So I feel I need to backpedal a little when it comes to what I said about Jodhpur. On first glance, the city is a dump. But over the course of my day there I started to like it. It kind of reminded me of Detroit a bit, if Detroit had an amazing fort on a hill. You know, generally dumpy but with remnants of a glorious past. I somehow found myself away from the main clock tower area in search of an alarm clock, and began picking up on the city's really cool vibe. Two days was just enough time there to grow to like it, but not get bored of it.
Now I'm in Jaisalmer, and Lonely Planet is right! This city is like a sand castle in the desert. The only problem is that I have been here for two days and have yet to go exploring. I've been horribly sick and I actually just got back from the hospital about 10 minutes ago. A blood test confirmed that it is not a blood disease, malaria or typhoid. So I was sent home with three days worth of antibiotics and a prayer.
Oddly enough, I'm already starting to feel better. My sinuses are draining, my fever is in check, and I'm feeling a strong appetite. My entire body is still sore so I'm off to lay down in a minute.
I can not wait to go check things out here! I'm glad I took a client's from my old job advice and came all the way over to this side of Rajasthan. It's so cool!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Jodhpur? No thanks.
Hello!
I arrived in Jodhpur yesterday afternoon after what seemed like the longest busride of my life. I called the day before and reserved a single room with a shared bathroom. I decided to share a bathroom because I spent way, way, way too much money in Udaipur and I wanted to cut back on my expenses. But the shared bathroom at this guesthouse was worse than the first floor bathroom at my younger brother's frat house, so I opted to upgrade and have my own toilet and shower.
Now, Jodhpur's main attraction is the Mehrangarh Fort. I went this morning, climbing up the back way through the blue neighborhoods because I'm that sort of traveler, or something. I opted for the audio guide because, apparently, I'm that sort of traveler, too. I have to say wearing the stupid headphones was worth it. The entire fort was impressive due to steps taken by the current Maharaja to care for and restore it.
Aside from the fort, Jodhpur is a dump. The roads are in bad shape even for India standards, and there is garbage, piss and crap (human and cow) everywhere. It's the type of place where one has to be very, very careful about the water. I bought two bottles of water, drank them both, got the stomach rumblies, and then realized it was "treated" tap water. Luckily I have a brick ishthouse immune system and so far, I'm doing okay. But just breathing the Jodhpur air makes me fear catching Typhoid fever.
So that's all. I'm doing well. And aside from a young man telling me he "wants to f*ck" me, not just once, but three times while riding past me on his motorbike, I'm in good spirits. My experience with men in India has now moved past the simple disgust at the burping, farting, hawking and spitting, pissing and shitting everywhere. And I still have two weeks in this country...
Gotta run!
MCC
P.S. Click here for pics from Udaipur!
I arrived in Jodhpur yesterday afternoon after what seemed like the longest busride of my life. I called the day before and reserved a single room with a shared bathroom. I decided to share a bathroom because I spent way, way, way too much money in Udaipur and I wanted to cut back on my expenses. But the shared bathroom at this guesthouse was worse than the first floor bathroom at my younger brother's frat house, so I opted to upgrade and have my own toilet and shower.
Now, Jodhpur's main attraction is the Mehrangarh Fort. I went this morning, climbing up the back way through the blue neighborhoods because I'm that sort of traveler, or something. I opted for the audio guide because, apparently, I'm that sort of traveler, too. I have to say wearing the stupid headphones was worth it. The entire fort was impressive due to steps taken by the current Maharaja to care for and restore it.
Aside from the fort, Jodhpur is a dump. The roads are in bad shape even for India standards, and there is garbage, piss and crap (human and cow) everywhere. It's the type of place where one has to be very, very careful about the water. I bought two bottles of water, drank them both, got the stomach rumblies, and then realized it was "treated" tap water. Luckily I have a brick ishthouse immune system and so far, I'm doing okay. But just breathing the Jodhpur air makes me fear catching Typhoid fever.
