First Weekend with The (Host) Fam

While in India, I am living with a host family. To put it simply, THEY ARE AWESOME!

They are super warm and welcoming. We have great discussions every night and they are making me feel right at home.

My dad was trained as a doctor (he has his MD) but now works for the government. He worked in public health for a while, but now is working in the tax department. He has knowledge about everything health, he even gave a lecture at my school this past week about the structure of the health care system in India.

My mom is a homemaker/Bollywood actress. When I first moved in with the family, she was away in Bombay shooting a film (very glamourous). But when she got home she turned out to be just a normal mom.

I also have two siblings, Akshi (20) and Siddarth (18). They are both law students at the law school here in Delhi, Amity Law School. They are hilarious and I love having Indian siblings my age; we have tons of interesting conversations about our respective cultures and comparing the cultures of our generation.

This picture is a little dated, but every time I try to take a new fam pic, there is always some excuse: "I haven't washed my hair" "I haven't shaved today" "I don't like my outfit" ect ect ect.
However, this is pretty much what they still look like. Siddarth just got a hair cut this week, but besides that, they look the same. Siddarth on the far left, then Akshi, Mom, and Dad to the far right.

My first weekend was PACKED! Below are some pictures and explanations.
The first stop was a school that my "Mom's" sister owns/is the principal of. It is in the State of Haryana.

This is the outside of the school. It is sort of an NGO, but it is private so they have to pay -- but there are scholarships. The children that attend are children of illiterate parents. For instance, many of the children's parents are rickshaw drivers.

Scholarships are important, and as you can see on the sign, the kids that get the scholarships are celebrated. Signs are posted to inspire other children to do as well as these lucky few who get the scholarships.

This is the blackboard of one of the classrooms. There is Hindi on the left (would you believe me if I told you I could read it?) and some English on the right.

When visiting the school, "Dad" decided that Noel (the other girl that is staying with our awesome family) and I should teach an english class. Above is us being introduced by "Mom's" sister/the principal to the the 9th grade class that Noel taught.They asked me to write out some words from the story they read (but didn't understand) so that we could discuss the meanings. Writing on a blackboard is hard! The students were so good at it, and I sucked.

This is the 9th grade class that I taught. Noel, "Mom" and I are in the back.

To commemorate our visit/teaching they asked Noel and I to plant a tree. At first they were just having us hold the tree up and having the gardener put the dirt in, but I am an Oregonian; if I'm going to "plant a tree" I am going to plant the tree. So I started putting the dirt in. All of the adults told me not to, but then they found it amusing and Noel joined in too.

These are the school bathrooms. They are in a little court yard, behind the classrooms. I didn't venture into them ...

This is the area outside the school. "Mom's" sister keeps trying to get the land from the government so she can plant trees and make it look nicer, but they refuse to sell it to her.

In the afternoon, Siddarth, Akshi, Noel and I went to Humayun's Tomb. He was a mongol emperor. It was very pretty, and kind of set up like the Taj Majal (which is tomorrow's adventure!).

Me, Noel, and Akshi in front of the main tomb.

I loved all of the stone screens that were in all of the buildings.

The next day (Sunday), we went to a Arts and Craft Bizarre in Haryana with "Mom's" family.

Artisans came from all over the country and there were also some artisans from other countries. It was decorated with tons of color and there were people dressed in traditional costumes, and there were dances and music performances.