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.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
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.
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