Drinking Traditions!

When a child is born in France, his finger is dipped in wine and he is made to taste the first blend he will enjoy forever! Strange are drinking or birth customs in countries that it makes me wonder of our ‘bhaang’ and ‘thandai’ and ‘mundan’ ! My Chinese room mate’s father makes her drink until she passes out, to train her for her study abroad and job opportunities, so she becomes strong and keeps her senses alive, even after ten shots of Vodka !

the wine put me to sleep !

rose or white?

Where is the cheese?

Where is the cheese in the cheese cake I thought, when I got my first spongy desert and was introduced to the land of cheese, France!

Provolone, Brie, Cheddar, parmesan, blue cheese, goat cheese, Mozzarella!!! There is so much variety compared to the land of Amul and cottage cheese, that everyday is a new learning in the food world. As I walk the grocery store, I try to remember and recognize the varieties I have tried and I liked, so I could pick them again! I enjoyed the garlic and herb goat cheese, Kim got home but I am going back for more Mozzarella, thanks to its soft texture and tomato partner and of course the fancy name, just like I buy drinks by names! ;) On the rocks!

Who grated my cheese??? :D

Movie conversations~!

Movies can be great conversation starters or even comments! As I host at Page at 63 Main restaurant, my manager who recently met with an accident and walks on crutches, limped by. He says, I feel like Lieutenant Dan from Forest Gump ! and I could not control my laughter as I caught the joke only because I had seen the movie 3 days ago thanks to my landlords large collection of films!

One day I asked my boss, what would be the dress code in office and he said, ‘’Don’t worry its not like The Devil Wears Prada, its very casual here!” and I could not help giggling ! Ha ha!

So , save some time folks and go watch some nice movies instead of Facebooking! and then of course, post your status as, MUST WATCH MOVIES-and list them down! ;)

Merci thank you xie xie!

While I rode back to my dorm with an American, we practiced some Chinese on the way to prepare myself for the next semester in Hangzhou. So France taught me ‘merci beaucoup’, USA changed it to 'Thanks a ton man’, and Chinese will evolve it to ‘Xie Xie’ ! 

Take my advice

Advices come in small packs, from unexpected people at random times.

As I host an elderly couple at Page, the lady told me to doll up and find a rich man in the Hamptons !

My landlord said, to do business, you have to know 2 things-some personal likes about the person and next thing I forgot! (thats the problem with advices, they come in such a flux you tend to forget them! )
My mentor at Bandhej told me about colors, if they don’t match, contrast them!
and ofcourse my dad always told me-people who do not work 100 hrs a day, cannot succeed! early to bed early to rise, makes jack healthy wealthy and wise! ;)

PS:Dont forget to make note of the post! 23:55 , still up and working! ;) Night!
Morning to the other part of the world!

And I thought I will be Stuck!

And I thought I will be stuck in small town when If I came to Sag Harbor, little did I know, it was a heaven’s paradise with the local famers market and bay by the office window. A small island town located on the edge of Long Island in the Suffolk county,  Sag Harbor is the most beautiful town I have lived in. With ducks on the bay and swans on the beach, I sit by the bench and eat my meals. Walking through the Main Street, I encounter women in beach dress suits and men in white and navy shorts. The whole world comes out here to spend the summer as I hear the Brits talking and French smoking while the Manhattanies stroll with their kids. and not to mention, stars like Mary Kate and rock stars like Usher ! Old men smoking their cigars and women playing guitars, as I work on my fantasy jobs-a hostess for the Page restaurant and a research assistant for a forecast company, I enliven my dream, a dream I never dreamt of...

View from office window 

A globe-trotters travel blunder tale!

After a few flights around Europe and bus journeys in USA, I was very confident of traveling abroad, until I encountered this strange situation from the Canadian Embassy for a Canadian Transit Visa. Apparently, I booked my tickets for Hong Kong through Air Canada, with a 3 hr transit in Vancouver Terminal M. I was supposed to CHANGE flights from the SAME terminal, WITHOUT getting out in the city. I had a travelled a couple of times before, with transits at the Dubai and Belgium Airport through Emirates and Air India flights. Thus, my obvious assumption, I will not need any Canadian Visa to hop on to my next flight. But, only to discover, that I made an ASS of U and ME-ASSUME !

Luckily, my elder sister-Anita recalled having a conversation with one of her friends, who had a similar itinerary booked. And he told her, that he needed to apply for a transit Visa, which came free of cost. She called me up ASAP and we looked into my flight schedule, called up the Air Canada airline, Travelocity and the Canadian Embassy to get some guidance on the matter. With no useful responses, from any of them, she decided to inquire personally at the Canadian Embassy in New York. All this happened while I prepared and gave my final presentation for the exam. I came home in the afternoon and we looked over our available options.

1.Go to the nearest Embassy in Washington DC and apply for the Visa, commute through taxi or bus, stay at a hotel for a day, or until I received my passport back. I was determined to get my passport stamped with the Visa and not return to Raleigh without it because of the time crunch.

2.Go to New York ASAP, get in line for the Visa at 8 am, travel by trains, stay at Anita’s and wait until I received my passport back., as she knew the city well.

Relieved.

We chose option 2 and I decided to take the over night Chinese Gotobus from Raleigh to New York as 11 pm and asked Vasanth my friend to drop me to the bus stop 5 miles away from home.

Relieved again. But.

Only to my amazement, it was over booked and there were no seats available now. Thus, I printed a 9:20 pm Greyhound bus ticket at 8:30 and requested Sineade, my dear room mate to drive me to Greyhound 2 miles away from home. We ran, as fast as we could, to the computer room, trying to print tickets in a jammed printer at Wolf Village. Once printed, we dashed to the parking lot and she rushed me to the Greyhound stop. I said my farewell to Sineade, as I will not see her again anytime soon :(

Relived, we reached!

But. As soon as I went to inquire about the boarding time of the bus, I heard an announcement-‘’The 9:20 Greyhound bus to New York has been delayed by 3 hrs and MAY depart by 12 midnight’’! I was shocked and cursed the bus company. I spoke to Anita and she suggested, I fly to New York ASAP at night or take an early morning flight, not to miss the Embassy, which closes at 10:30 am. If I missed the Embassy, I would loose a day and be late for my graduation on Saturday, the 13^th May. So, I called up Vasanth again to pick me from Greyhound and drop me to Airport, as Raleigh transport is not very efficient at night. We could not find night flights, so I decided to take the 6 am morning flight. Vasanath dropped me home, only to surprise Sineade of my early return!

Relived. Home finally with an early morn expensive flight to NYC.

I reached the Canadian embassy in time to submit my forms and when I crosschecked them, after submission, I found a few mistakes! My heart started pounding! What IF I get a rejection, after spending bucks on a flight to NYC, as getting a full refund on my HK Flight was not possible. I started to chant God’s name and carried on with my work for the day. I was ready for his decision and came to collect the passport next day at the Embassy.

Relieved!

Got my Canada visa to go to China !

Strange, but true!

RELIEVED!