beware! novel blog!

So where do I even begin...Ive missed updating this blog for 3 days I feel like I could write an entire novel! Its crazy how much I see and smell and experience everyday. Let me start off with the above image...this is a picture I took this morning from the porch of my hostel waiting for my ride to the school. This is a picture of men searching through the garbage for anything that may be of worth or for food. Its so funny how I live in what is in Indian standards a VERY nice hostel (with a laundry machine---which is unheard of in Indian culture) and right across the street such poverty not only exists but goes unnoticed by the rest of the Indians. It still shocks me and breaks my heart. This isn't even the worst of it...there are children running barefoot without pants through garbage heaps, and men just sleeping (or perhaps passed out) in the middle of a crowded sidewalk in a very prestigious shopping walk. I am so thankful that I went to Haiti to prepare me for the devestation I encounter everyday here. I think this trip would be a lot harder had I not had the previous experience. Whats so unique about India is that the poorest conditions are of the same level of that of Haiti, but that it exists on the same street (no exaggeration) of some of the wealthiest Indian families. The slums look like the slums of Haiti....the houses are not even made of cardbord, but of scraps of old trash and clothes. I will try to get a picture, but I fear that even that won't do it justice. Let me just say that I absolutly love it here....Ive had a few 'weak' American moments of ethnocentrism (why can't they do it like we do it in America?") but we were driving along in the van yesterday and i was just staring out the window soaking in all the sights, sounds and smells feeling this unexplainable sense of 'this is home'. Although I get soooo many stares, I feel like I belong here. I wouldn't be surprised if I come back here again one day (ask me in 4 months though....its only been a week and I may still be in a 'honeymoon' stage?) Anyways the jetlag is getting much better, and Im becoming acclamated to the time and staying up later, and waking up at a normal time for me. I still havn't watched the Obama inagguartion and I feel like a lousy US citizen because almost every Indian has seen it....theres just too much to do and see and explore that I dont want to sit inside and watch one of our country's most historical moments (ok now that I type that out, perhaps I should sit down and watch it) But I hope everyone had a happy innaguration!

Anyways to update you on the past 3 days of my life....so Tuesday we had a tour of the city...Gopal and Chandru drove us around and showed us the sights of the city. Mrs. Kuttys brother, his wife, and their two grown children accomanyed us. I really liked Mrs. Kuttys niece (shes about 30 and is Indian born&raised but holds a US citizenship and works in NJ) The rest of the family is from a different part of India and were touring Bangalore for the first time. Our first stop was a Hindu temple--it was interesting to say the least. We had to take our shoes off by the street and as we walked toward the temple people were selling fruits and other offerings to the gods. Once inside there was a line of people on either side of a tiny room where you could see inside was a statue of the god--half elephant, half human. The priests wearing orange loin clothes walked up and down the two lines of people collecting the offereings and taking them into the tiny stone room with the idol (only priests are allowed in the gods inner room). Once all of the offerings were collected the priests started ringing these huge bells, and one was banging a gong. It sounded like calamity. People were yell-singing and just everything was really loud.....I cant explain it but I felt sooo uncomfortable...I wanted nothing more than to walk out...my chest tightened so much that I almost started hyperventalating, and breathing just became very fast and shallow for me...Ive never experienced that before. After all the calamity stoped everyone started spinning in 3 circles and then everyone fell down on their knees and face and started praying. Ofcourse andrew and I were the only ones left standing but the Hindus are very open about their reliogion and don't mind tourists. I cant explain why I was having such a hard time breathing but I feel like the spirit within me didnt like being in such close quarters with a bunch of people worshiping idols during an actual worship service...I have never felt the presence of the spirit the way I have here in India....I always feel a tightening in my chest when I hear the muslim call to prayer, and now with this Hindu temple thing...Gods presence within and with me here in India is undeniable. So I hope that brings hope and encouragement to everyone who still have doubts about my safety or whatnot....

