Almost Goodbye

Somehow my time here is coming to a close, I leave for Delhi tomorrow morning and I don’t know how it has flown by so quickly.  I knew it would but somehow this ending still comes as a surprise. There is so much I’m going to miss. The children, the silly banter between my team members, the new friends I’ve made, all that makes India what it is. Living in close community like this with both my team members and the locals is going to make it hard to go back to the individualistic way of life at home.  I know from past experience that I always find the isolation hard to deal with.  I hope I have the strength within me to deal with all that will come with being back home.

Last night Alyssa & I went and hung out with the girls for a bit.  We played some silly games with the younger ones, and then after they went in the teenage girls came out to hang out with us.  It was so great and nice to be able to spend time with them.  They reminded me of the girls of that age I have hung out with at home.  The constant chatter and questions that flew my way as they braided my hair, “Didi, do you miss your parents?” “Didi, your fair skin is so beautiful” “Didi, let me teach you how to say you are so beautiful in Hindi” “Didi, do you know Justin Bieber?” “Didi, my voice sounds funny because I was hooting for my team at the football game” “Didi, do you want to marry someone from India, Canada or Korea (they all voted for someone from Korea which might be hard since I don’t actually know anyone from Korea)” “Didi, come look at our favourite Korean movie stars, don’t they look nice?” and finally “Didi we like you, when are you going to come back?”  How can I answer that question?  The same way I always do.  I don’t know when I’ll come back.  And that thought makes me sad.  I can feel it, have felt it as my time here has steadily moved forward, the ways these kids, these people have firmly grabbed hold of my heart and drawn me in.  The way they will keep part of it and I’ll notice that it’s gone when I get home.  I wish I could stay longer. 

I have learned more of their names than I thought I would.  It was a challenge for me at first.  And I still don’t know them all, but I have learned a lot.  And the reason this is so important for me is because I know that each of us wants to be known, and these kids are no different.  Maybe knowing who they are and what their names are will make it harder for me to leave, but it lets them know that I care.  I care a lot.  Tonight we get to attend the monthly birthday celebration.  They have one birthday celebration a month for all the kids with birthdays in that respective month.  I’m excited to go since they do the same thing at Eagles Wings Children’s Village in Uganda, but it never happened to be when I was there.  I have noticed at several times over this trip, just how different this culture is from East Africa, but how I love them both just as much.  I’ve heard some people who have been to both places say they find them similar, but I’m not sure I agree.  Sure, there are some things that might be similar, but in a lot of ways they couldn’t be more different.  So if someone were to ask me which place I liked better, I don’t think I could provide them with an answer because I love them both very much.

There have been challenging times on this trip.  Maybe more challenging that I had expected, but I’m not going to spend time elaborating on those challenges because they are all just part of the background.

And so I will leave you with a whole lot of pictures.  I couldn’t choose between these, my favourites. 

 Alyssa, the other girl on the team and I enjoy some morning chai.

 Stunning views in every direction.

 Gunga & Monisha

 Karina is such a sweetheart!

 Angelie, Karina, Padma, Avantica & Lata

 Panzay & friends making chapattis.

 The boys!

 Narush

 Can you spot Matthew at the total station?

 I love Bambi!

 Dance lessons for the younger kids.  They were so much fun to watch.

 Little Joelle is an acrobat and martial arts master.

Harish is an amazing dancer!

Good Morning Didi

Everywhere I walk on this campus I’m greeted with “Good Morning (Afternoon, or Evening) Didi.” In Hindi, Didi means older sister.  I like the way things are, I’m not sure how I'm ever going to go back to being just Jaimee when I get back home.  I was talking about this today with our team leader. The difficulty of transition back to home.  He said that for people who spend a lot of time in a place like this, people who live here for years and then try to move back to Western Culture, it can take up to 2 years to re-adjust to being home again.  For me, only being here a short time, I don’t expect it to take years, but allowing myself 3 or 4 months is probably accurate.  How can 10 days cause such upheaval for 3 or 4 months?

Today I walked through the mountains with Matthew and 3 staff members wielding machetes for brush clearing to go have a look at the water source.  It was an adventure.  The mountain vista’s were breathtaking and although I was good and sweaty by the time I got back, I had so much fun.  Before I left this morning I was able to show the medium girls how to use the survey GPS that we were collecting points with.  I’m starting to remember some of their names, and one of them told me she wants to be an engineer.  In general, I’ve felt that connecting with the kids has been more of a challenge than I’m used to.  The fact that I don’t speak Hindi is a stumbling block, even though most of the kids do speak English.  Although I do feel like I am getting to know some of the girls, I sometimes find the cross cultural aspect of communication in this formal and seemingly reserved part of the country to be challenging and hard to understand.  I wish I could have more time to get to know the people here. But don't be mistaken, I do feel connected, and I know I'm going to miss these people once I'm gone.  I'm just trying to take in every minute I have.  This morning as I was walking through the bush, I realized what a gift this is.  How lucky I am to be here. I've been noticing all the things that I'm going to miss once I'm back in Canada, rice for breakfast, lychee juice and cookies for morning snack (they have both morning and afternoon snack here!), the gentleness of the people.  There is so much that I want to share, I can't wait to tell people about all of this when I see them in person.

