So the last few weeks have been incredibly adventurous. But what can you expect from India? Last Thursday the Governor was killed in a helicopter crash nearby so we were instructed to stay inside for a few days until things settled down so that was kinda crazy. I watched almost a whole season of 30 Rock and read 1984. I guess you could call that productive…

And ok, the other Sunday, I decided to go to church alone because I had to go kind of late so I told the others to go ahead and I’d meet them there. Bad idea. So, first I walked up to the first bunch of rickshaw drivers and try to bargain with them and they were trying to cheat me (of course). They were being especially obnoxious though and then I realized they were drunk. Great. So I just started walking away because they wanted 30 rupees and I refuse to pay a rupee over 20 to go where I was going because it’s only 15 for Indians. So annoying. So as I’m walking away, one of the driver’s yells at me, “Hey lady, you turn around and listen to me!” Ohhhh no I will not sir. So rude. So, I walk up to the next batch of rickshaw drivers and they’re all fighting with each other…so I just walk right on past. Then, as I’m about to cross the street to the next batch, this older man walks up to me and starts speaking “English” to me. I was trying to understand but I was also incredibly late for church and sick of dealing with Indian men and really just wanted him to go away. But I thought he was asking for the time so I figured I could help him out real quick. But no, he was not asking for the time. He was asking where I lived and what my phone number was so that we could spend some time together. Um NO. Also, he had incredibly long fingernails (a sign that one doesn’t have to work) which were disgusting and he tried to grab my arm when I turned around to leave but, good news, I’m much faster than him. As I walked away he was yelling at me and telling me to come back and that he could help me and we could be friends. Yeah right creeper.

So, I get across the street and all the rickshaw drivers were huddled together which is never a good thing. They saw me coming and all got those sick smiles on their faces as they prepared to try and rip off the white girl. But I stood strong and finally got my 20 rupee ride to church. However, as we were driving there, it began pouring down rain. Monsoon rain. Rickshaws are open to the elements so I got soaking wet. And to add to the discomfort, my rickshaw driver kept picking up random Indian people who were all going in the same general direction so I was packed into this rickshaw with tons of random Indian men, getting soaked by monsoon rains. I finally got to church and when I went to give the driver my money, he says, “No, fifty.” I just laughed, gave him 20 and walked inside. It never felt so good to be at church. Moral of the story: Don’t travel alone in India if you’re a)white, b)young, and c)a girl.

Let’s see, we went to visit some Indian royalty this past week and that was quite interesting as well. I don’t remember much of that actually because I hadn’t slept in 5 days and was a bit out of it. I do remember the hotel and the hundreds of bugs that were in my bed and I remember attempting to sleep on the tile floor at around 6am…oh what an adventure. My roommate and I decided that it was time for a little India break. So we checked into a real hotel when we got back to Vizag and stayed there for 2 nights and slept in an air-conditioned room and ate cheeseburgers and hot fudge sundaes. We left feeling refreshed and ready to face India again :)

Today was really great too. I slept well last night (thank you Tylenol PM) and we went to some Buddhist ruins on top of the hillside overlooking the ocean. We also got to see some people still celebrating the holiday worshipping Ganesh, the Indian elephant god. Everyone gets big statues of him and when the festival is over, they throw them into the ocean. We happened upon an especially large Ganesh that was about to be thrown in so we watched as they carried the statue down to the beach. However, this is India and everything takes a million times longer than it should so we eventually had to go in order to make it back in time. Sad, but we got the idea. We also visited a Dutch cemetery, which was beautiful and very interesting.

And yesterday we had Pizza Hut for dinner. I can’t even describe in words how wonderful that was. AND, when we were at the hotel, we discovered that they have an air-conditioned gym. With treadmills. Need I say more? We definitely figured out how we could have access to that (and the pool. BONUS) and now we make a daily (when possible) trip down to the gym there. It’s glorious. Anyways, that’s all for now. I have some really exciting things planned for my research in the next few weeks but I’ll write about those after they happen. All is well here and I’m still loving the adventure!