Time is Weird

I remember one Saturday night in October 2011, back when I was just beginning the Rotary process and had no idea where I would be spending the 12 months following graduation, when my friends and I were running all over the Carleton campus and stopped in the Arb to sit on a rock and look up at the stars.  We began to think about how small we really are in the universe and, naturally, this led to an in-depth discussion of quarks and relativity including time travel and time bending.  This profound conversation led me to a simple conclusion: “Time is weird.”  My mistake was to speak it, because it only earned me several minutes of my friends’ laughter and a year of teasing.  However silly, I maintain that it was a valid conclusion.

The reason I brought up this memory, apart from simply recalling a great night with all my friends back in Northfield, is because today marks one month since I have been in India.  It is really difficult for me to believe – one month!  Thus far I have measured my time here in weeks, but now I can think in months.  One month sounds so much longer than four weeks.  At the end of my first week here I was sure it had been a month, but time has only gone in reverse from there.  Now that I have actually stayed here an entire month, it feels as if it has only been a week.  Pretty weird.

A month seems like such a long time (I have already been here 1/10 of my exchange – crazy!), and I have gone through a lot.  On the car ride to Pune from the airport, I was riveted by everything I saw out the window, but now a rickshaw ride through the city is merely a part of my daily routine.  That is not to say that everything is familiar to me, I doubt I will accomplish that even by the end of my exchange.  It is, however, becoming a part of my everyday life and that is promising.  I am extremely excited that something initially so foreign I now regard as normal.   I do not think of it as boring that I am getting used to my life here, I regard it as really cool that I have been able to adapt to this new culture so quickly.

It is not only an accomplishment to have made it this far, but I also think of it as a solid beginning to my exchange.  I have certainly had my ups and downs, but I have experienced so much.  I have learned volumes about Indian culture, American culture, myself, and what parts of human nature transcend different cultures.  My time here has been invaluable, and I still have so much time left, so much more to see and experience!  The completion of my first month here has given me a renewed sense of purpose and a new enthusiasm which I hope will last me a long time.  Peering into the future, I have a lot to look forward to.  Some highlights of the (the ones that I know of, at least) include playing dhol for the ganpati festival (this will be the subject of my next blog post), starting yoga, finally meeting the other exchange students, the many festivals over the next few months, and potentially joining soccer, ultimate Frisbee, or a gym for some exercise (hard to believe, but I miss it).  Anyway, I’m going to wrap up this post, but look forward to hearing about all the awesome experiences I am having!  

Idle Time

I have been relatively idle the past few days, but there are a few events that I think merit sharing.  First, my sister (the one from the Raksha Bandhan picture) is seven months pregnant and so there was the Hindu equivalent of a baby shower for her last night.  The event was held on the outskirts of Pune in the clubhouse of an incredibly nice community.  It was made up of a huge apartment building and many large "bungalows".  In case I have not mentioned this, it is extremely rare here to not live in an apartment and is therefore a sign of wealth to have your own house.  Residents of this community also have a basketball court, pool, cricket field, gym, spa, and access to the clubhouse I mentioned.  These were some of the nicest buildings I have seen here, and certainly the best I have had the pleasure to enter.  The way the ceremony worked was that the couple sat for a few pictures in traditional dress, then the bride was blessed by every female relative in attendance, followed by an open buffet of Indian food (what else?).  I greatly enjoyed trying some new dishes and conversing with my relatives.  They are all very kind and interested in what I think of everything here.  They also enjoy reading my blog and compliment me on my writing.

The other event was my trip to the vegetable market.  It reminded me of a crowded St. Paul farmer's market, but here you won't find any cool soaps or a variety of bison meat-it's 100% vegetables!  It is packed with sellers surrounded by their mountains of natural vegan-friendly wares.  It was truly a sight to see, and a fun atmosphere!  This may not make up for missing the smorgasbord of foods belonging to the on-a-stick persuasion at my family's annual trip to the beloved Minnesota State Fair, but it was an enjoyable experience nonetheless.  

In between the more noteworthy events, I dedicate long stretches of my time contemplating how I want to spend my year.  I have come to realize that allocating my copious amount of free time is one of the more difficult parts of my exchange thus far, and I am currently in the midst of creating a list of worthwhile ways of occupying myself other than writing this blog.  Reading books is already on the list, and I am close to finishing The Kite Runner.  Idle time is the least enjoyable part of my exchange because I came here ready to be proactive and to get out of the house and learn the culture, but instead find myself alone, unoccupied, and missing home.  Becoming at-peace with myself and finding ways to occupy my time will be a large part of my experience here.  This will only get easier as the year goes on and I make more friends, exchange students or otherwise, and learn my way around the city well enough to find my own fun.  I hope that comes soon!

Erik Mama

I promised to talk about the importance of family in India, and today seems a pretty fitting day to do so. As I have mentioned, thus far my host family has consisted of parents, younger brother(s), and three grandparents all living in my apartment, but this morning I awoke to find my paternal grandparents packed and ready to leave. I was told that they were going to live with Rajesh Rajput, their other son and my host father’s brother. I cannot remember the city’s name but it is several hours south of Pune in a much more rural area. They invited me to come visit them sometime, and I greatly look forward to this both to see them again and to experience a whole different side of India. Thinking about it, all I have encountered here are big cities. I landed in Mumbai (largest city in India) and have spent all but several hours of driving in Pune (3-4 million). I think it will be a good experience to get a break from urban India for a while and witness an alternative lifestyle here. Plus, I am a small city kid through and through and I will enjoy being somewhere that is more like good old Northfield. 

