Guardian Angels...

Ok, so I have officially been home now for a full 36 hours and I am barely starting to feel human again! I am still battling a terrible cold and stomach issues... but I am grateful to be here. Today is my birthday and on one hand... it's the worst birtday ever (jetlag, exhaustion, illness, no voice, having to work) but on the other hand it is the BEST birthday ever because I am HOME safe and sound! There was a very real possibility that I was going to have to spend my birthday sleeping on the floor of London Heathrow. So the mere fact that I am home is enough to make this the best birthday ever!!! Plus people at my work went out of their way to make me know how important my birthday was. My group supervisees brought me an apple pie and sang Happy Birthday. My fellow supervisors brought a delicious pear tart and I got to blow out a candle. And my individual supervisees sent me a card telling me that a donation had been made by all of them in my honor to Habitat For Humanity. WOW!!!! On the way home from work, I heard the song Dancing Queen and was immediately taken back to the bus ride to the Taj Mahal and how I'd gotten some of my fellow teammates to have a dance party in the bus aisle to ABBA... what a sweet memory!

Now that I've have a day to process the trauma of my trip home... and in order to work through some of my PTSD... I am going to share with you all the joys of coming home from India. On Friday night I learned that my flight from India would be delayed. I was stressed because it would mean I only have one hour to catch my flight in London. I also was feeling really ill as I had caught a terrible cold and throat infection/cough. Luckily a few of my teammembers stayed up with me to cheer me up and keep me company. I left for the airport just after midnight and spent the night trying not to fall asleep in the terminal. I ended up getting a row of seats all to myself and slept about 5 hours of the 8 hour flight... little did I know it would be the last peaceful sleep I would have for awhile!

I landed in London and before I could even get to the connecting flights terminal, they told us that all flights for the day had been cancelled and we would need to go through immigration. Uh, excuse me?! The line was REALLY long and took about 3 hours to get through. I met a woman from Chicago who was going to be staying in London for a few days after spending a month in India doing some research for her microfinance dissertation. The guy behind us showed us a paper he had gotten from British airways. It basically said "fend for yourselves." They said that all flights had been cancelled and that British airways would be unable to rebook our flight or get us a hotel. However, if we could find a hotel, they MIGHT reimburse us up to $300. When I walked up to the Immigration desk, the guy asked me how long I would be staying in London. I chuckled and said "uh, I think you had better ask British airways that question." I went to gather my luggage and was told that all luggage that was supposed to connect to another flight was being held and could not be released. So with no luggage I walked htrough customs. I went upstairs to ticketing and there was not a single British airways person to be found. I met a woman who was trying to get to Seattle and the earliest she could rebook was on December 24th. A little bit of panic began to set in and I asked if I could borrow her laptop (mine wouldn't recognize the internet in Heathrow and even if it did... it was $20 a day!!!). I checked my booking and it said that I had been rebooked on an American Airlines flight the next morning. I felt relieved and just needed to find a place to stay. I soon found out online that EVERY hotel near the airport was completely full or overbooked. With no options, I decided that maybe I should venture out to see some of London and try to find a hotel in a more touristy area of downtown. I bought an Underground/tube ticket and hopped on. I soon realized that this trip to London center might be more drama than it was worth. I talked with a guy next to me who had to abandon his car @ LHR (Heathrow) because the roads were all impassable and he had to take the tube to get home. The tube kept stopping and they were saying that there were problems on the track due to snow. I finally got off at Westminister. I walked outside and was immediately hit with the frigid temperature... I was wearing capri pants, a tank top and a sweater. I jumped back into the station and dug out my new scarf and a second pair of capri pants. The pants went on over the first pair. The first thing I saw was the London Eye which is a Ferris wheel right next to the Thames river. I turned to the right and immediately saw Big Ben! WOW! Super impressive. I walked a bit and realized how silly the idea of going into London was starting to be... it was really cold (probably in the teens) and was starting to get dark. I walked around looking for a hotel but couldnt find one. I bumped into Westminister Abbey and House of Parliament. They were both beautiful and covered in snow. I decided to go back to the tube. When I arrived, it was pure pandemonium. The train had stopped running. I decided to try to find the hotel where Nicole was staying as it was near Victoria Train station. I met a man on the road who worked at Westminister Abbey and he agreed to walk me the two miles to the Victoria station so I would not get lost. By this time my shoes and socks were wet and cold from walking in the slushy snow.
Just outside the station I found a McDonalds that had free wi-fi! Yea for McDonalds!!! I updated my blog and called my mom. I ended up going to the bathroom and trying to dry my shoes and socks with the hand dryer. At the train station I ended up buying some socks and a few munchies. At this point, I realized that I should probably just head back to LHR. I got on the train and headed to the airport. About an hour later, and many delays, the train operator came over the intercom and said "due to problems on the track up ahead because of the snow, we are going to have to suspend service here." Fan-freaking-tastic! They dumped us out in the middle of nowhere! Luckily there was about 20 of us trying to get to the airport. we were able to find a bus and hopped on. I didn't have any pounds (currency in London) and so I snuck on the bus! Once on the bus, an incredibly kind British woman named Melissa (who looked Indian!) asked if we were heading to the airport. She was returning from work as she had been called in eventhough it was her day off. She told us which bus routes to take and where to get off and actually offered to help us get there! She helped us navigate the three transfers needed and at the last one, she walked us to the stop and told us to wait for the 490. She crossed the street and caught a bus back to wherever she was headed. I was REALLY grateful for her help! It took me about 4 1/2 hours total to get back to the airport (which should have been a 45 minute tube ride). Once back at the airport, I realized that things were pretty rough there. They were handing out blankets but didn't have enough for everyone. Fighting quickly ensued. I managed to get a blanket (more like a throw actually) but not a mat to sleep on. I started takling with this guy who was trying to get to Philly. His name was Spencer. We decided to bunk together and pulled up some space behind a ticket counter. I think I got maybe 3 or 4 hours of light sleep. It was cold in the terminal and sleeping on the cold, hard marble floor was terrible! In the morning, I found a random sleep mat lying on the floor and grabbed it. I ended up carrying that mat and my refugee blanket with me everywhere that day... no way was I giving it up! At the point, people also started to realize that there was a shortage of food. Some of the restaurants had run out. BA handed out a few sandwiches but quickly ran out. I got up at 5:30 and took the express train to terminal 3 where I was supposed to catch the American Airlines flight. I got there and it was complete pandemonium! There was barely enough room to walk and people were all in a panic. After about an hour, there was an announcement that all flights for the day were cancelled. My last option had just run out... I tried to think of what to do next and figured I should head back to terminal 5 since they would soon be closing terminal 3. I went to take the express train and they had blockaded it and were saying that the train to terminal 5 was not operating. They told me to either catch a cab or pay the $8 for the tube. I chose the tube. While waiting for the tube, a kind man about 50 years old began to talk with me. He and his wife were on their way to New Zealand to visit their daughter who is my age. I must have been in quite the state because he asked if I had breakfast. I told him I had not and he offered to have me come to his hotel @ the airport and treat me to b-fast. I accepted. I realized at that point that I had not brushed my hair and it was completely matted... nice! No wonder the poor guy took pity on me! The hotel had stationed armed guards outside to keep out anyone who did not have a room key. B-fast was a buffet and I quickly realized how hungry I was. I think operating in survival mode had quenched my hunger. His wife came down to b-fast and she offered to let me take a shower in their room. I gladly and gratefully accepted. It was the best shower ever and I didn't care that the only option was hotel shampoo without conditioner! I put on the same clothes I had been wearing for the past two days. I called the hotel desk and they were able to send up a toothbrush and toothpaste. HOORAY! I've never been so grateful to brush my teeth! I decided to head back to the terminal to check in and John and Lilia offered to have me meet them back for dinner @ 7. It was really sweet! Back at the terminal I checked in with the baggage area... they told me it would be 2 to 3 weeks before I would be able to get my luggage. AWESOME! I went back upstairs where Spencer was waiting... no news. No flights leaving. He told me that some people had tried to call British Airways to rebook their flights and were told it was a 13 hour wait!!! At about 4pm that afternoon, despair and desperation started to set in. Up until that point, although exhausted, I had some hope that I would be able to get out of the airport. In those dark moments, I began to pray. I prayed to keep myself from crying and I prayed to try to resurrect some hope within me. 20 minutes later Giff (another guy who;d started to hang with us) came running over and said "they've agreed to let 4 planes fly tonight... we need to get on one of them." We grabbed our bags and ran over to try to get on a waitlist. Our options were Cape Town, Singapore, New York and Boston. I immediately went for Boston knowing that I had family there I could stay with if I couldn't get a flight to LAX. The woman put my name on the waitlist and said "you will be lucky to even get on this plane. If you do get on it, you will be responsible to find your own way to LAX, including buying a new plane ticket to get you there." At that point, I didn't care, I just wanted to be AWAY from London! Send me to Siberia, I don't care (ok, well maybe not Siberia... however, they would probably be better equipped to deal with snow!!!). I called my mom from someone's phone and told her that if she didn't hear frm me in the next 2 hours, it meant I got on the flight and that she should call my cousin in Boston and ask her to come get me. When they began to call names, I have never wished so hard for anything in my life!!!! When they called out "koller" I squeeled and ran up to the counter. She told me "congrats, you have 20 minutes to get on the plane... run!" So I ran!!!!!! I got on the plane and ended up that my seat was in Economy plus! A little extra legroom and slightly better recline... nice!! Spencer, Giff and Landon also made it on the plane. When they plane took off, the entire cabin began to clap and cheer. PEACE OUT LONDON!!!

