Mosaic tag game

Here are the rules:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into any mosaic maker.

Questions:

1. What is your first name? (no first names on the blog) (haahh!)
2. What is your favorite food? Pasta
3. What high school did you go to? Loreto Convent
4. What is your favorite color? Hot Pink
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Collin Farrell
6. Favorite drink? Long Island Ice Teas
7. Dream vacation? Bangaram
8. Favorite dessert? Chocolate mousse
9. What you want to be when you grow up? A Traveller
10. What do you love most in life? Diving
11. One Word to describe you. Intense (flickr searches are quite random, but this was the picutre for intense and I think it describes me quite well, what word should I have used?)
12. Your flickr name. shreez21 (no pictures found for shreez21 so used shreez... pic choice is interesting)

Just trust, give it time, no matter how long it takes

Have not blogged for ages, tho I have been lugging my laptop with me every where I go. So what is happening 7000 feet above sea level you ask?
Quick update:
* Back in Kodai, last year here now (or atleast I hope) Not to seem negative but its time to move on. Move on to bigger and better things - where shall I be next year this time and like the title suggests - just trust, give it time, no matter how long it takes (in every aspect of life!)
*Back in Kodai, getting back to the usual grind of things, been pretty busy and am enjoying the feeling of having a constant stream of things to do. Work hard and party harder.
Talking about partying harder - Kodai saw its first ever lungi party and I must say it was quite a success! Every one came in a lungi and the boys took to the whole folded in half lungi quite well. American style barbeque with an indian flavor of fashion. Being multi cultural is quite nice.
*New semester mean new people. The good and bad of Kodai - people come and people leave. Like I was telling hoops one afternoon while we had coffee in my house - the situation is the same but the faces keep changing.
*Hoops now has an even bigger pair of hoops (found them in turkey in the summer)
*Alabama might be coming to India in Sept. Cant wait to see her! Its amazing how even just 6 months can make you so close to some one.
*Beavis sent me a link to his post - to the women he loved. Miss him like crazy! Constant texting to meeting up at cup of tea for the first time. A great friend.
* Back to frisbee and volleyball. Good fun as usual! No major injuries till date - well apart from Aaron running into me.
*Talking about injuries I managed to fall in the office. Was walking in J's office and managed to slip on absolutely nothing (like i said shreez does not need any external forces to injure her self) while I lose my footing I twist my body to grab on to some thing to stop my fall, only to end up bumping into a table of pottery - breaking quite a few items in the botique. In this process I bruise the bone on my left foot and then fall into J's office on my bum and knock on my head on the edge of the chair. Solid bump on the head and a swollen foot is what I end up with. (lovely to have friends around, they will always be there to help you up but also be there to laugh at your clumsiness)
While I sat in the doctors office I have hoops laughing at me, while my foot has an ice pack around it and I hold another ice pack to my head. Talk about being injured from head to toe.
*My TV has not been working for 2 weeks now. IG you will be happy to know I have not watched TV for 14 days now and instead spend my time reading.
*JP leaves this monday for Kolkatta. Every one seems to be leaving.
*Lynea and her hubbie have now joined the ranks in Kodai. It is absolutely great to have her back. And K seems to be absorbed in to the group quite seamlessly.
*Wiggles is absolutely hilarious. And hoops and I now have some one to tease relentlessly. Check out his blog. A good read.
*Had a relaxful saturday. Woke up at 9 completely refreshed. Chatted with wiggles over a cup of coffee, lunch, coffee with the gang in my place and then pedicures for hoops and dreads (I find it so relaxing to give pedicures) and then dinner with some people. Found a place for great tandoori chicken in Kodai. And I even ate chicken on the bone!
*Sat in the same room with a Bombay earth snake. Freaked out every time small chap brought it near me. Yeah I am petrified of snakes. My heart races and tears instantly form. I will get over this fear. some time...
Well thats pretty much the end of the random post. Will update you more on the turkey trip and the turkish bath in my next post.

Listening to: You can call me Al by Simon and Garfunkel
Last movie watched: Chicken run (right after Runaway Bride..two movies in one day!)
Laughed pretty much thru out dinner
Baked whole wheat raspberry oatmeal muffins
and to end it off, wishing Blondie a very happy birthday (love you sweetheart!)

A turkish bath

The Turkish bath is the Middle Eastern variant of a steam bath, which can be categorized as a wet relative of the sauna. They have played an important role in cultures of the Middle-East, serving as places of social gathering, ritual cleansing, and as architectural structures, institutions, and (later) elements with special customs attached to them.


The Turkish bath as a method of cleansing the body and relaxation was particularly popular during the Victorian era.


A person taking a Turkish bath first relaxes in a room (known as the warm room) that is heated by a continuous flow of hot, dry air allowing the bather to perspire freely. Bathers may then move to an even hotter room (known as the hot room) before splashing themselves with cold water. After performing a full body wash and receiving a massage, bathers finally retire to the cooling-room for a period of relaxation.


