by aaron

I hope noone was hoping to read the blog for June 1st last night and was disappointed. I had barely any sleep since I got here but last night, I passed out when we arrived back at the hotel. So now I feel very energized to keep going on! I also wanted to make two correctiond concerning the last blog.... Surij's name is really Sujit and the deaf school is located in Bandra, not Bandar. Still not used to all the Indian names and spellings.

Yesterday we paid a visit to the NIHH which is the deaf school I mentioned beforehand to interact with the ISL students so we could see how they signed ISL which is remarkably not too difficult to comprehend if one uses ASL. There were approximately twenty students so we broke up into two groups with ten Indians and five delegates so they were free to ask us any questions about ourselves and America. It was really good because we learned about each other quite a bit like they assumed all of us delegates grew up together in the same school and town. They didn't realize we came from all over the USA and they were impressed that we all were attending college to obtain our degrees. They told us a bit about themselves like their castes, religion, friends, life as a Deaf Indian. Greg and I were exchanging ASL/ISL jokes with two fellows and that was pretty cool cuz we understood one another, and the jokes were similar anyhow. Those students were the only group using ISL in the whole school because ISL was recently established there in 2001 as an alternative to oralism which is the dominant method there. The students said that they were all instructed in the oral method but hated it so they switched to ISL, the natural language of all Deaf like American deaf because verbal communication is not easy for us. That is one universal theme that we all share. Also those students were mixed ages and some attended college, other high school and were finished with school-they came to NIHH to practice their ISL with three deaf ISL teachers.

After that we walked through the area searching for a good place to eat and found one. It was sooo hot yesterday compared to the previous three days so it even nice to be able to sit in a secluded AC room within the restaurant. Mia, Anne, Raj, Anthony and I were at one table so we ordered various food such as panner palak (creamed spinach), chicken masala and other dishes. I decided to go ahead and eat with my hand by tearing a piece of bread and soaking it up with the food and eating it. Indian culture emphasizes eating and shaking ONLY with the right hand since the left is used for toilet business.

Later on, we went to the Helen Keller Institute, a place that provides vocational training for the deaf-blind. We walked to the top floor into a small classroom with a short lady dressed in a colorful dress... chola I think its called and about 10 students, all male except one girl. They met there after school to practice reading and writing English since that would give them more opportunities if they had that advantage within India. They were surprised when all of us delegates walked in because we were foreigners, all of us were white which all Indians are fascinated with. Mia and Anne were different-with Mia, they thought she was Indian due to her complexion which she thought funny. Anne was another story....the guys asked me or other male delegates what her story was and how she came to America. I laughed and told them to go talk to her themselves. They were laughing and said no! Indians don't really hang out or really talk to the opposite sex except for family and close friends. I asked them if they could, would they walk down the street with a lady friend instead of their male friends. Again they laughed like it was a far-fetched thing to ask. That was interesting because Indian society is segregated based on sex....train boxcars for men and women, temple lines for men and women, men sit together and women together except for families. I would love to tell more but I gotta go to a meeting now to discuss the day! Till then...