Looking on the Bright Side

Since I'll be leaving India in about 34 hours I thought I would take some time and reflect on some of the good things about coming here. Most days, while home alone with nothing much to do or when the internet goes down, I tended to think of the bad things. But there have been good things too. I'll list the top 10, not in order of any preference:

1) I have gotten a better understanding of where Apoorva comes from and how the 8 years in the US has changed him. I think it's important in a relationship to know where the other person came from and how they grew up. Also, when we have kids I will now have a better understanding of the culture they will be a part of.

2) These past 6 months have made my marriage stronger. We now know if we can get through India we can get through anything.

3) The move has made us simplify our lives and get rid of a lot of crap we had both accumulated. All our possessions can fit into 4 suitcases and 1 small storage unit.

4) I've met some great people here that I will really miss, but I know we'll keep in touch for years to come.

5) Apoorva's family has given me a lot of credit for picking up and moving here for 6 months (lets hope this doesn't lead to expectations about us coming back...)

6) Apoorva now knows that he doesn't want to come back and live/work here. If we had not done this he may have always though "what if" later down the road.

7) It's been really good for his career. When we get back to the states he's going to be earning double what he was making before, because he now has global business experience. This was necessary for us to even think about having kids.

8) It's given me a new appreciation of the US. Before I was very cynical about my country, it's government, and a lot of its people. But being here made me realize that there is no where else I would rather live. I think I'm actually in love with the US now :-)

9) I've seen some amazing things on our many trips across India. Being from the US you usually don't get to see things that were around in ancient history.

10) I have not had to do any laundry or dishes for the past 6 months. (I probably wont have to do them in the US either... I just make Apoorva do them ;-)

So yea, there has been some good stuff to come out of all of this. I don't want to ask myself if I regret coming here, because that will get me nowhere. Lets just say I'm happy to be going home. Maybe tomorrow I'll write out everything I'm looking forward to, but right now I've got to go do some last minute packing.

Almost home!

I can't believe it but I now have only 3 days left here in India. I am so excited and happy to be going back to the states. I admit that I've seen some amazing things here, but I will also admit that I have been miserable for most of the six months we have been here. I have tried not to dwell on the bad stuff, especially on this blog, but I have not been happy. So while I may not regret coming here, I am certainly not sad to be leaving.

So for the past few days Apoorva and I have been packing and saying our goodbyes. There will be very few people I will miss, but there are a few so we've been spending some time with them, eating dinner, etc. Packing has been going ok. Since we get to fly business class (YAY!!!!) we each get three bags which is really nice. I have four out of 6 packed and ready to go and I still have two days left to pack. Here is our bedroom, looking like a wind storm has passed through it.

I haven't done much since Christmas except getting ready to go. Oh and eating too much leftover Chrstimas goodies. Here's an interesting picture. I had a lot of left over hearshy kisses, so I of course ate the majority of them. While devouring them I found this one:
Instead of a little peak it had a hole. I don't know why I took a picture of it. Like I said, I haven't had much to do except pack and eat leftovers.

One thing that I'm really excited about it a decision Apoorva and I made recently. We've decided to go off all methods of birth control and see what happens over the next year or so. Hopefully we'll be expecting out first child soon. We are both so excited soon. We have not told anyone yet and probably wont until something actually happens. I may tell my grandma when we get home, but other than that no one else. We want it to be a surprise for everyone when we fianlly do get pregnant. So I have been spending a bit of time online reading up on fertility methods in order to try to understand my cycle more. Neither of us want to wait years for our first child.

Ok. Back to packing! US here I come! :-)

New Years

2009 had a good beginning. Apoorva and I spent New Years Eve at an expat friend's house and had pizza and beer with 3 other couples. It was very laid back. We all got a little tipsy and played Taboo. It was the most fun we've had in awhile. Here's a group photo:

Normally I don't make resolutions. If I do they are more like goals for the next year rather than things I want to change about myself. But since I've been so unhappy the past six months I figure it's a good time to rethink some things and make some changes, as well as make some long term goals for myself and DH.

