One Geek

Friday

Went to the office after lunch. (Which was subway don’t you hate when they put mustard on your sub without asking. Grrr!!) Anyway after work had diner at Victor and Sarah’s house. It was quite a nice time. They have the most adorable three year old girl called Joanna. She’s pretty smart I think. She started pre-school a bit after turning one which is amazing.

Victor and Sarah moved closer to work so that they could spend more time with their daughter. Which is pretty cool. Like most people in India they have a pretty small flat by Western standards. It was homely though.

I had lots of fun playing with Joanna. At first she was very shy and a bit scared of me. But it didn’t take long for her to start warming to me. She showed me the family photo albums pointing to Mummy, Dad and Joanna in the photos. Then we played with some of her toys.

Dinner was quite nice. I think Victor is pretty remarkable with all the work he does. He is often travelling to the different hospitals. His job is not an easy one. But he is very patient and does a good job.

Saturday

In the morning I went to the train museum. It was a bit of fun. And at ten ruppies not a bad deal. No extra cost for foriegners. I didn’t spend very long there though. After that when I went to Lajipat Market. I didn’t end up buying much there. It was all a bit too confusing. I needed a local. No idea how much things there should cost.

Went to one of the poshest malls in Delhi on Saturday arvo. It was good fun. There was some good shops there, and I managed to get some Christmas shopping done. I had the buffet at a pizza and pasta place. Mainly because I didn’t want to wait for my food. Not because I was going to eat a lot. It was a rip off at nearly $10 Australian but at least it included a drink.

I love being unfassionable and going into the posh areas of Delhi. People have to hide their disapproval because I am white and therefore rich. At least I think that’s what happens sometimes. I love being a stupid foriegner. It’s fun.

Ansel Plaza is nothing compared to Westfield Hornsby though. It’s really not that big. And the big music shop there isn’t as good as Borders. On my way out I went to get a Coke but they wanted 23 ruppies which is 5 ruppies more then the normal price. I said forget it. Mainly because it meant breaking an extra note.

Had a bit of a talk to Alieta. One of the India vetrans you find around the place. She’s Canadian and has some very good India stories. Yet another insperational person I have meet in my travels through India. It’s been great to meet so many good people.

Sunday

Went to church for the morning service, a show and lunch. The family I am staying with are a bit like the Von Trap family. They are rather musical. And very lovely people. It was all quite good. I was a bit sleepy though. Lunch was ok. Nothing special. After that me and Lisa tried going back home but we could only find the first spare key so we were locked out. We went to INA and then the M-block market and by the time we got back people were back.

Went out for Chinese tonight. It was good. The restraunts in India suffer from split personality disorders though. The one we went to tonight was a Japanese, Chinese and Indian restraunt. It was alright though.

Had some gelatoo after that and watched stuart little on cable tv.

Also won a game of chess. That brings my total wins to 3 after about 10 matches. Getting slightly better.

Tommorow of to see an AIDS project hopefully.

I only have 3 days left in India. It feels a bit strange. My time is going very quickly now. I am looking forward to leaving but I have had a really good experience in India. People keep saying it feels like I haven’t been away six months, but for me it feels a very long time.

The time itself has gone quickly I guess but home still feels like another world. I have gotten so used to my Indian reality. In India I have had two places that have been homes for me. I have grown to love many things in India, and deal with many other things.

I have made so many friends, from so many countries. I doubt that I will see many of them again. It’s odd you become so close so quickly but once you lose the common place there is little left. Not all my friendships have been like that. But some are. It’s okay though. Sometimes you need if not single serving friends, single place friends.

I have been enjoying having a friend from Austria this week living where I am. We’ve had some fun times together. Without friends the world is a lonely place. I have found that out first hand. I have had some very lonely times in India. Travelling alone, living alone and eating alone is not easy.

I have spent a lot of money communicating with friends and family back home. I don’t regret it. I want to keep up with peoples lives plus I have really missed everyone back home. So much has happened back home. It sounds like there has been some positive stuff happening. I look forward to meeting Martin and seeing him in Emily together.

I have had some good God experiences on this trip. I don’t doubt that he is alive and working in India. Yet I am still a bit of a cynic. I’ve drawn closer and further away. It’s hard moving in and out of Christian Camp attmospheres. I think I am probably more like I was 8 months ago spiritually but with a bit more confidence in God.

