Indian Summer

I just left the office for the last time here in Bangalore. It was actually really sad. I didn't want to have to say goodbye to my new friends. Even though I will still be working with them everyday, I won't see them everyday, and that's what makes me so sad. My flight leaves in a few hours so I am just tying up loose ends and getting everything packed. I have had a wonderful time here in India and I am very sad to be leaving. There definitely are comforts of home that I miss, but once I am home I will miss so many things about India. The last two months have gone by so quickly and I almost wish I had more time here. I would love to come back and hope to have the opportunity to do so soon. I'm not sure that Alyssa and Heidi would agree, but if you ever have the opportunity to come to India, definitely take it!

The Pink City

On Sunday we spent the day in Jaipur, which is also called the Pink City. All of the buildings are pink. I'm not sure why, but they are. We went to another fort called Amber Fort. It is also called the Pink Palace because it is pink as well. The fort sits up on a hill so you can either walk up the hill or ride an elephant. Considering the heat of the day and the fact that riding an elephant is really great, we opted for the elephant. It was great. My feet got spit on several times, but the ride was well worth the soggy socks. At the entrance to the fort there were vendors all over. They were worse there than anywhere else we had been. They were really aggressive and of course very dishonest. Once we finally got into the fort I felt like we had been through a car wash. It was nice to be in such a beautiful place without all of those men calling you Madam and yelling at you. The fort wasn't quite as extravagant as the Agra Fort, but it was still beautiful. We decided to go shopping after the fort, but our driver took us to a quick detour at an observatory. It was pretty lame and we weren't really sure what we were supposed to do there so we didn't stay long. Walking out of the observatory we came across some snake charmers. As much as I don't like snakes that was definitely a highlight of the trip. While we were watching them some government men walked behind us and the charmers stopped playing their flutes. We weren't sure if snake charmers are not allowed, but they started up again as soon as the government men walked by. Melissa actually touched one of the snakes, but I stayed as far back as possible. We went shopping for the rest of the day and experienced much of the same aggressiveness that we found at Amber Fort. They've just got a different style in Jaipur. Melissa and I flew back to Bangalore that night. I was grateful to get back to pleasant weather, but I didn't want to leave Alyssa and Heidi. It's a good thing I'll be home in 2 days.

The Taj

On Saturday we woke up really early and went to the Taj Mahal to see it at sunrise. Our driver dropped us off at a walkway at the back of the Taj. We had to walk a bit through the mosquito-infested walkway and we were sure we would come out with Malaria. When we finally came to the clearing where we could see the Taj and it was amazing. We were at the back so there weren't any people around and just a river that really wasn't much of river was the only thing that separated us from the Taj. It was just enormous and so beautiful. We took a lot of pictures and an Indian man assisted us in the picture taking. He encouraged us to get closer to the river so we could see the reflection of the Taj in the water. We were reluctant because of the mosquitoes, but we did go up to the water and it was beautiful. The sky was pretty overcast so we didn't ever end up seeing the sunrise, but it was worth to get up that early and see the Taj in such a peaceful environment. When we were walking back to the car we ran into a band of kids who took a liking to Alyssa. They followed her and we called her the Pied Piper. We got up so early to see the Taj at sunlight that we decided to go back to the Holiday Inn and take a nap. After a refreshing nap we went to Agra Fort. It was a big castle-like structure with two moats. The moats were dry, but our guide told us when the fort was actually in use the moats were filled with really dangerous animals like alligators and snakes. I could only imagine it. After the fort we picked up my coworker Melissa who had flown in that morning, and went to the Taj Mahal again. This time we actually went in the front entrance. The weather was pretty miserable. It was so hot I really can't even describe it, but seeing the Taj made it all worth it. We we walked through the entrance and saw it a ways away, it was amazing. It's just so big and almost breathtaking. We took several pictures and then went through the inside. The inside is almost a disappointment because there really is nothing to see. You just walk through a few rooms, one with a tomb, and that's it. We walked back outside and could barely see because the reflection of the sun on the white marble was blinding. The architecture of the whole place is amazing. There are optical illusions all over the outside and the four tours on the four corners of the platform actually lean out just a bit so if there is an earthquake or some other natural disaster they won't fall in and damage the dome. There were a ton a people there which only added to the miserable heat, but seeing it was something I will never forget. Walking back out to the street we saw a parrot in the tree and a camel pulling a cart in the street. It's all so normal to them, but incredible to me. We got back on the road to travel to Jaipur. I think it was only about 220 klm away, but it took what seemed like an eternity to drive there. In India they turn on their brights when they see a car instead of the other way around, so I had to keep my eyes closed for the six hour drive because the lights were hurting my head. I also became indigenous on the drive to Jaipur. The natives just go to the bathroom where ever they are. We actually saw two women get out of a car where were stopped for a minute, squat and urinate. I needed to use the restroom, but there was no chance of finding a real one, so I went in the bushes on the side of the road. I felt like a real Indian. It was great. We finally made it to our hotel in Jaipur after what seemed like an eternity. It was called Umaid Bhawan and it was a fantastic hotel. It was 100% Indian and I loved it. I would have liked to stay more than one night. It was lavishly decorated in Indian decor and every stitch of the walls were covered in paintings of carpets. It was wonderful.

