We are in the town of Tiruvalnamalai! Try pronouncing THAT. We’re staying at a hotel near the interfaith dialogue center called Quo Vadis that we’re visiting, and there’s a huge mountain dominating the town that is apparently the center of the universe for many Hindus and religious seekers. There are many European and American people in this little village who come to seek spiritual answers (kind of like the woman in Eat Pray Love I guess). Anyway, we’ve been staying here and visiting ashrams in the area. The first night it rained hardcore and we walked barefoot to an ashram because you can’t have shoes on in them. In the ashram we watched a “pooja” take place—a Hindu ceremony in which people walk around a shrine to the divine god and offer flowers to him and chant. It was interesting to see but I didn’t understand anything that was going on really. We also visited an ashram yesterday in which they pretty much worship their guru and compare him to Jesus. They believe that he does miracles to this day (even though he’s deceased) and that his statue has so much power that it shocks them when they touch it. It was pretty strange for me, who has never been around much idol worship, to see the statue of a man be praised and revered to such an extent. Our tour guide was in awe of him and pretty much thought he could do anything; some of the stories she told made a lot of people in our group pretty skeptical and some people even thought it was comical. Not quite sure what my reaction is yet, I’m still processing the experience and how strange it was. Yesterday we also had a chance to experience what goes on in the Quo Vadis center and we had a dialogue about faith, in which we had to think about our personal relationship with God or whoever we believed in and then talk about it, being respectful of all opinions and not trying to force our ideas on others. That’s what the center—which is Christian-based—is all about. It’s not about trying to spread the word of God as much as it is about having people of all faiths come together and tolerate each other and love each other. Last night we had a cultural night! We had dancers with drums come and we were sung to, as well as taught how to dance the traditional Tamil dances they were doing. Then we made coloms (spelling?) which is the powder art that people put outside of their homes here to welcome people inside. It’s like sand art, you make designs with different colors, usually of flowers. An artistic girl at my table made a whole face that looked pretty realistic. Then we added homemade candles to a huge colom we all chipped in on. These candles were made out of halves of limes that were turned inside out and filled with oil and a piece of rope. It was all such a cool experience of the culture and we all LOVED it. Today we’re leaving and we are going to see two temples, one of which is a transgender temple. I’ll give feedback on that one, because I’m not quite sure what to expect there.

Love you all and I miss you!

Hey all!

We're in Bangalore! We've been here for almost a week actually... sorry for the delay in blogging but the internet is not free and it's tough to find time in our very structured days to log on. Bangalore is BEAUTIFUL and we're here at the end of the rainy season so we've had a few thunderstorms, which after Egypt's weather has been wonderful! It's nice and cool and the Ecumenical Christian Center we're staying at is like an oasis--lots of beautiful greenery and paths and the staff is all great. We've met the staff's kids and play cricket with them ( I just learned what cricket IS) almost every day. Indian kids are about the most adorable kids I've ever met. They bounce around so full of energy and always have a smile on their face. You're their best friend in a matter of seconds. I spent about an hour catching crickets with a few of them the other day. Each day we have class and then some free time to hang out and play. We also get fed five times a day--breakfast, tea (with cookies), lunch, tea (with cake, donuts, or cookies), and dinner. It's CRAZY.

