Thursday, January 1, 2009

Is This What It Feels Like To Be A Foreigner In New York?

I'm hoping that when my friends Ted and Emma arrive in five hours I'll begin thinking thoughts besides "is that guy going to stab and rob me?"

Being alone and incapable of speaking Hindi in Delhi is overwhelming. The city is spread out, so you're forced to constantly get in Rikhshahs (and therefore be ripped off because you're foreign) and I feel like I stand out no matter where I am (although a lady yesterday did stop to ask me directions). I can't imagine what it must feel like to not be ethnically Indian in this city. One positive is that my Hindi is improving enough (I'm on lesson 5 of my tapes) for me to be able to ask for directions and ask a stranger where they'd like to eat dinner -- they're house or mine.

Ted, Emma and I will be spending our first few days in Delhi doing the tourist thing and meeting up with at least one friend-of-a-friend, a friend of Emma's aunt and a freelance journalist based here who I met once.

I'll try to write some more tomorrow after they arrive (and maybe I'll even coax one of them to write a guest post!). I'm also hoping that their arrival -- and the recent end to the three-week family circus I endured -- will usher in a more productive period for the blog.

1 comment:

K said...

productive my foot.