i'm very bendy

*disclaimer: the only real purpose of this email is to make all my other yoga friends ridiculously insanely jealous. so if you are not interested in yoga at all, you do not need to read this blog. but you should. for your own health, and the health of your loved ones.*

taking yoga in classes was very high on my india to-do list. i was determined. it was going to happen. how could it not? this is the yoga birthplace after all. for all those that read eat, pray, love- the india chapter on yoga is set in the same state where i am currently living. i thought that i would have to find a class outside of school to achieve this goal. or enroll myself into the same yoga-boot camp that was detailed in the book- and in adventure magazine. (actually, this remains as a goal on my kerala exit list (things i will do before leaving)- so i will be enrolling myself at some point). but alas, the universe has smiled upon me and has offered me ashtanga yoga classes directly at school. and they are incredible. i've been an active yoga-atic for almost 2 years now. not exactly consistent, because i'm not exactly wealthy. but i treasured the once a week $6 class my public health friends and i partook in, and any other classes i could get my hot little hands on.

the class we take is taught by a wonderful woman named chetana. apparently she has been doing yoga for 15 years, and has been educated by a couple of the big shot gurus in india and the uk. big time. her voice alone plunges you into a deep state of relaxation and focus. we often walk around campus singing her chants and songs. her english is quite well and is accompanied with a charming accent. the class is 6 days a week. yes, that's right. six days a week. everyday at sunset. which is a perfect ending to the long trying days i've come to accept as standard work days. it's hard to describe the classes. it just feels more pure, more correct, more...the way that yoga was meant to be. it's only been a month of classes but already we have progressed quickly- learning the wonderful names each pose has, and challenging my body to twist into poses with names like bharadvajasana and utthita parsvakonasana. already i've noticed a drastic change in my own body. it quite intensive but taught in an incredibly empowering and calming manner. the room alone has a raw sense of energy, and the huge lotus flower at the front offers a point of focus and clarity. it's pure zen when the monsoon season kicks in and the chants are harmonized by the cooling response of the rain steadily falling outside our half exposed room.

the best part is...the entire month of class is only $12 USD (insert intensified jealously here). that's right, about the cost of a single yoga class back at home. an entire month. multiple that by seven months, classes six days a week. that's a looooot of good, cheap, consistent yoga. i think upon my return i will demand to be referred to as a yoga guru. or master at least. it's science.

welcome to the hotel vegetarian

anytime i talk about indian food...or really food in general, i think about my wonderful friend carolyn button...(now parker). her love of foreign food and inclination of writing solely about it caused her to only get an A while i received an A+ in our international class. so obviously she is in need of some type of retribution. this probably isn't it, but it's worth a shot.

restaurants here are not called restaurants. they are called hotels. i know, the natural follow up question is what are hotels called. sadly the chain of oddities ends here as hotels are called anything from hostels to inns to homestays.

in preparation of india i began to eat vegetarian about 3 months before moving. i did not eat vegetarian last time i was here, but felt compelled to do it this time. i blame this paradigm shift to an entire year of studying nothing but infectious disease outbreaks, including but not limited to avian influenza, dovine spongiform encephalopathy, campylobacter, salmonella and e. coli. seriously, a big thank you to public health. plus, i figured since half the country is already vegetarian, there is safety in the majority. i'm also a big fan of the phrase 'when in rome' (thank you ron burgendy). bottom line, the food is amazing- even when its all vegetarian. so i figured i would not be missing much, and could potentially be saving my digestional system from potential...complications. dire and dangerous complications.

i had a difficult time with my new diet back at home...especially at the start of crab season. i was known to blankly stare at friends eating a hamburger until a line of drool snapped me out of my trance. i am happy to say that all of this has officially changed. i may never eat, or lust after meat again. this is due to a serious of event that occurred within a minute from each other.