The flight was 6 1/2 hours and I rested for a little bit. I was still too amp'd up to relax. I landed in Boston and realized that my cell phone did not work. Of course not, how could anything come easy?! I borrowed Giff's phone to call my mom to get Leanne's #. I ran up to ticketing (they were about to close... it was about 10pm) and they were able to get me a voucher for a flight the next day on American. I was nervous though because she told me that there was only one seat left but that they couldn't assign me a seat, only give me a voucher. I turned and saw Leanne heading my way. Never in my life have I ever been so glad to see someone I love!!!!! I was a complete zombie... probably smelled pretty ripe and was barely functioning. My cough and cold had gotten worse and I was barely still upright. We got to her house close to midnight and after the most wonderful shower, I headed to bed. I had trouble falling asleep though... you know when you are just SO exhausted that your body forgets how to shut down? I think the wear and tear and FEAR of the past few days was starting to catch up with me. I didn't realize exactly how tense I was during my 36 hours in London and the stress from leavng India late. I slept a few hours and the next morning enjoyed some prime cousin time. As we left to head back to the airport, it began to snow. Of course it did! I get to the airport, load up on the plane and the announce that they need to de-ice the wings... one hour delay while on the plane. After de-icing, the pilot comes over the intercom and says "uh, while we were getting de-iced, the runway iced over and is now closed. It's gunna be a long night folks." They had us all get off the plane. The guy next to me took pity on me (I must have been quite the sight by now) and offered to let me go to the admiral's club with him. I accepted. I just about cried when I saw mouthwash and lotion in the bathroom. It was alittle piece of heaven. I was able to check my email for the first time in a few days. We re-boarded the plane and they had to de-ice again. The pilot came over the intercom and announced that due to heavy rains in Los Angeles, that they were also going to need to add more fuel because we might have to circle LAX for awhile before being able to land. Awesome! By the time I landed in Los Angeles, I could barely form words! My friend Purvi came to get me since it would have been unsafe for my mom to drive up in the rain. With the 4 1/2 hour delay, I felt terrible that she had to come get me at 12:30am! Once at home, I didn't have a key to get in since my friend had been staying at my place and I had told her to take the key with her since my mom would be picking me up and had a key. With no mom and no key... I knew my only hope was a spare key I keep outside. I had to hop the concrete wall (almost killing myself in the process!) and praise Jesus the key was still there!!!! I think it was about 2am by the time I finally got to sleep.

So long story short, those were the longest 86 hours of my life! I think I slept about 14 of those hours and am still reeling from all the events of the past few days. I called out sick yesterday and didn't even leave the house. In hindsight, I am overcome by gratitude for all the people that helped me along the journey. Friends, family and strangers alike all jumped into action to help me along the way. And in the end... i made it home without breaking down once! :) A pretty amazing accomplishment if I do say so myself!

I will try to post pictures in the next few days so please check back. GLAD TO BE HOME!!!!! :)

Home safe

Hello all! I am officially home safe and sound. I am battling a terrible cold and am heading back to work tomorrow. I am completely exhausted but promise that I will write more tomorrow. Talk with you all then!

The kindness of strangers...

Made it to Boston but now stuck in the airport here as they have closed the runway due to snow. Hoping to get out of here soon... Day 4 of journey from India is starting to suck. On the flip side... the kindness of strangers has been my saving grace throughout this journey. I can't wait to get home and will update you all then!

On the upside... I get to check off another continent... on the down side... I'm stuck in London!

I HATE SNOW!!!!!!!!! I was upset when my flight from Delhi was 2 1/2 hours late, I was afraid I would miss my next flight because I only had a 3 hour layover. I arrived in London and they told us all flights were cancelled for the day. AWESOME! The airport was complete pandemonium!!! It took three hours to get through customs and once through customs British Airways said "too bad, so sad. Book your own hotels and re-book your own flights online. NICE!!! Lucky for me, they have rebooked me for tomorrow as long as it stops snowing! Another girl heading to Seattle couldn't get a flight until the 24th!!!! Unfortunately, the hotels are all booked up! I am currently sitting @ a McDonalds trying to find a hotel in London where I will be able to get back to the airport in the morning (the roads are all blocked w/ snow and the metro doesn't run early enough to get me back to the airport). I met someone in the airport who gave me the name of her hotel and I've been walking around in the frigid cold trying to find it... the undegrounds are also not working well as there are problems with the system due to snow. Worst case scenario, I will try to get back to the airport and sleep on the floor. Unfortunately the airlines wouldn't bring out our suitcases so I am walking around in capri pants and a thin jacket!!! On the up side, I got to see the Eye of London, Big Ben, Westminister Abbey and Parliament Square :) What an adventure! Wish me luck! :) Hopefully I will be home tomorrow!!! Love you all!!

Last few days in India :(

What a wild ride this has been!!!! I can't believe it is already my last day in India! It has gone by SO quickly! It has been amazing getting to know everyone here and I will miss SO many of my teammates. The country has been one contradiction after another. You see incredible beauty right next to incredible ugliness... feel incredible joy after feeling utter despair... see hope at the same moment you see apathy... what an amazing culture! I thought coming to India would be fairly easy because I am fairly familiar with the culture, the food and such. And those things have helped... but it has still been a challenge. For me, I think India has been about being my most genuine self while feeling physically ill. Illness has plagued me every moment since being here... I came with my asthma acting up, a few days later had food poisining, while recovering from that I think I had a touch of Delhi belly, and the day I get over Delhi belly I get a terrible sore throat, the sore throat turned into a cold which has caused me to lose my voice. Through it all, I have appreciated the ability to push through it and completely enjoy myself anyway. I have been grateful that my body, although sick, has been able to fight these things and has been kind to me (for example, I would be fine throughout the day but as soon as we were back at the hotel, GAME ON! LOL!).

It is now my last day and although I am ready to get home and start feeling better, I am not looking forward to leaving my teammates. I've grown REALLY attached to quite a few of them and can't imagine saying good-bye to them...

For those of you wondering... my mom worked her magic and was able to get me on my original flights! YEA!!! I will be leaving Delhi tonight (well, tomorrow really) @ 3:30am and arriving in L.A. in the afternoon on the 18th.

The last few days has really been about the people here... On Wednesday morning, the homeowner of the site came by and brought us this thick, tar-like tea. It was like nothing I've ever tasted! We sat around drinking it and talking... working with Dan, Amy, Jerry and Natasha has been amazing... they are such hard workers and AMAZING people. Not once have I been annoyed, frustrated or tested by any one of them. And when you are working in a 10ftX15ft square right next to a leaking sewer... it would be PRETTY easy to let tensions rise! :) On Wednesday evening Natasha, Jerry, dan, Matt, Liam, Chinmoi and I sat upstairs in the dining room and played UNO. I don't think I have laughed so hard in my entire life!!!!!

On Thursday morning I rode to the site with Ava. She is AMAZING! She is 19 and is from Bethesda (Maryland). She is taking a year off before going to college to become a journalist. She amazes me... she is so much more mature and insightful than I EVER was at her age!!! I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation as she talked about her hopes for her career and processing her thoughts about the trip thus far (its her first time out of the country). Later on in the day, the other team had witnessed a beating of some poor man in Bawana... they were all pretty shaken up about it and I think Ava took it the hardest. I just sat there and rubbed her back because I remember seeing similar stuff the first few times in a different country and how hard it shook me up.

After lunch some women from Chetnalaya came and did Mendhi on our hands. I had two different artists work on my hands so they look REALLY different. One is obviously better than the other... but I was THRILLED to have the experience! Sujata (our guide) came up behind me and put her head on my shoulder. She then proceeded to tell me that women get mendhi on their hands on before they are married. She mentioned that it is a time for all the women to gather, have fun and be together. She sat next to me and began to feed me sweets and even gave me a juice box while holding it up for me to drink out of! It was great way for me to see... no, more like FEEL, what that must be like to have sisters all around you taking care of you and such. At that moment, I was overcome with feelings of love and tenderness for all thsoe we have met here. I was also feeling sad that a few minues later we would have to say good-bye. Saying good-bye to the people of Chetnalaya was hard... Sujata, Lau Sing, and the women in the sewing room... such an amazing project! Talk about grassroots! because I'd had the henna done, I couldn't tie my own shoes so Jerry (amidst much teasing about being prince charming and me cinderella... does the shoe fit? : )) tied my shoes for me!!! :) Leaving Bawana was a mixed experience... I will not miss the smells, the dirtiness, the chaos and the filth. I will miss the hundreds of children that would run up and want to shake your hand or walk nearby. I will even miss our stinky sewer site!!! OH!!! SPeaking of Sewer sites... we had shirts make for us while here in India!!! Chinmoi hooked it up (because as they say... ANYTHING is possible in India!). They say "soo-er-star" on the front, H4H on the arm, and Bawana December 2010. They stink to high heaven but they are super cool! I can't wait to wash it so I can wear it!

