Shoulding all over the place

I just got done watching Room and had a similar reaction to it that I did when I saw Eclipsed this last spring. I walk away from such productions feeling so fortunate and lucky that I have never been forced to do anything with my body that I didn't want to do. Never have I given my body (whether for money or by force) to protect myself or my children. Furthermore, i feel privileged to have food, an education, water that doesn't cause life threatening diarrhea. I have the opportunity to have an existence that has space for laughter, fun, relaxation, smiles, love, dance, hugs, art, life.

It makes me so angry that these facts induce feelings of being lucky....fortunate...privileged. These things: protection, joy, opportunity should be a right for all humans. Nobody should be hurt to the point of being unable to love, neglected (by individuals and society) to the point of not having what they need to live life to its fullest, stripped of their childhood and the opportunity of joy and laughter.

Sometimes I think God should protect us more, He should show His face, He should be the protective wing we hide under, like is written about in Psalms. I love Him so dearly and wish the world was as He intended.

I wish we didn't live in a world of shoulds towards ourselves, others or God...but in a world of haves and cans and freedom. Let us, please, work together to create a world with more loves and cans a fewer injuries and shoulds.

We can be kind to others. We can heal. We can overcome. We can.

AT: Follow the blazes

It was nice that on the first day out I ended up finding the trail (after driving around on a dirt road for quite a while and then getting out of the car without knowing if I would find it). Once finding the trail I headed into the woods and started what I call "the slow ascent".

After 4ish miles I was starting to get pretty tired, but was happy that I was over halfway to the tent site for the night. I was focusing on my steps and on my breath. Strangely,  the trail seemed to change quite a bit. Now there were really muddy ATV treads and the trail was quite a bit wider than it had been the rest of the day.

This didn't feel right. I looked in the mud and saw that there were boot prints, going both ways, lots of them. "This must be the right way, calm down Liane. You're not going to get lost on the AT, that's ridiculous and pretty much impossible."

I continued down the hill for a few more minutes. This time I kept my eyes on the trees, looking for white blazes*. After walking for quite a few more minutes I was starting to get worried because I still hadn't seen a blaze. Earlier in the day I would see blazes frequently. It's really uncommon to go any longer than a couple minutes without seeing a white mark on a tree while hiking on the trail. I checked the mud again. There were still boot prints.

Uuuuugh! How do you decide what to do in this instance? Yes, you're out there to walk around in the woods...but that doesn't mean you signed up to get lost.

I continued down the hill once again. After one or two more minutes I stopped seeing so many boot prints in the mud. Standing in the middle of the path I looked up and down the hill. Back and forth, back and forth. "Alright, that's IT! I'm going back up this hill until I see a blaze or a person."

This situation reminded me of other experiences I've had in life. so many times in this life we tend to get off of the path we're meant to be on. We look around and think, "well, this MUST be the right path for me, look at all the other people who have done this same thing, come down this same path."

I'm going to try to remember to follow the blazes in life and if the trail doesn't feel right to not be afraid to turn around. Other people's boot prints might not mean so much. Just because others have gone down a certain path doesn't mean they meant to. Maybe they took a wrong turn just like I did, or maybe they were going to a different place.

It was really frustrating to have to climb back up a hill I had just climbed down. Ultimately I'm glad I did. It turns out I wasn't on the path anymore. That would have turned out to be a pretty rotten first day on the trail if I hadn't turned around. My first day was meant to be a little over 7 miles but turn into 9 with the extra walking before the trail and the whole....getting lost thing. I'm just glad I made it :).

*Blazes are the marks that indicate you are on a trail. On the Appalachian Trail these blazes are white, located on trees, rocks and posts throughout the trail. They are the same for the whole trail from Georgia to Maine.

AT: New adventures

On July 27 I was dropped off just North of the Massachusetts/Vermont border to start hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT). My  first day I was on the trail I was nervous but excited. I knew it was going to be difficult and challenging, but also rewarding and fun. 

My roommate, Steph, drove me 3 hours from home to get on the trail. I had thought it would be easy to find the trail head because the map said there was parking available at the location. That can be put down as assumption number one that was incorrect. 

We drove up a dirt road to where the map indicated, but the road got so rough that we assumed it wasn't the right course. Would the map show that there was parking on such a road? After hemming and hawing about it for a few minutes we turned around and headed back down the hill. 

About 2 miles back there was a nice looking woman in a yard. We decided to stop for directions. She didn't know where the trail head was, but was sure her husband would. He was inside the house, and so began our yelling conversation across the yard about the trail head. It went something like this:

"Do you know where the AT trail head is?"

"Ooooooh yeeees, it's 3 or 4 miles up the road"

"Okay, so about 3 and a half miles up the road?"

"ooooooh, I wouldn't say 3 and a half!"

"Okay, so about 4? 4 miles up the road?"

