News from Antonio!

I just got an email from Antonio's best friend who assured me that both he and Antonio were safe and well.  He said that most of the city is without electricity but that he mysteriously still has electricity and internet so wanted to assure me that they were all well.  Public transportation has also been halted.   I also saw on facebook that my Chilean host brother and his family are safe so that is good.  Just some minor damage, he said.  It is just in Concepción, Talca and the other cities in southern Chile were the earthquake hit most that there is more damage. Here is a website that is raising disaster relief funds for Chile for those who are interested. http://www.google.com/relief/chileearthquake/  I will write more as soon as I hear more from Antonio.  Thanks for all your emails, thoughts and prayers.

Earthquake in Chile

Hello,  As most of you have probably heard there was an earthquake in Concepción, Chile (south of Santiago by 200 or so miles) at 3 am Chilean time.  Santiago was also affected but fortunately was not hit as hard as more southern regions.   I have not heard from Antonio yet as they say that the phone and internet is down but I did see that another friend in Santiago had written on facebook that her and her family were all well.  I also have been keeping tabs on the news and it appears that a few of the old stone buildings in Santiago were damaged.  Antonio's house is of wood and though it doesn't seem the sturdiest, I am hoping that for this reason exactly it was able to wiggle around and not retain too much damage.   I will let everyone know as soon as I hear more from Chile.

An afternoon with Mom

Recipe for radish-carrot salad (what was part of my dinner tonight): 1) Shred one white radish (the long, skinny kind, called "daikon" in Japan), and one carrot (they are red-colored here and not as hard). 2) Cut (using sissors) one green chile pepper (it kinda looks like a green bean because it's so long) into tiny pieces. 3) Add peanut powder (smashed peanuts), sugar and lemon juice 4) Mix all ingredients together and serve - SUPER YUMMY! Biggest news of the day: I GOT ANTONIO'S VALENTINE'S DAY CARD THAT HE SENT ME!!!! (Finally).  He sent it on February 6th and if finally got her on the 22nd.  It made my day!  I was so happy that I had to call him (was too excited to remember that it was 4:30 am his time) to tell him I got the card and that I loved it.  =)  Although being a bit sleepy sounding, he didn't mind though.  He was just glad that it had finally gotten to me.   Other excitements: - It's weird but we're already at the mid-term.  My social justice mid-term paper was due this afternoon.  I can hardly believe that we only have 4 more weeks of classes!  They end at the end of March and then our research/ internships begin in April (I will be interviewing people on the conflict resolution strategies being used in the Hindu-Muslim conflict and analyzing what I learn).   - I bought a silk sari on Saturday!!!  It's turquoise with a maroon border and will have a maroon blouse.  I bought it from my seamstress when I went there Saturday to give her some fabric I had bought for a shirt (also picked out fabric for pants and a scarf to match) and gave her the sundress design I drew.  The sundress will have tank-top straps with a scoop-neck and back and be a sunny yellow with little white flowers embroidered along the neckline and skirt trim!  I'm so excited!!!   Interesting thing about talking to the seamstress about my sari.  I asked her if she knew of a good sari blouse seamstress/tailor and she said "No but you should ask your hostmother.  We don't wear those [meaning the saris]."  I thought it was interesting that she said "we."  I wonder if this has any class or caste implications?  I will have to ask someone from the program. Further excitement related to sari: my host mom took me to get the blouse made today.  The way it works is you buy the sari material and then it usually comes with a section that the sari blouse tailor will then cut off to make your blouse (which is kinda like a belly dancing shirt in length but more modest in the neckline and the shoulders are covered).  We walked to an apartment building not far from our house and went up to the third floor or so.  The room was tiny and kind of triangular.  The walls had peeling paint and looked very old.  It was a one-room with the kitchen on one end and bed on the other.  A sewing machine was against the wall and sari material was on the bed.  Sunita (I think) is her name and after we left Amma (my host mom) told me that she is very poor which is why she took me to her instead of the expensive tailors.  She didn't look poor though (which I've noticed a lot here - they may be poor but they take good care of their clothes unless they are really old or kids).   The seamstress had me take off my shirt (in front of her and Amma - which didn't and doesn't seem to be a problem here) to try on a sari blouse that Amma had brought so they could use it as reference.  The seamstress didn't speak English (or much of it) so they basically talked, pointed, measured, and gestured to me as they decided how long things should be.  I did request that the neckline in front and back be a little lower (Amma's is much higher than I've seen most women wearing now-a-days, and also less fabric the better as it is getting SO HOT!).  And the best part is that we will go back the day after tomorrow to try it on!  This is MUCH faster than I've heard it usually takes (especially because we are now in the wedding season).   When we were about to leave we heard a tap at the door and the most doubled-over little old lady I had ever seen wobbled her way inside.  She was almost at a complete 90 degree angle and had to grab hold of the walls and table as she walked.  She was short to begin with so with the 90 degree angle she was extremely tiny in comparison to my giant height (it felt like, also because Amma and the seamstress were about the same height and much shorter than me).   After the seamstress we bought some vegetables (I got to help pick them out - carrots, a radish, okra, chilies, a long vegetable that I am unfamiliar with, and lemons).  Then we went to what turned out to be an organics store where I bough Amla candy.  My host mom had given me a bag of it in my first few days and they are supposed to be a super fruit especially good for vitamin C so I wanted to buy some.  They also had "yog for digestion" and other "yog" for other ailments.  Not sure what "yog" is but I'll find out.  There was also a man's face all over things.  Amma told me he is a famous yoga teacher.  I noticed they had a yoga class chart on the window in English when we stopped to talk to some of Amma's friends.   The temple was on the way back home.  I wandered over to the English article from 2008 Newsweek about how there are more Hindus in the US or at least more people with Hindu-like beliefs.  It was interesting to read.  Meanwhile, Amma prayed to the main god (?) before going outside to pay respect to the medicine trees again (she did this the first time I came with her, too).   We then stopped to get fruit, some yellow spongy stuff for a snack (from the sweet shop across the street from us - they also let me try this spongy milk dumpling in milk sauce that was good), and I bought toilet paper at the corner store.  Then we returned home, ate our snacks and I went to study for a bit.  Talked to Antonio via skype so he could see how much I loved the card (it's a card/book that he put pictures in and wrote lots!).  Dinner of spicy beans and the salad with chapati (the tortilla-like things) which we ate while watching the TV (thankfully it was not the political debate channel like it has been in the past which is completely talking in Marathi - not so exciting for me).   I finished going through my notes for my small test tomorrow morning in Contemporary India and now shall go to bed.  I just wanted to write this stuff up before I forgot.   Tomorrow I will start my dance class - for real this time!  And I also have a short 800 word paper to write up but shouldn't be hard.   I will post pictures when I have more time.  Have a great week everyone!

How to make friends in a foreign country

1) Smile at people: a smiling foreigner looks a lot more approachable than a stony one.  And there's nothing like receiving a big warm smile in response to your timid one.  Though I don't always get a smile in return, it sure feels good when I do!  NOTE: only smile at appropriate people.  For example, here in India I only smile at females and children.  It could be taken the wrong way with men.   2)Ask questions: a question-answer conversation is universal and gives you a reason to approach a stranger.  Asking for directions can be confusing if you don't get someone who speaks your language very well, but questions places or stores are great ways to interact with people.   The other day we had to talk to at least five people about a specific cultural/social topic and then write a short summary of our findings.  I chose to ask people about Shah Rukh Khan's new movie "My Name is Khan" and see what people thought of the political group, the Shiv Sena's, protest of it (they are protesting it because they didn't like Shah Rukh Khan's statement that Pakistani players should be allowed to play on Indian cricket teams).  Because I had an an assignment to do, I was able to give my homework as an excuse to start up a conversation with some girls on the Fergusson college campus.   3) Frequent public spaces: the more people see you the more comfortable they will be about eventually approaching you.  They'll realize that you're more than just a tourist and are an at least temporary part of the community.  (Small interruption: my host mom just called me out of my room to show me the crecent moon and a lizard just scuttled across the floor in the hallway.)   I proved the effectiveness of this one today.  Earlier this week I discovered that the Fergusson library has a giant second floor dedicated completely to studying.  The boys study at tables on one side and the girls study at desks on the other.  I had been there once before but this time decided to stay for as long as I could and by myself (one foreigner is less intimidating than two).  A girl walked by my table so I looked up and we smiled at each other.  Then she said hi and came over to ask where I was from.  Apparently she studied in Germany for a few years and will study in New York next year so we exchanged numbers.  Yay!  (^_^)   Every day I walk home on the jogging path and the past few days now, the family who cleans the park has asked me what time it is.  They don't speak English and I don't speak Marathi, but thanks to hand gestures and the digital clock on my cell phone, we seem to get along.  I also always wave goodbye to their little kids.  And today they had an adorable puppy!! Instead of going straight home today after school I decided to sit on one of the benches and do my reading for class.  It's much nicer to read in natural lighting and the benches are fairly comfortable.  It's also fun to watch all the people walk past.  Around 6 pm there started to be a tone of walkers, talkers, bicyclists, and people of all ages in the park and on the jogging path.  I would smile at the women whose eyes I met.  After a while an older woman who had walked by me earlier sat down next to me and we started talking.  She told me in her a little better than broken English how she had been to NYC, Niagra Falls, California, and a bunch of other places on the East and West coasts.  We talked for a bit before I had to go home but I told her it was a pleasure and I hoped we would meet again.  Note to self: go read on the jogging path more often! So yeah, this week I realized that the only way for me to meet people was to get out there and meet them.  I had been feeling that my walk on the jogging path was my link to the real world and the social community but I finally figured out that if that's the case that there's no reason to just go from point A to point B!  Might as well enjoy the in-between and meet some people in the process!

