New life

I have decided to relaunch this blog. Not sure if anybody is following it, but that's ok. I was rereading my posts and they brought back good memories, so I thought it'd be nice to make new posts, so I can reread those as well and remember what happened. I don't promise that they will be as entertaining...no travels, no exotic adventures...but then again, life in LA can be an adventure in itself, so who knows.

The first big news i need to share: I have moved. Yes, again (although this time it's been over 1.5yrs in the same appartment, not bad!). I moved to a little 3-bedroom house close to LAX. I exchanged my awesome roommate (hoorah to Kathy for making my life in LA so pleasant aver the past year) for a hot guy :-). It's needed, because the nights in the new house get really chilly!! Yes, believe it or not, Zach and I have moved in together. Crazy, I know!

Let's see how this all works out, but i am excited.

Sucky day

Oh yeah, sucky LA day...the damage: one speeding ticket, two parking tickets (can you believe i actually got a parking ticket because i was parked in a free spot in my appartment complex, but because i have a "reserved parking" sticker it seems i cannot make use of the free-for-all spots...huh? makes perfect sense!), and it's 10 pm, i am still at work and have skipped lunch and dinner...What do they say? Tomorrow is another day...

LA...the city of angels?

I am in a new city, I have a new job, I live in a new apartment (unfortunately, I still sleep on the floor :-)), I have a new roommate (who surpasses all expectations i could possibly have had for a roommate i never met before moving in...she is one of the sweetest and coolest people i have met in LA so far)...and i am trying to make new friends...wow that's a lot of novelty for a shy and reserved person like me. It's overwhelming, exciting, scary, tiring, did i mention overwhelming?, all at the same time...I don't know how permanent or temporary this life is...but i do know that i miss the Bay Area. I don't miss Stanford, I don't miss Palo Alto, but boy, do i miss the life and friends I had up there. The random hot chocolate/mocha from coupa cafe on campus, the bi-weekly swims followed by a cappucino and a nougati, the drives on page mill, the early breakfasts with TJ croissants to start the day well, the lunches at google, the late-afternoon-teas in Blackwelder, the weekly House sessions with my favorite roommies, the crepes parties, the special coffees, that and just the feeling that at any time of the day i could get into my tiny car and go meet someone i liked, someone i could just be silly Sylvie with. So, yeah, so far, I haven't found my angels here...

This is the end...

Yes, my India adventure has come to an end. It finished right where it started, back in Mumbai. I spent a few days with Aparna, walking around the streets of Bombay, taking a boat out to Elephant Caves, eating delicious pani puri (Shardul, you were missed at many occasions during this trip...I still haven't found a better Indian food guide...next time we need to coordinate better!), trying out sizzler's in Santa Cruz, and being used as a "landmark".

Now, i am back home, or at least I think, because honestly, The Shalimar apartment, Komal's singing and laughing, our cute guard, the daily animated auto rides, the climbs on top of the fridge to reset the fuses, the parading monkeys in front of the our living room window on the sixth floor, the arguments with the Fedex people about whether or not a wax pouch can be sent by post ("no, no, it's not a VACCINE, it is food-grade wax, i could eat it if i wanted to...no, it's not food either...argh, never mind") and the insults of the couch manufacturer for being "the most difficult customer he ever had"...they really started to make me feel at home in Bangalore! I miss it, i really do. Belgium is quiet, pale and cold in comparison (hmmm i wonder if this applies to me too)...so India, be aware, I will soon be back!

Dancing the night away...

I am in Baroda, Gujarat, celebrating Navaratri. The word Navaratri actually means "nine nights" in Sanskrit and is celebrated differently in different parts of India. In Gujarat it means that for nine consecutive nights, people dress up in colourful outfits (yes COLOURFUL, Charlene...even me...and I have proves!) and dance Garba to celebrate the goddess Shakti (the supreme goddess ?). So, we did just that. We bought a colourful outfit consisting of a loooooong dress that makes these beautiful waves when you dance in it, a short top (argh, what is it with you indian people always wanting to show your belly...really?) and a Dupata (transparentish scarf you tie in front of you, kind of to hide the above mentioned belly ;-)) and danced all night...Rajan (who dances Garba for the Stanford team) showed us some groovy moves and we just followed. A big success! It was sooooo much fun that we will do it again tonight!

