I know I've been out here in India for a while when I decide to stop figuring out how many weeks, and instead convert to months. It's been 10 months here in India and I feel like I'm finally in a place where I can really start to enjoy this experience...not to say that I haven't enjoyed my time up to this moment, but I feel I've "adjusted" (as much as I can) to the way of life and culture, but more importantly, I've come to a place at work where I have some breathing room. So what does that mean?? Well, when I decided to come out to India, I set a personal goal to try to visit as many places as possible while I was over here. I knew that my job/work would take me to different places within India (visiting college campuses), so that made it easy for me and I decided I'd focus on visiting places outside India. But before I go on, it's time for some call outs, which I missed in my last post...
CALL OUTs
January/February Birthday's -
Steve & T (my two best friends from h.s.)...it's a joke that I can never remember the exact dates, but as long as I wish them a Happy B'day sometime in the month of Jan., it's all good! Miss ya guys!
The 3 of us on a camping trip in h.s.
Brody (youngest nephew) - Feb. 14th...he celebrated his 1st birthday!
Not sure this video will work--hope so!!
Jen (youngest cousin) - TODAY, Feb. 24th...Jen (or maybe I should say Dr. Jennifer Berthiaume) is my youngest cousin -- secretely I think she always wanted to be like me...volleyball player, marathons, seeking out adventure, etc. (ha, ha). Very proud of her and hope she has a great bday. P.S. I was going to ship you a present from JC Penny's, but they don't have them here in India, ha, ha...love ya!
The center of town...so cool!
Umm, those are the Himalaya's in the background!
Unbelievable views and FRESH AIR!!!
The group checking out the night life
Famous temple...you might've heard of the guy that lives there -- the Dali Lama (it was surreal to be there -- that chair covered in the gold fabric is where he sits when viewing the public...we didn't get to see him though)
We found a rooftop bar & decided to we were happy there...I can't tell you how happy I was to be able to wear a coat and hat again!
Some locals we met at the top of the waterfall -- we enjoyed some Old Monk rum with them.
It's not the waterfall that was so amazing, but the hike up to it and the fact that it was part of the Himalaya's and that water was melt off from the snow.
CALL OUTs
January/February Birthday's -
Steve & T (my two best friends from h.s.)...it's a joke that I can never remember the exact dates, but as long as I wish them a Happy B'day sometime in the month of Jan., it's all good! Miss ya guys!
The 3 of us on a camping trip in h.s.
Adam & Rob (my bro-n-laws) - Jan. 4 & 28th respectively (just to prove to my sisters that I do know their husband's birthdays)...Happy Bday guys!
Brody (youngest nephew) - Feb. 14th...he celebrated his 1st birthday!
Jen (youngest cousin) - TODAY, Feb. 24th...Jen (or maybe I should say Dr. Jennifer Berthiaume) is my youngest cousin -- secretely I think she always wanted to be like me...volleyball player, marathons, seeking out adventure, etc. (ha, ha). Very proud of her and hope she has a great bday. P.S. I was going to ship you a present from JC Penny's, but they don't have them here in India, ha, ha...love ya!
Let the Fun Begin...
Now back to the fun and trips...since I've been here, I've already been able to visit Bangkok, Thailand and Singapore, which were both awesome places. But it was my last trip that I took to Dharamsala (Tibet) that really motivated me to get moving on my other trips because I only have @ 8 months left in my assignment. It was also this trip that lit a fire under my ass and prompted me to get back to my blogging.
Dharamsala (Feb 9 - 12th)
Not only was this one of the most beautiful places I've been, but what made it even better was that my cousin Dave, his g/f Cara and their friends Scott & Kelly made the trip out here to visit and we all went on the excursion together. I knew from the moment I met them at the Delhi train station that it was going to be a blast...and it was. I posted all my pics on my Facebook page, so check out my complete album...but here are a few of my favorites--
The center of town...so cool!Umm, those are the Himalaya's in the background!Unbelievable views and FRESH AIR!!!The group checking out the night lifeFamous temple...you might've heard of the guy that lives there -- the Dali Lama (it was surreal to be there -- that chair covered in the gold fabric is where he sits when viewing the public...we didn't get to see him though)We found a rooftop bar & decided to we were happy there...I can't tell you how happy I was to be able to wear a coat and hat again!Some locals we met at the top of the waterfall -- we enjoyed some Old Monk rum with them.It's not the waterfall that was so amazing, but the hike up to it and the fact that it was part of the Himalaya's and that water was melt off from the snow.
It was just nice to be able to spend some time with friends and have them experience a very small part of my life over the past 10 months...THANKS for making the trip guys!!
My Team
Obviously I can't just hop from place to place during my last 8 months here, but lucky for me I still have a blast with my team at work...I'm very lucky to have come into the situation of having a solid team, and fun co-workers, which obviously makes work that more enjoyable. We recently went out to celebrate an awesome H1 and decided to go bowling and then for a nice dinner...fun time! Oh, the other "whitie" in the pics is Joe--he just accepted a 2-yr assignment here in India, so very happy to have another 'foreigner' here.
That's all I got folks...I knew it was going to be a short post, but I want to stay on top of it because I have some pretty exciting tips coming up -- of course you'll have stayed tuned to find out where I'm going!
DEEP-ak Thoughts By Keith
- If you've ever wanted to visit someplace, or travel somewhere cool -- DO IT! Don't wait for that sign, or put it off and say "when I retire..." If you have kids, ask the grandparents to watch them--that's what they're for (kidding mom & dad).
- When you can't be home, sometimes the best place to seek the comforts of home is in the food you associate with home...and that's exactly what I did last night! Joe and I hit up the Hard Rock Cafe here in Hyderabad and I had my first real hamburger here in Hyderabad (and some damn good nachos)!!
Peace, out!
K-
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