the adventure of a lifetime...in blog for your convenience

9 months...

2008-04-26T00:12:00.002-05:00

anybody see a pattern here?

so, yeah, i'm slacking on the blogging. too much to do, to little time. most of my online life is now revolving around school, which is annoying and rewarding all at once. but hopefully, i will post some pics from this weekend that i'm enjoying in arlington, tx, with my india family. so brief but so fun to get to hang out again. i love that we can meet up and though it's been 9 months since i've seen most of them, it's like we can pick up where we left off. i need friends like that. i think we all do, really.

so, 9 months. that's a whole other topic. i like the idea of it, though, and i like the idea that maybe, symbolically, something new could be birthed any day now...maybe that's being cheesy, but who knows what the next weeks will hold. right now though, it's time for bed. pics soon!

6 months...

2008-02-01T12:23:00.000-06:00

wow, my blog is looking pretty sad these days! the formatting seems to be all messed up and no new posts in months and months...sad sad sad!

well, i can't promise that i'm totally turning over a new leaf today, but, in honor of the fact that today, february 1, 2008, marks SIX MONTHS since i arrived back in the US, i am posting an update.

i haven't blogged in so long that i'm not exactly sure just where to begin...i'm kind of debating about how to do this, but i think i will go back to one of my favorite ways to do big updates...TOP TEN!

so, the TOP TEN THINGS/EVENTS/WHATEVER SINCE I'VE BEEN BACK IN THE US
(in no particular order...)

10. FAMILY
well, this one should be fairly obvious i guess. it was so amazing to see my family again after 2 years. so much had changed, and yet so much is still the same. i lived at home with my mom and dad and younger brother for the first 5 months i was home, which was actually pretty good overall. i don't know. it's weird--i doesn't seem possible now that we really went two years without seeing each other, but when i do get frustrated with something family related, i remember that and feel really thankful for the blessing that they've been to me, esp these past few months. by the way, the pic above is of my brother miles (pre-haircut!), my niece lily, my sister andrea and me, right after i got home.

9. WEDDINGS!

edwin and amy's wedding in CA (i was the maid of honor, and also the tallest bridesmaid! haha)

danny and alisha's wedding in north georgia(i think i won for tallest bridesmaid here too, and you can kinda tell that my dress is a little to short...)

sarah and aaron's wedding in lafayette

this fall, 4 of my closest girl friends got married. sarah and aaron, just 2 weeks after i got back. alisha and danny in september (and i was a bridesmaid). and then brian and karen and amy and edwin, back to back in december, on opposite ends of the US (alabama and CA!). it's been wild, running around to all these weddings, but also so much fun to see God's hand at work, knitting together the lives of some of my dearest friends. the pic below is from brian and karen's wedding, and ties into the next item up...

south asia reunion at debriefing!

8. REUNIONS!

it's been hard to leave india behind, but i've really been blessed this fall with lots of little reunions with friends from my life overseas. i got to see a bunch of people at danny and alisha's wedding and debriefing in sept, then again at brian and karen's wedding in dec, and randomly in other places along the way as well. it never ceases to blow my mind how great God is at knitting our lives together and letting our paths continue to cross in the most suprising ways.

7. TRAVELING!
in addition to the 30+ hours it took me to get from india back to lafayette, i've also gotten to travel quite a lot around the US since i got back. i went to the beach in MS with my family the day after i returned home, then up to north LA to visit the Williams, Natchez to visit my best friend Amy. in sept, i went to GA and VA and AL for weddings and debriefing, then to New Orleans for seminary stuff and a conference in Oct and Nov. and then it really got crazy. in December, i went all over the place for the last 2 weddings and also got to spend some time with my aunt and uncle and cousins in CA. in less than two weeks, i was in Baton Rouge, Auburn, AL, Atlanta, Dallas, San Diego, La Jolla and Oceanside, CA...whew!

6. FBC Lafayette
www.lifeatfirst.org
i grew up at First Baptist, and have been a member her pretty much my whole life, but it's really just been in these last few months that i feel like God has grown these deep love in my heart for His church--not just here at FBC, but He's used this church to bless me and get me excited about the potential that the Body of Christ has to make an impact. it's truly been awesome, and it flows over into several other of the top 10 here.

5. New Job!
i just started working at my church, FBC Lafayette, as the Student Ministry Associate. i know that sounds real fancy, but it basically means that i'm working with the youth minister. i'm building relationships with students and also going to be in charge of the new student cafe when the new building opens in a few months. i never imagined i'd be working with youth, but i have to admit that i'm having fun so far. this is a pic of some of the youth playing games at a youth fun day we had on martin luther king day.

4. New Apartment!
yes, this ghetto looking little white building is where my new apartment is! after 5 months of living with my parents, i moved into this new place when i started my new job. it's tiny, but it's perfect and it's literally right next to the church (as you can see in the second picture.) i feel really blessed and i've had a lot of fun living there the past few weeks. the first week i was there, i literally had friends over every night! it was wild, but such a blessing! i dont' have a lot of good pics from inside yet because i'm still decorating, but i'll work on putting those up soon. the pics below are from everyone hanging out the first few nights at my place.

3. Seminary!
www.nobts.edu
i just started classes this semester at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and i'm really excited! right now i'm taking an online class on the history of Christianity and then i'll probably take a couple week long workshops this spring. i'm not sure what all God has in store for me with this next step, but i know that it's what i'm supposed to be doing next.

2. Culture Shock!
or maybe, lack thereof. well, that's not entirely true. it has been quite an adjustment being back here, though not in all the ways i'd imagined. the first few days i was home, i kept thinking i was going crazy because it seemed like all the light switches were upside down or something. fortunately, i got over that fairly quickly! i guess the hardest thing has been that every so often i just realize that i used to live in india. that i lived there for 2 years. two years. it doesn't seem real, and it scares me to think about how quickly i'm forgetting things that used to mean everything to me. it's weird, and i imagine there is definitely going to be more culture shock to come in the weeks ahead. the good thing is that i have made some indian friends here, so i have at least some folks who kind of sort of understand me :) the pic above is my friend rohan helping me make chai, which is funny if you know how much i dislike the stuff!

1. last but not least...the GAP

what is the GAP? technically, it's the Graduates and Professionals young adults sunday school class at our church. but what it's been for me is one of the biggest blessings of my life. when i first got back, there wasn't much going on at church for our age group, but God has started moving and brought together this incredible group over the past 6 months. some are old friends, many are new, but all of us are seeking after Him and long for community and friendship and well, fun. it's been so awesome to see God at work in our lives, both individually and as a group, and i'm so excited about what He has in store for us as we continue to seek His face.

there are also more pics at our myspace page: www.myspace.com/thegapatfbc

well, i think that's about it, or at least, that's all i can think of...until next time!!!

(some live without it)

2007-11-15T00:50:00.000-06:00

so, i made it home...
i imagine you figured that out by now, since it's been over 3 months.
wow.
so much, SO much, has happened, and so little as well.
i'm still living with the fam. still looking for a job. going to lots of weddings, but not married yet. working on starting seminary in the spring. in some ways it seems like not much is going on, and i usually don't have a real solid answer for "what do you do everyday?"
but in other ways, amazing things are happening. culture shock hasn't been horrible, but i do feel like my heart and spiritual eyes have just been totally shocked open to God and His amazingness in ways i hadn't imagined before. i'm loving seeking Him and seeking to help others, well, seek Him. following His lead. seeing my short comings, and not totally freaking out about them. having real conversations about hard things with people i love dearly. delighting in the depth and simplicity of community. strategizing passionately and obsessively. reading good books. not blogging or catching up on email. dreaming about what big things God could possibly have in store for me and the friends He's been bringing into my life. thinking about looking for a job, but wrestling with my fears about the big "WHAT'S NEXT?" learning to be an american girl in america again. missing india.
missing india...and learning to live with that...sort of. it just doesn't go away.
ah, i have so much more to say but it's quite late and i actually do have something to do in the morning. but maybe this will be a start to more frequent blogging, or maybe i'll be back in about 3 months...
i'm not going to wrestle with pictures here, but to see some more of what i've been up to, for all of you that are desperately curious, you can check out the myspace for our young adults group at church (this is where my heart is, at least a big part of it, right now). www.myspace.com/thegapatfbc
i'll end with a song that's been playing in my mind and heart and computer nonstop lately:

Praise and Adore (some live without it) by Wavorly
www.myspace.com/wavorly

What I have to say is obvious
A knowledge free, for all of us are
Your Word leaves us with no excuse
The paths we choose make us who we are
There’s a breeze blowing through here tonight

So I praise and adore You
Lay it all down before You
In every way You’re beautiful
From my heart
I praise and adore
You made the world beautiful
I cannot stand and deny
You created life
And some live without it

Wake up morning sunrise in my eyes
At night the moon lights all the sky
(Still some say You didn’t do a thing)
The sound of hope that’s in the air
In everything, it’s everywhere
(Reveals a truth that’s worth remembering)
There’s a breeze blowing through here tonight

It’s true, it’s all You

And every breath I take
There’s no way
Accident created this place

heading home...

2007-07-30T14:42:00.000-05:00

Well, it’s hard to believe, but the time has finally come for me to say goodbye to India. it seems so unreal to think that two years have already passed by, but at the same time, it seems like so much has happened since I left home that it’s been far more than just 2 years!

These past few weeks have been really good, though hard, saying lots of goodbyes and trying to finish up things with work here and close out our house. It’s been hectic and crazy at times, but also incredibly amazing to see how God has been at work and given many opportunities to share with and encourage others, even in our final days here.

12 hours from now, I’ll be in the car with my roommates Preeti and Sophy, going to Mumbai. They’ll fly back to Delhi in the evening, and I will be flying out of Mumbai airport at about midnight tomorrow night (technically early morning Aug 1st). I’ll arrive in Lafayette that same afternoon (about 24 hours after I depart from Mumbai), and spend a little time with family before going out of town for a few days. I will be back in Lafayette by Monday, August 6th, and I’d love to meet up with any of you that are in town and available! If you want to meet up, you can email me at mandipants2@yahoo.com Right now, my plan is to stay in Lafayette for the time being and spend some time with family while I seek what God has in store for me next.

Well, see you on the flip side!

counting down...

2007-07-26T14:15:00.000-05:00

chillin with friends in thailand

goofing off with some of our friends at our apartment. we've been saying a lot of goodbyes these past 2 weeks...

goodbye party at our house

girls pic at coffee jar on Alisha's last night in town

one of the many birthdays we've celebrated in the past week. beware, if i come to your birthday part in the states, something like this could happen!!!

according to the little counter on my blog, i have less than 4 days left...i'm not sure if that means in india or until i arrive in america--either way, it's not much time.

i'm sitting on one of my big black trunks, in my near empty room, listening to john mayer, and realizing i really don't feel like i have words to describe this experience--saying goodbye, transition, two years, who i am, who i was, etc--i feel dazed by it all, and yet, somehow, also incredibly alert and focused, working hard to get stuff done, to finish details of moving and leaving and all that.

if you know me well, you'd be amazed by how smooth the packing and all is going. i'm pretty much done, except for stuff i still need. our house is fairly messy, but not out of control. somehow, this is turning out to be one of the smoothest moves i've made so far, which is saying a lot.

but i think that, while this transition has been pretty smooth so far, there is a very surface level aspect to that. it's like i'm fine now, but i can sense this heart break on the horizon, and i'm not sure how on earth to deal with it, so i'm packing and sorting and cleaning and doing things that normally i'm terrible at. i'm trying to prepare my heart, and asking God to guide me forward, but i don't look forward to the day when the reality of the end of the past two years of my life sinks in...i mean, i'm excited beyond words about seeing my family and friends. it's been almost exactly 2 years since i saw them, and i can't wait for all the hugs and laughs and stories to come. but the friends i've made here, well, they've become family too, and i'm not sure how it's going to be to say goodbye.

but even in that, i still find hope. there have been so many bad days and heartaches and frustrations in these past two years, but God has never failed to teach me through them as i've clung to Him more and more with every step. so, even though i don't know what's in store in the next few months, i have a lot of hope for good things. i mean, i survived india--nothing seems impossible right now!

there's a song i wrote back in november when my friend shannon was leaving, and it's been in my mind and heart a lot lately, so i'll share it and mabye it'll give you an idea of where my heart is now.

Reflections on the Journey, or, Joy in the Journey
(17 November 2006)

It took more than just a step of faith
To follow You to such a strange place
But now the strange has become home

A home like none I have ever known
With friends who became my family
It turned out not so different from what I left behind

But now it’s time for me to carry on
A new chapter has begun
It’s time to say goodbye to this part of my journey

And I’m torn, because I long to see what You have in store
But this broken land my heart will not release
So I’ll step out in faith like I did when I followed You here
Because this strange place has made a home in me

There is joy in the journey
Though it breaks our hearts to take some steps
In faith we find
You’ve been leading us all along

There is joy in the journey
For when we follow You
We find out who
We really are…

I’ve learned it takes more than a step of faith
To follow You to each new strange place
But somehow You make the strange become home

So I’ll rejoice in what the daybreak brings
As You teach me new songs to sing
Of Your grace, through the joy and the pain

And through the sweetest of joys and the hardest of blows
My heart can rest where Your Spirit goes
Because I know You’ll always be walking with me

They say time heals all wounds
But I pray that it leaves
A broken piece in me
To remember each place,
And who I became
Every step of this journey…

There is joy in the journey
Though it breaks our hearts to take some steps
In faith we find
You’ve been leading us all along

There is joy in the journey
For when we follow You
We find out who
We really are
When we follow You
We find out who
We really are…

my family here, goofy as ever, and amazing beyond words...

summer madness!!!

2007-06-23T09:20:00.000-05:00

well, once again, i'm slacking on the blogging, but i think this should make up for it, and hopefully give you an idea about all that we've been up to lately!

MONSOONS!

it's that time of year! the monsoons have officially begun and the weather is getting wet and cool. feels great when you're sitting inside like i am right now...

...but it's not quite as fun when you're out and about!

as you can see, my friend Merrilea and i had to get creative with me trying to hold the umbrella over us as she drove the motorbike! gotta love monsoons!

JUST FOR FUN!

before i dive into all the pics from our summer volunteers, here are a couple of the fun things we've done in between all the madness:

we didn't actually see Ninja Turtles, but a big group of us went to see spiderman 3 and then had a lot of fun goofing off with the Ninja Turtle stuff at McDonalds.

i really love the folks who have become my "family" here, and i especially love it when we can all get together and just have fun. right before the volunteers arrived, we had a night of games and singing and just enjoying being together. it was awesome.

we also took some time out to go bowling with Ally and Alisa, which was great, even thought the lanes were kind of messed up and the pins kept falling over on their own!

the ride home after bowling was quite an adventure--this is the first time i've ridden with 5 adults in a rickshaw! (imagine 5 people in the back of a closed in golf cart!)

Ally was brave and managed to squeeze into the little shelf area in the back!

these two pics...well, what can i say...we're pretty goofy at times!

right before our teams arrived, a couple who's working with students up north, Brian and Leslie, came down to visit us and see some of the stuff we're doing here. it was a blast, and as you can see, they're pretty fun people! this is brian posing next to one of those really goofy little cars.

this is a hillarious pic of Leslie and Joy, one of our volunteers, riding on a camel.

TEAMS!
like last summer, we had 2 short term (2 week) teams come in may and june, and it was quite an adventure. the students did an amazing job and even though there were plenty of glitches and surpises along the way, everybody had a lot of fun.

this is a pic of the team from Georgia during orientation at our house. there were 8 people total on this team, and 1 of the guys, josh, also came last year.

after a long day of orientation, we all headed down to the Coffee Jar for a snack and coffee break!

one of the big things the GA team helped with was the Open Forum Discussion we hosted at a hotel here. the topic was relationships and we had a panel that answered questions and interacted with the audience. the evening was really fun and we met a lot of new people.

this is Rini, a student here, talking to some friends after the forum.

Kevin, Ajay, Ahbishek, and Stoffer enjoying snacks after the forum.

while the team was here, we also went to our friend Ruth's house for her parent's 25th aniversary party. it was quite a big event and a very fun evening.

at the end of their time here, the GA team hosted a party for all the new friends they'd made. we had snacks, played games, shared stories, and enjoyed watching the team (esp Matt and Marty here) put on some goofy skits.

after the GA team left, i headed to Delhi to meet 2 of our 6 week summer volunteers. i got to see a lot of friends while i was there, including my friend carolyn! she came from louisiana spend the summer in north india, and it was great to get to see her.

our 6 week summer volunteers have been amazing! this is josh and laura who came from mississippi.

this is a shot of josh from mississippi, along with our other 2 6 week vols, josh and richard. they both were on the Georgia team and stayed on after the team left. this pic is from when we went out to eat for a team meeting and talked them into singing at open mic night at the restaurant. their rendition of "my girl" was hilarious!

around the time i got back from Delhi, our second team arrived from Birmingham AL. there were 12 of them in all, and 2 returned from last year, so it was great to see some old friends.

we did orientation for the AL team on the 4th of June, and that afternoon after they left, we had an unwelcome guest appear at our house--a mouse! i called joel and kenneth to come and rescue us--here you can see them trying to find him by lifting up the washing machine!

that night, after the mouse episode, my roommates and some other friends suprised me at midnight with cake for my birthday! this is a pic of me and nafisa, our friend's daughter. even though it was really late, she was very excited about wishing me happy birthday!

here's my AMAZING carrot cake, made by Lisa, our friend who owns the Coffee JAr with her husband Cini and does all the baking

as is the tradition here, my roommates cut me a piece of cake and then smeared it all over my face!

i tried to fight back, but there were too many of them!

here i am, covered in cake, and it sure was good!!!

as you can see, i finally managed to get Preeti with some of the icing!

here's a pic of all of us girls after all the cake smearing, etc.

the next day, i had a big birthday party in the basement of coffee jar. here's a shot of laura and preeti getting ready for the party by putting up pics that my mom sent of me growing up. embarrasing but fun!

everybody had a lot of fun playing games and just hanging out.

