Snapshots of Life!

Just another day....

I was looking through my diary today and realize I have way too much to blog about. And unfortunately, the events have passed and I am too lazy to go on about them. What this means is that my entire section on my HKG/China travels will probably not get reproduced on my blog. Selected memories of it perhaps... like Lychee Martini in D'Apartment (a lovely club in HKG) ....the best cocktail I have ever had in my life (not that I have had that many drinks in my life). But lychee martinis! Ahh...i actually went back there twice during my time in HongKong this summer. Hehe!

I am dreaming of chilled longans right now....for those of you who haven't lived in SE Asia or been to your local Chinatown...it's a delicious fruit! Oh well, it must be something in the heat that makes me crave for a refreshing fruit. Watermelon sounds good too.

I basically spent a sleepless night worrying over a speech I was giving at a school the next day. A speech on values. I actually spoke from my heart about this because I really think it is important that one knows what your values are and hold onto them as we move into the next stage of life. Talking to these kids, I realized the lesson should really be shared with adults not these kids who still have a sense of right and wrong.

Anyway, I went for an appointment with Ishani to do fundraising and met a pleasant man who spoke about his passion for giving back. It was cool and I resolved to be as nice as him to people in future. He seemed to genuinely care about his workers and the company. A rare find in the randomness of today. Going back towards baroda, Ishani's scooty had a puntured tyre. Must be me....cos Ketan's bike had a punctured tyre when i was riding on it this morning too. LOL

Since this occurs on the highway, we go in search for a puncture wallah and I am dodging traffic on the highway in my heels trying to look as dignified as possible. :P I am now an expert in running in my high heels on most surfaces. including the muddy ground in India. yay! Skipping round the cow poop is not easy by the way and one must be very very careful.

Coming back into the city after the short scooty delay, we almost go into the wrong direction and have to turn around on the highway. I don't quite remember this whole art of cutting across traffic though I did fear for my life thinking a truck would just turn round the corner and squash us flat before I can yell "tata!". Scooty VS Tata Truck? You get the point...

So anyway, we make it back to the city safely, these city roads aren't safe too...and Ishani attempts to take me to class. But she has her schedule mixed up and so we find out there's really no class going on today. The rest of my afternoon is whiled away in front of the computer lab and trying to put together a powerpoint for the ALbatross game to be played during the Thursday school presentation.

Busy week ahead.

posted by Li'er @ 5:27 PM 6 comments  

School presentations...

Weather? Raining, it pours in india, just like in Singapore. I bought myself a pink raincoat, not sure if I'll ever get to wear that in the states or Singapore.

So yes, with the wonderful rain, this has also brought the electricity down in some parts of the city. I was working on a powerpoint on Disaster Management (Singapore has no disasters by the way) for a school here in India yesterday night when the computer hung on me. F***! And then I redo the powerpoint for the second time and just as I am about to save the ppt...I hear this "shoom" sound. Yes my friends, the collective sound of computers going off in the cyber cafe and electricity being cut. *Silence* I start laughing! Wow...this is India! Hits you in the face when you least expect it.

Im not in panic mode...I have a presentation in front of 200 students at 9am the next day and I am without my powerpoint. So without a presentation in my CD, I headed out to get Lassi (yogurt drink) to soothe my nerves. The rain had slowed to a steady drizzle and I am standing on the street thinking about where to go. For the first time since i have been in India, I am not surrounded by people or curious stares. It's just me and India. I'm still not quite sure what to make of this country. It's exciting and gets me thinking all at the same time. It's like paradoxes exist everywhere you go, screaming for your attention. The rich opulent houses VS the poor slums that exist round the street corner. The big cars VS everything else. Animals on the streets (last count: cows, water buffaloes, chickens, goats, mad dogs, donkeys, oh...and the people (:P) ) I actually thought there were 10 types of animals...I'll figure it out soon enough. Street side food (20 Rupees for noodles) VS restaurants (food is about 400 Rupees at its peak). Still that cannot beat my friend who is in Delhi and blew 10 000 Rupee on a dinner. Wow!
I've been getting up early in the mornings the last few days...and India at 6am is actually really serene. No blaring of horns...people trying to get into your space... ANyway, I did make it to the school this morning without my presentation. Im still quite amazed how I carried off talking to the kids about disaster management....

Still, we did get an excellent reception and had red paint annointed onto our foreheads. I felt like a celebrity at times, shaking the hands of these students and teachers. It was so strange!

