So blogging appears to be one of those many deceptively difficult tasks, wherein it seems perfectly daunting, so I just don’t do it. (That may have been the first usage of ‘wherein’ in a study-abroad blog ever…). That and my life just stopped seeming like something worth writing about. I think that means I really feel like I’m living here, because who wants to write about their mundane, day-to-day life?
Evidently I do. So first: village trip.
It was nothing like I expected (actually getting to understand village life/village structure), but it was really interesting nonetheless. Because our program focuses on social justice, development, environmental issues, and public health, we stayed at the training facility of this NGO that’s working to raise the status of rural Maharashtra by addressing these issues in a very grassroots, let’s-learn-from-the-people-who-actually-do-the-work approach, which was fantastic. (Like learning how to maintain crop diversity from farmers, or developing women’s support groups that actually yield social change by letting women work from areas that they feel powerful). Totally cool. Although our room was dreadful (the whole floor was one mud puddle and I showered with a snake…), but I’m kind of glad. If the accommodations had been nicer, that would have meant their funds weren’t going where they needed to go. So yay for puddle room!
Also lovely from the village trip: witnessing the life cycle of a cashew (we went from trees to cracking to baking to peeling to purchasing—I’ve been eating them all week, and they’re fantastic) and making friends with a little village girl named Saraswati! (Someone remind me if I forget to post that picture in this post (I don’t have internet at home, so I write these there and upload at school, and I don’t reread). I was a complete idiot who told her my name in Marathi and asked about her in Hindi, but I really don’t know any better. Plus, in the seven hour car ride (eight on the way back), we listened to Shakira’s Waka Waka (It’s Time for Africa) maybe 67 times, and there was much dancing. Our first Indian rave! (Someone send me that song, please. It’s been stuck in my head since the trip and I need to drive it out.)
Alright, back from the village. Then was regular life. I’m taking five classes, which is actually more than I’ve ever taken since my junior year of high school, so I’m kind of overwhelmed. They’re mostly interesting, although there are some communication issues with the teachers so we don’t always understand what the other is asking, which gets…pleasant. And the workload is much more intense than it was supposed to be for study abroad. It’s hardly too bad—the papers are pretty short and all that—but they come about every week, and are about to grow to 10 pages. BUT I do believe I will be allowed to do my final research on reproductive/maternal health of sex workers in the Pune Red Light District, which is all I really wanted to do, so I’m pumped. Plus, Hindi got easier (I can now read most all signs/book covers and speak simple sentences with prepositions in the present tense. Using lots of random nouns like the word for crow—kaua!). Plus, I mean, I’m learning lots, so that’s good.
It’s also been festival season, so we’ve been witnessing lots of that. The day after I came back from the village was Rosh Hashana, which I celebrated with apples I haggled for (unsuccessfully) off the street and fair-trade honey from the awesome NGO, shared amongst all the Jews and goyim at the center. I’m such a good Jew. But in real-world India, we saw big drum circles for Eid, and right now we’re in the middle of the Ganpati festival, which is twelve days of celebrating the lord Ganesha. So it’s pretty much insane drumming/music at all hours of the night, with idols—some small, some massive—set up all over the city and in most people’s homes. We also went to three pujas (religious ritual that pretty much involves watching people chant and clap and ring bells, totally my kind of ceremony) in about twenty-four hours, have another tomorrow night, and just skipped one tonight. Big deal holiday, this.
Beyond that, I’ve just been trying to get out in Pune more and develop more of a real life. I’ve started pointedly getting errands to run because I love walking around by myself and exploring and feeling independent, because we have lots of restrictions here that make me feel more like I’m in middle school (harsh punishments, no motorcycles, 10:30 curfew…). Sometimes I actually get to use my scant Marathi (great when used in combination with haggling!), which makes people laugh with me, but then they tend to treat me as a person, rather than an alien. I also tried, and failed, to start yoga (because who doesn’t love to get up at 5:30, walk to their first Marathi yoga class, and discover it’s been cancelled due to festival), but WILL finally start table (Indian hand drum, and I’m pumped. First class is tomorrow night!). Additionally (RELATIVES WHO STILL THINK I’M TWELVE AND NINA BUTLER, LOOK AWAY HERE), I went to a bar for the first time and bought my first legal drinks! And had my first beer that I didn’t hate! It was essentially a chocolate shot with Bailey’s and Kailua in it, and it was beautiful (yes, there are pictures of it). Thus, what I am trying to get at is I have a life.
This is much longer than it should be, considering I have to get up in 8 hours and have homework to do. Tomorrow I’m booking with a travel agent, hopefully, to go to Kerala for Diwali (where I will ride elephants and frolic with tea and live on a boat in the backwaters), so I’ll post my plan when they crystallize. (Mother: I expect them laminated and mailed back to me. Just saying.)
Bhur, bhur, bhur, Chan, Okay, Tikei, Achacha, as my host mom would say (seriously, It’s five different ways to say okay, and she says it every time. I think it’s adorable. Also fun to say. ACHACHA [technically it’s just acha, but lots of times we say achacha so that people understand that you REALLY know what’s going on]). Nap time.
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