Swing and a Miss in Finland

I really thought all I would want to do in Finland would be to tell you all back home about how wonderful my last day was, how much I loved India and how sad I was to leave. 

And I do. But honestly I just can’t. I never thought it was possible to have so much emotion inside of me and now words to explain it. As most people know, it isn’t really like me to not have something say! I’ve cried a lot the last 24 hours. I’ve cried tears of joy for the amazing experience that I have had. I’ve cried tears of told sadness when I had to say goodbye to my kids. I’ve cried tears of pride. Pride in my kids for how far they have come and pride in myself for how far I’ve come. I’ve cried tears of guilt for leaving my kids. I’ve cried tears of relief to be coming home. And I know I will cry again the second I get off the plane and see my mom for the first time in two months. 

I tried really hard to write this great post to sum up my trip but it just isn’t coming. I worked out for the first time in a long time as soon as I checked into my hotel. After I took almost an hour long shower and finally felt clean for the first time since June. I thought this would be a great feeling but instead I just felt guilty. The henna on my feet made me feel like a proper Indian but now that the bottom of my feet are white again and no longer caked with dust I feel like I washed a little more of India away. 

I also was really excited to show everyone pictures. But I haven’t looked through the pictures from my last day and just can’t bare to look now and shed more tears. 

So now that I’ve spent a solid amount of time making up excuses for a really lame post, I’m going to curl up in bed and watch some Olympics for the first time. Promise a final update and lots and lots of pictures once I’m back in the great state of Ohio in just a little over a day! 

My Life as a Bollywood Movie

So I go to work on Wednesday like normal already anxious at how little time I have left with my kids. The day starts out normal. Games in the morning, cup of chai, lots of “m is for mango”, “j is for jaclyn” (anyone else who helps them with english in the future is going to be a little confused by this one!) & “c is for cup”. Then the coordinator (my saving grace who speaks english) explained that we were celebrating Rahki Day today. Well Rahki Day had been explained to me but I was told it was Thursday. She said yeah, but there isn’t school tomorrow so we celebrate today. She saw the look of horror on my face and said she wasn’t sure if the center was open or not (like I think I’ve talked about she just started about three weeks ago) but she’d call to find out for me. The afternoon was amazing with celebration. Rahki is a holiday that celebrates the bonds of brothers and sisters. It comes from a Hindu tradition and now continues with sisters visiting the house of their brother and tying a string (traditionally red and orange) around their wrist to show their love. The brother then gives the sister a small present (I’ll be waiting for mine when I get home Jonathan and Logan!) and promises to protect her. All the girls tied bracelets around the boys wrist, the boys gave the girls chocolates and then we danced. A lot. You all probably know how horrible of a dancer I am and mixing my white girl moves with Indian music lead to some pretty great laughs from the kids. Anyway it was such a great afternoon until as I left and told a little boy I’d see him tomorrow the teacher told me “not tomorrow, holiday, no center!” Needless to say I was pretty upset that my two days left was cut down to one.

All the other volunteers also didn’t have work so we decided we would do a little last minute shopping and go see a bollywood movie. It was so great. I really wish I could break out into song and dance at certain moments so below are a few great songs I would include in my Indian life if they decided to make a Bollywood movie about a tall, awkward white girl. 

Love is a Verb- John Mayer

This song will forever remind me of India. I’ve listened to the new John Mayer album almost every night falling asleep and this song is one of my favorites. Being here and having the language barrier really has shown me that love is a verb. I can’t always communicate the love I have for my kids, but I can show them. They can’t always explain things well to me, but they show me all the time how much they love me. I don’t think this kind of love is exactly what my pal John was discussing in his song but that’s totally besides the point. 

When you show me love, 

I don’t need your words

Yeah love ain’t a thing

Love is a verb 

Run for Your Life- The Fray

So every morning and every afternoon I fight my way on to the lovely 419 Delhi Metro Bus. We joke here that I could write a novel about my experiences on the bus. I’ve been pushed, harassed, hung out the door for a few feet, my butts been grabbed, I’ve grabbed someone’s arm as they try and stick their hand into my purse (sorry for these details Mom). Literally every day is an adventure. Well Tuesday I left the market I worked in as it started pouring rain. Just as I turned the corner I see the bus. I literally did run for my life as I made my Olympic worthy 100 yard dash to catch the bus. Don’t worry, my gold medal came in the form of about 20 Indian men clapping for me as I jumped onto the bus as it pulled away. Never again will I laugh at someone running through campus to catch the CABs bus. 

Desi Beat from the movie "Bodyguard" 

Thanks to my kids, I now know a full choreographed dance to this song. Don’t worry I’ll bust a move for all of you when I get home.

