Chai

There is one very important aspect to making friends and doing business here in South Asia - drinking chai (Hindi word for "tea"). If you leave the house, there's no way that you'll be able to make it through the day without having chai at least once. Most businessmen will insist on sitting with you for a while just talking and drinking chai before any business can be done. Thankfully, Aaron and I love this stuff! So many variations can be made. We really like masala (or spiced) chai. You can buy chai on almost every street corner (from a chai walla) and yes, it's safe to drink from the street vendors. Below is a recipe for 2 cups of masala chai. Hopefully you'll try it and love it!

This is a chai stand right outside out apartment building. This is always the busiest place in our neighborhood!

Ingredients: 1 cup water, 1 cup milk, grated fresh ginger (according to taste), 4 cardamom pods (open pods and use only the seeds inside), 4 peppercorn (ground), 1/2 cinnamon stick, 3 whole cloves, 1 tsp loose black tea leaves and 3 tsp sugar.

First add all ingredients to pan except 1 cup of milk and allow to boil over medium heat. Then add 1 cup milk and bring to boil again.

After the tea boils a second time, it's ready to be strained. I've found that it's best to strain it twice to get all the little pieces of tea and spices out.

Pour into cheesy mugs and enjoy!

You can vary this recipe according to what you want. Some people only use ginger and cardamom to spice their tea and that tastes great too!

Our Street Dogs

As you know from reading our previous posts, Aaron & I are suckers for the street dogs here. We have certain puppies and mommies that we check on at least every other day. These are some of our favorites...

This big girl lives across the street from our apartment building and greets us almost every time we leave. She's a very sweet, gentle BIG girl. In fact, she's probably one of the biggest street dogs we've seen. So, for all you Napoleon Dynamite fans...we named her Tina. She's finally starting to respond to her name!

This is one of my favorite full grown street dogs. Her eyes are the same color as her coat and she is absolutely beautiful! She's extremely skittish but is finally starting to warm up to us. She'll come up and lick my hand now. We named this beautiful girl Cinnamon.

These two puppies belong to Cinnamon. At first they were very skittish, like their mom, but now they come running to us. We're able to pet them and pick them up and they love it. We haven't named these two yet...we just call them Cinnamon's puppies. Any suggestions would be appreciated. The black one is a girl and the black, white and brown one is a boy.

Pooh (brown pup) and Piglet (black pup) are Aaron's very favorite street puppies! When Aaron first found this litter, he was sure that these two were too sick to make it, but they're still going strong. Their fur looked absolutely terrible, so we called Help In Suffering (HIS) and they came out and gave the puppies shots for mange. When the men from HIS captured them, those two pups screamed like someone was killing them! Their fur is looking much better now, although Piglet still seems very skinny.

About every other day, Aaron takes milk or leftovers to Pooh and Piglet. At first they were extremely scared and would run away, but now when they see Aaron they know the milk man is coming! Aaron still can't touch them but they're warming up to him.

Unusual sights in a South Asian home

There are many sights in our home which one would normally see in an American home. There are also some things which appear somewhat unusual when entering a home here in South Asia.

For some reason the bathroom has most of the exciting features.

This is a picture of one of our bathrooms. In the top left picture is what is called a geiser (pronounced geezer). This is the only means of hot water in the bathroom. A better picture and detail on how this works is below. On the right is the shower apparatus. If you are a type-A personality or a multi-tasker this bathroom is for you! You can use the toilet and take a shower at the same time...if you are really good you could probably brush your teeth at the same time (the sink is just to your left). There is nothing to keep the water contained (like a shower curtain; the water just goes everywhere and it is pushed down the drain when you are finished with a squeegee on a long handle).

Here is a better picture of the geiser. It holds 15 liters and is turned on about fifteen minutes prior to using it (this is how long it takes to heat up the water). Once the geiser is empty you are out of hot water. This is fine for the summer but in the winter you need to wash rather quickly. When turned on, both of the lights on the bottom (green and red) come on. Once the red light goes off, the water is heated.

Toilet paper is available here but only the westerners make use of it. Our toilets all have a wonderful sprayer which is used in conjunction with ones left hand to clean. To the side of the toilet there is a handle which is used to turn on the water to the sprayer. If you turn the water on too much it will shoot an amazing distance (clear to the other side of the bathroom). I do not know how many times I have soaked my pants leg while fooling around with this contraption. This is why the left hand is considered unclean in many cultures; do not try to shake with this hand and never eat with this hand. P.S.- Although this can provide hours of fun and entertainment, we buy toilet paper.

