Rose mV

I often find myself saying "normal routine" on my blog entries. I find it funny that this feeling of normalacy is present because I know that in the beginning, this definitely was not so. I wish I hadn't been so culture shocked at first so that I would have had the energy to write each and every odd thing down because now I don't often notice them. And this is bugging me because you, as the reader, probably have no idea what my "normal" life is like here. You only hear about my truly out of the ordinary experiences and not the odd little ones. So after about six months of being here, I will carefully pay attention to each and every little odd thing I see and do until I am satisfied that I have ... read more

I promise you I really did write a blog entry for November and some of December, the internet just went out right as I was completing it and I've been busy since. Anyways, insert the last blog entry (written early, mid-December): This month was probably the fastest one yet as I was constantly moving around from hotel to train to bus while touring the south of India. It was full of great sights and great food and great companions. The group was of eleven people, including myself: two from Germany, one from Canada and the rest from different parts of the U.S. like Oregon, Minnesota, Ohio and Vermont. Our group not only got to see great sights but we were also perceived as one by anyone we met. We all had fun warding off the many ... read more

Let me just start this blog entry off by apologizing for any grammatical errors that may appear here and for ones that have already appeared in previous posts. My written English is not what it used to be. I've already lost count of how many times I've had to use the backspace key. But please don't jump to the conclusion that this is happening because I'm in India and maybe Indians are bad at English because as far as I can hear, they're really not. My spoken English has actually improved, I'm usually no longer speaking in what my Telugu tutor calls the "fast sleeping way" that Americans use. I haven't even used "uh" in a sentence since the last time someone asked me what the word "uh" meant. So why is my writing terrible? Maybe ... read more

You may recall me mentioning being pleased to be the center of attention. Well I am now able to inform you that that center has had a sudden increase. How? Well a festival (Ganesh's birthday) that involves the whole village dancing to drums out in the street (while marching to place the Ganesh idol into a river, Google for more info) mangaged to catch my interest and get me out on the street doing the same. Fortunately enough my family and their employees had the whole set-up: 5 foot Ganesh idol in auto rickshaw, drums and people more than willing to dance and celebrate. Half-way through the march I was finally coerced to join in with the dancing and near the end I found myself being called out by speakers onto a stage. "And we have ... read more

While at first I wasn't exactly ecstatic to start college for six days a week in the middle of what would be summer vacation for me all the way to April, I've come to realize and appreciate the reason why the work days and weeks are so lengthy here: there are so many different holidays that must be celebrated! Aside from that, there are also the very random and often "Teleganan Bands" (basically protests for a seperate Telegana state resulting in closed schools and businesses) and "homesick" holidays at my college (originally for just the girls boarding but enough of us made a fuss). But if you are wondering why I'm enjoying avoiding the student part of "Rotary youth exchange student," it's because there's not only a lot more time for me to explore the place ... read more

Well I am finally here in India, sitting in the living room with my family, waiting for another delicious breakfast! So much has already happened even though I have not even been here a week. Here is a list... 1. FAMILY: There are four members in my host family; a mom, a dad and two little sisters, 6 and 3. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met, all very caring and giving. We live in an apartment above one of my host father's businesses in the middle of the city (I call it a city because it's 1.2 million people but they call it a village because it is considered very small in India standards). 2. FOOD: I want to make a note that I have never been so full for so ... read more