Hello!

It has been almost a week back at home, away from all the crazy that is India. Nothing extreme has hit me yet but subtle things keep taking me by surprise. Like not hearing any Indian English, catching myself asking people if they have “taken lunch”, being wary of the bubblers sanitation, and being surprised when I look up and realize a majority of the people in Target are White. Where am I? Oh yeah, Wisconsin. 

            

Not that it’s a bad thing. I’ve come to embrace the little Midwestern suburb I’ve grown up it. It’s just interesting to be back. It seems like so much time has passed without me being here, and things have changed. For instance, my youngest sister is finally surpassing my chin in height! but at the same time it doesn’t seem like too long ago, this place still has the comforts of the known, it’s still home. 

It’s actually a nice calm to come back to. It’s a calm I didn’t know I was missing. I guess India was more stress than I perceived during my stay. My body gave up a few more times than I expected in a few more ways than I expected but look, I’m still kicking, in fact with even more enthusiasm! But along with the stress, the final stretch of my travels back was a little rough. haha. I thought Kerala was the final test of endurance, strength, and survival but I was wrong when a certain airline landed in O’Hare an hour and a half later than scheduled which caused a situation where a certain someone couldn’t get on the connecting plane to the final destination.

I was greeted at O’Hare with a bright safety orange envelope with my name, inside a ticket for the next morning, and a free stay at the airport’s Hilton hotel for the night. I thought I could still make my connection to Milwaukee so I sprinted to the customs line but waited 15 minutes to get through (that was after skipping more than 2/3rd of the line with a group of us trying to make a connection led by an unreserved woman yelling “WE HAVE ORANGE TICKETS, WE NEED TO GET TO THE FRONT. PLEASE MA’AM, SIR. THANK YOUUUUUU!” After having a rushed but pleasant conversation about why I just spent 6 months in another country with the customs man, I rushed to reclaim my baggage and recheck it. My adrenaline was rushing, I thought I could still make it and I was so focused to make it when a lady from the airline tapped me on the shoulder and asked me what I was doing. She then broke the news to me that I really couldn’t make it and that the plane had already boarded and was ready to go which I replied to with a burst of yelling and crying (I know, pretty mature. A fresh 21 year old sobbing about something that can’t be changed) and stormed out of luggage claim. I sat down and called my parents (who are wonderful) who then told me they’d pick me up from Chicago. I waited for them and when they arrived they beckoned me frantically to get to the car. I wondered why but my question was answered by a woman running down the road towards us yelling at the top of her lungs at my dad to get his “Fucking car outta the road!” She freaked me out so much I ran my luggage to the car and shoved it in with the help of my dad. She then came up and started yelling some more about how we were parking on private parking grounds and that we needed to park on the other side of the road (which we clearly couldn’t do since there was NO way to get to the other side since there was a barrier cutting the road into two). After roaring with my dad for a few minutes she told us “JUST SHUT THE TRUNK AND GO DRIVE. GET OUT OF HERE. YOU CAN’T BE HERE. JUST SHUT THE TRUNK SO I CAN WRITE YOUR LICENCE DOWN AND YOU’LL BE SURE TO GET A TICKET!! I TOLD YOU  YOU CAN’T PARK HERE! WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE? THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!” 

What can you do. Not much more than drive off which is what we did. Dazed, angry, confused, tired. It wasn’t until we got to a pit stop that we all realized we didn’t even say hi or hug. haha. Whoops. 

But that was the final difficulty that I encountered on my Indian adventure. I made it home, ate some GREAT Korean cooking, stayed wide awake and unpacked. And now, here I am. Resting, relaxing, eating salads, drinking tap water. 

I know I talked about a lot of woes on this trip, but I just want to make it crystal clear that I have loved my experience! If I knew I would go through all the rough patches before deciding my study abroad destination, I’d still pick India. It’s such an AMAZING place full of, well, AMAZING. Every experience has at least two positive aspect to it. India for me was something unexpected, new, fresh and definitely different from the Midwest. That complimented with some delicious food was all I wanted pre-India. And was that desire met? Of course! Easily surpassed! I couldn’t have asked for a more breathtaking first taste of the world. 

Dhanyavad, India! Thanks for all the wonderful places and genuinely kind people you have introduced me to. You, and the people, the places, and these few months that have made you what you are will always have a special spot in my heart. Hyderabad, HCU, SIP, CIEE, Ramanan’s: thank you. My trip would be 100x more chaotic and 100x less enjoyable without your presence and yourhospitality. Phir Milenge! 

Lastly, thanks to all of you who have been following me on my first independent international travel! Whether it be with me in India or from around the world, it means a lot to me to know that people have been checking in and have been curious about what I’ve been up to. I can’t wait to see you all and hear about what your lives for the past few months! And of course, I’ll be more than willing to blab some more about India! ;]

So, I guess this is it.

Until we meet again,

Namaskar! 

    

Ah!! 21!! November 30th was my 21st birthday and it was definitely bittersweet but very memorable. 

It started right at midnight with Kyla and Leah both surprising me with a big fat chocolate cake from our local bakery “Cakes N More” There were no candles to light or blow out so Kyla, the computer science major and wiz she is, whipped up something on her computer. We celebrated Indian style, and I got to cut off pieces of cake and feed my close friends. ;] 

Later that morning, I woke up to my last Durgama-cooked-breakfast of toast, oats, and chai. I sipped my chai as I starred into the warm sun coming through the lime green and yellow kitchen. My birthday continued with running a few errands that needed to be completed since it was also my last day in India. Leah and I went to campus for the last time, turned in our phones, handed in some donations, and said our goodbyes to CIEE. Oh man, such an emotional day. I hate saying goodbyes that seem finite. I hope and I don’t want it to be, but in my mind India is very far away from the US and the trip is not an easy one to make on a college student budget. 

After our final goodbyes to SIP and CIEE, Leah took me out to lunch at Mast Kalandar (a place that serves AMAZING dhal!) to split our final thali together. After our final bites of gulab jamun, I headed out to Inorbit Mall and Shilparamam to get final gifts and to treat myself as well. At Inorbit, I got my mom some pearl earrings since Hyd is known for their pearls, and got a free framed picture of the Charminar when I told them it was my birthday. Haha, unfortunately, I left it at the stall in Shilparamam. I wanted a few more nice scarves for myself, so I went to do my final haggling. What started at 1,000 per scarf came down to 3 for 1,000. I felt really successful but also was so frazzled by the intensity that I left my framed picture there!

I raced to campus again to tie up a few things and say goodbye to my Hindi teacher, Bhavani. However, what was supposed to be a meeting at 5:30 turned out to be me waiting past 6:30.. She drove me home and we shared a tearful goodbye. I went back into the home and was greeted by the encompassing love of the Ramanan, my housemates, and two close friends. My heart was aching! I love this family so much and just thinking about this being our last dinner together hurt so much. Auntie had told Durga to make a big celebratory dinner as our final meal and as a “happy birthday” meal and I ate every bite with appreciation.

Afterwards, Auntie gifted me with a sturdy and beautiful brass bell, similar to the one Uncle uses during his morning prayers saying they’d run over to me when I ring the bell. It was exactly the most perfect thing I wanted to hear. It gave me comfort that they really cared for me, would be there for me, and lessened the harsh gap between me and this amazing family.

I thanked them, and said my final goodbye to Pati (Uncle’s mother) and headed upstairs with Kyla, Karen, and Leah to prepare for the rest of the night. We decided to go out to “Ladies Night” at the Park Hotel, probably the most expensive place I’ve ever stepped into. Haha. Luckily, there was no cover charge and drinks were free and the music was something we knew and loved so the night flew by and ended with a good late night talk on the taxi ride back home. We arrived home around 1 and I finished up my packing for my departure to the airport at 3AM…. 

Love these two! 

Leah and I headed to Kerala on the 24th to the 29th hitting Cochin, Alleppey, and Munnar. It was beautiful, every part of it, but it was also stressful. It was like a final test we had to pass in order to leave India as a success. 

