Things are relatively calm now. I'm back to work on computer programming, which is what I'll spend the majority of the next few weeks doing. Although I'm also going to make time to do a little sight-seeing. In fact, I'm going to go to the planetarium this afternoon for an english showing. I'm not quite sure what to expect - hopefully something cosmic!
I also had my first incredibly sexist experience last night. I went out for dinner and drinks with Dan, Anjali (who's apartment our office is in), Deepak (my "assistant"), and Sudhansu (one of the survey monitors from our project). We went to a place called The Cave. We sat down and were about to order when the manager came to our table and asked us to leave because there were women in our group. I supposed we could've put up a fight, but it didn't seem worth it. Too bad, because it looked like a cool place. You know, it doesn't really me angry for myself nearly as much as it does for the Indian women who deal with this stuff every day. I mean, I can always go home to a place where I'm treated equitably, but these women don't know any different. Sudhansu mentioned that it wasn't really that big of a deal because most Indian women wouldn't want to go to a place like that anyway because people get drunk there. That just doesn't seem like a good enough reason to think it's ok. I can't say I'm particularly surprised, just saddened I guess, to feel first hand how it feels to be looked down upon because of my gender. The experience actually makes me feel very lucky because it was really the first time I'd felt like that - something most women in the world aren't able to say.
I'll be sure to have them kick you out of a few bars in durham to ease the culture readjustment when you get back :)
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