Chennai, the first two months

Sorry for the delay folks it has been a pretty crazy few weeks between my internship and everything else. For my internship, I have been working on a research report on women's gender issues in India specifically on the practices of honor killings, moral policing, acid throwing and how it continues to play a role in the country's society. While India is increasingly becoming a more developed society, it is still very patriarchal with women often getting the shaft when it comes to economic opportunities, social freedom, and healthcare among other things.

My internship also allowed me the opportunity to visit a small village outside of the southern town of Tirunelveli. This time I had a successful 12-hour train ride with no strikes in sight. At the field visit my supervisor, a few of the other CASA employees and I met with a number of local community leaders to discuss future efforts involving pensions and farming social benefits. Many of these communities around Tirunelveli have a large Dalit population (members of the lowest caste or "untouchables"). Despite India's progressive social and cultural changes over the past few decades, Dalits continue to be discriminated against and are often the last ones to receive social benefits. Most of the leaders in attendance were there to discuss their communities' efforts to obtain promised pensions and aid for the farmers in the area that are struggling to provide for their families.  Though most of the meeting was conducted in Tamil, my supervisor helped me along the way with English translations. In addition to this meeting, we also met with some of the women's groups to go over some of the positive impacts of their activities that they have conducted in the last few months. I really enjoyed getting out of Chennai and actually meeting the populations we serve. CASA has tentative plans for us to visit some of our Child Free Labor Zone initiatives and talk to some of the beneficiaries of the project. We are hoping to find ways to improve service delivery so that more families are able to place their children back into school.

Hostel life has been interesting. For the most part, I have been ok but I was sick during Valentines Day with either a stomach bug or a parasite. Thankfully it cleared up. I've made a few friends here, most of whom are students at the local veterinary college. They have been really sweet and even invited me to a concert with them which was nice. Little did I know that the concert was actually a large music festival featuring DJ Snake....so many sweaty dancing people! Definitely felt like the oldest person there but the experience was fun. Its kind of funny really, I feel like I'm reliving some aspects of my undergraduate dorm life...friends knocking on your door at night, running down to the mess hall to grab food before they close, and late night discussions aided by sugarcane. Having some distractions from my internship and capstone class assignments has been very welcomed. I have been diligently working on my assignments for my Capstone course during the weekdays which both excites and overwhelms me because it includes a semester long project I need to complete before my graduation in May...just a little stressed.

As far as the city goes, I have been exploring it every weekend I can to try and see all the sights. So far I have visited Marina Beach, Chennai's lighthouse, a few of the city's museums, a shopping alley or two and many other places in between. To help me learn more about Chennai, I recently began reading a book by a Chennai called Madras, Chennai and The Self Conversations with the City. It has been really interesting learning about the "soul" of the city.

Railway Tales

Still getting use to my internship at CASA. Each day the organization begins at 9am with a quick prayer session before we start working. Afterwards some of the staff settle down to read the morning's newspaper while being served coffee by a man who runs a tea stand down the street. The Chai guy usually brings his big thermos and sugar to fix coffee for us. I think he laughed the first time I asked for no sugar but since then he has made it a point to let me know that mine is the one without sugar. Work then usually starts  a little after 9:30am

In regards to my office, I work in a small shared space with three of my coworkers. Most of the time I meet with Poul the organization's Project Manager to go over the latest Core Program reports and research some of the political, social, environmental and economic factors that affect our clients. I'm really learning a lot about CASA's different projects. One of the biggest initiatives they are working on is reducing the risk of children falling victim to the child labor system. In addition to this, I am also assisting Poul with UT's  PUC (Projects with Undeserved Communities) program. PUC consists of a group of undergrad UT engineering and social work students in Austin who are currently designing a community center for the village of Packianathapuram. Construction on the building will begin in May but until then the students are skypeing in with Poul to gather some more details about the people, area, materials available and so forth.

