I miss the days of PB.......

I miss the days of PB....and no I do not mean Penny Byrne. PB was a boss of mine when I worked at the unmentionable place in Logan. I woke up this morning to an email and Facebook message that now have me in a state of panic. As I was trying to think clearly this morning, all I could think about was how much I missed PB. She is a straight shooter, a fiesty redhead, and I have the utmost respect for her. I will be the first to admit that we got off to a rocky start, but after I showed her that I wasn't just some lazy college student we worked marvelously together.

PB isn't afraid to tell you like it is and very rarely will she sugar coat what she has to tell you. Yes, she will nag you to death if you aren't doing what she asked you to do. We came to a point in our working relationship that she knew that whatever she gave me I would finish by her deadline. She also doesn't listen to someone's bull. She was always telling us to take the emotion of out it and just give her the facts. I think I missed that the most. I am an emotional person, no more than the next. Being over here in India has its challenges in the workplace. I live and work at the same place so it is pretty hard to keep emotion out of it and stay with the facts.

The fact is that there are stupid and lazy people across the world. Laziness and stupidity are not biased. They infect every race, creed, and culture. Yes, working with these two can drive someone insane. That's why PB was soo amazing to work with. She had no problem telling you if you were being lazy or stupid.

So as I read a very disappointment email trying to figure out how what I plan B is, I found myself very grateful for the time I had working with PB. I know that she is enjoying retirement to its fullest. I just wish that her work ethic, skills, and tact could be duplicated. Here's to hoping and finding my plan B!

Randomness

Random Thoughts

Let me first say that I am in a bit of a panic mode. I am a planner. I have been my whole life. For better or worse, I like to have a general idea of what I am doing and where I am going. I am a goal oriented person. So to have only my life somewhat planned till December 17^th is a bit daunting. I really just want to crawl into a whole and not worry about it. I have no place to live in Logan once I get back to school. The place I was going to stay at fell through and I shouldn't be surprised, but I was hoping for the best. Obviously the best did not happen. I will give myself my own advice and say “I'll be strong.”

I should not be complaining. Last week I saw a homeless made take a crap on the side walk because he had nowhere else to go. A group of us toured a massive slum in Mumbai. If you are an illegal immigrant you are not allowed to use public restrooms. You have to pay 2 INR to use the toilet. Most people can't even afford that. So, this makes going to the toilet a problem especially if you're a woman. It is culturally accepted for a man to relieve himself in public. It is not however culturally accepted if a woman were to do so. Most women have to wait till either late at night or rather early in the morning to relieve themselves. As much as I love being in India, I can not accept or wrap my head around the amount of inequality that occurs between the sexes, religions, or even castes.(They say they don't have a caste system, but they still do.)

Let me illustrate. The majority of our local staff uses wood burning stoves as a water heater system. There is a campground on Sangam's property, and the local staff can collect wood to take home. An evening a couple of weeks ago, I noticed Saroj dragging a large potato sack size bag full of wood to take home to her family. Saroj is quite petite and the large sack overwhelmed her small frame. Me being me and not worrying about what is socially acceptable, I quickly ran outside to carry the sack. At first, Saroj said that I could carry the sack to the front gate. I asked her if she was going to wait for the bus or going to her brother's house. When we reached the gate, I told her that I would carry the sack to her brother's house. As we walked together down the alley to her brother's house, I was shocked at the stares that I received. See her world views her as my servant, and it's highly unlikely that her employer would carry a large sack of wood for her. In my world, I view her as my friend and equal. I know that she is up at 4:30 am to put the buckets out so that her family will have enough water for bathing, cleaning, cooking, drinking etc. (If she does not do this, there is no water for her or her family.) She then prepares breakfast and gets her three children off to school. After that, she takes a 30 min. bus ride to Sangam to report for work. She does all of this by 8 am. She works till 6pm. If we have an event, she doesn't get done with work till after 8pm. Immediately she goes home and cooks dinner for her family, does the laundry, and clean the house. This is a typical day in the life of one of our female local staff members. So, when I saw her extremely worn out dragging the sack of wood behind her, I could not do anything but help her. Someone in our group yelled at a child, as we toured the slum in Mumbai, that “if you work really hard, you'll be able to make lots and lots of money.” That may be true where she is from, but here that logic is the exception not the rule.

So, I will not worry about not having a place to live in 5 weeks. My life can always be much worse than that.

Postcards & Mice

Happy Independence Day! Today is India's Independence Day. We (the staff and the Phulenagar Ladies Society) started off the day with a proper Indian flag ceremony followed by an Indian breakfast. (We usually eat a Western breakfast.) This morning was quite nice. So, Happy Independence Day to all of my friends in India!!

So, my work is quickly coming to a close. I have 1 ½ months left here in Pune. I have been busy making plans to overhaul the Yahdei (the shop). If you ever complain about how long it takes to get something done in the States, just come to India and you'll soon come to appreciate the timeliness of vendors back home. I am in the process of making a planogram for the shop, as well as bringing in new product. All is easier said than done. I have 13 days to get everything together. Good luck to me.

