Life is speeding up and the semester’s
already half over! Whaaaaat. I’ve been staying busy, mostly working at
Lebenshilfe and trying to find my footing there, observing in the different
classrooms and therapy rooms, and trying to figure out what the heck I’m doing
that is contributing to my project. I often feel like I’m studying AROUND my
actual research topic, but Dr. Nuckolls seems pleased with my progress, so I
think I need to give myself a bit more credit. I AM learning a ton, and I’m
still so grateful for 1)the opportunity to be here 2)all the help I receive
3)how kind and gracious everyone is. Apart from Lebenshilfe, we’ve been having
our Telugu classes regularly, so we’re picking it up, bit by little bit. I feel
like we have about as much speech as a toddler…Mom, Dad, elephant, want, today,
tomorrow, good, bad, etc. We’ve memorized about 4 sanskrit poems so far, and we
have to memorize how to write them and 3 other poems in Telugu for our final in
April.
Christian and a beautiful little girl in the yoga therapy room
Chennari's birthday...it's blurry, but they're so stinkin cute!
Pre-wedding Henna fiesta
The last few weeks have been a little unusual, though. I
already made mention of the weddings, but here is a bit more detail from my
journal:
On February 13th,
we went to Madhu’s cousin’s wedding, and it was way cool, though a little
anticlimactic, truth be told. Not because the wedding wasn’t wonderful, mostly
I think because we were expecting more of a party party, not a
stand-around-and-chat party. Madhu takes excellent care of us and tries to keep
us from making more of a spectacle of ourselves than we already are, so he put
the kibosh on dancing.
Eva+children+dance music=unamused Madhu
The wedding block
We managed a few moves before he caught us, though. But
we looked so good!...in my humble opinion. When Gowri, Sailaja and Chennari
sent us of in the rickshaws, I felt like we were a bunch of Cinderellas in our fancy sarees. We met Madhu at a block that had been partitioned off for the
wedding, then got in line to meet the bride and groom. Maybe it was just bad
timing on our part for seeing them, but they looked pretty miserable….but it’s
no wonder! They hadn’t slept for forever, they didn’t eat all day (the actual
ceremony is quite long, and they can’t take breaks for the bride and groom to
answer nature’s call), they’re greeting a TON of people they’ve never met
before and will probably never see again, and they really don’t know each other
at all. Regardless of how tired and hungry they felt, they were still so sweet
and asked us to please stay for the ceremony (which started at 3:59 AM…) The
decorations were phenomenal, though. There were lights lining the streets and
an alley and been turned into the dance area. Super cool.
We met Madhu’s family and we all went up on a rooftop to
watch all the festivities and saw fireworks going off. There was a little girl
who was practicing her English with me and she kept insisting all night that I
would come visit her house sometime. She even had me meet her parents and
grandparents. They were all so sweet and very kind. We ate some dinner but we
were getting tired and Madhu and his brother were getting worried about us
being around the inebriated weddings guests, so they took us home at around 11 pm. No official marriage witnessing for us.
We're twins. Can't you see it? I need me a nose ring.
Wedding round 2
The next day we went to Raja Lakshmi’s (our translator)
niece’s wedding. This one was super interesting because we got to see a lot
more of it (the actual ceremony started at 12:45 am, so we stayed until about 2
am), it was Brahmin wedding, so there were a bunch of traditions we wouldn’t
have seen otherwise, and we had a bit of time to bond with the bride and groom.
Apparently, this was an arranged marriage as well (the vast majority of
marriages are) but they were engaged for quite a while because of her
schooling, so they had a good amount of time to get to know each other and fall
in love. It was so fun to see them sneak smiles at one another throughout the
afternoon and evening!
mid-festivity wardrobe change (some people may change up to 10 times)
With Raja Lakshmi. Means....we love her.
Not-so-secret love! EEE!!!
the bride is first blessed while sitting in the flower box, and is then carried out by her father and brothers.
We were present for the sugar water sprinkling/drinking
ceremony(we were unaware this had commenced, so we were caught quite unawares by a woman spraying us with water, seemingly appropos of nothing) where the bride and groom’s families exchange gifts and the main part
of the actual wedding ceremony, but we left after they washed each others’ feet,
finally had the swastik sheet between them dropped, and they smashed a leaf
full of cumin and jaggery paste on each others’ heads. (What IS jaggery,
anyway? No one knows…..just kidding mom, I just googled it.) We got to see at
least 4 of the bride’s 6 sarees (all of which were incredibly beautiful) and we
met some really nice people, though there was no dancing and people were still
trying to surreptitiously sneak pictures of us with their phones. I really rather
miss blending in. Anyway, we found an upstairs balcony to hang out and talk to
kill time. Some of the kids at the reception had the same idea, so we played
with them and it was fun getting to know them.
