Where is Roberg?

To see all of my observations and pictures from my trip to India with Mr. Roberg in January-February of 2008, click on the “Read More” link below. Hope you enjoy!

Agra: Home of the Taj Majal

Here I am at the Taj Mahal…

Mr. Roberg took this picture of us with his long arms!

Here’s a friend I made at Agra Fort. His name is Roy, and he was traveling with two young guys from England named Jake and Marco. They were fun to hand out with, and it was great to have a friend my size to talk to.

Amritsar: the Golden Temple, the India-Pakistan Border, and some new friends

We’re about to leave Amritsar, and I wanted to show you a few pictures. Unfortunately, Mr. Roberg forgot to bring the right part of the camera!! He’s a bit forgetful sometimes – it’s a good thing I’m here to keep him straight most of the time.

Since I don’t have pictures today, I figured I would just tell you a little bit about what we’ve been up to. (I’ll try to upload the pictures tomorrow)

We are in Amritsar, which is in the northwestern part of India. It’s a bit chilly here – it has been between 55 – 65 during the day and night. (Ooops, sorry. I forgot that it’s not as chilly as the weather you must be having!!) It has not rained at all in the three weeks we’ve been in India because it’s the dry season. They get a lot of rain in the summer, even more than we do.

The Golden Temple

One of the biggest attractions in Amritsar is the Golden Temple, which is the most important place in the Sikh (pronounced ’sick’) religion. People who believe in Sikhism are called Sikhs (pronounced ’seeks’). The men wear turbans, but otherwise dress like American men. Women usually wear traditional Indian clothing.

Here I am at the Golden Temple:

Insert Picture of Flat Kat at the Golden Temple.

If you really want to see some terrific pictures, you should do an image search with Google and type in “Golden Temple Amritsar” (ask your teacher for help if you need it). The temple looks really nice during the day, but it also looks really neat all lit up at night. It is definitely the favorite building I’ve seen in India!!

The Pakistan-Indian Border

Mr. Roberg also took me to the Pakistan-India border. India and Pakistan have fought 3 wars in the past 60 years, so I didn’t know what to expect. When we got there, though, we saw soldiers marching around like cheer leaders. The stomped and kicked and acted very tough as they closed the border between the two countries. It was really funny. Here’s a video that shows what it was like:

Some Friends I’ve Made

One of my favorite things about traveling has been the opportunity to meet so many new and interesting people. We’ve met people from all over the world who are traveling through India just like we are! Here are some of them:

Insert Picture of Flat Kat, Derick, Marta, and John

These are a few friends we made in Amritsar. We traveled to the India-Pakistan border and watched the ceremony with them.

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Here are all the people we traveled with and the Jeep we squeezed into!

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Here are the people we met in Varanasi and then met up with in Allahabad! Their names are Malin and Allison, and they were GREAT. In fact, I may travel with them to Canada if we meet up with them in Delhi before we leave!

Here’s me with a student named Jhulan – he showed us his village in Bodh Gaya

Here are some of the animal friends we’ve met along the way!

A cow in the middle of the street in Varanasi

a cow eating some leaves

A goat hanging out on the ghats in Varanasi

A puppy and some birds

Some monkeys hanging out on the roof

Varanasi + the Ganges River

We’ve just completed our trip in Varanasi, one of the most important cities for the religion of Hinduism. Most people in India are Hindu, meaning that they believe in Hinduism. One of the most basic beliefs in Hinduism is the belief that when a person dies, their soul is reborn in a different body. That process of being reborn is called reincarnation.

For Hindus, Varanasi is a very good place to die, because it is located along the Ganges River (just like Coxsackie, Athens, and New Baltimore are located on the Hudson). However, in Varanasi they have steps that lead down to the river. Here’s a picture of the steps with some nice pieces of cloth drying in the sun:

The Ganges River is one of seven holy rivers in India. It is believed that if a person dies in Varanasi, has his or her body burned, and then has the ashes put into the river, they will not be reborn and will instead achieve moksha (kind of like going to heaven).

In fact, they actually have a whole area located along the river that is dedicated to burning dead bodies! Of course it is not acceptable to take pictures of that area. Don’t worry, though, the bodies are covered in beautiful cloth and treated very respectfully.

It is also believed that someone can wash away their sins by bathing in the Ganges River. So, Mr. Roberg and I didn’t bathe, but we did put our feet in upstream from where the bodies are burned and put in the river. Here’s a picture:

It was a really interesting city! If you have any questions about the religion of Hinduism, the city of Varanasi, or the Ganges River, let me know in the comment section below.

