Chalega!

Namaste from Internet cafe in Delhi!:) It's been a little over 24 hrs since I've been in India, and I've gone through internet withdrawal all day. A bunch of us went to this huge marketplace after our orientation session today, where I haggled my way out of 50 whole cents for this cute little kurta piece. I'm trying to train my brain to not automatically convert rupees into dollars. So when I hear 225, my brain screams, "225 dollars!!", when in fact it's like what...5$? But the surest way to kill a good haggle is to not look offended and outraged at the price.

Anywayy. My first day here has been hectic, overwhelming, slighly dizzying so far. The orientation session was meek today. We did silly ice-breaker stuff that was lame. But then the Exec. Director of the foundation gave a talk on NGOs and it was a nice overview of all the stakeholders involved. It was kind of great to hear a non-academic perspective.

I have this notebook where I scribble on all day, but I forgot it up in my room. Oh, so I have a Chalega story! For non-hindi speakers, Chalega literally means "keep walking" or something. But vernacularly, it means "it's okay,", "it's not a big deal". I use it whenever I wanna say No, but I wanna be polite about it. Or if I don't really care about the question posed. Versatile word no? Yes, my favorite word. So my story is I've been using it all over Delhi! So of course, instead of politely taking no for an answer, the shopkeepers have been like, "Chalega, kya chalega?" hahah...Okay, not so exciting story. heeheh

I've lots more stories, I'll try to update with them next time. Pictures are going to unlikely, I've seen no usb port anywhere. And it takes foreverr to upload pictures on a good day. This machine that I'm typing on is about a thousand years old.

Oh also, I don't understand how more people don't die in Delhi! Someone somewhere once said it's because there are so many gods in India, we all have an immortal watching out for us. I risk my life everytime I cross the street. My strategy so far has been following cows and little children into onrushing traffic. Still alive:)