katiemw's posterous

Backroads driving...

I'm a driver. Always have been. I'm a windows-down, hand-in-the-wind, music-blasting, cruising around kinda gal. (Oh and I say "gal" apparently). One of my favorite things to clear my head is to go for a long drive on the backroads in the country.

Out past the phosphate mines, there's this long dusty, sandy road with a handful of strawberry & orange farmers, and lots of cows. And zero traffic. Perfect place to kick up some dust and smell the orange blossoms. So for those of you somewhere still wintery, or those of you at a desk for the moment, here's a little mini-roadtrip in Florida just for you. Happy Travels!

Last Day in India

It's 7:30; morning light is slipping into our dorm, and everyone is still asleep. It was a truly exhausting day for all of us yesterday. The grand finale being a Pizza Hut delivery at 11:30pm. Followed by a bread-induced coma.

Yesterday the organization Ive been working for, SPOWAC, held a music and dance performance benefit to raise awareness of domestic violence. "My Girls" have been practicing their dramatic dance (in a traditional India style) for 2 weeks now, about 4 hours a day. And last night, in their all white costumes, they were absolutely perfect! None had danced on stage before & they glowed the rest of the evening - "You see me? Was it good - Bahut accha? Take photo of me dancing?" I was the unofficial photographer for the night (naturally photos & videos will follow when I get home). I wore a new and sparkley, white & bright aqua, Indian salwar kameez, right down to my glittery sandals - my girls got a kick out of that! I was thrilled that Rajiv, my host & coordinator, and 2 other volunteers - Anna and Jakob - attended as well.

The other volunteers also had a performance last night (why did they have to be on the same night?!). They work with the poorest of street kids, and they scripted and rehearsed the kids in a little production of "Oliver Twist" adapted for India. All of their proceeds went to sending the kids to school (while compulsory, even public school has fees).

So by 11pm we were all home, delerious with exhaustion, I was mid- packing, and hadn't eaten since 11am (curiously enough: Pizza Hut). So we all ordered another round of pizza, which took a half hour to order: phone calls are complicated, Hindi-English conversations are complicated.

So here it is, 7:47 now, and I'm laying in my bunk listening to the early morning birds chirp, the rickshaw horns blaring, and my roommate deep-sleep breathing.

"Im leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again."

As expected, my head is spinning.

My phone is back on after a $2000 catastrophe with my phone (don't ask). Super-Dad to the rescue, half a world away. By bags are packed. I'll have breakfast, get in a taxi, and leave my Delhi home and friend. This experience has been both the longest and yet fastest trip. Delhi is a warp in the time-space continuum! I'm swimming with memories, trying to hold onto all of the complex feelings, the mountains of stories and little nuances of my trip. (Going to print a little book with photos & stories when I get home). Tonight I'll sleep in a hotel in London, then leave for Orlando in the morning. I'm forgoing my mini-stint in London to be with my best friend who lost her father, and to be with my family and Jeremy and my kitty. This trip has been the first time in 33 years that I remember feeling truly homesick. "Incredible India" is truly that: chaotic, confusing, loud, colorful, glittering, dusty, spicy, smiling, staring, welcoming, ancient, thrilling, musical, religious. My Western (and Weilbacherian) brain had the biggest workout of it's life - trying to take India on her own terms and release all presuppositions. I'm exhausted, very sad to leave, but happy to be home soon.

A roommate gave me an extra bag - I needed it for all the souveneirs, clothes and bollywood DVDs I've accumulated!

It's 8:03. My last Indian breakfast in 27 minutes - no doubt it'll be piping hot tea, savory paranthas and maybe a soybean dish that tastes like spicy veggy filled scrambled eggs (wierd tight?!). I can't wait.

You can probably expect a delirious & jet lagged post from London, I tend yo blather on when I'm tired. Like now!

I'm not ready to get this show on the road. I'm not ready to leave my hard little bunk, the freakishly disturbing noises, "my girls" at the center, or my amazingly caring and hilarious new friends.

So ta-ta for now. Phir Milenge - see you later. There's so much more I want to see in india, but we'll save that for another day!

