Pursuing Minimalism and Waffle Espionage

When I get back to Fargo I want to seriously downsize my possessions... Get rid of absolutely everything I don't need,  probably reduce my material goods by at least 40-50% if not more.  The feeling I get when giving away my things is similar (I would  imagine) to the way a lizard feels when she finally sheds her skin.  The only thing my stuff does is make it harder to leave.  And I loathe the feeling of being trapped.


Anywho!

Bangalore was absolutely amazing.. Less for the things I did than the people I was with.  Well.  Both I suppose.  Also it was so sunny and warm, and I could walk to go get food by myself, and cook by myself.    10/10 would recommend.

 (this is the only photograph I have of anything cultural or sightseeing-ish) Hindu Temple.

I went down there to get a break from the cold cage of Delhi (seriously had a headache for a full week up there).  I was staying with my friend Sid who I stayed with in Liverpool (through the couchsurfing website).  I almost didn't go, since my boyfriend wasn't too happy that I was staying with a dude he doesn't know but in the end I went ahead with it.  Really needed a break from Delhi.

One if Sid's friends, Chetan is the owner of Waffle Walle, one of the only waffle carts in Bangalore (and India). Turns out this guy used to be an investment banker, then quit his job to go after his waffle business dream.

His waffles are absolute heaven.  I've never had waffles that good outside of Brussels.  And I was beyond impressed to find an Indian who chose to quit a lucrative job to chase a crazy dream.  I didn't even know that happened in India. Just goes to show that you can never make a blanket statement about a group of people.  There are always some who defy the mold.

 The owner. Making me a nutella/peanut butter/ice cream waffle like a boss.

 Turns out there is another waffle place.  They have more money and a better location.  Their manager made a covert visit to Waffle Walle to scope out the competition, so Chetan decided he better return the favor.  We three spent the next day indulging in waffle espionage.  Chetan talked excitedly:  "These are too crispy!  They don't make them fresh, they reheat them. They use the same milk as me! Look at their waffle makers, they're so much more expensive than ours. " He demanded that I rate his waffles on a scale of 1-10 as compared with their waffles.  I'm sure the workers there were wondering what the heck was going on.  I doubt anyone has ever been so fascinated with their waffles.

 Asking her what kind of ice cream they use. 

Chetan and Sid, discussing the various kinds of milk you can use when making waffles.

I also bought a sari for my friend back home. It was quite expensive though so if she doesn't want to pay that much I'll just keep it for myself :D. It was pretty hilarious watching my two friends try to help me figure out how to put it on. Luckily Sid's sister came home and helped me with it.

 Don't worry we watched a Youtube video first.

 Yussss Sid's sister is home at last!

 Love this woman.

so gangster. 


I think the best part of Bangalore is my friends ALWAYS spoke English.  Very relaxing. I've eaten whole dinners here in Delhi where I hear nothing but Hindi.  Also.  I got to dance.  It was a drum and bass club on a weekday... not my favorite type of music but I still went crazy on it.  

Now back in Delhi!  Happy to be back with my boyfriend, but it's so cold here :(.  And of course, I've spent more time in the house than out as usual.  Back to Fargo in a few days, then on to planning Cubaaaa (and working my butt off to save up the money I've spent).

2014's Most Danceable

Hey people,  just got through eating Indian fast food here in Delhi, where my host mom and her friend forced me to speak Hindi to the manager like a trained monkey.  Anyways it goes like this:

Host mom:  There's the manager!! Use your Hindi use your Hindi use your Hindi!

Me: ahhhhdkrivjrhivhdAapka restaurant bahut accha hai (your restaurant is very good).


In honor of my involuntary dance deprivation, and the new year, here are the top five most danceable songs that I became addicted to in 2014.  Some of them were released earlier, shh.  Enjoy:

Sean Paul - Hey Baby

This song AUGH.  Never became a big hit in the U.S. so I haven't gotten to rock a dance floor with it yet... heard it in Serbia and it completely turns me up.  If you like, have a look at the official movie, with the  Nikeata Germaican Dance Team.  I didn't post it, just in case any of my family reads my blog and gets offended by the scantily clad women.  Actually if you are one of my family members please don't listen to any of these songs..

Jhene Aiko - The Worst

Perfect for slow-angry dancing.  SORRY (elderly) FAMILY MEMBERS I KNOW SHE'S SCANTLY CLAD.   I don't think my grandma reads this.  But she does know how to internet, so who knows.

Bailando - Enrique Iglesias

I know I've posted this song before, but it needs to be heard.  I really like Sean Paul's part on the English version, but the Spanish version seems like less of a we-only-listen-to-English-songs coupout. 

