It’s been a week since I’ve been in India. Unfortunately, although I do have internet, the connection is slow and I still am having troubles uploading pictures. I am working on it though, because I know nobody will want to read all these commentaries about my trip without some visual stimulation.
I’m staying here in New Delhi with my cousin. Accommodations aren’t that luxurious, but also not that bad. Basically, I’m roughing it compared to my normal life, though I doubt anyone who lived here would agree.
I’ve spent my time visiting family, my cousin’s friends, an NGO site, and a few media/news offices. There’s also been a little shopping thrown in, here and there, whenever we pass the market areas.
I went and saw CANSupport, an NGO site in Delhi. It provides support for cancer patients and their caregivers. There are no financial requirements and they give the medical help necessary for a cancer patient here to stay at home. They also have group therapy sessions for children with cancer and adult patients, where they talk and also have “laughter therapy”, reflexology, meditation, etc. They send out teams of doctors, nurses, and counselors to the houses of patients, where they get pain management, end of life counseling, and dietary help. Not much of a need for volunteer help, but still interesting to observe. I sat through an adult group therapy session.
Regarding cancer treatment here, the biggest problem I’ve seen is that diagnosis comes very late. By that time the patient doesn’t have much of a chance, even with chemo and radiation treatments, but with the mentality of people here, they feel that if they don’t get that option, their family is being cheap and doesn’t want to try and save them. The families go broke providing this treatment. Doctors here don’t really tell patients when it is pointless to go through a painful treatment, and instead let patients who have no hope of remission pursue these options.
Moving on, we get to the medical insurance issues. They now have insurance here, but pregnancy, cancer, and AIDS are all precluded. Explain to me please how insurance can have any benefit when it doesn’t cover major issues, especially in a country where dental care and yearly check-ups are not really in the vocabulary.
I also spoke with a woman who is a pathologist at a blood bank here. They don’t have a system like we do of donating blood. In many cities there is the logical problem of a lack of refrigeration. She said the main way they get blood is when someone gets sick and needs a transfusion, the family members all donate blood. She is working on ways to advocate for more voluntary donation and encourage people to care.
I promise to work on pictures again. I’ll try to find a location where I can get a better signal or a memory external drive to use.
And no fears, I will be putting pics of the cows on the street, rickshaws, and probably a public urinator or two.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Amsterdam: Anyone lose an ear?
Monday, October 22: Went to the Vincent Van Gogh museum. He was born in Amsterdam, therefore Dutch. The first floor had artists that influenced Van Gogh. The second floor was a lot of his work, arranged chronologically and by the different cities he spent his life in. Although Night Terrace and Starry Night were not there, Sunflowers and his famous Self-Portait were. The third and fourth floors were artists that either influenced him, were his contemporaries, or were influenced by him.
This is my last night in Amsterdam. I had an awesome trip. Derek is a great host!! (take note all his Atlanta friends!) Tuesday morning- flight to India... more to come!
Note: Amsterdam was named because of the Amstel river and a dam that was built. Amstel+dam = Amsterdam.
Photo: #1 Centraal Station tram, how we got around to most places.
Photo: Everyone bikes here, even more than driving.
Photo: My last shot of Derek's street, before I left for the airport.
This is my last night in Amsterdam. I had an awesome trip. Derek is a great host!! (take note all his Atlanta friends!) Tuesday morning- flight to India... more to come!
Note: Amsterdam was named because of the Amstel river and a dam that was built. Amstel+dam = Amsterdam.
Photo: #1 Centraal Station tram, how we got around to most places.
Photo: Everyone bikes here, even more than driving.
Photo: My last shot of Derek's street, before I left for the airport.
Amsterdam: dat is pas bier
Sunday, October 21: Today we had the "Heineken Experience". It was a more interactive, advertisement type brewery than an actual exhibit about the brewing process. It's housed in the old brewery. Beer is no longer being made there. I'm sure they have a much larger brewery elsewhere. Derek and I also made a funny karaoke video, but you must e-mail if you'd like one of us to send it to you!
Photo: Me among Heineken flare.
Photo: Derek doing his thing, Heineken style.
Photo: The Heineken Experience!
After the Heineken tour, we went across the street to eat pancakes, a common Dutch food. I think they're called 'pannenkoepen'. Unlike blinis, these are actually pancakes with different things on top, like eggs and cheese, meat, fruit, or ice cream. Depends on your taste!
