To the open arms of the sea

There are certain things that I think American parents tell their children that become engrained in their heads...things like, "Mind your own business," "It's impolite to stare," "Don't talk to strangers," I wonder on a daily basis if any of these are said to Indian children. Ever.

I keep hearing Indian men talk about how many strides India has made towards equality between the sexes...how girls almost equal boys in Indian schools. That is all fine and good, but it is still odd for me to see the lack of women out and about on the random Indian street. You see women, but they are usually walking with gallons of water stacked on their heads and a kid strapped to their hip while the men seem to sit drinking chai and picking their noses...literally. Also, men can be seen scratching themselves, pooping, peeing and bathing pretty much everywhere you look but any sign of an Indian woman's legs is nonexistant. Just a little rant.

I don't think I will ever get used to seeing the swastika, no matter if it was originally an auspicious Hindu sign.

I do realize I have only been here for 3 weeks and am in no place to judge...just observations...

Whatever's out there waiting for me

On the last day of my first tour, we headed back out to the Golden Temple. It was really spectacular at night and the daytime didn't dissapoint either. The marble inlay on the inside is downright amazing and it was an awesome change of pace to be surrounded by chanting Sikhs rather than Hindus clanging a bell to awaken the Gods. However, I haven't been pushed around nearly as much anywhere else and for the first time was asked to get in a picture with a bunch of India teenage boys. Really creeped me out actually.

Later that night we went to the border of Pakistan and India where there is a nightly flag-lowering ceremony. This may be in the top 10 oddest things I've ever been a part of. At some point I will upload some videos. So these masses of Indians sit on their side of the border clapping, singing, cheering, dancing, groups of Indian children stand in front of the bleachers dancing to the music that blares from loudspeakers. Then about 100 yards away are the bleachers for Pakistan, where the women and men are separated. The women's side is throbbing with energy and an amazing array of colors, as everyone on that side is covered except for kids. The men's side is a subdued group of tan, black and white...just standing there mostly. Their side is also blaring music which everyone seems to be singing along to, the women's side dancing and jumping and clapping, every once in a while you can hear "PAKISTAN!!!....PAKISTAN!!!" So when the ceremony actually begins it's this charade of guards in crazy gear doing high kicks and synchronized marches and swiftly walking to the border and slamming gates...

The whole thing is just this big game with people laughing and cheering and singing and dancing from these two countries that are anything but chummy. It was really good and really odd to see all at once. Nearly trampled upon leaving, but a good day.

And these memories lose their meaning

I have about 4 posts that are just itching to come out, yet I have been on the internet for 57 minutes and this 50 rupees an hour internet is so overpriced that I can't handle hanging around anymore. I guess it's a good thing then that I think my parents are the only ones reading this. Just in case: Since going back to Delhi on Sunday, I have been to Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Peharsar, Amber, currently in Jaipur, tomorrow leave for Bijaipur Castle (swwaaaanky), then Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Goa and I think I'm forgetting something. OH well. I'll get it out eventually. Maybe when I'm chilling in Malaysia but definitely at some point.

I hear noises in the darkness

Well it is the last day of my first tour and I have to say it's been a good one. I am not going to lie though, I have been a bit homesick. Many of you might be saying, "Give me a break Jenna, homesick in less than 2 weeks?" which you are right, but that does not change the fact that when I was feeling crappy, I just thought how lovely my parents' house is and how warm and CLEAN it is back home...and what I want to eat when I get home and who I need to see before heading to culinary school.

I have realized I forgot to mention a few things along the way. One being the insanely whacked out dreams my malaria pills are giving me. Unrelentlessly vivid explosions of crazy appear when I close my eyes at night and don't go away until I hop awake in the morning. They are also full of people, and full of "I haven't thought about that person in YEARS people" Luckily only one nightmare so far.

Right now I am in Amritsar, which is where the Golden Temple so it is a gathering place of Sikhs. It is also a gathering place of dense fog (smog?), dust, noxious fumes of kerosene that the tuk-tuks are powered by and overall a good reminder of what is waiting back in Delhi. It was a bit of a shock to be back in this atmosphere after hippy dippy trippy Dharamsala, then Pragpur, where we went the next day. Pragpur is the site of a heritage village, which mainly means that it has all of these great old beautiful buildings, mostly that are falling into disrepair. The place we stayed, The Judge's Court, was in the best condition and was incredibly nice. After we got a bit of a walking tour of the village, both Sheila and I got our palms/faces read. Interesting...my mom will be happy to know that he instructed me to pray to Mary before getting out of bed every morning.

I also forgot to talk about a bit of Indian culture in general. On the train ride out of Delhi, I glanced out the window and was shocked to see men of all ages popping a squat about 10 yards from the train track and 20 yards from gathering of their village. Thinking about all those teenagers in America who get pissed if their parents come into their rooms without knocking and these men are taking a poo for all of their neighbors, and everyone on the train, to see.