Happy Valentine’s Day! 

I was cleaning my computer desktop and realized I neglected to send this out to everyone.  So it has become my Valentine’s Day Newsletter.  Oh, well.  Better late than never, right? 

This past year was amazing.  I started the year off in DC to witness President Obama’s inauguration then headed to Santiago Chile for a semester.  In Santiago I stayed with a host family, did an internship at an NGO, traveled to Patagonia to see the glaciers and to Easter Island to see the Moai heads, and had a wonderful time. While I was there, I also met my current boyfriend of nine months, Antonio, when he happened to be my first salsa dance partner in salsa class. 

In June I went to my cousin Kevin’s wedding in LA then headed to Perú with my brother and parents for a week before giving my parents a tour of Chile (my brother Nigel had to return to the US to be a camp counselor).  My parents enjoyed meeting my host family, internship supervisors and coworkers, and Antonio and his family.  Unfortunately our trip was cut short when we found out that my dad’s father, my Granddad, had passed away in a car crash.  It was quite a shock for all of us and we hurried back to Portland to be with family and deal with my Granddad’s estate.  I really miss my Granddad, but I like to think that he is with me whenever I travel or make a new friend.  He was one of the people who first encouraged my traveling and international education and was infamous for making befriending strangers (don’t worry, I only befriend friendly, safe people).  

Mid-August I returned to Washington, DC to start my junior year with the Washington Semester Program, a special program that brings undergraduate and graduate students from different universities all over the world to Washington for a semester to study one subject.  I enrolled in the Peace and Conflict Resolution class and was one of 19 students including two students from Colombia, one from Norway, one from Germany, and one from Denmark.  We focused our studies on the war in Bosnia (1992-1996) and had sometimes up to nine speakers per week who came in to talk to us including Ambassadors, NGO directors, survivors, politicians, and peace activists.  To enhance our understanding we took a 21 day trip to Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia and Austria to talk to all sides of the conflict there.

I also did an internship at the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, an organization that works on the campus of the Foreign Service Institute (diplomat school).  They interview past foreign service workers on their experiences working in different countries. 

My job was to sit in on interviews for personal knowledge, type up the oral histories into manuscripts, edit them, and make collections for certain countries from the interviews of all the interviees who had worked there and mentioned it in their interview.  I also wrote the index (just the numbers) for a book, “The Unofficial Diplomat,” a memoir by a diplomat’s wife, and transcribed and edited interviews with PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team) members in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the congress-mandated study.  It was very interesting work and I really enjoyed working there.  I learned exactly what it might be like to work for the State Department.  The most important thing I learned is that working for the State Department is something you can do at any time in life – all you have to do is take the test  (and pass it, of course).  We’ll see if I take it someday. 

