Good Goan Friday

So, where were we- Thursday, we went to see some temples and went shopping in Panjim. Right.

So guess what we did on Friday? We went on the tour that was organized by the hotel. We were supposed to go to the old churches in Old Goa, but because it was Good Friday (this would be the day following Maundy Thursday) the church was not open for visitors. So..... we went to see some temples and went shopping in Panjim. Sound familiar? yeah. We were not pleased, but by the time we heard this we were already captive on the bus so we had to go along for the ride. We arrived at the first stop, which was the second temple that we had viewed the day before. Since we didn't want to go into the temple again we instead walked up the road to where all of the little sales stands are and got something to drink and snack on. While doing so there was a young man who ...well see for yourself.

It is a strange (to us anyway) behavior that many Indians seem to have the need to take photos or video us, I can only assume it is because we are not Indian. While we are generally good sports about it, my daughter does not always appreciate the attention. Unfortunately, I think when I took a photo of him taking a photo of us, I only encouraged him and his group of friends. They were very friendly, I think. Chatting away in Hindi, I couldn't understand what they were saying to each other- but I am pretty sure it was Hindi. Well, we walked on and found a shady spot to sit and soon we found ourselves surrounded by a group of giggling Indian girls wanting to have their picture taken with us. Bryan got a shot as well.

OK. We're done now. Can we go yet?

So, back on the bus we proceeded towards Old Goa and drove by a cool looking site that obviously had the ruins of an old building, I think our "guide" (I am being very generous to use that term) said that it was one of the original churches of Goa. Cool! We get to stop there and check it out... wait we are still driving... are we looking for parking? Nope. We aren't stopping. Instead a few minutes later we arrive at a "Handicraft Emporium". Here we can get out and shop and use the toilet.

Rug loom at Handicraft Emporium

Well, they do have some very nice things here, but I am hesitant to buy much because we are going to go to the night market in North Goa tomorrow. It is supposed to be very cool and have the best things. Plus this place is really expensive thank you very much. So, back on the bus and we continue driving into Panjim where we stop at a parking area where there are some shops that sell cashews and feni. Our "guide" says that we can get out here and buy some of these things. Well, fine- we did want to pick some up so we oblige. Once we finish we head back to the bus and are told that we can now walk to the boat tour. This is supposed to be an optional add-on to our tour, but I think they are feeling bad about how lame this tour really is and so they decide to foot the bill for our boat trip.

So, the boat. What can I say. If you ever go on a vacation that is near a large body of water you will come across this sort of thing. Boat, music, drinks, food (sometimes), and entertainment. The boat leaves the dock, the drinking and the entertainment begin, and then at a later point the boat returns to the dock. Raise your hand if you have encountered some variation of this-

Yeah- us too.

So, in keeping with the spirit of the day the boat left the dock and then had to return right away as the DJ had forgotten his bag that had all of the music. So we set out a second time and things got hopping with some Hindi pop and an invitation for all of the children to take to the stage and dance.


As I think I have mentioned before, Indians love to dance (so do I) and they love music (so do I) and they love to do it with others at ear splitting noise levels (yup- me too!). So, the kids grabbed the stage and got the party started (Anna took a pass). Then it was time for the couples, although most couples seemed unwilling to admit they were couples, but Bryan and I decided to get into the act and we went up on stage to join the one other couple that had copped to it and so we were a couple of couples. Once the music started and we began dancing, Bryan and I doing our best impersonation of Bollywood style boogie, more couples joined us- maybe so they wouldn't have to watch us making fools of ourselves. Well, the gods were well pleased and we were soon being pelted with a blessing of rain. But our dancing was so enthusiastic that the rain came down harder and harder! (it doesn't seem to sprinkle much in India) Our audience fled downstairs (I swear it wasn't our dancing) and we all... kept dancing! We were having fun! Well, finally the DJ said that we needed to go downstairs and once the music stopped we really had no choice. So we followed the other dripping dancers to the lower level where there were no chairs, just lots of people standing around, dripping. It was raining for quite a while and we tried to make do with looking at the scenery passing to either side of the boat. The skies really were something!


Soon the rain slowed down enough that the DJ, prodded by a group of enthusiastic (and possibly inebriated) young men, started up the music again.


I should add here that there were a couple of ethnic dance performances thrown in here, Goan harvest dances and such performed by four brave locals, but we would be kidding ourselves if we said that was the real show. We were the show thank you very much! I even got my dear teenage daughter to join me on stage in the end. I think, it is possible, perhaps, that she might have even enjoyed herself (and so did I!)

"Hare Raam, Hare Raam..."