Here are some of the stressors:

-being surprise charged rs800 for a cab ride

-not being able to obtain the houseboat we had been discussing

-the cloudy weather that greeted us and stuck with us

-changing the plans every step of the way

-gross ketchup covered uncooked noodles 

Yes, we did create a smiley face with the food.. we might be 5 years old. 

-getting sick from the gross ketchup nasstaayy

-Leah’s toenail cracking in half

-no beach day because of the rain

-the morally wrong lying we did to get into a hotel that we thought would be better but turned out to be so much more impersonal and cold

-no Jew Town

-2 5-hour bus rides that were PACKED

-the bandt (strike) in Munnar that left us stranded for a full day

-the bandt in Cochin that eventually made going to Jew Town impossible and instead moved our trip to the airport to 5 in the morning.. for our 2pm flight

__

But you know, Leah and I tried to see the best in everything and we found out how resilient we really are. At some points I just wanted to break down and call the trip a failure, but having Leah there was such a pick-me-up. Her optimistic outlook on life and her determination to succeed and see the best in everything is so refreshing and encouraging. It made the trip something that otherwise, I don’t know if I would have enjoyed as much as I did. She kept my mind off of my quickly-approaching nerve-racking departure from India with thought provoking questions, and kept the most disastrous situations light and laughable. For instance, we cursed everything in site in Munnar except the paratha man as we left via 5 hour crammed bus ride. And you know, the trip, although it didn’t go as planned, turned out so unique and is definitely a story to tell.  So, here are some of the most wonderful things about the trip:

-being charged less than 3 rupees for a wonderful ferry ride

-meeting the sweetest old men on the 5 hour bus ride to Munnar

-discovering/ eating the most amazing mint paratha 

-discovering/ eating the most amazing Keralan paratha

-Ayurvedic rejuvenating massage! 

-getting a tour of the backwaters on a man-powered canoe with the company of a woman from the UK

-sitting in a bar filled only with Indian men 

-fresh fish and fresh fruit!

-views of the tea plantations all around Munnar

-a relaxing and extremely empty train ride

-Doing our own mini-trek of Munnar and the nature in Munnar

-Chinese fishing nets in the AM

-Reasonable and even NICE rickshaw drivers who’d stop to show us viewpoints on the way (we even bought one of the drivers we had a paratha)

-WONDERFULLY FRIENDLY PEOPLE! All smiles all around! 

-good chocolate

-chocolate coffee!

-spices and powerful ginger candy

-tea tour + free tea tasting

-beautiful beauty

___

India, even when things go completely the wrong way, you still somehow manage to be inspiring. Although there are things I didn’t get to check off my list of things to do in Kerala I savor the personalized experience I had. Owell..I guess I’ll just have to come back later in life! ;]

My Indian dream is quickly coming to an end! I woke up Friday, finals behind me, and started cleaning my room, throwing things out, and packing things away. I now sit on my bed by three bags of trash, two suitcases, one bag of donations, one tabla, and a half empty closet. 

There are three things that have been a big part of my time in India but I haven’t written about but cleaning up has reminded me to write on them. Since it’s a few things all rolled into one blog post, I’ll show you what I’ve been doing instead of writing. Pictures are more interesting anyway! 

-I took tabla lessons this semester! Check it:

-I’ve also learned a bit of henna this semester since CIEE offered no-credit classes in that:

-NGO: I’ve been helping Bhavani my Hindi teacher out at a school for migrating workers’ children this semester. Gabby (another CIEE student) and I went every Tuesday and Thursday and taught them English, played games with them, and cooked food for them with Bhavani. These children are wonderful and I’ve enjoyed being able to spend time with them and see them grow. :]

Bhavani the beautiful woman she is devotes all her free time to these children! 

The school generally sees around 30 students per day. The students are split into two groups to work on English. During these times, I worked mostly with the older children. 

—

I can’t believe this semester is coming to an end! With eight days left, I have a five-day trip to Kerala, one last visit to the school, and a 21st birthday to celebrate before I depart. Savoring every moment in India! 

My first ever Hard Rock experience! Expenses paid via 2nd place cash money prize from an essay contest. Chachinggg!

