A Belated Post...whoops!

Heeeellllo everyone,

Deepest apologies for my utter lack of postings as I have honestly just been too lazy to blog. I figured I'd do the same as last time, and quickly update you on the boring stuff we've been doing and then essentially rant my thoughts on a specific topic. Heads up, I'm rather tired and spacing out on the past few days so I'll just do the highlights in a random order...

-On what I believe was Tuesday, I noticed that one of the girls at the orphanage was limping. One of the other kids informed me that she had cut her foot, which worried me because she had it wrapped in a dirty rag...so yesterday (Thursday) I brought supplies to clean her foot and begin to disinfect it. When I finally got a look at it, I realized that it was REALLY bad. Her foot is pretty swollen and definitely hasn't been taken care of, possibly because there is a lack of basic medical supplies as well as that there are so many children that I doubt she really spoke up and told Ms. Keepu about it. So this launched my newest initiative, which is that we're going to pool together some money and buy them basic first aid supplies (bandaids, disinfectant, neosporin-esque stuff, tweezers etc). Then, we're going to teach the older kids basic first aid so that something like this doesn't have to happen again. If anyone reading this would like to donate to this (seriously, $20 is Rs1000 which can go a LONG way here towards stocking them up for awhile) either email me at sjlinssen@gmail.com and I'll give you the information on how to wire money or if you trust Mother dearest, give her the money and she'll send it to me. If you don't, nobody will judge you I promise :) But it is a good cause and as I will personally be handling all the supplies and purchasing, I promise it will all go 100% to the children (with a small 5% administration fee...just kidding!)

- We finally finished watching the first Harry Potter movie and have now commenced into reading the book which the kids definitely aren't enjoying as much...whoops. We read and they act it out and they're enjoying the acting part but not necessarily the reading part.

- Today we walked to the Tibetology Center...and made it there 5minutes before closing so we were able to QUICKLY see some of the artifacts inside which was pretty cool. Then we walked up to the neighboring monastry and played with the CUTEST kittens ever :) They were probably about a week old and SO INSANELY cute :) :) :)

- When we first got here, we all pooled in Rs 1000   to the orphanage and this week we got to distribute what was bought with the money. Essentially, each child got a tshirt and a pair of underwear since apparently a shockingly low number of them have underwear. Sometimes I think what little they have is so telling of them; for example, the fact that I am able to recognize children each day because they're wearing the exact same thing never ceases to shock me a little bit each day. Or that they'll wear one outfit for a week, then change into another for a week, and then back to the original. And then you look at us, who are constanty wearing new clothes or whining about needing clean clothes (although to be fair, we've all gotten MUCH better and are really very good about not worrying about how clean our clothes are).

Alrightey, getting down to what I wanted to talk about. A few posts ago, I focused on Asha and her situation here and in general. I wanted to return to that as a way of talking about the issue of "servants" here. As I believe I mentioned in that last post, Asha is incredibly overworked and under appreciated. Rajiv decided that he really wanted us to take her out to town and buy her Western clothes (yes, she really did want western clothes, specifically dark wash skinny jeans). We went up to the owners wife (who I think truly hates us at this point) to ask if it would be possible to take Asha out any day or what day would be good. She told us, VERY PLAINLY, no. And made it clear that it would never be an option

It is truly shocking and appalling to see how they treat her (as all help is treated here). She is never given breaks, is underpaid, and sleeps in what is essentially a store room. She loves to sit and talk to us (especially Laura) about life and her English improves greatly by the day (she is obviously incredibly bright).

And the truth is, her situation is like SO many others. Rajiv and I had a long conversation about the problem of the caste system in India. One could argue that there is a similar situation in the States when you have people of 'lower classes' typically doing the type of work nobody else wants to do (janitorial work, cleaning, etc). However, here is the key difference; in the States, hired help is never treated as slaves or property. That is the only way that I can describe our landlords attitude towards Asha; they treat her as though she is their property. The fact that she wasn't allowed to make her own decision to go out with us, or that to give her a present we have to ask the landlords is truly just...incomprehensible to the all of us. Yesterday, we were talking about trying to find a masseuse and Asha overheard us and offered to do it as she finishes her daily jobs by approximately 6.30. She went to ask the landlords who told her that it wasn't possible, which is absolutely incomprehensible because she needs the additional income and she's finished with her daily duties by then. Luckily, I think Rajiv is serious about taking her to Delhi or Kalimpong when we leave to give her a better job and hopefully some more education.

A final, more positive (I think) story that I think will interest many of you. For many (if not all of us) visiting the doctor in the States is an incredible (expensive) hassle. Well, if you're ever sick of that, come to India. Last week I think I mentioned that Alex went to the doctor...a visit with the doctor cost Rs 10 (yes...that's approximately $0.25). His medicine? Rs. 210 or less than a copy of Harry Potter which cost us Rs 399. The downside? We went with Alex to get his Round 2 Rabies Shot yesterday...first of all, you have to buy your own medicine and needles (unsafe much?) and bring them into the office. The nurse is not wearing gloves, does not sanitize you really in any way and isn't wearing a mask (however, some patients in the waiting room were...), and essentially just takes the medicine you give her and gives it to you. So, for anyone complaining about costs, maybe it's made up in the sanitation? If you're okay with iffy sanitation (hey, nobody seems to get that sick from it!), the the price here is great :)

And on that note, a truly great goodnight to all of you :)

Lots of love,

Sara (who is still missing sushi very much)

Ps. If you wanted to donate money to getting medical supplies for the orphanage, don't forget to email me or Mama.

Reflections on Childhood

Alrightey, apologies for it being awhile since my last post...nothing very exciting has been happening here. I'll run through the basics and then get to the meat of this...

On Friday we hiked to the "View Point" which was a very nice hike with a beautiful view that was somewhat obstructed by the clouds. Honestly, Sikkim and this area in general is just incredibly, insanely gorgeous. It's lush and green and the views are to DIE for. Then we started walking back (originally, we were told hat it would be approximately 2km...then we found out (after walking for apprxomately 1km) that it would be more like 4-5km). As soon as we started walking, it began to POUR rain :) Many of you know just how much I love the rain, specifically dancing in it, so Claudia and I danced beautifully along the street. You literally couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of you because the rain was coming down so hard. Unfortunately, Anu and Rajiv forced us into a car to get us out of the rain. On the way home, I found a leech on my leg (in case you missed were I talked about this, there are blood-sucking leeches here) and screamed bloody murder until the kind man who was driving us got it off of me.

On Saturday, I was teasing wih Steven and Rebecca and jokingly mentioned that Alex might have rabies (he's been sick). Unfortuantey, Alex took this seriously and we had all of this drama because Alex was convinced that he actually had rabies. He went to the hospital on Sunday to be sure as well as to get the anti-rabies vaccine.

That's pretty much the sum of events until today. Today we walked down to the Tibetology center, then had lunch and then I went to the orphanage where I started watching Harry Potter with the kiddos. So onto some of my deeper observations here that I've been meaning to discuss.

Children- It truly never ceases to amaze me the universality of children. When you first meet the children at Lepcha Cottage, you're inclined to see them as "different" somehow, frequently better because they've survived hardship and don't have as many opportunities. But soon, you begin to realize that they are just like any other child you've met; some are loving and sweet, others hyperactive and overly energetic. Some are truly obnoxious and somewhat selfish, while others are giving and kind. Somehow, we, as a society, began to stereotype orphans and began to believe that being an orphan made a child something completely different. But I think that what the kids are teaching me (which is far more valuable than anything I can teach them) is the truth of human nature; that we all love, crave attention, can be selfish or can be kind. We aren't defined necessarily by our experiences, but by our common heritage of being homo sapiens. The fact that Harry Potter enthralls these kids here just as much as it enthralls spoiled children who have too much is a testament to what is truly buried most deeply within each and every one of us. Or perhaps more importantly, the fact that Harry Potter doesn't enthrall of the kids shows us that we are truly all the same. After all, there are a select few of us that don't love Harry Potter.

Alright, in the ever classic words of Tigger from "Winnie the Pooh", TTFN or ta-ta for now.

Lots of love from this sushi-missing kid,

Sara

Into the World of Wizards

Good evening everyone!

Well the past few days have been rather uneventful to be honest. I believe I mentioned in my last blog post that I was running a fever of 101.1...luckily with some sleep and wonderful chinese herbs (kudos to Mother for those) I felt fantastic the next day!

Yesterday began what I hope to be one of the most fruitful and rewarding parts of our trip- reading the children at Lechu Cottage Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. As demonstrated by the title, we are reading the British version, but we were also surprised to find out (post-purchase) that we are also reading the abridged version.

Unfortunately, the abridged version was simply not abridged enough (where are the children's book version of Harry Potter?!). But we are steadfastly determined to introduce the children to the wonderful world of Harry Potter that revoltionized our lives so much.

Back to relaying  how it's been going-- So we started yesterday. We had brought candy with us with the intention of giving each kid that answered a question candy. We quickly found that the first chapters of Harry Potter are incredibly boring as J.K. Rowling is essentially laying the groundwork for the storie (i.e describing the Dursley family etc). To entertain the kids as well as to help them understand, we alwasy have two of us acting it out (Claudia has started joining us on more of our orphanage adventures...not as many as we'd like but anything is great!) and then we stop every few sentences to try and explain it to the children. Anyone that can answer the questions gets a candy...unfortunately this means all of the candy goes to approximately 4 kids, and then we give 1 piece to everyone at the end.

Anyways, we thought that there had been a bad reception to Harry Potter, but when we returned today they were really excited about it and used all Harry Potter words for Hangman. We desperately spent the past day trying to find the first movie, but to no avail. It has been an impressively daunting task to be honest. Due to limited internet access/strength of internet it's incredibly hard to get. Hopefully Anu will be able to get it in Delhi if we don't get it before then...although we'd really prefer to find it before that so that we can show it to the kids as soon as possible. If anyone has any ideas, please email me!

Anyways that's all for tonight. Oh! There was just yet another tremor/aftershock in some form...guess we'll see what happens! Only one of us noticed it (Claudia) but the family upstairs is cowering in fear at the moment...oh silly newbies!

Goodnight from this experienced Cali Kid :)

XOXO

A Nice Story

As today has been a particularly uninteresting day for me (I'm home sick and doing nothing) I thought I'd share a little bit about the maid here, who has been telling me bits and pieces of her life for the past few days.

Asha comes from a peasant family in another state of India; when telling me about her home, she drew imaginary lines in the spacious living room we were in to show how much smaller her home is than the home she now works in. Her home is a one room house, approximately 15x15 feet (at most). Her father died (recently I believe but I'm not sure) and she was sent to work here, for our landlords. Asha is twenty years old, with a younger brother who is fourteen and working in Delhi right now trying to make more money to support the family. She misses her mother, who is only 35, very, very much and who she is only able to see for a few weeks each year. She reached Level 5 in schooling (the matriculation test is taken at Level 10) and is trying to study so that she can eventually take the matriculation testing. She carries one photograph of her and her mother taken recently, which is the only link she really has with home. She sometimes is able to call home but not frequently.

When asked, she says that she doesn't really like her life here very much, but she must continue to work to support her family. She said that after her father died, life became even harder. She doesn't hear from her brother very much and has been to Delhi only once to visit him.

I recently heard a statistic that said that more people in India live in one room houses than have televisions. I thought this especially poignant after talking to Asha.

Anyways, on that note, have a great day/night :)

XOXOX.

The World's A Shakin'

(NOTE: This was written at 8AM on Monday Sep 19)

Hello there!

I'm sure by now, news of the earthquake in India has reached the States (or you heard from my mother or someone else about it). In case you can't tell or haven't heard yet, I am totally alright. As is everyone else in the group. A few quick details about the earthquake before I relate our experience with it.

