Another year....

As we finish year two in India, we think about how much better this year has been than last year!  

Here are are the top 10 reasons why...


Top Ten Reasons Why This Year in India Was Better

10. We arrived in July!! What a difference 2 months makes.  If you followed our story two summers ago, you know we had some troubles with Mr. Singh and the Indian Government.  They finally decided to grant me a work visa after it was "processing" or "lost" for several months.  Last year, we arrived in October and hit the ground running.  This year we arrived on time, and were thankful for a smooth start.

9. We bought a water cooler.  As you know, the tap water in India is not safe to drink.  We have a R.O. filter which uses UV light and a filter to sanitize water for drinking, but we are not too confident in that.  Instead of lugging case after case of bottled water (and feeling guilty about our impact on the environment), this year we purchased a water dispenser and these huge coolers filled with 20L of water.  We drink a lot more water, it is always cold, and we don't have to waste plastic bottles.  When the coolers are empty, the water company delivers more on a bicycle and takes the empty jugs to be refilled.  Each cooler of water costs $1.50.  You can't beat that!

8. Renuka... she is our amazing housekeeper and cook.  She worked for us part-time this year and we aren't sure why we waited so long to hire her.  (Last year we did all the shopping, cooking, cleaning, and dish washing by hand.  We ended up with many broken dishes and glasses.  What were we thinking??)  We love her cooking, it's mostly Indian food and she makes one Chinese dish.  Her husband cooks for our landlord, and her family lives in the apartment behind ours, so it is very convenient for her also.  Renuka and Gautam have two teenage daughters, Pinki and Raki. 

7.  We learned some Hindi... well at least enough to say the important things like: "I am not a tourist" and "Give me a good price".  Every time we break out with a little Hindi, the other person gives us a huge smile and starts speaking to us in Hindi.  Sorry, we only say a few things... or as they say "tora tora" (little little).  It does help us with bargaining... most Indians are pretty aware of tourists and will do almost anything to get a few extra rupees when they can.  With our few phrases in Hindi... we are almost like locals... almost.

6. McCleod Ganj... This peaceful town in the mountains is the home of The Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism (since they have been exhiled from Tibet by China).  It was nice to see the peaceful side of India.  We traveled here during the Thanksgiving holiday.  The first photo is prayer wheels at the temple of the Dalai Lama with some Tibetan Buddhist monks, and the second photo shows the town with prayer flags.  The wind carries the mantras inscribed on the prayer flags to spread good will and compassion to the world.

5. We saw Mt. Everest and trekked in Nepal...  We did not trek Mt. Everest, but took a sightseeing plane ride to see it.  We had heard great things about Nepal and thought it couldn't possibly live up to it's great reputation, but it did!  We spent spring break trekking in the majestic Annapurna region of Nepal.  The trek was so diverse and amazing.  Our favorite part was on Day 3 and 4 when we were walking through the moss-covered Rhododendron forests.  (Hopefully a full blog post dedicated to our trek will be posted later.)  I will admit that I was skeptical that it would be fun, since hiking up and down mountains usually isn't my idea of fun... but it exceeded my expectations and we even got to soak in a natural hot spring on my birthday!  Each day we trekked between 4-6 hours from village to village, stopping at teahouses for lunch and tea.  It was a 7 day trek and we stayed in guesthouses along the way.  An excellent trek!  We had the best food, Nepali tea, ginger milk tea, and lemon tea, not to mention a few showers and even 2 hot showers.

Mt. Everest in the middle

On top of Poon Hill with our guide Karma and porter Sunjaya

4. Bangkok hospital... Bumrungrad Hospital is a mecca for medical tourism, where you can get high-quality medical care for a fraction of the price.  We went there for a health physical because we heard so many great things about it.  Only a 5-hour flight away from Delhi, we traveled to Bangkok to experience the upscale health-screening "assembly line".  Station 1) vital signs... Station 2) blood tests... Station 3) collect other "speciman" samples... Station 4) X-ray, Ultrasound, EKG... Station 5) Meet with Dr.  Not to mention a great breakfast/snack buffet between stations 4 and 5.  We were there from 8am-2pm, then we had appointments with a few specialists based on the results of the physical.  We were poked and prodded all over, and are happy to say we are in good health!

3. Pizza Sunday... Cheese pizza with pineapple topping and cheesy jalapeno dipping sauce.  This Sunday afternoon tradition has been with us most of this school year and has given us something "American" to look forward to each weekend.  Oh, and pass the chocolate lava cake this way, please.

2. Pushkar Camel Fair... Where else can you hang out with thousands of camels on the sand dunes of the Rajasthani desert... watch the sunset over thousands of camel humps... and listen to symphonies of camel sounds?  Tim went there solo on a photo expedition, and I joined him for the weekend.  We rode on a camel and felt like royalty as we were taken around the desert fair grounds in the back of a royal camel cart.  The town of Pushkar was also a nice place to be, with its holy lake, yummy fresh juice shop, and quaint shops.  Pushkar Lake is a holy place for Hindus and many people pilgrimage there each year.  It was an amazing experience.

1. We are moving!  Yes... we signed on to stay another year in India.  And we are "shifting" to a different apartment (as they say in Indian-English).  In July we will be living on-campus in school faculty housing.  For now, we are packing up our apartment and getting ready for the big move.  We look forward to this change of scenery and it will give us a much shorter commute!

Now we are left only to wonder... what's in store for year three?  Stay tuned to find out... :)


(Click here to read our list from last year... You Know You've Been in India Too Long When... )