Catch Up Post

I have been a little absent on this blog lately. I apologize. I have actually been busy which is kind of a rarity, but I am enjoying it! Here are some random pictures of things happening in my city!!

Some friends that I got to teach this month! I love all the colors!

Me teaching.

Yep...we are acting out the Creation story. Yep Adam and Eve, an orange tree, and a black sneaky snake. If you look closely they are using pillows as "leaves". ha ha

My friend Natalie went back to America. We had one last farewell luncheon.

It was Debbie's birthday. She is the most amazing lady in my city. She makes my life simple!!!

Debbie and I on her birthday.

Yep. That's hail. I have never held hail like this before!!

My Sunday Afternoon

This week, I had the joy of purchasing my plane tickets for the "BALI-licious Beach Babe Escape"!! Me along with 5 of my best friends are spending our last 8 vacation days in Bali,Indonesia-- one of the most famous vacation spots in the world!!! (Bali is an island on the southern tip of Indonesia). The AMAZING thing is my plane tickets only cost me $215 round trip with two overnight layovers in Malaysia !! (Is this really my life??)

The next step in the planning process is deciding where we will stay. We decided as a group that we didn't want to stay at cheap hostels, but we wanted to spend some money and actually stay in some nice resorts. So I spent about 4 hours today looking at Resorts, hotels, and villas in Bali. Can I just say that I am sooo in love with Bali. I have seen so many breathtaking resorts and villas (and of course I can't afford most of them), but April and I just clicked in links all afternoon saying things like "oooh" "lets go there" "um...sold". However...everything we really liked is just a little pricey because that 21% added tax just kept throwing us off. So we still have no clue where we will stay, but we have some better ideas!!

So these are pictures of April and I over the progression of FOUR HOURS!! ha ha. We pretty much didn't move. In fact, Lindsey left my apartment for several hours and came back and we were in the exact same position as when we left. I don't know...we thought it was hilarious.


hmmmm....

Oooooooh! Me likey!

looking....and looking....and looking

at a point of a little frustration

Where should we stay?????

Look how dirty our feet are...sick.


Here are some of my favorites...not that I can afford them, but definitely favorites.
1. Bali Villa (this is actually my top choice of options right now...i hope it works out)
2. Aston . Bali My favorite Resort but just barely too expensive
3.The Four Season- $500 a night, but AMAZING....
4.Another favorite that I can't afford.

My Mommie is the BEST!

A month back, I lost my wallet which resulted in canceling my credit cards. So fortunately for me, my mom had to mail them to me! So she decided to add a few fun Easter surprises and pajamas!! Receiving packages are a simple joy...it's almost like celebrating a birthday cause you get all these awesome undeserved gifts. My sister Shannon was also amazing got me a new Nine West wallet. Wallets are another simple joy of mine and I look forward to falling in love with this one like I the other one...may it rest in peace.

Thanks fam...you are the greatest!!!

My blog in a TEXT cloud!

isn't this cool? Its called a Word Cloud and the website analyzes your blog and make a visual depiction of the most frequently used words. I thought you might enjoy!

A Day in My City

I thought I should do a little more exploring in my own city today. There was one motivating factor to go TODAY and that was the weather. We have several visitors coming in the next month or so from South Carolina, Mississippi (Lindsey's parents) and California. And once all our fun teams leave it will be too hot to run around my city "site seeing". So this was the last weekend we (the Lindsey's and J, K & Little K) could see some last things in comfort.



This is a picture inside the Lodi Gardens. They are beautiful. Don't be fooled...this is unique in that it is green, clean, and beautiful.



Lindsey and I at the Lodi Gardens.





Some ruins close to Hamyan's Tomb. Another uniquely beautiful place. I didn't know such places existed...so easy on the eyes!





Hamuyan's Tomb. I am not exactly sure who Hamuyan was, but obviously someone important enough to get such a massive tomb! Seriously. But this Tomb was what the Taj Mahal was modeled after. They are almost identical in structure except for the Taj Mahal is like 100 times more ornate and of course is ALL marble. (I am in this picture...you can barely see me).


