India is...

There is no one word to describe what India is like. I am getting my pictures developed as we speak, and I'll be getting more from the other people I was with, so I'll be posting those with more specific descriptions within the next few days. But for now some general thoughts...

India is chaotic. I would call it organized chaos because it does somehow work, but I don't think its organized so much as most Indians are used to the chaos and therefore function well in it. Our travels went fairly smoothly, thanks to our Indian driver, and our guides were very hospitable and knowledgeable.

India is crowded. Really crowded. One can definitely see that over a billion people live there. On top of that, there is still a lot of farmland and undeveloped land, which means that the towns are even more densely populated than the numbers would suggest. And the vast majority of people that I saw were extremely poor. Poverty like nothing I have ever seen.

India is cheap. 100 Rupee = $2.20, and I got more than one meal for less than 100 Rupee. It would be cheaper if you didn't have to tip almost every employee that you encounter everywhere, or if the shopkeepers didn't raise their prices as soon as they see a Westerner (but given the levels of poverty that I mentioned before, I really can't complain).

India is beautiful. The mountains and the rest of the land, the old architecture from the Mogul dynasty and the newer buildings from the British empire, the color of the women's saris - everything just makes your eyes light up... especially after living among sand, buildings that match sand, and women who wear only black. Oh, and the Taj Mahal is awesome.

India is historic. I've never been really interested in the history of the country before, but now that I've been, it makes me want to know so much more. There are Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains - all with their history in India - and then there is the time of the British and the current Indian government. I know that I like history more than the average person, but I think its a place that everyone could find something that interests them.

India is big. We went to four towns, each was between 4 and 10 hour drive from the one before it. And we covered the relatively small area of the country that I've put a block around on this map.

All in all, I would definitely go back, but I would probably go to the south or east before I returned to the northwest. I would definitely suggest it if you are a somewhat adventurous and laid-back traveller, and if you appreciate history and architecture. More to follow, with pictures!

I miss Pittsburgh

I'm starting to write the application for the student exchange trip to Pittsburgh, and I'm realizing how much I love it there. Ok I already knew that, but I'm being reminded. One of the professors has an article from the Economist hanging outside of his office about the new development in the hometown that I'm so proud of. It even says that young professionals are starting to stay there.

I used to think that if I am happy where I am, there is no need to miss the place that I used to be. Maybe that's because the "place I used to be" was Mechanicsburg, and although I love many of the people from there, I don't miss the place itself so much. I was wrong. I do like living in Doha, and I like all of the traveling that I'm going to do from here. But I miss the Steelers, and even the Pens and Pirates. And CMU, and Mt. Washington, and Shaler Township, and even the Restaurant. And Shadyside, and the Strip, and the South Side. And the Carnegie Museums, and Heinz Hall, and the Benedum Center. And Eat 'n' Park, and Primanti's, and Quaker Steak, and the O. And Kennywood! And the people. Mostly the people.

The students here have apparently heard bad things about both Pittsburgh and the CMU campus. I wanna plan the best trip ever, so that they love the city as much as I do.

I wish that there was some way to work in international relations in Pittsburgh. I'd live there in a second.

The Indian Embassy

Yesterday Jumana and I went to the Indian embassy to get our visas for our trip next week!! It was so exciting, because the last thing that we need to do to prepare is now done! Well, except we still need to pick them up. I'm not that excited about leaving my passport somewhere, especially when that place is a crazy-busy embassy. I'll be happy when I have it back in my hands with the visa inside.

Funny story about the embassy. Jumana, who has a Canadian passport, told me that the visa was going to cost QR150. Her sister, also Canadian, told her this. Sure enough, Jumana paid her 150 Riyal no problem. Then he says to me, "Ok 225 Riyal please." I said, "excuse me why? she just paid 150." He shows me the cover of my passport and just says "American." The guy in line next to us must have seen my face, because he laughs and says, "Americans are rich." I was like, "No America is rich, I'm not!" Then I shut up and gave him my 225 Riyal. The best part is that Ms. Arab-Canadian Jumana has so much more money than I do! Not fair!