Strong Enough- Matthew West 

I India has taught me anything, it’s taught me that I am indeed not strong enough without God. So many things here have been hard and the poverty and unfairness of the world has been the hardest. I’m still far from okay with it in my heart or my head and it’s been really hard to trust in God and not turn my back on Him while seeing this. It’s hard for me to imagine that my God would let this happen. I still haven’t gotten through it all. I still am deeply troubled by it and honestly probably will be for the rest of my life. But I know for a fact it was God’s plan to spend these two months here and I hope it’s God’s plan for me to come back someday and continue the work that I have started. 

I could probably go on for years but I’ll stop here. This will probably be my last post from India (I still haven’t accepted it yet, therefore I am not talking about it yet) but will make sure to get a post-trip entry in during my lovely 24 hour layover back in the great country of Finland. For the last time from India: peace and love always, can’t wait to see everyone in just a few days!! xoxo

My Life Is My Message

Another week here has come and gone and I can’t even believe that means that I am officially in my last week and come home in less than a week. Way too many mixed emotions still about my return home so I’m going to continue putting off thinking about it and get back to that later in the week. 

This last week seriously just flew by. Another volunteer (a fellow Big Ten girl from Penn State!) and I made a plan for our last two weeks to make sure we did and saw everything we wanted to before we left so we’ve been pretty busy trying to go to all the little sights around the city and get back to those we didn’t feel like we really soaked up! 

Well of course things don’t always go according to plan. Monday night India finally got the best of my stomach and I got sick. I really thought I was going to defeat the “you will definitely get sick in India” statement that everyone told me, but it just didn’t happen. I remember the first time I got sick at OSU and just crying to my mom on the phone that I just wanted to be in my own bed with her there to take care of me. Well I was feeling just like that only I was half way around the world this time. Being sick sucks, being sick in a foreign country REALLY sucks. I didn’t eat for like two days, I missed a day with my kids and really just couldn’t move off my bed. No fun. The saddest part though? My love affair with Indian food has come to a screeching halt. Just the smell at the moment makes my stomach churn. My bread and rice diet isn’t really my style and I’m hoping to try and slowly work a little real food back into my diet this last week. Besides the food though I feel a million times better and survived Indian Illness without too much damage. 

This last week at school was a good and bad one continuing with incredible highs but also some really sad and frustrating lows. I have a couple kids who have just come so far with their english and are doing so well. They couldn’t even identify letters well when I started and within the last two weeks have just taken off and were sounding out words and writing them like champs on Friday. With the staff changes I’ve talked about I feel really good that when I leave this will all continue too with new volunteers that come and these kids english will only continue to get better! I haven’t had success everywhere though. At some points I’ve gotten thrown in front of 10-15 kids who speak zero english, have never been in a classroom before and don’t know anything and am just told to teach them. Most seem to have no interest in what I am saying and are laying on the ground or crawling on the table. The language barrier makes it impossible to control them and its really frustrating and just not fun to sit there and scream A, B, C pointing at letters when you feel like none of them even care. It makes it even harder to know that they will probably never actually learn english, or Hindi for that matter. Some of then were nine or ten years old and had never been in a school. Its really hard to think about that sometimes and take in how common this is all around the country and all around the world for that matter. I could just go on for days about how these kids break my heart every single day. I just can’t even wrap my mind around what I’ve seen here sometimes and what these kids lives are like. I have been avoiding the thought that this is my last week. I have no idea how I’m going to say goodbye to these kids who have gotten to know over the last 6 weeks. Not surprising, they have taught me ten times more than I could ever teach to them. 

My India trip was complete this weekend when I finally got to go Gandhi Smriti (In memory of Gandhi) yesterday. It is the place where Gandhi spent his last 144 days and was assassinated. Most of you probably know that this was an absolutely amazing moment for me. I got to walk where Gandhi walked and be in the room where he slept and worked and fasted and prayed. I was probably more in awe and amazement being there than any other place I’ve been in India. There was a pretty elaborate museum also connected which kind of disappointed me. It had some cool things but I found it pretty sad that such an expensive, extravagant thing was built in honor of a man who built his life around living simply and with only what he needed. But walking around the grounds was just amazing. Gandhi quotes were everyone (so clearly we all know I was happiest girl alive) and signs and pictures about his last few days alive. I know none of you will but if you ever get the chance I would really suggest his autobiography “The Story of My Experiments with Truth”. It’s long and a little boring at some points but totally worth it. Like I’ve said, my Gandhi fascination really started my India fascination and landed me here in this amazing country all summer! The title of the post is another very famous Gandhi quote that I think is a good thing for everyone to try and life their life by :) 

Hope everyone in all corners of the world is having a great week. I can’t believe how soon I’ll be home and especially how soon I’ll be starting up school again!! I’m so proud of so many of my amazing friends doing amazing things this summer and this upcoming year. From Grace and Steph playing with kids in Africa all summer to Carley on clinical in Belize. Lainie will be off saving the world in Bolivia, Kara in the Dominican while Mary Rose and Ryan stick to the good old USA to make a difference. I am so proud of all of you and am so lucky to have you all in my life!! (for some lighter reading besides Gandhi read up about Steph, Carley & Lainie's adventures here!) 

