Well, all of a sudden, the weekend is over. Let me recap....
Saturday morning we all got a bit of a late start, but by around 1pm, Navee, Kasie, Maddy, Parisa and I headed out to Commercial Road for a little shopping. The Bangalore heat is still a bit like walking in to a steam room for me, so the more airy pants and tops I have, the better off we'll all be. Commercial Road was just as overwhelming as when we went last weekend- packed with people all looking for the same deals we are. We all had some luck finding clothes though, which was great. However, I ran in to something I'd never seen before- clothing stores that don't allow returns or exchanges and that don't have fitting rooms. Hmm. Even though most of the clothes here are well under $10, it is still tricky to justify a purchase that you can't get out of in anyway. Oh well! I did make one such purchase, and luckily, the $2 top fit. After about six hours of shopping, we all decided we were pretty exhausted, and so we decided to look for a place to grab some dinner. We found a deserted restaurant on the bottom floor of a hotel that had a decent menu, and so we all sat down. The dinner was pleasant, although we did have more than our share of communication challenges with our waiter. I tried something new at dinner- Aloo Palak- which is potato and spinach made into a sort of spinach gravy with potato chunks in it. Served over rice, it seemed like a good Indian comfort food. After spending several minutes figuring out how to divide up the bill, we all headed out and tried to find a bus to take us home.
At this point, it was around 9pm, and although we tried for some time, we couldn't figure out which routes to take. We even procrastinated finding the right bus by stopping for mango ice cream (yum). Eventually, we found a nice auto driver who agreed to take all five of us back to the apartments. Now, three people in an auto works, but it is certainly crowded. Four people means someone is laying across the other three peoples laps. Five people plus all of our shopping bags means bags crammed where ever they fit and two people sitting on laps, crouching down so their heads don't hit the ceiling of the auto. I am sure it was quite a sight. But we made it back to the apartments, and had a nice night in sitting around in one of the living rooms with everyone.
Sunday morning, five of us (Kristen, Navee, Kasie, Maddy and I) decided to go to the Iskcon Temple here in Bangalore. Getting there alone was a feat; it involved one bus ride and then a very lengthy auto ride to the temple. Once we arrived, we got ushered into the security area. It was quite impressive (and simultaneously strange) how many hoops we had to jump through to enter the temple. First, after walking through quite a few little pathways, we had to take off our shoes and place them in a bag that we could pick up when we left. Then you went through security, where they sent you through an x-ray machine, you were wanded, and they searched your bags. Maddy accidentally had her camera in her bag, and cameras aren't allowed inside the temple, so she had to go all the way back out to the shoe area and check her camera as well. Then there are giant sinks for everyone to wash their hands and sprinkle some water on your feet, and as soon as you walk past the sinks there are jets of water coming out of the ground to wash your feet. After walking up several sets of stairs, we reached a terrace type area where people were lining up to go in different areas of the temple. We decided to get in the chanting line. This meant that we all lined up single file, and when you reach a certain part of the line, someone hands you a card with a chant on it. As Navee explained, in Hindu traditions, one is supposed to say this chant 108 times a day, so, the temple has 108 stones laid in a pathway and up a staircase where you say the chant once on each step, and then everyone collectively steps forward one tile and repeats the chant. The verse we repeated is "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare". Once you complete 108 recitations, everyone passes through a doorway in which there is a large bell which everyone rings as they enter. There were several rooms we passed through, each with beautiful shrine. Then everyone enters the main temple which is a large circular room with beautiful paintings on the ceiling and a spectacular golden altar (at least thats the best way I can describe it) in the front. I don't think I have ever seen so much gold concentrated in one area, it was beautiful. Because the temple has so many visitors, we were moved through the temple fairly quickly, but it was still great to see. And then you are herded through multiple rooms of items and food for sale. After we fought our way through those areas, we collected our shoes and headed out.
We were invited to a tea at an incoming Wooster student's home (yes- there happens to be a young lady that will be coming to Wooster in the fall as a freshman who lives in Bangalore- its a small world!), but we still had a couple of hours to kill before hand, so we stopped and got fresh lime soda at a stand not far from the temple. We once again tried to find the appropriate bus without any luck, so we got in autos again and headed to the house we were invited to. It was another long auto ride, and Kasie and I both nearly fell asleep- which shows how sleepy we were, because there is nothing soothing about the driving style of an autorickshaw wala. Anyway, we all made it there in one piece, but still were about 45 minutes early, so we wandered around the neighborhood for a while.
We passed a lot of street vendors, the most impressive being the meat and fish salesmen who's areas are particularly vile smelling. We knew it was time to turn around and head back to the house when we ran in to (almost literally) a cow in the street who decided it would be a good idea to walk straight at us from no more than 4 feet away. We quickly headed back to keep a safe distance from the cow, and made it to the house just at the right time.
The home and our hosts were lovely, and we had a nice time visiting about Wooster and our time so far in Bangalore. After several hours of chatting, we all started heading back to our apartments. Tonight was my night to cook dinner for the group and I hadn't planned a menu, so we stopped at the store on the way home and picked up ingredients to make tomato soup and grilled cheeses. At this point, it was already 8pm, so we hurried home and Maddy and I made soup and sandwiches for everyone. You can't really find "normal" cheese here (at least at our neighborhood grocery store), so we used the lovely processed cheese that comes individually wrapped. After a simple and quick dinner, everyone had some chores to do to get ready for the work week- laundry, checking in with family members, and even starting on a paper we have that is due this week (we are here for a class, after all).
Hopefully this week at work we'll all really get down to business now that the first introductory week is over- I'll let you know how we progress with our projects!
