Photos for you

Pulses! We are learning all the different dals for our nutrition work. 

 

Flower tree at Jagori main campus

Some of the gardens at Jagori main campus. I'll take photos of the vegetable gardens and the tofu-making as well. Also, look up a picture of how okra grows! It's so cool!

Another beautiful flower on Jagori grounds. 

Knowledge Centre in Khanyara. And that's Navneet's bike- he took me up to Khanyara on it the other day. Lots of fun but so bumpy!

The rainbow from Wednesday

The girls practicing their dance with Manju and Gaytri

At the bonfire

Hail, Rainbows & Snow-capped Mountains

Today was a great day. Lately things have been pretty quiet- I've gotten into a regular routine. For the past week or so it's involved going to Jagori's main campus to work on our nutrition curriculum. I'm happy with the work but to be honest all the office work is getting to me. I want to meet more people! I want to be out and about doing active things! (I think I need more exercise..and less sugar.)

So, today was great. There were many highlights. It started like any other day (as in I was going to the office to work on nutrition). The first highlight was frying a really thin slice of paneer to put on my over-easy egg & toast this morning. I eat on a chair on my porch looking at the mountains every morning. It is completely clear almost every morning and although we don't have a table (and we have to take turns in this chair) it's a perfect way to eat breakfast.

I ended up spending the morning working on plans for Green Leaf, our fair-trade market that will begin selling produce on November 3. The work was a bit more fun and interactive and it was nice to be busy. In the afternoon the second highlight came- it hailed! It was really loud on the slate roof which reminded me of camp and was very comforting. You could see balls of ice hitting the ground. Then, it poured. Also very loud. And next---a beautiful rainbow! I was so happy. Every time it rains these days, which is not very often, it is perfectly clear in most of the sky. So I am always running around the office looking out windows to find the rainbow. And today I found it! It was so close that it looked like part of the rainbow was on the roof of another Jagori building. I'll post the photos in the morning. My next highlight was that after the rain I could see there was snowfall on the largest, rocky mountains. I watch the mountains every day and since other wonders of fall like changing leaves don't happen here, I've been looking forward to snow on the mountains. Today it began! AND there is even another highlight in this part of the day. During afternoon chai, we saw about 6 green parrots! Flying around and landing in the trees on Jagori grounds.

Next, we did some nutrition work, and then the work day ended. The others in my group learned an Indian dance with Manju and I took the opportunity to finish some computer work that had been bothering me. I went home quickly to grab a sweater, since it's really quite chilly today, and then returned to Jagori for dinner. Tonight we were invited to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving at Jagori. Yesterday I was asking around for the number of a certain restaurant so I could book us a reservation, since we had all decided to celebrate tonight. Abha, who runs the NGO, went off to what I thought was find the number, and came back insisting we come for dinner at Jagori. It coincided with the last night of a 2-week workshop, so all the visitors were to have a big goodbye meal anyways. We had a huge bonfire and appetizers (momos and some dry snacks) and a huge meal (including pooris and sweet rice...mmm) and cake and even a bit of beer! It was all a big treat.

My next highlight was that Anoop, the office administrator, came with his wife and daughter. His daughter is about two and she is very adorable. She stole my purse for a bit and walked around dong very cute things while I laughed and laughed. It was so nice. She really knows what she wants and at that moment it was my bag.

Next, the girls were pressured into performing the dance they learned for everyone. It was lots of fun to watch and I was happy to be sitting out, although it would have been fun either way.

We walked home recently and tonight the stars are more beautiful than I've seen so far. I'm very happy with how things turned out. And I really enjoy the colder weather.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dalai Lama Teaching!

Just thought I'd give an update. At work I'm super busy now- I'm making a nutrition curriculum for the NGO that they can teach to their 60 youth groups and the 15 schools they visit. So that's  a big task- we are trying to make it as relevant as possible to the way people eat in this district, the money they spend on food, and the nutrition problems they have (LOTS of anemia in women and girls, and even boys). Also I'll be helping with a program that the NGO runs where they help farmers switch gradually to organic farming- so as part of this they buy the farmers' produce at a fair price and sell it a bit over market price in the touristy area nearby. So mostly foreigners buy, which means they need english-speaking people to help sell (me!). 

