Photobook

UPDATE: YOUTUBE AND PANDORA DO NOT WORK IN PAKISTAN.

phew that's done

This post is about pictures. I already posted my official weekly report post, so if you'd like to read and comment on that, just scroll down a bit to my last post. 

I feel like I should upload some pictures on here, just to fully display Pakistan. So here's this short little photo book. For the full experience, I recommend going to YouTube (Oh how I miss you) and typing in 'La Noyee' by Yann Tiersen before you go through the photos. 

k

got the music

cool

Overhead of Dubai at night

Overhead of Pakistan at night 

This family lives in a one room mud house with no windows.
They own a chicken with chicks and a goat. 

These children come into my grandmother's farmhouse just to stand by the door.
They look at us from afar and all I can do is smile back at them
 and hope they're all doing fine. 

All the children from the village gather around my grandmother to get a share of the rice my aunt made for lunch.

Taken 4

There's just something about the alley ways here.
 Gutter-like things run on each side and motorcycles parked every which way
and doors that are always open for neighbors
 and literally anybody.

Look at how cool view is from the roof

And me.

More pictures next time!

IN A WORLD CALLED PAKISTAN (2)

Week 2 and
I've seen a lot of things
I've heard a lot of things
I've tasted a lot of things

So first I'll start with the nitty gritty workload. I have a lot of it. Everyday at 11, I go on a thirty minute drive that goes something like this:

That's right. I'm sitting on a motorcycle. Did you know that in Pakistan (and other countries like Pakistan, I'm sure), most of the women that sit behind the motorcycle driver actually sit side saddle format, like this:

It's super fun riding like this at 80mph. 

So getting to work is a charm. I'm not being sarcastic. It's literally so much fun. The roads are all jagged and bumpy that it feels like a Six-Flags roller-coaster.

But doing the work is a bit hectic. My adviser gathers two of his students every day, three or four times a week, both of whom come from different regions of Pakistan, and I am given the faculty room for a one-on-one. It takes about an hour for each interview, and usually I end up with usable and satisfactory information. I'll tell you the truth, it is extremely difficult to get exactly what you want from the interviewee. It gets tough to convey what you want answered, and how. The first day, all my interviews beat around the bush and never directly answered my question. I suppose it was on me to have asked better questions; but all is well now.

Then I got sick. Like horribly, badly, maliciously sick. And I still am now. It's an adjustment thing, ya know? America is a lot cleaner than Pakistan is, so my body was bound to succumb. But this adjustment sickness is really eating at me. Sometimes I can't move or even speak because every part of my body hurts so bad. I get a fluctuating fever and stomach aches and headaches and I really just want it to stop.

Oh I should let you know that I travel a lot (effective transition). The university I'm gathering my research in is in Lahore, and every weekend I travel either by train or one very dreadful, claustrophobic van to Narowal (where all my aunts and uncles and cousins live). So it's a constant trip every week.

I just want to stress the pain I felt yesterday. This is what four hours in a claustrophobic van looks like:

So anywho, I'm going back to bed because my stomach is beginning to hurt again. OH I forgot, I wrote my first short folktale story a few days ago!! I'm so excited because everything is starting to take shape (or at least, kind of).

Till next time

(PS, if the videos don't show, please let me know)

IN A WORLD CALLED PAKISTAN

From Pakistan (1)

This week, I’ve been travelling. For a good three days, I have been in and out of airplanes, trains, and cars, trying to get to my final destination: a small Punjabi town near the border of India called Narowal. Just so you know, I’ve gotten only five hours’ worth of sleep in these past three days, so you are allowed to imagine me as a red, droopy-eyed, sleep deprived maniac sitting in front of a laptop, internally banging her head over the crap internet connection.

Anyways, I’m here now. In Narowal, I mean. So let me explain a little bit of everything that’s going on:

       

     1. Mosquitos. I don’t think anyone has experienced the wrath of mosquitos more than I have today. Mind you, I sprayed my Mosquito repellent a good three times all over my body, I have repellent stuck on every electrical socket in my room, I am covered head to freaking toe in clothing…

                              …and I’m still getting bit.

