WHAT is going on? (Adventure #3)

It's been awhile since I've been able to post...so these are just some snapshots of the past two weeks:

One of my fellow students had a birthday.  Her name is Rebecca and she loves the Telugu Star Mahesh Babu:

 Since there's lots of posters of him around, Megan and I thought it would be fun to steal one and make a shrine in her room as a birthday surprise:

She's really ecstatic about it, can't you tell???

As some of you may know, we took a trip last weekend to Rajamundry.  It went something like this.

Our hotel had no airconditioning, there were bugs all over (especially on/in our bed-which was not soft, in case you were wondering), while I took showers ants kept crawling into my clothes since they were all over the bathroom and that resulted in lots of ant bites.

On Saturday we were lucky enough not hear only one Conference session, but TWO!  My favorite talk was Richard G. Scotts.

On Sunday, we took a boat ride that our professor kept saying would be the "highlight of our stay in India."

We had to wake up at 4:30 to get on it at 5:30.  We didn't get off until 8:30.  At night.

That's the boat.

YES! I finally got a backrest!

We kept asking our professor where the boat was going or what we were supposed to see while we were on it.  He looked surprised and replied, "Nothing!"

Ironically, it turned out we were going somewhere.  An Ashram.  I guess that's why there were so many people on the boat.  It was vaguely cool.  There was a big tree out in front.  And we got to hold baby goats.

At least the sunset was nice on the way back.  I don't know if it was worth 15 hours of misery.  What do you think?

The day after the "highlight of our stay in India" almost riveled how much fun the boat ride was.

We drove around in a car for two hours to see the Cotton Museum.

The Cotton Museum is a museum dedicated to a man named Cotton.  Apparently he introduced the first dam to South India.  I think.

Then we drove for another hour to go to a sweets shop.  They were really happy to see us.

They gave us a lot of sweets to eat and I was pretty happy too...until they took us into the back to see how the sweets were made.  Then I almost threw up all the sweets that I'd just eaten.

I know for a fact that that's not sanitary.  Especially when a sick looking dog came running in right after I took this picture.

We drove around for another hour after that to go see the first Soda packing factory in Rajamundry called ARTOS.  Why did we go see this, I don't know but while we were there a bottle exploded and nearly killed me and another girl.

Then Krishnayya told us he had a special treat for us.  So we drove for three hours back the way we'd come and another hour to see this:

This is an old lady using pounded rice and milk to make paper thin sheets that are used in an Indian sweet.  What a "special" surprise.  Glad we drove another four hours for that.

We came home Tuesday.

I never thought I'd be so happy to be back in Vizag

I'll take pictures, I might even take a nap...but there is NO way I'm taking notes! (Adventure #2)

So, this week was fairly boring and normal...except we went to a Guru's Birthday Party on Thursday!  Which is where the title of this post comes in, fyi.  Our Indian professor kept telling us to be "sure to take notes" and we all just looked at each other and simultaneously thought, "NO WAY are we taking notes!"

Of course, like going anywhere, getting to the party was something of an adventure.  First we had to ride on this scary bus that was a little like the Knight Bus from Harry Potter...except dirtier and smellier and even though you can't tell in the picture, the door was literally tied shut with rope.

We got off in the middle of NO WHERE.  In fact, the first thing we saw was a pig carcass hanging up...not pleasant.  Having said that, we managed to find a rickshaw and drove for an hour along quite possibly one of the bumpiest roads known to man.  And this was in a rickshaw, mind you.

As if this wasn't enough, we also had to walk for about 5 minutes along a huge spider infested forest reminiscent of Harry Potter...once again...I couldn't get a very good picture, but this guy was about the size of my face.  Yeah, you read that right.

Now to move on to the actual birthday celebration...I'm sad to say, it was rather boring.  Despite the fact we were two hours late, we waited another hour for it to start and let's just say that while the kids in India are ADORABLE...watching them perform a play about the guru's life for three hours in the hot sun=not too much fun.

















After that, the guru moved up onto the stage and there was some dancing in his honor which was kinda fun:

And these girls actually did a type of traditional dancing called Kuchi Puri.  It's the kind of dance that I've been learning.  I couldn't get a very good video of them, though, sorry.

And that was the Guru's Birthday celebration.

Also, for anyone who's interested, this is a picture of how to write your names in Telugu...courtesy of the Aviators of course  :)

India is just weird...that's all there is to it

For some reason, when you're in India, weird things just happen.

Like hiking up huge hills with a guide that doesn't speak any english and for some reason, doesn't take you on the trail...?  At least the view was wonderful from the top...even if you nearly died in the process of getting up there!

And when you're driving along, your driver pulls over and some random lady just jumps in...she's the little one on the left...and that's my friend Megan in the middle.  You should have seen her face when the lady got in.  Priceless.

Oh, sometimes when you're about a block away from your house, the rickshaw driver stops and tries to charge you 50 rupees to go any further because it's raining.  Come on, pal, it's monsoon season!  So what do you do? Simple.  You get out and walk home.  And all the shopkeepers along the road watch in awe as two soaked Americans trudge through roads that have have become rivers.  In fact, some of them even try to get you to come and wait out the rain in their shops.  But, nope, you're already soaked so you persevere until you get home...where you take pictures of each other posing in the rain.

And you try to get your cooks to eat roasted marshmallows and when they refuse, your Indian professor says, "They will try it.  I will make them eat it."  And then poor Lova takes the smallest bight possible and says, "Super Ma'am" in an, I'm trying not to gag kind of way.  At least, Durga liked it!  (Or she's just a better liar...)

The guys here are always touching each other...but they're not gay...they just...like to hold hands...and put their arms around each other...ALL the time....it's weird...India's weird.

 Or you go to a little kids park and see a picture of this:

I think it's supposed to be Jaws eating a dolphin...

Or a scary guy makes you a very sketchy drink...

And my personal favorite, if you have white skin, you're automatically a celebrity.  Here's proof:

Yeah, we were the cover story of "Yo, Vizag".  Pretty cool, eh?

Oh, and they have an obsession with Titanic here.  There's a car in the neighborhood who's horn is "my heart will go on" along with the fact that song gets played at EVERY major function I've gone to.  Also, 50% of the rickshaws have titanic posters on them.  Oh, and did I forget to mention that 3 people have told me I look just like the girl from it?  My friend Jain seems to find this especially funny, considering that I just found these pictures of me posted on her blog with the caption, "can you see the resemblance?"

Oh, Jain...so ridiculous...and that's a terrible picture of me....hahahahaha

Yeah, India is just weird sometimes.

At the Beginning (Adventure #1)

I’ve been in India for over a month now.  Unfortunately, the aviators weren’t with me for that first month and half…which is, I’m sure, why the going was so hard.  Anyways, they’re here now, which is what matters.

So, our first adventure together consisted of a trip to Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India!  Woooo!

We took a Night Train there...12 long hours

Ate some of the best chocolate in the world (Kinder Bueno) offered to us by Megan

We went and saw a mosque on the last day of Ramadan so it was super crowded.

Bought some awesome shoes off the
street and bargained them down from
400 rupees to 250 rupees.  That's $5 for those
of you who don't know rupees.

Golkonda Fort the next day!  Got sunburned unfortunately

Saw some beautiful Muslim Tombs

Saw the Buddha statue out in the middle of the lake (via speed boat...that felt like it was about ready to sink!)

Possibly the best part of the trip: McDonalds!!!!

And then it was time to go home...

Via Night Train, of course!
And yes, Megan stole the aviators from me...
Don't worry, I fought her and got them back!

And that was the very first trip that the aviators took with me...

One last of picture of the beautiful city Hyderabad!