Announcement: Please do not let my parents or any of my family members know about this blog. I would really love to write totally uncensored, and I know that I would not share everything if I thought my parents could read this. If you have mentioned this to my parents already please let me know. I'm sending my mother watered down email versions of what I am typing here. That being said...

The Plane Ride:
After dealing with another flight cancellation I finally board the Boeing 777, Continetnal direct flight to Delhi. Overall an interesting 10 hour ride. There was a baby girl sitting next to me not even old enough to speak, who unbenounced to her mother would pinch my nose every time I fell asleep. It was probably the most adorable thing ever. I was really excited when I saw that every seat had a screen in the back of the headrest, of course mime was the only one on the craft that was broken. :) And the highlight of flight was, drum roll please...someone shit on the plane. That's right. I'll say it again. Someone shit on the plane. Some guy took a crap in his seat.

Interesting Story:
So the first person that I speak to when getting of the plane in Delhi is this well dressed man with his wife and kid. We talk for about 5 minutes and it turns out he lived in Niles. Crazy huh? He leaves me with one piece of advice for traveling in India: "Do not trust anyone."

India, an attempt to describe:
Heat that you can't even imagine. Humidity that makes the air thick and heavy. Sweat dripping off every part of your body. Traffic that any Chicago commute can't compare to. Often there are no lanes just however many can fit go. Seas of men in motorbikes with women in saris riding side saddle behind them. Pedestrians. Animals. Ashley was asked to remove her glasses in one area because monkeys will come up and grab them off your face and break them. Stray dogs. Goats. Hogs. Camels. Elephants. And cows, tons of sacred cows, everywhere. Sidestepping all the animal feaces that cover the street, along with human excretions as well. I saw hundreds of people who live on the side of the highway. Before we even get out of the car a little girls runs up to my window and asks for food. And once we do get out, children run up to us screaming, "Pen! Pen!" They ask tourists for pens because they can't go to school without them. Suddenly being white means something totally different. I am the minority. People stare at us like were celebrities. Kids leave their parents and run up to us to say "Hello" and shake our hands. They ask to take pictures with us. Quitting smoking. Only speaking 10 words in Hindi. Converting from 12 hour time to 24 hour time. Converting from American to metric. Converting from dollars to rupees. Just converting. I realized within a few minutes that there are far more men out that women. It took me until lunch today to realize that the men at our table are always served before Ashley and I are. Food that I've never imagined before. And so much of it. All of us have been told repeatedly about the dangers of drinking the water here. Every house that we enter they bring out water for us to drink. To refuse it would be offensive. So we drink it and hope for the best. For the next 6 weeks this is home.

5/28/06:
We took a 4 hour car ride to Jaipur, visited Suds's relatives and The City Palace. We heard stories about maharajas who were 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide. We saw carpets, weapons, paintings, and writings that were hundreds of years old. An incredible day.

So, on the list of things that I thought I would be doing last night, shooting pool with Matt Pfhol in Long Island never really came to mind. But it was a blast nonetheless. So today was spent running all over Manhattan, it was my first time in NYC. I saw Time Square, strolled through Central Park, and took the subway all over the city. I've come to the conclusion that NYC is exactly like Chicago but with more cabs, and everyone is angry. Our trip ended with Matt, Jared, and I running down 5th Avenue during rush hour to get on the train so that Jared could make his flight. All of yesterday's problems were solved and by this time tomorrow I will be on my way to Paris. It looks like I'm staying with Matt's friend Timmy's family again tonight. Seriously these are the nicest people I've ever met. Jared and Matt, I owe you guys huge! You saved my ass big time! Here are a few pics of my day. Most of them are around Time Square, there is also one of Jared and Matt riding the subway and the pic of the three of us is in the Apple Store that just opened. Char would have thought it was very sexy.

Best lines of the day:
Matt (singing his own opera): "Tengo pantalones rancheros! Donde esta la biblioteca?"

Matt (Still singing 2 min later, he holds this word out for nearly a minute): "Boligrafo!"
Christina: "Peeeeeen!"

One thing I forgot to mention about yesterday: funny story. So my luggage broke at JFK, and Random Cute Guy comes up to me and asks if he can help. So we start talking, it turns out Random Cute Guy works for CBS and he's doing this story on pilots who fly drunk, which was very comforting just before we were about to take off. Either way I tell Random Cute Guy that I've shot for CBS before during my internship in Chicago. So Random Cute Guy and I decide to get coffee. That's right about when Random Cute Guy turns into Random Douche Bag. He proceeds to tell me about the guy's wife he just hit on. And then says "So, you're from the Midwest huh?" and then tells me about the slew of Midwestern girls that he's slept with. And what started out as an intelligent conversation about contemporary news media digressed into lecture about which state has the best tits.

Ok so the trip is off to somewhat of a rocky start. Due to a error on my part let's just say I'm going to have a longer than epected layover in NY. So right now I should be in Paris, but instead I'm hanigng out in Long Island. But hey, things could be worse right? It's not so bad actually I'm with this amazing family, they've been really welcoming, and they seem to have a great sense of humor, which comes in handy in situations like this. So, I'm crashing here tonight, fixing my major fuck up tomorrow, and then leaving for India on Friday. Believe it or not Long Island is so much like Glenview, it's crazy. I've already spent 40 minutes in a Walgreens here. If' that's not Glenviewish I don't know what is. Advice: if you're ever down listen to "Too Young for the Blues" by Ella Fitzgerald. Works wonders. Tomorrow is going to be crazy. I'm looking forward to it.