Our second full day in Delhi, India with Cross Cultural Solutions
I waited to shower today until everyone else had showered. Our flat ran out of water after 4 people showered. It wasn’t a big deal. I don’t always shower everyday at home anyway. Jim said, “Ran out of water? How does a flat run out of water?” I don’t know, but it did. Sean hadn’t had a shower either. He was cool with it too. Sean has been doing really well. He is enjoying this trip greatly, rolling with it all and getting into the spirit of the experience.
Today we spent in orientation and clothes shopping. Tomorrow we will begin our volunteering. Sean and I have been assigned to a 1st/2nd grade class helping with math and English, then we will help Jim and Alecia with the preschool class until 12. It was the 16th or 18th (sorry I forgot which) anniversary of Cross Cultural Solutions today.
The cake had a core of sliced fruit. I am going to have to try that at home. Below is a photo of the staff. The woman in the center is Bella, or Bella-Ji as my Hindi teacher Sandeep told me she should be called. I really liked her.
Here is a photo of Lalit, a member of the staff at CCS, pointing at the newspaper telling about the election results. They have no majority now after the election, so unless a couple of the groups can form a coalition there will have to be another election in 6 months. Notice the mark on his pointing finger. It was made with indelible ink, so it takes a few days to wear off. It does not wash off. It is the mark that shows he has voted.
This is Bella giving us information about CCS. I like her. She would be fun to hang out with, I can tell.
She had us tell our motivations for coming. That is what the list above is.
We are very lucky to have such a great group.
Yes, they are as small in real life as they look in the photo.
We went out to lunch yesterday and had dosa. I promise to come home knowing how to make them. They are Sean’s favorite dish now. The person with the turban is Vicky. He is a Sikh-man. His hair is down to his butt, if he were to take his turban off. He coils it around on top of his head after he washes it so he can put his turban on. Sikhism comes out of Hinduism. It used to be that each Hindu family would give their oldest son to the Sikhs to become a warrior to protect the country. These men formed the foundation for Sikhism.
Isn’t that cool. It matches my rings.
Oops, they all have the flash in their eyes. The group is waiting for a delicious lunch.
These are the appetizers.
Jim and Wendy.
The man in the back has concrete blocks balanced on a towel on his head. That has to be so heavy on his neck. Ouch!
We finished the day by going shopping for the traditional clothes the women have to wear when volunteering. Some of us loved it more than others. I knew it was going to be like that when Jim started asking how long the shopping was going to take before we even left the office. Half the group bailed and went back while the other half kept shopping.
Don’t you love the bright colors? The outfit we bought is called a salwar kameez. I bought two. You will see them when I wear them to work.
Check out out part one and two of our first day in Delhi, here and here.
Check out the next post here.
