Monatsbericht Februar

Dear Mr. President, dear Rotarians!

Although I have just come back from the exciting North trip and I am full of all the impressions we got, I firstly would like to summarize my first weeks of the month of February.

The first great event that took place in the last month was the District Conference on the 6^th. After so many days practising for our dance performance, all of us 20 inbounds were really excited when we saw the elegant Hotel, the big stage and the huge audience. It took us about three hours time to adjust our costumes and to get the Make-Up done. Afterwards, looking into the mirror, I was really surprised – I had never looked so Indian before! Luckily our performance went really well, we all did our best and actually enjoyed the dance.

But not only the inbounds danced in the last month: also Pooja, my host sister, performed Bharatnatyam in her dancing group. The show was in Gadkari Theatre in Thane, and the nine girls did so well, that it was no wonder their photo came in the newspapers some days later. It was not only nice to watch them dancing so easily, but I was also very happy when I could find and remember some of the stories of the Indian mythology.

Apart from all the dancing and preparing for the trip, I had the chance to explore more of the South of Mumbai. In company of my friends I saw the Croffet market, many of the important and beautiful buildings and finally we again went to the Taj Hotel and drank a Cappucino for not less than 250 Rupees.

The day of St. Valentine's my friends and I celebrated in the house of Deepak and Ujwala, which will be my third home here in India. We really enjoyed cooking together, dancing, listening to music from every different country and fighting with the many mosquitos, that also gave us company.

Finally, on 22^th of February, the long expected North trip began. Other than the South trip that took place last year, this trip started with a sad Goodbye to Henrique, a Brasilian boy who had a lungs inflammation and stayed back in Mumbai. An other accident that took place right on the first day after our arrival in Udaipur, was when Bruna, a Brasilian girl, got hit by a car. Her right foot is broken three times, so that she directly had to fly back to Mumbai. At least there she had the company of Henrique and the other way around.

It is not easy to resume all places and monuments we saw. Almost everyday was special, we always had to keep our cameras charged and I had my notebook ready to write even for my German Blog. Looking back at two weeks in North India, we saw many forts and castels, museums, beautiful temples, palaces and their big gardens. We have been on a Safari through a Nature Park, we did rafting in the holy river Ganga, went on camels into the desert and enjoyed the sunset there, we celebrated Holi, saw the Pakistan boarder and, of course, we visited the famous and amazing Taj Mahal, the building of love.

Naturally we also did quite a bit of shopping! I specially liked the Patch work textiles to hang on the wall. Some of us also got some real marbol plates, Kashmir shawls and leather bags, which we now proudly put to our collection of Indian memories.

Remembering my experiences of the last two weeks, I am very grateful to be in the IYE program and thankful for the support of my Club. I am also looking foreward to introduce you to my mother, when she will come to visit me on 27^th of March and I am sure she will enjoy Mumbai as much as me.

Thank you! Namaste!