Elephants, SPF 45, and the coolest Achievers

Today we finished leadership team training in Chennai with the Camp Rainbow team and boy, what a week! Early in the week during a session on 'finding our strengths' we learned that many of the team members exhibit strong 'Achiever' characteristics and following this there were such thoughtful discussions and so many signs of growth in this team--these achievers are more than ready to take on camp independently. I am overflowing with love, pride and admiration after this week and looking forward to returning for another week with this team at the end of April! The week also marked personal growth as Tim and I tag teamed to facilitate the trainings, including many new variations which we developed. Tim and I just celebrated the close of our week with dinner at Papa Johns ha! Now next up is Camp Rainbow Bangalore for 4 weeks--a first year program which will mean lots of enthusiasm, learning and laughter.

Let me backtrack a bit to last Thursday and Friday. Tim and I were in the north of India, in Jaipur to be exact. We visited Fatehpur Sikri temples and palace, Amber Fort and Palace (by elephant ride), and we did a full elephant experience on Friday. This included feeding, riding, painting, and bathing our elegant, Masakalee. She was such a gentle giant and pretty playful with us. We also enjoyed a wonderful homemade lunch at the home of the elephant village owner's mother.

Saturday evening we touched down in Chennai and coming back to the guesthouse felt like the comforts of home--where we could finally unpack our bags and not worry about packing and moving the next day. Even with the heat, getting up to 90% humidity one day, I managed to go for a few runs along the beach. It only takes about 20 minutes to work up a good sweat! Tim and I enjoyed some of our fave dining spots, cooked dinner a couple nights and for the first time rode in autos with the locals! We wouldn't have had any problem doing this in the past, but we didn't know we could! The ride is equally comfortable and folks are usually curious about us, and it's cheaper. Why not have some friendly chat and save money at the same time?!

Of course my favorite part about Chennai (second to the Camp Rainbow leadership team) are the sunrises and sunsets. The sky manages to blaze a pinkish orange color that I have never seen before and at sunset there is an added lilac touch. So much beauty here, starting with the smiles of the people I work with.

Attached are some of my favorite photos that I took on my phone :)
xo

Golden Triangle-Day 1

It's about 730pm and Tim and I are ready to call it a night (and quite an incredible first day!) We flew out of JFK at 11pm on Monday, landed in Delhi at 2:30 am Wednesday, and then toured from 11 to 3 pm.
We saw a beautiful sunrise on our drive from Delhi to Agra--the sun was huge and looked like a solid sherbet orange dot in the sky. As we entered the outskirts of Agra, we could see the hazy outline of the Taj Mahal and the massive red Agra Fort. We also stopped to feed some monkeys a few sweet treats and hard candies which they unwrapped and popped in their mouths.
Walking through the gateway and seeing the Taj Mahal, framed by the gateway arch, is absolutely breath-taking. With a bare backdrop and the contrast between the blue sky and white marble, it really is a magnificent site. Then as we walked the grounds and moved closer, we learned how it was actually built and what the 20,000 workers put into each day of those 22 years! One of the fascinating bits of info is that the Taj Mahal is actually a 42 acre grounds including 3 gates, 1 gateway, 1 mosque, 1 mausoleum, and a few additional buildings. The memorable white marble mausoleum is the most photographed though the surrounding red sandstone buildings are also impressive feats. Each archway, of multiple buildings but particularly the mausoleum, has chapters of the Koran written. Also there are 4 towers at each of the 4 corners of the mausoleum, and since they were built to fall away from the mausoleum (if they ever fall), they are at an 87 degree angle instead of 90....actually maybe 83, something in the 80s!
We had a tour guide who provided us with great fun facts on the Taj Mahal mausoleum, which he called 'a noble tribute to womanhood.' He was also an enthusiastic photographer who had us posing all over the grounds! Most pictures were taken with our cameras but I took a few today with my phone which are uploaded here.
After Taj Mahal, we visited a marble handicraft studio where we learned about the decorative ornamentation that we saw on parts of the Taj Mahal buildings. All the colorful decorations are gemstones; one artist carved out the marble and one artist shaped gemstones into fine pieces to fit in place. Since they are gemstones, they don't fade, which they would if just painted. The process is very precise and detail oriented, and big pieces of the decorated marble take years to make. Three special components of the white marble are 1) it is non-porous due to the crystals in it 2) it is translucent and 3) the minerals in it make it strong and scratch-resistant. The art is so specialized, they even measure young children's fingers to see if they'd be the better marble artist or gemstone artist.
Lastly, we hit Agra Fort, and I'll be honest, I was getting tired so I didn't retain as much information there. It was essentially a walled-in city, massive grounds and many sections including some red sandstone and some white marble. I do remember that part of it was a concubine for 5000 women and there were areas for people to be on house arrest (with a nice view of Taj Mahal, pretty spiffy). Also, it has a wet moat and a dry moat with about 4 different gates to pass through to actually get in!
Ok, that's all for day one as I am utterly pooped in Uttar Pradesh! Tomorrow we take on Jaipur...

PS I also saw one of the big five that I missed in Botswana--check out the water buffalo crossing the street!