back in Udaipur...I ended up going to Rishikesh in the north after Divali because I had to come back to jaipur for a meeting and had more free days than I thought I did. It was a pretty crazy experience. I gained some interesting insights into indian culture, met some pretty shady characters (unfortunately), went to an AMAZING yoga school, and met some awesome people as well. Overall however, it made me realize that travelling as a single young foreign female in Northern India is not that enjoyable. I definitly wouldn't suggest it. It's do able but not as much fun as travelling should be.
I was really happy to be back and see everyone at the mid-internship seminar. My visit at my host families was suprisingly pleasant, I feel like we redeemed ourselves during divali. Now I'm staying at my friends appartment in Udaipur (even though my friends are at the camel mela in Pushkar), just wandering around...My phone wasn't working and I couldn't get ahold of my boss so I just figured out how I'm getting out to Ogna a little bit ago. Public bus rides!!! whoo hoo! I hope I get to sit inside of the bus instead of standing or sitting on top!
I've discovered Indian tailors...Today I went to one and got two copies of a pair of pants, a copy of a shirt, and three things repaired, I'm getting a pair of crazy hand embroidered (with mirrors all over it) bright pink and lime green pants made, and then I went to another tailor where I'm getting a pair of dress pants and an amazing winter jacket tailored. I got to draw the jacket myself. It's going to be amazing. All of this for rediculously cheap...Seeing tailors makes me want to learn how to do it too.
I also had my first percussion lesson! I wandered into a music shop and asked about this drum...d...I forgot the name already! Anyway...I ended up going to the teachers house and now I'm buying it tommorow. Woot! exciting!
I also decided that I'm coming home in December. I have mixed feelings about it but for the most part it just feels right. I know that I'm coming back to India within the next few years. I just feel done with MSID and ready to go back. I'm excited to make the most of my next month here.
that's all for now!
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Thursday, November 8, 2007
back in Jaipur
I'm back in Jaipur for Diwali. I came to see Kay and Aimee and then found out I have to be back here next week for a school meeting, and no one bothered to let me know! So after this I'm going to head to Johdpur (the blue city) in the desert for a few days to kill time and then come back. My host mother is being herself, so annoying! Her bollywood relatives have come for Diwali and they are so intense!!! I definitly can live life without the indian elite.
The last week a group of american/canadian students came to stay in a village near my NGO's headquarters and my NGO hosted them, so I was told to hang out with them all week. None of them spoke hindi so I did minimal translation and helped teach in the schools (we taught school every day). I love the villages. There was one girl Anita, who made me hang out with her and come hang out with their family. I wish I could get the pictures up, they're amazing. People in the villages are so open to other people. I got invited to Divali at their house. It was nice to be in the village but weird to hang out with a bunch of Americans, alot of them were pretty weird about staying in a village, always thinking that the villagers were trying to take things from them, etc. It was difficult to not get annoyed alot of the time. Its also strange to go from zero english to american english all the time.
I've been going into the village lately and wherever I go tons of people come around to look at what I'm buying. I went to a silver store the other day and all these people came and told me what to try on, which looked good, which didn't. I feel like my number one role at my NGO is village entertainment. Its a bit like living with paparazzi, I go out onto my balcony and kids start yelling at me and pointing me out. I wonder how long it will take to wear off.
I booked flights to Chennai and back to Dehli from Goa for Christmas. I'm still hesitant if I really want to stay untill April. Rationally it is a good idea, but randomly I just miss home alot and wish I was there.
I've discovered the amazing trails in the Aravali hills. I told my host mom about it and she worried that an uneducated adivasi (native) man would try to assault me, city indians are so predjudiced towards rural people. Another teacher told me I would get eaten by a panther...It's great to be able to hike again. I also convinced my "boss" that I should get a bike. Yay! Now I'll be even more of a weirdo- short haired, light skinned, unmarried, bike riding, twenty year old. hell yes. My hair is also pretty funny and poofy right now, people like to ask me how I get my hair to stand up straight.
