Manilla

I have been getting into playing scrabble on facebook. The highest scoring word I have ever received so far is ....drum roll please... 86 points for the word Manilla.

In other news, my mom is taking care of her employers dog this weekend. While we stepped out down the hall, the dog proceeded to get the closed box of chocolates off the kitchen table and consume about 4 truffles. We just got Bernie's stomach pumped.

In other news, I am look to work on a small farm or permaculture homestead. Fiddling is going well. My mom as asked me to help her get rid of stuff. Yeah! Go Mom!

Lazy John

Lazy John #1- Johnnie Lee Wills

Lazy John, lazy John
Won't you get your day's work all done
I'm in the shade and you’re in the sun
Why don’t you go away Lazy John.


Up in the mornin’ at the break of day,
Workin’ in the cotton tryin’ to earn my pay,
Later in the morning here you come along
Why don’t you go away Lazy John. 

Orthodox Celts

Need I say anything?

Zambia Holla!

Nada Problem

Dr. Bombay 2008

After taking and overnight bus to Jaipur, seeing Amer fort and Galta I hopped on a plane to Mumbai. This is Bollywood capital for all of you out of the loop. Apparently all the popular music in India comes from Bollywood films and not from any other medium. Quite in contrast to other parts of the world where there are a zillion different popular genres and experimental forms. We stayed with Chad's friend Cheryl in a slum (where over 55% of ppl. in bombay live) and rode the train into town every day. On Christmas I wore one of Cheryl's Salwar kameez's (sp... a sort of long dress over baggy pants and a long scarf draped back over the shoulders) and so did she, while Chad wore is Kurta Pajama and we went to Catholic Church. Apparently 4 people die everyday on the trains in Bombay. Crazy. There are special lady cars and people are always hanging out of the doorways while it is moving. We had a delicious meal at Cheryl's boyfriend Dilip's house and I explained (through Cheryl's Hindi) the nature of my relationship with my half-bro and half-sis to his mother. This is definitely unheard of here, so that conversation was pretty funny...and long, ha! Other highlights include: A 'German' bakery with apple pie, me purchasing myself some Indian threads, bookstore hopping, and tasty eats of course.
On Christmas night, Chad and I caught a plane to Cochin, in the southern communist state of Kerala. We met up with some friends from Chad's Hindi program and spent a day in the old city/fort but after that I proceeded to get ill for about 3 days and stayed in bed. Upon recovery we set out on the train south for some backwater cruising. Four of us rented a houseboat and had our meals catered for two nights over the New Year in what I would call paradise. I hope everyone had a great New Year and it is pretty wild that it is already 2008. What is 2060 going to be like?

I like, I like

Hey all!
I really like Delhi, and I owe a large part of that to Chad and his clam disposition. I have learned how to cross the street, order a rickshaw with a reasonable price, ride the metro, eat, a way handle the people asking for money, the basics to get me by for the next week or so or the rest of the time. Things would be much much much different if I was to figure this out alone. Chad is leaving tomorrow for Mumbai and I am going to Jaipur and Rajistan on Tuesday. I got a guidebook (finally) so i will have some guidance. Today we went to JNU, a uni in Delhi to meet with Sayid a friend of Chad's. We didn't catch him but I got a taste of the university dorms as a friend of a friend of Sayid's let us store our big backpacks in his room. When we met up again we started talking...he is 1st year doing a doctorate in Hindi lit., pretty cool. Later we found a hotel in Parah ganj, kind of touristy area of town with lots of shopping. Check this out.. a hotel for 3 dollars each. double bed, outside porch, cable tv, personal bathroom...yeah pretty awesome. It also turns out I love Indian food, everything that I have had mmm mmm mmmmmmm(rubbing tummy). We went to an awesome bookstore today and I found three books I wanted but only got one...Elise you might like this one, it is about the biography of the organism that causes Lyme disease...written, I think, from it's perspective. For the past two days we also went to Chad's fav. bar 'Rodeo' where they serve tex-mex food (we just have beers) and it is a western theme, all of the employees dress like cowboys complete with gun holsters, wooden guns, cowboy boots and hats. But it is time to retire.
Love,
Rose

Delhi Time.

So I just arrived in Delhi and am hanging out with my friend Chad. We will be here for a few days then he goes to a retreat for work in Mumbai and I am free until christmas eve. Might try to go to the state of Rajistan (sp) ...they make some really cool shoes in that region. I am at an internet cafe using windows 98 on an ancient computer but the internet is strong. Arrived at 10am, and it is now 1pm. Chad has a friend here and we are staying in her apartment with many other visitors so we might move somewhere else for tomorrow. My first impression ...a fog. The ride from the airport was definitely crazy but not so bad. They only obey the horn, no lanes, no signal. I think I would have been more worried but we were not driving too fast because of all the cars/rickshaws/mopeds/peds. I have seen about 4 cows on the street. Today we are going to explore bookstores and chads fav. area of town and meet some of his old profs/friends from earlier in his program. I plan on being in Mumbai by the 24th and on the eve of the 25th we got a flight to Cochin. I got a nice smile from a school aged girl riding in a rickshaw and she said hi, but other than that no crazy attention like I have heard about...I have only been here for 3 hrs though. I feel in a daze because of just 3 hrs sleep but the adrenaline is keeping me going.

Look at the photos.

I am so poor at updating my blog. We have been in Athens for a week at a hostel right next to the Acropolis. I have been updating my photos more often than the blog so check there if you are eager to stalk me. I bought a very cute purse. In Vienna we went on a tour of the crypt at St. Stephens Cathedral and we saw many bones, an old cemetery, Maria Teresa's embalming jar. All of her innards are inside. On Monday we are leaving, either to an island or somewhere inland.
Carolyn is here, some nights we partied a little hard. Mousaka = very good. We went into a sweet shop and the guy was singing everything he said to us.

BYE!

Rose