Lauren & Will in India

Heading Home

2009-06-28T21:26:00.001-07:00

Well folks, it's hard to imagine but we are at the end of our travels. Will and I are currently in Frankfurt Germany getting ready to take a morning flight back to the states. Will and I are eager to see our families and get back to our own bed. We'll be writing a reflection piece later over the next few days, and then that will be it!

Thanks for all of the prayers that are getting us safely home.

Love and blessings to you all,

Lauren & Will

Mikey Mike

2009-06-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

1.) Canal Tour
2.) "Hamburger Night" at Johanna's with super friends.
3.) Beach day (we are hiding out from the people with very little clothing, or none at all!)
4.) We're happy Mike is here!

It's been a very restful few days here, and Will and I are starting to say things like "next week this time we'll be doing ________in Philly!". It's amazing that we're really starting to wind things down here and I'm not sure we could have picked a more perfect place to stop before we head home.

Tomorrow we might head over to Sweden, just because it's so close. We're trying to cram as much cool stuff in as we can before we leave.

Well look who it is!

2009-06-25T01:32:00.000-07:00

Will's brother Mike, after working in Turkey and Saudia Arabia, came up to Denmark to surprise Will. Mike will be staying with us for the last few days of our trip. He is the first family member we have seen in 5 months, and it felt good to get our arms around him.

Will's pics of some local architecture.

2009-06-24T01:46:00.000-07:00

The top two pictures are of housing developments, the round one is my favorite. The third picture is of the royal library and the last picture is of an office building.

Vacation Blogging

2009-06-24T01:08:00.000-07:00

So Will and I admitted to each other that it's starting to feel kind of strange blogging about how easy and wonderful life is right now. We went from "it's 115 degrees today and I'm lugging around art supplies to 3 different sites, doing 5 different projects" to "today we sat in a garden and ate pastries". Not to say we aren't totally enjoying ourselves, because we certainly are;-), but maybe there's just a tiny bit of guilt knowing that so many never get a day off and here we are blogging about our days of lazy luxury. Is this culture shock?

I've also been thinking about how before India I was acutely aware that I lived life as though I was the main character in my own movie, and everyone else supported my story. But in India, it felt like I was a character in a much larger film, things were happening to me, I had less control and therefore couldn't always predict an outcome. IT feels good to be coming home with this new feeling and it's been something I've been longing for, for a while. I wanted this to be my next area of growth, and I'm very glad that this experience has shaken me out of my own little world into the greater earth, and plan, that God has created and given me the privilege to be a part of.

Fredericksborg Castle

2009-06-22T01:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Toni took us to the local castle called Fredericksborg. After seeing so much modern Danish design, it was pretty incredible to see such an ornate place. Here is a quick description.

History of the Castle
"Christian IV’s magnificent Renaissance Castle was built in the beginning of the 17th century. The king was deeply attached to the place and he often used it as a residence. In the following centuries the castle provided the setting for important ceremonial events, first and foremost the anointing of absolute monarchs.

In 1859 a devastating fire broke out and destroyed some of the castle exterior and large parts of the interior. The founder of the Carlsberg Breweries J.C. Jacobsen played an important role in the extensive restoration work. It was his idea that the castle should since then accommodate a Museum of National History. The museum was founded in 1878 and it is today regarded as a national monument of great historical importance."- www.fredericksborgmuseet.dk

We got really lucky and the choir was practicing in the chapel while we visited, sending beautiful harmonies through the halls.

Lousiana Denmark

2009-06-22T01:39:00.000-07:00

Toni, Will's host mom, took we kids out to a modern art museum near their house in Hillerod called Louisiana. They had a green architecture exhibit going on that Will was really excited about. I was excited to see a familiar artists work outside near the water and a wonderful kids art area. To see more about the museum and it's exhibit click here.

Will's Host Family

2009-06-22T01:26:00.000-07:00

When Will studied in Denmark he stayed with a host family. Above is the amazing food they kept feeding us. In the second picture is Will's host sister Kiva and her boyfriend Marco, and in the third picture is Toni (mom), Tau (brother) and Tour (Dad). We had an amazing time with them as they shared stories and stuffed us with tons of meat (roast, pork tenderloin, sausage, meatballs and a variety of coldcuts), and other delicious goodies. It felt good to be in a family home again and they are a lovely family who welcomed me right in. I can see why Will has always spoken so very highly of them.

Homemade Houses

2009-06-22T01:15:00.000-07:00

This past Friday Johanna took Will and I to Christiania. A description of this place is below.

"It all began in 1970 when a group of citizens knocked down the fence at the corner of Prinsessegade and Refshalevej close to the Grey Hall. They wanted a playground for their kids and something green to look at.
The same year an exhibition took place at Charlottenborg called "Noget for Noget" (Give and Take), where all sorts of hippies, freaks and people into macrobiotics showed themselves off, sold their goods and exhibited their art, including theatre, pictures, and happenings. An alternative newspaper called Hovedbladet (Head Magazine) was published in connection with the exhibition.
One of the articles discussed the abandoned military barrack in Badsmandsstraedes kaserne and put forward thousands of possible ideas for their use, not least as homes for the numerous young people who were unable to find accommodation elsewhere. However, the squatters movement and the alternative forces "The New Society" summer camp in Thy also needed a place for them to be able to realize their dreams.
The article resulted in a massive immigration of people form all sections of society, who came to create an alternative life based on communal living and freedom. This was the birth of Christiania." -www.christiania.org

I also quickly found out that Christiania is known for selling a particular green product out in the open. We did not partake, but it was pretty amazing to see so much of it out on tables, and SO many people having a little puff with their lunch. The place over all was pretty cool though, and I'd really like to do an art project with my kids back home on the making of houses with found objects. Especially after being in India where the slums are also made with found objects, it's interesting to see what a little money, or lack there of, can accomplish when building a home.

For Jim & Denny

2009-06-21T06:51:00.000-07:00

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

We'll be home in 8 days

to celebrate with hugs and fun gifts.

Love to you both,

Lauren & Will

Frue Kirke

2009-06-19T03:08:00.000-07:00

Last night Will took me to his favorite church buiding in Denmark, Frue Kirke. This building is right down the street from the school Will attended, and he would often head here it at the end of his day to unwind. The interior is very simple and white, just Will's style, and the pastors often include art installations as part of their service. Last night was such an evening and around dusk we headed into a space lit with candles and echoing with music from a single soprano singing from the balcony. It was spectacular and I teared up in this space as I made my rounds to each alter/installation. Will seemed to feel at home here as he leaned against the wall enjoying the peaceful environment. I understand now why he was so eager to bring me to this magnificant space.

Royalty

2009-06-18T01:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Johanna, Will and I went on a little walk around town. We went primarily to the royal court, the marble church, and then we ate danish in the King's park.....actually they just call it Vienna bread here as "eating danish" would be inhumane.
I had never been in a royal court before, and I got to see the changing of the guards with their big puffy hats. The marble church was pretty amazing too, as it was full of colors and a huge organ with big ornate swans surrounding the pipes. Made me miss my church community back home though. I look at church buildings a lot differently now, as I think of the church as more of a body of people, and the building more as a work of art. The building that my church meets in back home is a lot more simple and has recently gotten a face lift while we've been away. I'm eager to be back home worshipping there.

Tradition

2009-06-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

Our friend Mikael has a tradition of taking pictures of his guests on his big red couch.
He sent this to us after we left. You can tell how chilly it is here by how much clothing we're wearing.

Nyord

2009-06-17T03:02:00.000-07:00

After checking out the cliffs Mikael took us to this tiny little town by the sea called Nyord. It was kind of the cutest place ever and reminded me a bit of New England. Some of the locals sold little home made products and set up stands in their house based on the honor system. We were able to walk in and out of little stores with the option of simpley leaving money in a box or tin if we chose to purchase a product. The little gardens kept at each house made Will and I think of our moms at home, and my aunt Barb, who work so hard on their own little plots of land. It would be nice to bring them here someday.

Møns Klint

2009-06-17T02:55:00.000-07:00

Mikael took us to this beautiful place called Møns Klint, which is about an hour and a half south of Copenhagen.

"The chalk forming the cliffs consists of the remains of shells from millions of microscopic creatures (coccolithophores) which lived on the seabed over 70 million years ago. As a result of huge pressure from glaciers moving west, the terrain was compacted and pushed upwards, forming a number of hills and folds. When the ice melted at the end of the last ice age about 11,000 years ago, the cliffs emerged." -Wikipedia

The water here was clear and turned a variety of shades of blue as the sun past over the water. Very cool.

Alone time

2009-06-17T02:42:00.000-07:00

While Mikael and Will played disc golf in the park the other day, I got to do something I haven't been able to do for quite some time, sit in a park by myself. In India Will often encouraged me to go to the park in downtown Dehra Dun, but I was always afraid of drawing a crowd. However, here in Denmark I layed down on the bench and took a half hour nap while the boys played. Then I sat up and just enjoyed the silence of being alone and feeling safe. It was lovely!

BBQ

2009-06-14T03:19:00.000-07:00

Last night we had meat! Real, red meat! It was even barbequed.
Our hostess Johanna (the gal on the right in the top picture) had a little "welcome to Denmark" party for us, and Jan and I grilled things up. You'll notice that we also had corn on the cob. DELICIOUS!!!!

Dazzling Denmark

2009-06-14T03:15:00.000-07:00

Where the friends are warm, the air is cool, the cheese is stinky and the bread is yummy crusty.
We are having a fabulous time here in Copenhagen. We are staying with our friend Johanna and the first night at her flat we slept for 11 hours. In the morning we met up with our friends Jan and Sarah (shown above) for brunch and then to a walking tour of the town. We also jumped on a touristy boat ride just for kicks.
For those of you who don't know, Will spent a semester here studying architecture, which is how he met so many of these lovely friends. I am excited to meet many of them for the first time after hearing about them for the past 6 years. Johanna I had met before and if you remember back in our blog to February, Johanna was actually our first visitor in India. It's great to be in her home and in this beautiful town.

Will and I aren't experiencing any culture shock per say, but we are giggling about some differences. We look like most of the folks around us, so there's a lot less staring going on. The streets feel almost empty and sometimes are, which we havn't felt in a while. There are traffic rules and people follow them. The streets are cleaner. Things are WAY more expensive, which I of course instantly miss India for;-). We would buy a weeks worth of fruits and veggies for about $3 in Dehra Dun, and here a bananna is about $2.
Everyone is dressed very well here, but part of me already misses the variety of style and color we had in India. I will say that in Copenhagen I simpley feel a bit more at ease. Maybe because the enviroment is more familiar, maybe it's because I don't need to haggle over every little thing that I need to buy, or maybe it's simpley because I don't stand out so much. It will be interesting to see how we process all of this as we make our way back to Philly, but I'm glad I have this outlet to think things out a bit, and I'm glad I have Will to talk things out with.

An eventful flight

2009-06-14T02:25:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that I LOVE a good kid story. At home we keep "Emma quotes" on our refrigerator, and at school I have a wall of post-its in my classroom to document all of the awesome things that my students say and do.

On our half hour flight from Frankfurt to Zurich, to catch our connecting flight to Denmark, Will and I had 3 small children sitting behind us, with their mother sitting across the aisle. The little boy by the window was about 5, the middle seat contained a girl at about age 7 and in the last seat sat a little girl about aged 3. During takeoff the following conversation and continued for the duration of our flight:

Boy to his older sister-"Here come the clouds, you know what that means."

Older sister- "Be quiet, it's not going to happen this time".

Boy- "Yes it is. You always barf when we get above the clouds".

Older sister- "No I won't!"

Boy- "Here they come."

Older sister makes a loud barfing sound into her bag.

Boy- "Told you. Mom!!!"

Little sister- "I don't feel so good...."

Stewardess comes over to clean up the older sister. Things settle down and she hands them all a chocolate. Little sister barfs on stewardess.

Mom- "I'm SO sorry, let me clean that up. I'm so sorry"

Stewardess leaves to get help. Little sister begins to strip down and walks up and down the aisle naked.

Brother - "Mary's a naked dancer. Mary's a naked dancer"

Little sister starts to wiggle in the aisle as mom tries to put some new clothes on her.

Stewards and stewardesses rush to clean up the chair and aisle. Little sister sits back down. Mother leans over and barfs in her bag. Big sister does the same. Little sister starts crying.

Big Brother- "I told you so. You ALWAYS barf when we get above the clouds."

At this point I am laughing quietly to myself while Will is watching his feet to make sure puke isn't running into them.

The plane starts to descend.

Brother-"Uh Oh......"

Brother barfs and big sister laughs at him, and then barfs again in her bag. Just as we land, mother barfs. I am laughing hysterically at this point, but trying to be discreet, but it's just not working and now the people sitting in front of us are laughing too.

The plane lands and Will and I rush out into the aisle to get out of the plane before we get hurled on, leaving the little boy laughing in the background "I told you so, I told you so. It's always when the clouds come".

Out of India

2009-06-12T00:23:00.000-07:00

Well, we spent out last day in India in the mall and in Colaba in downtown Mumbai. Why the mall you ask? We really justed wanted to walk around in some AC and maybe check out an English movie. We thought about Star Trek, but then I had a camera in my bag which was a huge No-No for the theatre. We opted instead to head out on the local train and go check out some sites around town. We saw the "Gateway of India" along with some other beautiful old buildings. We tried to grab dinner in Banda, but all of the taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers we talked to didn't know where the restaurants we were looking for were located. It began to get late fast, so we headed back to the hotel to pack and then off to the airport for our 2:50am flight to Frankfurt. Currently we are here in Germany safe and sound. The internet is $10/hour which is a bit steep, especially after being used to paying 40 cents an hour in India.

Some funny things are already happening as we adjust back to western life. We have spent the past 5 months learning how to walk and ride on the left side, so now when we try to get out of people's way, we actually get more in their way. Will and I have giggled a few times as we dodge the new/old system of walking and moving around. We also passed a salad bar in the food court and I said "look Will, they have lettuce!". Haven't seen that in a while. Lastly it's always a joy to go through security with Will's new Sruti box, and folks have no idea what to make of it in the security check. Will needed to take it out and play it a little so that the guards knew what it was. That always gets a few smiles too as they wave us along. Well, I should let Will check his email. We'll write more when we settle into Denmark later this evening.

Love to you all,

Lauren

The Train is a Pain

2009-06-11T00:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Will and I left Goa on what claimed to be the "Express Train" to Mumbai. It was supposed to take 6 hours. 3 meals and 14 hours later we arrived at a train station 2 hours outside of Mumbai. At that point it was 1am which made it hard to find a taxi. But the lovely local rickshaw boys, who were quite tipsy by that time, assured us they had friends who could get us to Mumbai. The rickshaw boys were quite drunk by 1am, but bought us a water bottle and soda to befriend us, so we ended up chatting with them a bit to kill some time. They actually did produce a taxi, and a legitimate one at that, by 2am and we were off to Mumbai.
Once we were there we found that our hotel actually cost twice as much as advertised in our little travel book and Will, WONDERFUL Will, had the taxi driver and his "buddy" drive us around to multiple hotels to check out prices and rooms. We finally settled for a hotel that was a bit out of our price range, but on the low end of things out of the 5 hotels that we saw, plus they agreed to let us stay past check out time to catch our plane at midnight tonight. Will and I finally got to sleep at 4:30am after a long day of train rides and hotel hunting. We are currently sitting in our little hotel room, with AC thank goodness!, and trying to catch up with folks back home.
This is our last day in India!
Can you believe it?
Tonight we head off to Denmark for our last 2 weeks and then we are home on June 29th! We'll be blogging as much as we can for the rest of our trip, as we enjoy spending time with our Danish friends.

Goan, Goan, Gone!

2009-06-10T23:54:00.000-07:00

I gotta tell ya, Will is just loving my play on words with this title;-)
2 nights ago was our last night in Goa. We had an absolutley amazing time, restful, fun...romantic!
On our last day it started to rain as we headed to the train station, assuring us that it was indeed time to get going. We really enjoyed this place though, and hope to return someday, maybe with friends.

Ewww....Eel!

2009-06-10T23:51:00.000-07:00

We saw this big fella, or lady, on the beach. Its about 4 feet long with part of it's tail missing. Will thought it would be a good idea for me to hold it up to give you all a size reference. Sorry folks, no can do- gross!

Peace and Quiet

2009-06-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

It just continues to amaze me how often we found ourselves almost completely alone on the beaches in Goa. The farther we headed north, the more empty the beaches became. We did see some guys fishing, which I thought was pretty cool, and came around to one beach with huge jagged rocks and watched as the sea crashed against them. The water is warm here, but not quite pretty. Our friend Weegie was here a few months ago and called the beaches a tropical Jersey shore. The water is brown here, and actually less clear than the waters in NJ. The sand is darker though, and the dirt is red inland, plus because of the Monsoon the waters are always churning, and the current actually makes it too hard to swim in some areas. Perfect for surfing I'm sure, which our friends Jeremy and Joshua might love, but we stay about waist deep in the waters to be safe, sticking to a little body surfing now and then.

Meeting Markos

2009-06-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we met this nice guy from Finland. His name is Markos, and we spent most of our day hopping around to deserted beaches together. Dogs generally tended to fallow us around too, so we had multiple friends by the end of the day. It's funny to report that all that happened in one whole day is that we went beach hopping with a new friend, after doing so much work for the past few months. But we are truly resting up here, which is exactly what we came to do.

Going around Goa

2009-06-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

Friday we headed out on our bike and toured a bit around Goa, checking out some beaches and old forts. The weather is balmy here, and Saturday it poured for 24 hours straight, keeping us at the Siolim house watching movies and playing video games for most of the day. At night we ate by candle light as the power had gone completely out by that time....very romantic;-) The rain also encouraged a few small frogs to visit us in our room. Will felt they made the place a bit crowded and promptly escorted them back to the great outdoors.
Yesterday we continued our tour around Goa, stopping when it rained at little cafes to pass the time playing card games. We headed into a major town close by called Panjim witch only made me more glad that we had chosen the lest developed village of Siolim to stay in, as the bigger touristy places offered only more crowded and dirty beaches.
Today we head out on the bike again to go explore northern Goa.

Glorious Goa

2009-06-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

Little Siolim

Siolim House

Will and I decided to treat ourselves for the end of our trip and head down to the beaches of Goa. It’s low tourist season down here, as the Monsoon rains have just begun and the humidity is high. When I was hunting for a place to stay Will thought it would be really cool if we could find one of the old Portuguese estates to stay in, so I started looking for “Boutique Hotels” hoping I might find a nice match.

When I came across the Siolim House I thought it would be the perfect place to stay, until I saw the price tag for each night which was a bit out of our range. However, the Siolim House owners also ran a smaller place named Little Siolim…of course;-), which was closer to the price we were looking for. Siolim house is a 7 bedroom estate, where as Little Siolim is a 3 bedroom villa. Not quite as grand, but it looked cute, had a pool and we were hopeful that maybe we would have the place to ourselves since it is the low season for tourists.

After a quick 2 and half hour flight to Goa we were picked up by our taxi and whisked along the coast line to norhter Goa. As we drove our taxi driver got a call and handed me the phone. It was the receptionist from the Siolim House asking if we would mind moving to the larger house for the same price we would have payed for Little Siolim. We quickly sayed yes and were thrilled to pull up to the old estate along the quite country drive of the quante Siolim village. Will and I were handed 2 glasses of fresh squeezed mango juice upon arrival and were given the grand tour of the estate. It was then that Will and I began to realize that we were the only quests at the house! So, for about as much as we would pay for Motel 6 in the states we are currenlty staying in a fully staffed, 7 bedroom, historical, Portuguese estate house in Goa! Pretty awesome!!! Check out the links above to see some photos of where we are staying. If you have an extra 2 minutes check out the pictures of how they rehabbed the house we are staying in. It's pretty impressive.

Last night Will and I went out for our first walk, quickly discovering that we should always carry our umbrella in the Monsoon season. But it was fun to giggle under the trees as we got soaked by the rain. Later we headed back to our estate for a homemade shrimp curry which was AMAZING, and then settled into our four post, super comfy bed for a restful night.

This morning Will and I woke up and had breakfast, just the 2 of us of course, of fresh pineapple, french press coffee and poached eggs. At the table we were greeted by our host to arrange using their motorcycle for the day to zip around and see the sites. For those who care to know, like the boys in Will's family;-), Will is going to riding around on an Enfield Bullet which has a 350 cc engine. The fun thing is that all of the gears and brakes are on the opposite sides, and we will be driving on the opposite side of the road. Don't worry mom's, people ride pretty slow around here only getting up to about 35 miles an hour.

