Revenge!

I have been asked to post pictures of the giant spiders in our house. Unfortunately, I am not brave enough to get close to get a decent picture of it alive! I'm scared it my jump on me and knaw off an appendage or something! The night of our Mehendi party we found yet another huge spider in our house, so I called our neighbor auntie to help us deal with it! She came in and said it was a SMALL one at that. She walked in, killed it and then left! So simple. Before she left, I did manage to get a picture of him! Here you go Linda- this is for you! (sorry it's not the best picture!)

It's my party!!!!

The afternoon started hanging out with a new friend and her family!!! Of course they fed us a multitude of fruit, and then also fed us food, and then chai! After we rushed back home to meet our friend Atmum, who we were planning on doing Mehendi (Henna) with. Now there are two type of Mehendi, one that they apply to their hands, after it hardens it leaves a dark orange/brown stain. The second type goes on your hair!!! I have been told that it makes your hair darker, so I thought I'd give it a shot (I've been thinking I'd dye my hair black anyway). It's pretty amazing that something so green and goopy, turns your hair red/or orange. You by it as a powder and then add water and lemon, then you apply it to you head, and wait for HOURS. I asked them over and over if it would actually work on my head, and they assured me it would, however, they tend to "stretch" the truth a lot at times it seems. We only left it for maybe 3-4hours, while we did so, we practised our hand Mehendi. Hand Mehendi, when done properly is really beautiful! We bought two "cones" that you use to apply it to your hands, and we got to work on our aunties!we looked pretty funny we a bunch of green goo on our heads and April's and Atmum's kept "melting" as she called it. It was basically dripping down their faces and necks, leaving a nice stain as it did so! It was a really fun time of hanging out with our neighbors and learning/experiencing the culture.








I am learning so much! April and I have decided that when we go back to the states we will charge people millions of $$ to apply Henna to their hands etc. We could be like those people that you see in Coconut Grove, applying henna tattoos for like $20. This is also the night when the aunties all asked my why my face looked so "shining". I told them it was because I had been outside a lot that day and had sweated a lot. They didn't believe me! How could such shine come from sweat, and who knew it was a good thing? After a couple of hours we washed the mehendi off both our heads and hands, but we didn't use soap as they told us not to, till the morning. As I suspected the only thing that had changed color was my scalp, as for April. That is a different story. Let's just say blonde hair + Mehendi = VERY red hair. I can't post pictures on here, until she posts them on her blog. I think she might kill me if I let the public see them. Her hair really doesn't look bad, especially now since she's trying out for the part of Ariel in Disney's "The little Mermaid". I will keep you posted on the progress. In the meantime, if you want to see April's new hair do, I suggest you go to her blog and comment on her post titled "Girl's Night".

Three Days in a ROW???

So I realise that the last post was not short, as I said it would be! Sorry! Today has been the third day of attack of the giant jumping arachnids. Only this time it almost ran over my foot. I have come to the conclusion that maybe I'm supposed to get over my childhood fear of spiders, which I blame on my brother (thanks Benny). I have also decided that everything has to do with a frame of reference. For example. In the States, I would have called someone in to kill a spider any bigger than an inch. Here, I kill spiders bigger than that all the time, however, the only reason I can do that is because compared to the giant spiders that I've been exposed to of late, those inch big spiders seem microscopic! Maybe by the time I get to the states I'll be a professional spider slayer, or perhaps I just won't be afraid of the normal sized American ones anymore!

Trials.

So I will keep this short because I know that a) most people don't like to read long blogs and b) most people especially don't like to read long blogs without pictures. So I said I would update on the spider issue. It seems as though we have had trial after trial here. It started when we arrived back from Thailand with mice, roaches, ants, and flooding, and just when we though everything was starting to get back to a state of normalcy, we have had giant spiders, a smelly cow, and no electricty. The first morning back in our town I woke up early and walked into the toilet, half asleep still I saw a huge black blob in the corner, My heart jumped into my throat, and I quickly shut the door so it couldn't get out. I told our Uncle about the situation and he said he would kill it after he ridiculed me for being scared of spiders. He searched and searched, and even took the toilet tank off the wall so I could look behind it for peace of mind that YES the giant spider was gone. Relaxed I now go about my day. Well that afternoon I'm doing laundry and behind the machine I saw it- yes it was back, I decided I was going to pull an Indiana Jones, be brave and try killing it myself. I filled up a bucket out water and decided to drown it. I started throwing water all over the bathroom (yes our washer is in our bathroom, along with our water filter) but the spider started JUMPING all over the place. YES they are huge and they JUMP!!! I got freaked out, recalling memories of when my older brother threw spiders on me, ran out the door and shouted to one of out Aunties to come help. She dragged a boy with a broom and a fly swatter and everyone piled into the bathroom, and continued to mock me for my fear of spiders. They kept saying "it won't eat you" I think it's interesting how the phrase directly translates from Hindi to English. They kill it, chase me with it a little and then throw it out! PHEW our trials are over. Well yesterday I went into our lounge to do some pilates (a new addiction) and lo and behold ANOTHER giant jumping spider. This one not quite as big as the other, but still big enough to be too scary to kill by yourself. Yet again i try to pull an Indiana Jones, taking the broom and the fly swatter that was succesful in killing the giant spider the day before, i crept up beside is, run away, compose myself again, and then go in for the attack. I hit it with the broom, and the only thing it does is freak it out a little bit so he starts running all over the place. My heart beating a million miles a minute I franticly start smack the fly swatter on the wall. Smack Smack- I MISS!!! Hello the spider was maybe a foot away, how can you miss? By this time the spider is tucked in a corner on the ceiling. I figure as long as he stays there I can do my pilates in peace, until Super Uncle comes with the milk. Super Uncle came with our milk, and I told him our dilemma, he laughed and mocked me YET again. He then proceedes to make a stack of chairs the height of the tower of Babel, and jumps on the top (something a 55yr old should not be doing, but hey I sure aint getting up there close to that spider) and kills the spider! YEAY for Super Uncle! After that was over I though SURELY now we will have a peaceful day. Peaceful it was until our elecricity went out and 8:30am. Thinking it was due to some work we left it and didn't think twice until we came back that evening when it was dark, and EVERYONE else had power, except us! So yet again Super Uncle came to the rescue, almost electricuted himself, and replaced the copper wire fuse in our power box. I wonder what fun adventure today will bring!

Himalayan Trailblazing!

So part of our job description is to go where no man (woman) has gone before, or something like that. I'm sure people have gone to these places before, but from the looks of the road, I would say not too many! We awake early in the morning (ok so I awoke, April and Julie stayed up all night) at 3am, and set off around 4am for our day of travelling. We had booked a taxi the day before, and were planning on going to a lake about 6 hours away by taxi. Now keep in mind that the lake is only about 110kms away, however it takes 6 hours to give you an idea of the roads we were traveling on! I decided to sit in the back, which was stupid, (imagine having to brace yourself everytime you hit a pot hole, then imagine a road made entirely of pot holes!) so after the first 3 hours I switched to the front seat, next to the driver- Much wiser. The morning fog was just starting to lift as we made our first stop, (yes b/c I had to use the bathroom) and we watched as the fog started to rise and evaporate off the mountains, leaving what looked like two layers of clouds. We continued for another 2 or so hours before the road started to get really bad. I don't really know if you could call it a road, our driver didn't. He used the Hindi word for way, not road. I really can't describe what we saw...the entire 6 hours was magnificent. I have never seen mountains like it before. There must have been a totaly of 5 people that lived in the area. We discussed it an came to the conclusion that there was 1 person to every 500 goats.- Pretty accurate I think! We kept driving and driving thinking that we couldn't see anything more beautiful that we had already seen. Words and pictures cannot describe it! It is so unusual to think about that day. It was such a sereal experience. Our country is PACKED full of people, the cities are congested and polluted, and there are people oozing out of every opening, yet in the mountains, there was no one, no pollution, nothing in fact! I didn't feel like we were even in our country. After the 6 hour journey we arrived at the lake. And there is was, a large body of water, 2.5kms around, crystal clear, as if no one had disturbed it for centuries. We were kind of expecting maybe a little inn, or hotel or something, and we arroved to find, 3 multicoloured tents, and one black tent. We were a little disappointed because we were exhausted and hungry, but after about 2 minutes a man approached us and told us his Dhaba was the black tent. (Dhaba=food) We started walking around the lake taking pictures and just admiring the view. Once we got about half way round we realised that maybe for the first time in our lives there was complete silence. Not a bird, or a fly, or people shouting, horns honking, no locusts mating, nor chipmunks calling, mice squealing. Nothing, no sound, no wind it was like we were in a black hole, and all sound was absorbed. Realising this was a first for ALL of us, we laid down on the grass, and passed out. 3am is early no matter who you are, and after 6 hours of pretty strenuous driving, we were all ready to sleep.We slept for a good two hours, and the weather started to change. The wind picked up, and there was noise. The stillness of the lake was interupted by ripples created by the wind, and the sun was blazing! We took a few more pictures and then headed back to eat some food (I was starting to get cranky because my blood sugar was low). After a couple minutes of rest, a soda, and some food, we all felt rejuvinated and ready for the 6 hour ride back home. It was perfect timing, the wind continued to pick up and the rains came in. Our driver told us to hurry, so we paid and then tried to run up the hill to the jeep. I don't know if any of you have tried to do any physical activity in the mountains, but trying to run uphill at 15,000 feet preis NOT the most easy of tasks, for anyone other than sherpa. Those pilates videos I've been doing, definitely do not help at 15,000 feet. We waited for the car to heat up and then we were off. The rains came in and after a couple minutes of our driver looking frantically about him, he explained to me that it got late, the rains came, and the area we were in is prone to mud slides (the surrounding mountains were made of scree, little rocks). I tell the girls to start looking out the windows for mudslides! Thankfully there were no mudslides and the weather cleared up, and we were on the 6 hour journey home. The way home was just as fun as the way there, and our driver was teaching us some good Hindi. We stopped for Numkeen chai on the way home (otherwise known as Yak tea). Most people hate this stuff, but I think it's because you're expecting regular chai, when in reality it tastes for like salty/buttery soup. If you go in thinking "soup" it's actually quite tasty! We left there, and finally arrived at our house at 9pm. Exhausted we fell asleep and didn't wake till late the next morning, well some of us that is!

