Long time no see. I am alive, the e-coli was not fun but pretty quickly over. The course have ended, I have left Udaipur, and I have been spending time with my friend the beach.
The last weeks of the stay in Udaipur was hectic and slightly crazy, and even if we missed exams back home, we got our fair share of stress with writing final reports and making final presentations. In the end it all went well, like it normally does, and we had some great last nights with other volunteers and people we know. My marvelous father came down two days before i left, and was literally just in time for my presentation. Left for Mumbai, with sitting seats in a bus, this went fine, and we met up with the brits from Seva there. Had some fun days as tourists again, saw the absolutely amazing thiefs market, less amazing meatmarket, and bought old bollywood posters bigger than I am. Also 'starred' in a Bollywood to come, with some of the biggest bollywoodstars, Kareena Kapoor and Shahrukh Khan. Look out for RA ONE, coming out in 7 months, starring Dad and I as festive dancing people in a london club in the final song, 'ta ta'. Left for Goa on train a couple of days later, got bumped up, so we had blankets and pillows, and ac! Fun and comfy. Said bye to brits again and left for anjuna beach after some quick consultation with travelbooks, and had some really nice days there, and spending a day on an Royal Enfield, driving around trying to find anything else than beaches that would be interesting. Since Christmas eve we have been with the brits, just south of goa, where there is almost no tourists, and a very laid back atmosphere. We have had some great days here, introducing the brits to aquevit and trying to celebrate christmas, even if we do spend half the day in the sun or water on the beach, and spent christmas eve eating barbecued fish and sitting around a bonfire. Dad and I will stay here until I leave, he'll go south, and ill start on my hometrip.
I'll do some photoes when i have time, but this just might be the last post from India, see YOU soon.
P.S. Merry Christmas & a Happ New Year!
søndag 26. desember 2010
søndag 14. november 2010
Work and babies
I got diagnosed with ecoli the other day, so did Karianne, so its been some lazy hazy days. Instead of talking about that, i have put out photoes. The first are from work, and the other ones are obviously not.
I have
- Used up a big tube of toothpaste that I bought in India
- Been in Incredible India for three months
- Seen more Bollywood movies
- Read 'In spite of the Gods' by Edward Luce, and i think you should too
- Been on a two day camel trek while riding Raju the camel
- Slept under the stars on sand dunes during the said camel trek
- Been dressed as a peacock (Indias national bird) during the most kickass halloween party India has seen so far, hosted by lovely vb-people (and won the award of best partygirl)
- Probably landed an extra role, in a french movie, as an officer. Will be given horseback riding training and will be flown from Goa to Tamil Nadu (South India) and back for the last day of shooting, in late december, with Greg.
- Gotten quite acquainted with imodium
- Bought my ticket from India in early January, when I will meet this guy. (Can you blame me?)
I don't really like writing but i am well, and all is fine, will try to upload some photos soon instead.
søndag 10. oktober 2010
Random photoes
First pics from working, a coulpe from mount abu, and the two last of a visit to a deaf school that we are visiting when we have time.
Haa means Yes, Nahi - No
The last weeks have been great, working a lot and being out in the field, which means in rural areas of Rajastan. Because of the moonsoon being so recent, and lasting so long, most areas are still green and beautiful, and there are still some small rivers. Most of the year, these areas are arid and yellow, so we have come at the right time for pretty scenery.
I have divided my time so that this month is dedicated to the Balsakhi program, where I will follow young women working with neonatal and infant health and nutrition. I did so some days of the past week as well, but now i will not have any of my comentors with me, just me and Sanjay who will translate for me. Last week I spent two nights at the block office in Kotra, the area furthest away from Udaipur. Beautiful place, great people, and fun traveling with a gearscooter. I slept under the stars on my balcony there, and I am looking forward to going back!
