Bali Bound!

Vacation! What a word...what a difference! Just a few days away from the daily struggles of India gave me such a boost. It gave me the strength to face the last few months here and a new ability to cope with the organized chaos that defines this place. I've been back a month already and have seen such a difference in my attitude towards the city, the heat, the people, even the auto drivers. Self care is so very important when you live in a place that almost daily can tax your sanity! Maybe that's why they force you to leave every six months for a visa run lol...they know you'll need a break by then! ;)

I headed out to Jakarta, Indonesia via Kuala Lumpur and after arriving there, I took a short domestic flight to Semarang. My four hour layover in KL was amazing. There were shops and restaurants everywhere! I went to three different Starbucks and just reveled in all the "western-ness" of it. Unfortunately I went a little "too American, too fast" and got a stomach ache from the progressive 4 hour breakfast I had while waiting for my next flight. But it was still worth it lol!

I arrived in Semarang and my dear longtime friend Dinny picked me up with her uncle and father. It had been 2 years since she had moved from Arizona to work at Yale University and I was so excited to be reunited and to be able to visit her hometown and meet her family. Dinny was a student of mine when I taught ESL classes at ASU several years ago and we've been close friends for many years. We chatted the whole car ride from the airport to her town. I met her mom when we arrived in her home and saw her family had graciously set up a spare room for me to feel comfortable. Her parents could not communicate with me but there are some language barriers that can always be crossed with smiling and gesturing. We soon got ready and went out to eat for dinner and then after a pretty large local meal, they picked up traditional chicken satay with peanut sauce for "dessert". It was the best thing ever and after saying how I would only eat one or two skewers since we had just eaten a large meal out, I had no difficulty putting away about 10-15 chicken skewers! I seemed to have another stomach especially for satay!

Since I had not slept the night before on my flight, I had to call it a night around 9 and get some sleep. I woke up the next morning excited to check facebook to see if my new nephew had been born. My sister had been scheduled for a C-section while I was asleep and I hoped I would wake up to his face on my screen. I didn't have to wait long and I was excited to see that Graham Avery had been born healthy and happy! This is the second time I've been on vacation in SE Asia when a niece or nephew has arrived and it's kind of a fun story I hope to be able to share one day with them. Dinny and I spent the morning walking around her neighborhood, chatting with neighbors, getting fresh juice, seeing her former teachers at her elementary school and catching up on each other's lives. It was a beautiful walk and I was so thankful to be outside and not a sweaty mess. Then she took me on a motor bike ride tour of the town and again, it was a nice day for a ride and we had fun looking around.

Around noon, her family was done for the day with work so we all planned to spend the rest of the day in Semarang. We drove into the bigger city and saw a few sights, had the most delicious lunch with marinated beef that was to die for (I should preface that I ate a ton of beef on this trip since it's very rare in India) and then went to a karaoke room for an hour of crazy fun! Since language was somewhat difficult, I knew that singing would be a blast since music can absolutely break all language barriers! Her dad loved to sing and we did a few duets which was so fun. We ended the hour with "We are the World" which was not only hilarious and an apt song to sing, but closed out the fun with a poignant tone. Dinny and I decided to walk around a bit alone and visit a few more places before meeting up with her sister for dinner. We didn't get that far before her family came and found us and we all ended up going out to dinner. They took me to this fun beer garden place and I had a burger (big surprise) and a mojito! Then Dinny, her sister and I walked around this nice mall that was across from our hotel and tried desperately to have boba tea but every place we tried was out of boba :( So sad! I did however, get some amazing pants that I will wear until they have huge holes in them. They are so comfy and have cute Indonesian designs. Best $7 I have ever spent!

Dinny and I went back to the hotel after the mall closed and I decided I was going to take a bath. She had splurged on a big beautiful hotel that was so nice and luxurious. I was like, "See ya in an hour" and that was about right. I enjoyed every minute of my soak in a tub and then we stayed up chatting until way too late. Especially since I had to be up at 4 am the next morning for my next flight which would take me to BALI!

More to come on the glory that was Bali...

