India

It's a crazy place, I tell you. But the weird thing is, I doesn't feel that crazy or strange to me. It's soooo different from home, but it isn't that weird. So, it's weird that it's not weird. It's awesome.

People drive freaking crazy. If you're on a 2 lane street, there could be about 2 or 3 motorcycles and a few autos across the lanes. Motorcycles hold anywhere from 1 to 6 people on them (kids included). People drive like less than half a foot away from each other. I don't know how they don't hit pedestrians. Honking is nonstop.



Cows hang out on the street. They just walk around and block traffic. They stink. Everywhere stinks. There's piles of garbage on the side of the streets.

Our street usually gets flooded with sewage water. So we get to walk through it often. It's nice.

Some kids run around with only a shirt on. Bare butts showing.

Men are super touchy. They hold hands and put their arms around each other when walking and/or talking.

Usually I'll see men walking in groups or women walking in groups. But not very often are there men and women walking together and they never hold hands. Today I think I saw the first or second couple I've ever seen holding hands.

There's an LDS church down the street, about a 5 minute walk. There's a branch that goes there. The kids run wild in sacrament. And the guy who spoke on Sunday talked about how the scriptures say we need to keep our kids reverent and not let them run around and be loud. Oh snap.

Monday we did a bit of shopping. I found the cutest scarf I have ever seen and I almost didn't buy it because it was 5 bucks! Ha, pathetic. But that's pretty expensive here. Being in India makes you really cheap. I got some other scarves for about 1 buck each. I also got a really cute Indian shirt for 3 bucks. Saweet.

Tuesday we went to an Aids Clinic. We shadowed the doctors. Basically, a patient would come in for their monthly checkup. They take their blood pressure and check their heart beat, eyes, and tongue. They don't even care about privacy. The doctor would just tell me what was wrong with the patient and how long they have to live. They'd show us their tongue and blood pressure and swollen hands. It was pretty crazy. They even told us some of the patient's background, like that they were a widow or poor.

That night we went to the mall. They have a movie theater on the top floor. The mall is sooo nice. Like, nicer than home. There's like 5 floors. You have to go through security to get into the mall and into the theater. We saw Inception for like 3 bucks. The theater is also as nice as, or nicer than, theaters at home. The crappy thing is we had to sit on the front row because they have assigned seating and we didn't get tickets soon enough. But, it was good. We went to Subway after, which was only fair. American Subway = way better.

Wednesday we had a meeting with a guy named Subash with CARPED. We talked about women in villages that complain about little things like stomach pain and fake doctors tell them they need to have hysterectomies. They take them into private clinics that have dogs wondering around and do the surgery pretty badly. It costs a ton, so the people are in debt. They can't have kids anymore, so that causes problems. These women are from about 20-45, but even younger. It's crazy. So we're trying to raise awareness about that. They have a powerpoint to present, so I might be adding a slide about nutrition: what they should eat to help them recover. So that should be fun.

I can't decide about the food here. We had breakfast at a ward members house on Monday and I hated it. The next day when we volunteered at an Aids Clinic and they fed us lunch. Rice and Curry. And it was freaking good. Last night we went to a restaurant and got a bunch of curries. And it was gross. The only thing I liked was the tortilla things. I even got a chicken sandwich the other day and it was gross. Everything is just too spicy. All I want is a cheeseburger. Or Cafe Rio.

After going to a meeting on Thursday with Prajwala, an organization that deals with sex trafficking, we went to Charminar and got a bunch of Bangles.



I got the biggest bug bites of my life last night. There's 2 on my arm, both about the size of a Ritz cracker. It's nuts!

Today I got my first sari. Well, the fabric. I need to have the tailors downstairs make it for me. For about 4 bucks. Awesome. I'm really excited. We (Kristen, Kurt, and me) went to the mall today and saw a 3d space movie where the seats move around and they blow air at you at certain parts. It was pretty sweet.

Airplanes

4 of them. 3 days. 4 security checks. 2 hotels. 5 airports.



























On Thursday, July 15, my mom, dad, and Lindsay took me to the airport so I could fly myself to India. Or I guess have someone fly me to India. I'm going with an organization called HELP International to volunteer.

Anywho, I met up with some kid named Kurt who is going. We flew from Salt Lake to Chicago, which was about 2.5 hours. But when we landed in Chicago, we ran into a bit of a snag. Our flight from Chicago to England at around 9:30 was delayed till 7:30 the next morning. 10 hours.

So we had to go through this long line and get new flights and food vouchers (Which Kurt lost. Awesome. ) and a hotel. So we ended up staying at the Hilton Hotel and getting our own rooms. It was pretty sweet.

The next day we flew to London. Then we had to stay overnight at a hotel called Thistle. Then on Saturday we went to the airport to catch our flight. This is where I saw the most beautiful man I have ever set eyes on. Unfortunately, this is the best picture I could get.



He was not the only beautiful man I saw. I think I'll have to take my sisters to London sometime so we can get ourselves some husbands.

We flew into Dubai from London, which was creepy. All these scarved people. You couldn't see their faces, just the eyes. When we got onto our plane to Hyderabad, we were the only white people. It was super awkward. But that was only 3 hours or so.

Our luggage was lost, of course. It's coming in today so we'll probably get it tomorrow. I can't remember the last time my armpits had so much hair. Can't wait for my razor!

