Harpreet visits from Mumbai

In the picture from left to right - can't remember the first guys' name, Harpreet, me, Ruchi, Kunal, Vivek, and Dharmesh. 2nd picture is me and Ruchi. Did I mention I love India?? So apparently Ahmedabad has no storm water drainage system which is not so good when it rains like it has all day today! The streets become rivers, it’s really bad! Harpreet came up from Mumbai this weekend, so I went to see him at CEPT so there was a big group, and we all ended up going to lunch at this Punjabi place, Navrang, near CEPT. It was me, Caryn, Harpreet’s friend Amit, Dharmesh, and Nihal. After that we went back to CEPT and were all trying to figure out what to do next.

They keep helping me to learn more Hindi though, but it’s funny because Dharmesh was copying my accent and was like, “Who is Dharmesh?” –pronouncing it as I do. It took forever to figure out which movie to go see and when and which theater. Finally we decided to see this movie Quick gun Murugun which was like this Indian comedy parodying the old west and cowboys and everything. The funny thing was that the bad guy was forcing all the restaurants in town to serve meat – which many, many people here are vegetarian, so this guy was forcing them to eat beef. So then this guy started this restaurant like McDonald’s only it served Dosas – this kind of Indian crunchy crepe. They wanted the best Dosa recipe and decided mothers made the best dosas so they caught all these mothers and made them cook dosas to find the best ones. The main cowboy guy wore this ridiculous leopeord print vest and orange pants and a pink bandana. He had this pink lipstick and blush that apparently mimicked old bollywood films, but it was pretty ridiculous! The theater was way out on S.G. Road north on the way to Gandhinagar where all this new development is happening, but it’s still way less dense than the rest of the city. So then we went to this restaurant called Tomatoes than Nihal kept telling me to go to. It was decorated kind of like an Applebee’s with all these old American movie posters and stuff and kind of had a bit of a diner décor. They also had Mexican food and Chinese and all this stuff in addition to typical Indian food. But it was fun – they started telling all these funning stories from school and professors. Even they were saying how they had a hard time understanding their professor Utpal. He’s from Bengali and his accent is quite different – it made me feel better because I too have a terrible time understanding. When we got out though, it was raining so hard and the streets were flooded. The rickshaw were almost all full, and none of them would take us where we wanted to go. We all had to get plastic bags to put our bags in so everything wouldn’t get wet. Two of the guys had their motorcycles, so they ended up having to drive us home on those! I was absolutely drenched when I got home!

Chocolate Room and Day 2 at FRO

It can get frustrating here, too, though. It was raining a lot this morning, but it was so nice and cool, I couldn’t mind it at all. I still don’t feel settled though. At IIM we were spoiled, the internet connection was nice and fast. I tried to get a USB port internet connection, but everything requires all these documents for foreigners and I’ll have to have a friend take it out in her name. It will just be nice to be able to get online anytime! Also I still feel somewhat nomadic, despite having a flat now which I am still very thankful for. But at CEPT I don’t really have a space at which to work yet, or to spread out and leave some of my things, so as it is we have to lug our laptops and all this. In the meantime it is taking several days to get my library card. Then at the library some books are locked up, so you have to have the librarian get them for you, and then I can’t check anything out yet. So it’s just a bit of a pain, since it’s not a system I’m used to.

For the second day we had to go all the way out to the Foreign Registration Office which is an experience equivalent to going to the DMV only in a foreign country, so you don’t always understand what is going on…But the rickshaw ride is far! And we have to get all these letters and make copies and bring passport photos. Luckily we weren’t late, so we don’t have to pay the fine, but we still have to come back for a police investigation!

When we got back, we decided to go to the Chocolate Room that Arpita has been telling us about. It’s this chocolate lounge like Bissinger’s back home in St. Louis. Even though Arpita has sworn off of chocolate for a month, her favorite thing, she finally agreed to at least get some chocolate coffee. Caryn tried a chocolate brownie sundae, and I had this chocolate cake stuff with ice cream. When we got back, this movie Devdas was on TV. I actually just bought it because I bought the soundtrack when I was here last, but hadn’t seen the movie, so it was exciting to actually watch it, and my roommates were explaining it to me.

