Arrival in Jaipur and start of work

Hello Everyone,

I hear that New York has been hit hard with a snowstorm and hope that everyone is enjoying their snow day, if you got lucky!  I can tell you from over here that America is followed rather a lot as there was an article in the India Times about the snowstorm! In terms of the weather here in Jaipur it has been warming up rather nicely.  I have only had to wear two layers for the past two days and was even hot walking around today!  In the two days I have been here, I can tell that Jaipur is much more of a relaxed city then Delhi.  That being said, it is still India and still chaotic to the average westerner.  However, it has less people and the traffic is only mildly crazy, as suppossed to full blown insane.  While in Delhi I was able to go to a TB clinic with my friend Sarah in one of the slums and let me tell you they are not similar to Nigerien slums at all.  Obviously they are bigger, but they are set up in abandoned buildings and not just shags made of tin. Today in Jaipur I was able to make a site visit to the the school that I will be working at.  It was overwhelming and invigorating all in one.  It is a one room school house in one of the slums on the outskirts of town and we have an age range of 5 to 12.  I also have an Indian translator to help me understand the children better.  I have found that I will be teaching math as well as English, which as most of you know, is not my forte. (Jackie come and help me haha)  I imagine this is going to be a very hard and exciting experience.  I start work on Monday and will write about my first day then!

In terms of my accommodations, they are extremely nice by Indian standards.  There was even a tiny space heater in the room when I got here (it is actually broken but anywho).  There are a total of 5 roms with 4 people in each room with two set of bunk beds.  Each room has a bathroom attached to it and of course I got the only one with a Turkish squat toilet, "Yes!", can you here my sarcasm there lol!  We also have a common room with a television that has an American station that plays Friends and The Bachelor all the time. Currently there are about 10 other people here, 8 girls and 2 boys and I am one of only 2 Americans.  People are from all over Europe and Australia/New Zealand.  It has been very exciting to meet all of these people.  As I spend more time in India I am getting excited for the experiences I will have and the traveling I will do. India is a vast country with many different peoples and heriiges that I hope I will get to experience.  Tomorrow is a holiday because of the Kite Festival.  We are going to watch from our roof and see the games.  Apparently the object is to knock other kites down and be te first to find your kite (exactly like the book The Kite Runner).  I look forward to doing some sightseeing in Jaipur over the weekend and bonding more with my housemates!

I hope you all stay warm and I will write again soon!

Love you all,
Alyssa