Merry Christmas from across the miles!

Homemade Xmas Decoration

Check out the Xmas tree decoration I made! I was admiring the red and blue balls that my German friend, Iris, had on display in her home and she gave me the raw materials to make two of my own. A styrofoam ball (she actually gave me a ball that seemed to be made out of packed paper/cotton), sequins, transparent beads (with the silver around the hole in the middle) and lots of short pins are all you need. I've made my first one and I just have one to go. But boy are they a lot of hard work! My fingers were hurting from trying to push the pins into the dense ball when I discovered I could use my coaster to push them in instead. But I bent a lot of pins in the process rendering them unusable. It's harder than it looks!

Material for a Fusion Cheongsam

My colleague borrowed my cheongsam (the Chinese black and red dress I have) to have it copied with some Chinese-looking fabric she got from Sikkim. Since it's my favourite dress, that gave me the idea to also have it copied... but with some Indian fabric instead so that I can have a unique fusion cheongsam! I was so excited about the idea that I went out fabric shopping right away and boy, do they have some nice fabrics in India. Here are the two I bought (I couldn't restrict myself to just one!). I can't wait to bring it to the tailor to get it made!

Xmas Caroling - Indian style

Christmas carolers from Saroj's church stopped by my house tonight, complete with a Santa Claus, carols in English and Hindi. What a treat to have Xmas caroling by Indians in India!

Debut Photography Exhibition Entitled "Mehndi - A Study"

Hm... it's time for bed and I just remembered that I'm supposed to take a picture of my mehndi at the peak of its darkness.


Trying to look non-chalantly pensive.


That doesn't look quite right.


Maybe I do need the flash after all.


Too far.


Oh, that's not attractive. Maybe I'll just focus on the hand...


What's with the orange soap? I need a better background...


Oops missed!


Not quite.


Too close.


Too much penguin pajama.


Good enough. I'm going to bed.

The Next Day...

Here's one more shot when it got even darker and I had someone else's help taking the picture.

Office Xmas Party

We had our office Xmas party today and it was a great success! I was the Canadian officer on the Xmas Party Planning Committee - little did I know when I volunteered that being the only Canadian meant that I'd be responsible for it! The whole committee really pitched in though and the party was a great success. The best Xmas Party our office has ever had was what one of our staff told me. This was the first time we had games and activities planned for both adults and children, instead of just having a dinner and chitchat. And I even introduced a tradition we have in Canada - a week-long Secret Santa activity that culminated at the office party. What other countries have Secret Santa? I was really happy that they enjoyed the Secret Santa activity, because from the reaction I got from some of the Canadians, I was worried that they thought it was too childish. (But who doesn't like receiving gifts everyday no matter what age you are, eh?)

We had tug of war, a three-legged race, one of our drivers dressed up as Santa Claus handing out gifts, a mehndi wallah, a tarot card reader and even musical chairs. (I had thought that musical chairs would be too childish, but the adults seemed to love it more than the kids!)


Here's a shot of me getting some mehndi done. I'll try to add more pictures including one of my hand now that the mehndi has darkened.

Do you want to do something for the environment?

Here's a way to do something easy to help clean the air in Canada. Just check out this link. It'll only take 5 minutes.

Where should I go next?

Next summer will mark the end of my two-year posting in Chandigarh. I have submitted my posting preferences list for my next posting, so now it's in the hands of my Assignment Officer. Here are the choices I put down:

1. London
2. New York
3. Sydney
4. Paris
5. Warsaw
6. Taipei

So now my question to you all is this:
If it were up to you, where would you send me?

Diva Update

I have now used the diva cup for two full cycles (see previous posts) and I have to say that I am fully satisfied. I will be starting a new cycle soon and I am not hesitant at all about using it. I can confidently say that I recommend the Diva Cup without reservations!

If you're interested in helping the environment or just saving money, then I suggest you order one and try it out for two cycles. Then if you don't like it, then you can return it for a full refund, no questions asked. You have a full year to return it.

