March 29, 2009
So the new school is really nice. It is in a prime location, so two out of the four hostels can walk to it, decreasing the bus trips from three to one. Also it is four floors, so there is so much room that they literally can’t use one whole floor yet, but the kids are coming in every week, so you never know. We have designed the school to have a big library, a science lab and a computer lab, which will make the school better than any of the private schools in the area. One thing that is funny is the land owner is very Hindu and in Hinduism, how your house is set up is very important, it is called Vastu. In Vastu the bathrooms have a lot of rules as to where they can and cannot be. One things that they can never be on the East side of the house, which I had heard once before, and luckily our plan did not have bathrooms on the East side by chance, but there is another rule that both Lynne and Ratnam had never heard that there can not be a bathroom in a corner, which cut out 3 bathrooms, which was quite annoying. Along with being strict Vastu they land owner and his wife are illiterate. They technically are not because they can right their names, but they are very slow and can only write in Telugu. I really do not understand how an illiterate man could make so much money that he could buy land and build a four-story building on land that is just a little less than the price of Lexington land. After a couple of stops in the road, it seems like the school is going well.
Last Saturday the wholesale tailor that was handling the boys clothes for Easter came to drop all of them off. It was impressive how on time he was. The clothes looked great on the boys. However, about a third had pants there were too long.
This past week two women from Boston came and volunteered. One was a native Indian. It was a little weird since even though she was, both of them seemed to have no idea of like the dress code. Lynne thought that since the woman from India was coming she didn’t have to have a cultural lesson and it is pretty hard to tell someone who to dress in their own country, but whatever. Besides that, they were pretty helpful. We finished sorting all the clothes that we got into when Marion and Amy were here, but we sorted them even further into sizes. It took is about 4 days to do all to boys and all the girls. They would work from 11-5 and then they did crafts with the kids, so the first night, they had third hostel do drawings. Second hostel they just played with, and first they did the craft project that Marion sent, with the boys. The kids all seemed to have fun. The only bad thing was that we always had to go back to the house to set up for tomorrows project, which meant Lynne and I didn’t get to spend much time with the kids. Friday we all worked on the library project of pasting labels on all the books. I never thought about the process that it must have taken years for these modern American library that have millions of book, to put labels on all of them. We worked straight for almost 9 hours, and we only labeled about 50% of the 1,300 books that Agape has now. For their last day here we took them to the best Biriyani in town, Bawatchi. We ended up staying out until 12, and we only went back because I was about to fall asleep at the table. I had spent two of the past night up until 1 trying to make the library software print out what I wanted. It had finally caught up with me.
Yesterday we woke up at 5:30 to get a head start before the heat to put up fliers for staff. The whole night, none of us slept, because it was so hot. I would fall asleep for maybe five minutes and then I would wake up. When the alarm went off it was so sad, I thought it had to be a joke. We got up got ready, while we did that Thanuja made some homemade glue to put the fliers up with. We left at around 7, half an hour off schedule and drove the hostels to pick up a couple of boys to help us paste. We took the mini-van. Hafeez and Ranjete (the driver) in the front. Lynne, one of the boys Ratan, and me in the middle, and three more boys sitting on the floor in the back with the seats lifted up. We started out in Uppal, but decided that we couldn’t put up flies to steal school teachers from schools in broad daylight, so we decided to go on the main roads out towards the village and past them in major intersections and bus stops. We drove probably a total of 1 and a-half hours away from Uppal, but we stopped a lot to put up fliers, so it took us about four down and two back. We stopped at a place for lunch that was actually pretty good for being so far outside of the city. We had a system down. Whenever we saw a place, all the boys hoped out we popped open the trunk. Lynne and I handed back the amount of posters for that specific stop. One boy laid out newspaper and pasted the back of each with the glue and the other three boys ran them out to where they wanted to post them. We all then piled back into the car and moved on to the next place. While were out we got pulled over by the police twice at checkpoints. It was nomination day, so there were a lot of police checking for bombs and there were big huge mobs of people marching around, making it pretty difficult to get were we wanted to go. When we got pulled over, they wanted to see the trunk and whenever they opened it they were surprised to see the boys in the back. The boys just waved, and the police officers waved back and then we were on our mission again. By about five we were on our way back to the hostels and I was pretty beat. I was tired last night and I didn’t get really any sleep, so I was now exhausted. We went back and laid down with the girls for about an hour before we went and ate at first. We then decided to go back out at 9 so that we could paste on schools and shops without anyone there to object. We took the ambulance too with a couple extra boys to get the job done. We didn’t take the ambulance in the afternoon, because we would have boiled to death with out the AC. Ratnam, and Jayapaul, along with 3 other boys joined our group. We put up a ton of fliers. Then at around 12:30 some cops pulled us over to tell us that there is a curfew up, which none of us knew about, because of the elections coming up. We drove away from them and put a few more, but at one we stopped, even though we didn’t do nearly as much as we had hoped. Surprisingly I was able to stay awake until we got back to the house at around 1:45. At 2 I crashed.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Being a Tourist
March 19, 2009
Sorry, time has gotten away from me again. I left off with Thaunja and Ratnam gone. The rest of the week was a little crazy, with the majority of the time spent in the kitchen, but Thanuja came back on the 23rd at around 7. Ratnam got back on the 24th really early. Lynne, James and I went to the airport at 3 am and met him there. We spent the 24th relaxing and working at the house, since no one was really awake. The next morning we went out to buy the rest of the boys’ cloth for Easter. At around 5 we got back and we ran around to get me ready to leave for my flight. These past two weeks my family came to India to visit me and to tour around. It has been a very packed two weeks but very fun and interesting.
On the 25th I flew to Delhi to meet up with my parents. We stayed over for a night before flying the Varanasi in the morning. Many of you probably have seen pictures of it, since it is that city that is on the Ganges river that is the holy place to bath and cremate people. They have many ghats, which are the stairs into the river. It was a very interesting site and quite unique. We only stayed overnight, but we got to see both the sunset with the evening prayer, and the sunrise with the morning prayer.
From Varanasi we flew down to Mumbai were Becca met us. We only spent half a day there and saw all the big important sites to see including this very good Gandhi museum, which was actually a house that he used when he visited Mumbai. Another interesting site was this garden called the hanging garden, which was actually a garden sitting on top of their reservoir.
From Mumbai was traveled to Udaipur, which is in the state of Rajasthan. It was a really beautiful area. Our hotel was absolutely amazing. The first day we just enjoyed the hotel, but the next morning we went and saw the city palace. It was quite impressive, and it turns out that they still have a king, even though he has no real power. After that we took a boat ride to another palace, which is on the middle of the lake. In Udaipur there are three big man made lakes, which is funny since Rajasthan is pretty much a complete desert. It had a spectacular view. We then went out to dinner, we took autos to the place, which was right on the water.
The next morning we flew to Jaipur, from Jaipur we drove to this village, Samode, about an hour north of the city. It had another spectacular hotel, which was the king’s palace. It had this one room that was so well preserved it was amazing, full of mirrors and inlaid with real gems and amazing paintings. In Samode we took a Camel ride through the village and the over to the kings old gardens which were quite fantastic and full of Peacocks. The next morning was nice and relaxed and about midday we drove back to Jaipur. Yet again it was an amazing hotel. And another old palace. It was probably the best hotel of the trip. After lunch we went and saw the palace in the city of Jaipur which was very interesting and had some examples of the old clothes and weapons. The most interesting part was the observatory. From what had heard I had assumed it was like the white round building that had seen before, but it turned out to look like a sculpture garden, which had many different sundials. The biggest was accurate up to two seconds. We then went through the city palace, which had a couple of interesting museums. It also had beautiful work. From there we went to a textile and rug factory, where we bought a bunch of textiles with block printing. After we returned to the hotel, were we all did a little exercise. I swam for I think the first time in 6 months and it showed. We then went out to dinner to an ok place, but there turned out to be a French tour group that was eating there too, but the food was good. The next day we drove to Amber Fort, which used to be the big city in the region. It was deserted when they couldn’t expand and the water was drying up. We took a elephant ride up to the fort and then walked around. It was quite well preserved, since no one had lived there since the 17th century. From the Amber fort our guide took us to the Jaipur market, which is supposedly the best place to shop in India. Everyone got something, and then we headed back to the hotel. It was March 4th, which means that it was my Dad’s birthday, and even without Mom telling them, the hotel had arranged for a cake to be sent to the room. We then went to the really fancy restaurant in the hotel, which had really good food from four different areas in India. Then after dinner they brought him another cake, (which was arranged). It was absolutely delicious, but we could only finish half. There was an Italian couple sitting at the table next to us, eyeing the cake, and actually asked the waiter if they could get the same, but you had to pre order it. So my Dad decided to give them the rest ot the cake, which horrified the waiter, but everyone else was happy.
