Saturday July 7,2012
12:06am
So it's technically Saturday but I am considering it still friday.
So much for adventure today. I didn't wake up until like 6:30pm. At least I slept for a good solid chunk of time, now let's hope I can sleep through the night and get on that India time! I woke up to find Arijeet here with Raj. We chatted over samosas, curry, and chai tea (amazing) Then Raj took me on a tour of the whole building starting with the terrace. Very Indian. The terrace that is, not Raj. In fact the terrace is probably more Indian than Raj. If I had been awake I would have seen it rain all day. The first rainfall of the year for them. My gift to you from Vancouver, You're welcome. It's still very warm and humid so the rain is actually really nice and refreshing. Like a warm shower. Jason would love it! The terrace is where I met Dingy. Another girl living on my same floor, has been living here 2 years. She is Indian, moved to Delhi to be a dietician. Sweet. She is currently interning at a hospital. She is my age and just full of funny. Super sweet. She will be moving into the room next door once the renovations are done so within the next week I'll have a neighbour! We will share a balcony. I have a balcony!
The top floor has rooms, a kitchen, bathrooms, and wash machine. The bottom floor is the same with a common room and tv. I have access to all 3 floors. In the entrance there is a little garden area with swinging chairs and a mango tree that Raj's mother planted years and years ago. This is where you are to say your 15-20 minute goodbyes to friends etc, after a night or day out as they are not allowed to enter the building. No one but guests of the house are to enter.
Later on we all sat in the living room (Raj, Dingy, and I) doing our own thing, Raj and me on our computers (I was blogging, naturally) and Dingy applying yogurt to her face- I have GOT to try this! Raj takes Iago out for playtime. And I mean playtime! This bird might as well have been a dog. I can't even describe. Ruffling feathers, pinned down wings, biting, playing dead (forcibly). And every time Raj got bit it was, "Dirty boy! You're a dirty bird!" Then it was "bath time". Turn on the tap full blast and drench the mighty Iago. I was mortified! But it keeps him cool and the bird seemed down. Like he had a choice...
MB brings us dinner (the 4 foot tissue nazi- they let me abbreviate names since I am incapable). Roti, some kind of root vegetable from the potato family (so delish) lentil soup, and cucumbers and onions covered in lemon juice and spices. Good golly! Then Dingy brings over a container of PICKLED MANGO. I can't even... whoa. I just- yikes. An explosion in your mouth of sweet but spicy then SOUR as all hell. Of course I ate it all wrong so they gave me a very intense tutorial on how to properly enjoy this divine, and mysterious creation. Yup, just like a typical canadian, popping the whole thing in your mouth is not the way it's done. Savouring and actually tasting our food is something we definitely lack. And then we had yogurt to balance out the orgy of flavours consuming my mouth. Raj says on a sunday one day we will have chicken for me. Dingy says she's excited to have me cook. Whoa, wait what? I said I'd make grilled cheese. She looked at me blankly.
I spoke to Raj's daughter on the phone tonight after listening to him go off on her about using her play book in the dark and how unfortunate it will be when she has to wear giant ugly glasses. Then it was, why aren't you practicing guitar? And, Why was your Roger's bill $320 this month? Why didn't you call Rogers like I asked you to? You forgot? What kind of answer is that to give your father? You forgot. What if I forgot about you? What would you say to that? Oh, I forgot I have a daughter.
I love it, I couldn't stop laughing.
She says on the phone to me she has a cold but one day she will sing and play the guitar for me over the phone. Well child, in that case you better listen to your father and practice!
10:03am
This is awkward. AJ (another housekeeper) is cleaning my room right now with me in it. I keep getting in the way. I'll move to one place he's already cleaned thinking I'm safe, then he'll come back and clean it again like I'm contaminating his pristine space. And he hardly looks at me, barely speaks, just calls me Ma'am. Thanks AJ. And then I feel guilty for sitting there on my computer just watching him clean so I start cleaning. Then he starts doing what I'm doing and we both just stare at each other. Note to self: escape house by 9:30am to avoid awkward cleaning ritual I have unfortunately created. I woke up (got out of bed) at around 8:30 this morning- a solid 7 hours of on and off sleep, vast improvement I'd say. Then I braved my first shower, now that Raj has lent me one of his towels. It still has it's Superstore President's Choice tag on it. "It's a canadian towel! Just for you!" I wasn't gonna state that the chances of that towel actually being made in Canada were slim to none. The shower has no walls or curtains. It is a shower head on the bathroom wall next to the toilet, so needless to say the entire bathroom is soaked by the time you're finished. But it was kind of fun... I felt so free and liberated! And the bathroom itself is so bloody hot that the fact that there is no hot water is more of a blessing than anything else. Seriously, it's like taking a shower in a sauna. You're feeling cold water but your body is still warm as hell. And I'm pretty sure my hair is going to love me by the time this trip is over. Blow dryer? How bout sitting on my bed, under the ceiling fan at max and voila! Genius.
