Update on my IS project!

Hey!

So I'm done with my IS paper!! It is actually the longest paper I have written so far, 28 pages long! Sunday-Tuesday we will be going to Kotikanal, a hill-station (aka town up in the hills) for our IS period. When we are there we will be doing a 15 minute presentation on our IS project. I plant to make a power point and include some of the students photographs.

I thought that I was leaving India on May 4th but turns out I really am leaving on May 2nd. So I have had to reschedule a few flights and cancel a hotel booking but it all works out in the end. I am very ready to return home, not that I am having a bad time in India. But to be honest, I am ready for the luxuries of America, although I am sure they will be shocking. I mainly can't wait to eat a salad!

I bought some amazing earrings yesterday at Pudamandapan, a old temple turned shopping area. Here is a picture of them/me! :)

The Last Few Weeks + PONDICHERRRY

Hey it has been a long time since my last post and I apologize for that.

My IS project is well under way by now all of the kids have taken photographs and gotten them developed or they are on my computer. The first batch of photographs only 19 our of 100+ images came out so I was very disappointed but thats just part of the process of doing ethnography work my mom and professor reminded me. Now I am 8 interviews down and have 10 interviews to go with the children. I am interviewing them about their photographs, having them choose their favorite photos and investigating any further meanings behind their images. So far I have concluded that family and friends are both very strong values in the lives of children at Karumpalai. It also seems that material objects dont hold much of an importance, out of all the images I have seen I can only remember about two that are of material objects. Another interesting finding is that in karumpalai which is technically a slum there are more pets than anywhere else I have seen in Madurai. Lots of families have dogs, cats or rabbits that they keep in their home and treat like pets. In most cases a person in India will have a pet but it is let to roam the streets and never allowed inside the house but that is not the case in Karumpalai.
Soon I will be posting some images the kids have taken on my blog because the gallery show will be held soon.

This weekend we went on a trip from thursday-sunday to Pondicherry. Pondicherry is about a 6 hour drive away and was once a french colony. This trip was a bit different than the other trips we have taken because it was only the students and our 2 PA's. We were to find our own hotels and plan our own activities. Me and 5 other friends stated at a Hostel connected to an Ashram that I found, this place turned out to be really nice, there was a kitchen where on the last night I made pasta with veggies for everyone. The rooms were pretty clean and the owner was a very nice man. On our first day we went to the old french quarter. We had breakfast at a place called Le Cafe which was right on the ocean. We spent the day roaming around stopping for a glass of wine here and a cup of coffee there it was quite relaxing but also extremely hot. The first night we went to this rooftop restaurant which had pretty little christmas lights all over, kitchy miss-matched furniture and good food and drinks! It was a great night there and a great first day. Oh yes, we met some nice auto drivers (like taxis) and we got their numbers and for the rest of the trip we used them everywhere we went. The second day we went to Aourville, "a universal city in the making" http://www.auroville.org/ aka a cult. We went and saw the giant golden egg which to me just looked like a giant golden golf ball. On the way back to the hotel our Auto's took us to an amazing pizza place, we ordered a 3 cheese pizza, an italian pizza and a veggie pizza which was definitely the best of the 3. After a nap and shower we headed to Serenity Beach it was very pretty and clean! The waves were huge and we spent lots of time tanning, swimming in the Bay of Bengal and combing the beach for shells! For a snack we took an auto to Baker Street Cafe where me and my friend Winter split a baguette, goat cheese and fig honey! It was delicious! Then we walked around until we found the french quarter and meandered for a while until we found Le Club, one of the places we had wine the first day. We spent almost 3 hours due to their poor service. At first it was relaxing but towards the end ridiculous and we were cutting it close to the hostel's curfew which was 11:30 pm. The third and final day we called our autos and had them take us to some local churches and temples. They were awesome, they took us to a 75 ft tall Ganesh temple and another 80 ft Kali temple. The auto drivers also acted as our tour guides telling us about the local legends and helped describe the temples to us! After hitting up some temples we went to the beach again for a second day where we went swimming again. I went out a bit to wash some sand off and ended up talking to some Indian guys who were very nice and we went swimming together for about 30 minutes  They told me about some good local restaurants and things to do but we were leaving in just a few hours so I wasn't able to check them out. I spent a while just walking the beach and combing for sea shells on my own. Overall I thought it was the best trip so far. We saw some really cool temples and went to some delicious restaurants, it was very relaxing.