Last night we went to the Regent, a hotel across the street for a late night night-cap. My cold was going full force but I had an AMAZING time anyway. Jerry, Amy, Matt, liam, Natasha, Chinmoi, clint, Dan, Ava and I all sat around drinking and playing UNO. It was by far one of the best nights here! We came back to the hotel at about 1:30am and all of us hung out in my room laughing hysterically. we were teasing Chinmoi, calling him Chin Muffin and he TO THIS DAY still calls Ava "EVA" on accident. i think everyone left @ about 2:30 in the morning. Natasha and I stayed up talking for quite a bit but she really wasn't feeling well :( It must be her turn for Delhi belly :( In the middle of the night I woke up because she had fallen off the bed! We were both cracking up!!!!!

Today is a pretty chill day, we have the farewell lunch with Habitat in about an hour and then some of us are going to try to go get massages. We have our team farewell dinner tonight and then I head to the airport right after :(

Done with being different...

Ok, so let me preface this post by saying that in no way am I ready to come home, in no way am I regretting any part of this trip and in no way am I feeling any sort of anger. What I am feeling is awkward! (I know that i still haven't updated you all about the Taj and the weekend and the work week but allow me a moment to vent if you will.) Being the only blond haired blue eyed gal on the trip (and let's be honest here... a pretty darn good looking one at that! :)) I have received a lot of attention from the guys and girls here. At tha Taj Mahal (a place where you would expect to see tourists), our guide had to keep yelling at people to stop them from taking pictures of US! We are at the FREAKING TAJ MAHAL and the best you can do is take pictures of the white people? Are you serious?! On Sunday it was particularly awkward... we went to the biggest mosque in Delhi... so there I am, wearing a rented house coat and a shawl covering my head, and men are coming up to me left and right! Some asked to take pictures and others would just walk up and stand a few feet away and take my picture without asking. Jerry, the great defender, ended up coming over and being my bodyguard. WE WERE AT A FREAKING PLACE OF WORSHIP and you are focused on taking MY picture! Last I checked, it does not say anything in the holy book about taking pictures of gorgeous blonde haired blue eyed people in the house of prayer! After that we wentto India gate... a huge sculpture. Next thing you know, people are surrounding us with their video cameras out and recording us. Jerry made a joke about being offended that people didn't want HIS picture. It was pretty obvious they only wanted to take pics of the ladies. Back in Bawana, we've resumed our celebrity status with everyone waving and yelling hello. the young men are getting a bit more bold about staring and even Lau Sing (the coordinator) has had to ask some of the young men to leave. Dan and Jerry have started making jokes about having to have to walk on either side of me as my bodyguards. They are both REALLY sweet and SUPER protective of Amy and I while we are on the site. Then today, when my patience was running a bit low, the engineer/mason on our site did something that completely embarrassed me, it wasn't anything major, just a bit annoying. I ended up telling Ray about it and he immediately went and had it out with the engineer. I was really impressed with the way Ray handled it and although it was SUPER awkward on the site for the next hour, it was all better by the end of the day. I was also really floored to see how Dan, NAtasha Jerry and Amy supported me... they are SUCH a great team!! Then, in the afternoon, some of the girls were trying to talk to me, they wanted me to write my name on their hands. It was really sweet until they started pinching my cheeks and pulling pretty hard. I don't think I've been pinched that hard since my great aunt Vespa (oh wait, I don't HAVE a great Aunt Vespa! :) ). I guess that my tolerance, coming of the heels of stuff from Ghana, makes me less patient about people staring at or noticing me. Imagine that... ME... not wanting the attention! :)

Ok, I am done venting :) Aside from all of that attention, I am having a great time! It is hard to believe that I will be leaving here in a meager 2 days! Well, that is if they manage to work out my flights! Yup, you read that right... still no confirmation about my flights!!!! Ok, so here's the scoop on the weekend! The Taj was AMAZING! We got there and had to go through security (full on pat down... separate guys and girls lines!) The drive there was MUCH longer than we expected... it was supposed to take 5-6 hours but took over 7 hours! Too many camels, elephants and traffic on the roadways!!!! I rode with amy there and it was really nice getting to know her better. We arrived @ the Taj @ 1:30 or 2pm. What a sight!!! For those of you who don't know, here is Taj 101... so, the emporer Shah Jahan had a favorite wife and he called her Mumtaz. She died while giving birth to their 14th child. She made him promise to build her a momument after death. And so he build the Taj in order to give her a unique resting place. The Taj is made of marble and is the only non-porous marble in the world. If you shine a flashlight on it, it is not really white but thousands of different colors. the writing on the Taj is all in Arabic but is specifically designed to be smaller at the bottom and larger at the top so that standing in front, it all appears the same size! The designs on the Taj are actually where the masons cut out the marble and then inlaid precious gems (instead of painting the design on). I don't exactly remember but there are a lot of things with the number 22 (22years to complete, 22,000 masons, 22 minarets, etc)... for those of you who know me... 22 has a big role in my life :).

After the Taj we ate outside at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Taj... what a view! By then, we were running really late and were not able to get into Agra Fort. we stood outside and took pics and the guide told us about how Shah Jahan was imprisoned in his own fort by his son for 8 years until his death because the son wanted to overthrow his father. After the fort, we got roped into the typical tourguide trap... they take you to some place for shopping and you don't really want to be there. In the beginning it was really cool... they showed us how the masons/artists did the marble carving for the Taj. But then they brought us "downstairs" to their showroom where they had pieces for a minimum of $300. We didn't get on the road back to Delhi until almost 7pm. Amy and I ended up talking most of the way... she's had a really interesting life and I find her very insightful. At about 10:30 we stopped at a coffee shop. I ordered some coffee and then went into the incredibly overpriced gift shop. there was a group of about 6 guys/shopkeepers standing around watching a bollywood movie on a small t.v. screen. I ended up standing near them and watching it with them. they were quite amused and brought me a chair. They movie was SERIOUSLY cheesy and had these three guys up on a ladder spanning between two buildings and wer about to jump when their girlfriends showed up and tried to stop them. Then some overweight "caretaker" guy shows up with a chainsaw and tries to cut down the ladder. RANDOM!!! I was in there so long that the waiter even brought my chai (tea) into the gift shop for me to drink with the guys. After the movie was over, they put on some Punjabi music videos. Hilarious! Ava came in after a bit and they changed it to a drama about a father and son. I was pretending to translate what they were saying and at some point I said "luke, I am your father." The guys in the room started to crack up! I love that these guys who don't know any English understand the Star Wars reference!!! :) We got home at about 2am and went to sleep soon after. At 7am I awoke with a rumble in my tummy! I ran for the bathroom and Natasha, having overheard me said "shoot, I used up the last of the toilet paper" so she got out of bed and headed to the front desk to get some for me! I told her that she was in the running for best roommate of the year! The toilet paper roles here are RIDICULOUSLY small! And we always end up running out, Natasha commented yesteday that they must think we are eating them the way we are going through them!

on Sunday we first went to the Ghandi memorial (basically just an eternal flame like the one for JFK). Next we went to the biggest Mosque in Delhi, India gate and finally on a rickshaw ride through the narrow streets of Old Delhi. Natasha and I were in the same rickshaw. I felt so bad for the poor guy peddling to bring our bums around! It was complete madness being on the crazy streets of Delhi with nothing to protect us from zooming motorbikes and buses!!!! It was AMAZING though! By far my favorite moment of the day!!! We also went to the Lotus Temple, a beautiful temple of the Baha'ia faith.

On Monday we headed back to Bawana to get some work done! The place had never smelled so terrible before!!! But the children were still just as adorable! The engineer was starting to be a bit more playful and he would tease us about the way that we (the girls) were catching the bricks being tossed. After we came back from break, the mason's wife (who I was pretty sure didn't like us very much, became really animated and wanted to take pictures of our team. She then turns on her cell phone and starts playing music. Next thing I know, she is shoving the cell phone down my shirt and INTO my bra!!!! Uh... wow, how much do I owe you for the free grope? :) LOL... it was all in good fun though, she really wanted us to have music. Amy has been bringing her IPOD to the site and puts it in her back pocket so we've titled it the "buttpod." Well now we have a "boobpod" to match! :) After lunch, we were finishing bringing the last of the bricks from the street to the site. Unfortunately, they laid the bricks over some slabs of granite ONTOP of the sewer. Since I was the shortest, and the one with the strongest stomach, I got the fun job of straddling the sewer... one foot on the street and the other precariously perched on an unsteady block of granite all while squatting!! With my nose about 6 inches from the open bubbling sewer (don't ask me why it was bubbling... I don't really want to know!), I spent about 30 mintues like that passingbricks across the sewer. At one point, the slab I was standing on gave way and splashed into the sewer. Luckily I have quick reflexes and only got a splash on my ankle. Poor Chinmoi accidently put his whole foot in the sewer last week... YUCK!!!!!

Poor Dan was sick Monday night, Clint was sick on Saturday and Amy, Liam and I have all been sick. Delhi belly is NO JOKE!!!

