Photo post: forts, vegetables, independence

I’m trying to avoid typing too much as my arms hurt lately, but here’s a quick blog post ofsome recent sights. Last weekend we took a tour of the three major forts in the Jaipur area. This photo is on the road to Amer Fort:

Apparently you can take an elephant ride up to the fort, though we were such a big group that this was not an option for us.

The forts are, as usual, breathtakingly intricate and beautiful. If only we could rent one of these for our wedding reception! (Actually, we could, it’s just prohibitively expensive…)

India has such beautiful old buildings. Hundreds of years old, crumbling, and lived in. They’re fascinating to look at. I think I could just look at old buildings all day.

From Amer fort there is an old wall that extends around what used to be the capital of Rajasthan. It reminds me of the Great Wall of China except, well, smaller.

Beautiful.

Old, old, OLD paintings in the fort:

A view from the top of one of the forts out over the city of Jaipur:

I just liked the little turret thingies:

I was telling my friend Bill the other day that I’ve gotten rather fond of the fruit and vegetable carts that are pushed around the streets every day. We ran into this fellow outside our school one day:

On August 15th, India’s independence day, we went out shopping. We saw some people celebrating on the street. Ironically, a number of people wished us “Happy Indian Independence Day.” In English.

Okay, back to work! I’ve got a ten-page paper due tomorrow and I’m only on page 6!

Ten good things

So, I know I’ve complained a lot, and obviously, I’m not sure I like it here. But in the spirit of fairness, I’ve decided to post about ten good things that have happened on my trip. (Note how many of them involve my tastebuds…)

1. Chai: We have tea at least three times a day, sometimes more. And it’s delicious, and milky, and sweet. Our host family has tea ready for us when we come downstairs, there is lemon tea when we get to school, we get tea halfway through our class day, and there’s tea again at 3:00 at school.

2. Ice cream: the ice cream place close to the school has excellent chocolate fudge ice cream, a fact I just discovered yesterday. Also, waffle cones. Waffle cones! Filled with chocolate ice cream!

3. Meals: Our school and our host family both serve excellent food which is tasty, healthy, abundant, and completely vegetarian. In fact, it’s much easier to be a vegetarian here than in the US. Most restaurants proclaim on their sign whether they offer “veg,” “non-veg” or both kinds of food.

4. Sweets: Indians make some very good sweets, though they are frequently nut-based and different than the ones in the US. They are tasty, and we also often have really deliciously ripe mangoes (and other fruit) for dessert.

5. Friends: There are some great people on the program, and I’m happy to have the chance to meet all of them, especially the people I live with and the ones I’ve traveled with.

6. Hindi: Despite my love/hate relationship with the language, it IS cool to be surrounded by it and to have so much opportunity to practice.

7. Traveling: I am having fun traveling, taking photos, and seeing exotic places I may never get the chance to see again. It’s been a long time since I left the country (the last time I left was before 9/11) and so it’s been great to have the chance to be a tourist again.

8. Pretty things: India has an abundance of pretty things to buy, including jewelry, brightly colored clothes and quilts and fabrics, sparkly shoes, bells, jewels, bangles, and all sorts of other things.

9. Air conditioning: I have never, ever been so appreciative of air conditioning in my whole life. Air conditioning is awesome!!

10. Purpose: Last night I was listening to Chris Pureka and in one of my favorite songs (perhaps of all time) she says: “You wanted something you saw in the sunset, so don’t you leave here ’til you know what it is.” There’s a reason I came here, even if I can’t articulate it (though somehow I convinced the grant-keepers that I had good reason). I should probably spend some time thinking about that. What drew me here in the first place? And what I hope to get out of the rest of my trip?