I know that I have not blogged much since arriving in India, but I am going to try to correct this. I don't even know where to start because we have done so much, experienced so much and seen so much in the 3.5 weeks that I have been here. I guess to summarize some of what I have been up to I will make a list of random thoughts/experiences of this trip.
-I never ever ever ever ever would want to drive any sort of vehicle in India. There is no such thing as traffic laws. People weave in and out of traffic at will, make their own lanes, and there is no such thing as being too close to another car. I swear that our bus magically shrinks during some parts of our drives because it shouldn't be able to fit where it does.
-With the lack of driving rules, you can imagine how much fun crossing the street is. You have to just start walking as oncoming traffic is bearing straight for you and hope that they get out of the way, so far they have. This takes awhile to get used to.
-If you dont like trash, don't come to India. I have been amazed by the amount of trash that is littering the streets. There are always piles of trash everywhere, no public trash cans lining the streets.
-With trash, comes animals. Because there is so much trash on the streets animals are also found in the streets. Common sights include cows, stray dogs, goats, and wild pigs eating the trash. Talk about a free meal.
-Bucket Baths. Our place of residence for the first 5 weeks of our trip has been Madras Christian College where there isn't a legitmate shower in the bathroom (common throughout India). Instead of a shower they have a bucket. You fill this with water and bucket bath commences. I have no problems with these, however, it is near impossible to completely wash my hair. I can never completely wet my hair and so it is always a battle to thoroughly shampoo my hair, and then a whole other battle to rinse the shampoo. This whole process makes being clean that much more satisfying.
-Temples, temples, and more temples! We have visited many temples so far in in India. Many of them are painted and very colorful. This paint is not original to the structure, but was added after their completion. It is still old paint though. Others are not painted and I have come to like these temples more. I like the more natural look. One of my favorite things about these Indian temples are that they are still used today. Oftentimes when you visit temples or other hundreds year old strutures they are just there on display for whoever wants to see. In India, they are active places of worship with Indians going to worship and leave offerings to various deities. I really like seeing these temples in use.
-Elephants! Outside of many temples there are often elephants. They 'give' blessings to people who walk past by touching their trunk to the top of someone's head. Then to pay them for this you put rupees (Indian currency) in their trunks, yes IN their trunks, and they jingle it around before they give it to their master.
-Speaking of Rupees, everything in India is very cheap. One hundred Rupees is the equivalent of around 2 dollars and I hardly buy anything that is greater then 500 rupees, or 10 dollars. One major plus of going to India on study abroad rather than Europe!
-Swimming anyone? When we have gone on our 5 day trips (we have had 2 of these ) to various parts of India most of our dowtime when we are at our hotels in the evening is spent in the hotel's pool. It is so hot here, although it is cooling down because the monsoon has arrived in Southeast India, that after a long day of travel and sightseeing it feels great to swim. At our first hotel we spent an entire afternoon in a pool, I think about 4 hours total.
-FOOD! One of my favorite things about India. The food here is amazing! So many flavors and curries and spices, I could go on and on. Some of my favorites are the classic paneer, all their breads (there is more than just Naan everyone), Gobi 65 (fried cauliflower that is the best thing you have ever tasted, take my word for it), Okra dishes, Malai Kofta (vegetable dumplings in a sauce) and so many more that I can never remember the names of. One of my favorite desserts I have gotten was at one of our hotels and it was bana pancakes. Essentially, sliced banana stuffed inside a crepe, so good. They also had those available for their breakfast buffet and I took advantage of this, I know that isn't exactly an Indian dish but it was so good that it needed mentioning. I'm slowly building up my spice tolerance, still have a LONG way to go before I can withstand 'Indian hot' though.
-Can I take your picture? Sooo sometimes when we are traveling and our whole group is together Indian families like to come up and ask for our picture with them. It is weird for people to be so excited to take pictures with you because you are a foreigner, or white to be more specific. When this happens, often other families will join in the fun and ask for pictures. This is fun most of the time, but sometimes it can be cumbersome because it makes it hard for us to walk anywhere and so it will delay us for a bit. However, I will continue to enjoy my celebrity status in India while I am here.
-Diwali! We were able to celebrate the Diwali holiday authentically in India (their equivalent of Christmas). We all got dressed up in our Saris, well the girls dressed in saris, and made our way to our Professor's family's home in Chennai. They were very welcoming and fed us amazing food and gave us a traditional Diwali experience. We sat and enjoyed each other's company all afternoon, set off fireworks which is the thing to do on Diwali, ate like kings and queens, and relaxed. Only complaint for the day is that saris are not as confortable as they look. They are very tight around your waist and not easy to maneuver around in, but you do look pretty in them!
