Too close to the end

(This picture is of the view outside of the Valley School pottery room where Selco has installed a pottery wheel to run and test.)

My last week at Selco Foundation is half way over. It's hard to believe that so much has changed and that two weeks have passed. When I look back at the photos of me and the other fellows got here it's wierd just to see the difference. The first day I was here I remember crying and being scared just to walk the block around my hotel, and I remember thinking everything was so new and scary and the culture shock was just way too strong. And now, nearly two months later, the same place that used to terrify me feels like home and I can't comprehend that this could be the last time I drink coconut water from a fruit stand, last time I can go to the school with the solar powered pottery wheel, last time eating a real roti with food that hasn't gotten any less spicy, last time sitting next to Cali and Shourie and Madhu and Santhi... that this is the end.

This week has been nice, I've been getting a lot of work done in terms of outreach and what's left with preparing to leave the sustainable science lab activities, and it's been chill and smooth and a little sad. Monday night I went to dinner with Sanam, we went to his aunts house and he got ready and because there is a bus strike the traffic is horribleeee so we went straight from there to dinner (it took like two hours), and while we were at dinner the power went out and it was hilarious and one of the best ways to spend one of the last dinners. On Tuesday, I went and had the best pancake ever for the last time and tonight I'm going out with 7 of the other interns as a last hoorah before we all slowly start leaving Selco Foundation for the Summer.

So much is happening at home. Home in Colby and home in Houston, and in some ways I guess it will be nice to get back to that because at times I'm somehow feeling both disconnected and nostalgic for all of it. It's kind of hard to be there for friends when they need you when you're half way across the world, so in that way, I think now is a pretty good time for me to be back in Houston after the last day of training in NYC. 

The unreal Taj Mahal experience and other adventures

(picture from the Taj Mahal and of the Lotus Temple)

This weekend was unreal and definitely one of the best ones I've ever had. I got some work done on Friday and then ate lunch and left early for the airport. I met up with Cynthia and we flew to Delhi, and got to our hotel around 10PM. After grabbing a late dinner (we had a really great curry with paneer), we went to bed and woke up around 4:30 in the morning. At an ungodly early hour we walked two blocks to the train station and went to Agra. AGRA IS AMAZING. We went to The Taj Mahal first, and I completely understand how it is one of the wonders of the world, its so incredibly large and pictures don't do it enough justice, I feel like I could have looked at it for hours and still not be bored (but it was crazy warm outside). After that we went to Agra Fort which also had amazing architecture and was really large, and then we went to the gardens connected to a river on the other side of the Taj. That afternoon we took a train back to Delhi and got back late in the evening, grabbed another late dinner, took an amazing cold shower (we sweat a ridiculous amount) and went to bed. The next day in Delhi we woke up a little early and grabbed breakfast at the hotel and then we went to a market (I got two pairs of really cool loose elephant pants), and visited the Lotus Temple (which was omg so incredible) before taking an Uber to the airport We landed in Bangalore around 9 and then went to Cynthia's place before meeting up with Sanam and grabbing dinner, it was awesome, I had this great pulpy grape juice, garlic chicken that reminded me of Chinese food from home and a Kerala parotta that kind of tastes like a squished croissant in the shape of a tortilla. Overall, this weekend WAS AWESOME, and I'm terribly sad that I only have 7 days left but also really thankful that one of the last weekends I had in India was spent in such an amazing way. 

Rewarding and busy three days

I think Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are a little blured together because I know that my time in India is coming to an end so I'll just write about the highlights and memorable moments. Tuesday after work I met Cali, Rodney and Sanam at a really huge book store and for dinner at a Kerala restaurant that had most of the same southern Indian foods but had a few other styled foods specific to the region, and then we walked and looked for a sweet shop that has this super cool dessert that is sort of like a sweet coconut flavored roti (it was totally worth the walk). Wednesday was Brenda's 20th birthday, so Sanam and I were going to go together to meet her, the other cultural vistas fellows and some of her work friends at a nice restaurant attached to Orion mall. It was quite an adventure lol we were on his bike and part way through it started pooring down rain and IT TOOK US TWO AND A HALF HOURS TO GET THERE, and by the time we reached everyone was leaving!!! So at that point it was just funny how late we were so we went to the food court and grabbed a bite to eat and split an awesome Donut.

Thursday was fantastically rewarding!!! I went with Shourie, the other education intern, to Ramamurthy Nagar to run a sustainability activity that I made at the school, and it went so so well, and we stayed for a little less than three hours and also ran a health activity and an English alphabet activity. When we got back it was about 5, so I got a few things done and then worked on forms for study abroad housing for the Fall, and finally left the office around 7. After that I just went with Sanam to grab a bite to eat at an Indian restaurant and then he let me to henna on his arm (which definitely isn't the greatest looking but was really fun to do!)

ALSO, I LEAVE FOR DELHI TONIGHT AND WILL BE THERE FOR THE WEEKEND AND I'M SO SO PUMPED!!! We're going to go see the Taj Mahal!!!!! 

Shopping filled Sunday and field visit Monday

Sunday was super chill, I woke up around 11 which is the latest I've gotten up in about a month and it was so nice to just sleep in. Sanam got back from Mumbai that morning so we met up in the afternoon and went to pottery town (it was small but still really interesting to walk around and see everything they'd made.) Afterwards we went to Lifestyle and I helped him pick out a couple shirts (one is super cool and has cacti) and I got a dress! And then we just grabbed dinner and I went back home.

On Monday, I got some work done in the office before going on a field visit to a community for the second half of the day. When we first got to the community, its about an hour an a half drive away, a kid came up to us and looked at us and just said "what?" and we looked at him, a little surprised he spoke English and he just said "what?" again, it was so so funny. His name was Ramesh, he's 9, and he has just the best leadership qualities. He walked with us around the community until about 6:30 when we left to head back towards the office. We didn't reach until a little after 8 and then I went over to Sanam's place for dinner and his aunt cooked the best meal (she's such a sweetheart omg and she's amazing at cooking, she doesn't speak English so we just smile at each other a bunch) ....and then I went back home and pretty much passed out from exhaustion. 

Annual Day and alcohol filled night

(Picture from annual day!)

Saturday was Annual Day, which is a day where Selco enterprise and Selco foundation people from around the country all come together and they give awards to people that have done really well and also show some examples of solar panel products that had been invented through the year. It was really cool! ....but also really really long....and also not all of it was in English.... (but they served lunch and it was amazing and I think I'm finally getting used to spicy foods!) After the annual day ended around 6, I walked with 4 other interns and 1 other Selco employee to a place called Social on Church Street that is like a restaurant, bar and club all in one. I had, no joke, the BEST pancake I've ever had. It was stuffed with chicken sausage and bacon and maple syrup and wow it was AMAZING. We all ate and then got a few drinks (I had this really sweet fruity mixed drink, a lemon drop shot and a beer over the course of the night), and then went and danced with some of the other interns (it kind of sucks because they would only let you in as a single female or as a couple and there were 4 guys and only me and another girl, so only two of the guys could go at a time but it was still awesome anyway! Overall, that was one of the most exciting and longest Saturdays I've had so far and I got to know my coworkers better (they're all awesome), and wow I can't believe I only have two of these left. WTF WHY.

Quarterly meetings

Ahh I'm falling way behind on posting what I've been doing every day! Tuesday and Wednesday were both quarterly meetings at Selco, so for the most part the education team worked on a Powerpoint, and then you sat through day long meetings listening to what all of the other teams in Selco had been working on over the last three months (it was both interesting to see what everyone had been doing and incredibly boring to sit and listen all day). But they did serve lunch that was so so good and I made closer friends with three of the other interns: Scott, Trevor and Kardavia. Wednesday after work we went to a restro-bar and shared a pitcher and just talked until 9 or so and it was a really nice calm evening. The Selco Annual Day is on Saturday so since quarterlies, a lot of the days have been spent working on the Powerpoint that will be shown on Friday, so I've been staying at the office an hour later than normal, plus I had to wake up an hour earlier for quarterlies so by the time I get home I'm already so tired, I just shower, watch an episode of the new season of Orange is the new Black and go to sleep. It's been good though, I like the work and seeing everyone's ideas and being part of a team finishing a larger project. 

Finishing up work projects and Spa Sunday

(I totally forgot to take any photos so here's a photo of me doing pottery earlier in the week!)

I'm falling behind on blogging my days!! The end of the work week was pretty easy and productive, I finally finished the long term project I've been doing, it ended up being a 25 page document with hands-on sustainability activities that can be done at the school in Ramamurthy Nagar. The activities cover soil, water, air pollution, waste management, chemicals, kitchen gardens, biodiversity and energy. Friday night I went to dinner and a play called Shylock with Cali and Preeta at a theatre near work and when we got there we also ran into 7 other Selco people which was a nice surprise. And I spent Saturday relaxing at home becuase it's been a while since I've just spent an evening alone. (I got dinner, watched a few episodes of Orange is the New Black and Skyped a friend.)

Sunday was sooooo nice. I met up with the other cultural vistas girls and Brenda's coworker, who I have a surprising number of mutual friends with. We went to Social (an American style restaurant) and then went to an art festival/flea market that was soooo cool. I made a pottery cup and bought 2 pairs of earrings and a carrot cupcake while there. The best part of the day was definitely after that. One pretty cool thing about India is that the US dollar is worth quite a bit so we all went to a spa nearby and I got a massage and a facial (my first time ever doing either of those things) for a pretty low cost, and it was amazinggggg, my face feels so clean. Like....so. so. so. clean. It's absolutely amazing.

Simple day with a yummy ending

(Here's a really ugly picture of the snacks I got last night haha)

Yesterday was another simple great day. Work was a little rough because I'd slept in a bus and then a train the past two nights, but still productive. My boss is like a super hero, she works nonstop and probably has the best moral conscience I've ever seen in a person, so I'm really just trying to meet her expectations (or at least get close). After work I said bye to Sanam because he's leaving for a a little over a week, and then went to Cali's house for dinner and a movie. We stopped by a snack shop on the way to her place and I picked up a few random snacks that ended up being amazing (I can't believe I stuck to Pringles when I got here because I was too scared to try anything else), and we also got a watermelon from a food stand for dessert. It was just another simple but fantastic day, and it's just kind of looming nonstop that I'm running out of time here. 

Hampi Hampi Hampi

On Wednesday, I went to Hampi, India on our day off. It was a really quick paced day, with a sleeper bus that left Bangalore at 10PM and arrived in Hampi around 9AM, and in 12 short hours, I got on a train from Hampi and arrived back in Bangalore a little after 6AM, got ready and then went to work for the day. My 12 hours in Hampi were AMAZING, it's the 4th city I've been to since getting to India and it's was jam packed with cool new sites. We went to so many ancient temples, ruins of historical royalty, and so so much more, the city is small and green and is labeled as a World Heritage Site. I think my favorite part was climbing 600 steps to reach the monkey temple. There were so. many. monkey. omg. At one point I was giving a monkey crackers one by one and he was just not about my slow pace and jumped onto me, grabbed the crackers and climbed back to the ground. There was also a dog that walked with us for a lot of our journey to the bottom of the steps which was the cutest little joy. Overall, the day was incredible, from the overnight journeys, to the great company, to the amazing views and sites, Hampi will definitely be a memory for the books.

A hiccup of perspective

I feel like there are things that happen that help throw everything else in perspective. Last night was a little rough mental health wise, for the past couple weeks after I got adjusted to India I feel like I've lived with relatively few problems or issues, so last night was just a bit of a swing in a not so good direction. It'll be fine though, even just today feels better than last night.

Today, I went to the same school I've been attending and helping to create a sustainability curriculum for. The school is located in a slum community, so the people are renting the small pieces of land and we found out today that the land owner is evicting nearly half of the families in the area so they can build an apartment complex on the land. These people have to move within the next week to a new home, and I'm sure a lot of them will locate too far to attend the school, and it all just feels so unfair and not right. Yesterday the interns had a meeting with the founder of Selco Foundation, and he mentioned that Selco Foundation is made of the people who create inventions to improve the lives of the undeserved, and they help create a voice for some of the structurally silenced poor. So after sitting in that meeting yesterday and then hearing what we did today, the two pieces just don't match up and it doesn't feel right because none of us can be the solution or create an innovation to fix this problem...it's just the way it is.

Best of weekends in Coorg

(There are a lot more photos on my Facebook)

This weekend was AMAZING! I took my first Saturday off since getting to India and traveled with the other Cultural Vistas Fellows to Coorg, India. We left Bangalore around 5 in the morning on Saturday, stopped for breakfast and reached Abby Falls around 11AM. It was so so pretty, you go on a short hike in the forest, round a corner and see a really large water fall and bridge. We stayed for about an hour and then took a boat to reach the Elephant Camp in Coorg where we were spending the night. From there we ate lunch, went on a safari, watched a movie about tigers had dinner (all of the food was fantastic) and then went to bed. (It was so funny, aat one point we showered and the power went out on Brneda part way through her shower and it was silent for a second before I just hurd her slowly say "oh shit") Our cabins were amazingly nice and I fell asleep around midnight before our early morning wake-up at 5:30AM. Sunday was just as amazing as Saturday. We went on a nature walk, played with puppies, had breakfast, and BATHED AND FED AN ELEPHANT!!!!!!! After that we cleaned up and packedcleaning and packing up and leaving the camp around noon. It was so great it was like amazing moment to another amazing moment. From there we went to a Buddhist monastery, drove to Mysore to a small local shop (where I got pretty much all my friend's gifts), got a tour of Mysore palace and then watched the palace light up at night before heading back to Bangalore. The day was jam packed with absolute awesomeness and I really can't even come up with any ways that it could have been better. Damn, I love India so much.