Weather

OK, so I've FINALLY figured out why I'm so confused about the weather.

• Feels like Summer
• Looks like Fall
• People dress like Winter
• And its only Spring

I'll elaborate on these observations. It's already in the 100's(F). The leaves are falling off of all the trees because its too hot outside. I see sweaters, long sleeves, and pants everywhere. It's only the middle of March too.
I must say though, I never thought that I would be able to wear jeans and a 3/4 sleeve shirt in 100 degree weather and still feel relatively comfortable. My air conditioner is set at 75 degrees and I still get pretty chilly at night. Last night on the roof for instance, I was wearing a long sleeve and it was a cool 80 degrees.

Goa

Well, I was in Goa for a week for spring break. It is the Cancun, Mexico of the Eastern Hemisphere. I had a blast, and I did absolutely NOTHING. It was a beautiful thing. It was easy to forget that I was in India, but then cows would wander along the sandy beaches and I would remember again where I was.

Adaptation

So I think its safe to say I've adapted to India and the culture. Maybe a little too well. This whole... relaxation thing and festivals all the time... they work well for me and myself. Showing up 30minutes late to class (and still beating the professors) and having informal Chai breaks whenever desired (and also meeting the teachers in passing) it works for me.

It says something when, not only do I find myself walking on the street rather than the sidewalk, but I've stop looking to see if there's traffic about to pummel me you merge with traffic.

If I come back and I tend to eat with my hands... don't worry, I'm not nuts.
If I start wearing a winter jacket, scarf, mittens, and lots of layers... I'm not nuts.
If I try to barter my way through everything and assume I'm paying too much for everything (which I will be since a bottle of Pepsi is only 50 cents here) I'm not going crazy.
If I pass on meat and start craving hot milk and a butterscotch milk... I'm not crazy, I'm just thinking Sara's

Agra

Still a draft....

As soon as we arrived in the city of Agra, I immediately started to miss Jaipur. The safe, clean, comfortable city of Jaipur. Agra is more of the type of India people tend to think of. With the green and gray water running down the street, and kids playing in the built up piles of sludge. It's a very crowded and noisy city and a place where I would not want to be at night by myself. Venturing outside of Jaipur really made me appreciate it even more.

Malls vs. Bazaars

February 2nd

The group went to Triton Mall today. It was a very interesting experience. Triton Mall was very Americanized and quite frankly it seemed mundane. All the prices were set, the employees were constantly following and bothering us, security guards at every shop entrance and even the escalators were the same; I felt as if I was transported home and had left India.

I've grown fond of the constant energy and activity that help define the bazaars. Rather than walking into the stores, the bazaars are set up for people to walk up to and barter from there. If one store won't lower their price... go to the next store and buy the same thing for cheaper. There's nothing like being able to go to a street vendor, buy mysterious food, and hope that you don't get sick from it.

Folk Dance

Last night most of us went to JKK, (which is a cultural center) and watched Indian Folk Dance. None of us had any idea as to what to expect but it turned out to be very entertaining. There was live music to all the different types of dances. I can't justly explain the dances so I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Blitzschlag

This past weekend was the annual Blitzschlag gathering for college students in Rajasthan. This is the 6th year that MNIT has held the festival and it's a blast. There was people from 20 different colleges here for the weekend. Friday night was the opening ceremony and there was a dance competition. Many teams were competing and it lasted a long time. It was interesting to see students dancing to hip hop and R&B, especially when they were songs we recognized (even better to hear the old school songs like Summer of '69) There was also the traditional dances and music being played. I'm not sure if I was more entertained by the music and the dancing, or by the reactions from the crowd. I noticed that what the men hooted and hollored about was not the same things that men hollor about in the States.

Saturday MTV was there for Pulsar and the Ghost Riders performed stunts on their motorcycles. It was pretty neat, it was hard to see though and for the first time I was glad that the boys and girls were segregated because there were far fewer girls there than boys and I could actually see SOME of the show rather than not at all.


Then in the evening there was a fashion show. That was an experience let me tell you. First of all, when we get to the lawn; the area is swarming with military and security guards; now I'm pretty sure most of them were not carrying guns; they had large sticks. So one can assume that they are there for crowd control and not for security reasons. Guys are behind our section and are separated from the girls and we get the VIP seats. (why, I don't quite know)

So the first group comes out and their theme is Valentine's and I just though "oh no!" They came out in really skimpy clothes (and I mean skimpy in the Indian sense not the American skimpy) So all the guys behind us start yelling and pushing on the railing because the guys in back couldn't see and were trying to get up front. Well they pushed so hard that the railing broke and nearly hit us all in the head. All I was thinking was if they fall, I am the cushion for ALL of them. Needless to say I was very tense the entire presentation and even the guards who were trying to control the crowd were having trouble.

The show was really good though and Brent (another NDSU student) was in one of the fashion shows. Their group got third place! I was very entertained the entire evening by both the show and the crowd.