Clean Delhi, Green Delhi

Sure, it's usually choked in smog & chaos. But there are little pockets of beauty - manicured roundabouts, parks & playgrounds... And Barakhambra Road.... This wide boulevard, empty on a Saturday afternoon with dappled light through the trees.

Another day in crazyland

8:30am - breakfast, toast & jam, sweet porridge and chai tea. Then a shower... Scalding / freezing / scalding / freezing.

10:15am - out the door in an Indian salwar shirt, leggings, a scarf & flipflops, with Bollywood songs still emanating from the house.

10:30am - finally got an auto-rickshaw to Pahar Ganj for the correct price (80 rupees) after much haggling.

10:40am - spitting orange seeds out of the auto as we sped past the India Gate.

11am - walk upstairs & into the beauty class, welcomed by a chorus of "Hello Kehh-tee! Sit here!"

11:45am - I'm taking photos of the girls smiling, doing dance poses & threading eyebrows.

11:46am - We are told to be quiet.

12pm - Parkashi has applied thick blue eyeliner on my eyes & is admiring her heavy-handed work.

12:30pm - Noelle & I are eating lunch at Darbar Restaurant. I'm trying to ignore the fact that my lips are burning from the spicy noodles.

1:30pm - 10 girls are in the computer room rehearsing with their dance teacher for a function coming up. Neesha is wearing western jeans & leans on my shoulder watching as I'm taking a video. Parkashi gets in trouble for mugging for the camera instead of paying attention.

2:30pm - Rehearsal is in full swing. The director ambles in & out to watch. I'm helping girls with PowerPoint slideshows which they've just learned about. They use it to make slides filled with 3D hearts and friends names. We keep getting bumped by the dancers.

3:30pm - I'm tired of the dance song.

4pm - Trying to get an auto home. A Punjabi wedding drums past. I finally get the 11th auto I try.

4:15 - We pass 2 roundabouts on Janpath that are so gorgeous & manicured with flowers. I've never seen them before.

5pm - we're nowhere near home & getting further away. My crosseyed driver is asking motorcycles where he is.

5:15pm - he stops & refuses to go any further. I don't buy it & make a fuss.

5:30pm - I'm home. Have a beer from the fridge. Put on "Friends" on the tv. The other girls start filtering in from work. All tired & dirty as well.

7pm - Dinner of chapatis, spinach & other veggies, and my contribution of leftover flaming noodles.

10pm - my bestfriend from home calls, her father is passing away. She's bawling, I lose it. I want to come home. My heart is breaking for her. I call Jeremy & my Mom.

10:30pm - I lay on the couch in a stupor with the tv on. One girl gives me a big hug & lets me cry

11pm - I pass out.

Another day in India. And this morning, the horns are honking & another day begins.

Sick & A Little Overwhelmed

A good long talk with my best friend today (at 3am her time) has done more for my morale today than all the immodium, antibiotics & pepto bismol in the world.

After a 2 good weeks of "Incredible India" immersive fun, I came down with a case of "Delhi Belly". I summoned the energy for Holi festival on Sunday, but have been house-bound since about Thursday. Naturally this is a buzz kill & has me feeling homesick, missing the comforts of my "natural habitat"... My family, friends, boyfriend & kitty. Being me, this spun my overactive brain into wondering "What on earth am I really DOING in Delhi? What meaning am I trying to find in my life? What kind of good can I do in the world if, after 2 weeks, I just want to go home?" ...and all other manner of rediculous, existential, antibiotic-induced self analysis.

Enter: best friend. My Cyndy, the one who can always put things in perspective, give me a good laugh, and remind me not to take myself so seriously. No matter how unimaginably streasful her own life is (which it is, and she can summon strength in a way that leaves me in awe) she always has time to listen. Her advice to the woe-is-me, sick Katie was this: "Good & bad, take it as experience. Come home in a mere 2 weeks, with ideas for you can better serve the women in your own (English speaking) community. Yes, it's different travelling at 33 than at 23, adulthood brings with it more knowledge of the complexity of the world & it's realities, things the other volunteers may not be aware of. And mostly: oh suck it up; it's better to be sick in India, than sick in Florida! You'll feel better soon & will be sad to leave India when the time comes." (Im paraphrasing & trust my strong-willed bestfriend will correct me if I misunderstood!)

