11:45 pm: Brief conversation with customs man regarding what I plan to do in India. Since I have a tourism visa, I offered him part of the truth and said I would be travelling and playing ultimate frisbee. This caused him to chuckle and stamp my passport, so it was probably a great decision.
12:00 am: Meet Ashok, the driver with my name on a sign. He is less than thrilled that I am late, but helped me lift my obnoxiously heavy suitcase over curbs anyway.
12:05 am: Get in the car and realize that while there are seatbelts, there are no buckles. Safety expectations are adjusted.
12:30 am: Arrive at hostel, receive one very pink bottle of purified water, and move in to room 208. English is not spoken, but somehow I end up with the air conditioner on in my room, so I still feel like a winner.
12:40 am: Unpack all belongings because I’m wired. A large pile of oddly shaped keys accumulates on my desk as I remove them from the numerous locking cupboards and drawers.
1:00 am: Laundry is done in my sink. This is wildly successful.
1:30 am: Go to bed.
2:30 am-ish: Fall asleep.
6:28 am: Awake to a knock at the door. I open the door. A man says, “tea?” I say, “yes, please!” I burn my fingers, but am still a happy camper.
7:23 am: There is another knock at the door, this time from the hostel caretaker who holds out his phone to me with no explanation. It turns out to be the head of the PHFI-Delhi office asking when I plan on being in the office today. In this moment I find out I’ll be going to the office today.
8:04 am: Go downstairs for breakfast. Questionable yogurt and a delicious potato onion pancake are consumed. A girl wanders in, nods at me, and takes her food into another room. I take this as confirmation that I am not, in fact, the only person living here.
8:30 am: Return to my room to read some of Ellen’s latest book sent to me by Bee because it feels like having a witty conversation with someone and my sad mouth has said nothing of consequence for too many hours.
9:15 am: Hop in the car with Ashok to drive to PHFI. At this juncture he informs me that no one wears seatbelts in India as I again awkwardly try to put on my seatbelt and again find there are no buckles.
9:45 am: Arrive at PHFI and sit on various couches throughout the building as people try to decide what to do with me since my supervisor will be in ministry all day. Eventually it is concluded that I should spend the day using my laptop in a cubicle. All of a sudden I regret not bringing my charger.
10:30 am: My first PHFI friends are made. One of them has the same first name as the author who wrote the book that made me start falling in love with India. They are all very nice and their accents slay me.
1:00 pm: My new friends invite me to go to lunch in the cafeteria with them. They advise me on the food purchasing process and kindly answer my questions regarding the proper way to consume everything. Lunch costs 50 Rs. in the cafeteria. This is equivalent to 85 cents.
3:45 pm: I realize I’ve been in India for fifteen and a half hours and the composition of this blog post begins.
This is bed tea. I think I’m gonna like it here.
Happy Monday.
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