Unexpected

 

It’s unexpected how much I like India already. I went in with incredibly low expectations, however. It’s really necessary to believe you’re going to hate the place you’re going to or else you’ll be in for a nasty surprise about something you imagined it to be.

Never mind that I haven’t dared to eat yet because I’m not quite ready for a flush of my system due to some bacteria that will inevitably come. Never mind that there is no such thing as a clean bathroom here, and never mind that yes, there are children earning a living at age 10 here and sitting in the street in their bare bums, despite these facts, I like it here.

In fact in some ways American life feels almost stale after being here, sterilized, artificial. The colors, tastes, smells here are explosive. Even your average bag of chips is so hot and spicy that you’ve got to drink something while you eat it.

We stayed up all night packing, caught a flight to Chicago, and ate pizza there that rivaled the famous pepperoni pizza from Heiligenhaus. It was spinach, mushroom, and goat’s cheese pizza, made by a man from the Philippines who was very proud of his art. The next time you’re at the Chicago Airport, it’s called Wolfgang Puck Express in K11. All fresh ingredients and a fire oven, yum.

The 15 hour plane ride wasn’t so bad. We got to fly business class, and I didn’t know  the seats went all the way down in business as well as first class. Jacob slept the whole way, typically, and just as typically, I didn’t sleep more than 2 hours. I watched 6 episodes of The Office, Gone With the Wind, part of Cabaret before I turned it off in disgust, and part of a Micheal Jackson documentary. I haven’t watched that much TV in a row in my entire life.

Flying over Norway

People drive on the left side of the road and the right side of the car.

It was surprisingly easy to get our money changed into rupees, pick up our luggage, use the phone to call our hostel, and get picked up. The roads are extremely bumpy here and for a road that leads out of the airport, surprisingly undeveloped. When we arrived at the hostel, we were disappointed to learn that our room had gotten exchanged for one with no shower. Plus, it was out in the middle of nowhere. We went straight to sleep; it was around midnight, but around noon where we had just come from in the US.

On Nirvana Hostel’s room wall. I think it’s Shiva. Blatant religious symbols wherever you are at. At the YMCA, the 10 Commandments are hung on our wall.

View from the hostel window

Digging holes seems to be the main vocation of everyone here. Women in saris, young children, working men, walk down a street and that is what everyone is concentrating on.

The next day, we decided to change hostels, but not before seeing the Qutb Minar, the first mosque built in India, the tallest stone tower in India, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We took and autorickshaw to get there.

It’s fun to ride on Indian roads. You know, the kind of fun like it’s fun to go skydiving, roller coaster riding, or any other type of thrill-seeking event. There are no lights, no stop signs, and every type of vehicle you can imagine all honking, racing, swerving, and waving at one another.

This Indian family had our same camera

So we are now at the YMCA, which unfortunately does not have wifi, but it does have a gym. We’ll probably stay through Sunday in order to go to Church, and then go to the Taj Mahal on Monday, or thereabouts. To get a reasonable level of comfort here in India (functionable toilet, hot water, private room, etc) you have to pay more than you would in the US. Our room here is $80, which is the same price we paid in New York City.

 

This is the little boy who cleans Nirvana Hostel.

 
  

Many people have cloths covering their mouths on the streets here, I believe because it’s so smoggy.

India Gate

And now a “little nap” has turned into a full night’s rest and my schedule is sure to be mixed up for the next few days. Anyway it’s nice to kind of hide away in here to get away from the absolute madness that is blazing outside.

Monday: Keller. Tuesday: Chicago. Wednesday: New Delhi.

 
Mom and I at Jack’s choir concert

   

 

 
It snowed here. A lot. The most in 80 years. I have never seen our front yard look like this.

Jacob likes this couch where he can stretch out…

 
Mellie likes to stretch out on Jacob.

We spend a lot of time laughing at Mellie.

Went to one of Jack’s basketball games at the stake center.

Jack made this sweet shot but he is hidden by the large player in the red.

 
Conversation with the dog…

Basketball parents

  
Jacob got the hook-up from Dad and some of his work connections to get to go to the All Star Game for free

Usher

Oh and by the way, I don’t think my toe nail job got a fair shot from the last post…very Indian, wouldn’t you say?

Well, we aren’t in India yet because the flights were full last week. But this Tuesday is “green” which means it’s wide open. We’ve got our hostel booked, and we’re set for 15 hours of torture… a 15 hour flight from Chicago to New Delhi. I try to remind myself that if I’ve done a 32 hour bus ride, I can do a 15 hour flight.

We are now all high tech. We were such ghetto travelers last year! No-cell-phones, stay-in-hostel-dorms, buy-a-paperback-in-English-if-you-see-one, real-deal backpackers. We are now what are called “flashpackers.”

A flashpacker is someone, unusually in their mid 20s to early 30s, who travels like a backpacker but has more disposal income as well as electronics such as a camera, Ipod, or laptop. Flashpackers expect better accommodation and amenities on their travels.

Neither fully backpacker nor tourist, flashpacking is new to the traveling lexicon. Flashpackers still sleep in big hostels, carry a big backpack with them, try to look for cheap transportation but also desire good local food, parties, and tours. They usually aren’t strolling into a hostel randomly or wearing the same shirt for a week.

From http://travel30plus.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-backpacking-is-flashpacking.html

We have/will have an Iphone, Ipod Touch, Kindle, NeatReceipts scanner, two laptops, and a fancy schmancy digital camera (are the photos looking higher quality?)

