Dirt...and the best shower ever.

With technical difficulties solved, here is my first blog entry.

What has troubled me the most about Calcutta, is the dirt and pollution.  Though I have never witnessed poverty (and population) of this magnitude, reading books, watching documentaries and being reminded  (more than once) by Paul and Sarah, I felt somewhat prepared for the shanty style huts and tents, emaciated animals, and some very sad, solemn faces.

But, after our relatively short ride from the airport to the hotel, I "collected" so much soot and dirt in my nose, that it easily took 5 - 7 blows to remove all traces of black gunk from my body. That coupled with a complete lack of sleep made me seriously question what the heck I was doing here.  A "dump" that I saw was probably the size of 3 or 4  football fields, in the middle of a neigborhood, where people dump anything and everything.  Dirt is everywhere, piles of it, and it covers everything...nothing is clean, really.  There are no trash cans anywhere, so all the refuse gets littered on the street, the sidewalks, you name it.  Men can often be seen urinating on the side of the road.

It wasn't until taking a much needed nap on Sunday afternoon, and an evening trip to the mall (yes, mall) with everything from escalators, iced coffee, a wonderful bookstore, and most importantly filtered air, that I was able to see the forest thru the trees, realizing that it was going to be okay.  It was while walking and talking with my new TEN family that I begin to feel the excitement of my journey, not the discouragement that I felt from being so far from home.  I am in India to meet some of the most amazing women and children in the world, discover some of the beauty and culture of their land, and be a part of something much bigger than myself. And, oh ya, my first shower in approximately three days (though only 1 minute long and mostly cold) was the best ever.