Christmas Crackers and Cake

Christmas Eve:

I was welcomed into the home of Mary’s parents.

<--

There road we needed was unexpectedly closed on the way to Mary’s parents house. While driving on the bumpy dirt road detour, our car got stuck on a massive rut in the road. David found this very frustrating but I secretly thought it was just grand! It reminded me of getting stuck in a snow drift at home but it is much more comfortable because the air does not sting your nostrils and your fingers and toes don’t turn into ice cubes when you step out of the car. I quickly volunteered to get out and help push the car from the rut. With the help of Viletrout (a German woman who was welcomed to the Selvaraj household for Christmas as well) and David we successfully freed the car and were on our rocky way again. Luckily, despite the delay that stretched the car ride time to 1 hour and 15 min, we were still the first to arrive at Mary’s parents home. Apparently Mary’s sister hit the same detour and had not arrived yet either.

(Notice the widow decor. I put this up the day before when we came to decorate Mary's parents home for Christmas. One of my first comments after entering the house to Mary's Mother was an unashamed compliment of the beautiful widow decoration. : ) I pride myself in my humble spirit. ; ) )

With in 15min of being in the house I sat down to a game of chess with Mary’s father. I play chess with him every time I visit. The first time I played he check mated me in 3 moves, the second time the game was over in 7, this time the game lasted about 10 min. He chuckled when I told him, “all I want for Christmas is to win a game of chess.”

We had a grand feast of fresh tandori (similar to bbq) chicken, mashed potatoes, fried beef patties, coconut rice, lamb curry, and a delicious cheese cake made by Mary to top it off. Mary also made one of her specialty drinks, Irish Cream liquor. Although 9 times out of 10 I will decline alcoholic beverages, this one I accepted. Sure enough, it was a fantastic addition to the dinner.

After dinner I was nominated as elf and distributed gifts. I was astonished and embarrassed to realize that Vileclout and I had received more gifts than anyone else in the room.

(my beutiful and zainy new Christmas sari)

(Vileclout also tried on my sari with Mary's help)







































Christmas Day:

Woke up alone. Felt good. First things first. Opened the gift that a dear friend and fellow student on the trip for the past semester, had left me to open on Christmas since she knew I would be alone. It was a cd with my favorite bollywood song on it. There were also lots of chocolate éclairs as well. With a big grin and mouth full of candy, I poped the c.d. in my player and spent the next hour listening to Indian bollywood music and reading.

Later…
Feeling a little glum I decided to call the fam. They are all at my Gramma’s celebrating Christmas Eve. I talk with my Dad and cousin a bit then get cut off before I can wish my brother happy Christmas. This call has succeeded in making me feel worse. Enough to make a tear fall down my cheek.

I realize that I am just being foolish and decide that I better do something to keep my mind off of what ever I am thinking about that has made me so sad. I Decide to go visit the girls. I bring my stitching. The afternoon is spent stitching, dancing, and eating with the girls. Why had I not thought to do this before? They have completely brightened my day.

Vileclout and I have decide to go out for dinner. We both need food. We walk to the bus stop and wait for 30 min. At that point bus 295 (the one we’ve been waiting for) speeds by with out stopping. We stare at each other dumb founded and realize we better start walking…

We arrive at the store. A Chinese woman suggests we take a rickshaw to a place she goes to get food.

We pay the driver 40 ruppee after he drops us at the spot and proceed to walk around looking for a restaurant. We encouter an ATM, a place for me to fill up min on my phone and a place to buy whisky before settling at a restaurant for our Christmas dinner. They have my favorite Chow chow bath! Vileclout orders cheese dosa. After our enjoyable meal and tea, we set off for home.

Getting home is a bit more of a challenge. After 5 rickshaw drivers turn us down. We start walking toward a busier road to try and catch a bus.

It is dark.

We get there just in time to see our bus (295) pull away from the stop.

We are still in good spirits though, it is Christmas after all. We catch a rickshaw instead. The ride home is one of the smelliest, bumpiest, dustiest, rides I have experienced in my entire stay in India. We both find this hilarious and laugh most of the way home.

