Home Sweet Wisconsin

Ahhh, snow and cold weather.

I've got henna on my hands, bruises on my legs, curry in my belly and mosquito bites everwhere. It is great to be home! ...and I couldn't believe the hoops we had to jump through in order to actually leave Delhi, making it extra special when the plane finally took off! This will be another remarkable memory - the majority of things in Delhi just don't make sense...inefficiency at it's finest.

Why do I have to wait in line at the hotel lobby for the man to write out a breakfast coupon, only to turn around and give it to another man standing adjacent to him? Why do semi-trucks decide to park (and thus block) the right lane when they want to take a break? Why is it ok to just throw your pop bottles and plastic bags on the ground? Why do you tell me one price, when we both know I will end up paying half of that? Why are you still using that ancient, humungous ledger book to write everything down? And why oh why do you keep honking that horn so incessantly?!? It doesn't do anything! Ahh, it feels good to be home.

All in all, I am so thankful for this experience. I feel proud of myself that I was able to commit to such an unusual trip and take away new friends and new perceptions of the great big world out there. It was tough, it was fun, it was feelgood, it was feel terrible. My long list of notworthy memories will be too complicated to write about, so here goes the abbreviated list:

- Maryann thinking it was a green bean, only to discover it was the hottest chilli pepper in the world
- Rhesus monkeys as common as squirrels
- The pleasant greeting of 'Namaste'
- Digging, Digging and more digging. And then being told 'Dig more deep!'
- Yummy Indian food: Butter Naan, Kheer, Spinach Kabobs, Cheese Soufle ... Not Yummy Indian food: Daily rice and lentils, hot and spicey vegggies
- Amazing dental hygiene - amongst a community of poverty, this area had the nicest white teeth
- Riding a bicylce rickshaw into Old Delhi to eat at Karim's, who prepared the tastiest concoctions of the Mughal recipes passed down from generations.
-Going to outdoor yoga with my new friends
-Taj Mahal. Breathtaking.
- Finding out that Katrina is also the name of the beloved Bollywood star (and realizing why everyone loves saying 'Katrina!'
- Stepping over a child in Bawana becuase he was sqatting down to poo in the street
- Meeting our awesome team: Rebecca, Thea, Maryann, Pat, Zach, Larry, Bob, Jim, Brad, Laura, Jessie, Melinda, Sue and Amit
- All of those 'lost in translation' moments (goes hand in hand with the 'Indian nod'...wait - here? there? oh, here? wait, WHAT??)
- 5 hour bus ride to Agra, suffering with the Delhi Belly
- Spending a whirlwind day in London on no sleep
- Eating Italian food at a Mexican restaurant in India
- Realizing that when life hands you dirty lemons, get a couple of friends, a handful of pebbles to toss, and the one that hits the tire over there wins
- Watching Paa at the local movie theater!
-Experiencing a moment bigger than myself at Ghandi's assasination locale
-Tearing up with my team and the new homeowners, as we passed along our housewarming gift from us to them
- Trying to communicate with only pantomimes, gestures and sound affects to break the language barrier
- Watching tv and ending up loving the Bollywood music videos!



Aahhh. And now I've got hot chocolate, lettuce and apples in my tummy. Yes, it is great to be home!

Arriving in Bawana

The focus of our trip is to help build housing in the slums of Bawana, 25km northwest of Delhi. I am soon realizing that I will take away much more than the rewards of this seemingly basic task. But to recapture the feel of our first 6 days, here is the morning recap in the life of a Bawana bricklayer...

We awaken at 0700, only to analyze how we each slept on the rock hard mattress (which was clearly not set to our sleep number) and we rinse off with the 2 minutes of warm water that our water tank holds. Breakfast at the YMCA lobby consists of the same thing every day - white bread and eggs done in only 1 of two ways, and an unidentifiable Indian style breakfast pastry. This is why none of us want to see an egg for quite some time.

The rickity bus then takes us on the hour long ride through Delhi and beyond, bonus points if you get a front seat and remember to take your Dramamine. On our way, we see goats tied up to the median, squatters setting up tent along the highway, and people walking with all sorts of things piled high on their heads. There is a perpetual noise of horns continuously honking, the constant risk of smashing into someone trying to cut us off (or as we try to cut them off) and the dust is so thick we can taste it... and then there are the smells to top it all off.

As we pull into Bawana, what seems to be the entire town comes out to greet us, stare at us, and sell us their loot of socks, hair scrunchies and food nibbles. We make it off the bus and walk about 10 minutes into the slum to our base camp of the Chetanaya Community Center.

One of the most wonderful memories that I will have of our trip will be the spirits of these children. As all 14 of us walk single file (to avoid falling into street sewers or feces-gunk) children and families come out of the woodwork to greet us with their 'Hiii!' 'Hellooo' 'Howareyouuu!'. Their smiles are brilliant and instantly erase the distaste we feel of these streets.

