An Indian Rosh Hashanah

This post is very late but I've been waiting for the pictures to go along with it and haven't been able to get them until now.

At the end of September I celebrated a very sweet Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) in India. After our first term exams ended, we had a ten day vacation from school. AFS planned a trip to a North-Western city called Ahmedabad for four days, and since my host mom and brothers were going to Kerala (a neighboring state) for a wedding, I spent the first four days of holiday at my host mom's older brother's house. I had a fun time with my host Uncle, Aunt, Grandmother, and two cousins Shruti and Sona. I mostly just relaxed and read books, as Shruti and Sona were still in school.

A traditional part of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) is a round Challah (traditional bread). The problem was that most Indian families don't have ovens, since most food here is cooked on stove tops. The ovens that do appear in homes here tend to be mistaken for microwaves by foreigners like me--in fact, many Indian ovens actually double as microwaves. My Aunt and Uncle don't have any kind of oven or microwave in their house, so I went to fellow YES Abroad student Cee's house to bake Challah and celebrate Rosh Hashanah!

I'm glad to report that my first time baking in an Indian oven was very successful! I'll admit that I was a little skeptical that the microwave sitting on the counter was also actually an oven, but it actually worked out really well. When everything was ready, we had grape juice, apples and honey, and the Challah, and I said the traditional prayers and lit the candles. These are all traditional elements of a Rosh Hashanah dinner. Challah should be round on Rosh Hashanah to represent the round year. Apples, which are round like the year, and honey, which is sweet, are eaten together to represent a sweet new year. Afterwards, I went home and did the same thing with my host grandmother, aunt and cousins. Although I didn't get to hear the shofar, I had a great Indian Rosh Hashanah, and I got to welcome in the new year not just once, but twice, with two wonderful families.

Me braiding the Challah

Cee's host mom cutting apples for apples and honey

Cee braiding a Challah for the first time!

Challah, grape juice, and Shabbas candles

I'd say the Challah came out pretty well!

My First Indian Wedding

The wedding actually happened ages ago, but I haven't had a chance to write about it. It was my friend Nut's host mom's cousin's daughter's wedding. She generously invited all of the AFS students so that we could experience an Indian wedding!

The morning of the wedding, I got suitably dressed up (maybe a little too dressed up for my taste, but this is India...) I was getting a ride with Tenaya (exchange student from Seattle) and her host siblings, since we live very close to each other. The funny thing was that her host sister thought she knew where we were going, but when we walked into the wedding hall, we soon realized that we were at the wrong wedding! Luckily, no one really noticed. The wedding ceremony is very long, so while it is taking place, everyone besides the immediate family and friends just sit or stand around and talk. Tenaya's host brother said it's not a big deal to walk into a random wedding, but it looks very rude to walk out. As you can see, that caused us something of a dilemma, since we were already late for the other wedding. Eventually we just explained the situation to the guard at the door and tried to leave without anyone noticing.

When we arrived at the right wedding, the ceremony was taking place on a stage at the back of a long room. Our friends and Nut's family were up on the stage already. As we were taking our shoes off at the edge of the stage, about to go up the steps to greet everyone, we started wondering why there was a guy pointing a huge video camera at us. Just as Tenaya and I started to discuss this, we looked behind us to see the bride and her procession about to come up the stairs! We dashed out of the way, trying to look inconspicuous pressed against the wall, and hoping that no one would notice anything funny in the wedding video...

The wedding was very interesting. It was a love marriage and the groom was from another state called Kerala (pronounced Care-la). The bride was from here in Tamil Nadu. In the U.S., it is normally assumed that a marriage will be a love marriage, unless the family has roots in another culture where arranged marriages are practiced. Here, (or at least in this part of India), love marriages are specifically identified as such. Only a few of my friends parents have had love marriages. If someone mentions a love marriage, everyone wants to know how they met. My friend Lavanya is half Australian, and to say that she is tired of telling the story of how her parents met would be a huge understatement.

Indian weddings are very elaborate and there are many rituals involved. The days before the actual wedding are also filled with ceremonies, such as the Henna ceremony, where everyone gets fancy henna designs on their hands and feet and dances. The wedding takes places in the morning, and the reception takes place that night. The reception is basically where the couple takes pictures with all the guests and receives presents, and everyone eats.

Marriages differ a lot from one part of India to another. At this wedding, traditions from Kerala and Tamil Nadu were woven together. We got to try food from Kerala. I noticed that almost every single dish was made with coconut, which was fun, since I love coconut! I asked my friend Shruty about it at school since her mom is Malyalam (a Malyalam is someone from Kerala) and she told me that Kerala is famous for coconut.

All in all the wedding was a lot of fun! Sorry for the late report!

P.S.
I've been meaning to mention, because I wrote about Anjali (the maid close to my age) earlier on my blog, that she is no longer working for my family. She is getting married in a few months.

