Namaste from India!

Namaste in Hindi language means hello, good day, good evening. We have safely arrived in Dehli, India and have begun our week long orientation and exposure to Indian culture, history, religion, and language ---and what a culture it is. Over 5,000 years old, the birthplace of Buddhism, yoga, ancient dynasties, 684 local dialects of the Hindi language, the second fastest growing economy in the world, and yes even Bollywood. With a population of over 200 million, and 14 million in Delhi itself, we have obviously been struck by how many people there are and the struggle to work and provide for one's family. The traffic is well...bad, and every form of transportation is used - walking, bikes, 3 wheeled taxi carts, cars, motorcycles, rickshaws, buses - and all on the same streets. Deb and I have agreed that there really is no reason to put lane lines on the roads because they are seldom followed. We have cringed a few times (ok Deb was freaking out in the back of the cab) when we passed families ( yes Mom, Dad and 2 kids) riding on a single motorcycle in busy traffic without helmets. But it all seems to work for the locals.

So far we have been overwhelmed by the vibrant colors, tasty spices, hard- working nature of the people ( everyone either has a job, or desperately wants one), beautiful dresses, historic sites, and general friendliness of the people we have encountered. It has been awesome.

This week in Delhi is our orientation to India and our volunteer stint that begins next week in Dharamsala. We are staying in a high-rise neighborhood apartment with our program director Ananta ( his place) with 8 other very friendly college age kids. We are the "older couple" as we heard one of the girls describe the group to her parents over the phone. We are learning some basic Hindi language as well as customs and culture. We also have scheduled some sight-seeing and will be visiting the Taj Mahal this Sunday.

Our cuisine has been tasty and vegetarian and we have gone from Sauvignon Blanc in NZ, to beer in Australia, to diet cokes here in India - either we are adjusting to culture or we are running low on funds. All in all, we are very excited about our time here in India. Ananta describes India as a rich country ..."If you see India, you have seen half of the world".

We wish all of our Packer fans a hearty well done ( any quotes from Brett Favre in the Mpls papers???), hence the picture. We will stay in touch and keep you updated.

Fir milenge (See you later),

Pat and Deb