August 14th 2014

I really didn’t like Lucknow. I questioned many times if I had made the right decision in coming back to India this summer. North India probably isn’t the most “fun” place to spend a summer. Besides this, Lucknow is only modern on the surface. It has more malls, more washing machines, than other North Indian cities, but the fact is that this is not a tourist city. When I made my first trip to a village when I came to India in 2012, I was shocked by the way people looked at me, and how many people looked at me, like they had never seen someone like me before. It’s normal to get those looks here all the time and everywhere, and that’s confusing to me especially with the backdrops of nicer hotels and infrastructure in general. It was a frustrating contrast at first.

And now I’m sitting in my room, next to all of my stuff (surprise, I’m packed) in a house that I’ve become so comfortable in. The disclaimer here is that the only reason I’m packed ahead of time is that our check-in bags are being sent to Delhi ahead of us today. I’m sad to leave this city.

I’m especially sad to leave my host family. I got incredibly lucky. They weren’t just nice to me, but they treated me like a member of the family, and that’s how I feel now. I spent most of my time in this house (probably most of my time in Lucknow) in my host parent’s room, hanging out, watching serials, eating, and I always felt welcome. It helped that whenever they had a guest over, my host dad would tell them that I was their Urdu-speaking American daughter, and when they looked surprised he would say “Don’t we look alike?!?” But it was mostly just the way they made me feel like I wasn’t just in a house that I was staying in with a family that I was living with. They made me feel like I was in a house I belonged to, with a family I was a part of.

I am happy with my Urdu; I didn’t think it would get to this point. I’m proud of what I’ve learned, and my comfort level in speaking, reading, and writing. The thing that holds me back the most are the idioms. “Make a rope into a snake,” meaning “to exaggerate;” “to be like the moon of Eid,” meaning “to be seen rarely;" ”to put one’s hands in the flowing Ganga river,” meaning “to take advantage of what is provided.” If it were up to me, I would delete idioms from every language (just kidding, mostly). There are always going to be things that don’t translate, and the way that I’ll find that out is by saying things that sound good in English in my head, and getting laughed at when I try to say them in Urdu.

I am sad to leave but very much ready. I’ve turned in my final exam, taken my last Oral Proficiency Interview, bought the last of the souvenirs, I’ve learned how to get around Lucknow, I got to know this city and some of the people in a way that is making me sad to leave, but I think that’s a good thing. I am so excited to go home and see my family and the ocean. We’re leaving India at 2:30 AM on Saturday.

Love, 

Ada

Here are some Eid photos: