I don’t know if Katie e-mailed or called people, but I’m now in Vizag and have been for the last day. I now have internet access (I pay for it by mbs), and am capable of skyping anyone who wishes to talk. Because of the time difference though, it would be better for me to talk in my morning (your afternoon), although I’m least busy around 1 or 2 in the morning (your time obviously). I will have a cell phone in the future, but I’m not sure if it will be cheaper to call or skype, because I don’t know the long distance calling rate. Either way, I’ll probably have skype up in your evening if you want to talk (although probably not for very long, an hour maybe).
Also, feel free to forward this to anyone you think might want to read this and future e-mails. So, Katie you need to send this to your family.
The flight was exhausting. I was between a bigger person and Frenchman with wide shoulders which made it nearly impossible to actually sleep. I think that all of the sleeping I did happened in 15-30 minute intervals and really only happened two or three times (I don’t actually remember very well). That’s about all the sleep I had for 40 hours or so. I was too tired to read, but too awake to sleep, so I watched movies...lots and lots of movies. Other than that everything was smooth. Several people lost luggage on the way and I feel fortunate to not be one of them, but it wouldn’t have been a big bother. I didn’t have anything important in my luggage, or at least not anything I couldn’t do without.
Just so you all know, Vizag is about 12 hours different from all of you (11 and a half from Utah).
Last night wasn’t actually all that bad. I crashed at 645 pm or so (and I CRASHED) and slept until 430, which I think was a pretty good sleep. I didn’t have any troubles falling back asleep after waking up the couple of times I did and that’s what most people complained about. At around 445 the Krishna temple which is only 3 buildings away or so opens the temple with loud bells and chanting (Hindu temples are supposed to be loud). I was already awake, but I’m glad that in the future I will have it as an alarm. We’ll see how long I stay in bed after a couple of weeks, but for now my plan is to wake up with the temple and exercise (which I did this morning). I’m fighting a headache right now, but I think that it’s a combination of jetlag and dehydration, and I’m definitely not feeling very smart. I can’t seem to remember simple things.
Vizag is a fascinating place. There are lanes on some roads, but no one seems to care either way if they’re in them or not. Drivers go where they fit. The city is a very strange mix of broken down or incomplete buildings and very nice places (all built in the last 20 years or so). The very contemporary mall (nothing on the order of the size of our malls, more like a medium sized business building 4 stories high) looks over at a 5 story building partially covered by tarps (half of two sides). I guess that I always assumed that in cities around the world there was segregation between the very poor and very rich, and there is some in India, but it’s not nearly as easy for me to see the division as in US.
There are no tourists in Vizag and people seem to be more excited to see us than we are to see them. White people are rare, especially Americans, and I have yet to see anyone outside of the program who is. It really pays to be outgoing in Vizag, so I’ll have to work on that, but it’s difficult for me to understand people (even when they speak english) and I feel rude asking them to repeat things over and over. Like I said, I’ll have to be outgoing and willing to make mistakes and talk to people, none of which I do very naturally.
The apartment/house has cement tile floors and cement walls and feels a lot like a missionary apartment (except cleaner).
Justin
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