      2. Roads. Imagine an ongoing road, and oncoming road, and a sidewalk all mixed together to form one road that isn’t even a road because it’s just dirt with rocks. Also, the driving here is a little more than atrocious. Seriously though, I have undergone what I call are “faux car showdowns”--when there’s a car coming towards us, and it almost feels as if we’re challenging each other to crash head on, but then an inch before the cars touch, both turn quickly and avoid a potential disaster.

      3. Dogs. So the CDC recommended rabies shots before travelling to Pakistan. Of course, before I came here I thought “Meh, rabies. I mean, how many rabid dogs can there really be over there?” (that was my reasoning to avoid paying $900)

32

I saw 32 rapid dogs on my way from Lahore (the city I landed in) to Narowal.

3freaking2

They were limping all over the place. I saw a few dead ones in towns I passed by and internally screamed. The funny thing was, nobody even noticed them. One particular dog that I saw had a mangled front leg. It was panting and limping and its distorted leg had these red warts on it. It was walking across the street we were driving on, and I don’t think one person, out of all the people walking around, noticed its presence.

This freaked me out to say the least. Every time I counted another dog, my heart fluttered in anguish a little more. I honestly did not expect to see wild dogs just walking around populated villages. 

I should have gotten those shots.

Ohmygod I can’t believe I saw 32

      4.  Dirt. It’s everywhere. Even the air has dirt in it. On top of that, it’s humid, so it feels like wet dirt is sticking to my skin constantly.

So here are some of the not’s so good things I faced (excluding the flimsy electricity that goes out every two hours; and the internet—that sucks too). But now that I have those off my chest, I want to mention all the good things I encountered.

      1.  The food. I always knew food was going to be a problem for me. It’s just too dang good. My aunts make killer kabobs and biryani and saalan. They have juicers to make delicious juices from the fresh fruit they get from the marketplaces. I’ll take pictures next time.

      2. The people. Every person I have met thus far has been so inhumanly kind and endearing that it kind of left me in awe. I had always been told that people in Pakistan were nice, but experiencing their generosity and affection first hand is quite another thing. Everyone is so connected to each other. All my cousins and aunts and uncles and neighbors, they have such a close relationship to each other.

Everyone is always laughing and smiling and joking around. The house is never quiet. The small kids play on the roofs of our little mud-brick houses, the ladies gather in the kitchen to make some chai and laugh and discipline the children, the men either help the women, or go out to their shops to gather some dough. It’s always busy, and I love it.

All my cousins gave me these flower bracelets as a welcoming gift.
They also threw rose petals at me when I first walked in through the door.

It’s worth everything to meet people like the ones I have been meeting.

Updates:

Collecting stories. I’ll be starting that this week.

Adviser- I’ll be meeting my adviser in Lahore (hopefully) this Monday. This Monday is actually a sort of Pakistan Independence Day, so all the kids will be out of school and there will be parties on the streets.

Video- I’ll be posting a video of this weeks adventures, hopefully by tomorrow. It really all depends whether or not the Wifi will be kind to me or not. It’s kind of difficult documenting everything, simply because people stare at me while I’m doing it, and also because things get so hectic that I can’t do it simultaneously. I am trying my best though. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for reading. Have a nice day! or night. it's night for me

so

SURVEY TIME

Hey guys!

I created a little survey for my project. I was wondering if you could help a gal out and answer some questions? There are only five and it'll take five minutes tops! Just comment below your answers (they don't have to be full sentences or long paragraphs or complex graphs or mathematical equations)

1.      1. QUICK What’s the first thing that comes into your head when you hear or read the word “Pakistan”?

2.      2. What do you know about the country Pakistan (facts, rumors, things you heard on the news, ect.)

3.      3. What do you know about the Pakistani culture?

4.      4. What is your opinion of Pakistan and its culture?

5.      5. Would you want to visit Pakistan? Why or why not?

1.      6. Do you know any stereotypes of the Pakistani culture? If so, please share.