*warning- if you are currently consuming meat at this time, or plan to in the next several hours- be warned and read ahead with your own digression. also don't swim for at least half an hour after reading this blog.*

we took a journey to fort cochin this sunday for a little sightseeing, history, and a game we like to refer to as 'openly and unabashedly stare at, follow, and take pictures of the americans.' fun times. we decided that instead of taking a rickshaw between one ancient church to another ancient synagogue we would walk the three kilometers. this proved to be a fantastic idea. it was a beautiful day, and even though we were clearly walking through a 'slum' area, the people were incredibly friendly, and we were able to see some incredibly...interesting sights- to say the least. plus we were away from the tourist locations so we did not need to constantly practice our poor language skills by shooing the vendors away from us. people in this neighborhood were genuinely happy to see us and interested in talking with us.

sorry, i digressed- back to the meat and point of this post. the first incident occurred while walking past a butchers shop. there was some laughter and movement around the tiny shack. when we got closer we learned that the cause of all this merriment was that the butcher had a fresh slab of meat laying out (by fresh i mean possibly still moving) and was cutting up pieces of raw bloody meat and flinging it at the men standing around. throwing it. at them. i had a difficult time handling raw packaged chicken at home...i had a much harder time stepping over and on (it squished) pieces of blood and meat. i had my head down trying to process the situation, and by process, i mean trying not to vomit- and because of this i almost ran directly into reason number two i never want meat again. a truck full of carcasses. bull carcasses to be exact. about a food from my face. all i know is that there was just heads, horns, no skin, apparently there were no brains, a lot of flies, a strong putrid order, and a strong gag reflex. i'm not sure if bull brains are a delicacy of sorts in this part of the world, but either way i plan on never finding out. never.

and that is my story. i hope you all enjoy a rare piece of meat today. and think of bull brains. yuuuum!

will there be conjugal visits?

i just learned that having the hiccups (ickalucal) in kerala culture means that you've stolen something and are dishonest. seriously. i need to pack up and move home now. i'm so ending up in indian jail.

malayal...um, wait...what?

So we’ve had almost 2 weeks of language classes. I think that this should make me fluent. For the record, it has not. In fact I’m becoming convinced that Malayalam might be the hardest language ever. Ever. Progress is slow but hopefully steady. And always with a healthy dose of frustration on the side. Our teacher Summe has been wonderful. But there is clearly a language barrier. A very high impenetrable barrier. My respect for the Alicia Bodganoffs of the world that travel and teach English to students without speaking the national language has vastly increased. I’m surprised there aren’t more violent attacks spurring from frustration targeting these teachers.

We’ve started to learn and write some of the letters which allows us to successfully catch the Alloway bus without having to ask every time. Sadly it only works for this bus, but thankfully we do take that route often. I do hope that we continue to learn words, written Malayalam is beautiful. The words themselves are easy enough to learn and remember. I feel as though I’m a child only slightly ahead of my nieces as I walk around pointing out random objects and attempting to successfully say their name. When something is said correctly I am met with praise, when incorrectly I receive slow enunciation and repetition (and a loooot of laughter). The real joy comes when the teacher moves from words into phrases. It’s a very fast language with confusing sentence structure, pluralizing and verb congregation. She is met with a lot of blank stares as she attempts to ask us where our native place is (ninnalulte natu eviteyonu?) and how many are in our group (nigal athura peru undu?). When words remind us of funny/dirty American words, or when we try to say American phrases in Malayalam (such as 'you go girl'), or when we erupt in delirious childish laughter we are met with a return blank stare from our teacher. Followed by the question of "what happened to you?" or "what is wrong with you?" We don't even know where to begin to answer that question Summe.

The accent is by far the hardest thing to concur. And the mystery of correct pronunciation keeps you on your toes as ‘u’ is pronounced as ‘a’ and ‘th’ as ‘k’. Also they tend to put heavy emphasis on the last syllable, different from all other langagues I've studied. Of course, there are some sounds that are completely foreign to my heavy American tongue (ie- the joy of trying to pronounce the sound ‘zh’). I basically spend an hour a day tripping over words and phrases, futilely wrestling with my tongue attempting to force it into obedience of pronouncing this vastly challenging language. Fun times.