- It was a magnitude 6.8 earthquake with an epicenter approxiately 42mi away from Gangtok.

- According to recent news (and it's very possible this number will change), there are 5 dead and 33 injured in Sikkim (the larger state in which we are in). According to news related to me by my mother, 5 buildings have fallen in Gangtok...we're still unsure about number of injuries etc.

- We approximate that the quake hit us around 6.45pm, with two aftershocks (that we didn't feel because we were walking) coming within 15 minutes and then a smaller one at about 3am.

Fun fact- As a result of the shifting of the plates, the Himalayas are even higher!

So now to the story...

Yesterday we were supposed to go to Lepchu cottage (the orphanage) around 1, but due to not feeling well/being lazy, we didn't end up making it to lunch until 3.15 and didn't make it to the orphanage until about 5, which is when they are in "prayer time" and then dinner. Laura wasn't feeling well, so she had stayed behind in town to write some letters and then was going to meet us at home.

We waited for the kids to finish eating dinner, and then the 3's and 4's wanted to read and play Hangman, so the younger kids went upstairs to the playroom and did coloring pages, thoughtfully (and beautifully) drawn by the lovely Claudia :) So, Alex and I were in a small first-floor library, while Steven, Claudia, Rebecca and Rajiv were on the fourth floor with the youngest kids.

We were in the middle of a Hangman game when the quake hit. Embarassingly for a California girl, I didn't realize what was going on at first. When we finally realized what was going on, we made the kids duck down (by now the power had gone out and  we couldn't see anything) and we did our best to cover their heads. Alex had his phone (mine is still MIA and yet to be found) so we used the "torch" function to light up the room so they kids would be less scared. After about 30-40 seconds, the shaking stopped (luckily nothing large had fallen down, just a few books) and Ms. Keepu (the woman who runs the orphanage) had come in with a large light for us. She told us that in her 70 years living in this area, she had never felt an earthquake, especially one of this magnitude.

We gathered all the kids in the courtyard and waited for the young 'uns to come down. When our group came down, they related to us how the building had literally shook and they could feel the top floor moving back and forth. A lot of the younger kids were really scared so we started singing. I think we sang every kids song you can possibly imagine to try and get their minds off of it and to stop them from talking to each other and getting more scared. There were quite a few kids crying, so we did our best to comfort them. Rajiv was trying to get hold of Laura, but all of the phone lines were jammed with people trying to make calls and he couldn't get throgh. After a little while, we left, as we needed to get home and make sure Laura was alright.

On our way back, one of the aftershocks hit and we're fairly sure we heard one of the buildings crack, but it was behind us so we're unsure if that was real or just our imaginations running away with us :) It was very difficult to get a taxi, so when we finally got one (after 20+ min of walking) Rajiv sent Steven, Rebecca, Alex and I back so that we could reach Laura first and make sure all was well. All was well, and we returned to the house to find everyone sitting outside, enjoying a few drinks (we bought a bottle of vodka on the way home and poured ourselves drinks as well). Rajiv and Claudia soon returned and we were all united again :)

Apologies for the delay in posting this (I wrote it ASAP) but the internet/cell lines etc are down and not sufficient at the moment.

As an event like this always reminds us to do, I want to say again that I love each and every one of you very much.

XOXO

Sara

PostScript: I am officially deathly ill with a 101.1 fever. We went to see the orphans today, and there was MINOR damage to the building, and everyone is fine :) The kids weren't even too shook up about it to be honest :)

Getting Caught Up

Hello everyone,

Apologies for the massive delay in postings. I've been fairly sick the past two days with a throat thing (unfortunately, I think it's a mixture of exhaustion and the orphanage) so I've been pretty exhausted at night and not really in a "writing" mood. So I'll do my best to summarize the past few days!

On Friday, we had originally planned to do a 6hr hike (3hrs there, 3hrs back) to a "local" monastary, but when confronted with the waking up at 7am, few people got up. This was when I started to feel really sick (horrible sore throat) so I backed out and went back to sleep. They decided to postpone the hike until a later date when we would all be up for it. Instead, a few people went out on a shorter hike to a monastary (I continued to sleep). I woke up around 1030, and sat around with Alex, Rebecca and Steven until about 1 when we had a lighter lunch. After that, we decided to go into town for a few things. Steven wanted to get some shorts, Rebecca needed a few cardigans and Alex and I wanted to get a whiteboard for the orphanage to play Hangman on.

It was raining like crazy (it's been raining for the past 2.5 days nonstop) so after walking about 1/4 of the way into town we decided to take a taxi (it cost a whole 15rupees each, or about 30cents). We were enticed by a restaurant that offered "Pizza with Pizzazz" and decided to try it. We're all starting to crave our favorite foods (for me it's sushi, which I would NOT under any circumstances get here. Or a salad), and beginning to miss our "normal" foods just a bit. So we went and shared a small pizza with mushroom, banana pancakes and fries. The pizza was overly sweet in my opinion, and Steven pointed out that it tasted a little "packaged". I tried a bite of banana pancake (that Alex kindly tried (and failed) to pick the banana pieces out of) and thought it was okay, and the fries were alright. All in all, our attempts at western food fell a little flat but was worth the adventure. Not sure if I'd mentioned this before, but one day while waiting for everyone else, Alex and I stopped at "Gangtalk" and had bruschetta and a veggie sandwhich thing which were actually REALLY good. Laura and Claudia said that  they stopped there and had something similar and really liked it as well. "Gangtalk" is our closest relative to our deeply desired Western food.

Anyways, after that Alex and I grabbed our whiteboard and went on our merry way to the orphanage. The kids were, as always, delighted to see us. The only negative that we continue to run into is that because Ms. Keepu wants us to focus on working with the Level 3/4 students (apprx. 20+ students), when there's just two of us we can't really spend time with all the younger kids who really want to spend time with us. Every day we come, they ask "where all the missus?" because they realize that we probably can't play with them. Additionally, the 3/4's police the "library" to make sure none of the younger kids come in. Alex and I find it very difficult because we want to give the younger kids attention but by the time we get there, the older kids are ready to read with us. Additionally, playing with the younger kids is more draining/difficult for us because they aren't as disciplined (as they've never been to school), so being with the essentially means running around in circles desperately trying to keep up with them. We're trying to find an activity to do with them, but with only two of us for the 30+ kids, it's very difficult.