We had some free time to take pictures up on the roof...
I know I've joked about arranged marriage in the past, mostly to get out of the hassle of dating, and I really would trust my parents to choose very well for me (neither just my mom or just my dad....no offense....that's why you make a great team!), and I certainly see its merit in this culture (and in many others, actually) but no way, Jose. I actually had a dream that I had an arranged marriage and I woke up in a cold sweat. I'll pick my hubs, thank you very much!
We were really lucky
to go to such an event, but I was surprised because it wasn’t really what I was
expecting. Overall, it was beautiful, colorful, symbolic, long, well-documented
(a floodlight was pointed at the bride and groom for about 13 hours straight so
that the photographers and videographers would always have a good shot) and
happy. From what I understand, an Indian wedding isn’t about the bride and
groom per se, but more about the excitement of joining two whole families,
which is really cool. At the same time, it also made me all the more grateful
for the peace and sheer bliss of a temple sealing. It’s just about the couple
and God. Simple. Beautiful. Perfect. I kept thinking about Jared and Tiffany’s sealing
in the LA temple and why it is that I consider that to be one of the best days
of my life...I mean, I wasn’t even there for the majority of the wedding festivities, but it’s because that of that feeling in the temple…ay that FEELING!! It’s the
most amazing thing. I love that it brings the whys of God’s plan into
beautiful, soul-expanding clarity. I hope the bride and groom felt a bit like
that on their wedding day :). Everyone should feel that at some point!
Needless to say, the wedding week geared us up for a wedding
FRENZY a few days later when we were stuck inside for a couple days because of
a strike with nothing to do but pinterest engagement rings and watch wedding
videos. But more on that later, so I can post this darn thing!
Love you all more than all the rice thrown at an Indian
wedding!!
-Allison
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Hey fam and friendlies,
Sorry to be MIA for so long. It's been pretty busy and I ran out of internet....
We went to 2 different weddings this week (go figure that the stars would dictate that Valentine's Day would be the most auspicious time to get married... also, the two most used adjectives in India are "auspicious" and "super". ) one of them was a Brahmin wedding, and we got to stay through quite a few of the ceremonies. We weren't up for the whole 24+ hours, but dang we looked good in our wedding saris, if I may say so. It was so beautiful and so colorful.
One of the girls that was supposed to come with us originally joined us for 2 weeks....She (Rachel) had gotten her appendix out at the end of last semester and was told by her doctor that she wasn't allowed to go to India....a verdict he rescinded a week after we all left for Vizag. So she was pretty bummed, but still had her visa, passport, and a ticket, so she's here now! We took another trip to Simhachalam Temple yesterday and both she and Christian shaved their heads... so many baldies! We're currently in the airport in Vizag on our way to Kolkata, enjoying the few minutes of Wifi we have. Hallelujah! Sorry there are no pictures right now, but I promise to make it up to you all soon!
Love you all more than barfi! (our favorite dessert sweet... not made of barf)
-Al
It’s been a pretty eventful week, despite all
presuppositions.
Last Saturday was India’s Republic Day (or something like
that) and we were invited to a festival in downtown Vizag and it was…..an
adventure. It was the first day we had all gotten to wear our saris (getting
sari blouses back from the tailor takes FOREVER) so we were all excited and got
dressed up….poor Gowri spent an eternity wrapping us all up. For some reason,
we arrived at the festival 2 hours early, so the only people present were a
million kids dancing their little hearts out on a stage with way-too-loud
speakers blasting Telugu hip-hop.
(Have I mentioned how loud everything is in
India? Car horns, music, public announcements, dogs, demon crows that squawk at
all hours of the day and night, and the crazy loud gongs and bells that go off
at the Krishna temple down the street at 5 am and 6 pm. It’s actually not so
bad for my roommate Lauren and I because our ridiculously loud fan drowns out
the sound…tender mercies from God!!) So we just sat in the shade for a good
long while and in no time flat, we had a group of nearly 100 kids surrounding
us, staring. After a long time, I was tired of just sitting and exchanging
“hello, how are you”s in Telugu and English, so my friend and I tried to teach
them the Macarena. But the second they figured out that what we were trying to
do was dance, they started SCREAMING and it was going to reach mayhem status
pretty fast. Dr. Krishnayya stood up and yelled across the crowd, “No dancing!
