These Days in Tunis

Tunis is a really beautiful city. I've been here since Saturday morning and I feel as though I am settling into the pattern of class. I go to class for about 4.5 hours a day and have an additional 2 hours of informal tutoring time. Hopefully by the end of the 7 weeks, I'll be able to say "hello, my name is Andrea" in Arabic. Right now I am struggling with the new sounds - the Urdu and Arabic alphabets are similar (but Urdu has more letters), but the sounds are very different. To me, Urdu uses softer and more beautiful sounds. Right now, I think I can say good morning (SabaaH il-Kheer) with relative competency and most people even seem to understand me, but then I totally mess up on asking how people are..... but, its fun to learn a new language and quite exciting too.

We don't have classes on weekends, so last Sunday we took the metro north a few stops (maybe 15 minutes) and visited a small town overlooking the Bay of Tunis called Sidi Bou Said. It was a beautifully painted blue and white. We walked around the town and I had a cup of tea in the harbor area. Below are pictures from Sidi Bou Said:




This weekend, I think I'll go to the beach and swim. It gives me a thrill to think that I'll be swimming in the Mediterranean off the coast of the African continent!

Some Pictures from Lebanon

Well, as I think I made clear from my older posts, I loved my time in Beirut. Unfortunately, the internet connections that I had access to were a little slow making updating the blog hard and putting pictures from Beirut up on my blog impossible. Well, now I seem to have faster access to the internet and can put up pictures. So here they are, a little dated, but nice.....

The first picture is my on the route from the main road to Will's home. Will moved since the last time I was there and now he is living in a beautiful house that has balconies, lots of windows, sunlight, and Syrian turtles living on the roof. The only downfall to the apartment is that you have to walk up a pretty steep hill and then a bunch of stairs to get to his house. Fortunately, the path is quite beautiful, as you can see below:


Will and I took many walks around Beirut while I was there. One day we headed to the northern part of the city. On the way, we saw a man selling Christian paraphernalia and plastic flowers that he had decorated his car with. When I expressed interest in taking a picture he added even more flowers to add to the beauty of the picture. This is him and the flowers:


We also took a day trip to Tripoli. Fortunately, we went a week before the conflict began there. It was a really nice city. I enjoyed the, what seemed to me to be, a calmer pace than Beirut. There was quite a nice old part of the city that we wandered around. While we were there we met a very nice woman that makes soap. We also walked around and looked for a castle, but unfortunately, could not find it. This is a picture of part the old city with some boys taking a break from playing soccer.


Will and I also took a trip to the south. There we visited a castle that was built by the Crusaders and later used by the Ottomans. It was really fun to wander around the castle, climbing staircases, and exploring nooks and crannies. Below is a picture of Will at the castle:

Doing well in Beirut

Well, its been a long time since my last post and I have tried to post a few times, but I really wanted to post pictures along with my words (they seem so much more interesting to me). Unfortunately, the Internet access that I get here (in really nice coffee shops - what a luxury!) is a little slow and doesn't seem to be able to upload the pictures. I really wish that I could as it is so beautiful here. Hopefully when I go to Tunis on Saturday I'll find a better Internet connection and post some old pictures. I think I've probably written this before, but I think Beirut is really one of the most charming places I've ever been. The city is located on the Mediterranean - allowing me to run along the beach in the morning and watch the sunset over the sea in the evening. In addition, the streets are narrow and have a distinct French flair to their style. The people are lovely, super friendly and polite (and very fashionable). I've been doing quite a bit of reading and relaxing. Some of my favorite activities are making dinner with Will and playing Scrabble. Its nice to have a little time off with such wonderful company.

We have done some exploring around the country. Its a pretty small country (geographically speaking) and most places are only a 1 or 2 hour bus ride away. Last weekend, we went to Tripoli. While we were there we wandered around the old part of the city (it has to be one of the oldest cities I've ever been in) and met a really amazing woman who makes soap. We also have gone to the southern part of the country. We visited a castle the Crusaders built and walked again on the beach. Both trips were fantastic.

Yesterday (Sunday morning) there was some fighting in Tripoli (you can visit this BBC website if you are interested http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6675163.stm). It really makes me horribly sad that such a beautiful place with such wonderful people is having these problems. But, besides my sadness for the Lebanese people, I am fine and very safe.

Out of the Waiting Room, Time to enjoy the sunset.....

So my last days in Lucknow were a stressful combination of waiting in a bureaucratic hell for some paperwork, sweating in the 115 degree weather, trying to figure out how I have so much damn stuff (and how I am going to move it), and too many sad goodbyes. I am excited that I'll be back there at the end of July - I already miss it horribly (and, to be honest, I haven't really resolved the too much stuff issue). Despite the chaotic and stressful last days, I love Lucknow - it had become home in a very special way.

Now, I am with Will and enjoying morning runs along the beach, watching the sunset from his new home's roof, and trying to keep my Urdu up. No adventures, really, but lots of relaxing. So life good.

In other special news, I received a scholarship to go to Tunisia this summer to study beginner Arabic, so it looks like I'll be in Tunis, Tunisia from the end of May until late July. Hooray! I am so excited. I love learning languages and living new places. It should be quite the adventure....

A morning bike ride

So most mornings, I go for a run and then to yoga. But some mornings I go for a bike ride instead of the run. Because it is so hot here in general and heats up so quickly once the sun rises, I usually leave around sunrise for these activities (around 5 am). Last Friday, I went on a bike ride with my camera so that I could take a picture of a sign that I had seen on an earlier ride. I left earlier than normal, because the trip was pretty long and the crowded roads and strong, hot sun make the ride unpleasant if I leave too late. . .

The way out of Lucknow is beautiful, with fields and trees and before dawn everything is quiet. On my way, around the earliest part of dawn I came across a striking scene of the moon over the trees. The picture below doesn't do the peacefulness or the beauty of the ride justice, but I thought I'd put it in anyway, to give a hint at what I saw.....

Finally, I arrived at the sign I wanted to take a picture of (see below). It says (in Hindi) Panchayat Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh is the state that I live in. A panchayat is political system which groups five ("panch") villages. Each village has appointed tasks and responsibilities, such as cart-making or basket-weaving. The central village, usually the largest of the Panchayat, traditionally handles food storage and meeting-places for officials, as well as their residences. ‘Panchayat’ literally means assembly (yat) of five (panch) wise and respected elders chosen and accepted by the village community. Traditionally, these assemblies settle disputes between individuals and villages. I really am not sure what the picture has to do with this form of political organization of the town in particular, but I thought the picture was quite funny.

The ride out and back is a nice one. I live close to the edge of Lucknow, and early in the morning there are very few people, maybe a truck or two, and no cars. However, the journey was not without its dangers. When I arrived at the wall were the painting was, I squatted on the side of the road to take pictures. As I tried in the dawn's poor light to get a good view, I kept feeling twigs hitting me on the head. Assuming that the wind was knocking these twigs off the tree, I kept photographing and did not look up. Finally, after getting pretty squarely knocked on the head, I looked up. In the tree were quite a few monkeys (including a lot of baby monkeys) throwing twigs at me, laughing, and staring with interest. They were also playing around my bike. I have a sort of love/fear of the monkey (I love the idea of monkeys hanging around but do not like them too close or eating my cookies). I decided to leave while the leaving was good - i.e. while most were still in the tree and not on the bike - and headed back to town. Below is a picture of a monkey scurrying away from my bike (isn't my bike beautiful? I think it was made 80 years ago in China and it weighs almost as much as me, but its a fun way to get around , has a lovely basket, and I feel pretty attached to it....)


On the way back to Lucknow, the roads fill up with men who ride their bikes into work in the city. This line of bicyclists - usually 2-4 people deep, consistently fill the road all the way into the city. I can't help but think it must be a rough ride home on their way back from work, as even after nightfall the temperatures at night are hot (in the mid to high 90s). The fields of many shades of green are colored with the blues, oranges, reds, purples, and yellows of women's saris and the rivers also fill up with dhobi walay (washers) washing clothes (see picture below).

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone is having a happy day! Here, we celebrated a non-traditional Easter lunch. I made vegan brownies, refried beans (with pinto beans), and vegan carrot walnut muffins. Two housemates helped me cook and another made a delicious salsa. We rounded out our very healthy meal with some Easter candy a housemate's parents sent. Afterwards, the power went off and we sat in the kitchen, sweat up a storm, wished for the fans to work, and played a game. It was an enjoyable afternoon, but now the power is back and I am off to work!

An article about the state I live in and its up-coming elections

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6528675.stm

Some thoughts.... (and sadly, no pictures)

As the program is winding down and the summer is setting in, I am feeling nostalgic for home yet super reluctant to leave India. As the temperatures exceed 100 degrees everyday now and the general weather condition is haze (from the burning of the garbage and leaves that fall in the spring, not the winter), I sometimes question my sanity in not wanting to leave. Yet, I really do enjoy being here, I love the friends that I've made and enjoy speaking, listening to, and writing Urdu.

Regarding the language learning, I am feeling super self-conscious right now about my ability to communicate. I wish that I was better at the language. But I need to remind myself that I have made improvements over the past year and developed a real love for the language (and for language learning in general) that will sustain my Urdu learning when I am not here....

I think that language learning has also been good for me as I grow as a person. One way is that I've become much more comfortable with ambiguity. For example, I was speaking on the telephone with a friend about our day's plans and my visit to his home. For me, phone's are much harder than in-person conversations to understand - maybe its the lack of visual clues or maybe its because people don't have an immediate reminder of my "foreign-ness" and forget to speak slower. As we made the plans, I knew that I was definitely either eating or not eating with his family, but I was unsure of which. Instead of going over the plan for a 5th time, I decided to grab a granola bar and head out the door. If food came, then that would be ideal (his wife is a great cook), if no food, then I would not starve. Luckily, this time food came!

The other thing it has helped with is coming to terms with not being able to speak my thoughts clearly and, therefore, sounding like a dunce often. Its hard to discuss ideologies and vague concepts when your vocabulary is not so developed and strange to have big ideas in my head that I can't communicate. The thing I find most frustrating about this is that your ability to communicate is often used by others as the main indicator intelligence. So, one day I was in class and my teacher was telling a story about Indian politics and stopped to ask me, in particular, if I knew who Indira Gandhi was. Now, I understand that many of you probably don't know who she is (but she was India's 5th and 8th prime minister and a huge force in Indian politics), but I don't imagine that any one working on a ph.d. in Indian history and anthropology doesn't now a lot about her - it would kinda be like an American historian not knowing who Nixon was. At the time I was concerned that he would think that I would not know who she was, irritated, and embarrassed by the fact that he had singled me out. For me, learning to positively use these situations, to feel less enraged or ashamed, and trying to use them as another gateway to learning the language, has helped me think about a lot of things - and is a project I am still working on.

Ok, I do have more reflections, but I imagine that the may not be the most interesting and, also, I am completely drenched in sweat - its 9 am and already hot. This is made worse by the fact that to type, I can't sit directly under the fan (the computer has a short power cord) and I have to have the computer on my lap and the computer generates a ton of heat. So I am going to move the computer from my lap, sit directly under the fan, and do some Urdu paper writing!

Social Butterfly whose wings are melting....

Actually, I am very happy, which I am not sure that the title of the blog conveys, but it did get hot in Lucknow almost overnight (about a week ago). Now the daily high temperature is around 100. So I try to go and do fun things, and then I usually have to go home to lay under my fan in the afternoon and marvel at all the places I can sweat.

But despite the heat, I am having some very nice days. About a week ago, I went to my friends' home to have a late lunch and visit. It was a nice, long afternoon - my friends have two children and we played quite a bit. Below is a picture of their daughter (whose birthday is today) on her dad's motorcycle. We went to their home after she was finished with school, that is why she is wearing the uniform.