So tomorrow, even if the auto-rickshaw ride makes me green in the face, I'm going in to the school. I'm gonna just laugh with the girls about my pink & green hair from Holi, chat with them about whatever they want, and take it as it comes.

If you know me, turning off the "planning & organizing & list-making" part of my brain is very very hard to do. This is one of those times where I need to tell my brain to put a sock in it & just enjoy the chaos and uncertainty of Incredible, and Digestively Challenging, India!

Little video of Taj Mahal

Pardon the lousy videography, it was take with my iPhone & I was basically shaking with glee! Just wanna give you a little idea what it feels like to turn around & see The Taj in all of her glory!!!

"Driving in Delhi" as a video game?

I think "Driving in Delhi" should be a video game! Forget sports cars & the autobahn... Try this on for size:

On any road in India, you're likely to find the following: semi trucks & trailers stake claim on the exact center of the road, slow streams of rust-bucket buses with people hopping on & off while it's in motion, speeding cars ranging from SUVs to toy-sized cars all with battle scars, motorcycles with entire families on them with the women in sari's perched side-saddle daintily, men pulling wooden carts, holy cows standing in the road, elderly shepherds with goats, tractors, flatbed trucks full of workers, green autorickshaws by the thousands who use their bumpers to bump and have no reverse, bicycle rickshaws with drivers who spit, wooden wheeled fruit carts, screaming ambulances, and bicylces. And some unqiue vehicles created out of spare parts & a few wheels that are unidentifiable as any specific kind.

And people trying to cross the roads. Or just standing in them. Or walking in the middle of them trying to sell you books.

Oh, and did I mention that there are no "lanes", often you could count 3 or 4 cars abreast, with oncoming traffic headed at you? And everyone goes eveywhere? And there's no yielding, signalling or slowing down. There is only fast, teeth-jarring screeching stops, and then completely immobile traffic.

And everyone honks.

THAT, my freinds, is a game of strategy!

Bollywood Afternoon

Our host, Rajiv, took 3 of us to see "My Name is Khan..." at the
Delite Cinema here in Delhi. We stepped out of the traffic, honking,
donkey carts & noise into the golden age theater. It has been running
since the 50's. The walls were dark wood; the floor, marble. Tickets
were only 20 rupees (about 40 cents?), all for 3 hours of luxurious
entertainment.

The halls were lined with old black & white photos of the Bollywood
stars, directors and singers from days gone by. Even the ladies room
had a velvet sofa in it! We sat in the balcony, with velvety seats, in
the cavernous theater.

The movie, "My Name is Khan...", is about a Muslim Indian living in
the US, and he has Asperger's Syndrome, played by the famous Shah Ru
Khan. He falls in love with a spunky & spirited woman and her boy.
While it covers many years of his life, the story's apex is during
9-11 and depicts the lives of Muslims in America at the time. The
movie gives deep care to the portrayal of the often tragic
consequences of the discrimination they faced. Khan is on a mission to
meet the US president to tell him: "My name is Khan, and I am not a
terrorist."

It was an emotional movie & I cried quite a bit (ok, admittedly that
happens a lot with me - but they did lay it on pretty thick). But it
was also uplifting, funny & clever. Khan's acting was outstanding... I
mean, Oscar-worthy. His portrayal of an autistic man was authentic &
sensitively done.

Oh, and halfway through was an intermission. I got a jumbo samosa,
that turned out to be super spicy (other volunteers have said that
samosa is the hottest thing they've eaten in all of India!)

Now I'm ready to see a silly, rediculous, all-singing, all-dancing
Bollywood bonanza! That's my favorite kind ;-)

Just testin out how I'll post from overseas. Testing 1..2..3..

Happy server day!

A 2.5 TB server - thanks dad! PC & Mac are file sharing like champs, iTunes streaming server is "detecting media" (which will take, oh say, 2 months), and once I get am external drive cleared out & backup my mac, I can upgrade to 10.5, and i'll have even more mac abilities. Sweet!