Business time

Yesterday was Day 1 in the office! I was instructed to take a rickshaw to Green Park Market, where I would see the office nearby - a big white building. So I said Green Park Market. The driver did not drop me off there, but to a metro stop a few turns away. Good thing for that helpful policeman on the street and my occasionally reliable memory of building numbers, because without a phone or the written office address on me, I would have probably just had to go home if I didn't find it. Thankfully I did find the building - and like the CHAI buildings back in Boston - very incognito.
Office culture is interesting here in India - there are plenty of people here so you see a lot of job creation here that we don't see at home (e.g. if you have a cell phone, you can get a pre-pay card or do 'post-pay' where an actual person will come to you at your office/home and pick up cash for the calls you have made). Everyday we get a free Indian lunch made in the upstairs kitchen, and the 'housekeeper' will bring us water and chai throughout the day! Office hours start at 10 (I arrived at 8:45 on Day 1 and sat in the lobby reading the paper for 45 minutes) and people stay later (rush hour is between 6-8 pm). I think I will still try to get in around 8-8:30 so I can leave before rush hour hits. Sitting in a mini tripod taxi in traffic in Delhi is a bit like a sauna, but gross.
The CHAI staff I've met so far have seemed like great, hardworking, nice people. There are just a few of us expats in the office. One of them funny enough went to my same Ottawa suburb high school, though we never knew each other then!
I had my first Indian meal yesterday :) Paneer masala dosai - paper thin, crispy crepe filled with soft cheese and little side dishes - yum! And fresh mango lassi! The belly wasn't quite having it right after lunch yesterday, but Indian lunch today in the office went fine so that's a good sign of progress :)
Last night my roommates took me to a friend's goodbye dinner at a KOREAN restaurant in Delhi - talk about forgetting where I was (honestly forgot for a minute), with a fancy restaurant filled with Korean clientele and businessmen, and yes - karaoke. Not quite Delhi prices, but one of few places where you can find beef around here!
Taxi rickshaw bargaining/communication is getting a little trickier than those first couple lucky times (getting home from the office yesterday, I think only the fifth driver I approached understood what I was saying/accepted my price). It doesn't help that I don't speak Hindi, so I plan on learning some while I'm here!
Work-wise, there's plenty of work to do! A lot of moving pieces to get our nutrition pilot project off the ground this summer. Just gotta take a breath and do one thing at a time...
The mosquitoes are still winning. But it could always be worse. (Just got bit.) And it's still stupidly hot - around 45*C I believe. Luckily office and home have AC, and I need to invest in some of these popular mosquito repellent plug-ins.
There are lovely fruits and vegetables in season all year round, sold on all side streets from pushcarts! I made friends with the pushcart lady down the street, Uja, who may have also swindled me but sold me some good fresh stuff. Who knew those pumpkin looking things were honeydew melons?!
I thought I was over jetlag, but still woke up at 4 am this morning (that mosquito in my ear had something to do with it) and couldn't get back to sleep. So now, I think it's time to get some serious rest!

:)

Mosquito bit me in the eye

So I think I got the majority of my mosquito bites while sleeping the first night on Friday. I get bit by mosquitos way more than most humans (my "kobe beef" blood) and they tend to bite me in three's, so that I have a triangle of bites in one area that forms a super-bite, and I swell up big-time, so right now it looks like a third arm is trying to grow out of my right arm. Also, a mosquito bit me on the eyelid Friday night (this was in four - the mosquito bit me three times on the forehead, and decided to give me an extra one in my eye). People ask me - 'Elaine, how do you manage to get bit on the eyelid/lip/nostril/etc?' Well, I'm sleeping, and defenseless. So the eye bite didn't really flare up yesterday, but I woke up this morning (at 5:30 am after going to bed at 1 - still jetlagged) and my left eye was swollen shut. Took a lot of icing this morning but now I look a little more normal, except for all those other bites all over my face, arms, and legs (and bum?) that don't take too well in the heat.
Had round 2 at chic cafe with Fabian and Caitlin for lunch today, meeting a lady who works with the school system here in Delhi. Then I did a little shopping in N-block on my own so I can find some nice local clothing! What beautiful fabrics they have here. Took me a long time in the first store to even figure out what things were and what size I was.
And took a rickshaw home by myself for the first time!
Tonight, we have dinner at another CHAI alumna's house.
Tomorrow - first day in the office!
:)

Day 1 in India!

