Hey guys,

So I'm really not sure where I left off, but I'll start off by saying that the last few days have been pretty up and down. For the first time, I'm starting to feel homesick. It's interesting that I'm not missing one thing about home, or really, the West in particular, like the food or the clothes. What I miss is a lot less tangible. It's more like I miss how easy life can be at home. For example, not really knowing my way around is getting really frustrating. I have just started to be able to direct autorickshaws how to get to my house, but it is both annoying and disempowering to be somewhere in the city and really have no idea how close I am to home, the program center, or anything really. I know that this will change with time, but it certainly is frustrating right now. I also miss everyone back home, who I can truly be myself around. Not really knowing people here, and not really feeling entirely at ease with my host family, means that I am always a bit more guarded than normal. This can be both tiring, isolating, and confining. I know that I have it much easier than others in the program because my host family is really modern and cool, but it still sometimes feels like I can't entirely be myself, even around the other students. I didn't expect this, but like with orientation in the city, it will come with time.

I'm not going to pretend, however, that it's all bad. In fact, it's great. I have yet to get sick, and the food is really really good. And the clothes are really interesting. I have finally finished getting my clothes (4 Kurta, 3 pairs of pants, 3 scarves), and I'm really liking them. Did I also mention I'm picking up hackey sack (omg I don't even know if I'm spelling it correctly)? Some of the guys in the program are into it and I'm learning how to do it, and it's sooo fun! It's a totally unexpected new skill that I'm acquiring. I've also done some yoga and meditation. I'm not so into the yoga my host mom does, but i really like the meditation. I defs want to do that more often. I was surprised that I was able to sit mostly still for 45 minutes and felt really relaxed afterward. Miraculous!! Other then that, we've been exploring the city a bit, finding some places where we like to hang out, some good lassi and ice cream places, and just other stores where we can actually buy stuff. Did I mention that going to do almost anything is kind of a big deal here? So for example, say I want to buy a toothbrush. At home, we would walk/drive to the drugs store, get it and go home. Here, I need to figure out where I can buy a toothbrush, ask how much a rickshaw should cost getting there, find a rickshaw, direct the rickshaw, try and negotiate in Hindi/English to tell them that you want a toothbrush, try to get a good price for it, and then get home (rickshaw problems repeated). No good, no good.

Anyway, so some cool stuff. I went to Pushkar this weekend with some friends and it was awesome! It is one of the holiest cities in India with about 700 temples. One of the only Brahma temples in the world is there (I think there is only one more), and we also got to see some great temples on the top of mountains. Great hikes up, terrifying coming down. On the top of one of them we saw the sun set, and it was beautiful. It was nice to be in a really peaceful environment after spending so much time in a noisy city. I also visited my first Sikh temple. I wish someone Sikh (yes, you Kiran) had been there with me to help me understand what I was seeing, but nonetheless it was still sweeeet. I can understand why people would want to build temples on the tops of mountains. There are a ton of israeli tourists there, so we were able to find some great israeli food. that defs took me back to this summer, in a good way.

A few days earlier we had done our first NGO visits. I visited a place called Tabar, which is a temporary shelter for runaway boys found at the main railway station in Jaipur. Many had been sexually abused and were involved in gang activity before coming to this shelter. The aim of the shelter was to give these children education and counselling and eventually reuniting them with their families. It was both extremely sad (some of them had AIDS and were under the age of 10) but also uplifing in that we could see that they were genuinely cared for there. I hope to volunteer there in the next week or so.

So I think that's all for now. Please send me emails with updates from your life, it'll be great to hear from all of you!!!

Love,

Mimi

salwaarganathan (yeah, i know, i miss the kappa)

hey so im not going to leave a long post (i'll do that after I come back from Pushkar!!!!!!), but I just wanted to post a pic of me wearing a salwaar kameez. well, actually, im not wearing the pants, just the kurta and scarf. but its close!!

passion and moderation

hey everyone,

it has been about a week since I have posted on my blog but a LOT has happened. it's weird how it feels like I have been here for awhile. its probably because I have been really busy doing a lot of new things and also adjusting to the lifestyle here. Today I am just realizing that I am going to be in India for a long time. I've got three months to go, and right now, it feels a bit more daunting than exciting. It might be because I haven't really done anything today/haven't left my house, so we'll see how I feel when I'm busier.

Alright, let's take it back about a week. Just after my last post, I met my homestay family, which is AWESOME!! I live with a really modern Jain family in a sweet po-mo looking house not too far from school but kind of far from everyone else. They built this house in the last few years, and designed it to be both efficient and as environmentally friendly as possible by using local materials and catching as much natural light as possible to cut down on energy costs. In my opinion, they are a model for sustainable living. My host parents are both graphic designers and run a small company out of their home. They design for NGOs and make really cool notebooks. When taking on projects/clients, they are always aware of the social implications of their designs. For example, they refused to take work for large multinationals like Coca-Cola, as they believe it to be socially irresponsible. They gave me one of these noteboooks as a welcome gift by the way, which hopefully you will all get to see when I come home. They are also both working on PhDs. My host father is working on a Phd about graphic design and social change, which my host mother is working on one which studies the effects of yoga and meditation practices on the behavior of school children, focusing on non-violent and tolerant behaviors. I am incredibly impressed by their intellectual drive, intellegience, and social consciousness. They are also a model for me in this sense. They're piety/faith is also very interesting to me. They are both fairly devout followers of Jainism, which I am learning a lot about. Later this month or early next month, my host mother is visiting the head guru of Jainism, and I am going to try my best to go with her. Because of their religion, they are vegetarian, and do not eat eggs or drink alcohol. I have not eaten meat since I have been here, but the food they make for me is SO GOOD that I don't even miss it. I'm trying to understand/internalize the flavors, spices, and textures they use, but it is still all so foreign to me that I cannot really understand what I am eating. I hope this will change over time. They're very kind, chill (esp. for families here), and make me feel at home. I'm happy here, and they being as hospitable/nice makes it easier for me to be away from my own family.