Anyway, family is kind of a big deal in India. I experienced this firsthand when I first arrived in Pune and awoke each morning to new relatives in the living room. Because Niraj left soon after I got here, my entire family came from all over India to say goodbye before he started his exchange. I met so many people in less than a week that I could not keep them all straight and I am still attempting to form a mental family tree.

To see how important family is here, you simply have to look at the layout of my apartment. Once you walk in the door, you enter the living room. This room is filled with places for people to sit and can comfortably hold 20 seated people. There is a couch, two armchairs, and two pieces almost like daybeds which can seat at least five apiece. All this sitting space is necessary, because relatives come here ALL THE TIME. I don’t believe I have gone three days here without some cousin or aunt visiting my family. Some of them I have gotten to know fairly well and I enjoy their company and above average English.

The most confusing differences in family here are the different names you call relatives. For example, I mentioned in my post on Raksha Bandhan that the terms ‘brother’ and ‘sister’ can refer to either siblings or cousins. This complicates my attempts to map out my family when everyone is everyone else’s brother or sister. The other difference can be quite entertaining. My first day in Pune, my host father called me from my room to come see my ‘mama’. I assumed that they had skyped my mom and she wanted to say hello, so I was very surprised to find no laptop in sight and a short Indian man with an enormous smile standing in the living room. “This is your mama” my host dad told me. Confused, I shook his hand and looked quizzically at my host father for an explanation. He clarified that in India, your mother’s brother is called your ‘mama’.

A few weeks following this strange encounter, I found out that I have a niece of sorts (and she is adorable!). My cousin’s baby, Tia, came over for the afternoon with her grandmother (my mother’s sister). She was playing with Tia and kept repeating “Erik mama,” then pointing over at me. I smiled back, and Tia, being shy, would hide behind her grandma and sneak peeks over at me while I wasn’t looking. When I met Tia’s mother at my family’s pooja, I found out that Tia had told her that she had a new, fair-skinned mama that she was excited to see. I always look forward to seeing Tia and always smile at her, because this year, I am a very proud mama.

A Solid Day

Quite an eventful day in Pune.  I awoke this morning earlier than ideal in order to keep a skype date, but my internet connection made this impossible.  After about 20 minutes of attempting to set up and regain connection, I called it quits and resigned myself to checking facebook and a few blogs of other Northfield outbounds.  After about an hour of this, I realized I had all of 10 minutes to prepare for school and catch a rickshaw.  Now, in general, India is lax with it's definition of 'on time' but it was just my luck that Dhara showed up eight minutes early.  I frantically got dressed and scarfed down a PB & J while my mom packed my lunch, and ran out the door only a few minutes late.  We got to school with just enough time to relax a bit before our first class.  It was only 10 minutes later that we found out history is canceled all week and we had nothing to do for the next hour and a half until economics.  Unfortunately, I arrived too late to this class after checking out the school library and there were no seats left.  When I say no seats were available, I mean three people in every desk and floor space was also taken.  

Taking a page from the Indian students' book on how to deal with classes, I opted to skip this one and instead went back to the library to read.  I figured it would be a miserable hour of re-learning econ and I would get more out of reading a good book, but mostly, I liked the rebellious feeling I got from skipping class. The library at Symbiosis appears quite small and is nowhere as spacious as the one I am used to at Northfield High School, but their small 'English novels' section is surprisingly dense with good literature.  It consisted mostly of classics and I was proud to see almost the entire reading list from my AP English class last year among the titles (I guess Mr. Cohrs knew what he was doing when he wrote the syllabus).  From among the vast expanse of intense literature, I picked up The Kite Runner.  Though by no means less valuable, I knew it was an easier plot to absorb and would be more fun to read than, say, the collection of Kierkegaard's writings that also caught my eye.  I'm a little ashamed to say it, but the existentialism unit this year got me hooked and I have a bunch of free time so I may well come back to that one.  

I spent the hour getting into the plot of the book, and noticing a lot of similarities between the story and what I have observed here in India.  For those of you who haven't read it, The Kite Runner, at least the first 26 pages, is set in Afghanistan and outlines the contrast of wealth and poverty living right next to each other.  I have not talked a lot about this, but it is present constantly.  I will blog about it later, though, because I have a lot to say today.  With five minutes left before my next class, I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked up to see another unfamiliar face.  As I tried to think whether I should remember who he was, he asked me to come outside for a second because he wanted to talk to me.  Once I grabbed my backpack and made it to the hallway, he introduced himself and told me he really wanted to learn my accent and asked whether I would teach him.  I was pretty shocked; all this came without a word from me, so he had no idea where I was from or what my accent was!  Not sure exactly what to say, I told him to look me up on facebook for contact because I had to run to class.  It was pretty bizarre, and I have no idea what to do now.  In an attempt to embody the Rotary exchange spirit, I am trying to remain open to this possibility, but I have no idea how to teach my accent!  I will keep you updated.