Amsterdam: Warhol- 60's icon? Or hallucinated celeb?
Saturday, October 20: Saturday we went out to the Stedelijk museum.
Photo: Stedelijk Museum
It's a contemporary art museum that is currently under construction, and they have a temporary exhibit by Centraal Station (trains/trams). We went to see the Andy Warhol exhibit.
Photo: Warhol flyer
It consisted of screens of his movies, film screen tests, and tv shows. There was also exhibits of pictures, his famous Campbell's Soup Can photograph, and the Marilyn Monroe pictures. Let's just say, Derek and I both agreed that he's weird! And we do not get "contemporary art". The coolest part was a room of "silver clouds" which were these big helium filled balloons that you can play with. Not really sure what the relevance of it was. Then we decided to check out some of the non-Warhol exhibits. We open one door into a small room with a little statue icon sitting in the middle watching a tv. Freaky!! Should've realized we were in over our heads. That room was not to be messed with, so instead we found another area with a random assortment of "art". For example, one was a movie screen of a woman running, called 'Pursuit'. The camera focuses on different parts of her, but she just keeps on running. Nothing else happens. When we walked back by it awhile later, it was a man running. Can you explain this? After wandering through here and realizing we had no idea what the point of any of it meant, we decide to leave. Except here all of a sudden we see that there are no people around. As we try to leave, the only way we're getting out of hallways and rooms is because the doors aren't actually locked, so Derek can pry them open, even though there's no handles. We finally go through a dark hallway lit with red lights and Warhol posters, into the locked up gift shop!
Photo: Can you tell we're freaked out?
Yeah, the museum totally locked us in their weird freaky art museum! There was no way I was walking back through that exhibit to find another exit- way too creepy! Especially because you know that statue watching tv would come alive! When a person walked by, we banged on the door, and security finally let us out. After the fact, a pretty funny experience. During, kind of nerve-wracking. There's no way we would've lasted the night in there. It was weird, a majority of the exhibits used electricity, whether a video camera recording a still photo (yeah, seriously, don't get it) or a tv screen showing a man washing his hands continuously on a loop (again- wth?)
We followed this up with a night at Werck- casual dance club with 80's dance remixes. Quite fun!
Photo: Us at Werck!!
Photo: Stedelijk Museum
It's a contemporary art museum that is currently under construction, and they have a temporary exhibit by Centraal Station (trains/trams). We went to see the Andy Warhol exhibit.
Photo: Warhol flyer
It consisted of screens of his movies, film screen tests, and tv shows. There was also exhibits of pictures, his famous Campbell's Soup Can photograph, and the Marilyn Monroe pictures. Let's just say, Derek and I both agreed that he's weird! And we do not get "contemporary art". The coolest part was a room of "silver clouds" which were these big helium filled balloons that you can play with. Not really sure what the relevance of it was. Then we decided to check out some of the non-Warhol exhibits. We open one door into a small room with a little statue icon sitting in the middle watching a tv. Freaky!! Should've realized we were in over our heads. That room was not to be messed with, so instead we found another area with a random assortment of "art". For example, one was a movie screen of a woman running, called 'Pursuit'. The camera focuses on different parts of her, but she just keeps on running. Nothing else happens. When we walked back by it awhile later, it was a man running. Can you explain this? After wandering through here and realizing we had no idea what the point of any of it meant, we decide to leave. Except here all of a sudden we see that there are no people around. As we try to leave, the only way we're getting out of hallways and rooms is because the doors aren't actually locked, so Derek can pry them open, even though there's no handles. We finally go through a dark hallway lit with red lights and Warhol posters, into the locked up gift shop!
Photo: Can you tell we're freaked out?
Yeah, the museum totally locked us in their weird freaky art museum! There was no way I was walking back through that exhibit to find another exit- way too creepy! Especially because you know that statue watching tv would come alive! When a person walked by, we banged on the door, and security finally let us out. After the fact, a pretty funny experience. During, kind of nerve-wracking. There's no way we would've lasted the night in there. It was weird, a majority of the exhibits used electricity, whether a video camera recording a still photo (yeah, seriously, don't get it) or a tv screen showing a man washing his hands continuously on a loop (again- wth?)
We followed this up with a night at Werck- casual dance club with 80's dance remixes. Quite fun!
Photo: Us at Werck!!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Amsterdam: Red Lights, Camera, Action!
