GVD and Weekend #1

I have just finished a day of training here in India (Tuesday) and thought I would put a little blurb on what I have been doing the past few days...

Saturday was EDS GVD or global volunteer day. Both Dolly and I attended the event in a village about 90 minutes outside of Pune. The 200+ volunteers from the EDS office took 2 busses out to the village. Dolly, myself, Atul, and our driver went in private car. We originally said we would go on the bus but we were told we would be leaving early so go by car.

The purpose of our trip was to help with watersheds. The village has severe drought problems and since they are at the base of the hill, silt and other dirt runs down the hill into their crops. So our job was to build a series of damns. Rocks were dumped in piles near where each damn should be built. We then set up lines where we passed the rocks from person to person until it was placed on the damn. The damns were about 20 feet long and 5 feet high. Despite the information in one of my books which indicated I need not worry about sun burn, I got burnt that day.




We left the volunteers at the site shortly after lunch. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at the jail where Gandhi was imprisoned with his wife. It actually wasn't really a prison. It is Aga Khan's Palace. Gandhi had 2 rooms and a bathroom. I'm not saying it was easy to be in a prison but this wasn't a jail cell.

Check out the "prison"





Saturday night I went out with one of the guys in the Pune office, Vasan. He took me to some place called The Den. It was resturant and bar where the dj played requests all night. Mostly US/UK music from the 70's and 80's. It wasn't a bad spot. I ate Tadoori Chicken there and actually liked it.

Sunday we didn't do anything. Just hung out at our prison. We walked a few blocks to the mall which is really a department store. And then walked around the area a little bit more. We have a driver at our disposal but we have to know in advance what time we need him and where we are going. So on Sunday we had nothing. Not knowing the language and not understanding the alphabet so you can read it really difficult. At least when I go to south america, I have a chance to get places since I can fumble through a few words. Here I know nothing. And everyone we talk to makes this place out to be terrible and unsafe for us to travel anywhere. Apparently it isn't even a good idea to take cabs unless you are indian... which leads me to some observations

On the road they have these 3 wheel cabs. They kind of look like a rickshaw or something. The guy driving up front has 2 handles just like a 3 wheeler. I will get a picture of one this weekend so everyone can see it.

Something it seems everyone over here does when you ask them a question and they respond with a verbal yes and shake their head no. It is often comical but when I am giving training sessions, it is very frustrating. I ask the room if they understand what I just said and 15 people are shaking their heads no but they really mean yes. The visual of that is making me laugh righ now but during the trainings it isn't as funny.

Similar to many of the training sessions given in the US, the participation levels when you ask questions are not very high. After I ask a question of the classroom nobody says anything. So today I took matters into my own hand. I made everyone create name plates and I started calling on people. This made things a little better. Initially, eveyone thought I would not be able to say their name so they thought it a joke. However, they did not realize that once I saw the names in writing, I quickly recognized them because several are friends of mine at NYU. Or at a minimum similar.

I was also having a problem in my classes where people were coming back from their breaks late. So i joking told people I would start implementing punishment. They continued to return late so before the last break of the day today, I informed everyone they would be required to do 20 push-ups for every minute they were late (JK punsihment from St. Joes). Everybody came back early this time except for one person. He was 9 minutes late. So I told him he had to do at least 20 pushups. Then I backed down and said he could either do 20 pushups or sing the Inidian National Anthem. He quickly agreed to do the anthem. The entire class stood up and they all sang. It was a pretty interesting sight to see.

I also learned a little about the only shake with your right hand and wipe with your left phrase. It does have some truth to it as most things do. The truth being that in Indian culture all good things come from the right hand. Everyone eats with their right hand, never with the left. And if they break bread, they break it with just their right hand instead of tearing it like the rest of the world.

I have a bunch more to write but my driveer is waiting so I must go.