Visit Jaipur (MUST MUUUUST)

I think I'll just start off by saying that Jaipur is AMAZING. I mean, I will definitely reiterate that fact throughout the rest of this post, but in case I forget, I figured I'd just mention it early on. This trip actually took place a few weeks ago, and amidst all the eating, teaching, and sari-wearing, I completely forgot to go through the wonders of the Pink City in great detail. So here goes...

Oh what a start. Note to self: sketchy bus companies will most probably have sketchy buses (true statement). I don't know why I didn't pick up on it earlier; guess I was just so excited about the idea of spending time in such a beautiful place, but when I arrived at the office of the tourist bus company outside New Delhi Railway station, I knew instantly that I had not made the best choice of buses for the journey. After I got a rickshaw driver to take me to where the bus would actually depart from, I was taken to the bus, where I was met with quite a surprise. I already knew that the bus would not have AC, which I did not mind, but I had no idea that I would be one of the only females on the bus. Now, I have gotten used to the staring and understand exactly why it happens, but this bus ride took it to a whole new level: 8 hours of being stared at (siiiigh).

Buuut, when the journey was finally over (YEEEES), I met up with my friend Namrata and her mom, who took me to their lovely home (but it was actually soooo nice). Although I was only in Jaipur for two days, I arrived pretty late in the afternoon on the first day, so I had not expected to actually go anywhere that first day. That's why I was so surprised when Namrata and one of her friends from school took me to Chokhi Dhani, an Indian "amusement park". I'm putting amusement park in quotes because this amusement park was quite different from typical amusement parks like Six Flags or Disney World (but still so goood!). Chokhi Dhani is essentially a mini Rajasthani village, fully equipped with traditional cuisine, jewelry, and elephant and camel rides (yeeees!). I was insanely excited. Like a little kid in a candy store (cliche but extremely accurate).

Chokhi Dhani!!

It was an amazing night, topped off by MAGNIFICENT eats. How magnificent you ask? Well, I had quite a bit of trouble walking afterwards (food baby!)

Magnificent Eats

The next day was very historic. I actually feel like I learned a lot, as though I sat in on a class about the history of Jaipur. After 9 hours of much-needed sleep, Namrata woke me up to get ready for the day (alarms?? completely ignored, as is the fashion of summer life). At the end of the day, I can definitely say that this was one of my most packed tourist days since being in India. Amber Fort, Jaigarh Fort, the Pink Palace, all explored with the help of a tour guide (I would definitely recommend getting a tour guide for Amber Fort and Pink Palace to really appreciate everything that's going on inside).

Top: Amber Fort, Bottom: Pink Palace (both pretty amazing)

After Namrata and I returned from our touristy afternoon, she headed off to take a nap while her parents gave me a tour of the neighborhood and took me to meet a relative who lived nearby. And let me just say, I definitely would not mind growing up in a place like Jaipur.

The day ended with a delicious dinner, followed by Disney's Mulan (you can never let your inner child die I always say). Around 10pm, Namrata and her brother took me to the bus station, where I boarded a MUCH better bus than I had taken to Jaipur. As usual with me on moving vehicles, I was out in a few minutes, reeling from all the wonderful memories of my time in Jaipur.

Play Dress Up! (Indian style of course)

Over the past two days, I've been fortunate enough to do something that I've been wanting to do since before I came to India; I got to try on a sari!! Even though I had planned on buying one while I was here in India, I haven't gotten around to it, so I had just accepted that I wouldn't get to wear one, at least not in India.

So you can imagine how excited I was when Vidya, one of the Asha staff members at Mayapuri to whom I've become really close, told me that she would bring in some of her saris for me to try on.

After teaching my morning English classes today and yesterday, Vidya called me into one of the rooms in the center and wrapped the saris for me. I had heard that the process of putting on a sari was complicated, but I could not believe that there could be so many different ways to wrap one piece of fabric around someone's body! Vidya wrapped the sari for me in several different ways, put a bindi on my forehead, gave me some red lipstick, and we had lots of fun doing a little Indian photo shoot throughout the center.

