Google Reader is so unforgiving.
Every time I write a blog post, I reread it several times (and often make changes) before publishing it. But it never fails that when I read it in my Reader (yes, I subscribe to my own blog), I find more things that I should have changed! So I make the changes to the post in the hopes that no one will see my error. But my hopes are not well-founded because I know that those of you who read this blog regularly, read it in your Reader. So if you ever see something that's incorrect or improper, perhaps you should check the post on the actual blog site just in case I noticed it too and made the change. And if I didn't, well, you can just leave it at that.
Culture Shock, final episode?
As our time living in India is drawing to a close (we will still technically live here for almost two more months, but much of that will be full of traveling and packing), I am realizing there is still a lot that I wanted to write about. So in case I don't get to the following in more detail, here is a list of things that we have come across during our time here:
- The presence of the swastika. Since WWII, it is a symbol that we in the west relate to the Nazis, Hitler, and the persecution of the Jews, so it is rarely seen in the US. But here it is quite common to see it. In fact, one of the little jewelry bags that came with a set of my pearls has the swastika on it, and I'm not sure whether I will bring it back with me (yeah, I probably will)! The reason we see it so much here is probably because it is still used as a religious symbol to Hindus and Buddhists.
- Islam prayer. Five times a day the Imam calls the faithful to prayer. It took some getting used to, but now when I do notice it, I find it rather melodic and, in a way, it really blends into the country.
- The slowest washer/dryer ever. As someone who has never done their laundry outside the US before, it was shocking to find that our combination washer/dryer takes approximately 5 hours to do one load! And they are the tiniest loads ever. In fact, not once have I been caught up with laundry for the entire year that we have lived here (and it can't be because of my own laziness...)! Apparently, this is how it is in most countries outside the US. Thank you, America, for huge power-hungry washing machines (I'm serious.).
- Whipping out the ween. That is my very cultured and proper way of saying that every time I go out, I see several men by the side of the road, peeing. And they don't even try to disguise what they are doing.
- The quest for the perfect lightbulb. I can't even go into this because lightbulbs have become a very sensitive issue for us. We search and search for ones that will fit, that are the perfect brightness and color, but we have yet to be successful. Fortunately, a couple months into our time here, we discovered a place that sells just-ok lightbulbs. But the perfect one still evades us.
Random Project
I love having projects. And I love writing about my projects. In fact, I have a whole "Chocolate flavor" category on projects that I'm currently working on: unsweetened. At any given time, I am working on a quilt or two, in the middle of a knitted scarf, learning a language, working through a book list, and a bunch of random projects (at one point I even built my own doll house! I wish I had those pictures to share.). Yesterday's random project: designer sleep masks. We have a plethora of sleep masks, due to our many recent international flights. They are all plain blue, very boring. But since we have several more long international flights in the next couple months, I thought I needed to spruce them up a bit.
I sewed on the material, embroidered a couple flowers, then sewed on the beads (from some earrings I no longer wear), and voila! Perhaps I will make more, perhaps not (am I really going to wear this one on the plane, let alone a variety of them?). I'll probably just move on to the next project.
Why flies?
God in his wisdom made the flyAnd then forgot to tell us why.
-Ogden Nash
This little ditty has been going through my head for the past several weeks. We have frequent fly infestations here, the latest of which has take over Ryan's bathroom. They do seem to prefer our bathrooms in general (big mystery there) but particularly this bathroom because we have a pigeon's nest in our fan. A couple months into our stay here, we covered the fan with a plastic bag and sealed the edges. This was immensely helpful until they cleaned the outside of the building and all the nest (or at least all the excrement) was sprayed into that bathroom. We covered our faces in towels (for fear of bird flu, and of course, the smell) and disinfected it until it sparkled! But then came the flies. We turned on the bug spray plug, and this morning, here is what we found (enlarge pics for best* viewing):
Poor Gas Mileage?
Recent intelligence suggests that there is a place near Ryan's work that buys siphoned gas from cabs and private cars. We were warned to keep track of our gas mileage, because it has been discovered that several fellow ex-pats' drivers have been a part of this practice (and since have been fired). If only these clever-minded individuals would use their ingenuity for the good...
Weird Bugs
As many of my devoted readers will know, I have a huge fear of bugs. So it's one thing to be in the US and recognize the tiny enemies, but it's a whole new story to be in India and not know what species of danger you are facing. For example, I have seen bugs that look like an R's*, but are black with red markings. We also have brown flies that have the segmented body of an ant and are huge and gross (I guess gross should be implied when talking about bugs). But the bug from several weeks ago was the weirdest. When I first saw it, it was up near the ceiling and it had the shape of an R, so of course, I had to call in reinforcements. I do not deal with R's by myself, especially ones on the ceiling. I called Ryan to come spray it. He came and used our R spray, and the thing leaped from the wall and out towards him! Then, when it landed on the floor, it started to bounce! And every time it bounced, it made a popping sound!
