Wanted! Underwear in every shape and color lost In New Delhi

My time in New Delhi comes to an end. Already on Thursday, my internship ends and I am heading South towards Hyderabad. Just yesterday, I spend a day with a Couchsurfer and he asked me how I sum up with Dehli? I looked straight at him and had nothing to say. Blank mind. Not because my answer would be negative. I just do not know what my answer exactly is. Sure, I had a good internship, nice colleagues, always something to do. In the end, however, I missed being challenged.
Otherwise, the challenges just waited for me outside the door. Dehli in its chaotic way of life did indeed challenge me. I just reflected today that it took me longer as I thought to actually get into the Indian way of life again. It would have been to easy to just jump out of the plane and everything just comes naturally to me. The self-confidence to knock the market seller down on every shirt or haggle the price down for each and every Auto drive. Having the guts to use the Metro in Delhi, without having an actual plan what's going on there and how that system works. Push myself to meet several people from couchsurfing, plainly and simply not to spend the weekends alone. Put myself out there, present myself and, in best case behave well, so people start to like me.  Now I can say, for me, it took some time, but indeed, mostly it went all well. My stay here was framed with abstrusely weird to kind, welcoming, generous and caring people. Each and everyone, made me laugh in his very own way. Whether the guy from the United States with Indian parents who lives here now for several years and tries badly to imitate the Indian accent. No offence, but an Indian friend of mine and me laughed up one's sleeve, just a little bit. He tried really hard. Why? I could not figure it out that evening. The other guy, who kept missing several times within one evening and who just popped up again like nothing happened. Or just honest and long conversations about life, traveling, experiences and why we ended up in Delhi for a drink.
Other situations where I just wanted to laugh at myself but could not, because I thought I lost all my laundry somewhere in Delhi. It took me three weeks to get my ass up and find a laundry shop. Yes, you hear right. I did not need to make laundry for three weeks and let's be honest, I would have had more underwear to go on with that. But also I have a hygiene-conscious, so I decided to tackle that upcoming problem in time. Very mature of me, there are times in Sweden when I need my backup plan with bikini underwear. In the beginning, it went quite well. After the first try, where the lady wanted to charge me 5000 Rupees (around 60 Euro) I found some guys who did it for 200 Rupees (2,50 Euro). Great deal. So far so good, I left for work and firstly really proud of myself. In the afternoon, while I haggled the price down for the Auto I remembered, that I did not remember the adress of the laundry guys. So while I fell into pondering silence, the Auto driver got as confused as I was. With a good amount of stress, that I am about to lose most of my clothing and especially underwear my friend Google Maps finally helped me disclose the location of my underwear. Completely sweated through, I arrived and welcomed my laundry with open arms and a relieved smile. The second time I confused that day. I guess, not too many people come with so much enthusiasm into their laundry shop

Otherwise, my followed weekend was without any confusion or weird dilemmas

A place where you can hear the birds sing. Not too often found in Delhi

Baoli; Stone structures to provide and retain drinking water from the ground, as well as rain for the last 1000 of years. Unfortunately, I took a bad picture. So the actual step wells are not visible...

Old Delhi

The beautiful Jama Masjid Mosque

This place is found in Connaught Place. My Couchsurfing fellow mentioned that even the President of India gets his Paan from this dude. Paan is something like a mouth freshener. Seemingly, Indians refuse normal refresher and prefer this undefined mixture. My fellow could not really define what it is or what it taste like. So we had to try, and for me personally, I would get back to the Tik Tak.

On the special menu was the Paan on fire. So the kid prepared the Paan, light it up and plugged the Paan into someone's mouth so fast and with so much force that I had no chance to catch it on a photo. Most of the people had the Paan so far in their throat they were likely to spit it out. 

