Yes, I am in fact still alive!

Ever since the move to the new guest house we have been without internet. The guest house is brand new and so somewhat still under construction. All the rooms are there but things are still coming together like internet and such. They are slowly adding things day by day. This is India. I'm getting used to it.
Whenever I find myself stressed it is because I am not accepting the way things work here. I've always thought of myself as easygoing and very adaptable so it surprised me that I was struggling for the first few days, but then suddenly I realized that I really do have a western mindset. It is so much a part of me that I didn't realize that it was there. Once I gave in to India things went much better. The movie Outsourced is right, you have to stop resisting or you will hate it here. It is still a very intense country and there are times when I just am overwhelemed, but I really love it. Each experience though is very draining and I feel like over the course of time it could become difficult. I'm trying to give myself breaks because we have been on a very go-go schedule.
I operate on a very different time schedule here too. I am used to being a night-owl and staying up to obscene times of the morning but here I can barely stay awake at 10pm and I am getting up at 7-8. Morning yoga is also on the agenda once it starts up. I am looking forward to what I am calling the 'India diet' in which I walk/bike ALOT and eat less. I'm getting used to the food but I'm a little tired of spices already. We went out and got nice chinese food one day and there is some plain snack food. With my schedule I may end up forgoing lunch most days, which is fine cause I am used to skipping breakfast. They have told us the distance from the guesthouse to anything useful on campus is about 2 km or 1.5 miles, so every day I will get that walk. It's not terrible, just not what I am used to, being a lazy person and coming from a campus which is 1 block long.
There are so many things to update the blog on that I will just have to give little tidbits because I can't do everything justice. As you may have gathered, time moves at a different pace here. Nothing starts on time. We also live in a perpetual state of dust. Most buildings aren't really completely enclosed and there is just unescapable dust so I am getting used to being not totally clean all the time. Showers have been icey cold- the water in our building is 'solar' meaning its literally a tank heated by the sun. I did actually get a little hot water the other day which was soooooo nice. It's hard to really get motivated to shower when you feel like walking into an icebox. Lets see, I'm living with the other berg student, Laura. Way to go program with mixing people up. They placed a lot of people with the people from their uni though so I dunno.
Ok a few highlights. For new year's we went to a nice Indian resteraunt in Banjara hills, which is like the Beverly Hills of India. It's super nice but everything here is so cheap that it still is a pretty reasonable price. When we all came back to the guest house we went up to the roof deck and watched some fireworks. There is a little tent-village of workers behind us and we shouted happy new year across to them and were sort of shouting celebrations with them. I went right to sleep after midnight because I was so tired.
We got to go into the old city which was fantastic and completely indescribable. I am of the thought that there is NO WAY to describe India, it is just something you have to experience. I read a lot and I understand what I read and have experienced some of it, but you really can't know until you get there what it is like. Certainly this day of touring was impossible to accurately describe. We saw some really neat tombs and forts but walking through the streets was the best part for me. I will get pictures when I can. Walking through the traffic, past the vendors who are calling out to you, trying to not get run over is rediculous. Also, I love rickshaws! They are absolutely the way to travel!
Orientation is mostly over since classes will be starting, though this first week is pretty open. We have gone out in little groups to different places. We went to a really cool craft market- Shilpanara I believe is the name. We also were taken shopping for 2 sets of Indian clothes at a really nice store. Even still the prices are amazing. One top cost about 350 r which is roughly 7 dollars. There are rows and rows of colorful pants and tops and scarfs. The staff there is really great at helping you match the clothes colors. The clothes are super nice and super light weight so that even wearing long sleeves isn't too bad. The weather has been not horrible, though a bit hot. I am trying to get used to it since it will only get worse. Yesterday we met our language peer tutors and went to see the hindi remake of Momento ( Ghanjini), which was quite an experience. As someone in our group put it, that was the human experience in about 3 hours and 15 minutes. There are several bollywood dance numbers but also intense emotional scenes. It was pretty Nuts.
We had hindi today and learned the alphabet. My class is mostly going to focus on speech though, so after this week we won't use the script, just transliteration. The sounds are much harsher than sanskrit, though the letters are mostly the same. Instead of का being pronounced as kahhh, its more like kuh. Anyway, my hands are hurting and it's getting late so time to go.
I have no idea when I will update again.... just stay tuned.

