Cross-Cultural Mishaps #2

            So far we've spent only three days in Delhi, but it has been nothing less than uneventful.

The train ride we quite the adventure. As someone who likes her space and values cleanliness far more than many people, being squished into that tiny compartment was tough, along with the Indian style bathrooms and unusable water.
            Of course, over 36 hours there was bound to be some confusion and moments of mishap as fifteen Americans were shoved  into basic Indian modes of transportation without too much warning or prep.
 To give you a taste of what it looked like, here are some pictures:

This is how many of us were in one compartment. Those lovely shirts were so we don't get lost. You know, because we don't stick out enough in an Indian train station.

This was my bed on the top bunk of our compartment

         
         The first accidental mishap came within the first hour of the train ride, when I tried to change into my pajamas, completely unaware of the fact that there was a wide enough gap to give the men in the next compartment a full view...oops. Let's just say that in India, the most conservative western undergarments could be considered very risque. My mantra for this trip has now become, "At least I'll probably never see these people again." for whenever I accidentally do something embarrassing.
      Once we realized the train was nothing like Harry Potter, much to our dismay, we decided to go exploring. Over the 36 hours we were able to venture through almost the entire train, from our comfortable a/c cars with beds to the very back of the train filled with people and with bars over the windows. We encountered beggars on the train, all kinds of tea and food being served, open doors to the tracks below us, and many confused stares as we wandered about, and finally even more confused looks as we piled 17 people into 1 compartment for a lecture.
     Once we were in Delhi, the real fun began. So far, in our hostel, we have discovered kittens (ew, ew, ew.) and rats. (I know, even better.) We also found out, that the guards and men that work in the hostel now think us American girls are huge wimps (which I guess is true) and can reach octaves when we scream that are so high, only dogs can hear them.
It all started when I was downstairs doing homework, when I heard doors slamming and Katrina screaming "STACY! STACY! STACY!" as she tried to get her out of the shower. The first thought in my head was "Oh my gosh, someone just broke in and is going to traffick us." So I did the sensible thing, and ran upstairs to see what the problem was. It turns out, that there was quite a large rat making its home in Katrina's suitcase. The slamming doors was due to the fact that out of self-defense, Katrina accidentally locked Stacy in the room with said rat. Let the screaming and shrills commence. Once we were all able to calm down, We were able to get Dr. K and a guard.
We then had another valuable life lesson. Those Indians don't mess around when it comes to rodents. Rather than the expected rat trap, there was a lot of stomping and a large stick. The rat put up a fight, biting Dr. K, but in the end, met it's ultimate demise and had to be swept down the stairs.

       Other than that bit of adventure, we've gotten to see some of Delhi's best sites, did some serious shopping, visited an NGO, was stared at a lot, had my picture taken a million times, with only half of those times by someone I actually knew and finally, ate 6 chicken nuggets and a chocolate chip cookie. Hooray for American food! (I do love Indian food, but Indian food 24/7 is rough.)

All in all, India has been great adventure and I'm just a little over half-way through.

"India, like life, is what you make of it." - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

                                                              XOXO,
                                                              Kaitlyn