Now, India, please welcome...John!

Thanks, John, for the lovely introduction.

Yes, I did actually make it to India.
Yes, it took forever.
Yes, they left my luggage in London 

Yes, India is CRAZY!!

Oh my goodness, this city is the most insane place I have ever been to. I don't know what I can say that bRad hasn't already mentioned, but I can say this: bRad's descriptions of life in Hyderabad does not do it justice. So far today he has taken me to see some interesting places and try some interesting foods. I got a taste of Frankkie Tibbs' Chicken Tikka Roll, which is indeed one of the finest snacks on the planet. We took a ride in an autorickshaw. I think it can be assumed that no American mother would approve of her son riding in one of those things. As !!! woould say, "There's no ****ing rules, dude". For any Sega Genesis fans, the streets are a bit like the game "Road Rash"....pure crazniness, no rules, total chaos.

There is so much to see in this city. It is incredibly overpopulated, so there are innumerable dwellings, some of which are nearly (or directly) on the street. Sidewalks hardly exist. Trash is literally everywhere, and indeed everything you have heard about the sewer systems in relation to the streets is true. BUT, inspite of the squalor, this is a wonderfully beautiful place. Outside of the downtown area things shape up a bit, and you can find some nicer stores and homes. I saw what are now 2 of my all-time favorite trees this evening. I really look forward to exploring more.

I think the most interesting things about this place are the subtle cultural differences, not the glaring ones. bRad pointed out that people tend to bob their heads as if saying "no" while they are listening to you. It is very odd at first, but quickly becomes a little endearing in a funny kind of way. Oh, and the Muslim prayers that are broadcast throughout the city every 5 hours. Super creepy sounding initially, but again, once you relaize it is just playing prayers it becomes much more interesting. I absolutley love the melodies the prayers are sung to. They use a music scale that has nearly double the notes of Western music, which creates the familiarly-exotic sounds of Indian music. I find this fascinating and I think I may buy a small guitar or Indian instrument to bring on our travels so I can experiment with the expanded scales.

I think that we are going to have a short nap (well, bRad is at least) before heading to dinner in an hour or so. I will try too, if I can manage to fall asleep in this heat (it is truly unbearable). Everyone please keep your fingers crossed that my luggage arrives as promised tommorrow. If not, I'm going to be in an interesting situation involving: 1 John, 2 tsp new Indian wardrobe, a pinch of no money, and 2 quarts fresh mango (for flavor). 

Peace from The East,

John

PS: bRad has adopoted a mild Indian accent, selectively. Pretty funny.

Vizag

I just got back from Vizag and I am exhausted.  The trip was a lot of fun though.  It started with a 12 hour bus ride from Hyderabad that got to the coast at around 9 am on Thursday.  Once our crew unloaded from the bus we decided on a hotel and organized autos for everyone to get there.  It was a bit cumbersome traveling around with 16 people, not to mention the stares we got everywhere we went.  I began to feel like I was in a parade.  The hotel we stayed at was right on the beach and cost $3.50 USD per person each night.  It felt like staying in a bed and breakfast because the manager kept walking into our room, bringing chai, making small talk, and just being generally paternal and kind.  After we settled into our rooms the traveling circus departed for a hilltop tourist park.  We had to take cable cars to the top where we got a great look at the city and the Bay of Bengal.  They also had interesting statues all over and we took some funny pictures.  This was a pattern that continued as we walked down the street to our hotel after leaving the park.  We came across several different sculptures along the way, including a really creepy giant baby.  There was another one of a life-size elephant in mid-trot so I got the idea that everyone should pose in front of it as if we were being chased down.  The picture turned out great (check Facebook).

That night we went for dinner at a place called Fishland.  Maybe it was the name, maybe it was just that I was tired and not thinking, but I downed a glass of tap water as soon as we sat down at the table.  Once I realized that it wasn't mineral water it was too late; my fate was sealed and I spent the next few days taking frequent meetings with the toilet.  I won't say any more about that, don't worry, but you really have to take the water situation seriously here.  One false step and you're going to be on and off the porcelain for a long time.  After dinner, some of us wanted to drink so we played some card games and had a lot of fun.  Two of our fellow travelers were from Mauritius, which is a small island to the east of Madagascar.  I think this is the place that people picture when they think of paradise.  The Mauritians on our trip were very awesome people and fun to hang out with.  That's turning out to be somewhat of a problem though: I've met a lot of people recently that make me wish that I could stay here longer.  Oh well, new reasons to travel to exciting places (and people to host me while I'm there).