With the end of the tour, I'm really excited for the next one to start and hoping for a good group of people. I got pretty lucky having Sheila in this tour and Richard and Jo were pretty cool too, although they are avid bird-watchers which made some walks a little tedious. I'm still a bit undecided on my tour guide...he did a fine job with the tour, but comments like, "Iran is the most peaceful country in the world," "I don't see any difference between a US Marine and a terrorist," and "So they blew up one building on 9/11" leave me with a scowl every time I think about them. So I won't.

Halfway through my time India...it's flown by so far.

Here, There and Everywhere

So where I have I left off? On Sunday we headed to the Andretta Artist's Village. After a string of incidents ranging from lassi being spilled all over two members of our group to taxis not showing up to wrong buses to wrong turns, we wound up being 90 minutes late and having definitely gotten our exercise for the day. But it was undoubtedly worth it. We were welcomed with tea by Mary and Mini Singh who sat and chatted with us for awhile, and for the rest of the day really, then showed us around and finally sat us at pottery wheels. I've done a bit of ceramics in my day but never tried my hand at the wheel so I was pretty excited...and then I discovered that my hand would definitely need a bit more practice until it made anything worth keeping. OH well.

Once my pants were sufficiently caked with clay we sat down for lunch with Mary and Mini which was so fantastic and so nice to be in this comfortable family atmosphere. We left with huge smiles on our faces and extremely full and satisfied bellies.

Everyone in our group had been getting sick. Just colds, nothing too serious and I was (surprisingly) feeling fine. Of course by Sunday night the cold made its way to me and hit me like a ton of bricks. I'm starting to come out of it now but I'm hoping that this cold is as bad as it gets, so far I've kept off the Delhi Belly unlike one woman in the group so I'm happy about that.

Alright, so after staying another night in Palampur we actually headed to the Norbulingka Institute. This was quite a welcome change from the Indian city life. Sitting among streams and streams of prayer flags, sipping ginger lemon honey tea (perhaps part of the reason I fared so well with this cold) and soaking up some Buddhist vibes...very nice and calming. We all wished we could have spent more time there.

Unfortunately we only spent a night and then it was off to Mcleod Ganj, which is were I am now. We got here yesterday. This place is kind of a trip. It's like this hippy haven, the kind of place that was probably super cool and chill a few decades ago but now you can see some western dudes who look like they walked into a cafe 20 years ago and just crawled out of it this morning...Either way, Dharamasala is the official residence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and quite a community of Tibetan refugees. Which means that it still has a semi-chill vibe to it and lots of really great things to buy...We also went to the Tibetan Children's Village this morning, a place were mostly Tibetan orphans are educated and taken care of. It was great to see how much of a family atmosphere this place has. I also got a bit of a lesson in the rules of cricket, which is EVERYWHERE here.

chitty chitty bang bang

Well I have so much to write about but I am exhausted and alread have been online shooting emails for 45 mintues now so we will see what happens...

After Shimla we headed to Mandi on Friday, which happened to be Diwali. This means that there were piles and piles of sweets stacked everywhere you looked and garlands of marigolds strung from storefronts, cars and buses. It also means that firecrackers were being set off every 2 minutes. The firecrackers here are a lot more crack then fire. I'm pretty sure I will be leaving at least a little bit of my hearing in India. Anyway, we get to Mandi which is this old market town in the valley, and it is mayhem. People are doing last minute Diwali shopping, so it was a little crazy. We were pretty much the only foreigners I saw the whole time we were there so we attracted a bit of attention as we walked around, had a nice little fan club of kids around some of the temples we saw. After getting our fill of the town, we went back to our hotel and had a nice little dinner then partook in some Diwali traditions. We went around the restaurant and hotel with our boxes of sweets offering them to everyone we passed (apparently this is tradition), going into the kitchen to offer some to the cooks and dishwashers...then we set off fireworks and waved sparklers around like little Hindu children. Their sparklers are about 4 times as big as ours in the US. So it was very good to be a part of the celebration.

On Saturday we headed out to Palampur. I am not sure I have ever gotten so motion sick. Before getting to mountainous regions, I actually didn't think the driving was that bad. I definitely thought I was going to die or kill someone more often in Egypt. Then we got into roads that I would compare to the roads in Tuscany if the had been beaten for hundreds of years. Roads that can safely fit about one car. Suffice it to say that I had to switch to sitting in the front and then I was still squeezing my eyes shut every 5 minutes.

Today was a fantastic day but the story will have to wait because I am out of time at the internet cafe...

Om Shanti Om

In addition to not having internet everywhere we go, the internet itself is slow as molasses and blogger does not enjoy publishing my blogs with a slow net...OH well.

So today is our second day in Shimla. Heading out of Delhi was quite welcome. My dining experiences have skyrocketed to fantastic and I think I'm kind of the group project now of getting me to understand and enjoy Indian food. Vipul simply asks me if I know what I want, I usually ask if he has suggestions, he asks if I want vegetarian or not and poof I get something. Or when I have decided what I want he usually tweaks it for me. And I give Sheila quizzes of "what's this, what's that?" if there are menus in our hotel rooms. I am getting more and more comfortable with the food, and just about everything.

