I am back in the USA. It is 5am here. I need to go back to bed but I couldn't so I decided to surf the web a little bit.
It was really cold when we got into Nebraska. 48 degrees! I shouldn't have been as surprised as I am... We missed the entire summer.
It is a big difference being in USA and not India. I got so used to it. Driving home from Omaha was like driving threw a deserted country side. And the traffic makes me want to sleep. So boring and unexciting compared to India.
I feel like I have been spoiled since I have arrived at the airport... I got a huge bundle of roses, a super amazing ring and bracelet, chocolates, cookies!, a super great man is now my boyfriend, motor cycle rides, and steaks. I was completely pooped by the end of the night... passed out super early. Which is probably another reason why I am awake right now.
I haven't heard much from Sammy, but that is probably because I passed out really early.
Wellll, I think I might be tired enough to go back to sleep now... :)
I am not sure if this blog is done now or what? I am sure I will be back in India... I wonder when...
<3 and Miss you Sujit!
<3 India
<3 CoCo
Friday, 16 September 2011
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Last night in India
Wow. It's already the last night in India. Tomorrow night we leave.
I wish this could be longer...
I hope that I get to come back.
It was really really great for me to come here. It couldn't have been a better time.
My manager Sujit is the best manger I could ask for. I hope he stays in contact with us.
Tomorrow morning we are going shopping one last time with Adi and J.P. I probably should go to bed... It is going to be a long day... after I wake up tomorrow morning... I probably wont get to sleep well till Thursday evening... which is Friday morning India time. 14 hour flight...
Can't wait to see everyone when I get back!
1 day and 16 hours.
Goodnight India.
I wish this could be longer...
I hope that I get to come back.
It was really really great for me to come here. It couldn't have been a better time.
My manager Sujit is the best manger I could ask for. I hope he stays in contact with us.
Tomorrow morning we are going shopping one last time with Adi and J.P. I probably should go to bed... It is going to be a long day... after I wake up tomorrow morning... I probably wont get to sleep well till Thursday evening... which is Friday morning India time. 14 hour flight...
Can't wait to see everyone when I get back!
1 day and 16 hours.
Goodnight India.
India by the Numbers
80 days…
31 performances…
27 blog posts…
19 hula hoops…
17 flights…
11 weeks…
10 different hotels…
9 cities visited…
8 states…
3 packages from home…
2 girls from Nebraska…
ONE country.
31 performances…
27 blog posts…
19 hula hoops…
17 flights…
11 weeks…
10 different hotels…
9 cities visited…
8 states…
3 packages from home…
2 girls from Nebraska…
ONE country.
Friday, 9 September 2011
Holy Friday!
Wow. It seems like we were just in Kolkatta performing last weekend... and it is already Friday night. We will perform all day tomorrow and Sunday then fly back to Delhi monday around 10am.
Wednesday was a crazy day! First we thought we were going to go out and do things around Delhi. But after hearing about the latest terrorist attack which was a bomb that went off Wednesday morning in DELHI the city we were in...we decided against going out. I spent most of the day trying to decide on new LED hoop colors. After that I took a long nap till about 8pm. Sammy and I were sitting on our bed geeking out on the net... when all of a sudden the entire bed starts shaking! It lasted no longer than 5 seconds... immediately Sammy looks at me and says, "That was an earthquake!" Supposedly it was a 6.6. We were on the 3rd floor of the hotel so I am sure that is why we felt it for such a short time. I bet it was worse on ground level.
Last night we went out shopping at these awesome market places! So many things for cheap! One pair of pants from these places is about $40-$60 in USA and $3 if you get them at these markets! We are stocking up! I cannot wait for next summer I will be wearing all my new pants from India.
After our flight from Delhi to Lucknow my head is throbbing! I just took some Ibuprofen so hopefully it will quit hurting soon. I stuffed myself for dinner... kind of have a stomach ache too from eating so much.
I have been shopping on Ebay for costumes and I am excited to be getting some beautiful isis wings! Hopefully they will arrive by the time I get back!
I am having Mark pick me up from the airport. I think Matt is picking Sammy up too. It is going to be one big love fest when we get in! I have missed Mark so much since I left. I know Sammy misses Matt a lot too.
When I get back to the USA I know I will be missing our manager Sujit. He is the best manager ever! I hope to see him again... even though it is only a 99% chance that I will ever see him again... :( He bring enlightenment each time we talk. Such a wise man. I am excited to give him the gift I bought for him!
Well I better get back to shopping on ebay... lots to find! Lots to buy! :D
Later gater!
-CoCo
Wednesday was a crazy day! First we thought we were going to go out and do things around Delhi. But after hearing about the latest terrorist attack which was a bomb that went off Wednesday morning in DELHI the city we were in...we decided against going out. I spent most of the day trying to decide on new LED hoop colors. After that I took a long nap till about 8pm. Sammy and I were sitting on our bed geeking out on the net... when all of a sudden the entire bed starts shaking! It lasted no longer than 5 seconds... immediately Sammy looks at me and says, "That was an earthquake!" Supposedly it was a 6.6. We were on the 3rd floor of the hotel so I am sure that is why we felt it for such a short time. I bet it was worse on ground level.
Last night we went out shopping at these awesome market places! So many things for cheap! One pair of pants from these places is about $40-$60 in USA and $3 if you get them at these markets! We are stocking up! I cannot wait for next summer I will be wearing all my new pants from India.
After our flight from Delhi to Lucknow my head is throbbing! I just took some Ibuprofen so hopefully it will quit hurting soon. I stuffed myself for dinner... kind of have a stomach ache too from eating so much.
I have been shopping on Ebay for costumes and I am excited to be getting some beautiful isis wings! Hopefully they will arrive by the time I get back!
I am having Mark pick me up from the airport. I think Matt is picking Sammy up too. It is going to be one big love fest when we get in! I have missed Mark so much since I left. I know Sammy misses Matt a lot too.
When I get back to the USA I know I will be missing our manager Sujit. He is the best manager ever! I hope to see him again... even though it is only a 99% chance that I will ever see him again... :( He bring enlightenment each time we talk. Such a wise man. I am excited to give him the gift I bought for him!
Well I better get back to shopping on ebay... lots to find! Lots to buy! :D
Later gater!
-CoCo
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Back at home base in Delhi
Well I tried to update from our last hotel, but the hotel told us to go back to our room right as I was posting it. When I got to the room I pulled up the browser to see that it didn't post successfully.
Since our latest post we have traveled to Mumbai for a day. We had a Prefetti performance and it went wonderfully. No hoops were dropped this time :) Unfortunately we didn't get to see anything in Mumbai except the hotel room. And it was raining the entire time we were there. We flew to Mumbai at 6am... then back to Kolkatta at 7pm. It was a long day.
After we got back to Kolkatta Sammy was finishing her sickness and I was collecting one. So the rest of the week I spent sleeping and trying to get better before our H.P. weekend. We stayed a few more nights in the Bodhi Tree Hotel and switched to a hotel that was closer to the next mall we were at. Our 2nd weekend in Kolkatta we were performing at a mall that was half inside half outside. :( It was hot and humid. Luckily we had Dexter to distract us. The weekend went pretty fast and before we knew it we were flying back to Delhi.
We did our last Prefetti performance in Delhi on Monday afternoon. It was great! No dropped hoops and the performance was perfect. After that was done we rode in the taxi with some of Sujit's dancers back to the Iris hotel. This hotel has been the best hotel we have stayed at since we have arrived in India. It is clean, fashionable, great food, and good service. I am glad we are back at this hotel. We fly to Lucknow Friday afternoon for this weekend... but before that we hope to go shopping for presents. I have a long list of item to buy. Also I want to experience an Indian massage. The last thing on my list of things to do before leaving India is get a tattoo. I feel like we are kind of short on time. We only have Wednesday/Thursday of this week then Monday/Tuesday of next week. We probably will have some of Wednesday of next week but I do not doubt that we will most likely spend the majority of the day packing and getting to the airport. Our flight leaves at 11pm Wednesday night, 14 hours later we arrive at New Wark, New Jersey airport. After waiting at that airport for 3 hours we hop a plane to return at 9:41 Thursday morning to "The Good Life". Even though we will be traveling for such a long time... it will be great to leave late Wednesday night and return early Thursday morning. It will almost seem like we didn't travel.
I wish I could have got my return ticket to fly into Lincoln... so that I could avoid the hour long drive... but I was not thinking when I had Sujit book the return flight. Oh well! I have my entire Thursday planned... but I don't know if I'll be to tired to do anything. I think I will be able to sleep on the long flight. So I should be charged enough to bike all over town Thursday. I am for SURE spinning fire that night. Who ever wants to come watch is more than welcome. FIRE STAFF!!
FIRE HOOP! They both feel so neglected. I wish I could burn here in India... but it's not as easy as it is at my apartment. A week after I get back is the Playshop I have been trying to organize. It is a lot of work... but I think it will be worth-it.
Tomorrow we have plans to meet up with J.P. and Adi sometime in the afternoon. I am not sure what we are going to do... maybe dinner?
Thursday I hope that we get to go shopping... because then Friday we fly to Lucknow... Saturday and Sunday we will be performing all day. Monday morning we fly back to Delhi, then hopefully I can get a massage that day and we can talk to the tattoo artist about our tat's... then maybe we can get the tattoos Tuesday? And then Wednesday we fly back!
Time is flying by! Especially since we are busy.
I cannot wait to see everyone! The Saturday that I get back is Nasty Nasty at The Bourbon Theatre... I am excited for that. Maybe I can perform on stage. :D
I want to work on performing, teaching, and workshops when I get back.
Wellll, there is not much more I have to talk about...
oh yeah... here is the latest Youtube video I have found of us at Mantri Mall Bangalore (which is the biggest mall in Asia)
Goodnight everyone!
-Love CoCoLovin
Since our latest post we have traveled to Mumbai for a day. We had a Prefetti performance and it went wonderfully. No hoops were dropped this time :) Unfortunately we didn't get to see anything in Mumbai except the hotel room. And it was raining the entire time we were there. We flew to Mumbai at 6am... then back to Kolkatta at 7pm. It was a long day.