The last week a group of american/canadian students came to stay in a village near my NGO's headquarters and my NGO hosted them, so I was told to hang out with them all week. None of them spoke hindi so I did minimal translation and helped teach in the schools (we taught school every day). I love the villages. There was one girl Anita, who made me hang out with her and come hang out with their family. I wish I could get the pictures up, they're amazing. People in the villages are so open to other people. I got invited to Divali at their house. It was nice to be in the village but weird to hang out with a bunch of Americans, alot of them were pretty weird about staying in a village, always thinking that the villagers were trying to take things from them, etc. It was difficult to not get annoyed alot of the time. Its also strange to go from zero english to american english all the time.
I've been going into the village lately and wherever I go tons of people come around to look at what I'm buying. I went to a silver store the other day and all these people came and told me what to try on, which looked good, which didn't. I feel like my number one role at my NGO is village entertainment. Its a bit like living with paparazzi, I go out onto my balcony and kids start yelling at me and pointing me out. I wonder how long it will take to wear off.
I booked flights to Chennai and back to Dehli from Goa for Christmas. I'm still hesitant if I really want to stay untill April. Rationally it is a good idea, but randomly I just miss home alot and wish I was there.
I've discovered the amazing trails in the Aravali hills. I told my host mom about it and she worried that an uneducated adivasi (native) man would try to assault me, city indians are so predjudiced towards rural people. Another teacher told me I would get eaten by a panther...It's great to be able to hike again. I also convinced my "boss" that I should get a bike. Yay! Now I'll be even more of a weirdo- short haired, light skinned, unmarried, bike riding, twenty year old. hell yes. My hair is also pretty funny and poofy right now, people like to ask me how I get my hair to stand up straight.
Monday, October 29, 2007
I <3 the village!!!
So the last four days have been amazing. I love living in ogna. Everyone speaks only Hindi pretty much so i've learned more hindi in the last 4 days than I have the whole rest of the semester. I also don't know what is going on alot, because I don't understand what people are saying and they don't understand what i'm saying. I'm living in a boarding house for government teachers near the NGO. I love everyone who lives there. There are alot of kids. The first night we had a drawing party. There were 5 kids, 4 adults, and 2 one year olds all in my bedroom. It was crazy! There is one teacher who speaks some english and we hang out and drink chai and talk about stuff which is cool, he's really helpful with teaching me hindi. I quickly learned what the word married was, its the first question everyone asks me! Then when i tell them i'm not married the next question is always why? i have started telling them that in america we get married when we are done with university, which isn't really true, but there isn't really a way to explain it to people who just accept getting married by 20 as part of life. There is a girl in my house who is sixteen and I asked her what she wanted to do after school, she couldn't understand what I was asking and so I had someone else ask, they didn't ask what she wanted to do though, she asked what she was going to do. She said that she was going to get married and her dad had just bought alot of gold for her dowry and wants to get her married asap. i asked if she wanted to get married and she didn't really answer me... I've become friends with a few women my age, its weird they are all married w/ kids. They are good people to be riends with though because they are really bored, they also don't have that many friends alot of the time because they had to move from their villages to their husbands villages. The cook at the NGO is 21 and his wife is 18 they got married three years ago. She has to cover her face every time he comes in the room. I've also gotten good at hanging out with one year olds! Sona, the director for child development's kid and I hang out alot, i can carry her around and do stuff, which is crazy, because i've always been kind of scared of kids. My name is now didi ami (older sister ami) or ami. Amelia is just too hard. The village is goregeous...really green and hilly and it actually smells good! (aka not like sewage, piss, or shit).
