So much to say, so little time to write

We are back in Santiniketan from our Kolkata trip.  It was great to be able to see Ed before he left for the states.  For those who don't know, Ed is another Fulbright person lecturing in literature in Kolkata, and all over the place also.  I believe he is in the air as I write on his way back to the US. (Not true now, since we lost power, so it took two days to write this.)

While in Kolkata, I also met with USIEF staff about a day-long workshop I've been asked to run for selected high-school students on April 23rd.  This will be the 6th (I think) of these events where Fulbright folks present a discipline and create an environment where the students practice with the scholar's supervision.  It is to culminate with a presentation (in this case an exhibit) of the students' work, which is then judged by some invited luminary for prizes.

Obviously, I've never done anything like this, so I'm a bit uneasy about the whole thing.  I find myself even more so after describing the day I planned and being told that, it's time for the more-conservative - both at USIEF and in Kolkata high schools - to be exposed to all that American free-wheeling stuff.  Okay, that's not exactly what they said, but I got the feeling I was 'pushing the envelope'.  No matter how much I asked for guidance to make it more what they would expect from an Indian workshop, no one would help me re-design it.  Instead, I kept hearing that it was time to try something like this.

Even hear of the impostor syndrome? 

In truth, being in Kolkata was unnerving. Seeing Ed and others from Udaipur was great.  The workshop will okay.  But, our time there reminded me that I really can't get around, travel, really do much on my own without making endless mistakes.  The rest of the time in the city, I was constantly lost, over payed for everything, and eventually felt helpless and grabbed a cab so I can hide in my room (with C, of course).  I found myself yelling (in English) at a lot of men who were simply trying to do their jobs, jobs that involved following me around trying to sell me things.

It can't have been easy for C, as she depends on me to, if not know what I'm doing, at least function.  After my first real panic call to Steve and a few leaked tears, C and I shared a few 5-Star bars (our current favorite packaged sweet) and the crisis passed.  With C's encouragement (Who's the parent and who's the kid?) we ventured down in search of dinner.  We wandered only a block, selected an overly-fancy-looking resteraunt and had a very nice meal.

The next morning, we made it to the train station and onto the train with less than a dozen people to assist us (people who stopped to help, not folks who work for the rail).  Thanks to two women who hollered to me to get off the train, we didn't miss our destination either.

Fear not for our future here.  We are both fine.  Some days are just tougher than others.

And having a stash of 5-Star bars helps*.

In the never-ending saga of our living arangements, my attempting to start to prepare to begin to move into our rooms is progressing at the same rate as everything else.  To pass the time, we're enjoying the nice cold water from the fridge here. (Our place doesn't have one (and I'm not sure I'll figure out how to get one, so we're happily hydrating.)

Finally, today (Thursday) saw a great accomplishment: I got my Rabinda Bhavana Library reader's card, complete with my picture on it!

And, with that, I'll end and refill my water.

As the title says, "so much to say, so little time to write."

* After posting this, I thought I'd put  a link to our 5-Star comfort food. Turns out it is an 'energy bar' (got that description for an article about them) made by Cadbury. Note: read the Cadbury link at your own risk. I'm less enamored of the candies after seeing their press.