Indian Cinema

After seeing New Delhi we drove to a city called Agra. It took pretty much the entire day for us to get there. Agra is part of what they call the Golden Triangle with New Delhi and Jaipur. It was a very long drive even though the distance wasn't very far just because the roads are so awful. Our driver, Nagender, kept raising his fist and yelling something at all of the crazy drivers. We wish we would have known what he was saying. When we got to Agra we went to Akbar's Tomb. Once again, it was an amazing building built just for dead people. We saw some strange animals on the lawn that we weren't sure what they were, but they were really neat. The tomb was just a long hallway down to a large room with a very tall ceiling and one tomb in the center. It was kind of eerie and reminded me of something European. Outside the tomb I ran into some children who wanted me to take their picture so they could see it on my digital camera. I took a picture of them and then asked if I could take a picture with them. All of a sudden children came from everywhere. They were all adorable and one woman even handed me her baby whom she obviously did not want to be left out of the photo. Also, on the way out a man stopped Alyssa and I and wanted us to stand in a photo with his two sons. It's strange being a celebrity just because you are white. We went to our hotel, the Holiday Inn, which was very nice. My spare bed was still a wooden plank, but it did fold all the way down. We decided to try out an Indian film. We went to a mall and bought tickets for "Partner," which had been recommended to us by a lady at the hotel. The whole movie experience was hilarious. The movie was exactly "Hitch" but in Hindi and with musical numbers. The main character wore Tweety and Goofy t-shirts and there was an intermission. Also, the movie patrons were out of control. They stood up and laughed and clapped. It was all well worth the $4 ticket price.

The Land of Salt Crystals

I was able to take two days off of work and fly up to New Delhi to meet two of my friends from Salt Lake, Alyssa and Heidi, who came over for a visit. I left Bangalore after work on Wednesday night and flew up to New Delhi. It was supposed to only be a 2 and a half hour flight, but it turned into much longer than that so I didn't end up getting to the hotel in Delhi until pretty late. But I got to see Alyssa and Heidi after a long two months and that was great. We ordered an extra bed for me and the hotel guy showed up with a wooden board on wheels folded in half. He unfolded it and the center where the fold was did not fold all the way down so it was like a little tent. I wasn't sure if that was it, but I wasn't looking forward to the next two nights of sleeping. Luckily he did bring in a mattress which fixed things a bit. On Friday morning we got up and our Delhi driver took us to the President's Palace which I think is called Rashtrapati Bhawan. It was big with a lot of different government buildings around it. We also went to the India Gate which is near the President's Palace. It is a big arch that has several names of people who died fighting for India's independence engraved on it. Oh, I forgot to mention that Delhi was hot. It was hotter than I have ever felt before, and ever want to feel again. Bangalore has been quite pleasant, but Delhi was not. Walking outside we were immediately drenched in sweat and our clothes grew 7 sizes larger because of it. After the gate we went to Humayun's Tomb. It was beautiful and it's crazy to think something like that was built just for dead people. Inside the tomb a guy started telling me about it without me asking him to. I listened and then when he was done I walked away to find Heidi and Lys. He followed me asking for money for his services. I just kept walking. I probably could have spared a few Rupees, but I didn't ask for his services and he didn't take his shoes off inside the tomb. At the tomb there was a whole separate tomb for the barber and the jeweler. I thought that was pretty funny. They obviously took their hair and accessories very seriously. Next we went to Qutb Minar which is a very tall and very old tower made out of sandstone. It had beautiful engravings all over it and it was surrounded by ruins. It was beautiful, but once again, very hot. We also went to the Bahai Temple which is also called the Lotus temple. It didn't really look like a temple, but it was neat. The greatest part about it was that it was definitely the quietest bit of India I have ever been in. There is supposed to be no noise in the temple and it really was silent. It was wonderful. We had to take our shoes off of course and I'm sure we looked ridiculous - three white woman walking briskly to the shoe drop off because the ground was so hot. It didn't seem to bother too many other people. Next we went shopping. We started out in an underground market which turned out not to be for us so we went up on the street and walked through some shops there. We ate at Pizza Hut and then headed back to where the car was going to pick us up. We stopped to buy some necklaces from some little boys and were quickly surrounded by other vendors wanting to offer their services. One man wanted to put something in our ears to clean them out. He had a little notebook of testimonials from other customers. I was still not convinced. When we got back to the hotel it was disturbing to find salt crystals in my eyebrows and along my hairline. I've never been much of a sweater, but after Delhi, I'm not sure I can say that anymore. Besides the heat, Delhi was great. It was different from Bangalore in that everything seemed a lot older. Bangalore has grown so much over the past few years that everything is under construction or recently has been under construction so it seems newer. I was in the north for four more days so stay tuned for those posts.

