Observations about this India program so far

The hotel Dev Dar Woods is pretty awesome, all meals and water included. The food is pretty good. Breakfast is usually toast, cereal, eggs, and a banana. Lunches are usually dal, rice, some other Indian dish, and roti. Dinners are dependent upon what side of the bed the chef woke up on, previous dinners including Chinese, pizza, or Indian. The living situation is manageable, and I hang out in the main lodge a lot but I like being in Oakland (yes, I reside in a place called Oakland) because a lot of the people are here. The view is awesome, too. However, now let’s discuss the negatives. The power goes off in the middle of the day every single day, no exceptions. You can’t drink the water because it’s contaminated (and even locals get sick). Then again, not like it matters, because it sporadically runs out, so you can’t even take a shower or flush the toilet. Needless to say our rooms smell. Which I don’t understand, considering it monsoons every single day. And if it’s this hard to get running water, you can forget about hot water. I still haven’t taken a warm shower. I’m kind of used to it. I’m gross and I know it, but so is everyone else (I don’t think one girl has showered since we got here). I definitely have perpetually matted hair and dirt under my nails. The weather usually starts out sunny and then rains every day at two o’clock, and gets sunny again. When it rains, the water drips into the chimney, flooding our room. There has been no day where my stomach feels normal, but it’s not like I’m sick or anything, it just likes to remind me that I’m in India. There was a mouse spotted in the dining room, scurrying from the table to the cupboard. And, while sleeping, you can hear scurrying in the walls. The monkeys are also always making noise and the rabid village cow chases people. EAP knows how to really make its students comfortable. We have a lot of down time in the afternoon after classes, and I’ve been usually hanging out with the other students, going into town, reading, or going online or journaling for way too long. Hence this entry.