Hi there! Yup, I’m alive. I haven’t really kept my little blog updated because of FINALS. Can you believe it? How does time go so fast? I got one done Monday and two done on Tuesday (8-10 and 10-1, back to backkkk)

But anyway, let me just catch you up.

A little over a week ago, Uncle signed Leah and me up for this week-long “sri sri yoga” workshop that would be held 6-8 AM. I was a bit hesitant because of the time but it turned out to be extremely refreshing.  

The first morning was a bit rough. 5:15 wake up call. Stumbled out of bed and bruised my legs in 3 different spots. Ouch. It was still dark (and cold!) outside as we flew past the emptiest Hyderabad road I’ve seen yet. When we got there, we found a place for our towels (mat substitutes) and waited as we were joined by 300 other Hyderabad yogis. After everyone settled down, the teacher finally came and the whole class began.

The week was really really great. Waking up that early became easy and almost felt natural and I enjoyed being able to feel the sun rise as we just breathed the morning air in. The class itself was also so fun. We did the usual pranayama, asanas, and meditation things that go with what you think when you think yoga but we also did a lot of really fun activities that rid everyone of their inhibitions. For instance, some of them were like “sitting” in your invisible chair and walking like that while you met a few neighbors, trying to stop your yoga partner from clapping, and just jumping up and emitting some noise. Another one (and my favorite one) was where you forced laughter out. We’d laugh with our mouths closed but with sound, mouths open without sound, and then end with full hardy laughs. If you did this by yourself you’d probably feel stupid, but doing it with hundreds of others just trying to relax and be at peace was AMAZING. It made me feel so good and by the end everyone was just laughing their natural laugh and taking the energy of others laughter in. 

Incredible experience. I’ve read about laughing therapy for awhile now and I’ve always been interested in trying it so it was such a pleasant surprise to actually do it ourselves. 

One of the days, an Aruvedic doctor came in and told us the composition of our body and if we had any imbalances in our composition that hindered our well-being. What made it fascinating was that she did it all by just feeling the pulse on my wrist! She told me that I was having digestive problems (spot on diagnosis) and gave me medicine to take. She also gave my composition (which I can’t remember off the top of my head) and even correctly guessed that I was an athlete back at Mac. Amazing. 

On the last day we focused on meditation. I’m still struggling to do this so it was a bit rough. I’ve been taking a yoga theory and practice class for credit all semester and it has been real fun but I still can’t bring my mind to that meditative state. I know that meditation works wonders for people, but I guess I personally don’t feel the need for daily meditation. Part of me just doesn’t even want to try so I guess I can’t blame anyone for not being able to meditate since working on meditation is part of the path to meditation. 

No matter, I had a great time all week and got a deeper understanding of how influential the Vedas were on Indian culture while laughing and enjoying the company of the fellow sleepy yogis. 

Happy really late Diwali everyone! I know Halloween just passed and its not even October anymore, but I can’t go without telling you all about this holiday. 

The house all jazzed up! Ready for Diwali! 

Diwali is known as the festival of lights, in a generalized definition, a festival of good triumphing over evil. celebrated between mid October and mid November varying for several reasons. This year it was on October 26th. It’s one of the biggest Hindu holidays and associated it with are pujas (religious rituals performed by Hindus), fireworks, candles, lots of Indian sweets and food, and new clothes. Basically, I like to joke that it’s a combination of some of the holidays I celebrate in America: Christmas, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving.

The puja kind of went over me. All 3 of us homestay kids was fast asleep while uncle did his puja and bathed in oil around 4 or 5 AM. However, we did take part in the other festivities. 

The day was filled with firecrackers going off everywhere. Kyla, Leah, and I were walking outside during then day when one burst extremely close to our feet. We all jumped/ screamed/ were on the verge of a heart attack. These surprise firecrackers in the neighborhood kept our hearts racing the entire day.

Finally, night came and Auntie and Durga-ma helped us dress up in the saris we had bought with Auntie a week before.

How do some Indian women do this by themselves everyday?! It was a little difficult to walk around in at first too but we gradually got (somewhat) used to it.

