My Birthday Weekend (Aug 6-9)

This was a busy birthday weekend. Let's kick it off with the highlights. You can see the list of all the events in my album and follow along.

Friday Aug 6th
We went to go see the movie Despicable Me, which was cute. When we were leaving the movie theater/mall, these people started asking to take Martijn and my picture. It was really insane - it was like we were movie stars and they couldn't believe we were there! Then this ADORABLE little girl with her dad comes up and asks to take a picture with me. She was so cute and after the picture, the dad put her hand in mine and I gave her a little kiss. Then the girl gave me a kiss! OMG - I melted!!!

After the movie, we went to dinner and had a feast. I literally wasn't hungry for another 16 hours. Damn the food is good, but I need to learn self-control!

Saturday Aug 7th
We went to get massages (they're $5 with the Google discount at this amazing spa), went to lunch, then did some shopping. After shopping, Martijn and I stopped by a local stand to get some coconut juice (video of them slicing it open) and went to a beautiful temple.

Sunday Aug 8th
This is the day where the really interesting stuff happened :) We went to the Old City (where Hyderabad city started) to go bum around, see Charminar, the Mosque and shop. We got there and it was INSANE! You think the other parts of the city are busy, but that's nothing compared to Old City.

Of course the first thing Martijn does is seek out the military trucks and ask to join them and hold their gun. Surprisingly, they were as fascinated at our white skin as we were of them! They were taking pictures & videos of us as we jumped up on the truck. Damn, Martijn is ballsy. I'm just glad I can go along for the ride :) That was a pretty sweet start to the day. And yes, that will be my facebook profile pic.

We move on to the Mosque where there was a terrible bombing a few years back. Of course, I decided to wear a tank top (in my defense, I had no idea where we were going so I didn't know how to dress). We had to buy a cover-up because I was very scandalous and they wouldn't let me in the Mosque! The kids inside loved us and followed us around!

Then our friend Arshad, our local guide, told us about this place where they sell all sorts of animals. We of course were intrigued so decided to head over. He did warn us to breath through our mouths, which was good advice. As we were walking through, Martijn & Arshad decided to get me a birthday present of a crow ritual. This ritual is meant to send away bad energy & bad luck by rubbing a crow's ass on you and setting it free. Oh yeah, check it out here. Afterwards, I felt free of bad luck...however, later that day, I rubbed my hand in bird shit and the next morning, my hot water no longer existed. Hmmm....not sure if that means the bird was defective...

Check out the video & the video of my reaction to the crow's ass touching me :)

Then as we were walking back, we saw a camel walking through the road. Just chillin. No biggie. Arshad whistled like he was hailing a cab and the camel stopped so we could take pictures. Awesome!

Monday Aug 9th (My Birthday!)
The day started out with a cold shower (damn crow) but things picked up. It was a great day and my team was really great. I got a nice loud Happy Birthday at lunch and they surprised me with a cake & gift. They also explained that an Indian tradition is to smash cake in the birthday girl's face so in good Indian form, I preceded to allow them to smear chocolate frosting all over my face. Then they made me walk around the office and have others add more frosting on my face. They did threaten to kick me (a tradition for guys), but I reminded them that I write their reviews. Then they backed off :)

Other noteworthy things
Video of traffic in Hyderabad (we're crossing the street)
What a lot of motorcyles look like
Video of our flat (you've already seen pictures of my room, but the flat is amazing!)

Instructions for the Commode

First things first. Let's figure out how to use the toilet. It is a pretty critical part of life (especially in India!)

Tips for the Toilet:

1. Do not squat Indian style on the commode seat
2. The right way to sit on the commode is as if you're sitting on a chair
3. Clean yourself with toilet paper and flush it down the commode
4. Do not throw used toilet paper in the garbage
5. Do not throw paper towels in the commode as they will choke it
6. Cover the commode with the seat cover after use
   

Please click to enlarge so you can see the full awesomeness.

Oh where do you even start with this?! I do, however, appreciate instructions since as you may know, things operate differently in different countries. I probably would have just stood on the toilet if I hadn't been told not to.

My First Post!

Today is my first post on my blog. I've already spent an hour trying to make the blog pretty and add cool pictures, but to no avail. I will get it though! You'd think that since I'm used to Google products, it would be easy...sigh. I know I should review the Help Center like a good user, but I just don't have the patience to read it now.

For those of you who don't know Wisconsin or India for that matter, the name Cheese Curds & Curry was suggested because apparently when people think of me, they think of cheese. Hence, I'm mixing my background of WI with my new home of India. Thank you Alex for the name!

Anyway, I've already been in India for 2 weeks now so I have a lot of updates to make. I'm not sure where to start, so I'll start with my living arrangements. I got "upgraded" by request to a beautiful room in a huge flat that was occupied by the previous Director. It's 4 bedrooms (I have one of them and other expats come and go into the other 3) and has a huge living room, dining room & kitchen. The dining room is where all of the expats in Hyderabad go for dinner so it's fun to have new people around. And it doesn't hurt that they clean my room every day and do my laundry...not too bad.

We also have a Chef, who is really nice and who I call Reddy (his name is G. Perri Reddy, but that's way too long) and a helper name Goypal, who has the most innocent smile. Martijn (expat from Dublin) and I are making good friends with the Chefs. The food is pretty good, although everything is Indian really. The chef changes it up though and makes Chinese, Mexican, pizza, etc.

For those of you who don't know, we also have drivers (yeah, it's not so bad here). Just called Ismail, our main hookup and got a car for me and Martijn for this afternoon - we're going to Old Town.

With that, I'll leave you with a few pics of my room.