One more week of running around India until I must return to the real world! Love and miss you all :) And I promise pictures next time, the internet just isn't loving me today! 

Quiet Weekend at "Home"

After going back and forth a few times and thinking about leaving Delhi again for the weekend I decided yesterday to stay instead of go. Today I am at the house by myself. One of my good friends left this morning (having to say goodbye to people every single week is not fun!) and everyone else is at Agra seeing the Taj Mahal which I already did. So that leaves just me!! Five weeks ago when I got here the thought of an entire afternoon alone here would have literally scared me to death but last night I was actually really looking forward to it. I took as long as I wanted to shower and do my laundry thing morning without the pressure of 11 other girls wanting to be in the bathroom, I organized the mess that had become my suitcase and am just enjoying some time chilling out. I am going out to see a few things later this afternoon and sometimes really like traveling around by myself. It makes me feel less like a tourist and more like in a small way I can sort of call Delhi “home”. 

I am shocked when I think I only have two weeks left here before I have to go home. Though there are a few things I am looking forward to when I get home, in general two weeks DOES NOT seem like enough time. Some of you are probably laughing at that statement since I have yet to really feel comfortable with the amount of time I had left since arriving. No matter how many weeks passed, the time I had left still felt overwhelming. I have never necessarily felt that homesick and never wanted to go home in the moment but sometimes thinking about how much time I had left made me feel anxious. Well, now with just two weeks left I want to stand still and last as long as possible!! 

The saddest part is the thought of only having ten days left with my kids. My placement has been quit the up and down experience. While I have been there they have gone through some major staff changes (for reasons I don’t understand: I am not told and I don’t really want to get involved and asked!) which has made things hard for the rest of the staff, the children and myself. It was especially hard when the coordinator left because she was the only person who could really communicate in English. My partner for the first three weeks and this coordinator all left at the same time and I was left with absolutely no one to hold an English conversation with. It was really hard and the first few days this week seem long. Wednesday though a new woman came and is exactly what this place needs. She sat with me (she can speak English and has saved my sanity!) and asked for my honest opinion about the way things were done and we came up with a plan for my last two and a half weeks for what she wants me to teach. Her methods and plans make a lot more sense and I really think the kids are going to be able to learn so much more not just from me but hopefully in the long run this way. 

The major issue i have seen is that kids can do things like count to 100 and say their ABCs but when I show them a word and ask them to tell me the letters they have no idea. Same idea with numbers. A girl counted to 100 for me last week and I showed her a card with a 3 on it and she had no idea what it was. When it comes to letters they also have no idea what sounds any letters make and can often only relate the letter to the certain que word. So I show them an R and they have no idea, I say rabbit and they know that “r is for rabbit”. When asking them to say letters they often say the related word instead of the letter. So when going over months of the year on Friday someone spelled May ‘M-A-Yo yo”. Who knew yo-yo had become a word!! With some practice though I have some kids (I think!) starting to understand the sounds. Friday was a huge day for me where I really felt like I got through to a lot of them. A group was sounding out the months for me, a little girl I have been working on writing with (everything from Hindi to English to numbers) wrote some flawless 5s and 6s for me and one of my little math boys who I taught to identify 1-10 the first week I was there was able to give me numbers in the 100,000s. I usually leave around 5 and after already skipping lunch I looked at my watch and it was 5:30. Oops!! 

It was days like Friday where I see God looking down on me saying “See, you can make a difference”. My time in India has caused me to feel every emotion I can think of in the strongest way possible: fear, excitement, anger, happiness and everything in between. I am used to my service trips making me feel so close to God. I truly believe their is no greater way I can serve my God than by serving his people. We are His hands and feet here on earth and it is our responsibility to help those around us who have not been given what we have. Being in India has challenged my faith more than I ever imagined. It doesn’t seem far that I have been blessed with so much and these people seem to be given so little. My first few weeks I felt so angry and confused. And everything in my head still isn’t perfect. I still am questioning so much that once seemed so easy for me to believe. I wanted to be challenged. I wanted to be so extremely uncomfortable I thought I couldn’t do it. I wanted feel like I couldn’t deal with everything around me and make my only choice turning to God. It was easy to say I wanted these things. It’s a lot harder to actually have to live through these experiences. 

