Today we will be leaving our free days at our guest house in Rishikesh and on to the ashram.
While in Rishikesh we stayed at a wonderful cottage, and although the boys seemed to be favored by the restaurant workers, we always finished our meals happily. We have enjoyed our free days very much here in the yoga capital of the world. We have had chances to go shopping, eat falafel, and plan a few activities to entertain ourselves while we were here. Saturday Luke, Noah, Lotte, and Lydia went on a walk up to a waterfall, that they said was fun, then they hitched a ride back on an ambulance! Sunday we went white water rafting, with the exception of Lotte and Becca who have already been. The seven of us who did go rafting enjoyed it very much, and when we were in the cold water it was very breath taking and exhilarating. Our guide Sundi was also fun to be with. He had us play a game where we all took turns running around the edge of the raft trying not to fall in the Ganga. Now we are all looking forward to a peaceful week at the Ashram where we will be able to get in plenty of yoga and meditation!
-Maddi
Monday, April 4, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The Tremendous Trek
Although three of us were sadly unable to go on our trek last week, the six of us remaining had a great adventure. We had a couple struggles, but were all able to keep high spirits and push threw them. The high altitude helped bring a few laughs too!
Every morning during our trek we would get into a circle and the captains of the day would warm us up. After we did our routine warm-ups we would do our routine dance moves that each of us had taken part in making. Ben introduced to us "the squirrel", and Lotte "grandpa move", Phoebe's dance was "the roll", Luke's "The pointers", Lydia did the "Val", I did "the Indian", Becca taught us the "Kelsey", and Noha's...well Noha's dance was very unique, we topped it off with Jess's "Wingle move" and we were ready to go. I'm sure we brought entertainment to our awesome trekking crew everyday with our crazy random dances.
We were served the most delicious meals three times a day by the cook crew, and were even brought hot tea or tang when we were getting close to camp each day by Mote! The warm drinks were much appreciated in the cold weather. And we can't forget the pack horses who carried all of our things everyday for us. One of the horses was always nibbling on toilet paper or whatever he could and he was named Munchers by our Carpe group. We also named the some of the other horses Showgun, Cappuccino, and Thumpers.
On the last day of our trek we finished it in silence then we were happily reunited with our other group members. Now we are enjoying a few much needed relaxing days in Darjeeling, before we go on to Rishikesh!
Love, Maddi :)
Every morning during our trek we would get into a circle and the captains of the day would warm us up. After we did our routine warm-ups we would do our routine dance moves that each of us had taken part in making. Ben introduced to us "the squirrel", and Lotte "grandpa move", Phoebe's dance was "the roll", Luke's "The pointers", Lydia did the "Val", I did "the Indian", Becca taught us the "Kelsey", and Noha's...well Noha's dance was very unique, we topped it off with Jess's "Wingle move" and we were ready to go. I'm sure we brought entertainment to our awesome trekking crew everyday with our crazy random dances.
We were served the most delicious meals three times a day by the cook crew, and were even brought hot tea or tang when we were getting close to camp each day by Mote! The warm drinks were much appreciated in the cold weather. And we can't forget the pack horses who carried all of our things everyday for us. One of the horses was always nibbling on toilet paper or whatever he could and he was named Munchers by our Carpe group. We also named the some of the other horses Showgun, Cappuccino, and Thumpers.
On the last day of our trek we finished it in silence then we were happily reunited with our other group members. Now we are enjoying a few much needed relaxing days in Darjeeling, before we go on to Rishikesh!
Love, Maddi :)
Monday, March 28, 2011
Trekking!
Taken minutes before the start of our trek with our mascot Cyndira the Unicorn in the background.
Yay we made it to the top!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Two more days until the trek!
Today is Holi, the festival of colors, and it doesn't get as crazy
here in Sikkim as it does in the big cities, but there's definitely a
lot of very pink Indian men roaming around town. Jess and Becca and I
went into town today to get some last minute trekking supplies and
came back completely covered in colors. It was amazing.
Thursday was our last day of volunteering at the school, and to our
surprise the school organized a cultural assembly for us with
traditional songs and dances. At the end all the girls cheered for us
and asked us to sign autographs, we felt like celebrities. I don't
think I've ever been so overwhelmed with gratitude. Overall, the
experience seemed to be just as rewarding for us as it was for the
kids. They got a change of pace from their regular classes, and had a
lot of opportunities to sing Justin Beiber songs with us. As teachers
we were really pushed out of our comfort zones and I think we left
feeling much more self confident and empowered. I gained an
appreciation for all the different kinds of education I've received
throughout my life, and the lessons I continue to learn every day in
India.
