I made it to India at 4:00am. I somehow dragged myself off the plane and made my way towards customs with my passport and visa in hand. I hurriedly filled out the customs intake form while in line to go though the customs line. I passed through customs with no problems and was then off to collect my bag. So far, there was nothing different about this place.. but that ended the second I grabbed my bag and made for the exit.
Outside the terminal, there were a few hundred people just waiting, some waving signs, some staring blankly at you, and some actually doing something productive at 4:30 in the morning. Upon not finding my driver in the first wave of people, I proceeded to the second way and was relieved to see a tall Indian man's eyes light up when I looked at him. He eagerly waved a sign that read CHRIS BOURGRAF OHIO, USA.
What a relief.... I shook his hand and he introduced himself as Dinesh, and then informed me that my scheduled driver decided to call in sick, so he and his roommate made the trip to Delhi to pick me up. At this point I was a little lucid from the lack of sleep and the drastic change of climate, location, and people that now surrounded me. So for the 45 minute drive from the airport to my flat my eyes began flickering at 1000 mph. You know like in the movies when someone is reading something that becomes progressively more important as they continue reading. As it turned out, neither Dinesh or his roommate knew where my flat was, so we drove in circles for a solid 10-15 minutes asking random people on the side of the road.
Upon finding my flat... Wow...
First off, It is called UniWorld Spa. And it is pretty close to that description. I am on the 8th floor out of 18 or so and it is quite a flat.
And to top it all off, this is the view I have from my seat at breakfast every morning.
After finishing breakfast, doing a little unpacking, and taking a nap. I was then picked up and taken to the school where I would be working. Mind you, this was around 10 am and I had only taken a 1 hour nap.
I think I met close to 50 people that morning and had to hang around the office till 5:30 that evening. To say the least... I was exhausted. I got back to my flat and the care taker asked me (in broken Hindi/English) when I wanted dinner. I was unable to articulate "as soon as possible" to him, so I settled for 7pm. I don't remember eating, or getting ready for bed, or anything else. I just remember barely being able to function. Thankfully my flat has air conditioning in each room, so I turned that bad boy on and fell asleep in seconds.
And thus concludes my first day in India.
I promise not to do day by day updates, but the first day was pretty staggering. I will be sure to update you soon on what I have been getting into. Until then!
Outside the terminal, there were a few hundred people just waiting, some waving signs, some staring blankly at you, and some actually doing something productive at 4:30 in the morning. Upon not finding my driver in the first wave of people, I proceeded to the second way and was relieved to see a tall Indian man's eyes light up when I looked at him. He eagerly waved a sign that read CHRIS BOURGRAF OHIO, USA.
What a relief.... I shook his hand and he introduced himself as Dinesh, and then informed me that my scheduled driver decided to call in sick, so he and his roommate made the trip to Delhi to pick me up. At this point I was a little lucid from the lack of sleep and the drastic change of climate, location, and people that now surrounded me. So for the 45 minute drive from the airport to my flat my eyes began flickering at 1000 mph. You know like in the movies when someone is reading something that becomes progressively more important as they continue reading. As it turned out, neither Dinesh or his roommate knew where my flat was, so we drove in circles for a solid 10-15 minutes asking random people on the side of the road.
Upon finding my flat... Wow...
First off, It is called UniWorld Spa. And it is pretty close to that description. I am on the 8th floor out of 18 or so and it is quite a flat.
And to top it all off, this is the view I have from my seat at breakfast every morning.
After finishing breakfast, doing a little unpacking, and taking a nap. I was then picked up and taken to the school where I would be working. Mind you, this was around 10 am and I had only taken a 1 hour nap.
I think I met close to 50 people that morning and had to hang around the office till 5:30 that evening. To say the least... I was exhausted. I got back to my flat and the care taker asked me (in broken Hindi/English) when I wanted dinner. I was unable to articulate "as soon as possible" to him, so I settled for 7pm. I don't remember eating, or getting ready for bed, or anything else. I just remember barely being able to function. Thankfully my flat has air conditioning in each room, so I turned that bad boy on and fell asleep in seconds.
And thus concludes my first day in India.
I promise not to do day by day updates, but the first day was pretty staggering. I will be sure to update you soon on what I have been getting into. Until then!
No comments:
Post a Comment