year in review

Since it is New Year's Eve I feel like I should look back on the past year. Something you may not know about me is that I don't like New Year's Eve, it just seems like such an odd celebration to me; the clock strikes 12 and people celebrate then it is over (although a few particularly bad New Years' parties in a row did contribute to my dislike of the holiday). To me the best part of the New Year is a new calendar, what can I say, I love calendars.
Last year I got myself a page-a-day "1,000 places to see before you die" calendar and I kept the pages of all of the places I had been. Out of 313 (they doubled up Sat and Sun to one page) I have been to 63 of them. Not to shabby. Of course some are kind of a cheat since I think that Paris had 3 pages on its own.
Mid-July there was a page for Kerala in India which I pulled out and kept because by that time I was in India and figured I would probably go there...I'm going in 2 weeks. I've also kept one for some islands in the Indian ocean because, well, you never know.
Aside: my favorite page was on my birthday they had Acadia National Park in Maine.
I wonder if the Taj Mahal had a page in Jan, Feb or March? It probably did, it must have. At that time I never in a million years would have thought I would be living in India (let's be honest, 1 minute before I was asked to come here I never would have thought I would live here), but here I am and will be seeing the Taj in about a week (yes, I've been here for 6 months and haven't seen it yet, strange, but true).
I try not to make New Year's resolutions or to plan ahead for the year since life always takes such strange twists and turns.
So, I will wish you all a Happy New Year and hope that even if the next year doesn't go according to any plans you may have made, that you have fun along the way.

tissues

I have had a runny nose the past few mornings and I swear I would pay $20 for a box of Kleenex right now, the tissues here are like cardboard and my nose is so sad! I feel like that cartoon from the Puffs plus ad with the red nose.
It is so random the things I miss that I never thought twice about back home. When I bought tissues I cared more about the design on the box than the actual tissue, now I care.
Sigh.
Oh well, I guess that is life.
The positive side of my runny nose and little cough is that I'm drinking lots of tea and am greatly enjoying all of the lovely teas that I can get here. I have inherited tea from 4 different ex-Pats that have moved back to their various countries and now have about 200 tea bags (literally) so am enjoying all the different flavors, yummmmmm.

Even the geese are loud here

On Sunday I had one of those days when I went from questioning why I moved here to thinking it was great here and being happy that I came.
It all started with my ride to a spa. I had decided to treat myself to a massage and facial (actually they were both kind of needed, my shoulders were killing me from all that yoga and the pollution is ruining my skin) and I had an appointment at 10. The ride to the spa was decidedly not beautiful, it was on the main roads and I found myself staring at the dirt and the dust and just desperately wanting it to rain and clean the place up a bit (I don't think it has rained since Sept) and generally being sick and tired of the dirt and how it is never really clean.
Then, after my spa visit I decided to take a walk through a park rather than heading straight home and my mentality was decidedly changed. No doubt the spa visit helped turn me around but it was also the randomness of this park in the middle of the craziness of the city that made me happy. The park is set back a bit behind walls and gates so you would barely notice it if no one told you about it, but once you enter it the city is behind you. Of course it isn't all calm and quiet. There is this pond in the middle which has a few geese living in it and boy were they noisy. I had to crack up because the geese were honking louder than any geese I have ever come across and I always feel like people here always talk about 2 levels louder than necessary, always taking over one another to try and be heard and it seemed like the geese have adopted this mentality too.
Anyway, this is just India, sometimes it is frustrating and dirty and you question the sanity of being here, and other times and it is wonderful and beautiful and calm and you are happy to be here. I've heard it said that India is a country of contrasts so I guess it only makes sense that my feelings about being here can so easily flip flop. Luckily my thoughts are usually positive about being here.

next Christmas???