Today was not much better than yesterday, as I only attended three of the six lectures planned for today.  After our last class, however, Dhara, Colby and I took a rickshaw to Pacific mall to get a donut.  This did not seem like a big enough deal to me to require a trip to the mall, but I had nothing better to do and I was willing to take any bit of American food I could lay my hands on.  When we finally arrived at the mall, we first took a trip through Hyper City, the Indian equivalent of Wal-Mart with grocery, and I had fun looking through all the familiar foods.  From there we went to Mad Over Donuts, a small little store with a surprising array of, well, donuts.  My mouth started watering the instant I saw all of them, and I ordered quickly because I was anxious to satisfy my craving for familiar food.  Both my donuts were cream-filled and were gone in less than a minute.  Sitting there, Colby and I realized that this was about as close to America as we will get in the next year.  Eating donuts in a mall while listening to music from eighth grade art, we might well have been in Burnsville.  Deciding this was not enough to quench our thirst for home food, we made a trip to McDonald's and had something similar to a McFlurry.  Though I have been having a great time in India, it was good to escape for a while and to eat familiar foods in a familiar atmosphere.  A little US food goes a long way in making you feel at home, and I felt refreshed and ready to take on Indian culture, in a much more curious and less aggressive way than I just made it sound.

When I got home, it was time to begin celebrating.  Today marked Akash's 12th birthday, and he was having friends over for a party.  It turns out a 12-year-old's birthday is pretty similar even across the world.  There was a lot of running around, yelling, and some cake eating as well.  Because of his interest in cricket I gave him some baseball cards, and included a St. Olaf lanyard for a taste of home.  Supper was very good, and was served to all the guests (and me) while we watched part of some Bollywood film.  The meal contained bhaji as usual, but the chapati was replaced by regular hamburger buns cooked on a griddle so they were a little crispy on the outside.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, and rushed through two helpings.  It was a fun ordeal, and I got to see some of my favorite relatives who came to wish Akash a happy birthday.

I had a few miscellaneous experiences I had throughout the day, so I apologize beforehand for abrupt subject changes.  I saw about 10 cows from the rickshaw, including a few wandering aimlessly in the middle of the street.  That is a lot, and doubles the number of cows I have seen here.  A German professor (professor from Germany, not one who teaches the language), stopped Colby and me as we were leaving Symbiosis (we are exactly difficult to pick out as foreigners).  We talked for a little while and explain Rotary youth exchange, and he told us he is a guest professor here for a week.  I saw some small lizard in my bathroom.  I walked into my family's bathroom, and there was a lizard just hanging onto the wall.  Pretty strange.  My host mom thought so too, so I guess it is not really a common thing here, which makes me kind of glad because it really surprised me.  

Overall, I had fun today.  Nothing too crazy happened, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it all.  I am becoming increasingly comfortable with my surroundings each day, plus there were some fun events to fill my time.  I read a good book, got a taste of home, and celebrated a birthday.  I would call that a pretty solid day in any country.  

Crossing the Road

It has been a quiet few days here in Pune.  For those of you wondering, the Chinese food was quite similar to something you would find at a good Chinese restaurant back in the US.  We went to a very nice restaurant called Mainland China.  I didn't recognize many of the names, but they were self-explanatory.  We shared a few dishes including my favorite, chicken fried rice.  Well, technically second to pork fried rice, but you would be hard pressed to find pork here, and beef is the same if not worse.  I will miss having a wide variety of meat this year, but chicken will suffice.

School has continued to surprise me, but not in an exciting way.  The part I am having difficulty adapting to is that many classes are canceled and I have no idea why.  Yesterday I only missed French, but today I only attended two classes before being sent home.  It seems very futile to go to school at all except to meet friends.  I have begun to form some relationships with classmates, made easier by the fact that I finally have their names down.  One of my peers, Dhara, has also agreed to share a rickshaw with Colby and me to and from Symbiosis everyday.  She is dropped off at my house, then we pick Colby up on the way to school.  It is good to have her help talking to rickshaw drivers and crossing the street.  I feel strange admitting this, but I am genuinely afraid of walking across the streets here.  You would think a relatively high-functioning almost 19 year old such as myself would feel comfortable walking all of 20 feet across traffic from the rickshaw to Symbiosis, but you would be surprised.  Then again, if you have been keeping up on my adventures, you probably saw the video of driving I posted and understand my anxiety.  Each morning I revert to the toddler who is led by his mother across the street, and have to fight the temptation to grab Dhara's hand and never let go.

After we miraculously survive this nerve-wracking ordeal, my day becomes much less exciting.  Lectures are still long and uninteresting, but at least I have the other exchange students to talk to.  We have added one to our numbers!  Today I was introduced to Trent, a would-be 10th grader who lives just outside of NYC.  He seems like a nice guy, and we had plenty of time to talk during some of the canceled lectures.  I look forward to getting to know him better, and eventually meeting the rest of the exchange students.  It is beginning to seem like it will never happen, but I am trying to be hopeful.  I know it will be worth the wait!

In other news, my life here is becoming daily routine as I get more and more comfortable with my surroundings.  I have moved past the acceptance phase I mentioned earlier, but I am not sure where that leaves me now.  However, I am enjoying my time here more than ever, even if I finally did exhaust the last of my US food.  In terms of meals, I am slowly weaning myself off of comfortable food and into cultural norms.  For example, I have switched the jam in my peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunches from familiar strawberry to cultural mango!  A more impressive change is that instead of bread and jam in the mornings, I have begun eating some Indian dishes.  It seems as if breakfast here is simply another meal, because I have seen many of the same foods served for breakfast as dinner.  I may miss my rice krispies (I actually prefer the Malt-O-Meal version, Krispie Rice), but I will survive.  I am gradually shifting away from the early beginning of exchange and into the heart of my learning, and I look forward to moving past the obvious cultural differences and into the exciting part.

