The Original Cano (Busy Bee)

June 23, 2011

Yesterday I didn’t blog. Well, you wouldn’t know this because I’m writing posting once a week. Yesterday same thing, breakfast and all the usual, except when I went into class, I didn’t sleep. Yes, I was tired but I only closed my eyes for a couple of seconds. The class noticed but since I sit in the back, you can’t really tell what I’m doing. There’s a new old kid. This means that he’s new to me but the class knows him. My teacher recommended that I teach the flashcards again but later she then told me about the drawing competition that she will suggest to the Secretary. She told us that we should implement it and that it should be done to each standard (grade level). Today it was be senior KG. We organized what they should colour because the class can’t draw as of now, but the girls here can. They showed us a preview of what they are able to do. We decided on the Indian flag. Emily made the certificates for first prize, second and third. We will give them a certificate instead of prizes with the school’s seal on it. Namita from the LC (local committee of Ahmedabad) came yesterday. She spoke to us about conference and that she needed to know today (well yesterday) if we were going. We had firmly decided not to go but Suzana kept saying she wanted to go. She didn’t directly say it but I knew that if we didn’t go, she would feel bad but so far, we’ve done EVERYTHING together. We are a family since we don’t know anyone else but each other. It will be interesting to see the dynamics of us and of the girls when the new intern comes.

We did decide to go to conference because we came here to travel and work but also to meet new people. I haven’t been to a conference and supposedly this is a known one. For those AIESECers in Baruch who are reading this, it’s the JNC of India. Suzana, who’s an AIESECer in Canada has heard of it, but I don’t know if it is famous or not. It took us an hour to make this decision because it is 6,000 for delegation fees and traveling expenses. Good side of it is that we will be able to experience the train!! OH yesterday at the LCP house, there was an elevator. It was like the elevator in Titanic or in Inception. It was cool to see that we could see the floors when we were going up or down.

Yesterday was a girl’s birthday and we surprised her with cake. In the trainee flat, it’s a tradition to cake them in the face, so I did it, naturally and this is what she looked like afterwards:

We also saw monkeys!! The girls showed us the monkeys by doing the money sign, which looks like a bamboon after we finished school.

I really like it here but I’m starting to miss my friends a lot.  I miss my family too as well but I e-mail them everyday, so it’s like hearing from them. This week we’re going to Jaipur to conference. I shall bring this laptop and hopefully we’ll get some internet, if not, I will talk to all on June 30^th, when we come back!!

21 June 2011

Ah what a day it has been! We slept outside yesterday and thankfully no bites! It was a bit cooler than sleeping in inside. The only downside was that again, I kept waking up because of the sunset as well as the noises outside. I never noticed how many animals are up in the morning (besides the rooster). I didn’t wake up that easily so I took a shower after breakfast (tea) after 7 this morning. I went in a closed the door for the bath area and then was surprised when a girl tried to open the door. She just showered in front of me but with her undergarments on. It seems too much information but it makes sense. I was full on naked with my towel on and put on my undergarments on as well so we can use the shower together, meaning the area. She just up and left when I began and closed the door. She showed me how much time hygiene is important. After that shower, I took a nap and then went to the computer. Again, I wish to emphasize that I am on only in the morning. Depending on the time, I might be on anytime between 7:30 to 10 am, which is approximately 10 pm to 12:30 am. I can only post my blog once a week. I am writing on my laptop and saving it into a Word Document and posting it on the blog instead of saving everyday via USB cord and transferring it from my laptop to the office computer, just in case they have any viruses, my laptop does not get them.

After breakfast, I went to the same class and this time, the class listened to me!! The teacher showed them flashcards of animals and they looked at her lips and repeated it vocally. I then took over and took the flashcards and put them in random order so that they can see the word and the picture. We did this repeatedly a couple of times one by one and then I gave the entire stack of flashcards to each student twice. They are really smart kids. I’m proud that I can see them grow. After snack, the teacher said that I could watch them play sports. It was fun to do this!! They rotated playing cricket, Frisbee, and ball. Around break, I saw the adorable boy!! Picture 012

After school, I took another nap and it wasn’t intentional. I was groggy after dinner but it was okay because they gave us mango!! AWESOME! After dinner, we played volleyball for a bit and then I started to try and teach basketball like dribbling, lay-ups and shooting. The girls were pretty okay and so were the boys. After prayer, which is around 8, the girls start to do their homework. One of the earliest girls that we met isn’t that great at math, but is good at other stuff. We, as interns, already like people and have nicknames for them. One of the girls is celebrating her birthday tomorrow and we want to buy her a birthday cake and let it be a surprise. The girls are looking over my shoulder and are somewhat surprised that I can type without looking at what I am doing.

