Here and back again

Well, after a tranquil three weeks, Kate and I are venturing back into the great heatwave that is middle India. It is strange because we made good friends with the elective students here, and now have to leave them. We have spent a lot of time debating the many differences, and surprising similarities between cultures, and working very hard at dispelling some of the more erroneous mass assumptions about Americans (mostly due to works of cinematic genius like "girls gone wild" and "superbad"). So, Kate and I are falling asleep to the sound of braying donkeys for the last time together. When I return I might be living in a flat alone for six weeks, so I am trying to soak up all of the company I can while it is still available.
Things here have been amazing, but I am ready to get back to Jaipur to see the group and hear about all of the amazing stories the other students have. Most likely we will be spending each day submerged in the pool at the Raj Mahal hotel, but I guess I can hardly complain about that. I maintain that things here have been calm, and our days have been mostly filled with typing our 30 page papers. My typing has been punctuated with the sound of my cursing, because the power has a tendency to go out (suspect I know) causing me to lose paragraphs with each outage.
The mountains maintain their majestic beauty, and every few days we wake up to a new snow covering on their tops. We went to a town called Naggar to have lunch on a castle balcony. The lunch was "minging" as the brits say, but the view was stunning as usual. The valley had a river and apple orchards with small homes sprinkled in. We were harassed by crows the sizes of pterodactyls, and appeased them by chucking bits of Kate's horrid sandwich over the balcony.
After a quick tour of an art museum, which did nothing but confirm my notion that India might have missed that the point of establishing a museum is not to creep out the customers, we wound back down into manali, and had a fantastic dinner at the charming johnson's cafe.
I think I will sign off now, so as not to keep kate awake all night with the typing.
Much love, and for those rowers who might check this. congratulations!
Love to all.