Friday, March 13, 2015

Village welcome

Part of my trek a few weeks ago was visiting small villages who shared their space with us, letting us set up our tents to stay overnight.  These villages are remote and not on a typical trekker's path so they don't often see expats.  Twice we were welcomed by a full ceremony complete with flowers, tikkas, speeches, thank yous, singing, and dancing.  It was fun and awkward and humbling.  With no way to communicate with many of the villagers I put all my effort into the most expressive thank you face I could deliver, brought my hands together, and bowed.  It's something, putting all your energy into that simple gesture.










Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Sari shopping

I've been itching to get a sari since I got here, but what with babies and all I didn't get around to it until now.  With a fundraising event to go to I decided it was a good time to wear one.


Walking into the shop was quite overwhelming but luckily I had a few friends with me who had done it before.  We took our shoes off, hopped up on the platform and started running our hands through the stacks and stacks of sari fabric.  As we narrowed it down to a few different options we asked the ladies working to wrap us up.  A few absolute no's and a few thrown into the maybe pile.  After decisions were made we bargained on the price with the shop owner.



Finally, the tailor came in to take our measurements since we wanted saris made for expats - with a zipper up the side!  Sari's without such modifications rely on expert folding and tucking yards and yards of fabric.  I wasn't bold enough to trust a few folds to hold up all that fabric, it's risky enough baring your stomach!


It was fun to wear and I'm already planning to get another.  (Not sure how many times I will be able to pull-off a hot pink sari, that, yes, matches my hair!)

Monday, March 9, 2015

Holi rescheduled

Holi fell on a work day this year so we rescheduled ours to a convenient Sunday, in our yard.  Water guns + holi powder + toddler = a good time.  Same equation sub the toddler for a 1 year old = a terrible time.  Oh well, maybe next year it'll be his thing.