Those starving children, they ain't got no mother. There's pink flamingos living in the mall.

Clothes

I finally got out and bought some Indian threads!! I purchased a churidaar kameez and a kutri. I really like them. It feels like I get to wear pajamas or hospital scrubs all day. Very, very comfortable. I now had something Indian to wear at the upcoming conference.


This is me leading the conference(details below) during an energizer. The theme was bollywood dancing!

VSO Strategic Workshop Conference

All the volunteers were invited to the VSO strategic workshop conference in Gurgaon last week. It was a great experience. The goal of the workshop was to help VSO form new objectives for development in India. Currently VSO works in three main areas: HIV & Aids, Disability and Participation and Governance. They want to expand the type of development work they do and not be limited only to these areas. There were a lot of current volunteers who have been in India for some time. I was able to learn a lot and even contribute here or there. There were many great speakers who highlighted the different images that India has; one of a shining and powerful India and one of an impoverished India. While India is one of the next great economic powers 450 million people live below the poverty line! (Less that $1.25 per day US) There is such a drastic difference between the rich elite and the working poor.



I don't really want to get into the specifics of the conference as the details of the development plan are still being worked out and a lot still has to be done... I fear of misspeaking. At the end of the conference the different tables were encouraged to write some sort of art to express all that we had learned over the two days. My group did a poem/play/interpretive dance thingy. There were prizes to be won for the best art which included western treats such as Oreos, Pringles, chocolate bars and popcorn. I am happy to report that my table won two of the three prizes. (we shared the treats with everyone anyway!)

The conference was held at the very posh Best Western Country Resort. I found it funny that a conference attempting to serve the needs of the society's most marginalized was held at a country club... not that I'm complaining. The grounds were outstanding! There was a tennis court, volleyball court, basketball court, badminton court, outdoor pool, lounging hammocks (where staff would stop to rock you!), gym (with treadmill!!!), spa and very conformable mattresses.... unlike the rock that I sleep on in the hostel. Oh and the all you can eat buffet lunches and dinners were exquisite. The rooms were also cleaned to a western standard (my favourite part!) We all felt so lucky to be invited to event.


Pool!


Don't disturb a hammocking Lucy! (my roommate)

AAA(Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan)

In Delhi there are about 150, 000 homeless people. That is practically twice the size of my hometown of Niagara Falls, ON. An astounding number. On Friday night the volunteers were invited to one of the AAA's homeless shelters, a partner of VSO. We got to see first hand the amazing work that they do with the homeless. In India, everyone in the country is entitled to 100 days of work provided by the government. An issue with this is, even if a homeless person finagles a job card which entitles them to this work, they have no where safe to keep their earnings. They have to carry it on them until they eventually lose it or get robbed.The shelter actually helps the homeless set up bank accounts and gets them ATM cards so that they will have a safe place to keep money that they earn. They help them get ID and can give them a permanent address, without which it is impossible to open an account.
(Article about program)

This group of shelters keeps 500 people off the street every night. A great accomplishment but only a small drop in the bucket. They explained that in the winter months they pitch temporary tents which can house 5000 people for the night. A significant increase. (I did mention in a previous post that in Delhi the temperature will go down to freezing.)


Hanging with the kids.

While touring the shelter we spent some time with some street children who had sought refuge there. The shelter actually gets them sent to school, feeds and baths them. It's really quite amazing. We spent a better portion of our time with them. (About 15 boys aged 6-14.) The children were really welcoming and so happy to see us! They had a chance to practice their English...and in return we practiced our Hindi. The spirit of these children was really amazing; all smiles and positive attitudes. They were curious about us and gave us all a chance to introduce ourselves, say we were were from and try and explain why we were in India. They patiently listened and made sure that no one was left out. They also introduced themselves.... paying attention to include everyone as well. What manners! I received a round of applause as I told them that I work with computers... they pointed out that the shelter provided them a computer to use. It was really funny. On my way out I taught them how to high five... when I held my hand up they didn't know what I was trying to do but they caught on really quickly! I had to exit from their room fast because I was overwhelmed by their attitudes and couldn't help but think about all the wonderful children in my life back home who are some of the same ages. I tried to choke back my tears in the hall... some other volunteers did the same. (I even well up now just thinking of it.)