"The Lindsey's" and I met up with Jonathan, Kelley, and Kiran at the President's house. This was the last weekend his gardens would be open! They wouldn't allow any camera's so unfortunately I don't have any pictures. But the gardens WERE beautiful...they were filled with all kinds of flowers! I love flowers...so it was a little piece of heaven for me!



Here's a picture of Lindsey and I at Safardung's Tomb. Yep, another tomb and they all look the same. We took the opportunity at this tomb to take some fun pictures. Here is one of the many....we are doing the Indian squat...kind of.

I have a really busy week coming up this week...so I hope to spend tomorrow resting and marking lots of things off my to-do-list!! Yep, I am the type that finds joy in making a to-do-list just so I can mark things off. Gotta love being a J!


My roomie posted a HILLARIOUS blog...you should click on it and read it.
It's entitled.... I Learn Something New Every Day

Update - Weather, language, and family

Hello friends! Well, things here in India are GREAT! The weather is starting to warm up and right now it is PERFECT. It is the ideal hammock weather. You know that kind of weather where you could wear shorts or pants and the sun is out but not blaring...? yep PERFECT. I think that the weather here is being kind to us. Usually it warms up pretty fast but it seems like the cooler weather is sticking around!! I have still been sleeping with no fan and pajama pants. Soon it will be fan, shorts, tank tops, and cold showers before bed. Oh...the things to look forward to.

So lately, I have been forgetting all my English words and am getting better at speaking Hinglish rather than English. You might even notice this in my blog posts! ha. The more I hang out with my English students the worse my English is getting because their grammar is AWFUL therefore my grammar is awful. I have even had several people tell me lately on the phone how different my English is sounding! HELP!

Examples:
Hinglish: My stomach is paining me.
English: My stomach hurts.
Hinglish: I go to marriage.
English: I am attending the wedding.
Hinglish: It's she's sister book also...same same
English: It's her sisters's book- they are the same.

My South Asia Friends...do you have any phrases that you catch yourself saying?!

My cousin Angela is getting married! She got engaged shortly after Valentine's Day to Jon Schneider. Welcome to the family Jon! Yesterday, she asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding! I can't wait and feel so honored to be in her wedding. The big day will be November 10 in Austin, Texas. Angela is the first of all the cousin's on my mom's side to get married. Almost all of us are in our twenties now...so it's just the beginning of many!!

Picture taken after their engagement. Notice the bling bling on her finger! Congrats Jon and Angela!!

Happy Happy Holi....the colors are here!

Happy Holi World!! This was hands down the best holiday celebration I have experienced in my entire time in India!! I got to spend it with several different indian families. They are the families that allow me to call India my home!! It is the relationships that I have with these people that make every struggle, uncertainty, failure, or difficulty COMPLETELY worth it!!

Sit back and relax as I share Holi with you through pictures.



This is our before shot....look how clean we look.



At 8 AM this morning, Lindsey and I went over to Mona's (my neighbor and best friend) parent's house. There we kicked off the holiday with our first colors. You usually take the colored flour and put it on each other head and say "Happy Holi" and then hug the person. So this is what we looked like after we "Happy Holied" (is that a word) everyone!

Mona's mother cooked breakfast for us. Yummy. Yummy. They dropped us off back at our apartment for a short hour break till we would go to Deepa's house for the rest of the day.

Transportation is a little tricky because there weren't many auto rickshaws out. And it's also dangerous to be out and about. It's the only holiday where its appropriate for guys and girls to interact so boys are really really forward. So when we got taxi's we had to drive right up to the doors of places. Every aunty kept telling us not to travel by ourselves...i guess it's nice to feel looked after. Just random information.

This is me putting yellow color on Lindsey while saying, "Happy Holi!"

Once Lindsey and I got to Deepa's house we were served lots of food and then we went to the rooftop to "play" Holi. This is what we looked like when we were finished!!

Lindsey (my first roomie) came with us to celebrate. Here we are all nice and colored!!

After we were finished playing Holi, we decided to dance!! I think we danced for 2 hours straight! It was so fun. Indians have a very unique style of dancing and man if you think black people can groove- you should see the way indians dance. I love love love it!!

More dancing...

After the dancing...the WATER came out. I got soaked straight to the bone. The water of course had very bright red dye in it...so pretty much I became wet and red.

Here is the final picture of us at the end of Holi.

