Happy Early Thanksgiving!!

Yesterday I participated in a full-on Thanksgiving dinner!! It was absolutely amazing. My friend Karen's parent came to visit and with them they brought everything necessary to have a traditional AMERICAN Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, they even brought a TURKEY in their suitcase along with many other delicacies only found in America!!!

We had an amazing spread of delicious food that tasted like it came straight out of America... PURE BLISS. We enjoyed turkey, dressing, green bean casserole, seven layer salad, sweet potato casserole, rolls, fruit salad, German chocolate cake, pecan pie, and last but not least Dr. Pepper!!!

Look at how beautiful the table looks. Karen's sister does flowers professionally so she blessed us with her amazing talent! The fall flowers added to whole ambiance...it was perfect.

If any of you live overseas you know exactly how blisfull this whole day was! Thank you Walker family!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Softball Update #7 "Alicia! Alicia! Alicia!"

Every time that you play a sport, you always have this secret hidden wish that you will perform in such a way that will be impressive resulting in having people chant your name. "Alicia!" "Alicia!" "Alicia!" Let me elaborate. The bases are loaded and it's my turn to bat. As I approach the plate, I am visioning me hitting the ball to the fence, bringing everyone home, and getting a home run. "Alicia!" "Alicia!" "Alicia!" We all long for that glory. Or while standing in the outfield, I vision myself standing in the outfield and very casually catching that pop fly. "Alicia!" "Alicia!" "Alicia!" Am I right?

So today was my day of glory. No I didn't bring everyone home...(I actually had all the bases loaded and I was up to bat, but i struck out on the third out- bummer), BUT I did catch the pop fly!! "Alicia!" "Alicia!" "Alicia!" The ball actually made it past infield and I very casually put my left hand out and caught it! Then before I knew it...people were running to me, hugging me, and giving me high fives!! Glory!! I was honestly really proud of myself.

See when you play in the outfield- you never get any glory unless you catch a pop fly! So now I can end the season and be happy!! I had my first and now fleeting moment of glory.

By the way, we won our game 15 to 0!! Whoop. And my super and amazing friends Jonathan and Kelley and Kiran came to watch! Kiran was definetly our team mascot and drew a lot of attention at 2 months old. I mean she is so stinkin beautiful...its hard for her not to not steal the show...soon they were chanting "Kiran!" "Kiran!" "Kiran". ha... just kidding.

a day in the life of alicia

Friday is one of my favorite days because I usually go with Mona to pick up Erica from school. I love to see her face light up when she sees me! It's priceless and is always accompanied by a HUGE hug! After we pick her up, the three of us always do something out. Today we got coffee together at Barrista. On the way home, we SANG CHRISTMAS CAROLS!! Actually I am teaching her Christmas carols. I love nothing more than singing carols while in transport. Yes, it's true...I am already in the holiday spirit.

I love this pic. So the short Asian guy is my supervisor. And the three tall non-Asian men are a group of men from Mississippi that came to help us out this past week. Bobby- the Asian- looks just like Mr. Miyagi in the movie "Karate Kid". Need I say more?

This is the kids trying to strike the same pose as above. Precious.

This is Nancy. She is one of my co-workers. She is the beautiful mother of all the white kids in my photos. The tall Mississippi boys treated our team to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. Yummy yummy american food.

While eating, Sadhu- an indian friend, gave me my prediction on my life based on my favorite animal and favorite bird. This is what he said...

"I am sharp and am always looking for and taking opportunities. My husband will be good looking, talkative, and naughty. ha ha.... I laughed for about 5 minutes. "

Softball Update # 6- HUGE WIN!!!

Lindsey and I took pictures of ourselves before our game so you could see our jerseys. We also look half asleep because our game was early in the morning. I am going to try to find a way to bring a camera for at least one of our games...we will see.

Today we played the American Embassy School (AES) girls team. So basically we played against a bunch of high schoolers. My team, the Nirwal VJ Jewelers, were determined not to let a bunch of 15 year olds beat us! We decided that we had more life experience to beat them even if they were younger. Also, we chose to be there...where I think they play us because they have to play for high school credit.

The final score of the game was 27 to 12!!
In fact, the score board didn't even go past 24!!
This was my best game!! I didn't strike out or get any outs!! I either hit them or I got walked. My hitting has definitely improved! I was really proud of myself and so was Lindsey. Speaking of Lindsey, she is an AMAZING hitter. She can hit them to the fence...she is quite impressive and one of our best hitters!

In case any of you were curious, when I am not hitting, I play Center field. Usually there isn't much action, but today I got a lot because we were short players. I think I will be sore tomorrow. The sad thing about playing center is you don't ever get credit for anything unless you catch a fly ball. Once again, Lindsey noticed my efforts and encouraged me!

For the past two weeks there has been no Dr. Pepper in the concession stand. Sad.

Tagged

My sweet friend Amanda tagged me in her blog in her post titled "What a Weirdo". So now it is my job to describe to you "9 weird things meme" about myself...so here they are in no particular order.

1. I have this weird obsession with cleaning my ears. It's a daily habit to always clean my ears with a Q-tip after I get out of the shower.

2. I like to moon people (close girlfriends) for shock value.

3. I have incredibly obnoxious sneezes and rarely ever sneeze just once! Sometimes people can't tell if I am coughing or sneezing.

4. I love to talk ghetto and secretly wish that I was black sometimes.

5. I have never been kissed.

6. My first trip to the dentist was when I was 16.

7. I still have my baby blanket and slept I with it until I moved to India.

8. I usually hate collections because I am not a "stuff" person, BUT I do have a new Starbucks mug collection from different cities in the world. I like this collection because its useful (Chaing Mai, Seoul, and Germany now thanks to the germany team).

9. I have lived in India for a year and still have not thrown up!

Ok...so now I get to tag some people!! Lindsey, Kelly In England, Amber, Shannon, Julie, Kelley, Kim, and Coop!
Feel free to post a comment and let me know random quirks or facts about YOU!!

I love Germans!

So...here is a GREAT shot of my new German friends who came to visit. The last two nights Lindsey and I had all 6 of them sleeping in our home!! It was great. I am realizing more and more how important community is. The body of Christ really is an amazing thing!! It brought me such great joy to have all them sit around my table to fellowship and eat together! They are home now, but I can only hope that the Lord will cross my path with theirs someday!

Ericka is FIVE!!!

My favorite Indian kid had a birthday!!!

Here is Ericka in her BEAUTIFUL dress!! She looks just like a princess!!

Cutting the cake. Ericka had about 20 kids and 10 adults at her party. She is quite popular at 5.

It is tradition at Indian birthday parties to feed or smear cake on the birthday cake to the birthday girl!! Then Ericka fed her parents. It is also tradition that you give everyone at the party a gift! This was my first Indian birthday party.

Softball Update # 5

I hate to even post this...

We lost our game today. The score is too embarassing to share. Our pitcher wasn't able to come and she is what holds our team together (and strikes everyone out).

I was proud of myself because I actually made bat and ball contact!! Yay for me.

Taboo Anyone?

How many of you know and love the game Taboo? If you don't you should go to Wal-mart and purchase it! I love to play games (well certain ones) and this is one of my absolute favorite games!!

Right now, we have 6 friends from Germany visiting us. Several of the couples have been staying at our home so we have had lots of time to sit and talk. We all communicate in English- although it is limited because they are not quite fluent. So we begin to talk and they can't remember the English word...so they start explaining the word (just like in the game Taboo). Then we throw out words until we get the right word!! It is actually really fun. I feel like I am in ONE REALLY LONG game of Taboo!

This time last year...

... I arrived in India! Happy Anniversary to me! Happy Anniversary to me! Happy One year of survival in India...Happy Anniversary to me!!

(this picture is of us toasting to 1 year and you can't see everyone's face, but thats what you get you use the self-timer on the camera!)

To celebrate the excitement and survival of my past year in India- we decided to celebrate with new friends!! We have 6 amazingly fun and funny friends from Germany visiting us. They spent today recovering from Delhi belly so it allowed for an evening of relaxation and fellowship. So we watched some t.v, laughed, and played SPOONS!!

This is the fun part of my job- I get paid to hang out with all types of people from different countries and places in the world! I have a growing desire to visit Germany now!!

So What Exactly HAPPENS on Divalli ?

I am going to share Divalli with you through pictures so you can get an idea of what happens on this famous festival.


One unique thing about Divalli is that you go around to your friend's home and pay them a visit. Lindsey and I visited our Landlord's house first. We brought them a small gift of Indian sweets and we sat and enjoyed their fellowship. They served us juice and a display of different kind of nuts.

