Last week I took a four-day trip to Manali between my final test and the class party. Manali is east of here, though still in Himachal Pradesh. It is also the largest domestic tourist destination in this part of the country. I went because I was exhausted from a marathon of teaching and little bits of nagging Jagori drama. I wanted to see someplace new and use the time to regroup and rest so that I would be ready to teach again when I returned. That, I succeeded in. My intention had been to hop coffee shops, reading, write, and otherwise take it easy, but my plans quickly changed upon arriving.
Though first, I should mention the bus ride there. I went and booked a ticket at the Dharmshala bus stand a few days in advance, as I always do when going to Delhi. What I didn't realize until the bus pulled up the night of my departure I had booked a government bus for the ten-hour journey. This is the sort of bus I take up to Dharmshala, flat-seated and crowded.
There were just a handful of other foreigners on the bus with me. One of them was a woman from Australia who had left home five years ago as a Buddhist nun to study Tibetan and the Buddhist teachings. She invited me to join her on her seat so we wouldn't have to sit by strange men, which is a very real concern given the stories of harassment on buses. Having her to chat with helped pass the time and distract from the uncomfortable seat. We stopped at six or seven other bus stands on our way, picking up new passengers, and we even delivered mail bags to a few villages. Somewhere during the night, it started to pour a cold rain. I wasn't prepared for it, and spent the night cold and awake. The conductor wasn't announcing the stops, so when we stopped briefly at Manali, I didn't know to get off. Shortly after we started going again he came to me and asked, “Weren't you going to get off at Manali?” As soon as we realized my mistake, they stopped the bus and flagged down a passing taxi. It was then 4:00 AM.
The taxi dropped me off at the hotel I had booked, which I discovered to be easily the grungiest backpacker lodge in all of Manali. There was no one at the reception counter when I arrived but the door was open, so I sat down on the dirty floor and tried to stay awake. About an hour later, the confused watchman stumbled upon me. I couldn't check in until much later, but that didn't stop him from giving me the key of a room to sleep in.
The reason I chose to go to Manali in the first place was because my friends Sonia and Brian were staying there for a few weeks so Sonia could take care of her brother's travel agency while he was away. Sonia called me that morning to tell me that she had a girl with her that I could travel and even stay with during my time there. I thought, since they gave me a bed already that morning, that I should stay one night at that dirty hotel, but I was saved from any further time there by a new acquaintance.
This girl, a friend of a friend of a friend, had just graduated from high school in Holland and was in the middle of a five week solo trip around India. Tyrtza and I hit it off well, so we decided to travel together around Manali. The first day, we mostly just ate and wandered Manali aimlessly. On the second day, Sonia helped us arrange for a car to take us around in the morning to see the local temples.
I used to say that Himachali temples were boring by comparison to the others I had seen around the country. That is only because I hadn't seen any temples in the wood and stone style that is common around Manali. They were all stunningly carved in wood, with rows of cut stone brick at varying intervals. All had high peaked roofs with carved wooden tassels hanging down from the eves. Our driver took us to see a number of these, including the famous Hadimba Temple, the Temple of Manu, a small Tibetan monastary (in typical Tibetan style), and a temple up the side of the mountain in Vishisht that was famed for its hot springs. Unfortunately, a cold rain poured all day, so we bathe in the springs themselves. That night, we managed to keep ourselves up long enough to watch the Spain versus Germany World Cup match at a restaurant near our hotel in Old Manali. (After spending the week with Tyrtza, I was ready to root for Holland in the finals. It's a shame they lost.)
On our third day, we set off on our own, catching a local government bus for Naggar. It was about an hour-long trip over beautiful mountainsides to the small mountain village. Naggar is most famous for its castle, built in the 1600s by the Sikh Raja of the local kingdom. (And sadly, sold by one of his descendants to the British for only a gun in return.) It sat perched on the hill, looking down spectacularly over the valley below. It was built in the same carved wood and stone style as all of the local temples and looked to be more of a luxury retreat than a military center. Of all the castles I've seen in Asia, this is probably the one I would most want to live in. Also in Naggar was the house and gallery of Roerich, a famous Russian artist and peace activist.
On our way back down the mountain, we stopped at a shawl shop. In the few days there, I had fallen in love with the natural colors and simple geometric woven patterns in the local Kully shawls. As it turned out, the shop I stopped in was a family run business, where everything in the store was made in a workshop in the basement. After I bought my yak-wool shawl, the shopkeeper offered to take us downstairs to see the women work. There were six or eight looms arranged around the room, with three woman working on them at the time. A fourth woman sat in the corner, spinning the wool into thread. It was fascinating to watch as the woman took a confused mass of colored threads and turned them into patterns. That night, we had dinner with Sonia, Brian, and two more of their friends from Dharmshala. As it turns out, these two were also good friends with the nun I had rode to Manali with. We had some of the best food I have had in a long time. My dinner consisted of baked trout in an herb butter sauce. Sometimes I miss chicken. Rarely do I miss pork or beef. But, have I ever missed fish. Himachali farm trout isn't as good as catch-it-yourself Minnesota walleye, but that was a meal I will remember for a long time.
On Friday morning, Tyrtza boarded a bus on the next leg of her adventure. I was left to do the aimless wandering that I had originally planned on. Most of the afternoon was spent sitting in Sonia's office chatting with her or reading a book. She had booked me a ticket on a delux bus back to Dharmshala, which I boarded that evening. We had some tire trouble in the night, so I didn't arrive home until almost 7:30 in the morning, but they were kind enough to drop me off right in Sidhbari.
Returning, I was ready to start right into work and teaching again. I was refreshed. I had my class party the next day and I will be starting another set of classes next week. Now I'm ready for it in energy and spirit.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Parties and Teaching
Once again, it's been a long time between entries, and I apologize for that. During May, my family visited for two and a half weeks, and immediately after, my students asked me to switch the English course from a three-month three days a week course to a two month five days a week course. That has kept me plenty busy and exhausted for the last month or so.
Having my family here, my parents, my brother, and my cousin, was really wonderful. We took long walks, ate lovely dinners, played everything from Clue to charades, went shopping, and saw some local sites that even I haven't had a chance to explore yet. The longer they were here, I could see my parents grow more and more comfortable with the idea of me living and working where I am.
At the end of their time here, we left Himachal Pradesh for Delhi, then hired a car to drive us straight down to Agra. We happened to time our trip down onto the plains during the hottest week of the year. Temperatures in Delhi were reaching 48 C, which is about 120 F. Staying in that air conditioned car and immediately hopping into air conditioned restaurants and our air conditioned bead and breakfast made it bearable. We got up early the next morning, 5:00 AM in fact, so that we could be at the Taj Mahal by 6:00 AM. Even that early in the morning, it was undeniably hot. The Taj itself was gorgeous in the early morning light. Only a few other tourists were around, so we even managed to get a few photos of the Taj Mahal without other people in them. Pretty impressive for one of the most famous landmarks in the world.
After breakfast, we hopped back into our air conditioned car and drove straight back up to Delhi. In Delhi, we did a bit of shopping and quite a lot of eating. Only a day and a half later, my family got back on a plane for the US and I for Himachal Pradesh.
Shortly thereafter, Anya's two year term was up and it was time for her to travel her way back to the United States. The night she took a bus down to Delhi, a handful of us saw her off at the Dharmshala bus stand, waving until we couldn't see her any more, and crying even a little longer. I admit, being here without Anya now has been tough on me, but it's been three weeks now, and I'm recovering. It's time for me to find out how to stand on my own two feet here.
So, I threw myself into teaching. This session consists of two classes, one right after the other. My first class has three girls who completed only 10 or 12 years of education. My second class is four college girls and one older assistant who works for Kamla. They're all very hard working, when the do show up to class. The difference in the levels of education between the two classes is really apparent in how they take to my activities and lessons. I had wanted to combine the two classes, as teaching a group of under 10 people is very tough. However, a number of my students in both classes were also in a computer class at the Knowledge Center at the same time as the other class, it couldn't be done. I have made the mobilizers promise to get me bigger classes next time.
Despite being busy and mildly overworked, I still have managed to experience life around me. In just the last week, I have been to a wedding, a funeral, and three birthday parties, plus trekking to a temple high in the mountains.
Last Sunday, the last day off I had before the 10-day teaching marathon I'm currently in the middle of, Devika invited me to go hiking with her and five local children. Recently, she befriended the nieces and nephews of one of our co-workers Ravina, and promised to spend a day with them. So Devika, another short-term volunteer from Delhi, and I spent a morning and afternoon hiking up a mountain with four little boys and one girl. They ranged from third grade up to tenth grade, the girl being the oldest. Although the road to Indru Nag Temple was paved, the children often got impatient and wanted to climb up the slopes on short-cuts between the long switch-backs. This gave Devika and the other volunteer some trouble, but my upbringing with lots of hiking, bouldering, and generally scampering around in nature came in handy. I was able to keep up even with the eight-year-old as he scurried up the slopes, then climb back down to give Devika an extra hand. It was refreshing. After they did their worship and offerings at the temple, we sat in the shade of a tree and ate our lunch. That consisted of one little tin of food they had brought with them to share, along with some roti. We supplemented it with bags of chips and cookies. Now that's one nutritious end to a long hike, if you ask me. The way back down was, if anything, harder than the hike up. We took yet another short cut. It was steeper and frequently dusted with dirt or pine needles, which made for slippery footing. We briefly stopped at a smaller temple where a baba, holy man, stayed who reportedly revered Michael Jackson. The children couldn't get much conversation out of him, much to their disappointment.
On Monday morning, I went to a commemorative feast for Dr. Kusum's mother. In local customs, after a death, people close to the deceased mourn for a set period of time. In this case, it was thirteen days. While mourning, they don't work and they don't eat any salted foods. On the thirteenth day, they invite their friends to a prayer service and feast. After eating prashad, a ritual offering to the Gods, I ate some delicious curries and subzis, paying respects to Dr. Kusum and her family. This sort of feast is a marker of the end of mourning, when everyone can eat salted foods again, and that they will now go on with their lives again.
On Tuesday morning, I went to the wedding of my Hindi tutor, Indu's, older sister. The invited me to come only to the last morning of the wedding, when her sister Meena was being shown off. The actual wedding ceremony happened the night before. When arrived, Meena was already deep in the ritual crying of a bride being taken away to her new home. She was sobbing so violently that she couldn't stand while her family stood around tearfully. Eventually, when it became clear that she couldn't make her way to the car herself, her new father-in-law picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, carrying her to the car himself. Meanwhile, her husband followed awkwardly behind. Both were still draped heavily in the tinsel trappings of wedding attire. Meena was put in the car with her new husband and some members of his family and her brother, as per tradition. Indu went along as well, for support.
Following the send-off was an all-day feast. People would be coming all day from around the village to congratulate the family and eat. Like the other wedding feasts I have been to, it consisted of seven courses, starting with more yellow foods, ending in darker brown ones, finishing in a sweet rice. I ate with Didi and Maya, who were both there as well, then rode back down the mountain in their car as we dodged the rain. Although we ate early in the day, the feast would last well into the afternoon.
Wednesay was one of my co-worker's birthday parties. Ashish is the Jagori librarian, and I didn't realize until we all went to his house that night that he had an identical twin brother. If they hadn't been wearing different colored shirts, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. A good number of Jagori staff turned out for the party. There was another seven course feast. Instead of the usual leaf plates, they had paper plates, which had clearly been printed as advertisement for an electronics company. They all bore a picture of a snazzy looking DVD player. Very clever advertisement.
After the feast, there was some singing and dancing. Get a bunch of Jagori women together in one place without an agenda, and that will happen. Then the brought out a cake. We sang happy birthday, then Ashish's family fed him and his brother the cake, smearing it liberally all over their faces. Then it was Ashish and his twin's turn to feed everyone else little bits of cake, starting with their family. It certainly was a more exciting way to eat cake than what I'm used it. Of course, once the smearing and feeding was done, everyone got a little plate with their own piece of cake on it.
After the birthday celebration, there was to be an all-night worship to one of the gods with singing, dancing, and praying. I had to teach the next day, so I politely excused myself and headed home. For most of the rest of the Jagori team, Thursday was a holiday, so that was less of a worry for them.
My second birthday party of the week was for the Karmapa Lama, the head of an older sect of Tibetan Buddhism than that of the Dalai Lama. He is in his mid to late twenties and views the Dalai Lama as his teacher, a relationship that has not happened between the two Lamas in previous incarnations. His temple is in Sidhbari itself, about a fifteen minute walk from my house. I had never been to see him or his temple before, so when I heard about the celebration, I jumped at the chance, and asked Maya if I could go along with her.
We got up early in the morning and walked down together. Even despite being a half hour early, we found that the temple itself was already packed. We waited in a line to get inside that moved nowhere. As we waited, a friend of Maya's, a Tibetan nun who had come early with a delegation of Taiwanese Buddhists, spotted her. The nun took hold of us both and pulled us confidently past security at a side door and found us a cushion to sit on. We were very lucky. I'm sure we wouldn't have gotten inside otherwise.
The morning service was long, but fascinating. When it came time for the Karmapa to come in, he was accompanied by triumphant reedy trumpets that announced his arrival. He came in and paid homage to the Dalai Lama, a cardboard cut-out sat on a throne above his own, before he sat on his own throne. Amid chanting and throat singing from the multitude of monks and nuns present, people walked in a long line past his throne, presenting him with symbolic gifts. The first of which was rice poured over a basin, to represent the creation of the world, the heavens, and the four cardinal directions. Other gifts included small representations of scriptures, Buddha statues, and scarves. This went on for quite some time. Then the head of the monastery, a member of the Dalai Lama's sect, chanted explanations of gifts he and the monastery were giving. This was all in Tibetan and lost on me.
After that, it was time for the guests to all be blessed. Monks passed out cups and poured butter tea for everyone who was inside, then passed out little leaf bowls of sweet rice. After the food and drink were blessed by the Karmapa, everyone ate. Meanwhile, other monks passed out gifts of money to all of the monks and nuns there. Gifts from the Karmapa.
