July 29, 2010

Yesterday July 28, we had more Hindi, finished the 52 letters, finally :). After Hindi we had a very good Indian dinner, sort of like take out but so much better than American food. After that we did our newspaper assingment in which we had to pick an article and talk about it. I talked about Sri Lanka's cricketer who got 800 wickets. I also talked about another that stated that young Indians are doing more than just going to dinner parties, such as going to cricket matches, going to spas, and other fun stuff. After everyone presented we talked about classes and then the 6 people who did not have working cell phones went to get new ones while the other 6 of us went back to our homes. When I got home I studied my Hindi for about three hours and then my friends Karissa (who's host mom is the daughter of my host mom) and Harold came to visit me. The three of us went to the market which is walking distance from where Karissa and I live (Karissa lives down the street from me). The market wasn't that good. They had too many banks and restaurants and no Indian stores to buy Indian clothes and other stuff. It was all westernized. After that we came back and Harold and Karissa ate at my house.

Today, July 29- we had our last Hindi class during orientation (the actual class starts Monday). After Hindi we had lunch and then we had four NGO's talk to us. We can get 1 credit for working for an NGO. One that's really interesting is about helping kids learn English and other languages such as math, music, theater. The other one is helping kids in slums learn English and get them off the street. These two sounded the most interesting to me. After that Me, Harold, and Karissa went to the market near Harold's house. The market was huge and we didn't have a lot of time to look at everything so we will be going back there. I got three Kurtas (long shirts) for a really good price.

Tomorrow I will be leaving at 6:15am to go to Shimla for the weekend. We will be returning late Sunday night like at 10pm. I will not put and posts up because I'm not bringing my laptop. While in Shimla we will be visiting the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS). You can click on the site to find out more about it. http://www.iias.org/

Friday, July 30

6:30 AM leave from your home stay or the Residence at C-43 Neeti Bagh for the New Delhi train station

7:40 AM Shatabdi train leaves for Kalka - this is an AC chair car train with reserved seats.

11:45 AM arrive in Kalka

12:00 PM board taxis for Shimla - about a 3 hour ride up into the Himalaya.

4:00 PM, approximately, we arrive in Shimla - check into the YMCA.

Saturday, July 31

11:30 AM Tour IIAS (leave YMCA at 11 by taxi or earlier for those who want to walk)

1:00 PM lunch at IIAS

Afternoon free to explore Shimla

Dinner on your own

Sunday, August 1

Check out of Y by noon

Morning and lunch on your own

1:00 PM board taxis to return to Kalka

5:45 PM Shatabdi leaves Kalka - dinner is served on the train

9:50 PM Arrive in New Delhi station - taxis will be there to take people back to home stay or residence

July 27, 2010

Today, we had more Hindi. We know 44 of the 52 letters. We had dictation which is when our teacher says a word or a couple of words and we have to write it in the Hindi script. I know how to write my full name in Hindi :). After that we had lunch on the way to Ramjas which is part of Delhi University. We had subway for lunch, the Indian version of subway is Indian food wrapped in a sub, such as chicken tikka sub. We had to eat our lunch on the way there because Ramjas is about 45 mins from the center where our IES classes are. When we got to Ramjas, which is very far north in Delhi. We met with the heads of the Political Science Department, History Department, English Department, and Science Department. At Ramjas they have a bigger and more interesting selection of poli sci classes than at JNU. However I talked to Cate (in charge of Delhi IES) and she said JNU would work better for my schedule and the professors are better. So, who knows. After Ramjas we were supposed to take the metro back, however a metro car wasn't working so the whole metro was shut down. So we had to wait an hour for the cars to pick us up to take us home. When I got home I studied my Hindi and watched Hindi soap operas (serials as they call them) and they are just as crazy as American soap operas, maybe even crazier. Tomorrow is more Hindi and then after lunch I think we are done so me and a fellow student, Karissa, who lives near by will go to a market close by to get some stuff. This weekend we are going to Shimla :)

July 26, 2010

Sunday, July 25 we studied for most of the day. Three people who are taking advanced Hindi did not have to study so they went out or just relaxed. Around 6pm seven of us went to our home stays.