Seems pretty harmless when one reads it on wikipedia, well its not! When I first heard I was going to Turkey and for a turkish bath I was pretty excited, until Hoops and Aussie girl said that it would be in front of other woman I dint belive them. Uuummm big mistake.



So we land in Turkey, after not sleeping for 48 hours Mum and I walked into the Turkish bath ready for some R and R. We enter the cool room and are directed to our cubicles. The lady incharge goes "Here is your towel, you can change in there. Take of every thing and then follow me"

Shreez: "Every thing???"

Lady: "Yes! every thing" (quite impatiently)

I look at mom quite lost and then quietly goes to her cubicle to change.

We come out with all wrapped up and follow the lady to the cool room. As I turn the corner a biggish lady just drops her towel and walks out. Totally naked!


I at this point of time am flabbergasted and am getting quite uncomfortable as the minutes pass by. I whisper to my mom - "ma... why are people naked" Mom: " well obviously how else are you going to go have the bath"


uuuummmm.... ok


We walk into the steam room, and there are about 20 women all naked and getting thier massage etc. We sit in the steam room for about 20 minutes while our pores open. As we are waiting a big turkish lady rumbles in and begins to scream at the other ladies in turkish. The thought which instantly runs thru my mind is I really hope that she isnt the one who does my massage etc.


5 minutes later she walks in and smiles at me and goes "ready for your massage" Shreez gives a weak smile and once again thinks what in the world am I doing here.
While my mind is still trying to grasp the thought of this woman giving me a massage, she proceeds to remove her swimming costume (the ladies who work there, wear bathing suits) and throws some water on her self (they do that between every client, at least they are hygenic *shrug*) This by the way is done right in front of me.. shudder shudder

I am then taken to the centre bit of the room where the massages are given and am asked to lie down and she proceeds to give me a massage (which was quite relaxing, though it did not take away from the akwardness of the situation) and then scrub me down and remove all dead skin cells and dirt (which was quite a lot even after having a shower upon arriving in Turkey)

I then get a bath, a lot of water poured over me, while I try to grab some quick breaths between mugs of water.

You are then expected to walk from this room to the other room, where the fresh towels are kept (again naked!) and wrap your self up nice and snug and head back to the cool room, where you can order some fresh juice, turkish coffee (which is fantastic) or turkish tea (which is also fantastic)

When you go back to your cubicle, you are given a little bag, with a fresh pair of undies and a comb. (how thoughful ;) )

The experience was quite unnerving, but you skin feels great after it. And I can now cross of one thing of the 1000 things to do / places to see before you die

Oh yeah, in olden times, the hamam was a place where women gathered to gossip and mothes looked out for potential brides for thier sons. To make sure the woman in question had no unsightly scars or disfigurements. And they say people dont look. Bah!

And that ladies and gentlemen was my experience at the turkish bath!

10 things to consider before marrying an Indian man

Note: this post is not accurate, highly generalized and just what happens when alabama and I chat till 5am. No offence intended.

1. Your babies will be brown and quite possibly with blue eyes and blonde hair depending on your genealogy
2. You will be a constant point of amusement / frustration / astonishment to his complete family
3. You will be the topic of discussion at every family gossip session “You know Ram's wife no, the white one yes yes I am telling you, these white girls, arre baba” says inquisitive over bearing, over weight aunt from the fathers side while munching on some pakodas
4. All men fart, that we know, but when marrying an Indian man – one needs to deal with Indian farts. Don’t like the smell of curry when its served on the table, imagine it being farted out over the course of the night and not silently I might add!
5. You not only marry him but his whole family (father, mother, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, grand nieces, grand nephews, first cousins, second cousins, third cousins and random people who are adamant that they are related to you.. even though you are white)
6. Indianisms – “you know only, yes yes”
7. Talking about passionate love making – the Indian man is not into any experimentation. It’s all about the wham bam thank you mam. Ladies self pleasure is some thing you master while being married to an Indian man.
8. He is and always will be a mama’s boy
9. You will be expected to pop out grand children by the dozen and boys will be favoured

and the final point to consider when marrying an Indian man

10. Head wiggle – just imagine after a night of passionate love making, the Indian man looks up at you and goes “ah! Very good, very good” wiggle wiggle (the head I mean, you dirty minded people!)

Ah! the good days and the bad days

The good days and the bad days

There are days when I bask in your glory

Live for your love

Astounded by your greatness

Hear your word

Walk in complete faith

Complete peace

And then come the other days

When I dont listen

When I attempt to do all by myself

When life is to busy for some time with you

When life seems perfect and I really need nothing more

Yeah those are the bad days

And they go on and on

Days turn to weeks and some times months

I turn around and start from step one again

Each step again

Frustrated at my stupidity

And slightly amused at the fact that I thought I could do it my self

In the summer time... when the weather is fine...

So have not written for ages and I think its time to do a post on the happenings in my life. Pretty random post with out any major insights. Well that’s not true, while I was in Madurai giving my exams I did learn a few things apart from the reliability and validity of a test.