Maybe one thing I can do is teach them how to type on the computer, not fast obviously but some basic things. That’s it for now, I think. See you tomorrow!

20 June 2011

Happy Birthday Kaitlin!! We woke up and I washed my undergarments. Its funny because I left my t-shirts and pants to the society because they like to wash clothing or they offered so that’s why I have that for them. Its funny because I know the sign for washing and one girl from what I can interpret is like, “What you can’t wash your own clothes?” and that to me is just funny. Afterwards, Suzana and I went down to the office to see the computer. We need to check our email everyday. I guess she needs to because of the waitlist for registration (classes) and it’s just habit for me to do so since I usually have my Blackberry. Suzana went on first and did her thing and didn’t notice that I went to sleep. I found that funny. I just want to comment that Robert Smith is not a player. Stay strong Robert! I say this because he’s one of my really good friends and I know him really well. He wouldn’t ever do something intentionally to hurt someone, especially a girl and someone that he cares about.

Then breakfast was at 10am. We started to work at 11:30 and I got placed in kindergarten. It was an interesting day just to see the interaction with the little ones. They were born in 2004-2005 so they are about 6 or 7. There were new students and one was really excited. I just sat and watched and got bored until about snack time. I was explained that some students were naughty because they were deceiving their parents about snacks. I was seeing that some of the students ordered food from the market just outside the walls and its not good for them. They have all t his food and still they want some junk food. After snack time, we met a couple of new girls and they instantaneously were attached to us. They seemed pretty cute and got to know us. After snack time, I got a surprise, to teach the kids something. I had no plans whatsoever, so I decided to play seven up. It doesn’t exactly work so I tried duck duck goose. The kids didn’t take me as seriously as I wanted them. I tried to teach them English and that didn’t work either. I’m going to have to have A LOT of PATIENCE. I get them after lunch I believe. I want to teach them English and the teacher will teach me how since she knows English. She says that flashcards work best. After dinner, we played volleyball and basketball. The kids are starting to see that I am good at sports so at least that’s a good thing.

This place is starting to rub on me just a bit. There are supposedly 21 girls now and we only know a couple of them. OH so we found out about a couple of their families. Jil has only a mom after her dad died of a heart attack or heart problems and has one older brother who is also a deaf mute. It makes sense to see how certain circumstances affect how one is.

Off to bed! It’s 9:50 and we are super exhausted after our first day!

Something that I didn’t write which was that I was greeted with this small flower and candy seen here:

19 June 2011

So we’re here again at the hostel! The girls were so excited when they welcomed us. Jil even gave me a hug and smiled, somewhat. We came around 8 and I was in a dancing mood so I taught a few of them bachata from the song, “Un Beso,” by Aventura. Some picked it up really fast. Then I taught them how to rave!! IT was so cool. I have pictures of how it looks like. The eldest one did it.

Then Suzana has this really cool feature on her camera where we can make shapes with anything that gives light off. Some of the pictures are shown on Suzana’s facebook. I must say, it was pretty awesome. Today in the morning, we slept in until 10! It sounds funny, sleeping in only until 10 but I was so excited! I didn’t sleep til 2:30 because there was a party in the flat last night. There were local AIESECers there as well as most of the flatmates! I had a little bit of breakfast but it was a boring day at the flat. Everyone was there and I didn’t have anyone to talk to via facebook so it was boring. One of the AIESEC alumni came around 4:30 and took us to a chocolate place. It reminded me of Max Brenner and of Ashley! Sigh, Max Brenner<3 Ash, if you read this, go visit Max Brenner and make me jealous by going please?!

