Adam got his first food poisoning 2 weeks ago. Two whole days of hell and a week of running away from food. Now he is scarred of the words “pani puri” or “sizzlers”. I still like pani puri too much.
Mama is spoiling us by sending a care package. Aw… I will be able to make chicken noodle in case of emergency. She is also sending chopsticks.
The rickshaw drivers in front of the complex are ganging up on us. There is a man that seems to be the boss of this particular group. He was reasonable, but not always present. He knows that our price is 30 rupees and tells one of the driver to take us. Unless the head-man is there, they all demand 40 rupees for the ride to work. We had to give in this morning. Locals only pay 22-25 rupees.
We will try to rent a motorbike/moped this weekend to stop this rickshaw madness.
Vegetables are extremely cheap over here, while seafood and meat are quite expensive.
Made chicken phở last week. The chicken had good texture and was very flavorful. Neither Huy Fong Sriracha nor sawtooth corriander were available.
Indians do not eat much noodles of any kind. We got a package of rice noodle made from Thailand for 245 rupees (4 dollars). In the US, they only cost $1.50 each.
Not much appetite for Indian food these days. Everything start to taste the same or very similar. Too much sauce, too much spices, and too much oil.
I have been dreaming of my dad quite a lot. Miss him terribly. Sometimes during my dreams, I suddenly remember that he was dead, so I made him die to match reality.
I learned how to play StarCraft II. My non-existent sense of direction is very frustrating. Adam shows me where to build my assets, then of course I build them somewhere else completely different. Then I could not find them when I need them later either. Pathetic!
We both seem to lose some weight.
My uncle called me from Vietnam two weeks ago. We had a long nice chat.
I am planning a three weeks trip to Vietnam with 3 days stop-over in Bangkok at the end of Adam’s assignment. Hope everything will go as planned. Getting visas to Vietnam will be the trickiest part.
I miss sleepovers with my sister, Rebecca. We usually watch Big Bang Theory and eat lots of snacks. Salt and vinegar chips and sea salt caramel gelato are our favorites. She has a special way of rolling down the bag so that I don’t have to reach deep to grab the chips. We do other happy things too which I will not mention until next Valentine day :)
Food I will devour when coming back to the States: avocado eggrolls, California burger, and white chocolate macadamia nut pizookie from BJ’s; Korean BBQ from Omi; mac and cheese from Slow Bone; Adam’s delicious steak and grilled baby bell peppers with mint and feta.
Our neighbors from upstairs systematically make loud and annoying thud thud thud sounds through our ceiling at 8 every single morning. I already ruled out sex, so chopping meat maybe?
My mom is going on a week long vacation tomorrow. Wish I could be with her.
Tickets back to the U.S. for Christmas are booked. Cannot wait for some family and friend time, and of course homemade eggnog.
The Indian people I have meet are mostly reserved. But a few of them are very friendly. Four people give me big smiles when we cross path everyday: a gate guard at the apartment complex, a gate guard and two house keeping ladies at work. Guava man and dabeli guy also smile back when I wave at them.
I feel safe here, at least in Pune. Nobody tries to rob, rape, kidnap, or murder me (yet). But of course I will always be careful. If foreigners/tourists exercise reasonable precaution, there is not much to worry about.
Adam’s favorite street food is dabeli - a spicy snack made by mixing boiled potatoes with a dabeli masala, and putting the mixture between pav (burger bun) and served with chutneys made from tamarind, date, garlic, red chilies… and garnished with pomegranate and roasted peanuts. The dabeli is then toasted on a hot metal plate.
Adam is getting some dabelies from our favorite stall, right accoss from our apartment complex
