SUN SHINE, i love thee

The rain has finnaly stopped and i am now a little more happy. I could not sleep anymore so i went to the Lake Market. I walked around a lot and took a look at veggies and sari's. I bought a really pretty one for my grandmother. I bought some fresh vegetables for my aunt to make some chowmein. Then i just strode around. I have come to a dire problem. It seems as though i can not fine matte pure white nail polish anywhere. I mean can you beleive it? How the hell am i supposed to do a french manicure without white nail polish. arf.

the other thing i picked up at the market was banana leaf plates. i love eating on banana leaf. It is usually used for parties and all the guests eat on these bright green plates. So i bought a kind that was cut out like a plate and then stiched on some dried leaves to make them durable.

I then just walked around looking at thincs, frruits. I'm really sad since all the fruits i enjoy here grow in the spring and summer. The ones i miss i never get to eat. So i'm stuck with a quandry. Hot as hell weather and fruit i love, or nice cool weather with fruits i can manage?
hmmm

have a dentist appointment tommorow. damn american dentists screwed my little tooth up :(

Rain day 6

now i am very sad.

Rain day 5

More rain. My deppression is getting worse. We can not go anywhere. Still water upto knees. More sleeping was done.

Rain day 4

More rain. Will not stop. The rain has not stopped yet. There is stinky water in the house and the pond is really getting high now. Did nothing but sleep. Read and then sleep more.

talked to my grandfather about life before, and bad things my dad did when he was little. Unfortunately he was not a bad kid, and i got no good stories. DOH!

Rain day 3

Once again the water is getting worse. I've been able to go out for a little walk. I had to rub oil all over my legs due to the stinky sewerage water touching my feet. eewww. Today i experienced the most bizarre thing. i stayed awake for a long time. I am going through major insomnia due to my sleeping during the afternoon. I'm not sure how my family handles it. They sleep from 2-5. So since its raining i had nothing else to do but to sleep.

A little background: There is a Muslim celebration right now called Ramadan during which they fast during daylight.
meaning they can only eat before sunrise and after sunrise. Due to them having to eat before sunrise at exactly 3:30AM there is a huge loud speaker that comes on and tells everyone this i will translate to my best ability
"Wake up, wake up, it is time to eat. Wake up wake up it is 3:30 time to eat. "

and then another one comes on after an hour or so
"stop eating, stop eating. It is time to stop eating"

oh man it was sooo incredibly loud. i can't believe that someone has to tell them to start eating and stop eating. this only happens in the morning and not the afternoon. Anyway that entertained me for a bit, knowing that all theses little kids are waking up now all groggy having to eat rice and fish or rice and lentils and then groggily getting back to bed. The fasting thing is not an issue really, i just think it's so funny that there needs to be a loud anouncement that tells people when to eat and when to stop.
strange...

rain day 2

nothing but rain, all streets are flooded up to waist. The pond across the house is also flooding. Boys everwhere fishing, and making a ruckus..ARF. starting to get depressed. ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT

rain....:(

it's been raining all day and night went out for dosa and some nice tea. then it strated to pour

Nagaland Cuisine

Stated from several of my family members. Not sure if this is an urban myth that everyone knows or if this fact is true.

Nagaland is a state near Assam in east India.
They are known to feed a dog plenty of nice food, including rice, chicken and nice curries, they then stuff the dog till it is completely bloated and can no longer eat anymore. They then grab the dog by it's legs and spin it around in the air to make the dog vomit.

They then eat the dog vomit.

enjoy your lunch...mmmmmm

Stomach pains and mosquito's

Nothing much to write here, since once again I woke up late. I am starting to feel a bit sad since I am not using that wonderful brain of mine. I am very excited to be getting my portfolio in the many thanks to Colin. So I can start trying to teach. So today was very boring. Cept for my mosquito count.

In the last 15 min I have had 20 mosquito's invade my skin. I have applied mosquito repellent and that still does not seem to work. I am going to soon wear an entire net around me so they stay the hell off my deliciously sweet skin. I HATE THEM

They are the most useless creatures/insects/pests in the world. If I could only develop a rapid spreading disease that only affected them. Why can't there species ever be extinct? Why does it always have to be cuddly creatures like panda bears? My birthday wish is to eradicate the mosquito's species from this beautiful land.

Wikipedia challenge 102
challenge of the day is: Find a useful reason why mosquito's exist? What is there purpose on this planet?

