Just to be sure

This working experience, in a developing country, presents a new host of limitations on not only your ability to work, but the manner in which you know who you are. You may notice that throughout this journal I often use humor or sarcasm as a way of expressing to you the experiences to which I’m having. Be not confused, though, that this is my way of criticizing or finding fault in the manners or customs of a people or nation. More so, it’s a way of coping and processing with (at least for me) the constant state of confrontation of your own views on how “things work”, your own cultural beliefs, your own values and ideals, your own stereotypes and prejudices, the character of how you define yourself.

Almost everyday involves a confrontation of some sort, whether through trying to get home on the bus or trying to write a grant by the submission date; of being held up and delayed of the lack of power which greatly affects the ability of which we do our work, especially with dependency that we know have on computers; the confrontation of language barriers in trying to express your needs, thoughts or ideas or trying to decipher into readable form sentences like “And the coconut front will be defeated for crashing to separate fiber and coconut pith” or “the effects achieving through the haughty and broad activities will be reflected by the marginalized plantation working class in the High range area.”; of being in the top 10% of educated and wealthy people in the world; of rude vs polite; of mostly, with this particular trip my own gender.

Of the traveling I have done, this is the first time that I have been confronted to such an extent of my gender. For the first time in my life, I am feeling that my primary descriptive quality is “female”. While for India, Kerala is one of the most liberal states for women, the area in which we live is rather rural and as a result less profressive. And in fact, for India, this is one of the most progressive areas. Muslim women are not required to be in shroud, women hold jobs and in Kerala women have the highest literacy rates and the lowest fertility rates. Yet, for my own personal experience, while the limitations for women exist in the US, this is my first real confrontation on my own gender.