spices
The watermelon-wallah cuts open the watermelon so you can approve of the colour and/or taste a small piece, then puts the piece back in like a puzzle and wraps it up so you can take it home.
papaya!
Click here to see more pictures:
Thursday, May 20, 2010
today, i learned about eight types of eggplant.
This morning, I woke up and went to the mandir with my grandparents. India is such a religious country; you can see it in every moment of every day: the driver who slows down to bow his head and clasp his hands towards a temple that he passes while taking his sahib to the store, the men who touch the feet of even pictures of their deities every time they walk by, the homeless woman who sits on a worn towel on the sidewalk and chants with each bead of her rudraksha mala. I also helped my cousin wrap chocolates for her burgeoning business, got an Indian SIM card for my BlackBerry, saw a bunch of family, and went to the fruit and vegetable markets with my grandmother. [the images below are slightly cropped-click on any one below to see the full picture.]
spices
The watermelon-wallah cuts open the watermelon so you can approve of the colour and/or taste a small piece, then puts the piece back in like a puzzle and wraps it up so you can take it home.
papaya!
Click here to see more pictures:
spices
The watermelon-wallah cuts open the watermelon so you can approve of the colour and/or taste a small piece, then puts the piece back in like a puzzle and wraps it up so you can take it home.
papaya!
Click here to see more pictures:
hola, india
The heat and that unique Delhi smell are the first things that hit you when you get off the plane. The smell is a mix of smog and pollution and gasoline and everyday life...it's not unpleasant but it's thick and clings to everything-- we have a small room off of our basement at home in Atlanta full of suitcases, and everytime I walk in there, I can "smell India." The dry heat is evident from the moment you walk through the "nothing to declare" section of customs, and poverty is rampant--I saw a devastating amount of people sleeping on the sides of the roads with nothing more than a blanket underneath them and only a shawl or scarf covering their face from the heat and have already been swarmed by children begging for food twice. A friend of mine told me last week that China was at least 50 years ahead of India with regards to infrastructure, and being here again really makes me believe that.
It was 47° C, which is approximately 117° F, when I got off the plane--and that was at 11 at night. As a comparison, it's 73° in Athens, GA now, at noon EST. The heat here is dry stifling, it settles onto your skin like glitter does and is impossible to shake off. I busted out my SPF 55 as soon as I woke up this morning and have been drinking water nonstop.
I arrived in India after an easy flight from Paris-- the seat next to me was empty, I scored a vegetarian meal, and, funnily enough, they showed "Love, Actually" after I'd spent the entire last leg of my trip thinking about the movie. My bags were first off the plane (they're usually lost or last), and I found my uncles with no problem and presented them with two bottles of Johnny Walker Black Label, fresh out of the duty free store. For those who were wondering, Black Label is $17 cheaper at the Delhi airport than it is in Charles de Gaulle. Someone was complaining that there were no English books in the store at our gate in CDG, which made me roll my eyes-- why should there be books in English in a French airport? I browsed the books in French, but most of them were philosophical or self-help titles, the vernaculars of which are beyond my scope of comprehension (which is essentially comprised of Harry Potter and other novels I've read enough times to have basically memorized). For the first, but definitely not last, time during my trip, I wished I understood Hindi as well French.
The water here is different-- it tastes flatter and is rarely drunk cold. I rarely take drinks with ice even in the States, but here it's a necessity-- ice is usually made from water that hasn't been purified. We have a "geyser" water heater that warms the water that comes out of the "red" tap on the sinks and showers, and the heat has gotten so bad that the water from this geyser is colder than the water from the cold water, or blue-labelled, faucet. Ridiculous.
I spent some time last night after everybody was asleep trying to watch Glee and HIMYM...I could get them to start playing on a certain (name-withheld) website but couldn't get them to finish loading or stop buffering. I am on wireless Internet, but the connection leaves something to desire. I might try again soon, as it's 10:30 pm and everybody is asleep agaiinnnn. My grandparents wake up at 5:30-6ish every day, so it's early nights for everybody in B-13!
It was 47° C, which is approximately 117° F, when I got off the plane--and that was at 11 at night. As a comparison, it's 73° in Athens, GA now, at noon EST. The heat here is dry stifling, it settles onto your skin like glitter does and is impossible to shake off. I busted out my SPF 55 as soon as I woke up this morning and have been drinking water nonstop.
