Tumhara naam kiyahai?...."What is your name?"

Just a quick update of where I am now.....

Currently I am sitting in a dorm style hostel with our group of 7 pre-travellers escaping the blazing heat and humidity that is raging outside. We spent all morning at the Amber Palace where we met a young Indian boy who, instead of hassling us for money, wanted to practice his English. We talked to him for over an hour while the rest our group was exploring the palace. This is the true India that I want to get to know. He taught us some Hindi phrases (including some bad words, of course!), joked around, and treated us like regular people rather than bestowing upon us the celebrity status that comes with being white-skinned.

Us with Irshad Khan

Him wearing my sunglasses, me holding the paintings he was selling. 

He laughed when I told him my name because apparently "laura" sounds like "penis" in Hindi! Instead he gave me an Indian name, Afrhin. I want to continue doing "people" posts on the amazing people we have met on this journey. Irshad was one, but there have been so many more and I'm sure I will meet so many throughout this trip.

I have a lot of catching up to do with this blog....we have done so much in these last few days! It has only been a week since I left the US, but a single day feels like five with all the activity and the heat. Many more blog posts to come. Please check out my friend Hannah's blog as well! She has a great post on the spiritual celebration we stumbled onto last week. Here is the link: http://hannahlilygoestoindia.blogspot.in/2012/05/deck-of-cards.html

We have over a 26 hour train ride to Chennai tomorrow, so I plan to write some then. So long until then!

A Whole New World

WOW!

All I can say is that no matter how much I write in this blog, or how many pictures I post, I will never be able to truly express all that I see and do. As I'm sitting here, in our hostel with the window open, I'm listening to a spiritual celebration/festival down the block which we actually were able to sit in on (post to come soon)! It is surreal! It still hits me at times that I am actually in India, halfway across the world. I am so incredibly thankful for this opportunity and I plan to live it up to the fullest. Everything I have seen so far is incredible, in both the good and the bad.

Traveling is the greatest aphrodisiac. All self-consciousness and fear go out the door, and you're left with nothing but a desire to truly live and enjoy the moment. It amazes me how much I have done and seen in the past two days and only fuels my excitement for what is to come!

My traveling buddy Hannah and I travelled from LAX to London and London to Delhi together. I'll tell you one thing, flying 20+ hour flights creates quick friendships! We arrived in London about 4 pm with a six hour layover. Not knowing if we had enough time, or really where we were going, we headed out of the airport with insanely priced express train tickets and explored Padington square. After grabbing a quick British meal we headed back to the airport to depart for Delhi.

Upon arrival in New Delhi, we hooked up with another American student we met on the plane to make our way to the hostel. Smell, sound, and color bombarded our senses as soon as we set foot outside of the airport. Our rickshaw driver curved, swerved, and honked as we eventually located the hostel and dropped our bags to explore. 

We ate dinner at a rooftop restaurant only a couple blocks from the hostel where we could gaze down upon all the activity of the bazaar below us. Our days have been filled with spontaneous adventures, and I fear that time is only moving too fast! 

So, what you're really waiting for....PICTURES!

We had a six hour layover in London. Everyone said that wasn't much time but we headed out of the airport and wandered down around Paddington Square. 

Our traditional British meal of fish and chips, pale ale, and watching a cricket match! 

I literally felt like I was traveling to Hogwarts 

Train Station! 

Arriving in New Delhi and our very first rickshaw ride! 

First rickshaw! 

This is the main street, our hostel is down one of the small alleyways. 

New Delhi during sunset!

The view onto the bazaar from the rooftop restaurant we ate at.

Our first true Indian meal in India, Chicken Korma and Naan. No Delhi belly yet (fingers crossed!)

5:30 am jetlag walkup time. Our beautiful hostel uploading photos and gazing down at the almost eerie peacefulness that envelopes Delhi in the morning, such a contrast to the constant horn honking.

Our Bathroom

Well...that is all the pics this wifi can handle for now, but there are many more to come!!!!!

IN INDIA!!!!!!!!!

How awesome is it that I woke up this morning, opened the window and watched the sun rise in New Delhi!

I can't believe I am really in India!

I will post actual real posts soon filled with pictures of all my activity, but for now just know that I arrived in India safe and sound and am already falling in love with all the sounds colors and culture!

More to come soon!!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

"All I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."

Divine words from Abraham Lincoln. 

My mother is truly saintlike in her actions; always giving so much of herself to others. I only hope that someday I can be as great of a mother and as great of a person as she!

Besides celebrating my mom's greatness, today was also a day of finding hidden treasures. We attended a mother's day brunch at my grandparents today and what do you know, she happened to have a genuine Indian silk sari! 

She received it as a gift from an Indian friend of my grandfather's while he was in the navy. These are pics of her wearing it in 1975. (loving the cat-eye glasses!)

 with my grandfather...

And here are my grandmother and I today, 2012. 

(though any true Indian would probably cringe at my wrapping job!)

Timing

Two weeks. TWO WEEKS until I will be in India! Seriously, this is such an amazing opportunity and will be such an awesome adventure that I can't stop expressing how thankful I am to be a part of it.

God, honestly, has impeccable timing. I don't know what my life will hold within the next year, but He does, and He has planned it just so. My first semester as a global health student, after switching over from art, I was in a class titled "Women's International Health."I remember one day in that class, two years ago, a student came in and spoke briefly about IAPA and this magnificent volunteer program they had in India.  At that time, IAPA was still working with ASU to get the program approved as a for-credit internship, but I knew that day I heard the presentation, that I wanted to be a part of it. 

Two summers went by. The first, was consumed with summer school; the second, last summer, I went to South Africa and gained priceless memories and experience teaching vacation Bible school in the village of Shongweni. 

The younger children in the creche with their angel craft.

Me and my little follower, Awande. She'd hold my hand all day long.

The mural I designed and helped paint on the creche's chicken coup.

As this summer approached, I knew I had to choose my summer study abroad program to meet the requirements for my global health degree. All of my other choices were in amazing vacation destinations, Australia, New Zealand, London, but my heart was set on this program in India. The catch? The internship only accepted roughly 15 students from both ASU and UofA combined to participate. 

I applied, but didn't expect much. My quiet and often socially awkward personality isn't exactly a prime choice for a teaching internship in a foreign country. I was certain that I'd be outshined by much more charismatic and experienced candidates. But, perhaps they recognized my passion and excitement, because I was accepted, and thus this journey began!

That first glimpse of India happened two years ago, and in two weeks I will actually be there! Simply amazing!