Father's Day

First let me say Happy Father's Day to my wonderful Daddy! Second, let me apologize for not getting this up sooner. We have been without internet for a little bit and right now we have no electricity. “Welcome to India!” as my friend Gwen says.

I would like to start with one of my favorite stories about my father. I was in the sixth grade and at this particular time in the year we were making our school schedules for seventh grade. If you wanted to be in an AP/Advanced (AP) English class, you had to have your teacher endorse your schedule. I desperately wanted to be in Accelerated English. I loved reading and the English language. My sixth grade Language teacher refused to sign off on my Accelerated English choice because to her I did not have the capacity to handle that particular class. (Side note- at my house the English language is taken very seriously. I do not talk the way I usually do when I am at home with my parents.) That afternoon, I got off the school bus feeling quite defeated. My parents asked me how my day was, and I proceeded to tell them all that had happened. That same week all the schools were having a “Parent's Night” where the parents could meet with the teachers and ask any questions. My mother was to go with my younger brothers because they attended the same elementary school. Daddy woke up early (another side note- my father has worked two jobs the majority of my life...any sleep that he was able to get was quite precious.) and took me to the middle school. My Dad was beyond exhaustion, and yet he got up early to take me to school. All of the teachers were in the gym. I had no idea what he was going to say or what was going to happen. He walked right up to my Language teacher, with me standing sheepishly behind him, and said “Hi. I'm Cliff Statum, Robyn's father.” My teacher in turn introduced herself. The next words that came out of my father's mouth shocked me, and he didn't even raise his voice. He said “Robyn will be in Accelerated English next year.” I thought my teacher was going to argue with my Dad. (mind you I know better than to do that :) Yet, she didn't. She said, “yes sir.” and signed off on my schedule. My father believed in me when my teacher did not. My father stood up for me when I could not stand up for myself. My father is my hero. Even now when I have professors that do not think that I am up to the task, I think of that night. Look where it has gotten me to...doing an internship in the middle of India.

Speaking of India, here is an update:

The last few weeks have been quite challenging. I've gone from people that know me and my personality to many that do not. I am slowly but surely learning not to talk nearly as much as I usually do. I am more apprehensive about becoming accustomed to the double standards that exist here in society. It is difficult coming from a world where we have inalienable rights to moving into a world where nothing was created equal. I am loving my time here the more I get to know the people that I serve.

So, I have been trying to learn all of the local staff''s names. There are 18 in total I do believe, but don't quote me. The ladies are welcoming and very friendly. We have maybe 5 or 6 male staff members. There is one that laughs all the time. His laughter is infectious! You can't help but smile when you are around him.

Life is good. I miss my friends and family. I am becoming accustomed to eating mostly vegetarian food. I did start last night off by walking in the street with some cows. I still jump and start running when goats get near. The other day I grabbed Amina and put her between me and the goat. All is well my friends. I hope that you are doing well. If you need any funny stories, just let me know!

Two Weeks Already?!?

Holy Toledo! I can't believe that I have been at Sangam for two weeks! Time has been flying by too quickly. First, let me apologize for not posting earlier. This week and part of next week I am in training with the volunteers. I haven't even had time to finish school work, which is about to be a problem if I don't structure my free time better. I usually use my free time to rest or to have a India Aaram.

We are officially in monsoon season. (FYI for everyone that works at ICON, every time I type season, I wind up typing sears, and then have to edit the word :) It has been raining just about non-stop since yesterday. Welcome to India!

The other day I went to Laxmi Road. It is in the very heart of Pune, population 3.5 million people. We visited a building that was built in the 1740's. Talk about being awe struck. For those who aren't aware, I love architecture. Don't worry, I am still in the process of uploading all my pictures to FB. It is a long a tedious process on my end.

Today we discussed advocacy and the importance of the three aspects of it. The three aspects are speak out, educate, and do (action). If you do not have all three then it's not advocacy. I was quite moved by the videos that the Nike Foundation produced. I highly suggest that when you have a moment go to www.girleffect.org. As Westerners we sometimes fail to remember that there are still quite a few countries that are still developing. I know that we can not always change the world, but what we can do is to make small decisions to help those around us. Those small decisions will add up over time and change many lives. There is so much more to life than just doing the daily grind. Let's get out of our comfort zone. “Have you done any good today?”

On a lighter note, a mouse was discovered under someone's bed. All I can say is that I am extremely grateful to report that it wasn't my bed it was under. I would have screamed by head off.....I know it's hard to imagine. My sister still tells me that I am not suppose to be afraid of anything.

I saw my first Hindi film last night (Bollywood). We went and saw Ready with Salman. Salman is a famous actor over here, and he is quite hot. No more need to be said other than I did laugh my head off, bought the soundtrack, and when the dvd comes out I will be buying that as well. The next film I want to see is Delhi Belly. I am not sure when it comes out, but I will see it when it does! I like the movie theaters over here. You have an option if you want to buy platinum, gold, or silver seating. You then get an assigned seat. It seriously makes going to the movies so much easier. Oh and there is plenty of leg room! Who can ask for more?

