Celebrate, Celebrate, Dance to the Music!

That's right - I'm back! I no longer have to sit in the corner of the bed with one foot on the floor and the other propped up on the headboard while wearing a hat made of tinfoil and humming "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to pick up a random signal for a few fleeting moments. It's good to be back in 1997!

If you ever want to get a picture of the world’s cultures all at once, I would suggest going to the Foreign Registration Office in Delhi. We spent our morning there on Monday and I think we covered the spectrum. There was us, of course, and a few other Caucasians, but the rest were an interesting mix from all over the world. My favorite t-shirt there was one that said “Kabul Style!”. Not sure what that style is, but the t-shirt was cool. Then there were the several Buddhist monks in their red and gold robes. Despite their clothes, they seemed like a fairly normal bunch of guys – laughing and joking with each other and trying to make the best of an incredibly boring situation. I checked out their shoes and they had some heavy duty sandals. The better to march up the Himalayas with, I suppose. You know, I’m not a Buddhist, but I have to respect anyone who will give up a life of normality to devote it exclusively to religious practice – especially if they have to wear Tevas for the eternities.

Oh, Tevas, how I love you...
Speaking of which, I have a new love. It is my new pair of sandals. Nathan practically had to shove me into the shoe store to try them on, but now I will not be without them. They are Teva knock-offs (POWER sandals - as you can tell, I have never really cared for Tevas) and I can’t believe I ever shunned them in the past. I was wearing my flip flops everywhere, but they don’t take care of your feet and they slide all over the place in water (hence a VERY embarrassing situation at Target once), but these sandals are amazing. Thank you, Nathan, for caring about my feet.

I forgot to mention the squall we had on Sunday. Nathan and I were just sitting down to dinner when the sky suddenly went dark and the wind kicked into high gear. This is the second one we have had since we have been here and they are pretty amazing. We ran around the house making sure that everything was buckled down and that all the laundry was off the line and then just sat and listened. Sheets of rain started pouring down and the wind screamed like it was trying to break in. It was pretty exciting. Yesterday morning was the first since then that Cheenu has been here and I think she got in trouble with the gardener. I think he thinks that we caused the mess out there and he’s not pleased. She is holding her own against him though. It’s good to have Cheenu on your side.