I mean, it was fun to watch, however, the question of 'Why the hell?' arises in me, but on the other hand, why questioning others? I was close losing my underwear in New Delhi. So who am I to judge? ;)

So I guess, taking everything into consideration I experienced New Delhi from some of its sides. But since it is India, I have the firm belief that one can never grasp every single side. It is so diverse, from the richest to the poorest, from colorful to dirty, from weirdly weird to funny weird and ultimately to the most precious people. I am grateful for having the chance to be a little part of this amazing city in the even more incredible India. 

Bis bald, Johanna 

Mountain Momma

I have to say, I had a pretty great weekend.

Everything started on Tuesday evening. While messaging with a friend from Hyderabad (South of India) we got to know that the both of us are currently in Delhi. Actually, that took us around half an hour to understand that we are in the same city, after three years. Once, I finally got it, Dinseh is in Delhi, I jumped in the Uber and drove through Delhi to the Northern part.
Firstly confused where I am, my friend picked me up and thanks to him shouting out loud "Mutti" we found each other. Regardless that I am 10 to 15 years younger than my friends I got the nickname Mutti here in India. Just because I try to keep the kids together and remind them drinking enough water and eat properly and healthy.
We had a great evening together and tried to go through the last three years. I guess it is obvious, that that conversation took some time, but the result of our catching up was, that we needed to use this coincident and spend the weekend together. Also on Friday, it happened to be Dinesh's Birthday.
Our final destination was quickly chosen. Up, up to the mountains. Escaping the full, loud and chaotic and most of all hot Delhi. Kasol it is. Now, traveling to the mountains like a Mama bear with Dinesh, I got remembered of the song 'Take me home, country roads' by John Denver.
Next day, we booked the tickets and we were nearly on the road. Literally on the road, because in the rush hour of Dehli I got stuck for two hours just to get to the bus terminal. But, as the smarty I am, I started early. Even with plenty of time and for a way of 'just' 40 minutes regarding Google, it took nearly two hours. Arrived, a bit stressed, we entered the bus, and again on the road for 12 hours. But overnight, my stress should vanish, because once I woke up, I found myself in the Himalayas. I could have slept a little longer, but the road or more precisely the bus driver made that impossible. Sure, it makes sense that the driving conditions are not the best in mountains, but the serpentine roads and no asphalt does not make it better.
So when I woke up, got rid of my sleeping mask and pull on the curtain I looked down into hundreds of meters of cliffs. If I would have put my hand outside the window there would not have been any road. That moment was pretty effective to wake me up. On top of the interesting driving conditions, we had continuously oncoming traffic. Of course, that traffic was not little scooters or a cute smart. Mostly we faced busses the same size as ours, what means travel busses. When we passed the oncoming bus, we could have touch each other's nose without any problem. It is amazing how the bus drivers were able to get through the streets.
For me, it looked like an elephant tries to get into a mousehole with his ass first.

Arrived in Kasol, the first joined activity was to find a Susu place (a toilet), followed by tea.
We found a great, little place close to a river with a garden directly in front of our room door.
Happily, my friend took jackets with him. I guess in summer time whole India sweats like a pic. But not necessarily the North. The mountains keep the most amazing weather with sunny days, or some clouds and chilly evenings. So I spend my first evening wrapped in a winter jacket while I tried to come as close as I could to the born fire with my feet while listening to life Hindi music.
Within the day we entered a local bus to go to a super small village named Tosh. This remote village has absolute no infrastructure, but amazingly nice people. So it happened to be, that we sat in one bus with Ulli and his owner.

Btw, I do not make the name up. The sheep's name is Ulli

I really do not know why, but Ulli traveled with us in two busses and my friend discovered his love to sheep. The two of them (my friend and the owner, not Ulli) started a conversation and we found out that we had the same destination, Tosh. After walking the last meters of the hill up to Tosh, we met the guy and Ulli again and he showed us around in his little village.