Before I tie up this blog post, I would like to thank all of you for loyally following my blog and your continued interest in my adventures.  For those of you wondering what the picture is at left, it shows the number of views of my blog from individual countries.  Now, I don't know who in Russia, Ukraine, or Latvia enjoys reading about a US exchange student in India, but please, keep reading!  I love that my blog has such an international following, it makes me feel like a true world ambassador.  With that said, I am about to cook my first American meal for my host family: spaghetti!  I guess we cannot truly claim it as our own, but it is one of the few meals I know how to prepare and I like it a lot.  I hope they enjoy it but if not, all the more for me!

A Few Additions and Amendments

Before I start this post, I want to point you to the 'Photos' tab near the top of my blog.  I know that thus far I have not been a very good photographer, but I have made a goal for myself to take more pictures.  The photos section will contain all the pictures from my year that I deem worthy of posting including, but not limited to, the photos you see in my blog posts.  Especially after trips around India, check to see new photos!

The last few days here have been quite relaxing, and I have made the most of it catching up on sleep and thinking about what I want to gain from my exchange.  Though I am still processing this question, I realized that I forgot a few crucial details when I laid out Indian driving practices, and I am going to take this opportunity to remedy this.

The obvious missing piece to the picture of roads in India I provided you is the rickshaw.  These three-wheeled mini taxis fill the streets of Pune.  They are many more rickshaws than cars and nearly as many as two wheelers.  My host dad informed me that there are 75,000 rickshaws in Pune alone!  That is almost enough to have four rickshaws per person in Northfield!  These are very cheap by American standards and it costs less than Rs 50 (56=$1) to travel most places from my apartment.  I have taken rickshaw a number of times, and it will serve as my primary mode of transportation throughout my exchange.  The problem for me getting home on the rickshaw is that addresses mean nothing here.  I told Aishwarya to come pick me up at 1707 Sadashiv Peth and she just laughed.  My family has informed me that I should tell people I live near SP College next to Kajina Vihir Chowk, a relatively famous building adjacent to mine.  

The other more entertaining piece of Indian driving that slipped my mind involves more biological vessels.  Here is a picture I took of an Indian man riding an elephant.  It is difficult to tell, but the elephant is directly on the road, exactly where people would  be driving.  Apparently it is relatively common for people to ride elephants on the road (quite slowly I might add, elephants are never speedy creatures by choice) and collect money from pedestrians.  It is considered good luck to give money to someone riding an elephant.  However, it is not just elephants and cars that occupy the streets of Pune.  So far in my exchange I have seen: two camels on the busiest bridge in town, several bulls pulling carts, two elephants, approximately five sacred cows simply wandering,  many people pushing carts, and countless stray dogs.  These animals and people do not stay off to the side of the road like you would think, they walk right along with the heaviest of traffic right in the middle of the streets.  

Though most of these are fun to see, the stray dogs are pretty sad.  These are not your well-fed, cared for, shiny-coated domestic dogs, these dogs are skinny, often missing clumps of fur, and none are "fixed".  You see many on the side of the road, walking along with people or lying down in traffic's way, but they are mostly ignored.  The common practice seems to be to pretend they are not there and give them no attention, positive or negative.  This has probably helped them keep their ridiculously high numbers up, because no one stops their incessant breeding.  It is a sad sight to see such ragged and abandoned animals so frequently here when dogs are so well-liked and cared for back home.  

Back to my Pune home, here is a picture of the alley between my building and the adjacent one.  The white car on the right belongs to my family and is parked in the ground floor parking lot of our building.  I live on floor three and my window offers a great view of wall belonging to the building on the other side of mine.

In exchange student news, I have a rough list of the other RYE kids coming to Pune.  There are eight of us who will call Pune our home this year and we are as follows: US-Colby, me, unknown boy; Sweden-Axel (Perry's twin); Brasil-two girls; Mexico-one boy, currently sorting out a problem with his visa; Canada-one girl.  It sounds like a really fun group of people, and I cannot wait to meet everyone else and start our year together.  There is a tentative plan for all of us to get together next week and I really hope it pulls through.  As one of the first students here, I'm sure I will be able to offer some advice to the newer kids or at least understand exactly what they are feeling and what thoughts are going through their heads.  I am extremely excited that this year is finally taking shape and the more it does, the better it looks!  Also, my family learned that I like Chinese food so they are taking me out and I plan on showing off my mad chopsticks skills on some delicious Asian style chicken.  Chinese is apparently pretty popular here as well, but as much as we have American-ized Chinese food, I believe here I will encounter Indian-ized Chinese food.  Regardless, I look forward to trying something new and hopefully something that includes meat!

Looking Good at the Pooja

Last night was quite an event!  In my previous post, I had mentioned my host family's plans to host some sort of religious event.  I found out the importance (and length) of this event when I was told that it would keep me home from school.  As heartbroken as I was to hear this, I was truly excited to experience a piece of Indian culture and Hindu tradition.  The pooja, as it is called, is a very long and important ceremony.  It is hosted to recognize important occasions, and to offer praise to the gods.  My host family informed me that they always host a pooja during this Hindu month because it is an especially holy one.  The Hindu calendar is based on lunar phases and this month is important because it contains so many festivals.  I look forward to tomorrow and the end of this month because its holy status prevents my host family (and therefore me) from eating any non-veg.  I have never gone so long without meat in my life, and you never realize how much you love something until it is gone.  Though I had never seriously considered becoming a vegetarian, I now vehemently oppose the idea.  I am a carnivore, and perfectly content with this realization.  Since posting this a few minutes ago, my host dad brought home some chicken, which was delicious and probably the best thing ever.  Apparently the month ends now!

Apart from my dietary longings, this pooja was quite a large event.  It began in the late morning when several unfamiliar people came into my apartment and began decorating it with more flowers than I had ever seen outside of a garden.  It turns out they were creating a shrine, the main event of the pooja.  When they were done, they created this beautiful centerpiece for the celebration.  At its completion, my paternal host grandparents sat down in front of the shrine and there was a long (like almost 2 hours long) ceremony led by the two men who had done the decorations.  I was not in attendance for its entirety, but it consisted mostly of the two leaders chanting from memory at a ridiculous pace. If they didn't live here, I believe they could have very successful careers as auctioneers.  Toward the end, everyone in my family gathered and clapped along to bells and the chanting before placing a flower on top of the shrine and coloring our foreheads with red and black powders.  After this was done, I headed to my room for a little rest before the festivities began around 6.  I was brought to the street by my apartment and was surprised to see a crew of workers fixing our street with new rocks, tar, and a steam roller!  I learned that all this took place due to a call to the city from my host mother–apparently

  she has some pretty good connections!  In addition to this, all the parking area was covered in white and red cloth banners and chairs were placed everywhere.  This was a very big deal!

Several hours later, it was time to prepare and go downstairs to greet the guests.  I soon discovered that the purpose of hosting a pooja is that you invite many guests so they can pray at the decorated shrine you set up.  Once I understood this, everything made a lot more sense.  I put on my traditional Indian dress and put on my hosting smile before being bombarded by guests interested in meeting me and learning about my time here.  It was like having a second graduation party but exclusive to guests I did not know.  In a brief moment of peace, I struck a namaste pose for a picture much to the amusement of some onlooking guests.  I attempted to explain that it was for my friends and family back home, but they still thought I looked silly.  It was an eventful and overwhelming night, and by the end my cheeks hurt from smiling and I was exhausted.  I was in a strange position as quasi-host to an unfamiliar event to unfamiliar guests, but I enjoyed it.  I like hosting, even if I am pretty oblivious to what or whom it is I am hosting.

I want you all to know that however funny you think I look in this picture (or even in everyday clothing), I got a lot of compliments last night, and not just from relatives and older women who throw around the word 'handsome' as if it were compulsory*.  Several girls only a few years older than myself told me quite sincerely I was very good-looking in this shirt-dress combo.  The comments have not been exclusive to last night, either.  I was informed at school today by a few outgoing and chatty girls that when Colby, Axel, and I walk through the halls of Symbiosis we draw quite a lot of attention from the female population of 11th standard.  I was even told that I have a resemblance to Barbie's male companion, Ken.  Though it is not difficult to draw attention as one of three white boys in a class of girls three years younger than myself, I find it pretty funny.

*Fun fact, India doesn't use words like necessary, required, or needed.  Compulsory is the only option and it is used all the time in conversation and on all legal documents and registration.

As I continue to draw attention here, I want to give a shout out to all the Northfield outbounds.  Many of us have left already, but to those who are still preparing, get excited!  Your great adventures will start soon, and you'll update your blogs with all your own discoveries.  I can't wait to start reading about your years abroad!  As you get ready to leave keep a few things in mind:

1. Don't worry so much!  All the little details of packing will work out.

2. Don't pack your entire wardrobe.  You really don't need as many clothes as you think.  I have only worn maybe half of the clothes I packed

3. Enjoy your last days in Northfield!  Though you have a lot to think about, these are your last days in your hometown for a year so make the most of them!  Eat a Hogan Bros. sandwich for those of us who have left!

I know you will all have fantastic exchanges and I can't wait to read about them in your blogs and hear all the awesome stories when we all get back.  Best of luck to everyone!

Seconds, Not Firsts

It’s Independence Day in India, so remember to raise your Indian flags and wear orange, white, and green!  This morning I woke up at 6…and then again at 6:30 in order to watch a ceremony put on by some local elementary school kids.  The festivities included dancing, singing, and reciting India’s pledge of allegiance.  It was pretty fun to watch, but once it was done I came right back home and slept for another three hours.  Independence Day means no class, so I have been taking it easy all day.  Today was a day to relax and re-cooperate.  You know, trying to soak in every detail of a culture and make the most of every minute is exhausting!

Yesterday was my second day of school and was much less hectic.  I arrived at 11 (because it turns out school starts then, not at noon like we had previously thought) and began attending classes.  Mostly, they were pretty boring.  School here seems to be taught by the book–meaning the teacher reads a section from the textbook, reads the analysis questions, answers the questions, then looks up to see a few nodding heads before continuing.  It really does not seem like a very good teaching method but Symbiosis is apparently one of the best junior colleges (11^th and 12^th grades) in Pune and in all of Maharashtra.  I guess I will learn to accept it.

French, however, is much more interesting.  It is by far my favorite class because the teacher commands respect and the students are, for the most part, attentive.  It also happens to be the only class in which I have learned anything.  Ironically (and a little sadly), I have learned more French in these two days of class than Marathi or Hindi since I arrived.  I am hopeful that I continue to learn more French throughout my time here because the more languages you know, the better off you are.  Learning French will also be made easier by the fact that it is similar to Spanish, which I already speak.  You never know what you will learn during a year on exchange!

Tomorrow I will not be attending classes because my family is hosting some sort of religious gathering which they want me to see.  I am excited to see a new part of Indian culture and to be a part of whatever ceremony is going on tomorrow.

Other than that, life is becoming much more familiar here as I begin experiencing seconds along with firsts: I am used to the traffic and don’t feel the need to close my eyes whenever I ride a two wheeler, the food is still spicy, but I am managing fine, and now I’ve attended two days of school.  I have gotten through the ‘shock’ phase, and have moved on to the ‘acceptance’ phase, and this one is giving me a little trouble.  Acceptance entails realizing that I will be here for a year and that I have to put my life in Northfield on hold.  This is quite difficult for me because Northfield is my home and I love my life there.  Last year everything was going really well for me and I felt that I had everything figured out, and that is a tough feeling to let go.  I have traveled across the world, and willingly put myself in a new and vastly different culture, but it did not occur to me that I would have to let go of Northfield.  There is a fine line between missing home and missing out on exchange, and this is the line I have to define for myself.  It is a matter of knowing that I have a once in a lifetime opportunity to take advantage of, and reminding myself that I am not leaving my old life behind, I am merely putting it aside as I experience great new things here.  And with Skype, I can bring Northfield back with only the click of a button.  It is comforting to know that I do not have to leave home entirely.

Do not get me wrong, I am enjoying India.  There is so much to experience and understand that a year cannot possibly cover it!  Even as I begin to have as many seconds as firsts, my time here is still valuable.  I am determined to make the most of my exchange and experience as much of India as I can.  Wish me luck!

First Day of School

This morning I woke up slowly, took my time with my shower, and was in no hurry to finish my breakfast.  This was the most relaxed I have ever been on a first day of school.  The fact that I had to be there at noon may have helped.  Following tradition, I wore some of my favorite clothes, gulped down a generous glass of orange juice, and put on a cheesy smile for a first day of school photo.  With nothing in my backpack other than an abundance of pens and a single notebook, I was off to start my second chance at 11th grade.  Despite having gone through the first day of school drama for 13 years, I was still a little nervous.  This was not an average first day of school, this was a first impression for my entire year as an exchange student.  It was good that I had Colby with me, so I at least knew one person in my classes.  We walked in together, and took about an hour waiting in lines so I could receive my
Bona Fide certificate from Symbiosis, the final form necessary to register for school and for my residential permit. We missed the first two classes of the day. Oh well.

No one seemed too distraught about our absence when we climbed the many flights of stairs to the top floor of the building and asked for help finding our room. As we stood there, waiting for the bell to ring signalling the start of our first class in India, I spotted Axel, the Swedish exchange student who was the first to arrive in Pune over a month ago. I had never met him before, but he was easy to distinguish: a tall white kid with light blonde hair among a sea of 15-16 year old Indian girls. I also could not help but be surprised when he turned around and I saw that he looked like the Swedish twin of Perry Tetreault.  He turned out to be a really fun guy (what else can you expect from an exchange student?) and we talked a lot throughout the day.  His English is very good, and it was fun to talk about some of the differences we've experienced here from our homes.

I don't quite understand the schedule yet, but school runs Monday through Saturday, 11-5 or so, depending on which classes you take.  My schedule is this: economics, history, French (be proud, Maggie!), English (toughie), psychology, geography (more like what we would call geoscience), and occasionally environmental awareness.  Most of my classes today were fine, but I really could not understand the psychology teacher because of her accent.  I had originally signed up for Hindi, but everyone here is fluent and my only word in Hindi is 'namaste'.  This is the equivalent of a first grader equipped with basic arithmetic walking into a calculus class.  French, on the other hand, is covering introductions and numbers 1-100, much more my speed.

School here is much different than the US.  First, the classroom environment is much more chaotic, with 10-15 more kids per class than I am used to in a smaller space, leaving two or three kids per bench/desk.  This makes it very difficult for the teacher to control the room and the group of young adolescents who would rather sit and talk with their friends than listen to the lecture.  Another difference is that attendance expectations are much more lax.  To pass, you are expected to attend 75% of your lectures, whereas even 90% in Northfield would earn you a talk with the principal and your parents.  

My Indian classmates were outgoing and friendly, and many people were curious about all of the new exchange students.  I met a lot of people today whose names I do not remember (and probably couldn't pronounce even if I did), but that has been true of the last 2 weeks.  Based on today, finding friends will be less of a problem than choosing from the large number of volunteers.  However this goes, I still have Axel, with whom I am sure I will get to spend a lot of time over my exchange.  It was good to finally meet another exchange student because there are some aspects of Indian culture that are difficult to discuss with Indian people.  It is nice to find someone who understands exactly what you feel.  This only made me more anxious for the arrival of the other exchange students.  There will be eight of us in Pune, but no word from local Rotary on which countries have sent exchange students, or when they will get here.  However, I did meet two other exchange students, here through AFS, one from Austria, one from Italy.  I didn't talk to them for very long, but they seemed nice enough.  I think they will only stay a few months, but the more connections I make to foreign countries and the more exchange students I meet, the better my year will be.

As my very interesting first day comes to a close, I am not sure what to take away.  I met my goal of one new friend, though he is an exchange student, so I guess it was a positive experience.  It's one of those things where I need more of a sample to make a conclusion, a few more days, and I will be able to tell how I feel.  It's not a bad feeling, so I maintain hope that it will be a positive experience.  Tomorrow is my second day, and as everything becomes more normal to me, I begin to settle into life as an exchange student.  Everyday I get a little more comfortable with my surroundings, and I can't wait to truly get into the routine of my exchange, because that's when all the fun happens!  Expect another update soon!  Namaste.

