My Favorite Sign

This is my favorite sign (so far) in Shillong. It's right across from Swish cafe in Laitumkrah. I haven't tried the chicken popsicles yet, but maybe when I get back I will... =) "And Many More Wow Stuff!"

Swish Cafe

So Swish is pretty much where I live in Shillong. It's a great space to hang out, has excellent coffee (thanks to the hotel-grade coffee maker you can see in the picture and a really nice roast), great food and friendly people. The owner happens to be my main Pnar contact and there are a lot of Pnar speakers that hang out there, so it's a great place to practice Pnar. I've also been coming here for the past couple weeks to work on translation. It can be a bit noisy, but I sit with a friend and we both wear headphones so we can play the sound file back bit-by-bit and translate each word and phrase. Swish is in Laitumkrah as well and can be a bit hard to find if you don't know where to look - but just ask any of the youngsters and they'll know where it is. The owner also happens to own the nightclub Tango, which is on the other side of town in Police Bazaar - a happening place on the weekends.

Cafe Shillong

Cafe Shillong is a great little cafe to visit if you are in Shillong. Good coffee, good food, and even wireless internet. I often go there if I want lunch/dinner and have some things to do online. In Laitumkrah, here's the view from one of my favorite spots on the balcony overlooking the street. Check it out next time you're in Shillong.

Mornings in Shillong

It's been raining a lot lately, being the monsoon season and all, which up here in the hills means it stays pretty cool. Apparently Cherrapunji, just south of where I am, is the rainiest place on earth, and near the end of monsoon season on a clear day you can look from there over the whole of Bangladesh, which looks like an ocean it's so flooded. But I digress.

When I wake up in the mornings here in Shillong I go up to the kitchen where Durga usually has some tea made - Indian chai, with spices and milk and sugar. Hard to beat when combined with toast and whatever else is available (leftover grilled pork, anyone?). On Sundays breakfast is more substantial with eggs and sausages and beans etc... I leave you with a picture of toned-down breakfast.

India Day 8-12: Nongrim Hills and Mowkyndeng

I did more exploring of Shillong recently, and I'll be posting a few photos in subsequent blogs to try and capture what I think are great views of the city. I'm staying with some friends in Lower Nongrim Hills and I often cross through Nongrim Hills to get to Laitumkrah where I meet friends for lunch/dinner or language research. The quickest (and least crowded) way to get there by walking is to climb the hill where people live in houses stacked on top of each other, pretty similar to what I saw in Norway. Here's a view looking back down the hill toward Lower Nongrim after climbing past a bunch of houses.

I took that photo before I went to work on the Pnar language spoken in Mowkyndeng village, a few hours away, where another friend was going home for holiday. I went with him for a week to learn what I could about this dialect and begin to document the language. I stayed with a wonderful family of vegetarians who kindly gave me fish and chicken, though secretly I loved their rice and vegetable dishes. Here's a picture of me and the family, along with all the children boarding at their house while they attend the mission school.

Mowkyndeng is probably best known as a mission station for the Catholic church in that area. When Catholic missionaries came to these hills they came directly to Raliang and were given land at Mowkyndeng to build their mission and start schools. Here's a picture of the church at Mowkyndeng, which has a lot of ties to the work of Don Bosco and the Salesians, a Catholic society that he founded. Early in June the relic of Don Bosco's body will be coming to the northeast of India and staying at the church in Mowkyndeng for a bit. I don't know if I'll make it to the viewing, but people from all over the area will be there.

India Day 7: Shillong

Ok, it's been a few days since the last post, partly because I didn't always have internet access, and partly because I didn't do much except meet people and get to know the town a bit better. Also I forgot to bring my camera places, so I didn't have much in the way of visuals to offer. But now I'm back.

Shillong is a pretty town perched on a series of hills in the centre of Meghalaya. The streets are narrow, winding, and the buildings are perched precariously on the hills, squeezed tightly together and sometimes built almost on top of each other. In many ways it reminds me of a village in Europe. Taxis, trucks, cars, motorcycles and little buses negotiate their way along the streets along with pedestrians - there aren't very many bikes around here.

I've been spending some of my time with Mary, a local resident who is from Jiantia Hills where they speak Pnar. I'm learning some Pnar from her and she is helping me connect with some other speakers, and hopefully I'll be going to Jowai and the Jiantia Hills district this week. It's been fun, and we've been meeting at Swish, a local cafe. It takes about 15 minutes to get there by car, going in a bit of a circle. I discovered that there's a shorter way to go, cutting the angle, along a much less busy path that is only about a 15 minute walk (and more picturesque). I should really get a map of Shillong.