Delhi: Day 2

Yesterday, we welcomed the New Year in with a special brunch made especially for us by the hotel. Butter Chicken is amazing and addictive. Speaking of addictive, I haven't had a drop of coffee this whole trip thus far. I'm so proud of myself. The staff provided chai tea with cream and sugar every morning, which by the way they don't call "chai," they call it "Indian tea." Dr. Madan gave us our morning lecture, which was not nearly as droll as it sounds. His lectures are more like anecdotal discussions about cultural relativity and perspective, prompting us to see deeper and feel deeper about our daily experiences of Deaf Culture in India. We reviewed some Indian Sign Language (ISL) in preparation for our evening reception hosted by a very generous and successful family a 45 minute drive away. But before that, we spent the morning at Ghandi's Memorial. Our tour guide told us all about his assassination, his philosophies, his relationship with the Indian people and their neighbors, and we learned how Ghandi's sign name relates to both his appearance and his actions: a monocle and a spinning wheel for making cotton thread. Dr. Madan reminded us that the beliefs of Ghandi are found in both Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And in the modern Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. The difference between the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the Deaf President Now (DPN) movement of the 1980s at Gallaudet University, and OWS is: OWS lacks a leader. Dr. Madan is very skilled at giving us quality food for thought. After the memorial, we piled back into the bus and were off to visit a wholesale marketplace in Old Delhi. We only had an hour to shop for food, crafts, and clothing with our self-chosen buddy. My buddy and I chose one another somewhat randomly, and realized we both wanted to do different things. He wanted to eat, I wanted to shop. Being the strong, independent, stubborn, free spirit butterfly that I am, I chose to wander off and shop alone while he sat and ate his dinner. Before I left we talked about time and decided to meet back soon. I looked at my watch and we had plenty of time left. So off I went to buy myself some goodies. One blouse, one purse, and a lot of walking later, my watch said 5:58. I arrived to the designated area, but there were no Gallaudet students to be found. No yellow shirts, no tour guides, no one. Confused, I looked at my watch again. 6:00 pm. I walked a bit more to try and find my group, but I didn't recognize anyone around me. Checking my iPhone in my purse and to much dismay, in actuality it was 6:18 pm. My watch was late. I was alone in a marketplace in Old Delhi. The group had left and I started to panic. Shocked and somewhat in denial, I continued to look for my peers. Admitting that it was time to stop looking and start doing, I pulled out the business card of the hotel to hail a cab. But how do I hail a cab? Who around me speaks English? How do I know I can trust them? I spotted a man in a business suit and asked him if he could tell me how to find a cab. He directed me towards the parked police car nearby where they could assist me. Starting to realize this will be no easy feat, I began to worry I could make it back to the hotel not only in time for dinner, but in one piece with all my money. After the policemen spoke for a short time, they suggested I take an auto instead. "Is it cheaper?" I asked. "Yes," one policeman answered. "Is it safe?" "Yes." "Alright." he escorted me to an auto, which is a three wheeled apparatus with a driver and a tiny bench/backseat for me to sit on. And away we went. This was better than any Magic Mountain or Disneyland roller coaster. Dodging cars, bicycles, rickshaws, people, wild dogs and fellow autos, this driver lead me on a tour I will never forget. I was still relatively unnerved Andy scared about making it back to the hotel in a reasonable amount of time without being taken advantage of. But back at the marketplace, I noticed the policeman who helped me write down the number of the auto, presumably to ensure I was safe. Thank you Old Delhi marketplace policeman. My auto driver took a different route than my morning bus driver. We took a a shortcut through the slums of Old Delhi. I saw a small herd of white cattle grazing through a pile of garbage. Children were playing with sticks circling around a haphazardly made fire. People were huddled, kneeled barefoot around a fire pit outside their shanty home. Food was for sale and roads were a free for all. Earlier our tour guide had said something to the effect of: "In America, they drive on the right. In Britain they drive on the left. Here, we drive on what's left." I can testify to that statement. I trusted my driver because so far, I hadn't seen any accidents and I remember the policeman taking down the auto's information. But there were a few times I had to close my eyes and hold on tight. Actually, a lot of holding on tight; seat belts are more of a luxury than a necessity here. There were a few times I thought we had defied the laws of physics, coming so close to hitting both cars and pedestrians. As the journey proceeded, it began to rain. I felt like I was in a movie. We pulled over three times for him to ask for directions. Luckily, we ended up on the street of the hotel (in retrospect I'm realizing that street must have been THE hotel street in the neighborhood) and I recognized some landmarks like the HSBC ATM and the pet hospital right next door. I made it home spending only 150 Rupees, which is equivalent to about US $2.00, for a 45 minute ride. With only 15 minutes to change for our reception dinner, I cried when telling people my story... I'm too sensitive for my own good, and got dressed for the dinner. I couldn't believe what had happened to me that day. That's what I get for being so independent, right? What a humbling experience, which I think we all need every now and then. Dr. Asiah, a Gallaudet professor and the lady behind the magic of this trip, found me in the hotel lobby and told me she was so happy to see me back. Later she added, "But I knew you could handle yourself, I knew you'd be fine. You're from New York! I felt confident in you." Those affirming words comforted me and reminded me that I am a strong, confident, independent free spirited butterfly. Lessons learned in my marketplace adventure: Communicate with your buddy. Stay with your buddy. Be patient. I'm stronger than I thought. During the auto ride, I said to myself: "You're freaking out now, but this will make for one good story on the blog." - 📳Posted using 📝BlogPress from my iPad📲.

