Where is the Fun?

Those of you reading my blog from college, you know how well ranked our school's study abroad program is in the States (it's ranked #1). Numerous students choose to study abroad for various reasons and I always hear how much fun their trip was and how they want to go back. I also hear from students that it is enjoyable because you get to travel around the city and school isn't focused on constantly. All I can say to you is...WRONG!

The India program is generally agreed upon to be the hardest place to study abroad that our school offers (I am saying this as far as having to adapt to the culture goes). On top of that, this year it seems like our school has decided to give us twice as much homework as any of the other programs. I think that many of us are feeling the strain of school work, and unfortunately it is taking away from our experience of visiting the sights of Kolkata. In my one class alone, I have NINE papers due in April (and this is just one class!) and not to mention numerous presentations throughout the month. Talking to many study abroad students, and even those students who went to India last year, they think it is outrageous the amount of work that we are expected to complete especially since we are already studying in a challenging place.

Unfortunately I also feel that I am in a tough spot because I am trying to apply for a scholarship and summer jobs. My summer job applications are not working out too well either because employers don't want to even interview me because I am in another country (which is totally prepostorous because then the position is not based on merit but on the proximity you are to the office). As the last month of my stay here draws near, I want to be going to a million places and seeing as much as I can, but instead I will be stuck in front of a computer screen constantly typing up papers. I think that if I am paying to BE in Kolkata and SEE Kolkata, then I should do so and I am a little disappointed in my teachers and the staff at the Office for Education Abroad for making this trip about papers, books, and presentations, and not about the culture and surroundings of India.

The Rural Side of India

I'm back again from another weekend trip (they are becoming quite frequent). This time I went to rural villages in the district of Bolpur (still in West Bengal but a 4-5 hour train ride) to conduct case studies for the NGO that I volunteer for called Reach India. Before I left I had been quite upset because I was originally planning to go to the nearby state of Orissa but due to terroristic threats, I was not able to go. Instead of informing me of the change this weekend, Reach had asked a fellow student to update me with the details and the student in question didn't tell me anything. Low and behold, I find out 3 days before I am scheduled to leave that I am going on this visit (I was not a happy camper). Nonetheless, I packed up my belongings and headed out for the weekend.

I left from school to go to the Howrah station and take the train and then a short car ride to the village that we stayed in. I had a great time going from village to village and taking case study interviews of the rural women who had benefited from Reach's and the local NGO training. I used some of the few Bengali phrases that I know and people seemed quite excited that I was making an effort to speak in Bangla. The Indian food that we had was also quite delicious and cooked by a young man at the NGO building that we stayed at.

The accomodations were better than I had expected in such a rural village (I had a Western toilet and a bed with a mosquito net, which is more than I could ask for). The women that I interviewed all seemed to have greatly benefited from the training they had received both in monetary increases, and an increase in knowledge and team-working skills. Sometimes it was a little hard to have to use an interpreter to ask questions or receive clarifications, but all in all I think it was quite a success.

My favorite part of the weekend was riding an ox-driven cart. Most people ride them to get from village to village and Drew and I thought that it would be fun to ride one down the bumpy, dirt road. As we passed, people stopped to stare at the pale-faced foreigners riding a local ox-cart, and after the continuous staring we received, I decided to start saying hello in Bengali to all the people we passed. Needless to say, we had half the village following us by the time we reached our final destination. After getting out we were offered tea (I don't think I have ever drank more tea/chai in one day) and then we sat down and asked the villagers questions and vice versa. Seeing as I was feeling mighty friendly, I decided to ask them if I was the blondest person that they had ever seen and they all replied in the affirmative (we have all come to agree that I am the blondest person in India and so far I have yet to see a foreigner that could rival me so it is entirely possible).

All in all, the weekend was a success and I have many great interviews from women whose lives have been impacted through Reach India. I can only hope that once my case studies have been compiled and my research for the sexual and reproductive health module has been completed, that more rural women will have been positively impacted by the work that I have completed on behalf of Reach India.