Other than work we have had a couple of fun parties at the VB guesthouse, where a great group of volunteers live, we went to Mount Abu and got sunburned last weekend, and yesterday some of us went to lake ravi, that has crocodiles in it, swam across it and back, and got even worse sunburns. Johan and Lachlan are in Dehli this weekend, to watch games from the commonwealth games (who knew about them, hm?) and we are moving rooms, because tomorrow we are getting six new guys, one Danish volunteer, Henrik, and five Indian college guys. Will be fun!
Hindi is slowly getting somewhere, but because our teacher has fallen ill we have not had too many classes. I can say my name, where i am from and some lines from different hindi popsongs, but a conversation is still hard. Yesterday I bought a movie and my second movie soundtrack, and I am still loving my bollywood. Did i give you the link to the eighties greatest song?
Dad is coming to Goa to spent christmas with me! And so are four of the british volunteers living in VB (as is a gang of their friends), and possibly Maria from Boliva, Lachlan and Fredrik, and I also know a guy I met while traveling thats going there. So christmas in Goa looks like it will be a BIG hit. Woop whooop.
Finally got to put out some photoes, they are not amazing, but its a glimpse of whats happening.
I have divided my time so that this month is dedicated to the Balsakhi program, where I will follow young women working with neonatal and infant health and nutrition. I did so some days of the past week as well, but now i will not have any of my comentors with me, just me and Sanjay who will translate for me. Last week I spent two nights at the block office in Kotra, the area furthest away from Udaipur. Beautiful place, great people, and fun traveling with a gearscooter. I slept under the stars on my balcony there, and I am looking forward to going back!
Other than work we have had a couple of fun parties at the VB guesthouse, where a great group of volunteers live, we went to Mount Abu and got sunburned last weekend, and yesterday some of us went to lake ravi, that has crocodiles in it, swam across it and back, and got even worse sunburns. Johan and Lachlan are in Dehli this weekend, to watch games from the commonwealth games (who knew about them, hm?) and we are moving rooms, because tomorrow we are getting six new guys, one Danish volunteer, Henrik, and five Indian college guys. Will be fun!
Hindi is slowly getting somewhere, but because our teacher has fallen ill we have not had too many classes. I can say my name, where i am from and some lines from different hindi popsongs, but a conversation is still hard. Yesterday I bought a movie and my second movie soundtrack, and I am still loving my bollywood. Did i give you the link to the eighties greatest song?
Dad is coming to Goa to spent christmas with me! And so are four of the british volunteers living in VB (as is a gang of their friends), and possibly Maria from Boliva, Lachlan and Fredrik, and I also know a guy I met while traveling thats going there. So christmas in Goa looks like it will be a BIG hit. Woop whooop.
Finally got to put out some photoes, they are not amazing, but its a glimpse of whats happening.
torsdag 23. september 2010
Phal means fruit in Hindi
So, I am currently in Udaipur, in the third week of our course, and loving it.
Since last time, I have seen Taj Mahal, been followed by the jewel-mob in Jaipur, and took almost a week in Pushkar, where i turned 22 years old. I have met a bunch of great people, and started the course which is the reason for me being here.
The other people that also take the course with me; Karianne (kk), Johan, Fredrik, Lachlan and Mattias come the weekend before we started, and we soon found our rooms and tried to settle down. We live in the house of Mr. Arvind, who will go into our rooms and turn of the lights if we havent, and who have been so grateful as to give us a curfew of 9.30. He looks like he is cut out from some movie from the 90's with a hockey in a ponytail, cut offs and tank tops. Great guy. The place is great, and much better than the other volunteers at Seva Mandirs, given that our techers at home did not think us fit to have the normal standard. So, embarrassed as we are, we have a tv, a roof top gym and maid and delivery of dinners and breakfast. The last week we have started to make food ourselves, but it was nice to indulge for a bit.
The first weeks was mainly classes in development, the Indian context, about the role of NGO's in India, etc, and Hindi lessons! The second, we went to field visits, and got to see some of the many ways that Seva works with the rural population, and on Friday we had presentations of projects we could choose to work with. I was lucky enough to get two! I work on a micro program for obstetric health care, where it will be implemented in another area than it has been before, and on a Neo-natal health care program, where I more or less will be reviewing if it works. Both projects are super exiting, and even though I can hear people snore at the titles, they are great projects. I Also have one american and one indian co-mentor, and they are both competent and willing to learn me all about this. I have spent most of this week reading up on the health and practices of pregnant women, and about feeding practices and diseases of newborn. To say I am learning something new every day would be a gross understatement.
