Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
allan and i went on a walk sunday afternoon and came across a few new things. we found a great coffee shop with great coffee, we found a bread shop and we found an indoor market with fresh veggies and and fruit. this was the best market we have seen so far. the fact that it was inside without flies all around made it so much more appealing to shop at. the veggies were great. we made our first dinner in our hotel room. we bought chicken cutlets (which we also found yesterday at our mini grocery store) and mixed it with pasta. it was just like home. it was nice to be able to finally make our own dinner.
yesterday at work i was quite adventurous. i road on a scooter with the houseparent ali. it was very scary. i made sure he drove as carefully as he could. the driving here is crazy so you can imagine what i was going through. it was actually kind of fun.
ali drove me to the children's school so that i could see what it was like. lets just be thankful for our school systems. this was a little brick house with about four rooms. each room held about twenty children. it was a very simple building. they had a chalk board but there were no pictures or paintings on the walls. for the most part all of the walls were empty. the four teachers at the school all seemed very nice and the children seemed happy which is all that really mattered.
i also took the bus yesterday which was quit a scene. imagine how crowded the buses are in chicago around 5pm. triple that and that was what it was like to ride a bus here. people do not care how crowded the bus is they just pile in. i don't think i will be doing that again unless i have to.
today the house is closed because robert had to take care of an emergency with one of the children. because it is closed we will meet the children at the school and play games with them.
hope everyone is doing well
love abby and allan
yesterday at work i was quite adventurous. i road on a scooter with the houseparent ali. it was very scary. i made sure he drove as carefully as he could. the driving here is crazy so you can imagine what i was going through. it was actually kind of fun.
ali drove me to the children's school so that i could see what it was like. lets just be thankful for our school systems. this was a little brick house with about four rooms. each room held about twenty children. it was a very simple building. they had a chalk board but there were no pictures or paintings on the walls. for the most part all of the walls were empty. the four teachers at the school all seemed very nice and the children seemed happy which is all that really mattered.
i also took the bus yesterday which was quit a scene. imagine how crowded the buses are in chicago around 5pm. triple that and that was what it was like to ride a bus here. people do not care how crowded the bus is they just pile in. i don't think i will be doing that again unless i have to.
today the house is closed because robert had to take care of an emergency with one of the children. because it is closed we will meet the children at the school and play games with them.
hope everyone is doing well
love abby and allan
Sunday, August 26, 2007
pictures
we finally have some pictures to show!!!!! we took a bunch to give you a sense of what goa is like. we will continue to send more. when you get to the bottom of the page click "older post" to view the other pictures. we hope everyone is doing well. love abby and allan
Monday, August 20, 2007
i hope everyone had a good weekend!!!!!!
saturday night allan and i met out some of the girls from children walking tall. we went to another little restaurant right by the beach. even though i only eat tomato soup and naan bread it is still fun to go to new restaurants and see new areas. on sunday we went to the park hyatt hotel where allan's coworker and his wife are staying. we ate lunch and and played games by the pool as it occasionally rained on us. it was really fun. very nice couple. we are going to have dinner with them tonight at another india restaurant close to our hotel.
my third day at the mango house was quite interesting. i arrived at the house around noon and the same routine was going on. children were taking their showers, kids watching cartoons and playing games. the cartoons here are great. they are so funny. i sat and watched cartoons with the children!!!!!
these kids are so funny. there is a cat in the house that i really do not like. the cat must know it because he is always coming by me. anyhow, one of the children must have noticed that i do not like the cat. while we were watching cartoons he came up behind me and threw the cat over my head, and the cat landed right in my lap. i jumped up and saw a little boy running away laughing as hard as he could. they can't get my name straight yet, they are all calling me yabby. it is so cute. one of the other volunteers names is sophie. they call her soapy.
after they had lunch it was time for homework. i helped a little boy with his reading. he is reading an english book right now and did so well. he was so appreciative that i helped him and you could tell he was so proud of himself that he was able to read as well as he did.
around 4pm after they had their snack of apples and milk it was time to take the children home. there is an indian house parent who lives at the mango house and he is in charge of dropping the children off. there are two trips. i went with on the second trip. as we dropped the children home (the slums) we passed out fruit to the families. it was so interesting to see how these families live. for me it was really sad to see but for the children they do not know any better so it does not bother them.
indian families feel that this was the life that they were given and if they do good things in this life, during their second life better things will happen for them. they do not have negative attitudes and you will never see them complain.
