Week One continued

Wednesday

            We had our second Telugu class today and it was more difficult than the first day, but I’m still hopeful. We learned more numbers and the consonants. The difficulty I’m having is with the aspirated vs. unaspirated sounds ( Ka vs. Kha). It’s interesting and I’m sure with practice I will be able to improve.

            One of our favorite past times is going to the beach and enjoying the beautiful Bay of Bengal! It’s so fun and we get to meet lots of fun and interesting people. 

We also of course get to deflect the intentions of certain interested Indian men. It’s really uncomfortable when you have to tell men to get lost, but I know that they are not the genuinely curious type, they just want to date American women. Aside from the every so often awkward situation I really love the beach and the scenery.

Wednesday also was the first day that I began to work intensely on my project. Ragia Lakshmim, one of our program translators, came to my home and helped me to translate one of my vignettes. It was a long process. The hardest part is getting her to understand the point of the story and the actual plot line and then making sure the transliteration has the same meaning as the original story. I’ll will have to continue to do lots of editing in order to manipulate the data appropriately.

            Chuckolls took a group of us to the Jalari village. The Jalari are a specific caste of people in South Indian (literally translated fishermen even though most of them no longer fish). The village has progressed so much since Chuckolls began working with them. The people in India have no concept of proper trash disposal so there is trash all over the village and the beach. We saw some of the catches of the day including a ginormous sword fish and some small shark. It was very interesting. I will be conducting the first section of my research in this village. Pentaya is Chuckolls older brother and he is so funny! I love his family and how full of life he is even though he is 80 years old.

Thursday

            We went to the beloved Borra Caves! It was amazing! As a junior in high school I never would have imagined that I would be going to the place that was being described in the literature we were studying (A Passage to India by E.M. Forster). 

I’m still in disbelief that I was actually there, but it’s true and I went! The caves are made by a liquid that is naturally secreted by the earth that gradually degrades the rock making crevices. The liquid drips down from the ceiling of the caves. Other things drip down too (i.e. rat poop!), it’s kinda nasty, but worth it. Dr. Nuckolls told us that in 1979 he and a group went through the Borra Caves and explored and found a secret river! How amazing is that!? Sadly, I was in a saree and Chuckolls told us we shouldn’t be as adventurous. 

Despite the staunching of my adventurous spirit the caves were magical! On our way out of the caves we were attacked by a monkey… it was terrifying! Hilarious in hind sight, but blood chillingly terrifying in the moment. I kept thinking of how much my mom would kill me in I came back with a monkey slashed face. Needless to say after taking a few snaps I promptly ran away!

            After we left the caves we went to a NGO training center called “Nature”. This particular NGO promotes awareness and modernization for backwards tribal peoples. They help them by providing “manchinillu” (drinking water) and medical attention for HIV and AIDS patients. 

We went to one of the tribes in the Araku Valley and joined in this tribal dance called “Dimsa”. When we reconvened to the training center and dancing some more and had a grand ole time. 

Driving to all our sites today we had to go up and down narrow mountain passages. Mom don’t freak out! It was insane! I know these drivers have been driving in India and have a sure knowledge of the road, but holy crap! Our driver was way fast and we all thought we were going to die the whole time! It was just a little too insane for me J

At the NGO training center do the dimsa dance with the NGO workers. So fun!

   A lot happened these last couple days and I’m so excited for more to happen!

With love from India!

-Jaci

Week One

Monday: Only one week in India and I’ve already hurt myself! I’m such a klutz! All that happened really is I stumbled and stubbed my toe, but in India of course nothing is smooth (or clean) and gouged the heck out of my toe. I am so grateful I was prepared I went straight to my fanny pack ( no need to laugh at me, my roommate does it enough anyway) and pulled out disinfecting wipes and my first aid kit. All is well I’m just a little sore.

Sunday was amazing! The branch that we go to is tucked into this multistory building and it’s so very tiny. The spirit and members are strong. I felt at home even when I didn’t understand what was being said ( the meetings operate 80% in English and 20% in Telugu).

Monday was marvelous! We had our first Telugu class and I feel like I am really catching on to the language. I’ve learned all the vowels and how to count to five. It’s all up hill from there!

            Karuna, one of our translators and more like our glorified playmate, took us to the bangle shop. It was better than Disneyland! Everything was so cheap! I got so many gifts for everyone back home. Shops here are so interesting and different from chops in America. There seems to be no organization at all, but somehow everything is still found. They’re crammed and this one had a flat in the corner of the store that I believe served as the home of the family that owns the shop. It was so interesting. I only spend $10 and I got over 30 things! I was ecstatic to finally be able to wear bangles with my sarees.

            Tuesday: We went to the Simhatchilum temple and were honored by the Maha Raja of the area to enter the inner sactum and participate in the worship there. Indian’s normally have to pay somewhere close to 5000 rps to get into the inner sactum. We just walked right on in for free. It’s kinda how we do most things here. Our connections come in big handy. We walked around the temple, went through the head shaving halls where people sacrifice their hair in a vow to Lord Vishnu (a girl in the program convinced herself to do this and we’re going to document), watched people bath in “holy water” coming out of the mountain side, and then had the very lucky occurrence of a cow walking up to our group and standing with us (“very auspicious” as Chuckolls would say).

