hey all

sorry to make this a group email- but internet access is somewhat limited at this point. i thought you all might like an update from india!

i'm in Madurai right now.

here is my address for mailing things. it's the program house, not my own house, but there is always going to be someone here, so this is where you should mail stuff. letters and packages and whatnot are all okay! it may take a while, depending what you send them through, but usually, i hear is between 10 days and three weeks. also.... nothing meltable because boy is it hot here!

so here it is:

Catie Miller
Plot No. 5, 4th Street
'D' Block, Park Town
Madurai, 625017
Tamil Nadu, India

also, incase of emergencies, here are the program house's numbers (the director's name is Vidya, FYI)

Office: 4252642900
and her email is:
maduraimonitor@rediffmail.com

okay. so that's all the official stuff, here's for maybe a more intimate (?) update.

I left NY just one week ago. in a lot of ways it seems like it's been much longer. the idea of sitting in NY seems like ages ago. But then again, i'm constantly learning new things and seeing things i've never seen before, so it feels like i haven't been here long at all. We spend the first few days here at a resort in the mountains at a village called Kodaikanal. It was cool there- and actually really uncomfortably cold at night and in the mornings. Its also a lot lot lot quieter than where we were staying in Madurai, so it was a good way to transition into the country. when we were there we went shopping at the bazaars, and learned more about indian food and ordering, and what to order at what meals, and how to eat. We also went for a guided trek up into the mountains through the jungle surrounding the villages. i guess there use to be tigers there, but now they've all been driven out of the area. The entire place was really interesting because although it's a steep mountain side, people still do a lot of agriculture there. They make long flat strips where they plant their crops- so the part of the mountain populated by the farmers looks like hundreds of steps all over the place. it was really interesting. and the whole thing was scattered with goats and chickens cows, and the occasional monkey or two.

we also went to an orchid orchard when we were up in the hills. they weren't in season so there weren't a lot of blooming flowers, but it was still really beautiful and we saw some amazing prehistoric looking ferns. one, actually, is so old that they told us it's pretty much identical to the kind of ferns dinosaurs ate!

We got back to Madurai yesterday and checked back into our hotel. Then we went and looked at houses to live in. There aren't any family stay options, but most of the houses are on the side or above a family. plus all the neighbors are all really friendly. The houses are all really beautiful. Most of them are middle class, according to my advisors, and what we're looking at are made for one or two people to live in. My friends Laura, and Emily and I decided that we'd like to live together, and so we found a really ridiculously nice house for three or four people. It's actually really excessive, and i feel sort of badly about living in such a nice living situation while i'm here surrounded by so much poverty. but on the other hand the rent, per person if we split it three ways) is just the same, or even cheaper, than living alone here. Anyway, it's a goregous place and i think we're going to live there. the biggest downside is that it's not above a family. The neighborhood is really nice though, and people seem to be really friendly. it's actually on the same street as the program house, which is right down the street from some quiet little shops and right near where everyone's planning on living. we're going to figure that out in the next few days.

tomorrow we start our tamil classes. so far i haven't been too successful in talking to people, but it's been alright. i can greet people, and from that they usually assume i know a lot more tamil than i do- which is a good sign for how my greeting is, but also means there's a few lines of confusion following my greeting them.

the weather is... really hot. i'm sort of just sweating all of the time. I currently own one Salwar Kammex that's bright teel and hot pink ('cause that's a subtle color combination, i guess). I also bought a fancy sari yesterday, but have to get the blouse part tailored today or tomorrow before our huge welcoming "function" (party) on Saturday. Actually, i have one friend here in Madurai who's not with the program that i'm doing- his name is Drew and he goes to SLC- and i randomly saw him on the street yesterday and it turns out he's going to be coming to our function this weekend. so it will be good to have a connection there.

i havent finalized anything accedemically yet, but i think i'm going to study pottery first semester, and cooking second semester (i want to learn how to make dosai!). and i think my field work is going to be about (maybe) the use of imagery and icons in Visnava vs Shivites, and maybe also Indian Christianity. Oh, when we were in Kodaikanal we went to a christian church on the top of a hill, and it was so amazing and different from anything i've ever seen in any other part of the world. it was really awesome to see. it was so bright and colorful!

we've only been to the meenakshee aman coil once since i got here (the huge temple in the centre of madurai). We went on the first day we got here, and i was so tired i was sort of not enjoying being there too much. But, it was still amazing to see it. it's such a huge temple. i gave a rupee to a painted elephant and it blessed me with its trunk!

also- there are animals here everywhere! i have successfully avoided any temptations to pet the dogs, even if they're domesticated- and i've only seen a few cats, but there are chickens and goats and cows everywhere. i have seen cows sleeping on four lane highways and cars and bullock carts and motorcycles and rickshaws swerving into oncoming traffic to avoid hitting them. it's actually really amazing to see the drivers here. i've only seen a few accidents, and only got hit once, slightly, when someone was backing up and the tapped me- no harm done- but for the most part the driving is really fast and loud and intense. you honk your horn whenever you're going around corners, or passing someone, or when there's someone on the side of the road- so you can imagine how loud it is.

anyway, i suppose that's about it for now. I was so glad to get emails from you, mom and dad. Also, i should maybe mention to you two that rent is probably going to be about 1500 ruppes a month, so about 35 dollars or so.

well, that's it for now. please write me back! i want to hear some US/ russian news! i'm thinking of you all and missing you all a lot!

much love

--- catie