tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28278970718229255422024-03-05T14:23:01.299-08:00wontbeatbarcabutilltrycrystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-57870010557514204922013-08-08T23:50:00.000-07:002013-08-08T23:50:13.366-07:00Why Madrid changed the things I knew about food.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />So it has been a while. A long while. 7 months of Arabic training. A month of other random training. Some home leave. Some vacation. A curtailment. A reassignment. And here I am in Manama. About to write about Madrid. No Libya for me at the moment, a fact that made my family very happy. But in a post-Benghazi Foreign Service world I am making the most of my "snow days" resulting from an "abundance of caution". Between D.C. shutting us down and the Eid holiday and my passport being held who the heck knows where I have been given ten days to get to know my apartment. <div>
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I have always been a gal with a healthy work-life balance but I arrived here to be the Deputy Pol/Econ Chief and was immediately acting as the Chief, a fact which led me to be a workaholic for the first time in my life (helped also by the limiting social options of Ramadan and the sad fact that everyone I work with is either married with young kids or works for me in some capacity). I find it ironic that just when I am fully and absolutely loving my job and wanting to be in the office with all my plucky little heart I am not allowed in!!!!! I think it is the universe putting me back in my place....</div>
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And having already spent time dancing randomly around my apartment, reading lots of Game of Thrones (dang that is a long book, don't buy the four book pack on the Kindle....it takes so long to even go 1% up....egads), watching bad TV downloaded to my iPad, finding the Navy Base and trying a spin class for the first time (ouch), having the interns over for dinner so they can say good-bye to their old apartment (yeah the 5 interns lived in my apartment before me, Real World Manama), I am now finally getting around to a long overdue project....getting my pictures in order.</div>
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When in Pakistan I thought my computer wasn't working because I had too many pictures on it so I put them all on memory sticks and deleted from hard drive (is that what it is called?). Turned out that one of the times I dropped the computer must've harmed it and it needed a new hard drive (again I think that is it). But when I finally came back online I realized all my Facebook albums had been deleted also. I felt kinda like a character in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind since my memory not so great and I used my Facebook albums to remind me of what the heck I'd been doing. </div>
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So now....I am reuploading my photos to Shutterfly...and I've decided to work on posting them here in batches telling the stories of the trips so I can have a record. I'm starting with Madrid December 2011. Because they were the first photos I uploaded. Yeah that is how organized I am. </div>
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Scenesetter....I was living in Pakistan. In Karachi on a compound. All travel, requested at least 24 hours in advance, was in a fully armored vehicle with an armed guard to destinations pre-approved. So no strolling the streets, no whimsical side trips, no chance meetings or making new random friends. Sad since Pakistanis are ridiculously nice and inviting and there appeared to be a lot of silly fun to be had on the streets. Thankfully the people I worked with ruled so compound living for me was kind of like a big adult dorm, a lot of drinking and laughing but without the drama. After a while though it could feel pretty repressive so my trip to Madrid was much needed....</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIDISHuscmLgXfFflCet7NbvmjR7RJcaPn_obdqARR-QnGcPScrm5LSCu50QseQpps86eDICMWMhQCjnYsbYRpJ3l4OTEgphr-Nc4sDED5I4TEEUqn8rTuHi7WDdbvNH5lGeLxa4inGSU/s1600/DSC04922.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIDISHuscmLgXfFflCet7NbvmjR7RJcaPn_obdqARR-QnGcPScrm5LSCu50QseQpps86eDICMWMhQCjnYsbYRpJ3l4OTEgphr-Nc4sDED5I4TEEUqn8rTuHi7WDdbvNH5lGeLxa4inGSU/s320/DSC04922.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Madrid, December 2011. </span></td></tr>
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Madrid is pretty!!! Simply walking the streets was so much fun.<br />
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Check it out! No bodyguards. Leaves changing color. Clean, crisp air. Going running in the sunshine on the streets. Nobody cares, nobody stares. I soak in the beauty of the European architecture on such a grand scale.<br />
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Fountains just because. And people walking around feeling safe and living their lives. And I get to walk among them. Lovely.<br />
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Man, I miss that purse. Look, fun little boats!<br />
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And statues. So nice.<br />
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Here's my friend Maggie and her boyfriend. I met Maggie when I was living in Philly and working at Moody's. She's Bulgarian and living in Spain (now London). These two ruled. They picked me up at the airport. My luggage was lost, boo hiss, so I borrowed clothes from Maggie but I bought some new underwear. Now European sizes in general are smaller and I know that. Americans have gotten bigger and bigger and the clothes industry in an attempt to still have a market in popular stores have resized clothes so that today's size 10 is yesterday's size 14 probably. But not in Europe! And I knew that. And I thought I adjusted for that. But I sadly did not so I spent the first night until my luggage arrived with my knickers in a seriously uncomfortable knot. Way too much information. Sorry I digress. But Maggie and her boyfriend were awesome.<br />
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This is a cool tapas bar. You just keep picking out things and then pay at the end. Yum.<br />
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Me and Maggie. She took me to an awesome restaurant to get Paella. I had never been a huge fan. BECAUSE all my life I'd been eating some craptastic fake paella. Holy heck the real paella is wonderful, beautiful, life-altering. My mouth is watering thinking about it. I might have to go back to Madrid. Like now. Crud....just remembered my passport is, well I don't know where it is, but that is really irrelevant to this story. Or maybe lack of story.<br />
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Yeah. Those are pork legs. They seriously love the pork in Madrid. Traveling there from a Muslim country, I was overwhelmed. Ham everywhere. Including amazing ham that comes from little black pigs that eat acorns. Seriously. Heavenly. But not like that crappy Heavenly Ham that my grandmom always had for Easter when I was a kid. I mean, I used to love that stuff. But then I had real ham in Madrid. Kinda like the paella experience. I didn't smuggle a pig leg back to Karachi (though I thought about it) but a few packs of ham and some really good riojas and some manchego might have jumped into my suitcase....it has a mind of its own!!!!<br />
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Nighttime revelry. I really had no idea what was going on but there were a lot of people.<br />
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My Maggie again! She's so pretty!<br />
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This sangria bar ruled. We navigated through some fun old school European streets and then went underground (okay down stairs to a basement) to what really looked like a cave. The walls were crumbling, the tables were worn, the banquettes were kinda greasy. And the sangria was divine. Kinda like the paella and ham experiences.<br />
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On another note, see the bracelet....My mom had sent me a bracelet like that when I lived in India and even though I had never been a bracelet kind of girl I loved it and started wearing it everywhere. Until I was in Sri Lanka and I took my bracelet off and left it in my hotel room when I went to the spa. And...okay really this is another story that I won't tell here....well, monkeys broke into my room and among other things (Holly's birth control, my cigarettes, Wasa bread, these monkeys knew how to PAR-TAY) they stole the bracelet. I was super sad. A year later in Pakistan I get a birthday card from my mom and the bracelet is inside. And of course my first thought was "How did my mom get it back from the Sri Lankan monkeys????? She is MAGIC." Once I talked with her though the more likely scenario of her going back to the vendor and buying a new one emerged. Sigh. I kinda loved the idea of my mom being in the know with the monkey thieves.<br />
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Oh I forgot about the bar we went to where they served some sort of mojito but it was made with crushed strawberries. And it was amazing. I loved Madrid. </div>
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crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-76312914403270034722012-10-19T09:25:00.001-07:002012-10-19T09:25:40.104-07:00A note on hardship posts.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I haven't written for over a year. I'm not sure if I legitimately did not have the time or if I did not have the mental space to process everything I was experiencing. I'm still not sure I have the latter. But for those who keep asking me incredulously, "Are you still going to Libya?" I wanted to write about why I still feel safe while officially abroad.<br />
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I left Pakistan after a one year tour as economic officer in Karachi on September 4, 2012. My last day in country a vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) struck a U.S. government vehicle in Peshawar resulting in American injuries. About a week later massive protests at the compound I called home for a year saw a protester shot to death and many of my colleagues temporarily left the country for their safety.<br />
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Next I am slated to be the information officer in Tripoli, Libya. During my home leave, an attack in Benghazi, Libya resulted in the death of my ambassador and three colleagues, none of whom I had yet met but whose families I pray for. I had the strange distinction of knowing that both the post I had just left and my onward assignment were currently on draw down. <br />
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When I left for my tour in Karachi, I made a concerted effort to explain to my family all the reasons I wouldn't really be in danger. I explained that security procedures existed limiting my movements and providing pretty much a bubble of safety for me to do my work in. I stressed the dedication and professionalism of our Diplomatic Security agents and the Marine Security Guards. Admittedly though, I downplayed the threats that existed while stressing how well I was being taken care of.<br />
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My downplaying of the threats led to one comically heated moment with my mother. While on my second home leave in June I went to a wine tasting at a vineyard near her home with her. She was talking to the owners and inquiring about the vines' health because there had been an early frost. "I've been praying for those vines, I was just so worried" she intimated. "Really Mom? Really? You've been praying for vines?" I incredulously spat out. "What? Of course I prayed for the vines!" my mom innocently retorted. "Your daughter lives in the most dangerous city in the world and you are praying for vines?" I shot back. "But you told me you are perfectly safe. What do you mean dangerous city?" she asked worriedly. "Mom, the cover of Time magazine a few months back was Karachi: Pakistan's dark heart and the cover story went on to call it the most dangerous city in the world." I replied.<br />
<br />
And then wished I hadn't. I prefer her to pray for vines and not know the threats I face. Because when I tell her I'm perfectly safe I mean it. I trust my security officers. I follow their instructions. I trust the host governments in the countries I serve. Because when I serve abroad I am not just me but rather I am a U.S. diplomat. And so if something happens to me, it doesn't just affect me and those who care for me. If something happens to me it literally could become an international incident. So the incentives to keep me safe are so high that I trust my security people and the host governments.<br />
<br />
I know though that outsiders looking at my situation can't understand the levels of security that exist to protect me and allow me to feel safe. They haven't met the diplomatic security teams, the agents of high integrity and deep knowledge who do my worrying for me. They don't understand just how much thought, time, money, effort, intelligence, care, planning, training, and drilling goes into designing how I will be kept safe. They don't appreciate how much HAS NOT happened because of this attention to detail. <br />
