delhi delights.

a few happenings of my delhi days...basically this post is just a big mix of random stories and statements. nothing much connects to the next, but nothing much around here does anyway...

for a while, everyday i would write one sentence in my journal about a crazy (or sad or funny or interesting or absurd) observation i had during the day. it saved on time (one sentence, that means like 2 minutes!) but at the same time allowed me to be more engaged and observant during my day - to look for that perfect sentence to write. i have since stopped (but should start again) - time has gotten away from me, and work has taken over and ive gotten sucked into the daily drudge - but i will share a few of them with you now - so you can know a few of the crazy (or sad or funny or interesting or absurd) things that i see and think daily.

-october 26: today i saw...a man absentmindedly (and QUICKLY) complete a rubix cube while riding the crowded bus number 460.

yesterday i saw....a bundar riding the back of a bicycle (bundar is hindi for monkey)

-october 27: today i saw...a street child with blood streaming down his face because of two self-inflicted wounds on his scalp, as a way to escape the police.

-october 28: today i learned...that indians put oil in dirty hair so that all the dust & dirt sticks to it and washes out easier - NOT because their hair already looks dirty so they are making it look dirtier.

-november 4: today it was confirmed...that in india, boys who sing alone on the streets are considered romantics, not lunatics.

-november 5: today i was mistaken for an indian, for the second day in a row...but this time was only an excuse for a boy to speak to me. if you want to know if i'm indian, why are you asking me in English?

-november 5 (yes thats two from the same day!): today i noticed that there has been a considerable increase in pet dogs in Delhi in the last year. francesco says they are killing off all the old dogs for the commonwealth game makeover. i say its just the next dimension to Delhi snobbery.

-november 17: some pending book titles - to be released when i have the time to (co-)write more than just the titles

GOLD, GHEE AND GULAB JAMON: A DISCUSSION ABOUT THE PUNJABI TAKEOVER IN IMAGE AND CULTURE

WINE, CHEESE AND CHAPATI: FRANCESCO & JESSIE'S DAILY DELHI LIFE

SAMOSAS & THEIR DISCONTENTS: HOW 5PM SNACKS CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE

a story of street smarts (from sometime in early november)

background: the other day i stayed at the office late for a meeting with a few volunteers. while we were sitting around, a young boy, about 8 years old, comes in, fear and worry clouding his eyes, chin quivering, small twisted piece of metal as a homemade earring in his left ear. he asked, "when am i going home?" through thickening whimpers and heavy breathing he explained to us that he was from a village close to allighar and was sold by his parents just 6 days ago to a man promising him employment in Delhi. upon reaching Delhi, the man abandoned him on the streets. a different NGO picked him up and promised him and a group of other boys a picnic but when those plans fell through, dumped them on SBT with no explanation and bolted. the boy explained earnestly that he HAS to go home because he was the oldest of the 6 children and both of his parents are blind. that means that the sole responsibility of the whole family is resting on his shoulders and if he doesn't get home to cook for his parents they will "eat dirt until they die."

the reality: i saw the boy's father....and THE FATHER SAW ME. through a cloud of sobs and snot, the coordinator forced the boy to present me to his father. when i looked in shock between the old man sitting stoically on the stool and the young boy crying like crazy, i asked honestly, "ye con hai?" (who is this?) and the boy replied....."BAPU" (DAD). i couldn't be upset with him - and no one could be upset with me for believing him because we were both doing what we needed to do in the situation. he needed (wanted) to get home at all costs and i needed (wanted) to believe him and the innocence of childhood...and we both learned something too. he learned he could get home. and i learned street smarts.

and a final story to close:

i have made a few connections in SBT world - enough to get a response in case of emergency - for example - i was pickpocketed about a month ago walking from one shelter to another for a staff meeting. there was a huge procession going on in the back streets of paharganj with some strange sai baba wanna be surrounded by dancing boys in full makeup holding an umbrella over his head...bands everywhere, loud music, the whole works. i stopped to ask a shopkeeper what was going on and while one guy distracted me, his friend sneakily reached into my pocket and took my work mobile (thankfully nothing else). i didn't even notice until a little schoolboy told me after i walked away. clever. so i get to the shelter and have to skip the meeting (darn!) to go to the paharganj police station! imagine: about 30 police all with their feet on the table tops, laid back in their chairs, scratching their balls! so i go from one to the other, requesting a report, each one passes me down the chain of command to his subordinate until finally i am at the very bottom with no one else to get passed to and a very upset police man who has to actually do some work. connections kicked in - i call up the coordinator of childline (SBT's 24 hour toll free response phoneline for children in distress) who was at the shelter when i showed up after the incident - he knows all the heads of police - i give the police the phone and all of a sudden its all "haan ji. tike. kohi bat nahi. ji haaaaaan" and i get passed one by one UP the chain of command until im with the chief of police and his three stars and get a handwritten report (dictated by him and written by me - i have to provide my own pen!) within minutes! the best was that then i went back to the meeting - which i had never gone inside - and of course EVERYONE knew already what happened, they stopped the meeting to ask the details, and then CONGRATULATED me on receiving a very official FRI (First Response Investigation) report - as if it was a big accomplishment. handshakes and everything!