No dancing!!”. Whoops. I guess Macarena+India+white girls is a bad mix. We
decided to take a break and come back once the festival had actually commenced,
but the kids cornered us next to a tent where there was a goddess statue, so we
got our picture taken and it ended up in the paper the next day. We were
hesitant to actually head back once the festival was in full swing, but it
wasn’t so bad the second time around….they just had us judge a sort of
chalk-drawing contest and sit on stage for a bit while the kids had their
singing contest….I’m not quite sure how, but we escaped after that! It was so
sweet of them to make us the guests of honor, but I do miss blending in…you’d
think I’d be used to being one of the token out-of-place white girls…
We showed up again in the paper a few days later, but we got
in some trouble for it… a few weeks ago, we went to the beach to play and took
some really cool jumping pictures (we stayed well away from the water and
weren’t doing ANYTHING dangerous)…unbeknownst to us, someone took a picture of
us jumping from the rocks and submitted it to the paper. We weren’t named
specifically this time, but Dr. Krishnayya was very concerned because it looks
like we’re jumping from the rocks onto MORE rocks. Not a good example for the
chilluns.
During the week, I’ve been trying to spend as much time as
possible at Lebenshilfe. The school psychologist has been helping me a ton with
visiting different classrooms to observe, visit, and play with the kids. They
have extremely limited resources as far as formal testing is concerned, so he
carries most of the burden of assessment for incoming and current students. I
was a little freaked out the first few days, though….it seemed like I hadn’t
really made it clear that I’m STUDYING speech therapy, not an actual speech
therapist, so the teachers told me, “ok, observe for a few minutes and then
pick a child you think would be a good candidate for speech therapy. Then you
can take him to the speech therapy room and teach him how to speak.” Uhhhhh……ok.
I picked a little boy I had played with a few days before and we went to go practice
some “pa pa” and “ta ta” things….heck if I knew what I was doing…Within a few
minutes of me trying to play games with him and sing songs with him, he ran out
crying…thankfully he ran straight to the psychologist’s office…I told him, ”I’m
apparently neither a very good singer or a very good speech therapist.” As it
turns out, I picked the one boy who cries every time he moves rooms, regardless
of who he’s with or how well they sing. Go figure.
I got to spend a few days in the dance therapy room where
the kids were practicing a traditional folk song about birds eating a snake.
All the girls circled around a little boy in a snake costume, flapping their
arms and then pretending to eat the snake…super cute and really cool. Apparently,
if any of the students become agitated in their other classes, they can come to
the dance therapy class, put on a costume, and become a part of the dance set.
One boy came in during one of the practices, put a small cardboard bow and
quiver around his shoulders, and struck a Krishna pose. He stood like that for
about 10 minutes, then decided he had had enough and went along his merry way.
Lebenshilfe takes a much more holistic approach to special
education than the U.S., so it might be a bit of a challenge to analyze JUST
the speech therapy assessments, but I’m learning a ton and I’m so grateful that
I get to be here.
Last Thursday, we took a day trip to the more mountainous
region of Andhra Pradesh and took our translator, Madhu with us. It was very….eye
opening. The landscape was beautiful, we saw some really amazing things and we
bonded a lot more, but there were a whole lot of bodily functions I had no
desire to see so abundantly. So be forewarned: If you’re not a Beauchamp and such
talk is not your thing, please skip reading and enjoy the photos.
So 6 am: Train to Araku Valley. Train stations. Exciting and
stinky places. Exciting because they mean travel and adventure. Stinky because
the squatty-potty toilets empty onto the tracks. We also discovered that the area
next to the train tracks in the rural areas outside of Vizag are popular
dumping grounds. We did our best to not make eye contact with people relieving
themselves in the forests…but they were so close! And staring! Well, what can
ya do. I guess you’ve got to keep yourself entertained during that time. But
isn’t that what newspapers are for? Our train ride to the Araku Valley lasted
about 6 hours, so we had plenty of time to teach Madhu clapping games and
hangman.
This is what eye contact with a forest dumper will do to you.
He’s a very serious sort of person, so we try to help him loosen up…unfortunately,
he seems embarrassed by us often…but then again, so does Christian, so maybe it’s
just the nature of being with so many girls.
Our neighbor on the train was a
very nice man from Kolkata who runs an orphanage in the city and he gave us
some really great tips for where to go when we visit in a few weeks (oh! We decided
for sure to go to Kolkata…we’ll volunteer at an orphanage for a few days then
tour around the city J)
Also, true to form, we had a number of kids come and take pictures with us.
India’s doing wonders for my ego!
The countryside is so beautiful!! It reminded me a lot of
Ecuador, though a bit less green. After a few hours, the smog cleared and the
air was so fresh and cool….it was glorious!! We passed through a bunch of
tunnels on the way up, and everyone would lean out the windows and scream the
whole way through…WAY more fun than holding your breath!
Once we got there, we hopped on a chartered bus (my
favorite! #rotarykids {we’ve gotten into verbally hash-tagging things.