The saris were sooo beautiful. It caused me great pain to have to take them off, so I think there is only one solution now: time to do a bit of shopping :)

Eat LOTS (you might as well plan to, because you will)

SO. It's been a while since I've posted something, which means that A LOT has happened since my last post. Not most important, but definitely a now significant part of my time here in India, is all the food that I have been eating. Like honestly, if I wasn't running, I would have gained at least 20 lbs by now. I would really like to blame the very generous Associate Director of Asha for my overeating, but in all honesty, it is completely my fault, especially since I have compiled a list titled "Foods to Eat" (I even made food plural to reflect how much I planned to eat). The list started with 11 items, among which were jalebi, kulfi, papdi chaat and rasgulla. Over the past few weeks, the list has expanded to 24 items, the majority of which I have managed to eat (so good, but so bad).

Even though I've been to a couple cool eating places, I'll talk about one of my most memorable eating nights out, which was two weekends ago with the Doc and Associate Director. We started out the night at Karim's, which I had already been to when I went to Old Delhi. Unfortunately, as I discovered after being teased for it in the Asha office, I did not make a good choice by ordering the egg curry the first time I went (okay, I thought it was sooo delicious, but apparently Karim's is best known for it's mutton and chicken and meat dishes...oops hehe). So this time around, with lots of help from Associate Director Freddy Martin, who was a Karim's pro, I got the real, full Karim's experience. And let me just say, I definitely missed out the first time!

Chowing down on some kebabs with some guidance from Freddy Martin

Kebabs, curries, extremely fluffy bread, giant rotis, washed down by two large glasses of lime soda sweet (a MUST TRY). So basically, I ate like it was Thanksgiving, which means that I definitely had no room for dessert (or so I thought). After we finished up at Karim's, good ole Mr. Martin decided that I definitely had NOT had enough to eat yet. So he drove us up to Connaught Place, near India Gate, to get some dessert at Bengali Sweet House. One word: BEAUUUTIFUL. I was legit in heaven. Not only was the place very lovely (partially open-air), but there was so much to choose from!

Can you tell? There's no glass or anything! 

Soooo, despite my great fullness, I could not resist having something. Even though Bengali Sweet is really famous, mainly for its kulfi falooda, take a guess at what I got...

Hot Gulab Jamun!

Now that's how you end a night in happiness :)

Become a kid again ;)

They get intense

After a pretty relaxing weekend, I was so ready to go back to Mayapuri. When I arrived at the Asha center on Monday, the UK volunteers were playing some games with the boys. The volunteers had been painting, and now that the painting was all finished, they were all headed off on different adventures. Although they were only there half the day, they definitely got in a full days worth of fun. It was hilarious. Elephant wars, cricket, ninja and more extremely energetic games that did not exactly put the kids in a mood to sit down and learn English...so I figured I'd join in. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em right? But since all the boys were playing, and it was extremely hot, I figured I'd do my part as honorary photographer. I mean, how could I not document the epicness that is elephant wars? Like I said, hilarious.

Elephant wars...LOL

That afternoon, after the other volunteers had left, the girls arrived for class, energetic as ever. After about an hour of class, the girls began to get antsy, so I finished up and let them go outside to play. Now, this may seem like such an ordinary afternoon as a volunteer English teacher in India, but on the contrary, something new, something sooo exciting (for me at least) happened that day. On one of the trees behind the Asha center, some of the children had tied a rope, which they fashioned into a swing. As I watched the girls taking turns swinging and pushing each other, I knew I had to have a turn. So I walked outside slowly, and like little mind-readers, the girls pulled me over to the swing screaming, "Diidii, diidii! (older sister) You!!"

Don't worry, I didn't kick anyone ;P

So I had a turn (what a people-pleaser I am), and it was AMAZING! The entire time, I was just praying that I didn't fall mid-swing or that the tree branch didn't snap, taking me and the fun new swing down with it. But it was great. As the girls pushed me, I screamed and laughed, oblivious to the strangers who had come from their houses and left their work to come see the strange woman, acting like a little girl.

Getting fancy

Success!

And the fun did not stop there. Today, I had another full day at Mayapuri (YAAAAS), which meant more teaching, and of course more playing. Some of the girls arrived early for class (cute little eager beavers), so I went outside and hung out with them for a bit. Two of them were taking turns riding their friend's bicycle, and after a few minutes, I found myself riding the bike around and around, ecstatic at the fact that I could still ride (it's been years so this is a big deal here)!

One of the little cuties I was chasing

After a somewhat difficult afternoon English class (still trying to figure out how to explain the difference between how much and how many), the girls began running around--my cue to stop teaching and start playing. Despite the intense heat and my profuse sweating, I found myself playing tag with the little five-year old girls, learning Hindi dance moves (finally!) from the older girls and doing pretend ballroom dancing with some of the other girls. Basically, I got a killer workout, but it didn't dawn on me until I sat down to write this blog what else I got in these past few days. I got what I believe is a rare opportunity that becomes more and more rare as we grow older. I got the chance to act like the carefree kid that I know I can no longer be (or maybe I should say should no longer be ;) ).

Shenaniganary!

Check out Old Delhi!! (Back in time part 3)

This weekend was pretty relaxed. Although I had initially planned to go to Amritsar, I decided that a weekend of sleeping, eating (soooo sooo much food that I'll have to run insane amounts next week to work it all off), and tv/movie watching would do me some good. Especially since this week, I'm going back to Mayapuri!! Yaaay!

Today was a lovely day though. Dr. Dick, the doctor who is also volunteering with Asha, and I spent a lot of the day with the Associate Director of Asha, who invited us to his home for an incredibly delicious home-cooked meal and some Bollywood movie watching (Wake Up Sid, really good!). But since that is really all I did this weekend, back in time we shall go again, to the end of my second week here in India...

Hustle and Bustle

Holy smokes. Old Delhi is...insanity. Now I feel like I got a taste of the real India. Sam had just left the day before to go on other adventures around India, and Dr. Dick, who had recently arrived in India to volunteer with Asha, was off on some adventures of his own. So that left Jake and I at the flat, trying to figure out what we would be doing for the weekend. We decided that we would go to Old Delhi since Jake would be leaving soon and needed to experience both parts of Delhi. After planning where we would go in Old Delhi, Jake and I got on the bus around noon and made our way to the metro station. Now, this was my first experience with the Delhi metro, and may I just say, swaaaanky! The metro was   lovely; extremely clean and very well airconditioned, with a very fancy voice announcing the stops.

We got off the metro at a stop near the Red Fort and people immediately began surrounding us, asking us to buy clothes, and food, and jewelry. This was definitely more like the way I expected India to be. The streets were packed with people and auto and cycler rickshaws, and there was just so much noise. A little bit overwhelming, yes, but definitely exhilarating, finding oneself in such a new environment.

Outside Red Fort

When we finally got inside Red Fort, the hustle and bustle died down, but as foreigners, attention was not exactly diverted away from us. Whenever Jake and I stopped to take a picture of one of the many magnificent structures within the fort, a group of people would come up to us, asking us to take pictures with their children and what not. I still thought it was so hilarious, so Jake and I were just like, "Eh, why not?" 

Taken quickly inside the fort, before anyone could ask to take pictures with us :P

After spending a few hours just walking around the fort and the nearby museum, marveling at what was undoubtedly a significant part of India's history, Jake and I decided that it was time to see what else Old Delhi had to offer. We walked outside the Red Fort and got a cycler rickshaw, the first one I had ever taken. It moved surprisingly fast for a man pedaling a bicycle that was pulling a cart carrying two passengers.

