Excuse me miss, are you Indian?

So that wasn’t exactly how they asked me. They asked the people I walked into the restaurant with. We had just sat down at our table when a man came up and asked something to the guys we have been working with. They gave him a funny look. He asked them something else and they said “america.” He then said “excuse me” and told me his name and shook my hand and told me it was nice to meet me. He then whispered something else to the guys and left. They laughed and told me and my friend that he came over and asked them if I was from India or a foreigner. Now, I would almost be impressed that something about the way I can blend into a culture that people would want to know, except with my blond hair, blue eyes, and bright white skin, it was pretty clear that it was not my ability to blend in. Rather it was a group of men who had too much to drink and were surprised to see a white girl like me in this part of India in this hotel restaurant. Two other men both came over to shake my hand during the evening, separately, so that they all could say they met me. They did not try to stay and chat, just wanted to meet.

Earlier today we were at a school. A bunch of the girls (after being prepped and encouraged by their teacher) came up to ask me questions like “What is your name?” and “How are you?” and “Where are you from?” I was happy to answer and try to talk to them a little. Most were pretty shy. But after they talked to me, every single one of them lined up to shake my hand and say hello and thank you. I told them all how great it was to meet them.

When a bunch of 12 year old girls who can barely look you in the eye and are giggling with excitement line up to shake your hand, it is really cute. When several older men who have obviously had too much to drink do it, it is less cute. It was pretty funny though.

Random Updates 7.28.09

Two weeks from tonight I will be flying home. And so much to do between now and then. We have two days left in Murshidabad. Tomorrow we are going to have a meeting with parents at a school in one of the villages we’ve done some work in to share what we’ve learned so far and get their feedback. Thursday is our last full day here and we’ll do some final field work and any last minute meetings. Friday we head back to Kolkata. We have a lot of work and transcribing and analyzing to do then. Also lots of shopping this weekend  which I’m really looking forward to.
Next week is another busy week full of meetings and trying to wrap up this past month. Lots to think about. Lots to write about. I’ve learned so much through this whole experience. I’ve been trying to keep detailed notes throughout the trip so I wouldn’t forget anything, but it is still going to be hard to try and capture in summaries and reports.

I am excited to share my pictures with everyone. We’ve gotten some pretty great ones.

In unrelated news – I have a new places to live when I move back to the bay! Yay for awesome roommate Lindsey for finding the place. I will be a new Oakland resident starting in August.

We’ve been watching a lot of Indian movies at night. I’ve gotten really into them. It’s kind of fun to watch movies where you can’t understand what the words are but still follow the story and are totally invested in the outcome. Plus, you gotta love the dancing and music and songs throughout all of them.

It’s always something at the Samrat …

The hotel we have been staying at in Murshidabad is Hotel Samrat. Our first experience here was not a great one. Pretty much every person who worked here was incredibly rude to us. And not just me and my friend, but my friend’s mom and sister who were also staying here for a couple of days. It just seemed that every encounter was a negative one. We were happy to try a different guest house that was closer to some of the work we would be doing that week. But after an invasion of cockroaches in our room, combined with already held the concerns about general safety as well as the quality of the food, we quickly came back to the city. But first we tried another hotel – The White House. Nice name, huh. Anyway, there was a reason we were put in Samrat in the first place, it definitely is the best quality hotel in the area. So when we came back to Murshidabad for this two week trip, we are back at the Samrat. The service is much better, but I swear there is always something.

If it’s not the AC that isn’t working (again), it’s the fluorescent light flashing that needs to be replaced. And of course, they don’t believe us when we call. So they have to send multiple people to come and see that it won’t stop flickering before they actually just replace the thing. Currently our bathroom looks like a forest with all the bugs and moths and crickets that have made it their new home, along with a couple of lizards who are not doing their jobs and eating the darn bugs.

Every day is a new adventure here in India, whether one of our meetings or errands we have to run or some new experience. But it also seems that every day there is something new at the Samrat. All part of the experience though. You just have to shrug it off, be happy with the experience you are having and everything you are learning, and move on to the next adventure.

Quick Lesson

No, those long, skinny, green vegetables in the middle of the veggie platter are NOT green beans.

General Update 7.19.09

The trip is going very well. Another week flew by here in Kolkata. We were very busy between meetings and planning for the next phase. Tonight we travel back to the Murshidabad district where we will be for the next two weeks. During this phase of the trip we will continue to meet with different local government officials, a couple of local NGOs, as well as continue to assist on a research project. We will spend some time in the villages talking to families and we will spend some time in the larger city. Our project is centered on the problem of arsenic in the ground water which is most people's main source of drinking water. It’s a pretty intense experience to see the health effects first hand and to talk to people about what is going on.

