Conclusion of my time in India (also conclusion that IVHQ sucks at dealing with complaints)

Ok, so this is sooo waaaay long overdue, but I have been re-adjusting to being back home and what not.  Oh also, the second part of that header is primarily so that hopefully my blog will pop up if anyone is searching for IVHQ and complaints... lets hope it works!
   So before I head into my conclusion of my India trip, I will preface with a bit about IVHQ.  So still have heard NOTHING from them about any type of refund or compensation for our placements totally NOT being anything to what they had promised.  I find this extremely odd, because personally if this were my organization, I would want to do everything I could to make sure that this matter was taken care of so that people would not end up being bitter and angry and therefore putting bad news out there.  Also, I just spoke with Alice and she said that they deleted the pictures she posted of her placement as well as a review of them.  Now, I find this also quite strange that they seem to be going above and beyond to hide all kinds of bad news and reviews but they don't seem to be doing anything at all about actually trying to fix the situation.  Instead they seem to just be trying to sweep things under the rug.  What.The.Hell?! This organization is seriously mismanaged and seem to totally have their priorities crossed. 

   So, India.... ohhh India.... it has been interesting this past week with re-adjusting to daily home life and all of it accessibility's as well as now being much more aware of Indian people in my neighborhood.  I mean I was definitely aware of the Indian couple that live across the hall from me, but I just seem to see a lot more of them now.  Perhaps it is more the fact that I am more aware of what ethnicity they are, where as before it seems that all middle eastern people seemed to blend into one ethnicity.  This would be the same for if you were not really aware of the differences of all Asians exp. Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese etc..
Anyway, so that's that.

    So back to my whole reflection on India...  My time in India was absolutely one that I would not trade in for something else.  While it certainly did NOT go as planned, thanks to IVHQ and their inadequacies and poor organizational skills, I did meet some fantastic people, got to travel a bit and more importantly, I learned a lot about a completely different culture in a way that one can't really get unless actually living there.  There are certainly many things, which I have mentioned quite a bit, that I will never fully understand, but upon further reflection of them I have come to understand that this is simply how they live their lives, and to them it is perfectly normal... well almost.  Not all Indians necessarily agree or find their cultures actions "ok" or "normal" which was nice to hear, mainly so that I didn't feel like I was being overly judgmental.  So I guess a good word to sum it all up would be "bittersweet". 

    I have also been thinking a lot about Africa vs. India, and why exactly my reactions to India were so strong when my reactions to Africa were so not.  Africa has just as much poverty as India, yet my reaction to Africa was much more sympathetic.  So far, the conclusion I have come up with is this;  India overall is much more harsh than Africa.  The people are much more abrupt and hostile as well as many of them (them meaning rickshaw drivers, street vendors, beggers etc..) try to cheat you and take advantage of you in whatever way they can.  In Africa they are very gracious, calm, and proud of whatever they do have and want to share with you whatever they do have.  In India I did come across quite a number of people on the trains who wanted to share their food (well rather they were worried that I wasn't eating...) but this is not necessarily what I am talking about.  When I visited the "slums" in Africa, the children came running up to me, smiling, grabbed my hands and pulled me along because they were so excited to show me their home, which was made of tin and billboard signs, but they were so proud that they in fact had a home with 4 walls and a roof.  While a few of those kids did try to slip off my aunt's rings, that was about the extent of any type of "thievery".   However, I must also take into consideration that the memory I have of Africa was when I was 18.  I was much more naive then and had a very different perspective on life than I do now.  So there is also that take on things.  Back then I was very resistant to any other types of views on life, my view was "save all the children!!! cure AIDS!!" while this is all well and good, it was just very one sided and I refused to see any other types of realistic outlooks on how to go about helping those in poverty. 
  So I suppose that is the best example I can come up with of trying to compare the two, without rambling on and on.  It is really more an experience that you would have to see first hand to fully grasp what I am talking about.
  Another really interesting thing was when I was in London and talking to Betsy about my experience there, her comment was "wow..... I never experienced any of that... you saw a very different India." Meanwhile I am thinking "wait.... huh?? how is that possible??" well the difference here was, that she was staying 5-6 star hotels and never walked around, she went from hotel to car to hotel and never really went into the poorer areas.  But still, in India it is so very very mixed, you've got 6 star hotels and then a few feet next to it, you'll have a mini slum.  In any case, I thought it rather interesting to hear her experience of India in comparison to mine.  In a way, it sort of put things into perspective of how mixed our world is and the vast differences in how people see things.  This is in no means a negative comment, it is more a reflective comment.
  People keep asking me, "so will you go back?" and I kind of pause for a good minute thinking about this and then respond with "if I ever go back, I will avoid Delhi as I have had quite enough of that area and go either to Dharamsala or Goa".  I would have liked to have gone up to Dharamsala since it is about as close to Tibet as one could get without actually having to go to Tibet.  I would have really liked to actually go to Tibet, however, a special visa is needed and well... I didn't bother trying to go through that process.