We are clearly already enjoying our lovely little vacation, and it helps that they have wireless internet here so we can keep you all posted on the remainder of our travels.

Love to all,

Lauren

Bumming around in Delhi

2009-06-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

Our last few days with Kristin, Derek and Lisa we bummed around in the Grand Godwin watching movies, checking email and napping. It was just too darn hot to head outside. We did go out for short walks in the morning, and then went out later in the evening to Canought Place and Dilli Haat. On one of our final evenings we went to a swanky place called QBA (Cuba) and enjoyed a delicious meal of Mediterranean appetizers, pizzas, and Chinese food.

It felt a bit silly to stay inside for most of our time in Delhi, but there was nothing about the daily weather that encouraged us to spend it outside and so we were satisfied with resting up before parting ways.

Wednesday night Will and I brought Derek and Kristin to the airport. We had an amazing journey with them and we all agreed that we traveled well together and should plan for our next trip as soon as we can. We might stick closer to home though, and the Florida Keys came up for next year.

Thursday morning we had our last meal with Lisa and said our goodbyes. She is heading off to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, which is quite an extensive travel list. I am going to miss her very much as we have become good friends over these past 2 months. It was nice having another gal pal around to wrap up my work with and I'm sure we will keep in touch over the years to come.

Yesterday morning Will and I headed to the airport to fly off to Goa where we are currently staying at the Siolim House.

Water Buffalo Burger

2009-06-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that I use to be a waitress at a Bennigans in the states. I actually worked there for several years and it helped pay my way through college. Last year Bennigans went bankrupt in the states and closed it's doors, so we were very surprised to learn that it was still open here in Delhi. Will and I figured we should check it out and headed there with our friend CJ for a late dinner. This actually happened a little over a week ago while we were waiting to pick Kristin and Derek up from the airport, but we ate such an interesting meal I thought it was worth mentioning.
Will and I haven't had red meat, other than goat and lamb, since we left the states. So, when CJ said we could get a Water Buffalo Burger at Bennigans we figured we should go for it. As we waited for our burgers, eating a bennigans sampler of course (potato skins, mozzarella sticks and buffalo wings), my mouth began to water for the taste of a real burger.
Sadly when our burger arrived it was not what I had expected. Our Water Buffalo Burgers were dry and had obviously been previously frozen for some time. CJ ate all of hers, Will ate most of his, but I just couldn't help but feel that the burger tasted like the way the live Water Buffalo's smelled in person. We have a few in our neighborhood back in Dehra Dun, and the smell is so distinct....I just couldn't get through eating mine.
Our friend Scott Hatch keeps a blog about the burgers he eats (www.hamburgercalculus.com/blog/), and although this is far from a quality burger I think that maybe we should get a nod for trying it out;-)

Tried for the Taj, landed in Delhi

2009-06-02T02:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning we (Kristin, Derek, Will, Lisa and I) left Dehra Dun on the morning bus and headed to Delhi where we needed to catch our train to Agra. Our bus left late, which was not a good start to our day as our schedule was tight. When we got to Delhi the 5 of us along with all of our luggage piled into 2 auto rickshaws.
As we headed to the train station we noticed a puddle forming in the road. As we drove a little further the puddle began to grow and eventually stretched across our 3 lane drive, being deeper closer to the sidewalk and shallower along the median. We were unsure of the source, but the smell suggested it might be a sewage pipe – gross! The water not only slowed us down, but traffic started to slow down as cars began to form a single line along the median and large trucks drove through the deep water splashing the smaller cars. Now for those of you who have never seen an auto rickshaw before, it’s kind of like a glorified golf cart which meant that we were open on all sides. At one point our rickshaw driver decided he needed to get gas which meant passing through the deep end of the water, flooding the bottom of vehicle. Lisa and I screamed a bit during this. Lisa gave an even louder scream just a few minutes later when we were back on the road and a very inconsiderate car drove by forcing a wave of sewage water over our rickshaw soaking Lisa’s clothes. It was around this point that we were pretty sure we were going to miss our train.
Kristin and Derek’s rickshaw made it to the train station before ours, but because the station is so big it took me a few runs around to find Derek and Kristin. As we all gathered together we were excited to see that our train was actually still showing on the schedule so we all dashed down the steps to our platform. Throughout this whole adventure we were red faced and sweating as it was a balmy 100 degrees outside. We panted and chatted a bit on the platform and kept our eyes peeled for the train. Will stopped one of the station workers to make sure we were in the right place. The gentlemen smiled and said “right platform, but train is gone”. We all looked up at the flashing sign that still showed our train coming, and the gentlemen smiled, shrugged his shoulders and said “sorry, it is already gone”.
Will and I had already seen the Taj, but when we asked Kristin, Derek and Lisa if they still wanted to go they all heartily agreed “forget it, let’s just get a hotel and stay in Delhi”. We all went back down the station steps, hailed a van taxi and headed to our beloved Godwin Grand Hotel where we had showers and naps.
Later that night we headed over a restaurant called “The Big Chill”, known for its western comfort food. We stuffed ourselves with fresh salads, pasta and delicious homemade desserts like hot apple crumb with homemade ice-cream. Delicious and gloriously satisfying after a long day in Delhi.

Last Night With Louise

2009-06-02T02:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday we headed up to Mussoorie to show Derek and Kristin around and say our goodbyes to our dear friend Louise. Louise is heading off to the UK to get married this summer and then moving to Knoxville Tennessee, so we were glad to introduce her to Derek and Kristin who live just a few short hours away in Nashville. Louise has been an excellent hostess to us throughout our whole stay in Dehra Dun, and our weekend retreats to her house were often filled with lovely conversations and Sunday morning pancakes. We plan to stay in touch for the years to come, and I am excited that I may get to see her in the states sometime over the next year.

More Mountain Pics

2009-06-02T02:42:00.000-07:00

Into the Himalaya

2009-06-02T02:38:00.000-07:00

Will, Derek, Kristin and I decided to take a long drive into the Himalayan Mountains to see if we could get some good views of the big peaks. After talking with some friends Will suggested we head up to small village named Chopta, find a guest house there and then head up to a peak where there is a temple called Tungnath, as the views were said to be amazing. We left Dehra Dun with our trusty taxi driver Kamal to head through the valleys of the mountains and up the hillsides to find our little town. The drive there was a gorgeous, green, windy river, twisty turny valley, 10 hour long adventure. It started to rain as we got closer, but later we realized that high above us it was snowing, making the views all the more magnificent.
When we arrived in the small village of Chopta, Kamal helped us arrange a room to stay in. The pickings were very slim, with very little light in each room, and linens that had not been changed in…well, maybe forever. It didn’t take long for Kristin, Derek, Will and I to decide we should just all bunk up together and brave it through the night. We had arrived early evening in Chopta, and after dropping our bags in our room we went for a short walk, ate some Maggi noodles (Ramen noodles), bought some candles to light our room, played some cards and settled in for the night. Did I mention it was really cold as well up here? Will and I snuggled into one twin bed together allowing Derek and Kristin to have the “bigger bed”. Derek’s legs still stuck out over the edge starting from his knees, but he was a great sport about it.
About an hour into our slumber I heard Derek and Kristin whispering “I don’t think it will go on their bed though”. I knew they meant mice, I also knew that mice would totally come up into our bed, but I was determined to be a real trooper and prove that I could rough it. Sadly it only took a few minutes for me to prove myself wrong as the mice began running across the pillow above my head. After hearing this twice, confirming my fears, I screamed and jumped out of bed. Will jumped as well by the startle of my scream, at which point Derek and Kristin jumped and screamed too. We all half giggled and half freaked out every few hours as I jumped and screamed a few more times out of bed. Derek and I also kept at least one candle burning for the rest of the night to keep an eye on the creatures in our room. Needless to say we did not sleep that much and were all too thrilled to wake up at 5:30am and began our hike up the mountain at 6am.
Chopta is at about 10,000 feet and the temple is at 12,772 feet so our climb up was pretty steep. We stopped often for a breath, but at each turn the views were more and more amazing. Small houses and farms spotted the mountainside and we stopped to chat with locals along the way. About half way up we decided to stop for a hot chai which warmed our bodies and offered us a few calories with the ample addition of sugar and milk. We talked to our Chai walla guy and he explained that most folks were in the mountains 6 months out of the year and in the valley the other colder 6 months. Everyone was very friendly and I was impressed with how much English they knew for such a remote area.
We also stopped and chatted with many Indian tourists who were doing the trek for religious reasons. There are 5 temples that are related in the region, each at the origin of a body part of Siva the God of creation and destruction, so many were doing a grand tour of these temples.
When Will, Derek, Kristin and I reached the temple we all took off our shoes and walked around the old site. Will made a donation towards the maintenance of the temple and was allowed into some of the inner rooms. There he saw worshippers and a large silver urn along with a few icons. The holy man who brought Will into the temple explained that this temple held the chest and arms of Siva.
As we headed down the mountain we grabbed a few sodas to refuel and watched as the clouds began to cover the magnificent views we had seen only just an hour before. Unfortunately for the tourists who had chosen to either ride up on horseback or be carried up by 4 men, that’s right, their views were quickly becoming lost in the grey sky. The four of us were extra proud that we had made it up to the top on our own 2 legs, although our bodies would be paying us back in pain the next day.
We left Chopta around 10am and headed back to Dehra Dun. On our way home traffic stopped and we were close enough to see that there had been a landslide ahead of us. As the area develops the roads are being widened cutting away at the sides of the hills. Those that have not yet been supported often allow rocks to trickle down, or larger spills of dirt and stone. We waited for an hour and a half as the road was cleared away, getting into our car several times being ready to leave only to hear more rocks slide down the hill. Finally some military personnel were brought into guide us past the spill. God was very generous to us as our side of the road was allowed to pass first. Each car was instructed to go by carefully and quickly as men watched the hill to warn us if more rocks were coming. We made it through without so much as a pebble hitting our car and we cheered Kamal and slapped his shoulders for his excellent driving skills.
We pulled into a small town shortly after we passed the landslide so that Kamal could fix a tire that was going flat and within 20 minutes it began to pour down rain. We all said a little prayer of thanks to God for getting us through safely before it began to rain. Kamal directed us to a small lunch stand and we had small meal of Dahl (lentils) along with some veggies and roti (a thin round flat bread).
We arrived home after 12 hours of driving, took showers and crashed into our beds. The next day we all agreed that it had been one of the most spectacular and hardest short trips of our lives. The mouse story will of course keep us laughing for years, and we are all thrilled to say that we are leaving India having seen some of the most beautiful mountains in the world.