I went on facebook and finally saw pictures from Tracy’s computer, the ones we took in California during Spring Break. I tagged everyone and just reminded me how much I miss Golden Key. I think that since I’ve been away for a week. I just happened to see that there was a video in my YouCam and it was a video of me and Sarah. It reminded me how much I miss her. I don’t know what happened with us. I think we just had different lives and just got out of touch. I wonder if that going to happen with people at Baruch. I think this fear is why I go and try and keep in touch with everyone so I don’t lose a friend. This year seemed so harsh. I’m very cautious about friends because I make them and then get attached. My friends are amazing and just love them. No one will be able to replace them.

Before I stopped writing because a local AIESECer that Emily met, the Chinese intern, last night, texted her saying that he was here at the hostel. Sorry but to me that was just a bit weird. Someone that you met last night and they are here to see you; sounds like a stalker to me but I was talking to Suzana, Canadian and she says it must be a culture thing because in Canada it is in between the US and China. In China, Emily was explaining it seems pretty common. I guess the things that she does might be usual in China. What she does is takes pictures of everyone and of everything. She also immediately adds everyone on Facebook of maybe just a minute of meeting them. Typically, I wouldn’t do that but since India is only for two months, I’m out of options to keep in contact with them. There are some people that I am cautious of because they seem forward even for me!

Tomorrow we are meeting the principal at 11:30 to see which class we will be assigned to. For now, I’m listening to a mix tape because it reminds me of Baruch and the States. This weekend, we are going to Jaipur for the conference in India. Tomorrow, the local LC has a LC day. It should be interesting. In two weeks, the weekend of Rick’s birthday, July 9^th, we might go to Mumbai. I’m excited because Prakash, AIESEC alumni, said that there’s dancing! I’m listening to this track and just dying to dance.

I calculated and spent about 3,000 rupees which is about $66 for the first week. I need to be cautious what I spend on. Hopefully, this money that I brought with me lasts me for two weeks. I do want to go traveling but I am SO CHEAP. I need to save money for Austria as well. Speaking of Austria, it hit me that I won’t be around my family for Thanksgiving and OH HAPPY FATHER’S DAY DADDY!!! It’s 11:06 pm so its 1:45pm in NYC. Suzana says that independence is good but it sucks when everyone goes away for the holidays to their families. It hasn’t hit me yet of missing them and maybe it won’t until I’m further into this internship.

15 June 2011

Hey everyone,

I’m at the hostile! It’s so exciting to see the interaction here. We are the first AIESECers that the NGO has taken. Its interesting because the head of the school, at least that what I think he was, had been very informative regarding the school. He said that Gandhi used to visit the school from the 20s to the 40s. I just can’t believe that I’m here. It is incredible to think that I finally get to do my job and be able to learn sign language. We learned some language but let me to get how we got here:

Wake up at 8:30 am because we were supposed to get picked up at 10 am. I ate the same thing like yesterday and then showered. By the time I showered it was already 10am. We were already packed to go and one hour passed, as did the second hour. By that time, we decided to take a nap and they came around 12:30. We took two rickshaws to the hostile. My bag was practically hanging out at the first rickshaw. Taking two suitcases and a carryon was a bad idea. REMINDER: PACK LIGHT FOR AUSTRIA. We finally got here and it’s a spectacular campus. I need to take pictures of it. We meet the director of the school and get introduced to some professionals/head of departments possibly, such as the computer engineer, office manager, teacher that knows both American and Indian Sign Language. It has been a struggle to understand their accents but with time hopefully it’ll be easier to understand. First we saw the accommodation for the students, and where we will be living as well. I knew that it would be harsh conditions and through the pictures you will see what I mean. Right now, the only way I can describe is an open area like Annie, where she sings tomorrow tomorrow I’ll love you. You’re only a day away… we get one cupboard each and that doesn’t fit most of my clothing. I went to the washroom to brace myself for the worst.. the loo. The loo is a hole in the ground and I have a picture of it but you can’t sit on it only squat. My mother would be so proud as she said back in New York, “Since you like to sit so much, remember to put paper on the rim of the seat.” Guess what!? I can’t sit.. I have to squat. Should be very interesting to do practically every day.. not strike that, every day. The AIESECers then showed us around and took us to lunch, a typical Indian lunch which was quite good. They later left around 5pm to go home because they were expected to eat lunch around that time. Emily, Suzana and myself later stayed inside the hostile until it was time to get dinner. We had a small dinner and earlier we found out what the schedule would be like:

6 am: Wake up

7 am: Time for tea, coffee or milk

10 am: time for school?

