A few days ago I was asked by my colleague and friend Terri to write an entry in English for her daughter Catherine and her class mates at Baker Elementary School. They are studying India and therefore interested in the impressions of a foreigner.

Dear Catie, dear class: It is my pleasure. I find it impressing that you do this at such an early stage. So I hope you will find my experiences interesting. If you have any questions, please let me know. You can write me by using the button “Kommentar verfassen”.

I have lived in India for three months now and will stay until middle of December. Of course I want to celebrate Christmas with my family. Sometimes I miss them and my friends a lot, but the experience of discovering a fascinating country like India is more than worth it. And my boyfriend and my mother will both visit me soon. So I will have a little bit of home here.

India is completely different to Germany. It starts at the airport. My first impression was: How many people! And when you get out of it there are even more. Everything is overcrowded, people are waiting for their beloved, cars are all around and every one seems to honk their horns. Welcome to Mumbai, formerly know as Bombay! Now you really know that you are in a city with almost 12 million inhabitants.

Nevertheless, the city is fascinating. I especially love the downtown area in the South with its beautiful buildings which were built mostly when the British ruled India. It is a great to visit the market stalls next to the Gateway of India, Mumbai’s landmark. You can see and buy so many things such as Sarees, necklaces, figures or the Indian Lords, herbs and much more. The smell of Weihrauch is all around. And you will hardly ever see so many colors than in India. Especially the women dress so colorful and beautiful that you want to stop and watch them.

The people I met are very friendly and helpful. My colleagues in the office for example are very nice and I like to work together with them. But sometimes I am a little bit surprised since they are so spontaneous. As a German I am used to plans and schedules. But I get used to it.

I am especially looking forward to my journeys in October. With my boyfriend, I will visit Southern Kerala next week. I can’t wait to see the famous Backwaters and to swim in the Arabian Sea. Although Mumbai lies at the sea too it not advisable to swim. At the end of October I will travel with my mother to Karnataka and Goa.

A couple of weeks ago I went to our production site in Madurai which lies in Tamil Nadu. After my trips I will have seen almost all of the most southern states of India. Unfortunately the time is too short to visit the North as well. But I am sure that I will return some day for vacation and explore the Rajastan state with its temples, the Himalayan region and the legendary Taj Mahal. There are still so many things to see in this huge and fascinating country.

You can see a choice of pictures in the gallery _Best of.

Und wieder ein Geburtstag, den ich verpasse, weil ich in Indien bin. Das ist natürlich sehr schade. Ich wäre gerne heute bei euch. Aber daür wird meine Mutter ja Ende Oktober hierher kommen und zusammen mit mir den Süden Indiens besuchen. Karnataka und Goa stehen auf dem Programm.

Ich freue mich schon sehr darauf, Mama! Außerdem hoffe ich, dass dir dein Geburtstagsgeschenk gefällt! Also, liebe Mama, feiere schön und grüß mir alle Lieben.

P.S.: Erwähnte ich übrigens, dass Gandhi auch am 2. Oktober geboren wurde und dass der Tag daher in Indien ein nationaler Feiertag ist?