becky is confused about bells

ever since the move to vasant vihar this summer my doorbell rings off the hook. it's particularly strange because for some reason i hear at least 3 different bells, and i have yet to figure out which is which. most times i walk out to my balcony, look over the side and yell 'hello' and there is no one there, so who the heck is ringing the bell?
other times, i look over and someone screams something up in hindi to me...."panee madam" it's funny, because i didn't order any of those big water jugs he has attached to his bike. oh india.

changing gears completely....i thought it worthy to mention my new found love for facebook. or shall i call it an obsession? yesterday i read about a friend's disdain of the social networking demon and could really identify with her argument that people of our generation are losing the beautiful art of conversation, and perhaps we should spend a little more time talking to each other, rather than reading about each other's lives online (or learning how to write sentences that don't last for 4 lines and 15 commas). true that kim. i hear ya. somehow, however, i am addicted. maybe it's my true voyeur coming out, or my grand feeling of isolation from everything america? whatever it is, i can't seem to get out now...and watching the numbers of my friends grow is strangely gratifying. like somehow now that i am friends with 90 people i never talked to in high school my life is better? hmm. strangely though, today a girl that i went to school with in traiguen, chile in 1996 found me on facebook...now that is impressive.

ah, the doorbell rings again....

i hate india days

they kind of catch you unexpectedly. you wake up feeling great, happy to have arrived at the weekend, and then, BOOM you hit the streets. yesterday i ventured out to a pilates class which is essentially in another city. it too FOREVER> not because it's far, but because of saturday mid morning traffic...logically, right? so it took about 35 minutes to travel about 10 km. and of course my auto took the heavily laden with street children route where i was confronted with at least 10 street kids. the trip home wasn't much better, i had an auto driver who decided to 'cut through' this shopping area/ parking lot/ street food eateries/ public toliets (remember, it is india) to try and beat the traffic. it took everything i had not to scream outloud and take my chances walking.
i boycotted india for the rest of the day until we went out to dinner......long story short i shoudn't wear heals in india, i skinned my knee. lovely.
lets see how india treats me today.

only in india...

rats, mmmm
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Rat_snacks_to_solve_food_crisis/articleshow/3362835.cms

no shirt, no shoes NO PROBLEM!/"welcome back, madam"

i'm home. that sounds weird. it is weird, who am i kidding? so. i'm back. and now, with a longer commute, i see more each day to write about. i've moved to vasant vihar. land of all the embassies that didn't fit in chanakyapuri, many expats, mcdonalds and a movie theatre. this place is as close to convenient as delhi gets. inconvenient only in the regards that it's about 7km to school, which is still relatively very close, barring traffic. i'm driving sometimes, but find that sitting and zoning in the back of a taxi or an auto is really a pleasure. today i took an auto. it's been unseasonably cool because of the marvelous rain and storms that pass through almost daily. at least during the monsoon you don't smell as much poo. so, back to ride home....i saw a few things that made me chuckle. the first was the cows that were completely blocking the other side of the road. just lounging about, probably laughing their butts off about the traffic mayhem they were causing. and the other was people waiting for buses. there was the "work" bus stop, with work dressed people waiting at it, there was the school bus stop with all the kids in their white uniforms and then there was one lone man at another bus stop with no shoes. this got me thinking about the policy for bus riders. i cannot believe there is a dress code, at least not for the bus that you have to run after, open the metal container and slip yourself into the sardine can for. i can only imagine the sign says no shirt, no shoes NO PROBLEM!
ah yes, i am back in delhi.
probably the best part of being back is being recognized by staff at school and acsa and even the taxi drivers "welcome back, madam" like i am famous or something!

i included a few pics from my bomb diggity trip to england for you. it was a fabulous 7 days with eamon, meeting his mom and sis, and seeing the countryside. eamon had the whole thing planned out like a proper tour guide. what a guy. we saw wicked in the west end, did the jump on jump off (or sleep if you're jetlagged) bus tour, toured the river, rode in the london eye, toured london tower(which doesn't "tower" over anything) and drank many pints. then we headed to cheshire to his mom's house in nantwich and had a fab. bday dinner for eamon, and finally we went to devon. MY FAVORITE. spent a few days on woolacombe beaches before heading to stonehenge on the way to the airport.

this post has been dedicated to april reynolds, for without her i would feel no pressure at all to post new things on this page. thanks for reading apes, who else is still committed?
xoxo
moi

ps. i am a working woman again. school started today. are you impressed, i still wrote!