If you do decide to order it, then please post a comment here. It could help encourage others to try too. Go ahead... take one for the planet!

Where have you been lately?

create your own visited countries map

I've been to 27 countries, but there are so many left to visit... Build your own map at http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedcountries

Indian photocopier

I photocopied some sheet music from my friend, Iris, the other day at this little shop in the market near my house. And boy did it take forever! The shopkeeper did all the photocopying for me because I guess that's how it's done here. The photocopier looked ancient with wires holding up the paper tray in a makeshift way. The printing was really light - probably to save on expensive toner. It reminded me of those old "ditto" photocopies we had at school - you know, the blue ones? (How did those copiers work anyway? I don't think I actually ever saw one. And why did they have to be blue?) The copies were really cheap though - just 1 Rupee per page (less than 3 cents). And you didn't have to pay for the ones where the copies got screwed up in some way (like being cut off).

By the way, if anyone wants to send me some sheet music here for my piano, then please do! I would love some good music, suited to the piano, to play. Or if you know of a good place online where I could order some, that would be great, too.

Musambi juice anyone?

Yummy! A glass of freshly squeezed musambi juice at your doorstep costs only 15 Rs a glass (37 cents in Canada). The musambi guy pushes the cart all around the neighbourhood just like the dickie dee guy used to do when we were young. It tastes almost exactly like orange juice, just a little less intense. Musambis are basically oranges that are greener on the outside and yellower on the inside. Normally the musambi seller provides the glass and you have to chug it on the spot so that he can have his glass back. But this time I had the foresight to bring some glasses from inside (and some ice cubes) so that we could enjoy them in the comfort of my house. Yum! Cheap freshly squeezed juice has got to be one of the best things about Asia.

Divadom: Days 2 to um... the rest!

*Warning: Post on feminine hygiene product.*

My apologies for the lapse in updates for all you eagerly awaiting the account of my ascent to Divadom. It was partly due to my usual difficulty updating my blog regularly and partly due to my apprehension at possibly giving the Diva cup a negative review. That had been my fear from the beginning - I want to turn people ON to eco-friendly products not OFF of them! Luckily, I'm a pretty honest ethical person, so you will get a true account from me - not like the false propaganda that I talked about in my previous post (don't get me started). So here goes:

After trying the diva cup for the first half of my period, I had the following thoughts:
- The end was still poking me which was rather uncomfortable and annoying (although not actually painful).
- My muscles down there (cervical muscles?) felt permanently tense (because they were holding this thing in place), which is the same complaint I have about tampons, but I don't think anyone else feels this way; it's just me.
- There was a teeny hint of an odour at times when I took it out, but usually nothing, which was a nice change.
- It was easy to wash out (you can basically just use water, but soap is recommended). I didn't worry at all about it not being clean - the silicone is quite inert, so there were no problems there.
- It never overflowed or anything like that.
- In the pamphlet, they recommend that you change it 2-3 times a day, every 10-12 hours. Sometimes I forgot about it and left it in longer with no problems (just that slight odour I mentioned before). This is a nice feature because you can wait to change it when you're back in the comfort of your own home. Although it would be easy enough to wipe out in a public washroom.
- It was still pretty gross. (I have a very low grossness tolerance when it comes to my period.) It was gross because to get it out, you have to stick your hand in to pull it out. However, it's not so bad when you get used to how to do it. You just bear down with your cervical muscles, which isn't very difficult at all, reach for the tip (which isn't far in) and wiggle it out, by trying to pinch the cup when you can reach it to break the seal, so that you don't get a suction effect. But in this way, you don't actually touch any of the menstruation part. However, when you try to empty it, the menstruation is quite thick (it's not just blood you know). Luckily the toilets in my Indian house have this weird spray thing that you can use instead of toilet paper (but I prefer the toilet paper so that you don't get your butt all wet!) I used this so that I still didn't have to touch anything to get it out. Barring that, you could use toilet paper to wipe it out.
- Putting it in again got a lot easier than the first time. However, this is the part where you might end up touching some menstrual "stuff". Yuck. But it washes off really easily. Still kind of weird though.
- Absolutely NO leaks! I wore a pantyliner, but really didn't need to.

The grossness and discomfort were giving me serious thoughts about quitting but I had told myself that I would at least try it for one full period. So I made an adjustment to improve the experience. As recommended in the manual for this "poking" problem, I cut off 1/4 inch off the tip and that solved that problem quite nicely. Also, over the last half of my period, that clenching feeling was gone! I guess I got used to it? Or maybe I was just positioning it better? This was a really nice development. The grossness was still there, but I was getting used to it, as well as being able to avoid some of it while getting better at the whole thing. And I managed to improve at inserting and extracting the cup, so that became a simple process.

So now that my period is over, I am feeling more optimistic about the whole thing. I'm going to give it one more cycle before I make a final decision and give away all my tampons and pads (I stockpiled A LOT for my posting - just ask my housemates and anyone who visited the bathroom while I was doing my inventory!)

Although the diva cup is a little more gross than the alternatives, it is much more convenient, way cheaper and it makes me less self-conscious because nobody can tell I have my period (i.e. no more wondering about the smell, trying to inconspicuously take a pad/tampon out of my bag and go to the washroom with it, trying to make used pads inconspicuous in other people's bathroom garbage cans, or worse, figuring out what to do when someone doesn't have a garbage can in their bathroom (you cruel cruel insensitive people!).)

But best of all, I won't be leaving a huge mountain of used pads and tampons in a landfill as my legacy to the Planet Earth. It feels really good to reduce my impact on the planet. And isn't that worth a little grossness?

The Death of the Crocodile Hunter

Okay, okay, I realise I'm probably the last person in the world to have heard that Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter died. But I have an excuse this time - I'm isolated in Chandigarh!

I used to watch his show all the time and marvel at his crazy stunts, as well as learn tons of cool facts about ferocious crocodiles, poisonous snakes and deadly spiders. The best was one segment where he got bit by a small snake by the side of the road at night. (He got bit quite often, it seemed.) He had his flashlight out, rapidly flipping through a book when he found the page he was looking for. "Yess! NOT poisonous! Woohoo!" he exclaimed (or something to that effect).

The only reason I could watch his show at all was because I knew that if he had actually died during filming, I would have heard about it on the news long before the show aired (although that theory doesn't seem to be that good, in retrospect).

He actually lost his dog, who was on the show for the first few seasons, on a show when he fell into crocodile-infested waters never to surface again. What was his name? Sueeee! Or something like that?

It's sad that he's gone. He did a great deal to inform the public about the less "cute" creatures of this planet.

Jim's Manifesto

There is a line between public relations and propaganda - or there should be. And there is a difference between using your skills, in good faith, to help rescue a battered reputation and using them to twist the truth - to sow confusion and doubt on an issue that is critical to human survival.

And it is infuriating - as a public relations professional - to watch my colleagues use their skills, their training and their considerable intellect to poison the international debate on climate change.

That's what is happening today, and I think it's a disgrace. On one hand, you have the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the largest and most rigorously peer-reviewed scientific consensus in history, advising that:

climate change is real;
it is caused by human activity; and
it is threatening the planet in ways we can only begin to imagine.

On the other hand, you have an ongoing public debate - not about how to respond, but about whether we should bother, about whether climate change is even a scientific certainty. ...

Check out the rest of Jim's manifesto and Jim's Desmog Blog. The latest post is an interesting one about the PR technique called Astroturfing where PR companies create fake "grassroots" organisations to promote their own interests.

Day 1 of Divadom

*WARNING: POSTING ABOUT FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCT*

So it's nearing the end of Day One of That Time of the Month. This morning, I put in the diva cup. It wasn't too difficult but I had trouble following the last part of the directions because I think I may have pushed it in a little too far. The last part of the directions says that you should pinch the cup and rotate it one full circle to make sure it's in place. If it rotates easily, then you're good to go. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a grip on the slippery little sucker! I pulled it out a little to try and get a better grip, but with no luck. Since, as usual, I'd left myself too little time to get ready for work, I ran out of time and just put on a pantyliner and hoped that the cup would work.

So far, no leaking, no smell, no mess, no nothing. I'm impressed! Of course, I can't be sure yet that my period has actually started, but it's usually pretty regular. The only bad thing so far has been that the stem at the bottom has been kind of poking me - I think because I pulled it out too far.

Next step, to try taking it out. Stay tuned, or not, if this is too gross. I won't be offended. ;)

My first camel ride!

In preparation for my Rajasthan trip in October, I made a trip to the Rock Garden in Chandigarh with a special mission in mind that, surprisingly, had nothing to do with rocks. My friend, Alex and I want go on a camel trek from Pushkar and camp overnight in the desert. But before I sign on to what I'm told will be a groin-wrenching 8 hour camel ride, I needed to figure out if I was allergic to camels. Considering I'm allergic to almost all (if not all) furry animals, this was a serious possibility.

So I sped my way through the maze of the Rock Garden, weaving in and out of the Indian tourists, to finally reach the bizarre carnival-like area where a single camel offers rides to children. To my slight embarrassment, I asked to ride the camel around the little area. After the 5 minute ride, I felt nothing, which was a good sign. But 5 minutes in the open air wasn't exactly a good test. But I balked at the idea of just sticking my face in the camel's dirty fur, because 1) it was dirty, 2) I didn't want the camel to bite me, 3) it would have made me look crazy. So I settled for just petting the fur and then rubbing my hand on my face while breathing in to try to provoke some kind of reaction. All I got was a small bump on my lip.

So, I'm hoping that means I can go on a short one-day camel trek and still camp out in the desert, I hope. I'll take an antihistamine and it'll be fine... (?)


Although it sounds really lame, it was SO fun to ride the camel! The last time I got to do something like that was when I was a little kid and rode a pony. Since then, I've been allergic, so this was a real treat. :D

Be a Diva!

** WARNING TO MEN: POST ABOUT FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCT **

I finally got sick of using pads/tampons and seeing all the waste it produces and decided to order a diva cup. It's a reusable silicone cup that you insert sort of like a tampon except you can leave it in longer, there's no danger of Toxic Shock Syndrome, it doesn't leak and it doesn't smell... or so the very comprehensive website advertises. I am determined to get over my "Ew it must be gross!" aversion and try it during my next cycle. Imagine instead of a lifetime mountain of used pads or tampons (gross!), a single easily washible little cup as your contribution to the Earth. And you save money too!

I ordered it on their website ($39.50 CAD) and got it delivered to India - imagine that! They accept international orders and seem to deliver anywhere, and fast too. I got it within a week and a half in a discreet small (unwasteful) package.

If you're interested in reducing your impact on the environment, then I suggest you check out their website. They have a really good FAQ to answer all your questions. And if you're still a little squeamish (like me), then check my blog in a couple of weeks when it's that time of the month again to see how I do.

Now I can't chicken out. Wish me luck!


It even comes with a diva pin that you can use to (discreetly) advertise your support for the diva cup.

Lazy Sunday

Reading my book while sitting on my balcony during the rain. So relaxing, but still surprisingly humid and hot. I gotta get one of these (i.e. a covered balcony) when I grow up and buy a house.

Break a leg!* or Things you don't have to worry about in Canada: The ongoing saga**

Does anyone remember WAY back when we were in Grade 3 and I broke my leg in the playground, by slipping on an invisible patch of ice while imagining I was racing to the lineup to beat the classmate leisurely strolling in? I got to have a cast (in plaster - those were the days) and use super-fun crutches that everyone clamoured to try out because they were so small. I loved all that attention! I even gave my first public speaking assigment on the whole experience (you may not remember that part, the speech was a little dull).

Anyway last night, Alice (a trainee from UK) and I were walking the short distance from my house to the Silk Lounge to see her friend deejay, but we only managed to get to the end of my street. Trainees, do you remember the little fence that we climbed over so many times to get to Madhya Marg? Anyone remember the broken concrete sewer grate with a big hole in it right before the fence? Well, neither did I. One minute I was walking and the next, I had half my leg in the road.

Boy did it ever hurt. I scraped my shin on the concrete on the way down and bruised up my leg pretty bad. Luckily my legs are short so I didn't reach any sewage or anything (yuck!). I limped back to my house trying to remember what I had learned in first aid (apparently very little).

I washed, hummed and hawed about which bandage to use in my virgin first aid kit, worried about whether I should try to find some antiseptic or not, etc, etc, until I finally had it bandaged up with some ice sitting on top. It still hurt like crazy and after staying up until 3 in the morning, dutifully icing it on and off, I climbed upstairs, bum first, and crawled into bed.

Only to be woken up at 6am by my own realisation that maybe all this persistent pain meant that I had actually broken it, and that was when Worrying Sam revived herself from her long hiatus in full force. I started to panic and searched my brain for someone to call for advice at this obscene hour. I settled on Calgary as the timezone of choice and ended up speaking to a very surprised Kent.

He patiently calmed me down, quelling my pre-worries, by saying such things as no, he didn't think my bone would have started healing already from a fracture I wasn't yet sure I had, leading to an increase in the amount of excruciating pain I imagined I was going to feel, if they had to set the still unconfirmed fracture.

Anyway, to make a long story a little shorter, I eventually made my way to the prestigious Fortis Hospital to get it x-rayed, had the very Indian experience of having 5 people, including the security guard, huddled around me as the doctor took a preliminary look at my leg in the middle of the ER waiting room, and found out to my relief that my tibia is perfectly intact. So no broken bones for me. Phew!

And... I got to keep my x-ray! How incredibly cool! That was definitely the best part. Crisis averted.

(Would it be very geeky of me to have the x-ray framed??)

*Credit goes to Kent for the witty title of this blog post.
**I.E. Falling into holes in the road.

My Trip Home: The Germany Leg

My gracious hosts

For my trip home this year, I decided to fly Lufthansa so that I could stop over for free in Frankfurt to visit my good friends, Johanna and Ben. I met them while they were on an AIESEC traineeship in Chandigarh last year and they graciously invited me to come visit them.

I arrived EARLY in the morning and although I didn't know it at the time, Ben and Hanna had had to get up at something like 4am to take the train in to meet me at the airport. And when I exited the transit area, they were there waiting with a big handmade sign welcoming me! Aren't they sweet?

We spent the day in Frankfurt observing some of the World Cup madness (no I didn't watch any matches), before being picked up by Johanna's parents, driving out of the city to meet Johanna's sister for a Greek dinner, and then being dropped off at Johanjimin's Ikea-themed apartment in Koblenz.

I had a fantastic time in Germany and definitely want to go back there someday. It had all the normal features of Europe (plenty of cafés, cobblestone walkways, old castles, high-quality fresh food, etc), plus the Germans were really friendly, there was apple juice everywhere (Ben - I was even able to order apfelsaft on the flight back to India), and German words are fun to pronounce.

Johanna's family took me out for some delicious Greek food in a restaurant decorated in a World Cup theme, of course. They even gave me a little present - a coffee table book about the region. :)


Check out the giant tv screen set up on the Main river to watch World Cup matches.


Soccer rules posted on all the public garbage cans in Frankfurt


The mascot of the World Cup. Johanna thinks he's indecent because he doesn't wear any pants, which made me want to laugh every time I saw him.


Even famous German philosopher, Goethe, was getting into the World Cup Mania!


A german sex shop chain started and named after an old German lady. Apparently they're all over Germany. As appears to be the European way, there were sex shops right in the middle of downtown Frankfurt.