<br />
Nothing is ever 100% though. But nothing is 100% safe in the United States either. Every day when I get out of bed here in D.C. there are risks I face in the world. Every day when I get into bed there are risks I face in sleep. Life has risks. While I am abroad the threats and the risks are greater because my status as a U.S. diplomat means that unfortunately there are people out there who want to do me harm. But when I am abroad my protection level is also greater. And in balance I feel nearly as safe abroad as I do when I am home, with the amount of good I feel I can do abroad justifying the risk differential.<br />
<br />
Successful attacks on U.S. government targets do happen. But they are rare. Just as plane crashes happen. But they are rare. Lightning has been known to strike people but I still walk in the rain. Because I feel the risk is small in relation to the reward.<br />
<br />
Recent incidents have allowed the nation to appreciate the sacrifices that diplomats make. Ambassador Stevens' death challenged the public perception that diplomats spend their time in tuxedos attending champagne receptions and generally wasting U.S. taxpayers money. <br />
<br />
As diplomats we do important and difficult work overseas. And we face threats. Most of the time the areas where the work has the most impact are the areas where we face the deepest threats. But we face those risks. Because the rewards are worth it. <br />
<br />
We must remember that those who want to do us harm are a minority. A dangerous minority. The majority of people in the riskiest areas hope for a better life for themselves and their families. As diplomats, our interactions with those populations bring hope and promote understanding that inspires new solutions and speeds progress. When we stop engaging, we allow the minority that wants to do us harm opportunities to grow their base. For me, the opportunity to engage in the areas where hope is needed most gets me out of bed in the morning. The rewards far outweigh the risks.<br />
<br /></div>
crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-4080915706497708462011-07-21T10:36:00.000-07:002011-07-21T11:20:42.922-07:00Hawaii!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDQikerIM2euCB8sD_b6C6_rj6L6eloWUQUvWHUS10KVbj3tGNSd1rs3sZMPWyUs2eKd7rnNpK650EhLU_11s6mzuBqVGjiBJcxxDOA_n6pd68aObehHZtZvyihtjzPvNyFT3l46QEmsg/s1600/DSC04625.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDQikerIM2euCB8sD_b6C6_rj6L6eloWUQUvWHUS10KVbj3tGNSd1rs3sZMPWyUs2eKd7rnNpK650EhLU_11s6mzuBqVGjiBJcxxDOA_n6pd68aObehHZtZvyihtjzPvNyFT3l46QEmsg/s320/DSC04625.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631868081296421650" /></a><br />The flight to Hawaii was uneventful. But arriving there was amazing! Perfect weather, beautiful skies, so much to look at! Going through customs, the immigration officer asked really did you go to all these countries on THIS trip? As this is not the first time I've had this sort of confrontation, I just smiled and said yes I've been gone for a year. He asked are you a student? And I took another breath and said no I'm a diplomat that is why I have that diplomatic passport you are holding. He looked at me incredibly confused, flipped through my passport a bit more, and then handed it back to me. He failed to stamp it but I didn't want to take the time to point that out. Then the normal airport hassles, finding my too huge bag and hauling it onto the shuttle to get to Enterprise for them to YET AGAIN not have the size car I booked and instead force me to pay more than my reservation because I don't want to take a pickup truck. Ugh. But how upset can one get in paradise? <div><br /></div><div>I check into my condo and it is gorgeous!!!! A beautiful view of the sea from my balcony, a golf course at my door, a huge misty mountain in my backyard. Perfection. I go to the grocery store and have a near epileptic fit at the huge variety of stuff to buy, a whole aisle of cheese and whipped cream and sour cream and cream cheese and then the fruits and vegetables! Avocados that will taste like avocados!!!! Tomatoes that will have taste! Heaven. And Bagels!!!!! Hello old friends!!!! The place is so clean and people give me a wide berth to just explore and noone tries to step on me or sweep stuff over my feet and it is so beautiful. An aisle just for ice cream! What a country!!!! I'm so happy to be back in the USA!</div><div><br /></div><div>I lounge, I read, I watch bad t.v., I do laundry, I make awesome fresh meals, I hang at the beach, I go to yoga - this is my first 18 hours in Maui. Actually at yoga I give a random woman a ride and turns out she owns a vineyard in the Willamette Valley in Oregon...my next stop! Crazy. And then I go pick up Michele! And it is so easy. I park the car, I walk to the baggage claim, she is there. There are no hordes and hordes of people camping out and clogging the only tiny little exit aisle that passengers can come through. Nope. This is America!!!!</div><div><br /></div><div>I take Michele back to the condo and we go to the beach. We book ourselves a luau for later that night. Oh the luau! At the end of the day it was cheesetastic and a total tourist trap but the food was good, surprisingly so given how many people they were feeding, and the alcohol kept flowing and the dancing and singing and fashion show acts were entertaining. At the entrance they were giving everyone either a Mai Tai or some nonalcoholic drink. When Michele asked for a Mai Tai they carded her 35 year old self and then stamped her hand. I asked if I needed to show I.D. and the woman kinda laughed at me as she snidely said um no. Darn India has aged me! Like a lot. I gained about 20 pounds and 15 years of wrinkles. Worth it. We ended up getting total prom pictures taken at the entrance and then buying them. We went up on the stage to learn the hula. We got lost going through the hotel complex to try to find a cab. </div><div><br /></div><div>At the condo, we decided we wanted to go out. So we walked across the golf course to what looked like a bar. We walked in the back door. Hmmmm no people. We keep walking through the restaurant until we come to a bar area with two dudes who look very much like they are closing up. Heavy metal is blaring. Michele asks if we can get a drink. The gentlemen very nicely tell her that the place is closed and they are just finishing up. She asks well where can we go then? And they call a cab and give a recommendation. They let us use their bathrooms. Michele uses the dude's room and then comes out to congratulate the nice guys on how well kept the dude's room is, something about wow it has soap and everything. Then, with Van Halen blasting, she tells them your music sucks. Making friends and influencing people wherever we go!!!! The cab comes. We leave. </div><div><br /></div><div>Next bar. A sort of Mexican theme. Beer, we get local draft beers. Again Michele decides the music stinks. Her solution? Put $20 in the jukebox since she has no ones. The result? A few songs repeated multiple times because they are just that great and man it is hard to remember what one already played!!! Poison's Ain't looking for nothing but a good time and Lita Ford's Kiss Me Deadly got some pretty heavy rotation. There was dancing though there was no dancefloor. There were a lot of random conversations with barflies. All in all a pretty sweet night. </div><div><br /></div><div>The next day was a bit ouchie. But we went to the beach and enjoyed the beautiful water and sand. We went to dinner at the restaurant on the golf course that we had terrorized the night before and that had been gracious enough to call us a cab. Good dinner. Another amazing sunset. We woke up early so that we could go to Haleakala National Park. Early morning driving through Maui and the amazing light. So many people surfing or on those stand up and paddle surfboards as we drive along the coast, huge cliffy misty mountain to one side and spectacular sea to the other. And then we turn more inland and there are sugar plantations surrounding us as we start driving towards the monster of a volcano that is Haleakala. So starting at sea level we drive maybe 30 minutes but gain 10,000 feet of elevation. At one point we drove right through a cloud! And it starts to be FREEZING. Yeah should have thought of that. But it is beautiful and crystal clear and we can see the hollowed out looking area with all the lava rocks in it and we are above the clouds so there is a mer de nuages and the air is so crisp and you can see for miles and miles and miles and the sea is gorgeous and some other islands are in view. Ah. Oh. Lovely. But alas, it is time to head back down and take Michele to the airport, twas a quick but eventful visit! And then there was just me again. </div><div><br /></div>crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-53841593811342721172011-07-20T18:49:00.000-07:002011-07-20T18:51:51.746-07:00Learning All the Time<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx5C4Dq-TpMRVWLUF5RFQpXBJdxMoXWierKPvxlJNz6JtdlHf9L5OTdZp0bubd3PIQuEs6RxpbUqFmNwhVockBHCu_u3i1TLBbrPVSU8Irb2qOMUJ61008NTZ3CGgZ1qTITTjSdOaSE9g/s1600/DSC03951.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx5C4Dq-TpMRVWLUF5RFQpXBJdxMoXWierKPvxlJNz6JtdlHf9L5OTdZp0bubd3PIQuEs6RxpbUqFmNwhVockBHCu_u3i1TLBbrPVSU8Irb2qOMUJ61008NTZ3CGgZ1qTITTjSdOaSE9g/s320/DSC03951.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631617317958911202" /></a><br />Hey look I finally learned how to add photos....now if I could only figure out how to play scrabble on here I could give up Facebook!crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-20721168525663966762011-07-20T07:53:00.000-07:002011-07-20T09:02:01.833-07:00The Long Way HomeSo here I am back in the U.S. of A. And yes it is magnificent. And marvelous. And mesmerizing. Especially the long, clean, bright rows in the grocery stores and the wonderfully sparkling bathrooms everywhere I go. And I can plug things right into the wall and the electricity never goes out and I can drink water RIGHT from the tap. I'm in my sixth week of home leave and I still get teary eyed at the little pleasures.<div><br /></div><div>On the long way home I first went to Australia. Well after a bit of hassle. I had trouble shedding tears leaving India. I knew that most of my coworkers I would see again. There are people who I knew I would miss but at the end of two years there I was exhausted and just ready for clean air and roads I can walk down and smiles from friendly faces instead of (given not malicious but mostly only curious but still) empty stares. So I didn't cry at my farewells at work. And I didn't cry when leaving my wheel's up.</div><div><br /></div><div>And I was told that I would share my car to the airport with someone who would be arriving at Post that evening (sunrise, sunset). But then it was changed because what if my flight was delayed and the car couldn't get there in enough time? My response was I wouldn't be checking flight times and I was going to the airport at my designated time come hell or high water because one way or another I was getting on a plane that evening!!!</div><div><br /></div><div>I get to the airport and I turn over all my stuff - keys, forms, blackberry - to the driver. I head in and yet again the whole airport is arranged differently and security procedures changed but not explained (I lived there 2 years, flew into 18 different Indian airports, visited Sri Lanka thrice, saw Bali, Bangkok, Singapore, had 10 visitors fly into Chennai....I had a LOT of experience with what I declare tied for the worst airport in India...and hands down winner of most disgusting bathrooms in any airport in the entire world in my experience but I digress). </div><div><br /></div><div>I make it to the front of the line with my oversized bag. The check in dude asks me for my ticket and passport. I give him my dip passport (one of two on me but the one with the Indian visa) and he asks me where my Australian visa is. I explain that I will be traveling on my tourist passport and a visa is not required. I give him my tourist passport. He still insists I need a visa. Then he explains that I needed to check in online with Australia. He tells me to go do that. I calmly ask how do you expect me to do that now? He basically tells me to have my people do that and chastises me since my travel agent should have done this (yeah don't get me started on the ineptitude of the travel agent at Post, the rest of the management section was a dream and far exceeded my expectations but wow was the travel agent a dud, a contracted dud). Deep breath and I explain I can't do that, I don't have my phone, I don't have internet access. He gives me a does not compute look and just repeats that I need to check in and get pre-authorization before I can board.