Mere Kamre ke - From My Room

Three days left in the guesthouse and I’m in my third room so far. This time I broke the geyser (this is pronounced “geezer,” - PS). I left it on for a few hours (on accident!) and then it sort of exploded partly and hot water started going everywhere. No worries, thought I… I’ll just shut off the valves going in and out of the geyser and I’m sure it will calm down for tomorrow.

Well, I came back from the office and was told I’ll be moving rooms. The hot water heater broke. “Oh really?” [Insert my best surprised face here…] :-O

Anyways, one more picture from hotel rooftop.

Drying saaris in the sun.

Expired drugs on the top of the guesthouse… maybe I could start my study here?

The third room had a couch!

Celebrating Chhaatt…

Dopahar kā khānā – Lunch

Just thought I’d share my salad order with everyone, no lettuce just 4 vegetables on a plate. Was not served with utensils because you have to eat with hands! :)

Nāstā – Breakfast

Today I ordered breakfast at the guest house. Instead of some good ‘ol stuffed paratha with curd or aloo sabji, I went with the Western choice and got some French Toast… Or that’s what I ordered. I would describe what I got as some runny eggs that ate two slices of bread. So I clicked a picture. And then I ate them… :)

Some lights of Diwali

Not super good quality photos but wanted to share some pictures of the Diwali lights (I just discovered I could go to the rooftop of the hotel!) :)

Diwali: Festival of Lights -- Party!

Lighting the Lamps

Fire crackers!

Diwali party sweets: Laddu and "hot chips" :)

Diwali: Festival of Lights

Happy Diwali! Houses around Patna are filled with “Christmas lights” (that’s how I think of them… I doubt anyone here does…) :) and the air is filled with fire cracker blasts (in addition to the car honking). With my intensive investigation of the holiday (which has entailed a Wikipedia search) I’ve discovered that this holiday is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists to commemorate many different events. Diwali is short for “Deepavali” which means “row of lamps.” Small lamps arefilled with oil and burn all night in the home which along house cleaning is done to welcome the goddess Lakshmi. Fire crackers are set off to scary away evil spirits. There are also many battles and other events which are celebrated either on Diwali or days near of which I don’t want to explain too much… because I’ll have no idea what I’m talking about.. :) Basically what I learned was that the celebrations are mostly in the home with family and friends with sweets and fire crackers and fun.

The CARE office also had a Diwali party and we each got to light lamps that were set around a ‘Rangoli,’ a decorative design made in the courtyard in front of the office. Then we set off fire crackers and ate desserts. Yay! :)

Daftar: Office

Headed off to my first day of work!

View from the office window...

Workin' hard!

Intazār karnā: To wait

So, I’ve learned with everyone being on vacation, there are few people to show the new girl around.. so I find myself waiting much of the time. Actually right now, as it happens I’m waiting for my ride to the office (was told it is not a good idea for me to walk there by myself). So far the ride has been showing up anywhere from 9:30am to 11:00am. For some reason I can’t really sleep past 7am over here (why can’t I have this problem in Atlanta?!?) so this gives me lots of time in the morning to skype, write blog entries, and of course, do work! :) Right now it’s 10:58am. I hope they remember me today… :/

I would call to verify but at the moment I am out of credit on my phone. I would wander off to try and buy some but, well, my ride should be here any minute, right? Sigh…

The one social experience I’ve had so far with a colleague here was enormously fun (we went to the main street and bought snacks, fruit, candles, and samosas!) So, I’m looking forward to when more people come and I can hang out with them.. :)

Śurū karnā: To begin

As most of you know, I made it safely to Bihar on Friday night. I learned lots of fun things on the way including how to navigate through foreign airports (of which I count O’Hare!) and how to ask every person you meet for directions. :) I learned that Air India gives out a lot of food, even on 1 hour flights. Also, I learned I do not like vegetarian airplane Indian food. (It should be noted, that I’m not a big fan of vegetarian food on airplanes at all, actually... I suspect airplane chefs are not vegetarians...)

My biggest excitement by far was the first night. The driver who picked me up was great and I was able to talk to some people on the work team as soon as I arrived. We also went to the ATM (which is very close to the hotel and which I will probably never find again) and to buy a phone. (Woohoo!) I was successful in both my purchase and clearly entertaining the store salesmen as they each had to take a picture of the sale. (Handing over the phone… big event!) Unfortunately, the phone company disagreed and the cell is still not working.. maybe next week?

For the moment, those are basically all my exciting stories. It’s the weekend so no one was at the office so I’m waiting for Monday. Diwali and regional festivities will be going on until the 31^st of October so not much will happen before then. I’m hoping that between now and then I’ll be able to get out and see some things or at least get some work done. Or at the very least get internet access so I can post this!