Life in the Hills

Hello all!

I made it to Pun Pun Farm without many problems, and I have adjusted completely to the life here!  I'm even friends with Jo Jandai now, even though I was pretty starstruck when I first talked to him.  I am completely surrounded by nature here, but there is also a quaint little Thai village that's a five minute walk away where I can get some good ice cream :) I have the most delicious Thai (mostly) vegetarian meals three times a day, and I usually do about 3-5 hours of farming work a day between meals.  I've also met such a huge variety of people from all over the world, most of whom have done amazing things during the course of their lives to give back to society and to the environment.

This place is my kind of heaven (just like a lot of other places I've seen during the course of this summer).

So far I've done things like feeding the fish in the fish pond and rice patty fields, weed the gardens, make some garden beds, pick vegetables and fruits for dinner, help with the cooking, plant different seeds, replant other vegetables, hike up the mountains to look for mushrooms, feed the chickens, and do some seed saving!
I've also gone on one excursion to a nearby lake, where a house boat can be rented for one night for only 400 baht!  We biked through kilometers of beautiful Thai countryside, and also ate a lot of lon-guns along the way, which are like lychees, and are currently very much in season here.  Tomorrow I hope to go to the market in Mae Tang and do some souvenir shopping, of goods made by the Thai hill tribe people.

Pictures will be up soon!

Part TWO of my trip - Thailand!

I finally made it to Thailand at 6am this morning, and after only 2 hours of sleep on the plane and 10 hours of sleep in the last four days, my friends Rita, Natcha, and I went out to explore Bangkok!

Here we are at the Grand Palace, with its temples and shrines in the background.

Tomorrow I am leaving at 5am to fly to Chiang Mai, and I'll be staying at Pun Pun Farm for two weeks.  I can't wait to see what it has in store for me, and what new things I'm going to learn and experience there.  I most likely won't be able to get online there, so I'll just have to update this in two weeks.  Then I'll try my best to catch up on the rest of my India trip, and the Thailand portion as well!!

Taj Mahal

One more thing is checked off of my Bucket List - see the Taj Mahal!
I'm safe and sound back home in Bangalore after a whirlwind of a three day weekend in Northern India.

More pictures up soon, but here is my cliché Taj pic!

My 5 mins of Indian Fame

Our planned adventure to just New Delhi and Agra has expanded so I'm currently in Jaipur, in the state of Rajastan!  Luckily the hotel has wifi, so I was able to see this gem: I'm in an Indian magazine!!!

Check out page 17 and 19, my interview is on page 19!

Unfortunately they made me sound a little ignorant at the end, making it seem like I thought there was no other view than the American one.  I clearly told the journalist lady that all I learn about in school is the American viewpoint, so it's cool to now learn from the Indian perspective.  I guess you win some you lose some.
My dad and mom are indirectly in the magazine as well, my "Dutch father and Japanese mother"... We're all famous :D

http://www.readwhere.com/read/140501?src=fb#page/17/2
http://www.readwhere.com/read/140501?src=fb#page/19/2

Off to New Delhi!

Sorry for being MIA the past few weeks, I have been super busy with school work and also enjoying the social and night life of Bangalore!
The last few weekends I went up to Mysore, Coorg, and now I'm ten minutes away from catching my taxi to go to New Delhi and Agra.

Many posts to come right after my finals finish on the 31st.

Bye!

In the Classroom

Last Saturday we woke up early again to go on a tour to a nearby village, where we got to hang out with a bunch of really cool kids who were in school for a half day.  We went to two different primary schools that were basically just tiny blocky buildings and had one room without any desks or chairs.
It still had the classroom ambiance though, with the paintings of Hindi and Kannada letters on the walls, the chalkboard at the front of the class, and children's drawings and flashcards hanging with string from the ceilings.

This girl just came and sat right down in my lap because she wanted her picture taken.  The kids absolutely LOVED being photographed so they can see what they look like in our cameras.

 

 This is the second group of kids we went to hang out with.  All smiles!

Botanical Gardens

Bangalore is known as the City of Gardens because of the large number of gardens here.  After classes last week I went with a few other friends to the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens that are fairly close to Christ U.

The inside of it is pretty massive, enough that for once we can get away from the sound of the car horns honking and the traffic noise.  There weren't any blooming flowers but there is a huge lake, a variety of exotic tree species, some plant nurseries, and lots of wide open paths and benches where couples would be hanging out (and lots of stray dogs sleeping).

The coolest part was climbing the roots of this ancient silk tree that I can't remember the name of, native to China and India.  It was massive, even the branches were thicker than most of the trees I usually see in the U.S.

Monkeys!!! - at Nandi Hills

One of the most entertaining parts of the Nandi Hills were the monkeys that were all over the place!  A lot of the mama monkeys had babies that they were carrying or slapping around, and lots of them were playing and fighting just like humans would do.

