So this summer I have been having shoe/feet problems of the like I have not experienced since I broke my ankle 20 years ago. Those who have read this blog for awhile might remember how I hate shoe shopping. Feel free to think I am weird. [like you need that permission]
I started the summer knowing I needed shoes badly, I especially wanted good shoes for India. Summer shoes are always more of a challenge for me, because I was shooting for sandals styles and most sandals are not suitable for inserts. However I was willing to spend money on good summer shoes, ok not $300 a pair but I was not going to look for sales and settle for less. I was ready to shop for shoes!
Seriously I did my best. And I bought 3 pairs. Merrill clogs, Clark dressy sandals, Teva sandals and Keen sport water sandals. Prices $68, $60, $40 and $98 I believe. See I did not go cheap. I have had good luck with Clarks and Tevas in the past, I have never heard a bad word about Keens [my chiropractor loves hers] and the Merrill clogs felt really good. It was all a big shoe lie.
My feet, especially my right heel, hurt almost constantly. [I have never had problems with my right heel before] And since I basically bought the shoes at the same time I had a hard time narrowing down the culprit. It was especially horrible in India, because guess which shoes I brought? And then I was sitting so much it was making everything worse, and then because I hurt I didn't want to move, and the lack of movement made other stuff worse and my heel ached all the time. You can probably see the vicious cycle.
I got home depressed about my shoes and feet. So I threw the clogs away, and went shoe shopping again. I was going to get something with lots of heel support that I could exercise in and well I just prayed that my shoe luck would turn.
Happily it looks like it has. I just happened to stumble on a sale at Nordstroms and I got a pair of ASICS gel-kinetics for $89 and they are working out pretty well. My heel is not getting any worse, it is certainly supported and I have spent long hours on my feet and still felt pretty good at the end of the day.
I was feeling a bit cocky about my shoe luck even. While I was on vacation, I pondered on what shoes I should get for work. I can't wear my tennies all the time. After mulling it over I came up with what I thought was the perfect solution. Short, brown, low heeled square toe boots with room to put in a good insert that gave me plenty of heel support. A great solution. Then last weekend I took the shoe goddess shopping with me for guidance. HA! The boots in my head do not apparently exist at this time at least not in the zillion of stores we went into, I may turn to Zappos online.
So was I too cocky about shoe luck turning? Are the Asics just a fluke? Do I bring all this bad shoe fortune on myself? Ah well. Wish me happy hunting.
indian food, still yummy
There was some concern that India would ruin Indian food in the US for me. I am happy to report that this did not happen although some things have changed.
Eating Indian food every day for a month, well as you may have gathered from the previous post, it did get to be a bit much. Part of the problem was not only was I eating Indian food everyday but I was virtually always eating at the same place. I believe I ate 6 meals at restaurants other than the hotel and ate at 2 potlucks at work. Perhaps 3 poor meals at the work cafeteria. For the whole month. So more than getting tired of Indian food I got tired of eating in that hotel, everything started to taste the same there. At the same time it was a mistake while at the hotel to eat the more European offerings, for the most part they were bad. Hyderabad is considered one of the spiciest of Indian cuisines but I always had my raita/yogurt ready and if it was hot to me I just cooled it down. It worked perfectly, I was ready for a change but for the most part I enjoyed it.
I got the impression that Indian food in India was going to be wildly different from Indian food in the states but really I didn't find that to be the case. Probably the biggest difference is that most dishes there are not served with rice, everyone eats it with bread instead. [and I love fresh Indian bread] Though the rice dish Biryani is hugely popular in Hyderabad, rightly so. Even the potlucks at work had all recognizable food, to me at least. Now the desserts were really different [interesting to be a potluck with 8 desserts and none were chocolate] but as I don't eat sugar and most were super sweet it really never came up.
So I ate a lot of Indian food, missed salads a lot and beef, tried a lot of stuff, some of which was excellent and came home ready for garden fare. However 2 weeks after I got back I was ready to have Indian at our favorite place again. We ordered some of our favorite dishes, medium as usual since the raita here at the states is an extra $4 and we usually don't get it.
