The one with summer school.

Summer school sessions at ILA were physically and mentally demanding. Not only were you teaching 12+ hours on the weekends, but then you had classes in the morning during the rest of the week and then a weird break before your regular evening classes. By weird I mean a break that didn't allow you to go home and take a nap or do things so you ended up napping at school. By the by the best way to nap at school is to take 3-4 chairs and line them up side by side and sleep that way. The best thing is to push them really close to the table so people can't see you sleeping there.

Despite it's intensity, summer school was a welcome break for several reasons:

1) I was able to make up all my lost hours from the couple of weekends I was out due to various illnesses.

2) I felt like I was doing more with my life because I was working more and not cooped up in my awesome apartment. ::tear:: I miss that place.

3) We got to go on a field trip to the Saigon Zoo. It's a place I would have never gone on my own because I despise zoos. I'm glad I saw it, not because it was a great place to be, but because it was horrendous and it made me want to fight even harder against the horrors of zoos.

Like with the majority of my blog posts, here are a TON of photos to help convey what my words can't say. Well, my words are pretty accurate this time around: I had some really cute and wonderful kids in my class and the zoo was a terrible place.

Thinh and his favorite kid...for that day.

 

Me and Minh.

Tales from India: Udaipur: Oh wait, that didn't happen

I was supposed to go to Udaipur after Jaipur and spend two days there, but instead I got insanely sick, off McDonald's of all things!!! I mean I was eating street food there and I was absolutely fine. It boggles the mind. Being sick in India by yourself is quite an adventure, but I really don't have anything good to say about it. I stayed in bed, drank lots of water, spent a lot of time in the bathroom (please don't say ewww because it's a fact of life, and when I could finally digest stuff I ate french fries.) So I have nothing else to say about India really because I went back to Sunita's the very next day, stayed in bed for 2 days, ventured out for dinner with Tanay and Tanushi at one point, was offered a ride to the airport by a very handsome Indian man who gave me flowers and then endured 10 hour flight with a connection in Bangkok back to Saigon. I sat next to a very lovely Korean guy on the flight back and we bonded over our love of international travel and I told him all about visiting Cambodia. It was his first time out of S. Korea and chose Thailand as his first destination (excellent choice) and after talking to me decided Cambodia would be next. Woop!
Next, any random photos I didn't post before. Mostly pictures I took to keep myself occupied during some very long car rides.

Because I was a teacher, le duh.

Tales from India: Jaipur: Day 2

So once again I've decided to go with the picture essay format because 1) it's more interesting (for you) and 2) it's easier (for me).
I will say that tour guides will tell you that you have to see this and you have to see that. Any time it's a factory where the print art, make jewelry, etc you'll be expected to purchase something. I don't, I only feel slightly bad for not doing so, and this is often a good opportunity to get into the shade.
Also, this is the day I rode a camel!!! They're much higher up that horses and they get up and down by leaning forward or behind and you feel like you're going to fall off. Best advice is to just hold on tightly with your legs, keep your upper body straight and lean in the opposite direction. So if they're getting up they usually get up on the hind legs first so your body will be angled forward (downward). To avoid falling off just lean backwards. Easy peasy!

These two little dudes were quite handy tour guides and made sure my camel didn't run into the middle of the street. Rewarded them with this tip: Stay in school. (Joking, I did give them money.)

