First week blues

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My first week here has been somewhat tough. My initial reservation against accepting a placement in India came back to haunt me as I have been having a tough time adjusting. The biggest obstacle for me has been the language barrier between myself and the office staff as well as with most of the people I am surrounded by on a daily basis. Since most of the office staff speaks Tamil exclusively, it has been a struggle to start figuring out my place within this organization. There are about 30 people on staff and most of them are field workers who come into the office about once or twice a week. I have had the opportunity to accompany them on some field visits in the targeted urban slum areas within Madurai, accompanied by a translator of course. The effect that this language barrier is having is such that on one hand I have had to give up a large amount of independence and allow myself to be led by others and on the other hand I am having to learn how to be alone a lot of the times. One of the reasons I was reluctant to do my internship in India was my familiarity with the culture, a lot of which I have already rejected. Madurai is still a very orthodox place culturally. women are predominantly sequestered within the domestic sphere and so although they may work outside of the house, their main responsibility lies within the household. Men and women don't socialize as freely, however I can't speak for other areas in the city as I do live in a working class neighborhood. In that manner it has been especially difficult to find people who may be like minded. So in all honesty I am going through a fair bit of culture shock. On the subject of whether I am treated as an Indian or a foreigner all i can say is that I think most people still don't know what to think of me yet. At the moment I am being treated mostly like a guest which can get pretty uncomfortable fast. For example everyday I walk into work and my male co-worker stands up and offers me his desk. He literally picks up all his things and moves to another desk...everyday..despite my repeated attempts at explaining that I have my own desk. Last Saturday when I attempted to go home for lunch, I was told that the driver had already gone to a nearby hotel and brought me a meal. I have had to assert my independence more overtly but again it is difficult to communicate that being treated like a guest makes me uncomfortable. All in all its been a trying week as work has been slow and so has my life outside of work. For now i think that keeping myself occupied is probably the best way to get through this rough patch. Therefore I am proposing to myself a to do list:

Take Tamil lessons
Go swimming!
Take Guitar lessons
Read all the books I have always wanted to read

Lots of people have been really supportive and encouraging and I want to thank them!

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