I'm settling into my new house now. It's actually working out very well. We don't have a house mom to tell us what to do, we're in a lively sector (neighborhood super-block) where we can walk to the market, and are close to a busy street where it's easy to pick up a tuk-tuk (autorickshaw). The house itself is very nice, and Eryn and I have our own bathroom (big plus!). Our shower is a bucket, and you have to start up the water heater and hour before you shower, but that's the only real difference I see from home. The house is in the Modernist style, with some quirky Indian details and a lot of personality. There's no oven, which may prove problematic when we go through further cookie withdrawl.... but the stove heats water super quick for tea, and with this cold weather that's really all we want! We also have a washer that we share with the families upstairs. Unfortunately as there is no drier and it's freezing, anything you wash is likely to be wet for a week... so I'm waiting to do any laundry (also because I am usually wearing at least 6 layers of clothing on top at any given time: 3 shirts, 1 sweater, 1 sweatshirt and a jacket) so there is no way I am giving up any article of clothing. I'll just remain dirty. :)
I'm particularly enjoying all of the amazing Indian food. The man who takes care of our house is cooking dinners for us (he cooks them in the morning before he goes to work, and we heat them up on the stove in the evening). We're on our own for breakfast (we're eating a lot of yogurt and bananas) and for lunch we usually find a small place near school. I'm really interested in learning how to cook, and Vijay, our house cook has offered to teach us how to make paneer (cheese) and roti (a wheat bread similar to a tortilla). I've also decided the secret to amazing Indian food is lots of garlic and ginger. The whole house smells like ginger all day and it's amazing.
School started mid-week and so far it's moving slowly. We have studio every day of the week, 9am-1pm, and at noon we have a guest speaker series. Locals come in to talk about the city from a resident's point of view, as well as professionally (there are govt officials, architects, activists, etc). I think those lectures are my favorite part of the class so far. Our projects are still very freeform. I'm broadly studying the architectural controls (aesthetic rules essentially) applied to all commercial and residential buildings in the sector centers. I think I'm going to look at how the rigid system was adapted over the last 50 years to function with the Indian lifestyle. I'm working with Kate on this project, as well as an undergrad.
I'm getting more used to the city, and more comfortable with the city layout. I think it's somehow clear to the locals that we now live here: I'm not longer quoted 120 INR by the tuk-tuk drivers to get to school (it should be 50-60)! So it's nice to feel a bit more at home. We still get a lot of stares everywhere we go, and alot of catcalls from cars when it starts to get late (although we are never really out after dark). Our only tramautic experience so far has been Kate getting hit by a motorcycle (she's okay, just a bruised leg). There are no crosswalks here (well... there are some marked, but they really aren't crosswalks) and the streets are incredibly wide. The city was designed with the intent that you stay within your neighborhood block (which theoretically has all of the services you would need in daily life), so all streets outside that area are designed for fast car traffic. Crossing the street as a pedestrian is a bit of an art. First you look both ways (because even though traffic should only be coming from the right, there is often someone coming the other direction) and then you cross to the center, and then you repeat to get to the other side. When Kate and I were crossing we got to the middle and stopped, and then Kate saw someone in the wrong lane and panicked, running into the lane. I'm feeling really guilty that I didn't catch her. It all just happened so fast. We are lucky that it was only a motorcycle. She's a little nervous about crossing streets now, but with practice I think we'll both be fine. We're now using the hand-holding buddy system.
Alright, that's just a short update for now. I think I may be getting a phone in the next couple days. I made friends with a nice girl at school who has offered to get me a sim card (as a foreigner I can't get one on my own.... terrorism laws). I'll keep you updated.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
first impressions
4 hour flight to Chicago
5 hour layover in ORD
14 hour flight to Delhi
1 harrowing taxi drive through the Delhi night with our luggage on the roof of the car.
1 sleepless night in a Delhi hotel with 3 girls and 2 single beds
3 hour train ride to Chandigarh
1 even more harrowing auto-rickshaw ride with all of our luggage
= finally home with a family.
That was what I was going to write yesterday about my trip from Seattle to Chandigarh. Unfortunately the last part is no longer true. Kate and I spent a couple of hours at our new home in the outskirts of the city (settling in, chatting with the family, drinking tea and enjoying the views of the city and mountains) until our professor called with a “situation.” The undergraduate boys were unhappy with their accommodations and needed to be moved. The temporary solution was to move Kate and I to another house where the rest of the (6) girls were staying. The temporary solution may now become permanent? Or at least the boys get to keep our old house. We are now in limbo, hoping that our professor can find another home for us. We are currently living five girls in one room. Granted, it is a large, spacious room with a queen size bed and a small sofa. It will be fun for a couple nights, but not ideal for nearly 3 months!
So far my impression of India is mixed. I could write about the India I saw (albeit incredibly briefly) in Delhi. That India was full of smog, dirt and grime, with flashing signs and fancy hotels with spotless interiors and homeless sleeping on the sidewalk right outside. There was so much life everywhere: dogs playing in the road, cows, street hawkers, rickshaw drivers, people huddled around fires, and so many ladies with beautiful scarves and saris!
