Summertime Fun

Well, we're back in Delhi...School starts in 3 days...the 2nd year is oh so nice and easy...we've come home to a clean, settled apartment, familiar faces and a job that we totally dig. Although, I must say that it's always hard to come back to work after a summer of good times...Here is a brief tale of our summer 2K8 adventures...

1. Ladakh...um, awesome. A entire post will be dedicated to this trip...coming soon.

2. Chicago...We stayed with our friends Katie and Mike, and Reba came to town as well! Oh, and we ate lots of Hotdogs.


(I don't know any of the people in this picture, but I'm sure that they'd be totally psyched to know that they were featured in the Pitale blog)

3. A whirlwind tour of NC and VA to visit Jon's Dad, VA, my grandparents, my sister and a few of my college gals.


4. Next, it was off to Truckee, CA to visit our friends from Delhi, Chris and Meemie. Chris took us too Tuolumne Meadows and Yosemite Valley for some sight-seeing, climbing (yes, even I climbed a bit!), hiking and camping. We also went on a great hike with Meemie near their house in Truckee.


5. Then, Jon headed off to Flagstaff for some fishing and biking...and an un-welcome pulled hip muscle. I went back to NC and spent the next 4 weeks in the QC (queen city) of Charlotte.

I've got a great family that completely welcomed me (and then Jon) and all of our stuff for the month:) We had BBQ's, drank some vino (ok, maybe I did drink them out of house and home, but hey, they had some good stuff!), went white water rafting, ate at Five Guys (a lot)...just all around had a good time:)



I have some super friends, who decided to come down to Charlotte and join me for some fun times. Maggie and Elena came first for the 4th of July.


Then, Sarah, Reba, Katrina, Karen and I (high school friends) traveled up to Lake Norman for a weekend at Reba's lake house.



Lastly, Anne came to town for some fabulous shopping:)


6. Jon returned to NC, and we head to Florida for a weekend. We stayed with our friends Jack and Octavia, who treated us to an evening in Miami and a Phillies/Marlins game! We also attended Jon's grandmother's 90th birthday party!



7. And then, the party we were all waiting for...my sister Ruth's Bachelorette Party! Now that was good times. Kathryn and I planned a pretty good party, if I do say so myself, complete with lingerie, cheesy games, a cowboy hat veil, and a night out at a Country Western Bar, where Ruth proceeded to win the "Hot Buns" contest...that's my girl!


8. My friend Jennifer returned from her vaca in the Caribbean, and finally Sarah and I were able to hang out with her and eat at our fave Southern food restaurant, Dish.


9. And last but not least Jon and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary with one left over slice of our wedding cake for breakfast and for dinner... a bottle of champagne (good), a bottle of wine (ok, pushing it), and vodka shot (um, too far...). But from what I remember of the evening, it was really nice:) kidding, hon. I remember it all, of course....hmmm....

High Tea

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to announce my debut into society has finally taken place: High Tea at the Imperial Hotel.

Seriously, though, what fun! Good times with my "Indian" gals, some Kashmiri tea, biscuits and pastries...

My man is quite a diver, he can stay down there for hours....

The above is a line from a Bessie Smith song as well as the password for last night's Murder Mystery 1920's themed party. And, believe me, the party did not disappoint. Murder, mystery, dancing, fabulous outfits, good food and fun people...the the Juice Joint Speakeasy was THE place to be last night:)

more pictures in Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/lauravandyke/1920SMurderMysteryParty

How fun is India!?

I love this place (most days...). Well, today was so much fun! I went shopping for fabric. I bought 3 meters of pure silk, 3.5 meters of pure chiffon, some sequined trimming and some ribbon for a headband all for $35! And on Monday, a tailor is going to assemble the following:

Why, you ask?! For the 1920's themed Murder Mystery Party that we'll be attending in 2 weeks! I'm pretty sure that I've waited my whole life for such a party. It'll be like the Murder Mystery episode of Saved by the Bell. Don't worry, I'll be sure to post after the party with lots of fun pictures!

