So this weekend was pretty eventful. First on friday we went on a excursion to some religious sites around town for my one class. The first place we went to was the Kali temple. (Kali is a avatar of Devi who is the counterpart to vishnu, I think? haha) so anways, we went there and it was pretty interesting. Being a forgeiner here is really awkward at times, but it was 3x as awkward in the temple because not only are we clearly forgein but we are also non believers. so it was a little awkward at first but we just kind of hung around and watched what everyone was doing. It was all very interesting. We were getting ready to leave and standing outside of the temple when a woman came out and guided us all back inside where she showed us how to take the blessing. It was pretty neat. But I also felt a little bad because well I don't practice Hinduism. But it was still interesting none the less. After that we all jumped into rickshaws (sp?) and rode over to the ramkrishna mission which is this awesome place that just has a lot of land and they offer free classes to people in the community. They also have a large temple inside the grounds that we got to go into. We were planning on going to another temple but it started to rain really hard (it is monsoon season!) so we just went at ate instead haha. I had a fresh lime soda which is basically just lime juice salt and seltzer water but it's so deliscious.

So that was friday, so then saturday we went on a trip around town that the program director planned for us. It was pretty neat. We went to museum of modern art (which really only has a very small selection of modern art). They had this amazing sculpture called the veiled rebecca which was just amazing. You should google it! after that we went to this place called charminar I'm really not sure what it is...it was cool though I guess. It was this really tall structure in the center of a shopping district. The only way to get up is this really narrow set of stairs. It was really awful walking up. But the view at the top was lovely. And then after that we went to Golconda fort which is this really old fort. At that point in the day it was so hot and you have to walk up some 300+ steps to get to the main building so I wasn't too interested in the history. But once we did get to the top it was a really nice view of the whole city. We hung out there for a little bit and then went back down to ground level and watched a light show telling us the history of Golconda fort. Wow was it boring. It was like a soap opera but with no picture. So boring. Then we went home.

When we finally got home the power was out. It goes out at least once a day, usually more. So we all just hung out outside and chatted.

And then this morning (sunday) me and a couple of the other girls went shopping. The shopping here is ridiculous. Since we're white they just shove stuff in your face and try and get you to buy stuff. It's really shocking at first. But there was one vendor who wasn't pushy at all so I bought all of my things from him. He was very nice.

Also they do this thing here where everyone wants to take your picture. Some people will ask you if they can before they do it, and others just try and be slick and do it. Yesterday and Golconda me and this girl anne were sitting down talking and a guy was filming us for almost 20 minutes on his camera. I think that's one thing that I won't get used to. So then today while we were shopping a cop stopped what he was doing (directing traffic) just to come over and ask us for a picture. It's all a little much. But I guess it's just how it is.
Oh also another thing here that's kinda random, they have metal detectors everywhere. i mean they will just be right in the middle of the sidewalk. It's random

Well that's about it I guess.

Here are my pictures!!

ok, so this is the ketchup that made me cry. Story goes, I got into the Frankfurt airport and was rather exhausted. I was a little distraught, it had been a long flight with a slight problem. I was feeling a little bit uneasy about the trip and kind of thinking that I wanted to come home. So I sit down at this restaurant in the airport and order a tomato and cheese sandwich. When it finally it gets there on the plate was a packet of Heinz ketchup. and yea, it made me cry. haha who knew ketchup could make someone so emotional.




This is my desk area.






















This is my bed!


























This is our computer lab















This was on the way to the temple. It was around in the 1800's when the british were still around.














This is a little shrine thing. They have them around. This is a holy tre I guess. A lot of the holy things around have swastika's on them, which is weird to see.


















This is just a neat door.





















Just a little market place










Just a silly sign, fancy fireworks. haha























This is the entrance for the temple




















Neat old man





















There are little shrines like this everywhere.
















Entrance to the ramkrishna temple




















The flora and fauna here is so pretty!


























The view outside of charminar. The crowds are a little overwhelming.





Everything in charminar was shaped like these windows and had that intricate detailing on the bottom window.



















Alright well that's it for now, putting these up here is really tedious and annoying and it's hot so I'll do more tomorrow.



Hey dad, do you know of any free image editing program I can download off the internet. All I'm working with right now is Microsoft paint.