Nassem from Iran and Maggie from the AL team

Rini, Fatemah, baby Sophy and Alisa

my 2nd birthday cake--chocolate chip!!!

me blowing out the candles

as soon as the cake was cut, Deepali moved in to attack me with a piece!

but i made sure and got her with some icing too!

i wanted to do something special for all my friends to show them how much i appreciated them, so i made a cd for everyone who came to the party. one of the songs on it was written by josh, so i got him to play it at the party.

an Iranian tradition is to take pics with the people who give you presents as you open their gifts. this is me with Kenneth, Sahil, Ruth, Kevin and Ahbishek--they gave me a cool french press because they know how much i love coffee!

me and Nassem

not long after my birthday, i had LASIK surgery so now i am glasses free! my vision isn't perfect yet, but my eyes are adjusting and i can see much better than before, which is amazing.

about a week later, our friend Lindsey from Delhi came down. she works with the student volunteers who spend the summer in different parts of south asia. this is a goofy pic of her, but the reason i took it is because the guy on the right in the back has the most crazy hair style!

near the end of their time here, the AL team also hosted a party for all their friends. this is some of the guys goofing off: Ahbishek, Kevin, Pete, Tim, Richard, Josh and Trey

Kenneth, Maggie, Kristina, Laura, Nassem, Rini, Mahanaz, Preeti

Lindsey, Candace, Janell, Kellie, Preeti

Josh, me, Nassem, Brian, Kristina, Mahanaz, Maggie

everybody getting ready to watch the skits

last year, the AL team did some hilarious skits, so everyone had high expectations for this year. as you can see from this picture, they did not let us down!

at the end we all took a group pic

well, if you made it this far, you now have a taste of what's been going on here these past few months! the teams are gone, but our summer long volunteers, josh, josh, richard and laura, will be here until the middle of july. it's sure to be a busy few weeks, especially since alisha and i are heading to thailand wednesday night for a conference, so it may be a while before i blog again... :)

photo update (for lack of a more exciting title!)

2007-05-09T02:51:00.000-05:00

it's been quite a while since i've blogged...i should be doing other stuff now, working on the orientation schedule for our first volunteer team--they arrive monday night, our time. but, there's a HUGE wedding going on right outside our house (why anyone would chose to get married in the heat of the day on a wednesday beats me) and it's too noisy to really concentrate. so, i think i'll give a little photo overview of the last few weeks:

this first picture is just for fun. instead of wearing helmets, girls here wrap their scarves in this crazy bandit style to keep dust and sun from getting on their skin. so we all have scarves now and decided we needed a goofy picture wearing them.

this is a shot of a family on their motorcycle--several of them are also wearing their scarves "Pune style"

PREETI'S BIRTHDAY

preeti turned 27 at the end of march, and we had quite a good time. one of the traditions here is to wake people up at midnight on their birthday, so alisha and i burst into preeti and sophy's room at midnight with cake and entertainment. we have this joke about preeti doing a monkey dance (people who own monkeys here will have them dance for you if you pay them), and so alisha dressed up and i made a monkey out of construction paper and we cranked up some hindi music and danced around for preeti. it was pretty much hillarious.

the cake we had was AWESOME! chocolate truffle, from our favorite coffee shop/bakery, the Coffee Jar. and of course, we had to smear some on the birthday girl's face (another tradition).

that evening we had a bunch of people over to celebrate. a lot of people couldn't come because of exams, but it was still a fun evening.

after Preeti cut the cake at her party, she went around and fed people, but before she got to everybody, she got attacked with cake again (as you can see, she fought back!)

this is a persian tradition, taking pictures with people as they give you your gifts--always makes for fun pics!

EASTER

not long after Preeti's birthday, we started celebrating Easter. one of our friends had a Passover seder at her house, which was really cool. on Good Friday, our friday night group got together and acted out the Passion of the Christ, which you see above. it was a very cool evening.

on Easter sunday, we enjoyed church and an awesome lunch at our friends' house. later that evening they hosted an Easter egg hunt for the kids in their society (apartment complex). they also got an huge inflatable slide, which was quite a hit.

the kids also enjoyed playing some new games, like duck duck goose (above) and red rover.

this is just a fun shot of one of my favorite 2 years olds ever, nafisa. i was feeding her snacks and she was just having a blast, looking super cute in her Easter dress.

SWIMMING LESSONS

another highlight of April were swimming lessons, for Preeti and Sophy and Ruth, another friend. they all seemed to have fun and learned a lot, and Alisha and i had a blast the day we went to watch them. their coach (the lady in the black wet suit looking outfit--it's actually a common style of swimsuit) was pretty dramatic and funny. i think she just enjoyed waving her arms around!

after swimming, i rode the bus home with preeti and sophy, which was quite an adventure. i don't think many white people ride the public buses here because i got quite a lot of stares.

BABY RACHEL

our neighbors' daughter, Faisy, got married last year and now has a precious little girl named rachel. she brought her over to see us one afternoon and we had a great time holding her and playing with her.

we were also invited to Rachel's baptism that sunday, which was quite a nice event. this is a shot of us with the family.

MORE BIRTHDAYS!

at the end of april, our friend merrilea had her birthday. merrilea is a mom of 4 kids, but this doesn't stop her from being one of the most fun people we know here. her birthday was on a saturday, which was going to be busy for us with discussion groups, etc, so we decided to suprise her at midnight with cake. her husband bill and the kids were all in on it, and it was quite a fun suprise. we ended up staying until almost 2 am playing phase 10 and watching the girls practice their ballet--quite an adventure!

DISCUSSION GROUPS

it's been a crazy month, with many people finishing and starting exams, so our discussion groups have been a little different, but it's still been a lot of fun, and we're excited about the summer and the 20+ students that will be coming from the US.

WE WEAR OUR SUNGLASSES AT NIGHT!

well, Alisha does, at least for a few days! she had laser eye surgery done last weekend and had to wear her sunglasses 24x7 for a day or so, so everybody decided to put on glasses and take a funny picture with her! she's seeing really well now, and i'm also seriously thinking about having LASIK done...we'll see...

RANDOM PICS

i said earlier that nafisa was one of my favorite 2 years, and here's the other, sophy! these 2 are quite a pair and all of us LOVE playing with them any chance we get. this is a shot of nafisa combing sohpy's hair--she got a little carried away and almost put sophy in a headlock, but sophy's pretty laid back so she wasn't upset and let her keep on combing!

this is me trying to hold them both in my lap and take a picture! didn't work so well, but it was fun.

well, i think that's about it. the wedding party has moved on, so i should probably get to work, esp since the volunteers will be here in 5 days! yikes--it's going to be wild and fun, and just plain busy here until the end of july, so it might be a while before i blog again...

600...

2007-04-03T11:23:00.000-05:00

i just thought i'd post this random pic to give you all a laugh. my friend karen took it and sent it to me--there's actually a small city up north called Mandi, but it's pronounced "Mundi." in Hindi, it means "market," and it's also a word in Malyalum (southern language) that means "silly girl," which i think is quite funny and fitting...

anyway, so today is day 600. that is, the 600th day since i landed in India. i know, i know, i'm a dork for counting, but, especially when i first got here, counting made it easier to survive. i could say to myself, wow, i've been here 37 days and i haven't broken down or gone crazy yet--i might just survive this after all! so, to be able to say i've been here 600 days, well, wow.

i think it's also just another realization for me of how fast time flies. just a few weeks back i got an email about my 10 year high school reunion...hello! it won't technically be 10 years until may 2008, but still...wow...how is that even possible? how did i get from lafayette high school to india??? i definitely never saw that one coming!

the funny thing is that so much has happened in the last 9 years that i honestly can't even remember much of high school, or all the people i feel like i should remember. in some ways, it feels like a dream, or a whole other life time. i think i've changed a lot since then, or grown up a lot at least, but it seems weird that something around which my life once revolved could become so vague and distant.

and honestly, i kind of fear the same thing could happen with india. i don't know. india is a little more intense than high school, and has been a huge shaping time for me, but really, high school was too, just in different (and not always the best) ways.

what's it gonna be like when i look back on india in 10 years? where will i be? what will i be doing? who will i be with? married? with kids? working? i thought for sure by now some of those things would have already happened, so, while i'm hopeful, i guess there's also no guarantee they'll happen in the next 10 years either! i don't know, but i wonder if it'll feel as much like totally different life time, or if that's just more an effect of the transitional state i've been in for the past 9 years...

so this is basically all i have to say. i need to post pictures of preeti's birthday bash, but at the moment i'm feeling more sentimental and caught up in deep thoughts, etc...

dance, Michael Jackson, DANCE!!!

2007-03-27T03:39:00.000-05:00

i know it's been a few weeks since i've blogged and some of you are wondering what we've been up to lately. sometimes, i wonder myself! but fortunately, i have plenty of crazy pictures to jog my memory.

this picture pretty much defies explanation. i think of it as just a glimpse into the insanity that we experience often on a daily basis. one of our iranian friends invited us over this past weekend to eat dinner as a celebration of their new year (it was last tuesday night). so we go, and they feed us and there's music, but no one dancing...yet. at first the music was persian, and then it suddenly switched to Michael Jackson and this crazy character appears and proceeds to do his best imitation of Michael. all i could think was, thank goodness i have my camera, because no one would ever believe me if i didn't have a picture!

backing up a little bit...students are now entering exam time. well, some are at least. unlike the US, all colleges here are on different schedules as far as holidays, exams, etc, but basically, from mid February to early May, somebody's taking exams. it's a crazy schedule, so we decided to invite some of our friends over for lunch a few weeks before their exams actually got started. we had mexican food, which was a first for them, and then we played a few games. it started off tame, but by the end of the day we were dancing and playing leap frog and just laughing like crazy.

at one point, the girls decided we should build a pyramid, with one of them standing on top! it was a wild afternoon, but probably one of the most fun i've had in a while.

a few days later, after one of our discussion groups, we went out to eat at a persian restaurant and some dish called "dizzy," though that's probably not how you spell it. it have goat and potato, in some sort of stew, and you're supposed to mash it up with this plunger thing and then eat it. not bad, overall.

we've also has a ton of birthdays these past few weeks. one of the kids we know here turned 12 a few weeks ago and had a big party at the nice swimming pool in town. it was wonderful, perfectly hot and sunny for swimming.

we also have 2 friends from holland and one of them, suzanne, called us over for her birthday last week. it was fun, and a nice mix of cultures (dutch, american, indian, african, etc). but it also goes to show that wherever you are or wherever you're from, birthdays are still a great reason to get together and have fun.

then last week, we had the much awaited "Princess Party/Luau 2007." in December 2005, we had all the little girls over that we're friends with here and had a Princess Party--lots of dressing up, make up, games, pizza, movies, etc. well, ever since then, all the girls have been asking when the next party was going to be. since our schedule has been a lot more busy this past year, we had a hard time finding a good day to have it, but we finally pulled it off and it was a blast. everyone came dressed up for the beach, we had lots of good smelling flowers and good food, and we danced and played games and watched movies until well past midnight.

alisha had the brilliant idea of getting a pinata, and it was quite a hit, as you can see here. (and yes, that's a rolling pin she's using to hit it!)

even the big kids got to take a couple swings at it!

when it finally broke, everyone made a mad rush for the candy!

we also had a blast dancing. we had some fabulous hawaiian and steel drum music, as well as fun hits from movies like "High School Musical" and "Cars."

the four of us big kids dressed up for the party

finally, around 1 am or so, we got everybody to go to sleep. i hoped they'd crash, but they were up eating candy and chatting at about 6 am! it was quite a wild night, but a total blast! oh, and i almost forgot...one of my favorite moments of the party happened while we were watching Cinderella 3 (don't hate, it's cool). the bad cat, Lucifer, gets stopped by the mice and one of the girls, who's 4, says, "he got told!" (she has 4 older brothers). oh wow, it was priceless!

this is random, but i saw it on another friend's blog--it analyzes your blog and makes a "word cloud" with the words used the most...fun times. i think that's about all for now, but be on the lookout for more updates soon, because Preeti's birthday is today, so there should be some fun pics from that.

fire video...

2007-03-05T11:02:00.000-06:00

you may remember my post from a few weeks back about our crazy BBQ adventure...well, this is the video...enjoy!

hmm, i can't really think of a title...

2007-03-05T09:03:00.000-06:00

the past few weeks have been busy (suprise, suprise!), but also full of (mostly) fun stuff, and, of course, lots of random adventures and even a few lessons along the way...

near the beginning of february, we headed off to a nearby town in the hills for a team retreat. it was a lot of fun and the weather was beautiful. we even got to see a bunch of people paragliding over the vallye near the camp where we stayed!

we had a really good group, and we managed to get a lot of work done while having a lot of fun :)

one of the high lights was having a bonfire saturday night and roasing marshmellows. marshmellows are not really common here, so several people had never tried roasted marshmellows before, but once they did, they were hooked.

group pic

Valentine's day was right after the retreat. the 4 of us went to breakfast at our favorite local coffee shop, The Coffee Jar. then several of our guy friends here went all out and got us flowers, chocolate, sparkling grape juice, and took the 4 of us out to dinner! i have to say, it was a lot of fun and i was highly impressed at all their hard work.

later that evening, just before dinner, we headed back to the coffee jar to pose for picture in the paper for an article another friend was writing. that's me all the way on the right.

we've had discussiong groups several times this month, and it's been a mix as far as participation, but really fun overall. exams are starting, though, so it could be an interesting few months...

near the end of February, the 4 of us girls headed to delhi for a conference and some meetings. we decided to be adventurous and take the train there, and we were not disappointed! it was quite a trip.

we had a berth to ourselves, which was nice, and we spent most of the 26 hours talking, reading and making up games to play since we forgot to bring cards!

there were some down sides to taking the train, though...we were a little too close to the bathroom and every now and then a wave of stinkyness would come through our area. there was also a serious roach problem and we spent a good bit of time smacking the nasty little things.

but overall it was fun and we saw some pretty cool sites, such as this stop along the way: raja ki mandi! (i think this mean's "king's market")

we were all really glad to finally arrive in delhi, even with all of it's quirkiness and crazy traffic.

the conference was friday, sat and sunday night, and it was really good. preeti and sophy got to share about what we've been doing in Pune, and we also had a lot of fun hanging out with their families.

sunday night, after the conference finished, we got together with a bunch of friends that were in town and had a girls night--it was great!

then monday our friend kyle came down to visit. we went out for lunch and on the way back got nailed by a water balloon! the festival of Holi was the following weekend and is celebrated by throwing water and colored powder on people. fortunately, we just got hit by water!

that evening, things got a little crazy when we found a mouse in the kitchen of the guest house where we were staying. after quite a bit of craziness, we finally managed to catch it under a trash can.

the guys were going to take him outside and dispose of him, but he managed to escape. however, they did get some bricks to block his way in, so hopefully he won't be back!

overall, it was a fun trip and especially nice to get to hang out with friends we don't see so often (Karen and i with the Wei Wei noodles we found at the market!)

alisha and i came back tuesday, but preeti and sophy stayed an extra week to spend time with their families. we had a lot of stuff to catch up on when we got back, and alisha wasn't feeling so good, so we went to the doctor, which turned into quite an adventure. this is a picture of her doctor, who also happens to be who part of the hospital is named after! he was nice and told her that she'd need to have this procedure done where they put a camera down your throat to look at your stomach. it sounds way crazier than it actually was, though the pics of the inside of her stomach were pretty wild. in the end, he prescribed some medicine and told her to drink carbonated beverages to help untwist her stomach...gotta love medical care overseas!

even after all the maddness at the hospital that morning, our crazy day was just beginning. we had our dicussion group in the afternoon, and then alisha and i hopped in an auto rickshaw to head downtown. however, on our way, 2 guys pulled up beside us on a motorcycle, reached into the rickshaw and grabbed alisha's purse. it happened so fast we hardly knew what was going on. our driver tried to catch them, but they disappeared. we headed back home, quite shaken, and alisha canceled her credit cards. then our friends went with us to the police station and we spent the next 3 hours trying to explain what happened (which included taking the police to the place where the bag was snatched and doing a lot of translating because they mostly spoke marathi). it was not the most fun way to spend an evening since things here take at least 2 or 3 times as long because of bureacracy and out dated facilities and systems (this is a picture of how files are stored at the station...).

but, the next day was holi, the festival of colors, and getting to spend time with friends made things a lot better. actually, it's all made me think a lot, because when the purse was snatched, i felt like more anything else, they stole our sense of security. i just wanted to cry because suddenly everything seemed so scary and crazy and wrong. but the more i thought about it all, the more i realized how blessed i really am because i have so many people here who care about me and my roommates. some of our friends stayed with us at the station and came with us the next day to get the report, and every other person we talked to said that if we needed anything at all, they'd do whatever they could. this really helped me to put things into perspective and realize that while bad things do happen, there's also a lot more good out there to outweigh them, if we'll choose to see things from a bigger perspective than our own.

vacation, etc 2007

2007-02-06T09:40:00.001-06:00

a day (or two) in my life...

2007-02-06T08:57:00.000-06:00

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!

my hot spicy indian wedding!!!

2007-01-20T14:07:00.001-06:00

so i'm finally catching up on blogging about my 3 weeks of travel...my first big adventure was heading south to Chennai for my friends' (Cynthia and Sam) wedding at the end of December. i first met cynthia when she was studying in Louisiana over 2 years ago, and we quickly became friends. actually, she really became part of our family, so it was awesome to get to spend time with her and her family in india. i've missed quite a few weddings in the US during my time here, so it was really special to get to be there for their wedding.

it was definitely a fun couple of days. i really enjoyed seeing the city and spending time with cynthia and her family. the wedding was the 29th and was amazing and HUGE--well over 1000 people! the next day, i got to spend more time with the newlyweds and also attend a birthday party for cynthia's baby cousin, Debbie. then on sunday i went to church, spent some time relaxing, and then we went out to the beach for a little while before i met up with some other friends to head to thailand for our conference. it was a quick trip, but truly one of my favorite experiences so far here in india.