So that's all. I'm doing well. And aside from a young man telling me he "wants to f*ck" me, not just once, but three times while riding past me on his motorbike, I'm in good spirits. My experience with men in India has now moved past the simple disgust at the burping, farting, hawking and spitting, pissing and shitting everywhere. And I still have two weeks in this country...
Gotta run!
MCC
P.S. Click here for pics from Udaipur!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Udaipur is for Lovers
Hi!
I will try to write a coherent entry despite my excitement. I wrote something on my laptop thinking I would switch it to the guesthouse computer, but there is a rule of no USB drives for transferring documents. There is also a rule of no washing your own laundry in your room, but I did mine any way. You can take the girl out of Khedi Milak, but you can't take the Khedi Milak out of the girl...
Let me try to begin at the beginning. I left Jaipur on Friday on the night train to Udaipur. Before leaving the I met two other solo female travelers who were heading to the same train. We decided to share a rickshaw and we ended up hitting it off completely. One is from Spain, Angela, but living n Ecuador. She came to Mumbai for a friend's wedding and decided to do a bit of traveling afterward. The other girl is Moona and she comes from Jordan. She was teaching for a year in China and just made her way overland through Thailand, Cambodia and Nepal. She's one of the coolest people I have ever met. We ended up getting along so well we decided to share a room once we arrived in Udaipur.
So here we are. The first day here I wanted nothing more than to sit and read my book and drink a lot of chai. Nothing else. Period. So I did that, and the next day I hit the town for a bit, then spent a large portion of the day reading and drinking chai. It has rained a lot more in Udaipur than it ever did in Jaipur or the surrounding areas, so that has put a bit of a limitation on how much I've wanted to do.
Moona and I decided to have our palms read after having a brief conversation about men. It was a pretty ridiculous experience, but it was fun. I think she got a bit more out of it because she knew exactly what she wanted to know, and asked all the questions she had. I was told that I will be successful in literature (after he first told me science in math), that I have a good head, heart, and will enjoy good health. But he advised me that I need to start setting goals and making plans. I think this is pretty sound advice; I am constantly doing really cool and awesome things without a set goal or plan, believing it will somehow work out perfectly. It usually does, and that's probably why I continue to do it, but at some point a person does need to develop a master plan. So I'm setting a goal of beginning to set goals for myself. Haha!
Yesterday's awesome adventure was an authentic Ayeurvedic massage. I can tell you right now that it was the weirdest thing I have ever experienced. I'm not quite comfortable with explaining the details of what happened to the public, over the Internet. If you know me well, prepare yourselves for a story. If not, come to India and get yourself an Ayeurvedic massage. It's definitely something to talk about.
For our evening meal we were invited to Angela's friend's home for dinner. She met some Indian people at a temple a few weeks ago and kept in contact with them. Check out this romantic story! One of the young men goes to the Jagdish temple every evening for the chance to see a girl he fell in love with four years ago. He saw her once during a festival, fell completely in love, and continues to go back every evening at the same time in case she's there. He has seen her four times since, once a year at the same festival. He has never spoken to her and doesn't even know her name. Last night he broke out his harmonica and played Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On for her. In the end, all this romance is quite sweet, but sad at the same time. The young man is the Brahmin Caste, but his love is the Rajput Caste. This simple fact means that there is absolutely no chance for the two to ever marry. But he still loves her with all his sweet little heart.
Dinner was amazing. The company was lighthearted and fun. Today they are taking us to some temple in the mountains on their motorbikes. This should be fun and exciting! I was supposed to take the bus to Jodhpur this morning, but staying another day seemed like a no-brainer. So I will leave tomorrow instead, same time as my new friends.
I have to run! I have been spoiled by free internet at Gram Chetna. All this pay as yo go stuff gets expensive!! xo
MCC
I will try to write a coherent entry despite my excitement. I wrote something on my laptop thinking I would switch it to the guesthouse computer, but there is a rule of no USB drives for transferring documents. There is also a rule of no washing your own laundry in your room, but I did mine any way. You can take the girl out of Khedi Milak, but you can't take the Khedi Milak out of the girl...