Well, the show did have to come to an end and so we returned to the dock and returned to our bus and drove for about one hour so that we could return to our hotel. What a day.

Goa, Goa, gone...

Tuesday (3/18): Time to go to Goa! It is an amazingly short distance, well- I am still getting used to the distances here in India, not being familiar with kilometers and being somewhat disoriented by how long it takes to get anywhere in Bangalore, but Goa is a short, barely 1 hour flight away. So we arrived, got settled into our “villa” (they had upgraded us from our two rooms we had booked) and settled in for some relaxation and downtime.

Wednesday (3/19): I should know better. We spent the day relaxing by the pool because Anna had a lot of studying to do (she has mid-terms next week!) Now sometimes, occasionally, once in a while, I over-estimate my body’s ability to absorb the sun’s rays. I really do tan fairly easily, but I sometimes forget that I don’t spend a lot of time in the sun these days. So- I think you can guess the rest. Yes- I resemble a lobster. You know it’s bad when you are applying blush to the non sunburned areas so that they blend more. I think I will recuperate fairly quickly, but at the moment?- Not pleasant.

Thursday (3/20): today we wanted to get out a little. (we won't mention that I was wholly incapable of "lounging by the pool") So we hired a taxi for the day and headed to Sahakari Spice Farm. This was about a 45 minute drive from where we were staying and they grow… spices; vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, etc.... We took a tour and learned about all of the spices that they cultivate as well as medicinal uses for most of them. It was actually pretty interesting. We also saw how they harvest some of the fruits that are up high in the trees.

Best left to professionals

One courageous visitor even gave it a go himself. Suffice it to say that he showed how hard it really is. I did learn something new as well. See this...

These are cashews! The cashew is the little part at the end and the rest is what they call the "apple". They use it to make Cashew Feni, one of the local alcohols- they also make a palm feni and a coconut feni. We tried a bit, it is quite warming.

After the spice farm we asked to visit a couple of the Hindu temples in the area. We were interested in seeing them because they are a bit different from most Hindu temples.

Shri Mahalasa Temple

Goa is mostly a Catholic state and was a Portuguese colony for many years. So these temples are said to have architectural influences from the Christian buildings in the state. I really can't make a good comparison myself as we have only visited the ISKCON temple in Bangalore which is a very modern style of architecture. Still, they were interesting to see.

Then we paid our respects to the Christian God by visiting the Bom Jesus Basilica in Panjim.

Now if you are paying attention you will notice that we were doing all of this on Maundy Thursday. So, basilica closed. Fine, we had actually had a little bit of a hard time finding a driver for the day because they all go to church for big Maundy Thursday services. That’s okay, we saw a bit and then headed in to Panjim itself to have a bit of a look around.

Tomorrow I will tell you about the rest of our stay and the little misadventures we had!

Zombie Socks

Originally uploaded by SnidKnits

Well, I am finished with the round one socks!!!!!!

Took a little longer than I had hoped, but I am definitely "out of training"!
Last night my hands ached, I couldn't focus my eyes anymore and all day I just felt like my speed was not up to par. Woke up this morning, warmed up my still aching hands and finished them off. Very nice pattern and a fun knit!

I estimate that each sock took approximately 12 hours to knit.
I am pretty sure that I made it to Round Two. Now it will start getting tougher!

Sock Madness-Zombie Sock #1

Zombie Sock #1
Originally uploaded by SnidKnits

So the pattern for these socks was inspired by zombies. I really should be watching Shaun of the Dead while knitting these! But, I am done with the first sock and I should be able to finish the second one without any problem tomorrow. Great pattern!

Now, I am off to bed.

(all sorts of thunder and lightning and then rain outside! Just like a Summer storm in the Midwest! Cool!!!)

Creative Post? Well...

Okay, this one is for the knitters!

I know, I know... I have been absent. Actually I have been sick. Attacked by the Indian version of a flu. Dang- it kicked my butt. I was sick in bed for four days. I cannot even begin to explain how frustrating that is to me. I HATE laying in bed. Drives me nuts. But, I am finally starting to feel better on day 6, just in time for Sock Madness! Yup. In about 24 hours Sock Madness starts and I will be knitting with a frenzied pace. Just incase you have no idea what I am talking about I will give you the quick rundown. Sock Madness is a speed knitting competition in which we are grouped into divisions, we knit a pair of socks and the first ones done move on to the next round. And believe it or not it is more fun than you can possibly imagine. I wrote a little poem about it last year- but you'll just have to re-read it as I don't have time to get too creative right now... :)

My sock yarn awaits...

One of the reasons I was so frustrated being sick was that I was really hoping to get some other things done in the last week. Let me show you. I bought this:

And this:


to make some....

