Happy Birthday to me!

Someone once told me that for your birthday you get to celebrate as many days as the number of years you turn. Well, since I turned 23 this year, that means that I get to celebrate 23 days! Woo hoo! So, day 1 was a week before my birthday, and days 2-8 I celebrated at the beach. Tonight, my family here had a little celebration for me. Birthday customs are a little different here....but fun! My brother bought a cake on his way home from work that said "Happy Birthday to Rozy"

My sisters were there, as well as several other friends. I had to sit in front of the cake and they placed a really big candle in the center and lit it. I was waiting for them to sing first, but they were waiting for me to blow out the candle first, so they were yelling at me to blow out the candle.

I did; they sang.

Next, I cut one slice out of the cake and fed everyone a bite (all from that same piece).

Then, my friend fed me some of the cake.

Next, several of them smeared icing on my face....gross.

Last, we ate a tasty dinner together. They also gave me a present, but I sat it on the table while I went to wash my face and when I came back...I guess they couldn't stand the suspense of what was inside.....they had opened it for me!

I was tagged....blah

So I really don't enjoy things like email forwards, chain letters, or anything that you have to do and pass to the next person. I normally ignore them or delete them. My cousin Nicole recently tagged me in "7 random/weird things meme", so I'll oblige, but I won't post the rules or tag anyone else. Sorry.

1. After living in this country, I'm sure there are lots of weird things about me. For one, I really like to eat tomato sauce (ketchup) on everything. It's really good on scrambled eggs and on pizza.

2. I'm super afraid of monkeys. They are not cute. They almost make me stop breathing.

3. I really like to get lost. Take me somewhere and leave me. I love the challenge of finding my way back, or to somewhere.

4. I tend to bobble my head when I talk. In this place, that's not weird, but for you guys back in the States, I'm sure you can't look at me without laughing.

5. I really love eating with my hands, especially rice. I'm not sure if I can remember how to use a fork and knife. And I really love to mix everything together.

6. At times my emotions (I'm not a very emotional person) get mixed up....I may cry when I'm angry, or laugh hysterically when I'm nervous.

7. At one time when I was a kid, we had 20 dogs. My dad raised beagles for rabbit hunting. A couple of the dogs had puppies at the same time.


So there are probably more weird things about me, but either I don't notice them, I'm putting a mental block on them, or they're just too weird to post.

Goa

I went to Goa (a beautiful beach about 15 hours from where I live) to celebrate Thanksgiving and my birthday. Here are some photos:

Purchasing our Thanksgiving Chicken. Turkeys are very scarce, and expensive! I found one in my town for $100 USD, and it was about the same size as this chicken. I think I've had enough turkey in my lifetime to skip one Thanksgiving!

Cooking our meal on a two burner stove and in a microwave/grill with only two pots.....Hal, we can do anything!


Oh, and we decided we'd wear sarees for Thankgiving....fall colored ones...I know...cheesy! :)

We were doing a "native" style photo opt by the pool.....Michelle was going to throw me in!
Beautiful Hal!


Our hotel boy surprised us with clean towels....how creative!

Fishermen bringing in their catch of the day.



Cafe Coffee Day....not particular to Goa...but definitely one of my favorite places to go!

yum....easy on a poor girl's pocket

Some vendors

My sand art!

Beautiful sunset, Amazing Creator!

From the train on the way home. Dudh (Hindi for milk)Sagar Falls, the second highest in this country. The picture can't even grasp the beauty of the sun setting on the mountains and water gushing down.

Diwali

So, about 3 weeks has passed since one of the biggest holidays here in this land. There a several variations of the pronunciation, ways of celebrating, and supposed myths behind the holiday. Learn more by clicking here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali To experience a little bit of what this holiday was like, you must close your eyes and use your imagination. Ready? (Alright, I know that's not really possible if you are to read what I write.) First, imagine the sounds from WWII. Second, visualize all the fireworks you have ever seen in your entire life. These fireworks lasted from 6 am until 3 am every day for at least a week.

Third, mix 5 lb. butter with 5 lb. sugar and eat it; Take some to all the people you know too. Fourth, get new clothes. Fifth, paint your house and make any necessary repairs. Sixth, decorate your house with lights and candles and draw a picture at the entrance of your house.

This is my auntie doing a puja (worship) of the Hindu goddess of wealth, Laxshmi, and to Ganesh.

Eighth, picture the night before your neighborhood's garbage collection day. Then picture wild animals ripping the bags and their contents to shreds all over the street.....this is similar to what the street looked like with the remants of the fireworks.

friends are fun and my brain is stressed

So, I have some new friends now. The family is the parents, one daughter (who is my age...I think a year older, but our birthdays are 2 days apart), one son ( I really hope this friendship doesn't bring about a marriage proposal), and another daughter (in 11th standard....or grade for those of you who speak American English). I met the older daughter while getting a new phone number in the place that deals with that kind of stuff in my neighborhood. She was working there, and after she helped me, I told her we should be friends and have coffee or something. Now she wants me to come over every day. They're really great, but I forgot what I felt like a lot up in the mountains where I had friends. The feeling..........my mouth is burning and I absolutely can NOT fit one more bite of food or sip of chai in my stomach. Not even a half of one. IM-poss-i-ble. IM-poss-i-ble for a plain yellow pumpkin to become a golden carriage. IM-poss-i-ble.

My brain is feeling some stress.

1. I grew up speaking very Southern English.
2. I tried to neutralize my accent in order to sound more educated than perhaps I really am.
3. In elementary school I took Spanish.
4. In high school/college I took French.
5. I learned some Romanian when I went there.
6. In college I also took Spanish/Greek.
7. I stayed with a family for 1 month in Argentina ( a really great one if I may add!). This stretched my Spanish. I can really roll some r's (sometimes, on accident I roll my English r's).
8. I studied Hindi for 3 months, 7 hours a day 6 days a week.
9. I took a couple of Tamil lessons.
10. Living in this place, and having a couple of British friends is causing some British English to filter through my vocabulary and accent.
11. Now.....this week, Kannada. And not only is it Kannada, it's a Kannada intensive class. (The amount of material that should be in several months......all crammed into one week!)

My English is breaking up.......sometimes I can't even form complete sentences that make sense. My accent is confused......very confused. Please don't speak to me very fast in any of these languages, I probably won't catch what you're saying.....they're all starting to blend and some are starting to fade. Crazy......Crazy for feelin'...yeah I don't know the words to this song.

Upcoming post: Divali/Diwali/Deepavali........whatever you feel like calling it.

Sad Goodbyes, Henna Fun, and I Hate Blogging.

So....it's been a while. I was waiting so long because I wanted to make a clever post. Then I decided against it and forgot altogether.

A few Saturdays ago, I went with some friends to Palace City about 4 hours away from here. We were supposed to be checking out a festival, but the festivities were few, so we went to the zoo instead. Going places like the zoo can be rather humorous around here. The zoo was actually pretty nice, but we kept wondering why they charge us foreigners double the price. They should let us in for free. Most of the time we draw more attention than the tourist attraction. People wanted to take our picture, or have a friend take their picture with us. I was going to write a story from a young national's perspective of our day at the zoo, but I didn't because there are a few choice words that would've had to been in the story because they're part of normal everyday language here. Also, it only would've been funny if you could say the story out loud with the proper accent. I guess you had to of been there.

I'm becoming a professional goodbye sayer. That should be a real job because it's taxing on a person....physically because sometimes you have to move stuff, and emotionally because some of these things had some roots in your heart and when they're not near you can become sad. Goodbye school, goodbye Searcy's, goodbye family and friends, goodbye ILC and friends, goodbye family and friends again, goodbye USA, goodbye Capital City, goodbye mountains and girls (I really miss the mountains!), goodbye Anna, goodbye Aaron and Steph, goodbye City of Sewer and Sweat, goodbye Jim and Sean, goodbye Caree.

Pictures of the goodbyes to the City of Sewer and Sweat:

The uneventful relocation by train from the City of Sewer and Sweat to my new home in the Garden City...at least I had a camera to keep me occupied:

This week, I met some new friends. A couple of my American friends did lunch with these girls and then had them do henna on our hands and feet. The term here for Henna is Mehendi. Women get their hands and feet painted the day before their wedding, for special holidays, and just for fun.

I seriously need a tan....maybe I should just paint my entire body with this stuff.

Another one of my favorite things to do is get my eyebrows threaded. It shapes them and gets rid of the extra hairs...kinda like waxing them....only they use thread and it just pulls the hairs out or cuts the hairs. It's pretty great. What's even more great is that it only costs like 20 rupees (about 50 cents) as opposed to 5+ dollars in the States.

With goodbyes, comes hellos. Tomorrow, 2 new girls are coming to live in my city. In a week or so, I'll get a new roommate. And this is the official hello to Garden City. Hopefully I'll feel more compelled to take pictures here than in the city of Sewer and Sweat.

So I've said the sad goodbyes and had the henna fun. About the blogging...it's not really that great. I always feel like I'm just talking to myself. And then when I press publish, the thing doesn't look exactly like I want it to. Then, I get aggravated and it keeps me up past my bed time while I try to remedy the situation.