We Have to Wear What for Yoga?

On Tuesday morning, we woke up excited; we actually had something to eat for breakfast today!  I made oatmeal with bananas and Rachel had cereal. It was so nice to go to work full!  When we arrived at work, I found out that today was the birthday of one of the ladies in my office.  She brought a delicious fruit cake to share with the office.  After wishing her a very happy birthday and asking about her plans for the day, I eagerly took a piece of the cake. Mmm, so good.  Shortly after that, Mr. Simhan, Head of HR, contacted us about setting up yoga sessions and an ayurveda massage.  We were so excited about it we nearly skipped up the stairs.  As we sat down in his office he explained that we would go with Stella, the woman who took me to the doctor, to sign up for our classes and set everything up later that afternoon. 

We went to Snack Shack for lunch and enjoyed a delicious lunch followed by an even more delicious ice cream dessert.  We know we should cut back on our ice cream, but we walk everywhere and it always tastes so good! We only had a half an hour to work when we got back, and then we headed upstairs again to meet with Stella.  She came in, flustered, because she had gone home for lunch and almost napped through our meeting.  I can relate to that.  Soon we were out the door and on our way to the yoga center at the hospital.  We walked into the crowded general waiting room and looked around for a minute.  Along the back wall was a row of registration desks with signs for different department.  Along the front wall was the new patient registration desk, crowded with young secretaries on one side and people asking questions on the other.  Hallways went off to the right and the left leading to other wings.  We made our way to the general registration desk to fill out a new patient form, then to the yoga desk against the back wall, and then we made our way over to the elevator.  Cramming into the already stuffed elevator where Stella bumped (literally) into someone she knew, we made our way upstairs to the yoga department. 

We walked into the office and sat down at a table in a little room.  We talked with the yoga instructor for a while before he asked us why we wanted to take yoga classes.  Rachel and I looked at each other a bit confused.  Did we need a reason?  Rachel, who has practiced yoga much more than I, responded that she wanted to be able to compare the practice between the two countries.  I was a bit confused still, and when he turned to me I replied with a much less impressive answer.  I just wanted to practice yoga for fitness.  And so I would be able to touch my toes.  Satisfied with our answers, he concluded that we would practice “fitness” yoga.  Rachel and I were still lost, what other kinds of yoga are there?  He told us we would meet at 7 AM sharp for the next ten days, and to make sure to wear a loose fitting long sleeved shirt and similar pants.  We looked at each other again.  We came to India in the summer.  We didn’t bring any long sleeves.  Stella assured us she could help us track something down.  As we walked out of the office, we were still confused about a few things.  Stella explained that yoga here is also a form of natural medicine.  She came and took yoga classes for three months for her asthma.  She also told us that you had to wear loose fitting clothing so you could move around freely.  And apparently short sleeves are somehow restrictive.  How different from the spandex yoga pants and tank tops at home.  She said that it would be silly to buy an outfit for only ten days of yoga and that she would lend us something appropriate.  We agreed and thanked her, a bit worried as to what appropriate yoga-wear would look like.  I guess if we were going to do Indian yoga, we should do it right.    

As we made our way back outside, Stella asked if we would like to have some tea.  We never say no to tea!  We went over to a little restaurant that looked like it had become an institution.  We sat down as Stella told us that family friends owned this restaurant.  She seems to be very popular around here.  We ordered rava dosas, the pancake that Mr. Kiran has been telling me to try.  The dosa filled the entire plate.  It looked like a thin, flat pancake with green chilies.  It was served with a white chutney and a reddish brown sauce.  The dosa was delicious as were both of the sauces.  We had trouble finishing though because there was much of it!  Absolutely stuffed, Stella asked if we would like to finish up with some tea, as is customary.  We were too full to accept, but when she offered us homemade limejuice, we couldn’t resist.  We hadn’t tried that yet!  It was actually more of a soda, made with lime, sugar, salt, and club soda.  It tasted a bit like Sprite but was too salty for my taste.  We nearly rolled out of there, and could hardly believe how stuffed we were.  It seems like the snacks around here are more filling than the meals!  We thanked Stella for all her help and went back upstairs to get back to work. 

Later that afternoon, Stella came by and dropped off the promised outfits.  Pulling them out of the bag after she left, Rachel and I couldn’t help but smile at the idea of practicing yoga in these.  They looked just like the salwar I bought in Udupi, just a bit more worn in.  The pants were the loose fitting kind with a drawstring waist and the shirts looked like oversized, knee length pajama shirts.  Oh well, I guess if this is what they wear, this is what we’ll wear.  Work finished up quickly, and we made our way back to our apartment.  We couldn’t wait to try on our new “workout clothes” and see what they looked like on.  Unfortunately Rachel’s fears were confirmed when she realized she was too tall for the pants to come to a reasonable length.  They were the appropriate size for me, but that didn’t help them out too much.  We just laughed at ourselves, but also enjoyed how comfortable they were.  Putting on the shirts too, we looked like we were ready for bed.  Laughing at our appearance as we changed into our actual workout clothes, we couldn’t wait for yoga in the morning.  But first we had to get through our Insanity workout. 

After working out we were surprisingly exhausted.  Rachel skyped with a friend while I just relaxed and watched TV.  By the time Rachel hung up it was 9 o’clock and both our stomachs were grumbling.  We voted on Planet Café and made our way to the restaurant.  I ordered a lamb burger while Rachel tried a chicken kabob burger.  We hungrily ate our burgers and washed them down with an entire pitcher of water.  We were both so thirsty!  It is odd how Rachel and I end up on the same wavelength so often.  I suppose that’s what happens when you spend so much time together!  As we sat back, we realized again just how tired we were from our day.  We try not to be too boring, but every once in a while we can’t help it.  We meandered back to our room and crashed.  Who knows why but we were both so tired and that bed felt so good.

We Still Haven’t Gone Grocery Shopping?

As we rolled out of bed Monday morning, we remembered that we still hadn’t gone grocery shopping!  Deciding against butter and jelly as viable options, we went to work with our stomachs grumbling.  Rachel had an early presentation with Mr. Pai about her projects, so we made sure to get to work early. What a great opportunity for her!  She has been working on exploring potential markets for India in the States.  She did a great job, and Mr. Pai was impressed with her work.  After Rachel’s presentation, we went to our tea break early so she could fill me in on her success.  Since we hadn’t eaten anything for breakfast, we got a kind of puff pastry with egg and spices inside to have with our tea.  It was quite delicious and very filling despite its small size.  Feeling much better, we tromped back upstairs to work until lunch. After lunch the day went quickly as I read and took notes on a management book called Getting Things Done by David Allen.  Soon it was time to clock out, and we started our walk back to our apartment.