People eat quite a lot later for dinner here – like 8 or 9 pm, so Arpita and Rashmi decided to order from Dominos for dinner. The pizza was the same pretty much except it had corn on it, and the breadsticks were pretty similar too. Also it came with a container of pasta which was really good. It’s so funny though because Rashmi hardly eats anything, and Arpita is always telling her to eat more. Arpita says she loves to eat and is addicted to chocolate, but she is so small too! But it was a really nice evening with my roommates! Arpita was telling me about her urban development research, and how these new urban renewal programs in India are affecting/not affecting the lower castes. It’s really interesting and also amazing how much her research is relevant to my own study, and especially how much she knows about politics and even American politics! It’s just so interesting to hear, and amazing that even though it’s been difficult for Nihal and Caryn to find a flat, I have been so lucky as to find a flat for cheap, but to also find roommates that are so enjoyable and have so much in common with, especially Arpita, despite living on opposite sides of the world is such different cultures. I think having these roommates will really enhance my experience here. And really meeting people is the best part of this! And even the most basic things that we take for granted in the US, like washing clothes, is different here. People just go about it differently so it’s nice to have roommates to ask these things like how they go about everyday activities.

Gujarati thali

It was nice to wake up in my own room this morning and have a leisurely breakfast with Rashmi and Arpita. Arpita made Poha which was this beaten rice with some vegetables and spices that was really nice. If I’m not describing the food well enough, it’s usually because even when they tell me what it is, it may be something we don’t have in the US. This morning I went through the cupboard asking Arpita what all the things were, even when she tells me, it doesn’t mean much to me if I don’t know what it’s used for or what it tastes like. Also I could tell you probably many different names of things that are made from rice and vegetables but the spices differ so it’s hard to describe. I’ve been told that Gujarati food – the state I am now in – their food is always a little sweet. Punjabi food, my friend Harpreet tells me, is very thick and rich, so it just differs by the state or region.

Caryn and I went out to the Foreign Registration Office this afternoon. We are supposed to register with them within 14 days of arrival, but we needed proof of our address and residence here. We keep hearing stories about how difficult it can be registering and how you need a million copies of everything, but so far it doesn’t seem too bad, but we have to go back tomorrow. Also I got lectured because I only brought copies of my passport, and not the actual passport, so we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.

Shrawan took us out to this very traditional Gujarati restaurant, Saasooji for thali. Thali is the word for plate but it also means the meal they serve on this big plate. You get this metal plate with all these little metal bowls and they fill it up and keep bringing you more of what you want, so it’s a little like ‘family style’ in the US. He took us all – Caryn and me, Nihal and Karuna, and another couple he knows – the husband has worked for the planning office in Gandhinagar for 30 years! So he’ll be a great help for my research! And then his wife works at a bank, so they were both very nice. She was explaining all the different food on the plate. There were two different kinds of daal – which are lentils. There are sooo many kinds of lentils and ways of preparing them. There was different subji- which means vegetables cooked up. Papad – a cracker-like wafer, Roti – kind of an equivalent to a quesadilla and used to scoop up the food. Srikaand – a sweet yogurty-pudding-y dessert with nuts – very good. Little tiny samosas…and more – but I don’t k now how to really describe it! But I could definitely taste the sweetness in all of it, like they say it typical of Gujarati food! It was really nice and fun!

