The weekend

I had to pack really light for five months. But even so, I made space for Phase 10, Set, Pit, and Banangrams. I'm so glad that I did. I've been playing them every night with my fellow students. I just wish that I'd brought Yahtzee. I really wish I could have brought Ticket to Ride. I think the students would have really enjoyed it.

This weekend I was also introduced to some new friends outside of the school. I had lunch with a lady with thirteen adopted daughters! She's really neat and I have to say she's an awesome cook. The food at the school is not the best. And it was really fun to eat with the girls. They range in age from eight to eighteen.

This was rice, a stew made from chickpeas and ground beef made with potatos.

On Sunday I went to church with some new friends. Most of the congregation are from Nagaland. They all speak English and the service and the worship were in English. 

View from the church.

And I finally bought a towel. There's a "supermarket" a little ways from the hostel and they did indeed have towels and a couple of other things I needed. I'm thinking I may need to get some peanut butter for my toast in the morning. The butter here smells weird. Never thought I'd meet a stick of butter I didn't like. 

I got lost walking back to the hostel but three little boys were overjoyed to show "Didi" (Hindi for big sister) the way back to the school. I noticed them whispering and giggling and finally the bravest one asked me in English what my name was. I think they were discussing the correct pronunciation of the words before trying them out on me. The other two laughed when I answered and then laughed harder when I asked them in Hindi what their names were. Very cute. 

But I am getting better at figuring out where I am. I even took a Vikrum (sp?) on Sunday. Vikrums are like buses but they're tuk tuks. They go up and down the main roads so you have to know which number to take. You wave at them, they pull over and you squeeze in next to the other riders. I was with some locals when I rode it, but still... I think I could repeat the experience by myself. We shall see.

Driving, Rishikesh, and being dirty

So the first day of classes turned out to be a bust because my teacher was in a car accident. As two of my friends pointed out on facebook. It's actually a very dangerous place to drive. It's not that I didn't already know that, it's more like that Seinfeld sketch where he talks about the cab drivers in Manhatten. I took this video of the cab drive from the airport. Of course he's supposed to be driving on the left side of the street (thanks a lot for that piece of genius, colonial Britain). 

You'll notice if you keep the sound turned up the beeping of the horn in the background. The horn is used rather liberally. I think it's just to let the drivers behind you know that you'r about to do a quadruple blow by. I was having flashbacks from youth group mission trips from high school. Steve Baxter's got nothing on these drivers.

Yesterday we took a tuk-tuk to Rishikesh. It's a "famous" yoga center. I say "famous" because I feel like that term is very relative. Maybe it is famous if you're into Yoga and the spiritualism that goes along with it and not just the wednesday morning class at LA Fitness. But it was nice to get out of the city. It's at a slightly higher elevation so it was just a tiny bit cooler. The Ganges flows through it and you can see people standing in the water. There are a ton of signs in English for white water rafting and kayaking. I'm not sure if that's something I want to do. Rishikesh had a very distinctive smell and I think it was coming from the river.

 Yesterday was the birthday of the God Krishna. I wasn't always sure which God was Krishna. I think this blue god is Vishnu. But I could be wrong about that. I do know that Krishna was born in prison because his evil uncle had locked up Krishna's parents. But there were over thirteen temples in Rishikesh and all the Gods kind of looked the same to me.




Except for the monkey god. He's ripping his chest open for some reason and that makes him very distinctive.

I think this is Shu or something like that. Our tour guide was Nepalese and didn't really speak Hindi. Or English.

 And here's a nice shot of the streets. Nicer than Dehradun but still very dirty.

Speaking of dirt. I was told that the school would provide linens. I took this to mean towels as well as sheets and blankets. It didn't. And I've had a problem finding a place that sells towels. I need to find the Hindi word for it because no one understands the English word. But all that to say that I haven't had a shower since Wednesday morning when I took one at the lounge in the Delhi airport. 

Fortunately, my new Korean friend Songjoo let me borrow one of her towels this morning. Thank you Songjoo!!! I feel much better although only slightly cleaner. I think all of this humidity just makes me feel dirty all the time. Plus I'm constantly covered in bug spray. 

Peace out, ya'll. Catch you on the flip side.

The longest flight

I was fortunate to have a whole cadre of family to see me off. In addition to Ben, Mom, Dad, and Thomas (not pictured) drove me to the airport. They even came into the airport with me while I checked in. Which turned out to be a really good thing because the lady at the AA desk told me my bag was two pounds too heavy. Mom helped me madly rearrange everything so that my backpack was two pounds heavier and my checked bag was two pounds lighter. I fail to understand how this helps them in anyway... those two pounds are still going on the same plane.

