Kakinada

What an adventure I’ve had these past couple of days! I still can’t believe everything actually happened. Our main program director, Professor Charles Nuckolls, was invited to speak at Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University as a part of their annual Internationalization Day and when they learned that we were all here the university’s Vice Chancellor invited all of us as his special guests as well. The adventure started when the university sent two nice, air conditioned vans to pick us up and drive us down to Kakinada, a town about three hours south of our town Visakhapatnam. We had been told to bring our nicest clothes because we were special guests, but also told to bring sheets and towels because we may be staying in a youth hostel. To my sheer joy, when we arrived at the university we were ushered into the official guest house and shown to our air conditioned rooms! Including en suite bathrooms with western toilets and working shower heads and semi-hot water. JOY!! For every meal we were taken to the finest restaurants in town, which were surprisingly nice and always air conditioned with cold, bottled water available. After we rested for a few hours, we were taken to a near-by village that used to be a French colony, and taken out on the river (not too sure which one ) in a boat of questionable seaworthiness. We were also shown a lovely fountain of two huge elephants and a Shiva lingam, which was over-sized and super cool. The way the water came out of the fountain, it splashed over the sides and on to the ground, kind of like an umbrella. And it was built in such a way that there is a dry spot where you can get underneath, and then walk around the circumference of the fountain, which we all did. And apparently that means we will be blessed with many children. Thank goodness I only went around it once, I think 40 children might be a bit much for me. After enjoying a LOVELY night’s rest in the air conditioned room on the fabulously comfortable mattress, we were awoken at the luxuriously late hour of 9:00 am to a knock on our door from an attendant with tea cups containing their delicious equivalent to hot chocolate. After we returned from the restaurant where we were fed some kind of breakfast that I didn’t relish but by no means hated, we met with the Vice Chancellor and all of the heads of department. We were then carted around to lecture halls all over campus where we were introduced to and interacted with students from the different colleges (Electrical, Mechanical, etc.). Later that afternoon we were informed that each of us would now be asked to speak for about a minute about internationalization, and our experience at the university. At the big event that evening, we were all introduced by name and subject of study and called up one by one to receive bouquets of roses. This was made all the more exciting by the fact that we received the same treatment as our professor, as well as two other professors from MIT and Texas A&M. Unfortunately we have some born entertainers in our group who, after the speeches were over, volunteered our group to perform something as part of the cultural performances that followed. Students from the university were singing, performing dances and skits, and somehow we got talked into going up on the stage and doing some ridiculous line dance that seriously hurt my dignity, but I survived. When we tried to leave the program at 10:00 to go and get dinner, we were basically mobbed by students wanted to take our picture or take pictures with us. After we escaped and had eaten our dinner, I was more than ready to enjoy a nice warm shower and then go to bed. Unfortunately, as I was drying off from my shower, a cockroach of truly epic propotions skittered across the bathroom floor right in front of me and wedged itself in the space between the bottom of the door and the floor. After screaming my head off, I finally calmed down enough to tell the girls in our room what was going on. I’ve been in pickles before, but never like this. There I was, stuck in the bathroom with a cockroach longer than my index finger. If I opened the door, he would get into the other room and might skitter away somewhere that we couldn’t cath him. But if I didn’t open the door soon, he might turn around and skitter back at me! I wanted to vomit and cry at the same time. Eventually, we all calmed down enough to decide that the girls on the other side of the door would get a bucket and try and drop it over the cockroach as soon as I opened the door. After mustering every ounce of courage I possessed, I took a deep breath and opened the door. The cockroach didn’t move!! He just sat there, twitching his disgusting little antenna at us. After some serious coaxing on the part of my roommates, I slowly inched passed the creature and made it over the threshold, at which point I ran across the room and jumped on to the bed and curled up in a ball. After some creative thinking and serious heroics on the part of my new hero Megan, the cockroach was evicted from the room. Later that night, we discovered a frog and a baby cockroach in the bathroom, but were too tired and allowed them to live. The next morning the Vice Chancellor and several of the heads of department came with us to breakfast, and then we all said goodbye at the restaurant. We then headed back to VIzag in our air conditioned vans, although some of the girls were feeling a little worse for the wear. It had been a long couple of days and we were all pretty exhausted still, so we were a little less than thrilled when we stopped every half hour or so to be shown random things on the way home. It wouldn’t have been bad at all, except the university had sent along a newspaper photographer with us to take pictures of us seeing all the sights. It’s bad enough that people here stare at us and take picture of us on their cell phones where ever we go, but to have an annoying little man with a big camera following you around and telling you to move over there or over here so he can get a better candid shot was more than I could handle. I think I now have a better understanding of why famous people punch paparazzi and smash their cameras. By the end of the trip I was pretty surly looking in most of the group pictures, and when I saw him aim his camera at me I would turn around or hide behind someone taller. The beachside mini-temple and the hilltop temple were both beautiful and interesting, by all means, but we were more than ready to get safely back to our city.

