A little bit about India...

Hey guys,

Well I haven't yet been on a traineeship, but last semester I studied abroad in New Delhi, India for six months. I guess you could say that I got a little bit of a cultural experience! Here's something I wrote after I attended my first Indian wedding in India....



"I just returned last night from a wedding that lasted four days and was unlike anything I had ever seen. Talk about culture shock! One of the girls in my group has family near Delhi, and her cousin was getting married so she invited us all along. There were six of us that went and it was a great time. The family is are Sikhs from Punjab- so it wasn't a "traditional" Hindu wedding (although in India "traditional" can mean thousands of different things so this is impossible to generalize).

We left at 4am on a Thursday morning to make the drive from Delhi to a small (and by small..I mean TINY!) village in Haryana, which is the state directly north of Delhi (Delhi is not part of any state, it is kind of like Washington DC in the sense that it is autonomous). It was about a 4 or 5 hour drive and there were 6 of us plus the driver PACKED into a tiny little SUV. We met up with some of the rest of the family that was also coming from Delhi and then we finally reached the village. We went to a large house where Navi's (the girl in my group whose cousin was getting married) family lived. It was a haveli, which is a HUGE house in which an entire extended family lives in, characterized by a large open courtyard in the center. We made the introductions and then sat down gurdwara-style (a gurdwara is the Sikh place of worship) to eat aloo puri. This consists of everyone sitting on the floor with a thali plate (a large plate with multiple compartments on it to put different foods) while someone comes by and basically dumps food on your plate. Aloo puri is so far one of my favorite things: puri is a type of pita-like bread (but deep-fried) which you use to scoop up the aloo (potatoes). The amazing thing about gurdwaras is that if they are well funded enough, you can go there and get a free meal! Me and a couple other girls did this one day in Old Delhi where there is a large gurdwara, and it was a really cool experience to sit in this HUGE hall with at least 500 other people just being served for free by the gurdwara. It was a very welcoming place.

Back to the wedding...after eating we had the mehndi. Mehndi is the same thing as henna- and for Indian weddings there can be an entire day devoted to just the application of the mehndi. The bride's mehndi went all the way up her arms and feet and was so intricate and beautiful. It is a custom to have the names of the bride and groom hidden somewhere in the mehndi designs, but we looked and couldn't find them anywhere! That's how well they were hidden. I had both my hands done as well:





After we got it done we had to wait around for it to dry and then we drove again to another small village where we went to yet another family house and got to eat sugar cane in the fields and eventually change into our clothes. Then we went to the first party- which was solely for the bride's family. It was the ladies' sangeet party (sangeet means song). The actual ceremony only involved the women, but the entire bride's family was invited. The women sat around in a circle and sang songs with the bride. Then, all the bride's sisters and sisterly figures took turns passing what looks like a copper pot on their heads to all the elders of the family. This was to signify that the elders were approving of the marriage. If any of you have seen Bend It Like Beckham, this same ritual was done in the movie! (it's the part where Jess is holding the pot on her head for her sister who is getting married with a huge crowd around her).





After that there was much eating and bhangra dancing. Bhangra is a type of dance that originates from Punjab, and for goris like us, it basically just involved moving our shoulders up and down a lot in order to make it look like we knew what we were doing. But it's a lot of fun and the music always makes you want to dance! There were at least 500 people at the wedding, but really only the immediate family was dancing. So we had a good time dancing with the bride and her sisters and avoiding the stares of the random village people that decided to show up.

the bride and I showing off our bhangra skills!

The next day was the actual ceremony. First we went to a banquet hall where the bride's family waited to receive the groom's family. In keeping with Indian tradition, this was supposed to start at 9am but didn't actual start till at least noon. The bride was not there- she waited to make her appearance until the actual ceremony- but everyone on her side waited to receive the groom and his entire family. Finally he showed up wearing his traditional wedding garb. He wore a red turban on his head with of gold garlands covering his face.