Kristen (my country director) and Natalie (another volunteer) picked us up from the airport and we drove about 45 minutes to our house. It's decent. I mean, everything in Hyderabad is old and crappy. So our house is too, but it's nice enough to live in.

Photography

So I've just started a photography blog:
emilyjenkinsphotography.blogspot.com

Yes, I know the name isn't that original. But, it really is my (Emily Jenkins) photography. So, that's that.

I've always (well, for a very long time) wanted to be a photographer. But after doing it at school for a while I decided that that's not what I wanted to major in. I did not want to take all those film and drawing classes. So I changed my major to Dietetics. But, I still would love to be a photographer. And if it doesn't become a career it will still be a hobby.

So my goals are:
-Take pictures of as many people/things as possible
-Save enough money to get an SLR camera
-Work on my photoshop skills

Pie Party, Baby!

It was a fly party! Fly pie party! Na na na na!
Yes, our 2nd annual Pie Party was indeed a very Fly Party.



I made some delicious Banana Pie, but I didn't cool it long enough, so it got kinda soupy.
But there were 6 delicious pies made by me, Megan, Erica, and Erica's sister, Andrea.

• Banana
• Chocolate
• Strawberry Blueberry
• Peanut Butter
• Coconut Cream

Pretty soon, Peter (also known as Pener) came along bearing a pizza.
It was vegetarian. I guess he was trying to send some sort of message.
Not long after came Bradley Birdsley.
Then came Ben. He's got a fro, and it kept fro'in me off, cause he looked like a black man.
We played some Uno, which Pener won.
Then we played outside with rocks.
Then me and Birdsley played some Jenga while Megan, Erica, and Peter played some Dreamphone.
It was nice.
And that concludes our Pie Party.
The pies were quite glorious.
The company, just as good.
The memories, priceless.

Summer Frolick List

Is a list that Erica, Megan, and I came up with. It's a list of things we want to do this summer. There are 50 tasks on this list. But we already have 6 accomplished.

Today we completed task #3 by going to Oquirrh Lake in Daybreak and eating shakes on the bridge. While Megan and I were waiting for Erica to arrive, we were sitting on the bridge talking and a bird flew by and pooped... about a foot away from Megan. Ha! It was really funny.

Then we took a turn about the Lake and lo and behold, there were some sprinklers! Running through sprinklers just happens to be Task #29 on our list, so we took advantage of this convenience.

Kilby Court

Is an excellent place. And that's where Erica and I went on Friday the 14th night to see The Continentals play their last show with Erik, the drummer.

Before they started, we walked down the street and found a soggy couch, a wall of graffiti, and some tires.

When they were setting up, we pushed our way to the front because we are short. They played an excellent show and almost broke some instruments.

Then some balding guy named Danburry played. He was pretty good. He had free cd's, so Erica and I both got 3.

During this evening we found out some funny information:

Ben and the ticket/concessions girl are secretly in love.
Logan likes to get in touch with his feminine side.

Jordan hates it when I take pictures of him.

Erica can float.

We're pretty cool.

My Brother Got Himself Married

It's true. Her name is KateLyn. And his name is Andrew. And together they are A & K.

The day was Friday, April 30, 2010. It was a wet, snowy morning. Then it was a sunny, cold, windy afternoon. Which is all we ever could have hoped for.

Us girls got excellent purple bouquets. We also had purple shoes and stellar black dresses of our picking. Carlee, Lindsay, Mrs. Shirts (KateLyn's biological sister), and myself were the bridesmaids. And excellent ones we were.

The ceremony started at 3:00 pm. Lindsay and I, being unendowed individuals, could not attend the ceremony. Bummer? Yes. But, we had a party instead. We danced to some sweet tunes, including The Almost's "Free Fallin" (my selection) and Kesha's "Your Love Is My Drug" (Lindsay's selection). Very festive for a temple wedding, I'd say.

So we left at about 3:15. When we got to the waiting room of the temple, there were all of KateLyn's cousins and her little brother, Jeff, and little niece, Mikenzy. Did anyone say anything to us? No. They must not have realized that our brother was half of what was making this day possible. And if it weren't for his sisters, he wouldn't be the man he is today. Just saying.

So, after about 15 minutes, people started entering the waiting room with us. Uncle Mark came in first and hugged us. He's a pretty swell uncle. Then all the other uncles and aunts came in. Then Carlee, then the tears.

After a bit, we all went to the back of the temple and waited for A & K to come out. Grandma came out first in her wheelchair, waving to everyone and smiling. That was quite funny.

Then A & K came out.

We laughed, cried, hugged, took pictures, and then went to the front. This is where the professional pictures took place. Now this... this was fun. After 30+ minutes of snap shotting, we (Carlee, Lindsay, and I) left and went home for a moment to get some stuff for the dinner.

Then we headed over to the church and protected Andrew's car from being trashed. This took some work. Our own mother had conspired against us to do the dirty deed. She hid the car stickers next to Grandma, so I sneakily grabbed them and hid them. We then took his car and hid it around the corner. Aunt Lucille and Zach asked us if we knew the car and the decoration's whereabouts. Unfortunately, I was forced to fib. But, all for a good cause.

We had Tacanos Brazilian Grill cater for dinner. This was delightful. Then they cut the cake and left.

We succeeded at keeping Andrew's car safe. But when we returned to our house, KateLyn's car was graffitied. So, C & L took it and cleaned it up.

You guys (friends of the B & G) really got A & K!

The End