Okey dokey so tomorrow I leave for Goa and classes are officially over. I have finals when I get back from the beach which shall prove interesting seeing as studying on the beach is one of the last things I like to do while attempting to tan and swim but we'll see.
The Valadictory was 2 days ago on Tuesday afternoon. We had classes in the morning and then I went over to Andreas house with Annie, Alison and Andrea to get dressed up. I had bought my saree last week and gave it to the tailor and then picked it up Monday night...hoping it would fit me. Thankfully it did :) It's a dark greenish color-with a hint of blue in it-and a brown/maroon blouse. I like it a whooooole lot...although I still don't know the correct way to wear it so who knows if I'll be able to wear it at home. I did take a few pics at this photo shop place because I was feeling cool so I decided why not-I'll get a few professional pics. haha So we'll see if any of those pics turn out or not.
The Valadictory was a really fun program. The underclassmen were in charge. They performed a few dances, songs and games for all of us. We were also served some snacks and ice cream during the performance which I've found is a pretty Indian thing to do. It was delicious :) Then we took a bunch of pictures which I need to get from my roommates. They wanted ones of all the BSW students all together and so they had people standing on sketchy chairs and desks hahaha thankfully, no one fell down.
I've been trying to get everything together and situated but it's harder than I thought it would be. I need to write field reports, study for classes, pack my bags, and get all the loose ends tied up together in a beautiful bow.
Love you!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Past few days...
A busy past few days is what I have had. Now I will write :)
A few nights ago Andreas mom (Andrea is a third year BSW at Roshni) came over to our house and made cocomut chutney, sambar and neer dosa with us so we could attempt to write down a recipe of what she was doing. The food she made was delicious and I've decided I love making neer dosa...we'll see how well we can make it by ourselves when we get back to the states. Neer dosa is bascially rice and water blended together and grilled up. It tastes good with the coconut chutney and sambar and peanut butter excellently enough. Yes :)
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday I had field placement at Vishwas Trust and there were some interesting moments for sure. Thursday afternoon I ate pani-puri and masala-puri at a roadside stand. Now I was slightly scared because we were warned about the roadside places a little bit but we were also warned about buses and the water and I'm still fine I figured I'd go for it. I'll admit, it wasn't one of my better ideas but it tasted good and it's 3-4 days later and I am still fine so it's all good. On Friday we had a send off/farewell gathering with the MSW students in the afternoon and one in the morning with the elderly. It was Anisha and Sister Rosalies last day at field palcement and in the afternoon they recognized Annie and I for coming too. Annie (my direct roommate) has been coming with me the past few Saturdays and has/will come the following Fridays as well. Her placement was at a school but the school has exams now she needed somewhere to go. Anyways, they put a garland of jasmine around us as a token of thanks and gave us a nice card too. It was really sweet.
The Jeppu meeting was next on the agenda for Friday. It is about a 5 minute walk from Vishwas although walking the speed of most Indians it takes about 10 minutes to get there. There were 6 elderly women there. Some MSW students sang a song of prayer to start the meeting off. Then they talked about adjustment...in Kannada. And then came the fun part! I was in charge of the activity and I couldnt think of what to do with a few elderly women...then I got it....thumb wars! Hahaha it was fabulous. I taught them all how to do thumb wrestle and they loved it. Who woulda thought I'd teach thumb wrestling in India to a some elderly women? Hahaha and then what we did next was crazy too! They wanted Annie and I to sing an American song or do an American dance. We tried to tell them we are from different places and don't really have dances or songs that we all know or are traditional but they wouldn't buy it. So guess what we sang? Oh, you know, Summertime by New Kids on the Block. Hahahahaha!!! Yeah, we had written down the lyrics in anticipation of having to sing something at the farewell thing with just the MSWs...and we didn't think we would actually have to sing something. So yeah, we sang a hip hop song about girls in short shirts on the beach thinking about her summer boyfriend. Ohh India.
Friday night we went out for the first time to an actual Indian club. It's called Pegasus and one of the guys at school is friends with the owner. 4 of us went with 2 guys from Roshni. They were so cute because they were being so protective of us and kept telling us to be cautious and asking us if we were comfortable. We were. No Indian men tried to 'make to move' and so it was fine and dandy. We got to dance a little bit which we havent been able to do since we got here so it made us all happy.
