Where have I been in the last month?

Wow!  I've been back from India for nearly 4 weeks already and much has happened inbetween that time. 

To finish off my India trip...I flew back to Holland on August 12 where I spent the next four days bidding farewell to my family in Barneveld.  On Saturday my cousin and I celebrated our birthdays together with most of the family.  Along with that, came presents, candy and of course good-byes!  Then on August 16th, at 12:00pm I began my journey back to my homeland.  A little more than 9 hours later I lifted the window cover and shielded my eyes against the blinding sun only to see the mighty Fraser river beneath me and the majestic mountains all around.  Wow!  This is beautiful British Columbia!  What a nice welcome home!  As soon as we were close enough to the ground, I turned my phone on and texted Deedrick that I was beginning to land and I would be with him soon.  15 minutes later, I was wrapped in a tight embrace from Deedrick with jacaranda roses in my hand!  It's hard to believe that 6 weeks ago I saw him last...it felt like months.  At home I quickly unpacked my suitcases and a few days later all evidence of my trip was cleaned up.  Except, of course, the many memories: stories and photos that will stay with me. 

August 19
 That Thursday night I recieved an invitation to hike Mount Cheam, so I took the opportunity and on Friday morning at 6:30 we left Agassiz.  We hiked in the heat, we slid through the snow, we climbed the rock face and sat down to digest the beautiful views of the vallley.  After a scrumptious lunch, we began our descent, which of course didn't take nearly as long as our ascent.  By 3pm we were back in Agassiz. 

August 20
Hiking, again!!  Yes, the next day I went up Mount Frosty by Lightning Lake in Manning Park with Deedrick and some of his family.  Internet reviews had said that hike would take 8 hours, phew!  On the turn-off to the resort, I spotted cardboard boxes on the road, and as curious as I am I asked Deedrick to stop to look what was in there: blueberry pie, chicken strips, jumbo shrimp and veal cutlets!  We Dutch-men took the boxes, stuffed them in a garbage bag. hid them in the creek and began our hike.  From such a height beautiful views of the lake could be seen, a freshness hung in the air, sun blazed on our bodies and animals of all sizes and shapes called to us.  Four hours later we reached the 2,408 meter tip of Mount Frosty.  What an accomplishment!  Mountains surrounded us (as well as a herd of ladybugs!) and Alpine Meadows could be seen in the distance along with the Three Brothers.  Gorgeous!!  Three hours later we found ourselves tired, sore-footed and at the base of the mountain.  Remembering our garbage bag of food, we walked along the creek and slavaged everything except the pie.  At home, Deedrick divided the food and within a few weeks nothing was left!! 

September 3
With the nice weather that we have been having lately, Deedrick and I decided that on our weekend off we would take the jetski and cruise Harrison Lake.  Stopping in at Rainbow Falls and feeling the gentle mist on our faces, trying to catch the wakes from passing boats, launching the jetski in a cove and having a bite to eat amongst the decaying fish, skiing at an speed of 110km down the Harrison River, feeling the wind in our faces, exploring the "backwaters" of Harrison Lake, sums up our day. 

September 5
Sightseeing!  On Labour Day, Elsie and Brent invited us to come with them to San Juan Island.  At 4:30am the four of us drove to Anacortes and took the one-hour ferry ride for $11.50/person to Friday Harbour.  We stopped for breakfast, and by 9am we had our mopeds rented for $65/day and began to tour the island.  A map was highlighted for us with all the points of interest which included the harbour, lavender fields, sculpture park, sandy beaches, Cattle Point, Lime Kiln State Park, Roche harbour and breath-taking views of the island along the way.  Anyone ever wanting to make this awesome, fun trip, visit this website for more information: http://www.susiesmopeds.com/

September 9
We had not gone quadding for quite some time, so on Friday afternoon at 4:30 Deedrick and I loaded the quad and headed up to the second landing on Mount Cheam.  Even with the haze in the distance our views of the Valley were still amazing!  Birds chirped, bees buzzed, every now and then a gentle breeze could be felt: what a way to end a super busy week! 

Photos

Taj Mahal

Camel ridingBaji Worship Temple

Just for fun...or maybe not!