The minute I got out of the shower both MB and AJ were in the hallway, "Good morning Miss! Chai tea?" Oh boys, you are angels. Truly angels. I could live off of their chai tea. Really. Just spectac. Starbucks, you will be shamed upon my return.
Side Note: I forgot to mention my bedroom door has a Tom and Jerry mat! First thing I saw when I got here and laughed. Favourite cartoon growing up, hands down (another sign Julie). Sorry my ADD kicked in as I scanned my room between sentences. My bad.
Honesty time: I google mapped places I want to go and it makes me contemplate hiding in my room for the next 2 months. Holy shit. Stay strong Chelsea. KIT. Put your big girl pants on and leave the hostel.
Ummmmm, Arijeet is picking me up in the afternoon to help me run errands. I think I'll just wait for him. Baby steps.
Tonight I am going to see the studio's year end dance production. This thing sounds amazing! All the students from all Danceworx locations (Delhi and Mumbai) come together to perform. The shows have over 2500 students.... There are four shows, one tonight and three tomorrow that I will be attending as well. The venue is a stadium, enough said. I am actually so excited. The next two days alone make this trip worth while. I have absolutely no idea what to expect and that makes it all the more exciting!
PS. Day time here at the hostel is soooo different from night. Raj is no where to be found, the girls are all at work or school, so it's me, AJ, MB, and #3 (ugh, for the life of me I just can't remember housekeeper #3's name. Sorry dude) Then on top of that, there are construction guys everywhere. They are even more awkward than MB, Aj, and #3 because they don't speak any english so they just stare at me, I look at them, smile and say hi (god knows why) then they look away. Right on.
12:06am
So it's technically Saturday but I am considering it still friday.
So much for adventure today. I didn't wake up until like 6:30pm. At least I slept for a good solid chunk of time, now let's hope I can sleep through the night and get on that India time! I woke up to find Arijeet here with Raj. We chatted over samosas, curry, and chai tea (amazing) Then Raj took me on a tour of the whole building starting with the terrace. Very Indian. The terrace that is, not Raj. In fact the terrace is probably more Indian than Raj. If I had been awake I would have seen it rain all day. The first rainfall of the year for them. My gift to you from Vancouver, You're welcome. It's still very warm and humid so the rain is actually really nice and refreshing. Like a warm shower. Jason would love it! The terrace is where I met Dingy. Another girl living on my same floor, has been living here 2 years. She is Indian, moved to Delhi to be a dietician. Sweet. She is currently interning at a hospital. She is my age and just full of funny. Super sweet. She will be moving into the room next door once the renovations are done so within the next week I'll have a neighbour! We will share a balcony. I have a balcony!
The top floor has rooms, a kitchen, bathrooms, and wash machine. The bottom floor is the same with a common room and tv. I have access to all 3 floors. In the entrance there is a little garden area with swinging chairs and a mango tree that Raj's mother planted years and years ago. This is where you are to say your 15-20 minute goodbyes to friends etc, after a night or day out as they are not allowed to enter the building. No one but guests of the house are to enter.
Later on we all sat in the living room (Raj, Dingy, and I) doing our own thing, Raj and me on our computers (I was blogging, naturally) and Dingy applying yogurt to her face- I have GOT to try this! Raj takes Iago out for playtime. And I mean playtime! This bird might as well have been a dog. I can't even describe. Ruffling feathers, pinned down wings, biting, playing dead (forcibly). And every time Raj got bit it was, "Dirty boy! You're a dirty bird!" Then it was "bath time". Turn on the tap full blast and drench the mighty Iago. I was mortified! But it keeps him cool and the bird seemed down. Like he had a choice...
