Day One: NZ to India - Planes, The First Sacred Cow, & The Search For Coffee Begins

The journey to India took about 24 hours all up. Long plane flight but I made friends with the guy next to me- a New Zealand Citizen from Chile on his way to move to Ukraine propose to his Ukrainian girlfriend. It's fantastic how many hours you can fill chatting to a complete stranger, who you will never see again.

I arrived in India exhausted. I had an hour of sleep on the Singapore-India leg of the journey and that was about it... and by time I arrived, at 10pm, I had been awake for coming up to 24 hours. Tim, my colleague and friend, was waiting for me at the airport and I was pleased to see him, albeit slightly incomprehensible and likely very poor company.

I woke up early with the call to prayer at 5am. I struggled to get back to sleep, and then the doorbell went off at 7.30am when Tim's ironing was dropped off... so I got up. Nothing much opens here before 9am, so we found a Chai Point and had breakfast - a spicy samosa and an iced chai. A quick Uber to Commercial Street, which is, as it sounds, a street full of shops.

I had a small list of things I wanted- new sheets, and some clothes to make me feel like a local. Along the way I found a few cows, a bunch of goats, a lot of stray dogs, and one bedraggled-looking cat. The shopping trip was a success, of sorts, with a few new outfits acquired. I feel like an Indian Princess (even though I may look like a slightly retarded white girl, don't be fooled).

The other excitement here is that in a dead pot plant on the balcony, we have a pigeon called Priscilla who is currently hatching a couple of eggs. My cunning plan is to train the pigeons to run errands for me, so if a Hindi-speaking pigeon unexpectedly turns up at your house, that's me sending you a message. Please don't be alarmed.

We also had a trip into the office today, for me to scope it out before I start work tomorrow. I was delighted to be welcomed by this very cute poster- I can't wait to meet the team tomorrow and try to start figuring out what my job is!

Now we are home at the flat, drinking a cold beer, and enjoying the warm evening. I started the day really questioning my judgement, but after a day eating some delightful Indian food, watching the locals, and exploring my new city and feeling thoroughly at home.... I think I'm going to be OK. This place is incredible and I can't wait to start exploring.