On our walk back to Vhistar we our called by Liola (a Vhistar staff member who lives just up the road from the Vhistar campus) to watch Christmas Crackers with her sons. As we sit down, her Mom insists we have some Christmas plum cake which we happily eat. After Christmas Crackers, cake and the preformance of a christmas song from Liola’s son Jayden, we take off and reach our rooms full, content, and happy we had each other for a wonderfully memorable and unique Christmas in Bangalore.

Pre Christmas Party with Bondavi Girls

The group has gone.

I am now on my own. It was much harder than expected. Watching the group that has become like family this past semester board the bus together with out me was emotional even for me who is not prone to shedding tears.

The following days were quiet but I kept busy packing up my things and heading to the Selvaraj household for Christmas.

The Selvaraj’s invited all 70 of the Bondavi girls over to their home for a Christmas celebration that started out with games,

Then a meal,

And last but not least ended by giving a gift to every girl. These gifts were prepared by myself and my new best friend Vilecrout, a woman from Germany that has come to volunteer her time teaching the girls some traditionally German crafts.

I consider her my new best friend because it has been really nice to have another “foreigner” with me so that I am not so alone in the constant feeling of being somewhat out of place. Not to mention making 70 gifts is a rather time consuming process and it was great to have her

next to me to chat with.

Fun with Dick and Jainism

(LATE ENTRY)

“Less is More”

“Live simply so others may simply live.”

I was surprisingly calm as the three bare naked Janes walked into the room and sat down cross-legged in front of our group. The small room smelled a mix of B.O. and nursing home. Fluorescent lights and colorful tinfoil décor overhead gave the room a cheesy, un-guruesqe feel. The head Jane seated in a simple wooden throne explained that he was late because he was meditating. He usually will not speak to groups after 6pm but since we traveled such a distance, he made an exception. The Jane began to explain (via a translator speaking broken English) that he eats only one meal a day and will not use any utensils or dishware to consume it. He also will not use scissors or any machinery. Thus rather than cutting his hair, he rips it out by hand.

That explains the unusually spotty pattern of hair growth on his scalp.

The distinguishing feature marking a Jane (other than their “sky-clad” or naked appearance) is their peacock feather duster broom they carry with them at all times. The function of the broom is to sweep any unseen insect or bug out of the way to prevent bringing harm to living creature by their tread.

The core belief of the Janism religion is non-violence in all aspects of life, food, communication (verbal abuse), and thought (negative thoughts toward others). Therefore are strict vegetarians. No meat or vegetables that grow underground ie: potatoes, onion, and garlic. Everyday the Jane will climb the 636 steps to honor the largest monolithic statue in the world, a stone representation of one of the first Janes. This particular Jane claims that he was a wealthy man, but gave up all of his possessions including his family to become a Jane.

As students start to fire questions at our Jane guru, my mind drifts off contemplating what he would do if I slapped the fly that has just perched on my elbow. I decide not to find out considering I have already made the fo-paw of stretching my legs out and allowing my feet (the dirtiest part of the body) to point at the three Janes. This, I was curtly informed by the student to my left in a harsh whisper, is NOT allowed. I tune back in to hear his response to the question that has been posed,
“What is happiness to you?” He responds simply,
“Happiness is control over ones desires.”
Hmm, I wonder what a different world we would live in if the majority of the population agreed with this sky clad man sitting cross-legged in front of me. His bold rejection of societal pressure to excessively indulge every desire in order to achieve happiness struck me as somewhat profound despite the fact that I can’t help but feel like I am in a zoo. These Janes have almost reached an animal like state. They are not fazed as the group of curious students takes their pictures and are memorized by their every movement. There was a robotic feel to their presence. As if they had become zombies somewhere in the middle of their pursuit to rid themselves of their possessions, desires, wants, and basic human needs. As a result, there bodies and minds have been numbed to strong feelings. It is like I am sitting here witnessing the de-evolution of man. So strange.
While I try to forget about my aching back and legs that have fallen asleep long ago from the time spent in the cross-legged position my skeptical mind is filled with questions. What happens if you get sick? Will you die before submitting to the hospital machines that would help you? Do you ever cheat, step on a bug when no one is looking? Who keeps you accountable? For all I know this is some big money making scheme and as soon as we leave they will all go out for king fishers and a steaming hot plate of chicken biriani.

