Tree Trimming with Ringen

It is my family's tradition to go pick out a tree, cut it down, bring it home and decorate it the day after Thanksgiving. I didn't go cut this one down nor was I able to put it up the day after Thanksgiving but it was an adventure to get it and the things to decorate it.

It took going to 2 Christmas Markets (American and German) and about 5 other shops/markets to find what I needed. First on my list was to get the things I needed for my Advent wreath. I was able to find the candles and some green garland and small poinsettia blossoms to decorate them at Khan Market. It's a major expat oriented market with lots of export items. It also has the price tag to match. They have a special festival shop which changes what it carries for every possible major festival for all the major religions here and non-religious holidays.


After the Advent Wreath was ready then I set out for ornaments and a tree. My first Christmas Market was the American Women's Association held at the American Embassy School. I had fun hanging out with my friends Kathleen, Vivki, and Ringen. We ran into lots of people we knew. It was like taking a trip to the States for the day. We enjoyed grilled hamburgers, fries, and yummy desserts. I got my first ornament as a gift from Vicki.

I have a friend here who works with people who are HIV+. Her NGO tries to help these people find different ways to generate money and support themselves. This Christmas they made ornaments. I was able to buy my first ornaments from this group. I bought two packets. Each packet came with a ball ornament, a bell, and some large and small stars. The balls are paper mache. The bells and stars are carved out of wood. One of the ball ornaments has a nativity painted on it. I think it's my favorite.






Then next Christmas decoration hunt I went with some friends who were passing through and I took them to Dilli Haat. Dilli Haat is an amazing market. In the center of the market are food stalls with different food from all over Indian. You can choose which ever you like the best. The vendor stalls are also from all the different regions of India. They switch every 4-6 weeks. It's fun to go back every 6 weeks or so to see what's new. I foung some beautiful hand painted Christmas oranments from Kashmir. After making our way through Dilli Haat we went accross the street to INA Market to get the actual tree, lights, and the star.







Before Dilli Haat I had gone to the German Christmas Market with my shopping buddies, Kathleen and Vicki. It was a bit of a disappointment for me. I was expecting it to me like an actual Christmas Market in Germany and it wasn't. I didn't even have any German food=( Besides this bit of disappoinment I did have some very cool experiences there. I ran into several of my Japanese students. I got to speak in both German and Hindi. I found some cool cookbooks for Indian friendly German cooking that is written in both English and German. I was able to find some gifts and a few ornaments. The best surprise was at an NGO booth. I noticed it because it is based in the community where my language helper lives. I found out that they are the people who run the different classes that my language helper attends like sewing and photography. I got to meet my language helper's sweing teacher. They were selling cards with some of the pictures taken by the photography class on them. I was curoius and looked through a set. The last card was a picture of two of my language helper's brothers and her counsin in front of her house. I was excited to find her name on the back of the card as the photographer. I bought her a pack of the cards and myself a pack.

My friend Renee joined me for my last market stop. We went to an exporter's shop who only opens to the public for the month of December. Ususally, they only export their things to the States, Canada, and Europe. It was like walking into a Christmas Wonderland. We both stopped dead in our tracks once we reached the bottom of the stairs that lead to the shop and audible said together, "WOW!" Appearantly, most people have that reaction. While we were there everyone else that came in did the same thing. I bought some more ornaments and a tree skirt with matching stocking. I made sure to buy matching ornaments to send home to each of my family members. They loved them! I even found a lighthouse for my grandmother (she collects light houses). I also found some Chrismons (ornaments which our symbols of X). There will be no running around next year. This is the place to go if I need anything else.





After I got everything I needed to put the tree up and decorate it. It's no fun doing it yourself. My friend Ringen came over and we played Christmas music and decorated the tree together. Here's the end result....






I almost forgot the stocking and matching tree skirt....

Thanksgiving with Many Reasons to be Thankful

Of course Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here. Just because one leaves their home country doesn't mean they have to stop all their traditions. Thanksgiving is a great time for the American community to gather and enjoy being with each other. It's almost like going home for the day.

My Thanksgiving week posed some challenges which ended with many reasons to be thankful. I had to do my first visa renewal. This can be a very frustrating and time consuming process. I'm very thankful that things worked out. It was less of a hassle than I thought it would be. I made sure I had all the needed paperwork and multiple copies of each document. It took 2 days and lots of running around but in the end I received my extension.

