Last Entry from India

In mere minutes, it will be the day of my departure from India. In 24 hours, I will be sitting in my aisle seat on a Boeing 757 aimed towards a different continent.

Unbelievable. Ten weeks passed so quickly....

Having said that, this is my last entry from India. However, I will continue to update this blog on other topics that I neglected to address during the past month, among them:

• Post-colonialist attitudes;
• Poverty;
• My trip to Varanasi/Banaras (approx. 10 days ago); and
• Anything else related to how Urdu and India are fitting back into my American life.

Again, sincere apologies for slacking on the blogging this past month. I've been touched by the number of people that have taken an interest in this blog, and I've delighted in knowing that what I write has been read by people around the world.

Having said that, today was a really surreal day. We had our Cultural Program at the Institute today, and it featured qiwwali, dances, skits, comedy routines, and poetry prepared by my peers at the Institute. It was really fun to watch everyone do their thing and to have such fun with their presentations. Following our program, we had our first non-vegetarian lunch of the summer at the Institute, a lunch that featured tandoori chicken, mutton kebabs, pineapple raita, parantha, a variety of veggie and paneer dishes, etc. All in all, it was a really nice way to wrap things up at the Institute. And even though I have every intention of returning to India and to AIIS, it was still so bittersweet. While I intend to return, I don't necessarily have control over whether or not I make it back, so for all I know, it could be the last time I ever step foot onto this continent, although let's hope it's not....

The rest of the day was spent running errands, packing, saying good-byes to friends who won't be flying out tomorrow like the majority of us will be, and getting a little bit of HENNA.

I LOVE HENNA.

And now, in the blink of an eye, my last true full day in India for this trip has come to an end, and it's time to be saying "adieu" and zipping up suitcases.

With any luck, I'll be in the United States on Friday....

Thank you for reading this blog over the course of the summer, and stay tuned for afterthoughts. :)

Reflections

It's really starting to hit me: It's Tuesday night--almost Wednesday, eegads!--and Thursday morning, I will be headed to the Lucknow airport. I have just ONE full day left out of my ten week summer.

So...how does that feel...?
It's complicated.

On the one hand, I feel like I could have done more with this time--like volunteering with an NGO, for example, as that's the biggest thing that didn't come to fruition, albeit primarily because I felt that my Hindi/Urdu skills were too limited (I had troubles communicating with several of the NGO's I called--and by several, I mean all) and because India and its 120F heat zapped my energy. Still, that's one thing that I wish I'd really gone after in a way that I didn't.
However, when I came to India, my priorities were pursuit of knowledge and clarification, and I feel so much more at peace in these two realms. I have learned so much--so much Urdu, so much about India, so much about people, and so much about myself. My Urdu is basic intermediate, but I came here knowing absolutely nothing, so basic intermediate is a grand leap. About India...I can't begin to describe the things I feel I've learned.... It's way too broad to begin to explain.... Chatting and hanging out with my classmates has been one of my favorite things about this experience as the people I've met have been so overwhelmingly fascinating. They've been a huge encouragement and inspiration in terms of helping me discover what sort of person I want to be, what sort of people I want to spend time with, and what sort of person I eventually want to end up with. They've been so wonderful and I can't believe in just 48 hours we'll be boarding a flight back to America, a flight after which we'll proceed to pick our lives back up where we left them. It's mind-boggling to share a summer with such generally incredible people and to then have to split ways and resume everything else. I've lived in this imaginary place for ten weeks...and reality's catching up with me, but I digress. Finally, about myself, I feel like I'm only partially the person I thought I was. The best example I can think of is that I've always considered myself to be VERY "Type A." Well, there are many situations in which I am so "go with the flow" and passive that it blows my mind. India has handed me extreme heat, pests and vermin, illness, cold bucket showers, Indian toilets, etc., and my response to so much of it has been, "Well, whatever. Here we go." And that's not what I would have anticipated.

Along with this knowledge, there has also been a fair amount of clarification. On some level, I know that India will be a big part of my life for years to come. And while I want to write more about that here, I feel like that's something that I really want to others about first.... I'll keep you posted, though. Moral of the story, though, is that:

• I think I'll be back to India within the next two years for a period of at least 10 weeks;
• My grad school plans have changed;
• I have Fulbright proposals churning in my mind; and
• I think that within the next ten years, I'll be spending 2-3 years (easily) in India.

I have India on my mind and burrowing in me, as odd as that sounds. I can't imagine not returning here sometime sooner rather than later. India's more than a passion for me: It's really becoming more of a lifestyle choice.

That may not make much sense to anyone else, but if it doesn't, call me and let's have coffee. There's a lot on my mind, and there are some big--BIG!!--things that I'm sorting through as I pray about and wrestle with where the next few years will take me. I'm feeling so liberated in ways that I haven't felt liberated in a long time, and I'm seeing my life moving in really cool directions, and it's just incredible, absolutely incredible.

Again, if this rambling tangent is confusing, call me and let's have ourselves a chat over coffee. I'm really excited about where this story is moving....

Article Submitted to Staff/Faculty Magazine

NOTE: I submitted this article for publication in a weekly paper published by my university primarily for faculty/staff. A co-worker of mine had informed me that they were looking for brief articles on the summer adventures of students/faculty/staff, and I submitted what is printed below and attempted to narrow my summer into approx. 430 words.

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India and I have a “love-hate relationship.” At the worst of times, India sends me persistent stomach aches, extreme heat (120F), and countless species of biting bugs; and I respond with Tums, strong pesticides, and the occasional “I Miss America Day” featuring Hollywood films, McDonalds, and blue jeans. At the best of times, India sends me knowledge, culture, and endless sources of fascination, to which I respond with incredible love and affection for a truly remarkable nation.

My idiosyncratic odyssey with India began officially during spring 2006 when I made my first trip but recommenced this past summer when I found myself back in India on a Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to study Urdu. Developed by the United States Department of State and the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC), the CLS funded my summer of study in Lucknow. As the national language of Pakistan and one of the official languages of India, Urdu is the Persian-based sibling of Sanskrit-based Hindi, but when spoken, the two languages are so similar that they seem to mirror the relationship between American and British English.

Nevertheless, India was an assault on my senses. My unaccustomed ears found themselves bombarded by the persistent car honking, and my Norwegian palate initially lacked an appreciation of Indian curries and strong spices.  My fingers had forgotten the feel of ubiquitous street grit, and my body adjusted to the heat through constant perspiration. Cows roaming streets eating trash, public urination, extreme poverty, and cockroaches became common sights.

But despite all these things, I remain genuinely infatuated with India. The smooth staccato flow of Indic languages now ranks among my favorite sounds, and I have come to crave a good cup of chai. The feel of a fine silk sari remains unparalleled. The beauty of Indian architecture; the nation’s natural wonders, like the Ganges and the Himalayas; and its many shrines and temples is incomparable. Moreover, the kindness and hospitality of so many of India’s citizens is unbelievable.

