Lodhi Garden and Shopping!

I had an "almost" taste of home in the Lodhi garden yesterday! It is a super nice area with ruins and beautiful flowers & shrubs/trees with walking paths. We spent a couple of hours there walking the grounds, admiring the scenery and enjoying NOT being in a car. The garden is 80 acres of "peace" in the city. The garden holds multiple tombs - the earliest dating back to 1444. The garden was peaceful and a nice break from the typical honking and noise that encompasses the city. before we got to the garden, we stopped by the WWF but they were closed. We were still able to go into the lobby and learn a little more about the WWF history and their current efforts. There are only 1411 tigers left in India - there's a huge push to ensure they do not go extinct.

After the garden, we did what we always do - Eat! We went to a country-club sort of place that has a 50 year waiting list to become a member. 50 years. I didn't think it was that nice...we had a mix of continental and Thai food (I didn't eat - wasn't feeling the best) and some orange juice with a sort of salt added. After lunch, we hit the Janpath and State Emporiums. Janpath is this crazy street where haggling is absolutely necessary. I got some great gifts there! the State emporiums are boutiques from each state of India. No bargaining but great finds from places like the UP, etc. Again, awesome place for gifts (my duffel bag is seriously already fun between the things that I have been given and what I've bought...). It was pretty low key but Janpath was crazy. We left at exactly the right time because shortly after we got in the car it started to downpour. We went back to Sharvan's house and enjoyed a delicious "snack" (that was basically an equivalent to a full dinner with dessert) and I sat out on the patio with Carin and Scott on a covered swing enjoying the sounds of the rain and thunder. It was so peaceful and relaxing. I stayed out after Carin and Scott went back in and fell asleep on the swing. If it hadn't gotten so cold I probably would have slept longer!

After some good R&R we went back to our house and ate dinner. I started to organize my things - everything is a disaster after 5 houses....I got all of my things back into their labeled ziplocs and felt MUCH better. We are heading to Jaipur tomorrow so we need to pack a light overnight bag and leave the rest of our things at the Vikram hotel (our homebase).

Today was a little more intense emotionally. We went to a hospital where the Rotary club sponsors a Polio ward. 8 beds are always reserved for these patients. The doctor who showed us around was pretty much a saint - he is an orthopedic surgeon and people seriously line up to talk with him. he's changed so many lives and does great things. The hospital does not charge anything to make these corrections - basically they help straighten legs and perform other surgeries allowing people who are otherwise destined to crawl or have less mobility to walk with crutches, braces, or without any assistance. His work is truly incredible. I had a really tough time seeing the patients with pins in their legs, weights trying to straighten them out...both children and adults in such tough shape. A couple had just come out of surgery and were obviously in a lot of pain. I had to step out of the room for a bit...we also saw how they make the braces and artificial limbs - all by hand. We saw an incredible presentation of before and after cases...words truly cannot describe what these people go through.

After the hospital - again, we ate, and then went back to rest. I called my parents at 5:30 in the morning :) I'm really surprised they didn't disown me on the spot (just kidding!). I had a few minutes and wanted to take advantage of it! After that, we went to the Red fort and general area - it was crazy!! I need to post pictures and an entire post just on that!

Qutab Minar

This was truly incredible...absolutely breathtaking.

The Qutab Minar is at 72.5 meters at the base and the world's tallest brick minaret. It is situated in the Qutab complex, amidst the ruins of ancient Hindu and Jain temples which were destroyed and their stones used to build the Qutab complex and minar. Construction commenced in 1193 under the orders of India's first Muslim ruler Qutb-ud-din Aibak, and the topmost storey of the minaret was completed in 1386 by Firuz Shah Tughluq.

The detail is phenomenal...the colors are striking. I can't believe how beautiful it was and the shape it was in for its age! We spent over an hour walking the grounds...definitely a highlight!