Kodaikanal and Raksha Bandan

Last week we had a four day weekend. Friday was a special Hindu puja (ritual) and Monday the 15th was Indian Independence Day. We decided to take a trip to my host family's farm house in a hill station called Kodaikanal. Since I've been here, people keep talking about hill stations, and no one was able to really explain what they were. I guess they thought it would be too obvious to just say a hill station is a town on top of a mountain, which is what it turns out to be! They are popular vacation spots because they are a nice escape from Southern Indian heat due to the altitude. This particular hill station is seven hours south of Chennai. I was in high spirits as we drove hour after hour through cities, towns, villages, and empty land. At the bottom of the mountain, we stopped in the town for lunch, and I ate off of a banana leaf, which is the traditional way of eating here, for the first time. On the way up, we stopped to eat fresh jackfruit, or jaggery. Jackfruits are huge and round, with rather spiky outsides. Each one is more than a foot long. You have to cut open the fruit, hollow out the sticky inside, and cut off the seeds which come out of the "shell". Each seed is encased by the part that you eat. There was a woman running a small stand cutting jackfruit and putting on a plate for us to eat. We stood there for a while eating jackfruit and enjoying the light rain.

When we got to the top, we started driving through one of the most adorable towns I've ever seen. Kodaikanal is a small but bustling town nestled in the sharp hills of the top of a mountain.  It is actually quite chilly there, even for a Vermonter like me. On the other hand, it may have just felt especially cold because I had been getting used to South India heat for about six weeks. After we came back down from the mountain, the heat felt twice as hot.

My host family's farm house is a cute cottage with a great view of the surrounding mountains. Sometimes it gets so misty there you can barely see. Next to the house is another small cottage. The family who lives there takes care of my host family's house, and the mother cooks for us.

Because it was raining a lot of the time, we only went out one day. Mostly we just relaxed and played. There was a small yard where we played with a frisbee I had brought from home, an idea suggested to me by who else but my dad, an avid frisbee player. The frisbee was a huge hit with the two sons of the couple who takes care of the house. I didn't ask them how old they were, but I think they were around seven and ten. The younger one especially loved playing monkey in the middle with the frisbee. He would come find me with the frisbee in hand and beg "Akka, game!". "Akka" means older sister in Tamil, but it is not just used for an actual sister. It is also a respectful way to call a girl or woman who is older than you but not old enough to be your Aunty. Little kids at school will call "Hi Akka!" or "Akka, what's your name?" or "Akka, will you be my friend?".

I hadn't seen green grass since coming here, so I shocked my host uncle by taking off my sandals and going barefoot, as the two young boys were doing. It was so nice to feel the fresh grass under my feet again. It was sweet to see how much their father enjoyed watching us all play together. He would just stand at the window watching us and smiling. In the end, I gave them the frisbee, since they liked it so much. I told them that when I came back we would play together again.

The Saturday that we spent in Kodaikanal was a holiday called Raksha Bandan. It celebrates the relationship between brothers and sisters, specifically the protective nature of that relationship. I did the ritual with each of my host brothers. I also did the ritual with my host uncle, Bubesh "Bubee", who we call "Anna" (brother) because he is in his twenties and he doesn't want us to call him uncle because it makes him feel old. We put a variety of things on a tray, including incense and a candle. I first waved the tray around their faces in a circle to bless them. Then I took rice mixed with water and a red powder and drew a line on their foreheads. In return, they sprinkled rice on my head. I then gave them each a piece of chocolate and tied a special bracelet called raki on his right hand. At the end, they each gave me a gift.

We came back from Kodaikanal very late Monday night. Since we were all pretty tired and my host brother Sanjay was sick, we decided to sleep in and take Tuesday off. I didn't go to school much that week...Monday was a holiday, we took Tuesday off, and Thursday I went to a wedding. More about that later!    

Photos and Videos

I have a few new videos on my youtube blog:

Fun in school: meet a few of my friends:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4OCMw9v_w4

I convinced my host brother to do this video in exchange for me buying him a cookie at school. He goes around doing this in the house, especially the "Michael Jackson" dance and then "rooster."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQoUNxg6WVQ

Also, I have made some of my videos private. I feel strange putting up videos of my host family and their house on youtube. You can still watch them by following the links.

A tour of the house: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXq0ldwgZZQ
Introduction to the family part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52wxpoYFtR0&feature=related

Here are some photos. There are more on facebook, but I know not all of you have facebook, so I posted some here.

With my friends Nandhini (left) and Nut (right). They weren't wearing their uniforms because they were marching in the parade, called "March Past." I was a volunteer, so I had to wear the white uniform.

With my friend Kritika. She is so sweet. Her family is from Chennai, but she grew up in a different part of India, in the North. She just moved back to study here a month ago, and is living with her aunt and uncle. Because my class section is the last one, most of the students in my class are new to the school this year. Also, because of the curriculum system here, students have to be in the same school for 11th and 12th grade, but many start new schools in 11th grade. Also, a lot of the students in my class are from different parts of India, or some of them are technically from Chennai but have lived in other places.

