Wow, I just realized how long it’s been since I’ve blogged! After our trip to Mangalore on Friday, we only had one more day of work before the weekend. Luckily we got to leave work around 4 PM on Saturday and we were excited to have some time to lay out by the pool. It was a beautiful day, most days are here, and we were thrilled to have two extra hours of sunlight. It is interesting though that people here want to be lighter instead of darker. Where we use low SPF tanning lotions and gradual tanners, here they use high SPF sun block and lotions to make you paler. It is funny to see how reversed it is, I guess people always want what they don’t have. But anyways, we laid by the pool hoping to catch some of the last rays of sun until the IT guy from Manipal Press came to hook our computers up with internet. I don’t think Rachel or I have ever been quite so excited for the internet. While we waited for it to reach an acceptable time for our family and friends to wake up at home, we cracked open the tasty looking watermelon we had picked up on our way home. We sat outside on our porch eating the absolutely delicious watermelon looking out at the view while we waited. Finally we could reasonably expect people to be awake, so we both spent some time talking with friends and family catching up. It felt like we hadn’t talked to our friends and family in so long! And skype is such a help in making us into feeling like we’re not actually that far from home.
After skyping with our friends and family, we got ready for a big Saturday night out. If you know me, you’re probably laughing at that idea. If we only get one day as our weekend, we needed to make it count! One of our co-workers recommended Blue Waters, a restaurant and “disco tech” that is popular for young people. We got a tasty dinner there and afterwards, I ordered a strawberry daiquiri, still feeling a bit odd that I’m actually allowed to. As someone who doesn’t drink back home, I am not entirely sure I actually like the taste of alcohol, even with the all the strawberry flavor covering it up. I might have to give it a few more tries before I decide if I actually like it or not. After deciding to keep it to one drink for the night, Rachel and I ventured over to a friendly looking group to introduce ourselves. The group of friends was from Mumbai but was visiting Manipal for a few days. They were all incredibly nice in including us in their group for the evening. One woman in the group was an architect, one was in hospitality, and another was still in university. We really enjoyed talking with them, and we were all excited to start dancing. The owner came over and introduced himself while we were waiting for the dancing to get going. He was very nice and seemed excited to have some Americans there. He even said he would play some American music for us.
Finally it was time to dance, and we were so excited. After a long workweek, we were excited to loosen up a bit and have fun. We quickly found out that the dancing here is a bit different than at home. No one grinds, which I appreciate, and they dance a lot more with their hands and arms, and it even has a little Latin flavor. I’m not describing it very well, but it was very interesting. I think I actually prefer it to our dancing even though I haven’t quite mastered it yet. Around midnight we were feeling pretty tired since we passed out at 9 every other night that week, and decided to head back to our apartment. On the way out we saw the club owner who was very disappointed that we were leaving, but we assured him we would come back. And we also walked passed this man who looked oddly familiar. For a second I could not figure out why he looked so familiar, and then I realized that he was Mr. Gautham Pai, Managing Director of the entire Manipal Group. We quickly stopped to say hello, surprised that he was there and hoping that we didn’t look like “crazy Americans.” While we walked back, we laughed at how surprised we probably looked to Mr. Pai, but assuming that if he was there, it must be a nice place!
Glad to finally have touched base at home and excited to make some new friends, we went to bed that night tired and happy. When we woke up Sunday morning we very quickly voted to sleep in and go to the evening Mass in lieu of the 8 AM Mass. It was a quality decision to be sure. I slept in until 10 AM and could hardly believe how good it felt. After pulling myself out of bed, Rachel and I decided that we would make some breakfast. We were very proud of ourselves when we made scrambled eggs with tomatoes, onions, and cheese, breakfast potatoes, fresh bananas, and hot tea. After declaring that we had mastered breakfast, we decided that today was a great day to go to the beach, Malpe Beach to be exact. We took a taxi to the beach and enjoyed the scenic ride. Passing through the town of Udupi, we got to see some more schools, temples, and homes. It is still so interesting to simply observe how people live here. I remember thinking that the ride alone would make for a good day. And then when we arrived at the beach, we could hardly believe how pretty it was.
A big archway marked the entrance to the beach, and the coarse white sand against the dark gray sea was beautiful. The first thing we did was walk right up to the water to stick our feet in the Arabian Sea. For someone who has barely been off the East coast of the S
tates, having my feet in the Arabian Sea was incredible. The water, though slightly more dirty than US beaches, was so warm! Even though we couldn’t swim, it felt so good to just stand in the water. We were slightly surprised when we realized that everyone there had worn normal clothes instead of bathing suits. I guess our plan to sunbathe for the afternoon was scratched. We decided to go for a walk along the beach to see what we could find. Rachel was very excited to find some pretty shells. There were some really different ones than we have at home. One had a beautiful dark emeraldgreen around the edges, and another was pale purple with white stripes on it. After a bit we came to the fishing boats that had been pulled up on the sand. They were beautiful and colorful and most had names on the sides of them. We climbed out on some rocks in time to see some fishermen pulling in their nets. I laughed because it was exactly how I pictured Jesus fishing with the disciples. It is hard to believe how little an effect time has on some things. After a few minutes’ rest, we climbed down and started w
alking back.