Winter break I spent with Antonio and his family in Santiago, Chile.  I had an amazing 28 days laughing, swimming, eating, and enjoying the Santiago sun (it’s summer there).  It was definitely the best winter break I have ever had.  Antonio and I get along stupendously and always have fun.  It was extremely hard to leave Antonio and Chile but we are hoping that Antonio will be able to come visit me in the US in July.  Yay! 

Currently, I am in Pune, India, studying abroad until May 13^th.  I am living with a host family very similar to my Chilean host family: a 64 year old host mother and her 42 year old son.  My host mom, Rajani, is an excellent cook though her English is a bit broken and we often have an exciting time understanding each other.  Her husband died in 1995 of a heart attack so now she takes care of her son (and me).  My host brother Rajesh has an import-export business but mainly occupies his time with social activism: his latest success has been to halt construction of a pedestrian underpass which the community protested as being a project whose costs were to exceed its benefits.  He is quite the character and treats me just like a real sister (aka jokes and teases me like a real brother). 

I am studying at our program center which operates in cooperation with Fergusson College (we are located next door to it and use the classroom of its Alumni Association Building).  I am taking courses with the other students from the program on Contemporary India, Social Justice, and Gender and Social Caste in Film, a class that looks at how India’s problems have been expressed through films.  Thus far we have seen Sant Tukaram, Pather Panchali, Awara, and this weekend are to watch 36 Chaoringhee Lane.  I also will start Indian dance class this week (Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 – 8) and would like to do some yoga.  But we’ll see what happens.  =)  The last month or so of my time in Pune I will do a research project that will involve me talking with NGO’s, politicians, professors, students, and community and social activists.  I will look at the methods being used to resolve or attempt to resolve the Hindu-Muslim/India-Pakistan conflict.  Should be interesting. 

After I return from India in May I will most likely be in DC for a few days before returning to Portland, Oregon for the summer.  I am hoping to find a job and/or a paid or non-paid internship, preferably related to International Relations, Latin America/Spanish, or Japanese.  If everything works out, Antonio will be able to come for a few weeks and then mid-August will find me back in DC sharing an apartment or house with some friends for my last year at American University.  I will finish my International Relations major and am planning on doing a Spanish minor, as well.  I shall graduate in June of 2011!!!  Wow, I can hardly believe it!  Time sure flies when you are having fun.  Currently, the plan is that after graduating I will look for a job in Chile, but I have to see how student loans will affect things.

Besides my busy, crazy-fun, and exciting academic and social life, I do keep in touch with my family: my dad, Eric, is teaching at a K-8 school in Portland.  He did well enough on his spelling tests that he moved all the way up to sixth grade!!  =p  He is enjoying teaching and acting my Granddad’s estate as he is the Executor of his will.  My mom, Janet is finishing her first year of teaching.  She is a middle school Social Studies teacher for a Spanish immersion program, and also teaches Language Arts.  Although my mom loves Spanish, teaching is turning out to be quite the challenge for her but she is hanging in there.  My brother, Nigel is finishing his last year at Grant High School.  He is the President of one of his choirs and is in a men’s dectet outside of school.  And if all goes according to plan, I should get to see him graduate in June.  Yay! 

So that is my life in a nut-shell.  India has definitely proven challenging at times, and I am still adjusting to life here.  But in general I am very happy, very loved, and continue to carry out my email address: being a “world girl.” 

I will continue updating my blog and sending my latest posts out to everyone.  For those who do not already receive my blog update emails and would like to receive them, please email me and I will add you to my list. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

Love, Kaia (^_^)

worldgirl07@yahoo.com

cell (in the US): 503-807-3553

blog: www.kaiaslifeatau.blogspot.com

   

 

Antonio and I

January 4, 2010 in Santiago, Chile

Me, February 11th, 2010.

Don't worry, I'm all right!

