Arrival and Shenanigans 7/13/10 6:45 am

Current band I’ve been listening to : The Psalters

It was a surreal experience coming to India this time around. On the plane ride here I was in a constant state of dejevu. I kept experiencing the same thoughts and feeling I had on the same flight two years earlier: I kept thinking "holy [moley]! I'm going to a country I've never been to before BY MYSELF, I don't know anyone there, and I bought non-refundable tickets!" But then I would always snap back to the reality that none of that was true (except for the part of the non-refundable tickets): I had been here before, I possibly more friends in India than I do in the U.S. and my favorite person in the world is coming with me!

So far our stay has been pretty laid back ("laid back" being an extremely relative concept in India, considering the stress and hassle of traveling ANYWHERE). We got to meet the boys that Andi works with at the boys home (where we are now living) and April fell in love immediately. The youngest boys (probably from 5 to 10) all flock around April, and then the Older boys (12-15) all hang around me (mostly because they like my guitar). As much as I love all the boys here and am excited to start working with them, I can't wait to see some of the girls from the Wazipur slum. (I think I can more easily relate to girls than boys).

One cool thing about Delhi is the rich architectural history that's around every corner. On Sunday we had a couple of hours to blow, so we went to Red Fort. We walked outside our hostile and caught an auto rickshaw and literally 10 minutes later we were at a giant fortress that out dates my countries history (my house in Clovis isn't even 10 minutes away from the nearest Johnny Quick).

Once we were inside we were greeted by this Indian man who looked like a tourist himself "Hello! from which country you come?" and we answered that we were from the U.S..... from California. He then with a look of prepared and practiced surprise "California?!!! **I** am from California! I lived there for YEARS! Where in california are you from? LA? San Francisco? San Diego? Sacramento?" Judging from the cheeky way he spoke, we knew immediately that this guy had probably never been outside of Delhi; but we humored him and I said "We're from Bakersfield". He gave us this blank stare, and he said something like "I have never heard of this Field of Bakers!" [ok he didn't say it like that... but that's how I would like to remember him saying it] "I am come from San Jose" and then he listed the major streets and intersections in San Jose to prove that he lived there. And then he revealed his scheme, "For 500 rupees only I shall be your tour guide" I told him that we really didn't want or need a tour and after a few minutes of badgering us, he was like "Ok ok Fine fine. But please just write down your names on this paper and draw a map of this Field of Bakers and write out all the major streets and intersections". I cheerfully took his notepad and started to draw a map of the Shire, complete with the brandy-wine bridge and such landmarks, but then gave up and just wrote our names: "Aaron and Lindsay Morgan" (Complete with his address and phone number.....jk). I wonder if there is a Aaron and Lindsay Morgan in Bakersfield? Next time we plan to be Ashley and Marcos Baker from Wattsonville.