all i want is a chicken sandwhich!

so today I went to a cute little deli here... sometimes things are just too confusing for their own good! here's how it went down:
it's a create your own sandwich thing. and i noticed there were 2 kinds of chicken - roasted or smoked. i said to my friends, "wonder what the difference is? ... maybe that they have one and not the other, haha". so one of my friends asked for roasted chicken, "ohh madam, we do not have." ohh ok, smoked chicken. ok yes. she had to try really hard not to laugh!
well then i ordered a roasted chicken sandwich on panini bread, with cucumbers and tomatoes, wanted added parmesean cheese, and caesar dressing on the side.
Waitress: ohh ok so that's roasted chicken and paneer? you want 2 sandwiches? both non-veg and veg?
Me: no, 1 sandwich, chicken, ohh on panini bread
Waitress: ok yes with tomatoes and black olives?
Me: no with tomatoes and cucumbers
Watiress: well caesar only goes on salads. you want a salad?
Me: no i just want caesar dressing on the side of my sandwich.
Watiress: ohh i can't do that, it's only for salads.
Me: yes you can, i promise!

so what i ended up with was a roasted chicken sandwich on panini bread with tomatoes and cucumbers, no parmesean cheese, ohh and we couldn't do caesar but we put 1000 island dressing on there.
ohh wonderful, thanks. smile. bobble =)

a House visit

So my friend Lak took me to her house today! We walked there, and the whole way she was a chatter box, like a little kid so excited about taking her friend home with her. She lives not too far from where I work. I was able to take my camera and got some good pictures. Wwalked through this field, then finally arrived, walked up a sidewalk where all the houses open up to. Everyone was outside staring at me as I walked by! Then Lak lives at the end as you would know it! First she introduces me to her mother, then other older ladies there, then we went in her house. Her house is stone walls, but the roof is basically dried banana leaves. There's 2 rooms, the first room is partly kitchen, open floor, and then there's half a wall, open doorway and the back room is the bedroom for all 4 family members. Her little girl was there, Pooja who's 3 yrs old and just downright adorable! First when I saw her I grabbed her up! When I had arrived Lak got a chair from the bedroom and pulled it out in the other room, made me sit down, then her mother arrived with store bought food stuff, biscuits and such (biscuits are the British term for crackers/cookies basically). So Lak fixed me a plate then wanted me to eat everything! Well I was too distracted with Pooja who's still in my lap. She just stared at me, and stared, I tried all I could do to get her to talk or smile... but alas to no avail... she just stared at me, and we petted each other. She loved to rub the underside of my hands, where calluses would be if I was a hard worker. So cute. And then she was about to fall asleep, so Lak took her and put her in this awesome hammock they had made! It was a sheet that hung from a hook on one of the poles of the roof! So she sleeps in there, just imagine a stork holding a baby, and that's what it looked like. Well that didn't last too long, she was back awake! So she started twirling around in the sheet, she'd bury her head in it, then spin around, then lift her legs up as it would spin her the opposite way! And then I would reach out to tickle her and she was just shouting laughter! It was so wonderful!
Meanwhile Lak's family... sisters, friends, husband's family... all came by to see me. And then Lak's mother came in and presented me this sari!!! What!! I know! But she was so honored that I came so she bought me a sari! Lak told me how much she'd spent on it, which was the equivalent of about $10! Her mom said I was like part of their family now that I've been there, so she wanted me to have this! She also had given Lak one that was same stitching but different color. Lak's is lime green, and mine is white to match my white skin. And Lak said all her neighbors came by and I was bringing good luck to be there. Umm ok. I just poured myself into the little girl and pryed the whole time for her and this family. the rest of the people there kept saying how pretty I was, and wondered why i wasn't married. There was also confusion about my toe ring... here you wear a toe ring on each foot to signify marriage, so it was confusing that I wear one on one foot. But Lak explained that no I'm not married, I just like wearing it! Which is the explanation I've given her before.
I stayed about 3 hours. I didn't think about it till we were walking there... how long does she expect me or want me to stay? I thought she'd live further than she did. After I'd eaten a good bit of sweets, and struggled through conversation with Lak, (no one else there spoke English or Hindi!) and I realized I should probably go. So I stood up and Lak said, "Going?" Yep. So Lak walked me out to the field that I crossed by myself and returned home.
It didn't feel earth shattering to me, it didn't seem like a big deal to me that I went to her house. But I'm pretty sure she loved it and it meant the world to her. I'm glad I made the time.



This is Lak fixing my tea/chai...


This is her little girl, Pooja, spinning in her "bed"... (the stork's nest)
I mean look at those eyes... who wouldn't get lost in her!!

Mother/Daughter pose

The field I crossed to get to her house, she lived in the middle under the tree to the right of the big apartment building in the back...

To see the whole photo album, go here.

Retail Therapy

So sometimes you know you just need to go shopping... you're feeling down in the dumps and need a pick-me-up. I can't exactly go get a new hairstyle, so I went shopping. And while there are malls and regular stores to buy things, that's not what I wanted to do... I needed some culture and to do things traditionally... this means I went to the fabric store to pick out my fabric. These traditional outfits are called Salwar Kameez. They come already paired up, the shirt, pants, and dupatta (shawl), but then you have to take them somewhere else to be sewn. I went kinda crazy that night and bought 5 outfits! But they're so cheap so I didn't feel too guilty! After spending an hour in the fabric store picking out the exact fabrics I wanted, I paid and walked to my 2 favorite tailor ladies! The most fun part of this is getting to pick out the neckline! They're always fun and different! I only chose for a few of the fabrics and then let the ladies decide the most stylish ones for the others!


First we have the cranberry outfit. Don't let the pants get you dizzy!

