Sita!

The other day at BAIF (the agricultural organization we are doing our service learning at) Bulla (who is our "boss" there) gave us all indian names. My Indian name is Sita. In Hindu beliefs, Sita is the wife of Rama, which is one of the three main Hindu gods. She is esteemed as the standard of womanly virtues for Hindu women, especially since she endured three different exiles all while maintaining her dignity/womanhood/holiness. Gods are so important to daily life here, on cell phones there is even a mini shrine, where you can choose a god from a menu, and then when you select that god it will show their picture and play a mantra. Really, really interesting.

the taj!

finally! some pictures!

the famous bench everyone must get their picture taken on (it was 6am, excuse the hideous smie, k?)

view from the mosque next to the taj

beautiful saris by the beautiful building

we were so excited to be there

ain't she gorgeous?

Delhi for Diwali

For the weekend we went to Delhi because pretty much everything was going to be closed in Hubli for Diwali. Diwali is like the Indian New Year. It lasts for two days. We arrived in the Delhi airport and the air was filled with smoke from all of the fireworks. No joke, people were setting off crackers the entire weekend. Our first day in Delhi we had to ourselves, so we went and explored Humayan’s Tomb. He was the second Mughal emperor. The tomb later became the inspiration/basis for the Taj Mahal. It was so beautiful. All of the carvings and architectural details were amazing. Later we went to a couple different markets to look at jewelry and clothes. They have the most beautiful clothes here!!! It’s hard not to buy everything (especially since it is so cheap too.) I bought a Diwali outfit for our celebrations that night. We had dinner at the hotel (this weekend we gorged on non-Indian food) and then walked around and saw people setting off fireworks with their families. It was kind of scary, how many people were lighting fireworks and the air was so thick with smoke it made it hard to see. Allegra (my hotel roomie) and I watched the fireworks from our hotel window. Fireworks shows went on around the city from 6pm until 1 am. We’re talking bigger than the fourth of july fireworks.

The next day we all boarded a bus and took the 4 hour journey to Agra, home of the beautiful Taj Mahal. We ended up arriving a little late, so we saw the Agra Fort instead, which was a lot cooler than I thought it was going to be. The fort was built by Akbar and it is HUGE. It also overlooks the Taj Mahal and had really pretty views. There were so many different courtyards and mosques to explore. Our professor’s children came to visit her this weekend (they are 3 and 8) and boy were the Indian people loving them. People would come up and take pictures all over this fort with these two blonde kids from America. It was funny because they wouldn’t even ask, they would just come right up next to them and start taking pictures in their face.

The next day we woke up really early to go see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. It was so beautiful. I can’t think of any other word to describe it, it was just so stunning. When the sun finally came up, it made the whole building golden. It was breathtaking, I could not stop staring at it and taking pictures of it. It’s truly, truly beautiful. It was an amazing morning. It was one of those mornings that I felt so grateful for the life that I have, and that I was fortunate enough to see this beautiful, epic building in the flesh.

After that, we went back to our swanky hotel and relaxed by the pool in the hot, hot, hot Indian sun. Our bus ride back to Delhi was gross--7 hours long because of traffic. Monday we went on a bus tour around the city and went shopping. We went to this great store called Fabindia which has very, very beautiful clothes and fabrics. I bought a couple of outfits. We continued to shop around and found this huge underground bazaar. On the way home, we took the metro and Abby and I got separated from the rest of the group. We got left behind and had to wait for the next train. While we waited, I read aloud to her the book I bought about love marriages in India. All the sudden the train arrived and we were a part of a huge sea of people. We got shoved all the way from the door to getting smashed up against the window on the other side of the car. People are insane here! They just shove and push. To get off at our stop I had to cross my arms across my chest while Abby shoved me out of the car. It was quite the adventure. It doesn’t help too that people are too busy staring at us because we’re white to move out of the way or help us. Oh, adventures in India.

Service learning starts again tomorrow!