I tasted it, 'oh they forgot and made it mild, too bad.' My wife tasted, 'it isn't mild.' I was amazed but she assures me that it was their typical level of medium heat. When I tasted it more carefully I could tell it wasn't bland and flavorless which is how mild would normally taste to me, it just wasn't spicy [at all] Then I bought a clue, I was different not the food. Apparently the month of eating much spicier food, even with curd at times, had tweaked my spice tolerance to a higher setting. It felt odd to realize that I had changed without being aware of it. I seem to be having a craving for spicy peppers on and off as well.
Not sure what I'll do the next time we eat out Indian though. Is this the end to sharing dishes?
Eating Indian food every day for a month, well as you may have gathered from the previous post, it did get to be a bit much. Part of the problem was not only was I eating Indian food everyday but I was virtually always eating at the same place. I believe I ate 6 meals at restaurants other than the hotel and ate at 2 potlucks at work. Perhaps 3 poor meals at the work cafeteria. For the whole month. So more than getting tired of Indian food I got tired of eating in that hotel, everything started to taste the same there. At the same time it was a mistake while at the hotel to eat the more European offerings, for the most part they were bad. Hyderabad is considered one of the spiciest of Indian cuisines but I always had my raita/yogurt ready and if it was hot to me I just cooled it down. It worked perfectly, I was ready for a change but for the most part I enjoyed it.
I got the impression that Indian food in India was going to be wildly different from Indian food in the states but really I didn't find that to be the case. Probably the biggest difference is that most dishes there are not served with rice, everyone eats it with bread instead. [and I love fresh Indian bread] Though the rice dish Biryani is hugely popular in Hyderabad, rightly so. Even the potlucks at work had all recognizable food, to me at least. Now the desserts were really different [interesting to be a potluck with 8 desserts and none were chocolate] but as I don't eat sugar and most were super sweet it really never came up.
So I ate a lot of Indian food, missed salads a lot and beef, tried a lot of stuff, some of which was excellent and came home ready for garden fare. However 2 weeks after I got back I was ready to have Indian at our favorite place again. We ordered some of our favorite dishes, medium as usual since the raita here at the states is an extra $4 and we usually don't get it.
I tasted it, 'oh they forgot and made it mild, too bad.' My wife tasted, 'it isn't mild.' I was amazed but she assures me that it was their typical level of medium heat. When I tasted it more carefully I could tell it wasn't bland and flavorless which is how mild would normally taste to me, it just wasn't spicy [at all] Then I bought a clue, I was different not the food. Apparently the month of eating much spicier food, even with curd at times, had tweaked my spice tolerance to a higher setting. It felt odd to realize that I had changed without being aware of it. I seem to be having a craving for spicy peppers on and off as well.
Not sure what I'll do the next time we eat out Indian though. Is this the end to sharing dishes?
squirrel stew
I am deliriously happy that my garden was kept alive while I was in India. There is nothing like being in a country where you are told over and over again to not eat raw vegetables, in August, to make you obsess a bit about your garden at home. Not too mention the weekly CSA deliveries you are missing.
By week 4 I was ready to fly the plane home myself in order to get a salad. Indian anecdote; There were 4 of us in the car coming home from work, 9:30pm, heading to the hotel. I was in the front next to the driver, we had been in the country for 3+ weeks.
From the back seat to me: 'what do you want to have for dinner?' Me: "Steak, fresh sliced tomatoes and corn on the cob." ho,ho
Back seat: 'try again.' Me: "a huge green salad?" sadly this time
Back seat: 'and again.' Me, throwing my hands in the air and shouting gleefully: 'Indian food!' The driver and everyone else in the car cracks up. Really the oddest things would make us laugh.
So fast forward to now and my tomatoes are ripening beautifully and are tasty as well. It has not been a very good year for my CSA in tomato land so we aren't getting tons...not enough to freeze but still a lot and I love them. I am even making salsa and salsa verde with the tomatillos and I am also seriously thinking about squirrel stew!
