for the next three weeks, i will most definitely be ‘out of the office.’ another project trip to the south of india calls. a 48 hr. train ride will take me there. gretchen, joel, and i will be spending a couple of days in chennai meeting up with the rest of our team of architects and engineers from the states. together, we will travel [yes, another train] to the city of guntur where we will spend the next week working on johanna’s children’s home [read more here]. after another train back to the hill station city we call home here in...
Read Moreheidi woke me up at 2am. ‘do you hear that thudding?’ she asked. i slowly came out of my disorientation. we hadn’t seen a living thing in literally two days…she must be hearing things. [insert ‘thud’ sound] hmm…maybe she’s right. my eyes cleared and i sat up only to brush my head across the wet, caved in tent. we peeked through the door…snow! a winter wonderland outside of our nylon abode. the ground was covered, our shoes hidden under a blanket of white. sheets of the white stuff had been falling off the roof our tent and making a ‘thud’ as...
Read Moreon this, my first backpacking trip, i quickly learned two lessons. one] natives aren’t trail experts two] ‘it’s kind of a path’ is a dangerous phrase about 5:30pm we realized we couldn’t go any further. a seemingly impenetrable rock ledge above our heads, a most defined steep cliff but a step away and darkness just around the corner left us with little choice. where did we go wrong? when did we miss the more traveled path? we didn’t have time to retrace our steps in our minds; night was upon us and our torches were now required. thankfully, just 20min before we had...
Read Moreindia: poplulation of one billion people; contains the world’s greatest mountain range, wettest city and longest beach uttaranchal: formerly northern uttar pradesh; region of rolling hills and some of hinduism’s most sacred rivers mussoorie: located in the foothills of the himalayas, north of new delhi, and overlooking dehradun [the capital of uttaranchal]; 7,000 ft. in elevation, clean air, plenty of green and from may to june, an indian tourist hot spot oaklands: eMi2’s office, highest point in town, and for this season…home as one of the first houses built in mussorrie in the 1840s, oaklands became the summer home for a british family. summer...
Read Morei received a package from home today. what was in it? good stuff, i tell you. good stuff. things like cold medicine and trail mix, pony tails and dried apples. i poured the contents out on my bed to examine further. scented candles, i had asked for these. when she asked me what i needed, i desperately wanted them; i didn’t like the way india smelled. i hated waking up each morning to the stench of an old house, weird spices, and unavoidable monsoon season mold. i opened the candles and breathed deep. ah. the smell of home. sometime between asking...
Read Morebirthdays are great. birthdays celebrating 25 years of life are even better. and birthdays spent on the other side of the world accompanied with calls from home, an inbox full of well wishes, and the most amazing indian dinner with twelve new friends … those birthdays are pretty hard to top. [p.s. thank you to all for making a birthday in india one to remember]
‘where is home?‘ they asked me the first day of orientation. ‘that’s a silly question,’ i thought but held my tongue. they know what they’re doing…i’m just an intern. but then, the curse of the ever reflecting mind struck and the silly question wouldn’t leave my mind. ‘what makes a place home? is it the people? is it a feeling? is it a memory? where is my home?‘ the quest for resolution consumes my thoughts. initial instinct tells me home is the two-story house on stoney point. it has been the residence where i have grown up and after i moved out [ah…hmm…and then...
Read Morefreckles on your forehead, twinkles in your eyes. you look just like my true love. is she in your village? when can i meet her? she’s so indigenously dressed, you’re so indigenously dressed. [international love song. caedmon’s call] a popular misconception is that all indian women wear saris. although many do, the sari is not the definitive word on indian dress. indian women wear many kinds of draped clothing, different kinds of pants, blouses, jackets, skirts, fabrics that are woven, brocaded, embroidered, tie-dyed. [yes, i said tie-dyed. apparently india missed that out-of-style memo] however, after some study, you realize that an indian woman’s dress reveals...
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