Maggie's Birthday

 by Maggie Muth         

          My birthday was crazy! I’ll tell you about it. I woke up on my birthday when my mom and dad woke me and went out side to look at the monkeys and my door. The college students had put notebook paper with drawings on it. I got dressed and went to breakfast after Grace gave me her present, a binder filled with Lego instructions.

            After breakfast we went to the Ajanta Caves. We parked the bus and walked up some steps. Then dad said, “hop in Maggie.” He was standing next to a palonquin, (a chair that four people carry). So I got in, and we went up the rest of the stairs. I felt like a princess. We got to the first cave, and I got out.

Me in the palonquin

            The Ajanta Caves are interesting pieces of art and architecture. They are all Buddhist caves built between 200 B.C and 700 A.D. There are two kinds of caves, the meditation caves, and the monastery caves. The meditation caves have domed roofs and stufas (altar like things). The monastery caves had pillars, paintings, side rooms, and giant Buddha statues. In one of meditation caves there was a reclining Buddha. He looked like he was sleeping, but he was actually trying to find enlightenment.

A domed ceiling cave with a stufa

The reclining Buddha

Practicing our meditation hand positions

Paintings on the ceiling of a cave!

            After the caves we went to lunch. It was an awesome meal. I got a soda and got to go in the first part of the line because I was the birthday girl. We finished lunch and got back on the bus to go to the hotel.

            When we got back, James and I went to find some college students to play with. We found two, Sydney, and Will. We played and talked on the swings until dinner.

            At dinner dad served me Kraft mac and cheese. I cried with joy! Every one else had Chinese food. Then I opened a present from Grace and James. Legos! James also gave me an epic pair of headphones. We had chocolate chip ice cream and cake. The staff gave us a knife that sang happy birthday when I cut the cake. After cake we had a dance party. I don’t know how I’m going to beat this birthday next year!

Oh my gosh... mac & cheese!!!!

I love you, Dad!

CAKE!!!

dance party!

The Taj Mahal

Awe: a sense of wonder, amazement, surprise, and/or reverence.  I worry a little that we will overuse the term when describing the sights, sounds and experiences of our first week in India.  But really, how can one describe a visit to the Taj Mahal without using the word awe?

            Our visit to the Taj was on Monday, October 12. We had just completed two whirlwind days in Delhi, only to wake early on our third day in country and board a bus for a four and a half hour drive to Agra. Upon our arrival we checked into a four-star hotel (much appreciated after our slightly less comfortable, slightly more aromatic stay at the Delhi YMCA).  A leisurely lunch was followed by a visit to the Agra Fort.  The fort is both historically and architecturally interesting, but it was hard to ignore the magnificent view of the Taj, just across the river.

            At about 4:30 pm we started the transition to the Taj Mahal.  Our hope was to get some daylight time and also experience the sunset while on the grounds.  But getting tot eh Taj was more complicated than we’d envisioned. Buses are not allowed near the site, so we unladed on a busy street and walked down a side street for about 500 meters.  It is hard enough to be inconspicuous walking as a group of 22 foreigners, but it was even more difficult when we felt the need to inform each other of upcoming obstacles (“Hole in the sidewalk!” “Watch out for the motorcycle.” “Stay to the left. The LEFT!” “Whoa, camel coming this way!”). We finally arrived at the gates and started the security process.  Our guide had warned us that we could not bring along anything other than money, a camera, and a phone (no pens, no food, no sharps, no cosmetics, etc.).  We suffered a small panic when Grace revealed that she’d brought along her epi-pens, but thankfully the guard let us through.  Armed with security-provided water bottles and shoe-covering booties, we approached the entrance with just enough daylight to spare.

            This is the part where we return to awe.  While the photos Greg took are fantastic, they do not do it justice.  For example, the red sandstone entrance gate looks like many other gates we’ve seen, but what you can’t really see is how the inner arch is a reflection of the outer arch, and how it perfectly frames the same arch on the actual mausoleum.  The floral designs around the arches – and throughout the whole structure of the Taj Mahal (including the tombs on the inside) – are inlaid gems, a beautiful contrast to the white marble.  And the reflecting pool allows for even more of the designs and shapes to repeat.  The whole space is, in a word, breathtaking.

zoom in on this picture to see the many arches...

            James and Grace did a quick video with some historical facts:

            We watched the sun set over the mosque on the west side of the grounds, then traversed the long route back to our bus (“Watch out for the hole in the sidewalk.” “Did you see those bats?? Those things are HUGE!!”).  Ahhh, India.