Every day when we walk past the “Hot Chips” stand, we see the man cutting the potatoes and frying them in a giant pot. As we came upon the “Hot Chips” stand, we decided that today was the day to sample some and hoped that we would be able to communicate effectively enough to make our purchase.  Despite the fact that the shop owner hardly spoke

 English, Rachel managed to get some plain potato chips sprinkled with chili powder, and I got some round crunchy chip made from some kind of dough.  Although mine were a bit too oil-saturated for me, Rachel was quite satisfied with her choice and declared it a success.  As we continued our walk back, we decided that it was about time to get some groceries.  We stopped at the fruit stand near our apartment to get some mangos and bananas, excited to finally have some fruit again.  Next we stopped at “Queens” general store to pick up our signature items: bread, cereal, and chocolate.  Hey we’re girls after all!

Relieved to have food in our apartment again, we strolled home and got ready for our Insanity workout.  Thankfully, this week is a recovery week for the program.  But while our workout was slightly less intense than usual, it wasn’t what I would call easy.  Afterwards, we wandered over to the Carrom boards in the game room section to see if we could figure out how to play.  When we realized we had no clue, we asked the trainer if he would explain it to us.  He was pleasant in agreeing to help us and began to explain this tabletop board game.  It is relatively similar to pool in strategy, and is also compared to shuffle board.  There are 9 white coins, 9 black coins, 1 striker, and a red queen.  The board is set up with the red queen in the center of the board and the black and white chips alternating around it.  The objective is to get all your chips in the corner pockets.  

You flick the striker to knock your coins into the pockets, keeping it on the lines that are on the sides of the board.  Once all your chips are in the pockets, you get as many points as your opponent has chips left on the table.  If you get the queen in plus and a follow up coin, you get an additional 5 points.  You play until someone reaches 28 points.  The game is very fun and we really enjoyed playing, even though we were horrible.  I think the trainer enjoyed watching us play just because we were so bad at it.  Soon we got tired of playing, and went upstairs to our apartment to shower. 

After a shower, we felt much better.  Our engineering friends, Vatsal and Rishi, came over to watch the World Cup game.  And before we knew it, it was nearing midnight.  We kicked the boys out, insisting that we needed to get to bed.  We did a quick clean up of the apartment and crashed in our beds. 

Thank You Mr. Monaghan for Dominos Pizza

Saturday finally arrived, and oh how glad we were to see it.  It was a fun week, but let’s get real, the workweek has nothing on the weekend.  We planned on a big night out to celebrate our being here for four weeks.  We both woke up in really good moods, excited to go out and dance later that night.  All that stood between us and Blue Waters was a nine-hour workday.  Keep in mind however, that Saturdays are much more relaxed.  I suppose they have casual Saturdays here instead of casual Fridays.  The morning went very quickly, broken up an early tea break when Rachel’s Internet connection stopped working briefly.  Downstairs at the tea/snack station, we saw the woman who took to me the doctor when I was sick.  Although we’ve haven’t figured out how to pronounce her name yet, we spent some time visiting with her.  She is so friendly, and we were glad to have someone to chat with.  She told us about some of the different snacks that are commonly consumed with tea.  One is a puff pastry shell filled with vegetables, chicken, and spices.  Another was a fried piece of dough, kind of like homemade doughnut holes.  They were delicious, but we’d better be careful not to have too many of those!  After our educational break, we made our way back to our desks to continue working until lunch.  We broke for lunch and ventured to Dollops, one of our favorite restaurants.  We had one of our old favorites, Chicken Kurma.  Mmm, it was a delicious as ever.  Rachel finished off with an “end of the week” sundae, and I with a delicious cold coffee. 

The second half of the day went a bit slower.  We stayed busy however, and finally it was nearing five o’clock.  As the workday wrapped up, one of Rachel’s coworkers in the Think Tank, Akshata, invited us to get pizza after work.  She is so nice, and we were very excited to spend some time with her outside of work.  We were a little worried to give Indian pizza another go though.  Once we checked out, we on our way to Dominos Pizza.  Walking into Dominos, it looked familiar.  It smelled familiar.  Now to see if it tasted the same.  I prefer to stick to the classics so we ordered a plain cheese pizza despite the tempting paneer, peppers, onions, and capsicum varieties.  When we opened the box with our Margarita Pizza inside, the smell was heavenly.  We tentatively took the first bite, and much to our surprise it tasted just like home!  Well, not exactly, but close enough that we gave it our American seal of approval.  We were starting to get a bit homesick again, and this was the perfect taste of home.  I don’t think I have ever been more excited about pizza, and I guess Rachel felt the same way because we demolished that pizza.  All I have to say is “Thank You Mr. Monaghan for Dominos Pizza.”  It was about 7 o’clock when we finished our pizza, and we commented on how odd it was to eat that early.  How quickly we’ve gotten used to the later meal times!  When we explained to Akshata that we eat dinner at 5 o’clock when we’re at school, she just stared at us.  This is pretty common by now.  “Then what do you eat later at night?” she asked.  “Well, sometimes we have a snack, but nothing really,” we replied.  Quite content after our early dinner with our friend, we thanked her for inviting us to join her.  We walked back to our apartment waving as she rode off on her motorbike. 

After our scrumptious meal, we were so full.  We started getting ready for our big Saturday night out.  Saturday marked out fourth week here in India, and our almost halfway point.  That translated to a celebration at Blue Waters, the nearby club.  We had a lot of fun listening to music as we got ready.  It seems like we hardly put any effort into our appearance here because it’s either wet because it’s humid or because it’s raining.  It felt so good to get dressed up and wear makeup; we almost forgot that we could look pretty!  We helped each other with our hair and makeup before slipping into the outfits we had picked out earlier.  I pulled on a red belted dress and Rachel sported a cute skirt with a colorful tank top.  After snapping a few pictures, we stepped out to see what the night would bring. 

When we arrived at Blue Waters, we were surprised at how much more crowded it was than the last time we were there.  Only a few minutes after arriving, a friendly British student introduced himself.  He was very nice, and we were glad to have someone to talk to.  Soon his roommate, who was from Maryland, came over along with the rest of the group he was with.  Everyone was from the States or Canada; what a surprise!  It was so nice to talk with them, and quite the relief to be able to understand people without asking them to repeat themselves five times.  After a bit of dancing, we met some of Emily Anne’s friends from when she came last summer.  We knew it was them as soon as they came over, because they asked us if we were from Wofford.  Mike, who is from Ohio, and Mani, who is from Sri Lanka, were very nice, and we spent the rest of the night talking with them about life in Manipal vs. America.  Mike is in med-school, and Mani is doing his medical internship.  Unlike American clubs, Blue Waters closed around 12:30, so we went to Mike’s apartment to watch the US-Ghana match.  Despite the upsetting ending of the game, we had a really good time.  We were so happy to make some new friends, especially ones who were so nice. 

