Love at first sight...

So.... I'm in love. And I finally understand that feeling that you can't quite explain that sweeps you off your feet and before you know it, you've given away a piece of your heart that you will never get back... because you'll never ask for it. I've fallen in love with a tiny village carved out of the side of a mountain called Darjeeling. Its the most beautiful place I've ever seen. Thursday night we took the train overnight to the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains. Then we piled into a massive Jeep for a ride that would take us 3 hours of climbing up steep, windy roads, past forests and towns of brightly colored bungalows, windowboxes full of colorful flowers, and waterfalls coming out of the cliffs. We kept climbing till we could see the whole valley, green and glowing, stretched out beneath us. Then we climbed higher still til the only thing we could see was the white mist of clouds that surrounded us. (Anyone who went to Nigeria, just imagine the road up to the Jos Plateau, only for 3 times as long and the road never levels out at the end... oh yeah, and with a much more conservative driver!) Every time we thought we must have reached the top of the mountain, we rounded yet another bend to go higher still. Finally we reached the most picturesque town- it's so quaint and pretty and the view... well the view is just to die for (as well you might, were you unfortunate enough to have a reckless driver on the way up...) And it's all carved out of the side of this mountain- nearly unimaginable that anyone would choose to settle here, and yet I'm so glad they did so I could come and visit! (Anyone from Nyack, take the steepest hills in town, replicate them, and then put them all in one town- you want to talk about walking uphill anywhere you need to go!) The Indians here look almost Asian- we are close to the Nepalese border, but it is so much more of a country atmosphere. No one hassles you or is uptight, people walk very slowly- the city/country mentality is the same wherever you go! Everything shuts down shortly after 9 pm (almost like being back in PA!) but it is nice to have some peace and quiet and be out of the city for a while. I will post pictures as soon as possible, but I can already tell you they will never do it justice- the way the clouds rise up out of the valley before your eyes and enshroud the town in their mist, cloaking it in white as far as the eye can see, almost tucking it in for the night; and yet knowing that beyond that veil lies a panorama that will make your heart race.... sigh... you'll just have to see it for yourself.
From Darjeeling,
Karin


(p.s. the only thing funny and rather unfortunate about this: I hate the tea!!!!)

My Weekend

So, I had a pretty good weekend. I've been here for almost a month now... hard to believe! After that first week, time has flown by. Saturday was Kaylie's birthday (the new volunteer from Canada). I saw her on Fri and we talked and when I asked what she was doing, she didn't really have plans because she just got here, so we agreed to meet up at Park St and we just went around shopping. We went to New Market and got hassled by all the hawkers: (What you want to buy? I show you right place! This way! No ma'am, your size- this your perfect size (when the shirt is 8 sizes too big or they've just tried to stretch out the size 6 shoe to fit your foot). It was a lot more fun than when I was there the last time, and I know she enjoyed it, rather than just sitting around by herself on her birthday. When we got back to the the guesthouse the Australian boys were in the common room and invited us out with them. There were 9 of us: One Brit, two New Zealanders, four Australians, one American, and one Indian... (or 20 Indians, if you count the birthday party in the corner that we got involved in...) So since it was Sat night, all the places we went to were full, so finally we wound up in the dingiest bar ever--- low ceilings, florescent light, trash everywhere, and a huge rat running around unchallenged feasting on all the crumbs. It was pretty seedy, and as we walked in someone said under their breath, "Are we really eating food here??" But the food (suprisingly) was great- best chicken curry I've had since I got here- and the company was excellent. All the guys are volunteering/doing charity work and are Christians, so it was really cool to get a chance to talk to them. So we had a really great time, AND we found out that not only are they going to Darjeeling next week too, but they are on the same train! So it should be a really fun trip. I'm already looking forward to this weekend!
I went to church again on Sunday. I walked-it's really close by. I like their service- they sang a song in Bengali this morning and it was beautiful. The Indian pastor preached, and he is a very good speaker. I feel quite at home here. They also took an offering for the Christians who are being persecuted in Orissa, who need a lot of help.
Sunday evening our Aussie friends took us to the best chai shop in Kolkata- it's in this cramped, tiny market and it is murderously hot but SO worth it. Shortly after we arrived and were all given seats, a crowd gathered to watch us wait for our chai. Little boys were dispached all over the market to bring him special ingredients, and then we got to watch our artist go to work. He pours the milk into a pan and has to keep stirring it with this ladle or it will scald. Then he chopped some ginger with this wooden block and added that, with some tea leaves and sugar and I'm not sure what else. Then to test whether or not it's hot, he pours a tiny bit on his wrist. And then he pours it back and forth between the pot and a tin pitcher to make it frothy, showing off a bit as he pours from further distances every time, without ever spilling a drop. It was amazing. Perfectly gingery and spicy, and WAY better than any other chai I've had here. And after we drank that pot, he made us some other concoction with coffee grains and chocolate and (I think) condensed milk maybe? Whatever it was, it was heaven. Even better than the drinks I used to make at Starbucks (and you all know that coming from me, that says a lot!!!)
And the highlight of my day today was visiting my egg roll man for lunch. One of these days there will be a video of that... Stay tuned!!

Some restaurant vignettes...

So here are some true restaurant stories that have happened to me while in India:

Chinese I
(at a fancy restaurant near work)
Sherry: What kind of noodles are those men having at that table over there?
(blank look from waiter)
Sherry: Can I have (points) the same noodles as they (points) are having?
(blank look from waiter)
Sherry: (sighs) I'll have the chicken tikka masala.
Waiter bows, then walks away.
Karin: Um. Can I order?
Waiter turns, looking suprised, then takes my order.

Chinese II
(same restaurant, a few days later, with John, the CEO of Destiny Productions)
Sherry: I'll have the American chopsuey.
Waiter nods, turns to me.
Karin: I'll have the Chicken Haaka noodles
Waiter bows, then walks away.
John: Can I order?
But this time the waiter has walked even further away, so he doesn't hear. After some while, we get his attention and he comes back.
John: I'll have the tandoori chicken.
Waiter: One?
John: Half.
Waiter: One?
John: Half.
Waiter: One?
John: No, half. One (holds up finger) half tandoori chicken.
Waiter: Half.
John: Yes, half.
Waiter: One?
And walks away.
Wouldn't you know John got the whole chicken....

Hotel Circular
(at the hotel restaurant across the street from us)
Sherry: I'll have the tandoori chicken.
Waiter: Half?
Sherry: No, whole.
Waiter: Half?
Sherry: Whole.
Waiter: Is werry big. Half.
Sherry: But then I can eat the rest for lunch tomorrow.
Waiter nods.
(Sherry gets half a chicken)
Karin: I'll have the mutton khosa.
Danielle: I'd like the paneer tikka masala.
Waiter leaves. A short while later, he is back.
Waiter: I'm sorry ma'am. One item, we do not have. We have no paneer.
Danielle: Then I'll have the vegetable curry instead.
After what feels like an hour, our food comes. Not only is there paneer in Sherry's naan, but Danielle also finds paneer in her veg dish as well, despite the fact that they don't have any.

Peter Cat
(an upscale restaurant on Park St.)
Danielle: What is the papad? Is it crunchy?
Waiter: Yes, is crunchy.
Danielle: All right then, I'll have the naan.
When our order comes, there is a papad, on a plate, all by itself. It sits there through the entire meal. We both have a nibble, but it remains largely untouched. The waiter comes to clear the plates. The papad sits. We order dessert. The papad sits. The waiter comes back, removes my empty glass from the table, and the papad still sits. Finally Danielle puts her napkin on the plate before they will take away the item we never ordered to begin with...

Taj
(a tiny Indian restaurant on Sutter St.)
Danielle: I'll have the omelette, with no extra oil.
Karin: (opens mouth to order as waiter walks away)
Waiter returns, slaps a pad of paper and pen on the table, and walks away again. We look at each other in disbelief. We write down our own order. Which is then copied on the same page, with prices next to it, for the bill.

Puja!!

(Hooray for finally learning to put photos IN the blog!! More than 4 at a time!!!!)

Yesterday, apparently, was a big holiday here. It was the machine puja (which is sort of like a religious celebration). So the girls told Becky that they couldn't work, because this is the one day a year that the machines get to rest. And we had to have a puja and have a priest come and bless all the sewing machines. So Tuesday we cleaned the whole building (I've never seen the girls scrub so hard!) to be ready. (Mind you, ready is a relative term...) We were told to come at 11 the next day, because that's when the puja would start. (We were also told you have to wear something new to a puja (whichever salwaar suit maker made up that rule is a genius) which resulted in a harrowing trip to New Market to find something to wear..) So Wednesday as we were on the bus coming (in our new outfits), we saw a lot of trucks and cars on the sides of the road being washed... for the puja. And all the buses and most of the cars had garlands of flowers and decorations because they'd been blessed. (You could really spot the Muslim taxi drivers now... not only were they grumpy because they can't eat during Raamadaan, but they were driving the boring cars!)

So we arrived shortly before 11, and all the girls were upstairs cutting fruit and preparing for the puja. And they wouldn't let us help. So we waited around, and chatted, and waited. We met a new volunteer, Kaylie, she is from Canada and had just arrived that morning. So we waited some more, and then finally were told to go upstairs to the room where we were having the puja. Swapna was painting a beautiful flower design on the floor with clay.

