30.12.07

mimi at the market

Here is a video husband made of my mom's first trip to the bargaining market. Yes first. She couldn't resist, and had to go back another time before leaving. Make sure you notice the scandalous skirt tying, the secret mission bargaining discussions between my mom and me, and all the people, items, and fun colors!


27.12.07

guest blogger - Mimi!


I arrived to visit daughter, son-in-law, and mostly beautiful new grandbaby 2 weeks ago. I have to admit that I was somewhat nervous about this trip. Not that I'm afraid to visit places that are on other continents, but I wasn't quite sure what to expect where daughter lives. I have had a wonderful visit and sadly, today is my last day and I will be leaving at the stroke of midnight tonight. So, I thought I would share some of my observations while here.

First of all, the driving and the traffic. I had been warned ahead of time about this phenomenon. Most of you who know me know that I am the world's absolute worse passenger in a car. However, on the way home from the airport, we came to an intersection that had a red light. Our driver slowed down, looked both ways, honked his horn, and kept right on going. It seems that after dark, red lights are optional. Interesting law. Second, the amount of traffic/cars on the streets at one time. I sat by a man on the airplane over here that lives here. He warned me about the amount of traffic and cars and said that the philosophy is to use every bit of the concrete space as possible. If that means putting 5 cars where 3 are suppose to be, then so be it. No one seems to care. Because there is so much traffic and frequent traffic jams, you usually never travel faster than 20-30 mph and that is only for a short distance. On the ride home from the airport and since it was so late at night, our taxi hit several areas where he was able to drive 30-40 mph. Since most people in my hometown travel at 50-70 mph, the taxi did not seem to be travelling all that fast. I thought it interesting to hear son-in-law say that the taxi ride was making him very nervous because we were speeding through town.

The next thing I observed was shopping! You know I had to go there. Daughter took me to a market and on the way there she told me what a nice market this was. I didn't have my expectations high, but when we got there and were walking from the parking lot, down the street and to the shops that she needed to visit, I realized that I had taken daughter's words too literal. I'm thinking to myself, what is she thinking???? However, when you walk into the shops, you are totally transformed. They are very nice, very clean, and best of all, very CHEAP! There's nothing better in my way of thinking than a bargain. I would like to say that we went back to that same market about a week later and I'm thinking to myself, this is a nice market. My how our perceptions change. One of the funnest (is that a word?) shopping experiences was shopping for shoes! O.K., I know that none of you are surprised that I was shoe shopping. :) You know how when we shoe shop in our hometown, our salesperson goes to the back and finds our shoes in our size and brings the boxes out to us. Well, they don't do that here. The shoes are kept in the attic. Yes, I did say attic. And, there are usually 2 openings in the ceiling that reveals the attic. You tell your salesperson what shoe you like and your size. He literally yells up to a guy that stays in the attic and he THROWS down your shoes. If they don't fit or if you don't want them, the salesperson throws them back up. I found out that the "attic guy" is working his way up to being a salesperson. Now, I know most of you will find this hard to believe, but I tried on so many pairs of shoes that daughter and I learned the attic guy's name. Before I finished shopping, attic guy was throwing down shoes that I had not asked to try on but he thought I might like and as I would try them on, he would comment on how nice they looked or that the color was very nice, etc. I'd say he was already practicing being a salesperson. We also went to a market where you bargain for prices. Daughter has this down to a science. She speaks the language here which is a novelty to the residents. Daughter looks nothing like the people that are native to this area so when she opens her mouth and starts rattling off the language, the people are totally fascinated. Nevertheless, I got some good bargains on some nice things because of the art of bargaining. Too bad I don't have a bargaining market at home. Just an fyi, but a new mall has been built here and you step out of your taxi in an atmosphere of the native country and step into the mall which is like stepping into my native homeland. The prices are the same as stepping into my homeland too.