And- I went to see the Dalai Lama today!! He is giving 4 days of teachings at the main Tibetan temple in that same town where the tourists all go (related I'm sure). So we got up at 5am, took a cab to this town, and went into the temple to put our cushions down and reserve seats. Most people go the night before so most places were taken. But we got good spots in the end where you could see him in the inner part of the temple (there are gaps looking in) and you could see the screen of him up-close too. 

He came in by 930am and gave a two hour lesson, and another 2 hours after lunch. Lunch was provided by the temple in big masses but we left to go stretch our legs a bit and got a snack on the street. The teachings were sort of difficult to understand because the translation was very delayed and the translator I think had a limited english vocabulary. But I was able to get the gist of it I think. It was an amazing experience. There is such respect and awe for him- when he first walked in everyone was peeking around trying to get a view but it was still very calm and there was a really nice song the group sang. The teachings are hosted by a Taiwanese group, so they got reserved seating in the inner temple space. When he walked by them they had such a wonderful and culturally-different reaction than I've ever seen. It was like...the crowd swooned towards him but at the same time they gasped ('ahh'). I loved that. 

I hope this turns out to be a good account of my experience. I'm so tired so I'll take a look later and see if there's much to add. 

Oh, no photos of today unfortunately because no cameras were allowed. 

But here are some other recent ones:

My view out the bus last day off

Looking back at Ceinwen and Jane (and our fellow volunteer Christina in the background)

There is a "Temple Walk" around the main temple in McLeodganj and this is on the walk

View from the Temple Walk

On Sunday I went on a field visit to a village 1 hour walk from Khanyara. This is Khanyara as we hiked up the mountain

More view from the hike

For the visit we had a youth meeting in the local school. This is the view from the school of a house in the village.

Inside the school

The boys made Diwali cards! (early maybe? but we hope this means it will be a really really big holiday)

After the meeting we walked to a Temple and then had lunch in a field. It was SO BEAUTIFUL. But the clouds were out which meant there was yet another snowy-mountain view we couldn't see!

Ate lunch here

Me!

Walking to the temple (Bhavna, Marie, and Pooja)

Me at the little Temple on the mountain

On our way to and from Knowledge Centre in Khanyara there is a litter of puppies! Maybe 10!

Me at one of the many rivers running down from the mountains. This one has a red bridge we cross to get to Knowledge Centre.

Pooja day

Hi!

Yesterday we went to Maa-Beti Mela which was a great success. We didn't end up too involved since it was all in Hindi but there was a good turnout (maybe not enough mothers though) and many girls did performances in the theme of mother-daughter relationships. Our decorations looked great though! My camera battery was dead so I didn't get any photos but I'll try to get some from the others and put them up. I wore my new, tailored outfit which is very nice. The craftsmanship is really amazing! Nice details and everything and it fits well. I hope to get another when new, winter fabrics come in.

Today we went to Pooja (worship) and lunch at Dr. Kusam's. Dr. Kusam lives below us so we didn't go far. First I got up and went to Nishtha, the local health clinic where Dr. Kusam and another important woman, Dr. Barbara, work. They use all homeopathic medicines I think. She gave me some 'beads' (not sure of the proper name) for my motion sickness and also some for my cold. I have a cold right now and I imagine I'll get more with the basically-outdoor-showers and lack of heating and everything. So after that we went down for lunch but the Pooja wasn't over so we sat with many women who were praying and singing songs. That was very nice although I was pretty hungry. Lunch was really good! Served much like the wedding but on a smaller scale. Maybe for 30. The workers from Nishtha also came. Also finished with sweet rice- did I explain what that is? It's like warm sugary rice with almonds. At the wedding it was pink but today it was orange. I liked the pink better..I'm not really sure if there was a difference though.