Saturday after field placement we went to the beach with Andrea, Tony, Dennis and Sonia (all students at Roshni) and attempted to fly a kite. They had made it earlier that day but then it had to travel on 2 buses and a ferry to the beach and soooo it didn't quite fly. We got it up a few feet and then it would come down.
A few nights ago Andreas mom (Andrea is a third year BSW at Roshni) came over to our house and made cocomut chutney, sambar and neer dosa with us so we could attempt to write down a recipe of what she was doing. The food she made was delicious and I've decided I love making neer dosa...we'll see how well we can make it by ourselves when we get back to the states. Neer dosa is bascially rice and water blended together and grilled up. It tastes good with the coconut chutney and sambar and peanut butter excellently enough. Yes :)
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday I had field placement at Vishwas Trust and there were some interesting moments for sure. Thursday afternoon I ate pani-puri and masala-puri at a roadside stand. Now I was slightly scared because we were warned about the roadside places a little bit but we were also warned about buses and the water and I'm still fine I figured I'd go for it. I'll admit, it wasn't one of my better ideas but it tasted good and it's 3-4 days later and I am still fine so it's all good. On Friday we had a send off/farewell gathering with the MSW students in the afternoon and one in the morning with the elderly. It was Anisha and Sister Rosalies last day at field palcement and in the afternoon they recognized Annie and I for coming too. Annie (my direct roommate) has been coming with me the past few Saturdays and has/will come the following Fridays as well. Her placement was at a school but the school has exams now she needed somewhere to go. Anyways, they put a garland of jasmine around us as a token of thanks and gave us a nice card too. It was really sweet.
The Jeppu meeting was next on the agenda for Friday. It is about a 5 minute walk from Vishwas although walking the speed of most Indians it takes about 10 minutes to get there. There were 6 elderly women there. Some MSW students sang a song of prayer to start the meeting off. Then they talked about adjustment...in Kannada. And then came the fun part! I was in charge of the activity and I couldnt think of what to do with a few elderly women...then I got it....thumb wars! Hahaha it was fabulous. I taught them all how to do thumb wrestle and they loved it. Who woulda thought I'd teach thumb wrestling in India to a some elderly women? Hahaha and then what we did next was crazy too! They wanted Annie and I to sing an American song or do an American dance. We tried to tell them we are from different places and don't really have dances or songs that we all know or are traditional but they wouldn't buy it. So guess what we sang? Oh, you know, Summertime by New Kids on the Block. Hahahahaha!!! Yeah, we had written down the lyrics in anticipation of having to sing something at the farewell thing with just the MSWs...and we didn't think we would actually have to sing something. So yeah, we sang a hip hop song about girls in short shirts on the beach thinking about her summer boyfriend. Ohh India.
Friday night we went out for the first time to an actual Indian club. It's called Pegasus and one of the guys at school is friends with the owner. 4 of us went with 2 guys from Roshni. They were so cute because they were being so protective of us and kept telling us to be cautious and asking us if we were comfortable. We were. No Indian men tried to 'make to move' and so it was fine and dandy. We got to dance a little bit which we havent been able to do since we got here so it made us all happy.
Saturday after field placement we went to the beach with Andrea, Tony, Dennis and Sonia (all students at Roshni) and attempted to fly a kite. They had made it earlier that day but then it had to travel on 2 buses and a ferry to the beach and soooo it didn't quite fly. We got it up a few feet and then it would come down.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Very Random Update :)
So it's been awhile since I've blogged and so I am going to write one now :)
I have been in Mangalore since January 1st and it is already March 24th...talk about time flying by...time grew wings bigger than a jet plane and it soaring around like it owns the place. Haha but that's besides the point. Anyways, let's see what I've done since my last post about the crazy Kola festival...
Today I got a lot of errands done such as going to one of the many many shoes tailors and getting my green suitcase fixed and 3 shoes. I bought shoes in Kerala and one shoe fits and the other is too big and it slips off every time I try to wear it so I don't know what he is going to do but I find out tonight. I got one pair of shoes stiched an extra time so they don't break and my suitcase I have a feeling is going to end up looking pretty rough and gangster. It broke in the middle-during the plane ride over here-and so when I arrived and collected it, it had been saran wrapped like crazy and I didn't know if I was going to be able to fix it. Luckily, there is someone here who specializes in whatever you want done so I'm hoping he puts on a new zipper or something. We shall see.