Cultural differences...

You know how in the US they say that diamonds are a woman's best friend? Well, here in India, things are slightly different. Look at the pic below ;-). Oh, and just for the sake of comparison, I also added a pic of Belgian women's best friend ;-)

Quote of the day...

I was trying to recharge my prepaid airtel phone at this little stand around the corner where i am a regular customer. While doing so, i was standing under a bright, white tube light when one of the guys behind the counter tells the other guy behind the counter (who is busy with me) something in a language i do not understand. So, i look up, and the first guy says: "Oh, madam, i did not say anything bad about you. I just said you were very pretty, so white. You whiter than the light! If i were your colour, all women would like me." Ouch, whiter than the light, that hurts...but i guess that was a compliment.

How a saree vendor asked me out...

Komal and I were on a mission today: find a black saree for me. Yes, black! Why? Well...is that even a question...First of all, I love black. Secondly, considering that i am not one of those people blessed with a dark complexion, there aren't too many bright and flashy colours that suit me, so forget orange, yellow or pink...black is what i need. That, and, well, while browsing the internet for some saree blouse designs I stumbled upon some pictures of really, really gorgious black saree's... I want one too! So, destination: commercial street. We have barely entered the first saree store, that, suddenly, out of nowhere, we are surrounded by three men. One pulls out two chairs, one (what looks like the shop owner) tells us to sit down while asking us what we are looking for and the third one starts draping out the most amazing series of sarees...bright red, dark green, deep purple, flashy pink...every single one prettier than the previous one....with beads or embroidery...and then suddenly, there he is, right in front of me, reflecting the light on its 1000 tiny little mirrors...the perfect black saree...with a hint of red...I am mesmerized. Of course, this does not go unnoticed to the shop owner. "I see you like this one madam". "Please come, you should try...here! In front of mirror". The man proceeds by skillfully wrapping me in the saree...one look in the mirror...I am sold. But what about the blouse? I am leaving tomorrow, there is no time to tailor the blouse. "No worries, madam, i will make it for you." Hmmm, ok, let me see, i know someone else who would probably think those look awesome and would not mind wearing one of those: my mom! "So, what other colours do you have?"...and there we go again, one, two, three, four, five sarees fly from above, and fall open on front of me...it rains sarees...so pretty! "Oh look at that green one". I think we have a winner for mama Denuit. (Just to make sure, i tried that one out as well, I might have to steel this one from my mom, just in case one of my friends decide to get married (hint, hint, guys!), since i can't really be wearing a black saree for a wedding, right...hmmm when WILL i wear my black one, then?).
Now, let's move on to the fun part: negotiations..."Special price for both of them?" A few moments later, we settle on a price, the shop owner calls the tailor, he takes the necessary measurements (the tailor does, not the shop owner, although I am sure the shop owner wouldn't have mind doing that himself ;) and promises that it will be ready by tonight, 9pm. Oh and guess what, the owner himself will drop of the saree at our place...
This is how, at 9:30pm at night, I get a call from the shop owner, he is downstairs, waiting with my saree. As soon as i come down, he hands me over a package and askd: "So are you done packing? When will you be back in Bangalore, and can i take you out for a drink?" Euh, well, yeah, almost done with my packing...and no, i am not coming back any time soon, and well, drink is not possible, my roommate is waiting upstairs to have dinner. "Oh, so where in the US are you from?" Euh, I am Belgian, but I work in the US. "Oh really, where about?" Hmmm, California. "Really? Where?" LA "LA? Fantastic! I'll be in LA next month, we have a saree store over there...maybe i can take you out for a drink there. Let me give you my email address...can I have yours? Do you have a cellphone in the US"...well, euh, i have your cellphone, what about i send you my email later..."Good, good, don't forget!"

Happy, happy...

...30th birthday to someone special...yes, yes, you know who you are...yes, you! Girl, I hope you had a perfect party last night, and a perfect day today!

