raymasky’s Neighborhood

mmm...vaishali chaha

for the utter incoherence of my blog.

read their's:
www.theloneblonde.blogspot.com
www.laurenharper.blogspot.com

lauren's and heather's (heeter's) blog are much more informative and fun than mine. trust i'm doing for y'all's own good.
also, i am southern. and that's chill.

cheers,
ellie/eli/elli/ellibear/elee/eely
(i'd tell you my other nickname, but it is irrelevant.)

and i'm a bunkaholic.

and then she patted me on the leg.

thanks.

or how even. i was so careful. the car door was open. i was right there.

but i did. i cut the cake.

ughhhh.

well, its probably because you were.

yep, thats right. duck tales in marathi, doesn't get any better.

anyway, i had my real first day today. i went to all of my lectures and found out that I HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL ON SATURDAYs. what the hell kind of a country is this? saturday? come on this is a joke right? really people. this is serious. beyond the most shocking thing about india so far i met 3 other exchange students today. 2 from germany and one from brazil. very cool. classwise, i am taking english, psychology, economics, geography, sociology, environmental science and german.

good. :)

...that i am always thinking people are speaking spanish here? the other day i actually said "yo no comprendo" and "adios". i also keep thinking that i should have paid more attention to senora leblanc. and of course every time i see a cow its "vaca", dog "perro", man "hombre" etc. seriously, what gives?

was interesting to say the least. i didn't actually attend any classes. or get a schedule. or really accomplish anything. i basically walked around the campus for an hour and a half until i was sick of not understanding what was going on and to frazzled to function. but it wasn't that bad, now that i think about it, its kind of funny. the girl who was supposed to meet me and show me around was apparently too tired to come, a fact no one informed me of. also the place where a meeting type extravaganza was supposed to go down was completely empty. it was a 'cool, what now?' moment. so, i found someone who directed me to the main road where, crossing the street i had yet another life and death experience. eventually i worked my way down FC road to my host dad's office where i am currently sitting drinking some kind of mystery fruit juice. hmm. i guess you could say today was perfect....  :)

my host family doesn't have internet at their flat so this is my first real indian blog, but they are really really cool. i have my host mom, dad, 2 brothers sandeep and omkar, omkar is coming to america next month, rachana my host sister and dada my host grandpa. beyond my nuclear host family, we have 2 drivers, nitin and suresh, a housekeeper, a friend who makes the roti, and dhanu he cleans the house, he is also only 12. he is one crazy child that dhanu. i love it here although i am beyond confused 96% of the time. today i thought i was going to die, and it was a legitimate fear, anyone who knows india and its traffic will tell you it is one crazy place. so of course knowing this i decide it will be a super fantastic idea to go racing side saddle down the streets of pune sitting behind my host sister as she weaves in and out of buses, cars, and bicycles, blowing by billbords that proclaim "starting a gang is a good idea!!!". mind you that i am not wearing a helmet, only a t shirt and jeans. i was really certain that this was as far as my exchange would go. but i am alive to blog again... and driving isnt much safer, no one wears seat belts although it is in evryone's best interest. saturday i went to 2 temples and they gave me the gift of coconuts, quite lovely. i have been sleeping a lot though, i slept almost all day yesterday, jet lag i suppose. i will post pictures once i figure out how to get them from my laptop to here.... we shall see though....its crazy the way people stare at me. its like i've sprouted a tail, everyone looks. its really quite funny. right now as i type i can see people peeking throught the frosted glass doors of my host dads office....

more later,

eleanor 

i love you all.

i love you.