Taj Mahal

Some of the group made plans to head to the Taj Mahal on Saturday... I couldn't miss this opportunity! Our day started bright and early with a 5am pick up(we rented taxis for the day) and then hit the road for our 5 hour journey to Agra. There we picked up a tour guide and headed to the Taj. Upon existing the cars we were told that the Taj Mahal was open to the public for free but only for the next ten minutes. We quickly jumped onto an awaiting golf cart thingy (no cars are allowed up to the grounds because of pollution) and practically ran toward the gate... but we made it. That saved us 750 rupees! Which comes to about 1/8 of our monthly volunteer wages. It was open from 9am – 10am for free because it was the Muslim holiday of Eid al-ahde. What luck! It was really spectacular. I know that when you think of Taj you think of the tomb but really the entire grounds were gorgeous! Apparently they do not usually have the fountains on but again since it was Eid al-ahde they were flowing! It was gorgeous and very very clean. Our guide Fiez was awesome too, the guides work based on how much you want to give them after the tour. I found this an odd system but since the entrance fee was waved we gave him a little more than planned. Also, If anyone travels to the Taj in the future I can give you the contact details of our guide. Just email me.


That's right... I'm holding it with very little effort.

Badte Kadam

Today we visited a street/working children centre, Badte Kadam, another partner of VSO India. It is a place where children can go to talk about issues they face and have a safe place to learn something new, grab a bite or just have some fun. Again, I am amazed at the attitudes of the children. We talked about the organization and how it was run by children for children. There are 7-14 year olds out there advocating for their rights and spreading the message to others. It really opened my eyes to just how sheltered I was... and still am for the most part. The children put together a play for us to demonstrate a collective story of growing up on the street. It was really neat.


Children performing play.

We spent some time asking questions and answering questions. We had the opportunity to explain the rights of children in our home countries. Basically, in the UK, Australia and Canada a child under the age of 15 (roughly) is not allowed to work and that school is compulsory for anyone under the age of 16(again, roughly). In India, this is not the case. A child of any age can work and most of the children on the street (some 10 million!!!) do not attend even basic education. We asked them what is the best thing we can do to help kids like them. Right away they told us to go to our governments and get them to lobby for more child rights in India. A very smart but not so simple answer. What astounded me the most was when a fellow volunteer asked the kids how they felt about hearing how children grow up in our countries. They responded that they were happy to hear that there are kids out there who have these basic rights and that have access to education. It brought tears to my eyes... they weren't jealous, or angry, or pitying themselves... they were happy for others. Truly outstanding!!


The kids went crazy with our cameras. They loved snapping photos.

Song from title: Money Lenders in the Temple by Conor Oberst

You'd have a happy life if you did the things you like!

Placement Discussion

I finally got to have a discussion about the work that I will be doing in Bhubaneswar. For now, it seems that my placement is as I thought. The Orissa Association for the Blind needs me to (as far as I understand) write an application with interfacing database that will match jobs and people based on their skill set... sounds simple right? Well, the catch is that the program has to be accessible for the blind.. meaning that visually impaired people will be using my program. I have been researching how to do this but I am unsure of their resources at the moment and I have no clue what will be compatible for them. If any of you geeks out there have had experience writing accessible applications please send me an email with any info/resources that seem related. (I don't even know what language/platforms I will be using so throw any random things at me.) MANY MANY THANKS.