The family we are living with is wonderful and painstakingly patient. Very excited that we are attempting to grasp the language so they enjoy tutoring us. Actually pretty much everyone enjoys this task. There is a lot of laughter when we attempt to answer and ask questions, but I’m sure it’s all in good humor. And if its not, I’m okay with being laughed at. We actually went shopping one day for clothes and by the time we left we each had at least 20 new best friends. There is such encouragement and excitement for foreigners in general, let alone foreigners attempting to speak the native language. This is of course, a very foreign concept to me…and America as a whole. Maybe something we could learn from.

Thankfully we’ve managed to learn several useful phrases such as: what are you looking at (useful during the walk to campus), I don’t understand, please slow down, your saare is beautiful, I love you- will you marry me (just so I don’t accidentally accept a proposal and come home with an Indian husband demanding dowry from my family), something is wrong with you, is this vegetarian, directional questions, and close your lips. Of course this is just the tip of the Malayalam iceberg. More to come I’m sure.

Subha Ratri (Good night)

Sneham (love)-

Me.

the barking bitch

i met Daya Bhai, the indian woman of the year. and she was a barking bitch. she was a slight frail older women. but looks are deceiving. encased within this one small woman was more fight and spunk than ever experienced before. she has made her life by living in the slums and tribal regions of india, working hard fighting for social rights and equalities. she helped makes the theory of untouchability illegal. she is called the barking bitch (dog) because she is unable to remain silent when face to face with injustices, disparities and inequalities. fueled by convictions she is forced to speak, to campaign, to advocate, to fight by all means necessary for those unable to speak for themselves. she values her "LWLWP" more than the sum of her advanced degrees- learning with people, loving with people.' she considers violence and opposition against her as a sign that positive result are occurring because of her efforts. and fights harder because of it. even when her own safety is at risk. she lives her life with the theory that everyday she should make a little difference and believe in small people which is guaranteed to result in large real social changes. she views the future of india in the hands of the small and the weak, the downtrodden and the voiceless- and works everyday at enabling this revolution at the grassroots level. simply put, she was awe inspiring.

"we hope that we make more barking bitches and together form a collective voice against injustices."

i hope that i can be called a barking bitch.

real friends send mail

and you should too.

my address is:

Sara Turner
REIP Student
Rajagiri College of Social Sciences
Rajagiri P.0. Kalamassery
Cochin 683 104, Kerala, India

feel free to send anything your little heart desires. as long as it includes at least one of the following: a washer and dryer, bug spray, an air conditioning unit, a large sum of money, some form of starbucks coffee, absolutely no rice or rice products of any kind, detailed plans concerning your future visit, pictures from home, an ice cold margarita- or just ice for that matter, tailor made india appropriate clothing, american junk food- especially sweedish fish (of course) and anything with cheese, malaria medication, anything involving 1371, a card or note written with love and affection, a card or note informing me that you wish to pay my bills while i am gone, either niece (small enough still so you probably won't have to pay much for shipping), and you- packaged in a box with a bow.

that is all. nannai (thank you).

kind of like bumper cars...expect real.

