So before I even start this blog, let me first tell you that while I am typing, Survivor is on TV because I am waiting for Friends to come on this channel and it reminds me of when people used to ACTUALLY watch Survivor...like 20 seasons ago
Now today did not go at all like I had planned it to. I must first tell you that even though I have not mentioned it, I start off everyday in India for the past...2 or 3 weeks with horrible stomach cramps. I gotta give it 15min to half an hour and they go away and I go on with my life. No problemo. But today I woke up at 8 am with stomach pains and didn't have to leave the hotel until 9:15 so I am thinking I have plenty of time. Then Shibu calls at 8:45 and says not to worry about getting there until 10 or 10:15.
Now I have even more time! Except that this time the pains do not go away. I have a god awful stomach ache on the very last day I get to go to the clinic. And being VERY experienced with stomach issues, I know that the only thing to do is to ride it out and hopefully doze off and after awhile it will go away. So I tell Shibu that I am sick but that I will rest and hopefully come in at the end of the day.
I proceed to either sit on the floor and pour hot water over my stomach (my solution to not having a bathtub) or to find a comfortable position on my bed and try very hard not to move except to eat a few biscuits or drink some water. I eventually fall asleep watching Nightmare Before Christmas. I wake up shaky around 12:30 with Shibu telling me that he has to leave at 2 for a case. So I get up and get dressed and go sit with Shibu while he eats.
He and I chat about life and such and how I will miss him very much and how I am supposed to call if I need ANYTHING veterinary related or otherwise and he is supposed to let me know whenever he finally decides to come to the US.
Then I went home with Suhra (I don't know if this is the correct spelling and as I suspect you don't care, I will not be getting up to check but she is the lady I visit with after work) and we went to her daughter's house. I have never felt more appreciated as they kept telling me how much they would miss me and Suhra told me more than once that she loved as her own daughter and did I really need to go back to the US? I tried to chat with her granddaughter who is only in about 2nd or 3rd grade, Neha (knee-ha) but she is very very shy and would only grin. Even when I asked her what it is she likes to do because I want to send her a present from America but she did give in and tell me bye eventually and she took a picture with me :-)
But anyways, they made me food, enough food to feed at least 4 or 5 people, and I was the only one eating it. And everyone watched me eat....and told me not to worry about it. But it is weird to have 3-4 people watching you eat. Very strange. Plus the food was amazing but it was the only food I had eaten that day and I did not want to eat too much and anger the stomach gods into making me sick on the train tomorrow. They insisted that it was ok and that it made them happy just seeing me eat. Whatever floats your boat man.
I promised that I will visit when I am back for a few days before I fly out. And I promised Suhra that I will write her letters and will email her daughter. I also plan to send her granddaughters those animal shaped bracelets everyone is nuts about in the US, I think that would be fun!
Got my sari blouses today!!! YAY! The tailor who did them is a woman who has trouble speaking and doesn't speak English, but I paid 50 rupees more than I needed to because she is so nice and looked so genuinely happy to see how happy I was that they fit. We did many thumbs up and I really am so excited. Can't wait to wear them!
As a last note, I had two weird dreams while I dozed this morning. One was that one of my adult teeth got loose and came out. In the other I was walking around Fort Cochin but I had no clothes on so I was trying to find something to wear (no clue why I was naked in this dream) and so I ran into a shop and wrapped a quilt around me but I knew the quilt would be very expensive so I was trying to figure out how much I was willing to pay not to be naked when I realized that I was wearing the Ali Baba pants and that I could pull them up to cover my top and not have to pay anything. Yea dreaming when you are sick is messed up.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Home is wherever you make it
So yesterday was...rather boring except for the fact that the coffee man at Cafe Coffee Day got up the nerve to ask me where I was from and what my hobbies are. It was the CUTEST thing. Like really adorable. And facebook cooperated enough to let me talk to people for almost an hour while watching crappy television. I am going to really miss my laptop while I travel because I have grown used to listening to music while I get ready and watching movies while I fall asleep.
Which reminds me I have to pack up all my stuff tomorrow. UGH!!! I hate packing...and laundry...and I gotta do both....
Oh wait! Also yesterday Shibu and I tried to take his car into Fort Cochin for lunch...but when we got there Shibu decided that for 50 rupees more he would rather have the buffet we had already passed, but he got lost and we drove in a GIANT circle back to the clinic and I was biting my nails trying not to laugh as he kept swearing under his breath and we took 40 min to finally get to lunch. Which was not only a very small buffet, it also wasn't all that great. I was very entertained by the whole episode :-)
And today started off very uneventfully with me listing all the states in America to make sure he was pronouncing them correctly. We discovered that Arkansas he had never heard of and everyone in India says EE-O-Ah (Iowa), so that kept us amused until Dr. Sunil got there and we discussed how unbelievably expensive the US is and how Undergraduate school is basically a 4 year waste of time because anything you need to learn for becoming a veterinarian is taught in veterinary school. It was a rather depressing discussion I must say.
