Closing old chapters...

So i've been out with a cold almost all week because of that darn ice cream I ate on Sunday. Its so unfair. I used to be able to take icy cold stuff and not hot stuff now its the opposite but I guess i'm really enjoying my tea and coffee now. Can't have both worlds I suppose. Sigh.

Anyway, so I missed two classes this week. I probably could have survived them but then the thought of that long walk and getting on a bus and then the long walk in again put me right back into bed. Lol. But also I need to store away some energy cause I have to go for this Aussie uni thing tomorrow which may well take me all afternoon. I have no idea what it'll be like. I'm just trying not to put all my eggs in one basket - i think that's the expression - and I have nothing to do and Australia for uni sounds GREAT and it costs me nothing to go for this thing so... I could even go to the same uni as Niru! But at the end of the day, the fact remains that I have no idea where I am headed at the end of this year... and that's okay.

WE finally have a finished kennel waiting for Joey to come and occupy. I don't think i've written anything about Joey earlier so some of you may be clueless about this. Anyway Joey is a beautiful (or should I say handsome?) labrador that is going to come and live with us!!! Which means besides handling ourselves, we now will have also a dog to take care of which is very exciting!! Joey is adorable!

So besides being on my toes with these idiot masons (they are gone now, thank goodness!!!), I've been walking around the house like a zombie with this cold and also doing a lot of thinking and closure of some old chapters that closed a long time ago but i've still been clinging on to in my heart... And with that came a lot of hope. Hope for the future and I realised there is nothing better than knowing you get a second chance. That's what my faith is about: a second chance. Looking back and knowing that you've made mistakes but you have a chance not to make them again. Hope is amazing. Where once things seemed bleak, hope spreads sunshine over them and makes them bright and gives life a new purpose, a new beginning and a smile on your face.

So I'm starting over. I'm trying to live my life as an adventure and its so exciting. I'm trying not to be scared of making mistakes cause that's a part of life and learning. I'm trying to give the wounds some time to heal and not be scared of being happy. Its okay.

Meg said to me today, "Not taking the happiness God gives you is not a wise thing." Something to chew on.

Yup, those were my thoughts over the last couple of days. I'm sorry if it all sounds a little wishy washy and doesn't make much sense. It makes sense in my head!

My song for the week (well actually I just fell in love with it yesterday) is "That's the way it is" by Celine Dion. She has such a powerful voice! Listening to that always gets me on my feet and dancing!!

Here's the chorus:
When you want it the most there's no easy way out
When you're ready to go and your heart's left in doubt
Don't give up on your faith
Love comes to those who believe it
And that's the way it is...

Hopscotch.

Met Smeegs yesterday! We met at church and then had coffee, watched Blood Diamond (which was EXCELLENT!) then had some appams and stew for lunch!! It was great. So good to see her! And we did our little traditional book exchange and I finally got what I've been frantically looking for over the past two months!! Mere Christianity by C.S Lewis!!! YAY!

Anyway, after all of that we parted on MG road as she head back to the hotel and I went to buy some groceries. So I took my time, bought that ice cream I was really craving (and i'm paying for it now! I've got a sore throat!) got to taste some sample coffee buns or something at Spencer's and then on my way back I noticed these little kids selling roses and playing hopscotch so I stopped to take a photo and then bought a rose (they totally ripped me off! but they're just so cute, they had me!) and then I asked if I could play hopscotch with them and they kindly let me so I played a round and man it felt sooo good! I love that game! My friends and I in Zambia would bring out the charcoal and draw out perfect boxes and then find the perfect stone and play all evening!! And then I just hung around and talked to them for a while and tried to learn their names: Suhail, Laxmi, Sabrina... ah darn it that's all I can remember! Bless them! The first question I asked them is if they go to school and they said yes! And then I asked why they sell roses and Laxmi answered for school fees... She's in grade two. Isn't that humbling!? Anyway, so I had the best time with those kids and couldn't stop smiling as I walked away. I hope I see them again. If you're ever on MG road and you see them playing hopscotch, stop and play! Its a heart-warming experience!

