Yup, the water is salty. Thanks Husband for the very interesting photographic moment. 
Ok. I really do love this area of the world (no sarcasm intended). But, 6 days until the home country, my mum and dad, my friends, Moody's (the best place on the planet for breakfast), my favorite book store and, and, and.......
This flamingo was just too cool not to get a snap of him (or her). Flamingos get their pink color from the food they eat. Guess this bird hasn't been eating his red crustaceans lately. 
Yup. A camel or "camie" as Munchkin #2 calls them. This was a mummy camie. The baby camie we got to pet. Great fun. Munchkin #2 is so ready to ride one!
Remember how I came home sick from India and had to miss three days of work? Well, Munchkin #2 started with upset stomach at 1am last night and it went until around 11am this morning. She's kept fluid and food down so now she just needs rest. But, at least we know it wasn't India but the stomach bug that's being going around the school. 
When we finally arrived at the wedding site, it was time for the bride's family to take over the festivities. There was a HUGE buffet dinner - probably more selection than at a Luby's. Of course, the munchkins went straight for the Chinese rice and noodles.
There was a main seating area around the food that overlooked the huge platform with 'thrones' for the bride and groom. There was a tent area with seating for men and women from the bride and groom's sides. Under the tent area were two ceremonial areas. The first area was a white square with a small fire in the middle and loads of flowers. The second area was a raised and covered area (like a little stage) covered in flowers.
As people arrived, certain guests were given garlands of fresh flowers. Munchkin #2 was very pleased about that! Munchkin #1 wasn't too sure what to think! Certain guests sat near the white square ceremonial area - men and women separately. Some male guests were wrapped in turbans, and my husband got one. The turbans were a from the bride's father. My husband still has his and was VERY pleased and honored to have a received one.
At this point, the munchkins realized that this was a safe grassy place filled with kids from the two families. Since the local kids spoke English, my munchkins were soon roving around with the pack and having a blast! Munchkin #1 commented at the end of the evening, "Wow, I've made so many new friends in India." Excellent.
It was now time for a bit of ceremony. The groom and the bride's father sit facing one another with the little fire between them on the white square area. My husband was asked to sit with the groom (yet another honor). Evidently, this was time for ritual and final 'negotiations' between the groom and the bride's family.
After the ceremony among the men on the square was over, it was time for the bride to make an appearance. And what a bride she was! Beautiful does not describe her. She came into the tent area covered with a red shawl/veil with gold trim. After women in her family removed the cover, we could all see her extraordinary dress. First, her hands were so covered in intricate henna/menhdi designs you could barely see her skin. Her dress was brilliant red with aqua blue accents and absolutely dripping with sparkling little white gems. Her hair was 'done up' and pinned in the back. The back of her hair was a lovely mass of ringlet curls. (By the way, the groom was also handsome and truly looked like a king of old in his wedding finery.) The bride was then recovered by ladies in her family and walked up to the platform area with the two 'thrones' to be with the groom.
Once the bride and groom were up on the platform, they exchanged garlands in a bit of ceremony. It's part of the fun for the bride and groom to make it a bit difficult for each other to get the garlands on their partner. After wedding photos of the bride and groom, it was time for guests to give the couple blessings. This could be words or words and gifts. For many, this is words and a gift of cash.
After the blessings, most people had gone home at this point. We had a cup of coffee and visited with people a while longer. The families of the bride and groom stay all night and the final actual wedding ceremony is done in the wee hours of the morning with just the families present. So even after all that had taken place so far, the bride and groom were still not fully married!
After a brief rest, it was time for us to part ways with Ms. P. We truly enjoyed her laughter and now friendship.
On the drive back into Mumbai/Bombay, I unfortunately became quite ill. Rather than stopping the car, it was easier just to hang my head out the window. For those of you who remember the teft stacks in Ethiopia, just opening the window was much easier than dealing with the alternative! We arrived at the airport with time to spare, and I was grateful to find a Subway with Sprite and comfy reclining type chairs near our gate. I used my long shawl as a blanket and gratefully passed out. (FYI: at the wedding there was no booze and no meat.) It was several days before I could really eat again.
I don't remember much of the flights home, but even with having to be out sick from work for three days, our trip to India was TOTALLY worth it. I am so grateful to the groom for the invitation and the hospitality of all those we met. I only wish I could help the bride adjust to her new country (My new friend if you are reading this - where you are moving to is a wonderful place, and I can't wait to go out for coffee with you there sometime!). Blessings to all of you.
Wow. Where shall I begin? "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start" (Recognize the line/tune Mom?). Yes, folks, we made the trip to India for our friend's wedding. The video is the groom's wedding procession. You can hear folks in the background saying to watch out for the horse droppings (there were 4 horses in the procession). Droppings were avoided by all I knew around me, and well, what a party!!!!
