"We're like that old lady with the fish"

Friday was a fairly typical example of what it’s like to go into the town of Pondicherry, which is about 30-40 minutes from the university by local bus. Liz and I each had a package to mail back to the US (mine was 18 pounds), so we waited for the bus at the bus stop, which is across the street from the gate of Pondicherry University. When the bus arrived, we tried to push past people as they were pushing past us to get onto the bus, lugging our boxes with us. I was terrified the bus would leave w/out us both on it, but we made it!

Once we were on the bus, we stood in uncomfortable positions – we were thankfully standing against the wall rather than just in the aisles. I had my back to the windows/wall, and the boxes were also behind me. Liz was next to me, and we were fairly squished. I tried to stay a bit back from the woman in front of me (her arm was about 6-8 inches from my face and she had some kind of skin rash) so I ended up squatting sideways? Liz befriended this adorable Tamil boy who was around two or so, he kept waving at us then his mom made him touch her face, stand near her, etc. so that was cute. Another child, an older girl, got on the bus and said hi to me - I responded, “Vannakam!” (hello or welcome in Tamil).

We got to the bus stop and yelled to make sure the attendant would stop long enough for us to bring our boxes down. Then, we took an auto to the international courier service, shipped our boxes, and stumbled to Café Coffee Day (similar to Starbucks, nice but a little overpriced, but so good) where we shared dessert, drank coffee, and studied some for finals, which are next week. Then we checked out a handmade paper factory (cool stationary!) and walked back to the bus stop, where we actually had seats on the bus ride back (always nice) and then got back to our hostel, where I rested for two hours before heading out with some French and Indian friends to “make party” as Marie would say!

Note: the title is something Liz said after we got off the bus, and I agree. Sometimes there are women on the bus with big metal buckets full of fish to sell on the street or at the market…and that’s how we felt on the bus. Hot, sweaty, crowded, but we did it! (And we made some new cute lil’ friends in the process)