.. GO!
25 Augustus 2012 | India, Haiderabad
so, yes, I'm still alive! :P
The past 3 days have been pretty out of the ordinary.
I have to admit that while I was very excited to get on the airplane to Hyderabad, I was also pretty scared. The latter prevented me from really relaxing the day before my departure. All these doubts; all these potential problems.. they were not making me go crazy, but I wasn't very at ease either. Especially the Indian customs worried me: were my papers alright? Would my luggage arrive safely with me? Would the customs want to know the details of my visit in an interview? That kind of stuff.
And of course there was the knowledge that the departure from Dusseldorf Airport as such would not be a too cheerful event :P
But as much as I was feeling the downside of moving to India for a good 4 months, I was also full of anticipation. And now I'm in India already! A very different kind of world, just a couple of hours in an airplane from my highly well-stuctured home ;)
Now all of that may sound a bit goofy, so let me tell you about something very concrete.. such as the pain of sitting in an airplane for too long.
..
It's no fun.
That is to say: after 7 hours it wasn't. My flight consisted of 2 parts and I had to board a 2nd plane in Dubai. Arriving there around 12.30 local time I of course saw little of the city of Dubai as such. But I think I did see the tower that was in Mission Impossible 4, which we watched together the night before my departure ;) ghehe.
I had to wait about 4 hours and met 2 nice kiddo's who were also on their way to Hyderabad. A boy of about 7 I think, and a girl of 10. They were pretty bright and going to an English school so we chit-chatted a bit and I "taught" them a bit of Dutch. It was fun, but I was tired. Oh, and from one end of the terminal in Dubai to the other takes more than 23 minutes walking.. next time I'm there I'll make a picture of that sign :P
The 2nd plane left with half an hour delay, at 4.20AM. And my legs were itchy. I was wondering when we would be served breakfast. Dinner (though on the menu-card it said "lunch") was served already at 5-ish in the 1st plane so I presumed that breakfast would be early again as well... and it was. At 5 am local time everyone had a plate of steamy semoula with lentils and some other stuff in front of their noses... fantastic. Even though I was quite hungry this was just too early for such a savoury meal :P
We arrived in Hyderabad with the 30 min. delay and unfortunately I had forgotten to ask for the exact address that I would be staying these first couple of days. You have to fill that in on this "arrival form" that you have to hand in again at the passport check. So while I wanted to check into a wifi network to check for any address that I could fill in on this form I was picked up by an employee of the airport. Together with him I called my hostess and after a bit of a confusing start of the conversation I got my address. One of the benefits of this whole event was that the employee let me cut the long line for the passport check and I could stand in line of the 'diplomats'. And I have to say: this was no inconvenience after almost a day of travelling :)
So after regaining all my stuff I met Radha, who picked my up at the airport and took me to the house of a colleague from DA with whom I will be staying till the end of this weekend. My hosts are very kind and easy-going, which makes it easy to get used to this country, the climate, the food, etc. Today we went (in an autoriksha ^^) to the office where I got to meet several people.On monday I will meet those colleagues who are currently still in Delhi for an exhibition/sale of "our" looms. And then later next week I will enter my accomodation here: a shared flat with own bathroom. Despite the hospitaly I have experienced I am also looking forward to that :)
And while I do not have to start the actual internship till 3 September, I think I will just go to the office as of wednesday or so. Just to get to know the people and maybe try to learn a little bit of looming myself :P
Tomorrow will be a day off, for pretty much everyone, so when the weather is good I'm planning on going into town and roam around a bit :)
Now. Thus far my story has been rather technical. It's just that I have not seen that much, yet :P Though there was quite a big shower today which flooded the streets big time...
But I think that this blog has reached it's readable limit :P And I will now go and enjoy the dinner that my hostess is prepairing (with the help from the previously-prepared goods from their cook; and it smells goood.. so far everything has been really tasty although my belly has to get used to it a bit).