Delhi Belly - Part Deux

I had a fun day of shopping planned with my coworker Melissa for Saturday. On Friday night I ate some Pringles for dinner around 5:30 and by later in the evening my stomach was arguing with the Pringles. I thought it would be better after sleeping. On waking up Saturday morning the pain was still there. I took some antibiotics and thought that would help. We went to the airport first to pick up our tickets to New Delhi (where I am going on Wednesday to see the TajMahal - yep that's right). For some reason it takes about 14 hours to purchase a plane ticket at the airport. Standing in line was not helping my stomach situation. I was almost finished with my tickets when I realized things were going downhill very quickly for me. A young boy came up to the desk I was standing at and stood very close to me. The warmth of his breath on my arm about put me over the edge. (This is another picture of Kerala.) I searched the area for a trash can hoping that I wouldn't need to use it, but pretty certain that something was coming. The reservation lady finally handed me my ticket and hurried to a bench to sit down. The warm-breathed little boy followed me to the bench with his friend. They wanted me to sign up for something, or buy something...I'm not sure what. All I could tell them was that I was sick and couldn't talk. Melissa finished up with her line and came to sit beside me. She recently experienced the Delhi Belly to this extent herself so she knew the agony. We got back in the car and had to go back to the apartment to drop me off. I began the afternoon on my couch in the fetal position and commenced the evening in the same fetal position. If I stretched out or stood up it was agony that I had never felt before. By the next morning things were still a little shaky, but the pain had subsided enough to emerge from the fetal position I had grown so fond of. Needless to say it will be a long time before I will be able to eat Pringles again. As I've said before, avoid the Delhi Belly at all costs.

Service Project

I didn't have to go to work today. Instead I went on an activity with some of my coworkers. Every year we get one day to participate in an organized service project. I thought it would be more interesting to do it here than in Salt Lake. There were about 15 of us on this project. We met at the office this morning and then got on buses to go to Rakum School. It is a school for blind children. The owner gave us the lowdown on the school when we got there and it was pretty incredible. All of the children are orphans, but not all of them are blind. In fact less than half are blind. About 45 boys live in the school and more than 100 girls live in a building behind the school. Each blind child is assigned a seeing child from the very beginning and they are responsible for each other. That was the most amazing part of the whole day...watching how the seeing children took care of the blind children. We picked up about 35 children and 2 teachers and took the buses to Sandhya Kiran which is senior citizen center. Elders come their for the majority of their day to interact with other elders and continue their livelihood. The point of the day was to have the children and the elders interact. We played a game and both the children and the elders sang and danced. We had lunch and snacks and then they did some more performances. We had different activities planned for the afternoon, but all they wanted to do was get on the stage with the microphone and sing or perform dramas. As I said, watching the children interact with one another was so tender. One of the teachers from the school said the seeing children learn how to read and walk and just function as if they were blind so that they can always be of help to their blind partner. They just served each other constantly. One of the little boys even wanted to serve the elders their lunch while everyone else was eating their own. The elders were really great as well. They just loved the children so much. There was one little boy who was obviously the favorite of the children and he easily became the favorite of the elders as well. He was blind and he loved to sing and dance. The elders picked him up and kissed his cheeks a billion times. It was such a wonderful way to spend the day.