</div><div><br /></div><div>I bawl. Hard. Sobbing, gasping for air bawling. The does not compute look turns to pure why is the white lady crying panic in check in dude and he gets a manager. A very nice manager who takes my passports and says he'll go in his office and do the check in for me. The startled check in dude tells me I need to step aside and wait until the authorization comes through. I cry again and say I just can't move this big bag any further. He starts to tell me I have to but I gasp my tears and he sends a dude to move my bag for me. Okay so maybe I was milking it at that point but once I started crying I couldn't stop and all the amazing things about India came to mind and the fabulous family that was created in our community was in my thoughts and I realized that I really would miss so much about this country of absolute extremes and had I ever stopped to process the effect all of it would have on me? So the tears at first may have been for show but once started I could not stop and I just plunked down on my bag and had at it while incredibly terrified dudes tried to stay as far as possible from me.</div><div><br /></div><div>Seriously, why did I learn the trick to getting personal space in my last hours in India???? Maybe I should write the CLO and have it put in the manual for new arrivals. </div><div><br /></div><div>The nice manager guy comes out and asks me some silly questions and I give him some silly answers. Eventually I procure a boarding pass and head to Kuala Lumpur (such an awesome airport!!!!) and then Sydney. At Sydney I hand the immigration officer my tourist passport. He looks it over, does some computer stuff then asks do you have any OTHER passports? Um, yeah I say and hand over my other two dip passports. And that is how I learned what the Australian look for my isn't this person shady looks like. The nice immigration officer asks me to wait.</div><div><br /></div><div>Another immigration officer comes and takes all my passports and leads me to a bench. Gulp. And yes the irony of having just been a visa officer for the past two years and then not knowing the visa requirements for Australia and then being taken a little tad bit to almost secondary was not lost on me. I sit on my bench thinking about it but mostly just laughing and loving that I AM IN AUSTRALIA!!!!! The immigration officer comes back, asks a few questions, tells me that my online application had been done on my dip passport and that my first and middle names had been entered as one and then he welcomes me to Australia and tells me to enjoy my stay! I'm in!!!!</div><div><br /></div><div>I get my bag and get in a cab and am in love with cars staying in lanes and the quiet of the road, no honking, no yelling, no fireworks, no public urination/defecation. Sydney is nice. I check in and exhaustedly make it to my room. After spending 9 months vegetarian (about 2 of that vegan) I call up room service and pretty much ask them to back a cow and a knife and a few glasses of red wine up to the little table. It was delicious. </div><div><br /></div><div>The next day I go on an amazing tour on a bus with a driver who thought I was shady because I said I was "between places" when asked where I live. We first went to a really cool zoo where kangaroos were just hopping all around. I got to feed some of them and then they fought each other for the cone that my food had been in. Rad. Later in the trip I ate kangaroo on a pizza with cranberry. Delicious. Apparently kangaroos don't want to kill each other when they fight. And usually they fight over chicks. So once the beaten kangaroo just puts his face down on the ground, basically saying uncle, the fight is over. If you are ever being beaten by a kangaroo remember that. Poor kangaroo probably just thought you were after his woman, put your head down and stay away from his gal and you'll be fine. I also got to pet a koala bear. Omigosh it was so cute and cuddly! </div><div><br /></div><div>Then we drove into the blue mountains, blue because of the eucalyptus trees. Some hiking and we saw the three sisters monument. Then we went to Scenic World and did a really cool cable car and then the world's steepest train which used to be just for coal and then I walked through the rain forest and saw old wreckage of coal mining equipment and it looked right out of the show Lost. And then we went to the Olympic village and took a ferry through the harbor and I got my first view of the Sydney Opera House. A festival was going on and all sorts of crazy light show effects were happening on this already surreal looking monument. </div><div><br /></div><div>The next day I did the Sydney Bridge Climb. I took the sunset tour which started at 3 pm. They made us wear strange suits and get ourselves all attached to these cable things but it was still really cool walking up the support system of the bridge and then being on top for sunset, looking down at all the cars and looking out to the amazing view of the harbor and the city, watching the sunlight fade and the city lights turn on. And did I mention they did this on America's Next Top Model?</div><div><br /></div><div>I had so much fun on the Blue Mountain tour that I booked again through the same company and ended up with the same driver for the Hunter Valley wine tour. A beautiful day learning about Shiraz and watching the grapes grow. Yum. </div><div><br /></div><div>The last day in Australia I had a reservation at Quay, listed as the 22nd best restaurant in the world. It was a cold but clear day and I first walked down and around the harbor and the Opera House. The restaurant is right on the harbor with excellent views of the water, the Opera House, the bridge. I chose the tasting menu with wine pairings. Ten beautiful courses and wines. The sommelier at around course 5 asked if I was driving. I said no and she said oh thank goodness because I've been pouring you kind of heavy. I said I know and THANK YOU! What lovely food although I'm still confused about the "ethical foie gras". I asked and they said they don't force feed. Hmmmm. Wow I just realized the time.....well next time I'll talk about finally getting back to the U.S. because I left Sydney and arrived in Hawaii!!!!! </div>crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-7385393043974942202011-04-24T19:43:00.001-07:002011-04-24T20:12:05.715-07:00Monkeys, do they love me or hate me? Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the Buddha.I'm skipping a LOT here....the camel safari, the Andamans, Bali, Udaipur and my Bond adventures...but....MONKEYS!!!!! As I type scores of monkeys keep crossing my path. Some juveniles just got separated from their parents and at least THEY find me threatening enough to keep some distance. Oh no, there they go finding some adults and passing my balcony again.<div><br /></div><div>Holly and I are staying at this amazing hotel. Up in the mountains, on a lake, designed by Geoffrey Bawa to be a part of the mountain. I'm siting on the balcony having tea but there is another line of pillars about 6 feet out from the hard part of the building that has vines growing all over it to give the hotel a green cover and hide it away. between the balcony and the pillars/vines is a criss cross of beams and on that and the vines the monkeys are ambling around. </div><div><br /></div><div>The first day in this paradise I do see a few monkeys at breakfast but they were very well behaved. Then we went to Sigiriya, an ancient fortress where we climbed and climbed to see breathtaking panoramas and 900 year old cave paintings and then headed to Polannaruwa where I got to see my huge Buddha out of the mountain carvings. Then home, no crazy monkeys, just cute ones as scenery. </div><div><br /></div><div>The next morning I decided to have tea on my balcony. And many monkeys came by to scope the joint. But for the most part left me alone. Well except for one particularly curious one that I chased away by saying "Bad monkey, BAD monkey". Then I went for a massage. When I got out, I saw a Holly storming up to me demanding "Just what state was the room in when you left it?</div><div>..."umm, what do you mean?"..."Well was your computer missing a key? And did you leave the music on?"...."Huh, negative on both counts."...."Well then we got a problem."</div><div><br /></div><div>Holly went on to tell me that the room looked as if it had been ransacked but that the balcony door was locked and nothing of value appeared to have been taken. However, my cigarettes were mostly missing and the remaining strewn all over the place, my tea cup had been smashed, her toiletries bag had been opened and her medications stolen, and yes, my music had been turned on. Which actually was quite a feat....iTunes was up and downloading but the monkey would have needed to go into the music and press play....I guess the monkeys were just desperate for some OK Go. Apparently Holly's first thought was that I had done all of this. Her second had been that a monkey was still in the room so she had gone around searching, to which I ask "What would you have done if you had in fact found a monkey under the bed?"</div><div><br /></div><div>Okay, fine. A bit inconvenient but no major harm done. We laughed. Holly especially just kept imagining the fun the troupe of monkeys must have had. So I finish reading my "Seven Years in Tibet" and start reading my "An Open Heart" by the Dalai Lama. And let me just say, Buddhism is hard. I mean, you are supposed to think through why you get mad and take the time to disable the thought. Well, I really do love the tenets of Buddhism but man is it a lot of work. But I start thinking I'll give it a try.</div><div><br /></div><div>So the following day we head out to Anuradhapura, a city of ruins with some fabulous stupas. And then to Dambulla Cave Temple. So at this second stop we walk up a LOT of stairs. And along the way some sweet old ladies ask if I want to buy some flowers. And I think, well maybe I can't stop myself from being an angry lady but I can buy some flowers to put by the Buddhas. So I get my handful of lotus flowers and keep trudging up the stairs. And I feel virtuous. So much so that when all the little kids and some adults continue barraging me with the Hello Hellos I say hello back and smile and they go off giggling. Event the teenage boys being rowdy and well, teenage boys, are not getting me down. Cause I'm going up, to give flowers to Buddha. And then I feel a tug at my hand and look down and there is a monkey running away with my flowers. </div><div><br /></div><div>Growing up, my dad always left the car and the house unlocked. And when I asked him about it he just said that if someone really wants to come take the stuff they probably need it more than him. Did the monkeys really need my computer key, my Wasa bread, my cigarettes, my flowers, Holly's insect spray and medicine more than me? I suppose some mysteries will always be unanswered. </div>crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-78869225367232062672011-04-24T19:40:00.000-07:002011-04-24T19:43:06.075-07:00just realized i forgot the best part in part 1At the Christmas Eve dinner, there was a band. A totally cheesetastic cover band. And a smoke machine. And the song Careless Whisper which followed me and Michele throughout India, pretty much on repeat in the Himalayas. Anyhoos, it popped up again here in Sri Lanka, the island so nice I visited it thrice.crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-89343194916706624702011-03-26T04:51:00.000-07:002011-03-26T06:14:49.377-07:00all that happened in 5 months???? Crazy. Prob Part 1.Life has been a whirlwind the past few months. I had a steady stream of visitors and amazing vacations. All I really remember about November is that we went bowling for my birthday and the Indian Fonzarelli was there. He ruled. <div><br /></div><div>Working in American Citizen Services made me really enjoy my job for six months and hence allowed me to breathe a little, lighten up a little, and enjoy India a lot. </div><div><br /></div><div>Michele came in December! She visited and spoke at a clinic in Chennai besides doing the normal sightseeing. Then she and I went to Kochi for one night (for me it was a work trip but it gave her the chance to see Kerala and its beautiful palm tree landscape) and then on Christmas Eve we started our adventure, heading out to Calcutta.</div><div><br /></div><div>We started out trying to walk around and made it to Victoria Memorial. Then we tried to walk to Mother Theresa's house...big epic fail. We just walked and walked and walked and since Calucutta is colder I was wearing close-toed shoes for the first time in ages and getting blisters. So we hailed a cab. And the cab just started going. and going. and going. And then it turned into some shady looking side streets. And then some alleys that can't really be called streets. And just when I was wondering if I should suggest a tuck and roll exit to Michele, the dude stopped and ejected us in some shady corner. </div><div><br /></div><div>To his credit, it did appear that there was some connection to Mother Theresa though that mission would not allow visitors in. However it was not the Mother House. We then had a pretty gnarly dude lead us down some other shady alley to another temple before we both realized we needed to get the heck out of there. But alas no cabs to be found as the tight little roads could barely fit them in that corner of Calcutta. Finally we found one and decided we should try the oft recommended Park Hotel for a drink. After TONS of traffic we get to the place only to have them tell us we were not welcome as we didn't have reservations. Well poo on them! </div><div><br /></div><div>We got back to our hotel, the Taj, just as the sun was setting. Calcutta does have truly beautiful light, admittedly due to all the particulates in the air from the pollution but still very beautiful and driving past the Victoria Memorial at sunset is inspiring. Until you think about the iron fisted colonial rule that created the building. </div><div><br /></div><div>So we got to the room and were watching the little reel about all the awesome things at the hotel as the sun continued with its magical lighting...we decided to go to the upper floor bar with the view. When we got there they wouldn't let us in. Hmmmph. (so of course later in the evening i sent a huffy email to them about it. which led to us getting a free bottle of wine the next day and a personal invite from the manager to go there. which we did. and realized it sucked and we didn't want to be there anyways....)