Clothes Shopping in Veerapandi

Here are some pictures from our trip to the little textiles shop in town. Veerapandi is the town where the college is located just outside the city of Coimbatore. I was looking for material to make myself a couple skirts. It was a little overwhelming even if it was a small store. There were just stacks and stacks of beautiful silk fabric, and the salespeople kept pulling out more and more for me to see. The manager kept telling them to show me light colors, I guess because my skin is light. A saree is the stereotypical Indian ladies dress, you can see the saleslady in the pictures is wearing one. It's just a long piece of material wrapped around in a certain way to make a dress. They are actually really pretty, I think, and you don't have to worry about finding the right size. I finally decided on three. Each one is about six yards of fabric, and we paid about $10 for each. That's an amazing price, you wouldn't be able to get it for less than $10 per yard in the States. I love fabric!

Looking out across the street from the shop doorway.

The three I picked. The one on the left is my favorite!

The Honorable Bovine

Cows are very revered, and considered sacred by the Hindus here. It's very common to see them just along the side of the road here, or hooked up to a cart. The very high castes will not even eat milk or milk products. It's difficult to find beef for sale here, you have to know where to get it. Butter and clarified butter (ghee) are more readily available.  The milk here is usually watered down to make it more economical, and affordable.

The excrement from the cow is also considered holy, as gross as that may seem. They mix it with either yellow or green coloring, and spread it on their doorsteps. I'm not really sure exactly what this is supposed to accomplish, but it's connected to religious superstition somehow.

In case you were worrying about me developing a protein deficiency, I reassure you that we eat plenty of dead cows and chickens. Our hosts here feed us very well.

Looking pretty regal

Going Shopping

Hey everyone! I can't believe we've only been here for a week and a half. So many new experiences! I can't decide what to post about first. :) I think I'll start with a few of the interesting things we've seen while out shopping. The Friday and Saturday after we got here we got to go to a few stores. Shopping here is a little overwhelming, especially when everything is swirling because of jet lag. We are starting to get the hang of making a mental currency exchange every time we look at an item's price tag. For the most part, things are cheaper here. Most people here are Hindu and strictly vegetarian, so it is hard to find meat for sale. Especially beef because cows are particularly sacred. But if you need bananas, rice, or curry seasonings, no problem.

The results of our first trip to the grocery store, notice the "pupped rice" lol

Anybody care for a banana? The itty bitty ones in the first picture are the best, very sweet.

You know, I've really been craving a good eel. lol

Mom, I was gonna bring him back just for you, but he didn't fit in the suitcase ;)

This is the poultry market.