oh india

After nearly two months of being on the road, and living in a tents and hostels I have finally arrived in India! The transition was quite smooth, sailing through customs, and speeding up time by reading the 900 page book I started on the plane.

The only mishap occurred when I realized after arriving at my parents house in Chennai, that someone had managed to steal all my memory cards out of my checked bag! Someone had stealthily unzipped my bag before it hit the conveyors, somewhere between Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, and Chennai....so I apologize if you happen to find your pictures posted on an obscure Indian website. Mine will be there too!

Mis padres apartment is located on the coast of Southeastern India, on the the Bay of Bengal in Chennai, which is in the state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu is the fourth largest city in India, topped only by Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata. For many, and believe me anyone who has been to Chennai has been sure to tell me the same, Chennai is no travellers paradise or hot spot destination. It is dirty, extremely overpopulated, congested with traffic, polluted, and hot as hell. However, who can tell me that you have not heard any one of those things about another city/anywhere in India? That's what I thought...and so far, Chennai is the only India that I have encountered thus far, and I love it.

I would like to give you a quote written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, in Out of India: Selected Stories. She is an expat from Europe who moved to India with her Indian husband and children.

"India reacts very strongly to people. Some loathe it, some love it, and most do both. There is a special problem of adjustment for the sort of people who come today, who tend to be liberal in outlook and have been educated to be sensitive and receptive to other cultures...The place is very strong and often proves too strong for European nerves...including Americans...It goes like this: first stage, tremendous enthusiasm - everything Indian is marvelous; second stage, everything Indian not so marvelous; third stage, everything Indian abominable. For some people it ends there, for others the cycle renews itself and goes on."

I fear I am diving head first into this called first stage of being in India. I am swimming in a sea of delight, and can only see everything through a magnificent lens, jewelled in vibrant colors and faces. My eyes are like shutters: blinking and breathing in my surroundings. Even as I walk nimbly and quickly over the mounds of littered trash, growling flea ridden stray dogs, glancing everywhere and anywhere all at once, I can only see beautiful things. I have not been able to erase the optimism, excitement, and thrill of a being in a new and foreign place yet...although I know this may not last long, I am revelling in it.

India is a maze: a winding, speeding, thoroughfare. People, animals, cars, bicycles, children, buses, and rickshaws overflow the streets, impregnating the glittered sidewalks with strings of glowing beads, and fragrant flowers. Ebony dark faces, darker than the night, look at me with eyes of curiosity and wonder. Holding out hands filled with necklaces, trinkets, and hope, our eyes meet for a split second and search for words. Beautiful women, with the same dark chocolate skin stroll around in brilliant and silky saris, wrapped carefully and meticulously, covering everything but the skin on their necks and ankles. Vibrant greens, pinks, purples, oranges, every color on the spectrum magnified. Small and wrinkled old women trudge by with baskets of fruit, barrels of water, and bricks. They carefully balance their treasures on their heads, as though they were carrying nothing but a feather...I have a hard enough time carrying a bag full of books on my back. It is hard to imagine a woman older than our grandmas, who appears to be frail and wrinkled, carrying the weight of heavy bricks on her head. Far from frail, these women are stronger than the oxen pushing carts between beeping cars.

So on to the excitement for today...

I went to the doctor today, you know to get a routine set of vaccinations which I failed to do in the states. I wound up getting a polio booster, and three other shots. Taking the first two with ease, or so I thought, I starting feeling a bit queasy but knowing I still had one more shot to go I brushed it off. After meeting with Dr. John and feeling confidant that I could ward off sickness, we walked out of the office to get a ride home.

As I'm walking outside, I started feeling a bit woozy, by a bit I mean I could not see anything. All I knew was that I had to sit down, so finding the first spot on a cement bench, I sat down thinking it would pass. The next thing I know, I wake up to small dark hands pulling me from the dirt, and sitting me up again.Young faces were peering at me from all angles, asking in perfect English what happened. I was a dishevelled mess, my hair a tangled not of curls caked in dirt.
My face, arms, back and everything was coated in a layer of dust. This feisty old woman wearing a green sari started splashing water in my face with such force, it could have been her palm. She started pouring water over my arms and face, rubbing away the dust and making me drink a sip. My dad came running back out of the Dr's office in a state of horror. He says he saw my face in the dirt, and immediately thought I was going into some sort of epileptic shock! imagine. The green sari had dragged me to my feet and back into the doctors office, bursting in on a patient. To my dismay, the doctor tells me that this is actually quite normal, and many people faint or tend to get sick after having shots. You think maybe he could have told me that 15 minutes prior? That may have been helpful.

