This Might be the First Time All Week that I've Sat Down
Yes, it has been a busy week. And tonight I am heading to Varanasi for the weekend on an overnight train! I'm going with Dan and Rafaela, my faithful weekend adventuring companions who visited me in Mussoorie over Diwali. When I tell people that I am going to Varanasi, they react in one of two ways. Some say, "Varanasi! What a lovely, beautiful, peaceful, holy city." Others say, "Varanasi! It's noisy, loud, and crowded! I wouldn't go there again if you paid me to!"
But to recap. This past week started off well with International Trade Fair on Sunday. This was a huge fair at the Ashok hotel with booths from about 40 different countries, most of them in Eastern Europe or Asia. The vendors representing each country sold crafts, food, and drink that are "unique" unique to that country. I put "unique" in quotation marks because the honey pancake I ate at Morocco was suspiciously similar to the one I ate at Russia. But nevertheless, it was a pretty amazing display of both edible and inedible products. My favorite booth was that of Kyrgystan (I can't even spell it, there's another y in there somewhere, but it's apparently pronounced "Kerjistan").
Later in the week, I spent some time visiting places that will be helpful for my upcoming Fulbright research (which will officially start as soon as I dash to Kathmandu and get this visa in my hand!). I thought I would have a hard time finding places at which to do research, but it's the opposite- there are too many! My plan is to find a few institutions/NGOs/clinics that are especially impressive and come work/volunteer/research at those places on a regular basis. Yesterday I went to the India headquarters of Special Olympics, which was great. The staff was extremely helpful and the director happens to be the husband of a woman I've gotten to be friends with here. I'll definitely be back there.
Today I ditched research in favor of exploring Delhi, and went on a guided tour with two other women. Our guide was a British man named Nigel who has lived in Delhi since 1945, first as a member of the British imperial government in India, then as a member of the British High Commission, and now as an independent tour guide. He is quite eccentric but tells a good story and has an amazing knowledge of Delhi. He told stories as we drove through different neighborhoods and we went to the Indira Gandhi Museum, the residence of the President (the former Viceroy's House), a Sikh Gurudwara, a municipal cremation Ghat, and to the site of the coronation of George the 5th as King Emporer, which is on a huge field just outside of Delhi and is totally ignored by most tourists.
And now, for the best part of the week... my tennis tournament!! There is a women's tennis league that practices every day of the week and I have never been able to make any of the practices yet, but the organizers allowed me to participate in the two-day tourney anyway. And it was a blast. Most of the other women were foreigners who have come to Delhi for their husband's jobs (which explains why they are free for tennis in the middle of the day). We drew for partners and I ended up with Anke, 30-something, whose husband works at the Belgian Embassy here. Unlike many of the women who were extremely serious and competitve in the court, she was very sweet. We clicked with each other and managed to finish in second place! All kinds of fancy shops sponsored the tourney, so at the celebration luncheon afterward, reps from these shops actually came and took pictures of Anke and me and of the first place team. Better yet, they even gave swanky prizes to the four of us for finishing in first and second-- I mean, seriously swanky prizes, like $200 worth!!
Delhi is a perfect city for tennis because of the weather and because Indians are obsessed with it. If I could learn how to play cricket as well, then I would be REALLY successful here.
But to recap. This past week started off well with International Trade Fair on Sunday. This was a huge fair at the Ashok hotel with booths from about 40 different countries, most of them in Eastern Europe or Asia. The vendors representing each country sold crafts, food, and drink that are "unique" unique to that country. I put "unique" in quotation marks because the honey pancake I ate at Morocco was suspiciously similar to the one I ate at Russia. But nevertheless, it was a pretty amazing display of both edible and inedible products. My favorite booth was that of Kyrgystan (I can't even spell it, there's another y in there somewhere, but it's apparently pronounced "Kerjistan").
Later in the week, I spent some time visiting places that will be helpful for my upcoming Fulbright research (which will officially start as soon as I dash to Kathmandu and get this visa in my hand!). I thought I would have a hard time finding places at which to do research, but it's the opposite- there are too many! My plan is to find a few institutions/NGOs/clinics that are especially impressive and come work/volunteer/research at those places on a regular basis. Yesterday I went to the India headquarters of Special Olympics, which was great. The staff was extremely helpful and the director happens to be the husband of a woman I've gotten to be friends with here. I'll definitely be back there.
Today I ditched research in favor of exploring Delhi, and went on a guided tour with two other women. Our guide was a British man named Nigel who has lived in Delhi since 1945, first as a member of the British imperial government in India, then as a member of the British High Commission, and now as an independent tour guide. He is quite eccentric but tells a good story and has an amazing knowledge of Delhi. He told stories as we drove through different neighborhoods and we went to the Indira Gandhi Museum, the residence of the President (the former Viceroy's House), a Sikh Gurudwara, a municipal cremation Ghat, and to the site of the coronation of George the 5th as King Emporer, which is on a huge field just outside of Delhi and is totally ignored by most tourists.
And now, for the best part of the week... my tennis tournament!! There is a women's tennis league that practices every day of the week and I have never been able to make any of the practices yet, but the organizers allowed me to participate in the two-day tourney anyway. And it was a blast. Most of the other women were foreigners who have come to Delhi for their husband's jobs (which explains why they are free for tennis in the middle of the day). We drew for partners and I ended up with Anke, 30-something, whose husband works at the Belgian Embassy here. Unlike many of the women who were extremely serious and competitve in the court, she was very sweet. We clicked with each other and managed to finish in second place! All kinds of fancy shops sponsored the tourney, so at the celebration luncheon afterward, reps from these shops actually came and took pictures of Anke and me and of the first place team. Better yet, they even gave swanky prizes to the four of us for finishing in first and second-- I mean, seriously swanky prizes, like $200 worth!!
Delhi is a perfect city for tennis because of the weather and because Indians are obsessed with it. If I could learn how to play cricket as well, then I would be REALLY successful here.
posted by Molly at 3:07 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home