This is my host family!!! On the left is my host uncle. He is my host mom's younger brother (we would say cousin, but they call it a brother here). Next is my lovely host mom, Sujatha. On the right is my host mom's business partner who is pretty much part of the family. His name is Anbu.

This is the founder of my school. Her name is Meena, but we call her Meena Aunty.

A month in India....I can't believe it!

How To Write A Blog...

I mentioned in my last post that I have no idea how to go about writing a blog. I just wanted to point out a few things about the nature of this blog. One thing we learned a lot about in orientations was "the ups and downs of being an exchange student." We were told again and again that it is normal as an exchange student to experience extreme highs and lows as we deal with the challenges and successes of living in and adapting to a new culture. Please understand that whatever I write is coming from wherever I am in the particular moment that I write the post, and does not necessarily sum up my experience here. As for what to write, I have read some of the past blogs of YES students and I think I should include a combination of events as well as descriptions of India and Indian culture...which leads me to my next point...

In my last post, I did not just write about events, I attempted to touch on some aspects of Indian culture and society. I would just like to clarify that I am completely aware that I barely understand these myself. As I mentioned before, even beginning to understand the deeper aspects of this culture will take time. My only qualification to try to write about things which I don't even understand is that I am a student of Indian culture seeking to make people who read this blog back home also students of Indian culture. Through this blog, I hope we can learn about India together.

An Update of Recent Events:

Model UN
I mentioned in my last post that I participated in my school's Model UN. It was a big event, as we hosted students from other schools as well as many from our own. I represented Libya in Security Council. I did my best, and I ended up getting a special mention award in my committee, as well as recognition at the closing ceremony for doing well as an exchange student who had prepared under short notice.

Hospital
Yes, I was in the hospital for two nights. It wasn't anything serious, though.  I just had some kind of food poisoning which led to stomach troubles, dehydration and a fever. I'm fine now, though.

School Culturals
Schools here have intercultural competitions for all types of disciplines which they call "culturals". They have been going on for a couple of weeks but are almost over now, I think. They compete in dance, singing, acting, cooking, Henna art, trivia, fashion, sports, and much more. My school took the three of us AFS students, (Jenny, Nut from Thailand, and myself) just for the experience to one of the culturals, although we weren't competing. It was a lot of fun. There were students from schools all over Chennai there.

School and Friends
Making friends at school has still been going well. I'm really enjoying meeting new people every day and getting to know everyone better. I tried to go to see Harry Potter with some of my friends, but we didn't book tickets in advance and couldn't get tickets that day. We ended up just going to the mall. We haven't had a chance to do anything else because we were so busy with the culturals and sports day, and our cycle tests start this week (a week of exams in each subject, which are a big part of our grade). School the past few days has consisted mainly of sitting and talking, since teachers haven't been teaching class because of the students missing for sports day practice. Sports day was this past Sunday. I'm went as a volunteer with some of my friends. We didn't have school Monday because of it, but we had a full day of school on Saturday. Something interesting about school is that sometimes the teachers don't show up to class or come and just give us a free block. Because we have 9 blocks a day and only five subjects, we might have a subject two or three times a day, so the teacher may decide not to teach during each block.

Sports Day 
Sports day was pretty fun. Our school has four houses: Ruby House, Pearl House, Emerald House, and Sapphire House. I am part of Ruby House. My 14-year-old host brother is the Vice Captain of Pearl House, which is a very respected position, especially for someone in 9th grade to have. He had to apply and go through an interview process to get it. Sports Day is a school competition between the houses, as well as just an all-around huge event. The best part were the a presentations. There were a whole series of dances and two yoga pieces presented to the Chief Guest, the school principal, and Meena Aunty (the founder of the school) by students. As I mentioned before, I was a volunteer. The day before Sports Day (Saturday, we had school), a teacher came into our class and recruited five of us to be VIP volunteers. It seemed exciting at the time and my friend kept saying "Yay, we were promoted to VIP Volunteers!". We were in charge of serving refreshments and presenting gifts to the people of honor at the ceremony, namely the Chief Guest, the school principal, and "our beloved Meena Aunty," the founder of the school. That part was exciting, as I got to present flowers to the Chief Guest. And then we got to watch the dance presentations from close up. But after that, we were working hard the whole day, and laughing at ourselves for being excited at the "promotion." Our job was to keep people from walking in front of where the honored guests were sitting, which was basically impossible because it was the only way past. All in all it was a fun day, though. I did take pictures, but I took them on my friend Kritika's camera because mine is still broken. Either she or I will post them on facebook soon.

I got my first sunburn during sports day. My host mom had warned me to put on sunscreen even in cloudy weather, but I completely forgot. That morning we were running late, the sky was full of clouds, and it was drizzling--I didn't even think of putting on sunscreen. After only five hours outside on a cloudy day, I was so surprised to look in the mirror and see my nose, cheeks, and forehead completely red! It was a little amusing to see people's reactions here. They have heard of sunburns I guess, but have never actually seen one or gotten one. When my ten-year-old host brother Hashish came up to my room to get me for lunch after we got home, I casually remarked "I got a sunburn." He stared at my face for a second before turning around and running down the stairs yelling "Ma! Ma! Zoe has a sunburn!!!" At school people kept asking if I had been to the doctor yet. I explained that it was perfectly normal and it would go away in a few days. Today a few people were really freaked out because it was peeling a bit. I think they thought my skin was coming off.