As we walked back we noticed that there were quite a few droppings on the beach. At first we thought it was just from all the stray dogs, but then we noticed a few people squatting on the beach near the water. After putting two and two together, Rachel enjoyed a good laugh as I was somewhat in a state of disbelief.
Following our little “realization” it was a good thing we still had a long walk back to where we started. After our walk, we quickly agreed that it was time for lunch. The streets adjacent to the beach were lined with ice cream carts and little snack stands. Rachel observed that it was almost like the bea
ches at home. I guess the beach makes you hungry whether it’s the Arabian Sea or the Atlantic Ocean. We settled on a beautiful open air restaurant right on the beach, and sat down to enjoy a nice breeze and a picture perfect view of the sea, families spending time together, and children playing. It was unifying to realize that despite the many miles apart, numerous cultural differences, and varying religious beliefs, people are really all the same. Children always love to play on the beach, parents always love to talk about their children, and a good meal always brings people together. I know it sounds sappy but when it hit me at the restaurant the other day, it felt very insightful.
So after enjoying a delicious, western-style grilled fish with fresh vegetables, we decided that all that was left to complete our perfect day at the beach was some ice cream. We walked a bit to find an ice cream cart and enjoyed walk
ing along the beach with our treats. I have to admit, I have developed a new appreciation for ice cream since arriving here. Maybe it is just because it is so hot, I’m not sure, but ice cream always sounds delicious. I
have also become obsessed with mango. All the fruit here is deliciously fresh, but because I’ve never had a mango before coming to India, I can’t seem to get enough of them. Needless to say, I’ve been taking advantage of the exchange rate and spending a fair amount of money on fruit and ice cream. And lucky for me, they even have mango ice cream. Rachel and I decided that walking along with our ice cream was a perfect way to end our day at Malpe Beach, so after we finished we found a taxi to take us back to Manipal. We were both tired from walking so much, and I was hoping to get a nap in before Mass that evening. That night at the student Mass at Christ Church, we were excited to see that it was an even more popular Mass than the morning English Mass. I quickly decided that I liked this Mass very much; not only did I already love the beautiful open-air church, but the music was livelier and several parishioners looked our age. All in all, it was a wonderful day.
Back at work on Monday, I continued working on my assignment, producing a cost sheet. I am still so excited to get to use what I have been learning, and my boss has been an extremely patient teacher. I also got to spend an afternoon observing the accounting department. I got to see how they use a software program called Tally to input journal entries and create balance sheets and profit and loss statements. To most of you reading this, you are probably falling asleep just thinking about spending an entire afternoon doing anything with accounting, but if you know me at all, you know that I was a little too excited about it.
Monday night after work, we made our first dinner of mutton, green beans, bread, and tea. While the green beans came out all right, the mutton was slightly overcooked and a bit too fatty. Needless to say we settled on PB&J. We were quite discouraged but determined that our fairly inadequate kitchen would not fail us! After
taking a day off from cooking, we went to the general store where we are becoming good friends with the owner. He gave us a simple recipe for Chicken Curry with rice. He was so helpful and set us up with everything we needed. We went home resolved to do better on this dish. After a quick workout (we’ve been doing the Insanity program by Beach Body), we were ready to make our curry. After working at it for 45 minutes, not entirely sure that we were actually doing any of it correctly, we were finished with our first Indian dinner. It smelled good. It looked good. I was quite nervous to taste it because, as someone who cooks a lot at home, I hate to mess up a dish. But lo and behold, it was delicious! We made a few notes on how to suit it more to our taste, even making it spicier if you’ll believe it, and declared it a success.
As I write this it is Thursday morning, and I can hardly believe we have only been here a week and a half. Since moving into our apartment, we have settled into a good routine. We wake up and have breakfast before going into work. Sometimes we take a tea break in the late morning, and we take our lunch break around 1 PM. Now that we know a few dishes that we really like, we have been trying to expand our palettes and explore different dishes. I’m still so impressed by how many vegetables they can pack into one dish, and by how delicious nan is. After lunch, and usually ice cream too, we come back and work until 6 PM. Then we walk back to our apartment, usually stopping to buy some fresh fruit along the way to have as a snack. Next we do our Insanity work out. By that time we are more than ready for dinner. After dinner we usually catch up on facebook, shower, and wind down before going to bed, now at the impressive hour of 10 o’clock. We have even made a list of little things we would like to do, and are planning to pick one per day so we don’t get bored with our routine. Yesterday was making our Chicken Curry. Other things on the list include: learning how to play carrom, and Indian board game; having a chat, their 5 o’clock snack since they don’t eat dinner until 9:30 or 10; and going to Café Coffee Day, a highly recommended tea and coffee house. And probably the most exciting thing, especially for Rachel, we were invited to the wedding of someone here at the company. The wedding is next Sunday, June 20, and before then we will have to get a sari to wear and who knows what else. I guess we’ll have to ask around for Indian wedding etiquette. Rachel has been dying to go to an Indian wedding so she is thrilled. We are quite excited about our upcoming adventures, and I’ll be sure to blog more often about them and hopefully add some pictures too.
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