Trip Diary: Part 3

MK requested a picture of the wedding sari. Due to technical difficulties on the part of our photographer, the pictures did not turn out well. This is the best one I have which shows the detailed work around the border.




Two days before the wedding ceremony took place I got mehendi on my hands. I was supposed to have my feet done too, but they were in such poor condition due to the swelling. We had a girl come to the house and she painted me up. The entire process for my hands on both sides and half my arms took almost 2 hours. I had to sit on a hard floor the whole time. I was very pleased with the results though and thought it looked great. One thing no one told me was that I wasn't supposed to get it wet for 24 hours. That made taking a shower a real challenge the next day. Not to mention hand washing. For the shower, husband wrapped my arms in plastic bags and rubber bands. It didn't work very well and the whole thing ended up getting wet. But it did not fade away or anything.
I discovered there is no good way to remove the mehendi once you are finished with it. I was finished with it after about 8 days when it started to fade away and chip off in places. I tried to scrub it off with a body scrub, but no luck. Maybe a pumice would have worked but I did not have one there. Because the mehendi is applied thicker to the finger tips, it stays there the longest. By the time we left I was complaining that I had leopard hands. If you didn't know what it was, you would honestly have thought I hadn't washed my hands in forever. I was so happy to get home and be able to scrub and I mean really scrub it off. I don't plan on doing it again anytime soon.

Trip Diary: Part 2

I got sidetracked last week due to being out of sorts from jet lag. I could not get anything done, including finishing the story.

Speaking of jet lag, I was determined not to have it when we got to India. We arrived at husband's parent's home by 9:30am. I told him we just needed to keep busy until it was time for everyone to go to sleep that night. It worked.

So how did we keep busy? We went shopping. It was all about buying things for me and by the time it was over I was delirious. First stop was the wedding jewelry. It is the Indian tradition that the groom's family buys the bride a lot of gold. The most important piece is a necklace called the mangalsutra. A mangalsutra is an Indian symbol of Hindu marriage, consisting of a gold ornament strung from a yellow thread, a string of black beads or a gold chain containing the beads. It is not just a jewelry item, it has lots of significance to an Indian married woman. It is a sacred thread of love and goodwill worn by married women as a symbol of their marriage. The groom ties it around the neck of the bride on the day of their marriage signifying their union. Mangalsutra is the token of dignity and love given to a bride by her groom. The most common type is made of two strings of small black beads with a locket or pendant. It is also made of small beads of gold and black beads with gold and diamond pendant. The black beads signify protection from evil power. It is believed to protect their marriage and life of their husbands. We started with that. I picked out a fairly simple one compared to some. It is 22 K gold with small black beads on a shorter chain. MIL and SIL tried to get me to pick one on a longer chain, but that just isn't me. Oh, did I mention this necklace is never to be removed. That was drilled into my head by pretty much everyone. I felt like a longer necklace would just be in my way. If I can never take it off, I need to be able to just forget about it.

Step 2 was to pick out the matching earrings. I had to have my ears re-pierced just weeks before this trip because I had let the holes I'd had since age 5 close up. I'm just not an earring person. Or so I thought. But I managed to find some very beautiful dangling earrings also in 22 K gold. The dangling part can be removed and just the gold posts can remain. I like that feature. Unfortunately I am unable to wear them at this time because the earring back is made of silver for some reason and I discovered I am very allergic to silver on my ears. I won't go into the details, but trust me, it was bad. Next time we go I will replace those with gold. Indian earrings screw on. So far, I haven't been able to find such a thing here.

