There are no lines.

Check out this youtube video. It describes some typical culture shock things that I've been going through since I've been here. It's even funnier to watch after living here because it's so true!

Enjoy!

C

Welcome to the wonderful world of Cricket

So when my friend invited me to a cricket game, I was like, "Yeah this will be a cool cultural experience. I know nothing about cricket, but when in Rome..." Little did I know that we had tickets to the Indian League Premier Cricket season kickoff complete with a live band, fireworks, a laser show, dancers on stilts, skydancers, techno dance music, Shah Rukh Khan (that's right all you Bollywood fans, I was in the same stadium as Shah Rukh Khan), AND...cheerleaders?...from America?? The Washington Redskins' cheerleaders were present for the festivities and cheered during the game. For all you who have no clue about cricket games, cheerleaders ARE NOT a normal part of the game. It was kind of scandalous, actually and the cheerleaders weren't really that good! I didn't really know what to think. My world's were colliding big time! Part of the experience felt like I was back in the States at the SuperBowl (but I think this show was probably better than any Super Bowl halftime show I've seen on TV). Then I looked around and realized I was surrounded by cricket fans and I had no idea what cricket was all about at all. By the end of the game, I pretty much figured out how the game works. Bangalore lost to Kolkata, but it was still an amazing experience! Check out my flickr account for more pictures.

-C

Post Office

Every week I do one brief writeup of some cultural experience I had during the week. This was one I wrote up a month or so ago. I hope it helps you to better understand what life is like here and I think you'll get some laughs out of it, too. Enjoy!


Physical Location
Inside the post office. The whole post office was located in one large room. When I first walked into the post office I saw a long counter with around 10 people standing on one side of the counter waiting for assistance. They weren't standing in a line, but were all standing up against the counter. On the other side of the counter there were four people waiting on the people on the other side of the counter. In the back, there were five or six people sorting mail or running mail from the front counter to the back of the room to be sorted. There was a small storage room in the back that looked like it stored mailing envelopes and supplies.

Participants
The people behind the counter are waiting on the customers on the other side of the counter. There is one leader waiting on people behind the counter. There are runners who are taking the mail from the counter to the back to be sorted. There are people in the back sorting the mail.

Goals
My goal was to mail a package to another [location in my city]. This was my second attempt at mailing something from this post office. I had visited the p.o. the previous day, but the man told me they were closed. I went in expecting that it would be crowded without lines and it would be more of a "free-for-all". I'm glad that it wasn't more crowded because I think it might have been more confusing. At first, I guess I tried to form my own line. I was the only person forming a second row behind the people standing at the counter waiting for service. I quickly realized that I would need to push my way into a spot at the counter to be waited on. I did this, but I didn't say anything because I was waiting for them to get done with the other people they were waiting on first. Then I realized I had to get pushy and interrupt for them to wait on me. One p.o. worker kept staring at me and even asked me what I needed, but wouldn't help me (maybe she couldn't understand me?). A man finally waited on me and then gave my package to the lady who didn't want to help me earlier. She told me how many rupees the package would be, I paid her and she gave me three stamps. I started to walk away from the counter and realized I had no idea what to do with the package once I affixed the stamps, so I asked a young girl who was waiting for service at the counter. It took awhile fo her to understand what I was asking, but she finally told me I simply needed to glue the stamps and hand it back to the p.o. workers. I glued the stamps and then forgot that I needed to be pushy to get service again, but the young girl who had helped me intervened on my behalf and got the p.o. worker's attention. I handed my package over, thanked the young girl and left.

Feelings
I was a little confused at first, but overall I felt confident and went into the event prepared for anything. I'm glad I was able to locate the p.o. and get help from the young girl. I got a little frustrated at myself for being too timid. I was reminded that I need to be pushy and more assertive to get things done here - that's a struggle for me, but I'm still working at it!

Questions/Activities for future exploration
How can I be assertive and "pushy" without coming off as a rude Westerner?

Save Tibet.

Took these snaps this weekend while I was in the city. I've heard mixed opinions on the situation in Tibet from the States. Last week I read that Clinton and Obama were protesting the Olympics (can anyone verify this information?).

What are you thoughts on the situation in Tibet?

In the News.

Identity.