2007-01-17T14:22:00.000-06:00

so it's about 2:24 am...why am i still up? and blogging at that? well, some stories are just too funny to wait for the morning. ok, well, you know what i mean...

so, tonight we decided to try out our new BBQ pit. ok, so i decided we should try it out. i've been traveling for 3 weeks and i just got home yesterday, so i've been a little hyper. i don't think i've ever been more excited to be back in Pune. i mean, i loved traveling and had a great time seeing friends and whatnot (future blogs to come with more details and pics), but i was just so ready to be back here and see my roommates and friends. last night, after we'd had dinner and shared some of our pictures with each other, Preeti said, wow, it sure has gotten a lot louder in the house since mandi got back...haha...oh, how true! but i love it--i love how excited i am to be here, because that can be more of a challenge than some of you can imagine. those that live here probably have some idea about what i mean.

but i digress...the BBQ. so, we had some serious fusion food tonight: American BBQ, Thai satay, and Indian Tandori (all chicken, of course, because, well, this is india). we started cutting and marinating, and then realized we should probably light the pit, and this is where the adventure began.

we did have anything fancy like the kingston self starting stuff you can get back in the States--just good old coal. so first we took rubbing alcohol and tried to use that to start the fire, but it did nothing. then we headed down to the petrol pump (that's gas station in american) to get some petrol. i didn't really know how much to put, so i just poured a generous amount of the stuff on the pit from the Coke bottle we'd filled up at the station.

i lit a piece of newspaper, tossed it in, and nothing happened. so i reached over, cautiously, moved the paper and BOOM, lots of flames. that was crazy enough, but then the flames jumped down to the petrol that had spilled below the little grill! fortunately, alisha was smart enough to have made a special little sand pit under the grill in case anything spilled out, so we managed to not catch the whole balcony on fire. we all freaked out, but the flames died down quickly, and, not so suprisingly, no one around us seemed to be concerned about the flames, smoke, or 4 girls shouting and shrieking.

i didn't get any good pictures of this part of the adventure, but we do have it all on video, so hopefully i'll be able to post some of it on myspace before too long. but for now, here are some pics of the rest of the evening.

here's the flame at a lower level--imagine it about 4 feet higher and engulfing the whole grill and you'll have an idea of what it looked like.

coke bottle of petrol + me = trouble...

roomies attempting to fan the flame and get the coal to light...

...which results in sparks flying everywhere...

after a LOT of work, we finally get the coal burning and put the meat on the fire (this is the thai satay on skewers and the BBQ chicken)

me hard at work, trying not to catch anything else on fire

the tandori chicken took a while to cook, so we finally decided to just eat outside on the balcony while it finished cooking.

after dinner, we tossed some packets of smores on the grill!

american girls feasting on every kid's favorite, smores! still taste good even though they're made with parle g's instead of graham crackers

we finished off the evening by roasting marshmellows and just cutting up and laughing. we had good music playing the background, and it honestly was this totally surreal moment, like on a tv show or movie, when the characters sit down for a meal and all you here is the music and see everyone laughing and loving being together. it was truly amazing.

it was a good evening, and just what i needed. i'm excited about being back, but also overwhelmed at the thought of all the next 6 months have in store. really, all 2007 has in store. 2006 was an incredible year--lots of ups, and lots of downs, but, in some ways, i think i grew more last year than in the previous 25 years combined. i truly have fallen in love with india, this mad, mad place, in the past year. and i have high hopes for 2007...good things are going happen, and, well, i'm ready! i can't really describe it all, but i just feel really good about being exactly where i am, and i have such joy in that, and also such joy in looking towards the next few months. 2007...i think this is going to be my best year yet, and i love it.

Happy Holidays!!!

2006-12-26T07:58:00.000-06:00

ah, Christmas...what an adventure! the past week has probably been the busiest time i've spent in india so far, but also the best! i'll let the pictures give you somewhat of an idea about all our adventures this holiday season:

right after camp, we celebrated sophy's birthday, which was a lot of fun.

then the next day i had lunch with a friend, did some shopping, and that evening we had a big gift exchange/dessert party with the families we're friends with here. our awesome christmas volunteer, Jeff, also arrived that night just in time for the party. this is me and some of my favorite girls at the gift exchange.

one of my favorite presents this year was the abby actually let me hold her! she usually cries whenever she sees me!

some of the kids acted out the Christmas story--soooo cute, esp the little shepherd on the left!

we even had some carolers stop by, which was a special treat.

and of course, the sweets were one one of the highlights of the evening.

we spent the next few days helping Jeff get oriented to life in our city. i also got quite sick for about 2 days, which was not fun. then friday night we spent the evening caroling to some of our neighbors and friends houses. saturday we did last minute shopping (and let me tell you the malls here are as bad as the US this time of year!!!). then we met for our weekly discussion group that afternoon and went out for a friend's birthday that evening.

then came christmas eve--we had some of our close friends and team members over for dinner and another goofy gift exchange.

the food was AWESOME, as well as being a fun mix of indian (mutton biryani and rajma) and american (sweet potato casserole, rolls, green bean casserole, etc).

here's everybody just hanging out

Alisha was very excited about her gag gift, esp the colors! go gators! haha

sophy, me and ruth

then the next morning we all got up to open presents and stockings!

i was very excited about all my gifts, esp this horse statue from one of my friends!

preeti was also very excited about one of her gifts, a cool fish statue!

sophy was also quite excited about the tea strainer she got in her stocking

then that afternoon, we invited all of our friends over for a christmas party! we had lots of sweets, fun, games, and talked about the real story of Chrismtas.

jenga was quite a popular game at the party

as was uno, or oh-no as one of our friends calls it!

overall, the past week was busy, but a lot of fun. tonight i'm packing for a few weeks of travel--tomorrow i leave bright and early for my friends' wedding in south india, then i head to thailand for a conference, malaysia for vacation, and then to Delhi and finally back to Pune. whew! happy new year!

Christmas Camp 2006

2006-12-19T07:15:00.000-06:00

monday night, as i nearly collapsed from exhaustion, all i could think was, wow, it's over. camp finally happened, and it's already over! we'd talked and dreamed and planned for this camp for months, and once it finally came, everything happened so much faster than i could have imagined.

the idea came from wanting to do something really fun with students, to get away for the weekend and really build relationships with them. we decided on christmas because, well, it's a good excuse to have a camp and share the true story of christmas, as well as some fun traditions. but for a while, it seemed like camp might just be a dream. a lot of plans changed with all the craziness and transition of the past few months, but we worked hard, and by God's grace, all the details fell into place (some at the VERY last minute!). it was a truly amazing weekend, and well, i'll let the pictures tell you the rest...

no, we don't travel light...we had a TON of stuff that we'd worked on all week, from decorations to gifts and cookies and so on

packed in the bus and finally on the road

playing some group games after arriving at camp

Deepali, Preeti, Sophy, Ruth and Alisha putting up decorations in the meeting hall

the guys were totally into the basketball court during free time...

...while some of the rest of us played around with the volleyball!

enjoying chai and coffee with Shabnam and Sharareh from Iran

saturday afternoon we went on a trek/hike. the camp director took us out to the trail in his truck and it was quite a crazy ride

it was a long trek, but we enjoyed a nice sunset near the top

i'm kind of clumsy though, and i totally busted it on the way down the trail. fortunately it was more funny than painful, so me and Lulu took a picture

after the trek, we spent the evening talking about the Christmas story and the gift of Christmas. we also played some fun games and had a really great evening.

then later that night, we had a bonfire, which was fun, but a little out of control because of the wind

we also sang Christmas carols in the candle light (well, while we could keep the candles lit in the crazy wind)

and of course, we had lots of goodies, like candy canes, or shepard's stick candy as Kenneth dubbed them!

supposedly it's a tradition in Iran to jump over a bonfire on new year's eve, so Zia showed us all how it's done...

Alisha was next, and as you can see, she totally pulled off the fire jumping with style. kind of reminds me of playing super mario brothers back in the day...

then Zia and Alisha decided to join forces and show off their skills

Preeti couldn't be left out of the fun, so she jumped too and just barely made it over the fire...

Sunday morning we got to do the climbing wall and go kayaking in the lake. this is Deepali and Ruchi waiting for their turns on the wall

Preeti attempting to make it up the wall...

is she going to make it?

Kambale reaching for the bell at the top

Ladan climbing the wall

Ruth and Sahil enjoying the kayaks

Lulu had a little trouble getting out of the kayak...

me and Preeti hanging out by the lake, watching people kayak

Zia chasing after Deepali!

some of the guys playing around in the lake

me and some of the guys after they went swimming

group photo--here we have 28 people, from at least 8 countries!

poor little preeti, always getting picked on :) this is one of the last pics we took, right before we hopped in the bus and headed home. it was an incredible weekend, and i hope you've enjoyed these pics. i'm out!

happy birthday Milo!!!

2006-12-17T10:45:00.000-06:00

so this post is mainly just a shout out to my "little" bro on his 16th birthday. i say little only because he's 10 years younger than me--he is not little by any means! although it's been over a year since i've seen Miles, or Milo as i like to call him, from what i've seen in pictures, he is getting SUPER tall and turning for a kid into a man, which is NUTS! i can still remember Dec 17, 1990, when my sister and i went tearing through the hospital parking lot, so eager to finally see our new baby brother. and now he's 16! insane...anyway, because we both share a love of pictures (esp funny ones of ourselves), i'm going to post some fun ones of him.

so this is what miles looked like just before i left in 2005. he still had braces, was shorter than me, and had a little kid voice...

...and this is what he looks like now! this is from thanksgiving, with 2 of our cousins who are both over 6 ft tall. i'm afraid he's changed so much that i'll hardly recognize miles when i get home.

this is my absolute favorite pic of miles! i love it! he is also a huge animal lover, and has a fabulous little cat named Tootsie.

and he also loves snakes (this snake is real, but stuffed. however, he is not afraid to have snakes bite him). my brother is seriously destined to be the next croc hunter. ever since he was a kid, he's caught any reptile he could get his hands on, and has had more pet snake than i can count. i'm still trying to convince him to come to india so he can catch a cobra

as you can see, he likes to take crazy pictures (and also has some pretty sweet photo shop skills). i think that in a lot of ways we have a pretty similar goofy/ghetto sense of humor, and both love photography, which is definitely a family thing.

this is a favorite of dad and miles, out fishing and having fun in the gulf of mexico earlier this year. i love that my brother is growing up into such a great guy!

miles is a freshman in high school and he just started playing football this fall (he's number 77). i am SO proud of him and i can't wait to see him play when i'm home next fall!

mando and milo at the monster truck show...we can fight like any typical brother and sister, but we also have a lot of fun together :) i love you little bro! i hope your birthday is AWESOME!!!

mom, this post is for you ;)

2006-12-11T09:13:00.000-06:00

so today, i found this lovely creature on the road just down the street from our house:

those of you who know how big my feet are will realize just how big this beast is (and if you don't, i wear a women's 11 1/2!).

that's about it. it's a busy and crazy week getting ready for the camp this weekend, so please keep us in your thoughts. night!

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2006-12-06T12:46:00.000-06:00

so today we started preparing for Christmas. we cranked up the music and baked over 10 dozen cookies, plus made candy cane bark..mmm...

we got creative and cooked up some tasty apple cider
we put up the tree and all the lights (still working on the ornaments)...

set up the cool Indian nativity scene...

and then got a little crazy...
and turned our drying rack...

...into a fireplace!!!!

so yeah, we've got Christmas spirit in abundance...

stay tuned...more to come :)

2006-11-23T10:50:00.000-06:00

Happy Turkey Day!!!

i know it's been forever since i've posted...it's been kind of a crazy month, with lots of changes going on here, and most for good. even some crazy things turned out pretty good (like, our fridge broke, which was not fun, but we got a new one and it's nicer, so it all worked out ok in the end!)

anyway, even though i'm in india, i still got to celebrate thanksgiving, which was pretty cool. i've been very blessed with good friends here who are really more like family, and we had a great day together, eating LOTS of food and just hanging out. here are some pics:

awesome desserts: cupcakes, pecan pie, some pumpkin cake thing, cherry cheese cake, apple pie

main course: chicken, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, dressing

SWEET POTATO PIE!!!! this was my favorite thing we had for lunch! cornbread, homemade rolls, brocolli (sp?) and cheese casserole, salad (this was my contribution...well, me and sophy and preeti!)

and we even got to watch a real football game! (american football, that is!). some one had taped the rosebowl from last january, so we had it on in the background while we hung out and played games. it was definitely a treat, esp since it was such an intense game (texas beat usc by scoring a touch down in the last 30 seconds of the game!).

so, overall, it was a great thanksgiving. i can't believe that i'll be back in the States this time next year...insane! i hope you all had a wonderful day as well, and many things to be thankful for :)

"i wanna turn the whole thing upside down..."

2006-10-27T15:58:00.000-05:00

it's almost 3 am, and i'm still up...darn internet...

what am i doing up so late? obsessively checking my email (for no real reason, i just do that), listening to a new mix i made on itunes of fun dance music, anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new ipod, trying to look up iranian dance music online, checking myspace and facebook, and playing with this new celebrity face recognition thing i found--check it out:

i've tried quite a few pictures, and it seems like i most consistently look most like michelle rodriguez (Lost)--random, i know--and candace cameron (Full House), and emma watson (Harry Potter movies), which is pretty cool. however, it also said that i looked like bruce willis, william shatner, and billy idol, so it's not perfect, but definitely fun.

this week has been pretty nuts. actually the past 2 weeks. last week, the roommies and i were temporarily relocated to our supervisors' apartment so we could babysit their daughter while they were away. i say babysit, but she's 13, so that's not really the best way to put it. it was interesting, and a bit weird not being at our house, but we had some fun times, and learned a little about what it will be like to parent a teenager...

monday and tuesday we headed to a nearby hill station on an international student retreat. what a trip--about 70 students from at least 10 countries, sleeping in tents, treking around crazy tourist traps, lots of dancing and singing, nauseatingly scary bus rides, and more. it was wild, but also a lot of fun. i have to say, i really love iranians. i mean, they are a blast to hang out with. they are incredibly friendly and generous, and we had so much fun dancing and singing with them the whole trip. even tonight, a bunch of us got together and ended up singing and cutting up like mad in KFC. fabulous. oh, and did i mention that there were also 3 buddhist monks on the trip, dressed in their orange robes? they're awesome, and everybody wanted a picture with them.

the downside of the retreat was that the cooler weather made me sick again. ugh. but i went to the doctor and have been "taking steam" (a whole post in itself...), so hopefully i'll be back to normal soon.

but i have to admit that i'm starting to wonder, what is normal anyway? i mean, every time i think, "oh, after _____, it'll all go back to normal," i find myself sadly mistaken. not so much disappointed, just wrong, because things here seem to constantly be in a state of change. maybe life has always been that way, and it just seems more pronounced now because i find myself needing something stable/normal/familiar/whatever more here.

that leads me to the biggest event of the week...when we finally saw our supervisors after we got back from the retreat, they hit us with the big news that they're moving to thailand. like, next week. what?!?! i still have not even begun to really process this, but i know there are a mix of emotions waiting to come out in full force: fear, frustration, sadness, confusion, excitement, etc.

i know this is where they need to be, so their whole family can be together (the 2 oldest kids are in boarding school there already), but at the same time, the timing of it all just seems so nuts. things here are getting exciting and i can see God opening cool doors for our team and then WHAM...normal ceases to exist...again.

darn it...i wish i had more answers. i wish i even knew what questions to ask. i wish i didn't have to say goodbye again, especially to people who've been my family for the past year. and yet, at the same time i have this strange sense of peace, of okayness, if that makes sense. i'm sad, and a lot more, but i'm not really freaking out. i wish things didn't have to change, at least not like this, but i also have this confidence that God is in control and He's got good things in store for all of us through this. strange and refreshing...

i'm hoping this trusting Him becomes my new "normal." i could get used to that.

well, that's enough processing for now. it's about 3:30 am and i should get to bed, or get back to my fun with face recognition...i'll leave you with this random pic: me and my friend shaggy feeding a monkey at the retreat. gotta love these nasty little buggers.

stop the presses!!!

2006-10-10T10:31:00.000-05:00

so the news of "Brangelina" (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) and their recent descent upon our city has been all the rage lately. for the past week, both papers we subscribe to have featured pictures and stories and all the latest news on their front pages, which i personally am so grateful for because, honestly, how would i survive the day without knowing what they ate for dinner last night???

needless to say, i was a little alarmed this morning when all the north korea news took over the front page of both the Times and the Herald. i mean, i need my daily super star fix, folks! but, fortunately, i saw that the Times had just moved the latest story on the super couple down to the middle of the front page. it seems they took a rickshaw out around town and the Times had gotten an exclusive interview with the driver. the funny thing is that the driver didn't have a clue who was in his rickshaw until someone told him that this couple is as famous around the world as Amitabh Bachan is in India! (this may not be as funny for those of you not familiar with Bollywood...).

i think what's really funny about this picture is that the driver actually used the meter! (the "for hire" sign is upside down). even if he didn't know they were superstars, it's pretty amazing that he didn't quote them some outrageous price just because they're foreigners. guess it goes to show that there are some honest rickshaw drivers out there!

anyway, i'll be sure and keep you posted about any breaking news regarding their stay here in Pune, since i know i won't be escaping it anytime soon...

(disclaimer: just in case you're wondering, i'm being totally sarcastic throughout the bulk of this post...)

hmm...

