ark love.

carmenloo @ 2009-07-07T02:05:00

2009-07-06T14:16:40Z

Every start of the year, I write down a list of about 5-8 things to accomplish in the next 365 days. So far, 3 done before I turn 23.
That's pretty good in comparison to other years. Some years I accomplished none.

It's been a long time since I've felt happy to turn a year older, and this year I find myself wanting to celebrate my life. Last year was one of the best years of my life and this year has been good so far. Challenging, but good.

I know I should be more contented and I'm starting to see why.

=)

temporary

2009-04-25T16:16:46Z

I am so, so tired and so, so bored of studying right now. I just want to sleep. But I've gotta do well this year!
I'm not going to quit.

Working part-time and studying post-graduate at the same time requires tough time-management. I don't even have mediocre time-management. This is my problem.

Got-to-stop-watching-two-and-a-half-men-and-one-tree-hill.
Life is going to get better after next week.
I love myself heaps, and the person who made my day today. :)

carmenloo @ 2008-12-21T23:02:00

2008-12-21T17:32:41Z

I got back at midnight today and just saw a beautiful sunrise. Things seem different in a good way.

I've got heaps of shit to unpack. :)

Crossing paths

2008-12-15T11:03:31Z

December is here, how time flies. I’ve been in India for 10 weeks now, with less than 5 days now before I fly back. I am so going to miss this place!

This month is going to pass by even quicker than all the other months. I’ll fly back to Auckland, shop, eat, watch movies, shop, eat, get my honours application sorted. Then fly back to Malaysia 2 weeks later to shop and eat again, meet baby Kimmy and spend time with friends and family.

It’s all flying by me so fast. I wish I had booked my ticket to stay longer, to spend Christmas and New Year’s Eve here, to visit Udaipur, Nepal, Goa and Mumbai, to spend more time with the people I’ve grown close to, to eat more road side food and read more Indian books, to spend more time in lovely Bikaner, to argue a little more with the rickshaw drivers and to bargain further for cheap scarves. To be honest, I’m not at all ready to leave India.

But that’s okay, I’m thankful to have had a pretty awesome year this year anyway. ;)

And to top it off, I found peace of mind in the most unexpected of places. Who would have thought?

“Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start.

And I bet, and you exploded in my heart.”

Ahoy Mateys!

2008-12-03T11:32:34Z

HAHAHAHA WTH am I the only person who didn't know that my Facebook language could be changed to Pirate language? Lol. I'm laughing so hard.

I'm going on strike against the office for 4 servings of chai a day instead of 3. Walking home in 15 minutes, what should I have along the way? Pakoras? Tikki? Poha?

Italian food for dinner tonight! :) :) :)

Oh, Bikaner.

2008-12-03T09:26:32Z

mahendi

2008-12-01T08:05:37Z

Pushkar

2008-11-25T11:47:00Z

Pushkar Lake

Women selling vegetables; view from the top

I was forced to pack everything in one backpack! I originally packed a handbag, backpack and hand luggage but they unpacked everything and packed only the essentials into my backpack :(

Indian Noodles

TC looking like he just came out from a Jap boyband poster

Me half asleep

Our Hotel, Hotel Relax! lol.

Bianca and I

Bianca and Drunkard the dog

Pushkar is shopper's paradise

Brahma Temple

Usual sight in Pushkar, fresh cow dung and lots of flies

India- Second half

2008-11-20T06:49:31Z

I'm beginning to enjoy India more and more now that I've reached the second half of my trip. It's been nearly 6 weeks since I arrived, and it's getting better. The last 2 weeks were a little hard because I was really running low on cash having wasted it on something that wasn't really worth it and the problems that it gave me, but things are sorted now.

I've gotten used to walking home from work everyday now, saving me 30 rupees a day (woohoo!). I figured that I just have to get used to the staring and the pointing but at least up till now no one has attempted to actually come up to me. A new Australian girl, Bianca, arrived at the house 2 weeks ago and we've been eating and window shopping alot.

We went to Choki Dani last week where I got to ride a camel and sit on a ferris wheel which was motored by a guy running in the middle of it like a hamster. Yuko and I had fun shouting at him to run faster.

Will post up some random photos later. Can't wait to go to Udaipur and Pushkar!

__________________________________

Oh how come I never realised earlier that you did belong to the "bleah bleah bleaaakkkk". Perfectly thoughtless together in an empty world.

Dostana

2008-11-15T06:47:19Z

I watched a Bollywood film last night in an Indian cinema and it was soooo fun! The people clapped, laughed, danced and ooh-aahed at every love scene. I've never seen such a noisy cinema in my life. I also found a new celeb-man of my dreams.

Meet John Abraham. The movie kicked off with him emerging from the water, running and topless. And throughout the movie he was running, topless, running, topless, running topless and in the second scene, bottomless too.
Best. Chickflick. Ever.

diwali photos

2008-11-14T11:21:16Z

During Diwali, you'll see decorations like this one everywhere and they're made out of spices

Tea lights

Fireworks stalls

Our trainee house, lighted up

My room, which my neighbour decorated for me

Indian police cars

More bangles

Julia

Pink city lighted up

The cutest Indian boy I have ever seen, but his mom made everyone pay to take a photo and talk to him

Emna and I playing with what the old lady at the stall said was "baby stuff"

Swati (Auntie's daughter who came back from the UK) making stuff to attract the Goddess of Wealth out of coloured sand, spices and flowers

Emna and I all dressed up for the occsasion :)

A good meal at Shogen's house

tikka (?) on everyone's forehead

Yuko, me and Julia at Sheraton

Cihan and I

carmenloo @ 2008-11-14T12:53:00

2008-11-14T07:28:21Z

Why does Moochi always hold their awesome dress parties when I'm not around?
My body is experiencing withdrawal symptoms from trying to quit shopping sprees. Even in India!

oh, quiet.

2008-11-05T10:54:24Z

Agaa, me and Emna

While shopping one day, we came across this tomb/palace of Maharaja Sawainan Singh-II. It was a very peaceful and nice place, we sat for 2 hours to chat and no one disturbed us. What an unusual thing to have on an afternoon in India.

The Taj Mahal

2008-11-04T06:44:12Z

Chicken Maharaja Mac

2008-11-01T10:38:26Z

If only I could make an arrangement for the rickshaw driver to buy me one of these everyday for lunch and deliver it to me at work.

carmenloo @ 2008-11-01T15:57:00

2008-11-01T10:35:29Z

First slum visit with Rajni in Jaipur:

Dancing and singing

Livya.

carmenloo @ 2008-11-01T15:52:00

2008-11-01T10:27:59Z

Hawa Mahal

A temple

Jal Mahal

Deepavali/Diwali

2008-10-31T07:25:42Z

It’s still Deepavali here. Fireworks fly across and from rooftops at night like a war zone. The boy from next door plays with his cousin every night, lighting crackers right outside my door. For the past 3 nights, I’ve been too afraid to go to the toilet for fear a cracker might blow up at me as I exit my room, haha really I’m not kidding.

I like Diwali; Except that rickshaw drivers demand more than they deserve when they do not know where they’re going and have to stop 10 times to ask for directions. Except that firecrackers are legal here and that a nation of more than a billion people is freely allowed to throw “Jolly Atoms” anywhere as they like. Except that we cannot travel anywhere due to bomb threats on trains and in crowded places.

But I still like Diwali. I like the special food and snacks. I like the saris and the lightings that decorate every house. I like the pictures they make on the floor out of spices and coloured sand. It feels like Christmas and Chinese New Year altogether. But it’s back to work for me today! I’ll be heading to Agra on Saturday evening to see the Taj Mahal though. Whoopdeedoo! I have a love/hate thing going on when it comes to being sure of what I feel about India. :)

Cihan and I in Sheraton during Deepavali. He's Turkish, not Indian. ;)

Happy Diwali!

2008-10-27T06:25:10Z

Photos from Bikaner

2008-10-25T06:39:30Z

I went to Bikaner, a desert area north of Jaipur, for 3 days with my boss, Mr Anuj, and colleagues, Punnam and Abinav. We visited slums for 2 whole days and attended a volunteer training for 1 day. I stayed at the Pratham office. The place isn't the best but the extremely nice people made eveyrthing good. Here are the photos I took for work, and some for my tourist self :)

From the rooftop of Mr Anuj's house

Bikaner sweets

Urban slum pockets

Gambling sessions

Writing in the sand

This boy said he knew how to read but when tested, made words up. Mr Anuj told him that we have a picture of him now and we'll be back in 2 weeks to test him again, but he was more interested in getting his smirk captured and looking at it through my digicam

Indian fritters

Sweets

Snacks

Reading material provided by Pratham

Kavita and Umesh, Trainer and Monitor for volunteers

Drawings on the wall promoting Pratham: Read Bikaner Project

Children selling stationary

A pottery-making house

Tea light holders for Diwali

The narrow lanes of slums where everything crosses

From the rooftops

Pan, a mouth-freshening delicary made out of sugar syrup, sunflower seeds, cherries and other things wrapped up in betelnut leaves.

Me giving a little presentation on a Hindu-written chart...

And then screwing up.

A pre-school class.

Radhe writing on the floor with chalk to test kids' reading abilities.

Volunteer training at the office.

Abhinav and the kids across the lane.

Frequent visitor.

Punnam making tea at Mr Anuj's house.

What an Indian kitchen looks like.

Every kitchen has its spice rack.

Mud pots store cold drinking water.

Amber Fort

2008-10-16T06:34:33Z

On Sunday, we met up with the other interns to visit Amber Fort and it was absolutely beautiful. Oh it’s winter here by the way but the temperature is 38 degrees. It’s crazy hot. Walking up Amber Fort in the heat made me want to faint. Lesson to self: Bring 2 huge bottles of water wherever you go in India and ALWAYS, always eat something first.

Roman, me, Natalie and Martin

Crazy boy swimming in dirty lake

Puppies in a hole in the ground

Where the king gave his speeches

Ceiling designs

Royal gardens

Mirror Palace

The mirrors in the wall are concave or something to absorb heat in the winter/The carving if covered by your hand in the right places represents 5 animals

Sabrina, Tai Chi, Martin, Natalie, Arjit, Roman, Me and Cihan

These windows are made out of special glass that enables people to look out but people can't look in from the other side

Where slaves lived, apparently like a maze inside

cooking pot used by slaves

with our guide

Chicken McGrill

2008-10-15T11:50:20Z

On Monday after work, I took a rickshaw to a shopping mall, GT, to get my Vodafone sim card. I bought a Chicken McGrill burger from Macdonald’s there and it was so good! It had a bit of chutney in it and it was awesome. On Sunday, we had Pizza Hut after we visited Amber Fort but it was horrible. My cream of chicken soup tasted more like chicken and water but oh well.

People make too much of proper shops here. In my housing area, there’s a little supermarket about 2 shop lots wide and they have 4 security guards outside who want to see everyone receipts and check everyone’s bags. In Vodafone, they had a guard outside to ask your purpose of visit and he prints out a little receipt for you that states your purpose and your waiting number. Inside, they have people to serve you drinks. It’s weird.

I also bought bangles from GT, yay! I love them, I can so see myself wearing them for any occasion. There were so many colours and designs to choose from, so I spent about 45 minutes at the bangles store heehee.

for the next 2 and a half months...

2008-10-15T05:17:43Z

My trainee house is pretty nice as compared to the slum-like houses I saw along the way here, so this is quite a relief. I was pretty scared when I first got here because Ishan didn’t know the people staying here. When he knocked, a guy came out and spoke some Hindi to him and then he made us wait outside while he got this other guy, Abhi to come. Abhi led us up 3 flights of stairs before I finally saw the living room and the place started to look like a real house.

My room is one that’s sort of outside of the house. I have to walk out of the house in order to access it and the houses here are sort of like the South American houses you see in the movies. Like in Mamma Mia, the houses are sort of all connected and if you step here and there over the rooftop, balcony etc, you sort of end up in someone else’s house. Know what I mean?

Turns out, Abhi is the son of Auntie and Mr Singh, the couple who owns the house. I’m to pay Auntie 3500 rupees a month for accommodation and food and I am living here with 5 other interns, Auntie, Mr Singh, Abhi, Disco Dancer (the cook), Mani and Mani’s wife (a couple who lives downstairs).

I’ve only met 3 of the interns so far because the other 2 girls from Tunisia are travelling India for a few days. There’s a Turkish guy, Cihan, an Austrian guy, Martin and a Japanese guy, Tai Chi. Cihan takes pretty good care of me although he can get pretty bossy at times. Martin has been here for 2 weeks but he still seems pretty excited at every little thing we see. There’re probably ten camels on every street and everytime he sees one he will exclaim “Look, look! Isn’t it just amazing!” Indian people use the Swastika sign a lot here (the one Hitler used for the Nazis) and he will point out in disbelief every time we come across one because in Austria, the sign is totally forbidden and you could go to jail for displaying it. Tai Chi’s quite a handsome young man but he’s quite quiet and craves yakitori every night.

