they speak bengali here

Pictures, ah, the bane of my existance. I will post some, but really probably not til I get to Darjeeling where the internet will run more smoothly.

Enjoying my time here in Santiniketan. I don't speak one lick of Bengali, but I speak some Hindi and with Hindi-English I can sort of get by. There is an old woman who comes into my room in the morning who speaks no English OR Hindi... so that's fun. She comes in and I think she might want money, but I'm not going to pay her. Basically she cleans my room a little bit and then throws flower petals everywhere which just irks me. Why do I want flower petals all over my room, lady? But I just smile and say "OH! Thank You!" and she smiles back toothlessly and says "OH! TANK YOUUU." and then laughs maniacly. It's all very weird. Today she made me come outside with her to shake a tree and get more petals, something I really wasn't interested in doing. It's amazing how much time I spend appeasing strange old women in India, I'll probably miss that when I go home.

I've been writing an outline for my paper and feel pretty great. I want to finish it all up before heading to Darjeeling so that I can just spend time hiking around the hills and making collages while I'm there. I don't really want to be working on a paper.

I would like, also, to say that I have found a constant companion here in Santiniketan for my evening meals. I simply turn on the television to a channel called "Star Movies" and, voila! I've got any C-list movie from the last 20 years at my fingertips. I've seen bits and pieces of the likes of "RoboCop-3" and "Kate and Leopold" and "Hackers." I'm sure Julie will argue with me when I say that Hackers is c-list, because I'll bet she loved that movie. Everyone wears rollarskates... it's just weird. That's my brush with American culture at the moment. Also, this morning I went to get some passport photos taken (I need them for my special VIP security pass at the Tagore museum) and the men there were looking at YouTube videos of strange child celebrities from America like Zack Effron (is that his name?) and other 'High-School Musical' types. Strange.

Speaking of High School Musicals, good luck to Mom and all the cast and crew of Oliver! I'm thinking of you all over here.