On our day off we took a trip to the Himalayan Zoological Park where
we saw a himalayan black bear, an adorable red panda, lackadazical
civets, and a leopard with an attitude. Back at the house we've been
relaxing, eating delicious food cooked by our home stay family, and
playing tons of games. Now it's time to pack our bags and get ready
for the part of the trip I've been looking forward to since day one. I
can't wait to be up at 14,000 feet surrounded by fresh air and
beautiful mountain views. This is gonna be awesome.
Love,
Lydia
here in Sikkim as it does in the big cities, but there's definitely a
lot of very pink Indian men roaming around town. Jess and Becca and I
went into town today to get some last minute trekking supplies and
came back completely covered in colors. It was amazing.
Thursday was our last day of volunteering at the school, and to our
surprise the school organized a cultural assembly for us with
traditional songs and dances. At the end all the girls cheered for us
and asked us to sign autographs, we felt like celebrities. I don't
think I've ever been so overwhelmed with gratitude. Overall, the
experience seemed to be just as rewarding for us as it was for the
kids. They got a change of pace from their regular classes, and had a
lot of opportunities to sing Justin Beiber songs with us. As teachers
we were really pushed out of our comfort zones and I think we left
feeling much more self confident and empowered. I gained an
appreciation for all the different kinds of education I've received
throughout my life, and the lessons I continue to learn every day in
India.
On our day off we took a trip to the Himalayan Zoological Park where
we saw a himalayan black bear, an adorable red panda, lackadazical
civets, and a leopard with an attitude. Back at the house we've been
relaxing, eating delicious food cooked by our home stay family, and
playing tons of games. Now it's time to pack our bags and get ready
for the part of the trip I've been looking forward to since day one. I
can't wait to be up at 14,000 feet surrounded by fresh air and
beautiful mountain views. This is gonna be awesome.
Love,
Lydia
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Gangtoking it up!
By the time we left Calcutta on Saturday night we were all pretty
frazzled and worn out from a week of hot weather and hard work. I
don't know about the rest of the group, but I was definitely dreaming
about fresh air and mountain views. After an overnight train and a
five hour jeep ride through the mountains we finally arrived in
Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim.The population of Gangtok is 30,000
(compare that to Calcutta's 14 million), and the entire city is built
along winding mountain roads with spectacular views of green valleys
and snow capped Himalayan peaks in the distance. It's a dream come
true.
We just finished our second day of volunteering at the Palzor Namgyal
Girls School, a private school of 1,000 students. We had no idea what
to expect coming in, so we were all caught off guard when we found out
we would be teaching classes of 30 students with no lesson plan, just
a few games up our sleeves. We were even more surprised to find that a
lot of students were our own age. It's pretty intimidating trying to
teach subjects we barely remember learning about last year and I think
we all have gained a lot more respect for our high school teachers. We
did some brainstorming last night and came up with lesson plans and
ideas to get the girls thinking more creatively, so most classes went
a little more smoothly today. Luke taught philosophy, Noah talked
about politics, Jess led art projects, Maddi taught Spanish, Phoebe
sang and danced, Becca taught English and Hindi, and I taught a lesson about the demographic
transition model and world population growth, no big deal.
We have two more days at the school, and then a few more free days to
explore Gangtok and prepare for our trek. And since internet is pretty
sketchy here, we've decided to go technology free for the next 2
weeks! So don't expect to hear from your kids until we arrive in
Darjeeling around March 27th.
Stay tuned for one more update before we hit the trail, but for now,
Shanti Bahar.
-Lydia
frazzled and worn out from a week of hot weather and hard work. I
don't know about the rest of the group, but I was definitely dreaming
about fresh air and mountain views. After an overnight train and a
five hour jeep ride through the mountains we finally arrived in
Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim.The population of Gangtok is 30,000
(compare that to Calcutta's 14 million), and the entire city is built
along winding mountain roads with spectacular views of green valleys
and snow capped Himalayan peaks in the distance. It's a dream come
true.
