Joanna!

My very own Christmas came in late December when Joanna, my favorite sister in the whole wide world, came to visit.  It was one of the most joyful days of my life.  No exaggeration.  Mike and I went to pick her up at the Mumbai airport with a sign in tote.  It was near the middle of the night, yet there was still a gazillion people waiting in the airport.  The airport has a Hollywood feel, bright lights and a fenced in area that greeters have to stay out of.  Mike and I stood outside the fence, scanning the crowds, not knowing how much longer my heart would hold out.  After thinking every woman was Joanna, the real Joanna finally appeared (on time)!  Here are some classic shots.  Joanna with her welcome sign, part of the greeting area (not the busy part), Mike and I really excited, and a sister reunion.  It was well worth the wait.

 

There may be some overlap from Mumbai pictures, but the day after we picked up Joanna we trekked around Mumbai for a bit, seeing Gateway of India and some other notable buildings.  Out of this batch CST is the first picture (the train station we left for Pune from and the one in Slumdog Millionaire), second is Mumbai University, and finally the Gateway of India.  One of the funniest moments of that first day was being trailed by an Indian guy taking our picture and/or video.  Usually people take an obvious shot and move on or stare.  This guy took his shots and then kept taking them!  We were waiting for the traffic lights to turn and the guy went on the side, front, and behind us, cell phone in hand the whole time.  Joanna certainly got welcomed to India, where we are always wanted in a photo.   

      

Joanna stayed for about two weeks and it was splendid.  We traveled down south (read about Topslip), toured around school and Pune, and explored Mumbai.  It was a busy couple of weeks, but they were filled with joy as I got to show Joanna around my life for the last couple of months.  I’ll post more about school and our farewell to Pune, but a sneak preview: Joanna and I got dressed up in saris by one of my students and paraded around the school while students declared, “Wow, you’re beeeeautiful” or “Why are you wearing a custome?”  I love students. 

Calcutta

By the time we reach Calcutta, we are all tired.  Traveling takes a toll on you!  This was the last stop for Anne, Andrew, and Annie before they flew back to Pune and then home!  We had a couple more stops before the farm.  Calcutta is a complicated city, you can’t go anywhere without people asking for money or help.  The sheer numbers of people wanting your attention and money is overwhelming.  Often they were young or old, had babies, were missing an arm or leg, or could not see.  It was a constant moral debate in your head how to help and what to do.  Sometimes it was so intense, it was hard to think about anything else, especially after going to Mother Teresa’s home and being aware of such a caretaker of the city.  With that said, there was more to Calcutta.  There were cool buildings, lots of taxis, and the best flower market in the world (in my humble opinion). 

 

Mother Teresa’s Home

This is wear Mother Teresa lived and died, where there are great articles and educational posters about her life.  There is a lot to take in as you read about her incredible life serving the poorest of the poor.  As soon as you walked out of the home, there were beggars asking for money.  You felt convicted immediately, and they knew that.  We don’t feel good about giving money away, not knowing what we support but we can’t always have food on us to give away.  We consistently feel stuck and/or helpless.  How the heck did Mother Teresa do it? 

 

Walking Tour

We took a walking tour of the old city of Calcutta.  It matters little probably the actual title of these places, but here’s a slew of them.

Flowers in front of St. John’s church and St. John itself.  We met a very friendly, talkative man there who wanted us to sing for him…we resisted. 

 

The pond that is surrounded by old government buildings and then the post office.  I just love post offices. 

High Court.  There were a row of typewriters out in front that I think were documenting cases or doing something important.  I’m also pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to take their picture.  The arches are in high court itself and then the room with stacks and stacks of documents.  I wouldn’t want to try to find anything there!  It seems dang near impossible. 

One of the most magnificent buildings we saw in Calcutta (Kolkata) was the Victoria Memorial, a building made for the queen.  It had fantastic grounds, with ponds and trees all around.  There was also a light show we went to, and due to time constraints we went to the Bengali one.  Little did we know it was more of a history lesson and we failed to follow it. 

St. Paul’s Cathedral, incredibly beautiful

A bit more gruesome: a meat market and a bathroom with no hole.

Joanna, I took this one for you…look at all the pineapples!

There were tons of people carrying loads on their heads.  Anything from sticks to food to boxes.

Flower Market

Now for the best part, the best part of Calcutta: the flower market!  I absolutely loved it.  It was packed crowds all around flowers, selling/buying beautiful flowers.  People wearing, carrying, sharing flowers!  How could you not be joyful with so many flowers around?  Pictures tell the story:

 

This man tried to sell us daises and I couldn’t help but smile as his disposition.  He asked where we were from and when he heard America he said, “OBAMA!” in a rather joyful manner.  The interesting part was he was by himself with only one bouquet of flowers when the rest of the crowd had heaps for sale.  He stood out in more than one way.  Calcutta at it’s finest: flowers in all forms.  I was just a little ball of sunshine by the end (just ask Mike). 

