The One with the Laundry In the Ganga

Durga helping with my Punjabi outfit

So one thing that I had not considered before coming here was how I would do laundry in India... Let's just say that I am glad that I brought more than the recommended 4-5 pairs of underwear.  Yesterday the kids needed some supervision washing their clothes in the Ganga, so Annie and I decided to go with them.  I brought a huge bucket of our clothes with me, and Annie carried Radica (3) and down to the river we went.  What I didn't realize is that getting the river required climbing over rocks as big as myself  and that this laundry process is actually quite extensive.  Thankfully 9-year old Durga assumed that I would pretty much be useless and helped me step by step through the process.  First the clothes soak in soapy water.  Then you scrub them on a rock with a brush and then wash them again in the river, and then find a clean rock to let them dry on.  The kids thought my incompetence was hilarious and loved being in charge of the laundry process.  I eventually resigned to building sand temples (kind of like the Indian equivalent of sand castles) with the kids while Annie finished the laundry.  Then I agreed that we should take the short-cut back home, and I ended up literally climbing through trees up the mountain with my huge bucket of clothes.

At the end of this adventure Annie and I sat down to a delicious lunch at the cafe and I felt such a sense of accomplishment.  I appreciated the opportunity to jump into these kids' everyday lives and just experience how they do things at Ramana's.  Since Ramana's runs quite smoothly without extra volunteers, I felt pretty useless during my first few days here.  It seemed that I was creating more work for them by needing help and explanations, when really they have everything running perfectly without me and my group wanting to help.  I realized yesterday how much I am gaining just from spending time with these kids.  They are so loving and appreciative of everyone who enters their life.  I have never felt so welcome to a new place before in my life.  It is also incredible how much fun kids can have without all of the gadgets that our seven year olds carry around in America.  It's nice to see people truly appreciate the presence of others, instead of needing to fill their time with video games, television, and iPhones.

Radica having fun by the Ganga

Anyways it is time to get back to Ramana's to take the kids on a hike! Hopefully I will have one more update before I head to Varanasi for three weeks.

:Love,
Jenna

The One with the Basics on Ramana's Garden

Two days ago we finally got to Ramana's Garden, the orphanage that we will be volunteering at for the next week.  I was really anxious at the beginning of the trip to start working and I am definitely glad we have begun the volunteer portion of this trip.  Our first day we just moved in and met with Dwabha (the woman who started Ramana's), Paolo ( the crazy Argentinian who acts like an uncle to the kids spoiling them and riling them up), and Jamie (the sweet second hand to Dwabha  who helps with tutoring and generally keeps things in order).  She talked to us about our jobs for the next 8 days, and told us a little bit about what Ramana's is, and how it runs.  Essentially the only condition for kids to be admitted to Ramana's is that they had to be living in a life threatening situation before being brought to Rishikesh.  About half of the kids are Nepali, because a few years back there was a terrible war going on there and many of the Indian orphanages refused to take in kids from Nepal.  The orphanage is also paired with a K-8 school with education equivocal to the best private education offered in India.  About 120 children from the area also attend the school, and they only requirement for their admittance is that they have to be from the lowest caste.

Ramana's Garden runs off of funds Dwabha raises when she does international fundraising trips, and from the cafe which I have been working in the past two days.  The cafe needs to make at least 6,000 rupees (approximately $112) in order to pay for the food for the children for the day.  The kids are extremely warm and grateful to everyone they meet.  I was showered with hugs and questions the minute I walked in.  I have really enjoyed working with the older kids in the cafe, because it has given me a chance to talk with a few of them.  The little ones are super adorable and just light up at the prospect of having new people to play with.  The actual grounds are absolutely gorgeous, and act as a sanctuary from how chaotic India is.  There is no trash on the ground (which I do not think can be said about any part of this town) and every open space is covered with beautiful greenery.

Website: http://www.friendsramanasgarden.org/

The One with the Cafe

My first day I worked in the cafe with Annie and Lillian.  It is interesting how much less efficiently things are run here, but the Dutch man Sergiano who runs the cafe explained to me that Western ways of organizing just don't work here for some reason.  I am still a little skeptical about this notion, but there is something about the craziness of the little slips on the clothesline, so the 10 people in the kitchen which is the size of my bathroom yelling about everything that makes the day fun.

