My 2 days in Kolkata

I guess I underestimate the internet sometimes.  Haha.  I had an eventful day today, in which I'm sure I logged more than 6 kilometers of walking (I'm pretty sure I'm underestimating), so I decided to spend my evening in a chill way, checkin' my mail and eatin' some pastries.  (Rock.)

The past two days have been pretty awesome.  I like Kolkata. 

Whenever I was on the bus in Bangalore, I kept thinking, "I don't really like traveling in India all that much.  I love Rishi Valley a lot, but I don't think I like India otherwise."  This is a surprising and shitty and pretty terrible thing to think, considering I live here.  But, now, sitting at this internet cafe off of Sudder Street in the cool Kolkata evening, I reconsider.  I do like India.  It's diverse and scary and crowded and a complete sensory overload, but it is also fully fantastic.  I am loving it.  Maybe not all the time, but I am.  So...that's good. :)

Yesterday, I got in and checked into my hostel.  I'm staying in a dorm of this hostel, and I gotta say, it's pretty neat.  I thought this might be a challenge, to be a lonesome chick traveling, but so far it has been safe and private and comfortable.  (The only other girl in the dorm, from Korea, did say she saw a "rat".  But then she said it was tiny and cute and called it "Micky Mouse".  Either way, the beds are high off the floor and all my stuff in in my under-bed lock-box, safe from rodent teeth.  Win.)

After a shower and unpacking a bit, I tried to take a cab to Tagore's house.  I kind of failed.  The cab took me to Calcutta University (it's still spelled that way for some reason), which is in the same area, but not in front of the museum.  I wandered around a lot and checked out the sights, but failed to find the actual house/museum. No matter.  After that, I got a call from Nafisa and met up with the girls in front of the Victoria Museum. 

Nafisa and Jess did a fantastic job showing me around.  They are so awesome!  We took a crazy cab ride over the two bridges crossing from Kolkata into Howrah and back, briefly checked out BBD Bagh and Park Street, and chilled for a while at the Park Street Cemetery, which is home to a bunch of dead Brits.  The place has a crazy vibe to it - I really enjoyed it (even though I am not a fan of cemeteries in the least).  Then, we went back to Jess's and Nafisa's for a much needed nap (right after Nafisa and I chowed on some quality Chinese food).  Post-nap, we had dinner at an awesome Indian restaurant, which had a Bollywood theme.  (Win.)  The food was delicious.  The company was also great.  Jess and Nafisa have some fantastic friends, and everyone was super nice and hilarious.  :)

I came back to crash at the hostel.  Today, I woke up and explored Kolkata by foot and metro.  I walked to the Park Street Metro Stop, getting an omelet on the way.  It was delicious.  I met this crazy Brit, who talked about education and Russian literature.  Then, I took the metro (which was designed by the Soviets and has the looks to prove it) down one stop to walk around the Maidan.  The Maidan is to Kolkata as Central Park is to New York.  It was a pretty great time, and I got to see a lot of statues (among them of Indira Ghandi), the Birla Planetarium, various museum and movie complexes, and generally a bunch of south Kolkata landmarks.  After checking out the areas around Victoria Memorial, I hailed a cab to Gorky Sedan to check out the Russian Cultural Center.  (Fun fact: Kolkata has a bunch of yellow cabs riding around that you could hail.  In other Indian cities, I've only seen this type of thing with rickshaws.  For example, in Bangalore, if you want a cab, you have to call it and then wait for it.  But you can hail a rickshaw at any corner.  In Kolkata, on the other hand, the cab is everywhere, and a rickshaw functions as a shared transport - 5 people per rickshaw - with specific pre-determined routes.  Crazy stuff! :))  There was a sweet street sign on Gorky Terrace, but, unfortunately, the Russki center disappointed, as it's library was "under construction" and I wasn't even allowed to pee, as the man was like, "Um...inside...uh...no.".  I could've returned from 4pm to 9pm to watch some Russian television, but decided against it. :)

After Gorky, I walked to the metro stop (I got a little lost on the way, but that was cool, too) to head to the BBD Bagh area, which is the administrative area of town with a bunch of super old super British buildings.  I got to see the famous Writer's building, a bunch of banks (beautiful architecture!) the High Court, and some general mayhem.  There were a bunch of working peeps in suits and the like eating lunch at various chop stalls along the road.  It was an awesome opportunity for people watching.  I enjoyed it.  :)  I got really hungry when looking for the metro stop by Gorky Sadan, so when I was wandering the surrounds of BBD Bagh, I was SUPER hungry.  But I couldn't find any place to sit!  So, I got some street chow mein and made peace with that.  It was delicious.  I also got some pastries (the West Bengalis are way into baking and pastries -- love it). 

