Fun in the Snow

The last week in Germany we have enjoyed spending time with family and friends each day. On Monday we enjoyed a campfire gluhwein and sausage party with friends and family in Simmern. The weather and snow were cold, but the gluhwein and several layers kept us warm. Jodi enjoyed sledding with the kids!

Merry Christmas from Snowy Germany

Merry Christmas to all from snowy Germany! This year is the most snow I have ever encountered in Germany. Yesterday it snowed all day for an accumulation of about 6 inches or so. Simmern had the plows out, but they are not used to so much snow. We attended the children's church Christmas program yesterday afternoon, ate supper with the family, sang a few Christmas songs with Kadi on the recorder and Jodi playing the harmonica, exchanged Christmas gifts, and then went to 10:30 pm church. For the first time in my life I understood a large majority of the sermon and couldn't be more excited about it. My German is flowing quite freely and my nerves of living in Germany and speaking German are going away. Give me 3 months living in this country and I will be fine. No doubt about it that I'm always going to be the American girl with the different accent, but so far Ben's family and friends are impressed with my improvement of the German language. Thankfully my month in Freiburg at the Goethe Institute this summer paid off!

Today we had a lovely family dinner with Ben's grandparents at a local restaurant and it was the first time I have had schnitzel for Christmas. It was delicious! We followed our lunch with cake and coffe at the grandparents and now are sitting around the fireplace for a relaxing evening. The highlight of Stabe Christmas is my brother-in-law and his girlfriend brought their cat Aaron with them. The old tomcat just sits and sleeps on the couch all day and is quite a conversation piece.

Tomorrow we head north to Soergenloch for a full day at the other grandparent's house with more food, delicious German Riesling, and more cake & coffee. A quiet Christmas with no kids around, but quite relaxing. I'm sure in the next five years it will be a completely different atmosphere in Germany.

I'm grateful for Skype and being able to wish my family Merry Christmas webcam to webcam. Ben and I are very excited to hit the after Christmas sales in Germany on Monday to start buying items for our new rental home. We really don't have a lot so the list is long, but it will be fun to shop. The last year or so we have not purchased much besides plane tickets and hotel rooms for vacation. The sales are good so we will take full advantage!

Merry Christmas to all and God bless!

2010 in Review

Merry Christmas to all! Ben and I have had an amazing year in India and we are enjoying wrapping up 2010 in the realization that we will only be in India for 1.5 months in 2011. The attached pictures are of a poster that my friend Becca made recapping our first year of marriage. It really is a great picture to recap our last year and half. We fly Thursday the 23rd at 1:30 pm and we are both like little kids with big smiles on our face. Frohe Weihnachten!

My Pupils

The past five months I have been teaching English to Korean students and loving it. This is just one more crazy thing that I never thought I would do in life. Lately I have been teaching five days a week for 1-3 hours a day. My most challenging and yet very rewarding class is my little ones. I have four little Korean students aged 6, 7, 7, & 8. They are absolute fireballs, but a real joy to work with...most days.

In Korea they count their age as one year in the womb and the days on earth. Therefore, when I asked them the first time how old they were they said here in India or in Korea. They are 7 in Korea, but 6 in India. I was so confused I had a chat with their moms after class and sure enough even though they only spend 9 months in the womb they celebrate their first birthday at birth. Anyways, here are pictures of me teaching the little ones. In addition to this class three times a week I also work with several teenage girls and one 40 something man who is a VP of a Korean company. The question is what will I do next?

Delhi Forecast: SMOKE

A normal weather forecast would read sunny, partly cloudy, rain, snow, chance of rain, or freezing rain. In Delhi the forecast for the last month has been reading "SMOKE." I literally laughed out loud the first day I noticed this on the Marriot Hotel weather board, but as I spoke with a few others I quickly realized that this is reality and not a joke. The forecast is Smoke.