   I am definitely quite disappointed that the volunteering didn't work out, but another life lesson learned... next time, go through a reputable organization that is big!! Lol I have been looking at various other organizations for my next big adventure, as I am now re-hooked on traveling :-)  not that I was ever unhooked, but school kinda took precedence for a while as did not having any money... but now that I am free from school (at least for a lil while until I decide to go to grad school) I want to travel as much as possible!!! I also would like to get that under my belt before I "settle down" and start a family.... HAH! that's quite a ways off though.  Annnnd I'm rambling....
  So basically, India, an amazing experience in so many many aspects of life.  I now have a much higher appreciation for the things that I have in life and the opportunities that I have been able to experience growing up.  Viewing such extreme poverty really hit me hard this time, and I had this overwhelming emotion of gratitude.  It was a very humbling experience.  I for the first time saw first hand what polio looks like.  We are extremely lucky to have wiped out polio, it is a devastating disease and truly pained me to see people scooting along on the butts (sounds funny but really it is quite sad).  It made me more aware of things, small daily things, that we take for granted... i.e. clean tap water, trash cans, trash service workers, plumbing, less pollution, fresh vegetables and fruit.... just to name a few.  There were so many observations I made on a daily basis that could probably fill an encyclopedia, but just basic things that could tremendously help clean up India, and it got me to thinking of how one could do that.  I dunno, perhaps start a fundraiser to buy trash cans to put around Delhi?? Lol sure I know it sounds silly, but just little stuff like that can literally make a "world" of a difference.

    So there it is folks, the conclusion on my time in India.  It has been wonderful sharing all of my adventures and experiences with everyone.  I definitely have enjoyed doing this whole blog thing, maybe I'll start up another one!! Just need to find a good topic to write on.... And the next time I travel, I'll be sure to start up another one!

  Namaste everyone, take care!

Chandni Chowk and more IVHQ headaches

  So.... it has been a few days since I last wrote, and I am sure you are all wondering what in the world is going on!! Well to begin, I want to add in what I forgot to add in last blog entry.  In my title I mentioned "Celebrity Status" and I totally forgot to mention that part!! It's rather amusing and quite flattering Lol, so while at the Taj Mahal groups of guys (and some girls) kept coming up to me as well as the group I was with and asking if they could take a picture with me or all of us.  At one point, it literally was about every 5 or 10 minutes that they would come up to us, or if they weren't coming up to us they were standing near by staring and trying to work up the courage to ask us.  It very much gave us all a glimpse into what it would be like to be a celebrity with paparazzi and fans following our every move. 

