Wishing You Many More!

Wow - I haven't updated in a week.  Sorry for those that read my blog frequently.  Last week was busy with birthdays.  Jasons assistant advisor, Peter, celebrated his birthday on the 11th and then my birthday was the 13th.  I'm sure the hotel was glad to get our birthdays over with.... but little do they know, John's birthday is in early December.  Peter got to celebrate his with an evening of free cocktails and appetizers at a "Meet the Managers" gathering which followed cake delivered to his room. 

I got to enjoy an ice cream cake (YUM!) that was melting before they even brought it to our table and a bottle of champagne.  Jason had gone down a few minutes early to order a glass of wine for me and instead they brought an entire bottle of champagne.  Just as Jason was about to say "no - just a glass of wine", they said it was on the house!  They must love us here.  It was so nice of them to give us all cakes and sing.  We got wished Happy Birthday dozens of times and they always said "wishing you many more" afterwards.  As one of my friends said, hotels in the US probably don't even recognize birthday and here, they love them.  It makes being away from home a bit easier.  Believe it or not, this was the first birthday I have spent with Jason.  1st one we were dating - I was at home, he was at Purdue.  2nd - I was in Chicago, he was in Houston.  3rd - I was at home, he was on a flight on the way to India.  4th - I was at home, he was in India.  And..we're in India for this one.  See a pattern?  I hope I just jinxed it and we will be somewhere else next year.  Although, I have heard that if we're here for Thanksgiving next year, we will have visitors!

Cheers to 26 Years!  I just made that up... I'm a poet. (and didn't know it)

 
 The most talked about tour in Kerala is the Backwater Cruise.  I suppose that website talks it up a bit more than it really entails..but it was still fun and relaxing.  Sunday we left about 9:30am and didn't get there until after 11:00am.  We had a terrible driver who sped up and slowed down and passed cars like he was being chased.  We survived the tell story, but barely.  After we arrived, we waited another hour because he didn't know where he was going.  I gave the driver two numbers of the tour desk we booked it with and he still couldn't find it.  I found out later (when I went to complain... I'm not a complainer so you know he was a terrible driver if I went back to complain) that he only called one of them.  Anyway, we got on the boat an hour late.  Maybe they were on Indian time.

A more luxurious houseboat

Jason, John and I spent the day relaxing on the houseboat.  We basically just went around the backwaters and saw some of the country side of India.  The lunch was very authentic and I actually liked it.  I've grown accustom to some Indian food.  Although, I hear it's much better here in Kerala than other places.  I don't count the cafeteria food in Jamnagar we ate.  That made us sick at least once a week.

Houseboats docked for lunch

After docking for lunch, we cruised our way back and sat on the top deck to relax.  I think the guys even fell asleep for a few mins.  They must be working too hard.  We saw plenty of houses out in the fields and people living a life we normally don't see in the touristy areas.  People were washing their hair and clothes in the (not so) clean river water and even cleaning pots and pans there.  I'm sure that's their only source of water.  

A lady cleaning and drying clothes

That's all for now.... I'm sure I will think of something to update you on by the weekend.  Actually, I already know of something, but didn't want to flood you with new information all in one blog post.