Oct 28

Arriving at the Mumbai Airport at 1am, it was overwhelming for us to see our hosts eagerly waiting for us at the exit, some even holding up beautifully decorate cardboards with our names written on it. All of us were pretty sleepy, considering the fact that it was midnight for them, and almost 3 in my morning for us. Nevertheless, we were warmly welcomed and a lady even came up to us and put a red dot on our foreheads, a Hindi symbol for luck and peace.

My host Sanaya was really nice, and both her parents and her chatted eagerly with me during the long car ride back to their home. My first impression of India was that it's always beautifully lit up, even in the middle of the night. It was almost 3am when we finally arrived at her home, and after a brief tour around her house, everyone gladly went to catch up on their sleep.

Waking up at 8am in the morning (due to the freezing air-conditioning), I enjoyed a simple Indian breakfast of noodles with Sanaya's family. It was soon 1 o'clock, and Sanaya's mom drove us to a restaurant called The Village where we had lunch together as a whole. To my surprise, Indian food wasn't as spicy as I'd imagined. In fact, they were delicious, especially an orange spiral dessert named Jalebi.

Soon, we got tired of eating and most of us were pretty full. We had a crazy dancing session, involving dances that require us to hold 2 bamboo sticks in our hands called Dandiya, and even a dance where we had to wear a special horse costume to do it! We all got really sweaty after the dances, but no one seemed to mind since we were all having so much fun :)

After chilling at Sanaya's home for a while, watching movies and her brother teaching me to skateboard, her family took me around for sightseeing around the neighbourhood, showing me heritage buildings such as the Old Taj Mahal Hotel and interesting tourist activities such as riding in an open-roof chariot.

It was a pretty amazing experience for me, since I have never seen anything like that before. All in all, I think my host and I had a great time bonding, and I am really looking forward to tomorrow for our first day of school in Mumbai.

June Ho 3U (12)