It’s been an eventful week in Southeast Asia. Our holiday party was on Wednesday the 22nd, and it was indeed a festive occasion. We were serenaded with Christmas carols by three separate choirs, with guitars and bongo drums as accompaniment. The highlight of this was a song dedicated to Chris Wright, entitled ‘Little Christopher.’ As Chris is far from little, weighing in at 94 kilos and somewhere in the vicinity of 6 feet tall, we were all in stitches listening to the musical chronicle of ‘Little’ Christopher’s escapades. I’ve posted a picture of the not-so-little Christopher trying his best not to burst out laughing.

My mom arrived at the airport towards the end of the party, so I had to bow out a little early, but not before I had a chance to grab some cake (the third birthday cake of the week…). With my mom arrived safe and sound, we headed back to the apartment, where I had planned to have a little Ethiopian food feast, since my mom was coming directly from Addis Ababa. Roy and Leigh Anne are HUGE Ethiopian food fans, so I had asked my mom to bring some. True to form, she showed up with boxes of food, and everyone was quite stuffed by the end of the night. There are still leftovers in the fridge… yummm!

Thursday was a day off from work for me, and my mom and I toured around Hyderabad a bit, heading to the fabric store and to the old city. It was my first time being out of the newer part of the city, and it was really cool. We went to the Charminar, which is a predominantly Muslim area of Hyderabad, where about half of the women were in full-length black burqas, with only the smallest of openings for their eyes. I found myself wondering how they were able to communicate, as it seemed like the scarves they wore would muffle the sounds of their voices. But they were at the stores, bargaining and shopping along with everyone else. The Charminar itself was on top of a rotary, and in the middle of a huge snarl of traffic, so we didn’t end up heading to the top. However, we did manage to find a few stores that sold bangles, which are the specialty of the Charminar area. For about $0.50 each, I got enough bangles to make my arms sound pretty lively.

Thursday evening was Roy’s birthday party, and everyone went over to the Gilberts’ for chocolate cake and presents. It’s funny, when I’m in one of our apartments, it is easy to forget that I’m even in India. Leigh Anne has painted their apartment in beautiful colors, which makes it seem more like my mom’s home in Boston than a somewhat temporary place in Hyderabad. All the expats presented Roy with an almost fully stocked bar, the assembling of which is quite a story on its own:

Chris and I were given the mission of obtaining good quality vodka, which is not that easy in a place like Hyderabad, which up until 5 years ago did not allow alcohol to be sold at all. About the best you can usually do is Smirnoff, which my ex-bartender’s soul rebels at. Therefore, we considered it our mission to seek out at least Absolut. After going to a few ‘wine stops’ we realized that our mission was headed towards failure. Bold action was required. So we headed to the only place we were sure had good vodka: the airport duty-free. ‘But you have to be an international traveler to buy at the duty-free shop’ you might say. Yes, normally you do. But this is India we’re talking about here. Those international customs ‘laws’ don’t apply. At least to those holding American passports. Chris manufactured a very, very weak story about us having arrived on a flight from somewhere else in India, and having forgotten to make our duty-free purchases at the proper place. After being inspected by a series of Indian airport officials (and being convinced that at any moment we would find ourselves headed for the nearest Indian prison), we were allowed to shop uninhibited at the duty-free shop, buying the vodka, as well as some other supplies to create a well-appointed bar. Viva Indian bureaucracy :)

Friday morning saw my mother and I on our way to Sri Lanka, to visit a couple of her friends. I was excited, as I had heard that Sri Lanka has some of the best shopping around, especially for DVD’s that are less than authentic. The shopping has indeed been quite wonderful, and I’m looking forward to making some more fun purchases tomorrow. The food here is quite interesting as well, with an emphasis on coconut and fish, as well as spaghetti made into an almost naan-like shape and used to eat everything from chili pepper to chicken.

The event of the day so far has been a massive earthquake in Indonesia, which created a tidal wave that hit Sri Lanka and the Indian coast. Luckily, there was no damage to Colombo, the city where my mom and I are staying. However, there have apparently been deaths from tidal waves all over other parts of the island, and places in Thailand and elsewhere. It really makes you realize how quickly catastrophes can happen, and how little warning there really is in these cases.

Here are some pictures from the holiday party and Charminar, I’ll add some more from Sri Lanka if I ever remember to take out my camera here!