The following day, I went to "Amma's" home for dinner. She lives with her husband, her daughter (whose name is Goria), Goria's husband, and Goria's two children. In addition to being quite close with "Amma", Goria and I are also good friends, so we had a really fun time laughing and visiting. Below is a picture of Goria and Amma cooking dinner. In the background is Goria's daughter and a neighbor boy. The neighbor boy had all sorts of questions about America and he asked these questions very very quickly - so he had to repeat them a few times before I could understand them - but he was overjoyed to learn about a new place. t was a fun evening.

As you walk into the neighborhood where Goria lives, there is a mandir (or temple) dedicated to the god Shiva. It seems like many neighborhoods have a mandir or a mosque near the entryway (sometimes both). I put a picture of a part of the shrine near Goria's house and the man is responsible for its upkeep below.

At school, I am still learning how to cook and enjoying my time with the cooks. Below is a picture of me making chutney. Chutney means sauce in Hindustani, but usually refers to a spicy side item that you can eat with just about anything. Below, I am making an am (mango) chutney. The mango used is green, so it tastes bitter. To make the chutney, I grind the green am, some spicy peppers, onion, garlic, and mint. It is really delicious (I like it with vegetables, almost like a salad dressing), but it is hard work in the heat.....

A pleasant day

And yesterday, was one of the more special days in the city. Although nothing very different from usual happened, I had a really lovely time spending time with some of my favorite Lucknowis.

My day started like usual, biked to my yoga class, came home, ate breakfast (the fruit here is yummy), and went to school. Fridays are pretty easy days at school, so I often spend part of the time I am there with the school's cooks. I really like spending time with the cooks and I am learning to make some really delicious meals (everyone is welcome over for a dinner feast when I return to the US). Below is a picture of me and the cooks. Gita-ji is the lady in the lower left of the picture. She is the head cook and a really patient and nice woman. Her super awesome and funny assistant's name is Anita-ji. The three of us have spent many a morning laughing and laughing.


After a very delicious lunch of salad, choli (chickpeas), roti (bread), aloo-goobi (potato and cauliflower), and dal (lentils), I went to Gita-ji's house for an afternoon visit. I love visiting her house as her family is so friendly - although I often feel at a complete loss as to who is related and how they are related. Hindi/Urdu is really interesting in that each family relation has a special name. So your mom's sister is called something different than your dad's sister and that name is different than your dad's brother's wife. This is confusing at the aunt/uncle level and almost impossible for me at the cousin level - I just can't remember all the words. But it is fun to try to puzzle out. At Gita-ji's house, I we chatted and drank some chai (tea). It was lovely.


Later that evening, another good friend of mine in Lucknow stopped by my house for a nice chat. I call her "amma", which means mother, but her real name is Seela. Calling older people or people in relations of authority over oneself by family names is very common. For example, I call the cooks "aunti" and my yoga teachers "didi", which means older sister, even though I think they are younger than me. I've put a picture of amma and I below. We are at my house.

My trip to Nepal

Oh, my, this past week and a half has seemed super busy and I am hoping to wind it down soon..... Anyway, I really wanted to post about my trip to Nepal 2 weeks ago now (oh, how fast time goes!).

Like I said in an earlier blog, I spent over a day on buses getting to Kathmandu. A long trip, but well worth the time as I really think Kathmandu is one of my favorite cities I have visited. The day following my arrival, I wandered around the tourist area I was staying in. I bought a guide book and took the walking tour to Kathmandu's Durbar square (Durbar means royal court). It was a pleasant day and I really enjoyed walking around the city.

Because I liked walking around the city so much, the next day I decided to walk to an eastern suburb of the city to see the most important Hindu temple in Kathmandu, called Pashupatinath. After that, I walked northeast to Bodnath, a Buddhist stupa linked to Tibetan Buddhism. There, I had a nice lunch at a vegan cafe; I sat on the roof of the cafe and had a wonderful view of the stupa. (There is a picture of the stupa below.)