(since said incident, my phone has been stolen again...on the bus, from inside my bag...beyond being incredibly annoyed, i am disheartened by the communal trust - or lack thereof - between indians, and the intense apathy that indians show when they believe a problem to not be their's...but its a discussion for another day)

thats all for now. all this news is quite old - i haven't been good recently about writing anything - personal or otherwise - or even THINKING anything except sleep and work. throw in a mysterious skin rash that itches like crazy, and nothing much gets done. BUT its christmas now, and im taking a few days off, and i have high hopes of restoring my sanity. so stay tuned :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

(or happy christmas as they say here)

its been entirely too long

so as you can see i've made some changes to the blog - hopefully i haven't taken so long to update that people aren't looking at it anymore. you will find some links on the side (right now they are mostly work links, but i will add more progressively to give a more comprehensive idea of my life in delhi).

as well there is a picture of ORCHHA - the village in UP that francesco and i took a weekend trip to. if you click on the picture its a link to a photo album (through facebook) with captions explaining what the pictures are (generally). as you can see, the trip was completely calm and relaxing - we didn't do much and we didn't need to do much - the best combination!

the other picture is francesco's brother's t-shirt design that he has submitted to an online t-shirt company called threadless - you should vote for his design so they will print it!

i am inspired these days to work on the blog...so there SHOULD be more posts coming soon!

update on daily delhi life aka WORK

so i know its been a while...and i blame work of course. its hard to find time for "fun" when you work 10:00-5:00 monday through saturday, with an hour bus ride to and from work and a job that is much too easy to "take home with you"....i still haven't learned the skill of shutting off work when i leave the office (i blame mom....:) i have someone or something to blame for everything dont i?) its having huge effects on my mental health i think...and on francesco's as well.

just briefly what im doing for everyone who maybe doesn't have any idea (ill try my best, because at times i feel i dont' have any idea too!)

i am working with salaam baalak trust, an NGO that works with street and working children in and around New Delhi Railway Station. we have about 7 contact points, which are centers open only during the day for different types of children to use our facilities - they could be children without parents who have run away, been abandoned, or orphaned in Delhi, OR children who live with their families on the street but in rough conditions or in no house at all. we also have 4 shelter homes, for children who stay with us 24-7, meaning children alone in Delhi (for any reason) but who have decided to come off the street and join us. through all the centers we provide food, education (divided into three types depending on the level and capacity and desire of the child), arts and crafts, counseling, life skills education, fun, medical attention, etc....basically anything the children need.....once the child gets a bit older we encourage them to pursue a career path or attend university until eventually the child is independent and can support himself.

my official title is "coordinator of communications" (impressive, huh?!) but specifically i am overseeing the volunteer program AND the city walk program. City Walk is a guided tour that a british guy started at the trust about 3ish years ago that gives former boys of the trust a platform to simultaneously improve their english communication skills and raise awareness about life on the street. they lead a guided walk around the railway station informing (mostly) tourists about the nitty gritty and fun details of street life - what the children do for food, for work, for fun, why they run away, where they come from, what the dangers are, etc. and the walk includes a few of the centers of our organization so people can have an idea what is being done for the situation of street children. the most powerful part is that the boys will tell their personal stories - why and how they became street children and where they are now thanks to the trust.

for this program, basically i am overseeing day-to-day organizational stuff, but im also trying to improve not only the actual walk (and the guides as people and as employees), but the program itself, by setting in place certain systems and databases to keep track of contacts who come on the walk, using the databases for followup, general marketing to reach a broader audience, presentations and expanding the fundraising possibilities connected to the walk by creating a "gallery" of products made by our children for sale after the walk finishes. as well i am trying to create a "training manual" that can be used to train new guides of the walk, new boys of the trust that can use the walk as a means to become independent. all quite exhausting and exciting...

for the volunteer program, i am essentially starting from scratch, restructuring the whole program so that it is more effective for both volunteers and the organization. again im trying to put systems in place that allows me to gauge what the needs of each center are at any time, what the timetable is like, and even what specific children are interested in and need extra help with, that way i can match volunteers with the skills and interest directly with the center that would benefit the most. but this is all much harder than it sounds. first it requires the participation of every coordinator of every center/program within sbt....and for that i have to sensitize them to the benefit of volunteers and expand their notions of what volunteers are capable of. it also involves trying to apply people from all sorts of backgrounds, with all sorts of interests, and all sorts of time restrictions, to get done projects that by definition are undefined....what a mess. but slowly but surely i am working things out....

for now thats all. i just wanted to fill you in the background of what im doing...next time ill tell you some crazy stories...from work and otherwise. again sorry its taking so long between posts....a one day weekend is NOT ENOUGH - i haven't had even time to take pictures or explore or write or read or anything. sometimes i even think that i miss waiting tables because at least when you are done at night, you are done, no taking it home with you....but then i remember i used to have waitressing nightmares every night, so even that isn't accurate!

ill be back with more (and hopefully pictures too!)

take care everyone...i hope you survived the storm...everyone let me know how you are!

a video clip from calcutta

we found these guys in a market in calcutta. i offered to help them....but they refused. good thing, because i didn't train to do the fancy centipede steps at the end......the rest, no problem!

a few indian observations

first a few pictures from around town...

a boy using a saree tied to a fence as a hammock.

seller at jama masjid.

little street-side shrine.

....work is too crazy that im not going to go into it now...but soon i will write all about it....and all the issues it brings up, if you are interested....

for now...some delhi delights:

-last Saturday was Diwali. Diwali is the festival of lights, the day of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, the biggest celebration of the year in Delhi. the idea is that if you decorate your house bright enough, and if you leave Lakshmi a nice clean space with candles and flowers and things like that, then she will bring you wealth for the year to come. and to celebrate everyone in Delhi gets new things on Diwali: new clothes, new shoes, new sweets and new school supplies, everything new. somehow it feels a bit like christmas. houses are decorated like crazy with lights everywhere. people have a big holiday spirit with smiling faces and new shoes to match. and instead of leaving milk, cookies, and carrots for santa and the reindeer, they leave candles and a clean house. ooooohhhh...but the reality is so different. last night, on the cumulation of one week's preparation for Diwali, the city went crazy. what was nice and cozy "christmas" turned into a complete warzone. EVERYONE EVERYWHERE was putting of fireworks and lighting sparklers and exploding (figurative) bombs. the festival of lights became the festival of fire....walking down the street you had to dodge 5 year olds setting off rockets. even in the safety of your own balcony, you had to duck and cover any time a blackmarket firework exploded too low, right at the level of your face. and even with all the doors closed and all the windows closed you can still feel the constant boom boom boom in your chest.....