The second day in Vizag, half of our group left to come back to Hyderabad.  I guess they just wanted a taste of travel.  Now that we were down to eight, it was a lot easier to plan excursions.  The beaches in Vizag, as is the case with much of India, is disgustingly polluted.  For every grain of sand there is one piece of trash.  I was shocked as I watched the waves ebb and flow, crashing on the shore with a variety of shoes, styrofoam, plastic bottles, and on and on.  I can't believe that an entire country would be so apathetic about protecting their environment.  No one even uses trash cans, they just toss their garbage wherever they like.  In a country that is so heavily populated, this is causing most streets and bodies of water to look like garbage dumps, from what I have seen.  So the beach was less than desirable, although we were able to find a nice one a bit further away from civilization.  We spent Friday there playing frisbee and wading out into the Indian Ocean.  We also got some really cute kids to play with us.  They were in it for money initially, but once they started tossing the disc around you could see them turn from beggars back into fun-loving children.  After the beach, we went for dinner at a place down the street from our hotel that had really good food.  We started talking with our waiter about nightlife in Vizag and he ended up inviting us out to the club with him that evening.  It turned out to be a great time, even though they never honored my request to pay tribute to Michael Jackson with a few of his songs.  Our new friend, the waiter, even picked up the tab at the end of the night and took us to a late-night seaside chai and snacks place.

On Saturday we woke up early and arranged for a van to take us to Araku Valley.  The drive itself was beautiful as we passed vast green fields and tall skinny trees.  But nothing compared to the views that we got in the valley.  Lush green mountains were all around us as we ascended and descended the winding roads.  We stopped at Borra Caves, which is a giant cave system that is believed to be 150 million years old.  It was pretty cool, but not the greatest caves that I've seen.  We did see some cute baby monkeys running around though.  We stopped at a few more tourist locations along the way, but the drive itself was my favorite part.  The drive back was less amazing since it was dark and we were packed tight in the van.  I was sitting next to the driver, who kept knocking my leg when he shifted gears.  When we got back we returned to our new friend's restaurant and he recommended a hookah bar for us to go to that night.  I was hoping for a relaxed environment where we could unwind from the long day, but the place was just a club that happened to serve hookah.  After a while, I decided to head back to the hotel, citing fatigue and stomach problems as my main reasons.  As I left the club I ran into the waiter, who looked like he was having an argument with the bouncers.  When he saw me he told me to go get everyone else and tell them that he was stuck outside.  I did so and when we all returned to the door things had heated up between our friend and the bouncer.  Now more people were getting involved in the shouting and shoving match.  It was a fine example of the assertive overreaction of the challenged male ego.  Finally, the waiter was allowed into the club, but he continued jawing at the owner and the staff until they forced him out.  Now I was in a tight spot because I didn't want to be there at all, but I wasn't about to let the two girls I was with leave on their own later, knowing that our enraged "friend" might be waiting for them.  They wanted to stay a bit longer which was fine.  One of our other travel mates and I sat and talked for a while, making new friends as well and enjoying a hookah.  By the time we left though, it was 4 am and I was kind of resenting the girls for dragging out our time there when they knew I was only staying for them.  It wasn't really a big deal though because we all slept in the next day.

After the bus ride home on Sunday night/Monday morning, I did some laundry and then packed my suitcase.  I took it to the cargo office at the airport so that I could send it home ahead of myself and therefore travel lighter for the next two weeks.  This turned into an all day project because the airport is around an hour from the city.  Also, the guy who was helping me out took forever to do anything and dragged the process on for four hours, disappearing occasionally to go to a meeting without telling me.  Once I finally got home from the airport it was 9 pm and I was tired as Firestone.  I watched a movie with Hauke and Ben and told them stories from my trip.  Then, I prepared to go right back to the airport to pick up John.  After finding out that his flight would be delayed for a few hours I laid down for some much needed sleep.  Then I woke up and took the same bus back to the airport.  I was worried about being late, but it turned out that I had nothing to worry about.  I stood there, waiting for John for two hours before I spoke with some airport middleman who told me that some people from his plane had had their luggage forgotten in London.  Of course, John was one of these lucky passengers.  Finally, after making a claim, he was able to leave the airport and we were reunited.  It felt great to see a familiar face and weird at the same time.  Even now, as I type this, I can see him getting his few hours of much needed sleep in the other room and I am kind of unconvinced that he is actually here.  It was hard enough to accept the surreal feeling that I was here, let alone someone else from home showing up.  Now I will go wake John up so we can go for his first Indian meal and pick up a few essentials that he's missing from his suitcase.  After that, who knows.  Maybe we'll go check out the Charminar.  That's all for now.  Brad out.

The next episode

And we're back.  Thanks to you, the viewer at home, for staying tuned to Brad's Indian Summer.  I'm your host, Brad Dembs and I look forward to telling you some stories of what has been going on with me this past week.  I hope you look forward to reading them.  Please follow along below.