Had an uneventful trip from the 'middle east' to Mumbai/Bombay, India. When we walked out of the airport, we were greeted by the groom's brother and a friend of the groom's from the groom's adopted country (we'll call her Ms. P - a VERY educated, VERY accomplished lady. We made a new friend right away!) We parted ways with the groom's bro, and our little family and Ms. P were taken in a nice Ford SUV by private driver no less to Pune, India. The drive was around 4 1/2 hours. What a drive - up into the mountains.
We arrived safely in Pune and stayed at the Executive Hotel. The bride's family would not even consider us paying for our own room. I'm still blown away by the generosity of all the people we met. Our hotel was comfortable and clean and had LOADS of steamy hot water and, Cartoon Network in Hindi. So, needless to say, the family was more than comfortable.
We got up fairly early in the morning, had a nice buffet breakfast with made to order eggs at our hotel, coffee with loads of milk and sugar, and about 5 bowls of chocolate cereal for Munchkin #1. We were wired and ready for the day.
We needed to find me a dress/outfit that was appropriate for the wedding. So....thanks to our driver and Ms. P (who grew up in Pune but now lives in Houston), we began the explorations. We first tried a 'western' style mall, but I was really looking for something with more local flavor (after all, I have another wedding to attend back in the home country and I like to wear different stuff). Well, with a recommendation from Ms. P's sister-in-law (Ms. P's brother is a retired Bollywood actor - quite famous), we found a great shop. Well, I guess a lady married to a Bollywood actor would know a GREAT place to find an outfit.
When we went into this great shop, it was a truly designer kind of place (I'm still amazed we bought something in there). It was not as expensive as I would have expected. But, it truly showed the two different sides of Pune. The lush, beautiful and monetarily powerful and 'outside' the severe poverty of homes made from whatever building materials are at hand. Ms. P believes that India's poverty is part of it's current power. People want to no longer be poor, so they are working very hard to improve their standard of living. Interesting stuff to think about.......
Fancy outfit found (thanks Husband for the present of that shopping bag!), we headed for lunch at a Chinese restraunt Ms. P knew. Yummy, yummy, yummy. Of course, the kids eat anywhere in the world where there's rice and noodles. And, ice cream for dessert (thanks Ms P).
Now, it was time to REALLY explore Pune. With Ms. P having grown up in Pune, she knew the good places to go. We found a shopping area with tiny stores just busting with things. The best was the 'textile' shop. If you get the stack of email photos, that's the place where we're sitting buried under merchandise being displayed for us. Mom, this is the place your Christmas present came from - truly awesome shop. It literally felt like being submerged in culture. Yards and yards of fabrics to make Punjabi dresses, yards of Sari's - many covered in tiny little gems, stacks of shawls, pillow covers and a bajillion other things that can be made from fabric. Awesome. Gee, I wish I had bought more. What a place.
That night, we were invited to attend a dinner with Ms. P at the bride's house. I think we were like representatives of the groom's to an important function/precurser to the wedding. The bride's mom made, truly, the best Indian food I've ever had. The bride's lady family members sang to us while playing a drum and then Ms. P and I (no men allowed) were invited/pulled into a back room for dancing. I was expected to dance which I tried to do with gusto and to the best of my ability. Unbeknownst to me, someone told my husband, "Hey, your wife's dancing!" So, the Husband just had to have a peek. Next thing I knew, I looked out the door and there is the husband clapping for me. I was SO imbarrased because I was TOTALLY caught off guard. Well, one of the bride's aunties (a distinguished older lady in a sari) pulled me out of view and shot the husband the dirtiest look you ever saw! But, she felt better when she was told that he was my husband. We got some good laughs from that! After I got to dance with the bride, one of the aunties pulled me aside and said, "You are my daughter" - a VERY high compliment. It has to have been one of the more memorable evenings of my life.
Ok. I need some sleep. More of the India story later! Peace.
Well, last night's party was quite an experience. Full dinner, bar (just drank Perrier - I wanted to remember everything in the morning), 1200 guests, fireworks, laserlight show, live band with dancing, and a demonstration/performance by the Shaolin Monks. What a night. 
Need some new sunglasses? How about a stylish pair complete with barnacles and a sea squirt (at least I think that's what the black blob is)? We find weird things some days.
Sorry this snap is a bit blurry. I've 'cropped' it a bit, and I took it from quite a distance back so....anyhow....
Ok. This just feels wrong somehow. It's so hot out one wears flip flop sandals and shorts and yet stands in a mall looking at a Christmas display with Arabic writing on the window. Then, one goes back outside into the now not so steamy oven and watches some sand blowing around. Ok. 'Nuff said. 
What have I done this weekend? Gone out to dinner, slept in twice, read magazines, gone shopping, sat on the patio and read some more, watched Munchkin #1 swim, and had the new sleeper sofa/futon thing delivered. And, Munchkin #2 attended a sleepover party at a friend's house, and Munchkin #1 and I got to go out shopping and spent some fun time together. Bliss.