Music and Change

Pictures:

Wedding - round 2 - with a different team-member :) Carin stayed home and Scott actually made it! We saw all but the white horse part. The Indian weddings have SO many layers and celebrations - this was the part when the groom goes to the bride on a white horse and there is dancing. Then, the bride and groom greet each other with flowers (you can see when she is walking around him and throwing flowers on him - I love this picture because you can see the mischevious smile). That is about half of the wedding. The other part is the actual vow and a symbolic walking around a fire 7 times.

The other picture is from the car - we see this a lot and I am never ceased to be surprised when I see cows on the street or 4 people crammed on a motorbike (2 children included without helmets). I don't even know what to say....

So, I think the one thing that is keeping me "sane" amongst zero control levels and chaos is music. My love for classical music is growing and artists like Kutless, Matthew West, and the LDS hymns are my little 'slice' of home. The good news is that with that - I'm absolutely LOVING India. This is truly a better experience than I could have imagined. I've been asked a few times about the food and I keep neglecting to say how absolutely incredible the food is here - so much for losing weight! That is SO not happening - sometimes it feels like all we do is eat! The food is delicious - the layers of flavor are unlike anything I've had at home and I seriously need to do a better job of learning how to cook here. I've "mastered" paratas (stuffed chipates - I think I spelled that incorrectly) and pretty much nothing else. Last night we went to a wedding and the food was probably the best I've had. We had stuffed red bell peppers, paneer (always!), other vegetables and the gravy and vegetables that has a name that I should have written down :) MMMM...sooo good....I'm still adjusting to spicy food for breakfast but it is really growing on me. We alternate between western breakfast (eggs, toast, fruit) and traditional breakfast (vegetables, paratas, spicy food, etc.). My poor stomach isn't exactly 100% all of the time, but its not really at home either so I am absolutely not complaining. When I get home I'll work to get a few of these things down for sure...anyone interested??

We changed homes this morning and I was pleasantly surprised to have wireless Internet AND we got the key (bonus!). Carin and I are staying together again but we don't have our own rooms this round. That's totally fine...I just feel bad for the guys because they are also sharing a room and neither one is 100% healthy. My host "dad" is a urologist (surgeon) and one of the nicest guys I've met. His wife is a sweet lady as well - they are so welcoming and it was SO nice to have a bit of relaxation time....we're both pretty tired. They have 3 dogs and it really makes me miss Riley :( BUT, one is a rescued street dog and he is super sweet. The other 2 are still warming up to us, but I am sure we'll be great friends by the time we depart in about 4 days. Tomorrow is their 32nd anniversary and I am going to make them a cake. I am a little nervous because I usually support my awesome department and bake Betty Crocker Supermoist cakes thus, I haven't baked a cake from scratch in, um, well, like 15 years - and then I only did it twice. So, let's hope that the 'food person' doesn't bake something terrible and let everyone down... :S I'm pretty confident that the frosting will turn out - I hope they have a mixer...hmm...maybe I should take an inventory of the kitchen before I find a grocery store. I'm excited, either way, to make something for them. I have this feeling I am going to become super attached to this family, much like Rohit and Anu.

The schedule that is posted on my office door is so completely wrong it isn't even funny. When we arrived we got an updated schedule and basically every club we go to (change approximately every 4 days) we get an updated schedule from the master. The good news is we are actually getting a rest day tomorrow - the first one! In my rest day, I'm not really resting, rather, I'm heading back to Guragon for what, I am not exactly sure. It'll be an adventure. My ideal day involves riding a rickshaw and trying to get lost which wouldn't be very hard. I know that probably won't make my parents or family very excited so No, I will not do the aforementioned by myself, but I really really want to ride one before we go! Here's the adventurous Michelle breaking out :) I need to play and run...I've been caged a little too much with all the scheduling. I'm learing patients - this is really good for me!

Sure, now I'm tired...

So after a ton of blog entries, I'm finally starting to feel tired again :( Its funny, one would assume with all of these ridiculous modern ammenties and hot water, I'd be sleeping great. The bed is comfortable and life is good, but my mind is just racing and I keep having nightmares. Last night it was I couldn't get 'home' and I was walking to my current 'home' being chased in India...pretty much lost because Delhi is an absolute driving nightmare. There are so many u-turns and round-abouts, I feel like we just drive in circles for a really long time. Its hard to distinguish much of anything, especially when I'm paying attention maybe half of the time. I keep seeing the stadium for the Commonwealth games this fall and of course the monstrous AIIMS (which still makes me shiver)...