Tonight (Best You Ever Had) - John Legend

First heard this on the Kizomba dance floor, and holy hell is it romantic.  About to turn it up and dance with my boyfriend actually.  Excuse me a second>>>

Feelings - Maroon 5

AUUHHHHAKLAJ:F LOVE THIS SO MUCH RIGHT NOW.  Addicted, currently.

Minor Updates

Hiding out in a Hostel, to get a break from being in the house.   (Mustache Hostel in Kailash Colony, New Delhi, it's very nice if you wanted to know)

 Just finished my first Hindi lesson which went supremely well.  I was riding some mild euphoria at finally getting out, doing something, learning something.

Finding out about all these cool things I could do, but seems I'll have to branch out on my own IF AT ALL POSSIBLE.

Ahhh it's been so hard to do anything.  We were going to go to Agra yesterday to see the Taj Mahal, but his dad pronounced it "too foggy" and said we couldn't go.  So his friend went without us instead.  We spent the day at home.

I really get frustrated being cooped up like this.  I'm starting to get snappy with him, and I really don't want to turn into one of those sitcom wife-types.

I found a place that has salsa dancing on Tuesday nights, but his mom already said I can't go out dancing because it's too dangerous.


Aiiya.  I told him I won't come back to see him in India till he moves out of the house.  I think I mean it.  Never thought I'd be relieved to finally get back to Fargo, but it's sorta looking like that.


Anyways I just bought a round trip plane ticket for Bangalore so I'll be going there in two weeks.

___

Also:  I have almost one hundred percent decided to do El Camino this summer.  (This is a pilgrimage in Spain.)


Considering buying a smaller camera.  My nikon D700 that I bought in high school is VERY HEAVY.  I need something more low-key.

here's a Punjabi song for you.  12 saal - bilal saeed

Brussels

Have you ever wondered what's so good about Brussels during the Holiday season?  I've got two words for you:

Christmas

Market.

(Also waffles.)

Okay just to clarify I'm not in Brussels anymore, I'm in Delhi.  Which you should know already.


Anyways, now to experience the magic of Belgium.

 Part of the main plaza

 For some reason the Christmas Market has very strange carousels, with such delightful steeds to ride as this ostrich.... and a giant cockroach.  Very steam-punk macabre.

 MMM :)  I can almost smell the gluewein. Or however you spell that.

 So we rode the ferris wheel, and as we're getting on, I realize it's the same one I rode during Tomorrowland... Not that huge of a coincidence, since Tomorrowland is quite near Brussels, but it made me happy.

 People from Brussels go to the Christmas Market for two reasons... to drink.. and to see the FUNNY CHRISTMAS ICE MONSTER! HAHAHHAHA.  I"m laughing just looking at it. so funny.

 St. Catherine Church makes a nice backdrop.

Right as we began making our way back through the main plaza, a light show began!  The eery music fit with the overall mood of people from Brussels (seriously I've never seen such dour Christmas spirit).  But the best part was when everything lit up red and Kate yelled "WE'RE IN HELL!"





Current plans:  I have a Hindi lesson scheduled for this Monday and Friday.  Also, I booked tickets to Bangalore for mid-January, to meet up with my Desi friend who hosted my friend and I in Liverpool (via couchsurfing.com).   I love getting the chance to meet up with people I met on my previous travels. 

Also Bangalore will be a WELCOME BREAK from Delhi. 

Delhi

Alright babes... As of right now I have no way to retrieve my pictures from my camera which is why I haven't blogged yet.. I will ATTEMPT to do it tonight, no promises.

People keep asking me how I'm finding India and the answer is I'm bored out of my skull.   Boyfriend's mom essentially has me on house arrest,  can't go anywhere unless I go with Divyesh, during the day.  Problem is he often works, which means I'm stuck in the house. 

His mom got wind that I'm thinking of going to stay somewhere else and so she's all worried and paranoid that I won't be safe without her to watch out for me.  AUGHHH I'm 22 years old. 

Going to look at a language school today, possibly looking to take some Hindi classes. 

ANYWAYS.  Will try to put up some pictures. Soon.  Getting crabby from staying in the house so much. 

ADVICE:

If you are going to Delhi, do not stay with anyone's MOTHER.


I really like her, but mehhhhhh I'm dying! She won't let me go out dancing because it's "too dangerous".    I REALLY want to go dance.  I think I'm going to find a hostel near city center so that I can do some things and meet some fellow travelers.  She won't let me, I'll have to tell her I'm staying with another friend.


Feel like I'm 12 again. 


oh and I saw P.K.  very good movie.  had to make the boyfriend translate everything for me.

Travel updates

Well here's an update for the two or three people who still read this thing:

I was all set for my flight out of Belgium on Monday... knew there was going to be a huge government strike but FOOLISHLY thought I might still be fine since my flight was with Quatar airways who are not affiliated with the Belgian government.

WRONG.  The airport in Brussels is completely closed today.

