She's Gone Rogue

Holiday Wrap Up

2012-01-13T12:48:00.000-08:00

So, I guess I missed posting about my big Amurcan Holiday Season this year. Suffice it to say, we were very busy running around visiting family and ringing in Thanksgiving, Christmas AND New Year's all over the country! A few highlights in photo form:

Spent Thanksgiving at the Correnti household, where Matt was immediately put to work hanging Christmas lights.

Later, we went to Oregon to check up on Ruby's. Matt felt the need to show off his skills, so we spent several hours hanging these Christmas lights, only to have none of them work because we got them from the thrift shop. Imagine that.

After that, we returned to Chicago and visited the German Christmas Market downtown. It was pretty authentic, as far as Christmas Markets go, except it was small and as you can see, there were about 10,000 too many people there.

Then we decorated our apartment, for the first time since 2007!

For Christmas, we drove to Arkansas with a pit stop in Missouri to collect our gifts (lots of camo) and stir up some excitement.

Mason methodically tracked Santa's route with a map and an Iphone.

These kids cleaned up! (As in, they got a lot of toys. They didn't actually clean anything up.)

That's about it. I don't actually have pictures to prove I rang in the New Year with the Correnti family, but I did. It was similar to my 2011 New Year's Eve, filled with drinking and game-playing, only a lot more awesome.

Now we're finally back home, and I'm ringing in this Friday the 13th stuck inside in the middle of a massive snow storm! Okay, it was only 6 inches, and it actually snowed yesterday, not today, but still. Six inches of snow and 20 degree weather deters me from venturing outside.

A word about the New Year: Last year, I completed at least one of my resolutions for 2011 - I ran 10 kilometers continuously! Actually, it was more like 12K because I was trying to run 11K to mark 11-11-11, but I got confused. Still, I can check that one off the last. I don't really know about the rest of my resolutions because they are a little harder to quantify... except that song from Stepbrothers. I didn't learn that. Oops. This year, in the spirit of fulfilling a resolution (because it feels so damn good!) I resolve to run at least 10 miles continuously. Also, I will find a job and decide what I want to be when I grow up (those are in no particular order). Bring it on 2012.

As you may have guessed, I still have no job. Surprised? Me either. Never fear, my diligent followers, for I am making the best of this dismal situation. As I believe I've previously mentioned, I'm making lemonade out of the rotten, putrid, stinking lemons I've been given, and I'm taking this time off to try my hand at cooking and baking. As a tribute to Rachael (who, along with 80% of the blogosphere, is always listing her cooking adventures... and who is a far more accomplished cook than I), I will now list a few of my greatest achievements: fancy gumbo (only fancy because I had to stir the roux for 25 minutes continuously until it turned "the color of chocolate"), ravioli from scratch (Katie and I went on a friend date to a ravioli-making class, which was only slightly awkward, due to the fact that everyone else in class was on a romantic date), gooey raspberry granola bars (those didn't actually turn out, but they sound good), and (as of last night) my very own homemade granola with cranberries and sunflower seeds! Also, I bought a muffin pan two or three months ago, and have yet to use it. Boom. Chef.

Shameless

2011-11-10T14:56:00.000-08:00

There are a few reasons I'm shameless today. The first, and arguably most damning is this: I have spent approximately one hour researching velvet camo blazers online trying to find a photo of the one Brad Paisley wore last night at the 45th annual CMA Awards. I am ashamed to admit that I couldn't find a picture of the exact one, but I think this one comes close. Brad's was velvet, therefore inherently better, but I'm pleased to note that I could indeed buy a camouflage blazer if I wanted. Also, in my vast research, I came across an amazing Christmas gift that I would like to receive, should anyone like to get it for me:

This is from a website called Camo Formal. The sash comes in several different colors, including Hunter's Orange. I am partial to the red because I think it's more Christmassy.

Being a true Arkansawyer, I know my fair share of people who have gotten married in camouflage dresses, and needless to say, if I had a do-over for my own wedding, I would surely jump on that bandwagon. As it stands, I will wait until someone gifts this little ditty to me, and then I'll wear the hell out of it. That is a promise.

My second round of shamelessness is actually not my doing, but that of my friend from high school. She is launching her very own print magazine and without an ounce of shame in her very being, asked me if I'd like to blog about it. While I fully support everything she is doing, and am beyond proud of her accomplishments, I am simultaneously falling down into a pit of despair as I compare her life to my own and see all the ways in which I do not measure up. However, I'm not one to let a little despair, or the fact that no one in roughly 100 miles of her area reads my blog (with the possible exception of my father), come between me and helping out my homies, so here you go:

DEITRA Magazine, everyone's favorite community-supporting, video-sharing, local-artist-sponsoring online journal, is hosting a launch party for their first ever print edition. Music lovers everywhere, as well as those fond of reading while holding tangible objects, can finally delve into the heart of magazine magic as they flip open the glossy cover of DEITRA to find pages jam-packed with news articles, CD reviews and interviews with a diverse group of local artists. Hipsters nationwide will shake their heads with disbelief as their previously hidden gems of the music scene are suddenly thrust into the spotlight, thanks to DEITRA's steadfast support of undiscovered bands.

DEITRA Magazine invites everyone - in every time zone, and every country - to come share in this momentous occasion on Thursday, December 8th, at 9:00 p.m. in the Outland Ballroom in Springfield, Missouri. Come early to pick up your FREE print copy of the magazine, and secure your spot in the front row to hear popular Springfield-based bands such as Assembly Line Gods, VideoVamp, Ewag3, SPiNRaD (featuring Yellville musical legend David Styer), and many more. There is a $5 cover. Ain't nothing in this world worth doing is free anymore. "There is an incredible population of artists in local communities, including musicians, writers, photographers, actors, comedians and more," says the magazine's editor, "and DEITRA magazine wants to bring those talented people out from the underground and put them into the spotlight." Those not in the area should check out DEITRA Magazine online. It's the very least you could do.

Lastly, I'm shameless because I've had this song stuck in my head for the last four hours. Something about the CMA's always brings out the Garth Brooks in me.

This is Halloween!

2011-11-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

First pumpkins in at least four years! Mine's the gruesome evil one. Matt's is the jolly snowman face one.

We finally got to go all out dressing up for Halloween this year, and in true She's Gone Rogue style, we chose to go the comedic route rather than horror or slutty (although slutty was a close second for Matt. I had to reign him in). Anyway, for our re-entrance into American Halloween culture, we worked diligently for days on our costumes, making sure every detail was perfect. And then we scrapped it the night before when we came up with something better: Allstate Mayhem Commercial Guy. I'll attach links to the youtube clips so you get the idea, but even if you don't, I'm confident you'll still find our costumes rock so much harder than most. Matt was the "hot babe out jogging":

He's out making sure this a ten. Click here for his commercial.

Pretty close, right?

Katie was the toddler:

Click here for her commercial.

And I was the "raccoon hiding in your attic":

"I'm the smartest raccoon I know." Click here for my commercial. (It's de best one.)

In any case, we were all very excited to dress up better than we have in previous years. Case in point:

Halloween 2009 Dushanzi: Matt is the character Apache played by the late Patrick Swayze. So sad. I am Brett Michaels of Poison fame.

Halloween 2010 Baroda: An Asian couple in love. Maybe not the most politically correct costume, but we had nothing else.

Halloween 2011 Chicago: Allstate Mayhem. A vast improvement.

In other news, I signed up with a staffing agency today in hopes they'll be more successful at finding me a job. I went to their office downtown today and spent about three hours taking tests and filling out papers. I felt very urban and professional by the time I was finished. Then I went to the restroom in McDonald's and immediately dropped my phone in the toilet. A public toilet. In McDonald's. I was tempted to just leave it, but then I thought better of it, as I have no car and my phone is about the only thing that connects me with the outside world. So I dove in there and plucked it from within the recesses of the septic system. Not really. It was just in the toilet bowl. Still, it was pretty gross.

Boom. Traveling.

2011-10-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

Matt learned last night he had to go back to Texas City for the loading on Wednesday. As in tomorrow. Not excited about the prospect of facing another week plus alone in Evanston, we decided I'll just go with him! I figure I've got to check Houston out at some point, considering we might choose to live there some day. (Keep in mind, almost every city in America - with the obvious exception of Dumas, TX - is on our "we might choose to live there" list.)

In other news, I have not yet found a job, and my spirit just might be broken. Not quite as broken as it was in India, but bending toward a breaking point, nonetheless. Case in point: the other day I was walking outside and I saw probably four or five piles of dog poop on the sidewalk, and my immediate reaction was "Oh this is a metaphor for my life." Boom. Defeated. However, I will rise above this. In the meantime, I will go to Texas. Everything is better in Texas - isn't that how the saying goes?

Anyway, I don't really know anything about Texas City, except that it's in Texas.
Click here for a map. Looks to be close to Galveston. I don't know anything about Galveston either, but it is probably awesome. Better take my cowboy boots.

That's about all I've got for the day, and probably the month of October. Maybe I'll have something else to share in the next few days, as I'll be traveling once again! Even if this job is the worst, at least I'll get to visit my favorite place, O'Hare International Airport, two more times.

Sublime August

2011-09-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

I'm turning into a regular Crafty Cathy over here in Amurca these days. Who knew? I finally finished my picture wall project that I've been somewhat listlessly working on for the past, eh, three years. Why did it take so long, you ask? Well, firstly, I had to take some pictures. Then, I had to wait to have a wall on which to hang my pictures. Next, I had to collect all manner of vintage picture frames. After that, I had to buy Command Strips and hang said pictures in picture frames. And later, I had to watch as they all fell off the wall and tumbled down up on the mantle, cracking a few frames and shattering lots of glass. Finally, I had to double the Command Strips and place the frames ever so gently on the ancient and crumbling space above my fireplace. Now, it is done, and I think you'll agree, the effect is glorious.

Boom. Glorious.

Actually, it didn't turn out at all like I was anticipating, but I've made my peace with it, and it's nice to finally have something to fill that yawning expanse of wall.

Also, August was Cardinal Month for us here at She's Gone Rogue, and we decided that it was high time we get busy livin' or get busy dyin'. It was in this spirit that we attended three St. Louis Cardinal games in a three week span. Here are some highlights:

Garland weekend.

View from the box. They call us "Big Deal Streetts".

Second weekend at Wrigley. Slightly less impressive, but still fun.

Boom. Tony La Russa.

Boom. Rally caps.

Correnti weekend. (Notice their complete lack of Cardinal's attire. Is nothing sacred anymore?)

Boom. Representing.

Our seats were high, but the view wasn't too shabby.

I wish I could tell you the Cardinal's fought the good fight and won every game. I wish I could tell you that, but baseball ain't no fairy tale world. They lost two of the three games I saw, but still. Sublime August. Also, Matt's leaving me for Texas City... again. Visitors? My door is always open. Especially because he'll probably leave me again at the end of the month.

Domestic Goddess

2011-08-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

You know you've settled down when you get a membership to Sam's Club. I don't really need to shop in bulk, but does anyone? Plus, you've gotta support Arkansas' economy when you can. This is why I didn't go with Costco. (Also, because Uncle John put me on his business account. I've got mad connections.) Also, I not sure there's a greater high than buying 36 double rolls of toilet paper, four sticks of deodorant, two giant bottles of coffee creamer, and double family pack of Honey Bunches of Oats (with Almonds!) at the same time.

In other news, I still don't have a job, nor have I even been seriously considered for one to the best of my knowledge. On the contrary, I was rejected by a university in Chicago (I decline to name the specific university to protect my reputation - but the initials are U of C) in a record two hours and 45 minutes. It took me three hours just to fill out the application and write myself up. Boom. Humbled. Some people might be ashamed to admit that, but not me. I look on the bright side. I grab life by the horns and wrestle it into submission. I take nasty, rotten, putrid lemons and turn them into sage-infused vodka lemonade. On a related note, I am now proficient in both cover letter- and resume-writing, and more than proficient in researching for jobs. Stick that in your careerbuilder pipe and smoke it.

DIY

2011-08-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

Matt left me earlier this week to go to Houston for work. Certain that I would fall apart without his benevolent presence to guide me through the days, he worried his way through his meetings, anxious to get home and coddle me into a peaceful state once more. Little did he know, I had bigger and better plans in the form of my very own DIY project. Because now I'm domesticated, and I can buy things and make them into better things.

Saturday, before Matt left, we traipsed over to my new favorite haunt, the Village Treasure House, where we found a used nightstand for $25. Only $25! Do you know how much those things cost these days? Upwards of $100, at least! No way I'm spending that much on a little dinky cabinet to hold my mouthguard (I now have a teeth clenching problem, courtesy of India) and glass of water. I would much rather stick my water and guard on something we already have... like the small safe Nick and Jen got us for our wedding. (So many uses for a safe!)

Anyway, this nightstand needed a little coddling of its own, so we sanded it down (by hand, which I don't recommend), and then I lovingly and painstakingly painted it, a task which kept me busy for most of the 48 hours Matt was away. Seriously, these things take time. We had decided we wanted something chic and exciting, a la this little number from Crate & Barrel:

FYI, if anyone feels that I should have this exact cabinet in my home, I agree with you, and I'd gladly accept it as a gift and token of your love and affection. It costs $900. A steal!

So we went to Lowe's and bought a paint and primer combo called "Enchanted Navy". So chic. So exciting. I didn't have a paintbrush, so we bought one of those, too. And sandpaper, for the sanding. We spent about $30. Then I had to go buy new drawer knobs for it. $5. New nightstand total: $60. Hmm. I'm new at this DIY stuff, but I'm not sure your refurbishing supplies should exceed the cost of the actual product. Unless it was free. Ah, well, such is life.

Many, many hours and four very thin coats of paint later, the deed was done. Add in what Matt should pay me for my backbreaking labor (roughly $40/hour), and the final total came up to: $1660. Not quite a bargain, per se, but still better than something you might buy at, ahem, Macy's.

Before (But after the sanding. I forgot to take a true before picture):

And After!

Ehhhh.

And the finished product:

I am fully aware that it looks like a face with book teeth, and I'm okay with that.

Soooo, it isn't quite the chic and exciting finished product I was envisioning, but it isn't terrible. Somehow the color came out much lighter and brighter and more primary-color-wheel-esque than I had anticipated. That's okay. I am consoling myself with the fact that after we have kids, we can stick this little guy in the kid's room and the bright and cheerful blue color will brighten his/her days forever. Hell, I might even stencil some trains on it. Or teddy bears. Or creepy old-fashioned dolls with glass eyes. Eventually. (I'm not pregnant, I promise. I'm just thinking ahead. Waaay ahead.)

Anyway, Matt came home and was just about as impressed as I was. Which isn't saying much. However, we are both pleased to have a new nightstand for our sundries. Plus, now I have a whole can of bright, primary blue paint to do with as I please. Stay tuned for my next DIY project: Blue Dresser, followed by Blue Mantle, Blue Mirror, and probably Blue Faux Leather Chairs.

Oh, also, in light of recent DIY events, Matt has elected to skip his Seoul trip in August to babysit me. Any and all who were invited to visit are still invited, but things might be a touch more unpleasant with him around. I joke, I joke.

Oh My Lady Gaga!

2011-07-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

I am rushing to write this, as it looks like it's about to Apocalypse (can you use that as a verb? Boom. Just did it.) outside my window. We have now had two major storms here in Chicagoland, both of which knocked our power out at our new apartment. I feel certain this will be the third. The power is flickering as my fingers dance across the keys, but I will not be deterred. Every light in my apartment is on, along with both the bathroom vent and the air conditioner. If I'm going to lose power for the third time in a month, I'm going to soak in every last drop of electricity possible.

