Highs and Lows

To be completely honest, I have been procrastinating with uploading something on here. I didn't want to post because the past two weeks were not very exciting so I was scared that I would disappoint anyone reading. Plus, I've been very emotional recently because I am starting to miss home. There have been other things going on here that haven't made the experience the best either. So, I have been waiting for something really exciting to write about. I have finally found some things to say!

This last week and a half has been very rough for me emotionally. Last Wednesday, my little brother moved away from home to begin his college experience. This is such a huge time in his life that I am missing out on because I am on the other side of the world. He has been there for almost all of the important things that have happened in my life and I missed one of the biggest ones of his. My brother and I are enrolled in the same college. I love and hate our conversations where he tells me everything that is happening on campus. It really sucks that I am not there for his first trimester. I have been in contact with a lot of my friends and family throughout the week giving me too many mood swings.

Before coming here, I had several conversations with the girls who had done this study abroad program. I was told numerous times that this program would be tough. I remember one girl saying, “If you can get through this program, you can get through anything”. I don’t know why but I have been taking their words with a grain of salt. I have seen some really troubling things here but none of them were things I couldn’t handle.  Sunday was the most mentally and emotionally draining day I have had here. I had to go somewhere I never thought I would have to go: the hospital. I am fine, health wise. I went to support someone who is becoming very important to me. I will not go into detail about what exactly was wrong with them. Pretty much, after several visits to the clinic, it was decided to that getting the person to the hospital was needed.

There were so many things that I witnessed and experienced that day that I wish I had not. We went straight to the ER when we got there. Unfortunately, we could not enter the doors because we did not have a slip to get in. After about 20-30 minutes we were able to get the slip and a stretcher. Stepping through those doors was overwhelming, there were so many stretchers and people in there. They don’t have curtains so you saw everything. They don’t have space so every available space is occupied by people in the rooms and hallways. You can’t get a stretcher unless you have an ID so a lot of patients just laid on the floor. Doctors/nurses do not navigate patients through the hospital so the people with the patient are responsible for pushing the stretchers around. After getting in, the doctors checked the patient then told us to wait. A little later, we were given prescriptions. After walking to the pharmacists, we realized that we were there to pick up needles and medicine. That still blows my mind. My heart nearly broke when I saw an elderly women screaming as her deceased brother was wheeled out of the hospital on a stretcher. The man was barely covered with a sheet. After returning back to the emergency room entrance about twenty minutes later, the body was still just lying on the stretcher in the middle of the walkway unattended from what I could tell. I saw a child urinate in the middle of the hallway while no one said anything. I witnessed the nurse check on more than four patients without changing her gloves. She administered medicine, took notes and touched them all with the same gloves. The still cannot believe everything I saw. If I get sick, God forbid, I am going straight home or Europe because I can't fathom the thought of being a patient in that hospital.

In happier news, I have a new favorite store. It is seriously is the store of my dreams. It's really touristy but whatever, it gets the job done. There are really cute clothes and jewelry. I really love how cheap they are. I bought five pairs of pants, four shirts, two rings and a pair of earrings for 1700 rupees which is about 28 USD. I went back the next day with the rest of the girls and of course I ended up buyng something. I bought two pillowcases and a large mat that I plan on using to decorate my room in America. I also, what things I want to buy my family and friends back at home. 

Also, the girls and I are finally making friends around our age which I can honestly say is making my time here so much better. The other night, one of the other girls and I went to dinner with friends. We rode around on there bikes, which was so much fun. I had never been on a bike until coming to India. Bikes in America terrify me because they go so fast but here they excite me. I can now say that I have been on 5 bikes! It was Ivy's first bike ride. She had the biggest smile on her face from start to end. On our way home, she was so excited that she actually started screaming. Two nights ago, we went out again with more friends. We started by riding around BHU. Then we wanted to experience being on one on the highway, so that happened. We drove to the middle of the Ganga Bridge where we just looked at the water for a while. Then we went to dinner, really good by the way. We then went back to the bridge for a few minutes. We ended our night by sitting at Assi Ghat. Last night, we walked around with the guys to try different street foods. I was so nervous the whole time because I thought one of us would get sick since we were advised not to trust street food. I woke up fine this morning so I guess it is safe enough. Then of course, we went to another ghat. I am so glad we made some friends because I have seen so many parts of Varanasi in the last few days that I never knew existed. 

I have recently returned home from my vocal class. Usually I am given a ride home but there is a concert being hosted at her place so I took a rickshaw. My teacher's father insisted that I take a cycle rickshaw. Cycle rickshaws make me feel so uncomfortable but I didn't want to argue. I feel so bad for the men (especially the elder men) peddling while carrying the weight of their passengers for so little money. Anyways, we had to go over a small hill so he had to get off of the bike and push. Even though we agreed on a price, I gave him more because I felt bad for him. Tomorrow, we will be going on an outing with Rajat and our Hindi teachers to Ramnagar to visit a fort and to also see Ramlila which tells the story of Rama. This  should be interesting because their is never a dull moment with us girls and our teachers. 

Four Weeks In(dia)

I can’t believe I’ve been living here for four weeks. It seriously feels like I have been here longer than that. I realized that getting through these next few months will be a lot easier than I originally believed. We got a copy of the tentative master schedule last week which helped us get a better ideal the rest of our time will go. I am really looking forward to October for several reasons but I won’t tell you all why for a few more weeks!

At the end of my last post, I said that I wasn’t feeling well. The next day, was even worst. I had flu-like symptoms which made me think that I had malaria. I was in no way being unrealistic about this maybe diagnosis of myself. During my first week here, I forgot to take one of my anti-malaria pills so I jumped to the conclusion that the one missed pill gave me malaria. Thankfully, I started feeling better the next day so all is well! No malaria for me!!! I have been making sure that I take my pills EVERY DAY since I had that scare.