I think the funniest part of working with the older kids though is the lengths to which they will go to make us stay. We can hear all of the younger kids upstairs praying and then going to dinner or even getting ready for bed, and we'll ask "Is it dinnertime?" and get a resounding (frequently screamed) "NO" in response. The kids love working with us and showing off their reading skills so much that they're willing to put off dinner, which I find truly amazing.

After reading for awhile with them, we decided to head home around 6. We finally got back (hoping we'd missed the Hindi lesson, only to find out it hadn't happened) and had dinner with everyone. After dinner, we played Scrabble which (no surprise here) Alex won, as he has every game we've played. We brainstormed with the other kids some games for the younger kids, and Claudia decided to draw some very basic pictures which we'll photocopy on the way into town to make coloring pages and have the kids color. The problem we run into with the younger kids is that they're so excited to show off anything they do or know that they don't want to learn from us or have us show them anything. So this is a way to keep them under control (not running around like maniacs) but allow them to show off somethin they'e done. I think on the way into town today, Alex and I are going to pick up our Harry Potter books (which have officially arrived) so that we can start reading them with the kids. We're also going to try and find some large posterboard to make a "star chart" for the kids so that anyone who reads a paragraph or explains a paragraph gets a star, and we'll give out prizes later. Rajiv also came up with the idea that we should ask Ms. Keepu how she'd feel about us taking 12 kids every few days down to the market to show them a fun time. Maybe buy them ice cream or take them to the small (SMALL) arcade...just get them out of the house for some "alone" time. We'll see how that goes.

Anyways, sorry for the rambling...I guess I just like the talk!

Lots of love,

Sara

Singin' in the Rain

Wednesday, Sept. 13th- Hello, hello, hello. So after a lazy day at home yesterday because we were all sick, we ventured out into the real world yet again. Alex, Steven, Rebecca and I left a little later than the rest of the group (who had to go to the post office etc) and we decided to go a different way (not through the deathly stairs and the incredibly steep climb), but got lost...what a surprise. Eventually we found our way and met up with everyone and had lunch at Hotel Tibet (our new favorite lunch place!) and chowed down. Unfortunately, everyone still isn't feeling GREAT so we mostly just nibbled at our food. However, I had the most DELICIOUS peanut dish (I don't know the name) EVER. It tasted like popcorn. Then we all headed up towards either painting or the orphanage (just Alex and me at the orphanage).

Alex and I had decided yesterday that we would play Hangman with the kids today to help teach them English words in a fun way...it was a little hellish...the kids werent exactly into the idea of sitting down and playing and were running around screaming. Eventually we went downstairs to their library (we had been in the play room) and it was a little better in there. At that point we only had the older kids. Then we divided them up (between me and Alex) and read one-on-one with them. That was far more productive although I made the mistake of letting each child read on full 'book' to me which took WAY too long....only got through about three kids :/ Alex had the right idea though, which was reading one book all together and having the kids take turns. 5.20 or so was dinnertime for them, so Alex and I ventured home, going through the "shortcut" when it was pitchblack which was incredibly scary and sketchy because we were using the light of our phone which really is NOT substantial enough for that kind of thing. When we got back, we just waited for everyone and then we had dinner...very exciting! Then we all sat around...played some Scrabble...got killed by Alex who is disgustingly good at Scrabble. Then Alex, Steven, Rebecca and I ended up staying up till 1AM (actually they were up til apprx. 2) chatting the night away.

Thursday, Sept. 14th- So today we all woke up a little late...whooops! We had breakfast, then were suprised by our Hindi teacher...yet again. Unfortunately, only four of us were there for the lesson as two of us continue to ditch (coughcough). Then we decided to edit our schedule for the week as we all wanted a day or two off a week so that we could go out and hike around the area etc. So we ended up with a little less Hindi (yay!).

We left around two for town (three of us went on the "shortcut" and the other 5 went on the "longcut" as we call). We got "South Indian" food (DOSAS!) at a local restaurant...which unfortunately has not made my stomach feel any better. Unfortuantely, that meant that we didn't leave for the orphanage until 4pm, so we took a taxi up there. The kids were SO excited! The older kids started asking about 'Hangman' as soon as we showed up so Alex and I started with the older kids, while everyone else worked with the younger kids upstairs in the playroom. It was incredible :) After a few rounds of great Hangman, we started reading with the kids. Alex and I decided yesterday that our project with the kids would be to read through the first Harry Potter book with them, and have them understand it. What we've found is that a lot of the kids can read english but they don't actually know what they're reading (like how I can read Spanish but I don't necessarily know what I'm saying). We're really excited to start it and we special ordered two copies of the first book from a local bookstore.

Then we began the journey home...in the POURING RAIN. It took us over an hour to get home and we were drenched from head to toe. By the end, we were jumping in puddles just for the hell of it and not caring. I had forgotten an umbrella so I was bumming off other people but I eventually just gave up and got soaking wet. THe other upside of our journey home was that we were singing 90s/Disney music at the TOP of our lungs. It was thriling. Then we came home and had a dance party which (as I'm sure you all know) I loved. I got to work my crayzay dance skills (don't tell me you don't remember) and got all my energy out.

Anyways, ttfn, thats all for now! :)

Lots of love,

Sara

This is a big one...