I think it will change when I get back I am sure I’ll change when I get back. I am really in the waiting rooms of life at the momment. I go back to work and Uni. Then after a year I have to decide what to do with my life at the momment. I can definately see there is a place for me in the developing world. I have to see whether there is a place back in Sydney for me.

Or will home never be truly home again. I don’t know how I’ll feel living and working back home. I guess that’s all just reverse culture shock.

Anyway I have a year before I have to make any long term decisions. That’s a long time for now. I guess I just have to trust in the Lord.

This stage of the journey is almost over.

But is a journey just distance travelled? No I don’t think so. You are not the same person at the end as when you started.
(Borrowed and modified shamelesly from Buffy Season Three Graduation Part 2)

P.S Some things don’t change.

Only 7 more nights before I leave India. That’s getting kind of close. Yay for home.

Top 5 things I am looking forward to

1) People
2) Clean Sidewalks, pedestrian crossings and less honking
3) Food Court
4) Video Store
5) My bed

Only 7 more nights before I leave India. That’s getting kind of close. Yay for home.

Top 5 things I am looking forward to

1) People
2) Clean Sidewalks, pedestrian crossings and less honking
3) Food Court
4) Video Store
5) My bed

Went to the Big Chill last night. It is a trendy cafe serving Italian food (mainly pasta) and good deserts. On the walls they had movie posters and Coke posters. They must of had 200 Coke posters on the wall near where I was sitting. But do you think I could order a Coke? Nope they were a Pepsi only place. So dodgy. They had the coolest Coke posters bu no Coke.

Fetchmail is a beautiful thing. Just imagine you are trying to move over 100 mailboxes without the co-operation of the current mail provider.
What do you do?
Manually download and forward each email?
No use fetchmail to do it all for you. Do a bit of playing with the username and password tabling to turn it into a format fetchmail understands and it’s done.

Now to get the mail from the old server I just type fetchmail over ssh on my new server. Of course if I didn’t have ssh access none of this would be as easy. God bless ssh.

I went out to Cafe Mocca tonight for desert with a couple of Kiwies staying here. It was very good. I ordered a Lidnt chocolate shake and Vertigo(a 4 story cake). The cake was huge. So so big. Very impressive. It looked like a battle ship.

The place was funky, kind of Arabic. Sitting on cushions was pretty fun too. They even played Coldplay. I felt a bit home sick when they played Yellow from the famous Robert Howie film Ollie.

Good times.

My friend Pete just left to return home to America. I feel quite sad that his gone. More sad then when I left Duncan. These past couple of days have been fantastic. Me and Pete have had the whole laugh thing happening between us big time. We were the dynamic duo in the armpit of India.

Pete made my stay in Duncan a joyous experience. Together we could laugh at the good things, the trivial things and the bad things. It is insane how close a friendship you can develop over such a short period.

Yesterday

In the morning I went to an Arts and Craft thing at the Australian Embassy. That was a bit of fun. Got to sit on grass for the first time in a long time. That was nice. All the stuff was expensive but they were all made by poor people. Very upper class shopping.

In the arvo I went shopping with Pete for womens clothing. I was so patient. I can’t believe how long I spent without getting fed up.

I had fruit beer last night with Pete at Delhi Haat. Fruit beer is like fruit punch but served in big German beer glasses. It was very funny to drink. We ordered chopsuey and chowmein because we couldn’t remmember the difference. Chopsuey is dry fried noodle and chowmein is wet noddle. I also did a bit of shopping. Pete did more, all his shopping in one place. Pretty impressive. Probably to expensive, then again who cares about 20Rs. I got some pretty funky stuff.

Today
Today went to the local Delhi Bible Fellowship in a rather dodgy building. That was quite fun. I almost feel asleep in the sermon. I have to stop doing that when I get home. I better not do it to Tom. He might get a bit upset with me.

Pete finally made it to Delhi. His my flat mate from Raxaul. We are having some good laughs. He goes on Sunday though :-(.

Did you know 5 people die a minute from AIDS. That’s 6000 people a day, over 2 million a year dead because of it. That sucks.

Been in Delhi a while now not a lot to write about. The place I am living in is pretty good. It’s nicer now because there are people living here again. It’s good to have friends. Pete my friend from America is going to be here soon. I am so excited about catching up again.

Delhi is also good because money can be exchanged for all manner of goods and services. Something that could not be done in Raxaul. I’ve yet to do anything touristy maybe in a little while. I am meant to have a few friends coming through Delhi in a little so that could be fun.

Have to make sure I visit the toilet museum asides from that I really don’t care too much.