We have started our tour of North India.

I am in Hyderabad right now.

We have just started the third course of the semester on religon. Besides being known for pearls, Hyderabad has a high concentration of Muslims, 80%. After our study of Islam we will fly to for a touristy time visiting the Taj Majal and such. Then we head to Varinassi to study Hinduism in depth. We will be visiting Mumbai and some other cities as well as we will be finishing the last two courses on this trip, living out of our suitcases bouncing from hostel to hostel.

The majority of native Indians have not visited as many locations in India that we will have by the time the semester is done.
For that I feel SO fortunate and blessed. I can barely believe that we are over half way done with our semester.

Due to us being on the road for the next month, blogs will be updated with less frequency and more concisly, but I will try my best.

Happy Vetrans Day! (and I would like to take this time to make a very special shout out to my Mother...)









HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!



Love, Lydia

bike safari

I found my bike ride home from the Selvaraj household (the home that I stayed in over our mid-term break) fantastically amusing.

It started out a bit shakily.

I had two full backpacks of stuff. One on my front and one on my back. This proved to be cumbersome. After about 3 meters of pedaling I fell off. This happened directly in front of three barefoot Indian boys on the side of the rode. They were nice enough to try and hide their laughter. I would have found it hysterical to see a foreign girl tumble off a bike on to the mud road because she was trying to carry way too bags.

My solution was to throw both backpacks on top of each other on my back. Although awkward at first, this was much more manageable.

Biking along enjoying sun, clear blue sky, and warm air, I encounter my first obstacle: A large herd of milk cows claiming the entire road. No problem.
I biked off the road and avoid collision.

Not more than a 20 yards later, I am forced to swerve off the road again. This time a herd of unhappy goats are chasing behind me.
Only slightly shaken, I continue my trek with my big lumpy backpacks on top of each other strapped to my back.

I progress about 200 meters more before out of nowhere, a monkey darts out of the brush and runs right in front of my bike tire.

I wasn't able to dig out my camera (held within one of the 2 packs somewhere) to capture an image, but thanks to googleimage.com
this actually might be the same friend that I almost squashed...

As I watch the monkey scamper off, my eyes drift down to notice an over sized gray and black spotted lady buggish sort of critter crawling up the strap of my pack.

At this point, I realize I have failed as a bio major.

Time to turn on my animal appreciation radar. The rest of the trip I use my knowledge gained in a class I took last spring, Interpreting Spring Landscapes, which honed my bird watching/appreciating abilities. : )

I'd Like to take this opportune moment to make a shout out to Jim Gilbert the guru of looking at and loving plants and everything else naturey.

If you are interested in knowing, I saw:

-Seagull like birds flying in the air
-many butterflies
-many dragonflies
-pigeons
-and a crowish type of bird

The End

Its Turmeric Time!

I have established a reputation. When ever the word "turmeric" is mentioned all eyes dart my way to see my face light up and a big dimpled smile spread from ear to ear.

I don't mean to brag but I am becoming the guru of a magical little spice called turmeric. This has become common knowledge to my fellow classmates thanks to some of the experiments I am conducting to investigate the effectiveness of the potent powder.


<-- Here I am conducting an experiment on Ben's back to test the effectiveness of turmeric as an agent used for hair removal.

Ben's willingness to participate in the study is appreciated. He often reminds me of his noble sacrifice, "I have donated my body to science."

Unfortunately this particular experiment has proven to be much too inaccurate to be used as official results.



I am working on developing a more precise way to count hairs and or measure hair growth. I welcome any suggestions or ideas...






One of the more common uses of turmeric is as a beauty product. It is said to create "radiant and glowing skin." Brides traditionally rub turmeric over their face a day or two before their wedding.