By the time the game was over it was nearly 2:30, and I was practically falling asleep.  So Mike gave us a ride back to our apartment.  We climbed into bed, falling asleep almost instantly with the mutual understanding that we were not setting an alarm for tomorrow.  When we woke up the next day around 10:30, we were starving!  We set off to find some food since our kitchen is less stocked than my dorm room.  We have got to start grocery shopping!  We were happy to discover that Subway was open, so we both got sandwiches and sat down to enjoy our second “American” meal in two days.  After we got back to our apartment, we officially decided that today would be a “bum around and do nothing” day.  And how lovely it was.  Rachel lay out by the pool, and even got a bit burnt, and I napped in the room and watched a movie.  Even though we only have four Sundays left, a day of absolutely nothing was exactly what we needed.

About 5 o’clock I made my way over to Christ Church for Mass, while Rachel set off on a run.  After the short auto ride, I sat down in the still empty church; I had gotten there a bit early.  It was so nice to sit there and have time to pray and reflect.  Soon the little church was filled up, and it was time for Mass to begin.  When I realized the processional hymn was one I knew, I smiled.  Even though I was still homesick, it felt like God was letting me know that things aren’t so different here.  That’s how I feel every time I go to Mass here.  It is such a great reminder of how connected we all are.  No matter what else we don’t have in common, when we’re at Mass together we are all the same.  We profess the same faith, we celebrate the same Mass, and sometimes we even sing the same songs.  Needless to say, it was an especially beautiful Mass, and I walked back to our apartment refreshed. 

As I walked in, Rachel was hanging out on the bed reading a magazine.  I didn’t think I could watch any more TV that day, so I asked her if she would like to play some cards.  We played Rummy for a while, betting on ice cream to up the stakes.  And don’t be fooled, ice cream is pretty hefty.  It could very nearly be our calcium source.  At least that’s the excuse we’re going with.  Anyways, I won by quite a bit and was looking forward to being treated to delicious ice cream after dinner.  We cleaned up our cards and made our way to China Valley for dinner.  We ate leisurely and finished up with the promised ice cream.  Then Rachel completed our lazy day with an early bedtime, while I spent some time skyping with my parents.  It was so good to talk to them and catch up.  Satisfied that I was sufficiently caught up on the goings-on after a family beach trip, I finally went to bed.  

Mac, You Let Me Down

Friday morning came with some excitement.  After working for an hour or so, my computer decided to freeze up.  Now understand, I am a staunch Mac fan and have frequently boasted of the perks of owning one.  My computer very rarely gives me problems and does not freeze up often, but every few months it will.  Usually I just take the battery out and put it back in.  Then I power the computer back up, and I’m good to go.  So this time I did the same thing, but my computer wouldn’t turn on!  Keeping cool I thought, ok well maybe it just needs to cool down for a bit or charge for a while or something.  I decided to pass the time by writing a letter.  I’m an avid letter-writer, and even though it’s not too common for people to write letters by hand, receiving a hand written letter is so much nicer than an email!  Knowing that someone took the time to sit down and write to you makes it so much more personal.  I know that makes me sound like a grandma, but come on, who doesn’t love getting a letter in the mail!  Anyways, after writing my letter, I tried to turn on my computer.  No luck!

What was I supposed to do?  Everything I had been working on for the past month was on my computer! This also came with the sobering realization of exactly how dependent I am on technology.  Flustered, I went to see if Rachel had any ideas.  She came with me to find the IT department, and as we walked in, it seemed like they had never seen girls before!  Everyone just stopped and stared at us.  After an extended awkward pause, we were directed to one of the guys we met at the wedding.  I can’t pronounce his name, much less guess how to spell it, so I will unfortunately be referring to him as “IT guy.”  I handed IT guy my computer along with a desperate plea for help.  He played around with it, called someone else for advice, pressed a bunch of buttons, and finally declared that we would have to go find some Apple people to figure this out.  Great.  Add in that I felt horrible because I such a hard time understanding him.  The poor guy had to repeat everything nearly five times for me to understand what was going on. 

I went back to my desk to pack up my things and grab my purse.  The IT guy came over and handed me his cell phone; apparently I was supposed to talk with someone on the other end.  I said hello, and a man whom I assumed to be the Apple guy proceeded to tell me where his shop was.  Do you know where this girls’ hostel is? No, sorry.  What about this hospital? Nope.  How about this bank? Negative.  When he finally realized that I have no idea where anything is, he told me to give the phone back to my new IT friend and he would explain it to him.  All I could do was laugh at my apparent incompetence.  After speaking quickly in what I assume to be Kanada, IT guy motioned for us to head out. 

He picked me up on his motorbike, and we were off in search of the Apple shop.  The roads were strangely crowded, and I nearly slammed into him several times as we played the stop and go game.  We finally made it to the general vicinity but IT guy clearly didn’t know where we were going either.  A few phone calls later, we walked into a little room in the Nursing College.  The front half of the room was a kind of haphazard waiting room with a few chairs.  As we continued past the room divider into the messy back room, two men worked on different pieces and parts of computers.  They looked up and one took my computer and proceeded to poke around.  Eventually he told us to just sit down and wait a while.  As IT guy and I sat down, I attempted to make some small talk.  I found out that he is from Bangalore and has an older brother there who just got married last month.  He went to school in Bangalore but moved here for his job and has been working in the IT department at Manipal Press for the last five years.  He was so nice but we both had moments of “just smile and nod” and pretend you know what the other person is saying.  As we talked about going to the beach, I explained that my family is currently on vacation at the beach.  I told him how my sister and I have a competition every year to see who can get darker, but I don’t think he had a clue what I was talking about.  The idea of wanting to be tan and playing in the water and lying out at the beach are fairly foreign here.  Coupled with the language/ accent barrier, he didn’t stand a chance. 

Finally the Apple person emerged, telling me that the top panel of my computer, the keyboard part, had some electrical/ wiring problems and needed to be entirely replaced.  So I reluctantly asked some more questions to make sure I understood what the problem was and what exactly needed to happen to fix it.  After thorough explanation, a few signed papers, three different contact numbers, and a temporary replacement part, IT guy and I walked out of the office.  I was not thrilled with a significant dent in my wallet, but I was very impressed with how quickly this problem had been addressed by the IT department.  It certainly made the morning go by faster anyways.  And I was so thankful for IT guy’s help.  I don’t know what I would have done otherwise.  I expressed my gratitude and hurried inside to tell Rachel all about my computer woes over lunch. 

