Travel days
I arrived at the Delhi airport and I began to have flashbacks to my backpacking trip to Europe. I forgot what it was like to arrive in a foreign country and the feelings that are associated with it. I really had no idea what I was doing or where I was suppose to go to change planes for Jaipur. I just went with the flow and prayed for the best. As I was on the shuttle to switch terminals at the Delhi airport a police man walked down the aisle with his very big gun strapped to his side and as I turned the gun was about two feet from my face. I am glad that moment has past.

Day 1
As I stepped off the plane, I knew two things for certain. One, that I smelled really bad of body odor and two, that I had no idea what to expect once I left the comfort and familiarity of the airport. As I left the airport, I immediately found the driver that was going to take me to my program coordinator's house. Children started asking me for change and women began shoving newspapers in my face. I said no and shook my head, and the children began pulling on my clothes. I quickly hopped into the car and closed the door. The children began banging on the car door and continued doing so until we pulled out onto to road. I thought to myself, "oh shit," and I began to wonder if I was suited for India.



During my first night at the guest house I noticed a visitor in my room, it was an ant but jumbo sized. I decided to kill it but it took about 10 minutes to so and once I finished, I noticed 5 more that had crawled underneath my door. I decided that my time could be better spent than offing ants my entire trip, so I made peace with the intruders. I share my room with a few critters such as small lizards and big ants. So far I have seen no cockroaches in my room, let's hope for the best on that one.



Day 2
There are a few locals living at the guest house in which I am staying at. An older women befriended me on my second day and invited my to church with her. I jumped at the chance to experience India beyond the four walls on my bedroom. Who new I would be attending a Catholic mass in India? Mass was the same, the dress was different. The only difference was that some of the songs were sung in Hindi.



One of the first questions asked of me my my new friend was, "So when do you plan on getting married?" I replied, "When I meet the right person." She said, "oh I see, you are waiting for prince charming." On our way back from church she offered my a sweet (any desert in India is called a sweet) and I graciously accepted. She then told me that I should not eat too many because I will put on weight. She then offered me another sweet and I of course denied her offer. She continued to offer until I dutifully accepted. I love India.

I had a conversation with the wife of the owner of my accomodation during my second night in India. She asked me about my family and asked if I had any siblings. I told her about my brother and that he was engaged to be married next year. She asked if it was an arranged marriage or a love marriage. I told her that it was a "love marriage" and that for the most part we did not have arranged marriages in the U.S. She told me about her arranged marriage and told me that she only met her husband once before her wedding day. The pictures are beautiful. She had an elephant at her wedding and it lasted about 10 days. We talked about relationships for awhile and she told me that the idea of having a boyfriend or girlfriend here is completely foreign. She stated that it is more common in Delhi and Mumbai, but not in the state of Rajasthan. Rajasthan is one of the most conservative states in India.

Day 3
I began my placement on this day. I am working for a slum school. If you asked my where the slum is in the city, I could not tell you. I know that it is in Jaipur, about 25 Min's from where I stay, and it cost me $1.20 to get there and back everyday on an auto rickshaw. I teach basic English to some of the children at the school. I teach three to five years old in the morning and they have an attention span with me of about 1 minute. With their Hindu teachers their attention span last as long as they are in the room. It is socially acceptable for the children to hit each other here. There is no only telling them that it's not okay. This is hard for me to accept. They slap, hit, bite, and throw each other across the room. I try to tell them no, but it really is no use, because besides in my classroom no one tells them otherwise. The children have no uniforms because the school does not have funding for them. The coordinator of the school told me that it would cost about equivalent of $500.00 for uniforms for 70 children. He has not been able to find a donor as of yet. His first priority was cleaning up the school and to make sure it is sanitary. This took about a year to do.

As I walk everyday to school through the slum, despite the conditions in which she lives, a woman flashes a huge smile and greets me a good morning.

Day 4
There are two rules of the road here in Jaipur. First, that you give way to vehicles bigger and more powerful than you. Second, there are no other rules of the road. Lights are merely a suggestion, not a rule of thumb. Pedestrians and dogs do no not have the right away, but cows do. I have decided that driving is going to be so boring when I return home.

I knew that India was second most populated country in the world. I don't think I knew what that meant. There are so many people here. Jaipur is very busy and very big and is not even a major metropolitan city. Jaipur has three million people.

Day 5-6
I have thought about Inda is nothing like home. On my way to work I am greeted by cows and sheep on the side to work. Children are asking to shake my hand because I am so different from them. I have decided that I will also miss the famous, "How are you," from every children that I walk by in slum on my walk to the the school.

Day 7-9
I decided to travel on my first weekend in India. I am in Amritsar which is in the state of Punjab about a 16 hour train ride from Jaipur. The main attraction here is the Golden Temple which is Sikhism's most holy site. It is absolutely one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. The temple is self is completely gold and shines on the the water surrounding the temple. Last night, we waited in line with hundreds of Sikh's to enter the temple. Pilgrims come from all over to visit the temple. The temple offere's free accomodation to pilgrims and traveler's. It is the most basic room I have ever stayed in. There are public restrooms and today I realized that they have one western toilet. I was so estatic. This is luxery to me at this moment. I manged to avoid using a pit toilet (hole in ground) for a week. It is really no different that digging a latrine in the wilderness. Although, it does get some getting use to. The temple affers free meals to everyone 24 hours a day. There is a sign hanging that says, "We feed people of all classes 24 hours a day." I smiled. I have eated two meals at this hall and it is amazing how may people they feed. We sit on the floor on a throw run in rows. It truly is an amazing site.