I don't actually have much news, but I do, however, have a proclivity for dramatics. Firstly, I'd like to say that Matt took me to a Cubs versus Phillies game Tuesday night. Our first game of the season (I'd only ever been to one at Wrigley before, about four years ago... in case you hadn't heard, I've been out of town for a while), it did not disappoint. As I remembered from my previous game, there were lots of drunks running around in Cubs gear, but there were also a fair number of Phillies fans. I don't know where they came from, but it sure as hell wasn't Philadelphia. I thought (hoped) we might see a fight between drunken Cubbies and stone-faced Phanatics, but we did not. I, forever the rebel, tried to incite tensions by wearing both red and blue. I've been told that if you can't wear Cardinal's gear, you cannot in good conscience fully support another team.

This is..... BASEBALL!

I thought I was being quite magnanimous and humorous in my wardrobe selection, but many others did not think it was so. I had two old guys on the train comment in it, and they were not impressed by my rehearsed "I'm a walking contradiction" accompanied by a winning smile. Apparently you don't mess around with baseball. I can't tell you the particulars of the game because I wasn't paying that much attention, but I can tell you the Phillies won. Yay. I was actually pretty star struck with the Phillies, as this is the only team my husband will watch or talk about. Ever.

Cliff Lee. I'm allowed to root for him because he's from Arkansas.

Shane Victorino - he of the crazy eyes. I'm pretty sure he's a meth addict, therefore, he is my favorite.

See? I stole this from Google to underscore my claim. (Because everyone knows pointing at your head means you're psychotic.)

Boom. Ryan Howard.

Boom. Seth Huber posing like an Asian.

And that's about all I have to say about that. The power is still on, and the storm seems to have subsided. Wow. This is a first. As for my blog post title, I guess a bit of explanation is in order. I just read an article in The New Yorker (I truly am that pretentious), and the writer mentions a Chinese youth who uses the phrase, "Oh my Lady Gaga!" to express surprise. This seems such a very good depiction of Chinese youth today that I giggled over it for a good 20 minutes. I can just picture one of my little Chinese students, 8-year-old Jerry, exclaiming "Oh my Lady Gaga," instead of the "Oh my God", of which he was so fond. Ahh, China. How I miss you.

Also, I realized in my last post I forgot to mention that Matt is leaving me.

For two weeks in August to to go Korea. (See how I did that? I told you I have drama in my blood.) Someone should come visit me, because we all know I probably won't have a job by then, and while I will have a car, I won't have any company in my fancy new apartment. Think about it.

Success!

2011-07-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

We've done it! We finally have a sofa! The lovely people from Crate and Barrel called on Saturday to set up a delivery appointment for Sunday, and then (and this is the really amazing part, guys), they actually showed up! With the sofa! Unbelievable. I wasn't here when it happened (I was busy doing some important work at the lake), but apparently they had to take the door off to wrangle the beast in the apartment. They left without putting the door back on, but that is beside the point. My handy husband put it back in in a jiffy (or an hour).

How d'ya like them apples? We have since rearranged and our living room doesn't look like this anymore, but I am too lazy to take a new picture.

God bless that's a pretty looking couch. Don't deny it. Later, the woman who sold us the couch from Crate and Barrel called to make sure we were happy with our purchase and that it had arrived in a timely manner. Can you believe that? Customer service at its finest. Take notes, Macy's.

That is about all that is noteworthy in my life at the moment. Our Fourth was pretty uneventful, although we did go floating on the Fox River that Sunday. Then we "watched" fireworks at the lake on Monday (I use the term loosely because we couldn't really see many from where we were). Oh, and we went to the Evanston parade. I thought it would be a bigger deal seeing how everyone from the county showed up, but it wasn't.

Still better than China's parade from 2009:

Admittedly, this wasn't actually on the 4th of July, but somewhere near then. They started marching like this at least once a day, every day, after the Urumqi riots. Ahh, China. How I miss you.

Last week I helped throw a baby shower for Angela, head roadwife of UOP, for her second child. I hope she had a good time, even though I kept winning at the "Don't Say 'Baby'" game.

Angela, her gifts, and Aunt Bit's "shower umbrella". She is 8.5 months pregnant, by the way - not that you can tell.

Oh yes, and Monday morning we had a storm, again, and lost our power, again. It's starting to feel a little like Dumai, Indonesia, where we had rolling blackouts daily. Luckily, we had it back by that afternoon, unlike most of the rest of the 700,000 homes who were reportedly without on Monday. The stop lights were out as well, which caused Matt to have to work from home on Tuesday. Boy, did he hate that. The lights are still out today, but he went in anyway, because he couldn't stand to be away from the office for one more minute.

Anyway, thus ends the Saga of the Couch. Fear not, old friends, for next week I will probably have some new drama to tell you about. My prediction is a "Saga of the Car", or "Saga of the Ceiling Fan". This living in America and owning stuff ain't for sissies.

The Curious Incident of the Missing Couch from the Furniture Store

2011-07-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

The following account is a true story. No names, dates, locations or times were changed to protect anyone's identity.

I.
About three months ago (May 7th, 2011, 11:26 a.m., to be overly precise), we ordered a sofa, chair and ottoman from our dear friends at Macy's Furniture. At the time, we were told this couch was not available just yet at the warehouse, and it would probably be available to us by mid-June. We asked if we could buy the floor models and were told they were not for sale at this particular time. Bummer, but everyone knows that we travelers are extremely laid-back and easygoing by nature (as a rule, we continually ooze nonchalance from our every pore), so we decided this would not be a problem. (Also, we were going on vacation and would be in glorious Spain for two of those four weeks.) Done deal.

II.
Upon our return from Spain, we received an email from Macy's stating that our delivery date would be pushed back to late June. Damn! We decided to resume our search for a replacement sofa, but didn't want to cancel the other until we found a new one. Bought a new ottoman instead. Canceled old ottoman.

III.
Received another email from Macy's in which the date was pushed back again, this time to July 2nd. Found out the floor models were finally on sale! Called Odette, our saleswoman (I use the term very loosely at this point, as she seemed to be doing everything she could to lose our business), to ask if we could buy the floor models. No, she'd already sold the floor couch to someone else. Thanks for the heads up, Odette.

IV.
Received another email. Date pushed back until July 9th. Bought the aforementioned new chairs. Called three times to cancel old chair. Got no response.

V.
Received yet another email. Date was pushed back to August 19th. Apparently Macy's not only did not have the sofa in stock, but they had to first grow the cotton, pick it, spin it into thread, make the fabric, dye it, and ultimately assemble and ship the entire couch before we would receive it. Called and canceled the couch. Went shopping in a last-ditch effort to find a new couch that we could have immediately. Got depressed. Went in one last time to Crate and Barrel, where we stumbled upon their End of Season Floor Model Sale. Found a new sofa, which is even cheaper (therefore better) than the other one! It will be here on Sunday. Finally caught a break. Boom.

VI. (I know this is getting tiresome. Imagine how bad it was to live through it.) Our old friend Odette called to ask if we were sure we wanted to cancel. Yes, Odette. Yes. "Well, we've had your sofa in the warehouse for weeks now, and we were just waiting on the chair. If you like, I can sell you the floor model chair, and get you the whole set ASAP!" Wow. That information would have been useful to me yesterday. Or "weeks" ago when the couch got to the warehouse. Thanks, woman. You have easily secured your place in history as the worst salesperson of all time. Needless to say, we stuck to our decision to cancel the order.

Moral of the story: Don't buy furniture from Macy's. Ever. Even if it's on sale. Even if it's "de best" deal. Even if it is a piece of Martha Stewart finery which only Macy's carries! Just say no.

Secondary moral: Don't buy furniture at all. Buy lawn chairs. Preferably from a yard sale.

I miss my hotel.

On Wednesdays, We Wear Pink

2011-06-29T12:50:00.000-07:00

Just as I suspected, the excitement factor of my blog posts has gone down dramatically since we stopped traveling. I guess that's to be expected, but it is still vaguely unsettling - the way the winner of the Ugliest Dog Contest is unsettling. I'd like to say this onslaught of boring posts isn't my fault, but I'd be lying. Mostly it is. I could make it a bit more interesting, but I haven't had much to work with the past few weeks. (Never mind that epic 60 hour power outage that almost exclusively struck our building after the storm last week. No one wants to hear about that.)

Until my Arkansas friends came to town, that is. It is a documented fact that we Arkansawyers know how to kick the fun-factor up a notch.

See, we are a blast.

Aside from Allison spending a good 24 hours explaining to me what "hipsters" are, (somehow I missed that entire sub-cultural movement. Blame it on India.) Matt and I spent most of our time showing off our prowess as hot-shot big city dwellers and exposing the girls as the country bumpkins they really are. Mostly we followed Matt around as he took us on the awe-inducing, ever-gleaming, lightning-fast CTA train into downtown, holding our breath surreptitiously so as not to gag from the stench of urine that seems to linger in every car of the transit system. We got swept up in the sweaty masses of the Taste of Chicago, and swiftly moved on to the more comfortable quarters of Lincoln Park's Summerfest celebration.

Before my inbox gets overloaded with questions regarding where to find those masks: you're out of luck. We got those in Germany. Best impulse buy ever.

Later, we marveled at the treasures on display at the Chicago Antique Market Festival, where Allison bought a $3 necklace of unknown material (possibly silver, in which case - Score! Possibly tin, in which case it's probably recyclable), Rachael bought a nuts and bolts bracelet (it looks just like it sounds), and Matt and I found the best prize of all: two leather office chairs! If you aren't jumping out of your skin with enthusiasm at this very moment, that's only because I haven't told you yet that we got them for the meager price of $75 for the pair! Come on! That is amazing. That's like $4 a chair or something incredible like that. I'm a little fuzzy on the math.

See? They're even on casters. Who doesn't love casters?

These chairs not only give us a place to sit while we await our ever-absent Macy's sofa (which, let's be honest, we should probably chalk up to a scam at this point), but they also proved to be a hot commodity at the festival. No sooner had Matt and I left to get cash from the ATM than a scavenging couple came up and offered the woman $150 for the chairs. Thankfully Rachael and Allison were there to bare their teeth, sprout hair from their bodies, and morph into rabid werewolves, thereby scaring off those and any more amazing-chair thieves. The couple asked me to sell them just one chair for $75 (ensuring me a free chair), but I told them I needed the pair. I'm not sure if that's true, but I didn't like the look of that guy. Plus, I probably did need both, as evidenced by the lack of sofa situation.

Anyway, after the excitement of the weekend, we are now back to just the two of us, in our humdrum day-to-day activities. Today, I'm making potstickers. Tomorrow it's a potato frittata. This might end up being a food blog, but probably not. Unless it turns into an "I'm not sure how to cook but God bless I'm going to persevere" food blog. Doubtful.

Domestimacated

2011-06-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

It has taken almost a month, but we are finally settling in here at Casa de Former Travelers. We (and by we of course I mean mostly I... I've got to earn my keep in some way) have unpacked almost every box, and put almost everything in place. Well, we've put things in a place. It might not be a fully realized and organized apartment yet, but we're working on it. Who knew unpacking was such a chore? Most of my first week here was spent sitting on the floor, surrounded by boxes and mountains of packing paper, shaking my head in disbelief at why we felt the need to store most of these things for three years. A broken teapot. A broken lampshade. Three broken chairs. (All of these things were broken before the movers even touched them.) A package of chocolate covered pretzels. A half-empty box of soup. Three used candles, etc, etc. I think we might be recovering hoarders. Also, for those of you who have never had the pleasure of dealing with the results of professional packers, I can only hope and pray that you do experience it at some point in your life. While it is wonderful to have all your possessions packed for you - each piece wrapped in thousands of sheets of paper and then stuffed in its own four-foot-tall box - you have to keep an eye on those guys, for when they say they pack everything, they mean it. A few of my favorite finds: dirty dishes with caked on food, a stack of the library's CDs we borrowed for the wedding (a hefty late fee on those, I'm guessing), a coffee maker with the filter and old, moldy coffee grounds stuck in it, as well as my favorite find - a Fry Daddy with 3-year-old fry oil sitting inside. It's bad enough we even own a Fry-Daddy (you can take the girl out of Arkansas...), but to have the oil still sitting in it? Come on! Yet despite all this, I know I only have myself (and my husband) to blame. Apparently you're supposed to get all your items ready to be packed before the packers pack them. What a novel idea.

It may not look like much, but it was. Kind of.

We still don't have all our furniture, but we're getting there. Our discontinued (and probably soon to be collector's items) Martha Stewart sofa and chair have yet to make an appearance, but I think it will be soon and very soon. Possibly next week. Thank you Macy's for your prompt and courteous service. (I'm kidding. They were pretty courteous.) In the meantime, Matt and I have been sharing the old sleeper couch which Arpit and Hema helped us move. Why, even bother, you ask? Who can know? In theory it is because we only have one bedroom and a pull-out sofa bed will be nice when company comes a-calling. The reality is probably that we are cheap and didn't want to fork out $300+ for other seating items for the sunroom. Also, I mentioned we were recovering hoarders, not recovered. The tense makes all the difference.

Ain't that fine? We have since put a slipcover on it, making it look slightly less tacky. Or slightly more tacky. I haven't decided which yet.

Aunt Mickie took me to a used furniture store in the area last week, where we met up with Betsy and Riley, and then Dave showed up as well. It was quite the family affair. I immediately fell in love with almost everything in the store, and took Matt back there on Saturday, where we ran into Dave again! Between the three of us, I think we put a pretty big dent in their inventory, which will give them room to put out more stuff for me to buy.

I still don't have a job, and am in the process of scouring (and by scouring I mean lazily searching when I get the chance, which isn't very often considering I'm still on borrowed Internet) the Web looking for employment, and thinking of ways to beef up my resume. It shouldn't be too hard. Who wouldn't want to hire a journalism/English major with no experience but who has taught English in several (three) different countries? That's what I thought. I'll keep truckin'.

In the meantime, I will continue to settle in here, asking those questions that surely plague newly domesticated couples everywhere, such as: Why is there blue lint on every surface in my bathroom? How do I get rid of it? Can I wash my clothes in the dishwasher? (- Stepbrothers) And when is housekeeping going to come in and clean my room?

Spain - "I think dis is de best"

2011-06-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

El toro. They have these huge bulls on the side of the highway all over Spain. I was impressed.

As you all know, we went to Spain on a last - minute honeymoon. We have since returned to America and are stressed and pressed for time moving into our new apartment. I was just going to skip blogging about Spain, but after repeated requests for info and pictures, I realized I just couldn't let it slide. We here at "She's Gone Rogue" strive to keep our fans happy, yet we really are exceedingly busy and don't have Internet at home now, so we will try to keep this as short and sweet as possible. And now, courtesy of the free wifi at Atlanta Bread Company all the way in Fayetteville, AR, I present to you: Spain:

Day 1 - Madrid

Flew into Madrid. Got there around 9:00 am. Were exhausted, but knew we had to fight the jetlag. Did the only thing we knew how to do: hit the streets with our guidebook and toured the city until we literally fell over. Took an impromptu nap on a park bench for about an hour after we decided to sit for "just a minute." Woke up with all our belongings still intact. Close call. Ate some delicious Spanish food (ie, jamon). Went to bed around 11pm.

Jamon at the jamon store. Affectionately known as "Matt's Paradise."

Metropolis building in Madrid's city center. Possibly the most beloved building by Madrilenos. Modeled after a French building. Oooh, burn.

Day 2 - Madrid

Awoke refreshed and ready to kick the day's ass. Went to the Prado (famous art museum). Got in for free because it was a holiday. Saved 18 euros. Score. Spent far too long at the Prado, but saw interesting art (mostly religious). Bought a magnet of Goya's depiction of Saturn devouring his son. (Said magnet is now located on refrigerator at home to discourage overeating.) Went to park to drink wine. Went to tapas area at Alberto's suggestion (he thought dis was de best place), and had the first of a long list of the very best tapas in the world. Drank more wine. Went in search of chocolate con churros place. Found it, but the line was far too long. Saw a huge demonstration in the plaza. Didn't know what was going on because didn't speak enough Spanish. Resolved to learn more Spanish. Went to bed.

