Our first day in Calicut!

Today we woke up on the train and Nicole had us go to the back of the train car and there we had some fun looking out of the train door at the beautiful scenery and taking pictures. It was a beautiful site to see! Then after the 11 hour train ride we met out contact Mahadev and went to our hotel. We love it! It is very beautiful and it's right by the beach and a big bazaar. We changed our clothes and went to the press conference this morning. It went well! =) We will be on the Indian news tonight and in all the papers here in the mornig. We are excited to get copies and see what they wrote about us!
After that we grabbed lunch and headed out to explore the area...we went to the bazaar. It was a very large market and we were unable to finish walking through it today...we will go back later. Cj found a Mundu (man skirt) and is already wearing it. The rest of us found a few things and Stephaine bought a Sari (a type of woman's dress in india) and plans to wear it. In that shop the girls had some fun! We were able to try different ones on and taking pictures with some of the ladies who worked in the shop.
We are so glad to finally be in Calicut!
~Nicole, Cj, Becca, Stacy, Albert, and Stephanie

Follow up from the WolfPack disclaimer

--- We ended up taking a really fun and cool tour today thanks mainly in part to the "stalker" rickshaw drivers who were indeed totally harmless. We went and saw the Pink City and the Water Palace which was so amazing! and to the Monkey Temple. Monkey Temple Palace gave a beautiful view of the city! We also went to a tie-dye factory where they make all the tie-dye by hand using all natural products. Our last, and longest stop of the day (much to Brian and Sams dislike, although they were troopers) was the textile factory. So many beautiful things- we all had a hard time deciding what we wanted, but I'd say we made smart and incredible purchases!

Overall, having an amazing time! Our wolfpack is drama-free, and really bonded with our fearless leader Bree holding it down!

Until next time! Happy New Year Y'all!


-Anna-Alyse

With Love From Bangkok!

Hello everyone! So sorry that we took so long to blog! But with only 3 days in Bangkok we have been busy bees! We had smooth travels. 29hrs of travel, but no delays or anything! In 3 days we have seen a ton!! Including the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Ayuthaya (an island with ruins!!) and so much more. We have used almost every mode of transportation, planes, trains, taxis, tuk tuks, ferry and we tried to use bicycles but the lady wanted to keep our passports as collatoral! But don't worry we were smart tourists and said NO! We just had a fish massage and it was ticklish and amazing.

We tried to have Alex and Dea eat bugs, but we didn't get back in time for them to eat it, but don't worry they will eat bugs in India. The food is amazing, the fruit is delicious and fresh. The coffee is wonderful and so is the iced thai tea! And the humiditiy is wonderful too (not).

We tried to see Thailands famous Transvestite show, but it was sold out...so we spent a little time basking in air conditioning at a very fancy hotel. Everything is beautiful here, it is token Asian architecture, just think of any Asian film you have seen and multiply it by a million, it is breathtaking. There is gold on every temple, and the Buddha statues (especially the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho) are unbelievable.

We have enjoyed our time in Bankok, and are anxious for India! We will be there tonight!

Much love,
Kaitlin, Sam, Alex, Rebecca and Momma Dea.

Adventurous Ernakulam

Woo!!! Finally made it to Ernakulam in Kerala. Got our first taste of Indian hospitality and now we're ready to haggle for some knick-knacks. Got some big teaching days ahead so we better rest up and enjoy the new year. The roads are just as chaotic as New York!! Haha mom, you would love it here!!! Haha, try the chicken fried rice and butter chicken in a tasty parata wrap. Good luck to the rest of the groups and enjoy yourselves!!!

5 days, 4 flights, 1 trian! finally made it!

Finally in Ernakulam! it is very very humid and hot but it is a calmer town than Bangalore. I am currently still under the weather since ATL and havent eaten too much but recently got medicine so no worries. Glad i got to see CJ, Becca, Stacy and all the others! Hope our bags show soon too. Hope all is well back home and Happy New Years!!! Will write again soon. Love, Nick

The Wolf Pack!

Hi everyone!!!

