Out of Commission...

Ok, so I have to apologise for not having posted more pictures this week. It's partly due to the fact that I've been a little sick, and haven't done quite as much as normal, and partly because I haven't had the usual patience it takes to upload pictures. So I will start with this past Saturday!!! My time here has been full of Birthdays, first there was mine, this past saturday was my national brother's, and in about 2 weeks is my national sister's. Some of the family members came in from out of town to spend the day with the Birthday boy. Again we ate sweet carrots, and lots of other national sweets. I did well this time to avoid most of them, but I did have a piece or two of cake. I should mention at this point that I don't avoid the sweets because they're bad, I avoid them because they really are sweet, and rich, and after my Birthday I have learned that I really MUST limit how many of them I eat.

PARADE!!!

So the Day after the Birthday celebration, I was sitting in my house when all of a sudden there were loud shouts and voices on megaphones. I had just received an email about the possibilities of demonstrations in the area, so I cautiously just looked out of the window to find a multitude of people dressed in white, waving red and yellow flags around. I was a little nervous as to what exactly was going on, so I stayed inside my house for most of the morning. I later found out that it was a yearly celebration of Shiva, a Hindu god, called Shivratri- I think that's how you spell it. I'm not sure exactly what goes on, but I know that when I get to the mountains they celebrate it every year with a procession with people from all over the state. I'll keep you posted for next year!

Shaddy...Wedding.

On Thursday night was the Ladies Sungeet, and last night (Saturday) was the Shaddy (Wedding). I will try to explain what happened in as much detail as possible, but the ceremonies are pretty elaborate. Firstly we drove aroound for awhile trying to find the place, then when we finally arrived we realised that all the Bride's side were there, but few of the groom's. Aparently in tradition the Groom's side make the Bride's side wait, so they usually arrive later, which means the program is supposed to start at 8pm and they won't arrive until 10pm. No one seems to mind the fact the Groom isn't there though b/c there are stage performers and TONNES of food.Finally the Groom arrives on a horse, in this case a horse pull carriage. Apparently some joke that this is the Groom's last chance to run away- on the horse. The Groom's side of the family will come with the Groom, and dance, they'll have brass instruments playing songs, and a bangra drum, and they dance there way down the street, blocking traffic, setting off fireworks, and slowly making there way to the wedding. As we were part of the Groom's side we went out and danced with the parade (Bharat) and slowly made our way to the celebration. It is mainly the boy's brothers etc that do most of the dancing and they will dance ALL night long. Meanwhile the ladies side are waiting at the entrance to the celenration. When the Groom arrives they will try to get the Groom to give them money, and he will cut a ribbon seperating the two families and then they will dance some more. Slowly the Groom is ushered to his place under a canopy, while everyone else moves to the dance floor and continues to dance. At this wedding there were stage performers, but no one really paid much attention to them, they were to busy dancing. This celebration puts any American wedding I've attended to shame. The place was huge, there were masses of people, food, drinks, entertainment. It was almost like a fair, not a wedding. So we danced, and danced some more, and by this point it's probably 12am, and I still haven't seen the Bride.Finally the Bride arrives and is slowly ushered under the canopy with the Groom and EVERYONE gathers around to see them standing next to each other. The next couple hours are spent just taking pictures with the Bride and Groom. Everyone wants a picture with the Bride and Groom, and they just sit and wait.....At this point most people will start to go home. When the Crowd finally started to calm down and the families started leaving the canopy I was able to get a better picture of the Bride and Groom. This whole time I didn't see the two talk to one another. The Bride tends to look down a lot, and has a sad look to her. The Groom looked a little bored to be honest. I really don't blame him, because at their wedding, they don't get to participate in any of the dancing, or food. They're basically put on display for everyone elses enjoyment! I think the celebration is more for the families of the Bride and Groom. The Bride and Groom are adorned with bright colors, gold chains, money, and a bunch of other things that are given to them as part of the celebration. The Bride usually wears red, or a hot Pink, NOT white. White is the color of mourning here. She will have Mehendi (Henna) on her hands and all kinds of jewelry on her head and face. At around 1am we were able to take our picture with the Bride and Groom, and shortly afterwards we decided to leave. I ended up getting home at around 2am. Close family will stay for the fire ceremony, where the couple will walk around the fire 7 times and the Pundit will do a religious ceremony, and throw stuff in the fire. The couple will finally be taken back to his house some time between 5 and 6am. Then the next day there are more festivities. I don't know exactly what happens on each day, but the whole wedding process takes about a week. The newly wed couple must sleep for a week after their wedding celebrations. I was only part of two days, and I'm exhausted, I can't imagine how they must feel after a week of sleep deprivation, and fesitivities. I am so glad I was able to go to this wedding it was a great experience, and such a fun time. On the way home I was talking with a family and I commented that a wedding with all these people etc, must cost a fortune, and they said "From the moment a baby girl is born, they start saving for her wedding and dowry". Then I simply said "my dad has it easy!!!". Dad you better watch out, a couple more weddings like this and I'm gonna want a fair ground at mine!

