ramblings from across an ocean

my tummy is in knots. no joke. I'm trying to slowly acclimate to local water and my body does not approve of the decision. bleh.

small world: One of the fellows, Anup (from CA) actually studied in Milan with me!! He studied through a different university and we didn't know each other, but apparently we went to a lot of the same places... crazy coincidence no?.

Favorite quotes from people thus far:
*(during a debate on growth and change) ..."you know, like how a caterpillar turns into a bee...oh wait... you know what I mean... "
*"I'm going to be on those malaria pills like birth control." (it's funny only b/c it came from one of the guys.)"
*"you guys know Jon Stuart?.... yeah... I wonder what he's up to..."

Also, my partner for my project (Rishi) is a guy and that will pose some cultural issues as far as how close we will be able to work and/or interact (I've got to watch how I talk to him and my body language to make sure we don't come off as scandalous.. and therefore compromise the project). Anyway, Rishi suggested we pretend we are fiances for the year and then break the engagement at the end of the fellowship... but later we nixed the idea b/c it would only lead to more ?'s and room for error. My point in telling the story: I was proposed to and had the engagement broken in the same conversation! That's got to be a record.

and last, but not least, the websites that I promised...
the orientation site where I am now.... and my NGO (Manav Sadhna)... and my project details.

Oh... and an interesting fact I read about today. Apparently, the western colonizers of India were confused and referred to Indians as "Hindu's" instead of "Indu's" (as in 'from the Indus Valley') and that has indirectly contributed to a lot of the Hindu-Muslim conflict over the years. That's about a chapter of a book summarized in my own words... so there's a lot more to it... but anyway I'm rambling again.

I'm out.