Hi everyone! Today I finally took the time to read the blogs of two of my best friends who are also abroad (Hi Angie and Dylan!) and Angie's is hilarious and Dylan's has fabulous pictures, so I figured I would link their blogs here if you want to see what they're up to as well! I'm jealous that they're in Europe (Dublin and Prague, respectively) and get to visit other parts of the continent and drink in so much beautiful scenery and architecture all the time. I miss you both! And everyone else who isn't with me here of course. So many of my friends/friendly acquaintances are scattered around the world: Ireland, Argentina, Spain, France, England, South Africa, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Hungary, Scotland, Australia, Israel, China, Korea, Switzerland, and of course the United States!
I'm stealing a post topic from Angie's blog here: Yesterday I came as close to peeing my pants as I have in a long, long time. I cannot even EXPRESS how bad it was. We were nearing Delhi on the train back from Aligarh, and I decided to wait till I got home to use the bathroom because it was 9:40 and I was told I would get home around 10:30 or 10:40. So manageable, I thought. What a bad, terrible, awful, ill-fated idea! We got off the train and got on a bus and proceeded to sit in the railway station parking lot for about 15 minutes. At this point I had to go quite badly (blasted two-liter bottles of water that they give out on the train) so I asked Archna Ji if I had time to go find a bathroom. She indicated we were about to leave so I grudgingly agreed to hold it (you are seriously getting a play-by-play of my near-accident but it was just that traumatic for me). I got increasingly antsy as we sat in the lot longer and longer, and Poonam suggested that I might be able to find a restroom in one of the nearby restaurants. Finally we were on our way, though! Thank you gods of all the religions practiced in India! Driving on Delhi roads turned out to be more painful, however, because potholes and uneven areas of road are even more plentiful than people in India (trust me, this is a feat) and the bus bouncing was not helping my bladder situation. I started pinching my arms to distract myself, and people could tell my situation was getting dire so they began offering me plastic bags and bottles (thanks guys, luckily I haven't sunk quite that low yet!). After taking literally six wrong turns and backing up like 100 yards on a six-lane arterial (I SWEAR IT WAS A CONSPIRACY), we finally dropped the first people off at Lajpat Nagar near the Central Market. I asked Bhavna Ji if there was a restroom nearby, and she said it would be difficult to find one. I think she knew I was serious though when I said I could hold it as long as she took me to the hospital today to get bladder reconstructive surgery. So as we dropped off the Lajpat people, Bhavna Ji found me an empty lot and I peed behind a gross wheelbarrow next to an abandoned building while Bhavna Ji stood watch and shooed away a curious (probably rabid) dog. Lesson learned: Never, ever turn down a bathroom in India, regardless of if you have to go or how gross it is. Restrooms are few and far between (hence the huge sanitation problem here) so take what you can get, because your next option might be a bottle or the side of the road. #firstgradelessons
Also I finally bought an external hard drive today and I'm backing everything up now! My screen has been having neon green seizures lately, so I'm hopefully going to take it to the Apple store soon to get it checked out.
And in closing, a quote from my guy Dylan Koutsky:
"I just read your most recent blog post and it seems like such a bigger adjustment to go to India than Prague. Like so far the most inconvenient thing here that I've experienced (except for the language barrier) is that the orange juice tastes funny."
I'm stealing a post topic from Angie's blog here: Yesterday I came as close to peeing my pants as I have in a long, long time. I cannot even EXPRESS how bad it was. We were nearing Delhi on the train back from Aligarh, and I decided to wait till I got home to use the bathroom because it was 9:40 and I was told I would get home around 10:30 or 10:40. So manageable, I thought. What a bad, terrible, awful, ill-fated idea! We got off the train and got on a bus and proceeded to sit in the railway station parking lot for about 15 minutes. At this point I had to go quite badly (blasted two-liter bottles of water that they give out on the train) so I asked Archna Ji if I had time to go find a bathroom. She indicated we were about to leave so I grudgingly agreed to hold it (you are seriously getting a play-by-play of my near-accident but it was just that traumatic for me). I got increasingly antsy as we sat in the lot longer and longer, and Poonam suggested that I might be able to find a restroom in one of the nearby restaurants. Finally we were on our way, though! Thank you gods of all the religions practiced in India! Driving on Delhi roads turned out to be more painful, however, because potholes and uneven areas of road are even more plentiful than people in India (trust me, this is a feat) and the bus bouncing was not helping my bladder situation. I started pinching my arms to distract myself, and people could tell my situation was getting dire so they began offering me plastic bags and bottles (thanks guys, luckily I haven't sunk quite that low yet!). After taking literally six wrong turns and backing up like 100 yards on a six-lane arterial (I SWEAR IT WAS A CONSPIRACY), we finally dropped the first people off at Lajpat Nagar near the Central Market. I asked Bhavna Ji if there was a restroom nearby, and she said it would be difficult to find one. I think she knew I was serious though when I said I could hold it as long as she took me to the hospital today to get bladder reconstructive surgery. So as we dropped off the Lajpat people, Bhavna Ji found me an empty lot and I peed behind a gross wheelbarrow next to an abandoned building while Bhavna Ji stood watch and shooed away a curious (probably rabid) dog. Lesson learned: Never, ever turn down a bathroom in India, regardless of if you have to go or how gross it is. Restrooms are few and far between (hence the huge sanitation problem here) so take what you can get, because your next option might be a bottle or the side of the road. #firstgradelessons
Also I finally bought an external hard drive today and I'm backing everything up now! My screen has been having neon green seizures lately, so I'm hopefully going to take it to the Apple store soon to get it checked out.
And in closing, a quote from my guy Dylan Koutsky:
"I just read your most recent blog post and it seems like such a bigger adjustment to go to India than Prague. Like so far the most inconvenient thing here that I've experienced (except for the language barrier) is that the orange juice tastes funny."
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