Lassi LIves!

2009-06-02T02:31:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that when we came home from our trip to the Taj in March, Lassi was missing. Our cleaning lady Dwarika said that she had accidently left the gate open and Lassi had wondered off. We hoped for the best and tried to put our little furry friend out of our minds.
Well, Will was walking home from getting some train tickets a few days ago and came across a small dog that looked very familiar. It was Lassi! Will walked over and petted her to look for the familiar markings on her tummy. It was her alright and he came home to tell me. Later that night Kristin, Derek, Will and I headed out for dinner walking by Bisht (our local convenience store) in hopes that we would see Lassi again. I had brought along her last bone in case we saw her. Lassi was not at Bisht but as we looked down a small road just past the store we saw a small white dog with spots hanging out in the grass. I called Lassi’s name, she looked up and ran right to me. I bent down and Lassi jumped into my lap, wagging her tail and tried to get into my bag where I had often carried her as a pup. We got to pet her for a while and see that she was healthy and fine. I handed Lassi the bone after a few moments and she jumped down and trotted into a house close by. We were happy to know that Lassi was being cared for, and it was a real treat to see her on our last week in Dehra Dun.

Kerry's Shower

2009-05-26T06:39:00.000-07:00

So I missed Kerry's Phily shower, and i'm sure she'll kill me for posting this picture, but she's just so darn cute! and I miss her dearly. Kerry's wonderful friends in Seattle are planning a west coast shower around the time when I come to visit in July, so that I can still be a part of the fun.

Love you Sissy!

Kristin & Derek

2009-05-26T06:27:00.000-07:00

Well, our friends are here and our travels have begun. Kristin and Derek arrived 12am Sunday morning and we headed back tour our favorite hotel thd Grand Godwin where we chatted a bit and ultimately collapsed to sleep. The next morning we took them through a short tour of our surrounding streets and Canought Place. Then it was time for a nap. Later we went out for dinner at United Coffee House where we had delicious Indian food. The next day our budy/taxi drive Manish picked us up at 10am for the 7 hour ride back to Dehra Dun. He took us along the Gange's canal, which was by far one of the most beautiful drives I have experienced in India. Although a bit bumpy at times it was much quiter as we passed through golden and green country sides, and dusty buy colorful villages. It was fun to watch the kids swim with the water buffalos in the canal, and see women's sari's drying along the river bank. Just beautiful!

Currently we are in Dehra Dun mapping out the end of our journey which includes a trip up into the Himalayan mountains, and a visit to the Taj Mahal with Kristin and Derek. Will and I are also looking into staying at a small villa in Goa for the last week of our time in India.

Much love to you all,

Lauren

Will's Work

2009-05-20T03:07:00.000-07:00

Will's been researching some local traditional water harvesting structures. I LOVE that he's taken the time to do sketches and watercolors of these buildings along with capturing images of the surrounding area. This is Will's last week of work, and he'll be doing a rather extensive presentation of his research on Friday, which will include these images. I'll be reporting back with how things go.

Oh the Humidity!

2009-05-20T02:54:00.000-07:00

Well, we're starting to feel the warnings of Monsoon season over here. Everyone is complaining that it's a bit too early to be getting electrical storms, but we're getting them every several nights along with some rain and even hail. The rain keeps things cool enough to get through an evening but on the days in between the humidity is trapped by the smog making it feel like a regular sauna around here. For you Philadelphians, think end of July weather without the option of air conditioning-UGH! The fact that I need to remain covered from head to toe doesn't help much, but I've switched from jeans to some loose cotton pants, making things a tiny bit easier. At night Will, Lisa and I lay around in our shorts and tank tops, usually with a cold glass of water, and a movie on the laptop to keep as much stickiness away as possible. All part of the experience;-)

The one thing I am loving about the storms is that Will and I always end up out on the front steps to watch the lightning over the hills. Without tall buildings around we really get an excellent view. With the storms usually happening at the end of the day, it's also just a nice way to unwind and talk about how things are going. Storm watching with a good cup of tea, now that's a relaxing way to start the evening.

A Community Gathers

2009-05-17T22:01:00.000-07:00

Will and I headed up to Mussoorie again this past weekend, and stayed at Louise's house along the cool hillside. Saturday night we went to the Woodstock School Jazz Jam, which was pretty awesome. We tapped our toes and clapped away as the high school jazz ensemble played big band music, a favorite of mine as many of you know. In between sets some of the staff, including Louise who plays violin, played rock and folk music. This of course made Will and I think of our dad's who are fabulous guitar players, and connoisseurs of folk and rock music.
On Sunday morning Will, Louise and I gathered with friends from our Mussorie community, to sing, talk and pray. My own community back home makes every effort to learn songs in other languages, so I was really excited to sing songs that I recognized in Hindi with my brothers and sisters here in India.

L's Last Day of Work

2009-05-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

Friday was my last day of work. I spent the day making fun crowns and hats with the kids, using the leftovers of the materials we've been using over the past few months. It was super fun, and I managed to get our lovely models to show off their fabulous crowns. I'm going to miss these kids. It's been amazing to watch these student work so hard to make it in a society that is still learning about Special Education. Many blessings to them as they grow and learn in the years to come.

I try not to...

2009-05-13T00:28:00.000-07:00

Although we rarely admit it, every teacher knows that we do have a few favorites now and then. I love teaching all ages, but over the past few years I've begun to especially enjoy doing art with young children. I love working at the Early Intervention Center here. It's an integrated group that incorporates children with special needs, which reminds me of the community class that I enjoy teaching so much at PSD.
Drew is probably my most favorite kid at EIC, and I shamelessly give him a little extra attention. I don't have a lot of pictures of him, as he is usually in my arms or on my lap, but here are a few that were taken by my friend Andy when he was here. Drew is the little guy over at EIC, he's funny and gutsy, always trying to keep up with the big boys, and he's just so stinking cute! I met Drew's mom yesterday, which is a good reminder that I can't take Drew with me, and that he'll be just fine when I'm gone. I'm going to miss him though......

And....we're back!

2009-05-10T21:46:00.000-07:00

Computer is up and running!
After being without our laptop for almost a month, Will has completely transferred all of our pictures and files to an external hard drive, and given our laptop some new "guts". I'm currently sorting all of our pictures back into files with hopes that I'll be able to leave a few prints here for each site that I worked at. It's nice to have the freedom of working in my own space again.

Up in Mussoorie

2009-05-10T21:38:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Lisa, Will and I escaped the heat of Dehra Dun and headed up to see our friend Louise in Mussoorie. Louise is an elementary teacher at the Woodstock school, and lives in staff housing. Luckily for us she has a few extra beds which means we could all bunk up together and enjoy the cool air. The first picture above is Will's drawing of Louise's house. She lives in the first floor of the house on the right. The other pictures are some of the views we had from Louise's house and views of the hillside as we headed into town. Not too shabby!

Optical Illusions

2009-05-07T04:22:00.000-07:00

Over at the after school program, we tried out a few optical illusions. This was an exciting afternoon for me as I saw kids branching out in their own ideas, and copying my style less. THIS is what I've been longing for with these kids, and it was exciting to see their imaginations in action.

Foot and Hand Prints

2009-05-07T04:17:00.000-07:00

What better way to do a little color mixing with kids? With your feet of course. I especially love that the teachers at EIC Satellite let the little ones jump up on the table to create their art work.

Cardboard Looms

2009-05-07T04:12:00.000-07:00

Whether they can weave or they can rip, these kids at Karuna Vihar worked really hard on their cardboard looms. I love that each kid got to take part in this challenging activity, and that this is a multi-day project.I hope we can finish the weavings before the kids get out for holiday. Would be nice to put these tapestries up in their classroom for the next semester.

Ants On The Move

2009-05-03T04:36:00.000-07:00

The other night a colony of ants migrated from Lisa's bathroom down the hall to our bathroom. They did not disturb us, thankfully, as Will and I went to sleep with the ants marching under our bed.

Will's Reformating

2009-05-03T04:28:00.000-07:00

Will is almost done reformating our laptop, and I am VERY HAPPY!
I'm working on the computer next to Will at the Latika Roy Foundation, and I've just put up a whole bunch of posts. If you are interested in viewing them all, you may need to go back a few pages on the blog. Hopefully I'll be able to do more regular posts starting this week, instead of mass postings like today.

Will's Quilt Consultation

2009-05-03T04:01:00.000-07:00

Up at Chhaya, the awesome chicken pot pie place, there is also a women's sowing cooperative. Our friend Barbra (who happens to be from Philly!) helps this group of women design and stitch quilts using traditional Indian fabrics. Barbra's daughter sells them online for the women who work at Chhaya at www.himalayantapestry.etsy.com.

Barbra was having a bit of artists block with some of her quilt color combinations and asked Will and I to come up and brainstorm some ideas. Will was really excited about this as there is a strong quilting tradition in his family. He and Barbara spent some time in the resteraunt looking over colors and discussing ideas on how to make better products. Will also got the chance to design two quilted bags of his own, one for our laptop, and one for Will's new Sruti Box.

Paper Weaving

2009-05-03T03:51:00.000-07:00

The up and over motion of paper weaving, and especially the altering of each row, can be really tough for some kids. However, knowing that these particular students are getting close to the age of moving over the the vocational school, I thought that practicing weaving would be a good idea. Next week we're going to make cardboard looms along with strips of fabric to make small woven projects.

LV Collages

2009-05-03T03:46:00.000-07:00

I've been gathering a lot of scaps recently of fabric, magazines, newspapers etc. I've also been really encouraging the kids at LV to think for themselves a bit more, instead of just copying the staff or each other. So, I dumped my scraps on the table along with some new white paper and markers. The kids were a bit baffled, as they waited for me to show them a sample. Finally after strongly encouraging them to start creating without me, I started to see pictures like these. My favorite is the picture with the mountains, and I especially love that this young artists went back over the magazine scaps to add small flowers as details going up the hill.