2006-10-05T13:23:00.000-05:00

i've been reading friends' blogs this afternoon, working on a project for our website (http://www.connectingstudents.net) and CD project. it's fun catching up with everybody, but sometimes i also find myself wanting to do what they're doing, feeling even a bit disappointed because they seem to be doing so much cool stuff. traveling all over. seeing the mountains, cold weather and even snow. learning much more hindi than me. getting to visit other friends and just have adventures that i find myself a bit jealous of...

but when i really think about it, i don't want to be anywhere else. i have to admit, i never imagined i'd be working in the 8th largest city in India, hanging out with college students. i thought i'd live somewhere much more "traditional," like varanasi; or further south, like chennai; or maybe that i'd just spend more of my time here traveling and moving. but fortunately, the choice really wasn't up to me! i mean, it was, but it was more of choice of, do i trust God and follow His lead, or try to make my plans happen? let me tell you, this is another one of those times when i am SO glad that He knows what He's doing, and what i really need!

there are definitely things i don't like about my city, my job, and my life. it's too polluted. students are so fickle and unpredictable. i miss my family and friends, and i wish we were closer to more of my friends here. it rains too much and it never gets really cool. sometimes i feel like i have no direction and just want something more structured. i wish i wasn't here as a single girl, but with my husband.

i could go on, but that's not really the point. what i've realized is that my life is so indescribably better than i could have ever imagined it would be. i've screwed up a lot, and i definitely don't deserve to be as blessed as i am. seriously. it still just amazes me when i really stop and think about it all, the bigger picture of my life and how God's had His hand in it, even since before i was born (Psalm 139). and there are also so many cool/funnny/suprising/insane little things always happening around me that i sometimes just need to remind myself of how good things really are.

here are just a few examples from this week:

-Monday was Dussera (major Hindu holiday)--ate lunch with my friend and her family

- and also Ghandi's birthday, which we celebrated by seeing "Lage Raho Munna Bhai", the new hit movie driven by Ghandigiri, or living like Ghandi

-discovered that Pune has a Mocha, a FABULOUS coffee hangout place--we had great coffee and a fabulous evening of hanging out with friends

-Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are randomly filming their new movie (about Daniel Pearl's kidnapping in Pakistan)

-i've had a several really cool and deep conversations and connections with people this week, all very unexpected

-through the marvel of the internet, i was able to talk to one of my dearest friends the other morning, and i just downloaded the first episode of LOST season 3

i know there's more, but these are just a few cool things. life really is good--i'm just learning that you have to learn how to look at it all the right way. easier said than done, but better than anything else i could imagine. alright, i'm out...LOST is calling my name :)

Team Retreat

2006-09-29T14:52:00.000-05:00

This week we headed to the mountains for a team retreat. Well, ok, so maybe they were more like hills and plateaus, but for a Louisiana girl, anything above sea level seems mountainous!! Anyway, it was great--the weather was considerable cooler, the scenery was awesome, the pollution was absent, and there was just an overall feeling of peacefulness in this small town (especially when you compare it with a city of over 3 million people!).

The ten of us had a great time bonding, planning, and just having fun. I think this next year is going to be really incredible, and I'm excited about getting to work with such great people. Here are some photo highlights of our trip:

pretty scenery

look who's house we found! SRK!!!

silly mountain, er, plateau pics

beautiful sunrise (i wish i could take credit for this pic, but my roommate took it cause i was not about to get up at 6 am and hike up a big hill!)

can you tell what i'm eating in this picture? (hint: they served it to us for breakfast)

if you guessed brain curry, you were right!!! (don't worry, i didn't really eat it, it just made for a really gross picture!)

group picture

amazingly smooth and nice road on the drive home (this is totally rare here!)

and one more just for fun...does this look familiar to any of you ALIAS fans???

pics from Amy's visit!

2006-09-23T12:33:00.000-05:00

random pictures...

2006-09-23T12:30:00.000-05:00

so the roommies are watching LOST, season 1. i'm halfway watching, and halfway catching up on blogging. it's been a good week, and i'm doing a lot better than i was the other day. i can't say that i have a whole lot to say at the moment, but i do have some fun random pics from the past few weeks, and there are also some catch up posts down below this, so scroll down and enjoy:

creative sign at a house not far from where we live....

student discussion group at our house friday night

rat tails are totally "in" here!

guys dancing together at 3D Fun Destination (like Chucky Cheese + a bowling alley and a dance floor)

random pic from solapur

all dressed up in our sarees, with our friends over for dinner

pack of pigs running down the street!

water buffalo!

yes, this guy is wearing a paisely shirt...

crammed in a rickshaw!

dinner time!

fun at the park...well, outside the park--the gate was locked. (note the "elephant" in the background)

preeti, sophy and a giant tank

more fun at the park (this one was actually open)

preeti tries out the crazy swing thing at the park

indian students' version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. one word: PRICELESS (and that's a guy in the dress, by the way)

yes, that guy is wearing a Simba hat...

...

2006-09-17T13:22:00.000-05:00

i think i'm officially having "one of those days"...i haven't posted in a while, but, warning, this may be "one of those posts" that's more about me needing to vent than something you're really dying to read...just so you know...

my computer is being slow and annoying. blogspot is being even more annoying. i've been lazy the past few days, which can be nice, but also leaves me restless. my new ipod is not working--in fact, i can hear a piece rattling around inside of it and i have no idea why. i feel like i have a lot to do, but no real direction on what i should do, what to prioritize, and little motivation. i could use a hug, a real and good one, know what i mean?

my best friend Amy was here last week, and it was amazing. that's another post in itself, with pictures (for now, check out her myspace: www.myspace.com/holykiss). but now she's back in california and i'm here in India, trying to get back to "normal life." it's not working very well so far. i had such a great time hanging out with her, and just talking and being with someone who knows me so well and, well, i'm not sure how to adjust back to the way things were. or if i even should.

i don't think i'm feeling homesick; i just miss the deeper relationships that i had before. i love the people i'm around here, but it's not the same, and i don't know why. i don't feel like i can talk to people as much or be as honest or real or whatever, and it stinks. has it always felt this way, or is it more just the aftermath of something exceptionally good?

don't get me wrong--i'm extremely grateful for the time we got to spend together. my heart and spirit needed the long talks, laughter, prayers, and abundant hugs. and, totally unexpectedly, i truly experienced God's grace on a new level with the family we stayed with. they were amazing, and while i was struggling with feeling unworthy to be so protected and cared for, God was all the while telling me that He was using this to show me more of Himself! oh, how great is our God! He knows what we need, and He is faithful!

He is faithful. He'll get me through this slump, and probably even teach me something amazing from it. not a bad deal, even if it is no fun in the midst of it. but blogging helps, as do comments..hint hint :) thanks for listening.

My life in pictures...

2006-09-05T12:00:00.000-05:00

[i meant to post this about 2 weeks ago, but didn't have time before i headed to bangalore, so here goes...]

I really was psyched about being a better blogger for a while...I guess I still am, I just need to actually DO it...so here goes:

Our next door neighbor’s youngest daughter got married recently. It’s my third wedding here in India, and it was definitely the most random. We went to the church (Catholic wedding) for the ceremony at 4:30 pm. The bride wore a white sari that I first thought was a wedding gown. It was a pretty traditional Catholic wedding, with a few Indian twists—my favorite was the song played during communion—it totally had a beat like a Hindi pop song! The ceremony was over by 5:30 pm, but the invitations said the reception started at 7:30 pm, so we were kind of confused. Everybody else seemed to know what was going on, because they all left, so we did too. Around 8 pm, we headed back to the reception, which was just getting started. It was definitely random, but since we went and had coffee in between, it was time well spent!

Alisha and Sophy had an interesting adventure with the pressure cooker. They were trying to make beans and it started overflowing. I was in my room when I heard the familiar sound of the pressure releasing, only it didn’t stop and was accompanied by squealing and laughing. I entered the kitchen to see a volcanic eruption of beanyness spewing all over our kitchen. Gross but hilarious.

A local church here hosted a youth weekend for students and brought in a band and speaker from the US—Thomas Young and No Longer Strangers. Supposedly they’re somewhat of a big deal with college students back home, though this was the first time I’d heard of them. However, I can see why, because they were quite good and it made for a fun weekend. We also made some new friends and got to reconnect with several old ones, which was quite cool.

Now that the rain is starting to let up, the weather has been quite nice here lately, so the roomies and I headed up to the “mountains” near our house to catch a scenic view of the city and enjoy a picnic (gotta love egg salad!). It was a fun afternoon, and we took plenty of silly pictures of each other. The nice weather also brought back a flood of memories, and a longing for things I’d forgotten about. I found myself I dreaming of the Res back in Jackson, on a breezy fall afternoon. Lying on my blue knit blanket that lets the grass poke through just enough. Reading, doing homework, sleeping, talking, dreaming, whatever. I wish I could have another one of those carefree lazy afternoons.

The roomies and I headed back to Solapur (a city about 5 hours away) early Monday morning to meet with a friend we made when we took a team of students there in May. We had a great time with our friend, met with a bunch of ladies from her church, got fed WAY too much food, stayed in a questionable hotel room, and had quite an adventure on the train back this morning. We misread our tickets and ran back and forth on the platform several times before finally finding our seats. Gotta love the Indian Railway system!

Every year around this time, Pune breaks forth into complete madness for about 10 days for the celebration of Ganpati, a Hindu festival dedicated to Ganesh,. As it turns out, this festival is really only celebrated in our state (Sophy and Preeti had never heard of it before coming here) and is MOST celebrated in Pune. Little (and BIG!) mandals (shack like structures) are set up all over the city to house the idols and pay homage to the elephant-headed god. Every night, we’ve heard loud music and serious drum beats at the multiple mandals that surround our flat (I think there are somewhere over 7000 in the city!). On the final day of the festival, all of the idols, some of which are incredibly ornate, are taken down to the river to be immersed (they are made of clay and eventually will be washed away).

Tomorrow night I leave for Bangalore! This could be slightly complicated by the fact that it’s also the last day of the festival and the roads will be insane on the way to the airport, but I’m totally excited! I can’t wait to get to spend a week hanging out with my best friend—how great is our God for working out all the details on that! I will post more after all our adventures :)

5 good things...

2006-08-16T14:54:00.000-05:00

this post is for my friend Sarah, who is moving to Virginia tomorrow! we grew up together, but just became good friends in the last 2 years i was home--we've had lots of crazy times (as you can see from the picstures!), and i'm very excited for her about her big move. about a year ago, Sarah and i got into this habit of always telling each other 5 good things each time we emailed--i think it started because i was in a bad mood one day and she got tired of listening to me complain! anyway, the lists went from serious to silly, but they always encouraged me, so Sarah, this is for you friend :)

5 good things from today:
1. good Indian food for lunch, esp. lots of sticky rice (not really Indian style, but that's they way i like it!) and chicken

2. facebook connection with my friend emily, who i've been missing and haven't talked to in sooooo long

3. the dentist. i know, how can that be good??? but friends, it was. i was SUPER impressed by how nice and clean the office was, and how cool the dentist is--she told me when i come back to have my cavity filled next week she'll let me listen to her ipod so i don't have to hear the drill. rock on, dr. kaur!

4. late night skip bo with the roomies (thank you sarah for introducing me to this game!), accompanied by their random music mix: rod stewart, travis tritt, journey, josh groban, michael jackson, merle haggard...the list goes on, and so does the fun here in our flat!

5. and last but not least...LaRonna...all you BCMers know what i'm talking about, and tonight, i introduced the roommies to the one and only LaRonna Marie Stokes...oh my, how i have missed her and her freestyle rappin skills...wow...i'll have to dedicate a post to laronna one of these days...for now, check out her webpage that i found--it's not much, but it is truly shinein' like a highlighter!

it truly is the simple things that can bring such joy...good friends, good times...

2006-08-10T12:12:00.000-05:00

the chef bakes a cake...

I had a convicting experience in the kitchen earlier today. I'm still trying to process it, so I hope what comes out here makes sense...

This afternoon our friends came by for coffee, so I decided to make a cake. I have to admit, I don't bake much here in India (my roommate Alisha is an EXCELLENT baker--croissants, bagels, cinnamon rolls, biscuits, cookies, you name it!), but I had a box mix that my mom had sent from the US so I thought I'd give it shot.

My first mistake, and the reason I'm a better cook than a baker, was not following the directions, but taking them more as "suggestions." I did ok with all the ingredients, but I don't know what size the pan is that I used, but I figured it wouldn't matter too much, so I just poured all the cake batter in and popped it in the oven. About 20 minutes into the baking time, I realized that the top was getting really brown, so I pulled the cake out to check it. The top was brown, and the edges were done, but the middle was still quite gooey.

I wasn't sure what to do, but then I remembered that when I was a kid, my grandma used to make cake for me and my sister with her little sandwich maker (the thing that was like a George Foreman but for sandwiches). This was my train of thought: you can make grilled cheese sandwiches in those sandwich makers, and you can also make cakes; you can also make grilled cheese in the skillet, therefore you should also be able to cook cake (I know you're laughing now if you weren't already!). So I took the cooked part of the cake and set it aside and then scooped the gooey part up and tossed it into the skillet.

I was making a huge mess by this point, but everything seemed to be working pretty well. I finished cooking the cake in the skillet and put it on the plate with the other pieces. It tasted fine, but looked awful, so I decided maybe some icing would help. I'm not a great icing maker either (once again, following directions is important), but I got Alisha to look up a recipe and gave it a shot. At first, it looked great, but before I could put it on the cake (or the pieces of cake that I'd tried to rearrange in the pan), it started separating. I'm still not sure why it did that, but I smeared it on the cake anyway and popped the whole mess in the freezer, hoping that cooling it down might help.

[Hmm...maybe this is genetic....I'm suddenly reminded of a similar incident my mother had with a chocolate birthday cake she made for my sister several years ago. It was such a disaster that it ended up in the freezer, full of the toothpicks my mother had attempted to keep it together with. I don't think she's made a chocolate cake since then.]

Well, my friends came not long after this, and the cake ended up just staying in the freezer--I was too embarrassed to serve it to anyone, and my roommates got a good laugh out of it when I pulled it out for them later.

The more I think about this cake, the more I think this is how I interact with God, and it kind of scares me. I think I keep trying to take the messes in my life and "doctor them up" instead of just being honest and bringing them to Him. I keep pretending and fixing and hiding instead of letting His grace work itself out in all areas of my life, even those that I'm scared to admit exist. I'm so worried about looking nice and proper that, like the cake, I hide anything that seems too messy.

I think that's why I enjoy cooking--I can glance over a couple recipes, take from them what I like, and pretty much experiment away, because it tends to be a much less precise science than baking. But baking...you might be able to get away with a few things here and there, but if you really slip up, it's going to show because your cake is going to turn our looking funky.

Cooking just allows you to hide more. I love to "doctor up" dishes that might not have gotten off to a good start. You can make so much from so little, and it still looks (and tastes) impressive. Cooking leaves more room for creativity and spontaneity, and even if my spaghetti sauce turns out a little different every time, it still tastes pretty good.

I think God may teach me a number of lessons from this goofy experience, but what hit me as I was washing the dishes was that, just like the cake recipe, I tend to treat His Word more like suggestions than something that truly guides my life. Ouch.

I find myself "cooking" with Him...taking bits and pieces of what I like from Him, His word, His people and mixing them up into something that I think will turn out great, but it just doesn't. Experimenting with His grace, His mercy, His power, etc. leaves me with a mess and a strong desire to do whatever I can to cover it up and pretend everything is alright.

So, as they say in India, kya karna? (what to do?) I've been here for a year now (an overwhelming thing in and of itself), and I feel like more than culture, language, people, students, food or anything else Indian, I'm learning about myself. The good, the bad, and the extremely ugly...It hasn't always been a fun process, and I can't say that I really feel any farther along than I did a year ago, but I do hope the next year holds more of the same.

I'm not really good at ending thoughtful posts like this, so I steal lyrics from one of my favorite songs, Wrecking Ball, by Jill Phillips:

"So piece together these little mysteries
It isn't hard to see the writing on the wall
Triumph and tragedy, only God can be
Both the Builder and the Wrecking Ball.
And He builds it up
And He knocks it down
Just to build
it up, even stronger..."

2006-08-07T16:47:00.000-05:00

"Can't you see that it's just raining...

...ain't no need to go outside." Ah Jack Johnson, one of my new loves in life...what a perfect song to describe monsoon season in India. Why on earth would anyone want to even think about setting foot outside when the ground is more water than land, and trash and who knows what else is floating in the nasty brown rivers that were once roads? But that's the hard thing about life here--for most people, going outside isn't even an option. Truth be told, sometimes it seems like more people live outside than in, and of those that do have homes, few have the luxury of hiding away in their flats on rainy days.

You would think that after growing up in south Louisiana, rain wouldn't bother me that much, but there's just something about the wetness/nastiness of monsoon season that makes me want to hide in my room. Even so much that I would have prefered to do my monthly financial report today over going outside (and that's saying a lot!). Fortunately, we had plans to meet up with some friends this evening, so we ventured out into the madness.
It turned out to be a pretty fun evening. It's actually been a really fun week, with our 2 new roommates from Delhi, Preeti and Sophy. They are fabulous girls, and we've had a good time getting to know each other since they moved in last Tuesday. And a few adventures as well--like tonight, when the brakes on the rickshaw went out and we had to get out and walk the rest of the way home. The distance wasn't too far, but the road was more water than, well, road, which made me quite thankful for the Crocs my sister sent me for my birthday.