So that was that. I finally decided I should really head home and so I get in auto completely oblivious to the fact that all hell had broken loose in another part of Bangalore that very afternoon. Riots. Some religious drama. Basically, there were some processions by muslim extremists AGAINST Saddam's hanging on Friday (He's already dead fergoodnesssake!!!) and then in the heat of all of that they started tearing down hindu posters and such like. Therefore on Sunday; the revenge. There was some hindu procession in which they were preaching about getting rid of the rest... blah blah blah. Nothing new. Hindus and muslims have been neck to neck from the beginnings of this nation. And you would think by now they would have learned that NOTHING good comes out of it. Innocent people die like that 11 yr old yesterday. Ugh. Infuriating. Anyway, due to all of that nonsense, the auto driver and I went round and round in circles because they closed off loads of roads. People warned us not to go that way because there might be trouble. Not the other way, cause of road blocks. I had no idea where we were, so I was pretty much sitting at the edge of my seat and praying. Police everywhere. Loudspeakers blaring religious jargon. Broken glass on the roads. People flying orange banners with Om signs. Burnt up autos. Blood on the pavement. Not a pretty sight.

What's funny is that there wasn't a sign of all of this on MG road so I had absolutely no clue. I had been gone from home since the morning and hadn't seen the news. While on the other hand my dad was seeing it all on tv half way across the world and calls me up saying, "Are you okay. There's trouble on the roads. What are you doing out!?!" And I'm going, yeah, I noticed, I hadn't a clue!!

Thankfully, by the time I was on my way home the violence had subsided. To think that had I not stayed back to play hopscotch with those kids and get stared at like a weirdo by the passersby, I may well have gotten caught in the thick of it. Mercy...

And now as a result of all that madness, my class has been cancelled today! So I am home all day, once again... Don't even have to cook today. But apparentely Abhi has a bone to pick with me. So laters.

I want Ice Cream!!!

I just heard the ice cream man ringing his bell and went running to the balcony to see if I can spot him but he was no where to be seen... hmmm.... mysterious.

Anyway, I really want an ice cream for some reason. I am craving it. A nice green apple ice cream from Garuda mall would be really fab but alas, Cannot. (apparentely that's how they used to say "NO" in Malaysia when you try to bargain with the shopkeepers. Cannot. I think that's hilarious!)

Maybe i'll go and but an ice cream from the nearest shop which is like LONG way away. Bah. That's the worst part about living here. You have to walk a long way even to catch an auto. Catching a bus is even worse cause the bus stop is further off. So its quite funny when I'm rushing to catch a bus to class in the mornings. I always seem to underestimate how long the walk will take me so I end up half running. What I dread the most is seeing a bus pass by while I'm still pretty far off. But then sometimes the bus passes you by even while you're there, at the bus stop, waiting... ugh. I made the mistake the other day of thinking that the wretched bus would actually STOP for me and it just went by right in front of my eye and I had to wait for the next one. It was actually kinda funny. Getting on a bus here is like a fight. You have to run after it and make it stop or just get on while its moving. If you're lucky you'll get a place to sit, if you're not so lucky you'll get a place to stand and otherwise you'll just be pretty much falling out of the door. I don't understand it. They seem to think that every single iota of space must be used up. You'd think if the bus is completely full they won't stop to put on MORE passengers but no, there's always more space apparentely even though I really do not see that there is when you're falling out the door!!! But such is life. And now that I know that a bus pass will cost me 7 bucks as opposed to an auto that'll cost me 16 I just HAVE to get on the bus. When you multiply 16 by 2 and then multiply that with 5 it comes up to quite a lot actually so atleast I'm saving some money!! Its good to be on a budget, so I don't end up spending money on useless things which, goodness knows, is sooooo easy to do!!

I watched a chick flick last night. It was a hard decision. There were showing the Cinderella Man on another channel at the same time and I LOVE that movie, like really LOVE it. I watched it twice in one day. But I have watched it before so i chose to watch the chick flick which was 50 first dates. It was, well a chick flick. You know how those go. Guy meets girl, they fall in love and then they break up and then they get back together again. No thinking required, so I enjoyed it!

Anyway, I just wanted to post this pic cause I think its really cool! This was taken at home a day after my brother's wedding reception. Niru stayed over at my place and the next morning we were really tired mixed with really bored thus... we took some random photos! Thanks for calling this morning btw Niru! I love getting random calls! Twas good to talk! Love ya.

The BEST!

Hullo!
I found this video on a fellow bloggers' and just had to post it.
Sarah Mclachan is one of my favourites singers. Infact this song is possibly my favourite song by her and this video is absolutely FANTASTIC!
Just thought I'd share it with y'all.
eNjoY!

World On Fire

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Keine Anglisch hier, bitte!

I finally had my first class at Max Mueller Bhavan (MMB) today!!!

It was great! I've been blessed with a wonderful teacher, about 11 friendly classmates who are all there to learn German because they like German!! (Wow, like-minded people!!) And that really makes a difference, like no one is really there because they HAVE to be there but because they want to be there and so the atmosphere is enthusiastic and fun! I am very pleased!

At first glance my teacher looked really strict and most of my other classmates already knew each other cause they'd been in class together before but then Kalyani came, who I met yesterday, and we went into class, sitting together with the others sort of broke the ice and my teacher, Nupur is also great! She's funny and friendly and most importantly she's happy to be there teaching us which is great.

As it was my first class of German in half a year it was a little difficult tuning my ears into the discussions (and its ALL in German: No English spoken here, please!) but I'll get used to it. I'm probably the youngest in the class, actually, I'm definitely the youngest in the class and all the German I have learnt has been in a different system to the rest who have all come this far through MMB so it might pose some difficulty but I'm sure I'll be okay.

We didn't do anything heavy for our first class, just introducing ourselves and a little bit from the text book. The teacher took out a little ball which we had to throw around to each other and just say something about ourselves and by the time the ball reached the first person my heart was beating faster than normal!! Its a Nandi family trait I am told!! LOL But it was all cool; like I said, the atmosphere is warm and it was interesting hearing a little bit about everyone. There are two guys and the rest are all girls - actually saying girls is probably politically incorrect, they're all ladies! Atleast two of them are engineers, five of them have studied something to do with computers, two journalists, one teacher and one housewife - that's really politically incorrect, isn't it!? Home-maker I mean! ;)

So yeah! That was my first class! I had a good time and I was awake by 6:20! Impressive, huh? I was inspired by Grace. Its actually nice to wake up early, I just don't like the fact that its still dark at that time, hopefully as it gets warmer it won't be. AND, I also ate breakfast (SHOCK, HORROR!) I dislike eating breakfast but didn't want my stomach to be rumbling in class. Which reminds me, I should probably go and have lunch, or atleast try and figure out what i'll have for lunch. I think sandwich, it will be. Ham sandwich. Yup, sounds good.

Later,

A concert and a class!

Hello all,

Wow, my entries are becoming more and more irregular now...

I went for the Delirious? concert last night at the Palace Grounds and we had LOTS of fun. I went with Rishita, Sujay (Rishi's adorable little brother!), Sung Hwi, Neha and Grace. (Oh and Meg, I met Bogi there as well and gave him a hug for you) We got seats right at the front although we ended up standing in the front for almost half of the concert anyways! AND we also got to go and meet the band in the green room and take a photo with them!! The Joyce Meyer ministries had organised the concert and Hannh Norling was there cause her dad works with that ministry so she took us in to meet the band. Neat! We didn't really talk to them or anything and it was a little awkward but it was nice anyhow. The band was absolutely GREAT. I'm not even that great a Delirious? fan but I really liked the concert and just how everything was done.

This one is fuzzy but you can see all the band members.

This one is clearer but you can't see all of the band.

Oh yeah, and Sounds of the Nations were there too. They jammed for a while before Delirious? came on and it was great to hear some hindi worship. Sound of the Nations was the band that came to school for the YF camp btw.

We bought ourselves cool t-shirts and everything after the concert and almost took down the whole place... No, I'm kidding, we just "stole" some of the posters. There was a HUGE one that Grace was absolutely adamant of taking home. I still don't know how she was planning on managing that and where on earth she was going to put it but anyway, she didn't take it in the end cause it was kind of attached to the wall (!!) and was very disappointed and I was very relieved! He he he! ;) But it was a nice poster, I guess. It said "Pray for Peace and the Children in your World" on it, which is basically what the band was here to promote.

I stayed over at Grace's house last night cause it was a little too late in the night to come home alone. We ate some yummy Korean food at 11:00 in the night cause we hadn't had any dinner then chatted for a while before we finally fell asleep.

In the morning we woke up to the sound of the stray dogs (turned wolves in the night, well atleast they sounded like it) at 5:30 and the mosque's prayer call and then two really LOUD alarms so we got the point and woke up and then I joined the Cho's in their morning prayer time together which was lovely.

Grace forced down some breakfast into me (cause breakfast is the most important meal of the day and yadda yadda yadda!!) after which I was out by 7:00 to get to my german class on time. And here's the funny part, It didn't happen!!! GAHHHHHHH! Actually it wasn't so bad. At first I was really confused because everyone seemed to know what they were doing and going into their classes and I was the only one sitting outside and waiting for nothing, it seemed! Anyway, after some time, another girl appeared who was joining my class too and then together we investigated and found out that our class would only start tomorrow. Why didn't they call and tell us???? Sheesh, I could have slept in for a while.

