Pre-d prep... or lack thereof?

There are only two more days until we depart for India!


Here's a rundown of my pre-departure preparation thus far:

1. I have mastered the following words in Hindi: namaste, chai, and minral vaatar. Go me! I'll be working hard over the next few days to expand my Hindi vocabulary for obvious reasons.

2. I have gotten my visa through Travisa's New York branch (which > Travisa's DC branch for reasons that Sam can elaborate on later..) I dropped it off on a Wednesday, and it was ready to be picked up by Friday, surprisingly quick for a non-US passport.

3. I have watched the movie Outsourced (2006) on Netflix-- hah, this probably counts as half a point. It was, however, full of cultural lessons that I made sure to write down. Among them were: eat with the right hand and not with the left, cows are sacred, locals like to add a lot of sugar in their chai (tea), don't wear good clothes on Holi, take your shoes off before entering a temple, etc. I'll be adding to this list as our days unfold in India.

4. I have gotten a hold of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children which will be my first read for the summer. (Note "will be".. I haven't actually cracked it open yet, oops!)


This is probably the extent of my preparation. I haven't even begun mentally preparing myself for the 45 degrees (or the 90 if you're American). I feel like I should be doing more to prepare over the next two days like learn how to make samosas or how to wear a sari. Ehh, or maybe I'll just wait to learn everything first hand when we reach Delhi... did I mention in two days??


Namaste,

Michelle