So it's wedding season in Jaipur. Planting doesn't begin in Rajasthan until after the monsoon passes, so the traditional wedding season occurs from mid May to mid July. I haven't actually seen a wedding yet, but I've heard them... Fireworks are a key part of the wedding celebration, and presently some are exploding right outside my window. They're beautiful, but loud. They've been going off intermittently for about 20 minutes, and I expect them to go on much longer. Hell, if it was my wedding, I'd want fireworks all night long!
Also, a friend told me that Hindu marriages last for seven reincarnations. That's something to think about.
Check out this article about Wedding Lingerie Fads. Note, the article is dated September because in other parts of India the wedding season is in the Fall. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lifestyle/Trends/Lingerie-fads-this-wedding-season/articleshow/3448479.cms
If I remember, my next post will be about comparing the incomparable: China and India
Friday, June 26, 2009
School Week
My Ride! This is the auto-rickshaw I take to school everyday.
Today marks the conclusion of my first full week of classes at AIIS. Let me start by saying that my AIIS professors are amazing teachers and individuals. I have two teachers: Vidhuji and Rashmiji. Rashmiji is working on her PhD in Hindi at Jaipur University. She has two sons, 10 months and 6 years. Vidhuji has a PhD in English. He’s the only AIIS teacher who learned Hindi as his first language. When Vidhuji was born, his father insisted that every member of the household spoke only pure Hindi around him, not any regional dialects of Hindi. Apparently everybody listened because Vidhuji was 14 when he first started learning a regional dialect of Hindi and English.
Not only is AIIS super selective about who they hire, but they require that their instructors take language-teaching training course before they start and continue to take training courses while they are with the institute. For his training last year, Vidhuji went another AIIS sight and learned Urdu. Grammatically, Urdu is almost identical to Hindi, but Urdu is written in the Arabic script and draws a lot of vocabulary from Persian. When we were struggling to learn the Devanagari (Hindi) script, Vidhuiji kept us from getting discouraged by saying things like “The script is hard. Even the Hindi teachers struggled when we were learning Urdu. It’s hard, and look how well your doing!” I was nice because I really felt like he understood what we were grappling with. (I say were because we finished learning the script Wednesday. I still need practice, but a least it all doesn’t look like scribbles anymore!)
At AIIS, we have 4 hours of instruction starting at 9am. However, each hour is considered its own class, and, because it’s India, our classes are nicely punctuated by tea breaks (काय अवकाश)।On a particular day, we may spend the first class reviewing from the day before, the second class learning something new, the class hour practicing what we just learned in small groups, and the fourth class doing some exercise that reviews several things we have learned. Vidhuji and Rashmiji draw-up a weekly schedule, but they are really flexible. Every day they ask us what we want to work on, and if we want to spend extra time on something or another they’re completely obliging. On top of our normal instruction, we have personal tutorials twice a week for an hour. What we do in the tutorials is totally up to us. I’m planning on reading a book out loud. At first it will just be to practice sounding out the words, but eventually I’ll actually be able to understand the story.
This trip is unlike any of the other trips I’ve taken because I’m entirely focused on learning the language. Though I took Chinese classes in China, I also took two business classes, and I never really intended on pursuing my Chinese learning after the trip (not to say I didn’t enjoy learning Chinese because I did and it inspired me to learn Hindi). Because I’ve been to Jaipur before, I don’t feel like I need to rush out and see all the major sites. Plus, afternoons here are well over 100 degrees, so rushing anywhere is out of the question. On top of that, nightlife in Jaipur is basically non-existent. Moral of the story, I’m content just going to my homestay or a café after school and studying.
