140 Days of America.

So, it's roughly been 4.5 months of re-Americanization... that's as long as I was in India. 

    A day before I left, we took all the Aksharavani kids to the Hyderabad zoo with the money my mom and Impact World Hunger raised for them! I have never seen such amazed children. It was wonderful.

On the way to the zoo!

Awe.

Buddy-System :)

Posing

Me and some students.

Emily and Sarah

 

Everyone outside the zoo!

Fellow Aksharavani teachers.

     After rolling around in pain and nausea my second week at home, doctors figured out I had a parasite  and I was sick for a month. I named him Carl. In June, I moved to Lincoln and the rest of the summer was full of weight loss and gain, long car rides, work, and an obscene amount of sleeping. I got to see Erin, while on a family vacation and that was AWESOME.

Yay!

     The whole summer was hard. I had trouble feeling like anything I did actually mattered or bettered the world.  I realized that India had changed me. Once home, I started eating food according to the expiration date (so I didn't waste any), I slept on the floor (because my bed's softness hurt my back), and I got bored. In June, I wrote in my journal how easy everything was:
     "I'm hungry----I get a snack out of the cupboard and eat it. I'm hot-----I turn on the AC.----- I want something-----I drive my car to the store and get it... etc." The adventure of everyday life had disappeared. 

     My Nana asked me what the most important thing I learned from India was; I contemplated this a long time. Finally, I decided, the most important lesson I learned abroad was: one has power over their own happiness. She mentioned something about her doctor (from India) saying that Americans are not as happy as Indians... I thought about this statement for a while and decided it is all about expectations, attitude, and one's control over their own, personal, happiness.

     Examples: If one calls a taxi in America, one will get a taxi: on time, clean, and with air-conditioning. When one calls a taxi in India, maybe one will get a taxi: hopefully within the hour scheduled, hopefully clean-ish, and windows that rolled down. Now, imagine one called a taxi (in America): it's late, dirty, and hot. One would be upset right? My whole day would be ruined. Now, imagine one called a taxi (in India): it's on time, the driver is friendly, the cab is relatively clean, and wait..... AIR-CONDITIONING! One's  whole day has been made! Why? Because one's expectations were not too high, one's attitude appreciated the little things, and they had control to let this happiness envelop them the rest of the day.

     Happiness is guided by attitude, and that is the biggest lesson I have taken from India.

     A few weeks ago, I printed out a bunch of India pictures and pinned them on a bulletin board in my room. It sits across from my bed and I look at it every night before I fall asleep. Remember the post, My love affair with India, from March? Well, everything about it is true: I wrote that leaving India would be a bitter sweet affair; well sometimes, my whole body yearns for India. Not a day goes by that I don't dream about her. Other times, India seems like a dream, unclear and distant.

     Now that school has started, I am back in my groove. I really love my school and what I study. I live in a fabulous little house with wonderful roommates. I get to see my best friend/boyfriend everyday and it's good to be back with friends and family, they've all been really understanding. Billy has been awesome: when I am upset or day-dreaming or throwing a fit he understands that he doesn't really understand and just listens and supports.  He is joining the United States Marine Corps, so hopefully this can give me my adventure fix! 

Happier then ever.

After running the Warrior Dash.

Aren't they cute!? Yellowstone and Family... YAY America!

     I love America but India has stolen part of my heart. I will go back someday, but until then, I guess I'll just look at those photographs on my wall: my girls, my dogs, my students, trips, etc. My first blog entry, in November 2011, stated, "I'm going to India because of the multitude of colors...." Now, almost a year later, I know that those colors will never leave me.

Varanasi

We're traveling back in time for this post...

April 12th
 Erin, Jamie, and I woke up early for our flight to Varanasi. We had a very busy few days back home with finals and cultural shows; we were exhausted. Sadly, Jamie's flight tickets were all messed up and Erin and I were left alone for the adventure. We were really nervous, as it would only be the two of us, and Varanasi has earned its reputation for craziness. We even discussed cancelling the whole trip.
 I could not be more thankful we decided to go. 
 Once we arrived, we went to Brownie, a restaurant suggested by Lonely Planet. There we ate cheese. REAL cheese, and wow, real cheese is really good when one does not have it for a few months. We stayed at the simple and cheap Hotel Ganesha. That night we ate wonderful Middle Eastern food, walked the busy streets, and slept in our underwear.

