Jaipur

Jaipur

Things that rocked about Jaipur:

My new best friend and I!



Princess!

-Meeting and riding elephants



-Touring a bunch of forts with a camera crazy tour guide



-Feeling like a princess in a castle turrent 

Hey ma, there's a sheer
drop on the other side :)!


-Drinking Fanta/doing yoga at the highest cliff in the city

-Buying purses made of camel leather (Yes, to all you animal lovers, I know I’m a bad person)



Hey ma, there's a sheer
drop on the other
side of this wall as well!



-Using awesome Wi-Fi at our hotel to call people back home



Tired of men staring at my water pipe!



-Seeing an NGO support street girls



-Riding in rickshaws with extra-large seats!



-Climbing in places I'm not supposed to climb



In front of Amber Fort



One of 5 billion pictures
our tour guide took of us!



Leaving Delhi always feels good. I want to go someplace other than cities, because I need some green back in my life. Or some farmland. Or something that resembles the Midwest. And maybe a hamburger ;)









Being Sick in India

Being sick is never fun for anyone. In the US, I hardly ever missed school because I was sick. Here, on the other hand, everyone is sick all the time. During monsoon season, it is impossible to keep anything hygienic. Even in one of the richest localities in Delhi (Defence Colony, where all rich expatriates live) the Delhi Jal Board (water organization) is being sued because dirty sewage water has burst from the pipes and into the drinking water supply, contaminating all the water being used with fecal matter.

Uh, can anyone say GROSS?! That’s disgusting, but because of that reason, when my roommates and I fell ill (for the first time) on Thursday the 18^th of August, we didn’t think much of it. We had had our first meal cooked by our cook, and we figured she had just used dirty water, and that was why we were all unable to leave a radius of 5 feet from the bathroom.

Saturday came, and we adventured all around Delhi, acting as tourists. Nick and Aileen felt better, but I was still having problems. By the end of the night, my abdomen was so distended I looked like one of my former students in Tanzania. On the Metro, multiple women offered me seats (an act of heroic proportions-- getting a seat on the Metro is a battle) because they thought I was pregnant and my face made me look like I was miscarrying.

Since it was a long weekend (thank you, random Indian/Muslim/Christian/Sheikh holidays!) we had no school until Tuesday, so I spent my time resting. I went back to school on Tuesday, and was greeted by choruses of “Ma’am, Ma’am, you look very bad, Ma’am”. I felt weak and lightheaded. Wednesday morning, I went to school, but promptly left at the morning meeting, as I started to pass out.

I rickshawed my way to the Max Medical Center (the most efficient doctor’s office I’ve ever been to) registered, and because of my nasty pallor and general facial expression (one man told me I looked like I was an unfriendly ghost), I was bumped up to the head of the line, and quickly admitted into the doctor’s office. Shortest. Wait. Ever.

Shortest. Visit. Ever. In a country where becoming a doctor is the desire of at least half the population, you have to wonder where they all went. India exports a large number of its’ doctors, leaving only 1 doctor for every 1000 Indians. There are more Indian doctors in the US than there are in India (The Times of India). Crazy.

The glorious rehydrating IV

So I was quickly ushered in, and within three minutes of describing my symptoms, getting my blood pressure taken (uhoh, 90 over 50!), and getting my abdomen patted down, I was ushered out of the room.  It was discovered that I had a bacterial infection in my spleen and stomach, dehydration, low blood pressure, and general weakness caused by malnutrition, seeing as I hadn’t kept any food in for a week. I was then triaged, carried to a bed, hooked up to IV drips, and injected with tons of medicine, along with being rehydrated with IV fluids.



BED REST! BED REST!



I spent the next two days at home resting, Facebook chatting, watching Star Wars, and chugging water like it was my job. And then I went to Jaipur, because, let’s be honest, I was going to be sick no matter what, and I was much happier being sick on top of an elephant than in my bed!!

Weekend of being tourists in Delhi

Red Fort!

1)      Sights we saw



Red Fort-Built in the Moghal Period, this fort was occupied by the British during colonization. The fort was made by the same guy who made the Taj Mahal. While the Taj was made for the woman he loved the most (what a gift!), at his fort we were introduced to the halls where all his concubines lived. What a guy.



Jama Masjid at night



Jama Masjid- Although India has a lot of Hindus, the country itself is a mashup of different religions, thanks to the fact that it was invaded every 2.5 seconds in history. Jama Masjid is the biggest mosque in India, and we went to it later in the evening. It was super cool looking, but unfortunately, our super pale-white faces showed underneath our head coverings, and we were not allowed inside. We went back for Eid as well, and alas! We couldn’t go inside again. Because we were in an all Muslim area, Nick and I took advantage of their love of meat, and had grilled buffalo from a street vendor. YUM! 

 

They could still tell that
we were white :(



India Gate and two pretty ladies!

India Gate- Not only a tourist attraction to visiting foreigners, but a tourist attraction to Indians from all over, India Gate (India’s memorial to its’ soldiers lost in combat) was an incredibly sight to see. While there, we saw multiple protests supporting Anna Hazare. We also were photographed like celebrities by the visiting Indian paparazzi. (See bullet number 3 for more information)

Sound and Light Show-For some, this is an awesome way to learn about history. For me, it was not! Sound and lights shows are quite popular in India, as they make “history come alive to the senses of sight and sound!”. Unless the sound and light show is narrarated by the penultimate speaking voice of Morgan Freeman, count me out!