 Bambi, the resident St. Bernard needs a drink too!  She's so cute:)

 The ladies came all the way out to the water reservoir to deliver us juice and cookies for morning snack.

 Boys against girls in tug of war.  The girls won.  The boys were more than a little competitive.  Apparently, the boy's strategy of spitting in their hands to increase their grip, backfired.

 With the medium girls before they head off to school.  Love these girls.

 Walking through the "jungle" to reach the spring that is the water source for the home.

From the shadow of a mountain

As I live in the shadow of a mountain I wish I could adequately paint a picture of the beauty that surrounds me, but I know that words or even photos can’t describe this indescribable wonder.  The Children’s Home I am at is surrounded by the magnificent Himalaya’s and I am in constant awe at the majesty of all that surrounds me.  I think I could wake up every morning and not lose that sense of wonder.

I am loving every minute of my time here.  My team is great and I’ve met some great locals too. Yesterday was packed with two church services and a site tour. One of our church services was on a huge military base which was incredibly interesting.  More on that later. Matthew, our team leader is top notch. He is American, but has lived in India for 11 years and fluent and literate in Hindi which is a great help. I love the surprised looks on the people’s faces when he starts conversing with them in their native tongue.  I also love the fact that he is just as Indian as he is American.  I love that he and his wife speak 3 languages to their new baby son and that he understands this complex culture so very well.  

We took the train from Delhi to Kalka and the train station in Delhi was absolute madness.  The craziest place I have ever been.  I’m glad both Matthew and Jonathan, the finance manager from eMi who is local were there to guide us through. 

Two things I’ve learned the hard way about this culture.  Eye contact between men and women in generally not practiced.  Tell this to the girl who lives in a neighbourhood where everyone says hi to everyone.  I’m used to smiling and exchanging greetings with both men and women I encounter on the street.  Here my friendliness is sometimes seen as seductive. I’m trying to train myself.  Eye contact or greeting strangers in general is not really a part of this culture.  It’s something for me to get used to.  A good challenge.  I’m enjoying a new way of interacting even if it is completely opposite of what I’m used to.

Also it is considered polite in this part of the country to take seconds after a meal.  It is considered extremely polite to take thirds.  So I have to make sure my initial portions are not too big.  And I need to remind myself to eat slower too.  My plate will not even be half empty and I have 5 people telling me to please go take more.  I also strategically make sure I take seconds when people are watching, otherwise my second helping may as well not even have occurred.  This was an interesting challenge on the first day when after we arrived, our host gave us each a mountain of rice and I needed to finish it and still go take seconds.  All of this is part of what I love.

I had the chance to interact with some of the “middle girls” yesterday.  Because our day was so packed, I didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time with them, but am hoping to do so more throughout the week. I’m usually pretty good with names, but so far I’ve been having trouble.  The names are so different even from South India where I was last time, that I have been getting some of the kids to write their names down for me.  Today, being the first work day, the team is realizing the enormity of the task ahead of us.  We do in one week, what might take months to do at home.  Although some work is finished after we leave, everything we need on site for the survey must be completed this week.  I’m working on collecting an inventory of their existing water and sanitary infrastructure.  I’m feeling challenged, but I’m looking forward to the task at hand.

Anyway there is so much more I could write.  I know this precious time will slip away before I want it to.  I wish I could stay longer than I will, however, I hope in this short time I will be able to best learn and understand all I can from this place that at times seems so mysterious.  

 Taking a tour of the site to plan our course of action for the survey and site assessment.

 Love these girls.

 Little Raj is the youngest of the boys.  He made his way into my heart with that smile of his.

 Beauty unexplained.  Mountains like this in every direction.

Why I love India

So I made it to Delhi alive and well.  My flights were uneventful and my bags made it.  Although I had fun watching sappy chick flicks and sleeping half the time, I was more than ready for a real bed once I arrived.  I stepped into the airport in Delhi and was amazed and inspired.  The airport was amazing.  It’s huge and brand new.  One of the most impressive airports I’ve seen anywhere.  As I stepped outside with two of my teammates to meet our team leader, I was immediately drawn back into this culture and reminded why I love all of this.  And I wonder, how it is that I can so easily transition into the craziness of a place like this, but go home with so much difficulty.  I slept in the transit flat last night with the girl interns.  They’re great and I love them.  I got to sleep in the top bunk and it reminded me of being at camp.  How my Mom would always try and talk me out of sleeping on the top because it would be cooler on the bottom, but I wouldn’t listen and sleep on the top anyway.  I woke up this morning to a lizard staring at me from outside the window.  A reminder that I’m no longer where I came from.  And I love it.

And so later today we will get on a train to head out into the mountains where I’ll stay for the next 10 days.  I’m really excited.  This might be the last time you hear from me until I get home.  I love you all and I can’t wait to see what the days ahead will bring.