Famed American author Ernest Hemingway once said that if a person were to visit Paris as a young person, the city would remain with him for all his life. While this may be true, I’d argue that India has a greater ability to challenge perceptions and ideas and to linger on in a visitor’s mind long after his return home. While India exhausts me in every way conceivable, I cannot begin to describe how much India exposes me to new and different ideas; satiates my appetite for adventure, travel, and knowledge; and elevates my spirits.  And all things considered, India is where I want to be. 

Aadaberz, meerai dosteen!

("Hello, My Friends!" in Urdu)

First of all, many apologies for having written so little recently. Since my return from Nainital and my move across Lucknow in mid-July, I've just been... a little mentally/emotionally/spiritually exhausted. I don't mean to sound melodramatic or anything of the sort, but I feel like I've had a little bit less stamina the past few weeks and have been a little more likely to be less proactive about my time here. 

India is a really tough place to be a foreigner. Unlike other countries in the world, such as those in Europe, Canada, and the US, where the population contains a wide variety of people and where visitors and tourists can blend in, India is not one of those places for Westerners. I've come to the realization that no matter how long I spend in this country--be it 2 weeks, 2 months, 2 years, 2 decades--on some level, I will still be "just visiting." Around the middle of July, I really began to feel like a local--I knew where things were, how basic day-to-day practices worked, etc., but despite my feelings of accumulated cultural knowledge, I am still just a tourist.

So that's been frustrating, and in addition to all the things that are not-so-great about India, such as the public urination, prominence of trash, extreme heat, and endless stream of noise, the combination has made me less inclined to write about my experiences here.

But the last few weeks have been really good. I have become really close to some of the others on the program, I've learned so much Urdu and Indian culture, and I've enjoyed becoming more acquainted with the city and Uttar Pradesh. I will be returning with some pretty great stories... like cops overtaking our train cabin, like my getting lost in Varanasi and following a dead body back to my hotel near the Burning Ghat, etc. 

There are some GOOD stories. ;)

There are also a lot of things circulating in my head... lots of ideas. I'm thinking that I'll be back to India for a longer period of time (2 months minimum) sometime within the next 3 years. There's not a great way to describe it, but India has become a really integral piece of my life, and the more I learn about India, and now having learned some of the language, there's an ever-increasing investment on my part in India. And the more I see of India, the more I want to see. This trip I focused more on North India and the province of Uttar Pradesh (i.e. Delhi, Lucknow, Agra/Fatehpur Sikri, Varanasi/Benares), but my list of places I'd like to visit has grown to include Darjeeling, Bihar province, Rajasthan province, Rishkesh (spelling?), and Auroville, among other places. While I've been feeling perhaps a little disenchanted as of late because my departure is so imminent (FOUR FULL DAYS LEFT IN INDIA), that does not mean in any way that I'm not still in some sort of relationship with this place.

It's very complicated....

(I wrote an article on my experience in India for an alumni newspaper, and I'll make it its own unique post.)

So, I guess I'm just sort of rambling right now....

Anyways, many apologies for being such an unfaithful blogger. I hope to begin to make up for this in the next few days....

Things I've Become Acclimated to....

A short list of things I have become almost completely used to....

1. Power outages at very inopportune times.
2. Flies hovering around my favorite eating establishments, eating establishments that typically lack four walls anyways.
3. Diarrhea.
4. Stares of all kinds from the local Lucknovites--haunting stares, friendly stares, sexual stares, awkward stares, etc.
   
5. The toilet not being able to flush several consecutive times.
6. Bucket showers.
7. Cold bucket showers.
8. Cycle rickshaws.
9. Going about my day and speaking Hindi/Urdu to make things happen.
10. Going about my day and having no one understand my English.
11. Feeling isolated from the Western world.
12. Noise. Constant noise, usually from the street.
13. Always having bug bites of some sort on me somewhere.
14. Beggars. And that one really bothers me--that I've become almost callous to it, but it happens.
15. Vegetarian Indian food.
16. Chai. :)
17. Wearing a dupatta (scarf) whenever out in public.
18. Insane amounts of heat everyday. Why, darling, 105 is the new 85.
19. Color. Everywhere. :)
20. Functioning on Indian time. I may never be on time again for anything... ever ;).
21. Being able to eat like a king for $3-$4.
22. KULFI.
23. Not being able to read most signs.

My Most Recent "The World is Small" Moment

This was a pretty big "The World is a Small Place" moment for me....

Several years ago, I was in the Florida Keys with my family, and at the resort where we stay, they always have an interesting assortment of books that have been read, left, and reread by countless people on holiday and what-not.

Anyways, when I was about 14 or 15, I read Bloodlines by Sidney Sheldon, and it was probably the smuttiest book I had ever read at that point, and it may still be the smuttiest book I have ever read. Don't get me wrong--it was scandalous, yes, but it was a good read, and I could have done far worse in terms of sheer scandalousness.

But I digress.

So I read this book and later lent it to a friend, and I haven't seen it in person or anywhere in years.

Years.

Well, I was in a coffee shop near my new home (that's another story for another blog) the other day, and I SAW IT ON THEIR BOOKSHELF.

I SAW MY BOOK THAT I HAVE ALWAYS REMEMBERED AND HAVE SEEN NOWHERE ELSE IN YEARS IN A RANDOM COFFEE SHOP IN THE MIDDLE OF LUCKNOW, INDIA.

And while I know that it would be virtually impossible for it to be the exact copy I read, it certainly looked identical to the one I read-- well worn, same edition, etc.

The world is a very small place, my friends.

Kal

The phrase "kal milengue" is used for "See you tomorrow" in Urdu.

Interestingly, "kal" is both the word for yesterday and tomorrow.

And when yesterday and tomorrow are the same, then today is the only thing that matters.

(I am such a cheeseball. Apologies.)

Musings

Tomorrow, a Tuesday, is the last day of school for the week because of the Institute's midsummer break. :) This makes for a very delighted me. I'm headed out late tomorrow night to Nainital and then on to Corbett National Park. Nainital is supposed to be lovely--it's located at this point where the foothills of the Himalayas meet with a lake. Should be absolutely beautiful. And then Corbett is a tiger refuge, and our goal there is go on an a-watching safari while riding on the backs of elephants. Hopefully, my next posts will be able to relay traveling stories.

Classes, however, are going rather well. I started the program knowing absolutely nothing--literally, nothing. I had to learn "hello" ("adab" or "aadab"), "thank you" ("shukriya"), and other entry level vocabulary during the first few days. I also had to learn the non-Roman alphabet, as the Urdu alphabet is derived from Persian and Arabic, and how to form words. Urdu is also written right to left and has no true vowels. And, just to complicate things a little more, the way sentences are structured is COMPLETELY different than in English or French, the other languages I've studied.