Delicious pintxos (tapas from the Basque region - arguably the best region for tapas).

Huge demonstration. Maybe political? Who can know?

Day 3 - Segovia

Took the high speed train to the medieval city of Segovia from Madrid. Walked with our two rolling suitcases 30 minutes across cobblestone streets to our hotel. Bad idea. Tooled around. It was cool. Ate the local delicacy, roast suckling pig. Surprisingly good. Went to a castle. Walked up a hill to take pictures. Read on a park bench. Fell asleep on said park bench. Had delicious homemade ravioli dinner. Stayed the night.

Cathedral in Segovia. Muy cool.

Aquaduct left over from Roman times. Very big. Very cool.

Castle on which the "Sleeping Beauty" castle was modeled.

View of Segovia from the park on the hill. Worth the walk.

Day 4 - Granada

Took train back to Madrid from Segovia. Rented a car at the train station. Matt drove, obviously. Drove to Granada, approximately four hours. Incredible drive. Amazing countryside. Couldn't find a fast place to stop for lunch, so we skipped it. Went hungry. Arrived in Granada. Checked into beautiful hotel. Walked around the city. Ate Jamon in the room.

View of countryside on the way to Grenada. Those are olive trees.

Day 5 - Granada

Woke early and drove to , an hour outside of the city. Went on a seven mile hike through the mountains to another city. Would have gone further, but we were completely spent. Hike was amazing - possibly best part of the trip. Possibly.

View of a lake from up in the mountains.

Town we hiked to. Don't know the name of it, but it was really pretty.

Day 6 - Granada

Walked around sightseeing, then went and had an unanticipated two hour lunch at a cafe in the shadow of the Alhambra, a Muslim fortress and palace built in the 14th century. Matt freaked out about the time because we had tickets to see the Alhambra's palace at 7, and had to see the rest of the grounds before that. Ran/walked up the hill to the fortress, and sped through the gardens, museums and fortress. Took lots of pictures. Finished in plenty of time to see the palace. Saw palace. Impressive. Took even more pictures. Went down the hill to dinner at a middle eastern restaurant. Had lamb and rice dish. Delicious.

Panorama of the Alhambra from a touristy hill where everyone goes to take pictures. It probably won't show up fully in the blog, so click the picture to see the whole view. Please. I worked hard on it in photoshop.

View of the city from the fortress.

Inside the palace. This is all carved marble that looks like...

this up close. Someone should learn this skill and come to my house and do it on my walls. Please. I'll pay you handsomely in mediocre home-cooked meals.

Day 7 - Sevilla/Seville

Drove from Granada a couple hours to Sevilla. Ate our first and only paella, which was fantastic and very expensive. Saw a beautiful gothic (maybe?) cathedral. Skipped almost all of the other recommended sights in favor of just wandering around. Ate the BEST tapas and drank beer at an outdoor restaurant just underneath our hotel. Went to bed.

Might not look like much, but that's just because of my photography skills. It was incredible.

Seville Cathedral. It is the largest Gothic cathedral and third largest church in the world. You can't tell, but again, that's because of my limited photography skills.

Days 8 through 10 - Costa Brava

Flew from Seville to Barcelona, then skipped out on all the sights and took a bus to the city of Palafrugell, on the Mediterranean Costa Brava. Checked into a wonderful hotel with a gorgeous beach right under our balcony. Went to said beach. Walked all over town and into neighboring towns to visit different beaches, each possibly more impressive than the last. Saw lots of topless women, and one naked man. On the last day, taxi-ed to Aiguablava, a different but no less amazing costal town. Stayed in a Parador situated on a rock that juts out into the Mediterranean. Learned the meaning of Parador (a hotel located in a historic place such as a castle, palace, convent, monastery, fortresse, etc. I don't know what ours used to be. Not a palace or castle, but it was acceptable anyway). Weather was not up to par on that last day, but what can you do? I'll tell you. You can be persistent, take a walk around the beaches, lay out in the freezing windy conditions by the pool pretending that it is 90 degrees and sunny, and finally give up and go drink wine and play cards in your hotel room.

View of the beach and restaurant from our balcony in Palafrugell.

Beach where we saw the naked man. I don't think he's in this picture, but maybe he is. Feel free to look for him.

Third beach.

A rope seen from afar can look like a dead body. Like this one. I was convinced it was a dead body so I had to go investigate. I was wrong. Still, cool rope.

Day 11 - Barcelona/Madrid

Took a bus back to Barcelona. Didn't learn our lesson from Segovia and took our rolling suitcase around the city sightseeing. Went to La Sagrada Familia, or as I call it, Gaudi's church. Walked around it taking pictures and marveling at all the people who were willing to pay 12 euros a piece to go inside. (Note, probably would have forked it over if it hadn't been our last day... my pockets get a little tighter toward the end of a long vacation.) Took bus to airport to fly back to Madrid. Nicest airport I've been to. Good thing, because our flight was delayed two hours. Flew back to Madrid, stayed the night, left early next morning for Amurca. Boom. Spain.

It appears I don't have any pictures downloaded yet from our Parador on the rocks or Barcelona, so I'll have to get those later. Or not at all. Anyway, that was our honeymoon. Now we're back in Amurca, living in the real world, setting up our new apartment, and reeling from the prices of everything.

Why Don't We Do It Off The Road?

2011-05-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess it's as official as it's going to get, folks: we're coming off the road. I'm sure most of you know this, but for those of you who don't, Matt has taken a job in Tech Services with UOP in Des Plaines, which means no more full time travel for us. We just signed a lease on an (amazing) apartment in Evanston, and we are in the process of becoming all domesticated and crap.

Sorry if this is a surprise to some... we've been talking about it for a while, but Matt didn't want to say anything before it was set in stone. (A task which, as you can imagine, was a little too much for me. I told a lot of people in Arkansas right off the bat, but I waited until we started looking for apartments to say anything to anyone else. See, I was kind of good.) I guess signing a lease means we're locked in. Oh boy. If you are sensing that the tone of this posting is neither overjoyed nor excited, then you have judged it correctly. I commend you. Neither of us was really ready to stop traveling, but we felt like we didn't really have a choice. Scratch that; we DID in fact have a choice: come off the road, or go spend at least a year (probably more) in India on another assignment. In Gujarat, to be exact. Just a couple hours away from Baroda, but from what I understand, immensely worse. The living conditions there are supposed to be pretty terrible, and more importantly, there is no big expat women's community to see me through those long, hot, lonely, depressing days in which I'm filled with bitter resentment toward UOP, Matt, Indian people, curry, rats, cows, trash, dogs, etc.

Soooo, obviously we're not cut out for more Gujarat. We'll let someone else handle that while we set up shop in our awesome new rehabilitated vintage apartment in the beautiful and lively community of Evanston! I've promised a few of you some pictures, and of course I'm not one to go back on my word so...

Here is our new living room! I especially love the built-in shelves around the fireplace. And plenty of room for our friends and family to come visit us! (This was not the case with our old Park Ridge apartment, in case you've forgotten.)

Dining room, with a view into the living room and sun room.

Sun room. This is bigger than it looks in this picture... there are two extra windows and more floor space. Probably big enough for me to do yoga in the mornings so people walking by can stop and watch!

Isn't this the cutest little bathroom you've ever seen? (Emphasis on cute. And little.)

Pretty good size kitchen with...

A Butler's Pantry! How quaint and fabulous.

Anyway, the bedroom is a normal size, but there are two big closets for all of our sundries, and we have a storage unit in the basement of the building. Cha-ching. See, I can get excited about this when I want to. One more "surprise" (I've already told most people about this, too... Don't tell me secrets. I can't be trusted) for us: After three long years, (filled with many trials, lots of screaming and some wrestling matches that make WWE look like child's play) we are finally going on a honeymoon! (I bet you thought I was going to say we were splitting up, didn't you? False. We are in a very happy and stable marriage. I promise.) After about two days of deliberation - mostly researching cheap tickets - we have decided to go to Spain! We leave Monday. It is going to be amazing. In the words of Alberto, our Spanish co-worker from India: "I think dis is de best."

So that's all my news. Don't be too jealous about the apartment - you are all more than welcome any time. Even people I don't know who might be reading this. Feel free to come over. I'm not a good cook, but my husband is. He will hook you up with a fresh meal and a... warm bath? (Obviously I haven't entertained in a while. I'm not sure what to offer people anymore.) And don't fret about our amazing, fantastic, wonderfully incredible honeymoon to Espana either. Soon and very soon I will be back in America looking for a job. Back to reality. Or, as Nate so lovingly put it "living in reality for the first time." Thanks, brother.

This is us. We are about to be grown ups. Maybe.

P.S. This is not an April Fool's joke. That would just be wrong.

P.P.S. I'm not pregnant, nor do I plan on becoming pregnant in the next 1+ years. Stop holding your breath.

Flashback

2011-05-06T20:53:00.000-07:00

I have been having some pretty severe India flashbacks recently, which are exacerbated by the dozens of Indians staying at our hotel. I'm sure they are nice people, and I have nothing against them personally, but hey, I've already stayed at a hotel with Indians. For eight months. Also, this hotel has kitchens in every room, which is nice, but unfortunately, they are not very well ventilated, so whatever anyone cooks floods the hallways (and elevators and lobby) with the smell of whatever they cooked. In case you weren't aware, Indians like to cook food - curries to be exact. They like to cook it in their hotel-room kitchen. Again, I will stress that all of this is fine and I have nothing against them cooking or curries in general. What I do have a problem with is the curry smell that floats under my door and through my walls, permeating my dreams and giving me nightmares of Baroda. I think I have PTSD.

Further enhancing my flashbacks are the photos my friend Dori sent me from our scavenger hunt party we attended shortly before we left. I love the pictures, but am having a pretty severe reaction on a mental/emotional level just looking at them. Maybe some people just aren't cut out for Gujarat. Maybe I'm one of them.

Me, Ken (Dori's husband), and some other lady whose name I don't remember posing for one of our scavenger hunt pictures. We had to take a picture of all of us in an auto. Not sure if the driver needed to be there or if he just wanted to be included. If I had to guess, I'd go with the latter.

Us with one of the front entrance guys at the hotel. (Another mandatory scavenger hunt picture.) I actually really liked him. Once, he had a questionable mole or tumor or something cut off the back of his neck. I know this because he wore a bandage around for a while and I finally had to get a translator to explain what happened. On a lighter note, check out that mustache!

With Ronald. Classic.

I'd also like to mention (in case I haven't before) that my team came in second in the scavenger hunt. Matt's team came in first. BUT one of his team member's lived right across the street and had most of the items on the list already. So he wins, but we'll put an asterisk next to it. Matt 1*, Cait 100 (I'm counting all the things I win against him in life. Like Boggle, Scrabble, Taboo, reading, writing and arithmetic, etc).

Us celebrating our victories. We look good in Indian accessories, no? (The answer is no. We don't.)

In other news, Sunday is Mother's Day, and you know what that means: Six Flags Great America! Matt and I have made a semi-tradition of going to Six Flags on either Mother's Day or Father's Day for the past few years. It's awesome because there are no lines, so we can ride the Superman as many times as our stomachs will let us! More flags, more fun!

For Mary, With Love

2011-04-20T14:37:00.000-07:00

I don't really have much to write about now that I'm back in good old Amurca, but my friend Mary is apparently bored out of her skull and has asked me to post something (anything!) for her to read. I do this for her and no one else, because she is still stuck in India, and people stuck in India deserve a little special treatment.

Anyway, as you may or may not know, upon my return from India, I decided to hop around the USA for a while visiting friends and family (yes, it is a very luxurious life that I lead). My first stop was to see the Correnti family in Missouri. Because they are so powerful and influential, they had held Christmas for us until we arrived in March. They also held our birthdays. They're that big of a deal. It was really fun visiting with everyone and, of course, opening all our goodies.

Boom. Christmas in March.

After MO, Matt had to head off to Kansass (that's intentional) for a short assignment, so I went to visit Aura in Oregon. I spent most of my time helping decorate the restaurant Aura and her boyfriend are opening up. It's going to be really awesome. I like to think I had a lot to do with that. Mostly Aura and I worked on this little creation:

This is our hand-stenciled rug that we painted onto the floor of the dining room. Impressed? I thought so.

Later, Mom came to Oregon to visit and we drove the coastal road from Ashland, OR to San Francisco. It takes about 10 hours, but we did it in three days. No, no one has ever accused the Streett family of being very timely. We saw some really beautiful views of the coast, and drove along the "Avenue of the Giants" through the Redwood National Park.

View of the coast in Crescent City, CA.

Redwoods.

Before you get too jealous, the weather was really kind of terrible for our trip - mostly rainy and cold the entire time. But.... it was still pretty incredible.

My specialty, the handheld shot. We took about a hundred of these, and this is one of the best - which should tell you just how bad the other ones are.

Finally, the rain stopped, and Mother Nature brought us a little something special:

"It's so intense. It's beginning to look like a triple rainbow."

When we finally reached San Francisco, Mom had to leave, but Matt showed up and brought amazing weather with him! Call me nerdy and uninventive, but the only thing I really wanted to do in San Francisco was tour Alcatraz, so I dragged Aura and Matt along with me. It turned out to be even better than I thought! Definitely the best guided tour I've been on (so far).

A couple of nerds at Alcatraz.

After San Francisco, Aura went home, and Matt and I flew to Arkansas to visit the Streett family. (Don't worry, I'm almost done.) I stayed for almost two weeks driving all over the state to see anyone and everyone I've ever met, which is my custom. Every time I get back from AR, I say "I'm not ever doing that again. Next time, I'm going to make all of them come see me." But I never do. It probably has something to do with me not having a job unlike everyone else. Anyway, as I suspected, the Streett family is getting on just fine without me. In fact, they are flourishing. Will is turning 15(!) in August and wants to get a car, and Bella is the most well-spoken 3-year-old I've ever seen. It is slightly depressing to see how well they manage when I'm not around... but of course I wouldn't have it any other way. (Except maybe they could call me crying once in a while... "Cait! We MISS you! We are falling apart without you!" But that's just an example. I want them to make up their own grievances when they call).

All my little chilluns in a row. From left: Will, his brother Austin, Mason and his sister Bella.

And finally, after more than a month of touring Amurca, I returned home to Chicago, the crappy weather, and my husband. Thus ends my saga, and now I must ask you, Mary: Are you not entertained?

If You're Lucky Enough to be Irish

2011-03-14T07:07:00.000-07:00

You're lucky enough! Saturday we went downtown to see the green river, because I've never seen it, and I heard it was the last year they were dying it! Something about it being bad for the environment or something. It was really cold. Apart from the color of the river, it was a big change from India.

It looks way greener on my computer. Stupid blogger. It is like bright, kelly, slime green.

Chris, Danielle, Matt, me. We be ballin'.

After viewing the river, it was too cold to do anything else, so we went to a bar and had a green beer. Wow. What an exciting blog post this was. All these pictures are from Matt's new Christmas camera. It is both chic and portable.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Hema (who claims she owns nothing green), Danielle, me.

Ha. Matt did a much better version of this, but I didn't snap the shot in time, and he almost fell in, so he wouldn't re-do it. Lame.

I am loving America.

India-ed

2011-03-10T05:54:00.000-08:00

Right before we left India, against our better judgement, we went to Agra, just outside of Delhi, to see the Taj Mahal. While it is definitely amazing and ranks very highly on our "coolest things we've seen" list, it was the biggest fiasco to get there!

Obligatory "first glimpse of the Taj through the archway" shot.

Because I am an incredible and ultra-organized planner (hmmm), I read up on Delhi before we left so we'd have an idea of what we were up against. And by "read up on" I just read all the warnings about how people try to rip you off in Delhi - especially at train stations and in taxis. (I've started referring to this type of ripping off as "getting India-ed", which isn't really accurate, as I've been gypped just as much and as often in China. India-ed can also refer to the general state of misfortune, stress and helplessness surrounding everything you do in India.)

Anyway, armed as I was with all of this knowledge, I was certain I could stave off any cheaters by planning ahead and booking our train tickets to Agra online. Our train was set to leave at 6.15 (a.m.!), so we left our hotel just before 5.00 to give us the maximum amount of time to smash through all the hoodwinking. We arrived early, just in time to discover that we left our passports back at the hotel room. Not a huge deal, we thought. We shall just hop into this nice warm taxi and he will run us back to get them. False. Sometimes taxis say no, and there is nothing you can do. We took an auto rickshaw instead. It took 30 minutes longer than a taxi. Soooo, like almost an hour back to the hotel. In the freezing early morning. The hotel front desk said surely the train would be late, so they called a taxi for us and he got us back to the train station at 6.18, just three minutes late! We sprinted through the autos to the platform (Matt ripped his shorts practically in half in the process)... but too bad the train had already left. This is probably the only time a train (or anything) has left on time in India since the beginning of time.

Oops. I thought maybe we could tape it and it would be good as new. False. Apparently that makes you look like a homeless person.

So then we ran up to the travel tourism office to try to switch our tickets. It was closed until 8. Then this "nice" man said he would escort us over to the "emergency travel office" where they could switch our tickets for us no problem. Wow! What a friendly guy. The people at that office "tried" to put us on another train, but they were all "sold out". Except that he only looked at one train time, for one station, for one class. When we asked him to look at something else, he found a tourist quota that cost $57 each. For a one way ticket! Then he "found" us a bus that only cost $40... each person... one way. (Keep in mind that both our original train tickets cost about $40 together, round trip.) So, we told him none of these things were affordable, so the said, well, take a car! Only $100 for the whole day. So we did. It took 4 hours. Only later did I realize this guy must have been completely full of bullshit. Surely we could have spoken to a real official and gotten it straightened out, but how do you know where the real officials are? How do you know if anyone is ever telling you the truth ever? Boom. India-ed.

But, like I said, the Taj was gorgeous.

Obligatory "reflection in the water" shot. Our guide apparently has been doing this a while and kept telling me all these pictures to take. I guess that means all my pictures will look exactly like everyone else's pictures, but I don't mind.

Obligatory "holding the Taj" shot. Matt wouldn't do it because he thinks he's too cool for school. He's not.

I don't care if this one is obligatory. I like it. It looks like we're jumping so high! We got mad ups.

Inlay work of semi-precious stones into the marble.

Inlay work and marble carvings. Impressive.

I have about 200 more pictures of the Taj, so if you'd like to see them, I'd be more than happy to put together a slide show or a powerpoint presentation (complete with music of my choosing) to show you.

After we saw the Taj, we just went back. We are lame, but there's really nothing else around to see, and we were pretty exhausted from our ridiculous fiasco in the morning. The trip back took five hours and our driver got lost, and then he charged us extra for taking us to the hotel, and then he wanted a tip. Boom. India-ed. (I love America, by the way.)

Go Shorty, It's Your Birthday

2011-02-28T03:05:00.000-08:00

False, it's MY birthday! Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes and presents! And most of all, thank you India for giving me the best present of all: a ticket OUT of India! Ahh, but I joke, I joke. I love you, India. And I love to hate you. It's complicated.

Today has been great so far. I've just been packing and had a birthday/going away lunch with my expat lady-friends. They got me a wonderful (and HUGE) book on Iyengar yoga so I can continue to practice no matter where I am! The book is amazing; it has pictures and detailed instructions of all the asanas, as well as a detailed yoga plan so you can do it easily on your own. I also got a beautiful silk scarf and purse, which I promised not to re-gift to my lady-family members back home - sorry, Mom.

Matt always makes me a birthday card, and this year was no exception. I think this time he really outdid himself. For every holiday, the hotel gives us a "WelcomScroll" explaining (sometimes in far too much detail) the holiday and the meaning behind it. Matt, in his infinite genius, copied their format and made it into a birthday scroll for me. Behold:

Caitlin Streett Birthday Holiday - 28 February 2011

Each year, the American holiday of Caitlin Streett Birthday is
celebrated on the 28th of February. This holiday is to commemorate
the day on which leader, visionary, and adventurer Caitlin Streett was
born. This day is auspicious because it is the last day of February,
a short month, during non so-called “Leap Years.”

Caitlin Streett was born in a small town of Yellville, Arkansas in
America. Local legend has it that babycaitlin was weighed on the
scale at a super market. From early age, the strength and mental
prowess of street was clear and evidently. It would not be said that
that Streett’s rise to the top was meteoric, even though it was.

In 2004, Steett once had an awkward birthday just to see what it was
like. It is rumored and well documented that Amitabh Bachchan himself
in 2010 interrupted filming of a “Bigg Boss 4” episode to call Caitlin
Streett and tell her hppy bday. Also, in Mother India, Streettji’s
birthday is celebrated with fireworks, some nice kite flying, and
dancing. If you stand on RC Dutt Road one afternoon, it is possible
to have a glimpse of Streett having a brisk walk. Sometime, Streett
birthday coincides with Hindi holiday of Holi, which is a great and
momentous occasion indeed.

Other notable celebrities born on this date include bombshell Ali
Larter, tennis star Jelena Jankovic, US Energy Secretary Steven Chu,
Italian-American race car driver Mario Andretti, notorious criminal
Bugsy Segal, and country music sensation Jason Aldean. Jennifer
Kapoor, actress and husband of Indian star Shashi Kapoor, was also
born today.

On this day, 28th February, in 1948, the last British troops left India.

As a guest of Welcomhotel Vadodara, the management and staff wish you
the best of regards on the Caitlin Streett Birthday Holiday and hope
that the holiday celebrations are truly special. We thank you for
choosing ITC Welcomgroup hotels, palaces, and resorts and trust that
your stay is comfortable.

It had a WelcomHotel Logo at the top, but that didn't paste on here. Also, he did the typos on purpose, as all the WelcomScrolls have typos and he wanted to be as accurate as possible.

Saturday night we had a scavenger hunt at Karen's house. Karen has been living in Baroda for seven years and always has an annual fundraiser dinner to raise money for one of the orphanages in town. This year was the first time they did a scavenger hunt, and it was awesome. Matt's team came in first, and my team came in (a very close) second. I think that's pretty admirable, considering we had to get items such as a turban, diya (those little oil lamps they use at temples), a brown hairy coconut, pictures of team members in an auto, etc. We both won prizes (German meat, which we gave away, and an MP3 player!), and then I won a door prize of brunch at Little Italy! I had to give that away, too, because we're leaving, but still. It feels nice to win. It was an honor just to be nominated! (Forgive me, I watched the Oscars this morning on Star Movies. Congrats winners.)

Anyway, that's about all I've got to say about that. We leave this evening for Delhi, and then will be back in Chi on Thursday. Can't wait to see everyone! Love to all, peace on earth, goodwill to men, etc, etc.

Yog

2011-02-25T07:34:00.000-08:00

Today was my last day of yoga, which was surprisingly really sad! This yoga class has definitely been the best part of my time in India by far. It's been an amazing stress reliever, which I've absolutely needed on this assignment.

Anyway, today I took my camera in to class so you guys could get an idea of the kinds of stuff I've been doing the last three months. Remember, I'm not very advanced, so none of this is going to be amazing, but don't forget I can do a headstand, too!

This is Mina (from Korea) and me doing a variation of the Adho Mukha Svanasana, aka "Downward Facing Dog". I'm actually not doing it correctly here, but you can't really tell.

Carrie in a handstand. She can just kick-up into one. Very impressive. I can do one, but only with lots of help.

Me in the rope Sirsasana pose. This is my favorite thing to do. After the initial blood-rush-to-the-head-woozy thing, it feels great! It is really amazing for your back. Forget inversion tables. All you need is a rope and some hooks!

Mina in some sort of "legs over the head" pose.

My instructor, Smita, has been amazing. She is a wonderful teacher and absolutely radiates kindness and serenity. I'm really going to miss her both as a person and as an instructor. Of course I have nothing to compare her teaching style to, having never taken a yoga class before this, but she is a wonderful teacher.

Smita and me. I look like a giant. She is very short. Lots of Gujaratis are. I don't know if that's offensive. I don't think it is, but if I'm wrong, I apologize.

Homecoming

2011-02-24T20:51:00.000-08:00

WE'RE DONE! Well, technically not done, but IOCL has agreed to release Matt and replace him at least until it's time for the test run in a few months. All this really means is that we're coming home!!! Matt got reassigned to a job in middle of nowhere Kansas, so we will be heading there the 2nd week of March. We're planning to fly out of Baroda on Monday night (this is like the best birthday present ever), then go visit the Taj and Delhi (because we still haven't been), and then fly to Chicago on next Thursday. I can't believe in less than a week I'll be walking on American soil. Amurica!

Awhile back (when Ben left... so like 2 months ago) I found this great Shawshank quote that I swore to use when our turn to leave came around. The time has come for one last (modified) Shawshank quote:

I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free woman can feel, a woman at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friends and shake their hands. I hope Lake Michigan is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.

That quote is perfection. I haven't been able to sit still since I found out we were leaving. That said, at the risk of seeming completely hypocritical, I do have a few mixed feelings about this new development. Mostly I'm sad to be leaving all my new friends. I've never had this many friends on an assignment before, and these women have really made my stay more fun and exciting than just bearable (or unbearable, as it surely would have been had I not met them). I had been planning a trip with four of these women to go to another area of Gujarat for a few days, and we were set to leave next week, but now I guess I can't go. They are all kind of upset and disappointed, but at least this way there will be more room in the car for them! Anyway, we'll probably be back in April/May/June, so I might see them again after all.

In the end, all that really matters is we're leaving Baroda. On my birthday. Thanks, universe. I appreciate it.

My Life in Cotton Balls

2011-02-23T02:33:00.000-08:00

About three months ago, I ran out of cotton balls and had to go buy some from the store. I deliberated over whether to get the 50-count bag or the 100-count bag. The 100 count bag was only 10 rupees more, and had twice as many balls, so I thought, what the hell? I will get those and then throw the rest out if I need to, because surely we won't still be here in 100 days.

Yesterday I ran out of cotton balls. I use one a day. So that's what depression feels like.

Downhill Slide to 30

2011-02-20T21:03:00.000-08:00

It's official: Matt turned 26 Friday. He is no longer a young and vibrant 25-year-old, much unlike his wife, who still has a week to go before she starts her downhill slide to 30. Friday also marked the seven-month-versary of our second arrival in Baroda. If that's not a great birthday present, I don't know what is.

Birthday decorations. That creepy picture is the "Raja of Cochin".

I wanted to make Matt's birthday something special because we were both so bummed out about still being here - but of course my options were severely limited. I eventually settled on presenting him with (miniscule, inconsequential) gifts throughout the day, and then decorated the room (poorly), and then "took" him to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Kai Asia. But that's not all. In light of the fact we can't order alcohol with our dinner, we devised an ingenious plan to sneak some white wine into the restaurant; we poured it into empty ginger ale cans. Ha! Ahh, man, what great achievements can be made when we put our minds to work! I haven't felt that much like a high schooler since... I was in high school. It was the best night.

This creepy picture is Matt with his birthday cake.

Blowing out the candles. Those "My Little Pony" dolls are for Bella, not Matt. I just thought they made a nice addition to the birthday decor.

Trick candle. Haha. Works every time.

Saturday night we went to a party hosted by one of the Indians in the International Women's Club. I was a little nervous about it because we didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be fairly awesome. It was a huge blowout with a fully stocked bar, food from both Little Italy and Mainland China, as well as a performance from a couple of male strippers. There was a huge crowd around the male strippers so I couldn't see anything, but I was told the most they took off was their jackets - under which they were wearing vests. Ahh, India. Your conservativeness astounds me daily. Matt and I boogied for quite a while to all the super cool hip hop music (think Lil Wayne, Usher, Akon, etc), but eventually they started playing strictly '70s tunes, and that's not how we roll, so we left. I was pretty amazed to see just how deserted Baroda gets after midnight. We got back to the hotel at 2am, and there was literally no one around. We stood in the middle of the street marveling at our isolation. I swear, this place is worse than Yellville (Arkansas). The only people we saw were the ones sleeping outside by the road. There were a lot of them. Talk about depressing. One day I will take my camera out and photograph them, so then you'll all really know what poverty looks like. It is unbelievable.

Anyway, on a brighter note, we watched a pirated copy of 127 Hours last night. That's the one where James Franco gets his arm stuck under a boulder for 127 hours before he cuts his arm off. It is a metaphor for our lives in India. I guess that wasn't such a bright note after all.

Bomb - Ay

2011-02-17T02:32:00.000-08:00

We did, in fact, make it to Bombay (Mumbai for all those concerned with political/historical/geographical correctness) last weekend. We got tickets two weeks ahead of time, which is unheard of for life on the road. It was so early, in fact, that I started having mini anxiety attacks at the idea of being locked into this trip. What if something else comes up? What if I get sick and can't make the flight? What if we get released before then? (That last one was a joke. HA.)

Sign at the Baroda airport. Matt has now taken to saying "reGREATed" whenever possible.

All my worrying was for naught it seems, and we had a remarkably "normal" weekend in Bombay with Jason and Mary and Andrew Novotny. I use the term normal loosely, as Bombay's "normal" is no longer my "normal". It is in no way "normal" for us Barodians to stay at a nice hotel, enjoy free happy hour every night, eat "American" food (beef burgers? Are you kidding me?), and hit up an actual bar where you can order drinks, and they bring them to you, and then you order another round, and they bring those to you as well. And the drinks have alcohol in them. I may have gone a little overboard with my "astonishment italics", but that's only to show you how astonished I actually was. Hugely astonished.

Anyway, aside from hanging out and feeling like we weren't in India, we didn't do much the whole weekend. Saturday we all piled into Andrew's refinery car (a four-seater at best, we stuffed 6 people in, including the driver - who wasn't too pleased, by the way) and drove the hour-plus into downtown to get our alcohol permits renewed. Easier said than done, of course, as the people at the tourism office spent 45 minutes looking for ways to refuse us. We tried to fight them about it, as there appears to be no written rule denying our right to drink in Gujarat, but in the end, they won. They always do. We got them slightly extended, but not enough. Not nearly enough, considering we will likely be here until June. Can you believe that? June! Ugh. Whatev. I'd like to take a moment to mention that the lady at the tourism office is the same woman who we spoke with in December who wouldn't extend our permits then because our visas were about to expire. This woman is horrendous. To say she is unpleasant would be a vast understatement. Suffice it to say that I hope karma treats her just as she's treated me on the two occasions I've been unfortunate enough to deal with her. Although I suppose living in India your entire life might be karma's way of punishing you for your past life... Just to be on the safe side, I think I should call on everyone to send negative energy her way, and maybe we can get enough bad vibrations going to at least maker her stub her toe or something.

After our tourism department fiasco, we were a little bit spent and didn't really have it in us to do much else. We did meet a little boy at the park who told us his favorite food is mouse masala. Mouse. Masala. He said chicken masala is okay, but mouse is better. I asked him if he ate fried mouse and he looked at me astonished and said "How do you know about fried mouse?" I didn't have the heart to tell him I was just joking, so I said it sounded good to me. He said fried mouse is okay, but mouse masala is better, and then he invited me to his house so his mom could make me some. Thanks, buddy, but I think I'll pass.

This is me (eating, of course) and our new little friend. I stole this picture from Mary's blog. Thanks, Mary.