Tonight was the first time in India I have been that it has rained really much at all! But they took us home in their car which was nice. I had trouble getting there – the rickshaw driver didn’t really understand or know where I wanted to go. He kept speaking to me in Hindi like I could understand him! People seem to be impressed when I try and speak the little Hindi I know. That’s the problem because as soon as I try to speak a little Hindi people start talking to me like I am fluent! But it is difficult to fiIt was nice to wake up in my own room this morning and have a leisurely breakfast with Rashmi and Arpita. Arpita made Poha which was this beaten rice with some vegetables and spices that was really nice. If I’m not describing the food well enough, it’s usually because even when they tell me what it is, it may be something we don’t have in the US. This morning I went through the cupboard asking Arpita what all the things were, even when she tells me, it doesn’t mean much to me if I don’t know what it’s used for or what it tastes like. Also I could tell you probably many different names of things that are made from rice and vegetables but the spices differ so it’s hard to describe. I’ve been told that Gujarati food – the state I am now in – their food is always a little sweet. Punjabi food, my friend Harpreet tells me, is very thick and rich, so it just differs by the state or region.

Caryn and I went out to the Foreign Registration Office this afternoon. We are supposed to register with them within 14 days of arrival, but we needed proof of our address and residence here. We keep hearing stories about how difficult it can be registering and how you need a million copies of everything, but so far it doesn’t seem too bad, but we have to go back tomorrow. Also I got lectured because I only brought copies of my passport, and not the actual passport, so we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.

I feel quite lucky that I managed to get a flat so easily! Nihal and Caryn and still having trouble finding a place. My place is a bit farther from CEPT than I would have liked, but Arpita and Rashmi are great! I was showing them pictures of my family last night, and then Arpita was showing me hers and pics from her trip up to Leh which is in the Himalayas. It’s really beautiful! I’ll have to go!nd your way around here. Even a map doesn’t help too much because most of the times the street names aren’t labeled so they really rely on landmarks. But the trouble is, not being from here, we don’t know which are the main landmarks. They say knowing the crossroads is the best way to get around. Sometimes you just have to wander around a bit to find the kind of shop you need, sometimes you get lucky and find it right away.

The pictures of us at Saasuji, the Gujarati place and then of my two roommates, Rashmi and Arpita - aren't they so cute?

Shifting in to the Flat

I was a bit worried about how I would manage getting all my big bags over to the flat before the girls left for work, but India's great for that. Some workers saw me with my luggage and pulled them for me, so it was really easy actually.

I got there in the morning before they had to leave for work. Arpita is my age - she's done her masters in social work and is working as a research at Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and Rashmi is 30 - although she didn't like Arpita telling this! And she works at a bank. In Hindi - Woh Bank me kam kurthi hai. ( I think..) I think they'll we'll all get along well though. Arpita and I had a big conversation about what we want to do with our lives - or not knowing rather - and how all our friends are getting married, and we don't want to. It's really interesting how you can find someone who has so much in common on the other side of the world who has grown up in a different culture. You start to realize how different things are in some respects, but in others that you thought were different, may not be as different as you originally thought. She was telling me though that in 2002 there was a really horrible situtation in Ahmedabad where the Hindus killed many of the Muslims in the city..really sad..

Research visit to Gandhinagar

So tomorrow I will finally be moving into the flat with the other girls! It will be soo nice to be able to unpack everything finally and wash all my clothes and have my own bathroom! Wonderful!

Today we went on a magical mystery tour of Gandhinagar, the city I will be studying for my Fulbright. It is like 10 km north of Ahmedabad or so and is now the capital of the state of Gujarat. Nihal asked yesterday if someone could take us and give us a tour, so they found a couple of students, one from Gandhinagar and the other from Ahmedabad, to go with us. I don’t know if it was actually cooler today or it was that I was in an air conditioned car, whichever, it was nice not to be sooo hot today. It really is harder to think and concentrate on something when it’s so hot, so it was nice to be more coherent today… But it was fun – the roads are on a grid which is very unlike most Indian cities, so they are named by numbers and then letters in the Hindi alphabet. So there is the sound “guh” and a different one “ghuh” which is difficult for me, so they were trying to help me to get it right. We stopped at another step well on the wall, Adalaj. It was cool - it was the one I had actually seen before.

