Difficult Times in Delhi

I thought China had prepared me for going to India. I knew India would be dirty and polluted and disorganized and have disgusting weather, just like Beijing. To a degree, my experience in China has served me well. I was prepared to deal with any level of toilet nastiness that this country could throw at me. I was expecting people to try to scam me, but I was ready to be shrewd. I knew that the deliciousness of Indian food in general would not guarantee that individual samples of it would be well made. I knew that prices might be dirt-cheap, but quality would be equally low. I was ready to be patient with the chaos and accept that maybe I would have to go through roundabout channels to get things done.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t thought very much about a couple of key things about travel, one being that having fun while traveling depends largely on the people you are traveling with. I hadn’t really given much thought to the other volunteers who would be in the same program; I had really just viewed this trip as something I was going to do individually, and for me, being alone is usually excellent company. There is no chance of conflict, no difficulty making decisions, no fear of inconveniencing anyone else. However, here I am not alone. I share a room with two other girls, and two more are also staying in our same apartment. We have to hire a driver to get much of anywhere outside our local shopping center, and since that is expensive, it means sticking together. Of the five of us, the other American girl and one of the French girls are very nice; friendly, modest, and easy to get along with. However, the other two French girls, while always polite, can sometimes be very friendly, but sometimes have an aura of disdain and cliqueyness. They make fun of Rajan, our silly little coordinator, sometimes even when he is present, although, not being able to recognize French sarcasm, he remains blissfully unaware. I can tell by their attitudes that they are saying the same kinds of things about me behind my back...or potentially to my face, in French. The way I dress, my tone of voice, the way I wave my hands and make faces when I speak, all of my silliness is a cause for disdain. I felt it at first, but tried to write it off as paranoia, just an awkwardness caused by language barriers, but the third French girl acknowledged that my suspicions are correct. Apparently they think I am mocking them with my whimsical tones of voice, or something. I long for my family, the Goonies, MIF, my Beijing friends, anyone who appreciates silliness.
But feeling unappreciated is not the only unexpected difficulty of being in India. I know I mentioned this before, but the huge difference between India and China, the difference that I knew was coming but didn’t think about too hard, was the language barrier. In China, knowing Chinese enabled me to get around, to be self-sufficient, to uphold my dignity by proving that I wasn’t just some stupid tourist to be easily scammed. Even at home, my knowledge of Spanish earned me some credibility at the diner when the busboys realized I understood what they were saying if they talked about me to my face. In India, language barrier shouldn’t be a problem, because people speak English, right? India was a British colony! Yes, but...even when people do speak English (while they don’t always, or at least not well), they also speak languages I don’t, which gives them ammunition. In China, knowing the language was my strongest defense. Here, the shopkeepers can conspire in my presence to rip me off and I can’t understand them. I have no way of knowing what the multitudes of sketchy men are saying to each other as they stare. Even the French girls can mock me to my face. What in China was my strongest weapon is gone, and I just don’t feel like I can get much respect without it.
This is only my first week, so I am still in the language/culture orientation phase. My actual placement starts tomorrow. According to the information I was sent, I’m in an all-boys orphanage, but after arriving here I’ve been getting a sense of general disorganization and unsurety about the placements, so I honestly can’t be sure where I’ll actually end up. Two girls who just finished their volunteer placements stayed here last night and told me a bit about the program. Neither of them got put doing the things that they requested, and their “homestay” was a nightmare. When they attempted to complain about the homestay, the program coordinator was rude and uncooperative (they found out later that he was actually the son of their so-called host parents). I’m not supposed to be in a homestay, but still...they said that the place where they were both teaching was kind of a hostile environment, because the teachers resented them for coming in. The English teachers couldn’t even really speak English themselves, but were insulted to have a foreigner come in and supplant them. The only rewarding part, they said, is knowing that you’ve helped the kids. Everything else was a horror story. The girls were even considering filing a suit against the organization. They said that people were constantly pressuring them for money, and that none of the money we paid for the program actually made its way to places that needed it. Good thing I brought a suitcase full of markers! But Rajan tells me that they had too many volunteers last time, so they had to put them in placements other than the ones they wanted, and that that bad host family was more of an exception than the rule, and that 8 of the 12 volunteers he interviewed recently are really enjoying themselves and not filing any class-action suits or anything. So! I’m just going to wait and see, and pray that I don’t end up the kind of situation the other two girls did. In any case, I’m sure it will be a character-building experience...