I have somehow waited an entire month to post anything on this blog about Movember. Well, the wait is over. My moustache has been aging for close to 30 days now, and it is pretty much exactly what you would expect at this point - disgusting.
There are four of us at school growing our 'Mo's' to raise awarness and money for prostate cancer research (and other forms of men's health). Of the four, I am pretty much the only guy you would expect to own a van based solely on facial hair. And that is, in my opinion, a great reason for you to click on over to my Movember page and donate a few bucks. If I can get to $120, I will shave it into a pencil thin moustache as a grand finale. Let the donating commence.
October 31 came and went, and instead of costumes and candy, India was filled with sparkling lights and exploding firecrackers for Diwali. Even though our first Diwali in India was great, it wasn't enough; we needed a good ol' fashioned costume party.
Last year, in the one of the most popular iBeck posts of all time, I chronicled the amazing streak of prize-winning costumes that have graced my body. What is now even more obvious is that Becky and I may be some kind of Halloween super team, scarier than any costume you might see on All Hallows' Eve. Fear us.
Without further ado, the iBeck 2011 Halloween costume:
Costume: Aron Ralston/James Franco from 127 Hours and the missing hand. Event: AES Halloween Part Result: 1st place win - Most Creative
My hand was swollen.
Becky-hand with transvestite passing out jell-o shots and Megamind.
Me with the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh (Jason Coleman).
Hey Kids,
Long time no write! You'll be happy to know that Isaac and I have actually traveled somewhere and can finally give you information about India. *Addendum's by Isaac in blue.*
We just got back from our trip in South India and learned some valuable lessons. So for this blog, I will list all of the important lessons we learned along the way.
Lesson 1: India is big, even if you're only in the south. We were only in the state of Kerala which is probably about the size of New Jersey ( I don't know if that's true but I figured it was a big state and Kerala felt big too) We landed in Kochi and I stupidly thought that the airport would be close to all of the places we planned to travel. False. Our first stop was a hill station in a town called Munnar. It took 4 hours of driving through a ridiculously windy road.
Munnar: Land o' Tea.
Lesson 2: Windy road driving makes me nauseated. Nothing makes time drag more than counting down the seconds that you can last in a car before you need to get out and throw up. Don't worry everyone, I held it all inside, just like my emotions. I am a robot. We arrived in the evening and ate an awesome "snack"of Dosa(I say snack because it was 6 pm and dinner is not served until 7:30 so we were told it was only a snack. This caused many meal time problems throughout our trip because we would almost always arrive somewhere around 5 or 6 sooooo hungry and no one was serving food. It led to cranky Becky and luckily Isaac knew that I didn't mean anything I said in that state). Dosa is this delicious rice flour tortilla type thing with potato stew in the middle and sauces to dip. It may be my fave south Indian dish.....in moderation. 6 = too many.
You know who else doesn't like windy roads?
Lesson 3: Becky is cranky when she is hungry. Yes, we only just learned this on this trip...not.
Lesson 4: Communism and Catholicism go together! Like shamma lamma lamma lamma do do do dip do wop! Grease reference! yeah! No? ok. Anyway Kerala was full of random saint statues and Jesi (is that the plural of Jesus?) and Mary's abound. I tried to explain to our taxi driver that communists generally are not religious because it goes against the idea of communism but he told me that there are many Christians in India, so I guess that settled it. I'm not sure if people in Kerala know what communism is but they sure seem to love putting the sickle and hammer on every wall they can. I can relate. Our entire house is covered in communist paraphernalia. It really lightens up the kitchen. Just kidding. Don't worry Mom, moving overseas hasn't made me a communist.....yet!
Lesson 10: Cell phone trumps everything. I had heard this before, stories of Indians answering their phones in the middle of a meeting with the head of our school. I didn't really believe it. But then this happened.
Yes. In the middle of our 'Tea Museum' tour, our guide, in a room FULL of people, stopped mid-sentence and had a minute and a half conversation. I absolutely loved it. Later in the tour, these two kids climbed up on the working equipment, conveyer belts leading to grinders and roasters, without a parent in sight. Again, I loved it.