Location:Delhi, India

Delhi. A rough draft

Wow, so much has happened. We landed and there was fog in the airport, which is a basement floor. Fog, inside of a building. Really it is smog because the air here really is as polluted as they say it is in the magazines. In fact I don't think I've seen the sky once in the three days ive been here. After getting our luggage, exchanging some money, and using a bathroom where each stall has its own badet, we were ready to get on the bus at 2 am with our beautiful garlands made out of marigolds and mums... Until we realized someone got lost. Whoopsies. An hour later we decided to go to the hotel anyway, where of course he was waiting for us. They say it's better to get the glitches out of the way early right? Right. The hotel we have stayed in for the last three nights was absolutely comfortable and the staff so gracious. I loved having Indian food for breakfast every morning. I think I'm ready to have curry at every meal now. Our first morning, we only had maybe 3-4 hours of sleep becaus our plane had landed at 1am. After our first breakfast in India, I went with a few brave souls to a nearby market where some of us exchanged money and looked around at a few shops. Lucky for me but unfortunate for my pocketbook, I found the perfect Shauna-outfit for a reasonable price. Back to the hotel we went and jumped into the bus for our first expedition as a tour group. We visited a beautiful Muslim mosque on the day of a holy parade. A musical band with drummers is fancy white uniforms and shiny horns welcomed floats with detailed statues of gods painted with the honor and care from the hearts of the community. This parade was happening in the marketplace just outside of the mosque. So busy! After mazing our way through the bustling streets, Finally we reached the mosque. What a beautiful red place of worship. Steep stairs carried us to the entry where we left our shoes and donned bright light-weight gowns to cover our bodies. The men were provided with sarongs if they were wearing shorts and not pants. In the middle of the courtyard a large square pool is surrounded by worshipers who cup the water with their hands and wash their hands, feet, and neck for an inner and outer cleansing before prayer. To the left of the fountain was an areas where pigeons were eating the food laid out for them. During our stay at the mosque, the birds flew in various groups across the sky as one large entity, like a quilt lapping the waves in the wind. Our tour leader discussed what takes place at the mosque, who built the mosque, and how people come come everyday to pray several times throughout the day. As we stood in our Deaf-friendly circle, many children and adults found our sign language fascinating and come in close. Our circle kept growing. A Muslim woman in a beautiful brown dress and shawl came to introduce herself in ASL. Her husband, who handed out the gowns at entry, and herself are both Deaf. We chatted with her for a bit and she brought her four very young children to meet us, as well. This experience is one of the many times the world feels so small. We left the mosque and rode rickshaw to a spice market. Whoa, now that was a ride. A rickshaw is a setup where a resilient young man pedals a bike which pulls people in very small wheeled carts, which are hitched to the rear of the bike. Weaving through the streets I saw storefronts, shoppers, bag carriers, motorcyclists, carts with fruit and more. The electricity cables throughout the neighborhood were wound up around the poles like spaghetti on the end of a fork. Monkeys crawled and climbed the wires just like trees and vines in a forest. We all enjoyed that moment with cameras. We took a short tour through the spice market. Bay away it crowded. Touring anywhere on a holy day is always going to be a busy and crowding experience. Merchants and buyers were everywhere, folks trying to sell us something and folks intrigued by our sign language clustered in close. We entered a winding hallway where chiles and other spices we're being broken down and processed for sale. Everyone was coughing and complaining about the scent/taste front he aromatic chiles, similar to the experience of pepper spray. Luckily for me, my asthma and allergies had prompted me to wear a surgical mask during our tour. I didn't smell a thing. Once we decided the spices were enough to endure, we all piled into a small bus like clowns in a VW Bug to wind up back at our tour bus at the Red Fort where we immediately took off to head back to the hotel. For it was NewYear's Eve and we all wanted to eat, rest, shop, and prepare for a party at club Mocha to ring 2012 Indian Style. With only an hour and a half to shop, which is a very short time for me, I had to find just the right outfit to celebrate the new year. I the same market where i had shopped in the morning, I tried on a beautiful bright gown, which was too much money and not enough fabric. Indian clothing is catered toward a leaner frame, of which I do not have. Then we found another store with nice clothes for a little bit less than the other store, but still pricey. I negotiated my way into a beautiful too which falls passed my knees and is bejeweled at the heart with many stones and frilled with ribbons on the ends. It needed to be tailored to fit, a process which will take two hours. "But I need it tonight!"I said. The business woman said it was impossible. But she didn't want to lose the sale so she called for a tailor to come right away for me. He had it done in 25 minutes. And people wonder why I'm such a diva. PAH! We were done shopping and I left myself only 20 minutes to get ready for the party. We had so much fun!!!! Many of us were dressed to the nines in our fancy Indian clothes. We were so excited to go party. After walking in, wandering through a few floors and rooms, we looked around and realized all the Indian folks were dressed in more contemporary modern attire, and us tourists were in traditional garb. Food and refreshments were had, dances were shared, and Happy New Year wishes were exchanged amongst everyone in the club. Everyone there was so friendly. So many Indians offered to shake my hand and wish me Happy New Year. Maybe my four years of living in NYC has just made me a little paranoid and skeptical. The DJ toggled between American pop music and Indian Bollywood music. That was fun. He threw in some West Indian music, too. During a Bollywood song, an Indian woman who seemed around the same age as me, started to teach me how to properly dance to the song. That was a lot of fun. People started cheering us on and eventually more folks joined in and we all danced in a circle. Many hearing people tend to assume that ASL is a universal language, which is false. There are many many sign languages in this world. But the one universal language which will always bring cultures together is dance. Happy New Year, Delhi! - 📳Posted using 📝BlogPress from my iPad📲.

