Oh, the places I'm going!

I must blog about my host mom's brother's wedding, but that's kind of a whole big thing and I would rather tell you all about a few smaller things right now.

Open Hand Cafe

In Varanasi, some of the girls on my program had gone to a bakery near our hotel that was run by a South African person that Goutam Ji knew. They had delicious crepes and milkshakes, and then we found out that there's also a cafe in Delhi. We had to finish our final Independent Study Project proposals on Friday, so we decided to check out the cafe. Rachael and I thought it was in the American embassy, so we headed over and asked the guard in front of the fortress that apparently is our embassy if we could go inside to get food. Apparently you can only go in if you have an appointment or know someone (which I was little annoyed at because I thought I was always welcome at my own embassy as an American citizen, but whatever), so we called Goutam Ji to see if he knew whether the Open Hand Cafe was actually in the American embassy. We found out later that is was actually in the American Embassy School around the corner, so we ventured over there and traded our passports for guest passes.

The Open Hand Cafe in Delhi didn't have crepes or milkshakes, but it did have a delicious smoked chicken sandwich, a mocha frappe, and a rocky road brownie. Liz, Rachael, and I spent all afternoon at the cafe ordering food that made us think of home and working on our final study proposals. It was a wonderful little slice of America, but it was also thoroughly disconcerting to be on the school's campus. All the students, kindergarten to 12th grade, are foreign passport holders, with the majority being American and Korean. All the students walking around were wearing western clothes, and many were white and Asian. As we were leaving many hours later, we even saw people warming up for an ultimate frisbee game! In many ways it was a relief from the chaos of Delhi, and it made me excited to see my family to see moms picking up their kids after school and buying them treats, but it was also felt weird to be surrounded by Americans and other foreigners. Overall it was a great break and relaxing afternoon of yummy, familiar food.

Shopping

Before leaving Delhi, I decided to do some shopping to make sure I didn't run out of time at the end of my program or in Kolkata. After the the Open Hand Cafe, Rachael and I headed to Dilli Haat for a little beggar-free, upscale market shopping. Liz fell in love with this blue and red sari that had beautiful work on it, but the man selling it started the price at Rs 5,000 (about $100). Liz definitely wasn't paying that much, so we continued looking around. I bought a present for my mata ji (mother) and kept looking, but Rachael and I were running out of time because we were going to another wedding reception with our host parents (we got incredibly lucky during Indian wedding season). Liz made one desperate call to Tania to get her advice on the sari, who recommended she go up to the sari seller and hand her the amount she wanted to pay. While Rachael and Liz did that, I went back to a few more stalls and impulse purchased two elephant pillow cases and a small elephant wall hanging. Rachael and I also went to Lajpat Nagar and I bought a pair of shoes (and later a duplicate pair for our host mom because she liked them so much). In my quest for a picture frame to give to Adil and Khadeeja as well, I bought a copy of In Cold Blood and some stationary at Khan Market. Speaking of which, I just finished Pride and Prejudice and am working on Wuthering Heights (and by that I mean I'm five pages in), though I might switch and read Truman Capote instead.

Kolkata

Rachael and I had a sleepover at the program center on Sunday night because our host parents were going out of town, but it was alright because the guest room at the center is super nice. Then Sarah Kate, Tania K. and I took an overnight train to Kolkata! There is much more to this story, but alas I must go to bed.

Good night!