Finally caught up

I read some of the India Times newspaper this morning. There are a lot of rape and harassment articles. I also ready an editorial about Bollywood music videos and movies being to scandalous. Jessica dances to a lot of the songs and both girls watch the videos on TV. It seems strange that their mother lets them watch this when it’s such a contradiction to the more conservative culture.

This morning we gave the family the gifts and they really seemed to like them. Sweets are usually a good gift. I gave them maple sugar candies, a postcard book of panoramic photographs of New York City, a board book called Good Night New York City, two toy cars (an NYC cab and police car) and a snow globe of NYC. Jessica has been looking at the books and playing with the cars and eating sweets basically all day. She has so much energy. She is always moving, always dancing, always talking, always saying "nahee" (no) and doing what she pleases.

Afterward we studied some Hindi and Nikita helped a lot. In the afternoon we went for a walk around a market that is close by. Jordan and Katie S., two other SIT students, live near by with relatives of our family, so they joined us on the walk. We also stopped by their home to meet their family.

In the afternoon I continued to work on my Hindi and we played with Jessica a bit. We had tea and cookies for snack, and seasoned puffed rice chips. Later on in the evening we went with Nilam Ji (the mother) and Jessica to the temple where we participated in prayer. On the way home we took a walk around the park that is in the center of the neighborhood. Later for dinner two cousins came over and we had a really hilarious time taking photographs (for facebook, of course - everyone has it) and talking about American and Indian politics and culture, etc. Mayank is a travel agent and he might helps us figure out travel plans. We're invited to his sisters wedding! That is going to be absolutely incredible. We'll get henna on our hands and buy fancy outfits and dance a lot and eat a lot and it will be a once in a lifetime experience. Ruby and I are so excited because we talked about really wanting to attend an Indian wedding. Shakshi is a really nice girl as well. She's 17 and in year 12 at school. She and Nikita are really close. I love that the family is so big. There is always someone new coming by the house to meet us and say hello.

Keep an eye out for new photos on facebook soon...