Customers come to Ramana's cafe because it is the only place in town they can get an organic meal, complete with raw vegetables.  In India it is dangerous to eat raw vegetables because of the bacteria and amoebas in the water.  At the cafe they wash everything in purified water mixed with grapefruit seed extract. I have been enjoying probably the only safe salads I will get on the trip the past few days.  When someone comes in they order at the front desk and then take a seat either upstairs in the sun, or down on the floor couches covered in pillows.  Then the counter person writes the order on a slip which is put on a clothes line and then yelled to the different stations in the kitchen.  There are usually 2-3 people at the salad station, one at the stove, one doing dishes, and another two just running around to help with whatever.  The most important member of the kitchen, Chandra, makes all of the hot meals. She prepares them early in the morning and then steams them when customers make their orders. Then kids run around trying to match the dish to the customer.  It is funny because a lot of them can't pronounce the western names, so sometimes the dishes get brought to the wrong person.

It has been hard to be of as much help as I would like because all communication is in Hindi, so often I have no idea what is going on.  I have mainly been in charge with making sure each order gets started and then sent out to the right person.  Yesterday I really bonded with a 13-year old named Uma.  At first she was super shy but by the end of the day she was hugging me and making fun of my height (I am at least an inch taller than her, but as she reminded me she still has time to grow).

Today was a bit slower than yesterday, but still a really enjoyable experience.  It feels good to contribute to what Dwabha calls the "heart of Ramana's".  It is incredible that this little cafe pays for food for over 60 people for the day, and I hope our customers know how much they are appreciated.

The One with the Train n' Impressions of Rishikesh

One thing that my entire group has found quite hilarious is the substitution of the abbreviation "n'" for the word and.  In America this is typically restricted to tween stores filled with glitter n' feathers, but in India it seems to be a pretty hip trend, my personal favorite being the store across from my hotel- Food n' Fashion.  Their spelling here is just funny in general.  Often we have unsaid contests to find the most ridiculously spelled food on menus, or the one that is the most-unidentifiable.  Speaking of food, most of the menus have the same food, but just of varying quality.  It is often hard to tell which restaurants will be good, even with signs like "kwality food".  I am pretty sure that I will remain a vegetarian for the entire trip, because it just seems safer and the non-meat Indian food is absolutely delicious.  I am quite proud of how many new foods I have tried (and liked) and how much my spice tolerance has improved, even over the past few days.

The train ride over to Rishikesh was quite quick and I really enjoyed watching all of the villages we passed out the window.  Since we will be spending our time mostly in cities, or well established towns, I appreciated the opportunity to get a look at more rural areas of India.

Once we got into Rishikesh we got settled into our new guest house- called the Green Hills Cottage. It is much nicer than the place in New Delhi.  I love how much more calm the town is.  Rishikesh is known for its ashrams and yoga gurus.  If New Delhi was NYC, Rishikesh would be like downtown Los Gatos. The first thing I noticed when we got out of the taxi was that there was silence.  It is incredible how much constant noise for 3 days gets to you.  Rishikesh is along the Ganga river and nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is beautiful and green and just adorable.

We have spent most of the time here just exploring. Yesterday we visited the ashram that the Beatles stayed at in their time in India.  It has now completely fallen apart, and is basically part of the forest now, monkeys and all.  We climbed up a pretty steep hill to get to the little meditation houses (which are shaped like small white domes) and the big buildings which housed people.  We climbed to the very top and saw a gorgeous view of the city.

In just a few hours we are heading to the orphanage to start our volunteer work.  I am so excited to meet the kids and the woman who created Ramanas.  We had a short tour of it yesterday and it just seems like a haven for these children in the organized insanity that is India. Off to pack up!

Love,
Jenna

The One with All of the Adventures in New Delhi

Cody, Annie, Nikki, Lillian, Me

We have spent the past three days exploring New Delhi as a group.  After a late start on our first day we headed out to exchange money, get cell phones, and buy ourselves proper Indian attire.  It is really interesting how much more involved the government is in regular everyday affairs here.  Just to get a sim card we had to fill out a full application including a small passport sized photo.  Many simple things like using the internet or getting a hotel room require copies of our passports, home addresses, and birth dates.  I was thinking that if they actually have people sorting through all of this information it must create a lot of jobs for the country.

On the way to get our cell phones we met a super nice Indian university student named Anil (a math and Sanscrit double major!!).  He took us around for the rest of the day and helped argue for things in Hindi.  I bought two new 'punjabi outfits', a shoulder bag, and a coin purse. My bargaining skills are getting better each day and I have perfected the walk-away trick.

Rickshaw ride with Anil's friend!

After we bought our outfits I got my first Indian meal. We all ordered Thali meals and quickly learned that they are large enough to be split between at least two people.  Though I ordered the food with 'no spice', everything was just a bit spicy, but I was able to eat it with lots of yogurt.  It is incredible how inexpensive everything is here, and how incredibly expensive it feels because 1 US dollar= 40-50 rupees, so my water bottle costs 15-20 rupees and a typical meal is 100-250 rupees.  We headed to bed pretty early and I therefore woke up at 5am the next morning.