I have some pics to show from my friends, I used a film camera this trip so I don't have the photos up yet!

Hey everyone!

It has been a while since my pretty negative blog post. All of us are starting to leave the frustration phase of being in India which is good, but we are all itching to return home. I have gone through several waves of debate about returning to Madurai. On this program there are always 2 program assitants who help us adjust to life in Madruai, hold events. There role is not to be a teacher but not also to be one of us, it lies somewhere between. I have put thought to retuning as a PA one year, perhaps the year after I graduate college, it looks great on a resume, pays, and covers living expenses while in Madurai and on tour (vacation). While I am not completely turned off the the idea the wave of frustration that hit has somewhat deterred me.

But anyways, were are now a few weeks into our IS project. As you all know my project deals with teaching children photography and having them photograph their lives. I am working at an NGO called SEED. The NGO keps children in a neighborhood called Karumpalai which is essentially a slum. There is no indoor pluming and very little electricity in the neighborhood. SEED was founded many years ago by Ted Adams an American Anthropologist who also founded SITA and was funded by a group of SITA parents who wanted to help women get better education in Tamil Nadu. Now SEED is still running, mainly funded by Ted Adams. Every child who goes to SEED must go 7 days a week where classes are held every night and events are held on the weekends. SEED ensures students will get their college education paid for, even if it is 100% funded by SEED. I have been going for a little over a week now, I play english games with the students and teach them about photography. Today I will be handing out cameras to the children along with a list of possible topics to photograph. I hope the students have a great time with the project! I will be posting about how it is going soon!

I haven't posted anything in a while. We are in the middle of our IS project time. For my IS project I am working at an NGO SEED located in Karumbalai, a local neighborhood in Madurai. Karumbalai is a very low income neighborhood and SEED is an NGO that helps children with their studies to help them get out of the life most people in these neighborhoods are stuck in.  I will be teaching them photography as well as english. Once I give them a few lessons in photography I will give them film cameras and a set of prompts similar to my senior project at Watkinson. I will spend a lot of time with the children just hanging out and trying to make a friendship. After the photographs are developed we will talk about what they mean to them and why they took each photograph. At the end I want to have a gallery show for the children open to the community.

But recently I got sick, India sick actually. I went to the hospital and was released, against their advice and after  4 bags of IV. But now I'm feeling much better, so thats in the past. 

But since being sick Im in the frustration phase of being in India. I know it will pass soon though. 

South Indian Food

Chapati, a whole wheat tortilla. 

Parotta my favorite! It's somewhat like a tortilla but thicker, flakier and more yummy!

Vada (a savory donut with coriander leaves, mustard seeds and onion)

Idli with Coriander Chutney

Dosa, Sambar (broth with spices and vegetables) and Coriander leaf chutney.