But anyway, atleast I got to meet my classmate; Kalyani. We chatted for a while, she seems really nice and we were going to get some coffee but of course no one is awake making coffee at that un-earthly hour of the morning. She lives close by to my place so she dropped me off on her.... drumrolls pleases... BIKE!! Yup, I sat on the back of a bike, well not really BIKE bike, but a scooty but they're pretty much the same thing to me. I don't like them very much and I know a friend who must be laughing at me right now because I think I once told him I would NEVER get on a bike :) Oh well, I managed not to freak out, I think she knew my apprehensiveness (is that a word?) cause I'm sure it showed on my face so she tried to re-assure me by saying, "don't worry, I drive safely." Well its not her I don't trust its the other five million people on the road I don't trust!!!! Ah well, if I die, I die.

That's it for now,

Here's a line from one of the Delirious? songs that really stuck with me cause it seems to be a recurring theme in my life at the moment (that happens a lot - If God wants me to learn a lesson, He gets everyone to tell me it again and again and again. I get the point, Lord!!);

"God didn't screw up when He made you, He's a Father who loves to parade you, Our God reigns, Our God reigns"

Mission Messy Closet.

I decided to tackle my cupboard today before it turned into a nasty avalanche! It took me aaaages. Partly because I kept getting bored and also because both my legs and back are aching today so I feel like an old lady so I kept taking breaks. Anyway, I managed to finish and I am satisfied and I have come to the conclusion that I have waaay too many clothes! But still when I need a top to match a skirt there is NEVER anything suitable! I guess that's because when I used to buy stuff at school I didn't need to really worry about having something matching because of the multiple closets at my disposal! He he he, I remember that the boys would get really confused by this cause they could never figure out what belonged to whom and then if they made the mistake of saying, "Isn't that x's?" they might just be unfortunate enough to stumble upon a soft spot!! Poor guys. Girls are complicated.

Cool Slideshows

Responding to orders!

My sister in law is going to kill me if I don't update cause its already been a couple of days and apparentely this is her entertainment at work!

Anyway, so here it is...

Ma left this morning with my aunt for Calcutta while it was still dark and I went to the airport with my cousin brother (Bobby) to drop them off and man alive is that place mad!!! It was five o'clock in the morning and there were traffic jams. That airport is so not equipped for this mad city that is growing at electric speed. But hopefully people will see how terrible it is and slowly start moving out. Cause its really going to be a hard job repairing the mess. I can't even begin to imagine what state it'll be in when they start digging up whole roads for the metro they're planning to put in. Ah well, I guess the world will still go on like it does. Every time I go out, I think, "Gosh, somebody is really looking over this place and exercising a lot of mercy." With the number of motorbikes zipping past narrow escapes, auto guys who think their three wheeler is a four wheel drive with five speeds, bus drivers who think their bus is a ship and the whole road is an empty ocean that belongs to them and pedestrians who don't look left or right, its pretty amazing!

I finally made myself a new MP3 cd with a bunch of new - well not really NEW new, but new to me nonetheless - and I am very happy with this creation cause I am seriously so bored of my old songs. However I haven't heard much of what comes after track seven, or even much of what comes before it cause I really like track seven and I have this bad habit of listening to a song that I like over and over again until I just can't stand it anymore! Its called "Crazy Girls" by Bethany Joy Lenz. The lyrics aren't thought provoking or anything, I just really like the song! There are lots of other good songs too, I just have to get over the Bethany phase to listen to them a little more!!

Anyway, I better scam, I'm still in my PJ's, haven't had a bath, haven't eaten lunch, I might have to cook rice too and I have to leave with my cousin and niece to go to this blind school where we will be celebrating Pahi's (my niece) birthday with them. And its almost two pm. Crapola, I'm going to be late!!

Ciao!

Korean Food, Coffee with extra cream on top, wonderful friends and other such good things...

HEYYYY!

I am feeling very content and smiley. Why?

1. I went to sleep happy thinking of how much God has blessed me and has given me grace to go through the rest of my life and told me not to worry about the big picture because He has it in control - phew! what a relief!
2. I now have a sister-in-law who can redeem my cooking endeavors and make them taste good! Thanks D, the Chicken Chettinad really wasn't looking good until you intervened.
3. I have a wonderful family.
4. I woke up smiling cause I thought I had woken up early as I hadn't heard the alarm yet and then I looked at the time and I laughed at myself! "WHAT!?!? Its 10:24!!!!" I was supposed to meet Taryn and Grace at 10:30 on Brigade Road. I got there by 11: 10 with my hair in a mess and wearing the first thing I got my hands on in my extremely messy cupboard. Which is pretty good I would say. I could have gotten there earlier, but you know, when you REALLY need to get somewhere, you always end up with the slowest auto in the city and red lights at every crossroads.
5. I had Kim Chi in all different shapes and sizes for lunch and some other Korean food!!
6. Did I mention, I met Taryn!!! Which always adds a kick to your day! She is fab, anyone who meets her will say so.
7. And I bought another book to add to my reading list...
8. I got an email from a friend I thought I'd lost...
   