Gauri the Guy.

"GUY" is the hindi word for cow. GAURI as I have said before lives on our roof. I know that the people here are very attached to their animals, but I have to say GAURI is maybe the most spoilt pet cow I know. So maybe she gives milk, urine, and manure, all of which are "valuable" here, but in return she gets to eat an unlimited about of hay, cow feed, left over fruit etc from our neighbors kitchens PLUS she gets brushed everday by our Uncle. I am convinced that this is her favorite part of the day, and she takes joy in allowing everyone to pamper her (as well as being the most spoilt cow, I think she is also the tamest cow I've ever met). Here is a picture of her LOVING her brush time with Uncle. She even shows our Uncle where she wants him to brush next!! And yes my friends this all happens on our roof!

Fun things, and more random happenings!

Just as the rodent and bug problem in our house was reaching a new high in the stress level, I decided to needed to take some time to relax and chill, SO....I went to get my legs waxed! I know the guys right now are really grossed out and probably freaking, but it's really not bad. I was also planning on getting a facial, and maybe a pedicure. Well I got there and they quickly ripped the hair out of my legs and then sent me next door to relax for my facial. While I was getting my facial one of the girls wanted to do "Mehendi" = henna, on my hands. Normally I tend to air on the frugal side (those that know me well, know I'm just plain cheap), well today was no day to be frugal, I was gonna be a big spender and let her henna my hands at a steep $1.50. After I was done they had officially waxed my legs, arms, threaded my eyebrows, and upper lip (yes I have hair on my upper lip), given me a facial, and a neck massage, and done "Mehendi". In total it cost be around $10-15. Now I want you to know this is a lot of money here, and for me to spend this much in a day is pretty much unheard of. However it was worth it and I left the Beauty Parlour totally relaxed, stress free, and ready to tackle those giant flying roaches! (Special thanks to April for being the available photographer.)
So as far as other random happenings...We have a HUGE balcony, it's really the selling point of our house, however, we seem to share the balcony with just about ALL our neighbors. Some of the boys that live on the ground floor will come upstairs and hang their clothes on the line, sometimes people we don't even know will just come and stand on our balcony. Random to say the least, we've even had people try to give us rice, ask if it's a guest house, hotel etc. Well just yesterday I saw our Aunti (Yes this would be Super Aunti, mouse hunter extraordinaire) walk onto the balcony. This isn't unusual- she tends to wash clothes on our balcony. After a couple minutes I ventured outside because I had to go to the toilet-story of my life. (We have to go outside to go into our living room etc, unless of course we want to venture down the long dark hallway, where the giant spiders live) When I saw Super Aunti though, she was surrounded by wheat and sheep wool. She was seperating the chaff from the grain, and bundling the wool into little balls, that she'll then spin. AMAZING! Reason 1378 why I continue to say we live in a village. I am learning so much from our neighbors and the people here- they are amazing!

