Home (in Mumbai) again

This will not be a long blog post, Im very tired after 36 hours in a train with a bad cold and topped with a rotary meeting 3 hours after my arrival yesterday. Just wanted to let you all know that I am back after 18 fantastic, wild, wonderful, funny, exhausting, hilarious, crazy and beautiful days in Northindia. We were first in Rajasthan (Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Jaipur) then we went to Delhi and we saw the Taj Mahal in Agra, we went further on to see the Ganges river at Haridhwar and last, but certainly not least we went to Amritsar before returning to Mumbai.

Northindia

Im currently writitng from Jaipur, Rajasthan. We are on the 4th or 5th day (lost track of time the moment we sat in the train from Mumbai) and have already seen enough stuff to make a billion blogposts! We started out in Udaipur, moved on to Jaipur and further on to Jaisalmer and the next day right back to Jaipur. The Culture is so dominant (in a good way) and its very obvious how proud of their background that these marwadi people are. The monument are Amazibng, and Yesterday we slept in tents in the middle of the desert after riding by camel out to the beautiful sand dunes, unluckily it started pouring down (In the desert!?!) and we were all drenched and smelled like wet camel by the time we returned ... Thats all for now. I'll update again in a couple of days or whenever ill be able to get to a computer.

Maria

Im actually active :O

For those of you who knew before I left Denmark, you know how inactive, lazy and bad at sports I am. But after 8 months and 7kg's (OMG!) in India, I decided to do something... I had been regularly going to my yogaclasses at the institute in Santacruz, and I think that is the main reason why I haven't gained more than 7 kilos, but still I felt like I didn't do enough! So when I moved back in with my first host family (now for the third time - yes, my hostfamily history is a complete mess, I've been moving back and forwards a gazillion times) I was talking to my hostmom, Shaila, and She came up with the idea of doing poweryoga. So she took me to her gym and got me signed up and all (on my first day back in their house!!!) and the next day I was there at 7.30 a.m. to do poweryoga, a tougher kind of yoga - the western interpretation of the indian Astanga Yoga - Basically its more of movements and it really builds your muscles while working on flexibility and cardio at the same time... Now that Im a member of the gym I also decided to try out some of the other lessons, so when I saw that they also had aerobics I was so excited, I was imagining a room full of indian 'Jane Fonda's' jumping around to the sound of the loud tecno music that is always playing in this gym. So I went there and took part in one of the classes and it was hilarious! I relly enjoyed it, it didn't feel like working out at all, it was just like dancing around, but the sore muscles afterwards were the proof of the intense workout I had done without even noticing! And about the other participants - there was a couple of ladies in leggings, and one of them actually was wearing legwarmers - It was just great! So now Im active, Im doing somehting to try and shed some of the added weight before I go home - though its difficult to try to hard now that im back in the Marwadi family, everyone knows how fond of Ghee and Mithai these poeple are, I had been here for 2 days before we made Pakoras (fried onions and fried lentils served with chutney and ketchup) and I love those so much, so I guess loosing weight might be too much to ask for, but atleast getting back into shape a bit, and aim to atleast not gain any more before my return - I think that is what ought to be my goal... At least Im doing 'something'...

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!

I would like to start off by saying sorry. It has been more than a month since my last blogpost, and its really a shame because I have experienced so much in the last 4 weeks! But a couple of days ago I read somewhere that the more you experience and enjoy the less time you have to post stuff on your blog and Facebook (cant stop Facebook though - Im kinda addicted!). So just take it as a great sign - no news is good news - as the old danish saying goes.



And I can (for once) actually say that during january I was very busy! Every afternoon all us inbounds of district 3140 would meet at the Rotary Service Centre in Juhu for dance practice before the big district conference. We were performing 3 dances; maharashtran Koli dance, the Bamboo dance from Nagaland and a Bollywood dance to the song Jor ka Jathka - I was a part of the two traditional performances (the two first). We worked long and hard, and getting through all the practices was quite the roller coaster ride, but we got through it, and the outcome was fantastic!

The DISCON went smooth, the costumes were amazing and on top of it all, we were offered to come dance on television - a show called Dhina Dhin Dha on the channel Doordarshan. We also had a very fun day at the studios shooting the show, and we all very much enjoyed getting our makeup done and our saris pinned up by pro's!

In january another big thing happened for me - I had a visit from Denmark! My parent and my younger brother had come to visit me and see the city which i have grown such a liking to... On their first day here I took them by local trains, and it was so exciting to see how they reacted to everything exactly like i used to do in my first couple of weeks here. It was a bit stressful being a local tour guide showing them around in the morning, then rushing to Juhu in the afternoon for my daily dance practise and taking them for countless dinners every evening (club president, all host families, host counsellor, district counsellor and so on...) but I really enjoyed having them around! And when we jumped on an airplane headed to Goa all was forgotten and the ultimate state of relaxation took over again. I really loved having them here, and I must admit that saying goodbye at the airport was difficult, but it was worth it!