"Oooooh, nope, nope, I wouldn't say 4 miles!"

There was some mention of a steep road to the left and then a wooden bridge to the right and then the trail head. I asked, "So it sounds like it's pretty easy to find? I couldn't miss it?" His response, "Oooooh no, I wouldn't say that! You could certainly miss it!"

I didn't have a ton of confidence in the directions I was given, but was pretty sure the trail head was up the road...not 3.5 but not 4 miles away. 

Steph had to drop me off 1/2 mile from the trail head because the dirt road was too rough for her sweet little Toyota Corolla to drive down. 

So, we stopped the car and I got out. I felt completely unsure about heading down the dirt road and out of site. There's nothing like not even being able to find the trail head to boost your confidence before heading off into the wilderness. I was so nervous for my upcoming adventure that I could have puked and cried at the same time. I did neither. I just stood there looking like a deer caught in headlights.   

Thankfully the trail was pretty easy to find. I just had to walk a little over 1/2 mile down the dirt road to find it. And so the adventure began. 

Clinically speaking

NP level clinical has been very interesting so far. I’m already learning so much about primary care and about myself as a practitioner. Like all other areas of my life, I see that I will be a detail oriented and picky practitioner. This will likely be a good trait, once used correctly, but might get in my way at the beginning. Sometimes my perfectionism is a curse but I always figure out how to make it into a strength eventually.

Last week I was hesitant to jump in to assess and educate the patients. After the clinical was finished I got the impression that my clinical instructor didn’t see me as a person who was ready to be in the NP portion of the program because I wasn’t taking initiative (she didn’t say that, I just sensed it). Today I really took my learning and clinical into my own hands and it went SO WELL! Once my instructor saw that I was acting with confidence she gave me much more responsibility. There were quite a few times that I used my background in nutrition and current learning to speak up and educate patients. My clinical instructor voiced that she agreed with what I was saying and even that she learned a little from me. This made me feel great and gave me even more confidence.

The bummer of the day was when I was about to give my very first flu vaccine. I had to tell my instructor in front of the patient that I didn’t think it was a good idea because I began feeling light-headed. I have lost consciousness two times before in my life and I knew I was in the early stages. I had forgotten to eat breakfast this morning and had hypoglycemia.

Don’t worry, I’m not over analyzing it or beating myself up about it. I do think, however, that it stole some of the respect I gained today. Next week I will just have to come well nourished and succeed in administering an IM injection. Challenge accepted!!

As if

As if it were me, I take the blame

I caused, I bought in, I crushed

As if it were me, I take the glory

I thought, I implemented, I reaped

As if it were you, I blamed

You chose, you rose, you left

As if it were you, I praised

I saw, I gaped, I laughed

As if it were us, we controlled

We pushed, we pulled

We shaped

As if it were us

Road Trip - South Dakota

We passed into South Dakota on a little road near the Enchanted Highway. My first impressions were: lots of bugs hitting the windshield and funny street names; Little Nasty Creek, Tickle Hill, Dead Broke Road and Renegade Pass. We saw weird salt patches in the fields and hay or sun flower fields as far as the eye could see. The hay was gathered into large round bales and then left in random places throughout the fields. It was absolutely beautiful.

We were miles from being out of gas and luckily happened upon a ‘town’ named Reva…which is apparently the home of the turtle races. This town, which was included on the map, only had 4 buildings, and only one of them looked like it was open. We stopped at the two pump gas station to fill up the tank. When I went inside to pay there was a gentleman on the phone (one of those old off-white phones that are mounted on the wall with a cord and everything.) When I showed the lady behind the desk my card she said, “Bill…we have a credit card”.  The gentleman said to the person on the line, “I’ll call you back in a few minute, we need the line”. I had forgotten about how this used to be the norm, I almost laughed out loud.

The first city we came to was Sturgis.  The city was completely asleep. The yearly biker bash had just ended a few days earlier, so it seems everyone was hibernating after their 3 weeks of crazy busy-ness. I’ve heard a rumor that many of the 3 level, hotel sized bars, make enough money during the gathering that they can close the rest of the year.  That’s just crazy.

Next up was Custer, SD where we would be staying for the night.  We had reservation for the Historic Lantern Tour at the Jewel Cave National Monument. The current discovered length of Jewel cave is 162 miles (they count every little inlet as length) and they estimate that they’ve only discovered 3%. It’s currently the 2^nd longest cave in the world!!

I’ve been fascinated with caves since I was 10 years old and we so extremely excited to be able to finally go in one.  The tour started with the park ranger handing out our oil lanterns, which turned out being really nice to have because it warmed your hands in the 40 degree cave. The portion of Jewel cave we toured was full of crystals, some parts were covered with a layer of 1 inch crystal….soooo awesome. There were so many ups, downs, twists and turns.  I’m totally hooked and will be looking for a caving club in Boston (hopefully they have one).

