In a Word...

If I was to describe India in one word right now, I think it would be this one: enthusiastic. Every festival, sport, or just any activity I've seen here is done with so much more enthusiasm than in the U.S. (as long as its after 10:00AM - not much happens here before that time).

Over the weekend I saw a bit of the Navratri festival that recently ended. Navratri is nine day celebration of the goddess Durga and her victory over evil in a battle that lasted nine nights. That's about all the Hindu mythology I'm going to get into right now, but there's more to that story. So, for nine nights there is dancing that happens all over the city. They perform this type of dance called dandiya, where everyone has two sticks and hits them against other people's sticks to symbolize her battle. I may have hit someone in the face with one of my sticks on accident. Whoops! What impressed me the most about this festival was how excited everyone was about doing this dance. For hours people do this dance hitting sticks together, all while dressed in gorgeous saris and sweating up a storm. Even the guys get really into it, and have no fear of looking ridiculous. Some people do this every night, for nine whole nights. That's a lot of dedication.

I also went to a cricket match over the weekend! India was playing against Australia, and it was quite a long match. Since this game was 50 overs instead of 20 (you'll have to look up the rules of cricket...I'm not going to be able to explain it very well since I learned about four days ago), the game lasted for 7 and a half hours. I left early, but most people stayed for THE ENTIRE GAME. It was actually a really fun sport to watch, but 7 and a half hours is a really long time to be doing anything. And cricket fans in India are the most excited fans I've ever seen. Sorry SEC football, Indian cricket may have your enthusiasm beat. They cheer for anything and everything that happens in the game;  even when the other team did something well they cheered. That's some impressive sportsmanship. Australia won the match, despite my best cheering for India. I had several people ask me if I was cheering for Australia - assuming my whiteness meant I was an Aussie - but since I've been living here for almost two months now I'm definitely much more tied to India!

Anyway, here are some pictures from the festival and from the cricket match:

 

 It kind of looks like everyone is just waving sticks in the air in this picture, but its a bit more organized than that. 

                                        Check out the hill in the background of the stadium.

Speaking of Australia, the volunteer house I'm in has recently become so much more fun with the addition of two Australian volunteers, Eve and Kim, along with four French ladies, and and a British lady as well. Its a very full house! The three of us have several upcoming trips planned, so I'm really excited to see some more of India with my Aussie buddies.

That's it for now. Namaste!

Conversations & Observations

This is the strangest and most entertaining conversation I've had in India so far. This occurred at the mini-mart next to office, while purchasing my afternoon Thums-Up soda (not a typo - there's just no b).

Cashier: "Which country are you from?"

      Me: "I'm from the USA"

Cashier: "Oh.....you know about Monica Lewinsky?"

      Me: "Uh, yeah, I know about her."

Cashier: "Yeah, she is BEAUTIFUL."

My first thought was, this is the last thing I expect someone to think of first when hearing "USA." My second thought was, who's first thought about Monica Lewinsky is "BEAUTIFUL!"? No joke, he said this with the utmost seriousness.

Cashier: "She had the affair with Bush, right?"

      Me: "Nope, that was Bill Clinton. And that was about fifteen years ago."

Cashier: "Oh really? That long ago? And I thought it was Bush."

This is my diplomatic accomplishment - preserving the good name of George W. Bush. Who, as it turns out, many Indians seem to admire anyway. Fun fact. 

Here's another conversation I've had many times over with the kids at school and at the orphanage, and it always goes in this order.

Kid: "What's you name?"

Me: "Elizabeth"

Kid: "How old are you?"

Me: "23"

Kid: "Are you married?"

Well, the answer to that is no. The first time I was asked this my reaction was more of a "Haha are you kidding, nooooo!" Since then I've gotten more used to the fact that I could very easily have been married for several years now if I had grown up here, and maybe even delivered a child or two, so its definitely not a strange question to ask.

I don't have too much more to update on right now. I think I'm (slowly) getting more settled and used to life here. I love going out to school on Fridays and working with the kids there. Its by far the best day of my week.

Last week I went to this great hill in Pune called Parvati Hill, which has five temples around the hill, along with the Peshwa Museum. The museum holds artifacts from the Maratha Empire of 1675 -1818, whose leaders were called Peshwas. Some brief Indian history for you! Funny story from our trip to that museum. I've seen plenty of people peeing on the side of the road in India at this point, but until going to this museum I hadn't seen anyone taking a public indoor leak. Some little girl decided she was going to make the floor her toilet, and her parents seemed to have no concern whatsoever about it. They just let it happen, and walked away, leaving a little pee pond for visitors to step around. Hygiene is much less of a concern here.

Here are some pictures from that excursion, and from school.

 That's all for now!