I went into the bigger town yesterday, which is about 45 minute bus ride from home. We had a very Indian experience on our way down. The capacity of the bus was about 25 people I would guess, however clearly a Saturday is the day for going to town, so we had over 50 people crammed in this hot sweaty bus at one point. Luckily we all had a seat though, but I had plenty of behinds pushing in my 'personal space'! It was a relief to get of the bus for sure, but it was a surprisingly fun experience!
Now I would like to try and describe the experience of shopping at an Indian charity shop (or thrift store as my American friends keep saying). For one thing, it is an open air 'shop' but it can't really be called a shop as we consider them. They are pretty big in size, and have z beds (how old school) with piles of clothes covering them, and then there's the odd 'wall' with clothes on hangers. You can only shop second hand suits if you know to ask for them. Then a man goes away for a good 20 minutes and comes back with a huge bundle of the second hand suits wrapped in the dupatas. He opens it up and then it's a free for all between the seven of us who were shopping together. The colours in the pile are amazing - every colour of every shade was there. In the end we had been brought three bundles and had even been given a spare z bed to examine them all on. It was so much fun! Some of the suits were pretty awful to be honest - all ripped, resembling old curtains and they only fitted stick thin midgets. But we also found loads of gems. I got two more suits, but I think between five of us we brought over 10 of them. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the charity shop, but I did get this one if the fabric shop where we got dupatas (the scarves) to match. There is a whole road of of these shops, and they all have at least this much range, if not more! I have no idea how they all stay in business, but they seem to.
Not much else exciting has happened this last week. We had a welsh vicar give the sermon today! I didn't think hearing that beautiful accent would bring me so much joy and contentment, but it made my day! I don't think I stopped smiling all throughout the service. Also, on the walk home Lia and I saw some monkeys in a tree really close to us - adults and babies just swinging about having fun. It's so crazy that monkeys are a norm here - it's the equivalent of seeing a sheep at home (except for Ruth and I as we have a weird love of sheep) - India is amazing!
I feel a blog isn't complete until there is some mention of foody things. I had a very western dinner last night which included pasta (such a treat) and a Swedish sauce - it didn't look very appetising, but it tasted like marmite!! Marmite on toast is just not the same here, and I barely have it as the marmite is my fellows Brits so I don't want to use it all up. However samosa are so much better here than at home, and bigger, and yummier - just to make you all a little jealous.
Much of this blog was written whilst going through our five year old friend's workbook so I apologise if it doesn't completely flow, or some spellings are wrong. She is adorable and wants me to go through EVERY page of her workbook with her to check it because she is an expert at writing numbers the wrong way round. It's all good fun, and she is so funny when she finds the mistake!
That's all for now. Oh, and to correct a past blog - the Maldives has been changed for Cambodia and Thailand. It's a long story why, but I'm really looking forward to all the trip will hold.
No comments:
Post a Comment