Jaipur Update

Well, we have been in Jaipur a little over two weeks now. I think by all accounts the Hindi lessons are going well, though the academic speakers have been a little lackluster. Ian left on Friday for Delhi to pick up the Syracuse students who will be in the Rajasthan travel seminar. Though there was little bit of miscommunication about arrival times and such, they successfully left for the rural district of Nawalgarh on Monday morning. They will arriving in Jaipur on Wednesday, and I will be joining them for field trips and such. We have split up so that I can stay with the consortium program as long as possible. But I will go with them to Bharatpur and Agra when they go next week. Ian and I are going to discuss our research, and show them our fieldsite(s).

While Ian went to Delhi, I traveled with the other students to Tilonia, Raj. to the Social Work Research Center (a.k.a. The Barefoot College). It is an organization working with rural development particularly drinking water, solar energy, and health education. The accomodations were a little rough, but I think overall the students enjoyed visiting villages and speaking with school children.

I wish I was enjoying the fall festivities back at home. I could really go for some pumpkin pie! Hope all is well with everyone! Drop us a line when you can....

Over a month!!!

I can't believe that it has been over a month since I last posted something. I guess I have been busier than I thought. Ian and I have had a lot going on...

After leaving Mussoorie, the group spent a week in Delhi with some weekend field trips. Unfortunately, illness made the week much less than fun. First, Ian missed the trip to Amritsar because four of our students were ill. Then Ian came down with some unknown virus and had a 103+ fever for more than a week. And if that wasn't bad enough I got sick at the end of the week when we went to Agra to see the Taj. I was well enough to catch (actually, almost miss) the train to Rajkot, Gujarat but Ian decided that he was too ill to travel and stayed for an extra week in Delhi. This did not make Lisa at all happy but I think Ian made the right decision.

After we arrived in Babapur (Lisa's uncle's village), I was still sick so I spent most of the week in bed. The students seemed to have fun, and decided that rural Gujarat is the "real India" (I guess Mussoorie got bumped from the list :) ). After spending five days in Babapur, we travelled to Amhedabad, a large, post-industrial city in Gujarat. It was there that Ian joined us (though that is another long story that we will share with everyone later). It was good to have him back, and it made me wonder how I am going to spend months without him in Karauli! We spent two days in Amhedabad going to the Calico textile museum, going to Gandhi's ashram and the university he founded.

Following our stay there, we had a four day break during which the students had time to travel on their own, mostly in small cities in Rajasthan. Ian and I took the opportunity to visit Vikas' family in Jaipur.

The four days went very quickly, and on Saturday October 24th we moved into a large rented house which we are sharing with Lisa, her husband, and two children. I'm glad it is a large house; it makes sharing the space a little bit more manageable.

All the students arrived safely in Jaipur and moved into their home stays without incident. Last week was their first week of classes and so far so good, though I think that the change in the format of the Hindi instruction has been challenging for them.

I must admit that I am getting a bit homesick. I miss having the ability to cook my own food, eat as much of it as I want, drive myself around, etc, etc. And most of all I miss the schedule that Ian and I used to keep in Syracuse. We are counting the days until the program is done, because at least when we move to Bharatpur we will be the keepers of our time. If I have any critique of the study abroad program is that we try to do too much and I think it really doesn't help the students at all. But that's just my two cents...

I hope all is going well back in the States! Drop us a line; we really do enjoy hearing from people. :)

Hindi Exam and Last Day in Mussoorie

Well, the students are busy taking their final Hindi exam. In the last few days, Ian and I have fielded many panicked questions about vocabulary and grammar. I never thought that I would be teaching people Hindi grammar...Cassidy knows how truly ironic that is. But I think the students will end up doing fine as long as they keep their wits about them.

Tomorrow we head back to Delhi...That means that Ian and I have to pack up the room in which we have stayed for five weeks. It doesn't sound like a long time but we have certainly made ourselves at home. I also want to try to take some pictures of the guest house and what-not that I have been putting off. Mussoorie is a very pretty place; it is just difficult to get a picture of it before the fog moves in. :)

Ian and I will probably be offline until October 10th or so. We have gotten letter writing materials so we will try communicating the "old-fashioned" way. :) When we get to Jaipur I think we will have more regular access to email.

One week left in Mussoorie

Well, we have one week left in the hill station town of Mussoorie. It is amazing how quickly time has passed. The students' Hindi final is on Thursday and they are busy writing a five page paper on the academic material we have covered thus far. In other words, they are miserable. And I must admit, it is no fun for Ian, Lisa and I either. But I think we will prevail as long as the students are able to keep things in perspective.

Ian and I randomly ran into Mather George, a friend of Ian's from the AIIS Language Program, in Mussoorie (some of you met her at our wedding...) She was in the area doing some of her dissertation research, and we have spent several days together. It has been nice to catch up and hang out with a non-program person.