Next time I'll tell more of the kind of lives that I see people are living here; or something in that direction :P
The past 3 days have been pretty out of the ordinary.
I have to admit that while I was very excited to get on the airplane to Hyderabad, I was also pretty scared. The latter prevented me from really relaxing the day before my departure. All these doubts; all these potential problems.. they were not making me go crazy, but I wasn't very at ease either. Especially the Indian customs worried me: were my papers alright? Would my luggage arrive safely with me? Would the customs want to know the details of my visit in an interview? That kind of stuff.
And of course there was the knowledge that the departure from Dusseldorf Airport as such would not be a too cheerful event :P
But as much as I was feeling the downside of moving to India for a good 4 months, I was also full of anticipation. And now I'm in India already! A very different kind of world, just a couple of hours in an airplane from my highly well-stuctured home ;)
Now all of that may sound a bit goofy, so let me tell you about something very concrete.. such as the pain of sitting in an airplane for too long.
..
It's no fun.
That is to say: after 7 hours it wasn't. My flight consisted of 2 parts and I had to board a 2nd plane in Dubai. Arriving there around 12.30 local time I of course saw little of the city of Dubai as such. But I think I did see the tower that was in Mission Impossible 4, which we watched together the night before my departure ;) ghehe.
I had to wait about 4 hours and met 2 nice kiddo's who were also on their way to Hyderabad. A boy of about 7 I think, and a girl of 10. They were pretty bright and going to an English school so we chit-chatted a bit and I "taught" them a bit of Dutch. It was fun, but I was tired. Oh, and from one end of the terminal in Dubai to the other takes more than 23 minutes walking.. next time I'm there I'll make a picture of that sign :P
The 2nd plane left with half an hour delay, at 4.20AM. And my legs were itchy. I was wondering when we would be served breakfast. Dinner (though on the menu-card it said "lunch") was served already at 5-ish in the 1st plane so I presumed that breakfast would be early again as well... and it was. At 5 am local time everyone had a plate of steamy semoula with lentils and some other stuff in front of their noses... fantastic. Even though I was quite hungry this was just too early for such a savoury meal :P
We arrived in Hyderabad with the 30 min. delay and unfortunately I had forgotten to ask for the exact address that I would be staying these first couple of days. You have to fill that in on this "arrival form" that you have to hand in again at the passport check. So while I wanted to check into a wifi network to check for any address that I could fill in on this form I was picked up by an employee of the airport. Together with him I called my hostess and after a bit of a confusing start of the conversation I got my address. One of the benefits of this whole event was that the employee let me cut the long line for the passport check and I could stand in line of the 'diplomats'. And I have to say: this was no inconvenience after almost a day of travelling :)
So after regaining all my stuff I met Radha, who picked my up at the airport and took me to the house of a colleague from DA with whom I will be staying till the end of this weekend. My hosts are very kind and easy-going, which makes it easy to get used to this country, the climate, the food, etc. Today we went (in an autoriksha ^^) to the office where I got to meet several people.On monday I will meet those colleagues who are currently still in Delhi for an exhibition/sale of "our" looms. And then later next week I will enter my accomodation here: a shared flat with own bathroom. Despite the hospitaly I have experienced I am also looking forward to that :)
And while I do not have to start the actual internship till 3 September, I think I will just go to the office as of wednesday or so. Just to get to know the people and maybe try to learn a little bit of looming myself :P
Tomorrow will be a day off, for pretty much everyone, so when the weather is good I'm planning on going into town and roam around a bit :)
Now. Thus far my story has been rather technical. It's just that I have not seen that much, yet :P Though there was quite a big shower today which flooded the streets big time...
But I think that this blog has reached it's readable limit :P And I will now go and enjoy the dinner that my hostess is prepairing (with the help from the previously-prepared goods from their cook; and it smells goood.. so far everything has been really tasty although my belly has to get used to it a bit).
Next time I'll tell more of the kind of lives that I see people are living here; or something in that direction :P
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