Then we got a call for a buffalo (they keep water buffalo as well as cows here) with a prolapsed vagina. In layman's terms that means that the vagina has turned itself inside out and formed a big bubble outside of the body. It is actually a much better situation than it could have been, prolapsed uterus are more common and that means the entire HUGE uterus is outside the body. In this case I stood in a cramped cement shelter with around 15 cows and a few buffalo and watched the processes of cleaning and then pushing the vagina back into the buffalo, while the buffalo is trying to sit or lay down the entire time. It was very interesting, if smelly work.
Shibu is very sad that tomorrow is his last day at the clinic and I am as well. I want to get both he and Sunil a gift but I think I will send something from the US as they can buy anything they want from here :-) But I really will miss Shibu and genuinely hope he visits the states someday.
The best part of the day was when the lady I go home from work with invited me for tea again and her daughter who speaks English came over with her little granddaughter and also a grandson and they were so shy that every time I made a face at them they just collapsed in giggles. The daughter (who's name I CANNOT remember) kept telling me how much they liked me and how sad they were that I was leaving and that I must not forget them and when am I coming back to India? I told them I would come back whenever I could, which I will because I have become completely smitten with this country and want to explore the rest of it. I also gave her my email address and she will email me so we can keep in touch. They have invited me for a late lunch tomorrow and I told them I want to take many pictures with them and she wants to take one on her cell phone and I will send the ones I take via email. Apparently I am the only foreigner they have ever entertained and they just really like me. The lady from work told Shibu that I am much more polite than most foreigners. I just feel so welcome and loved and happy.
You really can make a home for yourself wherever you are and I will be so sad to pack up my home tomorrow night so my bag can be left downstairs with Margaret while I am gone. Besides the fact that you can be at home anywhere you choose, I have learned 2 more important lessons.
1) Always be smiling, even when you don't know what's going on, there is nothing more welcoming and it really does make you happier.
2) laughing at yourself always goes over well. My trials with the language and the mosquitoes has given everyone a laugh, including myself.
To quote a certain group of boys from Apartment 212 (the boys I lived down the hall from all summer):
"Fake it till you feel it"
Smile till you're not faking it anymore :-)
Which reminds me I have to pack up all my stuff tomorrow. UGH!!! I hate packing...and laundry...and I gotta do both....
Oh wait! Also yesterday Shibu and I tried to take his car into Fort Cochin for lunch...but when we got there Shibu decided that for 50 rupees more he would rather have the buffet we had already passed, but he got lost and we drove in a GIANT circle back to the clinic and I was biting my nails trying not to laugh as he kept swearing under his breath and we took 40 min to finally get to lunch. Which was not only a very small buffet, it also wasn't all that great. I was very entertained by the whole episode :-)
And today started off very uneventfully with me listing all the states in America to make sure he was pronouncing them correctly. We discovered that Arkansas he had never heard of and everyone in India says EE-O-Ah (Iowa), so that kept us amused until Dr. Sunil got there and we discussed how unbelievably expensive the US is and how Undergraduate school is basically a 4 year waste of time because anything you need to learn for becoming a veterinarian is taught in veterinary school. It was a rather depressing discussion I must say.
Then we got a call for a buffalo (they keep water buffalo as well as cows here) with a prolapsed vagina. In layman's terms that means that the vagina has turned itself inside out and formed a big bubble outside of the body. It is actually a much better situation than it could have been, prolapsed uterus are more common and that means the entire HUGE uterus is outside the body. In this case I stood in a cramped cement shelter with around 15 cows and a few buffalo and watched the processes of cleaning and then pushing the vagina back into the buffalo, while the buffalo is trying to sit or lay down the entire time. It was very interesting, if smelly work.
Shibu is very sad that tomorrow is his last day at the clinic and I am as well. I want to get both he and Sunil a gift but I think I will send something from the US as they can buy anything they want from here :-) But I really will miss Shibu and genuinely hope he visits the states someday.
The best part of the day was when the lady I go home from work with invited me for tea again and her daughter who speaks English came over with her little granddaughter and also a grandson and they were so shy that every time I made a face at them they just collapsed in giggles. The daughter (who's name I CANNOT remember) kept telling me how much they liked me and how sad they were that I was leaving and that I must not forget them and when am I coming back to India? I told them I would come back whenever I could, which I will because I have become completely smitten with this country and want to explore the rest of it. I also gave her my email address and she will email me so we can keep in touch. They have invited me for a late lunch tomorrow and I told them I want to take many pictures with them and she wants to take one on her cell phone and I will send the ones I take via email. Apparently I am the only foreigner they have ever entertained and they just really like me. The lady from work told Shibu that I am much more polite than most foreigners. I just feel so welcome and loved and happy.
You really can make a home for yourself wherever you are and I will be so sad to pack up my home tomorrow night so my bag can be left downstairs with Margaret while I am gone. Besides the fact that you can be at home anywhere you choose, I have learned 2 more important lessons.
1) Always be smiling, even when you don't know what's going on, there is nothing more welcoming and it really does make you happier.
2) laughing at yourself always goes over well. My trials with the language and the mosquitoes has given everyone a laugh, including myself.