So, to celebrate this special day, Komal (my new roommate who happens to be this amazing person) and I splurged...we had brunch at the Leela. Ooooh-my-god...I mean, seriously, I wish I had brought my camera, because i have never, ever seen such an extended desert buffet that looks, taste, smells that good. I would have started with deserts (and come back to it afterwards) if it hadn't been for the smell of kebab that distracted me from it...and then the other entries, and the setting...one big feast. But to get back to the deserts...I didn't know there were at least 20 different ways to make chocolate mousse (and let me tell you this, if anything at all, I know something about chocolate mousse!), with raspberry, with banana, with caramel, with ce-petit-je-ne-sais-quoi...and have you heard of such things as steamed chocolate pudding? Wow, this is the perfect way to end an almost perfect stay in India. Of course, this was all in honour of you, my friend, because it is your 30st birthday ;-)

What doesn't kill you...

...makes you stronger. This quote applies wonderfully to my trip to India...although, i am not sure, yet, whether it is not going to kill me. No, seriously, India is changing me...it teaches me to say "no" and to not let people take advantage of me, it pushes me out of my comfort zone and enjoy things for what they are. It has also taught me, once again, that there is a positive side to every situation, that there are small, wonderful surprises waiting for me when i least expect them. The past few days have been a series of delightful experiences. I had the chance to eat all kinds of oh-so-unhealthy-but-oh-so delicious street food in bangalore, got to drive in Delhi (man, i miss driving around), discovered the city's varied eating scene (from belgian waffles to cauliflower stuffed paratha's), was introduced to beautiful Sufi music, got my own top-five-must-see-hindi-movies-collection, asked for directions at least a 127 times (and still managed not to find Vatika City) in Gurgaon, relaxed at a wonderfully QUIET farmhouse (and got attacked by soooo many mosquitos), took my first indian railway overnight train (and had lots of chai...mmmm chai), rode on a camel, watched a sunset in the desert with a kingfisher beer in hand (!), enjoyed a quiet, breezy night, on the roof terrace of a colourful rajasthani hotel...and most importantly: met a few amazing and interesting people with whom i could share all this. Oh, and i almost forgot...I found the answer to life and the Universe! I think few things are better than traveling alone in a country like this!

Another auto-adventure...

I sometimes think to myself "ok, that's it, i've seen it all, nothing about this country will surprise me now!" And each time again, i am wrong. Earlier today, I was trying to head back from Commercial Street to the apartment on Residency Road. The auto ride should cost about Rps 25. I talk to the first driver: "fly-over bridge on Residency Rd?". "No ma'am". "What do you mean "no"? No as in no, you don't know? No as in no, you don't want?". "No ma'am". Ok fine, next one: "Rps. 50 m'am" "50?! Ha! You're kidding. Nope, the meter, please." "No ma'am, the meter + Rps. 20, lot's of traffic!" Yeah right, it's not like at any other time there is no traffic, huh? Whatever, i am not in the mood to argue. Next one! "M'am come, come, Residency Rd, yes". "Meter?" "Sit, m'am" (with shake of the head...that means "yes, yes, don't worry, meter is fine". Aaaah there we go, see not that hard after all. Hmmm, wait, 2 min into the ride....the auto slows down (in the middle of a huge boulevard)...oho, what now? "No gas, m'am". Argh, I should have known. Ok, no worries, i'll take the next auto. "No, no, m'am, sit down." The guy gets out and stops another rickshaw-driver (although he has 3 passengers with him). They talk, they shake heads (lots of head shaking, it's a good sign!) and suddenly, there we go again. Huh, what, how? Am i seeing this right...yes, the other guy is driving his rickshaw, while pushing our rickshaw with his foot...cool, i call that solidarity...Ah! I see the gas station. But..wait...no, we are not going to the gas station, hmmm...interesting, is he going to push us all the way to Residency Rd? What about his passengers? At this point, i don't care and decide to just sit back, relax and see what happens. One big push, our rescue-rickshaw turn left, my guy jumps out of the rickshaw and starts pushing the riskshaw across the busy intersection (of course, it goes without saying that this is accompanied with lots of honking and swerving of the cross traffic he is blocking). Hmmm what now? You are not gonna push all the way till Residency Rd, are you? Noooo, the next street is down-hill! What a relieve. Driver jumps back in, there we go again...no braking, we need all the momentum we can get. "Get out of the way, you looser" (I feel like yelling at those stupid motorcycles stopping in front of us)...where is my honk? I wanna honk! Honk!...We finally get to a group of parked rickshaws and my driver shouts: "go m'am, go! Other auto!" and points at what, i presume, is his friend. Sigh, does it mean i will have to redo the whole "Residency Rd? Meter"-game? Perhaps. So i start "Meter?". The other auto driver looks at me and says: "Other auto has meter. You pay what is on other meter" and so he too starts pushing the other auto with his foot while driving. What?? You gonna push that other rick all the way, just for the meter? Seriously, i am not that into the meter, you know. Anyway, I must admit, this driver is pretty skilled. It's like an arcade game. On the small streets, he drives next to the other auto, all the while pushing it, then when someone (or something) is coming in the opposite direction, he gives the auto a big push, swerve behind it, and as soon as the other vehicle has passed, he starts pushing again. I am impressed. This is fun! Then he pushes a little too hard, and the other rick is propulsed 3 cars in front of us. He shakes his head and looks at me in the mirror. "yeah I know, it's not your fault the other drivers are not as skilled". Finally i tell him, not to worry about the meter. Just drop him at the gas station and get met to Residency Rd. Which is finally what he does. We get there, and he asks for Rps 30. Really? After all the entertainment you just provided me? I want to give you more!

