day 12 part two, keep growing

I’m sitting on my bed, with a headlamp on, go ahead, laugh it up….. It’s pretty funny looking actually, but now I don’t have to get out of bed to turn off the light, so there! Except now I can see the bugs and mosquitoes that are flying/crawling through my mosquito net biting me and giving me the chills. Lovely.

So I just finished dinner. Good meal indeed. But before then, I went to my new best friend in India’s house. So a little background on this guy, he’s 19, speaks very broken English has polio, walks with a leg brace that drags his right leg behind him when he walks. He always smiles from ear to ear and waves at me. He always says gooouudddmorreeeniingggg to me. I can’t help but chuckle a little every time. He works for father Paul as an assistant working with documents or something. He also runs errands of the small nature. So anyways he invites me to his place to just hang out with him. So we walk, not more than 2 blocks of back alleys and we get there. His room is no more than a 6 by 8 room, with 1 window and a few shelves. He sleeps on the floor with a pillow and a blanket. He has a few changes of clothes hanging on a clothes line. He literally has almost nothing. But you would never know it by talking to the guy. So we went up to the roof and there was sweet looking younger lady cooking dinner on a small rocket stove, burning fire wood. It smelt nice. And these few little boys came over to me and examined me like I was an alien specimen. Well justifiably so, I guess. I am an alien to them, so all is fair. I said hi and wave and they started yammering in Hindi. I smiled and shook my head, ‘engleze’ more yammering. Anon laughs and says he thinks you are speaking crazy, he can’t speak English, only Hindi…. So I’m trying to learn a little Hindi… I know the word for stairs, ‘CD’, lol I don’t know how it’s spelled. I know the word for cap or hat, top’e. I know the phrase for I’m just watching. ‘Dekrah issah’ phonetic spelling of course. So I tried to learn how to say my name is Tim…. Tomorrah nomahrklay Tim Hartnett. The boy looked at me. yammered. Anon said he thought u dint know Hindi… so the kid went on for a good 30 sec in super fast Hindi and I started laughing. He looked at me like I insulted him… ‘No Hindi, engleze’ …. Yammer…… so the night went on he had a friend buy us a beer each, I gave the kid money. 75 Rs each, like 2 bucks for liter beers. So were talking kinda just looking at the people preparing for dinner. And he starts to tell me his dreams and goals and aspirations. He made me promise not to tell anyone, so I really can’t. But basically he wanted to make it. More than anything he wanted to be successful. He kept repeating ‘keep growing; keep growing I just have to keep growing. I taught him the ‘one day at a time’ message he like that too… keep growing. ‘Timm, you help me. You help!’ I couldn’t help but smile and promise id try. I don’t know what yet, but this is the first time since I’ve been here I’ve seen the single person. The individual. As I lay in bed now I’m very happy. Very very happy.

We drive down the road and see poverty. We see destruction, abuse, neglect. So much wrong. I saw today young boys working in the sewers, I had to look away and cover my mouth with my handkerchief to help hold down my morning eggs. Not more than .5 km away a girl age maybe 4? Was digging in the trash, digging, with a bag on her bag full of rope and string… she was barefoot. Dirty, clothes tattered, maybe homeless? You see this and you think, wow India is really in a rotten situation. Trash everywhere. People everywhere. Animals everywhere.

Ill admit I’ve never been one to be big on the whole recycling thing or going out of my way to help the big picture… if its convenient, sure, I’ll throw my bottle in the blue bin instead of the brown garbage can, no problem. But going the extra little bit and concisely making my small difference. There s an impact, tho small, there is an change for the better. The point I’m making is, yes he is just one person. People are going to continue to suffer in India. People will continue cleaning sewers and picking for rags, but you affect one person, one person at a time. And you’ve changed their life. It’s a write off to us and our luxiourous life. But to them it’s their ticket out. It’s their boiling point, it’s their final push for the snowball effect to start the momentum of enabling themselves to pull out of the situation and become prosperous.

I am glad for tonight. It wasn’t a huge ordeal, but it was enough, enough to show me how someone surviving on barely 100 dollars a month care makes it. It called hope.

I finish today’s blog with this. I miss my home. I’m certainly not ready to come back yet, but I miss the people I love and the people that love me. This is probably the first time in years I’ve missed home like this. It nights like tonight you reflect on the blessings you have and how easily it is to overlook certain things.

Thanks for the emails and continued support. Peace, love, and spicy curry,

-tim

Keep growing

day 12 part one

Today we went to the school/ hospital for the lowest class or caste of people in India. And I mean poorest of the people living on the street. Many of the children were previously rag pickers, people who through the trash, on the side of the road, and dig through trash, normally barefoot, looking for scraps of food and or clothing. They have nothing, but life. No money. No real hope for anything but being a rag picker. And this is accepted. This institution, run by the Jesuits, takes some of these children and transforms them into something new. Society does not like this. You are not supposed to leave your caste. This caste is supposed to remain illiterate. By teaching them, you are breaking socialites hold on these children, and many people are unhappy.