I talked with a woman who gave me a recipe for a turmeric facial which I have been testing on any willing guinea pigs.

So far so good. Everyone seems to enjoy them. After about 10 min. they start to really burn. I tell them, "thats how you know its working." he he he...



*Warning: if you would like to try this at home, it may stain your face causing a jaundiced appearance for a few days.

It's Goa Time

Goa is one of india's tourism centrals.

Goa is India's smallest state in terms of area and the fourth smallest in terms of population. Located on the west coast of India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its western coast.
Renowned for its beaches, Goa is visited by hundreds of thousands of international and domestic tourists each year. Goa is also known for its temples and world heritage architecture including the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa, which makes it one of the biggest Christian pilgrimage sites in Asia.^{[citation needed]} Goa also has rich flora and fauna, owing to its location on the Western Ghats range, which is classified as a biodiversity hotspot.
(information courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa)

Our purpose in visiting Goa was to see what effect globalisation has had on the city. Tourism is the cities 2nd largest source of revenue next to mining, at number 1. Tourism has had many positive effects on the city. Supporting local vendors and creating many high class jobs for local Goans. Jobs in the tourism business are considered prestigious and a high end line of work. Our group took advantage of all of the trendy, trinket shops selling cheap souvenirs. This city was the closest reminder of home that we have had for a while. Coffee shops selling java's and brownies, bathrooms with toilet paper and soap to wash your hands with, seeing other people on the street that have similar skin tones as ourselves, etc

... sandy beach...
vendors...











I managed to capture this nice close up picture of a tourist in action... Notice the shirt: "Enjoy Summer Goa"
After taking the picture I inquired the unsuspecting tourist as to how much she paid for the shirt. She excitedly informed me that the vendors original price was 100 ruppees. But she bartered and got it for 40 ruppee--> $1 US )
She also told me that she was very fond of the little dude in here hand that was carved out of a coconut. "I would have bought it but the guy said, 'not for sale, decoration.'" Haha tourist... take that! You can;t buy everything. comodification and capitalism loose in a big way today..


It did not take for unsettling feelings to start nagging my thoughts. Every morning we had speakers give lectures that enlightened us to the many negative impacts tourism has had on the city. The traditional Goan culture is slowly being suffocated by tourism. The environment has taken a large toll from the activities of tourists. Some of which include: higher pollution, more garbage production, natural beach and sometimes entire villages destroyed and in order to make room for large beach resorts . A problem that came as a complete shock to me was the problem with pedophilia. The sex-tourism industry is a big concern in Goa. Many foreign pedophiles are attracted to Goa for a chance to molest a child and then make a quick safe exit out of the country. Last but not least, where there is sex tourism, there is AIDS yet another large danger to the Goan community.

Alas, I kiss my naive and ignorant tourist days goodbye thanks to this trip...

Part II of the trip (2 nights and 3 days) were spent in a group home-stay with a farmer in the tropical jungle area of Goa.

We stayed with Rama, a farmer, and his family.

Rama was the man. Although his English was not to sharp, he communicated clearly to our group how the mines were damaging the livelihood of all of the local farmers by taking us to many mines and areas that demonstrated the destruction that has occurred thus far. Crops, deforestation, water supply (mining lowers the water table and causes wells to dry up as well as pollutes local rivers with toxic levels of iron ore and soot), and invades the locals space and home with noise and air pollution.


On one of our many quests through the jungle to reach a mine, Rama had a neighbor climb a coconut tree (a mere 15 meters bare foot and bare handed, no equipment) to pick us all a tender coconuts. When you machete off the top you can drink the nectar. It has a a cooling effect for the body ( which is good because jungle= HOT) and is said to be very healthy beverage to drink. I have been fortunate enough to try this special drink before because it is commonly sold in the city, but NEVER has it been this good. This was by far the freshest and best coconut nectar I and the rest of the group agreed will ever have in our lives. After drinking it, the coconut is whacked open to reveal the tender white insides for a bonus treat to eat. yum...



Every beautiful hike ended at the dramatic and destructive site of a large open pit mine.