Then, I headed to the Armenian Church, which was in the midst of a crazy crazy crazy market (which I'm proud to say, I navigated with only little frustration).  Apparently, there's a pretty sizable Armenian community here, and they have their own church. Cool stuff.  After this, my plan was to go to the flower market or to go to Park Street and chill out at the Oxford Book Store, but I suddenly felt extremely exhausted, so I headed back to my hostel for an afternoon nap.  Now, I got a bunch of pastries for dinner, and am exploring Sudder Street.  I'm going to take it easy tonight, shower, re-pack, read some books (I bought White Tiger and The World Is Flat at this little bookstore right by my hostel) and hit the hay early, so I can get up at 6 or so to head to the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve.  Should be pretty awesome!  :-D

Nafisa is feeling a bit under the weather (get better, homegirl) and Jess is entertaining a woman from the UNDP for work, so I think I'll let them rest and chill out.  I hope to see them on the 3rd, when we'll be swinging by through town (24 hours for me, 2.5 days for Charlie and Anya).  It was so awesome to see the girls, and also see Kolkata with peeps that live here and own the city.  Yayyy.


Thus far, the adventure has been pretty great.  I'm psyched.  Sunderbans tomorrow early morning for two days, and then meeting up with Charlie, Behzad, and Nicole, and Anya on Christmas.  Can't. Wait.  Awesome. Overload.  w00t.  w00t.


Happy holidays to all!  And happy birthday to my awesome awesome awesome sister-in-law.  I wish you great things this year! :) 

Rocky start...

My adventures have begun, albeit with a very rocky start. 

The first road bump occurred when Andhra Pradesh proclaimed a massive state-wide bandh (strike) on Friday and Saturday.  My flight was scheduled for Saturday at 6:45pm.  I asked around, and everyone assurred me that no buses were going to be running, and that I needed to order a car.  The taxi costs ten times what I allotted for the trip to Bangalore, so I wasn't very excited about this.  I was even less excited, when I heard that I would have to leave at 4am on Saturday morning, because of border violence.  Apparently, protesters shut down the borders and vehicles can't really get in or out past 6:30am.  Womp womp.  This sucked.  I was a bit down, but decided to make the best of it.  Even being ten times the budget, the trip would still be under $30, so whatever.  And I decided to be productive and spend my day in a coffee shop or internet cafe, finishing up the last of my grad school apps and letters to grandma.  We scheduled the car.

The day went on.  The car got rescheduled to 5:30, as the border is only 20km away, which was nice.  Also, Kala, my awesome co-worker, and Nirmala, the 6th and 7th grade English teacher at REC said they would join me for the trip, significantly reducing car costs (win).  I packed and got ready and everything was looking up. 

When I arrived to Bangalore, things got even better.  Nirmala invited me to her super swanky apartment in a suburb of Bangalore, where I took a nap, was fed fruit and cereal and tea and cookies, and wrote a letter to grandma.  I was excited that this didn't include spending a bunch of money.  A huge thank out goes to Nirmala for her hospitality and general awesomeness.  Later, she drove me and her son (he's so cute and 10!) to a mall, where he insisted that we have McDonalds for lunch.  This was pretty funny.  I always like going to chains in foreign countries, because you can really see the differences (and if you can't, that says something, too).  Oh, globalization.  It's so tricky and stuff.  Anyway, I had a "Mexican chicken wrap", which didn't taste Mexican, but DID taste delicious.  Then, I was off to the bus to take to the airport!

It was a bit after 4 when we reached the bus stop, which was in a different place than the one I usually go to.  The bus was scheduled to come at 4:30.  The usual journey time is an hour - an hour and ten minutes.  I was already cutting it close, so I was a bit nervous.  (Although, Indians suggest you get to the airport an hour before departure, which means I would've had 5 minutes to spare.)  The bus showed up almost at 5pm.  Now, I was visibly nervous and generally freaking out, quietly, on the inside.  But, everything being out of my hand, I turned on my Visbor playlist on my iPod and tried to enjoy the ride.

And, wow, what a ride it was.  We arrived at the airport almost three hours later, due to traffic, which left about seven people, yours truly included, completely missing their flights.  I have never missed a flight before, so this was a real DebbieDowner.  Also, as I am in India, they really don't care why you missed your flight, so they charge you out of the wazoo for replacement tickets.  Womp womp. 

I don't know what the deal is, but I am way more zen in India than elsewhere.  If I was home, I would've probably cried for three hours and then called my parents and cried to them and then cried myself to sleep in a corner somewhere.  Here, I decided that it was out of my hands by this point, and I had to do what I had to do.  I bought another ticket to Kolkata, leaving the following morning, and silently reflected on the circumstance.  Somehow, I was not freaking out.  I finished the letter to grandma and got the envelope all put together.  I will be mailing it out Monday.  I sat and read my guidebook about Kolkata to figure out what I was going to be doing the next two days.  I napped.  I listened to Vysotsky.  I did not even cry.  I like this.  I mean, I feel like sometimes, crying can be and is very helpful.  But shit happens.  And you have to roll with it.  (I think a redeeming factor is that I don't spend any money at Rishi Valley, so I can actually afford to throw some away.  The only awful thing is the opportunity costs.  I could've done so many things with that sum...  I'm trying not to focus on this.)  I did feel stupid.  And I still do.  This definitely could've been prevented.  I could've arrived at the airport at 7am and sit there for 12 hours all day before my flight.  But, ugh, I don't know.  Bygones?

At least I had a good day in Bangalore.

I'm trying to be more positive in life.


Alright, I'm off to catch my flight and truly begin my adventures.  Hopefully, this is the worst of it, and everything is gonna be awesome from here on out.  Let's keep our fingers crossed.


Much love to everyone. 

I probably won't be able to blog from here on out (surprisingly, Bangalore airport has free internet in a room tucked away behind a bookstore!  Who knew!), since internet access will be very limited ('cause I'll be on a mountain, hoes!), but I wish everyone the happiest of holidays.  And happy new year.  I hope it rocks.

New phone

Oh, also, speaking of phones, I got a new number.
Ever since April 2008, I have been terrified of people not being able to reach me in cases of emergency.  This post is so this doesn't happen.

My new digits are: +91 810 692 7939

Adventures abound!

For the next 16 days, I will be traveling.  My schedule is roughly as follows:

Dec. 19: fly out to Kolkata
Dec. 20-21: exploring Kolkata
Dec. 22-23: exploring Sunderbans Tiger Reserve and taking a night bus to Siliguri
Dec. 24: meeting up with fellow fellows - Behzad, Nicole, and Charlie
Dec. 25: greeting Anya at the train station and hugging a lot (Merry Christmas, indeed!  I love that girl!).  Heading out of Siliguri to either Darjeeling or Sikkim, depending on the political situation
Dec. 26: Day in Darjeeling or Gangtok, Sikkim
Dec. 27 ~ Jan. 1: Trek in the Himalayas.  Watch sunrises.  Appreciate all the beauty in life.
Jan. 2: Back to base.  Hang out, buy some tea and souveniers, get excited about 2010. Night bus to Kolkata
Jan 3: Day in Kolkata with Charlie and Anya (and maybe Behzad)
Jan 4: Early morning flight from Kolkata to Bangalore.  Inshallah, go back to Rishi Valley.  If border violence is still prevalent, stay in Bangalore, order a car to Rishi Valley for tomorrow and wait for Anya to arrive.  Eat at Pizza Hut.  Start working.

Not mentioned, but totally on the agenda: chicken and beers.

I will be tweeting my trip, since I now can using my Indian mobile phone.  You can follow at: http://twitter.com/tatianar
I've never really gotten into Twitter before, but maybe now that it's available on my phone on some Himalayan trail, it'll work.  We'll see...


Anyway, HAPPY HOLIDAYS to everyone!  Much love from this side of the world.  Send me postcards and cookies to Rishi Valley, so I can come back to some holiday cheer.  :-D

This has nothing to do with India...

But!  I was procrastinating writing my grad essays, and stumbled upon this on Wikipedia.  A friend and I were discussing birthdays and Wikipedia-ing dates (it's fun), and I stumbled upon this for Tatiana's Day!

(All of the following information is from Wikipedia)

[I had no idea that Tatiana's Day was actually directly connected to Students' Day!  I thought the two just coincided.  So awesome!]

Tatiana Day (Russian: Татьянин день, Tatyanin den' ) is a Russian religious holiday observed on January 25 according to the Gregorian calendar, January 12 according to the Julian. It is named after Saint Tatiana, a Christian martyr in 3rd century Rome during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus.
In 1755 on the name day of Ivan Shuvalov's mother Tatiana Rodionovna, his mistress Empress Elizabeth of Russia endorsed his petition to establish a university in Moscow. The church of Saint Tatiana was later built in the university campus, the Russian Orthodox Church declared Saint Tatiana the patron saint of students, and Tatiana Day has become celebrated as Russian Students Day.

[And then I decided to learn about my saint.]

Saint Tatiana was a Christian martyr in 3rd century Rome during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus. She was a deaconess of the early church.
According to legend, she was the daughter of a Roman civil servant who was secretly Christian, and raised his daughter in the faith, and she became a deaconess in the church. This was dangerous, and one day the jurist Ulpian captured Tatiana and attempted to force her to make a sacrifice to Apollo. She prayed, and miraculously, an earthquake destroyed the Apollo statue and part of the temple.

Tatiana was then blinded, and beaten for two days, before being brought to a circus and thrown into the pit with a hungry lion. But the lion did not touch her and lay at her feet. This resulted in a death sentence being pronounced, and after being tortured, Tatiana was beheaded with a sword on January 12 (Julian calendar) (January 25 in the Gregorian calendar), around AD 225 or 230.


[That is quite a story!!  Thanks, dad, for my name.  :)  I do find it interesting that Tatiana is the patron saint of students.  Maybe this whole education reform track was meant to be, if you're into that fate-ist stuff...]

Bad news, good news

Bad news: We did not make it to Bangalore today, because there is a bandh (strike) in Madanapalle, shutting down stores and businesses. Andhra Pradesh has canceled all of their state buses. There has been some agitation in the state. To make a very long story super short (and overly simplistic), a politician dude in northern Andhra Pradesh went on an 11-day hunger strike asking for the creation of a new state. This new state would be called Telangana and would encompass about 10 districts in the north and northwest of AP (Andhra Pradesh). Central government said last Wednesday that it approves of the secession, which is when all shit broke loose. This weekend, riots and strikes have reached the south, most notably Anantapur. However, they even reached Chittoor (my district's capital). Madanapalle pretty much shut down today. This sucks.

I assure everyone I am safe at Rishi Valley. There has been no tension/unrest here. Even though Madanapalle is only 9 miles away, Rishi Valley is worlds away from it all.

To make life better, we had pizza night tonight at the dining hall and Harry Potter 6 was screened for movie night. Win. :)


Good news:

Woo woo!

Sorry I haven't updated in a while! Work has been super busy, and I've been trying (and succeeding!) to meet deadlines and get everything done before leaving for the Xmas break. It's been pretty great, though.

I'll do a general update of what has been going on around here:

1. Drama
Pradeep decided to leave the English team without telling anyone. He still works with the 7th grade children at the rural school, but is no longer involved in the English team. This is SUPER awkward, considering he was the head of the English team. Womp womp. Anyway, in this process, he's managed to screw over all of his co-workers in the ET, since they had a deadline the week he left and were relying on him to finish his work, which he did not do. Ughhh. I hate drama, so this was kind of stressful/generally unpleasant. Everything is still pretty awkward regarding Pradeep, but at least our expectations of him have dropped to zero.

2. Mallory and Chase!
Mallory e-mailed me a while back asking if she could come and volunteer, and we said we'd love to have her. She is a superstar. We went to Northwestern together and had a bunch of mutual friends. We also hung out a couple of times in some good company (and at a TFA interview - haha). Now, Mallory is being a BAMF/Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, but she wanted to get out and do awesome things in India for winter break, thus she is here. She brought along Chase, who is an awesome Kentuckian also on the Rhodes at Oxford. They have been really really great. They brought a thousand pounds of fun-sized candy, which we devoured in three days. And we curse all the time. And it's just great to have someone to fully understand your perspective. They've been given bikes by the REC, so we're out daily scaring villagers on our awesome white-people-bike-gang. It must be quite a sight, haha.

3. Puppies!
Are still adorable! And growing! I'm gonna take the wonky-eyed one and love it, I'm pretty sure. Pictures to come (I've already taken them!). The puppies will be a really great time-consumer once I am done with my grad school applications.

4. Foundation for English Curriculum for Grade 3 completed!
Yesterday was my deadline to complete all of the themes, vocabulary lists, structures and reading passages for the grade 3 program. When I come back from all the traveling, I'm gonna start spittin' out mad milestones. It's going to be AWESOME.

5. Bangalore
We're going there for the weekend. BALLER. We're gonna go to the movies and drink lots of coffee and eat lots of pizza/chicken/meat/NOMNOMNOMs and maybe see some sights, as well. (Bangalore really isn't a very spectacular city, sights-wise, but it's supposed to have fantastic food/shopping options. Haha. Oh, well, we'll make the best of it! :)) We're leaving in a couple of hours.

6. TRAVEL!!!
I have exactly a week until I leave for West Bengal awesomeness! I'm going to hit up Kolkata, the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve, Darjeeling, and do a Himalayan trek. Happy holidays, indeed. My Christmas present? Anya's rolling in to meet me in Darjeeling on Christmas Day to accompany me on the Himalayan trek and be generally awesome. I! AM! SO! EXCITED!

7. It's cold in Rishi Valley
Not Chicago-cold. But cold, nonetheless. I have to wear socks and sneakers every day. And my hoodie. I also have to close my windows at night. And I use TWO woolen blankets in addition to two sheets and a soft blanket I brought from the States. Brrrrr. I might or might not have caught a cold. I'm hoping the pizza and beers will help this weekend!


Life is pretty awesome. Since next week is supposed to be super busy with me tying up loose ends before leaving, I don't know how much I'll be updating (I'll try my best). And I doubt they have internets up there in the Himalayas, so that will be limited as well.

Happy holidays to everyone!