Welcome to the Taj Mahal Hotel-Week One

After leaving O’Hare 2 hours later than my ticket promised me I would, I was on my way to New Delhi. For the next 14 hours, I entertained myself by watching movies, eating way too much paneer, and tooting up a storm with my neighbour in seat A (who, as it turns out, also ate way too much paneer)!

We arrived in New Delhi (12 of my fellow cohorts and I), exchanged our cash money into INR (Rupees), and walked into the sweltering, omnipresent heat. It didn’t matter that it was fully dark outside and almost 9 in the evening, 97 degrees was the perfect temperature ;) After jam-packing all 12 of us (plus our guide, one girl’s dad, two drivers, and enough luggage to supply a small country) in a van meant for 10, we slowly, and joltingly, meandered our way through the streets of New Delhi. People who complain about traffic in the US need to just imagine driving in a place where all street lanes are ignored, motorcyclists weave in and out with anywhere from one to four passengers riding astride, small auto rickshaws dart every which way, pedestrians cross at whatever time tickles their fancy, and traffic lights are a rarity, and when found, often ignored.

Nevertheless, we made it to the Taj Mahal Hotel, only the nicest place to stay in New Delhi. We were greeted by immaculately dressed men and women, who quickly watered us and showered us with jasmine flower necklaces. We made it upstairs to our lavishly prepared rooms, and attempted to sleep.

Too bad we all slept on the plane. After much tossing and turning, everyone was downstairs early for (a crazy, exorbitant, and scrumdiddlyumptious) breakfast, and with the opportunity to wander around New Delhi for two hours before massive amounts of sitting in meetings began, we took off. We headed to the Lodhi Gardens (even after a rickshaw driver tried to convince us that the garden didn’t open until 1030, and that he had much better places to take us for “only ten rupees!!”) and wandered around ancient ruins built by the Moghals and Lodhis.

Ruins in the Lodhi Gardens

The next two days were spent in rooms at the Taj, sitting in meetings about safety, security, living in Delhi, health, and many other topics that we all found incredibly useful, as well as eating as much food as possible. During that time, we registered as residents in the country (an incredibly long process), purchased Indian Sim Cards (WHAT NOW DAD! MY IPHONE 4 TOTALLY WORKS!) and adventured around two major markets in Delhi, Khan Market and Connaught Place.

I went to my school, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Masjid Moth, Sadiq Nagar, to meet my principal and learn more about my purpose as an ETA (English teaching assistant). My principal operates on IST (Indian Standard Time) and was an hour and a half late. In our quick 10 minutes of chatting, I discovered that their school had been assigned to represent Spain in competition, and my knowledge of Spanish quickly made me quite popular.

We leave tonight for Mussoorie on an overnight train, which will be quite interesting. I am on a bottom bunk across from 4 men who keep staring…yeehaw ;)