Today was probably my favorite day out of our whole Global trip. We didn't even do anything that crazy, like visit the pyramids or some giant monument. I simply met the librarian (his name is Shivappa--he's named after Shiva and is Hindu) and he invited me and three other Globalites to his house for tea. We had plans to go to Bangalore because we had free time but we figured stopping for tea wouldn't hurt. It turns out, however, that his house is about an hour of walking, walking, bussing, and walking away from the ECC and after about 45 minutes we knew we wouldn't be making it to Bangalore. By the way, he usually walks to work... anyway we arrived at his village and right away I knew this would be quite the experience. We went to his 2-room house and met his wife and two kids, who are 2 1/2 and 5 (their names are Shubash and Pritam). At first it was a little awkward and we took up their whole living/bedroom/TV room area, but then we started playing a board game called Carrom with the kids and. They also served us the BEST coffee I've ever had...it had lots of milk and sugar in it. Before we knew it, the whole village of kids was standing outside their door and wanting to come in to see the strange foreigners. They were so cute, they would sneak around to the side window and peek in or just stare at us and smile! They were shy at first but then when they got to know us better they pulled on our hands and brought us to see the Hindu temple in their village, and then to see their houses. We saw three other houses, and in each they served us either pepsi, coffee, or AMAZING milk-sugar-tea. At one point we stopped back at Shivappa's house where his wife had made us payum, their version of milky rice, and it was DELICIOUS. Indians are the most hospitable people I've ever met. Their houses had orange, blue, or yellow walls and were small but beautiful. It amazed me how they made the most out of the little they had. The little kids kept following us everywhere and wanted us to take pictures of them so they could see how they looked. They would take my camera and go around taking pictures of each other, then running back to show me themselves. When we left they were so sad and everyone waved goodbye.
The walking and bussing back didn't seem half as long because we were in such good moods. Shivappa thanked us for meeting his entire village and said we had made his whole village happy. We were so thankful to have seen a community instead of being just tourists and it was the BEST DAY EVER! Our trip to Bangalore was completely forgotten and our whole visit took five hours. We got back just in time for dinner!
I'm going to try to add a video of the kids singing for us that shows the inside of a house and the kids that crowded at the doors wherever we went, but I have to load it later. Otherwise I have pictures too coming up soon! This is a day I will never forget. Every person in that village had so much joy despite their poor living conditions, and I absolutely loved it. I hope to visit them again!

Hey everyone!

Quick blog post, I have limited internet time...
We're in MUMBAI, INDIA! We arrived safely two days ago, and it's so different from Egypt. Just stepping out of the plane, I knew this was a different place from the air. It's HUMID. Here's a quick recap of what we've done so far. We got here and immediately were taken on a tour of Dharavi slum, a 1.25 square kilometer slum with 1 million people living in it. It was really sad to see how dirty it was, but something I noticed was that most people there seemed pretty happy, at least when they saw us. We were followed around constantly by little kids in their school uniforms practicing their English and shouting HI! then running away shyly. It was so cute. The parents were also very friendly, and we got to see how they made leather and pottery there. I believe it's more of a well-off slum in Mumbai, but it was still hard to see some things there. We went to a museum and then to our hotel. Yesterday we toured Rizvi Law school and met the students there. They were extremely friendly (we've all noticed that Indians are MUCH friendlier than Egyptians) and they invited us to go out with them at night. We hung out with them yesterday night and got to know them better, and I've made some new facebook friends! The college also planted two trees in honor of St. Olaf college and we had a little ceremony. They were very hospitable and we felt really welcomed.
Today we went to visit a Hindu cave temple on the island of Elephanta. It was pretty cool to see the carvings of the gods in the temple but it was strange for me to think that they are still worshiped today. There are over 13 million Hindu gods, how do people decide which to worship when they can't even learn all their names in a lifetime? After we got back we visited an orphanage which was mostly for people with disabilities, both mental and physical. It was very sad but we were able to sing a few songs for them and it made me cry to see their faces light up when we sang.
Okay, last thing. Tonight we went to the beach by the Arabian sea and... I went night parasailing!!! Woohoo! It was so fun, my first time parasailing! It was quite the experience to be up there by myself and to see the whole city of Mumbai right next to me, all lit up. I also got some fresh(er) air up there, which was nice.
Having a great time and I'll try to write when I can!

Goodbye Egypt!