Our first stop out of Delhi was Chandigarh, which is this Western designed city and very clean. Compared to Delhi, INSANELY clean. A breath of fresh air...literally. We went to this "Rock Garden" where they have taken trash and created a park type thing with sculptures made of broken bangles, pots, ceramics, etc...It's was really impressive. We then drove to our hotel, The Fort, which was incredible. Unfortunately it kind of spoiled us because our accommodations in Shimla are...less than spectacular. Certainly bearable and clean but one downside is having a wet room for a bathroom. You have to really think out your showers before taking them so that you won't have to go back into the bathroom after the marble floor has been thoroughly doused in water and soap...very safe...

There are monkeys all over the place which is interesting and of course cows. I have heard that some people find having cows everywhere is a bit startling but to me it's kind of comforting...probably the Wisconsin in me. Tomorrow we head to Mandi which coincides with Diwali and there are plans to find some firecrackers...I guess that's what is done on Diwali?

All in all I'm really having a great time so far, although the foothills of the Himalayas are turning out a bit colder than I expected...I guess I'll HAVE to buy a shawl or something. ha.

about nothing and everything all at once

Obviously I am trying to blog more than I did while in Europe. Plus my internet access will be a bit splotchy for a few days.

How you know you're India while reading the newspaper:
1. The love advice is geared towards the men and how to spot a "commitmentphobic woman"...
2. An interviewer asks a Bollywood star how he is following the trend of "staying green" and he replies that he never throws rubbish out of his car while he is driving, but always puts it in a trashbin...

I have discovered that Indian food and I are not the best friends. First, I do not know what anything is. This is where my preparations for this trip failed me. You may be saying, Jenna, YOU did not study up on the food before going?...yes yes, live and learn my friends, live and learn. Secondly, my adventurous nature towards food has gotten me in trouble here. I guess this is one place where I SHOULD know what things are, otherwise I get a samosa filled with seasoned peas. It was like I was in one of Katie Valasek's nightmares. And it was awful. My willingness to dig right in and try everything also got me in trouble yesterday when I ordered a South Indian thali, which is kind of like a pu-pu platter of South Indian curries, some rice, some chapati...ok so the guy kept bringing stuff out and my eyes kept getting bigger and bigger. Then I dug in and a mix of disgustingly sweet, insanely spicy and season season season filled my mouth. People I have talked to think I bit into a green chili with the wrong combination of other stuff. Either way, I kept eating, trying the other things, working up a sweat trying to keep myself from throwing up. Yikes. Finally I landed on a brown bean mixture that had no spice to it and I could force down with enough rice. There was also this stuff that looked like yellow cream of wheat that was sweet. I ate all of that. So, not a great experience.

I think those meals are over now that I have joined my group and have a trusty menu guide in my pocket. My group consists of Sheila, my new roomie from New York whose parents are Indian but this is her first time here, Richard and Jo, a couple from Britain and our guide Vipul. I am the youngest by 12 years. Although Sheila looks my age. They all seem very nice and it seems to be a pleasant group all around. It is interesting though to see the differences among how we all act in this culture.

If you would like to play Where in the World is Jenna? Here is my tour itinerary which finishes on Sunday the 18th, when my next tour starts.

Day 3 Pinjore/Ramgarh
Day 4-5 Shimla
Day 6 Mandi
Day 7-8 Kangra Valley (Palampur)
Day 9-11 Dharamsala/Mcleod Ganj
Day 12 Pragpur Heritage Village
Day 13-14 Amritsar
Day 15 Delhi

Take me up, Take me down

So far, Delhi is a city of sensory overload for me. I'm already getting used to it, but still hoping I eventually screen out the smells a bit more. Every so ofen a mix of smells is either searing its way from my nostrils straight through my brain or it's flipping my stomach. The dust and smog burn my eyes and throat, so I am really only being adventurous for a few hours at a time. Then I go take a nap to the sounds of car horns. The nice thing is that barely any horns go between the hours of midnight and 8am...

People so far have been pretty great. Extremely friendly, which with my nature is a little unsettling. Yesterday while I was walking around I twice suddenly had a new tour guide at my side. Of course I am a bit wary of dudes I don't know in foreign countries so I ended up scurrying away after a few blocks of chatting and being told, "I don't want anything from you...just want to practice my English." Believable, but I still don't get too friendly. So I'm a horrible ambassador. It's ok though because most of the time when they say "English?" I say yes assuming they mean my language until they start asking me how Delhi is different than London...so I'm a horrible ambassador for the UK. And all the other countries that were screamed at me as I ignored them. So mainly sorry to Germany and France. Anywho.

I haven't gotten the guts to pull out my camera yet but we'll see what happens. I join up with my first tour tonight so that's exciting.

I really think so

I am in an internet cafe in Delhi. Slightly wondering what the hell I have gotten myself into. Only slightly though. A couple days before my tour starts. I think my expectations were pretty right on, but this is still a bit overwhelming. It will be fine. My next mission is to find a huge bottle of water. And maybe some food. Although I am not hungry at all. Those are all the coherent words I have at the moment.