Some miscellaneous things that were unique to me are included in this paragraph. The apartment complex where daughter lives, has security guards. I use that term loosely. These guys walk around at night blowing whistles and banging sticks against the metal fencing. Evidently, they are scaring away the "no good doers" before they get close to them. Either they don't want the confrontation or they are scared of the bad guys. But, this happens all night long. I went from listening to airplanes come over my house to listening to security guards blow whistles and bang sticks. I've watched a Bollywood movie and actually liked it! I went with daughter to have her hair cut and highlighted. Each person has their own specific thing that they do at the beauty shop. She had about 8 people standing around her and doing things to her hair at once. It looked more like she was having an operation with a team of doctors standing around her than having her hair done. Speaking of that, everyone here has a specific occupation and they are the only ones that do that. For instance, there is a guy, 3 doors down, that is a press "walla". He stands outside all day, everyday, with a huge metal iron, hot coals, and a big counter. When you need something ironed, you take your clothes to the press walla and he irons it for about a penny per piece of clothing. Yes, that's correct, a penny. I have definitely decided that every country, every state, every town, every neighborhood, every house needs a press walla. There is also a guy who sits outside with his big sewing machine and does mending. There is a trash walla who collects the trash. You get the idea. There are animals everywhere and they just kind of roam freely. The pedestrians here do NOT have the right of way and WILL get hit if they don't get out of the way. However, the animals will sit in the middle of streets because they know that drivers would never dream of harming them. Oh the quality and value of human life.

I will say that this is a very male dominated society. Women are not respected and they are treated and talked to a lot different than men. It doesn't matter where the men and women are from, if they are native or foreign, the men are treated better than the women. Daughter has grown weary of this fact and has become spunky in some of her dealings with men here. She has become more vocal to them and as I mentioned before, when she starts speaking to them in their native tongue, it surprises the heck out of them! I want to say, you go girl! Of course, it isn't something that she can change but it makes her feel better. I wonder where she gets that trait from?

Overall, my trip has been great. However it would have been great if all I had done was sit in the rocking chair and rock my brand new beautiful granddaughter and visited with daughter and son-in-law. But, it has been an adventure. I can't wait to see how the ride back to the airport will be tonight!

25.12.07

dress up

Jaya brought some of her saris over yesterday and had my mom try them on! Mom looked beautiful. Here are some of Mom's comments: "Saris are so elegant!" "The fabric is beautiful!" "I just want to stay in this all day!" and "I wish your dad were here so I could have him take me somewhere fancy."

18.12.07

a newborn in south asia

Yes it's been awhile since I've updated this. That's because as of November 30, we've had our hands full with Baby. It's been a lot of fun, and we've had some uniquely South Asian moments after she made her debut.

For starters, 2 days after we returned from the hospital (5 days after giving birth), I came down with what I am convinced was the worst stomach virus known to man. I literally slept in the bathroom!! After 3 days of severe sickness, and 3 completely ineffective Immodiums, my doctor told me to go to the emergency room. So we trekked back to the hospital for 2 more nights. Severe gastroenteritis (or possibly an amoeba?) definitely gave my otherwise uneventful labor and delivery a South Asian twist!

Also, I'm still trying to learn an honest but vague answer regarding Baby's age to those who ask while I'm out with her. It's pretty common for women and their newborns to stay indoors completely for 40 days, and I've already been on the receiving end of a stern lecture once by a shopkeeper.

And finally, this weekend, the eunuchs came to our house. We've been very nervous about this ever since we heard from our friends that they come after a baby is born. The eunuchs have their own little community here and come to your home demanding money during weddings or when you have new babies. They dress like very stylish women. Our friends did a more in-depth blog about it here. Anyway, we had been warned, so we've kept our doors firmly locked since bringing Baby home. But yesterday, for a brief moment, the door was unlocked, and guess who showed up? Not only did he ring the bell, but he walked right on in and asked for money. Husband told him it's not our custom (many South Asians believe they will be cursed if they don't give money), so the eunuch left! There were about 6 others waiting on the street, and they discussed what to do, then I guess decided we weren't worth it, so they all left! It was very anti-climactic, for which I am very, very grateful.

23.11.07

random holiday rumblings

Ever since I learned about it, I've known that Thanksgiving is an American holiday. But it never really clicked with me until I moved overseas. Our first Thanksgiving here, Priya asked me what exactly Thanksgiving was about. I began telling her how some people sailed to America on a big boat. She cut me off and asked, "Noah's boat?" Last week, Jaya asked me to explain in detail, which was a great opportunity to share with her. The day of Thanksgiving, I saw Doctor, our neighbor, and he asked me about the holiday, too. I thought I did a good job explaining it, but I guess with his worldview, a few minutes' explanation just wasn't enough:

Doctor: So you will go to an office to give thanks?
Me: Not today, no. We will give thanks in our home, because we believe we can speak to the boss anywhere.
Doctor: Oh yes, we too believe the boss is in everything.

