Chennai!

Well, here I am, back in India again. I never expected that I would be traveling to India 4 times in two years...if I had known, I would have gotten a 10-year visa! This time I am in Chennai, which is the main city in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. I had heard so much about how different south India is compared to the north...everyone said that it is more developed, more liberal, more well educated....but so far, it seems pretty similar to me! I have only been here for about 20 hours, so I guess my observations don't mean much at this point. I will be working for Oxfam,but now that I am here I sort of wish I was just on vacation!

My flight was great. For the first time in my life, I got upgraded to business class. Yippee! It was for the 10 hour flight between London and Mumbai, so I was very grateful. Traveling business class made me realize that first class is the way to go....I have never traveled first class, but business class only seemed margninally better than economy. The best part of my trip was the layover in the Mumbai airport...they have a foot massage shop in the domestic terminal. I was in heaven!

So far, I haven't done much. I wernt shopping for some conservative salwar kameez to wear in the villages and ate lunch at Appoorva Sangeetha A/C Veg Restaurant. It was delicious; I always love eating at veg restaurants where they ladly unlimited rice and soup onto your plate. I ordered a mini tiffin, which was the perfect size. It also came with a dosa, which didn't make it into the picture above. It was not a mini meal at all!! The price was mini though, only 44 ruppees (about 1 dollar).

I have internet in my hotel room, so I am enjoying it while I can. If anyone wants to call me on skype, do it now! I leave for the villages on Monday, and then I have no idea what kind of access to internet I will have.

When I was in SD for Brieanne's wedding, it was just me, my mom, Maya and Makayla. The house felt so empty without Rohit, Marissa and Malini! It was neat though, actually, because everything was calm and I got to spend more time with the three that were home. Strangely, one of the most fun parts of the visit was taking Maya to school on Monday. We stopped at Starbucks so she could get a croissant, and we saw her classmate there with her dad. So, we sat down and talked to them about school and life and what they were doing this summer...it was so relaxed and fun...I was envisioning my future life as a mom. Of course, I know it is a lot of work (I have seen my mom in action!) but I can't wait. Hopefully my kids will be as great and my sisters. (They'll be electric white in comparison, but I guess I will get used to it!)

Cousins

I got some good "cousin" shots at Brieanne's wedding, but I realized that I didn't get a shot of Eric and Brieanne together...oh well, at the next wedding I will be sure to do that. I was really happy to talk to my cousins. I didn't really get a chance to talk to everyone at my own wedding, so it was a nice treat. I also got to sit next to Seamus, so that was cool. I seriously love my cousins so much...all of them...I think it is because they are all unique and amazing people, but also because I was basically an only child for most of my childhood, and I was always in awe of siblings. They have such tight relationships, it seems really cool and lucky if you have that...I never did so I think I am always slightly envious of sibling relationships. Don't get me wrong, I love my sisters...but it just isn't the same if you don't live in the same house. I think I have a unique relationship with my sisters. I have been able to watch them grow up, so I have a mixture of maternal love for them and affection because they are so cute/funny/smart/fun to be around.

Nancy's Toast

Nancy gave a toast about mothers during Brieanne's wedding...I missed part of it because I was in the bathroom, but I love this picture. I am so sad that it came out too dark! All the ladies look great, and Nancy's dress was made out of a very cool material...I think it was shantung. I have always loved shantung because colors of shantung looks so rich and luscious. On one of my trips to India I fell in love with a dark red shantung fabric and fantasized about having my bridesmaids wear dresses made out of it...hopefully someday I will have a shantung dress!

Another wedding!

My cousin Brieanne got married on April 11...it was a gorgeous sunny day and the wedding was very elegant. I felt lucky that I was able to make it! Her dress was stunning...but the best part was being able to reconnect with all of the Yeckel family, although I didn't get to talk to most of them! The time was too short...oh well, hopefully there will be another wedding soon. The Yeckel family seems to be on a roll with weddings.

Dad's Death Day

Well, Dad's death anniversary came and went this year. I was sick, sick, sick...I blame it on too much work, not enough play, and lots of bad Boston weather! To commemorate this sad anniversary, Matt and I drove out to the coast and put a moratorium on all work...I also treated myself (with mom's help) to a plane ticket home to visit my mom and to attend my cousin Brieanne's wedding. (Of course, this decision came after about 5 phone calls to my mom, sobbing and wondering what to do. Poor mom! She has five girls so I am sure she will see her fair share of sobbing women. Although, no one in my family is as emotional as I am...I am freak of the family in more ways than one.)



