I'm not sure if I've made it clear that the kids I'm trying to teach are little wild Indian children. Because if I haven't then I should. It's an adventure every time I step into the classroom, a couple of classes ago class ended with me locked in the room. I pounded on the door until Somit, the man who runs the school, let me out. I didn't find it as funny as the kids did. Then, last class they tried to pull off the same trick. But I learned my lesson and wouldn't have it. Really though,got their way. They ended class early on me, half way through my lesson: 10 little monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped his head, Momma Said "No more monkeys jumping on the bed! 9 little monkeys... etc. I'm not sure if we ever made it past 8 monkeys. I was trying to teach them this little song. Get some numbers and English pronunciation. But ooh well, I've gotta roll with the punches. Me with my extremely limited Hindi trying to teach a bunch of rowdy kids... I'm not sure what to do honestly, I've got no teaching support and I'm expected to hold class for two and a half hours. It's fun and rewarding, even when the kids don't seem to care at all :D
My Hindi is coming along, it's amazing how fast I'm learning. I'm surprising myself. I can have a conversation now, my Grammer isn't good and I can't talk about things outside what's immediatly relevant but it's a start. My teacher is impressed with my progress, I just spend as much time outside of class talking to Indians who can't speak English. Teaching of course is great for my language practice but I can't understand a word that the kids say, haha.
Happy Valentines Day to Everyone, I tried to call you Mom and Dad, but for some reason the internet cafe isn't coo-operating with me. My photos are up on Flickr! alexlandt is my user name and I wish that I could write a description for each photo but that would take forever. More posts to come, every day is an adventure here, it's one of the few constants in my life.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Travel
This happened a while ago, 3 weeks or so ago. It is such a perfect example of India that I just have to tell the story. Traveling in India, no matter what distance, from my front door to the market, or from one city to another. Is always interesting. There are too many hazards to be even written about. Long distance travel especially, is when us "travelers" loose all control or grasp on our affairs (or percieved balance as it may be). This is when the resourceful, flexible and patient qualities of a person come in handy.
I was in Rishikesh, and it was time to had out to catch the Dalai Lama's teaching in Saranath. It was myself, Laura (Australia), Haley(Hawaii) and Elody(France). Laura, Haley and I had sleeper class tickets and Elody had 1st class. In sleeper class there are beds but not much else. Anyways, we caught a bus to the train station that was in another city about an hour away. We arrived, went into a restaurant and had some dinner. Our train was set to leave at 11:55, we mosied over to the station at about 11:30. We asked someone at a counter which platform our train would arrive at. Platform 8 I was told. Ok great, so we go out to the platforms and we see 1,2,3,4... no 8 ok. Well, what do we do, we sat down, waited and sang some Beatles. Ok, well it wasn't the smartest thing to do. I also think that if any one of us had been alone we wouldn't have made this mistake. But, we were in the station, and there was no platform 8. Sadly we waited until 11:55 when we heard the whistle blow. At that point one of us had the bright idea to check with the station master. Who told us that our train has left... But that we could catch the train that was supposed to arrive at 9 PM but was running late. A few hours he told us. Well it wasn't a couple of hours. The train didn't get into our station until 5 AM. The only tickets that were available were 3rd class. Which is infamous. Gandhi wrote about them as equating humans with cattle. Thankfully our compartments weren't that bad. Anyways, we spent a long and sleepless night on the hard floors avoiding a crazy man who wouldn't leave us alone. When our train arrived first came some compartments. We hopped into those as fast as we could, but it wasn't as fast as the Indians as soon as the train had slowed they were sprinting and leaping into the compartments. We managed to secure two seats and two luggage racks. We had to defend them for the rest of the trip. We joked that we traveled forward in time and then back again to get the train that we were on. Really we were just delerious, and the delirium remained because our train took 23 hours to reach Varanassi, the Express train that we were supposed to catch would have been 13 hours. Since I've been in India I've avoided bottled water like the plague. i had a water purifier but then it broke... so I was doing what shouldn't be done. I was drinking the water. It's a ig no-no, and everyone knows it. but if you know me, sometimes I have to figure stuff out for myself. I'd been fine drinking the water in the mountainous regions. But when the train pulled into Lucknow and i filled my water up it spelled doom for me. I got sick. And the meagre fare of station food i.e. Samosas, triangle shaped potato fritters, and puri, exited in the fastest way possible. without being too graphic, I was really, really sick. Some how in the delirium of not sleeping for two days I took it in stride. The rest of the ride was monotonous, bumps, long delays for no reason, and of course just as sleep was entering the conciousness some chai-wala would scream "chai" as loud as he could. It was fun, a good experience, that's how 90% of the Indian population travels... I've entered the club.