Last but not least, Goa is known for their cashews. They are a top producer of cashews as well as a bitingly strong alcoholic beverage, cashew fenne. On the second morning at Rama's house on my way out back to the bathroom, I stumbled across a bunch of fruits on the ground. I of course pick one up and proceed to crack it open with my finger nail to see what magical treasure is inside. Rather than diamonds, an oil seeps out of the organic vessel and covers my fingers. I find Rama and ask him what this substance is that is coating my hands and to my surprise, the-cool-as- a-cucumber Rama gets all worked up, runs out of the room and comes back with a different oil that he insists I rub all over my hands followed by a good scrub with soap and water. Apparently the oil of a raw cashew nut is hazardous to bare skin and causes bad burns. My ring finger is completely gone along with all of the skin that previously covered my two thumbs.

After drying the nuts in the sun for several days and then toasting them over a fire however, they are completely safe to eat. Needless to say, when Rama set out an entire plate heaping full of fresh cashews, we gobbled up the most fantastic tasting cashew nuts I have ever had in my life. They were incredible.


















p.s.. All of my fingers and skin are currently attached and my hands are healthy... just checking to see if you were paying attention. : )

Field Visit #1

It's been a while since I last posted anything. My excuses:
#1) we went on our first field visit for 10 days
#2) when we got back, due to road work our internet was cut off
#3) our first paper was due and the paper is 1/4 of the the entire grade...so kind of a big deal

It has been a full month since we arrived. I can barley believe it. It feels like we have done SO much in so little time. Life is settling down though. Everything is not quite so foreign and new. We are all getting accustomed to how things are done and what to expect when we go out as well as getting more comfortable going out on our own etc.

I have had some requests to share more about the educational aspect of my experience thus far since after all,
I am here as a student...
Class:

Our first class is over. Identity Liberation, Resistance was the first of four topics/classes that we will take while here. Everyday we have an AM lecture and a PM lecture (if we do not have a PM lecture, we can play games with the girls that live here along with us, work in the paper unit and make paper kind of..) Guest lecturers from nearby colleges are usually our teachers. The things I especially like about the way class is structured:
- variety
- every lecture is taught by someone who is somewhat of an expert in the field they are talking about.
-if the accent of the teacher is very thick and difficult to understand, it's ok, they won't be back the next day
-there is a midmorning and mid-afternoon tea, coffee, and treat break. Yum : )
-bells do not exist. the teacher will lecture until they have nothing left to say and the class has no more questions to ask

Some of the topics speakers lectured about included:
-Caste system
-Hinduism
-Dalits (untouchables)
-Women
-Sexual minorities
-Tribal communities (similar to the situation of Native Americans in the U.S.)

After each lecture session we go on a field visit pertaining to our topic that we have been studying. My group (we split up into 3 small groups, each going to a different area) went south to the state of Tamil Nadu to study the identity of fishermen and Dalits. We first visited a school specifically for Dalit children. Firecrackers went off as soon as our bus pulled into the schoolyard as a welcome. As we stepped off of the bus we were showered with traditional welcoming ceremonies, and each one of us had a garland of roses hung around our necks.

We had a tour and met the teachers and then headed to drop off our belongings to the hotel we stayed at. We had just enough time to wash off our faces from the powder that was caked on from all of the welcoming ceremonies before we were rushed off to the house of one of the teachers for dinner.

First things first, we were warmly welcomed again, (more powder) and then we all sat down for a delicious meal always served on a banana leaf. (talk about environmentally friendly! Paper plates and cups are unheard of.) Over the next few days we were welcomed into many families homes for meals. The most unsettling thing about all of this is, not once did we eat in a home that was even close to the size of the home that I grew up in. Most were three room houses and some were one room houses. Up to 8-13 family members may live in each single room house.

It is really overwhelming to accept the overbearing generosity of families that will possibly never ever own a computer, car, washing machine or let alone a digital camera that hung around my neck the entire night. We participated in inauguration ceremonies for the school as the guests of honor, visited some villages, and even had an ox-cart ride to a temple where we were paraded through in order to offer coconuts, incense, and fruit to the gods.