I realized last night that I have spent Christmas in 4 different continents during my life.
Christmas 2008: Asia (India)
Christmas 2006: Africa (Egypt)
Christmas 1999 & 1987: Europe (France & England respectively)
Also Christmas 1980 or 79 in England but I don't remember it so that doesn't count.
And all the rest in North America.
Which makes me wonder...is there a Christmas in Australia in my future?
Just one of those things I was thinking about as I had my Indian Christmas.
Anyway, it is somewhat, dare I say it...chilly today. It will warm up nicely by mid day but I was definitely chilly. I have to wear open toed shoes because of a toe issue (long story but the short version is that my big toe needs to breathe) and today is the first day since I have been here when I have wanted closed toed shoes.
I'm not complaining about the cold but was just surprised by it...I complained enough about the heat in the summer that I promise not to complain about it being cold here because I fully plan on complaining about the heat again next summer (seriously, it gets crazy hot here).
Happy Boxing Day! Hope everyone has a nice weekend. I wish there were after Christmas sales here, I have this innate desire to go shopping and try to get some deals...I guess I'll just do some haggling instead, usually haggling exhausts me so I guess I should take advantage of my desire and go get myself a deal!

Merry Christmas to All

It is Christmas and doesn't feel at all like Christmas to me.
No lights up, no one running off to church, just another day.
Except that almost everyone took the day off, which I find weird. I'm working because I think that if I didn't work I would be sad about not being at home, but since I am working it feels like just another day with a mass in the middle.
Someone here told me they like Christmas because of baby Jesus and Santa and I said, yes but baby Jesus is more important and they said "oh, no, you can't have Christmas without Santa"; such is Christmas in a non-Christian country.
So, Merry Christmas to all, I hope that Santa is good to you and I hope that everyone watches 'A Christmas Story" at least once :)
p.s. I tried to upload a picture of a Christmas tree but it didn't work, so just imagine that there is one here.

A whole different world

Every once in a while something happens here or someone says something that just encapsulates how very different India is and that even if I lived the rest of my life here I would never completely fit in. It isn't the cows in the street or the food I eat, it is some of the behavior that is just so completely different from what I'm used to.
On Sunday I had one of those moments,
While at the yoga thingy there was a Q/A session where the guru was asking people what they had taken away from the day before. One of the men stood up and said that when he got home the night before he saw that his mail was still in his mail box and normally if this happens he would go in the house and yell at his servant for not getting the mail but this time he just went and got the mail himself.
It baffles me on an almost daily basis how people treat there maids and their help (I'm not even going to get started on the fact that he used the word servant). From my perspective these people are treated almost not as humans, and I frequently cringe when I see how "the help" are treated and how lazy people are. Sometimes it literally takes longer for people to go and tell someone to do something than to do it themselves but this behaviour is so ingrained in people. I can never get used to it, my reaction to it hasn't changed at all since the day I got here; I don't understand how in the 21st century this type of behavior can happen.
In Delhi drivers and maids, etc., always prefer working for ex-Pats, not just because the money is better, but also because of how they are treated. My maid and driver both have Sundays off, that is apparently rare with Indian families. It can be tough for those that choose to work for ex-Pats as we are always coming and going and that can mean periods of time without work, but I guess that their overall quality of life is higher so it is worth it.
Anyway, just one of those things I notice.
Probably won't be blogging much this week as I know that people are here and there and everywhere for X-mas so won't be reading much. Safe travels to everyone going here and there and everywhere!

