This is What Cambridge Looks Like

GUEST POST BY BEN SELLON

Joe Biden? Word.

Sarah Palin? Seriously?

Dunkin' Donuts? For real.

Regular coffee at Dunkin' Donuts? Seriously?

Jim and Ingrid? Off the heazy.

Prada Lady who punched the airport security officer? Seriously?


Welcome to our life in Boston. Katie and I are really handling the move well. We've only lived here for a few days now, but Wellesley is just the most perfectest littlest prettiest picturesque-est town. It's doing everything in its power to give us sustenance--donuts, seersucker and deck shoes.

But our move is short lived--we're only living here on a temporary basis. Once our placement has run its course, we'll be flying home. This next Wednesday.

Crossword puzzle on the plane? Awesome.

Ben's gas on the plane? Seriously?

Pahk the cahr in Hahvahd Yahd. See you there.

Cawfee in Basstan

Attention people, I'm in Boston. Do you know what's in Boston? Dunkin Donuts is in Boston.


And we rode the T into the city. And ate chowdaaah. And we went to the coast. And ate lobster. And that green stuff in the lobster shot out and got on my cheek. And in the city we heard the most amazing accents. AND! We went to the original Green Dragon Pub and had the Green Dragon Brew. And that night we met Ingrid and Jim in the Italian District. Holy Canolli, this city is wicked awesome!

pokes and pills

Today was a big big day for my preparations for the trip. Today I went to the Travel Doctor. Rest assured, dear blog readers, I have been poked with an amazing amount of neon colored liquids and stocked to capacity with pretty little malaria pills. I am--in regards to my health and body--ready for India.
The last few days have been busy as all get up. I finished work at Turnstyle Friday. My last day at work was equal parts exciting and sad. It felt amazing to know that I was moving away from Seattle--the first step in the most immediate marks in my exit to India. It was very sad though. My coworkers are all so sweet. The day was filled with hugs and a pork sandwich picnic to Golden Gardens. Turnstylers, I know you are reading this blog...you are all very good at keeping an eye on me at all times. Thank you for an amazing summer (again) and I expect hilarious comments on my blog posts from all of you!

After my goodbyes at work I had an amazing weekend in Yakima with Ben. We went with Tyler to their mom's surprise birthday party. Mary, mary, mary HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

And now...now I'm in Portland, kicking it with Monty waiting for my parents and Ben to get off work to go have dinner at the Hedgehouse.

Tomorrow Ben and I leave for Boston to hang out with our good buddy Jim BB and the BB girls--Ingrid, Harper and Ellis. This trip has been a long time in the making and I couldn't be more excited. The idea of spending a week with Ben and some of my favorite people in the world is absolutely a.maz.ing. I think it'll be just perfect for mentally preparing me for my trip to India. So, pokes and pills done, Boston up next. Chowdahh, here I come!!

Puddles vs. Packing

31 days until India, three more days in Seattle and it's raining.

This means I might not get distracted and actually do (/start) some packing tonight.

Or I might just go jump in some puddles and ride my bike in the rain.

Über Nostalgic

I think I'm starting to get a wee bit nervous about leaving all of my friends and family for India. This is my last week in Seattle. To cope with this parting period, I've begun to compile my stash of "Home" photos to take with me on my trip to look at when I'm lonely. I'm going to miss a lot of things.

I'm going to miss work and all my super rad coworkers in Ballard:



I'm going to miss Portland--that is my parents and my friends and the brew pubs that all make up what I consider to be Portland:



I'm going to miss Annie and Hollis:


I'm going to miss Ben and pigeons (...no, no, no, scratch that, not pigeons):



And most of all, I'm going to miss Shakeface:


Ohh wait, there's Shakeface in India. I can totally do Shakeface in India!! Yes!! Homesickness cure discovered!

Stay tuned, blog readers. Loads of Indian Shakeface photos to come...

whoa whoa whoa

Hey, folks.

It's my last week in Seattle. Believe it. I'm leaving. Apologizes if we don't get to say good bye.

I'm thinking we should all get together Friday night. I need to pack...I haven't really started packing... psssh. Oh well. I think playing March of the Penguins* at The Pits is a far better way to spend my last night in Seattle rather than packing. Any body want to join? This is a call for my blog readers (which I'm guessing amounts to a whole 4 friends) to come and have adventures with me.

*March of the Penguins is a game Ben and I invented on a hot summer night in Seattle. Upon returning from the market, 24 pack in hand, Ben said "Hey, we should dump these beers on the kitchen floor at The Pitts and tell everyone they have to drink them before they get warm." And so he did. At which time I yelled, "MARCH OF THE PENGUINS!" And hence, the best hot summer night drinking game was born. We usually aren't ones for games. We prefer our beer a little less gamy. But, you know, this one is just so darn catchy and cute.

mad spittin

Camels camels camels camels camels CAMELS!

After an email chat with Marcelle (mentioned in a previous post), she reminded me of the most amazing thing that I left out of my itinerary post. A few other friends had suggested I attend the Pushkar Camel Fair. CAMELS! Lots of them. There are camel rides and camel souvenirs and camel races and even camel beauty contests!

The Pushkar Fair, or Pushkar ka Mela, is the world's largest camel fair held in the holy town of Pushkar in the state of Rajasthan, India. The Pushkar fair is indubitably the world's largest camel fair (and indeed, world's largest cattle fair in general). Competitions such as the "matka phod", "moustache", and "bridal competition" are the main draws for this fair which attracts thousands of tourists. In recent years the fair has also included an exhibition cricket match between the local Pushkar club and a team of random foreign tourists.

