30.10.08

for those of you wondering if rando Indian journalist still writes me, the answer is a resounding YES!

Here's one of today's emails. I found it particularly fun...

"hi kali !!

some hindi word nd minings !!!!!!
specaly for u .............[mobile 0094144-75210]

1: hiiiiiiii vikram, how r u ? > namskar vikram, aap kaiese hai ji !
2: u living in my hart ! > aap [tum] mere dil [hart] me ho !
3: im happy nd fine ! > mai khush hu or achi hu !
4: im coming soon jodhpur
nd meet to u ! > mai jaldi jodhpur aa rahi hu or aapase milungi !
5: u r a noty boy ! > tum [ aap] badamas ladake ho !
6: what u douing ? > aap kya kar rahe ho ?
7: im missing u ! > mujhe aapaki yaad aati hai ! [ mai tumhe miss kar rahi hu ]

nd i want a glass drink watar vikram ! vikram mujhe 1 gilas pani pilao !..............

im waiting for u nd yor answer ! byyyyyy"

I will always be connected to India for better and worse. And next time I call Vikram (ps I never have) to tell him he's a naughty boy, I will just print out this handy list of phrases! It's like Rosetta Stone for dyslexics!!!

26.10.08

this post should shed some light on where I get my "quirks."


Just an excerpt from Molly's post-UT win email. I didn't think that I'd be in France and living the Tide's freaking awesome season vicariously. But I am.



"Our fam is so superstitious it's truly hilarious. Hunter's lucky shirt he wears for every game is this Wal Mart bama shirt that looks somewhat like a jersey but it's got a collar on it. And he has to drink a certain type of Sweetwater beer before every game. Oh and Will's 70's style Bama toboggan is lucky as well...it has this white bunny tail looking thing on the top of it. He was wearing it when yelling back at the bitter Vols fan that was shouting at us about red clay and pine trees."

RTR!!

24.10.08

Dang. I thought my days of acne were over 5 years ago when I turned from antibiotics and topicals to hormone drugs, aka Yasmin. Turns out I was wrong. My hormones are raging like they did on my 13th birthday. The past 3 days I've woken up with about 7 new whiteheads in my "T zone," and I've had a two day migraine that Tylenol Sinus, coffee, sleep, advil, and prayer won't cure.

To make matters worse, my naturally dry old-lady skin (my pride and joy) and my grease-less hair that I have to wash virtually never now gets OILY IN 1.5 DAYS. What is wrong? Why did God decide for me to peak in India, not France???

18.10.08

This is strange. I'm listening to Eli Gold on Yahoo sports.

"The wind is swirling," above Bryant-Denny, evidently.

And it's 9:31 p.m. in Chantilly. Arthur and Adèle are taking their baths and then
I promised them a Disney movie. I got a good feel for what being a housewife
is all about today (it's Caro's day off and I'm babysitting.) Gymnastics lessons, polo match, playing at a friend's house
for 1.5 hrs, cook dinner, clean, do laundry, ask nicely, get frustrated, etc.

Molly, I watched Adele's gymnastics class for about 30 minutes today and had the
strangest flashbacks of Mountain Brook Gymnastics. What was that weird
stretching that you and Mom did every night? And what was my ballet teacher's name?
Beth? The little girls in France aren't nearly as hard-core as y'all were. No matching
leos (they wear pj's, t-shirts, baggy leos, etc) and no stretching or crazy conditioning.
I think the point of gymnastics here is to look cute. Kind of like how I feel that the language
is mainly there to sound pretty. They share the facility with some
sword fighters and wall-climbers.

Did you know that corporal punishment is outlawed here? Thoughts?

Here comes the Tide. How about Eli's vivid language?


....4 hours later. We BARELY won. Now that my heart rate is up
I'm going to attempt to go to bed. If it wasn't already official, it is now.
The Renauldons have to think I'm crazy. I've been listening (not watching,
that's not possible yet) to a game online for over 4 hours. I would have listened in my
room but the internet signal doesn't reach my room so I've been sitting under a lamp in the living room. They got
home from a party 30 minutes ago (12:30 a.m).

I took a few breaks throughout the game. One to pour some drain stuff down my sink that isn't draining.
New appreciation for plumbers. One to fold my laundry. One to unload the dishwasher and wash 3 pans.
Mom, I know you're probably laughing right now. I've never done 3 loads of my own laundry in one day. I
did that today. (It was only 3 loads b/c it is a small, economical French washing machine, not b/c I've been letting it pile up,
fyi.)

By the way, mom sent a shaker (I requested it) with Katie and Amy last weekend. Today I gave it to Adele.
What was her first inclination? To use it as a duster. And mop. Both make more sense that the way we use them in 'Bama.

Then she rode the shaker like a horse. Then Arthur took it, put it on his head and said he looked like Michael Jackson. I'm still confused about this one. But right after he made this comment he went to my computer and youtubed "Thriller". Michael wears red in this vid if you recall. And that is the only connection I can make.

Then Adele put the shaker in her mouth. "Alabama dans ta bouche," I said. (Bama in your mouth.) I tried to explain that Bama is a state "etat" in the United States "etats unis." Now there is confusion over the difference between American football, Alabama, shakers, red and white...and whether red and white are "America's colors" or Alabama's.

I'm getting confused myself. Off to bed.

Roll Tide Roll.

16.10.08

ay bay bay



WELCOME TO THE WORLD DANIEL!!!

and congrats to Linds and Aar-bear!
Food I've made in the past two days:

1. Chicken Pate (really good!)

2. Flank Steak marinated in Worcestershire, soy sauce, red wine and lemon juice (really good).

Both were delicious. Especially considering that they were my first two attempts at cooking meat, ever.

Looks like I'm well on my way to becoming a an excellent housewife. Or, more likely, just someone who can cook something other than scrambled eggs and grilled cheese. Thanks "Food for Thought."

13.10.08




Most beautiful day thus far in Chantilly.




Amy and Katie came to visit. It was WAY too short, but so much fun to see them!

7.10.08

My good friend Laura passed along this interesting article about a new gmail feature. I'm un peu upset that it was not created 2 years ago. And the math questions need to be harder. Some people are smart and determined.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,434024,00.html

6.10.08

Follow your bliss



Patsy and I back in action! Love this lady.

1.10.08

Christians and Hindus clash in Orissa

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7641247.stm

Interesting story out of India. You don't hear about this much with all the Muslim/Hindu problems...