Faculty & Staff Development Trip - India ‘08

There’s some good news at Ranthambore National Park, where we went on our tiger safaris. Fourteen tiger cubs have been spotted so far this year. See The Times of India article for more. And here’s a picture from our trip of what may be one of the mothers!

Thanks to Renu and Jim for hosting a reunion dinner at their home this past weekend! It was great to see those who were able to attend and reminisce. I hope more of you are able to check this blog and make some additions. I’ve put the links to Andria’s pictures back on the Link to Trip Photos page along with a whole bunch more that she sent. Enjoy!

I hope all of you enjoyed the trip as much as I did. As I have time, I’m planning to post the impressions India made on me. Please join me, don’t be shy, most of us are new to blogging. I would also like to hear from you about some of unusual things that happened or a funny story. For example, how an elephant handed Janis her sun glasses. I’ll let Janis tell the story.

Impressions:
Water - The quality, the cost, and the scarcity. I wasn’t taken by surprised, but it does make more of an impression when you experience it first hand. To see people each morning in rural areas going to the wells to bath and carry water back home on their heads or strapped to their bikes.

Women working in saris - I was surprised to see women working in building construction, road construction and farming wearing beautiful saris. Not to mention their ability to carry bricks or a bundle of harvest on their heads.

The animals - Cows, dogs and monkeys. They were just so calm and uninterested in us. The dogs didn’t even approach us. Dogs laying on the sidewalk at a major tourist attraction while people walked around them. Cows that stood in the middle of traffic that was whizzing by.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip. For a link to the rest of mine and others, click the “Links to trip photos” link.

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to share this blog with you - thanks to Michelle Alyea who started this process - we are now live and ready to take your photos, comments, journals, videos….anything and everything that you would like to throw at us!

This would also be your way of learning a ‘new art’ ….the art of blogging, in case you have not done this before. In a little while I will send a message across to the India trip participants and share the details of how to log on and access this tool. I am repeating the details here:

Go to http://blogs.valpo.edu and click the SignUp Page link. Pick a username (could be any available) and enter the valpo email address. Click the “just a username, please” option. Let me or Michelle Alyea know when that is done and we can then add you as a “contributor” to the existing blog: http://blogs.valpo.edu/india08

Happy Blogging!!!

This blog will be to collect personal reflections and photographs of those who participated in the Spring Break ‘08 faculty development trip to northern India. Watch for more to come!