İyiyim, teşekkür ederim.

So life has been pretty hectic over here, with hot pink birthday parties a girl barely has time to blog.

It’s Monday evening and I am sitting in front of my fire place while the rain begins and the wind howls and I am glad to be in my pajamas and pretty much done for the day.
This weekend has been pretty hectic – the film crew were up here to make the alumni film and moi was the creative director / assistant / task master / person who makes puppy dog eyes to students so that they will do what we ask. What can I say I am multi talented!

So it was on the go since Friday and my body and mind have been begging for a weekend but that’s not going to have for a couple more weeks now.
Am looking forward to seeing how the films turns out and yeah they have asked me to do the voice over. 15 minutes of fame here I come.

The last week has been a whirlwind. Friday – dreads left for the states, well technically left for Chennai and will be flying out for the states this Wednesday. We had his farewell party at my place and showed the video I made. FYI I love windows movie maker. I can spend hours playing around with it.

Independence day weekend had lots of people up and a whole lot of partying. Sailor (who shall now be renamed semen .. thanks dreads) finally came back to kodai after giving his exams, which he passed. Wohoo

A couple of alumni were up as well. We started the weekend festivities with lunch at Margaret’s house. Good food, great company, awesome weather – just a perfect afternoon.
We then went on the hunt for coffee, we decided on pastry corner, we reached there only to find out that it was closed. We then headed to wiggles house and I proceeded to make coffee and half way through the boys decided my house was more conducive to chilling out and away we went to drive to my place. Now lets review the distance from wiggles house to my house – a 4 minute walk tops. We left his house, but due to the parade going on with independence days we had to take a million detours and landed at my house 45 minutes later. Back in my house and after some coffee, fried eggs, wai wai noodles we were out again. We went to raj’s place for the night. Relaxed company and some games. The night ended pretty early and I was tucked into bed at 12:30pm.

The next day I helped wiggles with his advisee dinner. 3 hours with middle schoolers man was I pooped. We headed back to raj’s house. Learnt a new game – the paper bag game. The idea behind the game is to pick up a paper bag with your mouth only while balancing on one foot. Each round involves tearing off a part of the bag until there is a sliver of the bag left. As you can imagine we dint get very far. We then headed out, the lake and the 10 mile round. Ended up coming home at 4:30 am!

Sunday was pretty relaxed, we chilled at my place and tried watching a couple of movies but they all were so pathetic we gave up and listened to music and had a couple of interesting conversations.

So that’s what’s been happening on this side of the mountain. Have been for a couple of hikes but don’t foresee that happening now since the next couple of weekends are taken.

This weekend I go for camp, with grade 11. If the weather is good camp is an awesome place, with a rock climbing wall, zip line, a raft and volleyball. Looking forward to it.
I get back Sunday afternoon and on Tuesday I am off to Kerela for some work. Will be there for three days and then flying out to Delhi. It’s the schools 50th anniversary and the whole gang will be there. Bhaiya, cousins, family friends and Ala-bama. SO excited. She is coming back to India for a month and is flying into Delhi and we will come back to Kodai and on the way we spend a day in Coimbatore chilling with raj etc.

I am barely in Kodai for three working days and then that Sunday I am off for a 6 days canoeing trip on the back waters of Kerela. Its going to be a blast.
So yeah that’s my travel schedule for the month ahead. Lots of work, lots of partying, lots of fun. What more could a girl ask for!

Till the next post adios

Listening to: No ordinary love
Eating: pasta
Drinking: wine
Accidents: none apart from a light bulb exploding in front of my face thanks to wiggles

*have you figured out what the title means?

volleyball in the rain and swimming in the lake = fun weekend!

So this week has been crazy busy. The film crew left on Monday, the rest of the week went in a blur with my body begging for a weekend. But that just was not going to happen. This weekend I went camping with grade 11 to Poondi. This was the first time I was spending the night at Poondi and it was a blast.

We left campus on Friday afternoon, wiggles and I went in the jeep with Vasant and Kenny. The journey was laced with a whole lot of laughter and on the way there we even got to see the elusive Malabar squirrel.
We got into camp at 6 and after settling into our tents we has tea while the rain poured on. It rain for a couple of hours and the kids and chaperones were confined to the covered courts, with hot tea and snacks, so no one really complained. The weather cleared up by 9pm and we then got the camp fire going.
Camp desert was banana boats. You take a banana (with the skin) split it in half and stuff in a marshmallow, a chocolate bar and a biscuit. You then wrap it up in foil and toss it into the fire for 10 minutes. Take it out and enjoy. Absolutely yummy.

