Bridges

I saw this organization on a TED video, and it sounds pretty amazing. They work with kids around the world to help them create documentaries about the places they live in. Its a great way to promote understanding of other cultures, and hopefully bring people together. Check it out:
Bridges

Mapping books with Google

I came across this neat site that maps out locations described in different books using Google Maps. Take a look: Books: Mapped

Great Educational podcasts

This site has a great listing of some free educational podcasts out there. I typically like to download a podcast or audiobook to my ipod for the walk to work, and these are some great ones!

Pay it Forward magazine!

Great post from Nipun about the conversion of a traditional print magazine to a "Pay It Forward" approach. I picked up a copy of the magazine the other day from Nipun's house, and its a great read. I can't wait to see how these PIF approaches to "commercial" enterprises turn out! First Seva Cafe, now this!

Save energy with black backgrounds

Here's a website encouraging people to 1) Move to LCD screens, and 2) Use dark backgrounds for their websites. Apparently having a dark background on your website can save power used by CRTs displaying its content. Rising Phoenix Design

Seva cafe on YouTube

Check out this video on YouTube about the Seva cafe in India. The idea behind the cafe is a "pay it forward" approach to dining. When you sit down to eat, your meal has already been paid by someone before you. Then at the end of your meal you can choose to pay as much as you'd like for the people after you. I've been lucky enough to dine at one which opened in LA, and will hopefully be dining at the one in Berkeley in the near future.

Cafe Gratitude

The other night we went up to Berkeley to attend a sutra lecture by Rev. Heng Sure. It was a great lecture, and afterwards we looked for somewhere to eat. I had originally planned to visit Cha-Ya Japanese veggie restaurant, but by the time we got out it was closing down. So we drove down the road a bit and ran into Cafe Gratitude. It was a great dining 'experience'. Its a vegan restaurant, and all the menu items have names like "I am Happy", and "I am Thankful". Not only is it fun to place your order, "I am mahalo and I am refreshed.", but then when they bring out your food they say, "You are mahalo, you are refreshed". That in itself was worth the price of admission, but the food was good too! I was pretty hungry, and filled up on my delicious "live pizza" dish. If you're near one of their 3 locations, its worth checking out :)

Back to work!

"Money is the wealth of the materialist, and works miracles in the realm of the physical. Time is the wealth of the pilgrim, and works miracles in all realms."
--Ed Buryn

We've been back at work for about a week now. Its amazing how quickly the 3 months went by! In alot of ways it feels like I never left work, and have just gotten right back into things, but I can't help but wish I was still on leave. Its definitely nice to be home, with all of its comforts, but part of me misses the uncertainty (and discomforts) of travel. I'm very grateful for the wonderful opportunity I had to travel the world and meet such interesting people. Hopefully it won't be the last time I can take an extended break from work.

Trip to Ecuador part 3

Our next project was painting some walls at one of Vista Para Todos's clinics. We arrived in our finest painting clothing, and proceeded to sand down the walls and paint them blue. We did a much better job this time around, and a few of us even climbed up on some scaffolding to paint the upper walls. The kind folks there served us a delicious vegetarian lunch, even though they were initially at a total loss as to what they could prepare for us.

Afterwards we went across the street to an orphanage and witnessed Una Grand Dia! in action once again. By this point a few of our team members were getting a bit tired of the Barney routine, but the kids still loved it. :) The orphanage was really nice, and had four houses to hold groups of kids. Once again I thought that the orphanages had a much more family feel.

Trip to Ecuador part 2

We spent Christmas day doing some sightseeting. Our first stop was the teleferico, a tall mountain in the middle of the city with a gondola ride. From the top you could see all over Quito, and take a few hikes. From there we heaeded to the Mitad Del Mundo site, which is a monument to the equator (for which Ecuador is named after). We didn't have much time, but managed to scramble around and take pictures at each compass point. There is a large museum, and a red line marking the equator so you could put half your body in the northern, and the other half in the southern hemisphere.

A few of us really wanted to do some more service, so we stopped by a small store to buy snack packs to hand out to some of the people on the street. The store was not quite ready for our order of 80 bags of candy, so we ended up all pitching in and creating an assembly line to crank out the snack bags. It was fun helping out the store owners, and stuffing the bags full of candy. Then we headed to a random street corner and people just started lining up for the snacks. I was amazed at how nicely they lined up, single file, to receive the candy. Unfortunately there were more people than candy, but we did the best we could.

Trip to Ecuador part 1

"I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.
- E. B. White

We flew into Quito, Ecuador and were taken our totally posh accomodations at the Hotel Sebastian. One of the owners of the hotel is a member of the local rotary and was kind enough to house our group at a significant discount. It was so nice to have a clean, fresh smelling room with reliable hot water. Our activities in Quito were mostly arranged through Vista Para Todos, a group which does a wide variety of charity work, primarily in the field of health care. One of the founders, Diego, was kind enough to arrange various volunteer opportunities (and sightseeing) for our group, and frequently came along with us. After getting a chance to drop off luggage, they took a few of us around on a city tour.