Let me try to begin at the beginning. I left Jaipur on Friday on the night train to Udaipur. Before leaving the I met two other solo female travelers who were heading to the same train. We decided to share a rickshaw and we ended up hitting it off completely. One is from Spain, Angela, but living n Ecuador. She came to Mumbai for a friend's wedding and decided to do a bit of traveling afterward. The other girl is Moona and she comes from Jordan. She was teaching for a year in China and just made her way overland through Thailand, Cambodia and Nepal. She's one of the coolest people I have ever met. We ended up getting along so well we decided to share a room once we arrived in Udaipur.
So here we are. The first day here I wanted nothing more than to sit and read my book and drink a lot of chai. Nothing else. Period. So I did that, and the next day I hit the town for a bit, then spent a large portion of the day reading and drinking chai. It has rained a lot more in Udaipur than it ever did in Jaipur or the surrounding areas, so that has put a bit of a limitation on how much I've wanted to do.
Moona and I decided to have our palms read after having a brief conversation about men. It was a pretty ridiculous experience, but it was fun. I think she got a bit more out of it because she knew exactly what she wanted to know, and asked all the questions she had. I was told that I will be successful in literature (after he first told me science in math), that I have a good head, heart, and will enjoy good health. But he advised me that I need to start setting goals and making plans. I think this is pretty sound advice; I am constantly doing really cool and awesome things without a set goal or plan, believing it will somehow work out perfectly. It usually does, and that's probably why I continue to do it, but at some point a person does need to develop a master plan. So I'm setting a goal of beginning to set goals for myself. Haha!
Yesterday's awesome adventure was an authentic Ayeurvedic massage. I can tell you right now that it was the weirdest thing I have ever experienced. I'm not quite comfortable with explaining the details of what happened to the public, over the Internet. If you know me well, prepare yourselves for a story. If not, come to India and get yourself an Ayeurvedic massage. It's definitely something to talk about.
For our evening meal we were invited to Angela's friend's home for dinner. She met some Indian people at a temple a few weeks ago and kept in contact with them. Check out this romantic story! One of the young men goes to the Jagdish temple every evening for the chance to see a girl he fell in love with four years ago. He saw her once during a festival, fell completely in love, and continues to go back every evening at the same time in case she's there. He has seen her four times since, once a year at the same festival. He has never spoken to her and doesn't even know her name. Last night he broke out his harmonica and played Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On for her. In the end, all this romance is quite sweet, but sad at the same time. The young man is the Brahmin Caste, but his love is the Rajput Caste. This simple fact means that there is absolutely no chance for the two to ever marry. But he still loves her with all his sweet little heart.
Dinner was amazing. The company was lighthearted and fun. Today they are taking us to some temple in the mountains on their motorbikes. This should be fun and exciting! I was supposed to take the bus to Jodhpur this morning, but staying another day seemed like a no-brainer. So I will leave tomorrow instead, same time as my new friends.
I have to run! I have been spoiled by free internet at Gram Chetna. All this pay as yo go stuff gets expensive!! xo
MCC
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Early departure!
I must warn you. This is not my best writing.... One of these days I will properly compose a blog ahead of time. But I suddenly felt moved to write to you all.
Yesterday morning around 11:30 I decided I was leaving Gram Chetna within 24 hours. I know my last entry was all warm and fuzzy, but since John left, GCK turned into quite the hell hole. If I thought I was being treated strangely before I was the only girl there, magnify that by 10 and that might be a reasonable estimate of the discomfort.
Have I told you about the creepyness factor? I know I've mentioned it in a few emails to various people, but I can't remember if I have specifically written about it in my blogs. Men in India tend to look at western women like we're filthy whores, yet undress us with their eyes at the same time, all the while not speaking... just staring.
Anyway, A few days ago a pair of my undies went missing. Normally I wash them in the shower and hang them dry in my room. I find this process to be easier than waiting till I have no more clean pairs and being forced to figure something out. And every day, except for this day, I remember to bring my under ware back to my room from the shower. So it has always worked very well.
