First Week in India

1/23/11 and 1/24/11 (written through two days)

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This is my attempt at a blog entry. I wonder how I'll do.

So far, my experience has been different than I thought, yet within my expectations. As I am finding more and more, being an expat in Bangalore doesn’t illicit as many stares as I though it would. There are apparently many and it isn’t all that unusual to see them in the city. There are also many western amenities (for example, as I write now I am in a western style coffee shop called Barista and I’m drinking espresso. The woman in front of me is wearing jeans and her man-friend is wearing shorts (!)—something I heard didn’t happen very often in India). I suppose I’m finding that generalizations here don’t usually work. I constantly see exceptions to the rules I try to make in my head.

I feel that I must add that even though there are lots of western influences, Bangalore is unlike any place I have been to before. I see cows roaming the streets (skinny and docile) and the streets smell of the smoke from burning garbage and leaves. There is constantly noise—peddlers yelling in the morning as they sell their vegetable, children laughing, cars honking (perhaps the most common noise I hear), and dogs barking.

The first day I was here (slightly more jetlagged than now), I took a wrong turn on my way to an ATM (to pay for my spicy lunch, which provided much entertainment to one of my Indian coworkers when I turned bright red, had tears streaming down my face, and could barely talk without coughing) and I ran into a pack of bony feral dogs (another sight that is not unusual). They looked so nice laying in the shade to avoid the mid-day sun. That is until I walked into their territory.

Well, the dogs started growling and barking at me. Some started circling. I heard from some people that these dogs were really quite timid and that I just had to assert myself and show them that I’m not afraid. I charged. After a moment of retreat they came back even closer than before. Great advice. Luckily a little boy of around 7 years old was playing by a nearby pile of garbage (which needs to be another blog entry in itself) and noticed my rather tenuous situation and came to shoe the dogs away. I thanked him thoroughly and he bowed while waving his arm in a circle. Saved by a kid. Travel makes me humble.

I have also taken my first ride in an auto rickshaw last night-- very standard here, but new for me. I really like them so far. Anyways, the autos seem to be just like I’ve heard they would be: NUTS. This seems pretty stereotypical of me to say but I have to say it: they speed along and cut in and out of traffic, occasional they weave into oncoming traffic... overall though I expected this and already feel (semi) at ease in them. I’m much more afraid to get ripped off by one of the drivers than I am to ride in them.

Luckily, however, I have been with someone each time who knows how to barter for fares. There is technically a meter rate, but the auto drivers like to inflate the price because (as our light faces tell them) we are from out of town. You have to say things like “that’s way too much! It’s just right over there! We’ll find someone else,” while waving your arms in the air and then walk away. Drivers almost always wave you back and lower their price if you do this—at least from my experience so far. My test will come soon when I am alone.

I’ve been noticing that being white here is a bit of a liability during financial transactions with some (especially since my friend Troy and I are looking for an apartment to rent... they landlords or brokers often ask where we are from BEFORE they give us the price)... although there are many honest people about nonetheless. The national staff, for example, has already proven to be absolutely kind, gracious, and helpful in every way. I really look forward to getting to know them more as time goes on.

On that note, I am excited to get into the work I will be doing. There’s a great need for this work and I am honored to get the opportunity to contribute. I have a lot to learn though and hope I can be useful to the staff here... they have already taken such an interest in me... the first day I was in the office many took a half an hour or more out of their work day to talk to me and make me feel comfortable. Today two of the staff took me to get my first coconut drink. There are these stands by the side of the rode where a man with a machete opens a hole in the top and you drink the milk through a straw. Very delicious (and healthy!). I keep finding it odd that something so normal to the people here can be so foreign to me. People are people no matter where you go or who you meet, but I’m finding that the particulars of day to day life can be radically different. I’ve got lots to learn.

Well, I gotta go now. My coffee’s gone and my jet lag is starting to kick in again... it’s only 6:30 PM! So much more to say and I’m so excited for what’s to come... and even for right now at this very moment. I continually have to remind myself to trust in what I don’t understand. 

With love (or something like that),

Brady

Training Week (January 10th to 14th)

I'm posting this one a bit later than when I wrote it (it's now the 24th of January). I was writing this entry about training week from January 10-14, 2011 while I was on the plane to India. Uncertainty fomented feelings of anxiousness while electrical excitement surged through my mind constantly.

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January 18, 2011 – Somewhere Over Hudson Bay, En Route to London.

“It was already getting quite dark, and he felt almost frightened; something

 new was growing in him which he would have been unable to explain.”

-Dostoevsky from The Brothers Karamazov

 

I think that all of us want our lives to be like stories. They help us understand the events in our lives through an anthropomorphic lens. The incomprehensible becomes almost familiar, comforting even. A story has an arch and we sit somewhere on that arch, waiting to find out exactly where we sit. The middle? The beginning? The end? What’s our story about? Do we have a transformation awaiting us that will justify all our mistakes and strivings? Or is this just wishful thinking—romanticizing the absurdities that we find at every street corner?

I won't attempt to answer that now, but I will start this entry with my reflections about training week.

First of all, I must say that training week was an affirmation for me. Meeting the interns and staff and seeing the workings of this organization in Washington DC was refreshing. There was a lot of energy and excitement for the work and I found a sincerity in the people I talked to.

 I was also greatly encouraged by my host family. They were a couple that lived and worked on Capitol Hill in DC and were very kind to me throughout my stay. I would walk from their house to the metro stop every morning in my new suit and pea coat. I always felt so “professional.” Having never held a position before where I had to shave or dress in a suit I felt pretty sharp. I would walk out the door into the freezing streets with an orange in my hand and a scarf around my neck. At the end of the week they drove me to all of the main sights in the area before my flight back to Seattle. I got the typical but necessary picture in front of the white house and saw the library of congress. From afar I saw the congress building and the many memorials to past wars and presidents.

I found the metro to be very interesting and felt like a pro by the end of the week. Two things I noticed:

1.) Move quickly and do not get in the way of people. They’re in a hurry.

2.) When someone sits down next to you do not make eye contact, or even acknowledge their existence (otherwise I might blow my cover and seem like a tourist?)

I was fighting a cold for most of the week, but I never let it get to the point where I was distracted. Advil and lots of water did the trick. I actually found that while fighting a cold (with a sinus infection), and having to walk considerable distances in my ankle boot forced me to gradually let go of the things that I couldn’t control. This is a lesson I will have to re-learn shortly, however, because I seem to forget it all the time.

By the end of the week I felt an oddly strong camaraderie with the other interns and fellows and learned a lot through my conversations with them. I think it might be that we all have similar interests and that we are all doing something uncomfortable and new.

After coming home to Seattle for a few days to regroup I am now off again. I look forward to what awaits me when I get off this plane. Even though I expect to face some difficulties, it’s hard to express how thankful I am for this opportunity to go and serve and learn. The biggest thing I took away from last week is to trust that I am in the right place and that I will have provision (in whatever form it takes). This might end up being a strong theme during my entire trip.