Yesterday I had every intention of writing a post, but by the end of the afternoon I was to tired and annoyed to write anything that would have been semi-positive.
My day started out with an alright walk to Mother House to volunteer. I'm not sure if I've mentioned that any non-indian women here get stared at all the time (as in as soon as you step out of the door of your hotel) and not just stared at, but turn around, walk backwards to stare at you. Not only that, but the men will deliberately attempt to brush you or grope you (as in veer across the street to touch you. Not exaggerating).
So, in the morning with the usual stares (usually not harmful, but annoying) on the walk, on guy on his bike who rode past me staring at me and turning so he could keep staring even after he passed me, stopped and kept staring until I got closer then again started pedaling staring at me. To the point that I was hoping he would crash his bike, because I would have laughed and kept walking past him, maybe stared at him laughing (yep, it was bringing out the beast in me yesterday)! Normally I just ignore it and dodge the men trying to touch me, but yesterday it was really getting to me!
It was super busy at the dispensary yesterday as everyone who hadn't shown up all last week due to the celebrations, came yesterday, so when we left around 1pm the room was still full of people for the sisters to see. On top of it I was really tired, so even more tired by the end of the day.
We met a couple of the other girls who are volunteering and went with them for lunch. Leaving lunch a well dressed man walked pasted me and reached out and grabbed my ass.... not just a brush by touch but reached out and grabbed. Then on the 45min walk back to our hotels the streets were packed as all the kids were just getting out of school, people finishing work etc. So had to dodge more people then normal. So, by the late afternoon I was done.
A nap and a shower later felt much better and met up with Maria for dinner. We had a nice dinner and a good laugh about how hassled we get and how our "husbands" always seem to be MIA!
Anyhow, enough ranting. Today again am super tired so decided not to volunteer today as I really don't want to get sick since I still have a couple more weeks to go of volunteering. So had a bit of a sleep in and quiet morning. Will meet up with Maria later and go walk around some more.
Oh, I don't think I wrote about Sunday. Sunday afternoon we went on a walk to all the sights where Mother Theresa was when she first started her work here in Calcutta. It was really interesting and nice to see all the places. It started at 2:30 and we didn't finish until after 7pm. Then after promptly getting lost on our way back, hiring a motor rickshaw, who was going to charge us 80Rs (we were quite far from where we needed to be) then decided to pick up a few more people on the way so when we got a bit upset about he finally only charged us 24Rs instead!
Anyhow, things are good and I am going to find someplace quietish to read for a bit I think.
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