The Pursuit of Coffee

As I have probably stated in other blog stories, coffee is found here in India, however, that being said, it is not easy to find "good coffee." Coffee is typically instant here, not brewed and it is indisputably filled with lots of milk and/or ice cream and sugar to mask the bitter taste of what we in the west actually like which is called coffee! So despite the fact that I have a little coffee shop here that I consider my "office", I frequently long for the taste of "American-style" coffee. I found somewhat of a solution to this problem when one of the doctors I work with explained that he went back and forth to Mumbai and offered to pick me up some coffee from the Starbucks at the airport there. That is a funny story in and of itself. He graciously did offer to get the coffee and I specifically wrote down what I needed him to buy. Had to be ground, wanted a light roast, etc etc. In order to get the coffee he told me that he would never remember once he arrived in Mumbai unless I texted him at the exact moment that he would be getting off the plane. Ok fine, I will acquiesce to your request. So I set an alarm for August 4th at 5:10pm to remind myself to text Dr. Manish about coffee.

When the day arrived, as soon as I texted him, he called me to assure me that he was in Starbucks and he told me that the barrista needed to speak with me. So he handed the phone off and I struggled to have a conversation with the Starbucks barrista. He told me that they only had dark roast or Italian. Fine, I will take Italian roast. Then he proceeds to ask me what kind of grinder I have. Which I quickly try to explain a multitude of times that I have NO grinder and need them to grind it there at the store. When I believed that we finally understood one another, he then very politely asked if he could get me anything else with my order, such as a frappaccino or maybe a mocha. I laughed as I thought to myself, "Do you deliver? To Calicut?" But I just said, "No, thanks. He will be bringing this coffee by plane to Calicut." As I was having this hilarious little chat, I asked the new English teacher who had just arrived and happened to be in my apt while I was on the phone if she also would like a bag of coffee and she said yes. So I asked Dr. Manish to please get two bags of the ground coffee (exactly the same). He seemed fine with that and I thought we were in the clear. Well, he called back about 2 minutes later exclaiming, "How could coffee cost this much? It is 700 rupees per container (approx $11)!!" He said that he didn't have enough cash with him and would have to get the second bag of coffee on his return trip to Calicut. He then told me I would need to text another reminder on such and such date at the exact time he would arrive at the airport. Jeez Louise! This was turning into quite an ordeal for some coffee!

Well the good news is, we now have coffee. For the past couple of weeks, we have either used it a friend's house that had a coffee maker or we've been traveling and haven't needed it. But Summer and I have decided it's time to invest in a coffee maker. So today we go shopping at a store that we are pretty sure would carry them and sure enough, there are about 5 to choose from. But they are crazy expensive, much more than I wanted or would have expected to pay. So we see this little guy on the end and it's a single serving cup coffee maker which is actually perfect for what we need. Excitedly I read the price tag and it's way more affordable. I tell the store assistant that this is the one we want. She then tells me that they are out of stock. Ok, fine. I ask if she could please order one. She says no. I ask why. She says they are no longer going to carry this style. Ok, next question. THEN WHY DO YOU STILL HAVE IT ON THE FREAKING SHELF? Ai yi yi! So I then ask, "Could we please purchase this last display one?" She says, "No, that is not for sale. It's damaged." I look at it and see that there is a cracked cup and ask if that is the only damage. I ask if we were to remove the cup, would the coffee maker still work and she says, "Yes." Great, we are making headway. So I then ask, "Can we purchase this display model without the cup? We have our own cups." She says, "No, it's only for display." I then just start to chuckle because this conversation is going nowhere and I ask, "Could we please speak to a manager to ask if we could purchase this model?" She says, "No, that is not possible." Ok, lady. I give up. You win. We are not going to get the single serving coffee maker. hahahaha I laugh as we walk away thinking, "Well, that's the first time I've ever been told a straight up no for trying to talk to someone higher up." So needless to say, we are going to continue our shopping research around the city and see if we can possibly find what we need. Never again am I going to take for granted a Starbucks on every single corner. My coffee now sits in my fridge mocking me, knowing I have no way to consume it. I see it each day and I hear it calling to me...one day! It's gonna happen! :)