He told us all about how he sets traps and catches the mice, and sometimes they are big, like "half a kilo". Half a kilo! Sorry little guy, but that sounds like it might be a rat instead. Rat's probably not that much different than mouse, if you subtract the risk of black plague. I was pretty shocked by the whole conversation, but then I thought about it, and it's probably smart that he catches his mice/rats for dinner. Free food, good protein, tiny little mouse bones you can make into a necklace and then sell to make some pocket rupees. Win, win, win.

Anyway, that was about all of it. Oh, in case I haven't mentioned this little tidbit, I will mention it now: When you fly into the Baroda airport, you have to take a bus from the airplane to the terminal. It is very close. Like maybe 200 feet close. But they won't let you walk. One time, there was no bus, so they told us to wait. The entire flight said screw that, and we all took off walking, while the flight attendants chased us down and said "No! You cannot walk!". It was the best day.

This is the view of the airport from the airplane. See? SEE?! It drives me crazy every single time.

Wedding Season

2011-02-15T06:10:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday was my yoga friend, Dhwani's wedding. As you all know, I had been looking forward to this thing for weeks. I didn't have a saree so I borrowed one from Srila, but after wearing it, I think I might just need one. They're so pretty.

Dhwani, the bride. I think this is really typical Gujarati wedding attire. She told me her nose ring was bigger than most. I'm jealous.

Matt and I were fairly nervous going to this wedding, mostly because we didn't know anyone and didn't know the etiquette. Did we need to bow and curtsy? Do we have assigned seats? Does it matter that my shoes are sinking in the mud? Where do I put the wedding gift? Can I put my clothes in the dishwasher? We were pretty pleased to discover that everything is extremely laid back and no one really cares what you do - at least they didn't care what we did. Sometimes being a foreigner is nice. Anyway, the wedding ceremony takes place up on a stage which is set up in a huge open area. All the guests sit in the lawn to watch, and the bride and groom are up on stage... with their families and maybe some friends... and all the different people performing the service... and all the photographers and videographers.

My view of the stage. The groom's part of the ceremony had already started at this point. Not that anyone really cared.

Very different from a Western wedding, but it works. This part of the ceremony lasted maybe three hours (there was also a morning ceremony that I skipped), so people just kind of watch for a while and then get up and mingle and go eat and maybe jump to get a better view.

Guests watching the action and taking pictures.

It's pretty strange and feels a little inconsiderate, but I like it. Maybe I'll do this for my next wedding.

Dhwani getting her feet washed by her aunt. Don't ask me the symbolism or tradition behind this. I wouldn't tell you even if I knew.

I watched almost all of the ceremony and took literally no information away from it. I didn't know what I was looking at, and had no one to tell me. Was cool though.

Dhwani and Amar (the groom) light the fire. Those two old men on either side are like priests. I think. Maybe they just wanted a closer view.

Then they run around the fire five times and people throw stuff at them.

When the ceremony is over, I guess guests get up on stage to give their gifts and get a picture with the newlyweds. I did this and was so nervous about it I was shaking. I'm no good in unfamiliar situations. Especially with my translucent white skin gleaming under the lights. I only almost fell twice though. Some stories have happy endings.

The couple with their friends. Don't you love all the colors? Why don't we dress like this in the states?

Which brings us to Matt and me in all our finery:

Yeah, we're sharp. So sharp it stings the eyes.

Matt made fun of me for taking this picture, but I wanted to show off the back.

I had to call the receptionist to come wrap me in the saree. She pinned me in there really well so nothing would fall out. Thanks, Priyanka.

That is all I have to say about that. It was fun. Probably we won't go to another here, as wedding season is almost over and we are staring scorching summer in the face... unless we're still here next February. Can't say that's not a possibility, though believe me I wish I could.

This is what happens when Matt makes fun of me. I get my revenge. This is his Barney Stinson pose.

I'm Still Standing

2011-02-10T01:21:00.000-08:00

Yup, we're still here in India. Contrary to popular belief (or at least contrary to what I've been implying through various emails and Facebook postings), we're not doing all that bad over here in good old Baroda. We had a minor morale dip earlier this week when Matt heard they were going to replace him with a guy from Delhi, and then realized not only was IOCL not going to accept the new guy, they were going to fight to keep Matt here... forever. Or so it seems. I know that isn't really news because we knew we were staying, but it's hard to keep getting our hopes up that we might leave, only to have them dashed at the last minute. Ahh, but life goes on.

While Matt's been struggling with UOP Delhi and IOCL, I've been doing a lot of expat women stuff - ie shopping, eating, chatting, etc - as well as going to yoga five days a week. It's been pretty fun, and I'm more than grateful for all the diversions.

My yoga friend Dhwani is getting married tonight, and guess who gets to go? Why, me, of course! And Matt. This will be our first foray into Indian wedding culture, and it should be really interesting and fun. I'm thinking if all goes well, I might just have to start wedding crashing. Probably I'd have to buy a saree first. Tonight I'm just borrowing. Tuesday Dhwani invited me over to get mehndi (henna tattoos) on my hands in preparation for the wedding. I've seen people doing these here on the street, but I haven't wanted to just get it done for the sake of it; now that I finally had an excuse, I was all over it!

Dhwani getting her mehndi done.

Because Dhwani is the bride, she had to get the most mehndi, and the most intricate designs. She had it all up her forearms - front and back- and on her feet. Just the application took more than 4 hours! I couldn't believe she could sit still that long, but she's a trooper. Then she had to wait a couple more hours for it to dry (for the color to set into the skin) before removing the dried out henna pieces.

Dhwani told them she wanted peacocks and paisley, and this is what they came up with. Not too shabby.

Dhwani's feet.

My application took about 20 minutes, and I could barely sit still through that. Then I had to wait a couple hours before removing it. One of the servants took pity on me and started feeding me snacks and sips of water while I waited. I wasn't even that pampered on my own wedding day!

I don't know that there's ever been someone as excited to get mehndi as I was. I almost peed. In my pants.

I had to scrub really hard to get the hardened henna crust off. My new maid friend came and rubbed cooking oil on my hands to soften the stuff up. Kind of gross, but it worked. Plus, then I smelled like hushpuppies the rest of the night, which is always a good thing.

Finished product! They say the darker the mehndi, the more your husband loves you. I think he loves me on the inside...

...But not so much on the outside. They told me the color is always darker on the inside because the warmth from your palms heats it up and lets the color sink in deeper.

Anyway, after the mehndi excitement wore off (yeah right... like it would ever wear off!), I went to a city called Surat, a couple hours from here, with some expat ladies. Srila was looking for inexpensive but nice sarees to donate to an all-girls orphanage in Baroda for them to use as uniforms. Surat is the single largest producer of textiles in India... and that's saying a lot considering India is one of the largest producers in the world.

A guy putting sequins on a saree.

We went to one of many gigantic textile markets in Surat, with each stall selling pretty much the same things as the previous stalls.

Tons of these guys were hauling loads of fabric on their heads and shoulders.

Annie (from France), Dori (from Canada), and Srila (from Michigan)

Surat seemed to be pretty much same same as Baroda and Ahmedebad, only bigger than both. We didn't do anything besides saree shopping, but it was nice to see something (a little) different.

So that's that. I am roaring and ready to go to this wedding, and so is Matt - he even got a suit made here just for this event. Friday we're heading out to Mumbai for a long weekend away. Gotta get new alcohol permits. Should be legendary.

To Infinity and Beyond

2011-01-29T23:10:00.000-08:00

I guess it's official - Matt and I are staying in Baroda, and everyone else is leaving. Everyone else has already left, in fact. They left last night. HUGE bummer to be left behind in India again (I think this is the third time it has happened), but we'll be all right.

Me being bummed out. I think this is from when Ben left, but it was the same last night when the others departed... maybe a little worse... maybe I was doubled up in the fetal position on the floor, but as there are no pictures to document it, we'll pretend I wasn't.

In fact, it is probably a good thing we're staying because Matt and I have a lot of unfinished business here.... They are building a new Courtyard Marriott in town, and we'd really like to see the completion of that... they haven't broken ground yet, but I imagine in about 4 years it will be done and we can move out of the WelcomHotel for good.

Anyway, just to be clear - Matt and I are staying in Baroda (alone) to finish up this project. He will be doing data collection until they are ready to do the test run (or until they realize it is a lost cause and sign the guarantee agreement). So.... anywhere from 2 to 6 months... or indefinitely. I am fully aware of how frustratingly vague that is, but it cannot be helped. We found all of this out on Tuesday, but I just didn't have the heart to tell anyone until now.

We're doing okay... I may have been a little hasty/insensitive when I posted "Depression hurts" on my Facebook wall... sometimes sarcasm doesn't translate well over the Internet. On the plus side, I did get a lot of concerned comments and compassionate text messages from friends, which helps. To clarify: I am not depressed... at least not in the way that would warrant any medical attention. I'm just bummed out, homesick and feeling sorry for myself, which isn't all that unusual for me, as you all know. Honestly, I think that Matt and I will be great. I actually have made a lot of friends here, (which is more than I can say about any other assignment we've had) and I know that they will help me pass the rest of our time here. As for Matt... well, I will help him pass the rest of his time here. On the plus side, his job just got about a million times easier, so he will probably be less frustrated and stressed out. Cross your fingers.

In case you've forgotten, this is what we look like.

To our families: we love you all and miss you all and will be busy buying you all loads of presents to make up for all the Christmas/birthdays we are missing. To our friends who are in nice locations: no comment. To our friends who are in worse locations: we'd love to hear all about it! To everyone: care packages would be more than appreciated. Preferably filled with mood-altering substances we can abuse. I think an addiction and then dramatic rehabilitation and recovery would really help pass the time. Love to all.

Week in Review

2011-01-21T04:53:00.000-08:00

It's Friday, and that means a few things. Around here, it doesn't mean much, as our weekends are usually pretty much the same as my weekdays, but you've gotta have something to look forward to, right? My something is Fridays. This week was fairly eventful... compared to my usual GTL ("gym, tan, laundry" thank you, Jersey Shore) routine. Monday I recovered from a weekend of kite flying and learned how to do a handstand in yoga (with assistance), Tuesday I had a lunch date with the expat ladies at a new restaurant(!), Wednesday.... um... oh! I video Skyped with Aura for the first time! Pretty awesome. While it gave me mild nausea to go on a virtual tour of her new house, I can definitely see the draw. Why don't more people know about this?! (By more people, of course I mean more people in my family/friends circle. I'm pretty sure we're about the last people on this bandwagon.)

Thursday my yoga friend, Dhwani, invited me to a glass workshop where she does projects sometimes. She is an artist and got her masters in glasswork in Edinburgh, Scotland. I've been there before, so that seems as good a basis as any to base a friendship. Anyway, she took me on her scooter to the industrial part of the city where all the factories and stuff are... I saw some monkeys and a guy picking through a lady's hair looking for lice - it was a nice scooter tour. I was a little nervous when we got there because I was only wearing short sleeves and flip-flops, and I kind of assumed they'd make me change. I even brought extra shoes just in case! I mean, it's a glass workshop! Do you know how hot it has to be for glass to melt? Neither do I, but I'm assuming something along the lines of pretty damned hot. Of course, I shouldn't have worried because this is India. One guy wasn't even wearing shoes. Anyway Dhwani gave me a quick tour and then showed me how to make glass beads! Well, kind of. She tried to show me.

First you melt the glass tube (in her right hand), and then when it's gooey, you wrap it around that kebab stick. Voila.

Dhwani is pretty good at it, even though she's only just learning. I was horrible. I attempted once and failed after about 30 seconds. Of course I ruined both the glass tube and the kebab stick in the process. At least I didn't shatter anything or get molten glass in my unprotected eyeballs, which was my main concern anyway.

Some of the products this workshop produces. They only work on commission, and didn't have a store, so I couldn't buy anything... like that cool lampshade in the corner.

Thursday night Dori (Canadian expat here) called and invited me to the "Friday Market" in the Old City, and of course I jumped at the chance. Everyone knows markets are always a good time. This market was basically a huge flea market/yard sale. It had everything: clothes, tools, lamps, scales, beds, couches, and every feasible part to anything ever made on earth.

This could be anywhere in Arkansas.

For whatever reason, everyone was really friendly to us, which was a nice change of pace. Of course they wanted to sell us everything, but they also kept asking to have their pictures taken, and I was only too happy to oblige.

This woman sold me some fabric and then asked me to take her picture. I think she was pleased with the result.

I was a little concerned because I only had 200 rupees with me (less than $5), but again, this is India. I bought 3 huge piles of used fabric and spent all my money. Later, Dori's driver, Sanjay, told me I overpaid... I felt kind of bad, but only because I guess I'm losing my bargaining skills.

I keep telling people about the guys who sell earmuffs because it's winter. I was so excited to finally get a picture of a real life earmuff vendor! I think it bears mentioning that it was 88F today. Prime earmuff weather.

Unquestioningly the best part of the day was when I captured this picture:

There are no words.

That about does it. Dori and I have big plans to hit up the other side of the Friday Market next week to find even more great deals. All in all, pretty solid week. We'll see where the weekend takes us... probably to McDonald's.

Kite Festival '11

2011-01-18T05:14:00.000-08:00

Sunset over the old city during Kite Festival.

As I've previously mentioned, last weekend was the Kite Festival, which is probably at least the fifth big festival we've had in Gujarat since I've been here. Gujaratis seem to celebrate every festival that all of India celebrates, plus they add two or three days to the end of them, and then they also celebrate random "Gujarat only" festivals, like this one. While I think it's wonderful they are so fun-loving, I would like these festivals a lot more if they didn't keep interfering with the project! That said, this festival was by far my favorite (so far... if we're here for Holi in March, all bets are off. I've got BIG plans for Holi).

Anyway, like the good little kid I am, I tagged along with anyone who would have me to go see what I could see last weekend. Thursday night Matt and I braved the "cold" (around 55 degrees F) night air and took a walk behind the hotel to see the kites for sale. It was crazy. The streets were jam-packed with people selling kites, string, hats, noisemakers, and all number of other fairly ridiculous wares. I was told that in the ritzy part of the city (where we stay), you could get about 20 kites for $2, but if you went to the old city you could buy them wholesale, and they'd only be 75 cents for 20! We didn't buy any anyway, but man, if I'm ever in the mood for kite-buying, I know where to go.

Kites and string for sale in the ritzy area.

One of the fairly controversial things they do here is dip the string into a glue/glass mixture so that you can cut down other kites more easily. You can spot the string with glass in it by its vibrant pink color. This is really common, but every year lots of birds and people are injured or even die from the string. (This year there were nine deaths across Gujarat, but most of them were from falling off the rooftops. It's a fairly dangerous holiday. That's probably why it's so fun.) I also did not partake in this particular "string of death", but I did enjoy watching people make it.

This guy dips the string into his magenta glass paint, and then spins it up on that wheel, thereby creating "string of death." Now you know.

Friday Matt had to work (even though everyone else in Gujarat seemed to have the day off), so I waited around until he got home, and then Shriram took us to the Old City for some authentic kite flying!

Kite flying on the rooftops. Everyone who is anyone goes to a terrace or rooftop during Kite Festival to fly. They set up loudspeakers blaring Bollywood music, and have huge dance parties along with the kite flying. It's pretty much the best party ever.

These apartment buildings are pretty standard for the Old City. The newer ones near our hotel are very different.

Try as we might, the Westerners just couldn't seem to get a handle on the kite flying. To our credit, there didn't seem to be much wind, but that didn't really stop anyone else from flying. We're just bad at it.

Matt was pretty frustrated the entire night. Apparently he's used to doing things well the first time off. I don't have this problem, so it didn't bother me that I was so horrid.

Like I said, everybody gets on the roof.

Later in the evening people start lighting big lanterns and letting them float off into the sky. Shriram had been talking about these lanterns for weeks. This was his big moment!