Adventure Day

Tuesday I organized "Adventure Day" through our local Gurgaon expat group in an effort to introduce people to the freedom of riding the metro. We met up at 10 AM and road the metro for one hour into the heart of downtown Delhi where we then visited several local shopping markets, had lunch at McDonald's, and rode back. It ended up being an all woman's group of shoppers who really had a fun day. Everyone was impressed with the Metro train and we are planning future adventure trips in February and March. Yet another thing that I never thought I would do in life...be a tour guide through downtown Delhi, India. I'm adding this one to my resume!

Our Heat Source

Today I am sitting and reflecting back on last December. We had been in India for 3 months and were not expecting it to get so cold in our apartment. When we packed our one bag in September we didn't think about winter gear as that takes up space and more importantly weight in a 23 kg suitcase. I remember sitting in our old apartment on the top floor in 2-3 layers of clothing with my small gloves on while trying to type and study German. I would turn our toaster oven on for a heat source and only shower during the heat of the day. I was trying to be a strong South Dakotan and not complain about the chill in the air to my husband. There were already enough other things to complain about just being new to India.
We left for Christmas and then I went back to the U.S. to get a new visa during which Ben finally broke down and bought "our only heat source." The DeLonghi 2000W from Italy, which costs over $50 is now our little life safer. This year we pulled it out early and use it mostly in the mornings in the bathroom and in the evenings once the sun goes down. It heats our one bedroom apartment quite quickly, but is turned off while we are sleeping. Therefore, I still sleep in 2-3 layers at night underneath a sheet, comforter, blanket, and top cover. It is brisk here in the evenings. I'm quite embarrassed to say that the daytime temperature is 23 degrees C=73 degrees F however I still walk around in a polar fleece as that is cool after the summer being 117. Germany is currently around -2 C=28 F. It is unusually cool for them at the moment and we are hoping it warms up a bit before we arrive, otherwise I will be in front of the wood burning stove for a month. It is amazing how quickly a person turns into a complete pansey!

Christmas Glühwein Party

Last night we had a few friends over for a BYOM (Bring your own mug) Christmas Glühwein (mulled wine) Party before we all head to different ends of the globe for the holidays. Ben brewed up some of his delicious German Glühwein and we had everyone bring a German themed dish. We enjoyed sauerkraut, mac & cheese, potato salad, bread, salad, and cut out cookies. It was the best we could do here in India. We had a little bonfire outside for warmth, listened to Christmas songs, and enjoyed catching up with everyone before the New Year. Now I am officially ready for the holidays!

German American Christmas Market Weekend

We had a full weekend of activities including both the German Christmas Market at the German Embassy School and the AWA (American Woman's Association) Mela at the American Embassy School. Two wonderful markets with booths selling Christmas goods, jewelry, clothing, and everything Indian. Saturday evening we enjoyed German waffles, mulled wine, imported Schneider Weisse, and socializing with friends. Today we attended 2nd of Advent church services and then walked across the street to the American Mela. A delicious hamburger and beverages from the Boy Scouts were the highlights. A very busy weekend for us, but a wonderful time socializing with friends.

10 K Gurgaon

Saturday morning I ran for the first and last time in India. I did all my training indoors on a treadmill so I knew the Indian air was not going to be pretty. I shouldn't have been surprised, but 400 meters of potholed road to start out and then kilometer after kilometer of farm ground, cows, local villagers making cow pies, and school children off to school were the highlights. Thankfully Ben drove out around the 7 km mark and gave me the motivation I needed to finish. What a great husband!

Our Gurgaon Connection group had a nice representation of runners at the 3rd Annual Running & Living Event. A wonderful experience, but thankfully one that I won't be participating in next year. 1 hour and 11 seconds for 10K=6.3 miles is good for 2010. Hopefully next year I can find a scenic race past beautiful European churches with better air quality. Another once in a lifetime experience! I'm officially a two continent 10 K runner now.

The Tree is Up!