Our internet is moving CRAZY slow tonight, I'll post pictures tomorrow!

site visit in the village today!

hey all!
today we got to visit 3 different women who participate in BAIF, and the rotating loan groups in villages outside of hubli. here's a few pictures from our visit:

the oldest daughter in law at one house. she made roti for us. she was so excited to have her picture taken she held my hand.

the entire extended family that let us into their house. they cooked us roti, potatoes, lentils, tea, and gave us fruit. they showed us wedding pictures, boasted of their sons and daughters and sat their grandchildren in our laps. they were so kind and hospitable.

making roti at the family stove

love!

danielle

hubli!

hiiiii!

today was our first day at our service learning sites! im working with BAIF, an agricultural support organization. they want us to create educational materials for women in the rural communities about nutrition, caring for children and pre natal care. i'm really excited about it and i think it will be a really good experience. the organization is out in the country. like, the country, country. like, stop the car so a herd of a hundred goats can pass by the road. on thursday we're actually going to interview the women who live on farms and see what their lives are like. im really excited for that. today we got back kind of early, so we rode our first rickshaw to the market and got stared at for a good 2 hrs. every store we went into, the place went silent. hubli doesn't see many tourists, so we're quite the spectacle. the worst part is that the little kids (like toddlers) are scared of us because they've never seen white people before. luckily the older kids like us. we went to a bazaar that featured products made by women who took out microloans.

we also went to dinner with the desphande foundation fellows. they were all indian and we had such a good time at our table. at first it was kind of awkward because even though we all speak english, we dont really speak the same english, so it was a little silent. but as the night went on and us americans got tired and a little loopy, we got pretty silly. pretty soon we were all laughing and goofing around. also, we talked to them about the headwobble. the headwobble, oh the headwobble. most indians, when you're talking to them will wobble their head. hard to explain, but they look kind of like a bobble head doll. it's the non verbal indian version of "um" or "yeah". so they wobble their head to acknowledge the fact that they are listening. also, sometimes it means yes, or okay. very confusing and sometimes very hard not to laugh.

i am loving hubli! mumbai was so dirty and big... not that hubli's not dirty, but i just like it better. it's smaller and the weather is much nicer! it actually gets cool here at night. i think im going to like it alot!

ok enough talking, picture time.

on our way to the agriculture sight. the aggie group! alex, me, uly, shelley, sarah and dana.

the goat roadblock on our way to the countryside

just our neighbors cows and bulls hangin out near the street

muah!

danielle

first days in india!

namaskara!

i am officially in hubli, where i'll be spending the majority of my time for the program. we flew to germany and then mumbai (it was a long 17 hoursssss). our first day in mumbai was a whirlwind! we got up in the morning and took a bus tour around the city. we saw the huge dohbi washing area. Dohbi are the caste that does clothes washing. its huge! they do laundry for everyone in that area of town, which is crazy. and apparently its extremely accurate. our tour guide had never, ever lost any of her laundry by using the dobhi service.

we also went to the gateway to mumbai and elephanta island, where there are stone carvings in a cave from 200 bc. they were REALLY cool. it was a long ferry ride out there though, on a boat that looked like this voyage might be the last.

we also saw gandhi's house and his famous spinning wheel. we're all pretty jetlagged and a little loopy. this morning we got up and flew to hubli. hubli is BEAUTIFUL! i definitely like hubli alot more than mumbai. it's exactly what i thought india would be like. we all piled into a bus, and since the bus couldn't fit all our luggage, they just piled it on the roof, but dont worry a guy sat up there to make sure it wouldn't fall off. we got to our guesthouse that we'll be staying in for the next 6 weeks and its great. we have a kitchen and a living room and a tv and the bedrooms are pretty nice. AND WIFI! woooo internet. we went over to the desphande center for social entrepreneurship and met the indian students we'll be working with. they were really nice and excited to meet us. we did our traditional indian dance we learned a few weeks ago and they were all laughing and taking pictures. its definitely going to be a fun 6 weeks! :)




much love!
danielle

Time to GO!!!!

Hey everyone!

I leave for India! Today! In 8 hours! YAY! I am SO excited. We'll be working at non profits sponsored by the Deshpande Foundation and also doing program assesment. (www.desphandefoundation.org). We'll also be collaborating with students from the IIT in Hubli to come up with our own social enterprise/non profit ideas. It's gonna be amazing! We have to dress really conservatively because we'll be in a rural city and working out in "the sandbox" as it's called.
Basically, for the next 3 months I'm gonna live in salwar kameez. Which is like a tunic top with loose pants underneath. We've been told this is the classic college girl outfit. a little different from the us uniform: a sweatshirt, leggings and uggs but I'm so okay with that. I'm not sure how much I'll have internet, so I might not post alot, but I'll be sure to put up pictures when I can!

love
danielle