So yesterday was my host country's Independence Day. If you are wondering what country I am talking about, I am referring to India. So I declined going to Kerala and Hampi with other fellows for being not wanting to add additional costs to a limited budget. I was happy to find out Aparna was organizing an independence day celebration. In the morning their was a flag raising and patriotic songs sang by residents. The program was in English which was surprising. I expected it to be in Hindi but even though it was in English I couldn't understand most of the program because I stood off to the side and the wind made it difficult to hear. One kid asked if I was from the Caribbean, I think it was the same kid as last time though now he addresses me as aunty. I chilled in the apartment after the morning festivities waiting for the cultural show. My neighbor's daughter was in the fashion show. I was expecting an Idex fellow to visit but assumed she wasn't coming after a while since I know she doesn't like travelling far at night. I left my place at the right time. I met my neighbor and her daughter at the lift on the way to the cultural show. Her daughter had on a pretty fuchsia and pink dress on.
A father and his son got on the lift as we were heading to the ground floor. I seemed to have scared his son because as soon as he got on the lift and saw me he turned to his father so he can be picked up. His father got him to talk to me and shake hands. The kid was dressed in Indian attire. I am not familiar with Indian outfits outside of saree and kurti/kurta. I couldn't identify any of the kids outfits or from which part of India the outfits were from. All the kids in the fashion show were nicely dressed. Some of the older girls had on make up and even the younger girls had on the hair ornaments. The adults were nicely dressed and some of the ladies showed off the different styles of sarees. The venue was loud and there wasn't enough chairs for everyone.
It was after an hour or two of not hearing from the fellow that I checked my phone and saw I had no service. I walked out during the quiz portion to try and reach her. Unfortunately I am down to less than 30 rupees in airtime so had to be smart about calling and texting to see where she is. She was at the wrong Aparna and spent way more on an auto than she should have. My fault since I only told her the bus and where to get off which is what she asked for. She finally made it after like an hour. We hung out a bit before I left her to go to bed. She commandeered my laptop for the night. Next morning I woke up around 7 and saw she didn't put my laptop back outside so I ended up falling back asleep before zumba. Got around to making breakfast before zumba. zumba was awesome and felt bad for missing a week so it was refreshing to go back to the class.
We went to a lady's place who posted that she is selling kurtis, tshirts and leggings. I took the fellow since she wanted leggings but the woman didn't have her size and I ended up buying 2 kurtis which I hadn't budgeted for. Both are nice and can be worn in NY during the summer which is good. I got the kind that can be worn with jeans. Fellow finally went back but seemed like she didn't want to go since even at 4 minutes to 5 to catch the bus she is still watching videos on my laptop even though I keep asking the time and telling her time to go. Was getting annoyed at the end but my people skills aren't great. Had to decline visiting my neighbor and meeting this guy I am trying to build a professional relationship with to work on my insight project. The guy hopefully I'll meet with tomorrow and I'll visit my neighbor tomorrow to give her daughter the chocolate I got her.
