In four days that I have been in India I have had more new experiences than ever before in my life. From eating entirely different foods to learning Gujarati and Hindi words, living here has kept me very busy. I wake at 8:30am most days, have a nap in the afternoon, and stay up until late at night, at least 2am. This is a typical schedule when one does not have school, as I don't until after I return from Mumbai to see my host brother off to the U.S.A. Abhishek (Abhi), 16, is going to Florida with Rotary Youth Exchange and Pranav is going to Texas for engineering masters education at Lamar University. I will start school soon at Sanskar Vidhya Bhavan (a private high school) in 11th grade or 11th standard as they call it. I will go with with Marie, the only other exchange student staying in my city of Bharuch. She is here from Germany. We will both learn Gujarati and Hindi. I also will take traditional dance classes to prepare me for Navratri, a nine day festival filled with dancing late into the night, and go to the Rotary Youth activities center for sports.
But this is what will happen. What have I actually done in the past few days? (Warning: This is a long post. I didn't intend for this to be so long, but I have much to say!)
Day 0/1: I left Boston airport bound for New York JFK airport at 10:30 am. This means I had to wake up that morning at 5:30 am, a ridiculous feat, in order to get to the airport 2.5 hours earlier as recommended. When I arrived in JFK I had a short layover during which I rode the airport train to another terminal and boarded a plane to Delhi. The plane was large, ten seats across, and the flight was long, fourteen hours total. That is six hours longer than any flight I had been on previously (only thanks to an 8 hour flight to Idaho recently, in which we stopped in four cities before actually arriving in Boise). I wore my navy rotary youth exchange blazer and people in the seats next to me asked me about what it was about. One random kid in the Boston airport even complimented it. On the plane to Delhi I slept about 6 hours total, which greatly helped when I arrived because I didn't experience any jet lag. When I arrived in Delhi I had a mixup with my checked baggage and customs but fortunately one other woman going to Ahmedabad also had this problem and she was able to speak with the airport authorities on our behalf and get the problem resolved. By this time everyone around me was Indian. The plane ride to Delhi was many families with young children either visiting the U.S. or returning from a visit in the U.S. I was impressed how they all handled the long flight. Of course the T.V. screens on every seat helped. In Delhi I caught my flight to Ahmedabad. It was a short trip and I arrived at 7:30 PM Indian Standard Time. At Ahmedabad I met my family outside the airport as no one but passengers are allowed in.
First thing I saw was my host brother Abhishek waving at me from outside the window. Then my host mother presented me with a wonderful smelling garland of magenta flowers and we took pictures together. It was drizzling and dark out at this point. We got in a car driven by a non-member of the family (who I later learned was a paid driver just for the occasion, but the car is owned by my family), my luggage was strapped to the roof, and off we went, giving me my first experience with Indian traffic. We encountered many traffic circles and tollbooths as we sped along on the left side of the the road. A ride that I thought was 2 hours was actually 4 hours and we also stopped at a restaurant (called hotel here) and had my first real Indian food. When we arrived in Bharuch we pulled into my neighborhood (called a society here) and parked on the side of the street at my house. And for those of you who know a little of India--yes, there were lots of cows on the streets. I was given the traditional Indian greeting at the door after removing my shoes. My host mother placed a red dot on my forehead and stuck rice in it before waving a tin plate with a single candle in a circle in front of me. Then I was allowed to enter and meet my other host brother Pranav and my maternal and paternal grandmothers living in this joint family, as it is called. You would think we would go to sleep as it was near 2 am, but everyone stayed up later, especially my host brother and I (we finally slept at 5 am)--don't ask how I managed it, I was on some sort of excitement high.