AES Gala

The Gala is the school's annual, end of the year staff party. This year the party was held at the Shangri-La. It is a semi-formal event.... Some people wear tuxes (like our friend, Mark). Some people wear flip flops (like Jon...although you can't see them here, I assure you that he is wearing them. I also assure you that he was the ONLY person wearing flip flops and one of the ONLY two men not wearing ties).

Our dear friend, Chris, was Jon's other "tie-less" brotha.

Spring Break 2K8:Sikkim

For Spring Break 2K8, we travelled to the lovely, clean Indian state of Sikkim, which is located just between Nepal and Bhutan, south of Tibet and north of Bangledesh. It's beautiful and is home to the world's 3rd tallest peak, Kangchenjunga.

Upon arrival in Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, we immediately went on the search for momos. Little did we know that even in this very Tibetan state, eating momos in Gangtok would be our ultimate quest. "We don't have momos today", "we just ran out of momos", "momos take 45 minutes to make". What is going on?! This past Monday we made momos at our friend Skye's house, and well, it took us nearly 2 hours from cooking start to eating time. I forgive you, Gangtok:)

I recently saw a Good Morning American clip about the smallest hotel room in NYC (price $80/night). The moment we stepped into our room in Gangtok (mind you, clean place, tv, great view, etc....), I immediately wanted to email Diane Sawyer a picture of our room. I think we have her's beat!

Tammy, one of the friends that we travelled with teaches 4th grade. Her students have been reading Flat Stanley! So, here's a shout out for my family (and any others that know of Flat Stanley and my 4th grade project...).

On Sunday, we travelled to north sikkim. 115 km took 5 hours!

Windy, dirt roads on the edges of cliffs.....ehhhh....although, it really wasn't all that bad. You have to drive slow when sending your jeep over rocky, skinny roads. On the way we saw signs such as:
"Better late than never"
"Arrive in peace, not pieces" (a personal favorite)
"Alertness Averts Accidents"
"Keep your nerve on sharp curves"
"If married, divorce speed" (what?)
"Someone at home is waiting for you"
"Drink and drive, you won't survive"
I'm sure that these signs are intended to alert the driver to focus and to be careful. However, to the non-driving, foreign passenger, these signs (which were EVERYWHERE) were a continual reminder of the crazy road (with potentially crazy drivers). 5 hours of this was plenty! But wait, we had to do it again two days later! Among these signs, we saw others such as:



Oh, and I shant forget the old man that hopped onto the roof of the jeep and rode for the last hour up there all the way to Lachung, our northern mountain town hideaway.

Our trip north was filled with good times.....we drank lots of ginger tea, saw chickens on leashes, slept with hot water bottles, saw our first yaks

and experienced a winter wonderland at 12,000 feet.


Two days later on the trip back to Gangtok, we caught excellent views of Kangchenjunga - spectacular!

Our driver played lots of great hip hop music like "in da club". I was totally groovin'. Jon looked at me at one point and the following conversation took place:
Jon: "I like this song".
Laura: "Really!?" (giddy with excitement)
Jon: "No, but I just like seeing you that happy for a moment"

ha, nice dear:)

For the next few days we travelled to west Sikkim with our friends, Kevin, Tammy and their 6th grade daughter Zoe. Travelling with Zoe is the best - she likes to play mash, 21 questions and make cat's cradle out of string! Finally, someone to play with!

We went to a festival in Ravangla, complete with an orchid competition, horid rhododendron wine and crazy costumes and performances.

We then spent 2 nights in a cute mountain town called Yuksom. We hiked,

visited monasteries, took lots of pictures of prayer flags,

we drank more ginger tea, and sipped on Sikkim's very own beer, HIT. Yes, may I have a hit please?

Overall, good times....more pics on Picassa soon! And if you made it to the end of my record long post...thanks!!

NUTS (Night Under the Stars)

My first saree...Jon's first kerta....check it out!


http://picasaweb.google.com/lauravandyke/NightUnderTheStarsMarch2008