out of office reply

sorry, i won't be around for a while. i'm on holiday! i'll be in udaipur, rajhastan for four days, and of course, celebrating gandhi's birthday.

tea hut

just got back from seeing the bourne ultimatum. fantastic movie, but hardly the topic of this blog entry.

thinh and i went a little early and bought tickets. tickets divide the classes as do many things in delhi. we sat in the 'premiere' section, which is the upper deck of the theatre. upon walking in i saw a mouse/rat scurry up the stairwell and proceeded to keep my feet above ground all movie. i wonder what the standard section looks like. but wait, there was more. when we walked into the theatre the dude pointed at our bags and told us that was not allowed. i think "what, are we supposed to go home? what a screw!" but no, he points to the tea hut. i look over, in disillusion, and ask the guy to repeat himself, as thinh tries to convince him that these are our purses. but yes, he did say tea hut, which is basically a mini smoke shack that sells candy and smokes, and keeps your bags during the movie. yeah right. you are probably thinking this is crazy. indeed, i was too! so as we approached the 'hut' we saw people retrieving their bags with coat check esque tags. seemed to be pretty legit. so low and behold we did it. handed him our bags, took out the valuables and he wrote some # on our bags in chalk and confirmed we didn't have any cash or cameras. i think "yeah guy, i am a total idiot...my bag is being put in some sketchy old refrigerator looking thing and i left all my valuables in it." all for a bargain deal...$.50. safe.

so after the movie i was half expecting that tea hut to have disappeared, flashbacks to my trip in morocco at the "restaurant" that had prepared our food before we even ordered....but it was. anti-climatic end to my story...but that's the skinny on movies in delhi.

when did vowels go out of style?

ok, so i joined facebook. it's all the rage here. i have received countless friend requests from people i don't know. some are even as poetic as this one. name and email has been deleted for privacy.

Hi........ this is *(*&^ from mumbai (india) ..1 st of all gd evening to u......am working in mumbai in mnc and am well settled single guy ...am 178 cns/35 yrs/ athletic built and cool guy....am interested in frndship with elite and good girls women of all ages who dare to have real frndship... n so am interested in frndship with u...and i assure u that u wl not regret being my frnd ..and u wl get the most of everything from our frndship and no doubt u wl be the most happy to be my frnd........so­­ if u r interested feel free to call me or mail me on &*(*() @gmail­­­.com

i don't know about you, but i am always certain to give my height and age when asking someone to be their friend.

are you sensing my sarcasm???

top ten (or so) things i don't get about india

1. my toliet sometimes doesn't have enough water to flush (especially brilliant after a #2)
2. my cell phone bill is cheaper here than at home, yet i call internationally all the time
3. tuk-tuks will sometimes refuse to take me places
4. i've been drinking out of the wrong water faucet-doh. no wonder i had so many tummy aches when i first got here
5. black dal? yellow dal? what's the dif?
6. the cheese looking thing on the salad bar that i eat up and always feel sick after eating
7. cow pies and why they are perfectly round
8. everyone carries their left overs and milk products in steel jars
9. the government. and how they allow the extreme poverty to pervade the society
10.some cows have a hump that looks like a camel hump
11. if cows are so sacred why are they eating out of the dump at every corner
12. how tuk-tuk rides will be in the winter
13. where my clothes are washed when my dhobi comes
14. my maid, when she talks to me

?????
of course, these are just today's thoughts. i thought that if i wrote them down i might, just might sleep tonight. amazing how a full head keeps you awake all night.

xoxo

power

you think you want more. you get it and want much less. as a white person here working at the school i have more resources than ever before. yet it comes with much responsibility of which i wasn't quite sure i was ready for. still not sure. yesterday there were 10 people here working on my house. i strangely feel much more adult-like here than i ever have before.

i threw a killer party last night. tons of great people came to help me ring in the new year of 27. i have no evidence of the occurance. somehow my camara decided to only document one picture of the 30 or so i took. whahappened??of course, the most elegant picture remained on my camera. this is quite late in the evening. obviously

yikes. am i really 27? we deduced that quite a few people that were here last night could be my parents...they really got a kick out of that. maybe it was india, or maybe it is something much deeper, but it really didn't feel like a birthday today. it was a great day though. my fabulous friends thinh, kendra and gene and i went to a lovely champagne brunch at claridges hotel....fueling last nights reminents and leaving me partially zombied all day. went for a little swim at the embassy and had mexican for dinner. now i am trying to stay awake to answer all the calls.

i miss home today. a lot. there is something strange about having to wait until 6pm to talk to your family. like it's not really happening until they wake up too.

this quote seems to explain so much of my day to day here...

"No one lives on top of the mountain. It's fine to go there, occasionally--for inspiration, for new perspectives. But you have to come down. Life is lived in the valleys. That's where the farms and gardens and orchards are, and where the plowing and the work is done. That's where you apply the visions you may have glimpsed from the peaks." Arthur Gordon

i suppose tomorrow i shall return to the valley....sweet dreams
xoxo

all in due time

today things started falling into place. amidst all the craziness of my day to day, i have tentatively hired a new staff member. in 1 hour she cleaned my kitchen, tidied up the place, bought and cut up fresh fruit, and didn't move a single thing around. amazing. i will actually meet her tomorrow, but for now anju, upstairs, is handling her. many people prob. wonder why help is needed. while that answer is ridiculously complicated, the skinny of it is, that between work, meetings and extra curriculars, i would never actually see india if i had to come home and clean and cook. does that sound familiar?

i got my new bed today. the icky bed buggy one is gone, and i now have a bed that my egg crate and sheets fit on. i am on cloud nine (literally). also, my birthday preps are going wonderfully well. i figured out how to order alcohol. albeit quite expensive, good friends like bacardi and tanqueray will be delivered tomorrow night. i also met with the head chef at school and we set up a little menu of finger food. what party would be complete without pigs in a blanket and paneer tikka? the one catch, and motivation i suppose, is that i need to pick it up on saturday. which of course could be done in taxi, but i am going to DRIVE! yes, my friend jen (wisconsinite) has agreed to coach me through it. shifting with the left hand, driving on the right, and the opposite side of the road. yikes!! i will need to be fully rested i suppose.


so yes, i will rest tonight more than i have in a while.
xoxo
b

bumming around

first official weekend that i truly did some bumming around. it was great to not have to spend the entire day shopping....
this pic is from a while ago....better late than never, that's thinh if you need to put a face to the name.
happy sunday/monday!!