Next is the pink and green outfit... I like to think of this one as a Christmas year-round outfit!

For a while now I've wanted an outfit where the top was plain, but then pants were the pattern. You can't tell but there's a tiny piece of the pants on this neckline, called the Butterfly neckline.

Black and brown really do work together! And this is yet another neckline I let them pick out... you can't tell in this photo but at the neck of the back there are ties! Oh and this fabric is soooo soft! It's a silk blend.

For this pose I'm not sure what was going though my head! haha. But you can barely see the back of the neckline - it dips in the front and the back... most of the shirts here are that way. This is my electric blue outfit.

And thus concludes this fashion show! =)

Voting Motives

One of my friends, Lacie, just stopped by here and she had one a really pretty sari. I complimented it, which they always love to hear! I told her it was very nice! And it was really pretty pattern of big circles, a bright royal blue and black. She explained to me how she got it: WHEN SHE VOTED THEY GAVE HER A SARI!

Now how's that for some motivation to go to the polls... yeah, we'll give you a new outfit! =)

Videos - Cooking

Here are 2 videos from the day I went upstairs and helped cook for the Ganesh Festival day. Listen carefully and you can hear Nicki, and then both see and hear Suzie! Enjoy!



Sorry you have to turn your head to the side to watch them... but bear with it and do it! They're worth it, to hear them speak!!



I think at the end what Suzie says about Mike wondering where I am, but I am cooking, is so funny! Listen carefully to her dialog! =)

The Pedicure Disappointment

So the other day, a friend and I went to this place and got pedicures! Boy was than an ordeal though... let me just explain how and why... and I say all this not to complain, but just to show you the vast difference in cultures.
First of all, we go in, they get the place all set up for us, and the pedicures begin. They have the nice Dr. Scholls foot things to soak your feet in, you know the ones that plug into the wall, and then you turn the dial for vibration, heat, or both. Well they plug it in, but the thing is broken, so I'm not sure why it needs to be plugged in. The last time I got a pedicure the thing didn't even get plugged in, not that it would have worked because electricity was out! But anyway, no vibrations, just feet soaking in nice warm water. Ok, that's fine.
Well, I wanted a French pedicure... not that complicated! The manager lady came by and said "Oh no, madam, your nails are too short. I don't think it would look nice."
"Well I don't care what you think!!!" I said to myself, "It's what I want, and the customer is always right!!!" But they don't quite get that concept here! So then I had to re-pick out which pedicure I wanted. Well I had no clue, they had about 5 different ones to choose from... peppermint, hot stones... I finally picked out this other one, some Orchid thing. I was told that basically it's like a facial for my feet. She scrubbed and scrubbed my feet!! and massaged... it was heavenly!! She was working on my left foot, massaging, scrubbing, all this stuff, and as I'm about to fall asleep in the chair, I thought "and I get to do this all over again on the other foot!!!!" =)
But then disappointment returned when it was time to paint them. She gave me this whole tray of about 15 colors to choose from. So I chose this pretty reddish tone. When I handed it to her, she said, "Oh no, madam, there is not enough!" so she was trying to force another color on me! Umm no thank you, I want this one! You already can't do the French pedicure which is what I really wanted!! Well, alas somehow they came up with more polish, and I ended up with the color I wanted.
Afterwards we went next door to the grocery store to pick up a few things, and a store clerk there picked me out to follow around, then worked up her bravery to speak English with me... she obviously was practicing. It was quite cute! She complimented my toes! I told her I had just gotten them done!! =)

And so that's just a glimpse at a situation where you expect things to go one way, but alas... things are never what they appear!!

Tailors

The 2 ladies below are my tailors... I absolutely love them to death! I go there just to chill, practice language with, and then occasionally take new clothes to be made! =)

Daveeda and Asha

Eating

I'm all about putting some "practical, typical" things up here... So the other day some of the girls and I went out to eat at a local restaurant... This is the outside picture above.
Fun Fact: Restaurants here are called "hotels"... don't ask why, because I don't know!
Me posing in one of my fun new outfits!
They come around and serve your plate... I had a banana milkshake (made from real, fresh bananas). My bread is on that left plate, you break it up (with your right hand only!). Then on the right plate is plain white rice that you mix with the 2 gravies... our food of choice today was Murgh Palaak (which is chicken in a spinach like gravy) - it's the green one, and the red one is Paneer Machani (which is like cheese tofou in a tomato based gravy). It was really yummy, but extremely spicy... more so than usual!
So this is me, mixing it all up, eating with my right hand...
yummy goodness!!
And at the end of the meal, they bring you a finger bowl for you to wash you hand, aka your utensel! And I just thought this was a fun picture of me!!

typical day...

