It's That Time of Year

And no, I don't mean Christmas. It's Autumn, one of my favorite

times of year. The mornings are crisis and cool, the sun warms the air just right, all the hooligans are in school, and the leaves are starting to turn colors.

I love this time if year. Now don't get me wrong, the other seasons of the year are great as well, but there's just something magical about watching the leaves change color, knowing that you're not going to bake in the heat of summer, or freeze in the cold of winter, and there's almost a magic that comes at only this time of year.

Right now, Richard and I are visiting his parents, so we're not actually at home, but it's still a place where we feel at home. I'm sitting at my mother-in-law's islando as I'm writing this entry. Richard and his father have gone to fill up the GTO with fuel, so that it can be driven, his mother is doing the bills, and I'm writing till I'm needed. I love coming to my in-law's, it's a place where we can both relax and help out.

There are a lot of things that I love about Autumn, but I think my favorite thing about it this year is that I have one of the best jobs ever! I work as a library aide in one of the best library systems ever! I love my job, I love my co-workers, and I know what I want my future career to be. I want to be a librarian I had flirted with the idea for a little while this summer, while I was freaking out about not having a job, along with the idea of being a teacher.

As soon as I started my job at the library, I knew what it was that I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to work in a place that I love and feel like it's a home away from home. And all of my co-workers are amazing, they're geeky, weird, funny, and we all fit in with each other.

This has been my life, and I love it so far. I'll continue working at my library and start working on getting my Master's in Library Science.

Talk to you later,
Ashley

Days 5 through 6 of My Trip through North India

So...days 5 through 6 of my trip through North India. Let me tell you, day 5 has been my favourite day. And I'm pretty sure once I explain why, you'll see why it's my favourite day! ;) And yes, I know, I'm way behind!

Day 5 - Jaipur

This was a great day! The first thing that we did was wake up super early to head to the Amber Fort! The reason for this was because we needed to get to the Amber Fort early so that we could RIDE ELEPHANTS UP TO THE FORT!!! Now that was pretty friken' awesome! We also had a pretty awesome rickshaw driver, well, two of them. The driver for the rickshaw that I was riding in, his

Amber Fort

name was Shampoo. *giggles* Shampoo! The reason for the name, he said, was because it was a nickname that he got when he was younger, for using to much shampoo when he washed his hair. He was a pretty cool guy, he was around my age, so about mid- to late-twenties, spoke excellent English, and knew a lot about a lot of things. I kind of wish I had a picture to show you, that's the one thing that I tend to forget to do, was take pictures of the people that I connected with.

Jamie and I on our elephant!

Anyway, we wake up early, catch our rickshaws and drive out to Amber Fort. Amber Fort is in Jaipur and is the one place where we could ride elephants! Now that was super cool! We actually got to ride elephants! Yes, the most super, cliché thing that someone could do in India, but it was still pretty awesome! And elephant rides only go in the morning for a few hours, which is why we needed to get there early in order to be able to get to the elephant rides. On our way up to Amber Fort, we actually started passing the elephants that would be used for the rides. We stopped and were able to touch and get close to them. They were big! And very gentle creatures too. We weren't all the way up to where we needed to be, so once we were done saying "hi" to the elephants, we climbed back into our rickshaws and finished driving our way up. We then got ready to ride the elephants up to the fort. That was pretty awesome!

Like I said, beautiful architecture...and Jeannie, of course.

Jamie and I on the elephant :)

When we got up to the fort, we all climbed out and started our time exploring the old fort. It was a beautiful fort, one that had a lot of awesome architecture. If there's one thing that I've grown to appreciate since my time in India, is that I love the way the buildings look and how they are shaped and just how it all looks. It's just beautiful! By the time we were done exploring the fort though, we were getting tired enough that we needed to sit, eat, cool down, and get something to drink. I swear I drank more water while I was in India than I had my whole life. Which is a very good thing, mind you. But still, a lot of water. Once we were done with recuperating from our trekking and exploring, we decided that we needed to head up to the next fort. There was a fort, above?, the Amber Fort. so we walked the "secret tunnel" to the fort that is above the Amber Fort called the Jaigrah Fort. The walk up to the fort was long and hot, but it was worth it for the amazing view! And the small breezes that came very so often also made it very enjoyable. The tunnel was cool to look at as well, but the view from the top of Jaigrah Fort was simply beautiful!