 Austin (our amazing youth minister at Newman) always tells us on retreats, service trips, etc. to “be where our feet our”. It is something that I have always struggled with. I let my mind wonder to school, friends, boys, to do list and so many other things besides what I have come for. I feel like I have never felt more “where my feet our” than here. I am doing perfect. I still let my mind wonder back to Ohio more than I want. I check my email and facebook more than I want. Even my dreams wonder back to old Columbus town almost every night. But Monday-Friday from 10-5 I am here. In India. With my children. Every ounce of me. I realize how in the zone I become and sometimes get the chills, smile and close my eyes and just thank God for this experience. It’s hard. Really hard. But when I look back on my time here I know I will be much more likely to remember the laugh of a child and smile on their face when something clicks than any of the hard moments. 

Every prayer, e-mail, facebook message and thought means more than any of you could imagine. As always, I could never have done this without every single one of you. Keep changing the world everywhere you are, love and miss you guys! 

Overdue Post!

So sorry that I really suck at this blogging thing. I have written a couple post that I then go back and read and realize that they are better as diary entries than for the view of everyone I know. 

The last week and a half since I update has gone by so, so fast. Two weekends ago I was in Manali which was about a 14 hour bus ride from Delhi. It was in the middle of the Himalayas and just absolutely beautiful  We went paragliding, rose horses up the mountains and did something called zorbing (everyone look it up on line except for you mom!) which was just nuts. We got lucky that the weather stayed mostly dry, though they had already gotten too much rain for us to whitewater raft. It was fun to wonder around the town. It was filled with backpackers who were headed up farther into the mountains. The road were so steep and the town was literally just built into the side of hill. 

i feel like i am cheating on the beach with the love affair i am having with the mountains 

paragliding totally kicked skydivings butt 

pictures just don't even do them justice 

We got home on Tuesday morning and had just enough time for a quick nap, breakfast and headed to work. I really wish I could describe a “normal” day that I have but no two days are ever the same. Its hard to feel like I don’t ever really know what’s going on since all the other teachers around are talking in Hindi and then we just kind of follow what we are supposed to do. Last week I feel like I am making strides in what I am teaching though and really making connections with some of the kids. I have a group of three boys that just love to learn so much and grab me and have me teach them something at any chance they get. Last week some of the kids started school away from the center so I don’t see some of the kids except for the afternoon but that helped the problem of kids being on such different levels since most of the really advanced kids miss lessons in the morning and just come in the afternoon to hang out. A few of them still love for me to practice spelling and identifying big numbers is also a favorite among a lot of them. Some of them had trouble doing 1-50 when I got there and now they can identify numbers all the way through 999,999. I was stopped after this because apparently millions is done differently in Hindi. 

Last week was my partners last week so on Friday we had a celebration in the afternoon. The best part was they let take a few pictures! I only managed to get a few but I’m just glad I at least have a few with the kids and might try and sneak some more in my last couple weeks! I was originally told that I would get a replacement and wouldn’t be by myself but as it turns out I will spend my last three weeks alone! I was a little nervous about it at first but today after my first day I’m not worried at all. Catching the very busy bus alone is kind of rough and eating lunch alone kind of makes me feel pathetic (though I go to the same restaurant the server is just adorable) but I think it will be nice to have a little time by myself during the day. I love how full the house is and all the friends I am making but sometimes having twelve screaming girls gets a little much! The house will stay full until my last week when it will just be me and one other girl. 

Bharat in the strip shirt really wanted a picture by himself and was not pleased with the other kids jumping in

Rahul and Bharat my little geniuses. 

they just love to dance!

and are pretty darn good at it! 

This past weekend after about a hundred different changes in my plans I ended up back north in Shimla. It was also a beautiful mountain town. It was the summer capital for the British when Delhi got too hot so it was a cool combination of Victorian style houses and more traditional Indian looking houses. The views are amazing. I literally took hundreds of pictures. The two girls I came with left to go off traveling for two weeks and I came back to Delhi on the overnight bus again. I was pretty proud I did it all on my own! 

the city was just up and down a mountain side. amazing. 

pretty great view i had enjoying dinner before i caught my bus back to delhi 

I am coming to a point where I am admitting life in Delhi will never feel easy, comfortable or simple for me. I can honestly say most days I hate this city. It is dirty, it is overcrowded, it is loud, busy, people are always pushing you and yelling at you and trying to take advantage of you. Life here has been hard and my anxiety has not always been coping well with it! Everyday though that I hate day to day life here I think of my beautiful kids. They can’t escape the city on the weekends like I do. They aren’t going to fly away in a few weeks and go back to living a comfortable life. This is a really hard pill for me to swallow. I wish I could take pictures of the beautiful views I have walking to work or of around the city but their just aren’t any. This past month has been the biggest challenge I have ever faced and I have had so many highs and so many lows. One particularly bad day for me another volunteer said to me “an experience is an experience, whether it is good or bad, and you are going to grow as a person because of it”. I don’t know if she quoted someone on that or totally made it up but it’s really stuck with me. I know the moment I step off the plane back into the US I will be relieved and be happy to be home but I also know how much I will miss India. This country is unexplainable and a very common saying is “only in India”. Things often just don’t make sense. I see no logic in how so many things work and never will but I am doing my best to let go, let God and see where else I am led on this amazing and eventful journey. 

