Taj Mahal

As promised, here I am posting again! So excited, but the bad news is that I probably won't post for the next few days. Ok, updates. Today, I saw the Taj Mahal - and it was awesome.

And that's Charlie - he's a boy on my trip and when I said, "Who wants to be in a picture with me?" he said, "I do I love being in pictures!" So that's how I got a picture with Charlie at the Taj Mahal. I really don't want to sound like a pretentious snoot, but while the Taj was beautiful and amazing, it wasn't as wondrous and truly awesome as I was expecting it to be. When something is considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world, I think we are automatically expecting something truly breathtaking. So when I got to the Taj Mahal, I thought, wow, this is beautiful, but I was expecting something a little different. Don't get me wrong, it was really awesome, but I wonder if I went to Egypt and saw the pyramids, would I think - hey look, it's just a triangle coming out of the sand? 

A lot of things about India are strange to me. I have been reading May You be the Mother of 100 Sons by Elisabeth Bumiller, and a lot of things have shocked me. Although this book was written in the 1980's, my teacher assured us that most of the issues discussed in the book were relevant today. Most of the issues are women's issues, and include everything from a lack of education to sex-selective abortion and false stereotypes. So many things in India are so different from how the are in the US, which I suppose is to be expected. 

Things that shocked me today: 

1) Families of 4 riding on motorcycles - and only the father was wearing a helmet 

2) All the women are dressed nicely, mostly in saris, and look as though they should be going somewhere fancy even though that is their daily wear

3) When driving in India, honking the horn is a courtesy to let the car in front of you know you are coming, it is not rude at all 

4) Everyone here drives like a maniac and it's completely terrifying 

5) People manage to survive, and even thrive, in temperatures reaching 115 degrees (I did not fare so well)

6) There are monkeys AND cows just hanging out everywhere 

Something that really hit home with me is that things can change if everyone is given the opportunity of an education. A huge problem in India is that women are not educated because they are not seen to be as worthy of an education as their brothers. Being here, even though it has only been one day, made me realize how lucky I am to have received an education and the opportunity to study abroad. Also, it made me think back to when I read Half the Sky, and it made me appreciate Circle of Sisterhood more than I already do.

Ok, well I have to get up in 6 hours to fly to Varanasi for the next three days. I'm not bringing my computer, so I will update you as soon as I can.