PuneXpat

For me, the 12 days of Christmas began yesterday. Twelve days of counting down until I leave India. I literally can't wait and I am yearning for it with every fibre of my being. Now, my darling husband is going to be reading this and internally cringeing.  He will be feeling a crushing guilt and will be trying, right about now, to formulate a plan to 'fix' things.  That's him, and one of the many reasons I love him.  However, what he perhaps doesn't fully appreciate is that my current, somewhat negative, frame of mind is perfectly normal.  In fact, it is even documented and has a name. And I have been there before. I am undoubtedly experiencing true culture shock right now. Being a teacher, I love a good visual aid, so I put together my own version of what this is like in a graph. Stage 1 - Preparation Getting our visas, packing up our home, parties & celebrations, saying goodbyes... this phase was a rollercoaster of emotions.  For...

Visitors to our apartment in Pune could quite easily spend their time relaxing in comfort (some might even say luxury).  Our apartment is plush, even by Western standards, and we live in a part of town that has very western malls/restaurants/bars within only minutes.  To be honest, you could be forgiven for thinking you were somewhere in Europe/North America at times.  But obviously, you don't have to go very far to leave that all behind.  Pune may not seem like an obvious tourist destination, but there are some pretty interesting places to visit.  Dad, Claire, and I tried to explore the city and see some 'real life' India to get a flavour of the history and culture of this part of the world.  We visited the Aga Khan Palace (where Gandhi was imprisoned for a while), several temples including the impressive Pataleshwar cave temple, the old potter's colony and its adjacent Hindu/Muslim community in the Kasba Peth, plus its local fish and meat market....