Some experiences from the birthday in India. . . (It is still my birthday in the U.S. as I type this, but so past my bedtime in India, so celebrate for me!)
Night prayer at the Ganesh statue - one of my friends left early from supper - I found out why.
Some of my lovely and kind b-day presents!
The beautiful b-day cake! Thank you Claire!
Here is the hat that is a staple of any outfit: I now found out it is stylish!
Testing how long it will take the camera to flash, attempting to catch the toe touch mid-air.**All the Birthday Details**
It is official: I am eighteen. Now an adult, although I feel about the same, when I think back to before this trip began, I feel entirely different. Just the experiences I have had, the people I have met, and the independence I have had to demonstrate (that one came too natural!). It is truly an incredible experience to be celebrating my birthday in India. I had the best best best best best day ever today and everything just seems like a blur in my mind. One good thing followed another and I just kept being taken back by everyone's kindness and love. I better start at the beginning.
So, I woke up a little later than usual, maybe 6:50. The sun must not have been shining as brightly this morning, or the 'squitor net miraculously blocked it, allowing me to sleep for an extra 20 minutes on my b-day morn. I then proceeded to breakfast after putting on a nice outfit for work (and my birthday!). At breakfast, they had the papaya cut up for us, in bowls. (This is a really big deal because papaya is like cantaloupe if you are not familiar, in the way that you must cut it off the rind. However, it is more tender, so slightly more easy to detach from the rind, but nevertheless, a daunting task when attempting to be polite - wearing nice clothes.)
I then headed to work after talking to Anna quick on the computer and telling her it was actually already my b-day even though it was still Monday night at home. (At breakfast I decided that I would get a 34 hr. b-day celebration or so, considering I needed to consider both time zones: India and America.) Claire did point out to me that I techniquely probably should follow the U.S. time zone for the b-day to be legitimate since I was born there, but I quickly reminded her that we weren't going to be technical! I received b-day wishes from all my b-fast friends, and I noticed my two friends from India both shook my hand. I thought that was neat at the time and was excited to see if the pattern continued. I came back to my room to find a beautifully colored picture of a horse on my door with a kind b-day note from my Indian fam., Claire. She is a sweetheart.
I then headed to work at my new desk in the upstairs. It is nice to be moved upstairs because the man's seat that I was sitting in is scheduled to return home soon. There is air-conditioning upstairs as well as my mentors, which I think I may have mentioned earlier. Some of my work friends knew it was my b-day and came into my room (that I share with a women working on Gender Studies who is super nice!) to wish me a wonderful day. They came bearing gifts and they had purchased an adorable purse for me at the store last night when they were dropping Yang off at the airport, to return to South Korea to see his family. I really really really like the purse - I did not bring one here and it is just the perfect size for my room keys, camera, and any Rps. I need. It was so sweet of them and continued the flow of b-day wishes.
With that greeting, my work roommate found out it was my b-day, and throughout the rest of the morning, the rest of the workplace did also. I don't know who really spread the word - I have some suspicions! - but it was really nice. Everyone was so kind and welcoming and (yes, even shook my hand!). I love that practice, it makes a birthday wish just a little more sincere and special. I really am loving it at my work, I am settling in now and enjoying my work immensely. It is so neat that I am working on entirely 100% what I am interested in working on and what I chose! I have completed my research proposal now - had to stay a few minutes after work to accomplish the feat, but I am really excited about that. It was, I guess you could say, the birthday present I have given to myself! I also spent time today researching the government structure in India - particularly local governance. In order to investigate the effectiveness of the formal methods of adaptation to climate change, which definetely include all government programs, I better first understand the government. Simply put, one must know how something is intended to run before being able to identify where there may be some problems in the carry-out. Now I just need to edit, revise some, and send the proposal off to my mentors. I am excited to get their feedback, thoughts, and reactions. One is the Global Theme Leader - in charge of the entire department - but she is on home leave right now. Her fill-in is a Senior Scientist in the field of Agricultural Economics, and very knowledgeable. Of course everyone here is very knowledgeable in their field, it is a great place to be.