-no one at home would know this, but no one here can forget it: Delhi is the site of the 2011 Commonwealth Games. last time i checked there were 350 days left until they started. that means 350 days to expand the metro system times ten, 350 days to repave every road and every sidewalk, 350 days to build an entire stadium complex, 350 days to train every greedy rickshaw walla to use the meter when transporting people, 350 days to get rid of all beggars and all slums (nevermind relocating them somewhere more productive than prison). i personally believe it to be impossible (but incredible india is capable of many things)...but i have seen very definite efforts to get everything going. for example: the other day in the newspaper there was an article (front page) about how to make delhites less rude. the advice included things like: no honking your car horn when you're stuck in traffic (or any time actually) because when there are one million people on the road a horn won't make people go any faster, no spitting paan on the street because it leaves behind stains like shit, no burping in public because the rest of the world doesn't see it as a compliment to your stomach workings, and no pissing on the street because that is what bathrooms are for. what the article neglected to mention was "no scratching your balls in public"...its a very big problem, but maybe too explicit for the indian public.

-so until the commonwealth games come and the metro extends to the south (where i live), i am taking the bus to and from work. the bus in india is an experience in itself; it starts not to matter where you are coming from or where you are going, the important thing is the journey. like everything and everywhere else in this country there are one million people packed into a space for 10. there are arms hanging out of doors and heads hanging out of windows. people sitting and standing on top of each other, three people to a seat and one hundred to the aisle. the bus never stops at any designated stop but just slows down enough for people to jump on (on top of each other ) and jump off (and hope not to twist and ankle in the process). but actually what looks like chaos (as anything in india) has a system. there is a driver. he has two helpers to collect tickets. one sits in the back of the bus and one in the front. the one in the front jumps off as the bus slows down at a "stop" to make sure people are getting on and off, the one in the back puts his fist out the window and bangs like crazy on the side of the bus shouting the route in such a fast rhythm that only he understands. when the bus can again pick up speed the first ticket collector jumps back on and hits a few coins against metal and a signal for the driver to move his ass.

its one particular bus that taught me the routine. number 445, leaving from main bazar paharganj and dropping me just at the end of amar colony, about a 20 min walk to my house. the driver is a cute old man who is always happy to have me on board and drops me just at the end of the street. the number one ticket collector has an indian mustache and big smile. after the first ride he recognized me and knew exactly where i would get off. last time riding he even gave me a handful each of popcorn and peanuts from the roadside stall as we were waiting for the bus to start the journey, and he gave me a 3 rupee discount. the second ticket collector i dont know....but this bus has an additional member of the team.....a little midget who sits right behind the driver and doesn't do much except pretend to fight with people and get made fun of (in a friendly way) by the rest of his team. sometimes if he is feeling really brave he will attempt to call out the bus route at every stop in his squeaky 5-year old girl voice, but its rare. every trip is like a party on 445. the driver has an array of food and chai laid out on the dash board, at every stoplight he sits back and has a drink or a snack. the number one ticket collector also jumps out at every light and buys a cigarette or a drink or a packet of paan, walking around casually until the bus takes off again. and the midget in the background, yelling and raising his fists for a fight, with a smile on his face.

not every bus is a party though. usually, on any normal day, there is no problem.....but tricky indian men always mess things up. if nothing else the bus experience has given me a sense of women solidarity, even in delhi! as i mentioned before in calcutta there was big strength in women, because it was durga puja but also in general. women had rights to half of the bus and men were happy to give up seats regardless of whether it was a ladies seat or not. delhi too has ladies seats, but not so much because ladies requested them in a protest for equality and fierceness but because they pleaded for them to separate themselves from the mischievous men. the technique is to maneuver your way towards the window of a ladies seat, that way you know that the person beside you is also going to be a lady (and you have the breeze in your face). the aisle seat is risky....because you are seated, and the men in the aisle are standing...and with just a little bit of trickiness, a man's you-know-what ends up resting just on your shoulder. the man can blame the bouncy bus...or the man can pretend to be falling asleep standing up...or the man can be blatantly disgusting.....but there it is....a ahhhhem on your shoulder. if the bus is incredibly crowded, like usual, there isn't too much you can do. you could make a scene, but anyways there wouldn't be anywhere for the man to move to. but as soon as the bus empties out....mildly tell him "bhaiya toda piche jao"....and when he doesn't move a little bit backwards like requested hope that the auntie behind you in all her fierceness will tell him off in such a way that eventually the whole bus is involved and the man is embarrassed beyond words and you and auntie can share a common smile because you know how indian men are.

another bus technique for winning aunties is to offer your ladies seat to an indian woman older and more frail than yourself. upon exiting the bus she will pat your head and shoulders and give you big blessings, silently or outloud, and walk away super grateful to you for giving her 5 minutes of rest on the bus. and you will walk away blessed by an auntie.....

