Deuce!

An important part of our program is that the students get to live in home stays instead of in dorms or apartments.  I am really enjoying it... I have two younger brothers: twelve and a half and six years old.  They are both a lot of fun, even if my youngest brother is a little too energetic at points and thus gets tired and grumpy easily.  We’ve played football and I’ve been “taught” Cricket and a board game called Carrom.  However, I am learning that teaching me a new game means giving me the instructions so that we can begin (how to hold the Cricket bat, for instance) but not actually telling me the rules until I break them.  I would just like to say that Cricket may be one of the most boring/pointless games in existence... I don’t really understand why people play it.  I am sorry if I offend you but, really, you should try and find something a little more exciting to do with your free time.  One of my good friends here is British and he agrees; I rest my case.

In Carrom, each player takes turns flicking a shooting disc at the rest of the pieces, (which are worth different point values dependent on the colour) trying to knock them into the side pockets (a bit like billiards, I suppose).  It’s a really fun game, but after a while your fingers hurt from flicking the shooting disc and I kept knocking it into the side pocket the first time that we played, which meant both my brothers shouted “Deuce!” quite loudly and I had to put one of my captured pieces back onto the board (I played against my middle brother and my youngest brother provided highly enthusiastic commentary and advice).  Also, the red piece in the middle is worth the most points, so in order to capture that one, you need to knock that one into a pocket and then another one in immediately afterward (every time you knock a piece in, you get an extra turn), otherwise you don’t get the red piece.  Consequently, no one gets the red piece so once you get down to the last two pieces, the only one that you can shoot at is the red one because you need to have one left to shoot in after.  The last fifteen minutes of the game just consisted of the two of us trying (and failing) to knock the last two pieces in successively (except that I kept hitting deuces, so more pieces were thrown in at points).  My youngest brother got bored after about five minutes of this, leading him to pronounce it a “very stupid game.”  Eventually, though, I won, much to the chagrin of my middle brother and the delight of my youngest, both because he was rooting for me and because the game was finally over.

Carrom... the white stuff is talcum powder to make the pieces slide better.

My younger brothers are also helping me out with my Marathi and Sanskrit.  The first sentence I learned from my youngest brother was “Tu es makdur (mockur)”... most of you can probably figure that out (hint: makdur means monkey).  We have only had a few lessons, but those were complete with my youngest brother making me repeat everything about fifty times and giving me an exam at the end (I occasionally had exams on days when I didn’t have lessons as well).  He is very thorough... more difficult to satisfy than my teacher at school because he won’t let me stop repeating something until I pronounce it absolutely perfectly... which I’m having difficulty with because what I say the first time sounds correct.  We went through animals on the first night (which began when my youngest brother pulled the sentence “The elephant is my friend.” out of thin air).

My first Marathi lesson with my brothers.  As you can see, I was graded... several times, actually.  Slightly redundant as they told me how to spell everything, but at least I got full marks.

The food here is very good.  Most of the cooking is done by the servants and most of it isn’t spicy at all and we have a variety of styles.  And they love to feed people here.  Every meal, I leave feeling almost over-full.  I learned quickly to be clear about when I’m full or else I end up with more on my plate (sometimes I do anyway).

Our house is very clean and my room is very nice.  It’s cool, comfortable, and I have plenty of space and storage, including my own bathroom.  My door even has a lock on it (in case nothing else will keep my youngest brother out was how it was sold to me).  The only thing that’s frustrating is that there is a flock of birds which go crazy each time the sun rises (around 5:30) right outside my window.  I don’t ever hear anything from them except for that.  I think they’re either crows or magpies, but I haven’t quite figured that out since I’ve been too irritated and groggy to look, but there are a lot of them and they’re really loud.  Also, it’s quite common to have people roaring down the street at strange hours on their motorbikes, and since they aren’t necessarily the quietest of vehicles, I’ve been woken up by those many times as well.  I am learning to use my ipod with my noise-proof headphones (well, those are broken now, but still) to its fullest advantage... I don’t think it has been used so much ever in its lifetime.

My sheets... selected by my youngest brother.  My Tai told me that he was adamant that I have princess sheets since I'm a girl.  I've never been particularly fond of Ariel, but I really like these sheets.

My Tai (elder sister... since my host mother is not very much older than me, I call her this instead of Ai (i-e), which means mother.) went to an international school in Bangkok when she was younger, so she has a very interesting point of view on India, as well as other countries, and studying abroad.  We have had quite a few long talks and I learn new things about Indian society every time.  I really enjoy getting to talk to her and know her. Another result of that is that she makes very sure that I have space and privacy when I need it.  Privacy is not something that is understood here to the extent that we are used to back home and a few of the other students have gotten frustrated by this, so I am very grateful.  She is really great.

My Dada (elder brother, my host father) works in Mumbai, so he is only home on the weekends.  As far as I can tell, this is a fairly common phenomenon here.  Obviously this means that I don’t get to see him very much, particularly lately.  He is pretty quiet, but he is very nice and gives great travel advice.  Other than that, I don’t know too much about him except that he was the state table tennis champion in college (which is pretty neat), and that I learned from my Tai.

My Dadi (grandmother) is very sweet, but I don’t really see all that much of her.  She works all day (she’s out the door at 5:30 or sometime around there every morning) and then comes home and watches Marathi soap operas in her room all evening.  I’ve watched with her a couple times and have decided that I like soap operas even less when I can’t understand them, which is saying something because I detest the English ones...

My brothers are great (most of the time, at least).  The elder one spent a few weeks near the beginning of my time here studying hard for exams (their school is year-round so they have exams every six months) and I got to help him study for English, so I felt quite useful then... he felt like he did pretty well and I enjoyed the experience a lot.  We did vocabulary and reading comprehension for the most part.  Other than that, however, I was spending most of my time during that stage with my youngest brother when I was at home.  We found quite a bit to do... usually we read, but he got bored of that a couple of times.  One night he decided he was going to help me untangle my jewellery, so that was fun.  We play house and blocks and everything like that or he combs my hair (he has a thing for hair... which means that I keep it bound up most of the time).  We have recently picked up the Power Rangers, so we watch and play that (I get to be the evil one)... a cool concept, but the show is pretty dreadful acting-wise, dialogue-wise – well, there’s really not that much that’s fantastic about that show, although perhaps the original was better.  During my computer’s ill streak, they both tried helping me fix it, the main method being taking out the battery and shaking it, then replacing it (they wanted to shake the computer itself, but I wasn’t very keen on that idea).  Lately, of course, I have been gone every weekend, which limits the amount of time I get to spend with them.  However, I get to help them with homework on occasion and play wii with the elder one.  I get to read bedtime stories with them and my Tai every night... Dr. Seuss (which I read one night to see how fast I could go) and History of India.  It is my favourite part of the day.

One element of family life here that is difficult to adjust to is how different the concept of discipline is.  Whining is a common method of complaint... it doesn’t work all of the time in our house, but it still works a little better than I am used to.  I am a little less fun than I was initially because as my novelty value has faded, they have realized that, if anything, I am less likely to do what they want if they are whining.

I will be coming back to the United States with a new obsession: football!!!  Real football, not American football.  My family watches the British Premier League and has gotten me addicted to the point that I will be watching every single game when I get home.  Unfortunately, the games are all on weekend evenings, so I haven’t been home for them lately, but once I am finished being gone for the weekends I plan to watch all of the games that I can.  I can already tell that the decoration theme of my dorm room will be changed in the spring.

Overall, I like my host situation a lot; it’s turned out to be really great, although I was a little bit overwhelmed and slightly sceptical at the beginning.  Considering a few of the other host situations, I feel very lucky... some of them haven’t turned out the best.

