two weeks in the Middle Kingdom

The past two weeks in China have been a blur of language instruction dangerous bicycle rides and holy taoist mountains. Two weekends ago I went with a few friends to Tai Shan a mountain which is a seven hour train ride from Beijing. After the overnight train ride which compared very favorably to Indian trains we started climbing the mountain. It sounded easy enough with steps leading the whole way up and a hotel for tourists on the top of the mountain (There is a cable car to the top) but it turned out to be a reasonably difficult climb. Along the way we saw ancient Chinese Charachters carved into the rock face and stunning scenery. The trees were all bare and it was still fantastic so I can only imagine what it would be like in summer. The mountains had the famous white rock faces and the rolling hills nearby were stunning. There were also several temples at the begginnning of the climb and one at the top. In fact every Emperor used to climb Tai Shan and Mao even climbed it himself.
The other day I rented a bike for my stay in Beijing and biking around the city has been a lot of fun although there have been some close calls with other users of the road. It's great to wander by bike around and see the sights and all of the massive construction that is going on. I read that there are more construction sites in Beijing than in all of Europe and I beleive it. They are knocking down a lot of the old hutongs to make room for the new buildding which is unfortunate.
Life in my hutong has been great however. There have been some miscommunications. Last week my host mother asked what I ate for breakfeast in the U.S. After failing miserably to describe the concept of cereal with milk I was greeted the next morning with a bowl of plain milk.
Yesterday we moved out of the hutong so we could focus on our case studies. A group of eight students including myself are working on a project to examine the role of NGO's and the government in combating AIDS in China.
That's all for now. I'll write more when I get a chance

Begginnigs of China

To start describing my experiences in China I figure I might as well start describing the internet cafe where I am writing from. It is called an "Internet Coffee" and I'm not sure if that is a joke kind of like how I am not sure about most of what is going on around me. The room is completely packed with probably 100 people but is amazingly well-organized although dimly lit.
I've been in Beijing for three days now and literally everything is in Chinese. I find myself suddenly empathizing with immigrants to the U.S. who are forced to learn the language on the spot. In India I could always find someone who spoke english and even the rickshaw drivers know a handful of phrases. Now in China I am completely dependant on my Chinese-speaking friends and when I had to take a taxi someone had to write the address for where I was goiong in Chinese to the cab driver and then we sat in absolute silence for the entire cab ride.
As for my accomodation I was one of the few students randomly picked to live in a traditional hutong house. The hutong's are alleyway neigborhoods that were originally constructed so workers could live while building the forbidden city. They are all over 100 years old and the ones in Beijing are slowly being demolished in favor of more modern high-rises. The house is interesting as their are several dwellings intertwined and the kitchen and the mother and fathers room are seperated from the room where the son and the two americans are living. We have to walk outside in order to go to the kitchen for dinner.
The family I am staying with is really nice. The son Jack knows english pretty well from school and the mother Amy has been studying English for the past 6months and is amazingly conversational for someone who has only been studying for such a short amount of time. She has an amazing amount of energy and is very keen to practice English with us. She is also a very good cook and I am lucky enough to have two of her meals a day.
I am beginning to learn a few Chinese phrases but it is difficult although necessarry to get around. Different tones give what seems like the same word to my simple ears different meanings. In addition to my difficulties with the language my chopstick use is another source of comedy for my host family.
In my letter to all of the host families in all three countries I mentioned that I played frisbee. The word translates into Chinese as flying pan so Amy was trying to understand the game and demonstrated by pretending to throw a bowl through the kitchen.

Last days in India

So the past few days in India have been fairly eventful. On the last night of vacation a few of us took a houseboat through the backwaters of Kerala. It was beautiful and the houseboat was incredibly luxurious. One of the highlights of the backwaters experience was talking a ride on a wooden canoe through what they called a narrow canal. This was after we docked for the night so we were riding toward the sunset with palm trees in the foreground which was amazing. On the canoe ride we rode through an area that was completely covered in water lilies which parted as paddled through them. The next day we visited a 500 year old synnagogue that was built by the Kochi jews. There are multiple theories of how they got to Kochi but it was fascinating to see such an old synagogue. As a sidenote they wouldn't let me in wearing the shorts I was wearing so I had to go to the store next door and rent a ridiculous pair of pants. The next day we took a 13 hour train ride from Kochi to Bangalore which was an interesting experience. It was a relief to get back to Bangalore and amazing to realize that this place already felt like home.
Tonight I leave for China and I'm sad to leave India but excited for China.