And we can stay in tents!

During the special occasion of the Pushkar Fair, accommodation is arranged in special tents in a tourist village, which is self-sufficient and specially designed to complement the natural beauty of the site. The village has a coffee shop and dining hall that can cater to 1,500 guests at a time. The village is arranged on blocks of tents, each with its own identity, named after the famous dances of Rajasthan. The village also has huts with attached western style toilets and running water.

Dude, so many camels. It's going to be awesome...and smelly...and AWESOME

dinosaurs and mosquitoes

Clearly, clearly I'm a huge fan of dinosaurs. Sadly, the fact of the matter is John Hammond has yet to discover a way to harness mosquitoes' fossilized DNA embedded in Baltic amber to bring back the cuddly little fellas. Therefore, mosquitoes have no real purpose in our post-Jurassic world than to infect millions of people with malaria. Boo. Big boo.

The reason why I bring this is up is that in the process of getting ready to leave for India one of the big to-do items on my list has been to get my malaria medication. The topic of which brand of malaria meds is best is a hot one indeed amongst my group of friends. Many SU folks have come back from trips abroad with horror stories of side effects, tales of expensive medical bills or, worse yet, malaria. This is how it has been explained to me:

Mefloquine - Bad bad bad kind. It'll mess you up. Am I a certified pharmacist who can rattled of the facts of mental illness side effects? No. Have I read enough NYTimes articles about soldiers committing suicide after taking Mefloquine to be royally freaked out? Yes!

Doxycyline - Great, affordable alternative to mefloquine. Supposedly not as reliable because you have to take it everyday (versus Mefloquine's once a week regiment). Worth the daily hassle if you consider the lack of clinical depression you'll avoid. Side effect: makes your skin super sensitive to sun which isn't so convenient considering most malaria ridden countries are, um, hot.

and, last but not least...

Malarone - No proven side effects, taken once a day. Set back is it is very very spendy. But I just found out yesterday that my insurance will cover three months of it! Thank you Kaiser!

With my malaria pills taken care of and my recently issued Indian Visa, I'm feeling relatively more prepared for my trip. Leaving all of my friends and family and boyfriend for three months aside, I feel prepared.

BIG project

For those of you who don't know, I'm going to India in 39 days.

Yes, I'm counting.

I like to think of myself as a project-addict. This trip, however, is slightly bigger than my average project and is most certainly consuming my thoughts, time and emotional energy these days. The major purpose of my trip is to go and volunteer in Calcutta with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. Seattle University has been supporting students who wish to go volunteer with the MC's for over 23 years through their Calcutta Club. Many of my fellow Sullivan Scholars have made the trip. Volunteers work in one of the MC homes in Calcutta and have the option to choose a site preference. I haven't decided yet what type of work I want to do with the MC's. It'll likely be hospice type care in the elderly women's home, Perm Dan, or childcare center work in Shishu Bhavan, home to children with mental disabilities. I doubt I'll decide which volunteer site I want to be at until I'm actually there for orientation. It's not really a hard decision. I know any choice would be equally rewarding and overwhelming. Right now I'm leaning towards Shishu Bhavan primarily because I know how happy I am when I work with children. And in a place as exceedingly challenging as Calcutta I'm going to need laughing little kiddos to get me through the day. If my volunteer work a few months ago in Belize at the Dorthy Menzie Childcare Center is any indication, I'll be in love with the children within days of arriving and angry at myself when I leave them.

I will be leaving the states on September 21st to fly to Bangkok, Thailand. From there I will be meeting up with two other Calcutta Club members, Joe and Traci (frequent characters in my upcoming blog stories, for sure). We hope to spend a week or so exploring and acclimating in Bangkok. From there we will fly together to Calcutta. I hope to make time to make short trips to Darjeeling and Agra (at least). The last month of my trip will be spent (hopefully...this is all tentative) heading north to Nepal to do a two week trek in Nepal to Base Camp at Mt. Everest. Whoa. From there I will part ways with my traveling buddies to head over to Dehra Dun to visit the Ashram that my boyfriend, Ben spent time in with our good friend Chad who was volunteering there for a year. And then it's homeward bound... But, not before an awesomely long layover in South Korea. I'll be in Seoul for 12 hours. Just enough time to see a few markets or temples and eat some fish head soup, according to this dude's blog.

If my itinerary sounds ambitious, blame my damn worldly friends.

It's funny how many of my friends have traveled to India. Perhaps there's a bit of romanticism fueling this whole shebang... I've been hearing stories of backpacking in India since I was in 5th grade in Marcelle's class at Mooberry Elementary School. So, Mom and Dad, if you still feel some anxiety about me going abroad, blame Marcelle. She planted the travel seed. Living in Seattle and going to travel-happy-SU only further perpetuated my craving for India-ness. A whole slew of my friends have made the trek. Let me show you:

Sarah in Calcutta working at Perm Dan.

Zach in Calcutta, being a dork.

Brig with the Sisters in Calcutta.

John and Sophie at the Guest House I'll be living in. FYI: Sophie is a bad ass and shaved her head in Calcutta. Big inspiration for my chopping-off-of-hair incident.

Megan (middle) in Darjeeling. She's not normally purple. This photo was taken during Holi festival.

Maddy, Maddy, Maddy looking adorable with her henna on a train in India.

Last, and hairest, Ben and Chad singing with the kids in the Ashram.

Thank you, numerous friends who have traveled to India, thank you for making me excited to leave and thank you for not laughing at my stupid questions about travel underwear and thank you for giving me tips on where to eat and what to see and how to avoid the double dragon. Thank you.

it's true