“Once there was a way to get back homeward…”

The past couple weeks have been tough ones for me.  My camera, my friend’s ipod, and until recently my Chaco’s were stolen.  My camera had a 512 MB card in it that I had been using since the beggining of the trip.  It had over 600 pictures on it and several videos.  I had never backed anything up so its all gone.  We were giving a performance of the dance and theatre we learned in Bagamoyo and my bag was on stage being used as a prop and sometime after the show my stuff was stolen.  The Chaco’s (world’s ugliest and most useless shoes) however, have been retrieved and are en route back to Boston. Phew.  Also,  one of the kids got kicked off the trip when we were in Zanzibar for buying pot from undercover police, running away from them (15 year jail sentence if caught) and then sneaking off the island on an emergency plane.  So I was really upset to see him go.  I ‘ll give the full story when I get home.  After calling my mom and crying on the phone for about a half hour I felt much better.  Sadly all the pics from that incredible London trip, and from my Maasai homestay are gone.  Those I think were the biggest tragedies.  Oh! and one of the kids on the trip found a starving kitten and we nursed it back to health and my host family kept it!  The poor little thing was a furry orange skeleton.  His name was fatty.  He was the most pathetic, adorable baby in the world, but after we fed him and took care of him for a day he started purring and playing.  Of course all the pictures of him are gone.  My host family calls him Gersh 2.  They called me Gersh cuz they couldn’t say Andie.  Fatty didn’t catch on for some reason. 

 India is awesome.  I am currently living on Gandhi’s Ashram in Sevagram.  He lived here from 1936 to 1942.   I got a good photo of me getting in his bathtub.  I hope Gandhi had a sense of humor.   They added 5 Indian students to the program.  They are really nice.  I lived with one of them, Isha, and her family while we were in Delhi.  I got ridiculously sick in Delhi.  Respiratory infection and a fever that wouldnt break for 3 straight days.  The highlight though was when I stayed home from school for a day and Isha’s mom, (Mamaji) and I watched Hollywood Squares and took a nap.  I am buying so much crap here and the best part is no matter how much you buy you still don’t actually spend anything.  Stuff here is practically free.  The streets are absolute chaos.  I know that I gamble with my life every time I step into a rickshaw but they are so much fun.  I’m having a really hard time with the child beggars here.  These adorable children wearing twisted up paperclips for nose rings looks up at me.  “Madame. Madame.”  They hold out their hands and smile up at me and we’ve discussed so many times what you ought to do in these situations that I just freeze up every time.  If you give money, every child in the street will swarm around you.  I will give food if I have it but I rarely do.  Sometimes they can be really mean and will taunt you and lift up your skirt and what not, but I just had to remind myself that they are children so I will look back at them and scold them and they immediately scurry away and point fingers.  Its so weird to be so afraid of children. 

Our party on the last night of Delhi was sweet.  Our coordinator, Smitu, who I think I have a crush on, threw us a party to end one of the most intensely academic weeks we’ve had thus far.  He sang. He danced.  He’s amazing.  He drove a few of us home afterward.  We sang Silent Night and Mrs. Robinson.  Voice of an angel.  God…I could talk about him all day.  Oh yea and we went to the Taj Mahal.  Great photos came out of that one.  (not taken by me of course).  My writing has really gone to shit.  I can hardly form a complete sentence.  I can barely even think of a complete sentence.

So, I’m still caughing up some nasty green stuff but otherwise doing well.  Indian food everyday.  I love it.  PLEASE SEND ME LOTS OF CHRISTMAS/CHANUKKAH LETTERS ETC.  The holiday season is gonne be a little tough and I need all the support I can get.  I am starting to get a little nostalgic and all that stuff.  I really am starting to miss people from home and have been reminiscing a lot.  Love you all so very much.

Namaste,

Gersh

I’ve discovered that if I wait more than a week to try and do this it becomes literally impossible. I just spent a week living with the Maasai in a dung hut, five days on safari in Serengeti, a week on the coast of Tanzania in a town called Bagamoyo, and a weekend on the island of Zanzibar. I’ve got more stories than I know what to do with. The Maasai were definately the highlight and in some cases the lowlight of the trip so far. I fell in love with my host mother. We didn’t speak a word of each other’s language, but it seemed that after three days I practically became part of her and her home. I slept on skin beds with a bout four children packed like enchiladas and and in the mornings I’d try to do chores while everyone laughed at me. I didn’t have to drink any blood because it was the dry season and they don’t slaughter cows until the rains come, but I did get to see a goat skinning. I’ll tell everyone that story when I come home…its a good one. The last night we were there it actually started to rain for the first time in weeks. It was incredible. On safari I saw every cool animal you could possibly think of. We even say a leopard stalking an impala but he didn’t go for it. So instead of trying to do all of this I’ll work stream of conciousness.

I hate roosters more than anything. I’m not a violent person but I would not be sad to see some roosters on a rotisserie at KFC. I haven’t showered in three days. My idea of what can be considered a toilet has been revolutionized. My idea of clean clothing has been altered as well especially cuz I don’t really remember what clean clothing is like. I lost my stanford shirt, my knife, my favorite underwear and god knows what else. I really wish I would have tried a little harder to learn kiswahili. Meeting friends here can save your life or destroy it. Thanksgiving just isn’t thanksgiving in the humid subtropics. Coca cola owns everything. IHPers are the only people in the world without cellphones. Infectious diarrhea…sucks. I’m having an incredible time. 5 Days till India. All of your mail made me happier than I can describe. Keep it comin. Love you all so so so so so so so much.

Love always,

Kidoku

(Maasai for good life with many cows)