Hello everyone,

Many apologies for not posting recently. We've had a bit of an issue with internet (the 4000m of internet that was linked to this house was reently stolen and it'll take awhile for the wire to get replaced). So below is a post from each day that I hadn't been able to upload before...enjoy! There are also new pictures in the slideshow for you to enjoy :)

Wednesday, Sept 7th-- So this morning, we flew to Bangore (left at 11 from New Delhi) and arrived at approximately 1pm. We had lunch at a restaurant in the airport (supposed to be a very good/favorite restaurant actually). I had Alu Matar, which means potatoes and peas. It was delish :) Then we drove for an ungodly amount of time to get to Gangtok. We left Bangora around 1.45/2ish, and arrived here around 8ish. Part of that is because the roads are terrible, so it takes much longer to get anywhere, despite the crazy driving and zigzagging the drivers do. Part of that was an hour+ spent getting more forms filled out so we could be in Gangtok (do you see a theme here?) though which was yet another frustrating process hahah.

Finally we arrived at the house. We are living in the bottom part of a family home (so the family lives upstairs). We are two to a bedroom (4 bedrooms total) and they provide our meals. We have a very interesting shower contraption that I've never seen before...not quite sure how we'll be showering yet but I guess we'll figure it out. The one major problem we're running into right now is internet. A few weeks ago, someone stole the 4000m internet cable that runs to this house...unforutnatley, it will be very costly and take about a month to fix so until then, there is no WiFi. We're going to try and get little plug in things so that we can email, but no Skype/video chatting for the time being. Just email. So that really sucks and is somewhat contributing to some homesickness on my part :/ But, so it goes.

A quick drive through Gangtok in the dark revealed that it is definitely a bigger city than I imagined. It is at least a medium sized city (it's the capital of Sikkim actually) and there seem to be quite a few people. There's even a mall! Woohoo! I think...

Tomorrow we will explore Gangtok and I will report back.

Thursday, Sept 8th-- Hello, hello everyone :) Today was a very chill day. For the first time since arrival, we were allowed to sleep in as late as we wanted. We woke up and had breakfast here. The house is sort of like a bed and breakfast that we've taken over..we live in the bottom half of the house. It's two people to a room and there is a bathroom per room. There's a common room (where we do yoga, read, play cards etc) and  little dining room where they provide meals for us :) They have the CUTEST little kid who loves to come and talk to us :)

Anyways, today was quite a full day! I'll do my best to hit everything we did, although definitely not necessarily in the right order. We ventured out along the "shortcut"...a hellish adventure along incredibly wet and mossy stairs that make you think you'll fall for sure. It lands you in the outskirts of town, so we walk in from there. If it's nighttime and raining, we (kids) tend to opt for a taxi because at that time of night it's pitch black and incredibly steep and slippery...and we're lazy! :) Plus, a taxi here is approximately $2-3 to get home so it's worth it.

So, we were walking up the path, heading for the orphanage (Lepchu cottage, run by Ms. Keepu) to say hello, when we realized we'd be incredibly late for our appointment with Ms. Keepu if we didn't take a taxi, so we taxi-ed up. Ms. Keepu is the cutest old lady you have ever seen. She was a teacher and she started taking in kids. Eventually, she received funding from an NGO in Sweden so that she could take in over 200 kids. The kids were at school when we went so we couldn't see them :( Afterwards, we went and had a cup of tea down the street. An interesting note on the tea here- after travelling in China and Vietnam, I expected tea to be herbal (maybe similar to green tea as we are only 51km from China), but due to British influences, the tea is black tea, served with milk and sugar...quite disappointing! We've all starting asking for it without milk as we prefer it that way to be honest.

After the tea, we went to lunch at a Tibetian restaurant that was DELICIOUS :) We were able to try Sikkim wine, which is incredibly sweet. Then we wandered around the market. We all bought umbrellas (apprx. R200 a piece...$4), and got set up with phones. In case anyone would like to call or text me, dial 091.834.817.4068. If that doesn't work, call Mom and have her tell you how to do it! We all got the cheapest phone possible, so we get confused because we all have the exact same phone. Then we just wandered around the mall, doing nothing in particular. It was, unfortunately, on this day that I received the worst blisters of my entire life (later, I'd have to take a taxi home because I couldn't walk). The shops were nice, but there's nothing particularly "thrilling". I later asked the housekeeper about places to get jewelery and such, and she said not to waste our time here but to get it in Nepal where there will be a much better (and cheaper) selection). We met our Hindi teacher in a coffee shop and chatted for awhile. He's very nice and VERY passionate about teaching (you can tell). Then we walked to the home of our Thangka painting teacher. He is very well known around the world and incredibly kind and friendly. After that, we went home and rested :)

A few quick observations-

1) The stark difference between native Tibetian/Bhutanese and the Indians is incredibly obvious. Although all are "Asian", the Indians are much darker and have completely different facial features. You can even tell when someone is the product of a mixed marriage due to their facial features. Apparently, much of the Indians are only here due to Business, hence why the majority of people are Bhutanese/Tibetian.

2) The streets are covered in tiny little shops that all sell the exact same thing. We're all wondering how it's possible that all of these shops can survive when they literally have the EXACT same things.

Nighty night ;)

Friday September 9th-- Each day, we patiently await the arrival of the internet...Rajiv had his friend order little plug ins from Kalimpoong (about 2.5 hrs driving away). Anu's cousin may bring them...we're not sure yet.

Anyways, we had our first Hindi lesson today...T.H.R.E.E H.O.U.R.S. Oh.my.god. Remember how I said he was passionate? Oh, he's passionate! He showed up 30 minutes early andhe wouldn't  stop talking. Also, Hindi is the most ridiculousy impossible language to learn. The first step is to just learn the letters-- I have bad news...my vocal chords literally cannot make half of those noises. Not really sure what to do...Plus, nobody in this area speaks Hindi anyways...they speak Nepalese or Bengali or Lepchu, the language of the local peoples. So what's the point? Not sure. Then the Thankga teacher came over to give us a picture of a lotus that we're supposed to sketch by Monday...I believe that anyone reading this probably already knows that I lack all artistic talent. All. So we'll see...

After that, some people went into town, but as it was raining and a lazy day and my feet were not happy (see: blisters) I stayed here with Steven and we just played cards for hours :) A very nice and relaxing day to be honest.