Later that afternoon, we went to visit Anita. She served us chai and Indian sweets as well. We told her that was enough food, but she insisted on feeding us a real meal. So she fed us some chicken- a delicacy for Lindsey and I these days (we have kind of accidentally turned vegetarian) which she informed us that she killed herself. Apparently this was VERY FRESH chicken!

Because Anita is our helper it is appropriate to give more than just sweets. So Lindsey and I had some fun! We strolled through her neighborhood looking like the rich white girls with lots of gifts! We gifted Anita a Sari, a pressure cooker for cooking, and the game Connect Four for the kids!! It was such a joy to see them tear into the gifts!! They LOVED them. It really is more fun to give than recieve sometimes!

Divalli is also the day that families have their own special puja or worship to Laxshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. Lindsey and I attended Sunjay and Mona's puja time. We sat in the back and watched, but did not participate. The puja lasted about 20 minutes and consisted of bhajins (songs), chants read from a holy book, lighting candles, offering food to the idol, and prayers. It was honestly fascinating and highly depressing to watch.

After the evening puja, it is customary to give gifts! This is Ericka handing me the gift that her family got me! We then also gave gifts to their family along with Juma and Monica. (Gifts are given individually if you have a very close friendship or relationship. Other than that, you gift something for a person's house or a simple Indian sweet).

After puja and gift giving you light dyas. Divalli is known as the "Festival of Lights" because King Ram defeated evil once and for all and returned to his kingdom after being in exile for many years. Traditionally, people lit dyas to welcome his return. The tradition still continues to this day. I lit dyas for Jesus, because He is the True Light which gives light to all men and He defeated death and evil once and for all!

Finally at about 9:oo we went to Mona's parents home. It was firecracker time!! Firecrackers are huge!! The crazy and dangerous thing is that there are NO guidelines or rules so people shoot them off in very dangerous places. Nevertheless, EVERYONE in the whole city enjoys shooting off crackers! Crackers were heard non-stop for hours the night of Divalli!! Fun times. In fact, as I type this, I still hear fireworks going off!!

We had a lot of fun with the spinners!! We like to jump around them. Why not? We shot off fireworks for about two hours from the roof of Mona's parents house!

Here is Lindsey and I "looking so very smart". This is the phrase Indians use when they think you look nice! Do we look Indian yet? We are trying hard these days!! Secretly we love to wear all the big jewelry and bracelets and the bling bling on our clothes!!

After fireworks we were served dinner at about 11:30 PM!! By this point I was absolutely EXHAUSTED as you can see by the picture!!!

HAPPY DIVALLI!!!

Comment and Make Alicia's Day

Have I mentioned that I love comments on my blog?! I am kind of curious who checks this thing... sign your name and tell me your favorite kind of cookie!

...Oh and tell me what city or country you are in?! That could be fun to know!

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog!

I LOOK FORWARD TO READING YOUR COMMENT... YES YOURS.

Divalli Markets in Pictures

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

My Newest Joy

My ESL students are my newest joy. Lindsey and I have been teaching for about one month now. It has been such a great experience. We teach two times a week in a lower income community about 15 minutes from our house. We have about 9 students who come consistently!



This is the market area where we teach. I love this picture because it typifies my city! There are always people everywhere as you can see. At first markets really really intimated me especially because everyone stares at you (not too many foreigners come through- I am sure you can imagine the looks we get). However, the chaos has become normal and is now my preference. I love the presence of being around and among the Indian people. There is a certain high you get from being in an Indian market!



These are my students. These are the faces that I look forward to seeing every week. They are a gift from God!! Lindsey and I haven't really had many friends around our age, but now we do!! Thanks for sharing this joy with me.

Today was our first Divalli initiation!! We gave our students Divalli gifts and Indian sweets! Let the celebrations begin!!

Babysitting and Divalli Shopping

Today was my first day to babysit SWEET BABY Kiran!!! Tomorrow she will be 6 weeks old. We had a lot of fun today. We rocked, and walked, and talked! She was very very joyful and didn't cry except when she was hungry. I think she really likes her AUNT ALICIA!! Her Aunt Alicia really loves her too!! J & K...you're pretty stinkin' awesome too!!

I think Kiran really likes her toy ducky. I caught them having a conversation today on film. I wonder what she was really trying to say? This pictures is one of my favorites that I have taken in her first 6 weeks of life.