Anyways after that we went to the summer palace of a sultan from the 1600's--it was beautiful....hand painted walls, pillars, beautiful garden and well kept lawn. Inside there were several artifacts of teh sultans in glass cases (like a wooden toy of a bengal tiger mauling a british soilder--which was really interesting) When the British took over India this Sultan was one of the few that tried to fight for India. Sort of like our founding fathers against Britain. Anyways after the summer palace we went to these remarkable gardens. Its a place where florists from all of the world come and experiment breeding different types of flowers to create new flowers....so taht was really cool to see all these new and exotic species of flowers taht I have never seen before. I have a lot of pictures, but unfortuntatly they are on a camera card taht I cant transfer until I come back to the US bc I forgot my camera cord. (the other camera card is a USB type card taht I just put into my camera today hence why I can put pics up now). After the gardens we went to the supreme court of Karnataka (the state that Im in) and also went and saw the state capitol building. Fun fact about the courts in India--men and women are judges, but all the judges wear a long black robe over their clothes and the white curly wigs that are from England in the olden days. When we were at the state capitol some Indians approached us (I assumed they were tourists of Bangalore as well) and asked to get their picture with us...kinda like "look Im with a white person" The way Americans might get their picture with an Arabian complete with a turban in front of the white house. I was happy to oblige the Indians and got a kick out of it....its weird being a minority and def. somthing I wont forget! After the government buildings we headed to this really highclass mall for lunch. This mall had only top brand names in it--Tiffanys, Coach, etc. We didnt go to any of the stores though. Then after lunch we dropped Mrs. Kuttys family off and headed to the consolate to register as long term visitors. That was boring and almost not worth mentioning. After all of that Andrew and I headed back to his house to have dinner to plan our extended weekend. We aren't going to Goa afterall this weekend but instead the last weekend in Feb. This coming Monday is an Indian National Holiday called Republic Day--the equivilant to our 4th of July...its the day when they became free. So I think Monday we are going to try to go to some festivals and parades and maybe even see some fireworks. After that I came back to the hostel....I talked to the girls for awhile and headed to my room--a little while later one of the girls (from France) stopped by my room and asked if I wanted to go to the bar with her and some of her friends at 930p and I was excited taht Id made some friends and i was craving coke like noneother....unfortunatly when she stopped back by my room an hour later to pick me up I had fallen asleep. O well you can't win them all. whew.....

On to Wednesday--we started classes and my dance teacher Rakka is soo sweet. Shes 25 and a newlywed (only been married for about 4 months or so). Shes more of a friend than a teacher, but man Indian dance is quite the workout. For those of you who know ballet the main stance in Indian dance is a permanant pleau (sp?) heels together, feet facing completly opposite ways, knees bent as far as they can go w/o losing balance and back completly straight and you hold this stance the entire time. If I were better balanced it wouldnt be such a workout but Rakka said that would come with time and practice. All we did was practice the stance and the foot taps (the ballet equivilant to the standard stances--what the rest of the dance is based upon). After dance we had our Indian Religions class--Agusta Paul a small old Indian lady is teaching that, and Indian culture. She has her masters and I believe (but dont qoute me) her doctorate in sociology (yay my major!) so she focuses on a lot of the social issues which is what interests me most! We already have a whole chapter to read for our next class (bahh!) but it interests me a whole lot so it wont be too bad. She is a very devout christian woman and after class I asked if she would mind taking me to church with her; she said she would love to and is out town this weekend, but will pick me up next sunday....how cool!?! I get to experience an Indian church. I havn't met many, but the christians that I have met here are some of the most devout followers I have ever met. They boldly proclaim the name of Jesus and accredit everything to Him. Its very encouraging and I hope their fervor is contagious. It has already effected me and I have such little exposure. Anyways Augusta is also the one who will be organizing my NGO work and we talked about all the options and I was so excited I could barely stand it. She said she would take to me a lot of places throughout the next two weeks and from there I could set up times to work regularly. After her class let out we had a quick lunch and then we had to go back to the consolate to collect some more papers--again not even worth mentioning. Then I got a call from Rakka asking if I wanted to come over and go shopping for my dance clothes. So I went to Rakkas house and had tea time and talked to her and her parents for about 2 hours. I loved her parents, they were so sweet, and her mom just thought I was the best thing since sliced bread. She seemed to hang on to every word I said. I showed her a picture of my family and she complimented every member of my family. Her dad was super friendly too, but he sat outside mostly. Rakkas family, a devout Hindu family, had many figurines of all the gods sitting around teh house. It was a 5 room house--one for the kitchen, one bedroom, one common area, one shower room, and the last room reserved for a shrine type place. I went inside the shrine room and it was a small room (the size of a walk-in closet) with a shrine with small idols and pictures of all the gods inside with a small plate with coins and fruit sitting infront of the shrine. Rakka explained that everyday she wakes up, goes to the shrine room, lights the candle, prays, offers some fruit, and then puts on her bindi (the red dot indians wear on their foreheads). It was very interesting to me, and even more so that although their house was so small they reserved a room just for the shrine. I also saw my first Indian toilet--the toilet was located outside (like an outhouse) and was just a small hole in the ground with bucket of water (in place of toilet paper) sitting beside it. Apparently you just squat when you have to go. After a 2 hour tea time her husband came home and the three of us headed off in a rickshaw towards the seamstress. Rakka and her husband Kannan are tiny...both short and compact and I felt like a giant next to them! We went to the seamstress and Rakka (who is also very into fashion) picked out all the fabrics and designed my Kutra (the Indian pant/shirt outfit) I bought three (2 to practice in and one nice one) for about $25 dollars and will pick them up next week. After we were done shopping we headed to an Indian fast food resteruant and enjoyed some Masala Dosa (a rice pancake with yellow mush potato filling) It sounds and looks gross but I surprisingly enjoyed it quite a bit. Have I mentioned that Indians dont use silverware? They eat with their right hand only. Something that I kinda enjoy because well...its eating with my hands and not being rude! Anyways after that I went out to a club with Andrew, Lalit, and Getta--andrews housemom (Lalit is the other guy staying with Getta). Getta left today for Australia so the club was Andrew and Lalits sendoff for her. She wont be back until March. I had a lime coke wich tasted like lime mixed with carbinated water, and Im still craving just a regular Coke! Afterwards I headed back to the hostel to find that the internet was not only working again, but also accessible in all of our rooms! YAY!