Monday July 26, I went to Hindi class and we talked to our professors at IES about the classes we want to take there. I am planning to take Beginning Hindi, Cities of Delhi which is about getting to know the city. Every friday we go to different places around the city. We also take some weekend trips such as the one in September to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is. I think I will take India since Independence because the class sounds very interesting. If it works in my schedule than I will take it. Me and Melody went to JNU. I think I will really enjoy JNU because it's a liberal arts school. Each major has it's own building. The main school group is the political science group which everyone knows about. The person who took us around said that students at JNU talk about politics while students at Delhi University talk about fashion and movies, so I think I picked the right school. I don't know my classes for JNU because the times were not listed but four classes seemed interesting to me.

My host family is so nice. Indu Chopra has four married daughters. One of her daughters visits a lot because she lives down the street. The daughter is the home stay mom of another IES student. The Chopra's have a huge house. There is another girl staying with the Chopra's. She's works about 10 hrs a day doing something with finance.

Tomorrow we have more Hindi and we are going to Ramjas which is part of Delhi University. Ramjas is where the rest of the group is going, except for me, Melody, Lauren, and Patrick. Lauren and Patrick are going to Kamla Nehru University which is focused on journalism. Ramjas is the farthest away and the students will have to take the metro (lucky them). Melody and I will take an auto rickshaw to go to JNU.

I think I'm getting good at Hindi. I can say some stuff like how to ask someone their name, how they are doing. I can also tell the auto rickshaw where to go. I can ask how much something is. Reading and writing it is taking a little more time, but I try to read signs and anything I see in Hindi script. Having class three hours a day helps, but once classes start next week, we will only have Hindi 2 hrs a day for 2 days, instead of three hours a day each day.

July 23, 2010

Today, was a relaxing day. Some people went to the Baha'i Temple a.k.a. the Lotus Temple and went to a market to attend the Pineapple Festival, but sadly there was no festival going on. The rest of us went to Lodi garden which is a huge garden where people have picnics, sit and relax, mediate, do yoga. There are also beautiful ruins there. After being there for about an hour or so some of us went to GK-1 N Block Market because a girl who came 4 days later wanted to get some indian clothes and some us wanted to return to FabIndia and get other stuff went. GK-1 has the biggest Fab India in Delhi. The others at the Lodi Garden stayed there longer and then went to a market. Everyone returned in time to go to Cate's House. Cate is the director in charge of the IES program in India. She lives in walking distance of the Residence, so she invited us to have tea with her, her husband, her there friends. After that we wen to see a Bharatanatyam performance. The performance was amazing and we really enjoyed it. Seeing it made me miss it and I would love to take classes here. After that we went to a South Indian restaurant which is different food from North Indian. It was good, but most of us were full from eating a late lunch. After dinner we came back the residence. Tomorrow is studying and packing since we move into our host family's homes Sunday evening!

July 23, 2010

Friday, was a chill day. We had Hindi class, ate lunch, did our city as texts report, which was about what we saw when we went on our group tours of an important landmark in Delhi. After that we relaxed until dinner. After dinner we decided to have a Bollywood night, which we watched Bunty aur Babli. Only three of us saw it, so we decided to pick a movie that wouldn't be too extreme for the rest, who most haven't seen a Bollywood movie.

July 22, 2010

Thursday we had more Hindi classes. I'm starting to read signs as well as have small conversations with people. I can also tell where to go when I'm taking a autorickshaw. We didn't really do much we had a diversity workshop and group building exercise which was ok. Most of us were tired so we didn't enjoy it much. After that we went out. Some people just walked around Delhi and went to a nearby mall called Ansal Plaza. Some went to a ruins place and hung around there. Me, and three other girls, Francesca, Melody, and Lauren went to a near by market to look around. After dinner, it was two hours of studying.

