Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Hairy Krishna

Before

















Many of you will be delighted to know that I (Gareth) have decided to grow my hair back. Keep checking out the website for updates.

After?

Friday, October 20, 2006

Diwali


Don't get me wrong, I like fireworks. HOWEVER, I am not so appreciative when I hear the neighbours' display lighting up at 10.30pm, 11.30pm, and this morning...6am!! Who wants to see a fireworks display at that time??

Hyderabad is in full swing in the run up to Diwali this Saturday. Diwali is "The Festival Of Lights" and is a mixture of Christmas (because people give each other gifts) and Bonfire Night/5th November (for obvious reasons). It's actually a great time as the city seems to have the air of excitement as the big day approaches - there are fireworks, fairy lights, marching bands, and dancing all across the twin cities (Secunderabad and Hyderabad, for those not "in the know").

We are heading off on Saturday to a party that our friends, Rajiv and Renee, are hosting - so we are looking forward to that.

We have now fully acclimatised back to the Indian temperatures, although Andi is still nursing a cold she picked up in the UK. Work has been busy for me and it looks like I will be in Singapore and Beijing in mid November.

Andi and I are also traveling up to Calcutta (or Kolkata as it is now known) for a couple of days next week, with a friend from Glasgow, Tony Sargeant. Tony works with many organisations trying to help those in need all across the world, so it is a real privilege that we will be shown the work up there.

We will endeavour to continue updating the blog a bit more regularly so that we keep things interesting for you all. See you later!

Monday, October 16, 2006

Around the World in 12 days!


Well we’re back, having had a great two weeks for Gareth and one for me in the UK.
The first week for Gareth consisted mainly of work and meetings, the week we were together we had a chance to spend a bit of time with friends in Milton Keynes, then flew to Glasgow for 2/3 days for a wedding Gareth was best man at, but also had fun seeing family and catching up. The wedding was really lovely and both bride and groom looked gorgeous - Gill maybe more than Dave! Congratulations again guys!

We also had time to pick up a few items in the UK we can’t get in India – furniture polish is not normally high on anyone’s shopping list but becomes a desirable purchase when you can’t get it, that plus decent chocolate and couscous made it a slightly strange list. If Gareth could have brought a Big Mac back he would have also added that to the list.

Then driving down on Sunday afternoon to York having to stop ourselves from beeping the horn constantly as per driving here, we spent a few days with Andi’s family, including a chance to cuddle our five-month-old nephew Noah. All in all an exhausting but really special time – coming home was lovely though and being back in our apartment we knew that Hyderabad now feels like home.

Being back in the UK after just a few months in India also meant we were able to evaluate some of the cultural and social differences between the two countries and appreciate or be challenged by those differences.

Finally getting off the plane after 11 hours of travel to sunshine was the medicine for the colds we managed to bring back - that and going to bed at 8.30 that evening also helped with the lack of sleep from the overnight flight. Drinking lemsip while in 30 degree heat, I can safely say is surreal. The weather is actually hotter than when we left when it seemed to start to cool down, we move into ‘winter’ soon so the temperature should get down to, oh at most 18 degrees!

We now also have gas to go with our hob, I’ve never been so excited about being able to cook! No more random microwave meals. Gareth’s gone back to a busy office and also looks like the HR things, which needed finalising are getting there for Andi who should start work in the next month prior to a conference in Cambodia at the end of the year.

Gareth has managed to begin playing football this weekend (on a very dodgy pitch) – albeit just for fun, we’ll let you know the score but if the MK Dons are anything to go by….

So there you go, we’ll post another blog with more news soon.