The afternoon was significantly less exciting, but included another visit to the IT department.  I met with the head of IT to see if we could work out my Internet problems at the apartment.  It may seem trivial, but I was ready for my Skype to work so I could see my family and friends!  Skype plays impressive mind games and somehow makes you feel less far away!

That night after dinner we tried to Skype our Director of Career Services again.  The Internet still wasn’t working on my computer so we resorted to using Rachel’s.  It’s always nice to see a familiar face, even if it’s over the Internet.  After a quick update on our trip and seeing how we were doing, we said goodbye.  Only minutes later, our engineering friends came over.  We played a card game and listened to music.  It was such a fun time hanging out and talking; we could hardly believe when we looked up at the clock at realized it was eleven o’clock!  We finished up our game in a hurry.  Some of us had work in the morning!

There’s an Indian Vogue?

Oh, I forgot to mention in my last post that while Rachel and I were playing cards with the software guys the other day, one of them read my palm.  It was so funny to hear some of the things he said. Based on my thumb, he told me that I am stubborn.  So true.  And from looking at my palm he told me that I love learning and am adventurous.  He also said there is also a lot of wealth in my future and that I have a good lifeline.  I’m not complaining!  And he told me that I would have two kids.  I guess I’ll just have to wait and see!

By the time Thursday morning rolled around, we knew that we were done trying to work out in the mornings.  I think we have skipped morning workouts more often than not.  We’ve officially decided to do our Insanity workouts after work.  On the way home from work, we decided to stop at the “Gallery,” the boutique where we shopped for our dresses.  The shopkeeper remembered us and was eager to show us some of her merchandise.  She has pretty dresses and a fun mix of Indian and Western styles.  We eagerly sifted through her inventory, making a small mountain of clothes we wanted to try on.  It seemed like she had everything from party dresses to jeans to cute everyday shirts.  After modeling a few pieces for a group consensus, Rachel settled on a few pretty tops and I on a summery dress and teal tank top.  As we were paying for our new clothes, the shop owner reached under the counter and pulled out some earrings and asked us if we liked them.  It’s jewelry, we’re girls, of course we liked them!  So she just gave us several pairs of earrings!  She used to carry jewelry and had some extras lying around that she didn’t want.  We couldn’t complain about that! After thanking her for our bonus earrings, we ambled over to the “Gift House” to look for some jewelry to match my new dress.  Although we didn’t find any necklaces or bangles that we wanted, we hit the jackpot with earrings! After gaping at the plethora of earrings before us, we broke our trance long enough to pick out a few each. 

After making our purchases and vowing to come back, we made our way home to workout.  After our workout, we were ready for a lazy night in.  So we ordered food and read Indian Vogue until it was time to Skype our Director of Career Services.  Unfortunately, my wireless connection wouldn’t work and Rachel’s refused to cooperate as well.  After Skype dropped nearly several calls in a row, we ended up facebook chatting, proving that where there’s a will there’s a way!  We decided to give Skype a chance to redeem itself and planned to talk again the next day.  Once we signed out, we hopped into bed and called it a night.

GO USA!!!

Tuesday after work we decided it was finally time to go grocery shopping.  After picking up our staples, cornflakes, bread, and chocolate, we went back to our apartment to relax for a little while.  I flipped on the TV and watched The Brothers Grimm, a quite odd but very entertaining movie.  Meanwhile Rachel caught up with some friends.  Soon our stomachs were telling us that it was dinnertime.  So we walked down the street to “Basil,” eager to eat something delicious.  Rachel ordered her favorite, Mushroom Masala, and I opted to try a chicken quesadilla.  I was surprised to see it on the menu and eager to see how Indians prepared Mexican food.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my quesadilla was stuffed with fresh peppers, tomatoes, garlic, and chicken.  It was so tasty!  It didn’t taste much like Mexican food at home but was delicious nevertheless.  As we were finishing our dinner, our software friends from work who live in our apartment complex called to ask if we wanted to play cards.  We agreed and quickly paid so we could be on our way back. 

When we arrived at their apartment, we talked for a bit before deciding Rummy would be the game of the night.  Our friends asked if we played 13 hand Rummy.  We looked at each other and replied that we only knew how to play with seven cards in a hand.  They were eager to learn the “American” way of playing Rummy, so we explained the rules and began to play.  Our game began innocently enough, but soon the rules were thrown out the window as the trash talking began.  By the time 11:30 rolled around three games later Rachel was declared the winner, and we were ready to go to bed. 

Wednesday morning came far too early and we voted unanimously to sleep in and push our workout off until after work.  When 8 o’clock rolled around, we reluctantly decided that we should get out of bed this time.  After a gourmet breakfast of peanut butter toast, we were off to work.  In the morning I worked with Mr. Kiran on my second cost sheet, and after lunch I started preparing a power point presentation of what Rachel and I have done here.  At the end of our internship, we will give a brief presentation covering our initial expectations, what we’ve learned from our internship, and what we’ve learned culturally.  That’s a lot to cover!

After work, we took an auto back to the apartment so we could do our Insanity workout before the big game at 7:30, United States vs. Algeria.  Down at the gym, it was packed!  And of course by packed I mean about ten people.  We got started with our workout, hoping we wouldn’t draw too much attention.  After our workout, we scrambled back upstairs to shower before the game started.  We had even invited our new engineering student friends to come watch the match with us.  The only condition was that they had to cheer for the States!  They agreed to our conditions and made their way over to our room.  They even brought some snacks; a few odd varieties of wheat chips in masala and pepper flavor.  They were surprisingly tasty. 

For a few brief minutes we couldn’t find the game but much to our relief we found it after flipping through a few channels.  As we settled down to watch the game, it was nice to have a group of friends with us.  As the first half continued, my stomach reminded me that the food we ordered an hour ago still wasn’t here.  One of our friends took pity on us and called the restaurant to see what was taking so long.  We were so grateful, because we can never understand people over the phone.  Apparently they have trouble understanding us too! It turns out the delivery guy had gotten lost and couldn’t find our apartment.  After another phone call and wandering around the hall looking for this guy, we finally got our food!  By this time it was the second half.  As we munched on our dinner, the minutes ticked by without a single goal!  Despite many attempts, neither side could score!  As the second half drew to a close, we were all on the edge of our seats praying for the US to come through.  Rachel was more than a little into the game, and I couldn’t stop laughing at her intensity.  You would have thought she was playing the game with them!  I guess I shouldn’t have laughed though, because it wasn’t long before I was getting pretty into the game too.  In the first few minutes of over time, US’ Landon Donovan came through and scored the winning goal!  It was an incredible goal, and we were all on our feet cheering, even our friends who I am pretty sure could care less about US soccer, or should I say football. 