Anyway, it is at least very easy to get around and find your way in Gandhinagar, but I can understand how people say it is boring. It’s very different from other Indian cities, far, far less dense. And now it is sprawling towards Ahmedabad despite the fact that there still seems to be a lot of space left to develop in the city. The city is also divided up into sectors, each of these grids forms a sector and inside the sector is an inner ring road.

One sector is dedicated to the government buildings. There is one that is solely commercial – but it seems like it’s too much commercial for one area. There are several towers right next to each other, but several, the stores seemed to almost all be closed. Even in Ahmedabad there doesn’t seem to be that much pure commercial use all in one place and Gandhinagar is only 250,000 compared to almost 5 million!

There is this big temple there, apparently is kind of like a Disney-World-ish temple with light shows and such. We went in to take lunch. They were had the one student’s favorite Gujarati food, Kichidi, kind of like a yellowish rice and daal mixture with spices. It was really good! Anyway so we drove around the rest of the city, Nihal had to be back early so he could look for a flat or we could have stayed longer. The government provides housing for all its employees. There are different levels according to your rank in your position. So we went into some of the lowest ranking housing for cleaners and such, and then also for middle ranking engineers. It seems it’s a big problem of maintenance since the government owns the housing, it also maintains (or doesn’t maintain) them. Anyway it was a really great first tour of the city to provide a base of knowledge for me, and a fun day due to the lack of utter sweatiness and fun with Nihal and the two CEPT students.

I didn’t realize the stigma of women having men at their apartments! The girls I will be staying with were saying that it was difficult for single women to get their own flat to begin with, and then if they find out you have had men over, it’s even more difficult.

Caryn was looking at staying as a paying guest – her husband will be coming to visit later. The lady who runs the guest house said if she went out to meet her husband, he couldn’t come and say good bye to her in front of the house. He would have say goodbye down the street at the mall or something. I knew it was more conservative here, but it is still odd to see especially the disconnect between Indian music videos and the sexuality portrayed there, and then the actuality of things..

Caryn and I were coming out of a huge shopping center today, so there was a big auto rickshaw stand. I thought they were gonna fight over who got to drive the two white girls!

My potential flat

I think Ahmedabad has changed quite a bit since I’ve been here. Overall it seems so much cleaner – far fewer cows, dogs, and wild pigs on the street. And it seems like there’s less trash too. They built a big new mall close to where our flat was before, and they’ve put in this big bus rapid transit line so there’s this big overpass. I’ll have to ride it at some point. Overall it just seems like there’s a lot more development. However unfortunately one of our favorite restaurants, Coconut Grove which had great South Indian food is closed! L Then Caryn went to see the flat of the girls I might be rooming with. The flat is really nice – I’d get my own bedroom and bathroom. It’s very similar to the one we stayed at when we were here before. The girls are really fun and interesting. Two are researchers at IIM and the other works doing financial stuff for a bank. They usually cook together and I think they were concerned about whether I could eat their food, so they cooked dinner for me – a Pulau – a kind of fried rice. We had been talking about how we liked chocolate, so Suman ran out and bought some chocolate cake for dessert.

Stepwell and Ganesh Chathuthi

These pictures are of my salwar suit material and of the stepwell -

So I’ve been trying to use Hindi here and there – the little I know has actually been relatively useful. I was ordering at the IIM cantina today and said “ek mineral water aur ek Manchurian gravy” and the guys seemed really amused by my few Hindi words. They kept repeating my order and emphasizing “ek” and then they asked if I wanted eggs “unda” It was amusing. So today is the start of this big festival in honor of the god Ganesh, Ganesh Chathuthi - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesh_Chaturthi Last night we drove down this street where they were making thousands of statues of him in all different sizes and spray painting them. All along the roads they were selling them. And they have these like party trucks that are open in the back and full of guys banging drums around huge ganesh statues and walking around the streets with drums dancing and things. Actually there was even an elephant walking around for the celebration. It looks really fun! They even had a big statue and ceremony on IIM’s campus and so we asked one of the students a bit about it. They cover the face of the statue with paper the night before because you weren’t supposed to see it til today. We walked around for quite awhile today trying to find the street this was on, but we just couldn’t find it!

