puppylover22

The day after the final reception, everyone was ready for a little R&R. It had been a wild few days! Sagar really wanted to plan a special day for us, especially since it was the last day for the boys in India, so he took us to a resort just outside the city limits. It was Sagar himself who picked us up from our hotel, and we managed to squeeze 6 of us in to his tiny compact surprisingly comfortably. I'm so impressed that Sagar can drive here - I think that's why he's such a calm guy in Toronto. If you can drive here, surely nothing can phase you! He took us to his family home where we transfered into a much larger car which could accomodate all of us, and which came with a ... read more

When last I wrote we were waiting to get picked up by Sagar to head up north to his new wife's hometown to have another reception there. We were sort of used to the way timelines work in India by this point, so although we had been told we would be picked up at noon, we had a feeling that might not be the case. We opted to have a drink in our favourite "Aqua Bar" to wait it out. Eventually Sagar showed up with his family in what can only be described as a party bus! It was like a comfy 15 passenger travel van/bus with sweet blue/green lighting and a great sound system. The van was to take us (myself, Josh, Jeff, Vanessa, and Brodie) and Sagar, his parents, his aunt, and Deepa. It's ... read more

***Note: I wrote this days ago (Saturday morning) but haven't had internet access since, so I couldn't upload it. Now it's Monday night and I haven't written anything else! I also don't have a fast enough connection to upload any pictures. Sorry! Hopefully tomorrow night I can summarize the past few days events. In the meantime, here is a tome to finish off last week.*** The internet seems to have cut out (good bye 100 rupees) so I’ll write this entry in Word and hopefully I can upload it later. I think last night when I stopped writing I had finished the part about the engagement party. The next morning we all woke up, ate the delicious hotel breakfast, and then got dressed up for the wedding. Sagar’s family had bought us all amazing Indian clothing ... read more

Yikes! Days have passed since I arrived in India and this is my first blog update. That means I'll inevitably forget tons of fun tidbits as I try to cram in all the craziness of the start of this adventure. Also, it's late at night and I might just run out of steam... let's see how far I can get. First, a little background on this trip. Basically, I'm on a break between the end of medical school and the start of residency. Most everyone I know in my class has taken the opportunity to travel to some part of the world, so I thought I would follow suit. As luck would have it, my good friend from my class, Sagar, was scheduled to get married in Bangalore, India, during this time and the dates worked ... read more

I left camp this morning full of happiness and a contented peace. Unfortunately the Miami International Airport, particularly the customs department, took approximately 36.7 seconds to rip any joy from my soul. Just to rub things in, I was forced to pass a banner proclaiming this god-awful place to be the 2008 Best American Aiport, according to the TSA. Good for them. But now, FINALLY, I am in the air and quickly jetting hundreds of kilometers in escape. Let me close my eyes and try to remember back to happier times…. Ahhh yes. I am back at Camp Iztaru in a beautiful setting with a beautiful view. I am surrounded by new friends from every corner of Central and South America. I have learned to consider the cold showers “refreshing” instead of “tortuous.” I have new ... read more

Hehehe. Today was one of those days that just left me giggling—full of random craziness where I have to look around me and laugh at the situation I’m in. The youth forum ended at lunch today, and during the closing ceremonies they told us that they had a surprise: everyone who was staying for the Scouts of the World Award Seminar would get a chance to be bussed in to San José for some sight seeing and shopping. Sweeeet! I thought I was going to have almost 24 hours to kill before the next event started, so I was quite happy that we would be able to make good use of our spare time. Before we loaded into the mini-bus, Cata, this amazing girl who was one of the main organizers of the event and is ... read more

So, they seem to have abandoned even pretending they have wireless network set up. It looks like I´m going to have to keep putting my entries on a USB drive and transfering to one of the public-use computers here (circa 1995), which means that I probably won´t be able to upload any more pictures for a while. I wrote this entry yesterday morning but didn´t get a chance to upload it until now. Warning: it´s a longie! -- The conference has been really enjoyable so far, despite the lack of internet access. It’s difficult to find the time to write blog entries because we have tasks to complete in groups over most of our breaks. Normally I am a super multitasker when I’m actually IN meetings, but it takes all my energy to concentrate on what’s ... read more

Wireless internet has been down all day. I just couldn't take it, so I snuck in to the administrative building, found an unplugged ethernet cable, and jammed that sucker into my laptop to get my fix. So many e-mails! Anyways, I wrote a blog entry in Word earlier this morning which I'll throw up here quickly while I can. I'll try to write another entry tonight reflecting on the day's events, but it might not get posted until tomorrow (or later, if word gets out about my sweet find and they shut it down). --- This morning’s entry is getting typed in Word, to be uploaded at a later time, because the wireless network seems to be down. I can’t complain, though. The fact that we have any internet connection up here in a Scout camp ... read more

Wow. I am... seriously unprepared for this event. This has the potential to be a long 7 nights. Going in, I hardly knew anything about these two conferences but I just thought I'd come out and figure things out as I went. The organizers only sent out two tiny, one page info bulletins. Hmm. I definitely should have requested some more detailed information about accommodations. It's one thing to be easy going, but there was some rather important knowledge not transferred to me which would have made a world of difference. Namely, that it is FREEZING here!!! Like, almost literally. It's supposed to get down to 5 degrees Celsius tonight. I brought one single, thin pair of pants and a light microfleece jacket, plus some raingear. Beyond that I just have shorts and t-shirts. Sweet. I ... read more

While yesterday's entry had slight undertones of loneliness and boredom, today's entry should strongly convey just the opposite--if I can finish it all, that is. I am exhausted! Today was amazing. I took 156 pictures... and that says something because I'm normally terrible at taking my camera out. I've decided just to throw the whole batch up on flickr so you can take a look if you are interested. There has been no editing or anything and some are doubles. I have to say I'm fairly impressed with their quality, though. My new camera is pretty decent. Thanks for the good advice, Grayson! You can see the pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/28505980@N08 Oh man am I tired. I don't even know where to begin. So much happened today, and actually quite a number of neat things happened... read more