Woah, Delhi!

Well, I’m here! I still can’t quite believe I’m actually in India, but everywhere I look, everything I eat, and every sound I hear makes the reality pretty clear! I have been here for a week now, and holy cow (literally) it’s been a wonderful whirlwind. There is no way I can write about everything I’ve done and seen, so I’ll give some highlights:

-- This first week we stayed in Sri Aurobindo Ashram (think Eat Pray Love) as a group and traveled around by bus, which brings me to...

2    -- Motorcycles, rickshaws, and pedestrians, oh my! I don’t know how to adequately describe the driving and traffic situation here. It’s fascinating, terrifying, and rather impressive. There are lanes, but they are more like guidelines that no one follows. Turn signals might as well not even exist, same with traffic lights and crosswalks actually, and instead of checking blind spots people just lay on the horn and floor it. 

      -- It smells. Not always a repulsive smell, but a smell nonetheless. The pollution is also terrible. You can taste the dirt in your mouth and there is a constant haze hanging over the city.

     

      Don’t let these seemingly negative aspects of Delhi fool you, India is fantastic! The food is incredible (can you go wrong with curry, chapatti [bread], and chai?), the colors are vibrant, and I am being bombarded with new experiences.

      -- We went to Raj Ghat—the place where Ghandi was cremated and were surrounded by school children who were grinning from ear to ear, screaming ‘hello!’ and shaking our hands. I felt famous!

      -- We visited Humayun's tomb—early Mughal architecture built in the 1500s

Lastly, my homestay! Tonight is my second night in my ‘flat’ (a generous term if you ask me) with my family. We are in pairs so I’m sharing a room with another girl on my program—a huge relief. I would be even more overwhelmed if I was here alone. My family is Muslim and we live in a Muslim community so prayer calls sound five times each day. We call my host parents Ami & Abu (mother and father, don’t ask me their real names) and I have three host siblings: Sadia is my 21-year-old sister and Sharik and Zaid, 19 & 17, are my brothers. They all speak English well (although the accents are still impossible to understand at times) except Ami, so my Hindi will have to get significantly better before I can communicate much with her. It’s inevitably a little awkward because of miscommunications and cultural differences, but they have been so nice and welcoming thus far. Abu put it best our first night here when he said: “Today you are a guest, tomorrow you become family.” That warmed my heart.

I am doing great so far: happy, healthy, and learning so much. I miss everyone, but not enough to want to come home yet :) All is well. (A quote from the Bollywood film ‘3 Idiots,’ if you have three hours to spare, I recommend it!)

Eager school children at Raj Ghat

Humayun's tomb

Humayun's tomb at sunset

View from my room!

Close up of view from my room--small children playing in the garbage

all my love,

katie