Kakinada

What an adventure I’ve had these past couple of days! I still can’t believe everything actually happened. Our main program director, Professor Charles Nuckolls, was invited to speak at Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University as a part of their annual Internationalization Day and when they learned that we were all here the university’s Vice Chancellor invited all of us as his special guests as well. The adventure started when the university sent two nice, air conditioned vans to pick us up and drive us down to Kakinada, a town about three hours south of our town Visakhapatnam. We had been told to bring our nicest clothes because we were special guests, but also told to bring sheets and towels because we may be staying in a youth hostel. To my sheer joy, when we arrived at the university we were ushered into the official guest house and shown to our air conditioned rooms! Including en suite bathrooms with western toilets and working shower heads and semi-hot water. JOY!! For every meal we were taken to the finest restaurants in town, which were surprisingly nice and always air conditioned with cold, bottled water available. After we rested for a few hours, we were taken to a near-by village that used to be a French colony, and taken out on the river (not too sure which one ) in a boat of questionable seaworthiness. We were also shown a lovely fountain of two huge elephants and a Shiva lingam, which was over-sized and super cool. The way the water came out of the fountain, it splashed over the sides and on to the ground, kind of like an umbrella. And it was built in such a way that there is a dry spot where you can get underneath, and then walk around the circumference of the fountain, which we all did. And apparently that means we will be blessed with many children. Thank goodness I only went around it once, I think 40 children might be a bit much for me. After enjoying a LOVELY night’s rest in the air conditioned room on the fabulously comfortable mattress, we were awoken at the luxuriously late hour of 9:00 am to a knock on our door from an attendant with tea cups containing their delicious equivalent to hot chocolate. After we returned from the restaurant where we were fed some kind of breakfast that I didn’t relish but by no means hated, we met with the Vice Chancellor and all of the heads of department. We were then carted around to lecture halls all over campus where we were introduced to and interacted with students from the different colleges (Electrical, Mechanical, etc.). Later that afternoon we were informed that each of us would now be asked to speak for about a minute about internationalization, and our experience at the university. At the big event that evening, we were all introduced by name and subject of study and called up one by one to receive bouquets of roses. This was made all the more exciting by the fact that we received the same treatment as our professor, as well as two other professors from MIT and Texas A&M. Unfortunately we have some born entertainers in our group who, after the speeches were over, volunteered our group to perform something as part of the cultural performances that followed. Students from the university were singing, performing dances and skits, and somehow we got talked into going up on the stage and doing some ridiculous line dance that seriously hurt my dignity, but I survived. When we tried to leave the program at 10:00 to go and get dinner, we were basically mobbed by students wanted to take our picture or take pictures with us. After we escaped and had eaten our dinner, I was more than ready to enjoy a nice warm shower and then go to bed. Unfortunately, as I was drying off from my shower, a cockroach of truly epic propotions skittered across the bathroom floor right in front of me and wedged itself in the space between the bottom of the door and the floor. After screaming my head off, I finally calmed down enough to tell the girls in our room what was going on. I’ve been in pickles before, but never like this. There I was, stuck in the bathroom with a cockroach longer than my index finger. If I opened the door, he would get into the other room and might skitter away somewhere that we couldn’t cath him. But if I didn’t open the door soon, he might turn around and skitter back at me! I wanted to vomit and cry at the same time. Eventually, we all calmed down enough to decide that the girls on the other side of the door would get a bucket and try and drop it over the cockroach as soon as I opened the door. After mustering every ounce of courage I possessed, I took a deep breath and opened the door. The cockroach didn’t move!! He just sat there, twitching his disgusting little antenna at us. After some serious coaxing on the part of my roommates, I slowly inched passed the creature and made it over the threshold, at which point I ran across the room and jumped on to the bed and curled up in a ball. After some creative thinking and serious heroics on the part of my new hero Megan, the cockroach was evicted from the room. Later that night, we discovered a frog and a baby cockroach in the bathroom, but were too tired and allowed them to live. The next morning the Vice Chancellor and several of the heads of department came with us to breakfast, and then we all said goodbye at the restaurant. We then headed back to VIzag in our air conditioned vans, although some of the girls were feeling a little worse for the wear. It had been a long couple of days and we were all pretty exhausted still, so we were a little less than thrilled when we stopped every half hour or so to be shown random things on the way home. It wouldn’t have been bad at all, except the university had sent along a newspaper photographer with us to take pictures of us seeing all the sights. It’s bad enough that people here stare at us and take picture of us on their cell phones where ever we go, but to have an annoying little man with a big camera following you around and telling you to move over there or over here so he can get a better candid shot was more than I could handle. I think I now have a better understanding of why famous people punch paparazzi and smash their cameras. By the end of the trip I was pretty surly looking in most of the group pictures, and when I saw him aim his camera at me I would turn around or hide behind someone taller. The beachside mini-temple and the hilltop temple were both beautiful and interesting, by all means, but we were more than ready to get safely back to our city.

