highlight for me.

OH mannnn I'm leaving so much funny stuff for Kate - so you'd better tune in for "Kate's Corner" (Not Korner because, as you know, she's just not into that.)

MUCH LOVE!!!!
~Alice

Book I'm currently reading: Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathon Safran Foer
Next Book: Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
Movie I am PINING after: Across the Universe........I'm seeing it as soon as I return with anyone who wants to come with me!
Last Musical I listened to on Deepa's i-pod: The Phantom of the Opera

PS - we're off to Rishikesh tonight (yoga central/the Beatles' place) and will probably be incommunicado for a bit but you still need to email me/comment on the blog because i want to hear from you!!! I'll probably write again when we're at Usha's house in Chennai or at Alampara at the Children's home.


PSS - ew just ordered take out and it's REALLY GOOD

Guest columist, Kate Lund.....

Hey everyone! This is Kate, and I think I'm going to start appearing on Alice's blog.....perhaps I will have my own little section, a Kate's Corner (notice that I am refusing to spell Corner with a K...I'm just not into that), if you will.

Though I'm sure the time will come for me to report on impressions/events/ponderings and other things of substance, alice has covered that ground pretty well for the time being, so I thought I'd share with you some of the smaller things. Here are some moments that have gone down in the past couple days that we (we being alice, deepa and I, and not some strange new way of addressing myself) have found funny. maybe you won't. but we still do!
(to the one and only mae rice, I apologize, because the vast majority of this was in that last email...)

1. The Horn Game.
So I know Alice mentioned the monstrosity that was the bus horn in her last post, but there's something else here. In an effort to make ourselves look forward to our very overused piercing airraidsiren-esque bus horn, rather than dread it, Alice and I invented a little game. In the game, we were only allowed to breathe when the horn was sounding. Sadly, we kept this game going for quite a while, and were never terribly out of breath....

2. Whips
So wherever I go in India, men try to sell me seven foot long black leather whips (never alice or deepa, just me!). This really has happened several times. I don't know how to react to this.

3. The Faux Pas.
In the past several days, Alice and I (somehow Deepa has remained exempt) have had several less than ideal public mishaps. Yesterday I was eating in a restaurant, and somehow managed to fling my chai cup/plate in the air from quite a great height. I cannot express how loud the resulting crash was, or how many people stared (and never really did stop staring) at me. Many. Everyone, actually. Also--when you buy a salwar kameez, it is sleeveless, but the sleeves are pinned to the back in case you want to sew them on. So, you guessed it, Alice spent an entire day out in Delhi with a nice pair of sleeves pinned to her neck (not her actual neck, to clarify). oops.

4. Interesting Men
Sadly, there are too many strange and special men to list, but we encountered two of my favorites recently. The first was a tour guide...old, toothless, and incredibly angry/aggressive, this fellow gave us some extra special attention. He forbid us to read any informative signs (No! No! This is no reading tour! You waste time!)....and my personal favorite, suggested that an Indian woman also on the tour give her baby away to Alice to raise in the USA. Let's count the reasons why this is inappropriate. 1) Give you baby away to 2) the American 3) teenager 4)so she can raise him 5) in the US. Alright... the other man of note on this same day was The Living Infomercial Man who stood at the front of our bus and recited rhymes and sang a little song centered around a small metallic juicer. Afterwards, 50% of our bus---i kid you not---bought a small metallic juicer.

Well folks, that's it for now. At some point, I plan on writing something of much more substance. In the mean time, do keep in touch (email me! katelund89@gmail.com) and comment on this bloggy thing. You really should send me/us/especially me (just kidding!) a line for two compelling reasons:

a) I just checked my Lakeside inbox and it contained two emails from people I know and 23 emails in Russian. Huh.
b) I just checked my facebook and 75% of my notifications were from this girl in Alaska who I don't actually know and appears to be stalking me.

Love you all. Hope things are as wonderful and snazzy and just plain neat as you certainly deserve.


love love love,
Kate

Helllllloooo....how are YOU?

Hello again!!!! I love you ALL - especially the ones who have emailed me ;)

There is far too much to say....I'm definitely going to have to pick and choose some stories.

Since my last blog we took a whirlwind tour of Jaipur and Agra. Jaipur is the capitol of Rajasthan, which is a state to the west of Delhi. We boarded the bus early in the morning and tried to sleep. Somehow Kate and Deepa managed to rest but I was not gifted enough. There was a loud Bollywood movie blasting from everywhere (or so it seemed) and an unearthly, warbling (that's really the only word for it!) shriek coming from somewhere. Sadly, I didn't actually know what the shriek was. It seemed so supremely random that I thought it was just meant to keep us on our toes and I didn't really stress about it. It was the next day before Deepa informed me that it was the horn. Oh dear, I have much to learn. Honking horns are a little different here....they're used to warn people that you're coming, not just when you're angry....I didn't really get that at first. It makes complete sense because roads in general are a bit more free-form in India. Sometimes there are lanes, but lanes are almost always kind suggestions, not rules. Anyway - step one on the tour was being introduced to the horn. See, this is the problem - I could write a whole blog about five minutes over here and have quite enough to say!

