#1 of 3: The Trip

Well, we’re officially here! It was DEFINITELY an interesting journey, to say the least, and we’re still adjusting and unpacking and nesting…and probably will be for a long time. I decided to split my update into three blogs, since there’s SO much to tell. SO, this is part #1 of 3…The Trip.

The last week in the States was really wonderful, filled with great family time and lots of fun memories. We made the final transition out of U.S. life into India mode on Tuesday night, when we brought all our stuff to Chris’ parent’s house and packed everything up for the final time. Our luggage included: 2 backpacks, 2 laptop bags, 2 trip backpacks, and 4 sterilite plastic bins. About an hour into our packing escapade, that switched to 5 plastic bins. We couldn’t make everything fit, so we caved and added another piece of luggage to the madness!

(our very packed bin)

We got everything settled (around 11:00 Tuesday night!), and then Rachel and I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter! Crazy, I know, but I thought it would help me to transition to such a drastic time zone difference. I realized on the plane that it was actually backwards of how I should have done it. Oops!

(Rach and I going to the movie)

We woke up early Wednesday morning, said a tearful good-bye to the dogs, and headed to the airport.

Rachel and Tom came with, and my parents met us there. Everything went VERY smoothly, we got everything checked, and then said our very VERY tearful good-byes to everyone! It was sad, but it did feel good to finally be on our way. We’d been preparing for so long, that we definitely wanted to just be there.

First we flew to Chicago, (we had a 4 hour layover) so we slowly made our way to the International “wing” of the airport. It was kind of bitter sweet, because even though we were still in the states, it FELT like we were in a different country once we were there! Kind of a premature transition. We met up with Dave and Cookie Wiebe before we got on the plane, and then settled in for our first 8 hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany.

We had a 2 hour layover in Germany, where we met Laura, Nan, Kate, Nancy, and Harvey (who were also traveling with us to Woodstock), so that was fun! Brushed the teeth, changed clothes, got something to drink, and then we were off again. This was ANOTHER 8 hour flight to Delhi…and we started noticing a subtle change in the food. We were now getting rice and Dahl (a sort of lentil soup that goes on rice), crazy tasting yogurt (not sure what the name is yet), and mango juice. Hmm…

(airport food...mmm!)

When we arrived in Delhi, it wasn’t quite the shock I imagined…ORIGINALLY. The airport was very clean, we got our India stamp in the passport, and found our group very easily. There we met Mark, Elizabeth, Julie, Ray, Steve, Nisha, Tim, and Serena. We stood around for a LONG time, and finally made our way to our bus. More to come on the accompanying smells later.

(Cookie and Kate waiting for luggage...both of them had some that never showed up!)

(Our crazy Kansas friend Dave)

(Waiting to get the luggage into the bus)

We stayed in the Centaur Hotel…which, to be honest, reminded me of the scary hotel ride at Disney World. It was all marble, really stark, kind of freaky, and smelled HORRIBLY. My bags still smell like our hotel room. We had a great time getting to know people, but as soon as we got into our room we started freaking out a little bit. J Everything smelled horribly, it was excruciatingly hot (around 110 and humid outside…thankfully they did have air conditioning), and we were SO tired. Poor Chris was pretty sick to his stomach too…maybe the food or sleep deprivation? Not quite sure, but he was not a happy camper!

(The Centaur Hotel lobby)

(Eating at the Centaur Hotel)

We made it through the night (woke up around 3:00 AM), and on Friday made our way into Delhi as a group. HERE’S where the shock came…but more about that in #2 of 3. The one thing I will say, though, is that Indian driving is INSANE. Chris wasn’t feeling very good before we left, but halfway through he had to jump out of the car to get in the front seat, and near the end he was leaning out of the car throwing up. Definitely wasn’t the worst thing on the streets. J When we got there, we went to Fab India…a WONDERFUL Indian clothing store where they have sizes and dressing rooms and everything else we take for granted at our shopping malls. Chris ended up leaving halfway through the trip, but the rest of us walked around the very hot bazaar, sweat a lot, and bought some cool clothes! I got a full suit (a kurta: long shirt, a dupatti: the Indian equivalent of a pashmina, and

pants…can’t remember the name), and got Chris a men’s kurta as well. Just did our best to jump into the culture right away!

(In our new outfits)

The rest of the day was very laid back…supper together at the hotel, cards that night, early to bed. BECAUSE…the next day we left at 5:00 AM to catch the train to Dehra Dun. Again…SUCH a shock at the train station, but we made it!

(The people at the train station...crazy!)

(Aman, Steve, Brady, and Matt)

(The group on the train)

We had a 6 hour train ride up to Dehra Dun, stopped at Pizza Hut for lunch (which was surprisingly very western!), and then started the VERY windy, VERY fun (for some), VERY stomach wrenching (for others!) bus ride up to Mussoorie. Wow.

The ride itself was so great. The farther up we got the cooler it became, and the better the view was. The driving was pretty crazy, and we were afraid for our lives at times…but in all, it was a WONDERFUL introduction to our new home. Chris isn’t very excited for the next trip, but he’s hoping it was just the travel fatigue and upset stomach.

When we got to the school we met up with our buddies (people that have been there before…paired up to make things easier for us!), and came to our homes. We were a little underwhelmed with our housing at first, but it’s growing on us, and I’m determined that it WILL be cute some time soon. We were supposed to have supper at our buddy’s house, but we ignorantly laid down for “just a minute”, and were dead to the world within seconds. Definitely a long trip, but we were finally here!!!

**House pictures to come later!**