lost in translation

The more time I spend abroad, the more I realize that sometimes, things jut don't translate. Let's just say, I feel more American right now, living abroad, then I ever did in Texas or Maine.

I teach a private class on Thursday nights to a principal of the high school in La Latina here in Madrid. Last week, I was trying talking to her about the marathon and the connection with the Gandhi Ashram. What I thought would be a five minute conversation on practicing action verbs, turned into an hour long explanation about fundraising in the U.S. Let's just say, the idea of running to raise money for something does not work here in Spain. In all honesty, I had a pretty difficult time explaining the connection myself. I have always admired people who will commit themselves to something in order to raise money for a cause but, for me, it always seemed a bit of a stretch.

With this said, I would like to explain this seemingly random choice to run a marathon in Madrid to raise money for some children thousands of miles away in India. For me, running has always been the best way to understand and learn about a new place. It's the tempo. There are times in a run when you connect with a certain landmark and really begin to understand that place.

In Kalimpong, it was a fence with orange flowers and a green bench. A few mornings a week, I would wake up before school (about sunrise) and run with two friends. In most parts of the world, seeing girls run in spandex is an anomaly. When I run in Spain, I always think I have something on my face, but a run in Kalimpong came with a whole new level of staring. I might as well have been an amusing alien.

It didn't help that in Kalimpong, there is no such thing as flat. There is up and there is down. In the mornings, we would always run into the kids on their way to school. As we willed our legs to go on for another minute, the kids cheerfully wished us good morning with a delighted "good morning miss" as they raced past us without any struggle at all. Needless to say, we felt a little more ridiculous when we struggled to find enough air to wish them a good morning back.

Everyday, we would go a little farther, and everyday we would notice something new about the curvy road on the way up to the main center of Kalimpong. While avoiding speeding trucks and stray dogs, we grew accustomed to the stares of people along the road as they grew accustomed to us. By the end of the trip, we knew who would come out to wave to us in the morning, what time the kids would get to school, and when each truck would come around the corner.

It seems strangely appropriate, then, that a run connects both these cities. Maybe running doesn't really have to do with buying the kids some new chairs, but at the same time, some of my best memories were seeing the kids in the mornings race us back to school. Who knows, maybe this will never translate but just a thought.

My new favorite things

First of all, thank you so much to the people who have already responded to my post. I cannot tell you how much all of your support helps me go on runs after a long day at work. Please let me know if you have any questions.

I am currently in one of those moods when I cannot imagine going outside to do anything. The hardest part about these training runs is just making myself go back outside after a long day at work. Thankfully, I have discovered some new things in Madrid recently that will make training that much better.

1. Garmin FR 60 watch

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=27483

Ok, so I may be giving myself away as the huge nerd that I am but this watch is AMAZING. It comes with a footpad that ties onto my laces and a heart rate monitor. While I run, I get a live feed to my watch of my speed, distance, heart rate, and time. When I get back home, I plug in a USB drive to my computer and the watch inputs all of my run data onto a personal website. So cool. When I get home, I know my average speed, max speed, calorie count, average heart rate, max heart rate, and everything is on a calendar where I can see all of my runs. As you might be able to tell, I am just a little too excited about this new discovery but it makes running a little more fun. I'm hoping this will take me through the twenty mile training runs. Ouch.

2. 1300 meter track in the middle of Madrid

http://madrid.lanetro.com/pistas-de-tenis/instalacion-deportiva-canal-de-isabel-ii-7928

So two of the main issues of training for this marathon are time and space. Recently, I have sort of found a solution to one of these problems. One of my roommates has been telling me, for a while now, about a track about 10 minutes away from our house. Usually, I run in Parque Oeste which is about 5 minutes away from our apartment. However, at night, Parque Oeste is not the safest place to go for a run alone blasting music. Until last week, I have just been doing night runs on the treadmill, which is not only tedious but also painful. I finally caved in one night last week and decided to go check out this track. Spending most of my life running timed runs on a track, I have a sort of aversion to anything that has that reddish hue and makes a circle but this track is unbelievable. Right smack in the middle of Madrid is this enormous track and in the middle is a driving range, soccer field, restaurant, and swimming pool. Because the track is so big, it becomes a people watching mecca rather than a tedious loop. All I can say is thank you Madrid for thinking ahead. booyea.

3. ipod shuffle

I know this is self explanatory but if you workout a lot, I would highly suggest an ipod shuffle. It really is the most amazing invention and saves me when I feel like I might die. On that note, if you have any song suggestions, please let me know.

Ok, well off to go do a short three mile. Ciao

Jaya He!

So in the past couple weeks, I have made a crazy decision. A decision that will require time I don't have, muscles I

haven't used in a while, and mental endurance that my first graders take from me very quickly at the beginning of the day. On April 25, 2010 I will run the Madrid Marathon. Now, this is where everyone reading this comes into the equation. I will be running this marathon in order to raise some money for the Gandhi Ashram school in Kalimpong, India.

At Colby, every January we had a month long period to invest in a special project or interest. Being the Texan that I am, I chose to escape the Maine winters and experience something different. These month long vacations took me to Ecuador, Italy, and Spain before bringing me to India my senior year. My last year at Colby, I was lucky enough to participate in a project developed by two professors at Colby who developed a special interest in a school for poor children in Northern India. Starting in 2007, Colby students went to Kalimpong, a small town near Darjeeling, to teach students between 2nd and 9th grades specialized subjects. These classes range from math and music to biology and art history (my subject). For a month, we lived at the school in one large room and spent our days with the most loving, excited, gracious children I have ever met.

When I say these children are poor, I mean they wore one outfit every day the entire month I was there. They have one pair of shoes and use plants and sticks to put them back together if they break. Some of the kids walk at least an hour to go to school on steep dirt paths up the mountain. This is not to say that these children ask for pity or favors. With so little, they learn how to entertain themselves with exploring the river instead of playing video games. They truly were the happiest children I have ever met.

Since I left Kalimpong, I have thought a lot about going back. Even with living in one room, showering with ice cold water, and permanently suffering from digestive problems, the children's happiness and warmth was infectious and it made me want to help them succeed in a place where getting out of the circle of poverty is almost impossible.

My hope is that I will be able to buy the kids some more chairs and school supplies so that they can continue learning so that they can pass their exams to go to a high school in town. Trust me when I say a little bit can go a long way, and I would be truly grateful for any support. Now, I know the marathon in Madrid doesn't really have much to do with India, but for me it's just another way to connect two of my favorite cities in the world.

I'll post more information about ways to donate in the next couple days, but I just wanted to get the word out to as many people as possible. I'll update the blog periodically with information about everything and anything - news about Kalimpong, training updates, stories from Madrid, pictures, and news about my aching muscles. If you have any questions or comments, please email me at whitneyrlynn@gmail.com. Thank you everyone for your support! Jaya He/Venga!