Catching up on photos

So here are a bunch of pictures that I keep meaning to post:
(Can someone tell me how to rotate pictures? You'll see what I mean...)

The dash of a typical car here. What do you notice is missing? Heat on the temp control knob! Definitely no need for heat in cars here. However, the temps are dipping into the 70s and I have seen a few locals with scarves, hats and sweaters!


The mouse we caught in our room after we injured it and then sprayed it with febreeze and window cleaner.


Pics from William Cary Baptist Church. Our old church back home participates in Operation Christmas Child. It was neat to see where all those gift boxes go! It would be way cool if this box had the boxes we made in the college class!


From Jerry's first outdoor haircut. It cost only 50 cents!! The guy has been cutting hair since 1979.


It is incredible the kinds and sizes of stuff people carry on their heads.


Communal bathing - a very common sight.


For my friend Jenn.


Everyone had a day off during the strike.


One of the Hindu gods.


One of Jerry's fav pics.


From a shopping mall in Chennai.


Celebrating Jerry's birthday.


Hawaiian shaved ice!! Can you believe it? I got mango. And it was pretty good! It made me really miss getting lilikoi (passion fruit) shaved ice from John's grocery up the road from my grandmother's house in Hawaii.

Thanksgiving

Today is Jerry's birthday and he got a wonderful, wonderful birthday surprise from the US Consulate. We were invited to the US Consulate Thanksgiving Dinner! He had been hoping hoping hoping to be invited, but when email invitations were sent out last week, none were for us. (We knew they had been sent because some friends received their invite last Tuesday.) I guess enough people declined that they could start inviting from the 2nd tier list. I was just lamenting this afternoon that this would be my first Thanksgiving without turkey, but Hooray! there will be turkey after all.

Of course, Thanksgiving is an American holiday but some of the churches here recognize it by celebrating on a chosen Sunday in November. For one of my friends, it was this past Sunday at her church.

Today another American and I were explaining day-after-Thanksgiving sales and Doorbusters to one of our local friends. As I was talking about it, I realized how crazy Americans are as a consumer society. That conversation led to the topic of credit card debt and the mortgage nightmare that is going on right now. It all reminded me of Priscilla's friend from Romania who was applying to be a U.S. Citizen. She studied her American history and government like crazy only for the judge to ask her something like, "So, what make you an American?" She was of course baffled, but finally answered timidly, "I have credit card debt?" She passed.

ANOTHER Strike

We find ourselves with loads of time on our hands today because of a strike. Strikes everywhere. The Writers Guild is on strike and I read this morning that the stage hands on Broadway just went on strike. Anyhow, this is the 4th strike I have been affected by in the last 6 weeks, one being in Madrid of all places.

Madrid - the morning Dena and I left for Turkey, we walked out to the street to catch a cab around 5am. We saw hardly any taxis and a bunch of people on the street (ready to go home after hours of late-night partying). The cabs we did see did not have their Cab light on. Dena did flag one cab down and the ensuing conversation:
Dena: Can you take us to the airport?
Cabbie: How much will you pay me?
Dena: Whatever the meter says.
Cabbie: (Silence)
Then Dena walks back.

We see a cab drop off a girl and Dena asks him for a ride and he says all the cabbies are on strike because a cabbie was murdered the night before. But he will take us to the airport as a favor and we have to pay 30 euros. We thought it would cost between 25-30 euros, so that was not too bad. Plus, there was NO other way to get to the airport because the Metro does not start running until 6 or 7am.

So, the GOOD thing about strikes (bandhs) here is that we are given advance notice! We always know when there is going to be a strike. It gives everyone a chance to load up on food. The 1st strike while I was here lasted 12 hours, the next one (on Oct 31st) lasted 24 hours. This one is supposed to last anywhere from 12hrs to indefinitely. It is being called by several political parties to protest violence in a part of our state where a cadre of the current political party allegedly fired shots into a peaceful demonstration where 2 were killed and several others injured.

So, if you support the parties calling the strike, you stay at home. And even if you do not support the parties, you stay at home because the strikers will block main thoroughfares and if you do venture out, people might stone you for doing so. If you take the bus, you may find that your bus will be torched. I think that has happened to at least 3 buses so far today. Yikes!

After we determined that it was pretty calm outside, Jerry and I decided to take a walk around our area. It was quite pleasant! Since there are hardly any cars on the road, it is very peaceful right now. Plus, the temps are slowly going down. Instead of high 90s, we now have temps in the 80s. So we walked for about an hour and a half, exploring our "neighborhood." We were able to walk slowly, not fearing getting in anyone's way. I even had some street food today - a plain dosa and some sugarcane juice. The dosa was 15 cents and yummy and the cane juice was 12.5 cents. Of course, no businesses are open so the few street vendors were the only way to eat out. Well, we are about to eat leftovers from last night. If the strike lasts a long time, we will have to break into our ramen stash.

Here is a pic of my dosa chef:

Back in K

I am back from a wonderful 2 week visit with my sister in Madrid. We also did a side trip to Turkey. I will blog about Spain and Turkey next time.

I knew I had arrived back in K when I stepped off the plane and went down the stairs into some humidity and then boarded a loud, rickety old bus that took us to the terminal. I then went to get a luggage cart and the first one I pulled was missing a wheel and the second one was missing one of the slats where the luggage rests. I got a third one that pulled to the right, but oh well....

I went through culture shock again upon my arrival this second time to K. I should have been more prepared after a short chat with a gentleman from K on the plane ride over. He remarked that we had only 45 minutes until we would be able to get off the plane. I replied that I could not wait until we landed. He looked at me funny and then asked if I had been to K before! I was mostly anxious to land so I could see Jerry again. Two weeks is a long time to be apart. We had a lovely reunion at the airport and later we both admitted that we almost started tearing up!

I had forgotten just how dirty and dark the streets are here. I think I was just getting used to everything when I left for Europe. I was quickly re-acclimated during a car trip today when we were literally stopped in traffic for about 40 minutes with people, bicycles, autorickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, cars, carts, trucks, dogs and of course cows all trying to share the road. I distinctly remember being in Madrid the first day and looking around and being in awe of all of the new looking cars that had no dents! Anyhow, the 40 minute traffic jam was on the way back. On the way, we were stopped at some railroad tracks. I was told that sometimes we have to wait only 10-15 minutes for the train to pass and sometimes it take HOURS! And they said it so matter of factly as they started taking their shoes off to relax while we waited. Fortunately, we had to wait only 15 minutes.

I am looking forward to getting reacquainted with the city and see past the uncomfortable to the beauty that lies beneath.