The Long Awaited Arrival

Hello from India! All is well here with me. I am safe and sound and getting well taken care of.

My journey started last Monday, when I left Madison. My mom, Leah, Dad and Jody saw me off. My firstflight went fine, but landing was a problem. We endedup circling the airport in the air because Dick Cheneywas trying to land to go to some campaign thing. TheAmsterdam flight was also very good, and I got ashower at the airport and met up with the group. Because of the delay in the air I only had a short layover in Minneapolis, so I wasn't able to scout outpeople who may have been in the program. The flightto India was pretty ghetto. The plane was really old, and I was so tired, I just wanted to be there already! I had a window seat next to this Dutch couple, so I was kind of crowded, but it was a clear day and I could see the ground and all the countries we were flying over. I think the first reality check for me about, "Hey you are going to India!" was when we flew over the Pakistan border. It was at night and the border was all lit up and (I assume) guarded. That
may have been the first time that I really thought "What are you doing!"

We landed in Delhi at 10:30ish and went throughcustoms. All my stuff got there fine and it was a pain to lug all of the really heavy bags, but I
managed with help. There were 4 of us on the groupflight, and finding the MSID India sign was a bit tricky because there were so many people and signs at
the airport. When we spotted him we camped out towait for another three girls. One showed up right away and the others were still missing. Anthony (he
is from WI and goes to U of MN like me)and I went back through security to look for them. They were supposedly on the group flight with us, but none of us
ever saw them. There was no trace of them and we were so tired (by this time it was 1:00)that we left the airport to go to the hotel. Turned out they had missed their flight. They came in the next day.

My first roomate was Arwen (Yes, from Lord of the Rings). We got to know each other really well in those first few days. She is from California, but
goes to school in Pennsylvania. Her parents are ex-hippies who gave their children the coolest names(Arwen, Tobias, and Dagan). We got along so well that I have missed rooming withher since we left Delhi.

Orientation was good. It was very general information, and alot of introductions, getting to know you stuff. It seemed really short, because almost as soon as we got there we were off to Jaipur.

On Friday the 10th we left for Jaipur. It was a 5hr drive even though it is only 265km away from Delhi. All the traffic just goes very slowly, which is good
because traffic is INSANE! Everyone is always beeping and trying to pass each other. The lanes on the roads are really more suggestions. Surjit says that you can drive however fast you want and park wherever you want. He calls is freedom, I call it fear. Anyway, the drive went safely. It was so pretty driving
through Rajasthan. All the travel guides talk about how colorful it is, and it is really true. All around were green fields with these colorful spots, women
working wearing their saris. All of them were different colors. Just beautiful.

We spent Friday night in Jaipur at a hotel. The next morning we had a tour of the city by bus and then we met our host families. My family lives in Adarsh
Nagar, near Raja Park (just if you are curious!). I live with an elderly couple, Mr. & Mrs. Singh. I haven't seen much of Mr. Singh, he is very frail and appears like he has Parkinsons, but Mrs. Singh is very kind. I am so happy I brought her a book about Madison because one of the first things that she did was show me all the different books her other host kids had brought her. There is a guy about my age who lives upstairs, his name is Robin (a nickname). I don't know whether he rents from them or what, but he eats meals with us. And another boy, Sujit, comes and
goes as well. Its all very ambigous at this point.

I have my own room with a large bed, which is nice cause I can spread out. I also have alot of storage: a bookself and a wardrobe. There is no shower head in the bathroom so I use buckets (which is an experience).

Thats all I have the time for now. Stay tuned for Part 2!