Love and miss you all, hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and enjoying their own adventures no matter what they are! xoxo 

God Bless America

So I’ve been thinking a lot about being American since I have been in India. Not only because of how obviously different Indian culture is from my own back home but because of all the amazing people I have met from all over the world. I’ve been told a couple times now “You aren’t like most Americans, but that’s a good thing!” and I never really know how to take it. I mean obviously I am pleased they like me unlike other Americans they have apparently met but I feel very uncomfortable with the fact that being American has a negative connotation across the world. When I told my coordinator at my placement I was American his comment was “Ahh American, you must be so rich!”. Yeah I obviously let out a classic awkward Jaclyn laugh and avoided the comment. 

Yesterday I drafted a pretty downer post about how Americans are selfish and ignorant and don’t know anything about what’s going on in the rest of the world and we really shouldn’t be “proud to be an American”. Though being here hasn’t always made me proud, I feel good I have the chance to prove people wrong. I know I can’t explain reasons why we aren’t as bad as people think but maybe if I can break the stereotype than they can at least remember that one really tall blonde American who wasn’t that bad. 

Every day here though and every interaction I have with the children gives me such a weird feeling of being happy and sad at the same time. As I sat in a room today with a crying baby on my shoulder and three little boys at my feet spelling out body parts for me I got the smack in the face of “Holy cow, this is what you have spent the last six months waiting for”. I was so extremely happy and so extremely sad all at the same time. Pinki, the little girl on my shoulder wears a pair of pants almost everyday that have a huge hole right on her butt. Her face is covered in some sort of rash and she takes naps on the cement floor while the other kids run and scream around her. Bharat, Acosh and Rahul sat on the floor and soak in every word I say and thirst for knowledge. They want to learn english so bad and love nothing more than showing me they can spell words right. 

It kills me I can’t get to know them better. I want to understand the stories they try and tell me. I want to know about where they live and what has happened to them and what they are struggling with. Hugs and smiles and laughter go so far but they have a point where it doesn’t feel like enough. I am learning how much a smile and a simple look of affection towards this kids means though. I never thought kids would love the hokey pokey so much and be on the floor laughing with me about “shaking it all about”. 

More stories on the kids soon and hopefully I can sneak some more pictures as well. I am off to Manali this weekend which is a city up north near the Himalaya which I am so excited about. The craziness of Delhi can be overwhelming at points to say the least and I am excited to get out for a few days. The weather will be a little cooler (down to the double digits which I haven’t felt in three weeks!) and not so chaotic. Hope everyone at home had a wonderful and safe 4th!! As always sending India love back home and to all the travelers around the world :) 

We went and saw the "light show" at Red Fort the other night. Total fail. It was an hour long history of the fort. I took a really great nap though. 

We had way too much fun dressing up for a night and pretending to be real Indians. We put makeup on for the first time in three weeks. crazy I know. Then we went for dinner and ended up at a pretty Western place where all the Indian women had shorts and skirts on. Oops, at least we had fun!

View From a Rickshaw

As I walk off the sidewalk and onto the road my only thought is my tiredness. I wave my hand in the air and less than a minute later I am arguing with an Indian man trying to get my rickshaw ride down from 100 rupees to 70. We finally agree on 80 and I climb in. I can already feel the sweat dripping down my back and it’s not even 10 in the morning. I look out the side as we bump along and try to soak up everything around me. The little vehicle flies past streets that look nothing like I can see back home. The rickshaw slows as we approach and a small little girl approaches with a bundle of flowers waving them in my face. It takes every ounce of me to ignore her and not hand over all the money I have. I finally arrive at my destination at jump out thanking the driver (shukria). After I finally get everything with my visa figured out (yes, I am still having trouble with it. the stupid thing is haunting me) I jump back in another rickshaw to take me to the metro where I pay 5 rupees to be taken 15 minutes down the road where the whole ride I fight my way through the current of people to make it the front by the time they get to my stop. After I get off I ward off ten more rickshaw drives all trying to corner me and give the foreign blonde girl a ride. As I walk through the market to work I realized how scary this whole hour and a half experience would have been two weeks ago. How 14 short days ago I would have flipped out having to do this all on my own and here I am in such a small amount of time concurring public transportation in another country where few people understand me and I stick out like a sore thumb like it’s no big deal. Now that my friends is some progress. 