As part of this project Poul invited me to come see the village and help gather some of this information for the PUC team. So with his help, I booked a train ticket for an 11 hour train ride to the Packianathapuram. This was my first Indian train ride experience and was super excited to be on train with beds on it. Anyway, I successfully found the train station, my designated train and my reserved seat without a hitch. To entertain myself I looked out at the countryside, and read some books and  required coursework readings for my online capstone class on my kindle.Well, I was eight hours into my journey when everything went pear shaped...

Train riding

Remember in my last post where I mentioned the Pongal festival? Well as part of the Pongal festival, the people of Tamil Nadu hold a kind of run-with-the-bulls activity called Jallikattu where people chase the bull and attempt the grab and hold on to the hump on its back. However this practice has slowly been banned around the country over the past few years, eventually leading to an official ban on the practice in 2014  by the Supreme Court of India citing animal welfare concerns. Since then there have been protests every year around Pongal to legalize the practice but this year's protest was the biggest recorded yet. Thousands of people came together to protest at Chennai's Marina Beach with many others protesting in towns and villages across the state. Which leads me back to my train ride story...

The train had made a scheduled stop in the town of Dindigul to pick up passengers as usual when we were informed that the railway workers, in support of the protests, were on strike and would not let the train go any farther. Uh-oh! So for three hours I sat on the immobile train trying to figure out my next move. I called my supervisor who was waiting for me at my original destination and informed him of the change in plans. After I called him, he quickly contacted a woman who lived in Dindigul and asked if she would take me in for the night. There I was sitting on the train when a woman named Ciliy approached me and asked "Are you with CASA? Come with me". So I ambled out of the train with my backpack and stayed the night at her house until my supervisor was able to pick me up the following day. The transportation strike continued for another three days so nothing was going back towards Chennai. Since I couldn't go anywhere, Poul and his family took me in for the weekend until some of the trains opened back up. To pass my time at Poul's, I toured an old Hindu temple complex and a palace near his home. In the end I eventually made it back to Chennai. Boy what a crazy time though. What was supposed to be a two day trip turned into a four and a half day adventure to say the least.

My rescuer Ciliy in the middle and her family

More of the Hindu Temple

The Palace

Another incident...one that has been an ongoing challenge is finding reliable ways to acquire money here as a foreigner. Since India's demonetization of 86% of their bank notes in November, cold hard cash has been hard to come by. While it impacts everyone here in India it especially effects foreigners because we significantly rely on the act of drawing cash out from the atm as our main method of obtaining money. My credit and debit cards are not accepted in most stores and shops and are only really good for atm withdrawals, however since there is a shortage of cash in the country, there are very few atms with money in them. After three weeks of not being able to draw out money I stumbled upon a magical atm close to my hostel that still manages to dispense cash. In addition to this I eventually was able to get a hold of some emergency money that my parents  sent via Western Union. Hopefully the situation will get better in the future but right now it's a challenge to locate a viable sources of cash

In addition to this last week, I made some new friends!

All I can say is that it has been a heck of an experience so far.

Slight Hiatus and a Busy Summer

I apologize for the hiatus. I've been pretty busy since my last post at the beginning of May. Let me catch you up to date and include some pictures of the experience since then. PS. This is a particularly long post

May and on:
I successfully completed one year of teaching here in Georgia! There were times when I thought I couldn't handle it and just wanted to walk out of the classroom. But then there were those moments where I felt like I was making a difference, and those moments are worth everything. I witnessed "Last Bell" which is the event put on by the 12th graders as their last contribution to the school before exams. There were dances performed, singing, speeches thanking the teachers for putting up with them all these years and words of wisdom spoken to the students as the approached graduation.

At the end May I prepared for my one week visit to America. That's right, America. By this time I couldn't contain myself and had to quickly buy souvenirs for family and friends back home. My host family here was so sweet and bought gifts for my family members as well. Their gifts included a drinking horn set for my father, a silverware set for my mother, perfume for my two sisters, cologne for my brother, a ceramic vase for my grandparents, and miniature wine vases for my aunt and uncle. I somehow managed to pack all of this and more (I helped a fellow volunteer out who was leaving Georgia to travel after service by taking some of her stuff back to the States so she wouldn't have to travel with all of it.) into my large suitcase. That last weekend of May was a crazy one because I had so many meetings at the time and I had to force myself to be productive and not just slip into vacation mode quite yet.