MOTHER-FER, that count has just risen to 27 in the past 25min

Dreaming in Bangla, Matches in my food

I woke up this morning to realize that I was dreaming and thinking in Bengali (my second language). The realization was so weird for me. I couldn't believe it was happening. It's funny when you speak another language and you dream in your second language. I've been speaking lots of Bengali lately but I still have not managed my numbers. Due to my language problems. I became scared and thought that I should not forget my perfect English and went to watch some English movies. There are only 3 channels on cable that play english movies and I hit the jackpot with a movie with Christian Bale, cause he's a hottie. I watched Equilibrium, Gangs of New York and some parts of the Divine Ya ya sisterhood, which was very lame.

side note: There is an Indian version of the Godfather called The Sarkers....Yeah what does that tell you punk!!! Of all the Indian names to fear it's ours. Don't be mess with the family or I'll put a horse head in your bed.

After enjoying my lovely 6 hours of English language television and 2 somosas, I was ready to plan for dinner. I wanted to let my auntie rest so we all thought we should order food and get delivery. MISTAKE!

I am so glad that I became a vegetarian since my panner tika masala had a lit match stick in it. I'm glad I saw it before eating the thing. After calling the restaurant to re-deliver our meal, the manager sounded like these things happen all the time. So classic oii

I later felt extremely sick, and I think the reason is they probably use the same sauce the chicken, mutton and every other meat product that you can put in a tikka, and just plopped some panner in. Panneer is similar to tofu but tastes a crap load better, it's made of milk rather than soy milk, but the process the similar. Tofu lovers convert to panneer. So after the whole family felt sick and gross I decided I was never going to eat out again. Till tomorrow at least so I can get my dosa, egg rolls and samosas.

Sleeping and homemade eggrolls

I don't think I've slept so much in my life, I woke up at 2:00 and then just slothed around. I had a nice night out and just wanted to chill out today. I talked to my cousin's and my super cool auntie. I taught them pilates and they were all wowed. I'm so need to open a pilates shop here, and make a killing with fatty Bengali richies. Seems like women and men in mid-high families develop what we call a "Bhoori" it is a rotund potbelly like formation on your stomach that seems to develop after child birth. I did some experimentation on this so called Bhoori and if you poke with the slightest touch at this substance the entire formation with jiggle like a large mass of jello. This brought me approximately 10 minutes of entertainment. After my slotthing around and my afternoon tea like any good Indian one must always enjoy an afternoon nap and tea to follow.

Similar to Spain, Kolkata experiences siestas. It is extremely aggravating when you want to do a French manicure and all the shops are closed so you can't get your white nail polish at 3:45 in the afternoon. The shops close at 12:30 and re-open at 5:00. I am not an afternoon napper since I wake up in the afternoon, so you can all see my frustration at these store closings. Things to import to India, Ikea, Walmart, and Wawa. Brilliant!

When everyone woke up we all got together to make some classic Indian street egg rolls, I was a big wus and burnt my thumbs rolling the bad boys in newspaper. They were so delicious..mmmmmmm

Enjoyed my Sunday to the fullest.

Nirvana covers and Kingfishers

I went out with my cousins late at night to Park Street, the place to be for young indian types. We met up with come of her friends and had some drinks at this place called Magnolia i think. I'm not sure. So at 100rs a pop for 2 pints of beer, i was not too bitter about getting some more bottles. We talked about politics and the music scene in india and beyond. Both of them were in bands but played bad american rock music, well what i thought was bad rock music. ANNNNWAY we finnaly got to this bar called Someplace Else, and it was my second time there. The previous time i went there. Colin and i both got pretty wierded out since it was like being in any other irish pub, but they charged a crap load of money for drinks and it was creepy cause the people who worked there were all in suits. Oh and in india the bars male to female ration is ummmmm 100:1 roughly like that. There were probably like 5 girls in there. So there one this one band that came one, which was pretty good. Then came on this rock band that was totally kick ass. It was like an all indian Nirvana, they were doing covers of Radiohead and all sorts of goodies. but everytime i looked up i couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that this tiny skinny indian boy with glasses was trying to do a Kurt impression. it was all merry in the end. I was acting like a total american and rocking out with my eyes closed and my fingers in the classic rock sign. Man i'm a dork, but all the guys thought i was pretty cool. the other things about kolkata is they men aren't very tall and you can see the stage even from the back if you are my height which is a smashing 5'4 in flip flops.

Oh and an oii comment, indian men really like to stare.. i mean as in stare, not a quick look, but a gaping i'm trying to win a staring contest stare, not cool.

