After a 6 hour bus ride from Delhi, I arrived at my guesthouse in Jaipur, Anuraag Villa. Jaipur is the capital city of the state of Rajasthan, or ‘land of kings’. Here’s some videos through the Rajasthani countryside.

These Rajahs maintained a great deal of autonomy from the Mughals and British who came to rule most of northern India.

The next morning I discovered my shower only had two settings – off and scalding hot. I thought I would be moved into another room, but instead I had to walk to another floor with my shower stuff, shower and then lock the door and walk back to my room. I make my way over to the Idex offices for my first day of Hindi lessons.

It was great to catch up with my teacher, Subhadra सुभद्रा, who also has her own website and has published books for learning Hindi. My lessons were Monday through Friday for 3 hours each day. Here’s some pics of my classroom.

After my first lesson and lunch, I was driven over to my “camp”. This is where volunteers from all over the world stay while they are in the various Idex programs. A camp is a pretty big house with bunk beds in several rooms and a common eating and hangout area. The boys camp was just a few houses away from the main camp.

I meet my new roommates, Albert from Sweden and Martin from Switzerland. The main camp next door has 4 floors – the first has rooms and the commons TV area.

The 2nd floor is more rooms with bunks and the covered outdoor eating area where all our meals are served. Here we are using the dining area for other purposes.

The open air rooftop was the best place for everyone to gather and hang out after dinner and sometimes early into the morning.

Jaipur is a very busy city – especially around the hectic city center. Our camp are in a nice quiet residential neighborhood and the home cooked communal meals and young people from all over the globe to hang out with makes it a great way to live in Jaipur.