The Street We Walk Down

2009-05-03T03:38:00.000-07:00

This is the street Will and I use to get to each of our sites. Some amazing flowers are starting to come out, and it takes my breath away every time I see these colors.

Sari Bags

2009-05-03T03:34:00.000-07:00

I've been working on some handbag ideas for CVT. These bags are made out of old Sari and Kurta tops. For the sari bag I only needed to sow the bottom seem together. For the kurta top I cut off the sleaves and sowed the bottom together.

Cereal Stencils

2009-05-03T03:30:00.000-07:00

At the Latika Vihar after school program I finally gave my kids a break and brought some markers. We've been doing a lot of recycled art over here, and I thought it might be fun to bring some freshly bought materials. I did bring some Cereal Box Stencils to offer some fun shapes to play with, and I was impressed with the variety of pictures I got in return from the kids. I was also impressed with how each kid carefully remebered to put the caps back on the markers, in order to preserve the colors in the 2 boxes of markers I had brought.

I've also started using the wall of our outside classroom to display the kids work. This gave us a chance to talk about things, and the kids learned from each others styles. We critiqued and complimented all of the work, pointing out that no picture was "wrong"...just different. I've been encouraging the staff at all of the sites that I work at to put up more of the student's art work. It's such an easy way to motivate postive self esteem, as well as open up more opportunities to have fun dialogues with the kids.

A Tibetan Feast

2009-05-03T03:20:00.000-07:00

This past week our friend Namdol (2nd from right in top picture) sent our dear friends Rebecca (1st on left in top picture) and Tareq (1st on right in top picture) off with a Tibetan/Indian feast created by one of the school cooks. I forgot to take a picture of the buffet table in the next bedroom, but it was a huge spread with enough food to feed 5 times as many friends who were there. We had all kinds of lovely dishes including one of my most favorites...MoMo's (fried Tibetan Dumplings). Tareq and Rebecca were the ones who went to Chandigarh with us. They have become dear friends and we will truly miss their company here. Currently Rebecca is up in Nepal trekking around the Himalayan mountains, while Tareq is making is way back to Switzerland by way of Mumbai where some family friends live. Will and I are hoping to visit Tareq in Switzerland during our 2 and 1/2 week layover in Frankfurt, where we will also be heading up to Denmark to visit some of Will's friends from school.

CVT Paper Mache

2009-05-03T03:10:00.000-07:00

We continue to work on our paper mache products over at the College of Vocational Training. They've actually got quite a lot of stuff over there now. We've decided to call these products a Collaberative Arts Project. First because just about every child is involved, but also because we are realizing more and more that these students need some help with adding final touches and details to each project. I've been asked to come up with some simple design ideas that the staff and students can continue to copy after I am gone. It's fun to see the kids making color choices though, they do this not only to put down the base color, but also as they color in the lines of some of the details on masks to create facial features.

Recently we've been talking about candles again. This is a tricky area as so many other organizations like ours in the area make candles. Its an easy product for these young adults to make, but how do we get our items to stand out from the crowd. I'm researching this as well and came acroos a website called www.candlehelp.com. This website is awesome because it had large pictures of each step of each project. If you're into candle making, check this site out!

Cereal Box Masks

2009-05-03T03:02:00.000-07:00

I was only able to get a few shots of these masks, as the kids were so excited about wearing them, they kept moving around to show each other, and swap animals. These masks were made out of the cardboard from our cereal boxes, along with crayons to color and some old fabric to tie things around the student's heads. The teacher of this class requested we make these masks to accomodate the animal stories they've been reading lately. Making masks instead of puppets allows the kids to keep their hands free to flip through the pages of the book, as well as act out each story. We had a lot of fun making these.

Magazine Streamers

2009-05-03T02:55:00.000-07:00

Magazine streamers may seem like a simple idea. In the states we make them at my school any time there is a celebration, using specific colored paper according to holidays and themes. However, paper and paints here are precious and pricey, so using old magazines helped us give some color, while cutting back on the cost. For this particular group I really wanted them to work on some of their squeezing skills, as I had noticed that some still struggled with using scissors. The staplers we used were pretty heavy duty, so holding the weight in their hands, and then using both hands to squeeze the stapler was a good challenge for these kids. I think they especially enjoyed the satisfaction of hearing the snap as the staple formed around the paper. The streamers were then added to decorate the room.

I want to also add that the curtains in the last picture above were Will's design idea. This class of older students was moved to a small room in the school, to accomdate a group of younger children who had been escaping out of this room as it has no door. The teacher of this class asked me if I could think of any homemade storage units that would fit in the small room. I was puzzled as to what to do when Will came up with the idea of making these pocketed curtains to hold folders and books for each student. We used some old shawls that were purchased at the foundations thrift store "Rainbow Resale", then the kids and I folded the shawl in half, and taped and stapled several seems to create hanging pockets in the curtains. Brilliant! Not only that but other teachers saw this idea and started putting up similar curtains in their rooms, adding color to the whole building.

Textured Pencil Holders

2009-05-03T02:41:00.000-07:00

At one of the workshops I hosted recently, one of the teachers from the local school for the Deaf created this decorated tin can with newspaper. Like any good artist, I stole the idea and brought it to my after school program. Rolling paper isn't easy for every child, especially those who are younger and those who may struggle with some fine motor skills. However, these kid really pressed into it and spent almost 2 hours working on their tins. It was fun to watch them make these functional forms and even more fun to hear how they would use them in their homes.

Straw Blowing Watercolors

2009-05-03T02:36:00.000-07:00

One of my most fun and easy projects to do with kids is taking a few straws and blowing through them to spray puddles of colored paint across a large piece of paper. This involves color mixing, some small practices in excercising the mouth for speach therapy, working together, turn taking, sharing space, making decisions, and having tons of fun!

105 Degrees

2009-04-30T06:27:00.000-07:00

Yup, that's how hot it is right now. If Will and I come home looking a little thinner in a few months, you'll know why.

Other than the heat, things are moving along well here. I hope to be posting pictures over the weekend of what the kids and I have been doing:
-Cardboard Fruits and Veggies
-Newspaper Weaving
-Paper Mache
-Straw blowing Watercolors
-Cereal Box Stencils
-Paper Rattles
-Paper Dolls
-Cardboard Looms

Amazingly I've only got 2 weeks left with the students here, as schools let out on May 15th for a holiday and then later resume for a summer session. This means I only have 2 or 3 more classes with each group of kids that I work with. It feels like it came up suddenly, and I'm now in the process of thinking what I'm leaving for this program after I've gone back to the states. I've been thinking about creating posters of all of the projects we did based on theme. I think big visuals would be best as it would make the ideas accessible to both the teachers and students. It's been tricky because my pictures are kind of all over the place right now. Originally I was keeping folders of pictures for each site that I worked at, as I do love keeping organized;-), but the recovery process of the photos has left things scattered.

I got to hear from my housemate Brooks last night. It's hard to believe I haven't heard her voice in over 3 months. She says that the house is doing well, with a little help from my Mom and Dad, and that our cat Mia has been sleeping with Brooks since we left. I think Will misses Mia more than I do, he actually mentions her from time to time. It's nice to know that Brooks, her daughter Emma, and our friend Jess are looking after things while we're away.

Will misses the Phillies, and has begun to mention this fact quite often. We've been getting reports of friends attending games including one where our buddies Matt and Scott attempted to eat one $1 dog per inning. Alas, they "were vanquished by the encased meat and only made it to 6"-Will. We're proud of their efforts though, and like to think one of those dogs was eaten in honor of Will's absence.

Go Phils!
Lauren

Pictures Found!

2009-04-27T07:17:00.000-07:00

Well, after 2 weeks of vigilantly working on our laptop, Will has recovered our pictures. This is an amazing feet to me as I am not tech savvy at all. I had given up the pictures for lost days ago, but Will plugged along looking through over 4,000 recovered jpegs. to find our pictures. I'm really proud of him for his skills in this area and even more in awe of his patience. Will is going to continue to look for some videos and other lost items, but after that he will be reformatting the whole computer and then it should be up and running again.

In other good news, our friends Kristin and Derek have confirmed that they are coming to visit us for our last week in India. I'm really excited to show them the community of friends we have developed here, where we work, and this beautiful area we currently call home. I'm sad they'll miss meeting Jo and her dad Owen though. Jo is heading back to the states with her dad to visit family and check out some conferences/resources for children with special needs. Jo is always on the look out for what is new in this area and I am not at all surprised that she is using some of her much needed vacation time to continue working for her staff and students back at the Latika Roy Foundation.

Jo has been an exceptional boss to me. She is runs a tight ship with an open mind and heart. Jo has also become a dear friend to both Will and I, and I have no doubt we will continue to keep in touch after we part ways. I'm also going to miss Jo's dad Owen. I'd like to think that he and I bonded a bit while I've been here, as I have often stopped in to chat with him to hear the many rich stories of his life. My relationship with Owen has been especially touching to me as both my grandfathers have now passed. Owen's companionship and boyish charm will be greatly missed around here.

Blessings to you all, and to Jo and Owen on their travels back to the states.
Lauren

Will's Petri Dishes

2009-04-25T00:27:00.000-07:00

These are fecal coliform bacteria colonies...just the blue ones. The yellow one indicates no fecal coliform presence. I don't really know much more than this, and Will says it's too complicated to explain plus the results are unsatisfactory, but this is what Will's doing right now. It has something to do with water. Sorry I don't have more on this, and Will is giggling while I write this post, but it's so rare that I get to put up pictures of what Will is doing so here it is.

Next week Will is heading up Rajpur road (up the hill heading towards Mussori) to check out traditional water harvesting structures. This project will tap into both his water interests and architecture expertise. Will has been given several books on the history of Dehra Dun and will be looking for references of historical harvesting structures in his readings in order to better understand what he sees over the next few weeks. Will's really looking forward to working on this.

Ngoega

2009-04-25T00:05:00.000-07:00

Our friends Rebecca, Tareq and Namdol invited us up to the Tibetan School they are working at. This school is located up the hill from us and is a school for children with special needs. Rebecca and Namdol are physical therapists and Tareq is a volunteer staff member helping out wherever he is needed. This school is really amazing, and the kids live here full time except for during the summer. The grounds are simple yet clean, with lovely architecture. I was really excited to meet a few kids who were going to the local school for the deaf and they seemed pretty pumped to meet me. We exchanged signs and learned a bit from each other. I probably could have talked to them all night if I had not been visiting my dear friends. It made me really miss my kids back at PSD. I miss using sign language and having another way to express myself. It gave me great joy to use sign language with these Tibetan students, and I'm eager for more visits with them.

