Oct 4th: First adventure!

I think I mentioned previously that Willy had mentioned we should link up this morning so he could show me around a little bit. If I didnt, then that happened! I'm writing this a bit later and dont feel like checking, but also if it wasnt mentioned before... Willy is one of the people who was in my orientation class, we also happened to be in the same mission group (aka homeroom). We got along well, and hung out a lot in D.C. - as luck would have it we've ended up at the same post for our first tour. Very exciting to already have a friend in the country even before arriving!

Anyways, he came over to my place bearing gifts! Partially a housewarming, and partially an early birthday present. Some local snacks/sweets and a bottle of whiskey. That was very kind of him. While we were having some tea and catching up he told me the ideas he had of things that might be worth doing. One was to check out a local temple, another was to show me a nearby grocery store, and the final was to visit a nearby home goods store. My suggestion was that we should do all three, and then grab lunch or something either during or afterwards. Because I had cause to do all of them, temples so that I can start to familiarize myself with some of the cool things around, groceries because I really needed stuff to eat and drink, and home goods because the only trashcan in my house is totally tiny.

I'm super glad that he offered to take me on this little guided tour, because as it stands after landing I was very nervous to leave my apartment. The streets of the city just seemed a bit too chaotic for me and I doubt I would have done any exploring otherwise. The walk to the temple took a pretty long while, but it was a nice chance to start acclimating to how traffic works here as a pedestrian. It is very interesting. There are seldomly sidewalks available, so if you are walking you just share the road with everyone who is driving or riding a bike. If sidewalks are available, it seems like most people avoid them and would rather walk on the road. In addition, all of the roads are very dusty and if it gets busy with a lot of traffic the air quality nearby goes down very quick. But once you get used to being so close to all of the cars it really isnt all that bad! Most people try to give you lots of room, and it isnt like drivers arent aware of you. It reminds me a lot of wandering around college campuses were people might ride bikes or skateboards around. You just have to get used to trusting that people going faster know how much space they need and will avoid hitting you.

There were apparently two temples available that we could check out, one that is the go to famous temple here... And another which is a little more chill. I looked within myself and knew that I was not quite ready to face the super awesome temple, and opted for the calmer one. And this temple really was pretty nice and calm! There werent many people there, and the shoe storage guy didnt even charge us. Did I mention that? To enter temple ground here (so not just the temple itself, but the area around it) you arent allowed to be wearing shoes. So places like this will have a little hut or something nearby where you can leave them behind. The area around the temple was very pretty and green; calm and quiet. We were allowed to go into the temple itself, which isnt always the case. From what I have heard many of them will only let practice-rs of the religion deeper into the building. Inside I got to see one of the common signs of respect here, something that is usually only done for religious figures or by children for their parents. Someone will lay out on their belly with their toes pointed to the floor and hands braced under their head. I'm not describing it well, but it was listed in my welcome kit as something you might see and I was kinda surprised that it was real.

Next we walked to the grocery store. Just a small one that is a little less than a kilometer from my place. I got some pomegranates which looked absolutely delicious, TP, and coffee. The pomegranates here look too good to be true, I almost thought they were plastic fakes. The coffee is less impressive. I am writing this a few weeks into living in the country and so far I havent found proper coffee beans in any of the grocery stores that I have been in. At this one the best they had were little pouches with a screw cap that had black filtered coffee inside. I dont think there was much else interesting there that grabbed my attention.

Next up was the home goods store. While there I didnt immediately notice, but it slowly became apparent that they didnt have AC inside. Which was killer. the place was pretty toasty and just browsing the aisles I had worked up a terrible sweat by the time we were done shopping. It was also at this time that I realized I was really running out of money. I was only given 5000 INR by my social sponsors, which translates to something between 40-50 USD, and at this time I had already spent like half of it. Willy spotted me a bit more cash to help out while I worked on getting my local bank set up. Because of this I was able to get some functional bowls (the ones provided in my welcome kit are either far too small or far too large) and another trash can. I had hoped to get a trashcan that is an appropriate kitchen size, but it seems those are not popular here. Instead I just got a second one that I can put in my bathroom for qtips and floss and stuff. Still needed, but not quite as important to me as being able to store more than a days worth of trash in my kitchen.

We walked everything back to my place and took the chance to stay outta the sun for a bit. Then we went to some food place called Circle or something? It was just serving average south Indian fare, so breads, rice, and sauces. I also had something called idlii which is like a mashed rice cake? The food was really nice! After eating we walked over to where Willy has been posted, a compound of places called the Pink Houses. They got their name because, its a set of four-ish houses that are all pink. Most of them have Americans from the consulate living in them.

We had hoped to catch his friend Miles, who is visiting from out of town, there - but he had stepped out. We chatted some more but after about half an hour I was done socializing and wanted to chill. So I walked back home. After wandering around all day I had learned a few things about India. Walking places isnt all that bad, just takes some getting used to. Sunscreen is a must, and something that I was going to be prioritizing finding. And a third thing should go here but I dont have any third thing to mention.

When I got home I took a nap and enjoyed being inside for the rest of the day.

Here are a few of the photos that I have from the day, like before - just click the link to see them. I'm hoping to keep this site for a while and am trying to save storage space where I can.