last year.

Was a good year, I'd say. 2010.

I bought my first pair of heels this year. That's kind of a big deal, considering I'm a shrimpo. Atleast compared to my family.

Andrew got married in April. And his wife is pretty cool. Good thing, cause she got 4 new sisters. And you know how girls can be.


Megan and I went on a bunch of photoshoots this year, so as to improve our photography skills while having nice bff bonding time. We hung out a ton and I miss it.

I went to India for 6 weeks. Near the end I wanted to go home so bad and I swore I'd never miss it. But, I do. I really, really do. I miss the kids, the music, the food, the mall, the shopping, riding with Jailsingh on his motorcycle, the auto's, even the nasty streets.



I've played my guitar this semester more than I ever have, I think. I played a lot in high school... but not this much. I love it. I'm learning tons of new songs and writing some. I feel like I've improved a lot, too.

Katie got back from her mission in Boston. I love hanging out with her because we almost never fight. She's been home for one month and we've only gotten cross with each other once, which hardly counts.

I got Lasik eye surgery last week. It was absolutely terrifying. Everyone said that it was super quick and easy and painless. They lied. After my first eye I wanted to ask them if I could cry for 5 minutes before they did my other eye. But I didn't. And they moved right on to the next eye. I made it through though. Katie did it right before me, so it was nice that we did everything together afterwards.

Those are some highlights of 2010. There are many more, but these are the ones I can think of.

Homey Home

I'm home. Yay. I loves it. I love this country. D'ya wanna know why?

It's clean. The water is clean. Not that many bugs. Traffic is orderly. People eat beef. Cafe Rio. People can sing properly. Not that many fat old women wear belly shirts. People poop in toilets.

I got home on Wednesday. First place I ate: Cafe Rio. Thanks to my awesome mother. Best meal of my life. Wednesday night: best sleep of my life.

On Saturday the fam went up to Bear Lake. It was cold. And after a few hours it got really windy. Too windy. So windy that there were white caps which meant we were done. So we got some delicious Bear Lake famous raspberry shakes then drove down to Logan and unpacked my stuff in 3 minutes. We got some pizza at Firehouse and then split up. They went home and I went to my new apartment, which is pretty much awesome.

Now, I'm trying to scope out some hotties.

oh dear, what a riot!

This week was kind of a riot.

For the past 2 weeks we have been in Medak. It's about a 2 or 3 hour bus ride from our apt in Hyderabad depending on your bus selection. We've been working with SKS. We each were assigned to a field officer and everyday they pick you up on their motorcycle and take you to a village where they try to find people for their program. They find people who are ultra poor and help them out by giving them a cow or something that they can use for a business. We all had some surveys (mine was on nutrition) so after talking to the villagers about their program, they would do our surveys. They were our translaters, but they weren't too awesome at English.

I was with Jailsingh. He's pretty small, like most Indian men. He had a mustache, like all Indian men. He picked me up everyday and I rode on the back of his motorcycle. We'd go get breakfast, which was super good, and go off to a village. When we got out of town the scenery was awesome. It was super green and rocky. What's even more awesome is that as we drove down the road, there were people squatting just on the side of the road, doing their business. I saw at least 5 people a day doing this; kids, teenagers, and old men and women. There were also herds of water buffalo, goats, sheep, and cows blocking the roads. We would get back to where we were staying at about noon or so everyday (we left at 6:30am), then get lunch, then just hang out.

We stayed at some little dormitories next to a Cathedral. I shared a room with Grace. They had squat toilets and a fan. No AC. It was bearable, except for that in India, the power goes out at least once a day. It could be out for 1 minute or 2 hours.

There were monkeys all over the Cathedral grounds and some around our dormitories. One day, Grace and I were just chillin in our room. The door was open a bit because it was so hot inside. I was standing on the opposite side of the room away from the door. Grace was sitting on her bed, which is right next to the door. All the sudden she was like, "Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh." I looked over and there was a fairly large sized monkey walking into our room. I froze. I didn't know what to do! So we both just stared at it. It started rummaging in Grace's duffle bag. She had some goldfish with her so I told her to throw some out into the hall. She did, but the monkey wasn't interested. He moved onto Grace's grocery bag full of goodies and grabbed a package of crackers. Then he slowly decided to leave, so I ran to the door and shut it. It was terrifying!

On Wednesday, after we visited a few villages, all of our field officers took us to a Hindu Temple called Durgabavani. It was pretty cool. They had to take a billion pictures with us. They each wanted one with Kurt and me. Or just him. Or just me.

Some of the field officers.


Jailsingh and me.


Me, Jailsingh, Ravinder, Praveen


They also took us to a dam, where we took even more pictures.




On Thursday, the craziest thing happened. Jailsingh and I were driving back into town. Some old lady (I would guess age 70, but Indian women always look 15 years older than they are) was walking across the street. Traffic is always crazy. She saw we were headed straight for her and froze. Jailsingh didn't know which way to go and she didn't either. So what happened? We ran right into her. She was facing us, so we flew right into her stomach. It sounded like a belly flop and she flew back, leaving her flip flops behind. I jumped off and so did Jailsingh, so we were totally fine. He went to park his bike while a crowd of more than 50 people gathered around. The old lady started screaming and punching Jailsingh. It made me so mad! We had to take her to a little health clinic and get her blood pressure checked and her heart rate. She had a bit of a scrape on her elbow and kept moaning about that. She also had a coughing fit after drinking some water. I think she was totally exaggerating her injuries. Then Jailsingh had to take her to a bigger hospital. This made me so mad because I think if she was okay enough to get right up and start punching Jailsingh, she's probably not too injured. But, whatever. Some other SKS guys picked me up and took me home, while Jailsingh went to the bigger hospital, where he spent 700 rupies on this old woman for a 'stomach problem'. That's about 15 bucks, which is kind of a lot here. These field officers make about 100 or less American dollars a month. So 15 is kind of lot.