Days were power packed with events and we went places where we had no idea what was going on but were always warmly welcomed and well fed.

Next we headed to the coast to commune with the fishermen community.

We stayed in a fishing village. Our guide, myself and another girl stayed in a home on an island in a small fishermen village. This was the highlight of the trip for me.

This is our hostess Nimi-- she is 21. Thats my age. Kind of weird for her to be cooking for us and all. The picture below is her and her families house.
This village was heavily affected by the Tsunami. Both evenings we were in this village were spent by the beach talking with fishermen who told us their first hand accounts of the Tsunami. These conversations were so meaningful, I ended up writing my paper based heavily on their stories.


We took a boat to get to the island where some of the group stayed in homes for the night.


Seashore and the boats the fishermen use.


Tsunami destruction
Destroyed housed being rebuilt.

...If you look closely, you will see that the man in the middle is wearing a Minneapolis t-shirt. We are in the middle of a small village in India. Crazy. Talk about globalization!

banyan trees are common here

Exercise?

Indians do not run. I have tried not to let this stop me from going on a jog here and there. This is what I experience on the morning runs that I have been on so far:
-Blank stares from everyone in the town that I am passing through
-Laughing directed at me
-Smiles and waves
-Questions asked: "where from you are?" "How are you?" "What is your name?"
-A group of boys running after me
-Lots of little kids that run out of their homes to smile and wave

My solution to deal with all of this attention that I am not used to is that I convince myself that everyone around me thinks that I am training for the Olympics and that is why they are staring at me and waving and laughing. It kind of works.

The other form of exercise is biking. Vhistar has about 12 bikes that we are able to use. Which is really wonderful. It gives us a bit of independence to go places outside of a group setting.
I have yet to bike into Bangalore. A friend and I got pretty close. The problem is that the closer you get to Bangalore the more your life is in danger. Traffic rules are optional at best. Rush hour is every hour and side walks do not exist. It was a thrilling experience however and we were really proud of ourselves. This picture is taken after we found this little shop that sold icecream, our friend here hung out with us looking for $$ which we did not help him out with but he was still happy to pose for the picture.














This picture I have just added because it rains a lot and one day we had a mud fight which is kind of exercise too...

Biology in India

As part of my biology major requirements and out of interest, I am doing an independent study on ethnobotany while I am here. I am the only biology major here and in India. Although it is a false sense of security, I feel very important for that.

Most Indians are very impressed and or confidently satisfied when I tell them I am studying biology. When I tell them I am interested in plants and their medicinal and or general uses they are more than happy if not excited to tell me what plants they use for certain purposes. It has been fascinating hearing some of the secrets that people talk to me about pertaining to plants and their uses.

As part of my course I am going to do a case study on one plant and focus on what its many uses are, who uses it, and why etc. As of right now, I think I am going to focus on the uses of the spice turmeric. It is a commonly used spice in many Indian foods and I've been told that it's prevalence in the Indian cuisine has been scientifically linked to be one of the reasons why Parkinson's disease is much less common here than in the U.S. It is used on cuts as an antiseptic as well as to prevent scarring. If you are willing to have a jaundiced appearance for a few days, a turmeric paste when rubbed on the face is said to result in perfectly fare skin. When toasted onto a certain leaf (not sure of the kind of leaf yet...) and boiled in water. The broth will get rid of fever. It is also smeared on guests face or hands in traditional welcoming ceremonies as sign of purification or being cleansing.

These are the uses of the spice that I have discovered so far. I have much more investigating, researching and conversing to do. I have been so pleasantly surprised at how happy everyone is to tell me what they know of either turmeric or plants in general. This makes my job as a first- time ethnobotanist much easier. : )

Some other biology fun from India:


This praying mantis joined us for lunch



















These giant millipedes are all over the place. I have managed to not step on any yet...







