Live Fish Pedicures and The Fault in Our Stars!

Hi again...sorry that my last post had some negative vibes coming from it. I didn't mean to be negative, I just wasn't very happy nor very occupied with my time, so it all came out badly. But I promise that this post will be much happier! Much much happier! :)

So, happiness number 1: I got a live fish pedicure last week! And it was pretty funny! Let me explain why. What happens, with a live fish pedicure is that you go to the salon, and you have to roll up your leggings (because that's really all people wear here instead of pants), wash off your feet and remove all jewelry. The "removing of jewelry" part was a bit more complicated for me as I have anklets on that are harder to get off than normal. So, after a bit of struggle to remove said anklets, I then had to walk over to where the fish tank was and then stick my feet in the water.

Now picture this, you see the tank of fish, and they're little fish, almost like the minnows you would see in a river or a creek. You stick your feet in the water and they literally swarm your feet. And it TICKLES!!! Holy
crap does it tickle. Like, someone grabbed your feet and just started dragging their fingers along the bottoms of your feet. Only it's just to the point where you can stand it, you just giggle and laugh a lot.

So yes, the fish swarmed and tickled and made my feet wonderfully smooth. It was kind of cool. They just ate the dead skin cells off my feet and it was a pretty cool experience. Is it one that I would do again? Probably not. Was it worth it to do just this once? Hecka yes!

Also, while I was at the salon, I got my eyebrows threaded. Now that was interesting. I actually liked that more than I do plucking my own eyebrows. You literally just sit back while a woman takes a thread and just pulls the hair using the string somehow, I have no idea how, and your eyebrows look amazing afterwards. Like, really amazing!

Funny story though, all while I was there, I had several of the Indian ladies asking me if I wanted a wax, once they saw how hairy my arms were. I would kindly say "no, thank you." and they would just give me this funny look, like "are you sure?" It's like they almost didn't believe me. But yeah, I'm totally fine with my hairy arms. Having smooth arms kind of freaks me out. I shaved them once, in like 7th grade. Never. Again.

So there are those things. Happy thing number 2: I just saw "The Fault in Our Stars"!!! And it was amazing and I want to own that movie! So good! So, for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, let me educate you for just a little bit.

"The Fault in Our Stars" is an amazing book written by the also amazing author, John Green. It's this amazing
love story between two cancer patients, yes, it sounds cheesy, but it is NOT. It's extremely well-written and one of my favourite books ever! So, when I heard that the movie adaption for this book would be premiering on June 6th, I was estatic, as I was/am in India, so I would be able to see it when it premiered. Now imagine my disappointment when I look on the website for the premiere date, and see that there is none. No premiere date for India. Anywhere, in India, for that matter. I was really disappointed. But I got over it, told myself that I would see it when I got back home, so it gave me something to look forward to when I come home. Then imagine my surprise, when last Saturday, Jeannie, the wife of Stephen, the only other anthropologist on this study abroad, showed us that "The Fault in Our Stars" was now playing in theatres. Jamie and I got so excited that we immediately made plans to go and watch it this Monday, which was yesterday. And let me tell you, I am so glad that it did decide to come to India. It was an amazing movie, and I was teary and cried for about half of it. And I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Yep, those have been my happy things of this past week. And they have been wonderful. All that I've really been doing now is just typing up my notes from interviews, and just making sure everything is ready to go for our trip up North. Yep, we leave this coming Sunday for North India and I am so excited! It's going to be great! And I'll be sure to take lots and lots of pictures, cross my heart. :)

Talk to you soon,
Ashley

Trunky Feelings and Telugu

You know it's been either a very boring week or a very exciting week if I'm writing twice in the same of a few days...I'll let you guys try and guess which it is.

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Time's up! Guess what? Those of you that said boring, you win virtual cookies and my my adamant sympathies for playing my game...I'm really this bored.

I'm also getting slightly trunky. Trunky as I want to get home really soon. I would love to be home right now. I have learned a lot about myself while I've been here in India, but I've also learned that I would love to be home right now. I miss my home. My work has slowed down a bit, I haven't had a interview in a few days, and I haven't been doing much of my work. This is not a good thing, as that means that I am falling behind in what I should be doing. But I seem to have lost a little bit of my enthusiasm for doing my work. This. Is. Bad. I need something to spark my interest in my work again and I really have no idea what to do. Maybe I should buy another movie to watch that has Hindu marriage ceremonies. I have already bought one and watched it. It was pretty good to watch actually. Slightly cheesy, but good. It made me smile and laugh and react to the people in the movie.

