Praying for Christchurch ...

This is a picture of the Cathedral in the Central Square in Christchurch, New Zealand, which has been badly damaged in their earthquake yesterday. We wrote earlier about our visit to Christchurch; it is a beautiful city which had already been struck by a damaging earthquake before Christmas. We stayed for two nights in a small hotel just steps from this Cathedral, and we are so sad for the whole country for the loss of lives, buildings and homes, and sense of safety and security.

We also heard about the four American missionaries who were killed by Somali pirates; it is especially hard for us to imagine such hatred and violence in the midst of the very loving, generous and peaceful Tibetan people. Our prayers are with the families of these four people, and we also are hoping that our community at home in St. Cloud supports our Somali immigrants there, who left their homeland because of this kind of violence. Our Somali neighbors are also good people who have strong and loving families, and who seek a peaceful life in America's democracy.

Pat and I feel very blessed to have travelled to New Zealand, Australia, and India and to be honest we have felt safe in every country and very welcome as visitors to these countries. As a matter of fact, the most menacing thing that has happened to us occurred this morning: as we walked the two miles up the mountain to our volunteer program, a nasty looking dog growled at us, and then must have signaled his friends because we had ten dogs following us for quite a while. Pat doesn't like dogs anyways, but since we didn't get rabies vaccinations, we were a bit unsettled. He made sure he put me between him and the dogs ....

Free Tibet!

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is so loved by these people and we have enjoyed learning more about him. Here is an example of some of his wisdom:

"We are visitors on this planet. We are here for ninety or one hundred years at
the very most.
During that period, we must try to do something good, something useful, with our lives.
If you contribute to other people's happiness, you will find the true goal, the true meaning of life."

Tibetan artisans ...

I bought a Tibetan apron from this lovely lady, who sews them in her shop and sells them right outside on the street.

Choeyang, her family and a dog named Nancy Pelosi ...

We flew from Delhi to Dharamsala in the northern part of India on Monday February 14th and met the family we would be staying with for our two week volunteer service. We are at the home of Dorjee and Chuki (dad and mom) and Tenzin (uncle), and they live in the middle of busy Upper Dharamsala. Above is a picture of Choeyang, their 12 year old daughter, who speaks excellent English, and her friendly dog Nancy; an unusual name for a dog, much less a Tibetan dog! Choeyang tells us that she named her after Nancy Pelosi after her visit to Dharamsala two years ago.... we think of our great friend (and the best teacher ever!) Nancy Diedrich whenever we greet her, so Nancy is a day brightener for us.

A Displaced Country ....

Dharamsala is in the mountains of northern India and is the home for the exiled Dalai Lama and many of the Tibetan people. We have been learning a lot about their history and culture, and really feel that living with Choeyang and her parents and uncle has been a blessing to us in many ways. They are such thoughtful and generous people, and despite the hardships of living in exile and longing to go back to Tibet, they stay positive and hopeful without bitterness at the oppression of the Chinese government in their homeland. The Dalai Lama and many Tibetans fled their homeland after the Chinese invasion and occupation of 1959, and were offered a safe harbor in Dharamsala. Tibet is the highest plateau in the world where people live, and because Dharamsala is also in the mountains, the people here are reminded of their homeland every day.

The Tibetan people are living here alongside Nepali, Hindu and Kashmiri people and for the most part it seems to be a very peaceful coexistence. They are beautiful people; Pat and I have both noticed that they smile with their whole faces and seem to truly delight in meeting new people. The women wear long skirts with colorful striped aprons signifying marriage; children are very important and are well cared for. They are a healthy people who walk on mountain roads, eat mostly vegetables and rice and noodles and soups, and who practice their philosophy of treating others with respect and kindness because, as they say, "they next person you meet could be your mother", in reference to the Buddhist belief in reincarnation. Their greatest sadness comes from the knowledge that as they wait and pray for the chance for democracy in their homeland, the Chinese government is resettling their communities, intruding upon their religion and working to eliminate their language and culture. For a people who have lost so much, they remain strong in spirit, very devout to their beliefs, tolerant and accepting of other faiths such as Christianity, and generous to strangers in their new homeland.

Beautiful Dharamsala ...

Snow covered mountains ...

A little boy joins our conversation class ...

he proudly displays the writing all over his hands.

Our yoga master ...

Motherhood ....

Helping and being helped ...

Our medical volunteering didn't work out because the clinic was less busy during the school holidays in February, so we have been working mornings at a preschool for very poor children up to age 6 and afternoons doing English language teaching. We are enjoying both; I am missing Clara's House (our partial hospitalization program) and my clinic kids less with seeing these little ones, and Pat finds that as soon as people hear he is a Doctor they have questions and concerns. Our English teaching is more like conversation circles, where people who are wanting to improve their English can practice speaking. We have met several monks and other young people and have appreciated learning about their journey from Tibet and other places and sharing stories of our home, family and friends. People here really want to have American accents for some reason ... so they like to have help with pronunciation. Henry Higgins would be appalled ...

So we are spending our days walking, learning, meeting interesting people, eating wonderful food prepared by Tenzin and Chuki, and absolutely freezing. It has been unusually cold and rainy here, and the homes and businesses are not heated in any way so you have to just dress in layers. With one suitcase each for six months, our layers are limited, so we are probably known as "that American couple who wear the same clothes every single day", but we're managing. Today our family invited a friend who is a monk and a yoga master, Ven Yeshi Gyamtso, to come to their home to teach us the eight strategies for healthy breathing and meditation ... we felt so honored by that. We all had a good laugh at Pat and I struggling (and failing) to get into a lotus position and then needing help to stand up after an hour and a half of the exercises!

Continual Motion...

I understated the population of India in my last blog at 200 million. The more accurate number is really 1.2 billion - hard to imagine until you have lived it. The best word I have to describe India is continuous movement, sometimes chaotic, but the many people going about the rhythm of their lives. When you go on vacation or walkabout, you get out of your own daily rhythm and get to observe and feel how other people live. It's a chance to see the beautiful things (Taj Mahal) as well as witness the suffering - the beggars in the street, the litter, the shacks, tents and huts that serve as permanent housing for many of India's poor. All in all, India is a country that is moving - towards more prosperity and development, changing traditional culture, and hopefully a better future. It will interesting to see what happens in the next 15-20 years.

Calm in the Storm ...

Deb and I were able to visit Shanti Avenda Sadan - the first Hospice in India - and meet Sister Sophie. We brought flowers as a gift and took a taxi into the heart of Delhi during the middle of day. After an hour ride I wasn't sure we would find the place or whether we would wilt first before the flowers. But our taxi driver persisted and finally found the gate right off one of Delhi's busiest streets. We were greeted by "Alex" when we entered the building - he was dressed in mechanic overalls and had a proper British accent - he was born and raised in India but had a joke shop in the heart of London for almost 30 years before moving back with his wife. His energies now were spent as a volunteer at the hospice. Sister Sophie and seven other Holy Cross Nuns were the main caregivers and administrators for this 40 bed facility. Anyone with a terminal cancer diagnosis can come and receive comfort, hope and pain relief. There is no charge for the patients and their budget is maintained by contributions and the work of an NGO charitable organization. All of the necessary components of hospice care are provided including Morphine for pain control. Sister Sophie graciously showed us the hospice with it's prayer room, beautiful outdoor garden, and the ward of patient beds - we were able to see 2 adolescents with sarcoma, a women from TIbet who had been there 4 months, and a mother with her 3 children. All of the patients seemed to be at peace and were lovingly cared for. What we both noticed was the quiet, serene, and comfortable surroundings - with the busy Delhi congestion just outside its front door. I asked Sister if she had any concerns and she mentioned 2 - patients are referred too late and the doctors in India need to be better educated on palliative care and when is the right time to transition patients. Our visit ended over a cup of chai with the lovely sisters and Mr. Alex. We talked about the poor, hospice in general and our families back in the USA. Alex handed us his card and said to call if we needed anything - As we left we read the bottom of his card - "Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if we can't help them, at least don't hurt them". It was an afternoon well spent.

One of the seven wonders ...

I have included a few pictures of the geometrically and artistically amazing Taj Majal. It is a 4 hour drive from Delhi, and stunning when viewed in person.

Our IVHQ Orientation Week ...

We have had a wonderful week in Delhi and can hardly believe it is almost over, and our group will be going different ways to spend time in schools, orphanages, teaching English and doing health care work.  Above is a picture of our group, eight young people from the US, Canada, the Netherlands, and Australia, and then Pat and I are the old folks ... We have spent our time eating traditional Indian food, learning Hindi, sightseeing, wandering in neighborhoods of Old Delhi, and sharing impressions of this amazing country.  I want to share some things about the week and our program, International Volunteer Headquarters based in New Zealand, and Pat will share about the visit he and I made to a hospice in Delhi yesterday.  

Our program coordinator, Ananta Kumar, is an incredibly knowledgeable and resourceful person and we have been so impressed with him.  He arranged for our transportation, taught us some basic Hindi, had advice about travel and safety, and when some of our group wanted a yoga class he arranged a private class.  Always patient, always with a smile - he is just a really nice person.  

In the next entry, I'll post some pictures of the sights and our taxi drivers.  You really haven't lived until you've driven through Delhi with these two; but if my life passed before my eyes a couple of times as we wove in and out of unbelievable traffic, I appreciated that in the less safe parts of the city, they actually walked us from the car to the entry and came back for us out of concern for our safety.  

Ananta Kumar, Delhi India Program Director for IVHQ

Our taxi drivers ...

Yes, that's four on a motorcycle ...

Beautiful schoolgirls ...

The private schools in India all have uniforms like these.  Of everyone we met, the children were generally the most happy to greet us and eager to say hello.  These are the lucky ones, who have good schools and plenty of food and safe homes.  We also experienced the children who are poor, and who beg for money for food and run up to cars at stoplights to ask for handouts.  They are all a part of this country, and reminded us that our world has a long ways to go in the just distribution of resources.

Our wonderful cook ....

This is Lalita, who cooked our lunches and dinners during our orientation week.  I wish I could bring her home to prepare a meal for our fine dining group!  She is amazing.  Pat and I started the week wondering how she was going to manage to serve eleven of us in with only two cooking burners and no oven or microwave; she made simple meals of squash, potatoes, vegetables, rice, and fried or flat bread taste delicious.  She let us watch her prepare one of the meals, so we hope to be able to reproduce at least one of her dishes, although I doubt it will taste as good as hers!

We have had beautiful weather!

Ghandi Memorial ...

We visited the Ghandi Memorial, and saw visitors from all over the world there.  There were many school children there on field trips, and a couple of boys ran up to me and gave me two flowers they picked somewhere ... so, do I accept them and get in trouble for picking flowers, or turn down these sweet little boys?  Of course I accepted.  

This is what struck me on the day we visited Ghandi's garden:  while there is still so much turmoil in the world between religions and cultures, not only in India but throughout the world and even in our own home community, these children seemed open and happy and even eager to share with us.  We felt very hopeful at that ...

Namaste from India!

Namaste in Hindi language means hello, good day, good evening. We have safely arrived in Dehli, India and have begun our week long orientation and exposure to Indian culture, history, religion, and language ---and what a culture it is. Over 5,000 years old, the birthplace of Buddhism, yoga, ancient dynasties, 684 local dialects of the Hindi language, the second fastest growing economy in the world, and yes even Bollywood. With a population of over 200 million, and 14 million in Delhi itself, we have obviously been struck by how many people there are and the struggle to work and provide for one's family. The traffic is well...bad, and every form of transportation is used - walking, bikes, 3 wheeled taxi carts, cars, motorcycles, rickshaws, buses - and all on the same streets. Deb and I have agreed that there really is no reason to put lane lines on the roads because they are seldom followed. We have cringed a few times (ok Deb was freaking out in the back of the cab) when we passed families ( yes Mom, Dad and 2 kids) riding on a single motorcycle in busy traffic without helmets. But it all seems to work for the locals.

So far we have been overwhelmed by the vibrant colors, tasty spices, hard- working nature of the people ( everyone either has a job, or desperately wants one), beautiful dresses, historic sites, and general friendliness of the people we have encountered. It has been awesome.

This week in Delhi is our orientation to India and our volunteer stint that begins next week in Dharamsala. We are staying in a high-rise neighborhood apartment with our program director Ananta ( his place) with 8 other very friendly college age kids. We are the "older couple" as we heard one of the girls describe the group to her parents over the phone. We are learning some basic Hindi language as well as customs and culture. We also have scheduled some sight-seeing and will be visiting the Taj Mahal this Sunday.

Our cuisine has been tasty and vegetarian and we have gone from Sauvignon Blanc in NZ, to beer in Australia, to diet cokes here in India - either we are adjusting to culture or we are running low on funds. All in all, we are very excited about our time here in India. Ananta describes India as a rich country ..."If you see India, you have seen half of the world".

We wish all of our Packer fans a hearty well done ( any quotes from Brett Favre in the Mpls papers???), hence the picture. We will stay in touch and keep you updated.

Fir milenge (See you later),

Pat and Deb

DELHI NEWS UPDATE

INDIA WILD ABOUT GREEN BAY PACKER WIN; ORDER ALL CABS PAINTED YELLOW AND GREEN ....

Pat at the Great Barrier Reef

Sydney Opera House

Snorkeling the reef the day before cyclone Yasi hit ,,,

Aussie Hospitality ...

We are at the airport in Cairns, grateful to be here and checked into our 5 pm flight back to Sydney. What an adventure this is turning out to be; we made it through the most powerful cyclone in Australia's history, and by our good fortune (or as Barry, our hotel owner, says "you sure are a coupla lucky blokes!) we spent the time reading and sipping tea in the last motel room available in Kuranda. Our rental car also survived without a scratch! Luckily, the hurricane veered slightly south of Cairns, so it hit a less densely populated area of beaches, and while there is extensive damage to banana and sugar cane crops and many homes and buildings here, not a single injury or death has been reported. We really feel that the preparation and governmental disaster response were outstanding.

Below you will see Barry and Gail, the owners of our motel, who actually pulled out the "barbie" and grilled steaks and barramundi (a very delicious Australian fish) for all of their guests to enjoy the afternoon after the cyclone. Barry is a real storyteller; he regaled us with his fishing trips and even brought out the lure which he claims will catch any fish anywhere - "they can't help themselves, you'll see!" He gave Pat a bag of them the morning we left, and while we would like to share a picture, we don't want all of you rushing out to buy them before we have a chance to try it out.

We are so appreciative of the help and generosity of the people we have met here ... what a wonderful country!

Pat and Deb Meet Cyclone Yasi ...

Well, our relaxation in Port Douglas was cut short due to the untimely approach of the largest cyclone (the word for Hurricanes down under) ever to hit Australia. Who would have imagined it, we could have stayed in Sydney for the rest of our time here, but thought the northern coast would be more relaxing ....

We had a beautiful two days there, and then went to the Outer Reef for snorkeling yesterday (Tuesday the 31st) morning. We caught the only boat willing to set out that day because Cyclone Yasi had headed further north overnight, and was going to hit closer to Port Douglas the next day. We had a little trepidation about heading to sea with a storm approaching, but thought "who are we to judge" safety at sea, and the captain and crew were happy and at ease.

What can I say about the Great Barrier Reef? Pictures can't do it justice. Beautiful coral, shades of red and blue and brown and yellow and orange, with fish swimming all around. It was really fun. Pat and I sat on the top level of the boat where there were about 20 lounge chairs, even though it rained on and off during the hour and a half out to sea ... when you're from Minnesota, you have faith that things will improve ... and lo and behold, the sun came out and was shining the whole afternoon! A really memorable day for us ... and then we motored back to the harbor, and saw that every single one of the many boats that had been anchored there when we left at 9 am were gone at 4:00 pm. All of them! the shops closed, streets empty, an eery quiet. We got back to our apartment and our wonderful hostess Anne said that we were being evacuated, and she suggested we head to Cairns immediately to see if we could get a flight out before the storm hits tomorrow.

This is the time where your electronics are supposed to support you. Our blackberry mysteriously died in Sydney, and we haven't been able to resurrect it yet. We called the airport from the hotel land phone, but there were no flights sooner than our Friday afternoon flight with openings, and the Friday was doubtful if the airport is still closed then. We packed quickly and drove to Cairns, thinking we might have better luck in person.

Nope. Just a recommendation to head to higher ground, or to drive 12 hours inland, because the storm was estimated to reach that far. It was 8 pm by now, and we were getting concerned, because we had no place to sleep and the shelters wouldn't open until the morning. So we headed up the mountain to the village of Kuranda, hoping and praying that there would be a hotel there. At home I would just fire up the Ipad or blackberry to find a place, but no wireless connection was available, so we just had to put the "if only"'s aside and drive.

Now let me just add that if you are ever in a crisis situation (I can head my kids imitating Arnold Schwarzenegger saying that ...) you want my husband in charge. There he was, driving up a mountain in pitch black with his pathetic wife chiming in every few miles "I'm feeling a little scared ..." And at one point, "Is it bothering you that all of the cars are going the opposite direction from us?" But he just kept driving, telling me this was the best option. We got to Kuranda, and the only hotel we found had the lights out and office closed and a "for sale" sign in front, but there were cars parked in front. We went to the only open building in town, a pizza cafe, and Pat asked the owner if there were any hotels open. She said there were a couple, but we would be best off with the one we had already driven by, because it is a brick structure and the others were wooden. OK, now I was really scared. As happens in small towns, she knew the owner and called him at home to ask if he had rooms and he had one left and offered to meet us at the hotel to let us in.

So Pat keeps saying "Now this isn't going to be your three star hotel", but when we walked into the room it was clean, large, and had a small refrigerator, hot water device and microwave, and best of all, it truly was made of bricks. So the category 5 cyclone - Yasi, she has a name at this point, can huff and puff but she isn't likely to blow this building down. Plus we are in the mountains, so in a good place should a "storm surge" hit (their word for tsunami, which I like much better, it doesn't conjure up as many bad images).

We made a quick trip to a grocery store so have tuna, bread, cheese, water, milk and cereal. The poor guy who owned the coffee shop right next to the grocery store came in to batten down the doors and windows, and people kept coming for coffee, so he started making latte's (they call them "flat whites" down here) and ran out of milk and had to go buy more ... I hope he got the job done, but I guess there are just too many people like me in the world who want that last cup of coffee before ______.

So back to Dr. Calm-in-a-crisis, Pat has been busy helping tape windows and getting to know our motel family. Most of the people staying here came because they have pets and you can't have pets in the shelters. So there is a lot of barking going on. We still have electricity but expect to lose it soon, and we are both feeling anxious for the effect this really powerful storm may have on people here in Australia, but we feel very secure ourselves. Pat borrowed a phone from some really nice Aussie's down the hall and got through to his mom, who will pass the word on to our kids and my mom so that they aren't worrying about us.

The birds are really loud outside, as if they know something's about to happen ....

Sent from my iPad

G'day, Mates!
We were in beautiful Sydney from January 24th to the 28th, so got to celebrate Australia Day while there! We sat down next to a fun couple from Sydney, a primary school music teacher and high school administrator named Julia and John, who wrote out all of the places we should visit during our stay on their napkin ... And I think we did the entire list!

First the ferry across Sydney Harbor and the Opera House ... then the ferry to Manly Beach where it seemed as if all of Sydney's students were celebrating at the beach. We went to the Quarantine Station where ill immigrants stayed until they were no longer contagious which is a short bus ride from Manly beach. Then back to Sydney, for a day at Bondi Beach and the great walk along the shore. Really beautiful! We then flew to Cairns on the 28th, rented a car and drove north about an hour to Port Douglas, a lovely seaside village along the Great Barrier Reef. We plan to read, rest up for India and relax, with a day trip to the outer reef for snorkeling.

Sent from my iPad