More Pictures

I saw this sign at a local academy for girls/women that we visited, and thought it was fun how it sounds like the first part of BYU's motto; enter to learn, go forth to serve

And then when we came back down the staircase and I saw THIS sign, I started wondering what kind of copywright laws India has . . .

Ok so this is fairly random but its very pretty. It was just near one of the places we were visitng, and I liked it. I actually think my friend John took this picture.
We visited a nearby village that has a weaving co-op set up, and we got to see them card, spin, dye, and weave the cotton and other fabrics. Pretty nifty!
This is the lovely Lova in yellow, and her beautiful older sister Durga behind her.

The Apple Pie that Wasn't Quite Right

Our beloved cooks overwhelmed us with a gesture of their love the other night, and attempted to make an apple pie in a toaster oven. It was definitely not apple pie as I have ever seen or tasted it before, but it was so sweet of those girls to do that for us! I really love them, and sometimes it’s very hard for me to interact with them the way I’m expected to. Our program directors, both Professor Nuckolls from the US and Professor Krishnaya from India, want to us interact with the girls the way they both do. They treat them well and they respect them, but they treat them as servants. Not as employees or subordinates, just as servants. They don’t approve of how all of us students are becoming friends with them and how we like to help the girls with their work when we have nothing else to do. I know it’s the way things have been done for centuries and I’m not mad at our professors for the way they treat the girls, it just makes me sad.

What does NOT make me sad is how adorable and funny and sweet the girls are! There’s Lova, Durga, Jaya, and Donna Lakshmi. Lova is the youngest at 15, and is sisters with Durga who is around 20. Jaya and Donna Lakshmi are both a little older than us and more reserved, but Durga and Lova are so much fun! They tease us and play with us and guilt us into eating as much food as is humanly possible, and are the sweetest girls I have ever met! I will try and find some pictures to post soon. The four of them cook all of our meals and do our dishes, and keep the houses in order. I would say they clean them, but the Indian idea of cleaning anything is just tossing some water on it. They work very hard and take their job seriously, and more than anything I want to think of things I can do for them or give them that might make their lives a little easier. They always have all day Sunday off, so they like to go visit family or go to the beach, and we are always invited to the beach with them!

And speaking of Sundays . . . because the girls have Sundays off we are left to fend for ourselves. We usually just have fruit, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and whatever leftovers are in the fridge for breakfast and lunch. For dinner, we either go to a hotel/restaurant or sometimes students volunteer to cook for everyone. This week, my roomy Tiffany and I went down to the Pizza Hut that we had accidently discovered a few days before and we picked up pizzas for the group! I was a little nervous to be ordering pizza in India, but as soon as we walked in and I started smelling the cooking pizzas I knew it would end well. The pizzas were delicious, and made me feel just a little bit more American. Some days here I just start losing a little bit of my identity, like when I go somewhere with one of our translators and I’m the only white person as far as the eye can see. Or when I go into my bathroom and I don’t even bother to shriek or throw heavy objects at the latest spider to take up residence in the corner. But having cheese pizza and cold soda tonight definitely helped remind me of what I like!

Before I end I’d just like to say thank you once again to everyone who is so good about keeping me in their prayers and in their correspondence. It really makes it much easier to not be homesick when I think about how easy it really is to stay in touch with everyone I love!