Contrasts

Time and place are funny things.  When we jumped from Cairo to Delhi, we knew that our seven hours on two flights would not be that bad.  Even arriving at 3:30AM would not be that bad.  We were anticipating horrid air quality, a crush of 1.3 billion people and a country that was rumored to “smell like everything”.  Yes, there was a long line at immigration but beyond that our expectations were a little off.  Warm greetings, fresh breezes and colorful flower necklaces all made us realize that we truly had been transported from our desert oasis to a new and different place.

There was still the presence of a security guard at the YMCA hotel, but instead of the armed para-military type, we found a smiling Sikh in a starched white British-style uniform sporting a festively colored headpiece.  Instead of preventing our entry, he held the door wide and welcomed us to our new home.

We felt immediately at home in New Delhi.  Perhaps it was the traffic (a little more predictable) or the greenery (parks, grass, trees!) or the presence of courting couples, laughing children and people enjoying themselves in public.  Regardless, our tour of New Delhi was quite relaxing.  But as always, things change.

The plan was to take our bus to Jama Masjid a 17^th century mosque built by Shah Jahan but after sitting in traffic three blocks from the mosque for an hour we decided that foot may be superior.  Our guide had us abandon ship and dive headfirst into the chaos that is an Old Delhi street in full glory.  Cycles, cows, people, tuk-tuks, people, cars, vans, people, chickens, vendors all vying for a piece of pavement to get through to their destination.  Now throw in a herd of camera totin’ Americans and we have a circus of delights.  Personally I thought it was a rush.  We ducked and wove and dodged and gagged a little but we made it safely to the steps of the mosque with very little incident.  Whew!

The serenity of the mosque was a pleasant welcome from the street but out of the frying pan back into the fire as we jumped aboard cycle rickshaws to tour the narrow twisting alleys of Chandi Chawk the heart of the Old Delhi marketplace.  We were bathed in a sensory delight of sights (colorful sarees contrasted with filthy streets), smells (fresh fried doughy goodness with “oh God what is that?!?”) and emotions (the thrill of exploration with the guilt of entitlement).

But I think this is what the next phase of our journey is all about: contrasts.  We have the ability to compare (hopefully without judging) our experience in Egypt with our experiences in India.  We can compare traffic, air quality, food, communication and customs.  So far the contrasts are most striking and easy to see.  But as we move forward I anticipate that there will be more similarities and common ground between these very different places.

On Location The Pyramids

"Everyday Adventures" in Egypt

By James Muth

Egypt has been full of lots of adventures that may seem out of the ordinary but they actually have become routine for us. For example we have gotten in a rhythm of touring in 100+ degree heat. We have gotten in a routine of going to pyramids, walking a mile just to go buy some cereal, not getting a haircut because we are living in the middle of nowhere and other semi-ordinary things like that. This blog post will be about three things that wouldn’t be normal in the states but has become pretty normal here.

For the groups one month-aversary we all got a free day to enjoy Cairo and explore into Cairo proper. I had been dying to get a haircut because I hadn’t gotten one since the middle of August, back in the US. There weren’t too many opportunities because we haven’t had time to do things like get haircuts. After getting some pictures printed in Cairo proper, we asked the nice family that were running the shop to direct us to the nearest barber shop. A young girl in that family took us to a barber shop that was a block away from the printing store. There were two shops, one for women, one for men. We walked into the men’s shop, and we were greeted by a man who looked like he was in his late twenties. He sat me down in the chair, and without asking what hairstyle I wanted, he started cutting my hair. Now, no big deal because when he had shaved off most of the hair on the sides and had trimmed some of the hair on top, he showed me some pictures on his phone that he had. I chose one with everyone's approval, and he went back to trimming. The whole family was sitting there and the barber seemed to enjoy having an audience because whenever he needed a tool that wasn’t dangerous, like a brush, instead of taking it off the table like a normal barber would, he would toss it up in the air and catch it after a couple of flips. He was super nice about not really being able to communicate with us but after paying him 50 pounds we walked out of the shop and I felt like a different person. I definitely enjoyed searching hard for a barber and I can’t wait to in India.

