Amber Fort... Jaipur

On Thursday (while in Jaipur) we went to visit the Amber Fort. This is probably the biggest tourist attraction in Jaipur. It was built in 1592 and is really cool to explore and walk around. 

 You can ride an elephant up to the top of the fort. It was fun to see all the elephants walking around. 

 View of the town from the top. 

See all the elephants lined up below waiting to have passengers? 

jaipur

Last Monday night we boarded an overnight train headed to Jaipur, Rajasthan. We travelled there with the 2012 SummerLINK India team (you can read their blog here). The team arrived at the beginning of July and we have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them and hang out with them. You may remember we came to India last year with the 2011 SummerLINK India team, and on our mid summer excursion, we visited Udaipur. 

Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan and is another of the painted cities... the pink city (though I think it looks kind of orangy).   

market shopping

One of the things that is different here is that a lot of the men have ear hair. Some of it is so long that it is quite impressive. While we were waiting at the City Palace, we saw this guard who had quite impressive ear hair. So Chad took a picture with him. I know that is awful, but this is probably one of those little details we would forget about India if we didn't have it documented. 

pure awesomeness

City Palace

getting henna done at the City Palace

all the girls... we have so enjoyed getting to know this team!

I finally bought some peacock feathers...they were fun to get home :)

Jal Mahal "water palace" sits in the middle of a lake... kind of like the one in Udaipur

Our auto drivers took us to where some elephants that work at the Amber Fort live. We spent a couple hours there on Wednesday afternoon. 

I love how people get chai to go and they put it in a bag. This little boy was pouring it for all the men at the elephant place.

team dinner at barbeque nation 

We boarded the night train Friday night to head home. The train station is probably one of my least favorite places to be, but I love traveling to new places so it is worth it. We watched hundreds of rats crawl around (I'm not exaggerating) while waiting for our train to arrive. 

teaching, temperature and train ride

Last week we spent the week in a city north of here. It is one of our target cities in our state. There is currently a six month training school going on and Chad and I traveled up there with a short term team to do the teaching for the week. 

Pictures don't at all show the heat. It was h-o-t. Between 105-110 each day and no electricity in the mornings. Usually around 12:00 the electricity would come on and turn one ceiling fan on. I don't know how Chad taught in the heat. I struggled just sitting in it. By the end of the training I was so drained just from sitting in the heat!

Chad teaching 

 I went with some of the team to do a little VBS alongside a pastor and his family for a couple days. It was about an hour and 15 minutes away from the city in this little village. This was probably the most villagy I have been in the past year. 

Check out all those kids packed in that tiny, hot room

The bathroom... you just walk in and squat on the concrete (they put the curtain up for us because they could tell we were a little uncomfortable)

 21 weeks while in the village!

Check out this man on his motorcycle with these sheep/goats. It was such a funny sight. One across his lap, one strapped in a bag on each side...

One story... we took a bus to one city and then a train the rest of the way. When we arrived on the train, we were trying to get off at our stop. But it is very common for Indians to push their way on before people get off (elevators, trains...) So we were trying to get off, but all of these people were pushing on. We were elbowing people and trying to push them back and push our way through, but these people were strong and feisty! All of a sudden a girl (who could tell we were trying to get off) yells "the train will leave in 30 seconds!" Some of the Indians started pushing us HARD and basically pushed us through the crowd, but not before the train started to leave. We all had to jump on the platform as the train pulled out of the station- with all of our luggage. Thankfully, Chad was in front of me and he threw the suitcases off and turned around so fast and caught me as this Indian lady pushed me off. Definitely something I hope to never do again, but definitely a memory I won't forget.  

trip up north

We have talked for the past year about going to visit the Boones. I am SO thankful that we were able to make it happen and put those plans into action! On April 18, we jumped on a plane and flew to Delhi and then hopped on a train for about 5ish hours and BAM! we were there. 

It was so, so wonderful to hug them and just sit around and hang out with them. There is just something so special about friends who you have history with. I love that they know our families, were at our wedding, how we could talk about college/Boone... and lots more.

I'm sure Tyler was probably in the middle of "shoot that turkey buzzard" when I took this picture :)

We had Rook night each night we were there

Check out that hand... (and Chad grubbin' on the yummy Reese's dessert Erin made in the background)

On Saturday the four of us met up with the Eggleton family to explore Robber's Cave.

It was really neat, and I'll take any chance to get outdoors and enjoy nature! We did some hiking through the cave and a little rock scaling. 

Coffee and scrabble at Barista

Sunday lunch at The Great Escape... some delicious Indian food

It was sad to say goodbye, knowing it will probably be at least 2+ years before we see them again, but we are so thankful for their hospitality, friendship and any chance we get to hang out. Love you Tyler and Erin!

a training trip

Chad, Amy and I headed out early Monday morning to a little town about 4 hours from here. Chad was  teaching at a training Monday-Thursday and so Amy and I tagged along to meet the women and be a part of this training. 

 Each night we were there, the leaders of the training took us to meet some of their family and friends. The first night we went to a house, the kids did a little dancing for us. 

 There are rarely foreigners in this little town. We felt a little like we were on display and different people kept stopping by to see us. But we got to meet some really nice people who were such welcoming hosts.

 Bharti was the cook at the training (it was her first time being the cook!) and she did an awesome job!

 Some of the students cleaning and picking through the wheat grains. Then they grind it to make flour- so neat!

 The ladies who prepared dinner for us on Tuesday night

 They wanted Amy to talk (in Hindi) to their friends on the phone. That's a little awkward :)

 The hotel we stayed at (I think it's the only hotel in the town) lacked a couple amenities we are used to.  It was totally fine, but we thought it was funny that we had to request toilet paper and towels. On the third day they told us they couldn't find more toilet paper in town for us and they brought us cups of napkins each day :) 

 Chad and Rajan

Chad and I are looking forward to heading back there for a couple days this coming week. Don't worry... I've already got toilet paper rolls set out to take with us.