Wedding rituals and crowds

I experienced the strangest thing today. My cousin is getting ready to get married. She is getting an arranged marriage which she wants. What happened was this. They had posted an ad in the paper and someone responsed. She has not seen the man yet, but her family called and said they would like to meet her. We got all dolled up cause we were going to go see more pandals and i was wearing this really nice sari my mom got me. I will now explain the events:

1. Boy's family comes into house, Mom, Dad, Big Brother, and Mom's brother.
2. My cousin and I had to stay in another room till she was called upon by the family
3. My cousin came out and then they asked her some questions but most of them were answered by my aunt
4. Then the dad asked if there were any more questions and they sent her away to her room
5. I came out cause I wanted to see what was going on
6. They didn't even look at me when they asked me questions they kept asking my aunt about me, it was very uncomfortable so I went back to my room
7. I found out from my cousin that the boy's family had called her school to ask what kind of student and person she was.
8. My uncle had gone to the boys company to ask what he was like, and he then asked his friends and school mates
9. I then found out that my uncle will not let my cousin do anything until she gets married. (she has to come home before 8 every night) she's 25.

After that whole marriage thing, we went out and it was very crowded. I do not handle people touching me very well. I especially hate it when sticky bodies are pressing against me and pushing me from behind so I lost my patience and screamed out "Why are you all pushing everyone will be able to see it, GAWWWWWWD JAHUSESSSS). They all looked at me like I was crazy or something. It seems that when people push you from behind and it's so crowded, to the point where my feet were not even touching the ground and was I slowly moving up, it all seems very normal. The line was sooo long and I was getting very angry. The pandal was not even worth seeing. The 2 we later saw were so much better. They were all made of mud and sculptures were carved into the wall. One of the pandals were all made of the top part of rice plants. It was really well done. I enjoyed some bhel puri which was lovely.

I left my family to meet my other cousin, and we had some late night Chinese in china town in Kolkata, where the power went out in the restaurant, and a bunch of us were talking under the fish lights, which didn't turn off. We then stayed up till 7 talking and went out for somosas for breakfast and went to bed.

Durga Puja and festival crowds

Today was the first day of durga puja. It is the biggest festivel in bengali culture and religion. Go to wikipikipedia if you would like to read about it. It is too complicated to explain. The whole thing is about wearing new clothes and going out and looking at the different sculptures of the deities. Well at least thats for me. So i dawned my new sulwar kurta. Which is a long shirt that reaches my knees and then these absurdly baggy tapered pants. Which didn't seem to fit my big legs.

We got all dolled up, and went on our pandal watching tour. Some were really inctricate and detailed. Pandals are large or small little homes that house the deities. They are all entereed in a competiion and then judged to see which one is the best.

There were also loads of lights and light art arond town. People were all wearing there new clothes and everyone was outside walking around. I strated my indian snack marathon with a spicy egg roll which consisted of a moist chapati one side and an omlet on the other side all rolled up to make a nice meal. Later i had some ice cream and a gilipie which is similar to funnel cake with out the powderes sugar, instead it is dipped in sugar water and then enjoyed hot. I then after sweating about a gallong, not kidding went to enjoy my last meal, my favorite Dosa. It's so tasty, i though enjoy it only with my cocunut sauce not the sambar. I'm not going to explain all these things just yet .I will write a blog all about indian snacks. Man i was so so stuffed. Oh to my vegetarian friends, i've become a vegetarian now.

Singing and Sari's

So i came back from my middle cousins house to go to go see my little cousin's singing. I had previously prommised the little girls in the group that i would come to there show in a sari...um what was i thinking? So i ran came home as fast as possible full of tea and samosa's. I ran inside and everyone tells me to hurry up. I run into the closet grab a sari of my mothers and attempt to put it one. So with the help of the woman who cleans the house and my grandmother who can barely stand they attempt to put my sari on. In the meantime my grandfather is putting my churi's(glass bracelets) on. So i feel like i'm getting ready for my wedding. It was all extremly amusing. I finnaly made it to the show. Sari's are actually very comfortable and breath very well. The funny thing is that i was wearing my awesome 50 cent t-shirt yesterday and my grandfather was like are you going to wear that out? i said yes. he said no, you can see everything.. it was only a sliver of my tummy. Yet when women wear sari's they expose their entire mid section.. wierd. Indian thinking is so wierd.

Anyway so i went to the show and everyone was lauging at me and i didn't understand why. Later a women told me that if you pick the sari up from the bottom to walk, it is very uncustomable. JAHUSES, i have to lift my sari in a certain way! So the woman proceded to fix my sari so it would be right, since the little girls asked me if i was wearing my sari the american way!. ARGF

The show was nice, except for the boring gazillion dance scenes. These little 10 year old girls were really cute and they kept talking to me. They sang ver well and even a 5 year old had a solo and was playing the harmonium (an indian version of a keyboard where the sound comes from air pressed in). It was all nice, except for the entire place laughing at me. :(

what ev!