India Adventure 2010

Ants

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 07:09:00 +0000

Those little reddish brown ants bite. Ouch. My feet.

Hool Festivle

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 06:58:00 +0000

Yesterday was the Hool Festivle in Balipara. I'm not really sure what its about, but it is a big festivle in the Shantal villages. Mom set up portraits of people in Balipara that she took. In the morning, we set up the small, laminated photos, then Anapurna came with the big flex pictures. We had two pieces of wood put on the large ones, one at the top and one at the bottom, so it would hang right. Gunja and I bought bangles (12 bangles for 10Rs) and then we walked to her house to take a brake. We watched a movie, then had lunch. After, we took a rest- with her parents and Mom- in their AC room. Then we went back to Balipara and there was a big dance contest of all the villages in the area. Each had a different color sarrie and different decorations in their hair. There was also 2-4 drummers in each group. There were lots of girl dancers, then five dance groups of men. At the end, it started to rain, so Gunja, Barto, and I went back to their house with the cameras. Mom and Arpita took down most of the pictures, but Mom has to get some today. We got lots of pictures and videos of the dances, and so if we can get internet, we'll put them up.

-Celia

Nose Piercings

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 08:56:00 +0000

So: I GOT MY NOSED PIERCED! It hurts when you scratch it.... Our friend (and mom's inturpriter), Annapurna know a lady who dose piercings. So we went to her house and she had a start by using ice. Then we had to mark the spots we wanted the piercing in. Instead of using the nose ring (like how mom's was done last time) she used a needle (don't worry, it was new) and string. So we have to use hydrogen peroxide and cream and move the string a little bit at a time. Then, in about a week at least, we can put in the earring. :)

It didn't really hurt when the needle when in, but it hurt when she took it out because it gets thicker. I would've liked to have just the earring in, because then we don't have to change it, but this way we can clean the inside of the hole. My string came untied this morning, so I'll just have to be careful.

I'll try to get up the pictures later.

-Celia

How to Tell?

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 08:53:00 +0000

Stealing the idea from Mom's blog post, from being sick to school, this is what we did:

Tried to sleep, didn't succeed (well I didn't) (1)
Worked some
Didn't blog

Made batik (sp?) fabric for a bad (yet to be finished with boiling) (2)
More aplicayed pillow covers
watercolors
sketches

Inagurated a library (3)
Made a speech (Mom)
Took a video (me)
Saw a temple (us)
Met many nice people

Organized Alcha's library
Pined for egg rolls (Alcha was closed for 15 days)
Tried to make egg rolls (mom)
tested egg rolls (me)
drank tea

Had the rooms transformed
Appeared in Shyamal's movie (4)
wore incredibly hot clothing
drank more tea
Saw them retrasform the house

Got mom's camera lense and (5)
Got the comic and New Yorker cover Steve sent
Recieved the other box
Which includes Mom's stuff and 3rd Rock DVD's

And anything I missed from Tamil Nadu:

Flew to Chennai
Met Karuna (aka our angle)
Drove to Tiru (I slept)
Ate at Tasty Cafe for the fist time

Went to villages (6)
Took lots of pictures
Printed pictures
Showed pics on the viewer
Printed more photos
Retook pictures
Printed more portraits
And so on and so forth......

Walked around the mountain (Mom)
With 2.5 lock people (7)
Got stomach sickness (8)

Saw the biggest temple in India (possibly the biggest in the world)
Gave puja (blessings) (9)
Got hit in the head by an elephant (10)

Went to Pondicherry
Did shopping
Bought cool shoes (Mom)
More cheese
Bagettes (sp?)

Met Nan and
Chandi Devi and
Reshe and
Karuna's wife and daughters and
Plenty of other people

Went home (More info)

Thats pretty much it. If you ask, I'd be happy to tell you more about anything. (But not by blog or email, that would take a really long time to type.)

Notes:

1. Mosquitoes + heat + no power = no sleep for me.
2. It has to be boiled because the beeswax has to be taken out and mom couldn't do it because we don't have a big enough pot. My teacher is going to do it, but she left for Kolkata today and is going to be there for 15 days, she's having surgery.
3. Mom was invited to inagurate a Tagor Reading Room at a ruarl library. She didn't get to cut the ribbon, but she got to hold the librarians arm while he did.
4. He's making a movie about war
5. Thank you Steve
6. We really were suposed to be there for work, but it was like a vacation a lot of the time.
7. I'm not sure how many people that is....
8. Yes, I have been sick more than once. Mom just forgets sometimes
9. For puja we left flowers and moth balls (well, they were like mothballs) and gave money.
10. Yes, I pet an elephant (Noah Whiteman). You give the elephant a donation by putting the money in its trunk then it hits you on the head. A very well behaved elephant.
11. Wow, I have alot of notes.

