Turkey for Me...

I know it's a little late, but Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a busy week. Last Wednesday, we had our Thanksgiving dinner. I made mashed potatoes, stirfry string beans, and sweet potatoes. We also had corn on the cob, paneer, and since we couldn't find a turkey, chicken tikka. It was a very Indian Thanksgiving and we all just pigged out.

The reason we had to have Thanksgiving on Wednesday was because we had to go to Delhi the next night for a conference. We were starving when we got to Delhi so we again pigged out. After riding around Delhi and seeing sights, I went to Heeya house again. We went to see the Austrian Chamber Orchestra play. It was simply amazing. I haven't seen an orchestra concert in so long and I really missed it. Made me want to go learn the violin again. After the concert, we went to her aunt's house for yet another Thanksgiving dinner. This time there was a real turkey WITH cranberry sauce! And there was cheese and stuffing! I was in heaven! That first bite of turkey and cranberry sauce was divine. Totally worth the 15 hour train ride. I spent that night at Heeya's and then the next morning went off to the conference.

The conference was all right. No, I lie, it was terrible. I am never going to another conference ever again. There were about 50 trainees there and I was the only American and we had to do "role calls" by country and I had to go up in front of everyone and do something "American." I had no idea what to do, so I sang "Yankee doodle" but I forgot the words to the rest of the song, so my role call was extremely brief. The speakers and food were awful and they kept making us play these stupid games. It was a waste of my life.

But being the only American there was very eye opening. During country presentations and discussions it seemed like everyone had something to say about America, whether it was about how we used the cause of "democracy" to invade Iraq or how American investors restrict the Colombian government. Everyone had something to do with America. One person told me to my face that he thought that the American accent was "stupid and annoying" and that "Americans didn't even know about their own culture, much less anyone else's." I wasn't exactly offended, because he turned out to be a very nice boy, so I know he didn't mean to be offensive, but I didn't like him very much either. I kept feeling that he wouldn't like me because everytime I opened my mouth, I would sound stupid and annoying. And I felt like he would always be judging me based on my nationality and nothing else.

A Kiwi asked me, "You didn't expect that Americans would be hated?" Of course I expected Americans would be hated. What I didn't expect was that all these international kids would be dancing around to Rage Against the Machine songs. That they would watch more "Friends" or "Will and Grace" than I ever did. They consume the US culture and we become a part of theirs, but, at the same time, they unashamedly hate us. They embrace the very things that most stand for America in my opinion. Our music, our movies, our tv shows, the expression and reflection of the people.

Everyone loves to hate the one on top. It's not jealousy, we're just an easy target. When Michael Richards, the guy who plays Kramer on Seinfeld, went on this huge racial tirade I got an e-mail from my Indian friend about it. In it one of her friends said, "But you have to see the kind of 'celebrities' this country is producing." Almost as if celebrities from other countries are never racist. The US is so visible and any action of anyone, whether it's our President or our children, reflects up on the whole country. While the US makes it clear that we are the world's super power, it makes equally clear all our faults and shortcomings. If we're going to lead the world, we need to do a better job.

Happy birthday Kevin!

worky worky

I know I haven't really been updating lately, but I have an excuse. I've actually be working! :-0 Shocking, I know!

At the moment I am working at an non governmental organization (NGO) called Bhasha. (www.bhasharesearch.org.in) It's a really great place and they do amazing work. At the moment, I am in the middle of writing a proposal to the World Bank with Faryal. We had to speak to the villagers and the tribal Shaman to write the proposal, so Faryal and I went to the village to Tejgedh for three days. It was really nice.

At the village they have set up the Adivasi Academy. There's a beautiful library, clinic, school, and museum. It's really cool. At the school the kids run around and take out the drum and dance around. It's great. There's this one kid, Pithu, who is an amazing dancer. He also taught me a song. "Choti cycle per double disco marie mandula" Something about riding on a tandem bicycle. My Hindi is terrible, and the villagers speak a mixture of Hindi, Gujarati, and their own Adivasi languages. There's also Arfus, and he's really good at singing. We always make him sing for us.

Oh, and all this talk of Delhi Belly. Yea, I got it. But did I get it from the road side stall where they mashed vegetables with oil and served it to me with bread? No, of course I was fine after that meal. I got Delhi Belly after eating at a place called, "US Pizza." Yes, the day after eating at "US Pizza," I vomitted and then couldn't eat for three days. Such is life. But thanks to some antibiotics, I am a-ok.

Next week I am headed to Delhi for a trainee conference. I'm super excited to meet trainees from all the different sites across India.

FYI: I got a phone finally! My number is 9328288146. Again, I get free, unlimited incoming calls...

Go Shorty...

Yesterday we had my birthday party. Faryal was so cute. I was with her the whole day and everyone kept calling her on her cell phone and she was always like, "Oh, well we already have one...I'm going to go get it later.....well I can't really talk right now, if you know what I mean." hahaha so I knew they were getting something special for the party that night.

We had this HUGE feast of butter paneer, chicken tikka, roti, biryani. Oh so good. And then they brought out this wonderful chocolate cake and Thomas, who is from France and works with Yutaka, brought crepes and we ate them with Nutella. It was a very good food night. I was so stuffed by the end of it.

After dinner we were all dancing around to Indian music. Faryal is Punjabi so she was teaching us all how to Bhangra. And Anurag and his Indian friends were all doing their "jive" to Black Eyed Peas. It was a really fun night and everyone was so nice! My flatmates are amazing. Perfect way to spend a birthday, eating and dancing.

And everyone from home, thanks so much for all the birthday greetings! It made me feel very loved. I swear, I'll send out a cell phone number by next week and maybe even an address. At the moment, I have neither.

Oh and FYI: I AM coming home for Christmas! I just need to buy my ticket. Will let you know the exact dates soon.

Baroda

So I've been in Baroda for a week now, and it's awesome. I walked out of the airport and there were about twenty college students to welcome me. It was a very nice welcome. Then, I was sent off to my homestay for a couple days. I stayed with Anurag who is a third year commerce student at the huge university in Baroda.

After a couple of days with him, I moved into the trainee house with three other people. There is Faryal, who is English, but her family's from Pakistan, but she lived in Panama for six months and then Beijing for two and a half years. She's my roommate and the funny thing is is that she knows MCK who was on the track team with me back at Brown. Small world isn't it? There is also Richard who is from Holland. He is SO Dutch and has a mosquito net that attracts and traps bugs rather than keeping them out. And then there's Takeo who is from Japan and is really trying to work on his English. Yesterday, he got a flat tire and then got lost for three hours in the old city. Oh Takeo...

I've seriously met so many people in the last week, it's been crazy. But everyone I've met is so nice and cool. I really think I'm going to like it here. There is another trainee house with Kareen (Hollan), Yutaka (Japan), Veera (Germany), and Tatyana (Greece). I'm known as "The American." This is seriously the first time that I've been the only American and I like it. It's not that hard to be the only American. Everyone communicates in English and I'm the only one who can really decipher all the different accents. (I'm also the only one who only knows one language. Everyone else knows at least two.) And EVERYONE loves the tv show "Friends." haha! I come all the way to India and hang out with people from all different countries and they love talking about "Friends."

I'm working at an NGO called Bhasha right now. They work with the nomadic tribes in Gujurat called the Adivasi. These tribes never really accepted British rule and, as a result, were labled as "criminal tribes." Ever since then they have been persecuted and descriminated against even though the British have moved out and the Indian government have "denotified" them. Such is the power of 200 years of colonialism. I have yet to have a project. So far I've just been reading about the Adivasi and trying to learn about their history and culture. Hopefully, a project will pop into my head soon.