Lieblingsfotos

27 Monate

Technorati rules!

Technorati Profile

India Flashback

I just came across Firangi Mama - a blog by a New Englander with a South Indian husband and their little girl. They lived in Bangalore for some time and now they´re back in the U.S.A. I enjoyed reading her archives and found the following anecdotes very familiar because they brought memories of my days in India:

- The value of money.

- The funny (and frustrating) experience trying to communicate with the maids.

- Cooking with Light Propane Gas.

- Funny Indian English terms: "leg-finger" means toe; "my head is paining" means "I have a headache"; the expression: "What is your good name?" (as if you also had a bad one!)

- Funny Indian English pronounciation: The letter A is the letter /yay/. The letter W pronounced as/v/, i.e woman /voman/.

-How foreigners are pointed out and stared at. I also heard this question quite often: "You are basically from which place, madam?"

- Beggars

- Grown-ups being referred to as "Auntie" and "Uncle" out of respect.

- Having an "office boy" or driver come to your rescue. (Hi, Hemant! Hi, Arjun!)

- The black dot on a baby´s head to avert the Evil Eye. Shaving a baby´s head (even if it´s a girl) to make the hair thicker or for religious purposes.

- You should never go back (towards the house, once you leave in the morning. Brings bad luck!)

- The way religions co-live in one environment.

- Indian etiquette. (I enjoyed this post. Very true!) My MIL once asked me three times if I wanted more food at a family dinner in a restaurant. She just wanted to make sure I wasn´t eating because I was feeling shy.

- You´re not suppossed to smell the pooja flowers.

- English sounds like a different language when spoken with another accent. (My anecdote is that the anesthesiologist was telling me something right before my emergency C-Section operation and I said: "I only speak English". And he replied: "But I am speaking English only!". -- I´m sure Sopan & Priya also noticed that I eventually asked them to repeat things less often. One day SIL-Priya kept asking me if I wanted an "egg-fry" and it was only when I saw her put an egg on the frying pan that I understood she was asking me if I wanted a "fried egg"!)

-Buying eggs that come in a normal plastic cover and some even have chicken poop on them. I still don´t know why a friend of mine in Vashi was surprised to see me wash the eggs before putting them on the refrigerator.

-Child-rearing advice from your Mother-in-Law. (In my case, my MIL suggested I keep a young boy to help me around the house when Fabi was a newborn. I declined, as I just wanted ONE kid in the house and not feel responsible for having a child-laborer).

-Missing the dhobi.

- The correct way to refer to people.

- Learning that my marriage is a "love marriage". I was shocked the first time I heard this expression...Is there any other kind? Oh!...yes...as oppossed to an "arranged marriage"! (Btw, good Blogher post on the topic of arranged marriages here.)

- Basically, knowing that India changes you.

(You can read all my posts of my "Life in India" here.)

Ein bißchen Spaß!

Because "no bad words were found":



It´s official, I´m addicted to blogging (at least it´s not as bad as I had thought!)


78%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Happy Twenty-Seventh Month, Fabi!

Fabi keeps surprising me with new words:

"Lasagna" (he says "sania")
"hambre" (hunger)
"besito" (little kiss)
"pinta" (to paint, to draw...he likes to scribble)
"´miso" (as in.."con permiso"=excuse me, when he wants space)
"sleeping"
"down"
"open"
"take"
"Oh Gott!"
"Oh nein!"
"Oh no!"
"Ja!"
"Papa. China. Bus." ("Dad went to China in a bus.")
"Zapatos. Mio?" ("Where are my shoes?")

He tells me "Danke" "Bitte" "Please"...but doesn´t say those words to other people...yet.
He´s increasing his vocabulary by pointing at things/people and asking ("What´s this?"-"Esto es...?") and sometimes repeating my answer.

A few days ago, MasalaDad comes home from work and starts tickling Fabi. To our surprise, between his laughter, Fabi shouts: "Ishan! No!" - The three of us laughed so hard! Fabi (sometimes) calls his Dad by his own name!