School

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 07:33:00 +0000

So, I'm attending school now. Its different than back home. Almost all the classes are ouside and we have lots of different classes. There are modeling classes (working with mud(clay)) and drawing classes and singing classes and 2 different kinds of science, and instead of lunch we have tiffin. School starts at 6 am and goes till 11, except on days when you have 7 periods. I only have 7periods twice a week. I'm in class 8C. They're are a lot of students in each class.
We have uniforms too. the 1st-5th year students wear white button up shirts and yellow skirts or shorts. The 6th-8th year girls wear white salwar (baggie pants) and yellow kamise (long tops) and stripped doupatas (scarfs). The boys wear white pants and long, long-sleeve yellow shirts. The the 9th year and older girls wear really really pretty orange sarries. They're really nice.
Most of the classes are in Bengali, so I have some trouble, but it's not too hard. I understand English the most and the teacher even had kids ask me questions one day because I speak fluent English. It was interesting.
Today was my fourth day and I met some of the girls in my class who live in the hotels on campus. The principle said I should try to meet some of them because I live near the school and they sometimes have game nights and other things at the hostels.

All in all, its been pretty fun.

Sick

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 01:36:00 +0000

Mom got sick last Sunday. I got sick too, but I threw up, I didn't have her cold yet. Now she's feeling better, and I'm sick. I was really bad yesterday and the day before, but I feel better now. Hopefully I'll be completely better in a few days.

Tie-Dye

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 01:17:00 +0000

I did tie-dye in my art class last week. Or was it the week before? So I started by doing a little practice piece of cloth that has a few circles and is orange. I'll try to post a picture. Then I did one on a 2 meter long piece of fabric called mol mol. I had to draw out my design on paper, and copy it over. Then, for the little circles, I had to use string to tie them really tightly. When your done, it feels like there are a bunch of pebbles in them. For the big circles, you do the same kind of tieing but bugger in you want larger rings and further down on the fabric if you want bigger circles. I also have to fish on it, which I made by stitching the fish, then pulling on the strings so i could squish up the fabric and tie it up. First I dyed it light blue. Then, I had to take off some ties and tie some more, so when we died it yellow, I would get yellow in the white spaces and blue in the tied spaces and green in the spaces that were untied blue. Then I tyed and untyed more and more, and we dyed it red, so now it has white, yellow, light blue, green, light red, darker red, and maroon. Its really pretty. I'll try to put up a picture of it soon.

We are safe

noreply@blogger.com (Marg Frank) — Fri, 28 May 2010 13:54:00 +0000

Post from Margaret:

News is sketchy about yesterday's train crash and reports continue of possible sabotage by Maoist Rebels. Municipal elections take place on Sunday. I have decided that we will hunker down until all results and any subsequent reactions are past. I have plenty of work to do here, so it won't be a problem to stay put for a bit. Celia will continue with art lessons, etc.

Though this is a tragedy and many are suffering as I write, I assure you that we are both fine though quite sad.

Mom's Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Tue, 25 May 2010 03:42:00 +0000

Mom's birthday was yesterday, the 24th. Our friend Shamal brought us a cake, at midnight, in the morning. I was I gave mom a patch-bag from Alcha that I got her the day before (with her money), a keychain I made, and a patchwork I made that I'm going to make into a pillow. Shamal gave her a small 5 Star and a little baby bottle because she is a Bengali baby, meaning she talks like an infant. "Milk. Egg. Yes. My daughter." That's mainly what we can say in Bengali. Then we called Steve so he could wish her a happy birhtday. We went to bed around 2. At 8, we woke up, and we went to Alcha for breakfast. Mom had two egg rolls. Then we went to Kalah Bhavana to meet Sanchain (he didn't show up) and ended up talking to one of the photographers who had pictures in an exibit. We went back to Rotenpoly and did lots of shopping. We got yarn, knitting needles, a tape measure, a ruler, folders, and mugs. Mom's has a cow on it, and a cow handle, and mine has an elephant on the cup, and one on the handle. They're silly, but fun. Then we came home, and it started raining! It was mom's birthday rain. We stood outside, in our clothes, and got soaked. It was fun. We went to my art class after. Then later, we went out to dinner with Shamal in Boulpur. We had really good food. Then we came home and went to sleep. It was a fun birthday.

Radio Recording

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Tue, 25 May 2010 03:09:00 +0000

Arpita was having kids read powems and sing songs for a holiday next week. She had me read one of the Tagor powems in the Easy Learning book. It was really wierd, I was the oldest one reading except Bebe, and I was reading the easiest powem. It was in Bengali though. We arrived late because it was raining (suprising, I know). When I got there, there were about 15 other kids too. We all practiced our powems, songs, and other things first, then we recorded them on a little machine with a microphone attached. It was fun. I think I did pretty well.