Another remarkable facet of this community, are the colors in the women's clothing. There are vibrant pinks, reds, blues and sparklies adorning the saris. The slum would have a completely different visual, if it weren't for these amazing colors that illuminate the alleys.

We divide into three small groups, with Team Two consisting of Maryann, Pat, Zach, Thea and myself - we grab our tools (we are now too friendly with the 'Indian Shovel', pick axes and shovels - and Sham, our site leader, escorts us down through the dirty alley ways, to the meager 10 foot by 12 foot plot of our homeowner.

Yellow, the nurse

I have acquired a new nickname today: Yellow. The community knows only a few English words, but being the only lighthaired blonde women, I am now known as 'Yellow'.

Coincidentally, today is also the first day my first aid kit got some good use. We actually had to create a makeshift 'sick bay' at the community center so that 3 of our teamates could rest. So far, our soldiers have fallen ill to 1: "Delhi Belly", 2: Respiratory Issues/Fever/Malaise, and 2: a sliced open finger from some extreme brick handling. It is only day 5 today, so I am off to see a 'Chemist' tonight to replenish the first aid kit - and get a few more things like Visine, since my eyes are killing me with all of the brick dust and general air pollution. Along with some of those instant cold packs, in anticipation of future injuries.

Our hotel internet shuts down at 5:30pm, which is also the same time we return from our worksite. Fortunately, we arrived home a little early today, but despite trying to take advantage of the language barrier, this nice man is insisting I 'remove myself' from the computer station.

Until next time ~ Namaste,
Yellow

Namaste!

Here we are, completing day 4 of our trek in India. Wow. Delhi is truly like nothing I have ever seen. It is almost like jumping into a time warp, except that I don't know how far back we would go.

The streets are filled with high speed cars, tractors, rickshaws and bicycles to haul anything from matress stacks, to flour sacks, people and more. Not to mention dogs, mules, monkeys and ox sharing the roads. The city is layered with a blanket of dark and sandy dust, so much so, that my Qtip has the same dark color when I clean out me ears at the end of the day (euw, sorry).

Houses vary from fancy apartment buildings to squatters on the highway meridian, crouching under tarps made of plastic bags and scraps of metal. The women build fires on the side of the road to cook their food, and children run around without shoes or pants on, and simply squat down when it is time to do number 1 or 2.

But our work has been great, very rewarding - we feel like celebraties when we enter the slums of Bawana, all the childrens' faces light up, saying 'Namaste!' and 'Hiiii!' 'Hello!' 'Happy Birthday'!

I can't wait to update more, but we have to catch the Bollywood movie, and I'm sitting in the backroom of a curious store, somewhere near Connaught Place, using their computer...

More to follow soon.

Namaste!

Hoooonk Hooooonk!

and we have arrived!

I succesfully met up with my teamates Rebecca and Sue at O'hare, and together we caught the 7 hour red eye into London. I sat next to a nice young man who happened to be a Family Medicine Resident in Madison, and as we got to chatting, he filled me in on his trip to Nairobi, Kenya - where he was meeting up with his wife who is doing some graduate studies there. He was on his way to volunteer for a 5 week medical mission in the middle of nowhere Kenya, which was certainly inspiring to hear about. After he convined me to watch Julie and Julia followed with a terrible airplane meal, I tossed and turned until we found ourselves arriving at Heathrow.

Since we had 10 hour layover before our flight into Delhi - and our doctor friend had even longer to Nairobi, we all venturd into London to spend a jolly good day together. We hopped the tube into Picadilly Square, and from there hopped on the open air bus to ride around Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden and the Tower Bridge. We walked around a bit and saw the Climate Change March which cut off our access to Big Ben, but we got lucky finding a great neighorhood alive with people walking about and dining and shopping. We overheard things like Cheers, and Mushy Peas and Fantastic - before the rain and our schedule forced us back to Heathrow.

After another 7 hour red eye flight (still no shower, still wearing the same socks) we arrived in Delhi at 11am Sunday morning - 12 hours ahead of Central time. Poor Sue! Her bags never showed up! They are scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so we'll keep our fingers crossed - I had a HUGE sigh of relief when I saw big red the suitcase show up for me. Two other teamates were delayed in Canada from the snow - unfortunately they won't arrive until Wednesday! So all things considered, my trip went very smoothly!

So here we are in Delhi - at the YMCA Tourist Hotel. Our group assembled for lunch and everyone seems great! My roomate MaryAnn is an attorney from New York and everyone seems so enthused about our trip. Our room is simple and we practically share a solid hard bed, but there is hot water to shower and awesome food for $1 a plate. We are located right in the hustle and bustle of downtown Delhi - horns! Everyone loves honking their horns! (and smack dab in th middle of a monkey territory!) so I am sure there will be some good experinces to share!

