India dis and dat
I'm sitting around Hena's brother's apartment in Chennai before we go out and spend my last 500 rupees on things I don't need but may as well have, why not blog?
India has been by far one of the more interesting experiences I've ever had. Due to the fact that I am with a friend who is a native of the country I am travelling in I have had a lot more to experience culturally than I usually do. The Indian Wedding is also quite an experience. Hena's family (meaning 45 of her nearest and dearest) hosted this wedding. Which meant lots of time was spent going "get ready get ready get ready" ad then waiting around for wahtever to happen. Since I was staying with her for this process, I had to be ready and wait. *yawn* Also, some drama happened at this wedding, which I won't go into in extreme detail, but here is a gist. The tradition is that on the first night after the ceremony, there is a big to do wiht the bride and groom getting together. First the groom and his friends show up at the bride's house where the bride and her faimly are waiting, and the bride's family must bargain to get the groom for the bride. The groom's friends do things like bring bands, dance, on occasion even damage personal property...til they get waht they want, then the groom's friends leave, and the bride's family keeps him away from the bride, he must then bargain to be left alone with his friend. Wellllllll....during the whole groom and his friends dancing around sha bang sha bang, the guys decided they wanted to run for the front door of the house and get in and mess stuff up (or something, we don't know). In the front doorway was Hena's brother Sheru who is a big tough dude who wasn't letting anyone in, but sitting on the door step was Hena's mother who is also the eldest and most respected member of the family. During the struggle Hena's mom got shoved around a lot and someone stepped on her and she felt pressure on her chest (I'm really not entirely sure what happened, this is what I'm told) so it stopped being a game there. The groom's friends and family got called a lot of rude things by the bride's family, and neither family has really attended an event given by the other since, although there have been several. I have no idea how this is going to effect the bride and groom's family lives further down the road, but this is definitely not a good start. For example, the bride didn't go to her family's NYE celebration because she was with her groom at his house and his family refused to go. Ah the trials of a patriarchal society.
India is a pretty fantastic country from what I've seen. Hena and I went through Kerala, we went to Wayanad for the wildlife sanctuary, caves and waterfalls, we went to Calicut where she lives, Mahe where her family and the wedding was, Kochin which was just neat, Kovallam Beach, Kamyukamari which is the southernmost point of India and where 3 waters (Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, and The Arabian Sea), did a back water tour of Alleppey...and that covers Kerala. We have also been to Chennai, Pondicherry, and Mango Village (not the Indian name, but tis the english translation and I forget the Indian name) in Tamil Nadu. So really, I've seen a lot of southern India. The north could suck, it could rock, idk, probably the latter.
I recnetly had food poisoning and wanted to die. I still haven't been able to eat a regular meal. It makes me sad, I like to eat.
Tonight I fly back to Korea to start Englishie camp at my school.
Soon, JUSTIN WILL BE FLYING TO KOREA TO JOIN ME!!!!!!!! yeah!
India has been by far one of the more interesting experiences I've ever had. Due to the fact that I am with a friend who is a native of the country I am travelling in I have had a lot more to experience culturally than I usually do. The Indian Wedding is also quite an experience. Hena's family (meaning 45 of her nearest and dearest) hosted this wedding. Which meant lots of time was spent going "get ready get ready get ready" ad then waiting around for wahtever to happen. Since I was staying with her for this process, I had to be ready and wait. *yawn* Also, some drama happened at this wedding, which I won't go into in extreme detail, but here is a gist. The tradition is that on the first night after the ceremony, there is a big to do wiht the bride and groom getting together. First the groom and his friends show up at the bride's house where the bride and her faimly are waiting, and the bride's family must bargain to get the groom for the bride. The groom's friends do things like bring bands, dance, on occasion even damage personal property...til they get waht they want, then the groom's friends leave, and the bride's family keeps him away from the bride, he must then bargain to be left alone with his friend. Wellllllll....during the whole groom and his friends dancing around sha bang sha bang, the guys decided they wanted to run for the front door of the house and get in and mess stuff up (or something, we don't know). In the front doorway was Hena's brother Sheru who is a big tough dude who wasn't letting anyone in, but sitting on the door step was Hena's mother who is also the eldest and most respected member of the family. During the struggle Hena's mom got shoved around a lot and someone stepped on her and she felt pressure on her chest (I'm really not entirely sure what happened, this is what I'm told) so it stopped being a game there. The groom's friends and family got called a lot of rude things by the bride's family, and neither family has really attended an event given by the other since, although there have been several. I have no idea how this is going to effect the bride and groom's family lives further down the road, but this is definitely not a good start. For example, the bride didn't go to her family's NYE celebration because she was with her groom at his house and his family refused to go. Ah the trials of a patriarchal society.
India is a pretty fantastic country from what I've seen. Hena and I went through Kerala, we went to Wayanad for the wildlife sanctuary, caves and waterfalls, we went to Calicut where she lives, Mahe where her family and the wedding was, Kochin which was just neat, Kovallam Beach, Kamyukamari which is the southernmost point of India and where 3 waters (Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, and The Arabian Sea), did a back water tour of Alleppey...and that covers Kerala. We have also been to Chennai, Pondicherry, and Mango Village (not the Indian name, but tis the english translation and I forget the Indian name) in Tamil Nadu. So really, I've seen a lot of southern India. The north could suck, it could rock, idk, probably the latter.
I recnetly had food poisoning and wanted to die. I still haven't been able to eat a regular meal. It makes me sad, I like to eat.
Tonight I fly back to Korea to start Englishie camp at my school.
Soon, JUSTIN WILL BE FLYING TO KOREA TO JOIN ME!!!!!!!! yeah!