(Un) Settling In...

            Heide and I arose bright and early for our first full day in Kolkata.  When I say bright and early, I really mean 4am.  The jet lag got the best of us and we just couldn’t sleep any longer.  Fortunately for us, the sun rises at about 4:30am over here.  We opened our door and were instantly overwhelmed by the heat and humidity in the hallway.  Apparently neither of those things subsides, no matter the time of day. After hanging around Seva Kendra for a while and eating a very spicy breakfast, Father Franklin dropped us off at the market.  We had no idea where we were or how we were supposed to get home but it was an excellent way to immerse us into the culture. 

Heide in her salwar-kameez (total cost = $20)

         
  We walked the streets mostly in silence, as we were both experiencing sensory overload.  There was just so much to look at.  We saw everything from small children sleeping on pieces of cardboard, to people carrying around live chickens and men bathing in the streets.  We kept our sunglasses on but we still got plenty of strange looks.  Never in my life have I felt so many eyes on me while walking through a public place. The shopkeepers asked us to come into their stores, men whistled at us and called us beautiful, and little children came up and asked us for money – clearly trying to play the “adorable card.”  In addition to all the interesting sights, the streets of Kolkata also have a lot of…..interesting smells.  The combination of deep fat fryers, sewage, and garbage, is enough to make anyone a little queasy.  The 110 degree heat doesn’t help with that at all.  Hopefully it is something Heide and I will get used to over time. 

Salwars are surprisingly light and airy :)

          

 As you can probably imagine, after about ten minutes on the street, Heide and I desperately needed a place to sit and relax.  We made our way to Blue Sky Café, a popular stop for tourists, and collapsed into our chairs.  We were hot, sweaty, tired, and a little overwhelmed by our first view of the streets.  We drank some coffee and had some toast while we discussed what life is going to be like for us over the next ten weeks.  We came to the conclusion that it is going to be difficult yet so incredible at the same time.  We can’t wait until we become “experts” in the Indian culture.  It will take a while but we learn something new every day.  It might sound like a difficult place to live, and at times it will be, but the culture is beautiful and we are learning to love it and the people with every passing day. 

           

Our building at Seva Kendra

         

 On our second full day, Fr. Franklin recommended that we take a trip to the mall to get the few things that we hadn’t brought (watch the video to see how that went!) We were completely shocked by the luxurious four-story mall because it was nothing like what we had seen the previous day.  We had been living around such extreme poverty that we almost forgot such nice things existed.  We felt like horrible people for admitting this, but it was nice to be surrounded by something so “first-world” for a short while.  We successfully purchased everything we needed and headed back into the slum area.

Our life here isn’t glamorous, if you can’t already tell, but that is exactly why we are here. We both need a new perspective on what it means to be human and we think that we’ve absolutely come to the right place. India is overwhelmingly tough, but with God’s grace, we’re handling it (so far…)