After the cave, we headed to Mount Rushmore and looked at the big heads in the side of the mountain.  It was pretty cool too, but not the most exciting thing I’ve ever seen J

The next morning, after camping, we made our way to Nebraska.  On our way, we stopped in Hot Springs, SD to go see the Mammoth dig site. This was really interesting.  Back during prehistoric times, this area was a sink hole that animals got caught in all the time.  So far, they have found over 120 mammoth skeletons and dozens of other types of prehistoric skeletons.  This was definitely one of the coolest things that I’ve seen in a long time.

South Dakota was extremely interesting and entertaining.  I have no idea I would love it so much there, but could probably spend about 2 weeks there and be completely entertained the whole time.  There were so many things that I wanted to do but didn’t have time!!   What a welcome surprise J

Road trip - North Dakota

 

North Dakota surprised me. I had a weird misconception that the moment we crossed the border from Montana the land would iron out and there wouldn’t be a hill in site.  Not true. The northwest section of ND is quite hilly and green.  It was so beautiful.

Our first stop in North Dakota was a little historic town called Medora.  Teddy Roosevelt spent a couple of years here before his presidency, and that’s still the small town’s main claim to fame.  The town was suuuper cute, and the brochure we picked up boasted that it is the #1 vacation spot in the state. After taking a little time to walk through the reasonably priced shops and adorable ice cream and fudge shop, we were on our way.

Shortly after Medora we pulled off the road to a look-out/rest area where we saw sedimentary hills that were formed into sharp-ish peaks. The landscape was absolutely beautiful. Next up was the town of Dickinson, where my good friend from college, Suzie Kay, grew up.  It’s a really small town, but is currently growing majorly because of new opportunities in oil. The town reminded me a lot of where I went to university in Ellensburg. We stayed with Suzie’s parents, Ray and Mary Pat.

Our hosts took us out to a nice steak dinner at Elk’s and told us all about Dickinson and the growing oil industry. Due to new technologies making it possible for oil companies to drill horizontally, as well as vertically, the Northwest section of North Dakota is now a major oil area. The little town of Dickinson, ND is bustling with new growth and traffic.  Some people are okay with this, because they are making big bucks if their land is on a well and they have the rights to the minerals, but some others are just not happy about their little town changing.

It was really nice to sleep in a bed after two nights of camping, and to have a hot shower. In the morning I got up early to take Soph on a little jog.  We ran around Dickinson State University, which educates about 2,000 students at any given time. After my little run, we sat with Mary Pat in the kitchen while she made us breakfast. After many hugs and saying goodbye, we made our way southeast to check out the Enchanted Highway.

The Enchanted Highway is a 32 mile stretch of highway where there are large metal sculptures along the road. There are Geese in Flight (which we didn’t get a chance to see), running pheasants, frolicking deer and others. Go ND, way to be awesome!!

Road trip - Montana

106 – number of dear we saw on our way to our campsite

5 – number of times we had to turn around because we couldn’t find our camp ground for the life of us (at 9pm in the pitch black of back country Montana

1 – number of incorrect camp sites we stayed at because we were sick of looking for our real camp site

197 – number of cows we counted driving away from our campsite before we decided there were way too many cows to count.

Montana was pretty great, and I hope to spend more time there in the future. The only thing we really had time for was to find the camp site at Cooney State Park after we got off the freeway. We headed in the wrong direction, then the wrong direction 4 more times before stopping to find a camp site that was not actually ours. Hahaha…failure of planning well on my part. But, to give myself some credit, the website was super confusing and then the lady on the phone with the reservation place wasn’t much help either.

On our way to North Dakota the next day we stopped to freshen up, as there weren’t any bathrooms at the campsite. Where we stopped was gas station/casino/McDonalds…preeeety intense. To fully experience the awesomeness of this place I got a hashbrown and OJ and McDs, played $1 of slots in the casino and then asked for directions in the gas station. Classy way to start my morning.

We also stopped by the Crow Fair, one of the biggest powwows in the US. Although the fair had not started when we got there, a lot of the teepees were already set up. We stopped for some fresh fry-bread with honey and took a quick look at the Little Bighorn Battlefield.

I’ve always been really intrigued by the Native American people and culture. Maybe someday I’ll be a nurse practitioner to one of the Indian Nations…you never know J

Road Trip - Idaho

Right when we got over the border of Idaho, we ate at the famous little roadside diner, Capone’s.  We then drove around Lake Coeur d’Alene looking for our campsite. The lake was way bigger and more beautiful than I had expected to see. Once finding our campsite (which was a stone’s throw from I90) we settled in for the night and started a fire.  Due to the dry spell the country has seen this year, we knew this would be the only option for a camp fire during our trip.

In the morning we went on a 3 mile run, not too bad for a couple of campers.

