I Passed an Elephant on the Street the Other Day

Okra = Ladyfingers

Envelope = Cover

Tutoring = Tuition

Bike = Cycle

Coffee/Tea = Hot Milk and Sugar

No more please, I'm full = Yes, thank you, I would like a fourth serving

90+ Degrees = Winter

$1 = 50 rupees (1 coconut = 10 rs, 1 coffe = 7 rs, a full meal = 40 rs)

Shower = Bath

Bath = Cold Water in a Bucket

Conditioner = Coconut Oil

Deodorant = Unavailable

Shoes = Optional, if not Prohibited

The Only Good Mosquito is a Dead Mosquito =

Cetta Kocu Mattum Nalla Kocu (in Tamil)

Honking Horn/Dinging Bell = "I am a vehicle that is much

bigger than you and am going to pass you on the right.

Move to the left or I will hit you.)

Man Skirt = Lunghi

Men Wearing Lunghis = Everywhere

Women Wearing Anything That Shows Their Ankles = Nowhere

Yoga Mat = Straw Mat

There is nothing funnier than a white girl on a bike. Unless, of course, there are multiple white girls on bikes. Gets 'em every time.

When I went to Kerala for the weekend with my host family we listened to nothing but Akon, Taylor Swift, and The Bee Gees. The car ride was eight hours long. Each way.

My yoga instructor is not some cute 20-something girl or a house wife with too much time on her hands that reads you some ridiculous quote during samsara and burns incense. He is a drill sergeant who can manipulate his body into positions that are frighteningly unnatural.

I'm volunteering with an NGO that is concerned with Dalit rights. Dalits are the "untouchable" or scheduled caste and they basically get shit on (figuratively, and literally sometimes) because of an arbitrary label that makes them "impure" and "inferior" to just about everyone else. The organization I'm working with seeks out instances of human rights atrocities, specifically against Dalits, and offers counseling and legal representation to the victims. I'm currently reading up on their most recent cases which include instances of murder, assault with pitchforks and various other weapons, stoning, molestation, kidnapping, forced consumption of human shit, upper caste women who are forced to have abortions because they have been impregnated by a Dalit man and "bound labor" ie slave labor. Almost 20% of India's population is Dalit.

"World Famous Big Temple" - Thanjavur

The Most Aggressive Decision I've Ever Made

For those of you who don't already know (if you fall in to this category, be glad you haven't had to hear about it for the past six months), I leave tomorrow for two semesters of back-to-back study abroad. I'll be in Madurai, India for the first semester (until December) and then I'll be in Kampala, Uganda from January - June. Like I said, a pretty aggressive decision.

But now, about the blog. I kept it last summer and didn't really like it for a handful of reasons. I don't really like blogs in general; there's something inherently pretentious about them. It's as if you're saying, "Hey, look how interesting my life is, you should read about it!" But here I am...blogging (at least I'm not tweeting). The only reason I have allowed myself to fall into the dark hole that is blogging, worse yet travel blogging, is because, in theory, I should have a pretty interesting year. No guarantees, but the potential is definitely there.

That being said, I'm going to try my best not to write anything that isn't interesting. Nobody wants to read about how long my train ride was or how bad my stomach hurts or what my host parents do for a living. If you would like to hear about those sorts of inane details, shoot me an e-mail (rreichen11@gmail.com) and I'll try not to bore you too much. This blog will be for the stories. The really great, epic, remember that time when...kind of stories. Those might not come along very often. But when they do, I'll be sure to make them as public and sensational as any good blogger would.