Day 2: We woke at 8:30 am (again, don't ask) and went to quickly meet my brother's head of departments and principal at his school (Amity School) in Bharuch. After we returned I was told we were going to a farewell to my brothers/welcome to me dinner at a friends house. First we went shopping for nice shirts for my brothers and we bought Indian burgers (vegetarian or just veg as they say here, vs. non-veg). They were delicious, but I tried a pepper too and it was very very spicy. I also didn't have any water and had to wait until we could buy some mango juice, which is also delicious by the way. We then crossed the famous 150 year old Golden Bridge or Narmada Bridge into Ankleshwar for the dinner. Turns out dinners are eaten very late here (at least for me, we eat at 6ish at my house in Peterborough), like beginning somewhere between 9 to 10 or even later as was the case here. The house was incredibly nice and we ate lots of snacks (bites) while the two families talked a long time in Gujarati/Hindi while I listened for those times when suddenly they would ask me a question in english and it would sound just like everything else they were saying and I would miss it. But as for understanding the Indian accent on the whole, I feel very comfortable with it for the most part and I am trying to be talkative like the good exchange students in the U.S. I don't find this hard because I get along really well with my host brother, he speaks very good english, and we talk a lot. I will miss him when he goes to Florida for exchange (his blog for your reference, I actually helped make it: http://abhishekinorlando.blogspot.in) I'll have no one to talk to at home, except for of course my parents.
Day 3: This is the day I went back to Amity School for a presentation on Mahatma Gandhi by a man who directs and translates books at the National Book Trust of India. The presentation was in Gujarati but my host brother translated a little. All the students sat on the floor (I think it was just one grade, because they have about 3,000 students in the kindergarten through 10th standard) and we sat in lawn chairs at the front of the class. We were introduced and later taken on a tour of the school. From what I understood of the presentation Gandhi is considered the father of the nation and his beliefs on non-violence and the path of truth are very much admired. The students sang some of his favorite songs as well as what I believe is the school song. On the trip to the school I met for the first time, Marie. She is from Germany and the only other exchange student in my city. My city is very small by Indian standards so there are not tourists here, people see us and stare sometimes, but not as much as I expected.
Day 4: I woke up at 10am, in NH that would not be sleeping in for me, but here it is late. We didn't have to do anything in the morning but later in the day I got to meet the family that will be my second host family. My host brother is good friends with my future host sister so we walked around the city a bit and just talked. I also went to her house and got to see the room I'll be staying in. Her family is very nice and her younger sister is adorable. After this I went to another farewell/welcome party, this time at the neighbors. Some of the food was too sweet for me, but most of it was new and delicious. My parents back home think I am a picky eater but here I like almost everything I try. I prefer spicy to sweet however. Sweet here is like maple sugar candy--very sweet. Later that night I presented my gifts to my host family and Abhishek proceeded to eat a maple sugar candy popsicle in one sitting. I knew he would like it.
Day 5: This was by far the most exciting day so far for me. If only for the reason that I got to ride with Abhi on a moped-like bike to the vegetable market. We went so fast (I swear it was way faster than any U.S. moped) through crazy traffic. It felt incredibly liberating and exhilarating. Of course I was a terrified the whole time though. I loved it.
But this is what will happen. What have I actually done in the past few days? (Warning: This is a long post. I didn't intend for this to be so long, but I have much to say!)
Day 0/1: I left Boston airport bound for New York JFK airport at 10:30 am. This means I had to wake up that morning at 5:30 am, a ridiculous feat, in order to get to the airport 2.5 hours earlier as recommended. When I arrived in JFK I had a short layover during which I rode the airport train to another terminal and boarded a plane to Delhi. The plane was large, ten seats across, and the flight was long, fourteen hours total. That is six hours longer than any flight I had been on previously (only thanks to an 8 hour flight to Idaho recently, in which we stopped in four cities before actually arriving in Boise). I wore my navy rotary youth exchange blazer and people in the seats next to me asked me about what it was about. One random kid in the Boston airport even complimented it. On the plane to Delhi I slept about 6 hours total, which greatly helped when I arrived because I didn't experience any jet lag. When I arrived in Delhi I had a mixup with my checked baggage and customs but fortunately one other woman going to Ahmedabad also had this problem and she was able to speak with the airport authorities on our behalf and get the problem resolved. By this time everyone around me was Indian. The plane ride to Delhi was many families with young children either visiting the U.S. or returning from a visit in the U.S. I was impressed how they all handled the long flight. Of course the T.V. screens on every seat helped. In Delhi I caught my flight to Ahmedabad. It was a short trip and I arrived at 7:30 PM Indian Standard Time. At Ahmedabad I met my family outside the airport as no one but passengers are allowed in.