11am: Lunch time

5 pm: End of School

6 pm: Dinner time

After dinner time, we went and walked around campus. We saw a game of cricket playing and started to watch. They were deaf boys then invited myself and Emily to start playing. In the middle of the game, one boy asked Suzana what our names were and the conversation started from there. It was so exciting to see how one boy was so educated. He knew American Sign Language and then taught us the Indian Sign Alphabet. AHH!! We later went inside and now, it 9pm and I’m tired. Waking up at 6am shall be interesting. Til tomorrow!!

16 June 2011

Second day at the hostile. We went to different departments: physiotherapy (Physical therapy), Cane, nylon, and coir work (keychain), nursery, computer lab, kg.

We woke up at 5:30 am but then we slept for a little bit until 6 am. I took a shower and finally washed my hair. I was greeted by tea and had biscuits (coffee cookies) at 6:45. We all decided to go to the computer, which was not opened but they had opened it for us. We stayed there until about 10. We then had breakfast and we escorted by a certified therapist. We stayed there for about an hour. We watched them as they worked on one patient, who has chronic arthritis. We spoke to the head of the department, who has been working here for about four years now. Only blind people in the school can be certified and they have to be in school for three years. She explained everything about the school and how there are only blinds guys staying at this hostile. Girls do come on the campus but they do not stay at the hostile. It is only in their third year where they start to deal with patients and after they graduate, they are able to be referred by patients who have treated them, to get hired by hospitals, clinics etc.

We were then escorted to go into the cane, nylon, and coir work. These are provided by only blind kids. It is a one year program where can learn different stitching, single, double, (insert picture of the work that they do). The professor there gave us a keychain and showed us a belt that they did by hand. It is just incredible to see the type of work that these students can do. They are not labeled as disabled because they are abled. They are hired by their abilities and can show off their work.

Next we went to nursery. AHHH they are so adorable. When we entered the room, I was sitting next to a girl and she instantly cried. I think it was because the teachers asked her to move her seat and she didn’t want to. It could have also been because it was her first day there as well. So cute. We then started to play games. I played with this little boy two games. The first game was about shaped and asked him to place them in their proper place. He seemed good at it and made a couple of mistakes! The next game was for colors. They were all aligned in a row and he seemed to be a bit confused about colors but with repetition, he seemed to remember how to sign the colors. We learned the colors and have been practicing them a lot! They stopped playing games and the teacher start to teach the children how to sign: colors, animals and birds! They used the computer to do this. They had pictures of everything on that computer. I think I want to use be placed at the nursery for at least a couple of weeks and rotate.

We then went to the computer lab when the teacher knew ASL. It was a bit confusing because she was teaching us ASL but we had learned from the boys yesterday, who were playing cricket, Indian Sign Language. There is also different sign for different dialects such as Gujarat. The teacher kept writing to us in English and the girls were so nice. They aren’t like the girls in the hostile, where they don’t talk to us or even attempt to. In the computer lab, they showed us things that you can make such as business cards, menus for parties as well as invitations. The teacher in the computer lab seemed so down to earth. She said that she will add us on Facebook. It’s so fascinating to see that everyone uses Facebook and it connects to everyone around the world. Today in the morning, one of the girls that I met at DLP last summer at St. John’s told me that she was going to visit New York at the end of June and wanted to see if I would be there. If it wasn’t for Facebook then I would have never have known that she would want to visit me. Facebook is an instant connection to the entire world. We saw the girls from the computer lab around the water fountain and they said hi to us!