so we were in our first indian car accident. i figure its like a rite of passage of living here. now i can really fit into the culture. not to mention that this accident happened on the way of shopping for kurthas in further attempts to blend into society. especially on the 10 minute walk to school. seriously, i might as well have a spotlight follow my every move. so we hopped the bus, which as previously mentioned, was packed well beyond all safety regulations. we were only on the bus for a few moments before we realized we had a daredevil on our hands. (actually, a horribly dangerous driver wielding a several ton bus fits a little better than daredevil. i mean, those people are actually talented, albeit with questionable sanity). this bus was a two hand grip required type of bus, because of course, no seats were available. after a horrifying sharp turn- where we almost lost half of our group out of the open door- we snaked our way closer to the back and away form the gaping hole of death. (of course, not too far back, can't sit in 'man land') regardless this was a great decision, because this is when the accident occurred. it was a sharp stop. extremely sharp stop. mostly because we rear ended the van in front of us. thankfully i had a kung fu grip on the overhead bars because they were the only part of me not careening through the air. ingrid however did not have such luck. she was flung backwards where the indian man collecting bus fees was kind enough to break her fall. with his crotch. yep, free falling hip meets family jewels. its possible that she may have rendered him childless and robbed him of future bus employees. we figured that his job is probably the only line of work other than professional sports where daily cup use should be a requirement. the best part of the whole situation is that no one reacted (other than us crazy americans flying all over the place) no one on the bus made a peep, the driver was not agitated in the least, no one on the street even batted an eye. i'm sure this is a daily occurrence. we we pulled over and called insurance companies and waited for the police to come to take pictures and statements. wait, no. that's not what happened at all. the bus worker got out (not the one that ingrid nailed, he was probably off whimpering in the corner) ran up to the van, literally thew some money in the window and everyone went on their merry little way. it was over in about 2 minutes. and most of that was simply because of traffic, not the accident. i feel that this is the way it should be. accidentally hit someone? throw a couple of bills in their direction and continue as you were. we might actually save some money in the long run.

the day that lasted a week

so if you know me, you know that since watching darjeeling limited, i've become slightly obsessed with indian trains. imagine my joy when i heard that i was finally able to ride one. biju told us that saturday we had an opportunity to go to the aids prevention day in tirvandrum i jumped at the chance. tirvandrum is the capital of kerala and is 4 hours by train south of kochi. and of course, aids prevention is what i do. the convention had 150 hiv positive children attending from throughout kerala and surrounding states. needless to say, i quickly agreed to go.

at 4:30am we dragged our butts out of bed and made our way to the train station which was a little overwhelming in our half-awake state. nothing like stepping over sleeping bodies while being pushed in line. for having no idea of what we were doing, we succeeded quite well. bought the tickets, managed to find the right platform and secured seats facing each other. little did we know that the train is similar to the bus in that there is no limit to the number of people allowed on it. quickly we found out bench that holds 3 comfortably was fitting 5 easily. the 4 hours passed quickly as we watching the kerala scenery flash by. we arrived in tirvandrum and the minute we stepped outside we were swarmed by rickshaw drivers. we negotiated a (somewhat) fair price and all 5 of us...yeah five, crammed into a rickshaw. it was...close.

we arrived at the kanakakunnu place (a beautiful recommended tourist place in all the guide books) where the convention was being held. immediately we were ushered (despite protesting) to the front of the auditorium...and given front row seats. and we were intro ducted as the 'eurpoean delegation group' that was studying hiv. i don't know how to say this...but we were a big deal. i now have a taste of what hollywood stars face. tons of high quality cameras and video cameras were constantly in our face. i was actually interviewed by the 'largest broadcasting network in india' because i was a 'hiv expert from the states.' it was my 15 minutes of fame. who knows, maybe my face is plastered somewhere online. the convention itself was great (the parts that we were able to understand). it was put on by the global kerala initiative and the program is called Keraleeyam- a three year old program focused on removing the social stigma of a positive status, especially with children. a great organization- i hope to work with them soon. it was really encouraging to see all of the attention on hiv and the efforts to better the system for positive people. again, i can't wait until i can start working.

the children were amazing. the best part of the trip by far. they loved us, and we had so much fun with them. they did an art contest where the winner was awarded 5,000 rupies. they asked me to serve as a judge on decided (thanks to my artist skills), the art the kids made was the greatest thing i've even seen, they had real talent. the theme was social support for children with hiv. there is a picture of the winning painting. in addition, the head of the organization unexpectedly pledged an addition 5,000 rupies to every positive child present at the convention. they actually called me onstage to present the checks to the children. greatest experience ever. they were so incredibly excited because their name was called in front of everyone, it was great to watch. i had a huge smile on my face for the entire day. we had an amazing lunch and tea with them and were sad to see the day end. after the convention the leaders wanted to take us out for dinner and show us some of tirvandrum before returning us to the train station. (by the way, tirvandrum is home to the greatest beach- and greatest beach resort- in kerala, visit me and we WILL visit there, promise). so good.