As we reveled in our victory, hardly able to believe we pulled through, we started watching MTV music videos and comparing music in America and India.  After the exciting game we were getting pretty tired, so we kicked the guys out so we could go to bed.  Before hitting the sack, we voted again to skip our morning workout in favor of sleeping in.  Rachel passed out pretty quickly, but I wasn’t ready to sleep just yet.  I spent some time on facebook before copying Rachel and calling it a day, a very good day.  

Mmmm I Love Breakfast

At the end of work on Monday afternoon, Mr. Kiran took me to get some tea.  We went to a little place close to work, and I got to try idly, a kind of steamed pancake, and cutlets, a mixture of potato and chili.  They were both tasty, and it was so neat to try the different foods.  These two are commonly eaten for breakfast but also for a snack.  We finished off our afternoon snack with tea.  Mr. Kiran explained that this owner made his tea with less milk, so you got more of the flavor.  After thanking Mr. Kiran for the tea and the nice outing, I went to get Rachel so we could head home. 

On the way home from work we always see this boutique with really cute dresses hanging in the window.  We decided today was the day to stop in.  After looking around for a bit, quite impressed with the selection, Rachel found a steel grey dress with a pretty print, and I found a one-shouldered red dress.  We were thrilled with our finds and of course the mandatory jewelry shopping that accompanies it.  

That night we did our Insanity workout, which was particularly difficult given that it had been a week since I had worked out!  After that we showered, had dinner, and went to bed early.  This morning, we woke up early to our Insanity workout so we could have this evening free.  When six AM rolled around, we were less than thrilled but somehow managed to drag ourselves out of bed.  After another hard workout we were both starving.  Faced with mango cornflakes as the only option for breakfast, we opted for breakfast out. 

With stomachs growling, we wandered back to Valley View Hotel to enjoy the mouth-watering breakfast.  And oh how we had missed it; it was everything we remembered and more! With no groceries or food of any kind in our apartment, we were so excited to see the wonderful-looking food in front of us.  As we tossed our things onto the nearest table, we scrambled over to the line of food and piled our plates high.  After feasting on muffins, pancakes, omelets, fresh fruit, oatmeal, and coffee, we were finally stuffed.  Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, especially when it’s this delicious.  Although breakfast at Valley View is a bit expensive, it is worth every penny, or should I say rupee!  Adequately fueled for our day, we made our way to work looking forward to the game of cards we have planned for this evening with our friends from across the hall.  

A Cinderella Story, Indian Style

Sunday morning brought with it an air of excitement.  First of all, it wasn’t raining.  But more importantly, today Ashok and Soumya’s wedding!  Rachel and I had been looking forward to this day for two weeks.  After waking up early to go to Mass, I rushed back to our apartment to start getting ready.  As we buttoned our blouses and slipped on our skirts, we could hardly wait for Nitu to arrive and help us drape our sarees.  We applied our makeup with much more precision than usual, making sure to add the signature “Indian” eyeliner.  All that really meant was heavy black eyeliner.  We finished our hair and put on our bindis just as Nitu walked in.  Even though she had her own function to go to that day, she made the time to come over and help us.  We were so grateful!  It felt like she was our fairy godmother getting us ready for the ball.  If you could see the saree before it was draped and after, you would think it was magic too!  It still amazes me that you can turn a rectangular piece of fabric into a beautiful dress with a fold here and pleat there.  We couldn’t thank Nitu enough!  After making sure she had pinned everything down, showing us how to pick up the front so we could walk, and a few pictures, Nitu saw us off in an auto.  We called out our thanks once more and waved goodbye.  I laughed as images of Cinderella waving goodbye to her fairy godmother from the carriage popped into my head.

When we arrived at the beautiful hall, we could hardly believe how packed it was!  When we noticed that people were staring at us (more than normal), we quickly found some seats.  We were a bit warm and getting around in a full-length dress is never easy, but we were so glad to finally be there!  We spent the first ten minutes just taking in everything.  The enormous hall barely held the close to 1000 people there, everyone sat in plastic chairs facing the stage, and the bride and groom sat in what looked like thrones on stage.  All the women wore flowers in their hair; the bride’s entire braid was covered!  Bright red and yellow flower streamers decorated the top of the stage and the couple’s backdrop, and a live band filled the air with a lively tune. 

After an hour or so, we saw a friend from work who came over and explained some of the different things to us.  Soon it was time to “well wish” the couple.  The line snaked through the entire hall, and Rachel and I were a little shocked to see that the tradition is to throw rice on top of the bride’s and groom’s heads!  When it was finally our turn, we were excited to see the beautiful bride up close and thank them both for inviting us.  We even got to take pictures with them!

Then it was time for lunch!  We went upstairs to a different banquet hall where it was even more packed!  As we squeezed through the crowds, our coworkers advised that we all sit down for a while to wait for things to calm down.  As we sat and talked, it was fun to see all the different sarees the women wore, the little kids running around, and all the families.  We even saw several more people we know from work.  Finally we stood up and went to wait for an open table.  Against one side of the room was the buffet line and people filled the chairs scattered about with their plates on their laps.  On the other side of the room were lines of narrow tables.  Chairs were on one side of the tables, creating an isle for waiters to walk between two rows.  After diving into two open chairs, we settled in to see what lunch would be! 

The waiters rolled a kind of thin plastic tablecloth on the tables and then placed a water glass and a large banana leaf before each person.  As we looked around to see what we should be doing, we saw everyone washing their leaves.  So we washed our leaves 

and held them up to dry as our coworkers laughed at our obvious lack of experience.  The poor people who sat beside us; we asked them so many questions!  When the waiters came by, they came two at a time carrying an enormous pot of the given course and just plopped whatever it was on your leaf with a giant spoon.  The first course consisted of a kind of potato nut salad, some pickles, and another rustic salad.  Then we had roti (a thin bread), papad (a thin crispy bread), and about four different gravies poured over rice.  Rachel and I had no idea what we were eating, but that didn’t slow us down!  What did slow us down was eating with our fingers.  It is definitely a skill that we are working on, but it always feels weird to have food all over your fingers.  It seemed like we had hardly started on one course by the time the next came!  And then after turning down an additional two courses, it was time for dessert.  They first came around with these dessert balls with nuts and I have no idea what else.  I didn’t like them very much, but Rachel didn’t mind finishing mine off for me.  Then came what tasted like hot baked, spiced fruit.  It tasted like the filling of an apple pie right out of the oven, mmm.  Then was the final round, ice cream.  We knew how to eat that.