Friday, October 19: After museum-hopping during the day, what better way to follow it up than with a trip to the Red Light District. This is an area, basically of just a few streets, alongside the canals, where prostitutes sit in windows, lit up by red neon lights, waiting for some one to hire them. It seemed like most of them were just chatting on their phones or smoking cigarettes, bored. Some were old, some were all S&M-ed out. Derek pointed out a couple of the more famous girls, that are always there, and well-known. No pictures of this though, not allowed! It really wasn't all that sleazy, except for a few shady alleys, that we didn't really venture into.
Photo: Houses/apartments along the street.
Photo: Dam Square
Photo: Houses/apartments along the street.
Photo: Dam Square
Amsterdam: The Land of Tolerance
Friday, October 19: This is my second day in Amsterdam. I went to the Rijkmuseum (art and Dutch history).
Photos: Rijkmuseum
The first floor is a history of the Nederlands, including the Dutch East India Company and their naval fleet powers. They also had some furniture, clothing, pottery, etc. from the early 1500s-1800s. On the second floor was the showcase of famous Dutch painters. They had sections for Rembrandt, Johannes Vermeer, etc. Vermeer easily became a new favorite. He did 'Girl with the Pearl Earring', which I really like, though it wasn't on display when I went (visiting the Hague) and some others which I'll post pictures of later. There was a whole section of his work that looked more like photography than painting, the effect of which I think is pretty cool. Rembrandt, of course, always impressive.
Some cultural notes about Amsterdam. They pride themselves on being the land of tolerance. They "tolerate" marijuana, prostitution, and homosexuality, all of which I think is pretty progressive. Although marijuana isn't technically legal, soft drugs are "tolerated", as in you won't get in trouble and they still sell it in most coffeeshops. They also have an extensive gay and lesbian population, with themed bars, clubs, stores, etc. I think Derek mentioned it was the #1 gay population in the world?
Photo: Johannes Vermeer's The Milkmaid (on display at the Rijkmuseum)
Photo: Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring (on display at the Hague)
Photo: Johannes Vermeer's The Little Street (on display at the Rijkmuseum)
Photos: Rijkmuseum
The first floor is a history of the Nederlands, including the Dutch East India Company and their naval fleet powers. They also had some furniture, clothing, pottery, etc. from the early 1500s-1800s. On the second floor was the showcase of famous Dutch painters. They had sections for Rembrandt, Johannes Vermeer, etc. Vermeer easily became a new favorite. He did 'Girl with the Pearl Earring', which I really like, though it wasn't on display when I went (visiting the Hague) and some others which I'll post pictures of later. There was a whole section of his work that looked more like photography than painting, the effect of which I think is pretty cool. Rembrandt, of course, always impressive.
Some cultural notes about Amsterdam. They pride themselves on being the land of tolerance. They "tolerate" marijuana, prostitution, and homosexuality, all of which I think is pretty progressive. Although marijuana isn't technically legal, soft drugs are "tolerated", as in you won't get in trouble and they still sell it in most coffeeshops. They also have an extensive gay and lesbian population, with themed bars, clubs, stores, etc. I think Derek mentioned it was the #1 gay population in the world?
Photo: Johannes Vermeer's The Milkmaid (on display at the Rijkmuseum)
Photo: Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring (on display at the Hague)
Photo: Johannes Vermeer's The Little Street (on display at the Rijkmuseum)
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Amsterdam: Venice of the North
Alright- it's been over 24 hours in Amsterdam! Unfortunately, I can't post pics from here b/c my laptop can't connect to the internet from Derek's. I will as soon as I get a chance though, so don't worry.
Now, let's see- got here OK- only took a few hours from the airport :-) We all know my sense of direction, totally got on the wrong train! FYI- my first time in a foreign country traveling alone (sort of). But luckily, Derek gave pretty good instructions, so I eventually found it! The flight was fine, lots of movies, watched Knocked Up and Shrek 3, slept uncomfortably through a lot of the flight, though it was half empty.
Wednesday, Oct 17: Walked around near Derek's apartment. Went to eat falafels for lunch, and then Indonesian food for dinner. Indonesia and Surinam were/are Dutch colonies, so there is a huge influence here (food-wise) and there, I'm sure. We also went to a sports bar (Hoopendorf?) and had Bitterballen, some kind of common bar food. I'll give it an A. We hit up a coffee-shop on the way home and then watched some Flight of the Conchords.
