Week 2

Ok, everyone. My little game of catch up is still ensuing, but hopefully my updates will fully be up to date after writing this today.

Last Friday was the last day of the full week of classes. I was so exhausted after all the exploring we had done that week that I just went home and chilled, reading and napping.

Krista and I had made plans for the next day, Saturday, to go shopping in the Old City, which is the part of Jaipur that is walled and is painted pink. The Old City makes Jaipur India's Pink City. Anyway she and I wanted to go shopping while the rest of the group of students went to a Ganesh fair at the temple. It is apparently the time of the year to celebrate Ganesh, so everyday it seems they are doing something special for them. At this fair there are apparently thousands of people, which was only one of the reasons I was less than enthusiastic about going. So Krista, who is from Buffalo, NY and goes to Hampshire College in Massachusetts, and I went shopping. I bought a few things, but I was mostly trying to see what they had. After we finished we headed up M.I.Road to the McDonald's next to Raj Mandir, the movie theater. McDonalds here is very different than in the states. First off, since eating cows is strickly taboo, there are no burgers. Secondly, since most of India is vegetarian (or veg) there are alot of different option than there are for veg people. It was quite an adventure picking out what to eat, and she and I apparently caused a tad of a spectacle. We decided to eat by a window, a bad idea in a mostly touristy area. We had numerous rickshawallas and street children waiting for us when we left, and we had to repeatedly say no to them, until our little crowd abandoned us.

Sunday the whole group of students went sightseeing in the Jaipur area. We spent the day at numerous places: Amber Fort, Jaigarth(the site of the worlds biggest cannon, I can hear your ooh's and ahh's), Jal Mahal (a palace built in a lake), Hawa Mahal(the wind palace), and Jantar Mantar (an astrology park, its the only way to describe it). Of all the places we saw I think Hawa Mahal was the most interesting. It was built when women in India were still under purdah, which is the act of veiling publicly. The wind palace has large lattice windows and screens, so women of the palace could watch what was happening in the street without breaking purdah. It was very interesting, and I am not sure whether it is called wind palace because wind can blow through the crack, or perhaps it was named because the women would speak amongst each other and it sounded like wind. Who knows!

On Monday it was my 22nd birthday. My host mom was very gracious and all 13 students came over to my house after school to celebrate. We had samosas and pokaras (Indian Appetizers/snacks) and after the day was done I had had two birthday cakes. Mrs. Singh is such a sweetheart. That morning she gave me a marigold garland, which is used I think to celebrate a special event. She also gave me a necklace and earrings set, bindis, "birthday bangles", a purse and a pair of sandals. She was also the hit of the party with the other students, and it has prompted everyone to say randomly all week how sweet she is.

Tuesday was a school day, as usual. Because of my birthday Rajul, the hindi teacher, had postponed a field trip in which we were to use our hindi. So, she took us to a local vegetable market where we were supposed to barter in hindi for vegetables we were pretending to buy (the sellers knew our negotiations were fake). When we got to the area, we ran a few errands first as a group, like to the post office. Even with my hindi I couldn't get across that I needed to buy stamps to send a letter overseas to America, so instead I just bought aerograms. Then the whole group of us students went across the street to the market. Just as we were starting our "negotiations" the police showed up and started tearing down the market and yelling at the subziwallahs (veg sellers). Turns out that the sellers just assume occupancy of a vacant lot to set up the market, which is illegal. So they are tearing things down, while Rajul continues to try to teach hindi! A few of the students (me included) were a tad uncomfortable being in such close proximity to a sting operation (I could literally SEE the headlines in the papers). It was just about this time that a group of 15-20 street kids noticed the group of Americans hanging out and decided to go up to us and beg. They were literally infiltrating our ranks, and Rajul started to ask the police for help. None of us students were moving because we hadn't been given permission, so it was such a crazy scene. Finally we were given the aok to move, and we all took off. I headed home to run some errands and debrief after the insanity that we caused.

Wednesday was a long, long, long, school day. Literally 6-7 hours of nonstop lecture. AWFUL!! I had been designated by the group to go to the rail station and pick up a copy of the schedule for everyone to use when we plan our trips out of town. Krista and I had a tough time finding an auto, and so we had to walk farther than anticipated. Once we were out of the train station we had another auto driver who seemed a little shady to us. Krista was lying through her teeth,
"Where are you from?"
"Canada"(not true)
"Why are you going to Raj Mandir?"
"To meet a friend."(not true)
"Canadian or Indian?"
"He's Indian" (not true)
"Do you need a ride back?"
"No, he has a car."(not true)
The entire time this guy talked to us and we were just a tad uncomfortable with that. We really feel like he was just trying to be nice, and we felt bad about being mean. When we talked with the whole group about it the next day, Kevin (from Colorado) said that maybe we were just mean enough to him that he thought he couldn't get away with something with us. I was telling Krista just today too about what my mom always says, to follow your intution. If something fells shady than follow that feeling and don't be nice just because you think you have to. When I got home, around 6:15, Mrs. Singh came in saying I was late and we had to go. She was also talking about how there is no answer on "her" mobile and how we are late. I was so confused, I didn't think we had anything to do. Turns out she had made arrangements to go to a fashion show/beauty pageant that night and I was late! She wanted Garland who lives around the block to come too. She was the "her" who wasn't answering her mobile. In quick action we headed out the door and hailed an auto to take us to the auditorium. Thanks to "Indian time" we weren't late at all, because the show started 40 minutes late. It was a very sweet thing for Mrs. Singh to do, but I was so tired by the time I got home (10 pm) that I just fell into bed and slept the whole night.

I think that is all for now. I am almost caught up with my days! I hope you enjoy these little notes about what is happening here.