July 21, 2010

Yesterday we had more Hindi, which is a little hard but I'm getting used to it. After that we had lunch and then we went to get cell phones, since it's required for us to have phones in case there in an emergency. Where we had lunch was the same place I ate before the last time I was in Delhi which was nice because the food is really good there. Getting the phones took a lot of time which was a bit frustrating. After that most of us went shopping to FabIndia which is a nice store. They have very nice shirts, skits, saris, salwars for men and women. FabIndia has stores all over India, they have three in Delhi. After that we went back to the residence. The residence is like a dorm. There is a common room where we eat and a basement where we can watch tv and they also have computers since some people didn't bring their laptops. We do not live with our host families until sunday evening. All, but four people are doing a home stay. After dinner we studied some more and went to bed. It also rained which was nice because it wasn't so hot though it did rain heavily. Also, the electricity went out about 5X during out Hindi class and twice when we were in the residence. Today, everyone went to the FRRO to get registered so the Indian government knows they are here. They get a card about the size of a passport with their picture and information. Since I don't need one because I have an OCI card (Overseas Citizen of India). So, they get to wait in like for about 4 hours to get the card, they might even have to wait longer. As of now, I did my laundry and about to study my Hindi. Today, we are just doing Hindi and I think tomorrow we register for classes, I hope!

July 19, 2010

My Hindi class began today! It went well. I think speaking it will be easy but writing it and reading it is going to take a little longer. Our teacher is very nice and patient. After three hours of Hindi starting at 8:30 am, we had lunch at the IES Center which is about 15-20mins on auto rickshaw. After lunch we had about 2 hrs of more orientation. We had some guy from the embassy talk about safety in India. The things he was saying were making me mad because he made it seem like Delhi is so dangerous and a bad place to be in, which it not true. Hamunchu (teacher and the person who lives in the IES residence with his wife) and I were talking about what the guy said about Delhi. After that we had a doctor come and talk to us about being safe. Then around 3:30 we went back to the IES residence to relax before our next activity. On the way to the residence I talked to the taxi driver in Hindi which made me happy. Around 4:30 we got into groups of 2 and Hamunchu had is find two things that we had to bring back. We walked around the city and for my group we were supposed to find a food stand menu and sit in restaurant menu. When we got back to the residence we showed the other groups where we got the menus and we marked it on the map. We also marked a gym, markets, pharmacy, shops, tailor and other places around the residence. For dinner there was lentils, some meat thing (I didn't eat it because I'm trying to not eat meat), rice, naan, and some vegetable thing that tasted like potatoes. After dinner some people went to bed, some went to see Inception with Hamunchu and his wife, and the rest of us studied Hindi together. Tomorrow, more Hindi, getting cell phones, and other stuff.

July 18, 2010 Orientation Day 1

We started orientation around 9:30 which included getting to know the fellow students, the people in charge, some of our professors. After about 2 hrs of that we go into groups of 2, there are 11 of us here so far, and each group had a tour guide. For each tour we went to a historical monument and then to a bazaar to shop and get lunch. On my tour me and Herald went to Gandhi Smriti, where Gandhiji spent the last 144 days of his life and where he was assassinated. It was a home which they turned it into a museum about Gandhji and India's independence. I enjoyed it a lot and as an Indian it was moving to be where he was. After that me, Herald and our tour guide took us to a bazaar, but to get there we took the metro! Which is only three years old, and for a Sunday it wasn't busy, but our tour guide said it gets busy on the week day. At the bazaar we looked around and ate delicious food. Finally, we went to the India Gate which is a memorial for the 90,000 Indian soldiers during World War I and the Afghan Wars. After dinner we relaxed because our Hindi classes start at 8:15am for three hours!

Delhi July 17,2010 arrival in Delhi Day 1

Hey everyone! After making it safely to Dehli, me and two other girls met our IES person and we went to the IES residence. This was around 10pm, our plane landed around 8:30 and it took us about 30-45 mins to get from the airport to the residence. Our residence is in a gated community and we have a park across the street where other communities share. A student who arrived a day early said he went for a walk in the park in the morning and saw people doing yoga. When we were settled in around 11pm on the day we arrived we decided to take a walk around the area since those of us that just arrived we were not tired. So we took a short walk and then went to bed.