So, without further ado, here are things I want to do in 2009:

1) Find a topic for my Ph.D. dissertation and make a good dent in writing my prospectus (topic proposal for the dissertation). I have to do this in order to finish and defend the prodpectus by the end of the next school year (June 2010) or else they may kick me out of the program. Unlikely, but possible.

2) Find a part-time job that I enjoy. I don't care what it is, it could be dog-walking for all I care. I just need something to give me a schedule and also make my own money. This past six months has been the first time I have not had a job in 8 years and I hate the fact that I'm not contributing to the household finances. But yet I don't want a full time job because then I would not be able to work on my Ph.D.

3) Get Healthy! This requires me to lose 30 - 40lbs and kick my addiction to sugar (which incidentally got really bad over Christmas when I insisted on making Christmas goodies when there really wasn't anyone to eat them, except ME while I was home alone during the days. Not good!).

4) Get control over our finances. We are actually in a really good place right now. DH is making good $ and we have no debt but we have used this as an excuse to let our spending get out of control and to not keep track of where out money is going. Not good... especially in this economic climate. And who knows where we'll be in a year when Apoorva may have to give up his current job because we refuse to come back to India (which is the current plan set out by the company). So we need to be more careful and save more.

While I'm calling these my New Years resolutions, my New Years doesn't start until we get to Indiana on the 19th :-) Why not start of the New Year when we get into our new place!?!

Christmas in India

Christmas here in India went surprisingly well, considering it was my first Christmas away from home and with Laurie, my stepmother, being ill. For most of the month of December I was a little depressed. When I left the US after Thanksgiving everything was decorated for the holidays and it was snowing. I had to come back to India to the heat and the humidity and the dirt. So needless to say I felt like the only one who was celebrating Christmas. But I tried to make the most of it.

When I first got back in early December I set out to decorate our apartment. I wanted to make it look like Christmas but on a limited budget, since anything I bought I would most likely not bring back to the states with us. I put up a very tiny, but pretty, 2' tree with red and gold decorations, matching wreath and stockings, and some other small stuff around the house. It didn't look like home but it was nice. Here's a picture of our tree on Christmas morning.


I also spent a few days before Christmas making Christmas treats. It was challenging, since I don't have an oven here in India, but I think I did a good job. I made magic cookie bars, fudge, peanut butter balls, chocolate covered marshmallows, mini sugar cookies (that would cook in my convection oven), and reindeer droppings (chocolate covered marshmallows and pretzels. Here's the tray I put out Christmas day.
Christmas even was nice because Apoorva and I just spent the evening at home with some traditional items we may have at home for Christmas dinner. We had a roasted duck, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and stuffing. All of it came from the Hyatt here in Mumbai and it was delicious. The only thing I was really missing was the breads (like cranberry, pumpkin, bananna, etc). But even without bread it was great to have these foods that reminded me of home.

After dinner we cleaned up for a bit (since his parents were coming over the next day), did some last minute wrapping, and watched a Charlie Brown Christmas. We decided that we are going to make this a Christmas tradition for the two of us and watch a traditional holiday movie every Christmas eve. Maybe next year we'll watch another one of my favorites; Roudolf the Red Nosed Raindeer.

Apoorva's parents ended up inviting themselved over for dinner on Christmas, which I was not happy about. I only had a few days notice and I hate entertaining over here. It's just too much pressure/stress. But I got over myself and sucked it up for Apoorva. It'll probably be the only Christmas we will have here in India.

Christmas morning with just me and Apoorva was nice. We woke up around 8 and slowly got out of bed and made our way to the living room. We took our time opening presents. I got a really nice white gold and gem stone necklace, a few books, two movies (Horton Hears a Who & Ice Age 2), a pair of pink shoes, perfume and the promise of a new iPhone when we get home. I got Apoorva a few books, some game's he's been wanting, a few CDs and the promise that I will finish the blanket I've been making him. I showed what I've done so far for the first time and he loved it (I swear he had tears in his eyes, I don't think anyone has ever made him something before, they don't really do the whole do-it-yourself thing here).

