Smiles :)

Things that have recently made me smile (and I hope will make you, too):

• What Indians call blisters that you get on your feet from new shoes: "shoe bites." Perfect. :)

• Recently, I was hanging out with Ann, Rinsy, and Sheny, when my foot fell asleep. Rinsy promptly grabbed my foot, put a quarter in between my big toe and the next toe, squeezed them together, and began vigorously stroking the top of my foot, "to wake it up!" she said. I almost DIED.

• Here, salt on the table is usually served as salt water, perhaps because of the humid climate. The salt water containers at the hostel are kinda shaped like penguins, and every time I ask for the "oopa" I imagine someone passing me a colorful little penguin.

• The kitchen gecko in my room now has a name: Kit.  

• I recently gave the girls some mini Reeses' cups mailed to me in a care package (Thank you, Beth Weaver and Lauren Skurcenski!) and didn't tell the girls to take off the brown wrapper around the Reeses' candy. So they all ate the whole thing.

• When I Skype my sister on her porch in Malawi, I can hear the crickets outside where she is. She can hear the traffic in Kottayam. So we chat and listen simultaneously to the crickets in Africa and the car horns in India. Technology is amazing.

• Catchphrase and Two Truths and a Lie are terrific hostel games. For Two Truths and a Lie, you write down three statements about yourself, two that are true, and one that is made-up, and everyone else has to guess which one is the lie. The first time we played, I didn't tell the girls that the lie should still be believable, so they all wrote things like:
• Today, I had rice for lunch.
• Today, I went to class.
• Today, I met Sha Rukh Khan (movie star) in the Chemistry Department, or Today, I flew to New York City. 

• I showed Lydia my blog, she looked confused at the title, and said, "Chechi, who are you running after?" :) "God!" I said. 

• A recent lesson on American and Indian dress. Some of my favorite sentences that resulted:
• "I wear my nightie to an interview." 
• "She wears sneakers to his funeral."
• "I wear a T-shirt, heels, and track suit to church."

• Explaining the concept of Groundhog Day to students.

• Shalu and I were translating the Lord's Prayer literally from Malayalam. The last line she wrote as: "Kingdom, power, glory...it's for you." Love that.

Gigi Sir with the Terrible Towel that now hangs in his office :)