Nirvana!

hey all

Sorry i have taken so long to finally write another post. Our internet is acting up and we just got back from Dehli so i havent had time to update! hmm so last thursday we met with the women i taked about before to interview them about their health and nutrition. the village was adorable. we were first brought to the head of the village who welcomed us and of course gave us chai tea. We met all of this grandchildren and his 85 year old frail mother. We were then brought to two families and in our interview with the first we talked to 2 generations of mothers about their overall health including sanitation, nutirition, and maternal health. it was so interesting. most women didnt know anything about vitamins and 85% of the women in our area are anemic. The home had one blub so a little bit of light and they had livestock - one cow which lived in their home. definitely not sanitary and it smelled terrible.

The next day we left for Dehli. We stayed at a 5 star hotel and it was so great to have running water and electricity all the time. Our water works though sometimes it turns off during the night and electricity outages happen alllllll the time. They also had AMERICAN food! They had a great deal of unlimited pizza pasta and beer for 750 ruppees which we lived on. They also had mcdonalds which was quite an experience with masala chicken burgers. We explored the redfort and went shopping. I bought SO many fantastic clothes and scarfs for so cheap. The city reminds me a lot of dc - it was a lot riched and much more modern looking than mumbai and hubli and had tons of traffic circles and even a big lawn much like the national mall.

Then we went to AGRA to see the taj mahal! it was so beautiful and way more astounding than i expected. We watched the sunrise and it was such a great day. And we left for hubli the next day and the flights are great and it feels very 60s as the flight attendance and dressed beautifully and there is so much food and there are tvs. and there were tons of ads to lighen your skin and become fairer. The people were also much lighter in the north and it has more of the steriotypical foods of india than in the south.

So now im finally back in hubli and we are working on our project. Our project is great and were creating a pictoral booklet to teach women in the villages that baif our nonprofit provide for.

And best night of all was last night where we finally went our first night club nirvana, We had tried to go in mumbai but clubs were closed due to elections and in dehli only couples are alowed in. We went to nirvana with our indian friends from our program and we danced and were crazy and quite a specticle.

okay i ahve to go to dinner!

India Minda Shindia!

WHOOO IM HEREEE
Okay hmm where do I begin...

I'm in india with a full out indian wardrobe, binde on my forehead and henna on my hand.

After a 20 hour plane ride and a nice pit stop in frankfurt where we celebrated some oktoberfest at 11:00am and 5:00am Boston time - we finally made it to mumbai at 1:30 am. All I remember is the shock of humidity as we got out of the airplane and the massive amount of colors and sleeping people lying outside of the airport. The city was bussling with rickshaws (a 3 wheeled taxi - which you take everywhere) 50's style taxis and people, dogs and cows sleeping on the sidewalks. I have some great movies of this moment as we took our bus to the hotel that ill try and upload.

So Ive been in india for 5 days now and it is so beautiful, amazing, gorgeous and HOT. I am in love with this country. The people are so kind, warm and friendly. We are somewhat celebrities in this city were in but were slowly getting to know our community and neighbors.

Okay so where do i begin:
Day 1: Mumbai
This city is fantastic. Over 20 million people. A city full of people peeing, pile of trash everywhere and color. It is also predictibly very crowded. You would walk down the street with bumper to bumper with traffic and see a beautiful apartment building with a row of slums surrounding the building. What was especially shocking was the homeless families that you see all over the sidewalk begging for money. A friend and I got up early to go walking and a baby under the age of 3 with no pants or shoes walked with us for 3 blocks asking for money. We saw the slums which are in slumdog millionaire and those right by the airport - which you see in the movie. Honestly we were only there for a day and a half and I didnt get a great feel for the city and really want to revisit it.

Day 2- Now: Hubli

We finally flew to our main location for the next six weeks - hubli. located in the north of karnataka (the same state where bangalore is). This city is fantastic. Just over a million people live here and our twin city darwad which is 20 km away. Its a collegetown so there is a ton of young people. We are working at a college within walking distance and are staying at this great guest house with is beauitful and all to ourselves. We all have balconys and there is spotty wifi in the house. We are working for this foundation at the university so there are over 40 college students in the fellowship at the university. They all speak english and are taking us to a local town next weekend. There are also a bunch of americans in this fellowship which are here for a year working in NGOs. men

I'm working in an agricultural NGO that trains farmers in a community based cooprative. Within the organization we are creating pamphlets for women's health issues to give to village women. Tomorrow we are meeting to interview then at 8am so I need to get my beauty sleep!

This country is amazing and most of the people ive talked from hubli know very little about american culture and society. They have not seen any of our movies and know a very limited information about our music or food.

Also literally every meal is curry. Spices in the morning are really not working out with me but there is nothing else to eat. I'm not sick yet but its bathroom issues are starting to be a problem with some people on the trip.

namascara,

Sarah!

Still in the bean!

Hey all,

So this is my first post - exciting! I am checking out this blog situation to make sure it is going to work when I'm in India! So I leave this Friday the 9th! Ah. I still am not sure if i will have a computer in India, i may only rely on internet cafes.

So here is a tentative itinerary of my trip:

Fly into Mumbai/Bombay for two days.
Travel to Hubli our main location in the state of Karnataka in the South about 5 hrs from the western ocean. Here we will be doing service learning (community service) and project development where we have 1,500 dollars - donated from NEU to give grants to already existing institutions in India.

We take a week off after we get there and go to New Delhi for DIWALI! A fantastic festival of lights - pretty much the fourth of July but lasting for over a week. The entire country shuts down for this. We will also visit agra, where the taj mahal is.

We will go back to hubli for a few weeks then off to Goa - party city, hippy hang out, vegas of India.

Then back to Hubli for a training in grassroots organizing with Indian students in a local engineering college.

Then we end in Bangalore, in the South!

Whew that was a long first post,
Well next time I write I will be in INDIA! AHHAHAHAH

ps: if any of you are interested in contacting me email me at SarahLamm89@gmail.com or facebook me. I also have a skype account SarahLamm89.

Adios muchachos,
Muchos besos y abesos,

Sarah