Then there was a ceremony where the father of the bride officially received the groom and approved him. Then he took the garlands off his face so all could see. The the groom walked over to where the bride's family was standing, which was separated by a ribbon. The bride's sister and the groom, from opposite sides of the ribbon, then negotiated on the price of the bride. While this was all done in a very lighthearted manner and wasn't necessarily a dowry, the groom did eventually receive the money. When they came to an agreement, the groom cut the ribbon, the two sides converged and there was much cheering, bhangra dancing, and whiskey drinking by all the men of both families.

Keep in mind that the bride was not present at all during this, since there were not actually married at this point. The bride did not appear until we went to the gurdwara which was where the actual religious ceremony was held. It was a very beautiful ceremony and the bride was wearing so much gold that I thought she would fall over! The bride did not wear the traditional red sari but instead wore a gold lehnga (another type of Indian dress). She had red and gold wedding bangles up her entire arms, huge gold earrings, and more jewels all over. That morning, there was a ritual in which the bride and her sisters and aunts and female cousins all bathed her and then put the wedding bangles on her arms. The ceremony itself was fairly short. It was conducted in Punjabi so I couldn't understand a lot of it, but it was easy to infer what was going on (Punjabi is the language of Sikhism and of those that are from the state of Punjab). We all sat on the floor of the prayer hall, women on one side and men on the other. The bride and groom were at the front and the bride's sisters sat up there with her. My favorite part of the ceremony was when the bride and groom took 4 laps around the altar. At intervals throughout their walk around the altar, the bride's brothers took turns walking her around it. It was to signify that even though she was leaving the family, her brothers and brotherly figures would always be there for her in her path of life. The whole time, her brothers would have one arm around their sister and the other on a handkerchief wiping away tears. And the bride's father was in tears the entire time! You could tell it was very bittersweet for the entire family.



After the ceremony, we went back to the banquet hall where there was a lot more eating and dancing. This time however, the brides family did not dance since the metaphorical giving away of their daughter was a somber event. However, it was a happy occasion for the groom's family since they were welcoming another member into the family. At the end, when the bride drove away with her new husband and in laws, her brothers led her to the car and then right before she was about the get in she turned back and ran to her father. Then all her brothers, her mother and her sister surrounded her for one big family hug. And even after she got in the car, her brothers had their hands on the window of the car during the procession out of the parking lot.

finally married!

Although many weddings in India are still arranged (I would say still the vast majority, even in a huge city like Delhi), this one was not. The couple had actually met on Shaadi.com , which is an Indian wedding website (shaadi means wedding in many Indian languages). They talked online for a long time but they had only met a couple times before the wedding. So while this wasn't considered a "love marriage", it wasn't arranged either. I think the reason the bride's family was so incredibly sad to see their daughter go was because they were scared about her marrying someone she barely knew but that they also hadn't arranged themselves. Also, the groom was in the middle of pursuing an MBA in Ireland so she is moving there with him. Her family wouldn't even be able to really visit with her for at least a few years. Indian extended family are extremely close knit so it was very hard to see her go.

all the goris, in one big attention-grabbing group picture

The wedding I attended was one between two people of very high class..so it was very extravagant and both families could afford to spend money on all the extra rituals. But a wedding of a lower class or caste would be much much smaller and would not be nearly as showy. But even among the lower classes, shaadis are huge occasions and families spend much more money that they can afford.



As you can imagine, a group of ten white girls at a Punjabi wedding in the middle of boofoo Haryana attracted a lot of attention. At one point, we were driving through another small town on the way to one of the parties, and this town happened to be hosting a mela (festival) at the time. The streets were even more flooded with people that in the middle of Old Delhi! Because of the festival, the streets were so crowded that we had to stop the car. Immediately, all us girls put our dupattas over our heads...but the damage had already been done. Within seconds word spread throughout the entire village that there was a car full of white girls stopped in the middle of the road. People swarmed our tiny SUV from every direction; women, children, men, even the dogs seemed to be surrounding us! Everyone was banging on the windows and trying to get us to roll them down. Our driver was just laughing the whole time. I remember being simulateously amused and scared that our car was going to get flipped over.