However, the other day I forgot my clean underwear in the shower and when I went back for them, they weren't there. This means that one of the creepy Gram Chetna men has a pair of my underwear. Part of me is relieved I washed them before I forgot them, but the other part is annoyed that I have a pair of my underwear floating around the dorms of Gram Chetna.
CREEPS!
But this wasn't the reason I left early. I have been completely ignored and excluded from everything since I became the only intern last week. And I've been going out of my way to be social and engaging since John left. But the straw that broke the camels back was yesterday morning when I was made to wait until all of the men had eaten before I could have breakfast. You might be thinking, "maybe this is all a big misunderstanding." But I know it was intentional because there was a guy who stayed the night at Gram Chetna and told Govind he didn't like me (a woman) eating with everyone (the men. So the next morning, he was still at Gram Chetna, and I was not invited to eat breakfast until the men had eaten and the food was cold.
So at that very moment I decided to get the eff-word out of that mother bleeping hell-hole.
When I told Rajiv that I was leaving, he acted like he understood completely. He said I didn't seem to enjoy myself because the staff was not in a position to accommodate an intern. He mentioned that during the weeks John was there, he went on 15 or 17 micro-finance field visits. I only went on three. THREE! I can't left myself think about this without feeling extremely disappointed and upset. I think in a few days, when I have cooled down, I am going to write a respectful email to Prashant. I want to explain to him that in the future, if he knows Gram Chetna is not able to accommodate interns he should not invite interns. I could have gone somewhere else for my internship and it really upsets me that I had a sub par experience because he accepted me when he shouldn't have.
So that's that. Now I am in Jaipur waiting to leave on my train tomorrow night. I bought all sorts of shaving supplies and finally I feel like a lady again. Don't worry, I took "before" pictures.
xoxo
Mary
Yesterday morning around 11:30 I decided I was leaving Gram Chetna within 24 hours. I know my last entry was all warm and fuzzy, but since John left, GCK turned into quite the hell hole. If I thought I was being treated strangely before I was the only girl there, magnify that by 10 and that might be a reasonable estimate of the discomfort.
Have I told you about the creepyness factor? I know I've mentioned it in a few emails to various people, but I can't remember if I have specifically written about it in my blogs. Men in India tend to look at western women like we're filthy whores, yet undress us with their eyes at the same time, all the while not speaking... just staring.
Anyway, A few days ago a pair of my undies went missing. Normally I wash them in the shower and hang them dry in my room. I find this process to be easier than waiting till I have no more clean pairs and being forced to figure something out. And every day, except for this day, I remember to bring my under ware back to my room from the shower. So it has always worked very well.
However, the other day I forgot my clean underwear in the shower and when I went back for them, they weren't there. This means that one of the creepy Gram Chetna men has a pair of my underwear. Part of me is relieved I washed them before I forgot them, but the other part is annoyed that I have a pair of my underwear floating around the dorms of Gram Chetna.
CREEPS!
But this wasn't the reason I left early. I have been completely ignored and excluded from everything since I became the only intern last week. And I've been going out of my way to be social and engaging since John left. But the straw that broke the camels back was yesterday morning when I was made to wait until all of the men had eaten before I could have breakfast. You might be thinking, "maybe this is all a big misunderstanding." But I know it was intentional because there was a guy who stayed the night at Gram Chetna and told Govind he didn't like me (a woman) eating with everyone (the men. So the next morning, he was still at Gram Chetna, and I was not invited to eat breakfast until the men had eaten and the food was cold.
So at that very moment I decided to get the eff-word out of that mother bleeping hell-hole.