Saturday September 10th- Today was probably one of the best days so far. We had Hindi in the morning, but luckily today it only lasted for 1.5 hours...thank GOD. But still...boring. It's just incredibly difficult to learn and I can't remember anything two minutes after we learn it. Alas. Then we did our first yoga lesson :) Anu is a certified yoga teacher and led us through a very, VERY basic yoga and meditation session in our living room :)

Afterwards, we had lunch and then set off for Lepchu cottage. Let me tell you, I am IN LOVE with these children . I'm trying to get pictures up for everyone, but Mom can send you pictures if you want them. We started off just with the youngest ones, who weren't at school yet. We were playing on the beds, making them fortune tellers out of paper running around...it was great. These kids are just SO CUTE. Then the older kids came and they were just in love with us. It felt like we'd only been there an hour but Anu and Rajiv informed us that we'd been there over 3 hours. The kids were climbing all over us and when we started to make origami cranes, boxes, and fortune tellers (my specialty) the kids were lining up, tearing pages out of their books so we would make it for them. I can't tell you how many homework pages I folded into fortune tellers.

Once we were finally torn away, we went into town for "Ladies Night" at "Gangtalk Bar and Restaurant". For the record, "Ladies Night" started at noon...it definitely was not a very exciting scene. Afterwards, we made our way home (but not before finally finding ice cream! We'd been craving true western desserts). Again, we sat around, played cards etc :)

Sunday September 11th- Starting on the semi-somber note of it being Sept. 11th (one of the few reasons I really wish I was in the States right now), half of our group has fallen ill. Yesterday Rebecca fell incredibly ill, followed by Alex today, Laura, myself and Claudia a little as well. It's not pretty :( But, it's to be expected as we all knew we'd have to get sick at some point! Hopefully I can' use my spaghetti soon...for those of you who don't know, everyone made fun of me for my insane overpacking (2 lbs of spaghetti, 5 boxes of protein bars, the most insane medical kits ever). However, my insane overpacking has been to my advantage as I have been able to provide everyone with something thus far on this trip. They're all coming to appreciate it more than they'll even admit. Anyways, off of my rant.

We went to see the orphans again today. Oh goodness. I cannot express my feelings for them adequately. I'll ty to fill in a few details I failed to mention yesterday...so today we arrived and they were in "song" session upstairs. As soon as we walked in, you could see them light up and get excited and no longer pay attention to their music session. After a little while we sat down with them, officially ending song session. Laura had brought stuff to make friendship bracelets, assuming that they would make them for themseves...nope. They refused to take them, demanding that we take them. I came in at a meager total of 6. Steven came in at a grand total of 15 rings, 3 bracelets and 1 proposal. One of the girls came up to him, took all of the rings off his left hand ring finger, and put one on there saying "I want a June wedding." CUTEST THING EVER!! :)  He was quite loved by the little girls. Then we ran around and played with them. Laura and Claudia got some stylish hair styling from the girls- I escaped thanks to my incredibly frizzy hair. Later I went down to work with some of the older girls on their English. I've found its a little difficult to explain an unknown word in English if I don't know Lepchu or Nepalese, as I just continue to add unknown words. But then, the little boys I'd been playing with slowly started creeping into the room. First I could just see their heads around the door, then they slowly crept towards me, then ran back outside. Then they'd come and hurriedly tie a bracelet around my wrist, and dart back out. Finally, they just came and settled next to me and let me read to them. Seriously, the kids are SO CUTE. Unfortunately, due to sanitation etc, a lot of them have sores on their arms because they've picked at scabs etc and they've been infected. We're trying to figure out what causes a of it to see if we can do anything about it, but so far we dont know. Also, compared to yesterday they smelled much better (yesterday there was a pervasive scent of pee lingering) so I assume they showered for Sunday.

Today, one of the girls told me a joke. She said, "A man came to India and threw a watch in the lake. Everyone around him said 'What are you doing?! That was R200!' and he said 'I come from China, we have too many of these.'. Another man came and threw a hat in the lake. Everyone said "What are you dong?! That was R250" and he said 'I'm from Japan! We have too many of these'. Then an Indian man came and threw a child in the lake. They said 'What are you doing?! That's a child' and he said 'I'm from India...we have too many of these"' I definitely wasn't sure what to say in this situation. I just pretended to half laugh while secretlyl freaking out. The same girl also showed me the most provacative dance I've ever seen a child that young do (it was based on Bollywood dancing). Shocking to be sure.

We wrapped up the day with a nice Indian movie ("Three Idiots") which was really funny and cute.

Monday Sept 12th- What a beautiful day! For the first time in QUITE awhile, we had sunshine! We all did our 'undergarment' laundry (having sent our laundry off the day before to be washed...it takes apprx. 3 days give or take due to the rain/humidity) and laid it out in the sun. Our porches were quite the site to be had. Before breakfast, we did a quick yoga class...and then our Hindi teacher arrived in the middle of the class. Anu had misread the schedule she made for us and told us we didn't have Hindi, but he had read it properly and came. So we quickly finished yoga and had breakfast and then started our Hindi. I seriously wonder sometimes if we'll ever get the hang of it. My vocal chords CANNOT make the sounds that he so desperately wants me to make. Additionally, all of the script looks the same...hopefully we'll get the hang of it soon, but to be honest I'm not so positive. After Hindi, we had lunch and then we all set off. Anu, Rajiv, Laura and Rebecca went to the Thankgu painter's house for lessons, Alex and I went to the orphanage (not sure if I mentioned this earlier but we decided that considering our utter lack of artistic skills, our time would be better spent with the children), and Claudia and Steven stayed behind because they were sick. This has become an unfortunate theme this week, with at least one person staying behind each day because they're not feeling well. It's a mixture of stomach issues and fevers and such..not pretty! 

