August 2011
2 posts
3 tags
"Time to Say Goodbye"
…as Jason so aptly said (read: sang) in our car last weekend.
I don’t have time for a o post, but the past 24 hours have already been emotionally exhausting. It is indescribably hard to say goodbye to our friends here with no idea of when we will be back.
We leave for the airport in an hour, and I will be back in Tallahassee 36 hours after that. Very, very excited to see my family...
4 tags
Last Weekend
Our last weekend in Kolkata is coming to an end, and it was definitely the most fun weekend I’ve had in the city. For starters, it was a very long weekend, since Monday was a holiday and today, Tuesday, we visited Manovikas’ other campus in Alipore. I think another reason we enjoyed ourselves so much is that, after eight weeks here, we all feel the freedom to make our own plans.
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July 2011
11 posts
3 tags
Outsiders: Americans and Stray Animals
Just when I delude myself into routine (while ignoring the fact that I go home in two and a half weeks - WHAT), India throws me a curveball like today.
I woke up at 8:30, as usual, had my toast and butter and rallied the troops, as usual. The five of us (Brad stayed home with a fever) caught a cab and I tuned out the cacophony outside. It was shaping up to be a very normal day. When I noticed the...
5 tags
More Pictures from Manovikas!
Samarpan and his mom
Ibrahim and his mom
Dance class at Manovikas
One of Hannah Colton’s sweet lil bebs
Hannah Colton and Arjun
Ann and her little Miti
Brad and Mitual cheesin’
Hannah Colton and Arjun
Me and Dipen - right before he bit me
Pictures from Manovikas!
Samarpan
Ibrahim and his sweet mom
Diganta and his mom, who can’t be more than 25
Sagnik
Dipen
Sagnik and his mom “crayoning”
Dipen and one of the house ma’s
Riya and her house ma
Mitula and her house ma
Diganta and his mom
7 tags
Even More Pictures from Month One (Exploring...
Park Street Cemetery
Exploring our neighborhood on the afternoon of the Rath festival
City street in our neighborhood
Colorful neighborhood street
Neighborhood mini-rath
Home Sweet Guest House
The Future Hope Girls + The Hannahs with three of the FH kids at a Future Hope rugby game
Me with the youngest of the FH girls
Hannah Colton with two of the FH kids at the rugby...
8 tags
More Pictures from Month One (The Rest of New...
Julie, Dom, and me cheesin’ at the Taj
Agra Fort
Inside Agra Fort
Ba’hai Lotus Temple in New Delhi
Old Mosque in Murshidabad
Marble Palace in Murshidabad - the Nawab ruler lived here until the 1970s. We got to meet him!
Wild monkeys in a cemetery in Murshidabad
Sunset over another mosque in Murshidabad
Third mosque of the day
Twilight in Murshidabad
4 tags
A Different Kind of Hard Day
I had a really hard day at work last Monday. My days are usually so enjoyable, but this one was an exception. At the beginning of our fourth week in the city, I was beginning to feel the strains of the pollution, the language barrier, the intense longing for something not unlike a bacon cheeseburger in my stomach.
I arrived at work considerably more sleepy than usual. During activity time, I had...
6 tags
My Thoughts on Being a Gori
We often will see people taking our pictures from some distance away. While it was something I found mildly annoying at first, Ann taught me a tactic that turns it into a laugh for all parties involved. When I notice someone with their camera phone aimed in my direction, I simply whip out my camera and take a picture of them, too. They laugh, I laugh, and they either put their camera away or we...
7 tags
Pictures from Month One (First Glimpses of...
I have been a slacker about uploading pictures, mainly because our internet is glitchy and extremely slow when it’s actually working (which is about 50% of the time). I took a ton of pictures during the first two weeks since we were sightseeing in Kolkata and traveling around the rest of the country, but I’ve slowed down since then. Anyways, here are some photos from the first month.
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4 tags
A Love Affair - Reflections on One Month in India
Today marks one month that I have been in Kolkata. I have definitely said it before, but I have to reiterate: I am smitten with this city. There seems to be no better word for how quickly and deeply I’ve become attached to the little intricacies and non sequiturs that are definitive of and unique to Kolkata.
That’s not to say that being here is without difficulties. My biggest (and...
6 tags
9 tags
Monday Morning Oranges (As in, the Opposite of...
I LOVE MONDAYS. This is a recent development, and probably won’t outlast my time in India. But while I’m here, Monday mornings mean I finally get to see my kids after two whole days of missing them. Yes, after only one week, I am completely smitten with the nine children - seven boys, two girls - in my Early Intervention class. The only complaint that I have about the class is that...
June 2011
7 posts
6 tags
Good Fun: Park Street, Manovikas, Food Dreams
My love affair with the city officially began on Sunday when the Manovikas gang went to Park Street to enjoy our day off. Because we spent the first week traveling and then started work the morning after returning, Sunday was our first real chance to get a taste of Kolkata/Calcutta (the two are used relatively interchangeably). We braved the surprisingly clean and safe underground metro and made...
7 tags
Little Moments
This happened yesterday but was worth its own post, rather than being lumped inside of my job description.
After almost all of my kids had left, I sat down in front of Ibrahim, a little boy who I think has Down’s Syndrome. Often smiling, usually attentive, Ibrahim was sitting behind his little desk impassively. In my attempts to drag a smile out of him, I put my hands over my eyes to play...
9 tags
First Days at Manovikas Kendra
Translated literally, it means “Center for Expansion of the Mind.” MRIH, its acronym, stands for Manovikas Kendra Rehabilitation and Research Institute for the Handicapped. This is the NGO for which I will be working during the next two months. My first four days of work have shown me what an amazing and dynamic place Manovikas is, and I already feel incredibly lucky to have been given...
Week One: A Summary
Hallo readers!
My apologies for disappearing off the map. Our first week in Kolkata has been one of much exploration and little sleep. I am attempting to keep a comprehensive log of my time with a combination of a personal journal and thorough photo-journaling, so I will just try to anecdotally give y’all a spicy little taste of India (hehe). And as always, follow all ten of us here.
We...
See ya, America
After a LONG trip - and I’m only halfway there - I am about to board my flight to Dubai. It’s all hitting me for real now. I am leaving the U.S. in an hour for two months, going the furthest from home I’ve ever been, doing so many things I’ve never done. So many jitters — the excited kind!
4 tags
And We're Off! (Almost)
Since I leave tomorrow (WHAT), I figured it’s finally time for me to start this blog. This will be my personal blog, as a supplement to our group blog (website here), and I will try to update this more frequently.
For those of y’all who don’t know, I was accepted in December to travel to India this summer through a program called DukeEngage. The program was started at Duke few...