The trip is different in that it’s the first time I’ve done a homestay (picture at right is the Bhatia's house) . The whole idea behind a homestay is that you have a chance to use your language skills and you get more insight into the culture. In looking forward to this trip, I was definitely most excited and most nervous about the homestay aspect. So far, my homestay experience has gone well. I've gotten use to my room and the Guru hanging in it, so I no longer feel trapped when I spend time in it. I’ve also been spending more time in other parts of the house, which is nice and gives me a chance to observe the family/ neighborhood. All the family members have started opening up and I guess I have begun to let my guard down a little. The only negative thing that has happened was when Mrs. Batia told us that Internet was going to cost 500INR/ month rather than the 300INR/ month we had
previously agreed upon. When we questioned her, she said it was because she realized that one of the three of us didn’t have a laptop and wouldn’t be paying. It kind of pissed me off, but, at the same time, 500INR (~10USD) is not a very great amount of money and it’s not worth causing tension over. And really, considering that I’m really well fed, don’t have a strict curfew, and have unlimited use of AC and WiFi, I’m much better off than some of my classmates and shouldn’t complain.The one surprising thing about doing a homestay is that even though I'm living with native Jaipur-eans, I feel insulated from Jaipur to a certain degree. As I said before, I don't do a lot of sightseeing, and I'm nowhere near being conversational in Hindi. On top of that I take all me meals at home or school, and don’t really have to shop for anything but cloths or souvenirs. As a result, I’m not forced interact with my neighborhood or the main part of the city very often. In China, I had to take to the streets because I lived in a dorm and needed food, and getting food was how I got over a lot of my discomfort. In this case, I’m no longer uncomfortable in Jaipur, but I’m not comfortable either. Granted, I haven’t been here very long. I’m planning on trying out the yoga classes at the women’s college down the road, so maybe that will help me integrate more.
It rained this week!!!!! On Wednesday, Hailey (also in my homestay) and I decided to go get a fresh lime soda after school. The café we were headed for is about an 8min walk from our school. By the time we arrived there we we’re both swimming in out own sweat. “Has it been this hot here the whole time and I just haven’t noticed?” I asked. Haley and I agreed that it was in fact our hottest day in Jaipur yet. We got home around 3pm, and around 4pm I looked outside my window and realized it was dark outside. Weird. About 10 minutes later I realized that dust was settling on the keyboard of my computer and the electricity had gone out. I walked out to the porch, and the air was totally saturated with dust. I’ve never seen anything ever close to a sandstorm, so to me the relatively small sandstorm (it only lasted 30min) seemed like the end of the world. But then it rained, and everybody was happy.
However, I learned today that the rain we had this week is not the start of the monsoon. In fact, the monsoon is running late.
This weekend I’m going to Saharia Organic Resort with two other AIIS-ers. Jessie is coming from Delhi to join us as well. You can check out their website: www.sahariaorganicresort.com. They have a pool and camels to ride, so I’m, anticipating good times.
Me wearing what I think is called a Kurta
standing outside of school.
standing outside of school.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Street Temples and Jewlery
The Indian visa system is very inconsistent. According to their official publications, all student Visas are valid for a year and require the visa holder to register with the local police. However, just about all the AIIS participant's visas were issued out with different restrictions. Some people have six month visas, others 9 month, and other 12 months. About 10 people had to register with the police in Delhi, while about 20 of us had to register with the Jaipur police. While filling out the forms was tedious (everything had to be done in 4s and have a picture attached), actually going to the police station was relatively painless (for India especially). The police station is in the Old City, so we took a 15 min auto-rickshaw ride from the school and just dropped off our forms with the secretary. Apparently they'll deliver them in a week. This may seem like a tedious story about nothingness, but that's exactly what makes it exciting! Stuff like this never goes easily in countries like India. For example, getting a SIM card for my mobile phone required a two page application, a letter from my school, a copy of my visa and passport, and three passport photos. Even after I got all the paperwork together, the salesmen took over 30min to give me the SIM and half a day to activate it.
