Jan 8, 9, 10 (Vrindavan, Agra)

(Post by Kristie)
Sorry we haven't posted in a few days, we haven't had a chance to use the Internet since leaving Aligarh. We are all safe and sound and happy and full. We're always full. Even when we are just sitting down to eat.

So last I wrote, we were leaving for what I thought was Mathura. It turns out we drove past Mathura and went to a nearby town called Vrindavan. It's a holy city, and we saw several temples there. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We arrived and were warmly welcomed by the Rotarians. We toured a hospital and had refreshments, then went on to a combination orphanage and old age home for ladies. We then toured a temple whose name I cannot remember (and didn't write down stupidly), but in addition to being a temple they also have a food production plant that makes and serves 65,000 meals a day to schoolchildren.

We then had lunch at a spa-like place called Ananda Krishna Van. It's a place many Westerners come to for rest, relaxation and worship. We also saw a new old age home for ladies that the Rotarians help maintain - the ladies were incredibly sweet, and their eyes were warm and smiles were genuine. They blessed us with arms upraised as we were leaving.

We also visited an art gallery with ornate paintings of Krishna with gold and other sparklies encrusted on the paintings. Later we went to the ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) temple, which was quite large and busy. There were loud drums and many people singing and dancing enthusiastically - a neat experience. Later that evening we had a Rotary meeting with the Vrindavan club. We all stayed at the club's president's home. They served us excellent ginger chai tea. Yum.

Jan 9
Yesterday a few of us woke up early (5:40) and went to yoga with the brother of the president of the Rotary club. It was a chilly 5 minute walk to a school, where we practiced in a large room with marble floors (all of the floors are marble here) covered in blankets. It was something I had hoped we'd get to do! We did some warm up exercises, and then a series of breathing exercises (pranayama), microexcercises (small movements to strengthen and tone), asanas (poses) and during the entire class we did laugh work which is exactly as it sounds - we laughed at jokes the teacher told, we laughed at one of Mitchell's jokes that Jason shared, we laughed at nothing at all. We did monkey laughs, teasing laughs, horse laughs, belly laughs, flirting laughs. We promise to teach you all when we get home. Ha ha!

After breakfast, we headed out of town to Agra, but first stopped to phone home and see a few of the shops nearby. We made our way to our host home, where we are all staying in fabulous accomodations - we really have a floor to ourselves.

Next was Taj Mahal. And it's as beautiful and awe-inspiring and surreal as you might imagine. It doesn't feel real even when you're touching it. It's mesmerizing as you walk towards it - you can't take your eyes off. We met a nice fellow from England named Henry, and he accompanied us on the visit. He's doing quite a bit of world traveling after graduating from college before starting to work.

After Taj, we headed back to our host's home where we were served refreshments and then dinner. After dinner we attempted "movie night" - all 5 of us huddled on a couch watching Jason's Mac play a Bollywood movie called "Neal & Nikki." Unfortunately, we all fell asleep after about 20 minutes, so movie night was cut short in favor of a good night's sleep.

Jan 10
Today we visited Agra Fort which was also incredible - it had a moat with crocs and a jungle with tigers at one time! And that brings us to now.

A couple of messages:
- Jesse would like his friends and family to know that he hasn't been able to get into his Hotmail account even when the rest of us have checked email - so if you haven't heard from him don't worry!
- We have a slow connection here today, so no photos. We'll post them as soon as we can get a better connection.

Love to all back home! Your personal emails are appreciated, as well as comments on the blog - so keep them coming.