We were finished playing but very very WET. So we went across the street to the SUNNY rooftop so that we could get dry. So we spent the next two or so hours just chillin' on the rooftop sunbathing.

Fun group shot. Girls just wann have fun.

Here is Lindsey and I trying to get our backsides dry. It made for a cute picture.

There were several ladies (deepa's mom) who came to hang out with us. They were constantly entertaining us and dancing. It was so wonderful to just relax on the rooftop, eat some snacks, and just enjoy the relationships that I have with my indian friends.

These families are my joy here. They make me want to never leave this place. When we were leaving I was telling her family 'thank you' and she said "You are family...therefore no need for saying thanks." Those are some of the most precious words I have heard! These people are my indian family and my heart is growing deeper and deeper in my love for them! I hope they can one day be a part of God's family as well.

Don't forget to leave a comment!

Holi is coming!

This post is dedicated to my close and wonderful friend Cortnee!!

Me at the market buying my ammo for Holi. bwa ha ha

These are packages of dye...red, yellow, pink, and green. It's pretty much like dyed flour! You get to smear it all over people's faces! swaaeet!

We didn't buy any guns, but we did buy some water balloons.

Holi, one of my favorite Indian holidays, is this weekend!! It is called the festival of colors and you might remember the pics from last year. Basically you get to run around India with water guns, water balloons, and dye. It's pretty much a country-wide water war! This holiday in America would never be allowed because of all the law-suits that would follow! But I am not in America so Lindsey and I are braving our city tomorrow and playing Holi!! We are spending the morning with our neighbors then going to our student's neighborhood to play Holi with them.

So stay tuned for some colorful pictures!!! I hope we get some good one's this year.

My final farewell to K-dub

Thursday night, Karen came one last time to the East side to stay with Lindsey and I. We watched the girls sing on American Idol and then gabbed and gabbed. Bedtime rolled around and all three of us slept in the same bed. I mean why not...? Then the next morning, Karen made coffee and Lindsey made omelets and we talked for hours...way past lunch time. The time together was precious.

Karen on my couch for the last time!

On the rooftop of my building. Do you like my new khurta? I bought four new ones! Look for them in the pictures to come!

The rickshaw ride back to her house. The first time I think we ever rode in a rickshaw together. So of course we had to document it by taking a picture.

Click-Click-Click-a-roo

I have uploaded picutres from January and February on my website where I put all my pictures!! So if you wanna see my pics then click HERE.

I just added 5 flippin' sweet albums.....

So CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-A-ROO...get clicking today...

hmm...maybe i wasn't unispired....

I have come to a conclusion that my lack of blogging had nothing to do with my lack of inspiration, but rather Grey's Anatomy. Instead of blogging in my free time, I watched Grey's. But now Grey's is over (I actually have to wait now to see the next episode like the rest of America...kind of sucks) and now I am back in a blogging mood!

I will however answer some of your interesting suggestions...

I will start with Jared's suggestion/question.
Q : What color is sad?
A: The color of your mom's face is sad.

I Have Arrived.

Tonight, I had a break through. Some of you, especially those from my past, will really appreciate this particular blog entry. I attended a party tonight with my friends that turned into a spontaneous dance party and I actually knew all the songs!! I wasn't in the dark.

I grew up in the type of family that only listened to "Christian" music because all other music was "bad". Therefore, my entire life I have been the music misfit. I am clueless when it comes to music. So on all the road trip sing-a-longs, high school and college dances, and random spontaneous dance parties (like tonight) I always had to pretend like I knew what all the "hip" and "cool" songs were. But deep down inside, I was a faker and I hated it ( I sound so serious...ha). I wanted to be cool and know all the songs that everyone else knew.

But today...I have arrived. Tonight's spontaneous dance party with the ladies was the first dance party that I actually knew all the songs and was able to sing along with everyone else! I felt so human. I felt so cool. Yep, it's alicia...the girl that had a clue about music. Yesssssss! Just call me "Alicia- the not-so-clueless music girl".

Well honestly, for the most part, I am still clueless, but I am definitely improving. So keep putting your hope in me friends...I am not a lost cause....

My roomie and I both got i-tunes gift cards for Valentine's Day from our parents. So what music should we purchase? Tell me your favorites. Between us we can buy 5 new CD's! What would we do without itunes?!!

