MirandaInIndia

Some more pictures!

2010-02-18T14:06:00.004+01:00

Elsa on our street where we live!

Elsa cutting the cake on her birthday.

Anu me and Elsa on her birthday by a beautiful lake.

Eating snacks in India is so easy and cheap. Here me Anu,
Elsa and Shiva is having noodles for only 10 rupies, around 1,5 swedish crownes.

Me, in Saari for the first time. It was on the Indian republik day and we had a celebration at work.

Shiva and me on the way to Chumandi Hill where there is a nice tempel with a beautiful view.

A normal image here. A lot of cows on a normal street.

Pushpa and Elin bargin at a market.

My favorite drink here!

2010-02-05T14:14:00.000+01:00

My favorite drink here, Mirinda. In India you are not allowed to touch with the lips while drinking, it took me a whoile before I got the hang of it but look now!

Transexual's rights in India.

2010-02-04T09:31:00.002+01:00

Nina, a curious girl, Elsa and Nancy sitting in the parc doing our project work about transsexual's rights in India.

Before I come here to India I think I had a lot of prejudges but most of them have been smashed since I arrived here. One prejudge was that the situation for gays and transsexuals was really bad. In some ways maybe it is, but transsexuals on local language Hijidas, is quite common here and they have a long history, maybe thousands of years. Elsa have transsexual friends, Nancy is really enthusiastic about their rights, Nina have worked with hbt-rights in Sweden and I see it as a part of the feminist straggle so we all feel very strongly about this subject. Therefore we decided to make our project work about transsexual's rights in India. Today we were sitting in the parc, discussing it and writing a project plan. It was really nice and I'll tell you more about it later.

Nancy and me in the parc.

2010-02-04T09:09:00.000+01:00

On my own for the first time!

2010-01-30T10:11:00.002+01:00

Today is the first I'm outside the house without Elsa, I've just gone to an internet cafe 5 minutes from home but still the traffic is crazy. However I have stopped thinking that my last moment is coming each time I cross a street and I become braver day by day. Normally Elsa and I do everything together, it is very sweet and all, she really takes good care of me but it feels nice to have a tiny piece of independence again.

I can't upload pictures on this computer either so I'm afraid you have to wait some more for the wedding pictures. After the wedding we had such a nice time, Elsa, the host mother Komaula, Sonia (who works as an engineer and lives with the family) and me. Everybody agreed that being married is comparable to sitting in gail for a woman. I think women here are much more honest about their situation and find more comfort in each other than in Sweden. Then again the women's rights situation is completely different here in India.

When it comes to marriages here in India, it is most common that the parents arrange it and that the husband and wife don't know each other before. They believe it is a better insurance than being in love for a stable marriage, and that you learn to love someone if you are married to him/her. My host parnets had an arranged wedding and I beielve that they love each other now. When I told them about Swedish system with deworses being common and that most people remarry, the host father said that he never wanted someone else but Komaula and that he only loved her.

Their daughter Nandini, have a love marrige, which is less common and has less status, but the host mother is really proud of that, it was one of the first things she told me about her family. Whether you have an arraged or love marriage depends on the family, but in general people are very open about it and it is easy to talk about.

Indian wedding!

2010-01-29T09:05:00.002+01:00

Two days ago I went to an indian wedding it was really nice! Everybody wore so beautiful Saris and the food was so tasty. I'll post pictures later so you'll see. Today we are going to have educatinal day about child labour which seems to be quite common here. I often see small kids working in their parents shop ect, due to pouverty.

I'll update soon again with pictures! See ya!

First pictures!!!

2010-01-25T12:34:00.006+01:00

A normal breakfast here in India, Chapati bread with chutney and masala, so tasty!!

Elsa, my Indian partner, and I in the host family, eating breakfast.

Elsa with her soft toys, one japanease bear and one swedish elk.

My friend Shiva, feeding a banana to a monkey.

Elsa, me, Aishwarya, Elin and Rebecka outside a tempel in the middle of the night

The host father with his granddaughter Surevi, rhey really love each other.

Surevi with her mother, Nandini.
She is so nice, yesterday she took us shopping!

Elsa and I in the host family with friends to the family.

The whole groupe of indian swedish people outside Mysore palace which was really beautiful.

This is from the first day when we arrived here in India. They had a beautiful welcome ceremony.

Me in Elsa's Shoridar, traditional indian dress.
On our way to work and met this nice cow.

Elsa, my indian partner, and I in a shopping mall buying me indian clothes.

Yesterday the host mother Komaula taught me to cook "Palov", it was really good.

One week in India and I'm still as happy as when I fist arrived!

2010-01-24T06:18:00.002+01:00

Sorry about the poorly update and that I haven't posted any pictures yet, the connection possibilities aren't the best but I'll try to update at least once a week and with lots of pictures next time.

I'm still so happy happy happy here in India, I wonder when the problem will arise but hopefully it will stay this good. People are so very nice and friendly and I feel welcomed everywhere I go. Elsa (my Indian partner) and I arrived at our host family's house here in Mysore on the 19th and they are all so wonderful people. The host mothe wants us to call her "Ama", which means mom in Canada, the local language, and she is so eager to teach me Canada and today she will teach me how to cook lunch. She's a really good cook and I love her food so I always eat to much. I think I'll gain weight instead of loose as I thought in the beggining haha.

The host father is also vey nice but he works a lot so I haven't sped so much time with him yet and he doesn't speak so much english. They have a son, Sager, who studies Economics in Univesety and he is really nice, teaching me Canada too, and I teach him some swedish. Everybody is so talented when it comes to languges here in India, they speak at least 3-4 different, and some people speak more than 7!!

