Weekend #1

This weekend Rachel and I decided to stay in Jaipur to spend time with our family.  We had a lot of family time-some hectic, some very fun, all of which taught us some lessons.  

On Saturday we were woken up at 7:30 am (after we had gone to bed at 2am, because our brother and sister wanted to watch a Bollywood movie.  The movie didn't have subtitles, so it was kinda hard for Rachel and I to stay awake for the whole movie, but we got the gist of the message of the film.)  We had a big breakfast since everyone in the family had holiday, and then after breakfast we went with Grace to buy her cell phone.  Buying cell phones in India is a big excursion because it is required to have a copy of your passport, cell phone, two passport photos and proof of address.  

After lunch we went with our Mommy-ji, Akshay and Akshara to our Mommy-ji's brother's house.  We met his family as well as her Papa-ji.  The day was busy-we visited a temple, went to the market, played cricket, visited another temple, etc.  While we were at their home, we also found out that there were serial bombing in Delhi.  Hopefully in class today we will discuss these bombing and why they have been occurring around India. 

On Sunday we visited a coffee-shop and park with Grace and Amanda.  After lunch we watched "Jab We Met," another Bollywood movie that our brother and sister rented.  They love watching Bollywood movies.  After the movie we went up to the roof of the apartment building, which was an amazing experience.  We could see so much of Jaipur, the mountains (they look like small hills, but are actually older than the Himalayas), the near-by temples, and some forts.  After this time on the roof we had tea and then went with our family by rickshaw to a mall.  This was quite the experience because the malls are sworming with people, especially college aged students.  I don't like malls in the United States, so it wasn't quite my idea of a fun outing, but I guess it is good to see what a mall in India looks like.  There were basically a lot of stores, some Indian, some American companies, and tons of people.  

So, the weekend had some good times, some funny times, some highlights, and definitely some challenges.  There is the weird sensation of feeling as if I have been here for so long (much longer than 2 weeks) while at the same time still feeling so lost in terms of language, culture, understanding government and social structures, etc.