If you like to drink cheap liquor out of 7-11 Big Gulp cups....

...then the South Boston St. Patrick's Day parade is the place for you. It was sort of like a mix between mardi gras and St. Patrick's day...lots of drunk people and lots of bead throwing going on. It was also freezing cold.

I liked the bag pipes. There were also lots of police departments and fire departments that marched, including some that came over from Ireland.

There were lots of random people walking, like all of these people dressed like Star Wars characters.

Basically, it was good to go to this parade to see what it was like...but I am not sure I need to stand in the freezing cold again next year, unless we have visitors that want to see it. It is probably more fun to be in one of the kajillion Irish pubs in Boston if you can get into one...Even at 10 in the morning, the pubs had huge lines outside!

St. Patrick's Day Dinner

We are really lucky that our downstairs neighbor, Marc, is super friendly and outgoing. We are even luckier that he is an amazing cook and that he lets us eat his food! For St. Patrick's Day he made a delicious, traditional Irish feast. (At least I think it's traditional...I have never been to Ireland so I can't be completely sure.) He made corned beef from scratch with potatoes, carrots and cabbage on the side.

For me, the best part of the meal was the coleslaw...he made a bleu cheese coleslaw from scratch that was amazing. Ever since this meal, I have been into oleslaw, which is sort of bizaare because I always hated it before.

This beautiful cake was made from scratch by Matt...it is an Irish Whiskey Cake, and it was delicious. It was really good with the home made cinnamon whipped cream that we put on top.

One More Party

As a thank you to all of their friends, Srikanth and Keerti had a cocktail party the day after their wedding. The reserved a private room at Touch (Keerti's aunt's nightclub) and invited all of their friends. I was exhausted, but it ended up being one of the most fun nights of our trip. By this time, we knew most of their friends quite well, so everything felt very comfortable.

The funny thing about Indian parties is that they serve a full meal at 5 in the morning. By that time, all I want is sleep! I got out my camera for this party, since it was the last one, and people sort of went crazy. Everyone was hamming it up for the camera. It was hilarious!

It is never good to see a picture of yourself dancing! Nevertheless, I have posted one of Matt and I here.

These are Srikanth's beautiful new wife and his sisters. Poor Keerti has to move in to Srikanth's family home with everyone! No matter how nice your in-laws are, that has got to be awkward at first. Srikanth's sisters are Extremely nice though, they were so welcoming and hospitable the whole time we were there.

They had a Brazilian dancer put on a little show during the party. She was an amazing dancer. What a crazy life she must lead, touring India dancing at nightclubs!

One of the most memorable parts of the night was when Srikanth took the microphone and announced to everybody that Matt and I were engaged. Everyone sort of went crazy and surrounded us and were toasting us and cheering. Then they made Matt and I dance in the middle of everyone. It was lots of fun! Also, weird that all of these random people in Huderabad knew we were engaged but none of our family did. I made them all promise to come to our wedding but I think it probably won't happen!

This trip to India was expensive and probably not the wisest decision, considering that Matt had to miss work and I had to miss school. However, I am SO glad that we went.

Last Day for Shopping in Hyderabad!

On Matt's last day in India (I stayed 2 days longer) we went shopping. The most exciting place to shop is always in the market: there are lots of people and interesting things. On theother hand, it can also be extremely tiring and time consuming because aof all of the bargaining, curious people, and beggars. Luckily, Hyderabad doesn't have too many beggars, so that was not an issue on this trip.

I love the guys that sell food in giant piles on top of their head. Too bad I don't like samosas, there were a ton for sale in this market!

These guys were selling what looked like old, broken kit kat bars. Somehow, this looked revolting to me, although I am sure it tasted fine. It was really hot and dusty in the market, so chocolate left out in the sun is not an appealing thought!

There was a ton of delicious fruit for sale. I was in heaven! I ordered a lassi near here because I love them, but it was disappointing. I guess north India is a better place to get lassis. The lass I ordered inthe market had both water and ice in it. I drank it anyway and it was fine...but our Indian friends were shocked and told me it was too unclean! I gues they are right...I vow only to eat clean foods on my internship in India this summer. I have been spoiled by not getting food poisoning on any of my trips, but I think I have probably become too lax in my food cleanliness standards. (Or at least my water standards, I think cooked food is probably ok.)

I bought a whole bunch of bangles from this guy. He was funny here, I think he was embarrassed to be in the photo. His dad (the shopowner) was taking pictures on his cell phone and wanted him in the pic. I love all of the bangle shops in India cause they are so bright and sparkly. The problem is that it is hard to choose what you want because everything starts to look the same and look cheap. But when you see women wearing them, they look nice, so you just have to buy stuff and start wearing them. I think bangles look good from afar but not up close.

We also bought some metal tiffin carriers for storing food in. Tiffin carriers are what Indian people use to bring their lunch to work. I haven't used mine yet, but I will at some point. I like the way they look, so they are displayed on top of the hutch in my kitchen.

The tiffin shop owner was muslim, and he asked if we were from the USA. We said yes, and he starts railing on about how he hates Bush. Then he said he thought we should vote for Hillary because he loved Bill. He saw Bill Clinton once because Clinton came to give a speech in Hyderabad. He loves everything Clinton did but hates Bush. This was not surprising at all for Matt and I because every place we have been in the world, they always ask who we are voting and whether or not we like Bush. Sometimes I think Americans (Matt and I included) take for granted the power we have as voters. The rest of the world eagerly awaits the decisions of Americans and speculate about who Americans vote for, because the US has such an important role in world events. It is interesting to think that Kazakh nomads in the Xinjiang province of Western china and an elderly muslim tiffin seller in Hyderabad India think more about US elections and politics than alot of Americans.