Sensory Overload

Complete sensory overload! So much as happened in the past week, I don’t even know where to begin…

I guess I’ll rewind alllll the way back to our lunch adventure from Tuesday. Jacob (our advisor/ India mentor) guided our way to the restaurant by getting us on and off the citybus a timely manner, and by timely I mean FAST! The bus he took us on was considered to be more “upscale”, costing 15rs, which is about 25cents in American money. But, Jacob told us to not compare it to our money, because to them 15rs is expensive. So, when the bus first stops, Jacob is sternly yelling at our group of 15, “Come, come, come”. Of course I, not being the most aggressive person, am stuck standing in the aisle with nothing more than a plastic swinging handle to grab onto overhead. Now, along with my lack of aggressive movement, I’m also not the sturdiest person on two feet. In fact, a select few family members like to use the term “gumby” to describe me and my floppy condition. So to give you a basic overview of the situation, I’ll say this:

Me + swinging hand rail + Indian driving = annoyed passengers, laughter, and quite the     experience

So once we got to the restaurant we had a table reserved and HUGE buffet waiting for us. I have to admit this was really my first time having Indian food, and I did try just about everything. Some… a little too spicy for my wuss of a mouth, but I’m hoping to build up my tolerance. So far, hasn’t changed much, but work in progress. The crispy baby corn was hands down my favorite and I’m really loving all the dosas and naan. I can’t really remember the names of the other items… 

So afterwards we went back to campus where Jacob had arranged for a bus to pick us and take us back to our apartments, but we all decided to venture our way home. It was the first time we all had to cross the street without the assistance of Jacob and it was the craziest, scariest, most hilarious experience. We have this huge group of like 15, so we look like a herd trying to cross the street. Only here cows are sacred and are quite safe walking down the street, unfortunately I can’t say the same for us. As soon as we stepped out into the road our herd turned into a bunch of fleeing geese and headless chickens, screaming our way across. Some of them made it the whole way in one shot. A few straggles (including myself) barely made it to the middle and had to wait there for some time before finally getting the whole way. But, hey we did it!

We all crashed around 6pm (our first time getting sleep in about 48 hours) and woke up around 6am with minor interruptions throughout the night-2:30am barking/howling dogs & thunderstorms that shook the entire apartment- and then power outage in the morning. So no fans, lights, or clean and hot water… oh the Indian life. 

I thought maybe it was the storm that knocked it out, but no. It goes out about 2-3 times a day, and I think we have traced it to the water heater and water filter switch. If those are on along with the lights, fans, and internet… then it usually goes off. We have figured out how to turn the electricity back on, so we’re dealing. I think it’s quite hilarious and just adds to the experience.

more to come...