finally here

Greetings from Delhi! I have been here for about a full day, and finally got some time to post on here...Things have been going pretty well so far, but it's definitely been tough acclamating to life here. This morning I was so jetlagged and woke up at about 6:00 a.m. completely wide awake (which I can promise you never, ever, ever happens), so we went to the nearby market with a veteran volunteer to get coffee. Today has been a pretty exhausting day...we did some sightseeing this afternoon,which was nice to get to see the city, but the heat is indescribably unbearable here, and it definitely hinders your ability to do a lot of walking/travelling....after about an hour I was ready for a major nap. Thankfully, I haven't been feeling too terrible, at least not yet, and the other volunteers I have met so far are really great. One thing I can say for sure is that it is a completely different world here. This city is beautiful, and enormous, and really intimidating...and kind of hard to put into words. It's a lot like what I imagined, but also so much different. Today during our sightseeing we got a chance to drive down Connaught Place, in the heart of the city, which houses the parliament and other government buildings and also the India Gate, which is a war memorial. We also stopped at the Lotus temple, a Baha'i temple, that is definitely an architectural wonder! Another really exciting thing is driving through the city - everyone continually beeps their horn, and really has no sense of courtesy, which definitely makes for a chaotic and almost scary ride through the city. I am definitely still in the process of getting used to all the different elements - the heat, the smells, the time difference, and so much more (can you say culture shock??). Tomorrow we will meet the rest of the volunteers for orientation, and then its off to Dharamsala on Monday! I got the chance to talk with a woman today who worked at the daycare where I am placed, and she gave me a lot of really helpful advice - I definitely have a lot of tiring work ahead of me! Anyway, I am beat so I think I'll turn in for the night...Hopefully I will get more chances to post here in the future...Namaste!