The kids went to bed around 12pm and V, wiggles and I sat out and chatted. Tried looking for shooting stars. No such luck!
Went to bed at 1 and was up bright and early at 6. With a cup of tea I sat and wrote in my journal enjoying the fantastic view.
The kids were then woken up at 8 with W and me singing out loud and acting crazy. And I wonder why the kids think I am a wacko

The day was spent playing volleyball with the kids, we then went on the raft and jumped into the lake. Best not to think how dirty that lake was (with all the water buffalos swimming in it as well)

After the lake we played another game of volleyball in the rain, then lunch. Never before has a meal looked so good. Wiggles then played soccer in the rain and by the end of the game the field was waterlogged and the ball was actually floating in certain sections of the field. Tea and relaxing in front of the fire.

Some issue came up on main campus and I ended up going with vasant half way to Kodai. Came back at 10 and could barely keep my eyes open, was in bed by 11 and slept soundly till 6 am the next day.

The morning was spent cleaning up camp and then being chaperone for the zip line and even played American football. I scored a touchdown.
Left camp at 1 and every one was knocked out in the bus, though we did get to see some bison on our way back to Kodai.
All in all a great weekend!

Battered bruised and burnt

Quite the title for a blog post what say you?
But the contents of this post are completely true and explain why I am called Calamity Jane / Accident Prone etc etc

Lets break it down (maybe I should be careful with my words. All I need is to break down now!)

Battered:
So I am doing my usual Sunday activity – Ultimate Frisbee. It’s going pretty well. I have caught a few, done a few decent throws and I even think my team is up. So why battered? Well Shreez decided to run across the end zone to try and catch a Frisbee which just seems to be floating in the air waiting for some one to grab it. I tell you it was screaming into the wind “catch me Shreez, catch me and get a point for your team, catch me and be the star!” Well self obsessed me starts to run. Faster and faster I go, the Frisbee (lets name him mike) while mike just stays mid air. Me being the bright spark that I am thought if I slide I will be able to catch mike before he touches the ground, which he is now precariously close to. Mistake number one – the ground is not wet which makes sliding difficult – the whole friction concept. Shreez trips – slam on her knees – bam on to her shoulder and stop the whole thing with the side of her head!
Wham bam kapooie.
I see stars mummy, they are bright and sparkly
Well the usual Frisbee crowd are not fazed. They stay where they are waiting for me to get up and throw mike back up.
A couple of wobbles and I am ready to go again. Battered but ready to go!

Bruised:
So back tracking to Thursday, I had my go at indoor soccer. Now yeah I know what you are thinking, are you serious, shreez with your clumsiness you want to run around with a ball between your feet. Jeez talk about being an idiot. Well I realized that my skills do not lie in that area but I did do quite a good job being goalie. 45 minutes passed with no one being able to score against me. Well don’t pat my back just as yet, I was playing against dreads, hoops, dan and wiggles. But they were kicking pretty hard and I had solid bruises over my knees, arms and legs. So thus my story of being bruised.

Burnt:
And the crème da la crème, my story of being burnt. So apart from being self obsessed I am quite vain as well and obviously I cant walk out of the house with my hair looking like a mess. So early Monday morning I decided to straighten my hair with my normal iron since I dint have my straightening iron with me and in the midst of it I nicked my forehead with the side of the iron leading to a Harry Potter scar. Talk about being clumsy!

So with my new look – black hair, scar across my forehead and bloodshot eyes I look well I don’t look like me and don’t feel like me either.

Happy birthday to you!!

You know its surprising how much there is to do in Kodai. Insert *gasp*.

But honestly the past three weeks here have flown so quickly. Starting from the most recent happenings yesterday was dread's birthday.

He turned the big two five! Quarter of century – happy birthday to you

Now turning 25 is a big deal. People do crazy things on their 25th birthdays. Unfortunately he was not into the whole thing and wanted a quiet affair.

Isn't happening yo! (As hoops would say)

The birthday celebration began at 11:50 pm on the 4th of August with H and I walking to main gate to get the keys from the watchman for the other gate. He looked at us as if we were bananas to be roaming around in Kodai nearing midnight when every thing closes at 8pm.

So we get the keys and drive over to BW, where we quietly sneak up the stairs as I keep my camera ready and burst into his room screeching happy birthday. Only to find a sleeping dreads. Who even upon having people scream in his ear, pull off his blankets and take non stop pictures (with flash) continued to sleep.