Here's Apoorva opening his stocking.


I gave him gloves and a hat in his stocking so he's prepared for the cold and snowy weather in Indiana. Here's his Home Alone impression. Still not sure why he decided on this pose...


Here he is with the part of the blanket I have done. I'm pretty proud of it considering I've never knit anything before.

After gifts I made breakfast, which consisted of French toast and Hole-y Toast (also called eggs in a basket). We then proceeded to clean the house and order food for the lunch his parents invited themselves to.

Lunch went ok, besides the fact that I had to work way to hard and be way too stressed out on Christmas. At least Apoorva's nephew was cute while he was opening presents. Although the afternoon ended kinda badly when my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law wanted to use my computer. I hate people using my computer, but what was worse was that since they were using the computer my 3 year old nephew of course wanted to as well. When he was told he couldn't he lashed out wacking the computer several times. I was about ready to freak out, seeing as how I just got my computer fixed after losing everything. But my DH grabed him and wouldn't let him get near it again, even though the kid was screaming bloody murder (he's kind of a terror). At least he was cute while he was opening presents.

Finally they left and we hung out for the rest of the afternoon/evening. We watched Horton Hears a Who. Then I made a phone call to my grandparents, then Skyped with my parents and brother and sister. Since my brother will be back in school when I get home he opened the gifts he bought us. He got us two XBox games and me a pink controller. I'm so excited. I'm going to kick my DH's ass in Mortal Kombat :-)

All in all a good Christmas. Not normal by any means, but ok. Something different that we can laugh about a few years from now.

Delhi & The Taj

So our trip to Delhi & the Taj was great. It was awesome to spend the better part of 4 days with Apoorva. We have not been able to have that kind of time together because of all the traveling he's been doing. So not only did I get to visit an amazing national monument, I also got to spend some quality time with my hubby.

So on Thursday we got up early and caught our flight into Delhi. We checked into our hotel and I spent a few hours in the room using the high-speed internet and ordering room service while Apoorva went to a meeting. He came back early and we did some sight seeing. We saw was is called the India Gate, which is a memorial to all the soldiers from India who fought for the British in WWI.

Later that evening we met up with Apoorva's aunt, uncle and cousins who live in Delhi and went to dinner. They were all really nice and I'm happy that I got to meet them before we leave in January.

The next day Apoorva was supposed to have more meetings, but they were canceled, so we did more sight-seeing instead. We hired a rickshaw driver for the day and he took us around to all the major points. One of them was called the Red Fort. It's was huge with massive grounds. It has not been kept up very well, but you could still imagine what it must have looked like back when it was first build and used.

Here's a really funny picture. Outside the Fort where there were a bunch of small stands selling all sorts of stuff, there was a boy and his goat... with a coat! :-)


Later that evening we headed to the train station to catch the train we were taking to Agra. The train was 2 hours late, so we had to wait for awhile. The station itself was so dirty. There were stray dogs and rats picking at all the trash on the tracks. And there wasn't really a place to sit. That, along with the fact that everyone was staring at me, made for an uncomfortable 2 hours. But it was interesting anyway.

The train itself was ok. It was dirty, but we had our own sleeper room and it had AC. It was lucky we had a place to lay down because the train got in 4 hours late at 1:30 in the morning. All in all it was an ok experience. It probably would have been easier to get driven there, but since India is famous for it's trains I thought we had to do it at least once while we were here.


The hotel we stayed in was really nice. It was modeled after a palace, so it had a lot of gardens and fountains. Very beautiful. We slept in on Saturday, since we didn't get to sleep until 3 in the morning. We got to the Taj around noon. The Taj is amazing. Huge and gorgeous!!! The only thing I was disappointed in was that it was really foggy, so the pictures are not very clear. But it was an amazing experience.