Moms!

This post is dedicated to all the moms that have worried about me over the past fews days: thank you! :-) I feel much better now, and i am grateful for all the calls i received from you, to make sure i was doing ok. It's nice to know I am not entirely alone, so far away from home!

Berk!

So, it seems that my cooking skills are terrible! Or that is what my own body thinks at least...after my great cooking experiment yesterday, I decided to meet someone for coffee. He'd take me to one of the supermarkets on the ring road...all was fine till i got into his car. That's when i started to feel pretty bad...upset stomach, it seemed like. But, i thought "oh, no problem, it is just the ride" (i tend to get a little car sick when i am not the one doing the driving :-)). So once back, I went out to get a coke, usually it does wonders to calm down an upset stomach. Wrong! From then on, things went from bad to worse...for the next 5 hours all i could do was throw up-sleep-throw up-sleep-throw up-more sleeping-more throwing-up and finally more sleeping. Ouch, horrible night. I cursed the dal, i cursed the okra, i cursed the curd, I even cursed the pickle and swore i would never eat any of those things again!

This morning, the body felt slightly better...it had a craving for bread and chocolate...aaah i recognize my roots at last! I've been sleeping all day long though...and am ready to nap some more...great way to spend a weekend! :-( Luckily there is JJG to get me through this...nobody can keep you better company on those lousy, lousy days!

My first home-made Indian dish :-)

Look, i just finished cooking my first fully home-made Indian meal. It might not be clear from the pic, but i made Urad daal cooked in curd with rice and fried bindhi (or lady fingers/okra in english). It took me about 50 min to have everything ready...the result, i would give it a 6.5 out of 10. Of course i don't know how it should taste, but the okra could have been cooked a little longer, and to my taste the urad daal/curd mixture could have been a little thicker...anyway, not bad for a first time, i would say!
And of course, the pickle made it all worthwhile! ;-)

Cooking experiments

I am very proud! I got my own spice box...I always wanted one of those stainless steel "lunch boxes" that hides 6 or 7 little other pots with different colourful spices...and most importantly the little spoon...i love the little spoon. My spice treasure box has turmeric, red chili, coriander, cumin, pepper, mustard seeds and some unknown spice...maybe one of you can look at the picture above and tell me what it is. So now i am ready to cook...oh wait, small detail, i have no clue how to make indian food! (oh, and before i can make anything i will also have to overcome my fear of pressure cookers...)
Hmmm, since i don't have a mom to teach me how to make Indian food (vegetarian food is really not my mother's cup of tea :-)), I will have to resort to the "teach-yourself-indian-cooking-in-2-months" method. This method involves the 7 easy cookbooks (ha, there is even one that only talks about pickle!!!) and a fair amount of google-the-unknown-ingredient (I now know what methi, hing and palak means). You can now drop me in any (Indian) supermarket and i can recognize Masoor Daal from Moong Daal from Urad Daal...pretty impressive, huh?
Ok, now all i need is practice...and a willing soul to try out my experiments. Any volunteer? :-)

Happy Independence Day!