So we arrived by our 4 wheel, which is a Toyota pickup truck, not like a 2001 edition, like a vehicle with a flat bed. A steel frame. Four doors and an engine, with partial a/c. that’s it. It’s not a luxury vehicle, although after taking the 3 wheels taxis, this surely seems like a luxury. On the way there we hit our first traffic jam, so what did we do? We drove on the shoulder. The big trucks were stuck in the normal driving lane. The shoulder is full of debris, dirt, sand and people/bikes/other vehicles. When the road narrowed, we crossed the median and drove into oncoming traffic. THIS IS NORMAL!!!! It’s like they play chicken but you know the outcome: lots of horn blaring and slow moving traffic… not finger waving obscenely shouting road rage filled drivers. So we passes jam one. Now we are on a road, if u can even call it that, that I would pay money to traverse with a jeep. I would, and this only increased my desire for a jeep that much more. Jeep jeep jeep. Right so. There are drop offs where it’s like a paved-ish road then a pothole that drops easily a foot. If u do not have a car with a lift kit, do not attempt this, you won’t have a car in one piece by the end. If I was in a jeep, seriously, I would be on cloud 9. Thennnn, the truck close to the size of a semi tries to make this hairpin turn. Stops traffic for a good 20 minutes as he drives then reverses. Well, small vehicles like bikes and motorcycles don’t like waiting. So they don’t, they normally just go around the cars that are stopped (or moving for that matter) so we have a jam then more people are coming through. CHAOTIC, but this is the norm. It easy to see how a traffic jam can last days. Oh the kicker, some of the truck drivers aren’t even in their trucks. They get stuck. And they go get food. Or sleep. Or play cricket, idk, but they aren’t in their truck. Absurd.

SO! We get to the school and we meet with Fr. Albert and we start trouble shooting the problem. Well we were given no real instructions on what the problem is, just it doesn’t work well… communication is very important here… and it helps when you can understand the problem… but another problem often arises… communication in English… right so we start trouble shooting. And yes were both ELEs but we both have very little in field training. Most of the training in the classroom is all theoretical and abstract. And being that we haven’t been part of a new build were not exactly sure how the system is supposed to be set up anyways… but we did our best I took some pictures, made some calculations, drew some pictures (of the system, not of trees and flowers and stick people). And we left to go home for lunch. Good luck Father, hope it works… better!

Right, so back to the roads… wow soo bad. Another traffic jam. And I’m not joking, I would pay to be on these roads with a, or my, JEEEEP.

So on the way back, I’m looking out the window, seeing crazy normal daily Indian stuff when I saw the grossest thing. Excuse me while I go vomit while reminiscing…. These young boys covered, covered in the black goop. Looks like tar, but goopier. And I see them tossing this stuff into the street and sidewalk area, there are no sidewalks in India, just roads and roadsides, although the roadsides are fair game for cars, bikes and or humans/animals including but not limited to cows, buffalo, chickens, and dogs. So they are tossing this out, from where you ask the sewer…. Vomit…. This isn’t metropolitan flowing water and some sewage sewer, I mean clogged. With dirt, human waste, garbage, animal waste. Seriously you name it. It’s there. And these people are barefoot. In shorts and tank tops, no concern they are dying…. Grossest thing I have seen so far in India… and that includes fish with their heads being chopped off, full of flies and guts that splashed the people nearby. That includes someone squatting and relieving himself next to a tree, not behind, but next to, one that was on the “tree lawn” by the road, goss things that includes eating sardines…. Ok I’m done. I can’t go on without seriously damaging my computer with projectiles.

more later.. stay posted

day 11

Ok, so it’s Sunday. I slept well. Well, better than the night before. I failed to mention in that long post that I dint find rest to nearly 420. I knew it was 4 am because that’s the first call to prayer for the surrounding muslin mosques. Needless to say, I slept better this time. I woke around 6 finally get out a bed around 620. I took my shirts up stairs to dry. I hung those up and came back to shower. Got cleaned up had a quick cup of coffee and then went to mass at 7. Well the rosary started at 7 because it’s May, they say the rosary beforehand. Mass was at 730. I followed the rosary pretty well… interesting to not a Hail Mary in English takes the same time in Hindi, the language the mass, rosary, and everything else in India is written/spoken.

So the mass was nice. Father gave us a shout out and everyone stared at us for a while. Awkward. It’s like stand? Wave? Smile and nod? Breathe slowly. Any way after mass, Mary Ellen and I were supposed to meet Anon and go around the city with him. So I was talking to him, and all these people came up to me shook my hand and said good morning. I felt like a celebrity.

I went upstairs, devoured a small breakfast, like 2 hardboiled eggs and a cup of coffee, changed out of khakis and put on my other pants. Time out... so these pants are awesome I got them at gander mountain then unzip at the knee, yah the kind that were/are really unfashionable but had a phase in like the 1998 summer. Yes those pants. Well they are really light weight and have a few different cargo pockets. No I haven’t worn the shorts or unzipped them in public, I still have some dignity. Anyways they have male bathing suit insides. Ladies that’s like wearing whitey tighties with a lot of holes, I guess. Well I wear boxers and these are really cramping my style. Sorry for the TMI update, but I’m thinking about cutting them out entirely. I’ll be sure to see you posted.