On Tuesday morning, we were tossing bricks and the mason's wife was being much chummier! I found a random hair clip/barrette ontop of the pile of bricks. Next thing I know, she is coming over and has put it in my frenchbraid right in the middle of my head! All I could think about as I smiled gratefully to her was "DISGUSTING! This was probably in the sewer.. and if it wasn't, do you KNOW how much head lice is here!! Every morning walking to the site we see people on their steps picking through a loved one's hair. YUCK!!!!" It was very sweet of her though!!!

Last night, we went to a Bollywood movie. It was hilarious!! To get there we took 2 person rickshaws. I was with Chinmoi. There as one VERY scary moment when the guy made a turn in front of an oncoming bus! Luckily we survived! :) First of all, we had to go through a VERY thorough security screening! They brought the women aside and gave a more thorough rubdown than I've ever had... TSA would be proud!!! Second time in two days that some woman has felt me up! :) lol!!! The movie was pretty funny eventhough it was entirely in Hindi. It was called no problem and is about a heist... lots of slapstick humor, dancing and a huge gorilla fart that blows everyone away at the end... WHAT THE HECK?! :)

Time to play catch up...

It seems like there is never enough time in the day to catch up over here!!!! I am going to do my best now to see how far I can get before we head out to a dinner.

Ok... so back to the teasers from Friday...

Thursday was Amy's birthday so we took her out for the evening. We went to Connaught place which is the direct center of Delhi. It is just a big shopping center and has high end shops. We took taxi cabs for the first time and it was CRAZY!!! Nothing like being right at eye level with the bazillion cars, motorcycles, tuk tuk's etc! Chinmoi was in our cab and he convinced the driver to turn on some Hindi music... nothing like zooming through the crowded streets of Delhi with Hindi techno music blasting! We first went to the Rodeo bar for a drink... it is cowboy themed and there is nothing more strange than seeing Indian waiters wearing traditional "old west" clothes. The seats at the bar are actual saddles!!!! I decided to be brave and had a Kiwi Margarita. on Thursday, all I had eaten was three bananas and some rice but I was feeling much better. It was alot of fun and Amy was really pleased to be showered with such attention for her special day. After the rodeo bar we walked over to a REALLY cool restaurant called "Bonsai." We sat outside next to this beautiful fountain. It was FREEZING outside and JErry was really sweet and took off his coat to give to me! Chivalry is still alive! :) I ordered simply and got a grilled paneer tikka sandwish (grilled cheese for all you non-Indian peeps). I ate about half of it and then gave up... my stomach started to hurt again. Suddenly Amy got up and ran to the bathroom... looks like Delhi belly has claimed another :( Even Jerry was saying that his stomach hurt... we've all been popping pepto like it was candy! When we went to leave the bar, we were walking to get cabs when all of the sudden.... gurgle, gurle! :( Luckily Natasha was there and she called out to Ray that I needed a restroom and QUICK and luckily there was a McDonalds there! It was a close call :( Afterwards I felt fine though :) back at the hotel, there was a knock at the door. Jerry and Dan were standing there with little grins on their faces... they held out a card and a beautiful shawl. They gave me an early birthday card and gift!!! Funny how my work can't even remember my birthday and yet these two strangers did! :) It was really sweet and the card is awesome! I was really flattered!!!!



On Friday we were one man down... Amy didn't come down in the morning and had opted to stay back at the hotel. :( poor thing. Natasha ended up coming to our site to help out and it was great having her there! Jerry had bought a shirt the day before and it phonetically spelled out "superstar." (soo-per-star). At one point on the build he covered up the "p" and I read it aloud... SEWER STAR!!!! Hahahahahaha! Nice... gotta love the fact that we are practically hanging out in the sewer all day! :) Today on the site, there were a lot more guys around and they would just stand there and stare at me. Jerry even started calling me "Ms. Bawana." They have the most intense stare here and even when I would look at them they would not glance away. i spent the entire day moving bricks! From 9-3:30 I carried bricks non-stop (well, except for breaks:)). Dan was working on digging out the septic tank and it was too tight in there to help out. The sewer is continuing to slowly sleep into our trench in the front and we have now labeled it "Bawana black gold... the finest materials in Bawana!" YUCK! At lunch, some of the women from Chetnalaya came and sold jewelry that they had made. All of the proceeds go back into helping the womens programs in Chetnalaya. Sujata came over and grabbed my arm and pulled me into the office. she brought over one of the other women who speaks better english and she said "amy is sick but you must buy her some jewelry, she will be so sad if she learns that you all were able to buy great things but she was home sick." It was really sweet. I bought a few things and went back to Sujata to let her pick out which one she thought woule be best for Amy. In the afternoon, some people on my team were talking about how they feel frustrated that the adults in the neighborhood just come around and watch us work. I think I even heard the word lazy. Me, being the eternal social worker began to bust out my speech on why people are apathetic and disempowered :) About an hour before we finished, I had climbed up on the brick pile in the alley to hand some bricks from the back. There was a group of about 6 children standing there watching. They all have snotty noses, no shoes and a few didn't have pants. One of them reached down and handed me a brick. He must have been about 5 years old. I looked up at his snot covered face and said "thanks" with a big smile and he broke into the biggest smile I'd ever seen. Next thing you know, all 6 children have scrambled up on the pile and are handing me bricks. they would hand me one and when I would look up at there eyes and smile, they would be SO excited! PRetty quickly they learned how many bricks we each carried (5 for me, 6 for Natasha and 7 for Jerry) and would stack them up for us while we were carrying them down the street to the site. All that work just to receive a smile from one of us. In that moment, I remembered why I work with children at home... they are the future... the hope, the eagerness and they keep it simple... working for a smile :) My heart was very touched.

At dinner I told Amy the story about Sujata and the bracelet and she was really grateful. I gave her the bracelet and she just kept smiling and said "I can't believe how special everyone here is making me feel." After dinner, a few of us walked up to the main street. Before even going 10 feet poor Liam had almost been hit by 2 different motorcycles. He said "that's it, I am turning around and going home!" We ended up at a cafe overlooking the street. After that we walked to this stall that sold Puma T-shirts for $3. I wanted to get a long sleeve t-shirt because my arms were COMPLETELY torn up from carrying the bricks. We went to bed at about 10 because we had to be up SUPER early to leave for the Taj Mahal.


Ok, so let me take a moment to vent about our terrible Habitat host here in India. I thought Josh would be super cool because he is a social worker... not the case! He is the laziest host I have ever seen! He has never come to the site with us. He has never come to the hotel, he has never been with us on an outing... nothing! Well, on Friday he did actually come out with us to the site. At lunchtime, my camera freaked out and the lens wouldn't close. There is so much dirt and grime in there that it kept getting stuck. Jerry fixed it the first time and Ray fixed it the 2nd. I spoke to Josh about it and he said we would find a place to fix it on the way back to the hotel. For a moment, I thought "hmmm... maybe I've misjudged him and he's really ok." i was really freaked out about getting it fixed because we are supposed to go to the Taj tomorrow and I can't have a broken camera!!!!!!! When the bus let us off on the street and we began our walk to the hotel, I reminded him and he said "yep, on the way." I walked with him and we talked about child development. We get to the hotel and I bring it up again. He starts talking to the bellhop about it and then Josh turns to me and says "well, you have a team member on your team that speaks Hindi so he can take you later to the place up the street." I was SUPER pissed! First of all, Chinmoi paid to come on this trip, it is not his responsibility to have to help me with this... that is the job of the host. Second of all, Josh has not done a single thing this entire week and that is UBER uncool! So there I was with a broken camera and I said "Josh, that is unacceptable, Chinmoi has a cold and does not need to be taking me out at night to help me find a camera repairshop." Josh said "ok, go upstairs for 10 minutes to freshen up and then we will go." I knew he was blowing me off. I came upstairs, vented to Natasha and then went back downstairs in my work clothes, full expecting to see Josh gone. He was there with Ray arguing about the hotel bill. Josh had negotiated a pretty good deal here but had forgotten some important details. I sat down, knowing full well that Josh had seen me and not acknowledged me. 20 minutes later Chinmoi came in from outside and asked why I was sitting there. I explained it to him and bless his heart he said "ok, let's go, I will take you." I owe him a huge debt! We walked to this black market where they sold EVERYTHING! Phones, computers, you name it. We asked a bunch of people but no camera repairmen. :( Looks like I will have to rely on prayers alone!

Ok, gotta go get some dinner but I will try to catch up with you all later and I can't wait to tell you about the Taj!!!!

A picture is worth a thousand words!!!!

WOW!!!!! Yesterday went NOTHING like was planned and we didn't end up getting home until almost 2am... but we had a great time and the Taj was completely worth it! We just woke up and we have to be downstairs this morning for our tour of Old Delhi but I will try to etch out some time later to talk with you guys! I haven't really had much time, and I know that some of you have sent me emails... I have read them but haven't had a spare moment to respond. I appreciate all of your thoughts and please know that your emails and comments mean SO much to me!!!

Delhi Candy

Ok, so it is late and we have to be up at 5:45 tomorrow morning to see the Taj Mahal but I wanted to let you all know that I am feeling ten thousand times better!!! I think that it was food poisoning because all four people on my team ended up feeling sick. Amy was really sick and didn't get to the site today... Daniel and Jerry just had upset stomachs. It must have been the burfi we ate. In fact, most people on the team have been popping pepto... thus earning it the name "delhi candy." Remind me tomorrow you tell you all about 1. Amy's bday dinner, 2. My birthday gift, 3. children teaching adults, 4. Brick-mania, 5. Bawana black gold, 6. Chetnalaya jewelry, 7. my poor sad broken camera and the adventure to try to get it fixed!