Lesson 5: Massages can be the opposite of relaxing. I probably had the most awkward massage of my life thus far in Munnar (I say thus far because I'm sure there will be more awkward ones in the future). I went to this room and the lady told me to get naked and put on this sheet of toilet paper and tie it on me with dental floss to cover my butt crack and front crotch. So many questions: What is a front crotch? How is it different from your back crotch? The rest of my questions cannot be published here.Also, she woudn't leave the room so I asked her if she was going to stand there while I undressed and she said "yes", so I talked the whole time because I felt weird and she listened intently, or she was judging my body. Unfortunately I couldn't get the toilet paper dental floss tied by myself so the lady had to tie it around my naked body which was pretty uncomfortable. Yes, I realize that she was about to rub oil on my naked body but something about tying the floss around me was more embarrassing.
Once I was all "covered"up she sat me on a cold wooden stool and told me that I was going to get a head massage first. naked. Why did I need to take my clothes off to sit on a stool and get a HEAD massage? I asked. She just laughed. After the head massage I got the full oil massage deal which was pretty nice except it was super cold in the room and by the time she got to the front part I was shivering. She gave me a sheet to cover up while I was getting a naked facial. I guess that's how Indians get facials? Throughout the massage she kept asking me all these questions about where I was from and if I was married which would be fine if I wasn't cold and naked. I just felt vulnerable. Luckily she didn't point out any imperfections. Apparently Isaac's masseuse asked him if he worked out and complimented his body. I didn't get any compliments, which would have been nice. She didn't even buy me dinner before asking me to get naked. My massage was exactly the same as Becky's, save the dental floss. What's a little nudity be friends. I might have been a little uncomfortable without comments like, "Sir, you have a gym body." Thank you. And, "Your hair, sir, very cool." Nice. And as he was kneeling and looking up towards me whilst toweling off the oil from my naked body, "Did you just come from the gym?" No, I didn't, but you just earned yourself a tip!
Lesson 6: Traveling with Kevin and Tahireh is awesome! We took our first trip with some new Indian friends: Kevin and Tahireh and it was great! We got to play games that involve more than 2 people and we got to have new conversations! Traveling with just me and Isaac is pretty great, but sometimes it's nice to be able to tell all of the stories that I've already told Isaac 20 times to people who have never heard them. I'm sure Isaac enjoys reliving them too. Right honey? Yes I do.
Kevin and Tahireh were a little less excited to travel with us. This is them smiling.
Playing 42. Gig 'em Aggies. What would you bid here?
Lesson 7: Indians like setting off fireworks. We were in the beach town of Kovalam for Divali: the festival of lights! We were minding our own business playing cards and the hotel guys starting setting off fireworks about 20 feet away from us and then they just gave us a box of these sparkling matches which were pretty fun. I love when people give away fire toys!
"You have to hold the button. No..HOLD it. Hurry, the sparklers are going to go ou....Perfect!"
The view from lighthouse beach.
Across the street from the Mosque above. Extreme contrast is the name of the game in India.
Lesson 8: Toilet without seat covers are the WORST! Seriously, there is no way for a girl to use a toilet without a seat cover comfortably. I think I messed up my rotator cuff trying to balance whilst at restaurant toilet. I need to start bringing portable toilet seats on trips....or maybe just a bucket....gross. Wouldn't be an India blog without a toilet reference.
Lesson 9: We do not live in India. We are so sheltered in our apartment and when we go to campus at AES that we had no idea how crazy/crowded/dirty India really is! Nothing made me appreciate being babied here as much as leaving the bubble that is our school community.
this picture was taken before the next one and you can really see how great it feels to ride in a car throughout India.
Not all of India is dirty, but...
Lesson 11: India is beautiful. Plenty of examples to choose from, but we went to a national park in Munnar which was stunning.
Lesson 13: Music bridges all cultural gaps. Specifically marches complete with military-style-all-female-Catholic-school marching band.
Ok I think that's all of the lessons we learned on our trip. At least that's all I can think of. The dramamine on the trip back up from the beach may have messed with my memories, but it sure made the driving experience more pleasant!
It was very important to me that our shipment from the USA left in June so that we would not have to wait two months once we arrived in Delhi to get our stuff. Thank goodness for advanced planning because our stuff arrived today, only two months and 7 days after first touching down in India.
No complaints though. We are happy to have our new bed, grill, air purifier, pans and most importantly, my softball trophies.
Nothing in this picture is even ours! We added some co-workers stuff to our shipment to help them out.
AES is awesome. This week, they flew in Georgia Heard, a writers workshop guru, to work with the entire middle school humanities department. Today, she asked us to do an exercise the we might do with our kids called "Fall in Love Three Times a Day." The idea is that you write about three things you have fallen in love with each day. Could be a cup of coffee or a flower you pass by on the way to work. Here is one of mine.
