We're back from the beach. We were relieved to find our house and car in good condition, I was convinced that we would be ransacked and robbed, but everything's intact. I am going to to great big Goa post as soon as I can but the internet at home is fussy and midterm grades are due Wednesday, so I might not get my act together until the end of the week.
In the meantime here's a happy thought: Thanksgiving is just one month away and you know what that means....Christmas is right around the corner!!!
Oh, AND, we taped the Iowa game and watched it yesterday. Even in far away India it feels good to be a Hawkeye!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Happy Diwali!
Today is Diwali, which as far as I can tell is the celebration of light, or the celebration of good over evil, and is the Hindu equivalent to Christmas. As you know, I don't know much about anything here, but it didn't take me long to figure out the Diwali is celebrated with pyrotechnics. After going to sleep to the sound of firecrackers last night I awoke to the same sound this morning sometime around 6. But I'm not complaining because it was great to sit on the roof last night and watch the sky light up in every direction. We even lit up a few rockets of our own.
So happy Diwali to you! We're off to the beach, I'll see you in a week.
So happy Diwali to you! We're off to the beach, I'll see you in a week.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
call me if you ever need a soccer coach, travel agent, or a good book
I'm now the assistant coach for the girl's middle school soccer team. I made sure the person in charge of putting me in this position knew that I know next to nothing about soccer. But she didn't seem to mind. And for 500 bucks and a trip to Sri Lanka, I'd do just about anything, plus it's a really fun group of girls.
Soccer practice ended with a scrimmage and then a shootout that finally ended in a draw so, I got home late. After handing me 50 rupees to pay the rickshaw driver Brad told me he had bad news: our flight to Goa this Saturday has been canceled. I was pretty upset about this because I've had the trip planned for over a month and was feeling ready to just go on it. The people on the phone from the airline were, not surprisingly, extremely unhelpful but they were able to convey the information that there were only 9 seats on the next day's flight. We also knew of at least 7 other people on our same flight, so we pretended we were on the Amazing Race and got really stressed out. I think if I actually did get on that show, I'd probably be one of the villains. The real stress was that we didn't want to wait another day to leave, what's worse than waiting around to go on vacation? So, we looked around and got an outgoing flight on the same day from a different airline.
Our new itinerary isn't great, we have an almost four hour layover in Bangalore instead of the direct flight that we were going to be on. But I figure while we have 4 hours we might as well step out and see the city.
So, we are going to Goa and we hope to be there around 5 pm on Saturday. I'm not packing much for the beach, which is good because my book is going to take up a good chunk of my suitcase. Right now I'm reading A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, a book I would never attempt to read if I didn't care a lot about learning more about India. You might think that learning about India wouldn't be hard to do since I'm living here! But it seems like the only thing I ever learn is that I don't know anything.
A Suitable Boy is the third Indian book I've read in my knowledge quest. The first was Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors (an Iowan!) which was recommended to me by my brother's first grade teacher, via my mom. It gave a really nice, but mostly fictional history of the Taj Mahal, which I can't wait to see! Anyway, I think this is turning into a book blog, so my recommendation is that you go immediately to your library and read it.
The second book I read was White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Still fiction, this was, as far as I can tell, a more realistic depiction of life in India and by that I mean that it managed to be both depressing and uplifting. So, check this one out too.
I absolutely do not recommend reading A Suitable Boy. I just wikipediaed it and found out it's one of the longest English-language novels ever written. Yeesh. Maybe I'll bring a backup for the beach.
Anyway, congratulations to you if you got through one of the longest blog posts ever written. I'll write again once we get back from Goa!
Soccer practice ended with a scrimmage and then a shootout that finally ended in a draw so, I got home late. After handing me 50 rupees to pay the rickshaw driver Brad told me he had bad news: our flight to Goa this Saturday has been canceled. I was pretty upset about this because I've had the trip planned for over a month and was feeling ready to just go on it. The people on the phone from the airline were, not surprisingly, extremely unhelpful but they were able to convey the information that there were only 9 seats on the next day's flight. We also knew of at least 7 other people on our same flight, so we pretended we were on the Amazing Race and got really stressed out. I think if I actually did get on that show, I'd probably be one of the villains. The real stress was that we didn't want to wait another day to leave, what's worse than waiting around to go on vacation? So, we looked around and got an outgoing flight on the same day from a different airline.
Our new itinerary isn't great, we have an almost four hour layover in Bangalore instead of the direct flight that we were going to be on. But I figure while we have 4 hours we might as well step out and see the city.
So, we are going to Goa and we hope to be there around 5 pm on Saturday. I'm not packing much for the beach, which is good because my book is going to take up a good chunk of my suitcase. Right now I'm reading A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, a book I would never attempt to read if I didn't care a lot about learning more about India. You might think that learning about India wouldn't be hard to do since I'm living here! But it seems like the only thing I ever learn is that I don't know anything.
A Suitable Boy is the third Indian book I've read in my knowledge quest. The first was Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors (an Iowan!) which was recommended to me by my brother's first grade teacher, via my mom. It gave a really nice, but mostly fictional history of the Taj Mahal, which I can't wait to see! Anyway, I think this is turning into a book blog, so my recommendation is that you go immediately to your library and read it.
The second book I read was White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Still fiction, this was, as far as I can tell, a more realistic depiction of life in India and by that I mean that it managed to be both depressing and uplifting. So, check this one out too.
I absolutely do not recommend reading A Suitable Boy. I just wikipediaed it and found out it's one of the longest English-language novels ever written. Yeesh. Maybe I'll bring a backup for the beach.