Out here in India so many people look at us and smile, wave, whistle, shout that after a while it gets rather annoying. We will walk into a shop and for the duration of our stay there will be several men surrounding us asking us: "You like?" "You want to buy?" "I give you cheap price." Or when we are walking down the street people call to us: "You need taxi?" "Come look at my shop." (all in their Indian-English accents) Did you know that here in India they drive on the "wrong" side of the road? When they say "yes" they rapidly sway their head from side to side, and this takes some time to get used to. It seems, as if they are uncertain when they do this. It's fun to negotiate a price in the shops even after they say that it is a fixed price. One of our taxi drvers told us this: "In India, a good taxi driver needs three things: first, a good horn, next a good brake and finally a good heart." Trust here is another huge issue: who do you trust? Each driver, each pedestrian, each salesperson says the rest are liars, cheaters and dishonest. Remember: every thing happens on Indian time. When they say it takes 45 minutes to get here, it may only take 15 minutes. Or they tell you they will be here at this and this time sharp, you can count on them being at least 10-15 minutes late or not show up at all! Everyone is in a rush here, but not everything happens quickly. Piet and Maryke, the newly married couple, have been asked the question if this is their first or second marriage. When you drive through the streets at night you will see people sleeping in the oddest places: on stone walls, against a tree trunk, in a bike carriage, or just in the middle of an alley. Jumping from brick to brick to stay out of dirty, toilet water along the road, dodging piles of human feces, and tip-toeing past a few sleeping men laying in an alley are just some of the ways one needs to walk here. In each bathroom, there is a little slab with a pit and a hose on the wall which you use after you have gone to the bathroom. If you are a gemophobe, I will warn you now not to come to India. After a shower, you will still stink because the water is so gross here. Once outside you will sweat so badly that everything sticks to you. Do not wipe your face off on your white shirt, it will be yellowish brown. Take a look under your finger nails, a black layer will be lodged inbetween your skin and nail. Grossed out yet? I wonder why there is a black layer at the bottom of my cup in a restaurant?! All over you see little puddles of yellowish/brown liquid. I finally figured out (after I seen it happen) that it is spittle. Disgusting! When one girl orders she says: "No spicy. Abosultely no spicy." What can you expect in India? On one of our flights to India, the stewardess asked one of us, after that person (due to embarassment, I won't mention names) ordered coffee, if they wanted poeder melk (powder milk) or normaal melk (normal milk). That person thought she had said: Moeder melk (mother milk) so s/he said: "Please, give me normal milk." During lunch one time, we were telling each other what we wanted to do and eat when we got back in Holland/Canada. Some of the responses: shower, wash our clothes, share our stories and pictures, eat normal brown bread, drink water and devour a quarter wheel of cheese. All in all this has been an awesome adventure into a now known land!

The last few days

August 9

"Bye Aunty" "Come again quickly" "I miss you"...these were some of the remarks we received on Tuesday morning as we bid our farewells. We awoke with a bright start at 5am and we're called to the front of chapel to say goodbye to the 500+ orphan girls of Michael Job Centre. We sang Psalm 121:4 to the girls which says that the Lord will preserve them in trouble and will keep them from harm and danger. With our suitcases packed and a thorough search in our room we were ready to leave for Coimbatoire airport. A few days before, but especially on Tuesday morning, we received many many letters from children of every age. "From lost of love". "This is me when I saw you (happy face) this is me when I don't see you (sad face)". "I will pray for you and your family". "I don't know you, but I miss you". "I like to play with your hair. It is soft". These were some of the notes that were written to me. At 9am we waved to the hundreds of girls that crowded the entrance to MJC and arrived at the airport about half an hour later only to realize (by then the taxi had alread left) that our flight was cancelled and rebooked (we were supposed to leave at 10:40pm) to 5pm. What? So we are expected to wait for this long? With 3 BIG suitcases and lots of hang luggage? With 6 upset, and angry travellers, we ran to each travel agency along the airport entrance to see if they could book us a flight. We found flight that was leaving in ten minutes so we quickly booked that and were about to pay but our credit cards didn't work. After discussion we decided that it was best to just wait the 7 and a half hours in the smallest airport in the world since you never know if you will be refunded! Well, to make it short, we were not allowed in the airport until 3 hours before the flight would leave which meant that we had to wait somewhere else: a restaurant a short walk away from the airport. At 2pm we finally managed to get into the airport and we sat there for another hour until we could check in and go through security. Two of our hand bags had to be looked through and when the security guy found that we had games in those bags he decided to show us a trick with some cards. After playing a few games, sleeping, eating a chocolate chip muffin and looking at the interesting orange-haired Indians we boarded our flight at 4:30 to Delhi. 50 minutes later we touched down in Chennai, filled up the plane and 45 minutes later we found ourselves ascending above the several layers of clouds and after 3 and half hours we landed in Delhi. With 6 ravenous stomaches, we filled them with...burgers, pizza and fries and then hailed a taxi to a hotel we didn't actually know would except us! The Smyle hostel was booked so we kept looking until the Double R hotel accepted us. As usual, most washrooms in India do not have toilet paper in them and so far we have boughten at least 12 rolls, but tonight we didn't have any left so two of us walked the streets in search and at the end they went in to another hotel to ask and came back with two rolls! At 1am each one of us was finally asleep.