Can you guess? Yup. Curtains. I particularly wanted to get them finished before those late nights of Sock Madness start up, but it looks like the first round will have to be done without them... sigh.

Well, hopefully I will get the first pair of socks done real quick and then I can get the curtains done... before we go to Goa. Geez.

Okay, one more thing, check out this yellow lace weight yarn I bought down near Commercial street. For comparisons sake, it is laying next to a FULL skein of Socks That Rock. That's a lot of yardage there isn't it. I asked the clerk how many meters/yards there were and he just looked at me and said "no meters, weight." It is acrylic, but doesn't feel too bad for the cost. It was about 80 Rupees.

That's just shy of $2.00 US. I think I can play around with it some...

Random Daily Adventures

I just don't have it in me to do much with the creative writing at present. I have been in a bit of a downer mood the last couple of days... felling a bit lonely for home as well as being a bit bored. The creativity is coming though and I hope to have a more interesting post in a couple of days, but in the meantime I do have some sights I would like to share with you...

So as you travel around town, sometimes you are just struck by how different things are. There are the signs:

Observance of one of India's major religions:

That would be watching cricket...

Everyday sources for traffic problems:

Leak on Vittal Mallya Road

And then there is the shopping, I always spot something different that catches my eye...

You know you've got market share:

Vegetarian China...

A different kind of green beans:

Those would be coffee beans!

I also found a local store that carries absolutely everything that I have been driving all over the city to find. Everything. A few blocks away. It is one of those stores that you walk by and don't take much notice of because it looks small from the outside. I should have been clued in by the quantity of people that are usually in the area though. The store is MUCH larger than it looks, has every imaginable thing, including the ever elusive vanilla extract (or "essence" as they call it here). They even have lettuce and basil! (I can in no way communicate how incredibly exciting this is!) I took some shots in the second floor so that you can get a sense of what I am talking about...

Looking left

Looking right

I really wish I had discovered this store sooner. I will chalk it up to newcomer blindness.

And finally some sights from around the neighborhood...

Bees

Cow

Heading home...

And...

Had to put in an extra post* here because there was something else we picked up at the auction that I wanted you to see:

Dowry Box

*While I like the Flickr Slider tool for adding slideshows when I have a lot of photos that I want to share with you- it seems to have a bug and makes it difficult for me to add anything more to my posts afterwards! Very frustrating!!

Officially Jealous

So, I have been avoiding doing a blog post for the last few days and have to admit that I have been in a bit of a funk. There may be hormonal reasons contributing to this, but the truth is that I am jealous. Jealous that I am not at Stitches West with all of my knitting friends. I have been avoiding reading blog posts and have tried to pretend that it isn't happening. But today I finally sat down, read said blog posts, and drooled. Even my mom reminded me about Stitches and said that there was a article in the San Jose Mercury News about knitting. (The online version even has pictures of knitting friends Chloe and CJ and features my two favorite shops, Purlescence and Bobbins Nest!) Everyone is getting lovely shwag, Ravelry and otherwise, and I am stuck here in the land of day-glo acrylic. sigh. Oh well.

It hasn't been all knitting related jealousy around here though. We have had our adventures as well. What have I been up to? Well, on Wednesday I joined fellow OWC members on the monthly "road trip". This time it was a visit to a school that is one of the charities that is supported by OWC. Called Shristi Special Academy, it is a school for children who have special needs. From severe mental retardation to Autism and Down's Syndrome, they serve the needs of these children with a smile and much enthusiasm. Now some of you may not know this, but I used to work with kids with special needs, so I was particularly interested in seeing the school. I was very impressed with the is academy, not because they have a lot of special equipment, but because they do their work with a lot of creativity and and with respect for the children. Their aim, when possible is to get the children placed in a regular school. If this is not possible, they train the students for jobs that they might be able to do, either at the onsite vocational center or at outside positions. I felt proud that the OWC completely sponsors the pre-vocational program. After touring the campus and seeing the many facilities and students hard at work we were treated to a delicious lunch and then a performance by some of the students there. They LOVE to dance! The joy and enthusiasm they expressed to the Hindipop (well yes- AND "the Chicken Dance") was -beautiful and heart warming to see. Here are some photos from the visit:


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

One of the ways that the OWC raises money for this and other charities is through its many social events and outings. It really is a win-win situation because it helps us (the "expats") to get to know people and feel comfortable here and the money that we spend goes to support many schools and facilities in the area. Well, Saturday night was one of these events, the OWC Charity Ball and Silent Auction. We went for the social aspect and enjoyed ourselves very much. We got to know people a little better, enjoyed some good food and drink, danced and may have come home with a few things from the silent auction (hey- all items were donated and it is for a good cause!)


