Arrived!

I have made it safely to India! After getting in to Delhi, we stayed at the YMCA in the heart of Delhi - like staying at a YMCA two blocks away from the Washington Monument. Jet lag be damned, we started the next day bright and early with a 7.30 breakfast and off to orientation by 9.15. Ouch.

A South Indian-style temple across the street from our orientation home in Delhi.

 Orientation was a doctor telling us to avoid tap water in Delhi, and giving us different scenarios of fever and other symptoms that require going to a doctor. Fever alone? Not enough. Fever + stomach cramps? Probably not. Fever + vomiting? Probably. It was not very reassuring.





After going through psychological orientation, we went to lunch and then back to the YMCA for some rest time to help cope with jet lag. My roommate and I, and our neighbors, deciding to trek through the break and cross the street, to what had looked like a playground. Turned out to be Jantar Mantar, a park with 6 building sized astrological tools built by Jai Singh II, also known as the founder of Jaipur. The park looks like something out of a surrealist painting, as a huge staircase climbs into the middle of the park and then stops suddenly. It is also painted pink, Jai's favorite color, just like the city of Jaipur.

New friends! Hanging out in the Jantar Mantar (notice the bottled water)

One of the astrological tools - a sun calendar for determining horoscopes

Anyways, the rest of our time in Delhi was spent going to a bazaar which seemed very touristy, but I managed to score a new scarf for just 100 rupees - approximately 2 dollars. Nice. We finished up orientation with a talk from an American expat who told us that life in India would be different than America. Thanks for the tip!