Some Selected Photos So Far...

Here's a few photos of Hyderabad so far - I've uploaded a lot more on Facebook if you're interested...

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

For only having a few posts, I have to say I am a bit blown away by the fact that I have a blog topic request. But seeing as this means that someone is actually reading what I'm writing, I am definitely happy to oblige.

So food. What to say about Indian food? Well what we have in the states doesn't compare at all. Here non-spicy doesn't even exist in the vocabulary and if you question a server about the spice content of the food, you either get a blank expression or the all encompassing head wobble that could mean anything. But that doesn't mean it's not delicious. In the south I have been eating a lot of Dal curry (which is different varieties of lentil curry) often accompanied by basmati rice or my favorite, parantha bread. Parantha is a bit thicker and grainier than naan which definitely fills me up. If not dal, chickpeas or chicken chutney are usually around. But if you really want to know the best of Andhra Pradesh, you eat Dosa. Dosa is basically a rice pancake or lentil pancake either stuffed with potatoes or vegetables or plain and served with chutney or curry on the side. Absolutely delicious and cheap. I recently bought some Dosa on the street for about 75 cents for a full meal.

Of course I have eaten my fair share of Subway since being here because there is one near my house but even Subway offers Chicken Tikka Masala or one with Paneer (a yummy Indian cheese, especially when served with a Spinach sauce) alongside of the usual turkey. And it's about $2 for a 6 inch. Yes! And sweets like Galab Jammun which are like donuts balls soaked in sugar syrup are absolutely delicious. But my favorite thing about Indian cuisine? Eating with my hands. Or more accurately, with my right hand. There is just something so liberating about not having to wait around for a fork or spoon. Okay, if you really want, most places offer silverware. But really, why bother?

On another cultural note, I went to my first Bollywood movie with my Indian friend and my American friend the other day(Zingadi Na Milegi Dobara). I mean, I have seen Bollywood movies before but seeing it on the big screen is an entirely different beast. Especially since I went to a movie that was in Hindi. With no subtitles. Okay so admitedly this might seem like a ridiculous idea but with my scant Hindi skills, my friend translating, and the snippets of English thrown in, I was able to follow along really well actually. And the fact that this movie was almost entirely shot in Spain was a definite plus. But the most unique part was the audience reaction. People love their Bollywood actors here, as evidenced by the huge billboards everywhere featuring stars advertising various products, and also by the screaming teenage girls falling over themselves every time Shahid Kapoor or Aamir Khan come on screen. The 2.5 hours actually flew by with a nice intermission and I definitely was dancing in my seat at one point.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to some pizza tomorrow at our final orientation session for IDEX and then afterwards, a Bollywood movie marathon? I think Ji Ha!

First Weeks

Well first of all, dear readers, let me apologize for not posting an update sooner. As you may or may not be aware, things in India don’t always happen on schedule, as our odyssey of setting up a wifi connection has shown. It is normal and expected that you basically call five times and and chew service providers out to remind them to come keep the appointment they themselves set with you. And a week and a half later we are still going through this process. But I have that luxury now (or at least the boys in the downstairs apartment do) and as you can see, I’m safe and sound in Hyderabad.

I arrived after an exhaustingly long flight via Portland, Seattle, Seoul and Mumbai. Luckily there were plenty of movies and shows to keep me entertained and I must say Korean Air has won me over. Not only are the flight attendants all Korean models (well or something like that because it is no accident they are all gorgeous and of the same proportions) but they are extremely nice and accommodating, including babysitting crying infants, of which there were two on each of my flights, sitting right in front of me. Lovely. But anyway, the flying part of this is boring. Just suffice it to say that I will be perfectly happy if I don’t have to step foot on another plane for a long time.

But back to India. Well as you would expect, things are quite chaotic but in a controlled way. On the drive from the airport to our flat I quickly realized that lane lines don’t matter at all here as our car proceeded to careen in and out of traffic, barely missing rickshaws, buses and motorcyclists as we drove deeper into the city. So far, I haven’t seen all that many cows on the roads, mainly because I’m sure they are scared of the traffic as well. Crossing the street resembles a game of Frogger as you look right then left (Indians drive like the British on the off side of the road which still confuses me), wait for a lightening of traffic because an actual break would be too much to ask for, and then with one hand out and a deep breath, run like hell to get to the other side. If you’re lucky, you can shadow an Indian as they cross but even this isn’t foolproof. And if you don’t have to cross the road? Well sidewalks are dicey at best, and nonexistent for the most part so keep your wits about you.

My living situation is definitely looking up though. I love all of my roommates, three who went to school in the South and one from the UK. I’m already saying things like “going to the loo” and adding an accent to certain syllables. That coupled with my hopefully perfected India head wobble means that I may have a bit of trouble readjusting to the US to say the least. Our apartment is in a really central area although when you say it’s more “western” I don’t think most of you would agree excepting the Mercedes and Beamers that will often cruise between the half-broken rickshaws. But the common area is large, we finally rented our fridge, table, and furniture, and the toilets and showers work fairly regularly. At least when there’s water and the electricity isn’t out. During monsoon season, Hyderabad receives epic downpours and thunderstorms that make candles a necessity every now and then. But it’s nice and cozy actually, sitting and listening to the rain by candlelight, and it’s only happened like that once.

The rest of the fellows are amazing and we have already all gone karaoking and dancing, taken rickshaws around the city to each others’ places, and even have regular P90X workouts, dinners and Planet Earth watching with the male IDEX fellows that live in our building. The rest of the group is spread out around the city but as these first two weeks are orientation, we are definitely seeing each other enough. Each morning we start out with meditation and yoga before embarking on in-depth discussions about social enterprise, development and working in the schools. And we recently returned from a two day retreat at a resort outside of the city. We did a lot of team building activities, including teaching the three Indian fellows how to play flip cup and we even got to swim in the awesome pool. Other than the fact that I had to wear a t-shirt and workout pants into the pool, I almost forgot I was in India.