After this epiphany I walk the ten minutes and climb four flights of stairs (where I swear it gets ten degrees hotter with each flight) and am greeted with “Namaste Deedee!!” and 20 hugs from all my little nuggets. I am pulled in five different directions to play bored games, build trains with legos and work on counting. After a crazy start to the week, I never thought I would already feel this at home and this happy in five days. I know everyone is shocked but these children have captured my heart faster than I ever thought possible. They try and give me their snack when I know this is the only meal they get a day. They yearn for hugs and kisses and laughs. While I complain about how hot it is inside the center, the little kids take naps because the sleep in a one bedroom shack and share a bed with their three brothers without any fans. They wear the same shirt all week and ask why I have so many different skirts to wear. And the craziest thing of all? They are the happiest kids I have ever seen in my entire life. They are (almost) always smiling and laughing and their thirst for knowledge is amazing. I love to have them teach me Hindi as much as they love to learn English. 

All these fantastic children come to “The Place of Dreams” in Lajpat Nagar market everyday to get off the streets and avoid being put into work as a child laborer (an absolutely huge problem in India, especially the big cities like Delhi and Mumbai). The center is sponsered by CHETNA and Save the Children both NPOs who have centers all around India. Getting information about what all the organizations do has been hard with the language barrier but the little I have learned from the volunteer workshop (Which was pretty hard to get anything out of since it was all in Hindi. I got free lunch though!) makes me see how amazing everything they do is. Chetna in Hindi means awareness and the abbreviation stands for Childhood Enhancement through Training and Action. Go to this website for more info on all the amazing projects they do around Delhi and India. 

One thing I do miss? Seeing the stars at night. Too much pollution in the air for them to shine through. The moon looks so lonely without any stars.

After plans for a weekend away fell through at the last minute (I have once again blame the curse of the visa on this one too) I am happy to be sitting alone in my room waiting for the arrival of this weeks new volunteers. These first two weeks have gone by so fast. There are moments I still think “what the hell are you doing here” and other moments where I feel like I have been here my entire life and can’t imagine ever having to go home. For the hundredth time thank you for the love and support from every single one of you. 

Pictures>Words

A picture is worth a thousand words right? I could probably spend a million words on my love for this country, these people and all the history this place has to offer so instead of typing them all out and putting you all to sleep I'll share pictures instead (this time they are actually my pictures that I took!). Update on my awesome kids later this week :) 

Akshardham Temple. Unfortunately no cameras allowed inside so this is the closest picture I could get. So amazingly beautiful inside and out though. Largest Hindu temple in the world!

India Gate in the distance. Notice how there are NO LANES for traffic? Yeah that's how it is everywhere. Absolute craziness. 

Dilli Haat Market. Really cool shopping place, probably my favorite so far 

On the steps of Jama Masjid, the main mosque in Delhi

We trekked up this crazy tower inside the mosque but these amazing views of the city were totally worth it. 

Qutub Minar

Lotus Temple: the Bahai Temple. Everything is centered around the number nine (shout out to my triple d's) because they believe that there have been 9 manifestations of God which represent 9 religions including Christians, Hindus, Muslims, etc. 

I can't get this to flip, sorry its annoying. Humayun's Tomb which is often called the pre-Taj Mahal. It is the tomb of one of the most famous kinds of Ancient India: King Humayun II 

TAJJJJJ!!!! I could give you about a hundred facts and stories about it so hit me up if you are interested,  I'm seriously obsessed. 

Had to be a tourist. The bench is called the President's bench because there is a famous picture of President Clinton sitting on it. 

The Taj was built by a Muslim ruler so there is a mosque right next to it

Nothing is painted on, all the details are hand placed gems from all over the world 

It was build for this king's dead wife and he wanted to build a black Taj across the river to dedicate to himself but ended up being thrown in prison (by his own son!) before it even got off the ground. This is the foundation which is still there. 

One of 2535 pictures I have 

Lodi Gardens aka where all the Indian couples go to make out. Seriously we saw like a thousand there. This is one of the dozens of tombs that are there. 

Also won't turn but this is a view of the main bazaar from the restaurant we ate dinner at one night. It was so crazy but really awesome to see from above!! 

Okay so I said more than I intended to but I tried my best. Loving and missing all you guys everyday!! Thanks for all the emails and love you are always sending me, it makes the distance seem so much smaller! No one panic: I'm not emaciated (or emancipated Aly), I haven't brought home any children in my bag and I haven't melted from the heat. I actually have no intentions of losing any weight since I eat my life away (curry and me are really getting along in a dangerous way). The kids have stolen my heart but I don't want to pick out which one I want too early. And finally I guess I am getting used to 110 degree weather if that is possible, but no worries the high next Monday is only 97!! That's enough of a reason to celebrate! And its 10 so the AC just kicked on in our room (aka the best part of my day) so I really am going to go. LOVE YOU ALL!!!! Wear some shorts, have a drink and go on a run for me! 

Here I Am, in India!

HELLO EVERYONE!!!

I can’t even tell you how much I appreciate all the love and support that I’ve gotten the last month before all of this happened and especially the last week as I was getting ready to go. It has already been a world wind of an adventure but I am soaking up every minute and can’t wait for what is to come the next 7 weeks. 

