What Have I Been Doing?

Long time no post! I've been up to a lot over the last month and a half. Here are the highlights of my experiences since my last update:

August 18-19: Orientation

Right after my last blog update, I attended the District 3060 orientation in Vadodora, Gujarat. It was an amazing experience to meet everyone! Almost all of the exchange students had connected online a few weeks before we met in person, so meeting everyone face to face was almost like a reunion. During orientation, we learned a lot of useful information about Indian culture, as well as a lot of the same information about Rotary rules and expectations that were covered during orientations in our home countries. We played some games, danced, and had a spontaneous mini talent show. I stayed overnight with an exchange student living in Vadodora and her host family (Aleyna from Germany). We had a great time together, and with her little host sister, Zea, watching Bollywood movies and talking until late Saturday night.

Youth Exchange Students of District 3060, 2018-2019

Even though I really enjoyed orientation, the weekend was slightly overshadowed by the realization that I would have to say goodbye to all my new exchange student friends. The rules in District 3060 are in some ways stricter than the rules for exchange in the USA, and we were made very aware of the expectations for students here during our orientation. These rules include forbidding visits to other exchange students living in other cities. Overall, the regulations make sense to me, but still required an adjustment in my expectations. The South Tour, a month long trip in Southern India, is cancelled this year with no replacement, so as far as we know, the next opportunity for all of us to see each other again is at Christmas, when we will spend a week together preparing or the district conference. (However, since I have begun this post, several new events have been proposed for us to attend together, including the Interact Conference and a Model UN conference. We'll see what happens!)

Inbounds and rebounds during orientation

The reason that it was so hard for me to adjust to the idea of not seeing everyone for five months is because I am the only exchange student in Vapi this year. Many of the other kids in the district see each other every day-- for example, there are eight exchange students in Surat, five in Vadodora, and the remaining few of us in other cities on our own. It's crazy to meet people who you have such an amazing, immediate connection with and then have to say goodbye.

Ashlyn (USA), William (France), and Nick (Germany)

Who knows what we were doing here?

So, long story short, I had a hard time adjusting after my first few weeks back from orientation. I think I had the realization that, yes, I will be here for the entire year, and my experience will be different than what I had originally imagined. This is, after all, a cultural exchange, and I will be spending most of my time with Rotarians and their families. I realized that I needed to embrace this fact and enjoy my experience. After I had this realization, I decided to think of ways for me to get more involved in the Vapi community and meet as many people as possible. So, I informally joined both the Interact and Rotaract clubs sponsored by Rotary Vapi Riverside, I participated in Teacher's Day at school and made some new friends, and I began having dinners at the houses of Rotarians in the club.

For the past month, I have been able to experience many different types of Indian families, taken garba classes almost every day, and participated in several festivals. After a hard last couple weeks of August, the month of September and the beginning of October have been amazing. Here's what I've been up to:

August 24th: The Raksha Bandhan celebration at VPS preschool. My host mother and I were the guests of honor, and it was so cute to see the little kids dressed up for the holiday!

Kids exchanging Rakhi and gifts with their peers

August 27: The day of the actual Raksha Bandhan holiday. Here is a picture of part of the Raksha Bandhan ritual, with myself and my host family cousin-brother (cousins are usually referred to as sisters and brothers here). Some families, like my host family, also have younger sisters tie rakhi to their older sisters, so I got to participate in both sides of the ritual.

September 2: Visiting a nearby village's girls's hostel sponsored by Rotary Vapi Riverside. We volunteered along with doctors and nurses to conduct the annual free medical checkup for the girls at the school, the workers, and local villagers. This hostel is important because it allows the girls to attend school all year, which grants them an access to education that would not be possible if they were living at home. 

Some of the girls at the hostel

Also September 2nd: Janmashtami, the celebration of Lord Krishna's birthday 

This was an awesome video sent to me over Whats App about the gods of the festival of Janmashtami

An adorable kid dressed up as baby Krishna! 

After the Dahi Handi we were covered in curd and Holi colors

September 9: With my host sister Vrushika at a traveling craft fair, enjoying spending some time together before her departure for her own exchange adventure

September 13: A message sent by my host father on the last day of the Jain festival of Paryushan, the most important holiday in the Jain faith (Michami Dukkadam is the official greeting of the day)

Attending temple with my host family during Paryushan

Also September 13: Visiting the Ganpati that was placed in our society for Ganesh Chaturthi

Preparing the offering for the Ganpati at the home of a Rotary family before the start of puja

Enjoying the Ganpati celebration with Rotary friends

My third host father's birthday was the same day as all the festival activities, so we celebrated with a mini party! This is me with my current host sister, as well as my third host family

Birthday parties in India usually involve a cake to the face... so this was me after finding out about this particular tradition

Ganesh Chaturthi is usually celebrated for 10 days, and Ganpatis (the idol of Lord Ganesha) can be found in many homes, businesses, and public places. It is the main festival of the state of Maharastra, and huge statues can be seen in Mumbai. Vapi also had some large public statues for people to view. This is a picture of one of the public Ganpatis in the city.

On September 17th, my host sister left for her own exchange in the USA. After a long visa process, she made it! It was sad to see her go, but she is having a fabulous time on her new adventure :)

September 19: On one of the auspicious days of Ganesh Chaturthi, visarjan is performed by immersing the Ganpati in some kind of water, usually in a river or the sea. We performed visarjan for the Ganpati in my second host family's home after the fifth day. This is a video from part of the visarjan celebration (featuring a lot of sun).

Visiting with my second host family for the visarjan of their Ganpati

After visarjan, all three of my host families and I took a boat ride out to the sea in Daman

From September 22 to September 27, I took a trip with another Rotary family to Varanasi, India. It was an amazing experience! I will probably include it in a separate blog post.

September 30: Having lots of fun dancing some impromptu garba and Bollywood moves with my host mom and aunty after a Rotary family meeting. I cannot emphasize enough how much I love my host club! They are so welcoming, and are like a big family to me <3

So, that pretty much sums up my activities for the last part of August and the month of September! I have been busy, which I love, and I have really begun to live my exchange experience. I am so grateful for all the opportunities I've received so far, and I am excited for the future, because I know there are some amazing things coming up. Next Wednesday marks the beginning of Navratri, which I will be participating in every night (as I mentioned before, I have been taking garba classes almost every day for the last month and a half, and I am SO ready). Navratri is the main festival of Gujarat, and it promises to be yet another unforgettable experience. Next comes Diwali, some vacations, and eventually my switch to my second host family. 

Exchange is a rollercoaster, but one that I am now fully ready to experience. Chalo!