When I told Rajiv that I was leaving, he acted like he understood completely. He said I didn't seem to enjoy myself because the staff was not in a position to accommodate an intern. He mentioned that during the weeks John was there, he went on 15 or 17 micro-finance field visits. I only went on three. THREE! I can't left myself think about this without feeling extremely disappointed and upset. I think in a few days, when I have cooled down, I am going to write a respectful email to Prashant. I want to explain to him that in the future, if he knows Gram Chetna is not able to accommodate interns he should not invite interns. I could have gone somewhere else for my internship and it really upsets me that I had a sub par experience because he accepted me when he shouldn't have.
So that's that. Now I am in Jaipur waiting to leave on my train tomorrow night. I bought all sorts of shaving supplies and finally I feel like a lady again. Don't worry, I took "before" pictures.
xoxo
Mary
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Live from Gram Chetna!
Hi guys!
Here's another spontaneous (non-prewritten) entry. And I'm working with a computer on a limited battery. Please excuse my typos and gramatical errors.
In the last week when I had Prashant's wireless internet data card, I was able to hop online anytime I wanted. So I did. I spent a lot of time watching music videos, planning future trips to central america, chatting on facebook and gchat. I began to miss home so badly it was unreal. It could have been time for my homesickness to set in, but I can't halp but think my constant facebook and email access had something to do with it.
So I decided to take a break from the internet, specifically facebook, until I'm off on my own. This is, of course, unless something amazing or horrifying happenes. Then I'll send some messages or emails. But until I reach Udaipur, you might not hear from me.
Form here till Saturday, July 24th I am officially off the grid.
I love you all!!!
Here's another spontaneous (non-prewritten) entry. And I'm working with a computer on a limited battery. Please excuse my typos and gramatical errors.
In the last week when I had Prashant's wireless internet data card, I was able to hop online anytime I wanted. So I did. I spent a lot of time watching music videos, planning future trips to central america, chatting on facebook and gchat. I began to miss home so badly it was unreal. It could have been time for my homesickness to set in, but I can't halp but think my constant facebook and email access had something to do with it.
So I decided to take a break from the internet, specifically facebook, until I'm off on my own. This is, of course, unless something amazing or horrifying happenes. Then I'll send some messages or emails. But until I reach Udaipur, you might not hear from me.
Form here till Saturday, July 24th I am officially off the grid.
I love you all!!!
Live from Gram Chetna!
Hi guys!
Here's another spontaneous (non-prewritten) entry. And I'm working with a computer on a limited battery. Please excuse my typos and gramatical errors.
In the last week when I had Prashant's wireless internet data card, I was able to hop online anytime I wanted. So I did. I spent a lot of time watching music videos, planning future trips to central america, chatting on facebook and gchat. I began to miss home so badly it was unreal. It could have been time for my homesickness to set in, but I can't halp but think my constant facebook and email access had something to do with it.
So I decided to take a break from the internet, specifically facebook, until I'm off on my own. This is, of course, unless something amazing or horrifying happenes. Then I'll send some messages or emails. But until I reach Udaipur, you might not hear from me.
Form here till Saturday, July 24th I am officially off the grid.
I love you all!!!
Here's another spontaneous (non-prewritten) entry. And I'm working with a computer on a limited battery. Please excuse my typos and gramatical errors.
In the last week when I had Prashant's wireless internet data card, I was able to hop online anytime I wanted. So I did. I spent a lot of time watching music videos, planning future trips to central america, chatting on facebook and gchat. I began to miss home so badly it was unreal. It could have been time for my homesickness to set in, but I can't halp but think my constant facebook and email access had something to do with it.
So I decided to take a break from the internet, specifically facebook, until I'm off on my own. This is, of course, unless something amazing or horrifying happenes. Then I'll send some messages or emails. But until I reach Udaipur, you might not hear from me.
Form here till Saturday, July 24th I am officially off the grid.
I love you all!!!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
A sudden rush!
Lola has still not arrived. The whole situation is incredibly fishy. It seems absolutely absurd that it's OK to invite a French university student to your organization and then drop off the face of the planet. It seems like a parent's worst nightmare. How can Prashand think that is an acceptable way to treat visitors? If the timing was bad to take on a new intern, then that should have been explained. But is seems that in India it is better to knowingly lie to someone than to tell him or her something she doesn't want to hear. It's quite infuriating!