So far my job has been great.  As you can see in my pictures, the kids are very cute.  It has been a lot of fun interacting with them and learning about kids with special needs within a different culture.  One thing that they have in common with their counterparts in the U.S. is that they are all very easy to love.  I don't know why there is such stigma about mental disabilities in India, when the children are all awesome.  Yesterday I spent most of my time with the preschool kids at the "special" school.  One girl, Madiha (right), became very attached to me and wanted to sit with me all day.  We played with blocks and plastic fruit and I showed her pictures of herself on my camera, which amazed her.  One negative thing about my job is that I probably will not be able to meet with government officials after all.  I have been expecting a call from my boss for the past three days to tell me when a meeting will be arranged, but I don't think she is going to follow through.  Just another in a long line of broken promises and flaky business here, but it's alright.  I had a great time working at the schools.

One day last week I heard about a park just down the street from my apartment so I went to check it out to see if it would be a suitable place to play ultimate frisbee.  It turned out to be a pretty cool place, with lots of little hills (sort of like the wave field on north campus at U of M, except more spread out).  As I was strolling down one path I came across four kids tossing a disc.  I ended up playing with them for a while, until a security guard approached us and said we couldn't play frisbee in the park (which doesn't make sense to me because I thought recreation was one of the main reasons for having parks).  It was fun while it lasted though.  The kids were skeptical of me at first but I proved my worth with a couple of leaping catches and long distance passes.  It started to get a bit rainy and windy around the time the security guard kicked us out so I wasn't too upset about it.

On Saturday, I came to the conclusion that my hair was too long to deal with any more and that I would have to bite the bullet and get it cut.  If you know me well then you know that I have gotten my hair cut by one person for pretty much my entire life.  The guy who gave me my first trim as a baby is the same guy that I go to 22 years later.   In college (it's weird to say that in the past tense) my friends always gave me a hard time when I would drive from Ann Arbor to West Bloomfield just for a haircut, but for me it was worth it.  Barry knows what he's doing with my head.  He's had two decades to get familiar with it so what's the point of changing now?  Unfortunately, India to WB is a bit further of a journey than from AA, so I had to go to someone new.  I found a salon close to my flat that I had gone to once before for a shave and seemed like a nice enough place (no chance I was about to go to one of the roadside barbers).  My barber didn't speak English so whenever I would give him some direction he would have to leave the room and bring back an interpreter.  When he actually started cutting my hair it was comparable to how you see someone getting their hair cut in a cartoon.  He was snipping away at rapid-fire speed, circling my head in a whir of scissors and comb and hair.  When he finished, it looked alright, but it's too short on the sides and too long in the front.  I could probably style it in an Elvis-like coif, but that's not my style.  I guess I will just wait for it to grow back (or have Barry fix it as soon as I get home).

Later that night, I met up with a friend from work and a few of her friends at a nice cafe.  Then we went down near the Charminar, which is the premier landmark of Hyderabad, for dinner.  It was the first time since the night I arrived that I went down to the old city.  That night, I wasn't there until very late at night, so this was really the first time I got to see all the bazaars.  The lights were on at the Charminar as well, which made it look really cool.  Of course, my camera lost battery right before we got there so I had no chance to take pictures.  It's OK though because I plan on taking John there when he arrives next week, so we can take pictures then.  After the Charminar, I went with a bunch of AIESEC interns to a party for someones birthday.  They had delicious punch that was more like fruit salad and they actually played American rap music (Nelly, Mystikal, Missy Elliot) instead of just House and Techno.  There were a few new trainees who had just arrived that day, so I had a good time getting to know them.  There is a guy from the UK, one from Afghanistan, and three girls from America, Mexico, and Azerbaijan.  They are all pretty cool people and good new friends.  Actually, I will be going on a trip with them to Vizag for the rest of the week.  Vizag is a beach town, right on the coast of the Bay of Bengal.  At first, it was just going to be the six of us going, but since we started planning the trip, ten more people have jumped on board.  Now we will be traveling in a group of 16(!)  I'm really excited to see a new place that looks like it has some beautiful sights.  It should be a great time.  Once I get back, it will be Monday and I will be going to the airport to pick up John.  Time continues to fly by like a laser.  I'm trying to get as much as I can out of every day before there are no days left of this incredible journey.  I'm sure that the best is still to come.  Stay tuned. 

New job, new flat, good life

Isn't it strange how time can feel as if it has gone fast and slow all at once?  Thinking about it now, it seems like there is no way I have been in India for a month.  What a quick month it has been! And yet, at the same time, I also feel as though I have been here for much longer.  I've certainly grown into this country, getting used to customs and getting better at dodging traffic (which is like an endless, forceful river).  I'm starting to realize that before I know it my time here will be over.  Only two weeks (one and a half, actually) until John arrives and I have to say goodbye to Hyderabad.  I'm very excited to travel around and have incredible adventures, but I am not ready to let go of this city and all that it has to offer.  Especially since things seem like they are finally coming together completely.