The next weeks will be reading and field visits, and I am thrilled. At home we are cosying ourselves, most of the time, allthough the long hours and required reading + hindi lessons sometimes get the better of, ehem, me. Thank god I have songs like this to make it all better. (The song is from DABANGG which i went to see last weekend)
There's a bunch of other stuff happening of course, like us all getting to know the other volunteers, visiting deaf and blind schools, and i also visited a hiv/aids center the other day, but the main idea you should get is that we are having a great time, the volunteers and staff at Seva are amazing, and that I am learning a lot, this is my sixth week here, and it is all good.
pics will come, at some point.
m
Since last time, I have seen Taj Mahal, been followed by the jewel-mob in Jaipur, and took almost a week in Pushkar, where i turned 22 years old. I have met a bunch of great people, and started the course which is the reason for me being here.
The other people that also take the course with me; Karianne (kk), Johan, Fredrik, Lachlan and Mattias come the weekend before we started, and we soon found our rooms and tried to settle down. We live in the house of Mr. Arvind, who will go into our rooms and turn of the lights if we havent, and who have been so grateful as to give us a curfew of 9.30. He looks like he is cut out from some movie from the 90's with a hockey in a ponytail, cut offs and tank tops. Great guy. The place is great, and much better than the other volunteers at Seva Mandirs, given that our techers at home did not think us fit to have the normal standard. So, embarrassed as we are, we have a tv, a roof top gym and maid and delivery of dinners and breakfast. The last week we have started to make food ourselves, but it was nice to indulge for a bit.
The first weeks was mainly classes in development, the Indian context, about the role of NGO's in India, etc, and Hindi lessons! The second, we went to field visits, and got to see some of the many ways that Seva works with the rural population, and on Friday we had presentations of projects we could choose to work with. I was lucky enough to get two! I work on a micro program for obstetric health care, where it will be implemented in another area than it has been before, and on a Neo-natal health care program, where I more or less will be reviewing if it works. Both projects are super exiting, and even though I can hear people snore at the titles, they are great projects. I Also have one american and one indian co-mentor, and they are both competent and willing to learn me all about this. I have spent most of this week reading up on the health and practices of pregnant women, and about feeding practices and diseases of newborn. To say I am learning something new every day would be a gross understatement.
The next weeks will be reading and field visits, and I am thrilled. At home we are cosying ourselves, most of the time, allthough the long hours and required reading + hindi lessons sometimes get the better of, ehem, me. Thank god I have songs like this to make it all better. (The song is from DABANGG which i went to see last weekend)
There's a bunch of other stuff happening of course, like us all getting to know the other volunteers, visiting deaf and blind schools, and i also visited a hiv/aids center the other day, but the main idea you should get is that we are having a great time, the volunteers and staff at Seva are amazing, and that I am learning a lot, this is my sixth week here, and it is all good.
pics will come, at some point.
m
tirsdag 24. august 2010
Namaste!
So, Intro; I am using this blog because I am currently in India, traveling for three weeks, before I am doing a field course/internship in Udaipur, in the state or province of Rajasthan, east in India. We are five people from my class doing this course, and I will be meeting up with them in less than two weeks. The course itself is a bit of a mystery to us still, but we will be working with an NGO called Seva Mandir, that has been working in the area for more than 40 years, and have more than 70,000 households working with them. So, obviously we are all very very exited. The course ends on the 18th of December, and after that I am going to travel for some weeks, go visit Lisa in Canada, and then learn Spanish in various countries in Central America before starting my exchange semester at EARTH University in Costa Rica in May. I will be home in the end of August next year.
So, The last week has been very good, I had a good flight and sat next to two very nice Sikhs going from England to shop and visit the Golden Temple north in the country, they would never themselves stay more than about three weeks though, "too hot" "too dirty" "too much people"
When I landed I met a nice Californian movie maker/editor named Dave, and we shared a cab into the center of tourist Kolkata, where we found a really nice place teeming with volunteers from the first center of Mother Teresa. However, before I got to know them, I had to fix a little problem. I left a plastic bag with books, clothes, phone and ipod inside the cab. This was fixed by about fifteen Indian men who all ment they knew the guy, called a bit around and told me to wait one hour. I did, while thinking my stuff was pretty much lost, but then a guy came knocking, and said we should go to the airport again, to pick up my stuff. I was not completely sure that it was there, when I asked, he said yes, but then he asked if I had left it in the front or in the back, so yeah, I was not particularly confident. However, when I got there, I was guided to our previous driver, who had my bag "ofcourse!" and my belief in the phrase so often heard here "No problem in India" was founded.
I spent some lazy days in Kolkata with some great people, Mac, Carrieann and Julie, who had all been there for some time. Because it rained, and I was adjusting to the hot and humid climate (still am) I did not do much besides walk around, and visit the Khaligat, a temple made in honour of Kali; My first temple here was a great experience, guided by Mac, we got to look Kali in her three eyes, throw flowers on the fire and make a prayer.
I left Kolkata after 4 days, taking an overnight train to Varanasi, one of the oldest cities in the world, being a religious center from around 600 b.c. On the train I was bought chai, had a small girl over me was puking, and met two teachers, a good trip. In Varanasi I met a Brit named Nick, and during the last 4 days, (got here on sat morning) we have walked in the old city and gotten completely lost, walking in to the burning ghats without knowing it when we were discussing if we wanted to see people burning or not. There we got a tour and the history and information there is to know from a nice scam artist, (I work for the poor, we need lots of wood to burn, whatever you can give sir, not enough sir, everything is good sir, not good sir, etc) but it was worth it. We have also been on a boat ride on the Ganges, and seen pretty much everything that floats in it, been to a magic show, had palm readings, (I will live to be 87, travel much, lucky number 7, day wednesday, colour red, and I will have two kids, boys, and i have a heart as wide as the pacific) I have also gotten up at six every morning to go to yoga, which I will try somewhere else as well, this was a bit shit if you ask me.
Varanasi is a great city, teeming with religious everything, and especially now because of a Vishnu festival. The old city is beautiful, the ghats (stairs down to Ganges, where people prey, eat, hang, wash themselves and clothes, etc) are really interesting and I have met many nice tourists here. However, there is a certain amount of "need hasj, come to my shop, need something", and just normal scams in general you can take. Because of the amount of tourists here, you get a bit tired.Today I went to see the place where Buddha gave his first sermon, which was good, the autorickshaw back and forth though was way more fun than seeing the actual place, interesting as it was. On the way in i got properly angry and nearly screamed at a guy for suddenly wanting to change our previously agreed deal, he was a proper prick, so I left him and threw what I though he deserved on him. However, this was still twice the "Indian price", and on the way back I had a good haggle with a nice man, and we where up to nine people in this one little rickshaw, this is a record I intend to break during my stay here.
Tomorrow, I am going to the cinemas to see a Bollywood flick, before taking an overnight to Agra, I am taking the train with a Spaniard that we met the other day, and hopefully well go together to see the Taj Mahal, before I am leaving for some hectic days, seeing Sikandra (a formerly huge city, now ruins), Akhbars tomb (a great emperor, who worked hard to join the different faiths in his country) and Keoladeo National Park, apparently the best bird watching park in Asia (or so says "The rough guide to India")
Then Its Jaipur (the pink city), where I will celebrate my birthday, and then for some quiet days in Pushkar, before ending up in Udaipur next saturday. If somebody had heard any of my previous plans; I discarded them as being way too hopeful.
The pictures come in different orders and all that, guess whats whats and ill be posting again in a week or so.