Where was I…. ok so we met Anon and walked to the road where we picked up a 3 wheel taxi. Us and 4 other people. There were 8 people crammed into a double wide red flyer wagon. Seriously that’s what it felt like. No doors. Just a bar on one side and an open hole where a door would go. 4 people in the back 4 in the front. You drive with a bike handle. And apparently you're not supposed to have all your teeth or bathe regularly. Shucks I guess it’s not the job for me. So were going. I pull out my hankie, yes laugh but I carry it and love it. So I pull it out and have to breathe through it because the exhaust and dust is so thick.

We finally made it to Patna. We were going to get me a cap, or gotee as it is in Hindi. But they were over priced 250 Rs (250 rupee ~ 6 US dollars.) so we walked and smelled really foul garage on the side of the road. Drew many looks but kept walking. Got in another 3 wheel off to where? I don’t know. So we got there and there’s this guard standing by the fence and this huge building doesn’t open until 11. Its 10 am now. He tells us it’s the star house. Plantation?!?! What… I don’t understand. Stars house. Plantartaion. Planetarium? Oh yess. Yess. Ok

We now go to the “Jew house” ha-ha what where are we going?? “Jew house”

We arrived at the “Patna Zoo” Yes “Jew house” ok my Indian friend, ok smiles so the charge to go in the zoo was 15 Rs so like 35 cents. We went inside and it was hot. Easily in the 107 range. And zoo animals loovvve the heat so they were all out! Yay us. Just kidding. But it was cool though the ones that were out, u could practically pet a lot of them. And by practically I mean. You had to stand behind the “protective barrier” and extend you arm. If the animal was there, it would be under/eating your hand. I dint know we were going so I brought my little video camera that I bring everywhere so I only got a few lower quality pictures, but they are cool. Oh and I think all the animals here are in mating season. Or just really happy to see one another… oh another fun thing. We felt like animals too, well got that much attention. People followed us around all day and took pictures of us, with us…. The conversations would go like this “you're not from here.” “No were from America” “Are you from America?” “Yes we are” “can we take a picture with you or of you?” yes sure. Try this to a random person some time. I swear you will confuse them very very much. And they will tell their friends Americans are strange. Ok we left the zoo and headed back to the star house.

Went to the planetarium by 3 wheel had some street biscuits. First street food. Went inside the gates and paid 20 rupee for a ticket, as more people took pictures. IT was kinda cool to people watch or watch people discover there are Americans nearby it spread from one family to a group of teens to some old people across the open area… There were easily 300 people there, in not 400. We got there at 1pm. Show doesn’t start until 2pm. Spoke to Anon's sister on the phone. Going to visit her in July maybe. Finally inside, there are metal detectors, security guards feeling pants checking purses, not like at the movies here its kinda overlooked, more like airport pat downs… we got inside the theater and it’s like an Imax. Seats broken, split backs. Put head on water bottle and fell asleep ha-ha. Woke up. Show starting. Title was in Hindi, then English, this could be good.…. Then the rest in Hindi ahhh darn. So I followed by pictures. Galaleo Galileo? And then Isaac Newton finding effects of gravity…. Then starts and planets then……. Space ships and space station. Later found out it was intended for the illiterate and uneducated people of the city. Great. I’m neither and I still couldn’t understand.

Got back devoured lunch 3 kinds of chicken. Yellow covered in a turmeric sauce ok, brown covered in a ginger sauce ok, deep fried and roasted. With fries and onion and tomatoes. AMEN scoreeeee. Father you have been listening to my dreams! Went back showered and passed out.

Supposed to meet anon again. He dint show I took pictures of flowers, duh had to do something, and I had my nicer camera on hand

I helped set up for party for a father who is moving onto another order by diocese. The priests invited other priests in the area that are Jesuits. Total of 9 maybe? So I helped set up and the kitchen smelled awesome so I was excited. We had 3 different kinds of nuts for appetizers and some spicy rosemary breadstick thing. Dinner was chicken and then beef of some sort. It was tough but so delicious. Some packaged bread and a vegetable salad, which means carrots sliced thing on a plate with cucumber sliced really thing on top with onion sliced thin onto of that, with thick slices of tomatoes on that. Not too bad actually. Then there was whisky and beer. Went through 2 bottles of whiskey. I remember stories from high school that the Jesuits know how to have a good time. Confirmation on the stories. There was lichen for dessert. Great evening.

Talked with one father about education how Indians are excelling because they know Americans are lazy and foolish in school. And Indians see this and know education is their only ticket out. He also told me to visit the southernmost tip of India. Very literate, very beautiful, full of coconuts. I’m sold. Let’s go!!!

Spoke to another father about the young boys lined up to be Jesuits and the challenges they face. Also he’s a counselor and a psychiatrist. He told me the difficulties he’s seen and how no matter what country u go to, everyone has the basic need to love and be loved. True that father. Also spoke on how English is the international language, not Spanish and no other crosses so many borders and continents. Especially in the religious communities. When they come together it’s all taught in English, good work AMERICA.

Did some laundry. Now it’s soaking. Sleep then Monday Monday Monday, except unlike the rest of my friends in the US, I’m not gardening, or landscaping, or going to class or evening looking for apartments in San Francisco, I’m working on top of a hospital and a school for the lowest caste of people, in India, troubleshooting electrical failures in a solar cell with a group of priests, only one speaking English.

Bring. It. On.

“The life we lead is the life we choose, one way or another”

--Tim Hartnett J <3 J

explanations

Hi all, hope you are enjoying my blog. heres how everything is working. so. we have this thing called rolling blackouts. where we will lose power from the solar batteries from 2-12 hours, at any point any time. most of the time though it is reliable. also. my internet is off a USB dongle. I have to pay per Gb i use. therefore I will not upload pictures until the end of my trip when Im back on American soil. I will check email whenever i get on. Grandma, Im sorry I have not read any of your FWDs. maybe sometime in August I will get caught up.

Daily I journal on my computer. that is what I have been posting as my blog. so. some entries are very lengthy, others not so much. the days are getting more and more filled with activities, but i make sure within at least 36 or 48 hours I write something about it. depending on my conectivity i will keep the blog up to date. it is currently day 12. i have recently added day 8 and 9. later tonight i may add day 10 and 11.

Also, happy memorial day, we are unfortunately not roasting an entire cow as many of our neighbors would be very very very upset by this. so please, family and friends eat some extra beef and pork for me.

finally, Mr. Kavagah, Kayleigh's dad had some surgery done this past week. please keep him and his family in your prayers.

peace. love. and Indian culture

happy reading.

day 9

Today was a great day.

For breakfast I had chipatae with peanut butter and pineapple jelly. The transporters came to pick up the supplies for our first project installation next week. It was somewhat chaotic

I met this nice old lady who is always cooking, her name is Rita. She told me she has 3 children one in upper India, one who is a hotel manager, and the youngest is studying to be a nurse. This was all communicated in very very broken English. The afternoon was stifling hot well into the 110+ range. I wasn’t able to check the official report, but most definitely the hottest day I’ve had here so far. I retreated inside and sat in nothing but shorts, dripping puddles of sweat onto my desk. I did, in the process, finish my book. As the day carried on I played Gin rummy with Mary Ellen, she killed me. beat me 11-2. I don’t want to talk about it. Lunch was, well, it still is giving me the chills talking about it. I forget what else we had but there was potatoes which were good, but there was this green mixture it looked spinach or seaweed. You could smell the salt and I was told it was fish. Ok, ocean fish, sure. I bit into a mouthful of bones. Father reassured me they were edible. I gages ok. I tried another bite. Bit right through the spine bone and almost created a plate full of partially digested food. Enough said. I took a pepto bismal after to make sure I wouldn’t be seeing anymore sardines today.

I am currently typing this and my little girl friend is across the way. She keeps smiling and waving back at me. How these Indians love to wave at me. I hope it’s not a secret Indian sign “like you look really silly, silly American” Yah, I didn’t get that memo, So I’m going to continue thinking it’s a good thing

I don’t know if I really look THAT funny, I know some people like my mother and a few other people in my life might say I’m funny looking, whether seriously or just joking… The people look at me and stare and say comments in Hindi undecipherable to my untrained ear. Ok so I’m sitting on the roof, I guess that’s reason to stare, but I just walk around and I’m stared at… Maybe they think I’m extremely handsome with my boyishly good looks. And my immaculate beard. Yes that is it certainly.

I took some pictures today. Next time I can connect to the internet, I will post them and include a link in the blog.

OK So I was on the roof, and yes, as cool as it was, I had to stop journaling and just watch. My little girl friend was waving from across the way, and the boys from around the area ages 8-maybe 13 were tossing a cricket ball around. The young girl came down and met with 3 other girls playing no one above the age of 10. They were so cute. Staring up at me and waving sheepishly and then running to seek cover by their mother in a nearby doorway. 5-630pm has become my favorite time of day. I absolutely love it. There are so many reasons. The sun is setting, gorgeous. The weather is a cool 80, with a breeze, 20 degrees cooler than the average temperature of the day. People come out side. Workers come home from long hours. Children play outside, laughing, running, being young. It truly reminds me of home; of days when in the summer when I did was play baseball with a handful of friends behind the old middle school. It’s what we did from 10 till we couldn’t see the ball anymore.

I sat outside just watching, observing. Wonderful

The day finished with the best dinner yet. We had chicken kabobs, with potatoes and onions and chipatae. Absolutely delicious.