I started my new job this week and it is exactly what I wanted to be doing the whole time.  I'm working at a school, or more accurately at a group of schools, interacting with children with and without disabilities.  The high school in which I work employs an inclusive education program, which means that kids with special needs are placed in the same classes as their general education peers.  I was very excited to see this type of policy in place because it is something that I strongly believe in.  The children with special needs benefit from the curriculum as well as the ability to learn through social interaction and the other kids gain knowledge about people with disabilities.  This enables them to be more aware and to understand that kids with special needs are just people like everyone else.  If this type of education were to be more widely implemented in India I think that a few generations down the line we would see a lot less shame and embarrassment in families of children with mental or physical disabilities and more acceptance and understanding overall.  

For the first few days, I have been observing the inclusive education in person by sitting in on classes.  Today, however, I went to watch a class in action and all of the children were just sitting around talking.  I asked them where their teacher was (oh, that's another great part about this job, the kids speak English!) and they told me that she was sick.  I asked another teacher if someone would be coming to fill in and she said no.  So I ended up being the science teacher for the day, explaining photosynthesis and how the heart works to two different classes.  It was pretty challenging because the kids were all so excited to see someone different that they didn't pay attention to the lesson.  Different kids kept coming up to shake my hand and ask me questions.  Also, I hosted a discussion with parents of students with disabilities.  The school arranged for them to come in and I asked them questions about their challenges and what they would like to see improved upon.  I think it went very well and I'm looking forward to trying to help achieve some of the goals they laid out.  It's really nice to finally feel like I'm doing something worthwhile here.  And the woman who runs the school is awesome.  She is very friendly and she has a lot of aspirations for the future of disability education in India.  She laid out a plan for me over the next two weeks where I will be interacting more with the kids as well as meeting with government officials and lawyers.  I may actually have a chance to talk to the Minister of the State (akin to our Governor) about disability rights.  I'm drafting a letter right now that will be sent to government leaders as well.  This is going to give me a great experience in advocacy which should go a long way, since I plan on doing that for a career in the future.  I just wish I could have been working for this organization the whole time I've been here.  But oh well, I'll just work extra hard now to make up for lost time.

Another thing that has gone from good to hectic and back to good is my living situation.  When I moved out of my old flat and into the new one there were too many people living here.  AIESEC had placed three Chinese girls in the flat temporarily, not knowing that I was planning on moving in.  Luckily, one of my flatmates, Ben, was away for a few days so I was able to use his space.  After Saturday, however, I was relegated to a mattress on the floor of another room.  Since renovations on another flat took longer than expected, the girls stayed here until Tuesday night.  Finally, last night I was able to assume my rightful place and have a real bed.  Now I've lucked into having a room (and bathroom) all to myself, so it was definitely worth the wait.  My new room even has better lighting than the other rooms (soft, warm lights instead of fluorescents).  I really like this flat because of the expansive terrace.  And my roommates are pretty cool as well.  There is a German guy, Hauke, who I get along with very well and is good to talk to.  Also, Ben from Minnesota.  The three of us have formed a pretty good group over the past few days.  On Sunday we ventured out to Secunderabad, where we were invited for a home-cooked meal by a friend of Hauke's.  The food was really tasty, an experiment by our friend and his father which was rice with different spices as well as cashews and raisins.  There was also some delicious tomato soup that we could pour on top of the rice as well as one of the sweetest mangoes I've eaten since I got here.  It was a Begampalli mango, which is a variety that has edible skin, like an apple.  

After lunch we had a nice discussion about politics, through which I learned a lot about Indian history.  Then we watched a totally strange Korean movie.  It seems almost comical that I have been in India for so long, wanting to see a Bollywood movie, and I've seen "Monsters vs. Aliens", "Angels & Demons", and "Oldboy".  I never thought I would see a Korean movie in India before I saw a Hindi movie.  After the movie we went up on the roof of our host's apartment complex and looked out at Hyderabad.  We could even see Golconda Fort off in the distance.  It was weird to have climbed so many steps to reach the top of Golconda and then to be on the same level as it just by walking up one flight of stairs in someones home.  We also encountered a group of kids on the roof who were playing cricket so we joined them for a while.  It was a lot of fun and overall a great day (check out pictures on Facebook).  When we got back to our flat we played chess and listened to jazz on the terrace.  As it turns out, I'm living with a couple of Bobby Fischers...but without all the eccentricities and anti-Semitic remarks...just the prodigal chess master part.  I have yet to beat either of them and I am not fully convinced that I will before I leave.  To put it in chess terms, you could say they are queens and I am a pawn (or maybe a rook, if I give myself some credit). 