23) Whether you are a student living with a host family or a family hosting a student, give the situation at least two weeks before passing any judgement.  Awkward situations and misunderstandings at the beginning may not hold and if you let it negatively bias you, you won’t enjoy the experience as much.  Also, for a student, it’s going to take a couple weeks to acclimate to the living environment and lifestyles of the family, so both sides need to be kind and understanding.

24) Make sure to spend enough time with your host family.  At the beginning it is a little difficult, both for the reason that there is a lot to do initially and that when you’re homesick it’s better to spend time with friends.  But your family gets attached to you, so don’t miss out on the experience of getting to know them.  If you are hosting, at least attempt to include your student in different activities.  One of my friends ends up staying home while her Ai goes out all the time and doesn’t really enjoy that.

25) Be very grateful for all of the things that you have at home, wherever that may be, because there is no guarantee that those items will be present when you go abroad.  For me, the list includes dryers, fitted sheets, shower curtains, windex, and fabric freshener.  Not having these things doesn’t exactly make life more difficult (except perhaps the dryer... I have had some of my clothes grow mold because they took too long to dry), but I wasn’t expecting to need to go without them.

26) House slippers or just flip-flops to wear around the house are a great idea, as are everyday shoes that can get wet, actually.  It’s a good idea if the latter can stand up to a bit of hiking/climbing flights of mountain stairs to ancient caves.  I wore flip-flops the first time... bad idea.  I just went barefoot up most of the first mountain, which was fine, but I should have had good shoes.  Here are some good ideas: crocs (there are a bunch of different styles, not just the original ones), Keens, Tevas, and Chacos... I think I’m going to get some Chacos when I get back home.

We have servants, which I still haven’t gotten used to and don’t think I will.  They are really only here while I am at school and have worked for the family for something like fifty years so they’re completely trustworthy, but it’s still a very odd concept for me to get my head around... people doing my laundry and cleaning.  I am pretty sure that I will never have servants.  The entire situation is made even more awkward by the fact that they don’t seem to quite understand that I truly don’t speak Marathi, and so they talk to me quite quickly and then look at me expectantly and I just stand there shaking my head awkwardly.  Oh well, all part of the experience.

Look at me...  I wasn’t even this consistant at the beginning.  However, I will be gone for the next week, so I most likely won’t write anything until I am back.  By the way, comments are always appreciated... it lets me know that people still read this.  *Hint, hint*  If you ask me questions, I will even answer them in my next entry, I promise.

*L*

Oh, the Things We Learn

I have less than one month left before I leave India.  It’s a very strange feeling… I don’t think I will know how I feel about that even after I get on the plane.  However, we still have a lot coming up and I am determined to fully enjoy all of it.

I know that I haven’t done the best at giving this impression, but I am actually here to take classes.  That’s what we do to fill the time in between all of our trips, you know.  For the most part they are going alright…

The first class that we started when we got here was Marathi (6 credits)... it’s the regional language here.  So far, we are... well... far worse than we probably should be.  Very rough conversations are possible, but for most of us that’s about it.  It is difficult to learn and to teach as a second language to English-speakers because so much is different.  For the most part, we can identify most of the script, but the majority of the words that the script spells out mean nothing to us.  Still, it is fun to be able to read road signs and shop names.  Those of us who have learned foreign languages before are picking up certain things faster and the three international students who are already at least bilingual are the best of all... no surprises there.  Our professor is the director of the program and we usually take the last twenty minutes to tell riddles and jokes.  It’s pretty fun, but we all wish we were better at Marathi.  We had our second written exam today; it was frightening and I don’t think I did well.

We have Contemporary India (4 credits) twice a week, once each with two separate professors.  Our professor on Monday lectures most of the class and then lets us ask questions about what we have read or seen in the news.  He has been covering the structure of India: government and political parties, history and important figures.  That is my favourite class here.  The format of our Friday section is quite different: two students lead each class after we all read one or two articles on a particular topic: gender or religion, the Dalit or farmer’s movements.  Most of the articles are at least twenty years old and quite opinionated.  It is a dreadful format for a class.  None of us are learning anything because our professor basically does nothing except sit in the corner while we tell one another what we already know from reading the article and answer discussion questions.  At the end of every class, we come to the same two conclusions:

-First, we are a bunch of middle-class white kids who know basically nothing about whatever issue it is that we happen to be discussing because we don’t actually live in India.  Even when we pretend, we are forced to admit that the articles are so old that quite a lot has changed.  Also, we are a group of students who could have absolutely no impact on anything even if we tried.