 Anyway, I did make it inside. I will admit that there were a few tears that were valiantly not shed. As my brother Thomas said... I wasn't sad so much as just overwhelmed by the awesomeness of it all. Yes, those were tears of awesomeness.

 I love how shiny and new everything in the international terminal is.
Unlike our plane. Which apparently was having mechanical issues. Here's a crummy interior shot.

 We sat on the tarmac for two hours  while they did something to the right engine. The plus side was that I got to watch Pirates! Band of Misfits while we waited. Funny movie. There was even a song by Flight of the Concords. Ironically, it was about not crying. Which, of course, I didn't do.

I love that you get your own video screen on international flights. On both of the legs you could pull up this nifty map and see exactly what you were flying over.

 Here we are flying over the Atlantic Ocean.

And thee pictures below show our descent into London.

 And this is traditional English Pub fare. Now, Ben and I did a road trip and I had true Yorkshire pudding. This was not true Yorkshire pudding. I can see why British food gets a bad rap. If this was my only experience with British dining, I would have a pretty low opinion too.

 On the upside, Coke uses real sugar in the UK which is what I got on the flight. Real coke with REAL sugar. I also made friends with the British lady next to me (sorry no picture) who was going to India to visit her son. She had a pretty strong cockney accent so I wasn't really sure where she was going in India. There's a general rule that if you have to say "What?" More than twice, even if you didn't get it the third time, you smile and nod your head like you did.

 So here's the descent into Delhi. It was early morning and pretty foggy out. Or hat might be smog. Also, they came through the cabin about thirty minutes before we landed and sprayed air freshener up and down the aisles. It was very odd. I've been told that Delhi has a particularly pungent odor (which so far sitting in the airport I have not experienced) but if that's why they were spraying down the cabin, it seems like a pretty futile effort.

This lovely lady helped me with a sim card for my phone. My Hindi actually came in handy finally because none of the four people that worked there really spoke much English. She told me her English was about as good as my Hindi. Which made me laugh. Her English was definitely better than my Hindi.

And I don't have a picture of where I'm sitting now because it's a "napping lounge" and I don't want to disturb the other passengers. I have one more leg of my trip to go. Thank goodness because I've been traveling for over 24 hours now and I got a grand total of about five hours of sleep on the plane. I can't wait to get there and then go to bed.

Can you keep a secret?

This is for my nephew Jack's birthday. It's not for another two months so don't show this to him.

Harry Potter Wizard Robe

It's a Hogwart's robe. Now, technically, if you watch the movies, the hood is just plain black, but I think the red lining is a nice touch. The best part of this robe, however, is that I made it long enough that it should fit him until he's twelve (he'll be six in September). All my sister has to do is take out the sleeves and the hem line.

It is surprisingly hard to find a good pattern for a wizard robe. Most of the ones I found either didn't have sleeves or the sleeves were too big and drapey. I looked in desperation at the bathrobes but most of those robes didn't have hoods. I could have fashioned one from another pattern but that's a lot of work.

My mom was the one that finally found the perfect pattern. (Thanks Mom!)

Not a likely candidate, I know. But it had a hood and adding length to a coat is easy enough. I also added lining to the hood and pleated instead of gathering the fabric under the yoke.

One down, two more to go.

Incidentally, I found the patches on Amazon. I love Amazon. You can find anything there. I'm totally addicted to prime shipping. If it doesn't ship free with prime, I don't buy it.  I'm so lazy now, sometimes I order things that I would normally get at the grocery store. Like vitamins or aspirin.

Lost and Found

Just in case you've ever lost something, the moral of this story is you should keep your facebook account just in case. 


My mom found this ring in the dirt in Estes Park, Colorado seven years ago. 

The owner lost it twenty years ago. She had taken it off to work on her car and when she went to wash her hands, she realized it was gone.
I took it out of my Mom's junk drawer and promised her I'd find the owner. After unsuccessful attempts using people finding services and contacting the high school, I finally found her on facebook.

After 20 years, she finally has her ring back and I have it out of my junk drawer! Yea! and they lived happily ever after.

The end

India here I come

It's official. I've bought my ticket. It's one way. But don't let that freak you out. I'll be back sometime in December I'm just not sure on the exact date yet. My flight leaves Dallas on August 6th at... sometime... better check that.

But I know I fly through London and change plans at the Heathrow Airport. It will be smack dab in the middle of the Summer Olympics hosted this year in London so it should be interesting.

My 31st birthday Jello cake. It turned out a bit phallic.

I will be missing a sport called "Athletics". Don't know what that is. And a host of other events, which sadly enough, includes the 3m springboard diving competition. Se la vie.

Okay, looked up the event titled "Athletics" on the Olympics web page and it turns out it's all those events otherwise titled as "track and field" in your high school athletics program. Good to know.