</div><div><br /></div><div>So we ended up at the poolside bar. Which was so fantastic. Apparently they were rocking it out for Christmas Eve. With blue lights everywhere. Yeah. They were having a super special dinner and did we want to go? No, we didn't. We just wanted to sit and drink champagne. So we drank a bottle of champagne and then decided it was time for dinner. We asked our new best friend Raja the waiter if we could go to the Lebanese restaurant....he said sure when it opened at 7:30...wait what time is it? Oh only about 5:40. Yeah. The sun sets REAL early in December in Calcutta, especially since India is all one time zone and Calcutta is the eastern edge. OOOOOOOPs. Well the only thing to do was to have another bottle of champagne and really catch up. And by catch up I mean act like we were 22 again (or 27 for that matter) and years of not speaking never happened and remember that we have known each other for nearly 3 decades and pretty much have a lot to laugh and cry and celebrate about together. </div><div><br /></div><div>And then we ate. And it was awesome. And then we went back to the poolside bar where Raja had saved our bedseats (yeah it was that kind of a comfy place). And there was more champagne. But I'm pretty certain Raja was just giving it to us from the fancy dinner going on....he he he. And then bed. </div><div><br /></div><div>Man I do babble. Yeah there is no way to catch up on 5 months in one post. But I'm trying to get some of this down before I leave India in just over 2 months. Currently in Bali. Hoping to use some of this alone time to do some of the catching up. Gotta go to bed now though since I'm going to bike down a mountain tomorrow. Yeah. </div>crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-32584550805016086442010-10-31T04:50:00.000-07:002010-10-31T04:52:13.662-07:00what have i done in india lately<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">Just saw a commercial where a guy and girl were passing fireworks between them. Then the woman takes a rocket firework and finds a jewelry box on it. She opens it up and the dude takes the ring and puts in on. It did not seem like a dude ring to me. Confused. Another commercial has a girl and guy obviously having some meeting to see if they would be a good match when a dude comes in and apparently is upset at being jilted by the dude. My favorite commercial lately has been the one where the old dude yells at the young dude with headphones to not cut in line and to respect proper queueing. Oh that and the young Hindustan commercials for Pepsi which are so obviously the 20 years later and in India version of the Choice of the Next Generation ads.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">There was a great article about India, she hugs, she punches, she hugs again. Before R&R I was definitely being punched. Repeatedly. Now I suppose I’m getting hugged. I have had some difficult but rewarding cases lately in ACS – talking at length with a paranoid schizophrenic, helping with parental abduction cases, visiting hospitals.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">For one whereabouts visit, I traveled to Auroville. The 20 kilometer village is an experiment in people from around the world living in harmony. A lovely idea, a beautiful place, delicious food. Some things are a bit over the top and I can see how others have been a bit freaked out by the place, but the goal is impressive and it was nice to see some true hippy crunchy commune living still surviving. The nursing home in Pondicherry was not as nice, looked more like a scene from that movie about when Hemingway was an ambulance driver in WW I. Someday I’ll return to both places and actually see them fully but at least I can check the two off the list. Oh, and the score is now up to three for finding people that have been reported either dead or near death far from that state.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We finally did our dance!!!! I can’t believe how nervous I was but at the end of the day we rocked the house!!!! There were some mistakes but overall it was pretty rad and we got lots of compliments! Later that night we went to Kryptos for dinner to celebrate making it through and also Holly’s birthday. Good day.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Friday night was the pub crawl. I had my handy dandy ghost Halloween headband with blinking lights and it was agreed ahead of time that when I placed it on my head we would head to the next place. I also handed out voting cards so we could be all official with our judging. Starting at Chipstead I met some Irishmen in town on work. Then we headed to 10 Downing Street where we were treated terribly and forced to listen to multiple Abba songs while Bridget paid almost $20 for a vodka tonic. However, Katie was able to argue a partial refund. Classy. Finally we danced our way out of the hellish British pub wannabe and made it over to Bike and Barrel. Awesome music (yeah put a ring on it) and dancing, shots for Holly’s birthday, the goofy costumes (to be fair the waiters at 10 Downing Street also had disturbing costumes involving fake G money gold chains), the guys looking down from above kept up there by the nets – B&B did not disappoint. One of our crew was forced to wear the rent a shoes – Chennai’s version of the loaner jacket! Holly barely avoided a water attack by me. A wine glass was broken.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">From B&B we headed over to Dublin. Although getting a drink was super hard, Dublin had some advantages. When we first walked in there was a big Marilyn Monroe with the face cutout to take pictures stop. Yeah. And then there was crazy 80’s music all over the place and a lot of other coworkers dancing it on up. There was just a bunch of silliness. But fun. And then we walked to Havana in the rain. One of our dance class songs was playing when we entered but when it finished music was over and last call happened. So we sat around and drank and then returned to my place. Where Holly handed me her DVD of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I went to the balcony with Behrang and Mark and upon returning there was a bunch of people doing the Time Warp in my living room. Awesome.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Last night was the murder mystery dinner party. I had never done one of these so I had really looked forward to it. Everyone looked awesome all dressed up 1920’s style. I was Color Pencille, an artist of ambiguous medium. While the evening was a ton of fun, there is something totally creepy about playacting super sleazy dude behavior with married coworkers. I realize this is the basic premise of Halloween but still. A bit creepy. Oh heck yeah, November tomorrow….NANOWRIMO!!!!</p> <!--EndFragment-->crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-74244089698687763232010-10-12T07:09:00.000-07:002010-10-12T07:57:50.899-07:00sriiiiiiiii lankaSomehow I get 20 holidays a year - 10 American and 10 Indian - and yet it STILL feels as if I have way too few 3 day weekends. So this past weekend I headed out to Sri Lanka with Behrang and Holly. My first trip to Ceylon was with my mom in January and it was fantastic - we crashed a wedding at Galle Face Hotel replete with gorgeous dress and backhandspringing dudes and drummers, we made a very uncomfortable driver take us to a casino which we hightailed out of after realizing WHY the driver was so uncomfortable, we visited the elephant orphanage and the temple of the tooth and saw lots of Buddhas. It ruled. So I was very excited to head back.<div><br /></div><div>The flight was terrible. The seats' designers must have been trying to impress vlad the impaler. Although the in-flight video describing the safety procedures was top notch, awesome cartoons dudes with fabulous mustaches. When we checked in to our hotel they tried to give us a room with only one queen bed when we had paid for one with two queen beds. Quite a rucus was caused when Holly fought the man and instead of taking a rollaway bed she DEMANDED another queen and got them to actually bring a boxspring and a mattress from another room!!! It rocked. Thankfully that hotel was really only our flophouse for the evening since our flight got in so late and Galle is such a haul.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next day we took the BEST van ever to Galle. Four hours of luxury. The a/c was not the best, the van was not so new BUT the seats were like big comfy couches and they leaned all the way back. Oh yeah. It ruled. As did our glamorous hotel. The Galle Fort Hotel. Colonial style. Boutique hotel. Gorgeous guy checking us in as I checked him out. Oh Ewen. Heart. A welcome bottle of Lion Lager that was pretty much a 40. We had the library suite. A lovely lunch and then a great stroll along the top of the fort to watch the sunset over the ocean. Perfection. Dinner at some rooftop joint called Mama's; yummy prawn curry with eggplant and pumpkin and lentils and coconutted on up green beans. MMMMMMMMMMMM.</div><div><br /></div><div>Sunday was beach day. Gorgeous blue and green water, golden sand, lovely waves and swimming. A delicious prawn and beer lunch. A stroll to see a buddhist temple on the hill and a climb down to some rocks to watch the waves crash and the seaspray surprise a couple looking to be all romantic and then some policemen freaking us out. Beautiful.</div><div><br /></div><div>Monday I had a morning stroll through town and also walked around the top of the fort to enjoy the morning light. Another beautiful breakfast at the hotel, delicious coffee and tea and fruit and buffalo curd hot cakes, so yummy. Wrote some post cards, packed up, had a lunch at another luxurious hotel on the way to airport. Made my way home even though I was convinced I would not leave. Back to reality!</div>crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-57019243098088705172010-10-04T07:50:00.000-07:002010-10-04T08:13:57.770-07:00over the r&r humpLife was pretty rough up until R&R. I got to the point of really hating my job which left me too exhausted to enjoy everything else. To be clear, I hated the job I was doing but still loved my career. Non-immigrant visa interviewing is a horrendous grind and adjudicating over 15,500 visas in 12 months had drained me. Additionally, since the numbers were high and the number of adjudicators low, the overall atmosphere was highly pressurized. A constant feeling of time pressures caused me to treat applicants with a tone and an impatience that I wouldn't have thought myself capable of stooping to. So I hated what I was doing and I hated how I was doing it. Which meant that my R&R was desperately needed. And I was AMAZING at resting and recuperating - visiting so many people, hugging my niece and nephew, aerial fabric lessons, seeing cousins' new houses and babies, camping, kayaking, touring the national mall on a segway, trying to eat my weight in sushi and steak. It ruled. <div><br /></div><div>Returning to India was difficult. It was the first time in my life where I wasn't ready to return to where I was living at the end of a trip home to Philly. While home, I exaggerated in my mind the dirt, noise, confusion, frustration of life here. I've been much happier since returning. Although I do think a lot of that is due to switching jobs. I am now doing American Citizen Services which is what I have always wanted to do of consular work. The pace is a lot more manageable and in general I am able to provide the service people come in for. The non-appointment work is incredibly rewarding as we are helping people out when they are facing some of their strongest difficulties. </div><div><br /></div><div>Since I've been back I've laid pretty low. However, I did go out one night to a coffee shop many floors above a car dealership that had pool tables and salsa. It was pretty cool and I bought tickets for their big dance-a-rama coming up where they'll have two weekends full of dance classes and I'll finally get to flamenco!!!! And there is a Pirate party. Oh yeah! </div><div><br /></div><div>I was in Bangalore and Hubli for over a week for work and during the weekend Holly met up with me and we went to Kabini River Lodge. A rustic cabin, set meals and safari rides! There was a giant net hung between multiple trees that I got to climb and chill in as if it was the biggest hammock EVER. During the evening safari we saw elephants in the wild including baby elephants!!! So cute. Lots of beautiful birds and deer and water buffalo. The morning safari brought an exotic lizard and a fox and a saucer boat ride! Yes, saucer boat. Holly and I were the only ones saucer boating, everyone else chose the big motor boat. Wimps. After we got out in the water, the paddler guy tells us that under the water is fish, snakes and crocodiles. Given that Holly had the ACS case where an Amcit was killed by a sea crocodile, she was none too happy to hear that! But the sun had just risen and the morning light was incredible. The river we were on was dry during the summer season and the trunks of trees sticking out of the water looked like beautifully eerie dancers striking soulful poses. Inspiring. Overall we survived and at the end of the drive back to Bangalore there was way too many desserts at Hard Rock Cafe. Pretty darn sweet!