A few Visuals

This is the "sitting area" in my house- not sure what the equivalent would be called in an American house. The house is 50% outdoors without much of a real "roof." There's a lot of tarps and reed thatch coverings that act as ceilings. Somehow, the place stays dry.

The view of my street early in the morning as I was waiting for my rickshaw to pick me up for class. There's always women like the one in this photo sweeping the streets with big bundles of reed-brooms.

Another street view. I've gotten used to the skinny street-dogs that are always roaming around. It was a little disturbing at first, but strangely after only a week it seems normal.

My rickshaw driver Prandi-ji and two of my classmates. We take a 15 minute ride to the SIT center together every morning. It costs 50 rupees each way which is equal to $1.

One of the students giving bindi (the red paste you see on people's foreheads) to our teachers in honor if national "Teacher Appreciation Day." They set it up for us to do because we didn't even know it was a holiday.

A few of the students in our main classroom. We spend at least 6 hours here every day, but it's a small group (only 18 people) and there's usually a lot of interaction with the teachers.

This is where they serve us lunch every day. BUFFET STYLE. They switch the menu every day to keep things interesting. One day they made us pasta and salad which was heavenly because I've been living off of a diet of chapati (tortilla-esque bread) and various potato dishes.

This is where we eat lunch together. It's a porch on the roof of the center.

View from the rickshaw in the infamous Jaipur traffic.

The market around the block from my house. There's a bunch of "chemists" (drug stores) and a lot of little novelty shops.