Good Morning Bangalore!!

Wow.  I wish I could have blogged about this sooner, but there was this jet lag, and the fact that our days here have been absolutely packed with stuff that I've neither had the time, energy, nor willpower to sit down and write something comprehensive and interesting about my time spent here.  So, it only seems fair to start ALL the way from the beginning...

Monday, May 21st:

 I got up early, and my parents drove me to the Royall Tyler Theatre on the UVM campus where I boarded a Megabus that would take me all the way to Manhattan!  I was excited to be starting my journey to India!  The plan was to arrive in NYC at around 4:15 pm, and then take New York's excellent public transportation system to JFK international airport.

Vermont Landscape (near Quichee?)

So, as I was on the Megabus, I thought it would be nice to take some pictures of the lovely Vermont landscape that I love so dearly.  I knew it would be a big contrast to the urban areas of Bangalore I would be living in for the next few weeks.  At this point, I think the bus is in the South Eastern part of the state near Quichee or thereabouts...

More Vermont Landscapes (Quichee, I think)

I'm sorry the photos are a bit blurry, but it's pretty difficult to take a really good picture with an "ok" camera from the tinted window of a moving bus.  After leaving Vermont, we had a couple stops in Massachusetts, and then we changed buses in Hartford, I'm not really sure why, but I believe their was an issue with the first bus.  I didn't really mind all that much because the second bus we got on had WAY better seats.

Anyway, the bus arrived at the stop in Manhattan about an hour late, probably due to to extremely awful New York rush hour traffic.  An hour late?  Wouldn't I miss my flight?  Nope.  My flight wasn't leaving until 11pm that night.  I could have gone to see a Broadway show and still probably arrived in plenty of time to check my bag, go through security, and have a cup of coffee.  After a fun and stimulation ride on the subway (I actually think subways and trains to be one of the coolest things on the planet), I arrived at JFK, checked in with no problems, and boarded my plane.  I booked a flight with Emirates, which was a really nice airline.  I was very impressed with the in-flight entertainment especially.  I was served vegetarian airplane food, that wasn't bad, by an Australian Scarlett Johansson lookalike, and I alternated between eating, sleeping, and watching movies during the 13 hours flight.

Tuesday, May 22nd:

I didn't have much of a Tuesday.  I arrived in Dubai at 8pm local time, took a shower (for free!!), found a sleeping chair in a random part of the airport and claimed it as my own.  I spent the hours of 11pm-5am at this particular spot, dozing off and on, and waking up for the mad 2am rush hour.  People watching in the Dubai International Airport is great!  You get such a diverse array of people from all over the world!

Wednesday, May 23rd:

The Dubai International Airport

I walked around the Dubai airport, taking in all the swanky shops (Gucci, Dior, etc), and taking pictures of in the indoor fountains and gardens.  I read a little bit, but mostly I was just biding my time, and waiting for my flight to depart at 11:45am for Bangalore.  I must admit, I thought I would be able to post something from Dubai, but the "free" wifi was not working well, and I could not for the life of me find an outlet with which to plug in my dying computer, so unfortunately, no posts :-(

West End of the Airport

East End of the Airport

For some reason, this picture here on the left was taken inside the airport.  It's an odd blend of North America coniferous trees and a tropical palm tree scene.  Go figure.






When I arrived in Bangalore that evening I was jolted smartly awake when one of the immigration officials pointed out that I didn't have the proper address of the place I was staying.  Uh oh.  I had only written down the instructions I was supposed to take to the taxi driver, and those directions were only arbitrarily descriptive (ie: Langford Town, by the Hockey Stadium).  He called Mathyoo Residency, where I would be staying, and finally got the proper address, but by then I was close to tears.  I think it was the almost 48 hours of straight travel that I had undergone.  To top it off, the taxi driver got lost on the way there.  I felt bad because I was absolutely no help at all.  We kept having to to stop, and then he would get out and walk completely around the corner, out of eyesight, to ask somebody for directions.  Let me tell you something about driving in India.  First of all, you drive on the left side, just like in the UK (colonial influence of course), secondly, the rule is, if you see an empty space, drive in it; if you don't see an empty space, make one, and drive in it.  It was an almost harrowing experience, there were so many cars, trucks, and buses all trying to squeeze into the three(?) lanes of traffic on the highway.  The the motorcyclists, bicycles, and auto-rickshaws would squeeze in between the cars, trucks, and buses.  To top it off, pedestrians would be walking nonchalantly along the side of the road, sometimes in between the cars that were all jammed together.  It was quite an adventure.  I don't personally think I could ever drive there, ever, and I applaud those souls who do.  It's really like being in a video game, you have to weave in and out and between things, and you have to make sure that nobody else hits you.

