The First Snow of the Year!

Actually, although it is now the "cold" season in Hyderabad, it is still too hot to believe. So, last weekend the SIP Guesthouse manager Mr. Das, some of the other SIP students, and I went to Snow World. Yes, Snow World! This is a theme park time attraction where Indians can go to experience snow for the first time. They give you coats, gloves, wool socks, and boots. Then they unleash you in a room full of fake snow. The Indians were going crazy! It was more fun to watch them than to play in the snow that was really more like ice shavings. At the end of the hour I was frozen to the bone - and it was only 45 degrees in there! That's proof that I'm going to freeze to death when I get back to hanging out in hockey rinks in NY.

P.S. - Snow in Hindi is बर्फ (pronounced 'barf'). So it could be said that we went on an excursion to Barf World.

Yogi

ॐ

Monkey Thieves!

नमस्ते मेरे दोस्त! आप कैसे हैं? मैं तीक हूँ।
I've been telling you about the monkeys that sometimes live on my roof for the last few months. Here is the best story yet. This morning I woke up early. I have lots to do in the next two weeks because they are the last weeks of classes for the semester and I wanted to get an early start. First, I did all of my laundry - by hand mind you. And hung it outside on the clothesline to dry in the sun. Then I walked across campus to use the ATM so that this afternoon my suitemate Whitney and I can go to Laad Bazaar to do some bangles shopping as a relaxation break from all of our school work. As I was walking back to the SIP house I ran into a gang of between 15 and 20 monkeys. They were climbing on the roof of the house, swinging from trees around the house, and walking along the path to the front door. As I cautiously worked my way toward the door they all stopped what they were doing and stared at me. As I got closer, they started to hiss at me! I ran inside. On my way upstairs to my room, I remembered that my clothes were outside drying. Kevin was in the common room so I told him about the monkeys and jokingly said that I hoped they wouldn't steal my clothes. He opened the door to the roof to check on my clothes and as he did, one of the baby monkeys swung down from a tree and grabbed my Colgate Raider Nation t-shirt from the clothesline! Kevin screamed at the monkey and it dropped my t-shirt onto the roof. Only one of my shirts was left on the line, everything else was gone - distributed around the rooftop and hanging off of the balconies. Kevin took a bucket of water and started throwing water at the monkeys. We recruited Sam to wave a stick at them. Under Kevin & Sam's cover, I collected my clothes. I don't think anything is missing, but I can't be quite sure because ALL of my clothes were out there. While nothing appears to be missing, the clothes that I reclaimed from the monkeys do have little monkey handprints all over them. I'm very glad that I came back when I did. Those silly monkeys, everyone loves monkeys and thinks they are adorable, but when you live in India you realize how mischevious, and dangerous (the attack at the orphanage), they can be! Hope this story made you smile!

Go 'Gate Hockey!

The seasons have just changed in India. The monsoon has just finished and the dry season has begun. The change in the weather has caused many people in our group to get sick, myself included. I didn’t feel good this weekend and was very tired so I didn’t accomplish much at all. This weekend was also the beginning of another new season - the college hockey season.
The highlight of my weekend was getting up at 4:30 Saturday & Sunday morning to watch the Colgate Men’s Hockey Team play via internet. They won both their games. They looked good and I was very excited. It is amazing to be halfway around the world and be able to watch hockey live. Oh technology! Good luck with the rest of the season boys!

Goa

Last weekend 6 of us went to Goa for the weekend. Goa is an absolutely gorgeous little state on the West coast of India. It is incredibly lush and is full of beaches on the Arabian Sea. We had a great time. We spent a lot of time relaxing on the beach working on our tans. One day we even found a completely deserted beach and were able to have some quiet time to ourselves. It was nice to be in an atmosphere where we could relax in bathing suits and not worry about offending anyone. Although one old Indian man did videotape us, but there’s always one who causes a nuisance. The water was surprisingly warm and very salty. I’ve never really been to an ocean where you can swim. I had a lot of fun splashing in the waves and trying to walk against the undercurrent, which was very strong.
We also spent a morning hiking up the cliffs behind the beach to an old fort. The view from the top of the fort was amazing. Climbing over the ruins of the old fort was a nice adventure too. It felt good to get some exercise considering how much excellent seafood we ate during the weekend! One night we went to an organic restaurant where I was able to get homemade pesto! You can imagine how happy I was.
One day we went to the Sahakari Spice Plantation. We took a tour of the plantation and had lunch. The food was tasty and in abundance. We also got to try firewater (cashew fenni), which packed quite the punch. It was very cool to walk through the jungle and see all of the spices growing. It was my first time in the real jungle and I loved it. Our guide was very informative and taught us lots about how spices grow and how they can be used. She let us taste these tiny chilies that were the hottest thing I have ever tasted in my life. They put habañeros to shame. There were also two baby elephants at the spice farm that we were allowed to pet and play with. They didn’t feel like I thought they would – their skin was very soft, but covered with long bristly hairs. The plantation was actually incredibly environment friendly. They had cows that they milk and they also collect the methane from the cows to fuel all of their cooking. Additionally, they have huge compost piles that they use as all of the fertilizer for the spices. The people at the farm were so hospitable. They kept giving us fruit, food, drinks & even gave us free t-shirts when we left.

Packages

This is what happens to packages that are sent to India. First, if they arrive at all, they arrive at least 2 weeks later than they are supposed to. Secondly, when you pick them up at the post office, they look like they have been opened, put in a fire, dropped in a puddle, and then stepped on by an elephant. And everything within them looks like this (these used to be Cheez-Its):

Thanks for the package Mum! It was delicious & very useful!

See Dad...

...the elephants love me!