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!