Ridiculous. But it feel like homeJ…despite
the fact that I have never actually hash tagged anything in my life}) and went
to a museum about local tribal life…Apparently, the marriage proposal ceremony
either includes or consists entirely (I’m not sure which) of spitting water on
your intended. Mmm. Sign me up.
Also, the women have 3 nose rings apiece. Super cool.
Botanical gardens--nose picking photo an unintended bonus.
We briefly visited some really beautiful botanical gardens
that have treehouses available to rent. Holy dream come true, Batman! I love
treehouses. I want one so much. But the most exciting part of that little
adventure was when the man sitting behind Eva started choking on his orange
soda and sprayed it all over the back of her nubbly head. She shrieked and
pulled a duck-and cover, asking frantically if it was vomit. Thankfully, no….But
the man (possibly because he was still choking, but more likely because he was
embarrassed) didn’t say anything to her….no “Here, let me help you mop that up”
or “I’m sorry I showered my beverage on you.” She was a bit sticky for awhile…but
thank goodness for baby wipes!
We had lunch at a nice hotel, where we realized how mild our
cooks make our food…they are definitely increasing our tolerance by degrees,
but it was fuerte. And tasty. Until later.
There was an enormous line for the bathroom, so I had a nice
chat with a woman from a neighboring state and I got some interesting insights
on scripture study in Hindu culture… We got out just in time to see a dance by
some of the hill tribe women and we even got to dance with them a little! If
you give them money, they’ll chant your name and stomp in rhythm to it. Best 10
rupees I ever spent.
We loaded back into the buses and drove on winding,
mountainous paths that rival the Andes highways for twists and turns, but have
significantly fewer potholes… Unfortunately, at least 3 of the ladies on our
bus got pretty carsick and threw up all over the side of the bus. I felt so bad
for them! They had some time to recover when we stopped at a beautiful scenic
overlook of an enormous valley and a bit later when we reached the Borra Caves.
The Caves have some religious significance…we climbed down into the caves and
saw some pretty impressive stalagtites and stalagmites (said to be original
statues representing gods and goddesses) we even climbed up a rickety little
staircase at the bottom of the cave that led to a shrine where you can perform
a puja and ring a small bell.
Madhu was taking very good care of us and making
sure the monkeys didn’t get close enough to steal our things...I think we drive
him nuts sometimes, because we’re so easily distracted by all the new and
exciting things…but I figure we’re just preparing him to be a good dad.
not the vomit side of the bus
The ride back to Vizag was even more twisty and
gastronomically distastrous for our Indian travelling companions, but we made
it in one piece! Unfortunately, I discovered at 3:30 the next morning that the
food had given my poor roommate food poisoning….It also got Mackenzie, Eva, AND
Christian. So Kelly and I played nurse for them the whole next day and our
bedroom turned into the sick room, complete with multiple episodes of Alias,
electrolyte powder, and plenty of just-in-case buckets. But truthfully, they
are the most fun sick people I’ve ever been around, cracking jokes at every
turn of their stomachs. A few of them love the show Parks and Recreation and
felt a peculiar bond with this man from an episode in which everyone gets the
flu.
Everyone’s better now, thank goodness. We’re so glad to get
back to normal! But as a spiritual aside, Heavenly totally answered my prayer
on Friday morning….I first prayed that my roommates would get better,
immediately followed by a plea that I would NOT get sick, then that I could be
of help to someone that day. Lo and behold, no food poisoning for me! Score one
for the republic. I really don’t know how, either. I eat everything….maybe I
should be more judicious. Tender mercies!!
Sorry for the graphic-ness, but this is also turning into my
journal….plus you were warned. And it’s a true glimpse at life in India for BYU
students.
Love you more than all the times we made it into the paper
this week!
We were present for the sugar water sprinkling/drinking
ceremony(we were unaware this had commenced, so we were caught quite unawares by a woman spraying us with water, seemingly appropos of nothing) where the bride and groom’s families exchange gifts and the main part
of the actual wedding ceremony, but we left after they washed each others’ feet,
finally had the swastik sheet between them dropped, and they smashed a leaf
full of cumin and jaggery paste on each others’ heads. (What IS jaggery,
anyway? No one knows…..just kidding mom, I just googled it.) We got to see at
least 4 of the bride’s 6 sarees (all of which were incredibly beautiful) and we
met some really nice people, though there was no dancing and people were still
trying to surreptitiously sneak pictures of us with their phones. I really rather
miss blending in. Anyway, we found an upstairs balcony to hang out and talk to
kill time. Some of the kids at the reception had the same idea, so we played
with them and it was fun getting to know them.
Needless to say, the wedding week geared us up for a wedding
FRENZY a few days later when we were stuck inside for a couple days because of
a strike with nothing to do but pinterest engagement rings and watch wedding
videos. But more on that later, so I can post this darn thing!
