attempting to make sense of it all

So...

I have been waiting to receive word from our class-sponsored blog site about my "individual" blog for this epic adventure. But alas! The promised blog is really a communal blog in which all students post on, without individualized content.

But worry not dear friends and family!

I have made my own blog in which you can follow - keep tabs on my ups and downs and all arounds throughout India (and that wee bit small stint in Istanbul).

I will post portions of this blog on there, so if you want all the juicy details - hang out here; or feel free to explore of lass-sponsored blog: GW Reflections in India.

Here is the long-awaited first post!

I am currently sitting in my friend Molly's house, listening to the bemoaning turns of the last bit of dirty shirts, pants, and underdraws wondering what I have gotten myself into. Mind you, I am perfectly thrilled about this adventure that lays before me. I cannot even begin to count how many times I have loitered in "World Market," longingly staring at all of the tunics, bangles, and million-times replicated Buddha head statues wishing I could venture to the exotic land of India. I mean there has to be something truly spectacular about a country that has hour breaks for tea, national festivals where you throw colorful dye at each other, and whose favorite actors dance and sing on the big screen. I mean wow!

Yet, I do feel some trepidation about this journey - I am going to India . We're talking about a country where approximately 800 million of its citizens live on less than $2 a day, housing nearly one-third of the world's poorest people. Not only is poverty a concern, but how about 87% of all adolescent girls in India have anemia (debilitating iron deficiency) or that only 63% of India's adult population is literate.

When I reflect upon these sobering statistics I quickly realize that this won't be the trip I had always imagined. Yes, I might still pose in front of the Taj Mahal and chant a few mantras to Vishnu. However, a majority of my time will be spent working alongside local non-profits that work with in various communities to address some of the issues I have listed. And that is probably why I am scared. I have no idea what I am getting into. It's not a fear for my safety or Exorcist-worthy botulism (even though I packed 96 pills of Imodium). I am afraid that what I am going to see will break my heart and I will have no idea how I can really make a difference.

I don't know how this trip will change me, how it will change my perception of reality/poverty/wealth/health/happiness/jobs/children/curry (threw that last bit in to see if you were still paying attention...). As a control-aholic, it's hard for me to let go of everything around me and let it play out as it will; let myself into a completely different country and culture - where mind you I don't speak A LICK of any of their languages - and have no expectations. I am trying to go to India with a blank slate and letting her guide me as she will. Allowing myself to be open to all and every experience, find the silver lining in everything around me, and when I'm convinced I'm dying from an inflamed intestine from opening my mouth in the shower, remind myself I AM IN INDIA and I am open to whatever India wants to teach me.

Yeah. That's going to be hard. But having survived a skydiving fiasco in Argentina, an infected intestine in Peru, the worse episode of diarrhea in Nicaragua (sorry, this blog will be pretty candid), not to mention a bizarre bout of the shingles during my first semester in DC, I think this ol' body can handle just about anything. Now if I only I could convince the woman in this body of the same thing....

AH! The washer has run silent and Molly's cats beckon me for a belly rub. I look forward to reflecting about everything I am going through and what I am witnessing. I hope you'll stay tuned, read my posts, PLEASE comment at your leisure, and maybe enchanting India will manage to teach us both a little about life.

Love, Char