We eventually made it home and ran straight for the showers to wash our feet, then proceeded to the living room for dinner, laughing, funny videos and music, and speed Scrabble.
I've been reading other friends' blogs lately and I'm impressed at how thoughtful/thought-provoking their posts are. I think I've just viewed blogging as a way to tell people about stuff that won't fit in my newsletter, post pictures, and so on, but I like the idea of getting a little deeper. Maybe that will be my focus for year two.
And that's a whole other topic altogether...year two. 2. Too. It just doesn't seem possible, and yet this Saturday will mark the 2nd time I've spent August 12th in India. Today is day 361. More on this later...
One final note...I don't know if anyone reads my roommate Alisha's blog, but you should, cause it's fun and she's fun and funny. And there's a fabulous post about a little incident that occurred a few days ago that I think you'll get a kick out of. I'll just leave you with her address (http://www.xanga.com/roaming_sojourner) and this picture:

2006-07-27T11:22:00.000-05:00

2006-07-27T10:24:00.000-05:00

Summer Travels and whatnot...
Wow, it's been a long time since I updated! I've been traveling a lot in these past few weeks, so I'm trying something new with the slide show--let me know what you think :)
Jill and Varanasi
After all our adventures with our two teams that were here, my friend Jill came to visit from Louisiana! I was SO excited to see her--it'd been almost a year since I'd seen anyone from home--and we had a really great time. We hung out in Pune for a while and she helped me do some follow up with work our teams had done. Then we headed up to Delhi, did some MAJOR shopping, and hopped on a train to Varanasi. Varanasi is an incredible place--it's on the bank of the Ganga river and known as one of India's most "holy" cities. Jill spent the summer in Varanasi 2 years ago, and before I came to India, most of the stories I'd heard had been from her about that summer. I was really excited about finally seeing this city that I'd heard so much about, though it was a totally exhausting journey! We spent two days running around the city and then barely made the train out of town due to a festival that was going on. Oh the madness that is India!
Thailand!
The night after Jill and I returned to Delhi, she headed back to the US and I headed to Thailand for our annual meeting. Last year at this time I was still in training in Virginia, so this was my first time at AGM and it was AWESOME!!! So many people from all over--truly an extrovert's dream come true :) I had a great time hanging out with old friends and made some new ones as well, and the conference was really a blessing. Everything was extremely well done and it was obvious that a number of people had put a whole lot of work into pulling it off. And of course, there were also plenty of fun things to do in thailand, like shopping at the night market, eating really good food (hamburgers!), and even bowling!
Vietnam
After our conference, me and 3 friends headed to Vietnam for vacation. I know what you're thinking--Vietnam??? I wasn't really sure what to expect (since I'm not a planner and was just along for the ride!), but it was incredible! It's a beautiful country, with a strong mix of both the traditional/history and the modern/global.We visited 2 major cities (Hanoi and Hoi An) and got a fun taste of both city life and the beach. We shopped around town, had clothes made by fabulous tailors, ate lots of really good seafood and sticky rice, took a boat tour in the bay, and drank some amazing coffee. My favorite part of our vacation, though, was getting to spend time with friends and just relax on the beach. This did, however, result in a pretty wicked sunburn, but it was worth it!
Back to Delhi...and a visitor from Spain!
After Vietnam, I headed back to Delhi to pick up Tep, a friend who came to visit us from Spain! Before I continue with this though, I have to pause and talk about airlines. They are insane, and this summer has proved it. In all my travels, I took 10 flights in about 3 weeks (not to mention the trains, buses, taxis, rickshaws, sung taos, boats, etc etc), and while most of these flights were pretty good, we did have some misadventures getting from Vietnam to Delhi (3 flights, 3 airlines, over weight luggage, customs 4 times, sketchy man sitting next to me...the Delhi airport was the best part of the day, and that's saying a lot!). After all this insanity, when I picked up Tep at the airport, her luggage had not made it to India (this is the 3rd piece of lost luggage we've had this summer...insane). It made it to us 2 days later, so all was well.
Tep and I spent a few days in Delhi and had a great time visiting with people. Then we headed back to Pune and hung out here for a few days. The monsoon season is here in full force, so it's kinda gross, but everything is green again and it's much cooler than when I left. It was great to have Tep here for a few days though, and we were sad to see her head back to Spain. The funny thing is when she left to go back to Spain, the plane couldn't take off because "parts were missing" or something sketchy like that...gotta love traveling overseas!!!
Well, I think that's a pretty good overview of my summer so far. New roommates/coworkers move in on August 1st, so it might be a while before I update again. Peace out!

2006-06-18T14:43:00.000-05:00

Madness, Fun, and 1000s of Pictures...
Our teams of students from America have come and gone, and it still all feels like a blur. How has the past month flown by so fast?!??! It seems like 2006 just began and now it's half way over, as is my time here in India. Insanity...
Both of our teams were absolutely FABULOUS and SO much fun--so unique and energetic, and definitely a true blessing to have around. They ran hard, meeting students, drinking coffee, trying all sorts of new food, exploring the city, and just having a good time. Some highlights from these 2 incredible groups:
-watching their reactions to all that is India (bollywood movies, animals everywhere, riding camels and elephants, holding hands with friends of the same gender, rickshaws, poverty, insane traffic, religious saturation of life here, student culture, etc)
-playing in the park with hundreds of curious people
-not having to hold their hands every step of the way, but seeing them jump in and run with everything we gave them
-celebrating my 26th birthday (am I really that old already?!?! yikes!)
-singing, laughing, and just hanging out with college students
-getting sarees made!!!
-planning parties for the students they met and having a blast, esp. playing games and doing skits
-their energy, excitement, and passion
-touring temples and mosques and learning more about Indian culture and religion
-visiting local campuses and seeing what life is like for students here
-shopping and learning to bargain, and watching them pay WAY too much for stuff :)
-training them to share their stories with people they met and seeing them have a blast doing it
-hanging out with students for hours on end, just getting to know them and having fun
-eating out more times and places than I care to count...
-traveling by train back from a meeting in Solapur (nearby city)
-1000s of pictures (literally, i have over 5 gigs of pics from the past month!)
-seeing them tough out even some of the roughest situations (flooding, monsoons, nasty squatty potties, sickness, changed plans, you name it!)
It's been a great couple of weeks, and I'm excited about what the next month has in store as well--tomorrow my friend Jill arrives from Louisiana! This is exciting because she's the first person from my "old life" that I've seen in over 10 months--insane! We'll hang out here for a while, then travel to Delhi and Varanasi (she was there in summer 2004). Then she heads back to America and I head to Thailand for meetings. Then on to Vietnam with some friends for vacation, and back to Delhi to meet up with Tep, who's coming in from Spain to visit!!! It's going to be a wild couple of weeks, but I'm excited. Until my next update, peace out :)
[I can't get pictures to work here, so go to my xanga to check out the pics that belong with this post: www.xanga.com/darkness2light ]

2006-05-20T10:54:00.000-05:00

When it rains, it MONSOONS!!!
This week our first team of students from the US has been in and ALL over our city! It has been a MAD week, but also extremely full of JOY :) Here's a little glimpse into the madness:
-our supervisor had back surgery in Thailand last Saturday, then just came back here last night
-we toured Bombay with the team: we almost got swept away by the Arabian Sea when we visited the "sea mosque," and saw the filming of a Bollywood music video at the India Gate
-rode camels, elephants, and rickshaws
-shopped like crazy
-met tons of students
-drank dozens of Kappi Nirvanas
-eaten all sorts of Indian food, and stayed mostly well from it :)
-played at the park with 1000s of people
-hosted a party
-had a slumber party
-got fitted for saris!
-toured several temples
-visited campuses all over town
-hung out with friends
-my roomie and i have both felt rough this week, and i've been to the physical therapist most days this week for traction on my back--all i have to say is that the hospitals here are an interesting experience...
-and dealt with stuff back home: my grandma has been sick for a while, and she passed away Wed night (US time). it's been hard to deal with all this and losing her, but i have been SO blessed to have 8 extra people to hug on me and encourage me--talk about perfect timing :)
I can honestly say i've learned more about myself in the past few days than in quite a while--it's been a great growing experience. So, 1 week down and 1 to go, which promises to be even more full than the first! all i have to say is, bring it on!

2006-05-05T16:03:00.000-05:00

Oh, the maddness!
This week has been insane! Good, but insane. In fact, it's been so crazy that I'm just going to give the highlights. In the past week, I:
-got a pedicure with the ladies
-spent an evening with about 20 kids
-had 20 people over to our house
-went to a massive birthday party for a one year old
-hung out with Mandy, a friend from up north, and kicked some booty at Spades :)
-shopped like crazy for a dupata (scarf thing), and eventually found one that totally didn't match my outfit
-helped a eat a HUGE (and delicious!) dosa!
-explored a cool market we didn't know about
-worked on my monthly financial report...blah!
-spent the night at our friends' house
-had two meetings at the hospital (my supervisor is there because of his back)
-worked on plans for our 2 teams coming in (the first NEXT weekend!)
-visited another friend at the hospital who had a baby!
-had a refreshing and AMAZING day of retreat
-went to a wedding and ate a ton of mutton biriyani
-saw 2 movies (Munich and Mistress of Spices...eh, not exciting)

i'm sure there's more...it's been wild, but also really good, and i'm very excited about the next few months which are going to be FULL of visitors, traveling, and all sorts of big and new things. ah, the adventure of it all :)

2006-04-26T09:42:00.000-05:00

GOA!!!
We have been traveling this month! Right after returning from Delhi, we hopped on the night bus with some of our friends and headed to Goa for a little holiday. It was long ride, but well worth it--Goa is definitely a fun place. We only got to stay over the weekend, so we really didn't get to see everything, but it was great to be outside in such a beautiful place. And getting to hang out with and get to know our friends a little better was also a lot of fun. Here are some photo highlights of our trip:

Hanging out on the beach!

Friends chillin' at the old fort we went to visit.

Strange site at a Catholic shrine--Jesus along with Ganesh (Hindu god) and a guru...

Beautiful beach sunset!

2006-04-18T09:39:00.000-05:00

Time for another top 10��
Well, it��s been a while. These past few weeks have been filled with traveling, meetings, hanging out, and all sorts of randomness, so I will summarize with a fun little top 10. once again, these are in no particular order��just the best 10 things from the past few weeks J Enjoy!

10. Early April: I��m going to lump the first week of April all into one, because quite a few fun things happened: roommie and I had mehendi (henna) done with our friends��ladies often do it for festivals and weddings; Melanie, our supervisors�� daughter, came back into town; we had a baby shower for a friend who��s due in May, and probably a lot of other stuff��夷t was a busy week!

2006-04-18T09:35:00.000-05:00

9. Delhi: we went up to Delhi a little over a week ago for some additional language training and meetings, and as soon as we stepped out of the airport, I had this weird sense of d矇j�� vu. The heat, smells, sounds, sights��it was all a crazy flash back to just about 8 months before when we first arrived here. It was a lot of fun to be back in Delhi, to refamiliarize myself with the city, and to see just how far I��ve come (emotionally, mentally, spiritually, etc) in the past 8 months.

2006-04-18T09:32:00.000-05:00

8. Girls�� Night! My roommie and I arrived in Delhi just in time to meet up with some of the other single girls we know for their monthly girls�� night. We had a blast! The theme was Breakfast at Tiffany��s, so people were dressed up, we ate all sorts of great breakfast food, and we watched the movie. Good times with good friends!

2006-04-18T09:24:00.000-05:00

7. Language Camp: prior to the start of our language camp, I was pretty nervous. I haven��t really been practicing my Hindi lately, and I was just waiting for them to grill us from the start of camp. But, it turned out to be kind of fun! we met with other people who��d also been studying and mainly discussed what��s worked and what hasn��t. they also gave us a bunch of new materials that look like they��ll be helpful, if only I can remotivate myself and get back to studying!

6. FOOD! Going up to Delhi was almost as good as Thailand as far as food goes: Death By Chocolate at Bennigan��s, New Orlean��s coffee at Mocha, Chicken Tikka Pizza at Not Just Parantha��s (Indian), Subway (with more choices), Domino��s, Mudpie at The Big Chill��妃mm��地nd on a side note, when we got home today we found not just Dr Pepper but also DIET DR PEPPER! I literally gasped when I saw it��so cool!!!

2006-04-18T09:09:00.000-05:00

5. Costa! a new and exciting food development in Delhi is Costa Coffee. Oh wow��宇hat��s about all I can say. I literally went at least 7 times in a little over a week, which even tops the amount of times I went to Starbucks in Thailand! But it was soooooo good to get good hot coffee at a decent price��存igh��

2006-04-18T08:46:00.000-05:00

4. Meetings: along with language camp, our team had a number of meetings this week with people who are also interested/involved in university work. We had a great time visiting and comparing things that we��d tried, and how they worked or didn��t work. We also met with 2 girls who are interested in potentially coming down to work with us for a year (starting in August) as interns. We had fun getting to know them and are all excited about the future possibilities.

3. SHOPPING!!! So, those who know me from the US know that I��m not always into shopping, but wow, shopping this week was GREAT!!! We hit up our favorite markets and material stores and found some great deals. My favorite, by far, was Sarojani Nagar, home of the 35 rupee stores (about 75 cents) and tons of fabulous jewelry. I think I'm definitely getting hooked on big earrings!

2006-04-18T08:42:00.000-05:00

2. Easter: my first Easter away from the US. The funny thing was that I didn��t really even feel like Easter, or Good Friday or anything. But the services we went to on Sunday were really special, and even though it wasn��t a typical Easter with candy and egg hunts, it was a great day.

2006-04-18T08:38:00.000-05:00

1. Fun times with friends: Definitely the BEST thing about going to Delhi is seeing all the friends that I have there. There are lots of other single folks that we had a blast hanging out with (to see some of the madness of this week, check out www.myspace.com/j_lovedotcom) and just spending time talking and encouraging one another. Spending time with everybody a bit busy and crazy, but it was so refreshing for this extrovert��s soul, and made me think of so many good times with great people back home.

2006-04-01T13:59:00.000-06:00

April Fools!!!
A while back we bought a bottle of what we thought was Coke, but it turned out to be Thums Up, a cola-like soft drink here that is just, well, not so tasty... So since today was April Fools day, we decided to play a trick on our friends and replace a bottle of Coke with Thums Up and bring it to our fellowship tonight. No one knew what was up until we poured a couple people glasses--as soon as they took a sip they realized they'd been fooled. Good times :)

2006-03-21T02:33:00.000-06:00

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amy is coming to INDIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My best friend/Sister/and so much more is coming to my side of the world in September!!! My heart is bursting with JOY!!! I just ran in roommie's room and started shouting and now she's laughing at me :) But this is like, the coolest thing EVER! PTL!!!

Wow, talk about a good day!

2006-03-17T09:21:00.000-06:00

Rang De Basanti!!!
I've said before that South Louisiana is known for its festivals, but this past week has proved once again that nothing can really compare to South Asia. This Wednesday was Holi, the Hindu festival of colors. People celebrate the triumph of good over evil (a common theme in festivals here), and they do it by first burning bonfires the night before the big day. Then on the actual day of Holi, all craziness breaks loose and everybody gets together to "play Holi." I knew this had something to do with colored dye and water, but it wasn't until Wednesday morning that I found out just how fun playing Holi can be. My roomie and I were a little nervous at first because we'd heard about that people will ambush you with water balloons and dye as you walk down the street. We cautiously left our flat that morning, wearing the oldest clothes we had, and watching as groups of people, already colored by the celebrations, eyed us on the road. We walked over to our friends' society (apartment complex) a little after 10 am and the maddness had already begun. People of all ages were running around in the big grassy area, throwing powdered dye of all colors on each other, while kids ran around squirting everyone with water guns. We hesitated at first, just taking a couple pictures of the maddness--then our friends appeared and promptly wiped color on our faces, dragging us into the maddness. Before too long, we were throwing colors, splashing in the muddy water, and dancing to the loud Hindi music that was blaring around us. After a little over an hour of running around in the maddness, we took a break for a snack. By this time, most of the colors were gone, and it had turned into a giant mud fight, with a little dancing on the side. Within a few hours, everyone had headed home to get cleaned up, and the maddness of the morning was over. It was quite an adventure, and as my family would say, messy but good!

2006-03-16T10:31:00.000-06:00

Laissez les bons temps rouler!
(If you're not from south Louisiana, that's Cajun French for, let the good times roll! Be warned: this post might not make a whole lot of sense to you...)
When I made my top 10 of favorite things here, one the things I was most excited about was being able to cook new foods. While I have learned to make roti and chaptis, 2 kinds of bread here, my favorite things are actually all the American foods I've finally had to just learn to make since my mom's not here to cook all that good stuff for me :) Anyway, yesterday's meal was by far my proudest cooking moment:

Yes, folks, that is real Cajun gumbo! (or as close as you can get here!). We made a roux (base for this soup-like dish), with a little trial and error, and then made a pretty decent chicken gumbo (terribly sad that there is no sausage here...). We also made potato salad (in the side of my bowl of gumbo, the best way to have it!) and my roomie even made homemade french bread. It was quite an awesome meal, even if it's warm here now (definitely not "gumbo weather"). I think the next thing we'll take on is King Cake...mmm...

Other additions to things that I LOVE here (thanks to K and others for suggestions):

-being able to have pretty much anything you could want delivered to your door with no delivery charge

-naan, roti, chapatis and all the other good food here

-crazy signs (in English or Hindi): ie, after all the bird flu scare, there are now signs up with pics of chicken that say "East or West, Chicken is Best!)

-riding on scooters

-Bollywood Movies...enough said

-crazy, noisy, wild, festivals, all the time

More to come as I think of them...:)

2006-03-12T12:28:00.000-06:00

Top 10s, etc...
So today officially marks 7 months since my first full day here in South Asia--how wild is that! It's funny to me, because when I tried to imagine moving over here I never really thought I'd make it this far. Seriously...I was sure I'd go nuts or something, but it's been seven crazy and wild and fun and hard and packed months, and so far I'm having a pretty good time, overall.
Several friends have posted their Top 10s lately, things they miss from home, so since I've been thinking about it, I'm going to put mine out (This is, of course, aside from family, friends, etc):

10. Sandwiches (with good lunch meat and bread and mayo and tomatoes and so on...sigh)
9. Clothes dyers (hang drying socks is just plain annoying)
8. the simplicity of being able to just pick up and drive somewhere without really having an agenda
7. shopping: specifically, wal-mart, old navy, and not being constantly followed around the store like a shop-lifter!
6. being able to enjoy sitting outside, esp. in my parents' back yard (no weird sounds, animals, or people staring at you)
5. diet Dr Pepper, Diet Cherry Coke, Skittles and all the other random little things you can't get here
4. my little one cup coffee pot, and Community Coffee
3. not having a "typical" schedule (this is fun for a while, but its wearing on me lately)
2. wearing shorts (I rarely even wear them in my house here because you never know when the doorbell is going to ring)
1. my neighborhood and my house, and being able to just walk down the street to my parents' house or my sister's house

But now I must go on and make another list: my Top 10 favorite things about being here:

10. All the new friends I've made, both here in our city and all around the country
9. I have better internet in my apt. here than I ever have at home before (go figure!)
8. all the funny ways people speak English here ("You are looking good today only!")
7. going to the movies, getting popcorn and a Coke, all for less than $5!
6. dancing and music here--so lively and fun
5. having clothes made (this can be a hassle, but it's so fun when it works out well)
4. random animals that roam the streets, esp. the herd of cows that go back and forth down our road (making pit stops at the dumpsters...). oh, and riding elephants, camels, and even a water buffalo!
3. learning to cook all sorts of things i probably should have already known how to cook :)
2. frozen coffee at Cafe Coffee Day = $1....nice
1. traveling: in the car with a driver, on a plane, in a train, in a rickshaw, or even by animal! (this sounds like a Dr. Seuss book!)