Full grown men slamming their bodies into one another with the force of a freight train. Football is back. Specifically, Texas Aggie Football. Watching a sporting event being played on the other side of the world should not give you butterflies in your stomach, but there they were this morning. And usually, getting scolded by my wife is not a great start to any day, but it is when she is chiding me for excessive celebration, like Becky did at 5:15am today. Aggie Football is back, and I am a squealing 15 year old girl in full on, emotionally reckless love.
Please don't break my heart!
Becky's Perspective: Just for you all to know this is what REALLY went down this morning: 4:30 am: Alarm!! Isaac squeels and runs into the other room, closing the door behind. I check the clock and my pulse to make sure I'm not having a nightmare. Nope, it's really happening. I drift back to sleep, thankful that I still have another hour to sleep.
5:00 am: LOUD claps. Seriously, I think Isaac has seal fin sized hands. Thankfully there was no barking.....yet. Once again, I go back to sleep. 30 more minutes sounds great.
5:15 am: Girl screams come from the living room. I am angry. I open the door and in my teacher voice say: "Isaac this is not ok, you're being too loud" Isaac: "close the door" Me: "It IS closed!" Isaac: It's ok (this is also how we do things in India. Anytime someone tells you "no" you just have to say: "No, it's ok" and you can go on doing whatever it is you're not supposed to be able to do. I think that was Isaac's rationale)
5:17: Just as I start to drift to sleep, Isaac comes in to kiss me and apologize....no wait, he kissed me because the Aggies scored and that's what good Ags do. Definitley worth waking me up for AGAIN!
Anyway, I was able to get about 10 more minutes of sleep before it was time to get up.
It was a 2 cups of coffee kind of morning. At least A&M won! Gig'Em Aggies!
Later this afternoon: Isaac watches a replay of the same game he watched this morning and then it's time for the highlight reel.....of the same game. Awesome
We have been in this awesome country for a month as of today. We both are still in overload in terms of work and thus the amount of India that we have experienced has been limited; mostly to our going to and from school.
The Daily Commute
Today on the way home after eating at a new South Indian restaurant with our friends Tahireh and Kevin, our auto-rickshaw (tuk-tuk or cab) driver was terrible. He took us the wrong way and then stopped halfway after he turned around trying to tell us we were at our destination. I tried to show my dissatisfaction as best I know how, paid him and then walked to another auto.
When we got in, I turned to Becky and lamented, "I really need to learn how to express when I am dissatisfied with someone." And then I saw the look that no husband wants to see.
Mouth agape. Eyebrows raised. Silence. "I NEVER thought I would ever hear YOU say that. You know how to do that better than anyone I know!"
Hmmm. Is that a compliment? Maybe, but surely I wouldn't want that as my epitaph.
Here lies Isaac. He knew how to let you know he was pissed.
Not exactly what I envision. Marriage, once again, causes some introspection, which I am pretty sure its supposed to do. It seems like that is what its about, sharpening one another and smoothing edges at the same times. Of course, Becky is pretty smooth already (I got the good end). All this thanks to our daily commute.
Of course there is more to see...like people peeing, and pooping, and cows, and monkeys (though not on our commute, we've seen them driving through the city), and street dogs, and men showering (with a loin cloth), and plenty more...
On the way to school this morning from the auto-rickshaw.
School
Pretty much all our time is spent here...but that is not a bad thing. We are both feeling quite motivated to work, mostly because of the energy of our colleagues and students. They are incredible. Here is me on my first day and my classroom. Check out the awesome classroom library.
The Sights
Although we have not gotten out much, we did go on a 'tour' of Delhi our first weekend. The highlights were India Gate (a WWII monument), Gandi's Memorial, and holding a cobra.
This weekend we are heading to Neemrana for some relaxation and culture. As we get a little more comfortable at work, the blogging should pick back up.
Lesson 2: Windy road driving makes me nauseated. Nothing makes time drag more than counting down the seconds that you can last in a car before you need to get out and throw up. Don't worry everyone, I held it all inside, just like my emotions. I am a robot. We arrived in the evening and ate an awesome "snack"of Dosa(I say snack because it was 6 pm and dinner is not served until 7:30 so we were told it was only a snack. This caused many meal time problems throughout our trip because we would almost always arrive somewhere around 5 or 6 sooooo hungry and no one was serving food. It led to cranky Becky and luckily Isaac knew that I didn't mean anything I said in that state). Dosa is this delicious rice flour tortilla type thing with potato stew in the middle and sauces to dip. It may be my fave south Indian dish.....in moderation. 6 = too many.
