..SouthAsiaRocks..

Day 2 of the retreat was the first full day for everyone. We started off the morning by checking out the Langurs munching on rose bushes... they loved them! Later in the day we had some team time and did a fun team photo scavenger hunt! Here is our team's flag :) We called ourselves the "Dilli Pickles" :) This was part of the scavenger hunt - someone doing a hand-stand :) Our pregnant team member did the hand stand :) haha! Go Amberley! We were in a tiger reserve area for the retreat. There were tigers all around. The day before we left to come there was a big article on the front page of the paper about a man-eating tiger on the lose. Two of the people killed were within a kilometer from where we were staying!!! (about a half mile!) and one other was about 6 miles from where we were staying. Crazy hunh? We saw tiger paw prints REALLY close to our resort! This guard (below) had a gun to protect the horses (and people) from the tigers. They found tiger prints n...

This past week we went on a retreat up to the mountains!!! It was awesome!!!! There was all sorts of craziness leading up to this retreat, so we weren't sure what to expect, but it was awesome! It started off with a little normal craziness.... Our paperboy broke our window (again) the morning before we were going to leave. He broke a huge pane this time (the whole door!), so we had to get it repaired before we left. Luckily it worked out with no problems :) We got to our train with about 10 minutes to spare and were on our way. Luckily some fun people were on the train ride with us and they had their kids with them too! Aashini had a blast hanging out with her new friends :) Diya even took a nap :) Aashini decorated her nails with these cool gem stickers :) We got there that night and got settled into our room. The next morning we got them all bundled up - it was MUCH cooler than the Capital :) Here's Diya hanging out with her bed :) We got there the night before and w...

So there are definitely some funny fashions here and some very funny fashion trends, but this one is probably my new favorite funny one. Most fashion trends start on the college campuses, and this is one of those.... OK are you ready? This semi-new trend is for guys.... It's "cool" to wear boxers and a T-shirt and walk around in public!!!!! I'm not kidding... The other day we were at the mall and a man was walking around in bright green frog boxers and a t-shirt... Isn't it a stylish trend? haha!

*Caution! This post is a little gross* So the other day I was out in the Central part of our city with my friend Erin. We had gotten to where we were going and I told the cycle rickshaw to stop. I got out and Erin was just frozen... and she was saying "umm...." Ends up I had told the rickshaw to stop right next to these ladies in the picture below.... This is what I saw... this is NOT what Erin saw.... ....Erin saw this (below).... All of the "leftover" parts from the sacrificed goats from Eid are either given to the poor, or thrown away. The area we were in had a lot of trash dumps and people were taking all the goat parts and sorting them and cleaning them up for their different uses. The ladies in the picture above were squeezing all the excrement out of the intestines (blah!). There were ladies even sitting in the middle of the road (below) working on this stuff. Here are some people at one of the trash dumps sorting the animal parts (don't look clos...

Today is Eid. There are two Eid holidays but this one is commonly referred to as Baqri Eid (Goat Festival) here in South Asia. The days before the holiday, Muslims will purchase the best domestic animal they can afford for this holiday. In our city it's usually a goat which is why it's called Baqri/Bakri (goat) Eid. On the holiday (which is today) they will sacrifice a goat to remember Abraham's sacrifice. A couple of days ago we took the girls to see the goats (there will be more pics of the girls on the other blog). They are selling them in different parts of the city. Aashini was terrified of them at first but had fun after a few minutes. Every goat owner marks his goats in a different way so they can tell their goats apart from others since they are all together. There were lots of people there checking out the goats. This is one of the guys that was selling goats. He was making a scary serious face most of the time but then started smiling and looked so differe...

We didn't do very much for Diwali this year, just hung out with our neighbors and watched their fireworks :) haha! (that's the cheap way to do it :) haha!) It looks like Christmas everywhere! Everyone had lights up everywhere. Our flat is the one with the pink lights :) One house down from us has just been re-built, so they celebrated like crazy this year. They bought tons of the huge sky firecrackers (like in the pic below). It's funny how anyone can buy those here. In America I think you have to have a permit and an firetruck or something around in order to have that kind of firework :) haha! Anyway, they had a whole show of fireworks! Our street was crazy this year (usually it's a little boring) :) Tusshar wasn't expecting this one :) haha! Adam and I took turns standing on our balcony and being downstairs (because the kiddos were upstairs asleep - yeah, they slept through all the crazy fireworks without even waking up once!!!) Here's a pic of a firewo...

I just got back from an awesome retreat to the beach! We all traveled to the South West Coast of our country for some R&R and Fun! The city we went to is quite unique! I didn't get to see much of the city at all. We stayed at our hotel and it was out in the middle of nowhere - so we did some great relaxing! :) I wasn't expecting much of the beach, but it was really nice!! It was clean, the waves were fun and the weather was perfect! The beach was FULL of starfish! The beaches here are definitely different than Florida beaches :) In the pic below you can see guys that work in these little buildings. They sell snacks and drinks and they'll bring them to you at your seat on the beach! Awesome :) There are people selling things on the beach... selling and sometimes harassing you :) There are even people selling ice cream! :) One thing that is very different at the beaches here compared to Florida beaches .... COWS on the BEACH!!! :) It cracks me up! :) The retreat w...