Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens...

I started making a list of my favorite things in India and was soon humming the 'Sound of Music' song about favorite things. I'll probably have that song in my head now for a few days...oh well. Keep in mind, the state that I'm in, Kerala, is actually a nicer state in terms of poverty, education level, and job wages, so I'm really not exposed to the bad parts of India. Once I do see those parts, though, I will be sure to compare my experiences.In the mean time, here are some of the best things about India so far:

The Cows and Goats: 

Yes, the cows and goats roam around in the street. Not as much in my region, but it still happens. It is true that  traffic will stop or go around a cow in the road, they are respected just as much as other living things. It may just be me, but the cows seem to look happier here :)

Tropical Cows

This cow is right outside of my house, just taking an afternoon stroll. 

The Beach: 

That's pretty much self explanatory, I will always love beaches and being near the coast, a beach trip will always be in my near future for the next 5 months:) The only negative is I have to travel far to go to a beach that permits swimsuits. Some beaches you can still swim, but no one will wear a swimsuit, just their normal clothes. Also, the beaches that do have swimsuits, women usually only wear one pieces, so I will have to make that purchase soon.

The Arabian Sea

Cherai Beach

All of my fellow American classmates

The scenary:

 Everywhere I go there is something to be seen. While there is a lot of poverty and grime in India, there is always some beauty to go along with it.

Pond at Cherai Beach Resort

Fort Kochi Shore

Underneath a palm tree

The cheap stuff: 

Basically, going out to eat and getting a full lunch or dinner costs no more than 2 dollars. Bus rides are always around 25 cents or less. The exchange rate is approximately 57 rupies per dollar, So our money goes a long way here. Although, electronics and clothes are similar in price.

This was a buffet table at a  resort restaurant. It cost 300 Rupies for this buffet, which is approximately $5, and it was nice. 

Resort Restaurant

How nice people are: 

I'm sure I may be getting tired of people coming up to us in about a month, but for now, I'm fascinated at how happy people are and how they want to talk to us. Almost everywhere we go, people approach us just to say hello and ask where we are from and what we're doing. Sometimes it's led to some nice and interesting conversations with strangers, sometimes it's a hello and exchange of basic information. Regardless, I definitely am feeling the sense of community here, and pretty much feel safer here than in Baltimore.

Walking past these men, they smiled at us, said hello, and wanted us to take a picture of them. 

We were at a store buying clothes. In this store they have stage for entertainment. We were watching musicians and dancers perform and the next thing we know, they wanted the Americans to come  up on stage and dance.

People taking pictures of the Americans dancing

We were invited to this wedding even though we've never met the  bride and groom. 

The sustainable living: 

My campus is focusing on becoming a Zero-Waste campus and they are actually very close to that goal. When we eat in the cafeteria, we wash are own dishes and place them back in the pile to be used. We discard wasted food into a compost pile. We also sign up for our meals so our cooks know how much food to make, so there will be no waste. The trashcans on school always have a bio-degradable one next to it. They also don't use plastic. Unfortunately, most of India isn't as sustainable as this, but our school is working toward developing programs to help implement these concepts, especially since the sanitation here isn't great.

Biodegradable Trashcan on Campus

Good reminder to turn off the lights

The Playgrounds:

All the playgrounds I've seen in India look amazing. I only wish I had one like this as a child.

Right now this is all I can think of, but I'm sure there will be a round two of my favorite things to come.....

Address

I forgot to post my address in the last post. So for those of you who would like to send me love letters or love packages my address is:

RAJAGIRI COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
RAJAGIRI P.O, KALAMASSERY, KOCHI, KERALA, INDIA
PIN 683 104

Also, my international phone number is 9142271589 in case anyone needs to get a hold of me. I'm not sure what the international code is to dial to India but I'm sure you can figure that out through google.

Okie Dokie. Until next time!

The Basics: Part II

So, I showed you all a little bit about my daily life, but I didn't really show you my school or campus. So before I get into the analysis phase of my blog, I will provide some photos and descriptions about my school.

For those of you who may not know, I am attending Rajagiri College of Social Sciences. It is located in Kalamaserry, India which is pretty much a suburb of Kochi. Kochi is a big city, but Kalamaserry is smaller and has more of a local feel to it. The actually college of Social sciences in not very big, maybe 100 students in total. But, it is a BEAUTIFUL campus.

Ok, so anyone jealous yet? They DO have guest houses on campus for about 5 bucks a night...just throwing that out there. Anyway, obviously I love being on campus. The environment is great and all the staff and students are wonderful to us foreigners. Everyone in the school can speak English, but apparently our accents are so heavy sometimes they don't know what we're saying (I always forget that I have an accent to others...weird). The classes are also in English. I will be taking Social Work in the Field of Health and Urban and Rural Community Development. Hopefully, the view out of the classroom window won't distract me too much.....

 I will also be doing an internship here. It will either be at Cultural Academy for Peace-which is a program aimed at gaining women empowerment by providing health and education services to women in need, OR at Rajagiri Outreach Program- which is a program working with migrant workers and HIV/AIDS. I may end up doing a little bit of both (India is flexible that way) but we will be visiting field sites this week and I will have my final placement by the end of this week. 