June
June 3, 2014 at 8:30 pm I arrived back in America after a whole year and a month of absence. My mother, father and aunt greeted me at the gate with a sign and promises of a Mexican dinner after I picked up my bags from the baggage claim. We promptly went to dinner where I had my first taste of proper Americanized Mexican food in over a year. And let me tell you that Mexican food has never tasted as good as it did that night.

My parents and I in Knoxville, TN

After my short night in Atlanta, GA,  my parents and I started our trek to Knoxville, TN where I was to begin my Big Great American Tour. I joked to them that I should have made an event on Facebook labeling it "The Great American Tour: For one week and one week only. See Anneke Valk as she travels cross country to three different states, participates in a friend's wedding as a bridesmaid,  helps her sister pick out a wedding dress, eats tons of American food and takes her first proper bath in a year!"

 Needless to say that the trip was a whirlwind of tears, laughter, hugs, questions, toasts, confusion and then some more laughter. I didn't have much time to relax...but who needs that anyway?

 I was honored to be part of one of my best friend's weddings and to witness her and her now husband Ben start their lives together. They had their beautiful wedding in my hometown Greeneville, TN and the reception afterwards at Mary's house. The night got pretty crazy with a 50 person party train, Star Trek dancing, and sangria. We all wished the happy couple off with a sparkler tunnel. Shout out to Mary and Ben, may you have many grand adventures together!

Wedding Rehearsal Time!

Ben and Mary running through the sparkler tunnel as they leave the reception 

 I also went back to Knoxville where it immediately felt like home again.You know you are good friends with someone when you walk into their apartment, see them for the first time in over a year, hug them, and then promptly use the bathroom with the door wide open as you catch up with them. This is a shout out to you Alyssa. You also know you as super friends with people when you accidentally break into their house to meet them only to find that they aren't in their house and the first thing you say to them when you do see them after a year is "So I broke into your house...did you know your door isn't locked?" Shout out to Forest and Kayla!  And last but not least you know that you are friends with someone when you lay on a make shift futon couch looking at each other not saying a word and cracking up because you know what the other one is laughing about. This is for you Yaz!

Emotional moment with Yaz as we meet at  Flashbacks, Whatever

Very familiar Thursday night shenanigans with friends

I also spent time with my whole family catching up on what had happened this past year, checking out the new improvements to the house and grilling out like old times. I shared some Chacha (Georgian moonshine) and some homemade house wine with them. Not sure if they really liked the taste, I told them it was something you had to get use to or just submit yourself to when you need a drink. My family and I also went bar hopping in Asheville, the beer capital of the states to make up for all the good beer that I've been missing. Georgia has beer but it's nothing to brag about plus the only have two types of beer, თეთრი ლუდი (white beer) or შავი ლუდი (black beer).

The Valk women at Green Man Brewery in Asheville, NC

Coming back to Georgia was painless. Yes I'm going to miss my family and friends again, and yes I will miss food and American conveniences, but Georgia, believe it or not regardless of my frustration at times has become my home. I missed my family here and my friends here when I was in America. You know you've officially made a space in your heart for a place when you start to miss it.

Anyway, enough with the reflection stuff. About an hour after i arrived in country I met a bunch of volunteers for drinks in Tbilisi. Somehow we managed to stay up most of the night which led me to only get four hours of jet lagged sleep before jet setting to Khashuri to meet the new-soon-to-be volunteers at a picnic meet up. After a few hours of mingling I, and few other volunteers made our way to Kutaisi that evening. So if you are keeping count right now you will have noticed that I have been back in country for less than a day and have already traveled through three different cities. What can I say, I love to travel and see my friends no matter how tired, how jet lagged, or how dirty I am. From Kutaisi I traveled to Oni to stay with a friend and check out his site. That makes four cites/towns in three days and still jet lagged. I did happen to doze off on the marsh, something which never and I mean never happens so that was nice. Finally I arrived home to Sagarejo tired, dirty, a little scraggly looking but in good spirits with gifts to give my host family.