I just got over being sick again. But, I'm healthy and well. I'm doing yoga, taking hindi classes and volunteering. more soon to come! Love from India to everyone. This place has a strange way of teaching lessons, being sick is one of them.
I was in Rishikesh, and it was time to had out to catch the Dalai Lama's teaching in Saranath. It was myself, Laura (Australia), Haley(Hawaii) and Elody(France). Laura, Haley and I had sleeper class tickets and Elody had 1st class. In sleeper class there are beds but not much else. Anyways, we caught a bus to the train station that was in another city about an hour away. We arrived, went into a restaurant and had some dinner. Our train was set to leave at 11:55, we mosied over to the station at about 11:30. We asked someone at a counter which platform our train would arrive at. Platform 8 I was told. Ok great, so we go out to the platforms and we see 1,2,3,4... no 8 ok. Well, what do we do, we sat down, waited and sang some Beatles. Ok, well it wasn't the smartest thing to do. I also think that if any one of us had been alone we wouldn't have made this mistake. But, we were in the station, and there was no platform 8. Sadly we waited until 11:55 when we heard the whistle blow. At that point one of us had the bright idea to check with the station master. Who told us that our train has left... But that we could catch the train that was supposed to arrive at 9 PM but was running late. A few hours he told us. Well it wasn't a couple of hours. The train didn't get into our station until 5 AM. The only tickets that were available were 3rd class. Which is infamous. Gandhi wrote about them as equating humans with cattle. Thankfully our compartments weren't that bad. Anyways, we spent a long and sleepless night on the hard floors avoiding a crazy man who wouldn't leave us alone. When our train arrived first came some compartments. We hopped into those as fast as we could, but it wasn't as fast as the Indians as soon as the train had slowed they were sprinting and leaping into the compartments. We managed to secure two seats and two luggage racks. We had to defend them for the rest of the trip. We joked that we traveled forward in time and then back again to get the train that we were on. Really we were just delerious, and the delirium remained because our train took 23 hours to reach Varanassi, the Express train that we were supposed to catch would have been 13 hours. Since I've been in India I've avoided bottled water like the plague. i had a water purifier but then it broke... so I was doing what shouldn't be done. I was drinking the water. It's a ig no-no, and everyone knows it. but if you know me, sometimes I have to figure stuff out for myself. I'd been fine drinking the water in the mountainous regions. But when the train pulled into Lucknow and i filled my water up it spelled doom for me. I got sick. And the meagre fare of station food i.e. Samosas, triangle shaped potato fritters, and puri, exited in the fastest way possible. without being too graphic, I was really, really sick. Some how in the delirium of not sleeping for two days I took it in stride. The rest of the ride was monotonous, bumps, long delays for no reason, and of course just as sleep was entering the conciousness some chai-wala would scream "chai" as loud as he could. It was fun, a good experience, that's how 90% of the Indian population travels... I've entered the club.
I just got over being sick again. But, I'm healthy and well. I'm doing yoga, taking hindi classes and volunteering. more soon to come! Love from India to everyone. This place has a strange way of teaching lessons, being sick is one of them.
Friday, February 4, 2011
sickness... and volunteer!
I am sick again. I've never been this sick before, at least that is how it feels. I got free medicine though by taking part in a study for Europeans... I'm British, didn't you know? haha, I did a great job of lying. But now I've broken one of the precepts of the vows I took with the Dalai Lama, one little lie hopefully won't affect me too much.
I found a small school to volunteer at, so I will be taking Hindi and volunteering at this school. You can see the project here: http://www.varanasivolunteer.blogspot.com or http://www.varanasiindiango.jimdo.com I taught my fist day of class yesterday, just before I got sick with a horrible fever that shook my body to the point that I couldn't even hold anything. The school is for street kids who don't have money to go to school otherwise. Many of these kids work and during the class one young boy had to leave to go to the tailor shop where he works. As you can imagine it's crazy. When I was in Ecuador I taught at another school similar to this with other exchange students. But here I am alone, there is no teacher for the evening classes. The school has both morning time and evening classes. So it was me, all lone trying to reign in 12 little monsters... haha, it was crazy, and in Ecuador at least I could speak Spanish. Now though I have almost no Hindi to speak of. It was difficult to explain what I was teaching or even what to do. I was bordering on helplessness, but I'm determined to stick with it. These kids have no one and at least my presence can help a little bit.