German cycle-rickshaws!


Japanese tourists taking photos of the blonde white woman getting married. It cracks me up that this happens in Germany too! I guess it's not just an Indian thing.


In Germany, a civil wedding ceremony is necessary whether or not you have a religious ceremony as well. Outside of City Hall, here's a bride following the tradition of cutting a heart out of this banner using tiny scissors so that her groom can carry her through it.

Grocery Store Wars!

Check out this funny, but very silly video. It'll take about 10 minutes to watch.

Go Organics! Did you know that organic food is even available in India?

Corruption in India

Sitting in a taxi in Delhi the other day while pulling up to a traffic light, a police officer came over and started yelling and waving his hands about.  He was demanding driver’s licenses from my taxi and the taxi next to us at the same time and the drivers were arguing with him.  My driver handed his license over while the other continued arguing.  From the beginning, it was completely obvious what was going on – the police officer was threatening to fine them for whatever insignificant or imagined traffic violation so that they would pay him bribes.  The officer actually got into the other taxi driver’s car to harass him some more before making him pull over, get out of the taxi to the side of the road.  My driver got out and handed him a 50 Rs note to get his license back.  Then when presumably the police officer has extracted money from the other taxi driver, he came around to the other side of my taxi and started harassing the car next to us that was filled with a well-to-do Indian family.  Could it be that all three cars stopped at the red light had coincidentally committed traffic violations?  I think not.  I had half a mind to tell him off and almost did, although that might not have been the smartest idea.  That someone would take advantage of his own people like that, especially those already struggling to make a living, is just despicable.  

“Bad police officer?” I asked.
“Very bad.  In India, they are all very very bad, “ he responded.

And all I could do to help was to hand him 50 Rs tip at the end.  Now I understand better why my interpreters freeze up when I interview a police officer.  They don’t like them either.

Autumn in Chandigarh?

Driving down the street to work this morning, I noticed golden leaves fluttering down in the breeze and that the streets were lined with them. It seems that instead of the leaves dropping in the Fall as the first frost hits and the trees conserve their energy for winter, they instead jump ship before the onslaught of the unbearably hot summer. Just to give you an idea of what the weather is like here these days, here is the weather forecast for tomorrow:

Tomorrow
Sunny
Low: 20 ºC
High: 37 ºC

And this isn’t even the peak of the hot weather. I miss the “winter” here already. The winter felt more like Fall weather back home – temperatures of about 10 – 15 degrees Celsius for a stretch of four or five months. Ahh… that was nice.

All I can say is, "Wow!"

Here are some pictures of the new Akshardham Temple Monument to World Peace in New Delhi that my colleague sent me. The Swaminarayan Akshardham took the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha 5 years to construct. (Try saying that 3 times fast!)

The Akshardham monument, built without steel, is entirely composed of sandstone and marble. It consists of 234 ornately carved pillars, 9 ornate domes, 20 quadrangled shikhars, a spectacular Gajendra Pith (plinth of stone elephants) and 20,000 murtis and statues of India's great sadhus, devotees, acharyas and divine personalities.

Akshardham means the eternal, divine abode of the supreme God, the abode of eternal values and virtues of Akshar as defined in the Vedas and Upanishads where divine bhakti, purity and peace forever pervades.

Yet another monument to add to the impressive list of sites to see in Delhi!

Dating in India

For those of you wondering why I'm not dating any locals in India, this will give you an idea of part of the reason. It's a funny article written from the guy's perspective about dating a Sikh Indian girl, and it also gives interesting insight into life in India. I live in the Punjab which is mostly Sikh. Thanks to Kevin for posting it on the trainee blog.

Ahh... the things you have to worry about in India: the sequel.

My colleague passed on the following amusing message to me, which she received in response to her complaint that there was no running water in her house:

Just a quick update, I had a call from [name omitted] and apparently monkeys were on the roof of sector [omitted] yesterday. They damaged the tank and also stole the water level controller and as a result the tank on the roof did not fill up from the ground tank that is connected to the city water supply. They are making all of the necessary repairs, but are also installing some further locks so that the monkeys, should they return, will not be able to access the tanks.