i was able to meet some of the children's parents. they were so friendly and also very curious to know about me. they wanted to know why i was in india, where i came from and who i was with. it was fun to see the children in their natural environment. when the kids get back to the slums some of the parents will put them to work. the children will take care of the little babies, others will go rag picking with their parents or go and wash cars. when they get home for the day there is no time for them to relax, it is right to work for these children.
allans work continues to be going well. he is working very hard and doing a very good job!!!!!
besides friends and family i really miss my turkey sandwiches. i have only had one since i got here and i probably will not have another one until i come home in november. if anyone knows how to ship turkey here i would be very happy.
love abby and allan.
saturday night allan and i met out some of the girls from children walking tall. we went to another little restaurant right by the beach. even though i only eat tomato soup and naan bread it is still fun to go to new restaurants and see new areas. on sunday we went to the park hyatt hotel where allan's coworker and his wife are staying. we ate lunch and and played games by the pool as it occasionally rained on us. it was really fun. very nice couple. we are going to have dinner with them tonight at another india restaurant close to our hotel.
my third day at the mango house was quite interesting. i arrived at the house around noon and the same routine was going on. children were taking their showers, kids watching cartoons and playing games. the cartoons here are great. they are so funny. i sat and watched cartoons with the children!!!!!
these kids are so funny. there is a cat in the house that i really do not like. the cat must know it because he is always coming by me. anyhow, one of the children must have noticed that i do not like the cat. while we were watching cartoons he came up behind me and threw the cat over my head, and the cat landed right in my lap. i jumped up and saw a little boy running away laughing as hard as he could. they can't get my name straight yet, they are all calling me yabby. it is so cute. one of the other volunteers names is sophie. they call her soapy.
after they had lunch it was time for homework. i helped a little boy with his reading. he is reading an english book right now and did so well. he was so appreciative that i helped him and you could tell he was so proud of himself that he was able to read as well as he did.
around 4pm after they had their snack of apples and milk it was time to take the children home. there is an indian house parent who lives at the mango house and he is in charge of dropping the children off. there are two trips. i went with on the second trip. as we dropped the children home (the slums) we passed out fruit to the families. it was so interesting to see how these families live. for me it was really sad to see but for the children they do not know any better so it does not bother them.
indian families feel that this was the life that they were given and if they do good things in this life, during their second life better things will happen for them. they do not have negative attitudes and you will never see them complain.
i was able to meet some of the children's parents. they were so friendly and also very curious to know about me. they wanted to know why i was in india, where i came from and who i was with. it was fun to see the children in their natural environment. when the kids get back to the slums some of the parents will put them to work. the children will take care of the little babies, others will go rag picking with their parents or go and wash cars. when they get home for the day there is no time for them to relax, it is right to work for these children.
allans work continues to be going well. he is working very hard and doing a very good job!!!!!
besides friends and family i really miss my turkey sandwiches. i have only had one since i got here and i probably will not have another one until i come home in november. if anyone knows how to ship turkey here i would be very happy.
love abby and allan.
Friday, August 17, 2007
day number two at the mango house (children walking tall) was great. the kids are all so cute. they are trying to learn my name which they have a hard time saying. some of the children speak english but very little. the children get excited about everything. when i walked into the house in the morning a little girl saw i had sunglasses on my head. she kept pointing to them and finally i gave them to her. she wore them the whole morning. there is an olympic size pool (only five min walk away) so we took the younger children over to see the pool. when they saw the pool they became very excited. next week they will probably start their lessons.
after we took them to the pool we had a story time and school time. there is a teacher who is volunteering at the moment from england who began to teach them their colors. these are children who are at the age where they should already know all of their colors. the teacher introduced the colors blue and red to them. some new which color was which but most did not.
once it became 12:30pm the older children started to come from public school. the kids go to school monday through sat from 8am until 12:30ish. 1 oclock starts shower time. boys shower on monday and friday and girls shower tues and thursday. i had the honor to supervise showers for the boys on friday. they love showers, shampoo, soap!!!!! they love styling their hair once they get out of the shower. they spend lots of time in front of the mirror putting all sorts of products in their hair. they never get nice showers like this so they are aloud take long showers if they want to. we are not aloud to rush them. showering usually takes the whole afternoon. they sing their indian songs in the shower. it is so funny.
around 2 oclock we break from showers so all the kids can eat their meal. i call it a meal because it is a combination of their breakfast lunch and dinner. these kids eat so much it is unbelievable.
back to showers for the next hour or so. i couldn't believe it when the kids where thanking me for their showers. they are all so polite. they know that if they are not good they get punished and can't come back the next day. none of these children want that.
there is one little girl who can't communicate with any of the other children because she comes from a part of india where they speak a completely different lang then they do in goa. every year her parents move to goa durning the summer to find work. they are brick layers. the parents are in the process of working on a building right in front of the mango house. where ever these families find work they make their home right next to it out of tarps and sticks. everyday this little girl would sit on a rock and watch all the kids at mango house playing outside. the volunteers started to notice the little girl watching. some how they were able to communicate to the parents what children walking tall was and the parents agreed for the little girl to go everyday. this is the same girl who wore my sunglasses all morning.
so the day was over and i got back monday.
the volunteers are all great. on thurdsay night allan and i met all the volunteers and the director out for dinner. we went to an area 30mins away from our hotel called calangute. it is a really a neat place. lots of shops and restaurants. on the way i noticed that they had a sign for subway. i never actually saw the subway so i will not believe it until i actually have a turkey sandwich in my hand.
anyhow we met everyone at a restaurant called souza lobo. it was right on the beach. i had my fourth cup of tomato soup in a row and allan had some type of indian dish which i did not try. i did try the naan bread which was sooooooooooooooooo good. anyhow we had a great time with everyone. in fact i think we are going to meet them all out again tonight. it is nice because they have all been here long enough to know the good restaurants.
last night we had dinner at the hotel where they made me my plan chicken, spinach salad and steamed veggies. i didn't even have to order they new exactly what i wanted. afterwards we went to the ozone which is a bar at the hotel. it was karaoke night so it was pretty fun to watch.
it is 11:30am and you all are probably sound asleep.
keep in touch
i think i gave my wrong number in the last blog 3122431637.
love abby and allan
after we took them to the pool we had a story time and school time. there is a teacher who is volunteering at the moment from england who began to teach them their colors. these are children who are at the age where they should already know all of their colors. the teacher introduced the colors blue and red to them. some new which color was which but most did not.
once it became 12:30pm the older children started to come from public school. the kids go to school monday through sat from 8am until 12:30ish. 1 oclock starts shower time. boys shower on monday and friday and girls shower tues and thursday. i had the honor to supervise showers for the boys on friday. they love showers, shampoo, soap!!!!! they love styling their hair once they get out of the shower. they spend lots of time in front of the mirror putting all sorts of products in their hair. they never get nice showers like this so they are aloud take long showers if they want to. we are not aloud to rush them. showering usually takes the whole afternoon. they sing their indian songs in the shower. it is so funny.
around 2 oclock we break from showers so all the kids can eat their meal. i call it a meal because it is a combination of their breakfast lunch and dinner. these kids eat so much it is unbelievable.
back to showers for the next hour or so. i couldn't believe it when the kids where thanking me for their showers. they are all so polite. they know that if they are not good they get punished and can't come back the next day. none of these children want that.
there is one little girl who can't communicate with any of the other children because she comes from a part of india where they speak a completely different lang then they do in goa. every year her parents move to goa durning the summer to find work. they are brick layers. the parents are in the process of working on a building right in front of the mango house. where ever these families find work they make their home right next to it out of tarps and sticks. everyday this little girl would sit on a rock and watch all the kids at mango house playing outside. the volunteers started to notice the little girl watching. some how they were able to communicate to the parents what children walking tall was and the parents agreed for the little girl to go everyday. this is the same girl who wore my sunglasses all morning.
so the day was over and i got back monday.
the volunteers are all great. on thurdsay night allan and i met all the volunteers and the director out for dinner. we went to an area 30mins away from our hotel called calangute. it is a really a neat place. lots of shops and restaurants. on the way i noticed that they had a sign for subway. i never actually saw the subway so i will not believe it until i actually have a turkey sandwich in my hand.
anyhow we met everyone at a restaurant called souza lobo. it was right on the beach. i had my fourth cup of tomato soup in a row and allan had some type of indian dish which i did not try. i did try the naan bread which was sooooooooooooooooo good. anyhow we had a great time with everyone. in fact i think we are going to meet them all out again tonight. it is nice because they have all been here long enough to know the good restaurants.
last night we had dinner at the hotel where they made me my plan chicken, spinach salad and steamed veggies. i didn't even have to order they new exactly what i wanted. afterwards we went to the ozone which is a bar at the hotel. it was karaoke night so it was pretty fun to watch.
it is 11:30am and you all are probably sound asleep.
keep in touch
i think i gave my wrong number in the last blog 3122431637.
love abby and allan
Thursday, August 16, 2007
aug 16th 2007
hi again,
so everything continues to be going well. we have been enjoying the weather. it has only rained a couple times since i have been here.
