Okay, super quick post...
I'm staying in an Indian family's home. My host parents are just about my parents' age, and they've got two daughters, a little older than my own sibs, and out of the house. One is coming to stay in Madurai for the rest of the time I'll be here--the parents went to Chennai today to pick her up.
Daily regimen: Awake anywhere from 6 am (if work from last night is not yet finished) to 8:07 am (not a good thing--will be late for Tamil class and subject to delirium). Wash, dress, eat (corn flakes with warm milk, dhal-lentil, idly-fermented rice/wheat flour bread, chipatti, poori, and other varieties of complex carbs. Yesterday I had this rice cake type thing that was basically dduk, the crumbly kind with sugar and a mealy something on the outside, and ate some more of the mealy stuff with warm milk... Papaya or apple or banana, mixed coffee), rush out of the house and hop on my bike (ahem, cycle. bike means motor-bike) as I greet the security guard and paatti (grandma - a lively little lady) and speed into Indian traffic to get to Tamil class by 8:30. Home is pretty close to the SITA center, where we have classes and all that. There are coffee/tea/lime juice breaks twice a day, at 10 am and 3:15 pm (yum!) and we eat lunch out most of the time. Usually come home by 6:30 pm (it gets pitch dark pretty early), wash, then begin homework.
It's pretty intense but I think I've been adjusting okay. I haven't been subject to huge amounts of shock or much difficulty, so the ease is relatively all-right. Communication is always a little interesting. A lot of people here are used to British-isms and use them often, like "fellow" for "man" or "person". It's great. One professor in particular uses phrases like "hither and thither" and "helter-skelter." It's certainly been an adventure so far.
Gah! Gotta run... plans to go downtown? "V shall see."
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