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Wow, it's been so long since I updated! Hope you're all having a good break. Even though I'm procrastinating on homework... a lot... I took the time to update, haha. Make sure you're FREE when you read this, it's going to be a long one. I warned you…
This post is about my trip to India. Gosh, I had so much fun! I met all the relatives that I hadn't seen for 4+ years! That really brought a smile to my face. But you guys are all too special, I didn't forget you at all! You'll soon see...
Okay, so I left Tuesday morning (Nov. 16th) while you were all sleeping. We left the house around 7:15 in the morning (so you can probably guess how much sleep I got). We got to the airport by 8:30. Then, it took about an hour for check in and security and all (haha, we had like, 5 large suitcases + 2 laptops and a backpack with us... ouch, my shoulders). At the security check in, they made us take off our shoes and bracelets! And all that time, the guards were talking amongst themselves about what kind of candy they liked best. ("Oh, I like marshmallows, they're soft"... "Yeah, but Reese's is awesome, you gotta admit.."..)... WOW! Haha, that totally amused me. We had to wait only like, half an hour for our plane, so I quickly "explored" the airport, going to all the cool little stores : ). Then the plane! I was so so excited! It was awesome. We went from SFo to Atlanta, GA... that took about 4 hours. On the plane, they didn't have those individual little tv's on the back of every seat, so I kept cursing to myself (I'm so spoiled). So, I basically just sat there, looked out the window, and THOUGHT ABOUT YOU GUYS! Ooh, and I saw Lake Tahoe from the plane [so pretty!!!] Every hour or so, I'd think to myself, "Aww... everyone must be in 2nd period right now, now 4th, now lunch, now they must be going home…" and I started missing everyone right then and there, and I didn't feel so excited anymore :(. Hey, I managed, plane ride was still fun [take off/landing = darn good time].
Then, we landed in Georgia around the time school was over. We had only an hour to change flights (this one would be going from Georgia to Paris… whoot!) That was like an 8 hour plane trip. As soon as I entered the plane, I said hecka loud “There better be tv’s here”. I guess some man heard me because my mom said he whispered to her “No!”. Darn, lol, it was hilarious, but then I got kinda mad again (oh yes, I really AM spoiled :D). When we were about to land in Paris, dude, WHOA, when I looked out the plane window, it was one clean city! And I’m proud to say I have officially stepped on French ground (oh yes). Then, we had like another hour to change flights, from Terminal A to like, Terminal T! We were hecka late for our plane! Haha, the flight got delayed like, 10 minutes, partially because of us (and a few other passengers who had to take the long path). I swear, I think I lost like 10 pounds dragging all that heavy luggage with me for what seemed like 50 miles! On the last flight, I am proud to say there were tv’s! OH YES OH YES. I was happy… but then, there were only a couple French movies coming -_-. Nothing’s perfect. So, I spent another 8 hours from Paris to New Delhi, India. Omg, the view from the plane window when we were landing in India was so nice!
My cousin and two uncles came to pick us up at the airport. Darn, it was good to see them! We went to my uncle’s house by picking up a cab [it took 2 for our luggage]. And it was like, 1 a.m. when we arrived! Gosh, everyone stayed up till like, 3 to talk to us, and then all my relatives went to sleep. I tried to sleep too, but couldn’t that much because it was supposed to be afternoon in California. And then, my aunt and uncle’s neighbors started doing fireworks like, in the middle of the night! It scared the hell out of me; they were so loud I thought they were bombs for like, the first hour. It’s just, we’ve never heard this kind of stuff in America. I was SO SCARED. I heard bombings happened a lot here, so I was just wide awake in bed! Then, my uncle told me it was just harmless fireworks, so I calmed down and slept a little… through all that racket! As soon as I got up [thank goodness it was morning] THE FIREWORKS STOPPED. Wow, what perfect timing… just… wow. I stayed at home with my aunt and her CUTE CUTE dog, Maggie while my parents went in town for some “business”. We stayed and talked, and my cousin was there too [he was ditching college to be there, haha, awesome!] I checked around for lizards on the walls, because I heard they were like the “spiders” of India. I was so relieved I didn’t find any. Then, at around 10 at night, we had to catch a train to a city called Lucknow. We got to sleep on the train, it was hella fun! The seats turned into bunk beds if you pressed this little switch thingy. Wait, not bunk beds, they were like… bunk beds with one more bunk at the top! Triple layer, haha! I slept at the top, it was mucho fun! We arrived at like, 10 in the morning, and took a couple cabs to my other aunt/uncle’s house.
