Week 3.5

Acclimatization
The jet lag symptoms are basically over and we're on a fairly regular sleep cycle now. That helps. Not so much fatigue which can make everything else more dramatic and challenging.

We've been managing public transportation well on our own. Only a few times when we've paid more than we should. I've actually been keeping a log of costs from place to place and have begun to get a sense of how much a ride should cost. That also helps.

The heat is still difficult, especially with the humidity. There are breaks occasionally, but Janis is feeling this is the biggest challenge for her so far.

Acculturation
We visited the Qutb Minar yesterday afternoon. A strange architectual mix of Muslim, Hindu and other influences. There are sevel stories about this structure. Whichever is correct, it remains an impressive structure within an impressive area. The Qutb Minar is essentially an Islamic structure, but contrary to all Islamic principles, images - not geometric shapes - are all over the structures. In many respects, this represents the deeply complex nature of Indian society. There are some principles that apply, but there's always exceptions.

We also visited a Hindi speaking church yesterday. The pastor and his wife are a couple we met last summer and have stayed in contact with over the year. Unfortunately, it is quite a distance away from where we live. We suspect they would like us to become involved in their fellowship, but we have reservations with the distance and uncertainties of what our responsibilities will entail on a week-by-week basis. Still, it was a wonderful experience...and we actually understood some of the Hindi from time to time. He asked me to give a 10-15 minute testimony, that I started in my rudimentary Hindi!

Learning
Today begins week three of language learning - the first week with Intensive Hindi 1, last week and this week with 1:2 tutoring. Challenging, stretching, but actually beginning to see a little progress. We were informed last night that if we kept up at the pace we are currently on, typically in two years we could expect to be fluent in Hindi!

This week will be full. In addition to tutoring we will: visit the site of the International School (MDIS) today; I will return to the YMCA site in Nizamuddin where the Language Insititute and EWEF Offices may be relocating; host our first guest from the US (a friend of our daughter, Heather. We did have a guest for 4 days last week, but he is the one who has been orienting us in EWEF); we may get a visit to our flat from an Indian family we met in the bazaar whose son is scheduled to begin a Master's program at USC this fall; and we're supposed to meet with two couples we met last summer who are cross cultural workers here and who will be members of our accountability team.