What a trip! After 20 long hours, we made it to India. The flights were not as bad as I thought they were going to be. The first leg was rough. Our initial plan was to sleep for 6 of the 8 hours, so we took Benadryl and prepared ourselves for a nice long conked-out snooze. And then woke up 45 minutes later, no longer tired but still groggy from the Benadryl. We also had a row of German preteens in back of us who gabbed in German the whole time, making fun of Americans for not knowing German, which, ironically, Dave and I both understood.
I have advice for anyone planning on a long trip: plan your layovers at fun places or airports. We stopped in Frankfurt, which was really enjoyable! It was roughly 7 am when we got there, so we sat and had a lovely breakfast of pretzels and Weisswurst, accompanied by breakfast beer (Dave) and coffee (me). Though tempted, I did not purchase a coo-coo clock OR lederhosen. But wouldn't they have been so useful in India?
The second leg of our flight, though longer, seemed more tolerable. This flight was on Lufthansa, so everything was announced in German, English, and Hindi, which were fun to listen to. We also got served two meals, which helped break up the flight (P.s. if given a choice on a plane between the western meal and the Indian meal, choose Indian. It is so much better!) as well as a long list of on-demand movies and tv shows.
We landed in Chennai at 11:30 pm local time, and though we were prepared, we had culture shock from the moment we stepped off the plane. First of all, New York and Germany were both rainy and cool when we left, which are not two words I would use to describe the weather in southern India at the moment. I think "oppressive", "sweaty", and "deathly" are more accurate. Even the air conditioned airport was extremely humid, so much so that everything had that faint cat-litter smell of my family's basement after a large rain. However, some things were different but in a lovely way. We walked out of the plane into a long hallway which was filled with these beautiful gold shrines to various Hindu gods. It was really lovely. Another nice difference was the customs officer, who actually not only made eye contact with us but also smiled. A big change from what we've seen at JFK.
And then the real culture shock began. Several things of note:
1. The head bob. Now, this is something that I have heard a lot about and which is stereotypically the first thing an American has trouble with when they go to India. It is a side to side head bob motion that can be used for a number of meanings including, but not limited to, "yes" "no" "I don't know" and perhaps even just "I acknowledge that you are speaking to me". Apparently, this particular stereotype is based on truth. We arranged a pre-paid cab to bring us to our hotel, and at the end of the transaction the clerk looked at me, did the head bob, and said "ma'am?". He was apparently asking me a question, but I could not for the life of me figure out what it was. I think I just smiled, clasped my hands into a namaskar, said thank you, and left. He responded to my thank you with a head bob.
2. Taxis. And I thought New York taxi drivers were outrageous. The way to pass someone here is to approach them on either side, honk, flash your high beams, and swerve in front of them. And if you have a left- hand exit, no problem! Just pass the person in front of you on their RIGHT while you speed up and cut them off so that you make the exit on your LEFT. I think dave still has claw marks in his leg from where I was holding on. At one point I thought about the likelihood of me being killed in India via an auto accident (high) and as I was thinking this Dave turned to me and said "wow, this is just like Mr. Toad's wild ride!" which, of course, is a reference to Mario kart. I think the driving algorithms for that game were based off of someone's experience here.
3. Roads in general, including everything on them. Though there technically are lines on the roads notating lanes, no one follows them (again, flash backs of Mario kart). And on the roads are taxis, bikes, motorcycles, rickshaws, cows (?!) and pedestrians. I am surprised we haven't gotten in an accident yet, though we did see a rickshaw crash today (everyone was ok, but the rickshaw flipped over and everyone had to crawl out. We were scared, but our driver put his thumb to his lip, tilted it, and said "don't worry, he was drunk." and which part of that was supposed to make me not worry?!). In regards to the cows, they are sacred and are allowed to do anything they want. Including sit in the middle of the road.
4. Language. Although everyone speaks English, it is not an English that is easy to understand. We seem to be having a lot of problems understanding everyone, and they seem to have an equal problem understanding us. This should get better with time, but it is a hurdle at the moment.
5. Food. Even though we love Indian food and eat it all the time at home, we never eat it for all 3 meals a day every day, and I don't know if my tummy likes having sambar and spicy dosa first thing in the morning. The foods that carryover are also different. Coffee here is hot whole milk mixed with a small amount of instant coffee and a lot of sugar (sort of lIke chai) and what I realllllyyyyy wanted this morning was a hot cup of dunkin donuts style coffee. Oh dunks, how I will miss thee.
Despite all, once we get over the initial shocks of "oh my god we are in India" as well as the culture shocks, we are just fine. We enjoyed our rickshaw ride to Spencer Plaza to do some shopping this morning. I bought MOST of FabIndia (which is just as awesome as everyone has told me it is, I was NOT disappointed) including 4 long tunics called kurtas, 3 pairs of baggy Indian pants, and a beautiful dupatta or scarf. David also got a few linen button down shirts as well as linen pants. We are all set to be decked out in Indian attire, I will show you pictures when we wear them! We then had the most delicious lunch at our hotel of paneer kabab, which is a homemade pressed cheese marinated in a sauce and grilled with onion, tomatoes and bell peppers on a skewer (Alix Davidson I took a picture for you). It was one of the best things we have ever tasted, and it only costed 150 rupees, or $3.