Somewhere along the end of June I also participated in my first 5K here in Georgia. I ended up running in a dress and Keds because that was all I was wearing when I made the snap decision to run. I was at the Race for the Cure to help out and volunteer before the race. However my friends convinced me to run so I dug out a pair of Keds out of the free box of clothing at the PC office. I think it kind of took people by surprise because I had little girls on the side line cheering me on saying "Go dress, Go!" I wasn't too fast but I did finish the race. Now on to July...


July
I've been pretty busy these last two weeks. GLOW Camp is fast approaching and I'm on the GLOW NGO's recruitment committee. We are in charge of making the applications for both campers and counselors interested in attending camp, sending out said applications, conducting application workshops, collecting all the applications through hard copy or by email, interviewing potential counselors, selecting counselors who will then help us select campers based on their  application essays, alert all the girls who applied whether or not they are invited to camp or not and confirm all those who accept their invitation to come to camp. All of this really hit these past two weeks. I successfully managed to interview and select 14 new counselors for this year's GLOW camp, met/emailed all of those counselors with the 282 camper applications we received so that they can review them and pick campers, and  reviewed and helped pick our G14 successors for next year. It's been quite busy and I've spent a good portion of my time either running around Tbilisi meeting counselors and giving them their applications to review or working on the master excel spreadsheet with all the information about the 282 potential campers. I haven't had too much down time but I did manage to have a slight weekend vacation in the middle of all of this.


I know, i know, I just got back from America. But America was more like a marathon and less like a relaxing vacation. Between the traveling, meeting up with friends and family and attending wedding festivities, I didn't have that much down time let alone to breath. Which leads me to Kobuleti. Kobuleti is a sleepy beach town on the coast of the Black Sea. It doesn't get as much hype as Batumi nor does it get the amount of tourist but that's why we picked it. Ten of us went there to celebrate the 4th of July in style. We grilled hot dog like meat, made some potato salad and greedily stuffed our faces full of s'mores (a rarity since marsh mellows are no where to be found and that I happened to bring a bag of them back from the States). It was overcast most of the time but pleasant. There was an afternoon where I and two other volunteers had to work on plans for our various camps but other than that it was blissful.

Happy Birthday America! Fellow PCVs and I in our 4th of July gear

Beaching it up!

Currently I am now working on GLOW stuff (the norm these days) and on my grant project that was funded  back in April. Today I went shopping with my counterpart Nino and our deputy director Nana  for electronics for our new language and cultural cabinet. We bought a new computer,  a printer, a set of headphones, some speakers, a few posters, four dictionaries, a computer desk, a computer chair and some magnetic alphabet letters for our chalk board. We still have a few more things to do before we paint a world map on our cabinet wall or hold any computer training sessions. I'm still excited though because I actually get to see our grant coming together.

My counterpart and deputy director being shown a chair they want to purchase for our cabinet

Don't worry, you're almost up to date on what I've been doing the past two months. On top of my GLOW stuff and grant stuff I am also in charge of planning our first annual "Jort Off" for the older volunteers after the swearing in of the new volunteers. It is a jort competition to see who can pull off  jorts, jean shorts, the best. I and two other PCVs are trying to make this a reality because what's more classy on a hot July day than debuting a jort creation to your fellow friends before swimming in a  lake to celebrate less than a year left of service. Whew, I think that's up to date now. Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

One Year Come and Gone!

April 23 celebrated the year mark for me here in Georgia. I can't believe a year has already gone by so quickly. It really hit me when I went to the airport with my friends last weekend to welcome the new arriving G14s. I remember being super jet lagged, scared and very confused as I made my way to the front entrance of the airport with my fellow volunteers. The U.S. Ambassador and our Country Director greeted us, while a flock of media folks took our picture. I also remember straining to listen to our next instructions being shouted to us from across the vast foyer as the announcements for flight arrivals and departures echoed around us.  I also remember seeing a group of scraggly yet happy volunteers yelling greetings and waving at us. I think this was the moment that I started to feel at ease, to know that it is possible to make it to the other side of service. It was a relief to see friendly, happy, volunteers who had survived the first part of their service and still seemed to be in the best of spirits possible.

Like I said all of these thoughts flooded my head as I, a year later, got to be a part of the welcome committee for the next group of volunteers. Within my year here I have had my super highs and my super lows. Some days I feel like I've got things figured out and then other days I get frustrated and confused.  I have definitely grown to be a stronger person because of it. I have also had time to do many other things here as well. Since I've been here I've taught myself how to knit, applied and was awarded my first grant, read over 35 books (most of them being the classics that I didn't get to in college), taken three online courses, planned and implemented  summer camps, learned how to milk a cow, have grown somewhat comfortable enough to teach a class full of students, traveled to three new countries, implemented gender equality trainings, made lifetime friends, witnessed animal sacrifices, attended more supras than I can count, learned a whole new alphabet and language (always a work in progress but I'm still proud), turned 25, and have become super close with my host families here in Georgia. It's been one hell of a ride and I can't wait to see what the future holds for me for my remaining 15 months!

The "new" scraggly looking elder volunteers. Way to go G13s, may our next year be even better!

Giving Thanks: A Not So Short Sappy Thank You Note

It's officially that time of year in America where we all gather together to share a meal together and reflect on the things that we are thankful for. This might get a little sappy so I'm giving you a heads up now. It was this time last year that I opened my email to find an invitation to come and serve in the Peace Corps for two years in Georgia. I was excited, shocked that it was actually happening, and kind of bewildered at the same time because I didn't know that much about this country. After going through numerous interviews, medical shots, paper work, tearful goodbyes, awkward hellos and language ups and downs, I've realized how much I have to be thankful for.

I'm thankful for the families that have taken me, a stranger who constantly butchers their language and probably causes more cultural faux pas than one can count, into their homes and their families during my service. I thank them for putting up with me at times, for being supportive of the ever busy life of a PCV, and having more patience than Gandhi, the Buddha and Mother Teresa put together as I try to understand the language and culture here. We volunteers sometime joke here at Peace Corps Georgia that it should be called Posh Corps Georgia because we are shown so much kindness, warmth, hospitality, patience, food and wine during our service. Definitely nothing compared to what any of us were expecting when we signed our PC applications so long ago stating that we would serve anywhere under any conditions. That's not to say that there aren't any hardships here, there definitely are, just ask my parents about how many times I've complained how cold it is in my room (currently 42 F by the way) or how many times that I've told them that I miss the luxury of taking a hot shower.

As hard as it can be sometimes, the comforts and what you gain here far out weigh those moments. Students greeting you with hugs after a week long absence from school, your host brother thrilled with himself that he just learned to carve his first jack-o-lantern, or the moment when one of your worst students actually learns  how to use go in the past tense. It's moments like these and many others that make up for your string of bad/uncomfortable/frustrating experiences that one often has in life. No one ever said Peace Corps was easy, but it's the experiences and the relationships that you form with others that make it worth it.

I am also thankful for my family back home and friends both old and new. To my family back home: I miss you tons, more than you will ever know. Your fb messages, skype dates and care packages have helped me get through some of the more discouraging moments of my service. I'm grateful for the times I get to talk to you and even more thankful that you continue to listen to me even when it sometimes seems that all I do is complain about the latest thing that happened to me at school. Your support during these past few months and your curiosity about life here in Georgia always keeps me looking forward. I'm going to miss you all this Thanksgiving and Christmas.

To my PCV friends: I don't have to say much to you because I know that you all feel the same way about me as I feel about you. You all are my rock. We have grown together through this journey so far. Facing strange cultural practices, backwardness of village life, going through the agonizing learning process of trying to pronounce the two different "k" and "t" sounds correctly and then being able to differentiate between the two of them, and leaving our family and friends behind for a world unknown to us. Your support and the fact that you won't judge me but fully know where I'm coming from when I say that a good poop status update text from your friend means it's going to be a good day, means the world to me.