"Further locks" ?! Does that mean the monkeys picked the existing locks?

Happy Holi!

I arrived in Delhi last night and am staying over at my good friends, Steff and Kath's place. Tonight, I'll be catching the midnight flight to Singapore for a little vacation (and yes I double and triple checked the date this time).

I decided to take advantage of my time in Delhi today to stock up on some food supplies to take back to Chandigarh. My goal was to buy some bacon and some cheddar cheese, which are rare commodities in the sleepy city of Chandi. So, I walked from Club Canada to the compound gate and asked the guard to call me a taxi. He dutifully did so and recited the taxi license plate number to me so that I could verify that it was the same car he had called.

I got into the little black mini-van taxi and greeted the turbanned driver with a 'Saas ri kaal'. As per normal, I had to ask him to uncover the meter so that I could see that it was showing a reasonable amount and that he actually had it running.

During the drive to the Lodi Market, I noticed a man with a pink face riding a motorcycle, which didn't quite register because crazy sights in India are a common occurrence, then I noticed a pedestrian with a purple face and shirt... then it dawned on me. "Oh no!" I thought. "Today is the start of Holi!" As Saroj had explained to me a few days earlier, on Holi you can't get angry if complete strangers runs up to you and smear coloured wet powder on your face, pour a bucket of it down your pants, or squirt coloured water at you with a watergun! So, if you don't want to get dyed, then you hide at home. The official holiday at work isn't until tomorrow, so I had forgotten that it is actually a two-day event. As I looked down at my white jacket and cream linen pants, I contemplated asking the taxi driver to turn around. Instead, I decided that when the driver asked me if he could wait for me to finish my errands so that he could take me back to the embassy, this time, I would wisely agree, in order to minimise the chances of being Holi'd.

Luckily, my errands were completed without incident. Don't get me wrong, I think that Holi is a fantastic idea and just perfect for colourful India, but I'm not sure I'm ready to walk through the streets of Singapore with purple skin! Maybe next year...

More Hockey

Rob, the LA Kings Junior Team coach who played on our Canadian hockey team up in Leh, has written an article about his trip and it is now posted on the LA Kings website. Just click on Local Hockey in the upper right corner, then click on 03 in the purple at the lower right hand corner of the top box. From there, you can click to see the article, entitled Local Hockey Spotlight, which will appear at the bottom right of the page. (Sorry it's so complicated. I'd link you directly to the page, but it's not set up to allow that.) The article includes a short video as well.

Ahh... the things you have to worry about in India.

The total of my electricity bill was three times the total of my last bill. I was informed today by my office that they are sending someone over to the house to check it out as they suspect that someone is siphoning off my electricity. This is a very common occurrence in a country where most people do not pay for their electricity as can be deduced from the tangle of electricity wires seen almost everywhere.

Ahh.. the things you have to worry about in India that would never occur to you in Canada.

Pimpin' Oscar

Though I missed out on my biennial ritual of watching the Olympics, I didn't miss watching the Oscars this year. And I have to say that watching the delayed broadcast here was a LOT easier than taping it in Canada and then watching it later... as in nobody spoiled the results for me here!

Thanks to Jean, we managed to watch a few of the Oscar picks from the small DVD collection that she had brought back from her recent trip to Malaysia. Brokeback Mountain, Walk the Line, and Good Night and Good luck were the three that we saw. Armed with that limited knowledge and whatever hype we had heard through the grapevine, we carefully chose our Oscar picks and had our voting sheets laid out in front of us. So last night, Jean, Nacho, Jamie and I settled in my TV room with some dinner in front of us to watch the beloved Oscars.

We watched the show while volunteering the usual catty remarks about everything from the dresses worn and the quality of the acceptance speeches. As usual, Jack Nicholson had a magnetic presence in the front row of the audience. Anyone count how many times the camera showed him sitting there all cool in his sunglasses? It must have been at least 30... and he wasn't even nominated for anything.

