My experience in Delhi

Ahhh Delhi.
How I love thee....(well not really).

I'm convinced that if Delhi was a person, they would not like me. It was not love at first site. As soon as I landed at the airport, I searched the entire terminal for a man holding a sign saying "RUBY RIDEOUT." This little tidbit was crucial because I had no idea where I was supposed to go. I depended on someone picking me up. Hundreds of Indian men were glaring and standing around waiting for their loved ones to arrive around the gate (pls note: Ruby had no loved ones waiting anywhere). I did not want to look confused, but I think I looked more dismantled than ever. As I walked up and down with my luggage searching for this man with my name, I told myself to take a deep breath and not panic. India was not that big and there really wasn't that many people living here. It was all an exaggeration made up just to scare poor lil' American girls.

Needless to say......I panicked....and panicked hard. I swore that when I finally found this man I would take him out back and beat him for making me worry like this. I started second guessing myself and thought if this might be the most stupidest decision I ever made in my life.

My phone had died and I couldn't call the rep. Mere luck. An airport employee looked at me puzzled because I must have had a big sign on my forehead that said 'HELP!!' I held onto both of his shoulders (which probably freaked him out) and tried to explain what was going on. He looked at me after i finished and said "noooo speak english."
What? Ugh.

What now? It had been an hour since I landed. I sat down and bawled like nobody's business. Like basketcase bawled. The airport employee then said "madam, madam...." and gave me his phone to call someone. I called the rep screaming and established our first lovely pleasant conversation. I think for a split second he thought I was a crazy ex-girlfriend or something.
Anyway, the man with my name finally showed up and off I went.

So here are some pictures related to the stories I told about Delhi my first week here.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

The picture below was on the 3rd night in Delhi on the apartment balcony. The electricity went out and killed the 15 watt ceiling fans we had so we went outside for oxygen. Imagine being immersed in the aftermath of a volcano right after it erupted. 8 trillion degrees would not be an exaggeration. Now close your eyes again and imagine jumping into a pool of cotton candy and maple syrup and having mosquitos befriend you. That was THAT night. I know....we look happy. We're actually shocked and just smiling for the camera, okay?






Zahira and me. She's from Puerto Rico and was my little sidekick. Loved her. We were the only brunettes and olive skinned girls in the group. We got asked by the locals 963 times if we were Indian. We told them 963 times that we weren't.
(p.s. incase you ever wondered, i was born in the US and my parents were/are christians from Jordan)




The lady below was our cook at the apartment. I don't know her name but we all liked her. She had me take 800 peas out of their pods once for a dinner recipe and I thought "for the love of God, don't they have these already done in the frozen section?'
Lesson learned: 1- Patience. 2-De-podding peas suck. 3-Appreciate your frozen section at the local supermarket.
So I found out thru translation that she's 26 yrs old and has 3 kids, her eldest is a 12 year old boy. She was married at 13 and gave birth at 14. I think I still had a Barbie at 14....I told her I was 33 and had no children.....She about had a coronary.




Birte and Hannah, my English and German friends who were also my Orphan Home roommates. The bond us 3 have together after that experience, none of you will understand. Truly madly deeply love them. I'm straight by the way.




Meet Yves from France. Point& Shoot picture so he does not really have red eyes. ;) I laughed a million times over with and at him. He said I reminded him of someone back home that was b*tchy but he loved to death. I'm still wondering if that was a compliment, but I still like him anyway. This is how we washed our clothes. Out of a bucket. It became the norm and to be honest with you, we got used to it and didn't mind. I used my body wash as a detergent, which reminds me, I need to send a thank you note to Arbonne. They're going to be pleasantly surprised when I tell them their body wash also serves as a detergent agent.
BTW, remember how I told you I showered with flip flops on. See why?
(Yves if you're reading this, I'm a little disappointed that you are shoe-less and that might be the reason why your foot has been numb for some time!)




A few of my fav's below:















I took the photo below from the car of 5 blind men leading each other on the street. It was an amazing and beautiful image, wish I could have captured all 5.












Let me explain the below: we're touring a monument in Old Delhi and this guy is literally a leech. Like he won't go away at all. I'm sure with a knife and some poison, you can peel a leech off. But not this guy. He didn't understand 'go away' by verbage or with body language so I just snapped a picture of him hoping to annoy him. Nope. He didn't move. This is what he looked like the entire time breathing in my personal space. Anyway I've come to the conclusion that annoying people don't deserve my time post processing, so here he is SOOC.





" But Daddy Daddy, where's my helmet?"
"Sit back and hold on son. It's at home with your shoes and car seat."




So aside from the jokes, this was MY time in Delhi and my own version and experience. Everyone deals with India differently. We laughed at all our frustrations and I noticed that the Americans had a harder time than the Europeans. I would not take my experience back for the world. It was such an important journey in my life. I see and appreciate things differently. The world is so vast, so different, and you have to see it and feel it....to believe it.