So I've been madly researching malaria pills and the vaccinations needed (or at least recommended) for travel to India. Can I just say that the array of malaria pills is really quite amazing. I seem to recall there only being two options when I was nineteen and traveling to Singapore. I don't believe I actually took the pills then either.

Here it is before I lopped off the worse of the offenders.

Incidentally, in case you're wondering, although quinine (as in the stuff that's in gin and tonics) is used in the treatment of malaria, simply drinking a gin and tonic every day will not prevent the disease. Sister no. 2 insists that I will not turn crazy from taking the medication, but I have to admit I'm a bit leery. It seems that the most common side effect that causes people to stop taking the medication are vivid nightmares. I already have rather vivid and disturbing nightmares... I don't think they need help.

Take for instance last Friday night when I was awoken from a dream involving Uma Thurman with super powers. I didn't even see that movie and apparently she has the power to give me the creeps.

Here's a close up. You can see all the cool layers. It totally
deserves a place in a gay pride something or other.

Anyway, I have a hard time reading posts that don't include pictures. So I've included some random ones that have nothing to do with this post. So in case you were wondering. That's why these are here :)

Almost Wordless Wednesday

$8 at the thrift store:

Our "night stands" before:

Our night stands after:

Weekend in Bandera

Ben and I had a great time with our friends down in Bandera Texas. It was sweltering hot but we still got to feed the cattle, ride the horses, and ride these super fun little mini-motorcycles. All went well until I managed to lay the one I was riding down in the field. I skidded out on some loose earth. This would not have been so bad (just a couple of scrapes and bruises) except that I had our friend's daughter on the bike with me at the time! Thankfully no broken bones just some tears and a whole lot of guilt. I put together a photo book that I'm going to give to our friends and gracious hosts. All in all, a very fun relaxing weekend.

Click here to view this photo book larger

The glass is half full

I was inspired by another blogger's post.

Version #1

Since falling off of the list in March, I had high hopes of being invited to the oral assessment. Instead, I got the proverbially vague "dear john" letter. That means another round of testing and another round of waiting. ugh and sigh.

Version #2

I'm really excited about what's next for Ben and me. You see, we had decided back in January that if I didn't make it to the oral assessment this year, what I really needed to do was work on a language. So that's what I'm going to be doing. My last day at my full time job will be September 2. After that, it's going to be some non-stop Hindi learning up in here. God is good and I've had people coming out of the woodwork with connections for language learning. None of the local colleges have classes but there are Hindu temples and community centers as well as just really nice people that are willing to help me find resources. And of course I'm going to continue to work on the Rosetta Stone program.

My parents have been amazing and are letting us move in with them. Financially, this makes sense for us and plus I may be one I know who actually likes living with their parents :)

So I don't know all of what God has in store for us, but I do know that we are provided for.

And I think the best part is that I'm not in limbo anymore. I'm not waiting on results or desperately preparing. I'm going to be moving on to the next step. And did I mention that I get to quit my job?

Thrifty finds

I have been a little bit obsessed with estate sales lately. I hit several last weekend and two on my lunch break on Friday. I ended up with some really cool finds but here are my favorites:

At the first estate sale, I picked up this pretty set of yellow and orange napkins for $3.

These pretty yellow framed napkins that I got at one estate sale and the matching placemats that came from another. For $2 for each of the sets, they were a steal. Now I just need four more yellow place-mats to make eight total.

And this beautiful cake plate that actually came from the Garland rd thrift store for $10. With some silver polish and elbow grease, it looks pretty darn good. Sorry about the crappy lighting. I'm going to have to work on that.

I also picked up a couple of "fix me-up frames" which I plan on using for some projects. We shall soon see how that turns out.

Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge

Tonight, I surprised the DH with a cooking class at Central Market. They're usually in the $50-$60 range but I had a fabulous groupon that made it far more affordable. I cleverly kept it a secret by telling him, "hey, keep June the 5th open and don't eat dinner beforehand." I also gave him a choice between stir fry and the basics of soup making. Was it any surprise that he guessed that we were attending a cooking class?

Well, it was really more of a cooking demonstration by Grace Young. She's written an amazing cookbook all about the basics of stir fry. The menu for the evening was pepper and salt shrimp, Yangchow fried rice, beef with black bean sauce & baby bok choy, and sitr fried sugar snap peas with shiitake mushrooms. Everything tasted super fresh and flavorful. She showed us how to season a carbon steel wok and how to give it a Grace Young "face lift". Of course I ended up buying the book and she very nicely told me I asked such good questions. And then she signed my book.

I sometimes wonder if when people tell me that I ask "good questions" if what they really mean is that I ask intrusive annoying questions. I just ask the questions I'm interested in knowing the answers to. I figure for $55 a person, I should get to ask whatever questions I want :).

Grace was very nice to answer all of my questions (even if she secretly found them annoying). and if you should ever pick up the book, you should know that the recipe on the cover of the book is one of her favorites. It is a mixture of Chinese and Jamaican cuisine called Chinese Trinidadian Stir-Fried Shrimp with Rum. Grace spoke about how the Chinese have ended up all over the world but have been discriminated against no matter where they have gone. Their strong spirit can be seen in their ability to find ways to preserve their culture through cooking even though they have often been without financial means.

The recipe that Grace found most meaningful to her, is a recipe called Spicy Long Beans with Sausage and Mushrooms. It is a recipe of her mother's and it looks amazing. I plan on making it in the near future so I'll post about it when I do.

I have to admit that I was halfway tempted to stalk her to tomorrow night's cooking demo at the Fort Worth Central Market. And I'm definitely considering ordering a carbon steel wok with my Amazon prime discount. but we live so close to so many Asian markets, I suppose I should check out their stock first.

Fun night, good food, and good company; what more could one ask for?

Making an ABC book I

We threw my friend Faye a baby shower and of course that called for a suitably fun shower activity to keep people entertained. She nixed playing "guess how big around the pregnant lady is" because, let's face it, it's just mean. After at first deciding on decorating onsies with paint pens and then moving on to tie-dying onsies, we at last settled on making a baby's first ABC book. (not tie-dyed)

So... to the Internet!

My first google hit was a great post on making a paper book and then I found this one that was more of a cardstock affair. But I couldn't find any that were made from fabric. And I'm a fabric kind of girl. So my plan is to come up with something new and daring (I know, but after the helicopter flight, I felt like my adventure blog just doesn't have anywhere to go). So here is my very first ever tutorial. I'll skip all the unnecessary reasoning that went into each decision (such as why I chose sharpies - cheaper than paint pens) and instead stick with just the step by step.

Step One

You'll need about 2.5 yards of white cotton fabric. (nope, don't care what kind you use but make sure it's 45 inches wide)

15 sheets of 9x12 inch white felt

.25 yard of a fun contrasting fabric for the binding/cover

Permanent Color Markers (I used sharpies)

Scissors

sewing machine or thread and needle

Step 1

Wash your white fabric on the hottest setting, dry them, and then iron nice and flat.

Step 2

On your computer, create page of alphabet letters and "Baby's First ABC Book" and "Made with Love by:". Or you can cheat and use this PDF that I created.

Step 3

Cut 13 7x15 inch rectangles out of the white cotton.

Cut 26 6x6 inch squares out of the white felt

Step 4

Use the printed alphabet you've made to trace the letters onto each page. Opposite letters go together. So, for instance, A goes with Z, B goes with Y and so on and so forth. Make sure that you start with A on the right side of the page and B on the left side of the page, alternating as you go down the alphabet.

Step 5

Cut a 6 inch square guide out of cardboard or paper and trace the square on the out edges of each rectangle of white fabric leaving 1/2 inch seam allowance. In the picture below you can see that I folded the sheets in half and the markings bled through so I only had to do this 13 times instead of 26. These are the guides to ensure that guests do not draw into the seam allowance.

Step 6

Create an instruction sheet for guests (or you can cheat and use mine).

Step 7

Set out markers, pages, and box for completed pages. For your less inspired guests, you might have a few ABC books laying around nearby for "inspiration". I used pieces of cardboard cut from an old box and binder clips as clipboards. Sharpies bleed right through fabric so I don't recommend using just any old hard surface.

See Making an ABC book II for instructions on putting it together.

ABC book II

The cake has been eaten, the punch has been drunk, and hopefully the guests were able to draw or trace something on each of your ABC pages. So now it's time to put the book together.

Step 1

Place page 1 face down (page A/Z. Pin two squares of felt to the back of page 1 so that they line up with the 6X6 guides you drew for your guests. Baste the felt to the back of the page. You can remove this basting later or just leave it like I did for the finished book.

Step 2

Now pin the page 2 (so the B/Y page) with right sides together to page 1 (the A/Z page).

Sew around the outside of the pages leaving a 1/4 margin between the felt and the stitching to avoid having puckered pages. Leave about three inches unstitched at the bottom of the page so you can turn the pages right side out.

Cut the corners off the edges being sure NOT to cut through your stitching.

Step 3

Turn the page right side out and top stitch around the edge of the book. Repeat with each set of pages.

Check back later for how to make the cover.

Falling off the list.

It's with a sad sigh that I say that I have lost my place on the register... 18 months have come and gone so quickly. I passed the written test and hopefully will get a spot in the oral assessment again, but in the mean time, there are languages to study, books to read, and classes to take.