We also went to the step well here in the city today for Caryn’s project. The autodriver didn’t even know where it was – he had to ask someone else, and it did seem to be out in the middle of nowhere. We were glad we had gone together actually, but we had the driver wait for us, and he walked around with us as we looked. I guess I’ll be learning more about the step wells from Caryn as she learns more, but here’s the bit I know. Since Gujarat and Rajasthan are quite dry, they built these wells with steps down to them back in maybe the 1400s, so the architecture is quite lovely. Unfortunately all but one is in use now, but they used to be a hangout spot for people since they were cooler. So there are multiple levels and built and carved with stone in intricate designs. I will post pics. This one in town is called Dada Hari Wav. Then we went to Manek Chowk in the old city which is a kind of market with lots of shops selling traditional jewelry and such. The streets are narrower, and a guy wanted to show us this old muslim burial ground. People were pretty interested to see two white girls walking around there! I saw some pretty salwar suit material with stamped patterns, so I bought a burnt orange and tan set to have stitched into a suit.

So we went to Uncle Sam’s Pizza for dinner because Caryn wanted something not too spicy. Way finding here is so odd – I looked up the restaurant on Google, but even when we told the auto driver the streets he didn’t know. We had to pull out the map, point out the intersection, and then ask some guys who spoke English for help. Even when we got there, the restaurant wasn’t there! So finally another auto driver understood and got us there – and it was actually really close to CEPT! So the inside had all these American things on the walls – four presidents- Lincoln, Bush, JFK, and Clinton. I think Michael Jordan was on one wall, and Micheal Jackson videos were playing so it was pretty amusing. Then we ended up accidently ordering 8 big pieces of garlic bread plus pizza with baby corn on it, it was called something like Corn Fest. They were probably thinking, man, these American girls sure like their garlic bread…

First day in Ahmedabad

8.20.09

Ok so that whole diet soda addiction I had is going to be quickly gotten over. It’s just too hot here to drink anything but tons of water! Today Caryn and I left Hotel President to get our rooms we had arranged at the Indian Institute of Management dorms. That was quite an ordeal…We carted all of our heavy luggage to IIM in autorickshaws. When we got to the IIM gates they wanted letters showing what we were there for, but after a few minutes it was worked out. Then we couldn’t find the office where we were supposed to go to get checked in, everyone we asked seemed to tell us differently. We finally found it and then we had to go to the Doctor there to be checked for Swine flu! Our rooms were in the new campus of IIM. After I finally got everything settled in I went to meet the girls who were looking for a roommate. They were researchers at IIM, and they were very sweet. They seem like fun girls.

After that I went to CEPT which was really exciting to be going back there after 4 years! I had to use the bathroom and there was one in particular that had a western-style toilet, but I couldn't find it! I thought I was loosing my mind. When I went to find Ruchi she said they had made the bathroom into the work studio she and others were using! I felt so much better - I couldn't imagine I had forgotten where it was! But they even re-did the old bathrooms and are much nicer now. It seems much easier overall to find western style toilets which comes as a relief I must say. But it was great to see her! She was telling me about how everyone was married now, and showing me pictures from all the weddings. She was enjoying traveling all over the country for the weddings. Then I went to meet Shrawan - he's a professor in the planning department who was at Ball State last year on a Fulbright. He was really nice and welcoming. We talked for a good while and he had some interesting ideas for my research. When I pulled out my notebook to write some down though, he said, no put that away - this is your first day, you'll have time later! I also met with Utpal who is dean of the planning dept. and who is my actual advisor. He is so busy! Constantly on the phone, but he had some good ideas for my research too, and it was really interesting to hear from them some of the planning projects going on in Ahmedabad. They just recenlty put in a bus rapid transit line!

