Contrasts

Aarti told us there is a saying in India: "If you say something about India, the opposite is also true."  There are stark contrasts everywhere.  Take, for instance, the neighborhood where we are staying.  It consists of very nice, very large houses - and then interspersed between the houses are groups of tents and make-shift shelters.  It's like two parallel communities that rarely mix.  Very different from the US, where we segregate different socio-economic classes into different neighborhoods.

Taken from the terrace/roof of where we stay

So, where are we staying?  Our hosts are Dr. Vishwajeet and his wife, Aarti.  They have a sweet two-year-old daughter named Shaambhavi.  Also staying here are Ghiri, a pulmonologist working with the foundation, and Didi, Shaambhavi’s nanny.  During the day we are also joined by the cook and the driver.  There’s always some activity in the house, but it is quite large, so we don’t feel too crowded.  Everyone has been very welcoming.  Here's a view of the outside of the house.  The houses all sort of connect, so this is not just one house.  The gate in the middle leads to their driveway/front door.

We have our own bedroom, which is about the size of our entire apartment in Budapest, and bathroom.  Throughout the house, the ceilings are nice and high to help keep the rooms cool - temperatures reach in the high 90's everyday.  They tell us we can expect to enjoy these nice, mild (!) temps for about two more weeks before the real heat arrives!  Yikes!

Our bedroom - the door on the right leads to the bathroom

Brandon convinced me to workout with him this morning.  There's a green space just across the street from where we are staying that seemed like a good place.  There are often local kids playing cricket here.  We

must have been quite the spectacle, because many kids from the neighborhood came to watch.

And there were cows.

There was a large party or concert of some sort here last night - hence all the trash

There are cows all over the place - just hanging out.  No one seems to pay any attention to them.  Most often I see them eating trash in the street.  This cow must have thought he hit the jackpot with all that grass.

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I spent most of our first full day here (Friday) sleeping or trying (unsuccessfully) not to sleep.  We went to bed for good around 8:00pm and slept through the night.  Travel is exhausting!  Yesterday, we headed into the office so Brandon could work for a bit.  I found some things to busy myself and try to be helpful, but exhaustion took over about 5:00pm.  We snuck in a power nap until about 7:00pm, and then Vishwajeet and Aarti took us out for some authentic Chinese.  After that, another decent night of sleep - hopefully this means we're getting past the jet-lag.

That's all for now!