Tea Leaves and Backwaters

When I came to India everyone told me I had to go to Karela. On Saturday I got to go there and it was amazing. I woke up Saturday morning before I had even gone to bed for the night and went to the airport to board a plane for Cochin. I flew on Kingfisher Air which was actually pretty nice, and the flight was just over an hour. I was impressed with the domestic airport except that they frisk everyone. The women at least get to go into a frisking booth and be frisked by another woman. The men have to stand in the open for everyone to watch. The Cochin airport was nice and our bags came almost before we got to the carousal. My coworker Melissa was with me so gratefully I was not by myself. Our driver was waiting outside with a sign that said "Miss Candi Crawford." They all seem to call me Candi here. That's Candy, not CandI. Our driver was really nice. He had big eyes with really long eyelashes. His English wasn't great, but we got by. We went on our way to Munnar where we were staying at the Tea County Hotel for the night. The hotel was only 60 km from the airport, but it took us 3 hours to get there. We drove through small villages and mountains which is why it took so long. It rained off and on the entire time, which actually turned out to be a blessing because it created waterfalls all over. The waterfalls were amazing. Some of them were small, running over the rocks, but most of them were huge and just beautiful. Driving through all of the fields growing tea leaves was also incredible. We saw animals indiginous to the land. Melissa saw an elephant and I saw a house cat. Everything was so green and it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I know my sister Kate may not believe it, but it was even comparable to New Zealand in beauty. We finally got to the hotel and checked in. The hotel reminded me of a little French Villa. It was beautiful. Our driver took us out sightseeing through Munnar. We went to a national park which was full of the same incredible scenery. The rain continued to pour. We went to a tea factory where we learned how they make tea. It was pretty interesting to see the process of starting with green leaves and ending up with brown tea grounds. We also went to a damn. I'm not sure of the significance of the damn, it was beautiful though. Melissa and I started to walk across the damn, but turned around because my pants were wet up to my knees because it was raining so hard. We went back to the hotel, ate dinner and went to sleep for the night. I could hear the rain as I went to sleep and it was not like any rain I had heard before. It came down in sheets.

The next morning our driver came back to the hotel and we left Munnar on our way to Alleppy. It was another 4 hours to Alleppy and we ran into our elephant friend again. He didn't seem threatening so I got pretty close to take a picture. Alleppy is very close to the western coast of India so the weather was a bit more humid there, but it wasn't raining so I was grateful. We went to a place they call the Backwaters. We got on a houseboat which was originally a cargo boat. Our 3-man crew consisted of the captain, a cook and an engineer. They were all fantastic. We started on our trek through the backwaters, which turned out to be a large network of wide rivers running through Alleppy. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. People live all along the river and it is their livlihood. They bathe, wash their clothes, wash their dishes, drink - all from the river. Melissa and I were a bit concerned when we discovered the dishes we ate from on the houseboat were also washed in the river, but I'm pretty sure I already have a parasite so I thought he might appreciate the bacteria. We docked and got in a small canoe to go in places the large houseboat could not go. A large gang of young boys from the village swarmed around us and asked for a pen or an American coin. They were so cute and I felt terrible I didn't have anything to give them. We canoed through the village and saw what an incredible life these people live. They are farmers and fishers and everything is so simple. We got back on the houseboat and docked soon after to eat dinner and sleep for the night. The food was actually really good, which was a nice change. I told Melissa it would only make the whole experience more perfect if we saw fireworks. Not 10 minutes later we heard a huge bank and far away on the horizon we saw fireworks. It was incredible. I don't know what they were for, but it was perfect.

The next morning we went back to the original dock very early where our driver was waiting for us to take us back to the airport. We said farewell to the crew and traveled about 90 minutes to the airport to fly back to Bangalore. The whole weekend was just wonderful. Everything was so beautiful and so much slower and more peaceful than Bangalore. It was amazing to see how the people in those villages live. If I were to live in India, I would definitely live in Karela.

Technical Sorrow

I have been having computer problems this entire week. Actually, my apartment has been having power and internet problems. Their power problems caused my AC adapter to blow up and now I can't charge my laptop. They are working on getting me a new adapter and then I will be able to update my blog. I am going out of town this weekend, but hopefully by the time I get back I will have a new adapter and I can post my adventures from this week and the weekend. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

What About the Bride?

My dad's friend, Mark, brought his family to India for their friend's wedding. I also know Mark from when I worked with my dad so he invited me to come to the wedding. Sunday ngiht was the wedding procession and the betrothal. It was held in the Ganjam Marriage Hall and I really have no idea what went on. When I got there I shook the groom's hand not knowing he was the groom and asked where I could find Mark. I found he and his family and we ate a noodle mixture on a leaf. It actually wasn't bad, but I was really thirsty and the only option I had was a glass of water, which was most likely not bottled water. I drank it and luckily I feel great so far. It was an arranged marriage. The groom's mother was in charge of finding a bride for her son. She worked with the mothers of girls in inviting the girls over to their house for dinner. Then the next day the mom's would talk to see if the girl had any further interest. The groom at this wedding was 35 years old and his mother was ecstatic that one of the girls finally had further interest. So they met one more time to finalize the deal and didn't see each other again. After we ate we went into the hall where the groom's parents sat on the stage and the bride's family offered them gifts. Every time a gift was offered the music was played very loud. All this time, I hadn't seen the bride yet. Then the groom walks to the temple to receive blessings. I finally saw the bride at the point, pictured in the yellow saree, but she did not go to the temple with the groom. None of these activities seemed to be about her. When the groom got back there was a procession of him coming back into the hall and then his family offered the bride's family gifts. Finally, the bride was a part of the wedding. There were a ton of people there and everything seemed very haphazard, but it was all extravagant. The actual marriage ceremony is tomorrow and will be even more extravagant. Apparently there will be a few hundred people there and you come even if you are just loosely connected to the bride or groom or anyone else who may be attending.