Also, my really nice workmate I spoke of came back from lunch with a bag of mangoes. She got one out and gave me this big and beautiful mango. She also gave me a piece of candy earlier in the day. How nice! I have to let it ripen for 2 days and then I can eat it, so maybe I can share it with Claire. It looks like a good one - it is a different variety and a nice-sized one.
I had so many kind encounters today and received many blessings for a wonderful day. Some: "May God bless you and keep you," others: "Wishing you many happy returns of the day", and of course other happy birthdays also. I enjoyed morning tea break with work friends, lunch break with other intern friends (and a new friend from Sudan who is interning here. She has been here for four months and has one left to go.), and supper, well, let me get to that. I also found out another wonderful fact today: people like my hat!!!! My somewhat obnoxious, totally necessary, sun-blocking, skin-saving, fashionable, tan hat. I always feel like I should a) be in the field with my wide-brimmed hat, or b) be in Texas or Mexico and maybe it would fit in a little better. However, I received so many compliments on my hat today, (even before people knew it was my b-day!) and was so surprised to learn people really like it! Most people are interested to know if it came from home, so I am thinking maybe hats will come into Indian fashion sometime soon - if those designers know what I know. . . Also, people told me I looked nice today too. Maybe everyone is just really really kind on your b-day! I was happy to hear that the clothes I wear are acceptable for work. I packed wonderfully I have decided and wear mostly button-up shirts to work or collared shirts with acceptable bottoms. However, the style of dress is much more formal here than the U.S. and the women wear the most beautiful clothes everyday. What I wear is a little bit more similar to men's dress: they are huge on button-down shirts.
Anyway, after work I went swimming - and Claire and I dove for my hair clip and then room keys (because they were easier to find!). Also, we experimented with trying to swim in a straight line, which is quite difficult if you close your eyes. It is a large pool and I started at one end and swam in an entire circle around the whole thing. The funniest part was that I finally stopped right near where I started, but I thought I was going in a straight line the whole time!!! I wanted some cool pics. of me off the diving board, but lets just say the million toe touches were not quite captured. (Don't worry, I'll give you another shot, Claire!)
Then we bustled back to the dorms to wash our hair quick before supper. We hurried to meet our friends there at 7:30 and had a great meal. Side note: there were 2 more outstanding things that happened in the cafeteria today: 1) I had, I think, my first chunks of apple in my fruit bowl since arriving and 2) Vegetables steamed just like I like them. Towards the end of supper, Claire got up from the table, and I thought, "Is she really leaving already?" She busied around somewhere and soon enough she came with a little box. A birthday cake! For me! With "Happy Birthday Leah" written on it. It was beautiful, chocolate (their chocolate is so rich it is like delecant fudge), and garnished with white decorations and words. They sang happy b-day to me and Claire had a laser light that I "blew out". I also had some table members say to me happy birthday in some different languages: so I got Hindi, French, and Spanish translations. Once again, Claire is a sweetheart! (She was the mastermind behind the cake planning.)
Then I spoke with some work friends who were there also about the prospects of my field visit, which I am really excited for, and I enjoyed laughing with them. Walking back to my dorm, I noticed one of our friends from supper who left a little early was at the Ganesh statue, praying. It was a beautiful sight, above is what I could best capture. I came back to my room after this wonderful day where I felt like God was just holding me in the palm of His hand, and then the great day continued.
One of our intern friends who is a really hard worker and has a large workload came down to Claire's room for a little break. This turned into a little girls night and we shared hair styles and experiences growing up in India and the U.S. It was so much fun and we have already pledged what the next girls night will be: massages! (I know Anna will be jealous for this one!) I am so blessed here with the most wonderful people and the kindest friends. I cannot imagine a better birthday with more happiness, kindness, or love. So, Mom and Dad, never fear, they are taking care of me here! Love to all and I accept all of your happy birthday wishes as well, although I have no time to call and solicit them. I better get some rest for the day tomorrow.
Just eighteen and ready to vote (Mr. Schramm!),
Leah
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