The Himalayan Mountains! (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

CHEESE! (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

April 13th ad 14th
 The next few days were a bit of a blur... Some things I experienced: 

...wonderful food! This is Middle Eastern Thali= YUMMMMMMM!

... a sunrise boat ride on the Ganga (Ganges).

...poverty. This sweetheart hung around us all afternoon. (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

...incredible shopping.

...small shops/bookstores that served as sanctuaries from the busy streets.

...people protesting as to how the holy river was being treated.

(I give those protesters all my support because sewage freely drains into this river)

... exciting streets.

... street artists :) (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

...decked-out horses.

...ceremonies every night for the Ganga, performed by Jonas-Brothers-look-a-like-Brahmin-priests.

...sending prayers into the Ganga. (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

...getting ripped off for sending prayers into the Ganga. (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

...getting ripped off by a 10-year-old Brahmin priest. (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

The best part of the Varanasi trip was the friends we made:

This is Anki. He is a waiter at a restaurant owned by his aunt. We gave him a Nebraskan postcard :)

This is Betty. She is a street-saleswoman and she was pretty bummed when she found out we already bought some postcards from her competitors, but she was very sweet and we enjoyed talking to her. (Photo by Erin McConaha)

I don't know this little girl's name, but she is also in street-sales. She was determined to get something out of us, so we got her some juice. (Photo by Erin McConaha)

This is Svati and Mona. Erin and I bought one of everything from them... mostly because they were nice to us and they yelled at the men who tried to talk to us haha. We saw them numerous times after we met them and became very close with them. They put bindis on us as a gift (and we didn't pay for them!). We drank mango juice together and listened to them talk about their lives.

Svati is an amazing woman. She has taught herself fluent English and Japanese, purely on listening to tourists. She has a heart of gold. She is 20 and couldn't believe I was 21 because I am so tall and healthy. She has children. She is an acid-throwing victim. For those of you who do not know what this horrendous act is, I invite you to read up on it: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_throwing#India When we finally had to say goodbye to Svati she kissed my hands and cheek and repeatedly told me how lucky I am. I was unsure what to say, so I just agreed. (Photograph by Erin McConaha)

She bought us each a mango juice-box and we gave her a scarf and some bangles. I explained to her that in America, young girls have 'friendship bracelets' and that we would all have the same bangles to symbolize our friendship. Needless to say, this woman had a large impact on me.

April 15th
 Our journey ended at the train station. We were mentally drained and ready to go home.

I quite enjoyed the ride and liked the down time to look outside and write.

I played with the cockroaches at night time too haha :) We arrived home the next night.

Varanasi was my favorite trip in India. Erin was a fabulous travel partner, I think because we're on the complete same page as to what we want out of life/India. I thought India was done shocking me, but Varanasi did a fantastic job of reminding me that that would never EVER happen.

One Week.

In one week, I will be in a plane flying across the ocean, back to America. Lots of reasons led to me to coming home earlier then expected, if you're interested just ask me about it. Before I leave though, I think it's important to show you what has been my home (by the time I leave) for 129 days:

Main road on campus

Shopcom (shopping complex) has food, a travel agent, a tailor, a shoe maker, and school supplies.

SN Fine Arts School aka where I go for art history class (over 2 miles from my hostel)

On the way to the SIP Building (Study in India Program)

SIP Building (down the road from my hostel)

Classroom example in SIP Building with Bhavani ji :) These are the nicest classrooms in the university.

On the way to my hostel...

My home!

Tagore

Since I have a room on the end, I have 3 windows :)

My closet... at the beginning of the semester!

Since I don't have a roommate, my room is the meeting grounds for all important discussions between my group of friends: The Room of No Judgment.

 I will show you what the other part of the hostel are like later this week. Time has gone way too fast here... the upcoming days are going to be hard saying goodbye to everyone.