While we are here this trip, we are also going to see some of the historical sites of the area which should be pretty interesting. We will also be meeting up with more students from a local college who are also going to be working on the research project; I’m excited to meet more of the students and hang out with them.

My friend leaves two weeks from Monday and I will be so sad to see her go. There is another student staying in our guest house in Kolkata who is doing work through the same professor who will still be here when we get back from Murshidabad. She just arrived this weekend, but we might have the chance to get to know her some when we get back. I think these next two weeks are going to fly by. And then it will be just a little over a week until I head home myself. I’m looking into possibly doing a sort of packaged tour my last weekend in Delhi, including a trip to the Taj Mahal. Has anyone been on one or knows someone who has? I’m looking for recommendations of reliable tour companies.

I am having an incredible time and it really is an amazing experience and I know it will continue to be so. That being said, I am also a little homesick. I wish I got to be home when mom gets home from her big trip so I could hear all about it. And go to the wedding in August. And help figure out where I’m going to live next year. And be back up in the Bay. BUT in no means am I regretting being here or this experience. Just missing home is all. But with just a little over three weeks to go and so much to do between then and now, I think it will go by really fast. Who knows, I might not even ready to leave when that time gets here … although I’ll probably just be pretty excited.

Trains

We have been taking the train back and forth from Kolkata to Murshidabad. The train station is a very different experience from the airport. Even in the domestic terminals at the airport there were usually a few other foreigners, but I have not yet seen any in the train stations. They are crowded, as are most places here, and hot. I get lots and lots of stares. There are a lot of people begging and I get singled out by many of them. There are kids wearing nothing but rags sleeping on the concrete next to gates. Stray dogs amble through the crowds and find incredibly inconvenient places to lie down and spend a lot of time chasing after flies that try to land on them. There are lots of flies everywhere. And the stench in the wrong wind or on the spot can be pretty bad. It’s not uncommon for some people to go to the bathroom on the tracks. It is a huge mix of people – families, business men, farmers, people of all ages and all classes wearing everything from very little to intricate and beautiful saris.

Crowds swarm the train as you are trying to get on. Makes me really glad we have been paying for reserved seats. Still have to fight through the crowds though, to get on the train and then to get to your seat, and then to put your luggage away. Once on the train, however, the view of the countryside is absolutely beautiful. It is simply green for as far as your eye can see. Amazing trees and plant life, lakes and ponds, and fields and fields of jute, banana tress, and other crops. And then you pass by small towns or little cities and see more of daily life. There is also trash everywhere in the cities, especially around the tracks. The colorful clothes blow in the breeze that are hung out outside to dry. Depending on the time of day, people are in the fields or on their porches or in the street.

Tons of vendors pass up and down in the aisles on the train, selling everything from books to umbrellas to flashlights to rubix cubes. The most common item is cha, or tea. There is also all sorts of food items being sold, I’ve seen toast spread with butter and dipped in sugar and or cinnamon, ghugni – a type of lentil dish, crackers, chips, candy, etc. Our favorite and what we now get every time on the train is the Muri Makha – translated means rice mixed with other stuff. It’s dried, puffed rice mixed with all sorts of spices and nuts and coconut and other goodness. It is really delicious.

Last night we made it from Kolkata to Murshidabad on the train all by ourselves. Our two previous train trips we had someone we knew on the train with us. Of course, someone dropped us off at the train station (even made sure we found our seats) and another person picked us up right outside the station gate on the other end (we have a lot of people worrying about and taking very good care of us), but we still made the trip by ourselves, and even figured out the correct stop we needed to get off at. Although we almost didn’t make it as the train started moving again before everyone was off … but it stopped again shortly after when they realized a bunch of us were still in line to disembark. So we made it! Now time to finish preparing for these next two weeks, as we are going to be kept very busy.