At the end of the second day (Thanksgiving Day) I was able to join in on not one but 3 Thanksgiving meals! The first was with my friend Sarah. I had a lot of fun and met some new people. My favorite foods at this Thanksgiving lunch were the mash potatoes, green bean casserole, and the buckeyes (chocolate peanut butter balls). Then I was off to my other friend's place also named Sara but without the "h". She's from TX...Houston to be exact. She had the right kind of dressing, some yummy chipotle cranberry sauce, turkey, and wonderful hot apple cider. Finally, I ended the night at Ben and Renee's house. This was probably the most interesting considering the other guest were not American. It was their first Thanksgiving experience. I had a bit more green bean casserole, some sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie from scratch! I was stuffed and very happy.

I was very thankful for my visa extension and the opportunity to enjoy such great food with a diverse group of people.

I'm Back

Just as with everyone else, the season has been busy. I haven't been able to post since Thanksgiving. I have 6 new posts with pictures on their way. The last month and a half has been great. I hope you enjoy reading about all that happened.

It has been a different experience celebrating Christmas in a place where my faith is not the majority religion. It really took some effort to find the places to get the decorations and tree. Unless one went to the mall or 5-star hotels there wasn't really any signs of the festival. It actually made everything I did more meaningful. I enjoyed having to be intentional about how I celebrated my festival and enjoyed sharing the experience with others. For some of them it provided first time experiences which is always fun to be a part of.

More Elephants

I'm telling you elephants are now a part of my normal life. It's the second wave of weddings for the year. This means bands, fireworks, horses, carriages and ELEPHANTS!

I was kept up most of the night by the loud bands and fireworks. I finally fell asleep about 3 or 4 in the morning. I'm so glad I didn't have to be up early though I was hoping to get some things done before my Hindi class.

As I left to go to my Hindi class I encountered the remnants of the wedding. I walked toward the roundabout to catch an auto rickshaw when I saw the horses. Next to the white horses (they are always white) was the band which looked a bit ragged and then stood 2 elephants all painted for the occasion.

Of course, I didn't have my camera. It is the season, so I guess for you I will start carrying my camera. I wouldn't want you to start thinking I was just telling you a bunch of elephant stories. Don't want to become the girl who cried "Elephant!"

"Normal"

I was hanging out at a friend’s house yesterday and they had company. Their company was a newly arrived family. We started talking about the strange things that have become “normal.”

Two stories included elephants. When did elephants become “normal?” Apparently they are now. My friend shared about the time he got ran off the road because a small herd (4-5) of elephants walked out on the road and a bus had to swerve to miss them. Of course in the process of swerving to miss the elephants, the bus almost hit my friend…hence he got ran off the road.

My story happened on the way back from the Christmas market. Sounds pretty “normal” until you pull up to a stop light and the only think you can see are elephant legs. I need to point out that these roads are not in rural village areas. I’m talking about downtown metropolitan city with 20 million or so people. It would be like being in any major city in the US driving along on any interstate and these things happen.

The other thing that came up is how there are specific people to do every minor little job possible. Really. I need new curtain rod holders. There is a specific person to do that. I can’t just go into a hardware store and buy them and do it myself. This is not the land of Lowe’s. Most people don’t even own a hammer. I can’t even buy one. If I want a picture hung, I have to get the man who drills holes in wall. My walls are concrete/brick. Every little problem requires another type of fix it man. It’s customary to go through your landlord. My curtains fell last night b/c the curtain rod holders broke. I’m optimistic that it will only take a couple of weeks to get that fixed. Patience takes on a whole new meaning.

It’s interesting how one gets use to the never ending honking and monkeys running across the street along with the dogs. This is my “normal” now.

My New Flat

Since my picture uploaded in the reverse order, I will begin my tour from the back of the flat and work forwards.....

Here's the view from my back balcony. I think people thought I was spying when I was trying to get this shot. Sort of strange to take a picture of your neighbor's back porch=)


People are always interested in what the bathrooms are like over here. Here's what mine looks like.


This is the shower area.




Above the toilet is the hot water heater which I'm actually using again.



Here's the actual shower. Hand held one this time. This was a negotiating point when discussing the rent. There wasn't a shower in either bathroom. This was the compromise. I'm still looking for a thing to attach to the wall. That was sort of forgotten about in the chaos of shifting.




This is what it looks like on the other side of the toilet.



Here's my bedroom. You can see the door going out to the balcony. The door to the bathroom is next to the blue shelves. Right outside of the bathroom/or right next to it is my wardrobe and some shelves I bought along with my furniture. My bed is covered in the stuff I was gathering to take on my trip.



This is my guest room/office/hope to be my roommate's room/storage for things I don't know where to put/work space for my house help. Still need to get a desk and a chair and some extra beds.





Here's the second bathroom. My house help is very grateful for the wash machine because it means she doesn't have to wash my clothes by hand. You can't really tell but there is a toilet on one side and a sink on the other side of the wash machine. There are faucets similar to the other bathroom on the opposite wall.

