India and Burma

October 21, 2006

First of all…

I’m HAPPY to let y’all know that I’ve been accepted to Appalachian State University! Yay ME! I’m going to have an impossible time signing up for classes and stuff like that. A few people including one of my friends were kicked off the ship for drugs. I was really sad to hear that she had to leave. I always had a lot of fun with her I thought she was just really nice and everything. Sometimes you can’t help what your friends do. I was starting to wonder what you have to do to get kicked off this ship. They don’t kick off the guy that gets drunk and scares the crap out of some girl while trying to force himself into her room.

On an even sadder note, my RD, Nam, had to leave the ship as well. Her mom is unexpectedly really sick and she needed to go be with her. Already, I notice the difference with not having our own RD. Things are crazy with the Sea ‘Lympics and whatnot. It’s all over the place. When you’re trying to take down an army go for the officers who organize them. BUT WE WILL GET IT TOGETHER AND BRING HOME THAT TROPHY! Not to mention people were being way too loud in the hall at midnight and no one was there to come out and crack some skulls together.

BURMA

Yangon was located about 45 minutes from where the ship was docked. The city itself was disgusting. All the pollution and everything was really bothering me. And the friend that I was with was talking about staying on the ship the next day and not even leaving. I have a rule that I made myself about doing homework while in port. While we are in port homework is not something I will do. The point of being in these countries is to go see the countries. So when we were coming home from an orphanage visit to have lunch on the ship, I heard some other people talk about going to an elephant sanctuary. I’ll do that any time. And it was an opportunity to leave the city.

So we ate and then packed and took the shuttle back into the city. I was with Suz, Kimmie, and Alex. Alex and Suz, I think, had found a local that took them around the city on their first day and was nice and legit. The guy I found with Wendy and Andrew was not legit and wanted 10 bucks just for walking us around for an hour (and yes that is a lot especially because he kept taking us to places with government goods).

I didn’t expect to be going for very long. I thought I was only going to be gone for like one night and be back the next morning. So I only packed like one pair of jeans and a few shirts. So I had to borrow money and clothes, but the friends I were with were totally awesome about it.

We told Toe that we wanted to go to see elephants somewhere. So he hooked us up with some one else that had pictures of past kids he had taken on trips and itineraries set up for people who wanted to go on 15 or 20 day trips.

This may all sound pretty crazy, but I felt secure the entire time. Our only goal was to spend as little money as possible that would go to the government.

We hopped in a van with Robert and his driver and were off. The car ride that was supposed to be only 5 hours turned into 8 hours. But the countryside was beautiful and I was so happy to get out of the city at last. I had been in the city in Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Japan so this was nice. I could almost trick myself into thinking I was home. The big difference was the smells and the guys walking around in skirts. Not to mention the women and girls were all wearing yellow make up on their face. It looked like yellow paint. It’s for mosquito and sun protection. But it also keeps their skin pale, which is what a lot of women aim for in these countries.

We arrived in Pyay fairly late, I don’t remember and Robert took us to a cheap, but decent hotel. At least it was better than the love hotel in Japan. We pretty much just went to sleep that night. The next morning, Robert drove us to this village where he said there was jungle and blahblahblah. When we got there, the kids immediately came up to us, but they didn’t beg for money, they just stared. We gave them lollipops and it was so cute because they didn’t know what to do with them. So we unwrapped some and put them in our mouths and they did the same. They threw the wrappers on the ground too, which is something that they are used to I’m sure. We picked up the wrappers for them and packed them out. This village was pretty far from products that have wrappers and we didn’t want to be the ones to introduce it to them. Their lives are very sustainable. They eat what they grow and then they burn their rubbish at night as a way to get rid of it and to keep the bugs down.

In this village, there was a museum that Robert said had a jungle behind it that had the ruins of some old temples and things. The museum wanted to charge us 9 bucks to get in. We didn’t want to spend that much on the museum because we had enough for food and hotel. Then we had emergency money in case Robert turned out to be a not so legit guy and tried to leave us we could offer him more money.

That never happened, Robert was a good guy. We explained to him that we wanted a dense jungle to hike in. He was reluctant because he knew the road to the village wasn’t that good and it was another 2 hours away. But that’s what we wanted and that’s what we got.

The mountains were absolutely beautiful. Everywhere they were replanting teak trees—which is Burma’s major export. We kept going up and around and finally came to the most remote village ever! It was great. Everybody was so tiny and staring at us. Robert talked to one of the locals for a minute before he found a guide that would take us on the trial through the mountains. Once again sounds risky, but Robert wasn’t about to let us disappear because he didn’t have all of his money yet.

We bought some sealed crackers and peanuts and things at this little stand in the village to take with us on the hike. It was the hardest hike I’ve ever been on in my life. I’m not sure what it was that kicked my butt. It was only about 8 miles. All the miles in Philmont didn’t compare to this one hike. It was immediately uphill and jagged and turning and muddy. It was so muddy I couldn’t believe it. We basically hiked in elephant tracks for a lot of the time. After about an hour we finally saw our first elephant. The poor elephant was carrying two guys and had a cut on his face. He was really well trained and went up and down at the slightest signal. After the elephant, we hiked some more. It was soo cool. Alex took a good fall and cut his arm. And our guide picked a plant and put it on the cut and the bleeding stopped immediately.

He took us to this really cool stream and we sat and ate for a little while. The water felt so good to splash on our heads and everything. We hiked through another village where all the dogs growled at us. I’ve never had so many dogs growling at me at the same time. Then it was time to go back.

That mountain kicked our butts. We were practically hiking on our hands and feet up muddy hills in elephant tracks. When we got back to the village where we started the women were laughing at us because we looked so tired. And apparently they were pointing at me when I wasn’t looking because of my shaved head. Women here have really really long hair.

Robert had some one go to a place near by and so when we got back he had four beautiful bottles of water ready for us. Water never looked so good. After taking off our shoes and catching our breath, we said goodbye to the villagers and our guide and headed back to the hotel.

We went out for beers that night, but Kimmie and I went to bed relatively early (I don’t like beer I’ve decided). Suz and Alex stayed out with some locals later.

So that was Burma for me. I’m definitely going to join some Free Burma groups when I get home because I love this country now and its people. I hope that one day they will be free.

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October 23, 2006

So, all in all, I loved India, but I hated Chennai. I got so tired of the taxi drivers lying to us about when this was open and when this was closed. They would take us somewhere besides where we wanted to go. They would try to charge us more after taking us somewhere. And apparently even the interport students were surprised at how we were treated.

I didn’t have a good 2 days to get out of the city and get lost like I did in Burma because I had orphanage visits and other things in between before my Dalit Village overnight. The orphanage visit was the same as the one in Vietnam. Only this time I held a ten year old size boy that was indeed 20 years old. I told the lady, “no, I’m 20.” There was one little one year old that I held that wouldn’t let me put her down or pass her off to anybody else. I felt loved.

On to my Dalit Village stay

The Dalits are the lowest of the low in the illegal Indian caste system. The government has to set aside a certain percentage of jobs for the Dalits so that they are hired. In the past people of higher castes would wash themselves after coming into contact with Dalits.

We visited a nursing school of girls first. It is free for the girls who all come from Dalit villages around the area. These girls were so excited to see us. It was great. They had a welcoming ceremony for us and put the dot on our foreheads that I still don’t quite know what it means. So if any of you can tell me let me know. The girls were so used to doing it that they couldn’t even explain to us what it meant. They put on a show for us with singing and dancing. I’ve decided that I love Indian dancing.

