Things I love:
- Tailor made shirts! Mr. ATK and I visited Grover the tailor and got him some suits and me some blouses. Fine fabrics sewn together to perfectly compliment my non-cookie cutter figure at $32 a piece. I don't think I can ever go back to Van Heusen. Sorry JC Penneys.
- The fact that the name "Grover" is popular here and doesn't remind people of a shaggy blue Muppet yelling antonyms. Oh how I crack myself up shouting "near" and "far" after meeting a Grover.
- Khan Cha Cha! The most delicious chicken and paneer tikka there is. So good.
- You know what? I'm going to expand that previous bullet point to encompass all Indian food. It's got a kick (in fact, my stomach tends to revolt in I eat it for, like, a week straight) but it's very tasty. Dosa, chicken tikka masala, lamb tikka masala, paneer tikka masala.... it's all right up there with Korean food for me.
- Fabindia! Or as I call it "The Indian Gap." It has traditional Indian clothes like kurtis and saris, made in a traditional manner but uses rural producers in something called "inclusive capitalism"... Uh, and it sells organic things... erm, yeah... I really just like the clothes. If there's some sort of fair trade stuff/helping women out of poverty stuff in there, that's an added bonus.
- Cricket. Okay, well maybe I don't "love" it per se, but I'm certainly interested in it. I watch it whenever I see it on tv. In fact, the games are so long that usually they edit them down to just the action, which makes them exponentially more interesting. Baseball should consider this strategy. Of course, then the games would only be 30 minutes long, but they could easily be shown opposite 'According to Jim.'
- Kabaddi. Another Indian 'sport' that I have never seen but only heard about. Still I love it. Listen to this: Two teams stand on opposite sides of a playing area. One player from one team has to run over to the other side while repeating the word "kabaddi" over and over. They have to try and tag someone on the other team and then make it back to their side without being caught by the other team and without breathing. My reaction to this being explained to me was to exclaim, "That's a sport?!" Because it sounds like a cross between Red Rover and Steal the Bacon. Look for it in the 2020 Olympics.
Things I do not love:
- Nestle's Chocolate Morsels are very expensive.
- Even more expensive is any type of seasonal candy (you know, Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs, Reese's Peanut Butter Hearts, Reese's Peanut Butter Christmas Trees. The standards.) At the commissary a bags of those sells for $16. Yes, you read that right--SIXTEEN DOLLARS! Since that is patently ridiculous, I assume no one buys them. What makes it extra funny to me is that after products expire, the commissary will sell them for 50% off. It's totally a caveat emptor* situation, but you can get some good deals on things. And if you toast stale Pop-tarts, you can't even tell that they're stale. But even at 50% off, these year old seasonal candies cost $8 which is equally hilarious.
- The driving is still nuts.
- The heat is crazy. I mean, I'm usually cold, but I've finally found a temperature where I am horribly, ridiculously, uncomfortably hot. That temperature is 112 degrees Fahrenheit. Now its down in the high 90s and it feels refreshingly cool.
- Learning all the different names for family members in Hindi. I'd expand, but that will probably end up as blog post of its own soon enough.