There is a lot to say about Darjeeling

One of the tallest mountains in the Himalayas

The next day we woke up at 3:30 am to go to Tiger Hill to see the sunrise and hopefully spot the Himalayan mountains (on REALLY good days you can even spot Everest). The sunrise was beautiful and we were able to spot some of the Himalayas in the background. Tiger Hill is a good vantage point to see nature but it also was rather crowded and had lots of tourists.

Sunrise at Tiger Hill

After leaving Tiger Hill we went to another Buddhist temple. On taking off our shoes and entering the temple, we came upon a prayer wheel. Entering even further, we discovered a large statue of Buddha and decorative paintings across the walls of Buddha and his life. There were several other statues in the temple of other monks and poses of Buddha. The temple was completely elaborate in all its decoration and I just wanted to sit there all day and stare at everything.

Colorful statue of Buddha at the temple

Eventually we had to move back to the cars so we could go have breakfast, do some last minute shopping, and pack up to head back to the train station. On our way back to the train station, we drove by and stopped for a minute or two near a toll gate. A man was standing there lifting the gate up and down for cars and people who wanted to get through to the other side. Arandati (a host parent) told us that beyond the gate was Nepal. We were 20 feet away from being in Nepal! She said that they used to let people cross the border (beyond the gate was a street full of Nepalese shops) to go shopping, but they didn't allow that anymore. Normally when I think of border control, I think of men holding guns and shooting trespassers, but apparently in India it is just a man lifting and lowering a gate.

The elaborate walls of the temple

After stopping to eat a late lunch, we arrived at the train station and boarded the air conditioned area this time in order to get back to Kolkata. I know that if I ever come back to India, I definitely want to go back to the beautiful town of Darjeeling :)

The gate separating India from Nepal

Darjeeling Continued

Sunrise in Darjeeling

The next day we woke up at 4:30 am to watch the sun rise. It was really beautiful and we could hear the morning call to prayer for the Muslims and later on we could also hear flute music and chanting from the Tibetan boarding school that is in the area. It was all rather surreal and even though it was rather chilly and we were all tired, it was worth getting up early just to see the sunrise.

Part of the Buddhist Temple with its stone carvings and Buddha statues

After breakfast we all piled into the car and drove to a Japanese Buddhist Temple located in Darjeeling. The temple area was marked by a large stone pillar with Japanese inscriptions guarded by two stone lions. Upon entering the temple we took our shoes off and climbed up the stairs to emerge into a small room with a shrine. Two people sat on each side of the room and hit drums while the chanted. Those of us who came into the room sat on the floor with smaller drums and pounded out the beat with the monks who were there. When leaving we held out our hands and the monk gave us a small handfull of sugar pellets as a blessing to eat (the prasad in Hindu worship).

Buddha carvings at the temple

We walked around outside the temple area and marveled at all the ornate stone carvings of Buddha that were etched into the sides of the temple area. There were also golden statues of Buddha interspersed with the stone carvings depicting Buddha's life. I loved looking at all the artwork surrounding the temple and seeing that Buddhism was important to many of the inhabitants of Darjeeling.

Kate picking tea in traditional Darjeeling clothes

After leaving the temple we went to a tea plantation because Darjeeling tea is one of the most famous in the world and comprises about 15% of India's tea. We got to see the bushes where they pick the tea and Tiffany and Kate dressed up in traditional Darjeeling clothes. Alongside the tea plantation were vendors selling snacks and veggie momos (very similar to Chinese dumplings). Momos were very common in Darjeeling (probably because it is very close to Nepal) and I had the best momos I have ever had next to the tea plantation (Dad, these momos were 10x better than the ones in Chicago).

Riding the skyway

We hopped back into the cars and drove to the skyway where we took a skyway up and down the mountain. Some of the people in our group were extremely nervous about going on the skyway because a few years ago it broke and people fell to their deaths. Even on the back of our tickets it said that if you are maimed you can receive 100,000 rupees. We all made it safe and sound and proceeded on to the Darjeeling zoo where we looked at all the animals like the Bengal tiger and the red junglefowl (yes Chuhu, I got a picture of your red junglefowl). There was also a small museum there with artifacts and information about all the climbing expeditions to Everest and some of the other Himalayan mountains.