Then people began to file by the Karmapa's throne as fast as they could be ushered by. Everyone carried a scarf with them. First, another monk would drape the scarf over each person's shoulders in blessing, then the Karmapa would touch their head as they passed by, and finally another monk would hand them a red string with a protection knot in it to tie onto yourself. Usually the tying of the string or the draping would be done with by the Karmapa Lama himself, but there were too many people to do that on this occasion. First people who had been waiting outside filed through. Then came the monks and nuns from inside, and lastly ordinary people like us. By this time, we were rushed so much that I had to drape my own scarf around me, but the Karmapa did touch my head as I passed.
We returned to our seats with the Taiwanese group and saw the end of the ceremony. Chanting and throat singing resumed again. I saw older monks passing out what looked like song sheets to the young boys, so that they could join in too. With a fanfare from the reedy horns, about half of the monks put on their huge yellow hats. Fringed with yarn in long crests, they remind me a bit of Roman centurion plumes. They finished their chant and the Karmapa Lama retreated with the trumpets back into his apartments.
The festivities would go on all day, but we only stayed long enough for lunch. Somehow, they managed to feed the hundreds of people that had gathered there for the Karmapa's birthday. It was an auspicious day, with a full moon and a number of celestial objects in alignment. After freshening up, Maya went back for his teaching and cake cutting in the afternoon, but I had a class to teach. Again, she got lucky by seeing another friend in the doorway who let her inside.
The third and final birthday party for the week was for the husband of a woman who was helping Didi with some of her architecture work. Their whole family was staying in the village this summer though they were from outside of Delhi themselves. Maya and Didi invited Sneha, Didi's current intern from Pune, and I to join in. I was to be assist pizza cook and bringer of the entertainment: “The Lord of the Rings” movies.
Making pizza together is something that my family has done together for as long as I can remember, and probably about as often as once a month by the time I was in high school. I love making home made pizza. Not only is it delicious and fun, it brings back many warm fuzzy feelings from home. I didn't mention that to Maya when invited, I just enthusiastically accepted her invitation. I was right in the middle of things, spreading the dough onto the pans, and putting on the sauce and toppings. Maya was so impressed by how nicely I got the dough to spread out and how lovely all the pizzas looked that I am now hired as her pizza cook. I look forward to making more pizza later on. It was a blast, especially with the two young kids hanging around and helping. It turned out that “The Fellowship of the Ring” was a little too intense and detailed for their young son to deal with. We frequently had to pause for breathers and questions. Eventually, their whole family got tired, so they went home. Maya, Sneha, and I did see the movie through to the end though. It was an enjoyable evening, to be sure.
Although the monsoon season is scheduled to start on July 15th here, we have been getting daily rain for some time now. And lately, it's been growing in intensity. Though we still haven't had an all-day rain yet, I think it's safe to say that the monsoons have already started. Although I may leave my home on a sunny afternoon, I can never leave my umbrella behind. Clouds build up quickly in the mountains, and just as quickly descend into the valley.
So, with my umbrella in hand, I soldier on through my last three days of class, a review session, and a test. Then there's that web site to finish and launch. After that, I'm taking a much-needed break.
Having my family here, my parents, my brother, and my cousin, was really wonderful. We took long walks, ate lovely dinners, played everything from Clue to charades, went shopping, and saw some local sites that even I haven't had a chance to explore yet. The longer they were here, I could see my parents grow more and more comfortable with the idea of me living and working where I am.
At the end of their time here, we left Himachal Pradesh for Delhi, then hired a car to drive us straight down to Agra. We happened to time our trip down onto the plains during the hottest week of the year. Temperatures in Delhi were reaching 48 C, which is about 120 F. Staying in that air conditioned car and immediately hopping into air conditioned restaurants and our air conditioned bead and breakfast made it bearable. We got up early the next morning, 5:00 AM in fact, so that we could be at the Taj Mahal by 6:00 AM. Even that early in the morning, it was undeniably hot. The Taj itself was gorgeous in the early morning light. Only a few other tourists were around, so we even managed to get a few photos of the Taj Mahal without other people in them. Pretty impressive for one of the most famous landmarks in the world.
After breakfast, we hopped back into our air conditioned car and drove straight back up to Delhi. In Delhi, we did a bit of shopping and quite a lot of eating. Only a day and a half later, my family got back on a plane for the US and I for Himachal Pradesh.
Shortly thereafter, Anya's two year term was up and it was time for her to travel her way back to the United States. The night she took a bus down to Delhi, a handful of us saw her off at the Dharmshala bus stand, waving until we couldn't see her any more, and crying even a little longer. I admit, being here without Anya now has been tough on me, but it's been three weeks now, and I'm recovering. It's time for me to find out how to stand on my own two feet here.
So, I threw myself into teaching. This session consists of two classes, one right after the other. My first class has three girls who completed only 10 or 12 years of education. My second class is four college girls and one older assistant who works for Kamla. They're all very hard working, when the do show up to class. The difference in the levels of education between the two classes is really apparent in how they take to my activities and lessons. I had wanted to combine the two classes, as teaching a group of under 10 people is very tough. However, a number of my students in both classes were also in a computer class at the Knowledge Center at the same time as the other class, it couldn't be done. I have made the mobilizers promise to get me bigger classes next time.
Despite being busy and mildly overworked, I still have managed to experience life around me. In just the last week, I have been to a wedding, a funeral, and three birthday parties, plus trekking to a temple high in the mountains.
Last Sunday, the last day off I had before the 10-day teaching marathon I'm currently in the middle of, Devika invited me to go hiking with her and five local children. Recently, she befriended the nieces and nephews of one of our co-workers Ravina, and promised to spend a day with them. So Devika, another short-term volunteer from Delhi, and I spent a morning and afternoon hiking up a mountain with four little boys and one girl. They ranged from third grade up to tenth grade, the girl being the oldest. Although the road to Indru Nag Temple was paved, the children often got impatient and wanted to climb up the slopes on short-cuts between the long switch-backs. This gave Devika and the other volunteer some trouble, but my upbringing with lots of hiking, bouldering, and generally scampering around in nature came in handy. I was able to keep up even with the eight-year-old as he scurried up the slopes, then climb back down to give Devika an extra hand. It was refreshing. After they did their worship and offerings at the temple, we sat in the shade of a tree and ate our lunch. That consisted of one little tin of food they had brought with them to share, along with some roti. We supplemented it with bags of chips and cookies. Now that's one nutritious end to a long hike, if you ask me. The way back down was, if anything, harder than the hike up. We took yet another short cut. It was steeper and frequently dusted with dirt or pine needles, which made for slippery footing. We briefly stopped at a smaller temple where a baba, holy man, stayed who reportedly revered Michael Jackson. The children couldn't get much conversation out of him, much to their disappointment.
On Monday morning, I went to a commemorative feast for Dr. Kusum's mother. In local customs, after a death, people close to the deceased mourn for a set period of time. In this case, it was thirteen days. While mourning, they don't work and they don't eat any salted foods. On the thirteenth day, they invite their friends to a prayer service and feast. After eating prashad, a ritual offering to the Gods, I ate some delicious curries and subzis, paying respects to Dr. Kusum and her family. This sort of feast is a marker of the end of mourning, when everyone can eat salted foods again, and that they will now go on with their lives again.
On Tuesday morning, I went to the wedding of my Hindi tutor, Indu's, older sister. The invited me to come only to the last morning of the wedding, when her sister Meena was being shown off. The actual wedding ceremony happened the night before. When arrived, Meena was already deep in the ritual crying of a bride being taken away to her new home. She was sobbing so violently that she couldn't stand while her family stood around tearfully. Eventually, when it became clear that she couldn't make her way to the car herself, her new father-in-law picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, carrying her to the car himself. Meanwhile, her husband followed awkwardly behind. Both were still draped heavily in the tinsel trappings of wedding attire. Meena was put in the car with her new husband and some members of his family and her brother, as per tradition. Indu went along as well, for support.
Following the send-off was an all-day feast. People would be coming all day from around the village to congratulate the family and eat. Like the other wedding feasts I have been to, it consisted of seven courses, starting with more yellow foods, ending in darker brown ones, finishing in a sweet rice. I ate with Didi and Maya, who were both there as well, then rode back down the mountain in their car as we dodged the rain. Although we ate early in the day, the feast would last well into the afternoon.
Wednesay was one of my co-worker's birthday parties. Ashish is the Jagori librarian, and I didn't realize until we all went to his house that night that he had an identical twin brother. If they hadn't been wearing different colored shirts, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. A good number of Jagori staff turned out for the party. There was another seven course feast. Instead of the usual leaf plates, they had paper plates, which had clearly been printed as advertisement for an electronics company. They all bore a picture of a snazzy looking DVD player. Very clever advertisement.
After the feast, there was some singing and dancing. Get a bunch of Jagori women together in one place without an agenda, and that will happen. Then the brought out a cake. We sang happy birthday, then Ashish's family fed him and his brother the cake, smearing it liberally all over their faces. Then it was Ashish and his twin's turn to feed everyone else little bits of cake, starting with their family. It certainly was a more exciting way to eat cake than what I'm used it. Of course, once the smearing and feeding was done, everyone got a little plate with their own piece of cake on it.
After the birthday celebration, there was to be an all-night worship to one of the gods with singing, dancing, and praying. I had to teach the next day, so I politely excused myself and headed home. For most of the rest of the Jagori team, Thursday was a holiday, so that was less of a worry for them.
My second birthday party of the week was for the Karmapa Lama, the head of an older sect of Tibetan Buddhism than that of the Dalai Lama. He is in his mid to late twenties and views the Dalai Lama as his teacher, a relationship that has not happened between the two Lamas in previous incarnations. His temple is in Sidhbari itself, about a fifteen minute walk from my house. I had never been to see him or his temple before, so when I heard about the celebration, I jumped at the chance, and asked Maya if I could go along with her.
We got up early in the morning and walked down together. Even despite being a half hour early, we found that the temple itself was already packed. We waited in a line to get inside that moved nowhere. As we waited, a friend of Maya's, a Tibetan nun who had come early with a delegation of Taiwanese Buddhists, spotted her. The nun took hold of us both and pulled us confidently past security at a side door and found us a cushion to sit on. We were very lucky. I'm sure we wouldn't have gotten inside otherwise.
The morning service was long, but fascinating. When it came time for the Karmapa to come in, he was accompanied by triumphant reedy trumpets that announced his arrival. He came in and paid homage to the Dalai Lama, a cardboard cut-out sat on a throne above his own, before he sat on his own throne. Amid chanting and throat singing from the multitude of monks and nuns present, people walked in a long line past his throne, presenting him with symbolic gifts. The first of which was rice poured over a basin, to represent the creation of the world, the heavens, and the four cardinal directions. Other gifts included small representations of scriptures, Buddha statues, and scarves. This went on for quite some time. Then the head of the monastery, a member of the Dalai Lama's sect, chanted explanations of gifts he and the monastery were giving. This was all in Tibetan and lost on me.
After that, it was time for the guests to all be blessed. Monks passed out cups and poured butter tea for everyone who was inside, then passed out little leaf bowls of sweet rice. After the food and drink were blessed by the Karmapa, everyone ate. Meanwhile, other monks passed out gifts of money to all of the monks and nuns there. Gifts from the Karmapa.
Then people began to file by the Karmapa's throne as fast as they could be ushered by. Everyone carried a scarf with them. First, another monk would drape the scarf over each person's shoulders in blessing, then the Karmapa would touch their head as they passed by, and finally another monk would hand them a red string with a protection knot in it to tie onto yourself. Usually the tying of the string or the draping would be done with by the Karmapa Lama himself, but there were too many people to do that on this occasion. First people who had been waiting outside filed through. Then came the monks and nuns from inside, and lastly ordinary people like us. By this time, we were rushed so much that I had to drape my own scarf around me, but the Karmapa did touch my head as I passed.
We returned to our seats with the Taiwanese group and saw the end of the ceremony. Chanting and throat singing resumed again. I saw older monks passing out what looked like song sheets to the young boys, so that they could join in too. With a fanfare from the reedy horns, about half of the monks put on their huge yellow hats. Fringed with yarn in long crests, they remind me a bit of Roman centurion plumes. They finished their chant and the Karmapa Lama retreated with the trumpets back into his apartments.
The festivities would go on all day, but we only stayed long enough for lunch. Somehow, they managed to feed the hundreds of people that had gathered there for the Karmapa's birthday. It was an auspicious day, with a full moon and a number of celestial objects in alignment. After freshening up, Maya went back for his teaching and cake cutting in the afternoon, but I had a class to teach. Again, she got lucky by seeing another friend in the doorway who let her inside.
The third and final birthday party for the week was for the husband of a woman who was helping Didi with some of her architecture work. Their whole family was staying in the village this summer though they were from outside of Delhi themselves. Maya and Didi invited Sneha, Didi's current intern from Pune, and I to join in. I was to be assist pizza cook and bringer of the entertainment: “The Lord of the Rings” movies.
Making pizza together is something that my family has done together for as long as I can remember, and probably about as often as once a month by the time I was in high school. I love making home made pizza. Not only is it delicious and fun, it brings back many warm fuzzy feelings from home. I didn't mention that to Maya when invited, I just enthusiastically accepted her invitation. I was right in the middle of things, spreading the dough onto the pans, and putting on the sauce and toppings. Maya was so impressed by how nicely I got the dough to spread out and how lovely all the pizzas looked that I am now hired as her pizza cook. I look forward to making more pizza later on. It was a blast, especially with the two young kids hanging around and helping. It turned out that “The Fellowship of the Ring” was a little too intense and detailed for their young son to deal with. We frequently had to pause for breathers and questions. Eventually, their whole family got tired, so they went home. Maya, Sneha, and I did see the movie through to the end though. It was an enjoyable evening, to be sure.
Although the monsoon season is scheduled to start on July 15th here, we have been getting daily rain for some time now. And lately, it's been growing in intensity. Though we still haven't had an all-day rain yet, I think it's safe to say that the monsoons have already started. Although I may leave my home on a sunny afternoon, I can never leave my umbrella behind. Clouds build up quickly in the mountains, and just as quickly descend into the valley.
So, with my umbrella in hand, I soldier on through my last three days of class, a review session, and a test. Then there's that web site to finish and launch. After that, I'm taking a much-needed break.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Re-Entry
I apologize for going so long between entries. I am now safely back in Himachal Pradesh and working again, though my re-entry has been a bit chaotic. Before, I go into that, however, I'll give you a short summary of the remainder of my travels.