I can actually tell you how bored I have been these past few days. I've been watching a lot of youtube videos. More than I usually would, especially when I only have so much data on my Internet stick that I use here to have Internet on my laptop. There is this girl, her channel is called NerdyandQuirky, and she is HILARIOUS! Her and the Vlogbrothers have been awesome now. And I have just been fricken' LAZY these past few days. One way I know that I am super lazy right now is because I have a Telugu quiz in the morning (hence, the second half of my title today) and I. Am. Not. Studying. I'm horrid. I should be studying, I shouldn't be on my blog, creating a new blog post, and I definitely shouldn't be watching youtube videos. Yet, what is it that I am doing? I'm creating a new blog post and watching youtube. I fail at this part of life right now. Horribly.

And this is Mumuksha. I love this kid!
I seemed to have become a backup baby-sitter
for him this past little while, which I do not mind
AT ALL! Love this little boy!

Good news though, due to my trunkiness, I know how many days I have left here in India. I have literally 30 days left here in India. Yes, this sounds like I have a lot of time left, and I keep telling myself "You can do that later, you still have a long time before you go home, just enjoy your time here." and yet, another day will go by and I haven't really done anything of note. It just may be that I have gotten used to being in India and so I no longer feel the need to wander around my neighborhood, or go do things, or anything else like that. And that it just a horrible attitude for me to be taking! You want to know why?! Because who know when I'll ever be in India again?! I should be out in the world doing things that I won't have the chance to do again. But what do I do? I sit my apartment all day, reading my Nook. This just may be because I've hit a rut and I'm being really lazy and just really don't want to do anything. This is also a horrid excuse. I shouldn't need excuses as to why I haven't done anything that would be a good memory or something that I can tell my family I have done when I get back to the U.S.

Alright, I will say this about my time here. I haven't completely wasted my time here. I have done some really cool and crazy things, like riding in a rickshaw (which people call "autos" here), as well as ride on the back of a scooter. I have never done that in the U.S. I have also learned how to bargin, at least a little bit. The reason I have learned how to bargin is that you have to bargin for rickshaws in order to, you know, not get completely ripped off for being a white person. Also, another cool little fact that I have learned about myself and talking with Indians here. I apparently look like an Indian. Like, if I could actually speak Telugu or Hindi, I would blend right in. Sadly, I do not speak any of these languages...so I don't blend in. Well, I do, but then I open my mouth and English just pours out of my mouth.

A girl who helped me with an interview. Her name is
Srisha. She's a great girl!

Wow...this was just a weird...weird post. I'm again sorry to those of you who actually read this, there's just no rhyme or reason to what it was that I was trying to say or write here. But good news, there is something of an actual update in here, somewhere. So yeah...enjoy your reading and enjoy your summer, where ever my wonderful readers are!

Talk to you soon,
Ashley

Again...It's Been a While

Yes, yes, I know...I know...I've been crappy at keeping up with this blog, but give me some slack. I've been writing in my journal that I have here in India with me, as well as writing up field notes, so I may not always write to write again online. So yeah, just deal. Anyway, just want to let you all know that I am indeed alive and that this past week has been great actually. And I'll tell you why. :)

I haven't gotten a lot of interviews this week, but those that I have gotten have been so full of information and so amazing and just interesting! that I don't regret not having a lot to do. Relatively speaking anyway. I still have a lot to do, but it's just been so interesting and just so amazing!

Just some thoughts though, that I think I at least need to write down. First things first, leaving in another country...it's a bit like madness! Such a different culture, different food, and just everything is different. But it's a good thing, it's been stretching my mind as well as my opening my mind to other things that I would have never expected in this life. Don't get me wrong, this is a great experience! This has been an excellent experience for me and I am lucky and happy to have done this! Wow...so many exclamation points....

Thought number two: sometimes, there are personalities that don't quite mesh together the way that people want them too. Yes, these people can be the nicest, kindest, more adorable people in the world, but there's just something about them that will rub you wrong. And you have no idea what it is, but they will just rub you wrong. It can, and is, super annoying to deal with it. That's the thing about this Study Abroad for me. I have learned that there some very annoying people in the world, and you just have to deal with it. Even if that very annoying person is yourself. And it has been me, I can tell that I have been very annoying at times, as well as been very annoyed at others. I will say this though, I have learned how to better work with others, at least a little bit.

And my last thought: I have a little over 4 weeks left. I am ecstatic that I will soon be home with Richard and my friends again, but I am also a little sad that I will be leaving those people that I have made friends with here as well. Like the girls in the house, Durga, Gowri, and Sailaja. They have become my friends and I don't want to leave them. And I can't forget Mumuksha. He's Durga's baby boy and I have grown so attached to that little boy that it's going to be hard to leave. It's one thing to say that I'll be a little glad to leave India. It's a completely different thing to say that I'll be glad to leave these wonderful people behind, which I won't be. I feel like I've come to know them in such a way that I don't want to leave them. But I'll have to. This chapter of my life will be closing soon and so I'll have to. This has been an amazing chapter!

I know that I sounded really depressing just now, but trust me, I'm not. I glad to have been able to come to India and to experience something that will both further the use of my education as well as make me a better person in general. At least, I hope that is what will happen.

Talk to you soon,
Ashley

Indian Movie Theaters

Yes, movie theaters here are amazing as there is air conditioning! Hallu-fricken'-lulla! Anyway, I will explain why I am talking about Indian movie theaters today.

The reasons for today's topic is that we went to see a movie today and this has been our third one since we've been here. There are some interesting differences between movie theaters here, and movie theaters in America, and this is the reason why I'm writing about this. We had gone to see How to Train a Dragon 2, and it was really good. We've also seen a Telugu movie called Manam. I recommend that you try to and find some way to watch it. And we had watched in Telugu without English subtitles, so we were unable to understand the more complex implications due to the language barrier, but we could get the basic idea of what was going on thanks to wonderful acting, body language, and many other things. So, yes...try and watch this movie! The first movie that we had actually watched here was the last X-Men movie that came out around the end of May, X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Now, first things first. You know how movies, in the past, were really long and a big event and you had intermissions and things like that? That had carried on here in India. Movies here, no matter the length, have intermissions. We didn't know this! We were watching X-Men, and it was at a really great part, it was building up to the climax of the movie! And...the movie stopped, the lights came up, and people started moving around and started talking a bit. We all, at first, thought that the power had gone out and the back-up generators had kicked in, as by this time we were used to the power going out. But then people started to talk even more and going out in droves! We were so CONFUSED!!! But then we realized that people were coming back, and that people didn't seem at all worried, and that's when it kicked in that we were in an intermission. We had never experienced an intermission...in a movie theater...ever! So, that was definitely something that was new and interesting to experience here about movie theaters.

Another thing, Indians here are very concerned about the dangers of smoking and alcohol. Like, really concerned! When when watching X-Men, you know how Wolverine smokes cigars so much? Well, everything he did, a big sign would show up on the bottom of the screen saying "Smoking/tobacco use is injurious to health." This also doesn't happen in the United States, and it was just really interesting to see that happen. This also happened in Manam, when there was drinking going on the screen, a small series of words in Telugu would show up in the lower left-hand corner basically saying "drinking alcohol is injurious to health." This also doesn't show up in American movies, but I think that these two things should be considered for American movies, if only in small letters in bottom corner of the screen.

Oh! and getting into the movie is process as well. You head into the movie theater, and you have to be screened, to make sure you not carrying any dangerous objects. Or cameras for that matter. And you know how here in America, you not supposed to sneak food into the movie theater but the majority of people do anyway? Well, that would not fly here. Your bags are checked and so there is no sneaking in food...not all at.

So yeah, that's all I basically wanted to talk about, the basic differences of Indian movie theaters vs. American movie theaters and it's all very interesting. Just some things to think about.

Talk to you soon,
Ashley

Marriage and Dating...What Can I Say?

Yes, I doing marriage and dating as my blog topic today, but for a really good reason, I promise.

So, as you should all know by now, I'm in India. Without my husband no less. Now there are two more girls that are also without their husbands. For the last bit, there is a married couple here that are here. Now, so we have three single members, a girl with a boyfriend, and all the rest of us who are married. My research deals a lot with marriage, as I am studying marriage traditions of the castes here and so this will sometimes lead to my informants telling me about how they met their prospective husbands/wives. Something that you should know about the culture of India is that there is no socially sanctioned form of "dating" here. Like, you do not date. That is not what you do in order to decide if you want to marry someone. Your parents will arrange who you will marry, and for the most part, you will not know who that person until you are married.

So, Oliver, one of the single guys here, we've been teasing about having Rajalakshmi match him for a Hindu marriage while he is here. We only do this because we get such a great reaction out of him and he'll play along with it too, it's great! Anyway, as we were doing this today, the subject of dating came up and then Westen started asking Rajalakshmi about how love marriages came about, so I got called in to handle this part of the subject, due to my previous research as well as the few interviews that I got before I changed my subject. I'll have to say...no matter what I said, they were confused on how people got to know each other before they got married, especially with love marriages. But I explained to the best of my ability, and they seemed intrigued by the idea that there was no dating here in India. It's socially forbidden to do so.