After we got back to Kolkatta Sammy was finishing her sickness and I was collecting one. So the rest of the week I spent sleeping and trying to get better before our H.P. weekend. We stayed a few more nights in the Bodhi Tree Hotel and switched to a hotel that was closer to the next mall we were at. Our 2nd weekend in Kolkatta we were performing at a mall that was half inside half outside. :( It was hot and humid. Luckily we had Dexter to distract us. The weekend went pretty fast and before we knew it we were flying back to Delhi.
We did our last Prefetti performance in Delhi on Monday afternoon. It was great! No dropped hoops and the performance was perfect. After that was done we rode in the taxi with some of Sujit's dancers back to the Iris hotel. This hotel has been the best hotel we have stayed at since we have arrived in India. It is clean, fashionable, great food, and good service. I am glad we are back at this hotel. We fly to Lucknow Friday afternoon for this weekend... but before that we hope to go shopping for presents. I have a long list of item to buy. Also I want to experience an Indian massage. The last thing on my list of things to do before leaving India is get a tattoo. I feel like we are kind of short on time. We only have Wednesday/Thursday of this week then Monday/Tuesday of next week. We probably will have some of Wednesday of next week but I do not doubt that we will most likely spend the majority of the day packing and getting to the airport. Our flight leaves at 11pm Wednesday night, 14 hours later we arrive at New Wark, New Jersey airport. After waiting at that airport for 3 hours we hop a plane to return at 9:41 Thursday morning to "The Good Life". Even though we will be traveling for such a long time... it will be great to leave late Wednesday night and return early Thursday morning. It will almost seem like we didn't travel.
I wish I could have got my return ticket to fly into Lincoln... so that I could avoid the hour long drive... but I was not thinking when I had Sujit book the return flight. Oh well! I have my entire Thursday planned... but I don't know if I'll be to tired to do anything. I think I will be able to sleep on the long flight. So I should be charged enough to bike all over town Thursday. I am for SURE spinning fire that night. Who ever wants to come watch is more than welcome. FIRE STAFF!!
FIRE HOOP! They both feel so neglected. I wish I could burn here in India... but it's not as easy as it is at my apartment. A week after I get back is the Playshop I have been trying to organize. It is a lot of work... but I think it will be worth-it.
Tomorrow we have plans to meet up with J.P. and Adi sometime in the afternoon. I am not sure what we are going to do... maybe dinner?
Thursday I hope that we get to go shopping... because then Friday we fly to Lucknow... Saturday and Sunday we will be performing all day. Monday morning we fly back to Delhi, then hopefully I can get a massage that day and we can talk to the tattoo artist about our tat's... then maybe we can get the tattoos Tuesday? And then Wednesday we fly back!
Time is flying by! Especially since we are busy.
I cannot wait to see everyone! The Saturday that I get back is Nasty Nasty at The Bourbon Theatre... I am excited for that. Maybe I can perform on stage. :D
I want to work on performing, teaching, and workshops when I get back.
Wellll, there is not much more I have to talk about...
oh yeah... here is the latest Youtube video I have found of us at Mantri Mall Bangalore (which is the biggest mall in Asia)
Goodnight everyone!
-Love CoCoLovin
Sunday, 28 August 2011
Prefetti!
Dear readers,
It has been awhile since we have updated. I have been putting it off... I was telling myself I would update yesterday while in between performances at the mall but it never happened... I was too busy re-watching DEXTER. :P
So let me start with... our first Prefetti/Centerfresh stage performance...
HA! I sucked. It is annoying. I had 2 minutes of a hula hoop routine in which I should not drop the hoop... and I did. Why!? The client was not happy. Luckily I have been practicing a lot so that it will not happen tomorrow at our performance.
Literally right after we were done performing the stage show we packed up our bag and rushed to the airport... the taxi took forever to arrive at the hotel and the traffic was bad... Sujit was convinced we were going to miss the flight but we made it for the last boarding call! Yippie! I had a lot of fun traveling with the Prefetti crew. They are all REALLY nice people and funny. Sadly when we landed in Kolkata we immediately had to say goodbye to them because we were staying in different hotels.
We checked into the hotel and then found it that it had no internet and even better had only veg foods to offer! The restaurant was called the Desert... Sujit joked that it was called that because their menu was deserted with food to eat. Since we really can not eat veg food we got to change hotels! Now we are staying in a amazing hotel called Bodhi Tree... it's also an Art Monastery. We will definitely take pictures to post of this hotel.
The first day in Kolkata, Sujit woke us up and took us to a market place... after awhile we decided that we were seeing the same things that we could purchase in Delhi so we decided to go back to the hotel to watch a movie... on the way back we stopped at the Victoria Memorial. It was inspired by the Taj Mahal and it was beautiful! We walked around and checked it out... and about 5 minutes after walking outside it started pouring down rain! We tried to take cover under a tree but when we realized it was not doing much good we ran for a taxi... but there seems to be this thing about getting a taxi... whenever you do not need a taxi, they are everywhere... but when you REALLY need a taxi... they are no where to be found. We showered and tried to dry our clothes once we got back to the hotel. Then watched a few movies before heading to bed.
I tried to wake up early to watch the sunrise on Friday but it was cloudy and rainy so no sunrise was there. It was our first performance day in Kolkata and the mall we are at is pretty cool.
Sujit's 9 dancers came to support us and they were awesome! The Indian audience is hard to get clapping but these guys were hooting and hollering and clapping and making the performance soo much fun! We had yet to see their performance so we asked if they had their music... they did! So during our next performance they joined! They're sooo good! It was a lot of fun hanging out with the guys. After we all walked around the mall Sujit bought us lunch at KFC. The manager was so impressed with Sammy and I's performance that he gave us a discount! :) Then the 9 dancers had to leave :( Sujit left too. We have not seen him since... he is in Mumbai now with the dancers. Sammy and I fly to Mumbai early tomorrow morning. 6am! So we have to leave for the airport at 3:30! I do not even know if I will sleep tonight... after our performance in Mumbai... we go back to the airport and fly back to Kolkata. Lot of flying these next 24 hours... more than performing :) When we get back to Kolkata I have no idea what we are going to do... we have nothing planned for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Neelakshi (our MC from Bangalore) has a friend in Kolkata and we are hoping she can take us to some cool places... Then back to the mall to perform. I guess the next mall we are supposed to perform at is outside... and it is super humid here... so our team is trying to convince the client that we should be at this mall again next week. Sammy and I hope it gets approved, we do not want to be performing outside in the heat. And not only that but I doubt the heat is good for the laptops.
So I bought some Gatorade today... and it is 225 rupees... that is 5$! I can't believe it. I buy a 40 of beer for 60 rupees! I do not think I will be buying Gatorade anymore... it is good for us since we need energy and electrolytes... but beer can do the same thing, right? ;)
Yesterday went by very quick... Sammy and I sat in the green room/box watching DEXTER when we were not performing. I also saw the biggest spider EVER! It was the size of my fist I swear. And it was not a tranchula. On our way home from the mall our taxi broke down! Haha! Sammy has a complete commentary video from Shiv of the situation. It was epic. We finally got it to work and made it to the hotel. I was just thinking earlier that day... that there would be no way that we could go the entire India experience without getting into a taxi that would break down in the middle of our ride. And voila, it happened. It was fun when he got the vehicle started going. We all cheered! We will share the video on youtube when we upload it.
Somehow when I was eating at the hotel I got bit by 4 mosquitoes. All of them are around my elbow. It is annoying. Those little things should not be alive. The world would be a better place without them.
Wellllll not much more to talk about... it is Sunday about 6pm so we probably have about 3 more performances left until we get to go to the hotel.
Then we have to pack for the Mumbai trip. I have to shower... ever since I cut my hair I have to shower ever 2 days, my hair gets greasy fast. I think we might try to get a couple hours of zzz's in and then wake up at 3:30 for the plane!
It is the week of Burning Man. I wish I could be there. We were originally supposed to be returning to the USA tomorrow... but because of the heat our tour was pushed back 2 weeks. I will see everyone soon! Gotta go for now!
<3 Coco
It has been awhile since we have updated. I have been putting it off... I was telling myself I would update yesterday while in between performances at the mall but it never happened... I was too busy re-watching DEXTER. :P
So let me start with... our first Prefetti/Centerfresh stage performance...
HA! I sucked. It is annoying. I had 2 minutes of a hula hoop routine in which I should not drop the hoop... and I did. Why!? The client was not happy. Luckily I have been practicing a lot so that it will not happen tomorrow at our performance.
Literally right after we were done performing the stage show we packed up our bag and rushed to the airport... the taxi took forever to arrive at the hotel and the traffic was bad... Sujit was convinced we were going to miss the flight but we made it for the last boarding call! Yippie! I had a lot of fun traveling with the Prefetti crew. They are all REALLY nice people and funny. Sadly when we landed in Kolkata we immediately had to say goodbye to them because we were staying in different hotels.
We checked into the hotel and then found it that it had no internet and even better had only veg foods to offer! The restaurant was called the Desert... Sujit joked that it was called that because their menu was deserted with food to eat. Since we really can not eat veg food we got to change hotels! Now we are staying in a amazing hotel called Bodhi Tree... it's also an Art Monastery. We will definitely take pictures to post of this hotel.
The first day in Kolkata, Sujit woke us up and took us to a market place... after awhile we decided that we were seeing the same things that we could purchase in Delhi so we decided to go back to the hotel to watch a movie... on the way back we stopped at the Victoria Memorial. It was inspired by the Taj Mahal and it was beautiful! We walked around and checked it out... and about 5 minutes after walking outside it started pouring down rain! We tried to take cover under a tree but when we realized it was not doing much good we ran for a taxi... but there seems to be this thing about getting a taxi... whenever you do not need a taxi, they are everywhere... but when you REALLY need a taxi... they are no where to be found. We showered and tried to dry our clothes once we got back to the hotel. Then watched a few movies before heading to bed.
I tried to wake up early to watch the sunrise on Friday but it was cloudy and rainy so no sunrise was there. It was our first performance day in Kolkata and the mall we are at is pretty cool.
