City of Joy

Namaskar from Kolkata, India!

I'm sitting here in a cute hole-in-the-wall cybercafe in my family's personal city of joy, Kolkata. Just thought I'd drop a quick line to update about my Indian adventure these last few days. Don't expect too much, though -- the server and computers here are quasi-ancient (read: rolling ball mouse) so I'll make this quick.

My flight here was unexpectedly a piece of cake. I flew from Detroit to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Bombay, and Bombay to Calcutta. I watched in-flight movies, slept slept slept, ate fun airplane food (everything has its own tray compartment!), and read a book -- all thanks to a few doses of "Less Drowsy" Dramamine. I arrived in Kolkata on December 26 morning (Christmas night for my U.S. pals) and my mom and uncle picked me up at the airport. Luckily, my jet lag wasn't as bad as I thought it would be so I had no qualms about immediately stuffing my face with loochi thorkari, my favorite breakfast food here. I slept, had dinner with family, and you'd better believe I hit the beauty parlor and street market with my mom yesterday. Jet lag, schmet lag. In a lucky turn of events, my sister's village trip got cancelled and she came to Cal last night instead of next week. Yay! I get to spend two weeks with her instead of one, so I'm thrilled.

The weather has been quite chilly by India standards since it's winter here. However, the 55 degree winter weather here pales in comparison to the foot and a half of snow I left in Ann Arbor on Thursday. I'll take India, thank you very much.

Anyhow -- that's about it for now. I must run...to go shopping. I haven't updated my Indian wardrobe in 11 years so I'm "going ga ga" (Mom's words). I'll try to update again soon. Until then, Happy New Year!

xoxox

Holiday Hustle

Well, I have a quick minute and thought I'd post. Things sure have been hectic lately and I'm frantically trying to get my affairs in order before I leave for my trip. Geez, that statement sounds so funny after I write it considering I'm only leaving for 16 days, not dying, but I still have a lot to take care of. Holiday shopping, bill paying, packing, working...whew! Oddly, it hasn't really set in yet that my trip to India is indeed a vacation since it's taking so much work to prepare, but I'm starting to imagine myself having no obligations for 2 weeks, drinking lots of tea, and maybe (gasp!) reading a little. Ahhh. I can't wait to see my mom and sister :)

Okay, I thought I had more time to post, but I must jet. I'll drop a note a little later.

xoxox

Once a Wolverine...

Always a Wolverine!

Before I apologize for my weblog slackness or expand on how busy my life has been lately, let me just note that both Josh and I have been accepted to the U of M Entering Class of 2005 for dental school! Yeeeeeeeeee Haw! We are both THRILLED and couldn't have asked for anything more. U of M is one of the top schools in the country, Ann Arbor rocks my world, we'll be able to lean on each other during the 4 immensely grueling years, and as an added bonus, I've saved quite a bit of money by finding out way early in the process about my acceptance. I feel like we've both worked very hard for this. It sure feels good :)

*sigh* That said, life HAS been crazy busy for me as of late. I'm still working those two mini jobs in addition to my full time one and interviews, doctor's appointments, and other obligations have sent me running around this town (and others!) every morning and evening. My Daddy is back from India so I'm heading back to GR to hang out with him this weekend. The purpose of my trip is three-fold, however, and I'm hoping to run a few pre-India errands, including getting all of the necessary immunizations, and take my doggy Raja to the vet. He has a suspicious tissue growth on his head and we're hoping and praying it's nothing serious. *tear. I'll keep you updated.

In more upbeat news, I'm getting my new pink, sparkly retainer tomorrow from Stephanie's Mom's office! For those of you who don't know, I decided to get a retainer to correct some minor teeth movement of mine. I went for my impressions last week and had a blast with Mrs. Schmidt. My appointment is way early tomorrow morning, but I'm excited to see her again and get my new, hip, orthodontic appliance!

Finally, to really hit it home about how hectic life has been lately, my Dad pointed out that for 4 hours last Saturday, all 4 of us (my parents, my sis, and myself) were in different countries. Whew! He joked that we should have sent Raja to Canada just for the novelty of it. We are truly a jet-setting fam.

Okay, gotta hit the hay. Expect the pace of my life to pick up even *more* in the weeks to come (if that's even possible)!

Sweet dreams tonight.

xoxox