India

About a week ago I returned from my first trip to India. "You'll either love it or hate it," frequent travelers told me. "India is an assault on your senses" and "India is an experience unlike any other," they said.

I wasn't really sure what to expect. Actually, I had just read the book and seen the movie "The 100-foot Journey," so I think that's the image I had in my head.

The area I was in definitely had more of the big city feel than I thought. But one day I went out to a village, and another day a local showed me around some markets. Those experiences felt more like the India I was expecting.

One thing that seemed every bit India was the traffic. The number of lanes changed constantly, because cars made new lanes with every (every!) spare inch of space, and the blaring horns never ceased.

I loved "tea time" every day (I LOVE chai!) and the beautiful, colorful dresses of the women.

I didn't have a lot of time for taking photos, but here are just a few.

First, I know this doesn't look like India, but let me explain:

One sip of my chai latte at Starbucks and I knew I was in India. Here, they make GOOD chai. And they DON'T use a tea bag like they do in my country. I went to Starbucks twice and savored every drop. AND, I hit up Krispy Kreme (but only once).

Can't go to India and not take pictures of the holy cows:

  A few village scenes:

And some street shots:

There's a McDonald's sign in the distance.
Some things are universal.

The yellow cabs are called
autos. I was glad for them
because it meant we didn't have to drive!

I have no idea how they sit like this all day:

Lots of Hindu temples and statues of gods:

Signs of Christmas:

Even found some
nativity scenes 

It's hard to tell in the photo, because I couldn't get much closer, but there's a parrot in that little box next to the woman. She was sitting in a line of other people along the street trying to tell peoples' fortunes. Not entirely sure what the parrot had to do with that...

Decorating

When I moved overseas for the first time decorating my house wasn't a high priority. Too many other things, like learning to drive, learning a new city and just adjusting to culture competed for my attention.

Now, I see that taking small steps to make my space actually feel like my space would have gone a long way in helping that adjustment.

I should have done this a long time ago, but finally, some of these blank walls are covered.

This is the elephant wall. Figured I might as well embrace it!

An elephant actually painted the tree on the right.

This picture is on paper known as Saa paper.
It's made from the mulberry flower. 

A fabric I found at the night market. 

Can't have an elephant wall without a North Carolina wall!

Wall hanging from India:

Even if I could read the local language, no way my penmanship is decorative art worthy. My language teacher translated the words "suffering," "endurance," "character," and "hope" and a local artist made these paintings for me:

The couch cushions, which are now a nice neutral green color, replaced some quite awful looking fabric. I braved the day market to get the fabric and a local seamstress re-covered the cushions.

I couldn't find cork boards like I wanted so I made my own:

These are from a big local craft event that happens every week. They just happen to be from the same place where a few months ago a bird pooped on my head and I learned that it's good luck...another post, another time:

I got the clock from a great pottery place in town. And the tree and ornament came via a care package from America.

And the kitchen:

Good thing about writing this post is that I had to clean up before I could take the photos :)