Success...and not just at shopping!

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Yikes...I have been slacking! ha! ok so the past few days have been super eventful. Saturday was a pretty lazy day to start with. I survived a real Indian lunch and actually really enjoyed it! Eggplant is good everywhere! I even ate some scary cheese like substance that I wouldn't normally go near, but desperate times...and it wasn't too bad! i may have already shared that with you all but i forget.ok so onto more important things. I met up with Dev Anand (thanks to Bernadette's friend Murali) and he showed me all of Chennai. We first went to Valluvar Kottam, a memorial fora Tamil poset from a zillion years ago. He had written 1330 2-word poems so they built a memorial that is 1330 meters or something high. I don't really get it, how can a poem be only 2 words! And they never really knew who the guywas or something. Then we went to the Vivekananda House-Swami Vivekananda stayed there in 1897, although it previously was called "The Ice House" (yup just like where joey potter worked!). That was where ice was brought in from north america and stored. that seems like a lot of work just for some ice. There I learned lots of Hindu stories-like one of 5 brothers who had to fight 100 brothers and the 5 bro group won-weird. When was got to this place, it turnedout that it was the birthday/anniversary or something of the swami so we got in free! After that we ventured down to the beach!!! its strange how no matter where i am, if i am at the beach i feel at home. not a single person was swimming. my friend's friend's friend said it is because they are lazy and would rather just sit around and chat but lonely planet says there are strong rips and it is dagerous. i guess it would be tough to swim and remain conservatively clothed at the same time! the water was soooo warm and nice-i was a scandulous american and went in up to my knees...yup i hiked up my long skirt! there were tons and tons of people around eating and playing games (like the balloon/arrow game that we used to play at carnivals). there were also shops perpendicular to the beach selling lots of crap.

Next was time to re-attempt shopping. I didn't realize that I was being brought to a mall fancier than short hills! it was insane! i was waiting in line for the bathroom and the bathroom attendants were talking about me-i think they were laughing about how my feet were dirty (hey, they were covered in sand from the beach), but i can't be so sure since my Tamil is not so stronge! We decided to stop at a coffee shop which weirdly enough was located inside the department store. i didn't want coffee cause then i wouldnt sleep so i had a chocolate milkshake-i thought the one i had at the diner before flying away would have been it for awhile! anyways, it was a nutritious dinner! I started looking at the clothes and realized, uh, i could get beneton and espirit clothes at home! i found the indian style section but they were just too pricey. i asked my new friend to take me to a market that another local had suggested...back in the autorickshaw...

This market was so crowded, it was great! The workers walk around with you and carry your clothes. I picked out a few salwer outfits and then they asked if i wanted to try on. the lady took to top off the hanger and handed it to me while holding onto the pants. i slippped the top on over my clothes thinking that is what she wanted. oops. she then pointed out the dressing room. i was ofcourse, in typical kim fashion, too lazy to wait on line and just figured they would all fit. theres no sizes anyways.i bought 3 outfits for about 50 bucks! and i love them! you will all probably see me living in these clothes when i return!! While Dev Anand was waiting for some sari's he bought for his mother we went to look at the accessories and he insisted on buying me a gift-i got 2 gold bangles! and that was on top of paying for all the autorickshaws and milkshake! it was funny in the store when he said he had only shopped once with a girl and couldn't get over how we end up buying everything! i guess girls and shopping doesn't change no matter where you are! i think its payback for all my time co-running the silberchan b and b!

I will add photos once i get on my computer..stay tuned..
It was such a fun day and made me really love India! Tomorrow is off to Vellore...

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Comments

[anonymous]

"how can a poem be only 2 words!??"... Actually it is not 2 words ..it is of 2 line .. you can find all the poems in the below link ..http://www.tamilnation.org/literature/kural/kuralE1.html.. Have fun...