So I just thought I'd run through a typical day for you. This morning I decided to go down to Cafe Coffee Day (our local version of Starbucks... it's close, yet so far away!). So I got ready, walked down my street and luckily caught an auto driving by. I told him where I wanted to go, Commercial Street, and he said, "ok" and miracles of all miracles he agreed upon meter. You see meter is what they're supposed to go by, it's the law, but typically they want to barter or charge more. So I'm riding in the auto and he keeps talking about all these different places to go shopping... No thank you! I just want to go to Commercial Street. But there are cheaper things on MG Road, or I can take you to this Emporium. NO, Commercial Street. The entire 30 minute ride we had this conversation, including when we rode by the Emporium where I could get really nice handbags... NO! Commercial Street!
So finally I get to Commercial Street. There's a 99 Rupees store, which is actually $2.50, and although the item might be 99 rs. the tax added on makes it 115 rs. But they had Macaroni and Cheese, other pasta things, Campbell's Tomato soup! I spent too much money, but hey, it's comfort food right!
Next I headed to Cafe Coffee Day. It was fairly quiet, so I picked a couch off by itself. It was a bit warm in there, but ok. Well the minute I sit down they decided it was time to turn the tv on, which of course was just right above my head. There is already background music playing, but we needed extra noise, so we have the tv volume full blast too. Interesting songs came on while I was in there, Ace of Base, but probably the funniest is when I heard.... "I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the deputy..." I never get over songs played here! I ordered my drink and a muffin, but they forgot the muffin forever. I was studying some stuff, and just chilled for a while.
My favorite questions are "What is your good name?" ... what is a good name? Aren't all names good? I mean if it's your name you certainly think it's good, right? And next is "You are from which place?" I just love the way it's worded.
So I shopped around some. This included buying 2 wrap around skirts that are wayyy cute! After the purchase I told the guy "thank you" in his language, and his face lit up like a Christmas tree! The locals love it when you speak their language! But then finally decided it was time to come home. Alas, this meant it was time to find an auto to go home!
The first one agreed to go to my place, so I got in, and said, "Meter?" his answer... "Meter plus 20." No! Why plus 20? No, plus nothing! His answer was "Because it is Sunday." So dumb! I got out and walked to get another auto, meanwhile this auto driver hollers to all his friends to say where I wanted to go, thus telling on me, so none of them wanted to take me. Fine! I walked down the street, and found other autos. Their price started at 200, meter wasn't even an option, the very most this should cost is about 70... so one guy agreed to 80 and I was so tired and ready to come home, so I agreed. On the way home in this auto there were a few things that happened that I count as everyday here, but aren't normal to my former standards. We have traffic lights here, and surprisingly in my city people actually stop and obey the rules (for the most part). Sometimes while you're stopped at a traffic light different people come around selling things... newspaper, pillows... ohh! or really bright flashlights that they shine in your face (which is especially fun at night!)... Q-tips (which rumor is they get them from hospitals, wash the dirty ones, and sell them... gross diseases!)... or just plain beggars... little kids doing acrobatics, or just moms with babies propped on their hips asking for money.
A new thing I saw today on my ride home... I heard this loud POP! and I looked over... an auto had just popped his tire, so he was pulling over.

And thus is a typical day... =)

Ganesh day

Wednesday, Sept 3, I ran upstairs to take Suzie something.. It was the day of the festival of Ganesh. Suzie and Nicki were in the kitchen making special food. They were both dressed up quite a bit, Suzie was wearing a sari! Can you imagine wearing your Sunday best to cook things! The househelper "Laci" was also busy cooking things. So Nicki was stirring this dough on the cooktop, and Suzie was busy flattening the dough. The dough was made with rice flour, then you flatten it into a round shape, then put it in this mold, put stuff inthe middle, then smash it together, basically like making "momos" or chinese dumplins, do you know what those are? Like hollow crescents. So I observed a while, then realized I really needed to be getting some pictures of this! So I ran downstairs and grabbed my camera, and returned upstairs to continue observing. Well just observing would only do for so long... I had to get my hands involved! So there's 2 kinds we were making... one was sweet and the other was spicy. Well the sweet ones you pressed into this mold and were all pretty. But the spicy ones had to be steamed so you have to leave the sides open. Well Nicki was doing those, and she started smashing the side together, and i said, "No you leave that part open!" She said, literally, "Oh crap! You're right!" So she was trying to fix it, meanwhile Suzie comes over and fusses at her [she hadn't heard me i guess] So nicki says, "Yes I know, Laura told me, she reminded me!" Oh man! I wish you could have heard Suzie's reaction to this... "LAURA!!! Laura told you?!?! Ohhh Nicki!!! That is very bad!!" So then we all had a laugh over me, the foreigner, telling a national how to make their special national food!! After a while, I had settled into my routine and was going about things pretty quickly. I was having a good ole time, thinking back to days of cooking in the kitchen with my Mom or grandmother. Meanwhile Suzie is feeling awful about "putting me to work." We were just talking the whole time. That's when I learned the truth about what we were making... this wasn't like Christmas foods that you make to eat around Christmastime. These were special foods for Ganesh. Apparently these are his favorite foods. Oh and there had to be exactly 21 of each of the "momos" because 21 is Ganesh's favorite number. After they've told me this, Nicki goes into her rant. She asks her Mom, "Ohh really? And how do you know that this is Ganesh's favorite food? Did he come down here himself and tell you?" and "Ohh, how do you know 21 is Ganesh's favorite number? Has he told you that himself?" Then that brings up a generational topic. Nicki informed me that people like her mother grew up doing these traditions every year with their parents, and they just went along with the motions. Well now Nicki's generation is coming up and asking "Why?" for each special thing they do. Well Suzie's generation never asked why and can't explain why they do these things, they just do them. And Nicki's generation refuses to keep doing these things without knowing why they're doing something.

This is what the steamed ones looked like.

the offering to the godsNicki showing me how it's done
me trying my hand at it!

that night some friends and I went chasing Ganesh parades! We found some...


to see more pictures, click here!

Interesting Lovin'

So today I was riding in an auto with some friends, and we passed this motorbike of 2 guys with a mid-size golden retriever puppy in between them. Poor doggie was on there awkwardly, paws flailing here and there. But magically the auto came just close enough, and that puppy was just too fluffy and cute to deny... yes... out my arm went... and I patted his/her little head... there was a cute red collar around its neck too! So then the guys look at me like, "HUH? what are you doing?" I thought I would at least get a laugh or a smile, but no.
Oh well... I got to pet a GR puppy!!! =)

things i wonder...

why all i can't get to watch real football on tv... 2 espn channels and both play soccer!
what the purpose of mold is... on my favorite brown Reef leather flip flops!
if the nationals here really like wresting... it's on all day on saturdays?!?!
why garth brooks redid so many billy joel songs... leave them alone dude!