A few things I noticed in making these lists: 1, they're not in order really, because that would just take too long, 2, these are my top 10s today (meaning it's subject to change) and 3, the second list was a lot easier to make than the first...hmmm...

2006-03-06T10:08:00.000-06:00

And you thought American Idol was exciting...
We don't watch TV much, mainly because we don't have time and still don't understand most of what's going on. Oh, and there's really not much on that's better than some glorified soap opera/drama. But occasionally something truly exciting comes along: Indian Idol
There is no question as to whether or not this show was totally copied from the American version (which I've heard is a copy of a similar British show). It's the same music, same logo, same set--even the judges are versions of Paula, Randy, and Simon (the middle 3):

They even try to dress and act like them...too much! The finals are going on, so you know it's getting exciting. Here are some more fun pics:

ooh, guess she didn't do so well...

but look who's up next!

you know you want to votefor Sandeep. just go ahead and send that sms (text message)

2006-03-04T13:44:00.000-06:00

All in a Day's Work...or something like that...
Sometimes people ask me what I do everyday, and I have a hard time answering because everyday here is so different. I'm not a schedule freak, but having NO schedule whatsoever can get a little crazy sometimes. But it also makes for random adventures and good stories. Today is a perfect example of this:
11:00ish am Typical Saturday--I slept in, leaving my door locked so our helper wouldn't wake me up (having dusty floors is a small price to pay for sleeping in!)
12:30 pm Someone finally comes to change out the filter on our AquaGuard water filter. I think it was supposed to be done a couple months ago, but we haven't gotten sick yet (maybe we've been slowly building up a tolerance...). Anyway, he can't speak any English, and we don't know how to say 'change the filter' in Hindi, so this is a bit of a problem. We finally show him the way expired contract and he proceeds to change the filter and add some carbon powder stuff to the device (we stayed in my roomie's bedroom and just peeked out every once in a while).
2:00 pm Cleaning my room and watching ALIAS
4:00 pm Head over to the pool at the gym to meet some of our friends for swimming. It's a little chilly and the pool is in the shade, but we have a good time anyway.
7:00 pm Order dinner from Foodies 'cause we have no food in the house.
8:00 pm Food arrives, and we have only big bills and the guy has no change, so we scramble around to pay for it. The food is ok, but not incredibly exciting, so we bag up the leftovers to give away when we go out.
8:30 pm Leave to head to our landlord's new house for the blessing of the home. We stop along the way to buy them a house warming gift and this is where the real adventure begins: as we're about to enter the store, roomie points out that this crazy man we met before is right outside the store. This is not good, because he freaked us out the last time we met him, and so we duck into the Coffee Day next to the store and try to figure out what to do. Of course, we order coffee while we wait.
This was one of those moments when I think I must watch ALIAS too much. We hid out for a while, trying to keep an eye on our subject. He starts approaching Coffee Day, and we try our best to hide, but this doesn't work well when you're the only 2 white people in the room! He ends up sitting outside and so we continue to drink our coffee and strategize. We're just about to try to sneak out when he gets up and heads for the store, which is where we need to go. After waiting a bit longer, roomie heads inside to buy the present while I watch from outside and keep her posted on coms (I mean, cell phone) as to when she's clear to check out.
9:00 pm We finally hop in a rickshaw and head toward our landlord's house. We're a little concerned because 1. the rickshaw is struggling and we have to go up several hills and 2. the blessing was supposed to be around 8 pm and it's pretty late. However, we finally make it, and other people are still arriving as well.
9:30 pm The priest blesses the house and we have a tour and eat some more food (should have known not to eat dinner!)
10:30 pm After lots of visiting, some of our neighbors offer to give us a ride home
1:30 am And now, here I am, blogging 'cause I had coffee and I'm wide awake. :)

2006-03-04T12:00:00.000-06:00

3 Random Stories
1. Earlier this week there was a fire near our house. There's a big field near our house and my roomie noticed that a big patch of it near the road had caught fire. The funny thing was that we seemed to be the only people that noticed, because everyone else just kept driving by. The fire kept growing, and finally a man appears with 2 buckets of water. He nonchalantly walks across the street and proceeds to put out the fire, just like this sort of thing happens every day. Random.
2. On Friday we went to see a movie with some friends. They asked if one of their friends could come, and we said sure. Then we found out it was a guy. Not that I have anything against guys, but all too often, they end up wanting to get our numbers and calling or messaging us and so on, even if we've made it clear we're not interested. Fortunately, that was not this fellow's agenda--he actually was interested in selling us something! After the movie, we sat down to eat, and when I asked him about his job, he pulled out a brochure for a company that sells all aloe vera products. He spent the next 1/2 hour trying to get us to join the company. At one point, he even pulled a bottle of honey out of his briefcase and had us taste it to prove how good the products were.
3. Last Sunday several of our friends came over to hang out and have pancakes with us. We had a really good time and we said goodbye to several of our friends right about 4:30 pm. They hopped into the elevator and right as they did, the power went out! I just about died laughing when I realized they were stuck in between the ground and first floors. The watchman at our building finally appeared and rescued them. Quite an adventure.

2006-02-20T00:56:00.000-06:00

Retreat, part 2
This weekend we attended a retreat for international students and had a great time. There were about 40 people there from 17 countries, mostly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. We spent the weekend playing games, getting to know one another, sharing about our cultures and experiences here in South Asia, exploring the area around us, and just having a good time. Here are some highlights from the weekend:

Hearing so many different languages spoken all around me and listening to students share about their home countries.
Travel...We took two trains, and then all piled into the back of trucks to get to the place we were staying. I counted at least 30 people in the back of the bigger truck!
Nature tour: the place we stayed is kind of like a farm and hosts groups for agro tourism. We got to see all sorts of plants and animals, and it was GREAT to be out of the city for a few days!
Gooooood food! We had chipatis (like wheat tortillas) and great vegetables at every meal....mmmm!
*Swimming in the river and just having fun outside.
Cultural night--students shared about their countries and performed songs and dances.
*Making new friends and laughing about all of our various perceptions of this country!
*But best of all...I RODE A WATER BUFFALO!!! Camels and elephants are fun, but wading into the water and trying to jump onto the back of a fiesty water buffalo was just awesome!

2006-02-13T05:50:00.000-06:00

Retreat...part 1
So this past weekend was our first of 2 retreats that we've been invited to attend. Neither my roommate nor I really knew what to expect, but we were excited about going somewhere new and getting to hang out with students for a weekend. We ended up having a really cool time and met a lot of fun new people. Here are some highlights from the weekend:

Treasure Hunt--running around like crazy, finding clues, and eventually the "treasure" (candy)

playing guitar and singing--these students LOVED American rock songs, from Elvis to Extreme to Pearl Jam and Oasis

Rice, rice and MORE rice--I thought people in Louisiana ate a lot of rice, but they can't hold a candle to people here in South Asia! I'm glad I like it because we ate rice as the main part of every meal
teaching a session and learning from others--we had fun teaching a session on purpose and what why we are here on earth, and it was also interesting to learn more about student culture through our discussions in the other sessions
Dance party! Students here love music, and especially dancing. We danced to "jive music"--kind of like swing dancing--and then hip hop (and yes, this picture is of everybody doing the "cabbage patch"!!!). The funniest thing, though, was watching everybody dance to "Achy Breaky Heart." I tried to explain that this song is now really a joke in the US, but no one understood why...

Overall, the weekend was great, and I'm excited about going on another retreat and making more friends this coming weekend :)

2006-02-13T05:32:00.000-06:00

Festival...
Last Wednesday we were invited to a festival by our Muslim friends. We've hung out with them before during other festivals, but this one was like nothing I've ever seen. In fact, "festival" would not be the way I'd describe it, because it was a very dark and mournful event.
Mohorram is a time where Muslims mourn the death of Husain, the grandson of Muhammad. Everyone wore black that night, and all the women had their heads covered. The men began marching in a large group, chanting and hitting their chests with their fists. After about half an hour of this, the now large group that was gathered there moved and encircled about 15-20 men. These men took of their shirts and began beating themselves with chains and blades. They chanted Husain's name, and my friend told me they were doing this to remember his suffering and death, which happend about 1400 years ago.
Because it was fairly graphic, I'm not going to put up a lot of pictures, but you can kind of get an idea of what was going on from these. It wasn't an easy experience, but I'm glad we got a deeper glimpse into culture here...

2006-02-13T05:21:00.000-06:00

Angles, anyone?
This post is dedicated to my mom and dad, because I know they will both get a kick out of the topic :)
I decided to rearrange my room the other day, so I scooted my bed around and put it at an angle. Why, you might ask? It all started a few years ago when my mom redecorated our house, and suddenly everything was at an angle...couches, rugs, even the pool table wasn't safe. My mom loved it, my dad thought it was a little wacky...At first I didn't know what to think about the new feel of our house, but something about this strange technique grew on me and when I moved into my own house, I put my bed at an angle.
Adjusting my room this time was a little more of a challenge, because my room is much smaller than before and with my desk, a lot is packed in. However, as soon as I made the move, I knew it was the right choice. My room, while it may look funny to some, seems so much more at home. And it makes me smile to think of mom and dad and the angle debate.

A funny side note: when our cleaning lady came in the next morning, she had no category for this strange set up and asked me if I wanted her to help me push my bed back. I just laughed and tried to explain that I was redecorating. I think this pretty much just confirms for her that we Americans are pretty strange...

2006-02-10T05:28:00.000-06:00

YOU'VE GOT MAIL!!!
Ah, packages...what a wonderful thing! I could do several posts just talking about the insanity of the postal system here, but this one is dedicated to packages and all the wonderful people who have sent them. THANK YOU!!! I cannot tell you how fun it is to hear the doorbell ring and find the mailman there with a fun package from the US, like this most recent one I'm opening in the picture. So thank you to all you wonderful family and friends who have sent something (and this also includes letters, cards, etc--these are also quite fun!).
Typically, when we get mail here, the mail man drops it off in the afternoon. Sometimes, when we've been out, we'll return and find a slip say he stopped by and that we need to go to the post office to get our package. This is always an adventure, because, as I said before, the post office/postal system are deserving of a post (haha) of their own.
The thing that's frustrating about mail is that people like to open things and see what's in your package. Most of the things we get come resealed and some have been slightly damaged, but so far nothing has been stolen. I have friends who've had their granola bars opened, half-eaten, and stuck back in the package--crazy! Makes me really appreciate the US postal service. The funniest thing, however, happened last week. My roommate got a package from her mom that had all sorts of fun stuff in it, and, randomly, a glass paper weight. It was pretty beat up and we were really surprised that her mom and tried to send something so heavy and breakable. Well, it turns out that her mom didn't send it! When the package got opened at the post office, they must of had a mix up and put this random paperweight in with her stuff! Crazy...

2006-02-10T05:09:00.000-06:00

Eating Overseas... (Part 1)
Food here is all too often more an adventure than just something needed for survival. Most of the food I've had here has been excellent, whether it was out at a restaurant or served at someone's home. Honestly, the only time I got sick after eating something was the night that I cooked! [fortunately, I was the only who got sick, so I choose to believe it was a virus, not the food :)]
Anyway, food is a fun topic, and makes for some great pictures: first off, this is NOT food. At least not in this area of the world...that's why they're allowed to roam free and basically rule the roads here. This picture to the right was taken on the street right outside our apartment building.
The next picture is of my favorite food here: Subway! It may seem crazy, but this is about the only way to get a good sandwich that's not PB & J or grilled cheese. My roommate and I typically eat at Subway about once a week, and it's great because it's way cheaper than in the US and sooooo good...mmm...Subway, here I come...lettuce, ham and cheese, man; lettuce ham and cheese sandwiches... Also, notice the chips: American Cream and Onion Style and Spanish Tomato...yummy!
Finally, a funny and slightly disturbing food picture. For the faint at heart (and you know who you are...), don't look at the next 2 pictures! These were taken outside a restaurant where we had lunch one Sunday afternoon. And yes, we did still eat there, even after we saw this odd sight. As soon as they realized we'd seen it, they quickly brought the bags inside and had us sit down. And you know what, the chicken was great! Gotta love South Asia!
The restaurant...notice the bags in the bottom right corner.
A close up...mmm!
More updates to come as I encounter and eat more exciting and strange foods!

2006-02-06T04:12:00.000-06:00

TOUCHDOWN!!!
So this morning (Monday) at 4:30 am, about 25 Americans gathered at my friends' apartment to watch Super Bowl XL. My roomie and I spent Sunday night at their house so we could just wake up and watch the game, and everybody else came over at varying times throughout the morning. We attempted to be quiet for the neighbors' sake, but with more than 10 kids running around and the rest of us going between talking and cheering, there wasn't much hope for a peaceful morning.
Right before the Super Bowl, ESPN airs "The Road to the Super Bowl." I admit, I have no idea what this is about because I didn't get up at 3:30 am to watch it, but I will tell you about our own road to the Super Bowl here in South Asia:
Sometime within the past year, our city stopped having ESPN on the cable system. Since we're not in America, this means no Super Bowl. There are some restaurants in town with ESPN (they have dishes), but most of them are closed at 4:30 am, so we knew we had a problem. The first 2 ideas we thought of seemed like a long shot: rent a hotel room at a place that says they have ESPN and hope they actually do OR check someone into the hospital (where we know they have ESPN) and all pile into their room. We also asked a restaurant with a big screen TV if we could rend their facility, but that fell through as well.
Finally, my friend decided to attempt to get a satellite dish installed in time for us to watch the game at his house. This may seem like a simple solution, but nothing is ever simple here. The dish was installed quickly, but ESPN didn't start working until Saturday night at midnight! It was a close call, but fortunately it all worked out.
We had a great time this morning--hanging out, laughing, eating good food, catching up with people and enjoying a pretty good football game. I'll admit that I'm not the most knowledgeable football fan, but I enjoy a good game with good company, and I also think the Steelers quarterback, Big Ben, is really cute :) Overall, it was definitely worth getting up for. Hopefully I'll be able to stay away until a decent time this evening, watch the Super Bowl commercials I'm currently downloading (they don't play here during the game--we did see the halftime show, though), and then crash. Have a good one :)

2006-02-02T11:13:00.000-06:00

just an ordinary day...
well, it seems that i survived the dreaded mfr...our monthly financial report for work...it actually wasn't as bad as i'd feared (this is probably because i watched ALIAS almost the whole time i was working on it :) hey, whatever works...). anyway, i have my fingers crossed that all the receipts are right and that i got the exchange rates right for the 3 curriencies i had to work with...ugh...
on to more exciting things: it looks like we're going to get to watch the superbowl, live even, which is pretty exciting. i can't say i'm a huge football fan, but the superbowl is just one of those events that really screams crazy American culture. the added benefits will be making fun superbowl-esque food, hanging out with friends, and the adventure of watching the kickoff at 4:30 AM monday morning (5:00 pm back home).
what else? today my friend's sister is having a baby, and i'm quite excited for her about being an aunt again. she's quite good at it, and obviously excited as well. the funny thing is that her sister is only 6 months older than me and this is her 3rd kid...hello...not that i'm ready to have 3 kids...maybe someday :)
my roommate is in the other room watching Kal Ho Na Ho, one of our favorite Bollywood movies, for her language study. i probably should be studying since we start back to lessons next week, but i'm not quite motivated yet. i like the idea of learning and speaking another language, but i'm not big on the studying, or practicing, since most everyone here speaks English.
well, i guess that's enough rambling. i'm working on posting more, but hopefully without boring all my faithful readers to death :) it's time to get off this thing and get ready for bed before i get distracted and stay up too late again...night!

2006-01-29T13:21:00.000-06:00

As promised, I��m finally updating and doing it as top ten style again to save you hours of reading! (These are more in chronological order than in order of preference.)
10. Transportation��宇rains, planes, and pick up trucks!
If you��re going to travel overseas, you might as well get ready for an adventure. During our 18 days ��out of station,�� we traveled in multiple planes, cars, trains, rickshaws, sum taos (basically like riding in the back of a covered pick up truck), cycle rickshaws, a boat, and even a big fancy double decker bus. We didn��t ride any animals on this trip, but we are making plans to go on an elephant trek next time we visit Thailand.
[goofing off with a cycle rickshaw in Chiang Mai]

2006-01-29T13:16:00.000-06:00

9. Food: Starbucks, Dairy Queen, and Hamburgers!!!
One of the first things we did upon arriving in Thailand was to head to the airport Burger King for a hamburger, even though it was about 5 a.m. This was the start of our good food extravaganza, where we enjoyed wonderful things like cheeseburgers, Dairy Queen blizzards, Starbuck��s caramel Frappachinos, Antie Anne��s pretzels, and Diet Coke. I even had a bagel sandwich one night for dinner! Not so appetizing: fried/steamed bugs, and strawberry Fanta

[eating a hamburger in the airport; snack time: bugs galore!]

