Today I finally unpacked my suitcase.  I know you’re probably thinking, “You’ve been in India for 43 days and you haven’t unpacked yet?!  What’s the deal woman?”  This issue isn’t special to India.  I have lived in the same house for almost 2 years and I just unpacked boxes of my life this past summer.  It was a process.

There is always an internal conflict that occurs leading up to unpacking.  I see my suitcase in the corner, starring at me, reminding me that it is meant for transporting things, not becoming a permanent residence for them.  The empty shelves in my closet urging me to use them, fill them, put down some roots. 

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This past weekend I went to Ooty, which is located in the Nilgris Mountains.  It’s a hill station and is much colder compared to where I live in Coimbatore.  People were walking around in beanies and earmuffs, which goes quite nice with their Salwaars and Saris.

The scenery is absolutely breath-taking with rolling hills and mountains filled with lush green pastures of tea leaves, and produce.  This is hands-down my favorite place we have been so far.  If I ever move to India, you will find me in Ooty.

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Lately I’ve been struggling with what to write my next post about.  I mean I’m getting to see and do so many amazing things, so writing about adventure should be easy…right?

So not the case.

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They say it happens in the first 2-3 weeks.  You can read, plan, pray all you want, but it is inevitable.  Culture shock happens to the best of us.  One minute you are strolling along, minding your own business, and then something happens that takes you back and reminds you that you are no longer living in the familiar.

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Yesterday (Thursday) was the first day at my internship.  Each Thursday I will take a bus and spend 6 hours or so working at World Vision India.  Sounds exciting right?!  Well the first week was completely the opposite and I seriously doubted whether or not this internship would be meaningful for myself or for them.  I got there and was seated on a couch and given a large stack of books and documents.  The executive then told me to read through all of them and ask him should I have any questions.  Once I finished those he gave me more and that pattern continued…for 5 hours.  It was incredibly informative but also really boring.  I mean the office was literally in the middle of the slums and there was nothing else he wanted me to do but read??

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I was about to board the plane when I noticed that standing in front of me was a Muslim girl wearing a head covering with a prayer rug strapped to her backpack.  She was about my age and was talking on the phone with a friend.  In fact, if you were blind, you wouldn’t have known we were any different.

But culturally, we were very different.

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