In case you haven't heard, there was an explosion at the German Bakery here in Pune this evening (Saturday) at around 7 pm.  Eight people were killed and 33 were injured but the cause of the explosion is still unclear.  They suspect that it was a bomb, but the incident is under investigation.   Fortunately, no one from our group was there at the time so all is well!  I was eating dinner with my Indian classmate (my only Indian classmate and friend), at a restaurant far from the site.  We didn't actually know about it until my host mom called and told me that it would be best if I came home early.   Just wanted to let you all know that I am safe and sound.  I actually had a great day today: slept in, ate lunch with two other girls from the program, went to the house of one of them where we hung out for a while before going to a fair with her host mom to buy a shirt and some other beautiful Indian things.  =)  Tomorrow I will be going with my host mom to a family Valentine's day party and then Rajesh, my host bro, will come back from his overnight trip to Mumbai so that we can celebrate Valentine's Day a bit more.  =)   I hope you all have a great rest of the weekend!  Happy Valentine's Day!  I will let you know when I find out what the cause of the explosion was.   Love, Kaia (^_^)

My experience at the tailor's

I forgot to upload this Friday after I wrote it but this is a paper that I had to do for my Research Methods class.  The assignment was to visit a place in Pune twice to observe and interact with the people there.  We were to spend at least two hours or so in our chosen place.  I chose the tailor's and actually visited there three days in a row.  I will turn this paper in on Wednesday when I have the class. Enjoy! ~ Kaia (^_^) Cultural Observation: Stitching life together             "Go down Prabhat Road, cross a big intersection and then turn down the first little street you come to which should be Lane 11.  It will be on the first floor of the white building on the right."  These were my instructions, along with a map and a hastily written name and phone number that I was given to find my location of observation, the Seamstress'.  My professor had actually recommended her own seamstress to me after I admired her outfit.  "I'll tell you where you must go," she had told me, and so here I was wandering around looking for a seamstress' shop in a residence area.  I would have gotten there faster had I not gotten confused on which major street was which but after the local who I approached for help saw my scrawled map, recognized the "jogging path" and pointed me back towards the way I had come, I realized my mistake.  Another entreaty to a local passerby (on the right street, this time), and a phone call to the seamstress herself finally led me to the place.  If Mrs. Shroff, the seamstress, hadn't directed me via cell phone to the front door, I never would have found it.  There was no sign, no marker, no nameplate, no nothing to show that around the far corner of the building lay a tiny but magical workplace of cloth, thread and color.  It had been a busy day so there had been no time to reorganize some of the folded cloth that lined the walls and sat in stacks on the floor.  Kurtís of all styles, patterns and colors  hung waiting on the three racks which came down from the ceiling.  Each had their order stapled to the left shoulder so you could tell which belonged to whom.  Mrs. Shoff was helping another customer but welcomed me in and invited me to "Look around the shop and take whatever you like off the shelves.  We'll figure out what works later."  It took me 40 or so minutes of being there to recover my senses and be able to decide which of these beautiful fabrics I wanted to bedeck myself in.  Eventually I narrowed my choice down to one lovely dupata of peridot green that faded to dark blue on both ends.  I had no idea what it would match nor what to do next, but I had pulled something off the shelf as directed.  I handed the dupata to her and a minute later she had returned with a solid peridot green cloth and a solid, dark, blue-purple cloth.  They matched the scarf perfectly.  A few minutes later I had paid, been given an approximate date on which I could come try on the outfit, and had a vague idea of what it would look like: green salwar, and a blue kurtí with short sleeves and some simple embroidery on the front.  It was amazed and extremely excited.  "Come back anytime," she told me, "Even before your fitting."  She also offered her services for any western clothing that I might want made before I return to the states.   As I had been wandering around getting my bearings I had watched the many women coming and going from the shop.  Some came to try on things that were waiting to be fitted, others came to pick up the finished products.  One woman brought in a piece of clothing that she needed a matching dupata for: a few minutes later she left satisfied, dupata in hand.  Some stayed longer than others, depending on the nature of their visit and how many other customers were waiting.  Most of the conversations were in Marathi, but there would usually be some English here in there: colors or random (as much as I could tell) words for which they chose to use the English version.  