Oh wonderful food

As promised, here’s a post about the awesome food I’ve had, but first I just wanted to say India is the best place in the world to be vegetarian! I was going to title this post “Herbivores of the world unite!” but I didn’t want to alienate the meat-eaters in my life. Because of Hinduism, a lot of the Indian population is vegetarian, making my eating life here amazing. It’s so great. No one here thinks it’s weird! And on every menu there’s a huge vegetarian section and a little meat section, even at McDonalds. That is the way it should be. ;)

As part of our program, there are cooks that make all of our meals. They’re awesome! Lots of curries and fried vegetables. My favorite dish I’ve had is probably gobi aloo but I love anything with potatoes and cauliflower. Southern Indian food is pretty different from northern Indian food which is what most Indian restaurants in the states have, but it’s still really good. I’m crazy about chapatti. It’s a little bit like a tortilla and you use it to eat curry. Also when I told the cooks about roti in Thailand (see my post on Thailand food) they decided to make it for me with chapatti and sweetened condensed milk. So good.

The only thing I’m not super crazy about here is the desserts. They’re really……different. Pretty much all of them are made with this stuff called ghee that basically this clarified liquid butter stuff. For how fattening it is, you’d think it would be more delicious. Ha In order to feed our sweet tooths we have found places with more American desserts. Whenever we go we take it upon ourselves to live up to our fat American reputation and order 3 desserts each. Go big or go home!

I almost forgot to mention the coolest part of eating here. They eat with their hands!!!!! Rice, curry, even soup, all with your hands. So many childhood fantasies fulfilled right there. A word of advice though. Don’t rub your eyes after eating spicy curry with your hands. Had to learn that the hard way, twice.

Sadly I got sick on my trip to the Taj so I haven’t had much an appetite lately. Funny how puking off of a train will do that to you. I’m just hoping my appetite comes back soon because I only have a month left to throw down as much Indian food as I can!

Traditional southern indian meal, served on a banana leaf.

The wonderful juice place where we basically live some nights.

3 desserts. one person. nbd. like I said, go big or go home.

A pretty typical meal at our house.

Ghee desserts!

Sittin' on trains

Hey there! So last week was our spring break, meaning we had a whole week to go anywhere we wanted in India. Kate, Kortnee, Andie, and I decided since this may be the only time we’re in India, we had to hit the Taj Mahal. The four of us hopped on a 32 hour train ride to Agra. Good think I like trains, but 32 hours is very long time on a train even for the biggest ferroequinologist. It wasn’t too bad though. Armed with a deck of cards, books, ipods, and of course snacks we survived. And the scenery was incredible!

Once we got to Agra we were pumped to the Taj and it totally lived up to the hype. Seriously beautiful. The grounds were incredible too. We took tons of pictures, soaked in the atmosphere, and did a fair amount of people watching. Let me just say, no one is more entertaining than tourists.

Another place we went was called Fatephur Sikri. It’s basically an old Mogul ghost town about an hour outside of Agra. There’s an amazing mosque there and behind it all these incredible ruins. We explored them thoroughly and then made friends with some goats.

We were actually in Agra for Holi, also known as the festival of colors. This is a Hindu festival celebrating the arrival a spring where people have big bonfires and throw colored powder and water on each other. It was a little crazy but fun. We explored the streets, got hit with powder by strangers, and then to make sure we got sufficiently rainbowed we had a color fight of our own by the hostel we were staying.

The next day we hit the railroad and headed home. It was awesome to see another side of India (and escape the heat for a while), but we were definitely all happy to come home to Vizag.

Card games on the train!

View from the train

First sight of the Taj!

perdy.

All of us.

On the Taj grounds

Sweet mosque at Fatephur Sikri

Ruins! Me and Andie being awesome in front of them.

Holi in front of the Taj with our new friends.