It's a sad goodbye to Egypt today. I thought I would be completely ready to go but as I walked to the grocery store today and bought bananas from vendors on the side of the street I realized how much I've gotten accustomed to this city. I finally feel comfortable here and almost if I belong (although to others I look very out place as an American) and now we're leaving. I stocked up on some snacks that I know I'll be missing in India--these yummy digestive crackers and some candy, and took in the scene of Zamalek one last time. I will miss the rundown buildings that haven't been taken care of because of the rent laws in Cairo, I'll miss the hustle and bustle of the street and people that will actually stop for you to cross the road (I'm not sure if that will happen in India), the easy walk to all of our favorite restaurants, the nice people who have come to recognize us and have wished us farewell, and a lot of other things. I will NOT miss all of the stray cats, however. If I had counted from the beginning I would most likely be in the 500s of how many cats I've seen so far. There will probably be some in India as well though. There was a momma cat who had her kittens while we were here and stays in the courtyard of our dorm building, and she's the exception: she's very friendly and her kittens are adorable, so I'll miss them, a little.
Yesterday we had our essay final! It went pretty well, even considering the fact that the essay question I'd studied for the most wasn't even on the test... but we celebrated being stress-free with milk bubble tea and milky rice! We also had a surprise birthday party for two people on the trip and had a ton of cake. A small group of us took a taxi to Tahrir Square and it was definitely not what I expected. It's not a square in that it's distinguishable from the rest of the city, but it's just a section where there ceases to be skyscrapers and there's lots of traffic and it's kind of circular. But it was cool to picture all of the traffic stopped up because hundreds of thousands of people filled the area in the revolution of January 2011. We got Egyptian pizza--it was delicious! Then later that night we went on a felucca boat on the Nile to celebrate our last night in Egypt. What a great way to end the month we have here.
In half an hour we leave for Mumbai, and we'll be getting in at 7 or 8 am tomorrow morning, their time! We get right to touring and the next few days will be a hectic amount of touring before we leave the city for Bangalore. Internet will be spotty there (I think we might only get 15 minutes a day) but I'll try to keep up with the blog as best I can! 

It's almost "Adieu" to Egypt :(

Well, our visit to Egypt is almost over. I've been thinking about it today and it makes me sad. I feel like I've just gotten used to this place and comfortable here, and now we're uprooting ourselves and going to another place that will take me a while to get used to. Totally different culture, totally different area (rural instead of urban), different languages, etc. It's hard to be prepared for India when I just got used to Egypt. However, I'm also really excited!
On Saturday a couple of us went to the Cairo Operahouse and saw the Cairo Symphony Orchestra. It was beautiful and they played Beethoven and Schumann. It was a beautiful, classy show, and our tickets were only 6 US dollars (35 Egyptian pounds)! It was nice to hear music again and made me realize how much I miss St. Olaf music.
Yesterday we had our last day of touring in Egypt. Our tour guide took us to Old Cairo, which consists of a lot of mosques built in the 800s AD and onward. We went to Ahmad Ibn-Tulun's mosque, which was different from the mosques we saw in Turkey because it was open air and had a huge courtyard with a fountain, as well as columned halls called riwaqs and a large minaret with a spiral staircase. That minaret was fantastic, especially when we found out we could climb to the top! We climbed up the spiral staircase and got to what we thought was the top, with a small wall that only went to my knees and no guard rail. There are no guardrails in Egypt that I've seen yet and a couple of us surmised that this was probably because everything in Islam is up to the will of Allah--whether you fall or not! It's all in God's will, so if it happens it was meant to be. Anyway, at the top you realize that you're not actually at the top, and you can take a smaller spiral staircase to a circular room with large windows at the very tip top. When you step out of the windows you find yourself on a two-foot ledge with no wall, no guardrail, no nothin'! You look down and see the people on the streets looking like ants and in front of you is the skyline of Cairo, at least some of it because it's so smoggy you can't see much. It was literally breathtaking because it was so beautiful but you also realized how perilous it was. We took some pictures and then got down pretty fast. After this we went to two more mosques that were very intricate and then we went on a bus tour of Cairo with our main professor from Egypt. He took us to the quarries that house the wealthier people of Cairo because here they are outside of the polluted air of the city (that land is in high demand, if you can afford it!). We also saw part of the slum ring that surrounds the city and a lot of illegally built apartments in the middle of the city. I actually fell down the bus stairs that day, badly bruising my leg (it's the biggest bruise I've ever had) and hurting my foot, so I didn't listen to much of his lecture because I was in pain! I'm better now though.
Today was a day of studying. Study study study. That's all I did all day, except for lunch and dinner breaks. We got delicious falafel, mango popsicles, and milky rice for dessert and I also had a piece of chocolate cake. No sweets for a while for me--I'm almost sick of them after that!
Our final test is tomorrow--wish me luck!

The Felucca!

A giant statue of Ramses II

The Step Pyramid

Today we toured Memphis and Sakkara! There were a LOT of things to see so we woke up at 8 am to get going on the bus. First we went to Memphis where we saw yet another open air museum and learned about how Ramses II always put his name on statues that weren't even of him (they were of previous pharoahs) so that's why he has the most statues to this day. Ancient identity theft! We also saw a gigantic statue of him taken from the Ramesseum (a temple he built) that took up a whole building. And it wasn't even the whole statue! After this we went to a museum in Sakkara with remnants of ancient tombs (Sakkara is an ancient cemetery) and then went to see the tombs of some nobles. They consist of a mastaba, which is the mound or building built over a shaft with hieroglyphs everywhere and offering tables, and then a shaft leading to a burial chamber. These shafts were so deep, we couldn't see the bottom of some! We also saw the Step Pyramid built by King Djoser who tried to build a pyramid but couldn't get it exactly right... and the huge complex around it had a temple and shrines and all sorts of interesting ruins, along with tons of stray dogs that greeted you as you stepped off of the bus.  It's the last 5 days in Egypt, I can't believe our time here is almost up! It's crazy to think about. I feel ready to go to India though. Here's some pictures from the day!

The narrow gangplank leading up from an underground tomb

Stray dogs are EVERYWHERE

Since we got back from Alexandria, our week has been full of classes for the most part! Today I went to small group dinner with Paul and Julie (our awesome professors) and the seven of us talked about observations we've made about Egyptian society. There were both positive and negative encounters with the people around us: some people were treated by the Egyptians with contempt and fear at times, while others of us had had pleasant encounters with the people around us. It's been hard to experience true Egyptian life when we're on Zamalek island, which is very westernized and full of AUC students. But from going to the Khan al-Kalili bazaar and talking to people there, I've had great encounters with people who ask where I'm from and, when hearing I'm from America, they say "Ah, America. Very good people. You are welcome here." However, there have also been catcalls and people who aren't as friendly, but I haven't had any openly hostile encounters. One thing I really have contemplated on is the view I'd created of Arab nations in my mind, before I came to Egypt. I'd thought they were pretty unhappy people and not very friendly, especially when I hear them speak in Arabic. Arabic is a harsh-sounding language and it always sounds like people are yelling at each other here. However, I was in a taxi with a really nice Egyptian driver who knew English on my way to Khan al-Kalili. At one point a motorcycle sharply cut in front of us from out of nowhere, and the driver shouted something to our taxi driver, who in return shouted something back. It sounded like a nasty exchange to me and I asked him what he'd said. He replied that the motorcyclist had said something to the extent of "I'm coming in, watch out for me" and our taxi driver had responded with a phrase meaning "Do not be afraid, I won't hurt you/I'll let you by." I thought that was a beautiful back-and-forth and I was shocked that what I thought was a bitter exchange was actually very friendly. It made me rethink my opinion on a lot of stereotypes I'd had of Arab nations and wonder whether they were accurate. We talked a lot about this at dinner, as well as the experiences other people had. It was pretty thought-provoking! 

After dinner, we got a big group of us students to go on a felucca ride down the Nile! A felucca is a small boat with lights all over it, and we just sat and played music and danced for 2 hours, watching other boats go by and acting out songs from Moulin Rouge. It was a blast.