Yesterday the director of our program explained the meaning of "Namaste" to us. He described it in a multiple of ways. One is the rejection of scientific western differentiation; the coming together of the X and the Y axis into one (and I, who have just finished a Hinduism class, immediately started thinking about atman and how everything is one). The other is about the coming together of the East and the West...they meet in the middle, neither being consumed by the other.
Last night we saw a concert of Indian fusion music. Apparently, in India violins have 5 strings (maybe they add a C on to the bottom? I couldn't tell). Also, guitars are strung like sitars, with multiple pegs going down the side of the neck, and are held horizontally on the musicians lap. Altogether, it was a really unique, amazing sound...I think some people got a video of it, so I'll try to post it at some point.
Another good quote from yesterday: "Water is not water unless it comes in a bottle."
Tonight we move into the new guesthouse...which is significantly nicer than where we're living now. Although there's nothing wrong with where we're living now...at the same time, it might be nice to have a little bit of privacy in the bathroom and to not get the entire room soaking wet when you take a shower.
I've been looking at classes I want to take...everything seems so interesting! I'm thinking about taking one in English Children's Literature, Indian Philosophy, and maybe another history course.
OK, time to do the next registration activity!
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Ooooo! English Children's Literature! So awesome...
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Desirae.
ReplyDeleteIt must be interesting to see connections between the things you've learned in Oberlin and the things you're learning in a different culture and environment... and I third Desirae on thinking the children's literature class sounds pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteI love the children's lit. class, even though I've only been to one class so far. My assignment is to write a response on "The Elephant's Child" and to read this chapter book meant for probably third graders. I also ended up taking one on women writers, and the professor happens to know Paula Richman, which is very amusing to me.
ReplyDeleteAnd the connections between things are always interesting. A couple of nights ago I was sitting talking to a group of friends, and all of a sudden I had an epiphany--I had to stop mid-sentence and borrow a pen so I could write down something to use for my capstone. Which made me laugh, since our conversation wasn't really that connected...