"Secret tunnel" :D

View from the Jaigrah Fort

If there's one thing that I will say about India, there is a lot of beauty in just some of the smallest of things, be it the amazing tunnels that were created to walk from fort to fort, or the view from the top to see the green, rolling hills as far as the eye can see. It's a wonderful place and it's a place that is beautiful to see. You can almost see what India would have been like when these forts would have been up and running. It's like stepping back in time.

Also, random thing, I GOT TO DRIVE A RICKSHAW! Shampoo, our rickshaw driver for the day, is a guy who is about our age, mid-20s, and he was a blast! And he let me drive his rickshaw! How many other people do you know can say that they drove a rickshaw from Amber Fort in Jaipur? Heck YEAH! ;D

After the forts, we headed down and went back to our hotel. We were able to relax and enjoy our last day in the hotel before we head for Agra the next day. We spent out last night in the hotel in Steve, Jeannie, and the boys' room watching BBC and just enjoying the time that we had in an air conditioned room.

Day 6 - Agra

This was the day that we headed to Agra and we all rolled out of the hotel and headed to catch our sleeper train to Agra. It was some time till we were able to actually get to our train, so we headed to check out this museum. It was an interesting place, as it was the palace, I think, of a man that just
wanted to collect the things he liked. It was a pretty cool place, but what interested me most about the museum was the Egyptology section. And I love looking at all the statues and mummies, and figures, and everything from Egypt. So this is the only part of the museum to have pictures, though I probably should have taken more, but you know, whatever. :)

When it came time for us to catch our train, we got on our train, a non-AC sleeper, and just sat in to ride on our way to Agra. One of the coolest things about this train ride was that I was able to get some cool pictures of the scenery out the window and the train door. And then I settled in to sleep for a few hours before we get to Agra. We were actually getting into Agra really late, so the nap on the train was good to have.

So, we get into Agra, and it's really late! Like, late enough that we all just want to eat and then collapse into our beds. We're set up into two rooms again, me and the girls in one room, with Steve, Jeannie, and the boys in the other room. We order Domino's Pizza, and literally just fall into bed and sleep. We had to get up early the next morning in order to get to the Taj Mahal! WHOO! But that is an adventure for another time.

Talk to you later,
Ashley

Day 3 through 4 of My Trip through North India

So, I need to continue my latest blog posting...my last major trip in India. I've been lazy lately and haven't updated like I should have been doing. But I'm fixing that now!

Now, to continue:

Day Three - Amritsar

If you remember, when I last left you, I was just getting on the sleeper train to head to our next destination city, Amritsar. We had 10 hours to kill on the train, and we were all split on too. I was luckily next to Jeannie and Stephen, so I wasn't completely by myself, which I am very thankful for. It's hard enough to be in a foreign country without being left alone on a train as well.

So, I had the top bunk on my side of the compartment, while Stephen and Jeannie had the two bunks next to me, only they were across the way. And since it was a sleeper train, we all settled in to just relax and read or do whatever it was that we could in our little bunks. It was also a time where we could get some food. I was STARVING as well! But me, I was worried about my money a bit...I didn't really want to spend a lot of money, so I bought a candy bar first. I, naively, thought that it would keep me filled up till we got to Amritsar the next day. Sadly, Stephen then had to buy dinner
and that just smelled HEAVENLY! I had to buy it and eat some actual food. Warm food too, mind you. Let me just say, it was delicious and I was really glad that I had bought actual food. And it was funny as well. Jeannie had an interesting way of eating her food. But that's just what you have to do when you're really hungry and want to eat food without spilling it everywhere and letting it go flying onto the train floor.

