1 hour, 15 minutes left. My phone rings. I open my eyes, switch off the alarm clock, try to wake up, but fail and fall asleep again. After a few minutes I wake up again and see the time. 1 hour left. After panicking I rush downstairs to my host family, recognizing I should have been there earlier.

Nevertheless my host father greets me friendly in the hall and we talk a bit. Usually I go to the kitchen then. There my host mother is already cooking a tasty breakfast. Sometimes when I ask what she’s cooking, she tries to confuse me by wrongly naming a dish I don’t like. But after being in India for five months now, I’m actually quite successful in identifying Indian dishes, and so I uncover her aim and we both laugh. But of course, I will ask her next time again and this little joke goes on, to keep our routine. However I really like the breakfasts she cooks, especially everything with Chapati (a thin kind of bread, a bit like naan) or all kinds of Citrana (lemon rice, a yellowish dish with more variable ingredients). Before I came to India, I had never eaten breakfast, just because I don’t like the German way of having breakfast (and no breakfast means more time to sleep). But now breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.

50 minutes left. After saying “Good morning” to everybody, I often help my host mother in the kitchen. My mother in Germany tried to teach me cooking, but the Indian way is very different. So now I’m learning the Indian style, even the way of cutting onions or peeling a cucumber is different to the German way. But I’m getting better and if I make mistakes, everybody tries to help me.

When there is no demand to assist in the kitchen, I just relax in the hall. Often, I talk with my host father about some political or society-based things and I get to know some interesting insights. Also, my little host sister jokes with me, discusses stupid things and we both have fun. I already noticed that her English got better in the time I’m here. Sometimes she wants me to dictate some English vocabulary for the school. Then I noticed the difference between the German and the Indian way of pronouncing English words. During this time my host brother is working on his homework, which reminds me of the time when I had homework to do and appreciate his dedication of doing it in the morning.

30 minutes left. Knowing that I should be at the school in 30 minutes, I look forward to having my breakfast. When I finish it, usually my host sister is still struggling with the spiciness and asks for curd, and my hostbrother hasn’t begun with the breakfast yet, due to the work for the school. 15 minutes left. 

Since I’m German, I can’t fight my fate to always be on time. That’s an unchangeable fact, just like the fact that you can’t make jokes. So I rush to my room, get ready for school and come back. 5 minutes left. At this time my host sister is finished with her breakfast and begins to pack her school bag. Usually my hostbrother starts to have breakfast at this time. I collect my lunchbox (filled with the tasty breakfast), push the cycles out on the street and wait for my host siblings. 0 minutes left. My host sister is still packing everything, and my hostbrother is eating. 5 minutes ago I should have arrived at school. My brother is thinking about taking a bath and now my host sister is also waiting for him. This time I go to our dog and start petting her. 5 minutes later we finally leave together, hurrying to the school. There my host siblings study and I work.

15 minutes late, I arrive at the school and hope the daily morning meeting is not already finished.

At the beginning of planning to go to India I thought living and staying in the project would be better, instead of having a host family. Now I have a second family, which fastly accepted me as a family member. I really feel included in the family life, but I also have my personal space and freedom. Through the family, I also can learn a lot about culture and the way of daily life in an Indian family. And it is very easy to adapt yourself to it, especially when you recognise that in the end every family shares the same struggles and routines, especially during busy mornings. Maybe it is possible to change my fate and maybe, but just maybe, leave my German punctuality urge behind to enjoy the morning hustle. And during this hustle I noticed and I think everybody agrees: no meeting in the world is better than petting a cute dog, right?