Mango Mania

Mangos are everywhere. And they are a little slice of paradise in this truckstop urinal of a country. I am not joking, as temperatures soar above 110, this place, with its complete lack of toilets and drying up riverbeds, is starting to smell worse than a port-a-potty at the county fair.

But I have mangos so that helps deal with it all.


QUICK QUESTION: What would you do? Feed it or let it die?
I have worked really hard at trying to keep my room as bug free and gecko free as possible. Granted those little lizards are adorable and I love to look at them on the walls but on the walls in someone else’s room. For their size, these little guys leave behind the biggest droppings and I just didn’t want that in my room. But the other day I found some droppings and knew somehow one had made it in.
So now my dilemma is do I let in bugs to feed Fido or do I leave him alone and maybe he will get hungry enough to leave. The problem is if he can’t get out and dies in my room than I will be the unacquainted host of an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord.

Anywhooo, let me know what ya think about that.....


And lastly, for those of you wondering if the rumor is true....YES!!! I am coming home...but just for a visit. I will arrive June 22nd and am counting the days till I get to see familiar, clean, structured places (you know, all the things I thought I would be excited to live without) and all your beautiful faces (which don’t count as the things I thought I would like to live without).

Beach Day

So Suresh and I had this crazy idea that I should take all the girls in “the center” on an outing. So when I presented the idea to the girls they got so excited and all agreed that we should go to Sudialanka (the beach).

We started early in the morning cause the beach is 2.5 hours away and the heat is reaching 111 degrees. I got up early threw on an old punjabi dress, removed all my jewelry and took off out the door to pick up the girls. When I arrived at 6:15am, an hour and 15 minutes late they of course they weren’t ready. But they quickly got ready and that’s when I realized how big a deal this day was to them. They all came out in their best sarees and dresses and with all their gold on. They were really confused why I didn’t have a saree on or any jewelry—just another cultural difference I tried to explain; in California you don’t dress up to go to the beach.

Many of the ladies and all the kids had never seen the ocean and were all stunned at how magnificent it was. But none (except little Ramia) was too overwhelmed not to go in...they all just rushed in and spent hours jumping in the waves (despite not knowing how to swim). I tried to keep a watchful eye on everyone and got everyone home safe and sound.

.......................and exhausted!!!!

What a funny day of firsts....

Today was the first time the Embroidery teacher actually showed up. And someone has finally showed really talent on the sewing machine and it is one of the kids-a boy but not any boy, Big Mama’s son. I really think he has potential and he is crazy about being on a machine but I’m not sure I am ready to open that can of crazy.

And now I just got done watching Spiderman 2 with the boys in the house. You see Christina and the kids and all the girls that live in the house left for Christina’s brother’s house so I am alone with all the guys, which I don’t mind, I’m simply trying to set the scene.

So anyways, you know there is a lot of kissing in that movie between the main girl her fiancé and the main girl and Spiderman. And you may not know but there is NO mouth to mouth kissing in Indian movies. In fact, Richard Gere has an arrest warrant out on him for kissing (on the cheek) an Indian Bollywood star at an HIV/AIDS Awareness event. Funny thing is she isn’t pressing the charges it is some sort of moral police going after him. (See one of the many articles if you don’t believe me http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6600839.stm )

So my point is that you don’t see kissing very often at all –like never. So I must have got accustomed to not seeing because I felt like I was watching a movie with my parents when all the sudden it gets all racy and you think, “Oh shoot, what do I do?” “Are they as uncomfortable as I am?” Ok, it wasn’t that bad but I think I blushed a little but that isn’t my point anyways.

Ok, Stephanie will you get there already then!!!!!!!!!

Ok

So after the movie one of the guys followed me to the stairs and NO he didn’t kiss me, gosh!

He said, “Stephanie, I have one question. In America do friends kiss mouth to mouth or only lovers?” I told him that only lovers kiss mouth to mouth and he replied by saying, “And they get married?” So I had to explain the dating and kissing customs of the Western world to this 24 year old East Asian man who has probably never held a flirting gaze with a girl. That was a first!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo THE KISS xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Kiran is the one in the middle in the blue and orange plaid shirt