We might get back really late tomorrow(it's a 6 hour bus ride EACH WAY! So if you don't hear from me tomorrow, it means we got back really late (they are hoping we will get back around 10pm

I'm alive!!!

Hello to all my faithful readers!! I have survived the last 24 hours... barely! Last night was terrible!!!! The fever was the worst part... I laid in bed shivering and finally fell asleep around 8:30. Natasha came home and woke me up to ask how I was feeling. I got up to go to the bathroom... I felt terrible because the rooms are not exactly soundproof and the poor girl could hear everything! Nothing like getting to know your roommate real quick! She's been really great and every time I would wake up in the middle of the night to go (about every hour), she would ask how I was feeling. Natasha had told me about the drama that happened last night... Fleda has everyone on edge and she does not stop talking EVER!!! Some people (and even Ray) have hinted at the fact that they are having difficulty tolerating her I awoke @ 7 and although the fever symptoms were gone, I had developed a heat rash all over my torso. i doped up on benadryl (the rash), advil (which I found BTW) for the headache and fever, inhaler (for the asthma which has been MUCH better today), malarone (anti-malarial) pepto for my stomach and tyelenol for the body aches! For those of you who know me, I hate taking meds!!. At breakfast this morning everyone was asking how I was doing and I tried to eat a piece of toast but only made it about halfway before having to run back downstairs. Ray was great and told me I could stay at the hotel but I really wanted to go with the team. He thinks it was food poisoning but told me we could always go get it checked if I wanted. I remembered how yesterday, my naan (bread) at lunch had some raw dough on it, I tore that part off and set it aside but am wondering if maybe there was something nasty in there. As I was using the restroom every 20 minutes this morning, I was really nervous about the hour busride. Everyone was really supportive and I was able to make it through the busride by just closing my eyes. We have a 10 minute walk to the community center and I was able to make it! YEA! My team took it easy on me and gave me the easy jobs and asked me to carry less. It was really helpful as I was still feeling terrible. Imagine doing heavy labor while having food poisoning. YUCK! Natasha gave me a rehydration packet and that seemed to help. For snack I ate a banana and drank some tea. About a half hour before lunch, I had to go really bad and the site is a 10 minute walk from our bathroom! Sujata was kind enough to walk (more like run!) to take me back. Along the way she was telling me about how Bawana is dangerous and that people here are always angry and often fight. She said that they sometimes use knives to stab each other. Interesting! For lunch, I skipped the meal and had a banana and rice. Jerry was very sweet and offered me his power bar (poor guy doesn't like Indian food and keeps a token power bar with him at all times). I laid down on a bed they have there for the rest of lunch. Getting back to work was hard as mmy stomach was still pretty upset. In the afternoon we finished laying the bricks up to ground height, starting digging out the septic tank, moved more bricks from the street to our house and mixed concrete. We are learning more about the engineer and he has started saying "ok, ok, ok" (his only english words!. It is hilarious... at times he looks very annoyed with us but at other times he is teasing us and joking around). The bus ride back was not so bad as I was starting to feel better. Jerry and Dan both had upset stomachs as well but nothing like mine... I don't know what it could have been... I've been eating what everyone else has been eating. I dunno. Long story short, I am feeling better and am on my way to being back-to-normal. YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tonight we are heading out for Amy's birthday... Ray had this amazing birthday card MADE for her with pictures of India on it and we all signed it. Tonight we are going to a bar called the rodeo and then out to a fancy dinner. Seeing as all I've eaten is a half piece of toast, 2 bananas and a handful of rice... I am beginning to feel hungry! YEA!!!! I hope you all are well... aren't you jealous of my fabulous day?

I hurt... everywhere! :)

Today was completely exhausting!!! I was already a bit tired starting the day but it really added up throughout the day. It's a really nice temperature here but the work is never ending. Unlike my other Habitat builds, there is absolutely NO downtime except for the breaks. By the time we get on the site, they already know what we will be doing and we jump right into work. Being a team of four, I also feel like if someone slacks off... it is really noticeable. Plus Dan and Jerry and much stronger and although I try to keep up with them, I simply can't. Sujata brought her 3 1/2 year old daughter to work today and she is the most adorable thing ever! I had completely won her over by lunchtime and spent my entire lunch chasing her around the building and tickling her. She has the most adorable bowl haircut and the absolute most infectious laugh. I couldn't get enough of her!!!! On the way in to Bawana this morning Ray sat with me and we talked quite a bit about leading teams. He has SO much experience leading teams and has been through every imagineable situation. A great mentor to look up to. In the morning, we broke up bricks by using hammers... nothing like getting out a little aggression. We then threw the pieces down into the ditch to create a 1 1/2 inch level. After that we moved the entire pile of bricks that we had moved on the first day back into the house to help when we start laying the walls. I picked up the bricks, swung them over to Jerry who then threw them across the sewer to Amy who caught it and thenhanded it to Dan who stacked them. Imagine bending forward at the waist and swinging your arm up holding a 5lb brick and then when he was behind, it would start to swing back down. My shoulders (and lower back are killing me!!!!). Imagine grabbing a 5 pound weight in each hand and raising them out to the sides (shoulder height) while bent over at the waist... now do that about 500 times. UG!!!! We finished that about 30 minutes before lunch and went to go help the other two teams. They are building side by side and are working on digging out the septic tank. Although I complain about our site being practically IN the sewer... it does make the dirt moist and easier to break up. Their dirt it dry and clumpy. And their site is in the sun. Our site never sees the sun. After lunch, we walked back to our site and on the way there is this deaf girl (about 15years) who Amy noticed on the first day (amy is a sign language interpreter.) and she reached out to me, grabbed my hand and then pushed a paper into my palm. I opened it and something was written on it in Hindi. I handed it to Sujata and she said "she wants to know how you keep your complexion so beautiful and fair. She is asking for your to recommend to her a cream to keep her face like yours." So sweet, I wish I had gotten it back from Sujata to keep! After lunch I had a pretty big headache... the guys went to go help the other site for a bit and when Amy went to go get them, I was suddenly surrounded by a bunch of people. With no other team members and no translator... I winged it :) They were all super friendly and they started to teach me how to count in Hindi (I can't remember most of them but two is Du, and nine is no.) When they all came back, the dump truck had dumped off sand, rocks and more bricks. The pile of bricks was about 6 feet tall and about 9 feet long!!!! and about a llock away! We didn't get very far before Lau Sing called us over and said they were ready for the blessing before pouring the concrete. WE stood with the homeowner and Lau Sing said a prayer in hindi. We then poured in the first bucket of conrete (which is hand mixed... just like Ghana... so tiring!). After that, he called us back over and a woman came and lit about 6 sticks of incense. She walked around and put it down in the troughs speaking under her breath. After that Lau Sing said another prayer and then they passed around burfi (a sweet... like an indian cookie). It was AMAZING!!!!!! On the way back from the site, there was more traffic than usual and took us almost 2 hours. Imagine sitting in a small bus for two hours after using your muscles all day! Our only entertainment was when our bus driver cut off a guy on a motorcycle with his girlfriend. The motorcyle then pulled in front of us stopped and walked up to the drivers window shouting. Jerry leaned over and said "wow, I didn't think you could really do anything to piss anyone off here... seems like they are always cutting each ohter off. They debated for about 10 minutes and we were on our way. I was sitting in the back with Ava and we had a great conversation about Politics (Obama yes or no), socialized medicine, psychotherapy, chopping off the tops of mountains, etc! For being so young (barely 18) she is not only brilliant but really socially aware. Both of her parents are psychologists and she wants to be a journalist. She grew up just outside of D.C. in a place called Bethesda. It was a great conversation!! Unfortunately, I was feeling car sick for the last 40 minutes :( When we got to the hotel, I realized that it isn't being carsick :( I've caught something :( The rest of the team has gone out to a bar but I am sitting under the covers shivering:( Hopefully it goes away tomorrow. If not, I will consider taking the antibiotic (yes mom, you heard that correctly :) ). My roommate has been really great and offered me meds. I looked for my IB Profen but I don't see it anywhere... I really hope I didn't leave it in CA! I'll take some tyelenol PM and see how it goes :) I hope you all are well... I absolutely love your comments!!!

Why would anyone put a toilet on a roof?!?!

