US, US, baby

Near Udaipur, Tripura, Neermahal is a palace in the middle of a lake…and absolutely gorgeous! I think maybe one of the prettiest things I’ve seen on this trip…

Getting from Shillong to Agartala last week was quite an adventure, to say the least. Instead of giving you a full-on narrative, I thought I’d just compare my trip there to what a typical journey of equivalent distance would be in the U.S. for me…

India vs. USA

Approximate Distance:
500 kilometres vs. 310 miles

Mode of Transportation:
bus vs. plane or car/truck

Estimated Travel Time:
20-24 hours vs. 5 hours 10 minutes

Actual Travel Time:
43 hours vs. 5 hours

Escorts:
have to travel in a convoy through a high-insurgency area vs. only following the men with guns if you’ve been speeding

Finding a Place to Stay:
kicked out of first guesthouse because the state minister is coming and needs to sleep there vs. checking into a Marriott, Hilton, or Best Western

Finding a Place to Stay, part II:
go to the “party” building to ask the Communist Party of India (Marxist) — the ruling party of the state — if we can still sleep at the guesthouse…told “no” but they help find another room vs. um, communists in the US?

Road Food:
rice and vegetables eaten with the hands vs. drive-through food from Taco Bell (eaten with the hands, too)

Bathroom Break:
bamboo outhouse with a dirt-floor squat toilet vs. not needed for a 310-mile journey (but always have McDonald’s in an emergency)

Roadside Souvenirs:
USA handkerchiefs vs. “Someone Who Loves Me Went to X, and All I Got Was This Stupid T-Shirt” shirts

I have to say, before this year, I never really realized how important Christmas was to me. I suppose I’d always taken for granted the time I had with friends and family during the season. And even though I thought the actual celebration of Christmas held little sentiments for me, I still found myself wiping away steaming hot tears as I sang along to “O, Holy Night” at an outdoor Christmas Eve sing-a-long.

As the night was only the second time I can recall crying in the past year or so (viewing cheesey movies exempted), I realized, that, yeah, Christmas is important to me. And that I don’t think I’ll want to be away from my loved ones in MO come Christmas again…

Side note…at the Christmas Day service I went to, I learned that “Away in the Manger” has two melodies. The Brits have one version, and the Yanks another. The church I was at chose the better one, of course.

(And I didn’t take any Christmas photos…so the above pic is a nice little holiday greeting from Elvis…taken at Graceland during my Christmas break last year.)

Still in Tripura…still alive…and just now able to find a cyber cafe.

Will write more soon…but just wanted to say Happy Holidays if you’re heading home already.

So drink some eggnog, kiss under the mistletoe, and have a funky, funky, Christmas for me.

…heart, Jayna.

At the Monolith Park. This one is 27-feet tall.
(Monoliths are stone memorials…in this case to Jaintia kings.)

PS: I’m leaving the state! I’ll be traveling to one of the neighboring states for the rest of the week. I’ll be staying in a state capital, so there *should* be Internet easily accessible. But if I’m MIA for a few days, that’s why…hopefully, though, that won’t be the case.

At the concert, I of course had a couple cups of hot tea. But I also had another bag of Lay’s chips. The American Style Cream & Onion. Unlike what ohquepasa has found in Chile (with things called “Americana”), these chips really are American like. Yum.

Now, if we can just get Lay’s to start making the the ranch-flavored Doritos over here…

How did you spend International Human Rights Day (10 Dec)?

I was at the Human Rights Concert here in Shillong. The whole reason I’d gone was to see a sort-of famous singer, Lou Majaw, who is well-known for both his Bob Dylan covers as well as his hot pants.

Sadly, though, Monday was a bit cold…and the concert started nearly 45 minutes late. After about four hours of sitting in the FREEEEEEZING cold, I called it a night before Mr. Majaw even made it on stage for his performance. (I wonder if it was too cold for his hot pants?)

The performances ranged from not-so-great to really good (but, yes, they were all performing for a good cause, so I shouldn’t judge…yada, yada, yada).

I filmed a few bits of the performances…I have a feeling you might recognize a few of the songs from the night, too…

10 points for the most number recognized!

On this trip, there have been a few places I’ve stayed for long enough to get to know a few people. But now that I’ve been in Shillong, it’s kind of weird how easily I fit in here and feel a bit like “home”…especially when it comes to getting to know people.

Walking down the street, I’ll wave to the shopkeepers and stop to chat with the server from one of the local restaurants. If I don’t have the correct change for something, the man at the store or cyber cafe just waves me off and says to pay later, knowing I’ll be back the next day. The newspaper man knows which papers I buy and has them pulled out by the time I reach him. I can even go to a local event by myself and find someone I know to sit with.

I have to say, it’s comforting but a bit odd to feel so integrated in a society that I still don’t fully understand.

Well, integrated except for that whole first article in the local newspaper about me talking about being an American in Meghalaya. Shortly after that, the office got a call about me to check and see if I was really there. A couple of days later I got a visit by the local police who said I must “not put off” reporting to the foreigners’ office, where I was to register. Who knew there was a foreigners’ office?

Because most people dress in traditional or local clothing for the workshops, I too, wore my new salwar suit…

Last week the organization had a workshop to gather input on the content of an upcoming training program. During one point, the facilitators asked the attendees to guess the legal age of responsibility in countries that have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

There were lots of guesses for the US. And after each guess a few attendees would look my way as if to question if the guess was right. So, eventually I said things like that aren’t determined by the US but by each state’s government…then the facilitator said the US hasn’t ratified the Convention, either…

Interestingly, though, the range of guesses was only 7-14 years…