Anyway, with that being said I think I should finally tell you about some of my love for India. Most of the time I write entries with the main purpose of entertaining my readers. That usually involves me elaborating on awkward moments where I find myself grossed out, frustrated and/or confused. Although the main point of this blog focuses on my many (mis)adventures in India, I don't want to leave out the good ol' happy-but-boring stuff for the sake of entertainment.
With that being said, in the last three weeks something about India has put me into a fairly steady oxitocin-induced coma. In the beginning is was triggered by food, chai and the delicious and ubiquitous sweets. But more recently I've been able to conjure up an oxitocin overload by simply thinking about it. And although I miss home something fierce, and am still constantly overwhelmed by culture shock, these warm and fuzzy feelings are keeping me pretty darn happy.
And I really can't rave enough about how great it is to get out and about in the surrounding comminities. My morning bike rides and the occasional field visits are the two things I look forward to, and will miss the most. This morning on my ride I had a four boy escort. Normally, I pass a group of four thirteen year-old boys coming toward me head-on on their way to school. They shout out, "how are youuuuuu?" and laugh at my response as we cross paths. I was fairly certain that today I left for my ride the same time I always do, but as I passed through the first small village, the four boys were just getting on their bikes to ride to school. So they joined me the entire bike ride, thoroughly enjoying their new celebrity status along the way.
On my way home an old man stopped me and had an entire one sided conversation with me in Marwari. Towards the end I realized he was inviting me back to his house for food. But Govinda was preparing paranthas for breakfast, and I didn't want to miss that deliciousness. I graciously declined, but if he asks me again tomorrow or the next day I will probably take him up on his offer. I was hoping the other old man would invite me in for chai, because today I could make it, but we just waved at each other as I rode past.
I have jokingly referred to my feelings for India as love/hate. But I have to admit that is it far, far more a love relationship than anything else. I think saying love/discomfort would be much more accurate. My endorphins are ensuring that I have plenty of love for this place.
MCC
Anyway, with that being said I think I should finally tell you about some of my love for India. Most of the time I write entries with the main purpose of entertaining my readers. That usually involves me elaborating on awkward moments where I find myself grossed out, frustrated and/or confused. Although the main point of this blog focuses on my many (mis)adventures in India, I don't want to leave out the good ol' happy-but-boring stuff for the sake of entertainment.
With that being said, in the last three weeks something about India has put me into a fairly steady oxitocin-induced coma. In the beginning is was triggered by food, chai and the delicious and ubiquitous sweets. But more recently I've been able to conjure up an oxitocin overload by simply thinking about it. And although I miss home something fierce, and am still constantly overwhelmed by culture shock, these warm and fuzzy feelings are keeping me pretty darn happy.
And I really can't rave enough about how great it is to get out and about in the surrounding comminities. My morning bike rides and the occasional field visits are the two things I look forward to, and will miss the most. This morning on my ride I had a four boy escort. Normally, I pass a group of four thirteen year-old boys coming toward me head-on on their way to school. They shout out, "how are youuuuuu?" and laugh at my response as we cross paths. I was fairly certain that today I left for my ride the same time I always do, but as I passed through the first small village, the four boys were just getting on their bikes to ride to school. So they joined me the entire bike ride, thoroughly enjoying their new celebrity status along the way.
On my way home an old man stopped me and had an entire one sided conversation with me in Marwari. Towards the end I realized he was inviting me back to his house for food. But Govinda was preparing paranthas for breakfast, and I didn't want to miss that deliciousness. I graciously declined, but if he asks me again tomorrow or the next day I will probably take him up on his offer. I was hoping the other old man would invite me in for chai, because today I could make it, but we just waved at each other as I rode past.
I have jokingly referred to my feelings for India as love/hate. But I have to admit that is it far, far more a love relationship than anything else. I think saying love/discomfort would be much more accurate. My endorphins are ensuring that I have plenty of love for this place.
MCC
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)