Monolithic Men and Poison Women

Ahhhh. There's just something about the Indian countryside that's refreshing after spending the week in the city. Yesterday I went on an all day excursion to three different towns a few hours away from Bangalore. Ramu, the driver, came to pickup me and my Salt Lakian coworker Melissa at 6:30 in the morning. We went to the Badami House, which is the government tourism office for Karnataka. Ramu dropped us off and we got on our mini coach to begin our tour. We sat patiently on the mini coach waiting for the rest of our group. The mini coach was indeed mini, but the prospect of having less people to smell than on a full size bus was promising. However, after waiting for just a bit longer it occurred to me that I probably was not going to last a few minutes on the mini coach, let alone a few hours. The rest of our group piled on, and by some miraculous force there were three passengers left standing without a mini seat on the mini coach. As we took off I was grateful I had a seat. We ended up driving to a lot where we boarded a large comfortable bus. As I sat sprawled in my seat with plenty of leg room and seats to spare I became even more grateful for the inefficiencies of the Indians.

We drove for about an hour and stopped for breakfast. I chose to stay on the bus and continue my nap. As I've said, Indian food leaves something to be desired for me and I had slept only about 10 hours combined for the entire week, so the nap was feeling wonderful. We drove about another hour and got to our first stop which was in a town called Belur. We visited a temple there which holds the Gommateshwara, the worlds tallest monolithic statue measuring 17 m high. It was pretty amazing. The temple is an important Jain pilgrim center and is on top of a mountain. I had to hike up a mountain about 600 and something steps to get to it, and of course my shoes had to come off. I felt like I was hiking the Great Wall again, except I had shoes on at the Great Wall. The view of Belur from the top was beautiful. There were big mountains of rock and little temples all over. The temple I was at was built in the 11th century and there were tons of amazing carvings in the stone and different stone structures. The monolithic statue was at the very top inside the actual temple. It was really beautiful and huge. There was some kind of ceremony going on at the feet of the statue where people were praying and pouring water on the feet. I don't really understand the purpose of Gommateshwara, but it definitely was a sight to see. It was raining so everything looked and smelled clean and it was really quiet and peaceful. When I got back down to the bottom I wanted to buy some bangles from some very convincing businessmen, but the bus was going to leave me and as appealing as the monolithic man was I didn't think he'd be very comfortable to snuggle with when it got dark.

We drove for a while more through the country until we got to a town called Halebid. In Halebid we visited the Chennakeshava Temple, also called the Star Temple. It was built in the 13th century and took 103 years to build. The fact that it only took 103 years to build was amazing. It was all stone and covered with chiseled bracket figures. I really can't even explain it. Every single inch of the outside and inside was carved with a story, or a symbol, and everything was different. They built it in star shape because they can get more sculptures around the outside that way than in a square or rectangle shape. The detail was incredible. Each figure's face had distinct features and was different from all the others. Inside the temple were several different columns that were also ornately carved. On one of the columns was carved the dancing woman with perfect proportions. She was beautiful and certainly made a girl feel inadequate. The guide demonstrated to us how everything was perfectly proportionate on her. One of the stories depicted outside the temple was the poisoned woman. A baby girl would be chosen when she was born to become poisoned. She would receive a little bit of poison with her mother's milk and eventually she would become immune to it and she herself would become poison. Then she would be sent to entice the king, and by her touch and her kiss he would be poisoned and die. No one would know how the king died because they wouldn't expect this woman to have poisoned him. I didn't think the poisoned woman sounded like too bad of a job. The way the whole temple was constructed was pretty amazing. Everything about it was perfectly proportionate despite the fact that they didn't have anything close to the technology we have now to do that for us. There was a sculpture above one of the entry ways and when it rained water would drop from her hand, which was above her head, down her nose, past her breast and thigh and off her toe perfectly every time.

Our next stop was Shravanabelagola where we visited another star temple. It was very similar to the Chennakeshava Temple, but had been attacked by the Muslims and damaged a bit. It was still very beautiful It wasn't ever completely finished so on some parts of the outside you could see the beginnings, middle and finished process of the stone carving. It was just incredible to me that they could start with just a solid block of stone and end up with something so intricately detailed. This temple was also the home of the 6th and 7th largest bull structures in the world. How many of you can say you have seen the 6th and 7th largest bull structures in the world? It's definitely one of my greatest claims to fame. The bulls were actually very beautiful and ornately carved as well. On leaving the temple one of the merchant men wanted me to buy a little trinket he had made. He kept telling me he was a business man and I just needed to make him an offer and we could work something out for me to buy it. I kept telling him no and then he asked if I was married. I said no and he asked why. I told him because I was a business woman and I hadn't been made the right offer. He didn't have much to say after that.

