So I know I haven't posted anything in the last week or so (I know all of you have been crushed), but my computer had stopped working for some unknown reason. I assumed it was the result of a power surge, but today it suddenly started up just fine. So a detailed post about the week will follow later!
Also, if anybody knows how to center text on Blogger, help would be appreciated.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
Celebrate good times, come on!
It's a celebration... no, seriously, this week has been filled with lots of celebrations, festivals, and general happiness. From a pilgrimage/carnival with hundreds of people to a series of great conversations with various flatmates, I've been in a really great mood all week. So basically, here's a rundown of what all has happened:
Wedding processions in the street:
So one night, all of us were studying in the common room of the first floor when someone heard what sounded like a marching band procession. We were all a little confused (who has a parade at midnight?), so we decided to head to the roof to see what was going on. It was pretty dark, so we couldn't really see anything except this:
Naturally, we were pretty curious. All sorts of theories, ranging from holiday parade to protest march, were put forward, but I wanted to get a closer look. So me and 3 of the guys ran down to the street, where we realized that this was no parade: it was a wedding procession!
It moved on pretty quickly, so I couldn't get too many pictures, but here are two I did manage to get:
World Trade Park Construction:
So for those of you who don't know (I didn't before last week), the Rajasthani government is constructing the World Trade Park as a center of South Asian international trade in Jaipur right now, so we saw the unveiling ceremony. No, I didn't go the the model unveiling ceremony (at which Shah Rukh Khan spoke, for the record), but I did get some close-up pictures of the current state of the WTP:
Pilgrimage comes to Jaipur!
This was one of the most surprising events of the week. A few of my friends decided to randomly go to the carnival on a day with a particularly light workload. Upon their return, they told us (incredibly excitedly - they're all religious studies grad students, a.k.a. your future, Kaitlyn) about the Amarnath Yathra they had gone through. Now, I'm no expert, but I was pretty sure the yathra was supposed to end up at the Amarnath Caves in Kashmir. A slight problem? Not for the clever Rajasthanis, who built A MINIATURE VERSION OF THE ENTIRE PILGRIMAGE INSIDE THE CARNIVAL. Seriously. So amidst the ferris wheels and merry-go-rounds (all of which went far too fast to be child-appropriate), there was this huge enclosure:
attached to the main carnival office:
Now I'm a sucker for anything with a huge serpent hanging over the entrance:
so I had to go on this little yathra. Once I got in, I was... actually really impressed/scared. They had essentially recreated (or attempted to) the Kashmiri landscape, as well as the various checkpoints (I don't really know the proper word for this. Stops? Noteworthy locations?) along the way. I wish I could have gotten more pictures, but as soon as I snapped this one of the entire pilgrimage from the entrance, a guard yelled at me that taking pictures was banned. So here's the first impression:
And if you want to see more, I guess you'll just have to come to Rajasthan and go on the pilgrimage yourself!
Wedding processions in the street:
So one night, all of us were studying in the common room of the first floor when someone heard what sounded like a marching band procession. We were all a little confused (who has a parade at midnight?), so we decided to head to the roof to see what was going on. It was pretty dark, so we couldn't really see anything except this:
Naturally, we were pretty curious. All sorts of theories, ranging from holiday parade to protest march, were put forward, but I wanted to get a closer look. So me and 3 of the guys ran down to the street, where we realized that this was no parade: it was a wedding procession!
It moved on pretty quickly, so I couldn't get too many pictures, but here are two I did manage to get:
Cool lamps!
The groom, I think
World Trade Park Construction:
So for those of you who don't know (I didn't before last week), the Rajasthani government is constructing the World Trade Park as a center of South Asian international trade in Jaipur right now, so we saw the unveiling ceremony. No, I didn't go the the model unveiling ceremony (at which Shah Rukh Khan spoke, for the record), but I did get some close-up pictures of the current state of the WTP:
Pilgrimage comes to Jaipur!
