Namaskaram

This place has quickly gotten overwhelming. I've officially just ended my first week of classes in India and I am worn out, both physically and emotionally. We moved into our home stays on Friday and unfortunately I ran into some issues. My home stay family has been absolutely lovely and accommodating but there is just one issue - they don't really speak any English. While I know that language problems come with the territory of this sort of trip, the problem is that we are supposed to be using our home stay families as an extension of our investigation into the cultural and political issues that effect health in the countries we are visiting. While I must say my Malaylam has gotten pretty sharp since being here, my communication with my family wasn't enough to allow for any real interactions (let alone instructions on how to get to the bus stop, or even what the word "bus stop" means.) For that reason, I am being switched to a different home stay. This has caused a ton of stress and anxiety because my current home stay was notified before they even found a place for me to live. Let's just say that last night there were a lot of tears and sadness but hopefully I will move forward from this positively. We also get 3 yoga lessons a week which have been a god-send thus far and have probably gotten me through this situation a little more sanely.

On another note, the food here is BOMB and you eat everything with your bare hands which is tricky at first but you quickly adjust to it. I'm scared I'm going to forget to use silverware when I return home! I will list out some of my favorite dishes that I have sampled thus far:

• Appam - this is like a fluffy rice pancake with a thick middle and a thin crispy ring going around it. This is used to dip in sauces.
• Papperdam - This is a fried, crispy, puffy bread that is also used to dip in sauces. Probably my favorite bread.
• Iddly - This is similar to the appam, except that it doesn't have the crispy edges and it is slightly fermented.
• A bunch of curries that I don't know that names of but most are made with coconut (probably the most popular food here) and are really spicy and delicious.

I have to cut this post short because apparently my home stay family is on a hunt to find me (I am in an internet cafe and they get really nervous if you are out past 7pm.) But I will update more as soon as I can!