Last Weekend in India!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to meet up with Sam Harris, another World Food Prize intern from India, to go sight seeing! First we went to Charminar, which is a famous building with lots of little places to shop and I bought bangles, pearls, and even some silver jewelry. It was very successful, but at the same time  chaotic. I was really focused on not getting run over and stepped on. There were so many people, it was very overwhelming.

After Charminar, we went to a restaurant called Paradise because we heard it was amazing. It was okay, but didn't live up to the hype. We ordered Manchow soup that Sam recommended and it was SO GOOD. The only thing was that it was so spicy. However, I couldn't stop eating it. For our main meal we ordered chicken biryani because this is what Paradise is famous for. It was pretty good, and I didn't even eat half of it, rice fills me up so quick. It was a really awesome experience though!

After Paradise, we went to InOrbit mall and shopped around. I did all my gift shopping in one day, and somehow came out successful. Sam and I got ice cream from this place that was just like Cold Stone and it was to die for. It was called Cream Stone. Sam even recommended this tea that helps with jet lag..definitely going to need that when I get back. The best part of this mall wall the fish pedicures we got. Sam had already had a fish pedicure where he's from and he said it was quite the experience so I decided we definitely needed to do it. We just sat on this bench and put our feet in this tank thing while all these little sucker fish ate the dead skin off our feet. At first, I couldn't stop laughing because it tickled so bad, but it was so fun! There were even these adorable little kids surrounding us and watching.

After the mall we went to Hussain Sagar, which is a huge lake with a big Buddha statue in the middle. To get in, you walked through this adorable park with play sets and a few little shops. It was actually quite adorable. The ferry ride to the island was only 55 rupees. Not going to lie, when I saw the bought I was a little freaked out. They were pretty old and seemed to be a little worn down. Once we got out to the statue, the sun was just started to set and it was the PERFECT time! It was definitely my favorite place I've gone while I've been here.

Sight seeing was so much fun, and I'm so glad Sam got to come!

Tomorrow I present my seminar to ICRISAT, and I'm very excited to be done with it so I don't have to worry anymore. I leave in four days, so I've already started to pack a little just to make sure everything doesn't have to be done last minute. (For anyone who doesn't know me at all, I pack at the very last minute so this was a miracle).

Right now it's pouring rain and the thunder is so loud, it makes me jump every time it thuds.

Best wishes to everyone back home, miss you all tons
xoxo Kirsten

More Data collecting and Updates

So I've noticed I am really bad at updating this blog. Haha, last Friday I got an awesome opportunity to go to the KVK by Dokur. KVK is an organization that helps youth and women in agriculture by providing them with training and free water, soil, and plant tests all free of cost. It's a really awesome program, and is funded by the government. The KVK that I visited was only two years old, and most of the staff was fairly new. They were still waiting on funding from the government to come in, so they hadn't started many programs yet. However, I did get to talk to the director of this KVK and the scientists that work there. Surprisingly, their scientist team was made up of only women and they were all fairly young too. It was super awesome to see that.

The original plan was to go to KVK and learn more about the organization and then go to Dokur and conduct the rest of my surveys. While we were at KVK, we learned of a polytechnic college that was nearby, and we decided to visit here instead. We entered the school and all of the kids were sitting in this conference room kind of setting and there was this big table at the front of the room that was meant for us. I felt like a celebrity. All of the kids were in their school uniforms. This specific college is only for agricultural degrees and 90% of the students there came from farming families. I came to find out that almost all of these kids are 16...and in college. So needless to say, I was blown away. We spent about an hour talking to the kids as a big group and when we were done they were an hour late for lunch...and I felt horrible.

The principal of the school, my supervisor, the vice principal, Namrita (ICRISAT employee), and myself

After their lunch, I went to the girls dorms and started having focus group discussions with them. It was crazy how intelligent they were. I always feel horrible making people here speak English because it's their second language and I know absolutely NO Hindi. I know more Telugu than Hindi. The worst part is, people have tried so hard to teach me, and for some reason I can't remember any of it. I will never complain about Spanish ever again. Anyways, after the focus group discussion, I gave them some of my surveys. Afterwards, we took some pictures outside and I came back in to get my stuff, and one of the girls asked me for my autograph. I stood there for a minute, probably with my mouth hanging open, in complete shock. I was so flattered, so I wrote her a cute note and gave her my phone number and e-mail and told her if she ever needed anything, or just wanted to talk, she could contact me whenever. After that, she asked me if I knew who Kristin Stewart was and I said, "Yes! How do you know who she is?" She told me that she watches Twilight all the time because it's one of the only movies they have at the college. I've noticed that every time I go on field visits, there's always at least one moment that I have that changes my outlook on everything. Talking to her was definitely that moment. I wish I could remember her name, I can't believe I forgot, but I hope she e-mails me or something.