Shriram with the lantern. He's so happy!

Of course it wouldn't be much of a party without fireworks, and if there's one thing Gujaratis know, it's how to party (well, how to party without alcohol)!

Saturday, Shriram and his wife, Pooja, took Matt and me to Pooja's uncle's house in a different part of the city. The uncle had an obligatory terrace, and that's where all the magic happened. I made history by flying my first kite (Indian or otherwise) ever! Much to Matt's chagrin, I got it wayyyyy up in the sky, farther than anyone else (or at least anyone who was Western, associated with UOP, and under the age of 28)! Boom!

Me making it rain with the kite. I must have been attracting too much attention flying so high and so far, because shortly after this picture, my kite got cut. Jealousy is a stinky cologne, Indians. Remember that.

I guess it's worth noting that on Sunday, Andrew, Matt and I snuck up on the terrace of the hotel, found a kite that had been cut, and flew the crap out of it. Well, Andrew flew it, and Matt helped. My job was running across the rooftops finding abandoned bits of string to tie to the end of the kite so it could go higher. Among my precious finds were a piece of blue string with what appeared to be a charred bird's leg still attached, and a piece of black string wrapped around the dead body of a rat. Probably I contracted the plague from that one. Apparently Kite Festival is not a good weekend for animals.

And thus ends my tale of Kite Festival 2011. There will never be another one quite like it (unless I'm here next year, in which case, Kite Festival 2012 will probably be very similar).

While other, cooler people were out flying kites, all the europeans at the hotel were laying by the pool. This is only a fraction of them; there were so many I couldn't get them all in one shot.

I Am The Only Human

2011-01-13T21:21:00.000-08:00

Tuesday Chris and I finally forced and coerced each other to go visit the United Way of Baroda to see if they needed volunteers. They did - kind of. This weekend is the Kite Flying Festival , which, like every other festival, is celebrated extensively in Gujarat. United Way was putting on a mini kite festival for some 200 disabled children in the area, so we helped a big group of volunteers tie kite strings and write "inspirational" captions on the kites. My favorite caption (not by me, but only because I didn't think of it first) said "I AM THE ONLY HUMAN" in huge block letters. I see where this guy was going (I'm only human), but I think you'd agree he fell a little short of the mark. I think it's better his way, anyway.

Wednesday Little Britain (Chris... because he's British) and I went to some random park we didn't know existed and "helped" the disabled children with their kites. I use this term loosely, only because I don't know how to fly kites, so the odds of me helping someone else do it are pretty slim. Most of the kids laughed at me when I tried to help them, and then showed me how to do it. I gave it up eventually and just walked around and took pictures, which was fine, because all the kids loved having their pictures taken!

This kid most certainly didn't need my help. I think he was born to fly kites.

I was quite fond of this kid... he doesn't seem to be all that fond of me, though.

This boy asked me to take his picture, and then he went into "pensive mode" for his portrait.

After the excitement of kite flying wore off a little, some of the kids and volunteers decided to put on an impromptu dance party up on the stage. From what I gather, few Indians can resist the fist-pumping, hip-shaking bass of a classic Bollywood tune.

Coolest volunteers ever. This could be a still from 'Tees Maar Khan' (which recently flopped hugely in theaters here).

This kid has moves I'd never seen before. He was the life of the party. At one point, he sat down, threw his arms into the air, and two volunteers grabbed him and pulled him up on stage, where he proceeded to throw down some serious hip thrusts and robot moves. Awesome.

Today (Friday) is the beginning of the Kite Festival, which should be interesting. I have been told repeatedly to be very careful of my neck. Apparently every year birds and cyclists alike die from running into the glass-covered kite strings. I'm not sure exactly how this works, but I'll do some investigative reporting and get back to you.

2011

2011-01-05T05:29:00.000-08:00

Huge news: Matt ran his very first 5k today! And he did it in 29 minutes flat! Good for you, buddy. I'm so proud. (He later said he would have done it a long time ago if he had known how much praise he would get.)

Anyway, a late Happy New Year to you all! I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve celebration! I know I did. Maybe a little less wonderful than safe (can't get into too much trouble playing games in the residence lounge), but all in all, not too bad. We were all pretty psyched to go to Carrie's (the expat from America who had Thanksgiving with us) house for a REAL New Year's Eve party, but she came down with the stomach flu at the last minute and had to cancel. Either that or she ate some not so fresh Indian food... the jury is still out on that one. Anyway, we watched the fireworks and Bollywood dancing on TV in Mumbai at midnight, which was pretty fun. I set my camera on auto and captured the quintessential happy New Year shot:

That's Andrew on the left kissing his girlfriend via video Skype. Is that not the cutest thing you've ever seen? Matt and I kissed, and then Chris kissed Andrew's girlfriend's roommate over Skype because he felt left out.

Of course the hotel had a "special buffet" again for New Year's Eve dinner, and would you believe I went two times with the turkey fat loaf? That's just asking for trouble. However, all the boys were getting Dominos pizza (or "pijja" as the hotel staff call it), and I just couldn't bring myself to have pijja for the second time that week.

Matt carving the bird. One of the waiters at the hotel invited me to take this shot, and not one to disappoint, I did it just for him.

So I know everyone is dying to know my New Year's resolution(s) for 2011, and though I would love to keep you in suspense, that just seems wrong. After lots of careful consideration, I have resolved to be more open and accepting of different cultures (ahem, India). In addition, I will try to recognize how good I have it, and be more thankful for all the wonderful things in my life (ahem, Matt, family, friends, free trip to India...). Also, I resolve to run 10 kilometers continuously at least once this year. Also, I would like to learn

the words to this song:

While in my quest for new awareness and gratitude for good things in my life, I discovered (or rediscovered) that I love yoga. I am taking a type called Iyengar yoga, where we use props such as ropes, belts and chairs to get into the correct positions. My instructor, Smita, is kind of strict, but really amazing, and she has helped me do a lot of things I didn't know I could do. Allow me to demonstrate:

This is me doing a kick-up headstand. It may not look all that difficult, but it is. Also, I don't know of you can tell, but I'm not touching the wall at all. Yeah, I'm that good.

I don't have any other pictures of me doing cool stuff, but believe me, I do it. I do it all, and I love it all. It is an amazing workout, and I sweat a lot, and all the other ladies in class make fun of me. It's their winter here, so they think it's cold. They wear sweaters in class. It's embarrassing, but what can I do? I'm a sweater. Also, my friend Dhwani gives me a ride home from yoga, and today we rode on her scooter! It was awesome.

Another thing I recently found out that I love is when I bring a teacup back from the breakfast buffet, housekeeping will clean it out for me and then return it. I did this 11 times, and 11 times, without fail, they cleaned my cup and gave it back to me.

I don't know if they think I'm planning a tea party in my room or what, but these cups were proliferating like nobody's business. Sadly, last weekend they asked me if they could take them away, and I had to say yes. I've already re-started my collection. So far I have two.

In other news, the Hogs lost to OSU today, and Matt and I had to watch the game with Andrew, a diehard OSU fan! Bummer for us, but it was a decent game. We've always got next year. In the spirit of Razorback victories of yesteryear, here is a picture of Matt and me going to the Arkansas/Tennessee game in 2006.

If you'll remember, ESPN's College Gameday came to Fayetteville for that game, and Matt and I (supposedly) appeared on TV. Ahh, how happy we look! So young and carefree!

Lastly, because I want to start the new year off right with total and complete honesty, I would like to share this one minor detail so you all won't be shocked if it happens... There is a chance that after this unit starts up, Matt will have to stay and babysit it for two to six months. It's a long story and I won't bore you with the details, but it might happen. I kind of flipped when Matt told me, but he swears it is "more of a possibility and less of a probability". We shall see. Come what may, I will have my yoga to keep me centered, balanced and (at least marginally) happy.

Blue Christmas

2010-12-29T05:21:00.000-08:00

Ahh, Christmas in India... you can't beat it. Instead of writing out a long and drawn out post about how amazing our Barodian Christmas was, I will instead let you go on a visual journey through pictures.

We started our day out by the pool playing frisbee and catching rays:

Matt likes to leap unnecessarily to show off his skill.

And then later he pays for his hubris.

Later, we played Monopoly and several rounds of Taboo:

All around us, the hotel staff was setting up for a wedding to be held that evening:

I don't know exactly which job this uniform designates, but I want it. A couple of these guys do not look pleased about having their photograph taken. Don't wear those ridiculous outfits, and I won't take your picture.

Judging from this guy's get-up and demeanor, I think someone in the wedding party has Indian mob ties.

Later, we went down to the "special Christmas buffet" prepared for us by the hotel:

Don't be fooled by the way it looks. It was gross. Except for that salad. That I liked.

Close up of the turkey fat ring on the outside. Can you see it? It's almost an inch thick!

Later, our bellies stuffed with what can only be described as "turkey fat loaf", we met up with Indian Santa (aka Creepy as Hell Santa).

Alex's son Krish (my former neighbor) with Creepy Santa. See how scared he looks? Santa had to pull his cheeks back to make him look happy.

At the end of the evening, we had a problem with the bill (imagine that). The hotel staff was offering everyone a 50% discount. We wanted to pay full price for one buffet, but zero for the other. It seems simple, but....

WelcomMustacheMan: "I'm going to say no, but I want to stand here and pretend to consider the request. Sound good?" WelcomLady: "I don't know what we're talking about."

Matt: "It is a simple request. Add these two numbers together, and then put it on one bill." WMM: "I understand, sir. I just don't want to do this because I don't like making people happy." WL: "Loud noises!"

Andrew: "But sir, it's Christmas." (Long and very dramatic pause) WMM: "Oooohhh, allll riigghhtt."

Yay! Now everyone's happy! Well, except for that nervous guy. But he's like that all the time.

Thus ends the tale of the Blue Christmas in Baroda. The unit was shut down 12 days ago for a "six day planned shut down." I wish I could tell you that Matt fought the good fight and the unit is up and running again. I wish I could tell you that - but road life ain't no fairy-tale world. He never said it wasn't back up yet, but we all knew. Things will go on like this for a while - road life consists of routine, and then more routine. Every so often, we'll have another shutdown. And that's how it goes for us - this is our routine. I do believe these last two weeks were the worst for us, and I also believe that if things go on this way, this place will get the best of us. -Daily (modified) Shawshank quote.

A Christmas Miracle

2010-12-24T04:44:00.000-08:00

In what can only be described as a true Christmas Miracle, one of our own gets to go home for Christmas! Sadly, it is neither me nor Matt, but our buddy Ben, who has been with us since the beginning (or at least since July). Of course we are happy for him, but we here at She's Gone Rogue just wouldn't be us if we didn't resent him just a little bit (okay, a lot) for leaving us here in the lonely, dusty, trash-filled streets of Baroda. Thanks, buddy.

Bye Ben. We'll miss you. This sort of looks like an obituary photo. It isn't meant to. It is supposed to be nostalgic, but not depressing. Okay, it can be kind of depressing.

Sometimes I don't know if I'll ever get out of here. Maybe one day, when I have a long gray beard and two or three marbles rollin' around upstairs, they'll let me out. (Shawshank quote of the day.)

In other news, Merry Christmas Eve, everyone. I'm trying to be a little less bah humbug and a little more holly jolly, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way. However, in the spirit of Christmas, I dragged Matt across the street to see Frosty the Snowman and take pictures.

Meeerrrrryyyy Chrrrristmaaassss! Ha. This kind of looks like an obituary photo, too. Feel free to use it if we die here.

Oh yeah, we did, in fact go to Mumbai last weekend. Matt took Monday off work and we flew out Sunday morning, then back here Tuesday morning at the crack of 6:00 a.m. We stayed at the J.W. Marriott (using points, of course. We could never afford that if we paid), and it was pretty fabulous. The room was super nice, but the best of all was our access to the executive lounge, which had a beautiful sunset view, and all the free food and drinks we could stuff into our emaciated bodies. And stuff we did.

View of the super fancy pool and beach from the executive lounge. Can you believe we got all this for the price of free ninety-nine? Yeah, it pays to be married to a man with Platinum Marriott status.

We only left the hotel to go downtown once, and we immediately regretted that decision. Mumbai is huge (pop. 15 million), and very India. It is nice to get away from Baroda, but the minute we left our hotel, we didn't feel far enough away. We won't make that mistake again.

Ahhh yes, India may have finally broken me. I don't know if I can ever fully recover from this place. But then I think about another (modified) Shawshank quote: There are places in this world that aren't made out of trash. There's something inside... that they can't get to. That they can't touch. What's that, you say? Hope.

Don't worry, I'll never lose hope. I Hope that you all have a wonderful and happy Christmas.... I Hope that you don't forget about the little people (us Barodians, if you will) during the holiday season.... and most importantly I hope that some day, some time, I will be out of India, leaving it behind me forever. I hope. Happy Holidays.

We Need A Little Christmas

2010-12-17T04:17:00.000-08:00

A couple nights ago, we were invited (repeatedly, in person and over the phone and with a formal invitation slipped under our doors) to attend a Christmas "Cake Mixing Ceremony". Because everyone knows you can't celebrate Christmas without a cake mixing ceremony.

We weren't too excited about this, but like good little prisoners we showed up at the allotted time roaring and ready to mix up some cake. Apparently this is some sort of an old tradition leftover from the Brits, according to Chris, our English compatriot. You have to mix all the ingredients for the cake precisely ten days before Christmas. Why? No one knows. Scholars maintain the true meaning of the tradition was lost centuries ago.

Welcom Staff with all the ingredients. In true WelcomHotel style they made this into a big production. They even hired a "professional" photographer. These are his photos. They gave them to me on a disk. Merry Christmas to me.

Of course because this was such a big deal we had to wear appropriate clothing provided to us by the hotel:

Me, Austrian (that's not his name, just his country), Matt, Ben and Shriram stylin'.

And then the mixing commenced:

I have never in my life seen someone so excited about sparkling non-alcoholic wine before. We also put in non-alcoholic beer. "Because Gujarat is a dry state," they told us. Really? I hadn't noticed.

From left: Vikram (Matt's trainee), hotel guy, Vikram's wife, Shredda (I don't know how to spell it, but it's pronounced like that), Shriram and Ajay with the finished product. Ajay looks like this in every picture. Hilarious.

Married couples. See? Classic Ajay.

So that was that. The whole experience took only about half an hour, which was nice. I know I should be thankful for "the experience", but I'm not, really. It was all a little too ridiculous. Sue me. I think I'm just bitter about staring into the face of an Indian Christmas. How did I even manage to end up in India for Christmas? Bad luck, I guess. It floats around. It's got to land on somebody. It was my turn, that's all. I was in the path of the tornado: I just didn't expect the storm would last as long as it has. - The Shawshank Redemption, 1999. (I know what you're thinking, and yes, there are loads of appropriate Shawshank quotes for our situation. I'll be making use of them frequently from now on.)

Fake It Till you Make It

2010-12-14T04:28:00.000-08:00

I'm in a pretty bad way today mentally, so instead of posting some negative Nancy blog post in which I say something awful that I end up regretting later (mostly because my family will bring it up repeatedly at some later date), I decided to fake a cheerful post in the hopes it will put me in a better place - spiritually and mentally, if not physically.

Last weekend we went to Udaipur (in Rajasthan), and while it wasn't the most magical place I've ever been, it definitely beats the pants off Baroda (that's assuming, of course, that Baroda would wear pants, and if I had to hypothesize, I'd say it definitely wouldn't). Udaipur is 350 kilometers away (about 217 miles), but of course it takes six hours by car to get there. We hired a refinery driver, who brought his friend along for the ride in his tiny hatchback, which made for a very cramped ride. The only really notable thing that happened on the way was when we stopped to pay the "border tax". The two guys got out of the car and proceeded to lock us in. Strange, we thought, but nothing too alarming about that - until a group of Rajasthani men came up and started banging on the windows and lifting up the door handles asking for money. Still, we weren't too worried, until another man came up and showed me his photo album full of naked men dancing and worshipping. Apparently this is in relation to some Rajasthani festival, but it is still a little off-putting to look at naked men in a photo album at a truck stop on the side of the road in India. That said, I've seen worse.

