it's been a busy, and really fun, past few weeks since i got back to Pune. i'll try to give you an idea about what all we've been up to:



the weekend after i got back, just a few days after our big BBQ fiasco, DELIRIOUS? was in concert in Pune. actually, the played in a big field just a few blocks from our house! it was a really fun evening.



the next day, saturday, we had friends over and after our discussion group we all watched High School Musical. it was great, because even though we're all in our 20's, we just laughed the whole time. after everybody left, Preeti and Sohpy and I ended up having a dance party while we cleaned up. let me tell you, "Life is a Highway" (from the Cars soundtrack) is a GREAT song to sing and dance to!



sunday evening, after our discussion group, a couple of us went out to eat at this crazy place called Sheesha. the atmosphere was quite fun (we sat on this little couch thing and the ceiling was open so we could see the stars) and the food was really good.



on tuesday, we went for coffee with some friends that were in town and saw the most crazy mullet-esque hair style ever! (see the bottom right hand corner)



then on thursday we saw a lady driving a rickshaw!!! (for those of you that don't know, this is very rare here).



that evening we went to our friend Ruth's house for her birthday. we had some great food and really good cake.



however, her dogs are kind of crazy and sophy was pretty scared! (ok, so, i was too!)



then after we left ruth's, we headed out to hear our neighbor's band play. they're called purple patch, and they're pretty decent. we all had a good time hanging out.



then friday was republic day, kind of like the 4th of July--it's when India's constitution was signed. so, to celebrate, we decided to have another BBQ! the guys were in charge of the meat, so they came over to our house to marinate it, and Kenneth and Ronnie also baked a cake (well, 3 cakes actually!).



then we drove across town to Sahil's house for the BBQ...



...and on the way we passed the electric creamatorium! (i've been wanting to get a picture of this forever).



the guys did a really great job with the BBQ and everybody had a lot of fun.



some time that weekend, we saw tons of sheep, all walking down the road of course. i'm not certain, but i think it was most likely connected to a festival going on the next week.



that weekend, one of our friend's cousin's got married and invited us to the wedding (this is quite common here, getting invited to people's weddings that you've never met). there was a dance party friday night, which we missed, and then a huge dance performance on saturday, and the actual wedding was sunday. we drove out to what seemed like the middle of no where and found that the wedding was at this AMAZING place, with a HUGE stage set up!



there were dozens of dance performances, as the bride and groom watched from the side. then the bride got up and danced! it was wild, and there was even a big TV camera on a crane thing set up to record the whole show. we stayed long enough to watch our friend dance, and then had to head to yet another event...



...a birthday dance party! our friend had everyone out on her terrace and we danced and had a blast and then had some incredible cake. quite a fun, but crazy evening!



the next night was the actual wedding, so we all got dressed up in our saris. mine is kind of see-through, so i decided to be clever and try wearing my swim suit underneath. it worked kind of well, except that the petti coat kept moving around because the suit was so slippery!



but it looked pretty good once i had it all tied and pinned properly!



all of us all dressed up and ready to go!



like i said, the place where they had this wedding was HUGE! our friend told us they invited around 5000 people!



me with preeti and sophy standing inside of the hall



the grounds, with the new stage set up for that night



the four of us with our friend Deepali and the bride and groom (their clothes were AMAZING and probably cost a fortune!)



we had a rather low key week after our crazy weekend, which was quite a relief! but this past weekend was almost as crazy as last weekend. we had our discussion group on saturday and 22 people came, the biggest group we've had yet. we had a really good discussion, and then had fun afterwards eating snacks and hanging out.



we met at Kevin's house and he has an amazingly small dust bin! (trash can)



then sunday night, we headed all the way across town to another friend's birthday dance party. it was quite fun, though it got cut short when the neighbors decided we were too loud and cut the power to our friend's apartment!



yesterday morning Alisha and i got up early and headed to our friends' house to watch the superbowl. even though it was a pretty early morning (kick off was about 4:30 AM!), we had a lot of fun and a lot of GOOD food!



danielle, me and amberly, up early to watch the colts win!



today, preeti and i spent the morning at the BSNL office, our phone/internet provider. the building was huge, and it was literally like we stepped back in time. we've had a problem with our billing, and had to make a few phone calls, trying to get things figured out. we still have to look more into it all, but we did find out that they've been billing us incorrectly for the past year and a half...ah, the wonders of government offices here!



then i spent the afternoon hanging out with Maria and shopping for new glasses. i think we found some pretty cool ones, and we also stopped to take a picture with this crazy moving mannequin that's on MG road (she has her hands together and they move up and down).

That's about it for now. we're going on a leadership retreat this weekend, so i'm sure i'll have more pictures soon. oh, and below this is a slide show from my trip to malaysia, and my time in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, etc. it was a pretty fabulous trip overall, but i sure am glad to be home!