Shopping

Today was quite a relaxing and fun day.  In the morning a bunch of girls went to a salon to see what they offered.  We ended up staying there most of the morning getting facials, massages, haircuts, manicures, pedicures, etc.  I got my hair cut - layered and bangs thanks to the suggestions of the other girls, and a manicure. It was a lot of fun!  The hair dresser was extremely precise, which was good. I have never had a hair dresser who has paid so much attention while cutting hair.  The manicure also took longer than in the United States and included massaging the arms.  I was also offered coffee and tea multiple times. The hospitality here is increadible.

The entire afternoon we went shopping.  We were taken into the city to a mall-like shopping area with 5 floors and also had the option of going across the street to shop and barter IF we were with a group that had a cell phone and a boy...

The mall was quite interesting.  Instead of buying everythin in a store the mall was organized by floors.  We "checked out" on each floor but instead of paying we were given reciepts.  When we were done shopping we went to the ground floor to buy everything we had picked out then went to another section to pick up our bags.  It was convenient because we didn't have to carry our bags around but you also didn't realize how many things you had already purchased! 

Luckily, when some of us were done shopping, Kishore took us across the street to the shops.  We picked out jewelry and pashmina's for gifts.  He said he was going to blame me if the people didn't like them because I picked them out, so hopefully the gifts are good! We got to see Kishore barter in Hindi which was a fun experience.  When we were in the pashmina store we got to see all of the different ones and try them on.  I also learned about cashmere, which is one of the things Kishore was buying.  It comes from a special goat that only lives in Kashmir (he said if we took one home it would have to live in the refrigerator).  The material is supposed to be very warm and you can't find it in most places.  One day there will be no cashmere left.  Kishore bouought the cashmere pashminas for about $100 each by bargaining.  We also got to meet the owner of the store and his sons who are from Kashmir.  We drank amazing chai and talked about India. The owner gave us his number and told us to come back so he could tell us about Kashmir and why Pakistan wants it (Kishore said it would be very accurate, unbiased and anti-American).  I hope we get the chance to take that opportunity.

On the bus ride home our professors were talking about poverty and  flaws with government policy.  They were talking about how it is the fault of the government because people should not have to beg. In India there is a surplus of food and it rots from sitting in storage and yet there are people starving.