So, The last week has been very good, I had a good flight and sat next to two very nice Sikhs going from England to shop and visit the Golden Temple north in the country, they would never themselves stay more than about three weeks though, "too hot" "too dirty" "too much people"
When I landed I met a nice Californian movie maker/editor named Dave, and we shared a cab into the center of tourist Kolkata, where we found a really nice place teeming with volunteers from the first center of Mother Teresa. However, before I got to know them, I had to fix a little problem. I left a plastic bag with books, clothes, phone and ipod inside the cab. This was fixed by about fifteen Indian men who all ment they knew the guy, called a bit around and told me to wait one hour. I did, while thinking my stuff was pretty much lost, but then a guy came knocking, and said we should go to the airport again, to pick up my stuff. I was not completely sure that it was there, when I asked, he said yes, but then he asked if I had left it in the front or in the back, so yeah, I was not particularly confident. However, when I got there, I was guided to our previous driver, who had my bag "ofcourse!" and my belief in the phrase so often heard here "No problem in India" was founded.
I spent some lazy days in Kolkata with some great people, Mac, Carrieann and Julie, who had all been there for some time. Because it rained, and I was adjusting to the hot and humid climate (still am) I did not do much besides walk around, and visit the Khaligat, a temple made in honour of Kali; My first temple here was a great experience, guided by Mac, we got to look Kali in her three eyes, throw flowers on the fire and make a prayer.
I left Kolkata after 4 days, taking an overnight train to Varanasi, one of the oldest cities in the world, being a religious center from around 600 b.c. On the train I was bought chai, had a small girl over me was puking, and met two teachers, a good trip. In Varanasi I met a Brit named Nick, and during the last 4 days, (got here on sat morning) we have walked in the old city and gotten completely lost, walking in to the burning ghats without knowing it when we were discussing if we wanted to see people burning or not. There we got a tour and the history and information there is to know from a nice scam artist, (I work for the poor, we need lots of wood to burn, whatever you can give sir, not enough sir, everything is good sir, not good sir, etc) but it was worth it. We have also been on a boat ride on the Ganges, and seen pretty much everything that floats in it, been to a magic show, had palm readings, (I will live to be 87, travel much, lucky number 7, day wednesday, colour red, and I will have two kids, boys, and i have a heart as wide as the pacific) I have also gotten up at six every morning to go to yoga, which I will try somewhere else as well, this was a bit shit if you ask me.
Varanasi is a great city, teeming with religious everything, and especially now because of a Vishnu festival. The old city is beautiful, the ghats (stairs down to Ganges, where people prey, eat, hang, wash themselves and clothes, etc) are really interesting and I have met many nice tourists here. However, there is a certain amount of "need hasj, come to my shop, need something", and just normal scams in general you can take. Because of the amount of tourists here, you get a bit tired.Today I went to see the place where Buddha gave his first sermon, which was good, the autorickshaw back and forth though was way more fun than seeing the actual place, interesting as it was. On the way in i got properly angry and nearly screamed at a guy for suddenly wanting to change our previously agreed deal, he was a proper prick, so I left him and threw what I though he deserved on him. However, this was still twice the "Indian price", and on the way back I had a good haggle with a nice man, and we where up to nine people in this one little rickshaw, this is a record I intend to break during my stay here.
Tomorrow, I am going to the cinemas to see a Bollywood flick, before taking an overnight to Agra, I am taking the train with a Spaniard that we met the other day, and hopefully well go together to see the Taj Mahal, before I am leaving for some hectic days, seeing Sikandra (a formerly huge city, now ruins), Akhbars tomb (a great emperor, who worked hard to join the different faiths in his country) and Keoladeo National Park, apparently the best bird watching park in Asia (or so says "The rough guide to India")
Then Its Jaipur (the pink city), where I will celebrate my birthday, and then for some quiet days in Pushkar, before ending up in Udaipur next saturday. If somebody had heard any of my previous plans; I discarded them as being way too hopeful.
The pictures come in different orders and all that, guess whats whats and ill be posting again in a week or so.
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