Anyway, congratulations to you if you got through one of the longest blog posts ever written. I'll write again once we get back from Goa!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Pondicherry
We had Friday the 2nd off for Gandhi's birthday and since it was also my birthday Brad and I went to Pondicherry, a former French colony three hours south of Chennai. We had heard lots of great things about Pondicherry, so we were excited to see it, but I arrived sicker than a dog (sicker even than an Indian street dog. sick!) and so I spent the night either huddled over the toilet or curled up in bed, crying about having the worst birthday ever and planning my escape back to Iowa.
But I woke up the next morning feeling fine, which was a weird but pleasant surprise and we headed out early to make the most of the weekend.
Things started out great. We had breakfast on a balcony overlooking the sea and then went to wish Gandhi a happy birthday and look at some sand art sculpted in his honor. Later we wandered around town, enjoying the fact that we could actually walk from place to place, and did some shopping.
As it turns out there isn't a whole lot to do in Pondicherry besides shop and eat, but Pondicherry is not dry and we were looking forward to the novelty of ordering a beer at any old restaurant, not just a hotel bar. So when we sat down for what was to be the first in a series of leisurely vacation-weekend drinks we were devastated by the news that the entire COUNTRY was not selling alcohol for the entire DAY!
I have to admit it took us a while to get over this disappointment. A nap, at least, helped, a little.
Later we went the opposite direction out of our hotel and saw a cheerful sight: an elephant! This elephant, who I will call Rosie, stands outside of a temple and gives you a blessing on the head when you give her food. It was awesome. I went twice.
Then, we got another excellent surprise when I casually flipped my Pondicherry pocket guide to the pharmacy section and saw this entry:
Sun Pharmacy 88 Chetty Sreet
Now, most of you probably know this, but for those of you who don't: My parents, Steve and Deb Straw, have owned and operated their own pharmacy, Sun Pharmacy, for over 25 years in Johnston, Iowa. So, upon reading that little entry we hopped a rickshaw straight to Chetty Street. I thought for sure the people inside would be thrilled to hear my story, but they only just tolerated me taking pictures.
Those two bright spots were topped off with an excellent, but wine-free steak dinner. It was painful, truly, to read the French wine selection on the menu. And no, I'm not above bribery. It didn't work.
We headed back home on Saturday so we could get some things done around the house and just be lazy, but before we left town I felt justified in buying myself a really nice birthday present to make up for the miserableness of the actual day. Brad also found something he liked. I think now that we might have been experiencing joint-temporary insanity over Indian antique furniture, because we just paid our bill and believed the man when he said he'd deliver it to us by Friday. I'm coming to my senses now and feeling slightly anxious, so keep your fingers crossed that our new/old table and hutch arrive sometime within the next three months.
I took this picture, trying to show the bangles on her feet and then this family asked me to take their picture too :)
It actually kind of reminds me of the old store!
Yes, I know it looks like he's giving us the finger, but we think, hope that he's just holding the doors shut and that this is not some secret "f-you, you're never going to see this furniture again" kind of message.
But I woke up the next morning feeling fine, which was a weird but pleasant surprise and we headed out early to make the most of the weekend.
Things started out great. We had breakfast on a balcony overlooking the sea and then went to wish Gandhi a happy birthday and look at some sand art sculpted in his honor. Later we wandered around town, enjoying the fact that we could actually walk from place to place, and did some shopping.
As it turns out there isn't a whole lot to do in Pondicherry besides shop and eat, but Pondicherry is not dry and we were looking forward to the novelty of ordering a beer at any old restaurant, not just a hotel bar. So when we sat down for what was to be the first in a series of leisurely vacation-weekend drinks we were devastated by the news that the entire COUNTRY was not selling alcohol for the entire DAY!
I have to admit it took us a while to get over this disappointment. A nap, at least, helped, a little.
Later we went the opposite direction out of our hotel and saw a cheerful sight: an elephant! This elephant, who I will call Rosie, stands outside of a temple and gives you a blessing on the head when you give her food. It was awesome. I went twice.
Then, we got another excellent surprise when I casually flipped my Pondicherry pocket guide to the pharmacy section and saw this entry:
Sun Pharmacy 88 Chetty Sreet
Now, most of you probably know this, but for those of you who don't: My parents, Steve and Deb Straw, have owned and operated their own pharmacy, Sun Pharmacy, for over 25 years in Johnston, Iowa. So, upon reading that little entry we hopped a rickshaw straight to Chetty Street. I thought for sure the people inside would be thrilled to hear my story, but they only just tolerated me taking pictures.
Those two bright spots were topped off with an excellent, but wine-free steak dinner. It was painful, truly, to read the French wine selection on the menu. And no, I'm not above bribery. It didn't work.
We headed back home on Saturday so we could get some things done around the house and just be lazy, but before we left town I felt justified in buying myself a really nice birthday present to make up for the miserableness of the actual day. Brad also found something he liked. I think now that we might have been experiencing joint-temporary insanity over Indian antique furniture, because we just paid our bill and believed the man when he said he'd deliver it to us by Friday. I'm coming to my senses now and feeling slightly anxious, so keep your fingers crossed that our new/old table and hutch arrive sometime within the next three months.
I took this picture, trying to show the bangles on her feet and then this family asked me to take their picture too :)
It actually kind of reminds me of the old store! 
Yes, I know it looks like he's giving us the finger, but we think, hope that he's just holding the doors shut and that this is not some secret "f-you, you're never going to see this furniture again" kind of message.
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