Bahut Accha...very good

A few days ago something happened and I realized how much I love this place. The monsoon has two stages here--the main part is as it goes through Delhi and heads up north. That's the big monsoon season. Then, later, it comes back through as it heads south again. We're in that part.
On Wednesday we were at our painting practica when it started. We had had little bits of rain before, but we were always inside and managed to miss it. We finished out lesson, and four of us trooped outside into the rain to find a rickshaw home. We were quickly drenched, but we did find one that would drop us all off at our respective homes. Since there were four of us, I got to ride sidesaddle on the side bar with my bum half-hanging out the window.
While driving along we would look down the side streets to see that they were completely covered in water with cars bumper-deep plowing through. While stopped at a light we saw a man pushing his bicycle through several inches of water. The bike had a refrigerator and a bunch of other huge bundles strapped to the back of it.
At that moment, with the four of us piled on top of each other in the cold, wet, polluted and disgusting thunderstorm, I felt such an intense love for this country. I don't know why, because, quite frankly, it was disgusting, but I loved it. I love it here.

Most of the time it just feels like I'm stuck in a big scary city, except that it's even scarier because of the language and cultural differences. I keep forgetting that I actually am in India, half way around the world. When those moments hit...damn, it's amazing. How did I get here?

Last night my host brother and I had some nice bonding. He's so adorable. He was in our room showing me magic tricks (really bad ones), telling me about his baby doll, and expressing his intense love of power rangers and super heroes. Then he decided to be a tattoo artist and broke out the markers. By dinner I had a lion, giraffe, caterpillar and camel on my forearms, and the pink power ranger on my hand. Because, according to Dishou, I am the pink power ranger. I consider this great progress in our relationship. He's a sweetie.

And today, for no reason, my host dad made me a banana milkshake. Pure bliss. I love my family. Accha Pariwar. Good family.