I love this photo of Dad because it reminds me of all of the times we went camping together. This photo was taken on one of his trips down to South America, and I am grateful to whoever took it because we don't really have any picturs of him from our camping trips---he was always the photographer.

Washinton DC, Part 2: The American Indian Museum

Matt and I only had a few days in DC, and our priority was to RELAX and hang out together...so lots of good food and rest, and not so much site seeing...But we did make it to one museum on National Mall: The American Indian Museum. (I feel so un-PC writing that name!) I had to beg Matt to go there. I don't know why I wanted to go so badly...oh wait, yes I do...I had heard there was a whole food court of traditional foods! Ha ha! But, joking aside, it was a great museum. I have this recent fascination with indigenous populations, and it might be because of all of our Mayan ruin touring that we did on our honeymoon in Belize. Anyway, they had a whole movie/exhibit about the hoopa indians that live up by Matt's hometown. He used to work at a burger/ice cream shop on the reservation. The movie of the hoopas had an interesting part where they talked about how Christians try to drown out their traditional music by blaring hymns on loudspeakers. This sounds strange to me. It seems like Christians in Humboldt would have lots of targets to blare hymns at other than Native Americans, haha!


A close up of my squid ink calamari. It was delicious! The woman in line to pay next to me was revolted by this, by I say, if you aren't going to try things, get out of the food court and besides that, it is rude to say that another person's food is revolting.


A selection of foods...conrbread, yams, and squid ink calamari. Yum!



Ok, we actually went to 2 museums. There was also a really interesting section in the Natural History Museum about the history and culture of rastafarians. I have been getting into reggae lately, so this was interesting for me. We also saw the hope diamond here, which made me contemplate our obsession with diamonds. Why do we care? I don't. I admit I like sparkly things,though. But they don't have to be diamonds. People place to much importance on those things.

Spring Break in Washington DC

This past week was my spring break, so Matt and I went to Washington DC. It is kind of a strange spring break choice, but my school was hosting an alumni networking event, so it seemed like a good time to see DC. Plus, Matt had never been to DC and he was about to leave on a long business trip to China. It was a good opportunity to treat ourselves to some time together.

We saw all of the obvious "Washington DC" sites...the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Memorial, the Capital Mall...but we we still have lots more to see! The weather was cold, but seemed great compared to Boston! Unfortunately I still had to wear my winter jacket...oh well!

After this trip, I am a firm believer in Hotwire. I booked out hotel through hotwire, and it was so cheap...like the price of Motel 6 in San Diego! Based on the price, I didn't know what to expect, but we ended up staying at the Omni Shoreham, and it was really nice. I felt like we were almost on a luxury vacation! The location was good too, right next to the metro and near Dupont Circle. We ate lots of good food while were there---Matt was like, "No wonder I am sucha fat turd!" Haha, he is not a fat turd actually, he just has the middle age belly thing going, which is sort of appropriate because he is about to turn 30. I don't feel bad saying this, cause he told me I should lose five pounds! (I do need to lose some weight; my clothes aren't fitting me! Maybe his words will be inspiration.)

I can now teach yoga!

Maria, Natasha and Meagan

This weekend I finished my Yogaworks Teacher Training. I have mixed feelings about this...I am happy that it is over, because it will really lighten my load. It is hard to do a teacher training while in grad school and working. It was surprisingly intense physically, emotionally and intellectually. There was a lot of homework involved...I still have to do the take home final exam, and I think it will take me all of next weekend to do it!

But I am also sad, much more so than I thought I would be. I didn't get a chance to spend a lot of time with the other students outside of class because I have been so busy with the wedding and everything. So, I didn't really expect to be that sad to leave everyone, but I was very sad the whole weekend. I was so sad the night before our last day that I made Matt let me use his car so I could drive to Target to buy supplies to make everyone a little gift. I channeled my inner "Jennifer Mahajan" and made little boxes filled with a candle and some chocolates and my favorite yoga sutra printed out on a little card. They came out really cute, actually, although not as cute as what mom probably would have done! Still, for a last minute, spontaneous thing they were pretty cute. My favorite yoga sutra is 2.42: "The result of contentment is total happiness." I have lots of favorites but I love this one because it is so optimistic and also attainable...anyone can be happy right now.



As part of our certification we had to teach the class a series of asana. I was really nervous, but when I actually got up to the front of the room I felt comfortable. I think it is because I love yoga...and also because I have probably taken so many yoga classes over the years!