Orientation, Culture Shock and Indian time

The network is being very slow over here at the moment but hopefully it will hold out long enough to make this post. So right now it's a little past 5am and I am unfortunately awake due to interesting experiences yesterday. I officially win the First Person to get Sick award yay! Last night my stomach started feeling cranky and by the time we were leaving breakfast to start out on our first lecture I was feeling pretty miserable. I ended up sleeping/ lying in bed for most of the day and sadly missed the first excursion into the outer city. Luckily, they have told us that most information will be repeated many times during the orientation so I don't feel so bad about being pretty out of it. There also is a lot of information in the handbook so I'm not really worried. It would be nice if the sickness I just experienced was the only sickness I will experience here but the information I have been reading from the program says that you may get sick for up to a week, so I guess I shouldn't expect to have escaped so easily ( not that the last 24 hours have been pleasant) .

I do have to say that being here is quite overwhelming, sickness aside. I've wanted to come on this trip for a long time and now that I'm here I keep fluctuating back and forth between being really excited and wondering what I was thinking signing up for four months here. Right now we are in the old CIEE guest house which is located on the main part of campus but they have just built a new house for all the Study in India programs (SIP), which is for anyone from abroad. We are supposedly moving to the new house today, although we went to visit it yesterday for the inauguration and they didn't have beds in it yet. It is really really far away too. Most important buildings on campus are clustered within about 10-15 minutes of each other but the guesthouse is far out on past many of the other dorms. We are being provided with bikes which is good because it over a mile, possibly several to get from our house to the academic buildings.

I suppose I should back track and explain what happened when we arrived. A number of us arrived from Heathrow and met several others arriving at the same time. There was a barrage of people once we got past security and customs and the really long wait for our suitcases. Luckily CIEE had a clearly labeled sign and we were able to all meet up and get on a bus. Driving to the U of H, we passed many signs in English but clearly we were not in America. It was only around 6:00 in the morning so the roads were pretty empty, however the driving was still pretty crazy. Wherever there is an open spot, that is where one drives, regardless of the lines that are supposed to designate lanes. I think NJ drivers would do well here. People don't signal, they just honk. There are dogs everywhere!!! So far I haven't seen many cows but I see and hear dogs always. When trying to sleep over here there are many sounds of exotic birds and dogs barking, and some people have even said monkeys.

Someone on our program described the campus as a wildlife conservation or a national park. It is so radically different from anything I would ever call a university. There are just wild plants growing around and hardly anything is green but rather brown and dried. Buildings are scattered about, though there is a very good signage. The buildings are all open but designed to stay cool, with a lot of concrete. There seem to be little courtyards in almost every one, which is the only place where there is lush greenery.

Before our official campus tour, a number of us were wandering about and as we neared one of the academic buildings, a man approached the only male in our group and was encouraging us to come in. We didn't really know where we were going but we were led upstairs and into a room where a banner proclaimed that this was a Business Data Mining conference. This seems so typical of India to just be pulled in somewhere. We decided to stay for a while and proceeded to witness about 20 straight minutes of introductions by the panel and a small oil lamp lighting ceremony which was quite stunning as it seemed to be a religious ceremony in the middle of an academic conference. We decided to bow out after the first speaker, but it was an interesting experience.

As I've been writing this several other people have woken up and come down stairs. Now there are 3 people around on the computers and it is about 6:00 am. Breakfast runs from 8-9 and at 10 we have another orientation lecture. Time here is very funny though. Nothing really starts on time or goes according to strict schedule, so going with the flow is very important. There also are regular tea breaks which are quite nice too. The tea, or chai, is very very sweet but yummy! Right now I think I will be safe and try and stick with plain foods until I am sure that my stomach can handle spices.

I think I've crammed enough information into here for now. More updates to follow!

Arrived Safely

Just a super-quick hello to say I made it safely over here and I am fine. We are in the old guest house right but we will be moving over to the new one in a few days. At 4pm today we are getting a tour and hopefully more info as we have none right now. We just ate breakfast which was yummy and now we are getting a little settled in. I don't want to take up computer space right now but once I get my own laptop set up I will be able to keep everyone updated.

GOING TO INDIA!

Hooray Hooray the visa has been obtained!!!

Now finally I can relax and know I will be able to get on the plane of Friday! The issue with the paperwork turned out to be very easy to resolve. Apparently the letter which I brought in was not the right one- there was a second letter which was from the actual University itself (not just CIEE) that I didn't realize existed. I hadn't opened the envelope when it originally arrived so I didn't even think that there would be more than one thing in it, since the one letter seemed to have all the necessary information in it.



A simple trip to Staples to fax over the letter took care of the problem and I was all set to pick up the passport with the usual crowd at 5:30 again. This time I knew the drill so I didn't bother rushing to get there super early to stand out in the cold. When I arrived, the line was down the street, away from the restaurant. When we were allowed inside at 5:30 I was expecting the same announcement about another 10 minutes to sort passports, but this time we were told that the couriers from the consulate were running late, so it would take 10 minutes for them to arrive and then another 10 or so to sort the passports. Of course they would be running late when I was trying to get a bus home at a reasonable time!



Standing on that line was about as stressful as finals week, but all compacted into about 20 minutes. As I stood there, I just kept repeating in my head, ' please let it be there, please let it be there'. Not that I couldn't have gotten it a day later, but it would have delayed our Christmas plans and not been very fun to go back again.

As I stepped up to hand Mr. Enforcer my receipt, Ingrid (the lady who had helped me out on Friday) said that she had just seen my file. Mr. Enforcer said I could move ahead to the pick-up window and as he handed back my receipt said ‘Merry Christmas’ with a slight smile. Although my inner Jew wanted to say, ‘And Happy Hanukkah’ , I was far too overwhelmed with relief to do anything but grin my thanks ( besides, at this point I didn’t want to take the chance that sarcasm would keep me from getting my visa when it was just inches away from me).

After that it was smooth sailing. I turned in my receipt, was handed my passport with visa sticker and went on my merry way! Next stop, Hyderabad!!!!

Palak Moong Dal

Palak Moong Dal RecipePalak Moong Dal Ingredients:One cup split green gram lentil(Moong Dal), Three cups chopped spinach(Palak), Half tbsp turmeric powder(Haldi), One tbsp red Chilli powder,One tbsp asafoetida(Hing), Two tbsps butter,One tbsp chopped garlic, One tbsp chopped Ginger,One tbsp fresh Cream andA pinch of sodium bi carbonateHow To Make Palak Moong Dal:Washing,soak the gram(moong dal)

Methi Gaajar/Carrot Dal

Methi Gaajar/Carrot Dal RecipeMethi Gaajar/Carrot Dal Ingredients:One and half cup toor dal, Three cups chopped methi leaves, Two medium sized carrots, Two tbsps green chilly paste, Half cup groundnuts, One pinch asafoetida(Hing), Half tbsp sugar, Two-three dry red chillies,

Chholar Dal

Chholar Dal RecipeChholar Dal Ingredients:One cup soaked chick peas, Quarter tbsp turmeric,Two green chillies,Two tbspsgrounded cumin, Two tbsps raisins,Two tbsps vegetable oil,One bay leaf,One dried red chilly,Five-six cardamom pods,One inch cinnamon stick,Two-three cloves,Quarter tbsp Kalonji,One tbsp seeded & minced green chilly, Two tbsps grated coconut, Half tbsp garam masala,Ghee(if needed