Hello everyone!!!! What an amazing two days it has been... let's see if I can put it all into words for you. Yesterday morning we awoke and left @ 7:45 to get to the site. Bawana is only 30k (about 23 miles) but it takes 1hour to get there and 1.5 hours to return because of the traffic. On the drive there, since it was chilly, there were people who had built small fires on the side of the road from Cow patties. All the little kids were heading to school and looked very smart in their outfits. On the way, Ray explained a bit more about Bawana. Bawana is a city within Delhi but it was never really intended to be permanent living. It used to be the old city dump and the city realized that it needed to provide a space for homeless people to live. Since many of the homeless were already living in the dump, they city just threw some dirt on it and allowed people to move in. In fact, when they recently had the games here in Delhi, they went through the city and rounded up as many beggars/homeless people they could and dumped them out in Bawana. Needless to say it's not the best place to live. Upon arriving we passed a large tent city (new arrivals) and then stopped the bus on a side street. Immediately the stench was upon us. Since there is no sewers, there are two ditches on either side of the small alley. They are both filled with standing water and you can guess what they are filled with. Toilet waste, bath waste, food scraps, trash, and I am sure lots of other things I do not want to think about! Children under the age of two simply do not wear any pants (or underwear) and just squat anywhere they like. Our hub at Bawana is a place called Chetnalaya. It is an amazing place!!! It is the community center and is run by Lau Sing. He is one of 18 people on staff and their purpose is to provide for and educate the women of Bawana. they provide sewing classes where the women learn how to mend, sew petticoats and blazers and are therefore able to bring in an income to their family (thus making them more valuable to their husbands and less likely to be beaten or mistreated). There are also groups to help them learn english, learn how to use a computer or learn another type of trade. It is a great center and 15 of the 18 on staff are women as they want the women of Bawana to feel comfortable and empowered. It is an absolute AMAZING center! To get there we have to walk down one alley and across this one area where the sewer has overflown. Someone has placed bricks the size of your fist through the disgusting water but be careful not to misstep!!!! Once at the center, we met the kids from Saudi Arabia. They are 9th graders that attend an international school in Saudi and they are doing this as community service. We met the homeowners (all women) and were divided into 3 teams. I am on a team with Amy, Dan and Jerry. Our homeowners name is Shairya (like Sarah but with a "shy" as the first syllable.). Our helper is named Sujata and she walks us to the site and back everyday. We are not allowed to walk through Bawana without her present, even if it is to run to the bathroom. We walk aways to the house and on the way the children all come up running and yelling "hi" and "bye" (I don't think they know the difference). They are adorable in their little outfits. Since it is winter here, most of them have colds and are a bit snotty nosed. They alleys are maybe 6 feet wide and packed with houses or shacks. We get to our "house" and it is a small shack, 10feet by 15 feet. It turns out that Shairya was not informed until this morning that she is getting a house so she has not had time to unpack. We offered to help but she and her daughter would not let us into the house. Her daughter is about 15 years old and was seriously annoyed with her mom and looking perturbed as they were trying to pack and her mother was going slowly. Hahahaha... looks like mother daughter teenage tension is present in every culture! I don't have to speak Hindi to understand the subtext of their text :) Finally Sujata was able to get them to allow us to help. The house had two rooms, both entered from the front. To enter the home, you have to step over the sewer and into the house. The front room was maybe 5 feet by 4 feet and had a wooden thing that looked like a table/bed. The back room was slightly larger but was taken up by another large table/bed. Under this bed were pots and pans filled with still water. They were a bit putrid but I think the family has been saving them to drink because the water spigot is far from their house. The shack was literally a few tree branches holding up a thatch (very thin) wall and roof. In the large room was also the "kitchen." We finally got the moving done and began to dismantle the "shack." It only took us about 1 hour to pack and move her meager belongings and only about 20 minutes to take apart the house.
WE had to be very careful though because the community will reuse all the materials and build another shack with the same materials.I was helping remove some wire and Amy was on the other side of the wall pulling, I said "ok Amy, can you pull this one." And she said "Ican't, there is a tire attached." HAHAHAHA... and there really was a random tire attached to the electrical cable!!! As we took down the walls, on one side there was a neighbor's shack. We took down that wall and found the most disgusting thing (well for me anyway)... there were clumps of black hair tucked in the wall and laying all around the floor.
(sujata in the house after we took the roof down but still had the wall up)
We asked Sujata and in her little english she said it was human hair. I dont know where it came from but YUCK!!!!!!!! The entire plot is 10X15. We also had to move the pile of bricks that the family had been storing inside the house. I have never seen so many cochroaches in my life. I was the one picking them up off the ground and each one would have 4 or cochroachs attached that I would try to shake off before handing it up to Jerry. After the house was down, we began to start digging. We have to dig a trench around the side two walls and the back wall in order to put the bricks up. Each side has to be 3 feet deep by 1 1/2 feet wide. The soil is like clay and difficult to dig up. Daniel is a complete work hourse. We;ve also nicknamed him Mr. Bawana because he is super friendly and talks to EVERYONE we encounter! He takes lots of pictures of the kids and they love him. For every moment he is taking pictures, he works the hardest out of all of us. After we dig the trenches we will work on the walls. We hope to get up to the roofline. It will end up being one floor and then later they will put a toilet up on the roof. Habitat wanted it in the homes but the families protested and said their relgiious shrines are in the home and it would be a disgrace for a toilet to be facing their Gods... so abitat agreed to put it on the roof! :) For lunch we walked back to Chetnalaya and they had the most delicious lunch prepared for us. I was sitting outside and there was a teen boy just standing there blatantly staring at me. I was trying to ignore it until Jerry said "I think you have an admirer." Ray overheard and said "being the token blonde on the trip, I am sure that Sheri will get that a lot." I looked directly at the boy and kind of gave him a dirty look... in return I got a head bobble. The people from Saudi all wear jumpsuits and they brought one for Josh (our host). At lunch, Amy said "I think Josh's dimples are cte." And I said "yeah, there's nothing like a man in a onesie." WE laughed hysterically!!!

Let me take a moment to explain the bobble :) I have no idea what it means. Earlier today I said "sujata, can I borrown the pick" and she bobbled... I couldn't tell if that meant yes or no. Later in the day, I asked Samim (one of the fmaily members) to pass me the shovel, he bobbled and then didnt give me the shovel but went back to work. It is pretty funny but a bit confusing. We've all begun to practice the bobble on the bus... MAtt has the best bobble going on :)

(Amy and I flexing our muscles)
Back to the site... we continued to dig throughout the afternoon and found all sorts of things (toothbrush, comb, shorts just to name a few). I got my first injury... there was a rusty nail sticking out of the neighbors brick wayy and I walked right into it with my upper arm. Thank God it didn't break the skin but I have quite the AWESOME bruise where the nail head hit my arm. We quit @ 3pm and headed back to the center. I was talking with Carrie (another team leader with the Saudi team, she is from New Zealand) and she nodded to the side and said "I think you have an admirer." My teenage friend was back and standing about 5 feet away just intently staring. He didn't look away or make any acknowledgement that I looked. While standing there a fight broke out on the steps between a bunch of boys. This woman came running out with a stick and started hitting and yelling and the boys. They divided into two groups (the jets and (ok musical buffs, can you come up with the other gang?)) and one person even picked up a shovel! Luckily all calmed down. We walked to the bus and as we were waiting, we were standing next to the market and were just covered in flies. Matt and I were talking and I saw Carrie and she nodded to my right. I turned around and Senor Stares-a-lot had followed us and was there continuing to stare at me... awesome :)

(Hanuman... the monkey king... on the road to/from Bawana)
On the way back to the hotel we saw an elephant pulling a cart, a camel train on the streets and some hijrah's (eunichs & cross dressers that are said to be good luck in India). We were all exhausted last night and had dinner and 6 of us then went out to a bar nearby. I had a mango lassi (YUMMY!!!!) and Jerry, Natasha, Chinmoi, Liam, Matt and I had some great conversations! Even with that, we were in bed by 9:30. Natasha is also a bit... um... annoyed by our one teammate and she complained when we got back to the room. I am trying not to talk much about my feelings towards her (especially since the walls are so thin) but I am challenged by it... I'm not proud of it but am trying to be mindful of it. I decided to try the Tyelenol Pm... wow!!! I only woke up last night but I had the weirdest dreams! I think it was the comination of the anti-malarials, the tyelenol pm, the asthma inhaler and who know what else. The last dream I remember I was at my mom's house and all our animals were outside. I let them in but thought "hmmm... are these really our animals or are they decoys?" I looked in our backyard and there was another set of our animals. I was then trying to figure out which ones were the real ones. I would hold up each one separately and compare it to the other "hmmm... is this one treble or is this one treble?" Next thing you know, my mom and I are at the beach... I have to run back to the car and left her on the beach. When I get back to the car, she is sitting in the front seat. So I think "hmmmm.... is this my real mom or is the mom on the beach my real mom?" I try testing her but they both know all the answers. I then realized that I couldn't let them see each other or the would self-destruct!!! (I am seeing a bit of Harry potter in here for you film buffs). I then realized that I had forgotten my mom's birthday (which mom I don't know) so I called my brother and asked him to buy a toolbox for her and deliver it to the hotel by the beach but he can't let her see it. And then I woke up. WHAT THE HECK!!!!????? :)

This morning while getting ready, I put some barrettes in my hair. They are the old clips that kids wear (they were mine from many years ago and I brought them with me... I plan on wearing them each day to add some playful flavor and then I will leave them for the kids). Today were yellow ducks and they were a huge hit at breakfast!! My teammates love them :) On the drive this morning I rode in with MAtt (who by the way is a serious hottie!!!). we got to Chetnalaya and walked out to the site. We continued to dig the trenches and got a really good rhythm going between us. It is a GREAT team!!!! We started digging the front trench but the the lining for the sewer kept busting holes and the sewer water would trickle into the trench and make it muddy and extra stinky. Needless to say, these shoes and pants will DEFiniteLY be staying in INDIA!!! Since we plugged up the sewer with dirt, it has now started to overflow into the shack next to us. The stinky water mixing with the clumps of black hair makes me want to gag every time I see it!!! YUCK!!! We also started digging out the corners (5 feet down) where the rebar posts will go. The front right one we began to call "sewer 101" because it is a completely different color of dirt and every shovelful brings about a new smell of awesomeness :) We all took turns up there! Sujata was a bit more talkative and through a lot of pantomiming we found out that she is married with a 3 year old daughter. Her husband cares for their daughter in the day and then works at night.


