contrast.

I would not describe myself as a 'colorful' person.
I do not mean colorful as in 'well rounded' or 'diversely aware' or 'enlightened'..and yes,
I do realize this might have a few connotations, or possibly even a few negative associations;

but i mean colorful as in bright, in your face, vibrant, gleaming colors.
Those of you who know me well will likely wholeheartedly agree.
When you think of Emily Shriver, pink is the last thing that comes to mind.

I prefer the quiet subtlety of earth tones.
Now this is reflected in a number of ways: everything from the color of ink I choose to write in, the clothes I wear, the car I drove, the adjectives I use, sometimes even through the food I eat. It is likely that before coming to India, the brightest thing I owned was my nose ring...

India is chalk-full of color. Not only is everything ridiculously green on account of monsoon, but there are times when I have been walking on a dirt path, surrounded by dust, poverty and pollution and an Indian woman will pass by, decked out head to toe in every shade of orange known to man. Colors I have never even seen before. This constantly amazes me and leaves me wondering what America is doing to be such a bland place.

There are many examples I could give to support my case, but this weekend was an exceptional one..I experienced first hand the contrast between an American wedding and an Indian wedding.
We have already finished the first quarter of school, and due to that, and Gandhi Gi's birthday, we have a two day break from school.
Noel and I had every intention to travel to Dharamshala for the break, until we decided (last minute of course) that we didnt want to go to the 'bus' station in the middle of nowhere and wait for a 14 hour overnight city bus that may or may not show up and that may or may not have room for two white girls.

Our reasoning: why not actually have a break for once and not pull four all nighters in a row, pulling into Wednesday morning parent teacher conferences thirty minutes ahead of time...
and if we stuck around, we could attend the wedding of two fellow staff members.
The wedding consisted of two celebrations: Friday night was the Mehndi, and Saturday afternoon the Western wedding. Mehndi is a traditional Indian wedding ceremony involving the application of henna to arms and hands, as well as more dancing than I have ever witnessed at a wedding, excellent food, the groom arriving on a horse, elaborately detailed decorations, a diversity in clothing that can only be found in India, and BRIGHT colors..lots of them.

Which brings me back to my point that India is colorful. No matter how many times I reiterate this, people seem to just not get it. Perhaps these photos will help justify my point.
It was an all around party- basically the reception..but before the wedding.


The next afternoon was the exact opposite: the traditional Western wedding. Seeing the contrast between the two was astonishing. Even with the diversity in the crowd and the mixture of Indian and Western dress, everything seemed to be in black and white in comparison (the dress and tux included).

This got me thinking: maybe I should become more of a colorful person..
and perhaps India has already colored me in more ways than I realize.

On an unrelated note:

The girls next door all left for break, leaving me with a key to their place and full access to a washing machine AND dryer for the weekend. This is exciting for many reasons. If you remember my post about the mice, you will know that I have to bucket wash all my clothes. For the past year, I have managed just fine, often going quite a long time (as in more than is acceptable) before doing a load, but making it by. And if someone offers me washing machine access...let alone plus a dryer..i am going to pee my pants a bit in excitement.
Bucket washing does not get clothes that clean (unless you are crazy diligent and wash one load for half a day, changing the water every 20 minutes and furiously beating the clothes against the wall..which I do not do). Bending awkwardly over the bucket strains leg muscles I have never before used, usually clothes leak dye onto one another, and it is all around a huge pain.
I have been doing laundry like crazy, determined to wash every mold infested item in the house..which amounts to almost everything.
There is one downfall to this situation: there is only one plug for two machines. So, to do an entire load of laundry and get it all the way dry it takes 3 hours and 17 minutes (I timed the last load). Next time you do an easy load of laundry at home, please think of me and realize how easy you have it...