August 10

"Chaj...chaj...chaj." Groan! Here came another mobile vendor through the sleeper class of our train. This morning at 6am the train left and we travelled the 3.5 hours from Delhi to Agra sleeping most of the way. When we stepped off the train, people surrounded us asking: "Taxi, ma'm?" Trying to get some room we told them to leave us alone and frustrated we walked in the opposite direction even though we knew it was the wrong way. They followed us for quite some time, but we kept walking with our faces in one direction. Finally we turned around and walked to the government info booth and booked a taxi. A half hour later we found ourselves riding a camel to the entrance of the Taj Mahal. Wow! What an experience. Astonishment came when we were told that foreigners have to pay 750 rupees entrance fee and Indians 20 rupees. After paying the foreigner amount we walked through the east gate and into court of the Taj Mahal. Awe filled us as we saw the white marble building which took 20,000 labourers 22 years to build! Click! Click! Two hundred photos and two hours later we hailed our taxi and were on our way to visit the place where they made and continue to make the marble for the Taj. Incredible how much work it is to make a square foot of marble with stone flowers and designs: 3 months. At certain times of day the Taj Mahal's white marble gives off a different colour, which is why tourists go at sunrise, sunset and full moon. Have you ever worked on a weaver's loom? I have! It is amazing how quick these Indian men are with their fingers. Anyways, I sat on my knees and the man showed me how to string one thread. It was super neat! At another shop a man wanted me to sell me a sari but I told him it took too long to put on so he said: "I do it." Within seconds I had myself wrapped in a large roll of fabric and a Hindu "dot" was placed on my head. We left this shop and headed over to a market where we bought fruit and snacks for the train trip to Delhi. Confusion and anger filled our minds as we found out that we were waitlisted on the train ticket. Here and there we ran around trying to figure what we were supposed to do. Everyone wanted to help (of course, we were white people), but that got very annoying. We decided we would look on the reservation paper, which is glued onto the side of the train as soon as the train reaches the platform. There we found our names and seated ourselves. Since we were tired we slept nearly the entire way to Delhi and then treated ourselves to naan, butter chicken masala, chocolate cream roll, cream of tomato soup. I have never seen anyone move so fast! I saw a mouse scurry across the floor in the direction of our table and instantly one of us screamed and the other had her feet up on another and then the mouse came closer and that girl was standing on the wall before anyone could blink an eye! Laughter filled us as the rest of us watched the scene play out. By 11:30 we were back in our hotel and after quickly interneting in a cafe we showered and by the time the clock ticked 12:30 we were sleeping.

August 11

Lovely! This is the first day that we were in India that we slept in, and we sure were rested. Leaving our luggage in our hotel and taking only our valuable, we walked a short distance to a cafe where we ate a delicious, filling breakfast. What a sight! 6 of us piled into a 3 person tuk-tuk all thinking the same thing outloud: what happens if this three-wheeled thing tips? Quit imagining! Our driver brought us to a music store which had about 5 musical instruments and for the rest clothes, jewellery and picture frames. Irritated with the salesperson in the clothing department, I walked into the jewellery store. Mistake. Big mistake. Nothing caught my attention so I started walking out but then a man called me back in: "Madam, I have something that look cute on you. Come, look." Since the others were busily looking around I decided to take a look at what this man had to offer me. He pulled out a huge silver ring and told me to put it on. The ring covered half of my finger but he told me: "Ahhh beautiful!" I shook my head to let him know that I was not at all interested and then he asked me where I was from. I told him Canada and he said: "When you leave?" I gave him a random date and he asked me to take him with him. Disgusted, I told him no. He said: "You take me with. I open shop. I make money and you come with me." I was so shocked, that I just stared at him and finally said: "I have a boyfriend waiting for me in Canada." He gave me the look that "who cares". I walked away from him so fast that you would have thought I was running from the police! After hailing a taxi, going to a music store and buying a guitar and violin for a really good price we make our way back to our hotel where we eat lunch sitting on a rug. All very interesting here and so much to see and take in that it's no wonder at the end of the day we crash in our beds. Baji Temple was a sight to behold in the daylight but also a night! Outside the temple gates we had to wait for quite some time to find a taxi, and then we decided to take the metro to the airport. What a contrast between the slums of India and central Delhi. At around 10pm we arrived at the airport, headed straight to the bathrooms and "showered". I have never had such a "shower" in my life and I have never felt so dirty and so clean in such a short time! Honestly, if you would have seen us, you would have fled in embarrassment. Pacing back and forth several times in the same one-kilometre distance, we finally seated ourselves in a restaurant

