Indian life

Indian food cooked by Wajit.  The vegetalbes are from two separate meals.  Left is Okra, called lady fingers in India and the other is potatoes/onions/tomatoes - my favorite, he must have used extra salt and oil!  Accompanied with traditional dal with rice. 

At first it was great to have him cook for me but now it has become too often as i don't cook antmore.  He also brings me food that his wife makes (and boy is that good!).  The problem is that he brings it at around 8:30pm and I have usually already eaten but I don't want to be rude and turn it down, besides it is just yummy.  If this is the worst of my problems I must be doing OK. 

On Monday I went to my exercise (yoga) class, it was fine.  I walked home with a woman from class and we have a date to do something on Sunday.  My first friend!  I like her and she speaks English very well.  She works for an international advertising company based in Delhi.  She has moved out of her family home for the job and has her own flat in Kalkaji, the neighboring town. A woman living on her own is not very common in India as most remain with their parents until marriage.

i am finally getting into a routine for the week.  I have been waking early at 6:30 and go for 1/2 to 1 hour walk around the neighborhoods.  I found a park that has a walking path that is sand.  There are quite a few people walking in the morning which is good.  The temperature at 6:30 is around 91 and when I return it is usually around 93.  Monday and Fridays eve I have been going to exercise class, Wednesdays is my Skyping evening and cooking.  Food is good.  There is a Southern indian restaurant down the street that I want to go to but still havent.  i seem to always have food at home that needs eating.  No different than home...  Eric and I facetime a few days a week which is something i look forward to.  Before I left for India Eric got an iphone.  Because of the iphone we can talk easily whenever there is wifi.  Love the Apple technology andstaying connected. 

Feeling a bit envious of people at home.  Eric in the Adirondacks, Christine in the Adirondacks, Tony and Christopher backpacking.  I miss the great outdoors.  I am hearing that it is quite hot and humid in New York.  Here it is very hot, but dry.  Humidity level is usually under 10%.  Yesterday was hot and humid (14%).  Maybe I shouldn't complain but I know in New York it doesn't stay that way for months.

Tonight is the wedding.  DO I take a gift?  Money?  I will look it up on line to see what I can find.   Looking forward to seeing how elaborate the affair will be.  Marriage and babies are events to celebrate in India.  Maybe everywhere....

I know I haven't discussed work.  That will be another posting.  Not good, but there is hope that it will pick up.  I have been here for 6 weeks, 17 weeks more- Ugh, but the project should pick up in July.  Always need to have hope that things will get better and I do have that.  Between my Christopher's FB and emails from outdoor outfitters I am thinking about a backpacking trip for next year.  In the mountains, water, trees.... Need positives and things to look forward to helps me keep going. 

Before I left home I was planning on going to Laos and Cambodia for an active adventure following my fellowship. Since I have been here my thoughts were maybe to stay and travel around India. Over this last two weeks I decided that I didn't want to spend anymore time in India than I have to.   Hopefully I will head up to Ladakh area, the Himalayas of India, for four days.  I just want to see the area and the best time to travel is May-August.  I won't have time for a backpack, but hopefully there are short hikes for exploring the valleys and hills.  Sue, my friend from Australia mentioned a great trip called the Valley of the Flowers (sounds great huh?) but I would need at least 5 days.  The agreement for the fellowship was that I couldn't take any vacation during my 6 months.  I have worked two Saturdays, so I will be using those as comp days.  Need to make myself happy right???

I will let you know how the wedding goes....