I’m not feeling 100% today, so I figure I might take a minute to write in my blog. One of the other students, Stefanie, is a serious inspiration to me because she’s taken on the challenge of writing her blog every day which is no easy task. It’s really interesting if you wanna check it out: http://off-to-byu.blogspot.
Some stomach-unhappiness has been going around so I woke up at three in the morning and was unable to sleep for a while. It’s kindof funny when I think about it now—because I kept rolling different ways to try and decrease the pain—though I’m not sure now why I was thinking that would help?—maybe it’s because sometimes we roll around after Thanksgiving meals or something. But it definitely doesn’t do anything for this kind of stomach pain…
When I told Dad last night I wasn’t feeling to well he said, “Don’t you have a stomach of steel?” Yes. I usually do! This doesn’t happen very often. But I’m now able to put my Pepto-Bismal tablets to good use since I finally read the two sentences of directions on the back…
Which reminds me I’m going to try and learn all the names of the foods. I’ve been collecting pictures, I’m going to have Sailu help me name them all some day soon. Too much effort for right now… I don’t really want to think about food… I’m just drinking water today I think. Maybe I’ll get some crackers.
I’ve been learning some pretty interesting things by talking to people. Sudha, who has been my main translator, is especially interesting to talk to. There’s good reason that the other students have named her “Sudha, the queen,” because she’s practically perfect in every way.
But she definitely thinks differently than I do. I’m actually really surprised by how differently people seem to think here. Sudha, who is the definition of hard-worker, asked me what the main differences I noticed between the States and India.
That’s a good question.
I just said some good things about India, I can’t remember what I said. But she said, “I think the people there work very hard, harder than here. That is what I was thinking.”
Yeah… I don’t know. Because there are people like Sudha, I think, who reads something informative every spare instant she gets and says she never has time for entertainment—and then there are people who watch shows and “serials” every moment they get. And sometimes shops are close 2-4 or 2-5 for “lunch break.” That’s a lunch break!? Do you know how much dead work time that is?
Sudha says there are people who sleep every moment they can find, whether they are tired or not. Kindof funny. I think there are both extremes here, because there are also about as many middle-aged women as men working in construction carrying big heavy baskets of rocks on their heads every day—and then those who meander around the streets and talk to each other and do a few days of work in a week it seems like…
I’ve been doing yoga.
No, seriously. I have!
If you’re in India might as well. And it looks like I won’t be able to end up doing dance lessons because there aren’t enough girls who want to do it, so… might as well do some yoga.
I wish I had done yoga in the states so I could compare the differences more—but I’m pretty sure there are a lot of differences… apparently there are lots of different kinds of yogas as well—but I don’t know anything about that, so—end of topic.
Pretty much, yoga seems to me to be doing a lot of weird things that stretch you out and make you stronger and lots of practice relaxing. We keep doing different things—yesterday we did some figure-ice-skating poses.
I must say—it’s a good thing I never went into figure-ice-skating like I wanted to because I probably would’ve cut up my legs with my skates because I can’t even do what they do on ice—on the ground. :/
We also went to the zoo on Tuesday. I will show you some pictures though most of them are no good. It was fun and interesting—and poor Sarah almost passed out from dehydration because it was so hot and so big.
After that, we went to Gitam University to see Rajasthani dancers. I’m glad we sat in the back at first because the guys were a CRAZY audience. They shouted and clapped and got SO excited about everything—they even jumped up out of their seats at parts to see better.
I think they let the women sit in the front at shows, because one of the army guards there asked us to come up front since some seats had opened up and then we knew for sure that we had been in the boy section because all the people in the front were women—and though they were enthusiastic—they weren’t as crazy as the boys.