After that the others went to work at Jagori campus but I was feeling sick so I slept all afternoon. They got organized in terms of our projects for the next little while. Ceinwen and I will be in charge of preparing a nutritional kit and teaching curriculum which I'm very excited about. There will also be a similar project on body literacy (sex ed). Also there are two research projects that need our help. One is to compile about 300 surveys on health in the community- basically enter the data into a computer database for analysis- and the other is a continuation on a project a past McMaster student did on access to medicine in rural India.

Last night also Jane and Marie (who live in a different house) came over for the night. All six of us ate chips and watched a movie (Stardust)- good bonding time for sure. I'm glad we can fit them here.




Ceinwen took a video of our place! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DinJ-kxgawY

Ceinwen spilled ALL of our soya sauce (maybe 750ml)!! And we have no drain in the floor (which for some reason I'd expect here) so she just sopped it up a lot with a rag. 

Another beautiful view! This is from the red bridge. To go to Marie and Jane's house or to walk to Khanyara Knowledge Centre we have to walk up the hill, past Jagori, to the red bridge. Then we cross it to go up the hill to Khanyara or downhill to Jane and Marie's. So this view is from our side of the red bridge looking up towards Khanyara. Behind the house on the lower hill you can sort of see some village-like spots- that might be Khanyara. Not sure.

Thinking of you all!

Some photos

The day after the wedding feast was the third day of the wedding in Khanyara. There was a procession with the bride and groom and music! Here is the bride in this tent. 

The groom is the man with the brightly-coloured thing on.

When they got to the end of the road there was a jeep waiting for the bride and groom plus a bus for lots of people. I don't know where the people were going because I think the bride and groom go off together on their own. 

Here are some of our decorations for Maa-Beti Mela. Some of the SATH workers strung them on the roof which made a really pretty sight. Then we took them down and they'll go up tomorrow morning at the school where the festival is held.

This is the Knowledge Centre in Khanyara. We are making flags that people will wave during a song at the festival. It's amazing how much detail and effort goes into these preparations- so many handmade posters and decorations. In Canada we'd just get things printing in masses. For the flags we bought fabric, cut it into triangles, sewed slits for posts, painted "Maa-Beti Mela" on each flag, cut posts out of bamboo with a small machete-looking thing, stuck them in the flags, and taped the posts so they weren't sliver-y. We ended up with 187 flags. Imagine the hours that went into this!!! I was happy I had some sewing skills to contribute. I sewed and taped many flags.  

The view of McLeodganj from Baghsu Road.

Our coffee and cake! I already miss it just looking at this photo.

Two women selling Tibetan crafts on Temple Road in McLeodganj. This whole road was lined with stalls . Also the town is in a cloud- most of the time I think!

3 weeks in

Today we are officially 3 weeks into our time in India. It's hard to believe!

I had my first day off today and Ceinwen and I went to McLeodganj which is a town 1 hour from us where the Dalai Lama lives- as a result it's totally packed with foreigners, whether on vacation/travelling/living there fore much longer. We took a bus to Dharamsala, then a taxi to McLeodganj since we were impatient and no bus was leaving for a bit. When we got there we:
1) got momos. this was street food which felt risky although we had been warned it would very likely be totally fine
2) went for coffee-- there are all these western-style coffee shops to please all the westerners! i had a good cappuccino and we split warm chocolate cake with choc sauce and cream (mmm) and they played Sufjan Stevens which made me feel so weird to be so far from the western world but in this bubble of western-ness
3) walked around, looked at all the stalls (scarves, Tibetan jewellery, sining bowls)
4) bought more momos (not as good as the first ones)
5) went to the temple--learned that the Dalai Lama will be at the temple tomorrow! so cool! we also learned that his next teachings are Oct 1-4 so next day off we need to go back to McLeodganj to register for a day or two of learning with the Dalai Lama!
6) shopped at the stalls we had looked at --I bought nice big prayer flags for my room, and a pair of great pants that will hopefully last longer than the pair that I bought in Delhi (almost fallen apart), and a box of ginger tea from this shop that sells cheese. Ceinwen bought asiago but I decided it would be even harder to go without if I tried some.
7) went to the post office- it costs 14 rupees to mail to Canada so send me your address and if I can I will send you something!!
8) got more momos. this time in soup from a Tibetan restaurant run by a monastery
9) bus to Dharamsala, then grocery shopping at this modern-looking gas station (I got peanut butter, nutella and mustard. good staples you can't get elsewhere)
10) taxi home to Rakkar---Ceinwen and I were both feeling sick so it was good to get back fast. The roads are rough and the buses can be PACKED. Plus there would have been a 30 minute walk uphill after getting off the bus. So we spoiled ourselves.


