My New Friend

Genny and I have tried taking this new puppy under our wing. Her name is Gringa- how cute!

Reflections on Mann Deshi

Ever since I left Mann Deshi, I've thought about how I should convey my experience to others. Instead of venting for pages and pages, and discussing what I've learned from all the negativity, I leave you my friend Rama's words. He captures a majority of the experience very succinctly, and I request that you take the time to read it: http://rsivalog.blogspot.com.

The Best Things about Christmas this Year

6. Our holiday Christmas cookie ornament-decorating party
In mid-December, before the fellows parted ways for the holidays, Genny and I hosted a small party. We had Christmas cookies (gingerbread cookies that our local baker was kind enough to bake for us, stroopwafels that my parents were kind enough to send, and apple crisp), and we forced our friends to make ornaments for our tree. Lots o’ fun!

5. The movies
One of our main Christmas activities was watching Christmas movies. We watched Little Women, A Christmas Story, Love Actually, and Miracle on 34^th Street!

4. Our decorations
Genny and I labored for hours on our Christmas decorations, most of which were made out of paper. We made a wreath, snowman, fire, snowflakes, green & red and blue & white paper chains, and garland. We were lucky enough to find a Christmas tree and Santa hats in Hubli. And my parents were nice enough to send stockings, a Christmas flag, a snow globe, and a cute little penguin in a box. Our house looks amazingly tacky, but we LOVE it!

3. The food
Genny, Giselle, and I thought long and hard about what we wanted and what was practical for our three Christmas feasts (Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas brunch, and Christmas dinner). My favorite selections were apple crisp, strata, stuffing, and spinach patties (an adaptation of spinach balls).

2. The people
Genny and Giselle are just awesome people. And if I had to be away from my family and friends, I can’t imagine two better people with whom to celebrate.

1. The Christmas Eve dance party
While we were in the middle of cooking our delicious feast, the girls from down the street stopped by our house. I was really touched that girls so young (early teens) would be thoughtful enough to wish us a Merry Christmas and make us cards.

We offered them some butter cookies, and our collective excitement transformed into a Christmas dance party! We exchanged Indian and American moves, and upon the suggestion of one of the girls, had a catwalk-off. She definitely won.

For a few minutes things settled down. The girls asked to see pictures of Santa, so we obliged using the internet. When Genny asked, “Who do you want to see next?” they shouted in unison, “Jesus Christ!” followed by the most outspoken girl, Sushmita, stating, “He’s such a great guy.”

Unable to contain our laughter, we loaded a picture of Jesus. Unfortunately the first one to load was of Jesus drinking wine and smoking a cigarette. Genny’s quick save: “Oh, Jesus is having some juice!”

Eventually we moved on from the photo sharing, and Giselle, menorah in hand, taught the girls about Hanukkah. We then returned to dancing to our Christmas music before the girls had to head back to their hostel.

We were all smiles when they left. Christmas in India really couldn’t have gotten any better. It’s moments like dancing with those girls that I wish I could share with people back home-those are the moments that define my experience, make life here extra special, and make me never want to leave.

And the most endearing part of all? The cards were addressed: “Dear Johnny and Swizzy.” How can you beat that?