Oh how I needed a night of luxury.

So I think it finally hit me yesterday on my way home from work – I love it here! Not that I haven’t enjoyed the past 3 weeks, but it was difficult for me to adjust to so many new things in such a short time period. But now I feel like I’m at home. It’s a good feeling I have to say. I also have a hunch this mostly had to do with the fact that I am finally not sick anymore, and I learned how to cook for myself. Success!

To top of my feeling better, I had a rare night of luxury. Recently I found out that a girl I work with at Cornell was here for the summer living with her dad in New Delhi. So we had tried to meet up for dinner before but we realized we lived about 45 minutes away from each other so it was put off a few times. But finally last night she just let me know her driver (crazy, I know) could pick me up at my flat and drive me to her dad’s house for dinner. Works for me!

I should mention that in India it is very common to have maids, etc. since labor is ridiculously cheap in comparison to the US. While in the US you are considered very well off if you have a maid, here people have maids that clean the house, maids that clean the bathroom, cooks, drivers, you name it. I mean, even we have two maids and we’re all poor haha.

So back to my night… her driver picked me up at about 8:15 PM and drove me the 45 minutes to her dads house. The trip was basically magical. To start, the car was comfortable and had AC, luxuries I only dream of here. Then, I don’t think the driver honked his horn once! I was incredible impressed! In my safe little bubble of a minivan it was quiet and peaceful.

So once we got closer, we pulled into a gated community and then drove up the beautifully landscaped path to Sarah’s dad’s house. So nice!! Then when I went in the house I nearly passed out in amazement. The house was stunning. Not only did he have a flat screen, but the décor was beautiful and there were those gorgeous handmade rugs everywhere. After saying hello, Sarah introduced me to her friend who is spending the summer with her and gave me a tour of the house. First we went outside which was to die for. His pool is the size of our 8-person flat. Maybe 3 to 4 times the size of my pool in Arizona. Then there were flowers everywhere and a garden and he even had tennis courts in the back! To top it off, he has an entire side house where all of his 22 workers live. So crazy! Upstairs, Sarah and her friend both had their own room as well.

After that we just were talking for a while about what I was doing here and what they were doing. They are both working at different places and her dad works at an infrastructure firm that does projects all over the world. Needless to say he is a well-traveled man. He has been living in India for about 8 years now ever since he has had the job. Specifically I believe he said he was some sort of water engineer. So he knew a bit about Arizona and he had studied the way we get water there not too long ago.

Then we sat down for dinner. Their cook had made Thai food (as if they night could have gotten any better) and it was fantastic. We even had crepes for dessert!! It was fun talking to them too. Her dad knows a ton about India since he has been living here for so long. He is also really into energy and feng shui, I think. Not actually sure what to call what he was interested in. But he was talking about energy holes a lot and how the cats like them. The fact that one of their cats will be having 4 kittens any day now also pretty much sealed the deal that I would be returning.

Then as I was about to leave they were nice enough to give me some leftovers. So I had something to eat at work today! And it was fish and shrimp too, nonetheless. Then I was just joking about how I miss coffee and the best they have here is fake Nescafe coffee. Then her dad proceeded to grind me coffee beans and let me borrow his French press. So I had two cups of coffee this morning along. I finally feel alert!

The good news continued this morning as well. I was offered a counselor position via email for the A-Town (University Anytown) at U of A right when I get back. That means I come back to AZ late on the 6th and I will drive to Tuscon the morning of the 8th for counselor training. While this schedule seems a bit intense I’m incredibly excited. While it stinks that I wont be able to spend time at home for too long before I go, I still will have a week after that I suppose. It is just one of those things that you can’t turn down. Hopefully my parents won’t be too mad – sorry Mom!

Seeing Sarah’s house really tied it together in many ways. There is such a huge income gap here and incredibly inequality. While Indians who are more wealthy say they are the “middle class” there is really not much of middle class as much as I see it. It exists, yes, but the extremes are quite, well, extreme.

Still not sure what I’ll be doing this weekend. I think I’m a bit too hesitant to get back into one of those buses again to go with people to Pushkar. If not I can always see some places around Delhi that I haven’t had the chance to yet and maybe go with Maria to a village and a yoga class on Sunday. Guess I should figure that out tonight.

More soon of course! Atchaa.