Colourful keychains

What a hit! On Saturday we organized an activity for the girls from Grades 3 and up (ages 8 till 20): keychains! Back in Holland we bought multicoloured felt and key rings and transported them to India. Then we cut each piece of felt into 10 pieces and gave each child three pieces. The classes were split up into different hours starting at 2:00pm until 5:00pm. A variety of coloured ribbon and sparkly "eyes". Each child had to bring her own scissor and dark pen. We had cut patterns from cardboard so the children could trace them if they couldn't think of their own ideas. Some neat key chains were made! The expressions on the childrens' faces was priceless, and we managed to capture some images. Cutting the felt Helping the children

The children busy at work

Comments

As per the comment: "Don't they complain...etc" - they don't complain but they sit in the fetal position for quite some time trying to warm themselves. Most of them are willing to take a "shower", but some need a considerable amount of encouragement. If any complaint is heard, it is often ignored and the child just has to learn to deal with it by themselves or with another child. However, the children rarely complain here, and it's amazing that they don't considering their backgrounds and life situation.

Where have we been? (August 3 & 4)

Since another group of volunteers were at the orphanage the same time we were, there were many hands to do the work here at MJC. However, with 10 volunteers and 5 staff members helping at the wash area and in the dining hall it is becomes crowded so we decided to take a 'holiday' from the orphanage and travel about 5 hours from Coimbatoire to Munnar. At 5am Wednesday morning the taxi was already waiting for us, we rented him and his taxi for two days, and sleepily we plopped ourselves down on the comfortable seats. About two hours later we stopped in a village for milk tea and coffee and then made our way through a desert-like jungle. With our heads peeking out of every window we kept our eyes open for various types of wildlife, but especially for tigers! "Look...shh.." came the excited voice of one of the 6. We all flew to one side of the vehicle and the driver stopped. To our amazement there was a herd of elephants merrily making their way through the forest. Monkeys! The driver stopped the vehicle and we opened our windows and of course began to feed the monkeys. These hilarious animals made our day! As we were snapping zillions of shots of these funny creatures, other tourists came along. But the weren't taking photos of the monkeys, but of us! What do you expect: 6 white people taking pictures makes for quite a scene for the Indians here. For about two hours we travelled through this terrain and then we began the climb into the mountains. Lush, green landscapes called us from right, left and centre. Tea plantations lined the road on either side filled with colourful Indians picking from their green bushes. Now in India it is monsoon time, but little did we expect that it would be raining and that it would be cold! Back at the MJC the temperature was warm and muggy, so we packed t-shirts and flip-flops! Our windows were soon shut and we pulled on all the clothes we had because it was so cold! Once in Munnar our first stop was...THE CLOTHING STORE where we bought sweaters and socks. At Sunya Soma we ate our lunch and then continued to our rental house where we dropped off our belongings and then made our way to the vendors along the road. This posed for some drama as one vendor sold Maryke a broken clock and when Maryke realized, five minutes later, she went back to the vendor and asked for her money back. The vendor got angry and told her that she broke the clock and quickly glued it. After much squabble between Maryke and him, Maryke won the agrument and got her money back. Some of us had also bought items at that shop so we analyzed our purchases and sure enough, Petra's item was also broken. With everything resolved we had dinner and then went to our house for the night. Thursday morning we awoke at a little after 8:00 and were on our way to begin another exciting program: visiting a tea plantation and factory, a spice garden, a gorgeous waterfall, and then ending the day by eating at the highest tower in Coimbatore: Cloud 9. By 10pm we were back at MJC and shortly after we found ourselves tucked in bed and dozing off. The first day that we arrived at MJC it was around 9pm and when we pulled up to the hostel everything seemed quiet, until we stepped out of the taxi. Windows flew open and children began shouting our names and calling to us. Of course, I didn't know anyone, but neither did the rest of the group since it was too dark to distinguish between children.