Strangely, I have gained weight over the course of the teacher training...I don't think it is related to the teacher training, but to all the stress of being in school and working. It is too much! I am officially burnt out and ready to be done.

On a happy note: I saw my MS doctor and I have no new lesions! He said that all of the active lesions from my previous MRI have been resolved and things are looking good. YAY! And I start a new type of medicine, Tysabri, in a few weeks. It is supposed to be twice as effective as the betaseron. All I can say is "Yay, pharmaceutical industry!" I am happy and amazed and grateful that they have made these advances...hopefully since I don't really have any MS symptoms now, I will stay healthy for a long, long time.

Life

For some reason, Blogger isn't letting me upload pictures right now, so I guess I will take this opportunity to give a little update on my life...everything has been a whirlwind since I got back to Boston after being in California. School is good...I like my classes, especially statistics. I am far less motivated than I was last year. I am sick of homework! I just don't want to do it anymore. Luckily, my grades haven't gone down so far, even though I am putting less work into school.

I got a new job, and I love it. I am the assistant editor for the Food and Nutrition Bulletin, which is an international public health nutrition journal. Basically, I take manuscripts that are submitted through the review and revision process until they are either published or rejected. Finding peer reviewers for the manuscripts is definitely the hardest part of the job, because people are so busy (or at least they say they are) that many don't wan to take the time to do peer reviews, and others say they will do and then they don't. Then I have to hassle them till they turn it in.

I also started a yoga teacher training and I love it! I am just sad that I don't have as much time as I would like to devote to it. With school, work and the wedding planning, I have almost no free time! I love the teacher, Natasha Rizopoulos, and the other students in the class. It is a really interesting mix of people: everyone from a college freshman to a 70 year old woman and everything in between! The facilities are nice too...it is at the Sports Club LA - Boston, and it is gorgeous. It is only a few blocks from my school and it has beautiful floor to ceiling windows that overlook the Common. It reminds me of my old studio in Hong Kong. Natasha is from Yogaworks. I went to a class at yoga works in Santa Monica two summers ago, when I had just returned from China, and I loved it. I really like their style of sequencing. It is vinyasa yoga, which I love. The good thing about Natasha is that her background is in Ashtanga yoga, so she brings that perspective to the class. My favorite style of yoga is Ashtanga, but I haven't been able to find a studio that I like that teaches ashtanga in Boston. Natasha also did the beginner's yoga dvds for Yoga Journal. She is really fascinating to watch...her yoga practice is graceful and effortless and her body is like pure muscle...there is not an inch of fat on her!

Candy candy ...oh, and hiking too

Matt and I decided to try to recreate our trip to New Hampshire to see the Fall foliage...bt I should know better than that...never try to recreate a good memory! It is has been really warm here, so none of the leaves had changed! We still had a great time though...We hiked and stayed in a cheap hotel, sat in the hot tub, and did NOTHING. It was great because I have been SO stressed this semester, with the wedding planning, school, work, starting my MS medication, and my yoga teacher training. It is too much!

One of the best parts of our trip was the visit to Chutter's candy store in Littleton. Supposedly they have the longest candy counter in the US. It was pretty long, I will admit that! They had a great seletion. I was thinking the whole time that my Grandma Janet would have loved it. They had a big licorice selection, so of course I had to take a picture for her.

Can you tell which candy bag is mine, and which is Matt's? Mine is the one on the right: I love licorice and Jordan almonds. You can't see the big bag of jelly bellies that I also bought. I love buttered popcorn flavored jelly bellies. Yum! Matt's bag has lots of malt balls and gummy candies, neither of which I like. We have completely opposite taste buds, it is bizarre. Basically, there is zero overlap in foods that we like. Oh wait, except hard boiled eggs. We both like those.

It just makes you say "Aaaawww!"

One of the girls in my program just had an exciting wedding proposal from her boyfriend. (Just sit through the ad...the video will play afterwards. Don't worry, the ad is only 15 seconds.)

Well, since the whole family is doing it....

My Bloginality is INFP!

Matt's Bloginality is ENTJ!

Grandma and Maria both posted their bloginality, so I had to do it too. Then, I forced Matt to do it.

We both just read our personality types, and we both agreed that we are definitely like our types. My type says that my career should be in a field that helps make the world a better place (I like to think I am in that type of field!) and Matt's said that he should be a CEO or an entrepreneur.