Thanks for your time! I'll be posting a vlog later this week--omgso exciting!

Grandmama and Updates

 I thought I'd update you on mi grandmadre.

My grandmother from good ol' Pakistan was staying with us for ten days this February. Fortunately, that gave me the greatest opportunity to learn about and prepare for my trip some more.

Look at that adorable smile.

She's so cute!

My grandma is seriously the cutest person ever. She came into my room one night just to say that the WHOLE ENTIRE TOWN is backing me up on this project. That just comes to show how small this town really is, and how super kind the people are there. I mean, I haven't even gotten there yet and I'm already getting so much support. 

Oh did I tell you? My grandmother is a mother of ten children. 

Ten.

Which means I have nine (excluding my own mother) aunts and uncles. 

Which means I have a bazillion cousins just hangin' around. 

Shyeah I know. Anywho...

My grandmadre told me about this beauty parlor one her sons' wife has. I don't think I can explain to you the excitement I felt when I heard that. Also, she promised parties every single day when I'm there. 

Guys Guys Guys. I hope you're ready for desi parties. 

Because pictures will be bombarded. 

Now as much fun as she said Pakistan would be, she also stressed some key issues that no one can really overlook. I am mentioning them now because they are major factors that need to weighed into my project, and into this trip in general:

1. Things can get really dangerous there, especially for a female. Both my parents and my grandmother stressed how important it was for me to be with someone at all times. Because I find myself more American than Pakistani, I know it won't be hard for people to realize that I am out of the country. I mix my Urdu with English, I sometimes get an accent, and my apparent air emanates American-ness. I know that last bit sounds weird, but my grandma told me that people, from just looking at the way I move or stand, will know that I am not native to their region.

2. "We don't have all this pasta-shasta, enchilada stuff there." also "You don't have to be gluten free over there, right?"

3. So hey Charlotte. Electricity! ...It tends to go out in Pakistan 

(Help?)

4. No electricity means no air conditioning. Which sucks because Pakistan is just another form of Arizona. 

4. So apparently riots are a thing. 

5. Also, according to my grandmami, I'm extremely gullible and naive to a point of where I am unable to realize when someone (more specifically, a guy) is going to seduce me for my money. That talk happened...again. 

ANYWHO I am super excited because now there's only a week and half left. I'll be posting up the structure of my little anthology later this week, as well as updating you guys on all the cool travel gear I get. I'm also headed to LA this Monday to get my VISA. Fun stuff. We'll be driving all night just to get there on time in the morning. So next week will not be a spring break for me, unfortunately. Hope you can still tune in though!

A Cultural Separation

Over the course of this week, I have been racking my brain over my project. Up until now, I had always thought that going to Pakistan and collecting folktale stories was enough. I wanted to promote a culture that wasn't well recognized. But recently, I discovered a TED video that forces me to question and hone in my motives for this trip.

In the TED Talk, the speaker, Khalida Brohi, talked about 'honor' killings. Honor killings occur when a family deems a behavior shameful, usually for relationships that occur outside of marriage. According to the UN, 1000 reported honor killings are performed each year in Pakistan. Click here for the video. 

Unfortunately, in many rural areas of Pakistan, honor killings and overall female oppression is a custom that stretches back for decades. Most of the time, women aren't even aware of their oppression and see themselves in a futile situation. Even more, political change, in many cases, does not reach rural areas enough to spark modification. Khalida Brohi has been trying to modify the culture of these rural towns through other means; by creating different centers (collective embroidery meetings, reading classes, collecting folktales, etc.) for women to participate in, she teaches them to empower themselves so they can be their own leaders.

In the back of my mind, I have always known that there are certain parts of Pakistani culture that scare me. It's ironic knowing that honor killings and acid attacks and abuse occurs in a country that preaches peace. These are hard circumstances to overcome, especially because most of it occur in areas where the people aren't well educated enough to grow out of their provincial beliefs.  

I looked at the comments under the video, and I couldn't help but feel sad at what I read. Because the topic was relating to Pakistan, an Islamic nation, a lot of the comments evolved around the negative view of Islam. Pushing aside the fact that most YouTube comments shouldn't be taken seriously, I feel that many of the comments are similar to what I hear in some real life discussions--"Islam promotes the oppression of women", "Islam is hindering gender equality", "It's safer to just kill all Muslims". Given the project that I am doing, I feel as though I should clear a few things up:

It is a well known fact that religion does, in many aspects, influence the culture of a group. Even in the US, there are many Christian ideals that hover over into mainstream society. So it really isn't hard to mistake a culture with a religion.

I'll start by saying that Islam means "peace" and is a religion that advocates for equality of man and woman (and every other type of gender a person could be) in every regard. The base for most of the abuse and oppression in Pakistan is because of the lack of education. Even if small town rural people do read the Quran, most of them do not understand what they are reading (the Quran is written in Arabic, and Pakistan's official language is Urdu or some other version of it).And if they do understand the words, they don not necessarily understand the meaning. Most of their education is based off of generations of oral preaching that have nothing to do with Islam. So though they might be Muslim, they do not know what it means to be Muslim, and because they are so uneducated, most of them confuse their provincial customs with their religion as one and the same--which is what many people do when they watch CNN or FOX or MSNBC as their only form of religious knowledge.

So now I look at my project. I am collecting folktales to, yes, record and help preserve a piece of history, but I also want to clear up that these folktales are a piece of culture (a piece of perspectives) and not a piece of religion solely. I remind myself that I am writing these stories to open up a new perspective of Pakistan so we can perceive another aspect of a culture we don't see in news media. I hope that in so doing this, I can help separate the religion from the culture for both the citizens of Pakistan, and the people outside looking in.

In other news, I made this teeny little video as a sort of trailer for the vlogs that I'll be putting up from Pakistan.

I hope you have a good remainder of your day!

Three Things My Father DREADS the Most About Me Heading Off to Pakistan

The struggle is most undoubtedly real as I continue to ready myself for this crazy, adventurous trip--the most coming from my good intent father.

I know he means well. I really do. It's just that when he comes into my room just to tell me how much my life is going to suck for the six weeks that I am there, I can't help but feel another ten billion stress-inducing rocks falling onto my shoulders.

I thought, hey, for this blog, maybe I should just list them all out, for my benefit and your enjoyment.

1. FOOD IS BAD

So my eating habits are a bit off onto the far end of the "Weird" spectrum. I am a lactose intolerant, gluten-free, wheat-free, sugar-free type of person, mostly because my body does this awful thing where it hurts whenever I eat foods containing those listed above. Needless to say, my father is more than a little worried I won't have any available alternatives in such a developing country as Pakistan.

Also, food is my one true weakness. My father has been, for the better part of my young life, the sole authority figure who actually cared about what went into my mouth, and knows that I am vulnerable to all lactose, gluten, wheat, and sugar containing things. Basically, he doesn't think I'll be able to keep myself away from all the mouthwatering, yummy, delectable, scrumptious cultural food that I will be immersing with.

I think he may have a point on that, though.

2. TOOTH FAIRY MAGIC

My front tooth is broken, and has been broken for the past two years of my life. I broke it in half one day (I don't care to dwell on such a frightful night), and my dentist kind of just super glued it together. He told me, "Sophia, this is temporary, and the tooth fragment is bound to come off at anytime." At first, I thought that meant, like, a week before it would fall out and I had to run back to the dentist's office for a crown. Then two years passed by, and that superglue material stuff is still holding strong.

So the point is that my dad is worried that during my six week journey, that tooth fragment is just going to fall off one day, and I would have to remain in the state of absolute shock for the remainder of my stay. I'll swear it now: I will NOT be opening my mouth if that does happen, and then you will know why all my pictures are of me crying.

I think he may have a point on this as well.

3. BOYS

"Just don't get married."
"No promises, pops."

(Let's just appreciate this moment where my father assumes I'm going to Pakistan just to help some poor bloke get a green card)

Nuh uh