Om

This past weekend I participated in a Yoga "inner engineering" retreat/workshop thingy. I had seen the posters around town for the workshop with "Sadhguru" and I thought it looked kind of silly (and I thought he looked like an Indian Santa - big white beard), but my boss suggested it.
I decided to for 3 reasons: first, I thought it would make my boss happy; second, it would be a classic "India" experience; and third, I didn't have anything else planned.
So, after 2 1/2 days (Friday from 6-9:30, Saturday from 8:30-7:30 and Sunday from 7:30-8) I am not enlightened and my body hurts like you wouldn't believe, but overall it was worth it and I'm glad I went.
In a nut-shell the purpose of the weekend was to teach us (the participants) a 20-minute yoga technique; not exercise type yoga, this is all about the spirit, the guru was very anti the exercise type yoga. We learned the technique slowly over the few days with the guru giving talks in between.
The talks were somewhat interesting, most of it was obvious to me so I tuned out a bit, but he was a good speaker and told some good jokes. The yoga technique was actually very interesting and you could really feel a difference in your body. We did the Om chanting, which is actually "aom" and he explained it over about a half hour why you do it and how it affects your body and I actually felt myself getting warm just sitting and chanting; crazy, huh!
The very short version of why you do it is to balance yourself out.
For me what was really interesting was seeing the types of people in attendance. There were about 500 people and almost all of them were very successful business men/women; doctors, lawyers, etc. I seriously doubt that if you were to offer a workshop on "inner engineering" in the US that you would have doctors and lawyers enrolling. There were a few random westerners interspersed who looked like they had come to India to find themselves; they were dressed in traditional Indian clothing and looked very, as I like to say, "earthy crunchy". Then there was me. Western, dressed in western clothing and doing my thing.
The questions that people asked Sadhguru were also interesting to me, mostly that they really believed that this man could answer all of their questions and fix their problems in one weekend. Two gems: "Why was the world created" Answer: "Why are you asking me, I didn't create it". and: "What is the universal consciousnesses" Answer: "We can't know the whole universe so how can we know that". The guru had quite a sense of humor. He was not interested in religion or knowing everything, more about knowing ourselves and how to bring balance to ourselves. Although he did say that cows feel human emotion...he kind of lost me on that one.
And...on Sunday morning the day started with everyone outside for about an hour playing dodgeball and other games. To me, no big deal (except that I couldn't play since my foot still hurts on occasion, esp after a day of yoga-ing and there was no way I was going to have a ball thrown at it); we play games like that back home quite often, throwing a frisbee, softball, even hiking or sledding in the winter, physical activity and games are just a part of life. After this was over people kept saying that it had been years and years since they had played games like that, it was literally a completely new experience to so many. I just couldn't relate at all to that whole section of the weekend. I think I've commented before that I rarely see Indians exercising, on occasion a cricket game but people here (especially those with money) are, from what I see, decidedly not athletic.
But, all in all a good weekend, a bit too spiritual at times for me, but I definitely learned from it. It would be really interesting to do the same type of workshop back home and see if I got more from it. I think I might since the questions people asked I would probably relate to more.
Now the real question is...will I actually do the 20 minutes of yoga a day? I'm going to try. I did feel better after (internally, externally my body is not used to folding up like that) and especially in India where everything is so loud and busy at all times, it would be good for me to take a half hour to relax and be calm. And Sadhguru seemed very down to earth (not that I've met many gurus) and seemed very focused on helping others and has started projects to help rural Indians in very positive and realistic ways which I liked so I'll try his technique out.
If you want to see a picture of the Santa-looking guru, this is their website: ww.ishafoundation.org

Hola

I went out for Mexican last night and it was delicious! That is right, yummy Mexican food right here in New Delhi. It was such a surprise to find (it was recommended) - and extra surprising since it was so good! Apparently the chef is from Mexico city.
It was kind of an odd experience sitting there drinking a margarita and eating a burrito...it was like I wasn't even in India (most of the patrons were other foreigners). The only real give away was the fact that there is no beef on the menu.
So I've had Mexican and Italian and both have far exceeded expectations.
I saw a Greek restaurant once but I can't remember where; I hope I see it again because I do luuuuv Greek food. I love Indian food too, but it is nice to have a change.
Anyway, just thought I would share my culinary joys.
Aside du jour: I have an infection and had to got to the doctor to get medicine and absolutely no one would recommend a doctor to me. It was very odd. I know that people in the office have gotten sick and have had to go to the doctor but no one would give me a name, I wonder why??? So I went back to the hospital where I had my broken foot treated and got the necessary drugs.
I was in and out with my drugs within 30 minutes. That is right, no appointment, saw the doc and got my prescription filled within a half hour - definitely my favorite country so far health-care wise.

career paths

It is interesting how our surroundings can affect our future careers; I think that had I grown up in India I would have had a vastly different career.
I think I have mentioned before all of the construction going on around Delhi. I am absolutely fascinated with the way things are built here. It is all so incredibly manual and slow. There is a house right near mine that was in the process of being torn down - brick by brick - when I got here; and now a new house is being built in its lot.
They started the re-construction process about 3 months ago. Right now the basement looks to be about 1/4 done. They have built the walls and I'm not entirely sure what they are doing now. My estimate is that at this rate it will take at least two years for them to finish the house.
I'm thinking that the houses in general can't be that well made because about 5 houses to the right of mine construction just finished on another house that was re-built after the previous one had been torn down; and behind that I noticed yet another house being torn down.
Or...It could be that people just want something new for the sake of the newness. There is a lot of "new money" in India, and there are plenty of people who need the work and are happy to take houses down and build new ones so maybe it is just these newly wealthy building their dream houses.
What I do know is that I think if I had grown up in India I probably would have become an engineer or architect because I am just obsessed with watching the progress of all the different things being built. I think I probably would have done engineering; trying to figure out a better way of building houses using the materials that are here; more efficient building methods and stronger houses.

mosquitoes

I got a mosquito bite yesterday. It is only my second one since getting here (which is, I think, very impressive) but it completely freaks me out when I get one.
I am immediately convinced that I'm going to get malaria or dengue fever which, rumor has it, is worse than malaria.
So far so good but I just thought I would share my personal paranoia with the world.

My last Hindi class is tonight. I'm not sure if I'm going to take the next part in the spring, more because of scheduling than anything else, but I'm happy that I took this class. I remember coming in to land here in Delhi when they made the announcement and thinking that I couldn't pick out even one word from what they were saying; now I can pick out some words when I fly, which is a nice feeling.

preservation

On Sunday I finally went on the 5th walk in a series of heritage walks throughout the city that I've been taking. They offer each walk once a month and this one was the one I've wanted to do the most, as it is closest to my house, but I kept having scheduling issues.
Anyway, finally I had a weekend that worked, hooray! The walk was through the Mehrauli archaeological park and it was really interesting. It is this huge area that just goes on forever; we covered less than 1/4 over 2 hours. What I found really interesting and somewhat sad, was how poorly preserved so much of it is and how little people are aware of it.
My rickshaw driver didn't know what is was and even with a map I almost missed the entrance as there was no marking even though it is a really significant historical sight.
While in the park we saw relatively few people; maybe 50 in addition to our group (although I must admit that it was early). And quite a few of the sights were in a state of disrepair with graffiti. According to our guide there just aren't the resources to keep up the preservation; her organization had done a lot about 5 years ago but then moved on to other areas in and around Delhi.
It is sad, but a reality in so many countries like India I suppose. There are so many people that are so poor, between that and terror threats, and pollution, etc., etc., the last thing the government is worried about is preservation of sights.
I guess it is moments like that when it really hits me just how vast the difference is between India and the western world and how far they still have to go. We have the luxury of putting resources towards preservation of history and sights whereas here the focus is on survival and trying to keep pace with the world.
I just hope that the recent terror activities don't deter tourists because it is really through tourism funds that these sights will be preserved.
Luckily every walk I have done has had more and more people on them (the first had 5, this one had about 25); the organization that plans these walks is making an effort to get the word out so more Delhi-ites will be aware of what the city has to offer.
On a completely different note:
I saw an elephant on Sunday. I had seen one in my first weekend here in Delhi but you almost never see them in Delhi so I was beginning to think that I had imagined the first one in a jet-lagged achy footed haze; but then on Sunday as we're zipping down the road there was an elephant swishing along (he was being ridden by someone, he wasn't a wild elephant); my rickshaw driver thought it was pretty cool too. So, I'm not crazy; well, at least I'm not imagining elephants.

its a small world after all

Today I got a visit from Tristan who was my parents' tour director on their tour through France this September. I knew he was coming but it is always so funny to me how even though I'm half a world away that there are always connections to home.
I remember walking down the streets of Strasbourg, France back when I was studying abroad and running into two girls I went to high school with and hadn't seen since graduation.
I keep half expecting to randomly run into someone here that I know, especially since I always notice other foreigners when I see them. It will probably be the day I stop noticing other people that I'll run into someone.
So, Tristan the French tour director and I will be taking on Old Delhi together tomorrow, quel adventure!
Random thought for the weekend: when you sneeze in India no one says "bless you" or whatever the Hindi equivalent would be. I always want to say something and feel badly not doing so, so I kind of whisper it to myself. In France they would only say their version occasionally, but here, nothing. I think that is funny. It is such a superstitious country in so many ways but you can sneeze all you want without raising an eyebrow. Well, if you sneeze more than twice they will probably tell you to go to the doctor, but they won't bless you.
Anyway...Happy Friday!
And sorry if you've got the small world song in your head now.