After working today we were waiting back at the center and Sujata called me over. She grabbed my hand and brought me into another room and said "sister, this is my office. She as so proud of the room with the 6 chairs that she shares with 5 other people. I asked her which chair was hers and she beamed as she pointed to one chair. She also explained to me about the paintings on the walls. On one wall is a house diagram. It is meant to represent the housing collaboration between Chetnalaya and Habitat. On the other side is a beautiful tree with names painted into the leaves. She came up behind me and put her head on my shoulder and said "sister, this tree strong, is like Chetnalaya and all women, is for all women who need branches." It was a beautiful moment. Eventhough you often see women her hugging, holding hands and such, it was such a sweet unexpected affection that I was very touched that she picked me to show her accomplishments to. I was very moved. I waited outside after and senor-stares-a-lot was nowhere to be found today.. yea!

On the bus ride back, Amy sat next to me and were talking about the day. We said something to Ava and she jumped across the aisle and sat on our laps. It was hilarious!!!!! I've also decided to become trilingual and learn to speak horn. The cars here use their horn constantly! Each one has a different message. Two short beeps= "hey, just wanted to let you know I am over here, don't veer to your side.". One short beep= "Good morning, how are you today." One long horn= "&@%$^#* you!". One long beep followed by another long beap= "you do that again and I am going to come find your sister and chop off all of her hair." A succession of short beeps= "wow, I like the paint on your car, who is your collision repairman." :

I know that two or three of the people have mentioned that their site is really serious and they wish to change. My site is amazing! WE are constantly laughing, joking, listening to music and having a great time. I think we had to start like that because from the very start, on our site, we needed to laugh things off... the other sites were all prepared and ready to go. And eventhough we started WAY behind the others, we are completely caught up and will be the first team to begin laying bricks tomorros. Although I don't want to change teams, I know how it feels when you want to change teams and no one listens. If no one else mentions it, I might say something to Ray just to give those other people the opportunity to change.

I know that was a long post but I wanted to get you all caught up. I hope you are enjoying. I love reading your comments! Love and miss all of you!

Just for you Christina! :)

My roommate calls him Mr. Rogers. Today we saw one wearing an Armani blazer.... HAHAHAHAHA!!! Will write more later!

I need to find those earplugs I packed and quick!!!

Hello to all my fellow readers! What a day it has been. Yesterday afternoon Natasha (my roommate) arrived @ about 2:30...she is SUPER cool! At first she was a bit quite but now that she has warmed up we are getting along GREAT! She is about my age and really funny! Ray did a great job matching us up with people he thought we would do well with. amy and Ava are both under 30 and are from D.C., and Natasha and I are about the same age and have traveled a lot. Fleda is a bit odd and has her own room (good call ray!!!) She's a bit annoying and all of us are already ready for her to be quiet!!! LAst night at dinner I got to hear all about her many, and I mean many diet restrictions. She can't eat cheese, she can't have dairy, she can't eat gluten, and then I tuned her out! And she will not just pick through it and pick out the stuff she can't eat... poor Ray has his hands full with her!!!

We had our Habitat orientation last night with a projector screen made of white sheets :) The director of Habitat india was there and he shared a lot of great info with us. Did you know that in India a child dies every two minutes because of poor sanitation?!?!?!?! We also got to meet our host "Josh". He is a Social Worker who has only been with Habitat for 3 months. Before that he was working with World Vision after getting his masters degree in England the same year I got mine! After that we had dinner... it was amazing! YUMMY!!!!!

Natasha and I headed to bed early since we were bothexhausted. I think the jetlag has been worse because I have been just sitting around for two days. It's MUcH better to just jump right into the build! We talked a bit (and vented about Fleda) and then went to bed probably around 9pm. I had trouble falling asleep... probably took about an hour. At 10:30 our doorbell rang... We were so disoriented. I looked at my watch and was like "is it morning, did we oversleep?!?!" I get to the door and one of the bellboys are there and says "oh, I am so sorry miss." I get back in bed and Natasha was like "damn, I had just fallen asleep." I fell back asleep and had the weirdest dreams ever!!! I can't share them because I don't remember them but holy crap batman... weird! Thank you malarone! :) I awoke @ 12:30 and there was a band playing outside... it was a wedding procession. At 2:30 both Natasha and I awoke to a pack of dogs howling outside our window. At 4:30 we both awoke again to noise out in the hallway. At 6:20 we both woke up again to another pigeon fight outside on our air conditioner. I am going to sleep like a baby tonight!!!!!

Ok, it's time to go eat dinner... I can't wait to tell you all about the amazing first day of the build! I am already in love with all the adorable children and eventhough it is in a really rough area... Bawana is amazing... there is sewage in the streets and smells terrible but the people walk by in the most beautiful sari's I have ever seen!!!!! We saw a fight, a goat wearing a Calvin Klein sweater (all the goats were sporting some type of outerwear), and Josh wearing a onesie (all the Saudi Arabia team members are wearing them)... hilarious! More later!

Proposals and Pigeons

Good morning from the other side of the world!!! Last night, after dinner I came straight to bed @ about 8pm and couldn't even keep my eyes open to do anything but brush my teeth! The accoustics here are completely TERRIBLE and I can hear every little sound outside the room. At 12:30 I awoke and heard Matt being introduced to his roommate Liam. At 3:30 I awoke and heard Amy lugging her suitcase out of the elevator the size of a coffin. At 4:30, I heard Fleda and Ray talking in the hallway. At 6:30 I heard a pigeon attacking another pigeon ontop of the window airconditioner. I finally got out of bed @ 7:45 to get ready for the day. For those of you with a faint heart... I am now going to talk about snot... so be forewarned! :) This morning when I blew my nose, it was all a disgusting grey/black color. The smog/smoke is so thick here that everything is hazy... even indoors. Black snot... still grosses me out thinking about it :) I went upstairs for breakfast and there is a great outdoor patio. I ate out there and the waiters were very attentive... maybe a bit too attentive! :) One of the waiters kept coming over and talking with me. His english was mediocre but he did know how to say "nice hair, very silky and beautiful. He made sure that I knew that his name "Prim" meant love and that he has alot of love to give others. Hahahahah!!! And he also was quite the romancer. he told me that he got off work @ 9 and would like to take me around town. He proceeded to tell me all the great places he would like to take me. Um... thanks but no thanks buddy! I was rescued by a couple who came and sat next to me. They are the Habitat team leaders for the Saudia Arabia team. They are originally from Michigan but teach at a Saudi Arabia International school. There team is a bunch of 9th graders!! What a great service project! They left and a handsome looking gentleman soon took a seat nearby. His name is felix and he is from France. What great eye candy while sipping on my chai!!! :) He is here for a colleague's wedding. We chattd for a bit and the rest of the team started to arrive. I met Amy first and she is super cool. She is from D.C. and works as a sign language interpreter. She also had quite the crazy flight story. She arrived at the aiport to fly KLM and Air France and they told her to come back the next day!!! She perservered and they were able to get her another flight on British Airways. She went to the BA counter and they said "you are not going to make this flight unless you run, they are already boarding. She went through a secret security area with no lines and ran barefoot to the gate. She just made it! Jerry is also here, he arrived last night from Wisconsin and seems really sweet. Matt also met us at breakfast as did Ava. The group would really like to go do some yoga before our orientation tonight and so I went and asked downstairs. They said there might be a class at the Sikh school nearby, I am waiting to hear back. As I am typing this right now, Praveen, the adorable young man who works as housekeeping is cleaning up the room. He has been begging to be able to come clean the room all morning and although he speaks very little english, he is adorably trying to tell me all sorts of things. He must be about 15... what a cute kid! He just finished cleaning and asked me to walk around the room to inspect it. I walked around and said what a good job he had done and the huge smile on his face simply melted my heart! SOOOO adorable!