During the discussion I was told about my accommodations. I will have a roommate and a room in a flat waiting for me. My roommate's name is Jenissa and she is a physio-therapist volunteer from The Philippines. I got to talk to her on the phone and found out that she loves to clean. I think we will be a perfect match! Also, she is required to travel a lot for her placement and is only home about ten days of the month so I feel that I am getting the ideal amount of company and privacy. Apparently we have a living room, a dining room AND a large kitchen. I can't wait to cook for myself. We have been eating out for two weeks straight now... I can't handle all the curry! I am very excited and relieved to have my living arrangements all figured out.


My new living room! very posh!


Can't wait to scrub that kitchen down!

Yoga


Yoga outside the tomb

I am happy to report that I have attended all but one of the yoga classes so far... even though they begin at 6:30am sharp! We get to practice in Lodi Gardens with Suguna our instructor who has lots of experience. It seems so surreal that I get to practice yoga in a park at sunrise in freaking India! Satruday was the best.... since it is cold at that time of day... (I would say the temperature is bouncing around zero) we practiced inside one of the tombs (circa 1400s) AND when we entered the tomb there was a woman on mat in the corner playing a flute. She was producing authenticate and ancient sounding melodies...it was all very mystical. I'm happy to be inside because it is much warmer than the grass and it muffles the sounds of the parakeets... they are so loud that I sometimes cannot hear my instructor.


We have been trying our hand at laughing yoga.. which is exactly what it sounds like. It is used to strengthen your stomach and it has the added benefit of putting you in a really good mood.... some of us recorded a video.

Trip to Old Delhi


Roof top in Old Delhi.


Busy street in Old Delhi from the rooftop.

All of the volunteers took a trip to Old Delhi on Saturday. We had a tour arranged and lead by VSO volunteers that have been in Delhi for some time. The old part of the city is really fascinating. There were many shops filled with everything you can image. It also happens to be the world's largest free market of spices. The aroma of all those spices was overwhelming at times... people were coughing and covering their faces with handkerchiefs. The smells were intense. It was also really interesting to watch the men carry HUGE bags of spice and load them onto wagons. The marketplace was soooo busy and the streets were so narrow that I found it ludicrous that cycle rickshaws and scooters were allowed on them... we were in the cycle rickshaw (as arranged for us) and brushing past pedestrians and at times getting our tires caught on other bikes and various objects.


The cycle rickshaw drivers were fighting over our business... it was chaos.


Mmmmmm... our richshaw driver stole some yummy fruit for us as we passed by... not sure what it was called.

On the trip we visited a Jain temple... which was quite beautiful... no pictures because they do not allow cameras inside... here were some of the other rules: No shoes allowed inside. No leather allowed inside. No women on their period allowed inside. No bags allowed inside and a few more that I forget. It was quite the list. Luckily it was the right time of month so I kicked my shoes off and explored. The walls were mainly mosaic scenes and there were many statues and some sort of electric drum thingy that scared the crap out of me when it was set off. Apparently some of the columns and art in the temple dated back to the ten century, It was awesome.


On the way to the Jain Temple.

We stopped for a bite on Parantha Gaaliye (which means Parantha Alley) and I had one awesome cashew nut parantha... which is a savory bread with whatever toppings you would like. They are fried and served hot with different chutneys. Sooo good and soooo perfectly oily. Go try one today!



Parantha with various chutneys.

Song from title: The Dark Of The Matinée by Franz Ferdinand

I'd like to fall alseep to the beat of you breathing.

Veg or Non Veg?

AH... it's so refreshing to be in a place where I feel that my diet is the default. All the restaurants here make distinctions on their menu between vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods. Often they will have two menus “Veg” and “Non Veg”. I love this. Of course I am still trying to be mindful of dairy, eggs and honey products but at least I always have a head start. My dosa count is 2 so far... think I should tally it up for the full year?!?!?


