India...

Been in India 4 full days so far...

Left Thursday morning from Omaha and after sitting on the runway for an hour and a half in Chicago and a 15 hour flight I landed in Delhi around 10 pm Friday night. My ride was there to pick me up and I got my luggage and through customs fairly easy, minus a fairly mild swine flu screening and heat sensor which I am completely shocked the US has not implemented. Checked into my surprisingy clean and nice hotel and crashed in front of the tv sleeping off and on until noon the next day. Had an adventure trying to get a cell phone including it being necessary to provide them with my passport and a passport sized photo. The phone store was nice enough to provide me with an escort to the photo store around the corner and the atm at which point I decided to be appreciative rather than creeped out. Walking down the street was an adventure of everyone completely staring and not being at all shy about it. The people generally left me alone, but the turning heads was a bit unnerving. Since then I have come to realize that many Indians do not see many Westerners and have become more adjusted to the staring and random children coming up to shake my hand and say hi with beaming smiles. Te first 2 days here I mostly spent time in the hotel sleeping, watching tv, reading, ordering room service and venturing out to the grocery store very occasionally. It was a nice couple days to start to get over the 10 1/2 time change and jet lag. I arrived at my volunteer home Sunday night and met most of my housemates had some dinner and just hung out.

Monday began orientation. 3 hours of random Indian history and sights to see in Delhi. The program coordinator is rather dry and from what I have heard not helpful and almost greedy. Luckily I was prepared for this from talking with a former volunteer. All the other volunteers are amazingly helpful and love sharing their experiences, including everyone in everything, and answering questions. Started exploring some nearby markets and getting an idea of what type of shopping I will be doing. I am quite ready to go buy an entire Indian wardrobe. The clothes are stunningly beautiful and look incredibly comfortable. Monday was a Sikh holiday (their equivalent to Christmas), so me and a couple other girls went to the main Sikh temple in Delhi and took part in the celebration. After removing our shoes and covering our heads we went through the temple and were given the traditional dessert. We did not know the correct protocol, but apparently you are to get the dessert, then go to the portioning line and give half the dessert to god, then go through te temple and eat on the other side. The dessert was some type of mealy grain in a thick brown syrupy substance. Different texture, but quite good. I believe it was call Prashad.

I have not yet had a bad meal here. At the home every morning we have porridge and some type of bread, yesterday it was toast, today it was a savory pancake like thing with lots of spices. Dinner is rice, some type of vegetable (potatoes, cabbage, caulifower, tomato), Dal (lentils in a spiced liquid), and chipathi. The food is good, but is already starting to get bland. Luckily te restaurant near work has a huge variety and is very good and cheap.

Started work today at a place called SPOWAS - Society for the Progress Of Women And Children. Spent most of the morning walking around the sight then sat in on a beauty class and got my first experience with threading, letting the girls practice on me while I let them listen to my iPod. After that lunch and working with children in the afternoon giving math problems and teaching very basic English. Decided to take the bus home which will not be happening again. After an extremely crowded hour and a half we arrived back home completely exhausted. Quiet night tonight of internet and possibly some tv. India is exhausting