The Picture

Finally, I have it for you. The Picture that I've been trying to get since I got here.
The family on a motor cycle.
It is actually two pictures, an action series if you will.
So in the first shot you see the four people, and you will notice the man driving is passing a baby back to the women. In the second shot one of the women is holding the baby - that is what you usually see.
Notice:
Only the driver is wearing a helmet - the law says only the driver has to.
The woman in the back is riding side saddle.
Just so you know, this is completely normal and this is why I could never drive here. It isn't that people ignore all the rules of driving (although there is an odd order to it), it is that I would be absolutely petrified of hitting people!
Enjoy!

A few completely different thoughts

So I wrote an entire posting a few hours ago and decided over lunch that I didn't like what I had written so I'm starting over. Sometimes this time change thing is nice.
Today is a bit of everything.
First thought. 2 years ago today I moved to Toronto, Canada. If you haven't been to Toronto it is a great city, a very livable city and I'm going to give a special "O Canada" shout out to things I miss from there:
1. My apartment. What can I say, I loved that apartment, loved the view, loved the kitchen and loved my flat screen TV.
2. How sometimes when I would meet someone I would say one sentence and they would say "oh, are you American?". It was bizarre (of course here everyone thinks I'm Canadian).
3. How everyone in Canada thinks it is their personal duty to teach Americans about all the famous Canadians (did you know that Keifer Sutherland is Canadian? I think just his mom, but he grew up there, that one took me by surprise I mean, he's Jack Bauer!).
4. The beer. Specifically Rickards Red, and Rickards White. Good stuff.
Second thought. Not a thought so much as a statement. I saw 6 peacocks on my way to work this morning. 6! They were sitting on a roof-top (it was a flat roof but, can peacocks fly?). That is one of the things I love about this country, peacocks in the middle of the city.
Third thought: This morning I spilled my coffee all over my desk and myself (sadness). I was getting up to get paper towels when three people swarmed my desk to clean it up for me. It was all very ridiculous, they literally wouldn't allow me to clean my own mess. While it is nice to have people clean for you, it is times like those when it just gets kind of silly, but that is India. Once you achieve a certain status you don't do manual things for yourself, including cleaning up your own messes.
Anyway, those are my random thoughts and comments for today. Happy Wednesday all, and I hope that you don't spill your coffee!

Hindu temples and zoo animals

The bit of my Friday that I left out yesterday was my visit to a Hindu temple here in Delhi. I had commented to someone that I wanted to see some Hindu architecture here because I haven't really seen much. They said I should go to Akshardham, a temple here in Delhi. Well, it wasn't listed in any of my guide books which made me a bit skeptical but it turns out that is only because it is actually fairly new.
It is a HUGE temple complex and the architecture is amazing. Sadly you can't bring a camera in so I have no pictures, sorry.
However, that is not the end of the story. First, you have to go through a security check where I got two very thorough pat-downs (a bit too thorough if you ask me even if they were women doing the pat downs) and they had a very long list of things that were not admitted: cameras, cell phones, knifes, guns, bullets (listed separately), and, my favorite - drunkards. That is right, drunkards are not allowed at Akshardham. Strangely enough there was a woman right behind us who was acting kind of drunk.
School children, however, are allowed. There were about 5 busses of school children there. One rather odd thing that has happened to me a few times is people being interested in me because I'm white. They want to talk to me, take pictures of/with me, etc. It had happened once in Jaipur that I was practically cornered by a class of school kids who wanted to talk to me; they could speak English pretty well so I talked to them for a minute. The kids on Friday though really couldn't speak much English beyond "hello" and they trailed my friend and I for a few minutes staring at us like some sort of zoo animals. I didn't like it, it makes me kind of uncomfortable, but I try to remember that these kids were probably bussed in from outside of Delhi and quite possibly we were the first non-Indians they have ever seen.
And lots of kids in India have one goal when they grow up: to live in America, so I can almost understand their interest in me, but I still reserve the right to not like it.
Gotta wonder if when the kids got home that night if they told their parents about the temple or about seeing us. I hope they talked about the temple.
And as an almost final aside: one hold over from the British era is that kids here wear school uniforms and while school uniforms are rarely very flattering, they have some of the most unfortunate and unflattering ones here I have ever seen; luckily they all look bad together.
And as a final note: Happy almost belated birthday to Juliana (almost belated because it is still your b-day where you live for about 3 hours!).