To quote a certain group of boys from Apartment 212 (the boys I lived down the hall from all summer):
"Fake it till you feel it"
Smile till you're not faking it anymore :-)
Monday, July 12, 2010
Sari Sari Sari Time
Ok friends! So after a relatively uneventful veterinary day on Sunday, except for Shibu's daily American lesson which I will elaborate on later, I had given myself 2 options. If it rained, I was going to see the Hill Palace and if stayed beautifully sunny...well then I was gonna spring for the 250 rupees and go for a swim at the Grand Hotel.
Well it was sunny baby! And I spent 3 glorious hours lounging in the pool, sitting on a lounge chair in the shade, and reading a wonderfully witty and pointless romance novel. It was absolutely glorious and then was topped off when Becca and Laura got back from Varkala and we got to go to Dal Roti, our favorite restaurant, for dinner! It was absolutely brilliant and then we watched Valentine's Day and went to bed.
Now Shibu's and my discussion for Sunday was, oddly, about tattoos, tramp stamps, prostitutes, and strip clubs. The last one was especially shocking to Shibu because when he tried to look all knowing and say “ah yes are all bars strip bars in America,” and “so what does this entail? Just pole dance and two pieces?” I think I blew his mind a little when I said they got naked in front of other people. He looked both uncomfortable and intrigued as to the very fuzzy line between legal and illegal when it comes to sex in the US.
“So looking at naked women is fine? Do women go there? Men do it too?! But a whore is someone who has lots of sex? And this isn't illegal. But if they get paid, then it is?”
Highly amusing...Especially because it originally started with asking whether most women in America have their navels pierced.
Today I got up an hour early to have breakfast with the girls before they leave for Mysore and before I had to go to the hospital, only to be called a few min after I awoke and hear the Shibu had fallen in the bathroom and possibly broken, turned out it was only sprained, his leg. So then the girls and I had all day! We sent Becca's bedspread home and I found a sari I liked and haggled until I got it for about $20, I still have to make the top/blouse bit made for underneath and the Margaret said she will help me wear it.
I seriously think she and my grandmother would be best friends. She was just looking at me today, after being reassured that I wasn't leaving today - “I just love seeing your FACE everyday”- and said that I would look pretty in a sari, and luckily I had just bought one. After an amazing lunch at Krishna Café, the best rickshaw driver ever took us on a half willing half reluctant trip to a place where they grind up spices, a pretty statue, a pretty tree, and a local sari shop where....yea I bought another one :-) I couldn't help it and both blouses will be able to go under either sari and its beautiful and only cost me $10. Totally worth it.
So the girls are off to Mysore but I will try to meet them in Ooty on Friday or Sat and then we will travel Hampi together which is way better than going alone. I may hit an animal sanctuary on the way back and then I will leave 2 or 3 days to say goodbye to Cochin before I leave. I cannot believe I only have 3 weeks in India, and I could happily spend another month just in Kerala, but I need to get at least some traveling in. I'm so happy that I chose to stay and make a little home for myself in Fort Cochin because I think I have really gotten to know the people and the culture and meet so many interesting people, but I am glad to have a bit of traveling. Veterinary Hospital tomorrow and then off to the tailor to get my blouses made so I can be schooled in the art of proper sari wearing.
Well it was sunny baby! And I spent 3 glorious hours lounging in the pool, sitting on a lounge chair in the shade, and reading a wonderfully witty and pointless romance novel. It was absolutely glorious and then was topped off when Becca and Laura got back from Varkala and we got to go to Dal Roti, our favorite restaurant, for dinner! It was absolutely brilliant and then we watched Valentine's Day and went to bed.
Now Shibu's and my discussion for Sunday was, oddly, about tattoos, tramp stamps, prostitutes, and strip clubs. The last one was especially shocking to Shibu because when he tried to look all knowing and say “ah yes are all bars strip bars in America,” and “so what does this entail? Just pole dance and two pieces?” I think I blew his mind a little when I said they got naked in front of other people. He looked both uncomfortable and intrigued as to the very fuzzy line between legal and illegal when it comes to sex in the US.
“So looking at naked women is fine? Do women go there? Men do it too?! But a whore is someone who has lots of sex? And this isn't illegal. But if they get paid, then it is?”
Highly amusing...Especially because it originally started with asking whether most women in America have their navels pierced.
Today I got up an hour early to have breakfast with the girls before they leave for Mysore and before I had to go to the hospital, only to be called a few min after I awoke and hear the Shibu had fallen in the bathroom and possibly broken, turned out it was only sprained, his leg. So then the girls and I had all day! We sent Becca's bedspread home and I found a sari I liked and haggled until I got it for about $20, I still have to make the top/blouse bit made for underneath and the Margaret said she will help me wear it.
I seriously think she and my grandmother would be best friends. She was just looking at me today, after being reassured that I wasn't leaving today - “I just love seeing your FACE everyday”- and said that I would look pretty in a sari, and luckily I had just bought one. After an amazing lunch at Krishna Café, the best rickshaw driver ever took us on a half willing half reluctant trip to a place where they grind up spices, a pretty statue, a pretty tree, and a local sari shop where....yea I bought another one :-) I couldn't help it and both blouses will be able to go under either sari and its beautiful and only cost me $10. Totally worth it.