Tamil Classes

I have now finished learning the 216 basic letters of Tamil! Of course, that's not including the other letters, like the Sanskrit letters. It's actually not as hard as it sounds, though. I can't remember if I explained this on my last post. There are 12 vowels, and 18 consonants (written letters, that is, there are many more sounds in the spoken language) which are combined to make syllables. But most of the vowels have specific add-ons to the consonants. For example, to make k into ki, it's almost the same as making m into mi. க் + இ = கி , ம் + இ = மி , ல் + இ = லி. But others are irregular: க் + உ = கு, ம் + உ = மு, ல் + உ + லு, ச + உ = சு 

Another Note....

Something sweet which happened recently was that Anjali, the maid here who is only two years older than me, was getting me a glass of water about a week ago, and as she gave it to me she pointed to me and then herself and said "friend?". And since then I guess we have "officially" been friends. I'm not exactly sure how to have a friend who does my laundry, cleans my room, braids my hair for school, serves me food, carries my backpack upstairs despite my protests, speaks a different language, randomly comes into my room without knocking and does things like rearranging my closet or redoing my hair, gets me anything I need, and oh, yeah, happens to be my family's maid....but I guess I have one!

Video Blog
I have also started a video blog of my year here. So far I have posted a few videos of sports day, a tour of my house, and an introduction to my host family. I have a few more to post in the next few days. I'll give the link to one of the videos and you can find the rest from my account, ZoeInIndia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6PuCS-Mikw

The picture above is from my first day in India, when we had our orientation. It is my whole AFS Chennai group except for two girls, Alessandra from Italy and Alexandra from Germany. From left to right are Edoardo "Edo" from Italy, Anastacia, Cee, Jenny, Tenaya, (me), Theresa "Resi" from Austria, and Warinthon "Nut" from Thailand. I have posted a few more pictures of our journey here on facebook.

Where to even begin???

I honestly have no idea where to begin in telling you all about my first two weeks in India. I guess this post will have to be a smattering of random things. Whatever I happen to think of while writing will be in this post. The rest can wait.

I arrived here exactly two weeks ago tonight. It feels both like a long time and a short time. Often I can't believe I'll be here for ten more months. And most of the time I can't believe I'm actually in India. Sometimes, as I watch the people around me go about their regular lives in a place that is so new to me, I get the funny feeling I've just dropped from the sky into a random scene. Sometimes I feel as if I'm in a whole different world. In our orientations, we learned about the "cultural iceberg." AFS uses an iceberg as a metaphor for culture, because you can only see the very tip of an iceberg above the water. 90% of it is hidden under the water. Also, icebergs are always moving and changing shape. Culture is similar in that there are certain things that are visible, but many things that are invisible. Tourists usually just see the tip of the iceberg. Someone who comes on a visit to India will notice the food, the clothing, the music, the dance, the literature, the art, and the holiday customs. I am here to learn about all that, but much more. I want to learn about the religious beliefs, the rules of social etiquette, the values, the work ethic, the child raising beliefs, the notion of friendship, why people act the way they do. Indian culture is very ancient, deep, complicated, and also fascinating, rich, and beautiful. People here interact differently, and communicate differently. They use different gestures. Tone of voice or facial expressions may be interpreted differently. There is a whole new set of social rules and norms to learn and follow. For example, you must not hand anyone anything, or take anything, with your left hand. You must do it with your right hand. And that rule is a very simple one to follow, because it can be vocalized and stated outright. One thing that has been strange for me is that you aren't supposed to say "thank-you" "please" or "sorry" to your family. The idea is that you are close enough that you shouldn't have to say thank-you, it is just understood that you want to do things for each other. Saying thank-you makes the situation more formal. You can show your appreciation by your facial expression, other words, and especially giving gifts in return. I have to bite my tongue every time my host mom does something for me, and I always feel so ungrateful not saying thank-you. I talked to her about it, and she promised to let me know if there is a time I should say thank-you and I don't, or I shouldn't and I do. Learning the deeper values and patterns of a culture takes time. It is hard sometimes to be patient, but then I remind myself that I've only just arrived here, and that I still have plenty of time to learn.
 
In spite of all these differences, though, once in a while I have to remind myself that I'm in India, because people are people wherever you go. Sometimes I'll be with my host family, or my friends at school, or my AFS coordinators, and think, isn't it amazing how people who live across the world from each other can be so similar? 