The following day, in the morning, I walked to another Buddhist stupa, Swayanbhunath. It was a lot closer than Bodnath, but a lot harder of a walk because the trip was all uphill from where I was staying and then once I arrived at the stupa, I had to climb 333 stairs to get to the top. There is a picture of this stupa below, if you look hard, you can see me in the lower right corner. As you can see, both of the stupas have eyes painted on them and prayer flags hanging from them. The eyes are symbolic of god's all-seeing perspective. There is no nose between the eyes but rather a representation of the number one in the Nepali alphabet, signifying that the single way to enlightenment is through the Buddhist path. Above each pair of eyes is another eye, the third eye, signifying the wisdom of looking within. No ears are shown because it is said the Buddha is not interested in hearing prayers in praise of him.


After returning to the area I was staying, I was feeling like I still wanted to explore Kathmandu more, so I walked south to Patan, the second biggest city in the Kathmandu valley. There I explored Patan's Durbar Square (see picture below) and wandered around the city. Perhaps the highlight of the trip was the steamed veggie momos (Tibetan dumplings) that I bought from a lady on the street, they were delicious....


As I was walking back to my hotel, I ran into these lovely girls. They were dressed for a school performance and agreed to let me take a picture of them. Aren't they lovely?


My last day in Kathmandu, I spent more time wandering around the city. Because there was a strike called that day (in protest of something regarding the government, but I am not really sure what....), the streets were empty of cars, which was very nice. However, no one had school or work, so many started celebrating Holi early. This meant that I spent a lot of my time dodging children's water balloons and I returned to my hotel thoroughly soaked.

One of the things that I really liked about Kathmandu was the way in which very ancient temples, statues, and monuments were incorporated into the city. The picture below shows how a clothing seller had set up his shop on the front steps of a very old Hindu temple and the temple was in the middle of newer apartment buildings. It was really quite pleasant, because more often than not, when I turned a corner, I was met with an elaborate mixture of the past and the present....

The next day I took the bus to Pokhara. The ride was about 7 hours and the trip was quite beautiful through some mountains. Pokhara is a beautiful small city located on a lake. A picture of me on the lake is below. I was hoping to do some walking through the hills, but unfortunately, it was quite rainy in Pokhara and this put a damper on how much walking was possible.


However, on my second day, it did not rain in the morning, so I walked into the hills to see some of the area. Below are two pictures from my hike. (I am in the second, with a lady I met from Holland. One of the really nice things about Nepal , in general, was that there were a lot of single travellers who had interesting stories and it was relatively easy to find someone to take a walk with or have dinner with.)


In the pictures above, you can see that the hills have a thick layer of clouds over them. In Pokhara, early in the morning, and before the clouds blow in, it is possible to see the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas. Pictures of the Annapurna range are below. The mountains really took my breath away, they were so beautiful.



After Pokhara, I returned home to Lucknow in time for Holi celebrations (as I described in my last blog). My trip to Nepal was a super wonderful. I loved the people that I met in Nepal, found the country to be very pleasant and welcoming and I really hope that I get the chance to visit again (and maybe take a long trek in those snow-capped mountains!).

Happy Holi!

Well, I have so much to talk about here, so I think there may be a lot of typing today and tomorrow, as I really want to tell about my trip because it was so great. But I feel like I should work backwards, because today and yesterday are/were Holi and I wanted to talk about it.....

Holi is an annual Hindu spring festival and people celebrate by throwing colored powder at each other and spraying each other with water. On the night between the two days, people burn large fires on the streets. While technically the holiday began yesterday, walking around Kathmandu, I was hit by my fair share of water balloons, so it seems that celebrating begins early.....

