Wednesday July 11'2012
3:20pm
Today I am dreaming about the airport. Today I want to go home. Maybe it's because today is the first day where if I was home I'd be with Jason. Or maybe it's because I'm so frustrated with the lack of communication and organization of the dance school. Or how easy it is to feel completely isolated here and when all you want to do is call your mom you can't because its 3:00am her time and she's fast asleep. In Kelowna. Where you're only wishing you could be. Either way, the fact that I'm pretty confident I have bed bugs definitely has something to do with it. So I have Elvis singing Blue Moon on repeat. And I'm eating a chocolate bar... even though my tummy hurts. Because my mom is not here to tell me I shouldn't.
Thursday July 12'2012
8:06pm
Today I like India a lot (I'm not ready to commit to love quite yet) apart from my minor Delhi Belly experience... Raj got MB to make chicken for me, apparently my meat withdrawals have surfaced. It was... Indian chicken (delicious, don't get me wrong, I ate my weight in it, but different). And sure enough, at 4:00am I felt like I was giving birth to a chicken. Oh holy baby jesus poops. After death by chicken dinner, Raj took me and another girl (no clue what her name is and I try so hard to drill it into my head every time) for a walk to get icecream from a vendor in East Patel Nagar. I got cookies and cream then finished off no-name's litchi popsicle. And then I watched Hunger Games before having the best night's sleep since my arrival (minus the chicken poops).
This morning I woke up to chai and a very intense visit with Raj and Eddie. Eddie likes to drill me on every aspect of western life. Today's topic was love, marriage, and dating. For hours we compared Canadian and Indian dating rituals (or lack there of). I learned all about his arranged marriage (and the dissolution of it) and he asked when I am marrying Jason. Both of these men are victims of wives taking off on them. That's it, that's all, gone. Ironically, both wives are sisters. Raj and Eddie's oldest brother married a girl. That girl's younger sister was then "booked" to marry Eddie. And Raj being the youngest, ended up falling for their youngest sister. So three brothers and three sisters, and one successful marriage. Those odds are not great. Dingy says her parents are open to a love marriage for her, but most marriages are still arranged here in India. Eddie says I need to learn more hindi, and not the junk Raj keeps teaching me. Since we're on the topic he says, How about I love you. Raj says, I'll tell her, I'll tell her. When you say I love you, you say 'Tom Ganu Ho'
..........it means you're an asshole.
I was planning to spend the day at an outdoor pool I discovered online but due to the torrential downpour, I instead opted to shop. I found a mall located directly outside the metro station, assuring a successful arrival. But then Raj and Akshee (another dietician residing here) invited me to go with them to Karol Bagh Market. If you've been paying any attention you'd know I had briefly been there with Arijeet to get sheets and a towel, so I knew if I was going to go back it wouldn't ever be alone, so I didn't hesitate. Karol Bagh is the biggest market in all of Asia. It's huge and I have no sense of direction. So you understand my reluctancy to go alone without some kind of human compass. It has been a week now that I've walked the streets of Delhi and dealt with the incessant staring, but the first time I'd walked with another girl. Akshee was just as shocked as I first was. She couldn't get over how much everyone stared at me. It was funny to see it from another perspective. And both her and Raj were amused by the fact that cars and people alike would actually stop to let me pass them or cross the street, where as any Indian would sooner become road kill. So of course I became designated leader through oncoming traffic, both human and motorized. I became my own personal traffic signal.
I bought a "Kuiti" today! A long Indian tunic. It's yellow and white and cute as a button. I also bought some spices from Roopak's (a spice shop I read about in my woman's guide to India book) and some dried curry mango. Nom nom nom. Then Raj introduced me to Indian street food, my first of what I hope to be many experiences. Aloo chat. Fried potatoes (think chunky hashbrowns) smothered in mint paste, lemon, coriander, and chat seasoning. It was nothing I'd ever dreamed about. The intensity of flavour in Indian food never ceases to amaze me. It was spicy as all hell and Raj even asked for mine to be mild... good god. So we stood on the side of the road, aloo chat cupped in one hand, sweet lassi in the other, and happiness all around.