The next morning we drove 4 hours from Jaipur to Agra. On the way we stopped at a little known fort called Fatipur Seacrey, which was quite beautiful. We the went on to see the Taj Mahal. It was so impressive. It was the one thing I had send that I thought we had to do on this trip. Our guide was so enthusiastic and found some areas that had no people and showed us different angles to take pictures from. We watch it at sunset, which was beautiful, and it really does change color.
The next day we drove 5 hours up to Delhi. Even though it is a little shorter distance it took more time because of the traffic in Delhi. We at lunch at this amazing buffet before heading out for a short tour of Delhi. After that we went to dinner at one of my Mom friends’ house, who works for Bain and Companies Delhi office. We had dinner with family and another friend of my mom’s family. I was really nice and was a nice break from eating out or at the hotel every night.
The next morning we flew back to Hyderabad. As soon as we got there we headed off to the one main tourist attraction in the city: the Charminar, were we only spent a few minutes. From there we drove to eat lunch at Bawatchi the best place to get biriyani in the world. It is a place that only the locals go, so it is not fancy at all, but the food is amazing. After that we went to the hotel. This took a lot longer than I had expected because of the traffic, so we didn’t get to do everything that I had planned, before we had to get ready to have dinner with the family friends I had met up with before. It was a very fun night, and what was really funny is that the friend that had hosted us in Delhi actually knew the guy that had us over for dinner here. The next morning I brought the family to see Lynne and Ratnam’s house and to see the kids. I was so happy to find that the kids had not forgotten me. We had breakfast and coffee before heading off to the hostels. We went to them all. I had missed the kids a lot and it was good to be back. I think that the family also really enjoyed hanging out with the kids, even though it was really short visit. From the hostels we went out to lunch at Little Italy were TT, the man that had us over for dinner the night before, had taken me to when we first met. It was just as good as I had remembered and everyone seemed to enjoy it. After that I said good-bye to Mom, Dad, and Becca, who ran off to their flight. And went home with Lynne and Ratnam.
These past weeks has been full. Some engineering students came to give the kids trunk boxes and had a function. Also Semaritans Purse came and gave 100 kids shoe boxes that are supposed to be for Christmas, but the kids didn’t mind. Another big thing is that Lynne and Ratnam finally put a deposit down on the school building that they had been hoping for, for almost a year. It is only the outside frame right now, so we get to design the inside however we want. I found an architecture program online and we worked on a plan. It was fun and I think it is going to turn out really nice. Clothes have also been a big project. We are working on the new outfits for all the kids for Easter, along with sorting and handing out donated clothes. Again I am sorry for taking so long, but I got so far behind I couldn’t keep up. Hope everyone is well.
Sorry, time has gotten away from me again. I left off with Thaunja and Ratnam gone. The rest of the week was a little crazy, with the majority of the time spent in the kitchen, but Thanuja came back on the 23rd at around 7. Ratnam got back on the 24th really early. Lynne, James and I went to the airport at 3 am and met him there. We spent the 24th relaxing and working at the house, since no one was really awake. The next morning we went out to buy the rest of the boys’ cloth for Easter. At around 5 we got back and we ran around to get me ready to leave for my flight. These past two weeks my family came to India to visit me and to tour around. It has been a very packed two weeks but very fun and interesting.
On the 25th I flew to Delhi to meet up with my parents. We stayed over for a night before flying the Varanasi in the morning. Many of you probably have seen pictures of it, since it is that city that is on the Ganges river that is the holy place to bath and cremate people. They have many ghats, which are the stairs into the river. It was a very interesting site and quite unique. We only stayed overnight, but we got to see both the sunset with the evening prayer, and the sunrise with the morning prayer.
From Varanasi we flew down to Mumbai were Becca met us. We only spent half a day there and saw all the big important sites to see including this very good Gandhi museum, which was actually a house that he used when he visited Mumbai. Another interesting site was this garden called the hanging garden, which was actually a garden sitting on top of their reservoir.
From Mumbai was traveled to Udaipur, which is in the state of Rajasthan. It was a really beautiful area. Our hotel was absolutely amazing. The first day we just enjoyed the hotel, but the next morning we went and saw the city palace. It was quite impressive, and it turns out that they still have a king, even though he has no real power. After that we took a boat ride to another palace, which is on the middle of the lake. In Udaipur there are three big man made lakes, which is funny since Rajasthan is pretty much a complete desert. It had a spectacular view. We then went out to dinner, we took autos to the place, which was right on the water.