Anyways, but what is EXCITING is that TODAY we learned simple past and past habitual verb tense, and this is in addition to learning about nouns, adjectives, postpositions, imperatives, interrogatives, and the present habitual tense, and tomorrow, we're learning the future tense.
And while I'm certainly not able to hold a coherent conversation with a native Urdu speaker, I feel like I've learned so much since arriving here, and that's a really gratifying feeling.

Other than that, not much is new. My nose might be infected, but I'm treating it and trying to keep it from causing me to take my nose ring out. :S I've become really attached to my pierced nose.

Weekend Review

FRIDAY.

Saw Transformers in Hindi. Couldn't understand a thing.
Went to a going away party for an AIIS student at Royal Cafe and ate a TON of meat, i.e. butter chicken, chicken biryani, mutton, etc. and the best naan ever. We have a theory that more protein makes us feel better, thus, when we go out to dinner, we overindulge in our love for meat as every other meal is vegetarian.
Followed dinner up with a stop by Mint and enjoyed some giggles with the girls before ending up at McDonalds and then home.
Very good evening indeed.

SATURDAY.

The Institute organized a field trip for us to a Sufi shrine a short distance outside of Lucknow. Sufism is a mystical form of Islam more focused upon the ideas of love and unity than upon some of the structure and regimentation of the other forms of Islam. It's extremely fascinating. Sufism claims to have emerged at the same time as the main forms of Islam, Sunni and Shia'a did, and it boasts major populations in countries like India, Turkey, and Senegal, among others.
While we were at the shrine, we were able to listen to kivali performed by some Sufi men inside one of the shrines. With beating drums and deep rhythmic vocals, it was one of the coolest things I have ever heard in my life.
In the middle of our trip to the shrine, we went to someone's home for kebabs and mangoes. Kebabs here are grilled and spiced mutton, and whether it's lamb or goat, we don't know. But, regardless, it is ridiculously greasy, especially when served with bread the consistency of greasy tortilla chips. We joke that we sweated off the greasiness while at the shrine....
Came home. Took a nap.
Saturday night, I went to a friend's birthday party. While consuming all the staples of an American party, we connected iPods to portable speakers and spent an evening on a rooftop beneath a few scattered stars and a brilliant moon. :)

SUNDAY.

Spent a slow morning catching up on correspondence and FB messaging friends.
Our hostess came up to see us for the FIRST TIME IN ALMOST A MONTH after having been absent for that time and after having received quite the scolding from the Institute for neglecting her hosting duties. We aren't placing too much faith in her, and I am of the opinion that the fewer points of contact, the better. I really don't trust her that much.
Lunch was butter chicken and naan with Aqilah and Azim at the Indian Coffee House, my new favorite hang-out.
Spent the early part of the afternoon solo in Cafe Coffee Day before I was spotted by Jameel. We relocated back to the Indian Coffee House and were joined later by Steven, Lars, and Lars's former host brother. I got minimal work done, but I read about 30 pages in my book (In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India by Edward Luce) and had a great time watching a rainy afternoon pass over coffee.
Ate dinner with Aqilah and Cayley back at the apartment and ran an errand with Cayley to Saharaganj just after dinner.

And now, I think I will go to bed.

Au revoir et bon nuit!

White, Light, Dark: Color in India

It's a very strange thing to be white and in India. Very strange indeed.

Recently, I was out one evening on a walk with two friends of South Asian descent (one Pakistani, the other Indian), and one of them asked me what it's like to be stared at all the time and how I was dealing with it.

I replied that India does strange things to my ego. On one hand, being stared at so much makes you feel like you're "cool" or something--or, as one friend phrased it, "like you are royalty." And it's really true that it in some ways it overinflates your ego. But then, on the other hand, when you don't know much of any predominant language, you feel quite worthless. Literally. Not being able to communicate with people on their terms is really frustrating.

After having said these things to two South Asian friends with advanced language skills, the conversation abruptly changed course, and I hoped I had not said something cocky or insensitive, but I had also tried to articulate feelings that they've never had. I'm in a country where I will always, always, always speak with an accent and I will never, ever, ever be able to go incognito, and for that, I'm envious of my friends who are more easily able to blend in and avoid awkward stares and unwanted attention.

And that's not to say it's all awful. This evening, I walked to a mall with Cayley so she could use an ATM, and a little girl stopped me and wanted to talk. She was 8 years old and with her father and younger sister, and I got down to her level and tried to speak with her as much as possible. We exchanged names, and I told her that her English was good, that I'm studying Urdu and that my Urdu isn't very good. She was so sweet and polite, and she held my hand while we talked, and in this really strange way, I felt like Princess Di. That sounds so egotistical and a little bit awful, I know, but that's the best way to describe it.

Something that drives me absolutely crazy is that all over--in magazines, at the mall, everywhere--there are so many advertisements and posters and photos where the models are Caucasian. WHY? This makes literally no sense to me: This is INDIA. Be proud of who you are, where you come from, your history, your background, and what you look like. You are who you are, and Indians are beautiful. I think it's completely ridiculous that white skin seems to trump dark skin--COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY RIDICULOUS. The whole issue seems so eerily postcolonialist.

And, along those same lines, there's a product available at Big Bazaar (read: K-Mart with food) called Fair & Lovely, or something to that effect, and it's a skin lightening lotion.

A SKIN TONE LIGHTENER.

Things like that blow my mind.

I feel like India, and specifically its women, has been told that West is beautiful and variations on that aren't, and it's really too bad. I've seen a few Indian films since arriving in Lucknow, i.e. a grand total of three, but in each of those films, the female leads have very, very light brown skin. It seems too intentional to be coincidental.

I hope this rant makes sense to someone else. It's very perplexing to be somewhere where the standard of beauty seems to tell Indian women specifically that they need to look Western in order to be deemed attractive in their own culture. It's complete ludicrousness.

Convinced

I've become really passionate about India over the past few years, and this has only been highlighted and further developed by my past and present experiences here.

Right now, I'm reading In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India by Edward Luce (2007), and this book has encapsulated several of the reasons why I find India so fascinating and why I believe that India will continue to be a big part of my life well into the future.