Lotus Temple



Lotus Temple- Home of the Baha'i Fatih, this temple is a pilgrimage for all of those who believe that, "The Earth is but one country and manking its citizens", spoken by Baha'u'llah.



2)      Things we saw

Peeing everywhere- Never mind the plethora of peeing stalls created for men (don’t even get me started on the fact that there aren’t any public restrooms for women), there is nothing more that I enjoy than watching a man whip it out and pee whenever the mood strikes him.

Underwear-less babies- SO CUTE! And efficient. They poop, it hits the ground, and no diaper was harmed in the making of that poop.

Adorable little kids outside the mosque asking for chocolate-Could they just sense that I love chocolate too?

3)      Number of times a stranger asked to take a picture with us…too many to count. What’s better than having pictures of white strangers with you in your family vacation album? Apparently, nothing!

No family picture is complete
without an assortment of
white strangers!



Independence Day

Gettin' our prayer on!

Celebrate good times, come on! Ba na na na na na na na WOHOO!

That song (if it was in Hindi) could pretty much sum up the vibe surrounding Independence Day in India. Everyone is excited. Take the number of people shooting off illegal fireworks in Little Village, Chicago  and multiply it by 1.2 billion, and you’ve got the idea of just how much excessive joy explodes out of India on August 15^th.

I went to school that day (pat me on the back for going in on my day off!) to join in the many festivities. I listened to students recite poetry, ancient speeches, and songs; I watched as they danced in traditional Indian styles, and I happily imbibed and digested all the food and drink offered to me. I am an excellent guest at celebrations ;)

Now all I need to do is learn how to sing the national anthem, wear a bindi, dye my skin brown, and I’ll be a real Indian! (Not my words, a fellow teacher’s words!)

Turning 22 in India-Week Six

Krish putting cake on my face :)

I’ve never celebrated my birthday in a foreign country before; in fact, from my 14^th birthday all the way to my 21^st birthday, I’ve spent August 14^th on blisteringly hot football fields for marching band practice, or at the camp where I work.

Well, the blistering hot aspect of my birthday has not changed at all since switching my residence to a new continent; the big difference was, in the US, we ate cupcakes at rehearsal and we got right back to band. In India, people are much more excited about my day of birth than I am! 

Roommates/Cousin Siblings

On Saturday afternoon, I spirited off to Connaught Place to meet a friend of a friend of Alexander.  He had put me in contact with her so that I could meet a girl my age in Delhi and learn some insider tips on living in Delhi. Nithya was awesome blossom, and I’m really glad I got to meet her.

Fiesta! 

We then held our first rooftop partyand invited the other ETA’s over, as well as Swati, our Indian guide to life. After a delicious meal of pizza and beer (well, we are Americans) we chatted a lot and caught up with each other. My roommates surprised me with a gift, and the other household of ETA's got a cake...so good! They were so kind. The next night my apartment group went out for Mexican food for my birthday dinner, and it was delicious. We all like Indian food, don’t get me wrong. But something about salsa and chips makes my heart start beating faster and faster!

Our Home-Week Five

SO MUCH LUXURY!

We returned to Delhi after arriving by overnight train and spent 4 glorious hours in the Taj before venturing out that morning to find an apartment. Aileen and I took advantage of our time and had luxurious showers. After that, we lounged in robes while drinking tea and watching Harry Potter. It was so opulent. It was glorious. We then put on our adventure pants and got ready for a long day of apartment hunting.

My bed

So finding a 4 bedroom apartment for a decent price in Delhi is next to impossible. What made it more impossible was that our realtor wasn’t exactly the sharpest crayon in the box. The first house we saw on our first day of apartment hunting was one we had found for ourselves. Everything else we were shown was either way too expensive/opulent (one landlord told us “One cannot be happy here if one does not spend 80000 rupees on rent”) or didn’t have enough rooms to house the 4 of us, plus our random visiting boyfriends or girlfriends. After two days of searching, and spending time with our awesome facilitator/friend Swati, we ended up with the first apartment, a place in Sheikh Sarai Phase 1. Our landlord grew up in this apartment, and it has a ton of charm (which is what we tell ourselves every time we find a leaking pipe, a broken water filter, ants/cockroaches/bugs of all sorts, useless washing machine, and broken lights). It has three rooms, a living room, dining room, kitchen, two bathrooms, and a rooftop.

My bedroom wall

We signed the lease Monday afternoon and moved in on Tuesday afternoon. We had Tuesday night and all of Wednesday to get the apartment ready, because Thursday meant we started our first day of school. After we moved in, our landlord then invited us to lunch, which, while delicious, lasted forever, and by the time we finished we knew there would be no time that night to do anything productive towards the apartment. However, we did have time…TO SEE HARRY POTTER SEVEN PART 2 !!

Living Room

Best day of my life. We may not have budgeted our time correctly, as it probably would have made sense if we had, oh, I don’t know, unpacked any of our bags, but HP came first, and it was so worth it. From tears to laughter, victorious moments to heartbreaking ones, I was an emotional wreck. Oh Harry Potter, you slay me.

Cabinet of things we love...
lovers, liquor, and chocolate :)

Wednesday was spent going all over town (Malviya Nagar Market) and purchasing everything we would need the next day, as well as trying to outfit our house with basic supplies like toilet paper and dishes.  We went to school the next two days, and then spent the weekend finishing up our purchasing of household goods and accessories. Located throughout are pictures of our humble abode J