Taj Mahal Baby!

Random Things:

• So, our chef sends out the dinner menu every day to the foreigners. Here is an item at dinner: "Assorted vegetable hard boiled to add natural food to the menu". Shit man - have I been eating plastic so far?! That is not good...
• People are so lazy in the office for 2 reasons. 1) It's like they're unable to use stairs. Even if they're going down one floor, no one takes the stairs - they wait for the elevator. So frustrating! 2) I think about 4 of the 8 hours of work are spent chit chatting and goofing around. It's crazy!
• Martijn's comment on how there are always people standing around "I love how in India, wherever you go, there is a guy"
  

Trip to the Taj!!!
Katherine, my good friend from home came to Hyderabad for 2 weeks for work and we've been enjoying wine and the Taj. We went to the Taj for the weekend and splurged and stayed at the Oberoi hotel. Every room in the hotel has a spectacular view of the Taj and the grounds are amazing! Totally luxurious and very expensive. But worth it! The Taj was seriously amazing and we had the BEST time together! Check out the pics - they say it all...

What else have I been up to? Working. Boring? Yes. True? Yes. My manager came for a week and it's review season so I've been working my tail off to be able to go to Malaysia this weekend and not be stressed. So far so good.

Next post - 10 days in Malaysia - get excited!

Hi all,

I haven't written in a long time. It's either I'm really important and busy or I'm just lazy - you take your pick :) I've settled back in after my trip home, although the first few days back were rough (missing my Riki - awww...). But, I'm back in the swing of things with all of the exploring and being very white and getting stared at, etc.

I'd like to start with a few fun stories and insights.

1. A friend and I got into cab and said "Hi, can we go to XXX [insert location]". He looked at us very confused. "Shit" we were thinking - "He doesn't speak English!" So we keep trying, in different variations and slower to say where we want to go. Then he turns and says "Do you speak English?" in perfect English. Ummm - what the F have we been speaking?!
2. Today was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and it was really hot. Arshad and I went on a run in this lovely park and I almost died from the heat. He was saying how for the next few months it's going to be so nice and cool. I'm thinking - "this is cool?! I would classify this as F'ing HOT!" I'm not sure I'm going to survive the heat! P.S. I forgot how running in the heat is 10x more difficult!
   
3. Arshad and I were riding home from the run on his motorcycle and it hit me. "Holy crap! I'm in India and I'm riding through the streets on a motorcycle! How freaking awesome is that!" You would think I would have recognized this early, but apparently I'm a little slow. Oh - and I LOVE motorcycles now - with the cool breeze and seeing the city whiz by? Amazing! And no Riki, you still can't get one :)
4. Insight: You need to have an open mind when you visit India or you will be extremely disappointed. For example, we have a new roommate (from Google) and she's really negative and only looks at the bad things about India. She's only been here for 2 weeks and already is disgusted and wants to go home. Yes, it's dirty and poor, but it's also really exciting and beautiful. You just need to look past all of the rubble on the side of the road and immerse yourself in the experience. I'm so glad I made friends that are open to the experiences and don't have to surround myself by that negativity. Ok, I'm done with the deep thoughts :)
   

Last Weekend:
Friday: First club in India! It was everything I dreamed of with crowds and trance music :) Actually, it was really like a normal club. However, a nice little fight broke out after the club closed and our friends were in it. They were justified to beat up this douche, but it was still crazy, although apparently it's pretty common here. Guess I'm going to have to get used to that! After the club, we went back to a friends place for late night food (my fav) and got tandoori chicken and biryani. Guess I'm going to have to get used to their late night food! At 3am, we decided to leave and the guys rode me and Martijn back on their motorcycles in the rain. It was pretty awesome! We had to stop for gas and Martijn, being as wasted as he was, started to light a cigarette! We all screamed at him to stop and started running away! He was very confused (a bottle of vodka will do that to you). It felt like a scene from Zoolander. Orange mocha frappuccino!

Saturday: After a hungover day, we went to the spa and got dinner at the Westin. The dinner was ok, but the awesome part was the bangles maker they had! I made friends quickly and got 3 beautiful bangles for free! It was seriously cool watching him make them!

Sunday: On Sunday, we went sight-seeing to these tombs in Hyderabad, which were cool. You can see the pictures here - not much more to say!

This Weekend:
Thursday: We had Friday off for Ramadan, which was awesome. So on Thursday night, I had meetings until 9:30 (boo), went home to have dinner, then went out to 10 Downing, a Thur karaoke hotspot and it was awesome! I LOVE a good karaoke song :)

Rest of the weekend: The rest of the weekend was pretty chill. I spent a lot of time researching my future trips (Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand), grabbed some Subway and watched a movie, then went for a run and brunch today. The coolest part was seeing the giant Ganesh (the biggest god in Hindu) that they put up for Ramadan. After worshiping him for 10 days, they throw all of the city's Ganesh statues in the lake. This happens every year, which means scuba diving in that lake would be cool, although you would probably grow a 3rd arm or something.

PICTURES ARE HERE!

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.