A little politics

I am posting this several days after this happened. After the strike, everything went back to normal. There were no more transportation disruptions, people went back to life as usual. We were fine and able to travel safely. I will still follow the politics though and update if there is more interesting news. Now, onto the post …

We are watching the news right now and seeing several buses on fire. In Kolkata. We’re in Kolkata right now. Apparently there are some major politics at play here at the moment. I’m still trying to find out all of the details, but so far, this is what I’ve gather:

-One of the local leaders - Falguni Mukherjee - of the currently leading political party, CPI-M (Community Party India-Marxist) was murdered last month, the CPI-M blamed their rival party Congress
-There has been political unrest since then, strikes and protests in the street, etc
-In retaliation to the murder, local CPI-M members attacked local Congress members in the district where the murder took place, this included burning some of their houses
-14 of the Congress legislators traveled there to give aid to those whose houses were burned
-While they were there (Wednesday of this week), they were attacked, 8 of them were injured
-Congress party claims it was the CPI-M party who attacked them
-The ruling CPI-M party denies that they led or had anything to do with the attack
-Congress and another party walked out of the legislative session on Thursday
-Congress also called for a strike in that district and surrounding areas on Thursday
-During the strike one of the Congress members was allegedly killed
-They called for a 12 hour strike on Friday for almost all of West Bengal (I heard something like 17 out of the 19 districts), including the city of Kolkata

Apparently everything will be shut down tomorrow and no one will be able to get anywhere. It’s mainly a transportation strike – meaning they will be blocking the streets and rails – so literally no one will be able to get anywhere.

We have been warned by the people at Jadavpur University that we’re working with as well as the people running the guest house we’re staying at to not venture outside tomorrow. That’s enough warning for us to listen to. Besides we have plenty of work to do.

Supposedly this will all be calmed down by this weekend. Hopefully that is the case because we will be traveling on Sunday evening by ourselves to Murshidabad. I am sure it will be fine, and if it’s not we’ll be told and taken care of.

It’s just kind of crazy. There is so much violence and it seems to be just a constant back and forth. And in between is everyone who needs to get to work or go the hospital or to the store. So far it sounds like a lot of blaming going around in a big circle. It has been hard to even piece together what I have been able to so far. But no matter what the exact facts are, people on both sides are getting hurt and that is just awful and sad, and everyone else is being caught up and affected by this as well. It’s kind of amazing to watch.

Dreams

So we have both been having kind of crazy and very vivid dreams since we got here. We're taking malaria medication, but we’re taking Malarone, not Lariam which is the one I've always heard gives you crazy dreams. The dreams haven't been making me feel like I'm going crazy or anything; it's just that I don't usually remember my dreams and now I'm waking up every morning and remembering several, and they are all really strange. And it's happening to both of us. Over breakfast we usually swap our crazy dreams stories. Has anyone else taken it and experienced this?

Monsoons

So it’s monsoon season. The season started pretty much right when I landed in India. It hasn’t gotten too bad yet, but it’s still very early in the season. It has rained every day, and it’s definitely raining more each day. It usually storms for a bit and then clears up quickly and the sun is back out and it’s super hot again. The storms though have been getting longer too. At the end of the season, I can imagine that it’s almost impossible to get to the places we’ve been going. The roads are already really muddy. On one of our trips we were in a different type of car than we’d been used to, and it got stuck in one of the mud holes. It took four people helping push to get it out. So many adventures. Hopefully with the better car we won’t have any such problems again. But we’ll also be visiting some of the villages till the end of the month, and I certainly hope that we don’t have any major problems because of the weather.

We were told that the big monsoon has not hit yet. It seems like it has been getting hotter and hotter. They said that the longer it waits and the hotter it is beforehand, the worse the monsoon is. They also expect it any day. Or it could still be a little while. But I think we’ll know when it hits.

Electricity

It’s pretty typical for power to go out here a couple of times a day. Life generally doesn’t skip a beat when it happens. If we’re at a hotel or guest house then it takes a few minutes but they have generators so power comes back on soon. If we’re in meetings or something then everything basically just continues as is. It usually only means it gets hotter as the fans stop working until it comes back on. Part of our unpacking at each new place is the strategic placement of the flashlights so we know where they are if the power goes out when it’s dark out.

Food

The food here is really good. A lot of rice. Too much rice. And then meat and veggies cooked in all sorts of curries and sauces. Sometimes spicy but never too much (of course I also don’t add the extra peppers). Eating a lot of vegetables. Partially because they are safer then the meats, and partially because they are so good and there are so many different types. But eating so much spiced food is definitely a huge change in my diet. We were very excited when we found simple ‘boiled vegetables’ without any sauce or anything on the menu of the hotel we’re staying at. The first time we ordered it, our server reminded us that it was a dry dish. Exactly. That will now become a staple food for us.

The fruit is amazing and is another staple. Every couple of days we stop at a food stand and stock up on more mangoes and bananas. They are so sweet and so delicious.