They also have a daughter who is maried and have the cutest baby I'ven seen, they ive in an other part of Mysoe but they spend a lot of time in the family, and the daughter Nandji, is so nice, yesterday she took us shopping. She will aso show us cheap places where to buy nice clothes. I have already bought some handmade, after my own measures and the clothes are so beautiful, I'll show you pictures later.

The work with homeless women is also very nice. I thought at first that it'd be tough o see so many people in need, but they are no victims. They are so nice and we play games and sing and talk and have so much fun together, even though they have been thrrough horriabe things. I love going to work! Only pobem is that most of them don't speak english but I'm learing Canda and Elsa and I are going to have english classes for them and some basic computer knowedge.

I could keep writing about eveything I love here but I'll do it in another update. Next time I'll tell you wha a nomal day looks like for me and I'll show you beautiful pictures. So until then, take care! Gros bisous!!

India, here I am!

2010-01-18T13:35:00.002+01:00

Shubarathi!! (means gond night/evening in canada, the local language here in Bangalore) So many things have happened since last time I updated! I'm in India now, outside the city of Bangalore. We're met up with all the indian people now and they are all so very nice and friendly! We're together atthis resort that is really peaceful and beatiful. In the morning we do yoga as the sun rises and we have really nice indian meals, including rice and hot spicy stew for breakfast - I love it! I hope to learn how to cook it myself before I leave.

Everything is ten times better than I ever could have expected and I am so happy right now! Everybody is so nice and I feel so welcome here. This will really be my home for the coming 3 mouths. I have gotten toknow the girl that I will partner wither during the whole project, she is so nice and easy to talk to and we have great fun together. Her name is Elizabeth but everybody call her Elsa. She's 18 years old, lives with her family in Bangalore and is studying to become a journalist. She has promised to teach me Canada (the local indian language here) and I will teach her Swedish, she's already really good. We get along so well and I feel that we're gonna be a great team.

Elsa and I are going to live in Mysore, a city 3 hours from Bangalore, in a host family with husband, wife and a 20 year old daughter. Tomorrow we're going to meet them for the first time and I'm a bit nervous - I so hope that they will like me! Within a few days Elsa and I are going to start working at a center for empowering women. The organisation is called Shakthi Dhama, which means "energy peace". It all seems really and well organized. The center offers a home to homeless women who have had different problems. Some have lived with an abusive husband, some havew been forced into prostitution and some are unwed mothers. I'm really excited about working there and I will tell you all about once I get more information.

To all my friends and family reading this, I send you all my love and I will write to you soon and answer all mails! Miss you lots but I'm so happy where I am! Gros bisous!! Miranda

2010-01-13T21:18:00.003+01:00

Hi again! Sorry about the poorly update, I've been buzy with studying and celebreting christmas. Time has gone by so quickly the last weeks so now it's just 2 days left and then I'm off to India! Seriously I can hardly believe it, but I'm so happy about it. Right now I've met up with the group of people going with me and they're all so cool. We're at this country house outside Stockholm, doing the final preparation for the trip and getting to know each other better. Outside the window there is beautiful white snow everywhere, the water is frozen and it's minus 15 degrees. Strange enought, this time in two days it'll be 30 degrees and hot sun and i'll probably be red like a lobster already. I'll tell you all about that then! Bisous!

First vaccine tomorrow!

2009-11-24T23:01:00.005+01:00

I'm sure it looks worse than it is!

Yeah, I'm gonna take me first vaccine tomorrow and I'm a bit nervous! I'm gonna protect myself from all these terrible deseases like hepatite so it's really a good thing though. Afterwards I'll be proud to say that I survived an other one of lifes horrors haha. No seriously, it's not that bad, that's why I'm finishing with a happy picture:

Happy Spongebob!

Thank you Draken!!!

2009-11-23T16:59:00.001+01:00

I had a meeting with the MD of my old high school today, Erik Drakenberg at Täbyenskilda gymnasium and he was willing to sponsor me. They're going have a link to my blog on the schools webpage and I’m gonna do some lectures about India and the project. Jeeeey, exciting!

India, here I come!

2009-11-20T11:05:00.003+01:00

A town somewhere in India.

I’m going to India in less than two months, I start the countdown today! The 16th of January I’ll be on the plane to whatever is expecting me there. I know that I am going to do voluntary work, probably with children. I know that I am going to run a project about human rights. I know I’m going to partner with an Indian girl. We’re going to work together, run the project together and we’re going to live in an Indian family together. I hope we’ll become the best of friends.

I also know that I am going to live in Mysore, a city 3 hours from Bangalore. Apart from this I don’t know much what to expect from my time in India. Almost anything could happen and I’m sure that I’m going develop myself and grow a lot as a person - and hopefully make the world a little bit better on the way. I am really excited and happy that I have this opportunity.

A beautiful mape of India.

I go through the organization CIU, who work with cultural youth exchange. The project is party SIDA financed and party private sponsors. Today I had a meeting with the founders of Business in Heart, a company/network who supports female enterprising. They were very positive to the project since they are on their way expanding their company to India and I’m looking forward to cooperate with them. Is your company/organization interested in a collaboration? Just email me on Miranda.akermalm@hotmail.com

So, just 57 days to go now and so much to do! Next week I’m going to two network meetings for Business in Heart, a meeting with the VD of my old high school and also I’m going to be interviewed for the local news paper. Not to mention that I have exams at University on Thursday. A busy week with other words, but I’m really looking forward to everything. India, here i come!

This is a quite romantic image of India, one person on his own

about to explore the religious mystisism.