Cows on a goan beach











My hostmom was so great! She took us to the Pagoda and even went with us to the Crawford market because my parents was loving the indian food and wanted to bring home spices.




Then in february I, along with 5 oher exchangestudents, went to a corporate ryla organised by Rotaryclub of Deonar. It was held at Alibaug beach. It was a great experience, and very well organised. We had to drive for 3 hours in a bus to get there and I must admit that I was kinda bummed out when I found out that it was only 12 minutes by ferry from gateway of India...The food wasn't exactly the best I've had during my stay, so I got through mainly by chapati's, chai and my favourite biscuit Parle-G... I was the COO of my group (kinda like deputy ceo or something like that) and I won the award for best coo and on top of that I was the runner up - one vote from winning - the title of miss popular of the ryla-camp! It was a good experience, infinately better than the first ryla I attended!


Me and my group presenting our marketing pitch at the Ryla

Happy New year!

Hey everybody, Happy New Year!

I had a great time along with most of the other exchange students. Our New years bash was thrown by the Sweet Keerthana (from the rotex) who was nice enough to have us all over! We had a blast and danced all night... There was no fireworks - not at all like in Denmark. I guess this year is just all about trying new things and having different experiences that I could not have dreamed of when at home!

But the celebration of new years also means that I have only 5 months left of my beloved exchange :( Cant even dream of packing my bags anytime soon... I feel really great in my current host family and I really wish I could just stay here for the rest of the time (they are my 3rd), but I dont know whether or not that is possible.

I feel like I have been living in Mumbai for my whole life - I've become so accustomed to the food, I listen to the Bollywood music that in the beginning just seemed annoying to my danish ears, but that i now enjoy very much (Sheila Ki Jawani, Anjaana Anjaani, Tujhe Bhula Diya, Badnaam Munny and all those) I actually enjoy the crowded trains (hate to admit that I very much enjoy getting to push those -very- pushy ladies! If they push I push!), I cant Imagine not getting up in the morning and going to Santa Cruz for my yogalessons and stopping for coconutwater or a guava on the way back to the stations afterwards. I love having a day at home just wearing my extremely comfortable Salvar Kameez all day and having a Mango lassi in the afternoon (everything is better with Mango!!!!!!!!!!!!). Taking a rickshaw to go to the station even though its just 2-300 meters away just because its only Rs.11 (ca. 1,4 kroner). I cannot Image how it is going to be to live in a city that will not be completely on hold for a day or two just because of one of the million annual festivals :)The people, the food, the surroundings, the home, the families, the clothes, the way of life - I enjoy every minute of it!

That was my little ode to my life as an exchange student in Mumbai... Ill go now, dinner time! ... more food! yum!

Kutch nahi dekha, kuch nahi dekha.

I came home from Kutch just a couple of days ago. Another amazing trip with rotary and the other exchangestudents. As the title sayd (in hindi) kutch nahi dekha, kuch nahi dekha - if you havent seen kutch, you havent seen anything (their motto). And after our visit to the area i really think that it is true!

We were there for only 4 days and in so little time we managed to see everything from deserts to beaches and mountains. Mandirs (temples), palaces and carnivals. And we even met the Chief minister of Gujarat and we were in the local newspaper.

The same evening as we arrived we went to downtown-Bhuj to see the opening of the Rann Utsav (known as the kutchfestival). It wasa first a bunch of speeches by important people (the CM of Gujarat too) and then, when the sun had set, a carnival/parade began.




Though it was rather long, it was still fun, we managed to push our way into the parade and went dancing in front of the cm along with an ethnic dancegroup (the one with the lion-mask)! Some of the exchangestudents even got themselves onto one of the floats/carts/whatever its called! All in all a great evening.










Our second day there was very busy and we did a million things, and i could write page after page about it, ill just stick to a few highlights and try to get most of it in there.








First we went to this market/bazaar place where we did a bit of shopping, there was also a lot of nicely decorated camels and we spent a lot of time clicking photos with those... Then after a while there was some traditional "wrestling" and that was very amusing - the two guys would stand in front of each other holding on to each others pant or belts (?) and try to throw the opponent down on the sand...
































Then we quickly moved on to the next place we had to visit - a temple on a mountain. The bus took us up a little more than halfway, and then we had to walk for a while, but that was only nice! It was an amazing experience because of the fantastic view from up there! We could see the geographic border between India and Pakistan. And we had a clear view of what it is that makes kutch so special - all the different types of landscapes











And then(...) drove to the desert and drove on camel-carts out to the "white-desert" a phenomena that only exists in Kutch. It occurs when the sea level falls at the end of the monsoon season and a huge area of sand is laid to dry in the hot Indian sun. then all the salt from the ocean crystallizes and creates a white cover on the desert sand. We went out there in the evening time, and while we were watching a cultural show (a dance performance illustrating the Ramayana)the sun set and the temperature dropped - I dont exactly know how low, but to us, practically, mumbaikars it sure felt freezing. The combination of a huge area coveres by a perfect white blanket and the low temperatures almost made me feel like home (its snowing in Denmark i hear) and Riina (Finland) and I both started singing christmas songs in our native languages - A lot of Indians stared and some even pointed at us ;D but it was fun, and probably the most christmas-like evening I've had this year...