School 7.8.09

We visited a school yesterday. We had a meeting inside and outside the window there grew a crowd, all wanting to see the foreigners who had come to their school. They don’t see a lot of white people. We were then outside and after a few minutes literally the entire school poured out of their classrooms to get a look at us. They were lined up along all of the railings, teachers and students alike. It was a high school but there were also some younger kids there, they all crowded around us to get a better view. I would take their picture and then show it to them, which would create a surge in the crowd as everyone wanted to see the picture.

As someone who generally doesn’t like being the center of attention, I was kind of overwhelmed by the whole thing. I just kind of kept waving and bowing and saying hello and thank you in Bengali when I would take a picture. Everywhere we go here, I really do just get stared at and create a crowd. And not just kids either, really anywhere we go now that we are outside of a major city everybody wants to just get a look at me. I never feel unsafe, it’s not an intimidating or dangerous looks, its really just curiosity and they’re probably just wondering what I am doing here.

7.8.09

At one of our meetings today, a girl came in and sat in the back. The person we met were meeting with told us she was here because her life has been in danger. Her village did not accept her and people have tried to murder her. In English he said it was because she was too smart, when he was explaining it in Bengali (translated for me later) it was more that she was too modern, there was also speculation that there was some sort of disability that might have caused that reaction. It was hard to understand exactly what was going on, but for whatever reason, people in her village literally wanted her gone. She had to have police protection at her house to ensure her safety. She was young, in tenth grade, and very beautiful. Her salwar kameez was a bright pink which looked gorgeous with her dark skin. She was shy and also very curious about us and kept waving and smiling.

I can’t even imagine what her life must be like. To have some reason people in your village literally want to kill you, just for being who you are. And actually trying. To have to continue to live in that village, in her parents home, knowing her life is at risk. And to be so young. And to see her smile.

The Hangover … Vegas 7.4.09

We just saw The Hangover. Hilarious movie. Made me miss Vegas. My last trip to Vegas was pretty perfect as far as Vegas goes. Or at least what I really needed and wanted at that moment in my life. I am excited to go back again, so much more to do, so much more trouble to get into. Ha. But really what that trip most represented for me (other than AMSAP) was how amazing my friends are. I already knew that and have been through a lot where they have been there, but it was just so nice to be reminded once again of how great they are. Of course, when it involves a weekend in Vegas, who isn’t gonna step up?

But back to the present day, we saw the movie in a very nice mall in Kolkata, it could definitely rival most malls in the US, very modern and beautiful shops. The clothes were much more expensive than other places so we didn’t do any shopping (which we will do later this weekend) but it was fun to just walk around some. And such a stark and interesting contrast to the street vendors of food and clothes and everything else directly outside.

Ride on the Rickshaw 7.4.09

Much better way to see the city than in the car or taxi. Walking is also good, but you get to see more on the rickshaw. Riding through the back streets, passing apartments and people’s houses, street vendors, shops, and people. You see, hear, and smell a lot more of the city; really get to feel it.

At the Airport 7.3.09

Written while I was waiting at the Delhi airport before I flew to Kolkata. Lots happened since then.

Was able to find a skim latte, that was pretty nice. I’m running low on money and need to find an ATM badly. I also need to refill my cell phone but haven’t figured out how. I saw a stand that I thought was what I was needed, but it wasn’t. And I had been all proud of myself for thinking I had it figured out. Fail, eh. Other than those two things, I think I’m doing pretty well. I got to the airport really early, purposely because this was not a flight I wanted to miss. Unlike flights from Oakland to Vegas, these don’t leave every hour. While I was waiting I got some good work done and it felt good to be working. Very productive. And it also made me excited for the upcoming month. I think I’m going to get to see some pretty amazing things and talk to some pretty amazing people.

Airports are always so familiar. Doesn’t really matter where you are, you’re gonna have the same basic set up. Their security was definitely higher than most other airports I’ve been to, and it was run very efficiently. I was impressed by it. And because so far pretty much all I’ve done is been in a hotel, in an airport, or in a taxi, I haven’t had any of the experiences I’ve been told about as far as being a white westerner here and getting stared at, etc. There were a few other foreigners at the airport, but because it was the domestic terminal, I was definitely just one of few.

It’s been kind of nice to be so completely on my own these last couple of days. It’s usually rare that I go so long without really talking to anyone. I’ve never really been a philosopher and it’s not that I have used this time to reflect on the meaning of life etc … it’s just kind of a cleansing feeling to just be with oneself and not anyone else. It’s been a self check that I can do this – travel around the world and get from place to place and be completely by myself. I had people help me tremendously to set everything up and I am so grateful to all of that help, but it’s been pretty reassuring to know that I’ve been able to get here and do this.