allan had the day off yesterday for indian indpendence day so we were able to take sometime to explore a little more. we walked around downtown and found a dvd store where we can buy any movie we would want. we were also able to find a bookstore which actually seemed pretty good. there is a hotel downtown that is called the fildalgo. if anyone wants to visit it is a good place to stay for very cheap. anyhow, they have a cute little cafe and sandwich shop. i was able to get a chicken sandwich just how i like it.
allan is keeping very busy with work and of coarse is working very hard. he is really liking his new job!!!!!!
i started my volunteer work today. it was very interesting. right now there are 6 volunteers. one women is from england, one from Australia (although today was her last day) and then i think the rest are from london. i got a chance to meet all of the children. they are so cute and polite. all the kids came up to me shook my hand and introduced themselves. something tells me it will not take a long time to get to know them.
the director is super nice. he was really happy to have a social worker on board. right now there are about 40 kids involved in the organization. they go to a public school in the morning and then around 12noon they come to the house (children walking tall house) where they shower, watch cartoons, eat lunch and do their homework. there is a volunteer teacher who comes in the afternoon to teach the kids some more. all of the kids go home at night. only in emergency situations will they spend the night at the house.
each child showers at the house twice a week. most likely those are the only two good showers they get during a week. the meal that they get at the house is probably the only meal they get for the day so they are encouraged to eat as much as they want. there is a cook at the house who makes enough food so that the kids can go up for seconds, thirds and even fourths. whatever it takes to get them full. believe it or not i actually tried the food, it was rice with veggies. it was soooooo good. friday is chicken day so if i am feeling adventures i will try it. all the kids eat on the floor and use their hands to feed themselves. i was told that i had to eat with my right hand. if i ate with my left hand the kids would look at me funny. using your left hand in anyway symbolizes something to do with having to do with use the bathroom. i am a lefty so this might be tricky to get use to. the great thing about this organization (which is a british run organization) is that they do not try to westernize these kids. they are very respectful to their values and culture. some of the kids speak english and some do not. the staff will use sigh lang with the kids who do not know english.
allan and i were invited to go with some of the volunteers for dinner for one of their birthdays. that should be interesting and fun!!!!!! ok i think that is it for now. keep in touch and fill me in one what is going on with you.
love abby and allan
so everything continues to be going well. we have been enjoying the weather. it has only rained a couple times since i have been here.
allan had the day off yesterday for indian indpendence day so we were able to take sometime to explore a little more. we walked around downtown and found a dvd store where we can buy any movie we would want. we were also able to find a bookstore which actually seemed pretty good. there is a hotel downtown that is called the fildalgo. if anyone wants to visit it is a good place to stay for very cheap. anyhow, they have a cute little cafe and sandwich shop. i was able to get a chicken sandwich just how i like it.
allan is keeping very busy with work and of coarse is working very hard. he is really liking his new job!!!!!!
i started my volunteer work today. it was very interesting. right now there are 6 volunteers. one women is from england, one from Australia (although today was her last day) and then i think the rest are from london. i got a chance to meet all of the children. they are so cute and polite. all the kids came up to me shook my hand and introduced themselves. something tells me it will not take a long time to get to know them.
the director is super nice. he was really happy to have a social worker on board. right now there are about 40 kids involved in the organization. they go to a public school in the morning and then around 12noon they come to the house (children walking tall house) where they shower, watch cartoons, eat lunch and do their homework. there is a volunteer teacher who comes in the afternoon to teach the kids some more. all of the kids go home at night. only in emergency situations will they spend the night at the house.
each child showers at the house twice a week. most likely those are the only two good showers they get during a week. the meal that they get at the house is probably the only meal they get for the day so they are encouraged to eat as much as they want. there is a cook at the house who makes enough food so that the kids can go up for seconds, thirds and even fourths. whatever it takes to get them full. believe it or not i actually tried the food, it was rice with veggies. it was soooooo good. friday is chicken day so if i am feeling adventures i will try it. all the kids eat on the floor and use their hands to feed themselves. i was told that i had to eat with my right hand. if i ate with my left hand the kids would look at me funny. using your left hand in anyway symbolizes something to do with having to do with use the bathroom. i am a lefty so this might be tricky to get use to. the great thing about this organization (which is a british run organization) is that they do not try to westernize these kids. they are very respectful to their values and culture. some of the kids speak english and some do not. the staff will use sigh lang with the kids who do not know english.
allan and i were invited to go with some of the volunteers for dinner for one of their birthdays. that should be interesting and fun!!!!!! ok i think that is it for now. keep in touch and fill me in one what is going on with you.