Wolves at the zoo

Comin back from the zoo, we were all starved and quickly ate something before we started shopping again. We stayed out pretty late to explore around (I actually found beef burgers and wanted to eat one but Erik told me I would be ostracized from the group if beef touched my lips...argh, peer pressure). We met a man from Madison, Wisconsin outside one of the eateries and he had been traveling all around Asia for 6 months every year since he dropped out of high school. He had networked with many people across Asia and his stories could fill a rather thick book. He said that we were the closest he had been to home in awhile so he quite enjoyed talking to us about our experiences in India and how we missed America.

Darjeeling

Adam is super excited to sleep on the top bunk of the train

This last weekend we went to Darjeeling which is located in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is now officially my favorite place in India! Everything is so gorgeous and green there (just like home) and it was also nice and cold (it was 100 degrees Fahrenheit today in Kolkata). Darjeeling is also an interesting place because many of the people that live in the Northeastern regions of India near the mountains have what they refer to as Mongoloid features (they look more Southeast Asian).

Darjeeling!!!

We boarded the train to Darjeeling on Friday night and then settled down for our 10 hour train ride to Darjeeling. The compartments on the way there were not air conditioned so we slept in small bunks that folded into seats. Each wall has three beds so you cannot sit up in bed or you will hit your head on the person's bunk above yours. It was also interesting that night because some of us were sitting down in our compartment and a woman came by and started touching Indian people on their heads and they started paying her a couple rupees. The woman came up to Rachel (my roommate) because she looks Indian and when Rachel looked at her quizzically, one of the host parents told her something in Bangla and she moved on to the next compartment. We then asked Sharmila (a host parent) what the women wanted and she said that it wasn't a woman but a eunuch. Apparently eunuchs quite frequently go about on train cars asking for money and if you don't pay them then they might start shouting or take their clothes off, so most people just pay them. It was a weird experience that was repeated in the morning but it made me wonder how outcasts in Indian society make a living.

Now everyone knows why Darjeeling is my favorite place in India...BEAUTIFUL!

Sleeping on the train was also rather tedious. Due to the cramped quarters and the fact that it is quite common for people's valuables to be stolen on the train, I slept with my legs curled up (the bed wasn't long enough) and my arms securely around my backpack (I had to wake up about 15 times during the night to check to see that no one had stolen anything). Upon waking up we heard people playing flutes/drums in the aisles and shouting as they sold tea/coffee. In other words...it was a restless night for all.

After getting off of the train we were escorted to cars that we would be taking to get up the mountain. Oh, I should also mention that both the train stations were crowded with homeless people who were begging or just simply sleeping on the side of the road. When I had arrived at the train station in Kolkata, a random guy had mimed to me that he wanted to take a drink out of my water bottle to which I replied "nah!" (no) and waved him away. There were many types of people at the train station, lets just leave it at that.

The cars we drove to Darjeeling in

Anyway, we ascended into the mountains and let me just reiterate that Indians are the BEST drivers in the world! The road that goes up the mountain is full of twists and turns and you can barely fit two cars on it. Also, there are no barriers on the side of the road so if you fall off you plummet to your death. We went up the mountain and after a couple hours of driving we came to our hotel in Darjeeling. It was nice and cold in Darjeeling (probably about 30 degrees Fahrenheit) and we were all glad to get away from the sweltering heat of Kolkata. We unpacked our luggage and went to eat at a nearby restaurant called Glenary's. Glenary's had lots of American/European style food and I ordered baked mac n'cheese. After eating we perused the local shops and realized that there was tons to buy because Darjeeling is rather touristy (we saw lots of foreigners there). I can honestly say that I broke the bank in Darjeeling but I have most of my souvenirs bought now and it was hard to pass up some of the trinkets because in Darjeeling there is a mix of Indian, Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, and Nepalese. The people there seemed more Westernized and stylish than people in Kolkata and most of them had Mongoloid features which just accentuates the mix of cultures. Everywhere I turned I saw something interesting and new that made me want to know more!