-and...last thing for you....there are a few new novelties being sold at the traffic signals around delhi. one is the claw like head scratcher that starts out looking like brain probes and expands around your scalp to massage it. i never thought anyone would buy such a thing...but actually i see too many indians walking around with them new in the box. its the new fashion. and the other new fashion (apparently) is fake mustaches and beards. ...and i guess people do buy them...because there is one now present in our flat.

scenes from the (newest) city i love

so i realize that by now, every new city that i go to becomes my new favorite city. i know that....but this time its true! (i also know that everytime i claim that...whoops) but oh! calcutta! ...the india that ive always imagined...the india ive always pictured in my head....kind people, warm smiles, happy faces, delicious food, bright colors, crazy streets...everything that you could ask for.

so francesco and i decided sort of last minute to head to calcutta for holidays. he got off work the last few days of september and i didn't start work until the 5th october, so we had about a week to kill. we took an overnight train (17 hours total for about $20 each) and got lucky enough to get a cabin with two super sweet families, each with two children, a husband and wife. they shared all their food with us, and us with the children and by the end of the 17 hours we had become "auntie" and "uncle" (not necessarily a hard thing to accomplish in india, but a compliment nonetheless). the best was that first thing in the morning, as soon as i stirred, one of the fathers asked me if i wanted tea or coffee. i told him in a little while. and his response was...."oh yes, first toilet." hahaha...its a big indian tradition...they really dont understand life any other way. first thing you do every single day is use the bathroom. and everyone knows it.

we stayed in a relatively nice hotel, for a really good price. they were just finishing construction on it...so we had about one light bulb and a trillion empty wires leading no where. but it was in a great location. we didn't do too many things specifically except to roam around the city aimlessly. in the end it turned out to be the best. we stumbled upon little alleys filled with people outside washing clothes and feeding children and playing games and smiling with their whole faces. the children were super happy and would run up to us REQUESTING pictures...and want nothing in return! somehow, being used to delhi, we were so shocked and surprised by this simple sharing that we too were grinning in a big way. then the kids would go get their parents and grandparents and soon we would have pictures of the whole street. the only bad experience we had was in chinatown, where we were taking pictures of children, and two rascal boys decided to follow us afterwards and throw stones at us!

we also stumbled upon the best markets ever

....one market of glass bangles, tied in bunches of all different colors and sizes and designs. one market of all sorts of stationary and office supplies in bulk....clip boards and notebooks and pens and paper and paintbrushes....francesco and i ended up buying two sets of paintbrushes (one of which for his brother who stays in Italy...?), two notebooks, a clipboard, a small slate chalkboard (for what?), and a packet of receipts (just for the heck of it). there was also a whole street....of BANDS! boys dressed up in fancy uniforms of all colors, with ropes hanging every direction, dirt smeared everywhere even though they are supposed to look nice.

since it was the biggest festival of the year in calcutta (DURGA PUJA), these bands were for hire to march down the street playing music in a procession to the river, where each neighborhood, after 5 days of ritual prayers, would immerse their version of DURGA into the hoogely river (a branch of the ganga).

the first night we were there, we got to spend the evening with the family of one of francesco's coworkers from delhi. they took us to their neighborhoods "pandal" which are very impressive structures set up all over calcutta, with a frame of

bamboo and fabric stretched very tight around it, so in the end there is a temple in the middle of the street that looks like a real concrete structure, but is easily dissembled. inside each is a huge representation of durga, one of the hindu gods that in an alternate form is kali. the idols are made from the clay of the river. on the fifth day of the festival the idols are put into the back of a tata truck and paraded to the river and thrown in, in a symbol of the cycle of life; she comes from the river and goes back into it. the shocking thing about the whole process was that after the idols were floating out into the river, children would dive in and retrieve the extra

scraps of metal and gold garnishes and fabrics that decorated the idol and sell them to the people watching.

essentially though the festival is for women, which is super cool considering the male-domination of indian society. the second to the last day all the

women gather at the kali temple. they pay their respects to kali, the evil version of durga, and smear vermillion, a red powder, all over each other's faces, first on the part of their hair, and then on their cheeks. they put the same marks on the statue of the goddess. of course, being the token white girl, everyone was more than eager to spread vermillion on me, and i ended up completely, 100% covered in red, not only my face but my whole upper body. it wasn't until afterwards that i found out that to enter and participate i was supposed to be married...who

ops. but it was an awesome display of women solidarity and confidence, all these women in one place, fierce and powerful.

otherwise...calcutta has the best food (you all knew that was coming, i can't experience a city without experiencing its food!) - seafood everyday - shrimp curry and fish curry as well as the usual chicken and mutton and vegetables. we ate (of course) at all the best restaurants of calcutta, and we were shocked at how reasonably priced and unpretentious they are. we started formulating a theory, because such a thing would never happen in delhi. here the rich people like to prove their richness in the most obnoxious ways possible - having the shiniest car and nicest clothes and paying extremely too much to eat in restaurants that are completely kitsch and over the top. our theory is that what we dont like about delhi, and india by extention (but also all the things that we love about india) - the tackiness and kitschness and loudness and over-the-top-ness - is from the punjabis, the rich sikhs that come from the northwest, because they are known to like to showoff their wealth. and delhi is full of punjabis. whereas in calcutta we found that people prefer to show off their intellect as proof of their success. we found so many people just happy to share a conversation with us, and with a much greater sense of the world than ignorant delhites have. they seemed really aware of what was happening not only out of their own city, but out of india as a country, in the whole globe. and everyone walks around in super thick, super magnified plastic frame glasses, even the beggars, so its like a city of poor intellectuals stuck in the 30s.

we had a few meals at the india coffee house, a faded old building hidden in a maze of a book market, in the middle of a collection of universities. inside (every time we went!) were whole tables of professors chatting about important matters (we assumed it was important, and we assumed they were professors, it could have been just bored old people discussing how crap the coffee was), but it made for a very inspiring and stimulating environment. francesco and i planned a revolution of the world over 3 cups of coffee and toast and butter.

