Bubble Note #25

Newest update: I have a new hole in my face! Well, I decided to take the leap and get my nose pierced. Never would have done it if it wasn't cultural. So what is the significance of a nose ring here? Well, in some areas it symbolized marriage, but in the city a girl will get her nose pierced once she is of age. Each sides mean different things according to where you live. On the web this is what I generally found, "In India, a common belief is that a woman should have her left nostril pierced. According to Ayuvedra, Indian Medicine, the left nostril is the spot associated with child bearing. Wearing a nose ring here eases the pain and makes child birth more manageable." (http://www.ehow.com/facts_5526960_meaning-nose-rings.html) Though when I have talked to nationals, they view it more of a sign of beauty and grace than anything else (the same reason we have our ears pierced).


My friend Steph and I had it done at the same time. Though...I made her go first and had to be coaxed to actually do it ;-)

Besides that life has been good. Christmas is coming up, woot woot. We have not yet decorated but it is on the agenda of things to do this weekend. Thanksgiving was yesterday (American) and we had a blast making pies, casseroles and then eating everything together in a large get-together.

Tomorrow I am heading out with some friends to another town to check out some Palaces, gardens and touring type stuff. This will be the first time I'm going far outside the city, so I'm kind of excited :-D  :-D 

Sorry there isn't much to update about. Let me know what ya'll want to hear about, sometimes after one has been overseas for a while, they start to forget what is interesting to those of another culture. Like, I could describe the whole shopping trip today? Or that I rode in the smoothest, quietest, nicest auto today, I felt so spoiled :-[ . Or that I figure driving here is like a live tetris game, you just have to go with the flow and fit wherever it works. Shoulder checking is a foreign concept. Some bangle shops looks like glistening rivers of  sun-spotted colour. Perhaps you would like to know that I have possibly the lowest texting rates in the world (I put $20 on my phone as soon as I got here, and have only used about $5 of it). Or that my noses hurts slightly and I am scared to death to sneeze as I might shoot this earing across the room. In any case, let me know what is up in your lives, what you would like to know about mine and what your Christmas plans are!

Stay safe, eat well, exercise more and get dirty.

Beth

Bubble Note #24

I am in the mood for spicing things up a little, so instead of writing I recorded a video. It doesn't give a whole lot of detail, and is really meant for the people who haven't been paying attention to what the detailed notes say ;-)  But since it is 16MB big, and I figured some of you may not have the highspeed connection that is so envied world-wide, I would post it on my blog and on facebook so that you can view to your hearts content, without spending hours waiting for that lone massive email to finally download. Therefore, please click here Bubble Notes or Facebook (if you are a friend on facebook).

This week was uneventful. The general population is getting the winter cold and sinus virus'. But, because of my proper upbringing in hyper-hydration and the usefulness of vitamin C (the irresistible orange flavour helps a little too) I have avoiding getting any more than a sniffly nose. It was also decided that only Stephen will be going to do the training, thus, no train. Bummer for the adventurous side of me, good for the sanity side. Together I'm normally pretty balanced (haha, others would disagree). Oh also, our Christmas play that we were going to put in action got cancelled and we will only be doing songs. Flexibility is the organizers best friend. I can't wait for the Christmas program, the other day when Steph and I went to go tutor the dudes/dudettes they were in the classroom watching a video and learning choreography from it. Nothing cuter than a whole bunch of lanky 7th grade boys doing Bollywood (Bollywood is the Indian version of Hollywood; feel free to youtube it if you want a taste of culture) moves.

In any case, the mosquito's will be coming out soon. Oh, but I found out that elephant dung repels mosquito's (check out the story here)..maybe...just maybe...

Beth

Bubble Note #24- Video

Hammock at Dusk. Visits available for purchase.


Please do not distribute this information without consent from the author.

Bubble Note #23

Super Praise: I have a scheduled appointment in Thailand for the extraction of all four of my wisdom teeth on January 6th! If you have been with me since Bubble Note numero one, you will know that my appointment to have my wisdom teeth removed this last summer was cancelled because they were afraid of me passing out while in their care (in a dentists office in downtown Calgary- is it considered "a history of it" if it has happened once? I mean, we could at least test the theory...). Thus, they recommended me to a specialist (ie: doing it under general anaesthesia vs the original local. ie: a lot more money). After several discussions, phone calls, breakdowns and feeling my teeth with my tongue trying to decide if I was ever going to proceed, I decided that I would.......just not in Canada (college student going overseas, I don't really have $1500 just laying around). Thus, after hearing that Thailand has some of the best and cheapest health care in the world, I checked it out, and sure enough, after much communication I received the final cost: $283.92. Sure I won't be put completely under, but really, laughing gas? Who could pass that up. If anything could trump Christmas morning (ps, I was informed that Santa is increasing his on-sleigh-elf capacity this year, so more cookies and milk is required to be left out; or for this lactose-free elf, cookies and Dr. Pepper), laughing gas would be it. But, since nothing can trump Christmas, surgery will just have to come in second. On a more semi-serious note, please do yarp that this goes well. I have not yet gone through a surgery without my mum (though we came close one time...haha), and loosing body parts without a motherly hand can be tough sometimes, so perhaps yarp that I would not be to loopy, and if I am, that our Father would control my loopiness with wisdom (no pun intended). Oh, just received a confirmation email from the DentalDudes, "We are looking forward to welcome you soon." I bet they are.

On another note, we are travelling to another city in two weeks. In a train. Hm, not quite sure what to expect. But from what I've heard, the train stations are the New York Subway system x20. I let you know what real claustrophobia feels like after that trip. It will take us approx 22 hours to get there. What happens when you put 6 people in an enclosed box for 22 hours with little to do and an 18 month old going stir crazy? Stay tuned for the answer.

Hope your day has started off well. Yes, I know, it is Thursday. The wanna-be weekend. Stay strong, Friday is just around the corner (but I can say that because it is already Friday for me. ha.).

Love in Him,

Beth

Bubble Note #22

Dear Friends,

I have hit a mile stone. My first red pen has run out of ink! Ah, the feelings of accomplishment as a teacher.

This past week has been really good, full of learning and experiencing, joys and complications and "going-with-the-flow". Which isn't all that bad for me since my schedules consist of "whatever happens to come up". Hindi is going well, I'm enjoying getting to know my teacher, learning how to make real chai and riding my bike on these crazy roads (which is quite different than what I did this last summer. I am riding Elisabeth's pink 'ladies bike' as they call it here. Fully equipped with a basket and bell. I adapt to my surroundings out of necessity, haha). Tutoring is also going well, and I enjoyed showing the 6th grade boys pictures of Canada in Canadian Geographic the other day. Of course, the concept of snow is foreign. And pretty much uninhabited hills looks impossible to them. And I was asked quite a few times if that was me in an advertisement (blush blush, what can I say...), but we had a blast. Yarp for these kids, it is sometimes hard to teach because their classes are so big and they are taught to memorize, not to learn. For example, when I ask how to spell Tiger, they will recite together, "T-I-G-E-R", but when I ask them, how to you spell girl, they have no ideas. Simply because they have learnt that tiger is t-i-g-e-r, not the reason why (t says "tuh", i says "aye" etc). Anywhoo..

Besides that, life is good. I'm getting used to being called by many different names, and I respond to almost anything theses days. Milady (Lizzy sometimes calls me in school), Teacher, sister (by the nationals), miss, mam, Bes (Josiah -the 18month old, can't say Beth), auntie, Betney, you name it, I've probably been called it.

In any case, I need to go read with Elisabeth. Sorry, no pictures this time around, my camera hasn't been working.

In Love,

Beth