Marathi koop chanay!

Well, apparently I was a little more tired than I realized last night.  For anyone who’s interested, 65 km/h = 40 mi/h; I forgot to add that in.  Driving on the highways was pretty similar to America.  The speed limit was 80 km/h (50 mi/h) most of the way, which our driver did stick to.  He was great and pointed out interesting things that we passed (like all the cricket stadiums and each of the different cities) even though his English was limited and our Marathi is currently nonexistent.

Also, there was no Church this morning, what with it being Monday... not Sunday.  So far that’s been the most difficult part, keeping track of the day and time.  (By the way, we’re 5.5 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time here, which is 11.5 hours ahead of home.)  My body is used to being constantly exhausted so it’s doing fine with that (well, perhaps it’s doing a little worse than usual right now).  It doesn’t help that I can’t seem to get my clock to keep time correctly, no matter what voltage I set my converter at.  Anyway, I’m more awake now, so here are a few tips for those of you considering traveling abroad:

1) Don’t underestimate the importance of packing lightly.  I thought I almost did alright, but I brought way too much.  Plus, I was so tired by the end of traveling that the last thing I wanted to deal with was all the luggage I had, especially going through customs.  You really can buy pretty much anything here that you can at home (and for much cheaper, I might add) so just leave anything not absolutely essential at home.  Just like always, I guess, it’s much easier for guys than girls... all of us girls have roughly the same amount of stuff while the guys have less.

2) Sleep on the plane.  I only slept a couple of hours on the last leg of my flight... not a good idea.  Stay up late the night before you leave or something that will ensure that you sleep on the flight.  Jet lag is easier to deal with if you’re more alert.  Also, it’s good to know what you’re doing when you’re going through customs so you don’t make a fool out of yourself (which did happen, yes).

3) Get the vegetarian meals on the plane.  That’s what my Mum told me and it was really good advice.  The guy who sat next to me on my second flight had the chicken version of whatever we got and didn’t like it, but mine was good.  (Lufthansa is a great airline, by the way... I recommend flying with them if you can.)

4) Water bottles with built-in filters are amazing... I highly suggest them.  Passport Health has really good ones; I love mine.  It gives me one less thing to worry about, which is particularly nice right now.

That’s all I can think of for now.  Today we had breakfast at the hotel (which is really nice; simple but spacious) and then walked to the Association’s office, where we will have our classes.  Actually, we had our first Marathi class today, which was a lot of fun, and a briefing on what to expect and how to act in our home stay.  Mostly, the day was pretty relaxed... we’ve just spent time together.  Getting to know the other students on the trip has been great fun.  It’s really an exceptional group of people... I feel very lucky.  One of the other girls pointed out that India (and this program in particular, since it’s so involved) isn’t exactly the place that you’d come unless you’re really excited and interested in being here specifically, so that helps.

My first Marathi lesson!

First autorickshaw ride.

Lunch... it’s all pretty spicy.

I hope that you enjoy the photos... I promise to have more scenery/people shots soon.  I’m going to end this entry here.  I’ll write again soon!

*L*