I've been away from the office for the last few days and haven't been able to post as diligently (shocking as that has been for those of you who chastise me for not keeping in touch) as I have been.

I went to the HIV/AIDS awareness workshop on Wed. The participants were volunteers from small villages or poor (urban) communities and were acquring basic knowledge in how to counsel and potential HIV + villagers. Most of it was a refresher for me, but there were interesting questions that the volunteers were raising that were definitely culturally specific.

Yesterday, I went with some of the staff to Thiruvallur, a district to the north of Chennai. (The state in which Chennai is located is divided up into districts). You always picture things in your head, and immediately some of those things were dispelled. The first location we went to was actually an urban fishing community. It was just outside the city limits and is very poor. The women face issues of domestic abuse (stemming from susbtance abuse by their husbands) and lack economic security among other things. We went to the building where this small NGO is working -- I'm not sure I mentioned this, but ActionAid funds local NGOs to implement the actual projects. We (one of the staff who is relatively new to ActionAid and I) started asking the program coordinator some questions in one of the rooms in the back of the first story apartment. As we were about to wrap up, there was a loud bang from the main room next to us, and I could see cement fall to the floor! Part of the ceiling had broken off! Immediately, everyone exited the building. Thankfully, everyone was ok, but there were some disabled people (who are community volunteers) there who could have been seriously hurt. That was certainly an interesting start to the day. We made sure everyone was ok, and then preceded to the next villages -- the first was actually a village of straw huts outside the metro area and is right on the water (Bay of Bengal) -- I'll post pictures. They are on my laptop which I didn't bring to work today...I was just observing, but the purpose of other AA staff going to the site was to see the progress of an orphan child who had been wandering around the village after the tsunami. His parents abandoned him pre-tsunami and he was sort of seen as this outcast in the village. 6 months ago AA and the local NGO enrolled him in some satellite school programs and they were now visiting to see progress. The boy was really cute and the AA staff noted how much he had improved. A sobering yet heartening story for sheltered people like me :)

Last, we went to another village that is a few kilometers away from the beach to visit a family whose daughter has some ailment that prevents her from going to the mainstream schools. I went inside one of the strawhut structures for the first time -- they stay remarkably cool -- the people were really really warm and inviting -- not that I hadn't expected that, but still it was a great experience.

I don't think I can really describe how hot and humid it was. I think all of you know my love for warm (even hot) weather, but this was taking it to a new level. I felt like I was wading through a pool of hot water. Not exactly comfortable when you combine the dusty roads.

All in all though, an incredible experience. I will be leaving soon for another day trip to another district today. It'll be an even more remote area that comprises the marginalized tribal people of the area...

PS. To those of you I had given guilt trips to, I'm glad to see they worked :)

Well I survived the weekend. Like some of my classmates who are abroad, I too wrestled this past weekend with my tv-viewing options. Spiderman or Titanic in Tamil. Its pretty neat what you can pick up just be reading lips...Then of course, there are the Bollywood movies. While there is certainly the "artsy" film scene (indie movies in the US), Bollywood movies are pure pulp and enormously cheesy. And still you can't look away. It's "guilty pleasure" personified. Imagine some song-and-dance soap opera.

As for work today was day two of an ActionAid partner meeting. It was very interesting and I'm realizing that aspects of PM II and Program Eval. actually seeped through and I could apply them in settings other than the Evans School. That's heartening :)

The 2-daymeeting concerned the rights (or lack thereof) of the fisherpeople living along the coasts of India. The tsunami has prompted organizations like ActionAid to mobilize and connect "unorganized workers" to each other so that they can speak to and address policies that impact their lives. This meeting was the first inter-state meeting and it seemed to me to go pretty well. I made some contacts with local NGOs (whom ActionAid funds to do the implementation work) so that I can make some field visits.

The meetings themselves were interesting because there were people who spoke either English, Tamil, Oriya, or Telugu, or some combination of the above! So there was A LOT I didn't get until it was paraphrased into English.

It was also interesting to see how women interacted in a largely male forum and how men reacted to them. Another interesting point and hard statistic; close to 90% of the men in the meeting (which we can take to be a mini-representative group of India- I am not speaking to matters of internal or external validity here) had mustaches. During one of the long lapses in which no English was spoken, I actually did the math. So there you go. Do what you will what that information.

Tomorrow I'll be going to a workshop on HIV/AIDS awareness that an ActionAid partner conducts. That should be interesting...

Those of you who care to look into the future...Sunday is hot!

I only went out briefly this morning to buy a bottle of water and call my parents from a booth. Oh, and some shampoo.

Yesterday I tried to cure my solitude and general blahness with some retail therapy. The thing about shopping is that it's fun while you're there actually doing the shopping. It's instant gratification. And as quickly as it comes, it evaporated once I left the mall. Besides, like all suburban phenomena, malls are saturated with teeny bopper kids giggling and checking each other out. It's no different in India. The only real difference - here it's ok for all teen boys (regardless of preference) to hold hands.

On the way back, the auto driver I hailed tried to charge me extra. He got away with it for the most part. I didn't give him all he wanted and so then he tried guilting me into it with, "You can afford to live in such a nice hotel," and "the price of petrol is outrageous." still didn't mean he had to target me like that but it's bound to happen...well he still made money off of me even though he said i was cheating him...

now i've got to figure out what to do today...

A room with a view:

These are views from my hotel room. Hazy sky and palm trees. I bet you can all feel the heat. I haven't spent a lot of time outdoors. I have practically melted just from the 10 minute walk to and from work so I am interested to see how I'll deal with the heat when I'm outside all day.

So far, I've been in the office reading up on all sorts of program materials. This weekend should be interesting because I don't really have to go to work -- although I will briefly on Saturday. I've found out some places to go shopping so we'll see how that goes. I'll also try and set up a tour to see the city sights. Maybe even go to the beach sometime next week.

Other than that no plans. A lot of time with me, myself, and I.

Since I paid 100 rupees (about $2.50) for one day worth of internet services, I feel I should get all my thoughts down for the day. So bare with me :)

I arrived in Chennai to a temp. of 100 F and was picked up by someone from the organization. He dropped me off (not at the guesthouse where I was suppose to stay but was later told was full) but a hotel near the organization's office. The craziness of riding in a car in an Indian city is not exclusive just to Calcutta, but to Chennai as well. Lots of cars and motor bikes and people all hurling themselves right in front of you or you doing the same to them.

The hotel is nice, although unfortunately, I will not be staying here the whole time.

After cleaning up and situating myself I took a little auto ride over to the office. This picture is from a previous trip but it gives you an idea of what the "autos" look like. They don't have doors and have only one wheel in the front.

At the office, I met with some of the staff and met with the boss (although I don't really have a boss). I realized today that a lot of the work I do will be on my own, except that he will provide guidance. The other staff seem really nice although I definitely am facing language-barrier issues with them all speaking Tamil and me, well not. They speak English too but fall into a lot of Tamil that is impossible to decipher.

Overall not a bad first day, just slightly lonely, a little daunting, and I'm left facing the pressure that a lot of this trip is what I make of it. Aarrgh! I'd really rather not be responsible about that myself but would look to blame it on the organizaiton :)

I'll likely be traveling around the state of Tamil Nadu during the first few weeks, but should be back fairly often to Chennai, the home base. I'll try and keep you all updated fairly often. I've done pretty well about not passing out today even though it's about 530 am and I've been up for the whole night...I'm trying to kill the jet lag with one swift kick. It's only 630 pm but it's pitch black already...I've definitely gotten used to the long Seattle summer nights. Alright that's about all for now. Hope you're all well. I miss you all. Write back and I'll update again soon...

Hi Everyone

I made it safely, although I can hardly say my flight was pleasant....I just realized however that I really shouldn't complain because I am watching the news in my room right now and they mentioned an Air India flight that was delayed on the runway in Delhi (and the heat) without food and water for something like 3+ hours! Ok, so nothing that bad for me. I had a layover in LA for about 4 hours and then took a 9 hour flight to Frankfurt. There were some non-Indian passengers...I realized it only because truth be told, Air India (maybe for the reasons I am about to detail as well as the experience of those in Delhi today) does not really attract non-Indian customers. I was stuck sitting next to a very nice woman with two kids, one only 9 months old. This was made worse by certain smells (which I need not detail here) wafting over from the malfunctioning bathroom next to us. I wasn't about to deal with that for 9 hours and then another 8 hours to Mumbai so I asked to switch. There was just enough room on the plane...so I did. My new seat (while not next to screaming babies and smelly lavatories) was technologically deficient. The on-flight entertainment didn't work. I wasn't about to complain about that though after dodging the bullet I did. The food was sub-par - but funny moments were when the non-Indians who were seated right in front of me were asking the flight attendants what "pappadum" (the crispy wafer thing sometimes served in indian restaurants before meals) was and how it should be eaten and then the other comments about the food being tasty but spicy. Unfortunately, I can say that for these people, their foray into Indian food (if this was their first which it seemed to be) was a bad one. Well, my suspicions that the non-Indians were not headed for India proved true when they all deplaned in Frankfurt. After a small wait in Germany, we were off to Mumbai. This time I was able to stretch out and get the sleep I hadn't gotten the night/day (or whatever it was) before. The food was still "eh" and new parts of the plane weren't working (obviously not the essential ones) like the video screen in front. After landing in Mumbai I went through the security clearance to check-into my next flight (Mumbai to Chennai which I learned was via Hyderabad) and then was told the gate had changed and we would have to go through security all over again. Still, I pretty much slept through the rest of the flight. I was a little nervous about my luggage not keeping up with all the plane changes but it persevered. I went through a practically non-existent (and refreshing) immigration process and then picked up my one checked bag and came out to the arrivals area. I always feel a little let-down and silly when I see all the people waiting in the arrivals section for their arriving loved ones and I'm looking around as if I'll find someone :) Well that's been my last two days; Lost waiting in lines, being canned like a sardine in a smelly container, and attempting to convince myself that sleeping with my neck turned 90 degrees from my body is actually comfortable...

Lessons learned: Air India is far from the best way to travel to the subcontinent...although I have a feeling none of you needed me to tell you that :)

More to come....

Leaving Seattle for three months :(

Well everyone, I'm off tomorrow for what I think amounts to about 32 hours of travel. Yippee! So when you're home in your pjs and nice and comfy, (Lynda, you'll be watching the Mavs try to pull a win in Miami so I'm not sure how "comfy" you'll be) I'll be on a cramped plane with the distant sound of kids screaming and the smell of canned air all around me...

Have a great summer and the next time I write it'll be from sunny (sunny's an underestimate) Chennai!