the city has no water...
i don't know why, but this is true. perhaps because yesterday was friday the thirteenth and there is a full moon, who knows?
i just came back from gop's (pronounced like pope, dope, soap on a rope...), a little outdoor canteen on campus just down the road from the sip guesthouse where we are staying. they have the most amazing chai there- a small cup is 2 rupees and a large is 4 (an american dollar is somewhere between 45-50 Rs. so you do the math). to drink this yummy, warm chai- even on a hot day- from a beautiful little cup, sitting outside on a rock or a bench under a huge baobob (maybe) tree or the full moon (like tonight), surrounded by the buzz of laughter in a new language- this is one of the nicest things to do on campus. often after my poetry class we go for chai and chat with our professor for a while, or before class i will go and sit in the shade and read. i don't think i'll be able to live without tea when i return to the states, i may have to force a regular tea time upon whoever i happen to be with in the late afternoon or an hour after dinner...it's incredible how people cannot live without their tea here (it's not even native, though we tend to think it is-it was introduced by the colonial british) but i guess its just like coffee in the u.s. i think if i have one more cup of instant coffee i will be done with it for good.
i finished my oberlin semester yesterday by emailing my last paper to my professor, and consequently my shoulders felt incredibly light today. ciee made us do a scavenger hunt all over the city which no one was excited about, but it turned out to be quite fun. imagine six american girls crammed in the back of an auto rickshaw (an open sided three wheeler, room for three-comfortably), sitting on top of each other, falling out the sides...i literally felt like the thing was going to fall over a few times when we were on unpaved roads. after a few mishaps with other drivers, including running out of gas at one point, we wound up in a rickshaw with an amazing man who took us all over hitec city, hyderabad central, charminar, mehndipatnam, and so on to collect the items on our crazy list; for example: a used ticket stub to a hindi movie, photographs of various train stations and statues and the clock at charminar at the strike of one, a napkin from a subway (footlongs, jared, you know) a business card from a bangle shop, and so on.
it was the kite ceremony today which is apparently a celebration of the harvest, so there were people flying colorful little square kites from every rooftop- you could see them in every part of the city dipping and diving in through the sky like birdies.
i've finally had all my classes, though barely- this is the week when you "shop" for classes and people are still negotiating the meeting times of classes, etc. i have a core course with ciee on indian religion, beginning hindi, gay indian poetry, and a sociology class on the indian diaspora. i also think some of us are going to start bharatnatyam (dance) classes, and of course there is yoga. i am interested to see what it will be like to learn at a graduate university.
the problem with this city, as i have been told by a new friend, is that it goes to sleep so early. last night, after the club we were at closed at midnight (MIDNIGHT!) he took me and a friend for food at a small little shindig for which he is the landlord. they stayed open extra late just for us and made the most delicious food, packaged it all in shiny silver bags tied with rubber bands, and sent us on our way to a royal feast with the rest of the crew on the steps of this friend of a friend's ridiculously huge, posh, gorgeous house.
everyone here has finally caught up on my pencil neurosis- they say they can tell where i've been by the random pencils left behind. and now it's time for me to go to sleep-hopefully without waking up in the middle of the night to find milos (my cohabitant gray gecko, who has ignored me for the past week until last night) on my face, my FACE! i just don't get it, who hangs out on a face? whatever.
i don't know why, but this is true. perhaps because yesterday was friday the thirteenth and there is a full moon, who knows?
i just came back from gop's (pronounced like pope, dope, soap on a rope...), a little outdoor canteen on campus just down the road from the sip guesthouse where we are staying. they have the most amazing chai there- a small cup is 2 rupees and a large is 4 (an american dollar is somewhere between 45-50 Rs. so you do the math). to drink this yummy, warm chai- even on a hot day- from a beautiful little cup, sitting outside on a rock or a bench under a huge baobob (maybe) tree or the full moon (like tonight), surrounded by the buzz of laughter in a new language- this is one of the nicest things to do on campus. often after my poetry class we go for chai and chat with our professor for a while, or before class i will go and sit in the shade and read. i don't think i'll be able to live without tea when i return to the states, i may have to force a regular tea time upon whoever i happen to be with in the late afternoon or an hour after dinner...it's incredible how people cannot live without their tea here (it's not even native, though we tend to think it is-it was introduced by the colonial british) but i guess its just like coffee in the u.s. i think if i have one more cup of instant coffee i will be done with it for good.
i finished my oberlin semester yesterday by emailing my last paper to my professor, and consequently my shoulders felt incredibly light today. ciee made us do a scavenger hunt all over the city which no one was excited about, but it turned out to be quite fun. imagine six american girls crammed in the back of an auto rickshaw (an open sided three wheeler, room for three-comfortably), sitting on top of each other, falling out the sides...i literally felt like the thing was going to fall over a few times when we were on unpaved roads. after a few mishaps with other drivers, including running out of gas at one point, we wound up in a rickshaw with an amazing man who took us all over hitec city, hyderabad central, charminar, mehndipatnam, and so on to collect the items on our crazy list; for example: a used ticket stub to a hindi movie, photographs of various train stations and statues and the clock at charminar at the strike of one, a napkin from a subway (footlongs, jared, you know) a business card from a bangle shop, and so on.
it was the kite ceremony today which is apparently a celebration of the harvest, so there were people flying colorful little square kites from every rooftop- you could see them in every part of the city dipping and diving in through the sky like birdies.
i've finally had all my classes, though barely- this is the week when you "shop" for classes and people are still negotiating the meeting times of classes, etc. i have a core course with ciee on indian religion, beginning hindi, gay indian poetry, and a sociology class on the indian diaspora. i also think some of us are going to start bharatnatyam (dance) classes, and of course there is yoga. i am interested to see what it will be like to learn at a graduate university.
the problem with this city, as i have been told by a new friend, is that it goes to sleep so early. last night, after the club we were at closed at midnight (MIDNIGHT!) he took me and a friend for food at a small little shindig for which he is the landlord. they stayed open extra late just for us and made the most delicious food, packaged it all in shiny silver bags tied with rubber bands, and sent us on our way to a royal feast with the rest of the crew on the steps of this friend of a friend's ridiculously huge, posh, gorgeous house.
everyone here has finally caught up on my pencil neurosis- they say they can tell where i've been by the random pencils left behind. and now it's time for me to go to sleep-hopefully without waking up in the middle of the night to find milos (my cohabitant gray gecko, who has ignored me for the past week until last night) on my face, my FACE! i just don't get it, who hangs out on a face? whatever.
posted by beeke at 10:15 AM
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