Good Days and Bad Days

When you live in this crazy city, there are good days and bad days.  Here is short and entertaining video that describes how I often feel here:

GOOD DAYS

You are in love and get to spend quality time with that person. You eat super tasty food with a spice combination triggering all your senses.  In the middle of this congested city you grab the sweetest Mangoes, tasty bananas and discover a sweet tropical fruit with a cool texture and color.  You feel comfortable crossing the busy streets and you ignore the cacophony of horns. You wake up early on a Sunday and in 30 minutes you arrive at a national park full of Monkey’s and pretty birds,  you hike a couple miles and reach this historical site from 1000 BC.  You walk down the these little side streets,  going slow and can get lost in thought, big old trees provide shade, few cars around, quiet for a second, look up and see parrots flying above 100 year old bungalows.   You find fun little businesses or street art hidden in different nooks and crannies.  At night you hit up a boardwalk, everyone is playing, people are dancing to music you’ve never heard before, there is a soft breeze, air feels lighter.  People make hosting into an art.  Truly go above and beyond to make you feel included & comfortable.  You are invited places, people’s homes.  People say kind things and are genuinely curious.  At my job there is a culture of affirmation, learning, passion and excellence.  On a Friday, post 5:30pm, a day dedicated to learning, reflecting and celebrating the week, (that’s every Friday at my job), 15 staff want to stay late to play charades and board games.  You want to go home but everyone is cracking up and they play a game specifically in English to be inclusive (even though I’m the only one who can’t speak Hindi) so you start laughing too and join in. You get excellent cell phone service for $8 a month.  You are coming home Sunday mid-afternoon afternoon and there are four well taken care of cows chillin’ 10 feet from your house (see above pic).

BAD DAYS

You eat super tasty food but then get diarrhea.    In the middle of this congested city as you think you have mastered walking the busy streets, a motorcycle comes inches from hitting you.  You don’t see the asshole coming cuz he’s going the wrong way down the street.  The rickshaw driver has no idea where your location is, your google maps is inaccurate, he doesn’t understand your broken Hindi, English, and you don’t understand him.  The air is thick, hot, humid and stinky – “95 and Hazy/Smokey.”  You have swamp ass, you get home, blow your nose and it’s dusty.   Leaving your comfort zone and trying new things feels daunting, you are exhausted and feel like you have ventured into the unknown enough for the day.   You want to buy groceries but don’t understand how to do it.  You still have one more layer of paperwork to fill out, you have to take another round of passport photos and sign another application.  For simple things you have to ask Smritika how something works.  She has to take you to the bank to set up a simple checking account.  The delivery guy can’t find your house and you can’t explain to him how to arrive.  Everyone is speaking in another language and you don’t understand a word they’re saying.  You miss your friends and family.  You want to talk to friends who gets your quirks, knows where you’re coming from.  On the worst days you are seeking out other foreigners because you want to vent, figure they might understand.  You are coming home, and you step in cow manure cuz there was four well taken care of cows chillin’ 10 feet from your house (see above pic).

Sometimes the good and bad can happen all within 2 hours or throughout one day.  Either way it’s been a surreal experience thus far.  Very grateful.

These both gave me a good laugh. Some idiots picked an actual mural to write this on top of. So much other space where this could have gone. Either way I chuckled.