She was very precise and painstaking. So we watched her for a while, figuring that we can't rush such artistry, and finally she finished. And then all the girls disappeared. So we waited some more. And finally someone told us that what we were actually waiting for was the priest, who had not arrived yet. He was supposed to be there, but 11 Indian time actually means 1. Which is when the puja started. There was a lot of chanting, and a lot of bell ringing, and a lot of smoke from the incense.

I didn't really understand it all, but it was still pretty cool. So finally after all the chanting was done and he had finished putting all the multitudes of flowers precisely where they were supposed to go, we got to eat! There was lots of fruit and sweets, and aloo daum, and some kidney bean dish that my mother needs to start making, all with lucchi. It was an interesting day- fun to just sit around and talk and relax. And then this morning, I arrived and was beginning my tasks for the day when who should arrive but the priest (on his bicycle!) Apparently one day of puja is not enough- we had to finish today! So we went upstairs again, and there was this neat little wood structure built on top of two bricks covered with sand. It was like a little pyramid thing, sort of like what you would build if you were starting a campfire... but no, we're inside a building. So we lit some more incense and there was more chanting and bell ringing and tossing flowers, even on the little wooden structure. And then, no wait, he's not really going to light it on fire, is he???

Surely not, we're inside! All the smoke... okay, well, it's not smoking too much, maybe he just has to singe the wood- why is he putting flammable powers and liquid on it!! I thought we were going to BLESS the building, not burn it down!!! So we wound up with a little raging fire in front of the idol- big enough to feel some heat from, even. It was kinda crazy. But I guess that's why you need water from the Ganges for every puja- to put out those sacrificial fires!!!

Check out the video!! Almost like going to a puja of your own- only imagine it lasts for an hour instead of 30 seconds!!!

Me and Fatheema sporting our new outfits... which just so happen to coordinate nicely with the sandal-wood paste of our bindis...

Sunday

Hello Everyone!
So Sunday I did get to go to church- the service was in English so that was great and it is not far at all from where I live. It's really neat to be able to worship with believers all around the world. I met some really nice people- this German woman named Pia who works in the red light district gave me her number and I would love to get together with her. And then after the service, a guy came in with a teapot and served everyone chai! Only in India... Then Vishal (my volunteer coordinator- it was his church) invited me to lunch and we went with all his friends (sort of like the young adult group) and two of the girls are sisters and they had everyone over to their house for a Bengali meal! We had this soup that was really good as long as you didn't put too much chili sauce in it, and then I had momos for the first time- they are so good! They are kind of like wontons stuffed with ground mutton or chicken mixed with onions and spices. They are yummy, but I may have ruined it by having homemade ones first! Anyway, the people were nice, but they all spoke Hindi and since that is their native language it is easier, so it's still difficult to communicate with anyone. But at least they CAN speak English. Anyway. Nothing interesting happened yesterday. Really. Nothing. So that's it for now...

Week 2...

So as you can see from all the pictures, this has been an eventful week! We (myself and 3 other volunteers) have moved to a new guesthouse. There were several problems at the old one (namely, bedbugs and no water or showers) so we are now happily living in a cozy place right up the street (with NO bugs and plenty of water!) It seemed like a much, much shorter week than the previous one- I guess getting used to things here has made the time speed up a bit. We've successfully managed to take the bus to work on our own this week without getting lost, so that's an accomplishment. (Also, no one has died in the crazy traffic or crossing the street- another small miracle!) We had the priviledge of being invited to a traditional Bengali luncheon on Tuesday provided by the socialite women of Bengal who are creating a cookbook to sell with some traditional Indian spices. The food was very good- and I now know that I really like Aloo Daum (which is a potato dish) and that is helpful when you are at a restaurant and nothing looks familiar. I also discovered egg rolls-Indian style- that this guy makes at a little stand just up the street from where we work. They are amazing!! It's like a thick tortilla that they fry on their pan, and then when the one side is done, they flip it over and scramble 2 eggs on the other side. So the eggs wind up cooked to the bread, and then they stuff it with various vegetables, or chicken, or mutton, or pretty much whatever you want. (And of course they all have onions... and masala!!) They are spicy but wonderful, and only cost Rs20- or possibly less depending on where you get them (which is about.... 50 cents US!!)
We also got to work on a mass project with the girls at the center- there are pictures of us putting tags on all the blue cell phone bags. It was a pretty cool project, and I hope it enlightens the people receiving the bags.
Last night Danielle and I decided to go out to dinner because it was Friday. So we get to the restaurant (very posh for India) and there is this white guy waiting. (You notice foreigners so easily here- the other morning at breakfast I was actually suprised that I could understand the conversation I was overhearing from the next table- I'm already used to tuning out because I can't understand what anyone's saying). So we asked for a non smoking table for 2, and we were seated at the table directly next to the door. Which is why we overheard the guy asking the waiter why we got seated before him. And then his friend came back from the toilet, and the waiter told him that he couldn't give them a table for two in that section because it was the "family section," and if two men wanted a table they had to sit by the bar. (Which is ridiculous- apparently brothers can't go out to dinner alone here, but anyway.) So since we had just sat down and were also rather suprised at this new Indian rule, Danielle and I asked if they wanted to get a table for 4, so we did. Which is how we wound up having a lovely dinner with Chris and Sam. They are from the UK and were headed home today. So we got to hear all about their 3 weeks of travelling in India and all the adventures they'd had- they gave us some advice about hotels and places to stay away from. It is great to be able to meet travellers from all over the world, and it so easy to talk to them because you're all in India (and what more do you need in common than that!) They were very grateful to us for rescuing them, and we all had an enjoyable evening.
The rest of the weekend looks pretty uneventful... I would like to go to church tomorrow and I have some more errands to run before we start work again on Monday. I need to get a Bengali dictionary so I can try to teach some of our girls a little more English- but first I have to know what I'm trying to teach them! It's nice to have the weekends off- gives me a chance to rest (the only drawback to our new housing situation is that the laundryman knocks on our door before 7 am every morning.) -and catch all of you up on what's going on here in India!!!

Some favorites..

These are some of my favorite pictures... Some script at one of the temples, one of the bricks in the sidewalk (just in case you forget where you are...) a building near the Police Museum, and the last one might be the best picture I've taken so far. I just love the composition and the pile of bricks, the odd bits of a life that someone has placed in a windowsill...

More Sightseeing...

The first two are also at the Jain temple- you can tell by all the colors! Then we went to the Victoria Memorial- so clean and white, especially compared to all the other buildings in Kolkata!

Sightseeing

This was at the Jain temple- for being an austere sect of Hinduism, their temple is one of the more lavish in the city. Lots of intricate murals and glasswork. Everything was really shiny...

Tagging!!

Our other big project at our placement this week was to attach tags to a shipment of cell phone bags going to the US. Each tag explained that the bags were handmade in India by survivors of exploitation and slavery. It was a tedious process, considering we were shipping 1,000 bags, but I was excited to do it because hopefully it will make more people aware of the situation around the world. So these are pictures of the girls helping us put tags on every bag, raising awareness of the problems facing Indian girls today.

They call it monsoon for a reason!

At our old guesthouse, we had a tiny porch outside. One evening a huge thunderstorm rolled through, and we went outside to see it rain. The picture doesn't do it justice- it was pouring!! This was also during the time that we didn't have showers, so I improvised... which is why I'm soaking wet. That's me with Danielle, another volunteer from Australia. And I saw a monkey at the Victoria Memorial on Sunday!!!

Where are all the people?

Not sure how I got these shots- in a city of 15 million people, I sure managed to avoid them! The lone woman is peeling cucumbers to sell. The terra cotta cups are disposable chai cups that are everywhere- stacked next to the chai stands or broken in the street, depending. The flowers are garlands that they use for worship- outside near the temples there are hundreds of stalls selling the chains of marigold and hibiscus.

Life in India

These are just some shots of average life here. The food was from a traditional Bengali lunch that we had on Tuesday- that was our job for the day: to go to a luncheon and taste test the meat dishes. They are putting together a cookbook to sell with some Indian spices. My job today was to put together the layout for the cookbook with some pictures... Anyway, the dishes are chola daal (a split chickpea sauce), aloo daum (which is mostly potatos and was my favorite thing until I discovered Indian egg rolls later in the week), and okra (I confess, I didn't eat much okra) served with luchi, the bread-like things which are really good! And I'm beginning to get better at eating with my hands, although it's still hard to use only one!

You think New York has traffic!!!

So Danielle and I attempted to take an auto rickshaw home one day, and got stuck in a massive traffic jam. Since we were stranded in the middle of the intersection and surrounded on all sides by cars, I decided to take pictures. The taxi decided he was turning, despite the fact that all the other cars are going the opposite direction. And the big van behind him followed. Meanwhile, the other auto rickshaws, which are smaller, tried to go around him since they had the right of way, but as you can see it just created chaos. And then a few days later I saw this roadsign, which is possibly my favorite picture to date...

Hooray more pictures!!

These are pictures I took wandering around Kalighat on Saturday. The first building is Mother Theresa's Home for the Dying- the original building was part of Kali Temple. We walked down one street that had these beautiful paintings on all the walls of the buildings. The boat was at the ghat (or dock? it means water access or something in Bengali). And then there was a marketplace (one of the rarer finds in Kolkata... KIDDING!)