The First Day

I plan on copying bits and pieces from my personal journal I’ll be keeping while in India for my blog posts, that way I can try to narrow down things :)

Wednesday, the 28^th, was a very exciting day. It was my first time seeing  India in daylight. I had a fabulous little breakfast in the restaurant across the street from my hotel. I had a fruit juice, some flat bread (I think it’s called paratha), a spicy veg noodle thing (absolutely fantastic!) and this stuffed that looked a bit like rice pudding or something but was very good. 

I met everyone who will be in my ISA group: Amber, Ryan, Kelly, Jamie, and Megan. We’re all very different, but we all get along great. 

After breakfast, I had my first educational walk down an Indian street. Here is a list of things I learned:

1. Don’t look into a man's eyes, ever.

2. People stare a lot.

3. People touch a lot.

4. Always listen to the beeping of cars, the horn is to let you know they are there.

5. Roads are uneven.

6. People sweep and clean the sidewalks, streets, and shops all the time, yet it is always covered in dust.

7. Begging women rent babies, yes, RENT.

8. People’s livelihood is what they sell and they want to sell it.

9. Ignoring people is not rude in India.

10. The reasons there are so many small vendors and shops is because there are fewer huge corporations that sell things, like in the US.

I saw my first cow while waiting to leave for the day :)

We drove to a big tourist attraction in Delhi, it's this huge area of land where all the important government officials live. We attracted a lot of attention and without standing next to Ryan or Rahul, men were very interested. I had the cutest little boy trying to sell me a bracelet. He was absolutely darling. 

We had lunch in a pretty rich part of Delhi, I had a ‘veg roll’, which has paneer cheese and onions wrapped in a flat bread- it was actually pretty tasty, and very filling. I also had this amazing mango drink called ‘MAAZA,’ which means ‘fun’ in Hindu. 

The National Museum was next, which included a lot of ancient art and architecture, it was awesome, but I was sad I knew nothing about the culture. After the museum, we had a walk through the Lodhi Gardens- absolutely beautiful! It was just like our version of Central Park, except that it had these really old Mosques in the middle of it, which were stunning. It was a good break from the chaos of the city. I saw a lot of smiles and kindness, which made me fall in love with India all over again. 

That night we went to a shopping area in which craftsmen sell things from the different states of India. It was so cool, but I was exhausted and didn’t pay much attention. I actually slept on the ride to the hotel, shocking, I know! I don’t think I have ever slept so hard in my life.

More is coming!

10 hours in...

Well, here I am in India. Leaving Billy and my mom and dad was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I even considered backing out. But I didn’t. I made it on time: 9 pm. The flight really wasn’t too bad. It was roughly 7,800 miles, 13 hours, but it went fast because I got to sit by a fellow ISA traveler.  Delhi’s airport seemed very familiar to ours. Once we (me and two other ISA ladies) got through immigration, baggage, and customs, we walked outside and BAM! INDIA: tons of men, cars beeping, and SMOG. Luckily our ISA director, Rahul, found us and got us into a van.

The whole ride to the hotel my mouth and eyes were wide open. It was hard to see due to the thick smog (you can’t even see a block) and night time. The traffic has always been famously insane here, but you have no idea until you are in it. Driving is an art in this country. That’s about all I have to say about that. Outside of the windows I saw people, dogs,  street vendors, wore down buildings,  new buildings, fires, abandoned vehicles, lights, and of course a WHOLE lot of smog.

It seemed so fast when we turned into the hotel area: TONS of hotels, every which way, lined next to each other, on top of each other, etc. The streets were much narrower and much more packed. On the highways we were going 90 mph, here we were going 10. It was so bright too, with lots of lights.

We got to the hotel and checked in… it’s pretty nice. We have a bed and a toilet. The shower is interesting... It's just the shower head, that's all, in the middle of the bathroom with some buckets next to it. It gave me the most miserable shower of my entire life. I don’t mean to complain, but I will never take a hot shower for granted ever again. I could see my breath in the shower. Haha.

Last night I saw some men coughing and spitting a lot. It was not apparent to me until 4 am this morning that this is a very loud and common practice of Indian men. So much hacking! It does get humorous though, and I realized that the old cars sound like the hacking men when they are started!  Also awakening me this morning were roosters, dog barks, men yelling, cars honking, and about everything else the rooms next to me are doing.

So much has happened in the short time I have been here. I have already been impacted greatly by this mystical country, and the sun isn’t even up yet.

Why India?

Many people have asked me why I'm going to India. My answer, as cheesy as it may sound, is because of the colors. By colors, I don't just mean the  Dictionary.com's definition "the quality of an object or substance with respect to light reflected by the object, usually determined visually by measurement of hue, saturation, and brightness of the reflected light." By colors, I mean diversity.

Coming from a small town in Nebraska, one might guess that I haven't been exposed to much diversity. Is this good or bad? In my opinion, this is VERY bad. So I'm going to India. I'll be studying at the University of Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh for the Spring Semester 2012. I'll be traveling all around the country and hopefully do some volunteering after the semester in Uttarakhand. 

Safety is what most of my family and friends are worried about with this trip. Going to a developing country, I can understand why... but it's something I need to do. I feel a pull to this place. I'm not going to go on my exceptionally long spill about everywhere in the world having it's own dangers, but it's true. And it's necessary that people go out in the world. Anxiety and fear should never hold us back from experiencing wonderful things.

India is filled with all the extremes: extreme poverty, extreme wealth, extreme heat, extreme cold, extreme spices and food (YUM!), extreme people, extreme history, and extreme future. Everyone is different. Different religions, different homes, different clothes, different families, different diets, different jobs, different education, different, different, different! Everything is so extreme and diverse, I'm guessing I won't know what to do; but this is exactly why I'm going.

 

I'm going to India because of the multitude of colors....

                             ..........and, I also really love elephants. :)