serendipity

last night I was reminded of the fabulous-ness of delhi

last night i took laura out for her birthday dinner. the night started with some sweet tea vodka and transitioned smoothly into sangria and steaks for dinner. we decided to try out the lounge on the ground floor of the restaurant. we huddled up to the bar, and ordered some beers. naturally, people are drawn to two cute girls like ourselves....add that to being some of the only foreigners! we talked to one interesting gentleman who seemed to be shocked when i compared his experience of 'meat and potatos' in texas and my 'rice and dal' in india. he hung around 10 minutes too long or so, and then eventually went his own way. by this point, midnight or so, the lounge was PACKED, and the thought of using the bathroom seemed overwhelming, but we each ventured out. while laura was pushing through the crowds, i befriended the guy next to me and tried to use my mad skills to get him the beer he was waiting for. epic fail. nonetheless he stood there for a while, and we were making pleasantries. laura came back, and we all started chatting and exchanging names....only to find out that laura actually knows this guy from the eat pray love shoot and he has her number in his phone.....and in a city of 14 million!!!! turns out we had just met 2 dudes who know more about the club/party scene than anyone i've ever met. nonetheless, their evening out was not going to end at smokehouse, their night was just beginning! so, we headed out on an adventure to another bar @ 1:30am....and ended up heading to capital, a club closer to school. the night just gets better from here....we go into the club and hit up the buffet. there were not chicken fingers and french fries, much to my dismay, but of course there was some dal makhani that i slopped up. heck, it was already 5 hours since dinner by that point! laura refused, assuredly convinced that we would regret that decision tomorrow. not me, free food? im all over it. we danced the night away for about 3 more hours and headed home @ 4:30am. Seriously, i haven't been up that late if not for a flight in FOR-EVER! it was totally one of those super awesome nights that you could have never planned. and now we're sure to know where all the great parties are!

the fun continued today (after the initial ibuprofen was consumed). thinh and i went out to lunch and, randomly, and again in a city of 14 million, we run into tricia and maureen. we spent the lunch hour laughing hysterically.

all in all, a fabulous weekend in delhi:)
xoxo
b

life in the month of october

oh blog. you totally overwhelm me. i think about you all the time, and how funny this or that would be to post, but somehow it never seems quite so easy.
this month was one of the most overwhelmingly satisfying and tiring months ever! since i came back to india thinking it was my last year, i quickly filled up each three day weekend with a trip. here is that experience, in a nutshell...
trip 1: dharamshala, home of HHK the Dalai Lama, travel companions Thinh and Laura.
there are so many funny parts of this trip. starting with the fact that both laura and i had packed our bags and brought them with us on friday. i had a middle school dance to run, she had a concert to attend, then we rendezvoused and headed to the train station. funny part #2. laura booked a little later than us, so she had a 2nd class bunk while thinh and i had first class. all our worrying was without when we discovered that the conductor didn't even care that the cute blond was on our bunk without a ticket. so laura and i had our first shared bunk experience after a very healthy dinner provided by thinh of doritos, pigs in a blanket and nuts.
our trip in dharamshala was incredible. we laughed a lot, we caught up with each other, we reminisced about the 'early india days,' and just enjoyed each other's company. laura and thinh also made me climb a mountain, thanks guys.
the 'flawless' trip ended quickly at the airport when we found out our flight was cancelled and we had to take the train back. the 3 hours of waiting at the train station were EQUALLY as fun as the entire trip....ahhhh. love it!

trip 2: dubai to visit maureen's friends
meeting maureen's life in dubai was fabulous. it was so nice to put faces to names, and spa experiences to spa experiences:) we spent a VERY indulgent 3 days with her friend erika and her two children. we ate well, drank well, shopped well, and laughed well. a mighty fine trip indeed! this trip ended with a lovely experience at indira gandhi international when i was pulled aside for swine flu screening. a week of quarantine flashed in front of my eyes as they busted out the MERCURY thermometer. really india? stick that in my armpit. thank goodness i was not febrile.

trip 3: goa. oh goa. you rained on us the entire time. dang you. better luck next year.

retrospectively i wouldn't plan three in a row again. it was too crazy. but really? when else in my life will i have three weekends in a row to travel in and around india?!?!?! maybe next year. yup, that's right. i'm staying for year 4. i fear that leaving next year will be so sad. my friends here are just phenomenal, and they're really more like family. i'd be crazy to leave now......

well, it's time for dinner here @ parent/teacher conference world. so i'll go for now. i feel like there is so much more i could write.

MUCH LOVE to all of you who are still logging on!!!!!!!!! besos y abrazos.

the month in review (ish)

the last month of delhi has truly been a blast. year three is so comfortable both with friends and with school. the things that used to seem like such a struggle are still a little troublesome....but they don't ruin days like they used to. the bizarreness of this place also continues to amaze me as well....today we saw water buffalo running along the "highway."

it's the little things that make delhi special. it's waking up with a broken cell phone and getting it fixed for $5 when you planned on having to replace it. it's the delivery of ice for a party, in addition to the delivery of delicious food and beverage.

what i've realized about things this year is that i've got something really good going on. last night about 50 people came over to celebrate my friend doug and my birthdays. i cannot explain the pure joy of being sang to by my family and friends here....and in beautiful harmony! it was one of the BEST parties i've ever thrown, totally one of those nights that you never want to end.

despite having rained all week, i'm feeling lots of sunshine in my life now!

Monsoons. What a mess.

Monsoons. What a mess.
Last year at this time it was raining almost daily, making footwear quite the challenge, as all the walkways are a very slippery smooth walk. However, for some reason, this year we’ve gotten the humidity but not the rains. Until yesterday, when it rained, but was soaked up so quickly that 2 hours later everything was dry again. Today, on the other hand, it rained heavy for a few hours this afternoon, two separate storms (so far). This disruption of norms has quite the rippling effect. The rains flooded our art room at school, made the pool quite dirty, and flooded the hang out area. Then there was the city itself. Streets flooded and downed traffic lights made the trip home quite the adventure. By that I mean a nightmare. The traffic was crazier than usual…. and I’ve never seen so many policemen failing to actually keep order, it was the mass quantity part that surprised me, not the later part. At one point I thought I might get out of the car and just walk. The roads are now torn up in new places; potholes have turned into swimming pools. But the air is cleaner, for now at least! Once safely back at the home front I found my kitchen rug mysteriously soaked, reeking of sewage water. I’m bound to experience quite a few more power cuts this evening….so, that’s it for now.
xoxo

other things delhi

my car just got towed. what was a very fun shopping experience turned a little not fun but yet a little fun when i realized my car had been towed. of course, we walked around thinking maybe it might have been somewhere else, but after talking to traffic police decided that we had to go to the tow lot. of course the tow lot isn't a "lot". it's actually on the side of the road, and the police officer sits on a random public bench and collects the 6 dollar (300 rupee fee), 200 for the towing and 100 for the bad parking spot. it's funny though. there were at least 6 other cars parked where mine had previously been. i'm chalking it up to having exited the car with 4 foreign females.

dreamstate

perhaps i've been walking around half awake, perhaps it's the heat, maybe the probiotics?. who knows. i just walked through the market and had some weird sort of out of body experience, do i really live here?
does the fact that i make more mean i have to pay more for services which have fixed prices?
need i really pay the auto driver more for waiting even though the price he quoted was double what it should be?
does the girl at the light think she's going to get me to give money by wiping the nose of the baby and then touching me?
i guess year 3 doesn't make me a pro at this whole india thing. just saying.

don't forget to read the other new post.
peace.

i'm back.

I’m back. Arrived last night to what is making up to be “world-class airport.” Was a little surprised with the health check before immigration….really? Like you would fly for 15 hours and then tell them you were sick? Navigated through duty free (again) and the luggage reclaim just fine. I didn’t feel so bad about my overage fee after many of my colleagues showed up with many more than two bags.
Side note, electricity just cut for the 3rd time in 10 minutes, and my pot of coffee isn’t even done yet, ARG!
Came home to a house that was WELL taken car of. With the exception of a few plants that need to be stripped and given rebirth, the house is pretty unscathed. It was apparently so hot that the basketball size candle on my coffee table is not a deflated version of a Frisbee. My plants are thriving outside and must be enjoying the rains. After checking out the place, I went down to try and start my new, to me, car. I purchased a green Maruti 800 (with AC!!!) from a friend that left. It does, however, come with a little trick. Apparently, after it’s sat for a while in the heat, the gas evaps out of the carborator. If you are a car person you might just want to stop reading. So I have to take my handy dandy leatherman and open the air filter cap, remove a gas line, take a little bit with a plunger and put it in some hole. Believe it or not, I actually got all these instructions, again, from my friend Dharma who is in Peru, on facebook chat. Dad, I thought you’d get a kick out of that. The car jazz was not successful. I am going to try it again now.
So night one went quite well, went to bed at 12:30am, and woke up @ 6:15. Clearly this isn’t my preferred 8 hours, but I’ll take it on night one!
So, with my Alterra Blizak and Tizan on the pot in the living room (kitchen is sans power) I’m back on the couch, watching another rerun of Numbers, listening to the dogs barking, waiting for the power to come back on so I can post this!
MUCH LOVE!