In reference to the above snap: Dad does the swimming and looking for stuff, Munchkin #2 does the examination of the found critters and objects. Oh yeah, we have fun.
I love watching my kids. It just amazes me how fast they are growing. At least they still like to sandwich me in on the sofa to watch cartoons. Sigh....I have a nice mum life. 
Today was a good day. The husband is away in business (not so good), but I'm working another hour each week (3 extra total). My 'head for numbers' is in demand. It's nice to be appreciated. And, even though the husband is away, he has his Blackberry at last (he calls it the 'BlackBurp'), and he paid some big deposit for global roaming. So....no more communication troubles. Bliss at least for me.
Hola! Como estas? Ok. I've had a touch of fun lately making a feeble attempt to use a bit of my Espanol. Kinda weird; living in the Middle East and using Spanish. Sigh......
Ok. Here's the really cool thing: Some of you may have read or heard something like this before, but frankly, I think it's just TOO cool not to share. I can only give a piece of it, but for those of you who know where I went while working towards a master's degree - this is from the mission statement of the place of employment of a VERY dear friend/sister from that time in my life. "Live fully, love wastefully, and lead courageously." I wish I could write more about it here, but hopefully you all will get where this statement is coming from. 
Well, here is an older photo (a few months) of the villas/homes on Palm Jumeirah. Thought folks might find this interesting. I can't remember if I've ever posted a pic/snap like this before.
Ok. This isn't a Halloween photo, but I thought it was pretty cute. Here we have Munchkin #2 prepared for a paperwad fight with the family (we had SO much fun making a big mess). She is wearing her bandanna mask, has a Star Wars tie-fighter piece as a shield, and paper holsters for her paper wads (ammo). Really, way too much fun.
Wow. It's been a long day. Got a 'new guy' at work - very sweet, but doesn't speak much of a language I can understand. The next few weeks shall prove interesting. For those of you who KNOW what I do for a living, this will make a bit more sense. 
Gee, I love twisty roads. Great stuff to explore. This snap is from lovely 4X4 road.
Oh yeah. We had a good morning! Check it out! The husband woke me up WAY too early this morning to tell me, "Hey! No wind! The water is BEAUTIFUL!" Well, it took about half an hour to haul myself up, but once I saw that water, I knew I had to jump in! 
Well, now that I've had a full week back and at work and got to sleep for about 10 hours straight, I'm back on my computer.
Today the munchkins and I visited a zoo that didn't really feel like a zoo. It was awesome. There was a very long elevated wooden walkway. As we walked, you looked down on what was essentially Norwegian forest with a bit of fence in it. We saw lynxes, moose, arctic wolves, white fox all up close and personal in their natural habitat. Really, stunning stuff. Other places in the zoo was just pathway through the forest. All these snaps, and the video, are from the zoo today. We were there all day with heavy coats, a backpack and fruit, cookies and bread. I think we'll all be ready for dinner and some sleep a bit later! FYI: turn your volume way up on the video; you can here the lynx talking to each other in the forest.
It's been an awesome day. We walked for over 7 hours today. Our day began with yet another massive breakfast buffet. Yum, yum. We then headed out on foot for the Historical Museum. Wonderful place. Loads of viking artifacts and kid friendly exhibits. I can't post it (I'll email it out when we get home), but I took an awesome snap of Munchkin #1 holding a model of a viking shield and looking ready to go out on a raid. Super fun stuff! In addition to viking bits, the museum had a large 'medieval' area containing artifacts from medieval era churches. The best part was the painted ceiling from an old Norwegian medieval church - Al Stave Church - late 13th century. The postcards I bought to keep of the ceiling just don't do it justice.
Wow! We've got four days here in Oslo, and it's not enough! This place is beautiful. But first, the journey here. The husband and I slept a hair over 3 hours on the flight out of the 'Middle East' into Amsterdam. We couldn't sleep the rest of it, so we enjoyed the in flight movies. The munchkins slept a good bit longer.Tonight we walked the approximately 10 blocks from our hotel down to the waterfront. Most of the restaurants were pricey and inside seating was not available. The outside seating offered heat lamps and blankets while you ate. Really different. We walked a touch off the beaten path and found a really local pizza place where our whole meal was the price of one plate at the waterfront.
Food here, even in the grocery stores, is really expensive. At the grocery tonight, I bought 4 large rolls, the husband grabbed a small package of local cookies/biscuits, and the bill came to 50 kroners which is around $8 U.S. There appears to be a 25% tax on restaurant food, and there may be tax on groceries as well. This is not a cheap place. But, it is a glorious place to roam around especially with all the parks, grass and trees. Yippeee! Our 'toast' tonight at dinner was, "Thank God for places without sand." We enjoy the middle east, but it is lovely to see trees and grass in abundance again.
I almost forgot the funniest bit: twice today we were stopped by people asking us for directions! They thought we were locals! It is lovely to be able to blend in so well.
A special note for "Twisti": Please note the hanging thing on my backpack. Look familiar? Love ya!