Once we were all feed, it was by the time that we were all settling down to sleep and hopefully rest enough to enjoy seeing the Golden Temple the next day. So, that's what we did. We all did random things, reading, working, listening to music, writing in our journals (well, I did), and all the other things, and we all just turned in to bed. Now, let me tell you...sleeping on these sleeper trains...so not comfortable. Nor is it so easy to get a deep night's sleep. I swear, while I may have slept for a full six hours, I didn't sleep deeply the way a person should.


We end up in Amritsar the next morning at about 6:30 in the morning. We make out way to the free bus ride that's near the train station to take us to the Golden Temple. That was a heaven send actually, as we didn't have to pay for a rickshaw. And when we got there, we all had to cover our heads in some way. The girls all had scarves, and the boys had to wear these pirate head wraps. It was kind of cool to wear the scarves in the way I've seen some girls wear them. A cool thing about the Golden Temple was that, even though were a lot of people in the area, and there was a lot of talking, but the thing was that it was a noisy quiet. It was beautifully reverent and quiet and just a nice place in general. Compared to a lot of the other religious sites that I've gone and seen and just been around in general during my time in India, this was one of the more spiritually reverent and connected places that I've seen. Let's just say, it was one of my favourite places to be on our trip.

After we had visited, and walked about the complex, as well as actually go inside the temple (which was pretty cool!), it was about 8:00, maybe 8:30 in the morning. Let's just say, that by this time, we were all STARVING!! There was a McDonald's close by, so we all trooped over there with our super super heavy backpacks, and ordered some hotcakes (pancakes) with the hash brown thingie and this really cheap, crappy orange juice drink that said it was Minute Maid orange juice. Yuck.

Once everyone had eaten, we all split off into groups. Lizzie and Oliver went off one way, Stephen, Jamie, and Westen went of to see the Indian/Pakistani broader. That left Kendra, Jeannie, and I in a group by ourselves. We wandered around Amritsar, looking at all the booths that sold those random little necklaces and trinkets and things like that. All three of us eventually got bored and ended back at McDonald's, just talking and waiting for the others to show up. By the time everyone did, we decided that we wanted to eat at Domino's for lunch, which was delicious! Pizza in India seems to just a little bit better than the pizza here. But that may just have been because I really really missed American food.

When we were done with lunch, we headed back to the train station to board our sleeper train for our 17 hour train ride. Now, that was a LONG train ride. I read for most of the trip, being in a top bunk again. I got quite a ways through the fourth Game of Thrones book, "A Feast for Crows". I then proceeded to fall asleep.

Day 4 - Jaipur

We roll into Jaipur. Let's just say that the after two nights on sleeper trains and not showering....we were SO happy to get to Jaipur. And our hotel. Which also had a Western shower. HALL-AFRICKEN'-LUEIGH! (if I even spelled that right...). It was so nice to shower and just let it feel like I'm a clean human being again. So, all the girls are in one room, and the boys and Stephen and Jeannie were in another room. When we were all clean humans again, we got ready to set out for the day. The first thing that we did was eat breakfast! I was starving and it was good to have some actual food.

The guards outside the Textile Museum.

We first headed off to a place called City Palace. It was a big museum place. There was a textile

Just some cool looking
architecture.

museum, an artillery museum, as well as a place that sold a lot of hand made items for very expensive. And I mean very expensive. But it was still a good place to just wander around and see what's what.

When we were done wandering around City Palace, we started trying to find other places to explore. We actually tried going to see another museum to explore, but we ended up getting lost. When we figured that out, we headed to a place near City Palace called the Palace of the Winds. There was a lot of little shops right out front, all along the street. There was so many things that you could buy from cheap little elephant keychains to these awesome genie pants! We all ended up buying at least one thing on the way there. I got a scarf for my grandma, bartered all the way from 600 rupees to 300 rupees. I also bartered for a nightie from 800 rupees to 150 rupees. Am I good or what? ;)

The view from the top at the temple.

A mother and her child at Monkey
Temple

Anyway, after we went through all the shops, we decided that we could either head up to the Monkey Temple or back to the hotel to rest and then the Monkey Temple. We decided that going to the Monkey Temple then back to the hotel would be a better course of action as then we wouldn't be wasting as much money. Monkey Temple was pretty cool though. It was a long walk up to the temple and there were monkeys everywhere! And when we got to the actual temple, it was a beautiful site to see! To see all of Jaipur below as well the sky at the sun was heading towards sunset. It was just a wonderful site to see! And the monkeys were kind of funny as well. There weren't a lot of monkeys up at the temple, but on our way down, we saw a TON of monkeys. And we got to feed them. They were so used to humans coming around and just giving out food that they were would just come up and grab the bag of peanuts right out of your hand. It happened to Jamie. A monkey stole both of her bags right out of her hand and ran off with them. Luckily, Westen was brave enough to go after it and get at least one bag back for her. It was kind of crazy at the same time.

We get back to our hotel, and we eat at the restaurant that the hotel has in it for dinner. And then we just chilled in Stephen and Jeannie's room for a while, watching their TV as it actually worked before we all headed to bed. It was a wonderful first day in Jaipur.

Talk to you later,
Ashley

Temples and Fish Feasts

So my day yesterday turned out to be pretty good. I already told you about my first interview/source of Dr. Paul.

After that, the health students and I were actually able to go to a temple in that was about 30 kilometers up the coast from Vizag. It was the main temple of the guru of Dr. Prakabrah (?), the health students main source. It was actually a pretty cool temple, it was a new temple as well, built within the last 8 years I think was what it was called. And it was beautiful! So beautiful, and don't worry, I got pictures of the outside at least, as we're not allowed to take pictures of the inside, where the shrine it. Dr. Nuckolls hadn't seen the temple either, so he was very interested to see all of the carvings on the wall and such. Now, some of the carvings were....interesting, to say the least. They had carvings of people having sex. For Hindism, it's not a big deal, but for Mormon students from BYU it was a bit strange to see carvings like that on a temple wall.

I also had a banana at the temple yesterday. I actually liked it too...which is strange for me, you know that I'm not the biggest fan of bananas, but these bananas are delicious! A lot better tasting rather than ones that we have the United States. So I'll actually be able to eat the bananas here, but I still don't think I'll be able to eat the ones in the States...they still don't taste all that good, especially now that I've eaten ones here.

So after the temple, we went to eat in the Jalari (fisherman) village where Dr. Nuckolls has a house and where his family lives. It was excellent! And it was kind of cool, we got to eat on their roof, had rice (obviously), two different types of fish, and mangoes! I love the mangoes here, they're in season and so they taste amazing!!! And I actually liked the fish, which is unusual for me. But it was really good fish. But again, I don't think I'll be able to find fish like that in the States so I probably won't eat as much there as I would here, were we to eat there again. And a lot of people were in this tiny little house, a lot of them having traveled from a ways a way, just to see us. And they all wanted their pictures taken of themselves, and them with Dr. Nuckolls, and them with us, and just a lot of pictures. I'll send some to you so that you can see what I'm talking about. It was cool though, after the dinner, we all just sat around asking them questions through Dr. Nuckolls and having some of the younger ones teach us words in Telugu. It was pretty fun, as there are some sounds that are harder for us to pronounce, so we end up not saying what we should be saying. 

All in all though, yesterday was a fun time. We were able to have delicious food as well as visit an awesome looking temple. A typical day for us in India. And it was a great day! I hope that everyone back home is doing all right and that they are enjoying their dry summer where ever you are!

Talk to you soon,

Ashley

Holy Crap! Guess Where I Am????

Yes, if you guessed INDIA! then you are correct! I am officially in India and I have been for about two days now. And let's just say that a lot has happened in the past two days...well, five days, if you count the days that I traveled.

So on Thursday, May 8th I left Provo, UT and stated my journey that would eventually land me in here in Vizag, India. I first went to Chicago, where I would catch a 15 hour plane flight to Hyderabad, India. But I first had to spend the night in Chicago. Let's just say that I wish I had taken my husband's advice and stayed in a hotel for that night, but I am stubborn and didn't. I didn't sleep much that night and so was very tired. Once on the plane, I figured that I would sleep once I was on the plane....NOPE! I watched four movies, ate three airplane meals, read my book, napped some, and looked out the window. Not necessarily in that order either.

