Greetings, all, from Dharamsala in the Himalayan mountains! It has been over a week since I’ve posted, which means I have a lot to catch you up on including all of orientation week. For the sake of time and brevity, I have decided to focus on my thoughts during the past week more than on the actual events, though they will certainly be mentioned.
For how much I and my fellow volunteers have experienced this past week, there has been certain passivity to our day-to-day activities. Every day had something specific planned as part of our orientation week, as you could see by referencing my previous note on that. Some days we went sightseeing to specific places around Delhi, some days we had Hindi lessons. Mostly, though, we were given plenty of free time to do as we wish. This worked out quite well I think, as we had space and the opportunity to acclimate ourselves to India without being over-exposed in a short amount of time. I think that, if we had jumped right in, the culture shock would have been much worse but our easygoing days allowed elasticity and the opportunity to also get to know each other.
For much of Orientation Week, there were nine of us living together (the Fellowship, as I called us in my head a lot…yeah, that’s right. LoTR reference.). Four of the girls were doing Women’s Empowerment programs around Delhi: Natalie from San Francisco, Crystal and Heather from Canada, and Mathilde from France (her program is in Jaipur). Kathy from China was teaching English around Delhi, and Eddie, Sara, Suzie and I are all doing the Childcare program in Dharamsala. I developed a great fondness for our group throughout the week; I felt like we were sort of an archipelago of little nation islands clinging to each other in the sea of India, or something like that. There was an unspoken call for safety that we each enacted when walking places together, doing such things as surreptitiously checking every once in a while to make sure we were all together. Another unspoken rule we played out was the choice to walk in silence or the company of each other rather than playing our ipods or talking on the phone. We left space for each other to enter into conversation and respected one another that way. To be honest, while all of our sightseeing trips were fascinating and it was nice to see those hot spots of India, I think all of the volunteers would agree that the best moments came when we decided to go out on our own and make our own adventures together. As a group, we went into downtown Delhi twice; the first time to Connaught Place (a huge shopping district set in a wide circle) and the second time to an absolutely amazing bazaar, where we found quality items for very cheap prices. Our ventures closer to Ananta’s place, around Gurgaon, were exciting as well.
The monuments were very nice, but really they are mostly extravagant tombs. It’s a little creepy really, walking through the Taj Mahal with the knowledge that you’re actually in a mausoleum. It was beautiful, yes, and the 23 years of work that went into making it showed in the jewel-inlayed marble the tomb was made of. Afterwards, we even got the opportunity to go to a shop where they gave us an instruction class in how the work of setting jewels in marble happens. It’s a fascinating process, and takes so long! Depending on the number of stones, a kitchen table-sized tablet took them anywhere from nine to eleven years to complete. That just seems mind-boggling to me, and I’m amazed and so impressed at the guys who have the patience to do that kind of work.
Things I’ve learned:
1. Many more Canadians than Americans volunteer abroad this time of year. I guess our time is in summer, but right now it just looks the USA look sort of inhospitable.
2. Most Canadians don’t say ‘eh’, they say ‘hey’. It’s actually a noticeable difference!
3. Nahi danivad (no thankyou), is both very effective, and license to get laughed at by locals if you don’t know how to say it correctly. Really, just garbling everything in my mouth a little as the words come out makes them sound closer to the real thing.
4. Bartering is tough, and there are rules. Sometimes, there are fixed prices and you can’t bargain. Who knew?
5. Don’t go to the emporiums. You’ll only get ripped off.
6. The Indian National Zoo is the best zoo I’ve been to, but I’m judging that solely on the basis that all of the animals were out and about, coming right up to the fence. I was two feet from a jaguar. He looked hungry.
7. If you go to the Indian National Zoo (pronounced ‘ju’ in Hindi… fun!), you’re pretty much guaranteed an entourage. I think we were more exciting than the animals for the 5 or so guys who followed us the entire time.
8. The French might seem meek, but man do they like party music!
9. Saying 'no' consistenly to beggars (especially the malnourished children) is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I hate it, but I have to.
10. Punjabi music is extremely fun, and gets in your head. Don’t worry; I downloaded an mp3 CD from our driver for the week, so I got 130+ Indian Punjabi songs free! Score.
11. Learning Hindi is tough, but exciting. Now, I’m trying to tackle learning Hindi AND Tibetan, so I can teach English to Tibetan monk children (aged 7-19) my last two (maybe one) months here when I transfer to Bir at the end of my volunteering stint.
12 Monkeys are fun. And mischievous. Chalk that up for the children here, too.
13. Dogs are extraordinarily annoyingly loud at night when you’re trying to sleep. This nighttime warfare between the dogs and monkeys (they like to sit in trees and throw poop at the dogs. I’ve seen it.) needs to end. Or I need to invest in earplugs.
14. The people here are lovely and inviting. The children are so much fun, too!
15. The Himalayas are breathtaking. End of story.
Much more to come in a couple of days when I plan to blog again, especially about my first week in Dharamsala. So much has been experienced, and it’s difficult to believe I’m already into my volunteering! However, I’m having a blast and have been so blessed during my stay so far. I’ve met many new friends, seen once-in-a-lifetime sights, and I have the incredible opportunity to show the love of Christ to everyone I encounter (especially those kids!). It’s wonderful to be an example of outward-focused living in a world where so much is focused inward. Even if I can’t directly preach the Gospel to people, I know that I am living out the fruit of the Spirit daily by my actions and demeanor. Please continue to pray for me as I start on my volunteering journey, that I may keep this points as the focus of my work. Pray for strength for me, as I continue to be challenged and stretched in myriad ways I can’t possibly yet unravel. Also, message me and let me know how I can be praying for you! I’m halfway around the world, but I hear prayer has excellent reception worldwide.
Take care all! Sorry for both the delay in posting and the relative briefness of my experiences. I’m sure there are tons of things I’ve left out, which I’ll remember in an hour when I don’t have internet access. Meanwhile, this is goodbye for now from McLeod Ganj!
Peace,
Aaron
It sounds like you have had one AMAZING week! I can almost picture everything that you're doing and it's so cool. :D
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