Now I'll go get some dinner and maybe try my hand at another chess match.  Tomorrow I will spend the whole day at the "Special School", which is for the more severely disabled students.  I will try to identify some of the things that the parents mentioned to me and see if I can improve them, or at least bring them to the attention of the administrators.  Should be a productive and fun day.  I hope yours will be too.

So it goes

screenshot of how I watched the game

Well, that wasn't the game I was hoping to see when I woke up at six in the morning after partying until two am the night before.  To not score until the last half of the last period? At home?  What a sad, disappointing game to watch.  I did get to watch it though, just like Game 6, thanks to the wonderful amazing technological innovation that is Skype (and thanks to Matt for setting up his computer by a tv, and to Apple for making computers with built-in cameras).  It was really cool to watch the games and to be able to talk to my friends at the same time as if I was actually there with them.  Unfortunately, neither game ended with the proper result.  

There was one strange occurance while I was watching Game 7.  As I sat, poised on the edge of my seat, trying to follow the puck (which is hard to do on tv, let alone on a tv watched through a computer screen), I heard a loud bird chirping.  I didn't think anything of it because I had been hearing birds all morning.  But this bird was persistent and extremely loud, as if it was coming from inside my apartment.  Finally, I remembered that our doorbell makes a chirping noise, which is not something you get used to easily.  I took off my headphones and ran to the door.  When I opened it, a man who I intuited to be our landlord was standing there, pointing down at the steps outside our flat.  At first, it looked like someone had spilled some chips and snacks on the ground, which I guess is true.  Upon further inspection I realized that the snacks were spilled by mouth, probably unpleasantly.  As I mentioned earlier, we had a raging party the previous night.  I didn't know what to do because time was ticking away in the third period and this guy was looking at me with a "you better clean this up you damn spoiled foreigner" look on his face.  Of course, I could not easily explain to him that my home town team was playing in the most intense of all possible game scenarios, so I just said "OK, I'll clean it up" and then closed the door and rushed back to my computer.  I sat down, put on my headphones, and realized that the internet had gone out.  After trying for a minute to fix it, I decided that I might as well clean up the "mouth-spill".  

Once that task was done, surprisingly easily and without much of a gross factor, I washed my hands and returned to the computer.  Luckily, the internet had returned and I was able to reconnect with Matt.  And of course, while I was out was when we scored our lone goal.  It's hard not to be superstitious when as soon as I started watching the game, Talbot scored...and then scored again, and the first time I stopped watching, the Wings scored.  Maybe if I had just turned it off then Detroit would be celebrating right now and that whiny punk Crosby would never have gotten to put his cry-baby hands on the Cup.  But as every Red Wings player and fan is going to have to come to terms with over the next few days, there is no way to change what happened.  Brad Stuart screwed up twice, Talbot scored twice, and our high octane offense that was so beautiful to watch all season couldn't make anything happen.  Now we're left with the same feeling we had in 2005 when the Pistons lost Game 7 of the NBA Finals to San Antonio.  So close to glory, minutes away from a repeat, and then, after weeks of intense games and thrilling victories...nothing.  Season over with nothing to show for all of the battles and all the success.

I know you're all thinking the same things anyway, so I'll stop talking about it.  I'll go eat a mango in the sun and look out at India.  What will you do to distract yourself?

In non-hockey related news, our party last night was awesome.  It was Alain's (one of my flatmates) birthday so we had friends over.  I made a party playlist and set up the stereo and people started filing in at around nine.  There were a lot of exchange participants like me as well as AIESEC guys from here in India.  At one point when we were out on the terrace having a conversation, I looked around and realized that I was standing in a group of eight people and not one of them was from the same country.  That was a very cool moment.  It really made me realize how similar we all are.  Sure, each person has his or her own culture and beliefs and has many different experiences from the rest of us, but overall we are more alike than we are different.  Some of us can dance (latinos are born with it), some of us can't.  Some of us can hold our alcohol, some of us (like the mysterious hallway puker) can't.  But it was a great time, sharing our differences and coming closer together because of that exchange.

OK, mango time.  Bye for now.

Tra la life

Well, hello there faithful readers.  It's been a while (a week to be exact).  How are you?  How's the family?  Everything is going well here for the most part.  At the end of our last episode I was in Bangalore, preparing to wake up and play ultimate frisbee the next day.  I did this, with my AIESEC friend, Alex.  We woke up at 6 a.m. and made our way to the field, which was actually more of a dust bowl with no grass to be found.  It was fun to experience frisbee in a new environment.  I can now say that I've played ultimate in three countries (U.S., Israel, and India), although this was the first time I played with locals.  They have the same rules as we do and they've actually formed a league tournament with other cities around India.  Unfortunately Hyderabad is not one of them, but maybe I can change that... Then I went to the Bangalore Palace, which is massive.  It was built to look like the Windsor Castle in England.  I was able to get a private tour with my own guide, which is good because they charged me 500 rupees just for permission to take pictures (which you can see on Facebook).  My trip back from Bangalore was bumpy and uncomfortable, with little to no sleep.  I look forward to the rest of my journeys being by train.  

