hostage

sri lanka has taken hostage of my heart. this country is so beautiful and very different from india. it's green green green and people smile at you and there are beautiful beaches and the coconuts are bright orange.

my mom's host family is spoiling me. i call amma, who is a fesity white haired 87 year old, acchi, which means grandmother in sinhalese. she loves sweets and holds your arm while she walks. she told her maids that the "fair baby" was coming. i'm pretty sure she thinks i'm about 16. today she asked me to, "like a good girl, go put this cup in the sink." so a good girl i was and i brought my good girl self to that sink to drop off the cup.

deemi is the youngest of the sibings and she has been organizing my whole trip. she lives with acchi and during the day, she manages an ayurvedic resort right on the beach. she brought me to the hotel on tuesday and wednesday, where i was promptly treated like a princess. i ate and lounged and listened to the waves and got a full body ayurvedic massage--all compliments of deemi.

i'm staying with ramani, the oldest of the children, and her husband saliya. they live right across the little street from acchi and deemi. although ramani is sad i cannot eat chicken curry, i'm expeririencing all sorts of delicious sri lankan food, like string hoppers (skinny noodley things) and egg hoppers (crispy crepes with a fried egg in the middle) along with curries and red rice (harvested in acchi's rice fields). ramani even greeted me with a still-warm-from-the-oven chocolate cake on sunday, which we've been snacking on and having for dessert throughout the week. my host family here is very keen on feeding me. you aren't really allowed to decline food. examples:

eating finger sandwiches at acchi and deemi's. i had already eaten two. "EAT," acchi demands. i eat another. "EAT MORE," and then another.

eating pancakes with deemi. i already had three. "lauren eat more." "oh no thanks, i'm full. "come, eat one more." i am obedient.

eating egg hopppers with ramani and saliya. there are FIVE left. i'm pretty sure we'd all had two. "okay lauren, now you eat the rest please." saliya notices my glazed eyes, "okay i'll have one more." i eat four consecutively for a total of six.

dinner with ramani and saliya. ramani offers me a slice of chocolate cake for dessert, "no thank you, i'm so full." saliya says somethng in sinhalese and they laugh. ramani translates, "you don't look full." she slices a piece of cake for me.

dinner with deemi and acchi. my plate is just starting to clear and deemi asks, "more greens?" before i can say anything, acchi scoops more greens on my plate.

however, no matter how full i get, i always have room for the fresh fruit here. a neighbor of acchi's saw fair baby, and came over with a delicious juicy pineapple. can you see why i love this place?

today i went with a driver to colombo for a tour of the capital. we drove past the beautiful parliament building, a mosque, an old colonial hotel, and a very gaudy hindu temple. the driver got out with me and led me around two buddhist temples. the first one had a museum of knick knacks and old pictures, and even had an exhibit of old cave paintings in sri lanka. in the temple, he led me to the priest, who blessed me and tied white string around my wrist, granting me safety and well being for the next seven days. the outside of the temple had the life of buddha carved out into panels, and there was even a temple elephant with long white tusks taking a bath! after that temple, we walked down the road to another one which is settled on a lake. there was a wedding going on in the inside so i witnessed that for a second or two before focusing attention to the fair baby instead of on the elaborate bride and groom.

i walked around the national museum as well, which was really wonderful. it was filled with old coins, swords, buddha statues, jewelry, skeletons, and puppets--are coherently organized in a timeline starting with the first people in sri lanka, and sri lanka today. the sri lanka national museum was started by some british dude, and it's all housed in an italian styled building which he commisioned some other white dude to build. oh, colonialism, you slay me.

it was a lovely day, even if i did feel like i needed an oxygen tank in order to breathe in the thick, humid sri lankan air. ramani told me that when days are so hot like today, that it will end with a big rain. it's already rained twice since i've been here--i was so giddy.

off to dinner! wish my tummy luck!

lauren


p.s. oh yeah and one small thing i forgot to mention









MY MOM WILL BE HERE TOMORROW.

adventure girl

tomorrow i leave hyderabad
for

SRI LANKA


lady liberty, i vow to return soon but not too soon,
adventure girl

nomnomnom

just ate the best biryani


thank you and goodnight, my dear hyderabad

last week in hyd

hello, it's lauren again. wasn't my mom's post just lovely? i cannot wait to experience sri lanka with her.

i am officially done with all my exams and such! and now i am here in hyderabad for one more week. lots of people are traveling, but matthew, ethan, and i staying back and relaxing and soaking up our last moments with hyderabad. on saturday, bhavani (my hindi teacher and friend and RA) took the three of us, plus her sweet daughter, tanvi, to charminar. charminar is the image that usually pops into people's heads when they think of hyderabad. it's a muslim structure in the middle of the old city, it's approximately 400 years old. once we got there, the sun was setting. we shopped a bit for bangles (what charminar is known for), and then ended by eating biryani at one of the best places in hyderabad, shadab. mmmmm

bhavani and tanvi

charminar

you'll hear from me again, don't worry. i've got a whole two weeks full of adventure coming up!