I finally do however, get to Mathyoo Residency, where everyone from GSE was waiting for me!  By that time I was tired and ready to go to bed, but I ate a lovely dinner and unpacked my suitcase (in my very nice room I may add).

Thursday, May 24th:

Up and about already.  Our first task was to find the NGO where we would be working.  Parisa, Navee and I had the address, and then we had to figure out how to get there.  I had been in India less than twenty-four hours, and was quite glad when Parisa, who had been there for a few days already took the lead in searching for buses.  Riding a bus in India is pretty exciting.  Since were really didn't know which bus to take, we would just ask the driver before we got on.  If it was going in our direction, we got on it and away we went!  In India, you board the bus first, and then a person comes, and you buy your ticket from them.  The price of the ticket is dependent upon how far you are traveling.  Also, in Bangalore, the buses are segregated: women in the front, men in the back.  Since we were all women, my workmates and I could sit together on the bus, and it was easy to communicate when we were going to get on and off.  In one of the groups, there was only one girl, and she had to sit by herself in the front of the bus, while the rest of her group held back.  That was interesting to see because it was something I hadn't even thought about until she had said it.

OK.  So we ended up finding our NGO before noon!  Prof. Moledina had told us the night before that Premavidya was very far away from where we were staying, and had said that if we hadn't found it by 12:30, then we should think about heading over to our rendezvous place for the afternoon.  Haha!  Not only did we find it before noon, but we only need to take one bus!

Later this afternoon, I had my first taste of fresh lime soda, a popular drink in India.  I think I know why it's popular: it's freaking delicious.  It is light, refreshing, and you can get it sweet or salty.  We all had sweet sodas, but sometime I would like to try it salty.  I also accidentally drank unfiltered water.  Oops.  When I studied abroad in Morocco, we were able to drink the water in Rabat, so I didn't even think when the waiter filled our glasses with water.  I just drank it.  I took some preventative Pepto bismal, and so far, I've been fine (knock on wood).  After lunch, we went to Sattva, one of the organizations that one of our GSE groups will be working with.  Sattva is a media and consulting organization that basically helps other organizations solve their problems.  After leaving Sattva, Samantha, Navee, and I took a rickshaw to 100 Foot Road where we were supposed to meet everyone at a North India vegetarian restaurant.  Fun Fact:  South Indian food is rice based, while North India food is bread based, and is probably what most Americans are familiar with.  Anyway, we got lost and walked up and down 100 foot road for over an hour.  Our issue was that nobody we asked knew where the restaurant was, and in India, nobody wants to admit they do not know where something is, so they'll make something up.  That's why it is important to ask AT LEAST THREE people for directions before heading anywhere.  Regardless, we made it, and had a lovely dinner with SO MUCH FOOD!

Friday, May 25th:

We visited two very different social venture organizations today.  We visited the Association for People with Disability (APD).  APD is a purely non-profit organization that works with people with physical disabilities.  They provide vocational training and job placement for young adults, run an integrated school for children with disability and for able children.  They also provide physical therapy, and a wheelchair and prosthetic center.  It was all on a beautiful little campus that's kept up by their horticulture training program.  Unfortunately, school was out of session, and we did not get to see all the children, which would have been fun.

Secondly, in the afternoon, we went to visit Selco, a for-profit organization with a social mission.  Selco in part works to dispel three common myths:

1) Poor people cannot afford sustainable technologies;
2) Poor people cannot maintain sustainable technologies;
3) Social ventures cannot be run as commercial entities.

It was a very cool organization!  It was a pity that my jet lag kicked in halfway through their presentation.  I could barely keep my eyes open.

That night, a few of us stayed in to cook dinner.  Even in India where the exchange rate is about 50 rupees to the US dollar, eating in restaurants gets pretty expensive.  Even 50 rupee rickshaw rides add up eventually.  Therefore, we stayed in and cooked Tabbouleh, which was easy, and a nice break from spicy Indian food.  As you can see from the pictures below, our living conditions are extremely nice.  The fans cool  you off very nicely, and we have two balconies that allow a lovely cross breeze through the entire suite.  

Enjoying the morning paper before breakfast

Sam and My bed!

Our own bathroom, television, and balcony (behind the blue curtain)

The dining room

The living room

Grocery shopping!

Sam and Laura hard at work cooking our dinner

Abby and her (frozen) watermelon

Saturday and Sunday, May 26th and 27th:

Basically, on Saturday, I went shopping for some Indian clothing.  I got two full Punjabi suits, in a variety of colors, and another shirt to go with the pants and dupata (scarf) that were lent to me before I came to India.  Today, I've been pretty much writing this blog post and bumming around.  I'll readily admit it, I am a little bit culture shocked and really need some space to hang around and get centered.  Alright, I know that was a laundry list things in this post, and next post I hope will be a little more detailed and reflective.