We've got it going on...

with the first of many fotos for your viewing pleasure:-) Quick recap: our bags at PDX; Josh loving the "short" flight to Delhi; our first breakfast at our overpriced hotel; the sweet bed at our overpriced hotel; a view of delhi from the window of our overpriced hotel (okay, i'll stop with that now); motorbikes in Jaipur taking of like a pack of hyenas; another shot from a careening autorickshaw (also known as tuk-tuks for you gaute lovers); our smiling faces; a camel negotiating its way through the pack of motorized hyenas:-)

If this works, we'll have more recent shots up ASAP...

love and doves, peace and bike grease,
J&J

Fighting the good fight...

I am currently battling with yet another computer that refuses upload fotos, but I will win the war. I swear. Even if I have to search all of Jaipur, evading taxi wallahs and cow patties, subsisting only on pakora and chai, until I achieve victory.

Duking it out with the computer aint no thang but a chicken wing compared to coming face to face with low level beauracrats like those we've been trying to alternately charm, evade and bully in order to get that last leeeeeetle piece of paper Josh needs for the Fulbright to be all official and whatnot. They have done their best to squash and stymie us but we are strong in spirit (and desperate to spend the government's money instead of ours:-) and refuse to tap out.

Turns out that the Fulbright folks have been sending a certain form to Rajasthan University for the last NINE MONTHS, but it's only been "discovered" at the university since we arrived and started doing our gadfly routine. Depending on our mood, it's either hysterical or maddening (truthfully, most the of the time it's both) that someone will kindly offer us chai amd potato chips while telling us there is nothing they can do for us when someone else has already assured us that "there is no problem." Come Tuesday though, we will know if we have triumphed or if the dueling will continue...keep your fingers crossed for us...If this continues, I may have to fly my mother to Jaipur to lay the smack down.

But for two weeks, we're not that bruised or battered. In fact, we're healthy (Josh even went to the dentist) and in a constant state of discovery which is mostly pretty wonderous although definately mind-bending and heart-twisting at times--
...the woman who cooks for us, Ratna, loves to dance with some serious sass while she expertly chops gobi and piaz (cauliflower and onion) to make some of the most flavorful food we've ever had
...a lovely rooftop restaurant where Josh and I were the only customers and had a romantic dinner after the electricity went out and we dined by candlelight
...at the train station we were trying desperately to decipher the schedules in order to book a ticket to Kolkatta when a crowd of men got us the right form (they are CRAZY about forms in this country), filled it out for us and ushered us to the front of the (very slow moving) line
...children begging in front of the mansions and decadantly constructed temples that line some of the main streets of Jaipur
...that unavoidable whiff of urine that rises to your nose every time you pass a wall
...successfully buying vegetables and milk and yogurt in (mostly) Hindi!
...cows eating their way through piles of trash while cars swerve madly to avoid hitting them--a rickshaw driver told Josh "if I hit a person, okay...if I hit a cow??!!!"
...two little boys offering to let me fly their kite

More to come of course...

Amor y Paz
J&J

Things We've Learned So Far...In No Particular Order...

1. Indian men like walk past Josh when he's wearing a kurta and sunglasses and say things like "You are looking so good today."
2. Excellent sayings such as "No worry, chicken curry," which was courtesy of our multi-lingual rickshaw driver today (He spoke Hindi, English, French, Italian as well as a local dialect. Damn.)
3. If you're tired enough your first morning in Delhi, your taxi drivers might be able to talk you into spending some time wandering through certain shops where they get "little presents" when they bring tourists by, although you will be assured time and time again that you do not need to buy anything. But it wouldn't hurt.
4. No matter what you ask for, even if it's completely impossible, the first thing you hear will be "No problem."
5. Elephant polo is slowest, wierdest game on the planet. Even though the announcer assured us it was "the inevitable evolution of India's love affair with polo and with elephants."
6. People like to watch us bargain, and sometimes, help us not get completely screwed. Two particular incidents come to mind-- (1)one rickshaw driver tried to convince us it was 100 rupees from our house to Josh's teacher. We'd already made the trips several times and paid 50. Within 30 seconds, 4 other drivers and several young boys had gathered--maybe to see if we could hold our own or if they could go home with another great story about how the foreigners got ripped off and seemed happy about it:-) When we had insisted on 50 rupees for a few minutes, one of the other drivers stepped up, punched the offending driver in the shoulder and told us to pay 50. (2) A few nights ago, while dueling it out with a driver yet again, a young man shouted to us in a very bold voice "YOU ARE EXACTLY RIGHT." The driver didn't bargain for much longer.
7. According to one older woman we met in front of a food stand, even though Jessica is very white, she has Indian features. Who knew?
8. Spanish is totally, completely, utterly, without a shadow of a doubt, USELESS here. But Jessica keeps trying...
9. The Indian government regulates helmet use on motorcycles and seatbelts in cars.
10. We've never seen more autos (and animals, including the occasional camel and elephant) run red lights, cut through the gaps in concrete medians, drive against oncoming traffic, all the while, the drivers happily smoking bidis and/or chatting on their cell phones.

More to come (and those gosh darn pics too...)

Peace and Love,
J&J

and we're here...at last...

Quick post before the computer blinks out on me again and I have to rewrite the long version for the billionth time--mental note, write out the details BEFORE going to use the Internet.

Today is our one week anniversary of our departure from Portland to India, which for the record, I'm willing to bet is about as far as you can travel without actually circumnavigating the globe. Which means, although a week ago today we began our journey, we didn't arrive in La India until last Wednesday about 9:30 pm local time (13 1/2 hours ahead of Pacific coast time.) And that 25 hours of travel, give or take, was just to get to Delhi. Photos of our slow descent into madness and delirium after those hours will be posted soon for your viewing pleasure.

There are, of course, many stories of adventures and "learning experiences" which I'll get to over the next few posts, but for now, the bare bones--arrive in Delhi. Wrestle our two duffle bags, two packs, one sitar, and one gourd into an Al Capone-Chicago gangster style taxi. And our two exhausted selves. Go to hotel where reservation had been made. Manager informs us NO reservation has been made. Interesting. 11:00 pm and five billion hotels later...pay too much for a room but are in no position to bargain. Clearly we are desperate. Asi es la vida (can't say that in Hindi yet.) But there's a bed and windows and an Indian-style bathroom (that's right...no t.p.). Collapse into sleep.

Next morning, wrestle our things back into the same taxi and slowly and leisurely make our way through the well-behaved traffic of India's capital. HA! But we accept the possibility of death (if we could do it in Guatemala, we can do it here) and eventually make our way to the bus station. Seven hours later we're in Jaipur after passing camels, donkeys, cars without sideview mirrors, and so many amazing colors--gold bangles, green yellow pink blue saris, red cliffs. Josh's teacher sends his brother and nephew to pick us up...achaa (that's "good"). They swooped down and before we knew it, we were tucked away in their beautiful ancestral home, where at least 25 people live.

And finally, on Friday, we put our bags down in our very own apartment. The days have been full of chai, learning Hindi, lots of practice, lots of writing, negotiating at the market, visiting temples, and meeting kind and generous people everywhere.

More details and charming anecdotes to follow soon.

With love and peace,
J&J