Two weekends ago was such a wonderful one! We spent time with our chota bhai (little brother), Ankur. His family went back to their village for the weekend however; he had to stay in here on the campus since he had classes. So we invited him over to the guest house to watch movies and play Uno (his new addiction, seriously). The movie we planned to watch did not have subtitles. So we decided to surf the web and play Uno until Ankur could not keep stay awake anymore. On Sunday, we went to the malls with Ankur who triples as our brother, bodyguard and translator. After we had lunch in the food court, ice cream, and did a little bit of shopping we headed home. Ankur had to go to a physics study session so we hung out with Sunil in the café until study time was over. We then went to dinner with Ankur at a hotel nearby. It was really nice, the restaurant was outdoors.

So, the “mouse” in the house has been the topic of discussion lately. I woke up at 6AM last Tuesday to the sound of rattling. When I went into the living room, I noticed what I assumed was a rat inside the mouse trap. Anyways, I left campus for a while to teach a singing class at the rural campus. When I returned my friends were telling me about the “chachudar” that was in the trap. I thought that was just the Hindi word for rat but oh no! Chacundars are Asian house shrews. What the heck?! We told our Hindi teacher about it in class which got a big reaction from her. Supposedly, they bite. She told us a story about how she was bit by one when she was 10 years old while she was sleeping.

The view of the Ganga at the rural campus!

Since the students finished exams, last week was relaxing for them. The teachers planned various activities for them to do throughout the day and they were given half-days all week. The crew and I were asked to help by doing an activity with various classes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. So I did music, Shadi did dancing, Elizabeth and Maddie did art ad Ivy did English and theater. The whole week was leading up to the Teacher’s Day celebration on Friday. There was a big program coordinated by some of the older students. There were songs, dances, skits and games throughout the morning. Our very sneaky chota bhai got us all called on stage to participate in one of the games. The participants had to dance on a mat with a partner until the music stopped. After each the mat was folded, making it smaller. Ivy and I, being the competitive people that we are, got creative. After a few rounds, I jumped on her back, which is something I don’t think people had seen before then because we got a huge response to that. Ivy and I ended coming in third place.

Teachers Day Celebration!

This past Saturday, we took a trip to Allahabad which is about 3 hours away with Rajat (his is the guy in charge of us during our stay). About halfway into the trip, we pulled over to the side of the highway to buy chai from a chai stand. It was seriously some of the best chai I’ve had here and I’ve had some good chai! When we got back on the road we ended missing our exit and went to the wrong toll booth. So we had to turn around and literally ended up driving the wrong way on the highway for a few minutes. It was terrified. We told Rajat that something like that could not happen in America and responded, “Well this is India!” When we pulled of the highway in Allahabad, some weird things happened. First, we pulled over to ask an officer for directions and for some odd reason, the cop was paid after arguing with Rajat and the driver. We all heard the word “passport” being said a few times so we don’t know if the cop was paid off for us not having our passports with us or if it was just a tip for helping us. We tried to ask about what happened but the answer we got made absolutely no sense at all. Then as soon as the officer walked away, a man jumped on our car trying to get us to take a ride for the river so he can take us on a boat ride. The man refused to get off of the truck for a good minute and a half. Finally, he got off. After driving for a bit, another man approached the truck wanting to lead us to the river. So we drove for a few minutes with the man hanging on the outside of the truck. Once at Sangam, we were literally swarmed by men trying to persuade us to take a ride on their boat. However, they couldn’t comprehend that we were uninterested so we quickly left from the beach area and returned to the truck. We then visited a fort and two temples in the area. We found a mall and ate some delicious food and ice cream in the food court. Our last stop was the home of the first prime minister of independent India which is now a museum.  

On Sunday, we went to dinner at a Rajasthani restaurant with Rajat, the mehndi (henna) teacher, her daughter and one of the drivers. The waiting area consisted of large hammocks for everyone to sit one. The food there was really good! There was a technique to eating our food. I forgot the name of all of the dishes but you are given a small bread ball like thing that was filled with paneer, a bowl of dal (lentils), another bowl of a potato and eggplant mixture and chutneys. You first have to break the ball into small pieces. Then you pour the dishes over it. Finally you add chutney. You then smash it all together with your hands and enjoy. SO GOOD! The plates were made of dried leaves stitched together and the bowls/ cups were made of clay. The meal was concluded with a mouth refresher of sugar and anise. This is something we have been served at almost every restaurant we have been to.

Yesterday was the first day of my internship. I found out about it fifteen minutes before my class was supposed to start so I was really unprepared. Luckily, Ivy and I both got placed with Class 8 and our internships are similar. Ivy is showing the students how drawing can be used as a tool to discuss topic that may are harder to discuss. And mine is using writing and music as a way to do the same. Ultimately we both want to get the students to think more deeply about issues such as body image, caste and gender. And discuss ways to promote more positive thoughts about them. So every week we will have a different theme (body image, respect, confidence, colorism, beauty, etc.) and on one day the girls will do art while the boys do songwriting then they will switch for the other day. Since it was the first day, we had a joint discussion about positivity and brainstormed possible themes. Then for the last 20 minutes, we split into groups and talked about colorism. I am really excited for this because the kids have so much to say during discussion!

About an hour ago,  we came back from an art workshop. Also today is Ivy’s birthday so everyone is in a good mood and “happy feeling” in the words of Sunil! We threw her a surprise party after dinner in the cafe with two of the didis, Sunil, the guard and his kids, and the driver and his kids. 

I would like to apologize for the huge gap in this post from my last post. Things have been hectic between taking my classes, teaching classes and just living over here in general. Once I get used to my new schedule, I will be able to write more often hopefully!