Yesterday I took the bus from Pokhara to the Indian border and then another bus from the border to my train. Walking between buses, I saw many people celebrating and was even given quite a few tikkas (marks on my forehead - see the pictures below)



Then I arrived home this morning, after 25 hours of traveling. I was so proud not to be covered by dye. However, the girls of the house greeted me with a dye-fight and now I look like this:

My neighbors are also celebrating Holi (like everyone in India and Nepal) and have set up really really loud speakers on the street (outside my window) and they are playing two songs - "Happy Happy Holi" and some very loud techno song that only has the words "Where are you?" and what sounds like a chicken squawk- over and over again. I think I am going to give up on my original idea of a nap and go celebrate.....

and this is how I looked in the middle of the day. So much more celebrating left to do....

Katmandu is great

After 26 hours of traveling - 8 hours by train, 4 hours on bus, 1 hour on a bicycle rickshaw, 13 hours on another bus, and 15 minutes in a taxi - I arrived late last night in Kathmandu. The longer second bus ride was through the mountains and extremely scenic, and I met some nice people on the bus, so the trip wasn't as horrible as the length makes it sound. Needless to say, after checking into a hotel, I gobbled some protein bars and quickly fell asleep. Today, I woke up late, drank a pretty good cup of coffee and searched (successfully) for a used guide book. I then took the walking tour suggested in the book. The city is beautiful and the people are friendly. I am having a great time and I am really glad I made the trek here.

Ever since I was little I have wanted to visit Kathmandu. I'm not really sure why, something about the name sounded romantic to me and I have not been disappointed by the city's charms yet. I've already taken a bizzillion pictures and I'll post them when I get back to Lucknow.

A wonderful wedding!

On Thursday evening, my friend Pankaj married a beautiful woman named Jyoti. Their marriage was arranged and they met briefly at the engagement before the wedding. I am so happy for them both and I am really looking forward to getting to know Jyoti.

I put on my fancy sari (so useful, I've now worn it 3 times, but very nice to have) and jumped on a rickshaw to take me to the wedding. I had some travel confusions, but eventually arrived at the house where the grooms wedding party was waiting to go the shadi ghar (marriage hall). There were some snacks at the house and I sat and chatted with Pankaj and some of his friends.

family and friends, as well as additional musicians and lights. Most of When the appropriate time arrived (about 1.5 hours later than the invitation specified), the bharat was formed. The bharat is the procession that takes the groom from the house to the marriage hall. There is a truck in the front that blasts loud music. Following this are Pankaj'sPankaj's friends danced as we walked down the street. I also danced a little bit, but I felt a little silly. This is because women, in general, never dance in the bharat. At the end of bharat came Pankaj in a car with some of his family. There is a picture of this below, along with the lights. I love the lights the men carry on their head. These days, because it is a popular wedding season, during the day I often see lines of men walking down the street with these lights on their head on their way to the night's wedding.

After we arrived at the shadi ghar, Pankaj, his father, and the bride's father and grandfather performed a puja (Hindi devotional offering) with two priests. I have also put a picture of this below.

When the puja was finished, Pankaj sat in a tent and waited for his bride. His friends kept him company while he waited and it was a pretty long wait. As you can see in the picture above and the picture below (of Pankaj waiting) he is wearing a pretty special hat called a pagree. This is the traditional hat worn for this portion of the ceremony. The tent smelled so good from all the fresh flowers hanging and they passed out even more food while we waited.

After a long wait, the bride arrived in a processional with her friends and female relatives. As you can see in the picture, she is wearing a red lahenga, the traditional outfit for this portion of the ceremony. After she arrived, she and Pankaj each put a mala (flower garland) around eachother's neck. Once this was finished, all of the guests were invited to eat dinner outside the tent. The food was really delicious and I especially enjoyed the salad bar.

After the mala ceremony, the bride and groom took many pictures and then ate. After this, they went to change their clothing for the portion of the wedding in which they walk around the fire - this is called the shadee ka bundan and is the actual marriage part. For this portion of the wedding, the bride wore a yellow sari (the traditional outfit) and Pankaj wore a traditional man's Indian outfit consisting of a lumba kurta (long shirt) and pyjama pants. This ceremony usually takes place between midnight and 4 am. After this, Pankaj's friends returned with him to the nearby house, where he waited for his bride to arrive in the morning - at around 8 am. The arrival of the bride is called the vidli ke rasm and is the final part of the wedding.