The facilities were very simple, but they love what they have. The classrooms were simple and void of technology. But I did see a few computers. Dad, if you get a new comp. this school would probably take the old one. You never know. Of course getting it there is probably eh, but it just occurred to me so I typed it. Anywho, they had printouts for us about information on the school and other projects they have worked on in the past geared to educating Dalits about their rites.

We had lunch and it was actually in a very modern facility on the campus and tasted good and everything. After lunch we had an opportunity to socialize with the students and ask them some questions. One of the girls is engaged and is going to be married in 3 months and she’s only 21. So the age when women get married is pretty much 21. We told them that in America people get married in their late 20s to early 30s generally speaking. Or you know whenever they feel like it. They were so giggly talking about boys. They were like a bunch of teenagers. We asked them if any of them had boyfriends or if they were allowed to or whatever and they all started giggling.

They put on another show for us. A girl danced to Indian hip hop and it was so cute. And they put on a play that was meant to be educational. It was the type of play they would put on to educate people about their rites or various things. This one supported educating women so that they could support themselves should they need too. If for some reason they couldn’t rely on their husbands.

So after talking with them for a while it was time to play throw ball. It looked like volley ball, but the ball was heavier and the texture was rougher. And you caught the ball and threw it back over the net instead of sending it back the other way. There were rules about how you could catch the ball. Like it couldn’t touch your body when you caught it and you can’t double catch it in your own hands. Stuff like that.

We played forever. It’s a good BBQ game or picnic game. Although, I’m not sure if it was fun just because of where we were playing it and who we were playing it with. One of the guys taught them how to give ten and to touch fists together. Every time we did something good we would do that with them and each other and they would giggle and laugh and stuff. It was soo much fun.

Oh and my team won both games. We smoked them.

So then it was off to the village by that time. We showed up when it was just getting dark. As soon as we arrived they started playing the drums and some other instruments to come into the village with. The village was only one street that went on for a while. It took us about 30 minutes to get to this stage they had set up. Apparently, some of the money that we spent on the trip went towards some performers that came and put on a show for us and for the village. So it was a treat for them as well.

Some dancers performed and then this guy and girl were wearing horse costumes that were very colorful. They played with fire as well, which was always cool.

Then when they and these acrobat performers went and they did flips and things, the power went out. Which shouldn’t have been too big of a surprise since a lot of electricity was flowing into that area. It was funny to watch a guy climb up a telephone pole like nothing and then climb back down without out any aid from ropes or anything. Now that I think about it, what was amazing was seeing how dark it got for those 15 minutes or so. Couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.

When the light came back on everybody cheered. Then a group of young men danced on stage for us. I love their style of dancing. We would probably call it crazy dancing. Then the young boys came onto the stage and danced as well. The girls that came onto the stage actually had a choreographed routine and they were such good dancers. Ah! They were all so cute!

After the show was over, it was time for a late dinner from the ship and then bed. One of my worst nights ever. We slept on the roof of the concrete welcome center. It was the only concrete building in the village and I think it was the only one with electricity. The villagers may be used to this but I was definitely not. I can handle my friends’ bedroom floor or whatever, but this was concrete and my hostelling sleeping bag which is very thin. Not to mention it is very normal for them to stay up late because it isn’t as hot out, but at 2AM the locals were setting off fireworks. And they were talking talking talking non stop right outside where we were sleeping. So I read until about 3 or 4 in the morning until I was finally drowsy enough to fall asleep even on the concrete floor. But that one night was worth the village stay.

We woke around 630 in the morning, which I guess is way earlier than what the villagers are used to. But I believe this because they stay up so late at night. It makes sense that they stay up late, but at the same time, it makes sense for them to get up early. Those are the times when it’s not as hot.

We finally got to go around the village and tour houses and see what kind of conditions they people lived in. Some had alters made to their ancestors that were just 3 or 4 bricks standing next to each other. All had straw roofs and mud floors. Some with more money had brick walls with straw roofs.