I’m off to bed now. Day 9 complete

day 8

Today started out so hot inside. I woke around 6am and began sweating immediately, or rather continued sweating from the night before. I estimated it was at least 90 or so in my room. 6am here would mean it’s about 8pm in the states. I skyped with Kayleigh for the first time since leaving the US. IT was good to see a familiar face. I have skyped with mom at least twice since leave Chicago Airport. The USB I went to breakfast at 7 and had some wheat chipatae and vegetables. A storm began soon after breakfast. This would prevent collecting sun energy until after the clouds had passed anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours. These storms we have been having a strange for this time of year, they normally don’t occur until July. They are nice because they bring the temperature down, but greatly increase the humidity. It can down pour like it did today; spilling inches of rain on the ground, and by noon, there are no traces it has rained. It is just hot. And muggy. And the bugs love it. So it doesn’t sound like I’m just complaining, it makes Cleveland (and Michigan) summers seem pleasant and mild.

Today we were able to accomplish reviewing our drawing with Fr. Paul. He was very impressed. We signed the document ending with the phrase Father loves, “And that was that”

The storm continued, so I did what anyone with ample free time on their hand would do: made some tea, Taj Mahal tea, from India of course, sat in a plastic chair in the hallway, cracked a window open and dove back into my book. I am glad I bought it. I am such a nerd. Then I took a nap. Glorious nap indeed.

day 7

Last night I took some Nyquil after skypeing with my friend Sarah. That was around 10 pm. The air conditioner as set at a cool 25 C which is 77F. I woke around 2 and could not find rest again. Finally around 3, I took 2 Tylenol PMs. This worked wonderfully. I slept through breakfast and morning tea. I only rose to use the bathroom sporadically through this time period. I am forcing myself to drink extra amounts of water because I know I am loosing quite a bit through sweat and saliva. Last night was the first nigh it sprayed deet on my neck. Ironically, I had about 5 mosquito bites this morning. None itched. Mary Ellen was again not enjoying my good fortune.

Fr. Paul, our main contact here, came to my room around 12:30 after I had missed the normal lunch time. He was concerned I was feeling ill and we discussed seeing a doctor. I took a quick shower, which was so refreshing, brushed my teeth and went to lunch. I did eat a protein bar around 1030 so I wasn’t running on just fumes. I had maybe a cup of cooked rice and a ladle fool of egg broth, both left my stomach a little uneasy. We talked with Fr. Paul about idioms like knocking on wood or two birds with one stone. He said they have those hear, but he would have to think of an example. We also talked about the boys in the neighborhood that climb the fence here and try to teal papaya from the trees, breaking them. So mischievous. This led to talking about gangs in India, but he assured us they stick to mostly metropolitan areas.

He gave me some medicine as we both agreed this was a common cold/with flu like symptoms. He had similar conditions a week before our arrival. He gave me a ZEDEX – COLD tablet that he claimed worked very well for him. So I too tried its healing powers.

This afternoon Mary Ellen and I worked on finishing up the drawing of our solar system. It’s actually quite impressive. I began reading a book I bought at the airport, called the burning wire. It’s about terrorist who use Arc flashes to kill people. Total engiNERD book. It is about 4pm here in India and the temperature is starting to go below 105 F. I’m going to read a bit more then rest until 8pm dinner. Oh yah had my first case of the runs today. Spicy food in, Spicer out. Lovely isn’t it. Depending how I feel. I will either be online or updating my blog.

One week down, just a few more to go…

day 6

Ive been away from home for almost a week now, though it feels like its been much longer. I am glad I took photographs from home to remind me of the people im missing. It is 8:30 am and already climbing to 37 C. I am starting to get used to wearing long sleeves and long pants in this heat. This morning I woke with a cold. Last night I took some bendryl to aid in my allergies and help me sleep past 3am. It worked as I slept till almost 7. Breakfast this morning was a new type of chipatea, this time with a little oil instead of plain wheat flour and water. I have really taken a liking to the food here. I feel there is high amount of protein and carbohydrates in the meals we have.

So as today progressed I feel I definetly have a sinus infection. Which sucks. Throught hurts, sinus pickets are tender. Headaches. Glands below chin are tender. And my nose is constantly running. Yap I get 3-7 of these a year. Im not raising any red flags yet tho. I have some meds to take.

On a separate note, mary Ellen is complaining on mosqitoe bites everywhere. I found my first on on my index finger today. She didn’t she the humor in it I saw. Knock on wood they will leave me alone.

We went over the plans today for the rest of june. Its really cool what were doing here. Im actually using stuff I learned in school to design this syetem. Who woulda thought!??! Banks of PV panels in parallel you add the voltage in series and add the currents in parallel. Yep, forgot that rule, thanks Prof Penno, I know you taught it!

For dinner tonight they had a somosa, which is soup like thing. Which was awesome. It was like a chicken noodle soup and a rice and potatoe cipatea (flat tortilia cake) and a cornlike legume in turmeric sauce (gives it th eyellwo color) . we had a fruit call liches. SOOO good. It looks like a sraberry except it a thorny outside. You soak these fruit in water for at least two hours. Then you peal off the skin and it has the consistencey of a grape with the skin removed. It taskes simmiliar to a grape with lots of sugar. Very good. If the food is spicy, it is referred to as pungent. Communicating here is not as difficult as I would have expected. Daily I still have to ask some of fathers to repeat them selves. But I am following what they say quite easily now, and I am learning the enlgish words they know very well.

I drank about 4 liters of water today, mom those crystal light packets were a great idea. So glad I packed with you <3.

Hope all is well in the states. 1 week down. J

day 5

Day 5

Today was a very cool day. I found my new favorite place in the world. I am currently tying this entry from that spot right now. I am on the roof of the compound. I can see so much. There are so many other Indians on their roofs as well. I made several new friends today. First, Father Paul’s assistant Anon. He has polio and walks with a limp. His is a nice fellow though. He speaks with very broken English and is always smiling. The second person I met is this little girl who lives two houses down. I haven’t met her in person, but when I am on the room, we wave back and forth. Even though it is some distance away, I can see her smiling.

We sat with father Paul today and discussed the plan for installing the solar panels. We are doing actual ELE work. We are designing the system of 3 banks of 4 solar panels tied in to a charge converter that charges 2 banks of 3 batteries. This is ties to the inverter and then the lights. The grid is also tied to the inverter which assists in charging the batteries during energy production from PV panels. We also have to design the required sizing of the wires that connect all parts of the system. We should be installing this next week.

Mary Ellen and I walked into the town, well off the compound grounds. It was… almost intimidating. We walked probably 2 miles, and saw several thousand people. People are packed so tightly here in India it is remarkable they can move. The pollutions are horrific. I am not yet comfortable enough to take pictures of my surroundings in this area. In weeks to come, I will take pictures to better illustrate what I mean.

My beard is growing long and itchy. This is the longest period of time I have ever had facial hair. Idk if I like it yet lol

day 4

I cant believe its only day 4

Today was Sunday. Mass at 7am, in the chapel in the compound. Mary Ellen and I got there about 20 minutes early and we noticed almost everyone sat on the floor. So we followed suit. Also, everyone was barefoot, with shoes left outside. Soon after we sat, they began the rosary, in hindi. I picked up on it around the second decade. The mass was said in all hindi, with a bout 9 or 10 songs throughout. We stood once and nealt once. My back was killing me (and still is 15hours after)! Communion is very different at well. The women first of all are on the right hand side of the church, the men on the left. Male children in the front left. The men went first, followed by the women, followed by the children. I went with the children, as I was sitting withthem. The offtory included bananas and hard boiled eggs. I think there was a new nun being inducted into the convent.

Aften mass, we had breakfast and then napped. Everal hours later we had lunch with 11 people. Two guest nuns, two guest priests and several Jesuits I had met the night before. We had this corn flake looking piece of food. It was deep fried and aboutu 100x the size of a regular corn flake. There was pork curry and several vegetables. I tried a little of everything, and washed some of I down with a glass of sprite. Mary Ellen left early and followed suit soon after. I took a few pepto bismals and laid down. Something wasn’t settling right.

I woke hours later, sweating, just missing tea time. I played gin rummy with mary Ellen winning by a large margin. I talked with the one visiting priest and he told me how a lot of Indian families are falling apart no day because the youth is more drawn ot the city and when they come back they want to lead a different lifestyle in the village and it classes with the expectations of the village apon them. The mosquitoes were starting to bite, so I retired to my room to journal.

day 3

Today is the first real day in India. I woke around 3 am and could not find rest again til around 530. My biological clock is so messed up. I got my first dose of home sickness… I found myself thinking aout friends of mine that graduated and I would not see again for a while. That brought trouble to my mind and I had to force myself to change my thoughts. I drifted in and out of prayer too. Many of my thoughts were interrupted by beads of sweat and itchy body parts. I could not find comfort on this thin mattress, even with the fan and air conditioner running.

Breakfast comprised of watery scrabbled eggs with fresh tomatoes and cilantro. There was also the chippatea bread. I was still full from last night.

We met with Fr. Paul after breakfast and discussed our plans. We will help him install these solar platforms in 2-3 different locations around india. All of them had ties to either the Jesuits of a convent. We are dealing more with the termal energy of solar instead of the Photovolatic (PV) as initial thought. We are trying to stay here all 10 weeks. Fr. Paul is helping us arrange for travel to different parts of India. There is hopes of traveling to meet the other ETHOS group in Ponticherry.

Later in the day we went into town to the ‘mall’ which was a combination of a Walmart and a general goods store. I am still trying t understand how much a rupee is worth. A comparison is a liter of mineral water cost about 17 rupees. Father bought some provisions and we went back to meet our driver who was waiting for us. I plan on videoing traffic some time, words really don’t do it justice.

I got hit by a car. Lightedly tapped by the bumper, sure, but I learned if he would have knocked me down anyone who say the incident might have trashed his car, including lighting it on fire, on the spot. They take traffic accidents very seriously. We made how in time for tea. Dinner was at 8. A curry with a chic pea type legume. I found sleep easy to find again, around 1030.

day 2

Great breakfast. Got to the airport around 10am. And waited until noon. They found my bag. I grabbed my phone charger to charge my dead phone. Called home, updated them on the situation. Called Kayleigh and Sarah for the last time, and went on my merry way. I unfortunately had to dump the 2 water bottles I was carrying… bummer. Made it through security. Eventually boarded the plane. Yellow and orange seating. Reminded me of a 70’s movie color scheme.

Here’s where it starts getting funny/weird. So were the only Americans on the plane. Nbd. First snack comes. 2 half sandwiches fruit and water. 1 half sandwich is cucumber and co-slaw on wheat with the crust cut off. And the other is cucumber and tomatoes on white, with the crust cut off. I watched 3 movies. Unstoppable (highly recommend) Mr. Troop mom (highly don’t recommend) and chronicles of Narnia. Dinner came which was curry chicken with rice. Yum. A veggie stick salad with seaweed dressing. Mango and water. The mango tasted what I imagined a rotten diaper would taste like… worst mango I’ve ever had. Everything else was good. I took a 6 hour nap and by the time I woke it was breakfast. It was an egg like thing with mushrooms in it and chicken nuggets that made McDonalds nuggets look like chicken cor don blue. Veggie sticks, fruit and a strawberry creamy cake thing. Please mom, don’t get that for my next birthday cake.

We landed in New Delhi after 15 hours of air time. Mary Ellen and I grabbed our luggage exchanged some money (exchange rate is 41.28 rupees to 1 USD) and rushed to the gate. Rechecked our luggage, got our boarding passes and went through a very rigorous pat down security. Excuse me, please don’t touch tHATT. While in New Delhi, our passports were check 8 times and our boarding passes 7 times. And I thought US was strict. Finally on board I passed put until another dinner/ lunch came. Fruit, chocolate cake, water and….. An orange tear drop thing and a green tear drop thing, with grill tofu in the middle. Dorothy, were not in America anymore… I got hot tea, which was the best part of the meal, then the cake followed by the tofu. One tear drop was a spicy corn which was not edible and the other was a seaweed and olive green rock which triggered my gag reflex. Oh boy, this might be an interesting 10 weeks….

We landed and immediately notice every there has no regard for personal space or saying excuse me. But that’s just how it is. We quickly learned to stand our ground while waiting for our bags. Grabbed our luggage and met our host Fr Paul. He spoke English. And English we were able to pick out every 3^rd or 4^th word. We hopped in the Toyota pickup truck and jutted out into traffic… on the left hand side of the road. It was about 730 pm and the sun was completely set. There were vendors selling all kinds of stuff. Fruit, pastries, bikes… so many people. Being white skinned, we were already drawing many stares. Traffic was intense! It felt like we’re going to crash, constantly, there are no lanes. U fill all empty spaces. The bigger the vehicle and the more it costs, the more authority it has.

We made it back to the compound. Which was gated. There is a sense of security with that. We got inside, were sown our rooms and washed-up for dinner. We had a flat wheat bread and a beef stew. There was also a spicy vegetable curry, which I favored more. We chatted some and went off to bed. It was 10pm. Although, my body didn’t know that, it was just tired. I climbed into bed. Pulled down the mosquito net and listened to the music of the bugs out my window and the cars on the byway. Thankfully my room was somewhat air-conditioned. The temperature outside was finally settling to about 97 degrees. “Very pleasant” we were told.

Day 2 complete

day 1

Day 1 let the festivities begin… I get to the airport about 10 Am. Plenty of time, right? So my itinerary says I’m flying American Airlines. I go to check in and of course, I am not in the system “go try United,” I’m instructed. So I did. Strangely I am not in their system either. The lady behind the counter instructed me to go to Continental. After hearing the same story 3 times, I knew there was a problem… I had an itinerary but it was not real. It had me flying to New York. Something must have gotten screwed up! I went back to United and the next flight out left at 1:25PM. For all the airlines going to Chitown… no problem except my flight to India from Chicago left at 2:45PM. Even with the time change I would have 30 minutes to claim my checked bag, sprint to the train. Take a train to the terminal sprint to the ticket counter. Cut every person in line. Check my bag. Print my boarding pass. Go through security and board my flight… I mean, as high caliber of an athlete as I am (ha-ha, funny) this was pushing it to the limit.

I told the lady to hold on. I called my travel companion Mary Ellen who told me I was supposed to be on the 10AM flight to Chicago! UMMMM why did I not know this?!?! (Turns out I had two Itineraries and I was only sent the first version, not the updated…) So I called mom, nearly in tears, and told her I missed my flight. My world was crumbling. How could I miss my flight to India? Poor Mary Ellen… has to navigate India all alone. Meltdown. Mom comes. She cries. I call dad. Dad says run, run fast or something like that. He felt I could make it, but it would be tight. I kissed mom goodbye one more time then went to check in. the lady gave me my boarding pass, put the tag on my bag that transferred it directly to Indian Airlines, I wouldn’t even have to collect it! Score!

