Mocha

 When we were in New Delhi last month, we got to eat at some really amazing places. It's hard to tell whether they were amazing objectively, or whether we have a skewed opinion of amazing because of our new Indian diet.
   The thing we were most excited about was drip coffee. That's the fancy name for coffee made from ground beans in a coffee maker, like the kind from Starbucks or even Waffle House. In our city, (the largest in the state), no one serves drip coffee, but uses either expresso for different coffee drinks, or just serves instant coffee.
  So while we were in Delhi, we found Mocha, an amazing coffee house that SERVES COFFEE!!!! (in my prejudiced, American mind you shouldn't get to call yourself a coffee shop without normal coffee, but I am trying to be more open). We found three different locations of Mocha throughout Delhi. One was decorated with all sorts of recycled things, another looked like a bar, and the third looked like a beachy sunroom.
  These pictures are from the sunroom Mocha. We are enjoying amazing waffles. Actually the ironic thing is that when we came on this day, they were out of drip coffee because they couldn't make hot water to put in the french press. So we went to our other favorite coffee shop in Delhi, "The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf," bought some drip coffee, and returned to Mocha to eat our waffles. : )

Strange Change

I often shop on our street either with the vegetable and fruit walas, or with the small convenience store 100 meters away that has almost anything I need. Sometimes I don't have the exact change, and so I might offer 20 Rs (41 cents) for a bag of vegetables that only costs 17 Rs. Most of the time instead of getting my 3 Rs. back, I get something else that counts as change. I've gotten lemons, grapes, coffee taffy, eclair candy and bubble gum as change. It's not only the tiny stores that give this weird change, but also stores like Cafe Coffee Day, the Indore version of Starbucks, sometimes just add things to your bill so that it comes out to the amount you gave.
Change is a big deal because so many people pay with cash. I have to be on my feet for what would make change better. If something costs 60 Rs. and I have 100 Rs. I know they will ask me if I have a 10 Rs. When I buy meals at a restaurant we always get 1 bill so I am getting better at my small math.
Here are some things I've gotten for change:

Bollywood Mania

One thing I've totally bought into while here in India is Bollywood films and music. The more I watch these cheesy, musical, long movies the more I love them. I've even watched two of them in theaters which means they are only in Hindi. They have such great songs and choreography! Watch this video of one of my favorite songs from a movie that recently came out. Don't tell me it doesn't make you want to dance!

Last fall I got to dance with some of my friends in Clemson to some Bollywood songs, and I loved it. My friend Namrata choreographed the songs and dancing them helped me appreciate Bollywood more and my inability to dance.

I have gotten to go to a Bollywood dance class with Amy and her friendGunjan. Our dance instructor was making up his choreography as we learned the song. We asked him to show us a song and so I recorded part of these songs he did:

Not only does appreciating Bollywood give me something in common with nearly all Indians here, but I think it helps me understand both Hindi and Indian culture more. Monday when I was waiting outside the mall for Heather, all of a sudden a crowd ran into the mall and I heard shouting and all sorts of noise. I was so curious and so I went in the mall to see what the ruckus was about. Turns out that Vidya Balan had come to the mall on a tour for her new movie Kahanni. I got to see her but I was on the outskirts of the crowd. I'm totally going to see Kahanni when it comes out but will probably go with someone who speaks Hindi so I can understand it since as a drama it will have fewer songs.

And my all-time favorite actor is Shahid Kapoor. Shout out to fellow fans Anna Grace and Sammi! Maybe you've seen him in the delightful film Dil Bole Hadippa. It's loosely based on She's the Man. Lower is another picture of him that looks like he did for the Zee Awards, minus the spiked hair.