So my friends, I hope that this post finds you doing quite well and enjoying life as much as I am. Life is way too short to not be enjoying what is around us. Peace out till next time.

Second Rain

Second Rain

The second rain of the pre-monsoon season has hit Sangam. I have taken quite a few pictures which I will upload to my FB account. Gwen, Pria, Hayley, and I decided to get wet because the second rain of the season is cleaner than the first. The first has acid in it and it is not advisable to play in it. As we played in the rain, I was reminded of a time quite a few years ago when I also played in the rain.

I remember being a naive 19 year old moving across the country to work at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. This was not my first time away from home, but it was not first move by myself. I think I made it to Arizona in like 1 ½ days. I was scared out of my mind. The first night there I cried my eyes out because that was the first time that I felt utterly alone. This was the day and age where cell phones were barely popular and totally not affordable. I could only call home when I had money on my calling card because my Dad had an aneurism over the collect call bill. I didn't know who I was. All I knew was that I was free. All the cares and responsibilities of home were gone. At the time I wanted to get residency in Arizona so I could attend ASU. Over time the homesickness subsided, but there were still occasions where I would give anything in the world to have the comforts of home. I was slowly coming to the realization that my dream to attend ASU would not work out after all. I remember praying about moving back home and trying desperately to make the right decision. Then one night I was walking from the employee dorms to El Tovar (the restaurant I worked at) when my prayers were finally answered. I was to move home! I went straight upstairs to my boss's office and gave my two weeks notice. I was so overwhelmed that I called home and asked my parents to help me move back home. I don't know where my Mom and Dad found the money, but they found enough to fly my Mom to Phoenix to drive back with me to Mississippi. I remember pacing anxiously in the Phoenix airport. When my Mom came out of the gate, we ran to each other ,cried and held one another. That was the day that I started calling my Mom, Momma and my Dad, Daddy. In the South to call your parents Momma and Daddy shows a great amount of love and respect. To this day at my ripe old age of 28, I still call my parents Momma and Daddy.

I guess to make the long story somewhat short is that we will fail at certain times in our lives, and it is okay! We are only human. If we were to succeed all the time, what would we learn? We would not have mistakes that we've made in the past help shape our future. If we do not know the bitter, we will not know the sweet. What I learned by living in Arizona, taught me that no matter what, we will make it through it all. I carried those same lessons learned with me when I moved to Taiwan and now living in India. Life is too short to be living in the past. Learn from life's lessons and move forward. There is sweet beauty all around us if we would only recognize it.

A Week Already?!

So yesterday marked a week of my being in India. I will say so far so good. I just have a small cold that I'm hoping goes away rather quickly. I am still getting use to the customs and it's not as easy as I thought it would be. I will give myself my own advice to “be strong.”

Yesterday was quite adventurous. A new volunteer arrived for the season as well as a guest. After lunch we were on a mission to find a pig. Now there is a great debate here at Sangam as to what a pig in India sounds like. Mina (she's from Pune) says that a pig goes eek, eek, eek while the rest of us say a pig goes oink, oink, oink. Before I go any further, yes I know that this is a chicken and egg argument, but then again I am in India so we can amuse ourselves with silly if not ridiculous missions. Moving right along, so after lunch I grabbed the video camera and the four of us set off to find the pigs on our way to the Big Bazzar (it's a grocery store.) Almost immediately, we found the pigs. The problem was that they were having their Indian siesta. We asked the pig owner if we could video the pigs. There was a little pig that was moving around, but as soon as we got close to it, it froze. I think the little pig was a bit on the shy side. So we said thank you and continued on our way to Big Bazzar. In Pune you have to go through security prior to going into the grocery store. I also had to check my backpack in with this lady outside. At the checkout stand they also put zip ties on your bags, and then they have to check your receipt when you exit. It wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. We when walked out of Big Bazzar it started raining quite a bit. After waiting like 10 mins, we decided to walk back in the rain. On our way back to Sangam, we ran into the pig that was taking a siesta earlier. Apparently, we scared the pig because it started to run away. So as of today the great debate about the pig noise is still unsolved. Trust me there is no way I could make this stuff up because I am not nearly that creative.

We also have a pool going as to when monsoon season is going to start. According to the local staff, monsoon season starts when the Pune Mirror tells us it's going to start. Don't worry I laughed as well, but they are dead serious. My vote is June 10^th. Since it rained a lot yesterday we were all afraid that the season has started. Luckily for us, the Pune Mirror tells us that we are in pre-monsoon season. The rain yesterday was unbelievable. I will have to take pictures the next time it rains and post them.

I should probably finish unpacking or doing homework for my online class. Maybe I can rearrange my room before I have to go to work at lunch. We will see how much energy I have after I finish my assignment. I am not really homesick because I haven't lived at home in years, but I am “homesick” for my friends. Just know that I miss you as much as you miss me. No worries, I will be back in October. I will say that if you want to send me gatorade, crystal light, or propel packets I am more than willing to accept them :) Just FYI if you send me anything put it in a bubble envelope and not a box. We don't get boxes very quickly. My address is below:

Robyn Statum

Sangam World Centre

Alandi Road

Yerawada
Pune 411 006
India

Peace out for today my friends.