What an experience!

Hi everyone!


It is good to be home but I do miss the spontaneity of the "side of the road"...as promised, I would like to share some of what we did our last few days....

Two words: Elephant Ride

Snake Charmer:

The folks who own and run Paradise Tours, the company that provided us with Sanjay and our tour bus were gracious hosts to our entire group on our second to last night....They had a beautiful home and even let us dress up in saris...

   

Then, we went out for a delicious farewell dinner.....

The next morning, bright and early, we reported at the Banyan Tree School, a private school that was well prepared for us even though they had only begun school the day before!  They arranged an amazing assembly for us which included singing and dancing...



Then, we spent some time in classrooms..

Then, we taught American baseball..it was a little tough teaching 40 kids in a 30 minute gym class held on half a basketball court, using a wiffle ball and ball..you'll also notice I am wearing a skirt...what you can't tell from the pics is that it was about 100 degrees...you can tell the kids had a blast!!

Play ball!

Mrs. Olshaw and her idol, Gandhi

What an amazing trip!

The Banyan Tree School...

So, yesterday, we spent the better part of the day on the bus....we traveled from Jaipur back to Delhi for the final leg of our trip...we began the day with a walking tour of Jaipur which allowed us to see the "real Jaipur" including cows and pigs jaunting through the streets.  

We also enjoyed breakfast with ancestors of the "Royal Family"..they had a beautiful home amidst some not so beautiful homes..it was definitely a really cool experience....

Today, we spent our last day at the private school called The Banyan Tree School....i will be posting more about this trip when we return because we are heading to the airport to RETURN HOME...I can't believe it!!!

See you soon!!

Namaste.

This is why we're here...

This morning, we awoke at 5am to be on the road by 5:45 to the Akshaya Patra soup kitchen (www.akshayapatra.org) an organization which is responsible for feeding over one million children who attend government funded schools...what an amazing place..they welcomed us so warmly and showed us around...

Then, on to the best part, the schools!!!

We went to visit the Sindi Secondary Govt.School to serve them their lunch..this is a government funded school...it is mainly conducted in Hindi with some English introduced later in years..

                                                                          Fourth graders!

Serving Dal...

What an amazing day and it's only 12:40pm!

Later, we will be visiting City Palace and some bazaars...

Yoga remains to be done..keeping my fingers crossed!

Who knew crossing the road could be so entertaining?

Good day!

So, yesterday, we spent much of our day on the bus travelling from Agra to Jaipur...we stopped at a the city built by Akbar for a tour of his palace as well as a mosque....


After a couple of hours there, we set off for lunch..."about a half hour away"....in IST (Indian Stretchable Time as our tour guide calls it) we arrived to lunch about 2 hours later, roughly around 4pm, having eaten breakfast at 8am....tough one for those of us who get grumpy when they don't eat...


I have been keeping a list of "things seen on the side of the road in India" as we travel...so far:
horses, goats, cows, bulls, water buffalo, dogs, monkeys, donkeys...today, I added pigs, piglets, peacocks, and ELEPHANTS....anything goes and I LOVE IT!


On our way to our new hotel in Jaipur, we had to make an ATM stop which required us to cross the road..we are told not to run as then, the motorbikes can't time it right to dodge us...so we wait for the buses and trucks to pass then make a walk for it....luckily, Mrs. Olshaw and I made it back safely to join the rest of the bus cheering on everyone else as they attempte to make it back...it felt like we were watching a race of some sort..a little afraid to watch....everyone made it back!


Dinner followed by a visit to an amazing roofdeck rounds out another day....5am wake up call tomorrow!

Friday...heading off to Jaipur

Good morning from India...

Today, we are boarding our bus heading for our third destination...Jaipur...we are very excited as we will do yoga, visit a soup kitchen and two schools....it is 8:50am and at least 100 degrees as yet...

Yesterday, Mrs. Olshaw visited a home for the underprivileged run by St. Teresa nuns...she commented that it was amazing and a very hopful experience...she visited with some of the cutest children she has ever seen (pictures to follow)....


As promised here are the pictures of the home I visited.

 One of the teachers traveling with us donated clothing to the home. This little sweety collected them all and draped them on her bed. I would have done the same, they were very beautiful.

 The children are very happy here in their home, well cared for and clean.

 Boys will be boys...these two were too cute as they ran aroung giggling.

 Smiles all around!

I learned that peek-a-boo is universal. The children squealed with delight.








We are absolutely loving our trip so far..we are with a great group of people and seeing the country in an amazing way...our hotels have been great, our tour guide resourceful (funny but a bit verbose)....

Keep with us...

Taj Day!

So this morning, we joined an elite bunch of folks who have seen and been inside the Taj Mahal...

We got an early start for the second day in a row (3:45 yesterday, 4:30 today)....our eyes were half open, half shut...dressed in my freshly purchased Punjab suit, Mrs. Olshaw in her new skirt.....we headed off.....

Taj=AMAZING

Hi World!

Mrs. Olshaw just worked very hard to get up some of our info from yesterday....please check it out!  The issue is that the internet at our hotel in Agra is not great....


The latest update is that we are now part of the elite group that has been to the TAJ MAHAL...unreal...pics and narrative to follow!