That being said, I’m really looking forward to seeing someone I know tomorrow.

Quick Update 7.7

Murshidabad is beautiful. I am writing posts but can't update right now, it's getting dark so we need to get back to the hotel soon. This is going to be an incredibly intense and amazing experience.

General Update 7.6.09

So my first weekend in Kolkata was a success. I met up with my friend and even spent some time with her mom and sister and cousin. They took me shopping and I now have several new outfits for the rest of my trip, which is always fun. The markets we went to ranged from high end malls (not the typical) to street vendors. It was quite the experience, I was just glad I wasn't by myself trying to buy things, because the art of haggling is much harder to do when you're white and don't speak the language and know that no matter what you're paying too much.

This evening we are traveling to Murshidabad, where we will be for about a week. I have no idea what internet access will be like - my guess is not very good. It hasn't been great most of the weekend, but we are on campus right now which is why I'm able to update this. I am going to continue to write (I have a couple of other posts still on my computer that I will transfer next time I am able) and post things once I have the chance. I will also put up pictures after this next week.

I am looking forward to this next part of the trip; we will be seeing more villages and getting out of the cities. I've enjoyed being in Kolkata, and it's fun that we'll be back here several times so we can get to know it even more. But it is also cool to be getting to leave the cities and experience other parts of the country.

So that's it for now. Know that I'm safe and having a good time. Will update again when I can. xo

(Legally) Celebrate Being Gay in India 7.2.09

I can’t tell you how cool it was to read the paper my first morning here and the biggest story, covering the front page, and multiple pages inside, all covered the victory of the LGBT movement in India. The High Court just struck down a hundred year old law that criminalized homosexuality. The enthusiasm and excitement from the community could be felt through their quotes and pictures and just all of the stories in general. To finally be recognized by your own country as someone who is not a criminal simply for their sexuality, it’s huge. What depressed me was reading all of the statistics of all of the other countries that still condemn homosexuality as illegal, and the HUGE list of other countries that treat gays as second class citizens through a variety of different types of legislation, from not allowing marriage to banning adoption to all sorts of other ridiculous laws that are completely unjust, unfair, and wrong.

Seeing the pride parade last weekend in San Francisco and then being in a country that literally just struck down the criminalization of being gay, is a stark contrast and reminder of how far we have to go … not just on gay rights, but so many human rights and global justice issues. Watch out world, my activist spark has been reignited.

Riding in Cars 7.3.09

Driving in India seems to be a talent all by itself. If anyone is anxious or nervous I do not recommend it. But it you’re able to sit back and not worry about things too much, you might even enjoy it a little. The drivers are all incredibly skillful, and you have to be to not get killed on the road.

When I first left the Delhi airport I noticed a sign saying something along the lines of “Please Stay in Your Lanes.” Not realizing how big of a deal that was, I kind of shrugged it off, almost surprised that I had seen it, but not really. But after two days of being driven around, it’s so clear as to why that was there, and even more so how nobody pays any attention to such signs. The lanes are barely suggestions for the drivers, even the middle yellow line is more of a hint of what side you probably want to stay towards when there is lots of oncoming traffic more than legally which side of the road you need to drive on. It’s a game of lots of small cars that simply nudge and honk their way between each other, however they can fit, whenever they have the chance. Whether the other drivers see them or not is not completely an issue, especially because the horns are basically non-stop on the road, making sure they know you’re coming through, so they’d better get over half an inch cause that’s all you need, and then you take it and there are no surprises when you make it through unscathed.

However when I was reading the paper this morning, a couple of things caught my attention about the traffic. The first was an article about the huge daily increase of the number of cars on the road and the heavy traffic that the city deals with on a daily basis. The article centered on a major road that was currently six lanes, under construction to expand to eight, but with the current estimates in 2011 would need to be at 24 lanes to serve the number of cars that will be using it. 24 lanes! From six. Huge. The other article which was really sad, reported a hit and run that killed a woman. She was then repeatedly run over by other drivers on the road that failed to stop so by the time the police found her she was completely unrecognizable. It was fairly graphic talking about how they put her body parts into plastic bags to be sent to the lab to get identified. Pedestrians are constantly just crossing the freeways and highways, whenever they see an opening, whether it was a large one or not. People and bikes are along every single road I’ve been on. And they did not represent a green movement of people not using cars – one of the articles did mention the need for increased public transit – but lack of safety. Some of the signs I saw tonight in Kolkata included “No Worry, No Hurry” and “Take your time, Not your life” to emphasize to drivers to slow down. The signs didn’t seem to be doing much of anything.