Sujit's 9 dancers came to support us and they were awesome! The Indian audience is hard to get clapping but these guys were hooting and hollering and clapping and making the performance soo much fun! We had yet to see their performance so we asked if they had their music... they did! So during our next performance they joined! They're sooo good! It was a lot of fun hanging out with the guys. After we all walked around the mall Sujit bought us lunch at KFC. The manager was so impressed with Sammy and I's performance that he gave us a discount! :) Then the 9 dancers had to leave :( Sujit left too. We have not seen him since... he is in Mumbai now with the dancers. Sammy and I fly to Mumbai early tomorrow morning. 6am! So we have to leave for the airport at 3:30! I do not even know if I will sleep tonight... after our performance in Mumbai... we go back to the airport and fly back to Kolkata. Lot of flying these next 24 hours... more than performing :) When we get back to Kolkata I have no idea what we are going to do... we have nothing planned for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Neelakshi (our MC from Bangalore) has a friend in Kolkata and we are hoping she can take us to some cool places... Then back to the mall to perform. I guess the next mall we are supposed to perform at is outside... and it is super humid here... so our team is trying to convince the client that we should be at this mall again next week. Sammy and I hope it gets approved, we do not want to be performing outside in the heat. And not only that but I doubt the heat is good for the laptops.
So I bought some Gatorade today... and it is 225 rupees... that is 5$! I can't believe it. I buy a 40 of beer for 60 rupees! I do not think I will be buying Gatorade anymore... it is good for us since we need energy and electrolytes... but beer can do the same thing, right? ;)
Yesterday went by very quick... Sammy and I sat in the green room/box watching DEXTER when we were not performing. I also saw the biggest spider EVER! It was the size of my fist I swear. And it was not a tranchula. On our way home from the mall our taxi broke down! Haha! Sammy has a complete commentary video from Shiv of the situation. It was epic. We finally got it to work and made it to the hotel. I was just thinking earlier that day... that there would be no way that we could go the entire India experience without getting into a taxi that would break down in the middle of our ride. And voila, it happened. It was fun when he got the vehicle started going. We all cheered! We will share the video on youtube when we upload it.
Somehow when I was eating at the hotel I got bit by 4 mosquitoes. All of them are around my elbow. It is annoying. Those little things should not be alive. The world would be a better place without them.
Wellllll not much more to talk about... it is Sunday about 6pm so we probably have about 3 more performances left until we get to go to the hotel.
Then we have to pack for the Mumbai trip. I have to shower... ever since I cut my hair I have to shower ever 2 days, my hair gets greasy fast. I think we might try to get a couple hours of zzz's in and then wake up at 3:30 for the plane!
It is the week of Burning Man. I wish I could be there. We were originally supposed to be returning to the USA tomorrow... but because of the heat our tour was pushed back 2 weeks. I will see everyone soon! Gotta go for now!
<3 Coco
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Super Girls!
This is a video I found on YouTube from one of the malls we performed at in Pune, India with HP. It was taken by one of the Indian audience members... they titled it super girls!
Monday, 22 August 2011
What a great weekend at the "office"!
Namaste. It’s Sam writing tonight.
Today we are unwinding after another successful weekend of performances in Bangalore. This weekend went incredibly well, and perhaps were our best performances yet! The mall we were at is the Mantri Mall – the biggest mall in all of Asia! The response in Bangalore has been very good. We also made a new friend, our anchor in Bangalore, Neelakshi. But unfortunately we had to say good bye to our regular anchor, Adi. :(
On our agenda for the next two days are: 1 – Find a performance outfit for our stage show. 2 – Practice, practice, practice, and perfect our routine. 3 – Have a great performance on Wednesday. It’s going to be a busy week once again considering that as soon as we’re finished on Wednesday, we are flying to a new city, Kolkata for the NEXT weekend of performances. Wow! We have about 3 weeks left, and it is going to go by so fast since we will be constantly traveling.
I absolutely love shopping in the Indian marketplace. There are so many stores it’s overwhelming sometimes! Also everyone is trying to get your attention and have you buy something by shoving it in your face. We have a three day shopping trip planned when we finish our activities and arrive back into New Delhi. That’s when I’m going to buy all the things that I’ve wanted to buy because New Delhi has the cheapest prices and absolutely everything to buy.
Sujit has come to Bangalore to help us prepare for the stage show for the Perfetti Company. He also has 9 male dancers coming tomorrow for a similar show in Bangalore. They are doing a glow-in-the-dark black light show.
I don’t know what else to write so I’m going sign off for now. Have a great start of school to everyone! ~
Today we are unwinding after another successful weekend of performances in Bangalore. This weekend went incredibly well, and perhaps were our best performances yet! The mall we were at is the Mantri Mall – the biggest mall in all of Asia! The response in Bangalore has been very good. We also made a new friend, our anchor in Bangalore, Neelakshi. But unfortunately we had to say good bye to our regular anchor, Adi. :(
On our agenda for the next two days are: 1 – Find a performance outfit for our stage show. 2 – Practice, practice, practice, and perfect our routine. 3 – Have a great performance on Wednesday. It’s going to be a busy week once again considering that as soon as we’re finished on Wednesday, we are flying to a new city, Kolkata for the NEXT weekend of performances. Wow! We have about 3 weeks left, and it is going to go by so fast since we will be constantly traveling.
I absolutely love shopping in the Indian marketplace. There are so many stores it’s overwhelming sometimes! Also everyone is trying to get your attention and have you buy something by shoving it in your face. We have a three day shopping trip planned when we finish our activities and arrive back into New Delhi. That’s when I’m going to buy all the things that I’ve wanted to buy because New Delhi has the cheapest prices and absolutely everything to buy.
Sujit has come to Bangalore to help us prepare for the stage show for the Perfetti Company. He also has 9 male dancers coming tomorrow for a similar show in Bangalore. They are doing a glow-in-the-dark black light show.
I don’t know what else to write so I’m going sign off for now. Have a great start of school to everyone! ~
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Sitting, Waiting, Wishing
Today is Wednesday.
Sammy and I only left our hotel room to order food from the front desk. Other than that we didn't even step outside. The closest we got was when we had our hotel room window open.
Yesterday was about the same... although we did go outside to buy some banana's, chips, and juice.
Tomorrow we are going to try to go to a amusement park called Wonderla! The rides look completely different from the rides in USA. I am excited... not only because it's an amusement park but because we get to leave the hotel room and not being performing at a mall.
This weekend will be out last in Bangalore... and a week from today we will be showing our first Prefetti show. It will be fun.
There was a really cool soap store at the last mall we performed at. Sammy bought us a facial cream/mask and so we did facials last night. First time I've done a facial. I can't believe I was not taught facials in massage school... kind of made me upset. They are fun... and feel REALLY good.
Yesterday was also the first day that I realized I did not have my cell phone that I just bought before leaving for India. I assume that I either left it at the security check or when I turned it off on the plane it must have fell out of my hand bag... or maybe I left it on my lap and it fell off when I fell asleep. Either way I'm SOO upset about it. $200 new cell phone gone. The worst part is that I have been paying for the service even though in India it doesn't have service... but Cricket wouldn't let me put my service on hold without giving away my number and canceling my new phones insurance. So I changed my plan to the lowest plan possible. And now I'm thinking that I am going to cancel the plan all together and get maybe Verizon or Sprint... I hear the iPhone 5 is coming out soon so maybe I'll just go without a phone until that comes out. :)
Well, not much left to talk about... so goodnight!
-Corinne
Sammy and I only left our hotel room to order food from the front desk. Other than that we didn't even step outside. The closest we got was when we had our hotel room window open.
Yesterday was about the same... although we did go outside to buy some banana's, chips, and juice.
Tomorrow we are going to try to go to a amusement park called Wonderla! The rides look completely different from the rides in USA. I am excited... not only because it's an amusement park but because we get to leave the hotel room and not being performing at a mall.
This weekend will be out last in Bangalore... and a week from today we will be showing our first Prefetti show. It will be fun.
There was a really cool soap store at the last mall we performed at. Sammy bought us a facial cream/mask and so we did facials last night. First time I've done a facial. I can't believe I was not taught facials in massage school... kind of made me upset. They are fun... and feel REALLY good.
Yesterday was also the first day that I realized I did not have my cell phone that I just bought before leaving for India. I assume that I either left it at the security check or when I turned it off on the plane it must have fell out of my hand bag... or maybe I left it on my lap and it fell off when I fell asleep. Either way I'm SOO upset about it. $200 new cell phone gone. The worst part is that I have been paying for the service even though in India it doesn't have service... but Cricket wouldn't let me put my service on hold without giving away my number and canceling my new phones insurance. So I changed my plan to the lowest plan possible. And now I'm thinking that I am going to cancel the plan all together and get maybe Verizon or Sprint... I hear the iPhone 5 is coming out soon so maybe I'll just go without a phone until that comes out. :)
Well, not much left to talk about... so goodnight!
-Corinne
Monday, 15 August 2011
A month to go
It has been POURING rain outside for the last few hours. It is beautiful.
We have just finished our first weekend in Bangalore! It was a great time! Today is Indiapendence Day too!! YAY!!! Even though India is still corrupt there is a lot of citizens proud of their country.
This weekend our performances were Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Since India's Independence Day is the 15th of August and that is a Monday the client decided to remove our Friday shows and exchange it for the Monday performances, expecting the crowd to be bigger because of the holiday.
Sammy and I are getting pretty worn out from out traveling... Living out of a suitcase is difficult when it is for longer than a month. Not only that but only feeling safe to eat fast food has not been so good on our bodies. I am sure that our vitamin levels and nutrition is in decreasing rapidly. I have been eating McDonalds at least 4 or 5 days a week for the last month... It is almost like I am addicted to it. I would rather eat McDonalds than Subway. This might be because I ate a footlong from Subway in Ahemdabad and ended up throwing it all up and dry heaving because of whatever bug got in my stomach... but there isn't much else that I feel safe eating.
Luckily today was the last day of our 3 day performance weekend... bad news is that we only have tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday to rest. We start the activity again on Friday. I am not sure what I want to see in Bangalore yet... but I have heard a store about a beautiful flower garden that is only there around Independence time.
