Udaipur!

After spending a week filled with lakefront meals and views, boat rides, festivals, thrifty shopping and village explorations.... I'm back in Delhi.

Udaipur is one of the most beautiful cities I've been to, it was tough to board the overnight back to Delhi on Friday. It is situated around 5 man-made lakes, and filled with many palaces and temples built by the Mughal Emperors. The city is also surrounded by mountains and rolling hills leading out into the Rajasthani desert. Like I said: paradise. 

We spent our first 2 days working with the NGO ARTH, who took us out into a few rural villages surrounding Udaipur where they are training ASHAs and GNM (General Nurse/Midwives) to help with maternal and neonatal care. The organization is working to supplement the government programs in places where there is limited access to care. Each day we spent probably 2-3 hours in the bus travelling to and from these villages, which just showed how hard it is for them to access the regional hospital in Udaipur. It was nice to see the contrast between the NGO and the government offices, and how the NGO is filling the gaps in care where the government is lacking. And the drives were beautiful! This was the only time thus far that I've wanted my own car to drive on the roads, because I'm sure being the driver on the back country would have been a great experience. I also made some new friends in the villages (all the little children!) and every time our group was split in half, I spent my 'off time' teaching tag and ring around the rosie to the village children (finally, some of my broken Hindi is becoming useful! Although they also speak their own dialect that I didn't understand, figures) and I also got to play a few of their games. Later in the week we partnered with the NGO Seva Mandir, who did similar work in rural villages promoting community building and empowerment. My favorite days in India thus far have been those spent in the villages with these NGOs. They are both doing great things, I am excited to be able to track the progress they make (you should all check the links as well!!).

On Friday morning we went to a government Ayurvedic Hospital, one of the traditional medicines practiced regularly in India. While on our trip to Aligarh I was very impressed by the Unani Medical College, I can not say the same about the Ayurvedic Hospital. The government facility was eerily empty, and as we toured around and learned more about the practices I became more and more turned off by what was going on. To each their own- but Ayurveda is not for me. Some of the practices they use  involve a series of 'oily enemas' (exactly what it sounds like) and induced vomiting to expel disease from your body. I guess it had better preventative practices that involve lots and lots of hot oil for massages, etc. Aside from that, our entire group left the facility unimpressed and a little turned off by the entire practice. 

Although our days were jam packed with excursions, we had most of the evenings off to explore a little bit of the city. The first day we were there just happened to be International Tourism Day (who knew that even existed?) so while at our rooftop dinner we had a small show of fireworks and traditional dancing by down by the lake. This week also happened to be the start of the Hindu festival of Navaratri, which lasts for 9 nights and includes colorful street decorations, parties, and traditional dancing called garba. It turned our to be an unnaturally good time to visit the city! The last night we were there, our amazing program staff also set up a rooftop party for us at our hotel, complete with dinner, traditional folk performances, music and dancing (and even a few beers, those rebels!). I don't think I'd be able to survive India without the overwhelmingly accommodating program staff, its been so nice having them as resources everywhere we go. And then on top of all that, they set up things like the rooftop party. Our last afternoon we were also given a surprise few hours to do a little more exploring and most importantly: shopping! I've been working on my bargaining skills, and I think I've finally come up with a (semi)effective system, as long as I'm with my American-Indians that who can try to get the 'Indian' price of things first. I'm not as savvy as I would like to be, but I finally feel like I'm getting better.

I wish I'd had more time to explore the state of Rajasthan, everything was so colorful and there seems to be so much cultural history in everything that the locals do. Good thing I'm going back to study in Jaipur (the capital of the state) during my ISP! Now that I'm back in Delhi I'm back to the grind of studying for my Hindi midterms, written on Thursday, oral on Friday. **To all you Lehigh go-ers, I feel your pain for 4 o'clocks, just on a smaller scale. Good luck studying, don't work too hard! **

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the week, there are also lots more on Facebook! I am trying to also create a blog photo album .... stay tuned. 

 On Lake Pichola.

View from our hotel window!

 Boat ride!

 Mountain view.

 Navrathri decorations!

 Hike out to one of the villages. 

A few of my new friends!!