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Finally found some American-ish pizza! Yay for giving our tummies a little break from Indian food. At this restaurant, Snow Ball, we ordered pizza, expecting to receive what we got last time we saw "pizza" on the menu, which was some type of bread with some type of ketchup tasting sauce and a little bit of grilled peppers.


As a environmentalist, it is hard for me to live in a place where people do not have respect for their surrounding environment. I went on a run this morning past a lake and saw an awful lot of trash floating in brown water. I also had the pleasure of seeing two different people pooping in an empty lot and on the side of the road. I am going to add a lesson plan to our curriculum here about the health and overall benefits of respecting the place in which you live.

Back on the Bus

June 20, 2009

Today I had a meeting at KIMS College in Dharwad, the “sister city” of Hubli. The bus ride was about 45 minutes long so I brought along my i-pod and hit play on my “Bus Ride to Tel Aviv” playlist from last year. When I lived in Holon, the bus into Tel Aviv took up to 40 minutes and I commuted at least twice a week. The tunes flowing into my ears made me nostalgic of my year in Israel. I remember countless bus rides that took me across the country, from one body of water to another or from one city to the next. I learned to love these bus rides and took advantage of enjoying the constantly changing scenery out my window. Yesterday I kept my eyes glued to the side of the road liked I learned to do last year. I was absorbing all that I was seeing and learning about the area in which I currently live. I watched as we went through little slum areas into blank green fields, past fruit stands and tailoring shops. My ear buds kept the cacophony of horns and whistles from the city out of my ears and allowed me to peacefully enjoy 45 minutes of India.

Dharwad is beautiful. There are more trees and less trash than in Hubli. As we walked through part of the 700 acres (!) of the KIMS college campus, we were happy to see large clean buildings, a myriad of tree species, and trash cans (public trash cans are oddly hard to find in this country). Out of the forty or so college students we presented to, we successfully recruited seventeen volunteers and three Volunteer Leaders to teach our health and sanitation curriculum at a primary school during the coming year. Getting twenty volunteers to sign up is fabulous news because we were only expecting about ten! Volunteering in India is not popular like it is in America; it’s not a resume builder here. This is quite unfortunate because there are so many people in India who need help. Because we were only expecting 10, we might have to find a second primary school in the Dharwad area for the college students to teach at, which is definitely not bad news!

I had a great Saturday and am looking forward to my one day off per week – Sunday Funday baby!


Boys we met downtown who were playing cricket in an alley way. They tried to teach us the rules of the game in broken english and invited us to play with them!


Girls who I hung out with while we watched the boys play cricket.


Cows are everywhere and they are BOSS - they can chill in the middle of the street and no one will touch them. I saw one hanging out right in the doorway to a store downtown, completely blocking the entry way, but he is a cow, so it doesn't matter. :)

My Morning Schedule

June 6, 2009

Monsoon season has officially started. As Alex John, Jen, Krishnan, Alex N., and Bronson and I left the boys guest house last night to go out to dinner, we felt the first of many rain drops fall on our heads for the summer. It was a very light rain, that Krishnan said was a deceiving preview to what would soon be thunder and lightening storms with horizontal rain due to heavy winds. During the monsoon season we are to expect about four hours of cumulative power outage throughout each day – fifteen minutes here and there.

My typical morning has been roughly the following: My roommate Jen and I wake up at 5:50am – usually without an alarm. Our remarkably early rise is only possible because we started this routine the morning after we got here, so when we adjusted to the time difference and shedded our jet lag, immediately forcing ourselves to wake up early told our bodies that 5:50 was the normal time to wake up. If only our bodies knew the truth ;). That being said, I love this change in the schedule of my day. At 6:15am, before the small city of Hubli wakes up, we walk from the Ladies Hostle to the boys Guest House. This has come to be my most favorite time of day. I don’t have to fear for my life when crossing the street and there are less people out and about (people who blatantly stare at us because we look different).
At 6:30am our “counselor,” Rahul leads us in a relaxing session of yoga.
The empty street on my morning walk:


After the early morning I have some down time before the Indian work day starts (usually 10am). I make oatmeal for breakfast and read or go online. I often find myself with nothing to do, which I am definitely not used to. I don’t think I have ever really had a designated block of free time everyday. I think it will be relaxing and good for me.

The arrival

June 3, 2009

After about two days of travel time and time change, I have finally made it to my destination: Hubli, India.

This India is very unlike the India I remember from last year, and to those who know how my trip went last year, that is a very good thing. Hubli reminds me much more of Uganda than it does of Mumbai or Delhi. People walk along dirt lined streets scattered with motorcyclists, buses, trucks, and rickshaws. Unlike the big cities I was in last year, Hubli is not too crowded; there is room for personal space and less poverty stricken children roaming the streets. The climate is quite tropical – although it is very hot, there are light winds that relieve some of the heat. The air is heavy and it is obvious that monsoon season is approaching.

My dormitory is mostly what I expected. I live in a small room with one roommate and we have our own bathroom. The women’s hostel does not allow men into the building and requires its residents to be back in the building every night at 7:30 – yup, I have a 7:30pm curfew! And no internet to go with it. But this might be the catalyst to the start of a new schedule for myself. I can go to bed early and then wake up with the sun and meditate and do yoga with the local Indians.

The Women's dorm is pictured above (my mom said welcome to a country where women are 2nd class citizens, true true).

The boys dormitory, on the other hand, was just finished being built. The rooms here are spacious and there is a lounge with free wireless. The walk over here is about 15 minutes from the women’s dormitory, so I have a feeling that I will be spending most of my free time during the day here instead of at the women’s dormitory.

The Boys guest house is pictured above.

The orientation for my program is on June 8th, so I have the next few days to adjust to the time difference, which is 12 and a half hours later than California time, and get to know the city of Hubli. That being said, the rest of my team is supposed to arrive tonight, so starting tomorrow we are supposed to get started on our project.

I think that is enough of a little introduction for now. We are headed out into town this evening to look around a bit, so I will soon have a sense of what Hubli is like.

I have arrived

I'm here!
more to come!