A mix of cultures: A Japanese inscription outside of a Japanese Buddhist Temple

Chinatown...AKA a street with a few Chinese Restaurants

Seeing as I just got back from Darjeeling this weekend (it is in the foothills of the Himalayas), I thought it would be nice to update everyone about what has been going on. Last week along with going to Dakshineswar Temple, Erik and I accompanied Rachel (my roommate) to one of her site visit areas, Tangra. Tangra, or Chinatown as most people would call it, is not what you would expect Chinatown to be. Having recently been to Chinatown in Chicago this summer with my dad, I pictured Tangra to be bustling with Chinese people, restaurants dotting every corner, and thousands of Chinese trinkets for sale...boy was I wrong! Chinatown was merely a rundown street that had a Chinese restaurant every couple hundred yards. There were no trinkets for sale and most people in the surrounding area looked Indian. We decided to go to a restaurant that had been recommended to us called Kim Ling's. When walking into the restaurant I noticed that the waiters were all Indian (Senssue if you are reading this, it gave me a little chuckle to see them standing there because I know that you would have doubted the authenticity of the food as soon as you saw the wait staff).

Well...the food was good :)

We sat down and ordered sweet and sour chicken and garlic chili chicken for lunch. Lunch was surprisingly delicious and it was some of the first Chinese food I have had since arriving in Kolkata. Chinese food is different than we are used to in the States. I have noticed that when you order chowmein here it is actually what we would consider lomein to be in the States. Nonetheless, the food was eaten up in a jiffy and we left seeing as that was the only part of Chinatown worth seeing. I was a little disappointed with Kolkata's Chinatown (seeing as this is the closest I have ever been to China) but we did get a fantastic lunch out of the visit!

The Sights to See in Kolkata

The Victoria Memorial

Seeing as I have been roaming around Kolkata visiting famous historic sites this week, I thought it would be nice to take some pictures and share them with everyone. During the weekend I was able to visit the Victoria Memorial. For those of you who do not know your Indian history, India was colonized by the British until they gained their independence in 1947. Queen Victoria was not only prominent in English history, but is very prominent in Indian history as well.

Their names could actually be Ranjit and Anjali...right?

Overlooking the courtyard at the Victoria Memorial

As I was walking down the gravel path that leads up to the Victoria Memorial, I could not help but compare it to the White House. The architecture is very similar with white stone columns surrounding a central dome. As I walked further down the gravel path I noticed how many couples were there (I don't know if it was because it was a Saturday or if it was that the Victoria Memorial is a date spot) being extremely affectionate (some couples were even kissing, which is odd to see in India because public displays of affection are not commonly seen in India). I was telling Rachel (my roommate) that it was like a Bollywood film with two star-crossed lovers, Ranjit and Anjali, whose parents don't approve of their love and instead they must meet in secret...at the Victoria Memorial. Rachel could not stop laughing as I walked around the memorial relating the story of Ranjit and Anjali. As we were walking we saw some men being affectionate (it is quite common in India that men hold hands when they walk and are friendly in public without being considered homosexual--homosexuality is frowned upon in India however) and I started relating the story of Ranjit and Rahul, two star-crossed lovers who must hide their true identities from their parents. In other words, I was in story-telling mode for quite awhile.

Queen Victoria on her throne

Going inside the memorial was interesting. We walked around and looked at many paintings and read some of the history of the memorial. As we were leaving we walked outside and saw a large statue of Queen Victoria sitting on her throne overlooking the memorial. The memorial is a tourist destination in Kolkata and they even have carriage rides outside the entrance for those visitors who are interested in taking a ride around the memorial (although some of the poor horses looked a little underfed). It was a nice place to visit and an important piece of Kolkata's colonial past.