I suppose when I decide to venture out of my cozy bed (which will be in a few minutes) i'll get ready for my vocational day. This is day 3/4 for the vocational visits. Mary is actually coming along with me because of the terrible experience I had on the last one. Really, that was not good...i think I could write an entire book on that...

Then, we have another part of a wedding to attend - the dancing around the white horse ceremony. I have no idea what it is really called but the groom and a young boy arrive to the bride's house on an elaborate white horse. I think the sisters or sister-in-laws feed the horse too and of course there is dancing and I'd be shocked if there wasn't food. I think this'll be the first time in over a week that the whole team will be back together. Scott is looking much better, Carin was good after a day rest yesterday, I'm feeling better (even without a ton of sleep), Mary was always fine, so now hopefully Mike is doing ok! Hopefully we have our sickness out of the way.

I still have SO many things to post, but I think it'll have to wait until tonight or tomorrow morning :) I hope everyone is doing well!! Cheers from India :)

My "home"

From the land of extremes....here's one end. The pictures really don't do this place justice....I'll take more before I leave. It seriously takes me a good 3+ minutes to walk to Carin's room....

Church!

So, amongst all of the temples and chaos in Delhi, there are 2 havens also known as meetinghouses :) After the polio vaccinations, I was actually able to go to one! Granted, my whole keeping the sabbath holy has not been exactly optional because of the schedule, but I still feel like I am supposed to be here. So, my driver (yes, I have a driver) found the church with little direction - it was awesome. I can't explain how comforting I felt to see the elders and talk with them. I immediately felt better after a blessing (they really couldn't understand me well because my voice was mostly gone) and was able to attend Relief Society. The branch was quite small - there were about 8 young women and maybe 7 adult women (we all met in the same room for opening exercises). Our lesson was on repentance and it was great - we had good discussion amongst the intimate group. They even asked me to give the closing prayer. I had quite a few hugs and was overcome with gratitude that I could attend a meeting with the Saints in India! How cool is that!?! It was a well-needed experience - even if it was short - and I was so happy to sing (even without a voice) and feel at home for a short while. I was also able to give the elders my specially-packed bag of American Candy I brought. They looked happy - however, I thought I was being pretty generous for 2 elders but was a little surprised when I met 6! So, it's not going to go as far as I had hoped....still I hope they enjoy just a bit from the States. I should have written down their names but I didn't get a chance - I was so appreciative they were there, could talk for a few minutes, and happy to give me a blessing. I love the Elders!! I love the Elders who taught me! I miss them!!

The Center...

So, I'm sitting in my mansion (home that has an elevator, atrium, and more space that hotels I've been in. Seriously, my room is at least - at LEAST 1000 sq. ft and beautiful), listening to Matthew West, "The Center", and contemplating everything that has happened thus far. We're about half way through and I can't decide if it feels like we've been here a year or 2 days. The good news I'm adjusting to things like the traffic and eating dinner at 10:30 pm. The extremes are still a lot to digest and I guess I'd rather continually be shocked by them opposed to start to become immune. It is still hard to avoid eye contact with the throng of children that knock on the car windows each time we are stopped at a light or in traffic.

The good thing is that even in everything - it is SO clear that Heavenly Father is HERE and loves his children. Two days ago (Sunday) we started the day visiting 2 polio vaccination sites for the national vaccination day. There are thousands of sites around Delhi alone and they use a bivalent immunization to prevent 2 of the 6 strains of polio. We met the team of doctors who oversee the entire operation - it is a record-keeping, organizational nightmare. There are so many children and the effort is so large....