Anyhow, after the police station a group of us walked around town. The streets here are dusty, smelly, and loud; full of cars, auto-rickshaws, real rickshaws, bicycles, pedestrians, mobile merchants, as well as people just loitering about. A crazy place to walk around, but kind of fun too. However, thought my travels here and in China I’ve discovered that the craziest streets typically hide an entrance to a temple, monastery, or shrine. While being hassled to buy bangles we spotted an entrance to a temple. Entering the temple was like stepping into another world. All of a sudden you’re in a beautiful building and everything is quiet.
after walking through a small alley we see this!
There were about 20 people in the temple having a service. Luckily we showed up at the very end, so we were able to talk to some of the followers. The temple is 300 years old (new for India). It use to belong to the government, but a few years ago the government gave it to a group called Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan. They are followers of Guru Maharaj Ji, have temple all over the world (including US), and a website http://divyajyoti.org/. They were thrilled to talk to us, especially after they found out that some of us spoke Hindi.
Afterwards we stopped in a couple of shops not far from the temple. Jaipur is known for semi-precious stones, and a lot of jewelry factories are located in this region of India because of its history and cheap labor. I spent a while in a jewelry shop talking to the manager. I was looking at rings that were outside my price range, but not extravagant (200-400USD). We started talking about how long his family had been in the jewelry business (30 years), and then he started showing me more expensive pieces (10,000USD+), and then he took me into the office and opened the safe which held pieces costing upwards of 50,000USD. Everything was so beautiful, and I don’t even like jewelry all that much. Anyhow, I had a good chat with him about how his family runs the business. His Uncle is in charge of everything, he runs the store, his brother runs the factory, and his cousin lives in Milan to arrange orders and keep plus on the international market, his aunt and other cousin are in charge of designing the jewelry, and other family members to the other jobs. As he put it, “its good working with family because when the business does well everybody does well.” Honestly, I think the majority of business in the world happens because of familial and clan relationships.
Anyhow, after the police station a group of us walked around town. The streets here are dusty, smelly, and loud; full of cars, auto-rickshaws, real rickshaws, bicycles, pedestrians, mobile merchants, as well as people just loitering about. A crazy place to walk around, but kind of fun too. However, thought my travels here and in China I’ve discovered that the craziest streets typically hide an entrance to a temple, monastery, or shrine. While being hassled to buy bangles we spotted an entrance to a temple. Entering the temple was like stepping into another world. All of a sudden you’re in a beautiful building and everything is quiet.
after walking through a small alley we see this!
There were about 20 people in the temple having a service. Luckily we showed up at the very end, so we were able to talk to some of the followers. The temple is 300 years old (new for India). It use to belong to the government, but a few years ago the government gave it to a group called Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan. They are followers of Guru Maharaj Ji, have temple all over the world (including US), and a website http://divyajyoti.org/. They were thrilled to talk to us, especially after they found out that some of us spoke Hindi.
Afterwards we stopped in a couple of shops not far from the temple. Jaipur is known for semi-precious stones, and a lot of jewelry factories are located in this region of India because of its history and cheap labor. I spent a while in a jewelry shop talking to the manager. I was looking at rings that were outside my price range, but not extravagant (200-400USD). We started talking about how long his family had been in the jewelry business (30 years), and then he started showing me more expensive pieces (10,000USD+), and then he took me into the office and opened the safe which held pieces costing upwards of 50,000USD. Everything was so beautiful, and I don’t even like jewelry all that much. Anyhow, I had a good chat with him about how his family runs the business. His Uncle is in charge of everything, he runs the store, his brother runs the factory, and his cousin lives in Milan to arrange orders and keep plus on the international market, his aunt and other cousin are in charge of designing the jewelry, and other family members to the other jobs. As he put it, “its good working with family because when the business does well everybody does well.” Honestly, I think the majority of business in the world happens because of familial and clan relationships.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Settling In
Jaipur
The past few days have somehow managed to be both tedious and eventful. Our group made the move to Jaipur. For some reason, our itinerary demanded that we leave at 5:30am to make the four-hour journey. An extra hour was added to that journey when we stopped for an 8am tea break—totally necessary by Indian standards. When we arrived in Jaipur, we dropped our belongings off at the hotel, and continued on to the AIIS institute. The institute is at a brand new location, so it was exciting for every body to see it. We took lunch, had a very brief orientation (again), and than sat around for about 4 hours. Considering we’ve been awkwardly chatting with each other for the last few days, we’d been up since 5, and we were waiting to go visit our host families, waiting was torture.
