A New Year, Two Monsoons, and a Little Bit of "Wah"

L'Shana Tova from the only Jew in Hyderabad. Being away from your community during the holidays is one thing. Feeling millions of miles from any other Jew is quite another. But, I saw this one coming, so I did some preparations for my inevitably funky day. With no services to attend or round challah to rip n' pass, I decided to make the most of this day on my own. As one should, I have done some reflection about my past year, thinking on how some relationships have grown while others have faded. Where have I missed the mark? Where have my actions and reactions strayed from my ideal? Who do I need to forgive and from whom should I ask for forgiveness?

On a more superficial level, I bought apples to eat with our house's abundant supply of honey. Apples aren't native to India, so they're REALLY expensive and not very good. The first batch I bought turned out to be all brown and bruised on the inside. Luckily, I had the morning off, so I tried again at a nicer super market. These ones were edible, so Suzanne, Kyla and I peeled them and sliced them and dipped them in honey :) I tried streaming services online after dinner, but Indian internet wasn't having it. Thankfully, the connection did allow me to skype my family from their big Rosh Hashanah lunch so that I could say hi and kind of be a part of the celebration. It was bitter sweet to see what I am missing, but also nice to have some semblance of a Jewish community on this important day. And such fun to see happy familiar faces!

In other news, the running streak of clear beautiful weather came to a drastic end this week with two straight days of monsoon rains. On Wednesday, Suzanne and I got stuck on one end of campus, with Hindi class a 15 minute bike ride away, and a torrential downpour between the two locations. After waiting for the rain to lighten up, we had already made ourselves ten minutes late for this hour long class. So, we arrived at the natural conclusion that it was no longer worth trying to make it. If we are going to get drenched, might as well be on the way home, where we had warm showers and clean clothes. We used our raincoats to protect our backpacks and decided to embrace utter wetness. There is something really liberating to throwing your hands up and just accepting what the world hands you, and in India, thats often what I find myself doing. So, I accepted looking like a giant hunchback, wearing see-through linen pants, and biking furiously despite being unable see more than five feet ahead.

BEFORE.

AFTER.

We got home, cleaned up, had some hot chai, texted our Hindi teacher about the absence, and put on Garden State. This all wouldn't have been too bad... if the same thing didn't happen again the next day. And this time, I didn't have my raincoat because I was coming from a volunteer meeting without my usual backpack. And, I couldn't skip class because we had a guest speaker in Ayurveda. So, I biked through the second ridiculous downpour of the week and arrived in class even more soaked than the above picture. I slowly dried through my three consecutive hours of class. Oy.

If you haven't already noticed, this week has kind of been a complain-y one. Nothing seriously bad has happened, just lots of little things eating away my patience. When I was in a similar mood in August, I created a list (typical) called "Things I Miss From America" in my handy little notebook. This week, I sat in class rereading the list and adding things. I don't know why I torture myself like this. To keep perspective, I sometimes try and remember that after a few days in America, I am going to have an even longer list of things I miss from India. I know its true! And, its not that I want to go home at all.. more just that I want to be in America for like three days, eat a lot of food, and then come back and stay here forever. Anyways, I thought I'd share the list (or at least a sample). 

Things I Miss From America

1. Wearing shorts
2. Working out (and having the energy to do so)
3. Wearing perfume instead of Deet
4. Sometimes straightening my hair
5. Clean bathrooms
6. Smoothly paved roads
7. Predictable traffic
8. Skim milk
9. Salad/Lettuce/Fresh vegetables
10. Good deli sandwiches
11. Bagels 
12. Ovens
13. Being able to cook or bake for myself, or even just serve my own plate
14. Shabbat dinner
15. Going out to dinner in Bethesda
16. Going out to dinner in Atlanta
17. Going out at Emory
18. Dancing
19. Feeling carefree in public, rather than always on-guard/self-conscience
20. Watching (American) TV
21. Big comfy couches
22. The combination of a warm bed in a cold room
23. Down comforters, sweatshirt blankets, and soft mattresses
24. Sleeping past 9am
25. Not planning my laundry around power outages
26. Not having my drying clothes re-dirtied by an unexpected monsoon
27. My dog, Kubi
28. Unlimited texting
29. Long phone conversations
30. Internet that can efficiently download youtube videos or upload photos
31. Being allowed to bring books and laptops into the library
32. Indoor study spaces at all
33. Just desks
34. Stimulating classes
35. Invested, personable professors 

See what all you Americans are taking for granted? Alright, I'm done. I think I need something to mix things up a little here. Next week, I have one presentation and one test, and then I am off to Goa, India's infamous hippy, tourist beach. Its not really the correct season, so things will be less crowded and cheaper, but hopefully we will still have some nice weather. The seafood and 'laxed culture should be really refreshing. In the meantime, I need to snap out of it and get my work done so I can enjoy the trip to the fullest!