Ok and now for today: So we had class at 10, so Chandru picked us up at 930. We had Agusta again today (for our Indian Culture class) and we started discussions on several different cultural issues. Andrew and I pretty much picked out our own syllabus and course work voicing what we wanted to learn about most. This included (but not limited to) the caste system, womens issues, poverty issues, clothing, westernization, traditions, etc. It should be an extremly interesting course and VERY useful if I ever live in India permanantly. After class Augusta arranged for us to meet with the first NGO....a school called Yugalok (http://www.yuvalok.org/) --its a christian orginzation that takes children from the slums and educates them. They have an extended program called the Childrens Labor Program which is a secondary school for children who have been rescued from child labor and are being taught to catch up from where they missed out due to working. We went to the highschool and the elementary school. I really loved the little children and they all wanted to hold my hand. Talking to the children from the labor program broke my heart....there were girls who at 4 and 5 were seamstresses, and boys who worked in the textile fields. I could def. see myself working there, but I also know my heart well enough that I would enjoy any type of work, so I know that i need to have patience to see all the other oppourtunities before commiting myself. It hit me today that a lot of these children reminded me of the children from Haiti--starving for attention. I fell in love, but Im sure that is bound to happen at every NGO that we go to. I have no doubt that God will move me to follow His will in this. On our ride back as I witnessed the slums, and the beauty and the trash and uniqueness of India I started thinking about how and why Gods presence seems so much more noticable and i came to the conclusion that God is felt most where the want it most. People of india aren't blinded by the next 'newest and latest' (for the most part) and therefore see their blantant need for a savior--God hears and sees this and has made Himself much more noticable. Its funny how those who have least have most.....

Anyways we again went to the consolate (and will have to one more time tmrw). After that Andrew and I went back to Getas to enjoy the weather...I slept on the roof, while he read. When it started to get dark out I headed back to the hostel. The girl from Thailand invited me to have some Thai dinner that she cooked in her room, so I went and ate with her. Its soo cool to hear about all the differnet cultures! And now Im sitting here writing this forever long blog *my apologies!* I hope you all have enjoyed living vicariously through me ;)

I love and miss you all! Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts! I miss you and will try to be more consistant on this blog so I wont have to type out another novel!

<3

Rebecca Ann