Hi from Agra!

Current location: relaxing in an internet cafe in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. 

It's 106 degrees and humid outside right now, so my two friends and I decided to stay inside for a bit until we catch the bus back to Jaipur in a couple of hours. The weather was the same yesterday and we spent the day walking around the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort and thought we were going to pass out from the heat -- this is the hottest time of year here and Agra is in the middle of India so it gets the worst of it. The temperature in Jaipur is the same or hotter, but it's less humid and much more bearable. 

It's perfect at sunrise or after dark though, so we got up at 4:45 am the last two days to go see the sun rise at the Taj Mahal. We had a great view of it from the roof of the hostel where we were staying and could've watched it from there, but it's not the same as it is up close. I got a lot of really amazing photos from today but I can't upload them at an internet cafe, so I'll have to wait until I get back to the volunteer house some time tomorrow. 

India takes some getting used to, but it's definitely an incredible experience. The school where I teach is really more like a cement shed with two rooms about 10 ft by 10 ft, with a class of 10 in one room and two classes of about 20 in the other. There is no toilet, so the kids just go to the bathroom behind the school, and there's one teacher and one volunteer (plus me) to teach all of the children, who range in age from about four to about ten. They don't speak English and the teacher's English is very limited, so I'm trying to learn a couple of important Hindi words and use some sign language to communicate. They're really affectionate though, and try so hard to understand, so it's totally worth it.

I'll post more when I can!

Meghan