After babysitting, Lindsey and I went shopping for Divalli. The market was marked with brightly festive lights and tinsel! I could definitely feel the celebration in the air! The markets were soo busy tonight!! It was fun...it kind of feels the holiday season in America. I love it.

This is the market where I do most of my shopping. About a five minute walk from my house. To me it looks a lot more festive, but I am realizing now, for you, it might seem just like a typical crazy market in India!! Wait what is typical? This lady in this shop is my favorite!! I always go to her...technically she is my grocer and this is my grocery store!

This is Lindsey and I in a rickshaw on the way home...and this is lindsey wrapping all the gifts!!! I helped wrap too, but her picture was more fun than mine. Fun times.

Softball Update # 4

Today, our softball game was canceled. The team we were suppose to play was out of town so they had to forfeit. Next week is a major holiday so no games next week either. Sad.

Stay tuned...for more updates.

Festival Season

This time of the year is filled with lots and lots of festivals!! In fact, there are so many festivals I can't keep track of them all. This celebration time is leading up to Divalli- "The Festival of Lights". This is a Hindu holiday that is equivalent to our Christmas. People buy everyone gifts and they celebrate by hanging lights everywhere!! The excitement in the air right now is the same excitement we feel following the day after Thanksgiving. So its kind of fun!!

This is Mona all dressed for Sanjay. She came over for a short time while waiting for her husband to come home.

Yesterday was the festival known as "Karva Chauth" (fourth day of the moon). This is holiday shared between husband and wife. Therefore, I did not participate. It is a time where the husband pampers his wife by buying her a new sari and new jewelry. The woman even gets henna on her hands as tradition. The woman fasts all day for her husband. She doesn't even take any water. When the husband gets home they offer sacrifices to the moon and pray to the moon. Then the husband feeds his wife and gives her water.

It was fun to see all the women with Henna on their hands and everyone looked so beautiful! There was such an extra spring in the air yesterday!!

My friend andrea posted pics and a much better explanation on her blog. Click Here.

Second Cousins- CUTEST KIDS ALIVE

My mom and sister went to Dallas. While they were there, they got to visit my cousin Tammie and her sweet kids!! Here are some pics of Blake, Ben, and Kirra! Aren't they adorable?!

Softball Update # 3- WIN

Lindsey and I played our fourth game today and we won!!

Final Score: 2 to 13 -This week our team had some amazing hits!! We have all really improved on our hitting from the last game. It was actually one of the funnest games I have played so far.

After the game, Lindsey and I went and ate at Fridays. I enjoyed a nice Southwestern Cesar Salad and Lindsey enjoyed a Chicken Chimichanga. yummy.

I think I also got cursed by a Eunuch today. Sometimes when you are in a rickshaw the males dressed in women's sari's come to your rickshaw asking for money. I didn't give money to her/him so Lindsey and I think he/she cursed us. He/she clapped his hands really loudly and then gave us a dirty look. WE didn't take it very seriously...we looked at each other and giggled. The craziness of this place...it never ends.

Home Improvement & Shopping

Lindsey and I have finally decided to buy a few things to give the finishing touches to our house! As I mentioned earlier, we finally bought pillows for our couch and now we have a new table cloth for our kitchen table!! We found the table cloth at a store called Anoki. Anoki is my new joy! It's this great store here that sales awesome indian clothes and also a large variety of home store items! Oh, we also recently took our curtains to the tailor...now they don't drag the floor (they are 6 inches shorter). It only cost $3.50 to get all 13 curtain altered!! yay. Does it make you want to come visit?! Seriously...think about it. :)

Today I went shopping! My roommate Lindsey was thrilled that I actually wanted to go shopping. I am actually not a huge shopper. I don't enjoy it unless I need something. I actually shop more like a male. Anyways... back to my shopping. I bought one ready made suit and two different types of material to make two new suits. I will take them to the tailor later this week.

The Indian Suit or Salwar Kameez- (model of green and blue suit)

Blue pants- salwar pants (kind of like MC Hammer pants...super baggy)

Green and blue shirt- Khurta- its not too flattering, but covers your booty!!

The green and blue scarf- Dupatta- It's purpose is to cover...well... you know... This is considered to be a woman's virtue. A male should never touch her dupatta!! Pretty much if you leave the house without your "virtue" you are considered to be a loose woman! Can i mention that most women including me hate the dupatta! It's very annoying. It always falls off and its super hot. It's like wearing a scarf in the summertime.