The first day I went with the guy who is the coordinator for the reading and writing improvement program to a primary school. At first kids were shy but by the end they were shoving pieces of paper in my face, asking me to write my name, and running around shouting my name and saying things about me. They all ran after the motorcycle when I left. The rest of the days I have been going to villages and doing "natural resource mapping." We basically take the colored powder that Indians put on the ground for holidays and have a village meeting, the villagers make a map of their village and talk about where the wells/dams are and what their effects are and where any new ones should go. I went around and looked at all the wells and we did interviews with people to see how everything was going. Sometimes it seemed like it wasn't working at all (ex. the non traditional dams) and all the NGO said was, the monsoon was short this year, if its longer next year it will work...even though their literature says that the monsoon continues to be shorter. Alot of the focus is trying to see if diesel run pumps are an economically sustainable option for irrigation. The best part though is talking with the womens groups and 'womens self-help groups" in which they take out loans without much interest from their collected savings. The women think I am rediculous. They gather around me and ask questions about my clothes, my hair, my marriage status and my dowry, etc. The leader of one of the womens group invited me to her home and told the whole vilage that i would be staying with HER, not anyone else. She wanted to take me to eat immediately, but I told her that I would go back another day. It's nice to be able to communicate a little bit with the villagers. It's hard though because the villagers speak Mewari, not Hindi.
Udaipur has been okay. I like the village better, but its essential to do errands and its nice to see friends. i basically just got dropped off at a street corner (no one at my ngo told me what was going on and that i wouldn't be doing any work and didn't have a place to stay while I was here) so luckily I get to crash at my friends appartment at another NGO. There are all sorts of weirdos in udaipur. Today i went in to look at a jewlery store, and I ended up getting my chakras evaluated. It was weird though because he told me just about the same thing that any 'therapist' has. Maybe they are all full of crap...or maybe they are all correct?
photos soon...i'm trying to upload them, but its going too slow...
The first day I went with the guy who is the coordinator for the reading and writing improvement program to a primary school. At first kids were shy but by the end they were shoving pieces of paper in my face, asking me to write my name, and running around shouting my name and saying things about me. They all ran after the motorcycle when I left. The rest of the days I have been going to villages and doing "natural resource mapping." We basically take the colored powder that Indians put on the ground for holidays and have a village meeting, the villagers make a map of their village and talk about where the wells/dams are and what their effects are and where any new ones should go. I went around and looked at all the wells and we did interviews with people to see how everything was going. Sometimes it seemed like it wasn't working at all (ex. the non traditional dams) and all the NGO said was, the monsoon was short this year, if its longer next year it will work...even though their literature says that the monsoon continues to be shorter. Alot of the focus is trying to see if diesel run pumps are an economically sustainable option for irrigation. The best part though is talking with the womens groups and 'womens self-help groups" in which they take out loans without much interest from their collected savings. The women think I am rediculous. They gather around me and ask questions about my clothes, my hair, my marriage status and my dowry, etc. The leader of one of the womens group invited me to her home and told the whole vilage that i would be staying with HER, not anyone else. She wanted to take me to eat immediately, but I told her that I would go back another day. It's nice to be able to communicate a little bit with the villagers. It's hard though because the villagers speak Mewari, not Hindi.
Udaipur has been okay. I like the village better, but its essential to do errands and its nice to see friends. i basically just got dropped off at a street corner (no one at my ngo told me what was going on and that i wouldn't be doing any work and didn't have a place to stay while I was here) so luckily I get to crash at my friends appartment at another NGO. There are all sorts of weirdos in udaipur. Today i went in to look at a jewlery store, and I ended up getting my chakras evaluated. It was weird though because he told me just about the same thing that any 'therapist' has. Maybe they are all full of crap...or maybe they are all correct?
photos soon...i'm trying to upload them, but its going too slow...
Monday, October 22, 2007
Dengue, Desert, Dalmations...