This is a dosa....Mmmmmmm.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

The car horns are insane in Delhi. It seems that everyone is honking at each other from every direction on the road. Cars here honk to get you out of the way and also to let you know that they are moving close to your car... close is an understatement. I can see clearly marked lanes on most roads but they are not strictly followed like back home. It is common where there are two lanes to have four – five streams of traffic. The cars, trucks, motor-bikes, rikshaws, cyclists and some pedestrians are all using the same space (… most streets DO have sidewalks) and they all sort of just flutter about and cut across at their whims... but they beep to let you know first....haha. I know when it is approaching sun up in Delhi because that's when the beeping becomes more frequent. I am writing this blog now from the roof of the ISI Residence and I don't think that there has been a single second where I could not hear a horn somewhere in the distance. :)


I snapped a photo of traffic on my way out to dinner one night...

Mera naam AnnMarie hai.

So far we have had two hindi lessons and it's not soo difficult. We are split into two groups (7/8) and taught Hindi for 3 hours on most of our training days. Hindi has many different sounds and pronunciations that are so different from any language I have studied before. One of the harder ones for me involves rolling your tongue back in your mouth and hitting the roof, gums, or teeth (yes, these are distinct sounds) with the underside of the tip of your tongue.... give it a try. Some in the group have come up with some tongue-ercises to help strengthen it. I have already been able to practice some of my Hindi while exploring Delhi. Most people that I have encountered are enthusiastic and like to help me say things correctly while others just reply back to me in English...

Also, we were given a brief lessen in Indian sign language by Jennifer, a sign language interpreter vounteer and Pintoo, a VSO India employee who is hearing impaired. I can now sign the alphabet in two languages!! I am picking up words left and right as I have always been keen on signing. I think I may try to learn some on my own so that I can have more in depth conversations with Pintoo at our next trip to the VSO office on Wednesday.

Welcome Dinner

Friday night was the VSO welcome dinner. The staff at the India VSO office took all the volunteers out to dinner at a South Indian restaurant... hence dosa number 2. It was great. During the dinner I had the opportunity to practice my Indian signing skills with Pintoo... I learned some news signs and I am getting better a reading and signing the Indian alphabet more quickly although it is really painful to communicate by spelling everything out no matter how fast do it. After-wards some of us stayed near the restaurant to visit a bar. (It is not really acceptable for women to be drinking in public in India but it seemed OK at this bar so I had a whiskey sour.) The bar had many levels and we mainly hung out on the roof top which was full of bean bag chairs and Christmas lights. After one very expensive drink we called it a night with a crazy cab ride home where we nearly ran over a cat near the hostel.... there was a collective 'whoooooooooaaaaa' as we swerved to avoid the kitty.


Me, Pintoo and Jen all enjoying a much welcomed drink. ;)

India Gate and Connaught Circle



The other volunteers and I took a trip to the Indi Gate and Connaught Circle on our first Saturday. We stopped at the Gate first and had a quick look around and snapped some photos, it's a momument... what else can I say? We then made our way down to Connaught Circle which is at the heart of New Delhi. It literally is a cricle too... look it up on google maps. This is where they have a lot of shops... mainly for tourists so the prices are a little high. The girls and I were eager to get to a scarf shop and we found one with a pretty good selection at a reasonable price (40rs per scarf... which would be just under a dollar. ) I purchased two... one blue, one green...they are Indian cotton. We strolled about the shops and stopped for lunch at an Indian/Chinese restaurant. I had a delicious fusion dish which turned out to be what I think is equivalent to veggie “meat”balls. They were balls of mashed veggies that were fried and prepared in a spicy schesuan sauce and they were delicious... a little burny but it was actually something I could handle. Mmmm, afterward the girls were tired and headed back to the hostel. I decided to stay to find some books and find some books I did... had a good read too :P


A market place near the circle.