It has been a few weeks since I wrote this, but I didn't get a chance to post it until now. Since that time, my family has come to visit and gone again, and I have resumed my classes once more.
After Biwako, I had some adventures around Kyoto itself. At my host mother's recommendation, I checked out Ryouanji, a temple in western Kyoto famous for its zen rock garden. (Though my host father would say, “It's only rocks.”) Aside from the peaceful rocks, it is situated around a lovely little pond, which, at that time, was surrounded by flowering sakura trees. That day, I also investigated the Nishijin Textile Center. I happened to walk in just before a kimono fashion show was beginning, so I managed to get front row standing room. The rest of the center largely consisted of vendors, a few weaving demonstrations, a small museum on kimono production, and a place where you could get yourself dressed up in kimono for a hefty fee. Following those two stops, I finally accomplished my goal of walking the Tetsugaku-no-Michi, the Philosopher's Path, during hanami. The path runs along a small stream in eastern Kyoto, starting from Ginkakuji, the Silver Pavillion. Overhanging the stream are hundreds of beautiful sakura trees. So, getting myself some sakura flavored ice cream, I strolled under fully-bloomed cherry trees for a good half hour.
I finished up my time in Kansai with Easter. The small church I attended, Agape Christian Fellowship, had a very nice Easter service, and invited me to sing two solo pieces as special music for the day. Even though I had only been with them for three weeks, before the service was over, they laid on hands and prayed for me. Being able to be with my old church for those three weeks was one of the highlights of my trip.
From there, I took a night bus up to Tokyo. I was stunned at just how much easier it is to sleep on a Japanese bus than an Indian one. No crazy, curving roads, no compulsive and constant honking. Well, go figure. In Tokyo, I stayed with the Shansi Fellows who work at Obirin University, out in Machida. I arrived very early in the morning, and only knowing how to get as far as the university campus, I crossed my fingers and hoped I wouldn't get lost. Fortunately, I ran into Ben, the senior fellow there, at the bus stand in Machida. We had never met before, but figured out pretty quickly that, as the only two foreigners at the station, we were both associated with Shansi.
During my week in Tokyo, I mostly took it easy. I went shopping in Akihabara, Asakusa, and Harajuku. I saw the Ghibli Museum, all about those creative people who brought us movies like “Spirited Away” and “Howl's Moving Castle.” It was very charming and I completely recommend it to anyone who loves Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. I went to some botanical gardens near Machida (famed from the Sailor Moon R movie). Unfortunately, the roses were not in season, though the sakura were still beautiful. I also went out to the man-made island, Odaiba, in southern Tokyo. The monorail out to it was a blast in and of it self. I had intended to go to the Museum of Future Technology, but it was closed the day I went. Instead, I made my way to a famous mall called Venus Fort. The second and third floors are made to look like some ritzy street out of Italy, with a projected sky on the ceiling that changes over the course of the day. Also in my Tokyo wanderings were three graduate school visits. One even included an informational interview entirely in Japanese. Although I was a little panicked at first when the put me in a conference room with a cup of coffee and a pile of information, it really proved to me that my Japanese is still very strong by the end of it.
From Tokyo, I flew to Seoul for a week in South Korea. My friend Jenny, who I studied abroad with at Kansai Gaidai, is currently attending grad school in Seoul, so she helped me find a hostel and met me on my way in.
On my first full day in Seoul, I did quite a bit of getting lost, but I eventually found Tokiko and her cousin, both of whom really love Korean dramas. With them, I visited a number of famous sites from their favorite TV shows, including an old castle and a cake shop. The next day, I went and saw sakura again, which were just at their peak in Seoul at the time. The following day was spent window shopping with Jenny. We met her friend for Korean Barbeque for dinner and some impassioned karaoke afterward.
From there, I bussed farther south to the small city of Gyeong-ju. It is famous as the capital of the Silla Empire, the first empire to unify the entire Korean peninsula. The fascinating thing about Gyeong-ju is that you would turn a corner on a busy street and come across a series of huge royal burial mounds. Sights like that were everywhere. Near to the city there are countless other old structures and artifacts. Only there for three days, I saw only a handful of them.
Perhaps most impressive were the massive Bulguksa temple complex and Seokguram Grotto just up the mountain behind it. After visiting the temple, I took a shuttle bus up to the grotto. It was so high up the mountain that the entire path to it was shrouded in clouds, making for a mystical experience. Inside a small cave, there are stunning stone carvings of the Buddha and other guardians, in a style very much like what I saw in the Ajunta Caves in central India. Also interesting was the Sea Tomb of King Munmu, the first Silla unifier himself. He had his tomb built at sea, just off the shore, in the hopes that he would become a dragon after his death to protect the country from Japanese pirates. There wasn't much to see, more than a few rocks poking out of the surf, but the idea intrigued me. A short walk away were the remains of a temple that his son built, with the hope of housing the dragon when he wanted to come ashore. Closer to Gyeong-ju proper, I also went to see East Asia's oldest standing astrological observatory. It was a tall bottle-shaped tower, not at all what I would have imagined.
From there, I returned to Seoul for the night and had dinner with Jenny again, before flying back to Delhi via Kuala Lampur. I had originally planned to fly through Bangkok and spend the night in that airport, but with the escalating political tensions in Thailand, I decided to change my ticket at the last minute. This added to a bit of departure chaos, but worked out fine in the end.
Re-entering India was a shock. Coming from East Asia, Japan and Korea in particular, where everything is orderly, quiet, and clean, Delhi was overwhelming. Thankfully, Anya was in town to meet her friend Margaret as she flew in as well. Otherwise, I don't know if I would have been able to handle the chaos, noise, and smells of Delhi with as much calm as I did. We saw a not-particularly-enjoyable Hindi film, but it was in an air-conditioned theater, and had dinner before I hopped on yet another night bus back up to Himachal.
I appreciate the relative peace of where I am here. People are far friendlier up here in the village, and there is just so much less going on. You can hardly call the village quiet though, with the cows, roosters, dogs, and other animals, not to mention the occasional car horns going up and down the road and the sunrise and sunset temple music that blares across the village. That is a kind of noise I can handle though.
I am teaching again. So far, I have two classes of beginning English, one after the other in the afternoons. Although I have only had two class sessions so far, I am already loving my students. This round, both classes are almost entirely girls, and the girls in my classes are largely those that are very involved in the Jagori Youth Groups. They have a confidence about them that I haven't seen in other village girls. It's that sort of thing that tells me Jagori really is doing good work.
TARA Center also has a new puppy named Sasha. She's cute and energetic, but really doesn't know her manners. I'm making it a small project of mine to try and teach her how to behave better around people.
Getting registered at the Foreigner Registration Office is also a story that should be told. It's a good example of how things tend to work here.
On my visa, it says that I need to register with the local FRO within 14 days of arriving in India if I intend to stay longer than 180 days. Trying to find a time that worked well for Anya to come along with me wound up taking me to day twelve of fourteen. The afternoon I went, there was a scheduled power outage for that entire area of Dharmshala. While there were plenty of people there waiting to register, the FRO officer refused to sign anything until the power came back. I waited until the office closed, but the power never came back.
The next day I got up early and headed straight for the office with Anya, hoping to get the process over with before my afternoon classes. We arrived just as it opened, filled out four copies of the registration form and took them up to the desk, only to be told that I wasn't supposed to re-register all over again. I just needed to bring him my registration papers from last time and he would sign them again. Of course, those registration papers were back in my house in Rakkar. We took the bus back, and I retrieved my papers. Alone this time, I turned around right away and caught the bus back into Dharmshala again. This time, when I arrived at the FRO office, there were about fifty Tibetans waiting to register before me. I began to wonder if I would make it back in time for my classes. Someone finally told me that there was a shorter line just for women, and so I waited there instead. When I reached the counter at last, the FRO officer signed my paper and gave me three more months of permitted residency, instead of the six I was hoping for. He told me to come back in August, and he'd give me six more then.
Had something like this happened to me even nine months ago, I would have been upset, angry, and ready to give up. This short time that I have been in India so far certainly has taught me a lot of patience.
It has been a few weeks since I wrote this, but I didn't get a chance to post it until now. Since that time, my family has come to visit and gone again, and I have resumed my classes once more.
After Biwako, I had some adventures around Kyoto itself. At my host mother's recommendation, I checked out Ryouanji, a temple in western Kyoto famous for its zen rock garden. (Though my host father would say, “It's only rocks.”) Aside from the peaceful rocks, it is situated around a lovely little pond, which, at that time, was surrounded by flowering sakura trees. That day, I also investigated the Nishijin Textile Center. I happened to walk in just before a kimono fashion show was beginning, so I managed to get front row standing room. The rest of the center largely consisted of vendors, a few weaving demonstrations, a small museum on kimono production, and a place where you could get yourself dressed up in kimono for a hefty fee. Following those two stops, I finally accomplished my goal of walking the Tetsugaku-no-Michi, the Philosopher's Path, during hanami. The path runs along a small stream in eastern Kyoto, starting from Ginkakuji, the Silver Pavillion. Overhanging the stream are hundreds of beautiful sakura trees. So, getting myself some sakura flavored ice cream, I strolled under fully-bloomed cherry trees for a good half hour.
I finished up my time in Kansai with Easter. The small church I attended, Agape Christian Fellowship, had a very nice Easter service, and invited me to sing two solo pieces as special music for the day. Even though I had only been with them for three weeks, before the service was over, they laid on hands and prayed for me. Being able to be with my old church for those three weeks was one of the highlights of my trip.
From there, I took a night bus up to Tokyo. I was stunned at just how much easier it is to sleep on a Japanese bus than an Indian one. No crazy, curving roads, no compulsive and constant honking. Well, go figure. In Tokyo, I stayed with the Shansi Fellows who work at Obirin University, out in Machida. I arrived very early in the morning, and only knowing how to get as far as the university campus, I crossed my fingers and hoped I wouldn't get lost. Fortunately, I ran into Ben, the senior fellow there, at the bus stand in Machida. We had never met before, but figured out pretty quickly that, as the only two foreigners at the station, we were both associated with Shansi.
During my week in Tokyo, I mostly took it easy. I went shopping in Akihabara, Asakusa, and Harajuku. I saw the Ghibli Museum, all about those creative people who brought us movies like “Spirited Away” and “Howl's Moving Castle.” It was very charming and I completely recommend it to anyone who loves Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. I went to some botanical gardens near Machida (famed from the Sailor Moon R movie). Unfortunately, the roses were not in season, though the sakura were still beautiful. I also went out to the man-made island, Odaiba, in southern Tokyo. The monorail out to it was a blast in and of it self. I had intended to go to the Museum of Future Technology, but it was closed the day I went. Instead, I made my way to a famous mall called Venus Fort. The second and third floors are made to look like some ritzy street out of Italy, with a projected sky on the ceiling that changes over the course of the day. Also in my Tokyo wanderings were three graduate school visits. One even included an informational interview entirely in Japanese. Although I was a little panicked at first when the put me in a conference room with a cup of coffee and a pile of information, it really proved to me that my Japanese is still very strong by the end of it.
From Tokyo, I flew to Seoul for a week in South Korea. My friend Jenny, who I studied abroad with at Kansai Gaidai, is currently attending grad school in Seoul, so she helped me find a hostel and met me on my way in.
On my first full day in Seoul, I did quite a bit of getting lost, but I eventually found Tokiko and her cousin, both of whom really love Korean dramas. With them, I visited a number of famous sites from their favorite TV shows, including an old castle and a cake shop. The next day, I went and saw sakura again, which were just at their peak in Seoul at the time. The following day was spent window shopping with Jenny. We met her friend for Korean Barbeque for dinner and some impassioned karaoke afterward.
From there, I bussed farther south to the small city of Gyeong-ju. It is famous as the capital of the Silla Empire, the first empire to unify the entire Korean peninsula. The fascinating thing about Gyeong-ju is that you would turn a corner on a busy street and come across a series of huge royal burial mounds. Sights like that were everywhere. Near to the city there are countless other old structures and artifacts. Only there for three days, I saw only a handful of them.
Perhaps most impressive were the massive Bulguksa temple complex and Seokguram Grotto just up the mountain behind it. After visiting the temple, I took a shuttle bus up to the grotto. It was so high up the mountain that the entire path to it was shrouded in clouds, making for a mystical experience. Inside a small cave, there are stunning stone carvings of the Buddha and other guardians, in a style very much like what I saw in the Ajunta Caves in central India. Also interesting was the Sea Tomb of King Munmu, the first Silla unifier himself. He had his tomb built at sea, just off the shore, in the hopes that he would become a dragon after his death to protect the country from Japanese pirates. There wasn't much to see, more than a few rocks poking out of the surf, but the idea intrigued me. A short walk away were the remains of a temple that his son built, with the hope of housing the dragon when he wanted to come ashore. Closer to Gyeong-ju proper, I also went to see East Asia's oldest standing astrological observatory. It was a tall bottle-shaped tower, not at all what I would have imagined.
From there, I returned to Seoul for the night and had dinner with Jenny again, before flying back to Delhi via Kuala Lampur. I had originally planned to fly through Bangkok and spend the night in that airport, but with the escalating political tensions in Thailand, I decided to change my ticket at the last minute. This added to a bit of departure chaos, but worked out fine in the end.
Re-entering India was a shock. Coming from East Asia, Japan and Korea in particular, where everything is orderly, quiet, and clean, Delhi was overwhelming. Thankfully, Anya was in town to meet her friend Margaret as she flew in as well. Otherwise, I don't know if I would have been able to handle the chaos, noise, and smells of Delhi with as much calm as I did. We saw a not-particularly-enjoyable Hindi film, but it was in an air-conditioned theater, and had dinner before I hopped on yet another night bus back up to Himachal.
I appreciate the relative peace of where I am here. People are far friendlier up here in the village, and there is just so much less going on. You can hardly call the village quiet though, with the cows, roosters, dogs, and other animals, not to mention the occasional car horns going up and down the road and the sunrise and sunset temple music that blares across the village. That is a kind of noise I can handle though.
