Longest plane ride of all time; New Delhi

I am in New Delhi, staying at a small hotel in the neighborhood called the Defense Colony. It is an upper class neighborhood where the houses sell for 2-2.5 million American dollars. There is a small downtown inside the colony, which is completely gated in. Apparently most nice neighborhoods are like that here.

The plane ride was much better than we all thought it would be. I had heard horror stories about Air India before leaving, but apparently they just partnered with Lufthansa so it was quite nice. The seats were big and had individual tvs with tons of movies- I watched 'Shall We Dance' with Fred Astaire and 'Blazing Saddles'. Most of the kids on my trip were sitting together so we kept each other entertained for the 19 hour flight. We arrived in New Delhi at 11pm and at first couldnt' find the director. He eventually located us and we went to our hotel.

Today we started orientation and had an introductory lecture on Indian government, then walked around the town. The director, Neil, took us to try paan, which many South Asians chew all the time. It is a mix of betel nuts and spices and is a slight narcotic. It can be mixed with tobacoo and many people are addicted to it. It was 5 rupees, very cheap, so the poor chew it when they cannot afford food because it is an appetite suppressor; also a mild stimulant- Cynthia, the assistant director for our program, said paan got her through grad school.

It tasted really bad.

Now it is 4:15 am and I cannot sleep.

xoxoxo Sarah