Stick bug as big as my hand was chillin on my door keeping me company























I almost died when I found out that these badlandishesque piles of dirt were anthills. I was told that snakes live near them so most people stay away from them. I didn't tell Mike that when I asked him to pose for me by it. : ) Mike is 6'11"





This my favorite animal picture. Mynea, Kee, Sarah and I were exploring downtown Mysore and we ran into my ridiculously out of place friend here...
Mysore is a bustling city, tons of traffic, shops vendors, no grass, just like any downtown.

Oh, and after this picture was taken, while continuing to explore the city I stepped in not 1 but 2 different huge cow pies in the street. Gross. : )

FOOD... for thought

Every meal is an adventure. I never know what I am eating, but I enjoy it all. Much more flavor and variety than a typical American meal. This meal was especially elaborate. Dont let the silverware in the photo fool you, this entire meal and every meal is consumed with my right had as my only utensil. All of the side dishes can either be combined with the rice or eaten with the bread (I think....this is how I ate it at least.) Three people from the group have gotten very sick. This is probably from eating a meal that was prepared or eaten with unclean hands. Sick means at least 24 hours of fever, vomiting, and diarrhea, very unpleasant. I am very thankful that I have had no problems with my health or the food yet...

Pictures!

The Group

The Bandhavi Girls that live at Visthar as well

Coconut anyone...?

Our mode of transportation other than walking

Lots of fresh fruit, too bad we just missed mango season

Still can't figure out the picture thing but soon...?

I live in a paradise. There are 72 Palm trees creating a tropical canopy overhead. The weather is great. 70's all the time. Rain down pours come and go with out warning because it is monsoon season. The dorm that I live in is really nice as well. There is an odd amount of girls (13) and boys (3), so Ben and I are the only two to have our own rooms. Since I got here first and was therefore sleeping when the rest of the group arrived, rather than disturb me, I awoke to find that everyone had roomates except me. This made me a bit sad at first but I am quickly realizing how lucky I am. It is nice to not have to share my space with anyone. We all are together much of the day, so evenings to myself are refreshing and necessary.
So far I have not gotten sick or had any problems. 2 on the trip have had "jungle fever." This includes vomiting, diahrea, and a fever. yikes.
We have been warmly welcomed. Everything we need is provided for us. I now understand why the man I sat next to on the plane kept telling me that we would be treated very well here. In India guests are treated better than family and are closer to the level of gods. It is almost sickening how well we are treated. We are far wealthier than most people here, but we still get royal treatment.

Flight to Bangalore and Arrival

After a 7 hour flight from Chicago to Frankfurt followed by a 10 hour flight from Frankfurt to Bangalore, I have arrived safe and sound. I did not travel with the group since I ordered my tickets separately because I will be staying a bit later than the rest in my group. I was quite nervous to travel all by myself but all the flights and transfers went flawlessly. I met many interesting people along the way. It ended up being more empowering than frightening. The closer and closer that I got to Bangalore, the more I became aware and concious of my pale skin.

It was dark when I got here and I was quite tired. What I do remember is talking to a nun and an Indian woman in the customs line about this being my first time out of the U.S.. Once through I anxiously awaited my luggage. Fortunately the two bags that I checked appeared on the conveyor belt. (I was convinced that they would not, so I was pleasantly surprised.)

Walking out of the airport was like being a celebrity. There were tons of people on each side all holding a sign with a name on it. (taxi drivers I assume) I found a man with a sign that said Visthar (the name of the place that I am staying at). I said hello and he gave me a big smile and said "Leedia??" I followed Parti Bon into a small jeep and we were off. In the back of my mind I couldn't help thinking, "he could take me anywhere..."

Although it was dark and I was very tired I do remember some things about the drive to Visthar:
-We almost ran into 2 cows chillin in the middle of the road
-Pressing the horn is probably more frequent than pressing the brake
- Traffic lanes? not so much.
-Traffic rules/laws? not so much.
oh yeah, and they definitely drive on the other side of the road here.
-

Still in the US of A (test blog entry)

This is my first blog entry of my life. Today is wednesday the 22 of August. I leave for India in exactly one week. As of right now, my room is a mess, I have yet to start packing, and I work from 2-10 thru saturday. HHhhmmm. Lydia's stress level is increasing by the second...