My flight here was as good as possible. I went almost 24 hours without sleeping which wasn’t great but all my connections went great, you all witnessed my total lack of sleep from the Finland post and I finally slept the entire 7 hour flight to Delhi. I met a very nice middle aged Indian man on the flight who I thought was just great. Then he gave me his number and asked me dinner. I think I’ll pass on that offer. 

The first week I am here I am doing a culture & language immersion week so I am spending some days basically getting lessons on customs, traditions and Indian history (obviously I am a total loser and absolutely love it and ask a million questions) along with Hinid lessons (I am HORRIBLE at it. The guy seriously laughs every time I try to speak!). Other days we are getting to go out and see some of the major sights in Delhi. Some other girls and I have also done some sightseeing on our own during the little free time we have had this week. I wish I could show you all my pictures but of course iPhoto hates me right now and won’t let me. So all pictures below are from my bff google. 

Akshardham Temple: absolutely breath taking. It wasn’t completed until 2005 and is now the biggest Hindu temple in the world. It is dedicated to the Hindu God Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS for short). It was amazing to see people praying with such intensity. There weren’t any cameras allowed inside to reserve the sacredness, wish they would do this inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC!!  

India Gate: right in the heart of New Delhi it is inspired by the famous arch in Paris and is a memorial to all the Indian soldiers who died in WII fighting for Britain 

Dilli Haat: a really cool open air market, I bought a lot of really awesome things here. One of the major benefits of being here is how cheap everything is. At the market I bought a cool purse, a pair of leather sandals and a pair of pants (imagine aladdin’s, but mine are purple) all for 800 rupees aka $14. Yeah, pretty sweet deal. 

Jama Masjid: the main mosque in the city where thousands of Muslims can be found every Friday to worship. Just like Akshardham it was amazing to see such a beautiful place of worship. It was built in the 1600s and has such a rich history. We went to one of the towers and saw some of the most amazing views of the city (my own pictures to come soon hopefully!!) 

I wasn’t such the great city girl that Kelsey and I were in NYC, Delhi streets are literally nuts. The rules: there aren’t any. Literally people swerving in and out of each other all the time cutting everyone off, horns going constantly, lanes seem to be just a suggestion and there are literally no street signs anywhere. It is a nightmare. And crossing the streets makes looking like crossing High Street a walk through a meadow. People also don’t really care about stoplights all the time so its like a game of frogger across ten lanes of total craziness. Needless to say, we’ve been lost a few times but have managed to get home safe after every adventure!! 

The place I am staying is so great. The host family is wonderful and hospitable. The food so far has been good (I think I sweat curry out during the day). Our rooms are nice, we get precious air conditioning from 10 at night until 6 in the morning. We all cheer every night when it comes on!! Oh and all the other volunteers? Amazing. These people are seriously the coolest and all have such awesome stories. Out of the seven others here I have met two other Americans (Virginia from New Orleans and Max, our only boy, from California), Francesca from England (who has been traveling around the South Pacific for four months making my trip look pathetic), Christina from Alberta, Canada (yes she says Aye all the time and I love it), Tessa from Sweden (as nice as all Swiss people are suppose to be and Phoebe from Belgium (whose impression of Americans had me on the floor laughing). Getting to know so many cultures has been just an amazing part of the trip so far. 

Sorry for the boring, pictureless post. Hope everyone back home is doing amazing and having great summers! Miss you and sending you lots of Indian lovin’ :) 

Greetings from Europe!

European Greetings!!

PREFACE: first half of post is my bored ramblings sitting in an airport alone, for more important info about what I’m actually supposed to talk about skip down a few paragraphs 

So I feel like Finland is kind of cheating saying I am in Europe but I’ve never been before so I’m going to just own in and say I’m in Europe! The picture below is the virtual map I had on the plane showing where I was. We went over Iceland!! I don’t know why I thought this was just so awesome but I did. Sweden was gorgeous from the air, you could see the pretty snowcapped mountains, Mom it reminded me of Sound of Music :) 

I didn't get a picture over Europe but this is NYC when I flew into JFK, if you look close the green blob farther up is the statue of liberty and you can see lower Manhattan in the bottom.

It is a beautiful sunny morning here in Helsinki. Its around 11:00 here but I’m trying to adjust to India time so in my mind I’m trying to say its 1:30!! Apparently Finland doesn’t believe in having electric plugs everywhere like we do in the US so I’m sitting with at a gate going to Istanbul. That sounds like fun right? Maybe I’ll change my plans? Just kidding mama, don’t panic on me yet! So in honor of this great country I’m hanging out in for 12 hours I have some great facts for you! (Thanks Steph for some of these!) 