</div>crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-48467917352109124492010-07-21T08:30:00.000-07:002010-07-21T09:07:29.411-07:00overdue post about mark's visit<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">May 29…Chennai to Mumbai</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Got on the plane rather early, arrived in Mumbai on time and had the hotel car pick us up. We were greeted at the door and were able to check in in our room instead of at the front desk. Taj Mahal tower, beautiful hotel, my favorite part was the book listed a service called “destiny planner” for the hotel astrologist. Got up and out right away to Elephanta Island and saw the caves and the monkeys, climbed on top of the caves, were hassled to pay more to be up on the hottest part of the boat, the roof. Our revenge on the boat company for not letting us onto the roof without pay despite our deluxe tickets came when on the way back the Coast Guard pulled the boat over, demanded the license of the driver and gave them a ticket. After arriving back in our hotel we showered and we went to the Harbour Bar where we could stare out at Gateway of India. Mark had the bar’s signature drink which came with a story acted out and a lighting of the brandy before putting into the drink, I got a champagne and gin and lemon-y drink; we also ordered tapas – ham and caramelized fig and also some potatoes raclette with rosemary. Then we took a long walk and saw the University and the cricket pitch and the high court and the Prince of Wales museum and the oldest library and the railway station. Back to the hotel for a nap and then dinner at the rooftop middle eastern restaurant Souk. I had a spiachy crepe-y think and Mark had some delicious lamb. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Worst part of the day …the rose ice cream, yuk it tasted like soap, I mean it seemed like a good idea but GROSS. And I just realized that was not in fact the worst part, just remembered that this is the day that Mark’s brother passed away. Mark had been more prepared, I had really thought his brother would recover. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">May 30…Mumbai to Shimla</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Got up and packed pretty early to catch the plane to Chandigarth. The hotel car picked us up and we had a hair-raising ride through the “Foothills” of the Himalayas up and down and around curves that lasted FOUR hours. Eventually reached our hotel and relaxed. Had an amazing glass of wine watching the beautiful sunset. There was a note in our room warning us not to leave the windows open during the day or the monkeys would take our belongings. When we got back from our drinks we found a birthday cake in our room. The housekeeping staff insisted it was our birthday. Oh well, who was I to argue? We had dinner at the buffet restaurant, where I tripped and fell, catching the attention of our neighbors who stopped by to tell us we look like fun. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Thanks.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">May 31….Shimla</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The next morning I worked out by doing bunches of flights of stairs and realized the altitude made the air thinner. We breakfasted and dressed and caught a shuttle up to the town. Walking up the stairs and ramp to get to the ridge road was a challenge! On the walk in we saw our first glimpse of snow-peaked Himalayas….amazing! We saw Christ Church where we lit candles and abandoned shoes and spoke to a nice couple and their cute kid. There was some political rally happening and the Indira Ghandi statue was flanked by pink tarps. We walked around some more exploring. We then explored the Mall and the Lower Bazaar, the “rabbit warren” shops. We started walking up to the monkey temple but when realizing how steep and far the walk would be we decided to wait. We then headed back to our hotel for some snacks and drinks. I then went to the pool and then we watched the sunset. I read and Mark slept, it was an early evening without dinner…but with much needed rest. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">June 1…Shimla</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We slept well and had our breakfast. Then we headed on out and walked back into town and up to the Monkey temple, with a rented monkey-beating-stick in each of our hands. Nearing the top we heard a woman scream as a monkey jumped on her and stole her dupatta. The monkey then proceeded to perch himself up on the hill and wrap the dupatta around his own neck and head as a lady would. When reaching the top, we were informed to take our glasses off so monkeys wouldn’t steal them. A man with a telescope showed me the six points of interest. Again, snow-capped peaks were visible. We then descended and went back to the hotel for lunch. After lunch we walked ourselves to the former Vice Regal lodge where we had a quick tour and then walked the grounds and walked on back. Overall that day we walked probably 14 kilometers and NOT on flat ground. We had kebabs and watched the sunset with wine and then retired early due to the necessity of an early start. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">June 2, Shimla to Agra</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We did the crazy ride back ½ way in the dark. I slept through the hardest parts. We got there with plenty of time to spare, having started at 4 in the morning. Took the plane to Delhi and the car was waiting with Holly’s awesome driver Sonu. We drove to our hotel in Agra and checked in (another 3 hours in the car), taking advantage of our view of the Taj Mahal from our room by ordering room service – a selection of real wines and beer for room service at normal prices!!!!!! Crazy!!!!! After lunch we went over to Agra Fort and got swept away by the majesty and beauty of times gone by. Then we went back and ordered a bottle of Chardonnay to watch the sun set over the Taj Mahal from our hotel room. Luckily, Sonu called to say that due to a VIP visit tomorrow the Taj Mahal would only be open until 7 a.m. …..changing our morning plans!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">June 3, Agra to Jaipur</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Up early to see the Taj Mahal. Bicycle rickshaw…poor guy was determined to do the whole ride! We could have walked but he seemed to really want to take us. Took lots of pictures and wandered around but had only limited time….again. The last time I was at the Taj Mahal I also only had limited time, must be fate! Then we had breakfast and got back on the road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We stopped at Fatehpur Sikri. This time we did walk up to the place and were harassed the entire time. Although the place was beautiful I felt unsafe much of the time because of the tourist predators. Another 5 or 6 hours on the rode and we arrived in Jaipur. We went to Amber Fort and it was AMAZING. It was HUGE and surrounded by mountains and the desert. We were allowed to wander through every nook and cranny and it was so easy to watch time melt away. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Afterwards Sonu took us to our hotel, which was FAR out of town, far far far. In fact when we went down a dirt road for a long time before turning onto what didn’t even seem a road to get to the hotel. But it was worth it. The hotel is an old hunting lodge and we had the master suite with a huge balcony, our own sitting room, a dressing room. The lodge is on what was once a lake before it went dry and the place is filled with stuffed animals (not plushes but stuffed animals). Dinner was prepaid and in the dining hall, EXCELLENT. Okay, not the food but the entire creepy/phantasmogoric atmosphere. The food actually seemed like strange cafeteria food. I think they have frozen dishes for westerners that they microwave. Eh, the ambience outweighed the food. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">June 4, Jaipur to Jodhpur</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In the morning we went into Jaipur to check out the Pink City a bit. We went to Jantar Mantar, an observatory built between 1728 and 1734. So all the equipment seemed to do rudimentary crap but darn was it cool looking, especially with bright blue skies and mountains in the background. Rajastan is amazing in many ways for the light in the desert and the grand scale of things. My facebook has pictures which can describe it so much better. We then got back in the car for another long drive to Jodhpur. We went straight to our hotel, which had been recommended by friends. We checked in to our “luxury tent”. While it wasn’t as much of a tent as I’d hoped, it did have a canvas top and a really cool feel to it. The grounds of the hotel were fabulous, especially the pool! We slept well after booking the camel safari for the next day and eating. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">June 5, Jodhpur</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We woke up and the sandstorm that had been going on the day before persisted. Very strong winds. We first went to Mehrangarh Fort and walked around, seeing the beautiful views, the cool chariots, the canons. Jodhpur is the blue city and this was much more obvious than the pink city of Jaipur. All the houses were bluewashed and this was an amazing effect looking down on it from the Fort. In the afternoon we went on our camel ride!!!! Okay, it was cheesy and touristy but it was still fun! First we drove (no surprise!) and stopped in Osean where we explored a ridiculously old Hindu temple and then a Jain temple. We were really the only tourists in the area that day and so attracted many curious onlookers. The wind was blowing so we didn’t get sweeping views of the dunes but it was still very cool to be in them. I had never been in that type of desert with sand everywhere. Finally we went to where we would get our camel ride and had tea. And then FINALLY we got on the camel. So it was one camel (Hero was his name) for the two of us. I still loved it. And we were led around by someone. I still loved it! Camels walk funny. They are tall. The feel of them walking in the sand is cool. And it was all pretty. A great way to end the trip. After we went back to the hotel, had dinner. The next morning we pretty much just packed and caught our plane. A great trip though! </p> <!--EndFragment-->crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-13652326876100128442010-03-06T21:10:00.001-08:002010-03-06T22:00:45.136-08:00holidaysWe were called home just in time for Thanksgiving. After we arrived home we found out the Keralan guys had in fact been able to depart. We were just happy to be home for turkey. My friend Holly had a whole lot of us over and a wonderful day of eating happened. Afterwards we headed to another colleague's house for dessert. Although the holiday months had a lot of really fun gatherings and plenty of fellowship, I hit my wall during the season. I had been hoping that I wouldn't go through the standard period of absolute resistance and "honeymoon over" that is common to people living abroad. But it hit me. And it hit me hard. Right during the holidays. I experienced more homesickness than I'd ever had, probably due to now having a niece and a nephew both uunder 5 years old to miss. It's been hard for me to blog mostly because I didn't want to talk about this time. There were lots of party and bollywood dancing was still going on and Natalie was with me but I went through a supreme funk. Everything I had once thought was cute or quaint or cool about India started to infuriate me. I had been warned that this was normal. There are charts showing the cycle of emotions that people go through...I had just thought that since I knew about the cycle I would be able to avoid the down part. Unfortunately I was unable to control the flood of frustration with never being able to get as many menus as there are people or constantly being followed all around any store getting harassed or the interminable cacophony or the inability to think a few steps down the line. As hard as I tried to check myself and remind myself how fortunate I am to have my dream job and to have been posted in such a great country, I kept going to the dark side and feeling down. Because of this, I don't feel like writing about a lot of the holidays. So I'll skip talking about the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas and pick back up with my mom showing up at the end of December.crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-42053730719110577612010-01-15T08:12:00.000-08:002010-01-15T08:33:31.173-08:00Keralan CrazinessThe phone call in the tuk-tuk was to ask me to intervene on an emergency American citizen situation. Without going into detail an American citizen older gentleman and a young Frenchman had washed ashore in a sailboat with faulty equipment and the authorities were not so happy about it. I spent the next four days being the messenger girl between the gentlemen and my contacts back in the Consulate and beyond, bringing food and ice cream and water to the boat, and generally trying to be of help in a strange situation.