Then I went to the tailor to get my sleeper sack made (a bed sheet folded in half with 2 sides sewn so I can sleep in it during the many up coming train rides I will have), well it took a long time to try and describe that to them but I find out tomorrow if I have a sleeper sack or not.
Lastly, I went to the beauty parlour because I decided that I needed a haircut. I haven't had one since late August and I know the weather wasn't being kind to my hair so I went for it. I told them I wanted it cut and once they understood I didn't mean colored, they asked if I wanted a 'U shape'. I don't know what they meant by that so I went for straight. They said ok. So that was all fine and dandy and then they asked how I wanted the front-I went for it and said layers. Then I was asked to remove my specks. Now, luckily, I am a pretty laid-back girl who doesn't really care that much about my hair because removing my specks which makes me bascially blind and letting 2 Indian women cut my hair when they only speak broken English is kind of nerve-wracking. I said layers and she said something back that was kind of English and then nodded and so I guessed she knew what I was talking about. In the end, it was a fine haircut. It was nothing too special but it got the split-ends out of the way and now I can contiune growing it out for locks of love so I can chop it all off at the end of this year or early next year.
A few days ago I bought a saree :) We have our validictory on Wednesday I believe and all the girls wear sarees and so hopefully the tailor will be done by then. It's a darker teal color with a maroon border. I'm so excited to wear it! I just hope I am able to learn how to put it on so I can show all of you when I return.
I finally caved and got my legs waxed as well. I hadn't shaved since I left 30. Dec and I went for it on St. Patty's Day hahaha-that's a PR (personal record) for sure :) The beauty parlours have all sorts of stuff for cheap and so I am experiencing a lot of first there like a manicure and pedicure-although they didn't do as well on the actual paint part of it-the pre-paint stuff felt good. And I got my legs waxed for the first time, my eyebrows plucked with a string and a facial. hahahaha it's riduclous.
My 2 roommates and I, are almost done booking everything we need for up north-like trains, planes and hotels. It's going to be an adventure for sure because we got hotels but who knows if they are going to be what they say they are. We have only stayed in 1 hotel in India thus far and that was the first couple days in Mangalore when we didn't have our house yet and BCA was paying for it. All of our excursions so far we have stayed in homestays so who knows what the India standard is for a cheaper hotel hahahaha I bet really good :)
I only have a few more days of classes and then I am all done with those. I have Thursday and then a few days next week. Then we leave for an excursion to Goa where we will spend Easter. Then we return and have to take our 3 finals as well as pack up our stuff and get everything ready to go because we leave for Bangalore, our last excursion, and then 3 of us aren't coming back until the end of April! We figured it would make the most sense to go directly from B-lore to Calcutta and start our travels north. I have a feeling April is going to be crazy and zip past me.
I hope all is going well with each one of you. I think you should send me some updates so I know what's going on in your lives since you don't all have blogs. Love you!
I have been in Mangalore since January 1st and it is already March 24th...talk about time flying by...time grew wings bigger than a jet plane and it soaring around like it owns the place. Haha but that's besides the point. Anyways, let's see what I've done since my last post about the crazy Kola festival...
Today I got a lot of errands done such as going to one of the many many shoes tailors and getting my green suitcase fixed and 3 shoes. I bought shoes in Kerala and one shoe fits and the other is too big and it slips off every time I try to wear it so I don't know what he is going to do but I find out tonight. I got one pair of shoes stiched an extra time so they don't break and my suitcase I have a feeling is going to end up looking pretty rough and gangster. It broke in the middle-during the plane ride over here-and so when I arrived and collected it, it had been saran wrapped like crazy and I didn't know if I was going to be able to fix it. Luckily, there is someone here who specializes in whatever you want done so I'm hoping he puts on a new zipper or something. We shall see.
Then I went to the tailor to get my sleeper sack made (a bed sheet folded in half with 2 sides sewn so I can sleep in it during the many up coming train rides I will have), well it took a long time to try and describe that to them but I find out tomorrow if I have a sleeper sack or not.