On the roots of Ulli

We followed closely

To arrive in this little village, Tosh

The next two days we spend in our little garden and in Kasol itself. The little market had some nice offers to make and the biggest surprise was the amount of Israelis we met. Confidently, I can say that I never met a single Israeli in India and arrived in Kasol I felt like the only foreigner with my Indian friend... in India in the middle of Israelis. After some chatting with our room neighbors we found out, that there are a few places, mostly Northern India, who are very much visited by Israelis. For me, it was the perfect coincidence to get to know a bit about Israel.

Garden

Just the perfect place to work on the first sunburn in India...

My friend and I spent a great weekend relaxing in the sun, mostly me, talking and discovered some local food. I can just recommend the Northern part of India.
So different to what I experienced so far and exactly the same beauty and hospitality as I got to know India.

Thank you Dinesh

Bis bald, Johanna 

What is your fathers and mothers name?

Within the first days, I had the same question in my mind when I came first time to India three years back. "What the hell am I doing?". Why do I need to put myself in the situation of leaving my comfort zone and having no clue whats going to happen? Discussing every time about the price of every watermelon I buy, every day. Just because I am white and I have the money. First, yes! I buy every day a watermelon and eat it up. Get over it ;) Second, I am white, but I do not have the money.
The feeling of being observed on the streets, just because I dress a little different can be tiring. Eyes lay on you what you buy on the market, who are you with, and how you act.

And that is the exact reason why I need to put myself out of my comfort zone. Because when you actually get yourself out you will come across the watermelon seller who just gives you an apple for free because he appreciates me as a reliable customer. He knows exactly that I want to have the biggest watermelon he has. Our daily conversation is more dependent on body language. He just points out the greatest watermelon he has, gives that one a clap. I suppose he tries to find out the quality by the sound. If that works, who knows, and I give him a smiling, confirming nod.
And yes, people on the streets tend to look at me. That does not only happen in my imaginations. But those looks have nothing to do with hostility. People look because they do not see a white person with blond hair and blue eyes every day. It is a very positive curiosity about you, and interest in you. Many people just start talking to you and express their interest. You can have a conversation anywhere and at any time. Best example, this morning. I sat in the Uber towards my work and I shared a car with a really outspoken man. He welcomed me with a fresh "Good morning" and started talking immediately. What I am doing here, where I come from, my studies, and how I like India. Unfortunately, he left out my favorite question of  "What is your father's and mother's name?".  Ya, sometimes seemingly strange questions arise. But the family has huge importance in life here and they ask and include the family out of respect for them and you.

On the weekend I met another Couchsurfer and we spend the day roaming around on the super busy Sarojini Market in South Dehli.

He, constantly nervous if I am comfortable with so many people around, was a nice guy who showed the same interest in me and we had great conversations throughout the day.

At the end of the day, we sat down and had nice food and beers. I had the stupid idea to choose a beer made in China. I surely would not say anything about Chinese people, but that beer was far from good. It went better for my friend. I suggested a good old Flensburger for him and he did like it. Being experimental is one thing, but with beer, I stay grounded and boring. Next time, I go with a Flens as well ;)
After a great day, we tried to get the car back we parked in a parking block. That just took us ages, because the Indian engineers had the fantastic idea to create a parking block with car lifts. The thing is, that you are not allowed to use the lift yourself. So, you wait for ages to get into the underground station with a hundred other people and give the keys to a driver who takes the lift and park your car. It sounds exciting. I mean, taking the lift with a car. But, in this case, you just wait that cars in front of the change driver, enter the lift and disappear. With a hundred people who have the same destination, you can imagine how much time that takes. We made a joke about it and said, the Germans would have done that more efficiently.