Black Pottery from Manipur

Sorry, no sari!

It's a funny thing. To walk down the street in a foreign country and suddenly realize that you know where you are, you know where you are going and this is where you live. This came to me last week as I was walking to meet my fellow knitblogger friend, Rima. And it really is true, I am starting to feel at home. Not always, but sometimes, yes.

Part of that feeling is that we are starting to make friends. I have on several occasions seen people who I have previously met while I am out and around. This is a bit amazing to me in this city of many millions, but there you go. It is a small world after all!

So, we were invited to a wedding. Actually, not the whole wedding, just the reception. We felt very honored to be invited and when we were there we were treated as very honored guests. As we entered (Standard Indian time = 1 hour late) the bride (a co-worker of Bryan's) and groom were just entering. We were shown to our seats as they walked up to a stage and took a seat on a dais. Soon they were standing and a procession of men came on the stage, offering congratulations and then posing, very seriously, for photos and video. Right after them, we were ushered up onto the stage along with the bride's mother and brother (I think...) for the same ritual. I'm afraid I was not able to look very serious as I was enjoying the experience so much.


We were then quickly escorted downstairs where we were served a traditional South Indian wedding dinner. I wish I had a photo that I could share, the food is distributed in specific places on a banana leaf and as in all of South India (to my knowledge anyway) you eat with your fingers. No utensils. Rice, Raita, Sambar (hot spicy tomato soup), etc... eaten with fingers. We did exactly that and I think we even looked fairly okay doing it. It isn't entirely fair as Anna and Bryan both get to practice this every day in their respective cafeterias while I am usually dining on leftovers or peanut butter and banana sandwiches! Anyway, we ate slowly, but finished most of our several servings and then washed our hands and proceeded upstairs for conversation while the wedding procession (of the guests onto the stage as mentioned above...) continued.


We chatted with several people and I flirted with some of the kids...


Somehow, I am a kid magnet and these dears very much enjoyed me taking their photos and then showing them to others.


The other interesting thing about the wedding was that the men were not necessarily dressed up very much. a little, but not much. But the women? The saris were absolutely stunning and they were wearing a lot of beautiful jewelery as well. Even the young girls were in their finery:

Isn't she cute?

So- would you like to see what I wore?

Yup, me-not ready for a sari yet!

Wet.

One of my favorite Winnie the Pooh movies is The Blustery Day.

"The rain, rain, rain
came down, down, down
in rushing rising rivlets."

Well, as we were going to sleep last night it was raining and thundering, and lightning was striking all around. We went to sleep to the sound of pouring rain and woke up to the same sound.... almost.

Bryan got up and discovered water on the floor in the living room. It was coming from upstairs, cascading down the three stories like a nice little water fall. When we went up we discovered this

Water was pouring down from the ceiling, along the wall

and was about 1 inch deep throughout the entire room. My craft room.

If you look closely, you can see the puddling

I grabbed a push broom and started pushing the water towards the floor drain in the bathroom (one typical Indian housing feature I am very grateful for!) and Bryan went to figure out where the water was coming from -as it was no longer raining outside! He turned off all of the pumps for the water tanks and the water stopped coming!!! I'll have to explain how the water systems work here in another post, but I was most grateful for a stop to the cascading falls.

I started pulling things out to dry and when Lalitha arrived she helped as well. It could have been far worse. Some of my knitting got damp, but not wet.


My spinning wheel was, fortunately, against the dry wall so it only needed to be wiped off.


My Scrapbooking materials did not fare as well. They were right underneath the main leak and some items absorbed quite a bit of water.


And the thing I am quite thankful for is that sweet Lalitha had put most of my yarn and fiber away here last week

I have to say that while the day started out quite bad, I am feeling much better now. Just when I was feeling incredibly frustrated by everything that had happened, Lalitha came in with a plate of Idlis and chutney for me. She was sharing her lunch with me. I have to admit that I really needed someone to do something nice for me right at that moment. As she turned away to go eat her lunch out back, I couldn't help it, I started to cry. I was just incredibly touched that she would do that.

And how did this all start? Well it is a bit of a long story that isn't really that interesting, but basically the owner flipped a switch she shouldn't have when she was showing Bryan something yesterday. I don't blame her, it was a simple accident. It just happened. But I should add that this came after a faucet broke in the servant's toilet and the water ran and ran and ran, until it ran the water tank it was connected to completely dry (leaving our kitchen and guest bathroom without water as well.)

Now- I need to go attend to a drip in the bathroom.
Anyone know who the Hindu god of water and/or plumbing is?

