On sunday night Heidi, Natalie and Caithlin and I decide to find a mosque. We felt this would be sunday appropriate. Women are not allowed into many mosques so we wanted to find one with a ladies' section but struggled to find even one. The mosque we found was very big. It is actually called the Big Mosque, so there you go. Upon entering the grounds we covered our head. To the est of the mosque there was a shrine to a saint. A man on a motorcycle stopped us and said that we could enter the grounds but we could not go in the mosque or the shrine. It seems as if Indians love to tell us what we can and cannot do, we have gotten that alot. Although in most cases it saved us from an embarrassing situation, in other cases, such as this one, it was a guideline and not a rule. When we approached the shrine they invited us to take our shoes and come worship. Eat that motorcycle man. I was very hesitant at first to walk inside because there were these huge ants crawling around, I am talking HUGE. I swallowed by hesitancy and put on my brave face and did it. i flinched, noticeably, a couple of times and was made fun of it for it but oh well.
Along with ants I am learning to get used to a lot of new elements. Yesterday was my first usage of squatter toilet. I have used one before but it was seven years ago. I have relearn somethings. Today I took my first bucket shower. I getting used to sleeping on the cement floor. Surprisingly it is not that bad. I am grateful I brought a pillow. I am also getting used to the aroma produced by the substance on the side of the road on the street Liann calls 'poo lane.' But people are nice. The women always tell me hello as I make a stroll through the village.
I have a wide range of emotions while staying here, and they differ at each time of day. When I am sitting on the veranda with a girl from my group and talking to the little village kids while feeling the wind blow I feel grateful to have the opportunity to experience this side of life.
I using my blog as a forum to tell the people I love what is going on in my life, but I would like to hear about yours. I may not have the time to start and email and send it to everybody but if you send me an email I will reply. I hope to have pictures up next week. Stay tuned.

Go Touch the Calendar

My blog title is from one of my favorite lines these past two days. I cant believe I am only on my third day here. I am not implying that it goes by fast but rather I have had so many experiences and most have turned out positive or can be seen as a learning expereince. We are in India, not everything is peachy keen, despite what you guys have maybe previously thought about it. My flight to here left on tuesday night at 10pm and I arrived in Chennai on Friday morning at one am. I was so happy to see Liann and Heidi there to get my bags. It is so freaking hot here... so hot, so hot. The internet in this cafe is pricey but it has air con and I can't say the same for my hotel room. After getting a full wiff of the Indian air we took a taxi to the hotel. I tried to sleep but I could not so I chatted with Heidi and Liann about life and love and our new lives here. There have been times when I have said why the h did I come here. Why why why. It is hot and you can even cool down. You guys know I am from Arizona and I like the heat but not like this. It stinks because we are right next to the bay of Bengal but the community pumps waiste into the ocean so there will be no swimming.
But there are good parts and eventually the good will out way the bad and I won't be jet lagged and I will get used to the heat. There is this man with no legs that sit on a pillow and wears a cap. We pass him every day on the way to the train station and he always says good day madam and smiles. He doesnt even have a tin can in front of him. I have learned to appreciate his smile. At the end of the street there is a lady who sells jasmine flowers on a string. Women put flowers in their hair everyday. They usually attach the sting to their pony tail. Heidi buys Jasmine from this lady. My hair is short and cannot handle a pony tail but I really wanted to support this lady so i bought some. Later that day I returned and showed her how I jimmy rigged the thing in there. She said I looked beautiful. We hardly speak the same language!!
Today is sunday and we went to church. It was a crazy and beautiful. The getting was crazy but the being there was beautiful. They had AC! A whole three hours of AC!!
We will be in Chennai until wednesday afternoon and then we will take a train into Coimbatore, spend the night and then head over to our village, Chavadi Pudur, where it won't be as hot.
The quote in the subject line has to do with the crazy man who was checking the rest of the people in. He wanted them to pay for four nights and I said we would only pay for two nights. I dont think I can relate the story in text, you kind of have to know crazy man. Anyway, I'm actual.

Springtime in Chennai

Ok people. you can stop worrying because I made it safely to India. Unfortunately, at this time I am oh so tired and will not be able to tell you about my travels and adventures until I recieve some sleep...
So stay tuned.

I'm Going to India to Get Married

My brother, Sam, is getting married in a week. It is a very exciting time for my family, but I 've noticed there is not as much attention on me but more on my brother, and as a youngest child this lack of attention is strange. Today, Liz, Sam's fiance, went through the temple and we had a family lunch afterwards and that was the forum I used to make my annoucement. The secret is out, I am getting married in India and now you all know my real reason and can use the comment section to give your advice. I don't plan on meeting my future sweetie until the day of the wedding, so... if you wanted to know about him I can't tell you anything.
This is Liz Rhodes. She is marrying my brother, and soon will be called Liz Lambson. In this picture she is holding a bouquet that I made for her bridals. I am doing all the flower arrangements for the wedding. Who knew I was so talented? It will be the first marriage in my family. My parents always knew that Sam would be the first one, and so did we. First comes loves, then comes marriage and then BABIES. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Their story is like a mini romance novel and if you want to read it click here
On a different note, I am almost done with all my finals! Yeah! Woo hoo! I just have to do a make up final and then my book binding final and I am home free. More like I am free to travel to India. I leave in eleven days! eleven days! I bought linen pants at the savers today, two pairs! I totally thought I was going to bring my jeans for traveling until I bought some clothes to wear but apparently jeans are too form fitting. So I bough linen pants and I am in love with them. For awhile now I have been disenchanted with jeans. i hate almost every single pair of jeans I have. I think the purchase of these linen pants is the begining of my jean strike, I wish it were lint because then I could do a trial run a swear off jeans for lint. In India I will be wearing salwar camises (I have not idea how to spell it, but they are like long tunics with slacks, if you can imagine that) and saris. To the left, Heidi and I are wearing some saris. Heidi will be going with me to india, along with six other kids who I don't really know but will shortly know very well.