I have also been working on designing new postcards for the shop. All I have to say is that they are a slow and tedious process. Most of my friends know how it goes when you make a mock up that you will have to make quite a few changes quite a few different times. I am proud of how they are turning out because I did not think myself capable of doing anything creative on that level.

The excitement lately has not been due to the riots on Mumbai/Pune highway, where people are killed daily, or crazy rickshaw drivers, or even the fight that broke out between two men in the slum across the street. (The two men managed to fight each other with a 2x4 piece of wood in the middle of Alandi Road. Now to give you a visual of Alandi Rd, I would compare it to Main St in Logan while USU is in session during rush hour traffic. For my friends at home, I would compare to Crossgates Blvd and HWY 80 at the peak times of the day or even HWY 25 by Dogwood. When I saw the fight break out, all I could think was “you have got to be kidding me......someone is going to get killed by a car.”) The most exciting thing has been the two mice that have somehow found a way to dwell upstairs with us. For those who do not already know, I absolutely HATE rodents. It all started two nights ago while I was in the lounge. I was by myself and too chicken to get out of the chair where I carefully sat. Luckily for my Priya came in and immediately started laughing at me. I told her to call the night watchman to get the darn thing. He came upstairs to my rescue or so I thought. We couldn't lure the mouse out from under the refrigerator. As soon as we stepped into the hallway, the darn thing ran under the door of someone's room. We asked that person if we could lure the mouse out, and they asked us not to because I really believe that they believed that it wasn't in there, but we saw it go in so whatever. We didn't see the mouse again until last night, except last night we saw a MUCH bigger mouse. Needless to say I screamed my head off and had the night watchman called up again. This time we put a mouse trap (a tree hugger one with carrots and onions in it) by the fridge. We again saw the mouse go under the same door as the night before, but that person wasn't here to give us permission to catch it. So we call them, and they again told us not to catch it in their room. WHAT?!? You have a rodent in your room and you want it to stay there? Trust me I have no desire to go into that person's room, but seriously people. Rodents carry diseases.....do you really need any other reason not to kill the damn thing?!? It's not like the mouse was from PetSmart or something. Needless to say the mice are still on the run somewhere upstairs. How do mice get upstairs anyway? The walls are made of concrete.

I will keep you updated about adventures in miceland! I'm sure there will be more to come!   

A little over two months

Let me explain as to why I am so far behind on my blog entries. I have been creating a blog for Sangam World Centre. It usually is easy, but the challenge is that we have multiple audiences. With that being said, every time I think it's done something else has to change. Tomorrow my line manager and I are going over it again to tweak it before we send it to the powers at be. Let me also just tell you that my public is about 10 million people worldwide. When I am not working on the blog, finding new items for the shop, covering reception, and making participants happy (just to name a few), I also keep the WAGGGS World Bureau updated with the information that they request from me. I do not have the luxury of being expressive with superlatives when I am stressed. What I have found here in India is that there is a massive world of double standards, and it drives me absolutely crazy. That's why I am so very grateful for my friends back in the States that allow me to express myself.

I will say that I am absolutely overwhelmed. I don't know what I was thinking about when I signed up for two summer classes online. The one class is quite informative, but the other class is going to be the death of me. My professor decided to bump everything up at the last minute. I don't have time to breathe let alone get all of his stuff completed. A friend here in India tells me that online classes are easy and shouldn't be a big deal. Well, I wish I could quote a line from the first or second episode of season 1 of Ugly Betty. (Yeah, don't judge me :) Betty is carping on Daniel, and Daniel tells her that not to belittle what he is going through just because she feels like it's easy for her. What is easy for me may not be easy for you and vice versa. So, I try very hard not to mention the stresses of school. Really, it should be not big deal. I just HAVE to pass these two classes. I go back to the States and school in the middle of my last semester. I don't have a place to stay nor a job for that matter. We won't even get started on how stressed I am about finding a real job after I graduate, because really it's a piece of cake. Esta Bien.

I miss the South desperately, and I have been saying “bless your heart” a whole lot more often than I usually due since I have been censored.

On a positive note, I am enjoying what I am doing here. I went to a place called Maher last event. It is a home for children and mentally challenged women. Some of the children were taken off the streets as beggars and given a home. Yes, it is a “children's home” but they now have a roof over there head, clothes on their back, and food in their belly. The women and children touched my heart.  Here is a picture of one of the children that just hung on me. (I absolutely loved every minute there)

I read in the local newspaper about an orphanage where children were beaten and starved to death. This makes me even more grateful that there are good places like Maher as shelters for children to go to. I wanted to cry after reading that story. I do not know how someone can be so cruel. The world is full of beautiful, wonderful sights that remind you that there is a higher existence.

I love you my dear friends. I love my family with every fiber of my being. I might be half way across the world at the moment, but I am always here. I'm grateful that God has not given up on me just yet. Remember “Everything you are learning now is preparing you for something else.”- Marjorie Pay Hinkley.

Fourth of July

Fourth of July

I hope that my parents don't read this post because I am about to write something that they may not like. Over the past three years, I am going to have to admit that Cache Valley has totally grown on me. I thought that I would never be saying that, but today I find myself completely missing my summer routine of lovely Cache Valley. I miss the fireworks from across the valley. I am missing the Car Show!! What I miss the most is spending time with my friends as we enjoy the freedoms that our predecessors fought for and what our military men and women are currently fighting to ensure that our freedoms are not taken away.

India is the most populous democracy. Yet, I don't feel what I feel when I am at home in America. Words cannot adequately describe the peace that I feel after landing back in the States after an overseas trip. I am PROUD to be an American and I wouldn't want it any other way. I hope that everyone enjoys this 4^th of July!

India update is that I am feeling much better. The ladies that work in the kitchen were quite worried at my loss of appetite. They are so sweet. They made plain food especially for me so I could eat a little bit. Some of the ladies know more English than they let one know, and others know very little, but there was an unspoken understanding this past week as I was sick. They could read my face and they figured everything out. I am very blessed to be working with such wonderful individuals. Yesterday during chai time, I sat with the ladies and had chai in the kitchen. I was trying to understand what all they were saying and we discussed my family. A couple of the ladies were having birthdays in their families yesterday and today. They love to hear me tell them how many people are in my family! I tell them that I have my mom, dad, three brothers, one sister, and a dog named Q-tip! Adding my dog at the end cracks them up. I have no idea why they think it's so funny, but they do. I am just happy that I have all of their names etched in my memory. More than half have names that start with the letter “s” and their names are so similar that I literally have to stop and make sure that I say the right name.

Life is good. I cannot complain. I am blessed with a wonderful family (and a dog :)! My friends are extremely supportive, and no I don't judge you when we can't talk all the time like we use to. This time difference is a heiffer! I attend a university that I am proud to be attending. Most importantly, I am from the land of free and home of the brave. What more could I ask for?!

Update

I know that I haven't blogged lately. Lo siento mi amigos. Here is an update:

I have been in India for a little over 1 ½ months now, and yet it only seems like yesterday that I arrived. I am quite settled into living at Sangam. It's challenging because I don't work a normal set of hours usually. Most of the staff works about 12 hour days. Yes, there is that much to do here. I have been the last month finishing training and fine tuning my work plan. People keep asking me what exactly it is that I do here besides have fun. Well, I the first Marketing & Communications Intern for a UN affiliate. There is a lot of ground work to be done. I manage the website, handle the social media aspect of everything. I am responsible for new items for Yahdei (their shop) and I communicate between us and the World Bureau. It doesn't sound like much, but trust me it's a whole heck of a lot when you put everything down on paper.

This week is the first event of the Monsoon season. We have participants from Canada, USA, and Japan. It has been a very fun and interesting week. I did have a girl tell me that she was expecting the spaghetti to taste like it does in the States. I very flippantly told her “Welcome to India!” If you want American food, you are going to have to go the McDonald's and their menu is not the same like it is in the States.

I think the fun part is that I try to talk to the local staff in Hindi and they speak to me in their broken English. It is absolutely hilarious. Oh, I almost forgot I am famous in India. They had the Palki festival last week. It is where they walk Palki (he's a god) down the streets to the different temples. Aruna took us to the temple next door to Sangam, and we had the privilege of being in the temple with many others celebrating! I will have to upload the pictures of the thousands of people that lined the street. It was unreal! So, we sit down in the temple and no sooner than we do we are invited up front to where the band is. The band is sitting on the floor and women are playing small cymbals while dancing. They put the cymbals around my neck and showed me their dance. Everyone was very welcoming and happy that we were there as their guests. So, Starz TV was there and interviewed us for the new report on the festival. Not only am I on a billboard in Taiwan, but now I am on the TV in India. I am one lucky girl!!

So the internet is down again. It happens quite often, and the generator has been on the majority of the afternoon.

Today is a new day. I have been sick for the past couple of days. I will say that being sick while the power is out and the generator not on is rather unpleasant. My complaint for the day is that I seriously wonder what people think about coming to India prior to actually coming over here. All I have to say is yes India is generally a 2^nd world country. If you were to see across the street that I live on, you would see the 3^rd world aspect in full swing. I desperately wanted to tell a couple of people from 1^st world countries this morning to get over it. They were complaining that the pool wasn't open, and I totally understand their frustration, but I also see the flip side of the coin. This is what I desperately wanted to say:

“Honey child, if you want to swim in the green pool go for it! I really don't care. Yes, I do understand that that having the local staff clean it every morning will not solve the greeness, but you have to understand that if they don't do it, the HPM will chew them out and that is not worth it! I'm sorry that you're disappointed that we aren't the Ritz or the Hilton, but I believe that we told you this from the get go. On a bright note, you have about 48 hours left here. You'll be strong because frankly you don't have an option. Welcome to India!”

I can't believe that we are already in July! Man how time flies! Well, I desperately need to get back to work! Know that I love you all and miss you more than I do Blue Bell Ice Cream!!

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!