Will's Sketches

2009-04-24T23:54:00.000-07:00

Even if we've lost some of our photos, Will has sketched a few of his favorite places.
1.) Rishikesh
2.) Jaipur
3.) Chandigarh

Lauren's Workshop

2009-04-24T23:45:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I heald a workshop for mainstream teachers at the Latika Roy Training Center. The theme for the day was "Using Art as Tool for Learning in Your Classroom" & "Free and Cheap Art Materials...Where do you find them and how do you use them?". The workshop went very well, and I was feeling a bit more confident this time after having heald a similar workshop for teachers in the Special Ed. field about 2 weeks prior to this one.

As I got to chat over lunch with these teachers, we discovered we had similar issues. Kids are being admitted into higher learning based on tests, and not all students show their skills through testing. How do we get the higher ups to understand this? How do we become involved in this kind of movement? After teaching all day, how do we find the extra time to become advocated for a more well rounded way of learning and achieving? We struggled with these questions together, and I am eager to see our anger turn into hope for the future.

Chicken Pot Pie

2009-04-20T01:48:00.000-07:00

So there's this amazing little cafe called Chhaya up in Rajpur Village (that's up the hill from us), run by a local women's co-op, and they make Chicken Pot Pie, and I mean REAL Chicken Pot Pie. They also make Shepherds Pie, using muton of course, along with some absolutely fabulous salads, pizzas and other baked goods. We've gone several times over the past four weeks with a varied group of friends. Our Tibetan friend Namdol had Chicken Pot Pie for the first time ever, and bought more to bring home for his lunch the next day. Chhaya is truelly a slice of home...pun intended. Will and I have definetly reached our limit of being away from home comfort foods, and even broke down and went to Pizza Hut 2 weeks ago. Here is a small list of things we are missing most:

-Primo's Hoagies (Italian Diablo)
-Coffee
-Pizza
-Burgers (preferably BBq'd by our dad's)
-Caseroles
-Salads with lettuce
-Moist Cake
-Milk
-Pancakes with real maple syrup
-Doritos
-Corn on the cob
-Jersey Tomatos
-Whole Weat Pasta
-Fish from an ocean

To be far, here are some of our favorite foods here:
-Mo Mo's (Tibetan Dumplings)
-Just about anything at Kumar's Veg. Resteraunt
-LOTS of fresh fruits and vegies. I eat a whole watermellon every 2 days!
-Anything Jo cooks for us, as she is the queen of baked goods and fresh salads around here.
-Anything Priyam's mom cooks, and I love that she patiently explains how everything is made.
-Lisa's cup of tea.
-The chai served at Latika Roy's Training center, I think they put ginger in it.
-The Barista Coffee shop at the book store in town serves decent coffee drinks..with ice cream!

While I'm posting about food, Will is at home working on our laptop. He is currently trying to recover things that are lost, put them on our new hard drive and then I believe he's going to reformat our whole laptop.
Big job, and I'm glad, and thankful! he's got to do it;-)

Computer Crash

2009-04-20T00:07:00.000-07:00

Well Folks,

we're not sure what happened but our laptop is on the fritz. Half of my photos were lost (thank goodness I've been making posts on the blog as back up for some!), and several of our documents are now missing. Most of the damage seems to be on my side under my log in. We aren't sure if it's the heat, the hundreds of photos we've got saved, or a virus, but Will is using every trick he knows to fix things. Mean while we have bought a hard drive to back things up on in the future, and there is a computer place that does data recovery should we need it.

Because we won't have our own laptop to use for a while, posting pictures may be slow for a bit. But, we're hopeful that things will resume to their normal state quickly, and our friends at Latika Roy have been great about me using their computer until our laptop is back in order- Thanks Priyam!

In other news, I finally decided to do something about my stomach as it's been acting funny for about 4 weeks now, and am currently on antibiotics to fix things. 1 weeks supply of two drugs came to 25 rupees, which is the equivilant to 50 cents in the states. At first I was like "WOW!", but Will and I have been reading a book called "Everyone loves a good drought" that reminds me of the fact that most rag pickers here make about 30 rupees a week. Puts things in perspective a bit....

Hope to be posting soon.

Love to all,

Lauren

Pictures from Chandigarh

2009-04-13T22:02:00.000-07:00

So here are some pictures from our trip. Our housemate Lisa and I are at the top. You'll have to excuse my expression in some of the pictures as I was not always feeling well, plus it was pretty hot. It's 98 degrees today in Dehra Dun! Many of the more well known buildings in Chandigarh were designed by architects Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Matthew Nowicki, and Albert Mayer.

A long weekend's rest....and some architecture.

2009-04-13T01:09:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

I'm here at our local internet cafe "Emotions" (gotta love the name:-), catching up on emails and our blog. I'm unable to put up our pictures at this time, but I did copy and paste this one of the swanky hotel we stayed at. Will, Lisa (our new housemate), Rebecca, Tareq (friends who are working in the Tibetan colony near by) and I took a 5 hour train ride out to Chandigarh this past Friday morning and arrived easily and safely at our fabulous hotel Aura Vaseela. We spent much of our time relaxing in our rooms and around the pool and headed into town only to see one or two sites as well as hit the local restaurants for dinner. This layed back weekend was exactly what we all needed, and because we split the costs of our 2 rooms, train tickets and taxi rides we each only payed about $80 for the 3 days that we were away (not including meals). Getting a good bargain always makes things more relaxing.

Because there were 5 of us, we were also more easily able to break up into small groups and do our own thing. Will actually set out on his own for a whole afternoon of hunting for and drawing pictures of some well known architecture in the area, while Tareq did some shopping and the girls and I headed back to our hotel for more napping and swimming.

Unfortunately my stomach problems have sprung up again and I think I'll be talking to Jo's doctor friend for some antibiotics as my tummy is starting to interfere with my day to day life.

Ravi, Will's boss, is talking about sending Will out on a short trip again. Ravi also mentioned that he has a surprise for Will, which we will find out about tonight over dinner at Jo and Ravi's house. Could it be some architecture work?

I have to mention Lisa a bit, as we've been living with her for 2 weeks now. She is just a few years younger than Will and I, comes from Ireland, and has turned out to be a real kindred spirit. Traveling together I think has really proved that we are all getting along very well, as it often pushes people to their limits. Lisa and I have begun to go out together for coffee and shopping a few times a week, and are even reading the same series of books. I am enjoying Lisa very much and it's nice to have a gal pal in the house.

Will post pictures soon.

Love to you all,

Lauren

Chandigarh

2009-04-09T00:02:00.000-07:00

Heading to Chandigarh for a long weekend with friends. We may not be able to check email as much for a few days, but will do our best to keep in touch. We'll of course bring back fun pictures on Sunday;-)
Love to you all!
Lauren & Will

Multitasking

2009-04-08T23:36:00.000-07:00

I often wonder if I'm teaching enough multi-stepped art projects.
I think this picture proves otherwise.

At the Satelite Early Intervention Center we used old toilet paper rolls and coffee to create these fun circle stamped works of art.

Bottle Bangles

2009-04-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

In India many bracelets and bangles are worn by both men and women. In my efforts to continue to use plastic bottles and bags as much as I can in my projects, we made some Bottle Bangles at Latika Vihar (the after school program). First we cut out the plastic bangle from the middle of the bottles, then we wrapped them in fabric and decorated with the bottoms of the bottles. Some of the kids even used the leftover tops of the bottles as little toy trumpets! It was nice to see the whole bottle being used, and I loved it when my little buddy Asheesh turned the bottle bottom into a star (2nd picture from the bottom).

Movers & Shakers

2009-04-08T22:43:00.001-07:00

In Karuna Vihar I noticed that many of the classes have music time. In the fish class we decided to make some instruments, using old bottles, fabric and a variety of beans and lentils to create different sounding shakers.

2009-04-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

This is pretty cool! Bottle bottoms turned art/curtains. This was created by a British designer named Michelle Brand. Pretty sweet idea.

(Picture taken from Fabulously Green website)

A post about me. How nice!

2009-04-05T03:48:00.000-07:00

So, Jo wrote about me a few weeks ago. I thought I was pretty good at keeping up on her blog, but as I was skimming down her history of posts today I saw one about me! It puffed me with pride of course to see such nice things written about me, and to have affirmation of the work I am doing here. Check it out if you want " Lauren Stichter and Her Bag Full of Tricks". Thanks to Jo for taking the time to write such lovely things and an extra thanks to my mother-in-law Connie who was on top of things enough to comment on Jo's post the day after she put up the article;-)

*Picture stolen from Jo's blog.

And we plug along...

2009-04-05T01:05:00.000-07:00

Will and I got back to work this week, me with my kiddies and Will in his lab with his petri dishes and water samples. Will is pumped that today is the first day of baseball season back in the states, and although he was sad to miss his fantasy baseball party back home with the boys, he isn't feeling to bad about the young pitchers that ended up on his team.

I got sick again this week, which was not fun. It was actually worse than the one last week, and although I will not share the gory details, it's taking me much longer to recover this time around.

Yesterday our friend Priyam took us up the hill a bit to a small restaurant called "Orchard" where we had a mix of Thai, Chinese and Indian food while sitting under an umbrella, looking over the small farms below and listening to....wait for it.....country folk music that I'm sure was pulled from my dad's CD collection back home. We relaxed, played cards and enjoyed the view.

Jo has lent me the West Wing series, which has been interesting to watch. It makes Will and I talk about what's going on back home with our own new president. It's harder to get regular information while we are here, not because it's not available to us but because at home everyone talks about it, where here we need to search out more on our own.

We've had to search out some of our own spiritual life here too. At home our responsibilities to our community kept us on a regular schedule of growing our selves in dialogue with others. Will and I are now struggling with how to do that together and on our own while we are away from the community that drives us forward. It's especially easy for me to let my mind and spirit go on vacation, and I often even find myself justifying this with all of the work that I have done over the past few years back in the states. But so much of that work was done to serve others, which in all honesty helped me feel good about myself. So here I am, knowing full well that I am only on this earth to serve one being... and it's not me. I've been reading this great book by H. Nouwan called "The way of the heart", which is leading me to write songs again and helping me remain connected to the one who offers the greatest love of all.

