Noite de fado

It was one of the most bewitching concerts I’ve seen in India (and I’ve seen a lot!).  Cuca Roseta was truly enchanting, plus the choice of repertoire was great. She moved between emotionally loaded and joyful songs, keeping the audience captivated. Guitarists were excellent although didn’t have much room to show their skills. The only “but” was the lighting, way too spirited for the occasion, kept blinding the audience with its rapid movements.

I hope, since Portuguese culture is such a big part of Goa, we’ll have a chance to explore fado more. I remember Amalia Rodrigues or Misia playing somewhere in the background, while I was growing up, but I don’t think I appreciated it fully as a kid…

 

kokeshi for breakfast

I like my mornings with a cup of coffee, plate of strawberries and latest posts from my favorite blogs. Cat is snoozing on the windowsill next to my desk, wind brings the chill leftover from the night and I delight in beautiful pictures and stories.

Just yesterday I came across cute sketches of Japanese dolls and got a sudden brainwave! I’ve made one like that some two years ago and completely forgotten about it! And here we are, in desperate need of key chains, when one of them is buried in my crafting supplies…

 

Putting on my walking shoes…

In my excitement for New Year’s resolutions, I planned the whole weekend to be extremely productive. Of course, in India, things rarely go according to plan...

First, we wanted to visit bird sanctuary which is just around the corner (and a ferry ride) from our place. Ignorant, as we are, in the bird's department, we were ready to go around noon. Turns out, the best time to actually see some birds is morning, early morning.

We quickly changed plans and went to see the folk festival and art exhibition in the local cultural center. What a disappointment! The folk festival turned out to be one big flea market - not a good kind.

The exhibition was a total travesty, just a bunch of canvas reprints of European masters. On the other hand, we had a nice time reminiscing about the fantastic museums we saw during holiday…
It wasn’t a complete waste too. We learned about fado concert coming up (just hope they won’t play it from a CD). Plus, behind the cultural center, we found a lovely boardwalk along the river, small beach, and tiny lighthouse – nice place to sit and dillydally.

 

After cultural disappointments, we turned to more practical goals. After I took down Christmas tree and decorations, our home looked quite empty. We bought a ton of beautiful picture frames and few plants in little quaint nursery called Green fingers. It also made me realize that I don’t know squat about flowers. (One more thing I would like to work on)

Sunday evening brought a pleasant surprise: wedding pictures arrived from our talented photographer. Yay! It also means one more task for this week: pick and print my favorites. Actually, the wedding pictures are the reason why I decided to pick up scrapbooking. Have you noticed, since digital photography entered our lives, we have millions of pictures on our computers but no albums?

resolutions time

Here comes the new year with all its promises, problems, and yes, resolutions! I was never the one for it, but it doesn’t hurt to try, does it?

Moving to the new (and dreamy) place seems like a perfect opportunity to erase all the bad habits and turn over a new leaf.  Till now the wedding provided wonderful excuse... There were so many better things to do then unpacking, cleaning and settling in, in general. The truth is, that after some feeble attempts to organize our home life, all my craft projects landed on the dining table waiting to be finished, the “to do” list is getting longer, boxes with stuff we don’t use often are piling up… while I indulge in daydreaming about a perfect house.

On top of that, I had a really low moment lately while dealing with the visa application. Since my current status does not allow me to work, I was forced to enter “housewife” as my profession. Not that there is anything wrong with it! I’m actually beginning to think it might be quite fun... it’s just not how I picture myself. But then I, thought, why not embrace my current status (for the time being at least) and enjoy the pleasures of homemaking while implementing a couple of new years resolutions?

Anyway, I got to it with enthusiasm and started by browsing the internet for hours and hours ( Yay to “less time in front of the computer”). Till now I ordered some books (to read more), a table and a dresser (to stash all my crafting stuff) and tons of scrapbooking treasures. 

After my credit card begged for holidays I decided to move to more active phase. So far I managed to organize my jewelry making supplies, started making kind of quilted duvet cover to utilize my fabric scraps. I also made a weekly plan of keeping the house together (as a good housewife should).  
We tried the maid service but somehow I just can’t get comfortable with this concept. It is slightly masochistic because now I either have to do it all myself or, like a tyrant I am, put my newly acquired husband on cleaning duties with me.