Nandi Hills

Our first Sunday with USAC we went to the Nandi Hills, a trip that our Indian buddy Rochak planned for us.  For about $20 per person we were able to rent a bus for the whole day and order the driver around to take us wherever we pleased.  There were also really nice speakers in the bus, so even from 4am we were blasting Hindi and Bollywood music until the bus windows were rattling. 

It took about 2 or 3 hours to get to the Nandi Hills from our apartments.  We left at 4am so we could see the sunrise, but the driver came late and it was super foggy in the hills so we wouldn't have been able to see it anyways.  Once the fog did clear up, we could look down and see what seemed like the whole countryside of Karnataka!

Before the fog cleared we went to different temples that were build on top of the rock face.  Right inside there were people doing their morning yoga routine as well.

Happy (late) 4th of July, America!!

Our USAC group as a whole came together and celebrated a great American Independence day in Bangalore!

After my classes ended I went with my apartment-mate and some others to the Auchan supermarket and bought 5000 Rps worth of food to cook for everyone in the USAC program. (Of course this was reimbursed by Jacob, our program coordinator, so technically our tuition paid for the food)
I made a vegetarian chilli, the same one I always make at home for my family, and also helped make the macaroni salad.  In addition to that, we had fruit salad and watermelon, potato salad, a chocolate cake, ice cream, chips, and vegetarian and beef burgers.  The visiting professor from the US, Bryan, contributed a Domino's cheese pizza for all of us.  All of the food we made came out so well, even if we had to ride a 15 min bumpy rickshaw ride to Christ U where we were all getting together.

 

Jacob also supplied us with fireworks!  Some of them were actually pretty huge, to an extent where I was surprised it is legal for someone to purchase them to use on a college campus football field.  My favorite were the sparklers and the fountain-like ones that were set on the ground.

 

Happy 4th of July, America!!!!!!!

B'lore Tour - Part 3

After the market we went on a ride on the brand new metro system in Bangalore!  There were hardly any people using it yet because it just opened and there's only one line operating, but everything was working normally and there was enough room to accommodate a LOT of people.

Instead of giving out printed tickets, for a one time pass they give you a plastic coin.

 

 I saw this sign, and I thought it was cool how the pregnant and nursing figures are wearing saris!

We then went to a Sikh temple and a Hare Krishna temple for ISKCON or the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.  At both places we first had to wash our feet and hands and leave our shoes at the entrance in order to go inside, and both places gave free food to people in need regardless of their religion, gender, and race.

The Sikh are some people who are discriminated against the most in India, and they can be identified because of the men wearing turbans around their heads.  To go inside the temple we girls had to wear head scarves and the guys had to wear bandanas.

This is my roommate, Kelsey, and I on the bus before going inside!

On the temple grounds there was a school for girls, a free meal distribution place, a huge kitchen, dormitories for the homeless who need a place to stay, and a prayer hall.

The last temple we went to was the Sri Radha Krishna Temple, which was a beast of a building.  We couldn't take pictures inside and I didn't get a good one from the outside, so this is a picture from Google.  The whole time we were waiting in line to get in or giving our shoes to security, there was the same prayer playing in the background that now I know by heart:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Kirshna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
(pronounced ha-rey)

There was even one part of the temple that we skipped over, where in a snaking line every step you took the people had to chant the prayer out loud.  The followers of this religion have to say it 108 every day.

B'lore Tour - Part 2

The next stop on our Bangalore tour was the Russell Market across the street from the Christian church.  If anyone wants to experience what India is like all wrapped up into one activity, they should go to the crowded, noisy, smelly market!  So many things were going on at once, even before most of the people arrived.

There are people and market stalls crammed into the most impossibly small alleyways, even smaller than this one

There's both an outdoor and indoor part to the market.  Mostly vegetables and fruits are being sold, but there's a meat section, fish, birds, etc. etc.

Better luck next time, chickens.

B'lore Tour - Part 1

Last Saturday we woke up super early to go on a Bangalore tour led by our program director, Jacob.  I'll divide the parts of the tour into separate blog posts so its not one long, tedious to read, post.

The first place we stopped at was a Christian church a couple minutes by bus away from our apartments.  Even if it was a Saturday there were lots of people there for prayer, song and dance, and loud music was blasting from the altar the whole time we were inside.  It was more like a party than a serious religious place, but everyone seemed to be having a great time!

 Here's the inside, with the classic archways and stained glass windows.

 

Later in the day there was going to be a wedding, which is why there was a huge flower banner like this one right next door to it.

 

Bangalore at Night

At USAC here, we have a number of "Indian Buddies" who are in charge of making sure we have a great time, and also teach us about the college/youth culture in Bangalore.  They are all so nice and fun to be around, they come to lunch and dinner with us, take us to cool places, go on trips with us, and we all have a blast.