For the first time to faint, doing so on a dirt street in India while cars whizz past my face, and Indian hands come to my rescue, I am not sure it could get any crazier. For all I knew, as I rolled back into consciousness, I thought I had been hit by a car. Luckily I was able to sit down out of the road before this all happened, otherwise I could have fallen in the middle of the street, hit my head, or been run over by a speeding vehicle.

Although I nearly gave my dad a heart attack, and I have a mark next to my eye, things could have been much worse. I was so grateful to the swift rescue of the passing bystanders, and to have my dad there to get me home. Laying down in the backseat for the nearly hour drive back home, I made it alive.

So in the aftermath of my near death experience, haha, I have been recovering under the fan in the living room...still sweating, as I'm learning, is a phenomenon that will never cease when you are in India.

well that's all I have for now!

paz.

-s

Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni.

So I have had the past week to explore Beijing alone. Chiara began orientation for her job on Monday, so I have had a ton of quality time to myself...Here are some exciting/random/funny events from the past few weeks involving every ones favorite topic...

Olympics: We have made it to at least 8 Olympic games. Unbelievable. I never dreamed I would be in Beijing, China sitting in top notch seats at an Olympic event. Probably something I have dreamed about since Barcelona '92. Saw a few soccer matches in Shanghai, caught in a downpour of rain we bought an umbrella to blend in with all the Chinese, who carry one regardless of the weather, rain or shine. We sat soaked amidst thousands of Chinese fans, creating our own English chants and trying to yell above the buzz...that was the first week. Beijing only got better.

Most memorable matches by far:

We bought scalped tickets to our first event in Beijing. Thought we would check out the madness of the Birds Nest, you know just to say whats up. In the excitement of the atmosphere we bought tickets from the second person we talked to. I was just excited that he spoke English and I could actually understand him! Chiara was just excited to be there. Thinking we may have jumped the gun, when we realized he totally ripped us off, we started running frantically around trying to find him in the crowd. Nearly impossible anywhere in China to locate anyone, not just at the Olympics.

The match was set to start in ten minutes, and once we entered the arena we were not even in the right place...it was at least a half an hour away.

So Chiara and I, in the midst of our sudden flurry of anger and trying not to kill each other, and curse the British dude, we finally caught a bus and made our way to the right stadium...Once inside, we were astonished to find out that we had scored much greater tickets than we thought.

Roger Federer was in the middle of a doubles match on the first court, and we found our way to the Williams sisters doubles match, sitting nearly on the court. The venue is an incredible array of at least five courts all sprawled out, allowing ample time to rush back and forth between matches.

After the Williams match, which we won! We stuck around to watch Sweden and France play doubles. Not a big deal at all sitting on the front row right behind the service line. The third match went to 18 sets, Sweden going home big! One of the most exciting events I have been too, Chiara and I were probably the only Americans there, but we cheered our little heads off.

As we were waiting in line for some more beers, getting ready for the next doubles match between the Swiss, Federer, and the Brian twins from the US...some random dude walks right up to us and literally hands us two tickets to the the center court. Our scalped tickets were apparently not quite dope enough to let us in to the biggest court. We enthusiastically accepted his offer, gave up our seats after the first US match, and made our way over to the semi final between Nadal (Espana) and Djokovic (Serbia). Just a small little fact, they are ranked number one and two in the world...and Nadal went on to win the gold in singles.

One of the longest days ever, as the matches went on for hours well into the night, but well worth our time and money, at this point we were full force feeling the affects of the Olympic high.



I made a pact to never mention this event again, but in reflection a week later it is too funny to pass up. Feeling the Olympic fever, and obsession with seeing as many events as possible, Chiara and I were directed to a website in which you can actually buy legitimate tickets at the starting price. So naturally we got some tickets to the quarterfinal soccer game between Italy and Belgium. Two huge power houses in the soccer world.

After going on a wild goose hunt to collect our prized tickets, deciding we still had tons of time before the game we made our way back to our hostel. Eventually walking the wrong way for too long, we didn't get back until around six pm. Thinking this was fine, because all day we were intent on the game being at 8, we started watching a movie and relaxing. Half and hour later, just to be sure..this is what went down.

me: Did we check the time on the tickets, just to make sure its at 8?

Chiara rummages through her bag, which always takes at least five minutes..triumphantly pulling a folded ticket out, her smile quickly turns to panic: ummm, We have to go NOW!

me: what the fu*$# do you mean? Its at 8 right?

Chiara: Nope it started at six!! Lets go now, fu#$%#$^(*(#%$#$%.

So in a fit of rage, and a cross between hysterically laughing and crying, we raced out the door and jumped in a cab. Workers stadium was only a few blocks away from our hostel, thank GOD, so we made it just in time for the second half.

Sitting in between a huge crowd of Belgium fans, in amazing seats near the field, thoroughly pissed off that our floozy selves managed to misread the time, we had to shake it off and enjoy the rest of the game. Key word, had...we were still at a quarterfinal game in the Olympics. Still, probably the worst moment of my life realizing what had just happened, we swore never to speak of this event again. :)

but...We totally redeemed ourselves a few days later. We were lucky enough to buy tickets to the US women's soccer semifinal match against Japan. Since I pretty much thought someday I would play in the Olympics on that team when I was ten, it was a pivotal event just being able to watch the game. Feeling the energy of the crowd, regardless if all Chinese people are totally bias to China and still feel the need to wear red and yellow to every event. After sneaking into much better seats, we did manage to get our section cheering for the US,...at least that's what I thought, but who knows what they were really saying in Chinese.

Our ladies won the game, and went on to win the gold...a coincidence that we saw three Olympic gold winners pre gold? hmmm.

So that's it for now...hope this was somewhat entertaining for those of you stuck behind a desk.

I am off to India tomorrow, so until then!


-s

the adventure begins...

First stop Shanghai!

We spent around five days in Shanghai one of China's largest metropolitan cities. Day of arrival: 08/08/2008. As some of you may know the first official day of the Olympics was capped off with the spectacular opening ceremony on this night. This is an auspicious day for the Chinese, so I guess they may have planned that one.

We arrived feeling fresh and ready to go, found our hostel after only thirty minutes of standing in the middle of the sidewalk looking dumbfounded. We piled our giant backpacks into the back of a rickshaw holding on by nothing more than a carabeaner and Chiara's arm. We actually made it into the main square by our hostel, off of Nanjing Road, to watch the Opening Ceremony. There were two huge screens set up and people standing and sitting int he street. Not feeling jet lagged at all, I was wide awake and definitely did not fall asleep on the street. ha.

Nanjing Road is one of the most commercialized touristy spots in Shanghai. A huge outdoor shopping mall, with no cars and millions of people, teeming with glittery retail shops, cell phone stores, and high rise buildings. I was beginning to get a feel for the way China would pan out after being on Nanjing road for five minutes.

Spending the rest of our time in Shanghai at the same gloomy little hostel, we managed to get lost for at least nine hours one day just walking around, attend THREE preliminary soccer matches, (Argentina and the Ivory Coast being my new favorite teams) feel the staring eyes of one million Chinese people as our frizzy hair and green eyes strolled around, and on the day of our departure we almost burned down the hostel. Just another day in China. Pretty much our motto.

Relying on the subway to get around was like trying to walk into a packed stadium at the Olympic games. Except the only difference is that you have to try to cram onto an escalator with a million other people, then shove your way onto the subway. For some reason it is totally acceptable to just barge your way to the front throwing your hips around, and smashing into people. While this is all happening, at the same time a million other people are trying to get off the subway, using the same method. It becomes almost a game after awhile.

I wanted to just sit in the very middle of the station and watch people bustling around me. Speed walking in circles to get to the train. It was as if there was a secret conveyor belt underneath the subway rotating the throngs of people. Everywhere you go, no matter where it is in Shanghai the crowds never cease. I kept thinking we would somehow turn a corner and it would be quite. Never happened.

Shanghai was my first taste of China, and it definitely exceeded my expectations. Far more people, far more humid, and a lot easier to get around with all the Chinese that I know, meaning five words.