 The most difficult part comes now: finishing what I started. I do have a problem with it. I am always very dedicated to my projects; until something nice and shiny comes along… then it is on to the next project and hello growing pile of half-finished junk. But no more! This is new and improved me I’m talking about!

after a while

The Christmas time is upon us and all I wanna do is decorate, wrap gifts and bake ginger-breads. Unfortunately, after the wedding madness, I need to focus on more mundane chores. Plus I promised myself I’ll be writing regularly… all I can say at this point: those who do post around their wedding time have super powers! It’s just can’t be done!

Our past weeks were so eventful I could write a book about it and not be finished!

First, we made a trip to Delhi to pick up my cousin. After short stop in capital we backpacked our way through Rajasthan – like in good old days! We managed all the classics. Stayed in fairytale Jaisalmer fort, spent the night on the desert, got lost in narrow blue streets of Jodhpur, took a boat ride in charming Udaipur and finished the trip in pink city – Jaipur. After that, we said goodbye to my cousin, who was heading to Agra, and jump on the train back home. 

It was time to really get the wedding preparation going. Our life revolved around menus, drink choices, music, decorations, room assignment, guest list (that kept changing till the last day!). Meanwhile I was still finishing both of my wedding dresses…

 Shortly after that, second batch of European guests was arriving – this time to Mumbai. Traveling mode was on once again. We’ve managed to see Ajanta and Ellora – breathtaking caves! I’ve seen the pictures earlier but it was more than I’ve ever expected. With some time to spare, we visited family in Nasik, where we balanced sacrum with profanum, spending the morning in ancient temples and evening in local winery. Though India has still much to learn in this department, after wine tasting, I have to say they are surprisingly good, for having only few years of experience.             

                                                            

From Nasik it was straight back to Goa. We’ve shipped the family of to visit Hampi and got ready for Indian invasion for a change.

This whole time was punctuated with cancelled train tickets, tour planning, almost obsessive list checking, menu tasting, wedding shopping etc…

Since we wanted to make the event as personal as possible, we engaged large portion of our guests in some DIY activities. Honestly I felt like the whole thing was impossibly unorganized, but afterwards I got many compliments quite to the contrary. Thinking back, past days are just a haze of comings and goings, hysterical phone calls, last minute changes and expectations… and then the wedding!
I think we actually avoided the wedding curse, we were warned about: you stress so much that you don’t even have fun on your big day. Thought it’s just a blur of colors, faces and lights I had a great time, especially seeing all the friends and family who managed such a trip… But I do wish I ate more. There is sth about weddings, which makes the food never to reach the newlyweds.

After the big hoopla we took closest guests to our favorite beach – Agonda and finally had laid back, relaxed holidays. Nothing but sand, sun, sea and fruity drinks with umbrellas... All the tension was wearing off and we came home quite relaxed and with new member of our family. We adopted tiny beach kitten, whom we are spoiling rotten!

After the last guests have left, we were supposed to turn the dirty cave back into our dream home but another obstacle arose. The VISA! The FRRO! The DRAMA!

Since we’ve moved to Goa, I had to be registered in new place of residence. I also needed that done in order to apply for visa extension. Documents in hand we marched to registration office to find out that it can’t be done without a stamp from Delhi branch. After hours on the phone we knew one thing: we have to pack again! 30 plus hours on the train and we were back in hell. Actually it wasn’t that bad… we got some winter chill, met some friends and reminded ourselves, once again, why moving to Goa was such a brilliant decision. Visit in FRRO (which I call spawn of Satan for short), had amusing aspect this time. Well… there was amusement mixed with annoyance, but still! First off, they kept telling me to fill the form that doesn’t exist, then to fill the form unrelated to my issue, in the end just exclaiming: fill any form and we’ll do what u need! Secondly the person I was dealing with had no idea where (or what) Goa is. It gives certain inside into working of government offices in this country… and it makes me giggle.