-Second, the only possible solution to any of these problems is improvement of the education system.  The issues cannot be changed by policies, the mindsets of the people must change instead.  So, if we actually could do something, that is what would need to be changed.

The whole thing got very redundant by the third time we had done it... not a single one of us enjoys it at this point.  Actually, yesterday I presented with one of my friends on the environmental movement.  We decided to make things a little different so no one fell asleep this time and started out by having people write haikus in groups of three.  We only talked for about half of the class and then things kind of fell apart.  The professor informed us that she was disappointed in our lack of enthusiasm.  Several of us badly wanted to answer that we were disappointed in her lack of teaching, but we held our tongues.  Anyway, not everyone’s favourite class.

Next, we had the choice between three electives (4 credits): Public Health, Indian Literature, and Indian Cinema and Society.  I chose the last one because it was the only one that I had any chance of getting to count for credit.  It definitely will not make it on the list of classes that I enjoyed during my educational career, but I also could have a better attitude about it.  The teaching style of our professor doesn’t mesh well with my learning style.  Also, the style of the movies we watch doesn’t really fit my taste: they are kind of along the line of Nobel prize books, which I have never enjoyed.  I guess I’m just picky about my books and movies.  We spend a lot of time on the meaningless symbolism behind certain shots and the attitude that the director wanted to convey by a particular camera angle.  Personally, I get bored of that rather quickly, but knew it would happen though and didn’t really have a choice if I wanted to get credit for something so I truly am trying to make the best of it.  Besides, while it may be slightly frustrating, it’s not as bad as the literature professor who is determined that no one will get an “A” in his class.  We did end up having a pretty great experience through my cinema professor though.  Two weeks ago, all of us got the chance to go see a movie about Phalke, the “father of Indian cinema” at the Film Archives here.  After the film finished (and it was spectacular), we got the chance to talk to the director for a while!  It was a great experience.

With Paresh Mokashi, the director of Harishchandrachi Factory, I think the best film of its genre that I have ever seen.  He isn't a trained director... he just decided one day that he wanted to make a film.

The last element of our coursework is the independent study projects (4 credits) that we each are working on.  My project is… currently under revision, which is not very good considering that the due date is less than a month away.  Originally, I was intending to research India’s policies regarding human trafficking.  However, I was advised against that as it wasn’t really a topic that I could research in three months.  So I turned to low-income education, as that ties into human trafficking somewhat.  Fortunately, I have gotten the chance to work with another of the students who is also studying education.  We were hoping to interview schoolchildren of around fifteen years old as a part of our studies.  The problem has been that a) our initial approval with our home universities took a considerable time to acquire, and b) our interviews need to be with students from government schools, which means that we need approval from the government here as well.  Unfortunately, the bureaucratic system here runs… well, slowly is an understatement.  The combination of everything means that we don’t have the approval that we need and thus cannot conduct any interviews.  So… my topic has changed yet again to where it will be only source research and no interviews.  Additionally, to give myself more material, I will be adding in more of my original idea.  Needless to say, I have a lot of work ahead of me, but it will all get done.  It’s a relief to know now what I need to do and not be waiting on anyone or anything, just be able to get on with my work.  The end result will be a paper of minimum twenty-five pages… the longest that I have ever written in my life.

Just a couple trips specific to the program or anyone who might have an independent study project to complete while abroad…

21) Get your ISP off the ground as much as you can before you leave home because everything here runs slowly.  When you get abroad, don’t expect anything to work the same.  A good tip that we heard was to plan on getting one third of the work done in thrice the time here that you would expect to complete back in the United States.  That is not an understatement.

22) Choose something you will enjoy.  Unless you are going to get credit for it back at home, you don’t even need to make it academic.  You can study different styles of music, dance, or cooking.  Having your interviewees be the other students is a great idea.  One of my friends did a project on geographical first impressions and had us all draw mental maps.  There’s no need to necessarily pick something super academic, especially because those are guaranteed to take longer and be more difficult anyway.  Besides, you don’t want the difficulties to just dishearten you to the point that you don’t want to do anything about it anymore.

Actually, the trip this past weekend to Mahabaleshwar was not really a vacation but more of a conference to discuss our projects.  We all know roughly what one another has been working on it, but it was interesting to hear how everyone has progressed.  Each of us took about ten minutes to talk about it and then got comments and questions from everyone else, including our two professors who came along.  So, nineteen students at around a half hour each… we were sitting and talking about projects for a little over ten hours.  Lots of fun… yey!  Actually, it was mostly enjoyable.  We got to sit outside on the veranda of our hotel where we could watch the monkeys jumping around in the trees if we got bored.  Still, we faced a bit of difficulty with the weather.  The majority of our presentations took place on Saturday and it began raining heavily part-way through, making it difficult to hear and eventually getting us wet enough that we needed to go inside.  Then the power went out, so we sat there for a while presenting in the dark.  But we just kept going – we are at the point where almost nothing phases us anymore – and it was still fun apart from a few obnoxious questions and comments.

Project briefings at Mahabaleshwar... don't we look like we're having fun?

 So see?  I truly have been working.  The academics are nowhere near as difficult as at home – definitely not the main point of the program.  Still, we are all conscientious enough students that we are doing fairly well despite the highly frustrating differences seen between our academic attitudes and those of our professors.

Check back in tomorrow as I am going to write even more!  Having a functional computer is great.

*L*

Here and There and Everywhere...

Hello!

Well, I have gotten my computer back, but not repaired as it seems that the motherboard needs to be replaced.  As a result, I have decided to wait until I get back to the States to see to repairs.  However… my computer has inexplicably decided to work again.  I decided that I won’t complain about it and just keep backups of my files.  So, after a silence of over a month, my blog is going to come back to life.  And this will be quite the entry, so go get your tea before you begin to read...

We have been up to quite a lot; more than I can cover even in the length that this is going to turn out to be.  Therefore, I will stick to the main events.  Three weekends ago, about half of our group got the opportunity to go on a cycling trip around the southern part of Maharashtra along the Konkan Coast.  The trip wasn’t booked through our program, but through a travel agent that one set of the students booked their term travels with.

A little fishing village that we rode through backed by the Arabian Sea.

It was amazing!  We got to see the backcountry, stay in the fishing villages, and bike along the sand.  Nothing like this trip is part of the program, so we got a completely unique experience.  Our guide, Kedar, personalizes each trip to the group’s interests and physical fitness.  He and one of his friends, Nitant, rode along with us and we had two cars following us the entire way in case we got tired or injured, driven by Kedar’s daughter and their friend Manisha.  They were all fluent in English and wonderful company!  My endurance is dreadful and there were a lot of long climbs on both days.  When Kedar saw at the end of the first day that I was having difficulty with it, he rode almost the entire way the second day with me, giving me tips for how to keep going and talking to distract me from the climb.  I made it up the entire mountain without stopping... it took about thirty or fourty minutes.  The company’s name is Green Earth Adventures (www.greenearthadventures.com) and if you ever want to experience India in an amazing way, absolutely go on a trip with them.  I have absolutely nothing negative to say about the experience... it was far beyond fantastic.

The group of us who went on the bike trip.

19) Take the opportunities that come your way... you may very well come out with one of the best experiences of your life.  We almost didn’t take this one, but every one of us is so grateful that we did.  Even if it might cost a little more or you feel like you don’t have time... seize it.