We headed down, and helped them light candle wicks that were placed in small clay bowls filled with oil. This symbolizes good triumphing over evil (light in the darkness) and also is said to help the goddess Lakshmi feel welcome. And we watched the neighbors light fireworks and crackers as we waited for our guests.

Just a little jumpy from the cracking sound of the firecrackers..

Neighborhood kids + Kyle

“Our guests” refers to Uncle’s students. He’s an English professor at HCU and had invited over all of his students to come and celebrate. We also invited the other home stay and Kyle as well. Finally, everyone came and we began to light our collection of fireworks. I was pretty terrified that one would explode while I was still holding it and that my sari would then catch on fire (chicken.. I know) so I declined and instead played with the little sparklers.. but so did a lot of others. 

Then it was time for dinner! Durga-ma is a wonderful wonderful cook. Can’t even begin to explain. We had so much rice, and good food. Here is just a small sample:

And who can celebrate Diwali without Indian sweets? Not this girl.

After we ate the combined amount of food you’d eat at Christmas+ Thanksgiving + Halloween, a little entertainment was in order. We all sat down and Uncle started us off with a bit of his wonderful singing. 

And then some students joined in.

Eventually, the food set in along with tiredness, and the night finally started to settle down.. but not without the occasional explosives going off. 

But yeah. It was great fun and a lot of good food.

Also, I love this home. I love this family. I don’t think I can every say that enough. Everyone in this house makes life in India just 100x better. Just thinking about them puts a smile on my face. 

But anyway, Happy (really late) Diwali!

Exactly one more month till I fly back/land in the US. Unreal. How does time go so fast? 

Our henna teacher came in today and did henna on everyone’s hands. She was so quick! It took less than 15 minutes to do 2 hands. Crazy amazing. 

Leah had been contemplating a trip up into the mountains for over 2 months. She discussed with Kyla and me, and then retracted her idea, then discussed it again. One day she spontaneously bought her ticket feeling bold about her independent adventure and with this move convinced Kyla and me to join her.. making her independent adventure just an adventure. 

I really am thankful Leah kept bringing it up because it was one of the most refreshing trips I’ve had in India, figuratively and literally. And soon enough, we were heading out around 5 AM on a typically warm Hyderabad Wednesday. 

We were dressed unusually warm for Hyd weather but expected cool breezes at our arrival in Bagdogra. When we stepped off the plane, we were greeted by a familiar hot, humid, sweaty feeling. It was hotter than Hyderabad! We hoped we hadn’t packed in correctly as we hopped into a jeep to our destination. 

Luckily it got cooler and cooler (duh) as our little car chugged up the steep and rocky roads. Leah, Kyla, and I enjoyed it at first. The drive had bumping Hindi music, and the rocky roads were taken jokingly but soon what we thought would be a short drive turned out to be 4 hours of jerking and hurdling over bumps. The car had a few breaks.. but in the end we made it. 

By the time we got there we were all exhausted, hungry, and sick. Kyla and I had gone to the hospital the day before (for different reasons) and had both been sick and Leah had been fighting a cold for about a week. We wandered up to Dekeling Hotel who have really cozy rooms and lounges, accommodating staff, and really great views. All of us crashed on the bed and watched MasterChef Australia until we were tired enough to crash. 

The rest of the trip was AMAZINGGG, but honestly, it has been about a week now and I still haven’t finished this post so I’ll just give some points from the trip and then just show you the pictures of this beautiful place.

• The food: DELICIOUS DELICIOUS DELICIOUS. pancakes, momos, omlettes, soup noodles, thai food, roast beef sandwiches, cake from the British Cake Lady and more! Ah!

• Tea: We passed so many tea plantations along the way and there were so many stores selling their tea from their own plantation. Also, we did a tea tasting where we tried 3 types of black tea, 2 green, and 1 white. But, who can have tea without cake? Not us, so we got 4 slices to try (sticky lemon, chocolate blueberry, rum raisin, and mocha). I felt so sophisticated sipping small sample cups of tea while viewing a beautiful mountain view. We also had the most amazing ginger, lemon, honey tea at a place called Sonam’s Kitchen (actually a kitchen with seating.. so cute!), and of course, had Darjeeling tea along the way as well.

