Househunting

Jeff and I have started looking for a place to buy.

Keep in mind, we just got back from India.

So, my inclination is to say, "What? 300,000 for that? No, no, give me 2 houses for that!"

Remembering things

Now that I am somewhat coherent and know what time or day it is, here are a few things Jeff and I found different/weird in India:

1. Doormen at every place: Domino's, restaurants, sometimes even restrooms
2. They leave their cars running while getting gas
3. There are no self service gas pumps
4. They are very conscious of what's "in fashion." I stopped counting the number of times I was rebuked for askign for somethign that was "not in fashion" currently.
5. Cherries in cocktails and on sundaes were unpitted; very uncomfortable the first time you find that out
6. Lays has special flavors there; we loved the India Magic Masala. The other 2 we saw there were American sour cream and onion and Italian.
7. Kitkat and coke tasted very different from the ones in the States
8. Some cities have strict traffic laws and people obey. As soon as we entered Chandigarh, my Dad and the driver put their seatbelts on and the driver said he would not speed. Everywhere else, it's mayhem.
9. Car makers that I didn't see there 7 yrs ago and are now there but with very different models:

• Honda City
• Ford Fiesta, Ikon
• Toyota Innova, Qualis
• Hyundai Getz, Santro
• Chevrolet Tavera
• Mitsubishi Cedo (this might be wrong, I can't read my own handwriting)

We'll update this as we remember more :-D

The sword and kirpans

It says SINGH on it, which means Lion and also a Sikh.

The sword:

Thousands of pictures for your perusal!

Ok, maybe not thousands but definitely in the many hundreds. I have them by events and dates etc.:

The first day's drive from Delhi to Ludhiana
December 29th celebrations
Wedding day: Dec 30
Dec 31st party
Delhi, Agra and Fatehpur sikri tourist activities
Chandigarh
Amritsar

And we're back!

We got back at 2ish on Saturday afternoon, the 13th of January, which is also the festival of Lohri in India. Brenda picked us up and we had hot lunch waiting for us as soon as we got out of the shower. We went to bed around 4:30 p.m. with the intentions of waking up at 7:30, eating dinner and going back to sleep. Except when Brenda woke us up at 7:30, I don't think either one of us was coherent. So, we went back to bed till 6:30 a.m. And, we're both sick now. Yay!

oh, here's a photo of my new glasses, just for y'all!