Besides that, not much has been going on. We have to pack up and get ready to head to Delhi. We won't be there very long, and will take side trips to Amritsar Panjab to see the Golden Temple and to Agra to see the Taj and Fatehpur Sikri. After that we are onto points west...10 days in Gujarat and then 1 month in Jaipur. Both Ian and I are looking forward to that part of the trip.

Hope all is going well with you all back home. Keep in touch!

Update...

We are still in Musoorie, and will be for two more weeks. Though it is not a bad place, I am looking forward to heading to Jaipur. I have to hike up a moutain to get anywhere here, and since it is so small I sometimes feel a little trapped.

Not last weekend, but the weekend before we traveled to Vananda Shiva's organic farm outside of Dehra Dun. It was nice to be in the plains again--warm, sunny and flat! It was also interesting to hear about their operation there. They are interested in recovering indigenous/non-hyridized crops and they have a seed cooperative through which farmers can cheaply obtain seeds. I am still a little sceptical about how applicable it might be on a national scale but it was still an interesting trip.

Last week was a little rough for me, since I felt like I didn't really have a place here. All the students were going to either Ian and Lisa, making me feel like sort of a third wheel, but I got over it and things have been better so far this week.
For once, I can say that my Hindi is improving and even Ian has said that I am doing better about talking in Hindi with people. Yea!!!

Last night was Krishna's birthday so we went to two Hindu temples. With twenty white people showing up, we no doubt became the center of attention. At the first temple, they assumed that we were from ISKON (i.e. Hari Krishnas) and at the second temple we were closely observed by all the young women in attendence since some of the women in our program actually wore saris to the function.

This weekend we are traveling to the headwaters of the Yamuna river (Yamunotri). Though it should be an interesting trip, I am not looking forward to six hours in a car, followed by a 4-5 mile hike.

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I forgot my cable at home. I am going to try to figure out someway to get pictures off the camera so I can pass them on...Hope all is well with everyone. Please send me news when you can!

Mussoorie

Hi everyone! Sorry it has taken so long to send an update. The time in Delhi was more hectic than I thought it would be, especially since the trip to Jaipur took five days instead of one. I encountered Indian bureaucracy in its finest form, as I was told that I didn't have the paperwork I needed which was really just a ploy to run me around Jaipur like a chicken with its head cut off. But Ian and I got a chance to be alone together in Jaipur and visit our favorite places while we waited. It was actually quite nice.
All of our students except for one arrived without major problem. The one student who couldn't leave is actually a Bangladeshi citizen and it has taken longer than expected to get her visa.

Most of the students are pretty good though I wonder sometimes why they chose to come to India. They are all very suspicious of the bucket shower (not to mention not using toilet paper) and still haven't quite figured out the whole eating with your fingers thing. I think most of them are looking for the most exotic thing...and they pretty much found it when we arrived in Mussoorie. I've never experienced as much hyperbole as I did in the first hour of being in Mussoorie. "It is the best place I've ever been" "This is REAL India" "Nothing can compare with this." We'll see how long it lasts. :)

Ian and I are doing well other wise. I start Hindi lessons tomorrow and Ian is looking forward to getting some work done himself.

Take care and I'll write soon....

First Days in India

Ian and I arrived safely on Thursday night/Friday morning Delhi time. The flights were okay, besides an unexpected (for us) stop in London. It seems as if our flight was NOT a direct one, and we spent two hours standing in a cue at London Heathrow. Our adventures did not end there as we didn't have a car to pick us up when we reached Delhi. It seems as if there was a miscommunication about the day we were coming in and our boss thought were going to arrive on Friday evening. Ian and I kept our wits about us though and took a taxi to the AIIS guesthouse. It actually worked out very well...we ran into Ann Gold, professor of Religion and Anthropology at SU and got to chat with her for a little while. I also learned that I have to travel to Jaipur in the next 14 days to register with the police. It seems that you have to register where your institution of affiliation is which, for me, is at the University of Rajasthan. So Ian and I are going to take a quick trip down there tomorrow (Sunday) and take care of it on Monday.

We eventually got a hold of Lisa and shifted to the hotel that we are going to be staying while we are in Delhi. It is really nice; it is by far the nicest hotel I have stayed at in India and rivals those I have stayed at in the U.S. I guess they don't want to shock the students too much when they first arrive. :)

I think I am going to do some shopping for some new clothes today as well as take in the sites of Delhi. This is the first time I have been able to spend time here. I also want to know my way around a little bit before the students arrive. I think Ian is going to have a little down time doing his own thing. I think the fact that we have been stuck together for days now is starting to be a little too much; understandably so. That's a lot of together time. :)

I will let everyone know how are trip to Jaipur is in the next couple of days...