This past week and a half has been the best week ever. There's a LOT that has happened, so I'm going to get right to it.
Starting last Sunday, Alex, Rad, Athidi and I indulged in a much-too-fancy lunch at the Hilton hotel. It cost US $30, which is much too expensive for a meal anywhere in India (though probably still much cheaper than if we were actually state-side). Here's a picture of us at lunch.
After lunch, we went to the rooftop and just hung out for a bit. You can see Alex is enjoying himself (and relaxed) for sure!
The next day we rode the bus home again. I ended up taking a bunch of pictures, but here's one I took once we got off the bus. I like it because it not only has the cow, but also the shadows of all three of us.
Later that night, the McGill interns invited us out to dinner on the town. It was Malavika's birthday (back left - across from me). We went to this pretty hip restaurant at Zara's. I forgot to mention, but both places (Hilton and Zara's) had an abundance of white people. Here's a pic of our group!
The next day was supposed to be just another day at the office, but turned out to be quite an immersive experience. It started out relatively normal, with us finishing up our answer guides for standard 7. I got bored at around noon, though, and went outside to hang out with a guy named Raju. He was cleaning his bike and we just sort of chatted. I get the feeling that most of them (especially the young guys, like him) silently make fun of us (in jest) because they will randomly look at us, say something in Tamil, and burst out in laughter. And they never tell us why when we ask. But they're all very nice to us. I ended up being invited to join in their lunch circle, which felt great! Unfortunately, Athidi is pretty poor at taking pictures (seriously, Athidi?), but that's me hidden on the right side of the picture, drinking a bottle of water in white shorts.
After the impromptu lunch (the only food I had was offered to me by others in the circle!), Athidi, Radhika, Sandeep (who is a 16 year old Tamilian soon-to-be senior in hs from Arizona) went to this super-cool restaurant called Sanjeevanam. The reason it was so cool is that it only serves Ayurvedic food!! It was a great experience. It was a ton of food, though, but most of it was pretty good. Here's a few pics!
The last picture is the menu.
One of the last portions of our meal was honey. They poured it on your hand and you licked it off - see above.
Unfortunately, the forced us to use our hands. I'm not all that skilled in that technique yet.
After we got back to the office, there were more surprises in waiting. We were about to leave for the day, when Srinivasan Uncle stopped me and showed me all these hats he could make with just one newspaper. It was amazing! And it felt great because I was being included in something that the locals were doing. Here's a few pics.
After our bus ride home, we decided to grab some coconut water, which tasted great as always. Rad doesn't love it, though so only Athidi and I got one. Unfortunately, there was no scraps inside of our coconut, only water. It tasted great though!
In a magician's act, there are always three parts. The Pledge and the Turn are the lead-up to the best part of the show, the reason you go to the show. These three or four days described above are simply the lead up to what I will describe next, The Prestige. You shouldn't have started clapping yet - I've only made the pigeon disappear. Soon, I will bring it back and then you will clap. The Prestige is soon to come.
Starting last Sunday, Alex, Rad, Athidi and I indulged in a much-too-fancy lunch at the Hilton hotel. It cost US $30, which is much too expensive for a meal anywhere in India (though probably still much cheaper than if we were actually state-side). Here's a picture of us at lunch.
After lunch, we went to the rooftop and just hung out for a bit. You can see Alex is enjoying himself (and relaxed) for sure!
The next day we rode the bus home again. I ended up taking a bunch of pictures, but here's one I took once we got off the bus. I like it because it not only has the cow, but also the shadows of all three of us.
Later that night, the McGill interns invited us out to dinner on the town. It was Malavika's birthday (back left - across from me). We went to this pretty hip restaurant at Zara's. I forgot to mention, but both places (Hilton and Zara's) had an abundance of white people. Here's a pic of our group!
The next day was supposed to be just another day at the office, but turned out to be quite an immersive experience. It started out relatively normal, with us finishing up our answer guides for standard 7. I got bored at around noon, though, and went outside to hang out with a guy named Raju. He was cleaning his bike and we just sort of chatted. I get the feeling that most of them (especially the young guys, like him) silently make fun of us (in jest) because they will randomly look at us, say something in Tamil, and burst out in laughter. And they never tell us why when we ask. But they're all very nice to us. I ended up being invited to join in their lunch circle, which felt great! Unfortunately, Athidi is pretty poor at taking pictures (seriously, Athidi?), but that's me hidden on the right side of the picture, drinking a bottle of water in white shorts.
After the impromptu lunch (the only food I had was offered to me by others in the circle!), Athidi, Radhika, Sandeep (who is a 16 year old Tamilian soon-to-be senior in hs from Arizona) went to this super-cool restaurant called Sanjeevanam. The reason it was so cool is that it only serves Ayurvedic food!! It was a great experience. It was a ton of food, though, but most of it was pretty good. Here's a few pics!
The last picture is the menu.
Unfortunately, the forced us to use our hands. I'm not all that skilled in that technique yet.
After we got back to the office, there were more surprises in waiting. We were about to leave for the day, when Srinivasan Uncle stopped me and showed me all these hats he could make with just one newspaper. It was amazing! And it felt great because I was being included in something that the locals were doing. Here's a few pics.
After our bus ride home, we decided to grab some coconut water, which tasted great as always. Rad doesn't love it, though so only Athidi and I got one. Unfortunately, there was no scraps inside of our coconut, only water. It tasted great though!
In a magician's act, there are always three parts. The Pledge and the Turn are the lead-up to the best part of the show, the reason you go to the show. These three or four days described above are simply the lead up to what I will describe next, The Prestige. You shouldn't have started clapping yet - I've only made the pigeon disappear. Soon, I will bring it back and then you will clap. The Prestige is soon to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment