India 2010

So as I am sure most of you know by now…I am going to India!!!  I will be leaving January 2^nd and will get back on February 1^st.  I am able to take a part in this trip because of the Rotary Group Study Exchange program (GSE webpage).  While I am there I will be learning about my vocation in their culture.  It’s kinda like a foreign student type of thing but business instead of school. ;-) 

While on this exchange I hope to gain more insight on the Indian culture and how Fair Trade has bettered working conditions for their citizens.  Several of our Fair Trade items actually come from India and I have often thought about the individuals who make these crafts and how they incorporate themselves and their culture into their art.  By participating in the GSE experience, I hope to be able to bring firsthand accounts of the Indian culture back to our clients in Paris and help them better understand the crafts that we offer as well.  

Joe has been pretty supportive of me going on this exchange.  I don’t think he was excited as I was, but he is the one who has to stay in Paris while I am in India so I guess I understand that ;-).  Covering the shop for the month was pretty much the only obstacle that we were going to have to overcome, but I was going to find a solution!!  The solution is possible because of the amazing support and help of our families!!  One week Joe is going to take off work and will cover the shop, one week Dave (Joe’s dad) will cover, one week Judy (Joe’s mom) will cover and one week my mom will cover!

We had our first training session yesterday morning in Clarksville, and reviewed information about visas, insurance, vaccinations and uniforms.  While we are in India we will be giving presentations to their rotary clubs so we have to have matching shirts and blazers for those.  We picked out our 3 shirts, blazer, and pants colors.  (Green, Orange and White shirts with black blazers and pants) We also had our first Indian meal!  In India they don’t use utensils…instead they use their right hand.  The left hand is considered ‘un-clean’ (Won’t go into that….) so you cant us it, not even to tear the bread.  It was an interesting experience!!  The food was delicious (even though it had goat in it) and I can’t wait till our training next month!! We have to start working on a power point, which 

Matthew is in charge of, and will eventually get a blog for the team going.  Once we get the blog I will send it to everyone so you can keep up with us while we are gone.  Not sure how much face book contact I will be able to make…….maybe I should start backing off face book now so the withdrawals wont be to overwhelming!!

Below is a link to the GSE page on Rotary’s website so you can read more about the program yourself! For all you locals they are actually looking for more applicants for the Africa trip in April right now!! ;)

http://www.rotary.org/en/ServiceAndFellowship/Fellowship/GroupStudyExchange/Pages/ridefault.aspx

 This is the picture we took of "Team India" the day of our interviews

James Doorman, Paul Falcon, Me & Matthew Radar