The yellow and orange contraption on our switch panels in each room is a mosquito killer. Due to problems with mosquitoes which carry malaria and dengue fever, this is a very handy item. At night when the mosquitoes are active, you turn the switch on and an orange light goes on (visible in the picture). There is a solution which is in the orange container on the bottom of the unit. This solution is evaporated and sent out into the room via a hole on the top of the yellow lid. It is silent and emits a subtle pleasant scent. When these are used you find all sorts of bugs and insects dead on the floor. They say that it is harmless but this is coming from a country that uses bamboo scaffolding to build high rise buildings.

This is a picture of our refrigerator All come equipped with something that looks like a belly button at the top of the lower door. This is a lock which when closed with a key keeps either door from being opened. This is to prevent monkeys from getting into the fridge. This would be a great money maker for an entrepreneur in the USA...it could be marketed as the fridge for dieters.

Hawa Mahal - The Wind Palace

Sadly, with language study and just everyday life here it's not very often that we actually go sightseeing. A few weeks ago, however, we spent a Saturday doing some touring of areas we had not previously seen. We went to Hawa Mahal, otherwise known as the Wind Palace. Here's a little history from a website on this palace. "The best-known landmark and the signature monument of Jaipur, Hawa Mahal or Palace of Winds was built by the poet King Sawai Pratap Singh in 1799 AD. Though, it is a part of the City Palace, it is situated on the other side of the road. It is the delicate façade that can be seen from outside of this palace, which is the most notable. The five-storeyed building flaunts Rajput architecture and artistry to its best including its 953 pink sandstone windows known as 'jharokhas' that are built in such as manner that it resembles a giant honeycomb. Meant for the ladies of the royal household, the building was built to allow them to watch the colorful bazaars and processions going across the city while maintaining their tradition of being veiled and not to be seen from outside."

Front of Hawa Mahal

Looking out from inside Hawa Mahal

Interior of Hawa Mahal


Backside of Hawa Mahal

Backside of Hawa Mahal from inner courtyard

Aaron's New Baby

Since we moved to South Asia, we (Aaron) needed (wanted) a vehicle. I looked at many scooters and motorcycles. The average bike here has a 100 cc motor. This is good for around town but for going outside of the city and longer trips, a bigger motor is better (especially when transporting two people). Although since becoming great with child, Melanie does not ride with me anymore.

After a month or so, I decided on a Royal Enfield http://royalenfield.com/. This is the biggest bike that is made in South Asia and is the biggest bike that is commonly seen on our roads. I finally found the exact bike that I wanted and then proceeded to bargain over the price and details. After a month and dozens of cups of chai (tea), the bike was mine. Little did I know that it would take three more weeks just to register the bike in my name- things do not work the same in South Asia (especially for a foreigner).

The bike looks nice and is a blast to drive. The experience is further enhanced by dodging elephants, camel carts, horse carriages, street dogs, buses, cars, trucks, pedal and auto rickshaws scores of people and the ever present potholes and sinkholes. The picture of the circle known as Badi Chaupar gives you an idea of what traffic is like. The ten minutes that I was in the spot where I took the picture I saw two elephants, one horse carriage, camel carts, dogs and monkeys.

Melanie picks on me and calls the bike my "precious". I think it is because I get a gleam in my eye when I drive which is similar to Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

2005 Royal Enfield (Bullet 350)

Royal Enfield Gas Tank Badge

Royal Enfield Bullet 350 cc Motor


A look at traffic in our city-
this is called Badi Chaupar (Big Circle)

Shopping!!

Shopping here is an adventure. Unfortunately, WalMart has not found their way to S. Asia yet! No WalMart = No One Stop Shopping
So, here are my favorite places to shop. I go to these places at least every other day.

This is by far my very favorite store...Shopper's Paradise! They have a really good selection of imported food that we can't find other places. This is where I buy my Ragu spaghetti sauce, apple juice and tator tots. And yes, when I go in to buy tator tots I always say "gimme your tots!"


Here is the milk man stand. We buy milk, eggs, bread and yogurt here. The milk is really, really good - the best I've ever had! And the best thing is that it only costs 36 cents for 1 liter.


This is where we buy our fresh veggies. We can find pretty much anything you can think of and it's CHEAP. I go see this guy everyday. We can't eat anything raw unless we peel it, but we cook most of the veggies anyway.


We buy from two different fruit vendors. This one doesn't have as much selection as the other one. I'm actually able to get Washington apples from the other one! Fruit is not as cheap as vegetables, but it's still cheap compared to the US.


We saved the best for last...the ice cream shop. This shop is directly across the street from our apartment, so we visit it often! We buy ice cream, coke and snickers here.

Baby G and Happy Birthday Uncle Bill!!

