How was India?

How was India? I'll tell you how India was. I got up this morning and shot an elephant in my pyjamas. How an elephant got in my pyjamas I shall never know.

Sorry. I've wanted to use that quote from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for such a long time!

On to the photos.

This is the start of the wedding stuff. Early on Saturday morning there was a blessing sort of thing for Shilp.

After that Shilp went off to the temple in Kovur, and everyone else had time to kill until lunchtime. Shilp's cousin Honey and I escaped the house for a while, and went to visit Dave's family and friends at their hotel. Being on the Indian side of things, and having been to Prathima's wedding, I was considered the expert in all matters relating to the wedding. I didn't know much more than they did, but having gotten used to "Indian Time", as well as too long in Japan with no idea what is going on, I was better prepared. If it is important, someone will tell you what to do...

Lunch was about 2 o'clock. We ate outside at rented house. These are Dave's friends, Sam and Tamaki. They are eating a collection of things wrapped up in a betel leaf. It is supposed to be good for your digestion. Maybe... it is pretty gross.
I hung out with the foreigners for a while, before I realised there were no Indians still outside. I figured there must be a reason for this, and moved inside. Sure enough it was much cooler!

I hung out with Honey and Neel for a while. Luckily, Neel wasn't trying to charge me a million dollars to take his photo this time:
Later in the afternoon Shilp was sent back to the beauty salon to get made even more beautiful. Prathima went with her, while I got ready for the evening function. When I was ready we swapped shifts. The beauty salon was about five minutes walk from the rented house. Everyone at the house was busy, so I walked over by myself. Such a funny sight you have never seen - the whitest thing ever to hit Nellore, dressed up in a black dress, high heels, walking across to the beauty salon. I didn't dare look left or right. I KNEW everyone was staring at me, I just didn't need to see them...

Anyway, I made it, kidneys intact.

Shilp got made pretty:

And then we went to the wedding hall. And here are a series of photos in which Shilp looks gorgeous:

These are two of Shilp's cousins - Naviya and Honey.This is Shilp and her uncle. I had trouble getting him to smile for the photo...

The whitest thing ever to hit Nellore:

When I arrived in Hyderabad and met Shilpa's aunt, who I had met last time I was in India, she apparently said "she's whiter than last time." That is what an Aomori winter will do to you!

Shilp and her mum:

Shilp, her mum and her mum's siblings:

Shilp's sister, Prathima; Shilpa; Shilp's brother-in-law Neel:
Sunday was the wedding proper. I'll put those pictures up soon.

Today is Friday! TGIF! Unfortunately I have to go to work tomorrow - it is the graduation ceremony. Today and yesterday we have had practices - bowing practice, singing practice, entering the hall practice, exiting the hall practice... today it wasn't so bad, but yesterday was awful. The hall is FREEZING! They have two big heaters but they are noisy, so they turn them off while the actual practice is going on. So bloody cold! Today they had the other smaller heaters out as well. Hardly makes a difference if you are the students, but I am not and carefully chose a place to sit near the heater. AND I was prepared and wore a polypro...

Tuesday was the entrance exam for the junior high kids who want to come to Nishiko next year, and Wednesday was the marking day. It is quite fun - all the teachers sit around a table and mark one section each. Unlike most ALTs, I am allowed to help. I even had sentences to mark, not just the multiguess questions. My other job was "advisor" - when the teachers weren't sure about the answer the student had written I had the final say.

There were some real gems in the exams. The best was a finish the sentence - "In Canada schools start in September, but in Japan..." and the student had written "everybody angry." The model answer was "schools start in April."

OK, that is enough for today. I'll go and dust off my suit and make sure I have a shirt ironed for tomorrow.