I have arrived in a new land far from the land of Bangalore, ayurvedic massages, and ashrams. This land is called Beijing. Beijing is a city of 17 million, however it feels less crowded than the 7 mill ppl city of Bangalore. Beijing is full of large postmodern architecture, bright neon signs, bars, restaurants, paved roads and sidewalks. The poverty that does exist has thus far been well hidden from my eyes. Traditional Chinese medicine is well woven into the city; acupuncture, reflexology, herbal massages. The youth are ultra-hip. Shaggy haircuts, tall boots, knock-off diesel jeans, the whole nine yards. Boys and girls walk hand in hand. My 26 year-old host sister does not live at my homestay, she lives with her boyfriend! This is not India anymore. But at the same time, it is not the United States of America either.
Tonight my American sister, Kit, and I went out to dinner on our own. THe first restaurant we went to had no pictures on the menu, definitely no english, and when we tried to use the phrasebook we couldn't get anything across. Humiliated we left and went to the next restaurant down that had pictures. We ended up getting the spiciest thing I have ever eaten (my lips are still burning) and some fried goo. It is tough being in China when the only things I can say are "hi my name is jessica" and "thank you" in chinese. My homestay parents speak not a word of english, so dinners tend to be a theatrical performance. But I feel very fortunate to be in my homestay, both my parents are foodworkers, my father a chef. We eat well! My host sister was there our first night, and she speaks broken english. My favorite exchange with her went like this:
me, "what should we do for breakfast tomorrow?"
her (after consulting her mom), "My mother will put out bread and jams. YOu can serve yourself and then you can put your dishes in the chicken.
I feel that a lot will be lost in translation while I am here. Luckily there are several mandarin speakers on the trip, one of which is my best friend. Without them, I would be lost.
We live with host families for two weeks and then live in a guesthosue for the next two weeks. It will be nice to have that autonomy especially since Beijing is a hopping city! I am definitely looking forward to my time in Beijing, and the many miscommunications that will accompany it. Hopefully, I will get some time later to write a bit more about my last week in India as there are some stories I would still love to share. Much love to all! I am doing acupuncture for my knee tomorrow!!
p.s. this is a shameless reminder. My 21st birthday is in a little less than a month. It occurs on my second day in south africa. if one would like to send me something and has not done so, you may want to send something to south africa kind of soon. Sorry, i know that is terrible of me to write, but I had to. I have no expectations.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Life outside of the city
Had I left India two weeks ago, my overall impression would not have been too positive. With scary rickshaw drivers, amoebas, garbage, and extreme poverty-- Bangalore is just not my cup of masala tea. However, Bangalore is not India, and I have constantly been overwhlemed by the diversity I have seen just in Southern India.
On February 23rd I boarded a coach bus with 30 other students and we were off to our week in Kerala. On the way to Kerala we stopped at the Tribal Health Initiative in the Sittiling Valley in Tamil Nadu. It was an amazing hospital set up by two indian doctors to service 24 tribal villages that would otherwise be alienated from medical care. The attitude of the place was very organic. They did not seem to believe that their way was the only way. They were willing to enter into a dialogue with the tribal people in order to find the most effective means to find health and healing. The sturctures themselves were very aesthetically pleasing. I am really understanding the importance of place. If the physical place is peaceful and thoughtful, it is much more conducive to people being peaceful and thoughtful. That first night of our journey we stayed at an organic farm and commune. THey fed us amazing food that they had grown and talked with us about their life philosphies. It was an incredibly uplifting place. From there we went to Thrissur, Kerala for a few days. The most important thing we did during that time was a day trip to Plachimada. Plachimada has been the staging ground against the Coca-cola company in India. THere is a coke plant in Plachimada that has managed to totally contaminate all the drinking water and ruin the agirculture. THere has been a camp of locals protesting across the street from the plant for 1770 days. It was incredible to bear witness to their perseverence. However, I felt that we could have learned a lot more had we had a good translator. There were 15 people sitting in front of us, all with valuable stories that mostly went unheard. Language is such an important tool for communication. I believe deep connections can be made without words, but there is definitely something to be said for them. After Thrissur, we went to beautiful Wayanad. That time was mostly used for the academic wrap-up in India. I had to write a 7 page paper BY HAND. You may roll your eyes and say whatever, but I'm telling you it was damn hard! I stayed up nearly the entire night to complete it, and it wasn't even that good. I give a shout out to anyone who wrote papers by hand.
SInce March 2nd I have been on a vacation with 4 of my girl friends from the program. We went to beautiful luscious Munnar for 3 nights. I will write more about that later. And right now, we are in a small town in Tamil Nadu near Sri Ramana Maharshi's Ashram. We will be walking 9 miles around his mountain early tomorrow morning. We are going to try to walk it in silence. Needless to say, there will be more to write about soon. I was feeling that it had been a while since I connected, so I hope this gives you a sufficient taste of my whereabouts.
On February 23rd I boarded a coach bus with 30 other students and we were off to our week in Kerala. On the way to Kerala we stopped at the Tribal Health Initiative in the Sittiling Valley in Tamil Nadu. It was an amazing hospital set up by two indian doctors to service 24 tribal villages that would otherwise be alienated from medical care. The attitude of the place was very organic. They did not seem to believe that their way was the only way. They were willing to enter into a dialogue with the tribal people in order to find the most effective means to find health and healing. The sturctures themselves were very aesthetically pleasing. I am really understanding the importance of place. If the physical place is peaceful and thoughtful, it is much more conducive to people being peaceful and thoughtful. That first night of our journey we stayed at an organic farm and commune. THey fed us amazing food that they had grown and talked with us about their life philosphies. It was an incredibly uplifting place. From there we went to Thrissur, Kerala for a few days. The most important thing we did during that time was a day trip to Plachimada. Plachimada has been the staging ground against the Coca-cola company in India. THere is a coke plant in Plachimada that has managed to totally contaminate all the drinking water and ruin the agirculture. THere has been a camp of locals protesting across the street from the plant for 1770 days. It was incredible to bear witness to their perseverence. However, I felt that we could have learned a lot more had we had a good translator. There were 15 people sitting in front of us, all with valuable stories that mostly went unheard. Language is such an important tool for communication. I believe deep connections can be made without words, but there is definitely something to be said for them. After Thrissur, we went to beautiful Wayanad. That time was mostly used for the academic wrap-up in India. I had to write a 7 page paper BY HAND. You may roll your eyes and say whatever, but I'm telling you it was damn hard! I stayed up nearly the entire night to complete it, and it wasn't even that good. I give a shout out to anyone who wrote papers by hand.
SInce March 2nd I have been on a vacation with 4 of my girl friends from the program. We went to beautiful luscious Munnar for 3 nights. I will write more about that later. And right now, we are in a small town in Tamil Nadu near Sri Ramana Maharshi's Ashram. We will be walking 9 miles around his mountain early tomorrow morning. We are going to try to walk it in silence. Needless to say, there will be more to write about soon. I was feeling that it had been a while since I connected, so I hope this gives you a sufficient taste of my whereabouts.
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