Nevertheless, It’s all panned out. I’ve stayed two nights with my host family. They live in a middle-class neighborhood in a nice house. The house has a semi-open courtyard in the center and three stories built up in a square around it. The parents and their 13year old daughter live on the ground floor; the maid and paternal grandparents live on the second floor with me; and the two other AIIS girls live on the top floor. It’s a little weird to be a guest in the home of people you don’t really know at all. There are all these little social nuances that I don’t really pick up on, and anytime I need anything I have to ask one of my host parents. Even though they speak good English, communicating exactly what the issue is can be a little challenging. However, the daughter, Nicky, is really friendly. Last night we played Chinese checkers and tonight we just sat around and had a silly chat about music and TV.
Yesterday one of our professors explained the linguistic origins of Hindi. India is what scholars call a multi-lingual society, meaning that people speak more than one language on a daily basis. For example, One of my teachers speaks to her mother in lat in Gundrati, her husband in Hindi, and her son in English. There is also a fair bit of code swapping between languages. For example, a homestay parent once asked an AIIS student what the English word for “road” is. He had been using “road” his while life thinking it was a Hindi word. After the lecture, I felt both doomed and excited. Doomed, because what’s the point of learning Hindi when there are so many different dialects and even an Indian person needs several languages to get through her day. Excited, because Hindi is so perfectly phonetic that it can freely adopt any word, and, once I’m good with the language, it will be a fun language to express myself in. I’m not sure how all this will end up fitting in my life plan, but I do know that Hindi’s crazy and India’s crazy, so I’ll probably end up somewhere slightly crazy in the end.
Today was my first day of real classes at AIIS. Doing something other than eating and talking was very refreshing. So far, the teachers are really good at explaining the language and responding to our concerns. Hopefully these methods will continue for the rest of the summer.
I’m definitely still settling into India. I don’t love my room, and the homestay thing is still awkward. The sounds, smells, and people are overwhelming at times. And I’m not sure what I’ll do with myself once I have a free weekend. At the same time, I had a lot of these same feelings when I was in China, and I ended up loving it there.
The past few days have somehow managed to be both tedious and eventful. Our group made the move to Jaipur. For some reason, our itinerary demanded that we leave at 5:30am to make the four-hour journey. An extra hour was added to that journey when we stopped for an 8am tea break—totally necessary by Indian standards. When we arrived in Jaipur, we dropped our belongings off at the hotel, and continued on to the AIIS institute. The institute is at a brand new location, so it was exciting for every body to see it. We took lunch, had a very brief orientation (again), and than sat around for about 4 hours. Considering we’ve been awkwardly chatting with each other for the last few days, we’d been up since 5, and we were waiting to go visit our host families, waiting was torture.
Nevertheless, It’s all panned out. I’ve stayed two nights with my host family. They live in a middle-class neighborhood in a nice house. The house has a semi-open courtyard in the center and three stories built up in a square around it. The parents and their 13year old daughter live on the ground floor; the maid and paternal grandparents live on the second floor with me; and the two other AIIS girls live on the top floor. It’s a little weird to be a guest in the home of people you don’t really know at all. There are all these little social nuances that I don’t really pick up on, and anytime I need anything I have to ask one of my host parents. Even though they speak good English, communicating exactly what the issue is can be a little challenging. However, the daughter, Nicky, is really friendly. Last night we played Chinese checkers and tonight we just sat around and had a silly chat about music and TV.
