Acceptance

This morning during logic class I got two missed calls from a UCSC number. After my class was over, i checked my voicemail and heard it was the EAP office telling me that my official acceptance letter was in, and i should come by and pick it up. After meeting up with my friend Adam, who also had business with EAP, we biked to the EAP office, where i told them my name, which was responded to by laughter. They told me that they had liked my answering machine, an adaptation of George's from Seinfeld. Officially accepted into Delhi University. Sweet

Plans

Just a quick heads up about my general plans. I will be staying in New Delhi for the entire 6 months. After arriving in Delhi on June 20th, I will stay there for a week, and then I go up to Mussoorie for three weeks, which is in the foothills of the Himalayas. We're doing this to get out of the heat of Delhi, and to do ILP (Intensive Language Program). Then, after 3 weeks, we go back to Delhi for school.

I'm planning on traveling every weekend, and seeing as much of India as possible. As a result, I've created a map which I will update whenever i go somewhere new. Let me know if the link doesn't work, or my map isn't available.

The Only Guy in Town

It seems to be becoming a tradition of mine to blog during my Monday 5pm-10pm class block, which i'm ok with, seeing as it gives me some sort of a break other than the 15 minute walk from lecture to lecture. The only way i can describe my past weekend was "solid". It began on Thursday, where my friends Austin and Justin, along with a leader of the Rereation Office Matt Brower, and I all hit the racquetball courts to test our respective skills against one another. A couple of weeks ago I was feeling confident in my game, I was playing pretty good, and beat my usual racquetball equal Austin thrice in a row. The unavoidable feeling of hubris that ensued lifted me up a notch higher in my confidence, only to drop me from farther up when, with repeated self-caused points against me, I lost badly to Austin, Justin, and Matt. Well, i never really had a chance with Matt, seeing as he's been playing the game for 30+ years, and my loss to Austin was incumbent after i had beaten him the previous week, but what really threw me for a loop was my game with Justin, wherein I repeatedly gave him points that were easily avoidable. Alright, enough about racquetball, on to Friday.

After waking up at the crack of 12 pm on Friday, Jordan and I utilized our mad biking skills and biked downtown to run a few errands. Jordan picked up some art supplies for some unknown and secretive reason, while I bought myself a copy of the Ramayana, the great Indian Epic, on which i'm doing a research paper. After eating at the local Jewish/Italian eatery and buying myself a stick-o-sopresetta, we biked back to campus and made some dinner. At night Jordan, Shoshie, Austin, Max, a few other friends and I went to the on-campus production of Hair, a musical about the 60's. Mostly devoid of plot and character development, the play focused on the group dynamics of a bunch of hippies, one of which was drafted for Veitnam. That was the plot, however the entertaining aspect of the play was that it featured loads and loads of absolute nudity. Why? I don't know. However, singing, dancing, hippies, and nudity make an entertaining 2 1/2 hours.

Saturday Jordan and I again biked down from campus, however this time we biked to Capitola (round trip about 7 miles), in search of a man named Carlos, who lives in a trailer park. Why were we trailer-spelunking? On the final leg of my Spring Break trip to the Grand Canyon, we stopped at the Kelso Sand Dunes, to which i stupidly brought my camera. badda-bing badda-boom, my camera has sand all over it, along with inside it. This, as you can imagine, impeded the functionality of my camera, which then had trouble opening and closing. After putting off fixing my camera for this entire quarter, on Friday I called all around Santa Cruz looking for someone who could repair my camera. I finally found out that the only person within 50 miles who repairs cameras, is this guy Carlos, who lives in Capitola in a trailer. So after calling him and making an appointment, Jordan and I biked over to meet him. He lives in a place called Trailer Haven, and his trailer was surprisingly professional. Carlos was super nice and really knew his stuff about cameras, and he's supposed to give me an estimate by tomorrow. So if you're in the Santa Cruz area and ever need a camera repaired, call Carlos! (831) 325-6426. After our meeting with Carlos, Jordan and I biked past this little mexican market, where I ended up buying some really fresh bread, and carne asada meat for Tacos.

This past year i've been a TA for Sunday School at Temple Beth El in Aptos. This past Sunday my last day with my class of rowdy 3rd grade boys, and we had an ice cream party, which was AWESOME. I'm not sure if the kids know it (I sure didn't when i was a kid), but the teachers love recess, movie day, and a good old fashioned ice cream party as much as the children. So i was stoked. After a bunch of ice cream, and convincing the children to sit quietly by showing them Star Trek: The Return of Spok, the kids exploded in a fireball of energy just in time for our all-temple meeting/final goodbye. To conclude the ceremony, a guitar-laden rabbi was brought up to sing the concluding song, which I assumed would be in Hebrew. Wrong. The concluding song was "wherever you go, there's always someone Jewish", the song popularized by Adam Sandler. Not sure how to feel about that one.

When I got back home, I worked for two hours on editing the videos of my Dad telling stories into a movie. However, iMovie unexpectedly quit, deleting ALL of my progress. Luckily I was able to re-do my work in half the time later that night, so my loss wasn't irrevocably painful. It's been so fun watching my dad tell all of his stories again, and getting to name them, and edit them together into a comprehensive and accessible movie. Oh and i made Carne Asada Tacos for dinner. mmmmmmmm.

Mothers Day

Once again I'm writing to you from my ESLP Sustainable living class, which, being three hours long, is almost impossible to stay intently focused for the entire time. Right now the speakers are taking questions, so there's time for me to write. Today's class was about Fair Trade and Coffee, and we had a woman from Nicaragua who lives in a coffee Co-Op lecture in spanish at us (there was a student translator). Next we had an environment studies professor lecture about fair trade vs. free trade. He talked about the pros and cons of fair trade in comparison to free trade. Fair trade is about 'voting with your dollar' - participating in a market that favors companies and businesses that are sustainable, organic, and mutually beneficial for producer and consumer. Fair trade reduces contact with 'the middleman', so that there aren't many businesses between the producer and the consume. A problem, however, is that in order to get the certification for 'organic' or 'fair trade', there are a set of rigorous criteria that need to be met, which not all producers/farmers are able to meet. Also, because of climate change, the specific climate zone that coffee grows in is getting higher in elevation by 3-4 meters a YEAR, so that, depending on how much high ground is available, many countries won't be able to produce coffee anymore in a few years.

Anyway, this past weekend I planned to surprise my Mom in LA for Mothers Day, drive down on Friday and stay the weekend. I was going to drive alone at first, but then Jose, my housemate, hear about my plan and asked to tag along. Then I saw my good friend Jon, who apparently had been frantically searching for a way to get down to Whittier (near LA) to surprise his mom. So naturally Jon came aboard, and my RA and friend Matt (who heard about our trip form Jon), asked to come. Suddenly, my trip grew from just me, to a full car of my friends. Friday, and 11 am, all 4 of us piled into the love bus (my mini-van), and headed south. I've driven down to LA many times from Santa Cruz, and this group of guys was one of the best i've driven with - we all got along really well and had a great time, despite being in an enclosed space with me for an extended period of time. Jon was particularly excited to get a solid 'dose of Ben', which i'm sure he got by the end of the ride back to Santa Cruz. On the ride down to LA, we stopped in Santa Barbara to eat and see my friend Rachel, who i'm going to India with. At about 630ish, we arrived at my house in LA, where Jon and Jose were to be picked up (Matt had been dropped off earlier). Jon's step-dad grew up near where i live, so he brought Jon's mom, and his brothers up to Cheviot hills to meet 'an old friend of his', who coincidentally had the same address as me.

When they pulled up to my house, and Jon walked up to the car, his mom shrieked and jumped out of the car and hugged him -it was great to see his mom so happy and surprised with Jon's presence. Jose got picked up later, and then I was off to services where my Mom was helping out. After meeting with my Dad at Temple Emmanuel, he went over to my Mom and told her that she needed to talk to someone right now, and that it was urgent. She walked out the door of the sanctuary, looked at me, kept walking, and then realized who she saw. Unfortunately we were still in plain sight of some of the congregation involved in services, and the ensuing scene of hugging and motherly love might have been a bit distracting. I was brought into services, where, to everyone she knew (which is everyone), she pantomimed how i (her youngest son) came down from College in Santa Cruz, to surprise her for Mothers Day. When I asked her later if that might have been disruptive, she answered, "well, i'm the Rabbi, i'm allowed". Good point, Mom.

The rest of the weekend was wonderful, seeing Darrow's (my roommate from last year) family, and hanging out with my Brother, Dad and Mom. I had this idea a couple of weeks ago, I was thinking of all the various stories i've grown up with - stories of the incredible life my Dad has led. I thought, "man, he has so many stories, all of them great, how am i going to remember all of them to tell to my friends and future children?". So i thought that he should write down all the stories, but then i realized that it would be easier, and better if we videotaped him telling the stories, so that the viewer could not only get the content of the story, but see and hear the story being told in its original form, by my Poppa. So I borrowed Lisa Greer's (Darrow's mom) flip video camera, and we set to work filming. So far, just from this weekend, I have about 90 minutes of film, which, edited down, is probably about 70 minutes. Not only do i have that much content, but there are more stories to come! When i finish editing the stories together into a comprehensive video, i'll post it on youtube or something, and put the link on my facebook page on and this blog if you're interested in hearing some great stories.

Other than than, I got some new shoes/sandals for India, which have neoprene inside (the stuff wetsuits are made out of), and an anti-microbial BUILT INTO the padding, so any crazy germs or bacteria i pick up while running around Delhi will be mostly neutralized by my sandals...pretty sweet. Also got a new rain-jacket which got me all excited for monsoon season in India.
That's about it for today - ive still got a month and a half until i go to India.

ESLP

Right now I'm sitting in my Sustainable living class, learning about how the world is hydro-illiterate, and how of the 1% of the water in the world is drinkable, and how in the past 110 years, we've polluted half of that. Sustainable living class (ESLP) is really scary because the case for the upcoming apocalypse keeps being made stronger and stronger, while making me feel increasingly guilty that i'm not doing enough to help save the planet. However it also gives me many many tools and resources to let me choose my way to subvert the dominant system.

But enough about that, i'm currently dividing my attention between two things, living my life in Santa Cruz, and daydreaming about my future in India. What sandals am i going to get to best suit India? Rainbow's aren't secure enough, Sanuks will get and stay wet during the monsoon season (which is when i will be in India), Crocks are just weird, and i've never worn Tevas or Chacos. Will i want a sandal with a tall sole so i can rise above the grit and grime of Delhi streets, or will I want something light and easy? All this thought devoted just to the idea of what sandals i will be wearing.

Since my pre-orientation meeting this past saturday, talking with returnees and meeting the people i will be going to Delhi with, my mind has been lost in the east with menial questions like my sandal craziness, and imagining myself adapting (or not) to the new culture. I was given a free Lonely Planet guidebook by this girl Roxy, a Delhi returnee who i met at the pre-orientation meeting. This book is incredible! It has premade itineraries for your various purposes, it has a COMPLETE list of all cities and towns in India, holy sites in the area, brief history of the area, hotels (from cheap to expensive), adventure outings, and places to eat. I've been slowly studying the book, and learning what i can from its wise pages.

I spent my premodern india class today creating a to-do/to-get list, figuring out the exchange rate of dollars to rupees, the conversion of Celsius to Fahrenheit, miles to kilometers, and writing them down in my notebook under the heading "General India info". I've also been going through Roxy and Jordan's blog, two students who just got back from india last quarter on the exact same program. I've read almost their entire blog within the past 5 hours.

In short, I'm going (more) crazy. I can't explain to you how excited i am to embark on my adventure, and follow in the footsteps of all those who have gone to india before, and been changed in a thousand different ways.

Too bad I don't leave for another month and a half. For now, i'll resign myself to enjoying the present moment, and soaking up as much of Santa Cruz living so that i have a good supply of memories when i'm away from it for 6 months.

I'm hoping to keep this blog throughout my time in India, both for conservation of my memories, and for sharing with you. I might start using flikr, to help show the inevitable slew of photos that i will take. We'll see.