After the computer lab, we had a snack, which was basically lunch. They call the tea breakfast and the breakfast at 10am, lunch. It seems very confusing but I’m sure we’ll get used to it. We had snacks around 2:30pm. After snacks we went to kindergarten where we saw more deaf kids learning. They are three types of hearing aids we have learned: pocket, behind the ear and one that is placed in your ear channel. It goes from the least to the most expensive. Most of the students here have either the pocket or the behind the ear hearing aids. The teacher showed us that the students make things. I have a picture of what one of the students made. Their creativity surprised me a lot! They also used computers to show what they are learning. Students are learning basic things to try and form a sentence. For now, they learn about themselves before they make sentences. The computer talks! What happens is that the kids put on their hearing aids and they mimic the sound that the computer makes. The reason that they do this is so that the students may be able to do lip reading and not lose the muscles in their vocals chords, from what I understood. They also have group hearing aids. The students do not use the hearing aids until school starts because typically the doors would be closed and wouldn’t hear the outside noise, such as the honking of the cars. These sounds give them headaches and the teachers don’t want this because the students have to wear the hearing aids for about five to six hours daily.

After the kg, we met the principal of the school. He said he has a green card and even visited Jackson Heights!! We later spoke about our possible posts but it will be discussed on Saturday what we want to do. We ended the day at 4:30 and I took a nap until 6, dinner time. Namita came along and gave the sim card but it didn’t work for my blackberry, which I am very mad about but realized that my phone has yet to be unlocked!! I need to unlock it for Austria in the fall so that I may be able to contact my family. It’s weird not being able to talk to them and only through email.

After dinner, we took a stroll for McDonald’s and it seems pretty healthy and cheap here. I still am anti McDonald’s so I didn’t eat anything. We had a conversation with the LC about possibly going to their LC day as well as the national conference in Jaipur, but that would be for five days and we would need to request off from the Secretary.

Interesting fact: the secretary’s grandfather founded the school 100 years ago!!

Anyway, I think that’s it for now. It’s 10:06 and our day will probably start around 5:30am again. Oh its also interesting to see how the other interns are reacting to me because they have interacted with Americans before but the stereotypical ones. I guess I’m a bit special since my background is not just American.

18 June 2011

I didn’t get a chance to blog yesterday but we took out our cameras and the girls were so excited!! They modeled for us and everything!! We went to the nursery and the boys were so cute. We met the director for the physiotherapy and his story was pretty interesting. He was a chemist and his eyes became blind after a chemical explosion. We learned animals and colors and the girls really like us!! We have so much to eat!! Yesterday they showed us dancing and found out more about it. The girls are really nice and even go to the balcony to say goodbye when we leave! I think we are going to be super attached to these girls. The sign language in Guajarati is so LOGICAL!! It’s so nice to finally be able to communicate with people via Guajarati. The problem sometimes is talking in English and not being able to get a word in or trying to rephrase it. OH! Yesterday in the morning, it took me about an hour to send ONE EMAIL!! It was because the office has one computer and the internet isn’t as fast as the temporary flat. So if I am on facebook, it’ll be random! I can only be on the internet one a day and around 8 am. We went out yesterday and we had curfew. It was awkward but from their point of view, it’s responsible on their part. We went out with people that we met at the temporary flat, so we are never by ourselves! Please don’t worry. I understand that it is natural but I am alive and well! The girls that are with us are called: Xamata, Kinjal, Neha, Mohasina,

Jignasa, Sainabanu, Jil (this girl doesn’t like me, don’t know why but its funny)

Today, it wasn’t bad. It was a nice day and finally we got through to the Secretary of the school what our job description is. We have to meet with the principal everyday at 11:30 and we will be assigned to a teacher. On Friday and Saturday, I can coordinate sport games!! Hopefully, I can learn cricket, quickly! For now, I am at the temporary flat and will talk to you later!!

Photos can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2176465214838.130934.1343080001&l=2866411287

Today is a chill day. I obviously blogged earlier this morning.

Let’s see what did I do today:
Eat yogurt with cereal (type of yogurt seen below)

shower, eat again (banana), played a strategic game with Emily, called 5 chances(translated by Emily). It’s a game similar to chess and connect four except its five. I hope this makes sense =).

