Yes, today it has been a month since I moved to India… I can’t understand how it’s passing by this fast… it actually makes me sad that i only have 9 months left, but I couldn’t have enjoyed this month more. Here are some of the things I’ve done, learnt and seen and the people that have been with me throughout this time.

• Rajasthani food is truly the best… I know you think Indian food is only about curry. In Jaipur it isn’t. They use so many different spices, and flavors have the exact measurement to make it taste epic! The smell of chai in the morning is my favorite. They also mix a lot of sweet and salty flavors as in Mexico and they use the same chillies, so it kinda makes me feel like home. We all eat with chapatis instead of using fork and knife… so yeah, you can imagine how much weight I’m gaining by eating food with more food…

And, I could say I’m A VEGETARIAN NOW.

• Indian people are the warmest and sweetest. Coming from Mexico, a place were everyone smiles and hugs you and is loud and sweet, I thought I wasn’t gonna find that anywhere else until I got here. The way people hug you is so honest and transparent, they are so warm with you and they share their feelings and emotions within a second. The friendships I’ve built in only a few weeks are so real and fun. I had a really bad day two weeks ago (I’m not used to crying) so I tried to go on with my daily routine without anyone noticing that I felt sad… but people here see through you… the teachers came to me and asked me what had happened and when I refused to speak, they just surrounded me and started hugging me and comforting me, I even got head and hand massage until they managed to make me cry… I felt protected and confident with them around.

And talking about loud people like in my country, Indian’s laughters are THE BEST. The way the laugh is so contagious, you can hear them across the room or even from another floor and it’s impossible not to laugh along with them.

• Traditions seem fascinating to me. I’ve only had the opportunity to see a few Indian traditions, but what I have noticed is that they all involve sharing, respect and colors. Seeing little children running around Amer exchanging colorful bracelets for friendship day was the sweetest thing.

Birthdays are great too, the birthday girl ends up with multicolored layers of cake and frost on her face, but before that, she hand-feeds every person in the room, starting obviously by the eldest woman.

Mehndi tradition, when beautiful decorations are drawn on women’s hands nd feet with a natural paste, is of course my favorite! It is so relaxing and pleasing to see how fast they form shapes and flowers… at first I thought that only older people like the teachers could do it properly, only to find out that my 12 and 13 years old students are pros at it! They do their sisters wedding Mehndi, therefor they’re great at it too!

I’m so happy to have 9 more months because I will be part of so many Holliday’s that will show traditions from closely.

• Religion in India is so diverse!! You would believe that there’are only Hindus and Muslims, but there are so many more religions in between these two, and this makes out of India the coolest place! I’ve also met Jains and Sikhs. Each religions have different characteristics, some of them are vegetarians, others can eat meat, there are some that won’t eat anything that comes out of the ground, so no onions, potatoes, carrots, etc. A lot of them don’t mix cold and hot food together. They all have different beliefs in which you can find that some of them don’t drink water by standing up while they have to drink milk by sitting down.

Differences between religions are quite visible, but they all have spirituality in common. They all want good for the others, they all believe in common rights and respect for each other and I think that is what makes this country greater than I can describe in words.

It is also the only country I’ve been in, in which when I ask 10-12 year old kids what their favorite place on earth is, the answer is temple names. They say it’s the place in which they feel serene, grateful, happy and at peace. Can you understand how big that is? Children know how to meditate and speak to god from such a young age and without anyone telling them that they should do it.

• Tushita Foundation already feels like a home to me. Every time I cross that front door I feel instantly happy, teachers always welcome me with the tightest hugs and smiles. You can hear thousands of children voices saying “good afternoon, Ma’am” , even from the ones you don’t know. It is important to establish here, that it is thank to this amazing Foundation, Rosenda and Jan,  that I’ve had the opportunity of experiencing such wonderful moments and meeting lovely people.

Working with my children is so enriching… seeing how they feel more and more comfortable with me makes me so happy. They’ve invited me to their houses, they’ve invited me to lunch, they give me gifts and one student even invited me to her sisters wedding. I feel blessed and speechless to have them around. To watch them learn so passionately, but most of all for teaching me and sharing with me a part of their world. They even take care of me on the streets… they push me aside when they see a cow, or scold me for looking at monkeys in the eyes.

• Bollywood songs have the best beat! I find it impossible not to dance to them even if I am not so good at it… Yeah… I even joined a gym to have bollywood dance classes. (I promise to get better at them). But why am I writing about Bollywood songs? Because I find it amazing how the second you play the music, Indians dance along and with the same choreography!!! It’s fun to see that the same thing happens everywhere you go, you can play the song in TF and the student and teachers will start dancing, you can play the song in the house and Bhim (the best cook in the world) will dance to it too. Or, you can play it in the biggest nightclub in India and people will dance along. It’s like a FLASHMOB happening everyday.

I must admit that I downloaded an app that has the best Bollywood songs and I can tell you I know the lyrics to some of them by now.

• Writing Hindi was an impossible dream before I came here. I never imagined it viable to write or read those strange symbols. Thanks to Oliver, who got really engaged (or obsessed) about Hindi, we all started learning it.

What seemed impossible suddenly felt just hard… memorizing the symbols was a difficult thing to do… writing them was even harder… but the power you feel by being in the car and actually identifying the sounds of words and symbols is indescribable! I can officially announce, that after a month of intense work, I’ve learnt how to write in Hindi. (Don’t let me fool you, it is not that useful because I don’t understand what I’m reading and I can only write things in Spanish or English) So yes, I have a LONG way to go for speaking Hindi. I’m trying to learn the verbs now in order to write or read a proper sentence. But I’m really happy to be able to write in other characters.

• About the teachers (Ruksar, Jyoti, Rahela, Geetaji, Firdous, Shalu, Soomal, Payal and Ruchi), my fellow volunteers (Ollie my baby, Victoria and Cj) Lilima and Ankita:I love them not only as friends, but as family. I am so grateful for having you in my life and for the way you make me feel safe, loved and accepted. The laughs we’ve shared, the food, dancing, birthdays, hugs, the crying, singing, playing, bullying monkeys, exchanging mehndis, sharing candy, braiding our hair and doing massages, sharing traditions and culture and acknowledging our differences but making them seem so irrelevant… Thank you so so much for putting up with me.

• Last but not least, Veenaji (My Indian “mama”). How could I describe her? I think if I try putting words for you to understand her, I can say that she looks like peace and she looks like home. Veenaji is the person in charge of the Foundation here in India and she is amazing. She’s a really strong woman. Strong minded and committed to her work… she even stresses too much some times. But I can tell you this: I have never met a person with a bigger heart. She only wants people around her to learn, to feel better, to smile, to be happy but most of all to outgrow themselves. She won’t let you settle and the most important thing is that she will give you any tool you need to improve.

Her cooking is out of this world, and everyday on our journey to work, she dances to the most modern and crazy Bollywood songs in such a smooth way!!

It is hard to keep your eyes away from her…she’s that type of person that makes everyone around her quiet the moment she starts speaking because you know that she’s gonna share WISDOM with you.

Thank you for taking care of me, for teaching me important things and sharing your culture and for being my mama.

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Thank you, India for this amazing first month.

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-You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart always will be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.