FINALLY we are back home, with our ginger cat, sunny weather and all the mess to clean. Task for today: deal with it. Task for tomorrow: enjoy all the xmas preparation I can squeeze into remaining time!

… a real trip…

Past couple of weeks were super intense, to say the least!  I always considered myself expert in packing but this time it was quite overwhelming. Who would have thought we accumulated so much stuff?  Final count: 15 boxes plus suitcases, bags and rucksacks. In the end I felt like a crazy hoarder from some crime serial – discovered buried by her possessions. 

The only piece of furniture we took with us was our beloved red beanbag chair – completely impossible to pack. Since we weren’t particularly keen on carrying it in hand, finally we decided to use thermocol beans to pack and protect more delicate things in the boxes. Idea good in theory, not so much in reality... Nothing came broken but unpacking was a nightmare.  It got into every smallest whole and getting it off our stuff was nothing short of impossible. Plus, it was flying around with the slightest waft of air. Soon the whole floor was covered with very mobile white balls. It looked like endless string of pearls spilled all over. That, or some extremely interactive insects. I swear I was half convinced they came to life - the way they were hiding, running away from the broom and reappearing in unexpected places.

We left Delhi at the crack of dawn just when the sky was turning this breathtaking shade of teal. It was nice, really, to take the last look at the city when it was still dark enough to cover all the dirt and damage, before the daily crowd hit the roads. I could barely recognize it! We drove through embassy district while it started to drizzle. Garden lamps twinkled at us like row of tiny moons hiding behind exotic bushes.

Of course the romantic aspect of dewy first blush was very much gone, when suddenly we had million bags getting wet before 30 hours journey.

We decided to take the train instead of the flight in order to move everything at once. Though our whole luggage was traveling in some other section of the train, we still had a lot of things with us. We booked first class tickets and got lucky getting private compartment. It was something out of old movies or novels… like Orient Express or Marilyn in Some like it hot! 

On the station two kuli – luggage men, constructed suitcase towers on their heads and threaded their way to the platform with unbelievable speed. It was quite impressive to observe as we tried to follow them. Later on it was business as usual: chaiwalas – tea boys – shouting: chai garam garam, chai!; men wearing chains like necklaces and jingling padlocks (for luggage protection); polite waiters taking orders for meals during our journey… we could indulge in all the comforts Indian railways have to offer.

Unpacking proved to be even more time consuming then packing. I’m slightly embarrassed to say that my clothes are still neatly distributed around the guestroom. There are so many fascinating things to do around here that sitting at home just seems like a waste of time. Every day we jump on a scooty and explore neighborhood. There are plenty historical sites around, enormous river with charming islands and ship – casinos and, of course, the beach!

We made few trips to the municipal market and fish market. I just love this idea; wandering between fruit and veggies stalls with the basket on my arm! The fish shopping is an adventure on its own. You have to get up with the sun, drive to the city and then hunt for the sea monster you are planning to fight with in the kitchen. Since, till now, all the sea food I dealt with was cleaned and frozen, canned or nicely packed with ice, I had to do my research before stepping on the arena. I decided to start with medium sized shrimps, calamari and clams. Shrimps were a piece of cake to clean, calamari, though quite disgusting, were easy enough, but the clams remain a mystery to me. 

Apart from seafood, the weather in Goa is a big discovery. I was always told that, when the monsoon hits the land you should run and hide. Well, first of, for quite a white it was lovely, sunny and warm. It started raining couple of days back and, at a risk of sounding rather eccentric, I love it! For nearly 5 years now I haven’t had normal rainy autumn. Sure it poured in Delhi but it was an hour of shower followed by hot steamy day. It’s so nice for a change to have this cold, gray day when all you want to do is cozy up with your blanket, cuppa tea and good book, and just listen to the gentle pitter-patter. Though it also means I should get on with unpacking, since daily trips are no longer an excuse!

Unpacking and packing both, actually. We are just getting ready to leave for Delhi where we are picking my cousin from the airport. I’m about to spend two weeks backpacking around Rajasthan! Quite exciting perspective since I haven’t done that for about 5 years!