I found a small school to volunteer at, so I will be taking Hindi and volunteering at this school. You can see the project here: http://www.varanasivolunteer.blogspot.com or http://www.varanasiindiango.jimdo.com I taught my fist day of class yesterday, just before I got sick with a horrible fever that shook my body to the point that I couldn't even hold anything. The school is for street kids who don't have money to go to school otherwise. Many of these kids work and during the class one young boy had to leave to go to the tailor shop where he works. As you can imagine it's crazy. When I was in Ecuador I taught at another school similar to this with other exchange students. But here I am alone, there is no teacher for the evening classes. The school has both morning time and evening classes. So it was me, all lone trying to reign in 12 little monsters... haha, it was crazy, and in Ecuador at least I could speak Spanish. Now though I have almost no Hindi to speak of. It was difficult to explain what I was teaching or even what to do. I was bordering on helplessness, but I'm determined to stick with it. These kids have no one and at least my presence can help a little bit.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Varanassi!
Excuse me for my absence, so much to write about and so little time. From January 18-29th I was in Vipassana meditation retreat. It was meditation boot camp, awake at 4:00 AM and 10 hours of meditation each day... Maybe I'll write about it later, but events seem to be passing me by much faster than I can write about them.
Yesterday I was sitting along the Ghats writing, I think that it came out nicely so here it goes.
I am poised between the serene calm of the baba (Hindu Holy man) sweeping the small temple to my left and the crazyness that pervades all of India. Hopefully none of the kids with flowers (for prayers in the Ganges River), postcards or sad hungry faces will attempt the climb to my perch. Dusk is falling on the sacred Ganga, the activities of the day wane with the setting sun. No longer do the Dhobi wallas beat the clothes on the stones and nothing is left out to dry. Now, it is the dominion of games, kite flying, cricket and other ball and stick games, not mentioning marbles and kids rolling hoops. Work is done and it is time to play. The serious cricket games overtake everything and errant balls upset evening walkers.
Babeshanan, who is a Bramechari, not a Baba, likes the U.S. We exchanged a few words as he was sweeping towards me. Like so many Indians there is no bad report for the country that has set the gold standard for India's dreams. Little do they know that their country is what should be an example to the world. No where else do tolerance, co-existance, compassion and kindness have so much meaning. Here all religions and people have a place, no matter how small. The co-existance between humans and animals is unbelievable.
Nothing is hidden here, no veil to pull back. The cadaver has been laid open for all to see. I'm in the background, an observer to the daily play that dances away across this wonderous city. The lepers and beggars sharing the streets with the animals, countless puppies, and huge water buffalo are the most apparent. Even though I can see the cadaver from afar I can't speak with it and hear it's story. That is why it's important for me to stay here, and to learn Hindi. This country has so much depth, and multitudes of facets. I must break through the thin Ice that I've been walking on and plunge into India, as it is for the millions upon millions of people who eek their lives from this absurd place. I heard that for 500 governmental positions there are 200,000 applicants... that's competition.
If something exists in this world, it exists here more likely than not. Everyday I see something that suprises me. Like shovels for two people, there is no shortage of human labor. We are also not so far from the days when it was kings and queens walking these ghats, not tourists. And here fantastic stories are truth. As my friend said recently, "India is more of a state of mind than a country."
I'm going to plug along and keep on writing, any responses are highly appreciated so I know your reading my blog :D
Yesterday I was sitting along the Ghats writing, I think that it came out nicely so here it goes.
I am poised between the serene calm of the baba (Hindu Holy man) sweeping the small temple to my left and the crazyness that pervades all of India. Hopefully none of the kids with flowers (for prayers in the Ganges River), postcards or sad hungry faces will attempt the climb to my perch. Dusk is falling on the sacred Ganga, the activities of the day wane with the setting sun. No longer do the Dhobi wallas beat the clothes on the stones and nothing is left out to dry. Now, it is the dominion of games, kite flying, cricket and other ball and stick games, not mentioning marbles and kids rolling hoops. Work is done and it is time to play. The serious cricket games overtake everything and errant balls upset evening walkers.
Babeshanan, who is a Bramechari, not a Baba, likes the U.S. We exchanged a few words as he was sweeping towards me. Like so many Indians there is no bad report for the country that has set the gold standard for India's dreams. Little do they know that their country is what should be an example to the world. No where else do tolerance, co-existance, compassion and kindness have so much meaning. Here all religions and people have a place, no matter how small. The co-existance between humans and animals is unbelievable.
