One Year Abroad - A Trip To India to Celebrate

I have now been living in Korea for over a year and I just can't believe it. I've been immersed in this foreign land and now it does not seem so foreign to me. It's familiar. And I love it. And this is why I'm still here, unexpectedly, for another year. I wasn't planning this when I first came here but I've been suckered in and I don't know what my life would be like without kimchi and bbq and bowing to people.

I recently visited India. Absolutely mind-blowing. Amazing. Perfect. 

They had a cold front when I went (obviously) but that didn't stop me from soaking up the excitement around me. The Taj Mahal was everything I expected and more. Granted, it was a super foggy day and my pictures don't depict it's real beauty, but  my eyes got to see it up close and personal and that's all that matters. The poverty in India is deafening. There were cows, camels, stray dogs, bulls, monkeys, and goats roaming the unpaved sidewalks alongside the people. The animals ate trash. There was so much trash. So many beggars. If someone said hi to you, you couldn't say hi back because then they would follow you around and beg for money. It was so hard to not say hi back. So much sadness. People brushing their teeth outside. Barely anyone with shoes. And here us westerners were, just taking pictures of the sadness that is another person's life. It was a humbling experience for me.

I'm going to quote my travel journal - "I look at people. They look back. I smile at them. They don't smile back. Sometimes, the children do. But only sometimes. We share this moment together but on two completely different ends of a spectrum. Me, on my tourist bus and them, on a local bus. An overcrowded bus. Buying food in the middle of traffic from outside the window. A dirty overcrowded bus. This is normal for them and so bizarrely insane for me. I can't wrap my head around it. It's sad but everyone seems content so that makes me feel a little at ease."

Honestly, words could never explain the experience I had. It was just simply amazing. I learned a lot too - like for arranged marriages - they send in a resume to your family with a picture of the person and your entire family history. And they do a horoscope match. My tour guide was so informative and so amazing. In a lot of the places we visited, you had to wear shoe covers to preserve its sacredness. Women also had to cover their heads. I used my scarf.

I welcomed the New Year in a quaint little hotel dancing to Indian music. I wore a bindi (the dot in between of a woman's eyes; your third eye). I got all the women in my tour group to wear one too. The food was amazing. I surprisingly didn't have anything too spicy. I guess I'm accustomed to spice because of Korea. My stomach didn't think the food was as delicious as my taste buds though. Delhi belly they call it. Food was cheap. For example, two samosas and a cold coffee were about 90 cents. 

We got to go into the home of a local person from a small village in the countryside. They made cups from clay for a living. They asked if anyone wanted to try and I was the only one who did. I failed miserably and I'm glad that's not my profession. At a mosque, the local people come and make bread to serve to the people in attendance. They do this for free as a form of good karma. I helped. It was nice. I'll be waiting for my good karma because it didn't come when I had a 20 hour layover and had to spend the night in China. *shrugs* I was told by more than one person that I look Indian. I was proposed to twice. Shenanigans! But all in good fun.

She let us into her home in the local village!

Barber shop