Once we finally arrived at the party, we decided that we weren't being American enough and that we probably should make even more of a scene. Well, it didn't take us long to accomplish that. The wedding site was intricately decorated with garlands and pillars and such, and our car (on accident) drove straight through a too-small archway that was interwoven with flowers. Yes...we knocked the entire thing down...HELLO FROM AMERICA!

the archway we knocked over

The next day was spent entirely travelling to the next destination. For the ladies' sangeet we were in the bride's hometown in Haryana, but for the actual ceremony we had to go to Rudrapur which is in Uttaranchal, another neighboring state. It was a 12 hour car ride and basically that's what we spent the entire day doing. And as you can imagine, Indian highways are basically potholes with some road mixed in...so it was a 12-hour roller coaster to say the least. I cannot explain the situation of north Indian highways. We drove for 12 hours straight that day, and I don't think there was any point at which another human being was not visible. People were everywhere, all the time: on the sides of the roads, in the fields, riding on top of cars, on camels or donkeys...

typical interstate street scene

The roads are also generally in horrible condition. When this is combined with cars moving at high speeds and people walking around everywhere, the outcome is not always good. At one point, we were driving on a smaller interstate road and saw ahead of us a large gathering of people. We slowed down the car a little bit as we passed, only to see a girl laying on the pavement, with a crashed car and a motorcycle nearby. She was surrounded by passer-bys, the driver of the car and the motorcycle, and a pool of blood. As we passed, we wondered, should we stop and help? It seemed like common sense to at least stop and see if there was anything we could do. But in India, common sense takes on a different meaning. Unfortunately, this situation was not uncommon at all. In fact, it was probably a daily occurance on that stretch of road. If we would have stopped, we would have only made more of a scene and there is nothing that we could have done. In north India, there is definitely a mentality (and this is greatly reflected in the Hindi language, I have found) that whatever happens, happens. Kya hoga, hoga. This is the way of life and it isn't our place to change it.

My year in AIESEC....in a sushi roll

Tis Cynthia here! If you're wondering, why a sushi roll of all things scrumptious? Well, Go's amazing first post reminded me a lot of my personal reflections that I had when I visited Hiroshima just prior to starting uni...and the yummy delicacies I consumed there. Major sushi props to both Go and Amelia for mind-blogging posts - they really have set the precedence for the level at which our LC blog will be from here on out - as well as to Nisha for setting this baby up!

At times it's crazy to think of where I am at now, that just 1 year ago I was a freshie newbie myself, asking the wise AIESECers in a whisper what this or that acronym meant. With any experience one encounters, I strongly feel that it's all about what one puts into it that directly determines the outcome. I am merely one of many testaments to just how one can utilize AIESEC in a way where one can develop oneself, and simultaneously contribute to his/her LC and help launch it to a whole new level.

My advice for anyone who joins is to suspend all expectations - if you just let it, AIESEC can provide you with unlimited opportunities to grow, to develop creatively, to challenge yourself, your beliefs and your worldview, to make lifelong friends around the world, to have fun...to dance. I viewed many concepts from a whole new perspective since I have joined. The concept of networking no longer exists in a purely professional context, speaking in front of up to 500 no longer made me nervous, traveling alone to a foreign place was no longer a scary uncertainty, double language barriers were no longer hindering, I was no longer hesitant to just be myself whenever, wherever. Someone as wise as wisdom teeth reminded me recently that a president is one who does more than manage the group, but s/he also steers everyone in the direction of our common goals, keeping the vision in the forefront of everyone's minds. In my year as LCP, I hope I can be that collective glue that holds our LC together, that AIESEC oil that aids in igniting the individual flames if you will. This past month I personally felt I have already made strides in this respect, but could not have done so without the most incredible EB and LC members at large.

