India Week 1- Tuesday

At last! I have stepped foot on Indian soil. I arrived on Sunday morning at 4am into Bangalore Intl Airport. It's been nonstop since then. The group is definitely exhausted! For the first day and night we stayed at a hostel in the center of the city. As soon as I got to my room I took a cold shower from a bucket (very refreshing and old school). Then we ate breakfast and a group of us went for a walk. The streets of Bangalore are hectic! Being from NYC I thought I could handle it but it's nothing like Manhattan. There are thousands of distractions at once-- honking horns, speeding cars, swirving scooters, pedestrians, stray dogs, potholes, debris, garbage, and more! It's pretty dangerous walking around if you dont pay attention. Luckily, no one got hurt. We all walked around and found a Sikh temple. We were lucky because we met a Sikh man who has lived in the US for 25 years and took the time to explain the religion to us and show us around. We sat with him and hundreds of other people after the service and ate lunch and drank tea. It was wonderful.

Afterwards, we had lunch at the hostel and slept for hours. I woke up in time for dinner and did some reading. It was difficult for me to go to sleep because of jet lag but I managed to get a few hours.

The next day I wasn't feeling so well because of the lack of sleep and my body wasn't used to the new environment. I stayed in bed and rested. People around me took such good care of me so I was fine. I woke up for lunch and got ready to go to my homestay family.

I am now rooming with Meg, a girl from Westchester who goes to Wake Forest. I am glad to be with her because she seems very easy going. I think our personalities match nicely :) We are staying in a family with a married couple, a grandmother, and uncle. We call our host parents Uncle Sudhi and Aunti Anju. They are so nice and accomodating. He works for an engineering company and she owns a cafe at a theatre near our classroom. Their son, Rohit, works in Delhi training in the restaurant/hotel business. We live in a small village-type community in the south of Bangalore where it is very quiet. We are about a 20 min drive from our classes. Starting Thursday Meg and I will have to learn to walk to and ride the bus to school. EEk.

Today we slept in late, had breakfast, walked around, bought a cell phone and toured around the cafe area. We met up with Jamie and Laura from IHP, who are staying with Anju's sister nearby. It was nice to have dinner with them at the cafe. The food in India is so good!

Tomorrow is the Ganesha festival. Meg, Anju and I will join Anju's sister at her house. It is supposed to be a lively festival that celebrates the elephant god, Ganesha, the god of wisdom and remover of obstacles. I am really exicted to see what the festival is like.

AHH the power just went off. Since I've been here the last few days the power has gone off several times each night. Because Bangalore is such a populated city it uses a lot of power and occassionally there is an overload. Thank goodness my entry saved before the computer shut off.

Overall, I am enjoying my time here. I am just trying to take it all in and come to the realization that I am actually in INDIA. I am focused on taking care of my health and appreciating every moment. Classes start on Thursday so I will try to write more when I can.

Please stay in touch and write to me. Leave comments. Email me. Or call. My India cell phone # is 961-143-7500 ( i dont know the country code). I will try to send postcards asap (if i have your address).

Hope NYC is doing well without me! Miss you all.