We went to the doctor today for a check up, but didn't get an ultrasound. The doctor said that the baby and I are growing normally and everything looks good. I go back in one month for another check up and an ultrasound. Even though we didn't have an ultrasound, I'll post one from four weeks ago for those of you who didn't see it. The picture isn't great, so don't strain yourself!



Oh yes, and lest I forget...HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE BILL!!!
You know, you really look amazing for 85!! We love you and wish you a wonderful day.

Funny stuff!!

Who knew that dressing yourself in another country could be so difficult? I bought my first sari in December but had no idea how to wrap twenty one feet of material and make it look good. The first time I wanted to wear it our neighbor came over to help me get dressed. When I walked out of the bedroom with the blouse and under skirt on, our neighbor started laughing uncontrollably. When she finally stopped she told me that I had the blouse on backwards. No wonder I thought it didn’t fit!! Who would have dreamed that the snaps go in the front?!? Since then I've improved drastically on my sari wrapping skills!

Let me start by saying that the Hindi word for eggs is “unday.” A few weeks ago Aaron went out to get eggs. Of course, he wanted to practice his Hindi so he planned to ask the man for a dozen eggs. Unfortunately, instead of saying “unday” for eggs Aaron asked for a dozen panties! Thankfully no one here calls underwear “panties” so they had no idea what he was talking about!

Our Flat

Finally, here are some pictures of our new home. We can only post 5 pictures so the kitchen was left out. Also, we're not able to put pictures up on walls so they look kind of bare!

This is the outside of our apartment building. A - Office balcony, B - Living room/Dining room balcony, C - Master bedroom balcony, D - Master bedroom window and AC! E - Guestroom balcony

The empty office!

Living room/dining room

Master bedroom

Guest bedroom

We also have 3 bathrooms which are interestingly set up...we'll save that post for another day!

Animals In India

We see some pretty unusual animals on an everyday basis. It doesn't matter where we go, we see them everywhere - even from our balcony. Here are some pictures of the more interesting animals we see everyday.

Here are cows, pigs and dogs fighting over the garbage in the street.

A baby monkey wandering around the city.

Watch out! A herd of water buffalo walking down the street.

We see more camel carts than we can count!

And the creepiest one for last...a snake charmer with cobras! Don't worry though, they rip the fangs out before they use them.

Help In Suffering Animal Hospital

Aaron with the sign outside the compound.

Here is one of the ambulances used to pick up animals.

Although this looks like a deer, it's actually an antelope - called "Nilgai" - found in remote areas!

These are all street dogs that have just received their rabies vaccination.

Melanie fell in love with this playful little puppy!

We've become quite the dog vigilantes since moving to S. Asia. This is a difficult place to live if you like animals, especially dogs. There are almost as many street dogs here as there are people. Lots of them are sick, starving or hurt. We have a route that we walk every day or every other day to feed and check on all the dogs in our neighborhood. We've found many that were badly hurt and we had no idea what to do for them. We looked on the internet and found an organization called "Help In Suffering." This is an organization that takes in injured animals, cares for them and then releases them. They have many other programs you can check out on their website: http://www.his-india.org.au/
All this to say that we went to visit Help In Suffering today, and it was a great experience. There were so many animals being taken care of that we were blown away. We saw donkeys, cows, horses, pigeons, green parrots, peacocks, monkeys, camels, water buffalo, mules, rabbits, cats and dogs. I can't tell you how great it was to see well fed dogs! We're pretty sure this will be a new favorite place for us to visit.

Wedding in South Asia

Traditional Formal Wear

Bride and Groom

Groom arriving at the wedding ceremony on horseback

Elephant leading the procession to the wedding ceremony; followed by camels, wedding guests, men carrying lights, musicians and finally the groom on horseback.

Last night Aaron & I attended the wedding of a Hindu friend. It was the nicest wedding we've been to so far here in South Asia. The thing about weddings here is that they are long and very expensive. At 8:30 last night the groom mounted his horse and began the procession to the wedding. There was a large band and the grooms' family and friends danced their way to the garden. Although it was only a few kilometers away, it took an hour and a half for them to arrive. Also included in the wedding procession was one elephant and two camels.
The bride was, of course, beautiful in her beaded gown which can weigh between 5 and 10 pounds. She was adorned with all kinds of jewelry and glittery things.
There was a ton of good food and lots of people. We arrived at 9:45 and stayed until after midnight. The actual wedding ceremony had not even started yet when we left! The groom told us that he and his new bride would be performing all kinds of ceremonies and rituals with their families until 3:00 or 4:00 the next afternoon. Weddings are certainly one of the best cultural experiences here in South Asia...of course Aaron just likes the all you can eat buffet!!