First thing I saw was my host brother Abhishek waving at me from outside the window. Then my host mother presented me with a wonderful smelling garland of magenta flowers and we took pictures together. It was drizzling and dark out at this point. We got in a car driven by a non-member of the family (who I later learned was a paid driver just for the occasion, but the car is owned by my family), my luggage was strapped to the roof, and off we went, giving me my first experience with Indian traffic. We encountered many traffic circles and tollbooths as we sped along on the left side of the the road. A ride that I thought was 2 hours was actually 4 hours and we also stopped at a restaurant (called hotel here) and had my first real Indian food. When we arrived in Bharuch we pulled into my neighborhood (called a society here) and parked on the side of the street at my house. And for those of you who know a little of India--yes, there were lots of cows on the streets. I was given the traditional Indian greeting at the door after removing my shoes. My host mother placed a red dot on my forehead and stuck rice in it before waving a tin plate with a single candle in a circle in front of me. Then I was allowed to enter and meet my other host brother Pranav and my maternal and paternal grandmothers living in this joint family, as it is called. You would think we would go to sleep as it was near 2 am, but everyone stayed up later, especially my host brother and I (we finally slept at 5 am)--don't ask how I managed it, I was on some sort of excitement high.
Day 2: We woke at 8:30 am (again, don't ask) and went to quickly meet my brother's head of departments and principal at his school (Amity School) in Bharuch. After we returned I was told we were going to a farewell to my brothers/welcome to me dinner at a friends house. First we went shopping for nice shirts for my brothers and we bought Indian burgers (vegetarian or just veg as they say here, vs. non-veg). They were delicious, but I tried a pepper too and it was very very spicy. I also didn't have any water and had to wait until we could buy some mango juice, which is also delicious by the way. We then crossed the famous 150 year old Golden Bridge or Narmada Bridge into Ankleshwar for the dinner. Turns out dinners are eaten very late here (at least for me, we eat at 6ish at my house in Peterborough), like beginning somewhere between 9 to 10 or even later as was the case here. The house was incredibly nice and we ate lots of snacks (bites) while the two families talked a long time in Gujarati/Hindi while I listened for those times when suddenly they would ask me a question in english and it would sound just like everything else they were saying and I would miss it. But as for understanding the Indian accent on the whole, I feel very comfortable with it for the most part and I am trying to be talkative like the good exchange students in the U.S. I don't find this hard because I get along really well with my host brother, he speaks very good english, and we talk a lot. I will miss him when he goes to Florida for exchange (his blog for your reference, I actually helped make it: http://abhishekinorlando.blogspot.in) I'll have no one to talk to at home, except for of course my parents.
Day 3: This is the day I went back to Amity School for a presentation on Mahatma Gandhi by a man who directs and translates books at the National Book Trust of India. The presentation was in Gujarati but my host brother translated a little. All the students sat on the floor (I think it was just one grade, because they have about 3,000 students in the kindergarten through 10th standard) and we sat in lawn chairs at the front of the class. We were introduced and later taken on a tour of the school. From what I understood of the presentation Gandhi is considered the father of the nation and his beliefs on non-violence and the path of truth are very much admired. The students sang some of his favorite songs as well as what I believe is the school song. On the trip to the school I met for the first time, Marie. She is from Germany and the only other exchange student in my city. My city is very small by Indian standards so there are not tourists here, people see us and stare sometimes, but not as much as I expected.
Day 4: I woke up at 10am, in NH that would not be sleeping in for me, but here it is late. We didn't have to do anything in the morning but later in the day I got to meet the family that will be my second host family. My host brother is good friends with my future host sister so we walked around the city a bit and just talked. I also went to her house and got to see the room I'll be staying in. Her family is very nice and her younger sister is adorable. After this I went to another farewell/welcome party, this time at the neighbors. Some of the food was too sweet for me, but most of it was new and delicious. My parents back home think I am a picky eater but here I like almost everything I try. I prefer spicy to sweet however. Sweet here is like maple sugar candy--very sweet. Later that night I presented my gifts to my host family and Abhishek proceeded to eat a maple sugar candy popsicle in one sitting. I knew he would like it.
Day 5: This was by far the most exciting day so far for me. If only for the reason that I got to ride with Abhi on a moped-like bike to the vegetable market. We went so fast (I swear it was way faster than any U.S. moped) through crazy traffic. It felt incredibly liberating and exhilarating. Of course I was a terrified the whole time though. I loved it.