Ladies Sungeet!

Last night....16th Feb, I was invited to go to a ladies Sungeet. This is kind of like a bachelorette party, but different in the fact that there are mostly men there. Apparently back in the day it was just women on the groom's side, but nowadays it's more mixed gendered, interestingly though the Bride isn't allowed to go. Well, although I didn't know anyone at the wedding, (I was invited becuase I'm the friend of someone who knows the family, and I'm American.) my friend and I got dressed up in our party suits (Salwar Kameez), with bangles and big earrings and the whole shabang!
The party was to start at 7:30, but that really means that no one shows up until 9:30 and the party doesn't get started until 10:00. We arrived at around 8:30, and were served finger foods, soft drinks and filtered water in cute little cup things. After everyone had some things to eat, and the bridegroom's sister arrived the party got started. As with a lot of festivals in this area, there is ALWAYS dancing, and a lot of it. They dragged my friend and I onto the dance floor and we tried to strut our white folk, semi uncooridinated stuff. There was a mix of music from South Asian disco pop, to traditional Bangra. We danced and we danced and we danced, then around 11:30pm the food was ready, so we too a break to eat, and then danced a little more and finally left at around 1am. What a great night! I didn't even realise how exhausted I was until I got in the car to come home. Tomorrow, we go to the wedding, I'm sure it will be a blast, South Asians really know how to through parties! I will keep you all posted!

Success!

Ok so not a total success, but a small triumph. This is just a short post to notify everyone that although my last cooking attempt was pretty terrible, the second time round it was a LOT better. I know from the picture my food is still rather yellow looking, BUT most food here is brightly coloured. I think the key is having ALL the ingredients. By the time I leave this place who knows maybe I'll be a cooking mastermind!

Another Restful Day!

After what seemed to be a VERY long week of language, I eagerly embraced my day off with enthusiasm. I spent the morning in the park, reading and watching people get their morning exercise. The weather was beautiful and it was very restful, despite the strange looks and stares I received. I am currently reading a book called "Peacemaker". It is excellent, and I'm enjoying reading about conflict resolution- that's what the book is about.

As I was reading, people watching, I realised that I was surrounded by quite a large group of chipmunks. They are EVERYWHERE here. Coming from the west I tend to think that they're really cute, BUT I have been informed by my national family that they are basically rodents and eat a lot of the grain and stuff they use for cooking.
My family did talk about the chipmunks with a slight affection, making me think that they were not on a hate list like maybe some other rodents. I still say I'd rather wake up to a chipmunk in my bed than a rat!
I tried numerous times to get close enough to take a picture, but chipmunks are remarkably fast and they don't like to stay in one place for long periods of time- or maybe they're just camara shy. I did manage to snap this guy as we was eating some nut of something...I have to say he looks kind of cute.

Side note- to those of you who think I have the wrong number of "duhs" in the MC Hammer song, I must say that I think you are mistaken. I have counted numerous times, and I think it's right!

Brithday Bash...South Asian Style.

What a great day! I spent my Birthday celebration with my South Asian family. It was so much fun. We started with my language lesson and then afterwards the family gathered in the family room. Papa Ji, Mama Ji, Auntie from accross the street, and all my new brothers and sisters. They all call me their big sister, which is true in many regards. Not only am I older than all of my brothers and sisters, but I think they are all under 5ft tall. They come up to my chest when we hug. In South Asian tradition you buy sweets to give out to everyone, and I think if you go out for a meal etc..you're expected to foot the bill. I bought some sweets called Gulab Jaman- they're the brown and white balls, and they are VERY sweet. It's almost like eating a smooth sugar ball. They're not bad though. We also had some other snacks like Samosas and sweet carrots- I forget the name, but it is also very sweet.


So the celebration was started by them bringing in my Birthday Cake (brownies that an American friend made) with a candle and singing "Happy Birthday". Then it was my time to cut the cake, so they could feed it to me. It's kind of like in a wedding, only your parents feed you the cake and then you feed them the cake. I was fed numerous brownies as everyone wanted their picture taken feeding me the cake. We were then able to start eating. The food was really good, although I did try to stay away from the Gulab Jaman and sweet carrots for as long as possible, because they're sweet enough to give anyone a headache. However, I was only able to avoid them for about 5 minutes before they were forced into my lap, along with presents. I wasn't sure if giving presents was part of South Asian tradition, but I was very thankful for the new watch and new bangles/earring set I received! After the sweets were eaten and the chai had been drunk, it was getting pretty dark so we decided to go, but before we did, we of course had to sing and dance one last time. Papa Ji is a GREAT dancer, I could watch him for hours, and I think he could dance for hours. What a wonderful day!

Cooking Catastrophe!!!

So most of you know that I am by no means a mastermind in the kitchen. This really hasn’t been much of a problem in the states as my diet in college consisted mainly of Raman noodles, and eggs. Here, however, it has proven a little more interesting. Because food here is made with fewer preservatives you can’t keep things for long, which means cooking from scratch a lot. When I mean scratch I don’t mean cutting open the packet of spaghetti sauce and pouring over your pasta- I mean making your own sauce from scratch because pre-made foods aren’t readily available. Well seeing as I’m in South Asia I thought that I should learn how to cook some national cuisine. As it so happens my language helper had me over for dinner with her family and they showed me how to make my favorite dish- Aloo Gobhi. It basically consists of potatoes and cauliflower with some spices etc. After my lesson I was excited to try this new cooking experience at home. The next day I bought the needed spices and got to work. I didn’t have any cauliflower so I just left that out, along with a couple of other things, and I added a couple extra potatoes. Everything was going according to plan until I added the water. They originally told me to add what I thought was a glass and a half of water (please keep in mind that this whole conversation was in Hindi, so misunderstanding was possible) well I added the first glass of water and the potatoes were SWIMMING. I decided that this was NOT a good thing so I didn’t add anymore water, and I tried to boil off as much as possible, however it ended looking like florescent, curried mush. (The spices used in national cooking are really bright, and flavourful, but if you spill any of the spices, mixed with oil on your clothes, you're looking at a drycleaner's nightmare). I later found out that for Aloo gobhi you’re supposed to add one glass and a little bit if needed, BUT for just aloo (potatoes) you’re only supposed to add a half a glass of water. Although the texture was a bit mushy, it didn't stop me from eating it. It wasn't bad for my first try- not terribly good, but not bad. It was a tad spicy though, which I don't really understand because I used less spice than they showed me because I ran out, however, the two peppers I DID use added some much spice it was like an atomic bomb going off in my mouth! I promise these pictures make it look worse than it tastes.

Can't touch this...

South Asia is a very conservative region, and most places consider "western" clothes etc as less modest. Since I've been here I have bought a couple "Suits" as they are called. Salwar Kameez is the more traditional word for them. Although they all have the same basic shape-long shirt, pants and a scarf type thing, they can be VERY different. The biggest difference is in the pants.The more traditional pants (pyjama) have pleats in the front and the back, then you can have half pleats- pleats just in the front, and then you have parallel- like regular pants. They're all really comfortable, and the one thing these pants have in common is that they all have HUGE waistlines that you tie with a drawstring. When I say huge I mean you can easily fit two people in them, or a pregnant belly, or you could just gain 30lbs and not have to worry about buying new pants. I LOVE wearing suits because they really are like wearing pyjama's ALL the time. PLUS there's the added bonus of looking like you're a back up singer from and 80s MC Hammer music video.....duh duh duh duh duuuh duh Can't touch this! Here are a couple of pics of me sporting my cool new pants.

Temporary Home..

After a couple of requests of what my area/ temporary home is like, I have decided to post a couple pictures to help those of you back home get a feel for where I am living. I have to admit that the day I took these pictures it was very cloudy, and kind of dull, so this probably isn't the best picture of the city beautiful. The first couple pictures are of a nearby park that I walk through on my way to the market. The trashcan I think is cute in the way it tries to encourage people to not litter. I have yet to see someone use a trashcan, but at least they're availabe.








The next couple pictures are straight out of my balcony. Unfortunately there happens to be a big telephone pole in the way, but you can just try to visualize it without the big pole in the middle.



Finally the last picture is of a cloth store in the nearby market. I would have taken more pictures at the market, but unfortunately I already draw a lot of unwanted attention to myself as it is.

Taking pictures just adds to that attention, so I decided to keep the picture taking for another time. The cloth stores are my favourite. I think they sum this place up very well. Colorful, bright, and packed full in an organised yet chaotic way all at the same time.