The first week

So much has happened in this first week, and it's been rather frustrating not being able to share it until now! We arrived at the apartments in Udaipur (3rd largest city in Rajasthan) where we will stay for the next 3 weeks. It felt good to finally unpack our suitcases, yet also bittersweet to be settling down after all the adventure we've had the past few days.

But first, some overall observations:

I'm impressed with my ability to adapt to the lack of certain Western comforts here. Buying and carrying liter bottles of water, a constant sticky feeling on your skin, and constantly being stared at like a museum exhibit are things to which I'm gradually adjusting.

The "holy cows" of India really do roam the streets freely, and it's not uncommon to have one sitting right in front of your hotel door or standing next to you on a street corner. Their best friends are the wild dogs, short-haired and pointy-nosed, usually munching on street garbage.

Clean toilets just don't exist here.

Traffic is a chaotic, exciting, and terrifying mess at almost any hour. It's a thrill ride for us, and somewhat of a sport for drivers. Cars, rickshaws (small open-sided vehicle with golf cart motor), semi-trucks, motorcycles, and bikes all jockey for positions, a staggered 6-wide on a 3-lane street. Lanes, speed limits and curbs have no relevence. And to say horns are used liberally would be understated. It seems anytime one vehicle is about to pass another they honk, or when they're nearly about to run you over, or just to join in to the cacophony. Yet in spite of all this, it's really quite fun when you know what to expect.

I'm perpetually amazed at India's cultural capacity to adapt to its overpopulation. All is compressed and compact. We've ridden on both an overnight train and bus this week, where aisles are narrow and seats convert into triple stacked bunks. They stuff into rickshaws with no avail and hold few barriers of personal space in public.

I'm loving it all because it's all so exciting and new. The other volunteers, about 20 of us all together, are all eager to learn about this mystifying place and each other. Many are from the UK and Australia, and I'm starting to find myself picking up their accents and colloquialisms. At the same time we're mostly the same age and share those common generational ties - music, card games, pop, and Facebook.

I hate to leave with that introduction barely doing justice to what I've experienced thus far, but I'm hogging the apartment computer! There's much, much more to come very soon. Until then -

~christiana