La la la Life

If you haven't checked out Kirsten's Blog yet, you should. As I was reading what she had to say I was wishing I could say things in such a way. I also wished I would keep up my blog. And so I logged on to start my blogging journey. I realized I hated my template. The template I had was the fifth one I have had since I started blogging and I only have three posts! I tried to do some work on it today but I still don't really like it. I am trying to find a style that is me. I can't find it. I really like yellow and purple but I couldn't put those colors in my blog. I tried. Its funny because they are my favorite colors but I can't seem to incorporate them in my life. You would think I would have more of it in my closet, but I don't
I feel like I have so many things to address. what is the purpose of a blog? I guess it has the same function as facebook or myspace, ya know, to keep people connected, but it is probably classier. But who defines 'classy'? I would like to have a well established blog before I go to India because I want to be able to let people that are important to me in on my doings.
Let me first get started with my reasons for going to India. I first thought about the prospect of going to India last April during finals week. I was an art history major and was disenchanted and dissatisfied with the more possible future. I walked in the Kennedy Center one day looking for some way to get me out of this country. I saw a flier for the India field study. I went to the main office and met three people who currently play a significant role in my preparation for India. It was there that they described to me what a field study would be like. it was what I wanted. i didn't want to do a tour of all the european museums, I wanted to be somewhere and I wanted to learn about a people. This is it, this is my chance. I don't mean to have a limited perspective. I could probably try to do this on my own but I am ok with being guided around my someone who already knows the ropes.
The road to India got me to declare my major as Anthropology, which I am in love with. I know, who knew you could be 'in love' with a major. I feel good about where I am going, not just about literally going like going to India but also about where I am going in Life (yes, a capital L). I have a tentative five year plan but lets be honest how long do those last. I feel as if I am finally where I wanted to be my whole college career but I didn't know about it.
I hope you, my friends, continue to read my musings and while I am away I am sure all of you will be avid readers of my 'blog'.

The Saga of Ripping Pants

Welp, it happened again. Then again, then again, then another time. I ripped my pants. Through the course of seven months I have ripped my pants five times. It truly is amazing that I could go through the first twenty years of my life with only getting ripes in my knees and now I here I am with four dead pants in my closet. I would now like to take this time and guide everyone who reads my blog the life and death of my pants.
1. Aprilish, 2007 reading day right before finals. There I am in the Wilk wearing what might as well be my least favorite pants. I hate these pants but I wear them because I have to wear clothes when my favorite pair are dirty. I bent over tie my shoes (which I rarely do because I am always having other people do it for me) and then rip! right across the back pocket, luckily I had a satchel that covered that area nicely. Also I hated those pants so no big deal in the end
2. July 5thish. It was my first day of work at the Greenhouse and my favorite pants,which I had had for about three years, decided to start tearing in the thigh area. I tried to save them by putting a iron on patch in that area but that proved fruitless.
3. Two days later. These pair of jeans were pretty great. I had had them for about two year and I wore them about evey other day. This time I was again at work. I had step up onto a platform and rip! Right across my back pocket. Instead of going home to change my pants I ducked taped them, but then I had to throw them away. That truly was a sad moment
4. End of November .I was down to four pairs of jeans. I hated two of them and the other two were great. I wore these jeans I had gotten from Christmas that my mom had gotten from Buckle, so these were expensive jeans to me. I wore them alot and I could tell that they were wearing out in the crotch, getting thinner and thinner. One day they ripped on the right side, but I was determined these pants would last me so I put a iron on patch up in there.
5. December 1, 2007 11:22pm. Those pants from above ripped, almost right in half. I was playing broom hockey on the ice over at the seven peaks. I was going for the ball and fell and then rip! For the rest of the night I has to wear a jacket around my waist.
And now I am down to one pair of descent pants and two that I hate.
I am sure the saga will continue

National Public Sydney

You're listening to All Things Considered with your host Sydney Lambson.
So here I am writing a blog. It is fun. I think what I do is pick a theme and write about it. That is what my friends are doing with their blogs.
I would like to take this blog and discuss National Public Radio or as my mother likes to throw around "the NPR." I like NPR. It comes me informed. I especially like "wait, wait, don't tell me" and "all songs considered." I have been told the NPR is what you listen to when you get older. My parents and my siblings are addicted. So we will sit there at the dinner table quoting NPR. It gets competitive trying to keep up with them. I am at a disadvantage because I don't have a car so I can't listen to it on my daily transits. I do listen to the podcasts when I get the time. The thing is we are really the ones at the disadvantage, my whole family. All we do is listen in NPR and claim we know something about what is going on in the world. I have found that I have a skill in grasping on to the smallest piece of information and making it sound like I know something. The crazy thing is I always get away with it. I don't have to read the paper or watch the news, NPR will cover me. I can get away with it because I have found that most of my peers don't know what going on in the world either, so it feeds my skimming of news habit.

Someday I will get called out on my bluff. Someday I will begin to truly be informed.