So, as you all can tell, I'm doing great. I've already learned so much, including a lot of Malayalam, the language they speak in this region of India. I've been compiling a mental list of my favorite things so far and things that I've learned for future blog posts. In the mean time, feel free to post any questions or suggestions. 

Tata!

The Basics

Update: I now have my suitcase in my possession and my bank card works! Yay! I also start my classes tomorrow :)

So I know some of you are curious about what I'm doing on a day to day basis, so here are some pics and descriptions of daily activities. 

My House

This is actually a really nice house that I'm staying in. I live with 4 other girls who came from UMB. My house is also right across from my school. There is no street name or numbered address, so I will post my mailing address at the bottom. 

My Bed

So, this is where I sleep. I sleep with just a sheet because it is so hot. We have a fan, but the mosquito net is so effective that it blocks a lot of the wind from coming inside. So many times I wake up sweaty, but that's India.  I also feel like Indians don't like or care about comfort that much because that pillow there, might as well be a brick. I could probably knock someone out with that pillow! But I bought another pillow today and I'm pretty pumped about it!

My Western Toilet!

You have no idea how pumped I am about this toilet. There is only one western toilet on campus. The rest are squattys, basically a hole in the ground. I will say I have yet to use one, but I know it's inevitable. Some of the other students say it's actually more convenient, but I'm still holding off for as long as I can. FYI, that little spray thing on the wall is for spraying down your junk, as opposed to toilet paper. Kind of nice to have the option. 

My Shower

So I'm definitely already starting to appreciate the small things. A lot of people here bath with a bucket, and as much as I want to be acclimated into the culture, when I get up in the morning, I don't want to put that much effort into my bathing process. Although, there is no hot water, so all my showers are cold, which can be nice sometimes given the heat here, but I'm still taking a little while to get used to the cold water.

The Inside of my House

 

The Living Room

The Dining Room

The Rest of my room, sort of.

The Kitchen

                                                                        

Where I Eat

The is the dining hall that I eat in everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 'The foreigners' always eat at their own specified table with different food because I think they serve us less spicy food. We always wash our own dishes right after we eat and then wash our hands because WE EAT WITH OUR HANDS ONLY, or I should say hand. We aren't supposed to use our left hand, the left hand is seen as dirty, so we just use our right hand. 

Food!

 This is a typical mean, rice with some sort of curry sauce. There is also a rice paddy bread thing to help scoop food. Take note of the pink spoon, that is my niece Olivia's spoon that I took with me to remind me of her. I don't use her spoon, but I take it with me to my meals! 

Acclimation?

This is me eating with my hands! I haven't fully gotten used to it yet, and it is obviously very messy, but I'm trying. There are also no napkins btw, so it's pretty much a dirty process. I will likely pick up some nice habits and go back to the States and people will think I look like an animal when I eat.....oh well :)

The Suitcase of Doom

Well, I made it safe to India after arriving at 3:30 in the morning on Thursday June 14th. But I did not, however, arrive sound. I can't even being to explain how the last few days  have been. Hopefully you all have a few minutes to read this because this is going to be a long one folks.

As many of you may know, I put in a lot of effort trying to make sure I packed efficiently for carry-on size luggage.  I DID NOT want to check my bag. Well that all went to shit with an overprecauscious ticket taker at DFW. He took my boarding pass, glanced at my bag and said "Eh, I think that may be a little big, we'll have to check that miss." I reluctantly handed it over to them, thinking I would have plenty of time to get it back at JFK. That was the last time I saw my bag.

This is where it gets complicated. My situation is different because I bought two separate plane tickets. One ticket was from Dallas to JFK. The other ticket was from JFK to Kochi. So when I was told to check my luggage in Dallas, I told them my final destination was JFK so I could pick it up at JFK and carry it on to Kochi. I was supposed to arrive at JFK at 4:10pm, however, did not end up arriving to JFK until 6:30 and my next flight started boarding at 6:45. Needless to say, when I arrived at JFK I was a wreck. I hadn't even checked into my flight from JFK to London yet. I tried, trust me, I tried. I originally tried online but it would not let me input my passport information. So, I tried at DFW at the American Airlines gate counter and they told me I had to check in with Gulf Air, since that's who I booked with, despite that my flight from JFK to London was operated by American Airlines. Then, when I found out ON THE PLANE that my flight would be delayed, I tried to call Gulf Air to check in over the phone. They told me I had to check in with American Airlines first since my first flight was through them. I called American Airlines, they told me to do it online. I couldn't, still. This is when shit got real. I don't think anyone would want to have been around me at this point. I swear, I think I had a mini panic attack because I saw that I was supposed to check in AT THE LATEST an hour and a half before the flight left, and sitting on the plane, not moving, I realized that wasn't going to happen.

Upon arrival to JFK, I ran to my gate, and I mean ran.  Thank god my first plane ticket was operated by American Airlines as well because it was in the same terminal and I didn' t have to go through security. I find my gate and there is 4 people in front of me waiting for help. I wait there breathing heavy and sweating . There is only one airline worker operating the counter and the printer for the boarding passes weren't working. At least 30 people were now in line behind me because they were waiting for their boarding passes, impatiently. People kept cutting in front of me because they just needed their boarding passes. Well I needed to check in and I became very agitated with those people. Come on, what do you think a line is for people? 30 minutes later and after almost everyone has boarded the plane, I find out that I can still check in and board, but since my baggage was checked and it was a separate ticket, I couldn't  take my baggage with me unless I wanted to go out to the baggage claim and go back through security. Obiviously, if I did this, I would miss my flight. As I'm talking to the airline worker, tears just start coming down my face. "What do you want to do miss?"  I couldn't miss my flight. So I walked on the plane, crying, about to leave the country with just what's on my back. (Keep in mind, I packed thinking I would have my suitcase with me, so there wasn't much in of anything important in my backpack).

Once again, my flight was delayed, and once again, they didn't tell us until everyone already boarded the plane. We arrived in London at 8:40am , our flight boarded at 9:15am, and if any of you have ever been to Heathrow airport, you know, changing terminals is a bitch.  I was supposed to stop and talk to the American Airlines people to send my suitcase, but it was either talk to someone and miss my flight, or make my flight and delay the fate of my suitcase. Once again, I was forced to choose to leave my suitcase behind. It took about 35 minutes to get to my gate, but my friends got stuck at security so I decided to try and talk to the Gulf Air gate workers to see what they could do. After trying  and failing to convince Gulf Air to call American Airlines about my suitcase, I knew there was nothing I could do until I got to India.
Finally, I arrived in India after 2 days of flying, and virtually no sleep or hygiene maintenance. I immediately looked for a lost luggage office. There was no office, or counters or signs. There was just a big room of people, scrambling around to find their luggage at the baggage claim. I ended up stopping a lady with a badge and asked her, who do I talk to about about lost luggage. An hour and a half later I had filled out a form requesting my suitcase to India.

Since I was without a suitcase, I was without toiletrees and clothes. I only had the clothes that I was wearing, a pair of pajamas and an extra pair of underwear. When we arrived at our house, we didn't go to sleep, we showered, went to breakfast, and went out to go buy things. I soon found out that my card didn't work, anywhere. I had $10 in American cash. SHIT. My fellow students were kind enough to buy me some basic toiletrees and I used my $10 at a mall for a shirt, bath towel and 7 pairs of underwear. I tried calling my bank from a phone booth, but at that point I had no idea that to dial the US you dial 001 first. Then, I realized my cell phone has service here, so I tried calling from my phone.  Didn't go through. I was getting frustrated. No money, no phone, no internet, no suitcase, no sleep.

I finally was able to talk with the person in charge of our stay here. She allowed me to call my sister to help me figure out my bank situation. Until then, the school loaned me money so i could buy clothes. My fellow roommates bought internet and me and my sister were able to work out my bank card situation. Whew, one hurdle jumped. Our coordinator also had someone call the airport to check up on my bag, it is supposedly in route, last place it was in was Abu Dabi. Now I'm feeling like I can breath again, but I won't completely feel comforted until my bag gets in my house.

 After all that, however, I realized I'm still here and everything is just fine. India is beautiful, (hot as crap though) and I'm surrounded by great people. I know that if I can survive this I can survive just about anything. I'm sure that this is a lesson I was meant to learn and I always said I need to be able to handle my stress better. Well, what better way to learn than to go through an extremely stressful situation and come out on the other end in one piece. Now I see unplanned  mishaps as less of a problem and more of just a part of life.  Even though I'm sitting here in my sweaty clothes that I've worn for the past few days, I know I'm blessed to be here and I wouldn't have it any other way. I can't wait for more adventures!

P.S. More photos to Come :)

Goodbye and Hello

Why hello there. Welcome to my blog. I'm going to do my best to keep all of you updated on what's going on with my India experience with lots of photos and more importantly, my thoughts. I want this to be an authentic experience for everyone so I'm going to try and  be as candid as possible. I apologize in advance if my thoughts aren't quite pc or pg.

So I'm off to India in the wee hours of the mornin' tomorrow. So far, I've been able to keep myself together pretty well while saying all my goodbyes, but I can now tell you that there's nothing like sitting at a Mexican restaurant and starting to cry for no apparent reason. This is, of course, what just happened. I THOUGHT  'I'll  be fine, it's just 5 months,' but as it's happening I'm surprised at how much I anticipate missing everyone. Luckily my sister and my mom were there to comfort me.  Of course I'm exited for what's to come, but there's a certain surreal feeling that I'm experiencing, different from just moving across the country. I also just realized this is the first time in my life I've spent the night in a hotel alone, which doesn't quite help my nervousness, but I have to admit, makes me feel a bit more 'adult' if you will. So, I'm hoping to get some good sleep tonight and minimize the waterworks. Hoping for smooth sailing ahead! Wish me luck!