Originally, I was going to wait with Pankaj for his bride to arrive. However, after dinner I was exhausted as it was already midnight and I left before seeing the shadee ka bundan. Even though I left a little early, I had a really great time and was so happy for the invitation.

We are having a short break from classes, so I am going to go on a short vacation to Nepal. I'll update the blog when I get back (next weekend) and let everyone know about my adventures....

Sudar Bazaar and a Wedding Invitation

Today was a pleasant day. Nothing much exciting happened, but my life has fallen into a comfortable pattern of being and I feel well, so no complaints.

The day was sunny and I went for a run in the early afternoon and I actually felt HOT just wearing my T-shirt while running, which is a great sign for the improvement of the weather. I do enjoy not being cold.

After my run, I needed vegetables and fruit for my meals, so I went to Sudar (it means president) Bazaar. Below is my absolute favorite subzi walla (vegetable seller), he always smiles, has good quality vegetables, and is extremely friendly. His name is Ustad, which means teacher. An apt name because from him I've learned many new names of vegetables as well as some yummy recipes. I bought my usual staples of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, garlic, hot peppers, bell peppers, mushrooms, etc. Nothing too exotic today.

I then headed down the road and around the corner to the phal wallay (fruit sellers) area. I usually buy all my fruit from this guy, but the little boy (below) selling papaya - which I eat every morning with granola, pomegranate and soy milk - was too cute to pass up, so I bought my papaya from him. Living in Lucknow, I've really developed a love of papaya and I am afraid that when I go home, I'll go through withdraw. Here, papaya is cheap and I can buy enough for a week for less than a dollar.

After buying my groceries, I rushed home to drop them off and headed to the coffee shop that is around the corner from my house. I love this coffee shop because they will make me a soy cappuccino if I bring the soy milk and because the men who work there are friendly now that they are used to me and my bad Hindustani. They have a lovely outside seating area and a restaurant too, but I rarely eat at the restaurant because its a tad on the expensive side. They also tend to play American Top 40 music and I sometimes have weird moments when the song on the radio was a song I enjoyed when I was in high school and I reflect that I never thought I would be sitting in a small city in India reading Urdu at a coffee shop when I was 15....

But the reason I was rushing to the coffee shop was because I was meeting my friend Pankaj. I've known him since summer and he is a really great guy. We were meeting so that he could give me an invitation to his wedding. The wedding in on Wednesday and I am so happy for him and excited to attend the wedding. The match was arranged a few months ago (early December) and his fiance, Jyoti, is Pankaj's father's coworker's daughter. Before the engagement, they had never met. Now they speak on the phone, often. She now lives in Varanasi but will move to Lucknow to live with Pankaj and his family after the wedding. After the wedding I'll send a detailed blog about all the happenings. I've put a picture of Pankaj with the wedding invitation below. The invitation is sooo fancy with glitter and pictures. Hooray!

Hello, Again!

Hello everyone, sorry that it has been such a long time since my last post.... To update from where I last left off: I went home for the holidays and had an absolutely wonderful time - it was so nice to be with my family over the holidays!

A few days after returning to Lucknow, I became pretty ill and had a hard time getting out of bed for about a week. I was/am pretty frustrated with my general poor health and the ensuing weakness that follows these bouts of illness. Last week, I was feeling a little better, but still tired and weak. Because the doctors in Lucknow seemed at a loss, I decided to go to Delhi to see a doctor there. Early, early this morning I returned to Lucknow and am now back in my cozy room.

When I left for Delhi, my train was at 5:30 am. To get to the train station in time, I had to leave my house around 4:30 and find a rickshaw. I walked to the railway crossing near my house, as many of the bicycle rickshaw walas sleep on the ground, next to their rickshaws there, even though it is freezing outside. Wala is a great term in Hindustani and has many uses. In this case it means one who does something, so a vegetable seller is a subzi (vegetable) wala and a shopkeeper is a dukan (shop) wala. If the person doing something is a woman she is not a wala but a wali. Back to my morning adventure: I was a little reluctant to wake them up and began by quietly murmuring namaste (hello), hoping someone was just pretending to be sleeping. Unfortunately, everyone seemed fast asleep. After some time, my namastes became louder and eventually a rickshaw wala opened his eyes. He looked at me and my backpack, jumped off the ground, wrapped his sleeping blankets around him as a coat, correctly guessed my destination was the train station, and peddled me quickly there. So nice and so uncomplaining about the hour.

In Delhi I stayed as a (paying) guest in woman's home. It was pleasant and probably the best place location-wise I've ever stayed in Delhi. A very short walk to Khan Market, one of the nicer shopping areas in Delhi, and India Gate. I love Khan Market because it has a bookstore with a lovely coffee shop. The lady I stayed with was also very pleasant we had a nice walk around her neighborhood the evening I arrived.

The doctor was good, the tests not so scary, and I now have a bunch of medicine to take that will hopefully take care of whatever is plaguing me.

Giant Vegetables and Super Slides

This weekend was a busy one. We took a school trip to Deva Sharif (I posted about it earlier) and unfortunately, were running late (as always). When we got there, the main shrine was closed, but we had a nice chat with the people at the shrine.

After the shrine, we went to a model village that was created by the Indian government - I think as a way of promoting cultural tourism. At the "village" there were plastic people doing everyday things of the village (like drawing water from a fake well), along side real people who were performing. Above is a picture of a woman creating music and some voices for a puppet show. The act was fun and raunchy, and I enjoyed it. The "village" itself was a little disturbing and it seemed ironic that we had to drive through many villages to get to the sanitized, clean "village" where we could wander around.

I think my favorite part of the village was a giant collection of vegetables made of plastic (picture below). Inside the vegetables were stairs leading up to a slide and the slide must have been the fastest slide in the world. It was almost like an amusement park ride.

On Sunday, I went shopping to pick up the last of my Christmas gifts. We went to the old city (called Chauk) and enjoyed looking at the old streets and buildings. Some of the buildings must be at least 150 years old. I also bargained with the street vendors. I love bargaining, I think its great language practice and pretty fun to see what kind of deal I can get. Sundays are busy shopping days (as you can see from the picture below of one of the main roads). I also find it quite enjoyable to wander in the crowd, to explore the alleys, and to see all the different things people buy.

Fairs and classes

Sorry about the long delay since my last post. Its been really cold here in the evenings (like 70 degrees) and this makes me want to hibernate. But in addition to going to school, I have been having some fun....

For the last 10 days, Lucknow has had a very big fair happening. I went twice, once with 3 girlfriends and once with my entire school. I had a great time, did some shopping, rode a (kind of terrifying) ride, and ate some "American style corn" - which is basically steamed corn with lots of spicy masala. I think I am addicted to the corn and the shopping might also be a problem. However, the one ride on the ferris wheel was more than enough to remind me that I don't have a ton of faith in how well things are constructed in India and the thought of riding another makes me mildly naucious.
At the fair they also had people exhibiting how different things are made. One of my favorites was the ladies making a chikkan sari. Chikkan is one of the crafts that Lucknow is famous for and it is very fine needle-point. I put a picture of the ladies making the sari below.















I've also been teaching at a school a few days a week. I am teaching children (between 9 and 11), conversational English. The students know very little English and i find the situation kind of ironic, because my Hindi is not very good, so I am never quite sure if they understand what I am saying or just mindlessly repeating what I say. However, they can all say perfectly "I am very pleased to meet you". Also, they seem to enjoy themselves and I enjoy it quite a bit, so overall, its a wonderful time. (Here is a picture of one of my classes.)