I just got done eating some VERY good Turkish dark chocolate, sent to me by my boy, Uh hum, excuse me, 'man',  whose name is John for all of you wondering :) If I could figure out how to put pics in here I MIGHT include one, but that is not a very strong might.

So, today, I want to be home. I am TERRIBLY homesick.  My brother turned 27 yesterday, I missed his big party, my best friend from college turns 26 this weekend, I am missing one of my best guy friends weddings next week, and I just miss all of my friends and family. What I would not give to be in the presence of people that I love and totally enjoy through and through.  It is very hard right now. Then I found out today that my living situation is changing. I am not very excited about this...oh well.

For all of you who read this, please PR for me. I could use it  . I know I will be fine...and I know I am where I am for a purpose, but sometimes it is still pretty hard...

OK. SO, know how you read about something and think, wow, that is kinda crazy, but you never expect that you will really ever see it with your own two eyes, and in a way doubt it is even true? So, tonight I was riding home with some friends of mine, we went to see The Passion tonight (whoa), and I looked over at the side of the road, as people watching is one of my favorite activities. OH, that reminds me of another story I will have to tell in a minute.

Right. Back to my story. So, I look over b/c I see these two people walking right behind a cow. The cow lifts up it's tail and starts to go #1 right there. No big deal, cows have to go too. Then I see the man, then the woman, reach out and cup their hand under the cows #1 flow and annoint themselves with it! Yeah, they totally took the pee and tossed it on their heads and on their face. That is taking the "holy cow" business to the extreme! The sad thing is that they truely belive that by using the urine of the "holy cow" they are purifiying themselves...and this after watching Christ be crucified for our sins in The Passion.
You talk about a culture that never ceases to amaze you.

Next story. So, I was in another city this past week. We were visiting a friend one night and he asked if we would go to the 3-D I-Max with him. Yeah, they have one here, we watched this underwater 3-D thing about the ocean from the second row with the HUGEST glasses you have ever seen...yeah, you can imagine. So, the movie was ok, but my favorite part was the time spent people watching before the movie. So, we are in this complex which has escalators. To the American, we think, yeah, of course, no one wants to climb all those stairs if they can use the escalator. Well, they are new in India and quite a few Indians are afraid of them. We sat for twenty minutes and watched all the people afraid to get on the moving stairs. The people would attempt to get on and look like I do when I am attempting to cliff jump at the Lake by my house where I grew up. A number would try a few times and then decide to walk up instead on the stationary stairs. The kids were amazed and had a great time once they were actually on...I wish you all could have been there. It was one of the most interesting things I have watched in a very long time...who would have thought, the escalator.

Hmmm. I am sitting here at 12 AM my time. I managed to take a VERY nice Sunday afternoon nap which now disturbs my ability to go to sleep at a some what normal hour. The lateness has it's advantages, as my really great guy, who lives thousands of miles away in a great but foriegn country, is on-line too :)

What is funny to me is that it is 12 AM and there is a construction truck right outside my building making all kinds of noise as they work on the house across the street. You can ever so often hear the men yelling to each other as well. Plesant way to meet your pillow at night This country never ceases to amaze me. The sounds, or lack there of, are what is going to send me into culture shock when I return to the States. That and not seeing little girls squatting down on my street to use the bathroom, a cow eating trash out of the concrete bin on the side of the road as it's guide watches over it, and chases other cows and their guides off with a whip, the press walla ironing the neighborhood's clothes on a cart on the street with their goat tied just under neath, beautiful women in their sarees doing heavy construction work on houses being built, packs of dogs running together like gangs (these and the cows are a little scary to me)...all on my stroll through my winding neighborhood to catch an auto to work...

So, I fly to yet another new city tomorrow. This place has the possibility of being 120 degrees while I am there . I am sure it will be a very good experience for me...never seen those kind of temperatures before...I have also read with the election it could be quite the interesting political environment...not as simple as fussing over voting cards...which seems to be what the nationals want to talk to me about when they hear I moved here from Florida...go figure.

So, last time I wrote on a day when I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes...today I got screen put on all my windows  Those bad boys are going to have to hurry through the open door from now on if they plan on residing in my house!

So, as I was out running this morning, day 3 I might add, I was greeted by the man who lives across the street taking a bath in his little shack like structure with the door wide open! Are you allowed to take a bath in the open like that? I suppose you can in this country as I have seen 3 men bathing in my neighborhood at this point...thankfully they all had lungees on or I might have been frightened! When I go on my back balcony to wash and hang out clothes, well this has not been happening for a while as my washer has not been working for 2 weeks now , you can catch an ariel view of the people who camp on the property next to my flat, taking a shower in thier round tin shower thing below. I now make sure I enjoy the sky and the birds when I go out there as I don't need to be seeing any of that either .

I really enjoy the cows around here, well ok, sometimes, when I am not afraid they are going to charge at me as I run by, or when I am not dodging the cow patties they leave all over the street, side walk, park, etc., or when I am not being side swiped by one who feels where I am standing is in its path and does not feel like going around, or when I have not had to wipe the bottom of my salwars off b/c a cow decided to relieve itself as I was in too close proximity... Today, however, I did enjoy them and even saw a cow that looked SO much like a Chic-fil-A cow!  I sure would love to have some Chic-fil-a right now...

I still hold that someone needs to franchise Chic-fil-a over here. I mean really, "Eat More Chicken"...over here it would have to be "Eat ONLY chicken" but it could work...as long as you are not in a TOTAL Veg area...even then McDonalds can still be found there selling potatoe burgers instead of hamburgers...I say bring on the sweet tea

Hmmm, what a day today has been.  I have had a VERY good day...I had planned on writing a lot for this first entry but the mosquitoes biting my legs, arms, feet and back are winning in the "getting my attention category",  so I will leave the real writing for another day when I am able to focus a little more on the writing and less on the biting...