Settling In
Upon arrival in India, one of the things that shocked me was the chaos that is the traffic flow. How did the pedestrians, bicycle rickshaws, autorickshaws, cars, buses, bicyclists, and various animals even fit on the same road? And beyond that, how did they all manage to get from one place to another successfully? Bicycle rickshaws hit bicycles, autorickshaws bump cars, and sometimes a herd of water buffalo causes a traffic jam. The other day I found myself biking completely on the wrong side of the street against the flow of traffic, and I realized that I have begun to adjust, in general, to how things are done here. (I don't want to scare anyone by saying that I was biking on the wrong side of the street into oncoming traffic because that's normal here. Minor accidents/bumps may occur relatively often but the good news is that they occur at slow speeds and there is never an exchange of insurance information.)
After being sick for a while, I spent a very short amount of time in the hospital...or nursing home, as it's called here. The doctor was great, the IV didn't hurt badly, the place was comfortable and clean, and I made friends with a little boy who had just had surgery, yet was very concerned about my health. The worst part about being sick was that I missed several days of work. I'm not saying I don't enjoy free time, but it was frustrating while I was getting better to know that not only was I not well enough to go to work, but I also wasn't sick enough to sleep all day. But I am feeling much better now. I love
not being sick.
My stay in the nursing home was followed by one of the best nights I've had so far in India. Our group attended Dandia, which is basically a big dance party. After trying several different kinds of food, we went onto the dance floor. We found ourselves holding sticks, not knowing how to dance with them, and dancing with them anyways, among several experienced Indian dancers wearing amazing kurtas and saris. It was so much fun. The only bad thing about Dandia is that it doesn't happen every week. It was a great precursor to the beginning of the festival season.
Dishera was on October 24th. It is a Hindu holiday celebrating Raam's killing of Raaven, and in general, the triumph of good over evil. My host mom spent the day making special sweets which were amazing. On Dishera, and the days leading up to it, I was awoken several times during the night by music. Huge speakers and effigies were carried on the back of trucks, followed by a group of dancing Indian men, throughout the night. It was an interesting site from the windows in my room at around 10:00 pm, but not so much at around 3:00 am. On the night of Dishera we went into the city and watched a giant effigy of Raaven burn to the ground as fireworks (or crackers) exploded above it.
Bakri Eid was on October 27th. It is a Muslim holiday on which goats are slaughtered and then eaten. We went into the Muslim part of town and met a man named Salman who talked about the importance of Bakri Eid and let us sit in on the "festivities" in his family's home. I'd rather not go into detail on everything I saw, but what I will say is that I watched a goat slaughter and something that reminded me of the cat dissection I did in high school. I didn't throw up, and I ate some of the freshly cooked goat meat.
Halloween was on October 31st. Halloween is clearly not an Indian celebration; I had to explain to my host mom what it was. But we celebrated it anyway. Mackenzie, Hannah, and I were rickshaw walas; it was Mackenzie's brilliant idea. We bought lungis (a piece of cloth tied into a man skirt) and wore them with button up shirts, eye-liner facial hair and scarves tied around our heads. After we got ready, we ran into our counterparts, the real rickshaw walas. They were definitely confused, but very willing, to let us take pictures with their bicycle rickshaws and with them. We bought meeta paan, which is the non-tobacco version of paan and the reason that every rickshaw wala has red teeth and a lisp. Mackenzie and Hannah were much stronger than I was. I kept the meeta paan in my mouth for all of 3 minutes, until I spit it out. But it was a lot of fun saying "Rickshaw madam?" while the paan was in my mouth. We celebrated Halloween with food and dancing at the Where There Be Dragon's program house, and it was a lot of fun.
Work has been going well, as I continue to learn the routes to the office, to the center from the office, to the center from home, to home from the office, and to home from the center. The routes are pretty straight forward, but I will say that I've had a few experiences asking for directions. Much of my day at the office is spent talking to Ajeet. I've realized that much of what you say is going to get done in a certain time frame, will not get done in the desired time frame. It seems like that's just the way India...and Guria...works. I've been going to the center as much as possible, and trying very hard to learn the kids' names, which is more difficult than I thought it would be, probably because most of their names I've never heard before. I've been leading/teaching a typing "class," which involves moving the kids not on the computer out of the room, and trying to get the word per minute count up to 15 for all of the kids. Although I get frustrated with it from time to time, I am really loving work.
Diwali is a five day festival that begins on November 10th, and ends on November 15th. I get to break out my sari for the first time, take part in a celebration at Guria, and take part in the festivities with my host family. So I am very excited for this upcoming festival, as everyone else in Varanasi seems to be.
Besides everything that I have mentioned, I have to say that I really like my host family. I think I have an inside joke going with one of my host grandmas, I've been talking to my host mom a lot, and they've made me feel a lot better while I've been sick.
I will try to post pictures soon of the festivities and our Halloween costumes!