Then the game ended and I hadn’t listen to music in a long time, in my iPod because Pandora doesn’t have internaitonal permission to play music yet. While listening to music, I took a nice nap. Apparently, according to Suzana, 

I woke up from my nap and spoke to her then fell back to sleep. Odd because I remember waking up and the conversation but I don’t, I felt like I was in a dream. She doesn’t remember our conversation either because she fell asleep for a half hour. We were exhausted from our boring day and we were waiting for AIESECers from the LC to come and brief us about what is going to happen tomorrow. Lots of questions were answered!! The  hostel is located at the school so all we need to do is wake up, shower, eat breakfast and start working! Fun stuff. We are being relocated there tomorrow morning!

This is our last night at this temporary flat so hopefully, I will still be able to blog but weekly instead of every day.
During the meeting with the AIESECers, I found out that I will not have a toilet but a loo.
http://www.pbase.com/jtodhunter/indian_toilet for more info. I hadn’t eaten in a couple of hours, more like 10am and finally ate around 5pm. I MADE PASTA!!

Usually my mom makes food for me. I am known to either have my mom’s food from home and I don’t cook whatsoever!! At Baruch, I am known to get free food or look for free food. The fact that I actually cooked pasta with tomato sauce, yes something very simple and people actually like it, shows something. I can take care of myself but taken with the opportunity I liked to be taken care of. I also washed my dishes and washed my clothes today as well.

Tomorrow, I move in and I am super psyched.
To do list:
1. STILL BUY TOILET PAPER!!
2. Get sim card
3. Don’t wear short to work, only long pants

Notice: Boys holding hands are normal. Staring at foreigners are also normal. British English is used here. A lot of websites that I use for music, are not used here. =(  Be prepared for monsoon season too, next week.

I just ate Dominoes pizza after working out for a half hour. The state I’m in is a dry state, meaning no alcohol. I feel like I’m forgetting a lot of things that I have learned already but I’ll remember as the days go by. OH, the Indian nod, which my roommate posted on my Facebook page. Indian head bobble.

I think that’s it for now. Oh yeah, talk to me whenever. Bonus points to initiating the conversation with me first. Its’ only the third day and I’ve been contacting people about updates. I wonder how it’s going to be in a week… It’s 10:45pm

As the title read, I can’t really sleep. I slept around 1am last night and that’s because I forced myself to sleep and today, well right now, its 6am. I’ve noticed that I have to force myself to sleep around here. Usually when I am travelling, I have to do that a lot. I don’t usually feel tired and maybe that’s a problem. I’ll take a nap afterwards.

Hmm yesterday: woke up at 9am. I realized I didn’t want to bother my flatmates(yes they use the word “flat” here) for food. I wanted to go to the gym(recreation center) but it had already closed at 9am. I went online and stayed there for  a couple of hours. Oh, the night before, my roommate as of now, Karin, told me to be careful with the toothpaste as there is a lot of fluoride already in water already. I don’t drink the water but rinse out with it, so I need to check if my toothpaste has fluoride or not.
On with my day yesterday… I didn’t really leave til about 1pm, and event that was a struggle, to leave the house. My orginal tasks for the day were to :

1.  Buy toilet paper(sounds silly but I used up the last roll, so as  common courtesy, I should buy the new roll) as well as food for breakfast for the next two days and possibly lunch for the next day.

2.  Exchange money!!

3. Unlock my phone because I couldn’t unlock it unless I was roaming via the network I have in the States and activate the simcard.