In summary, although India had been shocking for us, we are really enjoying our time so far! Tomorrow we are off to Vellore to get settled at the Christian Medical College. Will write more from there!
Moriah
I have advice for anyone planning on a long trip: plan your layovers at fun places or airports. We stopped in Frankfurt, which was really enjoyable! It was roughly 7 am when we got there, so we sat and had a lovely breakfast of pretzels and Weisswurst, accompanied by breakfast beer (Dave) and coffee (me). Though tempted, I did not purchase a coo-coo clock OR lederhosen. But wouldn't they have been so useful in India?
We landed in Chennai at 11:30 pm local time, and though we were prepared, we had culture shock from the moment we stepped off the plane. First of all, New York and Germany were both rainy and cool when we left, which are not two words I would use to describe the weather in southern India at the moment. I think "oppressive", "sweaty", and "deathly" are more accurate. Even the air conditioned airport was extremely humid, so much so that everything had that faint cat-litter smell of my family's basement after a large rain. However, some things were different but in a lovely way. We walked out of the plane into a long hallway which was filled with these beautiful gold shrines to various Hindu gods. It was really lovely. Another nice difference was the customs officer, who actually not only made eye contact with us but also smiled. A big change from what we've seen at JFK.
And then the real culture shock began. Several things of note:
1. The head bob. Now, this is something that I have heard a lot about and which is stereotypically the first thing an American has trouble with when they go to India. It is a side to side head bob motion that can be used for a number of meanings including, but not limited to, "yes" "no" "I don't know" and perhaps even just "I acknowledge that you are speaking to me". Apparently, this particular stereotype is based on truth. We arranged a pre-paid cab to bring us to our hotel, and at the end of the transaction the clerk looked at me, did the head bob, and said "ma'am?". He was apparently asking me a question, but I could not for the life of me figure out what it was. I think I just smiled, clasped my hands into a namaskar, said thank you, and left. He responded to my thank you with a head bob.
2. Taxis. And I thought New York taxi drivers were outrageous. The way to pass someone here is to approach them on either side, honk, flash your high beams, and swerve in front of them. And if you have a left- hand exit, no problem! Just pass the person in front of you on their RIGHT while you speed up and cut them off so that you make the exit on your LEFT. I think dave still has claw marks in his leg from where I was holding on. At one point I thought about the likelihood of me being killed in India via an auto accident (high) and as I was thinking this Dave turned to me and said "wow, this is just like Mr. Toad's wild ride!" which, of course, is a reference to Mario kart. I think the driving algorithms for that game were based off of someone's experience here.
3. Roads in general, including everything on them. Though there technically are lines on the roads notating lanes, no one follows them (again, flash backs of Mario kart). And on the roads are taxis, bikes, motorcycles, rickshaws, cows (?!) and pedestrians. I am surprised we haven't gotten in an accident yet, though we did see a rickshaw crash today (everyone was ok, but the rickshaw flipped over and everyone had to crawl out. We were scared, but our driver put his thumb to his lip, tilted it, and said "don't worry, he was drunk." and which part of that was supposed to make me not worry?!). In regards to the cows, they are sacred and are allowed to do anything they want. Including sit in the middle of the road.
4. Language. Although everyone speaks English, it is not an English that is easy to understand. We seem to be having a lot of problems understanding everyone, and they seem to have an equal problem understanding us. This should get better with time, but it is a hurdle at the moment.
5. Food. Even though we love Indian food and eat it all the time at home, we never eat it for all 3 meals a day every day, and I don't know if my tummy likes having sambar and spicy dosa first thing in the morning. The foods that carryover are also different. Coffee here is hot whole milk mixed with a small amount of instant coffee and a lot of sugar (sort of lIke chai) and what I realllllyyyyy wanted this morning was a hot cup of dunkin donuts style coffee. Oh dunks, how I will miss thee.
Despite all, once we get over the initial shocks of "oh my god we are in India" as well as the culture shocks, we are just fine. We enjoyed our rickshaw ride to Spencer Plaza to do some shopping this morning. I bought MOST of FabIndia (which is just as awesome as everyone has told me it is, I was NOT disappointed) including 4 long tunics called kurtas, 3 pairs of baggy Indian pants, and a beautiful dupatta or scarf. David also got a few linen button down shirts as well as linen pants. We are all set to be decked out in Indian attire, I will show you pictures when we wear them! We then had the most delicious lunch at our hotel of paneer kabab, which is a homemade pressed cheese marinated in a sauce and grilled with onion, tomatoes and bell peppers on a skewer (Alix Davidson I took a picture for you). It was one of the best things we have ever tasted, and it only costed 150 rupees, or $3. In summary, although India had been shocking for us, we are really enjoying our time so far! Tomorrow we are off to Vellore to get settled at the Christian Medical College. Will write more from there!
Moriah
You do know that Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in Mario Kart is in turn a reference to a chapter in *The Wind in the Willows*, right?
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