  Anyway, so moving onto the present time, so yesterday Alice, Sam and Nicola took off for Thailand to go and work at the volunteer project which Alice was previously working with before coming to India.  It sounded like quite a neat program and is free! but I decided to stay here, plus couldnt afford another plane ticket.  So it is now just Richard, Catalin, Raj, and I who are here.  Raj and I braved the mass crowds at Chondni Chowk Market/Bazaar today, and were quite successful in barganing for various gifts to bring home :-)  and no I am not saying what I got because then it wouldnt be a surprise!! Lol I actually bargained myself for one item and was quite proud of myself, the rest I left up to Raj since he speaks fluent Hindi (very very helpful!!) So then we came back to Jim's, I made dinner (well part of it, it was an addition to the many leftovers we had in the fridge).  Then we checked our e-mails to see if there were perhaps any good news reply's from IVHQ about this whole mess of a situation.  Wishful thinking....
  In the past couple days emails have been flying back and forth between our whole group and IVHQ and it has turned into the biggest case of "nuh uhhhh!!! ya huh!!!!!".  So not amusing, at all.  Basically, they are saying they cannot refund our money because they have paid each of our programs in full.... well here's the thing.  They also keep saying "if you would like to switch to another program we can certainly assist you with that."  But wait... didn't you guys already pay our programs in full??  So, if you cant refund us our money because you have already paid them... then with what money exactly are you going to use to put us into a different program?? Also they told us that they don't like to give us our placements until we arrive so that they can meet us and figure out what the best placement will be.... ok well first of all, we didnt get our placements until like the day of our departure to them... plus! they never actually gave me an exact placement, it kept changing up until I made the executive decision to go with Nicola to her placement.  So where exactly did my money go??
   AHHHH!!!! This whole situation is so completely frustrating and agonizing.  The responses that we keep getting back from IVHQ keep beating around the bush and dodging our points or questions.  They keep telling us "well we like to always tell people that volunteering in New Delhi (which actually none of our placements were in New Delhi, in fact that were very far away from there) during the summertime is hard because of the heat and not having any A/C" ................ No one, not once, ever made any type of complaint regarding the heat or lack of A/C!! Who cares!! yes it is really really hot, but I have no qualms with taking 2 showers a day, in fact I rather enjoy taking a nice refreshing cold shower in the evening to cool off, its quite soothing.  Yes it is uncomfortable at times, but that in no way has ever been an issue, I was quite aware of what I was coming into weather wise when I signed up.  RAWR!! Ok, sorry guys, I am going to stop venting now, but I... well actually all of us just get so angry when we talk about this because we all feel like we were taken advantage of or have had the wool pullen over our eyes or something...
  So, tomorrow I am making my many phone calls to the various organizations that Jim and his wife have graciously provided me with (total god sends they are!!!) and hopefully I'll be able to set up some lunch dates or something like that for next week.  This weekend I am going with my new travel buddy Raj to Punjab to go see the Golden Temple.  So excited!! I think we are going to end up staying at the Golden Temple (which is a Sikh temple) as all Sikh temples provide free food as well as free lodging! It will be quite an experience for sure! But I am excited, and have no idea what to expect.  I will of course update when I get back since I highly doubt they have internet. 
  That's all for now, cross your fingers everyone for all of us that we get some type of supportive news or positive news from IVHQ.  I am just hoping for some type of compromised resolution out of all of this. 

 Namaste

The Taj Mahal, celebrity status then...... ohhh emmm geeee

To start off with, "ohh emm geee" for those of who aren't hip to the lingo is a spelled out version of "OMG" which stands for "oh my god".  Ok, now that we are clear on that, onto the good stuff. 

  Sunday morning we all got up around 5:00am, got all of our stuff together and headed off to Agra to go and see the Taj Mahal.  Most of us slept in the car or listened to music on our ipods. 

Notice everyone wearing ipods... i thought it was kinda funny

We finally got to the Taj Mahal after about 4 hours, we had to get onto a battery powered bus and get taken closer to the Taj then walk the rest of the way.  They are doing this now to try and lessen the amount of pollution around the the Taj to try and preserve the color.  It apparently used to be a pure milky white color as opposed to now where it is a slightly yellow color from all of the polution.  While its a great start, they have a long way to go before pollution is anywhere near eliminated in India.  I'll talk more on that later.  Anyway, so we walk towards the Taj and are again bombarded by street vendors trying to sell us snow globes with the Taj in them or picture books or this and that, all small trinkets which non of us had any interest in, but my god they are persistent!!!! I just kept looking forward and walking and not paying attention to them and eventually they lost interest.  Then we walk into the first part, we get a little story from our guide then continue on.  Oh also, Sunday was a big celebration so entrance was free (woohoo!!!) but that also meant that the entire world was there (booo).  So there were musicians playing  everywhere which sounded pretty cool and the actual tombs inside the Taj were open.  We walked through the passage way and BOOM!! There was the Taj Mahal!! such an amazing and surreal sight.  After all these years of seeing pictures, to actually be standing right there in front of it was just like.... WOW! No other words can really describe it.

Pretty amazing huh?!

  So then we actually walked in and it was shear madness!!! but we managed to get a group shot then a couple of me

So here are some pictures of the Taj Mahal of course.

So, now onto after we left.

