After two and a half days of traveling we finally made it to Varanasi! The drive from the airport to the NGO where we will be living, NIRMAN, was an experience in itself! Cars share the streets with bikes, rickshaws, motor bikes, people, and animals, mainly cows, goats, dogs, and chickens. Lanes aren't generally used so people are swerving in and out of traffic constantly. If anybody drove like this in the States I would be terrified, but somehow it doesn't scare me as much here - they know what they're doing and everyone is on the same page. There is a constant sound of car horns but it is not the same as in the US - here people use their horns as a way to communicate with one another, let others know they are coming, which is very helpful as the cars, bikes, and people are usually inches from one another.
Here at NIRMAN the four of us are living in the guest house with two interns from U of Chicago. I share a room with Madee and we have a bathroom with a shower off of our room. Much more luxury than I was expecting!
This week we will be having orientation and we are starting intensive Hindi off with a 3 hour class tomorrow afternoon! We attended a seminar today with the director of the NGO that consisted of 2.5 hours of solid Hindi so we are looking forward to trying to learn some words...
We have ventured outside of the gate alone a small amount so far but it is very intimidating! Every street is packed full and there is a lot of starring, but we are very excited to get more acquainted with the city and be able to get around and see more soon! We plan to go to the Ghats sometime this week and also to start buying and having made Indian clothing so we can start to blend in a bit.
Something I have definitely been noticing and paying attention to throughout the crazy journey to India and the overwhelming first experiences here is my concept of being "O.K." I find that I am often thinking "if only x was different, I would be ok." At school it is often "if I was only done with this paper, everything would be ok." On the way here it was "if I only knew where my luggage was... or if only we didn't have to stay overnight in Delhi..." But I didn't know where my luggage was and we did stay overnight in Delhi and everything is ok! The trip is already putting me outside of my comfort zone and one of my first goals is going to be to realize that, unless I am dying, I am ok!
Also, a note on the grid crisis everyone is talking about - either it has not affected Varanasi or we just didn't notice. The power goes out fairly often anyway!
Here at NIRMAN the four of us are living in the guest house with two interns from U of Chicago. I share a room with Madee and we have a bathroom with a shower off of our room. Much more luxury than I was expecting!
This week we will be having orientation and we are starting intensive Hindi off with a 3 hour class tomorrow afternoon! We attended a seminar today with the director of the NGO that consisted of 2.5 hours of solid Hindi so we are looking forward to trying to learn some words...
We have ventured outside of the gate alone a small amount so far but it is very intimidating! Every street is packed full and there is a lot of starring, but we are very excited to get more acquainted with the city and be able to get around and see more soon! We plan to go to the Ghats sometime this week and also to start buying and having made Indian clothing so we can start to blend in a bit.
Something I have definitely been noticing and paying attention to throughout the crazy journey to India and the overwhelming first experiences here is my concept of being "O.K." I find that I am often thinking "if only x was different, I would be ok." At school it is often "if I was only done with this paper, everything would be ok." On the way here it was "if I only knew where my luggage was... or if only we didn't have to stay overnight in Delhi..." But I didn't know where my luggage was and we did stay overnight in Delhi and everything is ok! The trip is already putting me outside of my comfort zone and one of my first goals is going to be to realize that, unless I am dying, I am ok!
Also, a note on the grid crisis everyone is talking about - either it has not affected Varanasi or we just didn't notice. The power goes out fairly often anyway!
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