Just wanted to post a quick update that I've made it to Jodhpur safely. Travel went surprisingly smooth, no problems or delays. After one night in Delhi I flew 1.5 hours to Jodhpur yesterday and arrived in the afternoon. After settling in at Indrashan (the guesthouse & my home for the next 3 months -- more on that later), I went on a quick tour of the main city center. There is a staff member from the foundation here for another 10 days. She's helping me settle in and also orient me to my work here for the next 3 months. She will most likely be returning in September and then again in October while I am here.
I went around to some of the favorite shops where I got a quick preview of some of the amazing items to buy. I am going to have a hard time narrowing down what I bring home so that it'll all fit in my bag! Thankfully Jorge had a great last minute suggestion that I pack an extra duffel bag in my suitcase. Now that I've seen some of the great souvenirs to bring home, I am very happy I have a spare bag. I'll write a post that details more of the shopping at a later point.
We also went to 2 restaurants, one for appetizers and one for drinks. Pictured below is the view from the second restaurant, called Indique. The rooftop restaurant looks out towards Mehrangarh fort, a beautiful and impressive structure that overlooks the city. I'll probably be visiting the fort soon with another intern.
Today, we went shopping again, this time to get me some local clothes to wear here. I only brought a few outfits with me so I needed some local attire. Here are a few pictures of my new outfits. The photos below are nicer more western-looking outfits that will be good to wear here but also at home.
The outfits below are more common everyday outfits in fun crazy colors that you see women wearing all over Jodhpur and India in general. These tops come with sleeves to be sewn on. All of the outfits are worn with leggings, which also come in a million colors.
This first week in India is packed with planning meetings both with Emily to finalize my work plan, and also with partner organizations around some new initiatives I'll be working on over the next 3 months. I'll update you more on my actual work here soon.