Upon arrival in India, one of the things that shocked me was the chaos that is the traffic flow. How did the pedestrians, bicycle rickshaws, autorickshaws, cars, buses, bicyclists, and various animals even fit on the same road? And beyond that, how did they all manage to get from one place to another successfully? Bicycle rickshaws hit bicycles, autorickshaws bump cars, and sometimes a herd of water buffalo causes a traffic jam. The other day I found myself biking completely on the wrong side of the street against the flow of traffic, and I realized that I have begun to adjust, in general, to how things are done here. (I don't want to scare anyone by saying that I was biking on the wrong side of the street into oncoming traffic because that's normal here. Minor accidents/bumps may occur relatively often but the good news is that they occur at slow speeds and there is never an exchange of insurance information.)
After being sick for a while, I spent a very short amount of time in the hospital...or nursing home, as it's called here. The doctor was great, the IV didn't hurt badly, the place was comfortable and clean, and I made friends with a little boy who had just had surgery, yet was very concerned about my health. The worst part about being sick was that I missed several days of work. I'm not saying I don't enjoy free time, but it was frustrating while I was getting better to know that not only was I not well enough to go to work, but I also wasn't sick enough to sleep all day. But I am feeling much better now. I love
not being sick.
My stay in the nursing home was followed by one of the best nights I've had so far in India. Our group attended Dandia, which is basically a big dance party. After trying several different kinds of food, we went onto the dance floor. We found ourselves holding sticks, not knowing how to dance with them, and dancing with them anyways, among several experienced Indian dancers wearing amazing kurtas and saris. It was so much fun. The only bad thing about Dandia is that it doesn't happen every week. It was a great precursor to the beginning of the festival season.
Dishera was on October 24th. It is a Hindu holiday celebrating Raam's killing of Raaven, and in general, the triumph of good over evil. My host mom spent the day making special sweets which were amazing. On Dishera, and the days leading up to it, I was awoken several times during the night by music. Huge speakers and effigies were carried on the back of trucks, followed by a group of dancing Indian men, throughout the night. It was an interesting site from the windows in my room at around 10:00 pm, but not so much at around 3:00 am. On the night of Dishera we went into the city and watched a giant effigy of Raaven burn to the ground as fireworks (or crackers) exploded above it.
Bakri Eid was on October 27th. It is a Muslim holiday on which goats are slaughtered and then eaten. We went into the Muslim part of town and met a man named Salman who talked about the importance of Bakri Eid and let us sit in on the "festivities" in his family's home. I'd rather not go into detail on everything I saw, but what I will say is that I watched a goat slaughter and something that reminded me of the cat dissection I did in high school. I didn't throw up, and I ate some of the freshly cooked goat meat.
Halloween was on October 31st. Halloween is clearly not an Indian celebration; I had to explain to my host mom what it was. But we celebrated it anyway. Mackenzie, Hannah, and I were rickshaw walas; it was Mackenzie's brilliant idea. We bought lungis (a piece of cloth tied into a man skirt) and wore them with button up shirts, eye-liner facial hair and scarves tied around our heads. After we got ready, we ran into our counterparts, the real rickshaw walas. They were definitely confused, but very willing, to let us take pictures with their bicycle rickshaws and with them. We bought meeta paan, which is the non-tobacco version of paan and the reason that every rickshaw wala has red teeth and a lisp. Mackenzie and Hannah were much stronger than I was. I kept the meeta paan in my mouth for all of 3 minutes, until I spit it out. But it was a lot of fun saying "Rickshaw madam?" while the paan was in my mouth. We celebrated Halloween with food and dancing at the Where There Be Dragon's program house, and it was a lot of fun.
Work has been going well, as I continue to learn the routes to the office, to the center from the office, to the center from home, to home from the office, and to home from the center. The routes are pretty straight forward, but I will say that I've had a few experiences asking for directions. Much of my day at the office is spent talking to Ajeet. I've realized that much of what you say is going to get done in a certain time frame, will not get done in the desired time frame. It seems like that's just the way India...and Guria...works. I've been going to the center as much as possible, and trying very hard to learn the kids' names, which is more difficult than I thought it would be, probably because most of their names I've never heard before. I've been leading/teaching a typing "class," which involves moving the kids not on the computer out of the room, and trying to get the word per minute count up to 15 for all of the kids. Although I get frustrated with it from time to time, I am really loving work.
Diwali is a five day festival that begins on November 10th, and ends on November 15th. I get to break out my sari for the first time, take part in a celebration at Guria, and take part in the festivities with my host family. So I am very excited for this upcoming festival, as everyone else in Varanasi seems to be.
Besides everything that I have mentioned, I have to say that I really like my host family. I think I have an inside joke going with one of my host grandmas, I've been talking to my host mom a lot, and they've made me feel a lot better while I've been sick.
I will try to post pictures soon of the festivities and our Halloween costumes!
Wow - I can hardly believe how busy you are and how amazing your experiences are! I was a bit shocked to hear about your being sick, but then hearing that the little episode was history and you are feeling okay again eased my concern. Hang in there, honey - we're there with you in spirit!!
ReplyDeleteLove - Grandma
Haha thank you grandma, I appreciate it love you!!
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