Maybe you think we are out drinking and partying with all the exotic nightlife, beautiful women, and bollywood actors......NOPE. I am laying here wide awake because I was so exhausted after our day of shopping I laid down for a short nap and never got up! Same for Kaila who is currently asleep next to me or possibly faking it as she is silently cursing me for the bright light of the laptop. Shivali slept most of today as well, but I think she is asleep at the moment- She is sleeping with Roy and his mom in the living room. I sure hope she doesn't somehow end up on the roof alone!
Outside of not being able to sleep and a brief power outage, that's about the extent of my evening. We shopped today in the market which is so extremely exhausting with all the people, traffic and heat I felt like a dead dog when I got home. Kaila was able to purchase a few items, so she was super happy. Her and I gave the pashmina scarf guy a real run for his money today, but in the end I'm sure he is sleeping well knowing he made money on us, but she got a beautiful purple/green iridescent scarf out of it. The guy also tried to sell me jewelry, which was nice, but I just don't need anything. He told me Goldie Hawn purchased a necklace there 10 years ago, which I of course cannot confirm or deny but an interesting story nonetheless.
We ate at one of my favorite local restaurants here today. I've been telling Kaila about it for years and she finally got to experience how good it is. I am eating a lot less here because of the heat, I feel like I just want water and iced drinks when I can get them in a good place. So hopefully between that and the endless sweating we can lose a little weight.
Tomorrow Roy and I talked of going to the passport office to see if we can expedite his dad's passport. Somehow through a stroke of good luck his mom received hers the day before they were going to leave for here for a 3 months. (she applied over 5 months ago) The system is so different here, if you basically don't bribe multiple people, things never run very fast. You could wait forever and still nothing would happen. They definitely do things at a slower pace here- which I am confirming would frustrate any westerner to no end.
Other than that, we may go to the jewelry store. I have one of my favorite necklaces given to me by Jordan that has faded in color over time and I want to check into having it dipped in gold here. They do it cheap and I like the rich pure gold color. Its also a good excuse to shop- there is SO much good stuff to look at. Love it.
I forget how tiring it is to be here. Not just the 20 timezone changes, but the weather, the traveling, the bugs. I try and not complain, but I have bug bites everywhere! Its so strange because people here really don't think its hot. They sometimes walk around with heavy winter jackets on just because there is a semi cool breeze and maybe only 75 out, but sunny. I really don't get it.
It was sad today in the market there are so many people laying on the sidewalks begging for money. Lots with missing limbs or some deformity. I saw several moms with babies curled up on the sidewalk sleeping. The baby half naked and crying out of hunger or sickness. Its so incredibly sad, I can't even begin to explain it to you. I wish they were smart enough to not have children vs subject them to a life on the street with no education or prospects for a better life. Life here is so hard I just don't see how they make it work. We walked down a few blocks and there is a whole open field of tarp tents and little shacks made of whatever is around. I simply cannot imagine living like this with no power, air, heat. Its going to be monsoon shortly and they will probably flood out regularly. Its such a sad life, but when you see the people they don't seem to be so sad. Hmmm. Makes you really wonder how or why.
I've been lazy about taking pictures, so I'll try and take some tomorrow and post them. Lots of interesting things to share. Stay tuned.
Outside of not being able to sleep and a brief power outage, that's about the extent of my evening. We shopped today in the market which is so extremely exhausting with all the people, traffic and heat I felt like a dead dog when I got home. Kaila was able to purchase a few items, so she was super happy. Her and I gave the pashmina scarf guy a real run for his money today, but in the end I'm sure he is sleeping well knowing he made money on us, but she got a beautiful purple/green iridescent scarf out of it. The guy also tried to sell me jewelry, which was nice, but I just don't need anything. He told me Goldie Hawn purchased a necklace there 10 years ago, which I of course cannot confirm or deny but an interesting story nonetheless.
We ate at one of my favorite local restaurants here today. I've been telling Kaila about it for years and she finally got to experience how good it is. I am eating a lot less here because of the heat, I feel like I just want water and iced drinks when I can get them in a good place. So hopefully between that and the endless sweating we can lose a little weight.
Tomorrow Roy and I talked of going to the passport office to see if we can expedite his dad's passport. Somehow through a stroke of good luck his mom received hers the day before they were going to leave for here for a 3 months. (she applied over 5 months ago) The system is so different here, if you basically don't bribe multiple people, things never run very fast. You could wait forever and still nothing would happen. They definitely do things at a slower pace here- which I am confirming would frustrate any westerner to no end.
Other than that, we may go to the jewelry store. I have one of my favorite necklaces given to me by Jordan that has faded in color over time and I want to check into having it dipped in gold here. They do it cheap and I like the rich pure gold color. Its also a good excuse to shop- there is SO much good stuff to look at. Love it.
I forget how tiring it is to be here. Not just the 20 timezone changes, but the weather, the traveling, the bugs. I try and not complain, but I have bug bites everywhere! Its so strange because people here really don't think its hot. They sometimes walk around with heavy winter jackets on just because there is a semi cool breeze and maybe only 75 out, but sunny. I really don't get it.
It was sad today in the market there are so many people laying on the sidewalks begging for money. Lots with missing limbs or some deformity. I saw several moms with babies curled up on the sidewalk sleeping. The baby half naked and crying out of hunger or sickness. Its so incredibly sad, I can't even begin to explain it to you. I wish they were smart enough to not have children vs subject them to a life on the street with no education or prospects for a better life. Life here is so hard I just don't see how they make it work. We walked down a few blocks and there is a whole open field of tarp tents and little shacks made of whatever is around. I simply cannot imagine living like this with no power, air, heat. Its going to be monsoon shortly and they will probably flood out regularly. Its such a sad life, but when you see the people they don't seem to be so sad. Hmmm. Makes you really wonder how or why.
I've been lazy about taking pictures, so I'll try and take some tomorrow and post them. Lots of interesting things to share. Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment