The year has officially ended for us. Tonight (or tomorrow morning depending on how you look at it) we begin our 24 hour journey towards home. We will expect to be in Seattle for the first ten days and then Cape Cod for a month after that. Between now and then we expect an amazing trip full of uninterrupted movies (well maybe besides sleeping.) To say me and Tessa are excited is an understatement. It actually almost feels unreal to me, but I can easily say this vacation and break from life is much needed by all of us!
During these three weeks since schools ended we (just Tessa, Mom, and I with Dad staying home to work) took the time to go to Uttrakand, a region in the Himalayas (pronounced Him-all-E-uh-z but the locals,) to volunteer for a very big and well known organization called Chirag. (Chirag is an acronym for Central Himalayan Rural Action Group as well as meaning "candle" in hindi.) Me and Tessa are going to join forces for this topic as it was an amazing educational and experienced filled trip that felt a lot longer than one week. I am here to write part one and Tessa will soon follow with part two.
I have been assigned the difficult job of describing the home-stay. Though it seems all of this trip would be hard to describe! Where to start, I don't really know so I will just jump right in. The home-stay was on the last night and it was where we got to stay in the house of one of the farming families. I guess I will have to add that during the time we were there Uttrakand was in the middle of the peach, plum, pare, and apricot season! The fresh fruit we ate there was amazing! At the end of the week we even bought two crates to bring back to Delhi (maybe 10 kg.)
The farmers have limited water and sporadic electricity but they had relatively nice houses. We were lucky to get a room to our selves and two beds (though they weren't amazingly comfortable.) The house actually accommodated two families though our Hindi didn't endup leading us to figuring out how they were related.
Quite frankly we learned a lot about a way of life unknown to many. It was a life with little luxury and spending all day to try and just get by. For example, women would spend an hour before each meal making just chapati (an Indian bread) so that comes down to three hours a day just making this type of bread! Every meal we had each day during the week (in the homestay or not) consisted of only chapti and dahl. And sometimes aloo (potato.) We were very tired of that by the end of it all!
On top of that to get milk (which is "dude" no joke in hindi. And cow is "guy!") the women had to go into the barn which was the first floor of the house. There was no windows in the barn, because of the risk that some other predators might get in, making it dark and musty. The bedding was just a pile of leaves that was changed rarely so it smelled terrible. When they did clean it they used the old bedding for fertilizer. Pretty self sufficient, no? It turns out that these farmers spend a lot of money and energy collecting grass and other food for their animals.
The best moment I had came in the morning. It was six o' clock and I had spent hours tossing and turning over the hard bed and bruises dotted my hips. I was awaken by the grandmother, who was the main host, as she opened the door letting the early sun peak up over the mountains and flowed the room. She held a tray in her hand with metal cups containing chai which I gingerly held and sipped slowly so that it wouldn't burn my tongue, though theres no avoiding that with chai and it did slightly anyway. We stepped outside to the balcony which protruded from the house maybe two feet. She sat me down on the edge against the outside wall of the room we had slept in. (Mom and Tessa had gotten up earlier to go for a hike.) As I finished with the chai I looked out over the green hills on which orchards of sweet peaches and the other fruits of the season grew. There were few clouds in the sky and the steep hills created shadows as the sun lumbered up and over them. Houses dotted, spread out inconveniently. I looked down into the valley and heard the sounds of a wedding that had happend through the whole night. The drumming could be heard from a great distance as the tent was a mere speck in the sea of a pine, oak, and fruit tree oasis. As I finished my chai, licking the sugary remains off from around my lips I was given three onions and a handfull of garlic cloves to peel.
Later Mom and Tessa came back and I said to Mom, the words flowing off my tongue as I had them well rehearsed, "Hum breakfast bana rah-ha hey." We are making breakfast.
Tessa will now take over for part to though, as she will probably tell you, she is overly zealous with excitement! I can't wait either... 18 hours of movies here I come! - Chase
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| Chai is the common drink of all of India and a drink that is most usually given to someone being welcomed into a home. It is made from ginger, tea leaves, cardamon, sugar and milk. |
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| The family we stayed with had a few children (the oldest being 10 years old) and we taught them duck-duck-goose (in hindi) and Simon Says. |
I have been assigned the difficult job of describing the home-stay. Though it seems all of this trip would be hard to describe! Where to start, I don't really know so I will just jump right in. The home-stay was on the last night and it was where we got to stay in the house of one of the farming families. I guess I will have to add that during the time we were there Uttrakand was in the middle of the peach, plum, pare, and apricot season! The fresh fruit we ate there was amazing! At the end of the week we even bought two crates to bring back to Delhi (maybe 10 kg.)
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| Here is "the cutest baby ever" -Mom and Tess, and the room in which they all sleep at night on thick blankets. |
Quite frankly we learned a lot about a way of life unknown to many. It was a life with little luxury and spending all day to try and just get by. For example, women would spend an hour before each meal making just chapati (an Indian bread) so that comes down to three hours a day just making this type of bread! Every meal we had each day during the week (in the homestay or not) consisted of only chapti and dahl. And sometimes aloo (potato.) We were very tired of that by the end of it all!
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| This is their kitchen and one of the women making chapati and chai at the same time. |
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| This picture was taken with the help of the flash on the camera although it was only the afternoon and very bright outside! |
The best moment I had came in the morning. It was six o' clock and I had spent hours tossing and turning over the hard bed and bruises dotted my hips. I was awaken by the grandmother, who was the main host, as she opened the door letting the early sun peak up over the mountains and flowed the room. She held a tray in her hand with metal cups containing chai which I gingerly held and sipped slowly so that it wouldn't burn my tongue, though theres no avoiding that with chai and it did slightly anyway. We stepped outside to the balcony which protruded from the house maybe two feet. She sat me down on the edge against the outside wall of the room we had slept in. (Mom and Tessa had gotten up earlier to go for a hike.) As I finished with the chai I looked out over the green hills on which orchards of sweet peaches and the other fruits of the season grew. There were few clouds in the sky and the steep hills created shadows as the sun lumbered up and over them. Houses dotted, spread out inconveniently. I looked down into the valley and heard the sounds of a wedding that had happend through the whole night. The drumming could be heard from a great distance as the tent was a mere speck in the sea of a pine, oak, and fruit tree oasis. As I finished my chai, licking the sugary remains off from around my lips I was given three onions and a handfull of garlic cloves to peel.
Later Mom and Tessa came back and I said to Mom, the words flowing off my tongue as I had them well rehearsed, "Hum breakfast bana rah-ha hey." We are making breakfast.
Tessa will now take over for part to though, as she will probably tell you, she is overly zealous with excitement! I can't wait either... 18 hours of movies here I come! - Chase
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