Random, yet Useful Facts

Anna's Counterpart: One Ms. Leigh McIlvaine. A Master's of Urban and Regional Planning student at the Humphrey Institute. Originally resides in Idaho. Has traveled to southeast Asia previously, specifically Bangladesh. Has complimentary skills to social work. [This means; Anna will not be going into rural India alone, she is paired with one other student to do this work].

Average Daily Temperature: In New Delhi is 97 degrees. Oof. Categorized by "extreme humidity". Huh.

Monsoon Season: July - September

Anna's Location: A small village name Rajakhat, very close to Munnar (see circle on map)

Daily Conditions: I know there will be running water, but no hot water. A stove, but no refrigerator. A western style toilet, but not a defined shower area. Electricity, but not reliable.
The next town over has good internet connection, I plan on taking the hour-long bus ride at least twice a week for communication.

Contact Info: I don't have an address yet. You can use the blog or my email address: annakielmartin@gmail.com

9 days and counting

Well, I am off in just 9 days. I have yet to experience my usual last minute panic and desire to stay home. I'm taking that as a good sign. In fact, I'm pretty darn excited to be getting on that plane.
Here's the summer:

June 5th: Anna takes off in New York, is routed through Moscow and lands in Delhi. Some short time after she and her partner (Leigh McIlvaine) will get on a train for 2.5 days and travel south to our small, small village called Rajakhat (sp?) near Munnar.

June 6th: Graham stays behind and gets down to hard core studying for the bar exam in July.

July 24th & 25th: Graham aces the multistate bar exam!

July 30th: Graham boards a plane to come join Anna who will be waiting to receive him in Delhi. They instantly know that absence has made the heart grow fonder and if it hasn't, then 2.5 days on a train together will ensure they remember one another.

August 14th: Anna and Graham move north from Kochi to Bangalore and pick up Anna's littlest sister Freda.

August 14th-August 29th: Anna, Graham and Freda have the time of their lives traveling north and seeing the sites of India. Finally, they end in Delhi, show Freda the Taj Mahal in Agra and put her on a plane back to the Americas.

August 30-September 9th: The Martins continue a trek north and enter Nepal. They experience bliss in the Himalayan mountains and become addicted to the city of Kathmandu (Anna thinks Kathmandu is the cat's meow since Cat Stevens sings about it).

September 9th: Anna and Graham come home on a plane out of Delhi and arrive in Minneapolis late in the evening. They are exhausted, changed, smelly, wiser and satiated.

Hooray!!!