After the earrings we went in search of the bangles. These are almost as important as the necklace. We went to many shops. It is interesting to note that all of these shops require you to leave your shoes outside the door. This did not sit well with me since I was wearing a very cute pair of beaded Bandolino sandals. I was paranoid someone was going to steal my shoes while I was in the store. Husband got his shoes stolen from a temple once, so that might be what had me so freaked. Anyway, back to bangle shopping. I tried on so many different styles. I settled on 4 thin gold bangles again, in 22 K gold. Two for each wrist. They must be worn like this. I've never had so much gold bought for me at one time in my life. I could have chosen anything. Whatever I wanted would have been purchased for me. It was overwhelming in my jet lagged state.
Oh, also at this particular bangle shop I had to pick out silver toe rings. One for each toe next to the big toe. I'm supposed to wear these for at least 2 months "to improve circulation through your body" I was told. Like I believe that wearing toe rings is going to accomplish that. Some things just aren't worth arguing about. Like that thing about wearing the same number of bangles on each wrist. I had to get used to that because I prefer to just wear 1 bracelet on 1 wrist. The other rule about putting the bangles on is that you can never do it one at a time. You must always put at least 2 on at a time. God forbid I get out of balance for a minute. Hmmm...maybe that's why I fall down stairs and trip over objects in my path even if I know they are there. I'm out of balance.

Anyway, once all the jewelry was purchased it was time to go sari shopping. This is fun but I could honestly never work in a sari shop. It requires a lot of patience from the employees and not to mention the cleanup and folding and refolding of the sari's. In case you've never been in a sari shop let me set the scene. Along all the walls are floor to ceiling shelves containing the folded sari's. I was in so many sari shops and I never saw any order at all. It is totally random. You sit on a chair and give the employees an idea of what you want and they go scrambling about pulling what you might like off the shelves and unfolding all 6 yards of fabric out for you to see. Luckily I had decided I wanted to wear red for the wedding. After viewing about 10 I finally saw the one I wanted. Red with a border of hand-stitched flowers in green and gold. It is truly gorgeous. I'll probably never wear it again because it is so fancy. But if you come to my house I'll try it on for you.

The Chosen

I have been tagged. I'm taking a break from my trip diary to do this for MK. I have no clue if I'm doing the first part correctly though. And I don't know how to do links.

INSTRUCTIONS: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so.


1) Sarah
2) Elizasmom
3) Daily Kvetch
4) Musings & Mutterings
5) Idiots Rule

Next, select five people to tag:

1) I Want My Candy Back
2) Sourpuss
3) AllyGator
4) Just Salt
5) I'm not actively involved with any other blogs besides MK's and she tagged me


What were you doing 10 years ago?
Preparing to move to Washington DC for my first job.

What were you doing one year ago?
Planning a sneaky wedding.

Five snacks you enjoy:
Chips and Salsa
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ice Cream
Chex Mix
Berries of any kind

Five songs that you know all the lyrics to:
There are so many....
Sugar Magnolia - Grateful Dead
Two Step - Dave Matthews Band
Cooling - Tori Amos
Time - Pink Floyd
It's A Great Day To Be Alive - Travis Tritt

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1) Pay off all my debt
2) Set up college funds for the children of my closest friends
3) Travel around the world
4) Start a school for orphan girls in India
5) Buy a certain Acura SUV I've had my eye on for a few years

Five bad habits:
Not cooking
Compulsive shopping
Procrastination
Not managing time properly
Pulling white hair from my head instead of just recoloring


Five things you like doing:
Talking on the phone
Driving
Eating
Shopping
Reading

Five things you would never wear again:
Pants with pleats
Mini skirt
Leg warmers
Wool pants
I'm stuck on number 5


Five favorite toys:
Laptop
iPod
the Audi
Playstation
I'm stuck on number 5

Trip Diary: Part 1

(Accidental camera shot of my feet at 2-3 times normal size)


The adventure began in San Francisco when we boarded the flight to Taipei where we would change planes. I was so excited to be sitting in the Deluxe cabin of the plane. The seats were wide, reclined far back and had a leg rest in addition to the huge space between the rows. Also waiting for us were quilted blankets, pillows, slippers, hand lotion and a toothbrush with toothpaste. I was psyched. Then the pilot came on and informed us to sit back and relax and enjoy the 11 hour flight. Bust.