Talking about beer. Sunday evening I gathered some people who joined me for a salsa evening. The salsa evening itself fell through. We entered the location and they did not even play Latin music. But the main story happened in the car before. We packed the car with five people and were on our way. We found a beer bottle on the back-seat and decided to have it before we arrived. Me, in my experience history of beer drinking, took the responsibility to open the bottle with another bottle. I completely underestimated the pressure of the bottle and I ended up, having the crown cap in my eye. Literally in my eye! Honestly, I could have foreseen that. I had no idea how long the bottle was residing in this car, but it had good enough 25 degrees. In my excitement, I did not think of my actions. Happily, nothing happened. I have half visioned the rest of the evening and was complaining about 'eye pain' the first time in my life. Also happy me, except a little swelling no colors showed, fortunately. I would have had no idea how to explain a blue eye to my colleagues.
I would have definitely not gone with the true story.

Bis bald,
Johanna 

Ready for the next kick in the ass!

It seems like, that I spend already one week in incredible India, New Dehli. 

What happened?

Let's say, that I had a great day, every day. But Delhi would not be Delhi when it would not give me a little kick in the ass each and every day. There is no single day when I did not think "Hey, today everything I touch works out" and in the next second "Yeah, in the evening one may praise the day". Well, my mistake I suppose. Lucky me, I gently came through everything. Discussions with the Uber driver who claims that we reached my destination when I exactly know, that we did not. Just because we are close, does not mean that we reached.
My promising Couchsurf Event with more than forty interested fellows. Turned out, that I choose the wrong place, day and time. Saturday is a common working day. So, it does not surprise me that only two of the forty interested people showed up on a Saturday 1pm. Looking back, it was not the worst. We would have filled up every Cafe to the utmost. Besides, that we would have crashed every Cafe with that many people, we needed to switch locations, because my desired destination was shut down. So, people who came late, could not find us. I know better next time.
And just today, I came to the awareness, that I cannot withdraw money from the ATM. So, I spend my evening after work with the exercise to trudge round all the ATM's in my area without any success. Back at home, starving and sweating, getting a little nervous about my situation by being alone and Delhi and without cash, in a country where cash is king. Reviewing my opportunities of getting panic, stress out and calling my mum and stress her out I remembered the fact, that I have a minimum amount of withdrawing. Fifty Euro converted in Rupees would be 4000 Indian Rupees. It did not cross my mind at all to grab so much money at ones. But anyways, I tried again and with only a little struggle with the automat and the arousing feeling of hitting the f*** machine and the kind help of two girls I finally had my money. So, Johanna is all smooth again and ready for the next kick in her ass.
Even tho, I had a great Saturday in Haus Khaz village. Its located in the South of Delhi, close to my apartment. It is in the middle of a living area and abuts on the deer park and the Haus Khaz compound. Yes, you heard right, a deer park. I do not have any clue, how deers survive in the heat of around forty degrees, but apparently, they do. The Indian deer can make it happen.

My two fellows from Couchsurfing are hot on the deers track

Haus Kahz, the compound, and its village is a great place to relax, meet friends and it also provides a good opportunity to get an impression of the nightlife of Delhi.

Haus Khaz compound

Also a great place for little lovebirds

Just in the middle of an inhabited and crowded area

And Haus Khaz village with all its beautiful but way to expensive shops

But my highlight of the week was the reunion with my friend Mohit. Last three years we were just able to catch up on messages. And just by coincidence, he was in Delhi and we spend Friday and Saturday evening together talking, having beers and went through all the old stories when we first met in Hyderabad.

My little Mohito

One night in Dehli 

I hope for many returns of that kind of coincidence.
Bis bald, Johanna

P.S. My little pitfalls are never as bad as the girl who is trapped in this driving school car. Firstly, the traffic is beyond imagined and secondly, I am unsure what kind of rules the teacher wants to impart. Survival of the fittest? Who honks wins? Impudence wins?
I do not say, that the Indian driver does not follow rules. It is more about me not seeing the existing rules.

