Delhi 1

Day 1 in Delhi was jam packed, and we began by meeting Dr. Sharada Nayak (pictured), our local Fulbright consultant (pictured below).  She gave us some great advice on what to expect, and what we should and should not do.  She is also a teacher, energetic, and incredibly vivacious for a 79 year old woman. She told us to not only interact with the culture, but to ask questions and think about how it changes us (and our teaching).  She of course gave us plenty of good health advice too!

Then, we were off to Humayun's Tomb, the prototype for the Taj Mahal.  It was built for a former emperor.  Out lecturer was historian Professor Beeba Sobti.  The official lecture was to be about the preservation attempts of historic monuments, but since she is a historian, she was able to give us all the good stories.  It was fun, and informative.  We enjoyed watching Professor Sobti get more poetic as other tomb visitors stopped and listened.  We had some fun along the way since the locals stop and gawk at us.  They all want to say hello, pose for pictures (which they expect you to pay them for), and tell you impressive stories.  We heard about when both Will Smith and President Obama toured the tomb.



After the tomb, it was off to a food court for lunch.  My dreams of India being my summer diet have officially been shattered.  The food here has been pleasantly wonderful, and the portions are huge!  However, I am aware that my curiosity and tolerance of Indian food will probably wear off at some point in the next 30 days, so I have vowed to change it when possible.  Lunch was my first opportunity...I had pizza.  It tasted just like what you would get at Chucky Cheese.  The only problem I am having to adjust to is our schedule of meals.  Breakfast between 7:00 and 8:00, lunch between noon and 2:00, dinner is between 9:00 and 10:00 at night.  I am an early dinner eater (5:30 or 6:00) so this is quite a change for me.  Another change is in ordering food.  In America we are used to allowing workers time to finish completely with one customer before we approach to order.  Two girls on my trip and I watched three locals cut in front of us before we realized that she is never going to look at us and ask "May I help you?"  So, we had to fight our way to up to the counter and bark orders at her.

However, that is enough about lunch and food.  On with the day.  Next we went to the Center for Science and Environment (CSE).  We toured the facility and listened to an overview of the CSE.  Since I am an AP Environmental science teacher, it was right up my alley!  We heard the story about how land preservation began in India, and it's appetizingly different than what you might think.  Instead of the typical arguments for land preservation, such as "we should save the trees because they are living organisms," or "If we don't save the trees we won't be able to use them for resources," India began their locally named "tree-hugger" movement as a result of women's rights.  You see, women are not allowed to urinate publicly like men, so they needed the trees to provide cover.  Thus, land preservation was born.  We also heard about how the CSE is involved in school, and I am so excited to say that I MIGHT have an opportunity to attend a two day teacher training program at the end of the month to learn how to assess schools on their environmental protocol.  There are still some logistics to work out, but if I do get to attend the training it will be awesome!  There may even be a chance to have my students conduct the assessment on our school, and then we can share it with another school in India (I sure hope my global liaison is reading).

From there, we went to India Gate, India's WWI memorial.  It was crazy crowded, but still a must see.  We only had 10 minutes since it was a total tourist stop with no connection to our Fulbright mission.  Please check out the pictures below.

India Gate and armed security guard

The crowd in the background was just on the other side of the India Gate of the previous picture (things are always this crowded)

 

Two fountains flank India Gate, formerly off limits to the public, now used for swimming and boat rides

So, if that isn't enough...there's more.  See this is around 6:30 in the evening and we don't eat until 9:00-ish.  The bus dropped us off at the hotel and we had some free time until dinner, so a group of us (about 7) went to a shopping area for a couple of hours.  Three of us (including me) bought some fabric to have a shirt tailored for me.  The tailor is coming to our hotel one night later this week.

Finally, we ate dinner and practically went straight to bed.

The exciting thing is that I will be posting more tomorrow, so stay tuned.  If you can't wait, you may check out the whole group's blog (which I will also be posting through during the trip). That address is http://fulbrightindia2011.com