So... A long time since my last post, sorry for that, but i have been very busy! On the 30th of october, Imoved to my third hostfamily - I arrived late in the evening, and had dinner with Nilima (my hostmom) and Juili (my youngest hostsister who usually studies dentistry in Nashik, but she was home for diwali), my second host sister, Shalmali, wasnt there. Later on my hostdad (bal) came home, and we all stayed up till twelve end ate icecream the moment I turned 16 ;) Then we went off to sleep but got up just seven hours later to go to a rotary wheelchair distribution in Malad, it was fun, and those people got really happy, so it was with a good feeling that I could go home and prepare for my birthday party in the afternoon. We had invited ALL THE OTHER INBOUNDS, so we were 12 exchangestudents plus all of my hostfamilies, my counsellor and his family and my club president, It was really fun, we had Chicken biryani and chinese food for dinner and three different cakes for dessert - All of which were smushed out in my face and hair when my hostmom had to feed me my first piece (indian tradition!), it was just unlucky with the tiramisu cake, because when it got in my hair, it looked like someone had vommitted all over me :S but it was FUN!
Then it was time for Diwali, the main festival and the ending of the festival season (yes, this mean that there wont be any more pooja's, aarti's, godly statues, dancing on the streets or things like that untill sometime in the new year. Diwali, the celebration of light, has something to do with a tale about Ram and his siblings, my hostmom told me, but im incredibly sorry to sayt that I dont recall the details of the story :( It is celebrated with a lot of fireworks and crackers all over the city (except for colaba thanks to a certain mr. Obama). My host uncles (i guess) and their family came to stay with us over the week, I got to meet Alopa(?my host cousin?) who's wedding I'm going to attend in december. Two very mischevious kids (also host cousins) came too, they were soo cute, but I couldn't really communicate with them since they only spoke in Marathi :/ We all made a bunch of indian sweets (and I actually liked some of them this time!!!) gave eachother presents, I got a new, beautiful sari (Ivory and turqoise with silver embroideries) a bunch of lovely imitation jewellery and three nice purses. (Pictures are on their way!)
One day we went to this Punjabi dabbar in Thane, and had some AMAZING punjabi food. We were sitting on these odd net-benches, a guy was playing a drum while singing hindi-hits and it was a really fun evening. Another day we went for lunch at the ISCON temple, it was also extremely good food eventhough everything was veg. The buffet was booming with options, and I practically got full just from looking at all the food! haha.
My hindi is really coming along great, and I can (sort of) communicate with our maids and my hostgrandma (she onbly speaks marathi, but I think she understands me when I say soemthing in hindi). Its a little weird though when I ask how someone is doing (Aap kaisee hoon?) and get a really complicated answer that I didnt get a word of! I can practically read everything out lound eventhough I'm still having a bit of problems with the vowels... At least I know enough to direct the rickshawdriver to the right place and ask for food from the maids (the two most vital purposes).
Next time I will be writing, will most likely be in the small gap between the RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadertship Award) in Lonavala and the upcoming southtour, but im not certain, and my next post might not be untill december... Sorry...
goodnight and take care for now, Maria
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