<br /><br />The first night just finding the boat was difficult because we had no idea where we were and it was storming (a large factor in why the boat had come ashore). However, the next morning I was able to see what a beautiful place it was. There was a large mosque near where the boat was docked and lots of fishing boats so that when one looked to the shore around the cove there was a harbor filled with colorful boats and pretty almost Mediterranean looking buildings. To get down to the boat we would drive down this pretty shoddy road where goats kept blocking our way and looking snidely at our car like, "yeah, I could take you".<br /><br />If we turned the other way instead of going down the hill we would get to a pretty touristy beach town. Over the next few days we got to know that beach well as it was there that we would go for our meals. At the end of the beach we were able to climb a small cliff to get to a lighthouse which we were able to climb. One awesome thing about India is the lack of safety precautions which allowed us to climb all the way to the top and then get to the outside balcony. What a view!!! Mountains in the background and gorgeous ocean as far as one could see.<br /><br />So much wonderfully delicious fish! The hotel had awesome baked yogurt which became my new favorite food! Because I kept not knowing when I would check out and we kept renting a car, the hotel loved us. They sent us free desserts. The head housekeeper came to meet us (I thought we were in trouble at first) and give us gifts (cute little frames!). When we called for room service and asked for tiramisu they said "We are sorry but we are out of mascarpone, would you like us to make it using vanilla pudding instead?" Um, no, no I didn't.<br /><br />Although much of the time was pretty stressful juggling phone calls and changing stories and regulations, the area was beautiful and we did meet some great people. I can't wait to go back to Kerala and do a backwaters tour...and be completely on vacation!crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-84298979765161435482010-01-15T07:56:00.000-08:002010-01-15T08:12:33.751-08:00beginning of the end of novemberThe end of November was quite a ride. Luckily I was chosen for quite a few opportunities. I got to help with a Foreign Commercial Service trade tour for energy efficiency products companies. I also got to go to Kerala with Natalie. Originally I was sent there to do a welfare and whereabouts visit, which is when a consular officer visits an american citizen child who has been abducted, in many cases by one of the parents, to ensure that the child is safe and accounted for. Kerala is beautiful, tons of palm trees all over and beautiful temples and the ocean and gorgeous light. We had to take a pretty long car ride inland up into the hills for the visit. Our driver did not speak much English and I didn't really know where I was going. After many stops to ask random people directions, the car stopped in front of a house. A very nice older lady beckoned for me to come into the house. She apparently spoke no English but smiled a lot and kept waving me in. She sat me down and looked expectantly at me. "Tea?" "Tea?" "Tea?" she kept asking quizzically. "Sure, thank you" I replied. Then I saw out the window that people were surrounding Natalie and it appeared she was motioning for me to go outside. So outside I went. Down the lane and behind the car a woman and a kid were seemingly conversing with Natalie and I thought maybe these were the people I came to visit. But no. They were just curious about the redhead in their lane. And it quickly became obvious that this was in fact not the house that I was supposed to be going to. Another man came down the lane. He got in the front seat of the car and drove with us to make sure we made it where we had in fact been heading. The visit was fine and Natalie had a nice time wandering around the village during it. Once we were back at the hotel we decided to try the other mission: figure out if an american citizen woman who was reported dead was in fact deceased and if so and if possible to get a copy of the death certificate. I had only a vague address but I found a tuck-tuck and took off for the general area. Thankfully I found the woman alive and she was a lovely lady. Unfortunately the power was out and so she had to go looking for I.D. by candlelight. It simply added to the strangeness of the day, which would only get stranger. On the way back to the hotel my phone rang, starting the really strange journey that was to occupy the rest of our Kerala trip.crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-58804165173107446492009-11-14T20:28:00.000-08:002009-11-14T20:58:41.291-08:00settling down and in<p>I had a dream last night that I adjudicated a visa for Debbie Gibson. I realize that as an American citizen she would never show up at my visa window but since my mom answered some strange question on facebook "What is Becky dreaming of?" by saying I was dreaming about her arriving in Chennai I thought I would set the record straight. Lately I've been trying really hard to make sure I get enough blob out and do nothing time...I have a lot to catch up on after crazy October. </p><p>Last Sunday Natalie and I wore saris and attended another wedding. This one was for Nithya who works in the commissary. However, it was totally different from the last one. The ceremony had been at 7 in the morning but the reception that we attended was in the evening. It was a love match so the crowd was very small, it seems her family was not in attendance. There were "thrones" on the stage and lots of picture taking and buffet eating and staring at each other in our awesome outfits. But it was a bit strange that the Americans were the major group of guests. </p><p>This past week was my birthday. There was a high level visitor in town though and I was in charge of putting together a lunch at the CG's residence with university leaders for the visit so my actual bday consisted of just being exhausted. But since the 11th was a day off we went out on the 10th...after the lunch and then the ELO dinner at the CG's residence. We were supposed to go to Salsa at the Park but Salsa at the Park is no more...so we had drinks at the Leather Bar...and cake. It was fun to hang out with everyone although what I had really wanted was to see and talk with my niece and nephew. I did call them but Allie was out at day care and Luke was down for the count with Swine flu. I need to figure out Skype so I can see and talk to them. </p><p>Bollywood classes are back! We had a bit of a break as our teacher went to Thailand. Yay dancing! </p><p>It is raining. A lot. At one point during Diwali I remember thinking how can there possibly be any more fireworks left? They must have set them all, all the fireworks in all the world, off already...I feel the same way now about the rain. It is insane. Many families have been finding worms and tadpoles in their water. Not me yet. But I am terrified everytime I take a shower that I'm going to find worms. EEEEEEEEEkkkkkkk.</p><p> </p>crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-30688904591929992622009-11-07T18:44:00.000-08:002009-11-07T19:20:47.192-08:00Bollywood dancing and a weddingNatalie and I are taking Bollywood dancing lessons. With Chennai Man 2008, Jodi No 1 (the Indian version of either Dancing with the Stars or So you think you can dance?) winner Sanjay. Boy that man can moves his hips. And his shoulders. Along with Natalie and me, two others from the consulate, an Indian woman, a French woman, a British woman and a 12 year-old Indian boy hang out in a small room and bumble through his choreographed fun. I have to admit I was curious about Sanjay, especially after he was telling us that he would be on T.V. the next day. I don't have a T.V. but I do have You Tube. So I watched my teacher rock out to Bon Jovi on the Chennai beach with some little kid. Yes I did. We won't talk about it again. The first song we have been learning is Talli Main Talli Ho Gai which apparently means I'm so drunk. At many points in the song our hand motions are supposed to represent doing shots...I've never popped my hips so much while doing shots but whatever. I look like a epileptic spider on crack who just had vodka sprayed on her and fell into a blender that happens to have been slung down a slip and slide while trying to do the dance. Natalie looks flawless. I want to take a video of her and post it so people can have an idea of what I am SUPPOSED to be doing. But it is a ton of fun and next family wedding Natalie and I will totally rock our new dances. We are working on Jai Ho now. I've downloaded the songs and due to the monsoon making running impossible, Natalie and I just have Bollywood dance party in the apartment instead. Life is good. Some of the moves though are very counterintuitive. Sanjay gets a little fed up with the class's general lack of ability to do his crazy moves but he tries not to show it. Usually he starts showing us something insane which seems simple enough when shown slowly but becomes impossible to do at the speed of the music. After we try it with music he tends to sigh and then just tell us to shift from foot to foot and pump our arms. When the french lady kept saying "but my arm wants to go here not there" he took a deep breath and told her to "use your head". Heart.<br /><br />Last weekend I went to my first Indian wedding. It was the pinnacle of efficiency, an economist's dream. We arrived slightly late having gotten lost (I suppose we should have turned at the cow in the road but we went straight). I sadly did not have a sari to wear as my sari shirt had not been made yet, sigh. Oh, I forgot to say whose wedding it was! Balu, a cutie who works in the consular section with us! He has the most rocking glasses. Anyways, we show up late and go up to the third floor and people usher us forward saying please come and then put up chairs in the front row for us to sit and give us diet cokes. Kinda felt bad ruining the view of the super cute kids who had heretofore been the front row. Balu and his bride and family members were on stage. As were bananas and flowers and things that were making smoke. A whole lot of photographers were at the foot of the stage. A heck of a lot of people were in the audience...hundreds and hundreds. I didn't really understand what was going on but jasmine was pinned in the bride's hair and the cords were tied around the neck and some rings were exchanged and then Balu and his bride walked around the alter and then walked around it with their family and then it was receiving line time. Everyone (yes EVERYONE) took off their shoes at the foot of the stage and worked their way up to say congrats and have a picture taken and then collect shoes and then were herded to the second floor. The second floor had eight rather long tables which probably fit about twenty people on a side. The room was arranged in sections of two tables with chairs just on one side of each table and an aisle between each pairing of tables. As guests sat in the chairs, waitstaff went down the aisles b/w the tables and rolled out new paper, then a waiter went down the aisle and gave each guest a fresh banana leaf and bottle of water, then a whole slew of chefs with their own pots walked down the aisle and loaded the banana leaf with all sorts of deliciousness (especially the pineapple wonder). People ate and if they wanted more they folded the leaf one way and when finished folded it the other. And then the waitstaff just rolled the paper and leafs back up which was our cue to move so that the little kids stalking our chairs could sit and the process could be repeated for the next batch of guests. We then left. Overall, ceremony plus meal took about an hour. Beautiful! Tonight we are invited to a wedding reception. My sari shirt is made but the tailor didn't open yesterday due to monsoon. I might just wear my sari with a tank top and tuck it into my workout shorts since I don't have a petticoat.crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-33013466946914837172009-11-07T18:01:00.000-08:002009-11-07T18:42:28.766-08:00HyderabadThe newest consulate in India is Hyderabad and since it just started adjudicating visas this year many of its ELOs have come to Chennai to do some training. Being plain awesome, they decided to invite all of us from Chennai to go visit them. Ten of us accepted including me and Natalie. We left right from work, fitting five of us in my hatchback with our bags and my driver to get to the airport. Tiny little plane, Nat and I seated in the very front FACING some nervous looking couple. Oh, I forgot to mention that it was Kingfisher Airlines (yes the country's equivalent of Budweiser has an airline...classic). The meal consisted of a cole slaw sandwhich and strangely cut up potatoes that pretended to be applesauce, dismaying Whitney. We arrived and were amazed by their beautiful, clean, orderly airport. You feel the high tech wave as soon as you get off the plane in Hyderabad.