School is School

The Slums Near Our Building

So anywhere you go, I have discovered, school is school. Long hours, writing essays, listening to lectures, the whole shebang. In light of that, I haven't really been up to anything much besides going to school, so i guess I will just recant what I have written in my journal from school and what we have learned and such.


So, first thing, we had a cooking class, actually two. Now, we thought this class was going to be interactive, as in we could be cooking so we can actually learn, however, it was a bit different than that.  What happened was we went in for class, got the menu we would be "making" and then proceeded to the kitchen. A woman, who we dubbed as "Mama Poppins" (because she is magical like Mary Poppins) came in and along with our Resident Director, began to

show us around. They got out all the ingredients that we would need and then began the prep. We all just kind of stood there watching, asking questions, taking the occasional note, and wondering when they were going to ask us what we could do. Well, apparently we were going to do nothing so we basically just watched them make the entire meal. I mean, it wasn't a waste of time and we did learn a lot, it just wasn't as hands on as we had hoped. Both weekends though we got delicious food! And the second weekend we did get to be a bit more hands on, stirring the curry and making the puris and what not.

Besides just learning how to make the food, well, sort of, we also learned a bit about how the food is identified. To us it basically all just looks like mush (aka curry) and bread (naan, puri, etc.) and rice, but apparently you can tell what is in the food by what color it is. There are five different colors to curries: red, yellow, white, brown, and green. If the curry is red then it is made with tomatoes, if i is yellow it is made with turmeric, white is with cashews, brown is with onions, and green is with spinach. All of these are delicious and not gonna lie, kind of taste the same to me.

My Name in Kannada in the Middle

So as for actual school, we have basically been learning the exact same things in all of our classes. No joke. None of our professors talk with one another about their lesson plans so they all teach about the caste system. Don't get me wrong, it is really interesting, but when you have four, two hour classes twice a week just about the caste system it gets a little redundant. Also, we watched the same exact documentary in two different classes within a 24 hour period. It was interesting, but twice in two days? Not really necessary.


Kannada class (Kannada is the local language) is fun, yet impossible. The language is literally like nothing I've ever heard before, which makes it super hard to learn. Hindi is the same way. They both just sound like gibberish to me and I have no idea how I am going to make it through until exam time. Alright, I'll give you some examples, written so you all can read it. Alright.

In Kannada:

Ninna hesaru yenu? - What is your name?
Coffee illa - No coffee
Nanage coffee iesta - I like coffee
Nanage coffee iesta illa - I don't like coffee
Nanage coffee beku - I want coffee
Nanage coffee beda - I don't want coffee
Yenu nanage beda - I don't want anything
dhanyavada galu- Thank you
dayavittu - Please
Yeshtu dura - How much

Everything here is about coffee.

But yes, you see? like nothing I've ever seen before. Granted, it is only a one credit class and it does end early, but still, so hard. And it is too funny, our Kannada professor basically just writes a word on the board and then repeats it like 200 times in a row, hoping it will stick. I mean, I guess some things do because looking back on my notes I remember which ones he kept repeating because I was laughing in class because he just kept going and going and going. Hopefully I'll pick some up, though, so I can do some serious bargaining when it comes to shopping.


We have been learning a ton about Indian philosophy and religion, but mostly the philosophy. It is intriguing, but most of the time my mind is blown by the complexity of what we are talking about; it is a very hard subject to grasp. We have learned so much, a lot of vocab, and many concepts. I will just highlight the most interesting points to me, the rest you can Wikipedia or search on your own, I would be here all day if I reviewed everything we have learned so far. Brahman is the oneness of the universe and Atman is the energy within us. Now, they are both the same. This might not make sense so here is an example that might make it easier: Both Brahman and Atman are like a mirror. Through time, the reflections in the mirror change, but the actual mirror stays the same. The mirror represents the "essence" or "oneness" of the universe. The truth runs through every form but it is still the truth. Another example that might work if the mirror one didn't is: Venus is called both the Morning Star and the Evening Star. You can see it in the evening and in the morning, and it looks different each time you see it in different light. However, no matter when you see it or what it looks like, it is always just Venus and it never actually changes, it is just your perspective.


Another fun fact I learned in school is the reason idols here and 4 hands and arms is because it represents how he has more power to create. You will never find an idol with four legs, though, because that would be too animal-like.


In all movies where there is smoking there is a disclaimer that smoking is bad for you.


Here "pickles" aren't what we know pickles as. They refer to the hundreds of things that can be pickled. So anything from mangoes to lemons to carrots, literally anything. And they are all called pickles.


Alright, let's see what else. I have completely gotten sick of the mob I have to push through to get food at lunch time. I just want to be able to walk up, stand in line, get my food and go eat without being trampled or pushed aside. The food is still as good as ever though, so that's a plus.


Oh yeah, and we are famous, already made it in one newspaper!!


We went to Nandi Hills last weekend and it was beautiful! For those who saw some of the pictures on FaceBook, that just gives you a hint of what it was actually like. We left our apartment at 3am and drove for an hour and a half, stopping frequently in THE sketchiest places possible for some reason. When we finally got there it was an interesting scene. It was only 4:30am, but people here party all night, and for days on end. Apparently Nandi Hills is a popular place for people to go get drunk, so when we got there there were tons of people hanging out, with their car radios blaring, drinking and partying. Since it was 4:30am I elected to stay in the bus and sleep, but a few others ventured out. The gates opened at 6am sharp and we raced to the top, getting out of the bus at the ticket counter and continuing on foot to the top. Sandy and I got separated so we just went exploring on our own. We were the only two to see the sunrise, and it did not disappoint!! We met up with Katie and Roxanne and continued our explorations into the forest. We climbed walls, trekked through the brush, and eventually came out by an ancient pool type thing. It was massive and beautiful. All in all it was a solid reason to get up at 3am. We slept for the rest of the day when we got home.

We have made great progress of the conference that Melissa and I are in charge of. We had our final (maybe) meeting yesterday and everyone ran through what they are going to say. This shindig is basically a conference slash debate slash discussion about the economies and social problems that face countries around the world, how their relationship is with India, and what their ideas are to reform or fix their country's issues. Right now we have seven countries represented. It is supposed to be tomorrow, but it might get postponed until November if we can't get the head of the department's signature. I am hoping it does get postponed because then we can get more countries to participate.


Other than that it has pretty much just been us getting into the groove of things. Today there is a city-wide strike because of the rise in fuel prices, so literally the entire city is shut down. So far it has been peaceful, but I'm not really looking to leave my apartment in case that changes. It is so strange, literally EVERYTHING has shut down. There are no busses, no rickshaws, no restaurants, side of the road stand, no one is really driving, not even the gas stations are selling fuel. It's crazy!

Trying for Some Good Ju Ju for the GREs

So the riots that I'm sure some of you have been hearing about have made their way into India. We got the evacuation notice from the Embassy for Northern India, but luckily we are in the south. There have only been a couple riots in the south, and, knock on wood, none have been in my city so far. We all just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope they don't come here!!


Anyways, I should get to my homework, or at least back to my essays for grad school. I have officially started to freak out about that, I am taking the GREs on October 6th! AHH! Alright, well this weekend should be fun, I am going to Coorg and am FINALLY going to ride an elephant!!! AHHHHHH YESSSS!!! So That sound be an excellent blog post :) Hoping everything is just as calm, peaceful, and safe at home as it was when I left, I'm gonna need a lot of that when I get home!!

Today, my life is just Shelby.