So we set off for the orphanage. We walked about halfway (all uphill) but we were running pretty late and we didn't want to make the kids wait so we wound up taking a cab (that cost us a grand total of R50...apprx $1.10) and walking the very last little bit. The kids were THRILLED to see us. We played tag for awhile in their upstairs play room, and then read to them. We were exhausted from all of the playing...those kids have WAY too much energy for us! It's crazy! The only problem we're running into is that it's difficult to organize them all (especially when there's just two of us) and it's hard to get them to understand the rules of something because they are so young and speak such little English and we speak NO Nepalese/Lepchu/Bengali. But we still had a great time :) The older kids came back by around 4, but we were too exhausted (and they definitely weren't interested) to do English tutoring with them. We talked to Ms. Keepu who has asked us to work with the older kids on English and essentially just play with the young-uns. We decided to try and organize a play (Beauty and the Beast) for the kids to help teach them English and have something constructive for them to do. (Although anyone reading this...if you have suggestions for what to do with a bunch of energetic, Kindergarten age children PLEASE TELL ME!!)

So Alex and I walked down to the village because we were all planning on going to the festival there. Everyone was supposed to be done with their lesson by 4, but they didn't end up coming down until closer to 6. Unfortunately, it didn't matter as the festival was being broken down when we got there at 4. So Alex and I spent some time at the internet cafe and then went up to "Gangtalk" (our new favorite place hahah) and got something to nibble on and some cool drinks. Then we came home and reveled in the newest toy...INTERNET! Thank god! Unfortunately, it seems Skype-ing won't be an option and my tablet doesn't work with the type of internet we have...all negatives. But everyone is being very kind and allowing me access to their computers! 

Tuesday Sept 13th- This will be the shortest post ever as it has been an incredibly boring day and you have already read SO much if you've reached this point. Essentially, none of us are feeling well so we just sat around all day. My overpacking came in handy because we used my spaghetti for lunch! Delicious.

Lots of love and apologies for the incredibly long post!!

Sara :)

XOXOs

Internet Achieved!

Hello all!
Apologies for no posts over the last week...as soon as we arrived in Gangtok we discovered that we had no internet at the house. Rajiv has been working around the clock to get us USB plug ins for internet and today we finally got them! I just wanted to quickly put something up to say that all is well. I have posts for the past few days all lined up, I just need to secure a USB Flash Drive to transfer them onto someone else's computer (unfortutnately, my fancy tablet technology failed me and I have to resort to using someone else's computer. Ahk!)

Anyways, TONS more to come soon. Love and kisses,

Sara

A Day with Indian Red Tape

Full day number two in Delhi-
Today was also not an incredibly exciting day to describe...we went again to the government offices. Yet again, Rajiv had a highly placed friends (it's great to have someone connected!) and we were able to cut down ou time there to only about 2 hours. Imagine the DMV only 10x more frustating! We filled out more ridiculous forms and waited to get approval. Finally, we got a handwritten note in each of our passports that says we are allowed to reenter the country in December. How exciting! ;) Rajiv was explaining to us how corrupt the Indian government is...although it has gotten better apparently. There is still a lot of paying off and a lot of bribing that happens. After our adventures in the office, Rajiv took us to meet Anu's mother who was incredible. At 77 she wakes up every morning at 4am for her walk goes to a class on 'discovering herself' and is full of energy!

After that we drove to a local mall area to go to lunch. We had Indian "rolls" which was somewhat like a tortilla with spicy eggs/chicken (eggs for me) and veggies inside. DELICIOUS :) In general, we've been eating really well. In the morning we have toast, an oatmeal/cereal-like thing, iced sweet coffee, lassi, fruit and some form of protein (eggs, sausage etc). For lunch the past two days we've been out and about (listed earlier) and for dinner we've had various dishes. The first night, we had a lentil dish with rice that was meant to test our tolerance for spice :) Last night we had dumplings and soup. All of those have been prepared by Rajiv and Anu's staff. Their staff is truly incredible, getting us drinks, cooking, preparing cars etc. They're really nice. There are two boys and two girls that work here.

After lunch, we went to some local shops for about 30 min with Anu (Rajiv's wife) who showed us some of the local fashions and told us to get an idea of what we wanted and then she had a friend who could make it for half the price. We looked at some jewelry and such as well. And now, we are back in the room, half of the group is taking an afternoon nap I believe, and the rest of us are just hanging out a little.

A few notes on the characters in this adventures...
Rajiv- the man that started this program after his daughter (Anchu) decided to take a gap year but couldn't find a program she liked. He raised Anchu as a single father and she is now in her 3rd year at Harvard. He is incredibly nice and kind and open. He serves as our "banker"...we gave him all the cash we brought with us and he gives us rupees and keeps track of the money for us. He is great to talk to and super friendly!
Anu- Rajiv's wife...they married about four years ago. She has three sons, one of whom is getting married in October (we met his wife-to-be...she's fantastic!). Anu is very fashionable and incredibly kind and welcoming as well. She's a yoga teacher and will lead our yoga in Gangtok. She's very interesting to talk to, and we all had a great conversation yesterday about Buddhism.
Laura- from Manhattan, she went to the UN International School.
Steven- from Conneticut.
Claudia- from North Carolina, but went to boarding shool outside Philly.
Alex- from Northern California.
Rebecca- from New York as well.

I think that pretty much sumarizes anything exciting here. Tomorrow morning at 11am we'll fly to Kalimpur and then drive to Gangtok! I'll post as soon as possible!

All my love,
Sara :)

Driving the Wrong Way on the Right Side of the Road

so begins the Indian adventures....but from the beginning...
I got in last night from London at about 11pm local time, and finally exited (bags and such in hand) at around 12:15am. Alex (from Northern California) and Laura (from Manhattan) had avery kindly cohsen to wait for me at the airport with Rajiv. We then boarded a taxi and made our way home...and what a beautiful home! They have a gorgeous, just built home outside of New Delhi. Unfortunately, we're only here two days but we here for two days, but we hear the house in Gangtok is truly incredible as well. We were all up until about 2am (we didn't get back to the house until approxiatley 1am) getting settled, showering, eating etc. Rajiv and his wife Anu are incredible, taking extreme steps to help make sure we don't get sick, trying to do as much as possible for us in general.

