Namaste from Jaipur!

I am finally in Jaipur "The Pink City!" I have been doing about a week of orientation in various hotels. One in Delhi, the other just outside of Jaipur. I am moved in with my host family and my roommate. My roommate Emily and I get along really well. I see a lot of Jaipur adventures in our future. The host family is nice, but a little quiet. I think this will change as the kids get less shy. The oldest is their daughter Chetna (13) and then there's Prabble (10.) There is also a grandmother. They have a German Shepherd, but like most Indian pets, she stays outside all day.
My group is amazing. Everyone is very nice and interesting. There are a lot of different types of lifestyles and senses of humor, which is both a lot of fun and sometimes a little hard to absorb. I can't wait to get to know people better. I really want to travel, and I hope that I can get a group of people together to go to Dharmsala or Darjeeling (both up north.) I also want to see the nearby Monkey Temple (home to 5,000 monkeys) and a lot of other stuff that just seems incredible.
I'm beginning to wonder why I didn't go to a Spanish or English-speaking country though. Hindi is hard and I am not good a picking up new languages. I've learned accha (good,) nahi (no,) ruko (stop,) pani (water,) Sukriye (thank-you,) namaste (hello,) bargo (run,) and a few other kinda of useless-without-verbs words. But I'm hoping to strengthen my Hindi through forcing myself to just sound like an idiot for awhile. Oh I can also ask "Ap thik hai?" (Are you okay?)
Jaipur is a mini-metropolis according to my hostmom, and according to my homestay coordinator, my house in in the "poshest" area of Jaipur. This means that the streets are clean, big, and quiet. That is very unusual for India. My student center is close to a huge market, where I'm going to get a calling card and SIM card on Monday. Rajasthan is hot right now, but cools down in October. I feel like I'm in this akward period when I don't know my host family, where I am, and I'm always sweaty. People here do not sweat nearly as much as I do.
I am going to learn how to cook Indian food and I'm going to get some Indian outfits made, so maybe I'll eventually "blend," but probably not. I have taken pictures, but I'll post them later. I love you all and I hope that you are all have a great time whichever contient you're on.

Love!
Erica