Bandamir, CA part 5

yah, I'll go ahead and put up some pictures now. Why not?

We also visited some lakes while we were away.

I know that doesn't sound exciting, but picture with me. You are in the middle of the desert, surrounded by mountains made of rock (sandstone- thanks for ruining my life, Geol 101) and dust when all of the sudden, you come across this-

 

 Seriously, the bluest, most pure lake I have ever seen. All we wanted to do was dive in (except that all the water comes from underground and was freezing!!)

 Look at that aqua color water behind the reeds. Gorgeous!

And my lovely sister, kindly posing for my camera (again). We joked that this is my revenge for her using me as her photography model when she was in high school. Seriously though, the photography teacher at RHS still uses pictures of me that K took in her class. 

That's all for now folks! (for real this time)

Also-- I just signed up for pinterest to find cool crafts and photography ideas, can someone explain to me how to use it?? I am severely technologically challenged!

Trip to B-city, CA Part 4

K and I went up to another city in her country. We took the smallest plane I have ever been on-- holds a total of 9 people (including pilot and co-pilot). The cabin wasn't even pressurized so we had to fly really low around the mountains, it felt like I could reach out and touch them. It was a little scary, but really fun. New experiences right!!

That tiny shadow, looks like a teeny tiny bird-- that is the shadow of our plane.

We visited the site where two giant Buddhas were until they were destroyed in 2001. (Know where we went yet?) It was really cool to climb to the top and see the view of the city. It's a beautiful part of the country, but it was also really sad to think about how history more than 1500 years old had been destroyed for no reason. 

This was the larger of the Buddhas. 

The foot of the smaller Buddha. It was taller than K, that's how big these things were!

Yah, we went back there anyway. Rules?? What? That's craziness?

Also, its harder to get used to not putting on seatbelt than it normally has been I feel like. I keep reaching to put in on. K thought I was crazy the first time.

Our guide kept wanting to take our picture. He would stop us and volunteer. It was really cool to see someone so interested about their history and really excited to show it off to us. It was also sad because he was probably in his 40s and illiterate. Not because he's not able to learn but because he never has the chance. A large portion of the population here is illiterate because they never were able to go to school. They would love to, but its not an option for a lot of them. Knowing this makes me even more irritated with the high schoolers in America who still can't read even thought they have been in school their entire lives. Let's stop complaining about the crappy school systems in America and just be thankful that they are there at all. Be thankful that our children are in school and not out harvesting potatoes by hand. 

Sorry, getting off my soapbox now. I have more pictures but our trip to B-city, but I will put them up tomorrow. We're leaving bright and early to go visit one of the staff's village so I need to go to bed.

Babur's Garden

Today, we went and visited the grave of the Mughal emperor Babur. A quick history lesson of Central and South Asia. The Mughal's were a dynasty of emperors out of Central Asia that took over a lot of India in the 16th century and had control of the majority of the subcontinent until the British took over and kicked them out in the 18th century. A lot of the famous architecture from India is from this era. Babur's great something grandson built the Taj Mahal. Babur was the first to come to India. He really wanted to take over Central Asia, but was unable to and so he settled for India. But, man did he not like it there. He was one of the first to keep a diary/journal so we have record of his personal thoughts as his empire expanded. He writes a lot about how the Indian people were so uncivilized and mainly, their lack of melons. He really missed the melons from Central Asia. When he died, he asked to be brought back here to be buried. Around the grave, a huge garden was planted and was well-maintained until fighting in the past decades, but since 2002 has been fixed up again.

 This is Babur's grave. All around were other graves of his family members.

 I love these flowers that are everywhere. There were a lot around the garden and there are some outside K's gate, they are in this deep purple and also a really pretty white/cream-yellow. K thinks that they may just be weeds, but I think that makes them even better. How cool that even the weeds are so beautiful?

There were a lot of pomegranate trees all over the garden too. This is one of the fruits growing out of the blossom. Pretty cool.

My very beautiful sister in front of the garden and mountain. I loved the mountain behind it- so gorgeous! 

Easily my favorite of the flower pictures I took today. So pretty. Also- I love taking pictures of flowers cause I feel like its pretty easy to get a cool shot. Nothing moves haha. 

This man is weaving the floor rugs that are sold everywhere here. He ties individual knots in the different colors to make a pattern. It will take him about 3 months to make 1 rug that is then sold for around $1000.

Cute kids and pretty flowers, CA part 2

I got a new, fancy camera for Christmas and I'm just now trying to figure out ways to take cute pictures. Yesterday, I read these posts by the Pioneer Woman about using aperture and shutter speed and have been experimenting. We've had a little bit of down time here and so I was just messing around. I told you that I have been feeling crafty recently and I guess this is part of that haha. And I think I'm catching the photography bug a little bit-- meaning, Erika, you need to teach me!