Ahmedabad seems to have changed quite a bit since I’ve been here. It seems a lot more cleaner, a lot less trash lying around. And fewer animals! Far fewer cows and dogs roaming the streets, and it smells a lot better…Maybe it’s just my perception has changed, but no I think it really has improved.

Ruchi and I had chai and I spoke with Harpreet on her phone. After she was done working, we went to get a snack at rajasthani snack shop - pani puri and samosa. Then we went to meet a friend at her apartnment, pick up some tailored clothes, and finally go to eat at Curries, a Punjabi place. It was nice because we met several other CEPT students from her class there, but I was sooooo exhausted after staying up so late talking to Karuna and Nihal! It was really fun though to see everyone and to talk to the professors!

The images are of IIM campus - Louis Kahn Plaza, the new campus addition, and the the dorm we are staying at there.

Here's a link to my pics on Flickr- I can't get Facebook to upload them right now...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41723269@N06/

Back in Ahmedabad!!

Ilove the Pereras! How fortuitous for me that we are all happening to be here in the same city at the same time! I’m sure I just messed up my internal clock and jetlag completely – we are now at the same hotel in Ahmedabad, and we just stayed up until almost 3 in the morning talking! But I’m not complaining, I can always sleep later! But I am soo excited to be back in Ahmedabad after four years and on top of it, Nihal and Karuna arrive the same day and are here for four months. Did I mention how excited I am to be in Ahmedabad, because I AM! We were talking about all the places we should go back to!

So when I was here in 2005, we came to CEPT university and worked with a planning studio of masters students on a development project for Veraval, a fishing village in Gujarat. Often the students would speak to each other in Hindi; however, we never heard our names come up, so we figured that they must have code names for us so we wouldn’t know they were talking about us. Not that we thought they were saying anything really bad about us, it wasn’t like that because we had a lot of fun with them.

Well, they didn’t know that I now know a bit of Hindi….I met my friend Krupal for lunch in Delhi, and he got a call while we were there from another student I knew from his class, who was also in Delhi but couldn’t make it to lunch. So they were speaking in Hindi or Gujarati or whatever, but I made out that apparently Rahul asked whether or not I was still fat, because I caught Krupal’s end saying, ‘yes she is fat.’ I couldn’t even really be angry- it was too funny. I immediately said, “I can understand what you’re saying,’ which surprised him quite a bit I think. But that’s just how people are here, they talk about if you’re fat or not, not really out of a meanness but just stating a fact. Anyway Krupal then proceeded to tell me everyone from the class that had gotten fat, and funnier still Harpreet had told me earlier that I should wait to see Krupal because he had gotten fat since he got married. So I mean I can’t even get mad, it’s just like, ok yeah I am.

But so already on my flight from Delhi to Ahmedabad I met some cool people! You meet the most interesting people on planes I think! One happened to be a Fulbright alum who had studied agriculture at UC Davis in the 80s. One happened to work for the city of Ganhinagar and so knew all about the planning of it, so it is right in line with what I am researching….which by the way, I will actually post what I am doing here, in the next few days.

Oh and the pictures are of the gift box we all got from the Indian Foreign Secretary's office. There's incense, candy, a scarf, and more.

So excited to be back!

I'm sooo supremely excited to be back, and most of all to see friends I made while I was on CapAsia. I haven't seen them in 4 years!! I just spoke with some of them on the phone, and I can't even express how excited I am! My friend Ruchi should be coming to greet me at the airport; she is so sweet! And my friend Harpreet is going to come up this weekend from Mumbai. They have all offered there help for everything in getting settled which is so nice!

I'll be staying at the Indian Institute of Management's campus dorms for a few days while I look for a flat. Their campus is just down the street from CEPT, my host school. It's only going to cost like 2 bucks to stay there per night so I'm very glad of this - plus their campus was designed by the famous architect Louis Kahn!