Then two weekends past, we got the chance to go to Goa... all of the students except for one who got the chance to go on a learning retreat with a group of Buddhist monks.  Goa is one of the main tourist traps of India, and for good reason... it is beautiful: all sun, sand, and green-blue waves.  We spent a day on the beach which Jason Bourne runs on in The Bourne Supremacy… some people even saw dolphins there.  And there were so many white people!  It was great... we could even wear swimsuits and shorts.  We spent one evening on a boat where we got to watch the sunset and got some breathtaking photographs.  We spent a morning walking around Old Goa, where we got the chance to see the largest church in Asia.  Goa was settled by the Portuguese and is known as the Christian state in India.  As such, they have a large collection of beautiful churches, cathedrals, and basilicas.  The Shivas, Krishnas, and Saraswatis that fill the roadside shrines that one sees throughout India were mostly replaced by crosses.  The same devotional garlands of flowers that people leave for Hindu idols adorn these crosses... it was really something beautiful to see.

The Basilica de Bom Jesus in Old Goa.

Most of us chose to rent cars to take us there and drive us around the entire weekend.  However, it wasn’t exactly the experience we were expecting.  Since Goa is such a large tourist destination, the roads became wonderfully smooth once we arrived.  Until we got there and after we left, the potholes and bumps were dreadful.  I’ve described driving in India before, right?  How lanes are only a suggestion and the horn is in constant use?  Yes, well, the highway for ten to fourteen hours under these conditions does not necessarily lend itself to comfortable driving.  The drivers were surly all weekend, cheated us into paying for their meals although we were not supposed to, swore rather liberally at having to drive around Goa, and refused to separate, which kind of defeated the point of having two cars.  The reason for the last two is that they had no idea where they were going most of the time... and maps are not really a done thing here.  So we got lost several times every time we got into the car, making our trips longer than they should have been.  The best choice would have been to take the public bus overnight, which some of the other students did, and then rent cars once we reached Goa.  So...

20) When you plan something, do not expect things to work as they do at home.  Consider every option and be careful to read advice of people who have taken each one.  However, you mustn’t let it ruin your time... it’s not worth it.  You will miss the good things.

Goa...

And then, this past weekend, we went to the Mahabaleshwar Hill Station.  There are hill stations all over India, built high in the mountains during colonization by the British to escape the hottest parts of the year.  It was slightly cooler, but not by a considerable amount.  It rained quite heavily on Saturday for several hours on end and we got to see some fantastic storms.  Also, all the rain meant that the mist would seep in around us while we were standing or sitting around… it felt as if we were in the middle of the clouds.  We watched sunset over a lake on Friday evening and a few of us got up early enough to watch sunrise on the top of the mountain.  I got to go horseback riding twice and, unlike America, I was allowed to gallop around a large track that they had.  I had so much fun.  It was quite a relaxing weekend for all of us and the slightly cooler temperatures were great.  Additionally, Mahabaleshwar is known for its strawberries.  They aren’t in season right now, but I had the best strawberry ice cream that I have ever had made from last season’s frozen fruit.  Very delicious.

Sunset in the mountains.

On Saturday morning, we went to a spectacular overlook where you could see for kilometres in every direction.  It was great except for the crowds.  The paparazzi phenomenon has been bad in other places, but it got particularly bad there… to the point where a few of us yelled at the groups of college boys following us and I actually shoved a group of them away from us when they got particularly close and irritating.  It was like being a zoo animal, completely ridiculous that they didn’t consider it rude at all.  I have no tips for avoiding irritation as I haven’t figured it out myself and cannot help becoming angry every time it happens.  Some people have begun making faces to ruin the photos… I may try that soon.  Unfortunately, I think I am slightly more prone to slapping people or confiscating their cameras.

Monkeys!  And no, I haven't tried to pet any of them yet.

So that’s my travels thus far… or at least a brief version and I believe that is long enough.  Our longest holiday is rapidly approaching so there will be another considerable entry and many photographs after that one.  However, I will be writing again before that, so check back tomorrow.  I miss you all greatly and hope that you are all doing well!

*L*