Yesterday, Saturday August 15th, was Independence Day in India. Look, look, i got my own flag :-). To celebrate, Jesse and I went to Mysore for the weekend. Mysore is a beautiful town about 130km southwest of Bangalore. It is famous for its Maharaja's Palace (or Indian Versaille as Jesse calls it), its colourful Devaraja Market, its carved sandalwood and beautiful silk sarees. It's also soooo much quieter and peaceful than Bangalore. And so green!
We took the 7am train (who actually left 1t 8:30am) and got there in time for lunch. We stayed at a very pleasant hotel called "green hotel". It's an old palace that used to be a summer retreat for the Wodeyar princesses (hmmm, maybe i am a BP after all). Now, it's a hotel with beautiful gardens, a delicious restaurant, colourfully painted rooms with birds and flowers...and it donates all its profit to charity. Not bad, huh? (besides, the price for a double room is very reasonable).
We spent the afternoon at the Palace, climbed down the stairs of Chamundi hill (or at least the part between the temple and Nandi's statue), walked around the bazaar (i love to listen and watch when Jesse bargains :-)) and finally went back to the Palace to see it all illuminated at night.

Oh, i also bought a silk saree...dark purple and green...very pretty! Now i just need a special occasion to wear it...anybody getting married soon? ;-)

Wisdom from an auto driver

Yesterday, I had the most pleasant encounter so far in India. I needed to go from Richmond town to Jayanagar by rickshaw. I had been warned: watch out for rickshaw drivers, try not to travel alone, and if you do, look for an older driver... they are usually safer. Use the meter, make sure you know the way so they don’t take you for a ride,... My rickwshaw driver must have been “l’exception qui confirme la regle”, the exception to the rule. My rickshaw driver was the third driver I flagged down. First, he was honest enough to tell me he knew the general area I needed to go to, but not the precise address, so he would have to ask once we got there. So I asked him for the meter. “Sure, not a problem m’am.” Then he apologetically told me he needed to stop at the gas station to get some gas, but that he would only turn on the meter once the gas tank was filled. Wow, I was impressed. Once on our way, he turned around, looked at me and said: “You don’t look Indian, m’am” (although he did break my heart by saying that, I must admit he was very observant ;-). “No sir, I am indeed not Indian”. “But m’am, you don’t sound American either, where are you from?”. “I am from Belgium”. Then he turns around and says with a broad smile: “Comment allez-vous, mademoiselle?” The expression on my face must have been priceless. So he continues and says: “Never judge someone by his appearance, m’am. Long time ago, when I was young, I studied French. I owned my own transportation business, then retired and was bored staying at home. So now I drive an auto so I can meet people. My daughters are probably your age. They both graduated from IIT. You know IIT, m’am? Very good school. Very smart girls.” I was starting to really enjoy this ride. A little further into the ride, my rickshaw driver turns around again and asks: “So, are you Christian in Belgium?” “Yes, we are”. “But it doesn’t matter, you know, m’am, ultimately we all believe in the same God. You call him something, I call him something else. To me religion is like food. We all need it for the same purpose, but each cuture has it’s own version of it. Each culture add it’s own spice to eat to make it its own.” Beautifully said, oh rickshaw driver of mine.

I wish I had asked his name. I hope I’ll see my favorite rickshaw driver again. And maybe he can teach me more wisdom.