We made it to India safe and sound, despite many layovers and flight changes. We, the Wolf Pack (Bree, Sam, Catie, Jessica, Anna-Alyse. and Bryan), are really enjoying everything so far. We visited the Red Fort in Delhi, and it was really cool. It was huge and had lots of neat birds. We were not able to see much more in Delhi because our flight was so delayed, but we will have another day before we fly home to hopefully see the rest of the city. Also, Catie got her Typhoid shot at the hospital in Delhi! She should not be getting typhoid now, so that is good news.
Our hotel in Delhi was very helpful, and had the hottest showers that I (Bree) had ever had in India!!

Today we arrived in Jaipur, known as the Pink City. We arrived without any place to stay, but found some rickshaw drivers who were very helpful and directed us to a geusthouse. However, they are stalking us to try and get us to go on a tour with them. We will keep you posted on what happens. {Disclaimer: they are harmless, so dont panic when you read this :)} We will be here for a few days before leaving to Agra to see the Taj, and then off to Varanasi to begin teaching!

Everyone is getting super excited to teach, and even had one of our partners in Varanasi called today to express how happy they are that we are coming to their school.

Hope everyone has a great New Year! Happy 2010!

Peace until next time,

The Wolf Pack

PS- we will try and post pictures later!

Thank you Delta...

Thank you Delta for leaving Tucson and hour late and making me and 11 others miss our flight our to Dubai. Thank you Delta for cramming 7 people in one room. Thank you Delta for 'miss placing' 7 bags that happen to belong to Swim India volunteers. Yes, thank you Delta for delaying our flight out of Mumbai for 4 hours. The only thing you did right was put us in Business Class on the way to Amsterdam. I will never fly Delta again.

Ok enough venting, we made it to Ernakulam! It only took 4 flights, a night in the dirty south (ATL) and an overnight train but we are here. Like I mentioned above, we have no bags. I know what you all are thinking, 'you smelling people ew' but we have accepted the fact and embraced every different odor we each give out. haha. jokes people. We bought some new shirts today and have showered (most of us... no names). I am truly glad to be back in beautiful Kerala. I do wish, however, that I had my bathing suit so we could relax on the beach. Maybe our bags will come soon... pray for us.

On to a new subject... my group. I am so thankful to have such independent volunteers in my group. I didnt know how they would react to the Indian lifestyle at first, but I am very surprised with how well they are doing. Even though we've had some troubles with the travel here, they have all been patient and I think some even like it (they call it part of the adventure, thanks Ben). Again I feel pretty blessed to have these volunteers in my group.

Until next time-
Jenna

We made it!!

We have arrived in Bangalore and are doing great!!! We arrived yesterday early morning and after we got settled we explored the nearby areas. It was a big shock to us as we have never been here before, Nicole was able to show us around though. Stacy, Cj, and Becca followed closly behind Nicole as traffic here is much different then in the USA. We were a little scared crossing the street at first... but now... it's not too bad. Cj, Becca, and Stacy were able to do a little shopping and are slowly getting use to the sights and smells in India. We picked up Lyndsey from the airport last night and she has joined our group. Since she was arrived she has taken in so much...and can't wait for her travels to continue! Jenna's group is soon to arrive as well. As we look around Cj has a great desire to ride a bike... but Becca would never let him! We will post again when we arrive in our teaching cities. Tonight we have an overnight train! For many here it will be there first train ride! Many of us are nervous still, but are so excited to get to our teaching cities and start teaching...wish us luck!
Until next time...
Nicole, Becca, Cj, Stacy, and Lyndsey

January Projects Begin!

Namaste!

During the next three weeks, Project: Swim International will have 24 volunteers traveling through all parts of India in an effort to reduce the number of drowning deaths the nation sees each year. Volunteers will be working in four main areas: Ernakulam and Kozhikode in the south, Varanasi in the north, and Kolkata in the east. They will be teaching a variety of drowning prevention programs including water safety education, swimming lessons, lifeguarding, and CPR.

You can follow along with all of our volunteers' experiences here on this blog. They will be in-country from December 29th to January 18th. Keep our volunteers in your thoughts as they work hard to effect global change!

-Ben Schaub, President and CEO