getting settled

A lot has happened since I left London. My flight leaving Heathrow was late, and when I arrived in Delhi, my bags took about 45 minutes. Clearing customs took about 3 minutes, and then I got on a bus to go to the domestic terminal. The bus looked like it was probably from the 70s or 80s, and the whole situation really sketched me out. It took about 20 minutes to get less than a mile, and I ended up chatting with a couple of women sitting near me, and a captain who sat behind us. The captain gave me his wife's phone number, in case I need anything. Something I had realized on the plane to Delhi was how far out of my comfort zone I am, but also how much that contributes to the magic of the kindness of strangers. This man reinforced that realization.

When I got to the domestic terminal, I went inside and got in line to get my boarding pass with Kingfisher Airlines. Because my flight had been late, I was cutting it close on time and was pretty stressed about making my flight. Unfortunately, when I got to the front of the line, the agents told me that I wasn't booked for my flight (even though it was on my itenerary!) and the plane left without me. STRESS! So there I was, the awkward white girl crying her eyes out in the Delhi airport, and then the nice captain man from earlier came up to me and asked me what was wrong. He ended up introducing me to his friend who worked at the information desk (she was so nice!!) and buying me an apple juice box. I ended up buying a ticket with Jet Airways that left an hour later, and made it to Varanasi. It was EXTREMELY stressful for about 20 minutes, but overall, drama averted.

When I got to Varanasi, a man from Nirman was waiting for me at the airport. There were tons of men waiting outside the airport, and when I walked out they all stared and whispered. It was overwhelming. The guy from Nirman (who's name I have been told, but need it to be written down in order for me to understand what it actually is) put me in a cab by myself, because he'd motorcycled there. I was stressed and nervous to be cabbing by myself, especially because everyone was looking at me as we drove to Nirman. Eventually my nervousness gave way to an overwhelming sense of astonishment at what I was seeing. Cows chillin by the road, thatched mud huts, burning piles of trash. Everything I'd heard about but had a hard time believing until I was actually here.

Once I arrived at Nirman, I was shown to my room. It's probably 10x12 feet (might be an overestimate) and the concrete walls are painted in festive colors. I was too tired to really be upset about the situation. They then showed me the bathroom. Western style toilet, thank God. Though I am showering out of a bucket, which I didn't think to expect. It's not bad at all, and I actually appreciate how little water gets used. So I dropped my stuff off in my room and went into the office, where I found Professor Kumar and Irfana Majumdar, the person who runs Nirman. I was honestly so excited to find people who spoke English. We chatted for a bit, then I napped. I woke up to a short, harsh-looking but extremely nice Indian lady knocking on my door, she'd brought me tea and a sandwich. Both were difficult to stomach, so I ended up getting rid of most of it. I napped a bit more, and woke up to the same lady bringing me dinner. The heat has pretty much robbed me of my appetite, so I nibbled on some of the naan, but hardly ate anything. I napped a little bit more after that, and then walked to the village with the man who'd picked me up from the airport to get a SIM card. It's nice to have a phone. It's helping mitigate some of the isolation I'd been feeling. However, walking through the village was quite the culture shock. EVERYONE stared at me. Avi made me feel better though, saying it's better to think about it as them being curious rather than creepy. I realize it's just another part of the adventure that I'll get used to, but I did tell Nita that finding Indian clothes for me is a priority in order to detract from my conspicuousness.

I talked to Avi for 20 minutes on the phone before I went to sleep, which was nice. She gets here day after tomorrow. Thank God. I fell asleep around 10pm and woke up at 3am. Having a really hard time getting back to sleep, I listened to some Passion Pit and eventually woke back up at 7:30. I called Hadley and my mom, talked to Sanskriti for about 20 minutes, and unpacked everything. With my room organized, I wrote in my journal for a few minutes and then took a shower. Using a bucket really isn't as bad as it sounds. I'd take wifi over a normal shower any day of the week. I was supposed to go see about lunch 20 minutes ago, and that's about all the news I have for now. Nirman itself is an intriguing compound, the guesthouse also doubles as part of the school. I forgot my cord to connect my camera to my laptop, but am planning on buying one asap so I can share pictures.