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Day 4

Thursday, 1 January, 2009

I can’t believe it’s 2009 – Happy New Year! J I hope everyone had a safe time. I was just happy to be with Colin.

I miss my little puppy Rex so much, but am extremely happy I didn’t bring him with me. On my first day here, I went for a walk around the building. Not the actual apartment complex itself, but just the building. For those of you who know me in real life, you know my notoriously bad sense of direction – I can’t find my way out of a paper bag if my life depended on it. I am not kidding about that.

Anyway, on my first day here, in an effort to stave off the jet lag that was threatening me at 2 in the afternoon, I decided to go for a walk around the building…and encountered the wild dogs. I was a bit put out, but thought nothing of it…until one of them started growling at me, alerting the other dogs that came running. At this point, I knew I was outnumbered and wondered what was going to happen to me. Before I could do anything, an apartment guard came and literally beat the dogs to keep them off me. I heard them whimpering as they ran away. Then I noticed the sign that was a few feet away – DO NOT FEED STRAY DOGS.

I came back from my walk a bit shaken and a little confused. I’m a huge dog fan. I miss my little Rex-Rex so much, but I keep thinking that if he had been with me, those dogs would’ve gone right for him and who knows what would have happened, or what I would’ve had to do after. A few hours later, I took a pic of one of the stray dog that got beaten…it had dug itself a small place in the dirt keep warm while napping, which happened to be right outside my window. It’s such a cute little dog. Who would’ve ever thought that thing could be so menacing?

I’m still in awe over the cows out here. One had wandered past the gate and made it into the apartment complex. It was standing under my window, just hangin’. We had brief eye contact because I had opened the window and squealed in delight. It was like, “Sup? Got milk?” I was going to take a picture, but the guards came by and herded it out the way it had come in, which was past the guards. Oh yea…the guards here salute Colin and myself whenever we are driving in or out of the apartment complex! Very odd to me, but yet I find it utterly charming.

Cows and cars rule the road here. Colin keeps threatening that he will make me cross the street to get to the little café. While we’ve been driving, I’ve been so grateful for the driver…really, this is like nothing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Horns are always used, lines and lanes are arbitrary – it’s merely decoration. I just am so overwhelmed whenever we are in traffic or just going somewhere that involves getting in the car. I feel like I’m in my own little personal game of Frogger – we’re leaping across lanes of traffic and crazy people and if we make it to our destination safely, we’ve won! I wish I had my video camera because one has to see it to believe it. I will not be driving around here. I flat out refuse to. It’s downright scary.

When I first arrived in Chicago, the drivers scared me. I could, and still do, only describe their driving as aggressively polite. They’re riding your ass if you aren’t moving when the other light is changing yellow, so you can charge when it hits green for you…and they’ll take off down a 35mph zone at 50, yet will stop on a dime if someone is crossing the road, regardless of whether they are using the crosswalk or not. I think of my time back in Chicago as a bit surreal – I know I was there, I lived through it…hell, I still have the City of Chicago sticker on my windshield! lol

Colin and I are off to the markets today because I want to check out some yarn. It’s been so f***ing cold that I feel compelled to crochet a blanket to keep us warm. Central heating and AC – how I miss you…

-Carinae-

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Day 3

Tuesday, 30 December, 2008

So on Colin’s lunch hour today (he decided to take an extra long one), we had lunch at a mall near the house. Gurgaon is the mall capital of India it seems.

We also went grocery shopping since the cupboards were bare and I wanted some type of sustenance instead of relying on the cook. I still can’t get used to the maids or the cook. All of them were horrified when they saw me trying to figure out how to wash the dishes, shooing me out of the kitchen. Incidentally, I don’t think I could ever get rid of our cook – she makes the most delicious meals. I love her breakfasts (Karen would die, though – almost every dish our cook prepares has peanuts in them!) and her dinners are FANTASTIC. She always gives us tons of food. I’ve gone into psycho hording mommy mode – “Don’t throw that food away! That’s grace! Wrap it up and eat it later.” I used to laugh at her, but seriously…Gowri (sp?), the cook, has made me fall in love with vegetarian dishes. Everything is hearty and sits heavy for a while. I do love her vegetable dishes, though.

At the mall I saw a McDonald’s and ate there. Yes, I had to! It’s nice to see their fries are just as salty here as it is back in the USA. I had a choice between a chicken sandwich, filet o fish and vegetarian burger. I chose a filet of fish because I wanted fish. Big mistake. I will not ever eat at McDonald’s here ever again – I don’t care that they deliver! In case you missed my Facebook update, the number to call for McDonald’s delivery here is 66-000666. It’s no joke…it’s truly the number of the beast! I can’t believe McDonald’s delivers…I still giggle over that.

Anyway, I am in this sense of disbelief and awe…and sadness. As we drove to and from the apartment to the mall, I noticed all these shanty towns sandwiched in between these megamalls. I saw children running around in between cardboard buildings, playing amongst garbage and burning trash that kept the adults warm as they held watch over their children.

There I was, safely ensconced in our luxury car, replete with driver, complaining about new car smell while burning up from wearing too much clothing. Not more than 50 yards from me were barefooted children playing in the dirt. I mentioned it to Colin who looked me dead in the eye and said, “This is nothing. Wait till we get to Delhi.”

Later I arrived home with a full and happy tummy, putting groceries away and feeling incredibly guilty for my good luck. I drank hot tea while sitting at the desk in the computer room. I looked out the window and realized that the view I had naÑ—vely believed to be a trash/dump was a shanty town; I believed the empty lot was a dumping ground that the kids from the apartment complex use as a playground. It hit me – they live and play there. Whole families. Again, feelings of guilt smote me. I will never complain of being cold and hungry ever again – especially while living here. I know I am lucky – I live in a heated apartment with 2 maids, I have a driver and car at my disposal. I don’t have to lift a finger to cook, clean or drive – it is all done for me every day. They don’t get a day off, but my whole stay here is one long day off.