Sunset on the Hooghly River

Another place that I visited on my tour of Kolkata was the Dakshineswar Temple. Located in Northern Kolkata, the temple is quite a distance away from many of the places that I usually travel to in Kolkata (it is even past the last metro stop). We took the metro and then was directed to a bus by a very nice Indian man who told us where to go and when to get off the bus. As we walked down the street to the temple, there are vendors selling everything! You can buy snacks, flowers to throw during your prayers, trinkets of different gods and goddesses, etc. Before we walked inside the temple area, we were directed to take off our shoes and give them to certain people whose job it is to watch your shoes while you go into the temple (there are such places in many Hindu temples in Kolkata). We entered and walked around, lighting incense and throwing our flowers at the statues of the gods as tribute. Then, similar to the Birla Mandir (one of the other temples I visited), we rang a bell as we exited one of the praying areas. Walking around the back of the temple area, we came upon the Hooghly River (which runs into the Ganges) and saw many people submerging themselves in the water or cruising around in boats on the river. We just dunked our feet in the water which was quite refreshing seeing as it was around 87 degrees Fahrenheit today, although I have know idea why anyone would want to refresh themselves by jumping in the river because it is extremely dirty.

Boating and bathing...favorite pastimes on the Hooghly River

On our way back to collect our shoes we walked around the souvenir stands that were nearby and some of us bought trinkets for friends and family back home. We collected our shoes from the men and then decided to head back because the sun was starting to set. We caught a bus back to the metro and now are quite exhausted from our journey (we were gone for 5 hours at the temple today). It was a long day and now I must be getting to my homework. Duty calls!

Dakshineswar Temple

The Complexities of Indian Transportation

Seeing as I was in a vehicular accident today (don't worry everyone, I am a'okay), I thought it would be interesting to write about the mishap that occured earlier today (plus this is the only way I am staying awake and it is somewhat hard falling asleep knowing that there is a 7 inch long lizard crawling around on the wall near where you keep your computer at night...the lizards do help with the mosquito population so I really shouldn't be complaining too much but I have never seen one so big crawling around on the walls in India).

As I was saying, a vehicular accident happened today involving two buses, one of which I happened to be on. As I was standing up to move down the bus so I could get off at the metro stop, the bus came to an abrupt halt and a loud noise could be heard. I peeked out the window and realized that the bus next to us had decided to merge a little prematurely and had gauged the distance between their bus and ours to be a wider gap than what it truly was. As I looked out the window I thought to myself, "Oh crap, now I am gonna be late to the metro because they need to get out and look at the damage." To my surprise the driver of our bus shifted into gear and just kept along his intended course without so much as a mutter. I think the only way to get traffic to stop in India is for someone to get run over (and even then it is not a certain thing). Many of you are probably thinking, "How can Indians be such horrible drivers?" On the contrary, Indians are probably some of the greatest drivers I have ever seen. There are no designated lanes, rarely do people use turn signals, and most of the cars are stick shift, and yet people manuever around like race car drivers, unheeding of the speed limit and avoiding pedestrians/other cars. In India, everyone agrees that you cannot hit the car in front of you so it doesn't matter if you swerve in and out of traffic (which most people do), you just have to be aware of the driver in front of you.

Many of you who have skyped me have also commented on the incessant car horns that you hear outside of my window. The lanes outside of my house can barely fit 2 cars through so the cars honk to let other cars know that they are turning onto the same street and that the other driver needs to make enough room for the car to pass. It is a very intricate system and for the first week or 2 it made it hard to sleep with the constant blaring of horns, but after awhile everyone gets used to it.

I also think that I have mentioned in a previous blog about the words painted on the side of vehicles and that Indians do not always check their spelling and grammar before painting things on the side of their vehicles. I know my mom always finds it funny when I tell her the interesting things people have painted, so I thought I would let everyone in on the fun. This week I have seen two misspellings on the side of vehicles. The first was on a public bus which was supposed to say "emergency exit" but instead said "emegency exit". The second was on a small flat-bed which said "plese horn" instead of "please horn". I always get a kick out of seeing misspellings and grammatical errors so I thought I would mention it in my blog so everyone could get a small chuckle out of it.

And finally, even though it does not pertain to transportation at all; we had Kunal Basu, author of The Japanese Wife, come to talk to us about writing and his works. It was an interesting meet and greet and we learned about what inspired him to write such unique stories and a little about his life teaching at Oxford and his childhood in Kolkata. We walked around Park Street Cemetary with him and talked about the historical relevance of many of the tombstones. Then we went to St. Xavier's to listen to his lecture with the Indian students and then afterwards we went to tea at a restaurant called Flury's (also located on Park Street near our school). It was an interesting day and seeing as I can no longer find where my rather large lizard-friend has run off to, I think I will just say...Goodnight!