Bounce *Pop* Scream!
Bounce *Pop* Scream!
Bounce *Pop* Scream!
(The screaming was me, not the bug.) It was bouncing about a foot in the air! Ryan kept spraying it and it kept bouncing and popping, and I kept screaming! Finally, with enough spray it stopped bouncing and died (my screams continued, however).
I have since wondered what type of bug it was, but I have a hard and fast rule that I do not search for bugs online because it would probably be much more information than I ever wanted to know about any bug. So here I sit, torn between wanting to know what danger I face, and not wanting to know at all. So far I've chosen ignorance.
*R's are, well, if I could say the word, I wouldn't call them "R's", so let's suffice it to say that they scurry in the dark. That's all, I cannot speak of them any more.
Don't move to India if you get motion sickness.
I just ate a wonderful meal and my stomach was happily full. Then I got into the back seat of our car, and happily full turns into angrily full. What with sitting in the back seat, manual transmission, and the quick stopping and starting of Indian traffic-honking cars, rickshaws, motorcycles, pedestrians, dogs, and cows, the once happily digesting food begins sloshing around until it's ready to come up again. So take this warning, do not move to India if you get motion sickness. You will love the food, you will want to indulge yourself in the many wonderful restaurants, but on your drive home, all the wonders of your previous meal will be forgotten.
Feel free to stare.
Upon first moving to Hyderabad, we noticed immediately the staring of the locals. It seems that our white skin is quite the novelty here. In the beginning it was very disconcerting. Remember this post from October?
Secondly, as white people, we get stared at, a lot. In fact, we were told before we came that people would even want to take our pictures, and would sometimes even try to do it sneakily without you knowing. Well, it’s one thing to be warned, and another to experience it for yourself!
Then we began to get used to it.
Then we began to stare ourselves. "Ryan, look! There's a white guy!" has become a phrase I have found myself muttering more than once. If I see a white person in a restaurant, I watch them enter, sit down, wonder where they are from, if they live here, what they are doing here. All this while I stare at them, open-mouthed before suddenly realizing I should look away. But spotting a non-Indian residents is really quite rare! Granted, there is a sizable ex-pat community, but you have to really know where to look. There are very few white people just walking down the street. Hence, I have to stare.
If I were on Twitter...
This is what the past couple days' twitterings would be:
- 11am Monday: Just got The Sims 3! I think I'll play for a couple minutes just to see what it's like!
- 12pm Monday: Still playing The Sims 3. It's fun!
- 3 pm Monday: Still playing.
- 11pm Monday: Still playing. Must get some sleep.
- 11am Tuesday: Good morning! I think I'm going to get some work done today! I played too much Sims 3 yesterday, so today will be a productive day.
- 11:05am Tuesday: Decided it couldn't hurt to play for an hour or two.
- 11pm Tuesday: WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?
- 11am Wednesday: Will definitely get work done today.
- 12pm Wednesday: Just did some dishes, now I can reward myself...
- 3pm Wednesday: Must. stop. playing. Will go do chores.
- 3:30pm Wednesday: Laundry in machine! Now I can say I was productive today! Off to play some Sims!
- 1am Thursday: Ryan is telling me to stop playing Sims and go to bed. But since when do I obey him?
Well, I think you get the picture, so I won't continue. It's really just more of the same. But today is a new day! Admittedly, it's already 4pm and I've been playing the Sims for the past 3 hours, but no more! Today I will make up for a wasted week!
- 7pm Friday: I guess I should go "make up for a wasted week" now...
Movie Review: Star Trek
I am not a Trekkie. But I am probably one of the few people in the world that wishes I was. That is because I just saw the new Star Trek movie and really loved it! It stirred in me a desire to go and watch all the old shows and maybe, just maybe, learn a little Klingon. Yes, I said it, and I'm not ashamed. Those of you who know me already know of my love for fantasy fiction, including Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. And those of you who really, really know me, know my love of games like World of Warcraft. This show, while perhaps on the border between all-out fantasy and science fiction, seems like it would be just my cup of tea. I don't feel I am in a position to critique the movie, because I am not a Trekkie and therefore don't know if it followed all the rules set forth in the old show. But I do think I can recommend the movie to others out there who are not Trekkies and are as unfamiliar with the show as I am. It is an action-filled movie, good casting (ie. I thought the characters all had great chemistry), and highly entertaining. Go with a date (there are some cuties in it), go with your family (it was family friendly), and enjoy!
I am now off to abandon my study of Elfish and learn some Klingon.