My adorable respondents

After that we went to the boys dorms and I interviewed and had focus group discussions with them in their dining hall. These boys were a little more shy and I didn't want to pester them with questions. At one point, I asked if everyone here was around 16 or 17 and she yes, except for one of the boys sitting in front of me, he was 18. As it turns out, after he finished 10th standard (their equivalent of high school) he started doing labor work and due to illness, couldn't work so he decided to come back to school. It's crazy the amount of obstacles people can overcome and still be so positive. His English was really really good too, we could have conversations without translators.

Overall it was an awesome day, and I've never felt more blessed.

I received awesome news this week that another Borlaug Ruan Intern, Sam Harris, is coming to Hyderabad this week! On Saturday we're going out to Hyderabad to do sight seeing so I've been thinking of things we can do so he can see Hyderabad. I think we'll go see some markets and a few other things.

This past week I have been working on my final report. It's almost like 24 pages now! I actually don't mind writing so it's going by really fast. I only have 12 days left for the rest of my internship so this is the plan for the rest of my time here: Monday-Wednesday I will be working on my report and hopefully finalizing it. On Thursday and Friday I will work on my presentation. On Monday I will give my seminar to a lot of people in the building and they will give me lots of corrections. On Tuesday and Wednesday I'll make these corrections to my paper. And at about 4:15 AM on Thursday, my plane leaves Hyderabad. It's crazy how fast everything is going by.

Surveys in Aurepalle

On Monday I went to Aurepalle to do my last day of data collecting with my survey and focus group discussion questions. Unfortunately, it was again hard to find respondents because all the youth are migrating to cities for work. The surveys that I did get to do turned into a huge event. Everyone stood around to watch. Here are some pictures of the surveys I did get to do.

 One of the respondent's mom sat in front of me and kept playing with my shoes and taking my pen, it was hysterical.

Every time I spoke, the lady in the purple would try to say exactly what I said. And every time I said "yeah" she would keep repeating it because she had never heard that word before. While in the middle of a different interview, she was trying to wipe the juice from almond fruit on me (which is bright red). I though it was funny, but her kids were getting so embarrassed.

The research field investigators who live in Aurepalle. They're so nice!

I also got to visit a school house and talk to a teacher. She gave me a lot of insight about parent support in the villages. It was interesting to get a different perspective. 

Overall, the trip wasn't as successful as I had hoped, but I did get 5 respondents with my survey. I don't know exactly how my research paper is going to written with the lack of information I got. Hopefully Dr. Nagaraj has some suggestions, but he's out of town. This week I've been working on making graphs that I can use in my final report about India as a whole. I'm excited to start working on my final report.

Last night when I was walking to dinner, it was raining, and the bats were going crazy. They literally fly right past your face. It's the scariest thing. So, spiders are no longer my biggest fear. Bats are now a much larger problem. 

So while you all are complaining about 103 degree weather, I'm dodging bats. Just kidding..not really

-Kirsten

Surveys in Dokur

This past Friday, I got lucky enough to go to Dokur and give my surveys! I loved every single second of it. The drive there was a little longer than the drive to the other village, so of course I took a nap to pass the time. Vishnu, the same guy who drove me and Lara to go sightseeing drove us. When we first got there, we met two young boys who were assistants at the ICRISAT center in Dokur and a man that would be translating for us. We walked to where a focus group discussion would be held and the other two interns I went with and I all held our focus group discussions.

After this, we walked around to different households and gave my survey while the other interns asked questions. My survey is only for people 15-24 years old, and the lack of youth in this village was evident. I only interviewed two youth and one older poultry farmer. 