<br /><br />We go to dinner at this peaceful restaurant with a Buddhist theme where I got myself a beautiful, juicy, heaven-tasting steak. The difference in the experience all had to do with the small details that for some reason they can't figure out in Chennai - the music was in the background allowing conversation to be in the foreground, the waiters are trained to not put their hands in your food or to rub their hand all over the rim of your glass when putting it down, we all got our own menu, they actually had the wines on their wine list, waiters walk around instead of reaching over people...it is amazing how much of a difference these little details make. Dinner ruled. So did bed. We stayed with Janice and Jerry and Abbie(Janice is the ELO, Jerry captains a ship in 3-month on, 3-month off intervals and yes he has dealt with pirates!!!!!, Abbie is the beautiful golden lab). They have a great apartment on the first floor but also have a "rooftoop palace", a little apartment on the roof!<br /><br />My morning was so great. I woke up and watched the sunrise from the rooftop, going downstairs to make coffee by boiling water and putting it through a paper towel with coffee grounds...yum! Finally got to do some reading on Ghost Wars. Gotta stop and talk about something I read here. This is a quote by Ronald Reagan:<br />"My problem with Bill was that I didn't understand him at meetings. Now, you can ask a person to repeat himself once. You can ask him twice. But you can't ask him a third time. You start to sound rude. So I'd just nod my head, but I didn't know what he was actually saying."<br />He is talking about Bill Casey, the CIA director at the time. Seriously, if you are the president and it is your CIA director and the Cold War is going on...YOU CAN ASK AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WANT!!!! This both made me laugh and cower in fear at the same time. So Reagan really wasn't lying when he said he did not recall...except maybe it was that he never actually heard. WOW.<br /><br />The rest of the weekend was pretty sweet too. We saw beautiful old buildings and palaces and arches. The town is much more Muslim and the architectural style reflects that. The city is old and walking around the streets has a real charm. Chennai, being the Detroit of India, appears to not have as many older buildings, most are more or less big concrete blocks, at least in the neighborhoods we are mostly in. There is a large stone Buddha statue in the middle of their (stinky) lake. Originally when they tried to take it out the barge sunk and many people died. It stayed on the bottom of the lake for I think 20 years before they raised the money to raise it out of the water. I got pics. When leaving the lake, there was a crowd staring over the side and a police van. The driver told us that they are fishing a corpse out of the lake. Huh. We ate at a Bollywood themed restaurant and I couldn't tell the wax people from the real ones. When we went to brunch at the Marriott the waiters did a choreographed line of cakes that they brought out to us (still don't know why). My favorite part was the confusion they had after depositing the cakes...they all kinda looked at each other like "Now what?" and then ran into each other trying to slink unnoticed back into the kitchen.<br /><br />All in all a great time. Oh, when we tried to go home, the check in lady informed us that Kingfisher had sold us a flight that did not exist...maybe they had been sampling too much of their other product? So we spent a lot of quality time at the airport. Difference with the US? The airline offered nothing for the inconvenience - no free flight, no meal voucher, not even a bottle of water. Nothing. Oh well, I made it home.crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-62569646202326434622009-11-06T20:12:00.000-08:002009-11-06T20:58:12.004-08:00diwaliDiwali ruled.<br />I am fortunate enough to live in an aparment that was relatively quiet...colleagues kept posting on facebook about not being able to sleep and wailing dogs but I came through pretty unscathed...only one time did I feel like I was under siege in my apartment.<br />For those who don't know, Diwali is when the entire population buys a crapload of fireworks and then lets little kids set them off for about three days straight with no supervision. It is loud and bright and kind of fantastic. Except when trying to walk to Yomaris' house for the party...then the indiscrimnate firecracker setting off on the street really does seem a personal hazard...but we all got through okay. After some imbibing we went on the roof armed with firecrackers...the entire sky of the city in every direction was lit up with constant blitzes of color...we just took in the sights and made our contribution (thankfully with no injuries despite our lack of pyrotechnic skills and the plethora of exposed wires on the rooftop). <br />Diwali ended for me at the Hash. The Hash goes on around the world and finally Natalie and I tried out the Chennai one. What happens is people ahead of time plot a running course but those behind have to find it and there are plenty of false routes along the way. It was really cool and we wove through busy streets, a cricket field (with a game going), temples, the beach. People kept asking if I was a virgin and while at first I thought it might be an uncomfortable conversation explaining the differences in cultural norms between our great nations really they just meant if I was a first timer to the Hash. After the run there is beer and food and ice blocks. Big ice blocks. Natalie and I had to sit on the ice blocks to get introduced...and right after we sat a bunch of kids started setting off a whole bunch of firecrackers in a corner, thus delaying our ice-sitting time...when finally we were introduced I was explained as Becky with the U.S. government and Natalie as my sister who bought a one-way ticket because she is looking for a mate.<br />Fan freaking tastic!crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-50274101959896686372009-11-06T19:55:00.000-08:002009-11-06T20:04:28.852-08:00i suppose i liedjust read the end of my last post where i said i would nap and finish the thailand story tomorrow...i did nap!<br />Okay a quick recap of the rest of thailand because alas i waited too long...check out the pics on facebook, says so much...Dinner at the hotel, yummy pizza, signed up for two tours to maximize the use of our time. The next day we got a van to ourselves and a tour guide drove us about 1 1/2 hours outside of bangkok, with stops to see coconut cutting, scraping, boiling, making along the way. We got on a long skinny motorized boat and took off down the canals, ending at the floating market. At the floating market I bought a sweet purple hat that doubles as a fan. Then we got on a paddled boat and checked out the market...I found the beer here boat that floated past and was super happy! (Shhhh, it was after noon SOMEWHERE). On the way home we stopped and took elephant rides...again the pics explain more. The driver sits on the elephant's neck and "steers" by using his feet and tickling behind the elephant's ear. Natalie and I were on a carriage thing on the elephant's back. So fun. <br />When we got back to the hotel, Bridget and Holly took off for McDonalds. Natalie and I went into a little hole in the wall restaurant. The kind woman standing above much broth and various types of balls of meat didn't really speak english so after trying to discern what is on the unpublished menu we just sat in chairs and waited. A bowl of noodles with awesome yummy meat balls showed up...the one meat ball was some sort of shrimp and cinnamon. It ruled. And it was 30 baht, less than a buck. The next day we saw a bunch of temples that really were mindblowing but again I am not a describer of visual beauty so check out the pics. Oh there was a ferry and two massages...the thai massage reminded me of a book I have with the title "Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do it". <br />Okay it was maybe three weeks later but I did in fact talk about the rest of Thailand!crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-64895358532221867912009-10-17T00:10:00.000-07:002009-10-17T01:08:37.074-07:00Natalie is here!!!!Natalie arrived three weeks ago...and it feels like forever and only a second at the same time. She hit the ground running for sure! Two days after she arrived she came along to help out on her first service project. The Consulate was doing its Day of Service in honor of 9/11 and Gandhi's birthday. I was fortunate to be chosen as a helper with some of the planning and got to spend the day at the project. We went to a Muslim school for girls run by the Indian government. The grounds had formerly been a palace but the yards were very overgrown and the buildings were in need of help. Along with over a hundred volunteers from local colleges and schools, we cleared the field (using blades, no really) and painted the stage. The schoolgirls were adorable and at one point Nat, Whitney (the intern) and I toured the grounds with them. They were incredibly proud of their school and fascinated by us. All along the walk the three of us were swarmed by the smiling faces shaking our hands and asking for our autograph. <br />That weekend I took Natalie down to Temple Bay where we got to walk along the beach in between cows and see the temple. That Sunday we participated in a Breast Cancer walk along the beach. While I was working that week she got out and saw two orphanages and found an organization to volunteer regularly with where she can help children with disabilities. All in all a productive first week for the Natalie!<br />The next weekend which was last weekend was Thailand! By Friday night I still hadn't packed and we had signed on to go to a presentation at Global Adjustments about Diwali where we got to see an amazing dance performed by two guys in makeup and jangles. Dancing here is storytelling and one was the good god and the other the mischievous evil god...the dance culminated in a wonderful fake sword fight...the music was live...all in all incredible! We went home to pack but there was a lot of noise outside so we hurried up to the rooftop to watch the fireworks! <br />Finally I packed and we headed to the airport after picking Bridget up. The flight was not at all terrible and at the end...I was in THAILAND!!!!! After waiting for Holly to show up we got into a rented minivan shuttle and headed out into the 7 a.m. Thai day...I've never been so happy to see cars actually driving in the lanes!!!! Yes, imagine that, the roads have clearly marked lanes and people actually stay in them! And it is so CLEAN!!!! Heavenly.<br />Our hotel is amazing and since we are trying to check in so early we end up with one room instead of three....except that the room is an apartment as big, probably bigger actually, than my huge government apartment that I have now. And we have three balconies and amazing views!!!! We order room service and nap. <br />After napping and hitting Starbucks we take off to the Sky Train which delivers us to the weekend market, aisle after aisle and row upon row and tiny little side alley upon tiny side alley of vendors of all sorts of stuff...of course I mostly focused on the street meat and other food! <br />There was so much food on the street! Getting off the train I got a sesame and salt waffle, then Nat picked up the green mango with chili in a bag then I got the coconut pancakey things and then we both got coconut ice cream...we really just ate our way through the market...and shopped...yes even I bought stuff...two skirts and two shirts and an awesome pink headband. We did in fact find another bed restaurant for dinner! Must go nap, will finish tomorrow.crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-70633533406909980252009-09-28T09:26:00.000-07:002009-09-28T09:46:38.433-07:00time is really flyingoriginally i had as a goal to post once a week so that i could keep a record of what the heck is going on...does it count if the past month has flown by like a week? Even though it had enough packed into it to be a year? My little sister is on a plane right now and when I sign off I'm going to go pick her up and for some reason that put my butt in gear to finally write something.<br /><br />The work is challenging. As much as people made cracks about how most consular toured officers are well overqualified for the work, I can see absolutely the logic in starting out here and getting the lay of an overseas tour land. No one part of the job is terribly difficult but there is a constant barrage of tasks to be juggled, a ton of detail and lots of judgment calls along the way. They really did hire us for our judgment...uh oh me.