I am happy. Here are some pics...

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Memories of Peter Pan

Hey! just got transported to our very wonderful Std. 13 production of Peter Pan about 1 and half years ago!! It was great fun, and looking at these photos, we really did a great job!! Gah, if only I could turn back time! No I'm kidding! Memories are good enough, although... it really would be nice to be there again. All working together, all bonding, all having LOTS of fun and still about eight months of school left to go! *sigh* those were the days...

check out the photos... www.tinaphotoblog.blogspot.com

More later,

How things change!

HEY!

So I am still a jobless gappy and at home, I was meant to start German classes today but they called me up yesterday evening and told me that the classes have been postponed! I was quite disappointed about that cause I was really looking forward to it but oh well, guess I'll just have to wait a little longer... They now start on the 16th of Jan and on the 15th I'm going for a Delirious? concert!!!! YAY!! I am so excited about that! Grace got the tickets day before yesterday and they only cost Rs. 250! Which is REALLY cheap for a concert actually.

Anyway, its still a while away that...

Meanwhile, I am not doing much at home, just the occassional cooking, I finished Anne Frank's Diary today and tried really hard not to cry, its tragic but still so full of hope... She really was one heck of a girl with a lot of courage, optimism, insight, willingness to see her bad aspects and more importantly do something about it and most of all faith. She died in a concentration camp, and we've all heard about how terrible that was, but a survivor who was there says this about her death... "Anne, who was already sick at that time was not informed of her sister's death but after a few days, she sensed it, and soon afterwards she died, peacefull, feeling that nothing bad was happening to her."

I've been going through some of my old photos and I put these two together cause I thought it was amusing... The two were taken almost exactly a year apart and look at the changes!! Of course one must consider that the first was taken on the Delhi trip where we practically lived on a bus for ten days and thus we all look a little haggard!

I love these gals!

Absolutely Mind Boggling!

Your New Year's Resolutions

1) Get a pet monkey 2) Eat more nuts 3) Travel to New Zealand 4) Study taxidermy 5) Get in shape with rock climbing

What Should Your New Year's Resolution Be?

So I found this really crazy website that has "cool" things one can put on their blog. I didn't go searching for it, don't worry, I am not that jobless... Anyway, so basically its these really dumb quizzes and they think that my New Year's Resolutions should be the above in order to get into college this year!! LOL! I think its hilarious and somebody please tell me what the heck is taxidermy?!?

This one's even funnier. HA HA HA! I am a weirdo apparentely because I speak a second language, would rather gain 150 lbs than be run over by a truck and other such MAD things!

You Are 30% Normal

You sure do march to your own beat... But you're so weird, people wonder if it's a beat at all You think on a totally different wavelength And it's often a chore to get people to understand you

Meg, if we lived in the 1920's like we were talking about this morning (well my morning, your yesterday night!) my name would be...

Your 1920's name is:

Evangeline Earline

And yours would be...

Your 1920's Name is:

Dovie Ivy

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! THAT IS HILARIOUS!! DOOVIE IVY AND EVANGELINE EARLINE!!! LOL! YEEKS, WHAT MADNESS!!!

Put on your dancing shoes and get on the floor!!!

The Grace the putting to the use the poor, lonely guitar that has been sitting, out of tune and out of use in a corner of a room at home!
The D, the Me and the Grace outside the Catholic Club where the “Ball” was at…
The newly weds!
The long-ly weds!
The Dance Floor where Grace and I spent most of the night!
The Beauty!
The Beauty and the Beast! He he he!
The random Cutie and her mother on the dance floor! (I can’t wait to be able to dance with my own little girl!! Sorry that was a random aside…)
The accidental Photograph of the food…
SO that was basically what the night was about! Lots of food, drinks, and dance! We had a lot of fun… God has been very kind to me by giving me good dancing partners both at my Brother’s Reception (Niru!) and at the “Ball”!! Grace and I stood and observed at the sidelines for a while, trying to absorb the foxtrot, the jive, the cha-cha-cha and the waltz and then we finally got down on the floor and had a BALL!!