Today I was sitting by a vegetable stand on the side of the road, observing and being amazed by the system of scales that the vendor was using to weigh the vegetables being sold. After I had been looking on for a few minutes, a cow marched up very purposefully and picked up a long white radish that was on display. The vendor promptly picked up another radish and started beating the cow with it, causing it to drop the stolen radish. The episode concluded with the cow being chased down the road and the vendor carefully placing both radishes back on his stand, soon to be bought by unknowing customers. Oh, India.
It’s been a while since my last post and I wish my words could convey all that I’ve experienced in the past month! Basically, I traveled around Southern India with my dad and sister for a week, left Sarah and moved up to McLeod Ganj, and have just finished three weeks of living with my homestay family. My mom also visited during this time and got to experience a night in my homestay as well! I’m living in a hotel for the next two weeks until the start of the research period portion of the program. I spent hours last night putting up newspaper clippings and photos from home to get comfortable in my hotel room, making it feel as college-y as possible. I’m staying with Emma and Tara and we have great big windows that provide us an up close and personal view of the monkey business going on in the trees and a view down the mountain that’s gorgeous. We have made our house a home and I’m excited to spend time with all the Emory kids before we split up for the research period.
All in all, life has been pretty marvelous for the past month. I’m very grateful for the opportunities I’ve had over the past month and have met some truly wonderful people. My time in my homestay was so much fun and it was super relaxing to live in such a loving environment right after moving up to the city. My ama-la took really good care of me the whole time, including the night I spent throwing up everything I had recently ingested. She made me six bowls of rice porridge in the next day and crushed my Tibetan medicine for me in the morning as well. The time I spent traveling was also so much fun – to see the coast and be blessed by the elephant Lakshmi and spend time with my wonderful father and sister. And getting to show my mother around McLeod inspired me to see India from a new perspective, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve been having a lot of fun hanging around McLeod Ganj, going to sing-alongs, meeting international travelers, and trying to improve my Tibetan language skills. I can almost speak in full sentences now!
The internet is spotty at best in McLeod (for those like me who are too lazy to chase it, at least) and pictures don’t seem to want to upload right now, so I apologize. To conclude, I’ve decided that I’m very interested in space travel, so whoever wants to start a fund to send Kathryn to space should go right ahead. Thanks!