Lastly, I went to the beauty parlour because I decided that I needed a haircut. I haven't had one since late August and I know the weather wasn't being kind to my hair so I went for it. I told them I wanted it cut and once they understood I didn't mean colored, they asked if I wanted a 'U shape'. I don't know what they meant by that so I went for straight. They said ok. So that was all fine and dandy and then they asked how I wanted the front-I went for it and said layers. Then I was asked to remove my specks. Now, luckily, I am a pretty laid-back girl who doesn't really care that much about my hair because removing my specks which makes me bascially blind and letting 2 Indian women cut my hair when they only speak broken English is kind of nerve-wracking. I said layers and she said something back that was kind of English and then nodded and so I guessed she knew what I was talking about. In the end, it was a fine haircut. It was nothing too special but it got the split-ends out of the way and now I can contiune growing it out for locks of love so I can chop it all off at the end of this year or early next year.
A few days ago I bought a saree :) We have our validictory on Wednesday I believe and all the girls wear sarees and so hopefully the tailor will be done by then. It's a darker teal color with a maroon border. I'm so excited to wear it! I just hope I am able to learn how to put it on so I can show all of you when I return.
I finally caved and got my legs waxed as well. I hadn't shaved since I left 30. Dec and I went for it on St. Patty's Day hahaha-that's a PR (personal record) for sure :) The beauty parlours have all sorts of stuff for cheap and so I am experiencing a lot of first there like a manicure and pedicure-although they didn't do as well on the actual paint part of it-the pre-paint stuff felt good. And I got my legs waxed for the first time, my eyebrows plucked with a string and a facial. hahahaha it's riduclous.
My 2 roommates and I, are almost done booking everything we need for up north-like trains, planes and hotels. It's going to be an adventure for sure because we got hotels but who knows if they are going to be what they say they are. We have only stayed in 1 hotel in India thus far and that was the first couple days in Mangalore when we didn't have our house yet and BCA was paying for it. All of our excursions so far we have stayed in homestays so who knows what the India standard is for a cheaper hotel hahahaha I bet really good :)
I only have a few more days of classes and then I am all done with those. I have Thursday and then a few days next week. Then we leave for an excursion to Goa where we will spend Easter. Then we return and have to take our 3 finals as well as pack up our stuff and get everything ready to go because we leave for Bangalore, our last excursion, and then 3 of us aren't coming back until the end of April! We figured it would make the most sense to go directly from B-lore to Calcutta and start our travels north. I have a feeling April is going to be crazy and zip past me.
I hope all is going well with each one of you. I think you should send me some updates so I know what's going on in your lives since you don't all have blogs. Love you!
Monday, March 8, 2010
The craziness of Mangalore: Kola Festival
Here he is biting off the head while it's alive and chowing down :)
Here he is dancing before he had his lunch...
Yesterday I experienced something that I will probably never see again and it is one of those things that I am ok never seeing again. It was sooo gruesome. My Sunday morning started at Dharma Jyothi, an NGO that helps empower women through self-help groups and helps educate them with vocational skills and they help people sponsor children and watch some of them, it was Women's Day and so we went to support them. We started by watching a street play that some students from Roshni were putting on about people with disabilities and helping them out. The whole thing was in Kannada but the crowd was enjoying and learning from it so it was fun to watch. Then we sat in a tent and listened to various women speak, about what I don't know because none of it was in English, but it felt good to be there anyway and support their cause. They enjoyed having us there even if we were only there for a few hours. Then we left to see a Hindu festival...we were not fully aware of what we were getting ourselves into at this point...
We arrive at a temple that is right on the highway and they sit us up front. This festival had been going on since sometime yesterday but at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday it was nearing an end and many people were there. A man was dancing around wearing a banana or coconut leaf skirt over loose pants, no shirt, had his face painted and was waving around fire burning sticks. He was said to be possessed by the spirit of one pariticular god that is special to Mangalore and only some Hindus in Mangalore. So he danced around for a while-I think he had been dancing for a long time before we got there but after maybe an hour of watching him he ran onto the highway. The highway was already blocked off for the festival so no worries there. So ran out and the crowd made a circle around him and passed him a live chicken. [If you have a weak stomach-stop reading now-you'd probably be able to handle it but I could be wrong] Then he proceeded to rip off the feathers and the head and then drink the blood of he chicken! I think he ate some of the chicken as well as drinking the blood. Then he tossed it to the ground and they passed him another one which he did the same thing to...and then another...and another...until he had about 5-6 chickens. He then ripped the chickens open and ate the livers and other assorted parts of this chicken that was alive a few minutes ago. My one friend Emily was sitting in the front row while the rest of us were on chairs behind and she said she saw him rip off the feathers of one chicken and drink some blood from the body and then when he tossed it back down she could see the heart still beating because the feathers were off of its chest and so she had a full view. The guy standing next to me explained that it is hereditary for who gets possessed and does certain festivals. This man has another job but he has to do these festivals because his dad did it and it was passed to him. He has been doing it since he was 14. He also gets fed this barley-esque type food, tender coconut juice and liquor. He can eat as many chickens as he wants until he is satisfied. Once he is satisfied the highway that the temple is next to will not have as many accidents. I think there might be another reason for the festival but I am not sure as the highwasy being safer was the only answer I got. It was a crazy sight to see for sure!
Yesterday was out-of-control and today class seemed a little dull in comparision to watching someone eat a live chicken. I decided to make some chocolate chip cookies today. I gave up packaged cookies for lent and so I havent had any cookies in a long time because I hadn't gottan around to cooking any in a while. So I threw some common cookie ingredients into a bowl and mixed them together and threw them on the frying pan...only one house I've been in so far has had an oven...and started making some delicious cookies. After one batch I decided I needed something more. I chopped up a green chili pepper and put half of it in-half a pepper/8 cookies about. I was slightly scared to try them but I did and they were amazing!! I never ever saw that one coming but they were so good and now I want to go home and make them for everybody! Yum :)
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Auflauf, Holi & More :)
So it's Friday afternoon and I'm eating an odd mixture of foods because the grocery store wasn't open today. I wanted to reheat noodles and then chop up these veg nuggets I'd bought earlier but my plan didn't quite work. Our electricity went out while the noodles were in the microwave and so I had to put them in with the nuggets that I was deep frying because here that is the most common way to eat food that was frozen I guess. Those were the only instructions it gave me anyways. So now I am eating weird corn-cheese nuggets with very oily noodles. Yum :)
Anyways, yesterday we finally went back to the Village. That's a restaurant we went to in the beginning with Robert, our director, and we said we wanted to come back at some point for the auflauf and so, we did. It's interesting to look back when we first went and how different this trip was. First off, getting there we took autorickshaws that we had to bargin prices for with the drivers so we wouldn't get ripped off. Unlike when we went with Robert and he had a taxi drive us there and bring us back and BCA payed for it. So we got there and 2 different groups of people we knew saw us there! It was so fun because now we are living here and have friends here who we can see when we go places. We decided to go for continental food since we figured we can get Indian food every night/lunch if we want but since we aren't planning on coming back to the Village, we'll get some other stuff. We mangaged to get the greenest food on the menu. The auflauf. Oy vey. Annie and I were the only ones who had had auflauf before and so we were excited about trying the Indian version of it. No. It was nothing-and I mean nothing-like any auflauf I've ever had! Hahaha we ordered spinach auflauf and we got the soupy mixture of spinach, cheese and brocoli. No noodles or any form of carbs at all. It was good but it was not auflauf-and it was very green! Then my roommates saw 'sizzlin' brownie' on the desert menu and they knew I wouldn't be able to resist it. So we got it and it was literally sizzlin'! They brought out this brownie which was probably not homemade-it tasted like one from a package-but then they had a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and then he poured chocolate syrup all over it while it was on a hot plate type thing and it sizzled and tasted soooo good :)
Wednesday night we celebrated Holi with some friends on the beach. Holi was on Sunday and Monday. It's a Hindu festival but everyone can celebrate it. The story behind I think is that basically a dad thought everyone should worship him, his son would only worship one of the Hindu gods though. So the dad tried to kill his son and finally he had his daughter take his son into a fire to burn to death. The daughter turned to ashes and the son did not. So now Holi is celebrating the son surviving the fire by throwing colors on each other. The colors represent the ashes but people jsut buy colored powder and throw it on eachother and it's so much fun! It's celebrated much more in north India but friends celebrate with each other in the south some. Some of the MSW students we've become friends with had exams Monday-Wednesday so we had to wait until Wednesday night to do it. They took us to the beach and it was dark by the time we started soo we couldn't see all the color until we got home. It was pretty fabulous-a holiday I want to celebrate in the States :)
Today at field placement I played a little bit of caroms and then I was able to talk to one of the older men there. He looks like the older and slightly Indian version of Professor Snape in the Harry Potter movies. That was exciting because I never know which of the elderly that come on Friday mornings for yoga, caroms and the small activity for about an hour and half speak English. I also met one older woman who shares my birthday! Although she is leaving for a holy land tour on the 26th of April. I'd say that is a pretty sweet birthday idea. I'm working on what I am going to be doing on my 21st right now. It shall be goooood :) Then after the elderly left I left with some MSW students for home visits. We ended up just touring side roads of Mangalore. Part of the time we did walk with one of the elderly men who regularly comes to Vishwas to play caroms in the morning and that was fun. One of the girls was telling me about her love life too :) Always game for that. She is a Muslim and so besides not being able to wear a bindi (the dot that some people wear on their forehead between their eyes) she can not date/marry anyone that is not Muslim. All the religions stick to their own religion. I guess it is the same in the States as well but I feel like it is a lot less common for there to be fights between familes if their kids marry and they are of different religions. This girl likes a Hindu but she can't do anything about it. It's a secret from her family. She said if they found out that they did anything more than 'normal' talking then her dad and/or brothers would chop off her head. That caught me off guard. It sounds like a movie but it's her real life. She said he likes her more than she like him and he is more willing to keep the relationship going but she doesn't really want it to. It's a whole different dating game over here...