the return trip was a little more...eventful lets say. we were cutting it close with making the train so we rushed onto the first car available only to find it was a sleeper car. we walked through a couple of cars and they were all the same. so we figured that maybe this train was only sleeper cars. it wasn't very crowded so we found some benches and settled in for the 4 hour trip home. about 2 hours into the train a worker came through checked our tickets and told us to go to the front car because we didn't have first class tickets. we walked all the way up as far as we could go, and that car was still a first class sleeper. we figured that this must have been what he meant, so again, we sat down and fell asleep. yet again, with an hour and a half left in our journey, our tickets were checked and we were again kicked out. turns out we had to stand and wait until the next stop, hop off the train, run down the tracks, and get back on in another car. the first car we went into was clearly a third class train. it was packed, literally people were curled into the luggage compartment. and we were crammed in and stuck right next to the latrine (bathroom) and it was foul. we lasted a few stops here until we hopped another car which turned out to be even more crowded. we thought we were getting close to our stop so we figure we would just tough it out. the latrine smell was like getting punched in the face every time the door was opened. it was putrid. we also seemed to interrupt some sort of drug/sex scam being ran at the back of the train. and we were constantly stared it. and pictures were not so discreetly taken. despite this, in our delirium we were in relatively in high spirits and amused. our favorite was the by the sink there was a picture of a creepy naked baby with an apple in it crotch that said 'keep smiling.' we kept that in mind during the trying period. 'creepy apple crotch baby says smile.' we thought that we were getting close until we heard that we were still an hour away. putting us an hour and a half behind schedule. we decided at this point that the 70 rupees (not even close to a dollar) was worth it for the upgrade back to sleeper car. so once again, we hopped car and ran down the tracks to a sleeper car. we were attempting to sneak on and hide for the last hour (not like we could ever hide in this culture- ever) but the train started to move and we had to make a running darjeeling limited entrance...right in front of a train worker. smoooooth. so of course we paid and the upgrade was well worth it as we peacefully slept the remaining hour and attempted to block the previous hour from our memories. when we finally got there home was even further away when the rickshaw drivers got lost and tried to rip us off. needless to say when we finally made it home it had been a 22 hour day and we could barely stay awake in our cold showers and immediately fell into bed.

moments like these are hilarious to me. trying yes, but great stories. and the essence of international travel. i figure that situations like these are a great way to measure the group dynamics. and how successful the group will be in the long run (for example, being forced to take a different ferry in MV and having to walk over 2 miles with heavy bags in freezing temperates...) the moral of this story is that i'm blessed with a great group of people here. seriously, top of the line. we laughed our way through one of the more stressful situations imaginable and it will remain a great story for a long time. overall it was an incredibly fantastic day. and well worth it in every way.

typical interaction

indian: "your name is?"
me: "sara"
indian: "you are coming from?"
me: "america"
indian: "you are for george bush?"
me: "no"
indian: "you are liking obama?"
me: "yes"
indian: pleased smile and head nod "oh, yes. very nice, very nice."

viva la revolution

a quick recap of friday the 13th. it was a day of firsts and not a day of unluck thankfully.

we went to an amazing seminar about identity based conflict and Dalit issues. Laha Gopalen came to speak to us and turns out he is the leader of a 27,000 protest for Dalit land. these people are currently living on a piece of land that they were promised, but the government refused to give to them. they are living in huts and have been involved in this struggle for 315 days. it is a non violent protest in the fact that they do not threaten the police that attempt to kick them off the land, however each and everyone of the 27,000 are prepared to commit suicide by either burning themselves or hanging themselves from trees. when asked if this self harm threatens the 'non-violent' struggle they have he responded "every day they are being killed" meaning by society and injustice because of their lower caste standing. they are fighting to simply "live like a human." these 27,000 are committed to overcome all differences and fight united until death if needed to receive the land that was rightfully theirs. he was an amazing man and a testament to the issues of social class still deeply affecting india. if i had a normal speed Internet connection i would google the story and provide you with a link but i'm going to assign that to you as homework. oh, they also taught us one of their chants and i thought it was interesting enough to share.

