One Full Week

I've officially been in India for one full week!  But I feel like I've been here for a year.  I think it's because every sight, sound, and smell is so new, I'm bombarded with experiences every second of the day.  I have a feeling that once those experiences become more routine, time is going to pass very quickly. 

Today is my last day of class for the week.   My schedule for the past few days has looked like this:  wake up at 5:30, yoga from 6-7, then breakfast at 7:30.  My first class starts at 9, and we have classes until 1:30, each lasting an hour, with a short break in between.  I have been sitting in on all of the classes, and 4 and half straight hours of class is a lot!  The classes are Gender in India; Indian Culture and Civilization; Science, Technology, and Sustainable Development in India; and Heath and the Environment [in India].  I like all of the classes a lot, but since we don't have to take all of them I think I'm going to drop the Science class.  Then after lunch, we have our language and elective classes.  So I am taking my Kannada class (we starting learning the alphabet and some of the characters, and OH.MY.GOD.  it is so complicated!)  But the students and teachers here seem to be so excited that we're taking Kannada at all.  My elective is yoga, so I don't have anything after that.  Except I did sign up for a cooking class that will be once a week, but I'm not sure which day. 

I made a bunch of videos but haven't been able to upload them onto the blog yet!  For photos and stuff, check my facebook! 

I am really excited for today because in H&E class we have a snake expert bringing in a bunch of snakes that we'll learn about and get to hold and stuff!  I mean, I hate snakes, but in a controlled environment, I'm pretty excited.  And tonight we are going to attend a concert that is put on by some students from the University of Michigan that have been studying music and dance here for the past month. So I'm really excited to see what they have learned and to see some people I know perform. 

Also, I got some really beautiful Indian clothes at this great store called Parampare.  It's all fair trade and everything is one of a kind.  I'll post pictures of me wearing the clothes and stuff eventually.  The only problem is that I notice a lot of the clothes leak dye pretty badly. 


Last week I was dealing with a lot of issues with going out into public because it made me feel very uncomfortable.  The Michigan students were telling us stories about the women getting groped and men were pulled into rooms by other men, and there were even some weird people hanging around the hostel.  So that sort of translated into me being SO hyperaware when I went into public and feeling terrified to walk through a crowd because I felt like I could be molested at any point.  That has definitely shifted.  I feel so much safer now, and I realize that it's OK for me to act like a tourist.  I am a tourist and I look like one and I'm never not going to look like one, given that I'm white.  The best I can do is wear Indian clothing, and be sensitive to the culture, but just have fun and relax.  It's not really about letting my guard down or not, it's just that people won't bother you if you are going about your business with confidence and assurance.  I've watched other white women here, and it's true that they really do stand out, so I just make sure that I stay in a group, and I also have to realize that I'm probably not the first tourist most Indians have seen.  And also, 99% of the people are so friendly and they love to say hello and some even take pictures of us.  So we just smile and take pictures of them too.

Oh, and a lot of people have asked me about the food.  In general, it is amazing!  All of the food comes from a local farm owned by a man named Manu, who serves us,  and everything is cooked by Manu's wife.  Everything is vegetarian.  There is always a flatbread called chapati, and rice.  And they serve curds at almost every meal.  At breakfast they give us hard boiled eggs which are always super fresh!  They also LOVE sweets.  The desserts are always so sweet you can hardly stand it.  Most of the time they're good, but I prefer the savory stuff.  My favorite dish so far has been these sauteed rice noodles that we had for breakfast once.  Also, one thing that surprised me is that we each a lot of okra!  It's often really good and cooked in oil with peppers, onions, and other delicious things.  We don't eat the same food as the Indian people at the hostel, which I think causes some disconnect in general.  But they make sure to give us more protein and I think it might be less spicy than what they're eating.  We've asked for the same food, but they won't let us.  I was right though, I definitely miss Mexican food! 

Ok so this has been a really long post!  I hope you're all enjoying my blog and if you have any questions or want to see pictures of anything in particular, let me know!  I love you all and I'll talk to you soon.

Love,
Julia