What was really funny was that the entire time I was there random people were asking to take pictures with me, and one guy even asked for my autograph. Apoorva explained to me that a lot of the Indian tourists at the Taj are people from very rural parts of the country. This may be their one vacation that they take in their entire lives. Being from such rural areas means that they usually don't see white people, except on TV. So any white person becomes a celebrity. And since I was with Apoorva, they probably thought I was more accessible than other Western tourists.

After the Taj our guide took us to see the Agra Fort, which is very similar to the Red Fort, except this one has amazing palaces on the inside. On the way I saw my first elephant. After that we went back to the hotel. In the basement of the hotel they had a game room, complete with two bowling lanes, pool, and an arcade. We spent about 2 hours there, then went to bed. The next day we drove back to Delhi. On the way to the airport we stopped at his sister's house for "tea". We caught our flight and made it back to our place around midnight. It was such an amazing trip. I'm so happy we were able to do it before we left to go back to the states.

Here is my favorite picture from the trip of Apoorva and I in front of the Taj:

Varanasi

The week after we went to Kashid we traveled to Varanasi. Varanasi is a city located in the northern part of India on the banks of the Ganges river. According to legend, the city was founded by the Hindu deity, Shiva, around 5,000 years ago, thus making it one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in the country. It is one of the seven sacred cities of Hindus. Because of this many people travel there to be blessed by the river or even to die on its banks. If people are unable to make it there while they are alive they can even send their body their to be cremated close to the water and then have their ashes spread in the river.

The night we got there we took a cycle rickshaw to the river. A cycle rickshaw is basically a cart that fits two people that is pulled by a bike. We paid a guy less than a $1 to pull us over a mile from the hotel to the river. Once we got there we paid a guy less than $10 to take us out on a row boat and go up and down the river for over an hour. Here is a view of the city from the boat at night.



The next day Apoorva had to work so I wandered the city on my own. I checked my e-mail, ate lunch, and took a rickshaw on my own. Here's a picture of the driver pulling me.
After lunch I spent some time in our hotel reading and people watching out the window. While the hotel was kinda seedy the view was great. It gives you a good idea of what the city looked like.
Then on Thursday we got up at 5:30 to be on the river at sunrise. It was beautiful.


There were thousands of people bathing in the river because it's thought to be good luck and sacred.


After the sunrise boat tour we ate a traditional breakfast on the street (my immunity has really gotten stronger) and then visited a silk shop where we saw amazing works of what I can only call art. They had handmade saris, scarfs, & linens that take months to make. We picked up a few things for us and family members.

We stopped at the hotel to rest a little then check out and then caught a plane back to Mumbai.

About a week later I flew to the US to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. It was great being home, but I missed Apoorva a lot. I was there in the US when the shootings in Mumbai happened, which put a damper on a normally festive holiday. But Apoorva was greatful that I wasn't in Mumbai when the terrorists attacks happened.

It's been awhile...

I know it's been awhile. I'm a little angry at myself for not posting for two entire months. But I've been so busy. And I have to admit that I created a blog on another forum that was more responsive than this one (i.e. I get comments on a regular basis). But I like this blog and I want to keep it going, so I'll try and write about the past two months as much as I can remember. In this post I will talk about one of our trips and then I'll post about the other ones.

So in the beginning of November Apoorva and I traveled to two different places. The first was a beach town called Kashid, about 4 hours drive South of Mumbai. It was a beautiful place with lots of jungle and sandy beaches. The resort was great. The bedrooms were nice and big, they had a whole managerie of animals running around the grounds, and a nice pool. Here's a picture of us at the resort under all the palm trees.

Here's a picture of the beach, complete with cow, who looks like he's enjoying the surf.
The beach was nice and the water was clean so it was possible to swim it in. However once we got down to the beach we noticed that no one was in bathing suits. Apparently showing any skin (if you're a girl) is not appropirate. So people were swimming fully dressed. That wasn't my thing but I also didn't want to offend anyone, so I saved my swimming for the pool and just enjoyed the wonderful view.