This was one of the most surprising events of the week. A few of my friends decided to randomly go to the carnival on a day with a particularly light workload. Upon their return, they told us (incredibly excitedly - they're all religious studies grad students, a.k.a. your future, Kaitlyn) about the Amarnath Yathra they had gone through. Now, I'm no expert, but I was pretty sure the yathra was supposed to end up at the Amarnath Caves in Kashmir. A slight problem? Not for the clever Rajasthanis, who built A MINIATURE VERSION OF THE ENTIRE PILGRIMAGE INSIDE THE CARNIVAL. Seriously. So amidst the ferris wheels and merry-go-rounds (all of which went far too fast to be child-appropriate), there was this huge enclosure:
attached to the main carnival office:
Now I'm a sucker for anything with a huge serpent hanging over the entrance:
so I had to go on this little yathra. Once I got in, I was... actually really impressed/scared. They had essentially recreated (or attempted to) the Kashmiri landscape, as well as the various checkpoints (I don't really know the proper word for this. Stops? Noteworthy locations?) along the way. I wish I could have gotten more pictures, but as soon as I snapped this one of the entire pilgrimage from the entrance, a guard yelled at me that taking pictures was banned. So here's the first impression:
And if you want to see more, I guess you'll just have to come to Rajasthan and go on the pilgrimage yourself!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Pictures? Hopefully?
So the first series of pictures I have is themed around the Indian religious landscape (Kaitlyn, eat your heart out). It's definitely something which, at least in my experience, is much less common in America than in India. Here, it seems like nearly everywhere we go there's some kind of religious imagery going on. It started off at the Taj Palace Hotel, the 5-star international hotel we stayed at for the first few nights in Delhi. Right there in the lobby, I found this waiting for me:
Ganesha, the remover of obstacles. By far the most common deity I have seen in Jaipur and Delhi, Ganesha is depicted in a different way in nearly every representation. A particularly old statue stands outside our school:
To continue along the representations-of-Ganesha line, there is a pretty large Ganesha temple on the way to school. I didn't try to take a picture of it (it might be considered disrespectful to take pictures inside the actual shrine), but the main idol in there is a huge orange statue - probably about 7 feet tall, 3-4 feet across, and bright orange. It was crazy.
But Ganesh is far from the only religious figure I've encountered while being here. Here are a few other statues seen at various locations (read: mostly outside people's houses. These were major creeping jobs):
Now, part of the reason religious landscape was so interesting to me was definitely the omnipresence of religious iconography. But the other side to religious landscape is the plurality of faiths that exist side by side here. In Kerala, the interplay between Hinduism and Christianity has always struck me as the key religious coexistence. In Jaipur, however, there seem to be many more faiths that interact and often, find a way to mix together. I've seen a lot of Jainist statues, a good amount of Buddhist influence, and solid amounts of Muslim and Christian influence. I want to look into this more as the summer goes on, but here are some preliminary pictures I have:
These three statues (though all of different size, composition, and location) are all Jain (I think). The prevalence of Jainism here is definitely interesting. From my understanding, at least, Jainists were supposed to be very detached from worldly things. But here, there seems to be something of an emphasis placed on the physical representation of Jainism, which seems sort of contradictory. I don't know, maybe I just don't understand Jainism well enough (cue Kaitlyn to the rescue?)
So I'm not entirely sure what the first picture is - I thought it looked like a mosque, but a friend said he was pretty sure it was an orthodox church. Input appreciated. But the second one I'm pretty sure is a mosque. I would write something more here, but it's late and I'm tired and I have so much homework to do (still). More to come later, folks.
Ganesha, the remover of obstacles. By far the most common deity I have seen in Jaipur and Delhi, Ganesha is depicted in a different way in nearly every representation. A particularly old statue stands outside our school:
To continue along the representations-of-Ganesha line, there is a pretty large Ganesha temple on the way to school. I didn't try to take a picture of it (it might be considered disrespectful to take pictures inside the actual shrine), but the main idol in there is a huge orange statue - probably about 7 feet tall, 3-4 feet across, and bright orange. It was crazy.
But Ganesh is far from the only religious figure I've encountered while being here. Here are a few other statues seen at various locations (read: mostly outside people's houses. These were major creeping jobs):
Now, part of the reason religious landscape was so interesting to me was definitely the omnipresence of religious iconography. But the other side to religious landscape is the plurality of faiths that exist side by side here. In Kerala, the interplay between Hinduism and Christianity has always struck me as the key religious coexistence. In Jaipur, however, there seem to be many more faiths that interact and often, find a way to mix together. I've seen a lot of Jainist statues, a good amount of Buddhist influence, and solid amounts of Muslim and Christian influence. I want to look into this more as the summer goes on, but here are some preliminary pictures I have:
These three statues (though all of different size, composition, and location) are all Jain (I think). The prevalence of Jainism here is definitely interesting. From my understanding, at least, Jainists were supposed to be very detached from worldly things. But here, there seems to be something of an emphasis placed on the physical representation of Jainism, which seems sort of contradictory. I don't know, maybe I just don't understand Jainism well enough (cue Kaitlyn to the rescue?)
So I'm not entirely sure what the first picture is - I thought it looked like a mosque, but a friend said he was pretty sure it was an orthodox church. Input appreciated. But the second one I'm pretty sure is a mosque. I would write something more here, but it's late and I'm tired and I have so much homework to do (still). More to come later, folks.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Pictures!
...will not be uploaded today, as Blogger isn't letting me put them up. However, know that there will be some coming in the next post. So for this post... I guess I'll talk about the classes and how that stuff works? About as exciting, I know. For starters, I'll go over the different class types we have in the AIIS program, each of which is designed to help us build different skills and improve in different ways.
Magazine/Newspaper readings: The week before, we are given a small article from a local newspaper or magazine and a list of vocab which we might not (in my case, will not) know. For the advanced level, we read the articles at home and have to discuss their significance in class. This... may or may not be possible given the article we have this week, which talks about this kid who opened up an ice cream and juice stand (called Echo-Choco, if you're ever in Mumbai and craving either ice cream or juice). Anyway, it's pretty good to help out on my reading speed, which is one of my weaker areas.
Journal Correction: Ever week, we're expected to write 5 pages on anything in our journals and then present them to the class. I find this one of the most difficult parts of class because 1) I'm not creative enough to come up with good topics to write about, 2) my writing is ridiculously bad and simple, and 3) my teacher thinks I'm crazy. Granted, number 3 might be slightly justified. My first journal assignment was a story about a toymaker and his family. The toymaker dreams of making this perfectly lifelike doll, so realistic that you can't tell it isn't human. He spends hours upon hours working on it and finally creates the perfect toy, but before he can sell it, he drops it and its arm breaks off. So he gives it to his kids to play with, figuring it's of no use. But then the doll comes to life and, upset that the toymaker didn't try to fix him, starts terrorizing his family. So... yeah, I guess I can maybe understand why the teacher thought this was odd. In my defense, it was the only idea I had!
Hindi Literature: Similar to the newspaper class, this is designed to help us with our reading comprehension while exposing us to different sides of Hindi literary tradition. We stick to children's stories (because we can't handle anything above like... a 3rd grade level) and discuss them in class. I haven't had one of these yet, so I can't really speak to what they are like. But it should help my reading speed a good deal.
Radio/TV: One of my favorite classes because it involves almost no talking (something I'm pretty darn good at, if I do say so myself). Also, my listening comprehension is probably my most developed skill, so I can pretend like I know what I'm doing/like I belong in advanced in this. Also, we get to watch Hindi serials (which are incredibly dramatic and funny) or listen to Hindi radio (which is also really odd - they try to sound American a lot of the time, but then both their Hindi and English become unintelligible). But it's still good.
Vocabulary: A pretty standard class, in which we go over some important vocab for the week and practice using it. No big deal.
Grammar: Pretty much the same idea, just reviewing grammar concepts (or more accurately, other people review and I learn) and doing some drills to practice.
Personal tutorial: One-on-one time with one of the teachers to go over anything you have questions about. This really really intimidates me; I'm pretty much terrified of authority figures as a whole and as much as they try to sell the "We are your family!" thing, I'm still afraid to talk to them for an hour.
Word games: While I don't find this particularly useful all the time, it is pretty darn fun. A lot depends on what game we have for the week. Games like Pictionary don't really help me all that much, but stuff like Taboo is a pretty good way to get us to speak. It's always a good time, though; there is something about watching your classmate flop around of the floor trying to get you to guess "whale," only to realize you don't actually know how to say whale in Hindi.
Pronunciation: Just a lesson to go over the differences between aspirated vs. unaspirated sounds, retroflex vs. dental, etc. I'm not anticipating it to be too difficult, but we'll see when I have the first class.
Movie: Without a doubt my favorite 3 hours of the week. We watch Bollywood movies without subtitles to work on listening comprehension. Now, this is great for a number of reasons: 1) NO TALKING! This is the one class of the week where I can do absolutely no talking and still have it be acceptable. 2) It's listening comprehension, which is something I can do! So it makes me feel pretty darn good about myself. 3) ...it's watching a Bollywood movie in class.
Film discussion: This is a tricky class because the teachers know I like Bollywood movies. Thus, they expect me to have a lot to say about them and discuss their main themes and such. But... I don't really like to talk in class, so I think I might let them down. Oh well.
And I think that's about it... if I missed any, I'll add them on later.
Magazine/Newspaper readings: The week before, we are given a small article from a local newspaper or magazine and a list of vocab which we might not (in my case, will not) know. For the advanced level, we read the articles at home and have to discuss their significance in class. This... may or may not be possible given the article we have this week, which talks about this kid who opened up an ice cream and juice stand (called Echo-Choco, if you're ever in Mumbai and craving either ice cream or juice). Anyway, it's pretty good to help out on my reading speed, which is one of my weaker areas.
Journal Correction: Ever week, we're expected to write 5 pages on anything in our journals and then present them to the class. I find this one of the most difficult parts of class because 1) I'm not creative enough to come up with good topics to write about, 2) my writing is ridiculously bad and simple, and 3) my teacher thinks I'm crazy. Granted, number 3 might be slightly justified. My first journal assignment was a story about a toymaker and his family. The toymaker dreams of making this perfectly lifelike doll, so realistic that you can't tell it isn't human. He spends hours upon hours working on it and finally creates the perfect toy, but before he can sell it, he drops it and its arm breaks off. So he gives it to his kids to play with, figuring it's of no use. But then the doll comes to life and, upset that the toymaker didn't try to fix him, starts terrorizing his family. So... yeah, I guess I can maybe understand why the teacher thought this was odd. In my defense, it was the only idea I had!
Hindi Literature: Similar to the newspaper class, this is designed to help us with our reading comprehension while exposing us to different sides of Hindi literary tradition. We stick to children's stories (because we can't handle anything above like... a 3rd grade level) and discuss them in class. I haven't had one of these yet, so I can't really speak to what they are like. But it should help my reading speed a good deal.
Radio/TV: One of my favorite classes because it involves almost no talking (something I'm pretty darn good at, if I do say so myself). Also, my listening comprehension is probably my most developed skill, so I can pretend like I know what I'm doing/like I belong in advanced in this. Also, we get to watch Hindi serials (which are incredibly dramatic and funny) or listen to Hindi radio (which is also really odd - they try to sound American a lot of the time, but then both their Hindi and English become unintelligible). But it's still good.
Vocabulary: A pretty standard class, in which we go over some important vocab for the week and practice using it. No big deal.
Grammar: Pretty much the same idea, just reviewing grammar concepts (or more accurately, other people review and I learn) and doing some drills to practice.
Personal tutorial: One-on-one time with one of the teachers to go over anything you have questions about. This really really intimidates me; I'm pretty much terrified of authority figures as a whole and as much as they try to sell the "We are your family!" thing, I'm still afraid to talk to them for an hour.
Word games: While I don't find this particularly useful all the time, it is pretty darn fun. A lot depends on what game we have for the week. Games like Pictionary don't really help me all that much, but stuff like Taboo is a pretty good way to get us to speak. It's always a good time, though; there is something about watching your classmate flop around of the floor trying to get you to guess "whale," only to realize you don't actually know how to say whale in Hindi.
Pronunciation: Just a lesson to go over the differences between aspirated vs. unaspirated sounds, retroflex vs. dental, etc. I'm not anticipating it to be too difficult, but we'll see when I have the first class.
Movie: Without a doubt my favorite 3 hours of the week. We watch Bollywood movies without subtitles to work on listening comprehension. Now, this is great for a number of reasons: 1) NO TALKING! This is the one class of the week where I can do absolutely no talking and still have it be acceptable. 2) It's listening comprehension, which is something I can do! So it makes me feel pretty darn good about myself. 3) ...it's watching a Bollywood movie in class.
Film discussion: This is a tricky class because the teachers know I like Bollywood movies. Thus, they expect me to have a lot to say about them and discuss their main themes and such. But... I don't really like to talk in class, so I think I might let them down. Oh well.
And I think that's about it... if I missed any, I'll add them on later.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
I hate Hindi.
Well, that's not entirely true. A more apt title: I hate (how much I suck at) Hindi. The first day of classes was today, and it was a roller coaster. Luckily, there was an easy start: my section was scheduled to watch a Bollywood movie today. It was an old film from the early 1980s called Masoom (a really good movie for any of you who are interested) that focused on like... family dynamics and honesty in relationships. What made the movie challenging was the fact that we watched it without using any subtitles. What made it easier was the fact I had already seen it. So there were a lot of parts where I could understand bits and pieces that I could then put into context, knowing the storyline. But yeah, it was a pretty good way to ease into class. However, immediately afterwards I had my first "personal tutorial" session with Neelam-ji, the teacher who scares me the most. She's from Nepal and tends to be serious a lot of the time. She rarely smiles and speaks really quickly and I think she knows I shouldn't be in advanced (although I should be used to this - Rakesh-ji, the program leader, keeps asking me if I'm absolutely sure that I can handle the workload and assuring me that if I ever need it, he can arrange private tutoring for me. which is kind of demeaning, but accurate. I probably will take him up on that).
So anyway, I had my hour-long one-on-one tutorial with Neelam-ji. And I had virtually nothing to talk about. Now, in my defense, this is only partially my fault - the tutorials are supposed to be times when you can approach your teacher about material covered that you feel uncomfortable with. But our only lesson thus far had been watching a Bollywood movie, discussion of which is blocked out for tomorrow afternoon; how was I supposed to come up with an hour's worth of conversation? So we ended up talking about Bollywood and each other's lives. I think my motives for taking Hindi are being revealed in the fact that most of the extended in-Hindi conversations I've had so far have revolved around Bollywood in some way. So the tutorial was... interesting. Anyway, Neelam-ji told me that my speaking/listening is at the advanced level (shout out to Bollywood once again), but that I will need to work extra hard at new vocab and grammar that the other kids may have learned in second year. Which is fine, I'm apt to be equally lazy in the face of all obstacles. Also she turned out to be kind of funny and sarcastic. I'm pretty sure a lot of it was about me. But she told me how proud she was that I knew my madrabhash (mother tongue), Malayalam, and was now learning... I forget the word she said, but it meant national language, Hindi. Score!
So after that I got to move in to the new flat. Half of the kids had moved in earlier in the day (there is a separation of the AIIS group - students under the Critical Language Scholarship [CLS] program have classes from 9 - 1, take classes in different rooms, and eat in a different cafeteria than we do. Despite the fact that we take the same classes from the same teachers and get the same food. I don't really understand the purpose of this), so the remaining 6 of us grab rickshaws to head to the place. Here came my first experience of having to bargain with an auto rickshaw driver by myself. He wanted to charge 4 of us Rs. 80 for the short, maximum 4 km ride (to give you an idea of how outrageous this is, the Delhi rickshaw rate is set at Rs. 10 for up to 1 km, with each extra km being Rs. 4.50). I've decided the bargaining process is all about looking frustrated and willing to leave, because the conversation was really simple (rough recount following):
"Rs. 80"
"80 rupees? That's too expensive. 40!"
"40? That will get you nowhere! 70"
"The fare is 20 rupees! We are giving you extra, don't push it. 60"
"...ok, 60"
So Rs. 15 a person. Not too bad? I would put that one in the "moderately successful" category. Anyway, after we arrived, the real drama began. Room allotment. First drama: there were 10 rooms and 11 people, so one double would have to be created. I volunteered (because I didn't really care and wanted the process to go by quicker), but getting a second volunteer was hard. Eventually another guy agreed to do it on the condition that we get the biggest room, which everyone consented to. So it's pretty sweet - have AC, wifi access, a working TV, and a balcony. Pictures coming tomorrow.
Second drama: room choice order. After Tareq (my roommate) and I were given our room, the time came for those left over to determine an order for choosing rooms. Now, this got very tense, with people threatening to walk out on the loft as a whole (leaving us to cover and extra person's rent). Even though numbers were drawn from a hat, people with CLS funding were unhappy about their low number draws. Their logic was that since the State Department is covering their housing, they shouldn't settle for less-than=ideal rooms, which I thought was a little bit diva-like. Anyway, it all worked out in the end and, as a celebration of our new flat family, a few of the guys went out and bought drinks and we had a celebration. Also, we met the aunty who lives downstairs and prepares food for us every day. She speaks no English, but is super sweet and actually took to me in particular - I think it's because she thought I was Punjabi for a while. About 5 minutes into our conversation, I mentioned that I was on a bhangra team at Yale and she gives me this knowing smile. "What?" I ask. "No no... I just knew you were Punjabi." "Actually, I'm not..." "Gujurati?" "No..." "Sindhi?"
...this process went on for another few minutes until I told her I was a Malayalee. Anyway, she seems really cool and I want to talk to both her and her son more as the summer progresses. Although the thought that took up most of my head space for the day was FINALLY I HAVE A PLACE TO STAY. No more of this moving around from place to place, searching for an apartment, etc. Finally I have a bed that will stay the same for 10 weeks.
Anyway, I've got to get back to homework. Lots of stuff due tomorrow. And I have to be up early on top of that.
So anyway, I had my hour-long one-on-one tutorial with Neelam-ji. And I had virtually nothing to talk about. Now, in my defense, this is only partially my fault - the tutorials are supposed to be times when you can approach your teacher about material covered that you feel uncomfortable with. But our only lesson thus far had been watching a Bollywood movie, discussion of which is blocked out for tomorrow afternoon; how was I supposed to come up with an hour's worth of conversation? So we ended up talking about Bollywood and each other's lives. I think my motives for taking Hindi are being revealed in the fact that most of the extended in-Hindi conversations I've had so far have revolved around Bollywood in some way. So the tutorial was... interesting. Anyway, Neelam-ji told me that my speaking/listening is at the advanced level (shout out to Bollywood once again), but that I will need to work extra hard at new vocab and grammar that the other kids may have learned in second year. Which is fine, I'm apt to be equally lazy in the face of all obstacles. Also she turned out to be kind of funny and sarcastic. I'm pretty sure a lot of it was about me. But she told me how proud she was that I knew my madrabhash (mother tongue), Malayalam, and was now learning... I forget the word she said, but it meant national language, Hindi. Score!
So after that I got to move in to the new flat. Half of the kids had moved in earlier in the day (there is a separation of the AIIS group - students under the Critical Language Scholarship [CLS] program have classes from 9 - 1, take classes in different rooms, and eat in a different cafeteria than we do. Despite the fact that we take the same classes from the same teachers and get the same food. I don't really understand the purpose of this), so the remaining 6 of us grab rickshaws to head to the place. Here came my first experience of having to bargain with an auto rickshaw driver by myself. He wanted to charge 4 of us Rs. 80 for the short, maximum 4 km ride (to give you an idea of how outrageous this is, the Delhi rickshaw rate is set at Rs. 10 for up to 1 km, with each extra km being Rs. 4.50). I've decided the bargaining process is all about looking frustrated and willing to leave, because the conversation was really simple (rough recount following):
"Rs. 80"
"80 rupees? That's too expensive. 40!"
"40? That will get you nowhere! 70"
"The fare is 20 rupees! We are giving you extra, don't push it. 60"
"...ok, 60"
So Rs. 15 a person. Not too bad? I would put that one in the "moderately successful" category. Anyway, after we arrived, the real drama began. Room allotment. First drama: there were 10 rooms and 11 people, so one double would have to be created. I volunteered (because I didn't really care and wanted the process to go by quicker), but getting a second volunteer was hard. Eventually another guy agreed to do it on the condition that we get the biggest room, which everyone consented to. So it's pretty sweet - have AC, wifi access, a working TV, and a balcony. Pictures coming tomorrow.
Second drama: room choice order. After Tareq (my roommate) and I were given our room, the time came for those left over to determine an order for choosing rooms. Now, this got very tense, with people threatening to walk out on the loft as a whole (leaving us to cover and extra person's rent). Even though numbers were drawn from a hat, people with CLS funding were unhappy about their low number draws. Their logic was that since the State Department is covering their housing, they shouldn't settle for less-than=ideal rooms, which I thought was a little bit diva-like. Anyway, it all worked out in the end and, as a celebration of our new flat family, a few of the guys went out and bought drinks and we had a celebration. Also, we met the aunty who lives downstairs and prepares food for us every day. She speaks no English, but is super sweet and actually took to me in particular - I think it's because she thought I was Punjabi for a while. About 5 minutes into our conversation, I mentioned that I was on a bhangra team at Yale and she gives me this knowing smile. "What?" I ask. "No no... I just knew you were Punjabi." "Actually, I'm not..." "Gujurati?" "No..." "Sindhi?"
...this process went on for another few minutes until I told her I was a Malayalee. Anyway, she seems really cool and I want to talk to both her and her son more as the summer progresses. Although the thought that took up most of my head space for the day was FINALLY I HAVE A PLACE TO STAY. No more of this moving around from place to place, searching for an apartment, etc. Finally I have a bed that will stay the same for 10 weeks.
Anyway, I've got to get back to homework. Lots of stuff due tomorrow. And I have to be up early on top of that.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
(Placement) Testing, (Apartment) shopping, (over)eating, oh my!
First off, I want to say: I know I've updated the blog every day since being here, but I swear I have a life. Kind of. Anyway, today was another fun day. I slept through breakfast in the morning, deciding to opt for an extra 45 minutes of sleep (a dangerous bet, given the fact that I have no alarm clock with me right now). Breakfast in the Gem Inn, where we're staying for now, isn't that great anyway - they had buttered toast, corn flakes, and bananas. So as I was running for the bus, I grabbed a slice of toast and a banana. Anyway, we took the placement test today. Ohhh, boy. That was a whole lot of fun. I was expecting something more like a school test; you know, asking some basic questions then moving on up to the more difficult stuff. But no, this test just dove right in with 3rd and 4th year grammar/vocab. It was split into two parts: listening and reading comprehension. The listening part went alright, but the reading was way over my head. There was lots of legal/political material, so I knew basically no vocab. Some topics: bribery, curfew enforcement, and war preparation. I... might have missed the days where they taught us that stuff in first year Hindi.
Anyway, after bombing the placement test, we had to figure out living situations. Apparently, only 8 host families signed up for this year's program, allotting a total of 20 rooms for AIIS kids. And given that there were 39 or so kids who wanted to stay with a host family, plus the fact that only about half of the families were ok with guys staying with them, I decided to just find a flat independently with some of the other guys. We saw maybe 4 or 5 places (each of which I thought was incredible) but in the end settled on a place in the downtown area. The owner was really young and seemed really cool. And he included a good deal of amenities: electricity, water, internet, and laundry were all included in the price of Rs. 9000 per month. Which comes out to around $200 per month. Which would be a lot of money, but thank you South Asian Studies Council! I think all in all there are going to be 12 of us staying there, which should be fun. I'll take/upload pictures of the place when we move in tomorrow. Also, I'm glad I dropped out of the host family thing - apparently it got very competitive and cutthroat and there may have been some hurt feelings. Glad I got to avoid all that.
Anyway, after the living situations were finalized, we went back to the center to get the results of out placement tests. And before the full announcement, Rakesh-ji (the leader of the program here) pulled me aside and was like "So... you've only taken one year of Hindi, right?" Apparently my score on the test put me in the advanced level class, which is going to suck. I just won't know enough to get by. But he said that if I wanted to/the workload proved to be too much, I could always switch down into the intermediate level. So... we'll see how this goes. I guess watching hours of Bollywood movies has finally proved fruitful in some aspect of my life.
Annd... other than that, and in reference to last part of this title, THERE WAS SO MUCH FOOD TODAY. Like, so many of the older people whose flats we visited insisted on giving us some food. And the program had a welcome-to-the-center lunch made for us. So all in all, I ate a whole lot of food today. And as I lie here on my bed typing this post with my swollen belly almost blocking my vision of my laptop, I can't help but think it might have been a mistake.
Anyway, after bombing the placement test, we had to figure out living situations. Apparently, only 8 host families signed up for this year's program, allotting a total of 20 rooms for AIIS kids. And given that there were 39 or so kids who wanted to stay with a host family, plus the fact that only about half of the families were ok with guys staying with them, I decided to just find a flat independently with some of the other guys. We saw maybe 4 or 5 places (each of which I thought was incredible) but in the end settled on a place in the downtown area. The owner was really young and seemed really cool. And he included a good deal of amenities: electricity, water, internet, and laundry were all included in the price of Rs. 9000 per month. Which comes out to around $200 per month. Which would be a lot of money, but thank you South Asian Studies Council! I think all in all there are going to be 12 of us staying there, which should be fun. I'll take/upload pictures of the place when we move in tomorrow. Also, I'm glad I dropped out of the host family thing - apparently it got very competitive and cutthroat and there may have been some hurt feelings. Glad I got to avoid all that.
Anyway, after the living situations were finalized, we went back to the center to get the results of out placement tests. And before the full announcement, Rakesh-ji (the leader of the program here) pulled me aside and was like "So... you've only taken one year of Hindi, right?" Apparently my score on the test put me in the advanced level class, which is going to suck. I just won't know enough to get by. But he said that if I wanted to/the workload proved to be too much, I could always switch down into the intermediate level. So... we'll see how this goes. I guess watching hours of Bollywood movies has finally proved fruitful in some aspect of my life.
Annd... other than that, and in reference to last part of this title, THERE WAS SO MUCH FOOD TODAY. Like, so many of the older people whose flats we visited insisted on giving us some food. And the program had a welcome-to-the-center lunch made for us. So all in all, I ate a whole lot of food today. And as I lie here on my bed typing this post with my swollen belly almost blocking my vision of my laptop, I can't help but think it might have been a mistake.
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