1 month!
I left home a full month ago!! In 2 days, I will have been in India a full month - travel time plus the time zone difference adds up to a lot. The time has gone by really quickly. I’m happy I still have almost 3 more months left.
It is nice to be done with finals. I have a lot more time just to hang out, although things here are pretty busy.
Friday we did a lot. We went into Pondy and had a lecture about how the Pondicherry Harbor is affecting the coast line. The government funded the building of this harbor, which wasn’t needed and now isn’t used, and it stops sand from being transported up the coast so the beaches south of the harbor are expanding and the beaches to the north of the harbor are being severely eroded. This means that Pondy now has a rock wall instead of a nice beach along the coast. Now they want to expand the harbor, which could put much of the city in the water in a few years. It is actually a very similar problem to the beach erosion faced along the New Jersey shore line. After the lecture, we went to see the harbor. It was very empty. We also went to see a village to the North, where their beach is almost gone. There isn’t any place for the fishermen to shore their boats anymore, and there are houses that have been recently damaged in storms, because they are much closer to the water than they used to be.
Friday afternoon, we went to a botany class at Pondicherry University. It was cool, but between the strong Indian accent and all of the Latin plant names he used, I hardly understood anything. We were learning about dry tropical evergreen forests.
After the lecture, we went on a field trip with the class. There were probably about 50 people total, a whole bus full. We went to a bunch of different sites. Most of the forests we went to were around temples. It was cool to learn about the plants and to see the temples. At the first site we also say monkeys! They were really cute. I took some pictures.
Friday and Saturday night were both fun. We hung out on campus and played cards and ping pong.
We technically have weekends off now, but Saturday and Sunday were still busy. Saturday we went into Aurville, a settlement started by some Europeans in the 60s. They have a meditation center shaped like a giant golden golf ball that we were going to see, but we ended up just looking around the shops and having lunch. I bought a dress and a necklace. I found a violin at one of the shops, but I decided I would probably be able to find a better one for cheaper in Pondy, so I didn’t get it. Lunch was good. I had an excellent hummus sandwich.
Sunday we went back into Pondy. Sunday is a big market day, when lots of clothes and things are for sale. We had lunch and then Zach and I went on a music store expedition. The driver didn’t speak English very well, so all 3 of us ended up talking on the phone to various people to try to find what we were looking for. Our first stop was a closed CD store. Not quite what we wanted. We did eventually find a musical instrument store, but it was also closed. We called the number on the sign, and apparently they don’t have violins anyway. That seems to be the only music store any one knows about, so I might end up going back to the little shop in Aurville and getting the one that was there. I hope I can get there soon. I really want to have a violin. After the music store expedition, we went to Nilgiri’s, a supermarket sort of place, and then headed back to campus. I got mango flavored tic tacs and an Indian candy similar to starbursts and some laundry detergent. I was really disappointed about not finding a violin. I really miss it, and I know every week i don’t get it makes less of a point of me getting one, because we aren’t here for that long. Still, I should be able to at least get one next weekend.
Today was supposed to be a quieter day, just classes on campus, so I got up early and went for a run. Nicole was going to come with me, but she hadn’t slept well, so she stayed in bed. I figured I would be fine alone, since I was just going on the little dirt road that leads to campus. About 30 seconds into my run, I tripped on a rock and fell. My right knee and left elbow got scraped pretty good, and my right elbow got completely torn up. For some reason, I decided to run anyway, so I had a short run and then came back. Once I was cleaned up I started to feel kind of sick. I’ve been getting progressively better all day, but I’m still slightly nauseous and dizzy. No more running for a while… and not alone. Other than that we just had classes and meals. We got the volleyball court set up this evening and I played a little for a while. We actually had a pretty good game going. I’m sure that will be fun the rest of the time we are here.
The rest of this week is more classes and a few more days in the field. I never really know until it happens.