The other India I’ve seen is Chandigarh. I had been unsure of what to expect of this city, having heard that it was “not an Indian city, it was just in India.” It does feel very European, and much cleaner than Delhi. There was a marketable change in the landscape as our train arrived in the city – the mounds of trash littering the landscape miraculously disappeared. We didn’t see any slums or makeshift houses on the ride from the train station to our house. Women are in jeans and there are high end stores in Sector 18. We are currently living in Sector 2, which is where the government officials and ministers live. It is considered the nicest sector in the city, with expansive gorgeous houses in concrete and brick. The houses are each surrounded by gardens and locked with beautiful ironwork gates that announce the family name (and sometimes occupation) in formal plaques. This is not the India I was expecting to live in!
Our house has marble floors throughout and tall, highly detailed (European) ceilings. The living room alone is comparable to my apartment size in Seattle. Our host is an older couple, but there are always many more people around. We were never introduced to the help but they also don’t appear to speak English. Our host mother is friendly but we feel more like it is a boarding house than a home stay. Perhaps that is because there are 9 American girls in the house. (Or perhaps Kate and I just miss the first family we stayed with.) We are served chai on trays in the morning before breakfast and in the evening before we go to bed. Our breakfasts and dinners are prepared for us and served at the dining room table, but we don’t eat with the family. The food is amazing, and our host mother has offered to teach us to cook later.
The hot water situation will take the most getting used to. We turn on the hot water heater in the morning and wait for it to fill to its 5 gallon capacity. Then we turn on the faucet and fill a bucket, tempering the hot faucet with the cold to reach the ideal temperature, and use a smaller bucket to dump water on ourselves as need to clean. We all have to conserve our water usage so that there is enough for all five of us girls to shower each morning with at least lukewarm water. I think that the situation won’t be so bad once the weather starts to warm up (we arrived just in time for the coldest day on record in Chandigarh).
We start school tomorrow.
5 hour layover in ORD
14 hour flight to Delhi
1 harrowing taxi drive through the Delhi night with our luggage on the roof of the car.
1 sleepless night in a Delhi hotel with 3 girls and 2 single beds
3 hour train ride to Chandigarh
1 even more harrowing auto-rickshaw ride with all of our luggage
= finally home with a family.
That was what I was going to write yesterday about my trip from Seattle to Chandigarh. Unfortunately the last part is no longer true. Kate and I spent a couple of hours at our new home in the outskirts of the city (settling in, chatting with the family, drinking tea and enjoying the views of the city and mountains) until our professor called with a “situation.” The undergraduate boys were unhappy with their accommodations and needed to be moved. The temporary solution was to move Kate and I to another house where the rest of the (6) girls were staying. The temporary solution may now become permanent? Or at least the boys get to keep our old house. We are now in limbo, hoping that our professor can find another home for us. We are currently living five girls in one room. Granted, it is a large, spacious room with a queen size bed and a small sofa. It will be fun for a couple nights, but not ideal for nearly 3 months!
So far my impression of India is mixed. I could write about the India I saw (albeit incredibly briefly) in Delhi. That India was full of smog, dirt and grime, with flashing signs and fancy hotels with spotless interiors and homeless sleeping on the sidewalk right outside. There was so much life everywhere: dogs playing in the road, cows, street hawkers, rickshaw drivers, people huddled around fires, and so many ladies with beautiful scarves and saris!
The other India I’ve seen is Chandigarh. I had been unsure of what to expect of this city, having heard that it was “not an Indian city, it was just in India.” It does feel very European, and much cleaner than Delhi. There was a marketable change in the landscape as our train arrived in the city – the mounds of trash littering the landscape miraculously disappeared. We didn’t see any slums or makeshift houses on the ride from the train station to our house. Women are in jeans and there are high end stores in Sector 18. We are currently living in Sector 2, which is where the government officials and ministers live. It is considered the nicest sector in the city, with expansive gorgeous houses in concrete and brick. The houses are each surrounded by gardens and locked with beautiful ironwork gates that announce the family name (and sometimes occupation) in formal plaques. This is not the India I was expecting to live in!
Our house has marble floors throughout and tall, highly detailed (European) ceilings. The living room alone is comparable to my apartment size in Seattle. Our host is an older couple, but there are always many more people around. We were never introduced to the help but they also don’t appear to speak English. Our host mother is friendly but we feel more like it is a boarding house than a home stay. Perhaps that is because there are 9 American girls in the house. (Or perhaps Kate and I just miss the first family we stayed with.) We are served chai on trays in the morning before breakfast and in the evening before we go to bed. Our breakfasts and dinners are prepared for us and served at the dining room table, but we don’t eat with the family. The food is amazing, and our host mother has offered to teach us to cook later.
The hot water situation will take the most getting used to. We turn on the hot water heater in the morning and wait for it to fill to its 5 gallon capacity. Then we turn on the faucet and fill a bucket, tempering the hot faucet with the cold to reach the ideal temperature, and use a smaller bucket to dump water on ourselves as need to clean. We all have to conserve our water usage so that there is enough for all five of us girls to shower each morning with at least lukewarm water. I think that the situation won’t be so bad once the weather starts to warm up (we arrived just in time for the coldest day on record in Chandigarh).
We start school tomorrow.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
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