People celebrating Holi in the street

And a voice keeps saying this is where I’m meant to be

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. It’s kind of a long story but more or less my computer’s been inaccessible for a good week and a half but it’s back now! Oh how I missed this decepticon of a laptop. Anyways, a little bit ago my group and I spent the weekend in Rajhamundry, a town that’s about a 4 hour train ride away from Vizag. The trip admittedly had its ups and downs. Cockroaches crawling on my toothbrush, lost keys, and one long night spent sick in a hotel bathroom.

Even with these low points, I’m really glad we went. The highlight of the trip for me had to be the boat trip. We spent an entire day on a boat going down the Godvari river. Not only did we get to sing “I’m on a boat!” we were able to see seriously some of the most beautiful scenery. The coolest thing about it was I just kept having this feeling like “I’m really in India and this is exactly where I’m supposed to be right now.” Pretty incredible to feel like you’re on the right track, you know. Now the title makes sense, huh? I know its super cliché but Hercules song lyrics just fit. Ha wow two Disney themed entries in a row. Oh Walt. The impact you’ve had on my life. :)

Getting ready to get on the boat!

So pretty! I couldn’t stop taking pictures.

Feet in the water. :)

My new house. Feel free to come visit.

India’s beautiful. The end.

A whole new world

So there are days I feel like I’m living in Aladdin, in such a great way. Yes I am aware Aladdin takes place in the Middle-East, but just hear me out.

1) I’ve ridden a camel.

2) Definitely seen some parrots, although I’m still keeping an eye out for Iago.

3) I flash back to the Jasmine in the market scene every time I walk by a street vendor shouting about what they’re selling “Fresh fish!” “Sugar dates! Sugar dates and pistachios!”

4) I’ve rubbed a lamp or too, hoping for a friend the likes of which I’ve never had.

5) The view from my roof is straight out of Agrabah

6) I rock genie pants all the time.

7) Although I haven’t seen an actual real-life elephant yet, I’ve seen a whole lot of statues of them. Since Abu wasn’t actually an elephant I feel like that counts.

8) I hung out with some monkeys, against my will I might add.

9) I could easily leap/pole vault from roof to roof in my neighborhood. I don’t because I choose life, but I still could!

10) I met a princess. Her grandfather was the last crowned king of Vizianagaram. That’s what this area of India used to be called before independence. They’re not in power any more, but they’re still seen as royalty. We’re facebook friends. NBD. Haha

11) My study abroad group likes to burst into song quite frequently. More often than not we sing Disney songs.

12) I visited a cave of wonders.

I rest my case. As far as I’m concerned all I’m missing now is a magic carpet. I’m in the market, so if you know anybody who’s selling one be sure to let me know.

Yikes. Definitely too scary to be Abu. Maybe he’s his second cousin. Twice removed.

Cave of Wonders!!! Ok actually it was the Borra caves, but they were still incredible.

Hanging out in a cave.

I could totally jump to that….just saying

Check out that view!

To really seal to deal on this Disney experience we watched Aladdin up on our roof. It was magical. :)

So awesome.

Lifestyles of the rich and famous

I don't know if you guys knew this, but I'm kind of famous. No it's not my snarky blog that's rocketed me to fame, although I am up to 18 followers now, only half of which are related to me. It's my glow in the dark skin tone. Where we live there are hardly any other foreigners so just being white makes us instant celebrities. Our group’s been in the local newspaper twice. No we didn’t do anything amazing. Just showed up, but apparently in Vizag white people showing up somewhere is definitely newsworthy.

Kids love shaking our hands and I even got asked for my autograph once. The most common thing though is people asking to take pictures with us. This happens everywhere we go. They always say “one snap!” and then 15 photographs later we finally escape. I don’t really understand the appeal but they get a kick out of it. The craziest was the day we all wore saris and then went out for dinner. We were seated by a window and people would walk by 2 or 3 times, shamelessly staring to get a look at the Americans in saris. A little bit like being in a zoo. After dinner we were eating icecream when a guy came up to us as asked for a picture and he actually told us why he wanted one. He said that a lot of Indians try and be Western but we were Americans representing Indian culture. We thought that was cool so we said yes, next thing we know 20 people pull out their picture phones and it’s just a free for all. It was nuts!

