Miss USA 2009

Photo from Google Images

After living in a country with people from all over the world, where it is a rarity to see another Caucasian outside the walls of Ozone, it was quite jarring to open Yahoo! News last week and see these two women as "the most beautiful" in the USA.

They could be twins... hair, make-up, body shape, height... why do we limit ourselves so?
Here I come across the most amazingly beautiful women and they wouldn't even make the Top 10.
Sad, sad

1st grade spelling test

I've already mentioned that Annika's spelling tests are RIDICULOUS...

This week they have "whether"
WHAT??
They haven't even had "weather" and they have "whether" on their spelling test?!?
Tell me, how often do YOU use that word?? But "weather" is used all the time.
What are they thinking???

UPDATE:
Full list for this week:
around, give, lamp, things, whether, explain, compare, direction, created, show length, colour, rainbow, features, magnifying
last week:
apply, falls, facts, enough, different, moves, Earth, image, plane, stars, moon, beam, travel, Scientific, accurate

Jennifer update:

Apparently she's home.
She'll be back to work on Monday.
I'll find out more tomorrow.

Good eatin'

This morning I had to leave the house @ 9:15a. Angel didn't show so I waited until 9:30a but I had to go. (She's usually here by 9:00a/9:15a) so since I couldn't give her verbal instructions, I left "piles" of what I wanted her to cook...

I left a pile for pickled beets - a bag of raw beets, a written recipe, and the correct US measuring cups/tbsp to correspond with the measuring used in the recipe

I left a pile for Dal Tadka - The name of the dal I wanted made, a container of yellow lentils and a bag of caraway seeds

I left a bag of skinless/boneless chicken breasts defrosting in a bowl for Angel to do with as she sees fit

And on the stove when I got home was a big pot of beet, yellow dal, chicken stew.
Mmmmmm....

UPDATE:
Actually, it's not too bad.
But I guess it's what I'll be eating for lunch and dinner for the next few days since Annika and I are the only ones who like beets.
Plus I was really looking forward to having some pickled beets. :-(

Jennifer update: This experience is truly a gift

OK, now here's the REAL DEAL with Jennifer that her family didn't want me to know...
She has the devil inside.

Yes, she's been vomiting blood / not eating for 2+ weeks. They took her to the hospital once where she was given I.V. fluids, after the attacks returned they took her to a Priest who told the family Jennifer has the Devil inside.

So Friday, she was put on a bus to Chennai with her Auntie and her Auntie's husband to go to a "holy place" so she can have the Devil removed from her body. It is a male "ghost" so he will not leave her body unless something serious is done.

Want to know why she has the devil inside? Well, not only did a Priest tell a very religious family that there is one but additional proof is that Jennifer is now spitting up black gunk instead of red blood. The black gunk is proof of the Devil.

Wow.

What color does blood turn when it's old? Does it coagulate into gunk or stay smooth and liquidy? Unbelievable.

So the family has been avoiding my questions because they were afraid Jennifer would lose her job and I would no longer allow her to be near my children with the Devil inside.

ALSO - I told Auntie that I would pay medical bills directly to the hospital or doctor - but now I know there is no doctor or additional hospital bills because she's been seeing a Priest instead! So Auntie WAS trying to make a buck off Jennifer's illness. I'm sure they're spending money on a trip for 3 to Chennai but I prefer to take her to my own doctor when she returns.

Jennifer update: Something's not right

This morning I called Jennifer's Auntie to ask how Jennifer is. We had expected Jennifer to come to work on Friday but Sheila came instead and no one came Saturday. (I was out of town) So today I called and Auntie said Jennifer resumed vomiting blood on Friday, so they put her on a bus to Chennai!! to go to a Chennai hospital.

WTF?!?

1) A bus ride to Chennai is 6+ hours. Would you put a sick/vomiting person on long bus ride?
2) Bangalore is a large metropolitan city with many good hospitals but they prefer to take her to Chennai?
3) Still no one knows what is wrong with her?

This just does not add up to me.
I've had Sheila in my home today and I've asked her many questions and she is very quiet. Her English is not very good and she's shy anyway but why aren't people talking?

Angel thinks Jennifer's phone was probably sold, not lost like perviously told.
It's all so strange...
I was hoping to take Jennifer to MY doctor today so the both of us could finally get some answers. Or maybe I'm being played? Or maybe Auntie is playing Jennifer? It's so frustrating.