The next morning our first service activity was helping distribute gifts to kids on Christmas Eve. We teamed up with El Grand Dia to be with a large group (around 300) of poor kids for a few hours. During that time we did various activities including a modeling contest for the girls, and a lion bashing contest for the boys. It was great seeibg the smiles on all those kids faces!

That evening a few of us attended midnight mass at the San Francisco Church, the oldest in Ecuador. There were tons of folks outside shooting fireworks, and a few kids even lit sparklers inside the old wooden church! It was a packed house, and we stayed until communion, then headed back to the hotel for some rest.

Trip to Peru part 5

We took a trip to Aguas Calientes to visit the ruins of Machu Picchu. It was a beautiful train ride through the Andes to the small town. The town itself was smack in the middle of the mountain ranges, and had a huge river running through the middle. The view from our hostel room was great, and being such a touristy place we had no trouble finding food.

Our trip to Machu Picchu began around 6:30 am, and was a windy bus ride up to the entrance. The ruins were incredible, perched high up on a mountain. The amount of skill and dedication the builders must have had to build such a large city this high up is mind boggling. The Incas were very knowledgeable in astronomy and building techniques. There were canals which brought water throughout the city, and many of the features were in relation to the direction of the sun. After touring around the city with a guide, a few of us went to hike up neighboring Wainapicchu. It was a long hard hike, up some pretty steep grades, but the views from the top were worth it. Then we returned to Aguas Calientes to catch our train ride back to Cuzco. My pictures from Machu Picchu are here.

Trip to Peru part 4

We had a few packed days of service and fun in Peru. One day we visited an orphange for young girls to help paint their walls. It was great getting to do some hands on service work, and the little girls were so cute! A few of them insisted on helping us paint saying, ¨Its my house!¨. We had lunch at a Japanese restaruant with a surprisingly decent veggie menu, and then the kids put on some wonderful dancing and musical performances. You could really see the warmth in the orphanage, and it felt a lot less institutionalized than what we have back in the US. The people running the orphanage were so caring towards the children, and it really showed. Even though the orphanage itself was poor in material goods, it was rich in love. Then for dinner we visit a Seva Cafe-ish restaurant, which donated all the proceeds to a project called Yanapay.

Another day we paid a visit to an amazing place called Casa de Milagros, run by a couple from Colorado. It is a small organic farm in the middle of an amazing valley, surrounded by sheer mountain walls. The couple has adopted 29 local children and were raising them as their own. It was an incredible place, totally awe inspiring in both natural beauty, and how these folks were living their lives. Our task here was to decorate a few walls with paintings. After discovering some Dragonball Z DVDs in the boys room I volunteered to draw some anime characters on their wall. After I finished drawing, some of the other volunteers painted in the rest. The kids were really excited and telling us the names of the characters I drew, and it was really exciting for me as well. I´d really love to come back and spend more time there someday. Apparently they´ve also got some connections in Hollywood as Woody Harrleson and others visit from time to time.

That evening Sukh, Shveta, and I also visited the Yanapay school mentioned above. It was essentially a free daycare for the poor kids, that anyone could go to after school. They are open from 3 till 7pm, and it was just jam packed with kids being tutored, and playing. The area they were located in was tiny, but they made the best they could with what they had. A number of foreign students were volunteering there, and spent a little while there playing with some kids.

Trip to Peru part 3

We flew into Cusco and met up with Pastor Willy at the airport. Cusco is at around 11,500 ft. and has beautiful views of the Andes mountain range. We walked around the town a bit, and really loved the main square, Plaza De Armas. It is definitely one of the most scenic cities we´ve ever visited. Anytime you look out you see the steep green Andes, and there are numerous lovely old buildings. Of course, being a relatively poor country, we were surrounded by street vendors and beggars all the time, but for the most part they weren´t too pushy.

For dinner we visited a Hare Krishna restaurant chain called Govinda, which was delicious. Definitely recommended for vegetarians who happen to visit. Its been alot of fun getting to know the folks from Be The Cause. Everyone is so friendly and easy to get along with. As a group we started a Secret Santa Random Act of Kindness project for the trip. Basically you try to do acts of kindness for a person whose name we drew. Its been fun both receiving and giving these little kindness gifts.

Trip to Peru part 2

We spent the day in Lima visiting a wheelchair distribution by Free Wheelchair mission. It was a heart warming event, and we really enjoyed interacting with the friendly people there. Afterwards we were invitied to a performance of the play Annie, put on by a local church. They were kind enough to provide simultaneous translation of the show, and it was a great performance. The next day we headed off for Cusco. Our pictures from Lima are here.