I have decided to base my blog titles from song lyrics... lyrics from songs that I have listened to in and around the time of the post. I think this will help convey my mood and what I'm feeling... seems like something I would do eh? I have subtitles anyway... it seems that I have a little to say about a lot of things so this format seems to work best for me. Also, try listening to the songs I use for titles, I think it will help us stay connected. :)

Song from title: My Favourite Chords by The Weakerthans

to prove it wasn't chicken.

Arriving in Delhi

I was tired but not sleepy and it took forever for my luggage to come round the belt. I was actually starting to wonder if it had been lost, luckily I was having a conversation with a nice Aussie that I had acquainted with during the flight... we kept each other occupied while waiting... (I have never lost luggage in the past so I always believe that my current flight will be the time that MY luggage goes missing.... everyone has a luggage nightmare story right?) After grabbing my baggage I headed to customs and made it through without a hassle. I remember reading that there would be a lot of people holding signs to pick up passengers... that was an understatement. It was crowded and I felt like there were a million signs... none of which said my name or VSO...I kept searching and retracing the signs for a good half hour. Luckily Nikki, another volunteer who had found VSO walked up to me and asked if I was AnnMarie... I was so relieved. I suppose I have that volunteer look.
There were eight of us arriving from Heathrow that night... it was nice to get talking to people right away. We made our way back to the Indian Social Institute, got some money, mosquito nets, first aid kits(which contain clean needles... just in case I am in need of one), general information about Delhi and our syllabus. I was also happy to learn that the next day was a free day to do as we pleased. The second day in India was the start of "In country orientatoin" which consists of language and cultural training in New Delhi. After this 4 week program, the volunteers will be split up to their respective placements at partnering NGOs across the country.


Looking out from the Indian Social Institute. Notice the cemented shards of glass along the wall... probably is as effective as it looks.

Exploring Delhi

We decided that 1pm would be an ideal time to meet... considering it was a little past 5am when we finally got to bed... (I tossed and turned for a few hours until finally I slept for a few hours.)

We met at one as planned and decided to check out the local shops and made note of internet cafes and places to buy soap and toilet paper. I found as we walked down the street we were gawked at a little and children would come come up to say hello. We stopped for a coffee in a more western looking shop which had air con and was playing Emimen. (*chika-chika* Slim Shady!) To my delight there was an item on the menu called the “Vegan Shake”. :D It was a delicious iced coffee. Mmmmmm. We continued on and explored Lordi Gardens which is a well known park that was filled with temples from the 1400rs, parakeets and a man trying to sell us tea every time we passed him... even though we kept saying 'no thank you'! It also has a jogging track (Score!) and is the park where we will be practicing yoga at 6am! After the park a volunteer called Jenn and I headed out to one of the internet cafes as we had been dying to check email and update twitter and facebook with status changes of our arrival. The connection was slow but not terrible. I had some teary moments as I read all of the well-wishing posts to my wall. I miss everyone so much.


Spirit house that can been seen from the 4th floor patio of our training building.

Breakfast and lunch are supplied through the hostel on weekdays so we embarked on our first journey to the local markets for supper. I suggested South Indian food so that the gang could have dosas which I love and none of them had really had before. After a frightening yet fun motorized rickshaw journey to the markets we found the restaurant. My tummy began to rumble as soon as I walked in the door as I had not eaten much since I landed... I think my lack of appetite was caused by the stress of leaving home and traveling but also from excitement of it all. Everyone loved their dinner and I ate every bite! After dinner we looked in some shops and I found Silk! (double score!) It was expensive by local standards as it is imported from the US but worth the 200rs to me. Although I have only been to a handful of shops I find all the shop keepers to be courteous, helpful and honest as most prices are fixed and marked on the items they sell.

We had fun bargaining for our rickshaw back to the hostel where the driver was trying to charge us 50rs even though it had only cost us 30 to get there. We settled at 40 and hit the road. Afterward the gang had a quick tea and a chat then headed to bed... which is where I am writing this blog from right now... well drafting it into OpenOffice Writer until I can be connected with my beloved internet once again... goodnight.