This past week, I had a list of things that I wanted to accomplish.  However, as I have come to find out, things do not always happen right when you want them to in India.  Being used to seamless customer service and instant gratification left me in a state of frustration as I saw day after day go by without any of the objectives on my list being checked off.  First of all, it should be noted that my phone service was barred all week because my application was not complete.  In India the application for a cell phone for a foreigner is more extensive than the process by which I acquired my visa to come to this country in the first place.  You need proof of residence, a copy of your passport, a copy of your visa, a copy of your driver'slicense, a copy of your work permit, a passport-size photo of yourself, the right to your first-born son, the deed to your house, etc. etc.  Not having a phone made it a lot harder to get things done.  I needed to buy train tickets, figure out a new place to live, and do my laundry.  (Refer to blog #3 for an explanation of why I couldn't use the laundry machine in my flat).  

Last night, after wearing the same boxers for 2.5 days, I was finally able to wash my clothes.  I hauled my big wicker basket (that I inherited from Anne) over to one of the other trainee flats.  It's kind of a cumbersome way to carry clothes, but it was full to the brim so there wasn't really another option.  After some awkwardmaneuvers I was able to get the basket into a rickshaw and make my way to the flat.  The washing machine they have is very small and weak, so in order to wash all of my clothes in one load I had to employ the cyborg technique (half man, half machine) and spin the clothes by hand as they soaked in the soapy water.  It took a long time, but I had company from a couple of the guys living in the flat.  One is from Minnesota and it was nice to talk to an American for a while.  I don't mean to come off as ethnocentric, it's just that I don't see many Americans here so it was a nice change of pace.  In talking to the guys it became clear that they had some extra beds in their flat and that they were all fine with me moving in.  The reason that I need to change apartments is that AIESEC is closing my flat in order to open a new one.  Since I don't want to move to the new place (because it is still under construction) I have to find alternate accommodations.  Luckily, this other flat is awesome.  It takes up the whole top (4th) floor of a building and has a huge terrace that overlooks the city.

After I left my new flat I was pretty hungry from all the manual labor I did washing my clothes.  I found a nice looking restaurant down the street and walked in, hauling my laundry basket along with me.  I had a tasty meal of grilled chicken and roti (bread) with garlic sauce and onions, plus two Sprites (which tastewaaaay better here for some reason) all for $4 U.S.  Cheap delicious food is probably my favorite part about India.  As I was sitting at the table enjoying my feast I noticed that people from all over the restaurant kept stealing glances at my laundry basket.  I was worried that I had violated some traditional Indian rule about bringing laundry into a restaurant, but no one looked angry and the waiter didn't say anything about it so I figured I was alright.  A few minutes later, as one guy was passing my table he nodded at me and said "It's a dog, yeah?"  I laughed and shook my head no.  Then I lifted the lid so he could see my clothes and he got a good laugh as well.  As soon as he passed my table a man on the other side of me said "Psst...Puppy" with this sly, knowing smile on his face.  Unlike the first guy, who thought it was funny, this second fellow actually looked depressed when I showed him the contents of the basket.  I think he really wanted to play with a puppy (and who could blame him?)

In less exciting news, my job has been a big disappointment.  After waiting three weeks for the kids to return from break, I have come to realize that there is not much more for me to do now that they are back.  There are already too many teachers at the school and also none of the kids speak english (most don't speak at all).  And it's no bed of roses like working at the JCC camp in West Bloomfield.  They still use corporal punishment and yell at the kids a lot, which is hard for me to watch.  Also, their supplies are much more limited and outdated.  Over the past three days I have done a lot of sitting around watching the teachers interact with the students.  I try to interject and work with the kids, but the language barrier is insurmountable.  There is no set curriculum, so it ends up being the same basic tasks (write your name, color inside this circle, etc.) every day and when the kids are done with that there is nothing else to occupy them.  Also, no one has given me any guidance or suggested ways in which I could help out around the school.  I've spent more time playing snake on my phone than doing anything meaningful.  And that's not what I came to India for.  Obviously, the biggest reason for my trip was to see and experience this amazing country, but I also want to do something worthwhile with my time.  Hopefully I can find a new job where I will actually be able to make a difference, or at least be in a place where people are glad to have me there.  