We could hardly believe how quickly the meal had gone and how tasty it was.  After washing our hands, we went back downstairs to see the bride and groom one more time. We took another picture with Ashok and Soumya, and Soumya thoughtfully comment on how nice we both looked in traditional clothes.  Then it was time to leave, and we thanked our coworkers for taking us under their wing and

explaining everything to us.  It had been a wonderful day, and we were looking forward to lying out by the pool for a few hours while enjoying the beautiful sunshine. 

When we arrived home, we had the task of getting out of our sarees.  Much easier than getting into them, it still required a bit of work to unwrap ourselves, given that Nitu had pinned us in so we couldn’t mess them up.  After finally managing to get out of our sarees, we got into our bathing suits with much more efficiency.  Lying out, and hopefully getting a tan, was the perfect way to finish off our fun day.  But our day wasn’t over yet!  While we were at the pool, three engineering students from Delhi wandered out to enjoy the water.  We talked with them a while, going over some differences between American and Indian culture, the education system here, and even touching on the latest cricket match.  We decided to go to dinner together at Planet Café where we talked more.  It was a lot of fun and really nice to hang out with some kids our age.  After dinner we went to play some pool, but with the disclaimer that Rachel and I were horrible.  Despite our lack of talent, it was a lot of fun.  We felt like college kids again!  After driving around for a bit and hearing about life in Manipal, we stopped to try “pan.”  It is a natural breath freshener made of the leaf of a pan tree.  According to my later research, it has beatle nut, "Kaththa", mint, rose, elichi, fennel seeds and other flavors and also thin shaves of flavored nuts.  It looked like a regular leaf, a bit smaller than your hand, piled high with different Indian spices and seeds.  You just rolled the whole thing up and put it in your mouth.  Rachel’s face said it all, but I figured I had to at least try this thing.  It tasted like a mix between mint and perfume and flowers and fennel seeds.  It was horrible, but we did our best to keep straight faces.  As we got into the car I tried to figure out how I could get rid of this thing, and when I looked over and saw Rachel tossing hers out the window, I quickly did the same thing hoping they wouldn’t see us. 

When we got back to our apartment building, we thanked our new friends for a fun night and promised to get together again soon. As Rachel got ready for bed, I skyped home to wish my dad a happy father’s day.  By the time we crawled into bed, we were so tired from our day.  We got to see an Indian wedding, learned a lot more about Indian food, effectively mastered eating with one hand, and even made some new friends! What a good day!

Being Sick is No Fun…Especially Without Your Mom!

Wednesday during lunch, Rachel and I ate quickly.  We had a bit of exploring to do!  We walked down the street to look around in a few of the little stores, hoping to find some nice souvenirs to bring home.  After looking around for a bit, Rachel found some beautiful hand crafted wooden elephants while I settled on a few cards to send home as I mulled over actual gift purchases.  Shortly after lunch I began to feel sick, thinking I was getting a migraine.  Rachel and I left work early so I could lie down.  After a lovely 3-hour siesta, I woke up hungry for dinner.  However after a quick dinner, it was all I could do to make it back to bed.  I was so tired even after my nap.  I fell asleep quickly but had a lot of trouble sleeping that night.  In the morning I found out why.  I had a fever of 103.7°F! That explained why I was feeling so bad, but I was not thrilled to be sick this far away from home!  After a quick email to tell Mr. Kiran that I would not be coming into work today and a distressed skype-chat with my mom, I took some medicine, gulped down some ice water, and jumped straight back into bed. 

After Rachel made sure I had everything I would need, she said goodbye and headed off to work.  The only problem was that as I heard her turn the key to lock the door, I realized that she had just locked me in!  Even though I jumped up to bang on the door and catch her attention, she was long gone.  With a phone with no minutes and Internet only accessible by sitting in the hall outside, I realized that I had no way of contacting anyone!  I quickly talked myself into realizing that this wasn’t a problem, I mean, all I wanted to do was sleep anyway. 

Then I got a few phone calls from the office telling me that a car would be coming by to take me to the doctor’s office.  Ok, now this was a problem.  What was I going to do?  I could hear myself already, “Sorry, I can’t come to the doctor.  I am locked in my room.”  So after deciding against hoping for the cleaning lady to come by in time, I scrambled around the edges of the room, hoping to pick up the wireless signal.  I was in luck!  In the bathroom on top of the washing machine, I could pick up the Internet!  So after informing Rachel of my plight, she hurried back to free me. 

By the time the car arrived to take me to the doctor, my fever had gone down a bit, but I was still relieved to see it come.  If I was getting some odd Indian disease, I at least wanted to know what it was!  The woman who picked me up told me that it was her job to take sick or injured employees to see the doctor.  Her warm smile and motherly nature made her perfect for the job.  After a short drive, we arrived at a run down little place with a sign boasting Dr. Pai’s name.  After removing our shoes before entering, the woman escorting me told me that we could go in to see Dr. Pai now.  As we peeked around the corner, a white haired man sitting behind a desk motioned for us to continue into the disheveled office.  He told me to sit in the chair beside him and started asking me questions.  Without so much as taking my temperature, he decided that I had the flu.  “Our rains got to you, didn’t they,” he teased.  He shuffled around on his desk among the different pills sprawled about and picked out a few in a brown casing and a few in blue.  Coming to a grand total of 100 Rs. ($2) for the visit, we walked back out of the office after thanking Dr. Pai.  As we drove back I laughed as I thought about the experience of a doctor’s visit here compared with one at home.  Rachel’s face when I arrived only 30 minutes after I’d left echoed my own surprise at how quickly the visit had gone. 

I took the rest of that day and the next to sleep and rest, hoping that this would pass quickly.  Thankfully, it did!  I came in to work Saturday where it seemed like everyone in the building knew that I was sick.  After several well wishes I finally made it to my desk.  I met with Mr. Kiran, who also expressed his concern, and received the details for my next assignment.  After completing my first cost sheet, Mr. Kiran and I decided that I should tackle one a little more complex.  I again met with Mr. Nagesh who is in charge of costing.  He showed me a booklet laying out plans for upscale apartments.  I am to account for the costs associated with printing this book, including everything from the paper to the binding to the silver embossing on the front cover.  I guess I better go get started!

We Got to Pet an Elephant!