It's funny because up until arriving here, I was so nervous and worried. I'm sure everyone knows what a worrier I am in general! Maybe it's because I've been to India already, but I have really been able to let go of the worrying so far! You know, I'm not really sure about the details of the hotel I'll be staying at the first night in Ahmedabad, even though I'm leaving tomorrow. I even got lost today when I was walking to the Fulbright house which is pretty sad since it's just around the corner! And I'm usually pretty good finding my way around, but I didn't even freak out about it even though it made me late....

There was a really great professor who spoke at the orienatation today. The session was going to be about research resources for our project and so I expected it to be pretty general since there are 40 people going all over India. But no, this guy read each of our proposals in detail and found information and contacts for almost everyone. Some of the medical projects, he didn't have a whole lot of info for, but I can't imagine how much time he spent doing this all! He seemed pretty interested in my topic and suggested the books by Ravi Kalia that I've been reading already, and also suggested another architect in Delhi I should contact.

There was also a guy with the embassy's regional security. His presentation was really good - He was obssessed with security! I could picture him everywhere telling you where the nearest exit was and planning an evacuation route for everything, even going to the movies! He even carries a map with him at all times of all the closest hospitals and the phone numbers and everything.

Anyway later my friend Megan and I made another excursion to the bigger FabIndia in Greater Khailash. I bought a kurta, salwar pants, and a dupatta scarf. It's pricey there though, so I'll probably just have some things tailored later.

Delhi Orientation

So we had a busy day today! We went to see the new Indian foreign secretary this morning, Nirupama Rao. It was a really cool experience! She worked in Peru for awhile and studied literature before she was secretary. And she was really interested in everyone's different project; we actually went around and told what we were doing, and there were over 40 of us. She seemed really cool, like I wish I could have just sat and talked to her about literature and stuff. They gave us these big colorful bags from Indian tourism with this big box with some perfume, incense, pretty bags of silver candy ( we didn't know it was candy - we had to ask the bus driver!), a cd of music, pretty cool!

After that we went to the Fulbright House for orientation stuff. An american guy spoke - he had a consulting business in India to teach and help Indians adapt to American culture for work and such. And they had a doctor here come in and tell us about different illnesses and health concerns we should be careful of. She was so cute in her sari! Her presentation was pretty amusing, too!

Then we had some briefing about grant administration. It's weird though, I don't yet feel like I'm really in India. One speaker said everyone experiences their own little slice of India - and my slice had been Ahmedabad. Delhi seems so much more westernized than the first impressions I had of India from Ahmedabad. But I'll get to see A'bad again shortly!

We had lunch at the cafe there on the Fulbright house campus. Paratha, daal, fried lady fingers (some kind of green bean), other indian food.... I finally met the other girl who will be in Ahmedabad. She's also affiliated with CEPT and is studying the architecture of step wells around Ahmedabad. So it was really cool to meet someone else there who is in arch and planning and speaks the language and all!

We had a break so a few of us girls ran over to Connaught Circle to go shopping at FabIndia - I got one blue and one teal kurta (shirt). We had to book it to get back to the Fulbright House for our dinner reception. They had set up a big tent and had Christmas lights strung up everywhere. It was really nice! They had tons of servers walking around with appetizers, and they kept ambushing us to offer us food, ha. It was really nice, but you could tell everyone was feeling the jetlag and just running out of steam! So a very busy day, but exciting for the most part! I can't believe I'm still awake at this point!

Safely in Delhi

Hi everyone! Thank you for all your well-wishes and thoughts! I just got to our hotel in Delhi; it was around 9pm before I got off the plane. There were about 7 other Fulbrighters on this flight, though I didn't know til I got off in Delhi, but they picked us all up in a big bus. It took forever to get to the hotel; there was a lot of traffic. But it was cool to meet the other students! They were all nice and excited! We're at the Hans Plaza hotel; here are the pics! Well, I don't have too much else to tell yet, but I'll write more later!