One of my favorite sites so far is the Birla Temple - a Jain Temple in Jaipur. It was simply gorgeous.....white marble with very little other color used. We visited it at night and the white marble was incredible against the black sky. After we all walked around for a while I sat alone on a balcony while Kate and Deepa wandered. I'm fascinated with the massive range of religions that are everywhere in India. More and more I'm noticing huge similarities between all the religious sites and religions we've dappled with....I've also drawn many parallels to Christianity without difficulty. I'm sure these things will continue to come up in my mind throughout this trip and I'll write more when my thoughts are more fully formed.

I'm much more homesick than I thought I would be. My mom is probably glad to hear that - aren't you!? You needn't worry about me forgetting home. Being away makes it plain how comfortable I usually am....and it makes me appreciate my loved ones even more.

Paloma! I don't know if you've read this, but I thought of you the other day when I was a bit low. The poverty and begging children has been incredibly difficult for me to deal with. I'm not able to ignore them when they beg or try to sell their wares. Because I answer their questions and allow myself to be engaged, it's harder for me to tear away, and makes me even more attached to the tragedy of the situation. Kate and Deepa are trying to help me understand that I can't help and I'll only hurt them and myself more if I engage.....but that message hasn't sunk in yet. When I boarded the bus after a particularly difficult experience with some begging children I thought to myself, "If anyone could offer a ray of sunshine here, it would be Paloma Pineda."

The Taj Mahal. WOW. WOWOWOWOW. It's probably best that I don't try to describe it, because I WILL fail. I can say, however, that I had a very ironic moment at the Taj. I was drawing the backside of the Taj Mahal and having a marvelous time when I realized I had a small crowd circled around ME, watching ME draw the Taj Mahal instead of watching....the Taj Mahal. The crowning moment there was when a pair of guys asked to take a picture with Kate and I facing directly away from the Taj Mahal.....oh goodness. They could have at least had the Taj in the background! Though it was supremely awkward to have people ask to see my drawing (it wasn't THAT great, I only had one pen!) it was nice to be stared at for something besides my hair. It's weird how quickly I've stopped really noticing/caring about the stares...

Margot! We're going to see the Mosque in Delhi tomorrow that you recommended to Kate! We're all very exciting. It will be nice to see Delhi from above because it's such a HUGE and winding place and I can't fathom what it will look like!

Thank you again to Deepa's family! We love you all!

LOVE,
~Alice

delhiiiii

we're in delhi! I'm using ashok's computer....we had a LONG train ride. in the Chennai train station kate and i both independently decided that deepa\s great-aunt reminded us of the grandmother in Mulan.....she foraged ahead, brandishnig her cane and if anything had threatened us at ALL were sure she would have beaten it to a pulp.

in other news we toured delhi today! SO much to see.....Qutab Minar and the Red Fort were two crowd favorites. Yesterday we went to the national museum with Ashok, Deepa's cousin.

New Indian food of the day.....Rava Paneer Dosa! new things all the time and as Ashok told us, "Whatever you ay about India, the opposite is also true."


love,
~Alice

We're in Chennai!

Hi! The travel adventures were wonderful to be sure (we viewed a short special called Meercats: family squabbles and love affairs). The highlight was, however our trip into Kuala Lumpur during our eight hour layover there. It was two two days ago (though time is really bendy right now....) but all three of us agree that it seems VERY long ago.....highlights: not dying, being in an Islamic state for the first time (for Kate and I), nice food, people asking to take our picture not because of our charming personalitites but because of the pigmentation lacking in our skin. (phrasing on that sentence can be credited to Kate).

The thought about India that kept returning to me yesterday was that it cannot possibly be put in a box. Deepa's family has been absolutely wonderful to us. Her Aunt Usha and cousin, Ram, met us at the airport and ushered us to greatly appreciated beds......Kate has never been that tired in her life and Deepa and I were also delirious.

Yesterday we woke up earlier than we expected. The tea (chai!!!) and breakfast food was REALLY excellent....I thought I was going to die from spice before we came but I'm actually doing just fine! Ram took as around town and later on Ram and Usha took us to Mahabalipuram (an ancient Hindu temple that has been recently excavated.) Usha answered any question we could possible have had before we asked it. We learned all about Hinduism, temple customs, and ancient daily life. (The pictures are from two of those sites....the rock is absurdly large and balanced on a rock slope - it has been for as long as people remember. It's called Krishna's Butter Ball which relates to a story about Krishna's childhood)

Today we went to a Tamil movie......WOW WOW WEE WOW! (that's something one of Deepa's cousins said to us in an email) It was absurdly loud, dramatic, colorful, musically charged, and FUN. Ram was yelling plot points to Kate and I throughout. Tonight we're off to shopping for Indian clothes for Kate and I mostly. Another highlght - Jasmine! Deepa's great aunt pinned some to each of our heads before we went to the movie. I've been talking about smells a lot - the smell of INDIA, for example - I' ma lot more into it than anyone else. It's earthy!

None of us are really able to think about anything but the present moment because everything around us is so dynamic and overwhleming - and I'm glad that's the case. Love to you all! I don't know when I'll write again, but I hope to hear from you in the future.

A special hello to Bonnie! (pet her for me)

Song stuck in my head......Oh Darling! by the Beatles

Okay....I'm just posting this picture to make sure I know how to do it once I'm traveling.....and my dog is cute.

Hi Everyone!

I've never made a blog before....I'm not much of a tech person...but my mom's friend, Mary McGilvray suggested I make a blog to update people on what I'm doing during my year off between High School and College. I'll write more once I'm actually in India.

Love to you all!
~Alice