Host Family
My host family is wonderful. I really am very lucky to be hosted here. I have a host mother, Sujatha, and two host brothers, Sanjay (age 14) and Hashish (age 10). Their mother tongue is Telugu, but they also speak the local language, Tamil. There are almost always people at the house who are Tamil speakers, so I think they actually speak Tamil almost as much as Telugu.  My host mom has degrees in English, criminology, and business. She is an advocate lawyer. She also has an advirtisement company with her business partner. She is very independent, which I really admire. She told me that often women here may get educated, but they don't end up with careers, because they get married first. My host brothers are great. Sanjay, the elder one, is probably the more serious one. He is the vice captain of one of the four houses at school. Basically his favourite thing to do is play cricket. (I have to mention, before I forget, if I start writing with British spellings, please don't be alarmed. They use British English here, and I need to start spelling the way they do or I may get points taken off in English class). Hashish, the younger brother, is adorable. He loves video games and is very talkative. We also have three dogs, but I don't see them much, as they mostly stay outside in their pen. My host mom's business partner is often at the house, too. Her cousin-brother (my host mom's mom's sister's son is considered her brother, while her mom's brother's children are her cousins. It has to do with the bloodline changing) is staying in Chennai right now and comes over every day as well. His wife Lakshmi was visiting these past two weeks as well. She is so sweet. She's only 24. I spent a lot of time with her. She taught me some Tamil and did Henna (they call it Mehindi) on my hand.  

Class Divide
Although there is a growing middle class, there is a huge class divide in India. I must point out that I am living in a very luxurious lifestyle here. I hope my description of it is not uncomfortable for anyone to read, but it's been a big part of my experience so far. It certainly wasn't what I was expecting when I applied for the YES program! It's actually been harder for me to adapt to, I think. The house is very big. Most people live in flats in the city, but my host family has an individual house. There are three stories in the house. Everything is made out of marble (wood is unrealistic here because of the heat). I won't go into more detail about the house, except to say again that it is big. One of the strangest things for me here has been having servants in the house. My host family has three maids/cooks. I'm not sure exactly what their specific roles are. I also see other women cleaning at various times. They have a driver, and also a young man who takes care of household business stuff. Sometimes in the U.S., when people have people working in the house, it is more "hidden." They don't want the maid cleaning the bedroom while they are in it, for example. Here, the maids are always around. It's just part of the lifestyle. They actually live here. If someone wants something, they just call the maid and she will come do it. It's fine for them to be cleaning while you are right there. Before I came to India, some former exchange students explained to me that to some people it is looked upon as a responsibility here to have hired help if you can afford it, because you are providing respectable work to someone who might not have a job otherwise. Still, it's a strange adjustment for me. It also means that I can't do anything to help around here. And I often feel rather helpless, because if I do anything for myself, I'm taking away their job. I also don't want to offend them by doing things I shouldn't. They seem to feel that they're not taking care of me properly if I do things for myself (eg. open the fridge and get a class of juice instead of asking them for a glass of juice).

I am still working on adjusting the way I think and act to this new lifestyle. At first it was extremely awkward for me, and a lot of the time it still is, but I'm starting to ease into a more comfortable pattern. It's hard to explain, but I'll do my best. When Anandh, the driver, takes me somewhere, we listen to classical Tamil music together, because we can't really talk since he barely speaks English and I speak no Tamil at all. Anjali (pronounced UN-ja-lee), one of the maids/cooks, is only two years older than me. She is really sweet. I really want to learn Tamil so I can talk with her. We're getting better at communicating through gestures. At first we completely failed because our gestures were different. For example, one time I shrugged with my hands and she thought I was trying to give her a high five, which we ended up doing awkwardly. It was really funny. Whenever she sees me she goes "Zoe!" only she doesn't speak English so she pronounces it "Joey!". I really like getting to know her, but it doesn't make it less awkward when, for example, I'm eating breakfast and she's standing next to me just watching me in case I need anything.

I definitely feel like although this living situation was not what I was expecting, there is a lot to be gained and learned from experiencing this end of things in India, one of the fastest developing countries in the world. 

School
School is a lot of fun so far. I'm in 11th grade here, because all 12th graders are automatically registered for the board exam, a national exam which foreigners cannot take. In 11th grade, students choose a career "stream." At my school, Chettinad Vidyashram, they can choose between Science, Commerce, and Humanities (these are pretty standard, although some schools may not have humanities). In the humanities stream, I am taking psychology, sociology, world history, economics, english, and once a week, art. There isn't air conditioning in school, and it can get very hot. We have to wear uniforms: on Monday, we wear a white divided skirt, a white button down t-shirt, a white "overcoat" (button-down vest), white socks, white canvas shoes, a maroon tie, and two braids with white ribbons. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday is basically the same except the divided skirt and "overcoat" are bright blue, and the shirt is blue and white checked. On Friday, we wear a cream coloured salwar kameez and dupattah. Two Saturdays a month we have a half day of school with the blue uniform. Most girls don't bother with the two braids and ribbons, but technically it's part of the uniform. Since everyone is particularly watching me, as I'm the exchange student and I stand out, I really need to wear them. Which brings me to another point about school: people stare. A lot. The younger kids, the older kids, the teachers...everyone. My school is really huge. I don't even know my way around. There are some 10,000 students in the school, grades K-12. The school is especially known for its variety of activities offered to its students. For example, today and tomorrow we are hosting an inter-school Model UN. I ended up representing Libya in Security Council, of all things. The rest of the students have been preparing for a month, and I just found out a week ago. I didn't get most of the information about what I needed to do until last night. What happened was, my history teacher (the students call her "History Ma'am") asked me if I had ever done Model UN, and I said yes. She decided to give the Model UN committee my name in case anyone dropped out. Later that day, someone came in to tell me I would be representing Libya in Security Council! It was pretty fun, although I have to go to school all weekend.

