My family

Today I think I've found another beneficial aspect of my stay here, it's that I can become closer to my family. Not my family back in America, but the rest of my family here in India. I didn't really keep in touch with a lot of my family here seeing as how I lived so far from them for all my life. The last time I came to India two years ago, I tried to keep in touch with them more once I got back the U.S. but it proved to be too hard. It was just difficult because I would get caught up with school and what not and it wouldn't ever occur to me to call all the way to India.

Now that I'm here, I have the opportunity to call them and keep in touch. It would be a shame if I didn't keep in touch with them when I lived in the same country as them, so I try to talk to them as much as possible. I'm learning where I come from besides the fact that I'm Indian. Admittedly sometimes it's hard for me to keep track of people because there are people I haven't talked to in a really long time, but I want to try as much as possible.

Indian families are big to begin with, and when a family is spread across the world, it's even tougher to keep the bonds a family has strong. It's not like we can exactly set up a family reunion once a year or anything. The coolest thing, I think, is talking to my relatives that are close to my age. It's nice to know that even though we live on different sides of the world, they're my people, that's my team!

Of course the burden of keeping in touch doesn't lie just on me, and it hasn't been that way at all. Hopefully by the time my stay in India comes to an end I'll be closer to my family here than I ever have before, and I'll keep in touch with them once I go back as well.

It might sound corny but it is a good feeling to know that your family is close to you. It's just strange calling someone your relative when you hardly know anything about them, so I'm working on that and I've had a lot of fun conversations with my cousins here especially.

It's great, I'd have to say it's one of the biggest benefits I will get out of my stay here.