Now we're almost halfway through april, and i'm returning to Denmark on the 5th of june. I feel really weird about it... On one hand i'm really excited to go back to my friends and family and returning to my "normal" life. On the other hand i still feel like i belong in Mumbai, it's an odd feeling and it didn't really come before sometime in december, but now i actually feel like a part of this city, i'm not like an alien on a strange planet anymore - this is my home too!
My friends here are the best! and it's very hard to imagine that one of them, Beatriz, is going back to Brazil in only one month. It really made me realize how it's all coming to an end, and frankly i don't like that thought!
It's funny actually, in the beginning, the first two months especially, i felt like time was passing in slow motion and i really thought that a year would feel like a lifetime. Let's just say it snuck up on me. This morning i woke up and almost started panicking because i started thinking of this wonderful and fantastic year coming to an end.
Dont get me wrong, i miss my danish family and my danish friends and i am so excited to see them all again. My friends here, Riina and Beatriz especially, i hope to stay in touch with for the rest of my life. I want the magic of this year to continue forever.
Deep down i know that you cannot "have your cake and eat it too". But i really wish i could!
Showing posts with label being an exchangestudent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label being an exchangestudent. Show all posts
9 April 2011
15 February 2011
Dalchini (!?)
I had gone to Kandivali to sleep over at Riina's house (Riina is an exchangestudent from Finland - for those who might not now...)
We went to 'more!', a small supermarket to buy the ingredients for the cake we wanted to bake. We got all our ingredients but we couldn't find the cinnamon. We asked the lady in the counter, and she was like yes yes (still sitting there). Once again I asked her "Where is the cinnamon?" and her answer was, again, "yes yes" (!?) - she, like many working class indians, didn't speak english! so Riina and I tried, without succes, to explain, in hindi, what cinnamon was... After a little while a female costumer walks in, and I ask her how to say cinnamon in hindi, she then ask the girl who worked there "Elaichi kahaa hein?". Now i just happen to know, don't ask me why, that Elaichi means cardamom, so I tried to explain to the lady that cinnamon is the one commonly used in desserts, is a kind of dried bark, not the same at cardamom, and finally she looks as if she understand, the lady ask for dalchini. I think, NOOOO (!) dal means lentalsoup!!!... But luckily the lady was right! cinnamon in hindi is Dalchini - yet another word added to my hindi vocabulary. Practical lessons everyday - the world is my college!
We went to 'more!', a small supermarket to buy the ingredients for the cake we wanted to bake. We got all our ingredients but we couldn't find the cinnamon. We asked the lady in the counter, and she was like yes yes (still sitting there). Once again I asked her "Where is the cinnamon?" and her answer was, again, "yes yes" (!?) - she, like many working class indians, didn't speak english! so Riina and I tried, without succes, to explain, in hindi, what cinnamon was... After a little while a female costumer walks in, and I ask her how to say cinnamon in hindi, she then ask the girl who worked there "Elaichi kahaa hein?". Now i just happen to know, don't ask me why, that Elaichi means cardamom, so I tried to explain to the lady that cinnamon is the one commonly used in desserts, is a kind of dried bark, not the same at cardamom, and finally she looks as if she understand, the lady ask for dalchini. I think, NOOOO (!) dal means lentalsoup!!!... But luckily the lady was right! cinnamon in hindi is Dalchini - yet another word added to my hindi vocabulary. Practical lessons everyday - the world is my college!
17 December 2010
Status
162 days spent in India so far.
201 days to go.
5 trips out of Mumbai(Safala, Lonavala, RYLA, South tour and Bordi + Kutch and Pune coming up).
3 hostfamilies.
52 hindi letters - 10 vowels, 2 modifiers (?) and 40 consonants i had to learn by heart.
Uncountable numbers of mango juice.
Insane amounts of hours spent in Mumbai's local trains...
1 big fat indian wedding - soon to be two :D
5 major religious festivals celebrated (Ganpati, Janmashtami, Nav raatri, Diwali and Rakhsha bandhan)
14 letters and packages from home (friends and family together)
5 letters sent back home + 6 packages
waaaayyy too many rupees spent
7 times did I bake danish pastries - alt fra Kringle og brunsviger til hinbaersnitter og kanelsnegle altid vellykket og vellidt - Selvfoelgelig!
4 yogaclasses per week! lately they have been done along with Janina (USA) <3
15 other exchangestudent-friends + many many many indians!
4 danish dinners cooked (f.eks. lammefrikadeller med remoulade og kartoffelsalat eller vegetarlasagne med raakost, groen salat, og floede kartofler)
very few times have I been up before 7.30 in the past 5 1/2 months :P
1 run after I stepped unto the scale the first month and realised I had put on two kg's in 30 days.
3 kg's gained since my arrival (a number I'm rather proud of! for other inbounds it has been as high as 10 !!! )
16 degrees is the coldest i have experienced in the past 5 1/2 months
100000000 ... new dishes tasted (or at least that is how it feels)
1 birthday with 3 birthday cakes and tiramisu-cake in my face and my hair (det lignede til forveksling at nogen havde knaekket sig direkte i frisuren :S )!
3 saris!
7 indian outfits, punjabi suits, salwar kameez or whatever you choose to call it.
3746 photos
and
infinite numbers of priceless experiences that i wouldnt have missed for the world! I love India, I love Mumbai and I love life as an exchangestudent!
201 days to go.
5 trips out of Mumbai(Safala, Lonavala, RYLA, South tour and Bordi + Kutch and Pune coming up).
3 hostfamilies.
52 hindi letters - 10 vowels, 2 modifiers (?) and 40 consonants i had to learn by heart.
Uncountable numbers of mango juice.
Insane amounts of hours spent in Mumbai's local trains...
1 big fat indian wedding - soon to be two :D
5 major religious festivals celebrated (Ganpati, Janmashtami, Nav raatri, Diwali and Rakhsha bandhan)
14 letters and packages from home (friends and family together)
5 letters sent back home + 6 packages
waaaayyy too many rupees spent
7 times did I bake danish pastries - alt fra Kringle og brunsviger til hinbaersnitter og kanelsnegle altid vellykket og vellidt - Selvfoelgelig!
4 yogaclasses per week! lately they have been done along with Janina (USA) <3
15 other exchangestudent-friends + many many many indians!
4 danish dinners cooked (f.eks. lammefrikadeller med remoulade og kartoffelsalat eller vegetarlasagne med raakost, groen salat, og floede kartofler)
very few times have I been up before 7.30 in the past 5 1/2 months :P
1 run after I stepped unto the scale the first month and realised I had put on two kg's in 30 days.
3 kg's gained since my arrival (a number I'm rather proud of! for other inbounds it has been as high as 10 !!! )
16 degrees is the coldest i have experienced in the past 5 1/2 months
100000000 ... new dishes tasted (or at least that is how it feels)
1 birthday with 3 birthday cakes and tiramisu-cake in my face and my hair (det lignede til forveksling at nogen havde knaekket sig direkte i frisuren :S )!
3 saris!
7 indian outfits, punjabi suits, salwar kameez or whatever you choose to call it.
3746 photos
and
infinite numbers of priceless experiences that i wouldnt have missed for the world! I love India, I love Mumbai and I love life as an exchangestudent!
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