we did a few other things, little things here and there, always overwhelmed and fascinated by calcutta and its people. here are a few more pictures at least....

these are both (above and below) from the flower market, right next to the river, right in the middle of a slum. these people sit here all day and sell in bulk the garlands that the rest of the city resells to devotees going to the temple.

another shocking and entertaining accidental find! it took all of these men to lift this package (of what?!) and then four of them to carry it on their heads wherever it was going. they waddled away in unison like little ducks....i offered to help but they didn't let me....good thing.

a calcutta taxi, fully decorated and painted. we travelled a lot by taxi, they all use the meter...the formula is to multiple the meter by two and then add two cents. i have no idea why....but it still is cheaper than traveling around delhi. we also used the buses (all wooden), the tram, the metro, but not the rickshaws (because unlike the cycle rickshaws in delhi which have men cycling you around on a seat on the back, these rickshaws were just pulled by the men - a bit chinese emperor inspired)

one of the normal rickshaws, not the ones pulled on foot, but super decorated...

i tried paan for the first time - the chewing tobacco-type substance that everyone in india seems to chew and spit out everywhere, staining the whole country with a brownish-red spit. it was disgusting. i spit it out before i was finished chewing....and of course i was wearing white shorts and it got all over them. i need to work on my projection.

these were just two random children...with a nice bright blue background.

juice stalls! fresh squeezed fruit juice...any type. francesco got mango (the best) and i got mixed.

commit no nuisance

painting...

...and shaving

thats all. i apologize it took soo long to update. i got back to delhi and got caught up in the craziness that is having a new job in an organization that lacks organization! the first week was incredibly overwhelming, as well as frustrating and hopeless. but i have confidence that it will get better....

ill keep you posted.

the flat...

in case you guys were curious to see where exactly i live....the apartment building from the outside. A-149

the view of our bedroom, from the front door, as you walk in. notice the huge desk, big enough for both of us to work, and the kite hanging in the window. i haven't tried my hand at flying kites yet, but its a favorite past time around here and apparently francesco is pretty into it. also notice our "shrine" on the wall in the corner. most houses in india have shrines decorated to a favorite god, to do prayers in front of in the morning or whatever. our landlord is an architect and we think this is his version. we have filled it with books (appropriate since we are both nerds, but we are going to put something different in it soon)

opposite the desk, our bed, with tibetan flags hanging above.

the tile mural inside our bathroom, just to the right of the bed in the previous picture. the american flag....and a map of the world.

our kitchen/living room area. the steps you see on the left are up to our bedroom.

view from our roof. we are one of the highest roofs around so we have a 360 view of the whole area, with two huge temples on the horizon.

and this is our amphitheatre style roof...completely crazy design.

thats all for now!

NAMASKAR

so i finally made it to india, after the longest trip of my life....

i started off in norfolk at around 1 pm on sunday. i volunteered to be re-routed (TWICE) because the flights were overbooked. so i got $800 in US Airways travel vouchers (not bad) AND i got flown into the airport in london that i had to leave out of in the afternoon (convenient for me); previously i would have had to transfer through london from one airport to the next, with all my luggage, which wasn't a lot considering i am going to be gone a year, but still a giant pain in the ass. thanks US Airways....except the flight across the ocean was the worst of my life. imagine: a packed plane, heaps of crazy british being very particular about strange things, the last row before the bathrooms with seats that don't recline, stuck in the middle seat of the middle row next to a spastic british woman and a strange british male (wearing a top hat?!)....with no free alcohol and no screen on the back of the seats, only the big ones in the front of every section which only about 3 of 30 people can actually see. needless to say i didn't sleep at all.

i got to london around 11 in the morning, left my luggage at the airport and took the underground into the city, just to eat at my favorite little thai restaurant. seriously. i went one hour each way into the city to eat, on no sleep. typical :). the restaurant was packed but as good as i remember. its a little hole in the wall diner type place that serves cheap english breakfast during the day and authentic thai food at night. super cheap, super hidden, and super duper delicious. i took my time eating, and then walked the neighborhood for a while, it has a nice street market and a few bookshops, one of which was going out of business and had a big sale. there is nothing i like more than browsing books, especially on a full stomach.

then back to the airport to wait for my flight. already at the gate i could feel india. people recognizing other people that they know through friends of friends of the family, all heading home, catching up on family gossip, calling moms and dads. only a few other white people, either typical backpacking looking travelers, with long hair, loose cotton pants, and possibly a guitar, or proper business men in suits and ties and briefcases. and then there was me.....?!

the flight to india was the best. the airline is known to be the best in india...and its really true! right away they brought me a hot towel to wipe my face and hands, the seats are super comfortable, and everyone has their own tv with full control of the unlimited bollywood movie choices. it would have been easy to get a nice nights sleep, BUT the bollywood was keeping me too entertained, so still didn't sleep much. but even the food on kingfisher (the airlines) is good....AND they give you cloth napkins and metal cutlery wrapped in a ribbon! fancy.

flew london to mumbai and then mumbai to delhi with a 5 hour layover in between, during which i spread out on the floor and fell fast asleep, sort of almost missed my flight, but it was 40 mins late.

now im in delhi, in my apartment, which ill post pictures of later. francesco didn't do much to the apartment as he was waiting for me, so we have a lot of little things to do to make it feel like home. but i unpacked today and straightened up a bit....the space is really cool and the neighborhood is quite nice. i have about 2 weeks before i start working, but im a bit overwhelmed on the job front, i am going to have great responsibility with too many people telling me what to do, i fear. but hopefully my organizational skills will kick in in full force and i can transform the program and make cool things happen. i will update you all on exactly what the job entails (as soon as i know myself hahahaha)

so....you all know im safe. since i know you all have my blog address i will hopefully do a decent job about updating....but that means i need all you guys to post and email and keep in touch, because that is what this is really for. i want to hear about your lives too! love you all!