Hope this was a bit interesting. We met a woman from Nanaimo BC which was nice.

Can you tell I like momos? and all I want is more

xo
PS monsoons seem to be over! 

Good day!

Today there were many highlights. Lately I've been going to the Knowledge Centre to help prepare for the festival. Making posters and flags and things. It's sort of boring but I'm coming to know the people that work there better and I like them a lot. They are so nice and caring and they really look out for us. I'm getting more familiar with how to take the bus, and yesterday morning I was all ready to pay the right guy but then the woman from Jagori with me had already paid. It's like...even though I'm not completely clueless anymore they are still so generous! It makes me realize how genuine it is.

Anyways, today--- Ceinwen and I had to walk in the rain up to Knowledge Centre because the bus never came. The clouds were really high today which was new weather and it was windy which was also new. My umbrella is almost finished. So the walk was no good. BUT when we got there, after waiting around for a bit, we went to a wedding! It was such a great experience. It was day 2 of 3 of the wedding and it was a woman from Khanyara (where Knowledge Centre is) marrying a man from Dharmsala. I didn't see the bride and the groom wasn't to arrive until this evening, but we had a big lunch with maybe 100 people. We sat on plastic rice bags that had been sewn together and for each person there were leaves stitched together to make a plate. There was a full rectangle of us sitting cross-legged all facing in plus on row in the middle. I was worried I was under-dressed (not in local clothes) but it was okay because it wasn't too fancy. I sat across from about 5 little boys though who laughed and pointed at me the whole time. I felt sort of self-conscious but it wasn't mean they were sweet. So these men would come around and dish out food onto every leaf-dish really efficiently. There was rice and then a series of maybe 7 curries with more rice and water in between. We ate and ate and you had to cover your plate to decline or they'd just keep piling it on. It was so great. Such a good cultural experience and such good food. They bring around a basket full of chilis too- I took one to eat with my food but couldn't eat much of it. I did well eating with my hands but Ceinwen and Marie struggled a bit. First time for them so it makes sense. Oh also, beforehand they sat us in a room for chai and some snacks while we waiting for the big feast. At the end they brought sweet rice which is slightly pink and warm and sugary with almonds and other flavour in it. It was good. When you finish you fold your leaf, and then at the end you go to the side to pour water over your food-y hand.
Anyways, that was a very cool experience. It made my day.

After that we went back to make decorations for the festival, watched some local girls learning a dance (Manju taught them- she is so good at dance and I've heard everything else. Manju is 25 and has been with Jagori for 10 years. She offered to come over to teach us to cook! She also took us to buy fabric and go to her uncle who is a tailor), and then took the bus home. When we got home the sky had cleared and we saw the MOUNTAINS. The for real mountains. They were so much bigger and more amazing than I expected. To be honest I didn't even know they were sitting behind the clouds all that time. Even when we caught a glimpse it was like 1/100 of what's really there. I sat and watched the view until the sun went low and then came inside. ...power just went out... (normal).

I hope it doesn't rain again tomorrow. The weather has definitely been changing since the 'end of rains' festival 2 days ago. It was quite cold today unless the sun was out, and my feet are cold right now. Apparently even though winter here isn't bitter like in Canada, it's drastically different because of the lack of heating. I will probably wear my winter jacket for 1.5 months straight. I don't know how I'll shower!

The view from the street outside my house. There is a convenience store to the right and another one behind me that you can't see. The rest of the photos show the view from our porch!

The house on the right is mine! You can see the door to one bathroom and the door to the kitchen to the right of that. 

xo Clarke