The flight over wasn't so bad. We stopped at Hong Kong, I watched the cleaning crew clean up and felt extremely guitly, and then got a cute little green circular sticker that said "Transit." We continued on to Singapore, where I had about a 9-hour layover. It wasn't so bad, seeing as they had amazingly comfortable chairs, gorgeous orchid and fern gardens, and free internet. Granted, the free internet was only available in 15-minute spurts, meaning that every 15 minutes I had to either play an awkward game of musical chairs--only with no music and with no chairs--or look around guiltily while I ignore the massive message on the screen letting me know that I had overstayed my 15-minute welcome. Still, it was pleasant, especially compared to the London Heathrow Airport; I didn't have to feel like I was too poor to be there. Finally, I boarded the plane, and slept my way all the way to the Mumbai Airport.
Transit sticker when I had a short layover in Japan.
Banners hanging in the airport saying "Welcome" in different languages.
The beautiful orchid gardens in the Singapore airport.
The moment I stepped off the plane and the warm stink of India hit my nose was the moment that it hit me that I was half way around the world and that it was time to get back to the working mindset.
To be honest, it has been extremely hard to prepare myself mentally for this trip. I'm not sure if it is because I am burned out, or because there have been so many other things on my mind recently, but I have not been able to find myself too excited about this trip. Perhaps part of the reason is that, the few weeks before I left, I had found an amazing group of people to be around all the time. The guys at Pixar have made me feel extremely welcome and completely loved, and for once, it's great to have a group of friends that actually know each other and hang out together, where, at the same time, I don't feel like a complete outsider. Sometimes I do, since they start talking about Pixar projects and begin to talk technical language that I can only dream to comprehend, but I guess that's what happens when you get a bunch of Pixar interns together in one room; it's bound to happen. Another reason is just this whole... my major thing that's looming over my head like the beautiful thundercloud that it is. The thing is, I am sure that if I were back at Berkeley right now, I may not even be getting that taken care of. Right now, I feel that I would probably take care of it immediately, but that could be just a result of me being here in India instead of back there in Berkeley. Another part of the reason is that right now, I'm holding on to the strings of the beginnings of something that could be amazing, and right now, I fear that these two months will pull too hard at these delicate fibers and they will break. I have a feeling that if perhaps if it were six months down the line and I felt as if I had a stronger grip on it, then I would not be so worried. Great timing, as always. I guess the final thing is that I am just slightly tired of working on this project, or any project for that matter. In the long run, I still want to work in public health and public policy--both work on the ground and also work on the higher levels, but I guess right now there are just other things on my plate that I have to deal with, i.e. my own mental well-being and happiness. It sounds strange and foreign coming from my own mouth, or in this case, my fingertips, but the past couple of months have made me feel that I can actually say it and even believe it.
That being said, here I am in Mumbai, ready to get cracking on the work I have to do.
But, of course, first things first, and one of the first things to do is to move into our flat and exorcise the ghost of the late Madame Gadgil. Yes, you heard me correctly. The story goes something like this. So we were frantically looking for a place to live, and by "we" I mean Emily and Anu. Ashok Gadgil, a professor at Berkeley, offered his mother's apartment. The back story behind this apartment is that she had been living in it, and then she died.
I guess I'll continue updating this entry tomorrow... everyone is planning on going to sleep soon.
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