MB brings us dinner (the 4 foot tissue nazi- they let me abbreviate names since I am incapable). Roti, some kind of root vegetable from the potato family (so delish) lentil soup, and cucumbers and onions covered in lemon juice and spices. Good golly! Then Dingy brings over a container of PICKLED MANGO. I can't even... whoa. I just- yikes. An explosion in your mouth of sweet but spicy then SOUR as all hell. Of course I ate it all wrong so they gave me a very intense tutorial on how to properly enjoy this divine, and mysterious creation. Yup, just like a typical canadian, popping the whole thing in your mouth is not the way it's done. Savouring and actually tasting our food is something we definitely lack. And then we had yogurt to balance out the orgy of flavours consuming my mouth. Raj says on a sunday one day we will have chicken for me. Dingy says she's excited to have me cook. Whoa, wait what? I said I'd make grilled cheese. She looked at me blankly.
I spoke to Raj's daughter on the phone tonight after listening to him go off on her about using her play book in the dark and how unfortunate it will be when she has to wear giant ugly glasses. Then it was, why aren't you practicing guitar? And, Why was your Roger's bill $320 this month? Why didn't you call Rogers like I asked you to? You forgot? What kind of answer is that to give your father? You forgot. What if I forgot about you? What would you say to that? Oh, I forgot I have a daughter.
I love it, I couldn't stop laughing.
She says on the phone to me she has a cold but one day she will sing and play the guitar for me over the phone. Well child, in that case you better listen to your father and practice!
10:03am
This is awkward. AJ (another housekeeper) is cleaning my room right now with me in it. I keep getting in the way. I'll move to one place he's already cleaned thinking I'm safe, then he'll come back and clean it again like I'm contaminating his pristine space. And he hardly looks at me, barely speaks, just calls me Ma'am. Thanks AJ. And then I feel guilty for sitting there on my computer just watching him clean so I start cleaning. Then he starts doing what I'm doing and we both just stare at each other. Note to self: escape house by 9:30am to avoid awkward cleaning ritual I have unfortunately created. I woke up (got out of bed) at around 8:30 this morning- a solid 7 hours of on and off sleep, vast improvement I'd say. Then I braved my first shower, now that Raj has lent me one of his towels. It still has it's Superstore President's Choice tag on it. "It's a canadian towel! Just for you!" I wasn't gonna state that the chances of that towel actually being made in Canada were slim to none. The shower has no walls or curtains. It is a shower head on the bathroom wall next to the toilet, so needless to say the entire bathroom is soaked by the time you're finished. But it was kind of fun... I felt so free and liberated! And the bathroom itself is so bloody hot that the fact that there is no hot water is more of a blessing than anything else. Seriously, it's like taking a shower in a sauna. You're feeling cold water but your body is still warm as hell. And I'm pretty sure my hair is going to love me by the time this trip is over. Blow dryer? How bout sitting on my bed, under the ceiling fan at max and voila! Genius.
The minute I got out of the shower both MB and AJ were in the hallway, "Good morning Miss! Chai tea?" Oh boys, you are angels. Truly angels. I could live off of their chai tea. Really. Just spectac. Starbucks, you will be shamed upon my return.
Side Note: I forgot to mention my bedroom door has a Tom and Jerry mat! First thing I saw when I got here and laughed. Favourite cartoon growing up, hands down (another sign Julie). Sorry my ADD kicked in as I scanned my room between sentences. My bad.
Honesty time: I google mapped places I want to go and it makes me contemplate hiding in my room for the next 2 months. Holy shit. Stay strong Chelsea. KIT. Put your big girl pants on and leave the hostel.
Ummmmm, Arijeet is picking me up in the afternoon to help me run errands. I think I'll just wait for him. Baby steps.
Tonight I am going to see the studio's year end dance production. This thing sounds amazing! All the students from all Danceworx locations (Delhi and Mumbai) come together to perform. The shows have over 2500 students.... There are four shows, one tonight and three tomorrow that I will be attending as well. The venue is a stadium, enough said. I am actually so excited. The next two days alone make this trip worth while. I have absolutely no idea what to expect and that makes it all the more exciting!
PS. Day time here at the hostel is soooo different from night. Raj is no where to be found, the girls are all at work or school, so it's me, AJ, MB, and #3 (ugh, for the life of me I just can't remember housekeeper #3's name. Sorry dude) Then on top of that, there are construction guys everywhere. They are even more awkward than MB, Aj, and #3 because they don't speak any english so they just stare at me, I look at them, smile and say hi (god knows why) then they look away. Right on.
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