Oh India...

Something I find really adorable: instead of calling the spot where your shoe rubs your foot "blisters", they call them "shoe bites". I think that's really cute.
Something I don't find adorable: The fact that my shoes have bitten my feet EVERYWHERE.

Things are going pretty well. My rickshaw wallah this morning told me that I could pay, "as I wish", which made me really happy, so I gave him a little extra. Way to go Decent People!

Yesterday we boiled my large piece...it turned out! I must say, I am rather proud of it. It still gets another coat of wax, another dying, and then boiled again, but it's almost finished, and I can see that the two weeks of hard work I put into it turned out. Feeling very good about that. Since it actually looks nice enough for me to hang in my dorm room, I figure I can explain it to people. It is a batiked, madhubani-style picture of Ophelia, from Hamlet. It's big...about 3 by 4 feet...maybe, I'm actually a horrible judge of measurements...but it's large. Ophelia is half submerged in water, with a willow tree and grasses behind her, and she's holding long purples (which look more like grapes) and daisies. she also has daisies in her hair, which is down and wild. She is smiling, but has tears. The colors are different from my original plan, since I was only able to do two color schemes. The water & sky are maroon, but it looks really good in contrast with the yellow hair and green grass. And everything has a complicated double line of white, which is cracked with lots of black. It's kind of stained-glass like, but not really. I realize this is a really confusing description, that probably gives no idea of what it looks like, but I am excited about it and wanted to try. When I can (and when it's finished) I'll put up a picture.
I've also gotten really into wall-hangings that are more like posters...with writing. It's hard, because the writing cracks and can be difficult to read, plus I feel like since I'm just writing quotes it's not exactly "art", but I don't really care. I like it. I've been putting quotes I like with simple images or designs I come up with, usually in very basic colour schemes. Good stuff. I'm having fun with it. I love the colours. So so much.

I'm probably going to leave Udaipur on the 25th, so I can be in Delhi for the Thanksgiving Dinner @ the program center. I figure it will be a good way to spend my first thanksgiving away from home, rather than in my hotel room alone, eating masala potato chips and bananas. :-) Then, I fly home on the 7th. Three weeks from today. Oh god. So excited.

Thank you to the people who responded to my last post...it was really meaningful to read your emails & messages...this experience has involved a lot of "growing up" for me, and getting such insightful responses made me feel like it has paid off. I love you guys.

Another India Fun Fact!: "Blisters" are called "shoe bites"...the little jam packets that we normally see in diners and stuff? They are called "blister pack"...and ketchup packets are called "tomato sachets". Oh India!