India Night 2011

What a night!  Hundreds of people from all over the world showed up in their best Indian attire to support the OWC's (Overseas Women's Club) local Bangalore Charities. 

Salome came over to watch the children for the evening and she arrived early so she could help me put on my sari.

We're talking a WHOLE LOTTA fabric!
Thank God for Salome! 
I could have never got it right without her!

TA-DAH!!!!  Bangles, Bindi and all!
(Unfortunately, not the best lighting but it's the ONLY full body shot
of my sari from the ENTIRE evening!)

Erica took this picture of us in our living room right before we were ready to leave.

The party was held at the Leela Palace Hotel here in Bangalore.  This is where Matt and I stayed when we came over on our "Look See" tour.

 

The Leela Palace Hotel

The Leela All Lit Up!

This is where all of the drivers pull up and let their passengers out of their cars.

Entryway doors

I felt a bit like Cinderella at the grand ball as I climbed the staircase.
Luckily, Prince Charming was already at my side and I didn't have any ugly stepsisters trailing behind me!

En route to the Royal Ball Room

One of the first people I spotted when I walked through the door was my friend, Jet, from Holland. 

Me and Jet (pronounced Yet!)

She's got a great sense of humor and from the first day we met at the bus stop - We clicked!  Her two children, Elise & Bart-Jan, ride the bus with the Fab Four.  When their kids first got to Bangalore they only spoke Dutch and even though it's only been a couple of months they are already making great strides at learning the English language.

Finding Jet was easy in the sea of people because her husband, Bouke, has got to be about 6'7!!!  I thought Matt was tall at 6'2 but Bouke towers above the masses.  They are great people and I'm so glad that Bangalore has brought us together!



Cheers!

One of Matt's co-workers, John, and my shopping buddy, Joan!
Fabulous and FUNNY people!

I know this is probably a terrible thing to say but I have made an observation in our short time here...There are two kinds of people that come on assignments to India...DORKS and FUNNY FOLKS!  I would like to think we fall into the Funny Folks category but that might be up for debate b/c we can be pretty big dorks too!?  You know what though...I'm okay with that!  Embrace it!  Be who you are!  I say, "Nerds of the Nations UNITE!"  All in all it works out great b/c the funny people are able to sit back and see the humor involved in so many situations here in India.  I mean, if you haven't got a sense of humor - I don't know that you could survive here for very long.  It also works out great that there are so many Freaks & Geeks running around b/c the funny people have something to chuckle about.  (I know.  That's not nice.)  Might I just add, we are ALL special in God's eyes & He loves us just the same! ;0)  HEHEHEH!  AND!  Like I said, most of the time I'm not quite sure which of those categories we fall into....Remember I am nearly 6'0 tall myself and I am riding a scooter to the bus stop that's built for a 5 year old....I'm pretty sure that's got GEEK written all over it!  But there you go, I'm sure somebody is chuckling under their breath at me and that my friends is the "Circle of Survival" here in India.  Lose your sense of humor and you're a dead man walking! ;0)

 

There's another Jenny from the B'Block!  This is my friend, Jen, from Chicago!

Jen's another Hip Chick!  Love her.  Now that I think about it - We met at the bus stop too.  She has two boys and one of them is Michael's age.  We attend the same church, share a love for jewelry and her husband (who I didn't get a picture of) is one of THE funniest people I've met in India so far.  So, yep!  They're surviving, smiling, living on laughs and just signed on to stay in Bangalore a little while LONGER!!! YAY!! I'm so glad they aren't leaving.

 

Derek and Matt

Derek is definitely one of the dorks we've met in India!  KIDDING!  See, I can say that b/c when/if he reads this - He's a wicked funny guy and will LOL when he reads that! (Fist Bump...Love ya, Man!)  If you'd believe it - I met Derek's wife, Katie, when we were here on our "Look See" trip (Cue the creepy little dolls singing, "It's a Small World After all..."  Katie and Derek are from Illinois BUT Katie's parents recently moved to MN and they live in the SAME TOWN as my parents!  WHOA!  What are the odds of that one!? 

 

Katie is a real Cool Cat!  I totally dig her!

She was cracking me up telling me how her MIL was freaking out when she saw the henna on her hands because she thought she really got tattooed here in India.  Then Katie says, "I can't wait to show her my faux nose ring...That's really gonna put her over the top!"



 Henna Hands

 

 

Henna is often used to decorate hands and feet in the Muslim and Hindu

cultures for various ceremonial purposes.   

 

So as to make sure I haven't offended any Nerds or Freaks in the writing of this blog I took the liberty of checking out www.wisegeek.com and I found out what they had to say about Henna to be very interesting!  I knew a little bit about it but not much.  Here's a little blurb to catch you all up to speed.

"Henna dyes hair, skin, and fabric organically, similar to a black tea dye. Henna is extracted from a tree by drying and grinding leaves and stems. The greenish powder, when mixed with an acidic liquid, makes a temporary red, brown, or orange design on a porous surface. People use henna in ritual skin painting, called Mehndi, for birth and marriage celebrations. Western cultures have adopted henna to make temporary tattoos and organic hair dye.

The henna tree, Lawsonia inermis, grows in hot, arid regions like North Africa and India. For centuries, people ground the foliage of the plant into a powder to dye cloth and skin. The strong pigment, lawsone, actually temporarily stains the skin. Lawsone is a tannin; tannins are also found in wine and tea. They infuse porous surfaces with a darker pigment, but do not chemically alter the surface permanently.

Henna works because lawsone is absorbed into material like hair and skin. You mix the powdered henna into a mud, using hot water, lemon juice, vinegar, or other acidic additives. An acidic mixture strengthens the dyeing properties. Then you apply the henna mud to a surface like the palm of your hand, bottom of your feet, or anywhere on your body. Leave the mud on for as long as possible, up to 48 hours. When it dries and crumbles off, the skin will have darkened to auburn, orange, red, or brown.

Interesting, right?!  There were a lot of people at the Indian Night with henna.  I was not one of them.  I have to leave something "New" to do next year, right?! 

They had several Bollywood dance performances throughout the night. 
The video footage I took isn't working but here's something similar to what we saw that you can watch via You Tube.

Check out the dudes shoes at about 3:30. 
 Matt's looked just like that... unfortunately no photos to prove it.

Check out these guys!!!  I wonder if I could rent a costume like that for Halloween!?

 Too bad we forgot our swimming suits or "Swimming Costumes" as the Indians call them.

Would have been the perfect night for a dip!

Lots of great food!

Although it was a very Cinderalla-esque night - We didn't have to worry about our carriage turning into a pumpkin or my sari turning into rags at the stroke of midnight b/c in India in an effort to get people to "shut it down" at a reasonable hour - They stop serving alcohol at 11:30 pm and that pretty much forces people to head home or at least head to 'a home' and get off the streets. 

We had a great night!  I am already looking forward to next year!   Anybody wanna join us!?!?!?