Hm, not exactly what I said. I've come a ways from confusing Noah and the Pilgrims, but it seems I still have kinks to work out.

Okay, so we know it's officially Christmas season now! Husband and I decorated last night. We have some pretty pathetic Christmas decorations, that not only border on, but go right on through to Tackyland. But I put them up anyway, because to me, it's better than nothing. And next year, when I have access to good Christmas decorations again, I have full intentions of rectifying the situation.

But for now, we'll make do with our super skinny and leaning tree. And we have no real tree topper. I saw we had some leftover ribbon, so I made a lame attempt at topping the tree with some bows. Then husband saw a certain ornament that my mom gave us, and we just knew this would be topping our tree. Please, please tell me, those of you from other states, that you too have state-pride ornaments on your trees? Otherwise, I'm just as obnoxious as I try not to be.

In my pregnant clumsiness, I dropped our nativity scene a few weeks ago, and several of the ceramic pieces broke. Fortunately, the three main characters stayed in tact, as well as a sheep. But a shepherd and a cow broke. Considering where I live, I found that kind of humorous. Anyway I didn't have a place to put our nativity scene, so I finally settled on our 'Africa table.' Didn't you know that giraffes and Masai warriors were also at that stable long ago?

22.11.07

byob - bring your own bird!

This year, our Capital team decided it would be much easier if all the families just brought their own chickens to the Thanksgiving lunch. So since husband has been having fun all week using his new tandoor, of course we brought tandoori chicken!

The night before Thanksgiving, we had some friends over to grill in our backyard...all of which takes on a new meaning here, when a grill looks like a bucket and a backyard is about 8x8 with concrete flooring.


Here they are gathered around the grill.


Husband taught them how to make naan. If I had to guess, I think naan translates to "little pieces of heavenly bread." :)


The chicken we took to the Thanksgiving feast. Since the grill gets about 700 degrees inside, this entire chicken took only 15 minutes to cook all the way through.


After lunch, a lot of us went down to the park to play/watch a good game of American football. Husband somehow managed to keep his new white shirt from getting dirty.


And since we looked odd because a.) we were playing a game that wasn't cricket, and b.) there were a lot of Westerners in one place, we drew some spectators. I wonder what they thought of the game?

I can't say enough how much of a blessing it is to have a 'family' over here. We miss our families in the states so much, especially at holidays. I still miss the fun Thanksgiving traditions we have with our families back home, like kick the can, going to the lake, and trying to accurately make Mema's dressing (this year I didn't put enough poultry seasoning in it, and also made it too dry - there's always hope for next year!), and our family here can't replace that. So having a family over here keeps us from going crazy from loneliness. We thank the boss for these wonderful, fun, and creative people!

18.11.07

i'm a mall rat!

This post probably won't be too exciting for the American readers, but for any of you who currently live in South Asia, or who have lived or traveled through here, I think you'll be shocked! Well if you're anything like husband and me, that is.

Down the road from the hospital we'll be delivering baby at is a new mall. They've been working on it for well over a year now, probably two. I'm not sure. Malls here are nice enough - several levels, plenty of shops and places to eat, temperature controlled. So it's not like we ever complained before. But this new mall - oh my! I feel like such a teenager getting excited over a mall. It's sprawling - it seems to go on forever. It's modern - both the shops and the shoppers. And it's got variety, both in cuisine and shopping choices.

There's a big book store, a big baby store, a Clinique, a L'Occitane, a Body Shop, an Etam, a Nine West, and many, many name brand apparel shops that no one can afford. There are home shops, too, one that can only be described as a department store. They have several coffee shops and they're even opening a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf!! You know how we see those incredibly expensive stores around town and wonder who has the money to pay for those things? Well, those people are walking through this mall. It's like a fashion parade. I even saw several pregnant ladies showing off their swollen bellies, and believe me, that says a lot about how modern the clientele is.


The food court is really nice, tasty, and cheap! There are plenty of South Asian choices (Northern, Southern, and street food!), but there's also a grilled sandwich place, Mexican, pasta, soup and salad, pizza, and Chinese. And there's a gelato guy who will soon also serve those gelato stone ice creams. There's also a fancy restaurant there, and some other places opening shortly. And the patio seating is really nice. (Or it will be once all the mosquitoes are dead.) They even have a couple of those tent-rooms set up with couches and tables.