So if you haven't already heard, I got dengue...and I got over it. I went to get my blood tested on Friday to prove that my platelets were A.O.K. and I took the night train to Jaisalmer w/ 5 friends (two were actually on a bus). First night we just hung around the fort and bought stuff...fiona I got you a sweet present!... The fort was surprisingly quiet, really touristy, and gorgeous. We all bought giant poofy ali-baba pants. I love them, but they seem to be a trademark of almost all female tourists. Maybe because they are pretty close to sweatpants. I bought a bright green pair w/ flowers made from an old sari. The next night was the camel safari night. There was us six, a couple from Israel, and a German woman. I don't like camels much anymore. They smell pretty bad and run into trees and cacti(at least mine). Our camel safari was more rough than others, we passed another where all the camels were tied together by the noses and the people were listening to eyepods and reading. That wasn't possible on our safari. I spent a large part of it clinging for my life and i ended up ripping my pants on a cactus, pulling a bunch of thorns out of my arm/leg/foot, and now my entire body is sore. The stars were beautiful. They cooked us food. We spent the first afternoon under a tree, which was pretty nice. I found a clear swatch in the sand and it works. The Camel safari people were pretty crazy. They had created a desert version of barbie girl which they liked to sing constantly that went something like..." I'm a camel man, in the bloody sand, life in plastic, it's deleeziiiooouusss, come here, take you every where, bottom-color of tomato...come on camel lets go desert.....uooouuooohhh" At night they played Johans guitar (which meant strumming all the open strings w/ no beat) and drummed (terribly) on water jugs. We went to two villages, which was pretty weird because the kids just kept begging, the Israeli woman gave them money. At the second village the kids started hitting Aimee because she didn't have anything to give them. I'm still not sure what to think about that. I was really happy to be done with the camel safari. The dunes, the sky, the deer, and the sunset/sunrise were all beautiful, but camels and I don't get along well.
On another note, i went to school for the first time in two weeks on Friday. Realized that there had been a Hindi test (that now I've been exempt from), and that I had 3 papers due today. I still have to do them. I also realized that this week we only have two days of school and on Wednesday I'm moving to my internship. I also changed my internship on Friday spur of the moment because I needed a change from Tripti (host mom)/Jaipur life. I'm moving to a small village of about 300 families called Oogna. It's 3 1/2 hours from Udaipur in southern Rajasthan. I'll hopefully be working with Women's peer support groups, but I don't know what I'm doing. It'll be in the "tribal belt." I have heard from another student that went there that the program staff don't speak English and she's never seen children as malnourished...I will be the first MSID-er to go there and I'll be the only one...which will be pretty crazy. I'm trying to force myself to learn hindi and do something totally different. I'll have my cellphone so call me, but I don't know if I will have internet access...I'll hopefully be going to Udaipur/other cities on weekends.
On another note, i went to school for the first time in two weeks on Friday. Realized that there had been a Hindi test (that now I've been exempt from), and that I had 3 papers due today. I still have to do them. I also realized that this week we only have two days of school and on Wednesday I'm moving to my internship. I also changed my internship on Friday spur of the moment because I needed a change from Tripti (host mom)/Jaipur life. I'm moving to a small village of about 300 families called Oogna. It's 3 1/2 hours from Udaipur in southern Rajasthan. I'll hopefully be working with Women's peer support groups, but I don't know what I'm doing. It'll be in the "tribal belt." I have heard from another student that went there that the program staff don't speak English and she's never seen children as malnourished...I will be the first MSID-er to go there and I'll be the only one...which will be pretty crazy. I'm trying to force myself to learn hindi and do something totally different. I'll have my cellphone so call me, but I don't know if I will have internet access...I'll hopefully be going to Udaipur/other cities on weekends.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
pink city rock, etc.
Last weekend was pretty crazy. Kay and I stayed in Jaipur. Saturday night we went to a premier of a documentary about Polo...It was a pretty bad documentary but all the Jaipur Elite was there. The Maharaja, and Maharaji (we met them), The coach of the Indian cricket team (who is english and I don't think speaks Hindi), and a bunch of other fancy shmancy people. We got invited to the Maharaja's for an evening of classical dance next week...more to come about that.
