India Update #3

Namaste!
Greetings from Agra. We have finished our time in Delhi and took a wonderful train ride to Agra this morning.
We are all currently enjoying a fabulous hotel with all the ammenties including the much anticipated pool. We're relaxing for awhile this morning and once it cools down in the afternoon, we'll head to one of the seven wonders: the Taj Mahal! Needless to say, everyone is quite excited!
Apparently, we've been experiencing record heats here in northern India such that they have delayed the start of school after summer vacation due to the heat and they fear a drought as the monsoon rains have been delayed - so please join us in some rain dances to help bring the temperatures down (currently around 120 F) and give us some refreshment...
We finished our time in Delhi with some wonderful visits to more holy sites and visits with religious leaders. Many of the kids particularly enjoyed the Baha'i temple (known as the Lotus Temple) and the Sikh gurdwara. Everywhere we have gone, we have experienced wonderful Indian hospitality. For example, when we met with members of the Parsis community, not only did they bring in 6 community members to explain to us more about their faith, but they also cooked us a delicious Parsis meal and donated books to our school library. Similarly the Student Islamic Organization rolled out the proverbial red carpet with sweets, plenty of drinks, very informative program helping to explain Islam and the Muslim experience in India and more books for the library. The students were also quite good about being extremely respectful in the almost comic yet informative robotic light and sound show in the ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciencousness - AKA Hare Krishna) temple. Yesterday allowed also a trip to a huge Hindu temple formed by a Swami that allowed the students more of an opportunity to see a more modern side of Hinduism. A few of us returned to the synagogue on last night where we joined their tiny community (of the 10 families in Delhi, only 4 were present) for their services.
Needless to say, everyone is well, just hot and thus tired.

We hope all is well where you are!
Namaste!