Results: I got my money! Finally I have some rupees and the exchange rate was 44.60, pretty good. It was first time that a begger came up to myself and the two other interns. Although as some alumni AIESECers have told me, I can pass off as Indian, just as long as I don’t speak. Our next task was to go unlock the phone: which we did but the sim card wasn’t working so I need to buy a new one. I started to get a bit hungry after that so the AIESECers took us to a place where they served international food; I had Mexican chicken (it was a still a bit spicy but tasted amazing still). The place was relatively expensive for probably a “typical” Indian person since it was 300 rupees per person but the conversion on that is 6.67 (I use 45 in my head), which is incredible because in NY I spend about $30 for a good meal out.
During our lunch, the conversation had come up to the possibility of going to Bombay (Mumbai). It’s about $12 for a train there and its about 4 hours away by train, which isn’t that bad. We would go next weekend but Suzana, Emily and I need to see if we can go because we work sometimes on Saturdays, so we need to double check that. The conversation was interesting because we kept talking about traveling and I had to keep converting, asking the alumni to convert from the metric system. I guess that a bad thing that I learned so far: I don’t know my conversions.
I laugh to myself because I learned conversions in probably elementary school and never thought about it. Everywhere else in the world, they use the metric system while us Americans don’t. OH and another thing, they speak British English, so I need to be careful with how I say things and use synonyms.
Next: Shopping! Mihir, alumni of AIESEC, knows someone who owns a clothing line. He said that it was high-end but everywhere we went, the conversion turned out to be cheap for us, so we went and looked around. The first piece of clothing, a sari, with very intricate detail and the quality of the material was just top-of-the-line. I look at the price tag and sucked through my teeth. The sari was around 15,000 rupees, converted into about $300. High-end huh? This was similar to the Saks Fifth Avenue or any of the B Stores  (Bloomingdales, Bendel, Barney’s). There was even a representative following us around. I guess they knew that we were just shopping around or since we are foreigners that we would buy something. I can’t decide which one it was.
Next: Go to movies!!! We wanted to see a Bollywood movie but then realized that there would be no subtitles, which isn’t fun so we ended up watching X-Men: First Class. We bought the tickets and while we were waiting, I found out that they have reserved seating. You can choose where you want to sit in the movie theatre and can even have recliner seats! the concept to me seems odd but for a movie like Harry Potter(which I am going to see the first showing of, hopefully) where you  need to camp out about a couple of hours before just to get a good seat, seems logical. I told that we need to camp out here and one of the guys says, “For what? All I need to do is reserve the tickets and we just need to show up, that’s all. No camping out for six hours, no worries.” =)
We got out of the movies around 7pm and finally went to supermarket. We passed by some slums and I didn’t take any pictures. I didn’t think it was necessary but I’ll see how I feel about it later on to show how it looks like. We bought cereal, milk, yogurt, orange juice, and flats. We didn’t realize that we forgot to buy toilet paper so we need to “borrow” from another flatmate. It was Emily’s birthday so we surprised here with a cake. Tradition that the flat has is to feed the person with cake and then put cake on her face. It was so funny.
Finally we had some chips and that was my dinner really, along with some watermelon.

Fun times: I hope we can come back via rickshaw and visit the flat because this place is just so lively. Laughter is the key to a person’s heart and the flat had me from day one.
Today, we are finding out more about when we are moving and what the schedule might be like for tomorrow: our first day of work!

I’m here. I’m here. I’m staying here for two months. The concept to me is still surreal. I feel like I am in Guatemala and just cannot grasp that I am here in India. It’s 9.5 hours ahead of NYC so it’s about 10 here. There are several interns already here in this flat.

There’s Hector, the first intern that I met. He’s from Ecuador. He’s been here since last January and will leave in December. There’s another intern Oleg; he’s from Ukraine. There are two girls here as well, one from Sweden, Karin and one from Taiwan, Joy. All of them have been living here for quite some time now. I, on the other hand, have just arrived. I came in at around 3 in the morning, local time. I was picked up by three guys, all from AIESEC Ahmedabad. They seem pretty chill so that good news. I felt bad because they did not sleep to come pick myself and the other intern that was getting picked up after me. Suzana, is an intern I will be working with, Emily as well, who is from China.

So I just came back from eating lunch. It was about 60 rupees and the bottle of water was 15. Overall, that is about $1.67. The rickshaw ride was about  50 rupees divided into 4 and we took it both way so that it about 2.23. It’s crazy to think that this is the exchange rate. The diving is on the other side of the road.

I’ve been writing on and off since about 5pm and now its 7:30 pm. A lot of people have come into the flat just to hang out and talk. It’s fun. Nice time to just chill and just laugh. I have a feeling I’m going to have a good time here. This is my temporary location and hopefully I will be to come by to get wifi and talk and catch up.

-They are deciding where to go. It’s so much fun to see the interaction here.

