Halfway...

I’m a little over halfway done with my time here in India. I was laying on the floor of my apartment thinking over all the things I have come accustom to this past few months. For example, today I came home from field and was too exhausted to take a shower. However, I was too gross to get in my bed…logically I just took a nap on the floor of my room and didn’t think twice about it. Another thing I did today was to eat fish with little tiny bones. As I was picking through the fish I came across the fish eggs…and again thought nothing of it as I picked around the bones and eggs with my fingers. If you know anything about me I rarely eat anything on a bone unless it is ribs that my mother has cooked, but there I was eating fish on a bone. Again while in the village today I was taken to a Chinese fishing net and of course I climbed on the bamboo bridge (it was cracking as I was crossing it) and thought nothing of it. It was beautiful to overlook the water and then crawl even further out onto the net as it jutted out over the river. I continued to lay there after my nap on the floor and think about things that I thought were so shocking or strange before, but have become so common it seems silly to even write about. For example, if you are on a bus you are expected to push and shove your way to a seat, but the minute a woman gets on with a baby you are expected to offer your seat. Also, it is perfectly normal to see a family of 4 sometimes 5 packed onto a motorbike. It has amazed me the amount of things one can carry on a single motorbike: doors, chairs, huge bags of rice, tiny babies, large stacks of newspaper, computer monitors, and even bushels of bananas. Children insist on helping me cross the street by holding my hand. I am perfectly able to cross a street on my own, but they won’t let me do it. If the power goes out while taking a shower you just try to remember where you put your shampoo and hope for the best. Also, before getting the in shower you do a quick check to make sure no spiders or lizards have found there way in, but if they have you just shoo them away. Also, not really scared of spiders anymore except for the really, really big ones. By big I mean the ones that are bigger than my hand; I’m not sure I’ll ever we okay with those monsters. Setting aside an entire morning to tackle your laundry seems perfectly normal here. You just put on your iPod and start washing those clothes with yours hands. Money is also a funny thing over here. I will argue and argue with someone over 10 rupees (about .20 cents) and not pay for anything if I can help it. I will take a bus instead of a rickshaw and then walk 3 extra km to save $2. I also brought a fan over from American and since the beginning of the trip this fan has lost 2 blades and started to make a funny noise. Instead of buying another one (I’m sure I could get one for $3) I ‘fixed’ it by tying some string around the top of the fan. I am that girl now and I don’t care.

(don't panic...thanks)

(baby fan)

(Sister Medona playing on Chinese fishing net)