*I can be stubborn and stupid some times and usually end up doing what people told me to do in the first place. Yes non AC room in Madurai is not the best option
*I am a wuss, I hated it there and it was just for a few days but I wanted to leave every chance I got
*I am loved. I had people cheering me on, telling me I could do it and just making sure I did what I went there to do
*That people are comfortable enough to chill in my house when I am not there. Mi casa es tu casa
*Cell phones - an amazing invention. If I dint have text messaging - Madurai would have been unbearable
*I love buying shoes and can even find a pair I like in Madurai
*Really love being in Kodai - in my community - with my friends aaawww
(yeah yeah this isn’t a literary masterpiece!)

The interesting happenings in Maduari:
*The auto driver on day one offering me his comb when I asked him if he could take me to a place where I can buy a brush from.
*People thinking I am a foreigner - really me?? have you seen me... I am Indian and dam proud of it
*The examiner for my one exam
I enter the hall and he breaks into a stream of Tamil I look dumbfounded. He then ushers me to my seat and gives me the question paper. Once the exam starts he sits down next to me and proceeds to read my answer sheet for the whole exam. Bad enough he sits and reads my paper but he reads it under his breath and I can hear him.
Half way through the paper he asks for my id. Now the picture on the id is from over two years ago and I have really short hair. He then gets on to my case and says that I am not the same person. We spend 10 minutes arguing and then I go out to get my id card, which is not up to his satisfaction so I pull out my licence. He finally admits that I am the same person and I get down to my exam. He then sees me writing on attitudes, he exclaims "ah! attitudes, you know I did my thesis on attitudes!" I smile sweetly and get back to writing, he continues on asking why my hand writing was so bad and why I was not underlining the important points. Honestly man will you let me write my exams! He continues to read my paper and then asks me where I was from. Told him I was from Delhi - "arre no no, you are Sri Lankan" .. uumm no I am not "are you sure, you look Sri Lankan, are your parents Sri Lankan, you sound like a foreigner"
Any way he bugged me through out the exam and when I got up to leave he asked whether I would help him with some English work the next day! (only I get to meet random people like this!)

The interesting happenings in Kodai:
*Chilling to wee hours of the morning for 5 days straight after my stint in Madurai
*Sneaking out a paddle boast at 4am with C and paddling around the lake (and the others said it was too dangerous pah!)
*Taking care of intoxicated people haha
*Random stalker pestering me - Romio go get a life

That’s pretty much it, told you nothing really great was happening.
Vacation starts for me in a week’s time. Off to Delhi for a couple of hours and then off to Turkey for a week or so. Looking forward it. Hot air balloon ride over turkey - the highlight of the trip. And then I am back in Delhi - oh sweet Delhi how I miss thee. So who ever is in Delhi from the 21 of June till the 13 of July - give me a buzz.
Thats all folks!

A page from her diary

I told you what happened because you needed to know
I told you what happened because I needed to let it go
Over zealous attempts to protect me
Will not erase the past; these scars will not disappear
I’m still the person you knew
Yet you treat me like another
Don’t look at me differently
Don’t tread with trepidation
Don’t bristle at the words which sound crude and harsh
Because these are the words, these are the words of my past
But the question remains – as painful as it seems
Have my scars marred your view of me?
I told you what happened, because I thought you needed to know
I told you what happened, but I shouldn’t have done so

From 7200ft above sea level to 300ft above sea level and back for biryani!

We all do crazy / random things once in a while.
Wearing blonde extensions and walking around town
6 girls dressed exactly alike and going for a movie
Lying on top of a car and driving around the lake

But Kodai seems to be where random things happen on a daily basis. Like yesterday we drove down the ghats to a dhaba to eat biryani.

A two hour drive down
A 40 minute meal
A two hour drive back up!

Talk about desperation, to get off the mountain top.
12 people
3 cars
Good music
Great company
Happy birthday Billy Day!

I just realized how much I love road trips. Wish I could do more, but after yesterdays antics I wonder if dreads and hoops will ever allow me in a car with them.
It is dreads fault actually, as soon as he said Shreez dont sing, I just had too!

So just to end of with song and count your lucky stars you are reading the lyrics and not listening to my rendition of them..

Follow me Everything is alright
I'll be the one to tuck you in at night
And if you want to leave I can guarantee
You won't find nobody else like me

Hidden within the shadows of night

Walking back home, late at night, it gives me time to think, contemplate the situation around me. Makes me observe what one usually gives no second thought.

I watched my shadow tonight

I know its mine

Looks like me, imitates my every move

But not my emotions

I walk with tears streaming down my face

But my shadow just goes on its normal way

I stare at the dark image of my head

Staring into the ground with such intensity

Hoping to peer in the darkness and see what I feel

But my shadow - says nothing, does nothing, feels nothing

This post does not make any sense, I am not making any sense, good night!

Save tonight and fight the break of dawn

I love entertaining
I love taking care of people, making sure they eat enough, always have a drink in hand.. just being hostess.. what to say i am a mum...
after ages had people over for dinner... apart from the fact that my maid ditched me and i was super stressed till all the food was ready i had a blast...
good company
great food
decent conversation
and some singing
what more could a girl want...
me a happy chiquita