Tonight on the way home from the mall we got to ride in an auto that had a giant Indian flag attached to it! So the whole way to our hotel we were supporting India. I, of course, was screaming out the side of the auto "HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!" to everyone walking. There was no way I couldn't with a huge flag flying above our auto.
We only have a month left until we are flown back to the USA. It is about time I start packing presents for everyone and souvenirs. They might be over prices here in Bangalore so I'll most likely wait until we go back to Delhi to pick up the good presents.
Our hotel in Bangalore is nice although the air conditioner keeps making this cracking noise and it is driving me nuts! I tried a special ninja technique called "HIT IT" but even after banging it on all sides (with force) and trying to jiggle it, the noise is still there... It is like someone breaking a stick... and it happens every 5 seconds. <-Not Exaggerating. I have no clue what is going on inside that thing... but if I turned it off it would be so hot in our room. Well I am pretty tired from our performances today so I'm gonna get some zzz's. Goodnight readers. Thanks for reading! -Corinne PS We had a photographer ask to snap some shots of us during our performances yesterday... he got some good ones! :) Here is one of my favorites...
We have just finished our first weekend in Bangalore! It was a great time! Today is Indiapendence Day too!! YAY!!! Even though India is still corrupt there is a lot of citizens proud of their country.
This weekend our performances were Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Since India's Independence Day is the 15th of August and that is a Monday the client decided to remove our Friday shows and exchange it for the Monday performances, expecting the crowd to be bigger because of the holiday.
Sammy and I are getting pretty worn out from out traveling... Living out of a suitcase is difficult when it is for longer than a month. Not only that but only feeling safe to eat fast food has not been so good on our bodies. I am sure that our vitamin levels and nutrition is in decreasing rapidly. I have been eating McDonalds at least 4 or 5 days a week for the last month... It is almost like I am addicted to it. I would rather eat McDonalds than Subway. This might be because I ate a footlong from Subway in Ahemdabad and ended up throwing it all up and dry heaving because of whatever bug got in my stomach... but there isn't much else that I feel safe eating.
Luckily today was the last day of our 3 day performance weekend... bad news is that we only have tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday to rest. We start the activity again on Friday. I am not sure what I want to see in Bangalore yet... but I have heard a store about a beautiful flower garden that is only there around Independence time.
Tonight on the way home from the mall we got to ride in an auto that had a giant Indian flag attached to it! So the whole way to our hotel we were supporting India. I, of course, was screaming out the side of the auto "HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!" to everyone walking. There was no way I couldn't with a huge flag flying above our auto.
We only have a month left until we are flown back to the USA. It is about time I start packing presents for everyone and souvenirs. They might be over prices here in Bangalore so I'll most likely wait until we go back to Delhi to pick up the good presents.
Our hotel in Bangalore is nice although the air conditioner keeps making this cracking noise and it is driving me nuts! I tried a special ninja technique called "HIT IT" but even after banging it on all sides (with force) and trying to jiggle it, the noise is still there... It is like someone breaking a stick... and it happens every 5 seconds. <-Not Exaggerating. I have no clue what is going on inside that thing... but if I turned it off it would be so hot in our room. Well I am pretty tired from our performances today so I'm gonna get some zzz's. Goodnight readers. Thanks for reading! -Corinne PS We had a photographer ask to snap some shots of us during our performances yesterday... he got some good ones! :) Here is one of my favorites...
Friday, 12 August 2011
Bangalore
Dear Blog Readers,
Coco typing...
This week went by really fast. And it is sad to think that we are coming close to being "home". I wish I could travel forever.
Monday: We traveled by plane to Delhi. We arrived around 1 and rested for the remainder of the day.
Tuesday: We were supposed to wake up early for the studio but I sent the alarm wrong so we were woke up by Sujit knocking on our hotel room door. We frantically got ready to go practice a routine that we hadn't choreographed yet. After about 2 hoursish at the stuido we had our routine and used the space as much as we could. Sammy made a super steller contortion video and it is up on her facebook wall so go check that out and comment if you can. Eventually we left for the hotel where we had an awesome Indian dinner. Sujit always helps us to try Indian dishes. If he was not there to eat with us, we probably would have ordered pizza hut... :P
Wednesday: I woke up more sore than I have been for a hot minute. All the stretching and studio space did us well. I feel like I am sooo close to doing the splits. BOTH WAYS! My middle splits are still far from being there unfortunately. Around 3 we went to the studio to rehearse our routine... we did it a few times and eventually went back to the hotel and ordered Pizza Hut for dindin. :)
Thursday: We had to show the client our routine so we woke up early for that... I think they liked it... but we still have a lot of polishing to do... for some reason our flowers of power just do not come out clean... There's like 2 other things that are kind of off but after a week of practice we will have the routine down like a clown. It is a simple routine so it will be easy to clean up. Other than that, we got some banana's went back to the hotel and geeked out. The Matrix finally finished downloading... after 6 days. So we watched that... kinda. haha I was so tired from the practicing that I fell asleep before the end :( I'll have to re-watch it.
Friday (today): We woke up around 8 to get ready for our flight at 12:10 to Bangalore. Sujit arrived at 9. We had breakfast and then Sammy and I left for the airport. After a 2 hourish flight we arrived in Bangalore. It's less humid here than it was in Delhi. But we still love Delhi like it was our home. The colors here are a mix of yellows and greens... which I like... and I feel like our performances tomorrow are going to rock. We visited the mall after arriving at our hotel and it was really busy. Although I do not have any idea where our booth is going to be... the mall doesn't have very much free space... After eating Subway for lunch/dinner we tried to get a auto back to the hotel... but since it was right down the street no auto driver wanted to take us because of how small the fare would be. Even though it was raining we decided to walk. I enjoyed it 100%. Bangalore is awesome so far. But I have only been here for a couple hours. :) :) :) This weekend we perform Saturday, Sunday, and Monday because of Independence day... they are assuming the mall will be busier Monday than Friday. That is okay with me... except that we might be flying back to Delhi after our performances this weekend so that we can use the studio to practice for our Prefetti show... which then we would fly back to Bangalore Thursday for our Fri-Sun HP performances... that makes a lot of traveling during this week... so it might or might not happen. Our newest hotel does have wifi so that is good. But they do not have a kitchen... sooo we will be ordering out even more... I don't even know what we are going to do about breakfast... The other bad thing about our hotel... it's right next to the busiest place in Bangalore... I think. All around our hotel is tourist and travel agencies. Not to mention it's a bus station for those trying to travel out of town... so we here horns a lot. I think I am going to have to sleep with my head at the foot of the bed because our head is right under the paper thin window... Maybe I could buy some ear plugs to sleep with. There is a hotel right around the corner that the rest of our team is staying in... I heard through the great vine that it is better than our hotel... so maybe tomorrow we will move to that one. Well there is not much more to talk about... so I should probably hit the hay. We have a big performance day tomorrow. Gotta book those laptops! I don't know if I mentioned it already but our extension got removed so we should be back "home" on the original plan date. Unless we get these other 2 gigs that I'm hoping for. Wish us luck!
Here is a picture that we took at the Hard Rock Cafe in Pune :)
Later!!!
-Coco
Coco typing...
This week went by really fast. And it is sad to think that we are coming close to being "home". I wish I could travel forever.
Monday: We traveled by plane to Delhi. We arrived around 1 and rested for the remainder of the day.
Tuesday: We were supposed to wake up early for the studio but I sent the alarm wrong so we were woke up by Sujit knocking on our hotel room door. We frantically got ready to go practice a routine that we hadn't choreographed yet. After about 2 hoursish at the stuido we had our routine and used the space as much as we could. Sammy made a super steller contortion video and it is up on her facebook wall so go check that out and comment if you can. Eventually we left for the hotel where we had an awesome Indian dinner. Sujit always helps us to try Indian dishes. If he was not there to eat with us, we probably would have ordered pizza hut... :P
Wednesday: I woke up more sore than I have been for a hot minute. All the stretching and studio space did us well. I feel like I am sooo close to doing the splits. BOTH WAYS! My middle splits are still far from being there unfortunately. Around 3 we went to the studio to rehearse our routine... we did it a few times and eventually went back to the hotel and ordered Pizza Hut for dindin. :)
Thursday: We had to show the client our routine so we woke up early for that... I think they liked it... but we still have a lot of polishing to do... for some reason our flowers of power just do not come out clean... There's like 2 other things that are kind of off but after a week of practice we will have the routine down like a clown. It is a simple routine so it will be easy to clean up. Other than that, we got some banana's went back to the hotel and geeked out. The Matrix finally finished downloading... after 6 days. So we watched that... kinda. haha I was so tired from the practicing that I fell asleep before the end :( I'll have to re-watch it.
Friday (today): We woke up around 8 to get ready for our flight at 12:10 to Bangalore. Sujit arrived at 9. We had breakfast and then Sammy and I left for the airport. After a 2 hourish flight we arrived in Bangalore. It's less humid here than it was in Delhi. But we still love Delhi like it was our home. The colors here are a mix of yellows and greens... which I like... and I feel like our performances tomorrow are going to rock. We visited the mall after arriving at our hotel and it was really busy. Although I do not have any idea where our booth is going to be... the mall doesn't have very much free space... After eating Subway for lunch/dinner we tried to get a auto back to the hotel... but since it was right down the street no auto driver wanted to take us because of how small the fare would be. Even though it was raining we decided to walk. I enjoyed it 100%. Bangalore is awesome so far. But I have only been here for a couple hours. :) :) :) This weekend we perform Saturday, Sunday, and Monday because of Independence day... they are assuming the mall will be busier Monday than Friday. That is okay with me... except that we might be flying back to Delhi after our performances this weekend so that we can use the studio to practice for our Prefetti show... which then we would fly back to Bangalore Thursday for our Fri-Sun HP performances... that makes a lot of traveling during this week... so it might or might not happen. Our newest hotel does have wifi so that is good. But they do not have a kitchen... sooo we will be ordering out even more... I don't even know what we are going to do about breakfast... The other bad thing about our hotel... it's right next to the busiest place in Bangalore... I think. All around our hotel is tourist and travel agencies. Not to mention it's a bus station for those trying to travel out of town... so we here horns a lot. I think I am going to have to sleep with my head at the foot of the bed because our head is right under the paper thin window... Maybe I could buy some ear plugs to sleep with. There is a hotel right around the corner that the rest of our team is staying in... I heard through the great vine that it is better than our hotel... so maybe tomorrow we will move to that one. Well there is not much more to talk about... so I should probably hit the hay. We have a big performance day tomorrow. Gotta book those laptops! I don't know if I mentioned it already but our extension got removed so we should be back "home" on the original plan date. Unless we get these other 2 gigs that I'm hoping for. Wish us luck!
