Bye bye Bangalore...

So this is my last post from India...as well as my second..which is sad I know. But even more sad than that is the fact that this day marks my very last one in Bangalore, as tomorrow we head to Kerala and then to "spring break" and then to CHINA!

Last Sunday we all left for our case studies in various places in rural India. My group of 7 traveled to a tribal school and hospital where we stayed for two days, and then to Mysore for a day. The tribal center was in the B.R Hills, about six hours from Bangalore, situated in the very beautiful mountainous countryside. The tribal center was started in 1979 by Dr. Sudarshan, who came to visit our group in the weeks prior to the case study. Basically it was started because there were thousands of tribal people living in the mountains in that region who had no access to health care or education. The school and the hospital were started mainly to cater to the Soliga tribe, but since the 80s have attracted hundreds of different tribes. The school has 200 students ages 5-15 living on campus, and another 300 commuting. The kids take English, Hindi and Kannada classes as well as math, social studies and environmental science. They also get up at the crack of dawn every day to do farm chores and work every afternoon on the farm. The kids were really cute and really liked us, though they didn't speak much English-the 12 year old boys did, however, speak enough to tell Barbara that she was "beautiful like a tiger." On Monday night they had a big bonfire and they all sang and danced for us, after which we sang and danced for them, and I made a complete fool of myself doing an interpretive dance to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" which was unfortunately captured on video. We also walked 6 km with them to gather firewood in the afternoon, which they do every day to cook their food over. On a side note whoever in the United States thought it was a good idea to do things in Fahrenheit and miles while the rest of the world does everything in the metric system was really stupid, I can never understand distances or temperatures here. Other adventures at the school included getting up at 6am to hike and see the sunset, trying to find tigers in the woods early in the morning (no tigers, but we did see a buffalo!) and eating raggi balls, which are balls of millet that you are supposed to swallow and they're supposed to satisfy you for an entire meal. Which..they didn't. On Tuesday we left the school and traveled to Mysore, which was the original capitol of Karnataka state and so the king's palace is there. We got there too late to actually go in the palace, but we snuck some pictures in from the back before being chased away by the guards. In Mysore we also saw a mental institution and a technology resource center where there was an Asha training taking place. Asha's are community health workers, selected by the government, who work in villages to oversee the health of their communities. They didn't speak any English either but insisted that we sing them the song we'd sung to the kids, so I once again made a fool of myself. It's nice to have no dignity.

Wednesday we returned from case studies and had the day to prepare our presentations. Of course we spent like ten minutes doing that, then proceeded to eat ice cream and watch movies until dinner. Thursday we had our last classes in Bangalore, had case study presentations and talked about our trip to Kerala. Tomorrow morning we leave for Kerala, which is on the Southern coast of India and is supposed to be beautiful, if a bit touristy. The first two nights there we will stay at another tribal school as a whole group, and the second two nights we are staying at what is apparently a pretty nice hotel. Then Thursday our vacation starts! We are not sure of our plan yet but a group of us are thinking about staying in Kerala, traveling to Cochin which is supposed to have nice beaches and spas, and generally relaxing. Not that I really deserve relaxation, as I've pretty much done no academic work since I've been here, but hey.

We return from vacation the following Wednesday morning and that evening have a farewell dinner with all of the homestay families. Then Thursday we have the day to pack and ship stuff home and then we have a midnight flight to China! I can't quite believe the India program is ending, it feels like we can't possibly have been here that long. I am excited for China and new surroundings, though with the thought of leaving I am already feeling homesick for my Indian homestay family. I have loved my time in India but feel like I really just scratched the surface of the country, and there is so much I haven't seen or done. I guess before I came here study abroad always seemed endless, and it always felt like I would have time to do everything, but now at the end of February it is already slipping away and I have no idea if or when I'll ever be back in India. I would never trade my experience for a traditional study abroad, but in some ways I do feel cheated as I get ready to say goodbye to a family I have come to feel a part of and a city I am just beginning to settle into. I have not yet had time to get tired of the warmth, the food or the constant chances to get hit by a rickshaw, and those are all things I will miss (maybe not the last one) as I move on. These five weeks have flown by faster than I thought possible, and it is just hitting me that a major component of my semester abroad is about to be over.

For the first four days in China we will be in Beijing, and then we take a 20 hour train ride to Chansha, a city south of Beijing that I thought was rural but apparently has six million people in it. I will try to update as soon as I can from China, though I may have wasted away eating six cups of white rice a day and nothing else. Cross your fingers that doesn't happen until I've written at least one blog!

Also, not that any of you are doing this (except you, Mom) but don't send any more letters to India because they won't get here in time. So when you sit down to write your lengthy letter about how much you miss me, send it to China!