I feel better when I think about the fact that my QR225 is getting me a visa for India that I am using on Sunday!! We're going to Dehli, Agra, Jaipur, and a wildlife refuge called Ranthambore. I'm gonna see the Taj Mahal, tigers, old forts, and the old markets! And I'm gonna get my own digital camera working before then so I can take videos of everything.

More Pictures from Birthday Weekend

I finally got these... I really need to start remembering to take my own pictures! Anyway, we went to the desert a few weekends ago (the day before my birthday) and had so much fun. Basically you take an SUV to the desert and play on the sand dunes. It's like being in a toy car at the beach and an SUV commercial at the same time.


Alan, Shelly, me, Iliano, Marjorie, Andrew, and Doug posing with a bunch of sand, some water, and a nice blue sky.









Our expert driver/tour guide for the day says "Land Cruisar. King of the desert"










It turns out our guide was right. We spent most of the morning sliding down huge sand dunes at about a 45-degree angle.


















Then we saw the beautiful inland sea, which is on the border of Qatar... and that land in the distance is Saudi Arabia.















Then our guides cooked us an amazing barbeque while we swam in the ocean. Even nicer of them since it was ramadan, so they couldn't eat the food they had cooked, or drink any water while standing outside cooking it. There was really good shisha (with Andrew) and Arabic coffee (with Eric), too.













Our guide says "Land Cruisar is not king of the ocean." Looks like he was right again, huh?

btw, that's a 2007 model Land Cruisar. Probably a $45,000 car. We never did see if they managed to get it out.






Then that night we had a party at Silvia's house. There aren't too many pictures, which could be a good thing, but if I find some more I'll be sure to post them. This is from Karen, right before she, Dave, and a lot of other people joined me for a happy birthday tequila shot.

Fasting again

So after my last fasting experience, I had pretty much decided that it wasn't that bad. However, I wouldn't be volunteering to do it again until someone gave me a pretty good reason. Then one of the organizations in Education City tells us that a Qatari company is willing to donate money to Darfur for every hour that non-Muslims fast on October 9. Well, this counts as a pretty good reason. But it wasn't so easy this time.

First, the Steelers played the Sunday night game, which means that I had to get my butt out of bed at 3:00am for the game. Since I had also watched the Chicago game, and had started to watch Eagles-Cowboys before I passed out on the couch, I only got 3 hours of sleep. While this would have been more than enough to function while I was still in college, I am now kind of addicted to getting at least six hours. Also, I had a wicked sore throat yesterday, and all I wanted in my life was a cup of tea. Technically you don't have to fast in Islam if you are ill, but I know that if I hadn't done it yesterday, I never would have made up my fasting day later. So I did it.

Conclusion... being tired and ill and hungry makes you: a) unproductive at work; b) really cranky; and c) sleep so long the next night that you are almost late for work on Tuesday.

Birthday Weekend: Day 1

So never in my life have I had a birthday that lasted three days. I even said specifically to my friends here: No, I don't want to make a big deal out of my birthday. I would say they ignored my request.

Thursday the 28th was culture day! It was the day I fasted, and we had the university-wide iftar that night. As you will see, it was a recurring theme of the weekend that I was either not paying attention to what was going on around me, or was just extremely naive. Anyway, Student Affairs left during the day to go get a present and flowers for me, and then they marched into my office and started singing. I noticed neither that they were gone, nor Lily yelling to Gloria: We're gonna do it in five minutes!! Five minutes later, I was very confused when Gloria came marching into my office. So nice of them...


My flowers, my new stuffed camel "Oasis McSpits," and a belly dancing music CD!













Lily, me, Dave, Gloria, and Oasis












This next part has nothing to do with my birthday, but one of the Indian students invited us to go to a dance festival that night. Traditionally it is the harvest festival. His mother let me borrow some beautiful clothes. Karen and I had so much fun trying to copy the Ghidrathi dances.

It's much smaller so its hard to see, but my dress is awesome, it was purple with gold thread woven through it, and his mom even gave me jewelry to go with it!






Stay tuned for days 2 and 3, as soon as I collect the pictures from everyone that has them!