The students at school are all very friendly and welcoming. They are all very interested in America, and are happy to help me out. Everyone asks where in the U.S. I'm from. When I say my state is called Vermont, I ask them if they've heard of it, and most of them say yes. I was surprised at first, because most people don't know about Vermont. Then I discovered that most of them were thinking of Vermont, California. I didn't even know there was a Vermont, California! I just tell people that it's near New York and Boston. You may be thinking that something isn't near both NYC and Boston, but they are famous cities that people know about, and compared to how big the U.S. is, it gives them a general idea.

My host mom is very involved with my school. Both of my host brothers also go there. She is on the school board, and knows a lot of people there. When we went to register for classes, she seemed to know practically every teacher we met in the hall. She is also close friends with the principal. This also means that she knows every single thing I do at school. Teachers and the principal will call her and tell her how I'm doing (all good things so far, thankfully). This is very normal in India, but I'll write about that another time.

Chennai
The city that I am hosted in is called Chennai. It is the capital of the southernmost state of India, Tamil Nadu. It is the on the coast, and is the 4th largest city in India. It is a more relaxed city than New Delhi or Mumbai. It is also more traditional than the other cities. The south is still very traditional. Driving down the road, you don't see many people wearing western clothes. Many teenagers do wear western clothes, but I'm told that you see a lot more traditional clothing here than in New Delhi or Mumbai. That's not to say that Chennai isn't developed, though. It is a huge international IT hub.

Tamil
The language spoken here is Tamil, one of the worlds oldest written languages. There are many people from other parts of India, so there are actually lots of different languages spoken here. Tamil is a very complex language. There are many sounds in it which don't exist in English. For example, there are three types of L's. One is made at the teeth, the next is made at the roof of the mouth, and the last is made deep in the throat and almost sounds like an R. There are also two types of N's, two types of R's, two types of T's, etc. It's hard for an untrained ear to distinguish. We joke about the words "Grandfather" and "Goodbye." Both are "Tata," but with different T's. My friend Jenny was at a wedding reception and she was trying to say goodbye to everyone but she kept accidentally saying "grandfather." Another confusing thing is there are two K sounds and two G sounds, and all are written with the same letter, so you just have to know how to pronounce the word.

I have started taking Tamil "tuition" classes. Tuition is what they call tutoring. Most students have extra tuition classes to try to be as academically competitive as possible. My host brothers have tuition with Hashish's teacher, and have been taking it with her since kindergarten. I have joined in, and she is teaching me Tamil. I love the classes. We go in the evenings, although not necessarily every single day. My host mom told me before I went that I would learn a lot from her, and it's true. She is very traditional, and lives in a small flat with her husband and two children. Her mother and two brothers live in another small flat on the fourth floor. I met all of them the first day I went, and they are so nice. Each time I go, I learn not only Tamil but something about Indian culture. And every time, I find myself thinking how lucky I am to be having this incredible experience. Her daughter, who is in college, likes to sit and talk with us too. I wear Indian clothes here, and they absolutely love it.

Indian Clothes
I am the only one of the 10 exchange students here who has started wearing Indian clothes. Maybe the others have a couple outfits, but since the first day, when my host mom took me shopping, I have worn only Indian clothes. This is partly because the skirts I brought are knee length, which isn't appropriate in this family (each family's rules vary, that's why it was so hard to know what to pack), I also can't wear the capris I brought, and it is too hot to even think about wearing jeans. The thing is that Indian teens don't really wear Indian clothes. But it's my one year to wear Indian clothes, so I might as well. When I see my American friends, they say I'm always so dressed up. Actually, I'm not, compared to how girls traditionally dress here. Girls wear complete outfits. What I mean is that they don't pick a kurti (tunic-dress) and then match it with whichever leggings they want, and then pick a random dupattah (scarf). The kurti is bought with the leggings and dupattah to match exactly. Since traditionally, all clothes in India are custom made, women will go to the cloth store, pick out the cloths they want, and then have the outfit made. The earrings, necklace, bangles, and barrette must also match with the outfit.

I will confess that once in a while, in the midst of all this newness, I wish I could just wear something I'm used to. Why a dupattah? Why a bindi? Why not just leave my hair down instead of always pulling it back? And why so much jewelry (it's kind of a must here)??? I'm reminded of why when I go to tuition and my teacher and her daughter can't stop talking about how nice it is that I'm wearing Indian clothes, and how glad they are that I want to learn about their culture. I'm reminded of why when I'm with my host mom, and everyone asks if I'm wearing the Indian clothes on my own accord and she proudly answers yes (it's not like she forces me). I'm reminded of why every time someone tells me, some way or another, that they appreciate my interest in the culture. It's my way of showing my host family, and everyone here, that I really do want to learn.        