Below are some excerpts from the book:

• "...India in the twenty-first century remains home to more than a third of the world's chronically malnourished children as defined by the United Nations, and has an average life expectancy and literacy rate that lag pitifully behind many developing countries, most glaringly China. Roughly 750 million of India's 1.1 billion people continue to live in villages, almost half of which lack access to all-weather roads, and countless numbers of which (India has 680,000 villages) are not within reach of effective primary health-care centers or well-functioning elementary schools. Almost half of India's women do not know how to read or write, and a large proportion of those who are technically literate can do little more than sign their name" (9).
• Referring to the rural agriculturalists: "The average landholding is just half an acre, barely enough to feed the family and very rarely enough to produce a surplus for the market....By 2001 more than a third of India's rural households depended on nonfarm income for their livelihoods" (44).
• "Less than 10 percent of India's dauntingly large labor force is employed in the formal economy, which Indians call the 'organized sector.' That means that fewer than 40 million people, out of a total of 470 million workers, have job security in any meaningful sense. It means that only about 35 million Indians pay any kind of income tax, a low proportion by the standards of other developing countries" (47).
• "Because of its strong and large university system, India's scientific and technical capacity is ranked third in the world, behind the United States and Japan but ahead of China. In contrast to India, China has spent a much higher share of its budget on elementary schools for people at the bottom of the ladder. India produces abotu 1 million engineering graduates every year, compared to fewer than 100,000 in both the United States and Europe. Yet India's literacy rate is only 65 percent. China's is almost 90 percent" (51).
• "...Uttar Pradesh [the province where I am studying Urdu]...is home to 8 percent of the world's poorest people..."(60).
• "[Rajiv Gandhi, prime minister from 1984-1991] estimated that 85 percent of all development spending in India was pocketed by bureaucrats" (78).
• "Higher rates of economic growth have contributed to a steady reduction in poverty: the proportion of Indians living below the official poverty line fell from more than 40 percent of the population in the 1980s to just under 26 percent by 2001, But that still means that in 2006 almost 300 million Indians can never be sure where their next meal will come from. They also live with the probability that more than one of their children will die from an easily preventable waterborne disease. Almost a million Indian infants die of diarrhea every year" (80).
• "India spends less on primary health care as a proportion of gross domestic product than does almost any other developing country" (80-81).
• Concerning corruption in the judicial branch: "Many of the judges are quite openly available for hire to fix cases in exchange for cash in the knowledge that it is almost impossible to dislodge them from their posts.... To remove a judge from the Supreme Court, you need a two-thirds majority of votes in parliament, the same margin as needed to amend the constitution. It has never happened" (93).
• Concerning inefficency in the judicial branch: "But perhaps the biggest problem is the gigantic backlog of suits in India, which in 2006 amounted to 27 million cases. At the current rate at which India's courts wade through proceedings, it would take more than three hundred years to clear the judicial backlog" (93). Furthermore, "Almost $75 billion is tied up in legal disputes. This would amount to roughly 10 percent of India's gross domestic product in 2006" (94). Backlog in the courts is thus a detrimental economic cost.
• "Almost 100 of Indias 545 members of parliament in New Delhi have 'criminal backgrounds,' which means that have been indicted for one or more crimes, but not convicted. Once they are elected, it is virtually impossible to convict them, which is one of their main incentives for entering politics in the first place" (117). Moreover, "Of the almost one hundred alleged parliamentary criminals, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh [the province in which I'm staying] account for by far the largest share" (118).

Recent Adventures

• As previously mentioned, I got my nose pierced for 100 rupees (approx. $2 US). And I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I am ridiculously infatuated with it. Right now, I have one of Cayley's gold rings in it, but I'm hoping to find one here soon that I can use instead. There's one in a jewelry shop that I am absolutely infatuated with: diamonds in a vine formation wrapped jetting off the sides of a ring. It's about 5000 rupees (approx. $100-110 US), so that's not going to be happening, but a girl can dream, right?


• I went to an Indian nightclub (Zero) the weekend before last, and it was probably the single most fun thing I've done since I arrived in India. I'm hoping to go again Saturday night. I can't even describe how fun it was.... Just know it was AWESOME. :)


• Sunday before last I learned how to play cricket, and if I get to the point where I'm finally able to understand the rules, you can bet I will be bringing cricket back to NEBRASKA. (Q: How cool would that be? A: VERY COOL.)


• This past weekend, I went on a 9-hour one-way road trip to Agra and Fatehpur Sikri to see the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, and the mausoleum part of Fatehpur Sikri. It was rather expensive by Indian standards, but it was a really great trip all-in-all. I really enjoyed seeing the Taj again--I saw it for the first time when I was 17--and whereas last time it was really underwhelming, it was really overwhelming to see it this time. I could have sat and stared at it all day--not even kidding--but unfortunately hydration, heat, and other such things make that nearly impossible. It was really neat, though. (Pictures are on Facebook.)


• A peer of mine taught a laughing yoga class to all interested participants yesterday. SO MUCH FUN. Roommates and other Nebraskan friends: We WILL be doing this ROUTINELY in the fall. :) Maybe I'll even start a laughing yoga club in Lincoln....


• I've been trying to get hooked up with an NGO while I'm here in Lucknow. So far that search has just brought me to a Fair Trade-esque store that is looking for English teachers, but I'm really hoping to visit an NGO or two tomorrow or Monday.... We'll see how that search goes. I'd really like to be able to connect in that way with the city and with the country, and it would be really excellent experience.


• Cayley, her friend Fahmida (who has been staying with us for a little while), and I went to a restaurant called Barbeque Nation last night for dinner. It was probably one of the Top Ten Best Meals of My Life. It was expensive by Indian standards (500 rupees with tip or about $10), but we ate like kings. Any weight I've lost since coming to India...well, I gained it back last night. Our table had a grill in the center of it and several sauces (i.e. mint, mango, chili, etc.), and the waiters began our meal (which included unlimited mocktails and beverages) with "starters." We chose the non-vegetarian option, so they brought out prawn, fish, chicken, mutton, and some other things--each with a different marinade and all on skewers--and then kept bringing us more. They served us more traditional Indian food--directly to our table--and he had the BEST sweet naan ever. So good. And then they had a more traditional buffet full of Indian food and a dessert bar, but I was already rather full by this point and the food we'd already eaten had been so great. The three of us enjoyed a lavish girl's night out, and we estimated that a place of similar caliber in the US would be an easy $20/head if not closer to $30 or $40. And $10 here is quite a bit for dinner, but when we usually eat for $4 or less per person, $10 isn't such a horrible splurge, which brings me to another adventure....


• I ate street food for the first time the other day! Fahmida and I got lamb kebab rolls (spiced pieces of lamb, onions, and some mint sauce in a greasy sort of roti/flatbread) and a 1 liter bottle of mineral water for 60 rs. (less than $1.50 US). And that was dinner. And it was delicious. And that was Monday, and I haven't gotten sick yet, so I will be going back for more as time allows! Our most expensive meal here has been that one at Barbeque Nation (such a dumb restaurant name), and the kebab roll has been my cheapest, but most of my meals end up being about $2-3 US, but that gets me a decent meal at rather nice restaurants (or a chicken sandwich, Coke, and fries at McDonalds). And, yes, I have eaten at both KFC and McDonalds since I've arrived here...and it's tasted like heaven. And I don't even like fastfood. In fact, I hate it. But it's just tasted so good....

Things I've Craved Since Arriving in India

• A ham and cheese omelet from Perkins. With hashbrowns. And sausage.
• Turkey sandwich on wheat bread with pepperjack cheese.
• Tortilla chips and SUPER AWESOME PINEAPPLE-CILANTRO-BEAN DIP. OMG.
• Spinach salad.
• A really enormous cheeseburger.
• Something with prime rib from Lazlo's.
• LaMar's doughnut.

