Melinda and I have done a lot of traveling recently. On the first of this month we went to Bangalore, which I always try to spell Banglalore, but that is not correct. We spent 2 1/2 days with some friends of ours. They live just outside of the city in a typical American-style house located in a gated community. It was quiet, there were kids riding scooters down empty streets. It felt so much like the US it was weird. My favorite part of the house by far is that nearly every room had a bay window with curtains in front of it, that created perfect reading nooks. If I ever get my dream house it's going to include a giant Beauty and the Beast inspired library, reading nooks, and a couch swing. Yup. A couch, attached to the ceiling, that swings. (I'm pretty sure that's not technically a sentence, but I don't care.) Also, the temperature in Bangalore was about 75 degrees in the daytime. Melinda and I woke up shivering every morning. It was wonderful. Bangalore also has Taco Bell! It doesn't really taste like America, but after a year without it, Indian Taco Bell was great. I had a chicken quesadilla and a crunchy chicken taco. They don't serve beef.
We returned home late Friday night and then left Saturday to go work on a housing project we're helping with. The goal is to build sturdy houses for people who lost their homes in a hurricane a few years ago. On this trip we were surveying to see who needed help the most. That was an adventure. It's rainy season here, so the ground is just mud. Melinda and I slipped, slid, and stumbled across paths and down mud coated stair steps consisting of single bricks, with the entire village following behind. Some of the homes we are going to rebuild (and relocate) are presently sitting in ponds. And many are made of bamboo poles and tarp. It definitely makes you rethink your definition of house. The houses we're providing are really just four brick walls, a window, a door, and a tin roof, situated on top of a 3 foot high concrete foundation. And the whole thing is 10 1/2 by 12 square feet. That may not seem like much, but it's a big step up from what the families have now. We may also add a small verandah but only if the budget allows it. The survey trip lasted 2 days. By some miracle, we managed not to fall on our faces and returned home Saturday night.
Before I left, my aunt gave me an India travel guide. The picture of my city was a of a rickshaw puller pulling his rickshaw down a road through water that reached his knees. Why that picture was used in a travel guide is still a mystery to me, but I have now witnessed it in real life. Sunday and Monday it rained all day and flooded some of the lowest parts of the city. For example, this road in front of our supervisor George's house.
We returned home late Friday night and then left Saturday to go work on a housing project we're helping with. The goal is to build sturdy houses for people who lost their homes in a hurricane a few years ago. On this trip we were surveying to see who needed help the most. That was an adventure. It's rainy season here, so the ground is just mud. Melinda and I slipped, slid, and stumbled across paths and down mud coated stair steps consisting of single bricks, with the entire village following behind. Some of the homes we are going to rebuild (and relocate) are presently sitting in ponds. And many are made of bamboo poles and tarp. It definitely makes you rethink your definition of house. The houses we're providing are really just four brick walls, a window, a door, and a tin roof, situated on top of a 3 foot high concrete foundation. And the whole thing is 10 1/2 by 12 square feet. That may not seem like much, but it's a big step up from what the families have now. We may also add a small verandah but only if the budget allows it. The survey trip lasted 2 days. By some miracle, we managed not to fall on our faces and returned home Saturday night.
Before I left, my aunt gave me an India travel guide. The picture of my city was a of a rickshaw puller pulling his rickshaw down a road through water that reached his knees. Why that picture was used in a travel guide is still a mystery to me, but I have now witnessed it in real life. Sunday and Monday it rained all day and flooded some of the lowest parts of the city. For example, this road in front of our supervisor George's house.
We took a bus over there not suspecting anything as our part of town is fine, and then realized that we would have to cross two rivers to get to his apartment building. At first, we tried to roll up our pant legs and stay dry, but a then a car passed and created a wave, so our efforts were in vain. Fording the road was kinda fun though. Definitely a new experience. We were able to borrow dry clothes from George's roommate Antu so we didn't have spend our entire time there in soaked pants. George let us use his car and driver to get home. On the way, we passed some kids literally swimming in the road. Epic. Gross, because I don't even want to think about what was on that road. But Epic.
It's okay, the Taco Bells in America don't really serve beef either.
ReplyDeletebahahahaha! audra's comment is hilarious! but it's baffling to think of how we spend so much on college to get good jobs to pay for huge houses, when there are people that are grateful for brick walls and tin roofs. it makes me sad.
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