08 August 2008

The Life of a Volunteer

I went into New Delhi again today. The initial plan was to do an advance scouting trip because we are going to the zoo next Saturday, but that was foiled by the fact that the zoo is closed on Fridays. Oops. I also had plans to meet up with Rajiv, my program coordinator for Volunteering India, the organization that has been overseeing my whole experience here, so it’s not like the day was completely out of sorts.

It was pouring rain most the day, but we still managed to have a great time. Our first stop was the Lotue Temple. This building is absolutely gorgeous and there is something about walking barefoot over the marble floors (they literally take your shoes) and sitting amongst quite the worldly contingent present there (quite the precursor to the Olympics country-wise).

Following our stop there, we headed over to the Defense Colony for some incredible South Indian food. Absolutely delicious.

After lunch, we headed over to Gandhi Smriti, which was Mohadas Gandhi’s final residence as well as the site of his assassination in 1948. As mentioned earlier, I’ve been reading through his autobiography lately and it was really great to see more about his life and times as well as have Rajiv there as a guide.

Even with all that on the agenda, I still managed to make it back to Noida in time to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics with the boys. They really enjoyed it and we spent most of the time with a globe in one hand and the list of countries in the other. I am much better at my geography now (even if they aren’t)...

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