I am teaching again. So far, I have two classes of beginning English, one after the other in the afternoons. Although I have only had two class sessions so far, I am already loving my students. This round, both classes are almost entirely girls, and the girls in my classes are largely those that are very involved in the Jagori Youth Groups. They have a confidence about them that I haven't seen in other village girls. It's that sort of thing that tells me Jagori really is doing good work.
TARA Center also has a new puppy named Sasha. She's cute and energetic, but really doesn't know her manners. I'm making it a small project of mine to try and teach her how to behave better around people.
Getting registered at the Foreigner Registration Office is also a story that should be told. It's a good example of how things tend to work here.
On my visa, it says that I need to register with the local FRO within 14 days of arriving in India if I intend to stay longer than 180 days. Trying to find a time that worked well for Anya to come along with me wound up taking me to day twelve of fourteen. The afternoon I went, there was a scheduled power outage for that entire area of Dharmshala. While there were plenty of people there waiting to register, the FRO officer refused to sign anything until the power came back. I waited until the office closed, but the power never came back.
The next day I got up early and headed straight for the office with Anya, hoping to get the process over with before my afternoon classes. We arrived just as it opened, filled out four copies of the registration form and took them up to the desk, only to be told that I wasn't supposed to re-register all over again. I just needed to bring him my registration papers from last time and he would sign them again. Of course, those registration papers were back in my house in Rakkar. We took the bus back, and I retrieved my papers. Alone this time, I turned around right away and caught the bus back into Dharmshala again. This time, when I arrived at the FRO office, there were about fifty Tibetans waiting to register before me. I began to wonder if I would make it back in time for my classes. Someone finally told me that there was a shorter line just for women, and so I waited there instead. When I reached the counter at last, the FRO officer signed my paper and gave me three more months of permitted residency, instead of the six I was hoping for. He told me to come back in August, and he'd give me six more then.
Had something like this happened to me even nine months ago, I would have been upset, angry, and ready to give up. This short time that I have been in India so far certainly has taught me a lot of patience.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Return to Kansai
I have now been in Japan for three weeks, and am as much in love with this country as I have ever been. It is a relief to be in a place where I understand the culture, history, and language. Coming back to Kansai almost felt like coming home to me. Being able to say “tadaima!” (“I'm home”) as I set foot into the Ando house sealed that feeling.
My good friend Tokiko, whom I met while teaching Japanese at Mori no Ike, a part of the Concordia Language villages, has been gracious enough to let me stay at her house since I have been here. It is in Tarumi, a little ways outside of Kobe. She is about the same age as my mother and her parents, who live with her, are in their eighties. It has been wonderful to stay in a home atmosphere with nice conversation and good home-cooked food. When I first arrived, I was constantly slipping accidental Hindi, but in a matter of days, my fluency returned, even if I can't remember some of the more advanced grammar patterns and vocabulary. I guess that comes with staying with people who don't speak English. They taught me to play majong (which I still don't understand very well, but managed to win anyway), and I, in turn, taught them cribbage.
A lot of my time has been spent relaxing around the house, reading, watching Korean dramas with Tokiko and her mother, and running short errands with them. I have been recruited as 'young, healthy bag-carrier' on a few occasions. However, last week, I managed to catch a cold that kept me at home for two days, then throw out my lower back while trying to pick up my futon for cleaning. That has made me take things a lot more slowly, and I am still recovering.
Some fun outings I have had with Tokiko or her friend Tsurusaki-san have been to Suma Temple, the Sumaura ropeway, lunch and fabric shopping in Kobe, a takoyaki restaurant, and the Yume Butai on Awaji Island.
One day when I felt the need for a walk, and Tokiko's parents didn't like the idea of me wandering through a park on my own, they recruited Tsurusaki-san to take me to the temple near her house. It was the first day of spring, so before the temple, we cleaned and put flowers on the graves of her parents and her middle son. It was all done with an air of pleasant remembrance rather than sadness. She even had me pose for pictures next to both graves. Suma Temple is really one of the most interesting temples I have been too. It has neither spectacular architecture nor gardens, but it has lots of statues of different kinds, and a small museum about a historical warrior from that area. Then we went up the mountainside on the Sumaura Ropeway. At the top, there was a tower that had a spectacular view of the surrounding area and Kansai bay. From up there, I could see far inland. Along the coast, I could see almost from Himeji all the way past Kobe and Osaka. The tower also had a slowly spinning cafe, that would take visitors on a slow panorama as they had their tea and cake. (To get to Suma Temple, take the Sanyo/Hanshin line to Sumadera Station and walk straight up the road to the temple. For the ropeway, go to the Sanyo/Hanshin Sumaurakouen Station. The ropeway platform is a part of that station.)
I went into Kobe on a number of occasions. I must admit that I'm disappointed in the “Lonely Planet” for making it seem as if there is nothing to do in the city and surrounding area. I will do my best to disprove this, and provide what I can here. On one particular time, Tokiko and I went to Ygrekplus, a French restaurant with a bakery on the first floor. The lunch set special was absolutely delicious, and had a decidedly Japanese flair to it with lots of seafood. There was also an all-you-can eat bread table with many varieties of fresh baked breads. The desserts looked amazing, but were somewhat expensive. (To get there, get off at the JR Sannomia Station and head south from the central exit. It's about two blocks down, on the corner.) Just across the street from it was a great craft and fabric store, where I spent the better part of an hour after lunch.
Another day, I went by myself to the Yume Butai gardens on Awaji Island. The bridge to Awaji is only one stop down the JR Kobe line from where I have been staying, at Maiko Station. I only had to climb the stairs up onto the bridge and take a bus across to the island. A part of a massive Westin hotel, the gardens sprawl for many acres. I didn't visit all of them, but what I did see was beautiful. The greenhouse was stunning. Take traditional Japanese gardening aesthetic, add modern Japanese art styles and plans from all over the world, and you have the Yume Butai greenhouse. I had never pondered what a Japanese cactus garden would look like before, but when I saw one for the first time, it made a lot of sense. As per gardening aesthetics, everything was carefully placed and arranged as part of a grand plan. Outside, the main garden was full of tulips coming into bloom, while various paths led to impressive overlooks of the bay.
On Sundays, I have been going to my old church, Agape Christian Fellowship, that meets in the Keihan Kuzuha station building. Even though it means getting up early and taking a 90-minute, multiple-transfer train ride to get there. It is great to see all of the old members again, and meet the new ones as well. Since I have been there, one of the members bought an old cafe that the church is now working to renovate to use as fellowship space as well as an independent business. After each service, I have gone with some of the members to eat take-out lunch there and chat for a while. This Sunday, Easter, I will be singing a few solos as special music for them. Pastor Takeshi liked to ask me to sing for them back when I was studying abroad, so I thought I would bring some music along and offer to sing again. That offer was taken up with enthusiasm.
This week, since Tokiko is on a business trip, I have left the Ando house and done some adventuring on my own. On Monday night, I met Masami, who stayed at my house as an exchange student when I was a junior in high school, in Osaka for dinner and karaoke. It was great to see her again, and that she was doing so well. I had gone to her graduation at Kansai Gaidai a week before, but only had a minute to say congratulations before she hurried off. She is already starting her job as a banker this week, and hardly had time to see me, but I am glad it worked out. That night, I went back to Suma and spent the night in Tsurusaki-san's spare room.
The next day, I headed back for the Hirakatashi area to meet my old host family. Mayu has hardly grown, but she has matured. My host parents seem to be the same as ever. Since I stayed with them, they moved into a new house closer to the middle school Mayu wanted to go to. Now that she is in, since it is a combined middle-high school, she doesn't have to worry about entrance exams until college. It is good to see her playing more and studying less, like a kid should be. We walked up the river by their house and did some hanami (cherry blossom viewing), while eating snacks.
Back when I was studying abroad, I quickly bonded with Mayu over our shared love of Pokemon. She used to ask me to get out my DS and play Pokemon just so she could watch. Now she has a DS of her own, and she was very excited about the prospect of trading Pokemon for foreign versions. She sent me hunting for some of her favorites, and we did a bunch of trading. It was nerdy girl bonding time.
I also got a kimono review session with my host mother. She had taught me how to dress myself in a kimono and Nagoya style obi before, but I had forgotten a few steps. We practiced for at least an hour, and she even showed me a few different obi tying techniques. The big surprise, however, is that she had a bag full of kimono things that she and her cousin didn't need any more. It included four kimono, three obi, and one nagajuban (under kimono). That inspired me to go shopping the next day for more kimono accessories to complete my kimono kit. It is amazing just how many tiny details go into wearing a kimono. There are so many pieces that you never see, used simple to make the garment look perfect and stay that way. The next day, we biked to a kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) restaurant for lunch. I must have had a silly grin on my face the entire time as I watched little plates of sushi and cake chug past, occasionally snatching one that looked tasty. From there, we said our goodbyes and I headed for Kyoto.
Kyoto is, as of yet, my favorite city in the world. That I hadn't been there yet in this trip was bugging me, so I finally took my chance. I reserved places to stay for two nights and made this my base of operations for three days. I started by going to Fushimi Inori Shrine in southern Kyoto. It is famous for its seemingly endless tunnels of brilliant red-orange torii gates. If you have see “Memoirs of a Geisha” you will have seen those torii in a brief scene where the main character is racing through them.
I then spent the evening in Gion, also famous from that movie, as it is the Geisha district itself. I, however, was there for the used kimono shops. I found good deals on the pieces I still needed to complete my kimono kit, while perplexing many shop workers by going straight for the undergarments instead of the kimonos. It's fun to shop for these kind of things, because the women working there are generally delighted to discover that a young, foreign girl is seriously interested in the art of kimono.
My hotel was the Kyoto Capsule Ryoukan. It wasn't my first choice, but was the only place I could find on short notice. However, it turned out to be perfect for my needs. One room had eight or ten bunk bed-like capsules. Each had a locker for belongings, and the bed itself had a blind that you could snap down for privacy. Inside the bed capsules were TVs, internet and plug hook-ups, as well as a built-in alarm clock. It was incredibly clean and comfortable. Close to the Kyoto station for convenience, I highly recommend it for solo travelers. It is also one of the least expensive places to stay in the Kyoto area.
Today, my adventures took me into Shiga-ken to the shores of Lake Biwa and the Hikone Castle. As a castle-lover and a lake-lover, I've been curious about Hikone-jo for a while. It was a drizzly day, but I still had a good time. I thought I would do a proper hanami and have lunch under the blooming sakura flowers, so I bought a bentou (lunch box) and found myself a nice rock to sit on in the castle gardens. Propping up my umbrella underneath the mostly un-bloomed buds, I had my lunch. I'm sure several people laughed a the silly foreigner, but I enjoyed myself. The great thing about bud-viewing on a rainy day, is that you have the whole picnic to yourself.
The castle itself is the smallest I have seen so far, but it was still very beautiful. There was a lovely plum orchard that was still in bloom, and a number of pretty water birds in the moat. The top of the castle tower provided a great (though misty) view of Biwako and the surrounding area. It is perched on a high hill rising out of the plains right on the shores of Lake Biwa. If I were a feudal lord, I would have put my castle right there too.
I only have a few more days left in Kansai before I head up to Tokyo on Monday night, and I plan to make the most of them. This time in Japan really has cemented my love for the country. It will be hard for me to leave. Though, I am seriously considering graduate school in Japan once I am finished with my Shansi Fellowship in India.
My good friend Tokiko, whom I met while teaching Japanese at Mori no Ike, a part of the Concordia Language villages, has been gracious enough to let me stay at her house since I have been here. It is in Tarumi, a little ways outside of Kobe. She is about the same age as my mother and her parents, who live with her, are in their eighties. It has been wonderful to stay in a home atmosphere with nice conversation and good home-cooked food. When I first arrived, I was constantly slipping accidental Hindi, but in a matter of days, my fluency returned, even if I can't remember some of the more advanced grammar patterns and vocabulary. I guess that comes with staying with people who don't speak English. They taught me to play majong (which I still don't understand very well, but managed to win anyway), and I, in turn, taught them cribbage.
A lot of my time has been spent relaxing around the house, reading, watching Korean dramas with Tokiko and her mother, and running short errands with them. I have been recruited as 'young, healthy bag-carrier' on a few occasions. However, last week, I managed to catch a cold that kept me at home for two days, then throw out my lower back while trying to pick up my futon for cleaning. That has made me take things a lot more slowly, and I am still recovering.
Some fun outings I have had with Tokiko or her friend Tsurusaki-san have been to Suma Temple, the Sumaura ropeway, lunch and fabric shopping in Kobe, a takoyaki restaurant, and the Yume Butai on Awaji Island.
One day when I felt the need for a walk, and Tokiko's parents didn't like the idea of me wandering through a park on my own, they recruited Tsurusaki-san to take me to the temple near her house. It was the first day of spring, so before the temple, we cleaned and put flowers on the graves of her parents and her middle son. It was all done with an air of pleasant remembrance rather than sadness. She even had me pose for pictures next to both graves. Suma Temple is really one of the most interesting temples I have been too. It has neither spectacular architecture nor gardens, but it has lots of statues of different kinds, and a small museum about a historical warrior from that area. Then we went up the mountainside on the Sumaura Ropeway. At the top, there was a tower that had a spectacular view of the surrounding area and Kansai bay. From up there, I could see far inland. Along the coast, I could see almost from Himeji all the way past Kobe and Osaka. The tower also had a slowly spinning cafe, that would take visitors on a slow panorama as they had their tea and cake. (To get to Suma Temple, take the Sanyo/Hanshin line to Sumadera Station and walk straight up the road to the temple. For the ropeway, go to the Sanyo/Hanshin Sumaurakouen Station. The ropeway platform is a part of that station.)
I went into Kobe on a number of occasions. I must admit that I'm disappointed in the “Lonely Planet” for making it seem as if there is nothing to do in the city and surrounding area. I will do my best to disprove this, and provide what I can here. On one particular time, Tokiko and I went to Ygrekplus, a French restaurant with a bakery on the first floor. The lunch set special was absolutely delicious, and had a decidedly Japanese flair to it with lots of seafood. There was also an all-you-can eat bread table with many varieties of fresh baked breads. The desserts looked amazing, but were somewhat expensive. (To get there, get off at the JR Sannomia Station and head south from the central exit. It's about two blocks down, on the corner.) Just across the street from it was a great craft and fabric store, where I spent the better part of an hour after lunch.
