24-Hours-on-a-Train Later
After a long 24 hour train ride we arrived in Varanasi at around 5:00 pm on Saturday. We were met by Sarab, who works with the Where There Be Dragons groups, and took taxis to our program house. Varanasi, from my taxi window, at first appeared to be very similar to the cities I had already seen in India, like Dehli and Dehradun. That was, until we got to the program house. After a much anticipated dinner and introductions to Dolly Ji and her children, I walked outside. Our program house is right on the Ganges River, and for me, this river is what initially separated Varanasi from the other cities I have seen in India so far. Having spent a lot of time at the beach in California, there was just something calming and reassuring about being so close to a body of water.
The heat made sleeping difficult in the Program House, and I started my first full day in Varanasi feeling rather overwhelmed. At some point though, after spending the day exploring the city with a scavenger hunt, I began to appreciate my surroundings and acknowledge that seven months here wouldn't be so bad.
This week we are visiting the work sites and on Friday we are finding out which NGO we will be working with. Tonight is my first night in my homestay. We had a homestay meeting yesterday after our scavenger hunt, and Debby announced the names and gave information for four people in my group of who they would be staying with. Then she got to me and told me that my homestay family's house had recently burned down so they were living out of tents at the moment, but I would get my own tent and be able to use the bathroom and bathe on the Ganges. Luckily she was joking, but I'm not going to say that I wasn't extremely nervous during the minute that I thought I would be living out of a tent in India. I was just introduced to my host mother who is extremely nice, and am spending my first hour here unpacking and enjoying my great view.
Last night we had the chance to go on a boat ride and watch a fire offering to the river. It was a beautiful experience. It made me excited for all of the things this city has in store for me, and appreciative of the place I will be living in.
After a long 24 hour train ride we arrived in Varanasi at around 5:00 pm on Saturday. We were met by Sarab, who works with the Where There Be Dragons groups, and took taxis to our program house. Varanasi, from my taxi window, at first appeared to be very similar to the cities I had already seen in India, like Dehli and Dehradun. That was, until we got to the program house. After a much anticipated dinner and introductions to Dolly Ji and her children, I walked outside. Our program house is right on the Ganges River, and for me, this river is what initially separated Varanasi from the other cities I have seen in India so far. Having spent a lot of time at the beach in California, there was just something calming and reassuring about being so close to a body of water.
The heat made sleeping difficult in the Program House, and I started my first full day in Varanasi feeling rather overwhelmed. At some point though, after spending the day exploring the city with a scavenger hunt, I began to appreciate my surroundings and acknowledge that seven months here wouldn't be so bad.
This week we are visiting the work sites and on Friday we are finding out which NGO we will be working with. Tonight is my first night in my homestay. We had a homestay meeting yesterday after our scavenger hunt, and Debby announced the names and gave information for four people in my group of who they would be staying with. Then she got to me and told me that my homestay family's house had recently burned down so they were living out of tents at the moment, but I would get my own tent and be able to use the bathroom and bathe on the Ganges. Luckily she was joking, but I'm not going to say that I wasn't extremely nervous during the minute that I thought I would be living out of a tent in India. I was just introduced to my host mother who is extremely nice, and am spending my first hour here unpacking and enjoying my great view.
Last night we had the chance to go on a boat ride and watch a fire offering to the river. It was a beautiful experience. It made me excited for all of the things this city has in store for me, and appreciative of the place I will be living in.
Is that picture a view from your balcony? So funny you thought you would be living in a tent!!!xxoo
ReplyDeleteno it's on our boat ride!
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