That's all I have for now, though a lot more has happened. I'll try to keep this updated more often now. Check out my facebook photos to see what I've been up to here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2515500009310.144154.1307504127&type=1&l=46e679c772
-I never ever ever ever ever would want to drive any sort of vehicle in India. There is no such thing as traffic laws. People weave in and out of traffic at will, make their own lanes, and there is no such thing as being too close to another car. I swear that our bus magically shrinks during some parts of our drives because it shouldn't be able to fit where it does.
-With the lack of driving rules, you can imagine how much fun crossing the street is. You have to just start walking as oncoming traffic is bearing straight for you and hope that they get out of the way, so far they have. This takes awhile to get used to.
-If you dont like trash, don't come to India. I have been amazed by the amount of trash that is littering the streets. There are always piles of trash everywhere, no public trash cans lining the streets.
-With trash, comes animals. Because there is so much trash on the streets animals are also found in the streets. Common sights include cows, stray dogs, goats, and wild pigs eating the trash. Talk about a free meal.
-Bucket Baths. Our place of residence for the first 5 weeks of our trip has been Madras Christian College where there isn't a legitmate shower in the bathroom (common throughout India). Instead of a shower they have a bucket. You fill this with water and bucket bath commences. I have no problems with these, however, it is near impossible to completely wash my hair. I can never completely wet my hair and so it is always a battle to thoroughly shampoo my hair, and then a whole other battle to rinse the shampoo. This whole process makes being clean that much more satisfying.
-Temples, temples, and more temples! We have visited many temples so far in in India. Many of them are painted and very colorful. This paint is not original to the structure, but was added after their completion. It is still old paint though. Others are not painted and I have come to like these temples more. I like the more natural look. One of my favorite things about these Indian temples are that they are still used today. Oftentimes when you visit temples or other hundreds year old strutures they are just there on display for whoever wants to see. In India, they are active places of worship with Indians going to worship and leave offerings to various deities. I really like seeing these temples in use.
-Elephants! Outside of many temples there are often elephants. They 'give' blessings to people who walk past by touching their trunk to the top of someone's head. Then to pay them for this you put rupees (Indian currency) in their trunks, yes IN their trunks, and they jingle it around before they give it to their master.
-Speaking of Rupees, everything in India is very cheap. One hundred Rupees is the equivalent of around 2 dollars and I hardly buy anything that is greater then 500 rupees, or 10 dollars. One major plus of going to India on study abroad rather than Europe!
-Swimming anyone? When we have gone on our 5 day trips (we have had 2 of these ) to various parts of India most of our dowtime when we are at our hotels in the evening is spent in the hotel's pool. It is so hot here, although it is cooling down because the monsoon has arrived in Southeast India, that after a long day of travel and sightseeing it feels great to swim. At our first hotel we spent an entire afternoon in a pool, I think about 4 hours total.
-FOOD! One of my favorite things about India. The food here is amazing! So many flavors and curries and spices, I could go on and on. Some of my favorites are the classic paneer, all their breads (there is more than just Naan everyone), Gobi 65 (fried cauliflower that is the best thing you have ever tasted, take my word for it), Okra dishes, Malai Kofta (vegetable dumplings in a sauce) and so many more that I can never remember the names of. One of my favorite desserts I have gotten was at one of our hotels and it was bana pancakes. Essentially, sliced banana stuffed inside a crepe, so good. They also had those available for their breakfast buffet and I took advantage of this, I know that isn't exactly an Indian dish but it was so good that it needed mentioning. I'm slowly building up my spice tolerance, still have a LONG way to go before I can withstand 'Indian hot' though.
-Can I take your picture? Sooo sometimes when we are traveling and our whole group is together Indian families like to come up and ask for our picture with them. It is weird for people to be so excited to take pictures with you because you are a foreigner, or white to be more specific. When this happens, often other families will join in the fun and ask for pictures. This is fun most of the time, but sometimes it can be cumbersome because it makes it hard for us to walk anywhere and so it will delay us for a bit. However, I will continue to enjoy my celebrity status in India while I am here.
-Diwali! We were able to celebrate the Diwali holiday authentically in India (their equivalent of Christmas). We all got dressed up in our Saris, well the girls dressed in saris, and made our way to our Professor's family's home in Chennai. They were very welcoming and fed us amazing food and gave us a traditional Diwali experience. We sat and enjoyed each other's company all afternoon, set off fireworks which is the thing to do on Diwali, ate like kings and queens, and relaxed. Only complaint for the day is that saris are not as confortable as they look. They are very tight around your waist and not easy to maneuver around in, but you do look pretty in them!
That's all I have for now, though a lot more has happened. I'll try to keep this updated more often now. Check out my facebook photos to see what I've been up to here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2515500009310.144154.1307504127&type=1&l=46e679c772
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