Nikki and I left Shanti Bhavan, went to Jayashree's club for swimming and dinner, and ventured out into India. Sitting at the Whitefield train station waiting to catch our ride to Cochin, I was definitely excited.
We took the train overnight, ate breakfast on the train (nifty!) and arrived in Cochin around ten in the morning. We checked into a hotel, and that first night we ended up making friends with the hotel owners. After a day of running errands, sight seeing and taking care of necessities, we hung out with them for a few hours before bed.
The next day we went into Ernakalum via a ferry to buy some dress materials. We went to see Kathakali dance, which is FREAKY, and not at all what attracts me to dance personally. However I really enjoyed the music. We did a little shopping and a lot of walking. That night a room full of Welsh boys moved in next door to us and we hung out with them, just sitting and talking after dinner. The next morning we got up early to go on the backwaters tour. It was lovely. In the morning we went out on a huge houseboat fashioned to resemble a fish, and we had lunch on the boat, sampled local cuisine and went on tours of some islands. After lunch we went to a smaller boat, where we took canoes down narrow canals into the small villages. We stopped for tea at one end, then came back. It was pretty nice to be pushed down the water by a stick and to be waved at by smiling Indian children. It was also fun to know that just in that area, a great novel takes place. We were in Kerela, can you guess which one?
That night we caught the overnight train to Mangalore. From Mangalore we took a bus to a bus to Jog Falls. In between we almost stayed in a really crappy hotel and waited until morning to head to our destination, but we decided to move on, after quite a harrowing ordeal with the hotel. Jog Falls are the highest falls in India. We got in late at night, and stayed in an ENORMOUS hotel room with a great view of the falls. We were the only people there. In the morning we got up and hiked down. Even being low on water, the falls were beautiful. Not in the way that Niagra Falls staggers you with volume, more in the natural grace of the place. After getting cleaned up, we checked out of our hotel and headed for the bus stop. There we befriend some people from Gana. They were very friendly, and obsessed with my sunglasses. Next we made friends with an ex-yoga instructor from Chennai, who helped up catch the right bus to get to Gokarna.
Gokarna is a beautiful temple city. There we feasted on great food and saw beautiful temples and people. We went swimming at an almost empty beach. It was lovely. At dinner we made friends with a man from France, who works for a packaged food company in Bangalore. We walked all over and stumbled upon a quiet forest, where we disturbed some monkeys, sending us running. It was pretty funny.
Nikki and I parted ways at the bus station, she was heading for Hampi then Chennai and Thailand. I'm pretty sure her trip will be amazing.
I left Gokarna by bus and caught another bus, then another bus to get to Goa. It was a long trip by hot, crowded bus, though if I had found a way to go directly it would have only taken about 45 min. The bus to Goa took me all the way to Margao, then I took an auto back to Palolem. Usually I would have chosen a less crowded beach but because I was traveling on the off season I wanted to be ensured of running into other travelers. So I arrived in early evening, rented a beach hut ($4/ night) and went to the local bookstore. It is a beautiful little bookshop catering to the massive influx of westerners and has tons of info on India, novels that take place in India and various other random crap. I bought the Namesake, went next door and had CHICKEN TACOS AND A MARGARITA! It was so flipping good I couldn't begin to tell you. On that high I walked back towards my hut and noticed there was refrigerated diet coke in a can available! When I asked how much and they told me RS25 I basically died and went to heaven. I bought one and a Snickers and holed up in my room for some much needed Amanda-stays-up-all-night-with-a-book time. I took a nap around 5 am and got up at 8. I got a diet coke and laid on the beach and read until 10:30, when I got cleaned up, found internet, got a very unhealthy (see a pattern?) lunch of fries and a pineapple juice. Then I took a nap, got up, went to the beach to try and even out my TERRIBLE tan lines. I took another shower, took back The Namesake and got half off of The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I went to the internet again, then went to dinner and had fries and butter chicken masala. I was having a rum and diet when six guys came in and started talking to me. I quickly made friends with them and literally stayed up to watch the sunrise from our soft chairs with a view of the beach. It. Was. Heaven. :)
More to come. I'm lazy with this whole blog thing, now that I'm not at Shanti Bhavan, sorry.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
On the Road (again)
When all the kids left Shanti Bhavan is was so strange. We all knew it was going to happen, but I don't think you can be quite prepared for it. I talked to their parents with the help of a translator, then I waved goodbye to them as they left on busses. :( We all ate thali for lunch then headed to whitefield for a luxurious swim and dinner excursion. That was lovely. Jayashree's family took great care of Nikki and I and even drove us to the train station. What a sweet bunch they are. Sitting at the station in the dark (the power was out) and leaning on my bags made me feel like I was on a real adventure. We took the train overnight to Cochin, which was really convenient. It was fun to order our breakfast at one station and have it arrive hot at the next one. Big fluffy rotis and a pea and potato curry was fun to eat.