back to london and then gone again.

i made it back to london (two new times by now) AND THE BORDER PEOPLE WERE SO FRIENDLY AND HASSLEFREE. too good. they have no idea how much they scarred me the first two times entering this country way back in october.

so being back in london is nice. its a different london than before christmas. francesco has a job which he works everyday from 10 until 6, which leaves me plenty of time to do anything and everything that i want or need to do....(or time to do absolutely nothing at all which happens more than id like to admit). and then by the time he gets off of work we are both ready to do something fun and something together. its nice; no more of this awkward position where we are both not working but not fully on vacation, suspended in a temporary place that neither of us can define. now its only me there...haha. but living like this does make london seem more real on a daily basis instead of just a big city that i MUST explore every day because im on holidays...

i do have a few projects going on....the biggest and scariest of all is the idea of a photography exhibition with some of my pictures from my travels this year. i have been selecting and printing some off, organizing, and stuff. i dont think ill be able to get it together for something i london (since im roughly planning on coming home the beginning/middle of may) but perhaps by the time i get home i can find some small coffee shop willing to display some pictures. any suggestions?

also...ive been to prague and back. my friend maria from university came for a week's vacation, her first time out of the united states! we spent 2 super quick days in london, and then went to prague for 5 days so we could explore a new place together. prague is amazing! the streets are small and made of stone, winding under archways and between buildings. the squares are full of life and surrounded by churches; the churches are inspiring in their grandness, with ionized copper spires/domes on top reaching towards the sun.

 

we spent two of our days exploring the castle on the hill, imagining dragons and queens living among the stained glass windows and old stones. we walked aimlessly through the neighborhoods surrounding the city center, hoping to find underground art scenes and the perfect chocolate store (maria is a choco-holic). we ate all the pork and cabbage and sour kraut and potato pancakes and bread dumplings that we could handle and we made sure to sample all the czech beer that we found. we listened to jazz in a cave and pretended we were rebelling against the communists. we caught big fat snowflakes with our tongues. we smiled at the czech people we met and they smiled back.

now she is back to new york and i am back in london. on thursday i go to portugal with francesco for a long weekend. then he makes a short trip to italy for an interview at a school close to florence for his phd. if he gets accepted....it means automatic funding and 4 years living in the tuscan countryside....and of course a super good school/supervisors. i am staying in portugal for a few extra days while he does that....i hear its warm enough to go to the beach...and i fully intend to take advantage as much as possible.

eventually i have to book a ticket home.....but its depressing....so im putting it off as long as possible. probably a bad idea.

here are pictures of prague (FIRST and SECOND) there are two links, make sure you see both! hope everyone is well....! and see most of you soon (relatively...whats waiting two months compared to all winter?!)!

and a correction

i just realized the link before the one i just posted doesnt work.



so here it is again. you have two albums to look at now...

leaving morocco

i am leaving morocco tomorrow. i have a flight back to london so i can hang out for a few weeks with francesco....and then my friend maria comes to visit! she is going to stay with us in london for a few days and then her and i are headed to prague to do some exploring in the city that is the gateway to other worlds! at the end of march i am taking another little trip to portugal (since afterall i didnt travel up the coast of portugal from morocco...my plans are always changing) francesco and i will go together for about 6 days.

thats that. i ended up staying in mirleft for 18 days and loved every minute of it. as soon as leaving became a reality though i decided i should see at least one more place before saying goodbye to morocco....i chose tafraout because i had heard such good things about it. i was a bit disappointed with it at first, it is dusty and uninspiring....but the last day it made a comeback when i discovered the vast valley behind the city and all the small villages hidden in the rocks.

here are a few more pictures of morocco....the album isnt quite finished yet so keep checking back for the last few added on the end.

second edition

here is a second album of pictures from morocco. most are from mirleft, where i still am!

everyday i say ill stay just one more day...ive been here for a week and a half already!

hope you enjoy them

link for morocco pictures

finally some morocco pictures for you. enjoy them....there are more coming (i know im always saying that but its always true)

so i am in a little town called mirleft now. it is the most perfect little hippie haven in all of morocco. seriously. there is one main street which is covered in sand. if you walk to the very end of the street and turn either left or right, depending on which end, and walk straight about one block you reach endless fields full of sheep and shepards and sheep shit. then you walk through the fields and you reach the cliffs that tower above the sea....and the rocks that are falling down the cliffs....and the waves below crashing into the shore. if you turn the opposite direction at the end of the main street you see endless countryside...dotted with small villages on the side of the green hills. and the kasbah, the old french fortress, on a high hill above the town.

needless to say its the type of town that sucks you in. i was planning on staying 2 days maximum but have already extended it day by day...eventually i think ill stay until at least saturday because in a neighboring town there is a camel bazar that im really curious to see (yeah thats over 1 week...and its for camels!). if i had thought of it sooner i definitely would have bought a camel and travelled around morocco just me and my spitting, bumpy best friend. tomorrow is the weekly bazar here in mirleft, the next day im planning on taking a day trip to a small neighboring town called sidi ifni which is supposed to have good beaches and good fabrics, and on wednesday there is a wedding in town that i might try to weasle my way into....which lasts 4 days! but anyway there is enough countryside here to keep me busy and enough beaches to explore...and enough sheep shit to step in! the people are super friendly and there is a nice little art scene too so im feeling inspired in many ways. ive been spending a lot of time writing and taking pictures...and studying the social networks here...putting my sociology to use in some independent research!