love above all things,
lauren

a blog from a very special guest of mine: mom

I’d like to tell you that 36 years ago, while filling out my application to be a foreign exchange student, I checked the “no preference” location box because I had a keen sense of adventure.  But, I have to admit, what I really had was a serious case of low self esteem – maybe if I wasn’t that picky about the location, I might have a chance to be accepted.  And accepted I was.  I usually walked home (remember folks, this was the olden days), but as I emerged from the school building that Spring day in 1975, there was my mom in the station wagon, waving a white envelope at me.  I jumped in, tore open the envelope, and read the contents aloud … “Sri Lanka??”  We hurried home to look it up in the encyclopedia.

Thus began my wonderful adventure.

But don’t worry about this turning into a lengthy post – it was 36 years ago and I can’t recall it all.  Oh, there were trips to see the gorgeous countryside, tea plantations, Buddhist temples, and other amazing sights.  And there was my school, where the rest of the girls gathered ‘round me at recess and had me sing songs from American musicals.  But the most vivid memory, the most lasting memory, the most treasured memory is of the family that welcomed me with open arms and treated me to the experience of a lifetime.

And now, I am thrilled beyond words to be sharing that family with my own family.  As Lauren leaves her semester in Hyderabad, she will fly to Sri Lanka and be greeted by the de Silvas.  And I will arrive from Dallas a few days later. And based on the emails, facebook posts, and phone calls, I have no doubt that the years will melt away and we will all be family again. 

Special thanks to my brother, Dulip, whose random web search uncovered me about 10 years ago and whose encouragement earlier this year got me to commit to the trip.  And to my sisters – Ramani, Deepthi, and Deemi – who are busily working on the details of our visit.  I am hopeful that brother, Rajpal, will also join us.  And I am especially looking forward to a long visit with Amma – still going strong at 87 years old.  Deemi says they just told Amma about the visit last week, since they were pretty sure that would be all she talked about until we arrive.  And, so far, they are right. 

I’ve often said that international travel makes the world a smaller place.  But it’s not just the travel itself, it’s the connection you make with those you meet.  And sharing that connection with my beloved Lauren is making my heart very very full.  I can hardly wait the two weeks until the trip, and once it’s here, I’m sure that our time in Sri Lanka will be too short.  Nevertheless, I plan on cherishing every minute of it.

Amma in the kitchen

Thatha in his law office

Can you spot me in the school parade??

Deemi giving me "the look"

 Love, Beth

GO CHARGERS GO CHARGERS GO GO GO GO

hello lovely earthlings

this past saturday, a group of around 30 of us went to a cricket match. since india won the world cup, now there are more local games that you can go to. hyderabad's team is known as the deccan chargers (their mascot is a bull!) and so we went and saw them play against the punjab knights XI. when we asked our friend who is punjabi why the XI is tacked on, she replied "because we're eleven times better than everyone else." well, it still doesn't really make sense, but that's india for you. blindly accepting something that doesn't quite answer your question. it turns out the punjab knights were better than the chargers though--they won. ah well, it was still a really fun experience. the fans were just SO energetic, singing the annoying songs very loudly, standing and jumping around. a much different atmosphere than any other sports game i've been to.

now i'd like to introduce you to someone who will be guest blogging: my mom!

mommy and me

she and i will be traveling to sri lanka first and then back to india--hyderabad, delhi, agra, and jaipur. i will post her guest entry very very soon, so keep checking back!

love from the land of palm trees and one hundred degrees,
lauren

yummies

let's talk about food.

hyderabad is known for its food, especially its biryani. biryani is a rice dish mixed with veggies or chicken and spices. sometimes, they even cook it in an underground oven! everyone raves about hyderabadi biryani.
at every meal there is roti or paratha, which are indian breads and resemble a tortilla. you use them to scoop up the rest of your food, usually rice, dahl (soupy lentils), curried vegetables (usually okra, cauliflower, carrots), and a fried good (like a samosa or pakora). kebabs are also a favorite here, which usually consist of chicken (if you are a not a vegetarian), bell peppers, potatoes, and then if you are a vegetarian, you'll get some paneer. paneer has the consistency of tofu, but tastes like cheese.
desserts are extremely sweet in india. there's gulab jamun, which is like a pancake ball saturated in syrup, and double ka meetha (a hyderabadi desert) is slices of bread soaked in spices and saturated in syrup, and topped with cashews and raisins.
chai is always offered, and it is so yummy and spicy. even though it gets up to 100 degrees and most likely past that during the day, a steaming cup of chai is comforting and well, delicious.

two days ago i bought an indian cookbook (plus, it's vegan!), so hopefully i'll be able to mimic some of this yummy food back at home.

peace love and biryani,
lauren