So the girls are off to Mysore but I will try to meet them in Ooty on Friday or Sat and then we will travel Hampi together which is way better than going alone. I may hit an animal sanctuary on the way back and then I will leave 2 or 3 days to say goodbye to Cochin before I leave. I cannot believe I only have 3 weeks in India, and I could happily spend another month just in Kerala, but I need to get at least some traveling in. I'm so happy that I chose to stay and make a little home for myself in Fort Cochin because I think I have really gotten to know the people and the culture and meet so many interesting people, but I am glad to have a bit of traveling. Veterinary Hospital tomorrow and then off to the tailor to get my blouses made so I can be schooled in the art of proper sari wearing.
Friday, July 9, 2010
I am woman.
So if it wasn't for the spotty Internet connection and the 3 geckos I can see from where I am sitting, I could imagine I was home right now because Scrubs is on TV while I type and Friends is up next :-)
My teaching of American slang included the term “chick flick” today. Shibu then mentioned it later to me...only he said “chicken flick”. Win.
Except for some spectacularly poor animal handling today, clinic was not terribly exciting. The rottweiler who came in and needed an IV drip (which at home we would have just given under the skin because even though it is slow to absorb, it is easier, less stressful, and the dog wasn't in critical condition) was put onto a metal table when it could have been done on the floor, then his front leg vein was attempted, not even one growl. But of course he did struggle and because his owners were holding him, they let up and it came out and had to be done on the back leg. But first they dragged the table 3 feet with the dog still on it and obviously terrified by the already scary surface making a loud dragging noise and moving below his feet. So by the time they had poked him twice on his back leg, he sent a growl their way and had to be muzzled. At home we would have held him properly with someone distracting with a milk bone and it would have most likely been done with before he had a chance to panic. But that is not the way it is done here and apparently Indian clients would panic if they saw the bump left under the skin when fluids are given there, even though it goes away after everything is absorbed. Just frustrating to watch when I know I could do it better!
The other interesting thing was a necropsy on a pigeon which led to finding tapeworms. Not unusual in mammals, but very odd to find in a pigeon so we will be googling that fo sho.
Shibu was talking to the lady I have tea with after work (the one whose family I have met) and he told me that they all like me very much and I told him, to tell her, that I feel the same. How I can be liked so much when I can barely communicate boggles my mind but I have learned that when in doubt, a smile is the best response. Apparently this has served me well!
Then I got kidnapped again for tea and, though she has very limited knowledge of English, the lady was able to get across more information about her husbands heart attack and his kidney problems. He just recently had the heart attack and she showed the list of medicines for his kidneys alone and the number of meds is insane and the price is quite high for her. She kept tearing up and while she has serious trouble understanding me, I learned that holding someone's hand crosses all language barriers as a sign of empathy.
I then came home and, after dressing in my new ali baba pants and MATCHING top, talked with Margaret,the 73 year old woman who owns the homestay with her husband, and learned about all the saints on her altar, including the newest one who hails from Kerala (more about her in a moment) and what their first miracle was and about her teaching experience and disdain for corporal punishment. The Keralan saint is very important to Margaret because the first time she prayed to her, back when she was only blessed and not a saint, she prayed for a girl and got a daughter! She reminds me of my grandmother because she instantly mothers you and is so sweet and loving to everyone she meets. She says she always has such wonderful tenants like “our Breanna” and was explaining to me how she was going to go to mass at 7 am as she always does but she just didn't for some reason. Then, at 7 when mass would start, it began thundering and lightening which means it would have been storming while she walked home alone. She is very frightened of thunder and lightening and knew that the holy spirit had a hand in keeping her in bed this once. But she did tell Jesus that if it was sunny out that afternoon, she would bring her husband to mass as it was her sons birthday. And lo and behold! It was! Such faith in God is rare and beautiful and she has such a kind heart. The people in this country have been really interesting but some of the women are just amazing!
Back to arguing with the Internet and watching Friends. Tomorrow? Maybe going out of town for the night, but not sure yet!
My teaching of American slang included the term “chick flick” today. Shibu then mentioned it later to me...only he said “chicken flick”. Win.
Except for some spectacularly poor animal handling today, clinic was not terribly exciting. The rottweiler who came in and needed an IV drip (which at home we would have just given under the skin because even though it is slow to absorb, it is easier, less stressful, and the dog wasn't in critical condition) was put onto a metal table when it could have been done on the floor, then his front leg vein was attempted, not even one growl. But of course he did struggle and because his owners were holding him, they let up and it came out and had to be done on the back leg. But first they dragged the table 3 feet with the dog still on it and obviously terrified by the already scary surface making a loud dragging noise and moving below his feet. So by the time they had poked him twice on his back leg, he sent a growl their way and had to be muzzled. At home we would have held him properly with someone distracting with a milk bone and it would have most likely been done with before he had a chance to panic. But that is not the way it is done here and apparently Indian clients would panic if they saw the bump left under the skin when fluids are given there, even though it goes away after everything is absorbed. Just frustrating to watch when I know I could do it better!