How We Do

Let's talk logistics.

India is a really interesting place to live, and I think we have some really interesting solutions to logistical issues and how we do things, even the most mundane chore.

MEALS.

Our hostess Renee is currently in New York for her son's wedding (although some of her other family members are here), and since she's gone, we don't have access to her cook. So how are the fabulous people of the commune surviving? Tiffins. The tiffin service in India is widely used. A tiffin is a set of small stainless steel containers complete with a hot meal. Everyday we call our tiffin service provider, and for a small cost that Renee is supposedly taking care of, we have a hot Indian meal (daal, roti, rice, and a veggie) delivered hot in the evening at the time of our request. In the morning, we leave the tiffins outside for collection, and the process repeats itself. Millions of Indians use tiffins everyday as a means of getting a hot lunch or dinner delivered home or to their place of work.

I myself have been avoiding the tiffins because I'm not particularly fond of daal or roti. I am basically subsisting on muesli and mangoes. Not true. I've actually fallen madly in love with chicken sandwiches from the likes of KFC and McDonalds. I would never "crave" fastfood in the United States, but I can't tell you how good American fastfood tastes in India. Words cannot describe it....

LAUNDRY.

Laundry is done by our dolbiwallah (probably misspelled that) who charges 5 rupees per piece of clothing. For 5 rupees, your shalwaar (or whatever) gets washed, dried, and pressed. Not a bad deal when an American dollar is the equivalent of about 47-50 rupees.... It's cheaper and better quality than my options at an American dorm.

TRANSPORTATION.

Cycle rickshaws have become a staple of my existance in India. It's super cheap transporation, and it's generally pretty reliable. For about 10-20 rupees, a friend (or two) and I can get where we need to go. The ride is thrilling, fun, and sometimes a wee bit dangerous, but motorists and motorcyclists are generally cautious about the slow-moving rickshaws. The cyclist rickshaw drivers themselves are often sad sights--the one Aqilah and I used this morning to get to school was probably just 12 years old. Most are skin and bone with teeth stained by the remnants of cheap legal narcotics. If you're out and about early in the morning and late at night and traversing the city, it's not uncommon to see a dozen or so rickshaw drivers sleeping on their rickshaws throughout the city.

COMMUNICATION.

I have an Indian cell phone. I paid $20 for it, and it's just a basic cell phone--doesn't do anything cool whatsoever, and then I load money on to it. It's about 9 rupees a minute for an international call, 1 rupee a minute or so for a local call, and 1 rupee per text message.

Getting the phone, however, was the biggest hassle. A phonewallah came to the Institute to distribute phones and what-not, as this was supposed to be the quickest way to get everyone a mobile.

Not true.

The phonewallah was like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. I was at the Institute, along with other students, every afternoon for THREE DAYS. On the first afternoon, I was able to start my paperwork, as they want photocopies of your passport, passport photos, proof of residency, etc. as part of your phone application. On the second afternoon, the same wallah came back to continue the phone process, and he wouldn't even let me get my hands on the paperwork to finish the process. On the third afternoon, I finally was able to complete the process. It was ridiculous.

PESTS.

My tolerance for rodents and insects right now is ridiculously high.
What have I seen running around our apartment, you ask?
Spiders, ants, mosquitos, and other insects? Check.
Cockroaches? Check.
Lizards? Check.
Rat? Check.
For the bugs and cockroaches, we've been using pesticides and what-not designed to keep them away. I found some pretty lethal cockroach/mosquito repellant at Big Bazaar (BTW: I HATE Big Bazaar) that has a list of side effects from inhalation listed on the side of the can.
As for the lizards, we let them be. They come. They go. But how do you kill a lizard? No idea. And they eat the bugs, which we certainly like, but they are apparently poisonous. Someone told me a story when I first arrived about a couple in India that had one of these lizards fall into their soup while it was cooking. Unaware of the mystery ingredient, they ate the soup and died of poisoning. So, we're mindful and careful about that, but you know, it's India.
As for the mouse, that attack is on our to do list. We just found the bugger the night before last, and we think he's hanging out in the kitchen....

CLEANING.

The home we live in has a house boy, who I estimate to be about 18-20 or so, who assists with the daily maintenance of the property. For us, this means that he does the cleaning. He periodically comes and washes the floors and otherwise tidies up the apartment. He also disposes of our trash if we place it outside. As the house boy, he lives in an apartment above us that I imagine to be of significantly lesser quality than ours.


If I think of other things that I find to work differently on a day-to-day basis than in the United States, I'll be sure to post them as well.

Guess what?

I got my nose pierced Saturday.

And I LOVE it. :)

(Cheers to reckless life decisions!)

(But it was sanitary, I swear.)

Cultural Faux Pas Moves by Moi

So, in the first--and maybe not even the first--of many cultural faux pas moves by moi, here we go:

I (unknowingly) wore an Indian nightdress to the Institute.

It was the afternoon after I'd been home sick sleeping one morning, and I found a cotton dress in one of the dressers in our apartment and wore it because I had nothing else to wear. Turns out I was wearing Indian women's pajamas.

Moves like that = Story of my life.

Homesick?

So, I'm maybe a wee bit homesick.

A week of illness, heat, perspiration, and Indian food will do that to you.

Sexual Suppression in India

The title of this particular post may seem a little...off, but this is something I really would like to talk about and focus on for at least one entry on this blog.

India is an extremely socially conservative nation: This cannot be emphasized enough. Men and women are taught from childhood (probably birth) to stay clear of the opposite sex. People don't "date" as most marriages are arranged, although the definition of "arranged" varies widely. Still, the opposite genders are really not supposed to interact, for example:

• PDA is almost unheard of;
• A man and a woman (especially if they are unmarried) will not spend time alone together publicly or privately;
• It's very common to see straight women AND men holding hands with someone of the same gender in public, whereas it's almost uncommon to see a man and a woman holding hands in public;
• A woman's reputation rests almost primarily on her modesty with the opposite sex;
• Women dress very conservatively, i.e. especially in terms of covering one's legs and chest; and
• Because teenagers can't spend time together alone, such as on a date, you can frequently find very secretive-looking duo's at large gathering places, such as the gardens, discretely chatting and getting to know each other.

In light of this, I had a very interesting experience on Sunday.

First of all, let me begin this by noting that as a white female, everyone looks at me. Everyone. All the time. I can be wearing traditional Indian clothing and dressing modestly (salwaar, korta, and dupatta), and I still get stares. As one peer put it: "It feels like we're...royalty." People stare that much and that often. You don't go anywhere without having several sets of eyes following you at all times. You feel like you're on parade as a representative of the Western world, and there are a lot of pressures and stresses that come with that.

But I digress.