The biggest surprise for me was which song won - It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp from the movie Hustle & Flow. I can't believe that a rap song with the word 'pimp' in it won! Go Academy!

As for who won our little awards prediction contest, that was me! I got 10 categories right, but mostly in the obscure categories like live action short, animated short, foreign film, etc. Not bad considering I guessed those categories purely based on the titles of the films (like how "Tsotsi" sounded the most foreign in the foreign film category).

I look forward to watching more of the Oscar picks over the next few weeks. I just saw Memoirs of a Geisha tonight at the one cinema that shows films in English - Fun Republic.

Another update - Hockey Night in the Himalayas

I finished Days 2.5 to 5, so the blog postings are now complete. Sorry for the delay! There are lots of great photos, so if you don't have time to read it all, just look at the pictures. Days 1-4 are in the January Archives (see the side bar on the right), while Day 5 is in the February Archive, all the way at the bottom.

These two banners were also hanging at the edge of the rink. I love what the red one says: All is calm at LOC (Line of Control - i.e. the border) because of ceasefire, but not on the ice hockey rink at Leh.

We all know Canadians are polite, but did you know they're also sneaky?

In the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, you may have heard that the Canadian icemaker buried a lucky loonie (Canadian one dollar coin) under centre ice to propel our Men's and Women's hockey teams to Olympic gold.

Well, our icemakers in Turin had the same idea. A pair of loonies were buried in the curling ice sheet where we won 2 medals, as well as a solid gold maple leaf in the ice of the short-track speed skating where we won 8 medals.

Now what I want to know is - how are all our zamboni guys infiltrating foreign ice sheets? Are our ice technicians some kind of celebrities in the ice world? Do other countries look to Canadians and their experience making home-made rinks in their backyards to build some of the best ice sheets in the world? Anyone know anything about our little known prowess in this field?

Old post - Hockey in the Himalayas

I finally got around to putting some more pictures up of my trip. The only problem is that I started the draft of the post back in January and I can't reset the date on it so that it appears as a new post. So, just click on January on the right-hand toolbar and you'll find it there. I added Days 1 and 2. Days 3-5 to follow... someday.

Two incredible women

Woohoo! Two more medals! Clara Hughes (above) won us gold and Cindy Klassen (above-above) bronze in the women's 5,000 metres long-track speed-skating event. Reading about these two women on the CBC website (my Olympics coverage bible), I am really impressed. Clara Hughes became the first Canadian to win medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics (I knew I recognised her as the redhead who won two medals in mountain biking!) And Cindy Klassen now has the Canadian record both for the most medals won in a single Olympics with 5 medals at these games, as well as the most medals overall - 6.

Wow, we now have 22 medals! Canada has won more medals this time than in any other Winter Olympics (17 in Salt Lake City). What momentum to carry us through to Vancouver 2010. I hope I'm in the country to watch it and experience the excitement.

Guess I'm not so lazy today after all

Here are some of my photos of the Rural Olympics:


Bullock cart races: I love how the riders are lying on a slant. They were slapping the bull's butts to make them run faster. But then I saw one guy with his hand reaching under - I don't even what to know what he was doing!



Wrestling in the foreground - look at that guy flip! And kabaddi in the background - the raider (the single guy) has to touch one of the defenders(?) (the four guys holding hands) and then run away to cross the center line before losing his breath. The defenders do anything they can to stall him (i.e. grab his legs, push him down, catch his foot while he's running away causing what must be a very dangerous fall, ...) All with no equipment, not even shoes. This shot is taken while the raider is trying to find the best way to tag one of the defenders.


Doesn't this just look so wrong? Wrestling is weird to watch.


And here's the chase in kabaddi.


These might have been the horses that were used later in the spearing-an-unidentifiable-object-lying-on-the-ground-while-galloping-past event.


And here's a dancing horse!