I arrived in India after an easy flight from Paris-- the seat next to me was empty, I scored a vegetarian meal, and, funnily enough, they showed "Love, Actually" after I'd spent the entire last leg of my trip thinking about the movie. My bags were first off the plane (they're usually lost or last), and I found my uncles with no problem and presented them with two bottles of Johnny Walker Black Label, fresh out of the duty free store. For those who were wondering, Black Label is $17 cheaper at the Delhi airport than it is in Charles de Gaulle. Someone was complaining that there were no English books in the store at our gate in CDG, which made me roll my eyes-- why should there be books in English in a French airport? I browsed the books in French, but most of them were philosophical or self-help titles, the vernaculars of which are beyond my scope of comprehension (which is essentially comprised of Harry Potter and other novels I've read enough times to have basically memorized). For the first, but definitely not last, time during my trip, I wished I understood Hindi as well French.
The water here is different-- it tastes flatter and is rarely drunk cold. I rarely take drinks with ice even in the States, but here it's a necessity-- ice is usually made from water that hasn't been purified. We have a "geyser" water heater that warms the water that comes out of the "red" tap on the sinks and showers, and the heat has gotten so bad that the water from this geyser is colder than the water from the cold water, or blue-labelled, faucet. Ridiculous.
I spent some time last night after everybody was asleep trying to watch Glee and HIMYM...I could get them to start playing on a certain (name-withheld) website but couldn't get them to finish loading or stop buffering. I am on wireless Internet, but the connection leaves something to desire. I might try again soon, as it's 10:30 pm and everybody is asleep agaiinnnn. My grandparents wake up at 5:30-6ish every day, so it's early nights for everybody in B-13!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
paris, je t'aime!
Bonjour mes amis! Je suis a Paris, la plus belle ville dans tout le monde! I hoped to arrive in time to see the sunrise, but malheuresement, I will only be viewing clear blue skies from the gorgeous floor-to-very-tall-ceiling fenetres at CDG. I'm typing this on my phone (sorry, Mom) from the gate; my flight flew by (haha), despite my inability to remember the word "flight" en francais and the beyond uncomforable seats. Air France refused to give me a veg meal, which was probabaly/definitely my fault for not confirming it, but it worked out in the end thanks to the spinach quiche I had sequestered away in my bag from ATL. The chocolate chip biscuit at breakfast helped as well, as will the one I'm about to buy from the restaurant here at terminale 2C :) Ma cher famille will be glad to know I was too intimidated to order wine!
I managed to lose my boarding pass in Atlanta, which was terrifying, but after retracing my steps I found it by the water fountain, thank goodness! Note to self: don't fold important documents and put them in your pocket! The flight went by really quickly--I finished my book (Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin, all of whoms (is that a word?) books I recommend to any and all girls reading this) in the first three or so hours and then drifted in and out of sleep til about 600 am Paris time, at which point I attempted to watch the in-flight movie without my glasses on or headphones in. At first I thought it was "the gods must be crazy," then "the flintstones," and finally "the ten commandments" before finally putting on my glasses and learning that it was a nature special on La Maroc, or Morocco. Smooth.
The attendant for my part of the plane looked and acted like a French version of the guy from "Love Actually" who comes to America and meets those girl in Wisconsin or wherever. Tres mignon et amusant!
What else..the guys sitting next to me on the plane were talking the whole time in a language I could NOT figure out. At first I thought it was Swedish or Flemish, but I understood enough of it to know that it was Romance-based, but not textbook French. It sounded like Italian but rougher...upon further examination, aka stalking their book of puzzles/games, I saw the words "spigolature" and "calcolo enigmatico" which, of course, had to be Italian (Google just confirmed this). Interestinggg!
My next flight leaves at 1040am, which is 440am in Atlanta and 220pm in Delhi and Mumbai. I hope its as easy as the first leg was and that all of you have lovely days!