Today is the last day of our finals week! I am done with all of my work. Thanks to my Watkinson education my presentation on Solar Energy went by smoothly as possible. I also had a ten page paper on Solar Energy and a 10 page paper on Sexuality in Indian Advertisements. Funny thing, only after the 8th page did I learn how to properly spell the world advertisement, not a shock if you know me! This week has been exceptionally great. Last Sunday, I believe I mentioned this, but I had a great magical Indian experience wandering through small residential streets downtown. I even made friends with a merchant and talked with him for some time. A few nights this week were good bonding nights for me and my family. My host dad asked me lots of questions about America everything from what I eat on a daily basis to how much the minimum wage is. He runs a shop downtown so he often gets to know foreigners and just wanted to US minimum wage to that of Italy or Germany. My host mother told me the next morning that we had so many laughs and good times that she couldn't sleep well, but it was worth it. For my MCU project I interviewed my family on sexuality in advertisements, a very sensitive subject for a society with such strict rules on sexuality. I learned from this project that sexual advertisements are the result of large corporations in metro (metropolitan) indan cities who are trying to compete in the globalized economy. But such companies and their campaigns do not reach the citizens of Madurai, they still value traditional values and do not wish to change anytime soon. Last night was my host grandfather's 70th birthday. The immediate family and I gathered at the house enjoyed cake (eaten before the dinner) and parotta with gravy (known to you as curry). Everyone was at the house it was a great time for the family and interesting for me to watch the family dynamics. Men and the guest aka me,were served first and waited on by the women. Who ate second and had to serve themselves. As we left at night the women of the house, my host grandmother and her daughter in law were in the kitchen cleaning as everyone else said their goodbyes. There was a little girl, my host cousin who was maybe 1 and was already running around the house and climbing on stairs. I was shocked by how independent this young girl was, I feel that Indian children learn dependence much earlier than American children. Another major difference between American and Indian children is that Indian girls are allowed to dress in elaborate beautiful dresses every day. By American standards they are playing dress up every day! I decided last night that for the hope I one day in my life have a baby girl, I want to buy one of these dresses! Tonight we are going to Nirmala, the host family coordinator and very highly respected Indian woman's grandaughters 1st birthday party! I am excited for it, it will be at JC Residency a very fancy nearby hotel. On Saturday I have set up a meeting for my IS project with the head of an Good Will NGO here in Madurai. Perhaps I will work with the children during my project. And later in the afternoon I have my Batik class. Batik is a traditional Indian art form. We use wax and fabric dye to create an image on our piece of cloth here is a picture: And on Sunday we are off to the state of Karala for our last tour!

Hey I havent posted in a while. Next week is our finals week already! I have a 10 page paper for my media class due, a 10 page paper for my environmental issues class as well as a 15 minute presentation and photo essay. Along with regular homework for anthropology and Tamil. I am close to being done with my environmental issues essay, I just need to revise it and add my own thoughts. But this weekend I am pretty crammed with work (its already 4:20 on Saturday). Meanwhile I need to keep up with my two independent studies back at 'Cuse. But next week we finally get to go on tour, were going to the state of Karala. Karala is a costal state on the West Coast of India. Here are some of the photographs that I turned in for my last photography assignment. For our anthropology class we had to do a assignment on visual anthropology. I choose the topic of food stalls, here are a few shots from that assignment. All of these stalls are on P.T. Rajan road, the road I live on.

Here is a photograph of me and my host family. Along with an image of me in a sari they gave me for my birthday!

We have just come back from a week long tour in the state of Karnataka. We visited Mysore, Hospet/Hampi and Bangalore during the week. It was nice to get outside of the city of Madurai and see some other sights. There were many differences between the state of Tamil Nadu where we are and Karnataka. In particular, Karnataka state has much more water, often we passed by huge lakes and rice patties. The sceneary was much more green. It was a beautiful site to see!

Our frist stop was Mysore where we visited the Mysore palace, where the royal family is still living. At 7pm they also lit up the entire palace and many families/toursits came to enjoy the site. l

Around the hotel we walked around, went to the market and to a few local restaurants where we were able to get more North Indian food like: naan, curry gobi (cauliflower) and paneer dishes (cheese). A 2 hour drive away from Mysore we visited the largest monolithic carving of a man. This carving was on the top of a very tall hill. We climbed 600 steps until we reached the top which had an amazing view.

Next stop was Hospet where we stayed at a very luxurious, almost too luxurious for our taste, hotel. In this hotel we were able to get lots of ice cream and "American" food. But perhaps my favorite thing that I ate on the trip to Mysore was a soup with a fried potato ball. I sat down at a restaurant and quickly was separated from my American friends and surrounded by Indians. I made friends with an old couple and asked them what they were eating, they said it was the special for the hotel (restaurant) and ordered it for me! it was very yummy, a great last meal in Hospet. We stayed in Hospet but the reason we were there was the ancient city of Hampi which is now ruins. This truly was a city in it's time. On the first day we toured a bunch of sites like a hill top temple, the old waterfront to the city, the kings palace, the queens palace, an elephant stable and the marketplace. Below are a few pictures of various ruins around the ancient city along with some high up views from the hilltop temple.