Bollywood and Beginning

It has been an eventful two days.  A little ironic how just as I write a blog about my inactivity, I suddenly become busy!  Yesterday I met Aishwarya on FC Road so she could show me around and do a little shopping.  We spent a while walking up and down this street, then headed over to Central, a large, red mall primarily for clothing.  This mall was different from most malls I have encountered in that it is all one big store with walls rented out to brands instead of whole sections like the familiar Mall of America.  Here I acquired the wallet I will use this year, because unlike my old one, this new wallet is tall enough to conceal rupees.  After that, we met up with two of Aishwarya’s friends for lunch.  This was fun, but proved to be a mistake because it put me in my bed with a slightly upset stomach for the rest of the day.

When I awoke this morning, though, I felt fine and quickly got dressed before attending Catholic mass in English in the oldest church in Pune.  I went with my sister (cousin, the one from the Raksha Bandhan picture) and her Christian friend.  Though it was an unfamiliar set of songs (with no music, only lyrics which made it impossible to sing along), it was still good to be back in a familiar setting.  It was nice of my Hindu family to set this up for me, and I really appreciated the gesture.

I just got back from seeing a Bollywood movie with Aishwarya and some of her other friends, and it was quite the experience.  First, I took my first solitary rickshaw ride and came out fine!  Though really not that impressive, it marked for me my first big step toward independence and I felt it an accomplishment.  The building itself was vastly different from anything I have seen in the US.  As you walk in, it appears like more of a mall than a movie theater, with small kiosks selling bags, clothing, watches, etc.  There was even a book store!  On the upper level there was a food court, with multiple restaurants in case you forgot to eat lunch before coming to the movies.  The inside of our theater would not have been out of place in Lakeville’s collection, except for more comfortable seats. 

Aishwarya had warned me that the movie was in Hindi without subtitles, but I was eager to get a taste of Bollywood.  This movie was an interesting first look into Indian film. 

It was a movie nearly three hours long detailing a war between two rivaling gangs.  To give you an indication: picture the Godfather, replace the Italians with Indians, insert a surprising number of (apparently) hilarious dialogues, and, oh yeah, you can’t understand a single word.  Now you have a pretty good idea of what I took away from this experience.  It really was interesting, but I couldn’t tell you who won the war.  To me, because I couldn’t keep the characters straight, it appeared like a lot of random events.

I don’t know how much other people here will want to see it, but I saw a poster for the new James Bond film, Skyfall, coming out in November, and I am dragging someone to go see it with me. 

Tomorrow is my first day of school.  It is a familiar feeling to me after completing 13 years of public education in Minnesota, but it is also different.  Since moving to Northfield in 2^nd grade, I have known all the kids who would be in my grade every year.  This year, I am being thrown into an unfamiliar school with classmates I have never met, and who primarily speak a language I do not know.  It is a little unnerving to say the least.  This will be especially difficult for me coming out of my senior year, where I was the top of the hierarchy and I ruled the school.  Here, I am a foreign kid two grades younger than my age who knows nothing about my surroundings.  It will be quite a shock.  However though it is, I at least have Colby with me to figure things out and hopefully we will be joined by some of the other exchange students when they arrive.  I am determined to use this opportunity to reach outside my comfort zone and at least try to connect with some Indian classmates.  Once I have made one friend, everything will be easier.

Well, here is the real starting point.  I have been introduced to the culture, but tomorrow I am truly thrown into my exchange.  I’m going to hope for the best and remain confident, and I’ll let you know how it goes.  Wish me luck!

Spontaneity

Last night I had my first YES, INDIA! moment.  I’ll start with some background.  Yesterday was a festival called Dahi Handi, which is probably the coolest and strangest celebration I’ve ever witnessed.  I’m not going to go into details about its origin, but I’ve found Wikipedia’s version of Hindu mythology to be quite accurate so check it out if you are interested.  The central concept of this holiday is that you take a bunch of people, stack them several stories high, and try to break this clay pot elevated high above the ground.  Then they are given thousands of dollars in prize money!  Yes, it does look as awesome as it sounds.  The pots, called handi, are decorated with flowers and filled with curd.  Teams of govinda (people in the stack) then attempt to pile on top of each other high enough to reach and break the handi.  When one team fails, the next begins.  I learned yesterday that these teams practice for long periods of time preparing for the festival, which is necessary because it is a difficult task with a fun twist: people spray the team with water to make them slippery.  Can you imagine a better holiday celebration? 

This is the craziness that I went out to see last night.  The streets are filled with spectators and everyone is excited.  I followed two girls from my drumming group and their friends, which proved a very exciting alternative to getting a good night’s sleep.  The atmosphere was all fun, and when we found the first handi, everything went wild.  This handi, it appeared, was not currently in competition, but instead hosted a spontaneous dance party sprayed down with a hose.  To my surprise, my Indian friends jumped right in.  After a minute, they came back drenched, expecting me to join them.  I told them I was only ok getting a little wet, so jumped in with them.  I have never experienced such a crazy mob of dancing with such a variety of people.  Despite my earlier hesitation, I was soaked, and having the most fun I’ve had in months!  Dancing like crazy while drenched with a bunch of strangers (and a few new friends) is why India is so great.

It is moments like those when, despite all the problems of this last week, I know I made the right decision to do Rotary.  Exchange students live for those awesome, spontaneous moments, and those are the ones that we will remember forever.  So, any other exchange students reading this, SAY YES!  You never know what awesome thing will come of it, and what story you will tell people for years to come.  

And...?