The other interesting thing was a necropsy on a pigeon which led to finding tapeworms. Not unusual in mammals, but very odd to find in a pigeon so we will be googling that fo sho.
Shibu was talking to the lady I have tea with after work (the one whose family I have met) and he told me that they all like me very much and I told him, to tell her, that I feel the same. How I can be liked so much when I can barely communicate boggles my mind but I have learned that when in doubt, a smile is the best response. Apparently this has served me well!
Then I got kidnapped again for tea and, though she has very limited knowledge of English, the lady was able to get across more information about her husbands heart attack and his kidney problems. He just recently had the heart attack and she showed the list of medicines for his kidneys alone and the number of meds is insane and the price is quite high for her. She kept tearing up and while she has serious trouble understanding me, I learned that holding someone's hand crosses all language barriers as a sign of empathy.
I then came home and, after dressing in my new ali baba pants and MATCHING top, talked with Margaret,the 73 year old woman who owns the homestay with her husband, and learned about all the saints on her altar, including the newest one who hails from Kerala (more about her in a moment) and what their first miracle was and about her teaching experience and disdain for corporal punishment. The Keralan saint is very important to Margaret because the first time she prayed to her, back when she was only blessed and not a saint, she prayed for a girl and got a daughter! She reminds me of my grandmother because she instantly mothers you and is so sweet and loving to everyone she meets. She says she always has such wonderful tenants like “our Breanna” and was explaining to me how she was going to go to mass at 7 am as she always does but she just didn't for some reason. Then, at 7 when mass would start, it began thundering and lightening which means it would have been storming while she walked home alone. She is very frightened of thunder and lightening and knew that the holy spirit had a hand in keeping her in bed this once. But she did tell Jesus that if it was sunny out that afternoon, she would bring her husband to mass as it was her sons birthday. And lo and behold! It was! Such faith in God is rare and beautiful and she has such a kind heart. The people in this country have been really interesting but some of the women are just amazing!
Back to arguing with the Internet and watching Friends. Tomorrow? Maybe going out of town for the night, but not sure yet!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
oh India...
Not too much important happened today. Shibu and I had our philosophical and sometimes highly insulting conversations. Though I felt quite smug when he tried to convert kilograms to pounds and was way off, mathematics fail. Especially because my weight was being referred to again and so it is nice to be superior in both math and knowledge of dog breeds. If I ever get the opportunity to demonstrate my skills at animal restraint I think it would be quite the ego boost also. It was really lovely today to see the chocolate lab who has come in every day which I am there. She sits perfectly for her IV fluids and her owner speaks in English so it is a twofold bit of awesomeness and I am a bit smitten. And BONUS she is feeling better each day and is starting to eat again, yay!
I have made a conscious decision to speak exactly as I would at home to Shibu because he wants to travel and the better hand he has at American slang the better he will fit in when he gets the chance to go there. This has led to the definition of chill as in “I'm usually pretty chill” apparently in India they would say “I'm cool”. We are also covering every state because we realized that Indians pronounce it O-heeyo, with the last bit being said very quickly instead of Ohio so now we must check his pronunciation of every state. Thank god for these little moments where I know what I am doing because, as Shibu likes to mention at least once a day, I am a child and he is my elder and teacher and thus he must look out for me and boss me around. I take the liberty of smacking him when he is being an ass, but I do think it is rather sweet that he checks each time to make sure I have gotten home okay. At first I was really offended, I'm 21 for goodness sake, I can get home, but he told me that because he is my teacher he would feel extra awful and responsible if something were to happen to me.
I also realized my first crush on an Indian man. He has deep drown eyes, touched my face softly, and flirted with me in the clinic. He also about a foot tall and probably 2 years old but we had the best time playing peek a boo. Also all vets have the same joke with little kids, they draw up a vaccine and then pretend they are going to give the shot to the little kid....it is just as lame in India :-)
Little shopping trip today, bought 2 cotton tops and 2 pairs of Ali Baba pants. Ali baba pants are all the rage with tourists because they are SO cool and comfortable and mine are doubly so as they are silk! Mine are printed and all of them have a crotch which is below the knees and elastic ankles that keep the copious amount of fabric from going over your feet, so it feels like you are wearing a skirt but it doesn't show your bum when you go up the stairs. Win. But the shop owner was the first rude one I have met. Most shop owners ask what you want and take great pleasure in pulling out every piece they have and spreading them in front of you. He did not do this which made the experience much less pressured, but then he scolded me for not folding them properly and for putting them back to quickly. Excuse me? I was probably one of like 5 customers today, I think you can manage to tidy a bit after me. He was even a bit rude when I told him I didn't want to buy his stuff because it was too expensive and scolded me for trying things on without asking the price and messing up his shop. Well you don't take the time to haggle on something you may not even want! If I hadn't gotten 3 pairs of pants and 2 tops for about $12 I would have walked out.