Like I said, only those of you who know what the rest of the Capital's shopping choices are like will be impressed by this. It doesn't help that the pictures don't do it justice - either the mall is very unphotogenic, or I'm a bad photographer. I'm betting on the latter.

14.11.07

dessert discussions

I have had two interesting conversations with Jaya recently that highlight the differences of our cultures. Jaya loves my cakes. She is not a sweets person, but anytime I take them cake, she admits sheepishly that she ate it all. She'll always ask me how I make them, and after I explain how easy it is to make cakes, she'll look at me doubtfully and remark, "I think it just comes naturally to Americans." She said it to me, not for the first time, just this week. I thought about it, and realized one of the first things we are taught to cook are cookies and brownies and sweets. She doesn't understand when I tell her it takes me a long time to make even simple chapatis (their flat bread), and I guess it's the equivalent with our baking. I don't understand how anyone could be confused about baking.

But as much as she loves cake, she doesn't like everything I bake. I love the fall and apple season, so last week, I made an apple crisp. Jaya came over, and I offered her some, thinking she would love it. But she just moved it around with her spoon until I finally coaxed it out of her why she wasn't eating it. Apparently, she doesn't like cinnamon. I don't just mean the taste, I mean the smell too! Honestly, is there anything more American than eating some kind of dessert laced with cinnamon while burning an apple cinnamon candle? I thought back and realized Priya would eat anything I made except my apple pie. So although I hate to generalize, Jaya is probably not the only South Asian who does not conjur up homey, cozy memories at the smell of cinnamon.

Anyone else have this experience overseas? It's pretty ethnocentric of me, but I honestly am blown away that the entire world does not love cinnamon.


10.11.07

put on your saree...

...it's time to celebrate Diwali!

(I love that episode of
The Office!)

Here are some pics from Diwali - the Festival of Lights. We went to Jaya's house to watch how they celebrate.

Our street all lit up

A sobering reminder


Jaya's mother's home, complete with hanging marigolds and the flower decorations on the ground. The designs are always so beautiful.

Jaya told me the colorful decorations on the ground are so the goddess of wealth will visit the home that year. She had about 5 of these on her driveway and patio. Some were made of flowers (like this one), some of colored powder, and all had candles around them.

The crackers are the main attraction. Husband estimates that their family spent around $500 on crackers! It was quite the show. They wouldn't let me get close, and I had to sit almost the whole time, because of my 'delicate situation.' Every year, so many crackers go off all over the city that it sounds like a war-zone.

8.11.07

hats off to the chef!

Through our two years here, we have had some minor accomplishments in the kitchen. I distinctly remember when I learned how to make tortillas, refried beans, enchiladas, and other Tex-Mex foods. It was a moment of relief that we wouldn't have to go 3 years without our beloved Mexican food. But nothing, and I mean nothing, prepared me for my husband's cooking skills. He discovered about two weeks ago that he can make all kinds of dough in our food processor. First it was pizza dough, then garlic bread sticks, then pretzels, then French baguettes. Yes, all of that in the matter of about 10 days! Last night, though, he topped it all with a surprise dinner for me. He said he was going to surprise me, and I underestimated his abilities; I thought he was making me bruschetta or something like that. But then he brought this out - a cheesy, pepperoni, zucchini, tomato, and onion stromboli! However impressed you are, double it, because he did not buy the bread and stuff it with pizza sauce out of a jar. He made the bread and the sauce before stuffing it, and let me just say, it was even better than it sounds!

2.11.07

wedding time!

Remember the bridal shower from a few weeks ago? Last night was the wedding! It was a lot of fun for several reasons: 1, we know the bride and groom well. 2, we knew a lot of the guests. 3, the ceremony wasn't at 2am!

The mother-of-the-bride (Auntie) told me ahead of time that the wedding would be very small - only about 400 guests! Now, my own wedding was considered huge by American standards with 300 guests, so even though I'd been to two South Asian weddings at that point, it still shocked me. I asked Auntie how many guests were at her wedding, and she said about 750! I posed the same question to another lady who was listening to our conversation, and she agreed that about 800 guests were at her own wedding! I guess I had conveniently forgotten how many people were at the other weddings I had been to.