Those little rat b@st@rds! Not only are they stealing tomatoes but they are taking the best ones you know that need a just one more day to be at their peak. However I would not grudge a couple of tomatoes to my furry neighbors if they ate them! but no they take a bite and then cast them aside and wreak more havoc AND as if that wasn't bad enough they leave the barely eaten succulent tomato on the outside windowsills in a totally mocking way. The little thieves. I am not a particularly squeamish person but I don't think I can finish a tomato with squirrel slobber on it.
Something has to be done, at least by next year. Any ideas on how to squirrel proof tomatoes?
By week 4 I was ready to fly the plane home myself in order to get a salad. Indian anecdote; There were 4 of us in the car coming home from work, 9:30pm, heading to the hotel. I was in the front next to the driver, we had been in the country for 3+ weeks.
From the back seat to me: 'what do you want to have for dinner?' Me: "Steak, fresh sliced tomatoes and corn on the cob." ho,ho
Back seat: 'try again.' Me: "a huge green salad?" sadly this time
Back seat: 'and again.' Me, throwing my hands in the air and shouting gleefully: 'Indian food!' The driver and everyone else in the car cracks up. Really the oddest things would make us laugh.
So fast forward to now and my tomatoes are ripening beautifully and are tasty as well. It has not been a very good year for my CSA in tomato land so we aren't getting tons...not enough to freeze but still a lot and I love them. I am even making salsa and salsa verde with the tomatillos and I am also seriously thinking about squirrel stew!
Those little rat b@st@rds! Not only are they stealing tomatoes but they are taking the best ones you know that need a just one more day to be at their peak. However I would not grudge a couple of tomatoes to my furry neighbors if they ate them! but no they take a bite and then cast them aside and wreak more havoc AND as if that wasn't bad enough they leave the barely eaten succulent tomato on the outside windowsills in a totally mocking way. The little thieves. I am not a particularly squeamish person but I don't think I can finish a tomato with squirrel slobber on it.
Something has to be done, at least by next year. Any ideas on how to squirrel proof tomatoes?
It didn't happen but welcome back
Welcome back to me and you.
My plans to blog regularly while spending a month in India just didn't happen as you all can tell. Granted, I have never spent a month working in India before so not a huge surprise that some plans just did not work out.
Ok that sounds ominous. Nothing 'happened' to me while in India in fact I frequently jotted down notes of things I wanted to blog about. But then poof when I was back in the hotel room. No blogging.
I couldn't quite figure it out, I was really tired of course between the 60 hour work week and well I found Indian culture shock pretty tiring too. But then I have been back in the country [how I love my country] for over 3 weeks and still no blogging.
Finally though I think I have figured it out and it took days of actual vacation with no work to manage to do it. It wasn't just that I was tired from working 11+ hour days and it wasn't just that India is very overwhelming in many ways especially when you are new to it. The thing that really but the kibosh on blogging was the fact that I was always, always talking, sharing and 'on'. Constant teaching for me was like blogging, because I was not there just to teach but to 'build relationships' this took a lot of effort, a lot of sharing and had a bit of weirdness to it. And apparently it is much the same part of me that I would use to blog. It was just all used up!
Now I just feel more like myself and ready to blog again. I can once more delve into what I have been doing, eating and pondering online. I know that there are a few people who read my blog but it also seems to me that the people who read my blog aren't too fazed if I just disappear for a few weeks. I wonder if anyone will start reading it again ... well I won't worry about it.
A teaser of things to come: veggies, squirrls, patios, paint, indian food and parties.
My plans to blog regularly while spending a month in India just didn't happen as you all can tell. Granted, I have never spent a month working in India before so not a huge surprise that some plans just did not work out.
Ok that sounds ominous. Nothing 'happened' to me while in India in fact I frequently jotted down notes of things I wanted to blog about. But then poof when I was back in the hotel room. No blogging.