The second day we were in Hospet a few of us decided to climb a bunch of stairs, this time more around 1000, to the top of a mountain where Hanuman the half monkey half human god was born.It was an amazing site, and amazing to see the devotion of those there to the Hindu religion. I was taken back when I saw an elderly woman crawl up 1000 steps just to visit this particular temple when there are several other Hanuman temples in India.

karnataka

Hey! This week we have been touring the state of Karnataka which is a bit North of Tamil Nadu where Madurai is located. We started off tour in Mysore after a long night train. In Mysore we visited the royal palace, the bazaar and after a two hour van ride to the largest monolithic statue in India which was atop a hill 600 steps up! The vsiew was just as amazing as the much larger than life statue. Our next stop was Hopset where we are now. Were staying in the city which is about 30 minutes outside of Hampi. Hampi is a vert interesting place but also conjures up a lot of personal questions and dillemas for me. First I'd like to tell you about the city itself. hampi is an old ancient city which is mostly in ruins now. It is beautiful to go see the ruins, and magnificant as well. But what bothers me is the type of tourist it attracks. Most tourists we saw were "dirty hippies" aka European tourists with dreds who clearly did not try to understand the culttural norms of India, especially in dress. Most wore extremely revealing clothing at least by Indian terms. But I loved the environment of the city and I thought that the attractions were amazing to see. I just don't want to be seen as that kinda tourist, although pur group certainly was not because we dressed the proper Indian way. Just makes me wonder about post program travel. Today I am just resting because I don't feel 100% and we have a night train tonight, I'd like to recover before I'm on the train for a long time. I can't wait to post some pics when I get back to Madurai!

Syracuse Issues

So last night I was looking at some of my friends blogs, the only one i can find right now is: http://emilyinmadurai.blogspot.in/ But what I noticed about the other blogs is they have photographs of their house, the food and the city that we are staying in, things that I havent thought to post but now I think they will be interesting for you guys to see. So I will be posting some more photographs like that so you can all see!Right now I am staying with my friend Emily Simmons because my family is out of town for two days at a family wedding. I hope at some point I can go with them because I would love to see an Indian wedding! Right now I am in the process of trying to deal with my Photography independent study. I need to take junior seminar this semester because next year i need to take senior Seminar in the fall and obviously i must take junior before senior. My advisor told me that if I did not take it I would have to stay another semester, just for one class which is ridiculous. So....in a way Syracuse University or at least VPA is punishing me by not being standard and going to London or Florence. I wish they were more accommodating to students who do not wish to take the typical course of action. Before I left it was not even clear if I could take Junior Seminar as a independent study, after I arrived and sent an e-mail asking what was going on because I hadn't heard back from my advisor or the teacher in over a month I was reprimanded for not filing the paperwork (to a class I didn't even know was enrolled in because I hadn't heard back). Now the teacher is unwilling to cooperate and talk to me unless it is her response to my photography (her critique). I am highly disappointed in the lack of cooperation and communication of my advisor and teacher. Especially because if I was at Syracuse I could go to office hours and they would be willing to talk, it is very unprofessional of them. I am hoping that I will be able to stay in this class through out the semester.

