I apologize for the lack of blog updates to my loyal readers. Things have been busy and full of change.

First, I've been healthy for about two consecutive weeks now. (I lost count around day 11.) So that's really exciting! I have energy! I can breathe! I guess my body is adjusting to the lack of oxygen because last week I went to Delhi and I didn't get a sinus headache.

Last week I went to Delhi for two days and road on the Indian train for the first time. Nothing too exciting to report about the train. Sleeping bags are the best for the cold weather and ear plugs are life-savers. Neelu went to Jaipur, where her family lives, after Delhi by bus so she was unable to go with me to the train station. Well, that's not true. Originally Neelu and I were going to go to the bus station so that she could confirm her ticket. Then she was going to go with me to the train station and then she was going to go back to the bus station. Once I pointed out the absurdity of that plan, which would only not be absurd according to Indian hospitality, it was decided I would go alone. Both Neelu and Hindu Singhji were both extremely worried about me. While I was appreciative of their concern, it was also extremely frustrating for the independent American in me. I tried to assuage their fears by pointing out that I had come to India all by myself, that I have travelled alone on 3 different continents, and that I have been travelling alone, more or less, since I was 9. It didn't help. But it was the beginning of an adventure that I think proved that they can leave me alone and I will survive.

Neelu sent me off in a rickshaw to the New Delhi train station. I got there and went to the big screen where platforms are listed for the trains and didn't see my train on there. So this man asked me where I was going and I told him. It turns out that my train left from the Old Delhi train station. So I double checked with a police officer and then took a rickshaw to the Old Delhi train station – a solid 30 minutes away. Hindu Singhji called me when I was already in the rickshaw to tell me that my train left from the Old Station. Then I got out at the Old Delhi train station and found my train on the giant screen that lists the train platforms – reading the name of the train IN Hindi – and walked down this long hallway jam packed with people – they were packed in there like pickles, no joke – didn't see my platform, asked someone who told me to look at the numbered signs (all of which had not shown my platform number), then walked all the way back down shoving through the crowds. I asked a man sitting in front of a "metal detector" who told me to go out of the station and around to a completely different section of the station, where I asked someone again where my platform was, found my platform, found my car, found my seat, and was set to go with about half an hour to spare.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it Hindu Singhji and Neelu! Booyah. Also, Paige, we have to go to the Old Delhi train station – just something to remember.

Then I called Amanda who was pulling into the Delhi train station as I was leaving it, which was the saddest story ever told.

I went to Delhi "on business." I am interning with an NGO here called UJAS, which works with Pakistani Refugees. India is not a part of the UN Convention on Refugees and also has no policy to deal with refugees. Everything is very ad hoc. (I've been reading a lot of legal literature recently.) So we, Neelu, another girl who works for my NGO, and I, went to Delhi to meet with a Burmese refugee group, go to a Pakistani settlement that is about 50 km away from Delhi, and to meet with another NGO that has done a lot of legal advice and research on the issue of refugees in India. Meeting with the Burmese group was my favorite part because they were super organized and because it was good to be able to learn about a different refugee group. They experience a lot of discrimination because they look physically different and don't know Hindi. We met with a women's group, which is actually a platform for volunteers from many other Burmese women's NGOs to meet monthly and talk about issues and plan events. It was awesome and the women are so well organized. The volunteers have to go through a 6 month training internship before they can officially become a volunteer so they really know what they're doing. If a woman is sexually harassed and needs counseling or to file a police report, they help with all of that. For work, the women cut the extra threads off of shirts that have already been made in the factory. Oh and the reason we met with Burmese refugees is because they get support from UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and we would like to find out how to get their support for Hindu Pakistani refugees. Also, in order to pressure India into passing a policy on all refugee groups, we are trying to partner with other South Asian refugee groups. Power in numbers.

I liked Delhi a lot more than I thought I would because in general I am not a big-city kind of gal. (Let's ignore the fact that I want to live in DC next year…) I didn't do any sightseeing but I got to see the Red Fort in the early morning fog or smog (not sure which it was) and it was beautiful. The rickshaws there actually had pick up! It was amazing! They zoomed about unlike in Jodhpur where sometimes you wonder how far they'll make it. And being in traffic in just rickshaws was like bumper cars. It was so cute! In Delhi, there's grass. And trees. And parks! It was incredible! I really really miss greenery, which I find surprising considering that when I went home this summer I find the lush greenness of Virginia to be incredibly overwhelming. Really, the whole 2 months I was home the greenness was just too much, it seemed heavy.

I saw three black people. Yes. THREE. I also saw all kinds of Asians! It was great! And I saw an older couple holding hands. So cute! And younger couples were affectionate in Jodhpur. You never see things like in Jodhpur.

Also, I never imagined highway overpasses would be so endearing.

I had Papa John's Pizza. With garlic sauce. The advertisement showed a fountain drink but I knew that was lie. It was soooo good. So good. There's no real cheese in India. It was so good. And all of me and Robyn's pizza nights came back to me and I was so happy.

Parts of Delhi were just like Jodhpur. Other parts reminded me of New Orleans with the trees and avenues and the parks reminded me of Audubon. (Except for the one with a herd of sheep grazing in it.)

Tomorrow I am going to Jaisalmer for two days. UJAS is hosting a public hearing, during which the refugees here will voice their concerns and problems to the government representatives present. It's a really cool way for their voices to be heard and to hear an immediate reaction to it.

Other than that, today I had cereal for the second time in India and it was much better than my first experience. Maybe it was because it was chocolate cereal. Also the ice cream here is weird. It tastes like it's puffed with air. And yesterday I had pasta with Alfredo sauce in a restaurant that had tons of pictures of white people on the wall looking really happy eating random food. It was kind of eery for more in there. But the Alfredo was surprisingly tasty and it came in the perfect portion. Then I had to eat chowmein. With ketchup. People here love ketchup. They put it on everything. Then we had paneer tikka, which was delicious, but by the end of the meal I had to undo the button on my jeans, which is why I should stick to Indian clothes with the drawstring.

The next few updates will all be incredibly outdated but better late than never. They're just being delivered according to India time.