Caramel Popcorn

so tonight i attempted to make caramel popcorn... notice the word attempted! *sigh. i decided to pop some popcorn, which is not unusual. i have microwave popcorn, and a microwave. i even have kettle corn! so i decided to pop a bag of that, and in the midst, i decided well the caramel part can't be too hard right? i have lots of brown sugar, and i know that's a main ingredient. so i run to this handy dandy laptop, google it... well it calls for corn syrup... uhh that could be a problem... so i google ingredient substitutions... honey can be used, fyi. so i just thew some ingredients together... brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and some honey... thew the bowl in the microwave... well i think i cooked it too long in the microwave, i didn't know you could burn things in a microwave, but yes you can.
anywho, my first attempt of caramel popcorn failed, it wasn't everything i hoped and dreamed it could be... perhaps i'll just have to perfect this recipe. stay tuned...

Another City

Saturday I went to a nearby city. The day was quite an adventure. We left our city really early (well early for me), I was up and out the door by 7:15, in an auto to the bus stand, and on a bus leaving the city by 8am! My friend Charlotte and I went. Neither one of us had been before, but we were meeting up with another friend in the city for the day as well (she'd left at 5am!) First of all we got on the non-air conditioned bus, but that was ok as it was still early morning and the weather here is perfect. So we left the bus stand, were on the road about 10 minutes, stopped to pick up more people.... travel about 10 more minutes, stop to pick up more people... We quickly realized that what should have been a 3 hour ride was going to be a bit longer! After about 2 hours we pulled into the 5th? bus stop, and everyone got up and was getting off. So she and I looked at each other, we're not there, so what's going on? Snack break, and potty break. Well yes of course when there's no potty in the back of the bus. So we get off, and find the bathroom. We have to pay about 2 cents to go in, ok that's fine... but there's no western toilet in there... only squatties. Now up until this point I have magically been able to skip out on the squatty experience... alas perhaps it was time. In case you don't know what a squatty is, it's basically a hole in the ground, porcelain though, but you have to get really low... i managed to NOT get any on myself... too many details perhaps, but it's the small successes here sometimes! =) So we get back on the bus, finally made it to the city.

We walked and found the palace, the biggest tourist attraction of this city. We got to pay more than the nationals... oh yes because that's how they do it here... we paid 5 times the price they did, not to mention having to pay for them to store my camera which was not allowed inside, and my shoes which I had to take off before going in. There were walls and columns painted in gold, beautiful stained glass ceilings, and all kinds of things. After the palace we called some other friends to learn where to eat lunch. They go there each weekend so they know the good spots. We settled with this really neat restaurant on the roof overlooking this busy square. At this point out other friend joined us. After our tasty lunch of national food... my new favorites... yes I've found favorites! Which is a huge praise seeing as I hated the food when I first got here and now I crave it!
Next was this hill just outside of town where there's a huge temple. We found a nice auto driver to take us round trip. So we got up to the temple... it's not that exciting looking at a temple dedicated to all kinds of g'ods, full of id'ols. The biggest thrill was the fact that there were tons of monkeys up there! How sad is it that I took more pictures of monkeys than of the temple! haha. But they were so cute! And all the babies were crawling on each other and their parents, crawling up tails, hanging from ropes, all kinds of fun!


After this we came down the hill via a different road and halfway down there's this bull statue thing. So we had to go have our picture taken at that... and then another picture with our mus'lim auto driver... there's potential there... pry for him, that our conversations we had would lead to something... we got his address and plan to send him some materials.
After all this we got on a public city bus to ride out to this garden place... it was supposed to take 30 minutes, but an hour later we arrived! That bus ride was quite uhh interesting... we were on the back row, and each bump we hit was felt severely... one really bad bump my right shoulder hit the handlebar over the window, and then the next bump I hit my elbow/funny bone on the window ledge... needless to say we were quite ready to get there. Here's the highlight of the whole day... at the entrance is the tallest guy in this country... I had to pay to get my picture taken with him but it was so worth it! He's 7'8"!!!

Then we walked forever to see this fountain show that lasted about 10 minutes, and that was it. We hoped we could find a bus back to out town from there but were afraid that we'd have to go back to the other city first, adding extra travel time. So as we were leaving there was this guy hollering our city name, we said, "yes, we're going there!" and he led us right to a bus! (again a non-air conditioned one, even though there are a/c ones available, for a heavier fee of course) Again we had to stop on the way home for "dinner"... well dinner wasn't just grab a snack and hop back on... we were there for at least 30 minutes! We got back to our city at 12:30, but then had to find an auto to take us to the other side of the city. The first auto wanted too much, not unusual here, but the very next auto accepted the normal fare! So I made it home a little after 1, but was so nasty from the whole day that I had to take a shower before I could get in bed!
But the day was full of many firsts!!!

Kids

So I went back to that children's home today... and lost my heart again. Most of the kids there are orphans, or away from home. They sang for us, and I nearly lost it when they broke out with... "I have a Maker... He knows my name... I have a Father... He knows my name..." More truth has never been stated so innocently.
These eyes are just so adorable... you can see how easy it is to lose your heart!! Who could resist!!

tiger cubs!

Here's a photo from the tiger adventure... hard to believe I was holding a baby tiger!!! =)

if you want to see more pictures of the elephant day, go to this link...
Elephant Camp

Noise

If anything would or could make noise here, it does. You know how in golf carts there's a loud beep when you put it in reverse? And then even in heavy equipment there's a loud beep when it backs up. Well here even cars have this wonderful feature, only it's not a beep, it's a song. There are many songs to choose from I'm sure, but there is one person on my street who's fairly stuck on Christmas songs. The tone is like the early cell phones tone. So it goes from Jingle Bells, to Santa Clause is Coming to Town, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
Also you have to have water filters to be able to drink the water. They play songs as well! Mine plays Fur Elise, however there's a nice button you can push to turn that off! But at the office when the security guards come in to get water they like to hear the song so we get to hear it... the whole thing! That's when you smile to keep from screaming!! =)
Add to that list refrigerators... yes, i'm serious!... when you leave the door open too long it starts playing at you, as one of the kids here loved to point out to me (which makes one wonder how he found that out haha).