Meenakshi Temple

On Saturday we went to Meenakshi Temple, the largest temple in Madurai and center of town. Mennakshi Temple is devoted to the godess Meenakshi, wife of Shiva. The couple was married in Maduria, Meenakshi's home, the reason the temple is located in Madurai. Dr. V gave a briefe talk about the story surrounding Meenakshi and we set off for the temple at 9 am. We walked around the temple stopping and hearing about particular deities and their stories. We stayed in the temple for two hours walking around and observing and did not even see half the temple...I believe we saw a fourth at the most. The temple was amazing and is so large, I have to go back another time to explore more! After the temple we went to lunch at a nearby restaurant and were split into teams for our scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt had a long list of things like: Sugumaran's (my host dad)shop, strange fruit, weird toys, health dogs, cattle, Neeva's Bakery, creepy dolls, a particular shop's Manequins, Meenakshi Images, bangles ect. My group was me, Chris and Fabi. We set off first going to my host fathers shop and then worked our way around the temple somewhat aimlessly searching for items on this list. The scavenger hunt was in the middle of the day when the sun was the hottest so quickly we began to get very tired, hot and thirsty. But we managed to still have a good time, we came back to SITA way earlier than we needed but by the end we were pretty tired. We had attacked the scavenger hunt in a fast pace and should have taken our time drifting into shops and such. Below I will post some Images from the scavenger hunt and Meenakshi Temple.

Jain Hill

Wednesday was a day in my life that I will never forget. First, I biked to school in the morning; biking in India is extremely hard. First off, the bikes are heavier therefore they are harder to stay upright on and harder to steer. Secondly you have to battle the traffic of India, which if you have seen the movies, it is most likely the exact same: busy, crowded, loud and on the opposite side of the road, quite a culture shock. But I made it to school safely (and much better than my ride home the night before which ended with only two crashes). To start off my day I was able to skype with my Mom, Aunt and Uncle, which was very nice. I have been so busy and excited with everything new that I haven’t had time to think about how much I miss them. I also was able to skype with my boyfriend, which was nice as well. At ten it was tea-time, one of my favorite parts of the day! My first class of the day was Tamil where we began to learn the written scripture, something I was very much looking forward to! It was also the day that it was my turn to eat lunch at the SITA center, which was very good. But my day got even better, the last class of the day I am not taking, but attended so I could go on the fieldtrip. The class was MRA Myth, Religion & Art. The subject of Wednesday’s lecture was the religion of Jainism. After class we had a fieldtrip to Jain Hill, none of us knew what to expect. Jain Hill is about 45 minutes away from the SITA Center in a nearby village. At the bottom of Jain Hill is a holy body of water with lily pads and ducks! As well there is a holy tree where villagers go to pray, specifically the tree is used for prayer for mute toddlers (the parents will pray to the tree that their child will be able to speak and hang a bell in the child’s honor and as a offering to the tree). Then we went to check out the temple at the base of Jane Hill, this temple was devoted to local Gods and had beautiful large plaster castings painted vividly to depict religious tales. To the left of the temple there was a path that leads to a cave in the rock (Jain Hill is a large rock formation) where there were wall carvings. We all thought the story was very interesting and the view from the cave was amazing, but it pails in comparison to what else we saw. To the right of the temple is a set of stairs carved right into the rock that lead to more rock carvings about halfway up the hill. I thought the view from there was beautiful and was surprised by how high up I was. But…just because the stairs ended did not mean that was as far as we were allowed, all of the SITA students climbed to the ve

ry top of this rock where we had a 360 view as far as the eye could see. It was amazing; the rock formation was as beautiful as the scenery around. From the top of the rock we could see very small dots on fields running around, presumably cows or goats, but what I found amazing was seeing a bird, similar too or maybe a hawk (not sure if they live in India) from the top, not often do you see a bird like that from above, I watched it ride the wind and dive down to the forest, it was a beautiful site to watch. A short time after we arrived at the top of the rock a group of young boys who we had also met at the cave appeared from the opposite edge. We talked with them, introduced ourselves and as everyone seems to do (at least in Mexico) bonded of John Cena. We arrived at the peak of the rock just in time to watch the sun set in the hazy sky over a mountain in the distance. It was just an amazing experience to climb to the top of this holy rock, barefoot of course, and look at all the scenery. I was so happy to write about that experience I almost forgot about the end to my day. Instead of biking home in the dark I decided to take the bus, or so I thought. I started by walking down the main road a bit and stopping at a medical store where I was able to buy cough syrup, although that’s not really what I needed. I decided to keep walking because I did not know where the bus stop was, but once I arrived at the bus stop I was so enthralled with walking down the street at night and seeing the night culture that I decided to walk a bit more. Eventually, I saw a grocery store so I went in and bought some gum and hand soap for my bathroom at home. I really enjoyed the walk and decided to continue because I didn’t feel the need to stop but it started to get late and I hadn’t told my host family that I would be walking so I hailed a shared-auto (rickshaw) and drove home. It was one of the days that will definitely stick out in my mind from my trip in India. Yesterday I walked all the way home, I decided I want to walk home every day and ride the bus to school every morning. Occasionally I’ll bike, but I’d rather walk.