Another day, I went by myself to the Yume Butai gardens on Awaji Island. The bridge to Awaji is only one stop down the JR Kobe line from where I have been staying, at Maiko Station. I only had to climb the stairs up onto the bridge and take a bus across to the island. A part of a massive Westin hotel, the gardens sprawl for many acres. I didn't visit all of them, but what I did see was beautiful. The greenhouse was stunning. Take traditional Japanese gardening aesthetic, add modern Japanese art styles and plans from all over the world, and you have the Yume Butai greenhouse. I had never pondered what a Japanese cactus garden would look like before, but when I saw one for the first time, it made a lot of sense. As per gardening aesthetics, everything was carefully placed and arranged as part of a grand plan. Outside, the main garden was full of tulips coming into bloom, while various paths led to impressive overlooks of the bay.
On Sundays, I have been going to my old church, Agape Christian Fellowship, that meets in the Keihan Kuzuha station building. Even though it means getting up early and taking a 90-minute, multiple-transfer train ride to get there. It is great to see all of the old members again, and meet the new ones as well. Since I have been there, one of the members bought an old cafe that the church is now working to renovate to use as fellowship space as well as an independent business. After each service, I have gone with some of the members to eat take-out lunch there and chat for a while. This Sunday, Easter, I will be singing a few solos as special music for them. Pastor Takeshi liked to ask me to sing for them back when I was studying abroad, so I thought I would bring some music along and offer to sing again. That offer was taken up with enthusiasm.
This week, since Tokiko is on a business trip, I have left the Ando house and done some adventuring on my own. On Monday night, I met Masami, who stayed at my house as an exchange student when I was a junior in high school, in Osaka for dinner and karaoke. It was great to see her again, and that she was doing so well. I had gone to her graduation at Kansai Gaidai a week before, but only had a minute to say congratulations before she hurried off. She is already starting her job as a banker this week, and hardly had time to see me, but I am glad it worked out. That night, I went back to Suma and spent the night in Tsurusaki-san's spare room.
The next day, I headed back for the Hirakatashi area to meet my old host family. Mayu has hardly grown, but she has matured. My host parents seem to be the same as ever. Since I stayed with them, they moved into a new house closer to the middle school Mayu wanted to go to. Now that she is in, since it is a combined middle-high school, she doesn't have to worry about entrance exams until college. It is good to see her playing more and studying less, like a kid should be. We walked up the river by their house and did some hanami (cherry blossom viewing), while eating snacks.
Back when I was studying abroad, I quickly bonded with Mayu over our shared love of Pokemon. She used to ask me to get out my DS and play Pokemon just so she could watch. Now she has a DS of her own, and she was very excited about the prospect of trading Pokemon for foreign versions. She sent me hunting for some of her favorites, and we did a bunch of trading. It was nerdy girl bonding time.
I also got a kimono review session with my host mother. She had taught me how to dress myself in a kimono and Nagoya style obi before, but I had forgotten a few steps. We practiced for at least an hour, and she even showed me a few different obi tying techniques. The big surprise, however, is that she had a bag full of kimono things that she and her cousin didn't need any more. It included four kimono, three obi, and one nagajuban (under kimono). That inspired me to go shopping the next day for more kimono accessories to complete my kimono kit. It is amazing just how many tiny details go into wearing a kimono. There are so many pieces that you never see, used simple to make the garment look perfect and stay that way. The next day, we biked to a kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) restaurant for lunch. I must have had a silly grin on my face the entire time as I watched little plates of sushi and cake chug past, occasionally snatching one that looked tasty. From there, we said our goodbyes and I headed for Kyoto.
Kyoto is, as of yet, my favorite city in the world. That I hadn't been there yet in this trip was bugging me, so I finally took my chance. I reserved places to stay for two nights and made this my base of operations for three days. I started by going to Fushimi Inori Shrine in southern Kyoto. It is famous for its seemingly endless tunnels of brilliant red-orange torii gates. If you have see “Memoirs of a Geisha” you will have seen those torii in a brief scene where the main character is racing through them.
I then spent the evening in Gion, also famous from that movie, as it is the Geisha district itself. I, however, was there for the used kimono shops. I found good deals on the pieces I still needed to complete my kimono kit, while perplexing many shop workers by going straight for the undergarments instead of the kimonos. It's fun to shop for these kind of things, because the women working there are generally delighted to discover that a young, foreign girl is seriously interested in the art of kimono.
My hotel was the Kyoto Capsule Ryoukan. It wasn't my first choice, but was the only place I could find on short notice. However, it turned out to be perfect for my needs. One room had eight or ten bunk bed-like capsules. Each had a locker for belongings, and the bed itself had a blind that you could snap down for privacy. Inside the bed capsules were TVs, internet and plug hook-ups, as well as a built-in alarm clock. It was incredibly clean and comfortable. Close to the Kyoto station for convenience, I highly recommend it for solo travelers. It is also one of the least expensive places to stay in the Kyoto area.
Today, my adventures took me into Shiga-ken to the shores of Lake Biwa and the Hikone Castle. As a castle-lover and a lake-lover, I've been curious about Hikone-jo for a while. It was a drizzly day, but I still had a good time. I thought I would do a proper hanami and have lunch under the blooming sakura flowers, so I bought a bentou (lunch box) and found myself a nice rock to sit on in the castle gardens. Propping up my umbrella underneath the mostly un-bloomed buds, I had my lunch. I'm sure several people laughed a the silly foreigner, but I enjoyed myself. The great thing about bud-viewing on a rainy day, is that you have the whole picnic to yourself.
The castle itself is the smallest I have seen so far, but it was still very beautiful. There was a lovely plum orchard that was still in bloom, and a number of pretty water birds in the moat. The top of the castle tower provided a great (though misty) view of Biwako and the surrounding area. It is perched on a high hill rising out of the plains right on the shores of Lake Biwa. If I were a feudal lord, I would have put my castle right there too.
I only have a few more days left in Kansai before I head up to Tokyo on Monday night, and I plan to make the most of them. This time in Japan really has cemented my love for the country. It will be hard for me to leave. Though, I am seriously considering graduate school in Japan once I am finished with my Shansi Fellowship in India.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Trapsing Around China
Because of the Great Firewall of China, I was unable to post my blog while in the country, and then I had trouble finding a plug adapter in Japan. I apologize for the lateness of this entry.
James met me at the Beijing airport when I arrived and I spent two days there with him before heading to Taigu, where he and several other Shansi Fellows teach. We went to the Forbidden City and Ho Hi on one day. The Forbidden City is right across from Tienanmen Square, so I caught a glimpse of that as well. The Forbidden City itself was impressively huge, but not so impressive as many movies make it out to be (ie- Mulan). I admit I was a bit disappointed. That isn't to say that it wasn't awesome anyway. From there, we walked down some back streets of preserved houses from before the Cultural Revolution to Ho Hi. As I understand it, Ho Hi is a small district of very old buildings around a lake. It was lovely, but we only got to walk through it, as we were in a bit of a hurry. The following day, I followed James on a few errands, and in doing, experienced more of Beijing.
On Sunday, I attended my first church service in a long time. The music was great and the sermon was fantastic. It was a really refreshing experience. However, one thing gnawed at me. We had to show our IDs at the door to prove that we were foreigners. It is illegal for Chinese nationals to attend the service. After church that day, we took an express train to Taiuen, the provincial capital of Shanxi, and then took a car to Taigu.
My time in Taigu was plentifully relaxing. After several busy and even stressful months, I enjoyed the peace. I attended several English classes during my time there for use in other Shansi teachers' lessons. It gave me lots of ideas for activities to take back to India with me and made me excited to start teaching again.
In the evenings, we always go out for dinner and usually find some reason to party. There have been birthdays, open mic nights, and dance parties. With four Shansi fellows and three more foreign teachers, there is an instant party when you get them all together.
The food in the area was amazing. I always liked Chinese food back in the US, but this is far better and, usually, quite different. There are many stews, soups, dumplings, and noodles. Vinegar is a big part of the experience here. If it's not already in the dishes, people will dip their food in some. It took some getting used to, but now I think it has grown on me.
I spent most of my time relaxing and hanging out, but I did take a few touristy adventures with some of the others there. First, we went to Ping Yao, a short train ride from Taigu. Ping Yao is one of the best, if not the best, preserved ancient city in China. While it has become very touristy within the walls, it still somewhat functions as a town with houses and businesses. One ticket can get you into any of the many temples, museums, and mansions all around the city. It is beautiful and definitely a site worth seeing. The day we went, however, was one of the coldest I have experienced since leaving Minnesota. So, we spent much of the day hopping restaurants and tea shops. I had my first hamburger in months, and somehow it wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be.
Taiyuen is the nearest large city to Taigu, and errands took all of us there on one Thursday evening. We found an Indian restaurant there and had dinner. The whole experience made me laugh and long to be back in India all at once. For one, the ambiance was very glitzy. I think it was trying to look like some raja's palace. The staff all wore jazzed up salwar kameez, made of fabrics you would never see on clothing in India. The food itself was tasty, but not quite Indian. Everything was very gravy-heavy, even aloo gobi, which is a usually a pretty dry vegetable dish. The existence of a beef section on the menu also made me laugh. Their breads were pretty good, but all heavy like a pizza crust, not thin and fluffy like a good roti. It was nice to have a little taste of home, though.
Another outing was to the Kung Shanxi house in Taigu. Mr. Kung is an important figure in the history of the Oberlin Shansi Memorial Foundation, from which I am a fellow. Before there were Shansi teachers in China, Oberlin sent missionaries and built a hospital. Those missionaries were killed during the Boxer Rebellion, and their families started the foundation that is now sponsoring me in India. Kung's mother was treated in that hospital and he grew up around the missionaries, then attended Oberlin College. He returned, was a successful businessman, and became the richest man in China. He then founded the Shanxi Agricultural School, and the partnership between it and Oberlin began that still continues today in our four fellows.
The house itself was not his only house by any means, but as a house in his home town, it has special importance. It contains several museum-like galleries of different currencies from around China, through history, and even around the world, as well as artifacts and photos from prominent members of his family. There were no English explanations anywhere, so I had to rely on Anne and her Chinese tutor for explanations. It was especially fun to see the little room connected to Oberlin Shansi. There were pictures of the founders of the Memorial Foundation and the first four Shansi fellows to China. It made me feel, once again, that I was part of something much bigger than just Jagori.
On my last night with them, we all went into Taiyuen for a basketball game. The American star Marbury was playing with the local Shanxi team for a short period of time while selling shoes. None of us particularly liked Marbury, but we still wanted to see him in his last game in China anyway. It was an exciting game and the Shanxi team won. As a sizable group of foreigners in the second row by one of the baskets, we got some attention ourselves. We started the wave successfully several times, cheered, chanted, and made lots of noise. During half time and after the game, a number of reporters came over and wanted to talk. In one article the next day, we were called “the driving force of the game.” More simply stated, we were loud and excited.
After almost two weeks in Taigu, it was hard to leave. I really enjoyed the people and the atmosphere there. James went with me back to Beijing on another errand he had and passed me off to Mia, yet another Shansi fellow.
I only had a few days with Mia, but we made the best of it. She took me to a few fun neighborhoods in Bejing where we walked, window shopped, looked for fabric, and ate. We went to a Peking Opera show together as well. It was really fascinating with great costumes and an interesting plot. The singing style, warbly and more straight-tone than Western opera, took some getting used to, but I liked it by the end. The subtitles certainly helped, but were frequently too verbose to make any sense. My one complaint is that this particular play was really lacking in acrobatics.
I also attended one of Mia's classes. One particular group of her students is preparing to go to Nepal to teach Chinese. Since there is not a Nepali class at their university, they are taking English instead. I commandeered the class for an afternoon and taught them Devanagari script, the writing system for Hindi, Nepali, and a number of other South Asian languages. It was exciting to see all of them so excited to learn it, something that would be very useful to them in the not so far future.
After a much-delayed flight, I arrived in Japan. I have been staying near Kobe with my friends the Andos for about a week and a half now. It has been a good time with lots more relaxing, eating, and the added bonus of plenty of tea. I will be writing more about my adventures here in my next blog entry.
James met me at the Beijing airport when I arrived and I spent two days there with him before heading to Taigu, where he and several other Shansi Fellows teach. We went to the Forbidden City and Ho Hi on one day. The Forbidden City is right across from Tienanmen Square, so I caught a glimpse of that as well. The Forbidden City itself was impressively huge, but not so impressive as many movies make it out to be (ie- Mulan). I admit I was a bit disappointed. That isn't to say that it wasn't awesome anyway. From there, we walked down some back streets of preserved houses from before the Cultural Revolution to Ho Hi. As I understand it, Ho Hi is a small district of very old buildings around a lake. It was lovely, but we only got to walk through it, as we were in a bit of a hurry. The following day, I followed James on a few errands, and in doing, experienced more of Beijing.
On Sunday, I attended my first church service in a long time. The music was great and the sermon was fantastic. It was a really refreshing experience. However, one thing gnawed at me. We had to show our IDs at the door to prove that we were foreigners. It is illegal for Chinese nationals to attend the service. After church that day, we took an express train to Taiuen, the provincial capital of Shanxi, and then took a car to Taigu.
My time in Taigu was plentifully relaxing. After several busy and even stressful months, I enjoyed the peace. I attended several English classes during my time there for use in other Shansi teachers' lessons. It gave me lots of ideas for activities to take back to India with me and made me excited to start teaching again.
In the evenings, we always go out for dinner and usually find some reason to party. There have been birthdays, open mic nights, and dance parties. With four Shansi fellows and three more foreign teachers, there is an instant party when you get them all together.
The food in the area was amazing. I always liked Chinese food back in the US, but this is far better and, usually, quite different. There are many stews, soups, dumplings, and noodles. Vinegar is a big part of the experience here. If it's not already in the dishes, people will dip their food in some. It took some getting used to, but now I think it has grown on me.
