February 25th

Delhi is great so far.

I am so grateful to have landed in a an amazing hostel in South Delhi and staying here has been a dream. Mayank, the owner, is 26 and started the place because, after studying to be an engineer, he moved to China to work. After a few years on the job, he quit to do a year long backpacking trip around Asia and he realized that didn’t want to be an engineer after all. Because of his passion for travel and experience as a long-term backpacker, he has succeeded in creating an almost perfect hostel. He’s avoided all the classic hostel mistakes – shaky creaky beds, hidden costs, abundant rule posters. The place is really comfy, fun and clean. I was lucky that there were a few other people staying here long term. They became good friends.

I’ll be moving out of the hostel on Monday into a house by one of the universities. It’s the cutest little place. My room is green and bright and huge. We have a rooftop terrace and a maid and a cook! I’ll be living like a queen. My roommates are an Indian guy who works in Delhi and a German girl who goes to the uni. They both seem super cool and interesting. I’ll be sad to leave the hostel but I’m excited to have my own space.

The internship is good. Like everything in this country, it runs on IST (Indian Standard Time). This works well for me since I’m always late. On my first day of work, I showed up at 10, like my supervisor told me to.  By 11 she still wasn’t in. The guy at the office was reassured me: “She’ll be here eventually. This life or the next life…”

Right now, I’m helping Navdanya with their upcoming Indigenous Drink Festival and with their nutrition literacy program (Gardens of Hope) in schools.