The next day we were sent out into New Delhi on our own (basically just without Julie our leader) to go on a scavenger hunt to learn basic skills in the city.  We learned how to ask for information/ see a room at a guest house (hotel), make a phone call at a place marked "STD", and how to bargain for a cheaper price.  We tried explaining to our rickshaw driver (one of Anil's friends) why we laughed every time we saw an STD shop but I don't think he really understood what we were trying to say.

Annie,Lillian and Me at the Sikh temple, looking at the pool

Today we took a trip to the Sikh temple and saw a few other temples on our way back to the guest house.  The temple required us to take off our shoes and cover our heads with scarves as a sign of respect.  I had a bit of an issue with walking around barefoot, but I got used to it as I saw how clean the grounds were kept.  Inside of the temple there were lots of statues and holymen praying.  We watched for a bit and then walked around the large pool in the center of the complex.  It was very interesting for me to see how many different ways people engaged with their religions at the various temples.  Some men fully bathed in the pool at the Sikh temple whereas other people just sat and talked quietly with friends.  Others had various different rituals for blessing the different statues of the deities.  I feel as though they are much more physically engaged in India compared to people in the US.

Sikh temple

My attempts at laundry....

Tomorrow morning we are leaving on an early train to Rishikesh, for a few days of sightseeing, and then a week volunteering at an orphanage. I am excited to start our service work, and even more excited that our group project is with kids!

My first Indian meal! Let's just say the yogurt sauce was gone long before any of the curries...

Shopping for new outfits! 

First rickshaw ride! (Cody and Annie)

The One with the 31 Hour Travel Day (and first impressions of New Delhi)

The group at the airport before our flight.
Me, Julie, Nikki, Lillian, Annie, Cody

We got into New Delhi late last night (2:30 am) after over thirty  hours of travel.  Surprisingly I didn't sleep much on the plane but I did master a new version of Sudoku (killer Sudoku- Dad you would love this), watch three movies, and read the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy.  I really liked Friends with Benefits, and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (though I've decided the Bollywood 90's movies are much better), but Black Swan was absolutely terrifying and I spent half of the film covering the tiny screen in front of me.  Cathay Pacific was a nice airline though the seats didn't recline , they would just slouch.  The flight attendants decided the entire first 13 hour flight would essentially be for sleeping so the lights were off and the windows were shut.  At one point I wanted to look outside because we were flying over some Alaskan Islands, but when I opened the window the loud Chinese woman from across the aisle screamed at me.  I am not really sure why they thought we would sleep on a flight that left at 1pm California time for the next 10 hours...

View from the hotel balcony

We landed in Hong Kong and had to run to our connection because our first flight was over an hour delayed.  They had a second security check, but it was literally the most useless thing ever because they were barely even looking at anything and people could wear jackets and shoes through the metal checker.  I slept about two hours on the next flight and watched a bit of Modern Family.  When we finally arrived in New Delhi we met up with a shuttle service from our 'hotel'.

Another View from the hotel balcony

The driving in India is like nothing I've ever seen before.  The white lane lines are just decoration and the horn is used constantly to signal people to move or pay attention.  All of the cars seem to have some scratches because I think that the driving here is more like a game of Bumper Cars than regular driving.  We finally got to our hotel and I was surprised by the poverty that was so visible around. There were stray dogs and trash on the street.  I am sharing a double room with Lillian and it is actually quite nice.  There is hot water and a mattress/ pillow on the bed.  I was a bit unsure how to use the shower originally because it is just on one of the walls of the bathroom but I quickly learned that you just use the entire bathroom as your shower room.  This morning we are going shopping for Indian clothing and just exploring around.  I am excited to see the city!

Just a note about the retreat before....
We had a quick retreat/ orientation before the trip in northern California.  My group is great- just 4 girls including myself, a boy- Cody and our leader Julie who has lead 4 groups through India before.  Anyone who has traveled with me would be very proud that I fit all of my belongings into a backpack.  I actually ended up bringing the least of everyone in my group and my pack was definitely the smallest- though I am the smallest one so that kind of makes sense.

Okay off to shopping!

Love,
Jenna

The One with The Goodbye!

In just about an hour I will be heading up north for a two day orientation before my flight to India.  I would be lying if I didn't admit that I am scared, but I am mostly excited for the adventures I will go on, the people I will meet, and the new perspectives that I will gain from spending 3 months abroad.  I will hopefully update this blog at least once a week with stories and pictures! If you would like to contact me please send me emails!

Thank you all for your support as I prepared for this trip, and I know that I will miss you all so much during the next few months!!

Love,

Jenna