Sonia
I managed to lose my boarding pass in Atlanta, which was terrifying, but after retracing my steps I found it by the water fountain, thank goodness! Note to self: don't fold important documents and put them in your pocket! The flight went by really quickly--I finished my book (Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin, all of whoms (is that a word?) books I recommend to any and all girls reading this) in the first three or so hours and then drifted in and out of sleep til about 600 am Paris time, at which point I attempted to watch the in-flight movie without my glasses on or headphones in. At first I thought it was "the gods must be crazy," then "the flintstones," and finally "the ten commandments" before finally putting on my glasses and learning that it was a nature special on La Maroc, or Morocco. Smooth.
The attendant for my part of the plane looked and acted like a French version of the guy from "Love Actually" who comes to America and meets those girl in Wisconsin or wherever. Tres mignon et amusant!
What else..the guys sitting next to me on the plane were talking the whole time in a language I could NOT figure out. At first I thought it was Swedish or Flemish, but I understood enough of it to know that it was Romance-based, but not textbook French. It sounded like Italian but rougher...upon further examination, aka stalking their book of puzzles/games, I saw the words "spigolature" and "calcolo enigmatico" which, of course, had to be Italian (Google just confirmed this). Interestinggg!
My next flight leaves at 1040am, which is 440am in Atlanta and 220pm in Delhi and Mumbai. I hope its as easy as the first leg was and that all of you have lovely days!
Sonia
Monday, May 17, 2010
last dayyy
I'm off to India tomorrow- my mother's flight leaves in an hour (delayed a full day by the ash in Iceland), and my grandmother's partial hip replacement surgery was successful! The doctor replaced the ball joint of her femur, which was completely crushed. Let's hope the ash stays away from Paris so my mom can get there safely-- we all wished she could have been there before the surgery!
Speaking of Paris, the director of the creative writing program that I applied for in Paris later this summer through another US university called again this morning and told me that I "write beautifully," which is always nice to hear : ) Hopefullyy my parents come around on that and let me go! I'm going to pack for four weeks in Delhi and four weeks in Paris, just in case...which is hard to do when my only instructions were to "pack lightly" and about 85% of my suitcases are dedicated to saman for relatives in India. And that's without the Velveeta cheese and Fererro Rocher chocolates.
I'm getting really excited for my trip--In addition to Delhi and Bombay, I'll be going to Agra and to Kurukshetra, the infamous battlefield where, according to the Mahabharatha, the Pandavas fought against their cousins, the Kauravas in an epic war. I'll be working at a non-profit in Delhi and can't wait to see all of my familyyy there and in Mumbai. I promise this blog (sigh) will get more interesting when I get to India, when I have actual things to say and am not just using it as a way to remind myself of all the things I need to do (fix glasses, mail letter to friend at Parris Island, eyebrows!, buy books, find iPod headphones...) or a way to procrastinate packing. I've spent the last couple hours watching season two of The Office and admiring this gorgeous cardinal and these two bluejays who have been playing around our bird feeder so I guess I should go fold some clothes before dinner!
PS-Aaji, for those of you who don't know, is the Marathi word for grandmother. It's pronounced uh-jee, and Aai (mother) is ay-ee.
Speaking of Paris, the director of the creative writing program that I applied for in Paris later this summer through another US university called again this morning and told me that I "write beautifully," which is always nice to hear : ) Hopefullyy my parents come around on that and let me go! I'm going to pack for four weeks in Delhi and four weeks in Paris, just in case...which is hard to do when my only instructions were to "pack lightly" and about 85% of my suitcases are dedicated to saman for relatives in India. And that's without the Velveeta cheese and Fererro Rocher chocolates.
I'm getting really excited for my trip--In addition to Delhi and Bombay, I'll be going to Agra and to Kurukshetra, the infamous battlefield where, according to the Mahabharatha, the Pandavas fought against their cousins, the Kauravas in an epic war. I'll be working at a non-profit in Delhi and can't wait to see all of my familyyy there and in Mumbai. I promise this blog (sigh) will get more interesting when I get to India, when I have actual things to say and am not just using it as a way to remind myself of all the things I need to do (fix glasses, mail letter to friend at Parris Island, eyebrows!, buy books, find iPod headphones...) or a way to procrastinate packing. I've spent the last couple hours watching season two of The Office and admiring this gorgeous cardinal and these two bluejays who have been playing around our bird feeder so I guess I should go fold some clothes before dinner!
PS-Aaji, for those of you who don't know, is the Marathi word for grandmother. It's pronounced uh-jee, and Aai (mother) is ay-ee.
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