Luggage and Honking

Day 7- Sunday, December 24

Let it be known that the coffee shop I am currently in is spinning Dr. Dre's Forgot About Dre and Because I Got High by Afroman. I am telling you, India is the land of contridictions.

I guess the good news for the weekend is that I got my luggage. Friday night, Marvin (my roommate from El Salvador) came into the room after I was asleep with my hanging suitcase. He woke me up to tell me it was there. I was so excited I immediately went back to sleep. When I woke up Saturday morning the first thing I though was that, " My luggage had better actually be here. That had better not been a dream." Turns out it wasn't. To make it even better not 5 minutes after I woke up, my other suitcase arrived. That suitcase contained a large jar of Extra Crunchy Jif peanut butter (which is generally agreed upon by peanut butter eaters as the best). No more onion omelets for me. I had peanut butter and jelly for breakfast. Then I spread my American clothes on the floor and rolled around in them. My deodorant also arrived with the peanut butter. Thats right fans, I haven't been wearing deodorant since I arrived in India. Luckily, I didn't notice that I smelled until Friday. (A Micheal Jackson Christmas song just came on.)

Yesterday (Saturday) we took the 3 hour drive to Mysore. TVS-M arranged 3 cars for us to take. This was considerably less comfortable than the tour bus we are used to take but it was better than taking a train or something. It was a beautiful drive. Between Bangalore and Mysore are mountains, rice fields, trees, and other things that aren't related to the city. Well besides the wild farm animals. In Mysore, we went to a palace (we had to take off our shoes to even go in). The palace was very impressive from the outside, but the inside wasn't that neat. Luckily, it didn't take long to walk through it. We then rode elephants. Along with tip, this experience cost us $1.50 per person. As you can tell, things are VERY expensive here in The Orient. (Alien Ant Farm's Smooth Criminal.) The elephant ride was a lot like riding a giant pony.....a giant pony with a trunk. We ate a fantastic lunch at a local hotel (I recommend the tandori chicken, but not the french fries that Bret ordered). We were supposed to visit some other places but my car decided against it and came back early. This allowed us to sit in traffic in the city for 1.5 hours. It was most excellent. During this time Susan and I realized we went to the same church camp from birth through 7th grade. This produced many laughs about that time in our life. She even remembers the "I Love It When My Makes Meatloaf" t-shirts. Many of my fans (and mom) knows this is one of the stars of my summer collection (even after mom tried to throw it away).

Today (Sunday) 4 of us went shopping in a market. It was very nice in the beginning but once it got crowded, it turned into a less than enjoyable experience. To this Susan said, "Christmas F-ing Eve!" This sums it up pretty well. Being away from home for Christmas isn't very fun. I recommend not trying it. Tomorrow night, the cook (who is spectacular) at one of the residences (the group lives in 2 different places) is making a special dish for Christmas. Camel.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, the Indians are very good at honking their horns. Vehicles will have the words "Please Honk" painted on them so that when you approach you are to honk to let them know you are there. This may indicate that the drivers are blind (which answers a lot of questions) or that they want to lose their hearing. This honking is my biggest pet peeve about this country. Well that, and the beggars I have to fight off to walk to my hotel/apartment/hostel/bed&breakfast.

Have a wonderful Christmas. I look forward to talking to everyone very soon.

Song Recommendation- Lay Low by My Morning Jacket