It's become really apparent how family driven things are in India. The woman who made the documentary got a bunch of money from the department of tourism for the documentary only because she has family connections with powerful politicians, there wasn't even anything about tourism in the film.
Sunday we went to see Damal, which is basically the Bollywood version of RatRace. It was pretty entertaining and it was slapstick humor so we could understand most of it. It was totally rediculous and over the top like most bollywood films. There definitly wasn't enough dancing.
After that we went to JKK (there's a coffee shop and art galleries, I guess its the cool place to hang out), and ended up going to PINK CITY ROCK 2007!!! It was totally insane. It was packed with kids wearing almost all black, most with black tee shirts with Metallica, Dream Theatre, Mega Death, or similar bands on them. Little did we know we were in for the craziest american pop covers of our lives.
This was the playlist:
Alanis Morsette's "You Aughta Know"
Pink's "It's just you and your hand tonight"
Incubus' "Megalomaniac"
Coldplay's "Yellow
Nelly Furtado's "Turn off the Light"
Nirvana's "I'm so happy"
The Cranberries' "In Your Head"
U2 "Hello Hello"
Creed's "What if"
It was so wonderfuly terrible. Except for creed and U2 that was just terribly terrible. We spent the rest of the time dancing around like maniacs and singing really loudly. The crazy thing was that everyone was singing really loudly and insanely. They don't really have shows here ever, so even a shitty cover band is worth going spastic over. Pink and The Cranberries made me have serious NARAL van memories.
Tuesday night we spent singing and dancing on Aimee's roof. The whole neighborhood came to listen, it was pretty crazy. When we stopped the kids would shout at us to sing again.
Probably alot more exciting things happened, but i'm getting feverish again (I've had a fever for the past 3 days) and so I'm having problems remembering. The language barrier between the school doctor and I really sucks. I kept asking her what medicines she was giving me and she wouldn't tell me. She also wouldn't tell me why I have a fever. My professor said that its the changing of the seasons...I don't really get how that makes sense...Here when you go to the pharmacy they just cut off a few pills from the tinfoil sheet and give them to you, you don't have written instructions or any warnings of side effects or anything.
It's become really apparent how family driven things are in India. The woman who made the documentary got a bunch of money from the department of tourism for the documentary only because she has family connections with powerful politicians, there wasn't even anything about tourism in the film.
Sunday we went to see Damal, which is basically the Bollywood version of RatRace. It was pretty entertaining and it was slapstick humor so we could understand most of it. It was totally rediculous and over the top like most bollywood films. There definitly wasn't enough dancing.
After that we went to JKK (there's a coffee shop and art galleries, I guess its the cool place to hang out), and ended up going to PINK CITY ROCK 2007!!! It was totally insane. It was packed with kids wearing almost all black, most with black tee shirts with Metallica, Dream Theatre, Mega Death, or similar bands on them. Little did we know we were in for the craziest american pop covers of our lives.
This was the playlist:
Alanis Morsette's "You Aughta Know"
Pink's "It's just you and your hand tonight"
Incubus' "Megalomaniac"
Coldplay's "Yellow
Nelly Furtado's "Turn off the Light"
Nirvana's "I'm so happy"
The Cranberries' "In Your Head"
U2 "Hello Hello"
Creed's "What if"
It was so wonderfuly terrible. Except for creed and U2 that was just terribly terrible. We spent the rest of the time dancing around like maniacs and singing really loudly. The crazy thing was that everyone was singing really loudly and insanely. They don't really have shows here ever, so even a shitty cover band is worth going spastic over. Pink and The Cranberries made me have serious NARAL van memories.
Tuesday night we spent singing and dancing on Aimee's roof. The whole neighborhood came to listen, it was pretty crazy. When we stopped the kids would shout at us to sing again.
