India Minda Shindia!

WHOOO IM HEREEE
Okay hmm where do I begin...

I'm in india with a full out indian wardrobe, binde on my forehead and henna on my hand.

After a 20 hour plane ride and a nice pit stop in frankfurt where we celebrated some oktoberfest at 11:00am and 5:00am Boston time - we finally made it to mumbai at 1:30 am. All I remember is the shock of humidity as we got out of the airplane and the massive amount of colors and sleeping people lying outside of the airport. The city was bussling with rickshaws (a 3 wheeled taxi - which you take everywhere) 50's style taxis and people, dogs and cows sleeping on the sidewalks. I have some great movies of this moment as we took our bus to the hotel that ill try and upload.

So Ive been in india for 5 days now and it is so beautiful, amazing, gorgeous and HOT. I am in love with this country. The people are so kind, warm and friendly. We are somewhat celebrities in this city were in but were slowly getting to know our community and neighbors.

Okay so where do i begin:
Day 1: Mumbai
This city is fantastic. Over 20 million people. A city full of people peeing, pile of trash everywhere and color. It is also predictibly very crowded. You would walk down the street with bumper to bumper with traffic and see a beautiful apartment building with a row of slums surrounding the building. What was especially shocking was the homeless families that you see all over the sidewalk begging for money. A friend and I got up early to go walking and a baby under the age of 3 with no pants or shoes walked with us for 3 blocks asking for money. We saw the slums which are in slumdog millionaire and those right by the airport - which you see in the movie. Honestly we were only there for a day and a half and I didnt get a great feel for the city and really want to revisit it.

Day 2- Now: Hubli

We finally flew to our main location for the next six weeks - hubli. located in the north of karnataka (the same state where bangalore is). This city is fantastic. Just over a million people live here and our twin city darwad which is 20 km away. Its a collegetown so there is a ton of young people. We are working at a college within walking distance and are staying at this great guest house with is beauitful and all to ourselves. We all have balconys and there is spotty wifi in the house. We are working for this foundation at the university so there are over 40 college students in the fellowship at the university. They all speak english and are taking us to a local town next weekend. There are also a bunch of americans in this fellowship which are here for a year working in NGOs. men

I'm working in an agricultural NGO that trains farmers in a community based cooprative. Within the organization we are creating pamphlets for women's health issues to give to village women. Tomorrow we are meeting to interview then at 8am so I need to get my beauty sleep!

This country is amazing and most of the people ive talked from hubli know very little about american culture and society. They have not seen any of our movies and know a very limited information about our music or food.

Also literally every meal is curry. Spices in the morning are really not working out with me but there is nothing else to eat. I'm not sick yet but its bathroom issues are starting to be a problem with some people on the trip.

namascara,

Sarah!