India - Post #2 - May 15 2012

India is awesome. I'm not going to lie, eating with my hands at first made some of the food unappealing and I even lost interest for eating. I can finally say that those feelings have left. I love eating with my hands. You can pick up exactly the size of bites that you want to put into your mouth, you can mix the rice with the correct amount of curry ratios, you can pick up more chicken or drop chicken depending on how much you want in that bite, it's great. We have had some great food and the more I eat, the more I enjoy it. At first, I despised the style of food and conned myself into thinking that I only like North Indian food, but that is adjusting. I keep trying new things and keep liking them. Aside from the food, we are all settled into the house and it feels great. Although it's not exactly like home, it is pretty darn close. In fact, the change is rather fun and enjoyable because it breaks the routine. I love camping and I am not even joking, it partially feels like we are camping. We have to pump for water, light mosquito coils, sweep the dirt away, cook on a kerosine stove, and squat to use the restroom. The nice features are that we have electricity, a closed brick house, neighbors, etc. I had my research translated by a younger member in the family. After finding an individual who is great at English and Tamil and who writes novels, he said the translation was okay but it could be clearer and more precise so that when people take the survey they don't get frustrated and confused. I agreed and I asked him to retranslate my survey so that I could gather the best results. I am going to pay him for his work and it will be totatlly worth it. He is actually a good friend of ours now and we see him often. Once I get this finalized, I can really begin pounding the streets and malls for individuals to take my survey. I will also ask a lot of the individuals who I have become friends with to help me by taking the survey as well. I hopefully will be able to find a lot of people who are willing to take it. They may be willing to do it for the simple reason that I am white, which is a good enough reason for me, as long as the data that I gather is accurate. It's fun though because we have made a lot of friends without the intention of having them take our survey so they have a friendship with us and trust us. We are staying active and trying not to get burnt by the sun. It scorched my face yesterday so I should probably be a little more careful to wear sunscreen or stay in the shade more. What can I say though, playing sports was totally worth it.  Everything is going great in India and time is flying by. If it weren't for the freezing cold shower that I take right before I go to bed each night, I might go crazy because of the heat. Otherwise, the bugs are finally beginning to leave me alone and my skin is healing from all of the bites!