My Fun Skirt

So this is my new favorite outfit... I bought the skirt here... It's wayy cute in my opinion, hence the reason I bought it. When I was a little girl, I would aggravate my Mom in the dressing room- you see I had to know the "twirl factor" of every dress or skirt that I put on. I had to know just how far out it came when I spun around... well let me just tell you that the twirl factor on this skirt is excellent. Plus it has elephants on it! who wouldn't love it!!! The other night several of us went to Hard Rock Cafe here, and I wanted a very western outfit to wear... I was going to be very taboo and wear a shirt that might have shown my ankles, but in the end I wore the skirt and it was an excellent choice! Girls you know how sometimes you just need to feel that extra cuteness, and I totally did! Hope you enjoy my fun outfit!! =)

Elephants!!!

Michelle and I decided to do this tour of an elephant camp on our last free day in Thailand! So we loaded in a van, with this older couple who live in Delhi and another couple with their 13 year old daughter. The van ride there took about an hour. We got there and immediately were greeted by elephants. One bowed and I got to sit on it's knee and pose for picture! (see to the right) Then we went to watch all the elephants take a bath in the river, then the elephant show! They brought out a "welcome" sign, then played ball, the trainers did different things on them, they bowed, then they brought in easels and the elephants painted pictures. There were probably 6 that painted! They used their trunks and you could tell there was lots of concentration going on!! And the muscles tensing in the trunks was amazing!! They stacked logs, and I don't remember what else. It started raining at this point. After the show the elephants came out to pose, I got to have one pick me up on it's trunk!! Then it laid down on the ground and I crawled up it and it stood up!! I rode bareback on an elephant!! haha. After that we took an ox cart to this village where I did more shopping! I bought a jade elephant necklace, elephants painted on a fan, and a beautiful elephant blanket. Then we loaded on an elephant in this nice seat thing and went for a ride. Michelle and I were on Sombit, who was 35yrs old! We went up and down hills, through the jungle, forded a river, crossed it, through more jungle.... they had a guy posted to take pictures with his own camera so they could make you buy it (total disney style haha), so after that I asked the guide on the elephant with us if that guy posted could use my camera to get a pic, no but he'd get one later. umm ok. So later our guide jumps off, well ok he got the elephant to put his trunk up, got on it, and lowered to the ground, amazing I know! So he gets on the ground, gets my camera, takes our photo, meanwhile elephant is still walking, and our guide is on the ground. We stayed that way for quite some time!!! It was cracking Michelle and me up! So then we keep thinking "he's about to get back on" and he runs into this hut to "take care of some business" haha!! Then he came back on and loaded up. Throughout the ride they had stations where we could purchase bananas to feed our elephant, is that some marketing or what? They took lessons from Sea World for this one... ohh get the tourists to pay for the food. That was one of the most uncomfortable rides!! The ox cart made me so thankful to ole Henry Ford, and the elephant ride was something I'll never have to do again!! haha! It was fun while it lasted, but I've done it. There was a bar across the seat on the elephant and were it not for that, poor Michelle would have been a goner a few times! Especially going downhill!!
Next we had lunch which was a buffet of traditional Thai food. It started raining again at this point. Well we were supposed to do this bamboo river raft float thing, but I was ready to back out... all the adults did, but Michelle said, "Ohh come on! This experience isn't complete without it!" so Michelle and I with the other teenager load up. So we're going, now mind you I have on khaki shorts and a white tank top, yes I said WHITE! and rain... can we say wet tshirt contest!! No umbrella, of course! The front guy on the raft offered me his poncho, but I didn't want to deprive him, however he never put it on so hindsight I wish I had gotten it!! The beginning of the river raft I was freezing, wet and miserable! But finally the rain stopped and the sun came out so I could enjoy the "rain forest/ jungle" around me!! It was beautiful! Then the front guy invited me to come "row" which was basically using a long stick of sugar cane to push the river bed and make us go. So I got my pic doing that, then the other 2 girls took turns.
After this we loaded up in the car, and headed back to the hotel. We stopped at an orchid and butterfly farm which was kinda cool, but the next part was the highlight. That morning our guide had asked if we wanted to stop by the Tiger Adventure on the way home. It was $10, but you get to pet a tiger! We were all for it! So sure enough, we go and paid our $10 equivalent of the local currency, and got to go in this cage to play with tiger cubs for 20 minutes!! there were 2 cages with 2 tigers in each so our group split up. the only downer was that by this time both mine and Michelle's camera had died! so the other people had to get pictures for us! (and I still don't have pictures, sorry) but when we got there the tigers were out, sleeping like a log!! so the worker there was trying to wake them up, she picked one up and put it in my lap since I was sitting on the floor legs crossed. so I was just petting this baby tiger!! I was playing with it, tickling her paw pads trying to provoke her to wake up!! She would look at me, growl a little bit, then that head would fall back and she was out again. So I'd tickle again, she'd kinda wake up, this process kept on, and I was steadily petting her! finally she woke up a little more and I was playing around her mouth so she was biting/chewing my finger, you know like you do with puppies... only puppies don't have this sharp of teeth! them jokers hurt!! so there was an empty water bottle there that was their chew toy so we started playing with that and boy she came alive!! it was soooo amazing!! she was pawing at it, just downright adorable. still laying in my lap, belly up just like a baby!! eventually she moved around some, her back legs and booty fell out of my lap, then she crawled back up all by herself!!! no coaxing!! haha!!! I was playing with the bottle with my left hand and steadily petting with my right!! the 20 minutes took a long time to pass, but alas we had to go! we got to walk over to the other cage to see the mom and dad... the dad was HUGE! and the mom was mean, kept growling, and even showed me her teeth!!!