That’s about it for Idaho.  We didn’t spend much time there, but it definitely made me want to return in the future.  A vacation on Lake Coeur d’Alene would be pretty awesome…if I found a campsite further from the freeway J

Road trip - Washington

The trek across Washington was pretty basic. I’ve lived most my life here, so there weren’t any big surprises. After stopping in Ellensburg to say hello/goodbye to a good friend, we made our way to Vantage to visit the Puget Sound Energy wind farm.  A close friend of mine works there, and I wanted to take a look around, and say goodbye to her, before heading out across the country.

The wind farm was really interesting and beautiful.  The views weren’t as epic as they usually are, due to the fires in Cle Elum, but it was still pretty breathtaking. Andrea gives a great tour and I would suggest anyone stop by for a visit.

In George we stopped at a little Hispanic market for water and snacks. I saw the following sign advertising Aquafina…it was preeeetty fuuunny.

Suzie Kay’s birthday celebration!

Suzie Kay had such a great birthday (at least as far as I could tell). The evening before her birthday I baked many tiny little chocolate cakes in her toaster oven.  We enjoyed one little cake each, chocolate truffles sent from an Aunt of hers and some Shiraz while chit chatting like the good friends we are. She also decided to open a few gifts on her birthday’s eve.

On the morning of her birthday, she opened the rest of her gifts and we munched on breakfast sandwiches and French Roast coffee.

In the early afternoon we caught a Lanti-boat (government subsidized transport) to the village that she spent her first 8 months as a PCV.  When we arrived it was evident how much the people of the village love her.  They were so very excited to see her again, and to meet the friend that came to visit her from the US. After walking around a bit and giving Odi (daily greetings), we settled in at the house we would stay for a couple days.

Once in the house we set our stuff down in the little room we would be sleeping in and wrapped ourselves in the garments that women wear around the villages to keep the shape of their legs from being seen (called Pangi). We immediately headed out to the porch, where the family spends the majority of their time at home chatting. The two youngest of the family, Bordi and Suti, readily climbed into Suzie Kay’s lap to be hugged and cuddled while the older girls, Drewsella and Nani played with her hair and gave her large corn rows.

After spending some much needed quality time with her close friends and the kids she loves so much, we stole away to the kitchen where I got the opportunity to teach Drewsella how to bake a birthday cake! (There will be a separate blog post about Suriname cooking adventures.)

A few of Suzie Kay’s good friends disappeared for several hours, and at about 9pm we found out why.  They were planning an impromptu birthday party for her!  One friend brought in their nice stereo to play some dance music and 4 others cooked for hours to prepare enough Bami (a local delicious noodle dish that reminds me of chow mein) for all of us to eat.

Suzie Kay’s surrogate mother of Suriname, Mina, gave her a gorgeous and colorful hand painted Pangi as a birthday gift.

I had brought some colorful crape paper from the US for decorations, so we made the porch look nice and festive.  Once the decorations were up, the music started and we danced our little hearts out with the women and children.  The local dance craze is called Loketo.  The best I can describe it is like belly dancing, but with you hips as the main point of focus.

After a while of dancing, the food and soda appeared, along with the friends who had been missing from the party. We enjoyed tons of food, drink and birthday cake (both chocolate and vanilla). When we brought the birthday cake out Drew was beaming with pride, it was so cute! The candles melted down almost all the way because we sang 3 or 4 songs that are part of the Surinamese tradition.

The number of gifts that were sent to her and the party that was thrown for her in the village is a testament to how much Suzie Kay is loved and adored by those in her life.  It’s so great that she was able to celebrate!

A man and his bird

*photos to come*

 

Many of the men in Suriname have a funny little hobby. While in the rain forest they make an effort to catch little song birds. The smaller the song bird, the more machismo a man can claim.

It’s funny to see big burly men carting around a little bird with them on their bicycles, public buses and boats.  Many men take the birds around with them while they visit friends and do errands.  

There was a rasta man with  in our waggy from the city.  He had a small bird that he held on his lap for the whole of the 3.5 hour journey.  The bird even had a little bathtub in the cage, separate from the bird’s drinking water.

Two people that I've met here have seen children catch these birds in the jungle. One kid caught a bird by having one already in a cage hanging from a tree in the forest.  There was a stick covered with some sticky substance coming out from the cage.  When a song bird comes by to hit on the one in captivity they get caught and could not fly away.Another person has seen a kid hit a song bird with a slingshot, stunning the bird long enough to snatch it.

I must admit, when I first heard of this hobby I had pictured grown men in the forest trying to catch birds with their hands…I hope that happens because it would be funnier than the other ways I've heard confirmed.

Someone that I’ve met here has been to a weekly competition that is held for men to have their song birds compete.  Apparently the birds are put side by side and the number of chirps they make in an allotted amount of time are counted. The man with the bird who chirps the most number of times wins the competition.

