Monday, September 30, 2013

Hello From India

Good Day Everyone,

It is 6:30 AM and I am up.  Can you believe that?  Well let's just say that Jet Lag does strange strange things.  But I slept a full 9 hours last night in a real bed, which was fabulous after getting less than 2 hours sleep and then embarking on a full day tour yesterday. So I'm not sure how witty I'll be at this hour of the day, but I'll give it a shot.

After arriving in Delhi early Monday morning, I was picked up and driven to my hotel, and as I was driven through Delhi, I almost couldn't believe I was really here after all that it took for me to get here.  It didn't even seem real and I had to keep reminding myself where I was.  Walking to the van from the airport terminal I saw a sign in the parkade that said "No Spitting and No Cooking."  Wait a minute here people,  GOOD THING, I didn't bring my camping stove.  I totally could not have used it at the airport!  On a serious note though, it was a reminder to me of where I was now, and the sheer amount of squatters there are in this country.

Yesterday, John (the other civil), Pam (his wife) and myself did a tour of Agra.  We went to the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort.  Our tour guides name was something like Tkjashfdlkajsdf Dkla;sdjfasldkfj Sa;lskdjfl;askdjf,  we asked him to repeat it three times and still couldn't get it, so he told us we could call him TDS for short.  How awesome is that?  My tour guides name was TDS?  Do you know what TDS is?  A water quality parameter!  Total Dissolved Solids!  How fitting, since both John and I are water engineers.  I am so happy I am doing this tour, but I think that after 2 days of being a tourist I will have had more than enough of this scene.  I felt like part of the herd of cattle at the Taj Mahal it was so crowded.  Don't get me wrong though, it was magnificent, and the infrastructure and history in this country are amazing.

In addition to the Taj and Agra Fort, as part of the tour we also had to go visit some "artists" which is an obligatory sales pitch for any tour.  We went to a carpet place and a marble place.  The carpet place, we got to see how they hand make carpets and then they brought us into this show room, gave us each a Coke, and started rolling out all these carpets.  Fortunately they thought I was John & Pam's daughter, so didn't try selling to me as much.  I pretty much milked the role of disinterested daughter, because there was no darn way, I was spending $1700 US on an area rug, hand made or not!  We just sat there and the more they were silent, the more rugs they rolled out.  At one point I was wondering if they were going to roll out every blinkin carpet in the room, but we got up and left before they had that opportunity. The marble place was a bit more interesting and the sales pitch wasn't quite as long, and I kept thinking about the hilarity of what it would be like to have my friends over for supper on one of those marble tables that is worth more than my car and in some cases almost half as much as my condo, that looks like it belongs in a Victorian Palace.  I just cannot imagine playing Dutch Blitz on one of those tables.  Come to think of it, I totally should have told the guy that is why I couldn't buy one.

Anyway today we are touring Jaipur, and I will be more than ready to be done with this tourist image and get into the "real" India for the next almost 2 weeks.  There is a Fort here as well, and probably we'll be listening to more sales pitches.  I think I'll wait to to my craft shopping until we get back to Delhi at the end of our project because you can get craft's much cheaper there if you know where to shop.  These places are all highly expensive tourist traps.  Sorry friends, but I will not be bringing you home marble ornaments worth several hundred dollars.

Well that is all for now.  We stayed at a 5 Star Hotel here last night, which is fancier than any hotel I have stayed in in Canada.  It was nice as I was so tired, and the price of this entire tour, was cheaper than I would have paid for just the hotel room back in North America.  I almost feel a bit guilty, and I'm still reminded of where I am as I look out the window to a mid sized squatter camp, and there is a cow eating garbage just below.

I've been dressing in local clothing in an attempt to try and blend in more, however, yesterday at the train station it seemed to backfire on me as I had guys coming up to me and telling me how sweet I looked dressed as an Indian.  One of them told me I looked like an angel, to which I promptly ignored him and got beside John.  One reason, I'm glad I have him and Pam there to escort me.  Sometimes I feel like I'm being chased by the paparazzi here, with so many average everyday people having smartphones here, they will often just up and take pictures of you while you are on the train or walking down the street.  Let's just say, I'm glad I'm not famous.  

Well I'll post another update again some time.  I'm so excited to get to the children's home and see those kids again!

Jaimee

 We rode in this horse cart to the Taj Mahal from the parking lot.  I felt guilty for the horse the entire time, but it was nice to see how much the driver loved his horse.  I got to drive it, right through a police barricade!  And I chatted with the driver about the horse on the way.  His name is Bubaloo and he is 6 years old.
I finally got to see the magnificent Taj Mahal after this my third visit here.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

India- for real?

Some of you know the journey I have travelled these past few weeks.  The journey before the journey.  The state of events that left me no choice but to hold all of this with an open hand, because it made me realize that it wasn't even mine to begin with.  You see, I am supposed to be in an airplane right now, on my way to Germany to spend a few days with a precious friend, and then on my way to India after that, to continue on with a water project at the children's home I was at last year. . . Instead I'm sitting at home typing on my computer and trying to make this all make sense.

I sent my passport away in August to get my travel visa, and thought nothing of it.  I hadn't had any issues the past two times I'd travelled there.  However this year, things were different.  A new outsourcing company, and with it a whole lot of problems.  I've been fighting with them the past two weeks to try and process my visa application in time for my planned departure today.  I fought hard, but my passport was still in Toronto when I needed to make a decision about cancelling my flights. And so flights were cancelled, hearts broken, and plans undone. By all accounts, I was staying home this time around, and my heavy heart felt restless about that.  Restless that I wouldn't get to walk on foreign ground for perhaps several more months, restless I wouldn't hold hands and play games and laugh with abandon at the antics of some silly little boys.  And then this afternoon, grace fell right in my lap. My passport arrived, a day too late, but maybe just in time, I'll never know.  I got most of my money back from the cancelled flights, despite not having cancellation insurance, and was able to book new flights to India leaving a few days later.  I won't get to see my friend in Germany, or experience her homeland with her like I thought I would, and in some ways it feels like that was stolen from me.  But this new reality is better than not going at all.   And you know what?  Through all of this, I have been reminded how much I am loved.  People have encouraged, prayed, and loved me in ways that I won't soon forget.  Thank you for joining me in the trenches, for sending me notes and texts, to those of you that know words are my love language and those of you who don't, thank you for being present these past few weeks.

One of my friends fittingly posted this quote by Elizabeth Edwards on Facebook yesterday seeming to speak to me right where I was at:

"Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you've lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that's good."

You know what?  There is good here.  Despite the disappointment about what was supposed to be, there is joy in my heart about what is yet to come.