Saturday morning we all got a bit of a late start, but by around 1pm, Navee, Kasie, Maddy, Parisa and I headed out to Commercial Road for a little shopping. The Bangalore heat is still a bit like walking in to a steam room for me, so the more airy pants and tops I have, the better off we'll all be. Commercial Road was just as overwhelming as when we went last weekend- packed with people all looking for the same deals we are. We all had some luck finding clothes though, which was great. However, I ran in to something I'd never seen before- clothing stores that don't allow returns or exchanges and that don't have fitting rooms. Hmm. Even though most of the clothes here are well under $10, it is still tricky to justify a purchase that you can't get out of in anyway. Oh well! I did make one such purchase, and luckily, the $2 top fit. After about six hours of shopping, we all decided we were pretty exhausted, and so we decided to look for a place to grab some dinner. We found a deserted restaurant on the bottom floor of a hotel that had a decent menu, and so we all sat down. The dinner was pleasant, although we did have more than our share of communication challenges with our waiter. I tried something new at dinner- Aloo Palak- which is potato and spinach made into a sort of spinach gravy with potato chunks in it. Served over rice, it seemed like a good Indian comfort food. After spending several minutes figuring out how to divide up the bill, we all headed out and tried to find a bus to take us home.
At this point, it was around 9pm, and although we tried for some time, we couldn't figure out which routes to take. We even procrastinated finding the right bus by stopping for mango ice cream (yum). Eventually, we found a nice auto driver who agreed to take all five of us back to the apartments. Now, three people in an auto works, but it is certainly crowded. Four people means someone is laying across the other three peoples laps. Five people plus all of our shopping bags means bags crammed where ever they fit and two people sitting on laps, crouching down so their heads don't hit the ceiling of the auto. I am sure it was quite a sight. But we made it back to the apartments, and had a nice night in sitting around in one of the living rooms with everyone.
Sunday morning, five of us (Kristen, Navee, Kasie, Maddy and I) decided to go to the Iskcon Temple here in Bangalore. Getting there alone was a feat; it involved one bus ride and then a very lengthy auto ride to the temple. Once we arrived, we got ushered into the security area. It was quite impressive (and simultaneously strange) how many hoops we had to jump through to enter the temple. First, after walking through quite a few little pathways, we had to take off our shoes and place them in a bag that we could pick up when we left. Then you went through security, where they sent you through an x-ray machine, you were wanded, and they searched your bags. Maddy accidentally had her camera in her bag, and cameras aren't allowed inside the temple, so she had to go all the way back out to the shoe area and check her camera as well. Then there are giant sinks for everyone to wash their hands and sprinkle some water on your feet, and as soon as you walk past the sinks there are jets of water coming out of the ground to wash your feet. After walking up several sets of stairs, we reached a terrace type area where people were lining up to go in different areas of the temple. We decided to get in the chanting line. This meant that we all lined up single file, and when you reach a certain part of the line, someone hands you a card with a chant on it. As Navee explained, in Hindu traditions, one is supposed to say this chant 108 times a day, so, the temple has 108 stones laid in a pathway and up a staircase where you say the chant once on each step, and then everyone collectively steps forward one tile and repeats the chant. The verse we repeated is "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare". Once you complete 108 recitations, everyone passes through a doorway in which there is a large bell which everyone rings as they enter. There were several rooms we passed through, each with beautiful shrine. Then everyone enters the main temple which is a large circular room with beautiful paintings on the ceiling and a spectacular golden altar (at least thats the best way I can describe it) in the front. I don't think I have ever seen so much gold concentrated in one area, it was beautiful. Because the temple has so many visitors, we were moved through the temple fairly quickly, but it was still great to see. And then you are herded through multiple rooms of items and food for sale. After we fought our way through those areas, we collected our shoes and headed out.
We were invited to a tea at an incoming Wooster student's home (yes- there happens to be a young lady that will be coming to Wooster in the fall as a freshman who lives in Bangalore- its a small world!), but we still had a couple of hours to kill before hand, so we stopped and got fresh lime soda at a stand not far from the temple. We once again tried to find the appropriate bus without any luck, so we got in autos again and headed to the house we were invited to. It was another long auto ride, and Kasie and I both nearly fell asleep- which shows how sleepy we were, because there is nothing soothing about the driving style of an autorickshaw wala. Anyway, we all made it there in one piece, but still were about 45 minutes early, so we wandered around the neighborhood for a while.
We passed a lot of street vendors, the most impressive being the meat and fish salesmen who's areas are particularly vile smelling. We knew it was time to turn around and head back to the house when we ran in to (almost literally) a cow in the street who decided it would be a good idea to walk straight at us from no more than 4 feet away. We quickly headed back to keep a safe distance from the cow, and made it to the house just at the right time.
The home and our hosts were lovely, and we had a nice time visiting about Wooster and our time so far in Bangalore. After several hours of chatting, we all started heading back to our apartments. Tonight was my night to cook dinner for the group and I hadn't planned a menu, so we stopped at the store on the way home and picked up ingredients to make tomato soup and grilled cheeses. At this point, it was already 8pm, so we hurried home and Maddy and I made soup and sandwiches for everyone. You can't really find "normal" cheese here (at least at our neighborhood grocery store), so we used the lovely processed cheese that comes individually wrapped. After a simple and quick dinner, everyone had some chores to do to get ready for the work week- laundry, checking in with family members, and even starting on a paper we have that is due this week (we are here for a class, after all).
Hopefully this week at work we'll all really get down to business now that the first introductory week is over- I'll let you know how we progress with our projects!
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