It's all a little surreal

Here I am in Mumbai, India, on day number 2 which I have apparently decided to start at 5 am. Yay for time changes!

I arrived in Mumbai the day before yesterday around 11 p.m. sans checked luggage. I had essentials in my backpack, but only a few items of clothing. Luckily for me there are quite a few international students here at the Tata Institute who have offered to let me borrow additional clothing, a towel, and other items that I currently do not have.

This week serves as somewhat of an orientation to the city and field placement so it is pretty slow with a just a few things to do each day. I'm looking forward to traveling to my field placement later this week and finding out more information as to what I will be doing for the majority of my stay in this city. For now I will enjoy the time I have because I'm sure things will get busy soon.

Paris!!!

Well, we are in Paris and just about to leave!!!

Oh how much we have learned and seen in so little time! I can't believe we are on our way to India!! The three of us, Chris, Robyn and I will be getting up at 4 in the morning äris time...11 p.m. NOLA time...and will head to the airport for our nine and a half hour flight!!! YEAH for jet lag!

One thing I have learned about Paris is it is SOOO old with SOOO much history! Everywhere you turn there is some sort of history which is crazy! I can definitely say it is one of the most beautiful places I have been!

Well, talk to you all again from India!

Michelle

Is this thing on?

I'm Brooke, and I'm going to Belize. I really don't mind being called Brooke in Belize at all. I kind of like it, even. Fine. I'm the one who made it up.

Anyway, I leave in a week.

I have this other blog, and I'm experimenting with double-posting, so this is like a warm-up act. Hopefully I'll be able to contribute or import or something regularly from Belize. For now, here's a link: 50 Days of Oatmeal and 10 Face Wipes.

Packing My Curiosity

As part of my preparations to work and live in Kigali, Rwanda for three months I thought it was a good idea to research the country I was going to call home. I watched movies, read books, online news stories, etc. Many of them focused on the Genocide... how it happened, the violence, the recovery, the history and the incredible drama. In the weeks leading up to my departure I have to wonder, "How similar is day-to-day life in Rwanda compared to life in New Orleans?"

Before moving to NOLA I heard so many stories about what a violent city it was, how broken it was since the storm, how desperate things are. It turns out New Orleans is much more complex and beautiful than the apocalyptic images that are held by some outsiders. There are certainly problems and New Orleans will never be the same since the Storm, but people move on and change. Much of the external focus regarding Rwanda has been on the Genocide. I wonder to what degree the people of Rwanda have moved on. In New Orleans there is always the Storm. It is part of the people of New Orleans. It seems to have significantly changed the life most anyone that was a part of it. But at the same time, people are infinitely more complex than how the one event impacts them... even if it was such an incredibly destructive event.

I am bringing with me curiosity of what is beneath the Genocide in Rwanda. I do not presume to understand how it has impacted the people I will live with. I bring questions about the similarities (and differences) of the people of NOLA and the people of Kigali.

One of the joys for me in world travel is seeing the myriad of ways that people choose to love despite inevitable suffering.