I spent most of my time relaxing and hanging out, but I did take a few touristy adventures with some of the others there. First, we went to Ping Yao, a short train ride from Taigu. Ping Yao is one of the best, if not the best, preserved ancient city in China. While it has become very touristy within the walls, it still somewhat functions as a town with houses and businesses. One ticket can get you into any of the many temples, museums, and mansions all around the city. It is beautiful and definitely a site worth seeing. The day we went, however, was one of the coldest I have experienced since leaving Minnesota. So, we spent much of the day hopping restaurants and tea shops. I had my first hamburger in months, and somehow it wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be.
Taiyuen is the nearest large city to Taigu, and errands took all of us there on one Thursday evening. We found an Indian restaurant there and had dinner. The whole experience made me laugh and long to be back in India all at once. For one, the ambiance was very glitzy. I think it was trying to look like some raja's palace. The staff all wore jazzed up salwar kameez, made of fabrics you would never see on clothing in India. The food itself was tasty, but not quite Indian. Everything was very gravy-heavy, even aloo gobi, which is a usually a pretty dry vegetable dish. The existence of a beef section on the menu also made me laugh. Their breads were pretty good, but all heavy like a pizza crust, not thin and fluffy like a good roti. It was nice to have a little taste of home, though.
Another outing was to the Kung Shanxi house in Taigu. Mr. Kung is an important figure in the history of the Oberlin Shansi Memorial Foundation, from which I am a fellow. Before there were Shansi teachers in China, Oberlin sent missionaries and built a hospital. Those missionaries were killed during the Boxer Rebellion, and their families started the foundation that is now sponsoring me in India. Kung's mother was treated in that hospital and he grew up around the missionaries, then attended Oberlin College. He returned, was a successful businessman, and became the richest man in China. He then founded the Shanxi Agricultural School, and the partnership between it and Oberlin began that still continues today in our four fellows.
The house itself was not his only house by any means, but as a house in his home town, it has special importance. It contains several museum-like galleries of different currencies from around China, through history, and even around the world, as well as artifacts and photos from prominent members of his family. There were no English explanations anywhere, so I had to rely on Anne and her Chinese tutor for explanations. It was especially fun to see the little room connected to Oberlin Shansi. There were pictures of the founders of the Memorial Foundation and the first four Shansi fellows to China. It made me feel, once again, that I was part of something much bigger than just Jagori.
On my last night with them, we all went into Taiyuen for a basketball game. The American star Marbury was playing with the local Shanxi team for a short period of time while selling shoes. None of us particularly liked Marbury, but we still wanted to see him in his last game in China anyway. It was an exciting game and the Shanxi team won. As a sizable group of foreigners in the second row by one of the baskets, we got some attention ourselves. We started the wave successfully several times, cheered, chanted, and made lots of noise. During half time and after the game, a number of reporters came over and wanted to talk. In one article the next day, we were called “the driving force of the game.” More simply stated, we were loud and excited.
After almost two weeks in Taigu, it was hard to leave. I really enjoyed the people and the atmosphere there. James went with me back to Beijing on another errand he had and passed me off to Mia, yet another Shansi fellow.
I only had a few days with Mia, but we made the best of it. She took me to a few fun neighborhoods in Bejing where we walked, window shopped, looked for fabric, and ate. We went to a Peking Opera show together as well. It was really fascinating with great costumes and an interesting plot. The singing style, warbly and more straight-tone than Western opera, took some getting used to, but I liked it by the end. The subtitles certainly helped, but were frequently too verbose to make any sense. My one complaint is that this particular play was really lacking in acrobatics.
I also attended one of Mia's classes. One particular group of her students is preparing to go to Nepal to teach Chinese. Since there is not a Nepali class at their university, they are taking English instead. I commandeered the class for an afternoon and taught them Devanagari script, the writing system for Hindi, Nepali, and a number of other South Asian languages. It was exciting to see all of them so excited to learn it, something that would be very useful to them in the not so far future.
After a much-delayed flight, I arrived in Japan. I have been staying near Kobe with my friends the Andos for about a week and a half now. It has been a good time with lots more relaxing, eating, and the added bonus of plenty of tea. I will be writing more about my adventures here in my next blog entry.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Five days in Bangkok
My two month voyage has begun. After spending a few days in Delhi in which I had planned to get my China visa (but the visa center was closed for the week), I flew out to Thailand. Bangkok, on the whole, is a very nice city. The people are friendly, it's clean, orderly, the food is good, but the weather is hot already at this time of year.
I arrived very early in the morning and took an airport bus into the city. I decided to walk to my hotel, but was intercepted by a man claiming to be a teacher saying that it was a holiday and my hostel would be close until 3:00. Now, that should have set off some warning bells, but I was tired. He suggested I see a few temples (wats) where special things were going on and go shopping. He then flagged down a tuk-tuk (auto rickshaw) and put me inside for a 10 bat 'tour'. At first, it was a lot of fun seeing the temples, but my driver got impatient if I spent too long at any temple. Then he took me to several expensive tailor and jewelry shops before he would take me to my hotel. I now understand that he was hoping to earn a commission off of any purchases I made. At the last stop, I bought a couple of really cheap souvenirs. My driver was disappointed, but he finally took me to my hotel.
After that morning-long adventure, I finally arrived at the hotel of my choice: Shanti Lodge. It was inexpensive, but clean and had everything I could ask for. They did my laundry, took my visa application to the Chinese embassy, arranged for an in-house Thai herbal massage, and had a fantastic restaurant with mostly organic food. Not to mention, the ambiance was great. They had hostel rooms as well as dorm-style rooms, while the bathroom facilitates on the first floor were shared. The one down-side is that it's pretty out of the way, close to the river, so it took considerable time (and more money) to get between Shanti lodge and any of the attractions of Bangkok. On the whole, I would highly recommend it to other travelers looking for something inexpensive and still classy.
On my second day in the City I headed for the Dusit Zoo. It was packed with people celebrating some sort of special day. They all had picnic mats spread out everywhere. I had to step over picnickers time and time again to get good looks at birds and monkeys. One of the most interesting things about this zoo is that most of the animals were local to South East Asia and not necessarily what you would see in other zoos. Of course they had the classics like giraffes and giant tortoises as well.
After the zoo I went to Siam Square, the center of Bangkok, for some shopping. Many huge high-rise malls span the area with all sorts of goods and restaurants. It was a nice escape from the intense humidity and heat.
The following day I headed for the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha complex. I was totally stunned by the grandeur and beauty of it all. The temple complex was almost unreal. Every structure was covered in colorful ceramic or mirrored tials in mosaic patterns, painted with gold, or covered in stunning murals that too had elements of gold leafing. With all that light reflecting dazzlingly off of all of the buildings, it's no wonder I got a bit sunburned. The Emerald Buddha itself is a solid jade statue enshrined in the largest of the buildings. It has three different outfits made of gold, one for each of the seasons. I believe it is the holiest statue of Buddha in Thailand. What struck me as interesting, however, is that all of the murals inside the wall around the complex were of the Ramayana, an Indian epic of Hindu origins. The rest of the Grand Palace complex, while grand, paled by comparison. It was still beautifully painted, but paled in comparison to the glittering temple buildings.
From there I ventured on to Wat Pho, famous as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. The reclining Buddha itself was stunning. The gilded statue was at least as big as my house back in Minnesota. While I had heard it was big, I wasn't prepared for something of that size. The rest of the Wat Pho complex was also very nice, but nothing compared to that huge Buddha. Needing a break from the heat, I returned to Siam Square and explored a different mall. I wound up at the nicest book store I had seen in the last six months and at an IMAX theater watching “Avatar.”
The next day I slept in and hung around Shanti lodge for a while. At my parents' email urging, I went for an herbal Thai massage. I have had a few regular massages in the US before, but this was nothing like any of them. I laid on a mattress on the floor, fully clothed, while a tiny Thai woman worked on me. She used her forearms, elbows, knees, and even feet to massage me. At one point, she stood on me. Thai massage includes a good deal of applying pressure for long periods of time to one spot and plenty of assisted stretching. The woman also spent over half of the time working on my legs and feet, which differs from any Western massage I have had before.
In the evening, I headed for the Suan Lam Night Market. While I did a bit of shopping, I was mainly there for the Joe Louis puppet theater. The market itself didn't begin to open until 5:00 PM, and wasn't fully rolling until 6:00. It was mostly stocked with souvenirs of various qualities. Bangkok is full of tourists, but I was surprised by how many Japanese tourists were at the night market. Most of the shopkeepers spoke better Japanese than Hindi.
The puppet show wasn't quite what I expected. It told the history of this particular style of Thai puppetry through combination of pantomime drama with narration and example excerpts from several puppet dramas. The puppetry sections were stunning. It takes three people to operate one puppet. One controls the movements of the feet while the other two control one hand each, attached to a long pole. The two hand operators trade off who supports the torso of the puppet and controls the head. Meanwhile, all three create a sort of train beneath the puppet, mimicking its foot, body, and head movements in a coordinated dance. Puppeteers have to be trained in classical dancing as well as how to manipulate a puppet together.
The creative surprises at the end of the show were a dance routine between two men, one dressed as a puppet with poles attached to his wrists that his 'puppeteer' held on to. Following that, a trio of puppeteers had a Michel Jackson puppet that did a dance with many of his signature moves. On the whole, it was a great experience.
On my last half-day in Thailand, I went to a few museums. First, I visited the Kamtieng House, a traditional house of the Lanna people with a small but interesting museum about their historical lifestyle. From there, I went to the National Museum, which was a complex of buildings that had previously belonged to the Royal Family. There was a section on the history of Thailand and several galleries of artifacts, sculptures, and other objects. I was disappointed to see very few paintings, but it seems Thai art focused on other mediums.
I flew out of Bankok that evening and spent the night in the Kuala Lampur airport in Malaysia on a ten-hour layover. Along with a handful of other travelers, I curled up on a bench in a secluded nook of the airport and slept for a few hours while the airport was quiet. In the morning, I boarded my flight for Beijing.
Thailand, on the whole, was a lovely country to visit. It was clean, modern, and relatively calm compared to the chaos of India. The people are friendly and helpful, and there are plenty of things to do. Thailand itself is a monarchy, and that is not something you are likely to forget while there. People speak lovingly of their king, and there are huge pictures of him, frequently with the queen, all over Bangkok. From what I read at the museum, people have good reason to adore him, as he has a strong humanitarian agenda. Before both “Avatar” at the movie theater and the puppet show, everyone had to stand and listen to the National Anthem while a montage of pictures of the king and other patriotic sights slid across the screen. His palace itself is in the center of Bangkok in plain view. Every single taxi driver I had always made some gesture of respect as he passed it.
To those who would like to visit Bangkok, I would make this word of caution. Avoid tuk-tuks. They generally want to work you into a scam like I had or will charge you, as a foreigner, an exorbitant rate. Taxis have a meter and are generally cheaper than tuk-tuks if you can convince your driver to use it. If not, you can always get out of the car and find another taxi, something I had to do once.
I am safely in Beijing, China now, spending a few days here with James, another Shansi fellow, before we head back to Taigu where he and three other fellows teach. I hope I can get this posted in a timely manner. Blogspot is behind the Great Firewall of China, to my surprise, so I will have to find someone to post it for me. Stay tuned for stories of adventures in China.
I arrived very early in the morning and took an airport bus into the city. I decided to walk to my hotel, but was intercepted by a man claiming to be a teacher saying that it was a holiday and my hostel would be close until 3:00. Now, that should have set off some warning bells, but I was tired. He suggested I see a few temples (wats) where special things were going on and go shopping. He then flagged down a tuk-tuk (auto rickshaw) and put me inside for a 10 bat 'tour'. At first, it was a lot of fun seeing the temples, but my driver got impatient if I spent too long at any temple. Then he took me to several expensive tailor and jewelry shops before he would take me to my hotel. I now understand that he was hoping to earn a commission off of any purchases I made. At the last stop, I bought a couple of really cheap souvenirs. My driver was disappointed, but he finally took me to my hotel.
After that morning-long adventure, I finally arrived at the hotel of my choice: Shanti Lodge. It was inexpensive, but clean and had everything I could ask for. They did my laundry, took my visa application to the Chinese embassy, arranged for an in-house Thai herbal massage, and had a fantastic restaurant with mostly organic food. Not to mention, the ambiance was great. They had hostel rooms as well as dorm-style rooms, while the bathroom facilitates on the first floor were shared. The one down-side is that it's pretty out of the way, close to the river, so it took considerable time (and more money) to get between Shanti lodge and any of the attractions of Bangkok. On the whole, I would highly recommend it to other travelers looking for something inexpensive and still classy.
On my second day in the City I headed for the Dusit Zoo. It was packed with people celebrating some sort of special day. They all had picnic mats spread out everywhere. I had to step over picnickers time and time again to get good looks at birds and monkeys. One of the most interesting things about this zoo is that most of the animals were local to South East Asia and not necessarily what you would see in other zoos. Of course they had the classics like giraffes and giant tortoises as well.
After the zoo I went to Siam Square, the center of Bangkok, for some shopping. Many huge high-rise malls span the area with all sorts of goods and restaurants. It was a nice escape from the intense humidity and heat.
The following day I headed for the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha complex. I was totally stunned by the grandeur and beauty of it all. The temple complex was almost unreal. Every structure was covered in colorful ceramic or mirrored tials in mosaic patterns, painted with gold, or covered in stunning murals that too had elements of gold leafing. With all that light reflecting dazzlingly off of all of the buildings, it's no wonder I got a bit sunburned. The Emerald Buddha itself is a solid jade statue enshrined in the largest of the buildings. It has three different outfits made of gold, one for each of the seasons. I believe it is the holiest statue of Buddha in Thailand. What struck me as interesting, however, is that all of the murals inside the wall around the complex were of the Ramayana, an Indian epic of Hindu origins. The rest of the Grand Palace complex, while grand, paled by comparison. It was still beautifully painted, but paled in comparison to the glittering temple buildings.
From there I ventured on to Wat Pho, famous as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. The reclining Buddha itself was stunning. The gilded statue was at least as big as my house back in Minnesota. While I had heard it was big, I wasn't prepared for something of that size. The rest of the Wat Pho complex was also very nice, but nothing compared to that huge Buddha. Needing a break from the heat, I returned to Siam Square and explored a different mall. I wound up at the nicest book store I had seen in the last six months and at an IMAX theater watching “Avatar.”