I am Rich.

Recently, I started visiting my friends Deepa and Ponnam's house every week. My relationship with these girls is shifting from not only a teacher student relationship but also a friend to friend relationship! It has been fun to meet these girl's families and friends. We usually drink chai together, talk about the recent Bollywood gossip, and try to understand each other's language!

For several months now, they have been asking to come to my house. Normally, I would jump at the opportunity to have young girls in my home. This sort of thing is right up my alley because young girls and hospitality are two loves of mine. Lindsey and I have been able to keep them away for several months, but since visiting their home more frequently they keep insisting on coming to our house. Today was the day.

Let me explain my hesitation for having the girls over. Deepa's father only makes 2000 rps a month ($50 USD). My bedroom alone is bigger than her entire house! My house is three bedrooms, a large kitchen, two living spaces, a kitchen table, a couch and 3 Kings size beds. Deepa's house is one bedroom, one small kitchen, and the small double bed without a mattress is their couch. I have never felt so uncomfortable having so many material possessions. But what to do? Today, I was exposed for the rich white girl that I am.

The girls were dressed in their best salwar kameez suits or their best western clothes! They were really excited as we were in the rickshaw on our way to our apartment and I was really nervous. They walked in our apartment and were a little awestruck and uncomfortable. We served them chai as they looked through my college photo albums and scrap books. They still seemed a little uncomfortable (because they were really quiet) so we decided to move from the unfamiliar couches to my bed! This was a great idea. Once we sat on my bed they relaxed a lot because they felt a lot more at home. The girls thought it was really weird that Lindsey and I slept in two different rooms and probably wondered why we had such big beds. (Deepa only has one bed in her house for 8 people).

We decided to go to the mall that is close to my house. Two funny cultural things happened. First of all, one of the girls asked to use the bathroom and she had never used a "western" toilet before! So all the girls took their turn at "sitting" instead of "squatting". Lindsey and I got a HUGE kick out of it!! I also put on blue jeans to go the mall and the girls freaked out. They had never seen me in blue jeans. They said, "You are looking very smart". Which translated means ...your hot. Lindsey and I only wear a salwar kameez suit in their neighbor hood so we don't get stared at more than we have to and we don't want Aunties blaming us for their daughters wanting to wear western clothes.

At some point Deepa said, "I am very poor." But the truth is she is rich because she is happy and her family is overflowing with love. There are many people in America who would do anything to purchase that kind of happiness. And I am rich because of the friendship I have with these girls.

Preity (Deepa's older sister), Me, Deepa, Poonam, & Nitu (neighbor)


About to leave to go to EDM mall. Me in my "western" attire.


At the mall, Lindsey and I treated the girls to coffee! This was some of the girls first time to go to this mall! And, many of their first time to go on an escalator- always a funny site if you can imagine.

In Need of Some Inspiration

I have been really really silent on this blog lately because I am uninspired!! So I have an idea- Give me some ideas of what you would like to read on this blog!!

What do you want to know about India?
What do you want to know about me?
Any great philosophical questions?
Any silly questions?
Any theological questions?


So I notice too that there are a lot of you who view my blog from places I didn't even know I knew people from! So please please...if you have never commented on my blog...this is your chance!!!

I would love some creativity and some inspiration!!

I love you all!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I had a very very very cute date for Valentine's Day this year! What do single people do on Valentine's day...they babysit! It was my joy and delight to give Jonathan and Kelley a much needed date. Kiran is so grown up now at five months- she is sitting up, laughing at me, and rolling over!!

Lindsey and I were thinking ahead to Valentine's Day 2008 and wondering if we would have HOT dates this time next year. Who knows?! I can honestly say that I am thankful for my singleness this Valentine's Day. Singleness really is a beautiful thing and it's even more beautiful when we surrender to it and find genuine contentment.

At the turn of this year, I also began to get excited thinking about dating one day again! It has been over three years since my last (and only) boyfriend. I felt like Jesus told me I needed to start seriously praying for my husband. I have never been one of those girls that started a journal for my husband and pray for him non-stop. Sorry. But at the beginning of this year, for the first time, I felt Jesus released me to start getting excited about meeting my spouse. Jesus told me I needed to start asking Him persistently for my future soul mate! It honestly makes me giddy to think that God created someone specifically for me that when we come together that we serve the Lord better together! A man to link arms with that shares the same passions and heart for His work among all the nations. A man who just desires me...that kind of baffles my Alicia brain. But I know He is so faithful and He is already at work to bring us together.

