Thoughts on his first Nanubhai and India experience: Day 4
Thomas Novak is a member of the 2015 intern team working for Nanubhai in India this summer. Read about his first days in a new place that is quickly becoming his new home.
Today starts my fourth day in India, and the first full day of internship duties. The biggest challenge so far has been the rain. Two nights ago the power went out in the middle of the night and didn’t come back on until around 5:00 p.m. yesterday. No electricity meant no lights, no Internet, and, worst of all, no fan. However, the one positive side to it raining so much is that the heat isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Although it can get stuffy without the fan, if the windows are open a nice breeze can come through the windows.
One reason why the rain is particularly a challenge for me is because my apartment is a good walk away from the office. Unlike Sarah, Sonia and Evan, who live in an apartment off of the office, I live in a separate apartment because, as a man, I can’t live in the apartment with women. My apartment is extremely nice, with a nice walk in room, two bedrooms, and two bathrooms, and a small kitchen space, although I really only stay in my small bedroom.
I thought living apart from the other interns would lonely, but quickly found out otherwise. Yesterday morning, while waiting for Jayesh and Mitesh to pick me up and go to the office, I met six children playing in the apartment complex who asked me my name and where I was from. By the time I got home the news had spread that a foreigner was living in the apartment complex, and everyone was extremely interested in me and extremely kind. When I got back to the complex one man helped me operate the elevator, and then once I was in my room a few of my neighbors knocked on my door offering their assistance in anything I might need, as well as offering me the ability to watch cricket in their apartment if the electricity came back on.
Although it can be strange to be in a place where people are speaking a language you do not know all around you, all it takes is for a few kind people to make the place feel more like home.