I’ll write again soon!

Flat Kat

 

Flat Kat and Mr. Roberg at the place Buddha became enlightened

OK, I finally got Mr. Roberg off the computer so I can finally update you on MY observations! Here I am working hard updating the page:

Updating my page for you!

Bodh Gaya was really cool! It was the area where Buddha started a religion called Buddhism. Buddha was actually a prince in ancient India. When he was born, one of the priests made a prediction that he would give up the life of a prince and become a religious leader. To stop that from happening, Buddha’s father tried to protect him from the outside world by keeping him locked up in their palace. His father thought that if Buddha lived a life of leisure (pleasure, no work), then he would never want to leave and become a religious leader.

However, there was a time when prince Buddha left the palace and saw a sick man, a dying man, and a dead body. These sights really disturbed prince Buddha, and he soon decided to leave the palace for good to try to find out why people had to suffer sickness and death. He wandered India for years, learning from religious leaders and trying to understand the reason for suffering.

A statue showing Buddha meditating.

Eventually, one day when Buddha was meditating (when sits alone and tries to clear their mind of all thoughts), he became enlightened. To become enlightened means that he gained understanding. He believed that he gained an understanding about the reason for suffering and the way to avoid suffering. Here’s a picture of where he became enlightened, and a picture of Mr. Roberg and I at the temple that was built to honor him and his teachings:

Next, he explained his ideas to people and told them to spread his teachings as far as they could. People soon accepted Buddha’s ideas and became “Buddhists”. Today, there are millions of Buddhists all around the world! Here are some monks from Tibet who were in Bodh Gaya to worship at the temple while we were there:

We also made a friend when we were in Bodh Gaya. His name was Jhulian. Here’s a picture of Jhulian and I:

Ok, that’s it for now. Check out the Questions and Answers about India page for some neat pictures of some animal friends we’ve met in India!

See you soon!

Flat Kat

 

Our Trip to the Victoria Memorial – 1/ 13/08

View from the North

View from the South

Mr. Roberg and I went to the Victoria Memorial today! It was a lot of fun. There were hundreds of people looking at us. They must be wondering why such a handsome cat is hanging out with a balding white guy!

Unfortunately, we decided not to go into the gallery because the line was just so loooong! It would have taken us 2 – 3 hours of waiting just to get inside.

A Chinese Lunch in India

Instead, we decided to go to lunch. Unfortunately, or fortunately as it would turn out, the restaurant we wanted to go to was closed, so we went into the Chinese restaurant next door. It was really cool.

Mr. Roberg is a lot like me when it comes to food – he’s not too picky and will try just about anything. As a result, we’ve been eating a lot of Indian food the past few days. Indian food is usually VERY spicy. I’ve almost “burned” my tongue a couple of times it seems so hot! There are usually a lot of vegetarian options as well because the native religions of India (Hinduism and Buddhism) believe in non-violence toward animals. That includes not killing animals to eat them!

And because Hindu tradition gives a special place for cows (early Indians relied on cows for everything from milk to meat to leather just like the Native Americans relied on the buffalo), there is rarely beef on the menu.

If you are interested in trying some Indian food, maybe you can convince your parents to take you up to an Indian restaurant in Albany called Sitar. Mr. Roberg and I went to diner there one time before we came over to see if it was similar and it is.

Anyway, we went into Tung Fong and had some delicious Chinese food (better than in Coxsackie, Ravena, or Catskill!). It was really funny because the restaurant was playing American music. One of the songs was Cherish, by Kool & the Gang – Ask Mrs. McIlroy or Ms. Roberg, I’m sure they are both old enough to remember it! So here we were, sitting in a Chinese restaurant in India listening to American music. The world is getting smaller every day.

I bet if you looked around your house, for example at the tags on your clothes, you would find that you have things that were made in many different parts of the world. That’s what it has been like this trip. Different cultures coming together.

It has also been a bit difficult. Many of the people are poor here. We have seen people who sleep on the street and beg for money to get buy. There is also a lot of pollution being created by this really big city. Sometimes it is hard to breathe with all of the smoke.

If I can get it to work, here is a street in Kolkata, India at night:

If you can’t see it, click this link: Sudder St., Kolkata, India at night 1/11/08

But even with these challenges, people so similar things that we do. Children who can afford to go to school, families go out to dinner together, people shop in small stores, and people celebrate holidays. The differences are in HOW we do each of these things.

It’s been fun. I’ll write more soon.