Well we trudged down the stairs and had a muffin (which were warm from the oven, needed some thing to keep me awake till 12) and H and I drove back home.

Now we all know how much dreads absolutely loves hot pink (sarcasm detected) we all decided to wear pink on his special day. We tried spreading the word among staff but dint follow through however there were an unusually large number of students and staff wearing hot pink that day. Go figure!

The idiot however dint show up for lunch and when we finally saw him on the basketball court H&I wished him on the top of our lungs and had students go up and say "happy birthday and pink is hot!" That should pretty much have been the warning for what was to lie ahead.

The evening was full of laughter and lots and lots of hot pink! Every one got into the swing of things and I managed to get D a hot pink shirt (and I mean hot pink!) from Spencer's. Kudos for him for putting it on and wearing it the whole evening! Along with allowing me to take a number of pictures. I see age is making him more cooperative

There was fantastic food (chicken fajitas and biryani)

Great company

Lots of reminiscing – monkeys, bandicoots and charades…

A whole lot of teasing – M and me being the main targets… (I need to get my hands on that video!)

All in all a fantastic evening

And to top it off it was all in pink!

Zee puurrfect!

Muah

Quotable Quotes!

I am known for saying hilarious / stupid things but I am also surrounded by friends who do the same, so here is a couple of classics.
More to be added as they occur :)

Scene: Curls meeting some people from florida and she is from ohio
X: "Ah so your from ohio, you dam yankees!"
Curls: "who the hell is talking about sports!"

Curls again with dreads
D: "So you were in Africa for a bit, do you speak pidgin english"
C: "uumm, I speak english, but pigeons dont speak english!"
We all burst into laughter

Shreez: "21 is a fantastic movie"
Aussie girl: "oh I love that series, I am so addicted to it, cant wait for the new season"
S: "uumm I think your talking about 24!!!!"

Sailor: "dam, my computer just died.. $%&&%^%"
Shreez: "did it not give you a warning and why dint you plug it it"
Sailor: "I did plug it in.. oh wait I dint plug it into the computer, I just did a shreez!!"

X: "Ok dreads, so now you can only answer in yes or no form and think quick ok?"
Dreads: "Got it"
X: "Is there a number bigger than one?"
D: "2"
*every one rolling on the floor laughing*

Hiccups: "I have crumbs in my boobs, I am now going to go remove them!"

Hiccups (reading the newspaper) : "did you know that 37% of primates are endangered"
Hoops: Well we are lucky to have you around then dont we!

Now I've seen every thing

So I just have to blog about this. I am sitting in my office when some one from maintenance brings three godrej guys in. I am adamant that we dont have any godrej lockers and did not requite thier servicing facilities.

I was then told that godrej even makes computer chairs. (who would have thunk it!) and they were here to make sure the chairs were in running order.
So in come the three men (well its not a one man job as you can see), while one opens his notebook to note down the condition of the chair, the other is lookout to make sure no danger comes to the guy who is testing out the chair and then finally the man of the hour, the one with the delicate tooshie (you need one of those to test all the chairs out)

So he lowers his bum on my chair, leans back, wiggles a bit to make sure it all in working order and raises the chair and lowers it a number of times and then proclaims that the chair is in great working condition.

They then proceed to do this to the other 7 chairs in my office.

Now I've seen every thing!

The day I held a snake!

Ok, so every one pretty much knows how scared I am of snakes! I dont mind watching them on TV or even seeing them in a zoo. But the moment it is just roaming around in front of me I absolutely freak out.
I hyper ventilate, my heart races and tears instantly appear.
Yesterday Little One (LO) and wiggles went on a major lizard / snake hunt and they found a Bombay earth snake. Who ever said you dont have snakes in Kodai was obviously lying.

So when the found it and kept it in a box I was on pins and needles and if any one got it near me I jumped onto a chair. Dreads, Hoops, Wiggles and even LO were like its a harmless snake and almost like a big earth worm and I should hold it and get over my fear.

Today after dinner, the kids from Hoops dorm came into to see the snake and I decided it was time to get over this fear. I stuck my hand out and held on to hoops shoulder while wiggles gently lowered the snake (named bob) onto my hand. (note: the picture is not of me holding the snake but it is Bob)

I kept my eyes averted and tried slowing down my intense breathing (with no avail) while bob laid camly on my hand. He remained there for a few seconds.

But I DID IT!
I touched a snake.
Maybe I will get over this fear.
I am so proud :)

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!