A Day Full of "Adventures"

So on Monday we started with orientation. We got an introduction to what CHAI is about. I was very impressed with how extensive their work is. They many branch organizations, and I think their contribution to healthcare in India has been quite significant. After the morning orientation we had the afternoon off and decided it might be a good idea to buy a cellphone before we head off into the rural community. It was quite the adventure/stressful/frustrating process in doing something as simple as buying a phone. First we had to take a ride in the ricshaw to get into the city, which was decent enough, and we actually found the mall we were looking for easily enough. We had to withdraw cash from the HSBC ATM which was fine except for the creeper trying to look over Farzina's shoulder when she entering her pin number. Getting into the mall and the stores was a bit of annoying process b/c everywhere you wanted to enter there were metal detectors and security personelle who searched our bags. It was annoying as hell, but for the sake of safety I guess I really can't complain. In buying the cellphone, like so many things we've experienced this far, it was ridiculously complicated. First we had to give the salesperson a photocopy of the visa and a photocopy of picture ID (i didn't do this, Farzina did, which I thought was pretty brave of her). The purpose of the photocopies is so that phone companies can track the calls being made, b/c I guess in the past, bomb blasts were coordinated through cellphone use. Anyways, in order to get the photocopies, we had to leave cellphone place and go back into the mall, through all the security again, and get into the Xerox place, and the photocopy process ended up taking probably twice as long since the machine was just barely working. We went back to cellphone place afterwards and then were told we also needed an actual passport sized photo as well!!! We were getting pretty frustrated at this point so he was nice enough to sell us the phone without the picture but told us to get a photo to him within the next couple of days. Then, for whatever reason, he told us the SIM card we needed to buy to validate the phone a purchase minutes had to be bought at his uncle's shop which was another 10 minute walk on those crazy busy roads. The whole getting the SIM card and buying minutes process took probably about an hour and by then it was getting dark. Then we decided to try to get the passport photo, but we had to go to a completely different shop to get this and when we got there there the salesperson told us we had to purchase a minimum of 8 passport photos even though we only needed one. The whole thing was tiring and frustrating and we just left without the photos. In the end we got the cellphone, the SIM card, and the minutes, but it'll only be good for a max of 3 days unless we give the original guy who sold us the phone a passport photo, which means we'll try again for today.

On the way back from the cellphone adventure we took another ricshaw ride. It was rush hour so the traffic was crazy and our driver kept almost hitting the people walking along the street, the people on motorbikes, the other ricshaws, and buses. But this time it was more amusing then it was terrifying, b/c these people never seem to get into accidents despite the madness/chaos on the roads. It's quite amazing actually, and would never EVER work in Canada.

We finally made it home in one piece :) But, of course, before I could go to bed I had to have just one more "adventure". There was one of those geco lizard things on the outside screen of our window!!! Even though it wasn't inside and couldn't get in our room it was so disgusting watching it dart around as we tried to scare it off. I actually gagged a couple of times. Once it finally scurried away I was able to get a rather decent sleep. I'm sure there are more random adventures to come so stay tuned :) I'll try to post pics within the next few days :)