1. The country is so far north that it goes through a time period in June & July where the sun never sets making it part of the land of the midnight sun. My flight was so far north the whole time the sun never set the whole time I flew. The sun has been out for me for almost 24 hours now!! 
2. Apparently my years of high school latin could come in handy here: they are the only country that has news broadcast in Latin!! 
3. Helsinki where I am is the capital with a population of 1,075,000

This was the cool electronic map in front of my seat, this shows my route. I went over Canada, Iceland, Norway and Sweden before landing in Finland! 

But if we want to give some facts about this lovely little city I’m in now I’ve got to through in some great Hamitlon! Ohio facts :) 

1. Obviously all my roommates know what I’m going to start with. We have the best water in the world. See this link for proof. 
2. We’re hosting the World Cornhole Cup!! Who even knew this existed? 
3. Famous Hamiltucky natives? Reds player Joe Nuxhall, children’s author Robert McCloskey and obviously the best Hamilton bridge builder Jack Kirsch :) 

Okay that’ really all we have. Now the last list and the most exciting: INDIAA!!! 

1. Delhi has a population of 11,007,835 or 7,877.9 people per km squared. Dad and Logs the other night figured out this was 9 times more dense than Hamilton. That’s a lot of people. 
2. It has an international toilet museum? Thought this would make my brothers laugh 
3. Average temperatures are expected to rise due to global warming and especially because of the increase in population and industrialization  

I’m going to go ahead and answer some of the common questions I’ve gotten about my trip :) 

Where am I going and what organization am I going through? 

I am going to New Delhi, India which is the capital of the country and right in the middle. I am volunteering through an organization called Volunteering Solutions. They send thousands of volunteers all over the world in all different kinds of program. Check out the website for more info! volunteeringsolutions.com 

Where will I be staying? 

I will be living with other volunteers in a volunteer home. The family I stay with will cook all my meals for me and provide me with everything I need to survive for seven weeks!! I am pretty sure I will be sleeping in a big room of bunk beds with the other volunteers but I won’t know for sure until tomorrow when I get there. 

What will I be doing? 

My first week I will be participating in a cultural and language immersion week where I will learn more in depth about Indian culture and traditions while also getting some basic language training. The national language of the country is actually English but the traditional language (and the language used among the lower class) is Hindi. I won’t need to be an expert, but knowing basics will be very helpful. After this week though I will be working at Chetna which works towards the empowerment of street and working children. The center is located in a main market that is famous for children trying to sell trinkets and small little things in attempt to make money. Often times they work for overseer and it is very difficult for them to get out. The center is there to give kids a safe place to go instead of getting involved in only the horrible things kids can get involved in in the city. 

Do you have time to travel? 

I have my weekends off and am hoping to do some traveling. I already have a trip planned next week to see the Taj Mahal and a weekend trip to Jaipur planned for the middle of July. I am hoping to see some other parts of the country (hopefully see the Ganges just for you Ryan) while I am there. 

I think that is pretty much the basics for the next seven weeks!! I'm impressed with anyone who got this far. This seemed like a great way to take up some of my time while I sit at the airport for twelve hours!! Next post will finally be from India!! 

Peace&(Finnish)Love 

How Firm Thy Friendship

I think everyone has those few days or weeks in their life that they will always look back on and remember as being just perfect. Everything probably wasn’t perfect and their were probably a few, if not several minutes or hours during those “perfect” days that were far from perfect. But those imperfect moments don’t matter because when you look back, you will only think of the good. I originally started thinking how I would call this last week perfect. Due to my lack of finals, I ended my week in Columbus with lots of friends, lots of laughs and lots of memories. 

so happy we finally karaoked 

senior crawl with my favorite fake senior and the rando we found 

But when I really think about it, I haven’t just had just an extremely above average week, I have had an extremely above average year. Have I had horrible days this year? Yes. Have I cried this year? Of course. Have I had one of the best years of my life? Absolutely no question yes.

Lead two amazing service trips with the best co-leader and one of my best friends? Check. 

NYC with our awesome boys 

seriously miss the yellow team. go workfest!!

Manage to survive my 21st birthday? (Barely) Check. 

Become a mother to the best Awakening children ever? Check. 

Run 13.1 miles with my five best friends? Check. 

Graduate from THE Ohio State University? Check. 

Spend the summer in India? (Almost) Check. 

And the best part of this list? It’s only the quote-on-quote big events. It doesn’t include the dozens of times I ended up crying from laughing so hard talking about the dumbest things in our living room or the number of worthless hours spent in the baby pool in the front yard or random Tuesday nights at 4th Street that turned into some of the best nights of my life. I literally pinch myself looking back on this past year and how many wonderful opportunities I have been given. Thank you all for making my first three years at OSU the best I could ask for. I can’t even wait to see what the next two bring. Congratulations to all the other wonderful graduates, you are all destined for greatness, I know it. 

Peace&Love