Here is a picture that we took at the Hard Rock Cafe in Pune :)
Later!!!
-Coco
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Busy, Busy, Busy!
Hey everyone! It’s Sam writing today. :)
We have just arrived in New Delhi. Today we were at a dance studio all day working on a choreographed performance for a stage show. We are working for the Perfetti van Melle company doing a “pre-reveal act” before the launch of their new product. We are creating a two-minute, high energy routine to open their show with. It is a simple, clean routine. I also tumble a lot during the performance! We are doing this routine for three shows in three different cities. The dance studio has no air conditioning and it is quite hot in Delhi, so it was a sweaty (but fun) time. That’s an Indian dance studio for you! Tomorrow we will be polishing the routine, and on Thursday we will be demonstrating it for the client (Perfetti). Also on Thursday we are flying to the city of Bangalore to do another mall performance weekend. It’s going to be busy at the malls because on Monday the 15th it’s Indian Independence Day – yay Gandhi!
My Grandma & Grandpa have sent me a package filled with candy & goodies that I got today! Also I have received a card from my mother and cousins – the card made me feel so special! Thank you everyone for your continuous support and emails. I really enjoy it!!!
I am so excited about the busy week ahead. This week I am especially thankful for being able to have this opportunity. I am so blessed with love in my life!!
~ Namaste, Sammy ~
We have just arrived in New Delhi. Today we were at a dance studio all day working on a choreographed performance for a stage show. We are working for the Perfetti van Melle company doing a “pre-reveal act” before the launch of their new product. We are creating a two-minute, high energy routine to open their show with. It is a simple, clean routine. I also tumble a lot during the performance! We are doing this routine for three shows in three different cities. The dance studio has no air conditioning and it is quite hot in Delhi, so it was a sweaty (but fun) time. That’s an Indian dance studio for you! Tomorrow we will be polishing the routine, and on Thursday we will be demonstrating it for the client (Perfetti). Also on Thursday we are flying to the city of Bangalore to do another mall performance weekend. It’s going to be busy at the malls because on Monday the 15th it’s Indian Independence Day – yay Gandhi!
My Grandma & Grandpa have sent me a package filled with candy & goodies that I got today! Also I have received a card from my mother and cousins – the card made me feel so special! Thank you everyone for your continuous support and emails. I really enjoy it!!!
I am so excited about the busy week ahead. This week I am especially thankful for being able to have this opportunity. I am so blessed with love in my life!!
~ Namaste, Sammy ~
Monday, 8 August 2011
Last Weekend in Pune
Hello everyone!!
Yesterday was friendship day and I did not have time to post on the blog so here is my "Happy Friendship Day" to all of you reading.
This last weekend we were in Pune at a mall called SGS Mall. It was one of the oldest malls in Pune. It was right in the center too... but unfortunately not a lot of shops. The weekend was "a great day at the office" but the only day we had a decent crowd was Sunday. Now we are in Delhi taking a little break from traveling with the HP Team. We'll head to Bangalore on Thursday night or Friday morning. More airplanes to ride! Todays airplane ride was 2 hours. Seemed long since our flight from Jaipur to Ahemdabad and Ahemdabad to Pune were only an hour. Sammy and I were so tired from the weekend and the cabin was super cold... which made it feel like it lasted even longer than 2 hours. When we landed in Delhi we immediately felt a difference in weather. In Pune the weather was actually on the chilly side... here in Delhi it reminds me of Nebraska, very humid. Well we have a long day ahead of us so I am going to keep this blog on the short side. I have two great pictures from this weekend that I would like to share as well, enjoy!
Yesterday was friendship day and I did not have time to post on the blog so here is my "Happy Friendship Day" to all of you reading.
This last weekend we were in Pune at a mall called SGS Mall. It was one of the oldest malls in Pune. It was right in the center too... but unfortunately not a lot of shops. The weekend was "a great day at the office" but the only day we had a decent crowd was Sunday. Now we are in Delhi taking a little break from traveling with the HP Team. We'll head to Bangalore on Thursday night or Friday morning. More airplanes to ride! Todays airplane ride was 2 hours. Seemed long since our flight from Jaipur to Ahemdabad and Ahemdabad to Pune were only an hour. Sammy and I were so tired from the weekend and the cabin was super cold... which made it feel like it lasted even longer than 2 hours. When we landed in Delhi we immediately felt a difference in weather. In Pune the weather was actually on the chilly side... here in Delhi it reminds me of Nebraska, very humid. Well we have a long day ahead of us so I am going to keep this blog on the short side. I have two great pictures from this weekend that I would like to share as well, enjoy!
Thursday, 4 August 2011
Traveling traveling and more traveling!
Wowsie... we just got another 3 shows added to our schedule! We will be flying a ton this month! That is fine by me. I love flying! :) I can not write much now because we have performances today. And we are supposed to change hotels at ten. Unfortunately we gave our "costumes" to the hotel to be cleaned yesterday and they have not returned them yet... so I'm going to wait until they get here before rolling out of bed and getting ready. Our newest hotel has wifi... sooo I'm taking advantage of it. Arrrg the pirate is coming out in me! Well I will get off to leave the bytes speed for the torrents :) Feel free to post our blog on your site/facebook or comment... any feedback would be lovely on our end. We miss everyone back in Lincoln and Omaha!
-Corinne
-Corinne
Monday, 1 August 2011
The First Day of August!
Namaste - especially to all those who keep telling me to blog more!
It’s the beginning of August in India. We are in still in “monsoon” season, while you all are enjoying summer. The weather has been really great, actually. It’s hot during the day and cool at night, raining throughout the day at random intervals. I heard all of you in Nebraska are just BOILING in the heat!
The new count for sickness is Coco: 2, Sam: 1. I was sick on Sunday. Coco believes that we had the same bug; mine was just lighter than hers. It is common when entering the tropics to get sick because it is a very different climate. I am feeling better already though!
We have finished with the first weekend of performances in Pune (pronounced Poon-EH). They went really well. The crowd is more modern and westernized here. It was fun talking to the other team members working at the HP booth. They are all about our same age, and they tell us all about being a 21 year old Indian. Most of them are students in college doing the HP promotional work to earn some extra cash. Everyone has Facebooks everywhere we go in India, so I have made many new FB friends.
Also, practically everyone speaks English here in Pune; which is a relief since in Gujarat (a state of India) everyone spoke Gujarati. In India, each state has a different language that is spoke there, so India has many, many languages. Hindi and English are the two main languages of India, however.
A lot of people comment on my tummy tattoo and belly ring. Tattoos are becoming more popular in India, recently. The big Bollywood movie stars have started getting belly rings, so everyone thinks its super fashionable to be pierced. I am going to get a tattoo here, I haven’t decided yet, but I think it will be the mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum” written in Sanskrit going down my right arm. It will be very small, but a great remembrance of India.
We are just resting today. We have just finished breakfast; my mom sent a lot of instant oatmeal and it makes a delicious breakfast and snack – thanks for the package Mom! Perhaps later in the week we will be planning a day-trip to Mumbai. Tomorrow we may go to the Pataleshwar Cave Temples, they are Hindu temples built into caves – amazing. I haven’t seen any Buddhist temples yet, but I wish to!
Here’s a thing I think is very ironic… in America, girls are prematurely aging their skin and increasing their chances of melanoma by baking themselves in the sun for hours in order to get that "summer glow." In India, women use harsh chemicals to peel their skin and bleach it lighter; "Fair and Lovely" skin is the ideal. I hate socially constructed ideals of beauty! They don't exist. It's an illusion created by marketing campaigns in order to get you to buy their products. To quote the words of Wookiefoot, "Don't let them have you." ~
It’s the beginning of August in India. We are in still in “monsoon” season, while you all are enjoying summer. The weather has been really great, actually. It’s hot during the day and cool at night, raining throughout the day at random intervals. I heard all of you in Nebraska are just BOILING in the heat!
The new count for sickness is Coco: 2, Sam: 1. I was sick on Sunday. Coco believes that we had the same bug; mine was just lighter than hers. It is common when entering the tropics to get sick because it is a very different climate. I am feeling better already though!
We have finished with the first weekend of performances in Pune (pronounced Poon-EH). They went really well. The crowd is more modern and westernized here. It was fun talking to the other team members working at the HP booth. They are all about our same age, and they tell us all about being a 21 year old Indian. Most of them are students in college doing the HP promotional work to earn some extra cash. Everyone has Facebooks everywhere we go in India, so I have made many new FB friends.
Also, practically everyone speaks English here in Pune; which is a relief since in Gujarat (a state of India) everyone spoke Gujarati. In India, each state has a different language that is spoke there, so India has many, many languages. Hindi and English are the two main languages of India, however.
A lot of people comment on my tummy tattoo and belly ring. Tattoos are becoming more popular in India, recently. The big Bollywood movie stars have started getting belly rings, so everyone thinks its super fashionable to be pierced. I am going to get a tattoo here, I haven’t decided yet, but I think it will be the mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum” written in Sanskrit going down my right arm. It will be very small, but a great remembrance of India.
We are just resting today. We have just finished breakfast; my mom sent a lot of instant oatmeal and it makes a delicious breakfast and snack – thanks for the package Mom! Perhaps later in the week we will be planning a day-trip to Mumbai. Tomorrow we may go to the Pataleshwar Cave Temples, they are Hindu temples built into caves – amazing. I haven’t seen any Buddhist temples yet, but I wish to!