Darjeeling

Darjeeling was a little of heaven on earth for all of us.  After hectic life in Varanasi, this was the perfect place for some down time, great views, and relaxation.  Getting to Darjeeling takes a bit of time, as it is 3 hours up a mountain, 3 hours of windy, bumpy roads.   The hotel had great views, which ended being the only thing that kept us there in the end (no hot water, no water to flush the toilet, and people knocking on our door selling scarves at 7:00 am).  The town itself it not big but filled with friendly people, fun market stalls, tea shops, and knock off North Face stores. 

There was a lot to enjoy in Darjeeling besides the views (though that always helps).  The cooler temperatures forced us to buy a couple of warmer things, but usually I used it as an excuse to buy fun Nepali knitwear. 

 

 

Tibetan Self-Help Refugee Center

There is a large population of Tibetan refugees, as it is close to the border and a safe place.  This wonderful center was started to give those refugees training and capabilities to make a living.  Now, after multiple years of being open, it has remained a fantastic safe, productive zone for thousands of refugees.  There are rooms for weaving, spooling wool, dying wool, wood carving, knitting, and other handicrafts.  There is also a basketball hoop for many of the orphans to play on when they’re not in school.  We visited this shop/center and fell in love.  We talked to some of the people, learned about the handicrafts, and watched as rugs and sweaters were being made.  One man, whose name escapes me, was a phenomenal woodcarver and told us all about his woodcarving and the tools we uses.  Some of his story was lost in translation, but it seemed to Mike and I that he had come when he lost his parents, when he was very young and had stayed at the center ever since. 

Tiger Hill

We took a jeep (after some complications getting and bargaining for the jeep…I ended up yelling at someone who I thought was being unfair.  It was a shortcoming that came with waking up at 4:30 am) up to Tiger Hill to see the sunrise.  From this one point you can see three of the five highest peaks.  The most prominent being Kangchenjunga (3rd highest in the world) and Everest being the hardest to see (but we saw it!).  The sunrise was beautiful, but not as beautiful as the sun rising on the mountains.  It was absolutely breathtaking and made me a little energized with excitement.  It’s just something about mountains.  We took lots of pictures, hoping some would do the view justice.  I know I shouldn’t complain, but it was cold up there!  I was all bundled up and still was chilly. I’m not sure I’m ready for even March winter in WI when we come back!  We stayed, admiring the mountains until our jeep driver forced us to come down. 

 Momo Lessons

I have found a new favorite food: momos.  It is a Tibetan food that is just delicious, so delicious in fact that we all took momo lessons one morning.  It took about three hours from start to finish (we made a lot!) and ended with all we could eat momos and soup.  Don’t you worry, we plan on teaching anyone and everyone that wants to learn when we get back!  Essentially it is flour/water dough that is professionally wrapped around a mixture of cabbage, onions, ginger, salt, and whatever veggies you want.  Then it is all steamed for 15 min. to perfection.  You can fry them after that, but steamed are way better, hands down.  The woman in the picture you do not know was our main instructor.  The one of us eating was at our favorite Tibetan restaurant that we went back to about four times.

  

Tea

Darjeeling is known for their tea and have many tea houses carrying it.  We went and played cards at one shop, only for the electricity to go out at 7 and have to finish by a torch (flashlight).    The picture of me is at Glenary’s, the bakery/breakfast place we hit up a couple of times with excellent views.  I’d highly recommend it.  Pot of tea for 40 Rs (80 cents). 

 

 

 

Random Shots:

1. We were in Darjeeling for Republic’s Day, so there was a parade and dance event that we caught glances of. 

2. St. Andrew’s Cathedral

3. Monkeys guarding St. Andrew’s Cathedral

4. A cool statue on top of a high building that I got a kick out of

5. Mike and I in the midst of Buddhist prayer flags.  The top of Observatory Hill was COVERED with them, quite the sight of color.   6. The flags in action.

  

7. A Buddhist temple that we stopped at on the way down from Tiger Hill.  (7. the gate, 8. the actual temple)

 

The Himalayan Zoo and Mountaineering Institute

What a great combination: sweet animals and climbing!  My kind of place.  These two were interconnected strangely enough, but both absolutely fantastic.  The animals were some of the coolest animals I’ve ever seen (especially the birds…talk about colorful pheasants!)  and the mountaineer institute was a collection of articles, pictures, materials, maps, dairies, etc. of lots of history making climbs.  They even had an entire section on Everest. 

 

The animals: 1. Bullhorn Sheep of some type (can’t remember the name, but Mike took loooots of pictures of it) 2. Himalayan Black Bear  3. Red Panda (Mike’s favorite) 4. Siberian Tiger (we had to go back to the cage to find this one, it was camouflaged well!)