With that, I would like to share something with you guys that is essentially the launching pad for my passion in AIESEC. I taught English to over 60 kids at Amal Salé Association (a local NGO that catered to underprivileged youth) in Rabat, Morocco this past summer 2007 on a developmental traineeship for 8 weeks. Thanks to my traineeship through the Salaam Program, I feel I have packed a lifetime's worth of memories into two months. The more I taught English to the local youth, the more I became inspired by the hope and passion they each had for life itself. I have learned an invaluable amount not only about Morocco and Islam, but also about the world, humanity, life, friendships, myself and what it means to make an impact through my actions and presence.

Refer here for more pics and thoughts if you are interested!

If you had asked me 10 years ago what my greatest fear was, I would’ve said tornadoes. For some reason or other I was scared of them and even once dreamed of being chased by a purple tornado. Then for a while, I thought it was dying, either of myself or someone close to me. Last spring, I realized that wasn’t the case anymore, but rather what scared me the most was not having enough time. Not enough time to sleep, to study, to hang out…to truly live out my life even. But then I realized, it’s not the quantity of time you are given, but the quality time that you make of it. At RoKS last fall, I talked about how my whole concept of time and life was changed since Morocco, and that it took a bit of adjusting to get used to 3-hour lunches, midnight dinners, and even staying active at an all-night wedding. Western societies nowadays value fastness and efficiency, and oftentimes people associate waiting time with wasting time. But when I took a good look around, I saw that Moroccans had so much to strive towards, so much to celebrate every day, that they made every minute of the day count for something. Even in the youth, it was almost innate that time was never something to be concerned about. While the other trainees and I weren’t merely waiting though life, but we were, in fact, living it...which is exactly how I have felt about my time in AIESEC upon joining.

Why am I saying all of this, you may ask? It’s because while I am writing my first post, I couldn’t help but think how lucky I am that I still keep in contact with many of those I met in Morocco, several of whom I have already been reunited with or will be in a couple weeks. I realized just how excited I get hearing their voices on the phone or on Skype and how they put a smile on my face just thinking about them. These people are what made my traineeship what it was. Then I realized that you guys all do that for me.

AIESEC has made the world of difference in my life. I have grown, developed, and challenged myself, whether it be on campus or overseas. It has also merged my friends from all aspects of my life and opened up a whole new diverse pool of amazing people to hang out with. We are all essentially here for each other, and not only do you guys make AIESEC IL exist, but you guys make it thrive. Our LC, having survived shaky times, is at a great place right now. AIESEC is fundamentally built from the passion we each hold for our organization, the compassion we hold for each other, and the drive to accomplish majestic goals, all of which is naturally manifested by the sheer nature of who we are. I could not have asked for anything better than the LC that I have now...we truly are, without a doubt, one crazy LC!

So there it is - my @ in a sushi roll!

A new year of AIESEC matchsticks, snowglobes, gummy bears swimming in strawberry banana jello, random questions in Chinese red envelopes, M&M's, massages, moohla, and more (M&M&M&M&M's??), casino night, 6000+ pics...what will be next for our LC?

Stay tuned to this blog for more!

Why do you @?

"Are you even listening to me?" "AMELIA!"
"hmmm.... sorry give me a second I'm @ing."
This is the constant refrain in my dorm room. My roommate rants, I @. My roommate facebooks, I @. My roommate sleeps, I @. After getting fed up with my ignoring her, she finally asks "Why the hell are you always '@ing'?!" Honestly, thats going to take years of therapy and rehab to sort out, but in the mean time I'll flashback.
****
2 years ago...
My sister keeps telling me about a group she's joined I-sick? sounds gross. Apparently its an international group, cool, I guess. Internships abroad? Awesome, can I have your room? Cambria leaves for Amsterdam to intern at a trading company and I enjoy my summer before beginning my senior year of high school. My friends and I anxiously discuss college..."its going to be like a whole new world." When Cambria returns home from her world travels, she's different... excited, passionate... about some stupid student group. What the hell is this @ and what has it done to my sister?

