http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Snoo/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Snoo en-us Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:20:19 +0000 Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:20:19 +0000 So once we received out transit visas we had to find a new taxi since our taxi from Amman abandoned us because Americans are always kept at the boarder for ridiculous amounts of time. So we go out into the parking lot and start asking around. Almost everyone was headed back to Jordan. Most people were helpful and tried to gesture vaguely in the direction of where we could find a taxi but really I http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-425842.html I am sorry that I have not kept yall updated in a while. Getting internet for more than a few minutes has been a challenge but right now it is a nice reprieve from the extensive traveling I have been doing. Lets see where to start. Last...Monday yes I think it was Monday there was a shooting at the University of Jordan between two bedoiun tribes Al Anwans the agressors or agressives and the B http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/South/Damascus/blog-420639.html I had the most incredible weekend of my life last weekend. We got out of class on Thursday the new Friday and began out journey to Wadi Rum which means Valley of Rum which is not an apt name for the location I am displeased to report. The RUM IS ALWAYS GONE...because it is haram aka super forbidden lol harumin Islam. Anyway we began the trip by riding in 4x4 truck beds standing up through th http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-412149.html Ok so apparently I say Al Jamiya al Urdania in a completely different way than people who speak arabic do because it has only about at 30 success rate compared to if I just say University of Jordan although al bawayya Al Reyees tends to work a lot better than main gate. So typically I leave my apartment at 715 although it only take about 15 tops to get to school to be there for my 800 am privat http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-408426.html I am now in the super fancy free internet cafe that serves supper fancy desserts to the dismay of my waistline. Maybe I can off set that by the fact that I have to walk EVERYWHERE and the only food I have found is fruit and bread. So far I have moved into my apartment FLUNKED a placement exam I mean I left huge chunks of it blank. This resulted in my being placed in the lowest level but fortun http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-406507.html Today marks my first full day in Jordan 14 months to go. Getting here however was not entirely uneventful. My plane from Philadelphia to New York was suppose to Leave at 630 which meant I would arrive at 745 plenty of time to catch my 1000 pm flight to Amman. Well not when you board at 730 are told that you are just going to wait on the plane for another hour take off at 830 to arrive at http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/blog-405584.html Alas a return to Starbucks. Andrea needs to email to paper to Professor Chen so here we are. Blast you corporate America At least our computers recognized the WI Fi and we didnt need to buy anything to connect. GOT EM Aw the guy who rang us up yesterday is mopping and recognized us. Hola Amigo Anyway the day started in a much less American way. This morning we learned how to make flan Unfortu http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Morelia/blog-379682.html UGH I just wrote a post but of course the internet at the Starbucks here in Morelia decided to cut out when I clicked publish. Triste. Bueno it is already difficult to type in English which is create because it means I am thinking is spanish pero it is kind of a bad thing because I really dont speak that much spanish. I guess that means the overall complexity of my thoughts has decreased and to t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/blog-379437.html I have briefly left my desert home in Maharastra and head up North to the Himalayas. I am in a tibetian town called Leh and I feel like I am on a whole other planet not to mention no longer in India. Women are wearing long black dresses with wooly vests over them and monks are running a muck well I dont know about a muck but they are everywhere. The entire town is surrounded by beautiful mountain http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Jammu-and-Kashmir/Leh/blog-300898.html Well not much to say today literally Today is silence day where no one talks in honor of the day the day that Meher Baba stopped speaking and remained silent for the last 44 years of his life. The only sounds are cars birds and the occasional squeak of my hiccups they have no reverence the silly things. Yesterday I toured the organic farm and women's cooperative store run by an NGO called Pri http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Meherabad/blog-297843.html Well shortly after my return from the Aurangabad area I decided I did not get the Pune experience that I was looking for so Friday I once again made the 3 hour trek trek is a little extreme I was comfortably seated in very the back of an suv to Pune. This time I went with a girl named Claire her mother Jane Renee who initiated the trip because she was getting dental work done and girlwoman http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Meherabad/blog-296939.html NEW ADVENTURES AWAITED Soon after I returned from Pune it was off to the Ellora and Ajanta Caves. These are massive collections of Buddhist Hindu and Jain temples carved right out of the sides of mountains First we went to Ajanta which has only Buddhist monasteries and temples. These were all carved on the face of one of the cliffs surrounding a beautiful horse shoe ravine. Some dated before ch http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Meherabad/blog-294292.html Today was a day of outdoor gaming After my last post I went back to the Pilgrim Retreat and played volley ball for about 3 hours after lunch. I am absolutely terrible but people tend to let me play anyway which I appreciate. After 2 cups of chai at tea time LOTS OF SUGAR I went to the pumpkin house. There we had all sorts of games. First we played red light green light which didn't work that g http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Meherabad/blog-292779.html Wow so a lot has happened since my last post. On Wednesday I had my first class with the kids at the Pumpkin house. We drew a picture of a Christmas scene using triangles circles squares and rectangles. We even went as far as to draw boot shaped stockings. The kids were really cute and pretty smart. Especially the older kids did a great job and were so eager to please that they would hold up th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Meherabad/blog-292667.html OK I am just going to load everything from my camera. Sorry if it is already up http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Meherabad/blog-290734.html OK I was going to post pictures...then the power went out. That is India for you. Lets try again shall we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Meherabad/blog-290727.html Sorry last one wouldnt let me gobackand add pictures so here they are. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Meherabad/blog-290720.html Well today I woke up extremely late 900 compared to my usual 545 am and that was even with my normal bed time of 900 pm. Hahaha all those fights about curfew and here I am in bed before 10 like an old lady. Well since I did not wake up in time I was not able to see the people who had had eye surgery the day before but Caran a lady who works at the hospital let me know that 5 people said that http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Meherabad/blog-290716.html HAHA I got travel blog to add Meherabad to their lists of locations. Sorry that my entrys are so infrequent but I come the internet cafe everyday but electricity in India is a bit of a variable. It still isnt very hot here and I havent been able to go to the orphanage yet I will probably start mid this coming week. Today I am working at the hospital helping iwht a free eye surgery clinic. Things http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Meherabad/blog-290203.html Wow so here I am...in India. I am technically writing this at about 3 in the morning here on June 18th three days after I bgan th journey to get here. I was suppose to leave Atlanta at 730 am on the 15th but my flight was cancelled and i was moced to the 330 pm flight to Newwark New Jearsey. I thought it was strange that I was switching planes in New Jersey. Who on earth was going to New Jearse http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Pune/blog-289480.html