something I wrote to my dad, but doubles as an update

Update:
This prototype is pretty different from the one back in berkeley because I couldn't find the proper materials. I had to redesign many of the parts as I went along, and now many of the components are made of plastic and pressed together, rather than have anything secured with screws. We're just now starting to put the designs in peoples homes. I've been going out with my teammates and talking to people in the slums, trying to recruit 20 households into our study. So far we've gotten 17, but there's quite a bit of work explaining to people what the designs do and why they should be used. For the most part, people have been accepting. Only once have we been turned away because of feeling insulted. I think the Indian people pride themselves on living very simply/traditionally, and to say that some of their practices make them sick, then might come off as offensive. We held some focus groups, inviting many community members into one person's house, or talked to them in the street, and explained what we were trying to do. Those people that we talked to for a long time, and in a large group, were very easy to recruit into the study because we had a long conversation. Now we've run out of familiar people, so it's difficult to find more households.

The cows do really just walk around in small packs. Seldom do you see cows alone, but when they're together, I don't know what relation they are to each other. A cow came up to me as I was sitting down the other day, and I pet its nose and head, and it was very nice to me. It nudged me on the leg and then walked off. There are so many cows, too, and water buffalo. Their horns seem very scary, but they are peaceful animals. People feed them in the morning, but then they turn it away if it tries to come indoors. So it's good that the cow does not go into their home. People in the slums that I have visited, called Maruti Nagar, or (the name of one god) (place), have only two or three spaces in their home. Either a room and a kitchen, or a room, a hallway, and a kitchen. people sleep either in one large bed, which I believe is for the whole family, or on the floor on mats that can be rolled up. I'm started to see a whole different side of India that I didn't get to see when i was busy in the workshop. But I feel lucky that I've had that kind of experience, and I bet it's like working in a factory. It'll help me out if I apply to manufacturing positions.