I went through security, then snuck into the presidential club and waited for my flight in about 2 hours. I filled my water bottle one last time with clean fresh water from the tap. Had some cheese and crackers and settled in to watch deadliest catch.

I get ready around 1:00 pm to board my flight, DELAYED to 2:44pm. I now had 14 minutes to complete all objectives before getting on my India flight. Sh*ttttttttttt!!!!!! I called my professors, neither picked up. I called the travel agency that books our flights, she wasn’t very happy. She got me anew flight for India the next day and a hotel in Chicago. The professors decided it would be best if we stuck together. So, Mary Ellen waited at the airport for me.

Finally, I arrived at the airport, ok yay. Let go to the hotel I need to relax. Go to claim my luggage anddddddd, sigh…. It wasn’t there. Naturally. SO I went to the united baggage claim and showed my baggage claim ticket and she said go to Continental, I was on a continental flight. So I did. Waited about 30 minutes for the gentleman to tell me I need to talk to the united representative. COME ON!!!!!

So I went back to united and the lady told me, it was the first day continental and United were sharing responsibilities across the board and no one wanted to take ownership for the other’s mishaps. Awesome… so where my bag… oh right it looks like it is in transit to air India. Nice. Thanks folks. Being that I missed the flight, I knew it was at least still in America. That’s good... I went to the air India counter and they were closed for the day. Come back at 1030 tomorrow. Right. Please let today be over. We called the hotel for the shuttle. And it never came. After 1hour and 40 minutes, we walked to another terminal and picked up another shuttle there.

At the hotel, we each got a drink voucher, the first thing that had went my way. The food was great too. Had a big juicy Beef hamburger, for the last time for 10 weeks, we both passed out in our separate bed nearly immediately upon returning. The beds were soft. The room was climate controlled. It was bliss, simply bliss.

What a day. Only 69 more days to go…, maybe tomorrow I go to India?!?!

Day 0

Ok, folks… I’ve had some time this morning to recap what I’ve done these past 5 days…. This is day 5 I think I just checked my journal and lie. Its only day 4. Feels like I’ve been here for weeks already…

Let’s start from the beginning.

Its day 0, I leave tomorrow for my trip. All gear is packed. It all fit into 1 camping back and my carry on book bag. Everything I need for 10 weeks. I felt like I covered all the bases though, medicine, clothes, even toilet paper. I printed out my boarding pass and was fully prepared for my noon flight to Chicago from Cleveland.

Day 0

so, i made it...

I made it! that last post would have communicated that to you, except I was on my host's computer. its in hindi... good luck deciphering that... so yah... im here safely

the food is, well, interesting to say the least. so far i am enjoying most of it, although i must admit it is awfully interesting. i will have to take some pictures to explain what i mean.

i do not know my interent situation for the weeks to come, but hopefully i will be able to communicate frequently.

God bless , and thank you for all your prayers and kind thoughts.

Trust me when I say... I ALREADY have some great stories to tell you!

-tim

ഐ മടെ it

ഐ മടെ ഇറ്റ്‌! ഐ ദോ നോട നോ വാട്ട്‌ ചരച്റെര്സ് വില്‍ ഷോ അപ്പ്‌... ഐ അം സുര്രെന്റ്ലി വ്രിതിംഗ് ഇന്‍ ഹിന്ദി. ഐ മടെ ഇറ്റ്‌ ടോ ഇന്ത്യ! ഐ വില്‍ വ്രിറെ മോര്‍ ലറെര്‍. തെരെ ഈസ്‌ ഒണ്‍ലി ഓനെ കമ്പ്യൂട്ടര്‍ വിത്ത്‌ ഇന്റര്‍നെറ്റ്‌ ഫോര്‍ ദി എന്ടിരെ കംപൌദ്.

വിത്ത്‌ ലവ് ഫ്രം ൧൦൬ ഡിഗ്രി വീതെര്‍,

tim

Day 1 Transit Post 1

today has been the most hectic day ive had in forever.... it has been absurd!!! i have dealt with so much nonsense its almost humorous.... i created video entries closer to the event happening.... if today is the worst day of the trip, were gonna be just fine!

What i want to get out of my trip

I was thinking about this last night at dinner and i feel there is one major thing for me that if it didnt happen, i would be disappointed about my trip... and that is a change of mind set. i dont know how drastic or w.e it will be, but i am very much looking forward to discovering a new part of who I am...

2 Days Out...

So I leave for India in 2 days... Im almost packed, still need some first aid stuff to pull together... but I have most all my clothes (5 long sleeve shirts 3 short sleeve shirts, 3 long pants, 2 pairs of shorts, a bathing suit, 7 pairs of socks, and 5 pairs of boxers) that should last about 10 weeks, right???

Finishing up some documentation and photo copying my important stuff...

i found this blog i created a while back... i plan on readdressing it while im over in india...

http://the50questions.blogspot.com/

Creation of blog

This blog has been created for family and friends to follow me on my trip through India. Please post comments! I am still alive if I haven't posted in a few days... Please be patient anticipating the next day's blog. Enjoy!