Christmas and toothpaste

I have so much to write about I don't know where to begin. I will spread all of my thoughts out over the week since I have so very many going on in my head right now.
Well, I will start with Friday. Friday was a day of shopping and sightseeing and I bought...a Christmas Tree! That is right, I have my own mini Christmas Tree, so even though it hardly feels like Christmas here I have a little bit of it at my house. It was interesting putting together a fake tree, you have to work hard to make the branches all go different directions so it looks normal-ish. It was super funny to find a little shop that had Christmas decorations and was playing Christmas music...of course that was only in half of the store, the other half had Indian music playing; which pretty much says it all.
Then, sightseeing. So my friend wanted to go to this one sight that she had driven by a few times and always wanted to see. I had driven past it too and never noticed it. It was cool; a big tomb in the middle of the city. That is what is so fascinating about Delhi, there are so many sights but quite a few are a little set back from the road so you can drive past one every day and not even notice. The weekend before I took her to one of my favorite places in the city right near her house that she had never noticed.
And finally (well, not finally, but the next bit I'll save 'til tomorrow) I bid farewell to my friend and sent her off to the airport but not before the traditional "I'm leaving and here is all off my food, etc" exchange, including what is almost the most exciting thing I've received so far - a tube of Crest toothpaste. I cannot find Crest here, I can only find Colgate and the flavor of toothpaste here is extremely uckey to me (I wonder if Indian people find American toothpaste uckey?). I know that sounds really weird but trust me it is not fun when you brush your teeth and are left with a bad taste in your mouth. Now my mouth is happy again, hooray for Crest!
And for your happy Monday image, my Christmas tree (no lights, but I think I'll get some next weekend)

the sadness of an ex-Pat

On Saturday my closest friend here in Delhi is returning to the US. She may return in February, she may not return at all. I'm very sad :(
I think that the hardest part of being an ex-Pat is the constant coming and going of friends. It is cool on the one hand; I've met tons of people from all over the world that have had such interesting lives (in my Hindi class is an Australian woman whose parents are from India but she was born in Singapore!); but it is tough when someone you get along really well with leaves.
However, she will go out with a bang! I'm taking the day off tomorrow so we can do some last minute sightseeing and we have lunch at a fun restaurant and dinner at another fun restaurant planned - a Mexican restaurant where I can get a Margarita.
So, if my posts next week sound like I'm in the depths of despair it is because my friend has left me (sniff sniff).
Total Aside: I went to an Italian restaurant last weekend, it was fantastic! I've seen a Greek restaurant here but haven't been in yet. I'm amazed at all the different cuisines you can get here.
Aside #2: am off tomorrow so you will be post-less for a few days. I hope you can all survive without me!

The Sound of Silence

There is so much noise pretty much all the time here that when it is quiet it is somewhat disconcerting; but so nice. This past Saturday were the elections; between that and what happened in Mumbai security was extremely high; almost every store was closed and people stayed at home.
It was awesome.
My friend and I met at a park near my house. There was no traffic. Even this one street that is always completely jammed was totally open. And - perhaps this was a coincidence, perhaps not - the sky was totally clear, it was like all of the pollution had disappeared. The traffic and pollution were back on Sunday though; of course I contributed to that as well by going to about 5 different place in the city on Sunday when on Saturday I heeded the warnings and stayed close to home.
However, it was so quiet at night that I couldn't fall asleep. I'm so used to the constant din that I couldn't handle the silence.
In a total aside: the park I went to on Saturday has an area for deer called the "deer park". I had heard people talk about it but never found the deer until Saturday. There are tons of them, at least 100. They were in an enclosed area just roaming free. So completely random. Who would think that in the middle of New Delhi would be an area for deer to roam free. I thought I knew the city pretty well, clearly I have much more to discover!