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High-Speed WiFi!

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I just got back to Titagarh from central Kolkata, where I spent the day with some of my WASHi coworkers. They are wonderful and really showed me a great time. Over the last few days I’ve gotten to see a lot of sanitation blocks, I’ve been invited into homes, I’ve had my picture taken with everyone in earshot of my voice (which is very loud). This particular place and this summer has been unforgettable. Though, I am undoubtedly exhausted. I have just over 1 more week here in India and I am definitely looking forward to going back home. I miss my family. I miss my friends. I miss the ease that comes with being an American, an ease that I never was really able to appreciate until coming here. I have taken so much for granted in my life that I could never have realized. But, for everything that I miss back home, where my home will always be, I am more impassioned than ever towards pursuing a career in health and international development. I know even from the short trainings that I’...
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Here I Kome Kolkata

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Hi Everyone, sorry for the absence. Next Tuesday I am heading to Kolkata (a.k.a. Calcutta) for one week, then I'll be in Delhi for one week, then I'll be HOME!!! Can you imagine? 6 weeks has already gone by and it feels so weird to say that. I've made so many friends and I've been treated so well. The time has flown by but I have also seen so much! I feel so lucky to be an American. Truly. This trip has really put into perspective for me how different life is in some of the most remote places on the planet. I take a lot of things for granted coming from the US of A and I think I've gained a much greater appreciation for my life and my upbringing. That being said, my passion for development and health has inflamed alongside that appreciation of home. Something out there is calling me to work in this field and I couldn't feel more aligned with taking the steps to enter the Peace Corps next spring. Maybe I'll end up doing Water and Sanitation in Vanuatu? Tha...
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Can I take you on a (up)date?

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WOooo-AAHHH, it's been a brick! I hope everyone has at least slightly enjoyed my GoPro vids and I promise to say "umm" or "uhh" 25% more in my next upload, don't worry. I just had to write a mid-internship update for the Parents Fund Internship Grant that I was awarded and so I decided I better slide some updates into this platform as well. I’m just short of the midway point in my internship and I couldn’t be more excited for the next half! This has been an incredible experience and every day I am faced with new challenges and ideas. I’ve been hard at work in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu. I’ve gone into the field and watched our Mobile septage Treatment Units (MTUs) at work, I’ve learned how to test 14 different parameters for water quality analysis, I’ve given a presentation on Public Health differences in the United States and India, and I’ve been exposed to countless awareness, construction, and education projects in the nearby areas. In the next week I’l...
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Tourist-lyfe

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So I returned from Pondicherry this morning, arriving just after 4 AM. One of the main methods of travel between cities here are Sleeper Buses.... which are very uncomfortable and don't provide much sleep, but it was definitely cheap travel to go over 300 KMs, each way. I slept through my alarm, nearly missed the second bus to work, and choked on cold tea, but I'm surviving. My weekend in Pondicherry was unforgettable and I'm very lucky I had a Pondy native to show me all around. It was really the first time since I've been here that I've felt like a tourist. But that's not why I'm here, right? I came to be a part of a very influential non-profit organization and to do what little I can to make the lives better of some, if any, people. I've been very dedicated to this goal and it was really hard for me to let myself relax and just enjoy the weekend on the coast. I thought about it constantly... In the cool AC of the high-end restaurants and the b...
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Are you my dad?

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Today I got to do my first bit of field work! Tomorrow I will be testing the effectiveness of a new attachment on the Mobile Septage Treatment Units (MTUs) by analyzing the effluent (clear water output) that was brought back to WASHi today. I am very much in the mind set of taking one thing at a time while I am here. I rode the bus successfully today, tomorrow I hope (PLEASE) to wash my clothes (by hand), and maybe on Thursday I’ll even pack… my… lunch… It really is difficult to handle even the smallest of issues sometimes here, but the good parts are so amazing. The food continues to impress, JP (friendly old man) calls me his son, and I played volleyball for like two hours today (met a bunch of people my age who speak English very well that I’ve begun to get along with). Also, I am looking forward to this weekend, as I am hoping I’ll end up in Palani or Kodaikanal. Both places are pretty deep into the mountains which are nearby me and I want to see them so badly (and to feel th...
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dISConNecTED

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So, I have reached my room in Dindigul. Actually I reached it yesterday but this is the first opportunity I have had with internet on my computer. Today, as I've been trying not to use the data on my phone, I sat outside in a chair and did pretty much nothing for like 2 hours (it was wonderful). Very easy to hook up to that nice nature-brewed WiFi out here. My plane flight wasn't bad at all, although things don't work in foreign domestic airports like American domestic airports and I will need to continue reminding myself of that (made it on my connecting flight with minutes to spare). But it was all over quickly and I was warmly welcomed yesterday, I am the first "international student" that has ever stayed in this area and most definitely this hostel. Over the last 24 hours I have had my picture taken when I'm not looking, I've been asked to review food items (no, they do not know about the Yelping), and I've sweat clean through my clothes thre...
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Dindigul

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I've purchased a  *one-way* plane ticket! I'll be going to Dindigul, which is a city in Tamil Nadu (one of the southernmost states in India). I'll be flying through Chennai to Madurai, which isn't shown above, then I'll be driven to Dindigul and more specifically a very small town called Reddiyarchatram. I have housing secured for 1.5 months, so it is likely I won't be coming back to New Delhi for a long time. While in Dindigul I will be traveling to all kinds of places where there are WASH Institute projects going on and where I'll be able to learn so much. I'm also excited about going to Ramanathapuram and Thiruppullani, where I'll be testing water qualities throughout the coast and trying to build towards a more sustainable future for the people that live there. I'll probably make it over to Kerala or Karnataka, but I won't really know my schedule until I end up at the WASH Office in Dindigul, this Saturday.  My work continue...
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