I couldn't quite figure it out, I was really tired of course between the 60 hour work week and well I found Indian culture shock pretty tiring too. But then I have been back in the country [how I love my country] for over 3 weeks and still no blogging.
Finally though I think I have figured it out and it took days of actual vacation with no work to manage to do it. It wasn't just that I was tired from working 11+ hour days and it wasn't just that India is very overwhelming in many ways especially when you are new to it. The thing that really but the kibosh on blogging was the fact that I was always, always talking, sharing and 'on'. Constant teaching for me was like blogging, because I was not there just to teach but to 'build relationships' this took a lot of effort, a lot of sharing and had a bit of weirdness to it. And apparently it is much the same part of me that I would use to blog. It was just all used up!
Now I just feel more like myself and ready to blog again. I can once more delve into what I have been doing, eating and pondering online. I know that there are a few people who read my blog but it also seems to me that the people who read my blog aren't too fazed if I just disappear for a few weeks. I wonder if anyone will start reading it again ... well I won't worry about it.
A teaser of things to come: veggies, squirrls, patios, paint, indian food and parties.
contradictions in India
For me contradictions abound in India.
I am in a fascinating new place, on the other side of the globe, but I hardly have time to see it. Outside the average office building where I work [and work and work] in is an encampment of shacks. 'Temporary' homes for construction workers and their families completely primitive.
I am here in the monsoon season but there is a drought.
When it does rain [heavily] there doesn't seem to be much drainage planned and the water just piles up.
Being in India is an intense experience. To be fair, I would probably find training for 4 solid weeks, noon to 9pm, working 55 hours a week intense no matter where I did it. India though just adds it's own twist on everything.
There seem to be temples and shrines everywhere and all in use, I asked one guide how many temples there were in the city of Hyderabad and he seemed floored. There must be thousands I guess he finally answered. I bet he is right, it reminds me of Rome with a church or a ruin on every street. There is a level of poverty that is stunning along with an amazing level of devout belief. I wonder if these 2 things often coincide?
There are many things to laugh about, usually at myself when I rub up against a cultural difference that just strikes me as funny. One can get so used to security that one is amazed to enter a restaurant and not go through a metal detector first
There is an amazingly expensive hotel. The hotel had a smokey kitchen fire the night of a big storm, when the doors were opened to let smoke out water rushed in flooding the lobby. Now the lobby smells, as far as we can tell the area rugs were never picked up for drying or cleaning. Could it be that smells are just to be expected during the rainy season? I have no idea, it's India and things are just so different from anything I knew previously.
People have a hard time saying no, some people even say yes when they mean no, for the life of me I can't figure out when yes means no and when yes mean yes. Except by results. It can be totally bewhildering.
I am in awe, at how people work, at how they eat but stay so tiny, at how they laugh and share, I am amazed at all the sameness. I have 9 more days in India and I can't even imagine what will happen next. Except I'll be working a lot.
I am in a fascinating new place, on the other side of the globe, but I hardly have time to see it. Outside the average office building where I work [and work and work] in is an encampment of shacks. 'Temporary' homes for construction workers and their families completely primitive.
I am here in the monsoon season but there is a drought.
When it does rain [heavily] there doesn't seem to be much drainage planned and the water just piles up.
Being in India is an intense experience. To be fair, I would probably find training for 4 solid weeks, noon to 9pm, working 55 hours a week intense no matter where I did it. India though just adds it's own twist on everything.
There seem to be temples and shrines everywhere and all in use, I asked one guide how many temples there were in the city of Hyderabad and he seemed floored. There must be thousands I guess he finally answered. I bet he is right, it reminds me of Rome with a church or a ruin on every street. There is a level of poverty that is stunning along with an amazing level of devout belief. I wonder if these 2 things often coincide?