Today in recognition of the first week of advent we put up the tree and constructed a few decorations. Last year I spent so much on the tree ($4) that we need to put it up early to get our money's worth. In June we received all of the Christmas cards and letters that were in last year's Christmas boxes that got delayed in delivery. Therefore, I sat down and reread all of the cards and then used them to decorate the apartment this year. Thank you to everyone that gave my mom a card to put in our Christmas box last year. You are all being appreciated and remembered this year. No tears today as we put up our little Indian tree for the last time.

Our Thanksgiving Feast

We gathered with 25 Americans for Thanksgiving on Thursday evening after most of the men finished work. The dishes were assigned, turkeys ordered one month in advance, and ingredients imported by family, friends, and coworkers. The final product was a feast of very traditional tasting American Thanksgiving classics. Two Butterball turkeys, stuffing, sweet potatos with marshmallows, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, relish tray, corn, devilled eggs, rolls, mashed potatos, gravy, and all the fixings. The best meal I have ever had in India! Our friends Michael and Michelle kindly hosted and it was wonderful. Everyone felt like we had created the best possible dinner out of what we have available to us. Special thanks to all those family members, friends, and coworkers who flew in some very specific and much needed ingredients.

March 18th, 2011

We have a final date!!! I would like to officially announce that March 18th, 2011 sitting in seats 54 J & K flying out of India will be a very excited young couple with big smiles on their faces. Yes, that is correct we have our flight booked for our final exit out of "Incredible India." As always there is a chance that the date could be moved forward or back, but the important thing is that we have a flight. December 23rd-January 27th we will be in Germany celebrating Christmas with the Stabe family and traveling to northern Germany to look for a new apartment. I will be looking for a new job and Ben will be getting oriented on his new position. That means that we have 29 days in December until we fly out and then 49 days from Jan. 27th to March 18th for a total of 78 days remaining in India.

Murse

A murse is a male purse or a man bag. I first noticed a lot of men in Lyon, France carrying man bags this summer. Knowing how big the French are in their fashion I didn't think too much of it. However, our visit to Hong Kong also solidified the murse fashion trend. While in Hong Kong for the first time in our married life I asked Ben to hold my purse while I tackled H & M. He proudly sported it and since then I've been joking about getting him a murse for Christmas. I did a little research and here is what I found.

The Man Bag?
The conventional definition of a man bag is a multi – functional and stylish bag with one strap. Usually a man bag is worn by fashionista men. Many people consider a man bag to be simply a purse worn by a man. However these days, a man bag is far more than just a purse. Man bags can fall under different categories. There used to be one main criteria – sleek and stylish. But might not be true any more.

What to look for when buying a man bag?

Let’s face it, function plays an important part when choosing a man bag, but maybe even more important is style. That means no crazy designs, patterns, or outlandish colors like pink. I mean come on, if it doesn’t go well with your jeans, shoes, blazer or cool shirt, who cares how functional it is?

Back to function: Although a man bag should not look like a purse, it should serve a similar function. Some can even take care of your travel needs. In order to accomplish this, men need to be on the lookout for bags with the following characteristics:

» Material- leather or nylon. This depends on your needs and the season. There seems to be a lot of debate as to which is better. Some prefer leather for its strength and versatility while others lean toward nylon for its lightweight and sleekness.

Live from The Happy School!

For one morning and one morning only the "Band of Gurgaon" performed at The Happy School. Our greatest hits included such classics as: -Oh, when the saints go marching in -Twinkle Twinkle Little Star -Jingle Bells -If your happy and you know it -We wish you a Merry Christmas -Joy to the world -It's a small world The kids loved their hand made maracas made from Yakult pro biotic/yogurt drink bottles with rice inside. They played them often and played them loud. It was really a fun morning of music with my Japanese band friends. Ben joined in on the guest photo/videography team. He did an excellent job capturing a truly unique experience. Anyone who knows me could agree that I was not gifted in the music department. My mom may play a mean accordion, but I was not so lucky. However, I mustered up the courage to sing and play harmonica in front of foreigners as most of them don't understand me anyway. HA! One more memorable morning in Gurgaon for the scrapbook.