Of course, as usual, it says that our personalities are not matched well for romance. These types of things always say that...our horoscopes say we are a really bad match. But...we have been together for over 7 years and it has been great...I think we are a perfect match.

Happy Birthday, Malini!

Today is my beautiful sister Malini's birthday. I am so sad I am missing it! I am sure the living room is decorated elaborately and Mom has been making a special meal. I am not sure what Malini's birthday meal would consist of...I pretty much know the other girls' favorites, but not Malini. I do know that she likes her eggs without the yolk and she only like ice cream, non frozen yogurt. There are more important things than food though, so on to the important stuff:

Malini is one of the most loyal people I know. That is such a great quality to have and I think it is pretty rare to meet a truly loyal person. Another loyal person that I can think of is my old friend Ann Verenkoff. She is also very loyal. So, Ann and Malini exemplify loyalty to me.

Malini has this funny habit of shivering through her whole body when she is excited. It is pretty cute! I wonder how long it will last...for instance, it wouldn't be so cute if she were my age. But then, I still clap my hands when I am excited and that is probably not age-appropriate at all.

Malini has an amazing fashion sense. She puts together the most creative outfits, and she always looks cute. She definitely knows how to accessorize! I have some great pictures of her in her ensembles but I can't seem to find any of them!

Malini loves sparkley thing...Icing and Claire's are her favorite stores...I guess that is where she learned to do all of the accessorizing! This is something that we definitely have in common, cause I love sparkley things too.

Malini is really lucky. She used to love to go to Nickel City (an arcade where you can earn tickets to get prizes) and she would always get a ton of tickets by playing those Vegas-style games where the quarters are pushing against each other and if they fall you get tickets. Anyway, I think she has a piece of Grandma Yeckel in her cause Grandma is lucky too.

Malini is also a great swimmer. I really miss having Malini around...writing all of this makes me miss my sisters and wish that I lived closer to home!

Happy birthday, Malini! I Love You!

Something Silly but Fun

I'm a Balanced Yogi!

A Balanced Yogi You love your friends unconditionally and accept them for who they are no matter what their yoga style preference, religious beliefs, or spending habits. You focus on the good in people and would never try to change them. Almost everyone feels comfortable in your presence. You live your yoga. You are an inspiration to yoga students everywhere!

Take the Yoga Journal Yoga Snob Quiz!

Yeckel Sisters

There was lots of family at Eric's wedding...and I took lots of sister shots! It is amazing how the Yeckel women look similar. I mean, they are all very different in looks and personality, but they are all unmistakabley "Yeckel". I think it is the eyes and the smile.




Suzanne and Nancy. (This is actually at my bridal shower, not Eric's wedding.)



Nancy and my mom.

Mom and Gretchen

Suzanne, me and Nancy at my bridal shower. This is a horrible picture of me cause my eyes are half closed! I think I look sort of like a Yeckel but with a lot of Hardy mixed in.

Eric and Carol's Wedding Cake

Of course, me being who I am I had to post a photo of the cake. It was beautiful and very tasty. There was also a groom's cake. I had never heard of a groom's cake before, but according to this website, the groom's cake is a Southern tradition and any single women should take a piece home and put it under their pillow so they will dream about their future husband. Does anyone know if this is the real meaning of a groom's cake? Anyway, whatever the meaning of the tradition, it is kind of fun.

The wesite also said that sometimes the groom's cake is served at the ehearsal dinner and it should be the groom's favorite type of cake. That sounds doable...German chocolate cake at the rehearsal dinner! (Or baked Alska but I have no clue how to make that. It sounds hard.)

Eric and Carol get married!

My cousin Eric got married last weekend...the first Yeckel cousin to tie the knot! It was a gorgeous Southern California day, and an intimate, mostly family ceremony and reception. The colors were a vibrant and warm orange and magenta. I loved the dress Carol chose for here bridesmaid, hopefully I can find something as cute for my bridesmaids!

I love this photo...it is such a tender moment, with Eric fixing Carol's dress. So sweet!

This is Carol with her bridesmaid in the too-cute-for-words dress and another guy that I don't know.

Makayla Turns 5!

Today was a special day...my littlest sister turned 5! I can't believe it, all of them just keep getting older and older. The problem for me is that they are doing it too fast and are foiling my plan to have my babies while they are still young so that they would be like sisters to my kids. I guess I will have to hurry up and have kids!

