Well I've managed to stay away now for almost the entire day. We are heading upstairs pretty soon to meet up for dinner. Poor Ray is on his way back to the airport to get some more teammembers. Turns out that there is another team here this week from Saudi Arabia and the host has been spending a lot of time with them. I met Moira straight away, she is the team leader's girlfriend and she is here until tomorrow. They've been here for a week and it was nice having her to show me around the neighborhood. She took Chinmoi (teammember) and I to this coffee shop where I had a paneer tikka sandwich (imagine a bagette with a cheese-like substance and a redish sauce... YUMMY!!!). The cafe is on the second floor andoverlooks a busy street. We sat up there for hours watching (and listening... people use their horns here for EVERYTHING!). And the streets... OMG!!! Traffic is on the wrong side of the road and the lanes mean absolutely nothing. I am used to crazy traffic, I am not used to trying to dodge motorcycles, cars, rickshaws and people at the fast pace that you have to do so. I almost got hit by a motorcycle the first time I tried it (don't worry mom... not a scratch on me! :) ). I feel a bit like frogger!!! It was really relaxing sitting at the coffee shop and Daniel came to join us. He's REALLY sweet! After awhile Ray showed up and told us that Ava and Liam were now @ the hotel. Ava had just spent the past 10 days up in a homestay up in the himalayas. Chinmoi had a friend here in Delhi that he called and so he came over. He was having a good time trying to teach us how to say thank you in Hindi, Urdu and some other language. I still have no clue,,, something like surday. We came back to the hotel and picked up Ava to go for a walk and explore some of the shops. Ray headed back to the airport. Daniel, being a tall white guy... seemed to pick up all the beggars. People would beline for him and ask him for money, to let them shine his shoes, you name it. He is very sweet and has a hard time telling them no. He finally gave in and let some guy shine his shoes. They are waterproof Merrel shoes that dont need shining but it was hilarious watching the pleasure he got out of ruining his pair of shoes for the experience of interacting with a Delhi native. The shoe shiner even took off his own sandals to have Daniel put them on in the meantime. A crowd quickly gathered as we are the only white people that I have seen all day in this neighborhood! We walked a bit further and next thing we know, we are surrounded by an entire family of beggars. Turns out Daniel had given the little girl 20 rupes (50 cents) and she brought her whole family over to ask for more. the little boy (about 7years) began to beg Daniel and the little girl began to hang on my arms. I tucked my hands into my pockets and tried to just keep walking. She was filthy and sticky and her hair was completely matted. She was probably about 9years old). The mom and baby began to bother Ava and Moira. They were really persistent and must have followed us for a half an hour. Ava taught us that we could say "naji" which means "no thank you." She also taught Daniel how to say "go away." None of it worked. Finally, we dodged some cars and crossed the street. They did't follow. Moira told us that oftentimes there is a man, similar to a pimp that makes these families work the streets and beg. If they don't bring in money they are beaten. If they do bring in money, they do not get to keep any of it.
Dinner was here at the hotel... I get to eat Indianfood for 2 weeks! What could be better than that?! At dinner Ray talked about Bawana... he told us that it is a neighborhood of slums where we will be building. When he asked at the front desk for a driver who knew how to get to Bawana, the response he gotwas "oh no sir, you definitely do not want to go there." Hahahaha... He also talked about Vijay our taxi driver and how he has the absolute worst sense of direction! :)
The team members I have met so far are SUPER cool!!! I can't wait to get to know them all. I laughed more today than I have in weeks. The brochure for customs said "Incredible India." Incredible indeed!!! Tomorrow we will continue to hang around while other team members arrive. We were talking about goingg to see a Bollywood movie or taking a Yoga class @ an ashram. We'll see!
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