Recently, I've been suffering from an identity crisis, well ever since I started living in South Asia, actually. This past week I traveled to another city and attended a meeting with several people from all over the country. Most attendees were nationals, a few were expats, like myself. During the meeting I was asked to give a short presentation introducing myself and my work in South Asia. I literally had to stop and ask myself, "Who am I to this group of people?". I'm certainly not the girl who once drove down country roads, windows down, music blaring, singing her lungs out. I no longer don a heavy winter coat and scarf and pray for sunshine 9 months out of the year (but I do miss you, RIT!). So who I am? These are some immediate (and slightly ridiculous) thoughts that came to mind:

Main American say hun. (I am from America.) <---this is a really important phrase to know here. I probably get asked where I'm from 15+ times a week. Some of my friends who have been here longer have grown tired of that question, so they've started speaking in British accents when they're in the city. No one asks them where they're from anymore. Sometimes I daydream about making up some weird accent or telling people I'm from Nigeria or Nova Scotia just to see their reaction, but I never go through with it.

Main Urdu/Hindi seekrahi hun. (I'm learning Urdu/Hindi.)

*Ok, English from here on out because that's about all I know and it's not as fun when you're reading it in Roman script.

I am a woman in a man's world. In a room of one-hundred Indian men, I am the only woman.

I often speak in broken English with an Indian accent.

I am slowly going deaf from all the noise here. I'm glad I know sign language because I may need it when I return home.

I am a student.

I am a follower of Isa Masih.

I am a daughter.

I am blessed and sometimes can't believe that I was born in America. How do I have it so good? Sometimes I don't understand why it wasn't me that was born on the streets here.

I am "Madaam".

I am sometimes mistaken for an Israeli or Iranian (?!).

I am not supposed to go anywhere alone after 8pm.

I am an artist.

I eat non-veg.

I feel that I have lost some of my independence.

I drink the water (haha).

I wear more "dresses" than I ever have in my life.

I bobble my head and grunt "huh" to indicate "yes".

I am a Northerner. I am a Midwesterner.

I am now a "Southerner" of this land.

I eat ketchup on everything (because that's what you do in S. Asia).

I buy food at the store only to find out it's not what I thought I was buying at all. (The first week I lived here I bought what I thought was spaghetti noodles and even cooked them for dinner. I later found out that you're supposed to fry them in oil and have then as a snack. It wasn't spaghetti at all!).

I'm developing A.D.D.

I take my shoes off outside the door.

I am an introvert learning to be an aggressive extrovert (when necessary).

I enjoy listening to Bollywood music.

I will never understand cricket.

Sometimes I eat dinner at 10:30pm.

I'm late to everything, which is actually on time here.

I have dreams about Wal-Mart and laying in fields of green grass.

The end.

The Twins finally have their party

So, for some reason the Twins that live downstairs didn't have their big birthday bash until today, but it was worth the wait! You'd think someone was getting married or something. Family members from out of town were there as well as almost every family that lives on our street. It was interesting seeing people in our neighborhood at a semi-formal function. I got excited when I started recognizing people. "Hey, that's the kid that rides his bike with training wheels that are bent up off the ground and don't even function!" "Hey, that's the family that owns the German shepherd!" Can you tell that I'm easily amused?

These are some pics of the lunch we had.

This is in the family's garage/ice business. They set up three rows of tables and people ate food in shifts. That thing that the guy is holding up is a banana leaf which they served the food on. Before they serve the food, you cover the leaf with water (I guess this makes it easier to grab the food?).


Here's a picture I took of the food after they served it, actually this was in the beginning of the meal, so this is a fraction of the food they served us. Sorry it's not a better pic. I took this after I had already started eating (with my right hand, mind you) and I'm really bad at taking pictures with my left hand only. The food made my nose run like crazy, but was sooo good. I love the food, but it's really hard to finish everything they serve you because it's such a large quantity of rice, bread and side dishes. My roommate and I were the last people that finished our food. The Indians probably finished 10 minutes before we did. Imagine this room with these tables, everyone has cleared out, and there in the back are two white girls sweating with runny noses furiously trying to finish their rice. Yeah, that was us.

After the lunch, we went into the family's flat to visit with all the relatives and wish the twins a happy birthday, or happy "burday" as they say here. I ended up chatting with a girl my age who lives and works in our city. She trains tech support employees how to answer calls and how to perfect their accent and grammar (all the calls they get are from people in US). So, if you end up calling Apple, CitiBank or probably any credit card/computer company really for tech support or troubleshooting, you may end up talking to this girl!

Have a great weekend everyone!

-C