Yesterday one of our professors explained the linguistic origins of Hindi. India is what scholars call a multi-lingual society, meaning that people speak more than one language on a daily basis. For example, One of my teachers speaks to her mother in lat in Gundrati, her husband in Hindi, and her son in English. There is also a fair bit of code swapping between languages. For example, a homestay parent once asked an AIIS student what the English word for “road” is. He had been using “road” his while life thinking it was a Hindi word. After the lecture, I felt both doomed and excited. Doomed, because what’s the point of learning Hindi when there are so many different dialects and even an Indian person needs several languages to get through her day. Excited, because Hindi is so perfectly phonetic that it can freely adopt any word, and, once I’m good with the language, it will be a fun language to express myself in. I’m not sure how all this will end up fitting in my life plan, but I do know that Hindi’s crazy and India’s crazy, so I’ll probably end up somewhere slightly crazy in the end.
Today was my first day of real classes at AIIS. Doing something other than eating and talking was very refreshing. So far, the teachers are really good at explaining the language and responding to our concerns. Hopefully these methods will continue for the rest of the summer.
I’m definitely still settling into India. I don’t love my room, and the homestay thing is still awkward. The sounds, smells, and people are overwhelming at times. And I’m not sure what I’ll do with myself once I have a free weekend. At the same time, I had a lot of these same feelings when I was in China, and I ended up loving it there.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Delhi
June 14, 2009
Delhi
All my roommates are jet lagged, so they woke up bright and early this morning. As a result, I couldn't stay in bed much past 6:30am. On the up side though, I was very prompt for our 7:30 Indian breakfast that featured lots of delicious dishes that I don’t yet know the names of (but I will!).
Using Hindi in everyday life as I’m learning it is going to be a challenge for me. For example, even though I know the word for tea in Hindi and can pronounce it correctly, I didn’t use it at breakfast today because I was worried about sounding stupid. I need to find a way to get over this if I’m going to be successful at learning Hindi in the next 10 weeks.
Because of a screw-up with her program, Jessie stayed the night at the AIIS guesthouse. I’m really glad we got a little extra time together. She took a cab to her homestay this afternoon. I hope she’s settling in well.
AIIS held orientation this morning. All the AIIS students going to Jaipur, Lucknow, and Punjab are here now. It’s nice to meet more people who will be studying in Jaipur too. I’m a little nervous though because I just realized that most the people I’ve clicked with so far are going to other language-learning sights, which means I won’t see them all summer. Hopefully I’ll find some friends in Jaipur.
Orientation today was much more relevant and enlightening than the orientation we had in DC. I learned a little about how India’s democracy is set up. Notably, the Indian constitution actually has affirmative action laws written directly in it. For example, a certain number of legislative seats on both the national and local levels are reserved for women and for untouchables. We also got some good health advice from an Indian doctor. Unfortunately, I had a really bad stomach ache all morning. Hopefully I do better the rest of the trip.
This afternoon I went to Qutab Minar. It was one of the first sites that I visited when I came to India the first time. I remembered a lot more about the site from my first visit than I expected. Looking back, I never expected to come back to India after my first visit, so being here is a little surreal. At the same time, this visit is nothing like my first because of all the travel experiences I've had since that first scary & shocking visit. After living in China for 4+ months, India is a lot more comfortable.
Here's a picture from Qutab Minar. (There will be more once I figure out how to upload faster)
If you want to check out AIIS their website is http://www.indiastudies.org/. I'm in the Hindi Language Program.
Lots of Love
Delhi
All my roommates are jet lagged, so they woke up bright and early this morning. As a result, I couldn't stay in bed much past 6:30am. On the up side though, I was very prompt for our 7:30 Indian breakfast that featured lots of delicious dishes that I don’t yet know the names of (but I will!).
Using Hindi in everyday life as I’m learning it is going to be a challenge for me. For example, even though I know the word for tea in Hindi and can pronounce it correctly, I didn’t use it at breakfast today because I was worried about sounding stupid. I need to find a way to get over this if I’m going to be successful at learning Hindi in the next 10 weeks.