I hope the girl made it through the day :D

In my world of 'Madame' and 'Ma'am'

As soon as I entered the airplane, I was back. Back being a Ma'am.
Besides, that I do not see myself as a madame or even ma'am and I guess I never will. It is such a polite way of addressing someone. Does it make me fifty years older? Yes! Do I like it even tho? Yes, I do!
The last time I was in India, we were called sister. Older women are aunties and men are whether brothers or uncles. It is not for nothing, that India is called one big family. A family of more than a million members? Yepp it is. It does not matter if you are a stranger, friend or family member you are always of the family.
Unfortunately, since I am not working with kids anymore I am the Ma'am. Cap driver, the seller on the street markets treat me very polite, but more in an official way. So I am 'Ma'am'.

My first days were exciting. I entered my Airbnb flat and met one of the greatest hosts. Mister Charan is not only a great host. He is an absolute caring, friendly and open-minded guy. He helped me out instantly when I did not know where to go. My first Airbnb flat was in general fine. But in the moment I entered I did not feel comfortable. The people around did not speak English and they did not know how to act around me. I guess on both sides we were not too comfortable. But still, everyone was friendly and welcoming. So, I needed to make a quick decision. I am staying for one month and I want to get as much as I can out of my time here. I decided to contact Mister Charan and explained my situation. We were in contact before, so I knew that he is a host on Airbnb and he has great reviews. He is hosting many travelers and when I arrived we were around six people from Russia, China, France and now Germany. But the constellation of people in the flat change nearly every day.
Without knowing me, he picked me up in my old hostel with all my luggage and brought me to the apartment with his scooter. Everything within one hour. I cannot explain the relief of having people like him around.
The first thing he did when we arrived at the place, was making a Mango Lassi and sat down with me. For any reason, I am not the biggest Mango fan in the world, but THAT particular Lassi was the best I've ever had and I ever will have.

Dead after 24h of traveling, And yes, the yellow table is a bathtub :D

In the moment he answered me and offered to pick me up right away, I thought, that people like him give people like me the chance to travel like I travel. I would not be able to travel alone in New Delhi if there would not be such great, helpful and selfless guys like him. At any time, he is available for answering questions in person or by the phone like "Where do I get an Indian Simcard?", "How do I get to my working place?! and "Where the hell do I get a hairbrush when I forgot mine at home?".

Ma Gethoo

The first time I heard "Sharing is caring" was three years back when I was in India the first time. And that exact sentence fits still so well. Additionally, of being a good host we made some plans to paint the town red. Get to know his friends, seeing nice places to relax and have a beer and get a little insight of Delhi. I know that it is not his job to do all those things for us travelers, but he does it with such an implicitness.
Me myself and so many people could learn a thing or two from him.
Thanks, Dude!

Bis bald, Johanna

Traveler pitfalls...and mine!

29th of April 2018

Enjoying my well-planned dinner as a stopgap-post-lunch / pre-dinner while busy trying to write a super, super cosmopolitan blog, because I am one of the fancy pants crowd.
Unfortunately, disregarding the fact, that I cant eat without spilling food.
So I eat my nicely homemade doggy bag with the plastic spoon my mum gave me with the words "You can use those twice" and watch Facebook video fails. I am a bit too captured in the video where a man opened his beer can with an ax.  So while I was stunned and thought I have to try that shit myself I spooned a little too harsh and enthusiastic in my watermelon. I broke the spoon and unfortunately, spread half of my pott of watermelon plus soy curd on me, my laptop, the next seat aaand the guy next to that seat. I starred at him full of guilt, but to my luck, he didn't recognize my little accident.
He walked away after some time. I am off the hock :D

Meanwhile.  A guy, sitting in the opposite of me, a pretty handsome one, lays backward with his head in the decoration behind his seat. Sleeping for at least three hours like a stone next to plastic flowers and trees. By the way, one of the first pretty sleepers I have ever seen.
After one hour and absolutely no change in his status, I checked his breast movement if it's moving or not. Of course only by discrete starring.  I am not a creep. He was alive and still nice to look at after his beauty sleep.

I could have done so many productive stuff like reading for the University.
I made the wise decision to watch people.