We are about to have our first team meeting to meet our host, Amit, and find out more about our project for the next week. Bye for now!

~Katrina

Delhi here I come!

Milwaukee to Chicago, Chicago to London, London to Delhi! and a mere 36 hours later I will arrive!

Several years ago, I had the pleasure of chatting with a friend of a friend of a friend about their trip go South Africa with the Habitat for Humanity Global Village program. Their experience inspired me to commit to this program, and I'm so excited to finally be participating in the India trip!

For two weeks I will be traveling with a group of strangers (Mike will have to be responsible at home) as we work to build housing in Bawana. We won't find out our specific project until we get there, but we are told it could be anything from painting, to digging to laying bricks and more.

I am so excited for this amazing experience - and can not wait to experience the Taj Mahal. I'm also hoping to find a yoga class I can join in - and of course some authentic Tikka Masala!

It's a boy!

Here he is! The little bundle of cuddleness ~ our newest little Kehoe is another four month old Cairn Terrier - they look so much alike! He has made it through his first 24 hours with no accidents and slept the whole night without a peep! He loves following around Aapl and she is teaching him how to walk around the block and go up the stairs.



He doesn't have a name yet, but we've narrowed it down and are getting closer...

Bye little guy!

Buzios, Brazil

Our last stop was the fishing village of Buzios, 90 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. Cobblestone streets, trendy shops, posh nightclubs, very different from the first leg of our trip, which explains why it is termed "The St. Tropez of South America'. It had a very European feel, certainly picturesque!

We rented a rickity buggy to take us around to get a taste of the 26 beaches on this peninsula - and enjoyed speaking English with our new friends traveling from Boston! The weather turned a bit cooler and rainy during our stay, so we spent some quality time indoors watching the only channel in English - 24 hour coverage of the passing of Michael Jackson, we know all of the MJ trivia!


All in all, our honeymoon was a great adventure and experience. Were we to do it over again, we both are tempted rethink the idea of an all inclusive stay in Hawaii! aaahhhh, relaxing!

One last view of the harbor, and these kiddies on the beach enjoying yet another place to catch a game of soccer -

From Ihla Grande to Buzios

Upon the recomendations from the locals, we were told that Ilha Grande would make a great stop along our travels. After the commotion of Rio, we were looking for sun, sand, waves and some local flair - without traveling more than a few hours from Rio. We said 'tchau' to our posada friends and headed out of beautiful Santa Teresa.

We hopped into a cab and for the first time that day, thought, 'hmm, are we being kidnapped?'. Our non-English driver pulled into a dead end junk-car-graveyard type of deal and tried to speak to us. Uh, should we get out now?! Fortunately, he quickly spun around and we were on our way.

We made it to the bus station, and a couple of hours later we were dropped off at another town, keeping our fingers crossed we were in the right place. Pointing to the map with our next posada confirmation - we were escorted to a water taxi, and soon were on our way...or we thought.


Nightfall was approaching, and soon the group of 20 or so people starting pulling out Cachaca, beers and vodka! An hour went by, no land in sight. We were cold, tired and totally confused. Keeping our fingers crossed, we thought for the second time that day, 'hmm, are we being kidnapped?!'. Like two newlywed lovebirds we cuddled together (awww) to keep warm, chalked another one up to our honeymoon adventure - and finally, another hour later we arrived!

Here we were at 9pm, dropped off on a beach, somewhere in Brazil. It was dark, we were cold and tired. We most certainly looked like Americans, pulling our wheely suitcases along the sandy beach searching for our posada...after a few misdirections though, we arrived at our lovely inn on the beach.

Each morning, we awoke to the sounds of the ocean and an amazing breakfast of Brazilian coffee, freshly prepared juices of watermelon, pineapple and oranges, and a tropical fruit spread that we would die for back in Minnesota! Star fruit, passionfruit, mango, papaya, pineapple and bananas!

Ihla Grande is a protected island south of Rio, with lush, tropical rainforest and miles and miles of beautiful beaches. It is largely undeveloped and cars are prohibited, so you walk, hike, swim or water taxi everywhere. The beautiful Lopes Mendes beach is located on the far side of the island, just a 4 hour hike away (much less if you acctually know where you are going - we were told). Mike happily discovered a man renting surfboards (honestly, in the middle of nowhere!) and surfed the Brazilian waves!



One highlight of our stay included the authentic Churasco prepared and served right on the beach, yummy! Soccer, of course, is huge in Brazil - and it was played everywhere. This is a typical street on Ihla Grande - a group of kids having a good old time!