Comparing this idea to what it is we do in America, it is two VERY different worlds of love. Here, in America, we date, we hang out, we do so many things! just to find the one person that we could find that we could picture ourselves living with the rest of the our lives. It's an interesting concept, when you think about it. We, as humans in America, do these strange activities with other members of our own species in order to figure out if we want to, basically, mate with them. In India, the parents choose who you will mate and then the deal is sealed. Done and done. There's not a big fuss made out of it, they agree to the marriage and the marriage is set and then they get married.

I know that this may seem like a strange topic for today, to reflect on marriage and dating. Forgive me though, with me missing Richard as well as talking about marriage and dating and then having several girls here without their husbands and then a married couple. All on one trip. Marriage and dating comes up a lot with us.

Talk to you soon,
Ashley

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!

Temple Complex, Construction, and Holy Crap! I'm 22 years old... O.o

So, I need to write about two adventures today, so that I'm somewhat caught up in my telling.

So, yesterday, we were actually allowed to go to a temple complex. It's basically a place where there are a lot of

shrines to many of the Hindu gods and goddess. It was interesting to visit and to participate in some of the receiving of the blessings as well as spiritual in it's own way. I may sound slightly condescending when I say it like that, but it's true. All religions have a piece of the truth, and I could definitely feel it in that complex. It was just kind of cool to see how much those that were with us, like Krishnayya-garu, Sallaja, Siddu, and Mahdu, how worshipful they were, even if the ritual there didn't make sense to us. It made sense to them and they believed it with all their heart. It made me look at the way that I worship my own religion. Am I as diligent as I should be? Or can I do better in my own worship to God? Wow...that's deep, even for this blog.

Anyway, that was yesterday, not a lot happened after that. I got my first interview actually. So that was good, I just need to transcribe it and set it down on paper...electronically at least. :)

And today was actually a pretty relaxing day. We had breakfast and Telugu class like always, but the health students actually had a trip to a government hospital planned today. As I had my first interview yesterday, as well as some other transcripitions that I needed to get caught up on, I had decided to stay behind. But I wasn't able to get much done, for as soon as I came back to my apartment to work on my laptop, the power here went out. And it stayed out for about three hours! I only had a few minutes worth of time on laptop, so I could only get a few minutes written up as well. I soon shut down my laptop and just read a book on my Nook for the next few hours, hoping that the power would come back on but it didn't. I soon go hot enough to just go outside where there was a breeze at least. It was at this point that I started to watch the construction that is going on across the street from my apartment. It was actually quite interesting to watch and compare it to American forms of construction. For one thing, the majority of the the mixing of the individual parts of concrete are done by hand. They have huge piles of gravel and sand piled in the streets and they cart about 3-4 boxes of both into the concrete mixer a long with a bag of the concrete binder. This then has water tossed into it as it's being mixed. All of this is basically being done by hand. Once it's mixed enough, it's dumped into a bin that would then take it up to the top floor, where they are laying the next floor of the apartment building. What is also interesting to note is that the workers are allowed to work in short skirts and men's button up shirts for the women, and t-shirts and shorts of the men. No one in the higher castes are allowed to do this. It's said that the more skin you show, the lower your caste, as that means you perform manual labour. It's part of the reason we're not allowed to wear shorts here. But to my reckoning, the lower caste have the better part of the deal when it comes to heat. They're at least allowed to wear shorts. I'll hopefully be able to get pictures tomorrow. I was stupid enough to not take any today while I was observing...

After I watched that for a while, I then headed to the house to read John Adams a book Oliver lent me to read about the life of John Adams, obviously, the second President of the United States. It's really interesting, but I'm having a hard time focusing on it. This was around the time the others came back, in which we then had lunch and just lazed around for about an hour. Luckily the power came back on, so I was able to plug in my laptop to charge for the afternoon. After we had all eaten and relaxed, it was time to go out and purchase food for my birthday dinner. My friends here, the health students, helped me celebrate my birthday today. It was nice to have someone to celebrate it with, as I can't be with you this year. But yeah, we went to a grocery store to pick up cheese, salsa, and corn for Navajo tacos, and then we went to a bookstore. That was part of my birthday wish: a bookstore and chocolate cake. Once we got back, I started reading one of my new books, called The Temporal Man by Micheal Crition. It was really interesting. I wasn't really allowed to help with my dinner, which was kind of nice. Kendra, Jamie, Oliver, Westen, and Lizze all helped cook Navajo tacos for dinner. And Krishnayya-garu had gotten me a chocolate cake! All in all, it was a pretty good day. :)

Talk to you soon,

Ashley

P.S. I'll post pictures from my birthday soon, promise!