The man across from Suzie Kay's apartment has 5 bird cages with little friends singing his manliness.  He stands in front of them with a proud look on his face, his shirt pulled up to expose his middle age belly.  His shirt is tucked up and over to make a cute little statement, much like I did when I was in second grade on the playground.

Arrival in Suriname

I stepped off of the plane in Suriname and instantaneously felt like I was slapped in the face with a wet blanket.  The average temperature in the country throughout the year (including in the black of night) is 86 degrees Fahrenheit with an average humidity of 86%. Whew!  What a difference from the temperate (aka COLD) spring of Seattle. 

Once I found the sign of the shuttle company with my ‘name’ – Liane Fernihon (they were pretty close, I have to give them that!) I was escorted to the bus to wait for the other arrivals.  The shuttle worker told me that it would be ‘just a few minutes’. 45 minutes and 2 miscommunications later I was on the road to the hotel where I would meet my dear friend Suzie Kay!

Upon arrival to the hotel at 1:30am I was happy to see the smile of my great college friend. The cute little establishment that the Peace Corps volunteers stay at in the city is a quasi-hostel. There are individual rooms with individually controlled air conditioning, a welcome surprise! The refrigerator and bathrooms are shared, with unheated showers. 

The Sunday after my arrival we stayed in the city (which was completely deserted…imagine, people actually take a day of rest here, weird!) and went to the Peace Corps office for Suzie Kay to complete some work.  The common room for the volunteers has comfortable couches, and it was fun to meet Suzie’s new Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) family. 

After getting quite a bit done at the office, we were picked up by a waggy. Waggy is the word for vehicle in the local language. You can call a waggy driver who you know or just catch a on a passing waggy. Many people have this as their main income, transporting people and goods from city to town to village.

The waggy driver who took us to the town that Suzie Kay is currently living in is a driver that she uses quite frequently. He is trusted by the PCVs and takes his time getting places, not risking accident or injury. The drive to Suzie Kay’s current site is 2.5 or 3 hours depending on the day and how many stops are made during the trip.  It’s very common for the drivers to stop multiple times during the short trip for random errands of the passengers, 6 or 7 stops would not be out of the ordinary. The road between the city and the town is also under construction, so the ride feels a lot like the ‘Indiana Jones’ ride at Disneyland. During our little journey-ett we stopped 4 times and got 2 flat tires and so were slightly delayed.

Day 3 - Agra, India

Wow, the Taj Mahal was a great experience!*

It's difficult to post about seeing the Taj Mahal without being completely sappy and hokey.  The whole complex was amazing with a large entry gate at each side of the main courtyard.  After entering the courtyard there was a large red entry gate. If you peaked through you could see the grand Taj Mahal  beyond the many reflecting pools, fountains, gardens and  platforms. The massive marble structure was so pure white that it almost glowed. It's amazing to think that a man had it built in honor of his favorite wife who had passed away.  I hope he was as good to her in life as he was in death.

After taking a good 30 minutes to wander through the gardens and gawk at the building from afar we decided to make our way inside.  There were stations for the locals to leave their shoes before going inside, but the visitors usually put covers over their shoes instead.  It seemed to me that part of the experience was feeling the cold marble on your feet, so I left my tennies at the shoe station (hoping they would still be there when I returned).

Once inside we met up with a guide who spoke in run-on paragraphs, never taking a breath.** He told us that all of the flowers and decorations of the structure were actually precious jewels inlaid in the marble, not paint as you would expect.  The detailing and size of everything was absolutely amazing.  After our whirwind time inside the building our guide whisked us away to a different part of the complex. After walking through the whole complex with the guide he tried to convince us that the tour was not over until we visited the souvenir shop that he knew of.  We finally shook him, convincing him that we would meet him outside the gate. When he finally left the four of us; Gene, Omar, Varonique and myself were able to look around slowly and snap pictures. We wandered around thinking about history and life.

Once we were done we headed out of the complex and sure enough the guide was waiting there for us, ready to take us to the souvenir shop.  In the shop they sat us down in white plastic chairs and continued to tell us that we needed all of the things they were shoving under our noses. We put up with it for about 5 minutes and then made our ways back out onto the busy street where one nice gentleman leaned into Varonique and kindly asked, 'Would you like to buy my goat!?!?!' (hahaha, that was a fun moment).

For lunch we sat in a cafe just outside the walls of the Taj Mahal complex and enjoyed a delicious meal of fried rice and mixings.  Omar (like any decent Mexican) had tequila with him.  We decided to make the meal a trully multi-cultural experience with tequila and Indian food.  However, we were having so much fun that we completely forgot about the tequila in the end and just enjoyed the day in our silly sober state. From the restaurant I enjoyed looking down at the busy street of Agra, with rickshaws and motos zooming this way and that. 