His Sesame Street puppets sometimes feel what Fabi is feeling too: "Elmo tiene hambre" (Elmo´s hungry); "Bert´s sleeping."

Fabi also likes to pretend he´s asleep - snoring sounds included (he learned that from a snoring teddy bear MasalaDad got for him).

He´s at the stage where he.MUST!.have whatever toy he sees...but a micro second later he changes his mind and he.DOESN´T!.want.it anymore! It can be frustrating and tiring not to know what you want/don´t want and it certainly is frustrating not to be able to express yourself correctly. He still needs to learn how to SHARE! But he loves to play with other kids (as long as they don´t take his toys).

His potty training is going on very slowly...some days are good...others are not.

When we moved to this apartment I thought it was the perfect opportunity for him to learn how to sleep by himself, in his own bed, in his own bedroom. Unfortunately, due to the noise our downstairs neighbours hear, I have been sleeping with him in order to prevent him from crying. Now he just loves to fall asleep with me next to him, holding my face between his two hands. ("Mamá. Aquí!", as he points the spot on his bed next to him.) I just wait for him to fall in a deep sleep so I can sneak out. But I love to watch him sleep so closely and especially to catch him smiling in his sleep.

The only milestone he´s still quite far from achieving is preparing me a complete healthy meal. I wonder how long must I keep waiting?

Einige Tage vor...

A few days ago...

Hace unos días...

Abbildung Geschichte

Vater Tag

India and Costa Rica - among other countries - celebrate Father´s Day on the 3rd Sunday of June. (Click pictures below to enlarge.)

Happy Father´s Day, MasalaDad!

Happy Father´s Day to Gaurang Fabian´s Grandfathers!

¡Feliz Día del Padre a mi papá!...¡el mejor papá del mundo!

Father's Day is a day of commemoration and celebration of Dad. It is a day to not only honor fathers, but all men who have acted as a father figure - whether as Godfathers, Uncles, Grandfathers, Stepfathers,"Big Brothers" and even future fathers. Happy Day!

Dekoration

These pictures show details of my attempt at doing some decoration around the house. I like blue candles.

(Click the picture to enlarge.)

Fabi is busy playing with his toys and I leave him alone for one minute, but when I come back, I find he has rearranged my decoration. Apparently, towers are "in".


Noten la diferencia entre la foto de arriba y la de abajo. La primera muestra algunos detalles decorativos que he puesto en la casa usando candelas azules. La segunda foto muestra cómo a Fabián le parece que se ven mejor las candelas: en torre!

Happy Birthday, Céline!

Click to play

Céline...may your days be bright and beautiful like the flowers of your gift.

Merci, mon amie!

France Toujours

Erlangen celebrates "French Week" (link in German) from the 10th to the 23rd of June.

Céline and Irfan invited us to the inauguration. Ishan has been home busy working and cooking (we had company for lunch Saturday AND Sunday), but Fabi and I were able to enjoy a bit of cultural activities.

"Semaine Française" opened with the inauguration of the exhibition "Aufstehen" in the Huguenot church, by artists Christophe Jardin (France) and Romina Schenone (Argentina). I had always wanted to know what that church looked like in the inside and I finally had the chance to see.

Céline pointed out to me that the person who gave the opening speech at the inauguration was the Mayor of the City (Oberbürgermeister) Dr. Siegfried Balleis. I told her that he had also been a speaker -along with Irfan and I- at the Orangerie during the welcoming ceremony of the International Program of the University back in 2001. (Ah!...memories!)

Fabián y yo pudimos disfrutar media hora (de los 90 minutos) de un concierto de arpa que ofreció la artista Cristine Merienne como parte de la inauguración de la "Semana Francesa" que se celebra en Erlangen. Ademas, Fabián disfrutó mucho de unas hamacas mientras el alcalde de la ciudad daba su discurso. Luego estuvimos jugando en la fuente de Hugenottenplatz antes de comernos un helado en McDonald´s. Si tengo suerte, me gano un viaje de una semana a la Côte d'Azur, ya que estoy participando en el concurso que pide nombrar la personalidad francesa que este año celebra su centenario.

