import: food

thus far, food has been somewhat difficult to describe as i generally am uncertain as to exactly what it is that i am eating. i am nearly certain that i am essentially vegetarian at this point. some of the vegetables are recognizable; peas, carrots, green beans, some sort of potato, chic peas, okra… the rest are generally unknown. one that i now know the “common” name of is drumsticks… some sort of stem which is stewed until the inside is soft. the first time i had it, i clearly had no idea how to eat it… the outer layer is extremely fibrous, not meant to be eaten, and impossible to chew (as i found the hard way). the proper way to eat it is to slice open one side (which comes easily after it’s stewed) and pull the soft inside out with your teeth or a spoon. the second time i had it someone instructed me and it was a relatively generic, soft green thing, slightly like well-cooked green beans.

import: this is where i work…

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this is the beautiful school where i get to come every day. one of the teachers i work with asked if the Christel House campus in Indianapolis is similar and she was shocked when i said it was all indoors. “there is no place for them to play outside?!” i assured her that there as […]

import: my little corner of India

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this is my own little personal corner of India 🙂 more pictures to come soon!

import: HERE

welp, here I am! this place is like no other i’ve ever seen! i could compare some of the street sights to Brazil, in the contrast of rich, poor, dirty, clean, new, old, and dilapidated. i had expected there to be many strange [bad] smells, luckily this expectation has been quashed as i have not yet needed to ride city busses. many of the women i have been around wear these lovely little white flowers hanging in the back of their hair, and they smell absolutely wonderful!

i ride a big yellow Christel House bus to school which is nice because the public busses look scary…

import: flight

nearly there. all i have left is to find the christel house driver when i get to Bangalore. thank goodness the 14 hours to Delhi was relatively uneventful, even comfortable 🙂

arrival in DEL was pleasant getting off the plane, the international airport was very nice and nearly deserted. i took the chance to change into my linen pants and use the restroom while they still looked nice (and they were). the stalls were even larger than the ones in O’Hare.

i exchanged my cash for Rupees, stopped at the prepaid taxi stand inside then headed through the doors to find my cab…

as i headed out, i straightened myself, trying to look confident like i knew what i was doing. upon stepping through the doors, i felt the blast of what felt like 1,000 hair dryers pointed directly at me. i don’t think i’ve ever felt this kind of heat before. it was like being followed too closely by a hot charcoal grill.