I'm currently borrowing my roommate's computer with broadband key internet since an electrician came today to fix some light switches and somehow messed up our phone connection, so our fast wifi that I was so impressed with yesterday is not working now.

Didn't sleep too much last night with the jet lag... Spent most of the day inside today studying up on nutrition and India. I met with colleagues in the late afternoon where we went to nearby N-block market to get dinner and drinks at a couple chic little places - lots of chic places around Delhi I think! I also rode in rickshaw taxis for the first time! Who knew you could fit 3 people in the back of one of those, they are teeny. They are also very cheap and will likely be my mode of travel to and from the office for $1 each way.

Delhi-wise, I look forward to slowly getting my bearings on how to get around, eat, and explore on the cheap!

Work-wise, it looks like my timing is perfect because CHAI will be partnering with other organizations to spearhead a really exciting pilot malnutrition study this summer! I think it will be very busy - there is a lot of work and just a few people to do it - but it will be an awesome learning experience.

Hopefully get a better sleep tonight, ready for day 2 tomorrow!

:)

Arrived in Delhi!

It is 2:30 am here in Delhi, but I figured I would go ahead and start this blog now!

So I left Boston on Thursday, May 26 - always so sad to say bye to my family (Eric and Harriet) - to embark on my journey to India where I will spend my summer as a nutrition intern with the Clinton Foundation (CHAI)!
My flight from Boston to Amsterdam was a pain in the butt - flew on Delta and once we took off, we soon realized that someone's call button was just going off repeatedly once every 3 seconds. So - in order to turn off this ungodly beeping, they had to shut off (what I think was the worst of 2 evils) all of the cabin lights and the entertainment sound. So with it being dark out, you couldn't read or watch a movie unless you wanted to lipread the entire thing. And it made it very difficult to eat our meal in the dark...
After a 7.5-hr flight, spent a couple hours in Amsterdam before getting on a lovely KLM flight (how do they make all those Dutch KLM ladies so good-looking?) to Delhi. Got some funny looks as I tried to keep my typhoid pills on ice during the flight. Another 7.5 hrs later, we landed in Delhi at 11:15 pm local time. Customs was surprisingly a breeze, and the new Delhi airport is much nicer than the old airport (which apparently solved the chaotic culture shock of arriving in Delhi to a run-down old airport, mobbed by taxi drivers as soon as you exit). By the time my bags came out (thank goodness - can't take that for granted), it was midnight and I went outside to find my friendly driver that CHAI sent.
Couple lessons on India 101 that I realized right away:
1. It's HOT. Even in the middle of the night. Tomorrow will be extra, extra hot during the day.
2. Like in the UK, the driver is on the right side of the car and they drive on the left!* I tried to get into the right side and quickly figured things out. *roads were great, but it seems most cars don't like to make use of those nice, painted, dotted lines because those little compact cars are all over the place!

Again, surprisingly painless to find my apartment in the GK-1 district, in a nice, safe, gated community close to a big market. I've met my two flatmates - Elliot (Time journalist) and John (Save the Children) - who have lived here for 2+ yrs. Great apartment! They were surprised I hadn't been to India before since I had very little questions before about what it would be like to live here. I'm just glad I found something (through CHAI connections)! Really - the only questions I ever have are: a) will someone come get me at the airport, b) where am I going to live, and c) how do I get to work. Everything else gets answered eventually. I am spoiled with the AC, superfast Wifi, and my own bathroom in this 'flat'!
I am already chasing some skeeters around the room though - I'm sure I'll get my first bites of the year tonight.
Tomorrow, it's time to experience Delhi by day and meet with my CHAI colleague to start getting to work! I've been doing some studying over the flight to try to remind myself that yes - I did just take a year of schooling in nutrition and I should probably remember some things...

Woohoo - I'M IN INDIA!
:)