I think that sums up everything thus far. I got my first facial ever at this sketchy looking place right across the street. The room itself was good but the building was not so much. I figured I could check out the room before going in and not base it off of the building,. Now across the street in a building more worn down, scrappy-looking and just not the kind of place you'd want to go in general-is the gynecologist. I can't imagine. Makes me thankful for some of the buildings at home much more!
Anyways, yesterday we finally went back to the Village. That's a restaurant we went to in the beginning with Robert, our director, and we said we wanted to come back at some point for the auflauf and so, we did. It's interesting to look back when we first went and how different this trip was. First off, getting there we took autorickshaws that we had to bargin prices for with the drivers so we wouldn't get ripped off. Unlike when we went with Robert and he had a taxi drive us there and bring us back and BCA payed for it. So we got there and 2 different groups of people we knew saw us there! It was so fun because now we are living here and have friends here who we can see when we go places. We decided to go for continental food since we figured we can get Indian food every night/lunch if we want but since we aren't planning on coming back to the Village, we'll get some other stuff. We mangaged to get the greenest food on the menu. The auflauf. Oy vey. Annie and I were the only ones who had had auflauf before and so we were excited about trying the Indian version of it. No. It was nothing-and I mean nothing-like any auflauf I've ever had! Hahaha we ordered spinach auflauf and we got the soupy mixture of spinach, cheese and brocoli. No noodles or any form of carbs at all. It was good but it was not auflauf-and it was very green! Then my roommates saw 'sizzlin' brownie' on the desert menu and they knew I wouldn't be able to resist it. So we got it and it was literally sizzlin'! They brought out this brownie which was probably not homemade-it tasted like one from a package-but then they had a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and then he poured chocolate syrup all over it while it was on a hot plate type thing and it sizzled and tasted soooo good :)
Wednesday night we celebrated Holi with some friends on the beach. Holi was on Sunday and Monday. It's a Hindu festival but everyone can celebrate it. The story behind I think is that basically a dad thought everyone should worship him, his son would only worship one of the Hindu gods though. So the dad tried to kill his son and finally he had his daughter take his son into a fire to burn to death. The daughter turned to ashes and the son did not. So now Holi is celebrating the son surviving the fire by throwing colors on each other. The colors represent the ashes but people jsut buy colored powder and throw it on eachother and it's so much fun! It's celebrated much more in north India but friends celebrate with each other in the south some. Some of the MSW students we've become friends with had exams Monday-Wednesday so we had to wait until Wednesday night to do it. They took us to the beach and it was dark by the time we started soo we couldn't see all the color until we got home. It was pretty fabulous-a holiday I want to celebrate in the States :)
Today at field placement I played a little bit of caroms and then I was able to talk to one of the older men there. He looks like the older and slightly Indian version of Professor Snape in the Harry Potter movies. That was exciting because I never know which of the elderly that come on Friday mornings for yoga, caroms and the small activity for about an hour and half speak English. I also met one older woman who shares my birthday! Although she is leaving for a holy land tour on the 26th of April. I'd say that is a pretty sweet birthday idea. I'm working on what I am going to be doing on my 21st right now. It shall be goooood :) Then after the elderly left I left with some MSW students for home visits. We ended up just touring side roads of Mangalore. Part of the time we did walk with one of the elderly men who regularly comes to Vishwas to play caroms in the morning and that was fun. One of the girls was telling me about her love life too :) Always game for that. She is a Muslim and so besides not being able to wear a bindi (the dot that some people wear on their forehead between their eyes) she can not date/marry anyone that is not Muslim. All the religions stick to their own religion. I guess it is the same in the States as well but I feel like it is a lot less common for there to be fights between familes if their kids marry and they are of different religions. This girl likes a Hindu but she can't do anything about it. It's a secret from her family. She said if they found out that they did anything more than 'normal' talking then her dad and/or brothers would chop off her head. That caught me off guard. It sounds like a movie but it's her real life. She said he likes her more than she like him and he is more willing to keep the relationship going but she doesn't really want it to. It's a whole different dating game over here...