Culture Shock, episode 4
I am still not used to the power outages here. In the beginning, they were few and far between and only lasted several seconds to a minute. But as the weather has gotten hotter and hotter, the power has been going out more and more. For a while it was predictable; it went out at 12pm and would come back around 1:15 or so. Then it started going out at 11am and lasting until around 12:30pm. These times were quite inconvenient as it was right when I would be making lunch for Ryan and I before he headed out to work. However, at least they were predictable, as I said. Now the power has stopped going out around lunch time, but it goes off for several hours interspersed throughout the day. This is more difficult because you never know when it is coming. Several of the newer apartment buildings will have full back-up power, but ours does not. We knew that going in, but if you will recall, I fell in love with this place the moment I saw it and would not be dissuaded. The power seems to be connected with the heat and lessening of the water supply. We moved here right in the middle of monsoon season (July through September), and apparently that was the reason the power outages were so few at that point. I do not have any source to back up this claim, however. It's more of my own observation.
I am currently writing this post in the midst of a power outage (we have a UPS-Unlimited Power Supply, basically a battery-for my computer) because I was at a loss as to what else to do. I had been working through my Google Reader, but without power, we also lose internet. So I worked on the dishes, straightened up the place, read a little, and began to feel frustrated and hot (no a/c!). Hence the post.
Charminar
The Charminar is the thing to see when visiting Hyderabad. We've taken all our guests so far and enjoyed it for many reasons. Not only is it an interesting building, but it offers a great view of the city and some fun shopping! Since the majority of you are not visiting us (anyone's welcome! OK, not you strangers, but friends are totally welcome), here are a few videos that will give you a virtual tour of the area, instead.
[vimeo 4114627] This video is taken from inside our car as we approach the Charminar. It's long and a little bumpy, but it gives you an idea of what this area of the city is like. And it's in HD (sorry for the long load times, or maybe that's just here, with the slowest internet ever)!
[vimeo 4115427] This is looking down from the top of Charminar (you can climb some very high and uneven stairs, located in the minarets to get to the top, where there are no rails to keep you from going over!).
[vimeo 4115615] Another view from the top. This one includes a picture of me and Mecca Masjid when the camera spans right.
[vimeo 4115742] And finally, yet another view from the top, but this one is of Laad Bazaar, where you can find bangles, cheap (but very nice) fabrics, bangles, pearls, and more bangles.
Still working out the kinks...
But the latest video is now up and running... Hugo on a Plane
Hugo on a Plane
If any of you are curious as to how we transport our Yorkshire Terrier, Hugo, back and forth around the world, here's a short video clip. [vimeo 3711791]
He's gotten so he loves that little carrier, so we leave it out all the time now. We think he feels secure in there. He's an excellent traveler; we never hear a peep out of him. And except for pooping in the Frankfurt airport (he's done this twice now), he's a pleasure to travel with!
Conversation at Charminar
We've been to the Charminar several times now (video postings to come), and every time people ask if they can take pictures with us, or we see them sneaking pictures. I've gotten used to it, but I still get a bit nervous every time we go. I'm mostly just uncomfortable with the constant begging (they will put their hands on you and tug on your clothes) and people following us around trying to sell their wares. One visit, however, while we were waiting for our car, I had a little chat with a couple of boys trying to sell sunglasses. Their English was amazingly good, especially for that part of the city, and they were very curious about my face. Boys: Are you from America? Me: yes. [still trying to ignore them] Boys: Do you speak English? Me: yes. [finally stopped to wait for our car; there was no where for me to go] Boys: Do you speak French? Me: no. Boys: Italian? Me: no. Boys: German? Me: no, only English [by this time, I'm laughing] Boys: Why is your face red? Me [pointing to the sun]: It's very hot here for me! Boys: But your face is so red! Me: I'm just very hot! Woman passing on street looks at me curiously. I see the boys pointing to the sun and at my face, apparently explaining to her why I'm so red. This of course, makes me blush, and subsequently, I get redder. Our car arrives, so we begin climbing in. Boys: You are very pretty. Me: Thank you. We wave goodbye to them from the car.
On our next trip to the Charminar, I met up with one of the same boys again, and he remembered me! This was quite amazing to me, because there are thousands upon thousands of people at this little junction in the city. It just goes to show how few Americans they see there. He offered to sell me sunglasses again, but seeing I was already wearing them, tried to sell them to Ryan instead. We should have just bought a pair from him. After all, he did say I was pretty.
Book Review: The Last Sin Eater
The sin eater was a person who was paid a fee or given food to take upon himself the moral trespasses of the deceased and their consequences in the afterlife. Sin eaters were common in the early nineteenth century in England, the Lowlands of Scotland, and the Welsh border district. This custom was carried over by immigrants to the Amercias and practiced in remote areas of the Appalachian Mountains. This is a purely fictional story of one such person.
Enjoy!
Bangles!
And here's a here's an even better hint at the extent of the bangles:
[vimeo 3712930]
This is just one little alley off of the main road, a road which is filled with alleys like this and more stores like this, all full of bangles. (I told Ryan he should have talked to that kid more; he seemed so excited to be on camera!)
Book Review: The Wind in the Willows