Last summer...
Woo hoo! U of I here I come! I wanted to spend my last "real" summer doing something exciting, and not just working as a receptionist again. I applied and was accepted to join a group of students heading to Costa Rica. I'd always wanted to travel, but not in the way I now define travel. I imagined a vacation, not an experience. When I imagined myself traveling, I had not imagined traveling with a purpose. I just wanted to "visit" new places. My father was born in England and I still have family there, I thought that was worldly enough. Wrong. The more I found out about this group going to Costa Rica, the more terrified I became... this seemed to be more of the world than I could handle. The group is called Mobility International USA, and they definitely travel with a purpose. Our goal as members of this group was to be Goodwill Ambassadors on a cross-cultural exchange on disability rights. WTF does that even mean? Well, as students with disabilities from across the country we were going to Costa Rica to learn about what it meant to be disabled in Costa Rica and in the process come to a better understanding of what it meant to be disabled in the United States. I didn't find out this was the purpose of the group until the week before I was supposed to be leaving and I freaked out! I just wanted to visit, I didn't want to exchange, I didn't want to learn, and I most certainly did not want an EXPERIENCE! I was completely content being un-worldly and remaining ignorant of my disability culture. Unfortunately, I am too proud. I didn't want to back out and have to tell everyone I was too chicken to go to Costa Rica. On the way to the airport, I panicked! I haven't thrown a tantrum that bad since I was two. I begged my mother not to make me go, and basically told her she was the worst mother in the entire world. She told me to call her when I arrived safely. I sobbed the entire way to Austin, Texas, where I was meeting the rest of my group, positive I would look back on this moment as when my life went terribly wrong. It was the opposite, it is the moment that will define me for years to come. I experienced 3 weeks in Costa Rica. I experienced what it felt like to be a proud member of the disability community. I experienced what it meant to be worldly. At the end of the program I received a certificate with MIUSA's motto on it... Challenge yourself and change the world. It may not be world peace, but it certainly changed my world and the perspective I have on our world.

So when you ask "Why do you @?" ....
I @ so I can feel the same inspiration and passion I experienced in Costa Rica. I @ because of the feeling that any obstacle is surmountable when you are willing to accept the challenge. I @ because of a sense of belonging to a world community.

my little aiesec story from the summer

Oi Aiesec! This is my first post for the Aiesec ILLINOIS blog! I'm really excited about this blog and hopefully this will be a great tool in which our LC can stay connected even if you're abroad and away from chambana. Even during international conferences, we can keep everybody in the LC updated by having someone post some insights and crazy stories from their day.

Well, I guess for my first post, it's only right if I post something about how I first heard about Aiesec last summer. Reflecting back upon my aiesec experience, it's crazy to see how much I've learned and experienced through Aiesec in such a short time.

Last summer, I was back home in Japan (I usually go back home every Summer and Winter break) to visit my friends and family in Japan. Usually, vacation schedules in the US and Japan are off by a month so I had about a month to myself, since all my friends in Japan were still in school. So I spent 2 weeks travelling all over my home country and exploring places I've never been to before. To me, born in Hiroshima and raised in Chicago, I've always felt like a foreigner wherever I was. But this trip turned out to be an eye-opener and a discovery of my own identity. From the city life of Tokyo to the countryside of Japan I wanted to see it all with my own eyes.
Here are some pics I took along my trip.

Tokyo Tower at Night

The Busiest Intersection in Japan(Shibuya, Tokyo)

Hiroshima

Golden Shrine in Kyoto

Rice field in Miyazaki

Hiroshima

Asia's kitchen- Tokyo Tsukiji Fish Market(each one of these Tunas are sold $1000 and up)

View from a Mountain I climbed in West Japan

Japanese Garden inside a Shrine in Kyoto

After a couple weeks, I found out that Mitch, from our LC, was in Tokyo for an summer internship teaching English. It was his first time in Japan and he had told me before that he might have a job in Japan this summer but I didnt know if he was really comming or not. I sent him an message saying that since he's in Japan, he should come west to Hiroshima and stay at my home and see other parts of Japan. He replied right away and told me that he had a free week before he returned to the US and was looking for something to do.