St. Jozephs Evening College

Considering that i will be "living" in Bangalore for at least 9 weeks (I've been wondering how much time you need to stay in one place to rightfully say you have lived there), I think i ought to learn the local language. Some people think that if i am to learn a language anyway, i might as well learn "something more useful", like Hindi. Some say it's a waste of time to learn a language that is only used in one state in one particular country. But then again, there are more people that speak Kannada in the world than there are Belgians in the world, and besides, I learned flemish, so i am not the right person to talk to about the usefulness of a language :-). So, point is, I want to learn Kannada. I've been looking for teachers online, but they are not that easy to find. So I was told to go check out the St. Jozephs Evening College and see if they have Kannada evening classes for beginners. While checking out there website, i stumbled across their mission. I think this is the best mission statement for an educational institution i have ever read.

"The strategies followed in this college are designed to put students in a position to become lucky, to give them an edge, improve their attitude, sharpen their wisdom and deepen their perspective with a healthy self-esteem and thus become less self-absorbed and more sensitive towards the plight of others and more resilient shock absorbers in the ups and downs of life. The College intuitively feels that self-absorbed people have very poor learning curves."

If they are willing to teach me Kannada there, i am definitely taking their class!

Saturday!

I spent my first saturday afternoon off doing some shopping at Fabindia and other clothes shops. I bought some pretty colourful things. Charlene will be proud of me! :-) And she will be even more proud to know that i went to the gym today. Yes, the gym! Gold's Gym! They have a Bangalore branch, right next to the apartment i am staying at. Good thing i exercised, cause i ate soooo much tonight. Malavika had given me the address of this amazing restaurant called Olive Beach. It's located on a side street of Brigade Rd, one of the main roads in Richmond Town, the area of Bangalore we are staying in. That place was really nice. Perfect setting, a nice outside area, very calm and appeasing surroundings (what a change from the loudness around, at times i feel like my senses are overly ). So yes, the evening was a success. Good company, good conversation, good food, good atmosphere. I am a happy person. (Sunil and Sagarika, i think the two of you would enjoy this restaurant...have you ever been?)

Hyderabad Express

Thursday Aug 7 at around 3pm...Sylvie is sitting quietly in the service apartments in Bangalore, sending emails here and there to set up appointments with manufacturers when suddenly her phone rings. It's Linus (her boss :-)).
Linus: "Sylvie, do you have our prototype of the sleeping bag?"
Sylvie: "Euh, I think it is on the table in your apartment, why?"
Linus: "Shit, I am in Bombay and going to Hyderabad tonight. We have a meeting tomorrow, but I forgot to prototype. I thought Tomak had it with him. Wait, let me call you back in a minute, but i think you should come to Hyderabad. Tonight."

tuut tuut tuut (Linus hang up, i think he was in a cab on the way to the airport)

A few minutes later: driiiiiing

Linus: " Sylvie, yes, you need to come to Hyderabad. Book a flight and meet me there at 9pm. Wait, i need to go, call you back in a minute"

tuuuut tuuut tuuut (Linus hang up again, i think he is still in the cab on his way to the airport)

Driiiiiing

Linus: "Sylvie, is your ticket booked yet? Yes, cool, take a cab to the airport. Here is the number. Oh, btw, can you also take the heater, and the wax pouches?"
Sylvie thinks to herself "Euh, Linus, did you take anything to Hyderabad? :-)

So, this is how i ended up changing my plans to go to Gold's Gym and then dinner for a dinner at KFC in Hyderabad. Yes, KFC! Five years in the States and i have never set foot in a KFC, not even a week in India, and here i am...eating a fried chicken meal. What has the world come to? KFC!!! Aiaiaia

Anyway, my short trip to Hyderabad was definitely worthwhile. We visited a rural clinic about 2 hours away from the city. There, we got to interview a few doctors (OB/GYN and Pediatricians) and got some feedback on our prototype. And then...we got to put a couple of cute little babies in the sleeping bag. The first one didn't like it...but the second one loved it.
We also got the opportunity to see their NICU (those babies look so fragile). It's really interesting. I really hope this product makes it to the market and will hopefully save a lot of baby lives. They seem so small and helpless.

Anyway, sleepy time for me...it's been a hectic day!