Sa.wa.de.ka

Two years since I last wrote in this blog and I'm around the world again. So I decided it was time to shake the dust off this old blog and use it once more.

This time I'm writing from Thailand, where I am visiting my mom who is a Peace Corps Volunteer here. I have a pretty cool mom. :)

First impressions of Thailand ... friendly people, HOT, lots of bugs, beautiful country, too many mosquitoes. I was here twice in 2004, for about 2 weeks each time. Once was to visit a friend teaching English in the south. The second was through work for the International AIDS Conference, held in Bangkok, and afterwards we traveled briefly to the beaches, also south. Parts of Bangkok have changed a lot in these past 7 years, there are now subways and sky trains and all sorts of public transit that was not around when I was here before, lots more developed in even just these seven years. I never did make it up north on either of those trips. This time, I'm up north.

Mom is placed in a village in the north east province of Roi-et. The rainy season has started and it is very green here (apparently it was much browner when she first got up here a couple of months ago). So far the rainy season means it storms several times a week, sometimes more, usually at night, but not always. I got caught in a rainstorm while site seeing in Bangkok and hung out on a covered bench for a good forty minutes watching the downpour with my tour guide.

She works in a government office, similar to a county or city government. She has been doing a variety of projects and figuring out a plan for her next two years. Everybody wants her to teach English, but her job is not a teacher, her job is CBOD - community based organizational development. She is doing a needs assessment, meeting with different community leaders, doing research on a variety of different health and social issues. She's interviewing elderly people in the area and is working on a project to get funding and a program for seniors, I'm sure she will have a post on that soon with more details. She is teaching a couple of English classes - one at a preschool where she works with the teacher. She's slowly going through the alphabet and doing story time on flannel boards. She also holds an English class at her house on Saturday morning for local neighborhood kids. She does the same stories. It's super cute. I'll post pictures later of those. And then she does one afternoon a week where she teaches English to her co-workers. I haven't been to that one yet, I think it will be tomorrow afternoon. The planning and prep for those classes already takes up a lot of time and she wants to make sure she has plenty of time for her other projects, so she's trying to set boundaries and not do more classes.

I think I have pretty major jet lag. Every afternoon I get super sleepy, that might also be the heat and humidity that I'm not used to. Fourteen hours ahead is hard to adjust to. I'm pretty much covered in bites, even after applying repellent daily. Mom has an electronic bug zapper, and let me just say that might be my favorite thing that she owns. :)

Seeing mom here is a bit surreal ... it is quite a bit different than her life back in Newport (in fact about as different as you could imagine). She had one of the best kitchens back home. Now, well, lets just say it doesn't really quite compare. The good news is that she has a sink, and a stove, and a washing machine, and a shower (all things that are not guaranteed to any PCV). Every day there is some sort of gross and/or dangerous bug that has crawled into her house that she scoops up with a dust pan and throws back outside. Her water will go out for hours at a time (or at least I think that is the longest it has gone out at this point). She bikes to and from work (always in her helmet unlike everyone else in Thailand except other PCVs) and "Sawa de ka" / says "hello" to everyone she passes. While still the local celebrity and farang, they are now more interested and curious to see who this new white person is with her. They all give her the thumbs up when she introduces me as "luk sow" (daughter).

She works with very nice people and has a posse of ladies who have taken her in. They take very good care of her and make sure she has what she needs and always take her to new places. But that also means that they think they have more control over her schedule than mom does and also think they know best. Having such concerned friends can be a double edged sword. But I for one am glad she has them around. It's good to know there are people looking after her. Even if they do bug the crap out of her sometimes. :)

More later, time to go make dinner, then close all of the windows before it gets dark - have to open them when we get home from work in the afternoon because it is so hot in here but close them so the house does not get swarmed with bugs. Just one of those daily occurrences that you don't really think about when you live in it, but again is just that much different than how I'm used to seeing mommy live.

KJ

State side

Well, about 28 hours later, I made it back home. Safely with no problems. It is nice to be home. Nice to see my family, and my puppy was particularly excited to see me when she came to pick me up at the airport with my brother.

My great summer adventure of 09 is over. I am so happy that I made the decision to go and do this work. I look forward to more travels in the future. But for now, a new adventure begins. Year two of grad school with lots of new possibilities. I'm excited to see where it all goes ...

xo
KJ

Waiting at the airport

So, the time has come. I am at the airport in Delhi. Getting ready to leave India and head back to the states. Sitting here, I am getting really excited to go back. I am going to be really happy to see my family and friends. It will be really nice to be home. Plus, I am kind of disappointed in the last couple of days and am glad to have that part done with. And today was actually just pretty shitty overall, so I am happy to be leaving this particular day. It was just a lot of driving. Some final shopping, not getting the deals that I had been told I could find but because it was my last day, not having much of a choice. Kind of annoying. Driving through really heavy rains which was kinda scary. Stopping by a shop and one of the sales men being totally inappropriate and making me feel SO uncomfortable and trying to kiss me before I could get the hell out of there. And all under the pretense of it being Indian culture and a gift he has to read people and the spiritual side of the country, bull shit. He was simply a creep that tries to take advantage of women traveling by themselves. And it makes me that much more angry at him that he was trying to use something spiritual and special to justify his totally out of line behavior. And then my driver telling me that the restaurant he was supposed to take me to doesn’t open until seven, which is when I needed to leave for the airport and me arguing with him until he finally agreed to take me somewhere else. And then of course there was tons of traffic so if we had left later I would have been totally stressed out and rushing at the airport. And then he took me to a monument I had already been to on Friday and he told me to get out and take pictures. I was like, no, I’ve been here. He was like, really? And I was also starving at this point so I was pretty mad. BUT I finally was able to get some food, leave at the time I had wanted to the airport and make it with plenty of time.