This morning, we journeyed out to get a special visa stamp...quite an ordeal. Even though Rajiv had a highly placed friend in the office, it still took us almost four hours to get the papers filed. Tomorrow, we must return to yet ANOTHER office to get the actual stamps done. As it was easier for us to just sit outside, we people watched. Apparently, if you're Pakistani or Afghani, you have to register within 12 hours of landing in India, and every time you change cities you have to let the police know each time...very interesting! Rajiv gave us 1000 rupees to go get a soda (apprx. $25...obviously we barely spent any of that as a soda is approximately 20 rupees). We got propositioned (if you will) by a drive of one of the automatic rickshaws (imagine an old rickshaw + a motorbike) who wanted to take us to a market/bazaar not far away...unfortunately we had to decline as we weren't sure when Rajiv would be done...but Rajiv has promised us we will go tomorrow!

For lunch, we went to the mall for "Southern Indian" food, which was delicious! We all shared a variety of dishes, including doshas...all of them were delicious. Then we came back and we've all been lounging around here...took a quick nap and now we're just hanging out! Rajiv detailed out the trek for us, which was VERY exciting!

Now getting ready for dinner and then bedtime  I assume/hope! Anyways a few general notess...
1) There are four servants in the house which I still find disconcerting. At first I was a little shocked at it, but then Rajiv explained that really, it offers people with minimal education a steady job. Additionally, Rajiv and Anu take responsbility for the schooling of all of the children of their staff, which I think is incredibly respectable.

2) There's a very interesting contrast in the living situation here. Where we "live" is a nicer area and there is a lot of construction going on. As a result, the construction workers and their families live in shacks outside these gorgeous homes, without toilets or water really. You see little children wandering around half (or fully) naked, and mothers cooking on the side of the street.

3) It is not strange at all to see a cow or donkey or stray dog in the street. Or frogs in the house. It's completely accepted as normal and not a surprise.

Finally, the explanation of the title of this post...in order to cut down on time, it is incredibly normal to drive on the right side of the road instead of the left to avoid taking a u-turn, or just because it's faster. VERY disconcerting at first.

Anyways, all my love, XOXOXOOX

Sara

"Woke Up in London Yesterday..."

Hello, hello,
Apologies for a lack of a post yesterday...after  a very long day and late return, it was bed time! So, from the beginning...
Yesterday:
Woke up pretty late (around noon) so didn't get out of the house til close to two (watched Scrubs before leaving!). Got into London and wandered through the Traflagar Square/Picadilly Square area. I went ot the National Portraid Museum, which was very interesting- lots of portraits dating way back in English history, and lots of modern photographs as well. After that, I made my way through Chinatown and SoHo (the gay area, already teeming with people at the clubs/bars by 5). Then I met up with Mike and we walked to meet Renee near the theater for Legally Blonde. We grabbed some quick sushi for dinner and then went to the pub for a quick drink before the play.

If anyone reading this has ever considered seeing Legally Blonde, and decided not to- you made the WORST decision ever. It was incredible! It is so much fn and engaging and you smile throghout the entire thing and come out smiling and singing along! LOVED IT! All three of us did, and that's really saying something!

Today, Renee and I left around 10.30 for Notting Hill and Portobello Market. Portobello is essentially a huge antique/clothing/EVERYTHING imagineable street market. There was cutlery, antique bags, secondhand clothes, and food. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! So cute! If I hadn't been going on to India, I would have spent all my money there! It was incredible! Would gladly go back. Anywyas, then we came back here (via 3 buses, 2 trains) and rested :) We had a LOVELY dinner here that Renee made (DELICIOUS) and are now just resting and watching TV.

Anyways, I'm off to India tomorrow morning early! My next post will be from the beautiful land of India.

LOVE ALWAYS,
Sara :)

PS. Photos below from my day at Traflagar Sq.

Lost in London II

Well, if I thought getting lost in Kingston was bad yesterday, it was nothing to my forays in London today.

But from the beginning...
Woke up around 10.15 (after being up until 3.30 readiing "The Help" and then couldn't fall asleep until about 4.30). Took a shower and had my breakfast (tea and toast with Marmite again) and got ready to go out. Went to the Kingston train station where I got a day pass and jumped on a trainn around 12.30 for Waterloo station in London. It was a rather non exciting half hour journey, with lots of frustrating solitaire :)

Got to Waterloo and walked along South Bay Rd. (along the river) to get to the Tate Museum (modern art). It was a GORGEOS walk...the sun has finally come out in London and here was a festival going on so there were tons of families and cool artsy things to look at along the way. A note on the food: in general, British food has always been very heavy and not neccessarily healty (or my favorite at all to be honest). However, on this trip I've found that the London dining scene has drastically changed...there is much  more fresh vegetables and the food has been incredible!

Anyways, walked through the Tate, then crossed the Millenium bridge in a desperate atempt to find WiFI to video-chat with my lovely parental units :) Finally found some at Pret Manger (WHICH IS EVERYWHERE IN LONDON. Along with Starbucks and Costa) that lasted a grand total before cutting out. So I spent the rest of the day wandering around London (I still have no idea where I was to be honest...neither did Renee at first, she had to look up the cross streets I texted her). Eventually, I managed to find my way back and met Renee and Mike for dinner in Picadilly Square (actually we ate along the River). We went to the pub first and then onto Wagamamas, where Renee and Mike had taken the Linssen clan on our visit almost 5 years ago. It was delicious as always :) All in all, quite a fun day. Mike, Renee and I are going to see Legally Blonde tomorrow night (their treat...so nice!) so that should be exciting! Not entirely sure yet what I'll do with my Friday but we shall see!

XOXOXOXO
Sara

PS. Below, a few pictures from my day :) Views of London from the rooftop Cafe at Tate, the art and crowd along the River for the Festival