Hospital room in the village

Lots of ox were being moved throughout the village

This boar literally fell in this ditch and just kept eating, I couldn't stop laughing and everyone was staring at me

The poultry farmer's survey 

After I gave the poultry farmer my survey, his sister came out and gave us all tea. Everyone said this tea was very safe. I was expecting bitter tea. I was completely wrong, it was so sweet and it was the best tea I've had since I've been here. I've been craving it since. While we were drinking the tea, she told me her son moved to New York City. I began asking her questions because she went and lived with them for 6 months last year. (Keep in mind this whole conversation is through a translator) She ran inside and brought out this scrapbook and showed me all the pictures from her trip. It was full of pictures of her husband standing in front of all these famous places like the Statue of Liberty and Times Square. My face lit up because her hospitality meant the world to me. I loved hearing about her trip and her grandson. 

Me, the translator, and the two other interns. (Sarah and Shreyash)

After this we went to a few more households, but I wasn't lucky in finding any youth to take my survey. I was beginning to get frustrated because the translator wasn't really listening and kept ignoring me, and I think it was because my age. But I just kept telling myself: If you let yourself be a pushover, you're whole trip is going to be for nothing. So I eventually got the courage to tell him that my surveys needed to find some participants. I eventually found out the assistants were in my age range and surveyed them.

This is me with the two ICRISAT assistants and this very kind woman who showed us around the village. She was so nice and I think she really liked talking to me. I still have one of my acrylic nails on that hasn't come off yet, and she was fascinated with it. She kept asking me: What's wrong with your real nails? She couldn't believe I would voluntarily glue plastic to my nails.

Right before we left, these kids walking home from school walked past the gate of where we were standing. The second I saw these kids, my heart melted. They kept peeking their heads in and I kept smiling at them.  I don't know Telagu (their village language) and so I asked Vishnu to tell them to come over and they all knew hi in English and they all wanted to shake my hand. I then asked to take a picture and then all came over and stood with me and Sarah. Then they were obsessed with the camera, it was adorable. They wanted to see what every picture looked like after I took it. (I tried to put in a video, but I don't know if it will work)

When I told them I had to leave they all started saying "bye ica!" and I had no idea what that meant, but I figured it was bye in Telagu. Vishnu told me that ica meant sister and they were all saying "bye sister!" I immediately started tearing up, I wish that I could have taken every single one of them home. This was the single most life changing moment I think I've ever had. Being with these kids resparked my passion for youth in agriculture. This area needs more attention so that kids like this can grow up and have functional bodies. It sounds pretty irrational, but it's true. Moments like these make me realized how blessed I am. I could have stayed there forever. Hands down something I will never forget. So with me crying and blowing kisses (yep, I taught 'em that) we left Dokur. 

Today is Monday and the original plan was for me to go to Aurepalle and do more surveys. When I was getting ready for work this morning, I kept throwing up. So I decided I was going to suck it up and go to work anyways because I really didn't want to miss this trip. However, when I went into work, I learned that the trip got cancelled. I decided that I needed to go to the on campus doctor. He informed me I have low blood pressure and my nausea and vomiting might be from malaria medication that I've been taking or food that I've been eating. He gave prescribed me something to take before I eat to help with digestion. I came to my room after that and decided to rest. I feel a lot better after resting today, so no worries :) Hopefully tomorrow we can go to Aurepalle. Lots of love to back home. One more month left until I'm back in the states telling you all my stories. Miss you all.

-Kirsten

Sight Seeing

So last weekend, me and Lara went sight seeing around Hyderabad.  Our drivers name was Vishnu and he was super friendly. The first place we went was Golkonda Fort. It was amazing architecture. The fort was huge and we could see all around Hyderabad from the top. Lara has recently started photography and she took all these amazing pictures. The walk to the top was torturous. There were 600 steps, I think our driver said.

The steps had this paint all over them that the women would put as they walked up and prayed. It's part of a week long celebration, but I can't remember the name.

After that we drove to this palace called Chowmahala where the nazams of India would stay. It was beautiful here. Each building had like a different museum exhibit. 

It was such a great time sight seeing. This week I have been working on making a survey that I can go out to villages and give. My research is getting so exciting!

On the way home, we had to drop Lara off at the dentist because she had an appointment. After we dropped her off, Vishnu started into this explanation of this candy that is"the best thing in the entire world" but in India it's not very good. I asked him if I had it in America, and he said yes and it's the best in America, but he didn't know the name of it in English. The name in Hindu is boomer. After a long period of charades, I finally understood he was talking about gum! I coincidentally had some in my bag and gave it to him. I honestly don't think I've seen a man so happy in my life. He loved it, and kept saying: BEST BOOMER EVER. I was belly laughing the whole way home.

Hope everyone had a safe fourth!

-Kirsten