Week Two

Well this week was quite an adventure. Telugu is coming along, although I really feel like I'm just fighting to keep my head above water when it comes to understanding my teacher when she speaks it. I'm learning tons of new words and doing my best to write the alphabet. Also this week I started making a little bit of progress on my research project! I met with some great, helpful people and went to some actual micro-finance meetings and met some of the women who have participated in the program. Also, I got some of my new Indian clothes made! My laptop's battery is about to die so I will have to post pictures next time, but for anyone reading this I'm alive and well!

Week One!

Its turning into quite an adventure out here! The other night there was a full moon, and our telugu teacher told us that we all had to go to the beach and see how beautiful it was with the moonlight on the water and the especially strong waves. Naturally, we all trooped down to the beach, which apparently is frequently used as a trash can and occasionally as a toilet. We were able to find a nice stretch of clean beach eventually though, and most of us went at least part-way in. I only went in up to my knees, but got splashed up above my waist! I still can't believe how warm the water is, or how strong the current is. Classes and research work have been keeping me pretty busy, no doubt about it. But I love the people, they are all SUPER friendly and happy, and want to give you things and help you with anything at all. I was at the church building the other night, thats where we hang out whenever possible because its air conditioned and has super powerful western toilets, and I beat a couple of the members at ping pong! It was really fun, and now I feel more of a connection to them. The men seem a little less intimidating after playing ping-pong and seeing them get happy and sad over a game just like I do, and the women were just excited to meet another girl who likes to play ping pong! I saw a monkey the other day just wandering around on the rooftops of the main street, that was pretty crazy. At the moment I am waiting for the tailor to bring me finished outfits, made from the fabric I went and bought on Monday. It rained for a tiny bit today, maybe 5 minutes tops. But what rain! It sounded like somebody was dumping a barrel over the side of a building it was coming down so hard and fast! And right afterwords it felt gloriously cool, a fabulous relief from the constant heat and humidity. Thats all for now!

Well here are some pictures of our apartment/house place. We have no kitchen, just two bedrooms, a living room, an entry foyer thing, and two bathrooms, in the loosest sense of the word. There are also pictures of my bed and the view from the window right next to it. The first picture is a close-up of that view, so you can see the bananas growing right outside my window! The second one is a picture of the view from right outside my front door, and the building going up right there. On the first afternoon that we were here two of the girls and I went up on our roof so as to best enjoy the sudden downpour, which is super cute and cool with benches and trees growing right over it, and the construction workers on the building were staring at us like we were crazy. Hope you all enjoy the pictures, I'll post more as soon as I can!

I made it here and I'm still alive!

Well, its been a pretty whirl-wind experience so far! There are lots of things that are incredibly different and I don't think anything could have fully prepared me for what I'd go through. I keep coming across things that I really think are just too much and won't be able to handle, but it turns out that I can! For instance, the squatter; that's what they call the toilets here, because thats how you use them. You just squat. But thankfully they do have a cistern attached and they flush super strong! I also was positive that I wouldn't be able to handle taking a cold shower using two buckets. The shower head doesn't work so you turn on the water and it fills up a big bucket while you scoop up water using a small bucket. I was terrified to use it the first time, but after the initial shock of freezing water it felt amazing! I think even if I had hot water I wouldn't want to use it, thats how hot and humid it is here. I have serious doubts as to whether or not my hair will ever be entirely dry until I leave. I'm trying my best to get to know everyone here and throw myself into the local language and culture and what-not, partly because being busy keeps me from feeling too homesick. Well its time for breakfast, but later I will tell all about my first auto-rickshaw ride, and how one of the planes
I rode on had misters on the ceiling that made it look like a night club.