We just finished our second day of volunteering at the Palzor Namgyal
Girls School, a private school of 1,000 students. We had no idea what
to expect coming in, so we were all caught off guard when we found out
we would be teaching classes of 30 students with no lesson plan, just
a few games up our sleeves. We were even more surprised to find that a
lot of students were our own age. It's pretty intimidating trying to
teach subjects we barely remember learning about last year and I think
we all have gained a lot more respect for our high school teachers. We
did some brainstorming last night and came up with lesson plans and
ideas to get the girls thinking more creatively, so most classes went
a little more smoothly today. Luke taught philosophy, Noah talked
about politics, Jess led art projects, Maddi taught Spanish, Phoebe
sang and danced, Becca taught English and Hindi, and I taught a lesson about the demographic
transition model and world population growth, no big deal.
We have two more days at the school, and then a few more free days to
explore Gangtok and prepare for our trek. And since internet is pretty
sketchy here, we've decided to go technology free for the next 2
weeks! So don't expect to hear from your kids until we arrive in
Darjeeling around March 27th.
Stay tuned for one more update before we hit the trail, but for now,
Shanti Bahar.
-Lydia
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Goodbye Kolkata and Hello Mountains!
Namaste!
We just finished up our week at Mother Teresa house, and have an 11
pm train to gangtok tonight. We're all excited for the mountain air!
volunteering at Mother Teresa has been challenging, but really
rewarding and I think we've all taken a lot away from it. We said our
goodbyes to people we've been helping and other volunteers, and we
even got sung a song that goes like this "We thank you thank you
thank, we love you love you love you, we miss you miss you miss you"
during breakfast, since it was our last day of volunteering.
Last night most of us went out for pizza, overpriced, but decidedly
delicious. The street food (i.e. chapati rolls) in kolkata has not
only been nourishing our bodies, but also made our taste buds very
happy. We're excited to get moving and are really looking forward to
our trek.
becca
We just finished up our week at Mother Teresa house, and have an 11
pm train to gangtok tonight. We're all excited for the mountain air!
volunteering at Mother Teresa has been challenging, but really
rewarding and I think we've all taken a lot away from it. We said our
goodbyes to people we've been helping and other volunteers, and we
even got sung a song that goes like this "We thank you thank you
thank, we love you love you love you, we miss you miss you miss you"
during breakfast, since it was our last day of volunteering.
Last night most of us went out for pizza, overpriced, but decidedly
delicious. The street food (i.e. chapati rolls) in kolkata has not
only been nourishing our bodies, but also made our taste buds very
happy. We're excited to get moving and are really looking forward to
our trek.
becca
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Bodhgaya & Beyond
The Bodhi Tempel where Buddha became enlightened in Bodh Gaya
Luke and Noah doing the famous Indian "pinky hold"
Luke's birthday cake (that later got completely smooshed and was creatively put back together by Phoebe and Jess)
Lydia on our boat ride on the Ganga to celebrate our last night in Varanasi and the fact that we had traveled so successfully for the last 2.5 weeks.
hi readers!
we just finished our 2nd day of work at the mother theresa homes in
calcutta, but more on that later.
beautiful bodhgaya offered some respite from the hustle and bustle of
"city india". we explored temples, sat under the bodhi tree (the spot
where buddha became enlightened), and ate a lot of tibetan food. we
enjoyed beet juice tattoos, nap times, and yoga. our hostel was
beautiful, clean, and mostly quiet. we then headed towards calcutta
via overnight train, which was a tad late (2 hours), but during that
time we figured out everyone's animal resemblances (in terms of
personality, not likeness). they are as follows:
Lydia:Wallabee
Becca:Fox
Maddi: Lioness
Noah:Giraffe
Lotte: Golden Hare
Ben: Blue Heron
Phoebe: Red Squirrel
Luke: Salamander
Jess: Otter
We got to calcutta around 10 AM and grabbed taxis to our guest house.
orientation for mother theresa house was at 3, we checked in and
decided which specific homes we wanted to be working in. phoebe,
maddi, and i decided to work in a home for mentally and physically
disabled children (lydia works in a different home with the same
theme), lotte decided to work with toddlers, ben noah and luke work in
a home for men, and jess works in the hospice home. yesterday we felt
things out, and got our bearings. we're doing things such as feeding
people, helping them go to the restroom, or simply holding their
hands. breakfast (bread, bananas, and chai) is at 7, the workday
starts at 8 and ends at 1130. then we usually do yoga, go out to
lunch, or maybe just talk. there are so many great things to do in
calcutta, our free day is thursday so we're very excited to check them
out! maybe a visit to the victoria memorial or the indian museum?
today is luke's birthday so we're going out for a nice dinner (happy
birthday luke!). that's all i've got for now, happy reading.
becca
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