Pushkar ^ 2

This past weekend we once again headed west Saturday and Sunday for the second year in a row. Yes, the Pushkar Camel Fair in Rajasthan is worth a repeat. We led good friends John and Lindsay on their first Indian train adventure and thoroughly enjoyed watching their reaction to 20,000 camels. Last year we went on the second weekend after all the camels and horses had been traded. This year we hit opening weekend and didn't regret it for a second. The highlight for me was watching the camel races on opening day (2nd picture above). Wow, what a life experience.

The fair is really an off shoot of the South Dakota State Fair with animals, food, henna painters, snake tamers, shows at the grandstand, Ferris wheels, and camel saddles. As you can see in the pictures we experienced our first Indian camping experience, which consisted of a luxury tent set up in the country. We even rode a camel cart into town. The bathroom accommodations provided for comic relief and yes we took a shower Sunday morning after our bucket of warm water arrived sharply at 8 am. I hope I never forget these life experiences!

Highlights of the train experience include our Uno marathon during our 7.5 hour train ride from Ajmer back to Gurgaon. Final scores included Jodi: 10 games, John: 9 games, and Ben & Lindsay coming in with 4 games each. I won't mention how many games we played before Lindsay joined the winning team. A Pushkar train record was also broken Sunday evening around 6 pm India Time. Last year Ben and I introduced the first annual Ritz cracker eating contest. The rules involve one person sticking as many Ritz crackers into their mouth at one time and then chewing and swallowing without blowing them all over the train cabin. Yes, it sounds a bit lame, but is very difficult to complete. John Luth broke the previous record of 8 crackers formerly held by Ben Stabe in 2009 by successfully consuming 10 Ritz crackers in one mouthful. We have the entire thing on video if anyone wants to purchase a copy. Yes, 13.5 hours on the train in two days is a bit much to take in a camel fair, but the memories are priceless.

In no specific order the unforgettable moments include:
1) Pushing the car in Pushkar after it died on the side of the ride. True "Push Car" experience! The locals found it quite funny that three Caucasians were pushing a 1989 Ambassador taxi.

2)Ben living out his dream driving an Ambassador car.

3) Playing Uno at the Ajmer train station with a crowd of 15 Indian men huddled around us watching our every move.

4) Watching Lindsay's reaction to 20,000 camels while almost falling off the camel cart.

5) Watching John photograph Lindsay while kissing a camel with a naked Indian child hugging his right leg. We have pictures to prove it!

HONG KONG & MACAU CHINA

We spent four delightful days exploring Macau Island and Hong Kong. The structure and organization of the city was really a breath of fresh air. They call Hong Kong a vertical city because everything is built straight into the air. The town is full of escalators and the Chinese people line up in a row on the right and leave the left side open for those wanting to walk or run past them. It is even more military like than Paris! We quickly learned to shift into line like little soldiers. The most frustrating part of the trip was the shopping. Hong Kong is a major shopping hot spot because there is no tax, however all the clothes are size small and medium and the largest shoe I found in any woman's department was 9. I guess things are about the same in India, but we don't have cool stores like H & M, where I actually want to go shopping. We got laughed at every time we asked for a shoe size and then finally we gave up.

Macau is the Las Vegas of the East and was really fun to see the enormous casinos and hotels. The Hong Kong residents like to gamble all day long. We enjoyed watching others lose money while ours stayed in the bank. The Venetian Hotel was our evening resort palace as we took in the Cirque du Soleil show Zaia, enjoyed Morton's Steakhouse of Chicago, and walked the shopping streets of Venice with singing Gondolas and all. Macau is an island 50 minutes from the Hong Kong airport and a very convenient connection.