Each woman who entered would be surprised to find me between the racks of hanging clothes.  Some would just smile before squeezing past to do business with Mrs. Shroff.  Others, though, would take more interest in me and ask where I was from and what I was studying.  Seeing my notebook and pen they asked if I was interviewing Mrs. Shroff.  "No, just observing and learning," I replied with a smile. Mrs. Sunita Shroff has been in the clothing business for nearly 30 years.  She first learned to sew from her mother and started making and selling cloth bags, tea cozies, and other such small items before moving on to clothing.  Business became so successful that she graduated from her original shop at her mother's house to the current location where she has been for the past 13 years.  The shop is not big.  Between the hanging racks, stacks of fabric on the floor and shelves of fabric on the walls it can quickly get to be crowded.  But with all the colors and the kindness of Mrs. Shroff, the size only makes the place cozy.  After you have shed your shoes outside the door Mrs. Shroff will welcome you in and tell you to "make yourself comfortable."  My professor even told me that one day Mrs. Shroff told her that she should just come to sit in the shop if she were ever feeling depressed.  That is the kind of woman that Mrs. Shroff is: her customers come first and her good relations with them are of the utmost importance.   When she mentioned that sometimes she gets same-day orders, I asked if she charged more for those.  "No," she replied.  "I'm not doing this to make that kind of money.  Some of my customers have been coming to me since the very beginning.  I do not mind doing it for them."  She was not surprised when I told her I had been directed to her by my professor.  "I've known Gayatri Chatterjee for 15 years," she told me.  "She always sends her visitors to me."  Word of mouth is the main way that people find her.  It has been several years since she would occasionally go advertise to the Western yoga students at the yoga center nearby.   People come from all over the city, state and even country to get their clothes made by her and her team.  She has nine employees: two girls who help her with customers, and seven men.  Two men cut the cloth, one does embroidery, and the other four tailors are at the old-fashioned (to my eye) metal sewing machines that are squeezed into the room.  Each tailor makes approximately three outfits per day.  Once a week a man comes into the shop to sort out the clothing scraps.  "We try to reuse as much as possible," Mrs. Shroff explained.  The big scraps get put into a pile to be made into the clothing bags in which Mrs. Shroff packages your purchases, and the tinier strips are used to make the handles of paper bags.  To provide the wide variety of patterns, cloth and colors that her customers love Mrs. Shroff travels around the country to buy her fabric.  Some customers come into the store with an idea of what color, pattern, or style they want but others, like me, just know they want clothes so wander around until they find something that fancies them.  Most of her customers are women but some men come in to get traditional Indian kurtaa.  She also has one Western man who, when he is in town, usually orders 25 Western-style shirts.  The only clothing that she does not make are saris.  "You need to fit the blouses a special way and it is very tricky," she explained.  "I started out with salwar kameez and I like it, so I will stick with that."  What's her favorite part about her business?  "The creativity.  And the fabric – I love fabric."  I had never been to a tailor's shop before coming to India.  In the US, tailors are rare and usually too expensive for the average person.  But here it seems to be a part of life.  You need clothes?  You go to the tailor's to have them make some for you.  And in designing the outfit yourself you are given a greater freedom of self expression.  The best part, however, is that you know who made your clothes, how they did it and how much time and care was put into it.  Mrs. Shroff encouraged me to stand in the doorway of the workroom to watch the tailors at work cutting, ironing, sewing and embroidering.  It was amazing the amount of care and precision that was put into each seam and article of clothing.  Each loose thread was carefully cut away and each stitch done with perfection.  Watching the ease at which they created a 3D masterpiece from the 2D fabric, my appreciation for them (and for all the people who make my clothes) grew immensely. Mrs. Shroff told me that she will let me know when they are making my outfit so that I can come in and watch them make it. I love the tailor's.  It is now one of my favorite places to go and sit whenever I want.   It was great just being able to sit and chat and meet the different people from the neighborhood and community.  And in the process I gained a deeper respect for my clothing.  I wish we had more tailors in the US.  It might be a little more expensive than ready-made clothes or the quick tailors on Lakshmi road, but for the care and quality that Mrs. Shroff and her tailors produce, every rupee is well worth it.

"Aal izz well"

Last night Amma (my host mom) took me with her to her temple.  She introduced me to all her friends and showed me around the place.  It's kind of like a community center rather than a temple.  It has a worship room, some offices, two small meditation rooms upstairs, a library on the third floor (I think she said) and all of the trees in the covered garden area outside the building are medicine trees and treated as sacred.  Amma walked three times (at least) around one big tree that had been decorated and was protected by a fence.  It was also fun to meet her friends, older women who live in the neighborhood with whom she usually chats with every day for thirty or so minutes.  She also told me that Tuesdays and Thursdays they have prayer so everyone comes those days. This morning I woke up early for a weekend( 8 am) and went to the movie theater with two of the girls from my program.  The movie started at 10:30 am but it was crazy to see how many people were there already when we got there at 9:45 or so.  It seemed as if it was already 4 pm or something!  The tickets were super cheap: US $2 approximately.  You buy tickets outside and then go through a metal detector and a bag search (they just put a metal detector wand in it to make sure you don't have any weapons).  We then were amazed to find that the theater was like a miniature mall!  It had a shoe shop, a bookstore, and excessory shops, along with the normal food booths (although we don't sell samosas in the US theatres).   The theatre seats are reserved, which unfortunately we didn't figure out until after we had bought our tickets individually but once we got in they just let us sit together in the front as we were foreigners, had come in after it already had started and no one was sitting there.  =)  The film was in Hindi with no subtitles but I sat inbetween my friends Jackie and Harvey who both speak Hindi fairly well so when I really didn't understand something I would go back and forth between the two of them for answers.  The great thing is that because Bollywood has so over-the-top acting, and because they mixed English in with it, I understood the gist of it.   The movie is called "3 Idiots" and has the famous actor Aamir Khan in it.  Here is the trailor and the funny music number from it.  And yes, the animation in the first trailor are indeed little sperms speeding towards an egg.  Don't worry, it didn't get any more graffic than that, but from the trailor I'm sure you will be able to see how ridiculous the movie really was.   Trailor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvszmNXdM4w Song (yes, they are saying "All is well"): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwIApTFkoTM&NR=1 The interesting thing about the movie is that despite it's comedic and ridiculous qualities, it actually addresses a serious issue: university suicides.  Apparently India is one of the countries with the highest number of university students who commit suicide due to the extreme pressure from their studies.  I believe it as just today I read in the paper about three University students who each committed suicide at different stages in their university careers.  So sad.  I have been told that Aamir Khan is known for making movies that are really silly and funny but always have a more serious message.   The rest of the day I spent at home talking with Marie, another girl from my program.  We started planning where we will go for the four-day break we get the 1-4 of April: Udaipur and Jaipur in Rajistan, the region in the north of India.  Should be exciting! Tomorrow Marie and I will try to make spinach and mushroom fetteccine for my hostmom (Rajesh is going to a concert so we'll leave him some leftovers).  Hopefully it will go well.  I don't have that much experience cooking and converting units will be exciting but I already warned Amma that if she doesn't like it she won't have to eat it.  =p Hope you all have a great weekend!  Oh, and this upcoming Thursday and Friday we will take two day trips to visit to different rural villages nearby.  Should be exciting.   And I saw an ox-pulled cart going down the street on my way to school yesterday.  I'm really going to miss that in the US.   ~ Kaia (^_^)

How many people can you fit on a motorcycle?

The most popular means of transportation in India is via motorbike.  They are small, fast, and less expensive than cars so make up the majority of the street traffic.  For many, they are the only transportation vehicle they have.   So Sunday while riding home on the back of my host brother's motorcycle from the amazing fort ruins we went to (Fort Pratapgad, I believe), we saw a couple and their three small children crammed on a bike.   And today while walking home from school I saw at least 5 or 6 college students crammed on one!  This of course, is not as common, and the 5 or so of them were whooping and hollering to bring attention to themselves.  =)   When you cross the street here you end up using your peripheral vision a lot as it is impossible to be looking both right, left and forward at the same time.   By the way, I decided to drop Hindi class and I AM SO MUCH HAPPIER FOR IT!!  Not only do I not have as much homework, but I have an extra hour every day as well as I don't have to go to class.  Yay!  This does not mean that I will not continue picking up words of Marathi and Hindi.  But I will do so on my own time, without the pressure and criticism of the Hindi teacher.  Went to the tailor that my film professor suggested and have ordered a beautiful deep blue top and peridot pants to go with the lovely peridot and blue scarf that I found there.  I am very excited!  It was a little more expensive by Indian standards but still only totaled $23 US dollars for the entire outfit plus embroidery on the front and everything tailored so I am happy.  Also, it was an adventure getting to the place and the lady was really nice so it's all good.  =) 'Till later! ~ Kaia (^_^)