Other new additions to the trip include pepper spray, a year’s supply of newly prescribed contacts, three snap-and-fold laundry bags (his, hers, and dirty), makeup organizer, water bottle with filter, quality walking shoes, new sports attire, mini-sized hair styling equipment…

We got rid of the 10 Les Miserables-sized novels we were carting around all year instead.

In other words, this time we are trying to consciously prepare to travel, instead of just kind of accidently wander from country to county.

We’ll see what it’s like to be flashpackers instead of backpackers.

Can tough guys get a pedicure?

They can now! Family pedicure outing...

Never thought I'd be doing this! But my dad Al, better known as "the Dude" has all but insisted ;)




Trying to maintain my tough guy image after having my toe nails done. I opted for flames but they couldn't quite hack it so I settled for a smily face. Al got blaCk with a lightning bolt, and the ladies got girly stuff.












Nice massage remote.




Who wins nicest design.





Cast your vote ;)




- Blogging on the road wit my iPhone.

Recipe Per Request

2 cans artichoke hearts (drain, squeeze out extra water, and cut into pieces)
2 cans black olives (drain)
2 cans bamboo shoots (drain)
2 cans mushrooms (drain)
2 cups zucchini sliced very thin
bottle Italian dressing (low oil)
package Hidden Valley Ranch

 

 

This is a recipe from my mother-in-law. It makes a lot of servings too. I took it to a dinner and it was a crowd pleaser and everyone wanted the recipe so here it is:

Combine ingredients and mix in a bowl. That’s it :)

Jacob : This salad is soo good.  I had 5 helpings at our “break the fast” dinner.

A Rant From A Small Business Owner

Alert...I (Kalli) am going to rant...sorry in advance. I will reveal some of my conservative leanings in this post.

Speaking of charity from the last post, I found it kind of ironic...

I have a friend on Facebook, a staunch liberal, who likes to say conservatives just don't care about the needy...after all, they don't support tax raises that just want to provide welfare to others...they are selfish because they want to keep the money they earned...after all, they have a lot of it, right?

But if you research it you'll find statistics that say on average, conservatives donate 30 % more of their income to charity than liberals, as well as donate more time and even more blood to charitable causes.

It seems the current government's way of management is to take money from people who worked smart and earned it and give it to the poor, helpless, little people...isn't that generous??? Obama's like a parent with 300 million helpless children who gives out handouts left and right taken from the mean, bad business owners who dare to be successful and make a lot of money.

Oh wait, that's me and Jacob.

I'm mad. Jacob and I work hard to budget our money, and for what purpose? So that the federal government can blow their budget out of the water? And I'm supposed to help pay for that via taxes? It's nice to know that for months January through April we will donate all of our money that we earned so that the government can put up one powerful, yet succinct, paragraph on its 18 million dollar website. Not.

It's not that we don't care about people who are struggling right now. We donate a lot of money to various charities every year. But I like getting to choose where my money is allocated--to which charities and for what purpose. The government is not a charity I would like to donate to.

I still like Obama personally and I still wouldn't have wanted to see McCain's face for four years.

But so far his lip service to small business has been just that, lip service.

I only ask for one thing from the government. And that is, to use my money wisely. I don't want them to tell me my morals, or to tell me anything really. I just want them to stay out of my business and get the job done. With as minimal amount of my money as possible.

If this continues, we're moving to Canada.

Or...India!!! We'll probably be leaving in a week. I'm nervous. We've got our visas, passports, vaccinations, and mini-size towels, blow and hair dryers, etc. We've been incorporating the business, preparing taxes, and getting everything organized before heading out again while staying with Jacob's parents...The plan is currently New Delhi, Agra to see the Taj Mahal, Varanasi the holiest city of India, and then settling in Kolkata, former home of Mother Teresa. We'll see though, we have been known to change plans last minute.

The Storehouse

For the first time, I got to see what a Bishop's Storehouse looks like when Jacob and I volunteered there this week. Yet one more reason I am proud to be Mormon. It's like the best non profit ever.

The way it works is that struggling families can go to their bishop, or congregation leader, to ask for help. The bishop, based on their situation, gives them permission to go to the bishop's storehouse, which is like a grocery store where items are given, not purchased, and in return they perform a service that the Church needs, like cleaning the church building. I asked the other workers there if anyone is paid, and I was told that it is run completely by volunteers, mostly retired men and women.

Awesome, right?? I was amazed at how huge it was, the variety, and the resources that the Church has in times of emergency. Not only are we encouraged to have 2 years of food storage, but in the event that something happened and Jacob and I needed help, we would always have a resource to turn to.

The LDS Church strongly encourages self reliance and independence, because when you are, you are better in the position to help others. So the Storehouse isn't a free ride, but sort of a step up when you're really out of luck.

This is also why I love paying tithing. Tithe, which literally means "tenth" is a voluntary contribution to the Church. I have seen so often how it is used for the good that it is a privilege to be able to pay it. For example, BYU tuition is so low because tithing helps to fund it. In Turkey, humanitarian aid missionaries were helping to distribute free wheelchairs all over Turkey. And now we got to see how our tithing pays for food of needy families all around the globe.

And all of this is distributed by people who are not paid! It is really incredible.

Awesomest drumming

This is probably one of the coolest drumming demos I have ever seen!

I love the aggressive stance and power of these drummers.  They have some serious panache going on (I love using that word).

This is from the Epcot Center in Disney World.