I see a mansard roof through the trees

(A snowy Holland on my flight out)

3 things I've done since last week:

1. I have been reunited with my luggage. After a week of phoning BA, the Triveni office (Triveni is the umbrella term for CAS and Community Interactions here) sorted out the delivery of it. I was whisked off into a jeep and driven down the hill to the bus station in Paud, where an Indian guy (who was in no apparent way associated with BA) came around the corner lugging my bag wrapped in two layers of plastic. Euphoric about the arrival of my luggage, I set about unpacking immediatly, and it became apparent that my cupboard was too small. A long clean-up and reorganisation on Saturday later, and I had managed to fit everything in. Since then, I have been enjoying using my very own cooking implements (utilised for a girlie dinner that very night) and not having to deal with BA customer services anymore (I lost my luggage twice in a row now).

2. I saw a Kathakali performance on Thursday. This traditional dance involves several Indian men, who make their faces up in incredible colours (all made with natural dyes) to resemble masks. They also pull themselves into massive, brightly-coloured, almost Victorian (but livelier) costumes, and proceed to 'dance' using hand and leg actions (all of which symbolise something).

(a short break and some attempted mosquito murder later)

The performance the group did for us on campus was an altered version of Julius Caesar. Initially it was interesting to watch them communicate/dance in their absurd, expressive costumes (they even dye their eye whites red for performances) and to listen to the odd, tribal-esque music (which was live and had haunting, chanting vocals), but after two hours (it ended up lasting three) I felt I had seen enough. I think if I had understood the symbolisms each movement conveyed, it may have been more fascinating, but a two hour watch just about filled my culture quota for that day.

3. Rosie's Adventurous Life Change: One of my second years (Year 13s) decided to live on the edge/go on adventures more frequently. Having volunteered to participate, a whole bunch of us instigated a bonfire in one of the wadas on Friday night, complete with literal stokbrood (bread dough on a stick that one bakes on the fire) and live guitar music. Our most recent 'adventure' was a picnic on Sunday, which consisted of three of us + a quiche (I finally made one here!) + salad and parathas (Indian savoury pancakes) + grapes + sunshine + ants. Lovely.

ps. Having forgotten to upload a stack of pictures from my camera until now (going as far back as November), I'll be posting them up intermittedly with anecdotes on the context of them. Some of them are pretty cultural, so keep checking :)