Lunches from Mommy-ji

We made it into the city's newspaper!

So much can happen in a matter of days. I knew I’d regret not blogging sooner, but there just isn’t enough time in the day! We are completing our first week of class and everyone is settled into their homes. Here is a typical day for me: 

• 7:15am wake up
• 8:30am catch an auto to school
• 9-10:45am Health Class
• 11:15am- 1pm Development Class
• 1-2pm Lunch
•  2-3pm Hindi Class or sometimes meetings
• After the official day is finished some of us hang out at school, or go to places in town
• Home by 7pm, do some homework, and hang out with my family
• 9:30-10pm dinner (much much later than anything I’m use to)



It's always cartwheel time in my mind

• Sleep and repeat

We get around the city in autos. A motorcycle with a carriage-type of attachment is the best way I can think to describe them. I’m finally starting to feel more comfortable taking them to get around and I even took a public one for the first time today! It makes me feel like I actually live here in Udaipur when I take public transportation to my actual house, not a hotel. I may be a foreigner to the community, but I feel far from a tourist.

Sight seeing

This week we’ve been taking survival Hindi classes in the afternoon. As much as I would love to learn the language and be at least somewhat conversational, I think my brain is suffering from language overload! I already mix up Spanish and Italian, but now Hindi too?! Somehow I’ve managed to only remember random words and bits and pieces of phrases, but I’m not giving up. My goal is to be “shopping fluent”, aka I want to be able to effectively bargain! I absolutely cannot wait to go shopping. India is so full of beautiful colors; I love all the outfits the women here wear. I need a nice Sari to take back to the States with  me!

My room

My host family and I are really comfortable with each other now. I think we’ve passed the awkward phase, thank God. They insist that I have all the privileges of their children and should not be afraid to ask for anything. My host siblings call my host mom “mommy-ji” ß (That’s the best way I can think to spell it), so she has me call her that as well! It’s really cute. She is an incredibly hard working woman. She has a big room in the house with a separate outside door that is her beauty parlor. It’s called Raj’s Parlor. I don’t usually get to see her work because I’m at school, but on Sunday while I was home I saw women going in and out of the parlor. Not only does she run her parlor, but she also does virtually everything in the house! Mommy-ji is a real “mom machine”. She cooks 3 fresh meals a day for her 3 kids +me and her husband EVERY SINGLE DAY. She also washes dishes, cleans the house, does the laundry, and keeps everyone on the straight and narrow. When she sits down to rest it’s never for too long. Women like her are what they call super moms! Somehow, in the midst of all her work she finds time to check on me and make sure everything is okay. I’m not sure I’ve met anyone more accommodating. It’s like every time I sit down at the table and get my plate, she holds her breath until I give my approval of the taste. All of her food has been delicious; I’m just still trying to handle the general spiciness of Indian food. She even packs my lunch every day when I go to school. It’s like a surprise every time I open my lunch bag.

Our lunches from mom!

As a side note, I washed my hair (in a bucket) and wore it big and curly this week…As if I didn’t get a ton of stares before haha. I guess I’m a little surprised at how much I stick out in India. I didn’t think I would totally blend in, but at the same time I didn’t think I would be a totally surprising sight. I was expecting to get more stares in China (which I probably still will).

After class today some of us went to the new mall across town because they just opened up at KFC and Pizza Hut! It’s really hard to keep American kids from our comfort food haha. There is also a McDonalds at one of the other malls. The other day we went to a place called “American Diner”. They had pictures of famous Americans on the walls and the whole place was painted red, white, and blue. Only problem…there was no meat on the menu! We were all quite puzzled how it could call itself American, but have no meat (even the burgers and hot dogs were veggie). Nevertheless, I enjoyed my Coke float and it did make me feel a little at home.

Weddings are the big talk of our group. Even in the States I’ve heard people say that you must attend at least one traditional Indian wedding sometime in your life. A couple people have gotten invitations; apparently this is “wedding season.” I brought it up to mommy-gi and we (my host family but they’ll bring me) got an invitation today!! I am beyond excited. Weddings are huge festivals in India (this is actually an issue we’ve addressed in my development class because many people go into debt afterwards). As I type this I am listening to a wedding a street down from me. The music is so loud and there are a ton of people. The groom paraded through the street on a beautiful horse and people were dancing all around him. There were fireworks, lights, music, the whole shebang. My host brother said it will probably last until 1am…they sure do know how to celebrate.

This program is no vacation study abroad. Because we only take 2 classes at a time in each country, all of the work is scrunched into 15 classes. We have a substantial amount of readings every night. This part of 

Duke is definitely still with me, but I loving it (the experience, not the work).

The group

We’ve only been here for a week and a half, but I’m already wondering why I didn’t study abroad earlier! We have a great group of students and the people from Chitra (the consulting group here which helps put this program together) are absolutely incredible. This is such an amazing opportunity and I’m having the time of my life. Honestly, I don’t even want to think about going back to Duke.

Eyes getting heavy
Until Next Time,
*Nicole