Dear friends and family,
I’ve wrapped up my Indian adventure, completed my double degree, and ticked off a massive bucket list item: touching a pyramid.
At the start of November, I was in Kalahandi visiting the fourth Gram Vikas school in Odisha. From the get-go, this school was full of music and dance. On my first night there, I was invited to join a tribal dance and sing Australian songs. During the week, the students repeatedly asked me to sing songs like the Australian Anthem and would sing their songs in return. I was able to teach all the senior classes the Nutbush and, with the help of some teachers, we performed the dance outside the main building with a large speaker. While in Kalahandi, I ventured out to some tribal villages with a Gram Vikas worker, visited a public hospital in India, caught a packed local bus, and held newborn puppies. However, it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. I hit a real low point after a week of no Wi-Fi or phone service (because the government shut it off) and, to top it off, a rat ran across my leg while I was sleeping.
In my second-to-last week of placement, I was back at the school where I started—Kankia. I specifically wanted to spend my last week there because I had made genuine connections with the staff, and my final day coincided with India’s Children’s Day. To celebrate, the staff gathered paint and resources for a large mural on the side of the dining hall. Over four days, students helped me clean, prime, and paint a mural of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. I especially enjoyed painting two characters on the wall who resembled students from Classes 6 and 8. Each time children walked past, they’d say proudly, “That is Martha… that is Biswajit.” With help from senior students, English and Odia words from the UNCRC document were written so everyone could read it. Alongside coordinating and finishing the painting, I celebrated my last day by having my friend Sonali paint henna on my hands and singing We Are Australian in Odia. When I first arrived, I sang the song in English at assembly, so singing it in Odia felt like a full-circle moment.
Finally, I had a week in Bangalore to wrap up my documentation and buy gifts for family. My naive self got lured off Commercial Street into a tourist shop where I somehow spent $300 AUD on eight pretty shabby gifts and got no receipt. That was probably my worst experience in India.
To celebrate completing my double degree, I gifted myself a trip to Egypt. Since no one loved the idea of me traveling there solo, I booked a G Adventures tour. I was nervous about doing a tour since I like the freedom to spend as much time as I want at sites. The Boats and Bazaars tour spanned three major cities over eight days: Cairo, Aswan, and Luxor. There was a lot of bus time, but the balance of bus games and rest kept me engaged. In Cairo, we climbed inside a pyramid—where a guy told us there was “no oxygen up there,” which definitely got my blood pumping as an asthmatic; at the Sphinx, I poured sand through my fingers to fully embrace the moment; and in the city, we visited the old museum to check out Tutankhamun’s treasures, including his blingy gold toe and finger covers.
In Aswan, we stayed at a hotel on the Nile River and did shisha every night. While there, we visited Abu Simbel (smaller than I expected), took feluccas around the Nile, and—despite warnings about parasites—a few of us swam in the river. When in Egypt, right? Finally, in Luxor, we explored the Valley of the Kings, which was so freaking awesome! A group of us also woke up at 4:30 a.m. for a hot air balloon ride over the city. Other highlights included teaching and playing childhood games with people from all over the world, learning and speaking Arabic to local Egyptians, and receiving numerous marriage proposals.
This month, I read Nice Girls by Catherine Dang (nothing spectacular), started and finished Lost (loved the Egyptian symbolism at the end), and watched Wicked (fantastic- though why split it into two, and why do the songs have so many dramatic pauses?). I also mailed out my Christmas cards from India this year. I spent around two months designing a card that combined Indian culture with Christmas, but two people warned me that India Post might toss them because someone could take offense. So, I went with a simple AI-generated design in the end. But here’s what your cards could have looked like. Its a version of the goddess Durga holding Christmas items instead of deadly weapons.
If I don’t see you in person, have a wonderful holiday season! I’ll write again next year with a goals update! xx May
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