I am happy to report that I have overcome jet lag and have jumped back into suburban momhood with both feet. I thought I would take a break from planning 2 classroom Valentine's day parties to share some pictures from my trip. It was a once in a lifetime trip and I'm so glad that I went. There was a little worry as I left because Jim threw his back out and was all jacked up on painkillers and muscle relaxers, but his parents came to take care of him and the girls for the time I was gone. They will be getting one heck of a Christmas present from me this year.
My flight path took me from NYC to Dubai, United Arab Emerates. This is home to the world's tallest building--the Burj Khalifa. It is almost a half mile tall! UAE grants instant 30 day visas to Americans so we were able to leave the airport and take a taxi ride around in the dark. The best way to describe Dubai is like Las Vegas but all built in the last 15 years. It's pretty fancy and rich. No free buffets.
Back at the airport, we were able to cash in a meal voucher because we had such a long layer. I lifted my ban on the golden arches. But only in Dubai. I had a McRoyal and it tasted exactly like Mc Donalds in the states. This was also about 2 am local time. I have no idea what time that was EST, but it was after a 16 hour flight and a 7 hour lay over and my standards for healthy eating were pretty low.
Finally, we arrived in Kolkata on Sunday morning (I left on Friday afternoon from Indy). We checked into our guest house and took in the action on the street. We walked a little and ate a little and then crashed a lot. We were tired! I was woke up by the sound of people talking over loudspeakers. I was worried that this would be a nightly occurance of people using loudspeakers to broadcast news or politcal agenda. It turned out to only be a neighborhood celebration that was broadcast for everyone to "enjoy". We later experienced this again on Republic day and Martyr's Day (like Veteran's day). Our street was on the main drag of a nice neighborhood. it was a good thing that the neighborhood was somewhat quiet and residental because just being in India was culture shock in itself. There are people everywhere and the traffic is kind of crazy with people, cars, bikes, cows, taxi's and buses all on the street honking horns.
Being light skin and fair hair makes you a celebrity in India because there just aren't a lot of blondes running around. The school girls were the cutest because they would follow us around and stare at us until we finally said hello. Then they would all giggle and want to shake our hands and take our pictures. We learned early that this would be part of our trip so we would take a picture of who ever wanted to take a picture of us. Most of the time, we would walk through the market and people would take pictures on their cel phones. it wasn't a big deal to me until I wasn't feeling well and then I started to charge 100 Rupees for pictures. No one wanted to pay. Then I would hide under my shaw until they went away.
Dan and Christina were some of our traveling companions. They went to grad school with John and Kingkini (the bride and groom). They were lots of fun to hang out with and were quite tolerant of the Seibert Women's humor.
Before the wedding, we had our hands painted with Henna. it didn't hurt. It was clay mixed with natural dyes. The longer you left it on, the more it stained your skin. After the clay dried, you "set" the design with kerosine. At this point, my skin was burning and I had to get it off. After three weeks (tomorrow), I still have a faint drawing on the palms of my hands.
The Beautiful bride, Kingkini, before the ceremony. She looks lovely and don't worry, that nose ring wasn't a piercing, but just a clip on. She assured us that it was heavy and started to hurt after a while. She is wearing a very traditional Bengali style sari for her wedding.
The wedding ceremony took place outside under a gazebo with a fire in the middle. Like all religous ceremonies, there was alot of symbolism and prayer and advice for the couple. It was a lovely ceremony that was performed in Hindi, Sanskrit and English so we all could enjoy.
Those Bengalis really know how to arrange and use flowers. The evening of the wedding, John and Kingkini were out doing some errands. When they arrived back to Kingkini's parents' appartment, this was the arrangement over the doorway to announce their wedding (and wedding night).
Even though it was techincally the third time they got married, the wedding night bed was set up. They were so embarassed. Personally, I would love to have a canopy of flowers over me while I slept and not worried what mom and dad sleeping in the next room were thinking. I can tell you what they were thinking--Grandbaby.....
Our street had a very nice fruit and vegetable market. We went down in the morning a had a dose of fresh coconut from this guy. He had a giant machete that he hacked it open with and then handed it to you complete with straw. When you were done drinking the coconut water, he would hack the whole thing open so you could eat the meat out. It was the best coconut I have ever had.
Kingkini's dad, Kirity, came with us to the market to show us some of the local fruits that we weren't familar with. I can't remember exactly what he is holding here, but you prepare it by slicing it thinly and stir fry it with spices. I'm sure it was delicous.
Bikes were not super fancy in Kolkata, but always in need of repair. Uncle kevin, maybe you could open a satelite shop over in India.
The wedding reception was the following evening and had lots of flowers, family and food. Everyone was dressed to the nines and it was fun to look at all the beautiful sarees. I haven't seen a sari that isn't lovely. In fact, I will be posting my new Indian wardrobe in upcoming posts. This is my Aunt Mary (mom's sister), Kingkini, John, and Kingkini's parents, Madusre and Kirity.
India is a little rougher than life in suburia. But there is one thing that Indian parents tell their kids not to ever drink because it is super unsantiary and will make you sick. Cane juice. In fact, when someone gets sick in India, they joke that it was the cane juice. So what is the first thing that a couple of naive Americans drink when they are on their own for the first time? Cane Juice. I can report that it is delicous like a sugary lemonade and I didn't get sick. Maybe it was because of the probiotic, the malaria anitbotic, the vitamin d, or just that this guy was running a clean operation (not). I think I just got lucky. I did get in trouble from my Bengali family and was scared straight enough not to try it again.
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