Hindi

I haven't posted anything in the past week... primarily because there isn't anything to post, haha. I've been working a lot, reading a lot, and watching a lot of arrested development. Since life has been a bit boring lately I'll share something that I have been working on throughout the past 6.5 weeks... My hindi. I've never been interested in learning a different language, but when it can improve the quality of your life it becomes a necessity, haha. Katrina recently got the rosetta stone hindi version which we're anxiously awaiting, but I've been learning here and there in the mean time. I try to get people in the office to teach me a phrase or a word every day and it's been cool because I only learn things that I want to learn... so I end up remembering everything better. So once I've learned something I usually try to speak a little hindi to my co-workers throughout the day. It normally gets a laugh (since I'm still working on how to pronounce the words) or a 'Oh my gosh... that's so amazing'. From the latter, I think they're just being nice. At the same time I don't think they're very used to a pasty white guy speaking their native language. For fun here's a few Hindi words/phrases I've learned...

Mujhe mcdonalds jana hai - I want to go to mcdonalds
Mujhe KFC jana hai - I want to go to KFC... (you get the idea)
ye kya hai? What is this?
mere passe 30 rupees hai - I only have 30 rupees. (I use this on the rickshaw drivers all the time)
aap kaise hai? How are you
tike - Ok/fine
acha hai - I like it
Mujhe paani acha laga - I like this water (water is paani)
Kitna? How much?

These are the main hindi words I use/have learned so far. Hopefully by the time we leave I can hold my own in a hindi conversation.

See ya!

Bob

Trip to Old Delhi

I went to Old Delhi yesterday with Christian and Jean-Luc (2 french canadian guys that I work with). It was simply amazing. We didn't really 'do' anything... we just walked around and tried to take everything in. The sounds, the smells, the people... everything was like it was from a different world (trying to be dramatic, but whatever). It was pretty awesome to say the least. Here are some photos of the day!

I thought this was Ghandi at first... but it's not. I can't remember for the life of me who it is...

 

 Man washing his feet inside the mosque:

 This was my bag after it was knifed. Someone tried to steal my stuff at some point during our walk... Nothing was taken... probably b/c I was only carrying bug spray and sun screen.

 This was outside of the metro station. I think this is a temple.

 Now I know why there are blackouts in Dehli...

 Goats eating... not sure what though...

 Boys outside the mosque. These guys kept wanting pictures of us. Really nice kids.

 Me and the guys.

 Inside the mosque... not my best life decision considering that bin laden was killed just last week. I said I was Canadian... We originally went in with shorts but we were told we couldn't go in... hence the stylish skirts.

 Boys in the mosque washing their feet

 These people loved Christian. They kept asking him to take their picture so they could see themselves on the screen of the camera.

 Crazy, crazy streets of Delhi.

 Chickens sold on the street

 Goat on the street

 Rickshaw ride!

 Rickshaw cyclist sleeping... in a very strange position.

 Chickens?... vultures?... not sure.

 Ox pulling a huge cart

 Guy getting a rickshaw ride.

Hooray Monkeys!

While walking to the gym today I walked past a family of monkeys. It was awesome!

Looks like an elephant to me

So Shiva (one of the hindu gods) has a son named Ganesha. I was asking a girl at work about her replica of Ganesha at her desk... I said, so Ganesha is an elephant? It soo looks like an elephant. She said, "Don't call him elephant, ok?". Whoops.