Also bought a tupperware box to keep food in, because ANY time I have food in the room the ants go crazy and I had to throw away all the snacks I got yesterday because the ants found their way into the bag. While I was buying this I remember that I haven't explained the Indian obsession not only with my white skin but with white skin in general. This translates into abnormal amounts of products that mention “skin whitening effects”, “lightening”, and “whiteness”. The commercials on TV sound like Crest toothpaste commercials or the opposite of tanning lotion commercials, boasting about how your skin will be up to 3 shades lighter in however much time. It is so odd when the majority of the world values a tan and I personally think everything looks much lovelier when a person is tan!
In another little dose of India, I had to be driven to 2 stores which I was not going to buy anything from, in payment for my rides to work in the rickshaw. This is also how we brought the price we paid for the rickshaw to and from the elephant camp to 300 rupees. The rickshaw drivers who bring tourists to certain shops are given either a coupon for a liter of petrol or 100 rupees depending on the store. Now some drivers won't tell you why they are bringing you there and some will ask you to do it as a favor, but if you realize that they are making 100 rupees for a ride that is only costing about 10, you can get yourself some nice deals. Most will you drive you for free if you stop a shop, we knocked 400 rupees off the elephant trip by going into 6 or 7 shops total, and some tourists I met have even gotten the rickshaw drivers to split the money with them and made 150 rupees and got a free ride to where they were going. It's saved me quite a bit although I do get sick of going into tons of shops and being told outrageous “tourist” prices, and being told because it is the off season they can give me a very good discount. These discounts are usually only about 25% when really the actual price that should be charged is like 30-50% of what they tell foreigners. They get away with it because we are not used to bargaining. But bargaining does get tiring and so shopping in India can literally be a shop till ya drop experience.
Sorry if this post was a bit scattered! I just had pancakes with honey and some tea with sugar in it for dinner and maybe I'm on a bit of a sugar high :-)
I have made a conscious decision to speak exactly as I would at home to Shibu because he wants to travel and the better hand he has at American slang the better he will fit in when he gets the chance to go there. This has led to the definition of chill as in “I'm usually pretty chill” apparently in India they would say “I'm cool”. We are also covering every state because we realized that Indians pronounce it O-heeyo, with the last bit being said very quickly instead of Ohio so now we must check his pronunciation of every state. Thank god for these little moments where I know what I am doing because, as Shibu likes to mention at least once a day, I am a child and he is my elder and teacher and thus he must look out for me and boss me around. I take the liberty of smacking him when he is being an ass, but I do think it is rather sweet that he checks each time to make sure I have gotten home okay. At first I was really offended, I'm 21 for goodness sake, I can get home, but he told me that because he is my teacher he would feel extra awful and responsible if something were to happen to me.
I also realized my first crush on an Indian man. He has deep drown eyes, touched my face softly, and flirted with me in the clinic. He also about a foot tall and probably 2 years old but we had the best time playing peek a boo. Also all vets have the same joke with little kids, they draw up a vaccine and then pretend they are going to give the shot to the little kid....it is just as lame in India :-)
Little shopping trip today, bought 2 cotton tops and 2 pairs of Ali Baba pants. Ali baba pants are all the rage with tourists because they are SO cool and comfortable and mine are doubly so as they are silk! Mine are printed and all of them have a crotch which is below the knees and elastic ankles that keep the copious amount of fabric from going over your feet, so it feels like you are wearing a skirt but it doesn't show your bum when you go up the stairs. Win. But the shop owner was the first rude one I have met. Most shop owners ask what you want and take great pleasure in pulling out every piece they have and spreading them in front of you. He did not do this which made the experience much less pressured, but then he scolded me for not folding them properly and for putting them back to quickly. Excuse me? I was probably one of like 5 customers today, I think you can manage to tidy a bit after me. He was even a bit rude when I told him I didn't want to buy his stuff because it was too expensive and scolded me for trying things on without asking the price and messing up his shop. Well you don't take the time to haggle on something you may not even want! If I hadn't gotten 3 pairs of pants and 2 tops for about $12 I would have walked out.
Also bought a tupperware box to keep food in, because ANY time I have food in the room the ants go crazy and I had to throw away all the snacks I got yesterday because the ants found their way into the bag. While I was buying this I remember that I haven't explained the Indian obsession not only with my white skin but with white skin in general. This translates into abnormal amounts of products that mention “skin whitening effects”, “lightening”, and “whiteness”. The commercials on TV sound like Crest toothpaste commercials or the opposite of tanning lotion commercials, boasting about how your skin will be up to 3 shades lighter in however much time. It is so odd when the majority of the world values a tan and I personally think everything looks much lovelier when a person is tan!
