Ready or Not

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I have moved in with Maelle and in correlation had to also say goodbye to Prashant, Heyma, Jyotsna, and their parents. Yesterday was also Friendship Day.
Heyma asked if I could come to their shop for a few minutes before I took off. She said something to her father in Hindi but I understood the word "gift."
"Pick one of these fabrics," she told me, indicating towards a big pile of different materials on the shelf. There were bright colors, tan colors, blue colors, polka dots, stripes, and flowers. I invited her to choose for me, and we both settled on a pretty teal fabric with gold dots. I was already imagining the dress I could ask the shop's designer to create for me.
"It's our going away present to you," Heyma said, cutting two and a half meters with her father. She placed the bag in my hand. "Happy Friendship Day!"
It was a very nice gesture and I really will sit with Ruchika and ask her to make something of it. I plan to wear it to the welcome-home event my mother has already started planning the weekend following my arrival in Chicago.
One of my work colleagues has also moved on, planning to get an MBA in Pune. We had a long-running joke about opening an agency together and working in global communications. "I will be your India contact of course," he said to me. "I have event planning experience as well."
He and I went for a drink one Saturday after work and I could tell it was one of the few times he'd obliged to have a beer at 6 in the evening, and maybe the only time with an American girl. He asked me about the work culture in the US and being that his relative has started the first Hindi Newspaper in Seattle, he wanted all the details I could give him regarding Washington State.
"I've never been to Washington," I told him.
"Yes, but do they have mountains?"
"I've never been to Washington."
"How are the people?"
This went on for quite some time until finally I admitted that I had a friend who has recently moved there and she found it charming, (or so I've assessed from our quick facebook conversations).
That seemed to settle him and we enjoyed the rest of our Kingfishers in content.
Gemma and Noelle will depart next, leaving me with only two French girls with whom I've grown to call 'my best friends in India.'
Maelle returned from Orccha yesterday with stories of their beautiful hotel and new friends from the region. They are hosting a House Warming Party for me tonight, where we'll have dinner and upload and share pictures.
I'm enthusiastic about the next 6 weeks and realize that they will pass quicker than I can grasp them. I have planned at least two more trips before I leave. Once to Bombay and before I leave I'll take a week to spend time in Dharamsala. I am much looking forward to it. Work has been very tough lately and I'm near to losing sleep about returning to the states and searching for a permanent position. I wonder how I can explain in an interview about the things I've accomplished here. My boss has hired two new employees and thus I've become a guide to them, when one month ago I was a trainee myself. It is overwhelming and exciting at the same time, and that is how I will describe it to anyone who asks me about my time, working, in Delhi.
"I was overwhelmed everyday, but it was so exciting that I didn't care."

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Photos

Heyma and Me
The last night at their place

Jangpura Bedroom
My room in the new place

Comments

[Jim Bright]

HELLO FROM CHICAGO
Rachel, Hello from Chicago where I'm attending an educators' conference. I enjoyed your latest posting. I've always found India "overwhelming, but exciting, too." Enjoy the last six weeks of this life-enriching experience.