Incredible India!

Thursday, October 25, 2012
Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
Namaste! 

Every day in India so far has been a true adventure . As soon as the team landed in Delhi we were thrust into a whole new world. We piled into taxis outside the airport and had our first heart-stopping taxi ride, which involved dodging cars, motorcycles, cows, dogs and people at full speed. We eventually emerged from the taxis unscathed at Hotel the Spot where we spent two days exploring the local bazaar and the wonders of Delhi.

We wandered around the National Museum and the biggest mosque in India. We stuffed ourselves with Indian food and generally had a good time until it was time to leave for Agra. 

Agra is the home of the Taj Mahal. Most of the group ate at out rooftop hotel with a wonderful view of the Taj. After lunch we shipped out to see one of the wonders of the world at sunset, which was magical. Our tour guide gave us some background information and then we were free to look around. 

From Agra we took a train to Jaipur. We were greeted at the train station and led to our home stays by Rishi-ji .  

Jaipur is famous for it's block printed fabrics and blue pottery. We got to see both being made by hand at an art center. We each made a small block print and watched the blue pottery being fired. 

The home stays and classes were amazing and gave us a true introduction to life in Jaipur. Each morning we had yoga class at the program center at 7am followed by a breakfast and then a Hindi language lesson. After the Hindi lesson we were rewarded with a chai break. I think I speak for the group when I say that I am now completely addicted to the chai here.  

After chai we would have a lecture or a field trip. A favorite field trip was our trip into a Kalikar Basti (folk artist) community. We were greeted by a group of ornately dressed drummers who led us through the muddy streets of the slum parade-style.

We were then split up into small groups and went around to different homes and learned about their art forms . We learned about their sewing, dance, puppetry and music in a very hands on way. (See Paige's pictures) We tried to practice our miniscule amount of Hindi with the kids as they laughed hysterically at our accents. 

We visited many famous sights in Jaipur including the Amber fort and the old pink city. Our lectures were on Indian history and Indian politics both of which are fascinating and incredibly confusing.

We ate lunch and dinner with our host families usually. On our final night in Jaipur many of the group made....................................(power outage!)        

-Katherine

I believe she was going to say they made effigies of the demon king Ravana with their host families and then burned them. Their final night in Jaipur was the final night of the Hindu festival Dussehra. This burning marks the end of the festival, and the triumph of good over evil .

That night the team departed Jaipur and took an overnight train to Udaipur where they spent a day and a half exploring this very colorful city, and also rode camels. Then they headed about two hours outside of the city to a small village.

The team is currently spending just over a week in the village, living with families in very simple homes. Mornings are being spent helping to build a community school. In the afternoons they are teaching English to children in local village schools. We will look forward to hearing all about this in the team's next blog update! -Brad

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