First Impressions

We have spent a couple of days in India now and have had quite a few first impressions. Our apartment is taking awhile to set up, so we are shifting between hotels and John's apartment (he is the man who helped us set up a lot of our India connections, he is the father of one of Anne's friends).

Some favorite first impressions:

-Traffic is like Tetris. They fit the as many vechiles as possible in a small amount of space, fitting larger and smaller cars so it is jammed packed. They then weave and speed amongst each other with ease.

-The smells are the most noticable thing to me (sara). They are intense. Humidity, food, plants, animals, fumes. everything hits my nose with a bang. Every time I walk out of a building I'm reminded through my nose that I am in India.

-The food is delicious. We don't always know what we are eating, but it has been fantastic. I'm hoping to make friends with great cooks and learn from them.

-Bargaining is not my forte, but Andrew loves it. Until recently we've been bargaining for prices with autoricksaws, until we realized we can have them put the meter on and interprete it that way. They seem to hate when we suggest that because that means they can't rip us off anymore. what a shame.

-Dogs are everywhere. Stray dogs that look very similar to each other (seem to be one or two breeds) wander and sleep on the streets. There are at least ten per street. It's crazy.

-Cows roam. We've seen a couple cows, some in herds and some by themselves. It's so weird to see them in such busy cities.

-People walk on the street. Which seems so weird to me because the streets are so crazy, but we try to fit in.

Alright that's all for now, more later.
We're loving the new and loving being with each other.

We're Here!

I'm going to keep this short, but we are here! A very long journey but we are now in India! The gang is jumping on the train this afternoon and heading to Pune. It is overwhelming for all us, but it's an adventure! More later.

India Update

We are going to India! We bought our tickets last week and have our visas! On Wednesday, September 16 Mike, Anne, Andrew, and I will be getting on to a plane to (eventually) Mumbai, India. Mike and I will split from Anne and Andrew in Frankfurt and take a slightly different route. We'll go through New Dehli and a six hour layover until heading to Mumbai. After reaching Mumbai we'll rejoin Anne and Andrew for a 3 hour train adventure to our final destination: Pune, India.

A few details must be worked out before our departure but at last we will go! Mike and I bought 1 way tickets so we have freedom in our return, but we're planning to stay until early May.

And here we GOOOOOOOO!

Fun in Eau Claire

We had a grand 'ld time in Eau Claire. Here are some snapshots to prove it.
1. Biking to the Farmer's Market!

2. The tandem upclose and personal.

3. The concert at Phoenix Park

4. Kayaking together on Lake Altoona!

5. Mike on his first solo kayak ride!

"Couch" Surfing Part II

Mike and I have been quite the wanderers this month. Jon and Mary's house was wonderful, we felt so at home and comfortable. We got to paint a room--Mike's first attempt at painting a room and it was grand! We biked quite a bit, enjoyed the Middleton surroundings and worked.

Next it was off to Eau Claire. For the first week we stayed at Mary and Tom's (my aunt and uncles) while they were off in Boston. It was splendid to enjoy the beautiful home on Lake Altoona. It was like we were at a resort but by ourselves, with kayaks included! I loved showing Mike around the cooler parts of Eau Claire and the hidden gems! The week after we went to my parents for a week. It was fantastic to have down time at home, staying busy with the pleasures of Eau Claire: biking, tennis, Acoustic, ice cream, frisbee golf, tandem bikes and more! It is surprising how busy one can be with so little committments!

(captions: 1. most of our one bedroom, 2. our first surfing experience)

"Couch" Surfing Part I

Who knew that when we moved out of our cozy 1 bedroom apartment, we'd be moving into a mansion of sorts.  After Sara was done with work on Friday we biked to Fitchburg (about 30 minutes away on bike) to stay at our marriage mentors house, who were at their cabin at the time.  We are so blessed with people's generosity.  They let us have full access to their very nice, large home and everything in it.  To put it in proportion:  their master bedroom is bigger than our entire apartment was.  

We'll be staying here until tonight when we bike to Middleton to crash into Jon and Mary's house.  Watch out, the word on the street is if you leave for vacation we'll be at your house in 24 hours.  

Update on our travel plans.  Anne and Sara talked to a principal of a school in Pune, India and it was very promising.  Here are a collection of my notes about the school for those interested in details: 

 The school is KC Thackeray Vidya Niketan English Medium School.  Long title, so hopefully they have a shortened version of that.  It is a gov't and private funded school (the private funds come from an education foundation: Thermax Social Initiative Foundation)). They have 13 staff and about 300 kids (in elementary grades).  All or most of the students are from very low to middle class.  They really need help and seem open to exactly where we'd help but have also had help before and have structure already to their system.  They need help with 1 on 1 with students, reg. help after and before school, support staff to help with teachers, help with curriculum...she said a lot of their students need help to stay up or catch up to their grade level.  
The school has a computer lab, a library, projector, and English is spoken all the time.  It would be about 10-15 minutes from the area we are looking in to live.  
When asked about what challenges the school has Shalini responded: there are many different levels of abilities in the classrooms and trying to meet all those needs is very difficult.  They also need technological help to analyze the data from the school to measure their progress.  

The plan is to leave still in the middle of September and we are waiting for one or two more emails regarding addresses and apartments to apply for our visas and buy our tickets.   

Now the Unknown

Up until now we've been looking forward to June 27.  Now that the wedding is over and we are MARRIED, we have the next step of our lives...and soon.  We are moving out of our apartment August 15 and into the complete unknown.  We've never had so many unknowns in our lives.  We don't know where we will be living, we don't know what country we will be in, we don't know where we'll work or volunteer.  However, we are actively trusting.  Trusting that someone bigger and more knowing has our best in mind.  We'll keep you updated but as of last week, India seems relatively promising.  We'd be moving to Pune, India mid-September with our friends Andrew and Anne.  We'll be there until either February or May depending on placements and living situations.  That's all we know for now, but we are loving being married and enjoying all the newness it comes with.