I'm Not Very Good At This Posting Regularly Thing

I was all set to put up the pictures from the Taj Mahal today, until I discovered that they are only on my laptop, not on the external hard drive thing for some reason. So here are some of the pictures from when Ben and Seth came in December. This was our first day in Amman, wandering around. I show you this bizarre round building, the Le Royale Hotel, so that if you happen to be in Amman in the next few months, you can easily find my apartment, right around the corner from this monstrosity.



This is the "downtown" - aka the older part of the city where you can buy cheap stuff. Most of West Amman (where everything, you know, important, is) is modern and western looking, this is the only neighborhood that looks terribly "middle-easty."

This is the al-Hussein Mosque, sort of the center of the city.

The Roman Amphitheater...looks vaguely out of place here, but charming nonetheless.

The entrance to my favorite arabish cafe, Jafra.

The inside of Jafra, at a strange angle. Were you trying to be artsy or something Ben?

Hahaha.

Thanks for visiting big brothers! Miss you!

On the Ride From Delhi to Agra

The street in front of Hotel Relax again.

I love how Hindi looks so much! It felt exciting to be in a country where I couldn't even read; Arabic doesn't feel terribly foreign anymore.

I was so thrilled they have camels on the streets. Ana uhibb jimaal. I love camels.

It's kinda small, but it says: "Don't Come That Close. I'm Not That Kind Of Car."

These were really sad monkeys. The guy with their leash held one up to my window which was opened a crack and the monkey put its little fingers in...it was half frightening and half super depressing.

Nice guys!

Marya didn't want to ride a camel. They didn't care.

Delhi

Assorted views from the terrace at our Hotel (Hotel Relax, actually quite nice apart from the dirty sheets and lack of heat at night). The people who worked there were incredibly friendly, and arranged a car to take us to and from the Taj Mahal (4.5 hour drive each way) about 30 minutes after we checked in.

Cows!

This is were we had our first chai, aka "milk tea." Life hasn't been the same since.

al-Hind?!

The parking lot of the Delhi airport is sand.

The Taj Mahal is the most incredible thing I have ever seen, anywhere.

I knocked over some potted plants on the Taj Mahal grounds, and was laughed at loudly by some Indian bitch.

Chai here is something really really special...I won't be able to go back to the chai I used to know and love. This saddens me.

Chicken tikka masala is much the same as it is in your country. But the naan is perhaps a little better.

India is the most colorful and visually spectacular place I could imagine.

There are small monkeys here. They are very cute, with precious hands and fingers.

There are lots of hippies travelling here; I've never felt so preppy in my life. Why does it seem that only strangely dressed folk seem to want to come here?

They don't speak Arabic here, but it's fun to speak Arabic to them when they try to sell you things.

I think I need to come back here.

Tomorrow I am flying to the Sikkim region. Look it up; there's mountains there.

I have a lot in common with Lawrence of Arabia

We've both hung out in Wadi Rum!!! Though he was leading a revolt and I joyriding in the back of a pick-up, that's okay.

This was our first group trip (late September), a weekend spent in the spectacular desert of Wadi Rum and the ruins of Petra, both in the south of Jordan, about a three and a half hour drive from Amman. Our first activity was to take a long ride around. It was AWESOME. I think just about everyone in the program has liked Wadi Rum the most out of everywhere we've been.

Kathleen got a call from her host Mom while we were riding about; it was hilarious to watch her talk on her cell phone in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

Aren't Lauren's colors fantastic?

There were some pretty rad land bridges.

Ha! Shadows! That's me, Kathleen, Kristin, Lauren, and Tina.

Kathleen and Kristin ran down then sand hill, then instead of walking around it, which they could easily have done, they proceeded to climb back up...it wasn't easy.

This is Oday, our program director's son. He really may be the cutest child ever.

Camels!!! I love camels. These were probably the first I'd ever seen without saddles and clothes and stuff.

Okay, you can't see it at this size, but if you look at the big picture, you can see little carvings of camels in the rock!

Maybe I shouldn't put this up, but Kathleen asked for a "candid" shot of Lauren and Tina, and Lauren heard "chocolate" shot. As she was eating candy bar, she kindly opened her mouth. LOL.

We stopped for sunset at a big rock good for climbing about on.

Everyone should go to Wadi Rum. Seriously.