hubli!

hiiiii!

today was our first day at our service learning sites! im working with BAIF, an agricultural support organization. they want us to create educational materials for women in the rural communities about nutrition, caring for children and pre natal care. i'm really excited about it and i think it will be a really good experience. the organization is out in the country. like, the country, country. like, stop the car so a herd of a hundred goats can pass by the road. on thursday we're actually going to interview the women who live on farms and see what their lives are like. im really excited for that. today we got back kind of early, so we rode our first rickshaw to the market and got stared at for a good 2 hrs. every store we went into, the place went silent. hubli doesn't see many tourists, so we're quite the spectacle. the worst part is that the little kids (like toddlers) are scared of us because they've never seen white people before. luckily the older kids like us. we went to a bazaar that featured products made by women who took out microloans.

we also went to dinner with the desphande foundation fellows. they were all indian and we had such a good time at our table. at first it was kind of awkward because even though we all speak english, we dont really speak the same english, so it was a little silent. but as the night went on and us americans got tired and a little loopy, we got pretty silly. pretty soon we were all laughing and goofing around. also, we talked to them about the headwobble. the headwobble, oh the headwobble. most indians, when you're talking to them will wobble their head. hard to explain, but they look kind of like a bobble head doll. it's the non verbal indian version of "um" or "yeah". so they wobble their head to acknowledge the fact that they are listening. also, sometimes it means yes, or okay. very confusing and sometimes very hard not to laugh.

i am loving hubli! mumbai was so dirty and big... not that hubli's not dirty, but i just like it better. it's smaller and the weather is much nicer! it actually gets cool here at night. i think im going to like it alot!

ok enough talking, picture time.

on our way to the agriculture sight. the aggie group! alex, me, uly, shelley, sarah and dana.

the goat roadblock on our way to the countryside

just our neighbors cows and bulls hangin out near the street

muah!

danielle