Today I finished booking train tickets for John's and my epic journey.  We'll be traveling to Mumbai, Agra, Jaipur, and Delhi, spending a few days in each city.  Also, one of the people that I met in Bangalore is looking to travel North at the same time so she might join us.  I'm really excited for this trip.  I'm already counting down the days (19/20 days to go).  It will definitely be a great time. 

BANG!alore

Bangalore, as it turns out, is awesome.  I don't want to make any enemies, but I think I might like it more than Hyderabad.  It's a lot more picturesque, with tree-lined streets and parks, and the temperature is much more tolerable (due, not in small part, to the trees).  It has been quite a whirlwind of a week.  After three days of little sleep at the AIESEC conference, I spent one night at home before leaving for Bangalore.  On Monday I simply mentioned to Sana that I was thinking of traveling and a few hours later he had my bus ticket ready and I was set to leave that night.  The bus drove through the night, leaving around 10 and getting to Bangalore at 7am the next day.  It was kind of hard to sleep on the bus.  It was comfortable enough, but they were blasting Hindi movies and the driver got a big kick out of tooting his own horn...literally.  When I got to the city I made my way to the trainee flat here, which is beautiful.  It is in a modern high rise apartment complex with a pool.  There are seven people living in the flat from Poland, Peru, Russia, Canada, Korea, and Japan and they are all very nice.  The Russian guy is actually an ultimate frisbee player and he's going to take me with him to play tomorrow morning.

Once I got to the flat everyone left for work.  I was relaxing and recuperating, watching the news, when I heard the faucet running in the kitchen.  I knew that I was home alone so I was very confused.  I got up and looked in the kitchen and there was a monkey staring back at me!  After the initial shock wore off I realized that he had a mango in his clutches and there were accomplices too.  After two weeks of not seeing one monkey in India, I bumped into three in the kitchen after two hours in Bangalore!  Once the thieves ran off with their prize I left the apartment too.  I had a nice walk and some lunch and then made my way to the bus depot to buy a ticket for a city tour the next day.  That night a couple of my new friends and I went out for dinner.  To my surprise there was a burger on the menu.  I had been craving a big juicy burger since I got here so I jumped at the chance.  Even though they said it was beef, I'm pretty sure it was lamb, but it tasted good and there were fries too, so I was still happy.

Today I woke up early and got back on the bus to the station.  It was rush hour so the journey was slow and I began to get nervous that I would miss the tour.  When I finally got to my stop (15 minutes late) I rushed off the bus and ran over to the meeting spot.  I was the first one there.  Gotta love IST, which really means Indian Standard Time, but according to my foreigner friends actually stands for Indian Stretched out Time.  As it turned out, only nine people showed up for the tour.  That was fine with me, but it meant less opportunity to meet people that I could spend the day with.  I ended up doing most of my touring alone, but there was one kid that I talked to a little bit.  He helped translate for me since the tour guide didn't speak English.  We started our day at the Hare Krishna temple, which was nice looking, but a bit boring.  The chants were cool though.  Next was Gavigangadhareshwara, a temple built down into the ground in such a way that the light comes in and hits the main deity on only one day a year.  I was happy to find out that this special day happens to be January 14th, my half-birthday.  The temple gets really small in the back and I had to crouch down until I was basically crab walking to get through it.

After that, we went to Basavangudi, the Bull Temple.  Inside is a 6-meter-long, 5-meter-tall bull that was carved out of one boulder in the 1500's.  It was pretty cool and they actually allowed pictures, so expect one in my next Facebook update.  Next, we went to a palace that I expected to be the famous Bangalore Palace, but it was some other, less beautiful palace.  It was still interesting though.  I asked a guy standing by himself to take a picture of me and he ended up getting really into it, moving around, directing me to pose in different ways.  After the photo session, I took a relaxing walk around the grounds, trying to imagine that I was the owner, surveying my property.  Then we went to Lal Bagh, which is a huge botanical garden.  I had another tranquil stroll there, exploring lotus ponds, bonsai gardens and a huge greenhouse that was housing a mango conference.  There were displays of mangoes all over the place, but alas, no free samples.

The last stop on the tour was an art museum.  The building itself was cooler than the art, but the saving grace was the fact that there was a vast park right behind the gallery.  Known as Cubbon Park, it is 300 acres full of awesome trees, bamboo forests, and a river.  I wanted to sit by the river, but it was blocked by a fence and I couldn't find the entrance, so I climbed some trees instead.  Then I wandered around in the bamboo forest, listening to the creaking of the stalks as they bent in the wind.  It was a great way to end the day.  Now I am sitting in the apartment, having a drink with my temporary housemates, playing music from my computer for them (Slightly Stoopid is a big hit).  I could get used to life in Bangalore... 