We always get asked what country we're from and our names. We were surprisingly honest at first, but after a month of celebrity-dom we’ve started having a little fun. My group decided we should each pick a celebrity alter ego. So far we’ve got Nicky Minaj, Ke$ha, Zac Efron, and Lady Gaga. I think we decided I was Miley Cyrus on account of my Hannah Montana bangs. My roommate kate and I started doing a new thing where we pick a famous couple to be. Last week we were Sonny and Cher. It was awesome.

I have to say, fame’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Some days it would be nice to just sit on the beach without getting mobbed. No wonder Brittany Spear’s is so messed up. Just kidding! It’s not bad, I’m just not big on the whole special treatment thing. As a middle child of five, I was born with the ability to slide under the radar. Apparently India is immune to my gift of going incognito. I’d love to blend in, especially being an anthropology student, but it’s all part of the experience. When I get home it’ll be nice to just be a face in the crowd again. In the meantime I’ll just try and enjoy my 15 minutes (3 months) of fame.

Kids climbing the fence to get a good look at us.

Taylor's new friends

Pizza hut in saris

picture in the pape :)

Tools are international.

No not this kind of tool.

I mean this kind of tool.

If you didn’t already know, and couldn’t figure it out from the picture, a tool is essentially a chauvinist jerk. I can think of a few more synonyms, but since my grandma reads this blog we’ll leave it at that. These kinds of guys are definitely not just an American phenomenon. There are jerks everywhere, including India. As a group with 6 American girls we seem to attract a large number of this sort. We haven’t encountered anything too extreme. Mostly just yells of stuff like “hey baby” and some unwanted forwardness. So guys, in case you were wondering, it’s not cute in any culture. A quick shout-out to all the nice non-tool guys all over the world. Thank you for existing and keeping us sane.

Exotic Indian Wildlife

So I’ve been asked a few times whether I’ve seen any tigers or elephants yet. Sadly the answer is no, though I am keeping my eyes peeled for em. Here’s a list of the exciting animals I have sited.

Dogs: tons of dogs roam the streets in India. I’m a sucker for dogs (especially puppies, who doesn’t love puppies?) but I resist the urge to play with them. To quote my wise friend Kate Patterson “they’re cute but you know what’s not cute, rabies.”

Crows: These guys are everywhere. Somedays I feel like I’m in an Alfred Hitchcock movie and not in a good way. If you’ve talked to me on skyped you’ve most likely heard their cawing in the background. I don’t mind them so long as I don’t end up like Dr. Screweyes at the end of We’re Back.

Chipmunks and rats: Chipmunks run all around the trees here. They’re kind of adorable. Rats are slightly less adorable. They usually come out at nights, particulary in the streets and open sewers.

Geckos: we see these all the time. They’re pretty cool. The one in the picture likes to hang out in our living room. His name is Dennis.

Camels: I got to ride out on the beach. It was awesome.

Monkeys: People will have them on leashes now and then on the beach. There’s no picture for this one because they’re evil and if you’re close enough to get a picture you’re TOO CLOSE!

Cows: They’re everywhere. They just kind of roam wherever they want, which I didn’t mind until one got a little too close. This cow came up to the gate of my house one day and as I was trying to get around him he straight up head butted me. Jerky cow (pun intended). I got a perfect horn shaped bruise, I took a picture of it. If you think you may be scarred by a picture of my upper thigh, do not scroll down. I repeat do not scroll down!

Enough to make a girl reconsider her vegetarianism. Just playing! I won’t blame all of animal kind for one brute’s bad behavior, though I’m seriously considering starting to wear leather again. ;)

I got a bruise on my stomach from the cow too but I decided not to take a picture of that. It’s less impressive. Besides I think I’ve traumatized the internet enough for one post.