On our last day, Katrina went off to scuba dive and saw an amazing variety of sea turtles, squid, an octopus and mooray eels. Scuba diving is another thing that gets very interesting when noone speaks English! Mike had a difficult time staying back and had to get a beach side massage - poor guy! The scene below is from our table at our favorite restaurant on Ihla Grande, partly because there was great dog watching (good people watching too), but these furry creatures gave us a laugh as they waited outside for their Dad.



We were prepared to continue our journey after our stay in Ihla Grande. Although it was beautiful and relaxing, we were ready to be surrounded by maybe just a little bit of commercialism. We were now ready to head north and off to Buzios we go!

Honeymooning in Rio de Janeiro

Selecting a honeymoon destination involved a few non-negotiable criteria: somewhere we could have an adventure, somewhere warm and someplace we should go now before children would prevent us from going to this place....Brazil was the only place on our wish list that fit all three!

After nearly 10 hours of flying, we arrived in Rio and settled into the Santa Teresa district which was described to us as the 'artistic', 'quaint' and 'bohemian' neighborhood. Among the cobblestone streets,we stayed at a 'pousada', or guesthouse, situated up in the jungley mountains, overlooking the city. Our hosts Bill and Susan, expats from London, had a refreshing bottle of bubbly waiting for us to enjoy on our balcony.















There are no squirrels in Rio, so we had a treat awakening to the resident marmosets waiting for us on the balcony, hungry for little bananas. This guy, in particular, was one greedy little fella!




Rio is a city of hustle and bustle, Portuguese flying around, out of control taxis whizzing by and lots, lots, LOTS of 'Meat and Cheese' to be consumed. The Caipirinha is the Brazilian Mojito of sorts, made with lime, sugar and the potent Cachaca - or sugar cane liquor. They sure make your mouth pucker, but proved to be a reliable treat at the end of a honeymooning day!

If we were to do it over again, maybe we would consider more a tranquil honeymoon destination, but we are still happy to have experienced Brazil. The scenery was magnificent, a bustling yet beautiful combination of beaches, skyscrapers and mountains.












One of the highlights of our stay in Rio was hang-gliding from 1,700 feet off the Pedra Bonita Ridge. Although our guides spoke little English (mostly 'um, dois, tres...JUMP!'), we were able to decipher the fact that we would be strapped on with 2 caribeaners and simply had to run down the platform and jump off the mountain edge. It was well worth the nerves, flying with a bird's-eye view over Rio, Copacabana and the ocean - dramatically landing on Pepino Beach.












If you have seen the movie City of God, you know what a favela is. Our innkeeper Bob brought us into a favela to visit the home of his scruffy expat friend Bill, another memorable experience. Widely recognized as the Brazilian 'slums', favelas occupy a large portion of the city. Rooms are built upon rooms, higher and higher, nestled in among the sides of the mountains and landscape. In years past, the favelas were dangerous, seedy places well accustomed to violent crime. Although they have a long way to go, slowly, there has been improvement as the 'Boppy' or 'Good Police' are cleaning up the areas.

Bill welcomed us into his home, fed us Cervejas (beers!) and all kinds of crazy stories. Being an artist, his favela style apartment took on a look of nothing we had ever seen. We kept climbing up and up past little nooks and crannies until we reached to roof, where we enjoyed a breathtaking view of the city. The advantage of living in this particular favela include no rent, free utilites hi-jacked from the few people that actually pay for them, and of course, the beautiful views of Sugarloaf moutain.









Our visit in Rio would not have been complete without a jaunt up to Mount Corcovado to see the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue. The statue overlooks Rio, with open stretched arms to take care of the city. High on the peak of Corcovado, you will see from these photos that He can be seen from just about any point in Rio, at any time of day.

The funicular tram brings you to straight up, to the best view of the city. Can you believe we were the first ones to pose in such a creative stance?






After spending the first leg of our journey in hectic Rio, we were ready to head to the islands for some slow beach time. Before we left for Ihla Grande though, we pulled ourselves our for one last night of dancing under the (slightly seedy) Arcos de Lapa to the best samba beats in Rio. We didn't really know what we were doing, but after a few Caipirinhas, nothing could hold us back!

More Wedding Fun!

Our friends shared a slightly different perspective, here are a few more photos from their collections...


The shoes the Kehoes wear












Posing on our tractor













The survivors of the infamous jitney breakdown!














Not kidding! The rain clouds were moving in -














Staying safe in the rain

















Our programs and hay bales



















Our lovely flowers: sunflowers, dahlias, spider mums and roses


















Enjoying the tasty confections table














Another view of the car













The beautiful ladies













Another view of the recessional














A peak at Elizabeth under the tent














Something about an anchorman pose?













Megan and Josh tearing up the dance floor


























The Kehoes showing off some sweet moves!













Chatting with the ladies














And let the dancing begin!


























Is that my Dad?!


















The adorably photogenic Petris















Celebrating with sparklers!