Probably alot more exciting things happened, but i'm getting feverish again (I've had a fever for the past 3 days) and so I'm having problems remembering. The language barrier between the school doctor and I really sucks. I kept asking her what medicines she was giving me and she wouldn't tell me. She also wouldn't tell me why I have a fever. My professor said that its the changing of the seasons...I don't really get how that makes sense...Here when you go to the pharmacy they just cut off a few pills from the tinfoil sheet and give them to you, you don't have written instructions or any warnings of side effects or anything.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
?!?
I've been feeling crappy for the past three days. Tuesday night I started feeling sick at the craft fair and ended up puking and having the worst sickness that I can remember and passing out on the floor. Luckily I have an amazing roomate who picked me up and put me to bed. Oh well...I'm feeling better every day. Today I went and worked out with my host mom. Pepto-bismol has become my friend. I had to drink W.H.O. formula rehydration salts to get my electrolytes back...it was like drinking a bottle of sweetened bodily fluid. bleh...gatorade is so much better. My host mom has decided that we're going to get up at 6:15 to do 45 minutes of meditation and breathing exercizes before the gym. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I like the meditation, but I don't really know how the breathing exercises work/if they work/if I'm just doing it wrong? Does anyone know?
We got invited for Diwali! I'm pretty excited about that. We also asked Nanni-ji to see chakte india with us and she wants to go. She also wants to take us out to eat something (they sell it on the street) we need to take digestive aids as "prevention." I guess. In nanni-gi's words ,"we....vil....go....uh....vagabonding....clear throat."
The airtel company called us today and told us we had to be home in two hours so they could check and see if we really lived there. I told the guy what was what and I may have scared him, but it worked. I had to use indian phrases such as "my host mother is a "big time airtel user" I made him give him his name and spell it for me and asked who his supervisor was. Cell phone comapnies are equally lame all over the world.
Udaipur was amazing. The city was great, people were friendly, there was a lake and more trees. I spent most of the time looking at NGO's and I had some pretty interesting experiences. one of which was with Shikshantar (you can look it up online). We helped out w/ their mela (street festival) and spent the day there. I was interested in interning there, but they decided that they will no longer take interns because MSID is explotative of the students (by making them pay high fees and having bad pedagogy), and host organizations, which unfortunately I can't really argue with. On the other hand there were clear parts of the organization that were hypocritical and obviously westernly based, however not like the "western thinking" of MSID which is somewhat colonial, it was "western radical thinking" which seems not to apply well and effectively to the indian context. There are crimethinc posters all over and there is a strong anarchist ideology, which is fine, but I have to wonder what makes it much different than most of the other mostly white young collectives in the U.S. Is it really doing any community work? Or just holding craft fairs and only kids go to? Are any of their bicycle washers or bicycle blenders going to be implemented anywhere else? Its great that its a no waste zone but what about the rest of India?
School is not challenging by any means. Critical thinking doesn't seem to exist. Which means I spend alot of time doing visioning exercises and writing in my journal during class. I'm getting pretty good at drawing certain things...
We got invited for Diwali! I'm pretty excited about that. We also asked Nanni-ji to see chakte india with us and she wants to go. She also wants to take us out to eat something (they sell it on the street) we need to take digestive aids as "prevention." I guess. In nanni-gi's words ,"we....vil....go....uh....vagabonding....clear throat."
The airtel company called us today and told us we had to be home in two hours so they could check and see if we really lived there. I told the guy what was what and I may have scared him, but it worked. I had to use indian phrases such as "my host mother is a "big time airtel user" I made him give him his name and spell it for me and asked who his supervisor was. Cell phone comapnies are equally lame all over the world.