View from the Cycler Rickshaw: Hot day and pedaling slightly uphill...this guy was literally awesome

The cycler rickshaw took us to Raj Ghat, a quiet park and the site of Mahatma Gandhi's memorial. As Jake and I sat in the grass, enjoying what was definitely the most silent place we had been all day, an Indian family came up to us and asked us about our adventures and why we were in India. Then, they asked us to take a picture with them. Of course. But I didn't mind. I even asked if they could take one with my camera too. :)

Family photo!

Jake and I left Raj Ghat and took the same cycler rickshaw to Jama Masjid, a famous mosque in Old Delhi. Before going into the mosque, we decided to stop at Karim's to eat, which was such a good idea, but also such a bad idea. By the time Jake and I finished our naan and pranthas and curries, we were both too full and too late to go see Jama Masjid, which was closed for prayer. :( But no worries! As we headed home, tired and full from the yummy eats, I knew that I would somehow make my way back to Old Delhi to see Jama Masjid. Whether it will be on this trip or the next, I do not know, but definitely someday.

Visit the Taj Mahal (Going back in time part 2!)

So I'm a liiitle sad today (and I mean reaaally little since every opportunity I'm having here in India is amazing in it's own way) because I was not able to go back to Mayapuri today. Don't get me wrong, I am really grateful for the chance to work in the office and learn so much about how Asha operates and is able to help so many slum residents, but I definitely miss the kids and can't wait to do some teaching again. I'm going to be in the office again tomorrow, so I'll be seeing the kiddies again on Monday :). Since a day at a desk is probably not the most exciting thing to write about, I'll do another back in time post about the end of my first week here in India, when the other two volunteers and I spent the day in Agra...

Despite a slight runny nose and a headache, this has been one of the best days eveeer (but actually)!! Around 6am, Sam, Jake and I left the flat to meet the taxi driver who would be driving us to and around Agra. When I woke up in the morning, I was all congested, which was kind of frustrating, but nothing in comparison to how excited I was to go see the Taj Mahal. We got in the taxi and all passed out right away, which was good for me because the car ride was 5 hours long and I'm not too good with long car rides (I gets quite antsy).

So worth it ;)

On our way, the driver stopped at a market to pick something up, so Sam, Jake and I were just sitting in the car, trying to politely turn down all the people who kept knocking on the windows to sell us things. Turns out, politeness doesn't really work (awww shucks), so we just sat there and stopped responding. Eventually, a guy walked by the car with two monkeys, which I absolutely could not resist taking pictures of. Now that, my friends, was a bad idea. After I got a few pictures, the man held out his for money, and I was just thinking, 'Really now? You couldn't have told me this before?!'. After a few seconds of him pounding so hard on the windows that I thought the glass would break, we paid him, just in time for the driver to get back in the car and drive off.

When we finally arrived in Agra, the traffic was madness, but like a pro, the driver maneuvered his way through the roads and got us to the Taj around noon. After declining all the tour guide offers (which was no easy task), we finally made it in. And when I saw the Taj Mahal, all I could say was (hehe I actually said this), "Woa. Is this real life right now?" What a beaaauuutiful, beaaauuutiful place! Even now, sitting here, I can't believe that I actually got to see it and touch it and walk around in it. The experience was made even more memorable by all the Indian people who wanted to take pictures with us. I thought it was so hilarious that we were there, completely amazed by the Taj, while the Indian nationals were there, completely amazed by the foreigners.

Magnficence

We wandered around the inside for a while and took some more pictures with strangers before heading outside to find a shady place to sit (Because I felt like I was actually being cooked. In an oven. And I was definitely getting a thousand shades darker). After 10 minutes or so of chilling in the shade, we left to go check out the nearby Taj museum and then made our way to Cafe Coffee Day for lunch (yay AC and yummy eats!).

Cafe Coffee Day dessert

Before we left Agra, the driver took us to this amazing shop that sold jewelry, carpets, clothes, and instruments. Jake and I walked in without any money (best to avoid temptation), and the workers definitely knew that we weren't going to buy anything. How do I know this? Well, because I asked for the price of a ring, and when the store clerk told me, Jake and I stared at each other and started laughing.