Couple days later I was driving my car(driving on the left side of the road that is,,) to pick up Mitch at my local train station. As I was driving, I was thinking to myself, "wait, I don't even know this kid that well!!". At that time, I think I've only talked to Mitch like twice before. I pulled up at the station and he was already there waiting for me. He arrived later than scheduled since he made a couple unexpected stops on the way(which he could ellaborate later on this blog). It was definately a new feeling for me to see someone who I normally would see in Champaign sitting in the bench on my station back home in Japan. He seemed to be really happy to see me. Later on, he told me that he was quite lonely in Tokyo since it was his first time in Japan, and he didnt know that many people.Plus, no one really understands English.

Atomic Bomb Dome

At Miyajima, Hiroshima

Next day, I took him around the city of Hiroshima and went to Miyajima, which is an UNESCO world heritage site. After feasting on some delicious conger we moved back to the city and to the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Peace Memorial Museum. The Peace Museum is somewhere I believe everyone should visit if they're in Japan. 63 years after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, my hometown is the symbol for World Peace. We then visited the "Atomic Bomb Dome" which is a the most famous landmark of Hiroshima. It is the remaining ruins from what used to be a bank before the bomb was dropped. It's remarkable since this was the one of the only buildings that survived, since the shock wave from the bomb devastedly destroyed everything in that area. I visit this Dome everytime I'm home. It tells the story of what atomic bombs can do and that people will always remember what happened on the morning of August 6th. We took a picture in front of this dome and when I later showed my grandma, who had gone through the war, emotionally told me how much things have changed in the last 60 years. She never thought that her very own grandson would be living in the US and would be welcoming an American to Hiroshima, 60 years ago during the war.

It was getting late and after eating Hiroshima's famous "okonomiyaki", Japanese Dish consisting of a pan-fried batter cake and various ingredients, we hurried back to the station since the Typhoon was approaching. As we approached the station, we saw a bunch of people lined up outside the station. I asked them what they were lined up for and they said that they were all waiting for the taxi since all the local train lines were canceled for the day due to the typhoon. We thought that we would have to stay in the city for the night since my home is an hour away from the actual city of Hiroshima. But we were in luck and turned out that there was one last bullet train going in the direction of my home. So we hopped on and made it on last second.

The very next day we planned to return back to Tokyo together by taking a night express bus; which is alot cheaper than taking the bullet train. But we had some time before the bus so I took him to neighboring city "Onomichi". Famous for vast number of shrines and Mitch's favorite Ramen. We went to one of Japan's best ramen restaurant and laster visited a famous shrine in Onomichi. On the way to the bus, we started to talk about our upcomming semester back in Champaign. Classes, schedules, the stuff we weren't looking forward to since we were having a blast in Hiroshima. Then he started telling me about an organization that he was in that dealt with raising cultural awareness on campus. He told me all about it on the train in Hiroshima and my interest in this organization grew as he told me more about it. He told me that I should check it out and I would definately fit in and would have a blast.

2 weeks later I was back on the streets of Champaign and I joined Aiesec which has become something that I really enjoy and feel that is worth every minute of my time. If Mitch wasn't in Japan that summer and I didnt invite him over to Hiroshima, I might have not been writing this blog post right now. It's interesting how no matter where you are, Hiroshima, Chicago,,, the people you meet and the friendships you develop will always be with you no matter what.

in Chicago (late august)

So, thats my lil story on how I heard about Aiesec,,,


-go

2/24/08

Welcome to AIESEC Illinois!

AIESEC Illinois is at an amazing time and place right now. We've got a huge, active membership of over 100. We have an incredible community with members travelling all over the country and the world this spring and summer for conferences and traineeships - so with that, the time is right for our very own forum to share our LC's experiences and join the nomadlife network!

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