Nothing is hidden here, no veil to pull back. The cadaver has been laid open for all to see. I'm in the background, an observer to the daily play that dances away across this wonderous city. The lepers and beggars sharing the streets with the animals, countless puppies, and huge water buffalo are the most apparent. Even though I can see the cadaver from afar I can't speak with it and hear it's story. That is why it's important for me to stay here, and to learn Hindi. This country has so much depth, and multitudes of facets. I must break through the thin Ice that I've been walking on and plunge into India, as it is for the millions upon millions of people who eek their lives from this absurd place. I heard that for 500 governmental positions there are 200,000 applicants... that's competition.
If something exists in this world, it exists here more likely than not. Everyday I see something that suprises me. Like shovels for two people, there is no shortage of human labor. We are also not so far from the days when it was kings and queens walking these ghats, not tourists. And here fantastic stories are truth. As my friend said recently, "India is more of a state of mind than a country."
I'm going to plug along and keep on writing, any responses are highly appreciated so I know your reading my blog :D
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Sticky Keyboards
That's my excuse, I'm sorry for not writing. I swear that I want to ten times more than I do. But, these internet places just aren't the most conducive to sitting down and really getting to work on a story. I actually had to wait 20 minutes to even use this computer because 'm in Saranath, India. The reason that it's significant is because the Dalai Lama is here as well. This is the place where Buddha gave his first sermon after attaining enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. There are some temples and a few monastaries but here all the roads are dirt. It is DUSTY! There is so much I'd love to expunge on all of you but I'm serious about these sticky keys. Let's see how far I get.
Well, since the last time I wrote I've practically traversed across half of north India. Saranath is near Varanassi which even if you don't know anything about it, I'm sure that you've seen pictures of it. It's debated to be the oldest city in the world, that's because the city is as old as any records that still exist. It's fun to wrap my head around that. It's along the sacred Ganges river and is infamous for the burning ghats. Hindus believe that if they are burned at these ghats then they will go directly to nirvana. They believe in reincarnation and Karma, depending on the life that they live now, determines where and what they will be reborn as in future lives. But, being burned along the Mother Ganges river and having your ashes deposited into it than it's like a free pass out of being reborn and going onto the realm of the gods( As my understanding goes...).
I've spent the last 4 days sitting on my behind listening to the translation of H.H. Dalai Lama's teachings on Bodichitta, and the way of the bodisatvas. Basically, his teachings are to treat others with love, compassion and kindness. It's so simple, and truly inspiring. He is such an amazing person, from far away his presence can be felt. He's 76 but judging by his laughter, humour and the way he holds himself he seems like he could be in his late 40's or 50's.
So much to write about and very little time. Since the cafe is so full of monks wanting to check their emails there's a time limit. I'll be back soon enough to bust out another one. By the way, the flash is broken on my camera... but it still works! I'm sending my love from the Dalai Lama to everyone :D
Well, since the last time I wrote I've practically traversed across half of north India. Saranath is near Varanassi which even if you don't know anything about it, I'm sure that you've seen pictures of it. It's debated to be the oldest city in the world, that's because the city is as old as any records that still exist. It's fun to wrap my head around that. It's along the sacred Ganges river and is infamous for the burning ghats. Hindus believe that if they are burned at these ghats then they will go directly to nirvana. They believe in reincarnation and Karma, depending on the life that they live now, determines where and what they will be reborn as in future lives. But, being burned along the Mother Ganges river and having your ashes deposited into it than it's like a free pass out of being reborn and going onto the realm of the gods( As my understanding goes...).
I've spent the last 4 days sitting on my behind listening to the translation of H.H. Dalai Lama's teachings on Bodichitta, and the way of the bodisatvas. Basically, his teachings are to treat others with love, compassion and kindness. It's so simple, and truly inspiring. He is such an amazing person, from far away his presence can be felt. He's 76 but judging by his laughter, humour and the way he holds himself he seems like he could be in his late 40's or 50's.
So much to write about and very little time. Since the cafe is so full of monks wanting to check their emails there's a time limit. I'll be back soon enough to bust out another one. By the way, the flash is broken on my camera... but it still works! I'm sending my love from the Dalai Lama to everyone :D
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Hare Om from the Land of Yoga
I wrote this while I was in Rishikesh. so it's a little old.