My weekend

This weekend I went to AIESEC's conference, called LCong (Local Congress).  Here, everyone from AIESEC Hyderabad gets together to discuss business and plan for the future.  They also party hard.  As the party delegate, and since I have no background in AIESEC, I was not required to attend the sessions.  My business was all pleasure.  On Friday I went to the office in Hyderabad to wait for a ride to the resort where the conference was held.  While I was sitting around with a couple of the guys I decided to show them what my home town looks like.  I went to Google Maps and used the satellite function to display an image of West Bloomfield.  They were amazed by how green it is, how many lakes there are, and how well-planned all of the subdivisions are.  I zoomed in on my house and when they commented that it was pretty big I dragged the map over to Long Lake Rd. and showed them some of those mansions.  They were shocked at the size of the houses compared to the amount of people that live in them.  With the population being so high here it would be unheard of to have so much space for only three or four or five or six people.

When we got to the resort on Friday, we had lunch and then opening ceremonies.  This involves every division parading into the conference room screaming their heads off with different chants.  Then they have cheer battles back and forth for about 15 minutes.  After that, each group performs a choreographed dance.  This was all very entertaining, especially since I wasn't expecting anything of the sort.  Once everyone settled down and they got into their sessions I started to get bored.  They were discussing things that I didn't know anything about so I decided to retire to my room (which had air conditioning, praised be jesus).  I never imagined that it would feel luxurious to simply sit in an air-conditioned room, but honestly, I felt like a king.  I kicked back and relaxed and watched a couple of hours of tv.  Other than a couple of sessions here and there that I attended, that was pretty much my routine for the next two days.  I also took a few walks, finished one book, and started another.

Friday night was party time.  The night started around 10 or 11 with Sculling, which is an Indian drinking game.  It's configured a lot like Flip Cup with two teams positioned along opposite sides of a table.  In this game though, there are only four members per team and you have to kneel down in front of the table to play.  And you can't be wearing pants.  It's a pretty intense scene because only one game goes on at a time and everyone else stands on their chairs in a circle surrounding the match.  A judge/ref prompts the players to put their thumbs on the table, then their chins on the table and then starts the round.  One player at a time chugs his or her beer, taps the glass on his or her head and then puts it down on the table.  Then the next person goes and so on until one team has won.  The game is played bracket-style so eventually there is a final showdown.  Unfortunately, my team didn't make it anywhere near this ultimate competition, as we had one girl on our team who was somewhat beeraphobic.  

After the game, everyone got dressed up and ready for the "prom" party.  I thought I should give my date, Vega, a flower, in keeping with prom tradition.  I had trouble finding one in the arid, dry climate but I finally spotted a cactus with some tiny brownish petals on top.  I picked one and gave it to her, but I also had to explain why because apparently this is not an Indian custom.  She was very happy with the flower though, so it all worked out.  We had a lot of fun dancing with everybody.  They play a lot of trance and house music here, not like the rap music filled party scene back home.  There were also some people from AIESEC wandering around pouring whiskey down people's throats, which caught me off guard the first time and left me in a state of slight debilitation for a minute.  I was fine after that and drunk enough to dance with reckless abandon.  Before it felt like an hour had gone by, it was five a.m. and I was swimming in sweat.  I pushed my hair up out of my face and went to sleep.  

When I woke up three or four hours later to the call for breakfast my hair was standing straight up.  Since the room was air-conditioned I didn't sweat at all throughout the night so my hair set how I had left it.  Honestly, I looked like I was hanging upside-down and it did not cooperate with my attempts to re-style it.  When I showed up at the pavilion for breakfast I saw people nodding in my direction and some people came up to me and said "nice hair".  It was probably the best bed head that I've ever had.  I felt truly accomplished and proud.  The rest of the weekend was fun and relaxing.  I learned how to bat in Cricket (I'm a lefty for some reason) and took a swim in a moldy pool.  The water looked fine from the surface but I must have stirred up some of the dregs from the bottom because after I jumped in there were strange green clumps floating all around me.  I got out as quickly as I had gotten in, but it was still refreshing for a second or two.

Today Anne moved out of my apartment to go home to Kenya.  I'm pretty bummed because she was my best friend here and such a nice, fun person.  She really helped me out in terms of getting to know how to do things in India.  She will be missed.  Tonight I'm going to take a bus to Bangalore.  I will arrive there sometime tomorrow and stay until Friday.  Luckily, AIESEC is a pretty vast network of people and there is someone there who is willing to put me up at his place for two nights.  I'm really excited to explore a new city.  On a last note, I'm so stoked about the Red Wings.  2-0 baby!  I found out today that I can listen to the games through nhl.com.  I'm looking forward to hearing the next game if it's at a time that works with my schedule.  Happy June, everybody!