There are many things to laugh about, usually at myself when I rub up against a cultural difference that just strikes me as funny. One can get so used to security that one is amazed to enter a restaurant and not go through a metal detector first
There is an amazingly expensive hotel. The hotel had a smokey kitchen fire the night of a big storm, when the doors were opened to let smoke out water rushed in flooding the lobby. Now the lobby smells, as far as we can tell the area rugs were never picked up for drying or cleaning. Could it be that smells are just to be expected during the rainy season? I have no idea, it's India and things are just so different from anything I knew previously.
People have a hard time saying no, some people even say yes when they mean no, for the life of me I can't figure out when yes means no and when yes mean yes. Except by results. It can be totally bewhildering.
I am in awe, at how people work, at how they eat but stay so tiny, at how they laugh and share, I am amazed at all the sameness. I have 9 more days in India and I can't even imagine what will happen next. Except I'll be working a lot.
saris and uniforms
Although I seem to blog in my head constantly I am having trouble getting online to do it. The internet connection, even from this large hotel, is very very slow compared to what I am used to...so it tends to make work take longer which cuts into blogging time.
Attached to the hotel is a large convention center where many weddings happen. One of the weddings last week was 7000+ people and there is suppose to be another as large on the 15th! There was so much traffic we got out and walked to the hotel once we could see it. It was much faster. I have been told in the south here, 500-800 people at your wedding is considered rather small. It seems in the North weddings are not quite so large.
I frequently observed the women enter for the wedding in their most elegant saris. I have never seen fabric like that before and each one seems to more beautiful than the next. It is like the most wonderful fashion parade in the world. And it also seems charming to me to see the sari uniforms that are worn by flight attendants or staff at the center. A sari as a uniform is wonderful. There also seem to be lots of other types of uniforms. The spa workers wear brick red silk tops with pearls. The clerks are all in black. The doormen/security are all in khakis and straw hats.
I have read and been told that workers in India frequently get allowances for food, clothing, housing along with their pay which does not get taxed. I am guessing that these uniforms are part of the complicated packages.
Of course as hotel employees I am sure they are trained to be courteous to guests but it is nice to say good morning and smile at everyone. I enjoy greeting people that way, and most of the time it does help your day be better.
Attached to the hotel is a large convention center where many weddings happen. One of the weddings last week was 7000+ people and there is suppose to be another as large on the 15th! There was so much traffic we got out and walked to the hotel once we could see it. It was much faster. I have been told in the south here, 500-800 people at your wedding is considered rather small. It seems in the North weddings are not quite so large.
I frequently observed the women enter for the wedding in their most elegant saris. I have never seen fabric like that before and each one seems to more beautiful than the next. It is like the most wonderful fashion parade in the world. And it also seems charming to me to see the sari uniforms that are worn by flight attendants or staff at the center. A sari as a uniform is wonderful. There also seem to be lots of other types of uniforms. The spa workers wear brick red silk tops with pearls. The clerks are all in black. The doormen/security are all in khakis and straw hats.
I have read and been told that workers in India frequently get allowances for food, clothing, housing along with their pay which does not get taxed. I am guessing that these uniforms are part of the complicated packages.
Of course as hotel employees I am sure they are trained to be courteous to guests but it is nice to say good morning and smile at everyone. I enjoy greeting people that way, and most of the time it does help your day be better.
first day kinda
So my 'first day' in India. The jet lag is really something. So hard to feel like it is day when your body is screaming at you that it is night time. Sunday morning, after a safe arrival in the hotel I felt like I had been beaten with a stick. It was so intense and unreal. I showered [which was bliss] and ate then feel into a weird intense sleep for a good 5 hours.
Why is it that I always feel so incredibly dirty after travel? I am not really doing much at all, just sitting around for the most part. But I get so incredibly grubby, or at least I feel that way.
Anyway I woke up at 1:30, determined to stay awake until evening. It was not easy but I did it. A coworker and I decided to get a driver and go out into the city. We at first thought to use a hotel driver but they wanted to charge us 2000-4000 rupees for a few hours which I knew was way too much. I have read that you can hire a driver and AC car for Rs 100 [or less] for a whole day. I'm not sure if the hotel always charges high because it is a very expensive hotel, or is they thought we were suckers. We lucked out though, one of the drivers assigned to our group was available and showed up speaking excellent English and we were off.