From the air

This post was originally written during last night's adventures. This morning, as it is 11am in Delhi, India, I finally got my wifi connected. So I will be posting more tonight........ On international flights, things are different. I'm used to flying on JetBlue, Southwest, or United Airlines. These planes are tadpoles in comparison to the behemoth toad that is his double decker, tripper rowed, free meals and drinks provided Boeing boat of a plane. Also, the environment is different. Of course while flying a German airline, it would only make sense for signs, announcements, and the staff to all be in, you guessed it, German. For the first time, I feel like the different one. Well maybe the second time. My first few weeks at Gallaudet sure evoked feelings of being an outsider. Anywho, I have to remind myself how much emphasis Americans have about 'personal space.' that doesn't really exist on an international flight. Suck it up and go with the flow. A little arm brush never hurt anyone. The babies are awful. If you have seen any of my recent tweets, I'm sure you know I'm not particularity fond of children in airports. There are three in my row. One could not stop wailing/screaming for about half and hour after take off. Thankfully, that stopped. I was offered a window seat at check in, but it's far away from the group. Looking back at them, I noticed all the deaf folks standing up in the back chatting. I finished my free German beer, which tasted like buttery amazingness by the way, and joined all the cool kids in the back. I'm so glad I did. When I came to return to my cornered window seat, the other two people in my row had their feet on the wall sleeping. So I decided to go back to the Deaf Area and have a seat. Luckily there was a spare. Looking out the window, the lights are beautiful. I think we're in Europe, maybe England and France?? They look just like Lancaster and Southern California except a bit more geometric and village oriented (also see: not spread out). I'm running on basically no sleep and still so happy. I gonna crash at the airport in Germany, and then I can sleep on the flight to India. We arrive in the morning so that means I won't have time to really sleep for another day. Good grief. Again, I'm meeting more amazing people because of Gallaudet. More on that later. There are Deaf Ambassadors from Mali, Jamaica, Nepal, Kenya, and India. I feel so humbled and blessed to share this experience with such influential people. Now time for breakfast on the plane. - 📳Posted using 📝BlogPress from my iPad📲.