One of them lives on the 19th top floor of a beautiful new apartment complex.  We all went to hang out there before going to a sports bar last week.  The pictures are a little blurry but at night the view is so beautiful!!  The lights seem to go on forever, just like any other huge city in the U.S. (Bangalore has the same population, if not more, than New York City)

On Being Sick

So I was told by a very wise person (my dad) that everyone gets sick when they come to India.  Even all of the American students who were here with USAC for Summer Session 1 agreed that everyone gets sick.

Even after 4 weeks of travel in India... I got sick!  I was up all night puking, and after that stomachache passed in 3-4 days, I got the other sort of stomach problem.  The first night that all of us USAC students went out together, we went to Punjabi by Nature, a beer garden on Hosur Road that is right across the way from the Libra Hotel I was always staying in.  It was either the food I had there that caused it, or the Indian food I had for lunch that gave me some sort of persisting stomach problem.

NOW I feel better, and now that I'm also in the groove of going to classes and also balancing social life, I've set my mind to making more blog posts!

A lot has happened since I first moved into USAC: I've gone shopping on Commercial street again with the other Americans, we've gone to sports bars (saw a Broncos poster, woot woot!), we went to the Nandi hills and saw some monkeys and waterfalls, my friend Beth and I went to a private club called Eclipse, we went on a long Bangalore tour, rode the brand new Metro, ate at the largest pirate-themed restaurant in India, and most importantly I've been having so much fun with my new friends!! Oh, and I've been going to classes like a good student.

To conclude this post, here's a picture of a delicious South Indian meal, complete with curry, roti, curd, veggies, buttermilk, and some fried lentils thing.  We all had this buffet style on a banana leaf at a travel stop restaurant near Mysore.  YUM!! (only I think this is what made me sick the second time around from an open air, unsanitary kitchen)

USAC apartments

All of us USAC study abroad students have a GREAT deal for housing in Bangalore.  We basically have a whole apartment complex to ourselves, with 2 apartments on each floor.  There is plenty of space and lots of light, and everything that we need is there for us to use.  I have one other roommate and two suitemates who share the apartment with me, and we all get along great!  They are all really nice girls who are excited to be in India.

The only downside is that we have to walk 40 minutes to Christ U, but we're able to pass lots of shops, restaurants, and stalls and get a better feel for the city and the culture.

Last night after I had gone to bed, I heard a loud, "OH SH*T!!" and when I opened my bedroom door to the living room, I saw the whole commons area and kitchen was flooded with about 1-2cms of water.  One of the girls was doing their laundry and the washer was draining water onto the floor for about 20mins instead of down the drain in the floor where the water was supposed to be going.  Luckily, our landlord provided us with floor mops in each apartment (it's like he knows this stuff is going to happen).  I went next door to where three USAC guys are staying to take their mop, and we spent a good bit of time trying to push all of the water out the kitchen and onto the balcony.  Finally we just decided to leave the fan on and the balcony door open to let the floor air out.

Here's some pictures of the apartment's common room!  The top two pictures show the flooded area.  In the third one you can see the two doors to the bedrooms.  Both rooms have two beds, two desks, a wardrobe, and an attached shower/washroom.

Commerical Street, Bangalore

On Sunday I went with Swati, my friend from Navadarshanam, to Commercial St. in Bangalore.  Its one of the largest shopping places in the city filled with markets and stalls for different goods.  There's one main street and then a giant grid of streets surrounding it, so it seems like there's an endless maze of stores to go into!

We went early on in the morning so there wasn't a lot of people there yet, but normally these streets are packed with pedestrians, two-wheelers, rickshaws, and even rich people with cars barge their way around.

Even in the smallest alleyways there are an impossibly large number of shops squeezed into the space.

 Aaaand of course it wouldn't be India without the stray cows wandering in the alleys also!

 At the end of the day we ate a really late lunch at a place called Woody's, a classic vegetarian restaurant on the main street.  Yummy roti's and veg hyderabad curry!

FOOD in Navadarshanam

The food that I was fed in Navadarshanam every meal, every day was so amazing.  95% of the food was vegan but that never meant the taste was bland or there were cheap substitutes for anything.  It was all delicious.  100% of the vegetables and almost all of the grains came from the garden that's on the property.
Here's a mini cucumber thing that was growing in the garden.

 

Its here that I learned how to eat with my hands, scooping up the food like a shovel onto my fingers and then feeding myself.  It sounds easy but its hard not to drop anything, especially when I'm trying to eat soup that is running through my fingers.  We're taught in the U.S. not to play with our food but in India that's how you eat it, by mushing it around in your hand!

This is a typical breakfast that I had, with some masala, a millet porridge, and some bread with guava jam and peanut butter mixed with jaggery (unprocessed sugar).  I'd basically make a layer of porridge in my hand and then scoop up some of the masala and eat it that way. 

 

 The following are three different lunch/dinner dishes with the different types of curry, gourd/green bean salad, red rice, ragi balls, sweet millet paste, spicy mango pickles and chutney, butter milk, and rice ghee.  You can see that the ragi balls were my FAVORITE!