Indian Winter

Wed Jan 9, 2013, 1:49 pm.

Right now I am sitting on the porch of the program house trying to catch some sunrays in an attempt to get warm. Though the actual degrees cannot compare to Chicago or Rochester, there is no central heating, or any heating at all, anywhere. Also, every wall is has some sort of hole to the outside, whether it is a window without a pane, a doorframe with only bars, or simply a lack of walls altogether. Imagine never being able to go inside in late October or early November. The air is moist from the river, and the fog is so thick from dust and smoke that you cannot see more than 10 meters front of you. You are not allowed to wear shoes inside buildings, and the floors are all stone or cement, so your feet have no protection other than your socks. The chill starts from your toes and never leaves.

Alex and I have been wearing western clothing for the past three days, and will continue to until the weather gets warmer because the Indian clothes we have simply will not cut it.  Wearing our western clothes would not be a problem, except we don’t have that much, and we need to wear everything we have just to stay warm. Right now I am wearing a tank top, 2 long sleeve shirts, a sweatshirt, a jacket, a scarf, jeans, leggings, and 2 pairs of socks, and I have not been comfortable since I got out of my sleeping bag this morning. The result of this is that we have been showering as little as possible and have been wearing the same clothes since we got to Varanasi. We don’t plan on changing any time soon. But it does not matter because there is so much trash, smoke, and poop that a little BO is barely noticeable.

Today is our second day of classes. Yesterday we had our Indian History class with this great guest professor form the Banarus Hindu University (BHU) Ancient History and Archeology Department. While he did not tell me much I did not already know, he laid a good foundation for the rest of the class. I think I am really going to enjoy it. We had more Hindi with Virendra Ji this morning and later on we will begin our field methods class.

I have chosen a place to live, and will move in with a devout Punjabi family tomorrow. They have to move the furniture in before I can come, so I will spend one more night in Hotel Haifa. Alex is moving today, so it is going to be my first time without her within 10 feet in almost 2 weeks. Its going to be weird, though we are both excited to settle into our new homes. She is living with the family of a retired Sanskrit Professor who is truly adorable.

We have met two of the other program girls, Jessi and Danielle (From Glencoe) and they are both incredibly nice. Danielle just spent the last month traveling through India by herself. I am insanely impressed that she got back alive. They do not start their classes until next week, so they have been helping Alex and I get settled. Jessi came with us to look at the last few houses two days ago, and then shopping for house stuff, such as cleaning supplies and bed sheets. I don’t know what we would have done without her, because there is was no way that I was going to remember to get two buckets for doing laundry or hand soup. The program staff is helpful, but they have been here for so long that they don’t really know what we need and don’t need.

Nitish, the Administrative Assistant

BHU Temple

After the looking at homes and shopping we went to a cute little café by the hotel called Cozy Corner (it only had 10 chairs) and we met a couple of teachers from the states who had taken a year off to travel the world. They were really interesting, and it was fun talking to them. One of them was a middle school math teacher in Newton, so holla’ to my peeps at school. She made me miss you guys.

Yesterday Natish, an administrative assistant and a nice Brahmin boy with a priest father took us to the major temple at BHU. The place was huge, and he took us from place to place, explaining the significance of the every statue and ceremony. This was the stuff he grew up with, and was able to just rattle off every myth about every god. It was so interesting and I love it. It was after this that I made my last minute decision to live with the Punjabi family even though I was supposed to move in someplace else today. The family celebrates every holiday and ritual there is to celebrate, and I cannot wait to join them tomorrow. You hear horror stories about homestays, but in India you hear horror stories about everything so hopefully it will all go well.

I have to head off to field ethics in a few minutes, so I hope you all are doing well at home, and that the semester starts off bright.

Fun Facts

•  It is considered normal to drink 10 cups of Chaii a day
•  Monkeys are scary.
•   Monsoon winds change directions with the seasons because the difference in temperature between the land and the sea changes, so the pressure difference changes, and diffusion happens. This means chemistry works.
• India has 17 national languages
•  Most bike rickshaw drivers are high all of the time

Here is a joke:

Q: What do you call someone who can speak three languages?

            A: Trilingual

Q: What do you call someone who can speak two languages?

            A: Bilingual

Q: What do you call someone who can speak one language?

            A:  An American