Home Again...

I returned to Indore on Friday morning while it might be great to be back and living a regular routine I miss being on tour very much. I had an AMAZING time, that's an understatement but I don't know how else to put it (hope the caps lock helped).
There were 18 students, mostly from Germany or Canada and the US. From start to finish, the trip went far to quickly. We started in Nagpur where a lot of the students are living and took a night bus ride from there. Most other nights were spent at hotel except for a few that we spent rocking on the bunks of trains.
 From the get go, we were busy every day visiting dozens of temples and other sights and monuments. We spent a few days simply relaxing on beaches or strolling through markets bargaining for souvenirs and gifts. Mostly though, it was a wake up at 7 and non-stop doing things until dinner time even is those things were sitting on a bus for a few hours watching India roll by.
ONe of my favorite days came towards the end of the middle of the trip (if that makes sense). We started the day in warm and balmy Mysore but by the end of the day our bus had climbed thousands of feet into the mountains in a hill station city call Ooty. The drive was breathtaking in a way I had never experienced before. We drove high above the valley we had come from winding on dangerous switchbacks, a sign at each hairpin bend reminding drivers how many people had died there previous years. The scenes were stunning though, lush, unbroken green of the wildlife preserve spread out in the valley below. Trees and bushes clung to the rocked mountain side and above us craggy peaks soared into the clouds. The vegetation at the bottom could only have been described as tropical but at we ascended, it began to resemble the forests at home or in the Pacific Northwest. Both the small villages we passed and the city of Ooty itself were much like what I expect to find if I ever make it to the small mountainside villages in South America. Terraces covered the hills growing the areas produce as well as thousands of pounds of tea to be exported.
 The hotel we stayed in had a magnificent view of the town below, it was built terraced into the side of the mountain with the wall facing out made all out of glass. The whole time we were there a cloud layer surrounded the mountains and valleys making us feel like we were in our own world up there that we had driven to.
Another of my favorite places we stayed was Goa, though it was a favorite for a whole different set or reasons. Goa is THE vacation destination to go to in India, it's a major beach town. We got to spend long relaxing hours on the beaches. Another night we spent in a houseboat in the backwaters of Allappy where we passed single homes on lone islands and Indians rowing by in small homemade canoes. It was another extremely relaxing night, we listened to music, danced, swam, and watched one of the best sunsets ever!
I wish I could go on to describe every temple, every beach, every moment of tour but that would be beyond my and the computers capabilities. I plan on posting pictures as soon as I can but if you're my friend on facebook you can see both my pictures and the hundreds that my friends have posted.

Going Away

This is probably going to be my last post for about a month.
On Sunday all the exchange student in this district and many others throughout India are starting on a 25 day tour of the south of India.
We go to Nagpur, Hyrdrabad, Channai, Mahabalipuram, Kanchipuram, Bangalore, Hassan, Shravanbalgola, Balur, Halbid, Mysore, Ooty, Polachi, Munnar, Thakkadi, Allappy (backwaters), trivandrum, Kovalam, Kanyakumari, Cochin, Goa, Mumbai, and back home again.
It will be a big and busy trip! I still have a lot to do to get ready!
I'm looking forward to meeting the other exchange students from lots of different countries and who are staying all over India. We can compare different experiences!
I haven't been doing much in this past week except school and homework. It was kind of nice to have a routine back after the hectic holidays.
If I have time and internet access at some point on the tour I will try to post a quick update but I don't know if that will happen! Don't fear, I haven't abandoned my attempts to keep a blog going...

Home Sweet Home

Mostly because my mom's been begging me to, I'm these are pictures of my room and home.

My room (bed, wardrobe, desk, the door leads the the bathroom).

My bed, beanbag chair.

Another view...

From in front of the wardrobe.

The garden in front, between the house and the wall.

Tuffy!

The living room, my host father and grandmother watching TV. The windows behind the couch are stained glass and look into the computer/ sitting room.

HAPPY DIWALI!