Holi, Holi, Holi

Me during Holi

Today was Holi, or as many refer to it, the festival of colors. Holi is a Hindu tradition around early March where people take colored powder and throw it on friends and family. The colored dyes and powder signify a new outlook on life, a shedding of the old for the new. In the past people used to burn old clothing or unwanted goods to show their openness to all things new (they had to stop this in Kolkata because of pollution).

My first Holi powder of the day at Erik and Adam's house

Last night Rachel (my roommate) and I stayed over with Erik and Adam (we ended up playing the Indian version of Candy Land with our own American rules and some added Skittles to make the game more exciting) in Salt Lake so we could head over in the morning with everyone to our friend Shreya's house for Holi. Leaving Salt Lake this morning, Erik and Adam's host parents put some powder on our faces in order to wish us a Happy Holi and get us ready for the day.

Me and Shreya at Shreya's house

After piling into the car we made our way to Shreya's house. On the way Becca was squirted through an opening in the car window with blue dye. Two young boys were standing on the side of the road and squirting cars as they passed by. Looking out the back window of the car, we watched a young boy throw a water balloon at a man riding a bicycle and the man almost slid off his bicycle and crashed (it was quite funny but I don't suppose the man appreciated it).

What a Holi face

Upon arriving at Shreya's she greeted us with more powder on our faces and then we went up to her apartment complex to meet her parents and eat breakfast. Before eating breakfast, I rubbed coconut oil all over my hair, face, and arms in order to avoid allergic reactions and staining from the powders and dyes used at Holi. In most cases, the dyes will come out of your skin and hair within a few days however, my skin and hair are rather light compared to Indians so I wasn't going to take any chances, not to mention there are certain dyes and powders (like the metallic powder that we saw in Shreya's room) which do not come out for a week.

Everyone is tired...well, except Steph who is harassing Shreya as I look on in an astonished manner

After eating we went up to the roof with our colored powder and proceeded to have a Holi fight. We ran around dodging clotheslines and throwing powder all over each other. By the time we were all done, none of us were easily recognizable and we all were laughing at how much fun can be had throwing things at your friends. Shreya had bought some dye that you mix with water and some of us had bought water guns so we decided to go down and join in the action with the younger children who live in the complex.

The whole group playing Holi

As soon as we showed up and the kids saw that we were foreigners, we had a battle on our hands. Erik went to go fill up buckets while Rachel and I started adding dyes to the water in order to fill our water guns. Turns out our water guns were defective and after awhile we just switched to using plastic cups (which also broke eventually). Some of the Indian kids were quite vicious and even started shouting to us that this was the British versus Gandhi (to which I could only yell out that we were American and had gained our independence from Britain too...seems that the Indian children only saw that we were foreigners and therefore simplified the whole Western hemisphere as being part of Britain, while Becca yelled out that Gandhi was non-violent and would never use guns, even if they were only water guns, to defeat the British). It turned out that if we charged the Indian children and yelled a lot even though we didnt have any dyed water or squirt guns, they would run away only to come back a minute later (Adam especially enjoyed chasing after the kids and scaring them away).

The "Brits" fighting the Gandhijis

The water fight lasted awhile and seeing as we were all soaked with water and dye, we decided to go back to the roof and dry off. We sat around for awhile and had a small photoshoot seeing as everyone was colorful by this point, and then we went to eat lunch. Soon after eating lunch we left to go back home and on the way we received many stares (men tried to stop me and Rachel on the side of the street to which we didn't stop because we were pretty sure they wanted to throw powder at us and they didn't look too friendly).

Finally home and ready to take a shower

After arriving home I scrubbed myself down as best as I could in hopes that I wouldn't be stuck looking like rainbow brite had thrown up on me. Luckily I got most of the color off my skin but my hair still has some rather nice streaks of orange (Senssue, if you are wondering what my hair looks like dyed orange, now is your chance to see!) I am hoping that with a few more washings it will come out and I will be back to my old self again. I think that we all had tons of fun playing Holi (in India they call it "playing" Holi) and it was an enjoyable day!