First Week In Madurai

Hey everyone, sorry its been a while since my last post. We have arrived in Madurai, where we will spend the rest of the semester besides a few trips to nearby parts of the state. My only internet access is at SITA where all of our classes have been held and things have been busy so I have not been able to post on the blog. I am now living with my host family my mom's name is Kavitha, my dad's name is Sugumaran; I also have a sister Keshma who is 15 and a brother Sanju who is 19. I like my family a lot. I am their 10th host student so they pretty much are accustomed to the western ways of students. My sister, Keshma is the U-17 and U-19 doubles badminton (shuttle cock) champion of Madurai and ranked 3rd in U-17 of India, I can't wait to go see her practice or one of her matches. My brother Sanju is really cool, he is super excited and pre-occupied with his new iPhone 5 that Jenny, a past host student brought for him (she is staying at the house for 5 days). But my family makes me feel really comfortable and always tries to their hardest to make sure I am okay and comfortable. Last night they called me a "bad eater" because I typically only take seconds on a meal. It is amazing how much Indians eat, rice fills me up pretty quick so my stomach is not yet accustomed to the amount of food. On that note, I love the food of India. Typically my meals include rice and Sambar which is a mix of vegetables and spices in this sauce. My host mom has also made fish gravy (curry) and dosas. The first day we came to SITA for classes I was not feeling okay with my bike riding skills so I braved the busses of India,I was surprised to find that many people were very willing to help me out. Once I got on the right bus an old man took me under his wing to make sure that I knew which stop to get off which was very helpful,this man didn't speak english so another guy helped by translating and also the guy who collects the bus toll made sure that I was going to get off on the right stop. I am adjusting really well to India so far, I havent felt jetlagged or sick because of the water/food. So, everything is off to a great start and tomorrow I will try to upload a few pictures that I have taken so far on the trip. This week is the celebration of Pongal, the harvest festival. Yesterday we had a pongal celebration in which we had a ceramic pot of milk boil over and then add rice, dal, yellow sugar amoung other things. It was a nice festival that we had and after the celebration at SITA I went back home to have even more Pongal from my host mom.