More tomorrow, I'm in a lactic acid haze. :) Miss you all!
More tomorrow, I'm in a lactic acid haze. :) Miss you all!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Last week at Shanti Bhavan
Sunday morning all the volunteers and Veena went to Hosur and used the internet etc. I bought some fruit, got my stuff from the tailor, got a dvd and bought a head scarf to keep me from getting heat stroke. We went to Janani and had lunch in the air conditioned room, it was delightful. As soon as we got back I had to hurry and shower and get ready for the wedding reception. Ms Ruth's daughter got married to Chitra and she invited 25 people from Shanti Bhavan. Jacques, Arjun and I were the lucky volunteers to go. We've been here the longest I guess. It was nice, a great meal and music. The happy couple sat up on a stage on ornate chairs to receive congratulations. She looked like she was having a quinziniara or whatever. The decorations behind them were a huge yellow fabric with big daisies stapled to it and glittery letters which read "RICHARD WEDS CHITRA". Apparently the custom is for the mother of the son the pass out flowers to the guests and then we give them to the blushing bride. It was fun. The best part was definitely that we had both gulab jamun and ice cream with dinner!
On the way home there were ten students, three aunties, a teacher, a maintenance staff, me and a driver all on a van intended to seat twelve. It was really windy and there was a little lightning. So we just turned up the music really loud, and half the kids stood up and danced the whole way home. Everyone was squished together and people fell over constantly, generally onto people sitting on each other. It was so crazy. The idea of an overfilled vehicle blasting music flying down the highway with music blasting and people dancing in the US is completely incomprehensible.
55 students from Dr. George's journalism school came to see Shanti Bhavan. We had an extended assembly at which the children performed and all the journalism students introduced themselves. It was cool. After lunch most of them came to see my tap class. That was fun. I ended up spending more time teaching Nirmala and playing with the kids after we finished, and I was pretty wiped out. It was good that we had a full class after lunch because at around six the sky opened and the downpour was INTENSE. Nikki and I ran out in the rain. It was amazing.
I used most of my classes this week as vehicles to distribute candy and to get autographs from the kids. We still had choir and dance classes because I had the show on Thursday. This was made more interesting by the fact that I wore a sari or salwar kamiz every day. Indian clothes were not designed for ease of movement.
Nikki, Arjun, Tony and I went on a tour of Odapalli, Deveerapalli and Baldev Medical Center. It was really interesting. It was sad to see all the kids in little clothing and following us around, bored, but I can happily report that we saw no one who was really sick or deformed. I suppose that has a lot to do with the George Foundation. We visited some school and learned a little more what life is like in the small villages. The thing that struck me most was that most houses had cable television, but there were no plans for toilets or outhouse. There was no well. The government doesn't work very well here. At all.
Thursday after snack was my show. The KG and 1st grade did a dance to I Just Can't Wait to Be King from the Lion King. Then I got KG-2nd to shake their sillies out. It was adorable. Then the 2nd grade did a dance to Two Worlds from Tarzan. This dance was really cool. I think I'd like to teach it to kids who are just a little older and see how it goes. Then Nirmala had a group of kids dance to the Taxi Song from some Tamil movie. It was cute, the kids were all dressed like Michael Jackson. Then it was the fourth grade's turn. They did a puppet show which they wrote themselves. It culminated in them singing Oomplucka. Third grade did a dance to "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story. It was cute, it had little vignettes about being friends. They were cute. There are a few tap steps in there and mostly little cutesy showy things. Then was Nirmala's dance for a second and third grader. Then the fifth grade did a dance to Life's a Dance by Garth Brooks. It was great. I combined a little modern with a line dance and they really hit it. They were really good and looked so cute in their home dress. Next was Beena's tap dance to Try Again by Aliyah. Then came the choir who sang one round mixed and a harder round in groups, then "Hey Jude". Nikki had a parade of all the masks the kids have made since she's been here. That was cool. Then it was the tap kids' turn. They did a dance to Trashin' the Camp from Tarzan. I was really proud of them. They've learned a lot. If they keep practicing most of them have a chance of being pretty good.
