Finally made it to my mum's friend V's house in Delhi! I actually feared for my life on the way there because although the driver had a sign with my name on it and was driving a Honda Accord, just like V said he would be, the sign wasn't the one I'd made for him and he was with another guy. I asked him where he was taking me and gave me the correct address but I didn't relax until we actually entered the house, they showed me around and left. Somehow, between their broken English and my vigorous nods and smiles, we managed to communicate. Before they left, though, I practiced the only Hindi phrase I know: "Apka naam kia he?" What is your name? Hopefully that made me marginally more legit in their eyes.
I'm now sitting in the bedroom of V's place. I'll be in Delhi for two nights and then fly to Jodhpur, where I'll begin orientation with the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD), the "middleman" organisation that links volunteers to local nonprofits. There is AC in this house, a huge relief, because without it I feel like a giant hair dryer is blowing straight at me everywhere I walk. V's friend is coming over tomorrow, and she can speak English. I realised I have to print out my ticket for my flight to Jodhpur and I hope she can help me with that. There are other things I need to take care of--my bottle of lotion leaked in my suitcase and I need to clean it up; I'd like to repack my bookbag so it isn't so darned heavy (being the bookworm I am, I packed 5 books into my carry-on)--but I'm too tired to move and want to fall into bed as soon as my hair dries.
I wish I could speak or understand Hindi. I feel very vulnerable in this place, where I look different and speak a different language. Apart from this trip, the only other time I can remember being in a country where I was not able to understand or speak the language was when my family and I went to Thailand. In all the other places, English or Chinese was enough to get by. I've never had to find my way around like this on my own before, and luckily I won't be doing this on my own for much longer. I don't think I have enough street smarts to do it!
I can also see how my unfamiliarity with the language can inconvenience me and others, especially when I begin working at my organisation, MSS. MSS proposed that, amongst other things, I either teach English, conduct a programme evaluation, or conduct a survey in slums. I can forsee myself dragging another MSS colleague along to translate, and in my mind that might be an inefficient distribution of resources. I don't know how this is all going to work out but I know that while FSD requires people who intern in South America to know Spanish, there are no language requirements for African countries or India. Also, countless other volunteers/interns encounter this problem, so I'm sure both FSD and my host organisation have ways of circumventing the language issue. I'm I'm not wrong, we'll also be given a crash course on Hindi next week. So I'm going to assume that it'll all be ok.
Good night, y'all.
(Btw, I figured out the timestamp on this blog so from now on it'll accurately reflect the time of this post at the location I'm in.)
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