Location:Hans Raj Gupta Marg,New Delhi,India

Snakes on a, er... I mean: Kids on a plane to Germany

This is my fifth plane in 14 days. I'm starting to get the hang of it. Traveling lightly is definitely important, but also difficult during the holidays. I'm sitting in a window seat, the friendly German flight attendant hooked me up. The only downside is that I'm separated from the rest of the group. I hate feeling like an outsider. But maybe this will help me sleep. I know if I was sitting with Gally folks I would be much more likely to chat and stay up. But I can do that in Frankfurt, too. It was so nice to bump into friends after the break. I forgot how much I love being here. I wish everywhere was like Gallaudet, sign language everywhere!!
I'm not sure it's really hit me yet. Maybe it won't until I arrive in Germany. Right now my brain is just processing this as another flight to CA or some other American place. But my brain sure has a surprise in I store when we hang out in Frankfurt for five hours. I'm sooo looking forward to this adventure. But I'm not looking forward to the babies on the plane. In case you are unaware, I hate traveling with kids. They get their own coloring mats at restaurants; they deserve their own airline.


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Location:43A

Pre-Boarding.

We are the first folks here. I'm getting so excited. I'm back signing again with all my Gally friends. So many folks here have travelled internationally before, or ARE international themselves. This trip will be so much fun! I feel like its just the beginning of my international journeys in Deaf Education. Cheers to the first flight! I'll update you in Frankfurt, Germany.


Here's some Indian Sign Language Alphabet for practice:



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Location:Dulles International Airport (IAD)

Morning of India

So after a fun night of wine, cheesecake, Bravo, and the Internet... I couldn't sleep until 5 am. Horrible timing the night before my big trip. After this free breakfast provided by the hotel, filled with crying and coughing babies everywhere, I'm going to try and nap. Oh, and I have to finish reading that book, clean up, shower, pack and be all checked out by 1pm. Good grief. - 📳Posted using 📝BlogPress from my iPad📲.

Location:Still at the hotel: Sterling Rd,Dulles,United States

'Tis the season

A Self Portrait.


Wow, I haven't updated since September. If its any solace, I got all A's and a B+ and worked 20 hours a week. And got sick twice. And my dad was in and out of a nursing home and hospital. But now, I have time and even MORE reason to blog. I'm going to India. Remember during orientation week when I was a hot mess? I didn't know what I was doing and was interested in international deaf education? Well, Gallaudet is hosting a study abroad program in India and I'm going!!!!!! First time out of the states. Don't tell anyone. It's a little embarrassing. Especially since I'm from California. You'd think I would have at least been to Tijuana. Anyway, I'll be updating here, at ASLshauna.blogspot.com, at least daily with pictures and anecdotes. I can't wait I can't wait I can't wait I can't wait! I other news my Dad is doing better, but as of tonight, back in the hospital. I'm just hoping for the best. Also as of tonight, Chelsea Lately is hilarious. I digress... So school is awesome. I'm so glad I put on my big girl pants and dealt with it all. I almost feel like a grown up. Spring 2012 semester has a big surprise I store, stay tuned... I (finally) got to spend the holidays with my parents this year. Just in time for my mother's 70th Birthday!!!!! Wow. 70. That's a big deal. I'm so happy for her and so proud of her for being a strong woman. Happy Birthday, Mom! This past year has been intense: Promoted. More ASL classes. Rocky relationships. Self confidence. Dad's stroke. Seeing my long lost brother and sister. Choosing and going to a grad school. Moving. Accepting newness. Transferring jobs. Dealing with the reality that is the horribleness of the DC metro. Finding my strength. Letting go and moving on. If I keep this up, I just might post my New Year's Resolutions. Happy Holidays.





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Location:A Hotel: Sterling Rd,Dulles,United States