Sidenote: Oh yes, the principals in these schools are really funny too. The best one thus far is this head master who sits in his office and presses a button on his front desk every few seconds. It makes the most annoying buzzing sound. During a tour around the school, we would walk into classrooms and teachers would have a wide-eyed expression. The kids seem stunned. The atmosphere is tense. Haha...gawd, reminds me of my VJC days when Lee Phui Man walked around the school. :P

Going to the cyber cafe on the rickshaw was another experience in itself. The auto rickshaw driver was so tired he kept drifting off to sleep. I could see his eyes close every 2 seconds in the mirror, and after some time...my friends and i were so freaked out we actually hit him on his shoulders to wake him up. These autowallahs! You can never be too sure about them...

posted by Li'er @ 8:51 PM 2 comments  

Blogging backlog: The June National conference experience

Gosh, so much to write I don't know how to start. I feel like the days when i had to cram for my exams in 3 days after skipping classes to chill in the cafe outside school. (My parents are reading this so now they will know why I failed Math and Physics in Junior College. Bleghs)

I attended my first ever international AIESEC conference. Siliguri...a wonderful hill station. After enduring the 3 day train journey...we stumbled out of the train and took a 20 minute bus ride to the conference location.

The venue is not too exciting, and due to many screw ups...we are shuffling between rooms and have to sleep on the floor. I'm too tired to care, and by now, I've learnt to lower my standards when it comes to living in india. Im on a budget afterall.

There were many good memories with regard to the conference.

1. Discharge speech
This session lasted for almost 6 hours and ended only at 5am in the morning. It was painful to sit through, and I really passed out a few times from sheer tiredness. But I did get up at 5am to listen to the speech by the ex MCP of India. Now, I can't emphasize enough how many girls are crazy over him.... I remember Rickesh saying something about how power attracts people. Guess it must be true. Point aside, the ex-MCP's speech was a lesson in courage for me. What does leadership really mean? And being willing to make mistakes and admit to them? Asking the questions and being able to state ones opinions instead of talking behind the back?

2. Telling people to stop littering and cutting lines.
OOh! You know when a person cuts the line before you? How many of us will actually speak up and say something about it? Or when someone litters...will you tell them to pick it up and stop doing it? I guess this is something I am quite proud of...because in the past, I wouldn't have said anything....but I learnt something from a friend Victor who actually had the courage to speak up. So thank you Victor for the valuable lesson in life, and teaching me how important it is to use my voice.

3. Visiting Darjeeling!
Oy oy! Darjeeling is AMAZING! EVERYONE NEEDS TO VISIT DARJEELING!
Gosh, I dreamt of this place as a young kid though i had hoped we would get there in a more fashionable manner. In true lonely Planet style, we actually hired a sumo (like a 7 seater van) and packed 14 people into the vehicle. LOL!

People were sitting on laps and everyone was singing songs all the way up to the hills. The driver had an assistant who came along with us, riding outside the vehicle. He basically hung himself from the roof of the van the entire 3 hours that we were going up the mountains. In the middle of the night, we were dropped off at a 2 star hotel...it was freezing and I felt really stupid wearing my skirt and tshirt. Coming from MI, you think I would know better. :P

Nothing like some hot chai to warm ourselves up! we ventured out to Tiger Hills at 5am in the morning to watch the sunrise, and see the most amazing views of the mountains in the Himalayas! It was breath-taking...and clouds were rolling down the hills as the temperatures rose.

I've never seen so many Chinese people in my life outside of China...in fact, I felt so at home in Darjeeling...my Indian friends looked like foreigners in the place. Of course, most of them have lived in the hills for generations. And come from Nepal or Bhutan. They speak Hindi perfectly too....

I ended my trip by buying packets of tea leaves! I can't wait to get back to UK or US and prepare this famous drink for everyone! Woohoo!

posted by Li'er @ 7:57 PM 0 comments  

I've found my sisters!! :)

I've finally established contact with my sisters today! It's so good to hear them on the phone...and to hear that they are okay now. According to them, the blast occurred in the tunnel and they were immediately evacuated from the area for fear of more bombs in the vicinity.

My sister told me that people were really calm though a little confused about what was happening as people tried to form a story based on text messages from the outside world. They had to walk home as the buses and tube service had stopped running.

My eldest sister told me that my second sis, Rachel had missed the blast by 10 minutes. She had been travelling towards Kings Cross Station on the same line that the blast occurred. She on the other hand had decided to come into work early that morning and was at the office by 7am.

Thank God.

posted by Li'er @ 9:04 PM 4 comments  

BLUE DAY in my life.

6 explosions have just gone off in London.

Shocked. Confused. Worried.

My sisters are working in the Kings Cross Station in the underground (Waterloo line that connects into France), and I know that this is about the time they are at work...I meant to call them earlier to talk. I try dialing their office number at the station, no luck; I call their mobiles, can't get through.

