Mommas are the Greatest!

So my momma sent a package a while back and we have been watching for it...well crossing our fingers and hoping mail will find us actually. So anyhow, Tuesday was the lucky day!!! Papa ji (our landlord - he calls us his american children, so we call him Papa ji. )So papa ji comes by with the mailman (didn't know we had a mailman - but good to know) and announced that a package has arrived from texas! So he then makes my day and takes me to town on his scooter! I loved every minute of it!
So picture this, in order to leave your house you must wear a full suit...including a dupata which is the scarf thing you wear around your neck...so we hike down the hill to his scooter (sidenote: women here ride "sidesaddle".) So i'm sitting "sidesaddle" on the back of the scooter trying to hold down my dupata so it won't get caught in the wheel with Papa ji driving. It must have been more humorous to watch, especially when we returned with me carrying a big box while holding down my dupata and hoping that i didn't fall off as we rode back up the mountain...

So mommas are the greatest...they tend to have the best timing.... after our week last week, this definitely brightened this week!!! It will last us for a long while!! And there was a wonderful bottle of Pace's picante sauce - you can take a girl out of Texas but you can't take the love of mexican food out of the texas girl!

And here is Beki - she was really excited about the alarm clock so now she doesn't have to wake me up in the mornings!! Not that it really matters because she's up at 5am anyways...that is way to early for this night owl. 6:30 am is fine but 5 is just nuts....

An Ode to Vasha L.Young

This is an ode to Vasha L. Young, fellow art major drop out, Felicity and Friends fanatic, former roommate, coffee lover, and roadtrip buddy...
In fact this is how we met...in the hallway before an Art class at UNT. So in casual conversation we both figured out that we knew someone at Texas Tech, so we decided to take a roadtrip together in Gretta (her green jetta) (Denton to Lubbock is one scenic route let me tell ya)...i think it was 2 days into the trip before we knew each other's name...

Not only did we become great friends...but roomies at Blue Door 104 in Denton, Texas.

Then along came a boy named Matt Davis....

who gave her his heart and bought her a rock...

So i wish you many new friends in Cali with the same love for 80's music and side pony tails... Just remember carpet angels are the best, the best conversations occur when at least one person is sitting upside down, "Choose your own adventure" means something other than a trekking route and a friend's quote can cure the worst of days... Especially if one of your friends are named Ben or Jerry...

So to commemorate your last few weeks of singlehood... I made you cookies! Too bad i'm poor and can't afford to send them to you...

I'll be at your wedding in spirit - along with my cardboard cutout... =)

"The Village People"

On Sunday we were heading to a village to spend some time with a family - we were so excited. We were to meet at an Aunties house in town then travel with them by bus to the village. Well we arrive at 10 like they told us to knowing full well that we were early by indian time. However we chatted for a bit over a cup of chai then went on the roof and watched her do her laundry...then we came back downstairs and she ironed her suit then went to take a bath. Then they served us "breakfast" - a hot parantha with some kind of gourd mixed with spices...it was really good. We weren't really sure why we needed to eat before we went tothe village where they would serve us lunch but you don't argue with an Auntie. So then we finally leave and head to the bus stand. I think we got to the bus stand about 12:45. It was only a 30 -45 min bus ride to the town near the village. We met with our family's friend who would then take us to his village. We walked for about 3 kilometers or so and finally reached their house. We met his wife, 2 daughters and his one son, along with his brother and sister-in-law with their son, and his mom and dad who all live in the same house. We had a glass of pani (water) first as is the custom, then a cup of chai. We chatted on their porch (see pic) ate lunch, then went for a walk around their village and fields. But before we left we met his parents who were sitting downstairs chatted a bit with them. His father is an ex-police officer, he was quite an interesting fellow. I got a picture of him and his wife, his wife was very sweet. Then we heard a familiar noise and what to our wondering eyes should appear? but 2 water buffalo!! It was sad to find out they had already been milked and this is done early in the morning. So we settled for just petting them - they have really wet noses and i still think they wear wigs...
As Beki says.."They are SO CUTE!"
We were reminded of a certain veggie tale song...

"Everyone's got a water buffalo, yours is fast but mine is slow,

where you get them i don't know, but everyone's got a water buffaloooooooo."

Well now we know where you can get them and in this village everyone really does have their own buffalo. We went walking around for a bit and it really was peaceful and beautiful there. We were introduced to all their extended family along with any neighbors that weren't related. As we were coming back home, we met two of the CUTEST ladies EVER! I practiced what little Hindi i knew and then gave them a hug as we were leaving to go back to the house. The woman in the purple and pink almost didn't let me go! I wanted to take her home with us. (i loved her sunglasses!)

When we got back to the house, they gave us a nice bouquet of

white flowers and greenery. It was really sweet of them until we realized that the greenery was actually marijuana. They told us we should eat the "greenery" because it was "good for health".... We just laughed because they thought they were soo funny. But seriously, we learned that the better quality marijuana is in the next village.... haha.

We went upstairs to sit on the porch for a bit, then Beki sang and played the guitar for us - it was so fun. We ate again before we went back home. I have no idea how these people eat so much, their stomachs must be bottomless pits! Anyhow, it was probably good that we ate a lot that day because we didn't eat for the next 3 days because we were so sick!! Next time we're bringing our own water...

Conversations...

This has been a strange week of sorts...
So...as i'm finishing up my language lesson with Atmum*, Beki comes in and we all start chatting. Well she made a joke about Rastas (like Rastafarians) because there is a large rheshi population here. Basically they are glorified beggars who walk shop to shop with a bucket asking for money because they are in the forrest dwelling stage of their life. So its voluntary poverty... anyhow they wear a lot of orange with their hair in dreadlocks. Atmum* was quite confused so we spent about 10 minutes explaining what a Rasta was, looked up pictures from good ole google, and laughed as she tried to pronounce rastafarian...

Later we went to the Public Library to be productive like the good and responsible girls that we are..hehe BUT we got kicked out...!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are pretty suspicious looking characters but I mean really...theLibrary?? I have no idea what the librarian said or why we had to leave...but i know when i'm being "shooed" in any language...

Cooking Lessons...

We learned how to make aloo paranthas... They were so good!!!! We'll be indian chefs when we come back home! So first you mix the atta (wheat flour) with pani (water) and knead it to the (right consistency)...so we're still working on that part... Then you you take the dough and roll it into a ball and flatten it abit. Then you squish aloo (potato) and a lot of spices that i've never seen before, into the middle and cover it up. Then you roll it out into a circle (so that's harder than you might think...) and fry it with oil on the stove. Its SO good! I think it was because we had direct kitchen supervision...

Rooftops are neat

This is part of my adopted family that checks up on us and spend each evening with us on our roof... This is our landlord and his fam... He calls us his children... We think that's neat.
the other afternoon, Atmum* dropped by with a sari so i could try it on. Her only explanation was "i just wanted to see you in a sari". All i can say is that it will take a lot of practice to learn how to tie this thing right without another person helping wrap you up like a mummy.

Sights of Nimda* (sorry i couldn't include smells)

Some prospects for our mode of transportation

This is a popular hat among our people...

A mundir (a temple)

I think this woman is beautiful

Oh yes ... they are shellin' peas...

Nimda*

A woman we met on the road

A view of Nimda* Town

He weaves rugs with the thing behind him

Dancin in the Rain...

I love Rain!!! It was soo hot! And the clouds rolled in and it started raining... We started dancing and twirling on our balcony. These are a couple of our neighbors who were visiting that we were able to grab to join us in the fun.

Happenings in Nimda*

WE went to a "baby shower" actually its more like a baby showing... so you go and eat and then they'll show you the new mom and baby inside the house at different times. this is one of the daughter-in-laws there that we have become friends with.

As we were there one of the many "god" parades went on... they start by playing these awful sounding drums then they literally parade one god to another for blessing then parade it back up to its original temple.

Love and Joy

I think names are great... This is my language helper!!
My middle name is Joy and her name means "Love" so we make a great team...=)

Simple Joys...

So try turning around and have all these monkeys following you up the road... as we turned around they saw us and ran up these stairs...

This is a Honeydew melon - we thought they looked neat!!

Fun Flowers at Munish Resorts

Roses at Rewalser Lake

Mango Stealers...

So this is me in front of our beautiful
mango tree that has started producing little baby mangoes!! We are so excited! However we have found that having this lovely tree also comes with a price...
We are not the only ones that are really excited about our mangoes...
We have had a whole family of new friends that come to our house for snacks a couple days a week.

Rest Day

So we took a Taxi up into the mountains on a rest day to Nani devi, where a Hindu temple was located near 7 lakes... we went on a tiny hike, you couldn't really see the lakes and it was a bit cloudy but it was beautiful..

this is for all my east texas compadres... PINE TREES!
They had baby chicks at the lake...they made us smile

And yet we still sat and read under a Palm tree... this is such a diverse place...