Everyone at the Phool Chatti Ashram
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
The Indian Limelight
In a country where the word 'cricket' means little more than a noise-making bug, you may find it hard to grasp the greater meaning of the word cricket, the cricket that may forever change the face of India. With wickets and overs and bowlers and sixes, you muggles may ask yourselves: what in the name of Ganesh is all this rubbish-talk all about? Ladies and gentlemen, its cricket. Its a sophisticated game of skill and prowess; a game that puts to shame the likes of our national sports in intensity and ingenuity. But in the Indian scope, cricket is not just a pastime, it is a culture.
Two nights ago at 11:06pm asia time, India, our India, rose above Sri Lankan mediocrity to claim the ultimate crown- Cricket World Cup Champions.The streets erupted, Indian flags ran rampant through the air, jubilant war-cries echoed into the night. The energy seeping from the depths of Indian society into a sea of luminous light. Carpe Diem India! And so they did.
-Noha
Two nights ago at 11:06pm asia time, India, our India, rose above Sri Lankan mediocrity to claim the ultimate crown- Cricket World Cup Champions.The streets erupted, Indian flags ran rampant through the air, jubilant war-cries echoed into the night. The energy seeping from the depths of Indian society into a sea of luminous light. Carpe Diem India! And so they did.
-Noha
Rishikesh
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
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
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
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