So it’s interesting because given the signs I’ve seen, someone thinks there are problems to fix. But how efficiently are they being addressed? Is there real action or simply a few signs? And how much money would it cost to make real improvements on the roads and transportation, and is that money better spent on increasing the nutritional intake of the country’s children, or increasing access to education, or providing better access to medicine? I really don’t know the answers and I’m not going to pretend I do and say what I think the number one obvious answer is … because I don’t think there is just one. And I do know there are lots of people working on all of these issues. I’m here to do what I can in addressing the water situation in West Bengal. I know that a lot of these issues are related, connected by the cores of poverty and power and the legacy of imperialism. I am excited to learn from people here about what they do to improve their own lives around water access and what they think needs to be done to continue improving their country. Real change comes from people, not signs.

Arrival in Delhi

I am now successfully in Delhi. I met up with my taxi driver relatively easy. I had a little bit of a hard time finding him (my boss had used him before so we had set up for him to pick me up) but only because there were so many people; it just made me glad I had my cell phone already. And I got to where I’m staying pretty quickly, I’ll be excited to drive back to the airport tomorrow when it’s light out so I can actually see more of the city.

I’m really glad I’ll be meeting up with people I know this weekend and that my friend will speak the language. I feel like (ok I am) an awkward foreigner who can’t understand a word of their language. Just between checking in and getting dinner, I feel like I’m blundering around. But everyone is super nice and eventually everything gets worked out.

Now I’m going to try to get some sleep so I can try and adjust to this time change as quickly as possible. I head to Kolkata tomorrow evening. I’ll be staying at a University Guest House there. I am hoping that they too have internet and if that’s the case than I will keep this up, but if not, I’ll just keep writing and post whenever I do have access.

Miss home and the people there but am excited about this adventure!

How to Survive a Really Long Plane Flight

1) Give up your comfortable aisle seat to the nice old woman who had the middle and asks you to switch. And then watch as she trades it to some punk kid who was sitting next to her husband. Resent him for the entire 14 hours.

2) Chose your ‘entertainment’ based on what you think you will get the most of out given the experience you are about to have, i.e. start “The Story of India” and/or Ghandi, but then get distracted by the people in front of you who are watching The Devil Wears Prada and Confessions of a Shopaholic. Compromise and turn on an old classis that is still directly related to what you are doing and watch “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Fall asleep half way through.

3) You might have heard that sitting for that long in one position is bad for you. Don’t believe it. Only get up when absolutely necessary. If you’re legs feel a little funny as you’re walking off the plane, consider it part of the experience.

4) Sit directly in front of a toddler, yes the one who is singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider and sounding adorable. As soon as the plane takes off, she will change from the cute little singing child to the monster crying child whose wails wake up all of the other babies on the plane.

5) It’s a good thing you brought all of that work with you on the this flight. All of those books you were going to read. Don’t touch any of them except for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Of course you could have packed it in your checked luggage and not have to have carried it around with you all day, but really it just makes you stronger, so get over it.

6) Spend the entire time thinking about all of the things you haven’t done, or should have done, or could have done better. It’s super productive and great for your self esteem.

At the airport

And so it begins.

Just a little 24 hours from now and I'll be in Delhi. Until then I'll be here in LA, in NY, and be spending a loooong time on a couple of airplanes. I'm not really sure how to deal with a 15 hour plane flight. I brought books, work to do, this little netbook, ipod, crappy magazine, and plan on sleeping for awhile. Because I am apparently slightly compulsive, I've planned out when I actually need to sleep to make the adjustment to the 12 hour time change as smoothly as possible (still not gonna be smooth...). But because I've planned it out, I'm sure there is no way I'm going to sleep when I've decided I need to. I'm going to try my hardest to not sleep on this first flight, but I'm tired and have a tendency to fall asleep like a baby as soon as the plane engines turn on.

Still kinda hard to believe I'm leaving for India. I looked at my calendar, I land back in LAX exactly six weeks from right now.

The plane ride will be the first adventure. Finding my taxi driver and hotel by myself in Delhi will be my second. I'll feel much better once I'm in Kolkata and actually meet up with people.

This is my first big trip on my own in a long time. It's kind of strange to be leaving my family for so long, especially after these past couple of years. But I think it's a good sign, and good for everyone.

I still can't believe I'm going to India!! I'm SO excited. :)