We started playing hand games with them. Then we started teaching them random games. We played London Bridge is going down, the “head shoulders knees and toes” song, and various other ones. These kids were so smart, they picked it up right away. I can almost see them playing on their own right now. They were soo cute. At around the time we were supposed to leave it started getting very cloudy and we still hadn’t given the “mayor” of the village the gifts and candy we had brought with us. This way he could distribute the stuff equally among the people so that no one gets a lot and others don’t get any. And they gave us a little brass candle holder thing.

I was sad to go, but glad that the monsoon rain didn’t come in the middle of the night while we were sleeping on the roof of a building. I didn’t really do anything the last day, I didn’t want to ruin my last vision of India with more of the dreaded city and it’s lying people.

Now I’m at sea for nine days. So maybe I’ll update again. I want to write more, but this is very tiresome. I’ve stopped writing everything in my journal because I pretty much do that here. But it’s easier to type up anyway. Maybe not very personal, but that’s what scrapbooks are for.

Oh! And I can’t even begin to tell you how glad I am that I didn’t go on the SAS trip to the Taj and whatever. It sounded like way too much traveling for the amount they paid. Most that I know that went on it said, “The Taj is beautiful. Absolutely breathtaking, but the trip sucked.” The only people that I know that had a good time going to the Taj trip and had a great time all together were the ones who went independently with just a few friends. I know this sounds hard, but independent travel really isn’t all that much harder. It’s just as stressful as big trips with SAS, but as long as you allow yourself time to get back on the ship and everything then you’ll be fine. The people I know that went to the Taj and stuff only spent about 200 dollars on round trip plane tickets and then who knows how little on food and lodgings. When the SAS trips cost about 1000 dollars or something. I’m just really glad I didn’t go. I can fairly easily go to the Taj any time because it’s such a touristy spot. All I need to do is call up a travel guide and say I want to go to the Taj and Veranasi and he’ll set me up. Of course if I did that then I’ll probably end up staying in too nice hotels and being very touristy instead of travlery. But that’s okay some of the time. You cant do everything. Yes there will be stuff that I wish I did, but that’s the way it is all the time, no matter what I do.

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So in my Sex and Gender Diversity class we are starting to learn about female circumcision. And we watched this wonderfully graphic movie on it. And I have to say, I’m slightly traumatized. Out of all of my anthropology classes and everything, I’ve avoided having to learn more about FGM other than that it exists. And something we had to read for the class really struck me.

In areas where this is practiced, cutting is seen as an essential part of a woman’s identity. If she does not have the surgery, she is seen as ugly, impure, and is considered an outsider. And though we may think of this practice as appalling, as an anthropologist in training, I try to look at from another perspective. An article I read by Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf stuck with me:

“Today some girls and women in the West starve themselves obsessively. Others undergo painful and potentially dangerous medical procedures—face lifts, liposuction, breast implants and the like—to conform to cultural standards of beauty and femininity. I am not trying to equate genital cutting with eating disorders or cosmetic surgery; nevertheless, people in the industrialized world must recognize that they too are influenced, often destructively, by traditional gender roles and demands.”

The article ends with the author stating that as more women in the areas that practice this surgery are educated, the more likely they will chose not to submit their daughters to it. Women she says will make sure that FGM ends. But that is only the beginning. What will it take for women or girls to be satisfied with themselves? Is it even possible to shed the pressures of society to look or act a different way than how you were born?

In the first half of the voyage we visited countries where the people generally have darker complexions. And they go through great lengths to make their skin as pale as possible. Back in the states, people risk skin cancer to make their skin darker. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?? Not even being tan is a good thing. Tanning is your skin reacting to the sun and trying to protect itself. Now I’m not saying I’m against laying out and getting a healthy dose of Vitamin D, but some of the girls on the 7th deck on this ship are going to be pruney when we arrive back in Florida.

Hopefully, one day we will all be free.

Well those are my thoughts for now.

I think this is long enough for y’all, no?

DD