2006-01-29T13:15:00.000-06:00

8. Seeing old friends and making new ones
This was one of my favorite parts about our conference/vacation! I loved getting to reconnect with people that I��d met over the past year, as well as make a bunch of new friends. It was so fun to catch up and share good meals, great laughs, and new adventures. Yes, I am definitely an extrovert :)
[dinner with the gang at Mike's hamburger joint]

2006-01-29T13:12:00.000-06:00

7. Shopping: Lotus and the night market in Chiang Mai
I��m not usually much of a serious shopper, not compared to some of my friends and family back home at least, but I LOVED shopping in Thailand! The night market in Chiang Mai was incredible, filled with knock-off Birkenstocks and DVDS, jewelry, t-shirts, lanterns and more. Another nearly overwhelming experience was Lotus, the Wal-mart/Sam��s Club of Thailand. It was huge and crazy and oh so beautiful��存igh��吏ther highlights: buying a guitar! (actually the exact same model as the one I left in the States).
[outside Lotus; craziness of the night market]

2006-01-29T13:08:00.000-06:00

6. New Year��s Eve in Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai is an incredible city, and we finished up our time there by celebrating New Years 2006, Thai style. A bunch of us headed out to the Tae Pae gate (near the site of the newest Starbucks, which is very important!), where there was some sort of concert going on. We couldn��t really understand anything until they started the final countdown to 2006, but we had a great time watching people light traditional floating lanterns and send them out into the sky. Random facts: we ate at a German restaurant and got to wear really funny hats; we also watched as the lanterns nearly burned Starbucks down several times
[lantern floating into the sky; me at dinner with my crazy hat and orange Fanta]

2006-01-29T13:04:00.000-06:00

5. The Beach in Pattaya
Ah, the beach. Some pretty crazy and amazing things can happen there! This part of our trip was really fun and relaxing. We had meetings in the morning and evening, and several hours of free time each afternoon. The place we stayed was right across the street from the beach, which was quite fun. We could also head into town for shopping and good food, as well as a movie theatre (we watched Chronicles of Narnia��excellent movie about an INCREDIBLE story��go see it!). We also had a fun day in the middle of the week where we took a boat ride to an island and had fun swimming, snorkeling, jet skiing and so on. Random fun: I saw a sea turtle; we built a bamboo raft on the island; I got an hour foot massage for $5!
[beautiful sunset, with parasailers; me and my crazy beach shirt...]

2006-01-29T13:01:00.000-06:00

4. Freezing in Delhi!
Cold weather in Delhi was quite a shock to our systems, especially since we��d just come from the beach. However, it was a nice change from the extreme heat last time we visited, and we had a great time hanging out with friends here. Other highlights: shopping at the fun markets, eating at Bennigans (mmm��危onte Cristo!), and just getting to sleep in snuggled up under about 4 blankets and wearing a my UL sweatshirt!
[crammed in a rickshaw and FREEZING!--there's actually a 4th person on my lap, taking this pic]

2006-01-29T12:57:00.000-06:00

3. Taj Mahal
Well, what trip to India would be complete without visiting the Taj Mahal? We��d heard that the winter is the best time to go because summer is entirely too hot, so we piled in a car and headed to Agra to see the structure India is most famous for. It really was incredible to see the Taj up close��it��s perfectly symmetrical and quite an amazing structure. We also learned that, despite the popular myth, the workers hands were NOT cut off after they completed the Taj (our tour guide said that was more of a metaphor that took on a life of its own). Other highlights: the Red Fort (another amazing structure); over a dozen random animals we throughout the trip (ie: camels, bears, monkeys that jumped on our car, peacocks, green parrots, and even bats) ; taking crazy pictures where we tried to jump over the Taj Mahal...
[me at the Taj--cool reflection picture; monkey clinging to our car window]

2006-01-29T12:52:00.000-06:00

2. Trip up north!
Since our friend Kyle came down to visit for Christmas break, we decided that we��d end our trip by visiting his city in the north part of the country. We had a blast hanging out with him and 2 other girls that live there! And even though it was pretty chilly, I loved his city��it had no traffic compared to our city, a beautiful rose garden, cycle rickshaws, and even this crazy rock garden, made of junk and full of strange sculptures��
[crazy monkey sculptures at the rock garden; me and a friend in cycle rickshaw]

2006-01-29T12:37:00.000-06:00

1. ��Home sweet home�� :) It really is funny how much this place has started to seem like home (don��t worry family, I still love Louisiana!). But after traveling for nearly 3 weeks, my roommate and I could not have been more happy to step off the plane and back into our city, especially since we were welcomed by our wonderful friends here. These past few weeks have been a bit of an adjustment, but I��m glad to be back where we belong.
[my roomie and I wearing our warm clothes one night when it actually got chilly at our flat]

2006-01-13T11:24:00.000-06:00

Home sweet home...sort of...
well, after our 18 days of travel and adventures, I've finally made it back "home." What a wild ride...2 countries...8 cities...5 planes...2 trains...2 cars...1 shuttle and 1 double decker crazy bus...beaches, moutains, wonders of the world...all rolled into one crazy trip...I'll update more late when I've had time to process it all, but here's a fun pic for now...I'm out! :)

2005-12-27T03:10:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! Etc
So Christmas was a blast and I'm getting ready to head to Thailand for a conference as we speak! Fun times :) I will update more in a few weeks when I get back. Until then, enjoy these Christmas pics.
*Me and friends singing Christmas carols ( we got called up by the band because they saw that we actually knew the words!)
*Riding a camel at a fair on Christmas eve!
* Indian Santa!
*Me and the girls on Christmas morning, opening our presents ( we all got Bend it Like Beckham)

2005-12-13T12:53:00.000-06:00

Only 13 Shopping Days left til Christmas!!!
***Disclaimer: If you don't live overseas, this post will be funny, though you probably won't appreciate the wonder of it as much as those of us who do or have lived overseas.***
Not that you'd know that here by the way things look! But anyway, we did have quite an adventure Christmas shopping today. We drove to a nearby city so we could visit "My Dollar Store," the near legendary import store we've been hearing about from friends.
This store is located in a 4 story mall/center, with tons of other shops, most of which are rather over priced. There's jewelry, mens', womens' and kids clothes, music stores, a food court, and of course, the dollar store. Except, it's actually the 99 rupees store, even though it's called the dollar store. This is significant because 99 rupees doesn't equal $1, but about $2.50.
Honestly though, I probably would have paid even more than $2.50 for some of the stuff we found there. It's all stuff that we take for granted in the states, but let me tell you, when you go without these little things for a while, it sure is exciting to see them again! Examples of merchandise we found: fabric softener, Pace Salsa, Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, Mug Root Beer, Pringles, Butterfingers, grits, Suave shampoo, etc, shaving cream, deodorant, Starbuck's Frappacino's (the ones in glass bottles), Jello instant pudding, Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup and a variety of other kinds as well, Capri Sun, and a number of other exciting things. Now, some of these things you can get in our city, but they're way more expensive than 99 rupees; however, most of them are rare finds, which makes this place really exciting. Sadly, 2 things they've had in the past were not there: Dr Pepper and Rotel...tear...
Oh the joys of living overseas! Adventures waiting to be found around every corner :)

2005-12-12T05:28:00.000-06:00

This stuff costs an arm and a leg!!!
Monday 12 December 2005, 5:04pm
So I'm sitting on my bed, listening to some Christmas favorites (right now: Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree), waiting for the power to come back on so I can use the water heater and take a shower, and trying to think of a way to accurately describe Christmas in South Asia...hmm...I think that, from what I've seen so far, Christmas is basically whatever you make of it. It's not like America, where you couldn't escape the holiday season if you tried. Honestly, if I didn't look at my calendar, I'd forget that it's actually December and only 14 days until Christmas!
Though Christmas fever hasn't taken over my city quite like Diwali did, there are a few little reminders of the holiday that I've spotted. Several small Christmas stores have popped up, selling stuff that in the States, well, I'd never buy cause it's totally gaudy...but somehow, it becomes quite appealing when it's all you've got. The problem is the price--even the smallest things cost a fortune! Example: We wanted a wreath for our door--average price for wreath (and these are the gaudy ones) is between Rs 750-2000, or $18-$50! yikes! But I think we've done pretty well--we got a tiny wreath, a tiny tree, and even a tiny manger scene, and we're making stockings with some friends, so I think it'll all end up being pretty festive.
The other funny thing about the stores is that while they're trying to sell Christmas stuff, it seems that a few other holidays have gotten thrown in the mix as well. I saw Easter eggs at one store, and as you can see from the picture above, another store had Halloween decorations right in the middle of the Christmas. It's hillarious to see a scary hand hanging right there with a bunch of Christmas ornaments, and also interesting to think about differently people here view Christmas, decorations, and so on from the way it's all seen in the States.
One nice thing is that it's actually been kind of cool here lately. Either that or I'm just getting so used to the heat that anything below 80 feels "cool." It has been around 50 in the evenings, and this morning, it was cool enough in our flat for me to put on my favorite sweatshirt, which was very exciting.
Another fun thing was making my mom's famous Christmas cookies this weekend. This is a Christmas tradition back home, so I was very excited that it worked out. The cookies were easy to make (they're kind of like sugar cookies with a nutmeg flavor) but the icing was another story because it calls for meringue powder (which I discovered is actually powdered eggs). Anyway, it was quite an adventure to find, and when I finally got it, I had to buy a kilo (2.2 lbs)--the recipe calls for 3 tablespoons! The cookies turned out great, but if anybody knows any other uses for meringue powder, let me know...
Well, looks like the power is back on, so I'm going to take a shower while there's hot water--kind of like the saying, make hay while the sun shines, here, do what you gotta do while the power's on or you might be out of luck :)

2005-11-26T13:00:00.000-06:00

Top Ten��
In the few weeks since I��ve updated, so much has happened that I won��t bore you all by going into tons of details here. Besides, I don��t have time��that��s why I��ve waited so long to update! Anyway, it has been a fun few weeks with some very memorable experiences, so here��s a brief overview:
(By the way, these are in no particular order)
10. FESTIVALS!
Wow, what madness these past few weeks have been with Diwali, Eid, and now the start of wedding season (in fact, I think there��s a wedding going by outside right now!). Though things have been a lot louder due to the fire works (��crackers��) and bands/processions marching by, we��ve also had a lot of fun and gotten to learn a lot more about the culture here.

2005-11-26T12:58:00.000-06:00

9. Youth Conference
So in the State, ��youth�� typically refers to ages 13-18, but here it��s more like 18-30. Since that��s the case, I guess we��re technically working with youth and not college students, especially since college is really 11th and 12th grade here! Anyway, a few weeks back we were invited to a conference where we got to meet other people from around our state/country that also work with students. We had a lot of fun, ate good food, and even got to see some little kids dance and sing��they were at the same place for another conference, and they were very cute!

2005-11-26T12:56:00.000-06:00

8. Weekend getaway��
Last weekend my roommate and I decided to take a break from busy and crowded life here and ��get away�� to a nearby hill station (small town on a hill). We��d hoped it would be relaxing and fun, and while it was fun, it was more of an adventure than a chance to relax. People here have different ideas about nature: while we were hoping to get to just sit outside and enjoy the nice weather, people here view scenic spots in a much more ��touristy�� fashion. Every place we went was fairly crowded, and being that this was a smaller town, we were often quite the celebrities��

2005-11-26T12:55:00.000-06:00

7. ��MISS AMERICA!!!��
At one of our stops, a fairly scenic dam/garden area, I was swarmed by about 50 kids, all wanting my autograph! I signed notebooks, hands, whatever was available, and was praised for my beautiful handwriting (and if you��ve seen my handwriting, you know this is a joke!). Anyway, once I told them my name, they were shouting, Mandi Wallis, and Miss America!, even following me as I tried to sneak away��妁uite an adventure!

2005-11-26T12:53:00.000-06:00

6. ��Monkeys��宇hey are biting!��
And jumping and fighting and stealing! We don��t have monkeys in our city, so when we saw them on our weekend get away, we were initially excited��守ntil they got a little too close for comfort! This picture is of one trying to steal my water bottle. A few minutes later, after I��d gone over to the bench to scare him away, another monkey jumped on to the bench, right where I was standing and scared me half to death! They can definitely be cute creatures, but only from a safe distance!

2005-11-26T12:52:00.000-06:00

5. Choo Choo!
After our ��get away,�� we decided to take the train back home. We��d looked online and seen trains for between 200-300 rupees (about $5-$7), with AC and so on, and we were told by our travel agent that we could just book our tickets at the station. Well, when we walked up to buy the tickets and the teller only charged us 28 rupees (less than 75 cents), we knew something was up. We ended up on a local train, with packed bench seats, ��open-window AC��, and all sorts of stops along the way. It was definitely an adventure, and I��m glad we got to experience it, especially since it was only a 2 hour ride!

2005-11-26T12:50:00.000-06:00

4. Homemade Cajun food!
Normally when I cook, I rely on wonderful things like box mixes and so on, but here, that��s pretty much impossible to find. Since my supply of goodies from the states is running low, I��ve been browsing foodnetwork.com for ideas and have been able to cook up a couple fun things. My favorite is that I found the recipe for Tony Chachere��s seasoning and made a big batch of it, and it actually turned out really good! I also made homemade jambalaya for friends last weekend, which very tasty, and also leads into my next top ten��
3. BLAH!
Yes, that��s right, I finally got sick. I mean, really sick. Ugh. It was Sunday night and I still don��t feel so great, but MUCH better than earlier this week! The good thing was that it wasn��t from the food, since that was the night I��d cooked jambalaya! The bad thing is that I probably won��t be eating or cooking jambalaya again for quite a while��吋he other good thing was that I had spent the night at our friends�� house that night, and they were all very gracious and took good care of me until I recovered!

2005-11-26T12:45:00.000-06:00

2. Turkey (less) Day!
Our group of American friends here planned a big get together for Thanksgiving, and so we all pitched in to cook, which was quite fun. By the time Wednesday rolled around, I was feeling better, so I helped our friends make 2 pumpkin pies and broccoli, rice and cheese casserole��妃mm��宅ery good, and it only took 7 hours, with our tiny oven and power outages. Thursday was a great day, filled with good food and just hanging out with friends. We actually had pretty much everything you could imagine eating for Thanksgiving (pumpkin pie, pecan pie, homemade whip cream, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, homemade rolls, cranberry sauce, and so on) EXCEPT for the turkey! They��re actually really hard to find down here, but we had chicken instead and it was fine with me!

2005-11-25T07:35:00.000-06:00

1. Goin to the chapel and we��re gonna get married!
Well, it wasn��t exactly at a chapel, but today we went to our first wedding here and it was a blast! So much food and music and colors and people��it was wild, and it��s still going on right now! We arrived at a little after 10, when it was supposed to start, and the place was practically empty. Gradually people started showing up, and by the time we left (around 4 pm) there were people everywhere. We got to watch the bride doing puja (worship) and getting a new sari from her inlaws, and then watch the groom ride in on a white horse! We also ate a ton of food and even danced a little. It was tiring, but definitely fun (check out my photo albums for more pictures).

2005-11-10T12:09:00.000-06:00

STRETCH!!!
This post is dedicated to one of the places I visit most frequently here (though probably need to spend more time at!): Stretch Gym. Though you might not know it by looking at me J, I like to work out. For the past 3 翻 years, it��s been my little get away from the stresses of everyday life. I usually went to the gym 3 or 4 times a week back home, and I wondered how I��d be able to keep up my workout schedule overseas. Fortunately, Stretch is close to our flat, and actually in the same society (ie, apartment complex) that our language helper lives in.
Most days, after my language lesson, I head over to the gym for a quick work out. I do some weights, and definitely some cardio, and it��s really cool because the machines are very similar to the ones in the gym back home. Of course, some ask for your weight in kilos, which is a bit confusing. But it��s nice, because it��s like I can almost feel like I��m just back home. Well, almost. There are plenty of differences, and many of them are quite funny.
For one, gyms here definitely have the ��customer service�� thing going on better than in the States. Not to down play the people who worked at the gym back home��they��re wonderful��it��s just that here, the ratio is about 1 gym worker for every 2 people working out. Hello. Not that this is always good, since I have my western mindset of ��I can do this myself, thank you.�� But it definitely is funny to see nearly as many workers as people working out.
Another classic thing about the gym is the music. They have their very own ��in house DJ,�� which is a big deal here because it��s on all the advertisements. Anyway, they play the most random mix of music, from Hindi/Bollywood stuff to current American pop. My personal favorite so far is a random techno-esque remix of ��California Dreamin��.�� Enough said.
I noticed something funny tonight as I was leaving. There��s a huge banner outside the gym, advertising the new building that��s going to open soon (relatively speaking��this could mean a month from now or a year). Anyway, this sign has this blonde white girl on it, pumping iron and looking really into her workout. This is funny because as far as I know, there is only one other white person at the gym other than me. She also happens to be tall with blonde hair, so people often mistake us for each other or ask if we��re sisters. Anyway, so, why is there a white chick on the poster? No telling��
Anyway, the gym is always an adventure, and it��s been really good for meeting people and just getting out and having fun. I��m sure I��ll have more updates on random adventures there in the future��地lrighty, I��m out.

2005-10-31T10:21:00.000-06:00

All's well in my little corner of the world...
So, just to let you all know, I am fine after the recent bombings in Delhi. I'm actually pretty far from there, and our city is calm as far as that kind of stuff goes. However, the explosions of fireworks, or "crackers" as they're called here, are currently happening all around me. Tomorrow (11.1) is Diwali, a BIG Hindu festival of lights and everyone has been celebrating by hanging up lights on their homes and popping crackers non stop. I actually heard them going off at about 7 this morning as I tried to motivate myself to get out of bed. Maddness.
So anyway, I'm fine, thanks for your concern, those of you who watch the news and all.
[ps--Happy Halloween! Here's a pic of me at our recent fall festival...good times!]

2005-10-26T12:26:00.000-05:00

Whatcha got cookin'?
So tonight we had South Asian food and we made it ourselves! Well, sorta...we haven't found a good place around here to order from yet (good=tasty and cheap), so we've gotten this prepackaged stuff at the grocery store a couple times, just to see how it was. Tonight we had yellow dal and vegetable pulau (bean dish and veggie rice) and it was pretty good--definitely the best store bought stuff we've tried so far. (that's it in the silver packages--we boil them to heat them up since we don't have a microwave).
But what I was really in the mood for was the bread. I mean, that's the best part of eating food here--delicious hot buttery nan or roti...mmm...But you can't really buy that in the store, so I decided to try to make some roti. I'd seen our friend make it last week at her house, and it didn't look to hard. You're supposed to use wheat flour, water, oil and salt, but all we had was white flour, and I had no idea how much of each thing, so I just mixed it up and rolled it out as best as I could.
After you have the roti real flat, you cook it in a hot skillet for a few minutes. Then comes the fun part--you take it out of the skillet, turn up the fire and put the partially cook roti ON THE FLAME! When our friend first did it, I was in shock, but it gets the roti slightly brown and makes it bubble up. Very cool! So I tried it and it worked pretty well--I will definitely have to get tongs before I try it again though!
So overall our dinner was pretty tasty, and I was pretty proud of myself for making roti, actually for the 2nd time (see my earlier post about the Sikh temple where I got to help roll out the roti).