Monday morning came whether we were ready or not.  We weren’t! After our one-day weekend, we couldn’t convince ourselves to get out of bed to workout before work.  Apparently Rachel tried to wake me up…it didn’t work.  After getting ready for work and donning rain boots, rain coats, and grabbing our umbrellas, we opened the door to the dismal clouds and rain.  Unfortunately the monsoon is here to stay.  It won’t be over until October! We sloshed to work, entertained by our bright rain gear and the picture of us wading through the flowing streams of water.  After our normal morning of work, we took a tea break where we met two MBA students who are also here on project with Manipal Press.  They were friendly and very eager to hear how our stay has been so far.

On our lunch break, we were surprised to walk out into the beautiful sunshine.  We were so excited; you would think we hadn’t seen the sun for days!  Enjoying being in the sun, we walked to the Snack Shack.  As we were sitting there enjoying our delicious Chinese dumplings and hot garlic chicken, the sky seemed to fall out as the winds picked up and a torrential downpour ensued.  The rain was literally going sideways, as we watched in horror from the Snack Shack.  We hadn’t even brought our rain boots!  So after ordering a delicious ice cream to put off going out in the rain, we ventured out to see what stood between the office and us.  We felt a bit like salmon swimming upstream, but we finally made it back.  I realized quickly that both my umbrella and raincoat are completely insufficient for a monsoon. 

That evening we sloshed back to our apartment, still amazed at the sheer volume of rain.  We dried off a bit and hung our dripping clothes up to dry while we got ready to do our Insanity workout.  In the gym, the trainer was again absolutely intrigued by our workout.  We can’t figure out why, but people just stop and watch the workout as we’re doing it.  People here don’t seem as exercise focused as America, but we can’t figure out what is so exciting about this workout.  One man even asked if he could make a copy of it.  After our apparently fascinating workout, I talked with the trainer for a while.  He was very curious about America and asked me lots of questions.  It’s so weird trying to explain things that we consider normal.  He found it strange that we eat dinner around 6 or 7 (or 5 if you go to Wofford!); and that married women still work; and even that in a marriage the man doesn’t have to be older than the women. 

After a cold shower (there’s no water heater!), Rachel and I were ready for some dinner.  In the mood for American food again, we went to Planet Café.  After washing down a lamb burger and French fries with fresh Musumbi juice, we even got some ice cream!  After a delicious yet stereotypical American meal, we went back to our apartment to be lulled to sleep by “Mean Girls.” 

This morning we woke up early enough to do our Insanity workout before work.  After getting showered and dressed plus a short facebook session, we were off to work.  Along the way we spotted an elephant just standing in the street!  A man at a nearby fruit stand was feeding it bananas as its rider sat atop.  As we stood there in amazement, we were motioned forward and actually got to feed and pet the elephant!  Its skin was so leathery and rough, and it kept searching us for more bananas.  And this time we got to take a picture with it!  It was so cool, but I was careful not to stand to close to the giant.  I may ride horses, but an elephant is a whole lot bigger than any horse!

A Day in Udupi!

Despite all our talk for a fun night out on Saturday night, Rachel and I sadly fell short. We had planned to go to one of the local bars to watch the US- England match on the big screen. But thanks to our long workweek, we barely made it past nine. But after to getting to bed so early, I woke up early  as well and went to the early Mass at Christ Church. After Mass all the kids divided up into their CCD classes. I am planning to ask the priest if I can be some kind of assistant to one of the teachers, hopefully one of the Sisters. I think it would be so fun to get to work with kids! And it would be a fun way to meet some more people and get involved in the church. 

Walking back to our apartment, I stopped to buy some things to make a delicious brunch for Rachel and myself. We had delicious fresh mangos, eggs with tomatoes, onions and cheese, and potatoes. I love breakfast, so this was absolutely wonderful after the long, damp walk from church. After our feast, we got ready for another trip to Udupi with Nitu. This time we were picking up our sarees and getting measured for our blouses. In addition, we were picking out matching jewelry and hopefully some souvenirs as well. We opted to take the bus, and after a short ride complete with lively music we were there! Since it was too early to go to Saree Palace, we hopped off the bus and ventured over to the temple district. We were quite impressed as Nitu skillfully navigated the crowded streets. 

Our first distraction was a great little jewelry store Nitu took us to. It has earrings and bangles and necklaces galore! We sifted through a thousand different kinds of earrings, studs and dangling, plain and glittering. I found rings for myself and my sister, and a few pairs of earrings. We also looked at the wall of bangles for a while, where I found some great black and gold bangles that have “Wofford” written all over them! It is funny though, black and gold jewelry here is like wearing a diamond ring on your left hand.  Although black and gold is reserved for married women, that didn’t stop Rachel and me from buying that combination! In the necklace department, a very simple, but very beautiful (and very Indian looking) gold necklace won me over. I am excited to give it to my mom when I get home. It was only our first stop and I had already picked up souvenirs for 

my mom, sister, and a few friends!

Our second distraction along the way was a clothing store. Rachel and I were shown kurtha (a long shirt) after kurtha. Rachel scouted out one for her mom, her sister, and her roommate. I however, was lured over to the salwars (an outfit consisting of loose fitting pants, a long tunic-type shirt, and a shawl).  I had been commenting on how comfy they looked and couldn’t resist buying a pretty teal and beige one for myself. Excited about our purchases, we finally made it to the temple district without any more distractions.    

The temple district was full of many temples, idols, and little shops. It was incredible to see the sheer size of the temples.  Each was enormous and intricately decorated.  There were thousands of devotees, and little religious shops surrounded the temples. It felt like I was in a Hindu version of the Vatican! Walking around, Nitu explained that Udupi is believed to be the birthplace of “Lord Krishna” and accordingly attracts Hindu’s from all over the world. There were also a lot of things dedicated to “Shiva” and many other lesser gods as well. Nitu also told us about the different religious festivals and showed us the three chariots used in processions. There are three chariots, one made of wood, one of gold, and one covered in stones. The chariots were absolutely enormous; the wheel alone was taller than me! There were lots of cows everywhere, which is normal by now, but we also got to see an elephant! Now, keeping in mind that the only time I have seen an elephant is when I go to the zoo to see “Joy the Elephant.” The elephant we saw in the temple district was so big and we were so close! We watched as people brought bananas to feed her, amazed at how gentle she was.  She was even trained to “bless” people when they give her coins. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures of her.  After

 gaping at the elephant, we decided it was time for lunch. Keeping in mind that it was pouring most of the time, we were more than ready to get out of the rain as well. 