Kelsey's picture of me at the "photoshoot"

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

I have just realized that I only have approximately 2 months left in India and I have yet to write about what my house looks like or to take pictures (for those of you who don't skype me and therefore are not privy to what my house looks like). We live in South Kolkata off of a busy street called Prince Anwar Shah Road. I guess house probably isn't the right name for where we live, it is more like an apartment. Rachel and I share a room, as well as a bathroom (yes our bathroom has a flushable toilet and yes we flush the toilet paper we use, unlike SOME people who were under the impression that they are supposed to throw away their toilet paper...Ahem, Erik and Adam). Our beds are very comfortable by Indian standards (most are fairly hard or can sometimes be mostly wood) and we can fit clothes and our suitcases under our beds so we have room to move around.

The kitchen is where the real magic happens with the gas range (which you have to light). Most Indian families do not have ovens, so baking is not a common thing here. The kitchen area can't fit more than 2 people but there are always fresh veggies being peeled or soaking in water on the counter area.

The dining room is connected to the kitchen and seats 4 people comfortably. Next to the kitchen and connected to the dining room is the main bathroom, which has a shower head (but you must make sure you turn on the hot water for at least 15 minutes before you take a shower and my showers are usually 5 minutes because the hot water does not last long). After you are done showering you must mop the bathroom and push the water towards the drain so the floor isn't wet.

Lastly, connected to the dining room is the living room. There is a couch and 2 chairs facing the flat screen T.V. (where Uncle likes to watch cricket). A large rug remains on the floor and you must be very careful about taking your shoes off before you come in so you don't track dust into the room (I literally have to wash my feet everyday and at one point I couldn't tell if I had a tan line, or if my feet were just permanently dirty). Auntie and Uncle's room is next to ours and both open up into the dining/living room area.

I hope you have enjoyed my virtual tour of our apartment!

Elementary my dear Watson

Rows and rows of books on College Street

This weekend I went on a few of my site visits that I have to go to for my class. Before leaving for Kolkata I chose these 5 places and upon arriving, I have to visit them. This weekend I visited College Street, which was on my list, and Bowabazar, which was on Rachel's (my roommate's) list. After hopping the metro, we met up with Erik and proceeded to walk to College Street. College Street is literally a long street that is dotted with book stalls everywhere. Seeing as the Calcutta University is so close, many students go there to buy their books for classes. We walked down the street and many vendors started yelling at us to buy books, so we decided to go visit Bowabazar, which was nearby.

The chaos of Bowabazar

Bowabazar is the largest market in India, and the best word to describe it is...chaotic. There are people walking everywhere, men pushing carts, people walking with large packages on the tops of their heads, and lots of noise. We dodged through the crowds and decided to go into one of the interior "malls" (if they can be called that). Essentially it was rows and rows of tiny shops packed together and you could barely squeeze through the aisles. After meandering through we came to the conclusion that there was nothing in the area that we wanted to buy so we decided to get out of the crowded area rather quick. We walked for quite a ways and could not find the metro so we stopped to ask for directions. The police officer didn't speak English so we were lucky to find some younger teenagers who directed us to the nearest metro (which was actually quite far away). Essentially we had made a big loop but we found our way to the metro and hopped back on.

Erik is excited about the pipe he bought in India, so he is acting like a Sherlock Holmes wannabe

Seeing as Erik lives in Salt Lake, I have wanted to take him to South City mall (the mall close to our home is one of the biggest in Kolkata). Rachel, Erik, and I arrived at the mall and were starving so we grabbed some Subway, ice cream, and quesadillas (if you can call them quesadillas; I don't think Indians really know how to make Mexican food but seeing as Erik lives in L.A. and is Latino, he thought he would try them). We walked around the mall for awhile looking in to a few shops and then headed back to our house for tea and some delicious watermelon, and so Erik could see our apartment. Then I headed back to Salt Lake with Erik for the night to hang out with the guys and say goodbye to Erik's host brother, Antarin, who is teaching for a year in Ethiopia. It was a fun and tiring weekend, but it was worth it in the end.