We started the drive home after that. It was really nice to drive through the country and see Indian life outside of the booming metropolis of Bangalore. It still amazed me how many people were just everywhere, but it also occurred to me what simple lives they live. They don't have the distractions of the Internet or TV or shopping malls. They live in dirt huts with thatched roofs that they probably have to rebuild a few times a year. They just do their thing and sit a lot. I'm not saying I would ever want to live a life like that; I definitely enjoy my Internet and TV and shopping malls, but their simplicity seemed nice.

We made it back to the Badami House at about 9:30 pm where the driver Ramu was supposed to be waiting for us. He was not there, but I originally told him we wouldn't be back until about 10:00 so we sat and waited. We waited, and we waited. Finally at about 10:20 I asked a strange man sitting next to us if he had a cell phone I could borrow so I call Ramu and see where he was. They must not have good long distance plans in India because the man kept asking if it was a local number. I assured him it was. He dialed the number I showed him which was actually full of fours that I thought were six's so I'm glad he dialed. He then stuck his ear piece in my ear, which I wasn't too pleased with, but at least he was letting me borrow his phone. I talked to Ramu and he assured me he was on his way; I told him to hurry quick. I thanked the guy and gave him back his ear piece. Melissa and I continued to sit in the dark surrounded by strange Indian men for the next 20 minutes until Ramu finally came. He said he had been to the temple with his family; how could I be upset about that.

Independence Day

Many of you may be aware that the 4th of July is my favorite holiday. There's just something about patriotism, checkered tablecloths, picnics, parades, the national anthem, and my favorite - fireworks. I could probably watch fireworks every night and never get tired of them. I have only missed one other Independence Day in my lifetime, and that was while I was in Taiwan. The secretaries at the school I taught at bought us fireworks, which the other teachers and I lit on the roof of the school. It wasn't quite like the good ol' US of A, but it did generate enough memories to suffice me. You may be wondering what I did to celebrate in India. I woke up just like any other day, put on my blue shirt, white pants and red shoes and went to work in a country that I didn't really think cared about my country or our fight for Independence. As hard as it was to go to work on a day when I knew I should be enjoying the company of my friends and family, I was pleasantly surprised once I got to the office. Everyone on my team wished me a happy Independence Day, and the cafeteria was decorated with an American flag and red, white, and blue balloons. Their efforts were greatly appreciated. However, I still sat in a florescent-lit office for 12 hours on my favorite holiday (see picture). And so, I would hope that each of you enjoyed the day of our Independence to its fullest. I hope you watched at least one display of fireworks and appreciated the fact that you were able to participate. I also hope that you held a quiet rendition of the our national anthem in your heart, if for no other reason, than in memory of your friend Candice.

The Street Where You Live

I got home from work today around 1:30 a.m. I knew something was different when the driver sped over the flyover (that's what they call an overpass) and then almost right past my apartment. I almost let him speed right past my apartment because I had been at work for almost 14 hours and was lagging a little, and also I wasn't expecting to get home so quickly. It also felt strange when I opened the car door to get out and didn't need to be mindful of any other cars parked on the sidewalk or cows roaming the streets. It all felt so strange until it hit me...it was quiet. I have discovered that the streets of Bangalore are empty at 1:30 in the morning. It was almost eerie. No traffic, no cars, no car horns, no people, no scooters, no cows. I almost didn't know which way to my apartment because I was so turned around. It was pleasant. I took a photo and I'm posting it large because it was so amazing. I know it doesn't mean much to most of you who live in Salt Lake where the streets are normally like this, but let me tell you, in Bangalore, it's a sight for sore eyes.

No Stags Allowed

Sadly, I don't have much to say for this weekend. I worked all night Friday and then on Saturday too. It's strange how it wasn't that big of a deal to me to have to work on Saturday here. If I was at home, I would have had a much bigger problem with it. It was kind of nice to see my coworkers in jeans and throwing balls of paper at each other running around the office. It was a nice change from the usually feelings of incredible stress felt during the work week. On Saturday evening I went for a walk down some of the back streets behind my apartment. It's always so much more interesting to go down those little streets off of the main roads. People just sit on steps, or gather at different little shops. I saw a man with a cart leading about 10 quite large sheep down the street in almost a perfect line. I took this picture with some young boys and they were so anxious to see it on the digital screen after we took it that I wished I could have printed it out for them right there and given them a copy. Later I went to "dinner" with some of my Indian friends. We went to a place called The Beach. It turned out to be more of a club than a restaurant. The sign at the front door said "No stag/s allowed on the sand without girl/s." There was a sand floor in part of the club and apparently that is the hot spot to be and no "stags" were allowed. I thought that was hilarious. Also, the music was great. It really took me back to my clubbing days in Salt Lake when they played "The Jitter Bug." It was great. Sunday morning I went to church where they had 5 confirmations for people who had been baptized last week. That was pretty cool to see. The chapel was so full it was difficult to find a place to see. I sat next to a woman who had two little girls. They were adorable, but not very reverent. One of them kept poking me. I poked her back. After church I just relaxed, gearing up for the week ahead. This week is month end, which normally is not a pleasant time in Salt Lake, however I have been told it is significantly worse here. I'm not sure I can contain my excitement.

Proud to be an American

For those of you who love Indian food, I just have to say that you probably haven't been to India. I, myself enjoy Indian food...in Salt Lake. Indian food in India is a whole different story. The first few days I was here I tried to be adventurous and keep an open mind. I had had some recommendations of what was good from people at home who had been here before. I tried the food at a few different places, but came to the point in which I would have rather just not eat than eat Indian. Even just walking into the lunch room at work was enough to bring an unpleasant burning to my throat. Then my boss came into town, and because he has been here seven times and is not fond of the food himself, he was able to show me where I should eat. So now I have several select restaurants around my flat that I can get to pretty easily and the food is edible. However, almost three weeks of eating out is starting to get to me. You think when your boss hands you a corporate credit card and tells you to use it for all your meals that it will be great. But it has grown old. So last night I went to the FabMall and bought some cereal. I wanted to purchase some milk to go on my cereal, however the only "milk" in sight was in a bag and I didn't think it was a good choice. So I went with yogurt instead, which for those who know me well, know I am desperate if I'm eating yogurt. I also bought some peanut butter and bread to take a sandwich to work for lunch. So the cereal was good even with the yogurt and the sandwich was delicious. One of my coworkers asked what I had had for lunch and I told her I ate a peanut butter sandwich. She didn't know how to respond to that. I told her I was American. I didn't know what to do for dinner so I went with Pizza. I asked the guy at the front desk of my flat (pictured) to order it for me because I could just see it not working out with me trying to do it, but he didn't really understand what I was saying. He gave me the phone number and I went to my room to give it a try. I called Pizza Hut and said I wanted to place a delivery order. They took my phone number, which was just the number to my building in general, and then said they would call me back with the prices. I didn't care about the prices and they couldn't call me back because they didn't have my name or my room number. So I called the front desk guy and asked him if he would order it for me. He understood this time (obviously it's easier to understand over the phone than in person) and he said he would order me a Hawaiian pizza. He called back a bit later and asked if I could spell the kind of pizza I wanted. He thought I was saying "whyan" pizza and the pizza people didn't know what that was. It was hilarious. He ordered it for me and it was actually delivered very quickly. The service in this place is fantastic.

You know you're in India when...

You know you're in India when your local friends won't let you walk out your door without one of them with you; when the number of men you have seen urinating on the side of road has exceeded 20 in just 14 days; when cows nap on the medians; when rabies-infested dogs outnumber the roaming cows; when men drop in the middle of the sidewalk, cover a blanket over their head and go to sleep; when huge concrete structures are built by hand; when a film will not be attended if it does not contain at least four dance/musical numbers; when a two-wheeler is the family vehicle; when the word "tact"is only used for a push pin; when a river running through the middle of the city is no longer a river, but now a garbage dump; when monkeys run the streets with their babies hanging from their shoulders; when there are hand-washing sinks everywhere you eat for after the meal, not before; when there are so many different local languages they just speak English; when the women spend all day throwing a scarf over their shoulders simply for fashion; when camels walk down the busy streets of Bangalore; when there are more people just standing outside Forum Mall than in all of Salt Lake; when men walk around holding hands not because it's their sexual preference, it's just what they do; when car horns need to be replaced every few months because they are used 5 billion times a day; when there are lines on the road and street lights in the streets, but they might as well not be there; when huge beautiful hotels are right next to shanty towns built in trash; but when the people are so kind you know they would do absolutely ANYTHING for you. This is such a random place, but I love it.