Day of Travel

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Tue, 25 May 2010 02:55:00 +0000

We woke up at about 4am, and we left at 5:30. Karuna's driver drove us. It was about 3 and 1/2 hours car ride to Chennai. Then we had to wait for over an hour at the airport in Chennai becuase our plane was delayed. I really didn't want to fly becasue on our flight to Tamil Nadu, I got really sick on the plane. Ew. The flight was ok though. It took a few hours, I'm not sure exactly how long it was. Then we had to figure out luggage and a taxi in Kolkata. We offered to pay the driver extra to get us to the train station fast, but it still took 4o minutes. Mom refused to tip us though, because he dropped us at the opposite end of the train station from where we needed to be becasue he said that you can't drive up to the gate, which you can, we've done it before. Then, we were in the wrong area, so we ended up missing our train and had to get another one. Pooey. We finally got on the next train and tried to enjoy the AC. When we got to the train station in Boulpur, it was a total mob as usual. All the rickshaw drivers trying to get us to come with them because we're foreners. We finally got two rickshaws to take us and all our bags to the house. At that point, we were already melting. We had pasta for dinner, and had alot of trouble falling asleep because of the heat and the bug bites and the power going out. I miss AC.

Temple Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Tue, 25 May 2010 02:44:00 +0000

When we were in Tiruvanimali, we went on a walk around the mountain (well "hill") with a woman we met named Chandi Devi. We went to alot of the temples. We started at 5am, so we had go get up at 4:30. It was still dark. At the first temple, we had to eat chalk, it was gross. Blah! At one of the other temples, they had a tree where women hang up bags with rocks in them for fertility. It was really pretty to see all the different color bags hanging around the tree. One of the temples was really big, and it has lots of statues of the different gods. Chandi told us about Durga, a godess who cuts of the heads of ignorence. She has 12 arms and carries lots of different things, including war weapons. We got tired after a while and I was dehydrated, so we stopped to get water, sprite, and salty snacks. Later, we got chai. Apperantly we only walked about 2.5 kilometers. Then we took a rickshaw to downtown and went to a reastruant. I tried idilies for the first time, they're really good, and I had dosa. We ended up going shopping and I got really pretty white pants with embroidery and a white top too. We had lots of fun and took lots of pictures.

Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Tue, 25 May 2010 02:42:00 +0000

Sorry I havn't blogged in so long. We've been having some internet trouble and we have been pretty busy too. Sorry. So I'll blog more now.

Tamil Nadu

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 06:03:00 +0000

Sorry I havn't blogged in so long. When we were in West Bengal, the internet kept getting messed up, and mom had to use the computer to prepare for her class. The class went very well.

We are in Tamil Nadu. The town is called Tiruvanimalli (spelling?). It was suposed to be a work trip, but its turning out to be vacation too. Today, for the third time we went into the villages. We've taken lots of pictures, and given lots too. Since the sun and heat are bad for the printer, tomarrow we have to go back to two villages to give people their pictures. Some of the pictures didn't work well when we went to the first village, so we will have to go back there too. We have also been doing alot of listening to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and This American Life on mom's iPod and doing patchwork. Right before we left, my art teacher showed us how to do pachwork so I had a good project for while I'm gone. I'm almost finished with my peice. I also took some scraps so I can make another when I finish. We have an AC unit in our room, and it's spoiled us. Its hot here, but cooler than West

Bengal, but I melt when I leave the house. It's made us soft. Oh well, we'll ajust when we get back.

I should go because we're in an Internet cafe. I'll try to write more soon.

-Celia Echt

The evil step dad is foiled!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Ford) — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 09:56:00 +0000

Hello all, Steve here. Celia gave me permission to post to her blog. What evil things can I say? MUA HAA HAAAA! (I better not - Jack might bite me.)

The girls are in Tiruvanamali (Tiru) now, but do not have Internet access. Reports from the field are that Tiru is nice, and the hotel has AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!!!! WOO! So they are taking a bit of time to just relax, do some needle point, and bicker ... uh ... spend some quality time together. (Don't worry, I just made the "bicker" part up.)

I will give more updates as I learn more. GO CELIA!

New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 03:31:00 +0000

Yesterday was the start of the Bengali new year. We spent the day with Anapuna and her family. Her sisters were both there, and her cousins and mother. We learned how to make these embroidered patterns from one of her cousins. It was really fun. We also had lunch. It was a really special lunch because of the new year. There was rice, greens, curry, fish, sweet curd, eggplant, lots of different kinds of green mango, dol (lentils), sweet rice, and all the dessert things we brought. It was really good. After lunch, we looked at the pictures from Wednesday. Mom went with Anapuna and her mother to a festival (I don’t remember the name) for the new year. It was apparently really hot and crowded. I didn’t go because they had animal sacrifices. Mom also had Punjab, which is blessed food. After we looked at the pictures, we went out to the garden. They have two love birds, one yellow, and one blue. The blue one likes baths, and the yellow is too stupid to figure out how to get out of the water. It was pretty funny to watch. The blue one raises itself to the water and just sits in it, perfectly happy. It was strange, but funny. Then we saw they’re garden. There were lots of different plants. They gave Mom two peppers and a papaya. I got cotton from a cotton plant. We were leaving, but then we started taking pictures, then we took pictures of the goats. There were about 17 goats, possibly more because they kept moving. There were 4 adults, a bunch of kids, and 2 babies. They kept rolling in the dirt, and head butting each other. There were two that kept climbing on chairs and benches together. They were very funny. It was a fun day.

Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:42:00 +0000

Ok, so the pictures won't work. I'll try again later.

Tailor

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:33:00 +0000

On the 9^th, we picked up the outfits we had made at the tailors. I meant to post the pictures earlier, but we couldn’t get them to work. Well, here they are:

Me in my salwar-kamiseMe in my saree

Mom in her sariMom in her salwar-kamise

Saree Dressing

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:33:00 +0000

After we got our tailored clothes back, Manju offered to teach us how to wear them. Here are the pictures.

Alcha

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:33:00 +0000

We really like the Alcha Café (owned by our friend Kaya), so we went for breakfast the other day. Every time we got there mom gets the egg rolls. They’re eggs cooked in roti with chillies. I’ve gotten egg rolls, crepes, pancakes, sandwiches, and French fries. They also have really good tea. When we were there, mom wanted to take pictures.

Me with French fryThe Alcha Café sign outside the gate

Language & Anapuna

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:23:00 +0000

This morning we went to our language lesion. It was really interesting. We learned how to say the different vowles and how to write them. We also learned a few words.

After we were done there, we ran into moms “village guide” (she takes mom into the villages), Anapuna. We went to her house and met her family. Her sister and cousin were doing embroidery, so Mom and I helped untangle some of the thread. Now mom says she’ll buy me thread and fabric and needles so we can learn how to embroider. I should have brought my box of embroidery thread. After we spent some time there, Anapuna showed us her studio. She makes ceramic murals. They’re really pretty and interesting. She also had these rocks that turned out to be pieces of clay that she made! It looks exactly like rocks. I liked one so much, she gave it to me. It was really nice. After seeing her studio, we went back to her house and had tea. Then we went home. Later, Mom is going to take me to the market so we can get some embroidery supplies. It should be fun!

-Celia Echt

The Saturday Market

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:23:00 +0000

Yesterday, we went to the Saturday Market. It was not what I was expecting. There were lots of little stands (well people with their things on blankets really) with lots of different things. There were wood things (keychains, boxes and lots of other stuff), musical instruments, food, fabrics, and paintings. Mom bought me and Gunja bracelets made from pieces of grass weaved together because she got a necklace when she was in the villages and visited the man’s house. She also bought a small painting and an embroidered wall hanging. I’ve already decided where it will go when we get home. It was fun to see all the peoples different crafts.

-Celia Echt

Embarrisment

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 08:54:00 +0000

You have never been really embarrassed until you are walking through a crowded street, and ten rickshaws start screaming “HELLO! RICKSHAW!” and honking their horns at you. Everybody stares. Although most people stare anyway.

The House

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 08:13:00 +0000

Everything is pretty good here. We have to get a new battery for the inverter because the one we have only lasts about an hour if we only have the fan on, and when the power on it gets low, it screams. The guy was suposed to come about 50 minutes ago, but still isn't here. The fridge is great, but we have to turn it off when the generator is running because it uses a lot of power. Today, I found out that the shower head in the bathroom works. That was really nice. We have two western toilets, and this giant fan thing that runs on water. It works really well. This morning for breakfast, mom used the stove and fried some patatoes, or aloo bhujia. It was really good. This afternoon, Gunja and her family might come over, so that will be fun. I'm really liking this house.

-Celia Echt

New House

noreply@blogger.com (Celia) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 08:47:00 +0000

We finally have a new house. We officially took it last Sunday, but I forgot to blog about it. We bought lots of stuff in Kolkata. We got knifes (very hard to find), forks, spoons, bowls, pots, washcloths, towels, sheets, bed covers (for dust), T-shirts (not for the house, for sleeping in), and lots of other stuff. We have been moving lots of stuff into it. We had an inverter installed for when the power goes out, and a fridge put in. We’re rearranging some of the furniture so in the bed room we can be under the fan and so there is a couch in the front room. We also have done a lot of cleaning. It was hard work! Tomorrow we move officially move in. It’s really pretty there. There is a huge garden with lots of fruit trees and a big veggie garden. Lots of pretty flowers too. The people who own it live in Kolkata and come here about once a month. But the caretaker lives on the property. Can’t wait to move in!