Blogs from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, Asia - page 20

Today was a good day. We had a holiday from school, but a field trip planned with CIEE. We went to see a NGO called MV Foundation at work in a nearby village. MV Foundation's basic slogan is "Children out of work, and into school." Basically it works to eliminate child labor in villages in Andhra Pradesh, and to get them into the formal education system. It was very interesting to hear about how they've gone about doing this in each village, and the challenges they faced. What we visited today was called a "Bridge Camp." Bridge camps are set up to provide the children with an initial crash course in schooling and basic education. Some of the quicker children complete as much as seven grades worth of material in one year. A syllabus is constructed ... read more

I promise I'll write an actual entry at some point--just wanted to get these photos up...... read more

I should have gone into town today. I figured that since Nani and Nana's plane was supposed to arrive at 5 this evening, I should stay on campus in case the plane actually arrived on time. But I wasn't too surprised when I got a phone call at 5 pm from them saying that the flight was very, very late. Oh well. This has been a lazy lazy day. It's Republic Day, so no school, and lots of sales in town...sigh. I would like to have some salwar kameez suits tailored, mostly because I would like to go to a fabric store because that's lots of fun. I also don't have any salwar kameez, I just have some mid-length kurtas that are at the tailor getting altered. I was supposed to pick them up yesterday, but ... read more

Mocha is a coffe bar that serves coffee drinks, desserts, dinner items, and hookah. I wasn't going to go tonight, but then Sienna mentioned something about chocolate, and I realized that there was no way I could resist. I ended up ordering something called the "Chocolate Avalanche Jr." I'd hate to see the Sr. version, because Jr. was enormous. And I now have satisfied my chocolate craving for the rest of the month, after going through half of the chocolate truffle, chocolate mousse, chocolate fudge, and chocolate brownie. Oh yes, and the chocolate ice cream too. Admittedly, it was a bad idea in the end, but worth the initial satisfaction. Hookah, for some reason, consistently makes me nauseous now. I used to enjoy smoking hookah quite a bit, but now even the smell makes me feel ... read more

Went to the IMAX complex to watch a Hindi movie last night. It was great--we arrived at the mall an hour early, wandered around and ate dinner. We watched "Guru," starring Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan. It had been received well by critics, and lived up to my expectations. The music was great--done by A. R. Rahman. No subtitles, but all of our Hindi peer tutors came along and translated some of the crucial moments, so I had a general idea of what was going on. My Hindi skills are at the point where it's just frustrating for me to watch a Hindi movie, because I can catch so many various pronouns and verbs, but still have no idea what's being said. Early in the movie, Rai and Bachchan get married, and apparently, at the movie's ... read more