alright, back to uploading pictures! i hope you are enjoying them! email me anytime you want: jessieleighhodges@gmail.com

morocco

so i know this has been a long time coming...and probably wont answer the millions upon trillions of questions that i know you all have....such as where the heck am i? what the heck am i doing? and if you're anything like me, what the heck have i been eating?! but ill try my best.

right at this very moment i am sitting in an internet cafe in marrakech, morocco wasting time before my bus at 4 to tiznit, morocco. it is a bit rainy outside, and yes, slightly chilly. morocco may be in africa but it does get cold in the winter.

so far i have been in morocco for about 2 weeks. on the ferry ride over i met a dysfuntional family from the states ( i cant remember how much i have written before so sorry if i repeat a bit). there was a girl, the mom, jessica, who was travelling the first time to gain inspiration for a book she is writing....a fictional comparative between conservative christians and muslims. she is 25 and a bit clueless about the ways of the world...she's an artist afterall....she lives in a dream world (not really such a good quality when you are travelling with two children in a muslim country). and the children! two girls...a 4 year old named shea who quickly became my best friend....and a 2 year old named reina who loves yogurt and cookies. we spent many quality hours playing pretend campfire, pretend fishing, pretend dog sitting, and real eating of biscuits. and last but not least there was adam, a 28 year old chaperone who is friends with jessicas husband. he agreed to go along, expenses paid, to carry bags, help with the girls, and do general planning. in the end he got the shit end of the deal because of previously stated characteristic of jessica....he had to do EVERYTHING! but he is a super cool guy who is really good at having nonsense discussions with hints of hidden important truths. we got along really well. me him and the kids.

eventually after breezing through northern morocco, i left them to pursue a bit my desire to find an NGO working with street children that i could volunteer with for a few months. i had already started contacting one in casablanca and they seemed enthusiastic about having me on board. BUT there was a catch. i had been having francesco help me email them in french....basically he was writing all the emails and translating the ones they sent back. i looked them up in casa and went to visit their sites and when they realized i couldnt speak french it turned into a disaster. no one there really spoke english since french is the administrative language here (morocco was colonized by the french). actually the only people who speak english are the ones working directly with the tourist industry. soooo...in the end i think this particular NGO wont work out. i did visit the shelter home while i was there and i think it would have been really interesting in terms of comparing their strategies to the ones used by the NGO in india...BUT oh well. there are a few other opportunities on the horizon, so i will keep my fingers crossed.

the other big news is that francesco came to visit for a long weekend. ha...such a globetrotting couple we are. we spent the day he got here and the day before he left in the main, big tourist city of marrakech. it is exactly what you want from morocco...snake charmers, belly dancing transvestites, couscous, tajines, huge endless bazars selling lamps and tea sets and carpets and any other kitch moroccan thing you can think of, mint tea, henna tattoos, a medina of small streets and bright colors, dust, donkey carts, honking traffic, pointy hooded-KKK looking cloaks (called jellabas), berbers, blissful tiled guesthouses, etc etc. its the traditional morocco turned over the top for the tourists...so that now its hard to know if its like this in spite of the tourists or because of the tourists. BUT THEN we also discovered another morocco...an altogether different and separate morocco...outside of the medina walls. the modern morocco of posh cafes, people dressed like the french drinking coffees that cost more than they do in london, minimalistic design and fancy shiny cars, namebrand clothing and women smoking, drinking, and kissing in public. this is the real morocco actually. the morocco they have made for themselves that is completely removed from the morocco inside the medina walls, independent of tourists. big discovery that has led to continued discussions and thoughts about the dynamics of life in morocco. before it was too simple....we were seeing exactly what we thought we would see...but now it gets more interesting...

in between we went to a small coastal town called essaouira. super small, super nice, with nothing to do...especially in the rain. but still we managed to spend a good 3 days happily doing nothing....including going to the nicest doctor ive ever been to in my life because i was a bit sick...

and now....im going south in search of warmer weather and the desert. from there the plan is to travel back up the coast to towns such as agadir, maybe stopping back in essaouira for a day or something, safi, a few smaller towns, maybe rabat, a few of the places i breezed through with the family (larache and assilah), and a mountain town called chefchaouen. and then take the ferry back to spain...do a few places in the south (cordoba and seville) and then up the coast of portugal.

i will try to post pictures in the next few days....i was going to today but time is quickly running out before i have to catch my bus....i never seem to have the time to get all the things done on a computer that works that i want or need to do.

i hope everyone is well and id love to hear from you!
jessie

its about time

PICTURES FROM SPAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am in morocco. internet is limited...well not so much availability but time sitting down at one that works well...so sorry for the lack of communication. but enjoy the pictures and hope all is well! know that im safe and having the best time!!!!!!!!!!!

i love spain.

so far...girona

barcelona

tarragona

valencia.

they are all amazing. the people are friendly, the weather is almost nice, the towns are cute, the streets are small.

barcelona is by far my favorite...maybe my favorite city ive ever been in. it has everything...big and small, beach and city, beautiful buildings and art, and restaurants and bars galore!

as far as small towns go i like girona best. maybe it is because it was my introduction to spain...but anyways it have a nice river running through the town with bright riverside houses, the sun was shining, and there is a city wall that you can walk on with an amazing view of the city and some gardens around.

im in valencia now and i also like it. the old city is small and cozy with tapas bars everywhere full of people having the most leisurely meal of their lives, even at midnight.

this is just to touch base. hope you´re all well...hopefully i can write more later!

when in rome...and sardinia...

do as the romans and sardinians do: eat four course meals everyday starting with the best cheeses and salamis, followed by a pasta dish, followed by a meat course of lamb, pork, and/or goat, and ending with fruit and sweets. and all the while never having an empty glass of wine. and never stopping a loud and animated discussion about something or other (it doesn't matter what it is actually).  ahh. its the life.