Well my journey in India has taken an inward twist. I've been spending the last 5 days doing yoga and meditating along the banks of the Ganges. There is no other place in the world where there are as many yoga ashrams per capita. it seems like everyone here is offering a yoga course. on every internet cafe, restaurant and hotel there are fliers for their affiliated courses. I'm staying at an ashram called Sri Ved Niketan, he was some guru who made an ashram. That's about all I know. It's the off season here and because of that I'm paying 100 rupees ($2.25) a night to stay in the cell like rooms, but two daily yoga classes are included! There are monkeys here that will ambush you for your food, that's probably the biggest risk in this city: monkeys. Another guy who's staying in the ashram was ambushed one morning and had to throw his loaf of bread at the monkey to keep it from advancing at him. I'm not sure if he really had to give it the whole loaf though... I've seen a monkey ambling along the side of a house, peer into the open window, and then deftly slip into it. About ten minutes later I heard yells and monkey screeches... The bridges are the worst. There are two footbridges that connect one side of the Ganges to another, they're like box canyons and the monkeys wait, watching all the clumsy human hands. When one of those hands has food in it, they will leap onto the person and do their best to separate the food from the person. I've done my best and so far have avoided any dangerous monkey encounters. Besides yoga, I've finally started Hindi classes, which have gone really well, slowly but surely I'm picking up a little Hindi.
Well my journey in India has taken an inward twist. I've been spending the last 5 days doing yoga and meditating along the banks of the Ganges. There is no other place in the world where there are as many yoga ashrams per capita. it seems like everyone here is offering a yoga course. on every internet cafe, restaurant and hotel there are fliers for their affiliated courses. I'm staying at an ashram called Sri Ved Niketan, he was some guru who made an ashram. That's about all I know. It's the off season here and because of that I'm paying 100 rupees ($2.25) a night to stay in the cell like rooms, but two daily yoga classes are included! There are monkeys here that will ambush you for your food, that's probably the biggest risk in this city: monkeys. Another guy who's staying in the ashram was ambushed one morning and had to throw his loaf of bread at the monkey to keep it from advancing at him. I'm not sure if he really had to give it the whole loaf though... I've seen a monkey ambling along the side of a house, peer into the open window, and then deftly slip into it. About ten minutes later I heard yells and monkey screeches... The bridges are the worst. There are two footbridges that connect one side of the Ganges to another, they're like box canyons and the monkeys wait, watching all the clumsy human hands. When one of those hands has food in it, they will leap onto the person and do their best to separate the food from the person. I've done my best and so far have avoided any dangerous monkey encounters. Besides yoga, I've finally started Hindi classes, which have gone really well, slowly but surely I'm picking up a little Hindi.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy New Year!
Leaving McLeod Ganj by overnight bus I met a couple who told me about a seed saving farm in Dera Dun, a city on the way to Rishikesh. So I decided to hop off with them and detour to this famous farm. Vandana Shiva has been working to protect India's biodiversity of grain varieties. She has been fighting against Monsanto and other agrochemical and seed super giants to retain India's heritage and biodiversity of seeds. She promotes Organic farming and has a project called Navdana where farmers can get seeds for free in return to giving seeds to other farmers the following year. In this way she is working to create a network of seed saving across India. If anyone is curious about her and her work I would highly recommend her book "Soil Not Oil."
I spent three days on the farm recovering from some nasty bacterial nastyness that turned my insides into a methane producing factory. I couldn't eat and I had the weirdest smelling burps ever... enough about my digestion. The point is I was very sick, thankfully the American couple that lead me to the farm also had antibiotics with them so I took a three day course and I was healed! While I was sick I read Dr. Shiva's books on her work. I came away from the farm newly inspired to get down and dirty on a farm somewhere here in India.
I'm now in Rishikesh, dubbed the yoga capital of the world. The Beatles came here and wrote most of the "White Album" at an Ashram here back in the day and since then it exploded into a tourist must stop. The Holy Ganges River flows out of the mountains here, and it is beautiful, but currently foggy. I arrived last night and so far I've just done my favorite Indian past time, walking. As in many places walking is much more than walking. It means dodging everything from cows, monkeys and steaming piles of poo. I'm on a mission today to find some yoga courses, since I'm here I might as well!
I spent three days on the farm recovering from some nasty bacterial nastyness that turned my insides into a methane producing factory. I couldn't eat and I had the weirdest smelling burps ever... enough about my digestion. The point is I was very sick, thankfully the American couple that lead me to the farm also had antibiotics with them so I took a three day course and I was healed! While I was sick I read Dr. Shiva's books on her work. I came away from the farm newly inspired to get down and dirty on a farm somewhere here in India.
I'm now in Rishikesh, dubbed the yoga capital of the world. The Beatles came here and wrote most of the "White Album" at an Ashram here back in the day and since then it exploded into a tourist must stop. The Holy Ganges River flows out of the mountains here, and it is beautiful, but currently foggy. I arrived last night and so far I've just done my favorite Indian past time, walking. As in many places walking is much more than walking. It means dodging everything from cows, monkeys and steaming piles of poo. I'm on a mission today to find some yoga courses, since I'm here I might as well!
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