funny signs/t-shirts

while we were driving around in our mini tour bus on thursday (which has a horn which honks like la cucaracha):

storefront:  ENDOSCOPY SALE
t-shirt: YOU'RE NOT DEAD YET
t-shirt: BEWARE HOUSE PARTY with a giant red X over it

thursday was our city tour day. first we stopped at the qutb shahi tombs, which holds the old sultans' mummified bodies. inside each tomb, there was a little shrine with the koran written on it and a colorful sheet draped over the top of it. all of the domes are now tinged black (except for my favorite tomb, the queen's [go figure], whose is white), but they were originally turquoise and blue.

after the tombs, we went to the charminar, which is the second biggest mosque in india. we had to wear head coverings when we walked inside and take off our shoes. the man at the front rubbed ashes on my eyes and tapped me with a bouquet of peacock feathers. unfortunately, the boys couldn't go inside, so we opted out of going inside. security was really tight since there was a bombardment several years ago.

next, we went to the chowmohalla palace and it was sooooooo beautiful. my favorite was the inside, with all these dreamy chandeliers.

and to end the day, we went to the golcanda fort. it defended the kings and city from the invading mughals. we had to walk up all of these stairs to get to the top, and once we got there, the sun was setting a magical pink in the misty sky. it was funny because all the indian people wanted to take pictures of us. sometimes they weren't even in the picture, it was just a picture of us.

we saw a "light and sound" show at the fort once it got dark. my guidebook had described it as "trippy," and when we asked madhuri (one of our ciee guides) if she liked the light show, she waved her arms and said "i HATE this." when asked why she responded, "you watch. you'll see." well, madhuri was kind of right. it basically colored flood lights illuminating the big boulders around the fort while trying to explain the origin on the fort. a lot of us fell asleep, including madhuri :)

india is so wonderful. i love it here very much.

new years post coming up soon!

love
lauren

hundred percent

everything in india is "hundred percent." i.e. kavitha (program leader): "indian professors will show up late without a moment's notice--hundred percent," or kavitha: "keep your passport in a safe place--hundred percent." so for the time being, i'll believe in absolutes.

i forgot to mention that on tuesday, we got these really neat indian tye dyed bags filled with orientation material:

the bag only adds to my indian flare since on wednesday we went shopping for indian clothes. we could choose up to 3000 rupees of clothes/anything else we found in the store (it's called fabindia...i think they have a website), and ciee paid for it. shopping spree for indian clothes. i got two kurtas, whic are long tunic type things, and two pairs of pants. i don't understand why indian clothing hasn't caught on in good ole usa--everything is so comfortable and beautiful.

this is kurta number one with 3/4 sleeves (which i'm wearing today)

this is kurta number two (with short sleeves)

this is one pair of pants

...and the other pair of pants are dark green and what i imagine genies wear. we didn't get saris this trip, but kavitha is organizing for us to go to some really neat place to get them sometime soon. yayayay

then a group of us all went to the shilparamam craft mela, where a artisans and vendors from all over india come and set up booths with pearls, jewelry, saris, pashminas, toys, teapots, street food, and even had dancers dancing on a stage to live music. there was so much stuff! matthew and i got sucked into one booth that sold polyester blended pashminas, where the two men asked us to sit on little stools and drink chai with them. unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) we had to meet back at our taxi that the group was riding in, so they gave us their business cards. everyone gives their business cards in india, people on the planes, people you meet. everyone wants to help and give you advice. oh i forgot to add that we had to pay 25 rupees to enter the craft fair and when i made my way to the front, i handed her 30 rupees. she gave me my ticket and i waited, smiling. she just looked at me and said "i have no change" so i shooed myself away. what's 5 rupees anyway?...11 cents i believe

as we were leaving the fair, little children beggars started asking us for money, pointing to their bellies for food. since we'd been warned about this, we just ignored them and kept walking. hold on let's pause for a moment to celebrate: I HAVE SUCCESSFULLY CROSSED THE STREET IN INDIA! FOUR TIMES! anyway, these children follow us back to our parked taxi. they start swinging on our arms, their mom comes over with us too, chaos. the driver told us to sit in the taxi and wait for everyone else so they would stop begging us, but they only stuck their little tiny hands through the rolled down windows and persisted. it's strange to ignore children like that, but i know it's something we'll have to get used to.

after everyone got back, we went to this bar/club called touch. haha, yes it is called touch. in my guidebook it describes touch as "the place where you can watch the beautiful people." so duh we went there. it was mimi's (a girl in the program) 21st birthday! we pull up to the entrance and contrary to all the skinny indian guys we've seen so far, there were buff indian bouncers with diamond stud earrings in. we all convinced them that we were old enough to go in, but they told us that if the police came, they would hide ben (another student) in the back because they thought he was 16. we shrugged it off and went inside--glowing red lights everywhere! and the ceiling looked like lasagna/jellyfish. all the couches were white and there were shaggy pillows. then we learned that all the ladies' drinks were FREE. and then mimi got FRENCH FRIES. and then we had a great time and started dancing and then ben was quickly whisked away into the back. and unlike some horrible nightmare where he was beaten and tortured in the back, they returned him safely within a few minutes and then told us to leave, since the police were coming. what a fun and interesting adventure.

now go on adventures of your own!
love love love
lauren

namaskaram

namaskaram is the south indian version of namaste, meaning "i bow to you," so namaskaram dear readers!

i am in india now, and it has been so good and so much. matthew and i flew from dallas to london and in london, our flight to bangalore was delayed 5 hours, meaning we would miss our connecting flight in bangalore to hyderabad. but london heathrow was so nice AND they gave us 10 pound vouchers to use while we waited. after handing us the vouchers, the clerk told us "now go get drunk." so with his blessing we ordered a couple of beers and the time flew by

in the airport we met up with other students from our program by politically incorrectly asking the only white people on our flight if they were going to hyderabad too. turns out they were.

once in bangalore, we asked the airline for help rescheduling our flight, and everyone told us 5 different things. and we were trapped outside, they wouldn't let us in without a boarding pass. then they took our passports. then we were excited that something was actually going to happen, but alas, an hour and a half later, we got our passports back. with boarding passes though! huzzah

we started orientation today and then ended up going on a tour of the huge huge campus on a bus. and we stopped at a little convenience store and i bought a soap dish. living the dream. also, there really are cows wandering in the busy roads.

oh! and the showers are heated by solar panels COOL

lots of love,
lauren

goingoingoing

going to india okay?

leaving on christmas day

coming back in may

hoo

ray