There is a lot I have said and a lot I haven't said, but I think this post is already way too long. For the family members who I know are prone to worry, I am happy!!!!! And I am learning a LOT, as I'm sure you can tell if you read this post.

Please forgive me for any spelling/grammar mistakes in this post. I'm tired and I think I probably made some mistakes somewhere in there. Also, my camera is broken, which is why I haven't posted any pictures. I'm working on getting it fixed soon. I also have to say that I will definitely be repeating myself on this blog. I will probably explain things numerous times and may state the same thing over and over again. The problem is that I can't remember what I've emailed to people individually, what I've actually written on the blog, what I've just thought about, etc. So bear with me and please let me know if I keep writing the same thing over and over.

Best wishes to all. Thanks for reading :)

D.C. and Orientations

Although YES Abroad students going to different countries are departing at various times, all of us had a pre-departure orientation from June 28th -July 1st in Washington D.C. Students going to Thailand and India left directly after the orientation, and the rest went home until their departures. We were divided into two orientations. Both YES and YES Abroad work with a consortium of exchange programs to make them possible. YES is primarily just a scholarship from the Department of State, it's not an exchange program in itself. Other organizations, such as AFS, American Councils, PAX, CCI, AYUSA, and more, help implement the YES program. YES Abroad works the same way. Different organizations are in charge of the YES Abroad students in different countries. Students who go to India, Turkey, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Ghana become AFS students. That is to say, when I was accepted to the India program, AFS took over my pre-departure training, and while I am in India, the organization that will facilitate my exchange year is AFS. AFS (American Field Service) is one of the largest worldwide student exchange programs. It currently has chapters in over 50 countries and has been facilitating exchanges for over 60 years. Most AFS students just pay for their exchange years. Here in the Chennai chapter (Chennai is the city I am living in in India) we have 10 AFS students: five of the YES Abroad Americans, a girl from Thailand, a girl from Germany, a girl from Austria, a boy from Italy and a girl from Italy. The YES Abroad students going to Oman and Morocco are with a program called Amideast, and the students going to Mali are going with a program called I-earn. The Amideast and Iearn students had an orientation together in the American Councils office, but the rest of the YES Abroad students, who are going through AFS (there are 33 of us) had an orientation at the Hilton Dulles Airport Hotel. We were there with about 450 returning YES students who came through AFS in their home countries. They had just finished their exchange years across America and were there for their returning orientation. There were students from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Mozambique, Egypt, South Africa, Ghana, Philippines, and Kenya. Students from Germany who were here through the Congress-Bundestag scholarship were also there.

I flew out of Albany, NY to D.C. with Eunice (Mozambique), Esin (Turkey), and Salamatu (Ghana), who were hosted in my area this year. It was so strange to be going with the exchange students instead of saying goodbye to them as I usually do. Tuesday evening the orientations began, and they continued all day on Wednesday. The sessions for YES Abroad included "Learning to be an Effective Ambassador," "Journaling for Growth," "Indroduction to Islam," "Effective Communication with your Host Family," "Not Good, Not Bad, Just Different," "Conversations on Faith," and "Time With a Cultural Resource." On Thursday, we left the hotel early in the morning for a full day. First we had meetings with our Senators, or with their assistants, in most cases. Each group was made up of the YES Abroad students from that state as well as the YES students who had been hosted in that state this past year. In my group there were two girls from Indonesia, a boy from Ghana, an alum of two years ago from Ghana, a volunteer from VT, my friends Eunice and Esin, and me. The point of the visit was to advocate for funding for the YES program. We practiced and prepared the day before. I was in charge of introducing the YES program, explaining the goals of the program, and also of concluding the talk. First we met with Peter Welch's assistant, and then we had the privilege of meeting with Bernie Sanders. It was a lot of fun. Next all the returning students visited their respective embassies, and the YES Abroad students went to the embassies of the country they are going to. At the Indian embassy we just watched clips of Obama and India's prime minister talking about India-U.S. relations and then heard a short speech, again about India-U.S. relations. Then we ate kind of Indian food, and then left. Next we all went to the Department of State for a question and answer session with people from the Department of State. It was a chance for us to ask them questions about YES and YES Abroad, and what they saw for the future of the programs. After that, the YES Abroad students went to the American Councils office to meet up with the rest of the YES Abroad students who had their orientation there. It was probably the last time all of us will be together. After dinner, the YES Abroad students with AFS went to the Hyatt Hotel for a Cultural Presentation Evening with the returning YES students. Also present were Department of State VIPs, executive representatives from the major exchange organizations in the U.S., and about 75 AFS staff and volunteers. Each group of students from each of the 14 countries present gave a five minute cultural presentation involving music and dance to represent their country. There was an outstanding array of diversity and talent. Some of the performances were really incredible. I was one of four YES Abroad students in charge of organizing the U.S. performance. We had a hard time finding something to represent us, but we ended up doing a square dance and singing This Land Is Your Land, with two of our students playing ukulele. Since we didn't have traditional clothes, we all dressed up in red white and blue and waved American flags. That night the goodbyes began, as some students had to wake up very early the next day to depart for their home country.