After we landed in Hyderabad, I again had to wait over night in an airport for the plane that would take me to Vizag. That wait wasn't as bad, as it was only for a few hours, but I had a desperate need for sleep...I really needed sleep, but I didn't. I stayed up and finished my second book, The Book Thief. Now that was a good book. And the plane ride to Vizag from Hyderabad was only about an hour, so not too bad at all. But my first day in India was May 11th. It took me three days to get to India, but I got here safe and sound. And once I got over the fact that I was in India, it was pretty great actually. I think I'm going to love it here, but when the time comes, I'll be excited to go back home.

But my first day in India was May 11th, Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day Momma!!!

I was able to borrow Dr. Krishnayya's, the professor here that helps with the India Study Abroad program, phone and call home. As I didn't want to use all of his minutes, I just called to say hi and that I had made it to India and to wish my mom a happy Mother's Day. I really hope that she did have a good one. After that, we had lunch and while the others went to church, I went back to the apartment and slept. I slept for about 5 hours as when I woke up, it was time for dinner. As the staff that helps out with the program doesn't work on Sundays, Dr. Nuckolls took all of us out to eat at a nearby restaurant.

But before we went out to eat, we actually went and participated in a Krishna temple ceremony that was happening down the street. That was interesting actually, there was a lot of singing by the men, we walked in a circle around the shrine, we then drank holy water and had some sort of rice pudding and a type of rice called Tiger's Food. The last part was my favorite, but that was because I was hungry.

Now the food at the temple and the restaurant was excellent! I love the food here, it's spicy and it's also healthy. I'm pretty sure that this will most likely be the time when I'll eat the healthiest food. After we ate we headed back to the apartment and I promptly feel back asleep. Didn't wake up till about 6:30 this morning.

Now today, we had our first Telugu class. What struck me as most interesting about that was that it behaves a lot like Navajo. Just let me explain, and you'll understand. Navajo is a tonal language; Telugu is a tonal language. Navajo uses a single word to describe something, like "younger brother" for example; Telugu also uses a single word to say "younger brother." I think I'll have an easier time with Telugu that I thought I would.

We also went out shopping as I needed native clothes and it just gives us a chance to get to know our translators. As soon as I learn to spell their names correctly, I'll tell you. I also got some really pretty clothes. Once I have pictures, I promise to upload them so that you can see how beautiful they are. If that's one thing a fashionista would like about India, they have wonderful and admirable clothes here.

And now I'm in an Internet cafe writing this blog entry up. I hope this gives you a slight idea of my life here.

Talk to you soon,
Ashley :)

Easter Morning

Today was Easter Sunday, and while my husband and I didn't do eggs, or a big fancy dinner or anything like that, it was still a beautiful day. This morning as I walked to church, the sun was still behind the mountains, so it wasn't supper warm yet, there were clouds in the sky that looked like they had rain in them, the birds were chirping and saying hello, and it was just so calm and peaceful. It's mornings like this that I think are like the morning when Christ was resurrected. While the sunny, beautiful spring mornings are wonderful for Easter Sunday, it's the mornings that are little bit covered in clouds, the sun barely rising, that reminds me more of Easter than anything else really.

Easter Morning

The most wonderful thing to me about Easter is that it was the day that our Saviour, Jesus Christ, was resurrected after three days in the tomb. He had died to pay for our sins, and he did so through the Atonement. I think this is part of the reason I like mornings like this. While it's not all bright and sunshiney, it is still a calm morning, a peaceful morning. I know I've said this a lot, but this, to me, is a morning where it doesn't seem like a lot has happened, something has. The day is new, the sun is rising, and there hasn't been a lot to show the world that something spectacular has happened, that's the beauty of it; something spectacular has happened. The Lord is risen, and he has broken the bands of death. We will be able to live again, and be able to live with him and our Heavenly Father again. All of this because of what he did for us, dying for our sins, and then rising again the third day. I do believe this to be true!

So...yeah, that is my Easter Sunday. I hope that everyone had a great day and that your Easter Sunday was an enjoyable one where ever you live!

Talk to you soon,
Ashley