Friday the volunteers chipped in for a magician to come to the school. It was great. Jacques spent a huge amount of time getting it set up and the suspense built all day! The kids were so excited by the time they got to see the show. The guy did a great job. He did all the standard tricks with slight of hand and props, played games with the whole school and kept up a good patter. The kids LOVED it.
On the way home there were ten students, three aunties, a teacher, a maintenance staff, me and a driver all on a van intended to seat twelve. It was really windy and there was a little lightning. So we just turned up the music really loud, and half the kids stood up and danced the whole way home. Everyone was squished together and people fell over constantly, generally onto people sitting on each other. It was so crazy. The idea of an overfilled vehicle blasting music flying down the highway with music blasting and people dancing in the US is completely incomprehensible.
55 students from Dr. George's journalism school came to see Shanti Bhavan. We had an extended assembly at which the children performed and all the journalism students introduced themselves. It was cool. After lunch most of them came to see my tap class. That was fun. I ended up spending more time teaching Nirmala and playing with the kids after we finished, and I was pretty wiped out. It was good that we had a full class after lunch because at around six the sky opened and the downpour was INTENSE. Nikki and I ran out in the rain. It was amazing.
I used most of my classes this week as vehicles to distribute candy and to get autographs from the kids. We still had choir and dance classes because I had the show on Thursday. This was made more interesting by the fact that I wore a sari or salwar kamiz every day. Indian clothes were not designed for ease of movement.
Nikki, Arjun, Tony and I went on a tour of Odapalli, Deveerapalli and Baldev Medical Center. It was really interesting. It was sad to see all the kids in little clothing and following us around, bored, but I can happily report that we saw no one who was really sick or deformed. I suppose that has a lot to do with the George Foundation. We visited some school and learned a little more what life is like in the small villages. The thing that struck me most was that most houses had cable television, but there were no plans for toilets or outhouse. There was no well. The government doesn't work very well here. At all.
Thursday after snack was my show. The KG and 1st grade did a dance to I Just Can't Wait to Be King from the Lion King. Then I got KG-2nd to shake their sillies out. It was adorable. Then the 2nd grade did a dance to Two Worlds from Tarzan. This dance was really cool. I think I'd like to teach it to kids who are just a little older and see how it goes. Then Nirmala had a group of kids dance to the Taxi Song from some Tamil movie. It was cute, the kids were all dressed like Michael Jackson. Then it was the fourth grade's turn. They did a puppet show which they wrote themselves. It culminated in them singing Oomplucka. Third grade did a dance to "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story. It was cute, it had little vignettes about being friends. They were cute. There are a few tap steps in there and mostly little cutesy showy things. Then was Nirmala's dance for a second and third grader. Then the fifth grade did a dance to Life's a Dance by Garth Brooks. It was great. I combined a little modern with a line dance and they really hit it. They were really good and looked so cute in their home dress. Next was Beena's tap dance to Try Again by Aliyah. Then came the choir who sang one round mixed and a harder round in groups, then "Hey Jude". Nikki had a parade of all the masks the kids have made since she's been here. That was cool. Then it was the tap kids' turn. They did a dance to Trashin' the Camp from Tarzan. I was really proud of them. They've learned a lot. If they keep practicing most of them have a chance of being pretty good.
Friday the volunteers chipped in for a magician to come to the school. It was great. Jacques spent a huge amount of time getting it set up and the suspense built all day! The kids were so excited by the time they got to see the show. The guy did a great job. He did all the standard tricks with slight of hand and props, played games with the whole school and kept up a good patter. The kids LOVED it.
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