3:20pm
Today I am dreaming about the airport. Today I want to go home. Maybe it's because today is the first day where if I was home I'd be with Jason. Or maybe it's because I'm so frustrated with the lack of communication and organization of the dance school. Or how easy it is to feel completely isolated here and when all you want to do is call your mom you can't because its 3:00am her time and she's fast asleep. In Kelowna. Where you're only wishing you could be. Either way, the fact that I'm pretty confident I have bed bugs definitely has something to do with it. So I have Elvis singing Blue Moon on repeat. And I'm eating a chocolate bar... even though my tummy hurts. Because my mom is not here to tell me I shouldn't.
Thursday July 12'2012
8:06pm
Today I like India a lot (I'm not ready to commit to love quite yet) apart from my minor Delhi Belly experience... Raj got MB to make chicken for me, apparently my meat withdrawals have surfaced. It was... Indian chicken (delicious, don't get me wrong, I ate my weight in it, but different). And sure enough, at 4:00am I felt like I was giving birth to a chicken. Oh holy baby jesus poops. After death by chicken dinner, Raj took me and another girl (no clue what her name is and I try so hard to drill it into my head every time) for a walk to get icecream from a vendor in East Patel Nagar. I got cookies and cream then finished off no-name's litchi popsicle. And then I watched Hunger Games before having the best night's sleep since my arrival (minus the chicken poops).
This morning I woke up to chai and a very intense visit with Raj and Eddie. Eddie likes to drill me on every aspect of western life. Today's topic was love, marriage, and dating. For hours we compared Canadian and Indian dating rituals (or lack there of). I learned all about his arranged marriage (and the dissolution of it) and he asked when I am marrying Jason. Both of these men are victims of wives taking off on them. That's it, that's all, gone. Ironically, both wives are sisters. Raj and Eddie's oldest brother married a girl. That girl's younger sister was then "booked" to marry Eddie. And Raj being the youngest, ended up falling for their youngest sister. So three brothers and three sisters, and one successful marriage. Those odds are not great. Dingy says her parents are open to a love marriage for her, but most marriages are still arranged here in India. Eddie says I need to learn more hindi, and not the junk Raj keeps teaching me. Since we're on the topic he says, How about I love you. Raj says, I'll tell her, I'll tell her. When you say I love you, you say 'Tom Ganu Ho'
..........it means you're an asshole.
I was planning to spend the day at an outdoor pool I discovered online but due to the torrential downpour, I instead opted to shop. I found a mall located directly outside the metro station, assuring a successful arrival. But then Raj and Akshee (another dietician residing here) invited me to go with them to Karol Bagh Market. If you've been paying any attention you'd know I had briefly been there with Arijeet to get sheets and a towel, so I knew if I was going to go back it wouldn't ever be alone, so I didn't hesitate. Karol Bagh is the biggest market in all of Asia. It's huge and I have no sense of direction. So you understand my reluctancy to go alone without some kind of human compass. It has been a week now that I've walked the streets of Delhi and dealt with the incessant staring, but the first time I'd walked with another girl. Akshee was just as shocked as I first was. She couldn't get over how much everyone stared at me. It was funny to see it from another perspective. And both her and Raj were amused by the fact that cars and people alike would actually stop to let me pass them or cross the street, where as any Indian would sooner become road kill. So of course I became designated leader through oncoming traffic, both human and motorized. I became my own personal traffic signal.
I bought a "Kuiti" today! A long Indian tunic. It's yellow and white and cute as a button. I also bought some spices from Roopak's (a spice shop I read about in my woman's guide to India book) and some dried curry mango. Nom nom nom. Then Raj introduced me to Indian street food, my first of what I hope to be many experiences. Aloo chat. Fried potatoes (think chunky hashbrowns) smothered in mint paste, lemon, coriander, and chat seasoning. It was nothing I'd ever dreamed about. The intensity of flavour in Indian food never ceases to amaze me. It was spicy as all hell and Raj even asked for mine to be mild... good god. So we stood on the side of the road, aloo chat cupped in one hand, sweet lassi in the other, and happiness all around.
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