Alright, so that's the sitch with my fam, but lets move to some other stuff. We started our Hindi classes a few days ago and no jokes, it is NOT easy. So far, it isn't really hard, but they move fast. I find that I really need to review the concepts after I learn them, b/c otherwise I really don't internalize them. Pronunciation is also weird. THREE DIFFERENT WAYS TO SAY "T"???? It's crazytown. The first time I was actually able to read the script, however, was awesome, and now everywhere I go I try really hard to read signs and all that. Whenever I'm with my friend Sam, who already knows basic Hindi, I ask her whether I am reading it correctly, and I'm doing surprisingly ok at it. Otherwise, our culture and development lectures have not been stellar. We have focused mostly on culture so far, which we have interesting reading for, but it just so happens that our reading does not connect to our lectures. Hopefully this will change with the development component of our course?

Another academic component of this is field study seminar. For our first exercise, we went to a Basti (slum) in Jaipur and assessed development needs there. We first made our own observations (better sanitation for food and water, garbage collection, safer electricity, etc.) and then talked to the slum dwellers about what they thought they needed. As it turns out, what they were most concerned with was being evicted from their land by the government, which intends to widen roads around the slum and so will basically squeeze them out. There is apparently no plan for relocation or compensation, which is both disheartening and reminiscent of my time in Palestine. Corruption is corruption is corruption I guess. Also: insane poverty. I bet that isn't a surprise, but walking through it was certainly shocking. One feels powerless to change their situation, but at the same time, oddly jaded because of the poverty that you see everywhere. It's sort of sad on both fronts.

Forward to this weekend. A number of ppl from our group went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, but a bunch of us stayed back to explore the city/chill. I think it was a really good decision. While I am a bit bored today, I also have a surprising amount of work, and at the same time, I had a great day yesterday. A bunch of us explored the old city. We live in the new city, so we hadn't seen much of the other side, and it was nice to see its various temples and historic landmarks. We had lunch at a great veg. restaurant (Raita, what what), and then did some shopping at the bazaar we found ourselves in. I bought a sweet pair of traditional shoes, which are not so comfortable right now but will be soon (I hope?), and exercised some master bargaining skills. After this, I went to Sam's house and met her family of professional sitar players, and then went with them to a sitar concert. SO COOL. slow music, but really cool at times. We then ended up at this food festival right next to the concert hall, where we witness an almost all male hotel management student dance party. We got some food, met some indians (one of whom invited us to his sister's wedding), and then piled into a rickshaw and went home. Riding in the rickshaw, I realized that my life was pretty cool. Becca and Sam slept over, and were here until late afternoon, and we did some studying. I'm getting excited to hear about Agra tomorrow, and also for our first yoga class/my first time doing yoga ever.

So that's my life right now. Congrats for making it through this really long post. I miss you and want to hear from you. Keep in touch; I want to know all the gossip from home!!

Love,

Mimi

autorickshaws fo life

hey everyone,

i know ive been super lazy about writing on this blog but i've been so incredibly busy. after landing in delhi after soo many hours of flying (i forgot what day it was it was that much flying/time zone changing), we went to start our orientation. the people are super cool and we've all meshed really well so far. it was all surprsingly fast. in delhi, we visited a famous mughal tomb called humayan's tomb, ate some traditional food of andhar pradesh, got some health and other general topic orientations, and got to explore a bit on our own. Delhi wasn't as cool as I expected it to be, but we didnt have much time to really see the city, so i probs. shouldnt judge yet. going to jaipur felt a lot more like being in India. Delhi had the same sort of chaos, dirt, poverty, and beauty, but Jaipur is a bit more romantic. when you think of india, jaipur is probably similar to stereotypes you might have. i have never seen a place with rickshaws, autorickshaws, camels, cows, and pigs on road along with people, goods of all kinds to buy, and a mix of strong (not all good) smells. Tempting as it is, I havent eaten the street food yet, but mark my words, i will eat it, and i will get sick. GET EXCITED. I'm really happy here. Our program center is like a white marble and floral oasis from the bustling city, and the food here (and really everywhere i go) is great. I just sort of miss meat. we had a huge discussion about western food the other day when we visited this las vegas strip hotel style rajasthani village resort, and it made me really want a good steak. oh well, only 4 months to go? i know this blog entry is such a stream of consciousness, but that's exactly what is going through my mind. trying to get my head around this multifaceted gem of a country is both exciting and tiring. There's so much i want to understand that i probably wont for awhile. Oh, on that vein. Apparently feminism never happened here (ok, so that's a bit of an exaggeration), but being a woman here is really like being a woman in the states in the 50s: respected, but unequal. I'm worried that I will feel very disempowered and offended by how i might be treated by my male host family members, but i really hope that my worst fears dont come true. on the other hand, the clothes are great. i got my first salwaar kameez yesterday of gold, blue, and green. pics to come. a few other comments: water pressure, consistently hot showers, toilet paper are relatively sparse. it doesnt really matter that much b/c i love it THAT MUCH. i wish i could really convey how i feel about this multifaceted gem of a country: it is chaotic, delightful, pleasant, dirty, and inspiring. some things about this culture are incredible, like the rigid manners/respect, reverence of food, and the importance of communication, family, and community. but i miss you all and sometimes find myelf wondering what you are doing and what i might be doing back in the states. i wish i could experience all of this with you. did i mention that we started hindi classes? its so different, but im so excited to converse with it on the streets. love you all and miss you. please keep and touch. ill try to send some personal emails.
love,
mimi