No Time No desire but here it is

I keep procrastinating about blogging and not enough people are commenting but I have put it off too long.
This one will just be about what I have been up to lately.

This blog will date all the way back to September 20th when an exchange student from the USA left. It was his own wish to leave and I never figured out why but that is always a bad moment for any exchange student when another leaves. He was one of the only guys I could use my Canadian slang with and was a very likeable person.

On September 22nd I went to a birthday party of a girl who is in Roteract, which is like a Rotary for youth and they participate or arrange events that foster development mostly on a local level. So we went to Shivaji Park which is like a big open dirt field with some restaurants and such around it. She took us out for Frankie’s which are amazing, like the mix between a tortilla, a burrito, and a shwarma with great masala (spices). I actually figured out the other day that I gained some weight which isn’t great news because it is not muscle weight. Most of the weight I have gained is now hanging out in my belly, although I have only gained 2-3 Kg I feel very fat and should start exercising. I keep pulling my shirt up and looking at my belly and pulling at it. As you can imagine the party was not what you would happen at a 22 year olds party in Canada, we had Frankie’s then sat at Shivaji Park being pestered by beggars for about 10 minutes and were home by 10pm.

Lately we have been doing some touristy stuff as it is exam time and I don’t have to write the exams, so we have bought some tourist books and have seen some touristy things. The city doesn’t have all that much for tourists actually, it is more a city you have to experience rather than see. Some of the restaurants are the best in India and I feel the city is the most contradictory place ever as there is so much wealth but there is also so much poverty. You can see a beggar beside a Bentley (fancy car). The one museum we went to was not very good, some of the statues and such are decent, and the Chhatripati Shivaji Terminus (CST) has an amazing building but other than that we often times just sit on Marine Drive and watch the sun set over the Arabian Sea. Other things that we plan to do are go to the Planetarium, to a big mall, to a hill where you can see lots of Bombay, and to a water park. One thing that we did do that qualifies as a tourist attraction was go to this massive and famous market in south Bombay called Crawford Market. It was very crazy it was a vegetable and fruit market but also had many other types of food, clothes, electronics, bags, hookahs, and shoes in the surrounding area. It was kind of weird but amazing at the same time the there were also some weird things for sale like baby kittens in a box. I will go with an Indian guy next time so I can buy things without having a gypsy take advantage of me.

Speaking of parks last Friday 10 of the exchange students went to an amusement park, that is supposedly high tech but if that is high tech I would be very scared to go to the low tech park. The park had rides that you would expect at the Calgary Stampede fair grounds but it was still fun and great times. The security was not really an issue for me but this kind of park would never pass in Canada. For one there was a water ride that gave you these two loops of seatbelt material that you would just slide your respective arms through and it really didn’t restrain you in any way. There was nothing that clicked to guarantee your safety and you could easily slip out during the ride. As stated before the park was not extreme by any means but there were a few good rides (mostly the ones that got you dizzy) and it was fun. On the way to the park we had an adventure too the people we were supposed to be meeting were at the same station but a different part and we couldn’t find each other for a good 20 minutes. Then we were 6 and usually we have to take 2 Rickshaws (3 wheeled taxi) but the Rickshaw driver wanted extra money so all 6 of us piled into a rickshaw, which was an adventure. Obviously the rickshaw driver wanted way more than we ended up giving to him but we still ended up paying too much I think.

After our trip to Essel world I went to a 5 star hotel near the Airport with my host dad where the company my host uncle works for was signing an agreement to work together with a company from the UK. It was Ok but I felt really out of place with all the business men but what can you do. I was standing there in my sneakers and a short sleeved button up and men in suits were all around me. The food there was good too, as you would expect and there was an open bar.

Also in the past two weeks my host family took me to the road known as Mahmadali Road which was crazy. It is a food that has tons of restaurants and roadside joints that you can eat at and is typically where many Muslims go to break their fast in the evening as it was Ramadan so the Muslims can not eat during the daylight hours. The food was really good and we had some pretty weird things. Firstly we had amazing tandoori chicken, followed by excellent mutton in sauce, then liver, followed by goat brain. The brain was ok but it was really hard to get my head around what I was eating. For dessert we had a rice pudding and some really good really oily thing that was like a pancake deep fried but not crispy. As you can imagine (like anywhere else in Bombay) this place was packed it was on a road but no car even tried to go down the road as not even the people could walk comfortably. The food was amazing, the atmosphere electric and the experience was priceless, what more could I ask.

There are five German exchange students in Bombay and it was their national day on October 3rd so the German Consulate invited all the Germans registered including the exchange students to the most expensive hotel in Bombay and presumably the most expensive in India too. It is called the Taj Hotel and Palace and is where all the famous people who come here stay, John Lennon, the Queen etc... They got to eat German food and drink German beer which made me wish that Canada day could be changed to when I am still living here rather than July 1st.

Last Sunday I was taken out to the Cricket Club of India (CCI) by my second host parents (Jens’ host parents) where we played badminton, swam and had brunch it was a great time. It is here where I figured out I had gained weight. Something else about the club was how great the shower in the locker room was, some showers in India you don’t really know if water is falling on you or not because the water pressure isn’t great and most showers have a large bucket filled with water and a smaller bucket in it so you can pour water over your head, if that was not the case I would always have shampoo in my hair. The showers at houses are different than Canadian showers, you don’t really have a specific area for showering there is just a shower head sticking out of the middle of a wall in the bathroom and you just stand in the bathroom while everything around you gets soaked, it’s ok though because the bathroom is all tile and the is nothing that could really succumb to water damage. It is a little different though imagine just standing beside your toilet taking a shower. Back on topic, the shower at the CCI was amazing it was one of those ones that is directly above your head and the water pressure and temperature was perfection. I think Jens must have spent at least ½ an hour in the shower and I kinda wish I had too because the next day I was disappointed in the shower at my house.

After the CCI club was great because our (mine and Jens’) counselor took us our for a street food tour of Bombay. He really knows his food. First we went up to Juhu Beach and had Gola which is like ice shavings with really concentrated juice that you dip it in. We then hung out at Juhu a little and saw the weird things on the beach. I can’t believe what people are doing these days for money. There were these stalls that made you put on headphones then it told you your future and also like really cheap flying glowing discs. Also one of the funniest most bizarre things I’ve seen is when some boy was walking a monkey trying to sell “Monkey Dance” (I have no idea what this is) and the monkey he had on a leash snuck up a stole the ice cream a little girl (maybe 2 years old) was eating. The little girl was so surprised and her dad was very calm about the matter, usually when the monkey does something the person who owns it gets beaten up I’ve been told. But the monkey just sat there eating the ice cream like a human acting like he did nothing wrong. I was trying, unsuccessfully, to contain my laughter as this is so different but extraordinary at the same time. I guess I am amused easily if a monkey stealing ice cream makes my day but what ever. Oh ya the shower made my day too, I guess this was a pretty good day. After Juhu we went to Bandra (still north of where I live) and had tandoori fish and tandoori prawns, they were amazing and cheap. I am really grateful to have such a good counselor and host family that care for me. After that we went to a true roadside restaurant for more food, now this was an experience. When I say roadside I mean it, we were actually sitting on the road on stools with a metal table and newspaper as table cloth. The owner had to kick a stray dog so he could set the table down on the road, and if you think I’m kidding I’m not. We had some sausages of some sort, some butter chicken and liver. All these dishes were in great sauces, spiced well, and we ate them with bread. It was good and cheap and I would defiantly go back there just for the experience. As cheap I mean 5 cokes and 3 big dishes cost us $8.20 Canadian dollars or 340.00 Indian rupees. After that we got dessert at a bakery (cheese cake for me) and called it a night. It was really a very great day and I would love to do it again.

That is pretty much some of what I’ve been up to but I will inform you of a few other things too. I got my haircut on Wednesday that was pretty cool too, my choices of haircut were: short, medium or long, I went with the short. It wasn’t that bad of a haircut actually but the guy cut my prize winning sideburns without asking. The shape of the cut was pretty nice though and I can work with it a little. He also asked if I wanted a shave (straight razor of course) and a head massage but I declined. I now wish I had done both the shave and the head massage. I saw the guy ahead of me get a head massage and it looked cool but I had no idea of the price and may have been gyped. For the head massage the guy took a vibrating machine and put it on the back of his hand while he rubbed the head. I will definitely do that next time.

I also attended a Rotary function where we acknowledged senior citizens, and there was one guy who was 100 years old. It was interesting and the tea was good but I was kinda really bored so Anil and I left.

I think that is most of what I’ve been up to, I am trying to start drum classes soon and do some volunteer work but I have been saying that for the past month so I may actually show some initiative this week.

Always remember to comment because it really helps me out.

-Allen