The bride and groom about to cut the cake. This wasn't the cake we ate, nor could this small cake have fed the 350+ guests. Instead, they passed around South Asia's favorite cake - fruit cake! :) I'm not sure where this cake ended up:

Sorry for the dust spots in the pictures. Our pixel-thingy catches the dust particles, and it drives husband nuts:

Here is a picture of two of our good friends that also h
appen to be gorgeous! The one of the left is the sister of the bride:

The happy couple!:

1.11.07

movies

Thanks for all the great suggestions for romantic comedies! Since a few of your asked, here are any results that brought up more than one suggestion:

2005 and newer:
*The Holiday - most suggested movie! I've seen it once and agree it's one to own.
*Because I Said So - I was told this is a great mother/daughter movie.
*The Devil Wears Prada
*Fever Pitch
*The Family Stone - it was mentioned to me that this movie might be iffy in sections
*In Her Shoes - I saw it and liked it, although it has a few scenes that are iffy


Older Movies:
*Serendipity - I already own this movie and watch it all the time!
*The Cutting Edge
*Only You
*Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I'm excited to see what I end up with!

30.10.07

mehendi

Yesterday was the festival where women dress up in their really nice clothes, sometimes their bridal wear, and fast for the long lives of their husbands. Last year, I spent some time with Priya on this festival, and she surprised me by eating apples and sweets and other things while fasting. So this year, I was expecting Jaya to do the same, but she keeps a complete fast from sun up to sun down. She woke up around 4, did a pooja (special worship) and then had a big breakfast. She didn't have anything to eat or drink again until 5pm, after she did her second pooja and then had some milk. Around 8pm, she and her husband went to a special spot where the moon is showing, and they did the moon pooja, then had dinner. I didn't watch, but she and her husband told me that they take a flour sifter, hold it up to the moon, and then to the husband's face. When I asked what it meant, they said they weren't sure. (If you watched the Bollywood dance video several posts back, they celebrated this festival in the song)

On Sunday I went to Jaya's to get mehendi done. Her husband did a very sweet gesture, surprising her by hiring someone to come to the house to do it. Mehendi is henna. It's done for festivals and weddings, and is considered very beautiful, like jewelry. When I get it done, I am always so happy I live in South Asia because it's so fun to be a woman here at times like that! It goes on in a thick paste and hardens, and you have to let it stay on for awhile before letting the pieces fall off. When it comes off, the henna is light orange, but by the next day, it's a dark brown, and stays on for several days or weeks. Here is Jaya, her sister-in-law, and me showing off our mehendi. Between the white skin and almost 9 month pregnant belly, I bet you can't guess which one is me! ;) Jaya actually told me while we were getting our mehendi done that I was "so lucky" because my mehendi would show up so dark on my fair skin. I had to laugh at the irony of our two cultures, both wanting what we don't have!

25.10.07

turbans

We can't go very far South Asia without seeing a man in a turban. Now, if you're like I was before coming to South Asia, you have an incorrect assumption about the people who wear turbans - you probably think they are of a different religion than they are. I don't know the statistic, but probably close to all of people wearing turbans worldwide are actually Sikhs. It is part of their religion (Sikhism) to wear turbans, because one of their rituals is letting their hair go uncut for a lifetime. So they wrap their long hair up in a turban, and also carry a comb with them at all times. I've been told the comb is to represent that they care about hygiene and being presentable. Most Sikhs live in South Asia, but they are also found all over the world, as I'm sure most of you know.

The Sikhs that I have been in contact with are very friendly people and love to laugh. I've heard from several other Western women the same comments about Sikh men - we've noticed that most of them treat us and other women with respect.

Their turbans are like a personal statement. I've heard the most devout only wear a dark blue turban. Children wear smaller turbans, since obviously they have less hair to wrap up. And then a lot of men match their
turbans to their outfits. My national friends have told me these men are very stylish!

Sikh boy
:

These men color coordinated their turbans to their outfits!:


Hopefully, if you were like me with assumptions about men in turbans, now you can identify correctly whether or not a man is a Sikh.

21.10.07

love is in the air...

People in South Asia show their affection to their friends in ways that may seem...strange...to the average Westerner. While the American guys I know will give their friends a nod, a hand shake, or at most, the three-pat hug, South Asian guys and gals like to show more affection to their friends of the same gender.


No funny business going on, these men just like to walk arm in arm.


They may not even be best buds, but this guy wanted to drape his arm around his friend.


Men (or women) walking hand in hand is not something you even look twice at.


"Brothers don't shake hands. Brothers hug!"


So the next time you're out walking with your best friend, put your arm around him/her to show just how much you love being buddies. But only if your friend is of the same gender - otherwise, it's just scandalous.

20.10.07

festival season

I talk about it a lot, but I don't think I've ever elaborated on Festival Season. The time frame depends on the lunar cycle. This year, it's mainly in October and ends with a bang (or a cracker!) in early November for the Festival of Lights.

First, there is Nine Nights, a festival that is celebrated for, you guessed it, nine nights. It's going on right now. Each day, a different goddess is worshiped. In the middle of the Nine Nights is a 2-4 days festival and worship time for the goddess who they believe is kinda like the mother goddess, and who represents femininity but is depicted as a warrior. The devout will fast during this time, but it's not the same type of fasting we know in the States. They actually eat a lot of what they call fasting foods. Apparently people end up gaining weight during their fasting, so there was an article in the paper the other day to give tips to those fasting on how to not gain weight...during a fast.

Then, on the 10th Night, another festival is celebrated as the culmination of the 9 other nights. People will build a large effigy of a legendary evil guy who was defeated by the good guys (again, according to legend) and then they all gather and watch the evil guy burn. I've been seeing lots of these large statues being made all over the city. We passed some yesterday on the road to Kishori's.

Several days after the 10th Night, there is the Husband/Wife Celebration. That's the day many women dress up in fancy clothes or bridal gear, fast all day (again... often a different type of fast), then they wo
rship the moon and eat dinner with their husbands. And then finally, The Festival of Lights. It's the biggest celebration of the year.

I can't forget to add in a very important celebration that took place yesterday (which happened to also be the most auspicious day of festival season, according to Jaya). It was My Birthday! :) I was so surprised at how many gifts and treats I received this year - much more than last year or the year before! Since I went out to Kishori's yesterday with my supervisor and our friend who does translation work for us, they both brought me gifts. Then Kishori had everyone there eat a sweet in honor of my birthday and she also gave me a new suit! When I got home, our neighbor had brought a mousse cake to us because it was his birthday too, and then Jaya came over. She brought me a black forest cake, which she made us all feed to each other while taking pictures! She also gave me a new suit and some flowers. Such sweet gestures from my national friends!

Husband took me on a date last night to a nice East Asian restaurant. Then we went to another cafe for dessert. Both places look really fancy but are much cheaper than you'd think! At the cafe, I got even more chocolate. Except for a small nibble this week, I haven't had chocolate or sweets at all in 7 weeks! So you can imagine that the entire day was a shock to my system. I wasn't even able to finish all my dessert (sacrilege!) because I so full of sugar already. It was a great birthday!

13.10.07

bridal shower

Today I hosted a bridal shower! It was a lot of fun, but I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about it. I was wondering what cultural faux pas I was going to commit today without even realizing it. Were the red and gold flowers I bought actually a symbol of death in the culture? Did having an odd number of chairs mean I wished them bad luck? Was it wrong to serve coffee before chai? I had no clue, and honestly, if I did something wrong, I'll probably never know it anyway.

The hard part was that I was throwing somewhat of a third culture bridal shower, because the bride is South Asian, but she is a cousin, and she is also very Western. So for example, on the invitations (which were just printed on regular paper and passed out to everyone at the office), I was going to put this picture of bridal mehendi, until husband wisely suggested I call her sister just to double check if this picture was appropriate. I did, and her sister kindly told me that the wedding was going to be about as Western as it gets - white gown, no bangles, no mehendi, etc. So the invitations turned out like this.

The shower was pretty much last minute, a thought from some ladies in the English weekly group I attend. I offered our house, and since my "American cookies" (chocolate chip :) were specially requested, I made those. But other ladies chipped in with South Asian snacks and cake, so I really didn't do much. Another lady led a time of special requests for the upcoming wedding and marriage, and then the bride's sister led us in some games. There were about 20 ladies in attendance. Sounds a lot like American bridal showers, wouldn't you agree?

What's a bridal shower without food?
The mother of the bride is Auntie. (For those of you who read the baby blog, she is the same one who is loaning us the awesome baby crib) She was videoing all day.

The bride was asked to reenact the proposal.


The toilet paper bridal gown game transcends all borders. She's beautiful, isn't she?