what i'll miss

I have grown to love many things about this culture that I'm living in, and I am really going to miss a lot of it when we leave in just a couple weeks. Obviously, the relationships we have made I will miss the most, and not only with the nationals we've met. When you pick up and move to the other side of the world, you form an incredible bond with other like-minded people who have also left their 'home' country as well. You become family. So now our hearts are divided in that are hard to explain, but certainly easy to feel.

Like I said, I'm going to miss so much, so I thought a top 10 was in order. Like the one I did about what I'm looking forward to, I'm not putting the obvious one of family and friends. That's already a given!

Top 10 Things I'll Miss the Most About South Asia:

10. The mangoes! Oh you wouldn't believe how good the mangoes are here in season. And not just the fresh ones (which are incredible), but you can also always find mango juice, mango popsicles, mango ice cream...I don't even know if you can get such fresh mangoes in the US. I sure hope so!

9. Cheap Indian Food! I know in the US you can get Indian food, and it can even be good quality and authentic. However, I've heard it's usually super expensive. The Indian restaurant here I will miss the most has a dish called Veg Thali - it comes with enough food to feed you for at least two meals, if not 3, it's oh so delicious, and it's only $2.50. Oh, and they deliver. Naturally. Which takes me to the next one...

8. Deliveries! I've posted about it before - I love how everyone delivers here. I'm going to really miss that!

7. Creativity and contentment! I'll admit, sometimes it's a pain, but because lots of conveniences aren't available here, you have to get creative. This includes with recipes, recreation, decorating, daily life, you name it. You always feel a sense of accomplishment when you've cooked something that you had to substitute 5 items in. And when you have less options, it's easier to feel contentment.

6. Easily accessible health care! Can you imagine a world where you walk into a modern hospital, with no appointment, stroll to the receptionist and pay (with no insurance card) $12 to see a doctor, wait for 5 minutes, and the well-educated doctor calls you into his/her office? Then if you need any medicine, you go to your local pharmacist, spend pennies on your meds without even needing a prescription? And if you have any later questions, you just call your doctor up on their mobile phone? This is the exact nature of medical care in the Capital. I'm sooooo gonna miss this.

5. The wallahs! Remember my mom blogged about the wallahs - the men and women who provide services or sell things for a very small price. The press wallah who irons your clothes, the fruit wallah who walks by your house and sells you fresh fruit, etc. What is husband going to do without his press wallah? His wife sure doesn't iron like that!

4. The hospitality! South Asians are notoriously hospitable. I couldn't even begin to tell you the number of times a woman and I have exchanged just a few words of small talk and she invites me into her home. They take pride in treating their guests like royalty - offering chai, sweets, food, and comfort. You always feel like you have made their week by visiting their home.

3. Bollywood! I love getting into a taxi or auto rickshaw and the driver turns on the radio to popular Bollywood music. Or sitting in a coffee shop that plays Bollywood music videos, or going to the gym and watch Bollywood movies while working out. Bollywood is so unique and so fun, and I'm going to miss how everywhere it is here!

2. Interesting life! It's hard to find a title to sum up the interesting day-to-day things you see here in the Capital. Opening your front door and seeing cows sitting at your gate is always fun. Or when they walk by mooing. That's cool too. Or driving down the road and you see an elephant plodding along beside you, or camels. The park we walk in has wild peacocks that cross our path. I like to chuckle at signs that are so funny (usually unintentionally), and the crazy way people drive or sell. Like the balloon wallah who rides his bike on busy streets, loaded down with dozens of balloons. And I'll definitely miss seeing all sorts of history on a daily basis. An old fort built centuries ago, or a bridge, or a tomb. It's fascinating.

1. The bargains! This is a no-brainer. The markets are a fun experience in themselves, what with the sights, sounds, and smells. (not all bad, mind you :) But then getting a great deal on something like jewelry, clothes, shoes, or home decorations...man! I am definitely going to miss the bargains.

old city shopping

Andrea and I went to the old part of the city yesterday. It was lots of fun! We didn't just stay on the main road either, but went into "the bowels". The old city is FASCINATING! I love going there...without baby, of course. It's way too chaotic for me to walk and protect baby from all sorts of vehicles. Not to mention it was 102 yesterday, and wearing baby also means I wear sweat.

I wanted to go because I need a new sari and the old city is where they are super cheap. Andrea found the sari bazaar in a little map book since we are both extremely directionally challenged. Extremely. I can't emphasize that point enough. I'm going to do a blog tour of our day. To get the full effect, you'd need to go sit in the middle of your busiest street with a hair dryer blowing in your face.

First, we were dropped off on the main road and then hopped on a cycle rickshaw (not pictured). He seemed to know where the sari bazaar was.


He didn't, but we got a cool tour of all the small roads and alleys.


Finally he found the sari bazaar, which was pretty much where he picked us up. This is a more main road of the market.


We walked into a connecting alleyway. Even as narrow as this path was, there were still scooters, carts, and cycles going both directions, not to mention people. And probably cows too.


I have never shopped for a sari before, so I started out pretty intimidated by the rows and rows of shops. If you've ever shopped in South Asia, you know how much variety there is, and how easy it is to succumb to indecision. Andrea finally encouraged me to just pick a shop and go for it. This was the first shop. We took off our shoes, sat down, and told this man what color sari I was looking for. Then he would pull out a sari and toss it at me. I'm a horrible photographer, but somehow caught the toss in action in this picture. (sidenote: most of these pictures are Andrea's, that's why they are so good!)


He didn't have what I was looking for, so we went to several more. One shop let me "try on" a couple saris over my clothes. I was looking for a double shaded sari with black and gold. I already have black and gold jewelry, so I needed one to match that. Like I said about the colors here, it was pretty difficult to find a sari with black in it. Lime green swirls, hot pink dots, bright orange silks, and turquoise beading, however, were all at my fingertips.


This is the sari I ended up buying. This man's shop was so small we could barely sit down, let alone try on the sari. So he offered to try it on for me! I told him he was looking very beautiful. He didn't laugh though.


Here are a few more pics of the old part of the city. Make sure to notice the ear cleaner!

sew happy

Yes, I'll admit that's a cheesy title, but it's my blog. My mother-in-law (Nana) loves to quilt and sew, 'stitching' as they call it here. So guess which shops we hit up first? Last time they came, she walked out empty handed because she was frozen with indecision. This time she didn't do that. We took her to the 2 story giant fabric store, and she went nuts. Silks, cottons, batiks...nothing was safe.

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!

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!

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.

yes, i have a delivery order

Something really cool we have here in the Capital is that anyone and everyone delivers. Not just the pizza and Chinese food places, but we're talking the butcher, the Momo guy, McDonald's, Subway, and best of all, the grocer! I love that I can call up my little neighborhood market and order milk, eggs, bread, and oil, or something like that, and in 10 minutes it'll be in my kitchen. It's awesome! But, sometimes it doesn't work so easily. The wife of the man who owns the shop is always very frustrating to get on the phone. We can't figure it out - either she hates her job and rebels when we call, or she speaks one of the other national languages that we don't know. Usually after saying "hello?" three or four times (that's the South Asian way of saying, "I don't speak English.") she'll pass us on to her husband or one of the shop boys who understands our accent. But I learned yesterday that sometimes even that doesn't work. I was calling to order 10 eggs, dish soap called Pril, laundry detergent, milk, cheese, and juice. I've done this a thousand times before, and I also do it in their language (which I'm sure is heavily accented, but they can understand). This is how the conversation went:

Lady: Hello?
Me: Yes, hello, I have a delivery order.
Lady: Hello?
Me: Yes, hello, I have a delivery order.
Lady: Hello?
Me: (Pause) Delivery.
Lady: Yes?
Me: 10 eggs...
Lady: And?
Me: Pril.
Lady: What?
Me: Dish soap, Pril.
Lady: What?
Me: P-R-I-L.
Lady: V?
Me: No, P for Punjab.
Lady: C?
Me: P for Punjab.
Lady: D?
Me: No, no. Dish soap. Dish soap.
Lady: (shuffling noise as she hands the phone off)
Man: Hello?
Me: Yes, I have a delivery order.
Man: Yes?
Me: 10 eggs...
Man: And?
Me: Pril dish soap.
Man: What?
Me: Soap.
Man: Laril?
Me: No, not bathing soap. Dish soap.
Man: Bathing soap?
Me: No, not bathing soap. Dish soap.
Man: Ohh, dish soap.
Me: Yes sir.
Man: Dish soap?
Me: Yes, sir.
Man: You want dish soap?
Me: Yes.
Man: What kind?
Me: I don't care.
Man: What kind?
Me: Pril.
Man: Pril?
Me: Yes, sir.
Man: Anything else?
Me: No.

Haha. The milk, cheese, juice, and laundry detergent would have to wait another day.

Pier Ek

Apparently Pier 1 has a factory here that makes all the wonderful and cute things you see in the states. And when they make defected products, they go from the factory to the little markets in the Capital. And so yesterday, my friend took me and another friend over to a market where the Pier 1 reject pillow covers are sold. (Thanks for that, AS!) Click here to see the ones sold in the stores in the states. For $35. A piece. Now look at the pic of the same pillows, sitting in my living room, after buying them for $4.50. Total. I love this country.

greetings from the Capital!

We've arrived in the Capital and in some ways, I feel like I'm back in America! Yesterday I ran to the market to pick up groceries for today's meals, and it took a total of...wait for it...35 minutes! And that included the walking to and from. So here are the positive differences I've noticed in just 24 hours of living in the Capital:
1. Produce and eggs can be found IN the grocery store.
2. Said produce is packaged.
3. Not only can I get broccoli here, but there is also lettuce and my personal fave, zucchini. Hello again, green veggies!
4. Parmesan cheese is back in my kitchen.
5. When I walked into the store, the three men glanced my way and then quickly began their conversation again. I am no longer such a novelty.

Given my incredible excitement, each one of these items should be followed by an exclamation point or three. However, I luckily realized that would be overkill.

Now before everyone begins reminding me that Capital life is not all zucchini and parmesan, I will say that I know there will be hard times that balance out these great times. I just wanted to share my joys of the moment. Thank you Boss for the small joys and reminders of your grace!

nova backwards spells...

AVON! Can you believe that in a small corner of this town there is an actual Avon shop here? Priya took Hannah and me there today, and on the way, we discussed how we didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be pretty nice! And, contrary to normal South Asia experiences, they had almost everything listed! I mean, out of all the things that I wanted from the brochure, there were only 2 things not in stock. See everything I got? I don't want to tell you what I paid because it would make you sick at how cheap it is. Let's just say, all of this cost about the same amount as a couple of lipsticks in the states would cost. And it's real Avon!

Also, today it started raining bloody murder. Is that a correct usage of that phrase? Well it should be. By the time I got home, I was drenched and freezing from being pelted with rain and hail. And the electricity had been out in our concrete house for over 2 hours, according to poor husband, who was still sick and barely visible wrapped under a blanket, sitting in front of the not-working electric heater. So this is a picture of me, about 30 minutes after I arrived home. You do what you gotta do to stay warm in these parts.

bringin' home the bacon

I still can't believe it. When I went to the one guy in town that sells frozen meat, I ordered my kilo of boneless chicken, and then after paying, asked almost as an after though, "Do you have any bacon?" And guess what...he did! Actually, "A lot of bacon," were his exact words. Buddy, you don't know it yet, but you have just found your number 1 customer. I bought what looks like 2 big, wide slabs of bacon. And while we were out of the country, I bought a ham in hopes that not only would it still be good once we got home, but that we were allowed to bring animal meat from one country to another. (the answer to both of those questions is a resounding yes) There all that beautiful pork sits in my fridge, like slabs of cholesterol-injected symbols of endless possibilities. What should I make? I'm almost tempted to not make anything just so I can continue to become overjoyed when I open the fridge and see the pork right there, beckoning me. Almost.

attack of the monkeys

Here is a picture of the big grocery store. It's blurry and doesn't have the best view, but I didn't feel comfortable taking a picture of the grocery store, so someone else took it, and I'm not brave enough to go back and take another one.

Oh by the way, I was nearly attacked by two monkeys today. They were all over the place today, and had me so jittery, even before the big attack. There were 3 coworkers in town, doing some sightseeing, and we took them to one place, and on the way there, there was this family of about 7 monkeys on the side of the sidewalk. I was holding onto the back of husband, knowing that if baby monkeys are around, mama monkey is being very protective. As husband passes by, a monkey on each side of us started hissing, looking at us straight in the eye. Eye contact is not a friendly gesture in monkey body language. I froze, while the two monkeys put me on their target list, and started hissing and coming at me. I backed away slowly, and they finally, after what seemed like an eternity (it was probably only 30 seconds), got bored with me and turned their attentions elsewhere. I had visions of rabies shots in my head, and was so scared, I even had tears in my eyes. After it was over, I looked behind me, and there was this crowd of about 50 people bunched together about 30 feet behind me, all waiting for it to be over with. When I saw them, they all started laughing. Laughs of released tension, I'm pretending. Sometimes, it's just not fun being the crazy white woman.