Here are some of the flowers near K's house.

This is the look I have been experimenting with, focused in the front with the background blurry-- I don't know any terms yet either, I'm a beginner!!

I love the pretty flowers that they have planted around the buildings here. I'm sure the guards thought I was crazy sitting there taking pictures of a broken fence post, but I loved it. 

 Not quite what I wanted in my head, but I'm learning. 

Then we went to a friends house and played with the cutest girls I have ever seen (Don't worry V and other mothers whose children I love-- I say that about every child I see). We gave them a couple bows, courtesy of Caroline G.

1 of the 3 sweet girls. 

And their very sweet brother, sitting on a shelf- his dad put him there. 

the mom didn't like this picture very much, but I loved her laugh and her happiness with her baby- so sweet. 

Lots of playing- lots of spinning. 

I'm having a great time here and have some pictures from today that I will post in a bit, this post is a little heavy on the pictures. My heart is definitely in India, but I think I'm going to need to come back here at some point.

Central Asia, part 1

Sorry guys, my post titles are not going to be very interesting.

K and I spent a few days up in a city where she used to live visiting old friends. We had a really great time. I love this country. Its very beautiful with mountains on all sides. The view coming in the first morning was amazing. All around just these giant mountains that don't have trees on them so you can see the sharp points and deep valleys. Gorgeous. It was also very hot! But I just keep reminding myself that its not as hot as India's going to be-- which is not as encouraging as you might think ;)

The kids here are super cute. One day while visiting friends, I got to hang out with their kids and play games. It was a lot of fun. And just like the kids in India, they could not grasp the fact that I couldn't understand what they said to me and so they would just talk and talk and I would have to grab K and say "Help! He's talking to me!!"

This was my buddy for the day. Her parents jokingly asked if I was going to take her back to America with me. 

We played a lot of Uno.

We stayed with some American friends and brought a new pool for their little girls and got to spend some time watching them cool off in the water. Emphasis on watching them, we did not get the pleasure of getting in the water.

I'm having a great time! Keep checking for more posts and pictures!!

I'm here!! and Happy Father's Day!!

Hi everybody!!! (I know all of you have been anxiously checking to hear from me ; ) JK)

I'm having a great time with K and some other friends. Enjoying the heat and sun! Getting me ready for India cause its gonna be HOT!!

I'm going to post some pictures soon hopefully, but I have to get back to my own computer first. Let me tell you, the kids here could give Indian kids a run for their money in the cuteness department. I'll post some pictures and show you soon.

I also wanted to say happy father's day to my dad! I miss you a lot and I'm sad that I'm not there. Thanks for being a really awesome dad, the best two crazy girls who love hanging out on the opposite side of the world could ask for! I love you!!


ps-- it took me FOREVER to figure out how to write this post because all of the blogspot tabs, etc were in arabic!! haha 

The Scent of Water: Grace for Every Kind of Broken

I wanted to share with you all one of the books that I will be reading on my trip this summer because it is AMAZING and you should all read it.

It's called the Scent of Water: grace for every kind of broken by Naomi Zacharias.

Naomi is the daughter of author and speaker Ravi Zacharias that has written a number of wonderful books and travels around the world preaching. Naomi runs the social justice branch of Mr. Zacharias's ministry, Wellspring International. This book is a compilation of stories of the people that she has met in her work and travels, from children in India to prostitutes from the red-light district in Amsterdam.

She weaves her story in with the stories of these women all the while pointing out God's grace to us all. In the midst of these tragic stories, Naomi offers hope. She offers God's hope. And a peace that surpasses all understanding.

Her initial description of India would have left my heart aching if I weren't on my way there now (in a roundabout way). Instead I sat on my plane nodding, smiling, with tears in my eyes (I'm sure the man next to me thought I was crazy). Her words describe my feelings about India perfectly-- "You will feel special, amazed, full, stirred, naive, helpless, enraged, awakened- all in the first day. India is magical."

Already this book has broken my heart and nearly made me cry, and I'm only 60-some pages in. If I were reading this in private, I would be a mess.

Anyway-- go order this book. Read it. Let it change your thinking, let it change your views of the world. And the do something about it. Don't just read the stories- do something about it.

I want to challenge you with this quote from a prostitute from Amsterdam in response to being asked about going to church. She said, "'The problem with your people is, they tell me I should leave, but they never want to let me forget where I came from either.'"

Is this Jesus??

Go buy this book and pray that God changes our hearts.