In another little dose of India, I had to be driven to 2 stores which I was not going to buy anything from, in payment for my rides to work in the rickshaw. This is also how we brought the price we paid for the rickshaw to and from the elephant camp to 300 rupees. The rickshaw drivers who bring tourists to certain shops are given either a coupon for a liter of petrol or 100 rupees depending on the store. Now some drivers won't tell you why they are bringing you there and some will ask you to do it as a favor, but if you realize that they are making 100 rupees for a ride that is only costing about 10, you can get yourself some nice deals. Most will you drive you for free if you stop a shop, we knocked 400 rupees off the elephant trip by going into 6 or 7 shops total, and some tourists I met have even gotten the rickshaw drivers to split the money with them and made 150 rupees and got a free ride to where they were going. It's saved me quite a bit although I do get sick of going into tons of shops and being told outrageous “tourist” prices, and being told because it is the off season they can give me a very good discount. These discounts are usually only about 25% when really the actual price that should be charged is like 30-50% of what they tell foreigners. They get away with it because we are not used to bargaining. But bargaining does get tiring and so shopping in India can literally be a shop till ya drop experience.
Sorry if this post was a bit scattered! I just had pancakes with honey and some tea with sugar in it for dinner and maybe I'm on a bit of a sugar high :-)
oh India...
Not too much important happened today. Shibu and I had our philosophical and sometimes highly insulting conversations. Though I felt quite smug when he tried to convert kilograms to pounds and was way off, mathematics fail. Especially because my weight was being referred to again and so it is nice to be superior in both math and knowledge of dog breeds. If I ever get the opportunity to demonstrate my skills at animal restraint I think it would be quite the ego boost also. It was really lovely today to see the chocolate lab who has come in every day which I am there. She sits perfectly for her IV fluids and her owner speaks in English so it is a twofold bit of awesomeness and I am a bit smitten. And BONUS she is feeling better each day and is starting to eat again, yay!
I have made a conscious decision to speak exactly as I would at home to Shibu because he wants to travel and the better hand he has at American slang the better he will fit in when he gets the chance to go there. This has led to the definition of chill as in “I'm usually pretty chill” apparently in India they would say “I'm cool”. We are also covering every state because we realized that Indians pronounce it O-heeyo, with the last bit being said very quickly instead of Ohio so now we must check his pronunciation of every state. Thank god for these little moments where I know what I am doing because, as Shibu likes to mention at least once a day, I am a child and he is my elder and teacher and thus he must look out for me and boss me around. I take the liberty of smacking him when he is being an ass, but I do think it is rather sweet that he checks each time to make sure I have gotten home okay. At first I was really offended, I'm 21 for goodness sake, I can get home, but he told me that because he is my teacher he would feel extra awful and responsible if something were to happen to me.
I also realized my first crush on an Indian man. He has deep drown eyes, touched my face softly, and flirted with me in the clinic. He also about a foot tall and probably 2 years old but we had the best time playing peek a boo. Also all vets have the same joke with little kids, they draw up a vaccine and then pretend they are going to give the shot to the little kid....it is just as lame in India :-)
Little shopping trip today, bought 2 cotton tops and 2 pairs of Ali Baba pants. Ali baba pants are all the rage with tourists because they are SO cool and comfortable and mine are doubly so as they are silk! Mine are printed and all of them have a crotch which is below the knees and elastic ankles that keep the copious amount of fabric from going over your feet, so it feels like you are wearing a skirt but it doesn't show your bum when you go up the stairs. Win. But the shop owner was the first rude one I have met. Most shop owners ask what you want and take great pleasure in pulling out every piece they have and spreading them in front of you. He did not do this which made the experience much less pressured, but then he scolded me for not folding them properly and for putting them back to quickly. Excuse me? I was probably one of like 5 customers today, I think you can manage to tidy a bit after me. He was even a bit rude when I told him I didn't want to buy his stuff because it was too expensive and scolded me for trying things on without asking the price and messing up his shop. Well you don't take the time to haggle on something you may not even want! If I hadn't gotten 3 pairs of pants and 2 tops for about $12 I would have walked out.
Also bought a tupperware box to keep food in, because ANY time I have food in the room the ants go crazy and I had to throw away all the snacks I got yesterday because the ants found their way into the bag. While I was buying this I remember that I haven't explained the Indian obsession not only with my white skin but with white skin in general. This translates into abnormal amounts of products that mention “skin whitening effects”, “lightening”, and “whiteness”. The commercials on TV sound like Crest toothpaste commercials or the opposite of tanning lotion commercials, boasting about how your skin will be up to 3 shades lighter in however much time. It is so odd when the majority of the world values a tan and I personally think everything looks much lovelier when a person is tan!
In another little dose of India, I had to be driven to 2 stores which I was not going to buy anything from, in payment for my rides to work in the rickshaw. This is also how we brought the price we paid for the rickshaw to and from the elephant camp to 300 rupees. The rickshaw drivers who bring tourists to certain shops are given either a coupon for a liter of petrol or 100 rupees depending on the store. Now some drivers won't tell you why they are bringing you there and some will ask you to do it as a favor, but if you realize that they are making 100 rupees for a ride that is only costing about 10, you can get yourself some nice deals. Most will you drive you for free if you stop a shop, we knocked 400 rupees off the elephant trip by going into 6 or 7 shops total, and some tourists I met have even gotten the rickshaw drivers to split the money with them and made 150 rupees and got a free ride to where they were going. It's saved me quite a bit although I do get sick of going into tons of shops and being told outrageous “tourist” prices, and being told because it is the off season they can give me a very good discount. These discounts are usually only about 25% when really the actual price that should be charged is like 30-50% of what they tell foreigners. They get away with it because we are not used to bargaining. But bargaining does get tiring and so shopping in India can literally be a shop till ya drop experience.