Don´t miss this great picture of Hugenottenplatz at the heart of Erlangen city.

Erfolg in der Küche

El sabado pasado fuimos a cenar a la casa del jefe de Ishan. Hoy jueves era feriado aqui en Erlangen, asi que aprovechamos para devolver la invitacion de la cena. El jefe de Ishan, su esposa y dos hijos adolescentes estuvieron aqui en nuestro apartamento y pasamos un rato agradable. Ellos tambien tienen una hija de 6 años, pero no estuvo hoy porque anda en Inglaterra con su abuela. La pasamos muy bien!

I was in charge of making a salad for the dinner party we hosted for Ishan´s boss and his family. I made "The World´s Best Pasta Salad" and this other salad with watermelon and feta cheese. I also made a guacamole dip and tortilla chips that we had before dinner, along with fried spiced shrimp Ishan prepared. Ishan also made Tandoori chicken, okra and an eggplant curry. We now have enough food to feed an army...for a week!

Wortlos Mittwoch

Unwiderstehlich

I can´t go to the Thalia bookstore in Erlangen without buying something. It´s simply irresistible!

But really...can u blame me? I found a really cool Sesame Street book in German about the colours of the rainbow. When you open the book each color of the rainbow is represented with a ribbon. Plus...the original price was €9.95 and I got it for €2.99!

I also got a German political map for me! So I´m finally going to learn all the names and locations of the German states. I remember when I used to be in school in Illinois, I used to have a puzzle map with the 50 states of U.S.A and still remember most of that information.

Handy equipment

Look what I finally got, Nidhi!... It´s not Ikea...it´s Kaufland, but it´s exactly what I´ve been looking for.

Now Fabi has a stool to stand up and reach the sink to brush his teeth, reach the kitchen counter and (help me) cook (ha!)...and the picture shows that it´s also a table/chair for him to have a snack!

P.S. This picture reminds me he really needs a haircut again!...

Fabian tambien disfruto del Berg!

Mal kurz auf Spanisch...

Con semanas de anticipación ya se anunciaban las "fiestas" en esta pequeña ciudad. Yo me escapé un día (mientras Ishan se quedó en casa con Fabián) y salí con amistades que vinieron de visita y la pasamos muy bien. Ishan por su parte también ya había ido con sus compañeros de trabajo. Solo faltaba Fabián de ir a dar un paseo por el "Berg" y qué mejor día que hoy domingo!...

Lástima que se me olvido la cámara y la única foto que tengo es del globo en forma del "Monstruo Comegalletas" que trajimos a casa. Plaza Sésamo estaba presente en el "Berg"! :)

Sin embargo, les contaré que Fabián disfrutó mucho, pues dio una vuelta en un carro de carreras y en un caballito (de plástico). Probó la comida típica alemana (mientras bailaba al ritmo de la música de la banda) y se comió un gran helado. Se entusiasmó mucho cuando vimos que unos niños montaban caballitos de verdad, pero a diferencia de sus amiguitas Sayén y Silene, Fabián no quiso montar un pony. Tal vez el otro año sí se anime...

Meeting Arjun

It was nice meeting Abhijeet´s family. I had forgotten how light a newborn is! I asked Fabi if he wants a baby...he replied a definite "No!"

Congratulations to the new parents, Abhijeet and Amarja!

International Children´s Day

Children´s Day in Costa Rica is celebrated on Sept. 9th. But since we´re in Germany...

I wish Fabi, his friends and all the children a nice day today!

A prayer and a special thought to all the children with special needs, the ones who are waiting to be adopted and the ones who live in places affected by war or poverty.

They were here!

Vivek & Nidhi came to Erlangen on Pfingsten weekend and they managed to squeeze so many activities in just two days and a half!

I made a slide show with the pictures of the activities I shared with them. I hope you enjoy the 4 minutes of this video:

You can also find the pictures in my Yahoo Album here.

Update: Picture courtesy of Vivek & Nidhi, taken at the Erlangen Schlossgarten.