so...i left london...the pictures from the previous post are some final flashes of my life there. francesco came to italy a day before me. which means i had a day in london by myself. it was strange...i spent most of the day holed up in our apartment using the time to attempt to make him a christmas present that he wouldn't be witness to....and also i was on a tight budget of 70 pence so i wouldn't have to withdraw any money on my last day. it worked.

rome was....well....amazing. overall i think i prefer florence as far as cities in italy, but rome was a whole different place. it is much bigger, much more city-feeling, and much more powerful (which i think is why i like quaint florence). everywhere you turn there are important people, or more accurately, people who think they are important. of course i didn't recognize anyone, but francesco was forever pointing out old presidents or political figures, we saw the ex-communist leader going into the parliament, AND we saw tinto brass, a famous italian director who convinced the world that his movies were artfully erotic, not porn. apparently he's a butt man.

not only were there important people everywhere...but roman ruins everytime you lifted your eyes. we went to all the classic places...the colosseum in all its glory....we heard stories about the naval battles they had there and the gladiator fights. it reminded me of when i was at the roman bath in bath and the guide was telling us about how all the sweat and hair and dirt and grime that the gladiators excreted in the hot rooms were saved and botttled and sold to the rich ladies of the city so that they could apply it to their faces and hope to absorb the gladiators beauty and strength and virtility. yeah....i was disgusted. who really knows if it was really gladiator gunk....and even if it was....who really wants to put it on their face?! but anyways...gladiators....colosseum. 

we also went to the foro beside the colosseum, the main square of the city. there were temples and columns and marble everywhere. picture perfect ruins. i couldnt believe the amount of old stones. everywhere you looked old stones. the columns are my favorite.

and then...what is rome without the vatican? we couldnt stay away. somehow we ended up inside the vatican city almost everyday....once just to see...the second time for the vatican museum so that we could be disgusted by the popes wealth and at the same time admire his collection of amazing artwork. i really liked the hall of maps in the museum...maps painted on the wall from the 14th century of all the popes land from the view of the vatican city....and after the endless halls of extravagance (including an absolutely disgusting display of "modern art" they force you to walk through) we finally made it to the sistene chapel and admired michelangelo at his finest. truth be told, i wasnt super impressed right at first...but gradually my mind was changed. more than the panels themselves i liked the characters between the panels which are painted in 2D but look like statues popping out of the ceiling. 

....and we even went back to the grand ol vatican to see il papa (the pope) himself give his sunday blessing from his window looking down on the square (this is something important italians like to do....look down on their audience....its a show of power....not like important americans who just speak from a stage to give the illusion of being equal to their audience. the end result is the same though. some sociological insight for you). sorry to say all we saw of il papa was his backside as he was walking away because we were a bit too late....somehow we werent sad though. our morning espresso was much more important than il papa. we did donate money to his ever growing riches because we purchased a vatican paper out of curiousity. we even got an idol of the virgin mary and baby jesus AND a picture of the pope free with the paper. lucky us.

and now....SARDINIA. which isnt italy and italy isnt sardinia. just for the record. and i am part sardinian. i believe by now im something like: half sardinian, half indian, half american indian, half polish, and possibly some small part american.

some instructions for sardinian survival:

1. when playing in the countryside dont expect to interact with any sheep, even though there are more sheep than humans on this island. you may, however, find a dog that looks and smells incredibly like a sheep. he makes a good second choice. much more interactive.

2. when riding a train from cagliari to sassari, it is common to wait for several minutes at each station, not for people to get on and off the train, but for a train coming the other direction to pass as there is only one track any route on the whole island thus one train at a time.  apparently you shouldnt be alarmed either if your carriage fills with a thick black smelly smoke. it just means something broke. and you should just open the windows for the smell to go away and continue on the journey as planned. 

3. a city on this island may have all appearances of providing public transportation...but looks can be deceiving. in sassari what appears to be a tram is really only the structure of a tram. it may move on a tram line BUT there is only one line in the city with no set schedule thus said tram serves no purpose whatsoever. the same could be said for buses in cagliari. despite having bus stops with lists of bus routes, on certain days without any notification, there could be only two buses for the whole city, leaving every 1.5 hours and going anywhere they want. 

4. if you have an insider with you who can translate sardinian songs, dont be surprised by lyrics such as "oh my god! there is a black guy on the roof!" (francesco and i have decided to make an american version for the new era: oh my god! obamas on the roof!)

5. sometimes the stereotype of an italian grandmother is almost true. the supreme matriarch, pillar of the family, whose goal is to feed everyone until they explode and who displays life-sized jesus statues in every room of her house (along with crosses, portraits of il papa, glow-in-the-dark st. francesco figures, and of course a few virgin marys). it is strongly advised to hide all said artifacts in chosen bedroom as to prevent nightmares. 

6. a few useful sardinian words: ajo (said ayo, meaning lets go), eja (said eya, meaning yes) and I!!!!! (said like e, meaning extreme enthusiasm and/or disbelief)

i have much more insight for you all...but im sorry to say that for now this will have to do. just for the record though, i have won the hearts of the village of tula, proved by fact that i got a christmas present from nona! there are pictures posted here, including the ones from the beginning of this post and more from rome, and some from sardinia....but not all from sardinia. 

i am headed to spain tonight. i am not sure when i will be updating this next or what my plans are. ill figure it all out when i get there i suppose. hope youre all well and feel free to drop me an email anytime! i have a new email address: jessieleighhodges@gmail.com or the old one: jlh_bird@yahoo.com.

ciao!!!