Country #25 Monaco

India was the 5th country I had every been to and now that I get to travel more, I have made a goal of getting to 50 countries by the time I am 50.  I am fortunate that I get to travel a lot for school.

I joined a Math Specialist program that requires us to meet 5 times in two years and I just had a meeting in Nice, France (country 24!).  My friends and I took a 40 minute bus ride that cost 1.50 Euros to go to Monaco.  It was dark so we didn't get to see much, but it is exactly like I pictured. A symbol of wealth.  We really didn't see any "normal" stores.  We did have a reasonable dinner there. Nice was nice  - My hotel was a tower - Villa la Tour.  It was very close to the Acropolis where our conference was.  It was also in the middle of the old town which consisted on wonderfully narrow, winding streets with cute shops.  The weather was perfect - bright sunny skies and cool temperatures.

So now I am halfway to my goal and should be to 30 by the end of this summer.
*plan to go before the end of July

1)  The US.
2) Canada (a cruise stop)  sad.  Will need to travel more there.
3) Mexico - a high school Spanish trip  It was my first flight!
4) Ecuador - 3 times for missionary work
5) Peru - Hiked the Inca trail to Machu Picchu

6) India - I live there!
7) The Maldives - a whole week basking in this paradise.
8) Thailand - went to visit friends
9) Hong Kong - went to visit a friend

10) Israel (3 times including the Jerusalem half marathon)
11) Jordan - Petra!
12) Oman - a school conference
*13) Bahrain - a school conference this January
*14) UAE - Math Counts competition this February

15) France - math conference
16) the Netherlands - one night layover
17) Austria - math conference
18) Poland - twice for a math conference
19) Greece - twice on Cruise stops
20) Cyprus - cruise
21) Italy - Venice, Rome, Pompeii
22) Vatican City - smallest country
23) Monaco
24) Croatia - cruise stop and a Math conference
*25) Bosnia - hoping to go when I go to Croatia for a math conference this spring
*26) Montenegro -  hoping to go when I go to Croatia for a math conference this spring
27) Turkey - 4 times cruise stops and visiting friends in Istanbul
28) Ireland - spent a total of 9 weeks there over 2 summers going to grad school.
29) England - spent a week in London, Bath, Stonehenge
*30) Spain - going on a cruise this summer with friends
*31) Andorra - hoping to visit this summer when I am in Barcelona

I am well on my way to my goal.

I am so blessed to see so much of the world!

Week Without Walls - Gujarat, India

Every year our students go on a week long field trip called Week Without Walls.  It is usually outdoor adventure stuff - zip lining, rappelling, rock climbing, etc.  Our 8th graders study the Indus Valley Civilization in Social Studies and our teachers wanted the kids to go see some ruins since we are in India.

On Monday morning we met the kids at the airport at 7:30 am and flew to Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat.  It is on the upper left corner of India, on the Pakistan border.

We had 53 students, 8 teachers, a teacher's wife, a nurse and 3 security guards.  We arrived in Ahmedabad (with all of our luggage!!)  and drove to the Ghandi's Ashram(Sabarmati Ashram)

After the Ashram we took half the kids to check in at the Novotel and half he kids got McDonalds for lunch (then we switched)  I am not fond of McDonalds in India because there is no beef - veg burgers and masala - yuck.  The Novotel was super nice with great bathrooms and comfy beds.  We gave the kids free time and they used the pool and gym.  We played some games, ordered dominos pizza, and started planning skits.

On Tuesday we loaded up 6 mini busses each with 9 kids, 2 adults and a driver and drove to the Adalaj Stepwell It is over 500 years old and is gorgeous.  Monsoon just ended and I assumed we would see some water in the well.  I thought all areas of India got monsoon every year, but this part of the country hasn't had ANY rain in 2 years.  It was soooo dusty.

We started on a LONG 7 hour drive to Dholavira.  On the way we went through the Wild Ass sanctuary.  Hunting for wild asses kept the kids busy for awhile.  We drove on a lot of dirt roads and got lost a few times so it took quite awhile to get there.  This is the first time I have ever driven straight across desert with no roads.

We stopped twice to use the "restroom"  The kids were not happy with squat toilets with no doors.  The camp at Dholavira was not as nice as the Novotel :) The huts held 6 kids and had a running tap for a bucket shower.  We stayed there two nights and as we were leaving we heard kids complain about no hot water.  I asked them if they had turned on the geezer.  In India we do not have automatic hot water.  Whenever you need hot water for dishes, laundry, or a shower, you have to flip a switch to heat the water 15-20 minutes before you need to use it.  NONE of the noticed the geezer and did not have hot water.  crazy!

On Wednesday, we split the kids into two groups and half went to the fossil park and half went to the excavation sites of Dholavira - a Harappan site.  I went to the archeological site first ( it is 30 miles from Pakistan) and the kids got to see all the ruins which were really cool.  We went back to the campsite for lunch then went to the fossil park.  

one of the cabins

We are looking at Pakistan in the distance!!

ancient seals

The kids found fossilized wood and shells etc in the fossil park.  The Rann of Kutch is where we were and the salt flats was the coolest part!  the kids LOVED it.  Salt as far as the eye could see and it crunched like we were walking on snow. It was sooo hot and the flies were bothering us, then 5 people got stung by bees so we hightailed it out of there.  The morning group had no problem so maybe the bees only come out in the afternoon?

some of the teachers - Aanchal (the second from the left was my roomie on the trip)  I am the second from the right

On Wednesday night they played man hunt in the dart and Kabaddi.  On Thursday, we drove back to Ahmedabad.  It was supposed to be a shorter drive because we skipped the ass sanctuary and drove all on highways.  Even though it was only 220 miles away, it took 7 hours because highways are not the same in India. I could have taken a thousand photos of when we had to stop/slow down/swerve due to animals on the road, but here are a few.

a camel hauling hay

goats

water buffalo?

cows

About two hours in the van in front of us blew a tire.  Thank goodness the driver maintained control of the vehicle, but the tire was shredded.  Two vans had already gone ahead, but the other three stopped with the disabled van.  I was torn apart by thorns trying to pee on the side of the road!  The spare was flat so we went a few km to pump it up, then we stopped at a "rest stop" and waited there for over an hour for all the tires to be filled/fixed and we went on our way.  the first vans got to ahmedabad a good hour before us.  We stayed at the YMCA and it was awesome!!  huge pool, volleyball, space to run around etc.  The kids love it!

I am allergic to Indian food so for pretty much every meal I had an apple or a banana, a handful of banana chips, and a granola bar.  I was hungry and ready to go home!

We got up Friday morning and flew to Mumbai.  We made it back safe a sound with lots of good memories.