Click here to see pictures of the elephants.

Pictures with the tigers will come later!

Mahindi... for real!

So last Wednesday another Jgirl and I took off to a different area of town where we met up with a third Jgirl... all for the purpose of getting henna done...or mahindi as it's called here. There are these 3 guys that sit outside in the 3rd girl's neighborhood, and they're really good! People come from all over to these guys to have it done. It was a rather interesting experience. Michelle had printed of a Chri'stian version of mahindi, telling the Story from Creation to Ch'rist. He attempted to oblige her, making his own variety in there. He had trouble with the cross... because I mean really, that extra line at the top is not really all that important right? Actually it's a mess up, it's supposed to look more like a capital T, huh?? LOL! We had to direct him quite a bit. So then I get a different guy, but since I had to wait while Michelle got hers done I looked through the books they had there and had seen an elephant included in a design. Knowing my love for elephants, I HAD to have this done! So I sit down and tell the guy... "elephant!" He kinda nodded like he sorta understood. So he gets done with my first arm... no elephant was included in any design in any way, shape or form on my arm. Hmm, but ok. So he's ready to start the next arm... and I repeat, "elephant!" even tried his language word for it, "hati!" That's when he tells the truth... "no". He can't do it. So on that arm he did whatever designs he wanted, just like he had done on my other arm. *Sigh* And that's how my non-elephant mahindi came to be! =)

Children

This morning I went with some other workers who live near me to a children's home outside the city. It's a place for orphaned children or children who's parents can't afford to get them to school. It's run by believers, and these kids are adorable!! Here's a video of "This is the Day" which they sang for us when we got there! I hope yhe little kids bless your heart as much as they blessed mine!!




On the drive I got to experience a little more of my area!! I really got to break out of my comfort zone, and see some real poverty. People who can't afford houses just set up tents using sheets and tarps. There were mountains here and there that we passed by, and almost ruins, just pieces of stone where a house used to be. Being from MS, I'm used to riding roads and looking for deer... well today it was looking for monkeys! We saw a whole family, about 6 monkeys in all!! I also got to see cows grazing in real grass! Eating grass, not garbage off the street... I guess I feel a little better about drinking milk now! =)

Lastly I got to see a banana tree complete with bananas hanging from it! WOW! I really do live in the tropics huh!! Here's a picture of a tree, look in the middle for bananas hanging!! YAY!

Sari & Wedding

If you're interested in info about the sari and wedding I attended on Thursday, I'm just going to encourage you to look at the pictures of me at the following link. Pictures are worth a 1000 words, and more interesting! If you have questions feel free to ask, but I think this will explain things better than me typing it all out! Enjoy!!

Henna, Haldi Ceremony, Sari, and Wedding Fun!

henna!

I got henna put on my feet on Thursday night! Shaheen is who did it... She's so talented! She had a book with different designs, but she's been doing it so long she didn't even look at it! And she was so quick, she was done with both feet in about 10 minutes! The middle picture is right after she finished... basically henna is mud, and you put it on, it dries, and you knock the mud off. It stains your skin a darker shade of the natural color. So since I'm white the end result comes out looking orange. Can you imagine this on your hands? I would be so distracted, but maybe one day I'll get it done! =)

Food Fun!

So here's some interesting food here:
This picture is me taking a bite at a local restaurant. this is called the thaili plate, which means a sample of all different types of food. I almost lost it when I cut a bite of chicken and put it in my mouth... to chew, and CHOMP there was a piece of bone. Apparently they don't cut their chicken apart like we do, so it's no big surprise to have bones in the middle of your chicken bites here... hmmm nice! Needless to say I didn't eat any more of that chicken, and the other chicken dishes were too spicy, I didn't try the mutton (or sheep!) either, so I ate lots of bread and rice!! =)

This to the right is a fruit... it's called chi-ku chi-ku. I absolutely LOVE it! In my opinion it tastes like brown sugar made into a fruit. Others have compared it to a mix between a pear and a fig. I've enjoyed tasting all the different tropical fruits here. My neighbor upstairs likes to introduce me to all different things. At her house is where I first tasted this wonderful fruit! I've also gone to her house and she's offered me other fruits, like papaya and such, and I go, "umm I've never had it before!" I'm sure she thinks I'm crazy for never tasting all these fruits but: 1- We don't eat lots of fresh fruits in the US, and 2- My mom doesn't like a lot of fruit so I didn't grow up eating just tons of it! So I explained that to her and now she LOVES to get me to try new things. I think she's finally learned that I don't like spicy stuff, so she's not giving me anything like that. She loves taking care of me though!

I end with a funny... these are a local cuisine as well... we laugh here and call them "Lottie Moon" pies... haha!! (read the brand)

Movie & Auto Excitement!

Friday night all of the singles in the area went to see the new Narnia movie... it was completely awesome! The movie was fabulous of course. But I wasn't prepared for how the opening credits would effect me, just seeing that beautiful Disney castle and hearing that magical music was like "home" to me!! I seriously teared up! Laugh if you want to! I had been prepared to expect an "intermission" where they just pause the movie in the middle... it's the Bollywood style, so they do it for all movies. I think it's kinda nice because it gives you a good "potty break" time. So we're in the middle of intermission and I asked around if anyone else wanted to go get refreshments. So one of the girls says "there's waiters that you can order from here!" I was like, "shut up! no way!!" So I ordered popcorn and a drink, which granted it wasn't big servings, enough for just me, but it was less than $4! And my movie ticket was $4! So movie was good, I escaped this culture for just a little while. And where better to go than Narnia! I mean come on! One of the girls even said, "I don't want to leave here, I'm not ready to go back out there, I want to stay in 'Narnia' just a little longer!" I laughed and agreed! But alas we had to go.
So we go outside to catch an auto, well it's late so they want fare and a half, which is legal after 9:30 and it was 9:50. We're not arguing that, but they wanted more than that even! So 3 of us girls are arguing and this young national guy comes "to our rescue" to explain things to us, that they get fare and a half. Right, we understand that, but they want more! So then he starts rambling off in the local language to them, and they're still arguing with him!! haha! So we walk off then one follows us and says, "Ok meter and a half"... So we go to follow him, and we get in the most pimped out auto I've ever seen!! We're talking neon lights, chrome, the whole 9 yards!!... to "experience" this with me, watch the video. Waving at the end is Camille, then me!
Enjoy! =)

Therapy and Horses

Combine children with disabilities and horses... and you've got my attention!! So when a guy from the office mentioned this group that takes these kids out on horses, I was completely interested! Today was my first day to go, I just got back in fact! Most of the kids have cerebral palsy, and in this country children with any type of disability are coddled and never given the opportunity to do anything for themselves. So this group separates children from parents, puts the kids on horses, and takes them around this big open property. When the horses walk, it forces the kids to loosen their muscles and be flexible, thus stretching them. The older kids sit on the horse by themselves, and the younger kids have riders with them sitting behind them to help them sit up. That's part of the challenge too... to get the kids to have good posture. So I walked along beside the horses to encourage the kids. There were lots of helpers today, so I didn't get to do as much, but we'll be going every week so I'm sure more opportunities will arise! So we start off down a trail, then the lady leading this whole thing stopped us... she has specific stretches she makes the kids do... then we walk a little further, and the helpers hold sticks and make the kids pull the leaves off and count... then we walk back to the starting point. The horses are specifically trained for this... they are therapy horses. I was fascinated by it all, and plan to return!

Complaints... and Positives!

Ok so here's where I get to complain... but in fairness I'm going to list at least one positive for every negative... attempt at least! =) I'll be adding to this list periodically I'm sure.

I've had no hot water for the past 5 days.
... I have running water that I don't have to pump or think about.

HBO has commercials here!
... I have tv, cable that I don't have to pay for, and I get to watch American shows and movies on that cable! Including some favorites like Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and Ellen!!

I had no electricity one night, waking me up at 2am.
... Most of the time I have electricity, and even a/c in my bedroom!

There isn't good coffee here, they don't know what Starbucks is!
... There is a version of Starbucks here called Cafe Coffee Day, not the same but at least I do have an option.

My family is on the other side of the world.
... I have a great other family here, not the same, but at least I'm not here alone.


There will be more added unto these. =)

Electricity... blessing and a curse

The dependency upon electricity is such a blessing... and a curse! Monday was Cinco de Mayo, and seeing that there are lots of Americans here who are big fans of Mexican food, I hosted a party to celebrate that wonderful Mexican-American holiday! And yes it is a holiday for both... do some research... we reenacted the whole battle and such... good times! Anyway back to electricity... so I had come home at lunch to fix something to eat, and get stuff ready for the party and while I was there my electricity went off. This was around 2:00 in the afternoon... I had a pot of tea on the stove steeping, and lettuce sitting in the permanganate sulfate - the stuff you have to soak fruits and veggies in to make them safe to eat raw, then wash in filtered water... well no electricity equals no filtered water. So I used like a whole bottle of water to make the rest of the tea and to sort of rinse the purple off the lettuce to stick in the fridge... no biggie I'm not worried because the electricity has never stayed off too long, it will be back on by the time I'm home from work, or so I think. and I'm still ok using that bottle of water because I have 2 more in the fridge, keeping in mind the cardinal rule of always have 3 litres of water on hand per person for just in case. I'm only left with 2 but that's ok because power will be back on soon.
So I get home from work and what's the first thing i notice?? No electricity still! yuck! So one of the other girls had walked home with me, because of the party... so she prys about it, that L we need electricity, lol! Still nothing. All through party nothing, turned on 1 fan, but waited as long as possible to turn on a light... I do have a battery backup that runs just a few things, not my fridge! So party gets over, street lights are on, but still Laura has no power. then I noticed that the light outside my door was on... hold the phone! I should have power, so I go upstairs... yes they have power. so my landlord comes downstairs to check it out... he can't diagnose the problem. So I say "well i'm ok without it i'm just worried about my fridge." he wants to know if there's anything in there i'd like to put in their fridge... umm yeah some beef, but i can't very well ask that of a H'ndu, so I say no it's ok. agghhh!!! electricity won't be back in my apt till tomorrow at least when he can get the electrician here, silly electrician wouldn't answer his phone at 10:15pm when landlord called him, silly huh!! meanwhile door got opened a lot throughout and there were tons of mosquitos all around my apartment just biting me away!!
Went to bed around 11... only to wake up around 2 because I was so freakin hot!! My fan was dying of juice, slowing down, so I knew my battery back-up was gonna go at any minute. I laid in bed trying to decide what to do. That's when I got the great idea of a wet washcloth. So that cooled me down a little bit, but I had a new worry... I was itching in different places all over my body. The door got opened a lot, and although I do have little bug killers, but they have to be plugged in to work, so they weren't really working. I couldn't begin to count how many mosquito bites I had by this point. I couldn't fall back asleep so I gave up on sleep around 3 and picked up the ipod to watch a movie. Later I counted around 15 bites... To say this was a miserable night would be putting it mildly!
Turns out the problem with my electricity wasn't anything an electrician could fix... it was in the pole which then became a government problem, so my landlord went and bribed a govt person to come and fix it... I now have electricity, but lost some food in the outage. I know, I know, it could be worse! But take this into account along with stomach acting up last week and I completely recognize that I'm living in a foreign country!!! =)