As usual in the Mahajan household during a birthday, the dining room was decorated beautifully. As per Makayla's request, we had mom's delicious home made pizza and then a princess ice cream cake for dessert. Makayla got lots of good presents, mostly involving Littlest Pet Shop and dogs.

One of my favorite things about Makayla is how she is so extremely optimistic and loving. Last summer, Matt and I came back from China and Makayla told us that she loved everything, she loved the whole world. She just volunteered this information out of no where...that is the kind of love we can all aspire to!

Another funny story about Makayla and love: this week I helped her find a web site she likes on the computer and she said, "Now I really love you!" I said, "Didn't you love me before?" She said, "Oh, I did but sometimes I just say it to be nice." Haha, very honest!

The video I posted is of Makayla blowing out the birthday candles. I can't figure out to rotate the video so you'll have to rotate your head.

Today was also special because of Eric and Carol's wedding, which was beautiful. I don't have time to post about it now, but I am uploading the pictures onto Flickr (just click the Flickr box in the side bar) so anyone can download them. I will post about it when I get back to Boston.

Things about Matt that I obviously don't know.

Before the bridal shower, Grandma had emailed Matt a list of questions and I was supposed to guess his answer. I guess I won't be bored for the rest of my life because I obviously have a lot to learn about Matt!

1. If you could be a super here, who would it be?
Matt: The Tick (she will never get that one)
Me: He was right, I had no clue.

2. What is your favorite feature about Meagan?
Matt: Her eyes and smile (toss up)
Me: My mom guessed this one right...all I could think of were things you aren't supposed to say!

3. What was your first impression of Meagan?
Matt: Cute little La Jolla girl.
Me: I had no idea...I thought maybe a little girl that hangs out with his sister's old friends.

4. Who made the first move in your relationship?
Matt: I say me/she will say her.
Me: He knows me too well, I said me!

5. Where was your first kiss?
Matt: At a rave in San Francisco.
Me: I got this one right!!!

6. What is your biggest pet peeve about Meagan?
Matt: She never forgets anything and won't let things go.
Me: I was under the impression that I am perfect and Matt could never be peeved with me, haha!

7. How many children do you want?
Matt: 2
Me: I thought he wanted 3. I am sad to learn he wants 2.

8. What are you most afraid of?
Matt: Something bad happening to Meagan. O ya, and snakes too.
Me: I thought he would say something about me becoming an obsessive super soccer mom when I have kids. But his answer is so much nicer!

9. Who is you favorite female celebrity?
Matt: Rachel Ray because she looks like Meagan.
Me: I thought he would say Lindsay Lohan. His answer was far worse because he knows I hate it when people say I look like Rachel Ray.

10. Who is your favorite rock group/artist?
Matt: All time is Nine Inch Nails.
Me: I got this one right!

11. Who was your first girlfriend.
Matt: Meagan. Honestly.
Me: I got this one right!

12. What is your favorite thing to do?
Matt: Play soccer and go traveling with Meagan.
Me: I am not sure what I answered but I am sure it was wrong. His answer was sweet though!

13. What is your favorite TV show?
Matt: South Park
Me: I said the Daily Show but I should have said South Park...he loves it.

14. What is the first movie you saw together?
Matt: No clue. Ask her about Blair Witch 2 though.
Me: I also had no clue. I will have to post about Blair Witch 2 some other time... it is a long story!

15. What sports did you play in high school?
Matt: Soccer and ultimate frisbee.
Me: I said soccer but I didn't know about ultimate frisbee...I thought that was college.

16. What is your dream car?
Matt: Old school ferrari testerosa. I will pay money if she got this one right.
Me: He knows me too well. I had no idea...I said that he prefers to walk and so doesn't want a car....haha...oh wait, that is me!

17. What is your favorite kind of soda pop?
Matt: coke
Me: I got this one right!

18. When was Meagan the maddest at you?
Matt: She never gets mad at me because I am perfect.
Me: I don't remember what I said, but it definitely wasn't that!

19. What animal would you compare Meagan to?
Matt: A koala -- small, big eyes, very cute, kind of slow moving, but has some nasty claws and has been known to use them.
Me: A cat...but I like his answer more!

20. What was your most embarrassing moment around Meagan?
Matt: I think it was the time I almost fainted because she had broken her foot and was fainting. I still have no clue why that happened. I still feel like an idiot for that one.
Me: I said it as the time we were in Hong Kong and he was trying to wake board and he couldn't stand up and everyone was staring at him from the boat. But that other thing was embarrassing too!