Beggars and Shoe shiners

Well I've managed to stay away now for almost the entire day. We are heading upstairs pretty soon to meet up for dinner. Poor Ray is on his way back to the airport to get some more teammembers. Turns out that there is another team here this week from Saudi Arabia and the host has been spending a lot of time with them. I met Moira straight away, she is the team leader's girlfriend and she is here until tomorrow. They've been here for a week and it was nice having her to show me around the neighborhood. She took Chinmoi (teammember) and I to this coffee shop where I had a paneer tikka sandwich (imagine a bagette with a cheese-like substance and a redish sauce... YUMMY!!!). The cafe is on the second floor andoverlooks a busy street. We sat up there for hours watching (and listening... people use their horns here for EVERYTHING!). And the streets... OMG!!! Traffic is on the wrong side of the road and the lanes mean absolutely nothing. I am used to crazy traffic, I am not used to trying to dodge motorcycles, cars, rickshaws and people at the fast pace that you have to do so. I almost got hit by a motorcycle the first time I tried it (don't worry mom... not a scratch on me! :) ). I feel a bit like frogger!!! It was really relaxing sitting at the coffee shop and Daniel came to join us. He's REALLY sweet! After awhile Ray showed up and told us that Ava and Liam were now @ the hotel. Ava had just spent the past 10 days up in a homestay up in the himalayas. Chinmoi had a friend here in Delhi that he called and so he came over. He was having a good time trying to teach us how to say thank you in Hindi, Urdu and some other language. I still have no clue,,, something like surday. We came back to the hotel and picked up Ava to go for a walk and explore some of the shops. Ray headed back to the airport. Daniel, being a tall white guy... seemed to pick up all the beggars. People would beline for him and ask him for money, to let them shine his shoes, you name it. He is very sweet and has a hard time telling them no. He finally gave in and let some guy shine his shoes. They are waterproof Merrel shoes that dont need shining but it was hilarious watching the pleasure he got out of ruining his pair of shoes for the experience of interacting with a Delhi native. The shoe shiner even took off his own sandals to have Daniel put them on in the meantime. A crowd quickly gathered as we are the only white people that I have seen all day in this neighborhood! We walked a bit further and next thing we know, we are surrounded by an entire family of beggars. Turns out Daniel had given the little girl 20 rupes (50 cents) and she brought her whole family over to ask for more. the little boy (about 7years) began to beg Daniel and the little girl began to hang on my arms. I tucked my hands into my pockets and tried to just keep walking. She was filthy and sticky and her hair was completely matted. She was probably about 9years old). The mom and baby began to bother Ava and Moira. They were really persistent and must have followed us for a half an hour. Ava taught us that we could say "naji" which means "no thank you." She also taught Daniel how to say "go away." None of it worked. Finally, we dodged some cars and crossed the street. They did't follow. Moira told us that oftentimes there is a man, similar to a pimp that makes these families work the streets and beg. If they don't bring in money they are beaten. If they do bring in money, they do not get to keep any of it.

Dinner was here at the hotel... I get to eat Indianfood for 2 weeks! What could be better than that?! At dinner Ray talked about Bawana... he told us that it is a neighborhood of slums where we will be building. When he asked at the front desk for a driver who knew how to get to Bawana, the response he gotwas "oh no sir, you definitely do not want to go there." Hahahaha... He also talked about Vijay our taxi driver and how he has the absolute worst sense of direction! :)

The team members I have met so far are SUPER cool!!! I can't wait to get to know them all. I laughed more today than I have in weeks. The brochure for customs said "Incredible India." Incredible indeed!!! Tomorrow we will continue to hang around while other team members arrive. We were talking about goingg to see a Bollywood movie or taking a Yoga class @ an ashram. We'll see!

Delayed... Delayed and Delayed!

Wow, what a LONG trip it was getting halfway around the world!! I survived though and am currently sitting in my hotel room in Delhi. After all the stress of the ticket fiasco, I arrived at the airport a bit drained and stressed. I know that it will all work out before I have to go home, but I was stressed out getting them to fix the two tickets just to get me here! I arrived at the airport to find that my flight was delayed an hour because of the snow in London (the plane was coming from London). I had great company to wait with though. My mom was there with her friend Marti, and my friend Jennifer and her daughter Cali had just flown in from New Hampshire and were waiting at the airport. By the time I had to get ready to go through security, I could feel the exhaustion and stress of the past few days settling in. Being sick doesnt help! I must admit, it was really nice to have a little bon voyage group standing there waving me through security! While waiting in line I started talking with a pilot standing behind me. And when I say talking, I really mean flirting! He was cute!!!! He had a British accent and we talked about India (he had just been here last week). Turns out he was the pilot for my flight to London! When we parted ways I said "alright, you have a safe flight now" and he turned and chuckled! :) He'd BETTER have a good flight!!!! The flight to London was amazing... it was half empty so I got a whole row of 3 seats to myself. I probably slept for 5-6 hours of the 10 hour flight. There was a very sweet man sitting across the aisle... he was heading home to Scotland. When we landed, he threw a dark chocolate Cadbury bar and a bag of chips at me and said "this will help you along on your journey." Very sweet!!!!

Can I just say that London is freezing! Who would ever want to live there!? IT was in the 20's and they walkways are not heated! BRRRRR!!!!! It had snowed and there was snow on the ground. I quickly realized that my next flight was also delayed. It said it was delayed 1 1/2 hours. I was famished and luckily my mom had packed a peanut butter sandwich for me. I ate half and sat around watching planes. I made my way to the gate and waited, and waited, and waited. The original flight time was @ 3:25 and the sign said 5pm was the updated time but at 5pm we still hadn't boarded. At this point, exhaustion was starting to set in and believe it or not, I was getting grumpy! :) Boarding was a nightmare! I am starting to see some patterns here. If you are over 70,you can cut to the front of the line. If you have small children, you can push your way in front of other people as well as bring along both sets of grandparents. If you have any sort of disability, you get pushed to the back of the pushing mob of people :) Or at least that's how our boarding went (and later our customs line in India).


We get onto the plane, get buckled in and the pilot comes over the intercom to say that while the plane was waiting, ice developed on the wings and we were going to have to wait for a de-icer. The wait was an hour and a half and then the proposed wait for take-off was 30 more minutes. I just about lost it. WE are sitting in the seats, can't get up, can't watch movies and they wouldn't feed us or give us water. Luckily I had the 2nd half of my PB & J or I might have had to knock someone out! The good news is that the de-icer came sooner... the bad news is that the have to turn off the air inside the plane while they do it. So now we are all grumpy, hungry, thirsty, tired AND hot! Oh... and thanks to the hot... STINKY! There must have been about 20 children on the plane under the aeg of 2 years so you can just imagine how well they handled the wait. The two guys next to me were very sweet but I was about ready to throttle them by the end of the flight. One was a 74 year old man from Vancouver who is flying home to India for a visit. The other was in his 30's and also was from Canada. They didn't know each other and promptly started debating about some topic... in Hindi... loudly... with hand motions. So here I am, stuck in a seat, sweating, hungry, sick, frustrated, listening to a bazillion children screaming, trying to dodge hand movements. To make matters even better, the woman with crying baby #4 stood up to get something out of the bin above me and pour a whole bunch of water all over me. So now I can add SOPPING WET to the mix. The flight gets underway and everything seems to be going smoothly. We eat and then I try to get some sleep. Yeller #1 and Yeller #2 are continuing their debate in the seats next to me. I try turning on the radio full blast. No dice. I then add a blanket over my head. I can still hear them. I then tie my sweatshirt around the towel which is around the headphones with the radio on full blast. Loud mumbles is the best I could do. I tried meditating and praying. I then try alcohol... excuse me Sir Flight attendant, I'd like a bottle of wine and quick. One bottle of wine later and all it does is make me tearful! I was so frustrated. (repeat of the Miami airport incident anyone? :) ). when we landed in India, 3 1/2 hours after our scheduled time, you could not get me off the plane fast enough!!! I practically ran down the walkway! The first thing I noticed though is the smell. It was hazy when we landed... a thick mixture of fog and dense smog. L.A. doesn't have a THING on Delhi smog! The smell though is something I'm not sure how to describe. It's a mixture or burning wood (a sweet pungent smell) and an incense smell. It's thick and makes you want to cough. I really like it though... it's somehow comforting and soothing.
(this image was above where passport control was... I LOVE the hands!)Passportcontrol was much of the same pushing and shoving... I even got elbowed by an 8 year old as he merged into line right in front of me. I can tell that the moral of this trip is going to be patience. Good news though is that my luggage made it here! YEA!!! Ray (the team leader) met me at the airport, poor guy hadn't gotten the message that my flight was delayed and had been waiting since 4:30am! He seems REALLY cool!!! He rode back to the hotel with me, giving me the low-down on the hotel, what to expect today/tomorrow and the like. On the way, we dodged about 23 potential car accidents, saw about 30 beggar children in the streets, dodged to miss a cart being pulled by two oxen and went the wrong way on a one way street. WELCOME TO INDIA! I LOVE IT!!!! :) Driving to the hotel, I suddenly felt invigorated and peaceful. Gone were all the hassles of getting here or knowing how I am going to get back. Instead, I simply sat back and watched. Ray dropped me off at the hotel and immediately turned back to the airport. Daniel is already here but his room has a Do Not Disturb sign on it. It looks like I will be sharing a room with Natasha (National Guard from Canada). but she will not be getting here until tomorrow so I have the place to myself. The room is small but clean. The beds are ridiculously close together so that should be fun... getting to know each other right away! The first time I went to use the loo... I practically fell in because it is much closer to the ground than we are used to. As I am typing, I can heard a pigeon trying to hack into the room through the airconditioner and there is something crawling in the wall to my right... ah, nothing like it :) the shower has a small window in it and under that is a simple wood plank, let's just hope it is well bolted down as the shower looks out onto the street!! Well, I think I am going to head out to scavege for some food and see if Daniel or anyone else is around.