The ABCs of our India Trip - Part 3

O is for Often Bored. Well, at least for the first 5 days. They asked us to come early to meet with the other consultants but only one ended up being here early and we only needed to meet with him for about 2 hours. So basically we did nothing from Thurs until Monday. And with no Internet or TV or places to go outside the tiny campus we got pretty bored. So there was a lot of UNO playing (the boys got it for Christmas and I'm SO glad we brought it) and a lot of reading. It was nice to just sit and rest but really, you can only do so much of that. We spent some good quality time with the kids and I’m thankful for that. 

Orin reading Calvin & Hobbes to everyone. 

To pass the time Orin and Micaiah just walked around taking pictures - they took about a million. A lot were of me, and I'm amazed at how great they are at taking the most awful pictures of me! :)

 
P is for Public Transportation – There were two types of transportation - buses and auto rickshaws. The buses were everywhere. We went up to Bangalore for one weekend and took a bus (a few buses actually) with the help of an Indian friend who rode with us. No A/C and no bathrooms – but people take them on multiple days journeys. Our friend said that he and his family will eat or drink very little for a day or so before they go on a long trip so they won’t have to use the bathroom. The bus basically stops for 10 or less seconds for people to get on and off. When we were getting off of ours it started moving as we were still getting off. They keep on a crazy schedule. The auto rickshaws are also everywhere. I like them because they are easy to pick up but you don’t have to negotiate the prices. We rode them a few times and didn’t have any problems.

Q is for Questions. We answered a lot of questions during the workshop. Four teams (the translators with their language helpers and wives) were there for 5 weeks, the goal at the end of the workshop being to produce a detailed grammar write-up about their language. We were there to demo FieldWorks, to answer questions, and to deal with any technical problems that came up. It was great to be there. I continue to learn a lot and Damien was even able to write some programs to do a few thing that FieldWorks can’t currently do.

R is for Rolling Blackouts. The electricity was off from about 10am to 1pm and 4pm to 6pm each day. I say “about” because it wasn’t consistent when it would actually go off or come on. It would also go off in the evening a lot but the center had a generator that they would turn on if it was out after dark. It’s pretty funny when you’re giving a presentation using a projector and the electricity goes off. I have never been in this situation before and always thought it would be frustrating. Which it probably usually would. But when you have no Internet, no A/C, no TV as long as you keep your other things charged when the electricity is on it’s not so bad.

S is for Showering from a Bucket. I was wondering why we had a large bucket with a cup in our bathroom. But when we went to take showers I realized why – there was no shower. The kids enjoyed it because I basically bathed them (which they are always begging me to do at home) and we eventually got used to it. But my low pressure, not-so-hot shower at home was sounding really nice.