So much to say...

It’s been 2.5 weeks since I arrived and I still cannot believe I’m here. I’m still trying to get used to a completely different way of life.

My last week in Delhi was quite nice. Jackie and I decided to explore the city each evening after work. We went to the Lotus Temple (which I have to say is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen), the gorgeous Lodi Gardens and Old Delhi. Old Delhi was very interesting, although it didn’t feel all that safe…tons of people, cows everywhere you turned, vendors shouting, car horns constantly going…Jackie and I decided to take a bicycle trolley which was quite nice since we were able to see most of the area without having to worry too much about being bothered.

On Friday, Engin arrived…after work, Engin, Jackie, Veda (one of our coworkers) and I went to India Gate and then later to Lizard Lounge, which at first seemed very nice and relaxed, but later turned into a loud, awkward club-like scene. On Saturday, Engin and I went to Red Fort and Jama Masjid. The fort was similar to Agra Fort…much of the architecture and layout seemed identical. As for Jama Masjid…that was quite an experience…overall good, but quite uncomfortable at times. At the time we arrived, there was a bazaar with mostly men…I must have been one of the only girls there…everyone kept on staring and I was just glad that Engin was there. It got to the point that people would surround us and stare intently. I guess I wasn’t too shocked since Jackie and I had a similar experience in Agra, but it was definitely still awkward.

Sunday night we left Delhi and headed to Dharamsala. The bus ride over there was terrible! I’m usually very good about falling asleep while traveling, but this bus ride was like no other. The bus itself wasn’t bad, but the driver was driving like a maniac! If you can imagine…we traveled for 12 hours on a narrow, bumpy dirt road and our driver was passing other huge trucks….it was pretty scary…I was quite happy to arrive safely…although I lost a shoe somewhere along the way :(. I took off my shoes on the ride and I guess somebody took my shoe by mistake! How does that happen?!!! Since we had made a stop before arriving in Dharamsala, I had no way of telling if someone had already left with my shoe….although, I did find an unclaimed orange shoe in the bus…so I’m guessing the owner of this shoe took mine instead! Anyways, point is I had to hop off the bus!!! It was quite a sight.

The first couple of days in Dharamsala were quite slow….at least in terms of work. The first day we didn’t do much since none of us had really slept on the bus. For the next couple of days we spent most of our time setting up the place where we will be staying for the next two months. It is a nice little house in Lower Dharamsala, although it does have its shortcomings…no hot water, very limited furniture and appliances (no beds, fridge, stove, microwave), sometimes no running water, toilets that flush occasionally, a very noisy neighborhood (especially in the mornings…you hear everything from cows to dogs to people chanting to cars honking to insanely heavy monsoon rains…early in the morning…I’m talking 5 am or so). Basically our home consists of mattresses, some curtains, a table, some chairs, and a water boiler to make tea and coffee :)….I guess that covers most of the very basic essentials….plus, of course, a little balcony with a beautiful view of the Himalayas.

We have done some exploring around the area since we arrived. In particular, we all love Upper Dharamsala, which is like 20 minutes driving distance. It is a beautiful little town (known as Little Tibet) which is where the Dalai Lama resides! Amazing, no? Walking through the streets you can see Buddhist monks everywhere! It’s almost as if you were in another country! It’s quite fascinating :). Last week, we hiked up to a beautiful waterfall and enjoyed some lovely chai tea, which I have to say is quite delicious here in India….so good it got me off coffee! That’s really something. Another day, we hiked another part of the mountain in attempts to reach a Hindu temple on a hill. When we arrived, we encountered an interesting-looking monk performing strange rituals (well, at least I thought they were strange). After clearing up a miscommunication (long story), he invited us in the temple to receive the blessing (I’m actually not sure what this is called…). After, he offered us some tea and we ended up staying for quite a while chatting with him…he was such an interesting character! It turns out he used to study science, but in his second year in college he decided to be a monk instead. He lives in this temple and is a great yogi! He was in great shape for his age and in fact, looked much younger than we expected! Yes, Engin asked him his age…anyways, I found his life so interesting…he does yoga on this mountain every night at 2:39 in the morning (yes, he did specify this time in particular)…and he invited us to join him if we were interested! Hopefully we’ll get a chance to go soon :).

In terms of health, I’ve been doing pretty well….besides a couple of days of throwing up and feeling sick to my stomach (I think it might have just been the malaria pills), I’ve been doing pretty well. Engin, on the other hand, got pretty sick. He was in bed for 2 days straight, but now he’s doing better :).

As for work, I have to admit it’s had its ups and downs. When I was in Delhi the whole project seemed to be so disorganized…I felt so uninformed by the people working on the project even after I asked many questions! Everything seemed to be left until the last minute…it was quite frustrating. So my last week in Delhi I spent a lot of time reading about other projects that have been done in developing countries on vernacular architecture. I was fascinated to see so much work has been done in so many areas…although, there is much left to do. Reading these papers gave me a feel for the type of work I would be doing and overall, it really inspired me to work on projects like these in the future (hopefully). When we first arrived in the Himalayas, work was really slow (as I mentioned before). Everything seemed to take an eternity. We had no list of buildings to survey and very limited information in terms of what we would be evaluating….again, very frustrating. However, things have gotten better and I am learning to deal with the pace of life over here. In the last week, we’ve visited government officials in the area to discuss access to temples....so far, we have visited three sites (Kangra Fort, Shiva Temple in Baijnath and Masrur Temples in Masrur). We have evaluated the Shiva and Masrur Temples and are working on the documentation. The Masrur temple was so interesting…the entire structure seems to have been carved out of a mountain! It’s quite fascinating! Although the objectives are still quite ill-defined, I have to admit things are improving…either that or I’m just learning to cope with it :).

Ahhh…okay, I have so much more to say, but I think that’s enough writing for now :)