So, it was a bit of a crazy week. We took a bus back to Hyderabad Friday afternoon. I leave back to America on Tuesday. I CANNOT wait. Seriously.

Indian Photoshoot

Today we went back to the orphanage. Prashanth, the 'dad', wanted me to take portraits of all the kids so they could put the pictures on the walls. The only problem was that we had to do it on their little porch which is gated off. So there was like no variety. Only a few different walls and a tree. But they're cute anyway because all the kids are adorable. I'm going to edit them when I get home, but for now, here's the best ones.

Awkward Family Photos

At the Baby Taj we took some awesome family photos.
I can't tell you how hard I laughed after seeing them.

Agra

Friday morning, Kiira, Kurt, Marie, and I went to the train station to train our way to Agra. It took about 23 hours, but it wasn't so bad. We had some fun times.

On the train ride there there was an old mother-in-law in our berth (compartment). I was sharing a bench with her when she decided to take a nap and stretch out across the whole bench, putting her feet behind my back. It was nice.

There were many sights to see out the train window: trees, mountains, old buildings, rice fields, men pooping, men peeing, and much, much more.

The trains had squat toilets. Pretty difficult trying to squat in the wobbly train. But I managed 3 times!

We arrived in Agra with flies swarming us at 6:00 a.m. I really cannot express in words how many flies there were. We were also swarmed by taxi drivers. We took a taxi to the Taj and got our tickets. 15 dollars for foreigners and 50 cents for Indians. We put our food in the lockers, but there was a sign that said "Do not leave anything valuable in the lockers". So we went along with Kiira's laptop thinking it was probably kinda valuable. Well, when we got to security, they wouldn't let it in. They also wouldn't let me bring my face cards or Kurt's Q-tips. The best part is, they couldn't tell me the reasoning. I asked the lady why I couldn't bring my playing cards in. All she could say is, "Security reasons." And finally, "You can't play cards," or something like that.

So, Kurt and I went inside for an hour while Kiira and Marie waited with the bags. Then we switched. I was really angry when we first walked in because of the ridiculousness of the situation. But the sight of the Taj lightened me up.





After the Taj, we went to Agra Fort. It's huge. It was cool, the problem was that it was 91 degrees outside with mounds of humidity. I thought I was going to die. I was getting dizzy and sopping wet. We had a tour guide, which made it last forever. It did eventually end though.



We stayed in Hotel Ajay. It wasn't too bad. We had AC and a fairly nice toilet.

The next morning (Sunday) we went to some Tomb, which was fine, and then the Baby Taj. That was my favorite part of the whole trip. It was awesome. No one was there when we got there. We got some awesome family photos, which I'll have to get from Marie. So stay tuned for those.





I thought Hyderabad was dirty. But Agra was ten times worse. Garbage was everywhere and it smelled horrible everywhere. Don't forget the massive amounts of flies. There were herds of water buffalo walking on the streets. Huge, they were. And smelly. They pooped everywhere and blocked traffic.

It was super weird seeing all the white people. There weren't tons, but there were some. I haven't seen white people in weeks.

We did a bit of souvenir shopping Sunday afternoon. We went to 2 restaurants. I usually just eat nan cause I hate curry.

We went off for the train station in the evening. Our train was an hour late, but somehow we got home an hour early. Not bad.

When we were waiting at the train station some old beggar man came over and wouldn't leave. Finally after a few minutes of ignoring him, he did some fancy hand gestures and facial expressions, aka a curse of sorts.

So, I'd say our trip was a definite success. It was long, hot, humid, gross, dirty, and smelly; I am soooo glad it's over. But I really am glad I did it. It was fun.

Future Foundations

Today we went to an orphanage called Future Foundations. On Tuesday when we were at the Aids Clinic a bunch of little kids came in. I talked to the guy they were with and found that he was the head of an orphanage of about 22 kids. So I set up a time for me and Kurt to come, which was today.



It was so much fun. The kids are adorable. Especially the boys. I just love little boys. They're Christian, so they all called me Sister.

We made bead bracelets, played Simon Says, and played their version of Down By The Banks. I brought little baggies, each including a toothbrush, toothpaste, and 2 flosses. We gave them a little lesson about brushing your teeth: how to do it, why you should do it, and what happens if you don't do it. They were pretty excited.

They all love to shake your hand. I taught them how to high 5 and they all wanted to do these complicated secret handshakes with me that took forever. Super funny.

They fed us breakfast and lunch. WAY too much food. I ate slowly to avoid them giving me more. Kurt wasn't so smart. He ate way fast and the guy loaded him with more rice. Before eating, the kids said a 'prayer'. It was a song to the tune of 'Mary Had A Little Lamb'. They sang something like, "Thank you, Jesus, for this food..." During lunch there was burping all around. It made me laugh.

One kid could dance I tell you. I taught him some moves and he caught on way quick. He also had some moves of his own.



I taught these 3 boys some sweet moves. They learned it in less than 10 minutes.



These boys were the cutest.

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.