I don’t work til Wednesday so it’ll be interesting to go to places on our own, as a group since most of the interns do have to work.

June, June, June….. where did the time go? I was reading my last post and saw that I posted when Relay for Life was about to happen. That event was a GREAT one!! We raised above $80,000, the most the RFL time has ever raised. I think that our committee this year was pretty awesome, just saying.

That was beginning of April.. Spring Break came around and boy oh boy, did I have fun! DW^2 for life. California was an amazing experience. It was funny because I stayed up doing the itinerary and then when we got there for our introduction to Habitat for Humanity, where I fell really hard and have discoloration on my left knee and foot, we asked what they suggested and came up with a whole new itinerary! What they suggested was great because I could never had come up with that from the websites! We went to Venice Beach, played poker at our supervisor’s house, Griffith Park Observatory (where you can really see the Hollywood sign and an AMAZING view of Downtown L.A.), and finally a goodbye dinner at Little Japan. Habitat for Humanity, in of itself, is an amazing organization. The people that were there, or maybe it’s California in general, were so nice! When will I ever get to say again that I went on Spring Break and worked on a house?

When I came back from Spring Break, it was go time. I finally bought the ticket to go to Austria, for my semester abroad in the fall. I leave on my 21st birthday! I will be in the three week orientation program as well as the intensive German language course. It should be fun and exciting! I am psyched to go to Austria and spend my time over there as well.

Right before I left to go to California, I found out that the traineeship that I first applied to, in India, was interested in me. I was crazy enough to bring it up to my parents only to hear, ” We’ll talk about it when you come back.” When I came back, the first question on my mind was, “What are your thoughts about me going to India for the summer?”  They were REALLY hesitant at first and asked a lot of questions, which were then answered by my TN Manager in India. I, myself, was wondering, “What am I doing? India, seriously? Are you crazy?!” I just kept reminding myself though that the traineeship that I am applying for is so worth going to India for: working with deaf and mute kids. Not only am I going to experience the culture of India but I also get to work with kids; this was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse. I asked more and more questions and finally bought my ticket in the middle of May to go to India. I couldn’t be more excited.

Finals were a blur. I guess I did an okay job at them but I know I could have possibly done so much more. I paid a lot more attention than I ever did before because I took two of my major classes (exciting!)

Today, I leave for India. I write this blog as I am at work, eating my yogurt. This past month has been a blur to be honest. I can’t believe that just ten days ago was Commencement. It seems like yesterday, I was seeing Cathy graduate along with Shaif, Majinder, Devangi and so many more. It’s really impressive to see how they have worked that it motivates me to do justice as well.

One of the things I am worried about this summer is: FOMO. Guess what this means? FOMO also known as the Fear of Missing Out. I have this high anxiety that in the summer, I’ll be missing major hangouts with friends and family. First off, let’s be honest here, I don’t really party. I haven’t since I entered college so why would I party in the summer THIS YEAR? What makes this year different from all the rest of the years? Yes, I may be known to not miss a party at Baruch but summers and the weekends are for me to rest! I usually have always worked over the summer and claim that I want to go party but honestly, I really don’t. I’m not the outgoing type and unless I know people te that are going for sure or it’s planned, then I don’t go. Yes, I would like to call myself adventurous since I am going to India in oh about a couple of hours and Austria for close to 5 months but I need stability in my life. I guess I wouldn’t considering traveling adventurous which is why I stay in one place at a time, whether it’s for five days to three weeks. Second of all, my cousin is pregnant and I would hate to miss the baby shower and everything that goes along with the pregnancy. I was a bridesmaid in the wedding and now that I am older and have gained a lot more experience with other things, I still seem fascinated about how life just moves on and I can’t do anything about it.

The reason why I’m nervous for India is because I know I’m going to have a support system but I will miss my friends. Yes, I will make friends over there and will have a family over there but I’ve learned about culture shock, seriously. I had to do several projects about them and not just through work/study abroad orientations. It’s not a fun thing to go through but I must accept why I am going. I’ll just remember my photos and printed out so many!! 10 pages worth front and back!! Okay I must go and continue working

P.S. I am so not ready to say goodbye yet =(