I think that sums up everything thus far. I got my first facial ever at this sketchy looking place right across the street. The room itself was good but the building was not so much. I figured I could check out the room before going in and not base it off of the building,. Now across the street in a building more worn down, scrappy-looking and just not the kind of place you'd want to go in general-is the gynecologist. I can't imagine. Makes me thankful for some of the buildings at home much more!
Monday, March 1, 2010
7th Grade 'Stache
So somehow it is already March 1st. How that happened I don't know! I just talked to my 2 new sisters for the first time on skype and it's official: they are sooo incredibly cute and sooo full of energy. There is no stopping them :)
So on Saturday we (3 of my roommates and I) decided to test out this handicraft fair I had heard about from a girl at my field placement. I was thinking it was going to be some vendors with some homemade things...I don't know why I thought that. Ha! It was a crazy-ridiculous fair type thing! We went on a Saturday night and it was insane! This fair is open all February which is part of the reason that I didn't expect such a big crowd. So we arrived and there were sooo many vendors with info-merical type things. Also clothing and shoes and whatnot. So we went past the things just gazing in amazement at all the things when we arrived at the snack fair food items. Guess what we found?! 'American Sweet Corn' :) So of course we got some. It was so funny, they were selling popcorn, cotton candy, peppers and American sweet corn. They sold corn in a cup and then put all their spices on it...because Indians wouldn't be able to eat just sweet corn with salt and butter on it. Then we saw the rides. We decided that we would try the Ferris Wheel and then go back and buy stuff from the vendors. So we walk up to the ride and the wired walkway thing-up the steps and such-is crickety and shaky and super sketchy. We were feeling pretty good about the ride at this point... haha and so we hop on, 2 and 2 and start going. It felt kinda weird-just a wee tab bit scary but nothing really and we thought it was ok. Although when we looked down at the motor we could watch the sparks flying and the old motor running...a comforting image for sure. Then all of a sudden the ride speeds up a lot. and I'm talking a lot. And it was freaky-I was scared for my life. Who would have though that when I was in India one of the first times I've been scared for my life would be on a ferris wheel?! Hahaha I actually cried and screamed during part of it!
So yesterday I went and got my eyebrows done for the first time ever. That was a fun experience. I also found out they do chocolate facials at that same beauty parlour-whose pumped!?!!! I don't know when I am going but I definitely will at some point : ) Also on Sunday I went to another race. Hahahaha we found out about it on Saturday and ran it on Sunday. It was a 7Km and they were very excited to have internationals run the race. Alison, Annie & I ran it. It was Annie's first race : ) We got there at 6am and signed up and the race went off at 6:30 sharp. They didn't time us but they had people marking off the bib numbers as we passed so that you couldn't skip part of the course-it was straight out and then we turned around and ran back. So the course wasn't too good but everything else was good. The race was free which was amazing. Then afterward we all got a wonderful Indian breakfast then they had a ceremony. The top 10 got awards and so Alison & I ended up getting awards. I placed 9th and she got 10th. It was really neat because the 8 girls ahead of me all looked to be teenagers and so that was exciting to see younger girls running a race and running a good time which means they probably have been running regularly :) Exciting news for Mangalore.