A picture for Pop-Pop

2009-03-31T21:14:00.001-07:00

So...on the Ingalls side of the family when my grandpa took his family on vacation, apparently he often dragged my dad and his siblings around to different war sites, and the tradition was to take pictures of the kids on the cannons.

In Jaipur there is a fort that holds the worlds largest cannon on wheels.
"The Jaivana (Hindi: जयवाण) cannon is the largest wheeled cannon ever constructed. It is located at the Jaigarh Fort, Jaipur. It was cast in 1720, during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II of Jaipur. The formidable strength of its builder, the scientifically inclined warrior Sawai Jai Singh II, lay in the large number of artillery and copious supply of munitions which he maintained.

Jaivan rests on a high 4 wheeled carriage. The front wheels are 2.74 m in diameter and the rear wheels are 1.37 m in diameter." (quote and top picture from Wikipedia)

I am not standing with this cannon in my picture;-) I am standing with a small cannon at the Amber Fort which is just below the Jaiharh fort. I really wanted to go check out the biggest cannon, as I felt it was my duty as an Ingalls gal, but quite frankly it was just to hot and too far away. I got close though and I hope Pop-Pop is looking down from heaven, laughing at the fact that I couldn't make it up the hill, but at least admiring me for my efforts. And hey, I did get a picture with a cannon in India.

Pictures from vacation

2009-03-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

Happier in Jaipur

2009-03-27T02:58:00.000-07:00

Jaipur is turning out to be a bit easier. Will and I are here for 3 days so are able to spread things out a bit. We are also getting better at saying "no" no matter how much our friendly rickshaw driver Rehan insists we can just look at his friends shops. Rehan did take us to some nice quiet spots today though, so he gets points for that. It has also cooled off, Will and I are getting a good nights sleep and my stomach is much better. This all helps me tolerate the staring a bit more, which makes sense.

Jaipur is a pretty cool place. It is a large city surrounded by hills and forts that give you a lovely view of the "pink city". The city actually isn't very pink anymore, but it use to be and you can see many buildings that are still painted in this terracotta hue. One sweet place we saw this morning is called Jantar Mantar (click on image above from Wikipedia for more info.), which has the largest sundial in the world. Will really liked this place for the structures and for the science lesson.

Jaipur is also known for its specialty shops in block printing, which we checked out, and precious and semi-precious stone jewelry...which I admittedly checked out;-) Our hotel was smart enough to put a silver shop up next to their rooftop restaurant. Silver is simply priced by weight, so I don't need to worry as much about haggling.

Heading up to the rooftop lounge to read for a bit. Thanks for the emails, especially from my sister and gal pals regarding my last post. It's nice to be supported during the good and the hard.

Love to all,

Lauren

Ugh!...the heat and hastle.

2009-03-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
Will and I arrived in Jaipur last night after a few days in Delhi and Agra with Andy. Andy left yesterday afternoon to head home to LA, and should be arriving safely there sometime today. Here's a little catch up of what we've been doing. Sorry we can't post pictures yet. I'll do a huge spread when we get back to our laptop in Dehra Dun.

Good things about our "Golden Triangle" trip so far:
-Traveling with Andy. Will and Andy haven't spent this much time together in years and it's a delight to see them get to have this experience together. I'm a pretty big fan of Andy myself and am blessed by his company.
-Seeing and catching up with our friend CJ in Delhi.
-Going to the "Big Chill" & "All American Diner" for 2 meals. Yes, we are starting to miss food from home.
-Shopping in the Dilli Haat market for regional crafts. Will and Andy bought more than I did.
-A great hotel room in Delhi at the Godwin Grande. ($40 a night for luxury along a small street)
-I got new shoes as my old ones were falling apart. Fake Birkenstocks for $8!
-Will found and bought an instrument called a Sruti Box.
-Taking a bike rickshaw tour through Old Delhi (think very small streets with lots of beautiful colors).
-Seeing the country side on bus and train rides.
-K.K our Agra tour guide and rickshaw driver.
-Seeing the Taj, baby Taj, and Agra fort.
-Mango Lassi's.
-Our cheap but clean hotel in Agra and their friendly staff.
-The guys on our bus to a nearby castle and fort (sorry, can't remember the name) jumped out of the bus and began to push while the drive popped the clutch to get the bus moving. Will thought this was pretty funny/awesome.
-The fabulous Pearl Palace Hotel, decorated with an eclectic mix of artisan work, a lovely rooftop restaurant with views of the city and most importantly a hot shower with strong water pressure. Barb you would LOVE this place!

Some hard things about our trip:
-The Delhi train station "guard" trying to scam us out of money. Andy and Will were amazing at handling this guy as he took us upstairs to a quiet corner and tried to haggle us into paying a "tax". We owed him nothing, gave him nothing, and got on the train just fine. This was all at 5am, and we were all very tired and I am still in awe of how well the guys handled this.
-The heat! It's a lot hotter down here and I am now seriously dreading the summer coming.
-I was told that I would get a lot more harassment from the men in Dehra Dun, but I continue to feel more harassed in Delhi and especially in Agra. Men constantly ask to have their picture taken with me, they whisper in my ear when Andy and Will are walking ahead of me, they bump into me, and want to talk all of the time. I'm married! I'm walking with two men, and the harassment is even worse when I stand alone, which means that Will can't leave me to go look at something. I miss my freedom, and although I know my sweet husband doesn't blame me, I wish he could have some freedom to move around on his own. Will has also used his death glare a lot on this trip, towards the men who openly stare at me looking me up and down, and being on guard all of the time is exhausting for both of us. There were times in Delhi when I looked up and down busy streets only to realize that I was the only woman on them. It felt like I was in the twilight zone with everyone ogling me.
-I have had Delhi Belly for the past 2 days. I was so proud of my body for not getting anything for the first 2 months that we were here, but of course I get sick only during a time when we need to travel almost every day.
-All of this has made me cry 3 times in the past 4 days when all I really want to do is enjoy my husband and the splendor that surrounds me. I hate feeling helpless!

We have 3 days left on our trip, and I try to start each new day with hope instead of the fear that lingers from the day before. Keep us in your prayers during this time. I'd really like to head back to work feeling somewhat rested.
-Lauren

Off to the Taj

2009-03-22T09:52:00.000-07:00

Hey Family & Friends,
Will is home safe and sound, he even surprised me and made it home a day early. Some highlights from Will's trip:
-At one point the wheel literally fell off the car while they were driving, in the upper Himalayas. (I did not enjoy getting this information while he was still away.)
-Fish stew (all parts of the fish were included).
-Sleeping in the village school near Chayinda Saur.
-Being invited to his new buddies wedding in May.
-Hiking down upper Himalayan Valleys to pick bugs off of rocks in some source tributaries of the Ganges.
-Seeing the amazing resourcefulness of communities living on the most remote cliff edges.

This week is spring break for the schools of Latika Roy, so Will, Andy and I headed off to check out the "Golden Triangle". This consists of heading down to Delhi, and then over to Agra and Jaipur. So we get to see the sprawling urban city, the Taj, and the desert. We left this morning at 5am to take a bus to Delhi where we met our friend CJ. CJ took us to a cafe called The Big Chill, which offered some yummy comfort foods from the states without feeling like a huge chain restaurant. After that we headed over the Dilli Haat to do a little shopping and then headed back to our posh rooms at the Godwin Grande. Tomorrow we head out to Old Delhi for a little site seeing.

That's it for now;-)

Joshimath

2009-03-17T23:34:00.000-07:00

So Will has the camera this week, while he's away, so I'm pulling some pictures from the internet to show you where he is. Last night Will was in a town called Joshimath, which is North East of Dehra Dun. Joshimath is near a place called Valley of the Flowers. Not sure if he got to this beautiful place, but I sure hope he got to at least pass through it. I bet my mom, aunt Barb, and mother-in-law Connie would love this place. Will has been doing well, and staying in small hotels at night. He was very excited to catch a Chelsea game on TV in his hotel room, and get a nice hot shower with strong water pressure.

Back here in DD, Andy and I have been working (I at LR's sites, and Andy on his photos) gallivanting around town, watching movies and hanging out with our new friends Rebecca, Tarek and Namdol who work at a school near by. A huge highlite was finding a place that sells cheese and chicken sausage...what a luxury! Andy is thinking of taking an overnight trip to Dharamsala and my friend Priyam might put me up at her house for the night while Andy is away.

Not much else here. I hope to soon post some cute pics of the little kids that Andy took yesterday.

Blessings to you all.

A trip & A Dog

2009-03-14T23:11:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,
Will is heading up into the mountains with a group from PSI to do some water sample collecting. He left this morning and will be gone for a week. Keep his safety in your prayers. Our friend Andy B. decided to stay for an extra week, which makes me feel a bit safer staying in the house without Will around. We do have lots of lovely friends who offered to put me up though;-) and Andy and I plan to get as many free dinners out of them as we can.

Also, a few of you have been asking about the dog. We found out that it's a girl and have started to call her Lassi (sounds like the dog star from the states and means yogurt drink with fruit and spices here...which is Lassi's coloring). We have found a home for her! and will be handing Lassi over in about 3 weeks when her new owner moves into his new house. We are grateful to have her until then. The kids behind us have started playing with Lassi, which is nice, and admittedly we let her sneak in once in a while when we're home to try and housebreak her a bit. Lassi has been good though, after a short whimper or two, to be sent back outside for the night or when we are not at home.

That's the quick update from here.
Much rest and peace to you all over your weekend,
Lauren

Water & Ash

2009-03-13T04:35:00.000-07:00

I continue to think of free materials to use at LV’s after school program. This week I was thinking about all of the small trash fires that are lit on everyone’s property around here and was wondering if we could do something fun with the ash. So I grabbed some old dirt from a burnt pile, threw in some water and we “painted” the wall outside of LV. All of it will wash off in the rain, orcan be easily hosed down. For added measure I made sure it was the wall facing south so that if anything was stained the sun would bleach it white over time. The kids LOVED working on this project, and I loved that no adults interfered and simply let the kids create on their own.

