January 24, 2024
Clown Car
After three weeks of long days filled with exploration and unpredictable adventures, we have entered week four, kicking off our work with our partner organizations. Today, my teammates and I working with Biome had the opportunity to visit some of their project sites. Our day got off to a bit of a rough start when…
January 23, 2024
Being Quiet
I would say being quiet is something I’m pretty good at. When someone speaks to me directly, it’s routine for me to respond politely, yet uninviting of further conversation. It feels easier to do so, especially as we enter this 4th week in India and other things are occupying my mind. Sometimes I’m thinking about…
To Be Determined
I woke up more excited than usual; today was my first day with my organization, Swasti. Since I did not know exactly what I would be doing with them, I eagerly looked forward to arriving and beginning work with my team. Since starting GCIL, family and friends have asked me, “Adam what are you doing…
January 22, 2024
Taking the Training Wheels Off
Starting today, GCIL students will be setting off to start working with our respective organizations. In some regards the past few weeks have been, as best I know how to describe it, the greatest field trip of my life. We have visited temples, parks, met a silk buyer, and given birds peanuts to dance. I…
No Particular Night or Morning
The past three weeks have been a blur of Bangalore, Srirangapatna, Mysore and many crammed bus rides. Learning the good, bad, and ugly about each other and India. I catch myself often feeling like these are still our first few days here rather than the end of three weeks. This weekend marked the beginning of…
January 19, 2024
Why are we here?
This is a question I keep asking myself. So far it seems like we have spent most of our days riding the bus, visiting new places, meeting inspiring people, and learning things I never thought I needed to know. It is all very exciting. Except for the bus part. But why are we doing all…
Staring at Strangers
This morning, I started my day with a run. While I can say I like to run for the exercise, the main reason I am semi-consistently going for morning runs in India is because it’s the only time I have to myself. Running through streets surrounded by people, I allow myself to feel alone. I…
January 18, 2024
What is your purpose here?
“What is your purpose here?” asked the apparently drunk man who rather aggressively confronted our group as we were leaving a slum community on the outskirts of Northwest Bengaluru, where we had spent the previous ten or so minutes speaking with community members. After some back-and-forth arguing in Kannada, the man turns back to our…
Fortune of the Commons
Today may have been the first day in India where I experienced a whole hour of complete silence (well almost, I may not have been able to help myself from making a stupid comment here and there). For context, we began the day working with The Ugly Indian, an organization that focuses on the beautification…
January 17, 2024
Home and Labels
We have only been here for less than 3 weeks, but my room is already starting to become more of an extension of myself and less like the foreign hostel I felt I was intruding upon. Akin to my home in Seattle, I find that the consistency of this space provides a similar relief from…
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