Here we also met with the chief minister, but unluckily my camera ran out of battery :(





The third day we started out by going to this Palace that is actually still in use :D It was fun walking aroung inside and there was a bunch of stuffed animals (tigers leopards and such) and a lot of really old furniture and a lot of photos hanging around... On the terrace (or rooftop as the rest of the world, except for India, would call it) again we had an almost magical view of the woods and Mandvi beach. The beautiful surroundings set by the old palace (which btw has been used as settings for several Bollywood movies)laid the base for what was to turn into hundreds and hundreds of photos on my camera...



After seeing the palace Chetan bought a round of coconut water for everyone, and we just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings, the lovely weather and the natural cold drink under the trees outside the palace...




In the afternoon/evening we went to Mandvi and everyone had a lovely camel ride on the (very clean!!!) beach... It was very bumpy, and when the camel started running Ale(Mixico) and I (we were sharing a camel) were screaming like crazy people along with Beatriz and Leticia (both from Brasil) who were running next to us on their own camel... Ont the beach there were also an exhibition of sandsculptures, some more succesfull than others, and just before the sun was setting 3 people decided to go for this ride where you were strapped into a parachute and dragged by a car along the beach, it looked very fun, but I was too scared to do it :S


















After that we went out for the local roadside speciality - kutchi dabeli which is basically a pav with a very spicy potato/masala mix put inside... a Gujarati veg-burger , or something like that...

Then we went home to the Yoga ashram in which we were staying, had dinner and had fun plying games and singing songs around the campfire until late at night.

Marwadi wedding - my first view of an Indian marriage ceremony

So last wednesday I attended my first indian wedding! the son of one of the rotarians in my club was getting married. Its a giant affair when someone is getting married in India. At this wedding there was around 1600 guests (if i got it right?). The buffet offered all you could ever wish for - there is one photo of the giant food area (INSANE!!!)... First I went to the smaller procession in the afternoon, the was a big band playing and a small wagon with giant loudspeaker spitting out hindi songs non-stop! Everyone was decked up and dancing on the street. The bridesgrooms family was handing out money too everyone while dancing (think that it is supposed to be propherous for the newlyweds). The groom himself was placed on a horse in the back, far away from all the fun, and the bride wasnt even here (she was at the actual venue getting ready)

Then we went home and picked up Kalpana, the wife of the president of my rotaryclub -they were the ones who took me there. and went straight to the giant hotel in Juhu where the actual wedding were to take place.







The sun was setting and still people were dancing. When it had darkened sufficiently, about 30 indian came with beautiful lamps/lanterns that they kept on their heads forming a human streetlighting as the frame of the party. It took us 3 hours too walk 150 meter to the entrance of the actual marriagehall(or actually it was outside). A giant area with red carpets on the ground a big beautifully decorated stage, white chair, tables and sofas nicely spread over the area, a big buffet and hundreds of servants and waiters walking around taking care of everything. After a while the bride and groom arrived and they walked to the stage with each their families and exchanges a long necklace made from flowers (this is the symbol that you're married - like exchanging rings in cristianity). Then the couple had to stand on the stage for hours posing for photos with more than one and a half thousand guests...






Late at night 3-4 o'clock they will sit for the pooja (religious ceremony) and not long before the sun rises they will officially be declared married by the hindu priest.

Pictures from Diwali (better late than never)

So for Diwali I was with my new family. I had a lot of fun with my host mom and host sister making different sweets and special Indian dishes because all of my host moms family was coming to stay at our place during the holidays. We made laddu's and Chakli's, the Chakli's I really enjoyed (though they don't really qualify as sweets since they are more spicy than sweet.

It is custom to wear new clothes for the main evening of Diwali so my hostfamily had gotten me this amazing turqoise and Ivory coloured saree. This is a picture of me, my youngest host sister Juili and my host dad :)

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!

Photos from south trip

Me and Riina (Finland) with the kathakali dancers in Thekkady.

A view of KAnyakumari from the island. You can see the mountains.

Me and some other exchangestudents at the temple island out of KAnyakumari

The beatiful temple in Munnar

Exchangestudents riding an elephant (I did it too!!!)

Alejandra (Mexico) and I on one of our many many busrides!

Me in the boat on the backwaters in Allepey (before we jumped in the water!)

Beatiful view of the tea plantations in the mountains in Munnar

One of the many churches in Goa

The beatiful Goan Sunset

Goa



PS: these are all Cameron's(USA) photos since i cannot get online with my laptop (with my own photos - 1700 of them)