<br /><br />Being in a post with so many ELOs is wonderful because I can draw on their help and have a built in social network but it also presents difficulties. Some really great opportunities come up and it is hard to not be chosen sometimes. There is more than enough opportunities to be able to keep constantly busy and know that I'm doing important work but because of the high stress level certain tensions arise that I overreact to in the moment. Overall though I am incredibly lucky to work with such amazing people and also lucky to have managers who make sure opportunities abound.<br /><br />Life in India can also be challenging. But immensely rewarding. Again no one thing is terribly difficult to adjust to but all the little things add up. The pace of life is just different. The idea of customer service is nonexistent - oh there are tons of people milling around in any hospitality environment but none actually seem capable of listening fully to an order, asking a question if they don't understand so that the order will be correct and completing it in a timely manner. Most of the time I can see humor in it but sometimes the 30 minute wait for a drink or the 20 minutes it takes to get a spoon for the ice cream which is then melted really gets to me. <br /><br />But this place is amazing. One night after dinner me and two friends decided to try out this bar called 10 Downing Street. We talked with a few different autorickshaw drivers to no avail. Finally a man on his evening stroll took pity and explained where it was. Success...until all the rickshaw drivers got up front and the three of us in back...it was one full rickshaw. When we got to the bar the manager took us right away and said "Come, come" as they are wont to do. He led us to the other table of white people and then seemed perturbed/amazed that we did not in fact know the other whities nor did we want to sit with them. We got our own table and the place was a strange and hellish version of an english pub with crazy red walls and wildly dancing men. The hell vision became clearer when people came to our table and lit it on fire trying to sell us flaming shots. Egads. On the way home we took two autorickshaws...and the friend I was with told our driver to race the other one...I had no idea those things could go that fast!!!!! Nor did I know that three wheelers can in fact take turns on two wheels.<br /><br />Today I walked to the spa for a massage and a cow was in my way. A big black one just sitting taking up the road with a "You want some of this" look...sadly yes, yes I do want some of that, medium rare with some mashed potatoes...ah Thsiland I can't wait to eat my way through you. Oh which reminds me of another spa...Temple Bay is a beautiful resort with an amazing infinity pool and hammocks and a lot of beauty...just don't get a "massage". I went in for mine and was taken in a room and told to get naked. When I asked for a robe the woman looked at me quizzically. I tried to walk out but the manager told me to take a towel. Decided to give it a whirl, toweled up and went into massage room. Oh goodie look at that table. Wait why do you want me to sit on this stool? Um, okay. Eeeek why are you pouring copious amounts of burnt coffee smelling oil over my head? And just moving it around? Um, will I get to be on the table and be massaged if I put up with it? Apparently not, because the next thing the lady wanted me to do was just lay naked face up on table...and I could tell there was a lot more getting oil poured over me without any rubbing in store...I walked out. Yes, I walked out on a "massage". Sigh. Oh I better go get my Natalie!!! Yippee!crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-60380084578371243942009-08-26T06:22:00.000-07:002009-08-26T07:49:39.488-07:00i love the nightlifeNight 1 - On the Rocks, restaurant at Park Sheraton Hotel where you get a hot rock and cook your meat and are given sauces. After dinner, try going to the "nightclub" called Dubliner...when I tried at 10 on a Saturday it was closed...such is the nightlife here<br />Night 2 - Party at the CG's residence...lesson learned - limit alcohol at the CG's house or else you may end up hugging important people that saner people would not be hugging...oops<br />Night 3 - Going to see the musical Chicago, huge auditorium with unassigned seating. Pre-show there are shirtless men in tight red sequined shiny pants walking around the aisles...ummm...the mc talks FOREVER telling what i think he thought were jokes...the play starts out being amusingly bad (kinda like Mariah Carey's Glitter) then turns downright painful...driving the need for a post-show drink...we go to "Bikes and Barrels", a cowboy-esque loud bar. Here I learn the segregation policy. All the poor blokes who couldn't scrounge up at least one girl have to go hang out in an upper deck, staring down over the balcony at the less pathetic people. The balcony has a net...in case a guy wants to jump? The music is loud loud loud and the Tamil rap dancing is pretty sweet. <br />Night 4 - Happy hour at the Leather Bar, yeah that really is its name, but no there are no leather daddys...darn false advertising<br />Night 5 - Meet for drinks at one of the Taj hotels at a bar whose name I forget. Wait the requisite 1/2 hour for drinks to be made by the 6:1 ratio of bartenders to customers...watch how excited the waiter gets that my friend orders a flight of martinis...apparently they don't understand the concept of a flight and the glasses are not any smaller...loud loud loud music as always...highlight of evening absolutely the guy who tried to sexily dance through the gold bead to make his grand entrance and got himself all tied up and almost choked. Moved on to try Dubliner again and this time it WAS open on Saturday night...imagine that! Danced a lot, met some Swedish guys, my Swedish guy (who was actually Finnish apparently but all I know was there was blah blah blah not about me) told me his hobbies included drinking but that he also cooked a lot and from that moment became to me the Swedish chef and all I could hear was muppet voice from him...then we went and played Rock Band...very poorly...and then walked home, getting very lost late at night. Monday morning found out that the Regional Security Officer had gotten updates about our evening from the local police, the hotel security guards, the residence guards...geez don't like knowing I'm being watched...<br />Those are the weekend nights, weekday nights have included learning to play bridge, book club, representational events, Salsa...two more years to go...crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-17604050691519058422009-08-18T08:04:00.000-07:002009-08-18T08:19:59.377-07:00showing the flagSometimes when the CG is unable to attend events us entry level officers (ELOs, apparently being called junior officers was too offensive?)are asked to go in his place and be the American presence. Some are really cool, others a bit less glamorous. Regardless of the ELO perception of the event, when an invitation is given to the CG it comes from people who genuinely want to build relations with the U.S. and a lot of great public diplomacy can occur just by showing up. Tonight was my first such event. Frankly, after a full day of work and recovering from complete icky sickness the day before, I was dreading having to sit and smile all suited up. And right before I got panicked that maybe I would be expected to speak or at least mingle and say appropriate things! So I looked real quick on the internet to get talking points and catch up on recent events, printing some things out. In the car I read some of these things and got myself mentally prepared for what looked to be a few hours of sitting still and listening to speeches. Upon approaching the hotel, the car first had to have the requisite "security check". When I walked in and gave my card (yes I have cards now! english on one side, tamil on the other)I started to realize the power of being with the consulate. I was treated like someone important, escorted around and given coffee and then seated in the first row in the VIP section where everyone had their names on their chairs. Hmmmmm, a reminder that although I'm not important, the position is and the position builds bridges. The evening started with an impressive singing performance, followed by speeches, bouquet and plaque giving, videos. The winner of the award, Shri. Sunil Bharti Mittal, gave an inspiring and interesting speech. In all, I learned a lot both about the importance of showing up and about Indian industry, some of the important names as well as some of the important themes. It was particularly interesting to hear their take on the rising power of entrepreneurism in the country, especially for an economist. Oh, and I am understanding more and more that Indians love the word "august".crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827897071822925542.post-7717108241973524852009-08-13T00:23:00.000-07:002009-08-13T01:14:00.162-07:00first impressions of chennaiToday marks three weeks in Chennai and the Consulate in all its wisdom decided I needed a day off to celebrate and contemplate. Later today I think I'm going to San Thome Cathedral but for now I'm going to take advantage of my internettedness and catch up a bit on this blog thing. <br /><br />My first weekend in Chennai was really just about catching up on sleep. My sponsor picked me up at the airport late at night and dropped me at my new apartment, having left me some awesome food she had prepared. I made a great impression my first day when I got so hungry that I freaked out a bit on the RSO and then fell asleep multiple times during the meeting of section heads. OOOOps. <br /><br />My apartment is HUGE. There is a lot of furniture and it is pretty nice, just not at all my style. Luckily though I will be able to have covers made pretty cheap and I will get the walls painted so hopefully by the time Natalie arrives (September 28...46 days, not that I'm counting or anything) my pad will be pretty finely pimped. Okay, I must admit that right now I am watching a show about cheese, really boring but man the cheese is pretty. <br /><br />Saturday after I arrived I pretty much only had energy to walk with my sponsor to Amma Nana's, the expat grocery store. The walk was not long but frankly a bit scary, one must REALLY pay attention while walking the streets given the amount of vehicles, potholes, animals, people, whatever on the street. Seeing everything that is available at the grocery store(albeit at more American prices) I feel a little silly about how much food I packed in my household effects (HHE). Most important, there is a whole fridge of imported cheeses!!!! YIPPPEEEE!!!<br /><br />That Saturday when I woke up there was a little trash fire happening across the street. Since it kind of went with the stray dogs, I took it in stride. However, later that night there was a bigger fire with an acrid chemical smell...I was very worried that it was a normal occurence but it has not happened since. Oh, and Friday evening I had a gas leak (downside, there was a gas leak, upside I totally have a gas stove/range...sweet!) which was "fixed" once and then fixed again Saturday when it leaked again....here's hoping it really is fixed this time!<br /><br />Oh, my least favorite part of my apartment...the toilet seat in the master bedroom. The design of the seat different and leaves me feeling as though I may fall in at any moment. Now that I could deal with but there is also a crack so my bum keeps getting pinched...ouch. Once I figured out how to turn on the hot water, electric outlets, fans and other stuff, the rest of the apartment is pretty sweet. I keep debating about which room I want...so far have stayed in the one room because when I arrived sheets were already on the bed and I was dead tired and the bathroom shower has a full tub. However, the other room has a lacking of trees by balcony so it gets gorgeous light. <br /><br />Armed with a weekend of sleep, I was ready for my first full week of work. A lot of filling out forms, meetings, training. Monday night, I went out and learned/played bridge at a colleague's home. Apparently it is a weekly thing. The bridge was fun but I was excited by my first wine in Chennai! <br /><br />By Tuesday, I had my household staff in place, a housekeeper/cook named Anu and a driver named Ranjan. Both had worked for the person who lived in my apartment before me and came highly recommended. Tuesday, I was taken to work by my driver and introduced to my new car. It was a strange experience buying a car without ever driving it...truth be told I still haven't driven my car...but it is working out. <br /><br />Wednesday night was a going away party; there is a lot of turnover at the moment among entry-level officers here...a lot of us coming, a lot of them going...music, food, alcohol, the usual revelry...good times...got to see some more apartments, bridget realized she had an apartment within her apartment that she didn't know about (on one of the balconies there is a door leading to a small room and a bathroom, servant's quarters if you choose to have a live-in maid)...how nutty eh?crystal lilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413711637835519758noreply@blogger.com0