So I had to grab a bus to Paris yesterday because that was the only place where I could get a different flight to Quatar.  

So I just woke up in a VERY fancy hotel next to the airport.   At first I was sort of angry that I had to spend all this money on getting to Paris and a hotel room... but sometimes it is nice to do the luxury thing for a night.  It's also good for me to have to let go of money sometimes, because I am so miserly in general.  And somehow I've managed to meet a few nice people...

Dude from Mozambique on the train studying to be a doctor.  I asked him if he liked Paris and he's like, well.....  Then he showed me a video of the beach in his country and I'm just "you poor poor man..." He said people in Paris aren't very friendly.  Well yeah.  Stereotype confirmed.  They're not friendly unless they aren't from Paris, or unless they're trying to hit on you, or sell you something. 


Also met a dude from Bangladesh at breakfast, because I'm wearing my only Indian dress and he wanted to know why.  I guess a kurta isn't a very common thing for a white girl to wear.  He has the same first name as my Bangladeshi friend in Fargo (are they all named Rahman or...?)

SO!  I will post pictures from the Brussels Christmas Market as soon as I get a little break from my Delhi family and access to a computer.  

Adulting

Sometimes I just want to run away away away...   I wish I could make a decision based on my own wishes instead of having to worry about other people.  I've always been responsible for myself.  Why do other people need me to take care of them too?  

I feel so aimless. A long distance relationship is all of the worst parts of being single and none of the fun parts.  I need him here to help me with things to talk me down from these ledges and he's just not.  Seeing him on monday but already thinking about all the time I'll have to spend apart from him when I come back.

I am BAD at drama and I'm not very good at standing by my own decisions and wishes.  When I do it apparently goes very badly.   Because I'm not good at handling the anger of other people.  Thank god for my closest friends who stick by me.

I hate feeling trapped.

A series of Random Thoughts

The thing about being an adult is that there is so little to worry about short-term, and so much to worry about long-term.

Also, I danced Salsa at the nursing home yesterday.  It was really fun.  The old people were ridiculously happy.  I'm glad I did it.

Leaving for Brussels in less than a week.  Then India a week after that.


Feel funny.  Hopefully seeing him makes everything better.  But there's still the small problem of getting him back to the U.S.  aaaaand other things.  Many other things.


Fargo is a place for stagnancy, once college is finished.  Not moving, not growing.  This place makes me so restless.

Berlin

aight. finally.  bout to finish my Euro-blogging from this summer.  Next blog post I do will probably be in Belgium.  Well perhaps one after that.

ummmmmm Berlin.
Well my good pictures are mostly of graffiti.  We went on an "alternative" tour. Basically it's for hipsters who feel like they are too good for the regular tours.  We looked too normal.  And while we're at it, a lot of Berlin's nightclubs don't let you in unless you look alternative enough.  So you can't go out dancing in a dress and heels.  You need dreadlocks and like, galaxy print tights or something.  Funny.  Unless you want to go to the REGULAR PEOPLE clubs,  the BORING PEOPLE clubs.  Hahaha.

Berlin is great for getting up close and personal with Third-Reich Nazi type history.  And learning about the Berlin Wall (I also went on a VERY INFORMATIVE tour for that!).

In short Berlin was great. 10/10 would recommend.

 Dancing girl stencils done by Alias.

 Brandenburg Gate

 It took us a LONG time to get a decent photo in this photoautomat.  We looked into the flash instead of the camera. Classy.  Very old machine, black and white prints.

My first kebab! Kebab was actually invented in Berlin, by Turkish immigrants who wanted fast food.

first thing I've written in months and months

I'm going to take you to where the sky falls, where the stars bite cold, where the ocean tastes the shore, leaves, and then comes back for more.  Our bodies were made for dancing, like your hand was made to trace shivers into my spine, begging the feathers to grow.  Flight pulls us toward the moon, like the tides, all silver, filling the sky.

I want to be there when you realize what joy is.  When you fall bone-struck into the wild hymn the wind has been trying to whisper to you since you clawed your way from the womb.  Your wounds are deepest harmonies you forgot about.  Eyes wide open.   Hands empty.

Chords igniting in your veins.

This Ferguson thing though.

Sad and horrible.

Body Cameras needed for all cops.


Eff.

Brain hurts me

Tossing and turning thinking of this nursing home performance.. Dunno why this is stressing me out, pretty sure the old people will love it no matter what.  And I'm a good dancer.  But somehow I keep messing up the suicide dips and other moves I should know by now.... Merrrrr whatever. It will be a good experience. Haven't performed dance in front of other people for over two years now.  Why is this stressing me soooo.... It's gonna be fun.   Hope I don't freak myself out (not like I'm not doing that now haha).  Maybe it's best to just not volunteer to do things that make me nervous.   But then I just coast through life doing nothing but working... Maybe a challenge is good spice.   Let's face it I have no ambition.  I can't believe I'm actually going though with this.  Feels like my first day teaching in Thailand.

Paris

I think I mentioned before that I did not want to go to Paris.  This is based largely on stereotypes that exist in my own mind about French people.  Basically I feel VERY rude for going to Paris without any French-language fluency.  Also, yeah, I think those guys are angry and rude.  And don't like tourists.  I said it.

But hey.  My boyfriend told me he was going there, so I made it happen.  His parents were also with us.  So not quite as romantic as you might think.  Got a nice lecture on cultural differences from his father.

 February till August... finally got to see him again. Holding hands nearly killed me I think.  Overdose.

 Mona Lisa at the Louvre... biggest celebrity in Europe.

 LOUUUUVRE. (next three are Notre Dame Cathedral.)

 We're so cute. Put a lock on it.  (also cliche.)

 Arc de Triomphe.  Paris is just a big art gallery. head to toe.

cute, cute, we are cute.

Valencia

The good thing about the end of my trip was I only stayed with people I already knew.  This saved me from the burnout.

Hitched a ride on blablacar, (an amazing rideshare website mostly for Europe).  My driver accidentally picked up the wrong person.... asked her if she was Amy, she said yes.  Turns out she was a sex-worker.  whoo hooo. They realized that pretty quickly and came back to the bus station to get me.

Valencia.  Had to cut my time here in half because my boyfriend informed me that he'd be in Paris in four days.

Went to the "Bulls in Silla" festival.  Also spent a lot of time on the beach, and practiced Spanish.

My friend Isa, who I met in Thailand, hosted me.

 PAELLAAAA. Best Spanish food. Ever.

 View from our apartment. Ocean.

 (Conversation in Spanish)
"Come over here! She's English!"
"She's NOT English. She's American."
"Well... Same thing. She speaks English."

 Sunset on the lake.

 Sunrise the next morning on the Ocean.

 So basically the bulls just run through the town and everyone jumps behind the bars (in red here) when they get close.

 Except these idiots.

Barca

By the time Barcelona rolled around I was mostly burnt out.  It didn't help matters that my first night spent in the hostel there was interrupted at 3 AM by two people having EXTREMELY LOUD SEX.  

Something very important to remember.  If you can book a co-ed room in a hostel I def recommend it. If for instance someone is listening to music or talking on the phone, you can count on the dudes in the room to yell at them.

When I was in Barcelona I stayed in an all girls room, 16 beds.  Although the loud sex woke everyone up NO ONE except me told them to shut up.  They didn't shut up anyways.  

I still get angry when I think about it.  Drunk people who are also inconsiderate are the WORST.

Anyways! I laid around a lot in Barcelona but managed to drag myself out of bed for a walking tour which was really awesome.  Every bit as good as the Amsterdam walking tour.

(I love walking tours)

 Old school Gothic architecture!

 Where Picasso studied.  Also the heart of the red light district.

Liverpool/Cork

Aight I've been lazy.  It's been like three months since I left Europe and now I'm leaving for India soon SO. We gonna smush some destinations together.

LIVERPOOL.

The only thing you need to know is the walking tour is very boring.
AND.  If you want to meet some locals and dance, go to Bumper. One of my favorite nights of my whole trip was spent there.

The dude on the right was my couchsurf host.  Really awesome Desi, might meet up with him in India too.  The other two are scouses who enjoyed imitating my American accent to much hilarity.  Met lots of interesting characters here.

NOW...

Cork, Ireland.

I went here for the 2014 Salsa Bonanza.  It turned out to give me hope in European salsa dancers.  The setting was very small and low-key, so that I got to meet and talk with most of the people who were there.  Met this Reiki master who had the most energy of anyone I've ever seen.  He was an AMAZING dancer, but he had never had any lessons.

The dancing sessions were ten times better than the ones at the Croatian festival.  Probably because they were ten times smaller.

 European Sensual Bachata Champions...I took classes from them, learned a lot...

This couple taught Kizomba, and their adorable baby would squawk until they picked her up and danced with her in between them.

I am planning to go back to Ireland just for the next festival.  Amazing experience.

I did a walking tour of Cork, that mostly told me Irish people are very superstitious and they have beautiful college campuses.

teraaaaaaa hone laga hoooooooon

well I'm getting ready to leave for India... and I realized I still haven't fully blogged my Eurotrip.  Will do that this week (or try).


Going to be performing Salsa at the nursing home with my dance instructor (if all goes as planned! fingers crossed so hard...).  I've  been trying to get myself up enough to do that for about a year. FINALLY.

Today I'm buying my first set of luggage.  Figured its about time.


OH MY GAHHHH I'M GONNA BE FLUENT IN HINDI.   (Well one hopes).  Everything I've written today has an escape clause.  Man I'm bad at committing to things.