Holi

2009-03-13T04:03:00.000-07:00

Will, Andy and I spent Holi with Priyam and her family. We had a fabulous time and Priyam was not shy about making sure we got involved. Will, Andy & I threw paint, smashed eggs, water balloons and ate until our bellies were full. We had a GREAT time visiting Priyam’s family friends, and were exhausted at the end of our very playful day. Andy was brave enough to bring his camera and took all of the above pictures.

Mussorie w/ Andy

2009-03-13T03:20:00.001-07:00

Will and I got to play “tour guides” up in Mussorie with Andy. It was especially nice having Andy around as he is a fabulous photographer and we got the privilege of being in some of his photos.

Baby Booties

2009-03-13T03:13:00.000-07:00

At CVT I continue to move along with some easy craft ideas for our kids. We tried out some fabric bracelets which were ok, but came out a bit unfinished. With the help of my dear friend Lois back home I tried some easy fabric baby booties, which seem to be a big hit. I’m going to grab a template for baby bibs next from good old Martha Stewart.

Theme: Community Helpers

2009-03-13T02:23:00.000-07:00

So I was asked to come up with a variety of ways to create props and puppets centered on the theme of the month “Community Helpers”. This includes people like doctors, mailmen, barbers, and anyone else the children might come in contact with in their community. All of the materials we used were recycled; see if you can pick out what we used for each project. I have to admit the “barber” puppets look a little gory in my pictures, but the kids had fun making masks of themselves and fake scissors to cut their hair.

Working on it...

2009-03-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks,
I know we've been a bit behind on blogging. Will and I are sharing the laptop more this week, and with the holiday "Holi" we've not been able to access the internet as much as we would like to. Here's a little picture from our Holi celebration to tide you all over. I'll be putting up about 4 different posts later this afternoon.
Love to you all,
Lauren

Stencils and Playdough

2009-03-03T23:20:00.000-08:00

Over at EICS I’m doing some play art with the 1-5 year olds. We made some homemade play dough, which several children tried to eat, and used some of my stencils on newspaper. It’s neat watching the kids pick up language as they get some new vocabulary exposure over an art lesson. We were thrilled when some of the little ones started to identify shapes on their own after coloring in each stencil.

Adults At Play

2009-03-03T20:15:00.000-08:00

My new friends at Latika Vihar requested that I do a 2 afternoon workshop focusing on child led activities. We talked about process vs. product, and how to provide opportunities for children to think for themselves, instead of the staff just dictating how each activity should go. This is hard stuff for adults, and especially for we teachers who are use to educating our students based on a dictated program.
First we needed to learn how to play as adults. I took a few ideas from my friends at Yes! And…..Camp (www.yesandcamp.org) and got us playing some games. Above are pictures of “The Human Knot”, “2 Chair Improve”, and “The Monster Game”. After some play time we developed ideas to bring to the kids, and thought about projects that left room for the children to think for themselves and be creative. It was hard for some of the staff to not to teach something they already knew. They thought it would be easier to teach this way because they knew what the “product” should look like. But what we got to discuss was that coming with an idea and giving some direction for an activity can feel risky, but in the end can be less work for the adults, and way more fun for the kids. Here are 4 ideas the staff came up with. Some ideas came easily, while others needed to be fleshed out by asking the question "where is the child's opportunity to think and create for themselves?", but the end results were good especially considering they only had 15 minutes of planning:
-Become a living piece of art. Create and freeze a scene where you are the characters, props, action and landscape.
-Think of a dance based on the letters of the alphabet.
-Create a song that talks about the limbs on your body.
-What beat comes from playing hopscotch? Create a song to go with that.
I’m really proud of the staff at LV for pushing through this workshop with me. We had a lot of fun and, I think, a few growing pains but it’s exciting to see where this new thought process will bring them/us over the next few months.

Rishikesh

2009-03-03T20:05:00.001-08:00

Will and I got a driver for the day and headed out to Rishikesh this past Saturday. On our way we saw lots of monkeys waiting to cross the road, and were excited to see some of the more rural areas surrounding Dehra Dun. Our driver pointed out some sites such as the new airport being constructed and the road to Gangaotri, which is the holy city near the start of the Ganga (Ganges) river. Upon arriving in Rishikesh we met up with our friends Tiffany and Kosta for one last hang time before they head to Nepal. We spent much of our day hanging out in cozy little cafes, checking out local religious sites, walking along the river and doing a little shopping. Throughout the day we also periodically caught up with Tiffany and Kosta’s friend Naveen who shared stories of the local history and religious practices revolving around the great Ganga. We ended the evening with a ride on the back of Naveen’s motorcycle (super fun!) through the town and up the hill to The Swiss Guest house for a late dinner of Tandoori chicken-delicious!

A fuzzy friend....what to do?

2009-03-01T23:52:00.001-08:00

So....this little guy was in our yard Saturday morning. As soon as we saw him I said "Awwwww.." while Will said "Uh-Oh". Since Saturday our little friend has gotten a bath (no fleas!), water & food and some play time with Will's feet. I think we're stuck with him for now. Will and I aren't letting it in the house or naming it, and have plans to try and get the little guy out on his own or in someones home before we leave.

Jo's House

2009-03-01T23:43:00.001-08:00

This past weekend Will and I got to house sit for Jo & Ravi. Jo's dad Owen was there, and their daughter Moy. As Owen has gotten older, and due to a stroke a few years ago, his memory isn't so great these days. I can't imagine how frustrating that is for him, but I do love the stories his memory has retained. In the two days that Will and I were with him Owen talked often of his wife Pat, who died just a year ago. Owen remembers the day he met his wife, and loves to share the story over and over:
"I was in a hall and an office door opened. Pat stepped out and I said to myself "that's the girl I'm going to marry" and I did just that. Pat was a peach. Everybody loved her. We never fought in the 50 (55?) years that we were married."
I can only hope that when my mind starts to age, that I will still remember the day that I met Will. It's a good memory, and I hope I retain it as well as Owen has retained the memory of his wife.

Two other great thing about house sitting was taking a hot shower with really nice water pressure and being able to Skype with the fam. Our house has hot water, but pressure is more of a trickle and Will and I have mostly been taking bucket baths which is fine. It was just a nice treat to get a good shower.

Skype is available to us at other times, but it's mostly at the Internet cafe or in the offices we've been working in. Will and I were thrilled to get some private Skype time with our parents and my sister Kerry, and Will's brother Mike.
It was good to see that all is well on the home front;-)

Newspaper Sculpture

2009-03-01T23:09:00.000-08:00

The kids at the Latika Vihar after school program and I made a newspaper sculpture last Thursday. Actually they mostly made it, I just gave them the tools:
Rolled Newspaper Tubes
Tape

This project got the kids thinking about balance, structure, shape, line and weight. They figured out that the triangle is the based base shape to make for this project and built from there. This kind of work also forced the kids to work on their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and tapped into their creativity and imagination. The final sculpture was bigger than some of our 7 year olds.
Pretty Fun!

Working well with others

2009-02-26T23:57:00.000-08:00

So I think I'm getting past the honeymoon phase here at the different sites I'm working with. This is a good thing. The staff seems to be getting more comfortable with me and aren't afraid to ask for where they need supports in their class. I like this kind of relationship as it helps give me more direction.

I've also started to see bits of American Sign Language being used over here. Today I caught the ASL versions of "Thank you & your welcome" being used by some of the students. What was really nice was that these children were not all deaf, but they were using sign language in class to be considerate of those who were deaf, or needed a more visual way of communicating.

What's still hard is the children who have Autism. There is such a huge range within the autistic spectrum and some of the children here are hitting themselves for stimulation. We have children who do this at my school in the states too, and it's always daunting to hear the slap of a child's hand against their own face, or even worse the crack of their knuckles on their cheek or forehead. At my school back home I've only seen some head banging, and often helmets are given to these children until a substitute can be found for the stimulation. But here I've seen mostly face hitting which is just terrible to watch. I know that all of the staff here are working as hard and as quickly as they can to find a substitute for this kind of behavior and I hope I can be a part of that process.

Potatos & Coffee

2009-02-25T22:11:00.000-08:00

OK so we tried some potato prints with the older kids. I brought thick coffee water, as I wasn't sure if they would have paints. However, coffee is way expensive over here so bringing that seemed like....not a viable resource to them. Paint came out though and we got rolling on decorating some envelopes the kids were already working.
Although the coffee incident was a bit embarrassing it did prompt one teacher and I to have a really good discussion. I have to bring something to this group of older kids 4 times a week, and I have no idea what I'm working with. I realized I could either suffer in silence or I could speak up and ask "so, what are you looking for?". I've come to realize that folks in India tend to be either overly polite (giving directions when they don't know the real way to go;-), or very direct and I'd rather the very direct approach. Once I took the risk of asking the question I was taken on a tour of all of the materials available and the staff and I started to brainstorm ideas of what we can do. This was VERY helpful. I also am loving that some folks in the states are emailing over ideas.Keep them coming! Along with the pictures of our stamping time I've posted a picture of some weaving I'm trying out with an old sari. The loom is made out of an old, thick folder, and I cut long strips from the sari to weave through. I think this could become a table runner.

Stencils

2009-02-25T22:06:00.000-08:00

Many kids here have some fine motor skills issues. We're using stencils to make shapes and then identify and label them.The stencils were made out of old toothpaste cardboard boxes. One kid is obsessed with Colgate so he was thrilled to work with them!

Something Marketable?

2009-02-24T22:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I started working with some of the older students at the College of Vocational Training. I was asked to bring small, marketable craft ideas for these students to create, and then sell at a store they run. I loved this idea! The only problem is there aren’t many materials to work with, and we can’t just sell fine art we need to sell functional art. With that, as I don’t know the students well yet, I was unsure of what they would be capable of making. So I started with some collage work, using recycled materials of course, and made a sample card with a fish on it. There was of course no cardstock at CVT, and I’m pretty sure we used up their small supply of white paper. Our results were ok, but that was as far as I could take the project. I need to be creating ideas that will last. I’m not being hard on my self, I’m just realizing that I really need to think this through. As a working artist I’m use to thinking about art as a career, but I’m also able to take out loans to get materials and get a small business started. Although there are some resources here, I really need to figure out some materials that these kids will always have easy access to, and are capable of doing after they leave the school. Art as a livelihood with no financial support…… this is tricky.

I have lots of crafty friends. Post any ideas using these materials:
-Fabric scraps (mostly from old clothes)
-Recycled paper (newspaper and old print shop scraps)
-Leaves, sticks etc.

Thanks!