One really interesting fact is women are actually paid to have their children in the hospital basically so that the children will get a set of shots the day they are born. Apparently many children are born into slums because the mothers are uneducated and think the doctors may hurt more than help. The amount they are paid is minimal (equivalent to about $10), but still it is enticing for people who simply do not have anything. The children are given these immunizations and their left pinky finger is marked with a permanent marker to indicate they've recieved the vaccination. While performing some vaccinations, I accidently grabbed the marker by the wrong end and got it all over my hand. I sort of wondered if it was a special marker (wasn't labeled sharpie or anything) that would stay on the skin and nail longer but after a couple washes the same day - it all came off. This seems insignificant unless you realize that these children just don't have washing capabilities and that's why the marker works - in a week the mark will still be there so the people who go door-to-door or through the slums can tell if the children have had their immunization. Wow....

I took a video as we walked out of the slum....I haven't watched it to see if it even catches everything (I just held it against my chest) or anything...If it isn't too bad I'll post. otherwise, I'll show those interested when I get home....

I can't believe how awake I am....for being sick and having more nightmares (sleeping less than 5 hours), I feel actually very good. Thank you to everyone who has been writing emails - I haven't responded to many but knowing that you are all doing (pretty) well and haven't completely forgotten about me yet is comforting :)

Indian Wedding

As the pictures do not accurately articulate - India is totally the land of extremes. I cannot imagine how much money was spent on this wedding. It was truly beautiful and more food that i think I've ever seen (including a buffet in Las Vegas...). We had fun dressing up and seeing it, but it sort of made me sick seeing the food that was wasted knowing children down the street were starving.

Carin and I were discussing how strange it was to be at a wedding and not really know anyone...so after "experiencing" everything we went home early (about 12:30). As we were wrapping up our photo session, I turned around and actually recognized someone - Nav - someone I went to school with at the U of M! I couldn't believe it...I called his name and it was actually him! We chatted for a few minutes - apparently he was a friend of the groom and working between Delhi and Calcutta. CRAZY! We had to go - our cars were being pulled around - but it was awesome to see someone familiar! What a small world!!!

Humayun's Tomb

This tomb was designed by the same person who did the Taj Mahal. It was truly gorgeous & breathtaking. The pictures cannot really show the beauty and intricate details! We walked around for quite awhile and it ended up to be very hot! This was the first major 'tourist' thing we did and it was strange to see other Americans and tourists (apparently most people don't come to see AIIMS in Delhi :).

After the tomb, Carin and I went to see the doctor - he was totally dismissive and told us we were just worried because of the traveling. It was incredibly frusterating but life went on...

Update :)

So, since the last post (not today's), we've switched clubs again! Scott was admitted and released from the hospital (pneumonia - he looks really good now and his voice is better than mine!), I've been to a doctor and chemist (pharmacist) and am feeling better (so incredible that I can walk right in, ask for prescription drugs and buy them for about $2 or WAY less...), performed polio vaccinations (in the slums, was incredible), been to CHURCH (LDS church - wow, totally needed it!), seen more temples (mostly Hindu), tombs, and been to a wedding. I have over 20 pages of typed journal....I can't even begin to discuss the experiences we've been having. So, I think my plan is to post some of the highlights and lots of pictures :)

SO Behind

I FINALLY got wireless and I'm incredibly behind! First...some pictures :)

This is the bird sanctuary we went to last week - feels like years ago! the first picture is a monkey that almost killed Mike. He (the monkey) thought Mike was getting too close to his companion and baby when he was approaching to take pictures and got pretty upset.

Another is of a king fisher bird - gorgeous colorful bird that I crept up to take a picture of....I think everyone got pictures of me slowly approaching to get pictures of the bird...haha :)

The last is a general picture of the sanctuary - it was SO nice to be away from traffic! For once, we didn't have a million horns honking or tons of people around...oh so relaxing :)

Vocational Day and picture issues

This truly will be quick because I’m typing and then transferring to my flash drive so that I can use dial up to post. And right now I’m attempting to send an email on the dial up and its not working. Frusterating!