Hong Kong island and Kowloon are the other two areas where we spent time. Hong Kong Island is a large mix of expats from all over the world and a major financial hub for several banks. They call Hong Kong the NYC of the east and I would have to admit it did have a bit of a New York City feel, minus Broadway. We really enjoyed the mix of cultures and the state of the art architecture and transportation. A truly lovely city! We would move there in a heartbeat vs. India. The Chinese people don't speak a lot of English, but they are really good and pointing a person in the right direction. The people are very fashionable and there is a tremendous amount of high end shopping in Hong Kong and Macau...Prada, Gucci, D & G, LV, etc. Those are stores that you practically have to pay just to walk into...ha! Where is a good JCPenney's when you need it?

Pictures include: Lantau Giant Buddha, Hong Kong by night, the street cars of Hong Kong Island and Ben at the conveyor belt sushi bar.

The Most Impressive City Online

Tonight we leave for Hong Kong with the sole purpose being to get out of India for "Diwali" (A.K.A. Indian Christmas/Festival of Lights/Lets blow off our leg with a cherry bomb). I spend a lot of time researching travel destinations, but I have to admit that I have never been more impressed with a city or government's tourism and websites than I am with Hong Kong. I'm so excited to go and I have only read about it online. The government has websites with details on the expanse of hiking trails in and around the city of Hong Kong. The details and planning that has gone into these home pages are so impressive. Once again, I'm not sure if I'm so impressed because we are living in such an unorganized chaotic mess of a country or because they really are impressive. Every attraction gives exact detailed directions on which metro to take, how many right turns to make after you get off the metro, and how many minutes it will take to walk to the destination. AMAZING! I can only hope that our four day adventure will not be a disappointment. If you don't believe me just check out the below website to learn everything and anything about Hong Kong. I even have the Burger King in the Hong Kong International Airport mapped out for my fix of beef as soon as we land at 6 am Thursday morning. I almost emailed HK Burger King to make sure they wouldn't be on their breakfast menu at that time of day...keep your fingers crossed for me.

http://www.discoverhongkong.com/login.html

Delhi Metro: A pleasant surprise

Saturday we set out for a day of adventure. We decided after several months of operation it was time for us to check out the new metro connection from Gurgaon to Delhi. We are a quick 10 minute walk from the end of the line and one of the newest stations HUDA City Center. We paid 27 rupees=$0.61 per person for a ticket from Gurgaon to the heart of the city...Old Delhi. We visited the bustling Chandni Chowk market and spent hours wandering the streets. First, we were in the clothing section, then paper, then power tools, and so on. The amazing thing was that people didn't bother us much. They were all just working hard and not looking for a hand out. As you can see in the pictures it was quite the view!

In addition to Chandni Chowk we also visited Paharganj near the New Delhi Rail Station and Palikka Bazaar at Connaught Place. Oh, what a year does to a person. I refused to never set foot in Palikka last August on our first visit. I thought Ben was absolutely crazy for venturing in an underground market. Needless to say yesterday I wondered why I had never visited before as a Gucci handbag is only 100 rupees=$2.25. Who wants one for Christmas?

Grandbaby Party

Last Thursday I had one of those unique afternoons in India that can not be duplicated. We had a baby shower for the grandmother whose daughters are in the U.S. She is headed back to the U.S. for two weeks to see both of her daughters that are expecting little ones so we threw a baby shower for her to give to the daughters. We told stories about our grandmothers and what an influence they had in our lives, we learned how to make dim sum from our hostess's Indian house boy, and we enjoyed tea, coffee, and sweets during the time when we normally have Thursday afternoon Bible study. People received stick on bindis for guessing the correct answer and the winner with the most bindis won a set of pink angel wings. As you can see in the last picture EVERYONE was jealous of the winner's wings. A very memorable afternoon with woman from every country, all walks of life, and all generations. These ladies are part of my main support system here in "Incredible India" and a true blessing every week.