Only in India do I get 3 giant mosquito bites on my arm in late November - while sitting in my room, on the second floor of my house, with all doors and windows closed. I'm not going to talk about the mosquito anymore, it just happened as I sat down to write and I needed to complain about it.
Life is getting to that weird stage of being pretty used to my environment, but also missing home more as the holidays approach. I was attending a kids event hosted by another organization in Pune today, and they had Christmas music playing. Its a little early for Christmas music in America, and I'm guessing even more so in India. This other organization is run mostly by Westerners, so having Christmas music playing wasn't too shocking, just a bit homesick-inducing. Not to mention, the flood of Facebook pictures I've seen from the Justin Timberlake concert in Memphis.
Despite my moaning about home though, I know that this is really a once in a lifetime experience, and everything that I'm missing in America right now will be made up for in the future (hopefully with a hometown JT performance included). I'm getting the chance to travel around the country, and learn about the ins and out of working with an Indian NGO - which is an often frustrating, painful, and rewarding experience.The next project I'm trying to work on is organizing a kids Christmas concert at the Deep Griha Academy. This feels a little ambitious, as the kids often seem pretty tone deaf/rhythm-challenged every time we do music lessons. They're sweet, funny, wonderful kids, but singing on any sort of key is pretty challenging. I don't expect miracles (but maybe a Christmas miracle?), but hopefully we can get a few simple songs down!
As I mentioned in my last post, I recently traveled to Kerala for my Diwali holiday. I now understand why they call it "God's Own Country." I think the views in Munnar may haven been some of the most beautiful I've even seen. There are rolling hills of tea plantations everywhere, which one driver referred to as a "green carpet," - a pretty accurate description. There were wonderful hiking trails near our home stay, which was about 20 kilometers outside of the city. It was so nice to be away from traffic and pollution for a few days! In Kochi I had the freshest seafood of my life - really, no joke. We bought king fish, shrimp, and squid from fisherman who caught the fish that day, and then proceeded to grill it right there for us. It was awesome. Along with that, some other highlights from the trip include an elephant ride, a hike into the Periyar Tiger Reserve, a tea factory tour, an ayurvedic massage (which I actually wouldn't recommend if you're used to/expecting anything remotely like a Western massage....it was kind of strange experience), and finally ending with an incredibly relaxing evening on a houseboat in Allepey.
Since all of the pictures from that trip are now on Facebook, I'm just going to conclude with a picture from today's event with the kids from our daycare. These are a few of the kids, their teacher, and a camel. These kids are rowdy, mischievous, and super adorable.
Life is getting to that weird stage of being pretty used to my environment, but also missing home more as the holidays approach. I was attending a kids event hosted by another organization in Pune today, and they had Christmas music playing. Its a little early for Christmas music in America, and I'm guessing even more so in India. This other organization is run mostly by Westerners, so having Christmas music playing wasn't too shocking, just a bit homesick-inducing. Not to mention, the flood of Facebook pictures I've seen from the Justin Timberlake concert in Memphis.
Despite my moaning about home though, I know that this is really a once in a lifetime experience, and everything that I'm missing in America right now will be made up for in the future (hopefully with a hometown JT performance included). I'm getting the chance to travel around the country, and learn about the ins and out of working with an Indian NGO - which is an often frustrating, painful, and rewarding experience.The next project I'm trying to work on is organizing a kids Christmas concert at the Deep Griha Academy. This feels a little ambitious, as the kids often seem pretty tone deaf/rhythm-challenged every time we do music lessons. They're sweet, funny, wonderful kids, but singing on any sort of key is pretty challenging. I don't expect miracles (but maybe a Christmas miracle?), but hopefully we can get a few simple songs down!
As I mentioned in my last post, I recently traveled to Kerala for my Diwali holiday. I now understand why they call it "God's Own Country." I think the views in Munnar may haven been some of the most beautiful I've even seen. There are rolling hills of tea plantations everywhere, which one driver referred to as a "green carpet," - a pretty accurate description. There were wonderful hiking trails near our home stay, which was about 20 kilometers outside of the city. It was so nice to be away from traffic and pollution for a few days! In Kochi I had the freshest seafood of my life - really, no joke. We bought king fish, shrimp, and squid from fisherman who caught the fish that day, and then proceeded to grill it right there for us. It was awesome. Along with that, some other highlights from the trip include an elephant ride, a hike into the Periyar Tiger Reserve, a tea factory tour, an ayurvedic massage (which I actually wouldn't recommend if you're used to/expecting anything remotely like a Western massage....it was kind of strange experience), and finally ending with an incredibly relaxing evening on a houseboat in Allepey.
Since all of the pictures from that trip are now on Facebook, I'm just going to conclude with a picture from today's event with the kids from our daycare. These are a few of the kids, their teacher, and a camel. These kids are rowdy, mischievous, and super adorable.
I also felt really Memphis-sick with all the JT pics and such! Maybe in the future there is a way we can combine your awesome elephant ride and the JT concert - We would have the best seats in the house!! Miss you :)
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