May 7th 2012 In Delhi?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lene on January 22, 2012 at 8:48pm

Hey Lucia, 

I will be in Delhi at this time! But I will arrive one week before and won´t take part in the two week programm, but working at the teaching programm for 6 weeks. 

Have you ever been to Delhi or India before? ..I haven´t.. I´m so excited :)

Lene

Permalink Reply by Lucia Merino on January 22, 2012 at 10:35pm

Hi Lene,

Thanks for your note. No, I haven't been in India before. I am very excited too! Maybe we can do something together while we are there. Tell me more about the "Lonely Planet - Delhi, Agra, Rajasthan"  What is it? Is it a trip or is it a program with another organization?

Another issues: have you gotten your visa, insurance and vaccinations already? How are you planning that?

Let's keep in touch!

Lucia

Lene said:

Hey Lucia, 

I will be in Delhi at this time! But I will arrive one week before and won´t take part in the two week programm, but working at the teaching programm for 6 weeks. 

Have you ever been to Delhi or India before? ..I haven´t.. I´m so excited :)

Lene

Permalink Reply by Lene on January 23, 2012 at 12:27am

Hey Lucia, 

for sure we should do something together while we are there! The Lonely Planet is a guidebook and as I´ll travel around after the volunteer to Amritsar and Agra and the a tour through Rajasthan this book is really helpful. Here is a link where you can see it http://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Rajasthan-Regional-Travel/dp/17...

My visa is just submitted and will be -hopefully - approved in a week, but I don´t thing this will be a problem. 

I will have an insurance for foreign countries for the 10weeks that I will be in India. It´s an offer my normal insurance has, so I have to pay something about 70$. 

Ob friday I got my first vaccination. I needed a refreshment of polio and hepatitis b and will get hepatitis a, thyphoid and cholera. 

I just asked my family doc which vaccinations he would propose. 

Which programm will you chose for your trip? 
If you have any other questions just go ahead, maybe I can help :)
Lucia Merino said:

Hi Lene,

Thanks for your note. No, I haven't been in India before. I am very excited too! Maybe we can do something together while we are there. Tell me more about the "Lonely Planet - Delhi, Agra, Rajasthan"  What is it? Is it a trip or is it a program with another organization?

Another issues: have you gotten your visa, insurance and vaccinations already? How are you planning that?

Let's keep in touch!

Lucia

Lene said:

Hey Lucia, 

I will be in Delhi at this time! But I will arrive one week before and won´t take part in the two week programm, but working at the teaching programm for 6 weeks. 

Have you ever been to Delhi or India before? ..I haven´t.. I´m so excited :)

Lene

Permalink Reply by stefania cattaneo on January 23, 2012 at 9:05pm

hi lucia and lene, i've been in delhi for a 2 week program last october and it's been a great experience... if you have any questions, feel free to ask... 

stefania

Permalink Reply by Lucia Merino on January 23, 2012 at 9:45pm

Hi Stefania. Thanks for your offer! Well, yes, it would be great to know what to expect. Can you tell us your experience since the time time you decided to book with Volunteering Solutions. For example:

1) What made you decide for Vol Sol instead of another organization?

2) Was the process to get all the paperwork easy? Did you get support from Vol Sol?

3) Was somebody there at the airport when you arrived to Delhi?

4) Did they take you to the accommodations place themselves (the person who was there waiting for you in the airport) Were you the only one, or were there other volunteers arriving at the same time? Were you taken by private car, van, or public transport?

5) What kind of accommodations did you get? Where you able to choose them, or Vol Sol assigned them to you?

6) How was the stay in the house/dorm where you were lodged? The food? The neighborhood? The support? was it crowded?

7) Did you pick the placement site to volunteer? How was it? Did you have to go there on your own, or would Vol Sol take you there? Was it far?

8) What did you do in your volunteering assignment? Other volunteers there? Tell me more...

9) Did you travel on your own after the 2 weeks volunteering?

10) How did you get back to the airport?

11) Did you or any of the other volunteers experienced any problem(s)? how did they handled it?

12) Why was it a great experience for you?

Wow! too many questions I have, uh? Well, like everybody else trying to figure out what to do to make sure all goes smoothly. Hope you don't mind so many questions.

Thank you again Stefania (where are you from?)

Lucia

stefania cattaneo said:

hi lucia and lene, i've been in delhi for a 2 week program last october and it's been a great experience... if you have any questions, feel free to ask... 

stefania

Permalink Reply by Lucia Merino on January 23, 2012 at 9:46pm

stefania cattaneo said:

hi lucia and lene, i've been in delhi for a 2 week program last october and it's been a great experience... if you have any questions, feel free to ask... 

stefania

Hi Stefania. Thanks for your offer! Well, yes, it would be great to know what to expect. Can you tell us your experience since the time time you decided to book with Volunteering Solutions. For example:

1) What made you decide for Vol Sol instead of another organization?

2) Was the process to get all the paperwork easy? Did you get support from Vol Sol?

3) Was somebody there at the airport when you arrived to Delhi?

4) Did they take you to the accommodations place themselves (the person who was there waiting for you in the airport) Were you the only one, or were there other volunteers arriving at the same time? Were you taken by private car, van, or public transport?

5) What kind of accommodations did you get? Where you able to choose them, or Vol Sol assigned them to you?

6) How was the stay in the house/dorm where you were lodged? The food? The neighborhood? The support? was it crowded?