After lunch we made our way to the Agra Red Fort where I fed a chipmunk from my hand and almost got attacked my a monkey who had strong feeling that I should not go to the Water Closet. During our time at the fort the four of us also decided that currency should be measured by the number of sweets it can buy rather than how many US Dollars it can be changed into. (1 South African Rand can buy 5 sweets).

We also saw where the king kept his harem...nice!

It was so much fun to spend the day with my new friends chatting about our travels and common interests. Somehow this one day get-away felt like a 2 week vacation! It was super duper fantastic and freeing.  I came away with it having a new outlook on life and remembering that life is meant to be light and fun sometimes, not always so heavy and serious. I have no idea how it accomplished it, but it was one of my favorite days in a very long time.

*Except for the people constantly bugging you to hire a tour guide or photographer...that got on my nerves

**the guide got on my nerves because he spoke so quickly and he kept TAKING my camera and snapping pictures. I like my pictures to be what I took...not some random guy. So I deleted most of the photos that he took..annoying

Day 3 - On the way to the Taj

The train ride in to Agra was a fun experience.  The seats in half of the cabin faced the front of the train and the other half faced the rear, makinng one row in the middle where you sat across a table from three other passengers.  I was in this middle row.  Across from me were 3 members of a 7 member family from Afghanistan.  The seat next to me also included one person from this Afghan family. 

I didn’t catch the names of my table-mates, but I did find out that the father can speak five five languages and used to work for the Department for International Development (the British version of USAID).  The two young boys who were at the table were really freaking adorable.  One was 13 and the other 9. 

The 9 year old ended up sitting next to me. He acted so much like London would in that situation.  He didn’t make eye contact and pretty much pretended that I didn’t exist. It was bad enough that he had to sit next to a stranger, but next to a foreign GIRL?!?  That's just scarey!  It probably didn't help that his mom kept trying to convince him to practice his english with me.

Part way though the trip the 9 year old sat next to his mom and she took out a small, square, red velvet book with a brass medallion on both covers. She handed the small book to her youngest son and leaned over him singing the passages that were written.  He would correct her if she got any of the wording incorrect. The moment was so precious.  I was aching to take a photo of them, but knew that it would completely ruin the moment.

On the train they served us a tea break and breakfast.  I was very impressed.

When I first walked into the bathroom I thought there wasn’t any toilet paper but was happy to discover that the toilet paper was tucked under the counter, the perfect height for a squatter. You think using a squat pot is difficult? Try using a squat pot on a moving train! As long as you don’t end up with pee in your shoe you can consider the experience a success J. 

After we got off the train it was clear that Agra was quite a bit colder than Delhi The morning was chilley and Gene kept looking at me saying, ‘It’s really cold, don’t you think it’s cold?’.  After leaving the station we headed to the ticketing office to purchase Gene’s return ticket for later the same day.  In line we started a conversation with some other people behind us.  This is how we met our new friends, Omar from Mexico and Varonique from South Africa.

Once the tickets were purchased, and I was done taking pictures of wandering cows and stray dogs, we were off to the Taj Mahal! To the moto!!

The motos are small three wheel motorcycles that can seat 3 passengers...or 4...or 5...or 6... The moto that we got zipped through traffic with every turn seeming like  a close call. Each moto is decorated a little different on the inside.  The one that Gene and I took had pink and purple flowers sown into the covers and ceiling.  After about 10 minutes of weavin through traffic we swung around a round-about and parked in front of a touristy park entrance. After paying the driver 100 INR (about 3 US dollars) we headed down the path.

Parked on the path were a few camels pulling buggies, I felt bad for their poor caloused knees.  We also saw some monkeys on our walk to the Taj entrance.

Day 3 - To the train - Delhi, India

This morning I woke at 3am after 9 ½ hours of glorious sleep. My stomach felt better and I knew that it would be a great day. I was soooo ready to travel to Agra to see the Taj Mahal! While eating breakfast in my room I heard a catchy tune on the television and then proceeded right into a solo dance party with a few Matisyahu tunes.

At 5am the taxi driver, Sansar, picked me up from the hotel and we headed to the train station.

I got out of the car and weaved through the mass of people, stepping over the many who were sleeping on the floor. Train stations are a breeding ground for criminals, but I had my important documents and money stuffed in my socks and under my clothes, so I wasn't too worried. My backpack was turned around to the front and held it tightly. I left 1 credit card and a few hundred Rupee in my wallet because no criminal would believe that I didn't bring any money with me.

While queuing at the security check-point a gentleman in a blue uniform informed me that my e-ticket printed from the computer was not valid, and that I needed a paper ticket. He told me to go upstairs to the tourist office to get my ticket reissued. So, I headed up the dark stairway, past the two men huddled in fabric and sleeping on the floor.