The next morning we flew to Jaipur, from Jaipur we drove to this village, Samode, about an hour north of the city. It had another spectacular hotel, which was the king’s palace. It had this one room that was so well preserved it was amazing, full of mirrors and inlaid with real gems and amazing paintings. In Samode we took a Camel ride through the village and the over to the kings old gardens which were quite fantastic and full of Peacocks. The next morning was nice and relaxed and about midday we drove back to Jaipur. Yet again it was an amazing hotel. And another old palace. It was probably the best hotel of the trip. After lunch we went and saw the palace in the city of Jaipur which was very interesting and had some examples of the old clothes and weapons. The most interesting part was the observatory. From what had heard I had assumed it was like the white round building that had seen before, but it turned out to look like a sculpture garden, which had many different sundials. The biggest was accurate up to two seconds. We then went through the city palace, which had a couple of interesting museums. It also had beautiful work. From there we went to a textile and rug factory, where we bought a bunch of textiles with block printing. After we returned to the hotel, were we all did a little exercise. I swam for I think the first time in 6 months and it showed. We then went out to dinner to an ok place, but there turned out to be a French tour group that was eating there too, but the food was good. The next day we drove to Amber Fort, which used to be the big city in the region. It was deserted when they couldn’t expand and the water was drying up. We took a elephant ride up to the fort and then walked around. It was quite well preserved, since no one had lived there since the 17th century. From the Amber fort our guide took us to the Jaipur market, which is supposedly the best place to shop in India. Everyone got something, and then we headed back to the hotel. It was March 4th, which means that it was my Dad’s birthday, and even without Mom telling them, the hotel had arranged for a cake to be sent to the room. We then went to the really fancy restaurant in the hotel, which had really good food from four different areas in India. Then after dinner they brought him another cake, (which was arranged). It was absolutely delicious, but we could only finish half. There was an Italian couple sitting at the table next to us, eyeing the cake, and actually asked the waiter if they could get the same, but you had to pre order it. So my Dad decided to give them the rest ot the cake, which horrified the waiter, but everyone else was happy.
The next morning we drove 4 hours from Jaipur to Agra. On the way we stopped at a little known fort called Fatipur Seacrey, which was quite beautiful. We the went on to see the Taj Mahal. It was so impressive. It was the one thing I had send that I thought we had to do on this trip. Our guide was so enthusiastic and found some areas that had no people and showed us different angles to take pictures from. We watch it at sunset, which was beautiful, and it really does change color.
The next day we drove 5 hours up to Delhi. Even though it is a little shorter distance it took more time because of the traffic in Delhi. We at lunch at this amazing buffet before heading out for a short tour of Delhi. After that we went to dinner at one of my Mom friends’ house, who works for Bain and Companies Delhi office. We had dinner with family and another friend of my mom’s family. I was really nice and was a nice break from eating out or at the hotel every night.
The next morning we flew back to Hyderabad. As soon as we got there we headed off to the one main tourist attraction in the city: the Charminar, were we only spent a few minutes. From there we drove to eat lunch at Bawatchi the best place to get biriyani in the world. It is a place that only the locals go, so it is not fancy at all, but the food is amazing. After that we went to the hotel. This took a lot longer than I had expected because of the traffic, so we didn’t get to do everything that I had planned, before we had to get ready to have dinner with the family friends I had met up with before. It was a very fun night, and what was really funny is that the friend that had hosted us in Delhi actually knew the guy that had us over for dinner here. The next morning I brought the family to see Lynne and Ratnam’s house and to see the kids. I was so happy to find that the kids had not forgotten me. We had breakfast and coffee before heading off to the hostels. We went to them all. I had missed the kids a lot and it was good to be back. I think that the family also really enjoyed hanging out with the kids, even though it was really short visit. From the hostels we went out to lunch at Little Italy were TT, the man that had us over for dinner the night before, had taken me to when we first met. It was just as good as I had remembered and everyone seemed to enjoy it. After that I said good-bye to Mom, Dad, and Becca, who ran off to their flight. And went home with Lynne and Ratnam.
These past weeks has been full. Some engineering students came to give the kids trunk boxes and had a function. Also Semaritans Purse came and gave 100 kids shoe boxes that are supposed to be for Christmas, but the kids didn’t mind. Another big thing is that Lynne and Ratnam finally put a deposit down on the school building that they had been hoping for, for almost a year. It is only the outside frame right now, so we get to design the inside however we want. I found an architecture program online and we worked on a plan. It was fun and I think it is going to turn out really nice. Clothes have also been a big project. We are working on the new outfits for all the kids for Easter, along with sorting and handing out donated clothes. Again I am sorry for taking so long, but I got so far behind I couldn’t keep up. Hope everyone is well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)