Disco Dancer is the cook and cleaner here and it’s kinda weird and funny at the same time because after he cooks our meals for us, he’ll dance and sing for us (hence the nickname). He’s 19 and he’s married with a kid, and he never seems to run out of energy.

There’s a second door in my room that’s locked from my side but on the other side of the door is another house/room with a couple and a young kid living there. In the morning, when the wife, Nilu, cleans the floor, the water sips in to my room through the door and my room floor is partially wet.

So the 12 of us living in this part of the house use 1 toilet. There’s no hot water and it’s full of ants but hey, I’m happy I’m not showering in some common pond. Yesterday, I wanted to shower so badly but the toilet was occupied so I had the option to shower on the rooftop where there’s a little shed and a tap. I was pretty proud of myself because… uhm… for those of you who know me well… I have maaaaajoooorrr toilet issues.

Everyone here is mostly vegetarian so I guess I’m pretty much be on a vegetarian diet unless I make more trips to Macdonalds and Pizza Hut. We (the interns) eat chapatti and daal everyday for dinner and as for lunch, Disco Dancer packs us each some potato daal wrapped in more chapatti. I’m okay with it for now, I hope I don’t get too bored of it soon or put on weight due to the endless amount of carbs.

I’m off now to pray to the God of Ham Yu Kai Lup Chow Fun who resides somewhere along Dominion Road in Auckland, in hopes that when I get back there will be an endless supply of fried rice available for my consumption.

Jaipur

2008-10-15T04:54:34Z

Jaipur, 11^th Oct 2008 – 1.30pm

(Written half way before I was interrupted by Abhi because he wanted to take me to the supermarket)

I arrived in Jaipur at 10.15am and was picked up by Ishan, my supposed AIESEC buddy. At the Jaipur airport toilet, there was a lady again who asked for tips. Brilliant la, looks like this is going to be everywhere.

Ishan came on a motorcycle and so I paid for a rickshaw while he rode near to us to get to the accommodation. This place is a city, yes, but it’s far from being developed. I know Mumbai is more of a city but I hope Delhi is not like this. Jaipur city is obviously still very rundown and there’s plenty of space for development.

Jaipur Airport

The place is extremely dusty everywhere you go, and although there are motorways, they are filled with helmetless motorcyclists, rickshaws, bicycles, pedestrians, tractors, cows and camels. The journey here was about 20 minutes long and along the way I was approached by begging children and women everytime the rickshaw slowed down. I suppose they don’t get many foreigners (I was warned about this already) because everywhere I go people stop and stare. Some even followed the rickshaw and it was scary.

(/Edit: This is supposed to be very normal here because not only do they not see foreigners very often, they lack girls. According to Martin, people here still do the “abort-baby-girl” thing here quite often and just a few days ago, 4 baby girls were found dead in a river near my house).

There seems to be no proper road system because everyone just walks and drives everywhere, they don’t even drive in lanes. Kinda reminds me of Beijing, except that Beijing was scarier cause they drove quickly and didn’t seem to care if they hit anyone. Here, the driving seems more laidback and they honk a lot at every god damn thing they see. Every 5 minutes, a bicycle pedal or tire will get caught in a rickshaw or a motorcycle and both drivers will start to argue. Vehicles and pedestrians brush each other all the time but no one seems to get seriously hurt.

This is a photo I took later on at a Railway Crossing. Everyone waits on both sides with no lanes at all so when it opens, it takes 20 minutes to get everyone accross to the other side. It's quite funny to watch, and sometimes there will be camels that look quite scared to move forward.

an internet cafe

2008-10-11T09:00:22Z

So I walked really far and finally found a cafe. It has 5 old computers in it and it costs 17 rupees an hour. Divide that by 30 to get that in NZD. The guy didn't have enough computers and so he looked for a feather duster and dusted off his own computer for me, lol.

I'm guessing internet access is not so easy here anymore. I'll be blogging on Word and posting them whenever I get access. People stare way too much here. The walk to this cyber cafe was torturing. Everyone stopped to stare and point, and I can't find any mineral water!

My place is okay. I just wish my host would take the time to show me around since this is so completely new to me. No one on the streets speak any English. I just want to buy some water and tissue paper!!! And it's awkward when you have to dodge cows and camels while people are staring. Haha.