            Also at the Simhatchilum temple we were approached by one of the temple’s musicians and he asked to come and perform for us on Saturday morning at the Krishna Temple next to our house. He sang for us and I was amazed! I wish I could have that kind of vocal control. The Indian/ Eastern tradition focuses on melisma with an emphasis on microtonalism. Basically, it’s just really difficult and I do not have that skill.

            Once we were outside the temple we gathered to take pictures and there was this dog chillin’ outside the temple. Now there are street/ wild dogs all around India – even on our street. They are strays, probably rabid and all around undesirable. They follow my tinnie tiny roommate at night and probably could take her down without any problem. It’s a little crazy. Anywho, this dog is sitting outside the temple and Chuckolls (our affectionate name for Professor Nuckolls) determined that the dog is domesticated and he pets it. So I, for some unbeknownst reason, decide I’m going to pet it. Needless to say, it was a horrible idea. The dog tried to jump on me and I ran away! It’s really funny looking back, but I was terrified. No more dog petting for me. We do however have a program puppy named Sigmund and I condone petting him.

In India!

Me at the Delhi Airport at 9:30pm IST

Well I'm here now and it's wonderful! There's a new experience around every corner and it's exhilarating! The people are so kind and helpful (well, only here in Vizag). My traveling partners and I had one heck of a time dealing with Indian Air once we were in the Delhi Airport. It was a difficult trying to communicate. The English is British English spoken with an Indian accent. To say yes they wobble their heads back in forth, which to me means.. eh, whatever or yes no. Trust me, they mean yes. Aye caramba!

But all is well! I'm in my home here in Vizag. I love it! It's new and exciting. It's kind of like your typical low scale surf town except with an Indian twist. It's intriguing and laid back (South India as a whole is more relaxed than Northern India - similar to the United States North v. South comparison).

Professor Charles Nuckolls, our program director.

Today we got our internet (obviously) and we went on a walk around the Colony (our area). We stopped in on this children's school where they were having a celebration! It was in honor of the prosperous harvest and of plenty. The cow (and anything from it i.e. urine, feces, milk) is a symbol of prosperity and plenty and was used a great deal to demonstrate symbolism in the celebration.

The festival has many days, but the children at the school did all of the daily celebrations at once because the school would be on holiday during the celebrations. They danced and sang all while giggling at our presence. One little boy even came up to one of the students and asked if we were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we said yes and then he asked if he would see us on Sunday. It was fantastic! There’s a more detailed view of the photos on Facebook.

The food is amazing! I’ve only disliked one thing and it was candy, so I don’t feel bad. Breakfast usually consists of toast and fruit, nothing big. Lunch is a larger meal and consists of rice and a plethora of curry/ main entrée options. There’s usually always fruit and, of course, WATER! We have to drink lots of it. I can’t tell that the humidity will probably kill me. Indio is nothing compared to this! (And it’s not even hot yet!)

My roommates are Kelly Hacker and Amy Drake. They are a majorly fun time! Kelly and I share a room and Amy has one to herself. It’s just the three of us to our house which is two stories with a ground floor and a roof (which is spectacular). There’s a kitchen, but due to a break in a couple of months ago there’s no fixtures (faucets, knobs, etc.) so we don’t use it. There’s three open rooms that we don’t use at all. Basically the space is much too large for us and there should be more people here, but it’s grand all the same.

We’ve been chilling so far today and soon we will be off to see the beach and explore. Hopefully I’ll be able to deem it worthy to be swum in, but I’m afraid, after Dr. Nuckolls brief description, that I might find that it is less that satisfactory. Tomorrow Karuna has promised us that we will go downtown and get henna packets and bangles so that we can participate in the festival as well. Get this bangles are approximately 1 Rupee a bangle. (1 USD = 45 Rs.) OH MY GOSH! Amazing!

With love from India,

Jaci

Take Off

So tomorrow I'll be leaving on a jet plane, but I know when I'll be back again. I'm excited beyond belief! It's a kind of surreal feeling when you realize what you'll actually be doing. I sure that it won't fully hit me until after I get there.
At the moment I just need to get all my luggage together. Not to mention, I still haven't received approval for my project yet. Dr. Nuckolls (our program director) seems to be calm, so I guess I will follow his example, but I just can't imagine what I'm going to do without the proper approval to do my work.
I'm trying to learn phrases so that I won't be blind sided, but I'm certain that I'm pronouncing them all wrong. There are so many letters in one word and I always seem to get tongue tied no matter what I do. I hope and pray that my language class goes better than I'm hoping. I'm really quite terrible at foreign languages. Just ask Senorita Puente... oh that woman hated me! Maybe Telugu will prove differently.
Anywho, I'm going to return to packing and I will update you on more once I get there!
Oh my goodness. I'm going to India!

With love,

Jaci

First thing's first

This is my blog to document my adventures is India. It surely will be one exciting adventure. I hope that I will be able to maintain this blog with the proper effort it requires. If you want to find out what I am doing either come here, facebook, or the weekly emails I will send around through my mom (terripsmith@hotmail.com).

I am going to Visakahaptnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. I will be studying this language --> తెలుగు (Telugu). I will also be conducting a research project entitled "Shifting Views of Caste through Prosocial Behaviors". I will be studying the what people today think about the caste system and it's presence in their lives through the medium of stories. These stories will be based upon altruistic interactions between people of different castes.

I am so excited and I cannot wait for what an auspicious experience this will be.

With love,

Jaci