To my friends back home: Quit posting pictures of really good looking food and ballin parties! That's so cruel! But for real, thank you for always having my back even if it is a million miles away. I love that I can skype with you weeks or even months at a time a part and we still pick back up as if I still lived down the street in the hood of Knoxville. You are an amazing group of friends whose late night skype dates and crazy town gossip help me when I get slightly homesick. I know that I've missed some of the bigger moments in your all's lives these past few months: weddings, new jobs, engagements, new relationships, babies...yada yada but I want you know that I've trolled that facebook a time or two to keep up with all of it. I'm there in spirit and in laughter.

So i guess what I'm saying in this long sappy post is that I'm thankful for all the support and happiness that you all bring me. My life is very full, very vibrant, and very rewarding because of it.

The Great Georgia Farewell Party!

Well I've got three days left in the states before I leave for Georgia. This past week I had a farewell party at one of my favorite pubs in Knoxville with some of my closest friends and family members. It was the best send off that I could ever hope for. My mother and aunt did a toast for me and presented me with special quick dry underwear for my travels. What better way to start a send off! Then my friends began singing acapella  for the whole pub (hope they enjoyed it!) and playing the house instruments. Somehow  after the farewell party ended my friends and I found ourselves picking up a hitchhiker in the pouring rain and dropping him off  in the city before going to a swanky hotel bar to continue the celebration. The events of the night ended with a 3am stop at a late night burger joint.  All and all it was an epic Thursday.

Below are just some of the 96 photos my grandfather took.

The toast after my mom's speech

My friend Alyssa writing her contact information in my farewell book. 

More friends (Georgian flag behind them!)

Music playing!

Singing for the group

We didn't even know that my friend Brandon could even play the piano...he just sat down and started playing this beautiful song.

Spread of the whole party

Well I could put up more photos but this would be an awfully long blog post.  Happy viewing!

-Cheers

Friends O' Mine

Ok so maybe its because its my zodiac period (shout out to those of you that are Pisces ) or maybe it's just because I'm blessed with great luck and amazing friends/family, regardless I have had a stellar week so far. My friend Sarah who I haven't seen since we were study abroad students in Australia (circa 2010) came up for the weekend to visit. Sarah  is a native of California and had never been to Knoxville let alone Tennessee, so I enthusiastically threw myself into Knoxville guide mode to give her a taste of the local atmosphere.  Two hours after I had picked her up from the airport we went to the infamous Sassy Ann's (a bar/night club in one of Knoxville's oldest Victorian homes...so old in fact that they have signs posted on the dance floor asking dancers not to stomp so vigorously to their favorite dance songs) with some of my friends. After running her ragged on Thursday, we took it easy the rest of the weekend and went to  King Tuts (another Knoxville gem), the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame,  Gatlinburg (the epitome of tacky and southern), Smokey Mountains National Park, Boyd's Jig and Reel Pub, and a local performance by Knoxville's Burlesque troop. All and all a great weekend and a perfect way to start the week. 

Since this weekend I have made it a point to throw myself out there even more before I leave for service in April. Seeing my friend Sarah reminded me that:
1) I have some of the coolest/funniest/most loyal/dorkiest/most down to earth friends out there
2) that great friendships change and yet they stand still no matter how much time has passed
3) I need to spend more time with you all before I go
and
4) I'm going to miss the crap out of all of you while I'm away and that even though 2 years is not huge in the long run, I'm still going to miss out on some things too.  So this is to all the friends and family that have seen me at my best and at my worst, who have been there for me or even have just put up with me at times.

Thanks!  Also an amazing thanks to my parents who support me in everything I do and shout out to my mom since today is her birthday!

On a side note, this good feeling has allowed me to get a bunch of things done this week too, I turned in all my medical paper work for the PC (whew, finally) and have started tackling items on that enormous packing list that the PC has provided.

Well I've rambled long enough. Cheers