Hyderabad is a large city with a lot of traffic. He took us around. He took us to his friends' lovely shop even though we assured him we would not be purchasing today. It was nice to have our first peek at Indian crafts. It was also odd to be in a store where 4 people are hovering around anxious to be of service. I, not surprisingly, fell in love with an all silk rug.
My in-laws brought back 2 of these gorgeous rugs from their trip. But they are expensive even in India, and I cannot help but think what happens the first time one of the animals throws up on it? Or has another kind of 'accident'? That is what would happen in my house [probably]. So we'll see if I succumb in the month I am here.
Then we drove to visit the Birla Mandir temple. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birla_Mandir,_Hyderabad
They do not allow cameras [or phones or shoes] there which seems reasonable since it is an active temple and people are at their devotions there. Cell phones are legion in India and the ringing is probably not very conducive to meditation. There are a legion of pictures to be found online though. Not only is the temple itself beautiful but the views from the top over the lake and city are stunning. We saw 2 men cleaning a wall with water and pumice, certainly a full time job since the entire thing is made of marble. Since no one wears shoes, even the security guards, your feet don't get too dirty.
I can't even describe everything that we saw on that drive. The Muslim graveyard with it's brightly colored markers. The cows all over. The amazing way they drive. Surely Indians are the leaders at merging while driving. The incredible way 4+ people fit on one scooter. The dogs I saw all seemed large and long legged. The incredible amounts of new construction, the boulders and ruins and shacks of people right next to new office buildings.
India is so large. In fact this is the first time this week I have thought about missing Mich Fest. India really fills your senses.
Why is it that I always feel so incredibly dirty after travel? I am not really doing much at all, just sitting around for the most part. But I get so incredibly grubby, or at least I feel that way.
Anyway I woke up at 1:30, determined to stay awake until evening. It was not easy but I did it. A coworker and I decided to get a driver and go out into the city. We at first thought to use a hotel driver but they wanted to charge us 2000-4000 rupees for a few hours which I knew was way too much. I have read that you can hire a driver and AC car for Rs 100 [or less] for a whole day. I'm not sure if the hotel always charges high because it is a very expensive hotel, or is they thought we were suckers. We lucked out though, one of the drivers assigned to our group was available and showed up speaking excellent English and we were off.
Hyderabad is a large city with a lot of traffic. He took us around. He took us to his friends' lovely shop even though we assured him we would not be purchasing today. It was nice to have our first peek at Indian crafts. It was also odd to be in a store where 4 people are hovering around anxious to be of service. I, not surprisingly, fell in love with an all silk rug.
My in-laws brought back 2 of these gorgeous rugs from their trip. But they are expensive even in India, and I cannot help but think what happens the first time one of the animals throws up on it? Or has another kind of 'accident'? That is what would happen in my house [probably]. So we'll see if I succumb in the month I am here.
Then we drove to visit the Birla Mandir temple. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birla_Mandir,_Hyderabad
They do not allow cameras [or phones or shoes] there which seems reasonable since it is an active temple and people are at their devotions there. Cell phones are legion in India and the ringing is probably not very conducive to meditation. There are a legion of pictures to be found online though. Not only is the temple itself beautiful but the views from the top over the lake and city are stunning. We saw 2 men cleaning a wall with water and pumice, certainly a full time job since the entire thing is made of marble. Since no one wears shoes, even the security guards, your feet don't get too dirty.
I can't even describe everything that we saw on that drive. The Muslim graveyard with it's brightly colored markers. The cows all over. The amazing way they drive. Surely Indians are the leaders at merging while driving. The incredible way 4+ people fit on one scooter. The dogs I saw all seemed large and long legged. The incredible amounts of new construction, the boulders and ruins and shacks of people right next to new office buildings.
India is so large. In fact this is the first time this week I have thought about missing Mich Fest. India really fills your senses.
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