Mini-Blog from a Hindi student

Wednesday, November 18, 2015. I am settling in. By the end of classes on Monday I was ready to chuck Hindi and head for home, but I had a great conversation session Tuesday morning with Anshu and I decided to stay. Hindi is intense. I don’t have time for anything else. On Monday and Wednesday I have three hours of classes and on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday I have four and a half hours. Then there is homework. I am using an irritating app to learn vocabulary. It helps. I have done hardly anything touristy. On Diwali morning I walked over to the Ramakrishna Mission Ashram and sat in the temple for a while. That was good for me, but not very touristy. I keep thinking I will go somewhere after class, but I am always tired and come home and nap and study. Hindi class is fun. The teachers are good and the fellow students are great and we laugh a lot. I work up at 4:30 Tuesday morning and realized it was Sanskrit class time in Los Angeles, so I called my teacher, Brother William, up on Facetime and had a little session. With both Hindi and Sanskrit, learning languages is my favorite thing to do these days. I had a great meal for dinner last night. The restaurant I go to gives some of its dishes fancy names and I didn’t write this down, but it is mixed vegetables and paneer (the Indian fresh cheese) in a spicy sauce. I had it with rotis (called chapattis in some parts of India) and was very happy. It is almost 7 AM when the hot water (well quite warm water) comes on and I can shower and do a little wash and then go have breakfast. My class doesn’t start until 11 but I will study at the school.Iif I don’t get on the Metro early, it is impossible. Very crowded cars and pushing when you get on and off. It’s the pushing I hate. The news from Robert’s brother is confusing. Sometimes he seems a little better and then he is a little worse. In general, he is staying about the same. It looks like I might finish the course in December before Robert gets here. OK. Time to get under the shower.