• The views: One morning we woke up at 3 AM to go see the sunrise at Tiger Hill which is supposed to be beautiful and look something like this: 

 but realistically, it was this: 

and this:

Small sunrise rave on Tiger Hill

But these views were the worst (at even still you can see the mountains from there!). What I mean is that Darjeeling itself is stunningg and that you don’t need to wake up that early or go to this commercialized view to see its beauty. For instance, here’s the view from the hotel lounge: 

But our favorite view spot was probably Observatory Hill. We stumbled upon it while looking for it and had our breaths taken away. This was our real first view of the snow capped mountains and we really just stood amazed for a good half hour or more.

• The Zoo: RED PANDAS. BLUE GOATS. SAMBAR DEER. BLACK BEAR. ILOVETHEZOO. How can animals be so cute?! There was also a Mount Everest museum which was so admirable. I now have new respect for every attempt at Mount Everest, success or not. That’s crazy stuff right there.

• The Hotel: Dekeling is a super super nice place. In previous trips, we try to save rupees by staying at super cheap and somewhat sketch hotels and hostels. For instance, Goa. But we decided to splurge (meaning.. 4 nights cost $60…) on a nicer hotel for this trip since we wanted to be cozy in the mountains. There was some mix-up and so we moved bedrooms 3 times for the 4 nights we were there. It was a little quirk in the trip but I liked having a sample of what Dekeling had to offer.I haven’t look forward to hopping into bed so much since last winter. The bed had some memory foam on it with a thick comforter and a velvety blanket on top and it was so nice to come back from a full day of exploring Darjeeling to jump into bed in long sleeves and leggings and gradually warm up while watching MasterChef-Australia and Dorimon.

• Darjeeling!: The rest of the time spent was really used wandering around Darjeeling and getting to know the place. We covered a lot of spots. We found the movie theater, the mall, a bazaar, tea stalls, the zoo, went to a monastery, and ate at great restaurants. It felt like a totally different country, this little place in the mountains. No one was aggressive when selling their merchandise, haggling was more like compromise, the weather was cold, no one did double takes when they saw we were foreigners (in fact, someone thought I actually lived there and started speaking to me in Nepali..), and it was peaceful at night. 
  • The place is just an adorable place to walk around. One point we were pretty exhausted and wanted to find a shortcut to tea tasting. We decided to take some stairs up hoping it would get us closer to our destination. We went up the steepest steps EVER up in the mountains for what felt like at least 10 minutes. We were huffing and puffing the entire time, and in fact, even took a second to catch our breath. (I know, we sound out of shape. We are. Whatever.) But once we got to the top, we ended up RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE TEA TASTING STORE!!! How that happened still amazes me. 

  

  • The bazaar excursion was also pretty interesting. Darjeeling is really into name brands, but also really into selling rip-off name brands and the bazaar we went to was packed with vendors who were selling “North Face” jackets, “Adidas” shoes, and “Lacoste” merchandise. Mixed in with all these stores, are food stalls with small snacks and cups of chai. It was also nice to walk around there because there were substantially less tourists than the main streets we were walking on. However, at one of the shops, I hear the first American-accented voices I’ve heard in all of India. It was an American couple (It sounded midwestern.. extremely midwestern) trying out an Indian chocolate bar. The husband says “Honey, you need to try this chocolate!”. The wife accepts and takes a huge bite and loudly exclaims through her chewing “IT TASTE LIKE A KIT KAT BAR!!!” Reping America loud and proud, baby. I’m not sure why I find this so amusing. but I do.

Ah! Darjeeling!! It was such a spectacular trip! We didn’t do some of the things we planned on doing like trekking and going to more monasteries or finding our missing mother in the moutains, or dramatically fling our luggage aide as we running-jumped onto a train but I think it was nice to just take it easy, get over our illnesses, and explore the place. Exploring took enough energy anyway. But yeah. Cake Lady, keep working your magic. Darj, I <3 you: