from Rocio Mendoza
reply-to rociom@u.washington.edu
to ---------bluewin.ch
date Sun, Aug 23, 2009 at 10:46 PM
subject Hi Astrid!
mailed-by gmail.com
Hi Astrid! How are you? Are you back home yet? How are you feeling? How was your trip to the states? I hope you had a great time and that you met good people out here. If I'm not mistaken, you are probably starting school soon, somewhere in Germany? I don't quite recall. How does it feel to be home (if you are back home)? I returned in July and I have been enjoying my time at home with my family. I am in the process of looking for a job and in the meantime writing and making photo albums. I just finished watching The Namesake- have you heard of this movie? It is about a Bengali family from India living in the US and the meaningful story behind a name. It was a very touching story and of course it brought me back to India- despite the nightmare scams, I loved India- the people, the food and the amazing life-altering experiences I lived there.
I remember even the way we met was pretty serendipitous. We met at the Taj Hotel (or something like that) in Agra. It was probably the best hotel we had stayed in the past two weeks- and way out of our budget. We were there because we were both on scam package trips, although neither one of us mentioned it at the time (but we had a good laugh sharing it a few days later). I remember you were busy looking something up online and we didn't get to say goodbye (much less talk about our next destination). An overnight train later, we somehow met again at the Tourist Information Office in Varanasi. I had already picked up the tourist info map and was on my way out. I asked if you wanted to join me in looking for a hostel and you said yes. I'll never forget our cycle rickshaw ride through the traffic (with autorickshaws, goats, cows, cars and motorcyles also sharing the road with us) and how I fell out of my seat and onto the dirt road in the middle of the traffic to pick up my backpack that I never had a grip on since we got on. I remember how we were cracking up at the whole situation- imagine some backpacker falling off the cycle rickshaw looking like a total fool! But I also remember laughing joyfully because I was sharing that moment with someone. There was simply never a dull moment in India. I also remembered our sigh of relief when we actually made it to the hostel (after those recent experiences, we were just happy to have the ultimate say in our directions). The more I think of it, the more vivid all those memories become; it's nice to remember where I've been and to be happy of where I am now. I thought of you and wondered where and how you have been these days. Te mando un saludo and I hope you are well and in good spirits.
Warm regards,
Rocio