The airport is full of people wearing masks, which I guess makes sense due to the sudden increase of swine flu here. I’m glad I’m leaving now so mom doesn’t worry about me.

I am a little worried about this flight. Last time I was really prepared, at least mentally. I had thought about it a lot. This time I have not. I am about to spend 15 hours on an airplane and then another 9 in transit and another plane and I have not thought about it. But I have a book and ipod and sleeping pills. So with all of that combined with the in flight entertainment system I’ll literally have at my fingertips, I think I’ll be able to manage, one way or another.

Starting to wrap up …

As I get ready to leave India, I am trying to think about the last six weeks and what they have meant to me. It has been kind of strange for me to be keeping a blog, but I am glad I did. There is a lot that I did not include on here, but it was fun getting to share some of my experiences.

On a number of levels this trip has been amazing. I learned so much from the students and professors here. I had some intense and amazing experiences during field work and talking to people in very remote villages. The extremes and contrast of this country continue to amaze me, as does its diversity and its beauty. The poverty is extreme. Everywhere you go is crowded. The colors are beautiful. The people are incredibly nice. The food is delicious. Being involved on this project has meant a lot to me personally, to be actively working on solutions to the water crisis is incredible. And traveling to different places and hearing stories inside people’s homes is emotional and transforming. The people that I have met will stay with me. On a personal level this trip has also been an incredibly healing six weeks. It has meant so much to be able to be here and do this, to show to myself that I can, to be away from the comforts and familiarity of home, and to get through it not just in one piece, but stronger. I have learned new things about myself. And most of all I have gotten to experience a country that is absolutely amazing. If anyone is thinking about visiting India, I highly recommend it.

If I see one more palace or place of historical importance …

I have been learning a whole lot over the past few days. I’ve seen amazing sites and met some interesting people. But the time for sightseeing is DONE. I am very over it. The first few times I heard the lineage of the Mughal dynasty, I still found it interesting. No more monuments, no more history, no more restaurants that are only filled with other foreigners. I’m done. I miss Kolkata, at least kind of knowing my surroundings, having more things to do and people around. It has been great and I have learned a lot, but it’s also been a bit of an overload.

Leaving soon

I have two nights left in India. Although I have been homesick, I am now not ready to leave. It has been an incredible summer and I have learned so much. There is amazing work going on here and amazing people doing it. I am really excited to see my family and to start the year back up in the bay in my new apartment with new classes and internships and to see my friends. But I will also be sad to leave this country. There is so much that I did not see, so much that I have not learned. So many more people I want to spend time with and places I want to visit and get to know. I want to come back next summer and see more! I want to catch up with everyone at home and try to share this experience as best as I can. It has been amazing for me on so many levels. But I also wish that it was not quite over, that I had just a little more time. It is really hard to believe that my time to leave has almost come. That six weeks have passed since I arrived here. So much has happened during this time. I hope I can carry most of it with me.

Taj Mahal

What can you say after you have seen one of the wonders of the world? How can one capture with words the beauty of one of the greatest memorials of love ever? Seeing the Taj Mahal, being there in person, was an incredible experience.

I got to touch the marble, trace the jeweled flowers with my fingers, sit in the gardens and admire the amazing structure before me. I learned more about the history and the love story behind the amazing mausoleum. The white marble changes color under different types of sunlight. All of the detailed decoration was done by hand and hundreds of years ago. Hearing about the construction gives one a whole new level of appreciation to the beauty and wonder of the architecture. The whole structure took over 22 years to build. The emperor Shah Jahan built it in memory of his great love, his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who was one of three wives. She was the last wife he married and they were truly in love. She traveled with him everywhere. They were on a military expedition when she passed away during childbirth. He was so upset, he decided to build a symbol of their love. Over 350 years later, that symbol still stands today.

The structure was built around her body. Her grave is perfectly symmetrical with the entire architecture. There are four columns on each corner of the structure, they are each built leaning slightly away from the Taj. This way in case there is ever an earthquake, they will fall away from the building and not onto it.

I slowly walked to the Taj. I walked all around the graves, admiring the amazing art work and architecture. I sat in the gardens and watched it. I daydreamed about visiting other wonders of the world and sharing them with those I love. I watched all the other tourists and visitors as they came to admire, take pictures, and experience the Taj in person.

If anyone gets the chance, I highly recommend it. The next time I go, I definitely want to see it in during sunrise or sunset … or under a full moon.