A rush of a post

This post will be expanded later, but I had to get something up so that Kunji chechi would have something to read over her lunch break in the adult world. She's choosing me over the NY Times, so I figure I need to keep her happy. All these points will be expanded upon in the near future (read: within the next few hours)

Expansion time! I know it ended up being about a day later, but hey. I've got work to do (and by that I mean my computer was running out of battery, I was talking to people, and we went out for dinner). But I'm getting around to it now, woohoo!

Class is simultaneously a lot of fun and slightly frustrating.

I'll start with what I find most fun about class, which is the real life application stuff. By this I mean the newspaper readings, the radio exercises, and the movie watching. It's cool being able to recognize some key words that show up a lot in headlines (stuff like "illegal," "legal system," etc.) And while these classes also make me feel terrible about how bad my Hindi is, I still kind of feel that the work I put into it is useful.
On the other hand, I'm kind of frustrated. Fustrated, to one Eliot Kim. Partially with myself, partially with the program. I'm frustrated with myself because I still don't really talk in class, which doesn't really help me. And then when I don't talk, classes are so small that the teachers just sort of assume I don't understand (which usually isn't the case, I swear) and then try to slow down/translate a lot of stuff. So then I have to reassure them that I understand and that it's not too difficult and that I'm just kind of silent. Which leads to another point in this post:

The teachers think I have no friends.(This one may or may not be true)

In one of my personal tutorials, the scary teacher asked me why I never spoke. So I told her I had issues with class participation and talking, to which she replied "Yes, but I never see you talking with any other students or spending time with any friends." From there she went on to give me a speech about how I shouldn't be afraid of people and that if I tried, I could make some friends because I am a good, nice boy.

I missed home for the first time today.

I think I realized today that I don't really click with anyone in the program on the "good friend" level. For the most part, they want to talk about academic stuff/their research. Or they want to show off how much they know about Indian tradition. Which is a whole lot of fun.
The time I'm thinking of when I say this: I went to a Ganesha temple near our flat one day just because I hadn't been to a temple in a while and it was too close for me to justifiably not go. But yeah, a kid wanted to come with me to see it, which was fine. But when we got there, he started explaining all the traditions to me. Like... he told me about what Ganesha was and why he is important to Hindu tradition. I don't know, I don't think I like when people try to show off how much they know.

Haggling with auto rickshaw drivers is still challenging - so far your tactic has proven unsuccessful, chechi.

It's a lot harder to get the rickshaw drivers to turn on their meters when you have white people in your group. Just as a general rule. Also, I have this problem where I kind of stop caring if the price is under like... Rs. 50 or 60. Probably should, but I just keep thinking "wait... this is actually like $1.00, if that. This is wholly unimportant."

I didn't sleep well last night.

Clearly the most important aspect of this post. But the A/C in our room broke and has yet to be fixed, so our room gets pretty darn hot. Also, I might have given myself mild food poisoning. It's not bad, but we'll see how it turns out.
In case I die, I want to thank you all for reading this blog. Please reclaim my belongings somehow from India? I think my mom would really like this suitcase back. Also I want to be buried in that oversized shirt that everybody seems to hate.