Before I arrived in India, I had mentioned to Colin that we get rid of the maids and the cook. I may not be the world’s best cook or housecleaner but I think I am all right. All Colin said was, “You do realize you will be putting people out of work by doing so.” Work is hard to come by and we have people relying on us to feed their families and keep the roof over their heads. I guess I’m having a hard time trying to reconcile myself with the fact that people are depending on us for their livelihood when all our lives we have relied on others…I don’t even know if I’m making sense. This is a feeling I can’t really quite articulate adequately and I feel like I’m messing it up horribly by trying to explain it, so I’ll just stop now and hope you understand what I am getting at.

At the mall, Colin told the driver to park in the parking structure. Before entering the structure, we had to stop and this female guard was banging on the window. My first instinct was to check if the door was locked and tell the driver to get us the hell out of here! Haha. But Colin told me to open the door, so I did. Seems they wanted to know if I was carrying a purse or handbag because if I was, they were going to search it for bombs or a gun! It happened to me the other night when Colin and I went to the mall – I got patted down and had a metal detector run over me to make sure I wasn’t carrying anything explosive. It was an odd feeling…I guess this is how it feels to be in high school in America?

I know it’s a precautionary measure…one I’ve never had to really think of, to be honest. I grew up in America never having to worry about things like this, 9/11 aside. The Indians have had to worry about Pakistan and other conflicts so it’s just another one of their preventative measures.

I still can’t believe I’m here!!!

-Carinae-

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Day 2

Monday, 29 December, 2008

The flight had been long and arduous, but not as bad I had expected. They constantly kept feeding me! So much so to the point where I was about to tell them to stop. Yes, it was that much food. Can you believe I actually said that?! Ha, ha. It was a 14 hour flight and to be honest, I thought I could hack it. WRONG! It was a total pain in the ass. However, would I do it again? YES! I hate layovers and I’ll take one layover and 200000+ hour flight over 4 plane changes. I want the most direct flight to a place I can get. I’ll tough out a long ass flight.

I flew American Airlines and let me tell you…I loved their seats – utterly spacious! Plus, the flight attendants were so friendly – I was incredibly surprised. The bitchiest flight attendants I have ever come across was United. Everyone else had been indifferent, but I don’t know what it was about this particular American Airlines flight, but the women who worked it were so friendly and wore GENUINE smiles. It was a shock, to be honest. I guess I’ve encountered so many surly flight attendants (yes, United, I speak of you) that I assumed all flight attendants were the same. These flight attendants excelled in courtesy and professionalism. Also, I think the passengers played a huge part in that, too.

A while back Colin and I flew to the UK via Virgin Airlines. I remember having to go pee so badly. The bathroom on that flight was SO horrific that I vowed I would NEVER use a public toilet ever again – I would sooner explode and die. A big exaggeration, but it was how I felt. Anyway, so there I was, years later, stuck on a 14+ hour flight, DESPERATELY needing to pee thanks to the 2 gallons of water I had consumed so I could stay hydrated. I knew that holding it was no longer an option. Imagine my surprise when I discovered clean bathrooms – all 5 times that I had to go. Colin said that Brits are notoriously inconsiderate in regards to bathroom facilities. So I had been traumatized by the Brits but not the Indians…and the Brits had the nerve to call non-Brits savages when they themselves were the very things. Oh, the irony!

I got in at 10:30 pm, despite the late start from Chicago’s O’Hare airport. Thanks for making me walk to 4049058754 gates because of your changes, O’Hare. It’s like Chicago was flipping me off before I left the US because it knew how much I hated that town. Chicago’s only given me 2 things I’m grateful for – my friends Cathy and Julie. Other than that, I hate Chicago. Of course, if Cathy and Julie ever moved back to Chicago, I’d suck it up and go visit. Anyway, we got back to the apartment fairly quickly…I showered and changed and was ready to sleep at 12:30am. I was up at 7:30am, not quite sure where I was.

Oh…and the bed here in the apartment? MASSIVELY UNCOMFORTABLE, even though Colin loves it. I swear I’m sleeping on a stack of wood – it’s that hard and uncomfortable. I’ve always liked a firm mattress, but the bed is a bit ridiculous! I hope I get used to it or I’ll have to get used to sleeping on the couch. Ha, ha. Well, I’m sort of joking, but I’m really not. The bed is very uncomfortable, but it’s spacious. I’m not used to the way beds are made here – in the US it’s fitted sheet, loose sheet then comforter. Here it’s a loose sheet that’s tucked in to simulate a fitted sheet, then it’s just comforter. I’m like, “Something’s amiss…” I thought it was just lazy housekeeping. No, that’s just how it is. Colin took me out to dinner the other night in a different mall and we went to a store that had bed sheets and all that fun stuff…Sure enough, there it was sold in sets – one sheet and 2 pillowcases. Very odd, but I think I can get used to it.

The dinner Colin and I went to was wonderful – it was Indian food (duh). Colin’s gone all vegetarian on me. WTF? Seriously. W.T.F. Anyway, I had butter chicken and he had some potato curry thing…that had to be some of the best Indian food in my whole life. I think when I get back to the US I am going to be massively snobby and fussy about the Indian food I eat.

Anyway, the day is very VERY cold. Cold for India and, in my opinion, considered cold in other parts of the world – high in the day of 70F and at night 30-40F. It’s not much different than Arizona in terms of temperature…except this place has humidity and I don’t have to worry about static electricity shocks! However, my hair is reminding me why I dislike humidity..I need to find a flatiron in the mall or start ironing my hair…the frizziness is freaking me out. L

-Carinae-

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