Home to Dallas that is. For those of you wondering, I'll be back in L.A. on December 2.Now that I've had a few days to recuperate, I felt I should write one final post, if for no other reason than to assure you that, despite my semi-threats on facebook, I did not end up staying in India.
I might have been more inclined to stay. But, Charlie and I had to leave the orphanage on Thursday because some paperwork was not filed correctly. (Phil, could you maybe just skip this paragraph entirely? I can only imagine the reaction to this explanation from someone who works in international law... and it's not good.) Anyway, it's not exactly anyone's fault: it just is what it is. Apparently, we weren't registered to be at an orphanage (at least, this is what I gathered from having it explained several times in very broken English). Anyway, the man who ran the orphanage (understandably) didn't want the orphanage or the school that's attached to it to get caught up in any controversy, so he asked for us to be placed somewhere else.
I can understand his point of view, and his duty to all of the kids at the orphanage, and therefore why he should make that decision. But all that logic didn't keep my heart from breaking when I had to leave. I would have been leaving in two days anyway, but I would have been more prepared by then... ah well... like I said, it is what it is.
So, Charlie and I left on Thursday to stay at Dr. Bandhu's house - he's the local coordinator, and he always has volunteers stay at his house, so there was no problem. In fact, we were joining three people who had already been there several weeks: Christian, a 19-year-old from Norway; Isabella, also 19 and from Germany; and Amber, a 28-year-old from Colorado. So, we got to meet cool new people and have a second life of sorts in India. We went to another girls' orphanage on Thursday, and to a school on Friday. We saw James Bond (there was an English showing!), we watched Friends and Tarzan on TV... it was quite different than being in the first orphanage, but it was fun.
Saturday was my last day, and since my flight was out of Delhi, we decided to rent a car for the day to take us sightseeing in Delhi. Then they could drop me off at the airport before they went back to the house. There are two quick stories worth sharing from that day:
First was our trip to the police station. Okay, calm down: we only went because Christian had his camera stolen earlier, and we went to file a report. Anyway, after talking to some officers downstairs, they told us to go upstairs to see someone else. But, when we got to the stairs, Isabelle and I had a little moment: a paper sign was posted that read, "No ladies on these stairs." We asked one of the officers, and she pointed to another set of (seemingly) identical stairs on the opposite side of the lobby. So we took those - right up to the same floor - and met Christian. How weird! I felt like I was an African-American in 1950s America who had just been pointed towards the "colored" water fountain. Weird. So, anyway, I started writing some thank-yous by the landing of the afore-mentioned "forbidden" stairs while waiting for Christian, and I heard a racket, like someone had thrown a chair down the flight of stairs and it was hitting every step on its way to the bottom. I instinctively took a step to the side, and none too soon! Three monkeys came crashing down the stairs, rolling, tumbling and skidding over the marble floor - right through where I had been standing - and then jumped up on the balcony and skittered away. I felt like I was in a scene from Jumanji.
The second experience was one of those "be careful what you wish for" kind of things. Whenever we were out in the cities, people were continually trying to sell us stuff. And usually, it was the same stuff. I saw so many little statues of the elephant God, so many
bracelets, even so many wooden chess boards! I started to think, "If only someone had a product that was really different - then people would buy it!" Well, so as we were walking through the park at Connaught Place, we were approached by a man who - are you ready? -
wanted to clean our ears for us. Yup, you heard right. He had his little tool in his hand (to give him credit, it did look clean, but I wasn't going to take any chances), and he had a little journal filled with his credentials - glowing praise from his past customers, all in different languages. The weird thing was, I think the book was legit. I think all of those people from around the world actually had let this man clean the "muck" out of their ears, as he said. So, he definitely wins the prize for the one-of-a-kind product... but I'm still not buying it.
My flight home was long (VERY long) but pleasantly uneventful. So now I'm back in Dallas, sorting through loads of pictures and getting ready for Thanksgiving with family. I'll be sure to let all of you know when the pictures are up, but until then... Thanks for "traveling with me," and have a great end to your week!
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