I’m very excited to get a start in the schools on August 1st and I can’t wait to put some of my skills to use. I went to meet my school owner, who is very nice and seems to be very aware of the areas her school needs to improve in and its strengths already. I can tell my work is cut out for me but the kids are absolutely adorable with their “hello madam”s and smiles. But for now, life is more about settling in, bonding with everyone else, and surviving the heat. It’s bearable if you don’t mind being drenched in sweat all the time and from our apartment, we can often pick up a nice breeze although it also will carry the local calls to prayer from nearby mosques, waking me up every morning at around 5. I am working on filling my closet with Kurtas and am hoping to get a few saris made. They are definitely cooler in this heat.

There are hundreds of things more that I could say about India right now but I think I’ll leave it all for later. Just know that I’m loving it, feel completely like this is where I need to be right now, and will be posting pictures soon. Until next week, pher milenge!

Aj, śurū

Unless you've been living under a rock, you are most likely aware that in a week's time, I will be starting a 9 month stint in Hyderabad, India. After months of planning, preparation, a fair share of nerves and crazy excitement, I am about to head off and start my time as an IDEX Fellow. But more on that later. First, a word about this blog. I'll not flatter myself and think that each and every one of you will be breathlessly awaiting to log on each Thursday and see what I'm up to. Instead, all I ask is that if you're bored in class, at work, or really want to feel better about your life while reading about me suffering the effects of Delhi Belly, please take a moment to check in. After all, there's nothing worse than writing a blog that no one is reading, except maybe writing an exteremely revealing blog that everyone is reading. I also promise to do my best to keep this thing entertaining. I mean, if you know me, you know that I rarely go 24 hours without embarassing myself in some way, and given that karaoke seems to be the outting of choice in Hyderabad, well then, it's game on.

Okay so the second thing. Most of you, whether solicited or not, have listened patiently as I have attempted to describe exactly what I will be doing in India. I'm fairly certain I have told each of you a slight variation to the point that the rumor now going around is "Jenny's moving to India, alone, to work in some crazy school, and will mostly likely be living in a cardboard box." Okay maybe not that bad, but let me explain about the amazing IDEX Fellowship. There are 34 other fellows, all roughly my same age, from around the US, the UK and even India. We all applied to this fellowship and after applications and interviews, were selected to participate. We will be involved with a foundation, known as Gray Matters Capital, which works within the field of social enterprise, in particular, with Affordable Private Schools (APS). It may sound like an oxymoron, but in Hyderabad, as in much of the developing world, there are a large number of schools run by entrepreneurs in slum areas that are catering to the poor. This is because the government schools are notorious for their lack of teacher accountability and quality education, even to the point where most teachers don't show up for work or will sleep in the classroom. So, in order to fill this market failure, individuals opened private schools for the children of the poor, charging between $2-$10 a month and often waiving this fee for the very poor and orphans. Because parents are paying for their children to attend these private schools, teachers and principals are VERY accountable for the education they give since parents can just stop sending their children to this particular school which in turn affects the income of school owners and teachers. This does not happen in government schools where teachers receive a set salary regardless of student satisfaction. And the fact that these families, who often make about $2 a day, are willing to pay at all for this education when the government provides schooling for free means that quality education is very important to them. This is truly an example of the poor taking matters into their own hands and helping themselves.

So where do we fit in? We are interested in the field of Social Enterprise, meaning that we work with business models (as these schools are) to achieve social benefits and growth to the community, namely reducing illiteracy, increasing education, and thus, decreasing poverty. Each fellow will be assigned to an APS in Hyderabad where we will work with the school owner to implement our own programs. For example, past fellows have created libraries where students can work to offset tuition costs, or have created a camp focused on girl's empowerment. I am very excited to get my hands dirty and see what I can do. And being able to spend 9 months living in India just so happens to be a great perk of this program.(See www.oglethorpe.edu/idex for full details).

Hopefully it's now a bit clearer what the heck I will be doing now while abroad. But enough about this serious stuff, let me drop some facts about Hyderabad since many of you were worried I'd be living it up Slum Dog Millionaire style or in a grass hut. Hyderabad is in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh. The city itself is India's 6th largest, boasting a population of over 4 million and is known as the City of Pearls (Mother's Day present, anyone?). It was founded in 1591 by the Qutb Shah Dynasty although some date life in the city back to 500 B.C. About 55% of the city's residents are Hindu and 40% are Muslim with Christians and Sikhs making up part of the miniority. But really, you are wondering what I'm going to do for fun, right? Well Hyderabad is one of the tech capitals of India, meaning that LOTS of outsourcing has gone on here. It also has the second largest film industry in India with a film studio comprising over 250 acres. I am definitely shooting for a position as a token foreigner in one of these movies! This translates into great universities, western conveniences in places, and an almost unhealthy fondness for karaoke which means I'll fit right in. Most importantly though, there's a Wal-mart in the city which I'm sure can't be as scary as the one in Roseburg, and there's even an Apple Store and wannabe Starbucks that will be down the street from my apartment.

I think I've written quite enough now and if you've managed to stick with me until here, well congratulations! You are surely in the minority. I will try to post regularly on Thursdays although my first few weeks there will be a bit spotty as I will have to set up WIFI. And lest you forget about this blog, don't worry - I will be ceaselessly reminding everyone on Facebook to read. So for now, as they say in the subcontinent, pher milenge!