Here’s a thing I think is very ironic… in America, girls are prematurely aging their skin and increasing their chances of melanoma by baking themselves in the sun for hours in order to get that "summer glow." In India, women use harsh chemicals to peel their skin and bleach it lighter; "Fair and Lovely" skin is the ideal. I hate socially constructed ideals of beauty! They don't exist. It's an illusion created by marketing campaigns in order to get you to buy their products. To quote the words of Wookiefoot, "Don't let them have you." ~
Friday, 29 July 2011
Happy One Month!
Dear Blog,
HAPPY ONE MONTH IN INDIA ANNIVERSARY!
We made it 1/3rd of the way!!!
Illness scores
Coco: 2 Sammy: 0
One was a mild cold/sore throat (I blame Lucky Strikes) and the other was pretty bad; vomiting and other bad things. I went to the hospital yesterday to make sure that I would be healthy in time for our performances this weekend. (It's our first 3 day performance weekend.) They gave me some antibiotic medicine and electral... which is kind of like gatorade. I finally feel ready to start working out again! To bad it's 1 a.m. here and I should be getting to bed since we have to leave super early because the mall we're performing at is 45 minutes away from our hotel! So this will be a short post.
We are now in Pune if I haven't mentioned it already. We were soooo happy to leave Ahemdabad. It was good, but now we're next to mountains like we were in Jaipur. In Ahemdabad I felt like it had an orangish/red color to it... here it is green. On a good note about Ahemdabad it was pretty clean. We also met two Americans and one Pakistani at the Himalaya mall! One was a journalist/photographer and he got some awesome photos! Can't wait to post them!
Meeting new people is my favorite part about traveling. I can't wait to meet the new team tomorrow. So far we have had really friendly teams in each city. :) Our kit team is pretty awesome too. Gaurav, Deepak, J.P., Mehesh, Adi, Sammy, and I; we're the dream team. Sujit is apart of the dream team too. Speaking of Sujit, we get to see him tomorrow!!! YAY! It's been a long time!
I don't know what else to say... so I will end now. Maybe I'll type more tomorrow night... just wanted to update those who do read this. :)
Namaste!
-Corinne
HAPPY ONE MONTH IN INDIA ANNIVERSARY!
We made it 1/3rd of the way!!!
Illness scores
Coco: 2 Sammy: 0
One was a mild cold/sore throat (I blame Lucky Strikes) and the other was pretty bad; vomiting and other bad things. I went to the hospital yesterday to make sure that I would be healthy in time for our performances this weekend. (It's our first 3 day performance weekend.) They gave me some antibiotic medicine and electral... which is kind of like gatorade. I finally feel ready to start working out again! To bad it's 1 a.m. here and I should be getting to bed since we have to leave super early because the mall we're performing at is 45 minutes away from our hotel! So this will be a short post.
We are now in Pune if I haven't mentioned it already. We were soooo happy to leave Ahemdabad. It was good, but now we're next to mountains like we were in Jaipur. In Ahemdabad I felt like it had an orangish/red color to it... here it is green. On a good note about Ahemdabad it was pretty clean. We also met two Americans and one Pakistani at the Himalaya mall! One was a journalist/photographer and he got some awesome photos! Can't wait to post them!
Meeting new people is my favorite part about traveling. I can't wait to meet the new team tomorrow. So far we have had really friendly teams in each city. :) Our kit team is pretty awesome too. Gaurav, Deepak, J.P., Mehesh, Adi, Sammy, and I; we're the dream team. Sujit is apart of the dream team too. Speaking of Sujit, we get to see him tomorrow!!! YAY! It's been a long time!
I don't know what else to say... so I will end now. Maybe I'll type more tomorrow night... just wanted to update those who do read this. :)
Namaste!
-Corinne
Monday, 18 July 2011
Extending our stay in India!
Dear Internet
From Corinne
The place Sammy and I are staying for the next two weeks in Ahemdabad does not have internet. So I'm experimenting to see how I do without it. Luckily our team has arranged for us to have a mobile internet stick. But we assume it's pay as you go so we're using it as minimum as possible. I'm even writing this on a word document that I will copy and paste onto the blog so I don't waste net time typing.
During our stay in Jaipur we had a great time! We made a few friends that showed us the town. The day after camel and elephant rides at Chowki Dhaani we had an intense sunbathing and hoop session on the roof top of the hotel. It was magical, being so high up in the middle of the city, sunbathing. We had no idea what was to come. Around 4pm our friend Lucky came to the hotel to give us a new S.I.M. card for the cell phone we carry. He offered to take us somewhere in Jaipur and we impulsively agreed. His friend Haresh came with us. On the way to our destination we stopped by a lake that had a palace in the middle of it. When Obama came to India him and the president went to this palace. We took some pictures and then headed into the mountains. One lane roads up a mountain is not very safe, but blasting the horn warns the vehicles on the way down that we were coming around the corner and SLOW DOWN! Nahargarh Fort was where ended up. It is the highest fort in Jaipur that overlooks the entire town. We took some pictures and enjoyed some chai while absorbing the sight of the entire town. On our way back to the hotel our tour guides, Lucky and Haresh, mentioned a dance party they were invited to and asked us to join. I had been wondering about the clubs in India so I said yes, Sammy came too. We brought our light up toys and Lucky made sure the DJ announced us when we started our hooping. It was fun being announced... normally we are just prop performing along side the DJ but this time we were more important than the DJ! I had a lot of fun and after awhile Lucky mentioned there wasn't a big crowd so we decided to head back to the hotel. After all, we had to wake up early to catch our 10:15 plane to Ahemdabad.
We woke up with plenty of time to get to our plane. Lucky and Haresh came to catch us at 8:45. We thought we had plenty of time. WRONG. Next thing we knew it was 10:00 and we still hadn't left the hotel. We had no clue what was wrong. Something about paying for the hotel... I knew we had to get to the Airport or we would miss the plane, so I offered to pay for the week stay as long as we were reimbursed when we arrived in Ahemdabad. So Sammy and I quickly rounded up the money and rushed to the airport in hopes we would make the plane. We arrived at the airport at 10:25. Totally missed the plane. Our driver had mentioned a few places in Jaipur that we did not see so we decided to go see them since our next scheduled flight was at 7:30. The monkey palace had only one monkey and the mirror palace was a 3km walk... so in the end we went jem shopping. :) Jaipur is known for their gems. By 6 we were at the airport ready to get on the plane for Ahemdabad. The plane ride was only an hour long. It went by quick. I love riding on airplanes. Our friday we spent resting in our hotel. Not doing much but exercise and watching TV. Normally the TV in our hotel room is off but with there being a lack of Internet it just kind of happened.
I have caught a cold and so this weekend I was trying to get better. We still had our performances though. There was a great crowd on sunday night and a photographer so hopefully we'll be in the newspaper again. I think we sold 12 laptops. This morning we rested but later in the evening Adi took us to a market for some shopping. Then we came back to the hotel and watch Spiderman and ate some noodles. It's time for bed now and I think I've made this post REALLY long so I'm going to go. Especially since I'm still sick and for some reason we made plans to wake up early to go to a temple. I might pass... but we'll see how I feel in the morning. I've been having some CRAZY dreams while on this malaria medicine so I might decide to sleep while they go to the temple. I'll see plenty of other temples while I'm here. Oh yeah! Before I go, I forgot to mention the most exciting news. We have been doing such a good job that H.P. has hired 2 more hula hoopers to come to India. They are going to be traveling as Kit 2 and we are kit 1. They have taken over some of the shows that we were supposed to do but that okay because we have been given other destinations. AND our tour has been extended by 6 weeks! We might end up missing Halloween... but there will be next year. Who knows, maybe they celebrate it here in India. Well that's all that I have for tonight. Until next time, NAMASTE!
-Sending Love from India
Corinne
From Corinne
The place Sammy and I are staying for the next two weeks in Ahemdabad does not have internet. So I'm experimenting to see how I do without it. Luckily our team has arranged for us to have a mobile internet stick. But we assume it's pay as you go so we're using it as minimum as possible. I'm even writing this on a word document that I will copy and paste onto the blog so I don't waste net time typing.
During our stay in Jaipur we had a great time! We made a few friends that showed us the town. The day after camel and elephant rides at Chowki Dhaani we had an intense sunbathing and hoop session on the roof top of the hotel. It was magical, being so high up in the middle of the city, sunbathing. We had no idea what was to come. Around 4pm our friend Lucky came to the hotel to give us a new S.I.M. card for the cell phone we carry. He offered to take us somewhere in Jaipur and we impulsively agreed. His friend Haresh came with us. On the way to our destination we stopped by a lake that had a palace in the middle of it. When Obama came to India him and the president went to this palace. We took some pictures and then headed into the mountains. One lane roads up a mountain is not very safe, but blasting the horn warns the vehicles on the way down that we were coming around the corner and SLOW DOWN! Nahargarh Fort was where ended up. It is the highest fort in Jaipur that overlooks the entire town. We took some pictures and enjoyed some chai while absorbing the sight of the entire town. On our way back to the hotel our tour guides, Lucky and Haresh, mentioned a dance party they were invited to and asked us to join. I had been wondering about the clubs in India so I said yes, Sammy came too. We brought our light up toys and Lucky made sure the DJ announced us when we started our hooping. It was fun being announced... normally we are just prop performing along side the DJ but this time we were more important than the DJ! I had a lot of fun and after awhile Lucky mentioned there wasn't a big crowd so we decided to head back to the hotel. After all, we had to wake up early to catch our 10:15 plane to Ahemdabad.
We woke up with plenty of time to get to our plane. Lucky and Haresh came to catch us at 8:45. We thought we had plenty of time. WRONG. Next thing we knew it was 10:00 and we still hadn't left the hotel. We had no clue what was wrong. Something about paying for the hotel... I knew we had to get to the Airport or we would miss the plane, so I offered to pay for the week stay as long as we were reimbursed when we arrived in Ahemdabad. So Sammy and I quickly rounded up the money and rushed to the airport in hopes we would make the plane. We arrived at the airport at 10:25. Totally missed the plane. Our driver had mentioned a few places in Jaipur that we did not see so we decided to go see them since our next scheduled flight was at 7:30. The monkey palace had only one monkey and the mirror palace was a 3km walk... so in the end we went jem shopping. :) Jaipur is known for their gems. By 6 we were at the airport ready to get on the plane for Ahemdabad. The plane ride was only an hour long. It went by quick. I love riding on airplanes. Our friday we spent resting in our hotel. Not doing much but exercise and watching TV. Normally the TV in our hotel room is off but with there being a lack of Internet it just kind of happened.
I have caught a cold and so this weekend I was trying to get better. We still had our performances though. There was a great crowd on sunday night and a photographer so hopefully we'll be in the newspaper again. I think we sold 12 laptops. This morning we rested but later in the evening Adi took us to a market for some shopping. Then we came back to the hotel and watch Spiderman and ate some noodles. It's time for bed now and I think I've made this post REALLY long so I'm going to go. Especially since I'm still sick and for some reason we made plans to wake up early to go to a temple. I might pass... but we'll see how I feel in the morning. I've been having some CRAZY dreams while on this malaria medicine so I might decide to sleep while they go to the temple. I'll see plenty of other temples while I'm here. Oh yeah! Before I go, I forgot to mention the most exciting news. We have been doing such a good job that H.P. has hired 2 more hula hoopers to come to India. They are going to be traveling as Kit 2 and we are kit 1. They have taken over some of the shows that we were supposed to do but that okay because we have been given other destinations. AND our tour has been extended by 6 weeks! We might end up missing Halloween... but there will be next year. Who knows, maybe they celebrate it here in India. Well that's all that I have for tonight. Until next time, NAMASTE!
-Sending Love from India
Corinne
Sunday, 10 July 2011
Camel Rides
Namaste, Sammy Sunshyne writing from India!
Our second weekend of performances went well. We were able to plan our performances better now that we know what we’re doing. The days at the mall are very long, from 10am – 8pm, with a lot of sitting in between, but you won’t find me complaining - it’s the best job ever! We were having a little fun this weekend and used fake names and home countries: I am “Inka” from Sweden and Coco is “Nina” from France. Ink and Nina are our new alter egos. No one can tell where we really are from; they just have to take our word for it! I asked a shopkeeper to guess where I was from once, and he said, “Brazil,” LOL.
Today we are sleeping in, resting, and may go camel riding later (no joke). Tomorrow we are setting out to Agra, the city where the Taj Mahal is. I cannot describe how thrilled I am to see one of the Seven Wonders of the World!!! And possibly hoop in front of it. J
We are on our own now, until we reach Ahmadabad. We are learning how to handle ourselves in India. You need to be a quick learner here in order to adjust to the differences. People will never confuse us with locals, but it is best to act like one, or at least try. I really am the blondest person in India. When we go out, everyone turns to stare at the American girls…
Sorry for the short post - I will try to keep updating more often!
Sorry for the short post - I will try to keep updating more often!
~ No matter how far I travel, home is always in my heart. ~
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Delhi Belly
Today was relaxing again. We move onto Jaipur tomorrow for the second weekend of performances.
We did see a movie today! It was called Delhi Belly. Soooo FUNNY! Luckily they offered a hinglish version so we understood the whole thing.
I posted a discussion on hoopcity.ca last night and today it was the featured discussion! I hope we get a good amount of fellow hoopers following our travels. <3 you spin family!
-Coco
Circles = <3
We did see a movie today! It was called Delhi Belly. Soooo FUNNY! Luckily they offered a hinglish version so we understood the whole thing.
I posted a discussion on hoopcity.ca last night and today it was the featured discussion! I hope we get a good amount of fellow hoopers following our travels. <3 you spin family!
-Coco
Circles = <3
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Bollywood Dancing.
Namaste! Cocomo writing.
Today we took a day of rest. For the most part. Relaxing and sunbathing on the balcony... it was definitely nice. Towards the end of the day, Nilesh called to say he'd come catch us for a Bollywood dance class. At first I didn't think I wanted to go. I wanted to stay on the balcony and work on bronzing myself... but I dragged myself inside to the shower and after a quick rinse I was off to a entirely different kind of dance class, that I had never experienced before. It has been about 4 years since I've had to learn a choreographed dance but I feel I did alright. The song we're learning the dance to is super rad. I'm posting a youtube video of the song and we do some of the moves that are in the video as well. I'm glad that I drag myself to the class. I had a lot of fun. I hope to go back for more tomorrow. I feel kinda dumb dancing especially next to Sammy with her gorgeous long blonde hair and then theres me, with my new short manly hair cut... I'm glad I did it don't get me wrong... I just want it to grow faster. Anyways... after our class was over, we showed the group of boys our hoop dancing and tried to teach them some. By the time they got it, Sujit showed up and we trekked back to the hotel. Nothing else exciting happened except for the fact that I think tonight was the first night we ate all of the food we ordered. And it was Indian food! Our taste buds are adjusting! WOOOPIE!! It saddens me to think about how we'll have to re-adjust when arriving back in the USA. Our food is soo bland you don't even know it!
Well I'm pretty tired from laying out in the sun and learning the Bollywood dancing, so I'll catch ya later bloggers! Goodnight!
Video of the song from the dance class -->
Bollywood Dancing!
Lata,
Cocomo
Today we took a day of rest. For the most part. Relaxing and sunbathing on the balcony... it was definitely nice. Towards the end of the day, Nilesh called to say he'd come catch us for a Bollywood dance class. At first I didn't think I wanted to go. I wanted to stay on the balcony and work on bronzing myself... but I dragged myself inside to the shower and after a quick rinse I was off to a entirely different kind of dance class, that I had never experienced before. It has been about 4 years since I've had to learn a choreographed dance but I feel I did alright. The song we're learning the dance to is super rad. I'm posting a youtube video of the song and we do some of the moves that are in the video as well. I'm glad that I drag myself to the class. I had a lot of fun. I hope to go back for more tomorrow. I feel kinda dumb dancing especially next to Sammy with her gorgeous long blonde hair and then theres me, with my new short manly hair cut... I'm glad I did it don't get me wrong... I just want it to grow faster. Anyways... after our class was over, we showed the group of boys our hoop dancing and tried to teach them some. By the time they got it, Sujit showed up and we trekked back to the hotel. Nothing else exciting happened except for the fact that I think tonight was the first night we ate all of the food we ordered. And it was Indian food! Our taste buds are adjusting! WOOOPIE!! It saddens me to think about how we'll have to re-adjust when arriving back in the USA. Our food is soo bland you don't even know it!
Well I'm pretty tired from laying out in the sun and learning the Bollywood dancing, so I'll catch ya later bloggers! Goodnight!
Video of the song from the dance class -->
Bollywood Dancing!
Lata,
Cocomo
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
Hooping at the Lotus Temple = No no.
Good day everyone! Corinne typing...
Today was a great day! I actually slept in past 8! After waking up around 9ish I got to chat on the internet to a homie back home. That was a great way to start my day. Soon after 11, Nilesh came to catch us and we went straight to the Lotus Temple. This is a great building but there's not much to do except sit in the heat, sweating, and praying? The architecture is amazing though. I just walked around it looking at how it was built. So beautiful. On our way back to the car Sammy and I wanted to hula hoop and video it to put together a little movie of all the places we'd been. But after about 30 seconds of video we were yelled at by the security guards.
After the Lotus Temple we went to a lookout tower. I guess that 20 years ago they allowed people to go up to the top, but after a girl committed suicide they locked the doors. We at least got to go inside the gates and look around the grounds. It was build in the 1100's. India is a very old country. At the lookout tower Sammy and I had a bunch of people grabbing our hands and wrist pulling us into their picture... I guess they've never seen USA girls? When we were done with the lookout tower we went to Ghandi's grave. This was a beautiful spot but unfortunately the museum was closed :(.
We then tried the Indian McDonalds. No beef. So I got a McChicken, Fries, and a drink all for a little under 200 Rs... maybe the equivalent of 2$. Next on our list was shopping. Sammy and I went nuts!
This place has the BEST clothes and they're so cheap! We were in heaven on earth. We bought soooo many things! I'm not sure how much I spent, but I got a skirt that I could buy in Lincoln for $40 for $4. When we were done shopping it was pretty much the end of our day... we did get to see the presidents house and the India Gate though... that was in-between market places. Well after that long day of touring and shopping I'm pretty tired. I'll update more tomorrow! Goodnight bloggers
-Coco
Today was a great day! I actually slept in past 8! After waking up around 9ish I got to chat on the internet to a homie back home. That was a great way to start my day. Soon after 11, Nilesh came to catch us and we went straight to the Lotus Temple. This is a great building but there's not much to do except sit in the heat, sweating, and praying? The architecture is amazing though. I just walked around it looking at how it was built. So beautiful. On our way back to the car Sammy and I wanted to hula hoop and video it to put together a little movie of all the places we'd been. But after about 30 seconds of video we were yelled at by the security guards.
After the Lotus Temple we went to a lookout tower. I guess that 20 years ago they allowed people to go up to the top, but after a girl committed suicide they locked the doors. We at least got to go inside the gates and look around the grounds. It was build in the 1100's. India is a very old country. At the lookout tower Sammy and I had a bunch of people grabbing our hands and wrist pulling us into their picture... I guess they've never seen USA girls? When we were done with the lookout tower we went to Ghandi's grave. This was a beautiful spot but unfortunately the museum was closed :(.
We then tried the Indian McDonalds. No beef. So I got a McChicken, Fries, and a drink all for a little under 200 Rs... maybe the equivalent of 2$. Next on our list was shopping. Sammy and I went nuts!
This place has the BEST clothes and they're so cheap! We were in heaven on earth. We bought soooo many things! I'm not sure how much I spent, but I got a skirt that I could buy in Lincoln for $40 for $4. When we were done shopping it was pretty much the end of our day... we did get to see the presidents house and the India Gate though... that was in-between market places. Well after that long day of touring and shopping I'm pretty tired. I'll update more tomorrow! Goodnight bloggers
Monday, 4 July 2011
The Fourth
Namaste. Sam here…
Happy Fourth of July! Of course, here in India that means nothing. No fireworks this year. Coco and I may light up our fire hoops later in honor of the holiday. That is, only if we can find some type of safe fuel, since the stuff we regularly buy isn’t for sale here.
