Home Sweet Home

Hey everyone! It has been another busy busy week of teachings. Today, we had a double teaching...we taught once in the morning, had a quick lunch, and taught again in the afternoon! I absolutely love teachings especially when the students get really into participating...but the exhaustion is catching up to me.

I'm living in India. LIVING here! Now that I have been here for almost a month, I feel that I am actually integrated into the culture. If it weren't for my pale ghostliness, I could almost pass as Indian...almost. Despite its peculiarities (whole post coming soon), I am falling in love with this country. We have about an hour and a half commute on busses everyday to teachings, and it is my favorite time of day. I'm able to gaze upon so many people (really, lots and lots of people!) going about their day to day living in India. It is insane how different our lives are and yet how similar at the same time.

 It is also crazy how India has maintained its own unique culture. I came to India expecting much of it to be westernized, because most developing countries are constantly moving towards a western ideal. But India is so uniquely Indian! A few younger women may wear jeans at the mall or at a club, but every other woman I see still wears a sari, everyday. India has its own unique take on marriage, dating, and movies, among other things. This is all part of the reason why I love it so much. Despite being an up and coming nation, India's culture has survived and thrived!

I began writing this post as a lead in to describing my hostel, thus the title "home sweet home" but I guess all of India is becoming my home...at least for these two and a half months!

So, the hostel! We are staying at a hostel associated with the Church of Southern India. Though IAPA is not a Christian organization, this hostel gives us a good rate and provides both breakfast and dinner!

View from the outside

The rooms are nice. Some people have complained about bugs, and the decomposing states of the bathrooms...but this is INDIA...these are, easily, very nice rooms. I only have one roommate, Molly. Some rooms have three which becomes a bit more crowded. The best thing about our rooms... .they have air conditioning!!!!!!!

My bed is the one closest to the window. And, yes, that is our laundry line; we hand wash all our clothes.

The bathroom...really its not as bad as it looks. One weird thing about India: all the hostels I have stayed at have had the shower next to the toilet. There is never a shower curtain or type of stall separating it. It's fine, it works, but still kinda weird.

Before we all arrived at the hostel, our lovely coordinators made coloring pages for each door showing who was in each room! The writing underneath is the Tamil version of our names!

I'm getting much more accustomed to Indian food now. I don't know if I would every really choose to eat Indian food over other types of food, but its starting to grow on me. Basically, a meal is composed of rice, a type of bread (like chapati, dosa, or roti), and a type of sauce (sambar, chutney, or curry). Not being a huge fan of spicy foods, I have been avoiding the super spicy sauces!

The average breakfast spread: rice, peppers, two types of sauce, and dosa.

I really enjoy breakfast at the hostel! Only about 5 of us actually wake up to eat breakfast, everyone else chooses to sleep in. We call ourselves the "breakfast club." I know...so clever...but breakfast is really good. This is coconut chutney, rice, dosa, and coffee.