Bombings in Mumbai; American Cultural Program

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This morning after breakfast I picked up The Hindu newspaper and sadly on the front page was a photo of a man who had been injured in the 3 bombings in Mumbai last night. Mumbai is also known as Bombay. The bombings were at only a few minutes apart. They killed 21 people and injured 141. I was able to finally talk to my mom on the phone for the first time being here. She said my aunt in Hawaii asked what part of India I was in just to be sure. Thankfully we are far away from there but this is a shocking reality. People can be so distraught that they think the solution is to bring harm to others. I know there is a lot more to this than the knowledge I have but it's still such a tragedy. To see the photos of the various people injured is so sad. I just couldn't look away from the newspaper. In lighter news, today is our American Cultural exchange program. We are hosting an event in which all the different people we have met here in Kerala can come and get a taste of our food and culture. Some students went to a local grocery store and purchased a plethora of different groceries. All the undergrad and a few of the grad students got together last night and started planning the events. We decided to put on a fashion show of our American clothes, we collaboratively wrote a dramatic poem reflecting some different aspects of our experience here, some students are performing a duet song, and finally we are singing "Imagine" by John Lennon and "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley. These moments are the ones I cherish and appreciate. I am very excited for the event because many of the people I have met here and become close with will be attending. I'll tell more later~!

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