Hey! Today was really exciting, well the last half of the day was at least. I woke up somehow at 7am, an hour before breakfast fully rested and without the help of an alarm. I was pretty impressed with myself since everyone is super jet lagged and such, in fact, i don't think i am suffering from jet lag at all I'm tired but no more tired then I would be at home in the east coast time zone.After breakfast we had another Tamil class, were we learned more phrases like "do you want (blank)" and "yes/no i do/n't want (blank)" it started to get complicated already. Our second class was Tamil Myth, Religion and Art where we met Dr. V who gave us a VERY brief overview of India's history and how Hinduism came to be in preparation for our temple visit. Lunch today was a traditional southern Indian meal that comprised of several side dishes, 3 veggies, 3 sauces, curd (yogurt), dessert, and rice (im forgetting some other things as well). I finally kinda understood how you are supposed to eat rice and curry with your RIGHT hand, its this scoop and push method which I have found helpful. After lunch we went on our first temple visit. To be appropriate we wore the traditional clothing we bought yesterday, which I found out was very itchy (at least mine was because of the embroidery and sequins!!) We walked to the temple which was about a 15 minute walk away. I really love walking on the busy streets of India, although all the constant honking, especially the loud honks of buses is a bit startling and I am slowly getting used to it. I find the most difficult part of transitioning to Indian customs for me is not looking others, particularly men, in the eyes. If I did sustain eye contact with a male it could send messages that I do not intend, but I am curious so I want to stare and make eye contact. I am pretty fearless when it comes to American traffic my thought is "if you hit me i will sue you" so that kinda helps in India, not that I am going to run out in traffic but not being afraid helps when people are weaving all over the place. When we arrived at the temple the first thing we did was take off our shoes because it is customary and rude not too. Then we began to explore, we saw many different stone carvings, a bronze statue of a bull god and many other interesting deities. It is just amazing to think that so long ago these temples were constructed, they are so detailed. The specific temple we visited today is known as the big temple, it is either the biggest temple (in height) in India or in Southern India, either way it was super tall! After we exited one of the rooms in the main temple a family asked if i could take their picture, of course I agreed. Soon this simple picture became quite an event. Bill the program assistent was taking my picture with the family of about 4. Then we waited for the grandparents...and the cousins....and the children....until it was a group of me and about 20 indians. It was a really special moment for me because I was happy that they wanted me in the picture and it meant as much to them as it meant to me. They shook my hand after and spoke english to me, it was a very friendly moment.

Thanjavur

Hey everyone! Right now me and the rest of the SITA students are staying in a hotel in the town of Thanjavur. We will be staying here for the next few days for orientation and some intro classes so we can start our semester. We arrived in Chennai on Sunday morning around 8 pm after a long travel, a 12 hour flight to Dubai a 6 hour layover and then another 5 hour flight....I wasn't sure what day it was, or what time, we had experienced over 24 hours of night time due to flying into different timezone so it was nice to reach Chennai and see daylight. Our first day (which was only yesterday but seemed like forever ago) was spent somewhat resting and exploring the city of Chennai. Then we took a sleeper train from Chennai to where we currently are. The sleeper train was interesting, i woke up in the middle of the night because i had to go to the bathroom and managed to find my way to the Indian Style bathroom, basically a room with two footholds and a whole to the tracks...It actually was not as bad as it sounds. But due to jet lag and completely different timezone it took a long time for me to fall back asleep. We all woke up around 5 am when the train was supposed to arrive in Thanjavur, but it was delayed for an hour so I spent the time standing between our sleeper car and the next one watching the Indian countryside go by with some other SITA students, it was beautiful; southern India is much more lush and tropical than i imagined in my head. Today we took our first class in Tamil the native language where we learned the phrase "ennaku coffee veendum" which translates to I want coffee or coffee is needed to me. The most exciting and traumatic (to some but not to me) part of the day was shopping. We walked a few blocks away and got to see the city to a local clothing store for women where we bought a three piece "suit". This is a pair of leggings or pants, a long tunic and a scarf to cover the chest. I ended up selecting a purple and pink tunic shirt with a matching pink scarf, i really like the clothes I chose so I am excited to wear them soon! We need this traditional set of clothing to visit the temple in town tomorrow which I am very excited for. Oh, we also bought a nightie as they call it or a long nightgown, this nightgown has sleeves and goes all the way down to your ankles so no part of your body can be seen. The experience in the store was exhausting, of course none of the leggings were designed for my body type so i had to try pair after pair on in a small extremely hot changing room. Good thing i packed some of my own!Since we are told that India is such a slow paced place i was surprised at how fast and busy the process was.

From Dubai

Hey everyone! We survived our first flight from JFK to Dubai (united arab emerites). The flight was super long...12 hours but we were fed two meals dinner and breakfast, both were actually pretty good. Right now were sitting in the hagen daz restaurant in Dubai, our next flight is in 6 hours. Right now its around 9 pm here (i think) and noon at home. It's pretty crazy, but im started to feel more settled in about the whole experience of being in India for 4 months. Well I'm going to go explore now, see you guys later.