Nitu took us to one of the oldest “veg” (vegetarian) restaurants in Udupi. We sat down, all wet from walking around, and surveyed the menu for something delectable. By now the names of dishes are starting to look familiar, however we still don’t know what they are. With Nitu’s help, we selected the North Indian Special and a rice dish called Moghalpuri Biryani. It feel like she was having to act as our tour guide, but we sure appreciated it! The North Indian Special was a kind of sampler dish. We started with a very tasty tomato soup. The main dish included rice, two types of bread, three different gravies, raitha, and yogurt. It was all delicious, and it was so fun to learn about all the different foods from Nitu. The rice dish was full of nuts and spices and also a bit of gravy. As Nitu explained that she always prefers to eat with her fingers instead of cutlery, I decided to give it a go. Eating rice with your fingers is much more difficult than it looks! I felt silly and kept laughing at myself, but Nitu was a good teacher and I promised to practice. Hopefully I’ll be a pro at eating with my fingers by the end of the trip! After the meal we had ice cream with fruit and also tried a dessert that was along the lines of carrot cake. It was carrots and sugar with raisins along with a few other things, baked in a dish. Not only was it a scrumptious meal, but also a very educational one, thanks to Nitu. 

After lunch we did a bit more shopping before going to Saree Palace where we were measured for our blouses. We even got to walk away with our beautiful sarees in hand. By that time it was after six o’clock and we were getting tired. After picking out beautiful matching bangles and earrings, we called it a day and journeyed back to the bus station to go home. Nitu came back to our apartment with us and we laid out all our treasures from the day. Nitu showed me how to drape my sari.  It was so beautiful; I can hardly wait to wear it to the wedding next weekend! Next I tried on my salwar. I looked so funny in it, but it was so comfy that I didn’t want to take it off! With a bindi and my “Indian” earrings Nitu declared I could pass for Indian! Until I started talking that is. After looking at all the jewelry and scarves we got, we were quite impressed with our work. We had completed over half our souvenir shopping! 

After Nitu left to go home, Rachel and I decided that we should probably have dinner before crashing, so we opted to try China Valley, a Chinese restaurant right beside our apartment complex. Even though we were at a Chinese restaurant, I still ordered Indian food! It is so good, that’s all I want to eat! Rachel had egg-fried rice, but I tried Palak Paneer. It was a green dish that was at the same time sweet and spicy. As Rachel and I trudged back to our apartment, I mentally added another dish to my growing list of preferred Indian food. As we fell asleep, I could hardly believe all that we’d done that day and how lucky we were to have Nitu. 

Saree Shopping!

One day when I was in Mr. Kiran’s office, I told him that I can’t get over how delicious the tea and coffee are here.  He explained to me that the tea I like so much is called milk tea.  It is made by mixing black tea with condensed milk.  The tea is poured back and forth between two cups to mix it thoroughly, cool it down to drinking temperatures, and give it a frothy top.  The coffee is made with a device that looks like two cups stacked on top of each other with a metal filter in between.  The top cup is loaded with ground coffee and chicory and then pressed into a disc against the filter.  Boiling water is added to this and then the whole contraption is left to filter completely.  Boiling milk is added as the resulting coffee is very strong and the delicious coffee is served after being poured back and forth between two cups, similar to the tea.

After sharing with me the secrets of Indian tea and coffee, Mr. Kiran took me to get some!  And along the way he spotted

 a particular flower with all red petals except one.  He told me that children take this one petal and eat it!  It sounded a little odd to me, but then I told him how American children love to find honeysuckle, and how they’ll search and search for it just for that tiny bit of honey.  He also told me how the leaves are slightly sticky on the inside.  Kids take them and tear a bit off the end so they can stick them on their fingernails and it looks like they’ve got claws.  I love hearing about little things like that.  It's so nice to hear more about the culture first hand.    

As Rachel and I walked home that evening, I told her what Mr. Kiran had told me.  But as we were walking we heard this odd sound.  It sort of sounded like birds, but not quite.  And then I looked up in the trees and realized that there were monkeys!  I’m not sure how we missed them until now, but there were actually monkey’s just hanging out in the trees!

The day after our “monkey sighting” was the day we were going saree shopping with our friend from work, Nitu.  Rachel and I were so excited to see all the different kinds there would be, and quite relieved to go with someone who knew what they were doing.  When we arrived at Saree Palace Friday after work, we were all a bit wet since the rains have already started, but not even the nearing monsoon could ruin the excitement.  Before 

we even made it to the saree floor we were distracted by the jewelry…we are girls after all.  The jewelry in India is so much more ornate than what women wear at home; it's so beautiful!  Rachel and I even got to try on this one necklace that was absolutely gorgeous, but incredibly heavy.  After drooling over the incredible jewelry, we finally made it upstairs to the sarees.  I think there must have been a saree in every conceivable color and level of beadwork.  Some had very heavy work on them, absolutely covered with stones and sequins.  Others were more simple and only had embroidery work on them. 

The women showed us saree after saree, and before long Rachel and I were overwhelmed 

by all the glittering sarees. I tried on a beautiful red saree, and Rachel a royal blue one.  These weren't the ones we bought, but they sure were pretty! With Nitu’s help, Rachel finally

 settled on a beautiful emerald green saree with an orange/golden trim, and I on a royal purple one with golden trim. 

After the excitement of picking out our sarees, we were ready for some dinner.  It was so nice to have someone with us who knew what she was doing!  After considering our options in the (comparatively) big city of Udupi, we set off in the drizzle to find Hotel Udupi Residency.  We finally arrived, a bit damp, but in good spirits.  Excited to eat Indian food with someone who could explain 

to us what we were ordering, we sat down and set about deciding what we should order.  We settled on a spicy appetizer of stuffed chicken kabobs.  The stuffing was a combination of crushed nuts in a mix of green spices.  It was so delicious, but I had to laugh as relied heavily on my water glass to douse the flames.  Next we tried a coastal dish.  We started with very thin, cracker-like bread that we crunched up with our fingers.  Then came the chicken gravy that we ladled on top and mixed in.  It was so fun to eat with your fingers and quite tasty too!  Our next

 course was Chicken Kolhapuri, another spicy dish.  We ate that with naan and marveled at Nitu as she effortlessly used only one hand the entire night.  

Eating with only your right hand is customary in India, however using cutlery is becoming more common.  Rachel and I haven’t quite mastered the one handed, no cutlery technique, but we are working on it.  To finish off the meal, we tried some buttermilk.  It is also known as lassi and is thought to be good for digestion.  Rachel could hardly swallow her first sip, but I thought it wasn’t too bad.  Although, it wasn’t my favorite either.  It tasted like very sour milk, almost like it had some lime in it.  Nevertheless, it was fun to try it and learn a bit more about Indian culture.  After our exciting and informative dinner, we hopped in an auto and headed for home.  We said goodbye to Nitu, thanking her for a wonderful evening in Udupi.  Excited but exhausted, and still a bit damp, we climbed into bed after a long day of work and shopping.