Visthar

August 30, 2008

Our flight came in at about 5:00am today.  When we first arrived at the airport in Bangalore I could not believe what I saw.  It was a huge structure everything about it seemed so modern.  I guess that I was expecting something a little different based on my ideas about what India is supposed to look like.  Jonathon told us that it was brand new.  We met our first person from Visthar at the airport.  Sanford greeted us with a huge smile and directed us to the bus we would be taking to the campus.  Sanford is around campus to help us with certain things to make life a little better here.  It was about 80 degrees outside and humid and it was only about 6:00AM.  Needless to say it was a hot 200-yard walk to the bus carrying all of my bags.  The bus was a little bit ridiculous because I think that at one time it could have been really nice but not so much anymore.  It was cramped because all of our luggage was put inside with the passengers.  Two small Indian men loaded our things on to the bus and we were off.  (Sort of)  The parking lot was crazy.  No one knew what the heck they were doing and it was a mess.  When we finally got on to the highway we had about a 40-minute drive to Visthar.  It was a very eye opening experience for me and for everyone else on the bus.  The bus ride was around the outskirts of Bangalore.  The road was paved at first but turned into sloppy gravel and filled with a bunch of hidden speed bumps.  I can’t exactly tell you about all the things that I saw on that first bus ride into India, but what I can tell you is that it was unlike anything that I have ever seen in my life.  As we drove down the road the bus was silent.  Everyone was looking out upon a world that none of us have ever seen and looking into the faces of the people as was passed by them.  The smell in the air was smoggy but every so often we would get a faint odor of Indian cuisine.  The shops along the road were small and looked a little run down.  From what I could see from the bus there were jars in many of the stores that were filled with preserved fruits and vegetables.  I saw a man chasing a monkey away from his fruit stand.  I thought that was really funny but no one else even saw it.  Along side the road we were able to get a first glance into the lives of Indian people.  Many of the homes were small shacks with no real windows.  There were even worse living conditions.  We drove past a small area were the homes were made out of mud, branches and tarps.  One of the most interesting things that I saw while riding to Visthar was that amongst the slums there would all the sudden be a really nice home.  I guess that I’m not totally sure about what’s going on in that situation.  There are so many questions that I want to ask.  There’s a lot of time for me to figure it all out.  When we arrived at Visthar David was here to greet us.  He showed us to our rooms and gave us some information about the place.  Later, we took a tour of the campus and ate our first Indian meal.  I think that I am going to starve here because most of the food is so different from what I am used to.  We eat a lot of rice, vegetables and different types of sauces.  Plus, the spice is sometimes a little too much to handle.  Hopefully I will be able to get use to the new tastes.  That's it for now.