Who knows how much longer my singleness will last?! Will I be thirty? I certainly don't have any takers, yet, but it's exciting to think that the Lord has released me to ask for my husband diligently for the first time in years! I am also filled with so much peace as I move forward with God's mysterious and radical plans for my life ... knowing He will give me what I need when I need it.

So this Valentine's Day 2007 I am celebrating my season of singleness and the mystery of Christ's love for me. What will Feb 14, 2008 have in store...more babysitting...or a HOT date?

Friday night fun...

This past weekend, the girls got together for yet another goodbye party. Karen is leaving soon to America and my city will not be the same when she is gone...sigh. Karen and I met two years ago and she is actually the person that convinced and strongly encouraged me to move to South Asia. She was one of the first people that I saw at the airport over a year ago when I first set foot in India!!

There are two things that I especially love about Karen- her coffee and her ghettoness. First of all, Karen has made me a coffee addict because she makes the best coffee on the planet! Seriously. Everyone would become a coffee lover if you had her coffee. Just trust me. Secondly, after spending time with Karen, I talk Ghetto for like the next 3 days...I just can't help it!! We share the same love for da' hood. There really aren't many people in south asia you can talk "ghetto" with...so this is always a treat for me!! She is family and is just another one of many people that makes this city my home. There will be a huge void here when she leaves.

OTHER NEWS in ALICIA's LIFE:

So guess what Lindsey and I did directly after this party? We stayed up till 5 AM watching Grey's Anatomy. And we stayed up till 4:20 AM Saturday finishing up Season 2. We finished all 12 episodes in about 24 hours. Pretty Ridiculous... I know. Right now, we are in the process of downloading season 3 off I-tunes. Did you know it takes like 14 hours to download just one?!! It will take several several days! Seriously.

I would also like to ask for a moment of silence. (Silence..........................................)

My wallet was stolen today. My favorite wallet I have ever had. tear. Since July, I have lost my carry-on, passport, and now my wallet. Am I this irresponsible? Should I even be allowed to be a grown up? What happens when I am actually responsible for other people?! Am I this incompetant. It was a pretty frustrating experience....again. Seriously.

( I would like to make a note that all three losses were NOT MY FAULT).

Another Trek to the Himalayas

I apologize for being so quiet on blogger these days. I guess there is just nothing too exciting going on around here. However, this past weekend, Lindsey and I traveled to the magnificent Himalayas to visit our friends Julie and Emily. Where they live is depressingly cold and their community of friends leave for the winter...so we went to give them a little encouragement and community.

Lindsey, Emily, Julie, and I had a great time together. I started this journey with these ladies and now we are on the home stretch of our journey together. In August, (just 6 short months) we will be leaving for America together to begin our next new and exciting journey in America.

So what did we do for these 4 glorious days together? We talked, played cards, talked, watched movies, talked, and made it to town once a day for food. Julie and I even stayed up till 5 AM talking. It was a really sweet time. We pretty much did NOTHING but enjoyed each other's company.

We also planned our futures. ha ha. We planned what we would do when we get back to America and what we will be when we grow up ( oh wait- i think i already am a grown up!). We will see if my current plans pan out in the long run. God seems to have a crazy way of mixing up my plans...so they all might just be in vain! But I am a planner...it's what I do best...it's natural and sometimes it drives me NUTS.

While we were at it, we planned our last vacation together as single journey girls. One day it will be hard to say goodbye to this season...so we are living it up while we can. We are trying to take advantage of this time in our lives. So where are we going in July? Bali, Indonesia!! Blissful island...here we come.


This past weekend really was encouraging. It was a great time of rest and just being with sisters who love each other!! I do want to give a shout out to Ruthart who wasn't able to be with us...you were greatly missed!

on a side note...I think my English is officially screwed up. I talked to a friend and he told me I spoke English just like the Indians. Sad. I guess my English is now spoken in broken, illiterate sentences. sad sad day.