Three Blind Mice :)

Unfortunately, these mice are not blind! I also don't have pictures of the mice, so that means this post will be pictureless. The story is funny though! Let me set the scene: I am talking to my brother on skype, as the sun is starting to set and I can hear the cow walking around on the roof, and hear voices of our neighbors sitting and talking with each other also on the roof. I am loving the noise of our neighbors, and I'm feeling torn between talking with my brother and hanging out with our neighbors, when all of a sudden, I see a silhouette in the dusk lighten room of a small moving object. As it moves closer I realise what it is. I quickly tell my brother to hold on one second, as I grab the closest and longest object I could find (a shoe). I approach the little browny gray hair ball, its little petrified body, frozen still, and its heart beating a million miles a minute. In one sweep I manage to sweep it half way across the dining room, in a second and then a third sweep I manage to get it out of the front door, and onto th balacony, where I can pick up a more suitable weapon, a broom. I continue to sweep it across the balcony, when all of a sudden I hear shouts of my Uncle from the terrace above, "marna, marna, kill it, kill it!" to which I replied "I can't, you kill it". No less than 2 seconds later, Aunti (superwoman as we now like to call her) comes barreling around the corner with another broom, when "Whack! Whack! Whack!". Three strikes and you're out my friend, and thus ended the little brown mouse's life. Aunti then proceeds to pick up mouse and starts chasing me around my balcony, I quickly run inside and resume the conversation with my brother, so he is not left hanging too long. After a few minutes we say good bye and I venture upstairs to our roof, where I join our neighbors. After sitting awhile, I notice in the corner a little furry body. It was indeed the same very mouse from our house, only now it was being mauled by our Uncle's dog. That's what you get my friends when you mess with two white girls' house and their "Super Aunti".

A New Neighbor!

In a previous post (Another Wedding) you saw our water buffalo!!! Well here is a funny story, I have said before that we live in a village and I don't think many people believed us- well maybe this will change your mind! A few days ago I was talking with our Uncle, when he mentioned how much work there was in the village thesedays. He said it had become too much for his brother, so we were getting a visitor! YES the water buffalo. He said the water buffalo would be moving in with us. To make sure I understood his english, I asked him where the water buffalo would stay. He replied "I will make a house for it on the roof". Well no more than maybe an hour later I hear our Uncle banging away upstairs on our roof. I couldn't resist, I had to go check it out, and I saw what was basically some big sticks for the "house frame". So I asked Uncle how he will enclose it and he explained to me exactly what his architectural plans were. He also told me that we were no longer getting the water buffalo. A little sad, and confused (if we're not getting the water buffalo why are you still making its house?) he reassured me that we were getting the cow instead! He said he had to work very quickly because it was arriving the following day. I asked him how the cow would arrive and he said, "It will either come in jeep, or on foot" HELLO? On foot from the village? We're talking at least an hour in a bus, which means at least a good 5/6/7/8 hours on foot!! Him and Auntie worked and worked, and I tried to help as much as they would let me, then we called it a night and ate some dinner, then the next morning at around 5:30am, it started again! I went to the market at around 10:30am, and when I arrived back a little before 12pm, I was greeted by a very excited Uncle ushering me into the almost finished "cow house" to meet the new guest! The cow had already come by jeep, and was a little freaked out to say the least! I would be too if I had come down the mountain in a jeep and then been "shooed" down what April and I like to call "Death Mountain" to my new home, on two white girl's CONCRETE roof! I said hello to her and scratched her head a little bit, and then went down stairs! Here are a couple pictures of our new neighbor, her house and our Uncle constructing it! I'm really excited about the new member to the house, Uncle promised to teach me how to milk her, and I'm expecting to get some fresh milk in the next couple days! So that is the newest update I have. Yes I have a cow living on my roof. How many of you can be so lucky as to have a cow called GAURI living on your roof! I know you're all jealous! April has been away during the arrival, and I haven't told her yet that we have a cow as our new neighbor, I figure it would be a good welcome home present!

Everday things.

So, since I've moved here, I have started waking up earlier, usually before the sun comes up. I have found the mornings are some of the most beautiful times of the day. It is often during these times that I'll see a thick fog hovering over the river, or low lying clouds encircling the mountains. This morning as I woke up, I saw the moon- the HUGE moon, peeking over one of the mountains. I tried to take a picture of it, but a picture really couldn't capture how beautiful it was this morning! By the time I had made my coffee it was gone! Something else that I thought was interesting are the stars around it. You can see better in the second picture, but notice how in the picture, the stars (yes the little squiggles are stars) are different colors. There are various reasons for the different colors, mainly age, size, and radiation emitted, I will spare you the more geeky, boring details, if you're really interested there's a good website http://outreach.atnf.csiro.au/education/senior/astrophysics/photometry_colour.html - check it out!
Speaking of colors I have finished my second "muffler" (scarf) and I am now starting a sweater, the multicolored wool. I don't know why, but I'm making a small sweater, for a child, for a baby infact! I don't know why I'm making a small one, I was just told to do it, so of course I'm doing it- you don't mess with South Asian women and their knitting. I have a feeling that it might be a present for one of the Aunties here. I think she is pregnant, but I think it is also Taboo to talk about pregnancy, so I have tried to be subtle in my investigation of the situation. For example when I ask them who they're making baby clothes for, and they tell me "That Auntie" , surely this is a good enough answer. April disagrees with me, and my theory. I told here we will see in 6 or 7 months. If she pops out a kid, I guess I am right! I have now completed two mufflers, and a hat! If you missed the attractive pictures of me sporting my new hat, you can check out the "One more" post.
I guess my family can guess what their Christmas presents will be this year, as well as every other year after this! I'm thinking maybe I could buy TONNES of wool here (each scarf costs about $1.50 in wool- the nice kind) and make scarfs and gloves, and sell them at extortianate prices back home, for being homemade, using "Imported" wool! This along with my giant bunny idea would be gold mine!!! Ok, maybe not!

Time with Nationals.

One of our favorite nationals to hang out with is a lady with two kids. She has been really helpful in helping us find a house, get settled etc. Her kids are especially fond of us and are always trying to get us to spend the night, even though we only live a 5 minute auto drive away. On this particular evening, we were at their house, when the son decided he was going to make a hat out of newspaper. Side note: I have been amazed at how the kids here entertain themselves. In the states we give our kids tonnes of colorful toys and junk, where as here they don't really get those, so they'll find sticks, car parts, stones, anything and make a game out of it! After the hat was made it made its way around the room, so everyone could try it on! April said she felt like a bus boy in a 60s diner! It was pretty funny! Blogger isn't letting me add pictures right now, so I'll post them as soon as possible!

Random Sightings.

My big brother Ben (Benny as I and my sister in law like to call him) is one of my best reminders to blog. You can all really thank him for the constant updates, because just as I am forgetting to blog and thinking how long it takes to update, he reminds me how many people look at it and enjoy the pictures. Thanks for the accountability Benny!!! He has also asked me for pictures of everyday things that we see here, like the giant crows, the monkeys that sit on our balcony and the cows that make their residence on the bridge next to our house, blocking all the traffic. We are warned when we first arrive to take pictures of EVERYTHING that we think is unusual, because the longer you stay here the more "normal" things become. I have to admit this has definitely been the case. I think I have forgotten what it's like to live in America, without donkeys, cows, 100s of dogs, cats and monekys, freely roaming the city!!! I have fogotten what it's like to walk down the trash free street and not have to walk through swerage when the drains have overflown from monsoon season. I have forgotten what A.C. is, and how I used to have to carry a sweater with me, regardless of the weather outside, just to keep me warm in restaurants, stores etc. I have forgotten what a gorcery store looks like, and how you can buy EVERYTHING you need in one place. The list goes on... It is amazing to me how quickly we adapt to a place and it becomes "home". I was talking with my room mate the other day about our Thanksgiving/Christmas plans, and most people will be going to the capital to spend it with other "white" friends. I told my roomie, how disappointed I was that I might not be able to have Christmas in our "home" with our new family and friends. Maybe it's just because of my upbringing and the fact that we always had people from outside our family, join us for these holidays, but I will be really disappointed to not get to spend these holidays in our "home". This post has become a little more pensive/thought provoking that most of my others, but I am growing to love this place more and more, and right now it really does feel like home. So to let you become more familiar with our home, I have taken some pictures from around about town of the things we see everyday. The cows we see pretty much everywhere, the neat looking clouds, we've only seen during the monsoon season. Sometimes I'll wake up at 5am and there will be so much mist that I can hardly see 10feet in front of me. The dog, we call him blacky, is really mangy, but really sweet. He likes to sit right outside our gate, like a guard dog, although I don't think he actually guards us, he just uses it for shelter, during the rains! I have been trying to come up w/ ways to get rid of his mange so maybe he won't look so ill. Finally the monkeys. In the capital of our state, the monkeys are REALLY mean, they steal food from people, attack people, snarl etc etc. When we first moved here we were a little cautious of the monkeys in our area, however, I've found that if you just leave them be, they'll leave you alone also. However, if you're aggressive towards them, they will have no qualms about attacking you (as my mom found out when she tried to "shoo" one of them, and it turned around and charged her!). This particular monkey likes our neighborhood. He will often sit on our neighbors roof, or sit on our balcony, stealing our mangoes. At first I was angry at him because I wanted to eat the mangoes, but after tasting one, (they weren't the sweet kind) I figured he may as well have at it! I must say I have grown a little attached to him. This is also the same monkey that opened the door of our neighbors kitchen, then helped himself to the contents of her fridge, after having ransacked the rest of the room! Ok so I didn't say they weren't mischevious, just not as mean as other places perhaps!