On Saturday, a female student who I spent time with wore a calf-length skirt, nice t-shirt, and dupatta (scarf) when we were out-and-about. She seemed to received normally, or as normally as we expect to be received, and so on Sunday I decided to wear a skirt in Lucknow for the first time. It was a skirt that hits below my kneecap, and I wore a nice t-shirt and a dupatta with it, and I went to the mall in this outfit, an outfit that's not scandalous or outrageous in any sense of the word. (Remember: The United Colors of Benetton in the mall is selling miniskirts and shorts.)

I haven't received that much attention is such a long time. I sat in Barista at Sahara Ganj with two classmates who were dressed in Indian apparel (more gals came later), and there would be men who would literally stand outside the coffeeshop's glass windows and stare. Others would make slow down their walking significantly. One set of younger guys was talking to me THROUGH THE WINDOW, and I sat in the coffeeshop shaking my head trying to ignore them.

I was in a fishbowl.

I didn't take it too personally--as I am neither a stud nor a prostitute--but it's an interesting situation that the American woman finds herself in when she steps foot into India. The media portrays a very flirty, loose version of the American female to the world, and when the American woman finds herself in a very socially conservative place, the onlooker automatically assumes that she is (I.) a slut, (II.) easy, and (III.) open to sexual experimentation. These are verdicts that I myself have not necessarily had the experience to justify, but they are verdicts that harmoniously emerge from the monologues American women tell of their time in this country.

It's an interesting predicament the Western woman finds herself in in India when she is more liberal than the average woman in terms of her relationships with other men but not in any way an sexually promiscuous woman.

There is no middle ground here for the Western woman: You are or you aren't, and it's already been decided for you by the media and the cultural powers that be that you ARE.

The Weekend in Review

The last time I posted was Thursday, so I'll start with a quick overview of the weekend.

• Friday night was pretty chill. I ran some errands in the afternoon, if memory serves me right, and kept things low key after class. One of my roommates, the lovely Behnaz, bought a hookah, and so there was the inaugural usage of the new blue hookah on a nice-sized balcony that jets off the room she shares with Aqilah. So several of us--i.e. Beenish, Elizabeth, Behnaz, Cayley, Charlotte, and myself--were sitting on the balcony--early evening sun's rays keeping us warm as the sun slowly melted into the West, dance music piping out from someone's portable iPod speakers, hookah fully functional, and girl chatter abundantly flowing. Later, Behnaz, Charlotte, and I went to Mint, a semi-trendy lounge sort of place down the street from where we live, to relax in the air conditioning while enjoying cold beverages. Again, it was super low-key, but it was a pretty good Friday all in all. The funny thing is that because so many people have curfews and because of Indian society's conservatism (especially with regard to women), nights wind down around 10pm, so we end nights early and sleep plenty.
• Saturday was a bit more interesting. Cayley, one of my five roommates, woke up feeling ill, and was taken to the hospital Saturday morning--turns out she has a parasite. Such are the elemental hazards of Lucknow. :) After having not eaten much all week--basically since I got here--I went to KFC (heck yes) for lunch with Azim, Aaron, Megan, Kristen, and Aqilah. It was a bit greasy--of course--but it was good to eat something and actually feel full. That really hasn't happened since I got here. Anyways, after lunch, we went to a new Hindi film called "Paying Guests"--basically ridiculousness, although it was a good use of a few hours and a cultural :) experience at the very least. Following the film, we wandered around the mall that the threatre and the KFC are in (Sahara Ganj is the name of the mall) before going over to Ahdminebad (spelling?), which is more of what you would consider to be a traditional Indian shopping and eating district. We spent a lot of time at a bookstore there and wandering around. I tried coconut water :), which is when they slice open a coconut and hand you a straw. Around 8pm, Aqilah and I left what remained of our group and spent most of the rest of the night chatting. It was a really solid day, though, and I felt like I was able to get to learn more about the people I spent the day with.
• Sunday was more boring. I spent most of Sunday at Sahara Ganj (literally 11am-5pm) studying in a Barista coffeeshop there, although we did look around the mall and have lunch during that time as well. In the evening, a few of us--Francesca, Behnaz, Beenish, Sareesh, myself, and another gal or two--went to the Imambaraugh near our house. (Pictures to be posted shortly on Facebook.)
• And today we were back in class. We started connecting letters today in my Urdu classes--WICKED EXCITING STUFF. The Urdu alphabet has four forms--initial, medial, final, and independent, depending on where a letter falls in a word or if it starts on its own--and the alphabet is supposedly rather close to Arabic, so basically, learning how to actually formulate words in Urdu script is REALLY BIG because we've just been studying the alphabet and common phrases the past few days. MORAL OF THE STORY: I am learning SO MUCH but I have so much more to learn. It's extremely gratifying, however, to be able to tangibly place a measure on how much I've learned. I started at nothing, and now I know the alphabet, how to formulate words, and basic phrases. I've had class for less than four days.

On the Mend!

I am feeling several times better than I was this morning. I ended up decided to miss my classes today in order to make up for the sleep I didn't get yesterday and to just let my body catch up with everything that's been going on. We just got to Lucknow a few days ago, and prior to that, I was on a plane every other day crossing time zones for about a week--not that I'm complaining, but it does strange, strange things to your health.

But I'm on the mend and doing better, and Cayley's almost fully recovered, and now it's just poor Elizabeth who is not feeling well.

Hopefully, this sort of illness isn't par for the course. :)

Today, basically the only thing I got done was filling out a form to go to the police about my presence in Lucknow. Good job done--just not super thrilling.

One thing I did want to talk about, however, is just how refreshing this whole experience has been in terms of seeing "The Big Picture." I think I've been feeling like I absolutely-must-have-to get a full-time job as soon as I get out of college, and after talking to the other students here, I feel a lot more opened to getting sidetracked. Now, don't get me wrong--the 9-5 job will be coming my way quickly, but there are things like the Fulbright, PeaceCorps, Teach for America, and other opportunities--things that you really can only do when you're young. I guess I'm more open now to getting carried away--life's an adventure, not a race to a desk, and I feel more at peace knowing that it's okay to get a little sidetracked--that I can still end up on the "right" track even if I go a different route than most. My story can be my story, and the ending can be the same no matter which way I went about getting there. And it's a really liberating notion that there are several ways to arrive at the same destination.

Hope that makes sense to somebody else. :)

PS Last night when I was trying to fall asleep around 9pm, a wedding band started up on the street--a really, loud obnoxious Indian wedding band. It was really awful wedding music, and it was literally right in front of the house. There are literally moments almost every day when you just have to laugh at irony and its timing.

Recovering

I got really sick last night--first time I've gotten sick since I arrived here. I don't mean to be gross, but I was vomiting or having severe diarrhea (or both) about once every hour or two for most of the night. This morning, I'm trying to decide how to proceed in terms of going to class and in terms of breakfast. Anything and everything that was in my stomache has since left, and there's no way that I'm not at least a little dehydrated. Hopefully, this will be about the first and last time for something like this.