"zindabad zindabad- sadhujanaikyam zindabad"

zindadbad- means long live the revolution.
sadhu- means poor but also means the right and valued people
jana- means people
aikyam- means the unity of these people

after this seminar we had to go register ourselves with the police. yeah, it made me a little nervous too. but nothing to worry about, thus far it went smoothly and it appear that they will allow us to stay. however the real fun was that we got to take the bus to get there. now i'm a fan of public transportation, even more so when it costs about 5 cents, however this was an experience. an enjoyable, crowded, smelly experience. the bus was packed. and more and more people got shoved on at every stop. if you are sans seat, you stand. and hang on for dear life. and i do mean hang on. all that have traveled to any developing country already know the joys of travel and driving habits- and lack of rules and regulations. add in the joy of standing amongst countless others all trying not to fall. imagine sardines meets rag doll. we were thrown about and thrown into each other and of course, stared at all the while. my favorite experience was when i actually found a seat and found that sitting below armpits was slightly (extremely) less enjoyable than standing. and let me tell you, the second you shift in your seat you find a women scrambling underneath you to claim that seat. only women by the way, because the buses are segregated. men in the back, women in the front. lots of closeness. and something that we get to experience daily. such joys.

in other news, we finally start maalyaam classes monday. really looking forward to getting a handle on the language so i can argue with rickshaw drivers when they try to rip us off. and- great news- monday i start yoga classes. and i have classes every single day. so excited. i am going to be a master when i return home.

and that more of less was the highlights of the day.

zindabad!

hold on kids, its a long one

greeting from kerala! i would like to apologize for my lack of bloggage lately. the last two days have been a bit of a blur. thankfully, i've heard that some of you have been reading jeremy's blog (some may have even confused it with my own- sweet cindy lou). so, at least you knew that we have arrived safely...and that jeremy enjoys using squattys san tp. hey, when in rome, right? anyway, in all fairness i did attempt to get on the world wide web once my first day but actually fell asleep while sitting up at the computer. that jet lag is a real jerk. thankfully i am rested and adjusted to the time zone and feel like a brand new person.

so not sure where to start. guess i'll give you some highlights.

the travel here is a blur or flights, half watched movies, delirious laughter with jeremy, swollen feet and legs (seriously, even know i'm wondering if i have elephantitus- not cute), and airplane food. the clear highlight of the trip was during our last leg from buhrain to kochi. we checked in and walked downstairs to a room we stayed in until boarding. little room- lot of people. first thing we noticed- we were the only non-indians. and we stood out for more reasons that just blue eyes and western clothes. first off, i was the only woman not in a sari. not that unexpected. the second thing we noticed, every. man. had. a. mustache. every single one. if they were too young for the full fledged stache, they proudly rocked the dirt stache. it was seriously like being in an alternate reality. a reality full of cops and cliche 80's movies. it was amazing. again, every single man. another highlight is the fact that one we were on the plane, they flight attendants walked down the aisle with not one, not two, but FOUR can of air freshener. for a spilt moment we thought that it was poisoness gas of some kind and our end had come, but once we smelt the flowery freshness we were eternally gratefully. a full day of travel does not bode well with the olfactory glands. nor does the decision not to utilize deodorant (not on my behalf don't worry). but finally we arrived. and our new best friend (mustached of course) biji picked us up and took us to our new home.