Sorry if this post was a bit scattered! I just had pancakes with honey and some tea with sugar in it for dinner and maybe I'm on a bit of a sugar high :-)
I have made a conscious decision to speak exactly as I would at home to Shibu because he wants to travel and the better hand he has at American slang the better he will fit in when he gets the chance to go there. This has led to the definition of chill as in “I'm usually pretty chill” apparently in India they would say “I'm cool”. We are also covering every state because we realized that Indians pronounce it O-heeyo, with the last bit being said very quickly instead of Ohio so now we must check his pronunciation of every state. Thank god for these little moments where I know what I am doing because, as Shibu likes to mention at least once a day, I am a child and he is my elder and teacher and thus he must look out for me and boss me around. I take the liberty of smacking him when he is being an ass, but I do think it is rather sweet that he checks each time to make sure I have gotten home okay. At first I was really offended, I'm 21 for goodness sake, I can get home, but he told me that because he is my teacher he would feel extra awful and responsible if something were to happen to me.
I also realized my first crush on an Indian man. He has deep drown eyes, touched my face softly, and flirted with me in the clinic. He also about a foot tall and probably 2 years old but we had the best time playing peek a boo. Also all vets have the same joke with little kids, they draw up a vaccine and then pretend they are going to give the shot to the little kid....it is just as lame in India :-)
Little shopping trip today, bought 2 cotton tops and 2 pairs of Ali Baba pants. Ali baba pants are all the rage with tourists because they are SO cool and comfortable and mine are doubly so as they are silk! Mine are printed and all of them have a crotch which is below the knees and elastic ankles that keep the copious amount of fabric from going over your feet, so it feels like you are wearing a skirt but it doesn't show your bum when you go up the stairs. Win. But the shop owner was the first rude one I have met. Most shop owners ask what you want and take great pleasure in pulling out every piece they have and spreading them in front of you. He did not do this which made the experience much less pressured, but then he scolded me for not folding them properly and for putting them back to quickly. Excuse me? I was probably one of like 5 customers today, I think you can manage to tidy a bit after me. He was even a bit rude when I told him I didn't want to buy his stuff because it was too expensive and scolded me for trying things on without asking the price and messing up his shop. Well you don't take the time to haggle on something you may not even want! If I hadn't gotten 3 pairs of pants and 2 tops for about $12 I would have walked out.
Also bought a tupperware box to keep food in, because ANY time I have food in the room the ants go crazy and I had to throw away all the snacks I got yesterday because the ants found their way into the bag. While I was buying this I remember that I haven't explained the Indian obsession not only with my white skin but with white skin in general. This translates into abnormal amounts of products that mention “skin whitening effects”, “lightening”, and “whiteness”. The commercials on TV sound like Crest toothpaste commercials or the opposite of tanning lotion commercials, boasting about how your skin will be up to 3 shades lighter in however much time. It is so odd when the majority of the world values a tan and I personally think everything looks much lovelier when a person is tan!
In another little dose of India, I had to be driven to 2 stores which I was not going to buy anything from, in payment for my rides to work in the rickshaw. This is also how we brought the price we paid for the rickshaw to and from the elephant camp to 300 rupees. The rickshaw drivers who bring tourists to certain shops are given either a coupon for a liter of petrol or 100 rupees depending on the store. Now some drivers won't tell you why they are bringing you there and some will ask you to do it as a favor, but if you realize that they are making 100 rupees for a ride that is only costing about 10, you can get yourself some nice deals. Most will you drive you for free if you stop a shop, we knocked 400 rupees off the elephant trip by going into 6 or 7 shops total, and some tourists I met have even gotten the rickshaw drivers to split the money with them and made 150 rupees and got a free ride to where they were going. It's saved me quite a bit although I do get sick of going into tons of shops and being told outrageous “tourist” prices, and being told because it is the off season they can give me a very good discount. These discounts are usually only about 25% when really the actual price that should be charged is like 30-50% of what they tell foreigners. They get away with it because we are not used to bargaining. But bargaining does get tiring and so shopping in India can literally be a shop till ya drop experience.
Sorry if this post was a bit scattered! I just had pancakes with honey and some tea with sugar in it for dinner and maybe I'm on a bit of a sugar high :-)
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
New!
Please note the new Photos page at the top of the screen
I will try to post more frequently and take more pictures though I will only post my favorites or ones that are important to my stories on here. Look for the rest on facebook when I get home!
Gracias for reading guys!
I will try to post more frequently and take more pictures though I will only post my favorites or ones that are important to my stories on here. Look for the rest on facebook when I get home!
Gracias for reading guys!
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