The only word to describe the moment is “blahhhh” as Carin would say (it is totally rubbing off on me). Today was crazy…really crazy. We had our vocational days and I went to one of the biggest and “best” grain producers (corn, popcorn, flour, chickpeas, beans, etc.) in the country. I put “best” in quotes because I couldn’t believe what I saw. I don’t want to write too much here in the off chance it is read by the wrong person but let’s just say I wasn’t impressed – or hungry – to say the least. The worst part is that the contact (director of the facility) sent 3 samples of rice with me so that I could take them back to my headquarters because he is very interested in doing business with the 6th largest food company in the world. I’m never going to complain when the FDA shows up again. Really. Promise.

Afterwards I took a 3 hour nap – was really tired and stressed – and then we went shopping. The market we went to had many sales and I got some awesome clothes and scarves. I got a partial silk skirt (that isn’t black!! – thought of Susie) for about $10. So many other things too…I was excited.

I’m still struggling with the whole driver and servant thing. It is crazy that we have drivers for everything and I’m supposed to leave my bags in the car so he can carry them up for me. I feel like I’m in a movie. I send my clothes out, get served stuff constantly, have my room and bathroom cleaned, and I do not lift a finger. It makes me quite uncomfortable, really. I don’t think it is nice, I feel like these poor people are not treated the same. I smile and say hi but there is a difference…its hard to digest and more hard to explain. I do know that this is employment for them and they truly need it but still….

Tonight we are going to a dinner and then dancing. I’m starting to feel a little tired already AND I don’t think I ever went to a club when I was even in Minneapolis, SO this isn’t exactly “Michelle”. Oh well, I’ll have fun anyway  I’m actually wearing Indian clothes too…I feel silly but have been assured I look fine….I don’t know about that…

Better go, leaving in 5 minutes!!

I will really try to post more pics...I failed 3 times last night and gave up...will try again tonight!!

New Club, New Family, Train Museum!

So, I really tried to post last night but the Internet didn't work out so well...SO, I have just a paragraph that I need to finish about yesterday. Today, I got up to see Avni and Mahi off to school (6:40 and 8:30 respectively). I packed and got ready somewhere in the middle of all of that. I was so sad to leave - I absolutely adored that family. Rohit and Anu were the most wonderful hosts. Rohit asked how they could have improved over breakfast - and I really, honestly, couldn't think of anything - they were so hospitable. Breakfast was so awesome - we got "raspberries"....I'll post a picture they don't quite look like the raspberries we get at home.

Then, I went over to Scott's house - he's not looking so great. He had a cold when we got here and it really took a turn for the worse. He stayed with his hosts in Guragon again today while we continued back to Delhi...we really missed him :(

Still, we continued on to our hosts (meeting at our first hotel again and splitting up) before going to the museum. My hosts are wonderful - they have two sons in the UK and have 2 dogs that are wonderful company. Vijay is a civil engineer and is working on many large projects. He owns his own company and seems very nice. Rita, his wife, took me to the market after I hung up my clothes and in an hour we got shoes, bangles, and jewelry for the wedding. We also got a sweater (for a gift) and a duffel bag so I can check another bag on the way home. I'm going to need at least that one bag - it is crazy that I've been to 2 homes and already have my suitcases completely packed!!! I may have to leave a few things behind (like the pants I ripped....yeah, that was a good day and apparently an indication that I ate a little too much Indian food...yumm....).

Then, we had a quick lunch - more Indian food (first time I've had it since I felt really sick - it was good), and went to the museum. I got some silly pictures climbing on trains...we had a pretty good time. There was a train that went around the park and we budged in front of a ton of school kids to ride it so we could head home...it was pretty rickety and sketchy....but we all made it and rode in the caboose! The museum had a ton of old track-changing equipment and out of commission equipment (engines, etc.). It was a fun, informational, relaxing afternoon. We're now updating our pictures, group blog, and catching up on some things we need to work on. Its pretty low key...nice.

Tomorrow is a vocational day and the plan is for me to go to one of the leading flour producers in India. My hosts happen to be working on designing & building their new production facility so...I get to go and tour one of their facilities. I'm excited - should be interesting.

Okay, I need to post pics and then re-do my post from yesterday. I'm behind on writing up a paragraph for the first club's newsletter. More work ahead!!