Thursday, April 23, 2009

Exciting News!

Big news for me arrived yesterday during Chemistry (my mother called me during class...) ! I received an official announcement saying that I will be staing in Coimbatore next year! Coimbatore is the larger city in my district and is also the home of two Rotary girls this year (Caitlin and Nadia) who sent me some answers to some of the questions that I had about India. I'm going to post their responses below: Here is Caitlin's (some of her comments were not agreed upon by my liason Sara Marvin).


What American movie stars are popular? --> Jennifer Aniston, Hannah MontanaIs school co-ed?--> Yes but the boys sit on one side of the room and the girls on the other and do not talk to eachother much, if at all.
What is done by youth/ adults/ families for fun?--> Rotary meetings, dance and singing "functions", and Tamil movies.
What is the minimum age to get a job?--> I have no idea and you aren't allowed to work while on exchange and it wouldn't be very good because the pay is basically nothing for a job you would maybe get?
What are the minimum drinking/ and driving ages?--> The drinking age in India is 18 except for in Gujurat (up north near Rajasthan) but you will not be drinking while you are here in Coimbatore. Women are not supposed to. Driving age is 18? but you also can't do that while on exchange.
What kind of social activities are there? (In the house/in the city...)--> There really is not much of this. There are basically things organized by the Rotary club and that's basically the only time the family goes out except for the occasional family get together or to go to restaurant.
What would a typical family day consist of?--> Wake up, shower, eat breakfast (or bring it to school, eat @ 9:30am), school from 7:20am-12:40pm, a van will come to pick you up most likely with up to at least 10 other kids packed in, get home, eat lunch, watch tv, check email?, read, eat dinner, go to sleep early.
Are there servants in households? what kinds?--> Yes. There is a normally at least one servant and they wash the dishes, floor and clothes but I suggest you not give them your whites! I have had many shirts ruined in both houses I was in.
Is the schooling a lot harder?--> Yes but you probably won't be doing much of it. They start school in the beginning of June so if you're going to be coming August or September you will be behind and they won't see the point of you jumping in then. Also, it is difficult to understand the teachers when they are speaking anyway. It also won't be abnormal to see a student get hit by the teacher, for anything.
What are the core subjects in school?--> They pick to either follow Computer Science or Biology but they have English, Math, Physics, Chemistry, a Language class, and Yoga.
What would a typical girl's room look like?--> The rooms aren't normally decorated to be a girls or boys room. It is just neutral and you won't see posters and pictures on the walls.
What kind of items (furniture/ electronics/etc...) would be in a typical house?--> The typical American "family room" is quite different here. The furniture is usually not very comfortable.
What music is popular among the teens?--> Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, Hillary Duff-- you will be left in the dust if you like other music as they won't know about it but they are also mainly into their music which is quite different.
What kind of behaviors in public with the opposite sex are looked down upon?--> You will not be even close enough with the opposite sex most of the time anyway but if you happen to be in the vacinity of alcohol, the men will grab you. It's gross but don't be surprised. But yeah, there most likely won't be any time spent with the opposite sex anyway and definitely not alone.
What kinds of girls sports teams are available?--> None. You can maybe sign up for the gym or a club, perhaps that has a tennis court and swimming pool but don't expect anyone to be able to bring you.
Do Indian girls shave their legs?--> No. Some of the more Americanized ones I supposed wax but mostly it's no and also, a lot will not be wearing deodorant.

And here are Nadia's answers:

What American movie stars are popular? (She's thinking of bringing some posters as gifts.)
- They really like the movie Casino Royale (James Bond ), Hannah Montana, jennifer aniston
Is school co-ed?
-yes. But you'll see that the girls and the boy don't speak much and they don't sit together, girls in one side of the class and boys on the other.
What is done by youth/ adults/ families for fun?
-Here for fun they go to their parents friends or any family member house and visit, they go to rotary meetings where they talk, have dinner, maybe they dance before eating or listen to music for a long time and go home.
What is the minimum age to get a job?
- I don't know but India is a lot cheaper so the pay of the job you'll get wouldn't make much of a difference, but I don't think you are allowed and if you are nobody will take you or pick you up.
What are the minimum drinking/ and driving ages?
- In Coimbatore women don't drink so she won't be drinking.
What kind of social activities are there? (In the house/in the city...)
- the social activities are the one that I mentioned before as what it's done for "fun".
What would a typical family day consist of?
-wake up, have breakfast, go to school, lunch (in my case in the afternoon I take an auto or the bus and go to cait's house) come back, watch , use the computer, sleep (maybe if you can find a way to go and come back you can go to some class like hindi or something)
Are there servants in households? what kinds?
- yes, they wash the cothes, dishes and clean the house. If I were her, I'd remind them to not wash the whites and colour clothes together.
Is the schooling a lot harder?
- In my school in Bolivia, I had like advanced math,chemistry,etc so for me it wasn't but I could see that the stuff they learn is kind of hard.
What are the core subjects in school?
you chose from computer science or Biology which in each of them you'll have math, chemistry,language,physics,etc.
What would a typical girl's room look like?
- the rooms are kind of neutral. (boys and girls the same)
What kind of items (furniture/ electronics/etc...) would be in a typical house?
- in the kitchen you'll find blandor, the knifes are not so sharp, maybe a microwave. There's always a tv, most probably a computer, you'll have your bed.
What music is popular among the teens?
Mostly the indian ones but from the american hannah montana, jonas brother, hilary duff.
What kind of behaviors in public with the opposite sex are looked down upon?
- She won't be spending much time with the opposite sex so she shouldn't worry about that, but if I had to say I would think smoking,drinking, showing too much (she should wear a t-shirt and jeans) showing even the shoulders it's not so good, be too close, talk to much.
What kinds of girls sports teams are available?
- None, sports are for boys mostly maybe she can join the gym or some tennis class but she'll have to figure out how to go and come back.
Do Indian girls shave their legs?Not so much in coimbatore because they normally do not show them, but in other places yes .

Some more info has really made me excited! More soon!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Roseburg Rotary Meeting

This weekend, my family and I spent Saturday and Sunday at Phoenix (High?) school in Roseburg. This weekend's meeting focused around all of the realities of being on exchange for a year. We discussed homesickness, passports, visas, (lots of paperwork...:(...), and I found out the approximate time of my departure for India! I was told that I will be the first from my group of outbounds to depart this summer between July 12-15th. (yes...much earlier in the summer than expected).
This morning all of the outbouonds were separated from the parents and had their own private session where we could ask questions of the Rotarians. Much of this time was spent talking about the week before departure all the way up through the first few days in our new countries. Everyone is so excited about the adventure that we are all becoming ready to undertake, and several of the outbounds have even heard from their first hot families and even have pictures! Seeing the pictures, and hearing about these student's first contacts with their families had gotten me very anxious for the first email. Questions are alwas running through my head about what every aspect of this experience is going to be like, and the most common thoughts going through my mind this weekend were curiosity about my host family. Not only am I wondering about where I'll be living (considering the fact that India is HUGE), but now I am starting to become curios about smaller pieces of my soon-to-be life. The house, my bedroom, will we have a car, where will I be attending school, and of course -- will my host family like me?
All these questions and more are slowly starting to be answered for some of the outbounds, and I am so excited that it could be in the next few days that mine begin to be answered!!!!

So excited (and nervous, anxious,..etc) !!!!