Two hours after the naked-men picture book, we reached our destination. Udaipur is billed as "the most romantic city in India", as well as "the Venice of the East", - both claims I find to be equal parts ridiculous and sad. However, sometimes, if you are in just the right frame of mind, the way the sunlight glints off the scorpion chew wrappers, the smell of urine evaporating off the sidewalk, and the huge fudgey piles of steaming cow feces can make you feel quite enchanted indeed.

Incredible Udaipur.

But I joke, I joke. After you get past the fact that Udaipur is still India (and it is, very much so), it's actually a really nice city. There is a lot of really great interesting architecture, some beautifully-carved Hindu temples, and who could forget the most famous sight of all - the Lake Palace Hotel.

Carvings on Jagdish Temple, the "most famous and most beautiful temple in Udaipur."

For those of you who aren't aware (but why wouldn't you be), the 1983 James Bond classic Octopussy was filmed in Udaipur. (On a side note, that is quite possibly the single worst movie title ever.) Most notable are the scenes from the "floating" Lake Palace, which is actually built to cover the entirety of one of the islands in the middle of the Lake Pichola, making it look as though it floats. While we didn't ferry over to the palace (you had to either have a room or pay $80 a pop to eat at the restaurant), we did have a marvelous view of it from our hotel room, and pretty much all the rooftop restaurants have a view of it as well. It's that famous.

View of the Lake Palace from the City Palace museum.

The highlight of the trip had to have been sitting out on the Sunset Terrace bar, which overlooks the Lake Palace. It was a beautiful view, especially at sunset, but mostly we liked it because we got to drink beer. In public. Never mind that it was Kingfisher-hangover-in-a-bottle. It was beer.

Never before has a bottle of Kingfisher looked so glorious.

I think Morgan Freeman (as Red in The Shawshank Redemption) said it best: "We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men." Of course the sunset view wasn't too shabby either:

Lake Palace just after sunset.

The palace on Jagmandir Island. We went there on Sunday... nothing much there, but nice views of the city.

We also saw some traditional dance performances at one of the museums on Saturday night. It was really entertaining, and we have some great videos, but I don't know how to upload them, so you'll have to be content with pictures. Soooorrrry.

One of the traditional Rajasthani dances. Not to rub it in, but the videos are so much better.

Ten pots. Ten. This woman was a monster.

Because Udaipur is the "City of Lakes", its known for its multiple dhobi (clothes washing) ghats all along the lake. We saw lots of people washing clothes (and themselves) in the lake, especially on Sunday. Of course everyone knows Sunday is washing day. While I'd probably get offended if I saw someone washing their clothes or bathing in a lake in the middle of a huge city in the states (or China... yes, I remember getting all bent out of shape about this in Dagang), in India it just seems smart. The poverty here is so great that it seems natural for people to use this huge water source to keep clean. It's much better than the alternative (bathing in the puddles of Baroda during monsoon season).

This ghat was just outside our hotel. We didn't want to get too close for pictures for fear of being perverted, so we took this from a boat.

I suppose that about does it for our Udaipur trip. It was fun while it lasted, but after the six hour ride back to Baroda on Sunday, I think both Matt and I agreed it might have been just a little too far for a weekend trip. I have literally hundreds of other pictures (each one better than the last, of course) from Udaipur, but I'm tired. I'll leave you with just one more - the obligatory hand-held Matt and Cait shot.

Us in a rooftop restaurant. Soooo romantic. Please note how long and bushy Matt's beard was. He finally shaved it yesterday (because they finally put VGO in the unit. It only took five weeks).

Smoke Again

2010-12-10T01:02:00.000-08:00

It's like this most days now. Still not sure what it means, but I'm fairly certain it's got something to do with how much trash they're burning. Also, check it: we are at 84 degrees on December 10th. It's okay to be jealous. Anyway, we're in for a cold snap here tomorrow: only 78 degrees. I better buy some of those earmuffs they're selling outside.

Vadodara, India Weather

Save This Location

Updated: Dec 10, 2010, 1:40pm Local Time

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Smoke	Clear	Sunny	Clear
84°F	54°	78°	52°
Feels Like: 84° Get FREE weather on your desktop	Low	High	Low
Past 24-hr precip is only available for the contiguous U.S.	Chance of Precip: 0%	Chance of Precip: 0%	Chance of Precip: 0%
Wind: Calm	Wind: NNW at 6 mph	Wind: NNE at 7 mph	Wind: NNW at 5 mph

Don't Be Distracted By The Beautiful Celebrities

2010-12-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

Last week Baroda hosted a cricket match between New Zealand and India... and guess where the teams stayed? Where else but WelcomHotel? It is, in fact, the most welcoming place around. At least that's what they tell me. As you can imagine, the staff went a little bit nuts preparing for the teams' arrival - but as most of it was beneficial to us, I wasn't complaining. We got new china for the buffet downstairs, as well as much more attentive waiters (they were so eager to please I often got two cappuccinos with my breakfast), brand new, gleaming white cushions for the pool chairs, and huge flower arrangements scattered around the lobby and lounges. Change is good. Except that the staff held a welcom party for each team - every time they entered or exited the building. And oh, the false wall! Why wouldn't you put up a fake wall in the hallway to separate "celebrity rooms" from the lowly guest rooms? Makes perfect sense. Behold:

This is what the hallway usually looks like.

Real wall? False. Fake. I have to admit, they did a pretty good job. Shriram couldn't believe it was fake. We had to take him up there and let him knock on it to see how flimsy it was. Ahh, India.

When the teams finally arrived on Wednesday, the hotel brought in the troops - stationing at least 100 guards and policemen in the lobby and upper floors, where they proceeded to collapse into any public seat available. When we walked through the Residence lounge, it looked like there was a carbon monoxide leak... semi-conscious guards with no shoes on sprawled over all the couches and chairs, too exhausted to even get up and check passports like they were supposed to. The best they could do was turn their heads and (try to) look menacingly in our direction as we walked through. Also, there were huge crowds outside every time the cricket teams went out of the hotel. It was semi- exciting staying in the same hotel as such huge celebrities (it would've been even more so had I known who any of these guys were.) Also, as I am way too cool and professional to take pictures of cricketers in the lobby (like all the rest of the guests), I didn't get any. However, I'm apparently not too cool to steal Shriram's pictures that he took off of Facebook. I never said I was a role model.

Team India player in the lobby. Don't know his name off the top of my head, but I call him "Indian Adam Sandler." Apparently all the ladies swoon for him. I don't see it.

Probably the best part of the whole debacle was the fact that our UOP guys kept getting mistaken for players from New Zealand. Every time they went outside people took their pictures and asked for autographs. They loved it. We even looked at the New Zealand roster online and found a cricket doppelganger for each of them just in case someone asked.

Apparently all white people look alike. This could easily have been Ben and Alberto from UOP as far as any of the fans were concerned.

I was feeling left out as there are no girls on the team, so I chose a match for myself as well. Behold:

Caitlin Correnti, aka Kane Williamson. The resemblance is quite striking.

Anyway, on Thanksgiving we had asked the hotel how we could get tickets to the cricket match, and our boy Mr. Faiyaz came through for us. Never mind that he didn't get us the tickets until an hour after the match started, and never mind that we don't really know the rules of the game, we were going, dammit!

We weren't allowed to take pictures in the stadium, so here is a picture of my ticket. Classy.

The game was not quite what we were expecting, what with the makeshift bleachers topped with plastic armchairs, but it was fun nonetheless. Also, cricket is slow. Like worse than golf slow. (I may have fallen asleep... several times.) We got there a good two hours after the match started, stayed for three and a half hours, and then left with at least three hours to go. The game was a total blowout - India won by 9 wickets with 63 balls remaining. (Don't be too intimidated, I don't know what that means either.) In closing, I'll give you what you want: more pictures of the beautiful celebrities (courtesy of Shriram the cricket fan).

Cricketer (we'll call him "Indian Mexican") and Shriram in the gym.

Gym worker, Shriram, Indian Adam Sandler (IAS) and a security guard. Apparently this picture was a great victory for Shriram and the gym worker. They'd asked IAS for his picture earlier and he said no. Maybe he was in a good mood at this point because they'd stomped New Zealand so hard with 9 wickets (what does that even mean?).

Zaheer. I only know him because he had his back to us the entire game and people were screaming his name and he kept turning to wave at the crowd. Nice guy. Shriram says he's "the most underrated on the team in the looks department". Seriously, Shriram? Get a hold of yourself.

THANKSGIVING

2010-11-26T04:39:00.000-08:00

While our Thanksgiving this year wasn't quite as wonderful as I had hoped, it still beat the pants off of last year! We may not have had football or the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade... or beer... or wine... or turkey... but it was still pretty fun, all things considered. Mr. Faiyaz at the hotel hooked us up quite nicely with a whole menu of delectable treats made especially for us! I even met with the chef to plan the menu, never mind that he left out most of the stuff I asked for (cranberries and apple pie, to name a few).

Our specially printed menu. Seriously, Faiyaz told me they had these cards specially printed up for us. I don't know if that was extremely necessary, but it was a nice touch. I mean, look at that cornucopia overflowing with delight! And that sun setting ever so gently behind the mountains. You've outdone yourself, India.

It was really interesting to have so many people from other countries celebrating our traditional American holiday. We had four "American" Americans (Ben, Matt, Carrie, and little old me), and then several other "non-traditional" Americans, as well as some plain old Indians, and Alberto, the Spaniard. I don't think any of the others really grasped the concept of Thanksgiving... they just know it as the holiday for gluttony, which is basically what it is anyway. Of course I made everyone to the whole "what are you thankful for" thing, but most of them just said a variation of what I said, which I guess means my answer was the best one (also, I went first, so that might have something to do with it).

International Thanksgiving

As far as the menu went, it wasn't traditional Thanksgiving fare by any means, but we did have some "normal" stuff (corn and mashed potatoes), along with a bunch of, shall we say, non-traditional courses, such as "chicken sausages wrapped with bacon rashes" and "silky brocooli soup". By far the two stars of the evening were the roast leg of lamb, and then whole chicken with "bacon stuffing" which they made me carve at the table. Yeah, I'm that much of a badass. For desert we had caramel custard (flan) and shahi tukda (your guess is as good as mine) which wasn't half bad. When all was said and done, I was feeling slightly disgustingly full, which I think is a mark of a good Thanksgiving.

Obligatory head shot. Matt is refusing to shave his face until they put VGO in the unit... they just shut down again today, so it could take a while. I'll keep you posted.

In other news, I went to yoga yesterday, and while we were doing our sun salutations, the lady next to me let one rip. Seriously. I know that downward facing dog can be a little strenuous, but can't you hold that in? Apparently not. Later, during our relaxation meditation, she fell asleep and started snoring. Needles to say, I hope she doesn't come again.

I Love Expats

2010-11-23T04:54:00.000-08:00

Don't cry for me, Amurica - things are looking up! Just when things seemed very bleak indeed (we hit four months in India, my hair started falling out, we're facing a third Thanksgiving in a foreign country all alone, etc, etc...), I met a huge group of women expats, and they are all awesome! Last week I went to that expat meeting that one lady told me about, and I met lots of women from all over the world! Ain't that fine? Apparently these ladies have been meeting at the WelcomHotel once a month for about a year, and no one at the hotel ever thought to tell me about it. Thanks, hotel staff. Appreciate ya'll.

In addition to meeting all those wonderful people, I got in touch with a woman who teaches yoga in Baroda, and I signed up for classes! Yesterday was my first class. It is awesome, and it is cheap! I payed about $25 for two months, and the classes are three days a week. Try getting a deal like that in Chicago (no, don't try. You can't get one). While I won't say that I am a natural at yoga (it's quite the opposite, in fact) I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I'm not horrible, but at one point the instructor, Smita, looked at me and said "Oh. You need a lot of work." True dat. The next class is tomorrow, so we'll see how I do.

Today I was invited to a brunch meeting at a British lady's house. It was a little overwhelming because there were probably 25 women there, and I hadn't met most of them. They were all really nice and super talkative, but I felt like I was telling the same story over and over again: "My name is Caitlin, I live in WelcomHotel... yes, I have lived there for four months... no, I'm not getting an apartment... yes, it's very boring and difficult, etc." I exchanged numbers with a lot of people, and have already had invites to go shopping and such later in the week. See, I knew it would get better! Okay, I know that's not true, but I'm feeling super positive at the moment. Don't burst my bubble.

Also, Matt talked to our hotel manager best friend, Faiyaz, about setting us up with a Thanksgiving dinner through the hotel. Faiyaz went paintballing with us the first time, and he was on my team. I think I impressed him with my natural paintball talents, because he has set up a whole Thanksgiving menu for us... for freeee! I don't know that it will be a very "traditional" dinner, but anything will be better than last year's Indonesian KFC debacle. Won't it? I'll let you know. At least this year, I have something to be thankful for: expats. (No offense to everyone else... I'm always thankful for you guys.)

The End

2010-11-18T05:07:00.000-08:00

After so many, many posts, complete with pictures glorious enough to make even the most generous feel sick and green with envy, I think it's about to wrap up this Thailand story. Also, I feel like this last post has been hanging over my head, mainly because I actually have something important that needs sharing. However, of course I've forgotten most of the details, so I had to get online and do some much-hated research in order to get it all sorted out. So I guess what I'm saying is, please forgive me for any information errors in advance... and for the length of this post (it's a doozy)... and for being pretentious and pedantic.

The best part of our trip in Chiang Rai (for me, at least) was undoubtedly the tour we did of some of the hill tribes in the area. On our first day in town, we went to visit the very interesting and informative Chiang Rai Hill Tribe Museum to learn about some of the tribes and get some info on tours and such. Lucky we went there first, because we discovered pretty quickly that there was some shady business going on with this hill tribe tourism kick - the most notable skeeziness comes in the form of the "long-neck" group of the Karen hill tribe. (Yup, this is where I start getting preachy.) You know the ones. Those ladies who wear the rings stacked around their necks to give them the appearance of a long neck (thus the nickname). Almost all tour companies in Chiang Rai offer trips to see the long-necks, and I must admit, I was pretty excited to go on one. They take you up to their "village" and show you their "authentic handicrafts" and their super stretched out necks, but they never mention that the whole thing is a farce. Boom. Bet you didn't see that one coming. Now check out this knowledge bomb:

The long-necks aren't native to Thailand (they come from Myanmar), and those who live there now have only come in the last ten years or so. The museum explained that the long-neck village was built as a scam to get money from tourists, and the tribal people don't see much or any of that money at all. According to the museum, people who live in the "village" aren't allowed to leave or live normal lives. The women are put on display like in a human zoo and forced to make "traditional handicrafts" for tourists, while the men sit in some back room gambling and drinking all day. Seriously. I don't know how much of this is true, but I felt it was better to boycott the whole thing altogether, so we decided to go a different route, and take one of the Population and Community Development Association (PDA)-sponsored tours through the museum.

