I've been slacking on the blog.

But only because I've been having such a super duper time.

Jaggi brought me Cheetos puffs, which he had his child hunt down for me. I love them. Anywho...

We'll begin with last...Monday? I think?
Our day was going along as usual. Go to placement, come back for lunch, earthquake, nap. You know, normal stuff like that.
At least that's how it seemed to our CCS staff but the rest of us were like...um...what???

I felt it and I just thought one of the guys was trying to get behind my chair. But then I realized all the chairs were still full and saw Lalit looking up. I just thought I was having some sort of phantom spasm or something until he says "earthquake" and goes back to eating his lunch.
The 4 of us volunteers look at him and say "earthquake? Was that an earthquake!?" (And Daisy..."oh my god!") Jamie had overdone it on the chocolate covered espresso beans and already was a bit shakey so she didn't actually even notice.
It was my first earthquake. Clearly not the first for the gents. They just chatted for a moment and went back to eating. Not shaken a bit, metaphorically speaking. :D
Me, being the natural event fan that I am, thought it was AWESOME that we just felt this little earthquake.
It was 4.6 and not centered right under us so there was no damage and no injuries of any sort.
That night Marianne, Daisy, Jamie, and I made a nice Italian dinner for the staff. Candles and flowers and everything.
Marianne, who is the pro here, made chicken cacciatore, Jamie made cheesy garlic bread, I "made" a salad, and Daisy made what she calls rice krispie cakes, which is different from our rice krispie treats. (Daisy is the Brit and we're always having discussions that start with "you call it WHAT?" or "how do YOU say it?") She just puts in chocolate rather than marshmallow. We had a chocolate mishap but after round 2 they were still good and went really really well with Indian ice cream. Seems like the guys really enjoyed it and the garlic bread was definitely a favorite.

Now on to Tuesday.
We went to visit the Swaminarayan Akshardham in Delhi. It. Is. Amazing.
It kind of looks like any other temple from afar, but once you get closer to can see that there are TONS and TONS of carvings on this massive structure.
Photos are not allowed and I didn't get any from the road so if you'd like to see it, take a look here:
http://www.akshardham.com/index.htm
Marianne bought me a little souvenir book as well so those at home will be able to take a look at it when I get back.
Thanks in part to the bizarrely detailed list of things that are not allowed inside, it is pristine from the moment you pass through the metal detector and frisk. The grounds are perfectly manicured, the stone and marble are amazing as always, and the statues and carving are just unbelievable. Simply the number of them is unbelievable. This temple is quite new but was constructed to reflect the ancient styles.
It was a breezy but beautiful afternoon, and first we took a walk around the temple to see the life-like stone elephant sculptures in the wall. It tells a story about the nature of elephants and their signifance, as well as other tales of the Buddha and other Hindu characters. All around the building are pools filled with coins and golden geese spewing water from their beaks. And that was just the beginning.
After leaving our shoes at the "boot house" (the name of my future pub, by the way) we walked up the steps in to the temple. Inside are dozens of carved marble columns, paintings, statues of Rama, Krishna, Hanuman, etc. However the main attraction here is the Inner Sanctum. It has an 11 foot tall statue of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, and everything within it literally sparkles. It's the most shiny thing I've ever seen. The website sums it up as so- "The divine serenity in the garbhagruh inspires peace and divine happiness." It sort of blinds your aura with it's shiny. It's lovely. We also saw the prayer/chant ritual thing before we left.
Then we made our way to the boat ride. After a scavenger hunt through several buildings trying to avoid going to see the movie (which would make us miss the last boat ride) we finally found the place.
It's like a little Small World ride (in a giant swan) showing you the important historical discoveries from India in 12 minutes.
After our boat ride we went to wait for the water and light show to begin at the giant lotus fountain.
I love fountains. I really really love fountains with lights and music. It was awesome. It was like a day at a tiny Disneyland but...peaceful. Definitely recommended for anyone in the area.

Wednesday on the way to placement we say a rickshaw sort of clip a motorcyclist, who steadied, but then ran right in to the huge curb, fly through the air, land on the ground, and get right back up again to chew out the rickshaw driver. It was disturbing but luckily the rider didn't seem to be broken in any way.
Wednesday night was much more pleasant. We went to a little informal party at Ravi's home. We thought it would be tea and snacks and a little chat and back home for dinner. However...all of his staff was there, they gave us food and beverages, and got us dancing. I had the most fantabulous time and finally really felt like I was part of India. It's only here that I've found people that will happily listen to Kolaveri Di over and over and over again. I also had these little smiley face snacks that were amazing.
Marianne attempted to teach a few salsa lessons, Daisy tried her best to hide in the couch to avoid dancing, and we finally got Lalit and Vicky up to dance with us. I took a little cool down break to enjoy Ravi's veranda where he showed me the park across the way. He said that when he moved there it was nothing, but they took the initiative to beautify it. (He didn't say beautify but same difference.) On the way home Kolaveri came on the radio again and we saw the bright moon hovering above us all. It was a perfect way to usher in Holi!