Tales from India: A Bollywood wedding

I have to admit that even though I had visions of grandeur, white horses and elephants prancing down the street, the reality of what happened was much better. S and V's wedding took place at a hall called Tivoli Gardens. I'm sure the gardens themselves were beautiful, but the wedding was held at night so I couldn't see much. There was a long hallway lined with flowers and lights on the  way to the hall. The hall was set up so that people could have dinner during the wedding, wander over to watch the ceremony when they felt like it and it wasn't a bad or shameful thing to not do so. I always feel bad sneaking away during West Indian weddings, but there is absolutely no way I'm about to sit on the floor for 2+ hours. When I get married I promise to provide chairs.
The wedding ceremony itself was different from what I've seen. They carried the bride in on a chair and she couldn't come down until the groom, also on a chair, managed to throw a garland of flowers around her neck. Her family tried to stop him and his family tried to stop them. It was so much fun. While S and V were getting married people had the option of eating dinner or watching the ceremony (brilliant idea!) Not sure how and why things change so much, but I'm sure it's just a matter of differences between the Hindu religion in Indian vs. West Indian culture. Actually, it's a topic I'm currently doing research on, but I can't promise any answers and don't ask. Not sure why I even mentioned in.
Here are a few pictures from the wedding.

Tales from India: In between posts

I recently read this blog post from The Lazy Travelers and I just had to share. It was genius and made me laugh like a smoker suffering from asthma.

Tales from India: Jaipur: Day 1

So with the wedding a full blown success I prepared for my 4 day trip to Jaipur-Jodhpur-Udaipur. Basically I was going to spend a lot of time in a car. Luckily for me all I need to fall asleep is a moving vehicle. Must be a thing from the womb...thing. 

I set out pretty early Monday morning, up before the sun early, to begin my trip. The drive to Jaipur was amazing. From the very little I remember. It was a 4 hour trip and I was up early so I basically slept most of the way. Thinking back, I was either very stupid or very confident in my Krav skills, After everything I'm now hearing about India I'm quite lucky that nothing untoward happened to me. I mean, I'm a very wary person and I trust no one, not even my own mother (hey, ma!) so hopefully it was that confidence that Krav instilled in me that was radiating outwards saying "don't mess with that girl. She knows crazy Israeli martial arts." I'm sure that was it. And my guardian angel.
I arrived in Jaipur safe and sound. The first thing we did was head to my hotel so I could freshen up. Definitely one of the better hotels I've been in while travelling. I'd recommend Nahargarh Haveli for sure. It was just far off beaten path for me. I think it was in a residential district, but that just meant it was quiet at night and people could hear me scream if necessary. Ugh, my thoughts are awfully dark tonight. I don't have an address, but here's their TripAdvisor page and I would recommend it for sure, mostly because of how my trip ended and how well they took care of me. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The first thing I did was find my tour guide. We found the local office for Vaibhav India Tourism and appropriated a tour guide. He was pretty nice. Not as great as Hassan, but good nonetheless. I don't remember him commenting on my beauty, that's for sure. We visited Jantar Mantar first. "It's a collection of architectural astronomical instruments built by Sawai Jai Singh II who was a Rajput King. There exists a total of five such facilities including Delhi. The one at Jaipur is the largest and best preserved of them. It's another World Heritage site." Thanks be to Wikipedia for that succinct description.

Look at how red my face is.

Then we went to visit the City Palace, which is a complex of structures and includes the Chandra Mahal and Mubarak Mahal palaces. It is now a museum, but parts of it are still part of the royal residence. Thanks again to Wikipedia. I believe the current King of Jaipur is 13 years old and lives in London and is heir to a trove of bickering family members and court cases. Poor kid.

After that I had to call it a day. I'm sure I was suffering from sunstroke and since people wouldn't/couldn't stop gawking at the cherry tomato I called a face I had to plan a strategic retreat. Below are a few pictures from my drive back to the hotel and a few words of advice to the determined backpacker.

Aren't they beeeeautiful?

The famed Pink City.

Love the colours!

A reminder to watch that movie which of course I still haven't.

Hawa Mahal or the Palace of Winds. Probably the most iconic landmark in Jaipur.

CAMEL!

Words of advice:
If you've got any common sense whatsoever you will not visit India in July and if you're forced to do so then you should not going touring especially in the middle of the day and if you are still on this path of insanity then you'll wear a hat, carry an umbrella, and/or drink a ton of water.

Day 2 coming soon. Promise.