Washington D.C.

I just got back from a little trip to our Nation's Capitol. It was fun. I actually really enjoyed the east coast a lot more than I thought I would.

Leia Mais…

Cancun, Mexico

Here are the pictures that I've been meaning to post...(my Mac has been sick and in the repair shop)

Leia Mais…

Agra, India; day whatever...

So, as to the conclusion to my trip to India, I went to the town of Agra outside of New Delhi. Delhi, by the way, in my opinion, was a little less third world than Bangalore, the supposed "silicon valley" if India.

I cannot really put into words how it feels to be standing, looking up at the great marble tombstone that stands against the sky and by the Yamura River as if it is floating in air. You either have to take your shoes off, or they give your shoe booties to wear as you are prancing around the structure. It is, symetrical on all four sides, and encompasses much more intricate marble work on the stones than you can see on common pictures.







This is a picture of marble workers. They start mastering their trade when they are very young, and it takes over ten years to become a master. Each stone has to be shaved down individually.



This is called the Agra Fort, or Red Fort.



Me inside the red fort.



These are the damn monkey's that pee'd on my head. No, I'm not joking. What a great thing for memories of India...."I got pee'd on by a monkey in Delhi!"

Leia Mais…

Bangalore, India; Day eleven

It's 9:30pm and I'm actually feeling a little bit sad. Everyone in my group is parting off. My accomplice in crime Celeste just left to board a train to Hampi. How sad. We have lived, ate, worked, and shopped together for the past two weeks. I really got to know all of them, as far as knowing who always comes to breakfast last, who drinks coffee, who does not....that sort of stuff.

Here is me and Celeste when we went to an Indian night club last night.

Shreela and I when we went to an Indian wedding today.

Eww, I guess I don't like coconut water!

This is my team leader, Veronica, and I.

The group photo before we went to the Hindu wedding.

So tomorrow I hop on a plane to New Delhi. Hooray for a new city, two weeks in Bangalore is enough.

Leia Mais…

Bangalore, India; Day ten

So the project is pretty much done. Every working day that we had was definitely a new experience. For example, today on the bus ride home that is supposed to take 1 hour...it took 2 because we encountered the worst traffic jam that I had ever seen in my life. For the past three days it has been raining. I'm from Seattle, yet I've never seen rain like this before. It's as if someone is pouring a bucket of water over the earth. No I know what they mean by monsoon rains.

The children were great today. I guess I forgot to mention that we switched to a different school this past Monday. The new school we are at is larger with 180 students. They actually have desks and school uniforms.

It feels like I have been in India forever. I'm looking forward to a hot shower, my car, meat, my bed, a cocktail or glass of wine.....

Here I am teaching a boy some math.

Here I am showing the children a book of Las Vegas.

This is the outside of the small school.

Leia Mais…

Bangalore, India; Day eight

Yesterday I was feeling a little sick, so my team leader made me stay. I feltshort of breath. My guess is that the pollution here is really starting to take a toll on my lungs.

I ventered off on my own a little later in the afternoon because I got really bored. I went to the City Market. Oh my God, that was the worst idea ever! There were so many people there. They push and shove to get around. I held on to my bag thinking that someone was bound to come by and steal my wallet without me knowing. Then, it seriously got ten times worse when it starting pouring down rain. The city which is filthy already, gets even filthier when its muddy. I made it back with the city's dark dirt splashed on the back of my legs and all over my feet.

This is a picture of one of the millions of flower vendors at City Market.

One of the many power vendors. The powder seen here in cone shapes are used for the dot on the head. As you can see they come in many brilliant colors.

Leia Mais…

Cheri Beach, India; Day 7

At Cherai beach Indian women are wading into the water in their saree's.

So the last day in Kerala, we went to the beach. I relaxed in the sand. The Arabian Sea didn't look too appealing to do any swimming though. I passed on that.

The train ride home was very unexpected last night. I will share the details...

First of all, w got to the main train station in Eruklam station and found out that the train was leaving an hour before what we were told in Bangalore. Secondly, the only seats they had left were the 3rd class passenger seating. Imagine sitting on wooden benches next to many people without air conditioning and open air windows for 12 hours. No thank you.

We jumped on a air conditioned sleeper car and wished that maybe, just maybe we can be stowaways in this car. We had no idea that the fine for doing that is about $400 dollars. No, we didn't get caught, but we happen to be sitting in the seats that belonged to 6 Indian men, who were about our age. They were on some kind of balchelor holiday and were relaxed, and happen to speak really good English because they were all in the IT industry. The had an extra bed, which they gave to us to share. Then they arranged with the ticket master to buy another bed. They also bought us dinner on the train and gave us beer. I had a good time talking and laughing with them.

So anyway, we arrived in Bangalore at the awful time of 4:30am. Now i'm waiting to go to work. Next weekend, everyone in the group is splitting off and I think that I'm going to be heading North to Delhi and then to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.

Leia Mais…