The Ladies of Loni.

The past weekend I traveled to Loni to visit my friends from Oregon. The bus ride was super long as I came from Pune instead of Rajgurunagar. I realized half way through it that I had no idea what Loni looks like, and since all the towns look the same to me, I had no idea where to get off. Luckily, I met a woman who was also going to Loni and I told her I would follow her lead.

Around 8pm the bus rolled into Loni, and as I was afraid I would miss the stop because the buses come and go so fast, I stood up as the bus was moving. I was trying to pull my backpack out from the overhead, but I couldn't get it. The man sitting next to me said he would help me, and I stood back. As I waited, the bus hit a really big bump, and I fell backwards into the lap of a well-rounded older woman. Thankfully no one seemed to notice, and luckily her belly broke my fall.

It was so good to meet up with my friends since I had only met them once at an orientation for our program. Sharon, Julia, and Andy are all doing medical rotations at Pravara Hospital. You know how it goes with chics, we all sit around together gossip, make each other laugh, and catch up on our experiences. We had ourselves a pretty sweet weekend consisting of delicious food, coconut water, a temple, a sugar/liquor distillery, a four hour drive to ancient caves, monkeys, and a look-a-like Taj Mahal.

Here is the journey in pictures:

My Indian Family.

One morning I was trying to explain to a woman, who was also staying at the guesthouse, that I needed to take my dresses to a tailor. She walked me down the street and introduced me to my neighbor and local seamstress, and I handed her four dresses. When I came back that evening I was greeted, charged 50 rupees ($1) and welcomed in for chai.

Since then I have become close with the family, the daughter and her friends. I couldn't be any happier! They've invited me for dinner, taken studio photos with me (which I suppose I will post), walked me home, dressed me in a sari, and like to practice English and Marathi with me. Although, I'd say they are far better at what they are learning.

Here's some photos of Mrs. Pacharne, Namrata, Nilum, Samiksha, Samreet, and I.

I love my new family.

Lesson Learned.

Okay people! What’s the number one thing that we all should know when traveling to a foreign country?? I’ll give you a hint: You can't go home with out it...

DING! DING! DING!

If you answered “Always have your passport” then you will go very far in this world.

Me on the other hand...

Last Thursday, as I got ready to leave for work I did my every-couple-days check in on my passport. Now, I know that a passport is like the holy grail so I like to keep it in a super secret, safe spot: under my mattress. Who would ever think to look there, right? Flip the mattress, there it is, easy as pie. Well, this day I noticed that there was something different, something that wasn't there before. It was a sticker on the front of my passport. That's odd, I thought. I grabbed it, sat on the bed, and when I opened the booklet I saw all these stamps that said I have been to the Bahamas and Singapore, which I never have. I shouted a particular curse word that was definitely appropriate and then saw that the picture that was supposed to be me, was in fact a younger, much lighter woman!

Thankfully, as it turned out, it was the other intern, Kourtney, that arrived in Mumbai the same day as me. She and I attended orientation the following day and a staff member made copies of our passports. When he handed them back to us individually, we did not think to check them and put them away safely in our bags.

What's funny is that Kourtney and I did not look at our passport for quite some time. I left that day after orientation, and she stayed for over a week in Mumbai before heading to her work site in Rajasthan. When I finally contacted her via Facebook, she said that she realized the mistake when she was already on the train headed up north. I figured as much since I hadn't heard from her, and when I saw her passport I knew that she had already gone the day before.

Luckily, I am headed to Rajasthan after completing my internship in Maharashtra. I will be at the same site, Educate Girls, that she is currently at. And thankfully, she will still be there and not need her passport prior to that. What an odd circumstance. It seems almost pointless that the universe would decide to throw this at us since we will easily be able to exchange them.

If anything, I will never forget to always make sure that I have MY passport. Until I get it back, I will continue to guard this passport as though it were...well, somebody else's passport.