Mysore and The Indian Foot Fungus

Today is Saturday, which normally is a day for sleeping in. However, when you're in India for only 2 months, sleeping automatically falls to the bottom of the list of priorities - sometimes regretfully. This morning I went to a city called Mysore which is about a 2 hour drive from where I'm staying in Bangalore. I went with my coworker Melissa and my new friend Vinutha who I also work with. Vinutha arranged a car to take us from Bangalore to Mysore and back so we didn't have to deal with the inconsistencies of the trains. Our driver's name was Govind, and I'm not sure I would recommend him to any visitors. You can't drive fast in India because there are too many cars, people and animals in the road. Also, there are speed bumps every 10 feet, which creates a hindrance for speed as well. However, Govind seemed to be in a hurry today. The drive there and back was constant speeding up just to slam on the breaks before we bottomed out on a speed bump, or hit a resting cow in the middle of the road. Needless to say, I was grateful for a safe journey, but even more grateful to be out of the car once we made it home.

We started out in Mysore at the Tibu Sultan Palace. The outside seemed small and insignificance, but the inside was incredible. Every wall was an intricate wood carving with painting. You can't take pictures inside of palaces so unfortunately I will probably forget the incredible detail that was in that palace, but just seeing it today was amazing. It is also unfortunate that it is not being preserved very well. The palace was built in the 1800th century so not only is it really beautiful, it is really old. However, it's not being preserved so the paintings are fading and the walls are being destroyed.

After the palace we drove to the top of Mysore and visited the Chamundi Temple. We had to take our shoes off again. I struggled a lot more with it this time than at the last temple because this area was a lot dirtier, however I did it and now I'm certain I have the Indian Foot Fungus. I can't really explain this ailment, but I'm sure you will be curious to see the symptoms when I get back to Utah. We went through the temple where a sacrifice was being performed. I'm not sure what was being sacrificed, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was something human - the smell was awful. From the steps of the temple I could see all of Mysore below and it was beautiful. I also drank coconut milk from a coconut. It wasn't what I expected, but I liked it. Vinutha and Melissa then ate the coconut meat from their coconuts, but I didn't think it had any taste so I didn't eat mine. There were a ton of people at the temple area, but most significantly there was a group of little boys rolling tires with sticks. They were adorable. I took a picture with them and then gave them each a Rupi. I also saw four monkeys in the trees and on a building. That was pretty great. The weather at the top of Mysore was crazy. This is monsoon season in India and I think that's what we experienced today. The wind was so strong it was difficult to stand against and the rain soaked right through my sweater.

We went to the Mysore Palace next. This was the kind of palace I expected to see in India. It was amazing. Every single wall, ceiling, arch, window, door and anything else you could think of was ornately decorated in the most lavish way possible. My favorite was a set of doors made of cherry wood with tiny inlaid ivory ornaments. It was incredible. This palace was also built in the 1800th century, but it was maintained so much better than the Tibu Sultan Palace. In fact, to protect the floors you have to take your shoes off before entering. I didn't struggle with it so much this time because I had already succumb to the fungus at the temple. After we had gone through the palace Vinutha and I were waiting for Melissa by the shoe drop off/pick up area. A Japanese woman and her Indian guide came up to the table to drop off their shoes and umbrellas (the monsoon had followed us to the Palace). The only problem was that the Japanese woman was not aware that she had to take her shoes off. The guide told her the bad news and it didn't go over very well. She was reluctant and told the guide if they were going to make people take off their shoes they should provide booties. The guide responded with the fact that 10,000 visitors go through the palace every day and they were not going to provide booties for every visitor (especially when the Indians don't ever where shoes anyway). She then looked at me and Vinutha and with a grimace on her face asked if our feet got hurt when we went through the palace. We told her our feet were fine and I refrained from telling her of the Indian Foot Fungus I had contracted earlier. I didn't think it was the right time. I saw an elephant as we were leaving the palace. That was my first elephant sighting in India, but hopefully not the last.

We ate lunch at Pizza Corner which had pretty good pizza and had a nice ambiance with Shakira playing in the background. We visited the Sagamohan Palace, which really wasn't much of a palace, but was actually an art museum. This museum had a few paintings by the painter Ravi Verma. I wasn't familiar with him before coming to India, but he does the perspective painting where the subject's position moves to face you and you move around the painting. I don't know how he does it, but it's neat.

Our last stop was Bridaran Garden and KRS damb. It's a garden that reminded Melissa of Alice in Wonderland, which is precisely what it was like. It was very colorful and a nice garden, but probably not something that would be too impressive at home. We saw the tallest man I have ever seen there, and he was Indian. He was close to two of my height. Now, I know I'm pretty short, but still, two of me is tall. The garden was peaceful and it was a nice stop.

Mysore was a good trip, but all of the people and the noise started to overwhelm me towards the end of the day. There are just so many people everywhere, and so many cars, and the noise is incredible. Even out in the rice patty fields, which was a nice change of scenery from the city, there is still people everywhere. I guess in a country of so many, they need to be somewhere.