Coco and I are slowly figuring out how to work everything in India. The toilets were easy to figure out (they have two buttons that you push into on the wall) but the hot water heater is a mystery to us. The outlets have to be turned on in order to work. We are supposed to be calling someone right now but can’t figure out how to dial out on the phone. There is a huge communication barrier here. Mostly everyone can understand English, but it is hard to understand what they are saying back to us. We’ve figured out how to talk to the cooks & they know our morning order now. The language barrier is hard to bridge sometimes, but other times it is easy. For example, when Adi is announcing our act and interacting with the audience, I can easily tell the message he is conveying.
Our performances are a lot like street performing. Basically what happens is Adi announces us and draws in a crowd and then we perform to music. It’s all for promoting HP’s computers. We have 6 -8 performances each day for about 10 minutes each. So basically we are hanging out at the mall all day in between those performances.
We just rested today. Tomorrow we are visiting two temples. The most I’m looking forward to is the Baha’i House of Worship, also known as the Lotus Temple. We will be out in Dehli all day in marketplaces and sites.
~ I wish everyone a safe holiday filled with love at home. ~
Saturday, 2 July 2011
July 2nd from Coco
Today was our first performances. I had a lot of fun! We did about 5 or 6 performances and each time was better and better. Other than that we just walked around the mall. I'm very tired... just fell asleep writing tired... spelled time instead. So good night.
Friday, 1 July 2011
July 1st
Coco again... Today we traveled to Jaipur. It was about a 5 hour drive from Dehli. After we arrived in Jaipur we went to the Pink Square Mall, which is where we will be performing all day tomorrow and Sunday. I should probably get some sleep... but I can't sleep with this whole new world infront of me! Some of it is sad. Seeing all these people laying on the streets with no home... but with 1.2 billion people here, there is lots they can do to avoid it... and they don't... therefore they must like it? Not exactly... but I was once told by a wise friend of mine that hard work will get you anything you want.
Our new place of residency is a PALACE. There's also a pool! After our performances on Saturday and Sunday we will have a day of rest, then head to the beach. :) It's about a 3 hour drive, I think, so we will leave early in the morning.
The mall that we are performing in is HUGE. I think it's like 6 stories... and super nice. I can't wait, we're going to have so many people watching us from all levels... I'll definitely take pictures. You have to walk through a metal detector before entering the mall! And there's a ton of security guards. I feel safe in that mall, that's for sure...
Today I saw a camel! Lots of them actually. Wellllll, I guess since it's almost 1 am I should go. Our performances start at 11am. So we will have to be ready by 10am. AND I got to write in my personal travel journal, wash my face, brush my teeth... all that good stuff before laying down... soooo I'll update again tomorrow night! If I'm not pooped. We'll be doing performances all day long... till 9 pm. Okie, chao for now!
Goodnight!
Our new place of residency is a PALACE. There's also a pool! After our performances on Saturday and Sunday we will have a day of rest, then head to the beach. :) It's about a 3 hour drive, I think, so we will leave early in the morning.
The mall that we are performing in is HUGE. I think it's like 6 stories... and super nice. I can't wait, we're going to have so many people watching us from all levels... I'll definitely take pictures. You have to walk through a metal detector before entering the mall! And there's a ton of security guards. I feel safe in that mall, that's for sure...
Today I saw a camel! Lots of them actually. Wellllll, I guess since it's almost 1 am I should go. Our performances start at 11am. So we will have to be ready by 10am. AND I got to write in my personal travel journal, wash my face, brush my teeth... all that good stuff before laying down... soooo I'll update again tomorrow night! If I'm not pooped. We'll be doing performances all day long... till 9 pm. Okie, chao for now!
Goodnight!
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Traveling to Jaipur Today!
Namaste ~ It's Sammy Sunshyne here;
The time is currently 6 am in India. Coco and I keep waking up at outrageous morning times because our bodies are stuck on America-mode. The jet lag is finally ceasing as we adjust to Indian life. Or perhaps we are just too excited to close our eyes again. Today we have a four hour car ride to the city of Jaipur to prepare for our first performance tomorrow, so we are packing up and hitting the road with our manager Sujit and assistant manager Nelish. On the road here they drive on the left side, there are little to no stop signs or traffic markers, and everyone is constantly honking to "make others aware that they are driving there." I feel constantly as though we are about to be rear-ended, the Indians call it "car kisses." No Indian car is without a few dents and scratches... or a missing side mirror. Sujit is a good driver through all the organized chaos, don't worry.
Yesterday we had our first experience with beggars in the bazaars we visited. A little boy with no shoes was standing before an entrance to a toll booth, banging his little hands on the windows of passing cars. It was heart-wrenching. But we were told that it is the beggar’s job to look heart-wrenching. Little boys were selling magazines, flowers, and other items when the car was stopped at a turn, and a man with no arm tapped on our window to get attention from us. They come right up to the car in the intersection and put their faces on the windows.
Sujit asked me if I ever wear denims (if you know me, I am never wearing jeans, I wear long flowy skirts and pants & colored crop tops [of course I didn’t bring those, I left my belly baring shirts at home!]) so of course I said “No, I don’t dress like a normal American,” my style is so Indian-inspired already. You should SEE the clothes here, ladies! It’s like a giant festival shop with so many colors and textures, and not many things are alike. Unlike a festival - the clothes are at dirt cheap prices. Sujit refused to let me buy a handmade crocheted, dyed, tie-top because it was “too expensive” and they jacked up the price for me. It was 250 rupees which is approximately $5.50. He said it was only worth $150 rupees, or about $2. He wouldn’t let me overpay.
We haven’t seen much of Delhi yet, but our first performance is on its way. We will be performing at the Pink Street Mall with our LED hoops. Coco and I have been preparing everyday by doing yoga, intense stretching, and practicing in a dance studio here. Pictures soon, I promise.
~ May all your journeys be joyful. ~
The time is currently 6 am in India. Coco and I keep waking up at outrageous morning times because our bodies are stuck on America-mode. The jet lag is finally ceasing as we adjust to Indian life. Or perhaps we are just too excited to close our eyes again. Today we have a four hour car ride to the city of Jaipur to prepare for our first performance tomorrow, so we are packing up and hitting the road with our manager Sujit and assistant manager Nelish. On the road here they drive on the left side, there are little to no stop signs or traffic markers, and everyone is constantly honking to "make others aware that they are driving there." I feel constantly as though we are about to be rear-ended, the Indians call it "car kisses." No Indian car is without a few dents and scratches... or a missing side mirror. Sujit is a good driver through all the organized chaos, don't worry.
Yesterday we had our first experience with beggars in the bazaars we visited. A little boy with no shoes was standing before an entrance to a toll booth, banging his little hands on the windows of passing cars. It was heart-wrenching. But we were told that it is the beggar’s job to look heart-wrenching. Little boys were selling magazines, flowers, and other items when the car was stopped at a turn, and a man with no arm tapped on our window to get attention from us. They come right up to the car in the intersection and put their faces on the windows.
Sujit asked me if I ever wear denims (if you know me, I am never wearing jeans, I wear long flowy skirts and pants & colored crop tops [of course I didn’t bring those, I left my belly baring shirts at home!]) so of course I said “No, I don’t dress like a normal American,” my style is so Indian-inspired already. You should SEE the clothes here, ladies! It’s like a giant festival shop with so many colors and textures, and not many things are alike. Unlike a festival - the clothes are at dirt cheap prices. Sujit refused to let me buy a handmade crocheted, dyed, tie-top because it was “too expensive” and they jacked up the price for me. It was 250 rupees which is approximately $5.50. He said it was only worth $150 rupees, or about $2. He wouldn’t let me overpay.
We haven’t seen much of Delhi yet, but our first performance is on its way. We will be performing at the Pink Street Mall with our LED hoops. Coco and I have been preparing everyday by doing yoga, intense stretching, and practicing in a dance studio here. Pictures soon, I promise.
~ May all your journeys be joyful. ~
June 30th
Today wasn't much. We went to Sujit's office to try on our costumes and meet the boss man. After that we went to the markets to get some shoes to perform in. :) Came back to the hotel, ate, and now I'm about to go to bed. Tomorrow we leave for Jaipur in the morning. 4-5 hours drive. Then we will be performing Saturday! Here's some modeling photos of our "costumes".
On the front
On the back
Even though today wasn't very eventful, it was very tiring. So goodnight!
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
June 29th
Hey hey, Coco here again! Today was short. We're still catching up on our Jet lag. Today we just woke up at 5am! Then once we realized it was so early, I fell back asleep. Sammy said she stayed up and while on our balcony she saw a monkey! We have a bird chillin on our balcony too. With an egg in it's nest! Around 3 Sujit came to get us and we went to the dance studio to practice. Then we went back to the hotel and dinner was broccoli, potatoes, with rice and flat bread. Now we're in our room watching shimmy. A belly dancing show/workout. We get to hoop on a circle platform in the malls that is 6 feet wide. It's gonna be fun! Well we got to wake up and be ready by 10ish so I'm gonna go to bed! Goodnight India! See you in the morning!
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Arriving in India
Corinne here. Just chillin in the hotel with Sammy. We arriving about 7:30pm but our hoops were such a hassle for the security, so it took forever to get them. Our first plane was short. About 3 hours... Sammy wasn't feeling to well luckily we had Nurse/Fly Attendent Meg to help. She even tried getting us into the Presidents Lounge but we ended up just walking around the airport for the layover. Had a delicious 12$ Margarita in the Samuel Adams Lounge. It was delicious though. After arriving in India we were taken to the hotel and our personal cooks made us some dindin. Peanut Butter Chicken, Rice, and Flat Bread. We get to sleep in tomorrow until 2. Then we're going to the studio to work on a routine. After I hope we get a power converter cause I only have 40 minutes left on my laptop battery. Well, I'm gonna hit the hay. not literally. Later!
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