Tori tori hindi bolti hoon

The culture shock has largely worn off, but instead of panicking, I feel like I am in a bit of a haze. It's difficult speaking Hindi again after four years off. Also, I went to the FRO yesterday and it will take them a week to look over our paper work and give us the appropriate stamp in our passport. Given the random nature of Indian paperwork, I debated putting a unicorn sticker in my passport with the hopes that no one would question it. Britain pointed out that this could potentially work or potentially get me thrown in jail when I try to leave the country for med school interviews. I decided to wait the week.

The main problem with waiting a week is that I have to put off my Hindi lessons for a week, because I can't even go an hour away until I get my paperwork completed. Fortunately, this is actually on schedule, so I am just starting my lessons on time rather than early. The German in me is very distraught over this, but I'm just hoping that India doesn't take over and delay my plans by a few more weeks. It feels very disabling to not have the little Hindi that I used to have. But Didi (the woman who takes care of the house where I live) only speaks Hindi, so I am getting better at it. She does seem to notice that it's improving. I can understand enough of her Hindi to understand when she's telling people that I don't speak Hindi in the marketplace. That's fine with me--she speaks Hindi and Bengali fluently, so she's far ahead of me language-wise.

The house is beautiful and it is starting to feel like home. Another Fulbright researcher is going to join me in a little more than a month, so it will feel even cozier then. I am a bit concerned that there seems to be absolutely no heating in the house. I knew that this was the case with most houses in Dehradun, but I also heard that some places do have a wood stove. We'll see what happens in the Winter.

I feel a little bit between a rock and a hard place--my adviser would like me to start field work once the rains are over. But I feel that I'll need a lot of time to study Hindi and to get comfortable with being back in India. Maybe I'll relearn Hindi a lot faster than I think, but I'm not amazing at languages by any means. I'm going to try to start going over research methods and figuring out what I want to include in my surveys. The hardest thing will be trying to get a consent form in Hindi. There are a couple of PhD students who do socio-economic research at the Wildlife Institute of India, so I'm hoping that a few of them have a consent form that I can modify.

The mists cleared for the first time today and I was able to actually see the Himalayas from Dehradun. I'm very excited for monsoon season to be over, because it will make the valley feel much more open.

It might seem that I'm a bit down right now. Actually, I feel really good. I'm just mulling over a lot of things. There is a lot of down time right now and I'm trying to decide how I want to dive into research. It is very daunting and I hope that some of you can offer some advice. I also hope that I get my camera in the mail soon and I can start posting some pictures.

Love,

Erica