The Hotel in Kolkata – January 1/11/08

We arrived in Kolkata at 3 am on Thursday, January 11th after about 24 hours of traveling. I’ll leave it to Mr. Roberg to describe what the trip was like and the adventures we had (which weren’t that adventurous yet).

I figured I would tell you a bit about our room at the Fairlawn Hotel. We are in room #5, a small single room with a private bathroom. The bed is only big enough for one, so I made Mr. Roberg sleep on the floor. See me laying on the pillow in the picture?! I think I look quite handsome, don’t you think?

I slept wonderfully because Mr. Roberg doesn’t snore (I was worried about that). The room costs $60 per night, which is quite expensive for the area, but we wanted to have a nice place to stay for the first two nights.

The Bathroom in our Hotel Room

When we woke up, I bathed, as you can see in the pictures below.

Instead of a shower or a bath, it is expected that a person (or cat in this case!), sits on the wooden seat and uses the nozzle to spray water over themselves to bath. That’s not the only thing that’s different about life in an Indian Hotel.

We were also told not to drink the water here, or it may make us sick. When we brushed our teeth this morning, we even used bottle water! Hopefully if we are careful, we won’t have upset stomachs.

Well, we are off to explore the city. Come back soon and I’ll tell you some of the cool things that Mr. Roberg hasn’t.

See you soon.

Nameste (how to say “goodbye” in Hindi)

Two Days Before We Leave for India

Well, Mr. Roberg and I have two days before we leave for India! We’ll be arriving in India on Friday at 1 a.m. in the morning. Our first update from India should come some time during Friday (1/11) or Saturday.

Check back soon to see how our trip went!

Talk to you soon,

Flat Kat

Welcome to Mrs. McIlroy’s students! This is where you should come to keep track of Flat Kat and see what he’s up to.

Here’s the first letter I received from Flat Kat:

Dear Mr. Roberg:

My name is Flat Kat. I am a paper cat who had the misfortune of falling off of Mrs. McIlroy’s whiteboard one day. I am very small, and don’t take up much room. I have spent my entire life on a board, and have never seen the outside of a classroom. While that was interesting, I want to know more about other places in the world. I especially want to know about Asia. I’ve heard that you are going on a trip (or two) to Asia, and would like to join you on the trip.

I would appreciate joining you on your trip to Asia. The following reasons should show you why I would make a great companion:

• I’d probably sleep most of the way, anyway.
• I can fit in anything because I’m flat.
• I could even go inside a book or folder for the trip (not costing any plane ticket!)
• If you get locked out of your hotel room, I can squeeze under the door and open it for you.
• I won’t eat much.
• I don’t need bathroom breaks (or litter boxes!).
• I can climb up walls.
• I don’t really complain.
• I can protect you with my paper point claws. (Nobody likes paper cuts!)
• You can write notes to remember on me! (I’m erasable.)

Please consider taking me on the trip. It would be an honor. I hope to see you when you pack your bags.

Sincerely,

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Flat Kat

Here was my reply:

Dear Mr. or Ms. Kat:

I’m pleased that you contacted me. I am about to leave for a 4 week trip to India and would enjoy having a companion, especially one who will surely offer great company while not being intrusive. In fact, I’m sure you’ll have a lot to offer because of all of your experiences in Mrs. McIlroy’s class! I hope you didn’t hurt yourself when you fell off of the whiteboard, because we’ll be doing a lot of walking.

I’ve got some information, some math practice, and a riddle too. We will be leaving on January 9^th out of New York City, flying to London, England, and then flying on to Kolkatta (which used to be spelled Calcutta), India.

1. The first flight, from New York to London, will leave at 8 pm and will arrive at 8:15 am, while the second flight, from London, England to Kolkatta, India will leave at 9:55 am and arrive at 1 am. How long will the entire trip take according to these times?
2. According to our itinerary, the flight from NY to London will take 7 hours and 15 minutes, we’ll stay in London for 1 hour and 40 minutes, and then the second flight will take only 9 hours and 35 minutes. According to this information, how long will the trip actually take us?
3. And now for your riddle: Why is there a difference?

Maybe you should ask the students in your class help you figure these answers out. Whatever happens, make sure you plenty of bring books to read and games to entertain yourself on the long flights!

As for the rest of the trip, make sure you find out about the places we are going. The more you know before hand, the better. I look forward to meeting you and the rest of Mrs. McIlroy’s class.

Sincerely,

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Mr. Roberg

Filed under: 5th Grade, Flat Kat, India, Travel | Tagged: Add new tag, Flat Kat