Quick Letter to the World

Dear World,

I am feeling a little ill--nothing that sleep, Vitamin C, and Tums can't cure, though. I'm planning on going to bed early tonight. Cayley, one of my roommates, is ill, and I'm hoping to avoid whatever she's gotten.

I bought four salwaar kameez suits today. Feeling a little buyers' remorse, but oh well: I need the clothes. Really, I honestly do.

We started studying the alphabet today. We got through one of the four Urdu alphabets, and then focused on the first 10 of 36 letters. It was really exciting to actually get going and get started on something.

I am starting to like bucket showers. :)

I am super tired.

Love you all!

More information later.

Love,
Jessie

Camping?: A Moment of Discouragement

I just found a cockroach in the bathroom.

It was the first one I've seen since arriving in India on Saturday. It was approximately two inches long, and it was a reddish color.

I am so grossed out right now--you have no idea.

That brings the total cockroach count (in our apartment) to 2, and our lizard count is at 1 so far.

I'm really trying to think of this whole "Living in India" thing as camping at some sort of rustic summer camp. The accomodations are nice, but nowhere that I'd want to live for an extended period of time. The paint's peeling in the bathroom, and there's a really huge fire/water mark in the dining area, and have I mentioned the heat? It was 119 yesterday, and today was a slightly cooler 118, and I don't have "air conditioning."

It's rougher than I'm used to, and it wears on you in strange ways.

I'm also a little unstrung because I haven't learned anything yet, and I feel so clueless. There are about 40 students study Urdu this summer at the Institute, and I am ONE of the FOUR people who have no Urdu language experience whatsoever and who haven't studied Hindi or Arabic, the languages to which Urdu is most closely related. So I basically feel knowledgeless. And the real fun starts tomorrow when we REALLY get to work on the language--so far everything's just been orientation.

And I haven't been eating much. It's taking me a little time to adjust to 24/7 Indian food when I'm unaccquainted with the spices and what-not. Right now, it's 9:30pm my time, and I had a snack at 4pm, but I haven't had dinner yet, and I really didn't have much of anything for breakfast or lunch.

And it's at least 95 in the apartment right now.

And I am sweating profusely.

UGH.

Things will get better, right? This is a moment of discouragement, primarily because I saw the cockroach--a really big one at that--and now I'm scared of little cockroaches meeting the world in my suitcase.

UGH.

The heavy pesticides/sprays are coming out in the morning.

Moment of discouragement.
Rant over.

Life in a Commune and Sauna (i.e. First Post from INDIA!)

I live in a commune.

We arrived in Lucknow yesterday and moved into our homestay after having spent just 30 hours or so in Delhi for orientation which was preceded by a 15 hour plane ride.

Our living situation was originally supposed to be 4 girls in 4 bedrooms, each of us with our own--presumably. When we arrived, we learned that the actual situation is a little different, but here is the moral of the story: A fellow from London named Nareesh is rooming in one of the rooms, Elizabeth and I are in the room with the view, and Behnaz and Aqila are in the back bedroom with the bathroom. So this left us with one bedroom. And when we discovered that our friend Cayley's housing had fallen through, we invited her to join us in the apartment. So, we have a total of four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and six people (five girls, one guy) living here.

It feels like a commune. (Pictures to be posted later!)

And a sauna, too.

Since we arrived, it has felt like a sauna here. Not even kidding. In Delhi, it was hot, but we had A/C in every building, and aside from a trip to a "market," we were inside. However, the moment we stepped off the plane in Lucknow, it was like stepping into a sauna. It was about 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday, and I think it only cooled down to 80 degrees Fahrenheit last night (if that). I've basically been soaking up water like a fish and sweating like a pig.

Disgusting.

Yesterday was rather fun. After landing in Lucknow around 11am, we went to the Institute (American Institute of Indian Studies) where we met some of the teachers and got a brief intro to the school and the program. After that, we saw the apartment and got an idea of the housing situation. From there, we had lunch with everyone at a hotel down the road, and then went back to the apartment to move in and chat more with our hostess, who's super nice.

Then, because some girls needed some toiletries and because Elizabeth and I were in desperate need of Indian-style clothing, we headed to the mall.

Experience #1: Rickshaws. SO MUCH FUN...while also being a little scary. Word to the wise: A rickshaw is most comfortable (and safe!) with 2 people rather than 3, and when you are not of Indian descent, you will feel like you're in a parade. No joke.

Experience #2: Indian Mall. The funny thing about Indian malls is that 80% of the people there are men. And you have to go through security when you enter.

Experience #3: This is what I feel this experience is really all about: A little girl--about 3 years old or so--came up to the girls and I that had gone to the mall. She waved, and I knelt down to her level and gave her a high five and waved to her. And when she walked away with her mother a few minutes later, I felt that I had really represented myself and where I come from really well. It's this sort of "America" that people here need to see and that the world needs to see. At the end of the day, we're all people, and we're people with more in common than we realize. Reaching out to her like that really made me feel like I'd made a difference.

Anyways, after the mall, where all the clothing was lovely but really high priced (i.e. $20 for a tunic), we went to FabIndia. I love FabIndia. It's premade Indian clothing, as opposed to the traditional clothing where a tailor makes alterations and basically builds the top out of fabric you've purchased. Anyways, I LOVE FABINDIA. I bought two pairs of salwaars (read: balloon pants), a green top, and a dupatti (scarf thing), and this combined with the three tunic tops I bought in Delhi is a good start towards my Indian wardrobe. The things I packed to wear here aren't really things that women--or even other Westerners--wear. The Indian clothing really helps to make it a little less obvious that I'm a foreigner, although that much is really not hard to figure out in the first place. I just feel a little less "out in the open," persay.

Anyways, but the real highlight of yesterday was the birthday party we had for Elizabeth, whose actual birthday is today. About 20 of us ended up going to a place called Mint, which is a really trendy--or trendy for Lucknow--restaurant/bar, where we, between the 20 of us, went through 3 hookahs. It was a really great way to start our time here and to just hang out after so much travel.

Anyways, I should be going. Pictures will be up soon!

And PS I took a bucket shower this morning. That's when you know you aren't in America anymore.

Last One from America

It's a beautiful morning in DC, and we're to depart in just a few hours. At 1pm, we'll leave the hotel for our late afternoon flight to Chicago. From Chicago, we'll leave directly from India and land after a 14-hour flight in Delhi at almost 9pm local time. We'll spend Saturday night and Sunday in Delhi before departing to Lucknow via plane. I think we'll arrive in Lucknow on Monday, but it could be different from what I understand, too....

Once in Lucknow, I'll arrive at what I think is going to be an apartment. I'm living with three girls (Aqilah, Behnaz, and Elizabeth) in a flat that's supposed to be near some beautiful gardens and have a terrace which will hopefully overlook the gardens.