O-m-g! Family reunion! Wow, that really brought a smile to my face! It was awesome awesome seeing everyone again, and all my relatives thought the same. LOL, guess what? It turns out I’m like, taller than 75% of my relatives! How weird is that!? I checked the whole house for lizards again, and found none, to my utter relief. The next four days of the trip, I spent at their house. Dang, its BIG! They have one humongous house! I had a really good time talking to everyone, catching up on everything around there. And, I found out a bunch of really touching stuff! Like, my aunt, she was practicing to be a gynecologist around the time I was supposed to be born. And the first operation she ever performed was on me! Well, wait, it was on my MOM, but I was the first one born out of her hands! I don’t know why, but that really made me feel special. You don’t hear that everyday, you gotta admit. And over my visit, I got really attached to my aunt. Her more than any other relative, I’m sure!
Then, we went [by train again] to visit my grandparents from my mom’s side. We stayed at their place [which is in another city] for the NEXT four days. I checked for lizards once again, and was assured there were none, and lived there in peace. My cousins and I had an awesome time there. Surprisingly enough, all my relatives gave me money [HEHEHEHEHEHHHEEHHEHE]. While I was there, we went to a bunch of famous temples, and then shopping… a lot! We also stayed at home and watched a lot of movies. I’m not too good with Hindi, but I think I got by. Lol. Anyone in India could definitely have guessed I wasn’t from around there. We also flew kites and a bunch of stuff. These people had one gigantic house also. After our 4-day visit, we had to say good-bye to all the relatives from my mom’s side, because we were going to spend the rest of our trip with my dad’s side. So, I guess that was good-bye for like, another 2+ years… sigh, darn I miss em all. So then, we went back to Lucknow. That’s when the trouble started… [Don’t worry; I’m exaggerating].
As soon as we came back there, OMFG OMFG OMFG OMFG OMFG guess what? I SAW THE THING I DID NOT WANT TO SEE AT ALL… those darn lizards! Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ! I-hate-those-little-wiggling-moving-on-the-wall-creatures-that-look-like-theyre-staring-at-you-24/7-with-their-creepy-reptilian-eyes. Uh, I totally freaked out. I threw a fit in my mind [and my mind only] that I wanted to go home like, RIGHT THEN. And then, I found out I had a couple… like.. oh, not much, FOUR right in my bedroom! Wtf I freaked out sooooooooooooooo bad, I had tears streaming down my face when I went to sleep that night… tears of fear [where have you heard that one O_o]. I was that scared of sleeping with them crawling over my head [this would have been considered normal if people in India weren’t so used to them! But, I found a solution :DDD! I will show you a picture of my “solution” in my next post. So, I survived having to sleep there with the lizards. Oh yeah, I found two solutions! One, I will show you the picture of, and the second, I slept at my aunt’s house every day [and she has no frikin lizards in her house, ladeeda! And, she had the computer + internet, so every morning, I would get up at 7 or so, and start up the computer and IM you guys :D!] Of course, sometimes, the Internet didn’t work, so I pretty much wasted my mornings cursing at the computer. Believe it or not, it took about 2 hours just to DOWNLOAD AIM! Ooh, and whenever I could get on, everyone started IMing me like crazy, and Stephanie N. + Becca C. even had tons of good news, no? ;D wink wink!
Every single one of my cousins was nice enough to save like, 2 handfuls of fireworks EACH for me! So when I came, we lit them up. Dude, they’re awesome, seriously. Man, I wish you guys were there to see them, SO PRETTY. We went up on the roof to do them! [not the real roof where Santa sneaks into the chimney from, but its what they call a backyard, except its like, the backyard on the “second floor” of the house]
We also attended like, 2 weddings. Hey, I had no idea who the people getting married were; I just followed my aunt to all her friends/acquaintances’ weddings for the food [OH YEAHHHH]. One thing, lemme clear up for you… the food there, IS AWESOME. Way way way way way too delicious. And spicy ;D. And everything there is so cheap! Its because of the currency exchange rate… about 45 dollars there = 1 dollar here. Can you imagine I got a Harry Potter book there for 3 bucks? And a pair of pants for about 8 dollars. Wow! I spent about 40 dollars total over there [from my allowance], and I got the most amazing stuff. Like, a pair of pants [I said that already], a denim jacket, a cool cool scarf, a watch, a necklace & earrings set made of real gold, a suit [the stuff they wear over there], and so much more! Haha, trust me, you guys will love shopping there, its so cool, you can buy pretty much anything you want! And houses over there sell for the price of most cars here, about $40, 000 for a really big house! We’d all be super rich over there, hey we can dream cant we? ;] All I can say about it is… shopping spreeeee! =]
But then, lemme warn you, as soon as shopkeepers realize you’re from America, they hella try to rip you off! Its so annoying, they charge you double, just cuz they know you have lots of money. Those types of people really got on my nerves.
And, one thing I noticed over there, is that the streets are really dirty. I hate to say this, but India doesn’t really care about its environment. There’s the constant smell of pollution in the air outside, they use the sidewalks as a garbage dump, and because of that, you’ll see pigs, cows, donkeys, dogs, and more on the streets, along with a variety of vehicles [which are cars, motorcycles, buses, things called rickshaws and autos (I think). [you will see pics of those next entry], and scooters.] Hey, I even saw an elephant!
Now I will rant some more about the lizards. Okay, so at first, I thought I was all good, but then I saw them and after freaking out, I realized it was no big deal. Hey, there were a couple, I could deal with them. But, nooooooo, turns out I was wrong! They were in every single room of every single house I went into! I pretty much shoved my 11 year old cousin into the bathroom every time I had to go, and he would go in there, and give me the a-ok. Sometimes, when they were in there, I was so frikin scared, I had to force myself to HOLD IT. Oh wow. Would you believe it..they stopped me from going to the BATHROOM. :( And I soon realized that no house in India was safe… I thoroughly inspected every single room in the house before entering it. That took time, and sharp eyes too! And my dad told me a story that once, when he was little, a lizard fell on his head, and astrologically, it was a sign meaning he would be living in a foreign place… and he’s in America now! I’m so glad that lizard fell on his head, because if he wasn’t here, then I wouldn’t be either, and I wouldn’t have met all you wonderful people!
At my grandparents’ place, another experience I had was the electricity going out constantly! Once, it went out at like 7 in the evening, and then didn’t come back till around lunchtime the NEXT DAY! Wow… do you realize that without electricity, there was no computer/internet, TV, lights [duh!], and most of all HOT WATER. Man, it was hard taking a shower at those times.
And gosh, all my relatives are so totally awesome, because they made my favorite food like, all the time! So, foodwise, O-M-G, AWESOME AWESOME! I like Indian food, at least the spicy stuff 8)
Hehe, and I also got tons of mosquito bites! At least like, 20 of them :o they itched ;D [no really?] lol. And then, we went to city fairs, gatherings, the zoo, and a bunch of other awesome places. It was really fun! But then, don’t think it was a vacation! The teachers piled up so much homework on me! I spent my entire trip literally working [except for when we went sight-seeing and stuff]. Jacobson had me read all of Ch. 2, Welch gave me literary devices + a Christmas Story vocab and all, then Chiu gave me all the homework you guys did while I was gone [SHE DIDN’T MISS ONE SINGLE ASSIGNMENT, WHOO HOO, GO MS CHIU -_-] math was especially difficult for me, cuz you all know I’m no genius, and I had to learn all of chapter 8 by myself! I didn’t even have anyone to ask for help : (. ASB was easy, I had to keep a journal on what I did every day. History… wow, copy down the American Revolution notes [Mr. law made me a copy], do this worksheet on the D.O.I., and read Brother Sam. I was so behind on homework, I had to read Brother Sam on the plane while watching Princess Diaries 2 [wow, no wonder I got a C+ on it] :o! And finally, pe, I had to keep an “exercise journal” on what I did each day, + a 3 pg report on cricket :[ TOO MUCH; OVER LOAD! And seriously, so much that I spent all of the weekend when I came back finishing it all up. Didn’t even get time to relax, and then school started! And I still got a few bad grades, after all that studying!
Ooh, and once, my cousin and me were playing truth and dare, and when I said truth, he asked the most bizarre question! “So, exactly how many boyfriends do you have, and have you ever sat on a bench with them”… lets just say I was, uh, left speechless ;D ;D!
And, a couple of you seem to be under the impression that I got to boss servants around! Lol, uh, not quite. Its just that my aunts, uncles, and other relatives are just so busy [they all work] that we have permanent “workers” in our house. They do, like, all the chores and cook dinner and stuff. No, I didn’t get to boss them around, lol, but they did ever thing I asked! [like get rid of those lizards for me :)]. They were super nice, and we all treated them like family, which I thought was really sweet! They lived with us [their rooms were in the humongous backyard].
Haha, you’ll notice that all this wasn’t in order. I kind of went gushing on about everything and its out of sequence, lol. Sorry about that, there was just so much to write about! Hope you didn’t read all of it if you were busy. It would have taken you a puhretty long time! Geez, just from typing this, it feels like I’ve written a novel! Yep, well, that was my trip, basically, overall [I’m not including lizards in this], it was so much fun! Did you know that every single night I thought about you guys before going to sleep and I wondered how you were, and stuff? Yeah, I really missed you all… a lot! But now, I miss my relatives too, we won’t see each other for 2 or more years! All my aunts started crying when we had to leave, it was so sad, it almost made me cry… and I don’t easily cry in these types of situations. But… even so, its good to be back home…
Pictures next post! :]