let see- i'll include pictures of our house at a later point. but for now i'll just say that i love it. i love the small firm cot i sleep on in the middle of the room between two roommates, i love the cold shower next to the toilet, i reeeeallly love the western toilet (an unexpected surprise). it is nothing like i thought it would be, but it is perfect for us. sadly, jeremy cannot live with us, but he is comfortable with living with boys. the best part is the family that lives underneath us. couldn't be nicer or more welcoming. they have two younger girls that enjoy hanging out with us. surreal moment last night when our power was out (regular occurrence) we sat outside enjoying the cooling downpour and listening to the family below us sing songs in malayaam for the power to come back on. simply amazing. moments like that are hard to describe, but mainly fill me with joy and awe for this new country i am proud to call home, and reaffirm that by being here, i have made the complete correct decision. and couldn't be happier.

yesterday was a bit of a field trip. a field trip including thrown monkey poo. amazing. we first visited a home that takes in indian that have nowhere else to turn. currently they house over 300 people. a lot of the people suffered from pychiatric illness and there were also a lot of widows. the guy that ran it was amazing. mostly for the fact that they have no money saved up and simply trust that each day god will provide. incredible faith. we saw the first stone of the facility and learned that it was laid by none other than mother tersea herself. that woman is my hero. second we went back to anthripally waterfalls. i had visited there last january but this time its involved in a bit of a political struggle. they are trying to dam the waterfalls in attempts to get more electricity but this action would have devastating consequences on many involved including farmers and indigenous tribes living in the forest. but all of these facts have been hidden in attempts to get the project approved. we met peaceful protesters who are sitting by the falls for 100 days in attempts to thwart this from occurring. the women we met was amazing. she spoke not a word of english, but gladly held our hands and touched our faced and referred to us as her daughters. she is well known in the community, has held many other protests before, started the first shop by the falls, and is overall held with great respect and admiration. she is not one that i'll soon forget.

in other news, the food is fantastic and the weather is so hot. we wake up sweating and go to sleep the same. currently though we are in a air conditioned room and i might move in here. seriously, its not that bad, but it will take some getting used to. the rains aren't too bad, and are actually a welcome cooling factor. the food however i can't say enough about. so. good. and i love eating with my hands again. cindy lou, you will be proud that i am eating only with my right hand (difficult for a lefty) and actually succeeding with it. it helps that we don't use utensils so it's literally just shoving good in my mouth. amazing, delightful food in my mouth. eating vegetarian here is much easier than back home and tastes far better.

finally, i have no started to work with CASP yet. i am going to met my boss today though and i'm attending a lecture by him today. i cannot wait to get started with my HIV work. being here and not yet doing it yet has been something of a test in patience. it will really make me feel connected with the culture and validate my existence and work here. there are actually two masters of public health students from michagin. their project is a little different form mine, as they are more focused on micro insurance and health care but hopefully we can team up for my policy recommendation and we are planning a day trip on the mobile health clinics together. having them here makes me really excited about the public health aspect. we have gotten to attend several lectures by professors here. really interesting stuff (as long as you don't try to sit in them during your first jet lagged day here). today we are attending a lecture about dalit issues, the communist party and conflict resolution. i think you learn so much more about a culture when you are learning about it in country.

alright, thanks to the ac, this post has become amazingly long. but i do feel like i've caught you all up to my fantastic indian life thus far. stay tuned, i'll be a better blogger from here on out. love and miss you all.

procrastinations key

t-minus A DAY until leaving for india. yes that's right, in less than 24 hours, i'll already be well on my way. and i'm just now starting to pack. just now. in addition to packing for india, i also need to move out of my room/house and complete no less than 15 additional insurance, bill, post office requirements on my to do list. my suitcase sits ominously empty in the center of my room. a gaping black hole challenging me to the daunting task of fitting my entire life inside its frame, of packing for an entire year. a little intimidating, perhaps. but incredibly exciting. the same suitcase that i am wrestling with today is representative of endless possibilities, adventures, challenges and victories that become reality tomorrow. tomorrow. that's something worth leaving for.