Yesterday was the official day of Diwali.
Wednesday marked the start of the festival which is technically a 5 day festival but the middle day (yesterday) is THE DIWALI. Wednesday evening, we dresses in traditional clothing and preformed puja (a type of prayer ceremony in front of the temple in our house) and set lit diya in important places all around the house to show the god where to come and bless. After dinner we went out shopping for silver and gold. It is traditional that ever household buy something, it can be anything, silver or gold on the first day of Diwali, all the jewelry shops were packed with people. We also stopped at a huge market area that had been set up where there were dozens of stall selling every imaginable variety of fire works.
Thursday night, after puja, Shruti, my host dad, and I set of some of the fireworks we had bought. After dinner, we all drove around the city stopping at sweet shops looking for the best one to buy from. Driving around the city at night during Diwali is really cool. All of the shops and home are fully decked out in lights and decoration. The mall front are covered in strings of lights. Our own house has hundreds of lights string all  over the outside. People set of crackers and fireworks in the streets and run around with sparklers, which may not be the safest thing, it gives the whole city a very festive mood.
Last night, I dressed in a borrowed silk sari, we had a longer puja and put more diya than previous night out. In each room, my host mother had painted a small design on the floor to place the diya in the center of. I was going to take a picture of the one in my room but the maid mopped the floor before I could this morning. We ate a large, traditional dinner, sitting on the floor and then set of the rest of the fireworks we had bought. The fireworks started before it was even dark out and had not stopped by 1 in the morning when I went to bed. This morning, people were still setting them off despite the lack of darkness. Out my window, I could see them both near and far, we could also hear many more than we could see. The rest of the night, we ate traditional, homemade snacks and visited neighbors, as well as welcomed visitors into our home. My host parents received at least a dozen phone calls from family whole live in other cities.
Today, the day after Diwali, my host parents are out visiting family members and paying their respects. Shruti and I are at home relaxing.

Our house all lit up for Diwali, my room is window behind the colored lights.

The electric diya lights along the wall outside our house.

My house.

Baba, a servant/ guard, and tuffy, the dog, in the gateway of our house.

The garden lights.

Rangoli, colored sand designs, are made everyday out in front of the house.

A real diya sitting in the wall by the gate, they were placed all over the house to show the god where to enter to bless a place like next to doors, windows, and on balconies. 

Shruti with a sparkler in her brand-new Diwali kurti that she designed. 

The garden, swing, and "christmas tree" all lit up.

My Diwali sari (she colors don't show too well).

Deep Cleaning

The festival Diwali is coming up (I had mistakenly said that the previous nine day festival was Diwali, it wasn't) so we have no school this week. When explained to me, people have said that Diwali is like our Christmas, but it seems to me to be more like a Christmas and New Years eve spread over 5 consistent days with as much energy and celebration on the first as on the last. Large amounts of fireworks are used, strings of lights are hung, and the little "diya" lamps are put all over the house so that the god knows where to come to bless.
For Diwali, every house had to be cleaned. When I say cleaned, I mean CLEANED! Today all of the cushions were taken off of the couches, the couches moved and turned upside down, all pillow and couch covers were removed, every drawer and shelf was emptied and cleaned, every corner swept and dusted, a hose was even run into to house and the floors were flooded and washed. I wish I had taken pictures.... The usual maids, the driver, and another man all spent the day in the house helping clean. There was no surface left unwashed. Even the chairs in the garden were scrubbed down. It was the most intense cleaning I have ever seen in my life. This cleaning happens every year for the festival. In some houses, they even repaint or bleach the houses, it's the busiest time of year for painters. My host mother told me that wherever you go, leading up to Diwali, you will see people cleaning and painting.
Diwali is also a time to buy many new things. So far, my host family has gotten both a new cell phone, and a new landline, some towels, a few clothing items, and many other things. On Diwali, it's custom to wear brand new clothing so we will be clothes shopping this week too. This year, Diwali is on the 5th of November.