Chickpet

Explored a shopping district of Bangalore called Chickpet with visiting Sue and Bree. We had fun getting lost 'cause the place was a mad house!! Luckily we had been forewarned so we were not taken by surprise. We were there for hours and only saw a few blocks.

I thought Commercial Street was crazy but it ain't got nothin' on Chickpet

Sidewalks? Or just open trench covers?

A group of Rickshaw Drivers found Sue very interesting

A darling vendor who sold Maharaja hats among other things, today was his lucky day because Sue bought about 7 of them

Ornate temple off Avenue Road in Chickpet

Nice doorway

H A N U M A N!!

Temple

We went to Laxmi Silks and were shown lots and lots of sarees - ranging from Rps. 400/ to Rps. 2,500/ they said their stock goes up to Rps. 15,000/ ($30,000) most of their sarees are pure silk.
The one I'm playing with in this photo is an instant saree - the skirt is already put together with pleats and underskirt you just hook the pieces together - took just a few seconds to put on

Then the rain came...

and came...

and wouldn't stop coming...

until the roads became rivers and we were soaked to the bone.

Jennifer update:

I just got home from 3 days in Kabini, India on a wildlife reserve where the kids and I went on TWO safaris!
I'm exhausted and about to go to bed but here is a quick update on Jennifer.

On Wednesday Angel told me she had visited Jennifer on Tuesday. Jennifer was smiling and said she would be back to work on Friday.
Erik said Sheila came to work on Thursday but no one came Friday or Saturday. I don't know what this means. We can't call Jennifer because Angel said Jennifer's cell phone was lost during her illness (lost? or confiscated??)

I'll call Jennifer's Auntie tomorrow.
Night night!!

Monkeys!!

Sue, Bree and I headed to the Big Banyon Tree to get some MONKEY LOVE!

Bree

Sue

We just had a Puja at the small temple in the center of the Banyon Tree park.



C'mon... she's pregnant! She needs her nourishment!





Darling little baby monkey but what happened to Moma?? Poor thing.

Happy Easter!

A few Moms got together and put together an Ozone Easter. It was very nice. They organized 3 different egg hunts for 3 different age groups. Annika and August were in different groups so I stayed with August while Erik helped Annika.

Annika with friends Sigrid and Pooja

FIND THE EGGS!

Pooja, Devika, Annika and Sarah - little girls on sugar highs

Happy Housewarming Aayush & Uma!

On our way to Aayush and Uma's to celebrate their housewarming we made a stop. While stopped, we watched a small group of people deal with a power line that had fallen on a delivery truck and a scooter. The men were curious to see if the line was active or not so a man decided to touch it with his finger. Nothing happened. But the scooter owner went and got some plyers and had to ply the power line off his melted scooter seat. Once the scooter was free and took off, the power line was on the ground where MOST people walk around barefoot. We watched in awe as this group of men entertained themselves with the power line. We left before anyone got hurt.

Erik takes Annika on a scooter ride into the villages

It is so amazing to go into the back villages - the people, the temples, the agriculture and seeing how people live! It's all mind blowing on so many levels.


rice paddys



she's getting SO BIG!

Annika being "fashion" at the baby naming ceremony

One entire wall of the hall where the baby naming ceremony took place was decorated in mirror. Annika borrowed the camera and the rest is fashion history...

Baby naming ceremony for Siddhanth

We were honored to be invited to a baby naming ceremony by our friend and landlord Prabha and her family. Erik wasn't able to make it, so I took the children

When we walked into the ceremony, we were directed downstairs to have a South Indian breakfast (YUM!!) Kids enjoyed it too. I was surprised to watch August eating the Sambar - which is quite spicy!

Prabha greeting us during breakfast

Hand washing station since meals are eaten with your hands. South Indian food is often eaten with rice, not breads like naan, so your hands can get pretty mucky

A friend of Prabha's family and ours... Shekhar

During the first part of the ceremony there was a large open fire on the stage. Here, the chimney is being taken away once the fire portion was over.


Proud big brother sitting with Dad and Mom

Little Siddhanth getting his moment in the spotlight

Sweet, sweet baby. He was calm throughout the long ceremony. Prabha says he is a mellow baby at home as well.
A Hindu baby naming ceremony takes place with the baby is 6 months old. These days a hospital won't let you leave without giving the baby a name, but before these practices the baby's name was not announced until this ceremony.

The kids got restless so we went outside to stretch our legs. Luckily a group of cows were taking themselves for a walk down a busy street.

A little back scratch

Bye bye!