I call home hoping my sisters have called my parents to let them know they are okay. My mom picks up the phone and the first thing my mom asks is "Is it still flooding in India?" She doesn't know what is going on...I hate to have to break the news to her.

"Mummy, there have been explosions in London...at Daijie's workplace. I can't get through to them, and I'm really worried about them.... Can you call them?"

I can't believe this is happening...

posted by Li'er @ 7:15 PM 4 comments  

Back to normal?

Yay! The rains seem to have stopped and the flood waters have finally gone down. I am hoping that the electricity will not be cut...seems to happen alot in india due to the huge demand and supply that cannot keep up with it. I'm now back at the internet cafe and will try to blog about the last 2 weeks of my life. To date, I have written 8 letters to my sisters (the eighth one is 6 pages long) and am hoping to send them soon.

The reason for my disappearance for the last 2 weeks was due to a rather exciting AIESEC India conference known as June National Conference. That is in itself a huge story....

3 day train ride from Baroda to Siliguri.
I love train rides! And I'm not kidding when i say that. I have done the 5 day train hike across Australia and train rides from Hongkong to Beijing and Shanghai, overnights in Spain. Plus Amtrak in the states but that doesn't count since it's only to Chicago. :P

Let me just say, trains in India are quite another matter. We were travelling 2nd class non A.C. from Baroda to Siliguri. This is a 3 day train ride and I was rather freaked out not being able to shower for 3 days. The train carriage is divided into berths...3 beds that unfold and another 2 that are fixed at the side windows. We were travelling in the heat which was not the brightest idea since the carriage did not have air conditioning ( I am so spoilt). The AIESECers prepared food and advised us not to eat the food from the train. The diet consisted of chips, what looked like pancakes (Indian style) and lotsa Pepsi, Miranda as well as bottles of mineral water. I was rather unused to sleeping in the train and waking up to see a stranger stare into my face. Needless to say, i tried not to use the bathroom for the 3 days ( I actually did it) despite drinkings bottles of water.

Mumbai train station: OMG! The local trains are crazy! These trains which are like the subway in NYC or the tube in UK do not stop at all. It kinda grinds to a rolling pace, whereby one hags to jump off or onto it in order to ride it. Watching people come off it in peak hour is like watching the train give birth to humans. They just swarm out like ants...popping out. If Ketan (AIESECer) hadn't pushed me onto the train, I would have missed it.

Sidetrack: We met some AIESEC Pune people on the same train. Really cool people in my opinion. I had a chat with Natasha about Parsis in India...fun! Oh, plus met a 16 year old who reminds me of my high school crush. The difference? I actually told him he was cute this time! ;P

The scariest part of the journey was when we ran out of water on the train...i mean no water in the taps and we weren't stopping. The heat was so intense I thought I would pass out. The worst thing was that we ran out of water ourselves and so 13 kids in this train..I'm sure we all thought we would die at some point. So for 8 hours, the train chugged on...finally stopping at a train station. Juanita (Canadian Ceeder) literally ran out of the train and jostled with the Indians to get water from the snack stall nearby. And then Sabrina (AIESEC baroda) appeared...she brought us food and water and coca cola! I love this girl....she's so bright and cheery and really took care of me at the conference.

Later that night, we stop at Bihar. Bihar is reputed to be quite unsafe due to the poverty in the area. Don't really understand the correlation there...but I was alittle freaked out by the men who gathered around the window to stare at us from outside.

That aside, the train ride was life changing in many aspects. I learnt that i can do without a bathe for 3 days though it still sounds disgusting and I am not about to promote doing it. There are more important things in life after the near death experience.... Travelling light is really important... And I got time to think alot which was great. Finally, I learnt that i have principles in life that I need to stand by in life. Honesty....it's not an easy value to uphold.

Read on for the conference experience.

posted by Li'er @ 6:55 PM 4 comments  

A quick note to all....

Hey people! Sorry for not blogging in the last few weeks.

I have only managed to call home twice to let my family know about my current situation.

It's flooding in Gujarat, the state where Baroda is located in due to heavy monsoon rains.

The lowdown?
Heavy rains have cause abnormally high water levels in the nearby dams. In order to relieve the pressure so that the dams do not break...they city has had to release water into the nearby river. The river was unable to handle the water supply and so the city of BARODA was flooded.

The experience?
It's been pretty hellish though I have to say my experience has been good compared to nearby villages where the floods have wiped out entire homes. The worst I have had to go through was walking around in the flood waters (up to chest level) and having to wander the streets when we couldn;t get home. More about that later.

Right now?
Seems like the city has to release more water from the dam. I only pray this doesn't last forever.
And I miss my family and friends (Singapore, States, Aussie -- you people know who you are) very much!

posted by Li'er @ 8:40 PM 0 comments