The weekend officially started on Friday this past week, due to Friday classes. However, since Thursday was such a fun night, we decided to take it easy, and only went out to dinner. The girls headed over to Crowne Plaza for dinner, taking in some wondeful non-Xime food. After that it was a night of watching movies and relaxing. Saturday morning, we headed out at 10:00 to do some shopping. We got dropped off at KFC (it took over an hour to get there), where we ate lunch, and then were offered a tour of the facilities. We gladly accepted, and were delighted to see how clean everything in the kitchen was and learn about their food storage policies (upon arrival back at Xime, we had a few pointers for the cafeteria staff). As we walked out of KFC we spotted a grocery market, and walked in, in search of peanut butter. We were excited to see that they had many American foods stocked, including Skippy peanut butter and goldfish. So, this was an excellent start to our day of shopping!
After the grocery market, we headed out to find Commercial Street, a street lined with small vendors as well as larger stores. The Indians only like to give you directions for as far as they can see, so it took us a while to find it. However, eventually we got there, and were excited to look at all that they had to offer. After about 2 hours of shopping, we took a rickshaw back home, where we quickly changed our clothes, and headed back to town to the Hard Rock. Rumor was that the professors were going to be eating dinner there, so several of us headed over. Turns out the professors changed their plans at the last minute, but we still had a good time there, and enjoyed their food yet again!
After dinner, we were ready to do some dancing, and headed over to the Ice Bar at the Taj Hotel. We were there until they closed at 11:30. Our rickshaw on the way home was stopped at a police checkpoint, and it turned out his license was not up to date. So, after some talking and a 100 rupee fine (the equivalent of $2) we were on our way. We were all ready for bed when we got home! Sunday was a day of relaxing for me, and a day of homework for the students.
Since we are not in the U.S., we had class on Monday, but we still celebrated in style. The boys played a game of basketball against the Indian students, and despite having been partying for several hours, still managed to easily win. The girls and the professors watched and cheered on the guys. After the game, it was off to the showers, as we headed out in buses to Crowne Plaza for dinner and fireworks. While we didn't have bbq, dinner was still amazing! It was a buffet, complete with a burrito station, pasta and fried chicken, and ice cream and donuts for dessert. After dinner, it was out to the patio where fireworks (large ones with big explosions) were set off less than 5 feet in front of us. As the embers were falling on people you heard quite a few murmurings of "only in India!"We had a good time that night, but 9:00 class the following morning wasn't as crowded as usual!
With only 2 weeks left at Xime, we are all getting really anxious to head out on our travels in northern India. This certainly has been an amazing experience, and an opportunity for tremendous learning, however, if you ask any person in our group how many days we have left, they will be able to tell you, and will probably mention that we are now into single digits (9 days!).
After the grocery market, we headed out to find Commercial Street, a street lined with small vendors as well as larger stores. The Indians only like to give you directions for as far as they can see, so it took us a while to find it. However, eventually we got there, and were excited to look at all that they had to offer. After about 2 hours of shopping, we took a rickshaw back home, where we quickly changed our clothes, and headed back to town to the Hard Rock. Rumor was that the professors were going to be eating dinner there, so several of us headed over. Turns out the professors changed their plans at the last minute, but we still had a good time there, and enjoyed their food yet again!
After dinner, we were ready to do some dancing, and headed over to the Ice Bar at the Taj Hotel. We were there until they closed at 11:30. Our rickshaw on the way home was stopped at a police checkpoint, and it turned out his license was not up to date. So, after some talking and a 100 rupee fine (the equivalent of $2) we were on our way. We were all ready for bed when we got home! Sunday was a day of relaxing for me, and a day of homework for the students.
Since we are not in the U.S., we had class on Monday, but we still celebrated in style. The boys played a game of basketball against the Indian students, and despite having been partying for several hours, still managed to easily win. The girls and the professors watched and cheered on the guys. After the game, it was off to the showers, as we headed out in buses to Crowne Plaza for dinner and fireworks. While we didn't have bbq, dinner was still amazing! It was a buffet, complete with a burrito station, pasta and fried chicken, and ice cream and donuts for dessert. After dinner, it was out to the patio where fireworks (large ones with big explosions) were set off less than 5 feet in front of us. As the embers were falling on people you heard quite a few murmurings of "only in India!"We had a good time that night, but 9:00 class the following morning wasn't as crowded as usual!
With only 2 weeks left at Xime, we are all getting really anxious to head out on our travels in northern India. This certainly has been an amazing experience, and an opportunity for tremendous learning, however, if you ask any person in our group how many days we have left, they will be able to tell you, and will probably mention that we are now into single digits (9 days!).
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