So here's my Shahid story. Yesterday Amy and I went to our gym (named Barbarian) to work out, and we realized it was the day that the owner and starter of the Barbarian gym line (that is all over India) was coming. His name is Satya, and he trains Bollywood actors. He was goingaround the gym giving people weight training advice. We made eye contact, and he came over to talk to me. He asked if I was American, and I asked if he knew Shahid. He said he wasShahid's trainer, and I said Shahid was my favorite. Then Amy came up and told him that I want to marry Shahid (typical), and Satya told me and Amy to meet him in the Star Gym for small group ab lessons. He said he could make our abs like Katrina Kaif's. : )

After some very painful ab lessons (I'm no future Katrina Kaif), Amy and I went back to the lockers. Amy was like, "We were ONE degree away from Shahid Kapoor!" I quickly realized that this was my only chance to give Shahid my fan mail. So I got some paper from the enthusiastic gym desk workers and wrote Shahid. I told him everything a 13 year old girl would tell Justin Bieber.... I gave the letter to Satya, but I don't know if he will deliver this important message. I will know if Shahid got it if he uses any of the 3 ways I gave him to get in contact with me. : )

Strawberry Muffins

One of my favorite things about everyday in India is how cheap the veggies are. For instance, in this picture all of these veggies only cost $1:
The cheapness of fruits and veggies along with the lack of American tasting-readily available food is making me a better cook. The predictability of eating with Heather and Amy is also making me motivated to cook, and so does their good cooking. Heather is especially good at cooking veggies. My sweet tooth makes me want to try more bakery items. I've made honey mustard chicken, biscuits, oreo truffles and egg casserole with Heather, and just now strawberry muffins.



I got this recipe online but substituted wheat for white flour and added twice as many strawberries as it called for. I will probably try different strawberry recipes soon as we finish up the season.

Scootie Surfin

Many of you probably know that riding on the scootie is a love/hate relationship with me. Love- because it's such an adrenaline release, and I'm weaving through traffic and breaking all the traffic rules I want while the wind whips through my hair. Hate- because if I'm driving then I'm scared of killing my passenger, and if I'm riding then I can't know that my driver sees what terrifying upcoming disaster that I see. Also, don't look at these links on India's traffic fatalities.

These are the things I find frustrating about Indian traffic, specifically for a scootie.

1. No right-of-ways. Every time I come to an intersection, I can't figure out who has the right-of-way. Biggest street? Heaviest traffic? Whoever beeps first? Everyone is constantly beeping their horns to let the other drivers know where their vehicle is. So intersections work kind of like a foot-traffic intersection would at a mall or something- you just get out of people's way or make people get out of your way. A lot of "chicken."

2. Someone cutting you off is the rule, not the exception. I'm either swerving or slamming on the breaks constantly in traffic. No one looks to see if they are clear before they merge, they just go for it. I am constantly scanning the people around me so that they don't drift into my leg or cross in front of me. Not only do you have to be aware of all vehicles around you, but throw animals into the mix as well. The other day when I was riding with Amy, a cow almost gored me with his horns as he walked into the road just as we were passing. Fortunately, he only grazed my arm. Cows sure do a lot of grazing over here. ; )

3. So, watch the vehicles/animals on either side of you, and the people who are entering the intersection, but also try to figure out where you are going. This is hard especially in an old market area when all the shops kind of look the same. In a lot of ways, they ARE the same shop, just with different workers, because they are selling the exact same stuff.

4. And, throw into this mix the road conditions. Pay attention to traffic, vehicles around you, where you are going, AND the road. We swerve for giant bumps that could buck us off the scootie, stay clear of random holes, trash, sleeping animals, children playing, and ditches. The other day we lost control of the scootie because a groove in the middle of the road made us skid.

But, in all this fear I have of going out, I must be careful to not let my timidity take control of me. I have to drive the scootie, and all I can do is be alert and make wise decisions. I really appreciated this post from my friend Christy who lives in my city

The beginning

This post is really just an explanation of this blog. Blogs can be so helpful in thinking through cultural shock and sharing life with people who are far away, so I knew that I wanted to do a blog especially while here in India. However, I don't actually have a camera here, and we all know that blogs are only fun with some pictures. But I've decided to go ahead and post some things while everything is fresh in my mind and things actually seem weird (I'm going to think they are normal soon). Therefore I will steal pictures from my roommates Heather and Amy and the internet.
As a warning- these posts will not be poetry or good literature, but an outlet for my new feelings. But I hope that it will give you a picture of what my life is like here so that when I am skyping with you we can just talk about you. : )