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