It's Been a While...

Yeah, I'm sorry guys, it's been a while since I last wrote on here. I apologize for those of you that have been looking forward to hearing all of what it is that I've been doing and all it is that I am excited about. But I've got to be honest with you...there really hasn't been a lot that has been going on with me these past few days. I haven't had any more interviews, I haven't been able to move forward in my study, or anything else for this has been going on. But we've been going to some pretty good views and places to visit. So I've been able to get some great pictures at least!

Like yesterday, we all went to a dance performance. Now that was super interesting. It was an old classical Indian style of dance called "kuchipudi". I would recommend that you look it up, as it's really cool. The story of the dance was about a young girl married off to an old man for a large dowry. This happened a lot in the classical age of India, so it was an interesting performance. And throughout, there wasn't any talking, not a lot anyway. What there was, was done by the singers of the performance. It was really amazing! I loved watching it, sadly, I was unable to enjoy it as much as I wanted to as I was hungry and tired. I felt like I was going to sleep for about half the time. And the papprazzi was going crazy in front. They don't stand in the back and take pictures from there, like they do in America, but they stand in front of the stage and block the view of all of those that sit in the front row... a.k.a US! That was slightly annoying, as it was hard to see what was going on sometimes, and their flashes were really bright, so they would blind us when they took pictures of us sometimes.

But other than that, there's not a lot going on, just getting things going with my study. For those of you that are reading this, know that my study is about cross-caste marriage. Well, I've only had two interviews and I've been here about four, almost five weeks. It's not going anywhere, no one wants to talk to me me, as cross-caste marriage, while it is legal by law, culturally, it is still a forbidden form of marriage. So no one wants to talk to me about their cross-caste marriage. So, as I need the information that I get here for my senior thesis, I need to change my study. So I'm changing my study to marriage traditions of endogamous caste marriages. It not being a form of forbidden marraige, more people should be more willing to talk to me.

So, that's been me for this past little bit. I hope that all is going well with everyone back home.

Talk to you soon,
Ashley

P.S. as soon as the wifi works, and I can get my pictures uploaded online, I'll do a blog post that is fully pictures, promise!

Andhra University and FINALLY!!! a Rain Storm

So this was my adventure yesterday. Me and three of the other students here actually went to the local university here, Andhra University to meet some of the other public health and anthropology students that could help us with our research. It was really cool, as I was actually able to talk to college age students about cross-caste marriages. It's works a lot differently than I initially thought it would, but that's why I'm here, to learn what is actually happening. And I also got invited to an cross-caste marriage ceremony that will be happening later this month. I'm excited to go, as I'll be able to see an actual wedding ceremony and then ask is there are any differences compared to an endo-caste marriage, which is what our translators have. So this was excellent to do, make contacts with some of the local students as well as find out what it is that they are studying at the moment.

Me and some local boys after
the rainstorm

That was the main adventure, but what made yesterday really nice was that we actually had a rain storm roll into town. It was nice and cool for the rest of the day. It started at about mid-afternoon and only went for about half an hour, but it cooled off for the rest of the day. So much so that I wasn't sweating at all for the last few hours of the day, which is an amazing accomplishment here. And my shower, well, if you can call dumping water on yourself from a bucket a shower, was actually a little bit cold at first, but then I got used to the water again. The showers usually aren't bad, as we can't wait to just pour water on us as it's so hot, but last night I was a bit hesitant to do so at first but then I got over it. And I was able to go to sleep and stay asleep without feeling like I'm just laying there sweating through everything either. So it was a better night than most. I hope that it rains more often, which is will once monsoon season comes, but I would like for it to rain more before then.

Sorry for the short post today, not a lot going on. But some days will be like that, which is okay. Not everything in life has to be a race. Which is something that I can live with.

Talk to you soon,

Ashley