Sunday, July 6th 8:00Dehra DunSo I got up today at 3:30 (I went to bed at 12:00) and moved myself into the shower room.It looked like a good shower but there was little water pressure and I had to resort to the cup and splash method.Once I was dressed I went downstairs to the lobby.The hotel manager/owner was asleep on the bench and I woke the only bell boy available at this unruly hour.I asked where the restaurant was (open 24 hrs) and he pointed me downstairs.A moment of awkwardness and I soon find myself alone going down these marble stairs, everything was marble in that hotel; it was like a giant washroom to be honest.So when I got downstairs I found two men sleeping on the floor and it was dark, so I kept going.There were more people sleeping on the floor.Realizing I must have missed something I turned around.The door of the restaurant was by the first to guys.When I walked in the man behind the counter had his head on the desk and the man before me was sleeping on a chair by a table.They both suddenly awoke and began to serve me.I wasn't really sure what to order, at least not for breakfast.I ended up getting daal, vegetarian rice, and naam bread for 250 rupees (5-6 dollars).250 rupees worth of food in India is WAY too much.I didn't even make a dent in the rice, there was plenty of daal left and the only thing I finished was the naam bread (my favorite).I also got a bottle of water only to realize that the cap was properly sealed leading me to believe that this water bottle may have been refilled.Or did I just open it too fast?Rather than risk the incredibly painful consequences of being right and not listening to myself I opted to leave the water in my room to avoid making a fuss.We got prepared to settle in the bus that came to pick us up for our trip to Dehra Dun.An 8 hour bus ride!At least the bus was air conditioned.I know it sounds snobbish but you wouldn't want to sit that long in a bus ride and be sweating constantly.Man India is different.There were so many sights, smells, feelings.Driving through the capital to more rural India is a sight to see.I've finally figured out what India smells like.It smells like a farm, inside a sauna, next to a highway and a flower market. Kind of.I'll work on that.It really does smell like a farm.There were people everywhere.Everywhere.Buses packed full of people went every which way.There were also people on the sides of the street.Motorcycles, bicycles, buses, trucks, cows, pedestrians all shared the road.There were no rules.Time and time again the bus would be charging down the middle of the road only to jet to the left just in time to miss an oncoming truck by literally inches.This was because a lot of the time we found ourselves in the wrong lane.Road traffic up ahead? No problem, just get over the divider into the other lanes until you can get back.Cars would honk constantly, usually to pass or to warn each other of their whereabouts.It was actually quite impressive that these drivers know how the system works that they aren't getting in wrecks every 50 feet or so.We did see a couple of small cars completely totaled though either they lost a battle with a truck or hit a holy cow and the onlookers set out to balance the universe by mutilating the car.So much of India is under construction.One of my coordinators describes them as being inefficient compared to our standards despite their large array of public work projects.There was no where we went where there wasn't some building wall or road being half or not even a quarter of the way done.It's hard to not see this as laziness but to label them as such would completely miss the point of not be ethnocentric.The best part of the whole trip was on our way up the mountain face.The turns were windy and the roads were small and the bridges were about a car wide.The best part was when we came to the one and only way into Dehra Dun was through a tunnel.It was only a one way tunnel and could only bear to make room for a car and a truck.We literally had to wait 30-40 minutes waiting for our turn.With cars constantly streaming through the other side we never had a chance to get it.It was like trying to wait for a gap that would never come.We only finally only got through when someone walked to the end of the tunnel and asked trucks to stop coming through.This was an enormous sacrifice as there was no guarantee this favor would be returned anytime soon.Whatever worked out, we made our way through and finally made it to Dehra Dun.I am staying at a home stay for this week in Dehra Dun as other students have left to take off for Rishikesh and Than Gaon.I start my first rotation tomorrow and I am really tired so I think I'll turn in.There is too much to write about and not enough strength in my body and mind.See you on the flip side of the planet.Taylor