Jaipur Family Matters and off to wwoof

Kelly's Life

Hej does anybody remember T.G.I.F nights and family matters with Steven Q Erkle. Brings back good times for me.

So I arrived to Jaipur after my first solo train trip to meet a couch surfer. Every couchsurfing experience seems to have unexpected elements to them and this was no different. I ended up becoming one of the family in Jaipur. It was difficult at first as I didn't know what was expected of me, my freedom (which was previously near 100%) diminish to having to let people know when I wanted to go to the bathroom, and finding myself staying around the house instead of out exploring the town. To be honest I felt that I was wasting my time in the first day or so but I thought in my head, "Maybe there is something that I'm suppose to learn here. Some kind of different challenge or opportunity." And lately I've been taking these thoughts more seriously. I'm glad I did. After a couple of days I really started to enjoy myself with the family. Vicky's (the couchsurfer I originally contacted) beautiful wife, two daughters, baby boy, and grandparents really made me feel welcome and we had a lot of laughs together. As well, being imersed in the family gave me new motivation for learning Hindi and also allowed me to see Rajasthani, if not Indian, culture and gave me a good mirror for viewing my own culture. I feel women aren't treated as equal and they seem to do a lot of work but they also have a lot of fun too. I got to learn more about parenting and felt a bit more prepared after interacting with the baby boy and seeing how things played out. I was also a big star in the neighbourhood. I can't recall how many times I was at the centre of a big crowd of people trying to comunicate or talking to the one person that spoke English while he/she translated my answers to the crowd. Exhausting at times but I began to get more comfortable with it and enjoyed the attention and opportunity to resolve myths about "foreigners" or at least entertein the people for awhile with my strangeness.
With some frustration two farms that I'd planned to wwoof at were unable to host me due to no vacancy (which is great to see that these places are getting interest that will hopefully inspire growth). Calling another farm I felt again "Maybe I'm suppose to go to a different farm" and I finally got in contact with a farm that would take me right away. Saying goodbye to the Jaipur family was sad but I think I made some really good friends there and I hope to visit them again before I leave India.
As for the farm, it wasn't exactly what I expected. More of a processing plant than a farm. They pick and process Amla (a small apple/peach like fruit), making juice and dried fruit in large quantities. They also make an aluevera juice (good for digestion and has other medicinal usages), have mustard fields and other crops as well as some water buffalo and cows. So far I've been helping in the factory which really takes me back to the Boerboom's (old tree nursery job) except less people speak english, it's stickier, containing exponentially more flies, organic!, and I don't get paid. I've decided for the last few weeks that I will not give to beggers. Instead I will give to different organisations. I haven't done this in a while so I'm viewing this farm as a way to give back. I'm working hard for about 8 hours a day, helping one of the kids with their english homework, and eating two meals a day. I think I'm definitely earning my keep and like to think that I'm making a good contribution. I'm really hoping to get out in the fields soon but I guess as long as I'm helping out I'm happy. I just wonder if wwoofers are taking away employment from other people? Wwoofing is rather cheap labour. Oh it is so hard to truely help!
Being at the farm working hard is a nice change regardless and it's giving me lots of ideas of how I would run my own farm (differently:).
I'm hoping we'll harvest the mustard in the fields tomorrow and I'm going to try to help milk the cows and help some of the neighbouring farmers harvest their grains as a break from the factory work. I'm living with about three families (it's hard to tell the relations) so I get to see more family dynamics, which have been a bit physical, further establishing in me that I'll never use pain as a punishment. Helping one of the girls with their english is also giving me ideas for teaching english and I am feeling better about my hindi. I can almost read am starting to make sentences! I got discouraged though, when I failed multiple times to communiate my small words and phrases to some of the people I was working with. Discouraged until I realized that they didn't speak hindi; they spoke only Rajasthani. Duh!
Well I'm planning to stay on the farm for about a week longer then head to Pushkar for a few days and possibly meet up with a friend to ride camels from Pushkar to Jaisalmer (a 10-12 day trip).
From there? Who knows, south I rekon but the rate and destinations along the way are less clear. I'll let you know when I do.
Hope everyone is doing well and feel free to post comments or send me messages saying I'm great or full of crap or anything in between.
Peace and health,
Kelly
P.S
USBs not working so pictures today. Sorry.