We left Agra and headed back to where the program coordinators house was in Faridabad.  We got there around 7pm then had to wait for our various taxi's to come pick us up to take us to our placement.  I was supposed to go to an orphanage that was near a hospital where I'd be working with the children on health related issues.  Sam and Alice's taxi (aka rickshaw) came and got them then it was Nicola and I left waiting for another 30 minutes.  Then Nicola's taxi came, she got her stuff and headed out, as I was sitting there my stomach started doing flips and I started thinking in my head "oh my god, I can't do this! I can't go by myself into some place where I don't know anyone.... everyone is at least paired up with someone else from orientation week, Sam & Alice, Megan and Jeni, and Nicola is going to meet Richard..." So I jumped up and ran out of the door just in time to catch Nicola as she was about to leave, and I yelled out "ok wait! I'm coming with you!!" I grabbed my stuff and jumped in the taxi and felt remarcably better.  We headed towards our placement in our little rickshaw, It took about 30 minutes to get there, as we went from paved streets to dirt roads to then feeling like we were suddenly on a motorcross sport course with bumps and divets in the road, getting bumped around all over the place.  We finally arrived to our placement, in the middle of nowhere, in a place basically a step above being called the slums.  Back home it would have been called the projects area.  We walked in, there was a sweet looking family with 5 kids, and only 2 bedrooms, and there were already 3 other volunteers there, plus the two of us who just arrived.... can you do the math in this equation??  The bathroom.... well there was no toilet seat, just a toilet, no shower, just a spout and a bucket.... mind you we had also just spent all day in 105 degree weather in Agra, so my clothes were somewhat dry now from sweating through them and had, had high hopes for taking a shower once I got to what I was imagining would be like our orientation week house.  From all of the wonderous information we had gotten about our "volunteer house".  Oh the LIES IVHQ has told us.  There was no volunteer house, instead it was a bunch of volunteers, in a "house" which had a family already living in it.  The area around it was not what we might consider to be so safe.  So, after trying to contain my freak out inside my head, along with the tears that wanted to come flooding out.  We socialized a bit with the other volunteers.  Finally Catalin, one of the volunteers who had been there for a week, said that he hated it there, he hadn't been out of the area for the whole week he was there and he had tried everything he could to leave.  So I burst out, "oh thank god, thats exactly how I am feeling right now, I don't think I can stay here".  So we talked a bit more, then finally headed off to "bed".  When I say bed, really I mean a plank board with a sheet over it.  Awful.  I managed to finally fall asleep.  Then at about 2am my phone kept ringing, finally after about the 7th time calling, I answered, it was Alice calling from her and Sam's placement.  They were leaving their place in the morning, cuz their place was even worse.  They were staying at an orphanage that was about 60 kilometeres away from Delhi, and absolutely nothing else near them.  There was another volunteer who had been there for 8 days already who was so thankful to have other people there to help save him.  The guy who ran the place walked around with a gun, and a chain of bullets around his chest, he also had a machine gun in his room.  There were rats and mice all over the place along with slaves........... need I say more? So the next morning we arranged for a taxi to come pick up me, richard, nicola and catalin, Lauren was the only one who wanted to stay for some reason.  I called Jim and told him what happened and asked if we could all come and congregate at his place till we figured out what to do.  He of course said yes, so we all waited around until about 2pm when the taxi came to our rescue.  Sam, Alice and Raj also got a taxi and went to the YMCA near by and then came over to Jim's to have a pow-wow.  We all sat around and just talked about how crazy this all has been and how we need to contact IVHQ to get our money back.  We all then decided to go get a drink to wipe off the stress, which actually turned more into hanging out in Richards lavish 5 star hotel room (ahh richard and his posh lifestyle living Lol) then later nicola and I headed back to Jim's house to crawl into our real beds and drift off to a real and comfortable sleep!!! I woke up this morning around 11 then nicola came blearly eyed out of her room around noon.  We both definitely had the same expression on, which was that of an actual rested one.

 So now.... I am going to  contact another family friend who lives here who has done work with other charities and will know of some safe legit volunteer work that I can do for the remainder of my time here.  For now I am going to be crashing here at Jim's house until I figure out what all is going on.  But, just know, I am safe!! and I am so incredibly glad that I had my friends here with me and that we all went through that experience together and not alone.  Another incredible life experience for the books for sure!

 Hugs and Kisses everyone