UPDATE: It happened again! So, there is definitely something broken- but we think we have a better idea of what it is - so now we can pass that information to someone who can (hopefully!) fix it. Keep your fingers crossed!

It's All About the Love

Warning...knitting related content ahead ;)

I realized something on Friday. I realized that knitters almost always get along well because they share a love.

A love for COLOR

A love for TEXTURE

A love for PATTERNS and NATURAL GEOMETRY

I realized this when I met Rima. Rima is a lovely young woman who found me through Ravlery- and asked if I wanted to get together some time. She is from Bangalore and is currently living in New York City, but is here until March visiting her family. Well- being the far too home bound person that I am at present I jumped at the opportunity to get out of the house and do something with a like minded individual. So a plan was hatched for her to show me some of the craft related stores in and around Commercial Street.

Now, Commercial Street deserves its own post some day as it is really something, but- not today. Today is all about the crafty stuff. So, we met and headed for the first shop, Ravi's Craft Shop. I didn't really know what to expect as I had only visited one other yarn related shop in Bangalore before (Bombay Embroidery Store in Raja Market on Avenue Road). Ravi's is different. For one thing it was larger - take a look:

Yes, this is larger! And they have a LOT in this store. Fabric, sequins, ribbon, embroidery floss/thread, pattern books, Sari "falls", and of course- yarn. This really is a full fledged craft store. Word from Rima is that they are very reasonably priced and won't try to "fleece" you (always love that term in relation to knitting!). We throughly checked out the store and Rima bought a few things.

Now the next store, Surya Emporium, looked to have a better selection of yarn and larger quantities as well. Yes- it is all acrylic- but it did at least look to be decent acrylic and not the really cheap scratchy stuff. They even had some nice looking lace weight here! And of course, crochet thread...
They also had some sequins.. and beads! I like beads. It's all my mom's fault...

We then walked around and looked at some of the fabric stores. Wow. Indian textiles are absolutely gorgeous! Rima showed me some of the nicer stores and all I can say is that I am now contemplating getting a sewing machine. It would be heavenly to work with some of these fabrics. And I did bring some sewing books with me (somehow I had a feeling...)

On the other hand, I can also buy some textile items made by others! And Rima was able to help there as well. Turns out a good friend of hers, Nasir, runs a shop called Zara on Commerical Street that deals in fabrics for curtains, upholstery and the like. They also have a floor of ready made items. They have some of the most drool worthy textiles I have seen here. I was really bummed that I have already had most of the curtains done for the house as the fabrics here are far nicer!!! (I do have one room that still needs drapery though... I think I am going to have to go back there!) Look at some of the silk quilts they have.


The ones draped over the banister/handrail are made out of recycled saris. I LOVE the blue one!

Rima has also blogged about our visit here and and even has some pictures from our delicious lunch. Yes- she was even smart enough to have pictures of us. Somehow I spaced on getting a nice picture of her. Bad blogger. I will though... we are hoping to get together again soon.

Now on to other yarn related things. First, while you may have caught a glimpse of this in my list post I want to chose you a closer look of what I have been knitting:

This is the test knitting project for Cookie I have been working on and all I can say is that it looks to be a really fun pattern! She is currently looking for other test knitters so you can check out her (and Kristi's!) blog for more details if you are interested.

More knitter news... it's almost time for (insert drumroll)

Do you remember this from last year? I do. The late nights, the cramped fingers and sore wrists, the sometimes confusing patterns, the tension and stress as we raced against other knitters sometimes half a world, and perhaps an advantageous time zone away. And you know what? I wouldn't miss it for the world. Sign ups are under way for all who participated last year and will open for new participants on February 15 th. So, what do you think? Have you got the balls? ;)

So I will leave you now with a sunset. My own Saturday Sky. A happy day to you all!

Taken from my rooftop...

Ladder Day Saints

Quick post here but check it out! The workers finally arrived to install the lighting fixture in the dining room. So, in the "some things never cease to amaze me" category...

They needed a ladder to reach the equivalent of a two story ceiling:


Yes, that is two ladders, one made out of some type of local wood, the other of bamboo and they have put them together and are holding them in place. So the electrician is getting ready in the above photo and below he heads up the ladder with the fixture in hand while the guys hold the ladder for him.

Here is the brave soul installing the fixture.

Now here I think I need to say something important. When I see things like this I am amused, yes. But I am also amused by our reliance, well obsession really, in the West with safety and technology. This would never be done in the US. But in a way I think that we have robbed ourselves of a lot of creativity. This was an excellent, low cost and quite safe solution to the problem of how to hang this fixture. Yes, I am amused, but I am also impressed.

Next time? Knitting content!