Once I reached the second floor it was evident that the offices were not yet open. In the hall I saw another man in the same uniform as the guy downstairs. He was talking to another tourist. Standing next to the other tourist, I listened to what the man was telling him and likely to tell me in a few minutes. He informed us that our train was cancelled and that because the tourist office did not open until 8am, we had to take a taxi to the nearby 24 hour office to buy tickets for the 7:10am train. He even had a taxi waiting....how convenient.

I asked the other tourist if he wanted me to call my taxi driver and we could share the fare to the ticket office. At this, the man in uniform said, 'No, the office will only help people who arrive in our taxis and there can only be 1 passenger per taxi. You will have to take separate taxis.'

The other tourist and I looked at each other like, 'yeah freakin' right...that sounds like the worst idea EVER.' But, to appease the guy we agreed and practically ran out of the station. Once outside I immediately called Sansar and asked him to return to the station because we needed his help. He let me know that he was on his way.

Now that some of the crazy had subsided I turned to introduce myself to my fellow tourist. My new friend's name is Gene. He's from Malaysia and is in Delhi for a conference. He's a student of architecture but also focuses a lot on environmental issues because that is his personal passion.

Gene let me know that he had seen a general ticket booth for the locals in a different section of the station. We headed over there and saw that there was another security check-point, mostly abandoned. We went right through the security and found a nice Indian woman with a small child to ask about the train. It turns out that she didn't know much about the trains because she was actually from Canada (hahaha). This was her son's first time to India and he was ADORABLE!

It turns out that our train was not cancelled and that the guys dressed in uniforms were trying to scam us.

Gene and I were safe on the train and on our way to see the Taj Mahal! Woohoo!

Day 2 - Delhi, India

On the way to the foundation India office today I noticed a few things about the driving here.  It seems as though stop lights and traffic lanes are more of a suggestion than a law.  People merge constantly and are often driving between lanes or in the right lane (they drive on the left here).  When the light turns at the intersections those with the green have to claim it.  You must start driving into the oncoming traffic to strongly 'suggest' that those with the red light stop.

It's craziness, the foundaiton office here looks JUST like the office in Seattle.  It's just a lot smaller. They even have the same light fixtures.

The staff here are extremely awesome!  They kept asking me what my plan was for my two days off this week and I didn't have a concrete answer.  They convinced me that I HAD to take the two hour trip out to see the Taj Mahal.  After I agreed they asked the travel agent here to find me a ticket on the train and coordinate everything.  WOAH!  Now I'm going to the Taj Mahal...that was completely unexpected.

The meetings here are done but I get to stay in Delhi for a couple extra days because I need to be in Geneva next week for more meetings and it doesn't make sense to go all the way back to Seattle before the Geneva meetings.

WOOHOO, I'm soooo excited!!

Day 1 - Delhi, India

The city of Delhi is split up into two main parts, old Delhi and New Delhi.  The hotel I'm staying in is located in New Delhi. It's surrounded by beautiful trees and I see flocks of green parrots fly by my window often.

Today 43 people gathered in Delhi, India to discuss how to change lives through health interventions in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. When you think about changing lives do you think of people sitting in a room all day long talking back and forth? Before I started at the Gates Foundation I definitely didn't think of action as taking place in a meeting room.

Nothing in particular struck me as interesting or touching today.  It really just seemed like a day of meeting in a different country. The grantees here are quite amazing and thought provoking.  Their passion and expertise in the work they do is inspiring.
As the meeting coordinator I was asked a question about ever 10-15 minutes. I think I did an okay job with keeping my patience, but it was a close call a couple of time. 'Excuse me ma'am is eveything okay?', 'Excuse me ma'am, could you sign this?', 'Excuse me ma'am, could you fill out this third review card of the day', 'Excuse me ma'am, excuse me ma'am, excuse me ma'am'.

It was a little much and by the end of the day I wanted to tell the hotel staff what my mom would tell me when I was younger, 'I'm sorry, but you've used up all of your questions for the day.'
Also, just in case you were wondering:

• The warm towels they provide before meals on business class flights usually smell like Fruit Loops.
• Taxis in Delhi are old looking cars with yellow tops and green stripes.  They make me happy.

I'll update more once I get a chance for some site seeing.

Upcoming travel - woohoo!

I haven't been so excited to travel in a really long time!!!  I leave on Friday for a 2 week trip which will be super duper awesome and will update you via my blog!

Delhi, India: Jan 28-Feb 3
Paris, France: Feb 3-5 for a girl's weekend with Jónína Campbell!!
Geneva, Switzerland: Feb 6-11

Day 7 – Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda

Today we woke with the roosters, and for a good reason! We were off at 5:45am to go hike in the Bwindi Impenetrable forest to find the mountain gorillas :)

The road to the forest was rough and muddy. For all of you Disneyland fans out there, it felt JUST like the Indiana Jones ride! It was a long ride and there were a couple of times I didn't think we were going to make it through the road in our SUVs, we were slip sliding everywhere!

