A bunch of random stuff

So here is a blog based off of some random pictures that I have taken and others that Amy D. has given me that are regarding India.

So I was trying to describe what idli is to my mom. This is a picture of idli with chutney on it, and then there is a chapati on the side. It all tastes great.

Jaci did a henna design on my hand. Isn't it beautiful? She is really good at it, she has been giving everyone a henna design on their hands.

I was doing sudoku one afternoon and one of the translators brought me this plant. It is very funny: they are called lovebirds. Don't they look like it? I love it.

Glo bought a TV for her project, which has to do with women in Telugu movies. So sometimes we have movie nights in her room - so fun.

There is this drink called Maaza here. It is a mango juice. We like to drink it - these are pictures of the time when we first all went out and got some.

They have a million men's beauty parlors. This sign made me laugh. Nothing like a "cute cut" for a manly man.

From one of our beach excursions. We like to go Sunday afternoons, it is just a nice activity. Very beautiful. We can enjoy God's artwork.

Amy gave me this one. Yes, there really are signs that say this. But don't worry. They aren't everywhere. You can urinate on other street sides.

An Indian Wedding

Karuna (a good friend and translator) took Amy D. and me to her cousin's wedding. We didn't get to stay for the whole thing (there were ceremonies and such that were going to be happening past midnight) but we did get to see some great stuff!

Here is the couple that were to be married.

We got to give the couple our blessing, which meant putting rice on their heads. 

This is some of Karuna's family 

One of Karuna's relatives: super cute baby :)

This is the bride when we came to visit her.

She had some intense henna on her hands, it was awesome.

When we were leaving, I looked up and saw that the sky was actually breathtaking. Usually it is just gray, but this day it was just plain beautiful. A good ending to the day. How romantic for a wedding :)

Movie Studio, Monks, and Cemetery

We went to a studio where they make Tollywood movies (that is what Telugu Bollywood movies are called). It was pretty, but we didn’t do a whole lot of touring because there was some sort of function going on that we couldn’t get into. But the movie studio had a temple nearby and a beautiful view of the beach and of nature. So we weren’t disappointed.

Look at these awesome lions. They were at the temple near the movie studio.

The movie studio - how grand it is.

A view of the beach near the movie studio. It was so pretty, the picture didn't quite capture it though. Sorry.

Then we went to these ruins that were super old, where Buddhist monks used to live. We loved it so much, we took pictures of us all together. We even did some jumping pictures, which were my favorite. I don't have those yet, but I will get them from Sam and add them later. I think that was the first time I have seen jumping pictures turn out great on the first take. The only reason we took more was because it was so fun.

This is the place where the monks would get their water from. Tasty. It looks like Shrek's swamp.

Cool looking ruins.

Here are a few of us.

Then we started a fun photo shoot, haha.

This is us, the paper dolls. Okay, and yeah, the jumping shots came after this, but you will have to wait for a TBC. But don't you fret, it will come.

Then we made our way over to this church to get permission to go inside a cemetery. On the way we saw a wedding procession going on. There are weddings like every day here now because it is the month of February. I hope to actually get to go to a wedding celebration soon.

These pretty flowers were at the church. Aren't they wonderful?

Then we went to the cemetery and the beach next to it. The beach is called Lover’s Beach. Totally appropriate for us to go to since in two days was Valentine’s Day :)

I found a few cool shells. I might keep them, but then, I always find cool shells at beaches, and I never know what to do with them later.

The cemetery was pretty cool. We loved it, and it was helpful for Kirsten because she is studying cemeteries for her project.

George Ripley - get it? R.I.P.? Okay, yeah. It is just almost funny.

I think these were some sort of tombs, but they were huge. Don't you want to be buried under one of these?

So the trip was so great that we were left exhausted by the end. We were so glad to get to go though!

Chicken Soup and the Macarena

So I went to the bookstore yesterday, and guess what I saw there?

Yeah I know. I didn't even realize such a book existed. Although I should have figured, they have Chicken Soup for every category existing. Although I just googled Chicken Soup for the Antarctic Soul, and they don't have that one :)

My other adventure yesterday: super fun! We celebrated a celebration called Basant, which was a blast. We went over to the house of Sam’s friend (someone he works with for his project) and we ate lots of delicious Indian food there. 

This is the five of us students with our new friends.

The decorations for Basant were beautiful. This is a chalk drawing, which they love to do here.

Honestly, it was kind of like Christmas. There were Christmas lights, and here is even a little tree with lights on it.

Then, we started to get to know some of the kids our age a little bit more. They were all guy friends of our host. They gave us these herb things that were wrapped up in leaves, which were supposed to help us digest better. It was interesting, it tasted a bit like bubblegum. It took the guys a while to get us to eat them (we Americans are not in the habit of eating strange things that are wrapped up in leaves, so it was a weird concept), but we gave in eventually (maybe because some of the boys were pretty cute – we couldn’t be complete wimps in front of them). Then we had lots of fun talking, learning names, taking pictures with their phones, etc. 

Things were winding down, and everyone was about to leave, but Sam and Amy Drake whipped out a dance they learned, to show the Indians how we dance. It was awesome, they are pros. Then a few of the Indian boys did a dance for us – it looked like it might have come off of a Bollywood movie they had seen. Then for some reason they wanted to see me dance too. Ha. Well, as everybody knows, I don’t even know how to dance, so I flat-out denied doing such a thing. But then Amy suggested that she and Sam and I could do the Macarena for them, which I partially remembered, so we did that. They liked it, so Amy taught them how to do it.

When it was time to leave, the boys were kind enough to help us find a rickshaw to get home in, which was a good thing because it was a little late for most rickshaws to be out. Sam thought he smelled alcohol when we got in the rickshaw, but we did end up getting home safely, which I am very glad about.

Life at the Moment.

I received an interesting compliment the other day. I was at the Jalari Village, which is where I do some of my interviews for my project, and the people there said that I looked like the moon. When my translator told me this, I was a little bit unsure if that was a good thing or not, but she told me it was. I don’t really know what it is supposed to mean, but my friends think it is probably because I have a round, white face. Haha. Oh dear.

I have been learning how to cook a few things with the cooks at our house. It is super great because then I will be able to cook all my favorite things when I get home. Exciting, eh? I just hope that I can do it as well as them, which sometimes I doubt, but maybe I can get somewhat close. I also bought a few small cookbooks so that should I ever want to try something else that is South Indian, I will have legitimate recipes.

We haven’t been doing as many trips now, which I am a little bit grateful for because I have lots of work to do. I have been working hard on my research, going with the translators to different places to interview a bunch of people about marriage and dowry. I feel like I am learning so much, and I am very grateful to have this opportunity.

Our Telugu language class is pretty difficult, but we do get to enjoy some humorous parts. Like how one of the first verbs we learned was “To Beat”. I guess this is an important verb to learn here. Hopefully I won’t actually need to use it that much.