Trip to Peru part 1

We flew with the group from Be The Cause from LAX to El Salvador for a 5 hour layover. During the layover a few of us decided to head into the city of San Salvador for a quick look. It was a nice drive into town, and reminded me alot of Costa Rica. The main town was pretty packed with traffic, and we got off by the main cathedral. The cathedral had beautifully painted ceilings, and stained glass. Right outside the cathedral was a few blocks full of stalls selling all kinds of stuff. We wandered around, taking in all the hustle and bustle of the streets, but then had to hurry back to the airport to make our connection.

We landed in Lima, ending our almost 24 hour day of travel, and were taken by bus to our hostel. Lima is a very modern and westernized city. Along the drive we passed by numerous Pizza Huts, McDonald´s, and other American chains. Everyone was pretty tired and hungry, so after checking in we headed over to a shopping mall with a food court for dinner, then went to bed. Our pics from El Salvador are here.

Kiva.org

I recently read an article in Good Magazine about a cool organization called Kiva. They are basically using Paypal to connect small donors/lenders with people in need of loans in the developing world. It reminds me of the Grameen bank, but on a more personal and smaller level. I just signed up and lent some money to two different ladies trying to start business in their countries. If you'd like to participate, check out their website: kiva.org. Keep in mind that these are loans and not donations, so you can expect to get your money back, but are lending the money to someone in need.

What others are saying about www.Kiva.org:

'Revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries.'
-- BBC

'If you've got 25 bucks, a PC and a PayPal account, you've now got the wherewithal to be an international financier.'
-- CNN Money

'Smaller investors can make loans of as little as $25 to specific individual entrepreneurs through a service launched last fall by Kiva.org.'
-- The Wall Street Journal

'An inexpensive feel-good investment opportunity...All loaned funds go directly to the applicants, and most loans are repaid in full.'
-- Entrepreneur Magazine

India Trip: Conclusion

Well we've been back in the US for a few days now, and its really good to be home. India was a really interesting place, full of warmth from family, and so many contradictions. I'm really happy that I didn't get sick from the food while I was there, and enjoyed all the amazing sights. The biggest problem I had was all the pollution and garbage all over the country. It is such a beautiful place that it made me sad to see how badly it has been kept. Everything there seemed to be at contrast with each other, but somehow it all worked. It will be really intersting to see how things change and evolve by the time we visit again, I'm hopeful that much of the pollution problems will be better as globalization takes hold. But at the same time I hope that India is able to remain India, and keep some of its rich culture.

India Trip: Vaishno Devi

The next morning we woke up early to ride a helicopter up to Vaishno Devi. It was the first time any of us had been in a helicopter! The ride was so much fun, although it only lasted about 2 minutes. It was a strange feeling as you just lifted off the ground and flew up into the mountains. The views from the copter were breathtaking, and I wish we could've flown around a bit more.

When we reached the helipad on the top we then began a 2 km hike to the main temple. Many people walk up to the temple from the town below, but we had heard that security can be difficult for foreigners to pass through, so we decided to go the helicopter route. The hike there was the first walkway the cleanest I've seen in India! All along the walk we saw horses and other pilgrims pass by saying, "Jai Mata Di", as they passed.

At the temple we had to remove our shoes and walk on some freezing concrete sidewalks to the main shrine. The primary attraction here was a series of three rocks called Holy Pindies. These rocks are located deep inside cave which you had to crawl through a small tunnel to get through. It was pretty fun to crawl along the cave tunnel, for much of the crawl your feet were immersed in some ice cold water running below you. Then you arrive at the shrine, are blessed by a priest, and get about 30 seconds to look at the rocks before being hurried on. Apprentely the priests were curious to know where I'm from, since I definitely didn't fit in with the rest of the pilgrims, but I didn't understand him, and thought he wanted me to hurry up so I hurried by the whole thing.

Afterwards we retrieved our shoes, and went back to the helipad for our flight down. That afternoon we spent shopping around the town and relaxing in the hotel. Then we flew back to Delhi the next day and back to the US the day after.

India Trip: Delhi and Jammu

We spent a few more days in DDun before heading back to Delhi to meet up with Shveta's dad. On the way to Delhi we stopped over in Meerut to visit some more family, and stayed with Mintu, her husband, and her HUGE dog. Mintu runs a small preschool in her house, so we got to see some more really cute kids. One of them was so excited to see the camera and stuff he quietly let out a, "balle, balle!". :)

We were only in Delhi a couple nights, then met up with Shveta's dad to fly to Vaishno Devi, a temple built to honor Mata Vaishnavi. Our original plan was to go to Devlali and visit with Sunny, Nikki, and the kids, but unfortunately there were riots going on in Mumbai, so we changed our plans last minute to go to Vaishno Devi instead.

We caught an afternoon flight to Jammu from Delhi,and went through the tightest airport security I've ever seen. We were screened at least 4 times before we got on board the plane and had to go outside to identify our baggage. During the flight we got some views of the Himalayas which looked spectacular.

When we landed in Jammu, you could see the heavy military presence everywhere you looked. We took a cab to our hotel for the evening. In the distance you could see the mountain where Vaishno Devi was located.