Once we finally arrived we got out of the cars and noticed that we were missing one person. One of our colleagues had missed the cars because he was checking his email.  I felt so bad that he wouldn't be able to make it to the trip that he payed $500 to participate in (we paid for this ourselves as it was a personal activity). We had checked that everyone was with us a few moments before getting into the cars...but then instead of staying with us he had headed up to his room to spend some time with his beloved computer :) That was apparently a mistake.

We had a 30 minute orientation and information session before leaving for our trek.  When we got back to the cars to continue driving to the trail head there was a filthy little car waiting for us.  Who was inside?  Our missing colleague, Yiwu!  I was so extremely excited that he made it that I was jumping up and down screaming 'Yiwu, Yiwu!'

Oh my gosh, I couldn't believe that he convinced a taxi driver to take him all the way up the mountain in that little car....roads that our 4 wheeling SUVs could hardly even make it up!

During our drive to the trail head Yiwu told me his story.  He had left us just before we got into our cars to download something to his computer. When he came back down stairs 5 minutes later we were gone.  He immediately asked the super awesome girl at the front desk, Winnie, to help him find a taxi.  They called 3 taxis, all of which told him that he was crazy and tha they wouldn't take him up the mountain.  Finally, after 1 hour of asking different taxis they found one young driver who was up for the challenge.  Once they got to the really rough roads the car got stuck.  The whole thing was quite a specticle to the local villagers.  They were observing the situation. 

Yiwu got out of the car and asked if they would help him push the car out of the mud.  They said no, and that they would require payment for their help.  He offered them $30 to help him get it out of the mud.  After the villagers helped him he got stuck 2 more times, both of which times they helped him get the car out again!  By the time Yiwu and the taxi got to the entrance of the gorilla park the car was completely covered in mud...you couldn't even see the windows. LOL!

After arriving at the trailhead we started our trek up the mountain hills.  We walked past some of the most beautiful vistas* I've ever seen. There were green hills with cows and goats crazing on the sloap.  The valleys were filled with a gentle mist and small villages.  Wow, it took my breath away!

After hiking for 30-45 minutes we crossed into the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. For some reason I've been slightly obsessed with the rain forest since I was in 3rd or 4th grade and was so so so excited to be in the forest, let alone tracking the gorillas!

We hiked within the forest for about an hour before our guide let us know that the trackers had found the gorillas.  This is when we went off the path and into the unkempt bush.  Our guide (Wilber) hacked through the trees and vines with his small sickle. We ended up going straight down an extremely steep hill, walking on dead vines and trees the whole time.  This was the craziest hiking I've ever done! Many times we had to hang out to the giant fern trees for support, with their prickly stalks.

After plunging deep into the crevace of the forest (there was a little bit of uncertainty in everyone's eyes about how we would get back UP the cliff) we slowed down and were told to keep our voices lower. When I turned the next corner there he was!  Mishaya, the silverback of our gorilla group.  He was within 5 feet of me with no glass or fence between us! Holy cow, it was super duper crazy.

Once he got a little more comfortable with us ** the silver back walked back into the group of gorillas and began to eat from the surrounding trees. We saw a baby and two female gorillas also.

After a few minutes we were standing behind the silverback and he decided that he was ready to move past us because there were some bushes he was interested in behind us.  At this point he turned around and pulled hard on a vine.  He then came up right next to us (withing 2 feet) and showed his huge fangs.  Holy crimany...I don't know if I've ever been so scared in my life!  The guides told me after that this was his 'friendly' way of letting us know to get the 'H' out of his way. After that encounter I kept my distance, a nice big gap between the silver back and me!

A while later, Mishaya ended up in a tall tree.  I don't know how he balanced on such small branches, as he weighs over 300 pounds, but he did.  I also don't understand how an animal with almost a complete vegetarian diet can be soooo huuuuuge!!!

Apparently all of the babies in the group are the children of Mishaya, that's the way it works with the silver backs. One little guy was particularly attached to his dad and followed him everywhere he went. When Mishaya climbed into the tree the little guy wanted to follow.  Unfortunately, the trunk of the tree was too big for him to grip and he kept falling down from 5-8 feet up.  Soooo cute!

After an hour we had to leave our new gorilla friends and head back to the cars.  During our walk back it started to downpour.  What would a walk in the rain forest be without any rain?!? The way back was slippery and difficult.  We were all completely tired and fatigued, but it was worth every moment.

*vistas meaning views. I just thought it sounded cooler and more exotic to say vistas :)  That's what all the apartment complexes and hotels do, so I thought it might work for me too.

**The gorillas know that the guides are friendly and recognize their uniforms.  The guides also communicate with the gorillas with a deep gargly sound in their throats, letting them know that we're just there for a little visit, nothing too crazy.