Along with visiting the Pyramids of Giza, we also visited the Step Pyramid, which is the first pyramid ever built. We visited several tombs but the highlight of the day was when we went into the pyramid of King Titi. We climbed down a set of “stairs” and were in a long hallway that branched out into two rooms. One room had a massive - and partially open - sarcophagus and the other room had stone blocks that we used as seats and some very good acoustics. This next thing I’m going to write about is sort of naughty but I’ll write about it anyway. After a few people took their turns taking pictures in the sarcophagus I slipped into it and was able to take a few pictures inside of King Titi’s sarcophagus. Being in there was very weird but it definitely makes for a good story and some very funny pictures.

ResLife is the group of people that have been helping us on campus and off campus with our housing. They are very nice people, no doubt, but when I found out that they were treating us to a Nile River cruise, they became some of the best people on campus. We took a bus into Cairo proper and boarded a massive cruise boat. There were a couple other large tourist groups and otherwise a few small families. There was a show going on that was a Belly Dancing/Whirling Dervish show. The belly dancer had way too much skin showing, so I didn’t really like it, but I definitely did enjoy the whirling dervish. He did lots of tricks including the fact that his skirt lit up and he lifted it over his head and looked like a carnival ride. He also did some tricks like pouring a glass of water while spinning and spun his skirt like you see chefs spin pizza dough. He also walked over to me and said “I do what you do” so I did some funny faces and then I did my monkey face. My monkey face is where I inflate my cheeks and then I raise my eyebrows and pull on both ears. The whirling dervish saw me do it and got a worried look on his face, he was still spinning his skirt over his head, he then tossed the skirt in the air, did my monkey face and then caught his skirt and kept spinning it. He then said “you do what I do”. He grabbed a  fork off the table in front of him, he took it and hit it against the table to demonstrate that is was solid, I did the same. Then he took it and he started to bend the fork in half with one hand, because he was still spinning his skirt over his head with the other hand! Of course I was not able to do that so I laughed and said “you win”. That guy was hilarious and made the whole room laugh.

Egypt is different in many ways from the States. There are also some similarities, but when a routine starts to form, that’s when you know, this has been lots of fun. Routines control us and make sure we stay mostly on track, but when little adventures like these happen, you know that straying from the track is sometimes the right thing to do.

Hurghada Highlight Reel

By James Muth

After six brutal days of touring ancient archeological sites in the blistering hot Egyptian sun, we were rewarded with four days of an all inclusive resort on the Red Sea.

Day 1: Highlight: Water Slides

The first day in Hurghada was overwhelming. Everyone was extremely tired but there was an upside, slides! There were 7 different water slides at the water park that we found. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the water park.

Day 2: Highlight: Thai Food

Mom and Dad got a date night so the college students took care of us. We went on the water slides again and then… Thai food. There was a bit of confusion with the reservation when we got to the restaurant but everyone ended up eating. The meal started out with soup and salad. There were beef or chicken salads and either a Thai curry soup or chicken and mushroom soup. Then the main dish came. It came on sizzling pans and boy was it good. Stir fried chicken seemed to be a favorite at our table. The Thai food was to die for.

 

Day 3: Highlight: Snorkeling

After bargaining for two days with the Octopus Diving Center, we landed a deal: $15 per person with two boats, a mask, a snorkel and flippers for 16 people. They were going to take us out for about two hours. We stopped at the first reef and got out to a start. It was really amazing to pop my head under the water and still be able to breathe. After my first try at going under the water to point out a fish to Sydney, I inhaled a ton of saltwater into my mask so Mom and I swam back to the boat and switched masks. That was when the real magic happened. Sydney and I went back out to explore some more of the coral reefs. We saw some fish that had the face of a seahorse but the body of an eel. We also saw a flounder, a sea bass and what looked like a pufferfish. Along with zebra fish, parrotfish and many other species of fish, we were bombarded by a balanced world of color and scales. We then went to a second reef and saw many of the same fish, but the part that I really enjoyed was going off a drop off and feeling the difference in temperature. The whole group agreed that snorkeling was the best $15 that we all spent.

 

 

Day 4: Highlight: Water Aerobics

We started the day out in the water. We saw and official looking woman walk into the water. She told us all to line up in a single line and that was where the fun began. We stretched, lifted our legs, danced in circles, and gave each other massages. It was definitely an interesting experience. We then ran off the beach and by the pool. We were dancing for close to five minutes. Let me tell you it was the weirdest dance ever. It involved loud music, clapping and lots of hip shaking. It was fun and weird at the same time, but definitely a good memory. Thankfully there were no pictures - so no embarrassment here!

Hurghada was great and should be enjoyed for long periods of time.