My first week in India was so busy – I met a lot of people and got a lot of new friends.
After work, I always spend time with them, somebody always comes up something to do.
We first participated in a 5, then 10 kilometer marathon run, we had dinner together where we ate using our hands, we had a movie at the cinema (we had a break of 20 minutes), we watched football match or we just set up the international club in the hostel hall.
My friends are from Oman, Iran, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, France, China, Vietnam, Turkey, Ukraine and Portugal – so we move on a wide scale.
Everyone talks about their country, their culture, their habits, their lives, very instructive.
Everyone works during the day. Some people deal with women’s rights, marketing, teaching or working in a medical field, I’m in the legal field.
Every morning I go to work by bus or car, from 10 am to 6 pm.
Traffic is chaotic, everyone goes everywhere, but I have not seen an accident yet.
Drivers are often barefoot, seatbelt and helmet is optional.
Indian people are very kind and helpful, but I’m always careful.
There are some interesting things that work differently than in Europe:
-no toilet paper
In the washbasins, shower set is used.
Many of my colleagues here have already been in Europe, they did not get used to toilet paper.
-on the street some people walk smoothly barefoot
– people here do not say before eating „ enjoy your meal” or „good appetite”
-after sneezing nobody tells you „bless you”
-on the bus, ladies take the left and the men the right side
-face painting is typical of ladies here- I mostly see the yellow color
-after eating burping is all right ….
-or there is an interesting headshot here – right – left, somehow I can describe it – everyone does it 🙂
-every morning, in front of many houses, they draw symbols from white or colored dust – they are called colam
-there are many Hindu temples, many pray every day (the visitor to the church usually brings fruit and flowers to offer)
I will write more about my work later, right now I will deal with right of women, children and maritime law.
Security is okay, I just do not go anywhere alone, or if I do, I always share where I am going, and late in the evening we don’t leave our hotel.
We European girls are real curiosity here beacause of our white skin, light hair, many people look at us or specifically staring at us – which was strange at first, but everyone is accustomed to it.
So there’s a huge experience here, I learn a lot from it.