I'd heard great things about the food on board this airline. Like it was actually good. Fearing being stuck with things we don't eat such as beef, pork or fish we opted for the Hindu vegetarian meal plan. What a mistake. Our first dinner consisted of fresh fruit, a small salad, an entree of mixed peas, carrots and potatoes covered in a type of curry powder, and a gelatinous dessert. I tried to make it work, but the whole thing was just too disgusting. We were hungry. To make matters worse, at the end of the flight we were served almost the exact same thing. Bust.

A curious thing happened somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. I became a camel. Since I don't have a hump to store water, my body decided my feet were very thirsty and all water would be stored there. While everyone else was sleeping I was consuming beverage after beverage. My body was also in panic mode concerning the toilet situation in my final destination. It also decided that I must use the airplane lavatory as often as possible. I shuffled back and forth in my slippers from the lavatory to the seat more times than I can remember. I'm someone who hasn't been in an airplane lavatory since I was like 8 years old and I struggle to even open the door. By the time we reached Mumbai my feet barely fit in my flip flops.

If I was an American Indian my name would have been Lady With Swollen Feet. The swelling never went away. For 18 days. My swollen feet became known all over India. Everyone who came in contact with me inquired about my feet and did a thorough inspection. I'm over the embarrassment of it all by now. I have also learned that this thing happens to my aunt and grandmother too. I'm convinced the swelling was started by the long flight but never resolved due to extreme heat and excessive salt in all the food. For once I'm glad I'm living here in the PNW because the weather is very dry and cool.

Let's talk about the heat. I knew it was hot. How hot? It was so hot that Husband's parents wouldn't let us leave the house during the day. I didn't find out until I'd been there for almost a week just how hot. Someone mentioned "the heat wave". Yes the heat wave. I never bothered to learn the Celsius scale in school. How boring. I mean, when am I actually going to use that?! I soon learned all about it. Put it this way, if someone tells you it is going to be 45 degrees today, just know that means hot. Smokin Hot. Somewhere around 115 degrees Fahrenheit. I got to thinking about that kind of heat. Sure some of you have been to Vegas when it has been nearly that hot. Great. You survived. You stayed in your air conditioned hotel or just took an air conditioned vehicle from air conditioned casino to air conditioned casino. No big deal. Imagine if air conditioning wasn't an option for you because it didn't exist.

Basically I was roasting over an open flame for 18 days. I was never dry. Every pore in my body was sweating. I never knew my legs, my entire legs could sweat. I would wake up sweating, take a cold shower then be sweating again as soon as the water was turned off. I would like to take this opportunity to thank a certain "clinical" strength deodorant I purchased for this trip. It tried hard. While it did not stop me from sweating, it did stop my from stinking to high hell. I look at pictures from the trip and in just about everyone my face is glistening. I had to become creative and invent new hairstyles for myself because I could not think about turning on a blow dryer. I could not stand to have my hair touching my neck or any other part of my body. It was interesting.

Heat aside, I had a good time. My feet have recovered. I know what to expect next time!

24

It has now been over 24 hours since I've been able to access my gmail account. As if there aren't enough problems with blogger, I can't even check my email. I'm wondering wtf is going on with the whole system. This really sucks.

Also, it has been 24 hours since I discovered I can't even get a part time job. I was so positive this job was mine. The interview I had in March went so well, I was very excited at the prospect of working a few hours a day. Yesterday I checked the city website where the job was located. There is a way to check job application status. I was stunned to find out the position was filled and it wasn't me who was hired. As far as I know, none of my references were even contacted. I spent hours filling out the GD paperwork for nothing. Perhaps I was over-qualified. Oh well. I'm taking it as a sign that we don't have to live in this place anymore. We are revisiting the plan to somehow move to FL. I know, you've heard this before. No one believes that I will ever live there again. I hope to prove you all wrong. For now it seems I am extending my permanent vacation.

Home Sweet Home

We finally arrived home late last night/early this morning. It feels so good to be here. Not to mention the weather here in the PNW is actually beautiful. Sunny, blue sky. The trees have all bloomed in the 3 weeks I've been gone. Everything is green as opposed to the brown of India. And at least 50 degrees cooler. I will start posting the trip stories and some pics starting on Monday!