God's Own Country

The past two weeks I have been in Kerala on the southwestern tip of India. It is a beautiful state reknowned for it's religious diversity 1/3 each Christian, Muslim and Hindu with a few Ancient Jews sprinkled in for good measure, in addition to its natural beauty, distinct culture and coconuts.
After an exhilarating 15 hour bus ride through the middle of the night we arrived in Thrissur near the middle of the state. From Thrissur we visited a Coca-Cola bottling plant in a town called Plachimada. The bottling plant had sucked all of the groundwater out from the surrounding area and people have been sitting in front of the plant in non-violent protest for the past 5 years. It was fascinating to see their commitment and depressing to look at their near empty wells. As important as their cause is we were not there to join the protest but merely to witness their plight and some of the non-health negative consequences of carbonated beverages. One of the girls on my program has a grandmother living in Kerala so after visiting the Coke plant we went to her house for dinner and a bonfire which was a lot of fun.
Before getting to Thrissur we visited an organic farm. It wasn't a typical organic factory farm but more of a commune where a handful of commited environmentalists had moved to live as sustainably as possible while restoring some of the land that had been overgrazed. While their methods would never be able to create a profit or even a surplus it was fascinating to see how creative they were in conserving and resusing everything they used. For example they used solar, wind and tree seed power for all of their electricityand they had all of their wastewater automatically channelled into the garden.
For the last three days of the India section of the program we went into Wyanad a beautiful town in the Western Ghats mountain range. There we worked on our final papers, mine was about pesticide use causing neurological problems in Kasargode a district in Norther Kerala. The case was similar to the book/movie "A Civil Action" in that there was a disease cluster as well as water contamination but it is difficult to prove a connection. After finishing our final papers we had a bonfire at our hotel which was a great way to unwind after a stressful but inspiring few weeks in India.
After 6 weeks of intense learning we were rewarded with a one week vacation. "What to do with one week in India?" is a question that great minds have struggled with for centuries. I decided to stay in Kerala to minimize travel time as well as to spend more time in this beautiful state. The first days we stayed in Wayanad and went for a hike in the Western Ghats. It was beautiful as the Ghats are noted for being one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. Despite suffering through the extreme heat we were rewarded with breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains, the trees below which came in many different shades as well as the lake. On the way down we saw an elephant used for work on the tea plantation below were we started the hike. On a down note we also saw pesticides being sprayed by female laborers some of whom had facial protection.
Hopefully the rest of my vacation will be as fun as the first day and in one week I will be in China, the middle kingdom.

Monkeys, temples and the night we took care of the world

So a lot has happened since the last time I posted so I will try and fill in the gaps while still describing the cool stuff. Academically last week was pretty interesting we visited a hospice, which was really tastefull but still depressing. Then we visited a public housing project and met with the president of the group of people living in the project. It was a little awkward to visit people's homes especially because there was very little privacy and there were numerous discussion about whether what we were doing was acceptable and appropriate. Regardless after we left the house we were mobbed by all of the children in the neighborhood who were so excited to see us and kept wanting to shake our hands and get their picture taken by us. On Thursday we visited one of the high-tech medical tourism hospitals that people come from the U.S. to have major operations for a fraction of the price. It was interesting to see and also to serve as a contrast to the inadequate health care that most of the population receives.
On Friday, after class we went to explore the city of Bangalore a little more. After visiting a few temples we decided to climb a hill near one of my friends homestays on the outskirts of the city to watch the sunset. Not to mention the joy of being outside the city the hill was beautiful with great views of both the city and the unoccupied area to the other side. On top of the hill was a Hindu festival. They were celebrating Maha Shivatri which is the day when Shiva the Creator of the World rests for a day and all of the people have to stay up all night and watch the world. So we stayed on top of the hill and enjoyed the view and the celebration took a few pictures of eager children and then finally walked down the hill. The way down the hill was lined with Christmas lights and was beautiful. The path was crowded and people were helping each other and making room as people climbed both up and down.
On Saturday I went with a few friends to Mysore which is a city three hours from Bangalore. We saw some interesting stuff includinga bird sanctuary which is on the migration path for birds from China and a huge spectacular palace. The coolest part though was at the end of the day. After climbing down another hill from we had to wait in this village-like area on the hill for about an hour as we waited for our driver to pick us up. While we were waiting there were around hundred monkeys in the trees climbing the trees jumping up and down and running along the trees as well as the power cords. They were semi-domesticated and we even saw one eat the crumbs from a bag of chips just like a human would.
As a final note it is amazing how quickly people can adjust to a new city. Two weeks ago India seemed like a whole different world but now we are all getting used to the crowded dirty city and finding our way around with a lot less difficulty.