love abby and allan
Sunday, August 12, 2007
i have arrived in india
hi everyone,
so i have officially arrived in india. allan met me in new delhi. it was sooooooo good to see him!!!!! we spent the night in new delhi and then the next morning we flew to goa which was a three and half hour flight. after flying sixteen hours, three hours was not a big deal. the plan ride from chicago to new delhi went by much quicker then i expected. i slept, watched three movies and had lots of snacks.
so far everything is going well. the hotel is great. i think i might know what it is like to be a movie star. we get treated so well. people are constantly coming up to us making sure we have everything that we need. the staff already know allan pretty well. the chef introduced himself to us and told us that whatever we wanted he would make sure that we get it. i am going to go talk with him in a little while and let him know all of my requests!!!!!!!
there is a lounge that we get access to where we can use the computer and get free food and drinks. so far allan and i have eaten dinner in the lounge. last night when we were sitting in the lounge and we met two girls who were here on business from chicago. they both live in lincoln park. it was pretty funny.
when we first got to goa al and i put our stuff away and then we walked around the downtown area. it was so fun to people watch. it is very busy with lots going on. we found a hotel that has a really cute coffee shop so i think i will spend some of my time there.
yesterday we went to the movie theater which is walking distance from our hotel. the theater is a little different then what we are use too. they have assigned seats and they have a fifteen min intermission. it is kind nice to have the intermission. anyhow we saw the simpsons movie. everything was in english.
allan has a coworker who just moved here with his wife. they are from scotland. they are our age and seem really really nice. we will probably spend time with them. i am starting my volunteer work on thursday. i am really excited about it. i spoke with Robert (he is the man in charge) and he said that there are a bunch of volunteers who are just starting as well. he also told me that he will talk to me about it when i get there on thursday but he said they are definiently going to be needing to use me for me social worker skills. not sure what that means but i will let you know. i am thinking some type of crisis occurred and they need help with it. we will see.
it is 10:15 in the morning and 11:50pm in chicago. if you want to know what time it is in goa you can go to worldclock.com. look up the time in delhi and that is what time it is in goa. don't forget to call me on 312 2431967.
i think that is all for now. we are not in our room yet. once we are i will send pictures so you can see what it is like. at that time i will also send you pictures of the hotel.
talk to you soon and miss you
abby and allan
so i have officially arrived in india. allan met me in new delhi. it was sooooooo good to see him!!!!! we spent the night in new delhi and then the next morning we flew to goa which was a three and half hour flight. after flying sixteen hours, three hours was not a big deal. the plan ride from chicago to new delhi went by much quicker then i expected. i slept, watched three movies and had lots of snacks.
so far everything is going well. the hotel is great. i think i might know what it is like to be a movie star. we get treated so well. people are constantly coming up to us making sure we have everything that we need. the staff already know allan pretty well. the chef introduced himself to us and told us that whatever we wanted he would make sure that we get it. i am going to go talk with him in a little while and let him know all of my requests!!!!!!!
there is a lounge that we get access to where we can use the computer and get free food and drinks. so far allan and i have eaten dinner in the lounge. last night when we were sitting in the lounge and we met two girls who were here on business from chicago. they both live in lincoln park. it was pretty funny.
when we first got to goa al and i put our stuff away and then we walked around the downtown area. it was so fun to people watch. it is very busy with lots going on. we found a hotel that has a really cute coffee shop so i think i will spend some of my time there.
yesterday we went to the movie theater which is walking distance from our hotel. the theater is a little different then what we are use too. they have assigned seats and they have a fifteen min intermission. it is kind nice to have the intermission. anyhow we saw the simpsons movie. everything was in english.
allan has a coworker who just moved here with his wife. they are from scotland. they are our age and seem really really nice. we will probably spend time with them. i am starting my volunteer work on thursday. i am really excited about it. i spoke with Robert (he is the man in charge) and he said that there are a bunch of volunteers who are just starting as well. he also told me that he will talk to me about it when i get there on thursday but he said they are definiently going to be needing to use me for me social worker skills. not sure what that means but i will let you know. i am thinking some type of crisis occurred and they need help with it. we will see.
it is 10:15 in the morning and 11:50pm in chicago. if you want to know what time it is in goa you can go to worldclock.com. look up the time in delhi and that is what time it is in goa. don't forget to call me on 312 2431967.
i think that is all for now. we are not in our room yet. once we are i will send pictures so you can see what it is like. at that time i will also send you pictures of the hotel.
talk to you soon and miss you
abby and allan
Sunday, August 5, 2007
abby and allan in india aug 2007
allan has now been in india for four weeks. i will be joining him on aug 9th. we are looking forward to our adventure in india and we will be sharing with you all of our pictures!!!!!!
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