Today...I've taken a few days to type this blog...I went to class and it turned out being really good. Our first class was canceled because the prof never showed up-for the 2nd day in a row-but then we had 2 classes for community development and organization. We finally got a new professor for that class-our old prof left right before midterms for a new job somewhere else-but this prof seems like she is going to be really good. We discussed social, economic, religious and other problems in communities.
And the title of my post-7th grade 'stache is because that is what we all feel like we are getting here. Hahaha the girls here-from America in my program-love to talk about how boys especially in 7th grade love growing facial hair-esp mustaches-and here we feel like we have sweat mustaches alllll the time-quite attractive indeed :) Just a beautiful part of having hot hot hot weather with high high high humidity. But I'm not trying to complain about the heat since at home its really cold and very snowy. We both are living in extremes right now :) Loooove it and loooove you all.
So on Saturday we (3 of my roommates and I) decided to test out this handicraft fair I had heard about from a girl at my field placement. I was thinking it was going to be some vendors with some homemade things...I don't know why I thought that. Ha! It was a crazy-ridiculous fair type thing! We went on a Saturday night and it was insane! This fair is open all February which is part of the reason that I didn't expect such a big crowd. So we arrived and there were sooo many vendors with info-merical type things. Also clothing and shoes and whatnot. So we went past the things just gazing in amazement at all the things when we arrived at the snack fair food items. Guess what we found?! 'American Sweet Corn' :) So of course we got some. It was so funny, they were selling popcorn, cotton candy, peppers and American sweet corn. They sold corn in a cup and then put all their spices on it...because Indians wouldn't be able to eat just sweet corn with salt and butter on it. Then we saw the rides. We decided that we would try the Ferris Wheel and then go back and buy stuff from the vendors. So we walk up to the ride and the wired walkway thing-up the steps and such-is crickety and shaky and super sketchy. We were feeling pretty good about the ride at this point... haha and so we hop on, 2 and 2 and start going. It felt kinda weird-just a wee tab bit scary but nothing really and we thought it was ok. Although when we looked down at the motor we could watch the sparks flying and the old motor running...a comforting image for sure. Then all of a sudden the ride speeds up a lot. and I'm talking a lot. And it was freaky-I was scared for my life. Who would have though that when I was in India one of the first times I've been scared for my life would be on a ferris wheel?! Hahaha I actually cried and screamed during part of it!
So yesterday I went and got my eyebrows done for the first time ever. That was a fun experience. I also found out they do chocolate facials at that same beauty parlour-whose pumped!?!!! I don't know when I am going but I definitely will at some point : ) Also on Sunday I went to another race. Hahahaha we found out about it on Saturday and ran it on Sunday. It was a 7Km and they were very excited to have internationals run the race. Alison, Annie & I ran it. It was Annie's first race : ) We got there at 6am and signed up and the race went off at 6:30 sharp. They didn't time us but they had people marking off the bib numbers as we passed so that you couldn't skip part of the course-it was straight out and then we turned around and ran back. So the course wasn't too good but everything else was good. The race was free which was amazing. Then afterward we all got a wonderful Indian breakfast then they had a ceremony. The top 10 got awards and so Alison & I ended up getting awards. I placed 9th and she got 10th. It was really neat because the 8 girls ahead of me all looked to be teenagers and so that was exciting to see younger girls running a race and running a good time which means they probably have been running regularly :) Exciting news for Mangalore.
Today...I've taken a few days to type this blog...I went to class and it turned out being really good. Our first class was canceled because the prof never showed up-for the 2nd day in a row-but then we had 2 classes for community development and organization. We finally got a new professor for that class-our old prof left right before midterms for a new job somewhere else-but this prof seems like she is going to be really good. We discussed social, economic, religious and other problems in communities.
And the title of my post-7th grade 'stache is because that is what we all feel like we are getting here. Hahaha the girls here-from America in my program-love to talk about how boys especially in 7th grade love growing facial hair-esp mustaches-and here we feel like we have sweat mustaches alllll the time-quite attractive indeed :) Just a beautiful part of having hot hot hot weather with high high high humidity. But I'm not trying to complain about the heat since at home its really cold and very snowy. We both are living in extremes right now :) Loooove it and loooove you all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
