Getting settled in Calcutta

I was only home to visit in the US for about a month. I came to Calcutta on September 16th and I'm slowly adjusting to a new city and a new way of life. After a few days in a bad housing situation (I was living as a paying guest in a family's home) I now a nice little studio apartment in a good location. My apartment was literally a studio. The owner is a photographer and there's still some photography equipment in the corner and the backgrounds are rolled up and hung at the ceiling.

I'm taking Bengali classes twice a week at a cultural institute called Ramakrishna Mission. Classes are good but I need to find a tutor and another job or volunteer op in my free time. I've got way to much free time now.

The best part about being in Calcutta is Bengali food. It's supposedly the best food in India. And I loved Indian food to begin with. I'm hoping to learn to cook some Indian dishes myself but I haven't had a chance to go to the market yet or find a good teacher.

I will update more as I get a chance and once I get internet access in my apartment I plan to write much more. In the meantime know that I'm safe and sound here and slowly getting settled into life in Calcutta.

Hi everyone. It's been a while since I've updated. I'm back in the US now. I've been here for the past few weeks and it is really nice to see family and friends again. Plus, I got here just in time to experience the famous Grange Fair. It was the height of my excitement as a child but now its just a place to run into people I used to know and eat lots of fried foods.

In one week a new era for my little blog is about to begin. I'm moving to Calcutta, India to study Bengali! It will be quite an experience I' sure and I'll try my best to update this blog with stories about what I'm up to and what I've seen and experienced.

Return to PA

My job finished July 16 so I will be returning to PA August 19. I just wanted to update all of you.

I'll be home at least a month before I head off to Calcutta, India to study Bengali. That's the language my boyfriend and his family speak.

I look forward to seeing you soon!

Did you know you MAKE it rain?

Well, apparently in China the gov. can make it rain! Or at least that's what everybody's been saying. Apparently they've been spraying some sort of chemicals into the air above the city to make it rain on appointed days. Creepy huh?

Looking at the weather forecast for Tianjin you'll see that it is to be 0% chance of rain all week then 100% chance on some random day. That's the chosen day!

I guess the purpose is to clear the dust out of the city and help with pollution before the Olympics. And the closer we get to the start of the Olympics, the more often it rains. I sure don't remember it raining this much last year.... I hope these crazy rain stories are just some big conspiracy theory but who knows. In this country, anything could happen.

Gymnastics World Cup

I went to see the gymnastics World Cup last week. Tianjin hosted it and I've wanted to see a big gymnastics meet like this since I was little. The even ran into the director of the whole thing at Rajdeep's restaurant during the 3 hour break between finals. He said the US wasn't there because they were too busy preparing for the Olympics. China cleaned up on most of the events. Especially Chang Fei. I bet she'll win a few medals at the Olympics this August. The North Korean gymnasts were especially small. I wonder if that is because of hard living conditions or genetics.

I made signs to cheer on China. The other side says 加油！(go!)

Cheng Fei on beam. She looks 10 years old but she's probably 20.

Earthquake

Hi everyone. Just to let you know, the big earthquake that hit southcentral China did not really affect where I am. I'm hearing that thousands are dead and the shocks of the earthquake were felt all over the country and bordering countries. But there was no damage. I didn't even realize anything happened until I saw it on the news.

So no worries, all is fine!

My Grade 3 Students

I took my camera to school to get a few pics of my classes. I actually forgot to take it to all my classes but I did take it along to my grade 3 class. These are my cutest kids too and they are by no means camera-shy!

This is my grade 3 class. Can you guess which group are the little angels and which ones are the trouble makers?

Well, Jimmy was camera shy.

A few of the girls. Babara (no, not Barbara) the one in pink, wears those pearls every day. She's so cute but oh so temperamental.

Jerry is my favorite! I love his rosy cheeks.

And these three are the biggest mischiefs in the class.