Monsoon Madness!

7/12/10 - 10:30pm

So the wireless situation here at the hotel is great- but we're only given one opportunity to login for free per day, so I'm trying to economize (and break myself of the Facebook habit) by only posting blog entries once a day. As I write this, it's about 10:30 at night and we just got back from a very long and drawn-out dinner at the hotel's Chinese restaurant, which I believe is called Larry's China. Chinese food in India, I know, go figure, but there was a ridiculous rainstorm outside (more on that later) so we decided not to venture out for dinner!

Our first full day in Delhi was quite eventful. Early in the morning, around 7:30, I checked out the hotel's fitness center, which is nicer than the gym I belong to at home, then found my way down to the hotel's delicious breakfast, where I bumped into some of my compatriots.

I have to pause here to say something about Indian hospitality. I don't remember whether I wrote about this earlier, and I think I did, but words cannot express how helpful and wonderful everybody has been so far. Especially the folks here at the Taj Ambassador. They really go out of their way for you over here to make you feel like royalty! For example, I got back to the hotel after our meetings with USIEF to find that my room had been cleaned and all the junk I had left out in the bathroom was neatly rearranged into rows and piles. My shoes (which were all stashed underneath a bench) were all in a row. It's the little things! Then tonight at dinner, Britta couldn't finish most of her entrée… and instead of just packing it up for her when she asked, the waiter said "Ma'am you didn't like it? Too spicy? Let us make you something else!" and was hard pressed to take no for an answer.

Anyway. So after breakfast I took a nap, and then we went to USIEF's offices for lunch and more orientation/training. More on the educational system, including a very interesting Q&A with an administrator and a math teacher! We also learned some Hindi phrases, and the teacher was really great, but I think the only thing I remember is "Namaskar" and "Bas." Namaskar is a formal greeting, and Bas is what I will say to the auto-rickshaw driver when I need him to stop. Thank goodness for handouts!

Then the fun part of the evening started, when we decided to go over to the Khan Market (just next to our hotel) to get cell phones. Not long after we arrived at the cell phone stall it started to POUR. As in, within minutes the water on the street was ankle-deep and there were downed trees all up and down the road. We ran back to the hotel as quickly as we could, but got pretty soaked. I washed my feet as soon as I got back but I have convinced myself that I've picked up schistosomiasis and whatever other parasites burrow through one's feet when one is running through several inches of sewage-laced rainwater in Delhi. So, there's that.

OH, and we had quite the celebrity encounter! While waiting for some of our group members to go to the Khan Market, some of us struck up a conversation with a friendly middle-aged American guy who was also standing outside the hotel. I asked him what he was doing here in New Delhi and he said he was a journalist here on assignment. That he works for NPR. His voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place it, and thought maybe I was mistaken. BUT- turns out it's Corey Flintoff, whose reports I often enjoy listening to! He said that he just got back from Afghanistan, at which point I mentioned that I am teaching a unit on Afghanistan next year and would he possibly like to get together to talk about Afghanistan, and he said he would be delighted to. I'm not sure how long he will be staying at the hotel, but I really hope this pans out!

My favorite part of the day, though, was finally getting my hands on a cell phone so that I could call Jason and my parents!!!!

So then after we got dried off we went to dinner, which took forever (but I have to mention that there is a karaoke bar at our hotel and we heard some very bad singing- "Every Breath You Take"- coming from it on our way out of the restaurant… this bears some investigation, perhaps with a video camera). Now I'm back and ready to get some well-deserved shut-eye. I think by the time I wake up tomorrow, I'll be acclimated to the huge time difference.

Tomorrow the plan is to go to the foreign visitors office and register. This is going to be an extremely entertaining experience, I've been told, and unlike my trip to the Consulate in June I won't be alone. I might have to wait for hours in line, but what can you do… the Indian bureaucracy is about as spectacular as Indian hospitality… just in a different way. Shopping in the afternoon, and then we'll be meeting our principals and cooperating teachers for dinner at USIEF's HQ.

Good night from India!