We're in India!

Josh's Point of View:

Hello from Delhi! We just flew in all the way from Boston... and boy, are our arms tired.

Our itinerary consisted of a flight from Boston to Newark, then an infinitely longer flight to Delhi. So we thought the first flight would be easy compared to the second. Not so. We were delayed in Boston: we waited for two hours on the runway, growing more and more worried with each minute that we wouldn't make our connection. When we finally landed in Newark, I literally sprinted all the way to the departing gate and pleaded with the crew to let us get on the plane. It was already closed, they said. We'd just gotten in from Boston, we said. As we talked, a half-dozen people from the Boston flight caught up to me and joined in the pleading. Finally they agreed to open up the plane again and let us on. It took some more pleading (and the interruption of a poor girl's chess game on the seat-back computer) for Mackenzie and me to get seats next to each other, but we did it.

The flight to Delhi was surprisingly easy. They served us plenty of food - I liked it, though Mackenzie didn't - and we both got to sleep. We also acculturated ourselves to India by watching a Love Aaj Kal (a Bollywood romantic comedy) and Gandhi (a classic but very long movie.)

We landed in Delhi, and the culture shock quickly began. We found our driver, and he helped us load our many bags into his car. So did a whole bunch of other hangers-on who appeared out of nowhere to carry our bags without our asking, and then demand tips for their effort. Having never been in a developing country before, and not knowing what the hell to do about all these guys who might run off with our bags if I wasn't nice to them, I handed them an amount of money equal to several days' salary in India. Oops. At least it wasn't much money by American standards. And at least our bags were okay. But now I'm kind of afraid that anyone who makes eye contact with me here is going to demand money.

We're not moving into the Bain-supplied apartment until tomorrow. For now we've settled into a room at the Lemon Tree Hotel, and we're thankful to have some peace and quiet after 24 hours of travel. Unfortunately I think I'm going to be totally unable to sleep because I'm still on USA time. Oh well... you have to start somewhere, right?

Mackenzie's Thoughts:

This place reminds me of Egypt. Except without the Mubarak Police Academy. And with more random high rise buildings. We'll see if I get more comfortable with India when I see it in the light tomorrow. For tonight, I am just glad we got in okay and that I was mean to the poor hanger-ons and refused to pay them more money than Josh did. Yup...I am the foreign bitch.