Top 5

Today is my last day in India. I leave for the airport in about 9 hours from now. How strange? I said goodbye to Marang and Madhu, to several of my roommates who will not be here when I leave, and some people at the study center. Although, really, for the past few days as I have gotten ready to go home and pack, I have really been just trying to kill time.

So for one final blog I think I will write the “Top 5 Things I Will Miss From India”:

5. Traveling- India is a wonderful place to travel because it is cheap and because there is just so much to see. I feel like I have seen some of India but there is still so much to see. I mean, each town in India seems to be an adventure. Each region/ state is like a new country with different customs, habits, and sometimes even language. And each place has its own unique beauty to it.

4. My Kids- The kids that I worked with while volunteering were really amazing. it was one of the most depressing places to visit, the slum that is, but they were always so full of life and joy. They really were a light in a truly dark place. I will miss them all and their crazy antics.

3. Realizing I’m in India- Yep, it still happens… Every once in a while you will see things that totally remind you that you are in India. For example, as I was coming out of the metro station, Delhi’s symbol of reinvigoration, modernity, and technology, I saw a cow looking through the glass down at me. Another example, I saw a bull drown carriage pulling barrels of gasoline on the street to deliver them to a gas station. There are countless times where I am taken aback, even still, and I realize that I am in India.

2. Kareem’s and Thali Plates- These are the two essential food groups for me in India. Kareem’s is a Mughal restaurant in the heart of Old Delhi that serves by far the best mutton one will ever eat. And I just generally love thali plates. I probably order two thali plates from Fiesta Green every week. Yesterday when I called for the last time, I said my name and then he read me the order I was to give him. I will miss that paneer!

1. Marang, Madhu, and all My Friends at Church- The church i went to was really my lifeline to India. The problem with the EAP program is that it basically puts American students with American students. I have made some really good American friends but only a few Indian ones. And the church that I went to really was how I met Indians and who I became friends with. I will miss lunches at Pastor Madhu’s house, dinners at Emmanuel’s. And most of all, I will miss Marang, the man who volunteer with. He is an amazing man with an amazing faith and to get to know him has been a real privilege. I will miss them all.

Hopefully this blog wasn’t too sappy but, hey, I am leaving a place I have lived in for 6 months that has tried me at times and made me fall in love with it at others. I think it is only my right to be a little sentimental.

I will most likely be writing a few more blogs from Thailand before I come home and stop the blog. I will be going to Railay Beach for about 4 days and then seeing my host family for about five days. Very exciting! Thanks for reading the blog and for the comments to all those who have posted them. I hope the blog has given you an idea about what my time in India has been