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.