It's official: I think I'm in love with Thanjavur. From the cows wandering the streets to the music that plays when cars are reversing (yeah, they personalize their back up beeping noises!), I am so mesmerized by this city and its people.
Despite the random power outages and loss of water that plague our new dwelling, the people that run this place make up for it with their friendliness, curiosity, and generosity. A woman named Thandrel runs our pseudo-dormitory and her nurturing mannerisms have led us students to dub her our house-mother! Her 14-year-old son, Mukesh, quickly has become a member of our group. He speaks English amazingly well and has thoroughly enjoyed teaching us basic Tamil phrases. Mukesh absolutely idolizes a member of our class, Josh, though I think us girls are growing on him, as earlier tonight, he finally gave in to our invitations to play Bananagrams! He's even allowing our rowdy crew to come watch him play cricket!
One of my favorite things about our new place is our common room, which is actually a giant balcony on the third floor. Our group members can frequently be found sitting up there doing homework, eating meals, watching the cows and pedestrians walk down our street, catching a glimpse of the greenbirds flying around the open field across the street, and watching the sunset. This outdoor room offers both protection from the sun and a prime location to catch the breeze, which are both necessities in this Indian summer. Actually, I feel like the weather is much more bearable here than in Chennai, as temps are only in the upper 90s instead of the low 110s, though I guess it's possible this is because the "end of the hot season" happened to be this past weekend! Either way, I'm happier to be a bit cooler!
We also had our first lecture today at the ICTPH building. I'm guessing the locals had quite the interesting views this morning, as all 14 of us 20 and 30 somethings lined up outside of our building, with backpacks, waiting to be picked up for school by our cars. At school, we talked about methods of data collection (e.g., surveys, focus groups, etc.) and met with the ICTPH members assigned to work with our five groups. Not only did we get some insights into ICTPH's viewpoints on our health issues, but... we also got our saris today! Earlier this afternoon, Megan and I tried to tie her up in her sari, but failed miserably. Luckily, I think some of the ICTPH members are planning on giving us a crash course in sari-tying!
Alright, I guess that's all for now! Tomorrow ought to bring interesting stories, as we get to visit our first health clinic, so stay tuned!
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