Ilene in India Updates

Soooooooooo, it's been a little while since I've blogged and for some of you (who aren't on facebook to get my status updates), I've worried you sick. Sorry Dad!!!

But everything is just fine. Brandon and I have been SUPER busy going from here and there to just about everywhere in the last couple of weeks (which I'll give you all of the details in future posts), but at the moment, I'm in Ft. Cochin...which is a coastal town in the southern state of Kerala. We got to Kerala last Monday, and I can tell you this: I honestly believe that I'm actually in the Jungle Book. Pretty sure that Rudyard Kipling must have lived in Kerala, or at least spent some extensive time here...but more about that later...

But for now...some updates:

1) I FINALLY got an India sim card (so now you can call me whenever you want!). Geez!! What a freaking process that one is! Basically all the phones are on a prepaid system here, and apparently after the terrorist attacks in 2008, the Indian government got super strict on foreigners getting phones here. Their thought process (from what the AirTel guy told me) is that a terrorist can come in, get a phone, and the government would have no record of who is calling who. So now, when I got my sim card, I had to give a copy of my passport and visa, two additional passport size photos...Plus my poor tour driver also had to provide a copy of his id and two additional passport size photos to "vouch" for me! Oy vey!

2) When you're traveling for 6 months, it's cool (and TOTALLY acceptable) to wear the same clothes a few days in a row before it goes in the "dirty clothes bag."

3) I'm getting REALLY good at peeing in Indian-style toilets.



4) I'm a little ashamed to admit that I still don't know any Hindi...just namaste (which means "hello") and shuckraee (which means "thank you"). The thing is everyone here speaks English (some better than others), but I do want to try to take a couple of Hindi language classes while I'm here. Gotta make the effort at least!

5) Again, for those of you not on facebook and didn't read my facebook status update, before leaving Mumbai I got my haircut...oy. Lost in translation: the skinny Indian man who cut my hair got a little carried away...I told him "one inch", but maybe I should have said "2.54 centimeters?" He passionately and enthusiastically cut my hair all the way above my shoulders. My new mantra: "hair grows back quickly, hair grows back quickly"...

Before the big chop...



Me post hair-cut...with some middle schoolers I met (and talked with) in the train station before our overnight train to Kerala from Goa




6) Chai in India is freaking amazing!! And costs me 45 cents.

7) I am have come to accept the fact that I'm probably going to have 5 million pictures from my 6 months of travel. I'm currently uploading my pictures, so be on the look-out for India Pictures, Round 2.

8) I finished my first book, "Bicycle Diaries"...thank you Caity, Leah & Lexie for such a thoughtful gift! It was a great, thought-provoking book...highly recommend it!

9) Speaking of books, I really want to write one about women all over the world....

10) So today marks the first day of my solo travel. Brandon left me a few hours ago to begin his 3-day-long-journey back to the States...phew, good luck Brandon! And I'm on my own. It's a mix of emotions really: anxiety, fear, freedom, happiness, nervousness, sadness, astonishment, and gratitude. In my entire life, I've never done anything on my own...truly on my own. All my travels up to this point have been either with an organized group or with another friend; when going to college I knew half of my pledge class before I even rushed; I've always lived with roommates; and even extracurriculars like photography classes or yoga teacher training, I've done with at least one other person. Sure I've driven to Oklahoma City from Austin by myself, visited a museum in Paris alone (when all of my travel-friends were sleeping off the hangovers), started a job where I didn't know anyone...but when I say that I'm going to travel through India for 2 1/2 months by myself, yea, I think that's pretty huge. And while I'm sure this time will present a million different lessons and my thoughts/opinions/feelings on traveling alone will change from time to time...but, at the moment, I am surprisingly (and thankfully) calm and confident. And for that, I'm grateful. I am actually really excited to be totally free and independent of anything and anyone else...to pick & choose...to wake up when I want, to eat when I want, to spend as much time in the museum as I want, to stop for chai when I want...but I'm sure that there will definitely be moments when I'm lonely or want some connection with someone/something familiar. I'll keep you posted on how it all goes...