7) Did you pick the placement site to volunteer? How was it? Did you have to go there on your own, or would Vol Sol take you there? Was it far?

8) What did you do in your volunteering assignment? Other volunteers there? Tell me more...

9) Did you travel on your own after the 2 weeks volunteering?

10) How did you get back to the airport?

11) Did you or any of the other volunteers experienced any problem(s)? how did they handled it?

12) Why was it a great experience for you?

Wow! too many questions I have, uh? Well, like everybody else trying to figure out what to do to make sure all goes smoothly. Hope you don't mind so many questions.

Thank you again Stefania (where are you from?)

Lucia

Permalink Reply by stefania cattaneo on January 24, 2012 at 9:32pm

hi lucia, how are you? 

it's a pleasure for me to answer your questions and i hope it could be helpful for you.

first of all i'm italian and i love india. it was not the first time i went, but it was the first time i made volunteering.

let's start with answers...

1) i found volunteering soluntion on the web and i decided for them becasue they ask less money and because they have programs in delhi and i wanted to go there and not in another place.

2) usually it's easy to apply for a visa to enter in india. i asked for a turist visa, as they suggest, and i had no problems to have it and to enter in the country. it's also easy to apply for the programs and you can have all the help you need from the staff, just email them if you have any doubts. once applied for a program you will receive all the informations you need and before starting you will also get an insurance for the time you will be there.

3-4) i arrived in delhi one week before my program started, i have a friend there and i was with him, but i talked with sahil and we found a place where to meet and pick me up to reach the accomodation. but usually they pick up volunteers from the airport with a private car. you just let them know when you arrive. my suggestion is to arrive one or 2 days before, means on saturday or sunday. delhi is caotic and very noisy, it's full of people and traffic and it can be a little bit shocked if you are not used. one or 2 days of acclimatation could be very useful...

i remember that the day i was going away, 3 or 4 volunteers arrived in different hours and they go to pick them all up at different time...

5) usually volunteers live at rajiv's house. i lived there for the 2 weeks. the dormitory is in the basement and it has 2 bedrooms, with 6 beds in every room, and 2 bathrooms, with showers. there is also a tv and a fridge. if you ahve a laptop you can use it, because there is also a wifi connection.

6) the accomodation is not a hotel, you have to share space with the others, so you need to adapt, but it's funny. the house is very nice and rajiv and his wife are very kind. they will provide you breakfast at 8.30am and dinner at 6pm and to eat you have to go upstairs where they live. for the lunch you have to find some restaurant near the placement where you work. i usually went to eat to mcdonald... the food is good if you like spicy and tasty and at home you will eat only indian food.

for any kind of help or doubts, ask to rajiv, his wife or the boys of the staff, they are there to help volunteers.

the house is in south delhi and you can find 2 different commercial districts closed to it. you can reach them by walking for 10 minutes and you can find restaurants, shops, bank, cafe and almost anything you need. one suggestion: usually our cell phones don't work with indian sim card, so it could be a good idea to buy a cell phone with a sim card when you will be there.

7) i worked in the street children program and my placement was in old delhi, in front of the red fort. to reach it i had to take the bus every day and travel for 30-45 minutes, depending of the traffic. i worked with another volunteer, who was already there when i arrived, so she showed me what i had to do, where to get off and things like this. it happened i had to go or to come back home alone, but i never had any kind of problem. the bus stops are closed to home. anyway, they will explain you everything the first day during the orientation.

8) there were other 7 volunteers with me in the home and, as i told you, i worked with another girl. 2 others were in another street children center, 2 at the orphanage and 2 in the teaching program. what we did was to teach some basic english to the kids, make them play and give them love and attention... once we went with them to visit the trail museum and i think it's been a great day for them... to see the smile on their face and the happiness in their eyes is something impossible to descripe.

9) during the 2 weeks me and some other girls went around in delhi, to visit temples and monuments, while some others went to varanasi and jaipur by themselves, booking everything online. the weekend is free, so you can do what you want, just say to rajiv if you go out of town. they organize a trip to agra  and i think it's better you join them if you want to go.

after volunteering i went away for some days with my friend, but i know that some of the other girls planed to go to visit other towns in india and sri lanka. 

10) i'm not sure they will get back to airport when you have to leave, i think you have to manage by yourself, but you can ask rajiv to book a taxi for you.

11) i can tell you that i didn't have any problem while i was there. as i told you i went alone to work, or to the shops. you will have all the phone numbers of the staff and you can call them anytime, that's why i told you it's better you get a cell phone there. you just need to pay attention and use common sense and all will be good.

12) this is a good question. i think it's been a great experience because it helps me to grow. i'm adult, but i can tell you that it's been very useful to me to give things the right perspective and personally to have an idea what means to live in india and manage common things like take a bus or buy some food in a market. i could tell you that work with the kids and help them it's fantastic, and it is, really, but it's not only this, it's what you get inside that makes it great and i think it's different for everyone.

that's all for the moment. i hope i help you to have an idea what to expect and if you need any kind of help or want to ask something else i'm here.

take care

stefania

Permalink Reply by Lene on January 24, 2012 at 9:57pm

wow thank you stefania! Reading your textmade me even more exciting for the trip :)

Permalink Reply by stefania cattaneo on January 25, 2012 at 8:36pm

Lene said:

wow thank you stefania! Reading your textmade me even more exciting for the trip :)

you're welcome lene.

enjoy every minute of this adventure and then keep the memories with you for whole life.