Live from Kolkata...

It's Saturday night! Well, for you at least. For me, it's Sunday afternoon.
My trip so far...
Got into the Kolkata airport at 1 in the morning Friday the 12th, met by my "patron," I guess you could call him, Anindya, and went to the Ramakrishna Mission, where I'm staying. Words cannot describe the beauty of this place, so I'll wait until I have a camera and (hopefully) a way to post pictures. Let me just say that it's clean, simple, and full of flowers. It just so happened that the day I got there was a big day for the Mission, since it was the birthday of one of the major figures, so I was greeted with all-day music and dance concerts right in the Mission. Sadly I slept through most of it (while watching... heh heh), but I did get to hear some really beautiful singing and see some Odissi dance. Oh, and due to me not correctly changing my watch, I had the surreal experience of my body thinking it was 1 in the morning, my mind thinking it was 2 in the afternoon, and it actually being 11 in the morning. So that was my day on Friday, dozing to wonderful music with Emma (who lives two rooms away from me) and her friends.
Saturday I actually got out into Kolkata, which, after the first half hour or so, was not as scary as I thought it would be. I got registered for Bengali classes, somehow managed to find my own lunch (lo mein type stuff the guy made in front of me and put into a cardboard box and probably overcharged me for and was probably full of all sorts of bacteria, but gosh darn it, that was the best tasting expensive bacteria that I've ever encountered) and Anindya took me out to get my money exchanged, get a cell phone (whose number I will post at some point when I'm not dumb and forget to bring it with me because I haven't memorized it yet, but you probably shouldn't call anyway because it'll be really expensive), get new clothes, and also brought me to his house, where I was offered lots of sweets (the first word I learned in Bengali was mishti, which means sweet: apparently Kolkata is famous for its sweets, which puts me pretty much in heaven). Then since it was Emma's birthday she and I and some of her (and becoming my) friends went out to a restaurant for dinner.
Today I've looked into classes (mime and yoga), gotten lost, wandered around a lot, and come here. Good stuff...
So I suppose I should try to describe this place.... I don't even know where to start. I didn't actually have too much trouble with culture shock, probably because it's just so radically different that my mind is starting fresh. It's warm, the perfect temperature actually, and everything is faded, dusty, crowded, and somehow more real than back home. Everyone stares at me on the street, but I don't ever feel oppressed or threatened. It's more curiosity than anything else. Plus, I like being looked at. :p
And to wrap up, a few random things that are different:
my shower is completely vertical
at dinner the mission serves this amazing "mishti doi" (sweet yogurt): it tastes like caramel and is soooooo good!
I sleep under a mosquito net
there are random dogs everywhere, and I've seen cows and goats as well
there are no lanes on the roads, and people seem to view the use of their horns not as a priviledge or even a right, but as an obligation. the horns seem to mean "I'm coming" instead of "get out of my way"
people do just about everything in the street

Well, I suppose that's it: I'll write more at some point. I miss you all, send me e-mails! (And if you want to talk, give me a time and a number: international pay phones are pretty cheap here).
Love, Joanna :)