The Kitchen



Here's what the stoves are like. The red thing is my gas cylinder. You can see the blue tube which connects it to the stove. It's much like a glorified camping stove.

Here's the living room...



This is where I eat my meals, study, and do work.




People have asked about my reference to pumping water. We do not have 24/7 running water. Twice a day (crossing our fingers) water comes and we must pump our tank full. This meter lets me know when the water comes and how much water I have. The adventurous part of this system is hoping that you have water coming when you also have electricity. The other fun thing is that water usually comes at odd hours like 3 or 4 in the morning. But it also comes sometime in the late afternoon/early evening which works if you are at home.


Welcome! Here's my front door.

Here's the view from the front balcony.

This is also where the kids liked to hide and throw firecrackers at you (or each other) during festival season.

I like my new place. My landlords are great and so are my neighbors. The flat has great air circulation which will be nice when it's hot. It's also very bright and open. It gives me just enough space without being too much. The space is flexible in the sense that I have an extra room which can be for guests or a roommate. I have enough space to host people. It's just what I wanted and needed.

More B-day Fun!

Here's the lovely cake that was set ablaze in the video I posted. It has my Hindi name, Karishma, as well as my nickname. Karishma means miracle and was given to me by a friend on my 2nd visit to the Motherland.




This is my language helper, Zarina, and me outside her home. Her mom is hiding behind us along with some sister-cousins.


Zarina presenting her gift.





This is my choti bhai (little brother), Rizwan. He's quite the dancer.




Here's Naniji (Zarina's maternal grandmother) getting down.


My language helper.


This is Zarina's sister-cousin, Tabassum. She made me the cute 3D card below. The little girls are here sisters. The little sisters made the smaller 3D card and gave me flowers. Together all three sisters gave me a pair of ear rings and a necklace.





The blue shawl was given to me by my Latino amigas!







One of the uncle's (the above mentioned sisters' dad) wanted to get in on the celebration and put up these lights for me. The other uncle decided to rent a sound system so we could have music to dance to. It was a complete family affair. All the neighbors turned out to watch.





Zarina's mom (who I call Didi, big sister) gave me a very interesting gift. It's sort of a good luck wish for what she hopes to happen sooner than later.

Happy Birthday!

Here's a video of my birthday party at my language helper's house.

The Season of Festivals

Eid ul-Fitr

Eid Mubarak! Which is followed by a warm embrace is what you will observe today. It is Eid ul-Fitr, the last day of Ramadan or Ramzaan as it is known in South Asia. Everywhere you look you will see Muslim people in new clothes greeting each other and visiting each others’ houses. It is not only for Muslims, but others will visit their friends on this day and enjoy a massive feast. It is also a day to give zakat, offerings to the poor. For a month now Muslims have been fasting from sunrise to sunset asking for forgiveness. Last night was Laylat al-Qadr, the night of power when the Prophet Mohammed received the Holy Qur’an.

For more information on this season, please check out these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_ul-Fitr

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan

The Nine Nights: Navratri

Navratri, meaning nine nights, is the Hindu festival of worship and dance of the Shakti/Devi, or Mother Goddess. During these nine nights the nine different forms of the Mother Goddess are worshiped. Depending on the location the different forms vary. Where I am, the celebration begins with the Durga Puja. Durga, as known as Kali, is known to be fierce and powerful. Her name means “the inaccessible or invincible one”. She is the consort of Shiva. To see an image of the Mother Goddess, check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga. This year Navrati runs September 20-28.

For more information on this festival, please see the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navratri

Dussehra

The Navratri leads up to the festival of Dussehra. To understand Dussehra one should be familiar with the epic poem The Ramayana.

This epic poem tells the story of Lord Ram and his wife Sita. It is the story which portrays the perfect marriage and ideal brotherhood. Lord Ram and his wife Sita are exiled to the forest. During the exile, Sita is kidnapped by the demon-king Ravana and taken to Lanka. In a fierce battle, Lord Ram defeats and kills Ravana. Dussehra commemorates Lord Ram’s victory over Ravana. On this day, images of Ravana are burnt is a bonfire sort of ritual. This year Dussehra is September 28^th.

For more information, see the sites below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijayadashami

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramayana

Diwali

The time between Dussehra and Diwali is considered to be the most auspicious time of the year. Diwali marks the return of Lord Ram and Sita to their home, Ayodhya. It is commemorated by lighting diyas, small clay oil lamps, which symbolize the victory of good over evil. This is why Diwali is known as the Festival of Lights. The lamps are also said to attract the Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Diwali is known as a time of prosperity and is a season of gift giving. This year Diwali is October 17^th.

For more info, see the site below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali