In all seriousness, the experiences I've had thus far with the postal system here have been frustrating and yet so amusing all in one.
First, I went to the post office a few weeks back- which is about a 10 minute walk from where I take classes, so I thought.. not bad, I'll just get a few stamps and envelopes and mail out my letters. Little did I know I would be there for about a half hour- lost in translation- with the lady at the counter. I asked for 3 stamps to the US... she gave me 4. I then tried to ask her the process in which one actually mails out letters to the US and she just waved her hands at me and became angry that I could not speak Mahrati or Hindi. Lady was real angry. She essentially thought since I looked as though I was from the state of Maharashtra, I was simply refusing to speak the language, when in fact, I can't actually speak it! Now as many of you know- I never turn red but let me just say, my ears and face were bright red and I became extremely flustered as I was trying to get my questions across in a polite way. I then was able to explain to her how I wanted to mail two letters to the US and I FINALLY realized that it takes a total of one 10rupee and one 15rupee stamp for each letter you want to mail (25rupees total). In that moment I acknowledged that if I actually wanted to send out both letters there I was going to be stuck for another half hour, again, lost in translation. So I grabbed my stamps and left. Thanks to the staff back at the program center I was able to learn the actual process in how to go about mailing things (I really think they should have a lesson on this at orientation..) annnd I was able to learn a helpful phrase that I have been using:
"Hindi, Mahrati nahi.. Telugu ati hai" <- This means, I don't speak Hindi or Mahrati but I can speak Telugu, which is the language that is spoken in the state of India I was born in- Andhra Pradesh. The program staff told me that when I say this phrase they will know that this is the only reason why I speak English to them, so they won't feel the need to think as though I'm deliberately not speaking Mahrati. So yes, the language barrier is still pretty challenging here despite many knowing English. Most of the people I have encountered- such as restaurant workers, street vendors, rickshaw drivers don't really know English quite well so it's super helpful to pick up on certain Hindi and Mahrati phrases... working on it!
And then today, after an awesome day of just hanging out at a local coffee shop with some friends doing homework, I headed home after feeling productive. By the way, I had the greatest hazlenut cappuccino thanks to the suggestion of Megan ;) & it made me miss the dav SO much. Anyway, on the way home, I got a phone call from a man who claimed to have a package for me. He continued to speak in Hindi for about 5 minutes until I was finally able to get across to him that I could not speak the language. After mumbling something he hung up. I called him back and he magically began speaking Telugu... a language I actually know! He told me he would drop it off for me at my house. All packages sent to Alliance students go straight to the program center... so when he said house, I got confused. I proceeded to go to the program center and ask the guard if a parcel was dropped off. Here, again, no English so I had to stick to hand gestures and simplified words. No package. I then called back the same man who called me and weirdly enough, it was a different man, who just kept saying house, over and over. So again, frustrated, I decided to walk back towards my apartment and forget the whole thing. On the way, I got yet another call and as I passed by a man on a scooter, I realized it was him that was calling me! He pointed to me and with the little english he knew, he told me to get on the back of his scooter and he'd take me to my package.
At this point, I was real confused. But I got on the back of the two wheeler and once I did, it dawned on me-- what if this isn't the mailman?? I mean, he didn't look like it at all, he looked like any other regular man would. But in fact, it was him! He took me to my apartment and he clarified that yes, my package was dropped off at the architect's office who works next door to my apartment. After saying many thank yous, I picked up my package and brought it inside.
What was it? A dasara (an Indian holiday that is coming in about 2 weeks) gift from my wonderful parents of sweets, drinks, and roses :)
Productivity and presents. Good day? I think so.
<3 Sai
First, I went to the post office a few weeks back- which is about a 10 minute walk from where I take classes, so I thought.. not bad, I'll just get a few stamps and envelopes and mail out my letters. Little did I know I would be there for about a half hour- lost in translation- with the lady at the counter. I asked for 3 stamps to the US... she gave me 4. I then tried to ask her the process in which one actually mails out letters to the US and she just waved her hands at me and became angry that I could not speak Mahrati or Hindi. Lady was real angry. She essentially thought since I looked as though I was from the state of Maharashtra, I was simply refusing to speak the language, when in fact, I can't actually speak it! Now as many of you know- I never turn red but let me just say, my ears and face were bright red and I became extremely flustered as I was trying to get my questions across in a polite way. I then was able to explain to her how I wanted to mail two letters to the US and I FINALLY realized that it takes a total of one 10rupee and one 15rupee stamp for each letter you want to mail (25rupees total). In that moment I acknowledged that if I actually wanted to send out both letters there I was going to be stuck for another half hour, again, lost in translation. So I grabbed my stamps and left. Thanks to the staff back at the program center I was able to learn the actual process in how to go about mailing things (I really think they should have a lesson on this at orientation..) annnd I was able to learn a helpful phrase that I have been using:
"Hindi, Mahrati nahi.. Telugu ati hai" <- This means, I don't speak Hindi or Mahrati but I can speak Telugu, which is the language that is spoken in the state of India I was born in- Andhra Pradesh. The program staff told me that when I say this phrase they will know that this is the only reason why I speak English to them, so they won't feel the need to think as though I'm deliberately not speaking Mahrati. So yes, the language barrier is still pretty challenging here despite many knowing English. Most of the people I have encountered- such as restaurant workers, street vendors, rickshaw drivers don't really know English quite well so it's super helpful to pick up on certain Hindi and Mahrati phrases... working on it!
And then today, after an awesome day of just hanging out at a local coffee shop with some friends doing homework, I headed home after feeling productive. By the way, I had the greatest hazlenut cappuccino thanks to the suggestion of Megan ;) & it made me miss the dav SO much. Anyway, on the way home, I got a phone call from a man who claimed to have a package for me. He continued to speak in Hindi for about 5 minutes until I was finally able to get across to him that I could not speak the language. After mumbling something he hung up. I called him back and he magically began speaking Telugu... a language I actually know! He told me he would drop it off for me at my house. All packages sent to Alliance students go straight to the program center... so when he said house, I got confused. I proceeded to go to the program center and ask the guard if a parcel was dropped off. Here, again, no English so I had to stick to hand gestures and simplified words. No package. I then called back the same man who called me and weirdly enough, it was a different man, who just kept saying house, over and over. So again, frustrated, I decided to walk back towards my apartment and forget the whole thing. On the way, I got yet another call and as I passed by a man on a scooter, I realized it was him that was calling me! He pointed to me and with the little english he knew, he told me to get on the back of his scooter and he'd take me to my package.
At this point, I was real confused. But I got on the back of the two wheeler and once I did, it dawned on me-- what if this isn't the mailman?? I mean, he didn't look like it at all, he looked like any other regular man would. But in fact, it was him! He took me to my apartment and he clarified that yes, my package was dropped off at the architect's office who works next door to my apartment. After saying many thank yous, I picked up my package and brought it inside.
What was it? A dasara (an Indian holiday that is coming in about 2 weeks) gift from my wonderful parents of sweets, drinks, and roses :)
Productivity and presents. Good day? I think so.
<3 Sai
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