Frisbee soccer, Indian cooking and the Bundh

The past week has been a whirlwind of classes, seeing the city of Bangalore and believe it or not classwork. Today I finally get a chance to write because of the Bundh. The state of Karnaktaka (probably spelled incorrectly) has essentially shut down today to protest an interstate dispute that the State lost involving water rights. So today all public transportation, shops and pretty much everything else is closed and people (especially foreigners) are encouraged to stay inside which gives me an opportunity to write this blog. I walked down the street to my host families relatives this morning and the streets were mostly vacant a far cry from the usual commotion.
The Bundh also gave me an opportunity to watch my host mother cook. We also had a cooking/ Indian nutrition lesson on Saturday so maybe when I get home I'll try to make a South Indian dish or two.
On Saturday I went to play frisbee with the Bangalore frisbee club. After somehow finding the field I was surprised to find them playing a combination of ultimate and soccer with goals and a goalie and the rest of the rules similar to ultimate. I had a good time playing and it was good to meet some people from Bangalore not affiliated with our program. I told one of them that I was here to study health policy and he looked at me incredulously and said, "We have a health policy?"
On Sunday I went to a national park which was more like a zoo, poorly maintained but I can't complain because I saw tigers and Elephants walking around. I also went to a human rights film festival and saw a couple interesting movies including an incredible one about the Hmong people living as fugitives in Laos. The same group as the protaganists from "The Spirit Catches you and You fall down."

My Wednesday

In a year of travel that includes a handful of around the world flights, twenty-passenger flights in the mountainous regions of Papua New Guinea and a vomit-filled boat ride from Melbourne to Tasmania Wednesday February 7th may go down as the most traumatic transportation day of the year. It all started innocently enough getting to the bus stop 15 minutes early for a bus to class which came 30 minutes late not unusual for India. The bus had the population density of an NYC subway at rush hour and the smooth ride of the aforementioned boat-trip to Tassie. After holding on for dear life for the 45 minute ride. When the time came to get off I thought it was time to get off one stop before the rest of the group did. The guys ride in the back of the bus and the girls in the front and I didn't have a map so there was a miscommunication and I got off one stop to early. I should also mention that Indian buses don't cautiously wait for everyone to get off or have doors so I had to hop off the bus as it was sprinting away only to realize that no one else in my group had gotten off. Since I didn't have a map I sprinted after the bus to try and catchup with my group. I ended up on the wrong side of a bust street from the group. My father always told me to observe how the locals cross the street and follow that. Apparently that advice can't be followed halfway as I walked across half the street next to an Indian man. He then crossed the rest of the street but I didn't think I could make and 30 seconds later the direction of traffic changed and I ended up caught between two flows of traffic without the benefit of a divider. After I couple heart-wrenching minuted I somehow made it across. My travel adventures weren't done yet however as after a few hours of lectures I had an assigment to go to a market and purchase some vegetables. The only problem was they gave us the vegetable language in Kannada the local language. We tried to take a bus to the market but after waiting 45 minuted we concluded that the bus wasn't going to come so we took a rickshaw. The 45 minute rickshaw was an adventure in and of itslelf with a ground level view of the Bangalore streets complete with a half-dozen near collisions and viewing all kinds of crazy contraptions people use to transport goods and other people including prisoners. We finally got to the market which was awesome with all kinds of crafts sold for next to nothing.