Udaipur was amazing. The city was great, people were friendly, there was a lake and more trees. I spent most of the time looking at NGO's and I had some pretty interesting experiences. one of which was with Shikshantar (you can look it up online). We helped out w/ their mela (street festival) and spent the day there. I was interested in interning there, but they decided that they will no longer take interns because MSID is explotative of the students (by making them pay high fees and having bad pedagogy), and host organizations, which unfortunately I can't really argue with. On the other hand there were clear parts of the organization that were hypocritical and obviously westernly based, however not like the "western thinking" of MSID which is somewhat colonial, it was "western radical thinking" which seems not to apply well and effectively to the indian context. There are crimethinc posters all over and there is a strong anarchist ideology, which is fine, but I have to wonder what makes it much different than most of the other mostly white young collectives in the U.S. Is it really doing any community work? Or just holding craft fairs and only kids go to? Are any of their bicycle washers or bicycle blenders going to be implemented anywhere else? Its great that its a no waste zone but what about the rest of India?
School is not challenging by any means. Critical thinking doesn't seem to exist. Which means I spend alot of time doing visioning exercises and writing in my journal during class. I'm getting pretty good at drawing certain things...
Friday, September 28, 2007
photos
here are some photos for your viewing pleasure...
http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2359919&l=4e306&id=13926065
http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2359934&l=76407&id=13926065
I just got back from a field trip to Shekawati, a desert area of Rajasthan. We went to some organic farms and some havelis's (painted forts/mansions/whatever they have a different translation every time). Field trips kind of drive me nuts because they put us up in these amazing resorts and were only around eachother 24/7 and I don't even feel like I'm in India. The performers that come to the resorts do all of the same watered down touristy things and are from the nearby villages. Its sad to see all of the old white people get drunk in their happy tourist lala land. Its sad because they're probably thinking that they are being worldly for going to India, when really, they're just resort hopping.
I'm getting alot more comfortable with being in India now. I'm taking the night train to Udaipur tonight to check out some NGO's. I'm pretty sure I'm staying for a year. I just want to get more out of india than I can in just a semester. My camera broke so its getting fixed and in the meantime I'm using my roomates old Nikon which is really exciting for me! I've always wanted top use one before! and now i'll have some negatives to mess with when I get back.
I'm happy to be travelling, but I would like to spend more time with my family. I don't go back to school untill wednesday because of various holidays (ghandi day and a different day...durga day?).
I'm making pasta for my host family on monday night. Nanni-ji has proclaimed that she's not going to eat at all on sunday so she can fill herself with pasta...i really want to make pesto, and fresh basil is everywhere in our house but they are holy plants, so eating them would be a serious problem, it would kind of being like eating a cow. I need to find somewhere to buy basil. I really didn't think i would ever have to think about where to buy basil when there is a basil plant in every hindu's house.
http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2359919&l=4e306&id=13926065
http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2359934&l=76407&id=13926065
I just got back from a field trip to Shekawati, a desert area of Rajasthan. We went to some organic farms and some havelis's (painted forts/mansions/whatever they have a different translation every time). Field trips kind of drive me nuts because they put us up in these amazing resorts and were only around eachother 24/7 and I don't even feel like I'm in India. The performers that come to the resorts do all of the same watered down touristy things and are from the nearby villages. Its sad to see all of the old white people get drunk in their happy tourist lala land. Its sad because they're probably thinking that they are being worldly for going to India, when really, they're just resort hopping.
I'm getting alot more comfortable with being in India now. I'm taking the night train to Udaipur tonight to check out some NGO's. I'm pretty sure I'm staying for a year. I just want to get more out of india than I can in just a semester. My camera broke so its getting fixed and in the meantime I'm using my roomates old Nikon which is really exciting for me! I've always wanted top use one before! and now i'll have some negatives to mess with when I get back.
I'm happy to be travelling, but I would like to spend more time with my family. I don't go back to school untill wednesday because of various holidays (ghandi day and a different day...durga day?).
I'm making pasta for my host family on monday night. Nanni-ji has proclaimed that she's not going to eat at all on sunday so she can fill herself with pasta...i really want to make pesto, and fresh basil is everywhere in our house but they are holy plants, so eating them would be a serious problem, it would kind of being like eating a cow. I need to find somewhere to buy basil. I really didn't think i would ever have to think about where to buy basil when there is a basil plant in every hindu's house.
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