Because of a screw-up with her program, Jessie stayed the night at the AIIS guesthouse. I’m really glad we got a little extra time together. She took a cab to her homestay this afternoon. I hope she’s settling in well.
AIIS held orientation this morning. All the AIIS students going to Jaipur, Lucknow, and Punjab are here now. It’s nice to meet more people who will be studying in Jaipur too. I’m a little nervous though because I just realized that most the people I’ve clicked with so far are going to other language-learning sights, which means I won’t see them all summer. Hopefully I’ll find some friends in Jaipur.
Orientation today was much more relevant and enlightening than the orientation we had in DC. I learned a little about how India’s democracy is set up. Notably, the Indian constitution actually has affirmative action laws written directly in it. For example, a certain number of legislative seats on both the national and local levels are reserved for women and for untouchables. We also got some good health advice from an Indian doctor. Unfortunately, I had a really bad stomach ache all morning. Hopefully I do better the rest of the trip.
This afternoon I went to Qutab Minar. It was one of the first sites that I visited when I came to India the first time. I remembered a lot more about the site from my first visit than I expected. Looking back, I never expected to come back to India after my first visit, so being here is a little surreal. At the same time, this visit is nothing like my first because of all the travel experiences I've had since that first scary & shocking visit. After living in China for 4+ months, India is a lot more comfortable.
Here's a picture from Qutab Minar. (There will be more once I figure out how to upload faster)
If you want to check out AIIS their website is http://www.indiastudies.org/. I'm in the Hindi Language Program.
Lots of Love
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Gearing Up
So I'm sitting in my fancy hotel room at the M St Renaissance in DC. I'm here for an orientation with fellow CLSers going to one of 4 sights in India. Because I work at UM's Challenge Course, I naturally assumed orientation meant ice-breakers/ get-to-know-youS followed by serious group bonding. On the contrary, the orientation agenda included three speakers and two panels either covering logistics about the program or career/ fellowship opportunities that we should look out for after the program. Good, useful information, but not what I expected.
Now that I'm here though, I'm a lot more excited about studying in India this summer. Up to know I've been more focused on the things I'm leaving rather than the adventure I'm about to embark on. I'm excited to re-discover India!
Also, from what the alumni said, AIIS seems to really have their act together. The Professors really know how to teach the target language and are committed to making sure your entire experience is both rich and smooth. I know that I'll have to put in a lot of effort and avoid the temptation to speak English, but it's good to know that I'll have good support.
Of course, despite the fact that I thought I packed better for this trip than any of my other oversees adventures (Mom and Andrew can attest that I really did do pretty good), my suitcase is 20lb over the limit. I'm very disappointed and unwilling to part with my stuff even though I know I'll only end up wearing Indian clothing once I get there.
My final to dos:
*go to CVS for a few last minute things (extra strength deodorant and airborne)
*get money from the ATM
*re-pack
Off to the Chophouse for Dinner!
Now that I'm here though, I'm a lot more excited about studying in India this summer. Up to know I've been more focused on the things I'm leaving rather than the adventure I'm about to embark on. I'm excited to re-discover India!
Also, from what the alumni said, AIIS seems to really have their act together. The Professors really know how to teach the target language and are committed to making sure your entire experience is both rich and smooth. I know that I'll have to put in a lot of effort and avoid the temptation to speak English, but it's good to know that I'll have good support.
Of course, despite the fact that I thought I packed better for this trip than any of my other oversees adventures (Mom and Andrew can attest that I really did do pretty good), my suitcase is 20lb over the limit. I'm very disappointed and unwilling to part with my stuff even though I know I'll only end up wearing Indian clothing once I get there.
My final to dos:
*go to CVS for a few last minute things (extra strength deodorant and airborne)
*get money from the ATM
*re-pack
Off to the Chophouse for Dinner!
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