There was that day...

There was that day (i.e. today) that I finally sat down to update my friends and family what has been going on over the past little while. So here you go! Be warned... this will take a while. :)

There was that day that Anna and I ate an entire watermelon between us one lunchtime.

There was that day that Anna had a large pile of dishes screaming her name.

There was that day that I bought over-the-counter antibiotics for a chest and sinus infection.

There was that day when there were too many pigeons for one bit of sky.

There was that day when the colours looked beautiful on the buildings I could see from our living room.

There was that legendary day that Anna cooked donuts, while watching Vampire Diaries, and burnt her finger in the oil.

There was that day when the monsoon rain left it's beauty behind for a little longer.

There was that day that I watched a man watching another person. Inception of stalkers.

There was that day that for dinner I made roti's from scratch, and served quesadillas for the last meal Kay was with us. 

There was that day when we were a large family around a small table.

There was that day that Judy bought over a Korean film, and we cried with laughter after soon learning that one of the words constantly said was a bad word.

There was that day that Judy invited us all over for a Korean dinner, gave us cute little charms for our phones, and sent us home happy and content.

There was that epic day that Gabe's came back to India (finally), and she was a darling and bought me these back!

There was that day when the thunder rattled our building, and so logically I had to prance around in the monsoon rains that flooded the streets.

There was that day that Gabe's turned 19, and I embroidered a piece of paper for her.

There was that day when the (small) bruise finally came through from a fall in the night; I had woken up needing to pee, and didn't realise half of my thigh was numb, and as soon as I was standing I had crumpled back onto the ground on my hands and knees, and half crawled/half stumbled my way to the bathroom.

There was that day that Anna serenaded Luke on his farewell, with her 150 rupee string instrument.

There was that day that Nate looked like this...

... and the boys collectively looked like this.

There was that day when we managed to count 9 nationalities between us: Ukrainian, Korean, American, Kiwi, Brazilian, South African, Irish, Australian, and Indian.

There was that day that I had weird shoulder-pads (and an expression to match).

There was that day that we went to Mocambo's for lunch, and we were served our drinks in giant mugs, and our food on a hot, sizzling stone.

There was that day that I ate my first true store-bought donuts.

There was that day that I bought this nose-stud, lost it down the drain, realised it had actually just fallen into my hair 15 minutes later after sulking for a while, and eventually got it in!

There was that day that I was waiting for a friend at the metro, and this man requested that I take his photo.

There was that day that I got to meet Christina (centre), who I have been in touch with via our blogs!

There was that day when the monsoon was light and delicate, and it left pretty rings in the water.

There was that day when my view looked like this.

There was that day that I took photos of the beautiful, and crumbling, buildings surrounding our flat. It is amazing how old some of these buildings are.

There was that day when I remembered just how beautiful textures are.

There was that day that the sky was deep blue.

There was that memorable day that Anna found some New Zealand kiwi-fruit at a store!

There was that day that I embroidered some fabric, cut some paper and hard-card up, stitched the paper together, made my own glue, and bound my own book.

There was that day where things were just beautiful.

There was that yummmmmmy day when I tried a very sweet lychee drink.

There was that day when I saw a girl wandering on her roof in her night-gown.

There was that day when I gave a photo some embroidered pants.

There was that day when our friends bought us some fresh beans from the States, and we took turns to smell them.

There was that day when it was the 4th of July, and the boys finally organised themselves to spell this out.,,

...and that I captured this pretty awesome photo of Nate.

Now, this Saturday, Anna and I will be boarding a 28 hour train to Chennai, and will fly out on the Monday to SRI LANKA!! We will spend a couple of nights in Colombo, one up in the mountains where we will climb Adam's Peak, then we will travel to the east to Trincomalee for 3 nights on the Uppuvelli beach, before spending our final night (and Anna's birthday) in a nice hotel back in Colombo. We will return slightly different shades of skin colour when we return I am sure (me red, Anna tan), and relaxed and refreshed. At least that is the aim of this trip! It will also be marking the half-way point of my stay here in India.

See you all later!

xx

The most perfect moment of my existence.

It had been days of merciless, sweat-breaking heat; it was the excited voice of one of the women that broke through my concentration at work, "Bishti, bishti!"

My heart leapt - finally.

I ran outside to the balcony, plunging my hand into the crying sky, exclaiming my excitement with bursts of laughter. All around me others were doing the same, and we all shared the same smile with each other, lit with bright eyes.

My feet hurriedly carried me down a flight of stairs to the open courtyard in the centre of our building, and childlike again, I laughed, splashed, and clapped in the soothing rain's heavy tears. (Think Bollywood classic rain-dance scene).

Hearing pearls of piercing laughter behind me, I turned to see the faces of tiny humans, faces pressed against the bars to their creche. We ran to them, lifted them into the air, and led them into the presence of the rain, watching their expressions contort in mixed emotions; first the shock of the cold, then the smiles that split their faces in two from ear-to-ear, with an escaped giggle or scream here and there.

One of the girls immediately made herself comfortable in my arms once her feet had left the ground. She wound one arm around me to play with my hair, the the other hung by her side, and at times would hold my own arm. Her hed nestled into the hollow of my neck and shoulder, and I stood there, swaying in the rain, humming a tune I don't know, and closed my eyes, with her enjoying the cold against her bare back.

Holding my arm against her skin, it continued to shock me just how pale I have become since being here; I have taken every step to stay out of the sun (due to the heat), so I have become almost transparent, I swear!

From time to time she would lift her head right back, looking straight up into the path of the droplets of water, her smile frozen on her face, and I just stood in awe at the simplicity of her excitement. Rain back home would rarely cause this expression. For a split second she would make eye contact, grin, then continue her silent wonder at the falling sky, her bottom lip beginning to quiver from the cold.

The cracking sound of head-meets-concrete brought us all back to reality; one of the little boys was too excited, running around, and learned the consequences of gravity. His cries of pain caused a slight anxiety at first among us, but then we all couldn't help giggling, surrounding him, and smothering him in a thousand kisses.

Leaving the children to slide, splash, and squeal, I let my feet again traipse back up the stairs, and into my office, where I stared momentarily at my computer, and wondered, "Did that just happen?"

x