The next day I slept in and hung around Shanti lodge for a while. At my parents' email urging, I went for an herbal Thai massage. I have had a few regular massages in the US before, but this was nothing like any of them. I laid on a mattress on the floor, fully clothed, while a tiny Thai woman worked on me. She used her forearms, elbows, knees, and even feet to massage me. At one point, she stood on me. Thai massage includes a good deal of applying pressure for long periods of time to one spot and plenty of assisted stretching. The woman also spent over half of the time working on my legs and feet, which differs from any Western massage I have had before.
In the evening, I headed for the Suan Lam Night Market. While I did a bit of shopping, I was mainly there for the Joe Louis puppet theater. The market itself didn't begin to open until 5:00 PM, and wasn't fully rolling until 6:00. It was mostly stocked with souvenirs of various qualities. Bangkok is full of tourists, but I was surprised by how many Japanese tourists were at the night market. Most of the shopkeepers spoke better Japanese than Hindi.
The puppet show wasn't quite what I expected. It told the history of this particular style of Thai puppetry through combination of pantomime drama with narration and example excerpts from several puppet dramas. The puppetry sections were stunning. It takes three people to operate one puppet. One controls the movements of the feet while the other two control one hand each, attached to a long pole. The two hand operators trade off who supports the torso of the puppet and controls the head. Meanwhile, all three create a sort of train beneath the puppet, mimicking its foot, body, and head movements in a coordinated dance. Puppeteers have to be trained in classical dancing as well as how to manipulate a puppet together.
The creative surprises at the end of the show were a dance routine between two men, one dressed as a puppet with poles attached to his wrists that his 'puppeteer' held on to. Following that, a trio of puppeteers had a Michel Jackson puppet that did a dance with many of his signature moves. On the whole, it was a great experience.
On my last half-day in Thailand, I went to a few museums. First, I visited the Kamtieng House, a traditional house of the Lanna people with a small but interesting museum about their historical lifestyle. From there, I went to the National Museum, which was a complex of buildings that had previously belonged to the Royal Family. There was a section on the history of Thailand and several galleries of artifacts, sculptures, and other objects. I was disappointed to see very few paintings, but it seems Thai art focused on other mediums.
I flew out of Bankok that evening and spent the night in the Kuala Lampur airport in Malaysia on a ten-hour layover. Along with a handful of other travelers, I curled up on a bench in a secluded nook of the airport and slept for a few hours while the airport was quiet. In the morning, I boarded my flight for Beijing.
Thailand, on the whole, was a lovely country to visit. It was clean, modern, and relatively calm compared to the chaos of India. The people are friendly and helpful, and there are plenty of things to do. Thailand itself is a monarchy, and that is not something you are likely to forget while there. People speak lovingly of their king, and there are huge pictures of him, frequently with the queen, all over Bangkok. From what I read at the museum, people have good reason to adore him, as he has a strong humanitarian agenda. Before both “Avatar” at the movie theater and the puppet show, everyone had to stand and listen to the National Anthem while a montage of pictures of the king and other patriotic sights slid across the screen. His palace itself is in the center of Bangkok in plain view. Every single taxi driver I had always made some gesture of respect as he passed it.
To those who would like to visit Bangkok, I would make this word of caution. Avoid tuk-tuks. They generally want to work you into a scam like I had or will charge you, as a foreigner, an exorbitant rate. Taxis have a meter and are generally cheaper than tuk-tuks if you can convince your driver to use it. If not, you can always get out of the car and find another taxi, something I had to do once.
I am safely in Beijing, China now, spending a few days here with James, another Shansi fellow, before we head back to Taigu where he and three other fellows teach. I hope I can get this posted in a timely manner. Blogspot is behind the Great Firewall of China, to my surprise, so I will have to find someone to post it for me. Stay tuned for stories of adventures in China.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Life in Winter
I apologize for such a long time between entries lately. Between teaching two different classes, planning for my two-month trip, and entertaining visitors I have been plenty busy.
Phillip, the Austrian volunteer at Nishta that has been here since before I arrived finished his one year term and has been replaced by Andreas. Andreas is a fun character and just out of high school. At any given time, Nishta has one Austrian young man serving his year of social service. Austrian men have to give two years of military service or one year of social service, and Nishta offers an international site for men who want an alternative to the army.
As to visitors, Anya's younger sister Danika has been here for the last month or so, but will be leaving within the week. Kelly, the Madurai Shansi fellow, passed through for a few days as well. Most recently, Anne and Daniel, two of the Taigu Shansi fellows, have been up here for a few days. It's great to see so many Shansi fellows up here. Though, I am finding that whenever there are guests, I always wind up eating a lot. The social life here consists mostly of going out to eat in McLeod Ganj or making huge meals together. It's fun, and we stay well fed.
Lately, there has been something of a drought in the area. Everyone I knew spent at least a few days without water. While the weather was beautiful, farmers and families were worried. My landlady, Dr. Kusum, told me that everyone was performing extra worship and prayers for rain. Just a few days ago, the winter rains came at last. While I would prefer nicer weather than very chilly and wet, I'm glad for what this means for the area. So, add a few more sweaters to my layers and never leave the house without an umbrella.
One other negative side effect of lots of cold rain like this is that many of my students travel a significant distance to get to the Knowledge Center. When the weather is bad, they will stay at home. It makes the class move a lot more slowly when I have to re-teach the same lessons the next day to the half of the class that missed it the first time.
Today it slushed, something between snow and sleet. It was very exciting. Everyone looked at me as if I was crazy for walking out in it, but I was rewarded for my hike up to TARA Center with a hot cup of chai. Once home, I collected what 'snow' I could find on my porch and made snow balls. I threw them around at nothing in particular. It was incredibly satisfying. I am looking forward to real snow in Taigu.
Last week we had a full youth team meeting, where many important things were hashed out. After the meeting, I was struck by Jagori living up to its ideal of teamwork and no hierarchy. Before we broke for lunch, we had to assist in the construction process by moving sticks and wood from the construction site to a brush pile in the back of the center. After a lot of collecting and hauling, we then moved on to transporting bricks. All twenty-something of us formed a line from the pile to where the bricks needed to be and passed them along until all had been moved. Only a half hour or so of group work, I'm sure, really sped up the process for the construction workers. Things change so quickly at TARA Center that I'm sure I will be stunned by how different it looks when I return in two weeks.
Phillip, the Austrian volunteer at Nishta that has been here since before I arrived finished his one year term and has been replaced by Andreas. Andreas is a fun character and just out of high school. At any given time, Nishta has one Austrian young man serving his year of social service. Austrian men have to give two years of military service or one year of social service, and Nishta offers an international site for men who want an alternative to the army.
As to visitors, Anya's younger sister Danika has been here for the last month or so, but will be leaving within the week. Kelly, the Madurai Shansi fellow, passed through for a few days as well. Most recently, Anne and Daniel, two of the Taigu Shansi fellows, have been up here for a few days. It's great to see so many Shansi fellows up here. Though, I am finding that whenever there are guests, I always wind up eating a lot. The social life here consists mostly of going out to eat in McLeod Ganj or making huge meals together. It's fun, and we stay well fed.
Lately, there has been something of a drought in the area. Everyone I knew spent at least a few days without water. While the weather was beautiful, farmers and families were worried. My landlady, Dr. Kusum, told me that everyone was performing extra worship and prayers for rain. Just a few days ago, the winter rains came at last. While I would prefer nicer weather than very chilly and wet, I'm glad for what this means for the area. So, add a few more sweaters to my layers and never leave the house without an umbrella.
One other negative side effect of lots of cold rain like this is that many of my students travel a significant distance to get to the Knowledge Center. When the weather is bad, they will stay at home. It makes the class move a lot more slowly when I have to re-teach the same lessons the next day to the half of the class that missed it the first time.
Today it slushed, something between snow and sleet. It was very exciting. Everyone looked at me as if I was crazy for walking out in it, but I was rewarded for my hike up to TARA Center with a hot cup of chai. Once home, I collected what 'snow' I could find on my porch and made snow balls. I threw them around at nothing in particular. It was incredibly satisfying. I am looking forward to real snow in Taigu.
Last week we had a full youth team meeting, where many important things were hashed out. After the meeting, I was struck by Jagori living up to its ideal of teamwork and no hierarchy. Before we broke for lunch, we had to assist in the construction process by moving sticks and wood from the construction site to a brush pile in the back of the center. After a lot of collecting and hauling, we then moved on to transporting bricks. All twenty-something of us formed a line from the pile to where the bricks needed to be and passed them along until all had been moved. Only a half hour or so of group work, I'm sure, really sped up the process for the construction workers. Things change so quickly at TARA Center that I'm sure I will be stunned by how different it looks when I return in two weeks.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Holiday Trip, Part 1
Having lived in Rakkar village up in Himachal Pradesh for four months, my concept of India was high mountains and peaceful farmland. Traveling down into other parts of the country shattered that vision. India is far vaster and diverse that I even now can comprehend. On top of that, there are a lot of people in this country. A lot.
The last time I was in Delhi, for less than 24 hours, I was too jet lagged to be overwhelmed. Anya and I traveled down to Delhi to meet up with her sister and two friends. This time, I was plenty alert. The thing about India I am beginning to realize is that it almost always overloads the senses; strong smells, loud noises, flavors from the very spicy to the sickeningly sweet, plenty of strange things to step in the texture of which you'd rather not think about, and so much activity to watch that your brain is almost on overload. That is, until you get used to it, which I'm sure comes after a while.
Anya and I spent our day in Delhi going to the Red Fort and visiting with our friend Sufi, who used to live and work up near McLeod Ganj. The Red Fort was the palace of several Mughal Kings that reigned from Delhi. During the British Raj, the British used it as its military and administrative headquarters. It was also from this place that Nehru gave his famous speech on the midnight of India's independence from Great Britain. Drawn by this kind of history, I asked Anya if we could go there in the morning.
The Red Fort is a vast complex of wide lawns, buildings, and open air audience chambers. Within its walls are also a number of barracks and other buildings of British construction. The private audience chamber was one of the most beautiful parts of it. Carved all out of white marble, it had several delicately carved latticeworks as well as semi precious stones inlaid into the pillars in patterns of flowers and trees.
What struck me most about the fort, however, were the water channels that ran everywhere through it. The channels and ponds were empty when we went, but the amount of water they must have once held was staggering. It must have provided effective cooling for the hot summer months.
With Sufi, Anya and I went to see a pottery exhibit at the Crafts Museum. There were many other exhibits we did not get to see, having arrived late in the afternoon. It is something I would highly recommend to visitors of Delhi.
Anya's sister Danika and her friend Judy arrived in Delhi at around midnight that night. Mindy was less lucky, having gotten caught by a blizzard at her layover, and arrived closer to 6:00 am. Knowing that they would be tired, we planned to depart from Delhi in the early afternoon and arrive in Aghra in time to see the Taj Mahal just before it closed.
One lesson we learned on this trip is that you can't count on things going as planned in India. Our train arrived on time but lazed its way across the countryside. We arrived nearly two hours later than planned. The sun had already set. We hopped in a taxi and said, “Take us to the Taj! Quickly!” They informed us that, unfortunately, the gates had already closed, although there were still people inside. As we were leaving on another train that night, we opted to go to a roof top restaurant to try to catch a glimpse of it that way instead. All we could see in the thickening twilight was a dim silhouette of the Taj Mahal's famous dome and four minerettes. We did, however, run into a familiar face at that restaurant. A Swedish girl we knew who had been volunteering at the Tibetan Settlement Office in McLeod Ganj happened to be staying in that hotel on her way through. It certainly is a small world.
That night we took a night train to Bhopal. Sleeper class in trains consists of bunks three high in two rows. The middle one can flip down to allow the lower bunk to be used as a bench during the day. All five of us were prepared with cotton sleeping bags we had stitched just for that purpose. It is a much cleaner way to sleep, as no sheets are provided, and one can put your valuables at the bottom of the bag and out of reach. Admittedly, it was a cold night and I didn't sleep much. The chai sellers that walked up and down the train cars announcing their wears through the early morning didn't help either.
Bhopal was a very interesting place to visit. Our entire day was spent at the Museum of Man. The Museum complex was acres upon acres of rolling land, centered on the oldest (I think) prehistoric cave paintings in India. There were a whole string of them in the rocks on top of a ridge. Although the signs promised 21 different sites, the path grew too overgrown about half way. Even still, the ones we saw were spectacular paintings of people and animals.
Also in the Museum of Man were numerous replica villages of different regions in India. I believe they had transported and rebuilt all of the houses on their land. There was also an interesting out door exhibit of “primitive gadgets,” including flour grinders and water wheels. The centerpiece of the complex was a sprawling museum building. It briefly discussed the evolution of humans, particularly with regard to India. The rest of the museum was dedicated to discussing and displaying artifacts from various adivasi (tribal) peoples in India. Everything from replica houses, art, tools, and clothing was on display with somewhat idealistic descriptions of their life styles. I was surprised to see the Gaddi people on display there. It hadn't occurred to me that one of the major ethnic groups represented at Jagori Grameen was classified as tribal. My Hindi tutor, for example, is Gaddi. Apparently, in other parts of the country and deeper in the mountains they are less assimilated into main stream society.
There was more to see in the complex than we could manage in only one day. I would willingly go back again to see more of it. That night, we again boarded a night train and headed for Jalgaon. We arrived at around 2 am, but the manager of our hotel waited up for us. After pitching and convincing us to switch into a bigger room, we slept the rest of the night. Although I was a bit perturbed to be upgraded to a more expensive room, the hot shower I had the next morning was beautiful. It was the first shower I had had since the morning I first arrived in Delhi in late August, staying at Abha's house.
Close to Jalgaon are the Ajunta Caves. The caves, carved in the cliffs in a bend of a deep river gorge, were all Buddhist monasteries or worship halls. They date, I believe, from 200 AD to nearly 700 AD. Some were unfinished while most were intricately carved and even painted. Cut straight into the rock wall, some were at least as big as the whole house that my apartment was in. Each of the monasteries had at least one massive seated Buddha statue carved into the rock at the back, and perhaps many more. The worship halls tended to feature huge vaulted ceilings and a dome shaped stupa. In early Buddhism, the Buddha was not represented by a person but by footprints or a stupa. In the later caves, the stupas were more intricate and even had a figure of Buddha carved into them as well.
That night we intended to take yet another night train out (much to the grumblings of our party. Anya and I apologized later.). However, while we made it off the wait list the night before, we didn't in Jalgaon. There were a number of private bus companies up the street our hotel was on, so we booked a sleeper bus to Pune. Upon boarding this bus, we discovered not seats but padded bunks on either side of the aisle about the width of twin beds. Anya and I shared a cozy top bunk. I'm sure we were elbowing each other all night long, but we did get some sleep.
The next morning we arrived in Pune and checked into another hotel. Stories of the rest of our travels will have to wait until my next blog entry.
The last time I was in Delhi, for less than 24 hours, I was too jet lagged to be overwhelmed. Anya and I traveled down to Delhi to meet up with her sister and two friends. This time, I was plenty alert. The thing about India I am beginning to realize is that it almost always overloads the senses; strong smells, loud noises, flavors from the very spicy to the sickeningly sweet, plenty of strange things to step in the texture of which you'd rather not think about, and so much activity to watch that your brain is almost on overload. That is, until you get used to it, which I'm sure comes after a while.
Anya and I spent our day in Delhi going to the Red Fort and visiting with our friend Sufi, who used to live and work up near McLeod Ganj. The Red Fort was the palace of several Mughal Kings that reigned from Delhi. During the British Raj, the British used it as its military and administrative headquarters. It was also from this place that Nehru gave his famous speech on the midnight of India's independence from Great Britain. Drawn by this kind of history, I asked Anya if we could go there in the morning.
The Red Fort is a vast complex of wide lawns, buildings, and open air audience chambers. Within its walls are also a number of barracks and other buildings of British construction. The private audience chamber was one of the most beautiful parts of it. Carved all out of white marble, it had several delicately carved latticeworks as well as semi precious stones inlaid into the pillars in patterns of flowers and trees.
What struck me most about the fort, however, were the water channels that ran everywhere through it. The channels and ponds were empty when we went, but the amount of water they must have once held was staggering. It must have provided effective cooling for the hot summer months.
With Sufi, Anya and I went to see a pottery exhibit at the Crafts Museum. There were many other exhibits we did not get to see, having arrived late in the afternoon. It is something I would highly recommend to visitors of Delhi.
Anya's sister Danika and her friend Judy arrived in Delhi at around midnight that night. Mindy was less lucky, having gotten caught by a blizzard at her layover, and arrived closer to 6:00 am. Knowing that they would be tired, we planned to depart from Delhi in the early afternoon and arrive in Aghra in time to see the Taj Mahal just before it closed.
One lesson we learned on this trip is that you can't count on things going as planned in India. Our train arrived on time but lazed its way across the countryside. We arrived nearly two hours later than planned. The sun had already set. We hopped in a taxi and said, “Take us to the Taj! Quickly!” They informed us that, unfortunately, the gates had already closed, although there were still people inside. As we were leaving on another train that night, we opted to go to a roof top restaurant to try to catch a glimpse of it that way instead. All we could see in the thickening twilight was a dim silhouette of the Taj Mahal's famous dome and four minerettes. We did, however, run into a familiar face at that restaurant. A Swedish girl we knew who had been volunteering at the Tibetan Settlement Office in McLeod Ganj happened to be staying in that hotel on her way through. It certainly is a small world.
That night we took a night train to Bhopal. Sleeper class in trains consists of bunks three high in two rows. The middle one can flip down to allow the lower bunk to be used as a bench during the day. All five of us were prepared with cotton sleeping bags we had stitched just for that purpose. It is a much cleaner way to sleep, as no sheets are provided, and one can put your valuables at the bottom of the bag and out of reach. Admittedly, it was a cold night and I didn't sleep much. The chai sellers that walked up and down the train cars announcing their wears through the early morning didn't help either.
Bhopal was a very interesting place to visit. Our entire day was spent at the Museum of Man. The Museum complex was acres upon acres of rolling land, centered on the oldest (I think) prehistoric cave paintings in India. There were a whole string of them in the rocks on top of a ridge. Although the signs promised 21 different sites, the path grew too overgrown about half way. Even still, the ones we saw were spectacular paintings of people and animals.
Also in the Museum of Man were numerous replica villages of different regions in India. I believe they had transported and rebuilt all of the houses on their land. There was also an interesting out door exhibit of “primitive gadgets,” including flour grinders and water wheels. The centerpiece of the complex was a sprawling museum building. It briefly discussed the evolution of humans, particularly with regard to India. The rest of the museum was dedicated to discussing and displaying artifacts from various adivasi (tribal) peoples in India. Everything from replica houses, art, tools, and clothing was on display with somewhat idealistic descriptions of their life styles. I was surprised to see the Gaddi people on display there. It hadn't occurred to me that one of the major ethnic groups represented at Jagori Grameen was classified as tribal. My Hindi tutor, for example, is Gaddi. Apparently, in other parts of the country and deeper in the mountains they are less assimilated into main stream society.
There was more to see in the complex than we could manage in only one day. I would willingly go back again to see more of it. That night, we again boarded a night train and headed for Jalgaon. We arrived at around 2 am, but the manager of our hotel waited up for us. After pitching and convincing us to switch into a bigger room, we slept the rest of the night. Although I was a bit perturbed to be upgraded to a more expensive room, the hot shower I had the next morning was beautiful. It was the first shower I had had since the morning I first arrived in Delhi in late August, staying at Abha's house.
Close to Jalgaon are the Ajunta Caves. The caves, carved in the cliffs in a bend of a deep river gorge, were all Buddhist monasteries or worship halls. They date, I believe, from 200 AD to nearly 700 AD. Some were unfinished while most were intricately carved and even painted. Cut straight into the rock wall, some were at least as big as the whole house that my apartment was in. Each of the monasteries had at least one massive seated Buddha statue carved into the rock at the back, and perhaps many more. The worship halls tended to feature huge vaulted ceilings and a dome shaped stupa. In early Buddhism, the Buddha was not represented by a person but by footprints or a stupa. In the later caves, the stupas were more intricate and even had a figure of Buddha carved into them as well.
That night we intended to take yet another night train out (much to the grumblings of our party. Anya and I apologized later.). However, while we made it off the wait list the night before, we didn't in Jalgaon. There were a number of private bus companies up the street our hotel was on, so we booked a sleeper bus to Pune. Upon boarding this bus, we discovered not seats but padded bunks on either side of the aisle about the width of twin beds. Anya and I shared a cozy top bunk. I'm sure we were elbowing each other all night long, but we did get some sleep.
The next morning we arrived in Pune and checked into another hotel. Stories of the rest of our travels will have to wait until my next blog entry.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Loree
I am back from my travels safe and sound in Rakkar. As I go through my travel journal and make sense of its entries, I'll do my best to keep you updated with what is going on in my daily life here.
I am currently teaching another session of beginning English. This time, it is only one afternoon class full of thirteen sharp students. There are six boys and seven girls, most in their mid to late teens. Because I have to do a visa run in late February, I am keeping this to a six week class, meeting four days a week. It already seems easier, having taught once before. The general goals of the class are the same, but I'm reorganizing my syllabus, having learning many lessons in the fall.
This coming week, I will also be starting a basic web design and Photoshop class for Jagori staff. The hope is, once the class is over, Jagori will have a small team of people able to update the web site in my absence.
This Wednesday and Thursday were the holiday of Loree. Loree is the Indian midwinter festival, going by many different names in other parts of the country. Based on a fixed calender that was set thousands of years ago, Loree has migrated away from the actual equinox, so it is celebrated in January today.
In this part of the country, Loree is celebrated with special foods. (There seem to be special foods for everything.) On Wednesday night, families got together and made sweets. The local children appeared to be doing something like caroling, getting sweets at all of their neighbors' houses.
On Thursday, everyone gets together with friends and family to eat kichiri. Kichiri, in general, is a north Indian dish where lentils and rice are cooked together, potentially with other spices and vegetables, in a pressure cooker. This special Loree kichiri had only beans and black lentils in it. Before eating, one is supposed to sprinkle liberal amounts of melted ghee (clarified butter) on top.
I had at least two invites for eating kichiri, but wound up downstairs with my landlady Dr. Kusum and her relatives. She found me and had me promising to come for lunch not five minutes after I sauntered out of bed. It was delicious.
Later this week, I hope to have the first of my travel entries finished. In the mean time, this is a perfect time for you to list yourself as a follower of my blog if you have not already. Once you are a follower, you can add it to any feeds you have set up on your front page, your icon will be proudly displayed to the right of my blog posts, and will generally make this blog look nicer.
I am currently teaching another session of beginning English. This time, it is only one afternoon class full of thirteen sharp students. There are six boys and seven girls, most in their mid to late teens. Because I have to do a visa run in late February, I am keeping this to a six week class, meeting four days a week. It already seems easier, having taught once before. The general goals of the class are the same, but I'm reorganizing my syllabus, having learning many lessons in the fall.
This coming week, I will also be starting a basic web design and Photoshop class for Jagori staff. The hope is, once the class is over, Jagori will have a small team of people able to update the web site in my absence.
This Wednesday and Thursday were the holiday of Loree. Loree is the Indian midwinter festival, going by many different names in other parts of the country. Based on a fixed calender that was set thousands of years ago, Loree has migrated away from the actual equinox, so it is celebrated in January today.
In this part of the country, Loree is celebrated with special foods. (There seem to be special foods for everything.) On Wednesday night, families got together and made sweets. The local children appeared to be doing something like caroling, getting sweets at all of their neighbors' houses.
On Thursday, everyone gets together with friends and family to eat kichiri. Kichiri, in general, is a north Indian dish where lentils and rice are cooked together, potentially with other spices and vegetables, in a pressure cooker. This special Loree kichiri had only beans and black lentils in it. Before eating, one is supposed to sprinkle liberal amounts of melted ghee (clarified butter) on top.
I had at least two invites for eating kichiri, but wound up downstairs with my landlady Dr. Kusum and her relatives. She found me and had me promising to come for lunch not five minutes after I sauntered out of bed. It was delicious.
Later this week, I hope to have the first of my travel entries finished. In the mean time, this is a perfect time for you to list yourself as a follower of my blog if you have not already. Once you are a follower, you can add it to any feeds you have set up on your front page, your icon will be proudly displayed to the right of my blog posts, and will generally make this blog look nicer.
Loree
I am back from my travels safe and sound in Rakkar. As I go through my travel journal and make sense of its entries, I'll do my best to keep you updated with what is going on in my daily life here.
I am currently teaching another session of beginning English. This time, it is only one afternoon class full of thirteen sharp students. There are six boys and seven girls, most in their mid to late teens. Because I have to do a visa run in late February, I am keeping this to a six week class, meeting four days a week. It already seems easier, having taught once before. The general goals of the class are the same, but I'm reorganizing my syllabus, having learning many lessons in the fall.
This coming week, I will also be starting a basic web design and Photoshop class for Jagori staff. The hope is, once the class is over, Jagori will have a small team of people able to update the web site in my absence.
This Wednesday and Thursday were the holiday of Loree. Loree is the Indian midwinter festival, going by many different names in other parts of the country. Based on a fixed calender that was set thousands of years ago, Loree has migrated away from the actual equinox, so it is celebrated in January today.
In this part of the country, Loree is celebrated with special foods. (There seem to be special foods for everything.) On Wednesday night, families got together and made sweets. The local children appeared to be doing something like caroling, getting sweets at all of their neighbors' houses.
On Thursday, everyone gets together with friends and family to eat kichiri. Kichiri, in general, is a north Indian dish where lentils and rice are cooked together, potentially with other spices and vegetables, in a pressure cooker. This special Loree kichiri had only beans and black lentils in it. Before eating, one is supposed to sprinkle liberal amounts of melted ghee (clarified butter) on top.
I had at least two invites for eating kichiri, but wound up downstairs with my landlady Dr. Kusum and her relatives. She found me and had me promising to come for lunch not five minutes after I sauntered out of bed. It was delicious.
Later this week, I hope to have the first of my travel entries finished. In the mean time, this is a perfect time for you to list yourself as a follower of my blog if you have not already. Once you are a follower, you can add it to any feeds you have set up on your front page, your icon will be proudly displayed to the right of my blog posts, and will generally make this blog look nicer.
I am currently teaching another session of beginning English. This time, it is only one afternoon class full of thirteen sharp students. There are six boys and seven girls, most in their mid to late teens. Because I have to do a visa run in late February, I am keeping this to a six week class, meeting four days a week. It already seems easier, having taught once before. The general goals of the class are the same, but I'm reorganizing my syllabus, having learning many lessons in the fall.
This coming week, I will also be starting a basic web design and Photoshop class for Jagori staff. The hope is, once the class is over, Jagori will have a small team of people able to update the web site in my absence.
This Wednesday and Thursday were the holiday of Loree. Loree is the Indian midwinter festival, going by many different names in other parts of the country. Based on a fixed calender that was set thousands of years ago, Loree has migrated away from the actual equinox, so it is celebrated in January today.
In this part of the country, Loree is celebrated with special foods. (There seem to be special foods for everything.) On Wednesday night, families got together and made sweets. The local children appeared to be doing something like caroling, getting sweets at all of their neighbors' houses.
On Thursday, everyone gets together with friends and family to eat kichiri. Kichiri, in general, is a north Indian dish where lentils and rice are cooked together, potentially with other spices and vegetables, in a pressure cooker. This special Loree kichiri had only beans and black lentils in it. Before eating, one is supposed to sprinkle liberal amounts of melted ghee (clarified butter) on top.
I had at least two invites for eating kichiri, but wound up downstairs with my landlady Dr. Kusum and her relatives. She found me and had me promising to come for lunch not five minutes after I sauntered out of bed. It was delicious.
Later this week, I hope to have the first of my travel entries finished. In the mean time, this is a perfect time for you to list yourself as a follower of my blog if you have not already. Once you are a follower, you can add it to any feeds you have set up on your front page, your icon will be proudly displayed to the right of my blog posts, and will generally make this blog look nicer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)