Thursday, Oct 18:
Photo: Canals
Derek went in to work, so I ventured out into the city on my own. Of course, first stop was Anne Frank Huis (the house where Anne Frank hid out with her family).
Photo: Anne Frank Huis
I'm sure everyone has read "Anne Frank's Diary" at some point. It was unfurnished. Otto Frank (her father) was the only surviver in that family and of the 8 people who hid out there, and he decided he did not want the annex where they hid to be furnished. He was the person who had the diary published and the museum established. There was a huge line there, though I only waited maybe 30 minutes.
Photo: Line to get in.
Definitely worth a look. The Anne Frank foundation now focuses on anti-semitism, human rights violations, etc. They sold her diary in all languages in the gift shop. Then I went to the Amsterdam Tulip Foundation museum.
Photo: Tulip bulbs for sale.
They sell tulip bulbs there, though the guy told me they can only be taken to other countries in Europe. I will probably look into trying to ship some home. He also told me that in Atlanta, since it is so warm, you just buy the bulb and put it in the fridge until December, when you plant them. He also said Atlanta has the most per capita planting of tulips? Mainly because so many companies are HQ-ed there, like Coca-Cola and UPS, etc. I learned all about the tulip industry, tulipomania, and tulip growing. From what I've seen of Derek's pics, you can go out of Amsterdam about an hour or so, and see tulip fields. It seems growing season is more in the spring/summer.
Now we're about to head out, and check out the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE 07). From what I can tell, it's very similar to Miami's Ultra Winter Music Conference, except more Nederland's and European DJ's and musicians.
More to come later, along with pictures.
Now, let's see- got here OK- only took a few hours from the airport :-) We all know my sense of direction, totally got on the wrong train! FYI- my first time in a foreign country traveling alone (sort of). But luckily, Derek gave pretty good instructions, so I eventually found it! The flight was fine, lots of movies, watched Knocked Up and Shrek 3, slept uncomfortably through a lot of the flight, though it was half empty.
Wednesday, Oct 17: Walked around near Derek's apartment. Went to eat falafels for lunch, and then Indonesian food for dinner. Indonesia and Surinam were/are Dutch colonies, so there is a huge influence here (food-wise) and there, I'm sure. We also went to a sports bar (Hoopendorf?) and had Bitterballen, some kind of common bar food. I'll give it an A. We hit up a coffee-shop on the way home and then watched some Flight of the Conchords.
Thursday, Oct 18:
Photo: Canals
Derek went in to work, so I ventured out into the city on my own. Of course, first stop was Anne Frank Huis (the house where Anne Frank hid out with her family).
Photo: Anne Frank Huis
I'm sure everyone has read "Anne Frank's Diary" at some point. It was unfurnished. Otto Frank (her father) was the only surviver in that family and of the 8 people who hid out there, and he decided he did not want the annex where they hid to be furnished. He was the person who had the diary published and the museum established. There was a huge line there, though I only waited maybe 30 minutes.
Photo: Line to get in.
Definitely worth a look. The Anne Frank foundation now focuses on anti-semitism, human rights violations, etc. They sold her diary in all languages in the gift shop. Then I went to the Amsterdam Tulip Foundation museum.
Photo: Tulip bulbs for sale.
They sell tulip bulbs there, though the guy told me they can only be taken to other countries in Europe. I will probably look into trying to ship some home. He also told me that in Atlanta, since it is so warm, you just buy the bulb and put it in the fridge until December, when you plant them. He also said Atlanta has the most per capita planting of tulips? Mainly because so many companies are HQ-ed there, like Coca-Cola and UPS, etc. I learned all about the tulip industry, tulipomania, and tulip growing. From what I've seen of Derek's pics, you can go out of Amsterdam about an hour or so, and see tulip fields. It seems growing season is more in the spring/summer.
Now we're about to head out, and check out the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE 07). From what I can tell, it's very similar to Miami's Ultra Winter Music Conference, except more Nederland's and European DJ's and musicians.
More to come later, along with pictures.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Travel Itinerary
Hey guys!! This will now be my blog for when I travel, so you can find out what I'm up to and check out some of my pictures.
Trip plans:
Amsterdam October 16-23, 2007
India October 23- December 15, 2007
Enjoy!
Trip plans:
Amsterdam October 16-23, 2007
India October 23- December 15, 2007
Enjoy!
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