This is a video of one of my rides in an auto, which is our form of taxi here. The price starts at 14 Rupees, which is about $.30... the most expensive ride I've taken was way across town and that was a little over $2.00!! It's so cheap!! But open air, with all the exhaust leaves me feeling pretty dirty once I get back home... not to mention when I blow my nose it's all black... gross I know!! Anyway this video was filmed on my way to Commercial Street, a fun open market area where I'll frequent almost every weekend, if money allows! haha It's a small street, all the streets aren't like this, and it's in a market type area... but notice all the other autos and 2-wheelers. Oh and the bumpiness and camera moving all around... that's all natural of how the body moves whilst riding in one of these fun "vehicles" =)

Holy Cow!

I love how cows just roam the streets here... they're considered among the gods, so they get free roam. I see them at random times, going though all kinds of trash and such. Sometimes people come along beside them and slap their booty to get them to move along, but mostly they're just ignored... and "2-wheelers" or cars just whiz on past them! It's really sad how they don't lead a good life or get good nutrients usually. Anyway, this is the first good picture of I've gotten of one, but there will be many more, fear not!! =)

My Apartment

I live in a really nice apartment, it's furnished with very nice things! My landlady and her family live above me. I wanted to give everyone a chance to see where I live... so here's a teaser photo below and then a link to go see more photos of my house, street, and apartment! =)

To see more - click here!

Salwar Kameez

This is one of my 3 new outfits... it's called a salwar kameez. The pants are huge, brought together by a drawstring, but if I held them up to me straight out you'd think I just finished as #1 on The Biggest Loser!!! haha
Of course pink would have to be among my new outfits!! =)

There are 2 more, similar design just different material... but I'm considering taking the pants back to be made a little smaller!

Me at my Office!

This is me at work, getting my groove on! This is my first top I bought here, and it's still one of my favorites! This is the typical thing I wear everyday so far. And this is the desk where I (and my Father) make it all happen. Have I mentioned that I love what I do!! =)

If you would like to see more photos, go to this link. These are posted on facebook, but you don't have to be a member to see them!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023549&l=63142&id=61701708

Bruno

So this is Bruno, the golden retriever that lives above me. Isn't it amazing how the Father knows what we need, and is there to provide them for us! Bruno enjoys coming over to visit, and lots of loving from me... He didn't know a dog could feel so loved until I moved in downstairs! haha!! (at least that's what I like to think! =)

I'm here!

Ok so I'm here, safe and sound. I had good flights... no one directly beside me the whole way, and if you've ever flown 9 hrs at a time you know the value of that!! I saw some interesting things, met and talked to some interesting people. I think the most interesting was the Indian guy beside me (3 seats, the seat between us was empty so not directly beside me which would contradict my earlier statement) on my final flight. He kept coughing at the beginning so what do you do? You offer him a peppermint. Oh my word, you would have thought I gave him $100! He thanked me about 8 times over 8 hours! And I'm not even kidding! Then I guess he thought it was his duty to help me in every way he could. At one point during the meal I was trying to get my knife out of the little tray thing, I couldn't find it, dude reaches over and grabs my knife and presents it to me. I"m like, "umm thanks" (and no you didn't just invade my bubble!) haha =) We also helped each other fill out our entry forms, and he kept checking on me all through the lines through immigration. Baggage claim was good... if you hate it in America then you'd certainly loathe it over here!!!! Ok so there's all these carts, and people, crowding up as close as possible to the belt. And naturally it took mine forever to arrive, which I was tall enough to stand back and just watch for them, but buddy I sure did push my way up when I saw my bags! Everyone is very helpful here though and wanted to help... the nice airport guys kept offering and I kept refusing, and finally one just took over my cart... then another dude walks up to help too, he had volunteered to help me earlier... well I wasn't happy about this because I knew I didn't have any local money to pay them. So we get to the end of the walkway and the first guy says "We take tips." I'm thinking, "really? that's nice, and that's also why I didn't want your help!" so I sweetly reply, "I understand that but I have only US Dollars." oh they were happy to take those. So I had them each a $1, they didn't do that much! Well the second guy starts arguing with me, he needed $20. Oh I got so fighting mad, he wouldn't even touch the money! Finally I said, "Well this is all I have and either you take it or nothing!" He still wasn't taking it so I put it back in my bag and started to walk away! At this point I'm looking for the people to pick me up, frantically after my swindling encounter with nationals!! I found them and was never so happy to see friendly faces! We made it back to my apartment, it was 1am here, so there was no one on the streets which they said would I would never see again! lol!! I got to my apartment, it's so cute! I'll put pics up on here soon! I didn't sleep excellent, but will force myself to stay up all day so maybe I'll sleep good tonight. At least I have a/c in my bedroom! Yay!

As I'm reading the Book last night, in my room, this curtain rod falls down! My heart was pounding, just knowing evil was present. I immediately lifted up and requested His presence! (And I left the curtain on the floor!)

Ok so that's my first almost 12 hrs in country!!!

Laura =)

p.s. went to the kitchen this morning, and saw a cute little bitty lizard on the window sill of my dining room... hmmm that's nice! but he saw me and went back outside... he knows where he's not welcome! =)

Welcome!

Welcome to my adventure... I hope you'll visit me often and I'll try to keep this thing updated frequently!!