I thought I would show you some pictures from around campus, so these are some pretty palm trees outside one of the office buildings. It is so cool when I meet with my mentor at work to look out the window and see these majestic palm trees. They are so pretty and tall! Nature is so beautiful, no matter where you are. I cannot wait to see the woods of Bankston once again, but I love seeing all of these tropical trees as well. There are all of these trees on campus that have white or pink flowers in full blossom right now - they are so pretty.
This is another picture taken on my walk to the cafe. Up the stairs is the Western Canteen which I take all of my meals at. Look how clean the sidewalks are - you can see the shine off of them. People here are always sweeping the sidewalks - every morning - I am not sure what time they start, maybe 6:00 a.m. I stay in until 6:45 or 7:00 to avoid the early morning 'squitors, but the mosquitos don't like the natives as much as they like the foreigners, which overall is a good thing I guess!
I was walking out to the gate at the edge of campus here with some friends. This was when we were going to the market in town - if you see the water tower ahead - that is just for ICRISAT. I do not even want to know the amount of water this place uses, it would be upsetting. Some of it goes for field irrigation, some for living purposes, but also for a fountain and lawn sprinklers. . . . Although the fountain seems to be on usually after a rainfall, so maybe (hopefully) that is related.
They had the palm tree all lit up and a beautiful gathering this evening for some of the senior scientists at ICRISAT. There is always something big going on here, and whenever there is a conference, usually the first or second night they will have an exclusive gathering. So, on my way to supper, I could at least get a good picture since I was not one of the invitees.
Here is another shot of some of the palm trees as you exit campus. Once a year, when there is this big international conference, my friend was telling me how they put up the flags from each country along this driveway and how neat it looks. That would be cool to see, but not cool enough to miss college in September (or to miss seeing everyone back home!).
And this is a picture of the beautiful sky here one evening. We really lucked out with the wonderful weather we have. Everyone tells us how lucky we are to be here now in the rainy season because I guess it was pretty miserable and hot a little over a month back. Now, we just get these wonderful rains often. However, it is not like at home when it may be cloudy, downcast, and rainy the whole day - it is a little different here. That saying, "When it rains, it pours!" is very true here. Then, by morning or lunch break, it may be sunny again, and the cycle goes on. The rain feels so nice also when it does rain. I wish it would rain every day for the farmers' sake. Speaking of farmers, I think I will be going to the village not this upcoming week, but the beginning of the next one. That will be an absolutely phenomenal experience - I am really very excited. Right now I am studying and working on things I am passionate about, but I can't believe I will actually get to meet the people now and conduct this actual research, gathering data and all. It is exciting!
Saturdays are a wonderful day for me. You can probably tell just by my positivity compared to the end of the week. Saturdays are a chance for me to recooperate and take some time alone. This is my favority Saturday activity. Today I woke up early actually - I really am a morning person, so I better get some morning classes in college, or I guess I could got to the library. . .
Anyway, I went to breakfast early this morning and was pleasantly surprised to see a friend, Anupa, there. She is a radiant and wonderful young woman from India. She is a very hard worker also and has a pretty demanding boss with many struggles at work, but never lets it get her down. You see, in India, at her college and with her degree (food engineering), the internship is a requirement. Many of my intern friends from India may still be in university and are here to fulfill a class type requirement. Therefore, their bosses always seem to be a little difficult to work with because the kids really need to be here and to receive the golden certificate at the end. Anupa, for example, has an absolutely crazy workload which I can hardly fathom. She now is nearing the end of internship and is beginning to comile her data into her report. She needs to complete 2 reports with separate formats - one for a journal with her school and another for ICRISAT in order to get a certificate. The one for ICRISAT needs to be a minimum of 60 pages! It is craziness - I am sending her all the positive energy I can! Yet, she is still just her chipper self, so it is rather inspiring to be with her.
We got talking about religions and spirituality as we often do. They have a wonderful belief here, that when you share a beautiful experience with another, it becomes more beautiful. I don't recall if I mentioned that before, but it really is so true. Oftentimes in our culture, we tend to keep things to ourselves, not wanting to brag or offend, but then, according to this theory, the story cannot become any more beautiful. She is always so open and willing to share about her faith and her spiritual experiences, so it is great to exchange our experiences. She is from a very religious Hindu family - her grandmother visits the temple each day. I have a little bit of teaching to do though about the Christian and Catholic faith and she is so willing to learn. All that she knows of the Christian faith - and really her only exposure - was from the book, The Davinci Code! What a nightmare, huh!? So, I am hoping to continue to share some more with her.
Through our talk this morning I learned more about the Hindu faith and found out about all of the gods they worship. The gods are very regional I guess, so because she is from northern India, she is not familiar with many common gods in southern India. The faith is an integral part of the culture and there are big cultural differences between the north and south. I also was unaware that the gods were, according to my understanding, actually all people who lived and that is why there are so many of them. They are thought to be great people who were brought into the world to restore the balance between good and evil. Their births often occurred during a large upheaval or bad occurrence and they somehow "fought for the good guys" or worked to restore justice.
I took a mini rest this morning and then had a lot of work to do. I finished up some pre-registration for college and took 2 Spanish placement exams also for the university. Ouch! It's been awhile! :) One of them was an auditory part and I had to listen to a dialogue snippet and then answer a question about each of them or something. That one took a little while to get working properly, but I am happy to have them complete. Now I just have the math placement exam, lots of 1st year reading, and some other things to do for Wesleyan. I am happy to have gotten so much done today in that regard.
Later this evening I went to the gym and had a nice workout with my friend, Anupa :) and Charlie, (the new blood from England) came also. It is fascinating to be around him and learn some of the British style of english. So, I will give you a lesson this evening from what I can remember. If something is really great, maybe tasty, or else just very nice, you can refer to it as "lush!" And one more good one that I can remember: this is just for fun! If you find yourself browsing the web rather aimlessly and after some time forget why you are even sitting in front of the computer in the first place, they consider that "WWHILFing"! And to spell it out for you, the acronym stands for What Was I Looking For!?!? I really like that one, so, my only advice for you all tonight is to do all in your power to avoid being a WWILFer today! And enjoy a beautiful Iowa Saturday in the summertime - it doesn't get better than that!
So long!
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