2005-10-23T14:01:00.000-05:00

Cause life is better off a mystery...

Today has been one of those days...you know, where you're sentimental and longing a bit for familiar, comfortable things. I'm learning it's one thing to be overseas, and it's quite another to realize that you LIVE here...but this is the little gold nugget I found/heard today that warmed my heart and reminded me I'm right where I'm supposed to be. And having a good dinner (jambalaya, okra and tomatoes, apple cobbler, vanilla ice cream and even coffee!) with my surrogate family helped too :)

Faith My Eyes
by Caedmon's Call

As I survey the ground for ants
Looking for a place to sit and read
I'm reminded of the streets of my hometown
How they're much like this concrete that's warm beneath my feet

And how I'm all wrapped up in my mother's face
With a touch of my father just up around the eyes
And the sound of my brother's laugh
But more wrapped up in what binds our ever distant lives

But if I must go
Things I trust will be better off without me
But I don't want to know
Cause life is better off a mystery

So keep'em coming these lines on the road
And keep me responsible be it a light or heavy load
And keep me guessing with these blessings in disguise
And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes

Hometown weather is on TV
I imagine the lives of the people living there
And I'm curious if they imagine me
Cause they just wanna leave; I wish that I could stay

But I get turned around
I mistake my happiness for blessing
But I'm blessed is the point
Still I judge success by how I'm dressing

So I'll sing a song of my hometown
I'll breathe the air and walk the streets
Maybe find a place to sit and read
And the ants are welcome company

And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes.
And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes.

Wow...just looking at the words, I'm floored. I've always loved this song, but never before have it's words been so real to my life. Hmm...

City from a hill

2005-10-16T09:32:00.000-05:00

What a nice weekend! Friday night we just chilled out and had a friend spend the night. We ate out at Subway, which is SO good. I never thought I��d appreciate American fast food so much��
Yesterday was a down day, which was nice. It rained for a little while, and I found myself feeling very restless, so I decided to head off on an adventure. We��ve explored a good bit of town, but one of the best things about this place is that you can think you know an area pretty well, and then one day you suddenly discover a random street that leads you to a whole new area you never knew existed! That��s what happened yesterday. I went down to MG road, a pretty touristy place, but I decided to wander off the main path and ended up finding some pretty cool little spots.
I first stopped in a tiny fabric store, and after chatting with the owner a bit, I bought 2 pieces of fabric, which I can have made into shirts (��kurtas��). She sealed the deal when she told me it was ��Lizzy Busy,�� and that I wouldn��t need to iron it��that��s all I needed to hear! As I left the shop and walked a little further down, I found a small temple. This is not uncommon, since there��s either a temple, mosque or some other place of worship at every turn. But as I stopped to look inside, a man sitting by the door invited me to come in. Feeling adventurous, I took off my shoes and stepped inside. The man at the door was very friendly and told me I could look around and take pictures. The temple seemed to be mainly for Hanuman (monkey god), but also had statues/altars for Shiva, Krishna, Ganesh, Durgmata, and a few other gods. One of the men inside offered me a coconut half to offer to the gods, which I politely declined. Definitely an interesting experience.
As I continued my wandering, I found myself in a fabulous market. Up until yesterday, I hadn��t really seen many good outdoor markets that sold anything other than fruit and vegetables, but this one had it all, which was great. I ended up buying some fun glass bangles for 90 rupees(a little over $2) and 1 kilo of tomatoes and some onions for 20 rupees (about 50 cents). I also got some bananas to give away to people begging on the streets. I have a hard time with that��I want to help people, especially since so many of them are handicapped and obviously limited as to what they can do. It��s a challenge because there are so many needy people, and while many have genuine needs, there are also plenty of people who are pros at begging and target foreigners. So I decided to give food instead of money, and I was so happy to see that the people I stopped and handed a banana to really seemed to appreciate this small gift.
Later on, I found a tiny little shop that barely even looked like it actually was a shop, with three little old ladies inside. Since they didn��t look like they had much business, I decided to visit with them for a bit. This was tough, because they were mainly just gesturing in either Hindi or Marati, and trying to get me to buy something. They were very excited about one item, but I had no idea what it was for, and they couldn��t explain it to me! Finally I recognized the word ��atta,�� which means flour, and realized the strange item was a sifter. I finally ended up buying a brass ��Ful dan�� (flower pot) for about $3. Not an incredibly exciting purchase, but the process of getting it was definitely worth it!
After stopping by a sweet shop for a snack, I headed home. Quite a nice adventure overall. Today, however, takes the cake. After lunch at The Sizzler (they serve beef, though it��s probably water buffalo and not cow��still good stuff!), we went with some friends to the mountains. They surround our city, and we��ve been eyeing them for a while, so today we finally headed up there and explored. What a great time! We could see the entire city, which was quite a site. On top of that, the recent rain brought out a beautiful rainbow. There were also several cows roaming around the mountainside, and a guy watching them (a cow-herd, I guess��). I said hi and took his picture and he gave me the biggest smile, which was great. We could also see quite a few temples scattered through out the hillside. They were all very tiny, but looked well cared for, which was interesting because none of them looked easy to get to.
Right as we headed home, it started raining again��perfect timing! Overall, it was a fun and very refreshing weekend, showing that my best friend knows exactly what I need, and when I need it :)

2005-10-14T03:34:00.000-05:00

"the rough ground shall become level..."
Today I��m feeling rather wistful and thoughtful, and wishing I had words/freedom to say more of what I��d like to say. I��ve been reading over a friend��s blog recently (let me tell you, beware of getting started on these things, as they are quite addictive), and hearing her pour out her heart and share such great stories has stirred up a lot of emotions in me. I don��t think I��m really feeling homesick or hit with culture shock, but when I stop to think about my life, especially this past year, and even more these past 4 months, I��m hit by a wall of emotions.
Living overseas is both just as I expected and also somehow nothing like what I expected. I think part of me thought I��d be basically drowning in the homesickness and newness/differentness of it all, but I��m not. I have my up and down days, but overall I��m having fun. There are so many amazing sights here, so many unique people and animals, and at the same time, so many things that remind me of home.
Cows everywhere remind me of my aunt and uncle��s house, and stories my mom has told me about growing up on a farm. Feeling the breeze as I ride in a rickshaw reminds me of riding in my friend��s convertible with the top down on a nice afternoon (though much more bumpy and no loud singing!). My language teacher, so petite and sweet, with all her little mannerisms and fun ways of pronouncing things, makes me think of my grandmothers.
The loud festivals, with colorful costumes, floats, music, and jubilant celebration scream of Mardi Gras time in south Louisiana, in more ways than I can even begin to describe. Drum beats and people marching in celebration make me think of fall and marching bands, high school and football season. Spending lazy Sunday afternoons hanging out at our friends�� house, just drinking coffee and talking, reminds me of Sunday afternoons at home with the family.
Every time I wash clothes, I think about the goofy little drying rack I had in college, which I never used; now I have a metal one just like it and it��s my best friend (oh, for a dryer to fluff my clothes instead of ironing them!). Our milk here comes in little plastic bags that you have to pour into a pitcher, and reminds me of 7th grade, when our Jr. High tried to replace milk cartons with milk bags��安hat a mess!
I��m thankful every time I walk into my own bathroom, able to take as long as I want to get ready and not have to wait for the shower J The gym has the same machines as my gym in Lafayette, although some ask you how many kilos you weigh instead of pounds. Hindi words sound like Spanish or French on occasion, throwing me into a momentary confusion. Rainy days and flooded streets make me think about watching poor UL students practically swim across campus when the weather was bad.
It may sound strange, but there are so many little things here that just seem so normal that sometimes I completely forget I��m not living in America anymore. However, it rarely takes long for me to remember where I am, and when I really consider it all (like I��m doing today), I��m truly amazed at the turns my life has taken lately. What a surprise! What an adventure! What a strange, strange journey. What a wonder that something that, from a distance, seemed so impossible has actually been made so much smoother and enjoyable than I ever could have imagined.

Fasionably late...or not...

2005-10-12T03:20:00.000-05:00

Fasionably late��她r not��
So our house helper is originally from Kolkata and celebrates Durga Puja, one of the several goddess festivals going on now. Anyway, she took yesterday off and told us that we should stop by the festivities. This is all new to me, of course, and it seems especially confusing right now because there are several festivals going on all at once, celebrating different and yet somewhat similar things��匈 think. Someone said they��re basically the same with different names from different regions. Others have said they��re different, with different gods and traditions depending on the state you��re in. This is a typical answer here to pretty much any question��everyone has a different perspective/opinion/etc. So anyway, there��s Durga Puja, Navaratri, Dushera, and others, and it��s all happening all around us now. Oh, and the Dandiya��festive dancing with sticks, which is what we really wanted to see.
Well we went down to the Durga Puja festivities on Monday night, but we were too early and it looked like things might not start for a while, so we decided to come back the next day, but this time later. Well, when we arrived Tuesday (after eating at a snazzy Pizza Hut downtown), it seemed like people were leaving and there was a lady singing, but no dancing. I asked one of the people near us and he said the dancing was actually Gujarati (a nearby state) and the festival was for Bengalis! Oh, and the dancing was only yesterday. Ha! Gotta love the randomness of life here!
Mooooove it!
I think I��ve mentioned before how much I love the wild variety of animals here. They are definitely one of my favorite things to take pictures of, because they��re so random and unpredictable and EVERYWHERE. Cows literally rule the roads (and everywhere else) here, and they will just lay in the middle of the street and look at the cars passing like, go ahead and just TRY to make me move!
I��ve had many cow experiences in the 2 months I��ve been here, but I think yesterday takes the cake. We went to this crazy little market, fully of people selling fruits and vegetables in tents. As we��re examining some potatoes, I look up and see 3 cows stroll by and each one steals a potato off the cart! The people kind of shoo them away, but they basically are doing whatever they want. So I spent the rest of our time at the market trying to get a good pic of the cows stealing food, and I got a couple decent ones.
Right as we were about to leave, I was distracted by something, and then noticed there was commotion around me. When I looked up, I see this HUGE cow stomping right through the market, horns down, pushing its way through the people. I jumped to the side and missed getting knocked down by this big bovine (and I thought, heiffa what?!!?). It all happened very fast, and after it was over, I realized one lady actually had been knocked over��fortunately she wasn��t hurt. The cow just strolled right on out and on its way. Love it!
On a more serious note��
So goes life here in South Asia. This is all fun and lighter stuff. Fortunately, we are far enough south to have avoided any damage from the earthquake, but reading about the disaster in the paper is quite overwhelming. I still can��t believe that my home here has been hit on 3 sides by disasters (tsunami in the east, floods in the west, and now the earthquake in the north), and that my home in the states has also been hit by 2 huge hurricanes. The thing that amazes me, and I know is just HIS grace is that in all this mess, my homes have missed directed hits. Natural disasters have struck all around us here, and Lafayette missed Katrina to the east and Rita to the west��it��s just insane, and hopefully the end of all this madness.

2005-10-07T04:13:00.000-05:00

One Day at a Time...
Today I splurged a bit and enjoyed a really good treat with my lunch: Dr. Pepper! Bottled in Texas and imported over here. It was a nice (though expensive) taste from home, and a good reward for a week worth of language learning. We finally found someone to help us learn Hindi and started our lessons on Monday. I didn't know what to expect at first, but it's turned out to be really great. My roommate goes in the morning, and I go about 4 pm everyday, and then afterwards I head over to the gym. I met our teacher (Ms Maanju) through my friend from the gym (it's her mom), so it's all worked out very nicely. I've been learning all sorts of important things this week, like Main ne kal baal dhoye (yesterday I washed my hair) and Hurray purde buncaro (close the green curtains). My favorite is peeli beeli, which means yellow cat. It's just fun to say :)
It's nice to finally feel settled and like we're busy doing something. Learning Hindi is an adventure, but it's good because it's keeping us busy and it's the first step in helping us to connect with the University students we're going to be working with here. This past week has been really good because I've finally started to feel like I'm really living here, not just hanging out or visiting, which is good because I've been here almost 2 months(!). It is an adjustment though--ordinary things like shopping and cooking and washing just take longer here. For example: I have to remember to turn on the hot water heater (that's for you dad :) ) about 10 minutes before I want to take a shower; before we can eat vegetables, we have to soak them in bleach water or potassium permanginade (which main ingredient is "poison") for 20 minutes so we don't get sick; every time we wash, everything has to be hung up to dry and then ironed because we don't have a dryer (though thankfully, we do now have a washer!). None of this is bad--it's actually been really good to learn to slow down, but also a challenge because I'm such a multi-tasker!
This past weekend was fun: we went to a traditional Indian dance performance Saturday night, which was very interesting, and Sunday night we went to a concert. We also went to see another movie this week, which according to our teacher is very good for language practice :) There wasn't much English at all, so we struggled to follow the plot, but I did notice that I recognized more of the words, which was encouraging. Today we're going shopping for fun, and hopefully by the travel agent's office to book our tickets for our January conference in Thailand. And then hopefully a relaxing weekend :) Hope yours is as well--I'm out!

2005-09-25T09:21:00.000-05:00

Hold on to your flip flops!!!
So today was an incredible day. I mean, words cannot describe today. Wow. We did our regular Sunday morning things with our friends, which was fun because we love getting to spend time with them. Then we all went out to a really good lunch, and headed for coffee at Cafe Coffee Day after than. We were enjoying our coffee in this random little Coffee Day, which was in the upstairs part of a gas station (way less sketchy than you'd think!) and what comes walking down the street? AN ELEPHANT! My roommate starting yelping and pointing and I was like, what??? and then I saw it. I was like a kid at Christmas! We paid for our coffee very quickly and ran down stairs and climbed abord this massive creature. I think the funniest thing was that we weren't in some rural location--we were riding down the middle of a fairly busy street! After riding for a few minutes, the guys stopped the elephant and were like, 200 rupees (about $5). I said, no, 100, which made him laugh. So I said, I'll pay you the 200 only if you take us back down the street, which seemed a pretty fair deal. So anyway, we had quite a fabulous adventure. Check out my yahoo pictures for more shots of our trip :)

2005-09-23T16:30:00.000-05:00

Mira nam???
During my first week or so here, someone told me I had a South Asian name. And there's actually a city in the north named Mandi, so I was really feeling pretty special. But no one ever told me what my name meant until the other day, when I was informed that it means something like vegetable or fruit market. Today this was confirmed when my roommate pointed out the sign about the fruits and veggies at our grocery store. Fabulous.
So as of yesterday I've been in South Asia for 6 weeks, and as of Saturday I've been in my new city 3 weeks. I still can't really believe it--somedays it seems like time is flying by, and others just seem to drag on. Several people have said that it just takes longer to live life here and they're right. While this is a fairly modern/western city (compared to the rest of the country), life definitely moves at a slower place than in the US. Part of that is because we're still trying to get settled and find our way around--I imagine that once we start meeting more people things will pick up.
We're still very much in the beginning stages of our work, trying to meet students and learn the language and just seeing what opportunities are going to be available. I feel very blessed because our supervisors ROCK and it looks like we're going to make a really great team. I've also made a few friends from going to the gym near our house, which has been a lot of fun. This weekend we're going shopping with our neighbors, who are very fun and friendly.
That's about all for now. Check out the link to my photos on the right for more pictures of our city. Hope you're all doing well, esp. you all back home in LA--stay safe!

2005-09-12T09:24:00.000-05:00

So we made it to our city! Our apartment is great and so are the people we're working with. We've been busy getting settled this past week, which has been an adventure, but also really WAY smoother than I could ever have imagined. Anyway, hopefully we'll get internet at our house and I'll be able to update more then, but I just wanted to let you know we made it and say thanks for thinking about us!
(This is a view from the roof of our apartment building).

2005-09-01T20:36:00.000-05:00

Me and a friend wearing wearing our matching salwar kameez (we picked out the same material at the fabric shop).

2005-08-28T13:39:00.000-05:00

Kal Ho Naa Ho...
Tonight I watched my firth Bollywood movie, Kal Ho Naa Ho (which means something like tomorrow may or may not be--how perfect for here!). Anyway, it was definitely interesting, and I'll admit, I cried at the end...I'm not so tough when it comes to sappy movies! Check it out if you can (I don't know how available it is in the US).
Our weekend was very good. I got to chat with a good friend from home Friday night, then sleep late on Saturday and cook lunch with the crew here--fun stuff. Saturday night we went out shopping (5 pairs of earrings for less than $1.25--I love shopping here!) and out to eat the The Big Chill, which was pretty good. This morning we went to a national service--quite an experince, covering our heads, attempting to sing in Hindi, listening to people share their stories and sitting up close and personal on the floor for about 3 hours. The amazing thing was that time totally flew by--it really was an awesome experience. After, we headed to lunch and came home and just enjoyed a day of rest (and Kal Ho Naa Ho). Good times.
This week we have language camp, which will be fun because some other friends will be in town with us. Then Saturday we hop on the plane and head down south!!! I'm going to miss the friends I've made here, but I'm excited about getting unpacked and settled in.
Alright, time for bed. I'm out!
[This pic is from last Sunday when I hung out with my friend Nicole and some of her friends from here--so random and wonderful that we got to meet up all the way across the world!]

2005-08-28T13:37:00.000-05:00

Salwar Kameez: this is me in one the outfits I had made by the tailor. Well, the tailor made the shirt and I borrowed a shawl to wear as a dupta (scarf) until I get one I like. The pants are actually scrub pants, which are WAY better than the traditional ones (dubbed "hammer pants" for their flaring style..). Anyway, these outfits are fun, although not so flattering on the hips...

2005-08-28T13:15:00.000-05:00

For Sale: this statue/idol was on display at the market we went to last night (that paper hanging under it is a for sale sign...)