It’s been a long week here in Pune.  I've been here long enough that I’m beginning to adapt to my surroundings and the initial shock has worn off.  I have learned so much about this culture (at least the superficial differences) but now that these differences are becoming everyday occurrences for me, I find myself waiting for something to happen.  Despite my earlier blog posts and apparently hectic schedule, my days here have been quite idle and I have experienced very little other than driving around the city.  It is no one’s fault that inactivity has characterized this week, it is mainly due to the fact that the registration process for school and with the police are aggravatingly long and complex.  Also frustrating is the fact that the two processes are interdependent and I need to complete parts of one to finish a part of the other.  I am finally (nearly) done, and receiving a bona fide certificate from Symbiosis is the final step in registering for my residential permit (allowing me to stay here one whole year when my visa would give me two mini exchanges, each with a maximum stay of 180 days).  I look forward to starting school on Monday, as this will introduce some much-needed structure into my day and put me in a situation where I can hopefully make some friends.

The other side of this week has been mental frustration.  It is a weird feeling coming to terms with the fact that you are not at home and that you will not be back there for a whole year.  I awake every morning a little surprised to find I’m not in my own bed back in Northfield.  It’s not that I don’t want to be here (though I’d be lying if I said I am not a little homesick), it’s that I seem to have forgotten up until now that going to India means putting my other life on hold for a year.  This is made all the more difficult by the fact that there has been very little to fill my day other than waiting in lines for registration, so I have had nothing to take my mind off of home and no new friends to spend time with.  However, with the beginning of school next week I’m finally coming around and fully accepting this, which is making things look a lot better.

With most of my time spent lying around or registering for something, I have very little exciting news to share other than the fact that I will soon have a working phone here.  With this I hope to contact my friends here…once I make some.  I do have Aishwarya, so there is one number already!  Tomorrow she is taking me around town to show me some fun places and to find a wallet tall enough to hold rupee notes.  If I see or learn something cool, I’ll be sure to blog about it.  Namaste!

Let's Talk Some Curry

I'm afraid I'm going to cover all aspects of Indian life in a week of blogging and have little to say for the rest of the year, but here I go anyway.  It's officially been one week (and one day and 31 minutes) since my plane left MSP and I started my Indian adventure, so I should probably say something about the food here.


The food here is of course very different from your everyday American meal.  One primary difference is the lack of meat.  The vast majority (87%) of India is Hindu and Hinduism limits the amount of meat (or non-veg as they call it) you may eat.  How strict the diet is depends also on what region you live in.  Some regions, such as Gujarat, follow the vegetarian lifestyle much more closely than mine.  My host father explained Pune's diet like this: 30% of people never eat non-veg (and live a vegan lifestyle) , 30% eat almost no non-veg, 30% eat non-veg 1-3 times a week, and 10% eat non-veg often (about as much as we do in the US).  So far, I have had chicken nuggets twice and Chinese chicken once but I believe this irregular for my family.  Also, these rules seem to apply mostly to adults.  It is common for the younger generation to go eat non-veg by themselves or when they are out with friends, like when I met Niraj's friends at McDonald's.  



In Northfield we have two very good Indian restaurants which are well-liked.  Unfortunately, I had food from these places a total of three times (two in recent memory) and so I am not a very good judge of the authenticity of their food.  When I get back, I will be happy to go there with however many of you wish to go and confirm that they are doing everything right, but on two conditions:
1. After a year here, I'll probably want a break from Indian food so we'll wait a month or so.
2. I don't really like spending money, so you'll have to pay for my meal in exchange for my expertise.



Food differs a lot with region so I will describe the average meal in Pune.  Here, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you can expect chapati (similar to a tortilla with the feel of lefse) and bhaji (some form of vegetable).   You place your index finger on the chapati and tear off a piece with your middle finger and thumb roughly half the size of your palm.  You may use only your right hand because the left hand is unclean in India and therefore you never eat or touch anyone with it.  This piece of chapati is then used to grab or scoop a little bhaji (different vegetable every day, solid or liquid).  You then fold the chapati over and place this bit of food in your mouth.  After this amazing display of dexterity, you must repeat these steps many times to finish your meal.  I am getting much better at this, but it is still difficult to do efficiently.  The alternative to chapati is white rice and a sort of creamy topping called varan which is poured over the rice and thoroughly mixed with spoon or hand.


Tea is the drink of choice in India and I have taken a liking to it despite never enjoying tea in the US.  It is prepared like American tea but everyone here adds milk to it.  I tried to figure out what kind it is but everyone just says it is "regular tea".  


Meal times are also different, but I'm not sure what the norm is because they just ask when I am hungry and that is when I eat.  Meals are a more solitary activity here, though, and I usually eat alone.

Other than food, yesterday was the actual day for Raksha Bandhan, the brother-sister festival I mentioned earlier, so here is a picture of me in the middle of the ceremony.


I met with Aishwarya today and she showed me around town before bringing me back to her home to meet her family.  It was so great to talk to her again and to see a familiar face in this still unfamiliar country.  I had so many questions for her and her help was invaluable.  It is rare for someone to have a 2-year friendship with an exchange student (at least face to face) so I consider myself very lucky to have her as a friend and guide this year.  Not only does she have a clear understanding of the workings of India, but she also has a year of experiencing my background to understand my feelings and all the differences between our cultures.  I look forward to seeing her throughout the year and I have already made plans to go see a Bollywood movie tomorrow with her and her friends.  I won't have any idea what is going on, but that's no different from daily life here for me.  


I believe I have been watching the Indian equivalent of soap operas with my grandmothers for the past few days but I cannot be sure.  My only clues are the constant surprise on every character's face, and the intense music always going on in the background.  I also watched a cooking show in Marathi in which I was surprised to recognize the background music was a strange guitar arrangement of Hotel California.  That's it for now, but I'm sure I'll have something to say tomorrow about my first encounter with Bollywood.  Namaste!