Basically PDA is a non-profit organization created to promote family planning programs in Thailand, but it has since diversified into other areas, like educating people about HIV/AIDS and combating rural poverty. Click here to learn more. Anyway, through the museum, we were able to book a PDA tour, which is waaay better than any other tour because the guides are sensitive to the cultures of the various hill tribes, and are always respectful. They even have a community-based tourism development project in a village called Ban Lorcha where tourists pay a fee to enter the village and watch people doing their village activities - stuff you wouldn't see normally on a random day visit. Almost all the proceeds from this go into a fund that assists orphans, widows, and the village in general. How's that for responsible tourism? Danielle and I were pretty excited about this because after learning of the horrific long-neck zoo, we wanted to be sure we were participating in something that would help others, and not just satisfy our arrogant American tourist curiosities. (So pedantic, I know.) Anyway, after much deliberation, we decided against the Ban Lorcha tour and opted for an elephant trekking tour that visited four hill tribes. (Yes, the Ban Lorcha thing looked amazing and interesting and helpful, but honestly, who would pass up an elephant trek? I mean, they had elephants and trekking.)

Anyway, to put it mildly, our tour was fantastic. We rode on a boat for an hour on the Mekong river to see a Karen tribe (the long-necks are just a sub-group of the overall Karen tribe), which is based right on the edge of the river. The village was surprisingly modern, with concrete houses, a paved road running through it, and a big Christian church at one end. It wasn't quite what we had expected, but hey, it's 2010. Concrete houses and paved roads are the wave of the future.

See that Christian church? Not quite what I had in mind, either, but interesting nonetheless.

That's what I'm talking about. Rice fields at the foot of the hills in the Karen village.

We walked along the road through the village to the elephant training camp where we would hitch a ride up the mountain on an elephant. In a word: awesome.

God bless, I love elephants. Ain't he/she a beaut?

Our elephant was a 42-year-old male named Lampang. He and I had quite the connection. Lampang took us up into the hills for two hours, traipsing over streams and through rice fields and jungles like it was his job (which I guess it was, in a way). We also had a mahout (elephant trainer) along with us, who drove Lampang and kept him in line; unfortunately I did not catch his name or age. Sorry.

The mahout driving Lampang through the stream.

About two-thirds of the way into our trip, our mahout jumped off the elephant and asked if we wanted our pictures taken. Of course we did. Did he even need to ask?

I know all my Facebook friends have already seen this, but it's such a good picture!

After this picture-break, the mahout jumped back up and sat in my seat next to Danielle and let me ride Lampang's neck for the rest of the way. I know what you're thinking, and it's true: I really am that cool. I was kind of scared and almost fell off a few times, and I kept getting elephant snot all over my feet, but it was worth it. Totally. Anyway, Lampang took us all the way up to the Lahu (or Akha, I can't remember... so much for responsible tourism, eh?) village, where we ate lunch and visited with an ancient lady who sold us some handicrafts. Of course she did. It was worth it.

Village.

After lunch, we "trekked" (really we just walked back down the hills... not much trekking involved) over to the main section of the village where the school was. The school seemed to be really well-maintained and even had several computers for the kids to use (all of this made possible through solar panels set up throughout the village).

Main Street.

Our guide was really amazing and seemed to know all the people in all the villages. Also, he speaks all of the different hill tribe dialects (there are many), so he was able to translate for us. Later we walked down to a waterfall, and then visited a Yao and Akha (or Lahu... jeez that's embarrassing that I can't remember) village, which had sort of a combination of bamboo houses with thatched roofs and more modern houses.

Our guide at the waterfall.

Hill tribe village. That one in the back is painted with an aluminum roof. They got big money back there.

I think that about sums up our Chiang Rai hill tribe experience. Whew. Sorry it's so long... I won't do that again. Takes way too long to write out. I guess that sums up my Thailand adventure as well. After Chiang Rai, we flew back to Bangkok, and then I flew back to India (complete with a six-hour layover in Mumbai's beautiful domestic terminal), and the rest is history. The hill tribe tour is definitely up there on my "Best Things I've Ever Done" list, thanks mostly to Lampang the elephant. The End.

Don't Trust the Evil-Doers

2010-11-16T04:53:00.000-08:00

My hair is falling out. From my head, but also my eyelashes in particular are looking a bit sparse these days. Don't bother getting all worked up about it - it'll do us no good if you all start losing your hair as well. I've already researched it on the Internet, and found a wealth of material concerning the matter. Apparently I'm not the only one who's prematurely balding in India. I found one girl on a forum who was losing her hair in big chunks a few weeks after returning from a trip to southern India. Also, I'm guessing it might be a fairly common problem with the locals as well. I am always seeing advertisements for "Hair Fall Prevention" shampoos here. Most people on the Web said the water was probably the root cause of this, especially in Chennai, where they have apparently been suffering this hair fall condition for some time now. I, however, have not been to Chennai, but I guess that doesn't mean the water here isn't just as bad (considering what it's doing to my skin, I think it's probably to blame). Other causes I read about include: vitamin deficiency, protein deficiency, stress, too little sleep, side effects of anti-malarials and imbalanced chakras. So all I have to do to cure my condition is stop bathing, eat beef, sleep more, and balance my chakras. Aside from the sleeping, I can't feasibly do any of these things (I don't know how to balance my chakras... yet). In conclusion, I don't really know how to stop the baldness at the moment, so please don't make fun of me if I lose all my hair, including eyebrows and eyelashes. They'll grow back... right?

In the interest of keeping my life stress-free (and preserving some hair), I'm going to stop thinking about the balding.

A sign from a random temple in Chiang Rai.

Anyway, back to Thailand. After the disaster that was the Naga Fireball Festival we headed back to Bangkok, and Mary and Kat left the next day. Danielle and I headed north in a different direction to visit Chiang Rai. Danielle had already been to Chiang Mai, which is bigger and more touristy, but she hadn't seen any hill tribes, and man, she wanted to see some. Sadly for her, she had to wait it out with me for several days in Chiang Rai while I mentally prepared myself for the hill tribes.

Mekong river and Chiang Rai countryside.

In the meantime, we took many impromptu walking tours around the city (which is relatively small... I think we walked the whole of it a couple times) and visited lots of temples. It was nice being in a small less-touristy town as opposed to Bangkok and Krabi.

This is a replica of the sacred Emerald Buddha in Chiang Rai (the real one is in Bangkok). It is in a room with green lighting. I quite enjoyed that.

On Wednesday, we hopped on a public "bus" (it was a van, not unlike those we used in Indonesia) and rode with the locals to the White Temple (or Wat Rong Khun).

The aptly-named White Temple.

This temple was built by Chalemchai Kositpipat, a renowned Thai artist. He built it all in white to symbolize the purity of Buddha. And he's not finished yet. He and his team are continually adding new buildings and statues around the site.

This was the bathroom. Is that not the most glorious restroom you've ever seen? It was closed when we went, but I don't think I could've used it anyway. It's too fancy.

The temple was interesting, but I found it kind of difficult to look at its eye-scorching brilliance. In addition to the white paint, the artist put up tiny glittering mirrors around the designs to highlight them. It gives the whole thing a very blinding effect.

Thais posing at the side-entrance.

Inside the main hall is a huge mural depicting... something. Seriously, I couldn't figure out what was going on inside that thing. I think it might be some sort of massive Buddha head made up of various people and events from pop-culture. I know I saw Darth Vader and Spiderman, and there's no telling what else. Apparently the eyes of the Buddha depict George W. in one eye and Osama bin Laden in the other. I am obviously no great art-analyst, so I won't pretend to know what was going on in there. Probably something about the evils of pop-culture taking over our lives... Isn't that what all art is about these days?

A vomiting planter.

After visiting the White Temple, we went across the street to a cafe for lunch and drank Thai iced tea with bugs in it. I noticed the bugs pretty early on in my tea, but I drank it anyway. I didn't want to be rude. Plus, I was thirsty. Later that day we went shopping at the incredible Chiang Rai night market. The end.

Are your retinas scorched yet? Dragons on top of the White Temple.

Smoke

2010-11-12T02:24:00.000-08:00

Just checked the forecast here because it's looking cloudy, and this is what I found:

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Vadodara, India Weather

Save This Location

Updated: Nov 12, 2010, 3:10pm Local Time

UPDATE DATA

Right Now	Next 36 Hours

	Tonight	Tomorrow	Tomorrow Night

Smoke	Scattered T-Storms	Scattered T-Storms	Scattered T-Storms
86°F	70°	87°	69°
Feels Like: 90°	Low	High	Low
Past 24-hr precip is only available for the contiguous U.S.	Chance of Precip: 60%	Chance of Precip: 50%	Chance of Precip: 50%
Wind: From SSE at 10mph	Wind: N at 5 mph	Wind: SSW at 7 mph	Wind: NNW at 5 mph

Hourly Forecast

10-Day Forecast

Seriously? What does that even mean? Ahh, India.

Fireballs

2010-11-11T05:01:00.000-08:00

Ughhh, I'm sick of blogging about Thailand, and I'm sure you're all sick of reading about it. Buuut, I have to write it all down or I will forget. Don't worry, I'll make the rest of them short and sweet.

After we left Krabi, we headed to Nong Khai, a city in the Northeastern part of Thailand, for the infamous Naga Fireball Festival. Nong Khai is on the bank of the Mekong river, with Laos just across the water, which is cool, but only because Laos is a country I haven't been to. I hear it's not amazing, but I wanted to go over there anyway... my Facebook "Where I've Been" map isn't going to update itself, you know.

Laos, from across the river. You don't have to say it - I know it's an amazing shot.

So our whole trip to Nong Khai stemmed from a book of Danielle's called "1001 Natural Wonders of the World", which featured a section on "Naga Fireballs". According to the book, these fireballs are supposed to be naturally-occurring glowing balls that rise up from the Naga (serpent god) that lives in the Mekong river. I'm not describing it well enough, but it is really hyped up in Thailand and all of Southeast Asia. To get a more detailed account of the fireballs (and to see why we traveled across the country to see them) click here. Or you can just Google naga fireballs and read any or all of the numerous articles about it. See, it's a pretty big deal.

Naga

So, long story short, we got to Nong Khai the night before the fireball extravaganza, (which is traditionally held on the last full moon in October... You'd think it'd be hard to plan the exact date and time of a naturally-occurring event, but they do) and walked around the local festival and ate some weird street food, including, but not limited to a pancake-type thing hard-fried in loads of palm oil and covered in sweetened condensed milk. It was delicious. The next day we explored the town, ate some Vietnamese food and fed a baby elephant. Just a typical day.

Elephants love me. It's a fact. Photo by Mary P.

To go see the fireballs, we had to take a bus to a different town not too far away. However, in typical Asian style, we had to wait until the bus filled all the way up with people. And that includes filling the aisles with standing passengers. So between waiting time and driving time, we didn't get to the place until two hours later. We were still in pretty good spirits, though... anticipation is powerful medicine (so is beer, and we may have had a couple on the bus ride over). We waded through the crowd to find a perfect spot from which to see the fireballs (we didn't find one), and then we waited for hours for the fireballs to start. They eventually did, but they were, shall we say, less than stellar. It was a huge disappointment. Click on this link to see a video of exactly what we saw. Actually, that video is probably better than what we saw. I think we witnessed maybe four "fireballs" in all, and they all strangely seemed to be coming from the Laotian side of the river. We foreigners were not very impressed, but I can't speak for the Thai visitors. Man, they go crazy for those things!

A boat that came "coincidentally" just before the fireballs. Each time. Also, yes, my pictures from Nong Khai aren't very good. Sue me.

To get back to our hotel, we had to take another bus (standing room only by the time we got there... it wasn't very pleasant) and inch our way through traffic for two and a half hours. We were all fairly disheartened by the whole experience, but hey, tomorrow is another day. However, the next day started in much the same vein as the night before... Our flight out was early in the morning and our hotel was an hour away from the airport. No one spoke enough English to help us get a taxi, and no one seemed to understand why we were going to the airport in the first place. Why would we ever want to leave? (Remember, we are all well-seasoned travelers by this point... they were making it illogically difficult. Not our fault.) The whole debacle took maybe two hours, with lots of stressful hair-pulling and kicking of things. It involved numerous tuk-tuks, a ride to the taxi station, a ride to the bus station, and then a ride to the airport in a tiny beater truck. It was ridiculous, but we made it.

Anyway, so that about sums up our Nong Khai trip. Sorry, it wasn't quite as short as I had planned, but I wanted you to get the full effect of our experience. Not all parts of the trip were good ones, but it was an unforgettable experience, to say the least.

Matt is working late tonight. Bleh.

Scuba Steve

2010-11-09T06:04:00.000-08:00

Before I get into my description of my epic scuba diving adventure, I'd like to share with you a few minor India details.

I broke down and went to the new branch of FabIndia today. It is much, much smaller than the one in Mumbai, but still relatively fabulous. I bought nothing because after paying half of the balance on our carpet, we are kind of short on cash. I'm not allowed to go to the ATM, due to reasons. (Actually it's due to the fact that Matt gets per diem in rupees which are very hard to exchange into dollars, so I have been told to "wait it out" repeatedly on the money situation, as we will get a plethora of cash shortly.)
While at FabIndia, I met a lady expat(riot) who invited me to the big weekly lady expat meeting next Tuesday. We exchanged phone numbers, and she promised to call later with the time and location of the meeting. We'll see. I don't want to get too excited because I think I may have inadvertently given her the wrong phone number. I'm still pretty excited, though. I like expats. Sometimes they drink a lot. That's about the extent of my knowledge of expats. See, sometimes shopping does pay.
I have decided to take the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) while here in India. I looked it up online, and I think I can take it in Ahmedebad, which is only a couple hours away. I haven't actually decided on a graduate program, or decided what I would like to study in graduate school... or decided if I even want to do graduate school or if I should just man up and get a job... but I figure studying for and taking the GRE can't hurt. Well, it could hurt a little, I guess. Especially if I don't do well.

Anyway, I will keep you posted on the above happenings. In the meantime:

Photo by Mary P.

Kat and me in all our scuba gear. Matt says I look good with my equipment. I think he's running out of compliments.

We did, in fact go scuba diving on our ExTRA trip. I was told (and I kind of figured) that it wasn't the best diving trip ever, due to the bleached out coral and lack of fish, but it was still pretty awesome. (Sorry, I lied about the sharks and the sunken ships. What can you do? Sometimes I lie.) Just breathing underwater was an incredible experience, as was trying to swim with flippers. I'd never actually done that before, and I wasn't very good at that part. I was good at the breathing, though. Not to brag, but I've known how to do that for ages.

Anyway, we did see some cool stuff underwater, but I don't have any pictures of it. We saw loads of jellyfish, of which I was initially terrified, but then grew to love after I got to dribble one on my hand like a basketball. Also, I caught a fleeting glimpse of a seahorse that my instructor pointed out, which was pretty rad.

Photo by Danielle S.

After diving, we stopped at this island for a breather. No big deal, just a pit stop at one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

Aside from diving, we also took an island-hopping trip to a few random islands off the coast. No big deal, just visiting three or more exotic islands in a matter of hours. All in a day's work.

Photo by Danielle S.

Hong Island.

As a part of our island-hopping package, we got to go snorkeling (always a good time) and sea kayaking! I'd never been sea kayaking before, and it was really fun, but definitely more taxing than I was prepared for. I think maybe all that beach laying made my muscles start to atrophy (also not getting much protein or nutrients in general in India might be a factor). On our sea kayak trip we went from Hong Island (above) to Hong Lagoon (below), which we had already visited once at high tide.

Photo by Danielle S.

Hong Lagoon, pre-kayak trip.

By the time we got back to the lagoon in our kayaks, it was a dramatically different sight. Almost all the water was gone, and there were hundreds (probably) of starfish lying around!

Photo by Danielle S.

Mary and I got a big kick out of the starfish. Please excuse my hair. It knows not what it does.

Anyway, so that was about the extent of our Krabi extravaganza. I know, I know, it was amazing and beautiful and possibly the best place on Earth, but fear not, it wasn't all fun and games. I got violently ill on the longtail-boat ride back from island-hopping. By violently ill, I mean I just got really insanely nauseous but didn't actually throw up. See, it wasn't all good. Anyway, I know this is long, and for that I apologize.