I'm nervous, and I don't even know why precisely I'm nervous, but I'm excited to finally be there. I'll be happy to finally arrive in Lucknow on Monday, and I'll be happy to finally be in Delhi tomorrow night.

Again, the people I'm going with are super fascinating. I will be in Lucknow with a group of about twenty other students, and they're ridiculously fabulous and cool. One just spent a semester studying at the Sorbonne in Paris. Another just wrapped up a documentary project in India. Another has assisted at a human rights summer camp for middle schoolers. Another studied abroad in Morocco this past semester and has some wild (not exaggerating) tales about Dijoubti, Ethiopia, and Somaliland (the semi-autonomous state in northern Somalia). Another has worked for Pakistani interests at the United Nations.

Again, I'll be with super fascinating, interesting, and intelligent people this summer who have a knack for exploration and interaction with the world they live in. They've all been super nice and congenial, so I think I'm in for a good trip. :)

Last night, after a day of meetings that were semi-useful and a delicious dinner at DC Chophouse that surprisingly didn't involve beef, a few of us headed out to the Mall. We saw the Washington Monument, World War II Monument, and Lincoln Memorial by moonlight, and with the lighting unique to each, they absolutely gleamed. It was so lovely and beautiful.

Love you all, and I'll be writing next from Delhi!

Surrealism

So, I feel like my last post was all over the place and not terribly contained or focused, but maybe that's not true.

In any case, I guess I really just want to convey how surreal this is. Arriving yesterday and meeting people who have a genuine common interest in India, in Pakistan, and in related things--it was incredibly surreal. With the application process and the other pre-departure business, we've had a common experience and can relate to each other's visa applications, telephone interviews, etc. It's really neat that way, and this whole thing--waking up in DC this morning in a luxurious hotel room with a view of a fabulous (not exaggerating) apartment building across the way and a Starbucks across the street (read: dangerous) and knowing that today is the day when hopefully a lot of questions about this summer will be answered as I sit in sessions with students headed to India to learn Urdu, Bangla, Punjabi, and Hindi--it's surreal. Wandering around downtown DC before finding the Washington Monument and then hailing a taxi before the steady rain turned into a full-out downpour--surreal.

And I think as a general rule, we feel lucky. We've gotten a super cool opportunity to travel across the world to learn a language that's in relatively high demand, and the State Department and CAORC are picking up the tab.

It's pretty cool, and I feel like I lucked out, and this all feels super surreal.

Love you all.

Commencement

I found myself in four airports today as part of a voyage that involved three flights, the last of which brought me to Washington DC for a pre-departure orientation session.

When I was in the Minneapolis airport this morning, I overheard a young boy ask his father essentially what is the furthest distance a person can go--an appropriate question for an airport.

His father replied: "The furthest you can go is to come back to where you started from."

I feel like there's a lot of truth in that statement, aside from the obvious, and it was a neat quote that carried me through today's long travels (I have been awake since before 3am) and encouraged me to recognize that distance is not the most important aspect of this summer--more so than travel for travels' sake, I have a unique opportunity not only to study a really unique language this summer, but I have an opportunity for some self-discovery, adventure, and exploration.

And so far...so good.

I've really enjoyed meeting my peers who will be accompanying me to India this summer--they are some genuinely fascinating people who bring with them a diverse set of interests and backgrounds, but it's so neat to have so much in common with them from right off the bat. After spending the late afternoon socializing with them, I went to dinner with a few at an Italian restaurant before continuing on a walk to the Washington Monument. As we were walking, it began to drizzle, and before we could continue down the Washington Mall, we were in the midst of a downpour and in desperate need of a taxi. So, most of the monuments will have to wait, but it was an evening well spent. My peers here are fabulous, and I'm curious to see how this summer will play itself out.

This is such a rambly post.

Other than that, the only thing really to report is that my hotel is ridiculously rad.

And my plane landed just as the Holocaust Museum shooting was occuring. God bless that security guard.

Sorry this isn't more substantial.

I need sleep.

Love you all. :)

LESS THAN 15 HOURS TO GO UNTIL THE ADVENTURE BEGINS!

Less than 15 hours until my plane leaves for DC....

Holy bizoli.

I am in the middle of a packing frenzy and am not having tons of luck in that department: hence, I am typing away.

Among the most bizarre/random things accompanying me on my journey:
- Bug repellent with permethrin--so intense that it cannot make contact with my actual skin, and if it does, then I need to get a hold of the nearest poison control center.
- Scott wipes. (I am so prepared for any bathroom that comes my way!)
- Tums. For calcium.
- A wide array of the antibacterial products.
- Oatmeal and fruit strips. Just in case Indian food is not jiving with me, I've got back-up.
- Host gifts including a North Dakota mug, Nebraska decorative plate, strawberry-rhubarb jam, and a North Dakota magnet.

I've also had four shots (against typhoid, influenza, polio, and tetanus) and received a malaria prescription.

It's just so crazy-- I LEAVE TOMORROW AT 5AM FOR DC!!!! GAH!!!!

Last night was my last official night in my hometown since I'll be up at like 3am tomorrow, so I invited some pals to meet me at a downtown coffee shop for a last minute gab fest. SO FUN. About 10 people or so were able to make it, and it was one of the best nights I've had in such a long time. I have really fantastic friends, friends who laugh with me and support me, and I've been really grateful for them in light of everything that's happened in the past few weeks. I forgot how blessed I am to have such great people in my life--really genuinely blessed.

So, since my bedroom literally looks like some sort of clothing volcano--a very rare specimen indeed--native to wherever it is that I am at any particular point in time--erupted, I should get back to the task at hand.

I will be posting as time allows.

Peace!

Two Weeks To Go!

It's getting closer! My program starts in 12 days, and I leave for INDIA in 14!

It's starting to finally sink in that I am leaving--and am leaving soon--for India and for a such an intensive language program in Urdu.

I'm getting my malaria prescription and a typhoid vaccination Monday, and I learned too late that I could have been vaccinated against other "prevalent" diseases in India, i.e. rabies and Japanese encephalitis. A nurse I spoke with yesterday really, well, freaked me out about the fact that I don't have time to complete the 30 day process for getting vaccinated for Japanese encephalitis. Japanese encephalitis, a relative of West Nile, is transferred via mosquito-to-human and can cause result in permanent brain damage, coma, or worse for a severely afflicted victim. Annually, 50,000 people in Southeast Asia are afflicted with the disease, and of those, 15,000 die. However, some other research of mine indicated that only 5 Americans have contracted the disease in India since 1981. The program I'm going with assures me that I'm safe in terms of many of the diseases, like Japanese encephalitis and rabies. So, fingers crossed, I'll be good, but it's things like that that I've got on my mind these days....

I'm still not sure what my housing situation will be once I arrive--and apparently, I might not know until I land in Delhi, and that's certainly not a lot of notice.

Overall, though, I'm excited for this experience, but it doesn't seem possible that it's already time for me to be going!