The prices were insanely expensive though! So yea, that's how I know. But what I found so interesting was that even though they all knew that we weren't going to buy anything, the workers in the instruments department still put on a great show for us. They played something for us with the drums and the sitar and even let us try to play (Sam and I didn't but Jake was actually really good on the drums). They brought out sodas for us and were genuinely so excited to be entertaining us. 

As we left the shop and Agra, I began to drift off  (at this point in the day I was insanely congested, even though I somehow hadn't noticed all day). The trip back took 8 hours because of traffic, but I didn't even notice because I was so tired from walking around so much. But yea, it was quite a day. Definitely unforgettable.

Wow...so that was still really long. Goodness gracious, a lot happened that day.

Witness the power of change...then go see a Bollywood movie, Woot Woot!

There was still much work to do on the document that I've been working on for Asha, so today was a pretty standard, uneventful day for me at the office (can't wait to see the kids again!). But yesterday afternoon, after a few hours of editing the Asha document, I was fortunate enough to take part in something amazing. Since my arrival at Asha, the office has been crazy busy because the high school students (class 12) from various slums had finished their exams, got back their results, and were either still applying to colleges or waiting to see whether or not they had been admitted. After an extremely, and I mean extreeemely difficult selection process that makes getting into ivy leagues look like cake (but seriously though), many of the students have received admission into a university!! :)

Yesterday's event, which was held in the Asha headquarters here in New Delhi, was a celebration where the accepted students received advice and encouragement for their future endeavors. The students also had the opportunity to share their stories and to thank all those who helped them along the way. I counted 40 students at the event yesterday and another 40 came today (though I sadly wasn't at today's event), which is absolutely amazing considering how difficult it is to enter the world of higher education with the poor resources and the anti-education attitudes that are characteristic of the slums. These students, many of whom have been receiving educational help and encouragement from Asha for several years now, are a testament to the great work that Asha has done and continues to do in the slums of Delhi. I was honored to be able to talk to them and give them advice on what to expect at college and how to approach the new experience. 

For me, the most memorable part of the event was when one girl came up to the podium to share her story, but became overwhelmed with emotion and began to cry. As I sat up at the front of the room, I was trying sooo hard not to cry myself. In between sobs, she told us about her struggle; how her application went missing right before the deadline. She told us how she fell into a state of depression for about two days as she agonized over the thought of seeing all her hard work go to waste. She talked to one of the Asha center supervisors, who told her to pray, that God would help her find a way. And the next morning, in a stack of papers in the office, she found her application. Her gratitude and appreciation for God's blessings and for everything the Asha staff had done to help her come this far was so moving. It is my hope that God will continue to bless her and all these students. What they have accomplished was no easy task, but I know that they will be an inspiration to other slum children--living proof of the power of change. 

...

UK volunteers checking out the view

And what better way to continue a fantastic day than to go watch a Bollywood movie! Without English subtitles of course (like a boss). After yesterday's event, some volunteers from the UK and I grabbed a quick dinner on their lovely hotel rooftop and made our way to the movie theater. Let me just say this: Wow...I see you India! The theater was sooo nice. I was a big fan of the reclining seats and of course of the amazing prices (large popcorn+soda+ticket approximately 8 USD). And I was definitely a huuuge fan of the movie, Cocktail. Now I'm not going to go spoiling the end for anybody who wants to watch (which you all should!), so no worries, but let me just tell you a bit about this movie. Maybe it's just my narrow-minded view of Indian culture, but I did not expect to see so much skin! Or hear so much English (which is totally not cheating because English was only thrown in from time to time). Even though I missed some of the jokes, I surprisingly got most of the story line! The comedy was great and I am currently obsessed with the soundtrack. All I need is someone to translate for me...or to just teach me Hindi so I can sing along, which is all I really want to do. That, and learn the dance moves! So yes, to all my Indian friends, I am definitely up for some learning so please teach me! Thanks :)

Awesome rooftop view