The following day was full of goodbyes.There were no orientations, just goodbyes all day long. All the YES students were going back home, the YES Abroad students going to India and Thailand were starting their journeys, and the rest of the YES Abroad students were going back home until their time to leave. At 1:30 in the afternoon, I went to the airport with the rest of my India group.

During all of our orientations, we were seated by our country groups, so I had basically already spent three days straight with my India group. There are five of us, all girls: Tenaya, Cee, Anastacia, Jenny, and me. We are such a random group in that we are all so different, but somehow we form an awesome group. We are from all over the country, too. Tenaya is from Washington (state), Anastacia is from New Mexico, Jenny is from Illinois, and Cee is from Kentucky. If we hadn't spent enough time together in D.C., we had a seven hour flight to Frankfurt, three hours in Frankfurt (where we met Hannah and Theresa from Ausria, who were also going to India through AFS), and a nine hour flight to Chennai. When we got to Chennai we were met at the airport by an AFS volunteer, and were taken to a hotel that was inside a mall. First impressions of Chennai were: It's 1:30 in the morning and there are this many people out??? It's the middle of the night, and raining, why is it still this hot??? and There are so many people, colors, smells, and new things, I love it!!!

The next day we had a "survival" orientation. We met the other students hosted in Chennai, as well as the students going to Bangalore, a nearby city. We also met the AFS Volunteers in Chennai who will be a huge part of our year here. In India you never call your elders by their first names. You must call them "Aunty" or "Uncle". Our orientation was run by Sujatha Aunty, Beena Aunty, Merlyn Aunty, and two young volunteers, Adhavan and Chandrika. We learned a lot about Indian culture in a short amount of time. I was really glad for that orientation, because of what we learned and also who we met. All of the AFS Volunteers were so nice. I felt completely safe and comfortable with them. At the end of the day, the students going to Bangalore took a train to Bangalore, and the rest of us waited anxiously for our host families!! I was sad to say goodbye to the other AFSers, especially the other American girls who I had come so far with, but I was also excited to meet my host family. We were all nervous and excited at the same time, since we had no idea what to really expect. One by one our host families arrived and took us home, and a new step of our journey began! I will write about my host family in a separate post.

If there's anything you want to know about my time in India that I don't write about, please let me know. I really have no clue how to write a blog, so any tips would be welcome. Comments are welcome too. And I'm of course interested who is actually reading this.

I'm in India!

I am in India!!!

About two months ago I found out that I was one of 50 students across the U.S. selected for the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Abroad Program, a full scholarship funded by the U.S. Department of State. It is a high school exchange program offered to high school and gap year students to study abroad for about 10 months in one of 10 countries with Muslim populations (India, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, Malaysia, Ghana, Mali, Oman, Morocco, and Egypt, although the Egypt program was canceled this year).

The YES Program was founded by Senators Kennedy and Lugar after 9/11 to promote understanding between the United States and countries with Muslim populations. About 1,000 high school students from 39 countries around the world are hosted across the U.S. each year on this scholarship funded by the U.S. Department of State. The program is very competitive because so many students want to come to the U.S., and it is a merit-based scholarship that is available to students from families of all income levels. They live with a host family, attend school, teach people about their culture and religion, and learn about ours, for an academic year. When they go home, they teach people there about American culture. I was lucky enough to live in a community where many YES students (as well as some exchange students from other programs) have been hosted throughout my years in high school.

Two years ago, the YES Abroad program was founded. YES Abroad is basically the same thing as YES, an exchange scholarship funded by the U.S. Department of State to promote understanding between the U.S. and countries with Muslim populations, but it is for American students who wish to study abroad. It is not as competitive as the YES program, because a) it's very new and not that many people know about it (please spread the word!!!) and b) not as many American teens want to study abroad, especially in the countries offered, whereas lots of teens around the world want to come to America. Two years ago they sent the first group of YES Abroad students, and last year the program was on hiatus, so I am part of the second group of YES Abroad students. I applied with a written application in January, and in March I was notified that I was a semi-finalist. I and 74 other semi-finalists were flown to Denver where we had three days of interviews, workshops, and group evaluations. A few anxious weeks later I found out that I would be going to India!

Although most YES Abroad students are leaving the U.S. at the end of August or early September, because of the school year difference students going to Thailand and India left at the beginning of July, and students going to Malaysia will leave this week.  School actually started here more than a month ago.

I have been very busy and so haven't had a lot of time to write this blog, but soon I will write about orientation in Washington D.C., my arrival here, first impressions, and the beginning of my exchange experience.  Please do keep in touch, and although I may not have time to respond, I do check facebook and email regularly.